#pipanswers

[prettyinpwn]

Hi! I don't remember if anyone asked this, but do you have any headcanons about Shermie Pines?

Ah, see, this is the part where I totally self-promote share this wonderful, totally not owned by me ask blog reply: https://askthestans.tumblr.com/post/756343677567336448/hey-stan-can-you-tell-us-stories-about-your

But here's a full summary of my headcanons on the guy:

Older brother to Ford and Stan. I know the timeline's screwy with that baby in the background of ATOTS, but I personally just headcanon that that's some other baby and Shermie's not around in the house because he's off in the military.

I definitely picture him being in the Navy. I picture he's got sailor's tattoos. And actual cool ones, no offense to Ford.

I can't find the reference for the life of me, but I swear to God I once read from Hirsch (I think it was a tweet?) that Stan learned the "you cuddle up to a girl, knock her up, suddenly your life's fallin' apart" oddly specific joke in Little Gift Shop of Horrors from Filbrick. Going with my headcanon that Shermie's the older brother, that means he's the oops baby.

Because of that, and Filbrick's general suckage, Shermie struggled a lot with his dad like the Stans did. I think like Stan, he wasn't especially exceptional - or at least in a way that could make them money like Ford's brains - and Filbrick might have projected a whole "my life fell apart after I had Shermie" thing on the poor guy. So... I don't imagine Shermie got along real well with Filbrick. I also headcanon the large gap in years between Shermie and the Stans as Filbrick's hesitation to have more kids. I think Caryn would have wanted more, and eventually convinced him to have another (and whaddaya know, two for the price of one!), but Filbrick all over just gives me the vibe of a guy that never wanted to be a father, and Shermie knew that even as a kid, so he felt rather unwanted.

In terms of personality, I see Shermie as like... a straight laced golden retriever. Like a pure heart of gold "sees an old lady struggling to walk across the street and gets out and helps her" type guy. Being Mabel and Dipper's grandfather, I think he shares Mabel's optimism but Dipper's sense of right and wrong, which is what makes him a bit of a square (see the Ask the Stans post linked above). Even so, he's not outgoing like Mabel, he's introverted like Ford and Dipper. Like... people picture introverts as moody and quiet with dark thoughts, but when Shermie's quiet he just has happy fantasies like his granddaughter, Mabel (except replace hamster balls and hot boys with, idk... probably baseball or a movie he saw one time and loved).

I see him as a family pillar of support type guy, too. As the older brother in a poor family, I think a lot of responsibility was put on his shoulders. He definitely helped run the pawn shop (though Filbrick got irritated whenever he gave too generous of a discount), and made extra money on the side for his family with a side job. Going into the military was not his choice - given the era, it was probably a draft - and he sent his money home. Caryn probably did Tarot readings on him every night between his letters home hoping they always turned up positive.

He sent little letters home to Stan and Ford, too. He'd make Stan promise to protect Ford for him since he couldn't while he was out at sea, which is what inspired Stan to be such a protector. Then, he made Ford promise to help Stan with his homework like he used to, but once again, couldn't while in the Navy. And he'd tell them about his "epic ocean adventures" to gloss over the horrors of what he was actually going through, which I like to headcanon partially inspired their obsession with fixing up the Stan-O-War so they could have epic ocean adventures someday like their big brother. It wasn't until they were older that they realized, oh... yeah, he wasn't swashbuckling with pirate ghosts in the US Navy. :(

Physically, I think he's the one who looks the most like Caryn. Stan and Ford are like Filbrick short king copy+pastes, but I picture Shermie more tall and lanky like their mother, and has her aquiline nose. Coloring-wise, he's a Pines: brown hair and brown eyes. And sailor tattoos, can't forget those.

I feel like he had to be a pseudo father-figure to the Stans because of Filbrick. Filbrick wasn't the type to teach them how to ride a bike or play a sport, scare "monsters" out of their closet, bring them home for dinner from the beach, etc. Like he fulfilled more of the emotional role of a father to them that Filbrick couldn't.

With Stan, I think he played defense for the kid against Filbrick. I don't think Shermie would have directly gotten angry with Filbrick, especially given his golden retriever-ness and the era, but he defended Stan in little ways. Say Stan broke something, Shermie might have stepped in and tried to smooth things over before Filbrick could get angry. But boy oh boy, if he saw anyone else picking on Stan (or Ford, for that matter), better watch out. He might be a golden retriever, but he's still a Pines, so he's got that whole, "Mess with my family and I'll send you to the hospital." thing going on.

With Ford, I think Shermie was like Stan to him, protecting him and generally trying to make him not feel weird for his polydactyly and nerdiness. While on the surface I think Shermie and Stan might have bonded more because they had more shared surface level interests, I think Ford really looked up to Shermie, especially since Shermie was - as an introvert - the closest to Ford in personality in their family. Shermie wholly supported his love of weirdness, even if he didn't understand what the hell he was talking about half the time, and often would go along with him and Stan on monster hunts as kids just to make sure they got home safe, even if he had no interest in the paranormal himself.

