Gravity Soul is a Gravity Falls and Soul Eater Crossover fic written by Lightyearpig that can be found on Fanfiction.net, DeviantArt and Tumblr. It chronicles Dipper and Mabel Pines' second summer in Gravity Falls where they cross paths with Maka Albarn and Soul Eater Evans and team up with them & their friends to combat the alliance between the resurrected Bill Cipher & Kishin Asura, who have fused into Kishin Cipher to exact revenge. A sequel, subtitled "Monotone Princess" after the Soul Eater video game of the same name, is in development.
Gravity Soul contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: The twins undergo this over the course of the story. Mabel's Soul Wavelength is revealed to be compatible with anyone due to her cheerful disposition while Dipper's only works with those he can trust. However the latter would later become the Meister of Excalibur.
- Adaptational Heroism: As the story takes place after both Gravity Falls and the Soul Eater anime, some characters who previously antagonized the protagonists (namely Pacifica, Gideon & Crona) are major characters.
- Ambiguous Gender: Crona is referred to as a male as with the English dub of the anime, but it's later stated that they simply can't identify it.
- Bad Boss: Kishin Cipher is exceptionally abusive toward Medusa's former minions, even threatening to kill Free for losing Journal 3.
- Bond One-Liner: After he breaks Dippy Fresh's neck by stabbing him with Excalibur and turning his head in a perfect circle, Dipper says "Must've been dark times, those 90s."
- Book Ends: Both the first (minus the prologue) and last chapters begin & end with a party at the Mystery Shack followed by the Soul Eater characters on a bus.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Kishin Cipher does this to Preston Northwest, Grunkle Stan & Soul, turning them into members of his Four Madnesses
- Breather Episode: Three out of the four arcs feature one.
- The Black Blood arc has one centering on Crona having a fun day out with Mabel & Soos while Dipper, Ford, Stein, Spirit, Kid & Soul solve the mystery of Kishin Cipher brought up last chapter.
- The Quest for the Northwest arc has the aptly titled "The Excalibur Filler" which centers on the Stan Twins, Kid, the Thompsons and Wendy meeting the titular Holy Sword. They even make the Excalibur face at the end.
- And finally the second chapter of the Weirdmageddon arc shows the heroes taking refuge in Death City after escaping the titular apocalypse.
- Call-Back: Numerous to both series.
- The story opens on the respective defeats of Bill & Asura before they encounter one another in dimensional limbo.
- When Black Star nearly drowns after attempting to walk on water as part of Stan daring him to prove he's the man who'll transcend God, Wendy pulls him out of the water and makes Dipper perform CPR on him, complete with Mabel taking a picture and exclaiming "More blackmail!"
- The anomaly Ford detected in the Arctic turns out to be the Time Baby. Dipper would later mention him and when he's met with Soul & Ford staring at him, he clarifies that it involved Soos's birthday.
- Stan once again offers Stancakes for breakfast and Dipper & Soul pass on them.
- Fake IDs are used to get into the Skull Fracture.
- Stan's mind is revisited and it's also confirmed he's still suffering the effects of his Laser-Guided Amnesia from Weirdmageddon.
- During Bill's flashback, Crona is shown talking to his shadow before it's suddenly replaced with Bill.
- Patty comes across the memory of Stan playing with his stomach and quickly shuts it, declaring "Well, I know what I'm putting in my eyes tonight!"
- Ford, Maka & Crona come across the memory of Stan being kicked out by his father, which proves to be a Trauma Button for Crona because of his own Abusive Parent.
- Cliffhanger: After saving Grunkle Stan, Soul and Preston Northwest from Kishin Cipher's control, the heroes watch as the monster potentially kills everyone in the Mystery Shack by destroying it with the Death City robot.
- Earlier in the story after the Quest for the Northwest arc, Kishin Cipher unleashes Weirdmageddon.
