#Ford is the only one who can see Stan

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

unrelated to the ask, but-

remember when I mentioned that I often shove the stan twins into horror games? no? good, we dont talk about that

anyway im doing it again

also! there are secrets and hints in the tags

if you can figure out what the two games are, you are super cool :)

#why do we post when we wont go into detail #well you see there are two of them and they both require quite a few warnings #and people arent interested in this sorta thing anyway so theyre only allowed to exist in the confines of google docs #anyway fun facts about them: both replace the player character with ford and both include stan (one much more than the other) #both can have the player character die and both are weird and have slightly unsettling creatures in them #well unsettling depending on who you ask i think theyre really cool #both have multiple possible endings #one is about mental health (anxiety and/or depression to be specific) the other may or may not also be about that #the other has a cat and a snail :D #oh and also ford may or may not have his arm ripped off (not the worst thing that will happen to him) in the other one #also the other one has a time loop

[jozlyn-moon]

Captured.

A domino in the beginning of Amber Skies, the event that the Pines were captured, excluding Ford who escaped and Stan that uh.. died long before he could see the hell Bill brought to Earth again.

Bill was overjoyed at first when the henchmaniacs brought them in only to lose it once more seeing his good old Grunkle was missing. 💀

So in the meantime Bill bound them to tapestries, sentient ones, they can see everything, hear everything but can only watch, and occasionally be invaded mentally by Bill to either be tortured or interrogated as Bill slowly goes mad while being trapped on Earth due to a second weirdness barrier on Earth’s atmosphere that keeps Bill in.

Older Dipper!

By the time the AU takes place Dipper is in his 30s! Seeing as it takes place after 2025 (Which is when WMG 2.0 Began to take place)

Before it began though he was a director and filmographer for paranormal documentaries and films! Deciding to take that route rather than the more serious scientific after kinda not wanting to go the route Ford did even if he did look up to him-

#gravity falls #gravity falls au #gf amber skies #gravity falls concept #bill cipher #concept art #Dipper Pines #alternate universe #mabel pines

[ckret2]

A leaked list of some of the exciting upcoming content from The Book of Bill:

The pyramids of Giza ranked from most to least sexy.

Winning lottery numbers. He does not say which game they're for.

Three pages of Bill practicing blackletter calligraphy so that he can write the fancy-looking "The Book of Bill" on the cover. (Meant to tear those pages out before submitting book to publisher.)

A section where he implies that all your headcanons about him are stupid. Yes, your headcanons specifically. If you compare your copy of the book to a friend's, these sections will have different text. He insults all headcanons equally, even the ones that contradict each other.

A long, rambling story about a funny thing that he saw at a party in the Nightmare Realm, but he keeps getting distracted gossiping about the embarrassing love affairs and crimes against reality the partygoers have committed. Not a single one of these characters has ever been mentioned before or ever will be again. He gets so distracted he never finishes the original funny story. He was clearly drunk when he wrote this section.

A pet care sheet on how to keep a pet axolotl. All of the information is extremely wrong.

Some of the other dimensions he's tried and failed to conquer. He keeps insisting that all the failures were somebody else's fault. It's extremely obvious that they're his fault.

A photograph of a vivisected elephant, for some reason.

A phone number written on a cocktail napkin that Bill insists would be really funny for all the readers to prank call. It leads to the desk phone of the director of the CIA. 

Bill claims he definitely totally knew that Stan was disguised as Ford the whole time, he only played along to trick the Pines back, and then he quickly changes the topic.

A page of Bill's original poetry. It's all unintelligible symbols. It will take 27 years for somebody to crack the code. They're all gory but juvenile limericks.

A cocktail recipe. It will kill you.

Bill's original version of the portal blueprints that he copied to give Ford, with Bill's handwritten annotations. One part of the blueprints is labeled "component that will accidentally destroy the universe. REMEMBER NOT TO INCLUDE THIS COMPONENT IN SIXER'S COPY!!" He underlined this twice. If this page is compared to the portal blueprints in Journal 3, it's clear that Bill included that component in Ford's copy.

A personality quiz to help you meet your ideal sleep paralysis demon.

Bill's baby pictures. He looks exactly the same, except his bow tie and top hat are too big.

Bill reveals that he thought the llama symbol on the zodiac wheel referred to that farmer guy on the edge of town, and he was super confused to see Pacifica there.

Multiple pages scattered through the book about Bill's amazing powers, his brilliant and fun plans for our dimension, and all the cool favors he's willing and able to do for his friends and followers. All these pages end with a passive-aggressive aside about how somebody would have to be REALLY stupid to turn down an invitation to join Bill's crew, Stanford Pines—

A page labeled "My loyal servants and slaves!" filled with several hideous, oozing, nightmare-inducing Lovecraftian monsters, and one Mickey Mouse.

A self-portrait depicting Bill riding a rocket ship playing an electric guitar while rainbow lightning flashes all around him and money rains down from the sky.

A cynical, sneering tirade about how love is evolution's idiotic way of tricking primitive species into reproducing and how only simple-minded mortals who can't separate their true thoughts from their hormones fall for it. In the margins he's drawn a heart around the words "Bill Cipher +" a scribbled-out blot. The blot is completely unreadable. Despite this, the fandom will spend years debating the name underneath based on the size of the blot.

Extremely stupid "explanations" about various unsolved mysteries and crimes. In six years the world will discover one of them is accidentally correct and Alex Hirsch will get investigated by the FBI.

The book will be divided into four sections. Each section will begin with a big illuminated letter. In order, the four illuminated letters spell "F" "U" "C" "K".

#gravity falls #bill cipher #the book of bill

[incomingalbatross]

Things that make Weirdmageddon a top-tier finale:

Every victory and ally the characters gain is essential to pursuing the next victory.

Dipper needed Wendy to reach the bubble, needed to talk down Gideon to reach Mabel, and needed to reconcile with Mabel to do anything. Then they needed to reach the Shack to get Shacktron, needed Shacktron to reach Ford, needed Ford and all their previous character development to build the Zodiac—oops! not enough character development! REVERSAL! But they still pulled out a win from having all four Pineses in the Fearamid, which wouldn't have been possible except as salvage from their previous victories.

It all builds really nicely—it's easy to get your characters running in circles to fit in enough action and/or screentime (see certain Classic Who serials), but that doesn't happen here.

Personal issues and plot problems were interwoven in a way that genuinely made resolving the former a basic step in resolving the latter.

