28F. The Ford Whisperer / the original Stan Twin Theory gal from back in the day when the show was airing; a dusty fandom relic, if you will. I still blog about Gravity Falls and writing on occasion. B.S in Computer Science, minor in English.
Behold, the beautiful old days when we thought Stan’s twin was named Stanley and Grunkle Stan was Stanford... :’D
Also, yes, I was right muahahahaha.
The original big twin theory from before my old blog was accidentally deleted can be found here, since people still ask for it on occasion: https://web.archive.org/web/20131112174104/http://prettyinpwn.tumblr.com/post/55115200158/indulging-in-the-stan-twin-theory-adding-things-to
Coming out of my blog hibernation to alert fellow Gravity Falls fans that a real life pair of twin brothers in their 50-60s from the east coast of the US - one with fully silver hair who is the talkative one and one with a silver stripe who is the quiet one - who both have large noses, brown eyes, large glasses, similar names, and travel together during retirement to catch supernatural phenomena do, in fact, exist. They also are interested in the paranormal because of supernatural experiences they had as kids.
Thoughts on the reveal that the Pines parents are having a rough patch in their marriage such that it became a recurring nightmare for Dipper? Do you think they divorced at the end?
Oof... yeah, that was probably the most heartbreaking part of TBOB for me, other than the awful things that happened to Ford with Bill. I personally think their parents divorced at the end. They could have done couple's counseling in private with Dipper and Mabel still there, you know? Like, "Mom and Dad are going for a date, sweethearts, your grandparents going to watch you tonight." type little lies.
But having Dipper and Mabel gone all summer is like... divorce level prep time. Divorces can take forever, speaking from my own experience having watched my own parents divorce when I was around Dipper and Mabel's age, because there's a lot of legal stuff that needs to be figured out and mediated with a judge. It also can stir up a lot of tension in a household with two people that might resent the hell out of each other, because who knows what the cause was; could have been cheating, financial issues, constant conflict, etc.
Of course, we won't know for sure until/if/when Hirsch confirms it, but I'd lean more towards divorce, given how long the twins were sent away. Plus, it'd make for a good plot conflict to use for story reasons should he decide to ever return to that world again.
omg just watched the new game theory video and my god it is such a nothing burger, like he literally just listed off what happened in the book and made base level observations that anyone who did even a mild amount research would be able to know.
You're the only person keeping this fandom together frfr.
Also anything in there that was "solved" was literally stolen from the GF subreddit discord, and from those (like myself) who chronicled everything we could, either in docs or videos.
I love you Jhes, I don’t care if me in 2018 reading your page and thinking you were an axolotl creature was a misunderstanding on my part. I’m keeping that headcanon / design since we know so little <3
Did Shermie ever argue with Filbrick about his decision to kick Stan out of the house? I mean, even though he was mad at Stan for ruining the Ford's project, I doubt he was happy about the news that his seventeen-year-old brother had become homeless and living in his own car.
Yeah, in my headcanon, I think Shermie - even if he was mad at Stan for breaking Ford's project and even if he did get a biased story about what happened - he still loved Stan since they're brothers. He definitely would have thought kicking Stan out was too far, hence why I think he tried to find Stan in Stan's grifter/drifting years after he got out of the military. But then when he found out Stan was conning people, the multiple identities, fleeing from state to state, getting involved with crime, etc... well, to him, I think it might have proved that maybe Stan really was beyond redemption. Especially if Shermie is as straight-laced as I personally headcanon him as.
I think that's why no one in the family came to Stan's "funeral" except their mother. Filbrick probably said good riddance, Ford was missing in the Multiverse, etc. Caryn went because she probably understood the situation more from Stan's perspective. She probably also felt guilty as hell for letting her husband just toss Stan out, maybe thinking, "If I'd just tried to stop Filbrick, maybe Stan wouldn't have been on the streets, and he wouldn't have turned to crime, and then he wouldn't have ended up dead so young...". Like she felt she was responsible, in a way, but she couldn't have invited Stan home because Filbrick would have said no, probably.
Back to Shermie, I think he probably just... gave up on Stan. Although, there probably was always a part of him that wondered, knowing that his father had a temper and tended to blame Stan for everything, and he probably knew Ford was a tiny bit biased because Ford believed that Stan ruined his future. But then Shermie probably got swept into his own life with a wife and kids, so just... let Stan go, hoping he'd get better and come back, but no. He ended up, effectively, "dead" to the other Pines.
I mean, imagine you have a brother your father always said was a coattail-riding loser. Then, he breaks your other brother's chances at a fancy college. Okay, oops, mighta been an accident. Then you follow his trail and find out he's become a conman getting involved with drugs and crime and who knows what else. You'd probably give up and think he's a lost cause. That maybe your other brother and father are kind of right about him being just a lost cause screw-up. Maybe you even feel betrayed yourself, wondering how your "screw-up" brother could do things that horrible, wondering how you ever believed in the good in him.
It's okay, though, because after Gravity Falls, I assume the Stans and Dipper and Mabel tell him and everyone else in the family the truth. Imagine that family reunion...
Hi! I don't remember if anyone asked this, but do you have any headcanons about Shermie Pines?
Ah, see, this is the part where I totally self-promote share this wonderful, totally not owned by me ask blog reply: https://askthestans.tumblr.com/post/756343677567336448/hey-stan-can-you-tell-us-stories-about-your
But here's a full summary of my headcanons on the guy:
Older brother to Ford and Stan. I know the timeline's screwy with that baby in the background of ATOTS, but I personally just headcanon that that's some other baby and Shermie's not around in the house because he's off in the military.
I definitely picture him being in the Navy. I picture he's got sailor's tattoos. And actual cool ones, no offense to Ford.
I can't find the reference for the life of me, but I swear to God I once read from Hirsch (I think it was a tweet?) that Stan learned the "you cuddle up to a girl, knock her up, suddenly your life's fallin' apart" oddly specific joke in Little Gift Shop of Horrors from Filbrick. Going with my headcanon that Shermie's the older brother, that means he's the oops baby.
Because of that, and Filbrick's general suckage, Shermie struggled a lot with his dad like the Stans did. I think like Stan, he wasn't especially exceptional - or at least in a way that could make them money like Ford's brains - and Filbrick might have projected a whole "my life fell apart after I had Shermie" thing on the poor guy. So... I don't imagine Shermie got along real well with Filbrick. I also headcanon the large gap in years between Shermie and the Stans as Filbrick's hesitation to have more kids. I think Caryn would have wanted more, and eventually convinced him to have another (and whaddaya know, two for the price of one!), but Filbrick all over just gives me the vibe of a guy that never wanted to be a father, and Shermie knew that even as a kid, so he felt rather unwanted.
In terms of personality, I see Shermie as like... a straight laced golden retriever. Like a pure heart of gold "sees an old lady struggling to walk across the street and gets out and helps her" type guy. Being Mabel and Dipper's grandfather, I think he shares Mabel's optimism but Dipper's sense of right and wrong, which is what makes him a bit of a square (see the Ask the Stans post linked above). Even so, he's not outgoing like Mabel, he's introverted like Ford and Dipper. Like... people picture introverts as moody and quiet with dark thoughts, but when Shermie's quiet he just has happy fantasies like his granddaughter, Mabel (except replace hamster balls and hot boys with, idk... probably baseball or a movie he saw one time and loved).
I see him as a family pillar of support type guy, too. As the older brother in a poor family, I think a lot of responsibility was put on his shoulders. He definitely helped run the pawn shop (though Filbrick got irritated whenever he gave too generous of a discount), and made extra money on the side for his family with a side job. Going into the military was not his choice - given the era, it was probably a draft - and he sent his money home. Caryn probably did Tarot readings on him every night between his letters home hoping they always turned up positive.