- Commonality Connection: This is the reason why Bill wanted to team up with Asura in the first place, citing both of them being children-hating evil-doers with supernatural eyes.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Chapter 12 opens with Kishin Cipher taking out Justin Law and adding him to his throne.
- Deal with the Devil: Par for the course, Bill Cipher.
- In the prologue chapter "Of Weirdness and Madness", he makes one with Asura that fuses them into Kishin Cipher.
- As revealed in "The Stans Head to Shore, Return of an Old Foe?", he also made one with Medusa Gorgon influencing Crona into becoming evil.
- Ditto for Preston Northwest, which leads him to become the Madness of Sloth.
- And also Eruka Frog to make her, Free and Mizune his minions.
- Delayed Reaction: This line from McGucket in the bunker.McGucket: Weird alien thing? Hey, I think he's talkin' 'bout Shifty! Oh no, I think he's talkin' 'bout Shifty!
- Demonic Possession: It's revealed that some of Bill's essence is locked in Stan's mind, giving him the opportunity to do this.
- Despair Event Horizon: Ford and Maka hit this pretty hard after Stan & Soul become Kishin Cipher's new Horsemen.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Ford hangs out with Spirit & Stein at Chupa-Cabra's, which leads to this.
- Foreshadowing: Soul asks Stan to read an oddly specific horoscope in "I Dream of A Little Ogre" which says "You will be forced against their will to fight for a being of greater power." that they laugh off. Little did they know is that the horoscope was right on the money.
- Dipper says that he'd like to have a sword as his own Demon Weapon, and later on he would become the Meister of Excalibur.
- In the second chapter, Asura comments that he and Bill are almost like twin brothers due to how much they have in common. Then it's revealed he actually has a brother: Death the Kid.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: For the kids, Dipper is Melancholic, Mabel is Sanguine, Maka is Choleric and Soul is Phlegmatic.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Dipper is The Cynic, Mabel is The Optimist, Maka is The Realist and Soul is The Apathetic.
- Fusion Dance: Kishin Cipher is born due to Bill & Asura attempted to possess one another.
- Genie in a Bottle: Dipper suggests rubbing Eibon's key when they find it in the Secret Vault, but Liz says that it's not a magic lamp.
- Gratuitous Japanese: At times, like Stein calling Spirit senpai when first arriving in Gravity Falls.
- Heel–Face Turn: Eruka, Free & the Mizunes join forces with the Mystery Meisters to stop Kishin Cipher and decide to stay in Gravity Falls when the others leave for Death City.
- History Repeats:
- Stan and Ford are separated again, only this time Ford is left behind in a cruel twist of Irony.
- Hidden secrets nearly tear families apart.
- Hidden Depths: Mabel is pretty well-versed in Greek mythology through repeated viewings of Hercules.
- Idiot Crows: One shows up in "Escape to Death City" near the dispensary in the aftermath of Ford's meltdown in Class Crescent Moon.
- It Has Been an Honor: Djinn's last words are this before he is petrified by the Eyebats.
- I Lied: Stein appears to give Kishin Cipher Bill's essence before smashing it in his hands.
- Laxative Prank: When Stan & Black Star challenge each other to an eating contest, Stan spikes his opponent's hot dogs with the drug, only for Black Star to reveal he did the exact same thing to Stan. Naturally, this leads to them both having a Potty Emergency so huge that the entire mall is flooded with toilet paper.
- Legion of Doom: Kishin Cipher begins to form one out of his own servants and later other villains from Gravity Falls & Soul Eater as well, such as Mosquito, Giriko, Arachne and the Shapeshifter.
- Loss of Identity: It turns out that over time, Asura's soul was slowly absorbed into Bill Cipher.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Two counts of this.
- When Kishin Cipher reawakens after spending the entire "Quest for the Northwest" arc recharging, the first thing he does is scream in Dipper & Eruka's faces, who then scream back. But then his screams turn into an Evil Laugh, complimenting their screaming.
- A flashback to a fight between Bill and Lord Death shows the former looking at a stopwatch after nearly attempting to incinerate the latter.
