Recap / Gravity Falls - Mabel's Guide to Life

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Mabel's Guide to Life

The second series of Gravity Falls shorts, which began airing on February 3rd, 2014. They center on Mabel and her educational videos on various aspects of her life. And they are:

• #1: Mabel's Guide to Dating (aired on February 3rd)
  • Mabel presents her views on dating and tests a dating quiz on Gravity Falls' three most eligible bachelors - Dipper, Soos and Grunkle Stan.
• #2: Mabel's Guide to Stickers (aired on February 4th)
  • Mabel educates viewers on her unique view on the history of stickers and their various types.
• #3: Mabel's Guide to Fashion (aired on February 5th)
  • Mabel reveals her fashion secrets and tests her flash makeovers on the citizens of Gravity Falls.
• #4: Mabel's Guide to Colors (aired on February 6th)
  • Mabel interviews Gravity Falls on their favorite colors, but then declares a color emergency when she finds out Grunkle Stan has never seen a rainbow.
• #5: Mabel's Guide to Art (aired on February 6th)
  • Mabel explores the world of art and attempts to catalyze the next art movement: "Caticatures"!

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Tropes present in these shorts:

• Absurdly Bright Light: Rainbow light refracted from a waterfall definitely should not be able to blind Grunkle Stan and set fire to his office. But then again…
  • Also the weirdly illuminating sky blue of the Mystery Shack's toilet.
    Soos: I'm in that one!
    Mabel: Yes you are, Soos.
• Actually Quite Catchy: In "Fashion", Stan is heard singing the "Stan Wrong Song" from "Boss Mabel" while shaving, apparently having grown fond of the catchy song.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: Grunkle Stan’s reaction to his flash makeover in "Mabel’s Guide To Fashion":
  Stan: I’d be pretty mad at you girls....if I didn’t look so fantastic!
• Be Yourself: Mabel's advice to Dipper after scoring his dating quiz.
• Blinded by the Light: Grunkle Stan after seeing Mabel's rainbow.
• Big "YES!": Grunkle Stan gives this upon hearing his score on Mabel’s dating quiz.
• Bumper Sticker: Mabel has a whole collection.
• Broke the Rating Scale: On the dating quiz, which has a scale of one to five, Soos somehow gets a twelve.
  Soos: My grandmother was right all along. I am the world's most perfect man!
• Captain Obvious: Stan in "Guide to Colors".
  Stan: Nothing brightens up a dark room like light from a window!
• Cardboard Pal: Zach.
• Continuity Nod: Grunkle Stan can be heard singing his apology song in "Mabel's Guide to Fashion".
• Couch Gag: The title sequence is different every time.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: What Mabel thinks will happen when Grunkle Stan sees a rainbow. Oh, how wrong she is.
• Extreme Omnivore: "Mabel's Guide to Eating Non-Foods", from the opening of "Guide to Dating".
• Food as Bribe: Grunkle Stan only agreed to take part in Mabel's dating quiz because he was promised bacon.
  • In "Guide to Stickers", Mabel trades Grunkle Stan a "Baby on Board" sticker in exchange for an industrial-sized tanker of sprinkles. The whole affair is treated as a backroom deal (The sticker is to "Keep the cops off my car").
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you pause at exactly the right moments when Mabel's showing off the history of stickers, you can read the completely historically accurate stories of Domiclese the robot conqueror of Ancient Greece and the Aztec ollamalitzli-playing dog.
• Freudian Slip: When asked about his favourite colour, Dipper's response is 'Wendy', before quickly asking 'Wait, what was the question?'
• Hidden Depths: Apparently, Soos did so well on Mabel’s dating quiz that he overrode her 1-5 scoring system.
• Hurricane of Puns: During the animal dating montage, such as "Toad-ally Dating", "Hoot Do You Love?" and "Together Fur-ever".
• Lampshade Hanging: In "Mabel's Guide to Dating", Dipper asks Mabel who she's even making these videos for.
• Leitmotif: CATICATURE!!!! (rockin' guitar riff, meow)
• Light Is Not Good: Mabel, Dipper, and Candy try to get Stan to have the privilege of seeing a rainbow by reflcting the light from the falls. They accomplish this... in a nightmarish flare that blinds him and sets things on fire.
• Little Known Facts:
  • In "Mabel's Guide to Color", Mabel believes that the world was black and white up until the Depression when color was invented by a magic wizard called Grandolph the Fabulous.
  • In "Mabel's Guide to Stickers", Mabel believes Ancient Greeks used leeches for stickers, and the ancient Aztecs' skull warpaint is the equivalent to a 'Orange You Happy, Mon?' sticker. Dipper is quick to correct her in both instances.
• Makeover Montage: "Flash makeovers!"
• Mushroom Samba: Apparently, Grenda is able to see rainbows when she drinks expired milk.
• Noodle Incident: Each episode begins with the end of a previous episode, showing the aftermath of some ridiculous event. The intros for each episode also show snippets of other, non-existent episodes such as "Mabel's Guide to Magnets" and "Mabel's Guide to Milking Things".
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: "Mabel's Guide to Home Pyrotechnics", from the opening of "Guide to Fashion".
• Oh, Crap!: A brief one in "Mabel’s Guide to Magnets" when the magnets on Mabel attract a microwave.
• Overly Long Gag: "Mabel's Guide to Laughing for An Uncomfortable Amount of Time", which is shown just long enough on camera to not be annoying, but was probably even longer in the actual episode.
• Pet the Dog: During the favorite color Q&A in "Mabel’s Guide To Colors", Pacifica gives Mabel a sincere answer and is nice to her instead of making fun of Mabel.
• Rays from Heaven: When Soos announces that he is the world's most perfect man, light comes down from above and he is somehow able to summon a flock of birds to his shoulders, for some reason.
• Sarcasm Mode: In Mabel's Guide to Stickers:
  Dipper: Yeah, Aztec war paint was exactly like a Rasta orange.
• Serious Business: Stickers, if you ask Mabel.
• Shout-Out:
  • Soos' flash makeover costume looks a lot like David Bowie from Labyrinth.
  • Reading the text on the ancient Aztec page that Mabel shows the camera reveals a variation of the plot of Air Bud and its sequels and spin-offs.
  • The prism image on Mabel's sweater in "Mabel's Guide to Colors" is based on the cover of The Dark Side of the Moon.
  • Mabel's cardboard ex is named Zac and wears a red basketball jersey with a number '14' on it
• Spoof Aesop: At the end of "Mabel's Guide To Dating", Mabel states, "Love is all around us. And if seems like you two aren't the right fit, FORCE IT!"
• Stop Trick: Used by Mabel on "Mabel's Guide To Stickers".
• Studio Audience: "Mabel's Guide to Art" is filmed in front of an adorable studio audience (i.e. Waddles sleeping in a box).
• Worst Aid: At the end of "Mabel's Guide To Color", Stan makes Dipper (a child) and Soos (who doesn’t have medical training) bandage his eyes instead of taking him to the hospital.
  Stan: I'm not giving my life savings to some quack doctor!
• You Know What You Did: Parodied in "Mabel's Guide to Dating". She has a cardboard cutout of a boy posing as a former boyfriend asking why she won't let him back into her life and she says he knows what he did.

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