He sent little letters home to Stan and Ford, too. He'd make Stan promise to protect Ford for him since he couldn't while he was out at sea, which is what inspired Stan to be such a protector. Then, he made Ford promise to help Stan with his homework like he used to, but once again, couldn't while in the Navy. And he'd tell them about his "epic ocean adventures" to gloss over the horrors of what he was actually going through, which I like to headcanon partially inspired their obsession with fixing up the Stan-O-War so they could have epic ocean adventures someday like their big brother. It wasn't until they were older that they realized, oh... yeah, he wasn't swashbuckling with pirate ghosts in the US Navy. :(
Physically, I think he's the one who looks the most like Caryn. Stan and Ford are like Filbrick short king copy+pastes, but I picture Shermie more tall and lanky like their mother, and has her aquiline nose. Coloring-wise, he's a Pines: brown hair and brown eyes. And sailor tattoos, can't forget those.
I feel like he had to be a pseudo father-figure to the Stans because of Filbrick. Filbrick wasn't the type to teach them how to ride a bike or play a sport, scare "monsters" out of their closet, bring them home for dinner from the beach, etc. Like he fulfilled more of the emotional role of a father to them that Filbrick couldn't.
With Stan, I think he played defense for the kid against Filbrick. I don't think Shermie would have directly gotten angry with Filbrick, especially given his golden retriever-ness and the era, but he defended Stan in little ways. Say Stan broke something, Shermie might have stepped in and tried to smooth things over before Filbrick could get angry. But boy oh boy, if he saw anyone else picking on Stan (or Ford, for that matter), better watch out. He might be a golden retriever, but he's still a Pines, so he's got that whole, "Mess with my family and I'll send you to the hospital." thing going on.
With Ford, I think Shermie was like Stan to him, protecting him and generally trying to make him not feel weird for his polydactyly and nerdiness. While on the surface I think Shermie and Stan might have bonded more because they had more shared surface level interests, I think Ford really looked up to Shermie, especially since Shermie was - as an introvert - the closest to Ford in personality in their family. Shermie wholly supported his love of weirdness, even if he didn't understand what the hell he was talking about half the time, and often would go along with him and Stan on monster hunts as kids just to make sure they got home safe, even if he had no interest in the paranormal himself.
As far as flaws, I can see him having inherited Filbrick's temper and absolutely hating himself for it. Like normally he's a sweet, happy-go-lucky guy, but when he blows up he feels like such an ass afterwards because it reminds himself of his father. His golden retriever personality might have been a way of him trying his best to form an identity far, FAR away from Filbrick, so when parts of Filbrick come out, he feels gross. The Stans look the most like Filbrick, but Shermie - for as nice and sweet as he is - inherited more of Filbrick's bad personality traits than they did.
When Stan got kicked out, Shermie was out at sea and their mother hadn't told him about it, feeling awful she'd let Filbrick just kick Stan out. So when he got home, he was like, "Where the hell is Stan?", and Caryn had to tell him. Shermie always blamed himself for not being there to play defense for Stan like he always had in the past, but at the same time, he was P I S S E D that Stan broke Ford's science fair project. And given that Caryn felt guilty and didn't want to speak against Filbrick and Ford's opinions, and Filbrick is a dick, and Ford was still freshly wounded from the whole fight and disappointment... well, he got a biased view of Stan. He felt so betrayed by Stan for decades for having "hurt" Ford and the family. I think this would explain why he wouldn't have gone to Stan's "funeral" later on. Cue him feeling like an asshole after the events of Gravity Falls and Stan and Ford and/or the niblings tell their grandfather what went down the last three decades.
Even so, I think he tried to find Stan afterwards in his drifter grifter years, but to no avail. Stan didn't want Shermie to find him and disappoint him, and all the evidence Shermie did find seemed to prove what Ford and Filbrick said about Stan, so... :(
He worked in the IRS for his career after the Navy. It made Stan barf when he found out. But Shermie just wanted a good old normal family life and a boring job after what he went through in the war.
As for the way he interacts with Dipper and Mabel, just... pure cuteness. Picture the most stereotypical sweethearted grandfather. Stan and Ford are like the cool old relatives, but Shermie is the big softie old relative. He buys Mabel craptons of arts and crafts and knitting supplies for birthdays and holidays, and he buys Dipper whatever paranormal stuff or video games he wants. He fully sees Dipper as like a little Ford and a lot like his own son (D&M's dad), but he loves Mabel too, of course.
If I think of any more, I'll be sure to add them to this post. :D
Weird thought that crossed my mind yesterday, I was 50/50 with the fact in The Book of Bill about him being born with an eye mutation that allowed him to see the third dimension. I mean, knowing Bill this might be a lie, that was the thought that was a bit weird for me.
Just to make it clear, the little I know of the book it’s because of analytics posts and clips that shared screenshots of the book. I haven’t bought it yet so my knowledge is limited.
Anyway, honestly, I took it at face value that he was born with a mutation and that’s why he connected to Ford, but in the romance section of the book where he talked about vulnerabilities, Bill said that you need a sob story to have your “partner” eating from the palm on your hand. And while Bill used that trick by sharing the speck of dust from his home dimension, I wonder why he didn’t use the truth of his eye mutation and whatever hardships he went through because of that to manipulate Ford.
If I’m right by remembering this part of the book, in the section of the lost pages of Journal 3, Ford talked about Rudolph, wondering why he didn’t kill his bullies when he saw the Christmas movie about him. And if Bill saw this memory he might’ve thought that exploiting Ford’s resentment against his old bullies would be a great idea to have him by his side. Making him believe he “related” to Ford because he was also “bullied and ostracized” because of his eye mutation.
This has gotten a bit too long but I’m curious to know what you think 🤔
Yeah, it's hard to tell with Bill what's real and what are lies. He manipulates so much that he's pure unreliable narrator, imo. I personally think most if not all of The Book of Bill - at least the parts with Bill as the narrator - are a lie or heavily warped by the way he as a character sees himself; I can't say which parts are real, which parts are just lies as a play for sympathy, which parts are just Bill's self delusions, which parts are accidental slips of truth, etc.
It is odd that he didn't use the "I have a mutation, too!" thing to draw Ford in more, like you said. I almost wonder if it's because whereas the whole "my dimension is gone" story is something that makes Bill look like a tragic hero (which is easy to do when he leaves out that little part where he destroyed it himself), whereas admitting the mutation would be him admitting that something about himself is "off", so to speak. Sort of like admitting a weakness.
The "my dimension is gone" is a half-truth, the "I have a mutation" is a full truth (once again, assuming he is truthful about that), too; telling a full truth would require vulnerability from Bill to tell. And based on how he's faring in the Theraprism, er... he's not so good at vulnerability and honesty. Plus, if Bill found himself relating to Ford, that might nip whatever little tiny bit of conscience he has - if he even has one left - that says, hey... maybe I can empathize with Ford? And that would be a wrench in his plans. He can't manipulate someone he feels empathy for. Or maybe he can and just does it anyways because he's that twisted?
As for the part of the book where Ford talked about destroying his bullies... I think it's similar to my point up above: if Bill admitted he was also a picked on kid, that'd be admitting a "weakness". In Bill's mind, he's the most powerful thing in the Multiverse. He's a walking embodiment of ego gone horribly wrong. He's trying to sell to Ford that he's some grand muse come to inspire a once in a century genius, so it'd break his image if he admitted his mutation/picked on childhood (once again, assuming even those parts are true, because everything Bill says needs to be taken with a grain of salt imo).
