Tear Jerker / Universe Falls

Spoilers Off applies to all Tear Jerker pages, so all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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To prevent page clutter, please limit tearjerking moments to those that are unique to the story, and do not originate from Steven Universe and Gravity Falls.

Arc One

• In "Headhunters", you can't help but feel bad for Steven and Amethyst in anguish over the "deaths" of the wax figures of Grunkle Stan and the Crystal Gems.

Arc Two

• Steven 2 and Tyrone meeting their ends around the same time, in front of Steven and Dipper.
• In "Summerween", after Dipper loses the candy stash needed to appease the Summerween Trickster, Pearl loses her temper and says she always knew Summerween was a waste of time. Steven doesn't take this well, throwing his spaceman helmet to the ground and calling Pearl out.
  “I thought you were finally giving this a chance!” the young Gem exclaimed, tears streaming down his face. “That you were giving me a chance! This wasn’t just about trick-or-treating! This was about us spending time together! About us having fun together! You never wanna do regular human stuff with me! But… I think I get it now…”
  • Pearl's reaction, knowing she broke Steven's heart.

Arc Three

• Centipeetle sacrificing itself to save Steven and his friends from the baby pterodactyl in "The Land Before Swine".
• There's a melancholy moment in "Straight to Video" when Wendy admits her mother died in a car accident, and Steven commiserates with her over his own Missing Mom.
• In "Revenge Trip", we learned what happened on their last revenge trip. They got arrested, while Amethyst found it amusing an angry Stan calls her out for being too reckless. Stan tells her he's done with the trips, and when Amethyst dared to ask if that means he's done with her, he bluntly said "maybe". But he realized he went too far upon seeing how much that remark hurt her. He tried to take it back, until he got interrupted by the arrival of the other Crystal Gems.
  • Amethyst, upon being reprimanded by Rose for her actions. She hated the fact that she disappointed her leader.
  • When Rose and Stan began arguing (hinting that it's about more than just the revenge trips), Amethyst comes between them and screams that the trip was all her idea (taking the fall for Stan), saying that she felt like she could be herself with Stan since the rest of the Gems leave her out of everything. Something that really struck Rose.
  • Near the start of the chapter, when Amethyst suggested they go on one of the their trips for the first time in years, Stan was against the idea because of the twins and reminds her of Steven. Amethyst said that he's better off with Garnet and Pearl should anything happen to her. That remark caused Stan to become concern for her.
• In "Dreamscaperers", in contrast to Soos and Mabel's strange and silly nightmares, Steven's is much more hard-hitting: Bill conjures up images of the Crystal Gems scolding Steven for losing his Gem (which was stolen by Bill when Steven entered the dreamscape) and saying that he's not good enough to be a Crystal Gem.
• The scene where the twins supposedly have to leave Gravity Falls is even sadder in the UF version of "Gideon Rises", especially with how torn up Steven, Connie, and the Gems are about having to say goodbye to them.

Arc Four

• Steven and Dipper get into a pretty intense argument with Pearl in "Marble Madness". You can tell both boys had enough of people refusing to take them seriously or listen to them.
  • Later, as they ended up floating in space slowly freezing, Steven was ready to accept their fates like he did in the canon episode, while Dipper desperately tries to figure a way out of their situation.
• As if Amethyst wasn't going through enough angst in "Into the Bunker" (which throws in plot elements from "Reformed"), the Shapeshifter manages to demoralize Amethyst by taking on the form of Rose Quartz, driving the Gem to tears before delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• It's rather heart-breaking in "Together Forever" to see the normally-cheerful Maven nearly break down after some serious teasing from Pacifica. Even Pacifica feels like she's gone too far and curtly apologizes.
  • Near the end of "Together Forever", poor Maven has a Freak Out and runs off into the woods when they can't bring themselves to de-fuse before Steven and Mabel's personalities fade away completely, because they're afraid that they might never get the chance to form again.
• "Forever Alone" has Stepper finally de-fusing after a heated argument between Dipper (who Steven accuses of pushing everyone away) and Steven (who Dipper accuses of trying to force their fusion without considering Dipper's feelings) that leaves both boys full of regret.
  • Heck, even Stepper arguing with himself prior to the defusing is sad and cringeworthy, even if your first instinct is to laugh at it. At first it seems like a harmless quirk, but when you get down to it, he's basically a chronic introvert who has undergone the ultimate personal space invasion as well as a well-meaning extrovert who's just trying to get the former to come out of his shell. These conflicting priorities stuffed into the same headspace is a volatile and arguably toxic combination that turn Stepper into an unstable wreck.
• The reveals in "Rose's Scabbard" are made more heartbreaking when Pearl learns how much Rose apparently confided in the Author of the Journals. Her reaction reads like someone who found out that their now-deceased loved one was cheating on her behind her back.
  “Who was he? Why didn’t I know him? Why did he matter so much to her that she would trust him… over me?”
• In "Dipper and Lapis", Lapis's guilt over being forced to leave the human captured on Homeworld that she befriended behind when their escape attempt went south.
• In "The Return", Manly Dan has to convince Wendy to evacuate with him, saying he doesn't want to lose her like he lost her mother.
• Lapis formally meeting Stan, and apparently mistaking him for Ford AKA the human friend she had to leave behind.
• Lapis forming Malachite in order to trap Jasper is even more heartbreaking than in canon, because she's not just trying to protect Steven, she's trying to protect Dipper, with whom she's formed an incredibly close bond of friendship just a few short chapters ago.

