#THEY ARE SO DAMAGED

[legobiwan]

A few more random Stan and Ford thoughts that build off of previous posts I've made in the last few days. It's fun speculating and delving into the sub-subtext of their actions and relationship. (And then it's time to WRITE).

"Thank You"

So I mentioned the tags of this post that I feel Stan's preoccupation with getting his brother to say "thank you" goes far beyond just acknowledging the thirty-year sacrifice Stan made to bring Ford back. As mentioned, Stan has a tendency to imagine himself in heroic circumstances, in situations where he is thanked by grateful family and community members, where he is acknowledged and through those two words, is told that he has value and is loved (even if his imagined methods of getting those two words out of people feels somewhat transactional - unsurprising given the way Filbrick treated him in his youth).

Anyway, Stan holds up the entire zodiac just to hear Ford say the words "thank you," even if they were forced. We know Stan is feeling once again that Ford will be vaunted as the hero and Stan pushed aside as a nobody should the zodiac succeed (despite the blame for Weirdmageddon falling partially on Ford to begin with).

But I think there's another layer here.

Stan's not 100% convinced the zodiac is going to work. He knows his brother is a genius but Ford's track record with these things isn't exactly pristine, even if his persona would present as otherwise. If we take the idea that "thank you" is really a way of saying "I love and value you," in Stan's mind, and if we assume Stan halfway believes they're all about to die, the zodiac notwithstanding...

It may be that - subconsciously or not - that Stan is holding up the ritual to hear his brother say "thank you" (translation: "I love you") for the first (and what may be the last) time in forty years. And yes, maybe it's about Ford getting all the credit and being the hero, but Stan just might want to hear his brother utter those words of affection - however forced - just once before they all horribly at the hands of a a three-sided, polygonal demon. In essence, Stan's dying wish is to hear his brother say "I love you." (And this makes the scene post-memory gun all the more painful, Ford gathering his brother in his arms, calling him a hero in the way Stan would have always wanted to hear, that coded language for "I love you" that a memory-wiped Stan would have no way of understanding).

Breaking the Portal

In another post the other day, I talked about the audacity of Ford worrying that Stan may break the Portal if he comes to Gravity Falls, the very thing that Ford should have done from the outset after learning of Bill's true nature.

It's interesting that in the same paragraph, Ford writes in the "Bros Code" he and Stan had devised during their childhood, wondering if he has been too harsh all these years.

We know Ford is basically incapable of destroying his own research, despite the fact it could spell the demise of his entire dimension. Hell, the entire time we know Ford through the show and the books, he never once plays a part in destroying his own work. (Stan ends up rendering the Portal unusable when he brings Ford back and Ford chucks his journals into the Bottomless Pit post-series, meaning they'll disappear (he thinks) in his realm but they'll still exist).

Again, speculating on subconscious motivations here (paging Dr. Freud), but you have to wonder if part of the reason Ford wants Stan to come to Gravity Falls (aside from the fact he sorely needs another person he can trust) is that he almost hopes Stan will be the bumbling fool Ford's made him out to be and do something that may partially or fully sabotage the Portal. He obviously has conflicting emotions when it comes to his brother, but Stan would also be the perfect scapegoat if he did accidentally do something to interfere with the Portal. For Ford, it's a win-win, in that he would not have to force himself to take action against his life's work (and therefore render himself utterly useless after how many years of research) and he would have an excuse to keep his grudge going against his brother, to keep up that facade of anger and dismissiveness that allows Ford to categorize Stan as "lesser," as the source of Ford's problems and an incurable fuck-up who only gets in Ford's way. (All this while having his brother physically present, a comfort I have no doubt Ford is desperate for at this point).

This is not Ford's primary or secondary (or tertiary, even) motivation in calling Stan to Oregon, nor is it the major reason Ford refuses to destroy the Portal and his Journals. The whole thing is a Hail Mary pass, to be certain, as Ford had no way of knowing his brother would receive the postcard and show up on his front doorstep. (And what was Ford's backup plan at this point? What if Stan hadn't come? Or he was delayed? We know Ford's not operating on all cylinders at this juncture, but holy hell, dude, just shut down the damn Portal.)

This all being said, it wouldn't shock me if somewhere in the dark recesses of Ford's mind, he's working out this rationalization, which is something we know Ford is very, very good at. ("For science!" he'll claim, as if those words were an incantation that absolve the actor of any negative responsibility, like desecrating a corpse for a brain, yeesh, Ford).

Anyway, food for thought (and writing).

[thatonepikminperson]

Tomorrow bois, y'all get to see my oc's...

and like the essay I wrote about each one of them...

I'M NORMAL ABOUT THE LITTLE PEOPLE IN MY HEAD

[krussyarts]

So that act 2 huh

(original doodle + smth extra under cut)

The gang! "Huh", "wake me up inside by evanescence", "do yuo hav gamez on ur phobne" and "i brought a gun to the rave" anywayy i drew them together

[remcadll]

Dick is never going to get to have a midlife crisis because Bruce is going through his for him. also because he will not be making it to 40.

