Wilford "MOTHERLOVING" Warfstache as a Queer Allegory (an analysis)
I've been thinking a lot recently about how WMLW is like, the perfect allegory for being closeted, and have mentioned that take on a few different accs....by now I've had a few people asking me to elaborate. So I'm deciding to do just that! ( @chipadip specifically asked for a tag, so here you go!)
BEFORE WE BEGIN I WANT TO PREFACE: I AM IN NO WAY CLAIMING THIS IS MARKIPLIER'S INTENT. It is so definitely not. It is just how I enjoy reading the story. You could totally take it as a metaphor for just about anything, or you could take it totally at face value!! This is mostly just word vomit to be honest, I just wanted to get this off my chest o7 Thanks in advance for humoring me!
Abe and William's Initial Approach to Sexuality (and their mutual themes of repression)
Right off the bat, we're gonna need to talk about their backstory-- Who Killed Markiplier. Seeing them for who they were originally is gonna be important to unpacking how they interact in the future.
Abe's queerness is the subject of jokes from the moment he gets a major part in the story. And that's kind of all it is-- jokes. Pretty much every time Abe is on screen, he fumbles with his words and says something that sounds incredibly gay. Or, does something that's undoubtedly supposed to read as gay, and often "creepy". I'm giving a lot of these mildly offensive ones a little bit of a pass here, because they're clearly just supposed to be funny, and not taken too seriously. You could probably say the same for the ones in the future, but with the overall subject matter and general tonal shift that comes later, I'm more and more lead to believe that there's supposed to be some truth in them. At the beginning, you could probably make an argument for either direction of Abe's sexuality (either he is gay and these are all Freudian slips, or he's straight and that's the joke) but there are some that I don't think can be explained away as just verbal slips. Like how he calls just about every man in the house handsome/beautiful/gorgeous at some point, or how he constantly fondly refers to his old "partners". The more it happens, the less his verbal slips seem like mistakes, and the more they seem like his backpedaling is out of shame. Which would fit for the 20's-era time period.
On the other hand, we have the Colonel, who I would say represents repression in his own unique (but similar) way. Knowing who he is recontextualizes a lot of the imagery associated with him in WKM. One of my personal favorite details showing that being his costuming. He's dressed in all beige for most of the run time. Colorless, dull-- much like the detective. The single piece of color visible on his outfit most of the time is the bright red scarf thing around his neck. Bright red being, interestingly, the color most closely associated with Celine, his secret lover. A detail that her design parallels, in the form of a tiny pink flower on her hat. Pink flowers, as seen in Damien, are used to represent Will, and that touch of pink is the only color visible on her design.
Color is used a lot in the Markiplier Cinematic Universe, both to represent characters, and to represent a change in perspective. Which is why I think it's so interesting that, throughout WKM, these two are dressed in such similar, dull shades. A choice that only makes Will's next appearance more jarring, which brings me to my next point:
William's Acceptance of his Identity (and Abe's avoidance of his own)
The next time we see them, chronologically speaking, is in Wilford Motherloving Warfstache. In here, we get the most literal representation of stagnation vs growth yet, in the form of the way color is used throughout the film. When Abe is alone, everything is black and white, as to imitate the noir aesthetic. But when Will is around, we see the very opposite; bright color fills the screen, and only dims when Abe enters, and dims it himself.
Abe has not changed much at all from his last appearance. He's still dressed monochromatically, and he's still pouring his life into his work. His work that is, at the moment, entirely focused on William. I'm not gonna say "it's gay to be this obsessed with another man" even though it definitely is. Instead I'm more interested in the way he views him through the lens of what he's doing. If you look at his notes (which I have because I'm crazy) they spend a lot of time focusing on how he feels about the Colonel in particular. Of course, there's an argument to be made for some of it-- a lot of his notes, especially in WKM, are clearly investigating his affair with Celine, so that explains away things like the notes saying he "isn't marriage material", and the "call me" note with a lipstick kiss and a phone number. But some one of it just seems so suspiciously centered around Will's effect on him. Literally one of the things written on the chalkboard under "evidence" in WMLW is "MY FEELINGS". What did he mean by this
On the other hand, William has changed a lot since they've last been face-to-face. He's taken on an entire new alias, not to mention an entire new wardrobe. Abe comments, at the beginning of WMLW, that William was always eccentric, but that this takes the cake. Will has completely taken off the mask he was wearing in WKM. The people who knew him well knew he was "abnormal", but he kept it bottled up. Wilford Warfstache does no such thing. He's found a rich, colorful community, and is being authentic to no one but himself. He's bright, and happy, happier than he ever looked in WKM. Of course that can be in part due to the dreary tone of WKM in general, but this level of pep is completely new for him. And, deeper in the story, he expresses that it's because he sees himself as "free". He doesn't understand anything anymore, and he doesn't try to. There's no sense in trying to hunt for answers, because the only person he needs to understand is himself, and he knows exactly who he wants to be. He holds no grudges-- despite literally shooting Abe last time he saw him, he greets him fondly here the moment he recognizes him, even going as far as to apologize and give him a hug. I think there's this undeniable theme of acceptance here, with how easy he rolls with every punch thrown at him. Meanwhile, Abe isn't taking things nearly as in stride.
One of the best scenes that illustrates this dichotomy is the scene in the car. Abe has a noir-style internal monologue, and Wilford continuously, telepathically interrupts him. This, to me, reads as a very concise metaphor to demonstrate one of Abe's deepest fears-- the fear of being known truly, and intimately. Wilford being able to read him to the point of literally reading his mind terrifies him, because he views his own mind as the place to hide everything he can't externalize. A lot of his noir-style monologuing is casually recounting trauma, which is typical of the genre, but we also get more very gay Freudian slips in here (which he doesn't feel the need to backpedal on, because, usually, no one can hear them). Like: "We're gonna play pin the tail on the donkey, but he's the donkey, and the tail is my feelings." This whole scene is a metaphor for Wilford's "gaydar" to me, basically. Especially with the very blatant "I only get one night with him to fill the hole in my heart he left behind." "...Did we date at some point?" "No, we didn't date!".
I think there is some pretty obvious attraction to Will in Abe's mind, and he is simply refusing to admit it for obvious reasons. Not just the internalized homophobia, though there is definitely a lot of that, but also the fact that Will is such a dangerous and unstable person. He can't bring himself to confess, even in his own mind, that he may be interested in him for a reason that isn't just calculated, professional investigation. Which is why it's so distressing to him, when he finally realizes that all that repression was for nothing.
Acceptance
At the end of WMLW, we of course get the reveal that all of Abe's working was for nothing. He's no closer or farther to the end of the case than he was when he began, because he died in that manor, and all of his lives' work amounts to absolutely nothing. He devoted his entire sense of self to a cause that he was never going to figure out, because it's an impossible, self-defeating cause. And though he has no physical proof of his exploits, he has the feelings, and he's been ignoring those for the sake of the job. Hence why feelings was one of the only things on the evidence board-- it's literally all he has.
He sits down here, at the chair that he'd tied Wilford in before, representing the shift in power between them. He could never keep Will down, anyway; the only time Wilford was seated was when he was voluntarily choosing to. But now Abe is the one taking that seat, and Wilford is the one who stands before him, but he doesn't use this chance to interrogate him. He comforts him. He tells him he isn't crazy, and as the color around Abe drains, and he sinks back into his noir internal monologue, Will touches his face, and brings the color back. One of my favorite lines here, during the internal monologue, Abe thinks "My heart was pounding morse code in my ears, but I never learned the language" which to me just reads as a beautifully concise metaphor for him never listening to his heart, and instead trying to logically explain everything away. Something that Wilford discourages, as he gets down on his level, and tells him that some things just can't be rationalized out of existence. And what's the point in trying? His gentleness here is almost out of character here as he encourages him to try allowing himself to be himself, for the first time. Specifically, he says that, just for tonight, he should try having a little fun. And as he says it, they appear back in the club they met in earlier that night, surrounded by people and music and color.
And Abe accepts. And as he accepts, the saturation turns up even higher. Wilford wasn't the one who brought that last bit of color back, Abe was. Because he had been the one dulling his own color all along. This is the kind of metaphor you see in a cheesy queer animated short film and i LOVE IT!!!!