Reading your analysis about Mabel and the one about the Fantasy Vs Reality Weirdmaggedon episode, what do you think of the detail that Mabel made Dippy Fresh? Do you consider it another reason why the fandom hates/dislikes Mabel? Does it in some weaken your analyses that she’s well-written?
Er... actually, that just strengthens my analysis that she's well-written. Why? Because she's got flaws, Dippy Fresh's creation being one of her mistakes. She's not perfect, she does wrong at times, and that's good. Because a good character is one that's imperfect. If it makes the fandom hate her more, so be it.
But that doesn't mean she's poorly constructed. "Character did a bad thing fandom didn't like." does not mean, "This character is objectively badly written.".
I'll requote a small part of my analysis on Mabel that I think is relevant here. For context, in said analysis I had pointed out the many ways in which all of the Pines have been selfish at times, before this quote:
"So if people dislike Mabel for being selfish, well… they should dislike all of the Pines, then. And there are times she gives up her wants for Dipper, too, albeit shown less often. She trashes her sock puppet show - her chance at impressing a guy and compromising her core want of love - to save him, inspired by all the times he sacrificed for her. She lets go of a land of perfection and her delusion - albeit one that really wasn’t real - to help him fix Weirdmageddon and save Ford.
Because here’s the thing: a well-written character has flaws. There’d be no story if they didn’t. A character without flaws has no arc and is poorly written. Mabel - just like the other Pines - is flawed and that’s great. Because it means… she’s well-written. I’ll quote my post on Ford again:
“This is why Ford is a well-written character. He has flaws and suffers for them until he makes up for his mistakes. They are understandable flaws, but like in real life, just because it’s understandable why we act poorly at times - be it because of trauma or upbringing - it doesn’t mean we’re justified in continuing to hurt others or ourselves because of those flaws. We must acknowledge them, grow past them, and do our best to do better in the future, as well as apologize to those we hurt along the way.”
Just like Ford, Mabel has flaws - albeit understandable ones based on who she is and her history - and she suffers for them. But in Escape From Reality, she acknowledges them, grows past them, and does her best to do better in the future."
I didn't mention the Dippy Fresh part in my analysis on her, but the same thing applies. Was it a dick move to make a "better" version of Dipper? Yeah. But Mabel is still her flawed version of herself in her character arc at this point, escaping from reality, and Dipper is the one that tries to pop her delulu bubble of rainbows and sunshine. So flawed Mabel - who wants to stay in delulu land - makes a Dipper that doesn't have that "flaw" of realistic pessimism and supports her delusional world. Dippy Fresh is a Dipper that enables her flaws.
That's why real Dipper works in breaking her free. That's why she needs Dipper. He anchors her to reality. In contrast, she gives him levity. I'll go back to the show's thesis I mentioned in that same post: a Pines twin alone is a dysfunctional Pines. Dipper alone is a pessimistic little wet blanket. Mabel alone is a delusional, naive rainbow clown rocket. But together, they balance each other out.
Her character arc climax is in letting Mabeland - and Dippy Fresh - go, and accepting reality and her real brother. She made mistakes, learns she was wrong, and grows. That's what a well-written character does.
Hello, just read your recent Stan(ley) analysis… I’m especially so delighted on the section of (A)Xolotl, because I’ve always heard of the connections in fleeting mentions (like just brief touches on parallels of Stan-Ford = Xolotl-Quetzalcoatl), but I just adore the way you tie it in thematically with the show’s overarching narrative, Stan’s character arc, and the visual cues in GF.
If you were ever interested in elaborating even further on the link between Stan-Bill/Stan-Axolotl like you mentioned, I for one would definitely read it!
Aww, thank you for reading! I'm glad you liked my Stan post. <3
As for my Stan-Bill-Axolotl theory, well...
*Glances at the 40 page unfinished monster.*
Honestly, I paused writing it because I was waiting until TBOB released in order to make sure that it didn't cancel anything I was suggesting out. That, and the hardest dang part is figuring out how to organize it. It goes from hints in the series, to hints in the books, to hints in even the long-forgotten Search for the Blindeye website. I've gone through two rewrites of it just trying to figure out how to make it less, er... crazy red string corkboard and more essay-like.
I can't promise I'll finish and release it, but long story short just in case I don't: the gist of my Long Con Theory (what I call it) blends the idea of the Axolotl being an opposite but similar cosmic force to Bill but for good rather than chaos, who "shapeshifts" (interpret that as you'd like, but we know he can become other/smaller forms, because example: Frilliam in TBOB) like the real life deity Xolotl to basically con Bill over millennia into falling into his trap, but doing so in such a way that Bill doesn't see it coming, and better yet, makes it his choice technically in the process.
Said trap in my opinion was a long, LONG string of cons that eventually led to what we see in Gravity Falls, Stan being one of the Axolotl's forms rather than the commonly theorized idea that he's a reincarnation of Bill (Same Coin Theory), who was the final puzzle piece to stopping Bill. It finally makes sense of why the Axolotl even offered Bill an out or second chance all those thousands to millions of years ago. The whole, "invoke my name if you get into trouble or whatever". That wasn't really an out. That was a trick, in my opinion, to force Bill - through his own free will, technically - into therapy.
It sounds nuts when I explain it without those forty pages of reasoning, but I found so much evidence along the way that... honestly, it started to make more sense to me than the Stan=Bill reincarnated theory (although I like that one a lot, too, for the karmic justice reasons; Bill defeating himself is just poetic and accurate in more ways than one).
If it sounds confusing, the shortest way I can describe my Stan-Axolotl theory is that Bill thinks he's the Multiverse's smartest little trickster, but the Axolotl has been playing 4D chess on him for millions of years in the most cosmically comedic way.
Also, it means that - contrary to popular belief - that would make Stan the echo of the Axolotl, and Ford of all people the echo of Bill; a brother saving his brother from his own mistakes and redeeming himself in the process, both cosmically as a deity chonky boi amphibian and his triangle chaotic bastard rival, and as human twin brothers. It would explain why the Axolotl even gives a rat's ass about Bill getting better and healing, anyways (or, at the very least, would make him a more interesting deity beyond the typical, "me am good god, everyone deserve hugs <3" type deal, as cute as that would be). And it would also tie in well with the Ford-Bill parallels The Book of Bill brought up; both having a "deformity" of sorts, being picked on, almost destroying (or succeeding in Bill's case) their own dimensions, etc.
Like... imagine you're the Axolotl and Bill is your cosmic deity twin brother; a polar opposite of what you stand for. Imagine him messing up so badly repeatedly, but because he's your family in a way, you spend millions of years trying to make him better through a long, complicated manner that involves a lot of deception. Sounds a hell of a lot like Stan's story, right? Whether or not you'd interpret Stan as a literal version of the Axolotl and Ford as a literal version of Bill, or the Axolotl and Bill as literal twins given their physical differences and likely dimensional origin differences, not sure, but... it fits just right to me.
If true, it also would tie in extremely thematically well with the rest of the series: family saving family, the importance of sticking with family, forgiveness and redemption, forgiving the seemingly unforgivable, twin relationships, repeated family cycles, etc. And to go super nutso because that's how I roll, imagine the thematic value of - by Bill hurting and manipulating Ford even if he's technically a "form" of himself - it's symbolic of him abusing himself AKA self-hate, of getting in his own way, etc.
And imagine if Bill KNEW Ford was a version of himself? And Stan a version of the Axolotl? Another reason for Bill to hate Stan, man. And extra reason for Bill to maybe regret what he did to Ford, because it was only hurting himself, and perhaps the only way Bill can learn empathy is to understand how what he does hurts himself because he obviously didn't learn it through hurting others. The angst-bait, I can TASTE it.
Then we add a little bit of the, "Oh, we thought Stan was a Bill reincarnation, but actually he's a form of the Axolotl, so yet AGAIN he's not what he seems goddammit." type plot twists within plot twists within thematic elements within theme circles and dimensions and...
