Chapter 97: Those Gravity Falls Kids
Art by Crash X Fusion: As if we don't know who's got your vote.
In Gravity Falls, Dipper and his friends along with the former Gatesfieldians spend their week trying to help their favorite candidate become mayor in the elections to prevent two shady candidates from winning.Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Accidental Hero: Downplayed, but Gideon supplies Wendy with the knowledge of the fireworks for his plan to eliminate Preston which is how they see that Preston's using said plan on Dipper to kill him.
- Accidental Public Confession
- Adaptational Explanation: How Wendy got her job at the Mystery Shack is shown in the Distant Prologue. How she met Dipper and Stan in the Reunion Falls continuity is also elaborated upon.
- Adaptational Heroism: Gideon is not the main antagonist of the LC version of "The Stanchurian Candidate", instead playing an indirect heroic role as his pointing out how he would've taken Preston out of the running is what leads to him figuring out his plans and helping Wendy save Dipper. The role of Villain of the Week goes to...
- Adaptational Villainy: Preston, who continues to be worse than his canon counterpart by not only punching Pacifica, but he even goes as far as attempting to kill Dipper.
- Affectionate Nickname: Tyler calls Manly Dan "Manly Dandy", which takes Wendy by surprise.
- Ambiguously Bi: Manly Dan was never seen dating anyone in Gravity Falls with Wendy's mother being his only known relationship. Here, he and Tyler Cutebiker seem to have some hints of attraction.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- In-universe, Rose believes the other Huntsclan members who were taken from their families are leading normal lives like her, but admits herself that it might be just wishful thinking.
- Because of her name, there's a chance Dr. Andrews could be connected to Ms. Traveler.
- And Then What?: Dipper and Wendy talk down Gideon by asking him this, telling him that none of his goals (acquiring the journals, getting revenge on the Pines family, and being pardoned by his father so he can try to take over the town again) would pan out since Ford now has the journals, Mabel and Stan are gone, and the government agents would do far worse to him than lock him back up. Dr. Andrews is revealed to have asked the same question and told him she knew someone who strove to achieve power and didn't make him happy when he got it, which is what gets Gideon to give up on his scheme and have Bud drop out of the election.
- Awful Wedded Life: Strongly implied regarding Abigail and Frank, given her remark that she "has terrible taste in men."
- Batman Gambit: Pacifica hoped to expose her father as an Abusive Parent in order to ruin his campaign; her plan was to have Dipper show her memory tube to the crowd but while that fails due to Preston's intervention, Rudo manages to expose the guy after he slugs Paz and rants about his true plans to control the town, leading to his arrest.
- Big Damn Heroes: As Wendy and Dipper fall with debris from the blown up monument, Rose appears jumping on said debris, and ensures that they safely land on the blanket provided by the townspeople led by Tyler.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Preston and Chapman make the mistake of tying Dipper up in the mountain instead of killing him, leading to Wendy going to rescue him.
- Breather Episode: Switching from the Boiling Isles to the Human Realm after the depressing ending of the previous chapter, we follow Luz's human family and allies in Gravity Falls and see how they spend the past week.
- The Bus Came Back:
- After only appearing in a flashback back in "Have a Little Hex with my Friends", Mr. Poolcheck is officially brought into the LCU in present time.
- Gideon makes his first physical appearance in the series since "Human Date" last season.
- Rose returns for the first time since "The Long, the Witch, and the Ninja", having traveled to Gravity Falls to meet with Abigail.
- Frank Gates, Abigail's husband and Clara's father, has a vocal cameo which makes this his first appearance since his debut in "Escape from Gatesfield".
- Call-Back:
- Rose remembers when she turned on the Huntsclan after learning Jake's Secret Identity, which would ultimately lead to her wiping out the Huntsclan.
- Like with Department A, Rudo exposes a villain by using a camera to capture evidence of their misdeeds.
- Back in "Understanding Amity", Luz mentioned how intense Mr. Poolcheck can be with the implications that she made an enemy out of him. As shown by her ban from the Gravity Falls pool, she did.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: At first, Pacifica tells Priscilla that things can't go back to how they were before the party because that would mean suffering in silence from Preston's abuse. After he's arrested, Paz directly calls out her mother for not doing anything to stop Preston, leaving a guilty Priscilla behind before going to hang out with her friends.
