I love Stan's relationship with the kids so much.
GF emphasizes a lot of very real trauma in Stan's past. Everything from child abuse, homelessness, drug abuse, and survival sex work. And the way that meshes with Mabel being this truly genuine depiction of a weird little girl creates something that is very unique to the series.
It's really touching how Mabel just being Mabel heals Stan's inner child and the way he naturally clicks with her. The weird and creative little boy he used to be, before his father's abuse and toxic masculinity beat that joy and optimism out of him.
It's just damn good. It's a really beautiful depiction of an intergenerational relationship. And I haven’t really seen anything else quite like it. Because there’s also Dipper.
There’s this wall between Stan and Dipper that goes beyond his similarities with Ford and its gender.
Dipper is a boy and Stan clearly doesn’t really know how to handle that. He was taught that boys are raised in a very specific way. And like we see how Stan really struggles with his past, the way he talks about the boxing lessons in particular.
Masculinity is so deeply entwined with Stan's pain and it’s something he can’t easily unravel. How is he supposed to be able to criticize his father for 'toughing him up' when he feels like punching things is one of the only things he’s good at? It's fucking sad.
Stanley loves his family.
He was treated as an unwanted and bad, stupid child by people around him excluiding Carynn, constantly compared with his smarter brother. So he can understand the feeling of being less than your sibling given his talents.
He sees himself in this sweet weird kid (And someone pointed out that Carynn looks like Mabel with her hair down so maybe he does also feel inclined towards her) but has enough self awareness not to project onto her like Ford does with Dipper, even if the similarities are there.
(I love Ford but again Fildbrick turned him into the egocentric man we see later on always looking for approval to the point of making Ford an easy target for manipulation and he played a part in the Stan twins relationship souring that Ford cant let go of a mistake of many years ago and without noticing he projects himself onto Dipper-not unlike Bill did with Ford but also having his nephew's best interests in mind- and tries to live through him by giving him the chance he never got in life; not taking into consideration his life in California, his studies nor his relationship with Mabel nor how she might feel about it too csuse he cant help but view another case of a twin holding the other one down even if unintentionally. Also lets be real Stanley's life is messy but Ford was alone and choosing his studies over his family led him to ruin his friends life and be haunted by a demon)
Both are artists (Lil Stanley and the Mystery Shack's attractions plus some artwors that depict him drawing), both like animals (Stan's relationship with Shanklin the Opossum is a parallel to Mabel's relationship with Waddles not to mention they inmediatly get attached to the mutated cow in the shorts) and often are seen as the dumb one even if they're street smart and more emotionally mature (Despite her selfishness at times, Mabel is very empathic, tries to help others out and do the right thing and apologizes for her mistakes and Stanley has a sense of family loyalty and recognizes when he messed up and tries to make up for it)
He makes sure this little girl doesn't feel like a dissapointment; he indulges her in some of her schemes (as long as they aint too crazy) and even after she loses in minigolf and comforts her with the fear of highschool looming over her future. Constantly using terms of endearment like Pumpkin and Sweetie, not unlike his mom did with him. He even has some of the things she gives him in his room.
Although he does struggle with Dipper, he loves him still and does give him advice when needed and he's not nearly as cruel as his dad was to him with his attempts to toughen him up so he can defend himself against the world which works as seen in his fight with Bill and Gideon Rises and other instances throughout season 2.
He even states he's reminded of him in Dipper in a couple of occasions which could explain why hes so proud of him when he stands up to others even himself included, cause he couldn't do it with his dad nor the bullies in their youth that tormented him and his brother in a definitive way.
He makes sure both him and his sister are loved and that they know.
Stan's not perfect of course, in trying to shield him and protect him form Gravity Falls's weirdness he ends up gaslighting Dipper into thinking hes crazy and that the weirdness and paranormal stuff isn't real which pushes him into doing something dumb and dangerous in his desperation like raising the dead and this is where Stan stops pretending and promises to stop hiding the truth about Gravity Falls but continues hiding the truth about Ford and the portal until the day where the portal is ready and he tries telling them but can't cause its a lot. And after everything hes not mad at Dipper for not trusting him after everything they went through that day.
But despite everything he never raises his hands nor his voice at them; the worst he did was intending to ground Dipper after possibly getting them into trouble with the goverment.
And after Ford comes back, he warns Dipper not to get too close to Ford in order for him to be safe as Ford's work is far too dangerous for him and just wants to keep them safe.
Also he's okay with them spending time with Ford as long as they're okay, since Stan sees Dipper clearly likes Ford. He's just mopey about being alone or the twins liking Ford more cause he's been alone for 40 years.
And in Weirdmageddon he goes against the plan to rescue Ford not cause he doesn't care about Ford (he does and had no idea what Bill was doing to him) but because of his niece and nephew's safety (alongside the surviving creatures and townsfolk) and when the plan goes sour (Ford didn't need to correct his grammar and Stan didn't have to fight him) he's more than willing to basically lay down his identity (his life) to make sure his entire family is safe, even if it meant the possiblity of not coming back to his old self ever again.
Heck he cares so much for them that he wrote "Come back soon" in the "See you next summer" note Dipper was given by Wendy
So yeah its nice to see that in spite of all the trauma Fildbrick made Stan go through (as well as Ford and Shermie), Stanley cant bring himself to have anything but love and affection for his niece and nephew, even if its hard for him to show it.
