Watchdog Ford isn't exactly known for kindness towards his alternate selves. Most times it's justified, sometimes it's a projection of his own self loathing. He is quite literally beating himself up or killing himself.
But that's only one aspect from Dimension 419"3's Ford Pines. Just like Canon Ford and the rest of the Fords scattered to the multiverse, he is an individual with many faces, and holds various relationships close.
It's ironic, really, that someone who struggles with hating himself finds some of his closest friendships with other versions of himself
[Art by @canadianno-gravityfalls]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIBBY!!!
@nowimjustastranger
[Explanations and unobstructed image under the cut]
The first panel is Watchdog Ford and Jerk Ford, who's one of his more controversial counterparts. One thing they have in common is just how much disdain the Fordverse at large holds for them.
Jerk Ford does not share Watchdog's self-loathing trait, at least not internally. He's always believed his own hype, more self actualized than you'd expect from a man who gets banned from every dimension he steps foot in.
While their relationship is often joked about as borderline parasitic toxic, they truly do care for each other. Despite Jerk's constant bitching about Watchdog being an emo, he's one of the few people who never saw Watchdog as his persona.
In the upper right corner, two Common Blue Violets cradle the corner and represent Jerk Ford.
Fun fact: Jerk Ford refuses to call him 'Watchdog' to his face, only using the name when talking about him to others. Jerk calls him 'Watch', or an insulting nickname about his edginess.
The second panel snaps a selfie of Anti Ford and Watchdog, much to Watchdog's reluctant amusement. Another controversial version of Stanford Pines, Anti Ford is disliked for two reasons,
He's from the Anti Dimension
And he's Cringe.
The Anti Dimension exists to be the equal and opposite to what is 'prime' (which is the canon Gravity Falls / Dimension 46'\). Meaning all people from this dimension are meant to be the opposition of all of their alts. For this reason, Anti-Versions feel inherently 'wrong' to all of their alts, making trust and positive relationships difficult.
Given how Watchdog feels about most of his alts, he's more at ease with someone as far removed from the "mold" of Stanford Pines as possible. Because of Watchdog's reputation as 'The Ford Punisher', Anti Ford, a top contender for being The Worst Ford, was terrified of him in the beginning.
Anti Ford and Watchdog have learned to appreciate one another for their differences instead of letting reputations cloud their opinions.
Bordering them, Sunflowers that represent Watchdog himself bloom, and pressed into the wall behind them, Twinflowers, a nod at Anti Ford.
Fun Fact: Anti Ford uses different hashtags on his streams to identify when friends are there with him. The tag designated for Watchdog is #DawgofWar
The third panel shows Watchdog with Dr Pine from @aroace-get-out-of-my-face's AU, Multiverse Time with Dr Pine. Dr Pine is yet another Ford variant that doesn't fit the mold of the man. And Dr Pine is a puppet!
Where Watchdog shuts most people out, Dr Pine is openly gentle and supportive, owed to his experience working a children's show.
Watchdog's relationship is much more familial in comparison to the other two represented in this comic. Dr Pine fills in a surprisingly paternal role for Watchdog.
Watchdog hated his father, who was emotionally abusive to him and physically abusive to his twin. Watchdog even killed him years ago once he found evidence of the abuse.
But Dr Pine doesn't see an angry, violent sociopath, he sees someone hurt deep down, but whose love for his late brother is strong enough to power a need to save as many versions of him as possible from similar fates.
Watchdog doesnt see Dr Pine as just a walking stuffed animal. Watchdog sees a person who's been through the (sometimes literal) wringer and still chooses kindness.
Someone worth looking up to, even though he's only three feet tall.
Growing across the left corner are White Magnolias for Dr Pine.
Fun Fact: Watchdog is not the same age as Canon Ford. He's ten years older, just like Anti Ford. Dr Pine - along with Jerk Ford and most of the Fordverse - is a whole decade younger.
Throughout the piece Copper (Canadianno) makes several references to twins. From the twin moons, the flowers coming in sets of two, and the Gemini constellation, Twins are a supportive theme, and not just for the Stan Twins; Tibby is also a twin.
Watchdog's helmet is another repeated theme. Watchdog keeps it close, tucked under his arm or within reach. Despite it's presence in all three scenes, Watchdog doesn't wear it.
Because with with, he is comfortable being himself, who he is, Stanford Pines, the man under the helmet.
Any Watchdog Jerk Ford Anti Ford interactions? Or Lee and Watchdog?