- The Cameo:
- Luz only has a photo cameo on a banned poster at the Gravity Falls pool.
- Mabel is heard speaking to Dipper over the phone when he gets her up to speed over what he and everybody else have been up to.
- Powers and Trigger show up at movie night with Dipper, Ford, Soos, Vee, the Gatesfield residents, Candy, Grenda, Pacifica, and Rose.
- Chekhov's Gun: Subverted. Pacifica intended to have Dipper show everyone her memory tube so they'd see Preston for the abusive monster he is. Preston catches on and takes the tube from Dipper soon after, but him hitting his daughter and ranting live on the news exposes him anyway.
- Compensating for Something: Said word-for-word by Dipper, as it's his reaction to the new satellite tower Preston raised with flashing lights reading "Northwest is Best!"
- Coming-Out Story: After seeing Abigail's positive support over Luz dating a girl, Clara comes out to her as a lesbian and tells her that she likes Masha.
- Continuity Nod:
- Gideon and Stan getting arrested and Mabel being taken home by her parents are brought up.
- Vee brings up how she helped Mermando get home and had to work at the pool to pay back Mr. Poolcheck for the supplies she damaged.
- Willow starting up her flyer derby team is brought up, Luz having told Clara about it.
- Jake helping Willow reach Gravity Falls is mentioned by Rose, as Jake told her about it after he got back to New York.
- Crush Blush: Implied with Manly Dan who hides his face from Wendy after Tyler uses his Affectionate Nickname in front of her.
- A Day in the Limelight: While the Gravity Falls cast and the Gatesfieldians get to shine, Wendy has the most focus of any character as her past development is revealed and she receives focus with her relationships with her father and Tyler.
- Distant Prologue: Things begin years ago when Wendy approached Stan at the Shack hoping to buy a crystal ball, and he comforted her about her recently deceased mother. It then follows Wendy's life as she got her job at the shack and was saved from having a criminal record by Stan.
- Engineered Public Confession: Rudo gets Preston arrested by filming his rant with a news camera, and brought Shandra and Toby with him.
- Everyone Can See It:
- Gus catches Clara shooting an envious expression when Masha compliments Vee's new hair color.Gus: Wait, are you jealous?
Clara: (seething) Shut up, Gus. - Abigail shoots Nora a look after seeing her second moment with Poolcheck.
- Gus catches Clara shooting an envious expression when Masha compliments Vee's new hair color.
- Evil Is Petty: Preston wants to be mayor not just to regain his control over the townspeople, but to make sure the Clawthornes can never return to town due to Luz crashing his annual manor party for years.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Downplayed. Wanting to have a new look but starting out small, Vee alters her hair color to be blonde with blue tips.
- Fanservice: Vee and the Gatesfield residents appear in swimwear during their private pool party during their first scenes.
- Friendship Moment: After hearing that the Gordons don't blame her or her mother for Luke's death, Clara asks Gus if they're cool and he agrees, telling her she no longer needs to apologize for how she treated him in the past.
- Gender Bender: Vee confirms that she can change genders during her talk with Masha, demonstrating by turning into Gus and mimicking his voice.
- The Ghost:
- All of Wendy's friends are referenced in the early flashbacks, as Manly Dan considers all of them terrible influences on her.
- Eda is mentioned three times: the first two by Abigail, isn't sure if she should blame her for Luz getting banned from so many places in Gravity Falls and when Abigail tells Rose about her lingering hatred towards her, and Preston, who plans on banning her and Luz from returning to town again when he becomes mayor.
- Rose mentions Jake, who returned home a few days prior to her traveling to Gravity Falls.
- Clara mentions Amity when updating her friends about her and Luz dealing with the Grim Goblin.
- Willow is mentioned by Clara and Rose when the latter asks for an update on how she's doing.
- Jeff the Huntsman, Numbers 88 & 89 are brought up as former Huntsclan members.
- Given Name Reveal:
- Mr. Poolcheck's first name is stated to be Ian.
- Clara's father is revealed to be named Frank.