*Long breath.*
And THEN it also explains why Jheselbraum would have even given a damn about helping Ford. Yes, she's nice and incredibly underrated fandom why don't we talk about her more, but she's associated with the Axolotl. He was probably like, "Hey, Jhessie, my twin brother's being a dumbass on the run from his own dumbass self again, can you put some metal in his head for me so he can tune himself out? Thanks.". And Jheselbraum was probably like, "Wtf, but okay, praise the Axolotl, I guess.". Like... we're never told WHY Jheselbraum saved Ford. Yes, they needed him to go home to start the rift and be with Stan again so that Weirdmageddon would happen so that all that timeline nonsense would end in Stan sending Bill to therapy, but HOW? WHY?
And don't get me started on Frilliam. Why the gat damn would the Axolotl shapeshift himself into a tiny chonk version to watch over Ford and give him bombastic side eye when he let Bill convince him to let tiny chonk version go? And then somehow magically shows up in the tank later during Tourist Trapped, when Stan owns the Shack? Like... this deity HAS to have a personal interest in Ford and Stan, right? How in the shit is it normal for your universe's deity to just chill in your house and watch over you unless he had some personal interest at stake?
And FRILLIAM? Which rhymes with WILLIAM AKA BILL? WHICH SOUND LIKE LAZY ASS TOO SIMILAR BOY TWIN NAMES LIKE STANLEY AND STANFORD ARE? COME ON.
And like... their school mascot being the vultures, which is associated with Xolotl's rule over the trecena of Vulture (kind of like an Aztec week in their calendar iirc).... and Stan being a cosmic damn master of the mind in Dreamscaperers and Weirdmageddon 3 so much that he can shift it at will that just never gets explained as to why... and all the parallels I mentioned of Stan embodying the virtues of the Axolotl in his writing in the post you mentioned... and Stan sharing similarities with Bill that led us to think he was Bill's reincarnation ("eenie meanie miney YOU") but maybe he's the Axolotl's different form so shares similarities for that reason instead because twin bros and... all the fire and new identities symbolism and, like... Stan having a horned/frilled reptilian/amphibian mask (albeit not an axolotl) on as his first appearance?
Anyways, the full theory makes a million more points, but yeah, this is why that theory is currently 40 pages long. This post is a microcosm of how nuts it gets. And how it sounds nuts until you put the breadcrumbs together until you're like, "Wait a minute, I'm either insane or Hirsch is. Or both."
lol also I said "long story short" earlier but the short version is an essay in and of itself forgive my rambling sins
A bit of a follow up and also spoilers from The Book of Bill
It's also revealed that Dip and Mabel's parents are perhaps having marital issues and that became a source of recurring nightmares for Dipper. Do you think that's an additional factor that have Dipper consider staying in the Falls? Or actually also to think about it now: Dipper was hesitant to take up the offer because Mabel would go home alone to face a volatile domestic situtation.
I definitely think that's another reason why Dipper may have wanted to stay in Gravity Falls. Speaking as a person who went through their parents divorcing at around the same age as Dipper and Mabel - and I went through their worst case scenario of my closest sibling leaving to escape the tension while I had to stay and live that nightmare alone while our parents went through a very toxic divorce - it sucked HARD, to say the least. I'd never felt more depressed in my life than at that time. Stuff like that can break a kid.
So if Dipper was fearing a parent split? Hell yeah, he'd do anything to keep miles away from it. But he'd probably also think, "Crap, I can't leave Mabel alone with this.". But given Mabel's obsession with love and fantasy over the summer, others have speculated that maybe she knew, too, and that's why she wanted to "escape from reality" so badly. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for, and Mabel's especially emotionally intelligent. That may be why it hit her extra hard that Dipper entertained staying without her.
Granted, I'm not sure Hirsch had that reason in his mind at the time the original series was made, but it makes a lot of sense in retrospect, even if it's a retcon. Hell, Dipper's escapism from reality as a drive to take the apprenticeship, and Mabel's escapism from reality as a drive to stay in the Mabeland bubble IS how a lot of kids like I once was cope with harsh things like parental divorce. I sure did when I went through it myself, anecdotally.
Re: people taking the Dipper and Ford parallels involving the apprenticeship and the Scholarship, because- like- it's absolutely also a case of the 'fantasy vs reality' theme of the series, like- Ford's apprenticeship was never going to last longer than a week, if Dipper didn't have a breakdown and beg to be taken home (which is not exactly off the table granted Ford isn't in a super emotionally stable place either) then it wouldn't exactly be long until their parents are roadtripping all the way up to Gravity falls to kick Uncle Stanford's ass for trying to keep their child without their knowledge or consent. It's acknowledged in the show that the apprenticeship wasn't REALLY something Dipper realistically thought was an option but was indeed another fantasy, but it's an understated moment in the escape from reality ep and most people forget it was there.(i mean what does staying in oregon with a hermit scientist in the woods studying anomalies do to help him get into film school for his own ghost hunting series?)
and if you take that to parallel ford's 'fantasy setup' one could probably extrapolate that he'd have been kind of miserable at West Coast Tech anyway, of course, we don't have any way to prove that bc Dipper was able to quickly identify that Mabel was emotionally manipulated and tricked into the situation, but Ford was too blinded by his own hurt feelings (and Stanley's terrible attempts at explaining himself) to realize it WAS an accident and lbr the WCT people probably wouldn't have given him a free ride scholarship anyway they were a tech school in Silicon Valley in the 70s and Ford was some poor kid from a poor town in Jersey they absolutely would NOT have given him a free ride scholarship
In a funny way though, this means that Stan is the anomaly among the 'fantasy vs reality' themes of the pines family, bc while Dipper and Ford and Mabel were all, while in the midst of it, utterly convinced of their own fantasies, only able to realize how UNrealistic they were in hindsight, Stan as the family conman was always well aware of the lies he told and that were told to him. And that's how you get so good at selling fantasies that you can out-lie the triangle SO BADLY that he's still raging about it in his therapy journal ten years later
(Oof sorry it took me so long to reply, I've gotten a lot of messages lately and I take these weird ass breaks from Tumblr from days to months at a time for some reason.)
Some great thoughts to ponder in this, Anon, so thank you for sending them in! Yeah, that's another theme I forgot to mention, like you said: fantasy vs. reality. And the beauty of that theme in Gravity Falls, is that even the setting is a symbol of it: where the fantasy of the supernatural and the reality of a little rural town with every day people collide.
I think you're right: Stan is the most balanced of all in this manner. He never really gets drawn into an unreality or fantasy. He knows what's what and what's bullshit, because like you said, he sells bullshit for a living. In fact, I'd argue he's too much into reality. Poor guy needs some escapism and hugs. </3
But yeah, it's very possible that Ford and Dipper would have been utterly miserable if they'd followed the "fantasy" path in life. My favorite way of explaining my thoughts on the whole apprenticeship thing can be summed up in this shot from D&MvsF, and it might be my favorite shot in all of Season 2, honestly:
I can't prove it was intentional - Hirsch and crew would have to do that - but it's almost funny how Ford is portraying himself as this hero. He says, "Dipper, can you honestly tell me you never felt like you were meant for something more?" and strikes this pose. But like... that doesn't look like a hero. That looks like a broken old man with shadows and cracks placed seemingly very intentionally over his reflection.
Even the lighting feels symbolic: there's light on Dipper, whereas the only light on Ford is behind him. Like Dipper's story still has hope and his best days are ahead, whereas Ford squandered the good in his life for decades and is alone in the darkness of his work. It's... kinda depressing, actually. Looking at this shot always makes me feel awful for Ford.