I just love the way Wilford talks to him so much-- specifically in assuring him that, if he wants, he can go right back to how things were before this. He's being a little presumptuous in assuming Abe would want to let loose in this way in the first place, so he's giving him the choice to back out right now if he wants. And even if he does go through with it, and ends up enjoying himself, nothing has to change. Wilford is only saying that he may be a happier person if he learns to accept certain things, including things about himself. If you want a slightly more far-fetched interpretation of events here, I think the "dancing" is honestly a fantastic metaphor for sleeping together. Like, the club Will is dancing in has always read as a gay bar to me and like???? IDK just hear me out. Spending all night with another man after your quest for self acceptance, "dancing".....ok. Im not super willing to die on this hill i just think it's a beautiful hypothetical metaphor
TLDR: I love the visuals of their differing interpretations of "freedom" that the manor/death gave them. Abe burying himself in his work, literally draining the color from his life. With the dichotomy of Wilford, who's more "himself" than he ever was, being the one to bring that color back to him and teach him that it's okay to be who he is. Idk im crazy
There's probably more I'm missing here but I'll wrap it up for now. If you made it this far then thank you for reading my wild markiplier analysis!!!
What Killed the Toon Patrol? (a toon death analysis)
I've been writing lots of WFRR essays lately and that reminded me of a topic I've been dying to talk about.....the misconception that DIP is the only thing that can kill a toon!!! I see a lot of people misunderstanding/not understanding the weasels deaths in the movie, so I thought I'd write a little post with my two cents in it :) Using evidence from the movie, the comics, and the books! (spoilers ahead if you havent read any of those. i highly recommend them!)
Can Toons die by other means?
Right off the bat, the answer is a resounding yes.
I understand the confusion regarding this point, though. I think this misconception comes from a line in the movie, where someone outright said that, for years, it was believed that there was no way to kill a toon, until Judge Doom discovered DIP. I think this line is misleading for a few reasons. One, being the fact that they must've known there were ways to get rid of Toons. In a deleted scene, Eddie gets a pigs head painted on by the weasels, and washes it off with acetone. So they know that paint thinner can rub one away, at least in part. But there are other ways to kill Toons that don't have anything to do with them being erased! They're just fundamentally different to DIP, in a way I'll explain later.
Toons die all the time in the books, and even a little in the comics. I'm mainly going to be talking about those comics, Who Wacked Roger Rabbit (wwrr) and Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit (wprr), because those are the two that closest fit the canon of the movie. I'm excluding Who Censored Roger Rabbit and Xerious Business for the sake of this argument, as I consider them un-canon. For example, WPRR prominently centers the death of several toons, namely Clabber Clown. While DIP is mentioned in this book, it is not mentioned when specifically talking about the death of Clabber Clown, who died via gunshot. This is notable, because two Toons are shot to death in WPRR, and in both cases, they mention that the gun used contained 'dip-tipped' bullets. I will admit, the writing here is inconsistent. Because, in WPRR, it states that dip-tipped are the only types of bullets that can kill a toon. Yet, one of the toons that die via these kinds of bullets follows the rules of a toon who wasn't dipped (I'll explain what I mean by 'rules' shortly). And, in this same novel, we meet another Toon who was stabbed to death, and a dipped knife isn't mentioned. My point is, I think Toons can die to both dipped and non-dipped weapons. What really matters is the circumstances leading to their death. Namely, a question that the movie brings up repeatedly: Was it funny?
I'm sure everyone is aware of the famous scene in the movie, where Roger, who'd been handcuffed to Eddie for several scenes now, suddenly slips out of the bind. And, when questioned if he could do that the whole time, he responds "No, not at any time! Only when it was funny!"
He wasn't lying or being facetious in that moment, he literally only had the power to do that when it was funny. There are a few different types of toons that encompass different genre's, like Jessica Rabbit being drawn for seduction and Kirk Enigman being drawn for horror. They, presumably, have their own laws regarding what, and when, they can exercise their use of "toon physics". But Roger's, and other Toons fitting his genre, can do things when it's funny. The weasels, I believe, follow that same law. And that was what lead to their death. Their death wasn't a tragedy, it was a punchline! They've been setting this up for the entire movie, and ironically, if they hadn't been so concerned with the idea of dying laughing, it wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have been funny, if it came out of nowhere. This was an idea that was placed in their heads with the express purpose of it later being payed off. Whether the judge knew he was dooming them or not is up for debate. You could say it was another layer of manipulation, or you could say that he genuinely didn't see it coming, as Toons unintentionally set up other Toons for jokes all the time.
Psycho didn't exactly die laughing, as I've seen a few people point out. I think his death was more by proxy. His death was still funny! And that's really all that matters to Toons like them.
TLDR: Toons that fit the genre of Roger and the weasels can die by other means, as long as it's funny. A really solid textbook example of this is shown at a Toon cemetery in WPRR. We see The Crypt of the Dipped, a place of remembrance for dipped Toons. And, right next to it, The Crypt of the Slipped. Toons who broke their necks slipping on banana peels. It's funny!
What happens to a Toon that dies by means other than DIP?
When a Toon dies from something OTHER than dip, there's a few possibilities that remain semi-consistent.
First of all, their bodies are still there. None of the books ever go into depth about the decomposing process, if there even is one. Toon garbage is described as smelling strongly of paint and chemicals, so I think there's a good chance that dead Toons smell like that, as opposed to rot. Also, elderly Toons are often describes as 'crinkly', or bearing the texture of old-newspaper, sometimes with faded colors, and I'm sure that would also happen. But when a Toon dies, they're not usually immediately gone. A few things could happen!
One, they could turn into a ghost. In the two instances we've seen of this occurring (once in the comics, with a toon bulldog, and once in WPRR, with the ex-wife of Pepper Potts), they seem to follow the stereotype of having 'unfinished business'. Usually they stick around to haunt a place or person, they can be summoned with seances, and they can possess people. There's probably more rules at play here, but we haven't seen them enough to know.
Two, they could go to some kind of afterlife. We only really see Heaven and Hell being implied...?? The most famous example of Heaven being the weasels, and we see a Toon (R.I.P. Dodger Rabbit) go to Hell in WPRR. I have absolutely no clue what happens once the Toon's 'soul' goes out of sight. I have no idea what Toon Heaven/Hell implies, or if it even really exists. For all I know, the second they go off screen, they disappear. And maybe there's other afterlives, depending on the Toon's birthplace/Artist's origin?? There's no way to be sure with the limited knowledge we have.
Or three, they could be reanimated. I don't mean literally animated, like with cell sheets and paint (although that does bring up an interesting point I'll come back to later), I mean in the more traditional, metaphorical sense. We've seen Toon zombies, the most notable of which being Freddy in WPRR. And considering a character says that a 'zombie turned him into a zombie', I assume this can happen either via death or through being infected.
These are just the ones that we've seen in the WFRR media that currently exists. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say there are almost certainly other things that can happen that we don't see in any of these instances. The takeaway here is just that death isn't exactly.....a death sentence. A lot of the times, the essence of the Toon still exists! Which leads me to my next point.
Why is DIP different?
So then, if Toons can die through other means, why did they make such a big deal about DIP?
Because DIP isn't just death, for a Toon. It's erasing. Like how when a human is gone, they're gone for good; there's no last looks, no chance to say one last thing, and there's no way to tell what really happened once the light leaves their eyes. Saying a dipped Toon is a dead Toon is frankly an understatement. They're not just dead, they're gone. Not their soul nor their body remains. And the process for this deletion is agonizing. It's a slow, painful, horrible way to go, and if a Toon is submerged in DIP, they're essentially gone for good. And it's not funny.
DIP defies Toon logic. In the other cases of death, there's some caveat. A Toon can't die unless there's some reason for it to happen. Either it was funny, or it was scary, or it was politically motivated, or something. A Toon can die from a regular bullet if there was a good reason for it to happen. There are some laws to how Toon's operate, some seldom-understood rules of the universe, and as long as you follow them, you can kill them. It's just hard for a human to follow these rules, or honestly to even know what they are. If a human takes a shot at a Toon with a regular bullet, more than likely they're just gonna end up being full of holes, but perfectly fine. Doom needed a way to consistently, reliably get rid of Toons. And DIP is the only way to do that.