- Mythology Gag: Various elements from both the Soul Eater manga and supplementary material of Gravity Falls are implemented here.
- Like in the manga, Asura & Kid are brothers created by Lord Death out of bits of himself. He's been keeping it a secret from everyone with the exception of his Death Scythes, Sid Barrett, Stein, Excalibur, Joe Buttakaki and Eibon.
- Ford still doesn't know what a silver fox is.
- Soul has a brother and his family are renowned musicians.
- Bill shows Crona part of the manga's ending (particularly his battle with Asura & Noah) in the flashback before he reveals that Maka averted that ending when she punched the Kishin.
- Pacifica mentions being an avid player of Bloodcraft: Overdeath, which explains how she's suddenly so good with firearms.
- The final scene of Maka smiling after looking at the group photo while on the bus back to Death City is literally lifted from the end of Weirdmageddon 3.
- Odd Friendship: Quite a few.
- Official Couple: Maka and Soul become this at the climax of chapter 13.
- Oh, Crap!: During Bill's possession of Stan, even he finds himself afraid of Stein when he administers a knock-out serum into his veins to make him fall asleep, which is appropriately named "Lullaby."
- Only Sane Man: Out of all the main characters, Dipper, Ford, Maka, Wendy, Tsubaki, Liz and Pacifica are this.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The normally playful Blair tries to get serious with Ford during his Heroic BSoD.
- In the following chapter, Soos's normally pleasant demeanor vanished before Dipper's "The Reason You Suck" Speech and even drops a "Holy shit" in the aftermath.
- Rescue Arc: The Quest for the Northwest arc is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, the heroes journeying to save Pacifica.
- Running Gag: Ford getting embarrassed whenever Blair would walk around half-naked.
- For the Welcome to Gravity Falls arc, people trying to guess Crona's gender.
- Secret-Keeper: When Ford learns the full history of Lord Death's family, he agrees to keep it a secret from the others. And he's not the only one to learn it either, as the Death Scythes and DWMA faculty know too.
- Sequelitis: Apparently this has befallen the Grandpa the Kid films where the title character has a grandson now.
- Seven Deadly Sins: The four Madnesses have this theme going for them.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: The Stans each get their own, Stan with Black Star and Ford with Azusa Yumi.
- Shout-Out:
- Among the adventures Stan & Ford had was in San Lorenzo where they met the Green-Eyed People.
- Mabel & Patty bond over a shared love of My Miniature Equine.
- Crona shows a love for waffles.
- Bill's Motor Mouth farewells contain such lines as "WE ALL FLOAT DOWN HERE!", "ALWAYS TAKE THE SHOT!" and "NOBODY EXISTS ON PURPOSE, NOBODY BELONGS ANYWHERE, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!". He also says "Strike that, reverse it. Thank you."
- Stan eats some garmonbozia, while also claiming it tastes like the pain and sorrow of working in a canned food factory. Soul refers to the Black Room as "a dark room that looked like it came out of one of those old mystery shows from the 90s."
- The security guard that interrupts Stan & Black Star's fight by tasing them is described as "plump with a mustache."
- Kishin Cipher convinces Preston to make a deal with him by saying "Shake my hand. Come on boy, won't you shake a poor sinner's hand?"
- Black Star screams "LOOK HOW LOUD I CAN YELL!" in the Northwests' home, bringing to mind a similar moment from an episode of The Simpsons.
- Cheetah Chug is mentioned by Black Star.
- The Madness of Sloth is described as something out of a mid 19th century French novel.
- The title of the "Quest for the Northwest" arc is taken from Gravity Falls: Deep Woods, which Word of God admits to.
- When discussing hand signals in "In Search of Pacifica", Spirit does one that Stan claims translates to "I can see your underwear." Maka even says "Good grief."
- Stan calls one of the fairies inhabiting Excalibur's cave Crysta.