As far as flaws, I can see him having inherited Filbrick's temper and absolutely hating himself for it. Like normally he's a sweet, happy-go-lucky guy, but when he blows up he feels like such an ass afterwards because it reminds himself of his father. His golden retriever personality might have been a way of him trying his best to form an identity far, FAR away from Filbrick, so when parts of Filbrick come out, he feels gross. The Stans look the most like Filbrick, but Shermie - for as nice and sweet as he is - inherited more of Filbrick's bad personality traits than they did.

When Stan got kicked out, Shermie was out at sea and their mother hadn't told him about it, feeling awful she'd let Filbrick just kick Stan out. So when he got home, he was like, "Where the hell is Stan?", and Caryn had to tell him. Shermie always blamed himself for not being there to play defense for Stan like he always had in the past, but at the same time, he was P I S S E D that Stan broke Ford's science fair project. And given that Caryn felt guilty and didn't want to speak against Filbrick and Ford's opinions, and Filbrick is a dick, and Ford was still freshly wounded from the whole fight and disappointment... well, he got a biased view of Stan. He felt so betrayed by Stan for decades for having "hurt" Ford and the family. I think this would explain why he wouldn't have gone to Stan's "funeral" later on. Cue him feeling like an asshole after the events of Gravity Falls and Stan and Ford and/or the niblings tell their grandfather what went down the last three decades.

Even so, I think he tried to find Stan afterwards in his drifter grifter years, but to no avail. Stan didn't want Shermie to find him and disappoint him, and all the evidence Shermie did find seemed to prove what Ford and Filbrick said about Stan, so... :(

He worked in the IRS for his career after the Navy. It made Stan barf when he found out. But Shermie just wanted a good old normal family life and a boring job after what he went through in the war.

As for the way he interacts with Dipper and Mabel, just... pure cuteness. Picture the most stereotypical sweethearted grandfather. Stan and Ford are like the cool old relatives, but Shermie is the big softie old relative. He buys Mabel craptons of arts and crafts and knitting supplies for birthdays and holidays, and he buys Dipper whatever paranormal stuff or video games he wants. He fully sees Dipper as like a little Ford and a lot like his own son (D&M's dad), but he loves Mabel too, of course.

If I think of any more, I'll be sure to add them to this post. :D

[ztannas]

Do you have apic of ur face? c:

here’s my dead-eyed zombie look

[magnecalliope]

2, 4, 6, 8, writing ask game...mutilate. idk

Gladly!

Yet another writing ask

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

Ough. Novel length projects in general. Keeping the energy up to write more than just a one-shot is a struggle. My most successful long projects are really just a series of snippets set in the same universe in a vague timeline, with huge chucks of context missing between them because I just didn't feel like writing those parts, but I'm always happy to clarify whenever questions about those pieces arise.

4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

Boy, I'm so glad you ask! Here's a shortlist of some of my characters, or at least the ones I can think of right now.

Del: This is my fursona and self-insert. They don't really have a story because I just put them wherever I need them, but their general vibe is intensity and cluelessness. They love oversharing and hate picking up on social cues. They are what I'd call the worst version of myself.

Sandy: This is the OC I've had the longest, so she's gone through a lot of iterations, but I've settled mostly on her being an orphan from the Capital Wasteland, a mechanic and engineer, and nosy optimist. She started as a self-insert for my 12 year old self (like I said, I've had her for a LONG time), so she has creative tendencies and nerdy interests like comic books and old holotapes of genre film.

Artemis: My current Courier Six OC, he's a former vaudeville performer from a little town in Arizona, where his parents exploited his talent for marksmanship to draw in tourists and traders. A big part of the marketing for his show was being something like an Annie Oakley type, so his parents were not particularly supportive when he came out as trans, and he ended up running away at 17, which is how he ended up working odd jobs as a courier.

Dolly & Stiles: My Helluva Boss OCs! A robofizz and baphomet who work at a maid cafe in Greed together, they're a bit of a bonded pair. Dolly is technically property of the maid cafe, but he lives with Stiles, who is doing their best to support the both of them with their side gig as a camboy (camthey?).

Talc: Formerly my Minesona, Talc is a kiln god that's gone mad from isolation in an abandoned ceramics studio and made a deal with a entity more powerful than herself to escape it. She's an annoying asshole because she no longer has any sense of boundaries, and doesn't care to relearn them.

6. What's your ratio for rating your works?

Is this asking if I'll up the rating on a work if a character says the word shit too many times? I just go based on vibes, man.

Or is it asking what kudos:comments:hits I consider successful? I try not to look at stats that way for my own mental health, but I do like checking how many private bookmarks some of my more salacious smut has to know how many secret perverts are out there pretending to be Respectful of Boundaries to the wider mcyt community.

8. How slow is a slow burn?

I guess it depends on the length of the story in general, but I guess as long as they aren't getting together until the last third of the story it counts.

[prettyinpwn]

What is your opinion on Filbrick Pines?

Oh boy... long story short, my opinion on him is pretty low, not gonna lie. I went into his character a lot in my analysis post on Ford's writing (found here), since Filbrick had a large effect on Stan and Ford's characters, even if only in subtle ways. To summarize my points on Filbrick:

Definitely abusive, in my opinion. I don't think physically, but for sure emotionally and mentally. He's the type of father who provided materially, but otherwise didn't seem very good at it.

