History Recap / GravityFallsS2E12ATaleOfTwoStans

* ArtisticLicenseUniversityAdmissions: Stanford's admission to West Coast Tech hinges entirely on a single science fair project which he presents personally to an admissions officer. When the showpiece of the project doesn't work as planned, the officer rejects the student immediately without looking at any of the student's documentation of his work or giving him a chance to explain what's wrong. Apparently, Ford must have seriously intended to follow through with Stan's plan to sail after highschool, because how else could you explain how an academic prodigy and a lover of science, apparently hadn't even considered college prior to being told about it so close to graduation.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: During Stan and Ford's final argument before the latter is sent into an alternate universe. Stan angrily accuses Ford of “selfishly hoarding” his grant money rather than helping out Stan or their parents. However, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome that’s not how grant money works, and Ford’s expenditures would’ve been]] ''[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome very]]'' [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome closely monitored so as to make sure that they didn’t get abused in any such way]]. Of course, Stan couldn’t be expected to know that as a high school dropout, and it makes sense that if he (albeit incorrectly) thought that Ford just refused to help him despite being able to, then that would further contribute to his resentment.

* AmbiguousSituation: The episode doesn't make it clear if Dipper and Mabel overheard the conversation between their uncles at the end of the episode, where at the end of the summer their Grunkle Stan is going to lose the Mystery Shack and be kicked out. Mabel says she overheard getting "puppies made of ice cream" but admits it might be "wishful thinking". A conversation in the next episode confirms that Dipper didn’t know, but it’s never revealed if Mabel either also didn’t know or does know but chose not to tell her brother.
** It’s not revealed if Ford and their parents knew that Stan was right outside the principal’s office and thus heard everything they were saying.

** Stan’s interest in the SadClown portrait from "The Hand That Rocks The Mabel" falls into CerebusRetcon for two reasons: Stan had overheard his principal ''actually call him a clown'' and hammered down with BrutalHonesty about Stan's bleak future, and Stan’s spontaneous dark response about life in the "Bottomless Pit!" short, "Trooth Ache," happened while he, Dipper, and Mabel was watching a ''[[TrollingCreator certain someone]]'' juggling and riding a unicycle on the television. Although Stan doesn't admit it, it's safe to assume that he liked the portrait because he relates to it—he feels as if ''he's the SadClown.''

** Stan also gets one as he settles into town and builds up The Mystery Shack. However, it’s more somber as he’s also working to save Ford.

** Posters for BlandNameProduct versions of ''Film/InvasionOfTheSaucerMen'' and ''{{Film/Mothra}}'' appear in the Pine twins' bedroom in the 1960's, along with a ''{{Magazine/MAD}}''-like periodical, "WUH?", on Stan's bunk.

--->'''Ford''': Wait, you took ''my'' name?!

--->'''Fiddleford''': [[VaguenessIsComing When Gravity Falls and earth becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye...]]

--->'''Stan''' (to Ford about the twins): They're your family, Poindexter. Shermie's grandkids.

* AmbiguousSituation: The episode doesn't make it clear if Dipper and Mabel overheard the conversation between their uncles at the end of the episode, where at the end of the summer their Grunkle Stan is going to lose the Mystery Shack and be kicked out. Mabel says she overheard getting "ice cream puppies" but admits it might be "wishful thinking". A conversation in the next episode confirms that Dipper didn’t know, but it’s never revealed if Mabel either also didn’t know or does know but chose not to tell her brother.

** In this episode, we learn that Dipper and Mabel's grandfather is Shermy (possibly Sherman) Pines, the younger brother of the Brothers Stan. However, when he's introduced, he's a baby in the arms of his mother, while his brothers were just about to graduate high school. This means that Shermy had to be at least 15 years younger than them. Assuming that the Stans (or, Stanford, at least) graduated when they were 18 (the average age of graduation in America), they would've been around 28 when the 'incident' happened, and 58 in the summer of 2012. That would make Shermy anywhere from 40-43, which is extremely unlikely for a grandfather of two 12-year olds. Some fans speculate that Shermy ''isn't'' the baby, but an unseen older sibling, and that the baby could even be one of the twins' parents.

