fiddlefordisms

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cooked something,,kinda,,

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Can you guess what he's thinking about

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The Stanford Effect

I’m on vacation rn and I’ve consumed a concerning amount shortbread cookies

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Fidds and Tate 💔

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Sing Along

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he's fighting praying for his life

(based on a post I did on bluesky)

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Canon Details and Analysis of Fiddleford McGucket Part 2

See the first part here

Let's flash-forward to what we know about Fiddleford after college. At some point, he got married to Emma May Dixon, and they had a son together (Tate McGucket), they live in Palo Alto, and Fiddleford seems to be self-employed: McGucket's Computermajigs. Now, don't get me wrong I enjoy Fiddauthor quite a lot (and I'll give some in-depth analysis and theorizing and thinking of possibilities about that particular relationship in that context at the very end), but I want to focus on Fiddleford's character and what we do know about his wife and child.

We know from Journal 3 that Fiddleford keeps a picture of his wife and son on his desk because he says it helps keep him "grounded." It's very important to note that this picture includes his wife - if they really wanted to imply that Fiddleford's relationship with his wife was on the rocks, they could've easily made it just a picture of his son. We know that Fiddleford must have had strong feelings for his wife because in the Gobblewonker episode of Gravity Falls, Old Man McGucket claims that when his wife left him, he built a pterodactyl-tron (building giant death robots is something he does when he's upset or wants attention). If he was wanting to leave that relationship, he would not have been upset about her leaving him.

In another page of Journal 3 when Fiddleford quits the portal project, Ford writes about how he should "go back to his doting family." This tells us that while Fiddleford and Emma May did have a fight over him not getting her a Christmas present, Ford still somehow had the impression that his family was "doting." I think it's important to point out that Fiddleford has been erasing his memories since the Gremloblin incident - and the fight scene with his wife happens very shortly before the big portal test. We know the memory-erasing gun has side effects. So, anytime Fiddleford "forgets" something should be looked at as highly suspect and indicative that his memory-erasing gun is affecting him.

We know that Fiddleford must have been a good father before he left to work on the portal for Ford via context clues. In the show, despite Tate's original home being in Palo Alto, Tate chose to pack up his things and live in Gravity Falls where his mentally-addled father now lives. He chose to do that and seeing what became of his father, even though he's the town's biggest embarrassment with a reputation for being a crazy old man - chose to stay. In Shmeb U Unlocked, we're informed that Tate is extremely intelligent and capable of predicting lottery numbers.

He could literally go anywhere he wanted if he wanted. And yet, he stays in Gravity Falls where his father lives. He must have really loved his father despite it being so hard with his father's mental state and the fact that he has every right to be angry that his father left. We know that Fiddleford must have really loved his son because of that picture on his desk, because much later even with all of his memory problems, he still remembers his son, and he's desperate to spend time with him, and in the end, they're able to repair their relationship and spend quality time together.

Now, let's talk about a couple of details that I think a lot of people overlook. During the stargazing scene in Journal 3, Fiddleford mentions offhand that he'd like a place where "the screen door ain't broken." I think this is a VERY interesting detail because it makes it sound like Fiddleford's business hadn't quite taken off yet and that he might have been struggling financially because he can't afford to get his door repaired.

This opens a doorway into a theory of mine that Fiddleford is being paid for his time as Ford's assistant. Now, we're not told this outright in Journal 3, but I think we can gather this from a little thing I like to call context clues. After all, Ford probably thought the exact nature of payment deals for his assistant didn't need to be included in his research and personal journal. There's nothing interesting about it. Additionally from a narrative standpoint, it might have come across as looking like Ford had to bribe Fiddleford to help him, and that's not the vibe they wanted for Fiddleford. They wanted to emphasize that these two are at the very least good friends and that Fiddleford is the type of person who will set aside his own personal projects and self-sacrifice to help a friend at a moment's notice.

We know from the show and Journal 3 that Ford was given grants to study the anomalies of Gravity Falls. Presumably, this money would not only cover the costs of field research equipment and a research base (the shack) but also money for a research assistant if needed.

Fiddleford's wife would have to be the most permissive, most doormat wife in THE HISTORY OF EVER to allow her husband to go up to Oregon to work on a project leaving her to not only take care of her son by herself but also have to pay all the bills and rent/mortgage by herself. We know this is not the case because she (rightly) did NOT let it slide that her husband forgot to get her a Christmas present.