Was way too focused on money. Now, I think it's very possible that Filbrick could have a great backstory reason for this. My biggest guess is a life of poverty and wanting to provide better for his family, but the cruel irony is that in seeking wealth, he hurt his family (e.g "Stanley, by "sabotaging" Ford you hurt our whole family, because he was going to make us millions, so I'm gonna throw you out, ignoring the fact that by throwing you out I'm currently hurting the family in the way I'm accusing you of."). He also hurt Ford. The way Filbrick treated Ford was like a Willy Wonka golden ticket. "Oh, you're smart? This college might make you a millionaire? I'm impressed!". He didn't care about what Ford wanted, he cared about what Ford's brains could get him. Case in point: he didn't seem to give a rat's ass about Ford's brains or college dreams until the principal implied it could make money.

Iirc, according to Hirsch, the quote Stan says in Little Gift Shop of Horrors ("Movies are great! You watch the movie, you scare the girl, the girl snuggles up next to you, next thing you know you gotta raise a kid. Your life falls apart. Forget that last part.") was actually something Filbrick used to say. Like DEAR GOD Filbrick said that in front of Stan and Ford? "Hey kids, my life was great until I got your ma knocked up with Shermie, and then my life was pure suck after that.". Like... who... who just says that in front of their kids? Who even THINKS that about their kids? Yikes.

The way Stan and Ford are named. The code at the end of A Tale of Two Stans is played as a joke, but when you think about it, it's... kinda sad. "A STUBBORN TOUGH NEW JERSEY NATIVE, FILBRICK WASN'T TOO CREATIVE, HAVING TWINS WAS NOT HIS PLAN, SO HE JUST SHRUGGED AND NAMED BOTH STAN.". Filbrick did not give a single f*ck. "Oh, I have twins? Eh, I'm too lazy to think about a name, just call 'em practically the same thing.". What father does this?

In the post I linked above, I also hinted at how I thought Bill's manipulations of Ford almost were a mirror echo of Filbrick (even in their character design, it's odd how they both have yellow brick and blue with hats themed designs, he's got the literal word 'brick' in his name, etc). Because when you think about it, what did Ford's father teach him but "you are a puppet to be used by me to get what I want"?

There's a reason Ford and Stan are incredibly broken people, and it all started with Filbrick. He's the one that taught Stan to believe he's worthless and a f*ckup, and the one that taught Ford that he's a tool to be used. So... nah, not a fan of the guy, if I didn't make that obvious already lol. BUT... I will say this, as this is something I did give him credit for in my Ford analysis post: a lot of Ford and Stan's positive qualities are things he passed down to them, namely their protectiveness of family and "toughness". But unlike Filbrick, who manifested that in toxic ways, Stan and Ford took a heavy albatross necklace of generational trauma and turned it around to a positive.

This goes even further when Stan passes the lesson to Dipper. Dipper learning to "fight back"? That's a family lesson that comes from Filbrick, originally, when he signed Stan and Ford up for boxing. Some have criticized the way Stan taught Dipper that lesson, but you can't argue with the end result:

TL;DR: Filbrick mostly sucks, but... like most well-written characters, he does have some gray area. Was he a good father? No. But the gauntlet meat grinder he put Ford and Stan through - worth it or not - made them the tough family protectors they are as adults. I will give him that, at least.

[prettyinpwn]

Tough question here: A few people in the fandom drew parallels between Dipper getting the apprenticeship and Ford being offered at West Coast Tech. Some would argue that since it was wrong for Dipper to accept the apprenticeship, did that mean Ford was also in the wrong for wanting that WCT offer? Feel free to note other differences between the two cases.

Ooo, this is a tough one, you're right. I think I'll fall back on the old character thesis of Gravity Falls that I've mentioned in other posts: the show argues, agree with it or not, that a Pines twin alone is worse off than a Pines twin with their respective twin working alongside them, since they make up for each other's flaws. That, and the other thesis that the best way to live life isn't to leave everything behind at rocket speed nor to hold onto the past so hard it makes you stagnant, but to find a good balance between the two.

But even with those theses in mind, I don't think either Dipper or Ford are wrong for wanting the apprenticeship/college experience. I think the issue was more with the lack of compromise each choice offered their twin. I wish the show had explored compromises more, like say Mabel moves with Dipper to Gravity Falls, or Dipper and Mabel move back to California but Dipper apprentices in the summers.

Or maybe with Ford and Stan, they could have worked out moving to the town West Coast Tech is in together and split rent, Stan working while Ford went to school, and then either moved to Gravity Falls together or did the whole Stan-O-War II thing afterwards using the money Stan would have saved up plus Ford's grants. And maybe they could have come to that compromise if they'd worked it out, but instead... oops, Stan breaks the perpetual motion machine and Filbrick throws him out and all that sad business.