[thetragicallynerdy]

Reminder from someone with actual literal brain damage from a brain injury to stop fucking using "brain damage" and "brain injuries" as a means of describing someone whose opinions you don't like or deem as stupid.

It's ableist and offensive as fuck, and for some reason a lot of leftist people think it's okay to use. I've seen posts replying to right wing racists calling them "brain damaged if you believe this" and "do you have a brain injury? do you not understand X?". Just now I saw a beautiful post about fat people throughout history that was absolutely ruined by opening with "How do we break it to boomers with actual brain damage and nostalgic brainrot..." before continuing to say that fat people existed throughout history.

Brain damage does not make you racist. A brain injury doesn't make you ignorant, or fatphobic, or unaware of history and politics. Stop fucking using my disability as a catch all to describe people you think are shitty. Y'all use it like it's a replacement for how people used to use the R-slur, which shows you learned absolutely nothing about why the R-slur was wrong to use and decided to throw in other disabilities instead. Fuck off and stop doing it.

(And don't do it with other disabilities either, because I know y'all do.)

I know a lot of people with brain injuries. They're smart, and funny, and compassionate. They learn about the world and care about social issues and wish they could go to protests if their disability won't allow them to. Are there right wing people with brain injuries? Sure, absolutely. But they are not right wing because they have a brain injury, and using any disability as an insult is still fucking ableist.

Tldr - stop using brain damage and brain injury as an insult. It's ableist and incredibly offensive.

Love, your local brain injured/brain damaged pal

[kuuhaiyu]

i really can't emphasize how heartbreaking it is that the recent harassment campaign against @/90-ghost (among others; see: 1, 2, 3) has led to well-meaning people telling others not to listen to him. he is one of the most visible survivors of the genocide here on tumblr. his entire journey of escape is so well documented! and yet, it only took a few people confidently pointing fingers to create an entire witch hunt accusing him and other palestinians of being disreputable scammers and liars.

i can't help but feel like the reason why people were SO eager to believe those accusations, is because it was uncomfortable to see posts from palestinians every day asking for our time, attention, money, and support; so when someone presented the perfect excuse to ignore all those posts and asks while also taking the high ground, people just LEAPED onto it. they wanted to believe it, because it would be more comfortable.

honestly, i understand feeling overwhelmed by bad news, by the number of asks and messages in your inbox, and so on and so forth. i understand needing to set boundaries for yourself so you don't get burned out. i think this is really when you have to have a set of principles to fall back on, even when you're tired, uncomfortable, angry, and/or sad. so here's the one i suggest, which has been working for me best: don't make your discomfort with this situation into someone else's problem, and for god's sake don't make it a public problem.

if you hate seeing fundraiser posts or news about gaza, i can't emphasize this enough, JUST MOVE ON. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND SCROLL PAST! all you have to do is absolutely nothing. which is what you were doing anyway, so it shouldn't be hard. if you don't have the heart to read, or reblog, or share, or donate, or support in other ways, at the very least, don't obstruct the efforts of people who ARE trying to make a difference. this is, quite literally, the least you can do.

[liimonadas]

so i've been playing a game

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The peach tree beams so red, How brilliant are its flowers!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[chloesimaginationthings]

Death looms over Vanny's shoulder in FNAF..

[latepivi]

golden fleece my beloved

[viittapaska]

He hit rock bottom and the dance floor.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

just found out the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie where he's MPregged by Danny Devito with Emma Thompson's baby came out the year I was born, this movie is 30 years old, pregnant Arnold Scwarzenegger throwing a man across the room while saying 'my body my choice' happened 30 years ago

edit: video evidence, shout out to Evasive for dredging this film from the depths of my memory

[pangur-and-grim]

every time I say “starting nooooow I won’t have any major expenses” something HAPPENS! there’s raw sewage backing up from my drains, and apparently the plumbers will need to break the floor and the wall to get to the pipes and fix it.

if the cat stuff hadn’t wiped out my bank account, this would be annoying but manageable. as it is…..I’m going to try to get everything up in the store for Friday.

[chemicalarospec]

fob saying "it's been 17 years since we played with My Chemical Romance" is so important cuz idk about the rest of y'all but I got so caught up in the dnp anticipation that I forgot the original reason this day was a big deal was FOB and MCR playing together again!!

[proxycrit]

Linktober, Day 12: Tarry Town!

You defeat the final boss in the volcano causing the floating islands to float! Congrats. Unfortunately, with the destruction of the said monster, the islands are no longer floating and are, in fact, slowly coming down enmass as the magnesis scatters.

Zelda would like to point out people are much more likely to survive walking around slow giant rocks from the sky versus dodging flaming lava. She’s practicing this new thing called positive thinking.

(This is a totk au called Familiar Familiar where zelda does not go back in time! Click here to see the full comic masterlist)

(Plus my patreon!)

[opens-up-4-nobody]

The 1st time I watched all of tos Turnabout Intruder was my favorite episode. Despite the pretty intense sexism and crazy shatner acting, I just find the idea really compelling.