The big problems at the start of the finale were the rift between Dipper and Mabel, the older, deeper rift between Stan and Ford, and... well, the Rift. And Bill. The finale is able to resolve all of these things together because it is, in fact, crucial that the Pineses all be able to work together; they need each other to defeat Bill. This means that, for instance, Mabel and Dipper's reconciliation is the urgent first step on every level, personal and situational (neither of them will accomplish anything until Mabel's free), and that Stan and Ford's reconciliation is a necessary condition for the last step of beating Bill. It's seamless—no one has to take time out of the plot to talk about their feelings, because the plot can only move if their feelings are being addressed.

Even more, the action works in such a way that Stan and Ford have to show character growth to defeat Bill and the way they defeat Bill then results in healing for both of them (Stan gets to be a hero while Ford gets to let go of his hero complex).

Gave time to addressing the big themes and made them structurally important, too.

This ties in to the point above, but... the fact that Dipper and Mabel's conflict (the manifestation of a much longer-running tension of "is it possible to grow up and still be happy? is it possible to be sure we'll stay in a close and healthy relationship, and not lose each other?") is given its full weight. Dipper and Mabel have the conversation they need to convince themselves, each other, and the audience that this ghost has been expelled from their futures. That's big.

And the themes continue consistently throughout the finale! They answer the questions raised by Stan and Ford's estrangement—first through Dipper and Mabel and then repeatedly through the rest of the cast—with consistent reassurance and hope for the future. It's thematically sound. That's not easy to balance with plot progression in a way that makes sense, but like. The plot can only progress to a happy ending if these themes are tested and found to be true.

Plot development and emotional impacts hinged on information the audience already had.

When the finale revealed new information (the zodiac's function, for instance), it was almost always answering specific questions the show had previously raised for fans (what's that zodiac about??). Not always true—the barrier around the town was not foreshadowed—but a very high percentage of the time.

More, the moments with a big emotional punch hinge on us realizing something at the same time as the characters and sharing their reactions to that thing, rather than reacting to their reactions. That sounds clumsy, but you know what I mean—"Grammar, Stanley." Ford pulling out the memory gun. "Get off me, Waddles!" Ford holding out the picture of the Stan O' War. The finale builds on what we already know so strongly that we can react to good or bad events alongside the characters.

(Well, except for the exact moment revealing the twin switch, I guess. We are not having the same emotional reaction as Bill Cipher there. ;P)

A fully satisfying send-off.

After the plot is resolved, and even after the eucatastrophe moment of Stan getting his memory back, we get to stick around and see for sure that everything's okay. The twins turn thirteen. Stan and Ford plan to go sailing. Soos gets the Mystery Shack. Everyone in Gravity Falls is fine. Everyone gets to say goodbye. We end on repeated reassurances that the thing the story most highlighted as crucial but uncertain will, in fact, happen—that they'll stay a family and they'll all be happy.

I'm not saying every story needs to end with a wrap party, but it was the right move for Gravity Falls, and they nailed it.

#i did not have the energy for a short post so i wrote a long one sorry

[divorcedfiddleford]

You made a post saying “it has been zero days since our last alex hirsch hates ford so much bullshit” and i know it was mostly hyperbole, but you have some really good takes that I would love to be elaborated on in terms of how ford is written

it really wasn't hyperbolic. over the years he's just really shown a lot of hatred towards this one character.

content warning: discussion of abuse

i want to start with this clip from the commentary which i think of as a microcosm for how the writers and especially alex think about ford.

transcript:

rob renzetti: i mean he [mcgucket] should've basically knocked ford out, and... and destroyed the... you know, tied him up, and, destroyed... and... alex hirsch, speaking over him: yeah he should've beat ford with a wrench and taken this thing apart piece by piece! he's the one who understood how to built [sic] it, but...

... so that seems like a pretty violent course of action. shall we unpack that?

ford is a character who's pretty explicitly written as a victim of abuse, and who now has c-ptsd as a direct result of the abuse he experienced. alex hirsch believes that ford deserved everything bad that happened to him, that it's ford's own fault, and that he also deserved worse things to happen to him. this is why, given every narrative chance, alex hirsch has piled more suffering onto ford's plate. the biggest example of this i can think of is in the journal, when he wrote that fiddleford was actively erasing ford's memory (despite this being a massive timeline contradiction which i still refuse to accept). because god forbid ford even have one remotely healthy relationship with somebody. that would be too good for him. ford was manipulated and lied to by bill, but alex repeatedly compares him to icarus, a teenager whose demise was the result of his own ignorance. this comparison is still so fucking offensive to me. the sun did not lie to icarus, did not guarantee icarus all of the happiness and success and sense of belonging which he had been denied all his life, did not actively shut out the voices of those around him who would try to help him.

alex in general has a very strange relationship with abuse. he seems to get really upset when people read his characters as victims of abuse. the strongest instance of this is actually not with ford, it's with pacifica - especially in the nwmm episode commentary. the episode says "pacifica's parents have conditioned her to respond to a bell" and alex says people got "the wrong idea" about it. like. dude. what the fuck. you wrote abuse. even if you didn't mean to, that's what you wrote. you can't say people got "the wrong idea" just because you didn't think about the subtext of what you were writing. anyway, back to ford: i believe this extends to him as well. alex wanted to write a character who's a foil to stan and who was a selfish unlikable victim of his own arrogance. however that's not what he wrote. he somehow seemingly accidentally wrote a really compelling and relatable awesome autistic guy who had to fight for every good thing he he ever had in his life only for it to be taken from him every single time. but alex can't let go of seeing ford as just "the opposite of stan". when he talks about "how someone as smart as ford could fall for bill's tricks", he refuses to realize he wrote a situation in which a man was being psychologically manipulated and tortured.

it goes back further, too. people repeatedly theorized that filbrick was... not a very good father, to say the least. on top of the very explicit and canon fact that he threw one of his children out on the street (seriously, there is no defense for this), people pointed out that stan would flinch at filbrick, that ford seemed upset by things filbrick said but dared not talk back, that filbrick was mad at stan not for hurting his brother, but for "costing the family potential millions". but alex can't have people seeing ford as sympathetic. ford can't have it bad like stan did. ford had to have everything and he lost it all because he sucks so much. so he wrote the graphic novel story where ford is filbrick's favorite child and filbrick also is not even a bad parent you guys he's just stoic. ignore the whole thing in dreamscaperers where stan perpetuates the abuse that filbrick did to him. ignore the fact that ford was shouting at stan and then completely shut up as soon as filbrick entered the room and did not say another word for the rest of the night. ignore all that because i just made up this story where he cries at a present from stan. filbrick loved his boys for sure you guys!!!

i'm not even touching on how alex repeatedly villainizes traits commonly associated with mental illness and neurodivergence. ford's hypervigilance becomes arrogance. his passion for knowledge means he's a know-it-all. his difficulty socializing and making friends means he's a misanthrope. his lingering resentment for the way he was raised means he hates his brother and is the worst human being to ever have lived. i could go on, go even further into how the finale reaffirms this, but i feel weird talking about this too much.

