Itās honestly one of my favorite parts of Dipperās character and something important I feel tends to be overlooked in fandom most of the time.
I remember when Love God and NWHS first aired a lot of people refused to believe Dipper was acting of his own accord. Iām talkin like entire meta posts written to explain away hisĀ āstrangeā behavior during these episodes.Ā They blamed him being vindictive to Robbie and bullying Thompson and screaming at Stan and Mabel on Bill and the events of Sock Opera. People couldnāt believe that Dipper could and would be so angry and cruel to others on his own. It had to be Bill making him act that way or something because it didnāt fit the shy, sweet, defenseless, nerdy stereotype they had (and some still have) him pigeonholed as.
We know now Bill had nothing to do with Dipperās actions following Sock Opera; Bill wanted the portal to open. Dipper wasnāt acting āstrangeāĀ at all. He was only ever just being himself (and in the case of NWHS, responding correctly to betrayal and heartbreak).
Often Dipper has behaved vindictively toward bullies or people who treat him badly. Not only does he know this, he likes it. A lot. He straight up says after getting revenge on Pacifica for bullying Mabel,Ā āMan, revenge is underrated. That felt AWESOME!ā. Its also obvious later heās having a blast watching Mabel beat Pacifica at golf in Golf War (āI canāt wait to see the look on Pacificaās face when we win!ā). Heās insanely determined to make sure Paz loses, to the point of lying, manipulating, and cheating so Mabel wins against her.Ā You see him pull similar shit with Robbie too, lying, manipulating, and cheating in a fight to win. Dipper frequently tries to expose Robbie as the awful person Dipper sees him as. In Love God, once Dipperās sorta gotten what he wants andĀ Robbie and Wendy are broken up, Dipper is rude to Robbie and angry Mabel helped Robbie find happiness through a new relationship with Tambry because Dipper hasnāt forgiven Robbie for being a jerk. He doesnāt think Robbie deserves to be happy.Ā Likewise, Dipper is rude and reluctant to help Pacifica in NMM even though he loves ghost hunting becauseĀ he sees her as nothing but a bully, and he has no mercy for bullies. He doesnāt forgive Pacifica until he sees how much sheās suffered from her parents.
Since we know Dipper has been bullied badly in the past, this makes sense.Ā Dipper is That Kid, the one who gets bullied and excluded for years and canāt forgive or ignore it like Mabel can (āWell I havenāt learned anything! Hey, Pacificaā!ā). The one who, after being scared and sad, feeling worthless and alone, decides enough is enough. Heās gonna prove them all wrong, and maybe even give them a taste of their own medicine along the way. Heās like that girl in the one Goosebumps episode who uses a demonic mask to terrorize her peers on Halloween after she gets sick of them scaring her all the time. Dipper Pines is angry. Itās not always obvious, but it certainly shows.Ā
You see that bitterness appear in his turbulent relationship with Stan too. In Dreamscapers Dipper very nearly leaves Stan at the mercy of Bill because he is convinced Stan hates him after the poor way Stan has treated him all summer. In NWHS Dipper is enraged after discovering Stan has been lying to him all summer, to the point of screaming and fighting and refusing to hear the man out or see him as anything but a bad guy. In the Stanchurian Candidate Dipper is really mad when Stan wonāt take him or the election seriously, resorts to using the mind control tie, and later accidentally gives his plan away when he finally blows up at Stan. And when Mabel is apologizing to Stan when Stanās saving she and Dipper from Gideon, Dipperās rolling his eyes and still expressing resentment through hisĀ āProbably loseā remark. In the end, when Dipper finds out Stanās lost the election, heās not shocked like the rest of his family; heās outraged.
