#a tale of two stan’s

[wanderin-cowboy]

Snippets from “Meet Me On The Strange Trails” Chapter 12:

1. "Right then. Guess it's a start. Let's go–" Stanley stood and made to walk through the front door. Ford raised his hands.

"Stanley, wait! Jimmy's only been in jail for a few hours, that's not nearly enough time for us to be certain whether or not Bill is still in his head."

"Well, what are we supposed to do until then, stand around and twiddle our thumbs?"

2. "Stanley, I really am sorry I pushed you away. I've... missed this. I've missed you."

Stan's eyes glazed over, causing him to blink rapidly. "I– Yeah. Yeah, I've, uh, missed you too, pal."

"Once this is all over, maybe we can... I don't know... reconnect? There's so much I want to show you here. You could claim a room in the cabin and we could explore together!"

Stan stared at him with wide eyes, expression one of surprise. "You'd... want me to stay?"

What? How could Stan think Ford would want anything else? Well, perhaps Ford could understand why, actually. "Of course! I mean, if you're amicable..."

"I'm definitely amigable," Stan said, his face dead serious.

[keenzipper]

Some brother you turned out to be

[yujateaandpi]

Hey you guys ever think about how rough and tumble little Stanley Pines tried his hardest to absorb all the ugly meanness of the world to protect his brother— how he became blustery and loud because it was the only way he received attention but also because it shielded his abnormal twin from scrutiny— how he stood in front of Ford with his gap tooth bared and scrawny arms outstretched taking in all the gawking and hurt by being the slip up, the rascal, the troublemaker— and how this ultimately led to Stanford Pines, the dreamy-eyed idealist who couldn’t tell the difference between friend and enemy, and Stanley Pines, the man who became so desensitized to pain that his life became one big bruise. Anyone ever think about that?

[ghostatservice]

The fool - Reversed Keywords

"Reckless, careless, distracted, naive, foolish, gullible, stale, dull"

(non Reversed version 🔽)

[virtkha]

not letting yall forget about this deleted scene 💔💔

[menaathena]

Okay, so, I rewatched A Tale of Two Stans recently, and a little detail stood out to me. In the scene where Stan gets kicked out, he pleads to Ford for some sort of help or reassurance, which Ford responds to by closing the curtains.

THEN we get:

"Stanford? Don't leave me hangin'. High six?" This comes AFTER Ford closes the curtains and presumably turned away, right? But, in one of the lost journal pages in the Book of Bill, what do we see?

A startlingly accurate depiction of Stan's offered high-six.

This implies two possibilities to me. One: Ford couldn't bear to fully look away and peeked through the curtains, and this image of Stan burned itself into his memory to where he can still recreate it ten years later. Two: Ford knows Stan well enough to where he can accurately guess what his twin would have looked like based on what he heard in that moment. Both options are absolutely heartbreaking. Everything about these two fuckers makes me want to cry

[clarisimart]

throwback to when I was a teen and Gravity Falls was first airing and we got the original Stan-Twins theory and I was like, "wait Stan has a brother?", only to immediately be like, "well DUH he's the kids' great UNCLE so obviously he has a sibling, so that's probably the kids grandparent and the tragic backstory is gonna be SO EMOTIONAL FOR THE KIDS"

Only to THEN get the Tale of two Stan episode, AND not only is the kids grandfather ANOTHER brother who is literally just mentioned this once and never brought up again (because as it turns out, The Stan Twins are and have always been codependent af and Shermie literally doesn't matter in the show, RIP) but Dipper and Mabel literally never knew there was another Grunkle Pines.

Flashforward to 2024, and reading the Book of Bill and Journal 3, where I realize just how off I was in thinking Ford could be anyone's grandfather, when deadass the longest and basically only relationship he ever had was an ambigous toxic situationship with the triangle demon who ruined his life.

No notes, 10/10, Alex Hirsch nobody is doing it like you.

[randomgenericcoolname]

[hkthatgffan]

Do you like Stanford Pines or Gravity Falls deleted scenes (or both)? Well, do I have a treat for you! Back in August, Gravity Falls storyboard artist S. H. Cotugno shared some NEVER BEFORE SEEN deleted scenes from A Tale of Two Stans over on Tik Tok! These include Ford encountering mermaids and a mysterious traffic light creature!

Link to the Tik Tok Post

I also posted the boards on Imgur

Even in 2023, we're getting new Gravity Falls content in the form of deleted scenes!

[51nn0n]

God, I love men with several issues

[sceebybeeby]

⚠️the book of bill spoils, blood⚠️

"Hey, brother, it's Sixer."

[sylveon-and-velveon]

Best fucking screenshot from Tale of Two Stans 😭🤚

So much hope in his eyes, and then just a fucking fist-

[mortalfaerie]

i can flesh this out with a longer post later but watching gravity falls as an adult, with the knowledge of ford and stan's history from the get go, it just hits different.

like, i'm jewish. i also come from a immigrant, slavic, ashkenazi family with plenty of just-below-the-surface inter generational conflict. you can really read ford and stan's stories as being different ways children (and especially, in immigrant families) react to that conflict and pressure. ford is a compulsive overachiever meant to be his family's "ticket out" of poverty. stan can't live up to his family's expectations and becomes estranged, perpetually running to and from something. bill is the promise of something better that ends up being too good to be true and ruining ford's relationships with everyone. (read that as alcohol, drugs, what have you) he is the literal manifestation of that trauma.

dipper and mabel are several generations removed but still wary of that conflict that looms over them like a specter. but they break the cycle of trauma by learning to trust in eachother, and help their family to heal. the literal manifestation of inter generational trauma is defeated when the family is reconciled and works together. they are stronger together than they are apart.

and in the end it's not too late for stan and ford. it's not too late to heal, to grow, to start again. it's never too late. there's still time.

[ziggysspiders]

Imagine being Stanley Pines: All your life you’ve been compared to your brother who not only was your best friend, but your only friend. And then he has the opportunity of a lifetime, and out of both fear and desperation, you mess up his one chance. He hates you for the rest his life until one day he wants you back. The both of you are now face to face with your trauma and a fight ensues.

After your brother shoves you, you receive a scar. That scar will serve as a reminder as the failure that comes. You shove your brother in his own creation, trapping him. For the next 30 years of your life you will live as him, trying desperately to fix what you broke. And once you finally achieve your goal, your brother reminds you of all the things you’ve failed to do.

[atalana]

more things i've noticed on rewatching tale of two stans with all the recent context

this was not at all notable when the episode first came out, but hey we all know that computer now! love that stan must have kept it all that time, for it to exist in ford's lab in the present day

empty fish tank (one day frilliam will return)

this one isn't actually new to book of bill, but since this fandom resurgence is the first time i've listened to the episode commentaries - i definitely recommend the grunkle stan commentary on land before swine if you haven't listened to it yet, alex hirsch does the entire commentary as stan, where he talks about how their dad was never the type to play games with them, so he tries to invent the footbot to do it for him (with limited success)

and was cool to see the shoutout to yet another reason why their dad is the source of at least half of these guys' mental issues!

so i knew alex hirsch has said several times that he found it really funny if mcgucket was destined to be the steve jobs of that universe, but ford came along and wrecked the whole thing

but this is the first time i've noticed the strawberry (and the "ponder alternately" in the same vein as apple's "think different")

hey

hey bill

why are the stairs broken

[frogs-mystery-sideblog]

A tale of two Stans Stans bc I can’t stop thinking about that first meeting in 30 years