The only documented exception to this rule is the comic The Resurrection of Doom. It's the most famous of the WFRR comics, and for good reason! The implications are fascinating. Using a multi-cell camera, a group of weasels (NOT the weasels from the movie, namely) resurrect Judge Doom using his old cell sheets. And, when he's revived, he regains all of his memories. He is, effectively, the same Doom that did everything he did in the movie! I assume what this means is that even after being dipped, a part of a Toons soul or essence must still....exist?? And I assume that you need the original cell sheet that brought them to life in the first place to be able to bring them back like this. (They do re-paint him, so I'm not sure what part matters. The lineart?) But since we know Toons can reproduce biologically (Jessica gives birth in WPRR), what does that mean for those Toons, if they were dipped? Could they never come back?
I don't love this fact-- I think the ability to revive Toons in this manner makes DIP considerably less scary. But this wouldn't be a thorough analysis if I didn't mention it, so I had to throw it out there.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, trying to get any consistency out of Toons or this universe is a losing battle. So many of the little details change between iterations, and I'm almost certainly making ties that weren't intentionally put there. There are also a few exceptions to the rules I tried my best to establish (like, Dodger Rabbit is shot with a dip-tipped bullet, but we still see his soul descend to Hell, thus following the rules of a not-dipped Toon. But in the same book, Kirk Enigman is shot with the same type of bullet, and we don't see anything happen to his soul).
In most post-canon materials, the weasels and Doom are treated as gone for good. The only exception being the resurrection comic, and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin in Disneyland. They do not explain why they're back. Also they add another weasel for some reason??? Just in the ride, and not in the pre-show???????? Lot's of weird choices going on there.
I did my best to work with what we have, though, and I think this is a pretty fair interpretation of events. If you got this far, thanks for reading!!!
The xerious business posts are making me go insane. Can you drop more information about Roger robbe because I feel crazy
I ACTUALLY STARTED FOAMING AT THE MOUTH AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN AT THIS ASK yes yes yes yes absolutely theres literally nothing i want to talk about more. he is infecting my brain. this is gonna be really long im so so sorry i have a lot to say
lets talk about this asshole.
Robbe's Descent Into Madness (and why it was maybe a good thing)
OK i cant tell from this ask if youve read the book or not so im gonna work under the assumption that you (and whoever else is reading) hasnt. also just to get this out of the way.........i think Xerious is .bad . for the most part. its supposed to be a set-up for the wfrr universe and i think it fails spectacularly at that premise. roger rabbit from wfrr and roger rabbit from xerious are different animals to me. like, ""toons"" as described in wfrr and all the other books DO NOT match up with the toons in xerious business at AAALLLL. i might expand on this more later but considering this book is set in modern times (which was a terrible choice imo) i just. i cant relate them together at all. this is its own story. here we go.
Quick Synopsis (feel free to skip this one if you've read the book)
So. To really quickly run through the plot of Xerious Business for anyone who doesn't know. This book features Jessica Krupnik (before she becomes Jessica Rabbit) as our protagonist. She starts off the beginning as sort of a Cinderella type? Young adult with a deceased father, living with her neglectful stepmother and abusive/evil stepsiblings, working a dead end job that she hates. Her life is very sad and dull, that is before she's scouted by X.E.R.I.O.U.S., a spy agency, and is stolen away from her life for good. She becomes their top female agent in two years, and is very much the typical girlboss archetype. She's smart and fast and they spend a lot of time focusing on her physical attractiveness (which they make a point of saying how hot she's gotten since joining). This will be important for a reason I get to in a second. XERIOUS is in an eternal battle with a guild of billionaires and supervillains, and the biggest and baddest of all is a warring agency: Y.U.K., run by a supervillain calling himself The Klown. The Klown is allegedly developing some kind of drug, the effects of which are unclear to the agency at first. When Staid, the head of XERIOUS, learns that he'll be hosting a gala, he decides to send Jessica out to investigate. But he can't send her alone. So he sends her with their other best agent...Agent Robbe.
Now Robbe............fucking SUCKS. This guy is THE WORST!!!!!! I could not stand him my first read through and that is VERY MUCH the point. Robbe is an asshole. He is a sexist prick who fully, proudly admits that he only sees women as sex objects, and now has his eyes on Jessica. Being the other most attractive member of the agency, he's insistent that they belong together. He's very insistent that they'll be together, one day, even if she doesn't like him now. He sees Jessica as a prize to be won, and she sees him as The Worst Man Alive. As does every other women at the office. He seems to be well-liked by the men, though-- Staid is genuinely shocked to find his best agents not playing nice together. Robbe isn't the typical sleazy type. He's smug, and cocky, in a way that lets him easily get whatever women he wants, as long as it's not a woman that has to be around him for longer than a one-night stand. Jessica agrees to do this one mission with him, but that's it. Afterwards, she wants a new partner. She ends up not getting the chance to switch.
At the ball, the two of them meet The Klown in disguise (although, Robbe doesn't believe that it is actually him). And while they're there, he decides to debut the drug he's been developing. It turns out to be administered through this green gas, dubbed 'Looney Gas'. Once inhaled, and in your system, it starts wreaking havoc on literally every aspect of your body. Jessica manages to dodge it, but Robbe does not. He inhales every bit of it. Thus kickstarts his slow, horrible transformation :)
Effects of the Looney Gas
Holy shit man, I could talk about this all day.
Looney Gas is a FASCINATING fictional drug. The effects are different for every person. But generally, its characterized by the same few things. First, it stops your heart. People who inhale the gas tend to choke, gag, and then pass out. If you check their pulse, you'll get no feedback. However, after a few seconds, they'll pop right back up, and start acting completely different. How "different" they act and what exactly they do depends on the person (I'll go more into why later in this section), but generally, they start acting....silly??? Hence the name for the gas. Dancing, singing, playing childish games or otherwise just having no spatial and social awareness. It's not a total, immediate loss of personhood, and the effects can be nullified/mitigated temporarily. It doesn't seem to worsen overtime, unless more gas is ingested, but it does cause the infected to develop "triggers" that start spells of this erratic behavior. Higher concentrations of the gas cause physical changes, not just mental ones. Robbe is the best possible case to analyze, as over the course of the book, he slowly ends up ingesting more and more, in increasingly large doses. His descent is slow and agonizing, not just for him, but for everyone in his personal life. As Robbe slowly looses touch with the sane, rational part of his brain, you can almost see his internal battle to hold on. His mouth says one thing, but his face, and his body language says something else. It's like there's two voices trying to talk at once.
I'm gonna slap in a few excerpts occasionally to further my points; here's a few from the party!
Robbe danced across the floor, his body loose, arms flailing, legs rubbery.
Jessica chased after him, tried to catch him. No easy task. Robbe was moving at almost inhuman speed. Finally, Jessica caught him by the arm.
"Stop that!" Jessica commanded him. "Everybody's looking at you."
"I can't stop!" Robbe answered with grave concern. "I can't control myself."
(pg 93)
She snagged Robbe's arm, halting his chicken chase. "Come on," she told him. "We gotta get outta here. Now."
"Aw," said Robbe, "you always spoil my fun." In the dark recesses of his gas-addled brain, Robbe knew full well she wasn't spoiling his fun. She was saving his life.
(pg 94)
Jessica grabbed the gun off Robbe's claw. "What's wrong with you? What was in that gas?"
"Who cares," said Robbe. "I'd like some more, please. I feel GREAT!"
(pg 97)
When he's gassed at the party, the effects start off fairly strong at first. For a while, Jessica assumes some sort of hallucinogen or deliriant. Or, less seriously, that he's just experiencing similar effects to being drunk. When the effects don't subside after a day, or even a few days, she's alerted to the idea that it must be more serious than that.