- During Dipper, Ford & Maka's Rousing Speech in "To McGucket Mansion We Go", the latter quotes Captain Jean-Luc Picard by saying "The line must be drawn here, this far! No further!" Worf is also quoted by Ford through him saying "Then perhaps today is a good day to die."
- Speaking of Picard, Ford asks for his typical drink of "tea, Earl Grey, hot." in one of Excalibur's provisions.
- At some point, Stan stole the Klopman Diamond from a temple in Argentina with help from a trio of singing bird spirits, bringing particular attention to a duck in a sailor suit that reminded him of Ford.
- When Mabel pretends to have been cast out from her family, she states that the master of the mansion should be a billionaire who lives a double life as a nocturnal animal-themed crimefighter with gadgets, a secret cave and tons of mental issues.
- When Pacifica is Brainwashed and Crazy by Medusa, she wears a helmet similar to Lucy.
- Ford tries to find Bill's weakness in Journal 3, only to discover it's been replaced with a cookbook, reading a recipe about mushroom omelette. Black Star & Liz react appropriately.
- Among the monsters released from the Nightmare Realm are a large humanoid vulture creature making a whimpering noise, a dark blue android with a green symbol on its chest & red fins on its head, a bipedal jackal wearing a silver mask and a muscular beast with flaming facial hair & a burn scar over its left eye. There is also a group of bouncing demon bears, complete with Soos quoting the theme song.
- Patty states she wishes she brought a flame-shooting guitar to the apocalypse when first entering the bunker.
- When Marie claims she's so desperate for a husband that she might as well marry a toilet, Dipper suggests perhaps marrying a plumber that doesn't wear a tie or beat up evil turtles.
- During Ford's drunken rambling, he calls Stein Karloff, dumps out various currencies such as zeni, Beli, Woolongs, Bison dollars, bits, bells, gold rings, gil, munny, rupees, bolts, lien, schmeckles & bottle caps, mourns the loss of a dog named Dogmeat that he met in a post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with giant cockroaches and finally, this:
Stein: Are you okay there Stanford? You're slobbering all over the floor.- When Dipper & company come across Eibon's key, Black Star thinks that it could open the door to the heart of all worlds & slay evil shadow creatures.
- When Ford reawakens in a bathtub with Blair, he mutters "N-no wire h-hangers, ever."
- Kid and McGucket channel a certain odd couple regarding spaghetti and linguini.
- Mabel, Black Star & Patty sing Quit Playing Games with my Head.
- A particularly unlucky member of the DWMA CIA named Gavin tries to use the universal greeting on the android who then assaults him and lets him be added to the throne.
- At some point after Chapter 10, Free adopted a pterodactyl that he names Princess Buttercup.
- In yet another one to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Djinn Galland's genie form that he uses in his Soul Resonance with Zubaidah shouts "ORA!" when punching Kishin Cipher's minions.
- In regards to the new combat outfits introduced in Chapter 12, Dipper's is based on Strider Hiryu, Mabel's on Ruby Rose, Wendy's on Aqua, Ford's on Joseph Joestar with elements of Jotaro Kujo's Diamond is Unbreakable design, Soos on Usopp, Pacifica's on Weiss Schnee & Elizabeth Liones, Gideon's on Goten and McGucket's on Tsuyu Asui.
- Mabel is offered a bowl of jelly babies during her dream sequence. As in literal babies made out of jelly.
- A pair of Kishin Cipher clones channel Statler and Waldorf in a theater.
- An alternate version of Mabel appears to be a love letter to The Twilight Zone (1959).
- Anti-Mabel's Kishin form is this to Magane Chikujoin, especially in the sharp teeth and skinnier body.
- At the conclusion of the dream sequence, Kishin Cipher imitates Rodney Dangerfield and his habit of pulling on his tie in response to a rather risque comment by Anti-Mabel.
- The below Wham Line is pretty much lifted from the Bojack Horseman episode "The Telescope."
Dipper: I don't forgive you.- The ice cream beach has cartoon dogs flying over it with their arms spread out over a sea of orange juice.