In symbolic language, this shot says to me, "This is the same kind of person, but the older one's a darker reflection of the younger one. A forewarning of what could happen.". Because, look, I'll defend Ford to the end, but like all the other Pines, he's flawed. This man harmed his best friend/lover/however you interpret what Fiddleford was to him, his brother, himself, and almost ended the universe. Like... Ford apocalyptically fucks up, literally. So for him to still think he's on a noble path and tries to portray his way of life to Dipper as this heroic thing in this scene, I feel like he's trying to convince himself as much as Dipper that he's a hero. But his reflection here doesn't lie.
So honestly, I see the apprenticeship as Ford trying to project his image onto Dipper. To become the hero he failed to become, and by training Dipper, he'll think, "Oh, my legacy isn't tarnished, because look at what I produced!". And that's why I think this shot is amazing, because it feels like Dipper starting to see the cracks in his great uncle he's idolized all summer up until this point. He's not the amazing author he fantasized about as this great hero, he's... a broken man with flaws, exploring the husk of a long dead spacecraft with alien death all around him.
I think you're right on the West Coast Tech front, too. This delves into my super big masterpost on Ford's writing, but in that post, I came to the conclusion that Ford's yearning for West Coast Tech was more about impressing his father and providing for family over his own passions.
He didn't even really want to go to West Coast Tech until his principal was like, "Hey, this place exists, and could make you a millionaire.". Filbrick was impressed, and THAT'S when Ford was like, "Hm... now I'm excited!". I think if he went there, he wouldn't have made any friends since that's been a constant in his life except for Fiddleford. Speaking of, he wouldn't have even met Fiddleford if he'd gone there, anyway. So in all likelihood... Ford would have been very alone with very stuffy, elite folks and would have felt more alienated than usual.
Like, can you picture Ford actually fitting in with people at that college? It would have likely been mostly people in the, "Mommy and Daddy bought me a place here!" circle who rode coattails to get in. Like, they'd talk about yachts and crap and Ford would be like, "Yeah, I found a rotten old boat on the beach with my brother once.". And likely it would have ended with raised brows and, "Ew, it's a poor, it has cooties and six fingers!".
That, or he would have been surrounded by other egotistical nerds. And no offense to really intelligent people, but in my experience, some extremely smart people can be condescending. Ford might have found a similar atmosphere at WCT where he might have been looked down on by people that were even smarter than him - or richer - and with even less social tact.
Trust me... I've been around a bunch of Fords on steroids in real life, and it ain't fun being surrounded by arrogant geniuses, speaking as a nerd myself. There are two types of nerds: the ones who accept their outcast-ness and are comfortable with it, and those who are insecure who take it out on others by pulling the "outcast" stick out of their asses and beating up other nerds with it. I'd bet an arm and leg that WCT would have been full of those kinds, making Ford miserable (or he'd have adapted to become just as snooty and/or arrogant as them).
At Backupsmore, he had Fiddleford from a similar poor background he could relate to (and humility - can we all pause to clap for Fiddleford for being a humble genius?) and just enough money for a grant and freedom, but not enough for his father to come running with a hand out, and likely less condescending people. He actually probably was better off going to Backupsmore, honestly.
Anyways, sorry this was a super long reply, but these are all my thoughts on the topics you brought up. Long story short, I agree on the fantasy vs reality theme you mentioned applying to Dipper and Ford. WCT could have been awful for Ford both in the peer and father greediness department, and the apprenticeship likely would have been awful for Dipper in the dark path department. Both Dipper and Ford are way better off being with their twins, imo, or at least that's the show's thesis on the matter.
So... long story short, I'm an ancient, crusty old part of the Gravity Falls fandom, best known forgotten for having made the original Stan twin theory post that got it going on Tumblr back in the day when the show was airing. AKA the person that predicted Ford conclusively first before Not What He Seems even aired. Here's the original post in question from eons ago:
I BEG OF YOU TO READ THIS ENTIRE THING THROUGH. I KNOW IT’S LONG, BUT I PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO IT AND I ASSURE YOU THAT IT’LL BLOW YOUR MIND
Or... at least I thought I was.
I have a bit of a conundrum I'm wondering if anyone can answer, or if anyone from the fandom from that time - like I am - might remember. See... for a very long time, I always thought the 'someone on Tumblr cracked the case, so we made the McGucket hoax' quote from the GF commentaries meant my blog and post was the one that scared Hirsch into making the hoax, but then I realized:
My theory had the McGucket hoax in it (I believed it hook, line, and sinker, too - thanks Alex, you plaid rascal). So... the McGucket hoax wasn't made in reaction to MY Stan twin theory post on Tumblr, which means... someone else's was.
But here's the thing: I was OBSESSED with GF at that point (who am I kidding, still am, the brainrot in me is strong), constantly refreshing and checking the tags and the people I followed every day for hours on end, deep in the theorist side of the fandom, and I do not remember anyone having fully made a post like mine that "cracked the case"... until mine. The idea or suggestion that Stan might also have a twin existed, sure, but as far as I know, no one fully proved it until me, with the above post rounding up all the evidence.
So... then who DID? Does anyone remember or has found anything from those days that conclusively proves what post was the one that sent Hirsch into a frenzy to make the hoax? Because I'm pretty sure now it wasn't mine.
The absolute earliest mention I personally remember was on the Mystery Shack forums, I think they were called, but once again... not sure by who, and it was without evidence and was just a 'wouldn't it be cool for Stan to have a twin, too?' type deal, iirc. And my theory post itself from back then says it was already a circulating idea, so it must have existed elsewhere, first, but I for the life of me CANNOT remember any posts before mine that fully solved the plot twist.
My one thought is that - and this is how I remember it - me saying "the famous amongst Fallers Stan twin theory" in my original twin theory post was me mis-stating theory when really it was only a 'what if?' idea at that point, but... then again, the McGucket hoax was made before my twin theory post, so there must have been an earlier Tumblr post than mine, right?
Anyways, sorry for the long explanation, but I wanted to explain my thought process and what I remember. Please reblog to help me solve the mystery! The more this gets reblogged, the more people who might remember from back then might see this and know the answer. Or maybe a newer fan that's delved into super old posts in the fandom might have seen one earlier than ~July-Aug 2013 (roughly right after Dreamscaperers was released) that cracked the case before my post did at that time.
Becca pointed out to me that in an early episode of Gravity Falls, The Legend of the Gobblewonker, Stan has a licence plate with “Stanley Mobile” on it. (“STNLYMBL”)
Which is rather strange, considering Stan’s full name is Stanford.
I’ve seen theories, or perhaps just headcanons, floating around that Stan is a twin. Stan must have (or must have had) a sibling who is Dipper and Mabel’s grandmother or grandfather. Twins often run in the family, and “Stanley” and “Stanford” sounds like a cute pair of names for twin boys.
I don’t know if those idea are substantiated or not. I don’t know if the family will ever be touched on or if they’re significant at all, but it seems like a pretty weird error to make for the animator to confuse “Stanley” with “Stanford”
I remember when people told us we were looking into things too much. Ah, good times.
EDIT: Forgot to add... for fandom preservation purposes, here was the original twin theory post that kicked it off on Tumblr around July-August 2013, right after Dreamscaperers released (the idea existed before that but this was the first post as far as I know that collected all the evidence into full ass "holy shit this theory might be legit!" territory).
Also, excuse my blog's vomit level design at that point:
I BEG OF YOU TO READ THIS ENTIRE THING THROUGH. I KNOW IT’S LONG, BUT I PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO IT AND I ASSURE YOU THAT IT’LL BLOW YOUR MIND
That's... actually a really good question! Honestly, I'd say current show style (but keep in mind I have little to no artistic talent or art education so this is just my uninformed opinion).