I said above that, when he has these fits, it's almost like there's two halves of his brain fighting for control. The interesting fact here is that the effects of this drug don't add this "other" being to your brain. It's not a parasite, it just functions like one. There's nothing possessing Robbe; everything he's doing is still him. What I mean is, this drug doesn't just make you act silly for no reason; if that was the case, it should effect everyone the same way, but it doesn't. What Looney Gas does, specifically, is it essentially turns your brain inside out. It amplifies everything that you'd been trying to repress. Every childish desire you don't act on to be a functioning adult in society? Suddenly, you can't keep yourself from acting on it anyway. Every emotion you know is irrational/unfounded? You're feeling it anyway, ten times as strongly. Repressed fears, trauma's-- things you overcame and worked past? Suddenly, all your progress has been reversed, and you're even more afraid than you were at the beginning. That also means that the traits you consider good, or useful-- like Robbe's intellect, bravery, and quick-thinking skills-- are pushed to the back. This is all but told to us. A few instances are coming to mind. The first being a moment from before he got gassed:
"I've never done anything I enjoyed more than performing in that musical," said Robbe wistfully. "For a long while after that, I wanted nothing more than to be an actor." His face fell. His wistfulness vanished. "Then things changed." He didn't say what. Jessica didn't care enough to ask.
(pg 72)
Here, we see Robbe admit that his greatest dream in childhood was to be an actor, though he gave up on it for some (currently) unspecified reason. Interestingly, when he is gassed, virtually the first thing he does is put on a show! He does a silly little performance with the only other person who was gassed at the party. And he keeps this up through the whole book! His looney fits mostly consist of singing, dancing, and otherwise performing in front of an audience of as many people as he can find. He's not good at it, but it is funny, which makes perfect sense if you know anything about Roger Rabbit. Another, more negative example I can think of off the top of my head, is how Robbe starts reacting to small, tight spaces. When he trailed off in the above excerpt, it's presumably because of something he admits to Jessica later, after being gassed. He never had a mother, and was actually abandoned on a doorstep as a baby. He was passed around in foster homes for years, abused and neglected in all of them. This lead him to developing certain fears, that he had grown out of, until this brought it all back. Here's the excerpt (this ones pretty long):
Crawling through thee air duct had been, for Jessica, a nostalgic, almost enjoyable remembrance of her warehouse tryout for XERIOUS. She negotiated the small, cramped space, the twists, the turns with an enthusiasm bordering on pleasure. She loved this kind of challenge.
Robbe had a different, much more negative reaction.
Robbe whimpered softly during the entire crawl. At times he grew paralyzed, unable to continue the journey. Jessica had to softly coax him into moving forward.
Jessica knew Robbe was a brave man. Snaking through an air vent wouldn't spook him. He had certainly done far more dangerous things then this in his XERIOUS career. She chalked up his whimpering to one more aftereffect of his gassing.
Her theory was partially true.
Robbe had crawled through many dark, narrow spaces in his XERIOUS career, always without incident. The gassing had unleashed one of Robbe's long buried and dreadfully disturbing childhood memories.
The dark, narrow airlock gave Robbe a horrifying flashback to his seven-year-old youth. His brutal foster father, in a drunken attempt to 'make a man out of the little woosy' had tied to toughen Robbe up by locking him inside a small, lightless broom closet and keeping him there, sometimes for days. That buried memory hadn't surfaced in years. Not since Robbe joined XERIOUS. Where Staid had done what his foster father couldn't, admirably succeeded in making a man out of him.
(pg 132 - 133)
That's what's so sinister about the gas, to me. It makes you feel like you're being possessed, but you're just being possessed by YOURSELF. The parts of yourself that you HATE. The parts you have ACTIVELY WORKED NOT TO LET ANYONE SEE. It's humiliating, it's terrifying!!! But it's not necessarily bad! Because you're becoming, like or not, the most authentic version of yourself. Another example we see of people changing due to the gas, is two men who confess their feelings to each other the second they're both infected. The gas didn't just make them do that because it'd be funny. It made them do that because those were real feelings they had, real feelings they hadn't let themselves act on. It's fascinating!!
Robbe really got the short end of the stick, here. Because of the very small dose that he injected from the start, he was much more aware of these things happening to him than any of the other victims seem to. And his reaction is, mostly, absolute terror. And you can't really blame him! It's a scary thing to have happen to you! He's not just losing control of his body half the time, he's losing control of his mind. He can't easily separate which thoughts he'd be having anyway, and which thoughts are completely and totally irrational. It's like having a delusional episode, and being completely unable to distinguish reality from what you're feeling. Music tends to calm him down temporarily, and can prevent full-on fits, but it isn't a cure. He can tell his own condition is getting worse, and it truly frightens him. The scene that really put this into perspective for me is a scene where he and Jessica are on a long flight. this'll be another long few excerpts but i really need you to see just how fucked up this is for this guy
The movie was nearly over when Daniel Craig went out of focus.
Robbe tapped the screen, assuming a technical problem. That didn't help. The problem wasn't the screen. The problem was Robbe. His vision had blurred.
He rubbed his eyes. No help. His vision remained blurry.
Robbe's face twitched. The twitch spread to his shoulders, his arms, his hands, his legs, his feet. Try as he might, he couldn't stop twitching.
Robbe leaned across the center console separating his seat from Jessica's. He shook Jessica awake.
"Help me," he said to her, in a panic-stricken whisper. "My problem. My problem came back."
"What?" Jessica asked. She sat up, sleep-dazed, not completely awake.
Robbe's eyes rolled around crazily. His nose twitched like a rabbit approaching a lettuce patch.
(pg 118)
Inside the toilet, Jessica tried to calm Robbe down.
She sat on the toilet, grabbed Robbe, and sat him on her lap. She wrapped her arms around him and cooed to him, rocking him like a baby. She stroked him the way she would soothe a frightened puppy. "There, there," she said comfortingly. "Everything will be okay. Take a breath."
He did.
"That's right. Good," she said. "Now another."
Robbe breathed in deeply again. Then once more.
She remembered how music had soothed him before. She punched up her Mellow playlist on her iPhone. A current pop melody started to play. She gave the wireless earphones to Robbe. The music had the desired effect.
Robbe calmed down. Slowly, surely, he regained his normal composure.
Robbe stood up, smoothed out his badly wrinkled tux. "How do I make this stop?" He asked Jessica, truly frightened.
Jessica shook her head. She had no answer.
(pg 119)
The absolute panic in his voice speaks for itself. The shame of having to be consoled like this. The pure, uncontrollable dread, knowing what you'll do if you let it take over.....And it's not even like he'll go on a murder spree!!! But honestly, that sounds less terrifying!!! At least if that was all, he'd have the comfort of knowing that these fits have nothing to do with himself. But here, he's having an internal battle with HIS OWN PSYCHE. And he knows he's going to LOSE.
All of this is taken to a new extreme when we learn that The Klown spent HIS childhood in a mental hospital, after being deemed 'insane'. The depiction of this facility is very cartoonish and arguably offensive, which is a shame, because the implications here are so fascinating. The Klown's motive, by gassing people with this, is to bring about a Utopia. A Utopia he plans to rule. He thinks it will be a Utopia in the first place, because this gas is meant to bring out the most true part of a person's being. Everyone is honest, everyone's having fun. Most people who are gassed have no desire to turn back! And everyone who knows them usually don't want the 'old' version back either! This is especially true with Robbe, which leads me to my next point.
Colleagues Response
We can't talk about Robbe's mental changes without talking about the biggest one: the same day he gets gassed is the last day he utters anything misogynistic. At the beginning, I characterized him as a sexist, awful man with no desire to respect women...At all. He doesn't see them as people, and was proud of it. But this changes the absolute moment this gets into his bloodstream, and is actually the first thing that makes Jessica realize that something is deeply wrong with his brain. (this is another long excerpt, sorry)
Jessica grabbed Robbe by the shoulders and shook him hard.
"Get a grip on yourself," she said.
Robbe rolled his head. He looked at Jessica cross-eyed. He licked his lips and smirked. "I'd rather get a grip on you," he said, reverting to type.
He was talking the talk, the way he always did, always had, but his suggestive retort seemed involuntary. A reflex action. What he was expected to say rather than what he meant.