But the show needed conflict so they couldn't really make it an easy fix; without Stan and Ford's rift, there is no Gravity Falls. Their brotherhood and argument is literally the backbone of the entire plot and the inciting incident. So... no compromise, because conflict was needed. And honestly, it's true to life; sometimes the greatest rifts can be healed with a simple chat and compromise and apology, but people hold onto anger and grudges and ego for so long that it causes decades of pain that could have been avoided.

tl;dr: Neither Dipper or Ford were wrong for wanting what they wanted, but they're a lot better off with their twin at their side. Ford's arc is a tale of a Pines twin alone AKA misery and mistakes, and Dipper's arc is a tale of a Pines twin who avoided the mistakes and pain of Ford's story because he stuck with his twin and chose forgiveness and sacrifice and compromise.

[prettyinpwn]

It's kind of ironic that Bill, someone who always choose chaos, represents stasis and the refusal to change.

Yup. He's so sunk in denial and refusal to try to be better, yet loves chaos; maybe because some part of him deep, deep down wants change but knows he can't change his own past. He can't change who he is, is the real tragedy. And like I've said before, it's neat how whenever he shows up pre-Weirdmageddon, time stops. Like he's stuck in time. And when he starts Weirdmageddon, he specifically mentions that now, time is dead. AKA stasis. Not sure if that was just a thing done for the cool factor back when the show was made, but it's a really cool piece of symbolism with what we know now.

[prettyinpwn]

Thoughts on the reveal that the Pines parents are having a rough patch in their marriage such that it became a recurring nightmare for Dipper? Do you think they divorced at the end?

Oof... yeah, that was probably the most heartbreaking part of TBOB for me, other than the awful things that happened to Ford with Bill. I personally think their parents divorced at the end. They could have done couple's counseling in private with Dipper and Mabel still there, you know? Like, "Mom and Dad are going for a date, sweethearts, your grandparents going to watch you tonight." type little lies.

But having Dipper and Mabel gone all summer is like... divorce level prep time. Divorces can take forever, speaking from my own experience having watched my own parents divorce when I was around Dipper and Mabel's age, because there's a lot of legal stuff that needs to be figured out and mediated with a judge. It also can stir up a lot of tension in a household with two people that might resent the hell out of each other, because who knows what the cause was; could have been cheating, financial issues, constant conflict, etc.

Of course, we won't know for sure until/if/when Hirsch confirms it, but I'd lean more towards divorce, given how long the twins were sent away. Plus, it'd make for a good plot conflict to use for story reasons should he decide to ever return to that world again.

[prettyinpwn]

Do you believe Pacifica's hair is natural blonde?

Hm, that's an interesting question. I'd lean towards that she dyes it, since both of her parents are brunette:

And it seems most Northwests have dark hair, even Nathaniel and his wife way back when:

However, it's very possible for two brown haired people to have a blonde kid if they also carry a blonde gene (for example, in my family my grandmother was blonde, it skipped a generation, and my parents who are both brunettes had my blonde sister), or it could be that her parents dye theirs, too.

It's also possible that their family's hair turns from blonde to brown as they age. This phenomena (not sure if there's a name for it) is common in my own family. Using the same example as my sister, she was platinum/near white blonde as a kid and turned more light brown as she aged. So Pacifica might have darker hair when she's older.

However, since the Northwests have, er... vanity and control issues, and given that every other Northwest we've seen has dark hair, I would not be surprised if Pacifica's parents make her bleach hers. Which, hey, a neat little thing to use for character development for anyone writing fic involving Pacifica that takes place after the series ends. Who knows? Maybe the summer after Gravity Falls, Dipper and Mabel return and find a brunette or redheaded or black haired Pacifica?

tl;dr: 80% sure she dyes it, 20% she doesn't; it would make it a neat show of character development growth for it to be dyed and Pacifica to let it grow back to its natural color, though.

[prettyinpwn]

I saw a post on Tumblr of someone saying "Filbrick is not a bad father, because he kicked Stan out" and I was like "What???"

I mean, they're welcome to their opinion, but... yo, like... everything we learn new about Filbrick just gets worse and worse. Wouldn't get his kids gifts and gave them like... what was it, brick samples or dust or some garbage as gifts one year, tried to sell Stan on the front lawn for a few bucks, threw his kid out at 17 without any questions asked, wanted to use Ford's brains as a family gold mine, made jokes to his kids about how having kids ruined his life, couldn't even be half-assed to give his twin boys different names... I could go on.

The one tiny positive thing I can say about Filbrick is that he taught the Stans to be tough and he monetarily provided for them. That's it. He's awful otherwise, I'm sorry to anyone who likes Filbrick. EDIT: Oh, also forgot: dude didn't even come to Stan's "funeral". Screw him.

[prettyinpwn]

Did Shermie ever argue with Filbrick about his decision to kick Stan out of the house? I mean, even though he was mad at Stan for ruining the Ford's project, I doubt he was happy about the news that his seventeen-year-old brother had become homeless and living in his own car.

Yeah, in my headcanon, I think Shermie - even if he was mad at Stan for breaking Ford's project and even if he did get a biased story about what happened - he still loved Stan since they're brothers. He definitely would have thought kicking Stan out was too far, hence why I think he tried to find Stan in Stan's grifter/drifting years after he got out of the military. But then when he found out Stan was conning people, the multiple identities, fleeing from state to state, getting involved with crime, etc... well, to him, I think it might have proved that maybe Stan really was beyond redemption. Especially if Shermie is as straight-laced as I personally headcanon him as.