** Stan and Ford used to be a lot closer until that one science fair when Stan destroyed Ford's project.

** When Ford is considering the alternate universes, the screen pans around his study. Here one can see [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros a giant spiked turtle shell next to some mushrooms]].

-->'''Ford:''' (narrating) I was in over my head and feared I was losing my sanity.

* SanitySlippage: We see how [=McGucket=] lost it, having witnessed something disturbing on the other side of the portal. Ford himself became paranoid after [=McGucket=] walked out, and he began hearing [[BlackSpeech strange voices]].

* MatchCut: A map of the United States where Ford has marked paranormal anomalies is followed by another map where Stan has crossed off the states where he's been banned from.

Continuing from the previous episode, the Author of the Journals has appeared from the Universe Portal-- and is revealed to be Stan's long-lost twin brother. Stan warmly greets his brother, but gets a punch to the jaw in return. The Author is furious that Stan used the portal, citing the destruction it could cause. Stan is in turn upset that he's not being thanked for saving his brother, to which the Author brings up a past incident 30 years prior. The fighting is interrupted by Mabel, who speaks on behalf of herself, Dipper and Soos (and the audience): "What the heck is going on!?" Stan introduces the Author to his niece and nephew ("Shermy's grandkids"). Dipper is stunned that he's finally meeting the Author of the Journals. While the Author would love to get to know his new family, he wants to know if anyone else knows about the portal. Stan admits that perhaps the entire US government might know, as Agents Powers and Trigger search the surface for the Pines family. The twins and Soos demand answers from Stan. The Author would also like to know what Stanley has gotten himself into, but wait--isn't the first Grunkle's name Stanford? "Wait, you took ''my'' name!? What have you been doing all these years you knuckledhead?!" The Author, who reveals to be the real Stanford, cries angrily. With nowhere to go, Stan explains:

Stanley and Stanford Pines grew up on Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. The two were best friends, but very different--Stanford was a genius with a love of weird things, while Stanley was a goofball who frequently got into trouble, getting through school by cribbing his brother's notes. One day in high school, the principal told the Pines family that Stanford's latest science fair project could get him into West Coast Tech, a first-rate college where Stanford's brains could make him, and the rest of the family, rich. Stanley, on the other hand, was unlikely to even graduate from high school. While Stanley was still set on their childhood dream of sailing and treasure-hunting, Stanford was genuinely interested in West Coast Tech. Dismayed that he was going to be separated from his brother, Stanley found himself fuming in the school gym where the projects were kept. In a fit of rage he punched the table were Stanford's project was, damaging it. While he tried to fix it, by the time the admissions team from West Coast Tech arrived, the machine was broken, ruining Stanford's chance of enrollment. Stanford confronted his brother and accused him of purposely sabotaging his project to keep him from leaving. Hearing what had happened, the brothers' father threw Stanley out, telling him not to come back until he could prove he could make something of himself. After a false start with treasure hunting ("Apparently, gold is some kind of ''rare'' metal.") Stanley got into sales. However, his shoddily made products and self-enforced no-refunds policy forced him on the run. To keep ahead of the law, Stanley was forced to change his name multiple times.

Stanford, meanwhile, enrolled in second-tier college Backupsmore University. Through hard work, he earned his [=PhD=] years in advance, along with a huge research grant. Inspired by his six-fingered hands, Stanford decided to study anomalies, and went to a place with the highest concentration of anomalies--Gravity Falls, Oregon. He catalogued his findings in a trilogy of Journals. Despite his studies, the question of what caused the anomalies remained unanswered. Stanford determined that there might be a dimension of weirdness leaking into the Earth's, and decided to discover it. Enlisting the aid of his college friend Fiddleford [=McGucket=], the two of them created the Universe Portal to help investigate this other dimension. During the first test, [=McGucket=] was almost pulled in. Babbling gibberish and a prophecy about a "Beast with just one eye" when rescued, once [=McGucket=] regained his senses he implored Stanford to dismantle the Portal, as it could destroy the world. When Stanford refused to give up, [=McGucket=] left the project to forget what he had seen. Stanford tried to continue his research, but soon realized that he was in over his head. Unsure of who to trust, he decided to call upon the one person he thought he could depend on; his long-estranged brother.