Arc Five

• "Full Disclosure" pulls no punches, as it's all about the Mystery Kids struggling to come to terms with the events of the Arc Four finale:
  • Mabel tries to join Amethyst in celebrating and cheer up Dipper, who's still reeling from the climax of "Jailbreak" and Lapis Lazuli's Heroic Sacrifice.
    Mabel: Did you hear? We won!
    Dipper: What?
    Mabel: I, uh... I said we won, bro-bro! As in… everything’s ok now, just like it’s supposed to be!
    Dipper: No, it’s not... we didn't win.
  • Poor Steven is even more guilty about the events of "The Return"/"Jailbreak" than in canon, because Dipper and Mabel got hurt trying to help him.
  • Dipper and Mabel thinking about how Stan and their parents would react to the events that just occured.
  • Dipper heads down to the lakeside, trying not to think about how he feels like he's to blame for Lapis's predicament... and then his hat washes up on the lake shore, as if Lapis was trying to return it to him despite being trapped in a fusion with Jasper at the bottom of Lake Gravity Falls.
  • The chapter includes new lyrics for Steven's "Full Disclosure" song, with him worrying about Dipper and Mabel as well as Connie.
  How am I going to save you?
  My problems shouldn’t be yours anymore.
  I know you just want to help me
  But this is more than everything we’ve faced before.
  • Stan tries to throw a little party to cheer up Mabel, even making home-made treats with Soos's help. But he just makes Mabel feel so guilty, she bursts into tears and confesses to everything that happened in the last two chapters that she and Dipper were keeping secret from Stan.
• Dipper in "Joy Ride" has let his depression over Lapis briefly consume him, and Mabel ships Robbie and Tambry so hard in part because she wants to distract herself from the events.
• In "Sock Opera", Dipper's concern for Lapis Lazuli and hopes that the laptop might contain information that he can use to help her are a source of much angst, from Bill Cipher using it to help guilt-trip him into making a deal (and eventually succeeding) to Dipper having a nightmare about Lapis and Jasper.
  • Dipper and Mabel's argument over the puppet show is even more heated, and more heartbreaking when Mabel says that helping Lapis isn't more important than her "sock opera" and immediately regrets it.
  • At the end of Part 1, after Bill possesses Dipper's body and destroys the laptop, just to rub salt in the wound he also tears up Dipper's pictures of his brief time with Lapis, which as far as Dipper knows is all he has left to remember Lapis by.
  • In this version, Steven is present for the deal, and witnesses the above actions.
  • In Part two, Steven is so disturbed by Bill's actions in Dipper's body that he makes a deal not to tell anyone about it in an attempt to get him to stop his Self-Harm.
  • When Bill harms Dipper's body as punishment for Steven trying to hint that something's up, Steven tries to heal him and fails.
  • A distraught Steven falls on his knees calling out to Dipper, not sure whether or not to believe Bill about Dipper being a ghost, that he's sorry he was too late to stop Dipper from making the deal and breaks into tears. Dipper float besides Steven, wishing he can talk to him right then and there that it wasn't his fault.
  • Mabel finding what is implied to be the UF version of the note Bill left in the canon "Sock Opera".
  • Dipper, out of shame at his failed deal with Bill, refuses to let Steven treat his injuries, despite how severe they are (including broken ribs, a twisted ankle, and a stab wound in his shoulder).
  • Dipper feeling out-of-place in his own body after regaining control, and at the end of the chapter, the full weight of the grief from the Malachite situation and his failure to save Lapis despite making the deal with Bill hits him, and the last scene is him crying on the floor of his room.
• In "Do it For Them", we learn that ever since "Sock Opera", Dipper has been suffering from nightmares, implied to be sent by the real Bill, mainly about Lapis.
  • Mabel feels a bit of sadness when she sees Steven and Connie being Jam Buds, probably because she wishes it was her.
  • Steven and Mabel's guilt about pushing Connie and Dipper to learn swordsmanship so badly, and their worries when things start going too far.
    • Steven tries to call Connie to talk to her about it, but she's so focused on training that she doesn't even hear him, and he can't say it again and just hangs up the phone.