#help you unclogged the dam and it all came rushing out #it's been years #didn't know i still had all this in me #apologies for the lack of sources. i reference a lot of old interviews and tweets from 2016-2017 #i know insider was one of them but a lot of it was questions he'd be asked at convention panels and off-handed comments from the dvds #seconds before the clip i included alex says ford's great flaw is pride #as though it was his pride that led to the world ending #and not a millenium-old plan by a monster using advanced manipulation tactics supplemented with literal mind control #tales of the wild zeep #1009

[abyssalzones]

C-PTSD as a diagnosis makes so much sense for Ford because he really does fit almost all of the criteria, ESPECIALLY if you take the stuff in J3 into account in conjunction with his traumatic childhood (bullying, bad dad, etc.). It just makes sense in regards to his motivations and his issues with interpersonal relationships (like with Stan). Also buring yourself in your work (like he does) is a very common 'flight' coping mechanism to trauma in adults

I'm smiling like this right now

ford's whole.... mental health deal is extremely interesting to examine because Oh my god this man is the textbook image for "reacting to ongoing, continuous trauma". intentional or otherwise (I'm inclined to believe it's both).

like. okay hang on I'm about to get very in depth with it

I feel like there's no way this entire guy's life and in some ways his lasting identity haven't been defined by and constructed around various forms of trauma, maybe the most obvious and true-to-canon-intent being peer abuse/bullying from childhood. a lot of people downplay the impact of this type of abuse but it's... responsible for a lot of social ills in shocking ways. (if you're more interested in this topic here is an article my friend mer linked me a while back, it gets into it very deeply)

(a lot of this is going to be sourced from the wikipedia page for CPTSD [and my own experience Living with it] which I realize isn't very professional of me but Whatever this is tumblr)

one of the core tenets of ford's personality is that he's Different. he owns it, sure- his six fingers become a point of pride rather than something to be ashamed of- but they make it extremely clear that from a young age he associated being different with being a social pariah. ford's generation was characterized by notoriously cruel bullying, and anything that remotely made you stand out rendered you a target. ford could've been bullied for being nerdy and jewish (and failing to perform socially, ie dating) alone, having such an obvious mutation definitely was not winning him any points.

so it's honestly no surprise, when from childhood ford feels like he has One person in the world to trust and confide in, that he would go on to form very unhealthy attachment patterns typical of CPTSD. as you elaborated on regarding AvPD (which I know far less about but seems to have comorbidity with CPTSD): if you're hard-wired to believe socializing with others results in failure or betrayal, then you're not going to make an effort. but what does end up happening is that you're going to pour all of your trust and dependency into one person at a time, one person who is "safe".

previously, that was his brother. and it's not really hard to draw the conclusion from there that fiddleford was a subject of ford's attachment style, considering he was his One friend from college, and... one of Maybe two people ford is friends with at all who he isn't related to. he cites him as the only person he can possibly trust to work on the portal project alongside him, and he still can't bring himself to tell him the full truth, because he's terrified of losing him. I love their dynamic (I do think they were mutual best friends, and there was no small amount of trust reciprocated between them. "fiddleford was weird as hell too" is something I keep coming back to) and I don't think it's built on entirely unhealthy terms, but that kind of pressure is... setting things up to crash and burn.

enter bill stage left. back to "continuous yearning to be liked and accepted"- this guy knew that and made every effort to prey on ford's insecurities to reel him in as close as possible. this is what really pisses me off about the idea that bill was just "inflating ford's ego", because it's way, way more insidious than that. throughout the entirety of journal 3 we see ford reintroduce someone to his life he has a very positive relationship with (fiddleford) and how that trust gets gradually broken down by bill's influence "winning out" over their friendship. I think it's safe to say ford was already vulnerable: from the start, he'd been isolated in his research for six years (and it's unclear for how long he'd known bill by 1982), and bill proved time and time again to be someone who wouldn't judge him, someone who would praise him for his hard work, and perhaps most critically, make him feel like being different was something special.

like that's... that's really not good!!!! and that kind of thing works wonders on someone who has already settled with the idea that they're inclined to be alone just by design.

trying to put a cap on this. in relationships like the one he's had with his brother or fiddleford it doesn't even necessarily have to be ""toxic"" (vague term anyway) or outwardly bad to be built on unhealthy attachment patterns, and considering for a good chunk of ford's life his attachment to others can be characterized as "I can only trust ONE person at a time" it feels essential to any discussion of his CPTSD or canon trust issues. That is something that happens a lot in Real cases of CPTSD (hi) and only further snowballs into More trauma by leaving you vulnerable to manipulation and abuse (see: bill.)

I've been going on for way too long now and I feel like I've only scratched the surface of the thing I wanted to elaborate on sorry. that post traumatic stress disorder can complex

#lab notes #I woke up and had to answer this before anything else but I really need to Eat so apologies if this is all over the place. running on empty #edit: this is ok to reblog ! all of my gf theorizing/analysis is unless I clarify it isn't for whatever reason

[alex-rambles]

For personality for someone into cryptid academia, I’d say the reader be almost like dipper but sorta different? Like keeps to themselves, overall loves walking in the woods. And also thinks like ford.

Also here are pictures

Thanks for the info! I like how there was a journal 3 in there lol. I did the Pines + Bill because i wasn't sure which characters you'd want

Gravity Falls characters with a cryptid academia s/o

Dipper

🌲Your aesthetic may actually have been what caught his eye to begin with

🌲He likes it a lot

🌲Would love taking walks in the woods with you, hoping to come across a supernatural sighting or two.