When Stanley arrived in Gravity Falls, Stanford was unhinged with paranoia. Stanford showed Stanley the Universe Portal and explained its purpose, and how the only way to operate it was kept in his Journals. 2 and 3 were already hidden, and Stanford wanted Stanley to have 1. Or rather, to hide 1 somewhere far away so no one could find it. Stanley was outraged that after their long separation, all Stanford wanted of him was to go even further away, and decided to burn the remaining Journal. Stanford didn't want his research to be lost ''that'' completely, and a scuffle for the book ensued. Their brawling spilled into the Portal's control room, causing the Portal to activate. When Stanley shoved Stanford away, Stanford was pulled completely through the Portal, which then ran out of power. Horrified at what he had done, Stanley tried to reactivate the Portal, but could only do so much with just Journal 1. When he went out for food, the locals mistook him for his brother, "The mysterious science guy." When they expressed an interest- a paying interest- in what was in the shack, Stanley came up with a plan. He couldn't leave Gravity Falls without saving his brother, but needed to make ends meet in the meantime, so he began giving tours of his brother's lab, eventually turning the house into the Mystery Shack. To complete the deception, he faked his own death by car crash. Every night since then, he would tinker with the Portal, trying to bring the real Stanford Pines back.

* AbusiveParents: Stan and Ford's father, Filbrick. He disowned Stan (who was still old enough to be in ''high school'') after he accidentally ruined Ford's chances of going to a good college, and he didn't even do so because it crushed Ford's dreams but because to him Ford was the family's "ticket" out of New Jersey and he would make the family "millions". The episode's cypher reveals that he never even planned on having twin children in the first place, and basically called them both a variant of 'Stan' out of sheer disinterest.

** It's left unclear if Stan's angry outburst genuinely damaged Ford's invention enough to cause it's breakdown, or if it was always unstable enough to break from the strain when in motion. Stanley put everything back as it was before and even if it was damaged from his indirect blow, something so delicate would have been unlikely to withstand the forces involved in enacting perpetual motion. If true, Stan was kicked out of his family for something that was not actually his fault in the end.

* ArtisticLicenseUniversityAdmissions: Stanford's admission to West Coast Tech hinges entirely on a single science fair project which he presents personally to an admissions officer. When the showpiece of the project doesn't work as planned, the officer rejects the student immediately without looking at any of the student's documentation of his work or giving him a chance to explain what's wrong. Apparently Ford must have seriously intending to follow through with Stan's plan to sail after highschool, because how else could you explain how an academic prodigy and a lover of science, apparently hadn't even considered college prior to being told about it so close to graduation.
* TheAtoner: Stanley Pines, after a [[IncrediblyLamePun heated]] argument with his brother. He spends days, maybe weeks in isolation, then spent 30 years trying to find a way to get his brother back.

** Dipper is the theorists who are losing their minds about finally discovering the Author, and want everything there is to know about him.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Stanford and Stanley get into what is effectively an argument over whose situation is worse. Stan has had it rough with his constant poverty and frequent run ins with the law, but most of those were due to his own attempts to scam and con people. Ford has become a paranoid recluse from his dealings with the supernatural, but he actively sought out those supernatural beings of his own volition. So both sides have legitimate grievances, but also reasons to dismiss the other side's problems.

*** And, he also winds up spouting "YROO XRKSVI GIRZMTOV" (albeit backwards), just like in one of his memories from "Society of the Blind Eye"...

** Remember when Stan was in Colombian prison? And that joke from the Gravity Falls Gossiper podcast that said he was in Gravity Falls because it was the only place the police didn't know where he was? It's now revealed that he engaged in a lot of illegal activities that got him put in jail three times, and he managed to break out every time. Even the line where he says the two convicts are the best friends he could have had is harsher in hindsight now, considering TheReveal of his FriendlessBackground.