'Umphrey [their taxi-- later known as Benny] had a Frank Sinatra song playing on the radio. Robbe's head bobbed in time to the song. The music seemed to effect his mood, make him rational, calm him down.
Robbe's expression changed suddenly from utter lust to abject horror. He grabbed Jessica's hands firmly in his and held on tight, as though she were a life preserver, and he was bobbing in the water after having just abandoned the Titanic. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Robbe said apologetically. "That remark was totally uncalled for. Especially after what you did for me."
His breath came in short, quick, hard bursts, like he was running the race of his life, running a race for his life. A race he was terrified he was going to lose. "Throughout our whole relationship I've been a complete sexist boor. I shouldn't be hitting on you all the time. I shouldn't be harassing you the way I do. I shouldn't be verbally assaulting you with my gross innuendoes."
He paused to catch his breath, as though he might run out of wind before he ran out of contrition. "Tonight, you protected me, kept me from harm. Instead of making lewd remarks, I should be down on my knees saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Believe me. I'm eternally grateful to you for what you did."
He clasped his hands together in silent prayer to both their better natures. "I beg you. Forgive me for the way I've treated you in the past. Please. I'll never, ever treat you or any other woman than way again." Robbe lowered his head. "I'll really try to be a better man. I will. I honestly will."
Robbe's contriteness and supplication worried Jessica as much as his lunacy, maybe more. This was definitely not the Robbe she had grown to know and hate. This was Robbe 2.0., radically improved form buggy version 1.0. No question, she much preferred this version. There was only one problem. This version wasn't normal. Not even close. Robbe 1.0. was sickening. Robbe 2.0 was just plain sick.
(pg 99 - 100)
This proclamation is the only one he doesn't seem to be ashamed or afraid of. It's also one he doesn't walk back on, even once. I believe this is sort of our first hint that the Looney Gas does more than just make you act a little silly. I believe that Robbe genuinely did feel some level of remorse for the way he was treating Jessica, it's just that 'remorse' wasn't an emotion he allowed himself to feel before that night. If he ever felt bad when she'd call him out, he didn't dwell on it. He stuck to his guns 100%, because he believed being persistent was a part of who he was. When, really, it wasn't just hurting Jessica, it was hurting himself, too. This ties into what I view as one of the most tragic parts of this novel, and that being that, in a way, this complete loss of self was for the better. And, in a way, that means that the Klown won.
People at the XERIOUS office, particularly women, are glad that Robbe has changed so suddenly and drastically. He's nicer to service workers, and more polite to women who try and get his attention. Like, objectively, when he's not being ""looney"", he's still a considerably better person than he was before. Jessica frequently laments about what a shame it would be if he goes back to "normal" after this, and slips right back into his old bad habits. Of course, she wants him to be his best self, but this really does feel like an improvement. And if you think about it, it's not like he's "losing" himself. He's just losing the façade that he put on. Good habits could, theoretically, he relearned. But would he want to, after being fully changed? The new version of him doesn't have a desire to save the world, or be a spy. He's clumsy, and cowardly, not to mention the fact that he sticks out terribly once the physically changes commence. And I haven't even talked about the physical changes yet!!! When the Klown said that he wouldn't have any interest in turning back, he was right. At the end of the novel, he's even offered the antidote, on the condition that the Klown gets to go free, and he refuses. There's just still something bittersweet about the fact that, if he wasn't too far gone at this point, he would've jumped for it. The old Robbe, the one who was shaking in terror on the plane, or pleading on his knees in front of Jessica, would've selfishly taken that deal in a heartbeat. So who really wins? Robbe will never be himself again, and he's happier, proving the Klown right. Or, the Klown goes free, so he wins, and Robbe is rightfully back to his old self. Would he have been scared straight? What parts of his new self would he have kept? We'll never know. It's hard to see it as a happy ending, with so many unanswered questions.
End Result
Okay I'm gonna go over the physical results really quickly because honestly the implications are never explained and they kinda bug me.
Robbe's physical changes start out small, almost unnoticeable. He becomes much more flexible, first. So much, that he occasionally gets tangled up in his own limbs. Then, he gains the ability to somewhat flatten himself, by releasing all the air in his lungs and diaphragm, allowing him to snake into small spaces, like between metal bars. Then he grows suckers on his palms, allowing him to scale walls. Then he gets shorter, grows longer ears, longer feet, etc etc until he eventually turns into a rabbit. The most interesting part of all of this is the way that he reacts to it. I'll put in a few snippets of his little breakdowns.
"I've always been a brave, fearless superhuman," said Robbe.
"Now you're simply a normal human," Jessica replied gently.
"Except I'm not!" Robbe's eyes started to water. He was going to cry.
"I'm a...a...I don't know what I am. Slipping through those bars like I did. That's not human."
Robbe pointed down towards the ground. "You know how I got up here?"
She didn't have a clue. She shook her head.
Robbe held up his hands, palms out. "Little suckers sprouted on my fingertips," said Robbe. "I climbed up that stalk like Spiderman. That's not human. That's downright freakish."
(pg 165)
He put the cord into his mouth and bit the cord in half.
The cord arced and sparked.
Amazingly, for a harrowing split-second, Jessica, watching from the edge of the dance floor, could see Robbe's skeleton visible through his tuxedo.
(pg 180)
There are far more instances than this but honestly I can't really justify these changes. As much as I love that he turned into a rabbit-man, one thing that really irks me about this novel is that, because it's set in modern times, these toon tropes already exist. In the rest of the WFRR series, the toons have always existed and they're just...like that?? But in this book, it doesn't make sense to me to have a man turn into a cartoon. In fact, he's notably not turning into a toon. Theyre not made of ink, and paint, these are just...horribly deformed people. In fact, when we see a group of looney's later in the book, they take the form of already-existing toons (like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, and Shrek are all name-dropped specifically, as well as several others I don't care to pull right now). So unless Roger Rabbit is a character that exists in this universe (which I doubt) it either 1) doesn't make sense for those other people to turn into pre-existing IP or 2) it doesnt make sense for robbe to turn into something unique??? I like to pretend that everyone who gets gassed gets their own transformation into something unique and special to them but that's just not true.
The novel ends with the Klown being brought to justice. There were several victims to the gas in the process, including virtually all of XERIOUS (save for Staid and Jessica). At all the locations they hunted him down at, at least one other person was infected. Because of this, the government decides to designate a spot for all of the infected to live, as the Klown has destroyed the only antidote, and there's currently no hope for their return to normalcy. They name the spot "Loontown" (temporarily), and Jessica moves in with Robbe (now going by his first name, Roger), and they're married. His last name, Robbe, translates roughly to Rabbit, hence the new, full names. Roger and Jessica Rabbit.
Symbolism
I won't dwell on this very long, I just have to point out my absolute favorite detail.
The party in which Robbe is gassed happens to be a costume party. Robbe attends dressed as a wolf. Specifically Tex Avery's cartoon wolf! A character famous for lusting over attractive red-heads, which is no accident. This is how Robbe sees himself as the beginning. He calls that wolf his spirit animal. Which is why I absolutely love that the animal he turns into isn't a wolf, but a bunny. It perfectly incapsulates the kind of man he was on the inside. Small, weak, cowardly, clumsy, sweet. It's so perfectly juxtaposes the wolf he was pretending to be- literally a bunny in wolves clothing. Like a fable, the RABBIT outsmarts the WOLF in the end and that makes me CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats why i always use a bunny to represent this part of him thats taking over or clawing his way out, and use a sick/dying wolf to represent robbe. i just think its so fascinating. it killed him with kindness. how are people not going batshit insane over this book i dont get it
Final Thoughts
The worst part about this novel is that I'm sure a lot of this symbolism and imagery wasn't intentional. Because if it was, it should be marketed as like. A psychological horror, and not a "jessica and roger backstory", which is the one place where I think this story fails. At the end of the day, this premise is KIND OF ruined IN MY OPINION by trying to expand the WFRR-verse. But at the same time, I understand that was probably more of a marketing thing, because this author's WFRR books are the most popular. They're his characters! This is the same man who wrote the novel who inspired the movie! But it's a very odd choice that I think detriments the otherwise very compelling story here. I totally recommend people read this book, but I would set realistic expectations. I HAAATTTEEDDD this book on a first read because it advertises itself as a "History of toontown" and "backstory" for the wfrr verse when really the only thing they have in common is their names. Like, Jessica doesn't even become a toon/"looney"???