Fiddleford would not have had much time to work on his own business while working on Ford's portal. At this point in his life, he has his mental faculties intact, he's proven time and again to be considerate and sweet (Alex Hirsch even refers to him as a sweet soul). He's big on making thoughtful gifts, he wants to help others (in Journal 3, he is seen fixing up the ferris wheel at the carnival where he meets Ivan, although it was definitely wrong - he had good intentions in wanting to help people with their bad memories, even in the show - Old Man McGucket shows up in the sap-hole with the dinosaurs having fixed a broken lantern - Fiddleford is exactly the type of person who would see a broken-down car on the side of the road and pull over and get out his toolbox and help that person out), and he loves his family very much. He would NOT let them go unsupported and floundering for themselves while in his right mind.

So, this leads me to believe that to help convince his wife to let him help his old college buddy with his project, he'd be getting paid for his help. Ford likely would've found this reasonable and might have suggested it himself if Fiddleford expressed wanting to help but not being able to leave his family without any support. It probably wasn't a lot, but it might have been a bit better than what he was currently drumming up via his own business. This could also be why Ford is so adamant about referring to Fiddleford as his assistant in the journals rather than his friend.

Do I think his wife might have still had some reservations about her husband going to Oregon and could be a fertile field for argument later? Yes. Absolutely. But I think the fact that she let him go in the first place and the fact that Fiddleford is self-employed rather than more conventionally employed generally shows that she was a supportive wife and trusted her husband.

I absolutely DO NOT think, as some have posited, that Fiddleford abandoned his wife and son (especially his son whom he dearly loves) to have a "Brokeback Mountain" situation with Stanford. That is a terrible misreading of Fiddleford's character AND the situation. Again, Fiddleford is the type of person who HELPS people, and how much more so for someone who is likely his best friend? Not only that, but his FIRST EVER friend. A friend who Fiddleford probably knows has been alone in Oregon for years and who also has a hard time making friends, a friend who probably doesn't call him enough because he's "busy" with his research (Ford even says in the journal that he "has no choice but to call Fiddleford"), a friend who is probably stubborn about asking for help who is asking HIM (the guy who helps) for help?

Fiddleford might even already be worried about him.

And this is a "project" - a project has a beginning and an end. Fiddleford was NOT expecting to stay in Gravity Falls. He was going to go there, help Ford, and then go back to his family whom he loves. I'm not saying complicated feelings couldn't have arisen (again, I am a Fiddauthor shipper), but I am saying that Fiddleford didn't go to Oregon because he was running away from marital problems with his wife (on an additional note - people are free to write what they want - But what is WITH bisexual erasure and villifying / ignoring female characters? I mean, just because she wasn't in the show or talked about much doesn't mean we should do female characters a disservice) and intending on cheating on her.

Because again - A) He loves his family (family photo on his desk which doesn't exactly scream "Make sweet love to me Ford") B) His anxiety issues C) His empathy - he doesn't have the narcissistic traits cheaters generally have D) He's likely Catholic and all the religious hang-ups with that - (also adultery being a sin is mentioned waaaaaay more than homosexuality) E) The hostile time period for queer folks.

Also, Stanford "I find romance baffling" (Journal 3 - stargazing scene) is probably one of the biggest indicators that no cheating went on (but I'll throw you "cheating Fiddleford" headcanoners a bone much later on in which I think a possible "cheating" scenario could have realistically occurred - and I'll tell you my reasons for why I personally don't believe that happened either, but I'll begrudgingly accept a "possibility" and let you guys go nuts with the idea.)

More to come in later parts.

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Honestly I never liked how McGucket's accent got stronger as his mental faculties deteriorated, it plays into the classist stereotype that people with stronger accents are less intelligent.

I would like to offer a Watsonian explanation, however. I don't think this is what the team was going for, but here's an alternative way to think about it: people with strong accents are not less intelligent, but they often ARE less educated. This is, of course, due to classism; many people with strong accents of all types learn to minimize them to be taken seriously in professional and/or academic settings. I'd like to posit that McGucket's natural way of speaking was with a much stronger accent than we see pre-memory wiping, but he had spent his years in academia curbing his accent. As his memory and mental faculties deteriorate with each mind wipe, his accent gets stronger because he can no longer expend the mental energy to downplay it (or remember to do so).