** Averted with the two Stans, who can't let go of their bad blood - well, Ford can't; Stan really wanted to reconcile with his twin, but seems to have given up by the end of the episode. Ford fully intends on throwing Stan out of the house at the end of the summer.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Ford is completely out of touch with everything since he was stuck in AnotherDimension for the last 30 years, even asking the federal agents for their "floppy disks and 8-tracks" during his BavarianFireDrill (Agent Powers hands him [[TechnologyMarchesOn a single flash drive)]].

** Stan's desire for money is because his family threw him out after he accidentally destroyed Ford's perpetual motion machine and cost him the chance to go to his choice college, and told him that he had to make up the money Ford would have made that he lost.

** When they were kids Stan was a goof-off like Mabel, though he wasn't a GenkiGirl like her, and Ford was more like Dipper in his interest in the supernatural.

** Being an actual genius, Ford has several moments such as the very beginning with telling off Stan with how much damage the portal could have done, and is pretty much committing identity theft by using his name. It's also implied that one reason for his order to hide the journal is because after everything he's learned, Stan could be in danger if he stays by him long enough.

* {{Joisey}}: Very much in play during the flashbacks, showing Glass Shard Beach to be rife with scam artists and get-rich-quick schemers (both Filbrick Pines and his wife, and later, Stan), industrial contamination (the "Lead Paint district" of town) and aggressive anti-intellectualism (their own State Science Fair slogan mocks the participants). Filbrick even mentions that one of his end goals in getting rich was to be able to leave the state for good.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Young Stan gets splinters in the opening, but isn't remotely fazed.

** Invoked when Stan says that in Dipper's shoes he wouldn't have believed Stan either, given all the evidence accrued against him in the previous episode.

** When Stanley learns that Stanford simply got in contact with him in order to get him to dispose of the journal, he loses his cool. Ford in turn pulls the 'you cost me my dream college' accusation, but considering that Stan has spent the last ten years living a life of poverty and crime while Ford lived in relative comfort, this comes across as a bit petty.

* SelfMadeMan: Despite not being able to get into an impressive school, Ford was still able to work his way to a [=PhD=] and a research grant. Stan himself started with nothing, but was able to turn his brother's lab into a successful tourist trap, while the portal and the journals stayed safely hidden underground.

* TooStrangeToShow: Implied to be what [=McGucket=] saw when he was drawn into the Universe Portal. Not only is he shocked and traumatized by what he sees, but when he tries to answer Ford's question about ''what'' he saw, he speaks '''''[[SwardkcabSpeech backwards]]''''' at first!

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Punch in this case; Ford delivers one to Stan after the latter greets him as "brother".

* WritersCannotDoMath: In this episode, we learn that Dipper and Mabel's grandfather is Shermy (possibly Sherman) Pines, the younger brother of the Brothers Stan. However, when he's introduced, he's a baby in the arms of his mother, while his brothers were just about to graduate high school. This means that Shermy had to be at least 15 years younger than them. Assuming that the Stans (or, Stanford, at least) graduated when they were 18 (the average age of graduation in America), they would've been around 28 when the 'incident' happened, and 58 in the summer of 2012. That would make Shermy anywhere from 40-43, which is extremely unlikely for a grandfather of two 12-year olds. Some fans speculate that Shermy ''isn't'' the baby, but an unseen older sibling, and that the baby could even be one of the twins' parents.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Ford (and, to a lesser extent, Stan) both can't seem but to leave a series of ruined lives around them wherever they go. Most obvious is Ford accidentally having [=McGucket=] {{Go Mad From The Revelation}}, but Stan also gets Lazy Susan's left eyelid ruined and scams countless people over the decades before he settles down in Gravity Falls (and even then, he just continues scamming, albeit now more focused on just tourists than before).