🌲He adores pouring over The Journal™ with you, looking for creatures you should hunt for next

🌲Very happy to find someone who shares his interest in the supernatural and the outdoorsy stuff

Mabel

🌠Supports your interest despite not sharing them

🌠Def enjoys going on hikes and nature walks with you though, and likes to listen to their stories and theories about the supernatural

🌠Even though she might call Dipper a nerd for displaying some similar traits, you're her s/o so that sibling teasing does not apply to you

🌠When you're on walks she gets distracted by cute animals so you'll probably have to either let her stare and try to pet them or attempt to reign her back in

Stanely

💰Bro compares you to Ford constantly

💰Not in a purposefully mean way he just likes to tease you jokingly

💰You may end up developing a friendship with Ford after Stan introduces you to him

💰And then you and Ford continue talking

💰aNd STAN GETS JELOUS BECAUSE YOU'RE SO SIMILAR

💰So he tries to get into that stuff for you

💰And buys you the clothes the match your aesthetic (only the cheap ones ofc. If he doesn't have enough he either shoplifts or steals from Ford)

Ford

✋Like Dipper, your aesthetic probably caught his eye

✋He sees something of a "partner" in you

✋BIG BRAIN DUO

✋He could spend HOURS talking about the supernatural with you

✋You probs find his six fingers thing cool so he feels comfortable around you

✋After all, most people bullied him for it

Bill

👁Bill is the cryptid you were looking for

👁He will explain all about his home dimension to you if you find it intriguing. If it were anyone but you'd he'd give a vague response about "liberation something something," but you're you sooooo

👁You like hiking? He'll make a mindscape hike trail for you to do together

👁During Weirdmaggedon he'll force his henchmaniacs to let you study them

👁He might make one little area of the forest normal so you can hike in the real world and obliterate anything that dares step into the area

👁In the mindscape he likes to try to scare the shit out of you with eldritch-esque creatures, but it doesn't work because a) not real, and b) you want to sTUDY tHE tHING

#gravity falls x reader #gravity falls #bill cipher x reader #ford pines x reader #stanford pines x reader #stan pines x reader #stanely pines x reader #dipper pines x reader #mabel pines x reader #alex writes

[deserteye]

CHAPTER ONE ;; Return to the Falls

DIPPER'S P.O.V.

"It's only been six years since you've been to Gravity Falls, it's fine-!"

"Dip, you're mumbling to yourself again."

Mabel commented, lightly pushing my shoulder.

"Oh, shit- Sorry,"

I laugh nervously, rubbing my wrists.

"You're anxious over nothing Dipping Sauce, it's just the old gang! We saved the world together, it'll be fine."

She reassured. We were about maybe 6 minutes from the stop in Gravity Falls, and it'd been six years since Weirdmageddon. We just graduated Highschool and decided to start our first summer out of school back at Gravity Falls. Mabel kept in contact with Grenda and Candy, and I had Wendy's phone number, but I was always too scared to start a conversation. Mabel says I need to just 'talk to her like a normal person' the same way I did in person, but it's, different, I guess.

"Dipper! It's the sign!"

Mabel jumped in her seat and pointed at the old 'Gravity Falls' sign. I smiled and tried relaxing. While going to high school, I got recommended to a counselor for my apparent social anxiety, which I had no idea I had until someone brought the idea to mind. I've found a few coping mechanisms for my anxiety, and currently, none of them were working for this anxiety.

"Last stop, Gravity Falls."

The bus driver called, and Mabel leaped from her seat, grabbed her suitcase and backpack, and ran out the door, Waddle following close behind her. I picked up my bag and suitcase as well, following her close behind with nervousness running down my spine.

I walked out of the bus to see Mabel group hugging Grenda and Mabel, and being greeted by Grunkle Ford and Stan, Soos, and Wendy.

"Hey, dude,"

Wendy called, grabbing her hat off my head and putting my old pine tree hat back on my hat, pushing the brim of it which pulled a laugh from me.

"Hey, Wendy."

I smiled and blushed awkwardly, putting my hands in my pockets.

"Dude, you hit a huge growth spurt."

She laughed, and Soos stood next to me for comparison, I was almost as tall as him.

"Dude, you're almost as tall as me!"

He commented, smiling and I laughed in response.

~TIMESKIP~

After our little meeting, we decided to walk back to the shack, just to view the changes in town, and see old friends. While walking, there was a new face spotted leaving a grocery store, waving bye to the owner. Around Y/H (Your Height), and S/C (Your Skin Color), they wore a C/C (Color of Choice) sweater and jeans, with a ruby pendant.

"Woahh, who's that cutie?!"

Mabel called out, guess they caught both our eyes. Figures. I discovered I was probably bi in high school, Mabel of course, being omnisexual, was more than supportive, which didn't really surprise me since she cut my hair and helped me bind my chest whenever I found out I was trans. She had way more luck with guys and gals, however.

"Oh, yeah, that's Y/N Sphinx. They don't come into town much."

Wendy explained, putting her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah, they're some kinda hermit, back when I lived here I only saw them out like, once."

Grunkle Stan added, humming suspiciously.

"So, do they not have any friends?"

Mabel hummed sadly.

"No, we have even tried befriending them, and they do not seem interested."

Candy commented, and I noticed Mabel get a sparkle in her eye.

"Mabel." I said sternly,

"Common Dipper! They need a friend!"

She cried.

"Can we at least go put out stuff in the shack-?!"

I plead before she ran off saying "Nope!" in response, and I chased after her, crying out to her.

YOUR P.O.V.

"Finally done with groceries.."

I sighed, thinking to myself, before looking over my grocery list quickly and humming, putting it in my jean pocket, and I continued walking. I was never a fan of socializing or being out in the town, nothing against the townsfolk. Lazy Susan was a sweetheart, and funny enough Tyler Cutebiker, now Mayor Tyler Cutebiker, and I got along pretty well, I just always kinda got drained from talking to almost anyone besides forest creatures.

"Hey, hey, heyyy!"

I heard someone call out to me and I turned around, stopping in my tracks and looking at the brunette girl who approached me, wearing a pink sweater, and a very similar boy following behind her, having to lean down and take a breath.

"Um- Hi- Can I help you-?"

I asked nervously.

"Hi! I'm Mabel, Mabel Pines, and this is my brother! Dipper!"

Mabel responded, introducing the two of them. She put her hand on her brother's back, patting it while he struggled to breathe. I smiled nervously, laughing lightly at Dipper's struggle for breathing.

I could instantly tell their dynamic, Mabel is the heart and Dipper is the brain, Mabel probably drags them into chaos all the time. I really gotta write that dynamic sometime..

"Hi, I'm so sorry about my sister,"

Dipper apologized, standing up to his full height, he's much taller than I thought- He coughed nervously, putting his hands in his pockets and avoiding eye contact.

"Oh, you're alright- You said 'Pines' right-? Are you related to the Mystery Shack guy?"

I asked, being polite.

"Yeah! He's our Great Uncle Stan!"

Mabel smiled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh, cool-! So, can I help you with anything-?"

I smiled nervously, not sure what to do.

"Uhh nope! I just wanted to say hi and compliment your sweater!"

Mabel added, having a bit of a jump in her step.

"Oh, I see- Thank you, my sister made it for me."

I laughed awkwardly, holding my grocery bags in both hands in front of me. We stood in awkward silence for a moment, clearing affecting Dipper and I more than Mabel, before I broke it.

