get to know mason pines :
Life before Echo Isle had always been fairly… mundane. Nothing really worth taking note of, outside of the fact that he was a twin and had a bit of an obsession with true crime and the supernatural world. Those were really the only things that ever stood out about Dipper Pines. Oh, and of course his little dipper birthmark, the one that he got his nickname from since Mason was actually his birth name. But he did his best to keep that hidden whenever he could - with overgrown bangs back in middle school and then eventually with his large collection of baseball hats and beanies. He was teased enough just for generally being himself, he really didn’t need to give extra ammunition to anyone by sporting a giant birthmark on his forehead, though many of his bullies growing up knew about it regardless.
So yeah, life before his first summer visit to his grunkle was just whatever. But then the summer that he was thirteen everything changed. When he and Mabel were first told they’d be going to Echo Isle for their break, Dipper hadn’t really thought anything of it. It was going to be the same old life, just in a different town. But he couldn’t have been more wrong. Because when he found that journal in a hollowed out tree… his whole entire life was practically turned upside out. It was like he had finally been given a purpose in life - something to excite him and drive him beyond just reading up on mysteries for his own entertainment.
Every year when the Pines twins returned to Echo Isle, Dipper made it his mission to find one of the other journals.. During the times he was back home in Oregon he always kept the number three journal close and over the years he’s deciphered most of it.
When graduation came around, it seemed obvious to him that he and his sister would return to Echo Isle. Thankfully Mabel felt the same way and off they went to live permanently with the Grunkle Stan. In the end of his sophomore year of high school, Dipper had created a true crime and supernatural focused youtube channel that miraculously over his last year of school had gained quite a decent following. He was getting sponsorships and actually made enough to potentially make a real living off of it… but he wasn’t satisfied with stopping just there. Plus, he knew his parents would likely not be too fond of the idea of him skipping college to work full time on a social media career that could come crumbling down any minute.
So he enrolled in Echo University, majoring in mythology studies with a double minor in journalism and communications. He’s still running his channel gaining more followers with every new video he drops per week, and he’s working at the mystery shack - but the rest of his time outside of class is spent searching for answers.
One of the first things he was able to decode in the journal was the warning to “trust no one in Echo Isle” and for the first summer he took that warning extremely close to heart. So much so that he was even weary of his own family - but he got over that part quickly, learning that he can always rely on his sister and somewhat Grunkle Stan too. It took another year before he started letting more people in - but even then he’s a bit closed off compared to many other kids his age. He’s always been a loner, so it’s nothing new to him. Now he’s gotten a bit better at learning to socialize but there are very very few people he trusts with telling anything regarding his investigations.
In his free time he plays a decent amount of video games. He has a twitch account where he streams sometimes, a channel that was created at his followers request.
He’s pretty damn insecure. Not like cripplingly or anything like that - but growing up surrounded by so much bullying really does leave a mark on a kid. He doesn’t think he’s ugly or anything but he also knows he’s not really hot stuff. Doesn’t understand why anyone could be into him and any time he’s dated in the past he’s been ready for the other person to dump him at any second.
Oftentimes has glitter stuck to him somewhere on his body. Not from his own crafts or anything - because Dipper rarely does art of his own - but being surrounded by colors and glitter is part of the territory when it comes to living with Mabel. And everyone knows once you open a bottle of glitter in a room it’ll be sticking to every surface it can find for forever, and Dipper’s wardrobe is no exception to that.
Also because of Mabel he knows a decent amount about makeup. Both from being her personal barbie doll and from occasionally finding himself sucked into watching along to any tutorials she may be recording herself or watching online. It’s not knowledge that he shares or lets others know about often, but he’s got it.
Met what he truly believes to have been a merman during that first summer when he came to Echo Isle and it sure was his lil gay awakening. He’s been openly out as being pansexual since his junior year of high school. It took him a while to come out mostly just because he hadn’t been sure of what label fit him best.
Has a giant collection of hats and beanies that he’s accumulated over the past decade. Also sells his own beanies and hats as merch for his channel. He has shirts and hoodies for sale too - but the beanies and hats are the best sellers since it’s part of his brand.
His channel is called Inside The Mystery. He posts a new videos to it every week on Sundays, switching the topics up from true crime cases to different mythologies and folklore from anywhere around the world.
Forgets that his real name is Mason like 99% of the time. The only time it’s ever brought up really anymore is whenever anyone looks at his ID or the start of a semester when role is called - but even by now a good majority of the entire town simply knows him as Dipper.
Hates the nickname Dippin Dots but puts up with it since so many people in his life have a tendency to call him that. He finds it embarrassing as hell and doesn’t understand why it’s necessary - but whatever.