So... word is that y'all want some interaction between Watchdog, Jerk Ford, and Anti Ford. I'm more than happy to deliver some snippets between Watchdog and his two friends allies. I don't know if I've stated this before (but I probably have) but Watchdog has always had a soft spot for Anti Ford because he is the literal opposite of a Ford and therefore Watchdog's favorite Ford (other than a certain someone who he has a parasitic bromance with, of course).
The first time Watchdog used Jerk as a glorified mattress:
Jerk visited randomly after running from a particularly persistent threat, which is using the tactic of sleep deprivation to wear Jerk down and hopefully catch him. But little do they know, Jerk has a handy-dandy sealed dimension to hop into to escape. Lee is in the kitchen when he hears Jerk and Watchdog come up from the sub-basement lab, poking his head out.
"Whoa, ya look like shit." Lee commented, his brows furrowing. And he does look like shit, his clothes have fresh burns and holes, including the hoodie; meaning some must’ve been pretty recent. He’d lasered himself and his gear clean, but that doesn't hide the dark circles under his eyes being deeper than normal. Or the heaviness in his gait. "When was the last time ya slept?"
"I got an hour yesterday." Jerk said curtly, clearly not open to discussing the matter further. Lee looked at Watchdog, who was preoccupied with scrutinizing a visibly agitated Jerk.
"That's… kinda concernin’." Lee muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face as he stepped out of the kitchen to join Jerk and Watchdog in the living room.
"I'm fine." Jerk bit out, convincing absolutely no one. "I just need to shake this asshole."
"Hang on, what asshole?" Lee asked, once again glancing at Watchdog to hopefully glean some modicum of understanding. Thankfully, Watchdog was already looking at Lee, the older man merely shaking his head to signal that he had no idea what Jerk was talking about either.
"The asshole who won't let me fuckin’ sleep! Obviously!" Jerk snapped, a hint of a Jersey accent slipping out in his anger.
"Hey, there's no need ta yell, Stanford." Lee said firmly, stepping into Jerk’s path so he was forced to stop pacing or run into Lee. Jerk ground to a halt with a scowl, though he made no attempt to side-step the younger man. "I'm just tryin’ ta understand what's goin’ on so I can help."
Lee proceeds to herd a mostly compliant Jerk to the spare bedroom up in the attic, but Jerk is too worked up/anxious to even lay down (let alone sleep) and Lee heads downstairs to make him some tea. Watchdog lingers in the room, studying a pacing Jerk to collect more data. According to Watchdog’s initial scan, Jerk had very recently healed via regen serum, and he was exhibiting all of the signs of both anxiety and sleep deprivation.
"What does your brother do when you're like this?" Watchdog tentatively asked, more than a little out of his depth considering that he and Jerk didn’t do vulnerable, but determined to help nevertheless.
Jerk Ford actually managed a gruff laugh at the question.
“Nothing you can do.” Jerk quipped, turning on his heel to walk back toward the far wall.
“What makes you say that?” Watchdog prompted, his eyes following Jerk from one side of the room to the other, a repetitive back and forth that ultimately did nothing to release any of the pent-up frustration and nerves that clung to Jerk.
“We had a special connection, kinda psychic maybe magic. Came from Ma's side of the family.” Jerk tersely explained, his stride slowing some as he pulled his glasses off to massage the space between his eyebrows. Probably suffering from a headache. “Anyways, we could feel what the other was feeling so sometimes he'd manipulate that.”
“Ah, a split soul pair. That explains a lot.” Watchdog mentally files the information away to mull over later, right now his top priority is to calm Jerk down and get him to sleep for a solid twelve hours. “Manipulate the bond how? I'm assuming some action he took resonated through your connection to you. But what did he do?”
“Usually he'd just pile shit on top of himself until he was overheated and crushed.”
“Ah, so you'd feel like you had a weighted blanket.”
“A what?”
“Weighted blankets are a relatively recent development, they're often used for people who are anxious or have other neurodivergent disorders like ADHD or autism.” Watchdog relayed with a surprising amount of patience, which he usually didn’t have much of when it came to Fords.
“We only have one and Fiddleford uses it for his anxiety.” Watchdog’s brows furrow. “An oversight on my part. I'll purchase more, but for now I'll have to improvise.”
Watchdog sheds his trenchcoat and Jerk suddenly looks more like cornered prey than the restless man he was a second ago. He's practically hissing when he speaks.
“What are you doing!?”