"Well, thank you-! It's been a pleasure but I should be off, uh bye-!"

I stammered quickly before walking off around the corner. Once I got around the corner I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

The twins stood there, Mabel and Dipper looking at each other in confusion about the sudden hurry to leave.

[A/N: bit of an extra long chapter since it's a bit late! ^^']

· · ─────── ·⃤ ─────── · ·

Next Chapter | CHAPTER TWO ;; That Old Statue

Last Chapter | PROLOGUE ;; An Axolotl's Assignment

#gravity falls #dipper pines #mabel pines #ford pines #stanley pines #stanford pines #pines #bill cipher #bill #x reader #reader #y/n #y/n sphinx #bill x reader #bill cipher x reader #dipper x reader #dipper pines x reader #mason pines #maeve pines #trans dipper #trans dipper pines #gender neutral reader #gender neutral y/n #non binary y/n #nb y/n #enby y/n #nb reader #enby reader #bill x gender neutral reader #bill x non binary reader

[gravity-falls-au-tournament]

The AUs in the running!

With the submission now closed, the time for the Tournament to begin is fast approaching! With that in mind it is time to reveal the AUs in the running:

Drifting stars AU by @the-subpar-ghost

During the events of not what he seems, Mabel ends up falling into the portal instead of Ford coming through it, and Mabel ends up stuck with Ford in the multiverse. The two of them travel the multiverse and get into many a shenanigan trying to find a way home. In most versions Stan and Dipper also work to bring their twins home

One of us AU by @ashidaii

During the events of Weirdmaggedon, Ford accepts Bill's offer to join him and is transformed into a demon. In some versions it is with the intent to betray Bill later while struggling with Demonic Corruption, in others it is genuine.

Reunion falls AU by @sailorleo (Now @hellspawnmotel)

Not long after Mabel and Dipper were born the two were separated, with Dipper being sent to live with Stan and Mabel remaining with their parents. After finding out about her twin years later, Mabel travels to Gravity falls to meet him.

Timestuck AU by @dodofiasco

In which one of the Pines twins (or both, in which case usually they get separated but sometimes they are together) end up stuck 30 years in past due to the time tape and meet the younger version of one (or both) of the Stan twins.The most Popular version of this AU has Mabel travelling with a younger Stan.

Blind Faith au by @gravity-what and @thesnadger

During the events of the Portal incident in the 1980s, Both Stan and Ford fall through the Portal. Due to McGucket being driven mad by what he saw when he entered the portal, Ford fears the same could happen to Stan and thus blindfolds him to prevent him from Seeing whatever lurks in the mysterious and insidious dimension where they have ended up, and the two travel to escape. However, while Ford cannot see fully due to losing his glasses, what little he can see is starting to take its toll. This mounting paranoia and fear eventually reaches a Boling point and leads to Ford attempting to blind Stan to keep him safe from the horrors (In some versions he succeeds, in others he only manages to do so for one eye) Eventually the two manage to leave this dimension and they begin travelling the multiverse.

Monster falls AU by various

The discovery of a magical stream results in the characters of gravity falls being transformed into various monsters. Dipper is turned it a Cervitaur(Deer centaur) Mabel is turned into a Mermaid or a Unicorn centaur, Stan is turned into a gargoyle, Ford is turned into a Greek sphynx, And the list goes on.

Mystery trio AU by various

Based on a popular theory prior to the release of Not what he seems and a tale of tale of two stans. The story of the Mystery trio au has many different variations, but the general premise is that in sometime in the past before the portal incident, Stan and Ford make and the two of them plus Fiddleford work together to help with Ford's research in Gravity falls, getting into all kinds of trouble.

Beauty and Beast AU by @artsycrapfromsai

A Familial love take on the Disney movie of the same name, in the Beauty and the Beast au the pines twins end up living in the castle of the Stan twins, who were cursed years ago by bill, with Ford being transformed into a Book and Stan into a beast

Reverse portal AU by @busket

During the events of the portal incident, Stan is the one to fall in the portal instead of Ford. Ford then spends the next 30 battling with himself over whether he should risk the universe and try and bring Stan back, Meanwhile Stan travels the multiverse, probably getting banned from numerous dimensions.

Relativity falls AU by Doidles and Gargunk

An age swap au where the stan twins are twelve years old and staying in gravity falls with their Grauntie Mabel, who is secretly working to bring back her brother.

Transcendence AU by Zoey Chu(Now @transcendence-au)

Due to a long series of events, Dipper gains Bill's powers, becoming known as "Alcor". Meanwhile in an event known as the "Transcendence" gravity falls weirdness spreads to the rest of the world.

One and a half stans AU by @disappeareddraws

After the events of a tale of two stans, Stan ends up being reverted back to a kid through some means or the other.

Ghost stan AU by @gryphsdeadbones

Some point after a tale of two stans, Stan dies and becomes a ghost, eventually becoming a category 10 ghost.

Never human AU by @notllorstel

Stanley pines was stillborn, replaced by a changeling at birth. In some versions Dipper is also a Fae and the story deals with the aftermath of these revelations

Pirate AU by @gobblewanker

During the 18th century, Orphan stowaways Mabel and Dipper find themselves on the mystery, A pirate ship manned by its notorious captain Stanley pines, who is fueled by a desire for revenge against the man who killed his brother.

Summer job AU by Various

After the events of Steven universe future, Steven gets a job working at the mystery shack (sometimes post-series sometimes pre-series)

Round one will start on the 10th of August Aest and the brackets will be up on the 9th. See you all soon!

#i tried my best to do background checks on all the aus here and make sure there wasnt anything nasty #but please let me know if i missed anything #gravity falls #gravity falls au #bracket tournament #tournament blog #masterpost #tournament poll #tumblr tournament #tumblr polls

[freshydip]

can you imagine the environmental story telling that stan had to sift through in those first few months after taking over the house.

cobwebs. blood stains. unused bed. broken furniture. blood smears. a literal giant's thumb as an end table. half finished inventions of dubious purposes. more blood stains.

the journal he had gave no context like the 3rd one did. the first journal was filled with optimism, probably reinforcing the view he had of ford "livin' it up" in his fancy house. but as stan encounters more of gravity falls' weirdness over the years, all he can do is wonder. pick up those pieces and tuck them away as he realizes he's never going to truly know. you can only spend so many of the over ten thousand sleepless nights theorizing before you you just run your mind in circles.

and then. and then. he gets the 3rd journal from dipper. he's ecstatic. he's elated. he's used the journal to get the machine going, and then he copies the remaining pages. and then he starts reading. and he sees this

stan's head is swirling. he's got the portal operational, finally, after 30 fucking years. he's got the twins, who he's very quickly grown to love and appreciate more than he ever expected. he's got the town's respect, something he's always wanted more than he'd ever admit. he's got so much to juggle. he's on a tightwire, balancing all these variables, knowing he's at the finish line. the thought of getting his brother back is all that's keeping him afloat.

what do you think stan thought when he saw this? grief, at the sudden context for his brother's behavior when they met, feeling "if only i'd known, things could have worked out differently"? anger, cursing ford for running away and trying to do everything himself?

fear, wondering if when he finally gets his brother back, he won't be his brother anymore?