I think that's why no one in the family came to Stan's "funeral" except their mother. Filbrick probably said good riddance, Ford was missing in the Multiverse, etc. Caryn went because she probably understood the situation more from Stan's perspective. She probably also felt guilty as hell for letting her husband just toss Stan out, maybe thinking, "If I'd just tried to stop Filbrick, maybe Stan wouldn't have been on the streets, and he wouldn't have turned to crime, and then he wouldn't have ended up dead so young...". Like she felt she was responsible, in a way, but she couldn't have invited Stan home because Filbrick would have said no, probably.

Back to Shermie, I think he probably just... gave up on Stan. Although, there probably was always a part of him that wondered, knowing that his father had a temper and tended to blame Stan for everything, and he probably knew Ford was a tiny bit biased because Ford believed that Stan ruined his future. But then Shermie probably got swept into his own life with a wife and kids, so just... let Stan go, hoping he'd get better and come back, but no. He ended up, effectively, "dead" to the other Pines.

I mean, imagine you have a brother your father always said was a coattail-riding loser. Then, he breaks your other brother's chances at a fancy college. Okay, oops, mighta been an accident. Then you follow his trail and find out he's become a conman getting involved with drugs and crime and who knows what else. You'd probably give up and think he's a lost cause. That maybe your other brother and father are kind of right about him being just a lost cause screw-up. Maybe you even feel betrayed yourself, wondering how your "screw-up" brother could do things that horrible, wondering how you ever believed in the good in him.

It's okay, though, because after Gravity Falls, I assume the Stans and Dipper and Mabel tell him and everyone else in the family the truth. Imagine that family reunion...

[prettyinpwn]

Hi PrettyinPwn! So, I wanted to ask you something, because I'm honestly lost and confused. Like, I know it's a dumb question, you don't even have to answer this ask if you don't want to, but could you help me understand the difference between Stan and Ford wanting to sail in the Stan o' War in the past and Stan and Ford sailing in the Stan-o'-War II in the present? One of the themes of Gravity Falls is about learning to let go and accept change and I want to know how it fits in this theme. At first I thought that they sailing in Stan-o'-War II in the present was a attempt of bring past to present by living a dream that is rooted in the past, which gives them an element of their past to hold on to and thus they can keep a part of their past in the present. But since the Pines learned to let go and accept change in the end of the show, I know that can't be that.

No, don't call it a dumb question; I think this is actually a great question to ask about the narrative (and one I've personally struggled with how to view myself).

You're 100% correct. It's odd that the narrative theme is about change and accepting it, yet the conclusion to the Stans' story is about returning to the past AKA holding onto the past.

When I think about it, this feels like a point where other themes and character arcs overrode or blend with this theme. Namely, the theme of healing family rifts, forgiveness, the conclusion of Stan and Ford's character arcs, and the beauty of the parallelism/juxtaposition of their story with Dipper and Mabel's.

As it pertains to Stan and Ford's character arcs, they had their own personal lessons to learn. Stan's was learning inherent worth and forgiving of self, in my opinion. Ford's was finding true acceptance/love for who he is (and by "true" I mean the honest kind that people like Stan and Fiddleford offered him that acknowledged his flaws but liked him anyway AKA selfless acceptance, not the selfish kind from people that just wanted to use him AKA Bill and his father to an extent).

So taking those two arc lessons, look at what Ford and Stan offer each other in the end: Ford asking Stan to go on an adventure with him is him subtly saying, "I forgive you and you have worth", and Stan accepting was him subtly saying, "I also forgive you and I still love/accept you". It's a return to the way they saw each other as kids. A key element here, too, is what Stan says to Ford when he first suggests the Stan-O-War idea when they're kids:

Ford is made fun of. Stan defends him from the bullies. And Ford says this (and from a writing standpoint, this is the part where the character states his need/want):

"But I am a freak. I just wonder if there's anywhere in the world where weirdos like me fit in."

And this is Stan's reply:

"Hey, chin up, buddy. Look. (He and Ford look at the sea) One of these days, you and me are gonna sail away from this dumb town. We'll hunt for treasure, get all the girls, and be an unstoppable team of adventurers."

If we break this down, it's basically Ford saying "I feel unaccepted and like an outcast" AKA his character wound and Stan saying "I accept you, you fit in with me, and I'll always stick with you".

So when they end up adventuring together at the end, it's them getting their character need. They're both the balm to each other's character wounds. That, and another thesis of Gravity Falls is that a Pines twin alone is their worst self, but together, they're at their best. I explored this in my post about Mabel's writing, but I think that's why Hirsch and crew wrote both sets of twins sticking together in the end.