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They make me so sick. I love them :(

While I sadly still make yall wait for requests-- here's this Fiddauthor animatic I made on a time crunch! It's all very messy and it wasn't given much effort-- mainly because I had thought of it at work and I wanted to actually do it without losing the motivation. Horrible anatomy too, as I said, not much effort but it was good for a time crunch of like 24 hours. :') I have a busy schedule and squeezing in interests / hobbies is already tough. </3

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💓: Is intimidated by them, but wants to be friends with them. ((She thinks he's nice, even if she's a little freaked out by the guy.))

"Aw, shucks. I'd love to be friends with ya! Don't be frightened by my HORRIFYING voice, tendency to scream random things, occasional feral behavior, and my inclination towards buildin' violent machines when my emotions spiral outta control. I'm harmless! Wouldn't hurt a fly!"

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💔💔💔💔💔💔💚💔💔💔💔💔💔 (from Bill)

"I ain't none too fond of you, either, Pointy Greg. Ya go on and git on outta here."

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Send some hearts to tell my muse how yours feels about them.

❤️: Wants or is in a romantic relationship with them.

💛: Loves them platonically.

💚: Is a little jealous of them.

💙: Feels pretty indifferent towards them.

💜: Finds them sexually attractive.

💖: Finds them aesthetically attractive.

💗: Finds them romantically attractive.

💞: Feels attracted to them, but can’t work out if it’s platonic, sexual, or romantic attraction they’re feeling.

💝: Looks up to them as a role model.

💓: Is intimidated by them, but wants to be friends with them.

💔: Hates their guts.

💘: Doesn’t really like them, but doesn’t flat-out hate them either.

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Post-finale McGucket and Mabel

I think after Fiddleford repaired relationship with Stanford he started spending more time with Mabel and Dipper

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The creator of the Blind eye 👁

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“ I'm gonna… hug you now. Okay? Okay. ”

After the whole mess with the Society of the Blind Eye, Fiddleford was still reeling from the discoveries he's made about himself and his memories. It changed... well, everything. All these years, he'd been lost, wandering, out of his mind... but now? Now, he actually had a few pieces to a giant puzzle that was missing a lot. It was something. And he had these brave, sweet children to thank for it. He'd work hard to remember what he could for them. He wanted to help them. He owed them everything.

So, he was very caught off-guard by Dipper's sudden... Warning? A hug? It sounded like a vaguely familiar word. What did it mean ag-

And then, Dipper's small arms came around him and pulled him close. Fiddleford froze in a numb sort of shock.

"... oh," he managed.

His eyes started to well up with tears. How - how long had it been since anyone had touched him? The last form of touch he'd got had been last night - a broom whacking against his face and sides. He hadn't been touched by another human being in years. He shouldn't cry in front of the child who had become one of his heroes. He shouldn't do that. Don't worry the child. He started to sniffle.

In a slow and awkward movement, Fiddleford's arms came up to return the hug. Some part of him still remembered how - even if it has been a very long time. Fuzzy memories of Tate when he was young flashed through his mind. Warmth and light filled his being. He smiled.

"T-thank you, Dipper," he said, his voice wobbling. "I ain't never had no hope for the future. But now that I got my memories back, now that I see there's youngins like you out there makin' a difference - all I can say is I feel mighty hopeful."

He paused. A note of concern entered his voice. "Ya, uh, might wanna shower after this. I live in the dump."

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This is what Ford had to witness everyday during work hours 🧚✨

Gif version!

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"Boy howdy, I love me some Fiddauthor! I don't rightly know what it is, but it sounds great! It gives me a real hankerin' for kissin' Stanford right smack dab on his pretty mouth and holdin' hands in a romantical settin' for no real reason I can think of. Yep! Just me and him k-i-s-s-i-n-g in front of all these suspicious trees what look like they're watchin' ya with the intent to kill! I think I'm gonna describe in long, sweet excrutiatin'-like detail all sorts of insanely intimate acts me and Ford could get up to with absolutely no one to stop us or our unrelentin' love for one another!"

Pause. Sudden wave at Bill. "OH, HI, PYRAMID SCHEME TODD. When did ya get here? Also-"

He started screaming for no particular reason. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"IF I HEAR ONE MORE PERSON SAY F.IDDAUTHOR I'M TURNING EVERYONE INTO JELLY. THAT'S RIGHT! YOU WILL ALL BE PILES OF GOOP! GO ON, DO IT! SAY IT RIGHT NOW! IT'LL BE FUN TO WATCH YOU ALL SLIME AROUND!"