#gravity falls #stanley pines #grunkle stan #grunkle ford #stanford pines #tfw no gf #mp

[pinesfamilyguidetotheweird]

Gravity Falls Thoughts: Ford and Trauma™ (Part 01; because I know I'm turning this into a multi-part series)

So...when you start to think about it, Ford has been through a lot. Because of Gravity Falls' nature as a 2-season Disney cartoon, I feel that we've only scratched the surface of all the crap this man went through.

And thanks to the fandom...good Lord in Heaven, all the flippin' Trauma!!! Sweet Moses...

I mean, other than Bill Cipher and Weirdmageddon, Ford has a level of trauma that not a lot of people have.

Of course, Ford isn't the only one with Trauma™. Really, all four of the Pines are traumatized in some way. I mostly want to focus on Ford for now.

Now, most of the trauma Ford is given is fan speculation/interpretation. The thing is though, is that these traumas would make sense if Gravity Falls was given a more serious direction. (sort of like Steven Universe, a show that is more emotionally driven)

Okay...first things first, nutrition.

In a previous post I've made (I think it was about the Feral Ford headcanon; which I may or may not go into further detail in this series), I said something along the lines of how Ford wouldn't be all that bothered by weird looking food or could even stomach strange food combinations.

While a part of me still thinks this, another one thinks of something else thanks to reading a lot of fanfics of his essentially living off of nutrient pills.

This is from Ford having to be constantly on the move to avoid Bill's reach during his travels. I'd imagine it's a rare occurrence for him to be able to sit down and have a decent meal, either at an establishment or even hunting for food. Not only that, but you have to remember that a lot of the places he went to probably don't have food suitable for humans.

So, Ford has probably taken to nutrient pills so that way he's always on the go, among other foods he's able to preserve and carry.

The thing is, living on mostly nutrient pills could only take you so far before it could be more of a bad boon. Nutrient pills wouldn't exactly give you the appropriate amount of calories a human adult male needs. Especially if they are constantly in danger.

This can lead to some malnutrition.

Yes. I took time to research this so we can properly make Ford's life more like hell.

Signs/Symptoms of Malnutrition (according to NHS)

(Other than the main concern of weight loss and BMI being low)

reduced appetite

lack of interest in food and drink

feeling tired all the time

feeling weaker

getting ill often and taking a long time to recover

wounds taking a long time to heal

poor concentration

feeling cold most of the time

...feeling cold most of the time...

"feeling cold most of the time"

...And who wears a turtleneck sweater/trench coat combo during the summer?

And, lastly, Low mood, sadness and depression.

Furthermore, it would seem that Ford would have developed a low tolerance to actual food (other than bland, mushy stuff) and is probably incapable of eating a whole meal without throwing up.

It's a struggle to be sure, especially if Ford already has a history to forget meals, even as a child (may or may not be projecting here as someone who forgets to eat)...not to mention the months of paranoia due to Bill prior to being sucked into the Portal.

I'm honestly imagining a scene in which Abuelita (bless her soul) tries to feed Ford when she sees how skinny he is...or at least what she perceives as skinny. And no one (no one) can say no to Abuelita Ramirez. And it's Mexican food. There is absolutely nothing bland about it. And Ford does his best to eat it...only to scurry into the bathroom after three bites. He didn't mean to be rude. It was honestly very delicious. Ford's body just couldn't handle it at the moment.

At least Abuelita is understanding of the situation and becomes Stan's right hand woman on his quest to help Ford with his eating habits.

...Great, another idea for an upcoming fic...I had a title in mind but I feel like I should call it *Trauma* Ford Edition.

#gravity falls #stanford pines #grunkle ford #ford pines #gravity falls thoughts #trauma

[illogicaltriangle]

Gravity Falls x Danny Phantom phanfic

Stan banged on the control panel. The whirring sounds of the machine had long since gone. Until it came back again.

Through tear-filled eyes, Stan looked up, to see the portal flickering, on and off. It did that a number of times until it spat a figure out - a human.

Almost on instinct, he had scrambled to grab an item from a nearby desk, where Ford used to place equipment that wasn't in use. Stan was no good at using the equipment to do something positive, but he was sure as heck awesome at using it as a weapon. Living life on the streets really did that to a person.

The figure stepped closer, their eyes glowing in the room's darkness - the portal was the only thing illuminating it, but it couldn't anymore. It was unsettling and eerie, but when did Stan not have to deal with that before?

The man wasn't fazed - too much, and took a step closer, making it as loud as he possibly could to show who was dominant. It seemed to work, as the figure went back. However, Stan had recognised something in their eyes. Fear. Like somebody had just thrown them there and told them to get on with life.

Stan pushed down his nose and flicked on a switch. He wasn't expecting to see a teenage boy, let alone one that he had recognised. Clearly, the boy had a similar reaction

It was Maddie's son, Danny. He had fondly recalled the boy's 10th birthday party where Maddie had found a way to revert time to be 10 seconds before. What a joy it'd be if he had the machine now.

"Uncle... Stan?" Danny asked, as if it could be anybody else.

Stan looked at Danny, "Danny?" He asked, just to confirm. He had to fight a shapeshifter before he made his way to Ford's place, so it was plausible.

"Uh, what're we doing here?" Danny questioned, looking around whilst admiring the now-broken portal.

Stan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Well it's a long story, kiddo."

Danny was already next to Stan as if he had teleported. "Spill it." He said.

"No." Stan said. "Don't you have parents to get to, kid?" He asked, a tad bitterly, recalling his own situation. Danny looked at the floor, sadly, but only for a split-second before perking up. "I'm sure they won't mind." He said. "Besides, I was going to go to Uncle Ford's place anyways, but this works."

Stan sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll tell you the story of it all." He said. "But not here. Place gives me the creeps."

He pressed a button on an elevator, letting Danny enter first, before leaving for himself.

Okay, story's over, no idea to keep adding anything or what. Can somebody give criticism? It's a little short but like, what can you do about it?