None of the novels are particularly consistent but I enjoy this one entirely separate from the main characters. These are just humans/ex-humans who happen to share the same names/physical features.
if you made it this far into the post. holy shit im so sorry. im on a roll today i guess. check out my other essay about eddie valiant potentially being read as gay and in the closet that i wrote right before this one if you want. thank you so much for listening to my yapping
I've been looking at your artworks of Mabel and Bill together and I know they're pretty old but I've gotta say, it's about TIME people saw the actual potential of Bill and Mabel as a duo and it kinda disappoints me that people only know that Bill liked Mabel because of the "Book of Bill". If only the hype for the book didn't die down so soon, people would realize that the Book of Bill wasn't even the only time where Bill complimented Mabel's weirdness. Before Book of Bill, he even expressed that he liked her in Journal 3. Just with less detail. Even when he's in the THERAPRISM (which mind you, this takes place AFTER THE SHOW), Bill still seems to like Mabel a whole lot despite her defeating him in Sock Opera, calling him names, banning him from her mind, and spraying him in the eye and I find it absolutely outstanding how he doesn't hate her more than he does with Stanley. You can say that Bill calls Stanley out more just for simply defeating him more than he calls out a 12 year old girl who basically bullied him any chance she got (I'm not sugarcoating the fact that he's tried to kill her before and basically told her to oof herself to join Dipper in death."Want to join him, Shooting Star?" Cough cough). To me, this fact about Bill Cipher is just so interesting to explore because the show itself never really made it clear that Bill had this view on Mabel in the first place. But then again, you can kinda put together the fact that he made a whole bubble just for her during the literal apocalypse "but he trapped her so she wouldn't get in his way! He puts chains around that bubble!" Honestly, you can make any indications on why exactly Bill made the bubble in the first place but I refuse for a second to believe that it was only JUST so Mabel could stay out of his way. Mind you, he didn't even have to fulfill Mabel's end of the deal at all. He basically still gave her what she wanted, just not in the exact way he described it when he was Blendin. Bill could've easily left her passed out or simply just turn Mabel into stone right then and there after he destroyed the rift, but he didn't. Bill didn't even have to make the bubble at all, which makes me believe part of the reason why Bill did what he did was that he had a soft spot for her. And while you can argue that the bubble only existed was so Gideon could keep Mabel for himself and guard the bubble so she couldn't escape, Bill was pretty dismissive of the whole ordeal itself, even right after finding out that Gideon let Dipper and the others escape to go save Mabel which lets me believe he didn't really care much about keeping Mabel out of his way THAT much because the only thing in Bill's mind in general was that he wanted to party. Making Gideon tap dance felt more like a "I'm not mad, just disappointed that you played me like this" more than a "you failed to keep Mabel trapped in the bubble even though that was really important to me". There's so much to unpack just what Bill and Gideon's conversation about Mabel was and what Bill's inner intentions and thoughts were like when it came to Mabel's bubble during the apocalypse. Did he truly only make it because Mabel could potentially get in the way of his plans or was it something more to it ......? I dunno. Maybe you can get your two bits on this topic bc I find it so fun to analyze. People have always focused on Dipper having a dynamic with Bill. It's always "Dipper and Bill Dipper and Bill Dipper and Bill" never MABEL and Bill. We need to talk about them more. We need to talk about Bill's liking to her more and how that fact alone completely makes Bill Cipher in "Sock Opera" AND "Escape from Reality" (especially "Mabel's Bubble") look like there was something MORE. Like there's something more about Bill Cipher that we still don't know. Even in the Sock Opera commentary, Alex stated that Bill thinks Mabel is kind of like him. HE CANONICALLY SEES THE GIRL AS A CHAOS AGENT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. It's actually crazy.
YES BRO this exactly!!!!!!! this is exactly why i made that au.....bill and mabels dynamic has always captivated me ever since i read journal 3 as a kid. like bill clearly, for lack of a better word, admires her. EVEN post sock opera!!!! maybe even ESPECIALLY post sock opera!!!! hes a very sore loser about being taken down in any case by anyone but mabel at least used the silliest, most batshit insane tactics in the world and i think a part of bill respects that.
alex talked a lot in the cast commentary about how bill believes that theyre very similar people. they both can be very selfish, very fun-focused, and very chaotic, and so bill just kind of. ASSUMES that she'll like him. but he doesnt understand one core fact about mabel: she's a good person. its why he assumes that she'd want to stay in the bubble forever! because HED want to stay in his little weirdmageddon land forever! but i think if bill just understood that a LIIITTTLLE better, and a LITTTLLE sooner, he wouldve focused on her from the get-go. i understand people liking bill and dippers dynamic bc of the bill and ford parallels but i think you miss so much of his genuine fascination with mabel. dipper doesnt SURPRISE him. even if he couldnt read his mind hed always be on the same page w dipper bc dipper is just a shorter ford (in his eyes, not literally). but mabel CONSISTENTLY throws him a curveball and bill almost never has that happen to him and i think hes morbidly fascinated by her seemingly innate ability to do so.
thank you so much for the ask!! your brain is huge, thanks for being on the same page with me :]
All right I take the bait. Why do you believe Manel should have accompanied Pacifica at the party
AHHH THANK YOU IM SO EXCITED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF (in reference to this post)
ok. northwest mansion mystery is a great episode obviously. but HERES why i think the episode would've been even better if mabel was in dippers spot!!!!!! its kinda a lot so i put it under a read more
so this episode is sort of the middle-ish of season 2 i think, right before the ford reveal!! its not a super long show anyway so theres not a ton of pacifica appearances, anyway. BUT in EVERY SINGLE OTHER PACIFICA EPISODE, her energy has been bouncing off of mabel!!! from their meeting in double dipper, to irrational treasure, to golf war; they have been established as the main dynamic here. golf war is especially important here, because this is the very first step in pacfica's redemption arc! mabel saves her in this episode, the pines give her a ride home, and it seems like pacifica is going to start being a little more understanding of mabel because she had misjudged her, hence why she was treating her so poorly. it looks like theyre gonna establish a friendship between them!
and then. they dont. they basically never interact again. because the next time we see pacifica, she goes straight to dipper in northwest manor mystery. the cold open implies that the northwests wanted dipper specifically because of his knowlege of how to deal with the supernatural but IN MY OPINION that DOESNT EVEN MAKE SENSE because we NEVER see dipper fighting these monsters on his own? hes ALWAYS with mabel. at the very least, i think it shouldve been BOTH of them??? we see a brief shot of a newspaper clipping where dipper is fighting a vampire bat or something and i just. when did this happen. where is mabel
that would be a fine argument for it being both of them instead of just mabel so heres one of my bigger points thats gonna come back a lot in this breakdown: dipper. does not like pacifica. he STRAIGHT UP HATES HER. every single interaction theyve had has been negative!!! its even massively negative at the beginning of this ep!!!! though mabel often dislikes pacifica, she TRIES REALLY HARD TO LIKE HER. mabel has a lot of love in her heart, and if she could, shed want to be her friend!!! its always been pacifica whos been rejecting those advances!!! golf war was the start of pacifica understanding that about mabel, and it nmm wouldve been the PERFECT time to wrap up that arc, rather than leaving it!!!