Of course, part of Dipperās anger in TSC also comes from a need to beat Gideon too, a jerk whoās frequently harassed Dipperās sister and belittled Dipper himself, as well as been an all-around terrible person to the citizens of Gravity Falls. In Gideon Rises after Gideon has taken Mabel, some of Gideonās words play through Dipperās head:Ā āNo muscles. No brains. Face it, kid, youāre nothin without that journal.ā And it is this, this reminder, that Gideon thinks lowly of him, that other peopleāother people who have bullied Dipper in Gravity Falls and before thatāthink lowly of him (think heās crazy and weak and a dumb kid, a worthless loserā), and that Dipper thinks lowly of himself because of all of them, that fills him with the furious determination he needs to jump off a cliff, fight Gideon, and win.
THIS is the source of Dipperās determination for pretty much anything he does. When Wendy and her friends donāt believe Dipper can handle the haunted convenience store, he climbs onto the roof, punches through a metal grate, crawls through the ventilation system, and breaks into the store to prove them wrong. When Stan and Mabel laugh at Dipperās lack of physical strength, he trains with the manotaurs doing impossibly hard physical tasks to prove them wrong. When Stan and Mabel make fun of Dipperās height, he uses magic crystals to make himself taller and make them shut up about calling him short. When Stan tells Dipper not to talk to the government agents, Dipper gets mad and does so anyway, breaking into Stanās room to get the information to call them, and when Powers and Trigger start turning their backs on him, seeing him as just another dumb kid, in his haste and desperation to prove his worth to them, Dipper accidentally unleashes a horde of zombies. When Soos and Mabel arenāt taking DipperĀ seriously in Legend of the Gobblewonker, he loses it and accidentally smashes one of his disposable cameras to pieces. In Bottomless Pit, Dipperās made-up story is about his family and friends making fun of his voice and then finding a way to change his voice so they wonāt make fun of him anymore.
THIS is why Dipper is so stubbornly set on solving the mysteries of Gravity Falls. Curiosity plays a part too obviously, but mostly its about Dipper proving his worth to people, especially the people who think heās nothing. Dipper dreams of being praised on TV for his monster-hunting skills. He probably loves the attention he starts getting in Gravity Falls when he makes the front page of the newspaper for defeating a supernatural bat-monster, according to NMM. In the hidden cipher contract of his certificate of mystery in the Guide, Dipper explains his motivation for being a paranormal investigator: to prove people are wrong about him, to prove the supernatural exists, and show the people who bully and dismiss him why they shouldāve been nicer to him in the first place.Ā And the Guide is canon; almost all of the Ciphers and Codes appear in the show.Ā
And itās not just external rage either, Dipperās anger shows up in the form of self-hatred as well. Like when he starts taking the blame for things that arenāt his fault and apologizes when he doesnāt have to. When he calls himselfĀ āstupidā aloud for letting his PTSD get the best of him in TLM, and then again in his apology card to Candy, as well as aĀ ājerkā andĀ āthe worstā, a title he previously gave to Pacifica, even though it was Stan coaching Dipper to be a jerk to girls in Roadside Attraction.Ā In Weirdmageddon, Dipper doesnāt try to stand up for himself against Mabel or argue his side of things, doesnāt point out how sheās been a jerk to him too and contributed to the rift between them too, and instead just takes what she dishes out and apologizes and accepts the blame for whatās happened.
Donāt get me wrong, Iām happy he recognized staying with Ford was ridiculous and not what he wants (or good for him, considering how deep into the supernatural he was before that), proud of him even, and it was really great to see Mabelās emotions explored before the show ended and watch her realize she couldnāt make Dipperās choices for him. Iām proud of her too. But. Dipperās emotions are still bottled up and un-dealt with; toward his family, himself, everything. After all the outbursts and self-deprecating words and actions on his part, none of it was addressed. It was all swept under the rug. And eventually, if Dipper doesnāt deal with his so-called āemotional issuesā, those bottled up feelings are going to blow and itās not going to be pretty.
Thatās why I full-heartedly support the idea of Dipper taking up boxing. Heās got all the anger and aggression, all the steam inside, that boxing would let him blow off in a healthy manner. Plus itād give Dipper and Stan another chance to bond and, well, who doesnāt enjoy watching those two stubborn grumpy butts try to get along?
All in all, Dipper is a small well of pent-up rage, my friend, and boy do I love it.