A metaphor the fandom likes to use a lot with the Stans is D&D stats: Ford is high intelligence but abysmal wisdom, and Stan is high wisdom but lower intelligence. So alone... well, we saw it for ourselves. Ford alone is taken advantage of, isolated, lacking common sense, etc. Stan alone is depressed, a bit dumb (I say that affectionately but he wasn't good in school, we all know this), etc. Lo and behold: they have what the other doesn't, and their character arc resolution is realizing they need each other and have different strengths that help cover their own flaws.

So all in all, it's still the theme of change, because the Stans sticking together is a change from their status quo at that point (they'd been apart for decades). But it's the theme of change tempered with the value of still holding on to what matters. Like Dipper and Mabel: yeah, they're accepting change and the future, but they're also holding on to some things AKA each other. That's what the Stans failed to learn until they were older, what the niblings taught them, and what they rediscovered that they'd long lost.

So honestly, the theme of change really should be reworded to "accepting a good balance between the past and the future; you can't stop time, but you can still fondly hold onto parts of the past". Why? Because this theme in and of itself is a blend of both sets of twins: the future focus of Ford and Dipper wanting to follow their ambitions and grow up faster, and the past focus of Stan and Mabel wanting to cling on to the past and stop time (I mean, look at the metaphor of the perpetual motion machine and Stan breaking it; he wanted to stop time - a perpetual motion machine in real life - basically).

This new version of the theme reflects that both sides have a point, and both sides were slightly wrong: the narrative conclusion their characters help define is a blend of both arguments; compromise. And the Stan-O-War II is just that: holding onto the past as they sail into the future; compromise between the two viewpoints and characters.

I hope that answers your question! :D

[prettyinpwn]

Hello, just read your recent Stan(ley) analysis… I’m especially so delighted on the section of (A)Xolotl, because I’ve always heard of the connections in fleeting mentions (like just brief touches on parallels of Stan-Ford = Xolotl-Quetzalcoatl), but I just adore the way you tie it in thematically with the show’s overarching narrative, Stan’s character arc, and the visual cues in GF.

If you were ever interested in elaborating even further on the link between Stan-Bill/Stan-Axolotl like you mentioned, I for one would definitely read it!

Aww, thank you for reading! I'm glad you liked my Stan post. <3

As for my Stan-Bill-Axolotl theory, well...

*Glances at the 40 page unfinished monster.*

Honestly, I paused writing it because I was waiting until TBOB released in order to make sure that it didn't cancel anything I was suggesting out. That, and the hardest dang part is figuring out how to organize it. It goes from hints in the series, to hints in the books, to hints in even the long-forgotten Search for the Blindeye website. I've gone through two rewrites of it just trying to figure out how to make it less, er... crazy red string corkboard and more essay-like.

I can't promise I'll finish and release it, but long story short just in case I don't: the gist of my Long Con Theory (what I call it) blends the idea of the Axolotl being an opposite but similar cosmic force to Bill but for good rather than chaos, who "shapeshifts" (interpret that as you'd like, but we know he can become other/smaller forms, because example: Frilliam in TBOB) like the real life deity Xolotl to basically con Bill over millennia into falling into his trap, but doing so in such a way that Bill doesn't see it coming, and better yet, makes it his choice technically in the process.

Said trap in my opinion was a long, LONG string of cons that eventually led to what we see in Gravity Falls, Stan being one of the Axolotl's forms rather than the commonly theorized idea that he's a reincarnation of Bill (Same Coin Theory), who was the final puzzle piece to stopping Bill. It finally makes sense of why the Axolotl even offered Bill an out or second chance all those thousands to millions of years ago. The whole, "invoke my name if you get into trouble or whatever". That wasn't really an out. That was a trick, in my opinion, to force Bill - through his own free will, technically - into therapy.

It sounds nuts when I explain it without those forty pages of reasoning, but I found so much evidence along the way that... honestly, it started to make more sense to me than the Stan=Bill reincarnated theory (although I like that one a lot, too, for the karmic justice reasons; Bill defeating himself is just poetic and accurate in more ways than one).

If it sounds confusing, the shortest way I can describe my Stan-Axolotl theory is that Bill thinks he's the Multiverse's smartest little trickster, but the Axolotl has been playing 4D chess on him for millions of years in the most cosmically comedic way.

Also, it means that - contrary to popular belief - that would make Stan the echo of the Axolotl, and Ford of all people the echo of Bill; a brother saving his brother from his own mistakes and redeeming himself in the process, both cosmically as a deity chonky boi amphibian and his triangle chaotic bastard rival, and as human twin brothers. It would explain why the Axolotl even gives a rat's ass about Bill getting better and healing, anyways (or, at the very least, would make him a more interesting deity beyond the typical, "me am good god, everyone deserve hugs <3" type deal, as cute as that would be). And it would also tie in well with the Ford-Bill parallels The Book of Bill brought up; both having a "deformity" of sorts, being picked on, almost destroying (or succeeding in Bill's case) their own dimensions, etc.

Like... imagine you're the Axolotl and Bill is your cosmic deity twin brother; a polar opposite of what you stand for. Imagine him messing up so badly repeatedly, but because he's your family in a way, you spend millions of years trying to make him better through a long, complicated manner that involves a lot of deception. Sounds a hell of a lot like Stan's story, right? Whether or not you'd interpret Stan as a literal version of the Axolotl and Ford as a literal version of Bill, or the Axolotl and Bill as literal twins given their physical differences and likely dimensional origin differences, not sure, but... it fits just right to me.