and i would argue that could STILL LEAD INTO A DIPCIFICA ARC, if thats what the showrunners/fans wanted? most of why dipper hates pacifica to begin with is because shes so terrible to mabel. he only agrees to go to the party in canon because MABEL wants to!!! imo, i think the lead in to them being a couple would be a million times better if that massive problem in their relationship was solved first
i dont PERSONALLY like dipcifica but im trying to stay unbiased about this if you cant tell
i would also argue that like. dipper just seems really out of character. the reason i picked some of the scenes i did for my redraws, was because they were scenes that i think his behavior would fit mabel a lot better. examples:
why do the northwests have a suit in dippers size anyway. he literally doesnt even like wearing it sjkfhkj in a potential re-write of this ep, i considered that mabel would come in wearing her super extravagent home made dress, and it would 'violate dress code', so she would be forced to wear one of pacificas we could still have that cute dress-up expo scene that we do AND have some fun commentary/symbolism about pacifica being nervous about having her in the dress because its NICE and TOO GOOD FOR HER and she looked FINE BEFORE ANYWAY
mabels empathy is a recurring theme in the show. shed WANT to give pacifica the benefit of the doubt, and would be VERY betrayed when finding out her and her family already knew about the ghosts and knew what he wanted. i understand that dipper was so upset because it seemed like pacifica was changing for the better just to find out that she wasnt, but i think this fits so much better with mabel, because shes always WANTED to believe that shes secretly a good person. she would be glad to see her turn a corner, and would be upset when finding out she was 'wrong', and that she really was mean deep down. whcih would obviously lead to her comforting her later/finding out the truth about her etc etc. on the other hand, dipper literally never believed she had good in her. from the first interaction we see of them, he thinks shes as terrible as her family. he ISNT as interested in giving her the benefit of the doubt and if it wasnt a life or death situation i dont think he wouldve forgiven her. IDK i just think its more in character for her
the dancing scene!!! honestly this works fine as is (i can see both dipper and mabel being excited to make a mess on a fancy carptet) but idk i just think it carries so much more weight if its these two girls. silly moments for mabel!!!! pacifica getting to really be a kid and not just a sparkly prop!!!!!!! pacifica finally indulging in her sillyness that she mocked in irrational treasure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok moving on. one of the bigger things that bother me about it being dipper here instead of mabel is one teeny tiny (honestly really irrational) scene at the party. in it, dipper is confronted by fiddleford, who tells him he has big news about the author/the laptop and the towns in danger and its vitally important and dipper just. shrugs him off???!!?!?!?! i cannot even IMAGINE. in alex hirschs words "the first season is about dipper being in love with wendy, and the second is about him being in love with the author" meaning that. those are the TWO things that dipper is completely and totally obsessed with. hes clearly not over wendy (as we see in later episodes) and this is not long after sock opera/society of the blind eye so youd THINK hed be more depserate for answers than ever!??!?! this child was willing to sell out his great uncle and raise the dead and stay up for several nights in a row for answers, and the second he is offered some (from a man who WORKED WITH THE AUTHOR btw) hes like like 'whatevr'?!?!?! it is so out of character and it drives me fucking nuts every time. i know hes starting to like pacifica now but as we see in the comics (if you chose to think those are canon) HE DOESNT EVEN SEEM TO LIKE HER THAT MUCH!??!?! hes STILL convinced shes vain, and mean, and selfish!!!! he DOES start to have a little arc with her but jksdfjksf IDK i just cant in a million years see him passing up the chance for answers to the biggest mystery in gravity falls to hang out with a girl he tolerates
but yknow who i CAN see doing that? MABEL!!!!!!!! mabel would be concerned when mcgucket comes up to her, and starts talking like this!!!! i can totally see her suggesting that he relax for a little while and enjoy the party like dipper did, and then forgetting to come back to talk/not running into him later!!!! ESPECIALLY since i can see mabel WANTING to spend time with pacifica where dipper just. really doesnt seem to want to MOST of the time
ok ill admit that this last one is sort of a personal opinion. but i just. i really dont like the B plot of this episode with mabel and the girls. IDK its just so annoying and pointless to me to have a plot where its just a bunch of girls turning against each other over a guy. im not gonna say its mysoginistic bc i know little girls can be boy crazy but i just. dont see why there was a need to make them fight/turn against grenda briefly??? even when they rekindled and it was all ok in the end its just. in comparison to the A plot its so. Nothing.
in my head i have a rewrite of this episode and how it goes is that pacifica approaches dipper and asks for help and he turns it down (like he does in canon). mabel suggests that they do it anyway, but he refuses, as he wants nothing to do with her. when dippers gone, mabel agrees to help (and pacifica begrudgingly accepts bc it seems like the only option) and so she steals the journal when dippers not looking. she goes to the party, and events go pretty much the same?? only major difference i can think of is that the B plot is replaced by one where dipper realizes mabel and the journal are missing, so he sneaks into the manor/sneaks around the house trying to find he rand get it back (and its so massive he has no luck). the reason i think THAT works is because we can even still have the scene where dipper turns to wood like shifty prophesied!!!! and i would even argue it makes more sense this way because wasnt shiftys warning that "if you keep digging so deep into the secrets of gravity falls, this will be the last form youll ever take" ?
OK IM SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG im probably forgetting points too so i might edit it later but THANKS FOR ASKING
tldr: pacifica and mabels friendship plotline was left on a total cliffhanger after golf war and if mabel replaced dipper in nmm it would've been a good resolution to it
edit: check the reblogs if youre still interested! i added another list of reasons i think this (mostly in response to people disagreeing)
Hey, I like ur art and re-designs a-lot! I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what happens in your re-write of helluva boss? :>
AHHH THANK YOU!!!! thats super sweet!!!! <3 and sure id love to talk a little about my redesigns!!!!
i know a lot of critics hate stolitz and believe me so do i. stolas my behated. but the real part that infuriates me about the show isnt that they tried to pull off a romance between stolas and blitz, its just that they did it so BADLY. and i felt like, at some points, they were SO CLOSE to getting it but then they just totally missed the mark. if they just shot a little to the left, they could hit it. my point being that, while most critics rewrite stolas to keep his pilot-era villainy (which i admittedly DO love) i went the opposite route with my (and my boyfriends) rewrite, and tried t make stolitz WORK. heres what we did!
to start at the beginning, its pretty similar. a young stolas is informed that he is to be married off when he reaches maturity with the intention of creating an heir. to cure his sulking, his father, king paimon, dumps him at the local circus, where he meets "blitzo" for the first time. a young "female" envy imp living in the greed ring (with a greed imp father and a half succubus, half envy-imp mother). stolas immediately takes a liking to ""her"", so paimon buys the clown with the intention of having them live at the palace as a servant/jester type for the forseeable future.
while at the palace, for the good of their family, blitzo steals whatever they can while playing with the young prince. but they actually do form a connection and blitzo does, at least a little pity the loneliness stolas feels. stolas actually DOES notice that their new friend is robbing them in broad daylight, but could not care less if it means having a friend. unfortunately, his family DOES care (once they notice the thievery) and sends blitzo back to the circus
blitzo and stolas, for a while, become pen pals, writing letters and exchanging gifts over the mail. they actually did enjoy each others company, and miss having a playmate already. eventually, with the help of their mother, blitzo is able to start regularly visiting stolas' castle! every few weeks or so, he comes over, they play, and he sneaks out again before the rest of his family notices. occasionally hell take a valuable or two with him on the way out, not that stolas cares. but the sloppier he gets, the more the goetia's and the palace guard take notice, and they start heightening the security measures. blitzo has to start finding more and more convoluted entrances and exits in the castle, where he can sneak around the guards or cameras or whatever else they have installed. as stolas learns magic, this becomes easier and easier for them to get around, especially ith the use of portals. blitzo also transitions around this era, and starts going by 'blitz', which he feels is more masculine. he starts painting his horns and dying his hair (he later gives up on dying it bc its a pain). but one day, in their teenage years, blitz's visits stop coming, the letters stop, as well, and all the letters stolas sends get returned because they can no longer find his address. he has no idea this is because blitz's home, and much of his family was taken in a fire, and he does his best to move on. he gets married, has a kid, and settles back into the lonely lifestyle. stella isnt physically abusive, but she is rather traditional, and is trying to raise octavia to be the same way. she looks down on the lower class while stolas has a much more 'humanized' view of them, with the memories of blitz fresh in his mind.