- Heel–Face Turn: Hearing from Dipper and Wendy that his plans are going to fail even if Bud wins the election and that he's still a kid who has his whole future ahead of him, combined with his talk with Dr. Andrews about the last power-hungry patient she knew being too late to save, causes Gideon to abandon his plan and give the win to Tyler even though Bud was in the lead.
- Hidden Depths: Nora is shown to have some knowledge and prowess in military combat skills.
- In Spite of a Nail: Gideon still befriends an inmate with blank eyes during his incarceration and even with all of the excessive chaos, Tyler still becomes mayor of Gravity Falls.
- Internal Reveal:
- Gus catches on to Clara's jealousy towards Vee.
- Vee tells the Gatesfieldians about her encounter with Mermando and time working at the pool.
- Abigail meets Rose for the first time and learns how she left the Huntsclan and avoided being destroyed.
- The Gordons inform Clara of the Department A explosion that killed Manny, Luke, and Joseph.
- Clara comes out to Abigail about her feelings for Masha.
- Dipper and the Gatesfieldians are kept updated on Lumity fighting the Grim Goblin, and Dipper makes sure to tell Mabel about it and his bonding with Ford at the end of the week.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After hearing Wendy and Dipper out about how things turned out for him in being evil, Gideon decides to drop out of the election, handing the win to Tyler.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Preston tried to kill Dipper in order to keep him from showing the townspeople Pacifica's memory tube, then punched Pacifica when she tried to stop him from detonating the mountain and fell into a rant about her behavior that ended with a promise to punish her. He ends up being filmed by Rudo during his confession which turns the townspeople against him, gets punched in the face by Nora when he tries escaping, and is ultimately arrested for child abuse.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Zigzagged. While Gideon knows Stan's in prison and Mabel has gone home, he is unaware of Luz's recent visits to Gravity Falls.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The chapter opens the floor to show what Dipper, his friends, and the former Gatesfieldians have been up to while the main cast has been swamped with therapy sessions and Goblin-based chaos.
- Mythology Gag: The Distant Prologue makes use of several ChadRocco comics along with these
two* MoringMark comics along with the unused plot of Wendy learning to be a grifter from Stan for Gravity Falls. - Named by the Adaptation: Mr. Poolcheck doesn't have a first name in his canon, but in the LCU, it's Ian.
- Noodle Incident:
- Stan robbed the Gravity Falls History Museum in the past.
- Luz got herself banned from the town's pool.
- Not So Stoic: Vee remarks that how Poolcheck acted towards Nora after complimenting her is the most relaxed she's ever seen him, as he's always so intense.
- Point of Divergence:
- To "The Stanchurian Candidate"; With Stan gone, Preston runs for mayor of Gravity Falls in a bid to re-establish the Northwests' control over the town following the events of their annual party. Dipper, Wendy, Soos, Candy, and Grenda support Tyler's campaign, the mind control tie isn't used due to how unethical it is, and Gideon isn't the one who kidnaps Dipper and leaves him in the mountain to die, that dishonor going to Preston. And thanks to Wendy talking him down, Gideon has Bud drop out of the mayoral election, which puts him close to an early Heel–Face Turn.
- Unlike canon Gravity Falls, Ford learns that Gideon previously possessed one of his journals and of the havoc he caused trying to find the others.
- The Only One I Trust: Poolcheck allows Vee to watch over the pool while the Gatesfield residents hang out in it while he's gone, seeing as she's the only person he knows and trusts.
- Open-Minded Parent: Abigail, though raised as a Christian, has no problems with her goddaughter being bisexual and dating a girl and accepts her daughter coming out to her as a lesbian.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Up until now, Dana has shown no fear when faced by the threats the former Gatesfieldians have encountered. The fact that she shows fear from seeing Poolcheck up close says a lot.
- Out of Focus: The setting is Earth for this chapter so the entire main cast is absent, with only a few characters being mentioned.
- Pool Scene: Vee and the Gatesfieldians hang out at the Gravity Falls pool during the town meeting about the mayoral elections.
- The Reveal:
- Stan caught Wendy shoplifting from the Shack and helped her cultivate her skills. When she schemed to rob the museum of its diamond, they got caught and Stan took the heat so she wouldn't get in trouble.