If true, it also would tie in extremely thematically well with the rest of the series: family saving family, the importance of sticking with family, forgiveness and redemption, forgiving the seemingly unforgivable, twin relationships, repeated family cycles, etc. And to go super nutso because that's how I roll, imagine the thematic value of - by Bill hurting and manipulating Ford even if he's technically a "form" of himself - it's symbolic of him abusing himself AKA self-hate, of getting in his own way, etc.

And imagine if Bill KNEW Ford was a version of himself? And Stan a version of the Axolotl? Another reason for Bill to hate Stan, man. And extra reason for Bill to maybe regret what he did to Ford, because it was only hurting himself, and perhaps the only way Bill can learn empathy is to understand how what he does hurts himself because he obviously didn't learn it through hurting others. The angst-bait, I can TASTE it.

Then we add a little bit of the, "Oh, we thought Stan was a Bill reincarnation, but actually he's a form of the Axolotl, so yet AGAIN he's not what he seems goddammit." type plot twists within plot twists within thematic elements within theme circles and dimensions and...

*Long breath.*

And THEN it also explains why Jheselbraum would have even given a damn about helping Ford. Yes, she's nice and incredibly underrated fandom why don't we talk about her more, but she's associated with the Axolotl. He was probably like, "Hey, Jhessie, my twin brother's being a dumbass on the run from his own dumbass self again, can you put some metal in his head for me so he can tune himself out? Thanks.". And Jheselbraum was probably like, "Wtf, but okay, praise the Axolotl, I guess.". Like... we're never told WHY Jheselbraum saved Ford. Yes, they needed him to go home to start the rift and be with Stan again so that Weirdmageddon would happen so that all that timeline nonsense would end in Stan sending Bill to therapy, but HOW? WHY?

And don't get me started on Frilliam. Why the gat damn would the Axolotl shapeshift himself into a tiny chonk version to watch over Ford and give him bombastic side eye when he let Bill convince him to let tiny chonk version go? And then somehow magically shows up in the tank later during Tourist Trapped, when Stan owns the Shack? Like... this deity HAS to have a personal interest in Ford and Stan, right? How in the shit is it normal for your universe's deity to just chill in your house and watch over you unless he had some personal interest at stake?

And FRILLIAM? Which rhymes with WILLIAM AKA BILL? WHICH SOUND LIKE LAZY ASS TOO SIMILAR BOY TWIN NAMES LIKE STANLEY AND STANFORD ARE? COME ON.

And like... their school mascot being the vultures, which is associated with Xolotl's rule over the trecena of Vulture (kind of like an Aztec week in their calendar iirc).... and Stan being a cosmic damn master of the mind in Dreamscaperers and Weirdmageddon 3 so much that he can shift it at will that just never gets explained as to why... and all the parallels I mentioned of Stan embodying the virtues of the Axolotl in his writing in the post you mentioned... and Stan sharing similarities with Bill that led us to think he was Bill's reincarnation ("eenie meanie miney YOU") but maybe he's the Axolotl's different form so shares similarities for that reason instead because twin bros and... all the fire and new identities symbolism and, like... Stan having a horned/frilled reptilian/amphibian mask (albeit not an axolotl) on as his first appearance?

Anyways, the full theory makes a million more points, but yeah, this is why that theory is currently 40 pages long. This post is a microcosm of how nuts it gets. And how it sounds nuts until you put the breadcrumbs together until you're like, "Wait a minute, I'm either insane or Hirsch is. Or both."

lol also I said "long story short" earlier but the short version is an essay in and of itself forgive my rambling sins

[prettyinpwn]

If you can make another GF book, what would it be about?

If I was Hirsch, I'd write a book on the Stan O War II adventures (assuming he never makes it a full spin-off). I think it'd sell even better than The Book of Bill has. Not that money is the only concern, but let's be honest: as many fans as Bill has, the Stans probably have twice or triple that. They seem to be the fandom favorite characters, especially with older fans, and I think their story would be the most fertile ground for conflict, growth, and adventure ideas out of any of the other characters.

[prettyinpwn]

GF pilot design or the current show style?

That's... actually a really good question! Honestly, I'd say current show style (but keep in mind I have little to no artistic talent or art education so this is just my uninformed opinion).

I like the pilot's design a lot, to be fair. I like that Mabel and Dipper look more their age and I like the, er... is 'quirkiness' the right word for it? But some things are off, like Stan's design is SO much better in the version of the show we got.

And as much as I like the quirkiness of the pilot style's backgrounds, Ian Worrel's direction in that area just makes, well... look at it:

I mean, I could pick any background of his and it'd belong in a museum, because this show is goddamn beautiful.

So current show style is my final answer. However, to my understanding, the pilot was likely made on a much smaller budget, so who's to say that if they kept more of the pilot style but tuned it up with a big team and cash behind it that it couldn't have been just as amazing in its own way.