eventually, blitz tries to break in using his mental map of how to get around security. he fails, and is captured, and brought to stolas, who pulls him from the guards and brings him to his room. blitz had come here with the intention of stealing his grimoire, as he has the idea for human-killing, and simply has no means to get there. he opts for this, rather than an asmodean crystal, just because he believes itd be easier (the process for getting one if you dont work directly for a distributor is a real legal pain, and impossible if you want to do freelance). when hes 'caught' by stolas, he worries that he doesnt recognize him, only to be pleasantly surprised when he actually does! stolas is excited to see him, in fact, and they sit and talk and catch up. just like when he was younger, blitz is surprised by how easy he is to talk to, and surprised by how much they have in common. they dont sleep together, but stolas does insist that he stay the night (non-sexually), since he knows he didnt used to live nearby. on the way out the next morning, blitz steals the book, as guilty as he feels about doing so. because of this guilt, he leaves his business card behind. he plans on finding a way to copy the page with the spell, and then give the whole thing back. but, just like when they were younger, stolas DOES notice he stole something, and just...hardly cares. he does still NEED the book, though, so he calls blitz (using the number he gave him) and offers to work something out. but, rather than a sexual exchange (or, really, an exchange at all) he just suggests that they start spending time together again. hes lonely, and that small reminder of what it was like to have a friend has made it worse. he honestly just misses him. blitz has his own friends and family now, but he finds himself missing stolas too, and thinks its only fair that he keeps him company. so, once a month on the full moon, he comes over (still sneaking around, to avoid the eyes of his wife and child) to visit. eventually, predictably, this blossoms into a sexual relationship, and then a romance, even further into the future :>
this is all pre-show events so i havent even touched on anything that really happens ""on screen"" so to speak but heres some backstory on the set up in my au!!!!! since im sure some people are shocked at me opnely whining about stolitz and then drawing them all the time LMAOO. im just a friends to lovers truther what can i say
how does mabel’s muse au go abt her relationships?? the angst potential…..with bill enabling her selfishness and chaotic tendencies, i imagine dipper getting more and more aggravated w her as time goes on……which leads to him mentioning mabel as a reason why he wants to be ford’s apprentice and agreeing that, lately, bc yeah she’s been a bit much this summer and he thinks some time part would be good for them. having mabel overhear her twin saying those things + ford saying what he said in ur art ,,, it just pushes her further into the trenches of bill’s manipulation. since u said she met bill early like after the pilot, i think stan would be used to mabel acting the way she does w bill and all, even if there are the occasional red flags. but dipper, having known her since birth, ik u said he thinks bill isn’t real but he has the journal full of warnings of bill and i think he’d be rightfully suspicious of mabel’s supposed muse…..idk i think he’s a curious smart lil guy who would have a gut feeling abt what’s going on w mabel and her muse. i do like the idea of him thinking bill’s just an imaginary friend tho!!! just him thinking it’s another mabel quirk or something is plausible :O! how often does bill possess her body? he doesn’t hurt her like he did w ford, right? since he needs her to trust him and all….. :3
AH this is so well thought out!!!!!!!! first of all thank: thank you for taking interest in my auuu im SO happy that so many people like it so much!!!! im gonna try and address all the points you made so bare with me sjhkdfhjksdf
dipper ABSOLUTELY gets irritated with mabel as the series progresses. especially since, at the beginning, he doesnt believe in bill, so the fact that mabel is blaming a lot of her childish actions on something as silly as an imaginary friend bothers him A LOT. he wishes shed just take accountability (which later leads to him trying to take accountability HIMSELF, which backfires, bc he just ends up way too critical and self-loathing. at the end they find a healthy middle of taking accountability and also not beating yourself up). i honestly didnt even think about ford still offering the apprenticeship but in hindsight i can SO see ford using that to try and convince him to come aboard!!
in this au, bill isnt depicted in the journal. ford never mentions him by name/draws him out, other than little hints (dipper does raise an eyebrow at the author also calling a being 'my muse', and starts to theorize, but never gets to come to a concrete conclusion before the truth comes out anyway). i think over the course of the story he DOES come up with a bunch of theories on what the 'imaginary friend' could be, really, but they all fall flat. itd be a fun little b plot to the main story if he were trying to investigate various creatures to see if any could fit only to never be able to figure it out
bill doesnt possess her body very much (if at all) and definitely doesnt hurt her when/if he does!! he really just doesnt NEED to possess her. on the rare occasion that he does, its not as self-serving as it is with ford or dipper in canon. like i can see her letting him use his body so she can stay up later making her sock puppets or stock piling mabel juice or something jhksfhjksdf. since he doesnt have any real reason to want to destroy the journals, he wouldnt have to take over anyones body in sock opera but he might just for funsies.
heres a now non-canon interaction that popped into my head and i wrote down back when i was first developing this au :)
OK i think thats about it HKLSDFHJK thank you for the askkkk!!!!!!! :DDDD
please please tell us about rick and morty x-33 i fell in love with them instantly
GLADLY!!!!! aughhgh im SO glad people want to know about them i wanted to talk about them so bad!!! i have 300 million ideas. Ill give you the highlights <3 and a couple old sketches!!! under the cut so i dont clutter the tag TOO much :p
I saw someone mention their dimensional code in the tags and that was not an accident!!!! i DID pick x33 JUST bc it looks like a cute little emoticon <333 it went through a bunch of variants before i landed on that one and it was the right choice i think
Rick x33 didnt LIVEE on the citadel but he did work there!! up until it was destroyed ofc :P he runs what is basically a knockoff hot topic called “Bloody Morty” (like bloody mary <3).
The tagline for the bloody morty is “Memento Morty” which is. also a pun skldfhksd. The phrase it comes from, Memento Mori, is “remember death” or “death remembers” in latin, which colloquially translates to “Don’t take anything for granted.” the pun is obviously just a play on words, but its also sort of a reminder to ricks on the citadel. It would mean “remember morty” or “morty remembers” or,,,, “Don’t take Morty for granted” :]
He is a terrible business man and WILL price everything based on how much he likes you personally. You’re a Morty who wandered in to buy something behind your Rick’s back? It’s on the house, don’t even worry about it. You’re a Rick who dragged his Morty in here by the arm after yelling at him outside? Fuck you. This single pin is now thirty dollars.
Flesh Curtains Era Rick x33 ALSO had very wild fashion. As did the whole band honestly. Back then, though, Rick used to dye his hair like once a week. It was always a new color. He would paint Squanchy’s fur/BP’s feathers with the dye, too, so they all had a fun new look for every show!! When he went blue, though, he switched brands, and didn’t notice until AFTER dying his hair/dying Squanchy and Bp’s fur/feathers, that this dye was made to last…forever. It BECOMES your natural hair color. You could shave your head and it would grow back blue. He could dye on top of it, but ever since then he’d pretty much exclusively stayed blue, and BP/Squanchy now have permanent dye patterns in their feathers and fur long after growing out of their Phases
Speaking of BP, Rick x33 has the same little badge on a necklace that BP has on his collar. I like to think he gave him that necklace at Blood Ridge <3
Rick also has a yellow locket! This is to match Morty’s teal felt heart on his chest. They’re wearing each others colors!
Morty’s earrings look like Fleeb!! :3
Morty does a lot of graphic design work for the store, since he knows what Morty’s like and this store is mostly for them :P lots of “”cringey”” unlicensed merch for things like FNAF and Warrior Cats are in here :3
Morty also spends a lot of time watching/making AMV’s or edits and such <3 Even drawing!!
Morty is very social and gets along super well with other Morty’s :] He likes to hang around the citadel and make kandi and rainbow loom with all the friends he makes. You’ll run into a lot of Morty’s with ‘memento morty’ spelled out in beads on their bracelets. Its like his version of a ‘best friends’ necklace for every morty hes ever befriended!
Morty x33 is very well liked by other Morty’s on the Citadel. Most Morty’s like Rick x33 too!! Not true for other Rick’s though. If they don’t OUTRIGHT HATE rick x33, they probably at least think he’s annoying as fuck
Rick and Diane x33 met at a rave <3
WAHGHJHKSDFHJKL OKAY ive gotta cut myself off i could literally ramble hcs about them all day :PPPP THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK im so happy that people like them and are interested in them bc i love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really appreciate it o((>ω< ))o here’s some little bonus doodles of them that i happened to have on hand!!!!!!!