“My body temperature is elevated due to genetic tampering.” Watchdog explained, toeing off his boots, Jerk's gaze darting to the door behind Watchdog. He's clearly contemplating the merits of making a run for it, though Watchdog doesn't blame him considering they currently have a tentative alliance and Watchdog is about to do something ill-advised.
“What does your temperature have to do with anything?” Jerk demanded, edging toward the door.
“I understand that you're sleep deprived, so I'll refrain from questioning your intelligence.”
“Fuck you.”
Jerk, to his credit, is usually pretty good at thinking on his feet and reacting to (real or perceived) threats, but he's also sleep deprived. And because of his lack of a timely reaction, he's unable to do anything as Watchdog full-body tackles him onto the bed in the attic. And he complains about it, of course he does, but Watchdog gets special treatment from him so he doesnt get violent or start biting him.
Cue Lee entering the attic five minutes later with the tea, stopping in the doorway when he sees Watchdog pinning a sleeping Jerk down.
“…you sedate him?
“No. There was an easier way.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
“Just realized somethin' is all.”
“Care to share?”
“Nope.”
A bonus soft moment between Watchdog and The Anti-Ford:
"Is something wrong?" Watchdog inquired, taking a seat beside Anti on the sofa. "You were less talkative than usual during filming."
"Oh, you noticed?" Anti asked, raising a brow. He was on his laptop editing the video that they had just recorded earlier that day. The quiet was disconcerting, a clear indication that something was amiss, and Watchdog was determined to get to the bottom of it.
"Of course I did, you're my friend." Watchdog said mildly, his head tilting as he tentatively scooted closer to Anti, who adjusted in order to wordlessly invite Watchdog into his personal space. Watchdog swiftly closed the last bit of distance between them, pressing his thigh flush against Anti’s.
"I shouldn't be surprised, you're super vigilant." Anti hummed, draping an arm across the sofa’s backrest, his fingertips drawing senseless patterns on Watchdog’s shoulder.
"Anti, what's wrong?" Watchdog murmured, voice pitched low. It was the same tone that Watchdog used with Lee when he was having a bad day or when Jerk was anxious, the soothing rumble coaxing Lee to get out of bed and lure Jerk to the couch for a cuddle session that they both insisted wasn’t a cuddle session.
"It's not a big deal, I just ran into a Ford variant when we were out bar-hopping the other day. He… said some things that stuck with me I guess." Anti sighed with a dismissive shrug, Watchdog’s concerned expression smoothing out into something unreadable.
"Oh? Do you know which one?" Watchdog asked, his voice level and expression deceptively calm.
"Nah. They all tend to blur together after a while. You and PJ are the only Fords who seem to be able to stand my existence." Anti drawled with a lazy flap of his hand, Watchdog easily catching his wrist and gently squeezing.
"I don't tolerate your existence, I'm grateful for it." Watchdog countered, maintaining eye contact with Anti. "They don't know you, they don't care to know you, so their opinions don't matter. I'm quite fond of you, just as you are."
"That's…" Anti trailed off, throat audibly clicking when he swallowed as his free hand came up to cover Watchdog’s. "That actually makes me feel better. Thanks, Watch."
"My pleasure." Watchdog said with a nod, giving Anti’’s wrist one last careful squeeze before letting go. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to elsewhere. Text or call if you need anything."
Happy October! This month I'll be working on WIPstober (run by @disorganizedkitten and @etherealaberrance ) and OctoMeWriMo (ran by @hari-writes ) so here are my trackers! Gonna pin the spreadsheet up by my bed, and I'm going for a blackout on the Bingo!
What better way to commemorate this occasion than answering two very telling asks, including some art by The Artist near the bottom?
[Shout out and Special Thanks to @nowimjustastranger, @maridrawss, @aroace-get-out-of-my-face, and @rayyanishere1.
Especially @tearosepedall for sticking with me this long]
Post-Weirdmageddon, there was a period of days after Stan was memory wiped where Jerk Ford had to step up and take care of the family. Stan started recovering his memories right away, but he had 57 years worth of them and it wouldn't happen all at once.
Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy (and friends) were seeing Jerk Ford be more proactive in their lives the way that Stan would be. And he wasn't as nice or gentle as him, but he wasn't being a wretched bitch like he historically would be.
And during this time, Grunkle Stan is making... very telling comments, to the kids. With his mind still a bit scrambled with memories out of order, he forgets that Jerk Ford hides his acts of service.
Mabel: Why does my glitter seem so… un-glittery?