* WhatTheHellHero: Stan gives this a lot to his brother Ford, and he receives a lot of it in turn from both his brother and Dipper and Mabel. The difference between him and his twin is that Stan admitted that he did wrong, wh
* WhenDimensionsCollide: Ford believed that a "dimension of weirdness" was bleeding into our world in the vicinity of Gravity Falls, and set out to prove it.ile Ford brushes it off.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: When Stan received Ford's postcard, he also owed money to somebody named Rico. It's never revealed if Stan paid him or the story behind that.
** The fates of Filbrick and Caryn Pines aren't known after Stan gets kicked out.

--->'''Ford''': You took ''my'' name?!

--->'''Stan''' (to Ford about the twins): They're your family, genius. Shermie's grandkids.

* WhatTheHellHero: Stan gives this a lot to his brother Ford, and he receives a lot of it in turn from both his brother and Dipper and Mabel. The difference between him and his twin is that Stan admitted that he did wrong, while Ford brushes it off.

* WhenDimensionsCollide: Ford believed that a "dimension of weirdness" was bleeding into our world in the vicinity of Gravity Falls, and set out to prove it.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Now that Stan's brother is back, he naturally wants his house and identity back from Stanley. At the same time, Ford doesn't throw Stan out on his ear because Stan has two kids he's taking care of and he will need time to find another home and occupation.

* ChekhovsGun: Ford weaponizes the memory-erasing ray from Society from the Blind Eye to cause mass amnesia in the federal agents.

* AbusiveParents: Stan and Ford's father, Filbrick. He disowned Stan (who was still old enough to be in ''high school'') after he accidentally ruined Ford's chances of going to a good college, and he didn't even do so because it crushed Ford's dreams but because to him Ford was the family's "ticket" out of New Jersey and he would make the family "millions".

* ChekhovsGag: Ford weaponizes the memory-erasing ray from Society from the Blind Eye to cause mass amnesia in the federal agents.

* AdultFear:
** One mistake can cause your whole family to disown you. And not being able to make ends meet on your own.
** Two siblings growing up to be bitter and hateful toward each other. Mabel herself lies awake at night at the end of the episode thinking this could end up happening to her and Dipper.
** Stan wants his brother to stay away from the twins because he's worried that his brother's supernatural explorations may endanger them.

* FakingTheDead: Grunkle Stan kills his real identity so no one will come looking for him while he's Stanford.

* {{Retcon}}: Younger Stan looks noticeably different than he does in ''[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E19Dreamscaperers Dreamscaperers.]]'' Hirsch has stated that, since he prefers the designs in this episode, he now considers them to be the official ones, and even said this trope by name in reference to the status of the old ones.
* RuleOfCool: According to the commentary, the reason why younger Stan looks different than in ''Dreamscaperers'' is because the new designs they drew looked better.

** The [[https://gravityfalls.fandom.com/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Stans/Gallery?file=S2e12_PINES_PAWNS.jpg establishing shot]] of "Pine's Pawns" in beach town in New Jersey is very reminiscent of the establishing shots of the titular restaurant from [[WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers Bob's Burgers]], which also takes place in a beach town in (probably) New Jersey.

* TheAtoner: Stanley Pines, after a [[IncrediblyLamePun heated]] argument with his brother. He spends days, maybe weeks in isolation, then spent 30 years trying to find a way to get his brother back.
* TheUnreveal: Before Ford can reveal the mysteries of Gravity Falls to Dipper, Stan interferes and sends the kids to bed.

** The Shapeshifter was only a baby when Ford found it. It's suspected that Ford's experiments messed with its mind...

** Stan and Ford used to be a lot closer until that one Science Fair when Stan destroyed Ford’s project.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: When Stan received Ford’s postcard, he also owed money to somebody named Rico. It’s never revealed if Stan paid him or the story behind that.
** The fates of Filbrick and Caryn Pines aren’t known after Stan gets kicked out.

** It's implied he started experimenting on the Shapeshifter ''right after it hatched.'' Makes one wonder if BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil comes into play . . .

* BrutalHonesty: The principal of Stan's highschool bluntly tells his parents that while Stanford could be rich and successful, Stanley is an idiot who is likely never to graduate, or leave New Jersey, loud enough that Stan can hear him through the door.