AUGGH THERES SOMETHING ABOUT THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE OKDER TWINS AND THE YOUNGER TWINS

Honestly the most revolutionary thing about Gravity Falls to me is its commitment to sincerity.

I’ve been listening to Alex’s podcast where he goes into the details of each episode with different storyboard artists and writers who worked on the show, and it just baffles me how… cared for the story is. Right now in media there’s been an uptick in satire, and shows making fun of themselves for existing, or taking the piss at their own content to “win” fans to their side. It’s like whimsy is gone from so many pieces of media. But Gravity Falls just doesn’t… do that. It completely embraces itself. Weirdness and all. And so does the team behind it. I’m not used to something I care about being so cared about by everyone surrounding it.

Here’s this cartoon, written and illustrated by an entire team of people saying, “no, we’re serious. we mean this. we made this on purpose and we made it important.”

Throughout the podcast, Alex discusses little ins and outs of each character, offering so much deep internal struggles and enriching the story even farther. And listening to him unpack it with the utmost sincerity just warms my heart. Each character is so dynamic because they were cared for by people who imbued them with sincerity.

That’s exactly why we get quotes like “Shame is powerful, but it grows in the dark,” as Ford realizes the trauma he’s hidden for so long is being embraced by his family, diminishing it’s weight on him through their immediate support.

It’s why we get Alex describing Stanley with quotes like; “I always in my gut thought of him as somebody with a huge well of sadness, a loss of human connection. And that need to please? That need to get laughs from the crowd, and putting on a big show? He’s trying to get from them the affection he never got from his family, and that he lost with his brother.”

Or detailing how Mabel might be a goof… but half the time she’s doing a bit, because she’s really more mature than her brother and doesn’t want him to grow up too fast. She’s trying to help ground him and bring lightheartedness into his life. Because she knows otherwise, he’ll become too self isolated.

And those two mini character studies he dropped so casually in these podcast episodes just… color the show. It’s why the show survived so well even after ten years. It’s gruff-old Stan always calling his niece “Pumpkin” and “Honey”. It’s the family always holding hands without it behind laced with a joke, and falling asleep on one another in the car. It’s Alex explaining that people toyed with other endings, other plot lines, other twists, but it was always going to end with Stan and Ford mending the family tie they severed thirty years ago. Because that was their story. Messes and family and care.

Ten years ago, watching it for the first time as it came out, I felt all that. But now, as an adult, knowing that all the other adults who made it felt the exact same way? :,) What a special story we all got to grow up with, and get to continue being apart of.

“HOPE” spotted in Washington D.C.

Stanley Pines gets his body turned back to his younger self except it just so happens to be the same exact time frame as when he:

- got a kidney stolen

- was chewing his way out of a trunk

- other form of injury and trauma that will shock the others when they see it

I’m sorry, why are people on TikTok so fucking against ShadowVanilla?? People are saying it’s a proship or that ShadowMilk is a p3do. What. They are both immortal and adults. Why are people not realizing that ShadowVanilla and BillFord are the same thing??? It’s incredibly toxic, yes, but not inappropriate in the ways that others think it is. I’m not a ShadowVanilla shipper personally, but I find the dynamic very interesting, and those who ship it aren’t bad people for shipping it. Fuck, man, leave people alone.

I know Gravity Falls has truly infected my brain because I was doing engine work on a boat this morning and all I could think was “Stanley Pines would be great at this.”

Stanley that’s as smart as his brother just hates the classroom.

Stanley with an ironclad memory.

Stanley who not just doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, but loves it.

Stanley who loves the water.

Stanley who, at fifty or fifty-five or sixty, becomes That Guy Who Knows Everything. RPMs jumping? Engine smoking? Making a clunking, misfiring noise? Yeah, he heard that same noise back in '82, put the spark plug covers back in wrong, everyone makes that mistake at least once. Whether you need a screwdriver or a beer or life advice, he's got your back, even if he teases you for a while.

Stanley is good at what he puts his mind to, he just wasn't allowed to try in the ways he wanted as a child.

Short thingy I wrote for English class today, couldn’t help but make it about gravity falls. (The lesson was on suspense and I had to use the beginning as a starter)

I had 24 hours; I needed to get this journal away. Far, far away. I had made many mistakes, the journal contained all of them. It cannot fall into the wrong hands. I had called my mother on the landline and asked her where he lived. I could only hope that the postcard would arrive in time, and that he would come. We hadn’t seen each other in over ten years. He owed me this one thing, after all; and knowing him, he’d be worried enough to show up.

More adventures!! :D

Masks, hundreds of them

Will Wood, save me from this hellish nightmare.

Save me, Will Wood.