I like the pilot's design a lot, to be fair. I like that Mabel and Dipper look more their age and I like the, er... is 'quirkiness' the right word for it? But some things are off, like Stan's design is SO much better in the version of the show we got.
And as much as I like the quirkiness of the pilot style's backgrounds, Ian Worrel's direction in that area just makes, well... look at it:
I mean, I could pick any background of his and it'd belong in a museum, because this show is goddamn beautiful.
So current show style is my final answer. However, to my understanding, the pilot was likely made on a much smaller budget, so who's to say that if they kept more of the pilot style but tuned it up with a big team and cash behind it that it couldn't have been just as amazing in its own way.
I feel like current style is more palatable to a general audience, though, which is one point in the pilot style's favor imo: one of the themes of GF is being weird and being okay with it, so an art direction that followed that same quirkiness would have been a neat art-story connection.
Or even better, if it'd been a blend of quirky and light versus more realistic elements and dark to showcase the blend of the four main Pines' personalities. You do see this art-story connection with the color symbolism in the show, though, in the current style. For example, pink is actually an important color whenever you see it; it tends to show when there are heartfelt sibling or family moments, like at the end of Tourist Trapped. Basically, when siblings are getting along, no matter which pair you're talking about:
Red is associated with Stan and familial love to the extreme, hence its greater intensity than the pink used in the show (ever wonder why his shoes were red as a kid?):
Blue is associated with Ford and the supernatural/mysterious (also shown by the colors of his shoes as a kid):
So it's stuff like this that really makes me appreciate the current show style. There's meaning and symbolism even just in the colors they chose. Then again, who's to say that the pilot style with a bigger budget wouldn't have reached the same level of symbolic depth?
Damn it, now I want to make a whole post on color symbolism in Gravity Falls.
Stan Pines: A Masterclass in Character Writing and Symbolism AKA Stan is Godly, Literally (GF Writing Analysis Pt. 5)
If you're interested in reading a similar writing analysis on Ford Pines, please visit this page.
I've wanted to write a post on Stan for a long time, because I'm going to make a bold claim: he is THE best written character in Gravity Falls. I literally have never been able to find a flaw with his writing, and the reason? Not only does he have the markers of quality I mentioned in my post about Ford's writing (a want, need, character arc, realistic flaws), but...
I would also argue he is THE main protagonist and hero of Gravity Falls if I had to pin it down to just one, and his character arc matches the external conflict, that being Bill Cipher and the theme of growing up vs. staying in childhood and ego vs. selflessness, in ways that are just - and I'm not exaggerating - poetic. And the best part is, he had a lot more time and attention in the spotlight in the show than Ford, so everything I mentioned in the other post that was good about Ford's writing, ramp that up x100 for Stan.
His character also touches on multiple other fantastic themes: breaking generational trauma, healing broken familial relationships that seem unfixable, redemption, the misunderstanding of the family "fuckup" (although Stan is not that in the least, but that's part of his character arc), positive masculinity, true brotherhood, self-love, self-identity, and probably a million others I'm missing and will find out even just as I write this.
As for the godly part, well... you'll just have to read to the end. And no, I'm not kidding or exaggerating, either.
Okay, okay, gushing aside, let's get to the analysis. I'm not sure this will be as neatly structured as Ford's was, but there are just so many damn good things about Stan's writing that it's hard to stick to just one point. Let us begin.
Stan's Backstory: I Am Not Ford and That's Bad + Protecting/Providing for Family > Everything Else
So as I discussed in my post about Ford linked above, much of Stan's childhood revolved around Ford. His entire existence as a child was summed up by one question: how do I compare to Ford? This is especially emphasized in how their father, Filbrick, treated them. One of the end credits ciphers in the show reads as follows:
"A STUBBORN TOUGH NEW JERSEY NATIVE, FILBRICK WASN’T TOO CREATIVE, HAVING TWINS WAS NOT HIS PLAN, SO HE JUST SHRUGGED AND NAMED BOTH STAN."
Haha, very funny. But OUCH. Imagine knowing that your whole name is your name, was because your father only expected one son and was too lazy to come up with anything else. So literally, Stan doesn't even have his own name - his own identity - technically. Stan also was apparently the second twin born, so came in "second" even from birth, and being Ford's (either identical or very similar fraternal) twin, well... it's hard for someone to untie their identity from their brother's with those factors surrounding them as a kid.
There are many other factors that illustrate my point (Ford got Filbrick's name as his middle name, the way Filbrick literally put Stan on the lawn for sale as a kid for failing a test, etc). All in all, Ford receives their father's love, Stan does not, although we could argue that this isn't that great for Ford, not really, as I did in my post on his writing. Because it's a love that comes with a, "I'd also like to use you." attached (just like Bill, gee).
All in all, it's very obvious from all these context clues that Ford was the beloved one, and Stan was the unexpected one, from birth to the end of Gravity Falls, where he uses that to his advantage - albeit in a different context - to defeat Bill Cipher.
Worse yet, Stan happened to have a twin that was extremely smart and talented in a way that was easily noticed. Ford is a Golden Child, as I described in his own writing analysis post, and siblings of the golden child like Stan? Well... the other sibling(s) are often the Scapegoat. As the source in the last sentence states, the Scapegoat is "often blamed for family mistakes, discarded, neglected, and has been gaslighted into believing it was their fault. The scapegoated child is usually assigned at a young age and often carries this role through to adulthood and never loses the unfortunate title.". This can highly affect the Scapegoat's self-esteem, even into adulthood.
This page also covers the Golden Child vs. Scapegoat dynamic. Pay attention to these quotes from this source:
"You are the one the parent will come after when things are going wrong."
"You are subjected to their emotional and verbal abuse the most."
"You may even feel like you need to fix your broken family."
Also, take into account these panels from the comic, Lost Legends, released after Gravity Falls ended:
Yikes. A child doesn't say these things unless a parent has taught them that everything they do is wrong and they are lesser than their sibling. This kid's noticed how Filbrick looks with pride at Ford, but not him. And here's the thing: the item Stan stole in this comic that made Filbrick mad? Stan did it to clean it to make his father proud. Sound familiar? In the events of Gravity Falls, Stan works on the portal for thirty years and gets Ford back, and he gets... yelled at for it. Stan always has good intentions. Although, Ford has a point in the above comic panel: Stan does take shortcuts that get him into trouble. He did almost get jailed by the US government and end the universe to save Ford.
But this is a consistent theme with Stan's character throughout the show. Even WE as the audience first see Stan the way his family did - a conniving scoundrel and money-grubbing criminal - but through the events of the show, just as Stan's family starts to realize it, even when Stan does things that seem bad, like stealing radioactive waste, working on a portal described as a potential cause of the end of the world, has a ton of different identities, etc... we find out Stan had good intentions all along.
Even Stan's greediness? That need for money? That also stemmed from the same good intentions, because how ELSE was he going to afford Ford's mortgage to keep the Shack in order to keep working on bringing him home? It was also likely something ingrained into him from when he was kicked out. Because Filbrick told him, basically, until you make us the money that Ford losing his chance at West Coast Tech cost us, GTFO. Literally. :'(
So Stan... really IS not what he seems. He seems like a fuckup, a criminal, a liar, and a greedy conman. But really... he's a family defender, protector, and supporter. Want to have your mind blown? Intentional or not, let's look at the very first scene we see Stan in in the series:
"Oh look, I'm a monster!"
"Just kidding, I'm not. I'm someone else under what looks like a monster."
Yes. Stan's whole character arc is foreshadowed in like... three seconds in the first episode. The very first time we see him. Not just his arc, but also his role as someone that seems deceptively evil but is actually good. And not just the arc that Ford and Dipper take from distrusting Stan to finally understanding his good intentions, but also the realization WE as viewers have about Stan as we follow the story.