Stan, absentmindedly: Has your other grunkle been forgetting to visit the fairy dust dealers?
Mabel: …
-
Dipper: checking under all of the upturned furniture in his and Mabels room
Stan: What're you lookin' for, kiddo?
Dipper: I lost all of my unbreakable pens during Weirdmageddon! I don't know where they even came from let alone-
Stan: Stanford would make them again for you if you just asked him.
Dipper: …
Stan: Why ya lookin at me like that? sips pit cola
This does explain a few mysterious happenings as of late. But, was it an act? Would he drop it once he thought they'd back off?
Hearing the kids talking about one of their plans being to throw him back into a rift so that he couldn't influence their Grunkle Stan into being just as much of a jerk as him, he decided to do what all Pines dread;
Communicate.
Or, attempt to.
He sits with them, all of them, including Stanley (who is still a little confused) and directly asks Dipper and Mabel;
"What do I have to do to prove my worth to you?"
For someone with such a strong personality and in-your-face-attitude, asking you for approval, and a chance at redemption? The kids, Soos, and Wendy are all taken aback.
The kids pull out The Love Pendant, though they don't tell Jerk Ford what it does.
As a control, they first have Stan place it over Jerk Ford's neck.
Very bright and shimmering, near blinding, equal parts scintillating gold and green. Unsuprising, the older Pines twins are not just close as brothers, but also each others best friend. That's what the pendant looks like when Dipper and Mabel put it on each other, after all.
At the very least, Grunkle Stan's jerk brother is capable of love. But that doesn't mean he can extend much further than his own twin brother, the only person he isn't a massive bitch to, presumably the only person he actually cared about.
Well, their perceptions of him aren't exactly the same as they were Pre-Weirdmageddon, and they're starting to see him as more complex individual than just 'a jerk', but that doesn't mean they fully trust him or believe in him.
He did this. He almost doomed their world by getting involved with a demon just because he had a research block. He's the reason their grunkle Stan is like this - because of his damn metal plate.
He's the one who pushed Dipper away until he cracked.
How could they think him capable of loving them when he can't say it or even show it, if he feels the need to hide it.
-
"I'm not like you, Stanley. You can connect with other people, and they can understand you. It's like I'm on a different frequency than everyone else, and I'm always just going to be an outsider existing around real people who'll never want me there."
"It's okay that you're different. What *isn't* okay is scaring everyone away because you're afraid of them rejecting you first."
"That's not... why."
"Stanford, I know it's difficult for you. But ya have to *try*."
"...I feel like it's too late."
"We still got time on Earth, don't we? It's not too late."
-
Dipper and Mabel both put Love Pendant over his head and around his neck.
Most of the green from when it had been around Grunkle Stan's neck vanishes.
Do you have any crumbs of the Stan twins bonding in your JF au? How do they take care of one another in their own little ways? Do they follow specific routines when taking care of one another?
[Stan Twin Post]
[Art by @tearosepedall]
Everything grouped together + transcript below (& bonus sketch)
[Panel 1:
Stan asking Jerk Ford for help with a cell phone]
[Panel 2:
Rando, suddenly nervous: *Flirting*
Stan, clueless: *Flustered*
Jerk Ford, crushing a juice box in his fist: *Foe*]
[Panel 3:
Jerk Ford hugging Stan → Stan returning the hug]
[Panel 4:
It's nighttime and Stanley is asleep at the desk in front of his computer. Jerk Ford puts a blanket over him and takes his glasses off for him. There's also a disorderly pile of papers nearby.
The next morning, Stan is still sleeping and he now has a sticky note on his forehead that says 'You're Welcome'. His glasses are folded nearby, he still has the blanket on, and there's a pillow under his chin. The paperwork nearby has been neatly organized]
[Panel 5:
Stan is smiling and clasping his hands together tightly. Jerk Ford has an arm around him, and is looking at the audience angrily. They are equally as angry as each other, but Stan is keeping his composure better]
[Panel 6:
Both Stan and Jerk Ford are wearing safety goggles and a lab coat. Stan is holding a beaker and a test tube, Jerk Ford is holding an active blowtorch and a glass vial.
Teaching 7th Grade
Stan: Today we're gonna be looking at PH level.
Jerk Ford: And next lesson, I'm going to teach you how to seal an ampule.
Stan: No.]
+bonus
[Mario Kart]
Stanley (in general) will play either as Bowser or Donkey Kong. While Ford would play as Mario because he doesn't know what to pick.