#fanfic #dp #gravity falls #stanford pines #danny fenton #danny phantom #ghost king danny #constructive criticism welcome

[strangesickness]

so the richie's ugly red junkyard car headcanon. you know her, you love her. you were obsessed with her as an obnoxious preteen who's dream car was a red ford (oh wait that was just me)

but i raise you, that thing isn't richie's richie doesn't know jack about cars, but you know who does??? eddie.

the losers were screwing around in a junkyard, eddie is screaming about tetanus and is generally resentful of his current predicament. and then he sees it. and by it i mean a red 1990 ford f-150. the left mirror's been knocked off, the engine is long gone, the paint is so scratched the truck is hardly even red anymore, the right door is hanging on it's hinges, the upholstery is disgusting, the bumper is dinged to hell, and eddie loves it. he'd never normally spring for a red car, but it's the most in tact he'd ever seen a junkyard car and its practically new and if he put it back together he could drive him and his friends all the way out of derry.

he sees this disgusting truck, every possible health hazard in one place, and he sees him and his friends driving up to canada just because they can. he knows he has to have it as soon as he sees it.

obviously his mom would lose her mind, so they push the truck all the way to the tozier household, where went hitches it and drives it up to the hanlon's place. the losers spend all summer working on the car, everyone contributes, and as much as its all their car, it's also definitely eddie's specifically.

they get it working, mostly by finding spare parts in the junkyard, but richie, bev and bill pitch in summer job money to buy a new motor. once it's working, they have to decide on a paint color. eddie hates red cars, he insists they're obnoxious and only idiots who don't know how to drive have red cars, but like... he's kind of attached... he says he chooses red because it'll be easier to work with what they already have than choose an entirely new color, but he's secretly grown fond of how obnoxious the car is.

the losers who have their licenses (mike, richie, bill, stan) help teach eddie how to drive on the farm. derry doesn't have a drive test centre, so all the losers pile into the truck and bill drives them all up to bangor so eddie can take his test. they all sit on the curb outside the drive test centre for the full hour it takes eddie to do the test. it then takes them five hours to drive to canada, eddie drives the whole way even though he's hardly driven up till this point. richie "navigates" but this mostly consists of him elbowing eddie while he tries to figure out the map, while stan looks over his shoulder and actually navigates.

they enter quebec around 7pm (you have to be 19 to ride in a truckbed in maine and i can't find information on that in quebec, but we're going to believe the truckbed law in maine was passed after 1993, and assume quebec has no laws on this because. it's quebec.), and immediately realize none of them speak french. ben is competent in spanish which he manages to use to understand the absolute bare minimum of french. they shell out way more money than they should for a hotel chain because eddie refuses to stay in an independent motel.

they manage to pay for a single room with two twins and a pullout couch. it is altogether a horrible night of sleep but they spend most of it talking and playing cards and eating snacks and trying to figure out if the hotel has roof access (the door says "alarm will sound" but when they try it no alarms sound so!) so it doesn't really matter if they don't sleep that well. the next day they drive up to quebec city and wander around. they have like. no money left so they can hardly do anything but ben has this shitty little camera the losers bought him for his birthday so even though they can hardly do anything they have a ton of fun sightseeing and goofing off and taking pictures.

mike, bill, stan, and richie all take turns on the drive back because eddie's totally exhausted. they get back to derry around midnight and have a sleepover in the tozier basement (where most of the parents thinks they've been staying all weekend anyways). went and maggie are so proud of eddie, and he called them from the drive test centre when he got his license.

this is the car btw. i definitely DID choose it because it was 13 year old mes dream car.

#anyways thats the strangesickness take on the richie tozier's junkyard truck hc. will probably write a fic about this #it will be gay btw #obviously #eddie kaspbrak #it 2017 #it 2019 #it stephen king #it chapter 2 #it novel #richie tozier #mike hanlon #stanley uris #bill denbrough #ben hanscom #beverly marsh #also this is definitely a reddie story to me #lots of romantic moments planned in here #only one bed moment? stargazing? long nights working on the car? eddie bothering richie at work? annoying each other? #also maggie and went being very approving and supportive of eddie. they know. to me. #also stan being sick of richie & eddie's shit. i see them rn. stan is so mad about this #just put him in the truckbed so he doesn't have to put up with them. he doesn't care if richie gets them lost. #reddie #posts afflicted with a strange sickness #red's ramblings #red's research

[ckret2]

please more evil ford please i stare with my puppy eyes for this i am obbsessed

Yeah all right, I've been working on some art. (For context, we're talking about this Evil Ford.)

Evil Ford is Evil as in "cheerfully works with Bill even after learning his full plot" and "is totally ready to conquer and/or destroy the world." But other than the shocking lack of basic ethics and the supervillain objective he's mostly the same guy—which means he still cares about his family. He's hoping to get them to join in on the world conquest plan.

Forty-odd years ago he went off to college promising someday he'd be a big shot scientist who changes the world and he'd make his family a fortune. If taking over reality doesn't qualify he doesn't know what does. The family can join him and his buddy Bill and rule the universe together. Pines Pines Pines Pines!

Unfortunately for him, the rest of the family still has normal moral compasses. And also they've met Bill.

Bill can't currently possess Ford due to Reasons; but even though he can't get in the driver's seat he still has permission to ride shotgun at any time. Ford talks to him pretty regularly. He HAS been caught doing this. Stan thinks he's just gone a little nutty from thirty years of isolation.

Naturally, since he was always on Bill's side, Ford's perception of events during Weirdmageddon is a bit different:

I finally made an official Evil Ford New Costume Character Design, check out his exciting totally different brand new look:

I decided that, since Ford is still basically the same person aside from his terrible life goals, he'd probably have the same fashion sense. And so... nothing changes except two tiny details lmao.

But he DOES have tattoos:

I traced a canon character model and took off its top to get a base to slap tattoos on, and then went dang... they gave him a big head and arms. He looks goofy. Anyway,

His forearms have less incriminating tattoos—just a birch tree and a sunrise. (The sunrise looks like the Journal 3 "The Muse Has Spoken" page.) The red text is the "triangulum entangulum" ritual; if anyone asks he'll go "it's uhh an ancient Sumerian poem about how great science is." It's not until he's topless that it's like "oh so he's a CULTIST cultist." The one exception is an unconcealed Eye of Providence on his right palm—but it's in an ink that's only visible in certain lighting. It's there so at any time he can point his hand at something and go "Bill are you seeing this BS?"

Of course, he still has the "hey now, you're an all star" neck tattoo. I didn't have room to draw it.