Additionally - which we'll get into later - it's symbolic of Stan's internal character arc he takes across the series of realizing he himself isn't the monster that his father planted in his mind as a child, but a good person worthy of love.
All of that... in a few seconds of animation. If that wasn't intentional, then DAMN did the writing gods smile on the Gravity Falls team the day they planned this scene.
Back to the point about who Stan really is: the family "fuckup" (not really, but we'll get to that later), and a family defender and protector. This is the true core of Stan's character throughout the whole series. Not only was he Ford's defender as a child, protecting him from bullies, but you know those scenes the fandom universally agrees on were Stan at his most badass? Ahem...
"Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!"
"Turn around and look at me, you one-eyed demon! You're a real wise-guy, but you made one fatal mistake: you messed with my family."
Yeah. Look at what Stan is doing in EVERY single one of these scenes: protecting his family. And as bad as Filbrick was, just like I explained in the post I made about Ford's writing... Filbrick also passed down some things to Stan that make him the hero he is. And it's also stuff that Stan passes down to Dipper:
Yeah, it kinda sucked for Dipper at the time. Was it a perfect way of teaching a child to be tough? Er, no, although another mark of a well-written character is that they can make mistakes and have flaws; Stan's not perfect. And the fandom has criticized the way Stan passed down this lesson to Dipper, because it can be considered very similar to the way Filbrick passed it down to Stan. But look what it did: when the world fights and threatens his family, just like Stan, Dipper fights back. With punches, too:
So... to summarize this first part:
Stan was taught from childhood "I'm not Ford, and that's bad. I am a monster unworthy of love that always messes up.", and his role is a family protector, which started with how he protected Ford from bullies as a child. This is the core of his self-identity. So let's get into the writing techniques that make a well-written character that I discussed in Ford's writing analysis post...
Stan's Core Want vs. Need
I'll quote my explanation of want vs. need from my own post on Ford I made about a year ago:
"When I took writing classes in college (and over years of writing in general and drooling over writing advice podcasts and blogs), I found that the best method for me, personally, when it comes to crafting characters is to focus on two major things:
1. Their want.
2. Their need.
On the surface, these look like the same things, but in character writing, they can be vastly different. For example, say that you have a character that greatly desires fame and recognition. They want these things.
But what’s the real reason behind it? Is it because they had a parent that was famous and want to live up to their example? Is it because they want to be adored by people? Is it because they were told they’d never amount to anything by someone and want to prove them wrong?
This real reason behind it all is the core need. Yes, they want fame and recognition, but they need it because, say, they have low self-esteem and need copious amounts of outside validation to boost it.
Tied to this need is usually a backstory reason (sometimes called their wound). Say your hypothetical character was bullied a lot as a child. Or abused by a parent. Etc. Whatever the wound was, it caused a big, painful hole in their heart that they try to fill and fix with their want.
So they go on a journey. The want is often the external journey. The need is often the core journey / character arc. Our example character seeks fame and recognition on an external journey, but deep inside, they realize they need something else, which is to understand that their past trauma/wound doesn’t define them, and fame and recognition will not be the balm they expect it will be. Often, they realize they had what they needed all along. They grow past their flaws associated with their seeking this want through understanding and instead pursuing the need."
I'll summarize Stan's character writing using these concepts right here, like I did for Ford in his analysis post:
“I want to be Ford because I want to be loved like he is, and I want to protect those I care about and do the right thing. But what I need is to realize is that who I am - not Ford, but Stan - was good enough all along, proven by how I've always protected those I care about, and I never NEEDED to be Ford in the first place. This stems from a wound from my childhood where I was a scapegoat child treated like a fuckup who never did anything right and could never measure up to Ford, and was conditioned to think that being like Ford was a ticket to earn familial love. I had what I needed all along: myself, because I am good enough and worthy of love, despite what my father taught me."
Stan's Arc: I Am Not Ford... and That's Okay
AKA Stan's arc is basically: learning to love yourself and be yourself, even when you were conditioned to think you have no value. Don't believe me? Guess what Stan does for thirty years: pretends to be Ford. And he literally does it by pretending to have died. He "kills" Stanley Pines AKA himself in a staged car crash to become Stanford Pines.
And guess how he defeats Bill? By pretending to be Ford. His greatest weakness is actually his strength, and then he flips it: he reveals to Bill that he's not Ford, he's actually Stan. And THAT'S when the antagonist of Gravity Falls is truly defeated - an antagonist that represents stasis, lack of change, and with The Book of Bill's context, an antagonist that never freed himself from his own past - is when Stan learns to accept himself and admit who he really is and learns to let the past go. And it's telling that this is what he says when he does it:
"Heh. Guess I was good for something after all."
AKA: "Yeah, fuck what Pa said about me."
There it is. The moment of Stan realizing his father was wrong, and he was wrong for thinking himself a fuckup all those years. And this is the expression he pulls at this moment of realization; at the peak of his character arc, all while burning in flames like a phoenix reborn. It sounds corny when I put it that way, but LITERALLY, all the fire symbolism feels like it wasn't foreshadowing Stan's death, but his rebirth as himself after pretending to be Ford all those years. He's not burning who he is, he's burning away who he thought - who he was told - he was. Funny that it takes place in the mind, huh?
This is the face of a man who is at peace and finally loves himself for the first time in his life. That ain't just his mind burning. That's him punching his demon that's haunted him and his brother their whole lives, protecting his family as always, and, symbolically, punching a demon that represents the show's overall antagonist of the shackles of staying stuck in the past, forgiveness, and the value of moving on. He literally punches the antagonist - staying stuck in the past - to pieces and THAT'S when he wins.
Also, can we talk about how Bill and Filbrick share color schemes, and Filbrick even has a brick-like pattern in his suit (also, I mean... come on, he's got 'brick' in his name)? I'll let you make your own conclusion about what that means for Stan's character arc:
It's also telling that Bill Cipher's backstory is that he burned his home dimension and loved ones - including his family - to ashes. The Axolotl - Gravity Falls' equivalent of basically God, from what I can tell - says himself about Bill in one of the books released outside of the show:
"Saw his own dimension burn.
Misses home and can't return.
Says he's happy. He's a liar.
Blame the arson for the fire."
Bill misses home. He wants the past and to hold onto his family, just like Stan and Mabel do. Isn't it funny how whenever Bill shows up... time stops?
And look what Bill says in Weirdmageddon: "This party never stops! Time is dead and meaning has no meaning!"
Time stopped. He just wants fun. He's almost like a child that never grew up. And... look at what it was that Stan wrecked in A Tale of Two Stans as a teenager:
A perpetual motion machine. That thing that's not supposed to stop, just like time. Stan 'breaking' time by wanting to hold Ford in the past, with him, instead of leaving him to go to college while Stan was stuck in the past/Glass Shard Beach? That's what broke their brotherhood.
But what makes Stan a hero, and Bill a villain, is that he lets go of the past and his childhood. Bill never does. And he's defeated when Stan lets go of the past, something Bill never did. Why? Because he has family to make facing the future easier. He has familial and self love. Bill doesn't, because he killed his own.
(Sorry, got off track again, but Stan's arc and story ties so deeply to the other characters' and the main themes that it's hard not to take some detours, because it illustrates just how well-written Stan is. Gravity Falls' story IS his story.).