- Dipper telling Death to bring in everyone to help out is lifted straight from The Professional and Megas XLR.
- The codenames and flashy outfits of Mabel's rescue team may be a reference to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
- Upon comparing the Shacktron to the Death City robot, Azusa proclaims "Coincidence, I think not."
- The monster with eighty-eight different faces grows a handsome turquoise colored eighty-ninth one.
- 8-Ball toasts to the death of Keyhole by drinking a glass and tossing away the time punch which causes it to explode.
- The mindscape containing three of the Four Madnesses is very similar to the Dive to the Heart, stained glass portraits, Ominous Latin Chanting and all.
- The Northwests' ancestors appear in a similar way to the past Avatars after Preston is rescued.
- Kishin Cipher refers to the Mystery Meisters as "meddling kids and their stupid chaperones."
- Spot the Imposter: When the Shapeshifter takes the form of Liz in Weirdmageddon Take Two, Kid is able to identify which is which pretty easily by stating that the real Liz isn't nearly as stacked as Patty.
- Student–Master Team: Dipper and Tsubaki become this during the Weirdmageddon arc when Tsubaki trains Dipper on becoming a swordsman.
- Take That!: A Logan Paul Expy shows up to film the fight between Grunkle Stan and Black Star in Chapter 3, only to get tossed aside by Black Star.
- The Kishin Ciphers threatening to cyberbully Mabel into changing her mind about the movie before one of them claims she might've been paid into criticizing it may be this to the DC Extended Universe fanbase claiming that Marvel Studios does this to Rotten Tomatoes.
- Team Dad: Stan, Ford, Spirit and Stein.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kishin Cipher gives one to Mabel in the form of an entire B-movie recapping the ending of Dipper & Mabel vs the Future.
- The Stinger: Two in fact at the end of the final chapter. Bill Cipher and Medusa are still alive inside Crona somehow, and Noah & Gopher find the journals.
- Villain Respect: Kishin Cipher actually praises Justin for nearly succeeding in killing him before making him a part of his throne.
- Villain Song: The Rescue Arc ends with Kishin Cipher performing "It's Gonna Get Weird" as he unleashes Weirdmageddon.
- Waxing Lyrical: Dipper and Tsubaki quote "Do It for Him" during their training scene.
- Later in the Weirdmageddon arc, the resistance start quoting the theme song to Megas XLR when the Death City Robot arrives.
- Wham Episode:
- The second chapter reveals that Bill once made a deal with Medusa to turn Crona into a killing machine.
- The final chapter of the second arc, titled "Madness of Sloth, The First Horseman of the Apocalypse", features Preston Northwest being transformed into the titular beast and kidnapping both his daughter & wife, leading into the next arc.
- The next chapter after that shows Medusa apparently Back from the Dead and transformed into the Madness of Wrath.
- The entire final chapter of the Quest for the Northwest arc features Pacifica being brainwashed by Medusa, Stan & Soul sacrificing themselves to save the others & becoming Kishin Cipher's new minions in the process AND the return of Weirdmageddon.
- The second chapter of the Weirdmageddon arc shows the return of Eibon and further elaboration on Death's history with Bill & Asura.
- Wham Shot:
- What does a seemingly innocent chapter like "Crona & Soos" decide to end on? The return of the Little Ogre.
- The climax of "To McGucket Mansion We Go" reveals that when Kishin Cipher made his base of operations in the former Northwest Mansion, he also placed a portal to the Nightmare Realm behind the family portrait.
- Wham Line:
- From the end of the "Quest for the Northwest" arc:
Kishin Cipher: Tsk tsk tsk. Stupid little brother.- There is also this line by Excalibur:
Excalibur: Mason Pines, please step forward.- When Mabel is forced to reveal the true circumstances behind the start of Weirdmageddon, Dipper states that it's fine before he says this. It doubles as a reference to Bojack Horseman.
Dipper: I don't forgive you.