As you can see, he's made being Bill's right hand man a core part of his personality. Rather than spending 30 years scrabbling around the multiverse desperately searching for a way to destroy Bill, he spent 30 years chilling in the Quadrangle of Qonfusion as Bill's specialest favoritest Henchmaniac, and only scrabbling around the multiverse occasionally for fun & profit.

Here's a photo Bill & Ford took at a Nightmare Realm house party like fifteen years ago, three minutes before Bill started an argument and set the house on fire.

Most people have their wild party years in college, Ford has his in his 40s.

#stanford pines #grunkle ford #bill cipher #(he's in enough pictures; he's worth tagging too) #gravity falls #gravity falls fanart #evil ford au #my art

[rubydracogirl]

I’m gonna ramble about one of my favorite Gravity Falls headcanons because I haven’t seen anyone mention or bring it up.

So, I’m curious, does anyone think that maybe the reason why Stan has such big ears that stick out so much is due to his experience with boxing? It’s true that he could just genetically have big ears, but from what I’ve observed, Ford’s ears don’t seem to stick out with the same prominence.

I’m not a medical professional and I don’t have a background with boxing/wrestling myself, but I know someone who did MMA and Krav Maga training for a few years. She developed a very mild case of cauliflower ear; the cartilage of her ear is calloused and curls in slightly. (It’s only noticeable if you really look for it.)

I think Stan has a pretty severe case of cauliflower ear that caused both enlargement and for the cartilage to roll forward, so his ears stick out. It’s undeniable that any fight training or participation is extremely hard on your body, especially if you don’t have access to medical attention, and I can’t help but think that a lot of his health problems are due to his experience with boxing, such as the fact that he wears dentures and hearing aids even though he’s allegedly in his early 60’s.

Now, I know that during the montage in ATOTS, you can see the progression of his age and his ears get bigger as he ages, which is something that naturally occurs without outside influence, but again, Ford’s ears don’t seem to stick out as much as Stan’s do even though they’re the same age.

I think this implies that Stan kept boxing while he was in Gravity Falls, (the boxing paraphernalia in his room seems to support this). Regular trauma to your body will have a physical effect the longer you expose yourself to it, and I think that’s what happened to Stan.

Anyways, I don’t know, maybe I’m overanalyzing, or maybe this just isn’t that remarkable, but I haven’t seen any mention of this, and I just wanted to bring it up because I think that, even if I’m incorrect, Stan’s exaggerated prominent ears, hearing aids and dentures are interesting details since Stan is the twin that took more to boxing/close combat training.

#gravity falls #Stan Pines #stanley pines #headcanons #boxing #boxing injuries #TLDR I think Stan has cauliflower ear #look it up at your own risk #severe cases can be brutal and gross

[billford-dump]

Stranger Avatar Stan Thoughts

It starts with his first new identity, not long after he was kicked out. He… enjoyed being someone else. He was no longer Stanley Pines, high school dropout, moron who ruined his genius brother's science fair project, the useless kid, the spare. Now he's Stan Pinington, a man who has just barely started existing, who is old enough to hold a proper job, who has never fucked up so badly he got kicked out, who is confident and smart and is going to make millions.

It doesn't turn out like that, of course. He gets fired from his new job after a week, barely earns enough to pay for food and gas. He keeps going, keeps trying, because at least this was better than being Stanley. Eventually he broke one too many laws and was forced to leave Jersey, but that's okay because now he was Leland Oakley, a new face with new opportunities.

And on and on, he became person after person after person. Never caught, never recognized when he didn't want to be.

Then came the day he had to become Stanford Pines. He's not sure how anyone actually believed he was his brother, the hands alone were a dead giveaway, not to mention the sudden lack of nerdiness. But still, he settled into his new role, molded it to fit him better, and eventually "Stanford Pines, the reclusive scientist" became "Stan Pines, the owner of the Murder Hut (later renamed the Mystery Shack)".

---

Stan doesn't even know he's an avatar. He's not a full one, never actually crossed the boundary between human and Not, still stuck between them. There was usually enough fear around to keep him from getting hungry, and the way that he could go weeks without eating if he had to was something he wasn't about to question. The only time he got seriously hungry was after Ford fell through the portal and he spent weeks (it was months, he survived for MONTHS on what little half-rotten food Ford had in his house) before he was so hungry he was forced to go into town.

He felt so much better, once he gave that first tour. He tells himself it's because now he has money, and money always makes him feel better. The townsfolk won't make eye contact with him, but something keeps a few of them coming back.

The Mystery Shack is the way he feeds himself, although he isn't aware of it. That mild fear of the tourists is enough, and at the height of tourist season he doesn't even have to sleep, he can work all night and feel fresh and ready to go in the morning. The off-season is another story, he'll fall asleep and wake up days later, telling himself he just forgot to mark the calendar.

(He knows there's something very, very wrong with him. But if it helps him get his brother back sooner, he will embrace that wrongness completely.)

---

He never closes down his wax museum. See, rather than them just being cursed wax figures, a few months after he stole them they stopped being constrained by their curse and started being animate all the time. And THEY were aware that Stan was nearly an avatar, and they enjoyed hanging out in his house, so they put in the effort to scare the shit out of people to feed him. Like paying rent. When the wax museum stopped pulling in money they got moved to the main area instead of locked up.

That, plus he can supplement his diet with human food.

Occasionally though, when all of that isn't enough, he'll feel… odd. He'll lead tourists through rooms he doesn't remember having and the tourists' expressions will change from that gullible interest he's so used to into fear, then terror, but they just follow him until the end of the tour and then leave immediately without buying anything. (They watch, as the old man acting as their tour guide looks less and less human, leads them past hanging, empty skin and people who aren't people, leads them past puppets and mannequins and people they Do Not Recognize, and the moment they're outside again they flee in terror and never even set foot in Oregon again.)

---

Then came the day he was finally, finally able to bring his brother back…. His brother, who barely recognized him, who treated him like a stranger when he first saw him, who seemed wary and on guard and kept protectively placing himself between Stan and the kids.

(Avatar Ford post here.)

#gravity falls #stan pines #the magnus archives #tma #stranger avatar stan #stranger fear entity #fun fact ive discussed this with ckret a bit #we decided that the wax statue episode is different #mabel and dipper know stan is weirdly attached to his wax statues so when one of them is KILLED? #oh poor grunkle stan they need to find who did it! #who chopped off dearly departed wax abe lincoln's head! #they hold a funeral and everything #(stan killed wax abe bc he had said the kids were off limits but the wax figures kept trying to scare them. he was making an example) #it ends the sameish but mabel uses the leftover wax to create a unicorn that stan is very careful not to animate