Wanna know something cute? Wanna know how Stan realized he had worth during that scene after he defeats Bill? Why I'm betting the show runners showed Stan clutching to a picture of Dipper and Mabel as this happens? I'll give you one guess why Dipper and Mabel are so important to Stan, and why he clutches to their photo even as his mind is burning apart in the finale:
They're the first family members since Ford (whose love he'd lost) who loved Stan for who he was, not for who they thought he should have been. Mabel trusting Stan in Not What He Seems is basically the first damn time Stan's heard in thirty plus years from a family member that, "Hey, I trust you have good intentions and aren't just a lying fuckup. You're not a monster. You're not what you seem.".
Also, he's protecting his family. That always makes him happy, too, of course.
Ego Death and the "Stan is Godly" Part
Yep, we're taking this analysis post train all the way to "damn this is deep and PrettyinPwn is likely crazy for noticing it" station. The only reason I'm tacking this part on is that I saw a Q&A with Hirsch recently that sparked my attention. He was on his The Book of Bill tour, and someone asked if there was anyone more powerful than Bill in Gravity Falls lore. Of course, Hirsch said the Axolotl, but what he said about what Bill vs. the Axolotl stands for caught my eye:
The video in question. The question and answer starts around 21:22. The quote I want to point out is, though, is what we learn about these two beings:
Hirsch: "Bill's weaknesses in terms of his overconfidence, his ego, and his lack of ability to focus on one thing at a time are things that a being that has no ego, thinks on a long scale, and does have empathy is actually stronger than him because of those things."
So when we boil the conflict of Bill vs. the Axolotl down to simple terms - what makes evil vs. good in the Gravity Falls universe - is this: ego and selfishness vs. no ego and empathy.
Guess which characters wrestle with these themes? The correct answer is: ALL of them. But especially Stan and Ford. This is really what their conflict is about at the core. They both struggled with ego and selfishness, and that's when - in the story - they lose most. But they win when they choose selflessness and empathy. When they... drum roll, please... partake in ego death.
Well, let's describe an ego death. First, we must define what an ego is (source for all of the following quotes):
Ego: "The ego is a sense of self that you develop at a young age." and, "-relates to your feelings about your own importance and abilities.".
*cough "I'm the family fuckup and poor man's version of Ford because that's what people taught me to believe in my youth." cough*
And an ego death "-is the (often instantaneous) realization that you are not truly the things you've identified with, and the "ego" or sense of self you've created in your mind is a fabrication. In some instances, it can offer a profound feeling of peace and connectedness with all that is, as the walls of separation the ego creates come crumbling down."
*cough "I'm not Ford's poor copy, I'm not a fuckup, I have worth, and I realize this in my literal mind as I pull this expression-
-of total peace as the walls of my mind literally BURN around me" cough*
And, "When one comes through on the other side having released all the things they've identified with, with only their true spirit left, Kaiser says, they begin to live from a place of pure love."
*cough "I'll hold a picture of the ones I love and realize self-love as my mind burns around me because this is who I really am: a man who protects and loves my family and my family loves me" cough*
Cheeky asides, well... aside, are you seeing what I'm getting at, folks? Look, I can't prove that Hirsch and crew intended all this, but in my opinion: you wanna know why there are so many gags of Stan or versions of him melting or burning in the show? Why fire is such an important symbol surrounding him? Why there are so many times he's killed his own identity and became a "new" man again and again and again, be it as a young grifter, or as a drifter who became his brother to bring him back again, or as an old man who "killed" his own mind to save the world and his memories returned?
Because it's ego death. The rebirth of true self from a lie you were living. That's literally what Stan's arc is a metaphor for. Even better, he reaches his character arc's zenith when he does this:
That's not an old man punching a stupid little bastard. That's an old man punching what threatens his family, punching his own past, punching his own demons, punching his brother's demon, punching his prior identity, and - given that we know that Bill is a symbol of ego now - punching the personification of literal ego and letting it burn. There are, let's count, seven symbolic meanings in that punch at the very least. Maybe eight if you count that the rightside-up triangle is the alchemical symbol for fire, and by Stan beating it, it's symbolism of his defeating the fire that's eating his memories AKA why he gets his memories back. I could find more, probably.
And yes, the chubby old conman we love so much - and is the opposite of spiritual both in action and in Hirsch's words (he's said Stan is an atheist as an adult) literally has a character arc where he attains spiritual enlightenment that aligns with the god of the Gravity Falls universe - the Axolotl, who has no ego as Hirsch said - hidden under many layers of symbolism. I don't know if Hirsch and the writing crew planned this with Stan, but holy damn... this is what I meant when I said that Stan is the best written character in Gravity Falls, even if this part was unintentional. There are just so many layers of meaning here.
And the best part? Stan was this hero all along. Everything we cheer him on for - be it punching zombies to protect his niblings or spending three decades of his life trying to get his brother back - is when he's being selfless and empathetic. We love Stan as a character because he has a big heart. He's a good person because, as we described above, he is - through beating ego in a universe where its god represents a lack of ego - godly.
No, fangirls, put the sexy Hunkle art down. I mean literally spiritually godly in the Gravity Falls universe, at least in the way good and evil is portrayed in the themes and worldbuilding. No, I'm not exaggerating, either. Let's return to that quote about the Axolotl's powers and why he's stronger than Bill:
"-that a being that has no ego, thinks on a long scale, and does have empathy is actually stronger than him (Bill) because of those things."
Well... guess what Stan does? He loses his ego so hard he regularly kills his own identity multiple times in his life and goes through a symbolic ego death, he thinks on a long scale (thirty years long), and is empathetic and selfless to the point of sacrifice. And the Axolotl in real life lore? Xolotl, the god of Aztec myth? Guess what he's a god of (source):
Why I highlighted "vulture"? Honestly, this is just a neat little thing I wanted to point out, and was a part of a massive theory I was writing about Stan and Bill that sadly never came to fruition (although I may return to it someday), but here's a hint: what was Stan and Ford's school mascot in New Jersey?
I'll let you take away from all the above what you will. Let's just say: there are a LOT of similarities between Stan and the Axolotl and its real life god counterpart, Xolotl. Does that that mean he's literally the Axolotl when I say he's godly in the Gravity Falls setting? Maybe not.
Here's one last odd something that caught my eye. This is also a leftover from that theory I mentioned above, but I'll just... leave this here, because I don't think anyone else has ever pointed it out before and it expands on what I've been talking about:
Stan in the opening. The first time we see this guy, technically. He's sitting in his favorite chair. And as we all know, he turns to look at something. But just where the hell does he turn to look?
Half of you are like, "Well, what? What's he looking at?". There's a blue glow to his right, and you know what that blue glow is? The tank, which happens to have...
Could be a coincidence, maybe unintentional, but it's... kind of odd, not gonna lie. To have a character that embodies the traits of the setting's god look over at the setting's god the first time viewers see him. Just... a bit strange... and Xolotl was also a shapeshifter god, and given that Stan goes through so many identities in his life... and axolotls are able to regenerate limbs and so are a symbol of healing and rebirth like Stan - whose whole story is about healing and having multiple "rebirths" - is...
Anyways, I've gotten far off track mentioning things from that theory just for fun that I never posted. I may still post it, so I won't spoil all of it or list any more of the very odd coincidences between Stan and the Axolotl, but all you need to know from this post is that Stan shares a lot of similarities with his setting's god in symbolism, and embodies the power of the Axolotl AKA godliness in the Gravity Falls universe: no ego, selflessness, and knowing how to play a long game, because those are exactly the traits he uses to defeat Bill, as well as the traits that help him resolve his character arc wound.
So... now what?
I'm not really sure what to put here, to be honest. This post was a lot more meandering than Ford's was, but that's because there are so many different aspects of Stan's writing that are amazing, especially in symbolism. I hope it was coherent and made sense. A part of me was considering leaving out the ego death and Axolotl parts, but I thought it interesting enough to keep in. Let me know your thoughts!