- Wendy and Mabel's therapist, Dr. Pamela Andrews, is shown to be Gideon's therapist. She advocated for him to be placed in juvie instead of adult prison.
- Huntsboys #88 and #89 died in a household-related incident.
- Abigail dated Jeff while she was a Huntsgirl, and he was her First Kiss.
- Nora informed Gus about what happened to his father, and he admits to have gotten some closure over it.
- Nora's father was a military man and she learned a few moves as a result.
- Seen It All: Gideon being an evil child genius is nothing new compared to what Abigail has experienced.
- Sequel Hook:
- After talking with Vee, Masha begins thinking hard about how to feel comfortable in her own skin.
- Rose is going to be spending the next few days in Gravity Falls to talk with Abigail.
- Masha shows signs of liking Clara back on top of liking Vee at the same time.
- Shipper on Deck: Sensing something between her father and Tyler, Wendy invites the newly-dubbed mayor out to dinner with her family so they can spend time together.
- Ship Tease:
- Masha admits she likes blondes when she compliments Vee's new hair, implying she likes Clara back. When she touched both girls' hands near the end of the chapter, Vee doesn't react to it while Clara does her best not to react.
- Manly Dan is shown helping Tyler with his campaign before Wendy offers herself as a manager, and she's surprised by Tyler's Affectionate Nickname for Dan which he's embarrassed by. Tyler later compliments Dan by saying Wendy's a lot like him, to which he replies to by saying not to act that way when she's around.
- Nora seems to have some chemistry with Mr. Poolcheck, as she considers him nice despite his intense demeanor and he compliments her for decking Preston before awkwardly excusing himself.
- Dipper tries to act cool around Candy but gets annoyed by his spouting out stuff she probably wouldn't like, confusing her. Candy shows concern over him when he disappears during the final election, and reacts in fear when she sees him dangling out of the mountain.
- Shout-Out:
- Two neighbors have the "I'm not your buddy" argument that occurs in South Park's "Canada on Strike".
- After Tyler's speech, the song I Hope I Get It plays in the background.
- Several 1980's movies are namedropped by Dana for viewing in the movie marathon, including the Back to the Future trilogy, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Batman (1989), Top Gun, Aliens, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon, and the Star Wars prequels.
- Simultaneous Arcs: The entirety of the chapter is set during the week of the last five chapters since "Fairly God-Witches".
- Sticky Fingers: Wendy has this skill. At first, she stole snow globes and candy from the Shack, which Stan noticed. Instead of laying into her, he helped her develop that skill further until she could steal his hat without him noticing.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Both Abigail and Rose pity the other Huntsclan members as they lost their lives when the latter eliminated them all, Abigail notably mentioning Jeff.
- Synchronous Episodes: The chapter is set during the same week the last five chapters took place on, starting from Monday, the day after the Clawthornes and Star came to visit.
- Talk to the Fist: Right before Preston can escape after causing trouble, Nora punches him in the face which leads to his arrest.
- Talking The Villain To Death: By applying the And Then What? conundrum to Gideon, Dipper and Wendy are able to convince him that making his father mayor and pardoning him won't amount to anything in the end.
- Villain of the Week
- Villainous Breakdown: Tired of Pacifica standing up to him, Preston rants about his plans to seize control of the town again once he becomes mayor...in front of Shandra, Toby, and Rudo who's holding up a news camera and broadcasting the whole thing. All of this seals Preston's fate.
- Villainous Gentrification: Preston's grand plan for when he becomes mayor is to turn Gravity Falls into an amusement park, building it over the forest and driving out all the magical creatures in the process. The kids soon realize this, and Masha says Preston's plans are pretty much this.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: While talking with Masha about her shapeshifting abilities, Vee demonstrates said ability and states that while she can do it, she doesn't really have a reason to do so.
- Wham Episode: Tyler becomes mayor of Gravity Falls and starts connecting with Wendy and her family more, Preston is arrested for child abuse, Gideon has a Heel Realization, Clara comes out to Abigail about her crush on Masha while making peace with Gus G, Nora seems to be taking an interest in Poolcheck, and Rose is sticking around town for the time being.