I feel like current style is more palatable to a general audience, though, which is one point in the pilot style's favor imo: one of the themes of GF is being weird and being okay with it, so an art direction that followed that same quirkiness would have been a neat art-story connection.

Or even better, if it'd been a blend of quirky and light versus more realistic elements and dark to showcase the blend of the four main Pines' personalities. You do see this art-story connection with the color symbolism in the show, though, in the current style. For example, pink is actually an important color whenever you see it; it tends to show when there are heartfelt sibling or family moments, like at the end of Tourist Trapped. Basically, when siblings are getting along, no matter which pair you're talking about:

Red is associated with Stan and familial love to the extreme, hence its greater intensity than the pink used in the show (ever wonder why his shoes were red as a kid?):

Blue is associated with Ford and the supernatural/mysterious (also shown by the colors of his shoes as a kid):

So it's stuff like this that really makes me appreciate the current show style. There's meaning and symbolism even just in the colors they chose. Then again, who's to say that the pilot style with a bigger budget wouldn't have reached the same level of symbolic depth?

Damn it, now I want to make a whole post on color symbolism in Gravity Falls.

[prettyinpwn]

If Bill actually accidentally destroyed his dimension that would actually be sooo unsatisfying. People gotta remember that bill is an Unreliable Narrator, he wants us to feel sympathy for him.

I agree - I think it'd be best if it was either he did it on purpose and just is lying about it as an unreliable narrator to help fuel his denial and garner sympathy to make himself feel better, like you said, or followed a darker parallel with Ford's arc where he was warned it could be catastrophic yet did it anyways, so "technically" an accident but warned that it was a possibility and he ignored the warning.

Also, I think there's a reason the Axolotl says, "Blame the arson for the fire." and "If he wants to shirk the blame." about Bill's backstory. Basically, that says to me that - at least according to the Axolotl - Bill is 100% to blame for what happened to his dimension, which I don't think he'd say if it was just an accident. And it's telling that Bill has pyrokinesis powers and there are many references to his dimension burning, specifically.

[prettyinpwn]

Reading your analysis about Mabel and the one about the Fantasy Vs Reality Weirdmaggedon episode, what do you think of the detail that Mabel made Dippy Fresh? Do you consider it another reason why the fandom hates/dislikes Mabel? Does it in some weaken your analyses that she’s well-written?

Er... actually, that just strengthens my analysis that she's well-written. Why? Because she's got flaws, Dippy Fresh's creation being one of her mistakes. She's not perfect, she does wrong at times, and that's good. Because a good character is one that's imperfect. If it makes the fandom hate her more, so be it.

But that doesn't mean she's poorly constructed. "Character did a bad thing fandom didn't like." does not mean, "This character is objectively badly written.".

I'll requote a small part of my analysis on Mabel that I think is relevant here. For context, in said analysis I had pointed out the many ways in which all of the Pines have been selfish at times, before this quote:

"So if people dislike Mabel for being selfish, well… they should dislike all of the Pines, then. And there are times she gives up her wants for Dipper, too, albeit shown less often. She trashes her sock puppet show - her chance at impressing a guy and compromising her core want of love - to save him, inspired by all the times he sacrificed for her. She lets go of a land of perfection and her delusion - albeit one that really wasn’t real - to help him fix Weirdmageddon and save Ford.

Because here’s the thing: a well-written character has flaws. There’d be no story if they didn’t. A character without flaws has no arc and is poorly written. Mabel - just like the other Pines - is flawed and that’s great. Because it means… she’s well-written. I’ll quote my post on Ford again:

“This is why Ford is a well-written character. He has flaws and suffers for them until he makes up for his mistakes. They are understandable flaws, but like in real life, just because it’s understandable why we act poorly at times - be it because of trauma or upbringing - it doesn’t mean we’re justified in continuing to hurt others or ourselves because of those flaws. We must acknowledge them, grow past them, and do our best to do better in the future, as well as apologize to those we hurt along the way.”

Just like Ford, Mabel has flaws - albeit understandable ones based on who she is and her history - and she suffers for them. But in Escape From Reality, she acknowledges them, grows past them, and does her best to do better in the future."

I didn't mention the Dippy Fresh part in my analysis on her, but the same thing applies. Was it a dick move to make a "better" version of Dipper? Yeah. But Mabel is still her flawed version of herself in her character arc at this point, escaping from reality, and Dipper is the one that tries to pop her delulu bubble of rainbows and sunshine. So flawed Mabel - who wants to stay in delulu land - makes a Dipper that doesn't have that "flaw" of realistic pessimism and supports her delusional world. Dippy Fresh is a Dipper that enables her flaws.

That's why real Dipper works in breaking her free. That's why she needs Dipper. He anchors her to reality. In contrast, she gives him levity. I'll go back to the show's thesis I mentioned in that same post: a Pines twin alone is a dysfunctional Pines. Dipper alone is a pessimistic little wet blanket. Mabel alone is a delusional, naive rainbow clown rocket. But together, they balance each other out.

Her character arc climax is in letting Mabeland - and Dippy Fresh - go, and accepting reality and her real brother. She made mistakes, learns she was wrong, and grows. That's what a well-written character does.