    • Mabel feels guilty not just for the sword fighting thing, especially since Dipper still isn't healed from his wounds yet, feeling that she pushed him into the deal with Bill. Stan saying that he supports Dipper learning how to fight, unaware of the context, only makes things worse.
  • When Mabel finds Dipper pushing himself despite his injuries (which Pearl knows about) and finds out about his Tears of Blood as a result of Bill's possession, she shows him the note Bill left in a last-ditch attempt to get him to see reason. All this does is get Dipper to notice how Bill apparently planned to kill Mabel after killing his body and gets him even more focused.
  • Dipper revealing that part of the reason he was pushing himself so hard was that he hated how helpless he felt when Bill stole his body and all he could do while Steven, Mabel, and Connie fought was watch from the sidelines, and he wanted to make sure he'd never go through anything like that again.
• "Society of the Blind Eye":
  • Mabel trying to deal with her feelings for Steven, or at least confess them to him, even if she knows he likes Connie.
    • She's also afraid of ruining their friendship if their romance ends badly like with her other crushes.
  • Steven trying to convince Dipper to let him erase his Bill memories. For a moment, Dipper wanted Steven to use the memory gun on him.
    • Steven breaking to tears during the whole thing. His guilt of not being able to help Dipper was clearly eating him up inside.
  • Connie sees Steven with the memory gun, so Dipper covers for him.
  • Just how much hate the Society has for the Gems, and their reactions to seeing it, especially the x's through the pictures of Rose.
  • Amethyst openly wondering if Rose would really have told them what was going on about their memories.
• In "Northwest Mansion Nightmare", Pacifica is overcome with self-doubt and flees, ready to leave the party guests to their doom rather than open the gates to the mansion and risk her parents' wrath. It's only a timely talk with Connie that convinces Pacifica to face her fears and save the day.
• In "Not What He Seems", Amethyst is the one hit hardest by all the secrets Stan was keeping, as she had always considered him her closest friend. Even so, she still struggles to keep her trust in Stan, going so far as to fight Garnet and Pearl to stop them from hitting the override button.
  • Garnet's increasing horror when she realizes her future vision is failing her. For the first time in her existence, she has no idea what could happen next.
  • The Gems are horrified when the realize they have vague memories of the hidden basement beneath the Mystery Shack, and even more so when they see replicas of their gems decorating the perimeter of Stan's device, implying their erased memories had something to do with a possible doomsday device.
  • Poor Steven is dragged into the fight to shut down the machine when he turns out to be stuck next to a secondary override switch that can only be activated by his shield. He's so torn on what to do that he's essentially frozen in place.
• "A Tale of Two Stans":
  • Ford and their Ma Pines attempted to stand up to Filbrick when he tossed Stan out, but Filbrick cowed them.
  • Ford's reaction to finding out that not only do the Gems not remember him, but Rose is gone too, so he never got to repair their friendship.
  • The Gems' fearful reactions to Stan insinuating that Rose had something to do with the Gems losing their memories.
  • During the entire time that they knew each other, Ford never mentioned Stan to the Gems.
  • Stan telling Ford not to treat Steven as a Replacement Goldfish for Rose.
  • Unlike the more bittersweet ending of the episode, here when Mabel asked Dipper if they'll end up like Stan and Ford, Dipper only reassures her in an indifferent tone. As he's still angry at her and Steven for choosing to trust Stan over Dipper, leaving Mabel more depressed and fearful for the future.

Arc Six

• "Lost and Found" is full of moments, as it's all about everyone coming to grips with the events of "Not What He Seems" and "A Tale of Two Stans", and trying to get to the bottom of the Crystal Gems' missing memories:
  • The story opens with Steven mysteriously having a flashback of his mother Rose Quartz writing a message to Stanford, knowing there was little chance of him ever getting it, apologizing for everything that happened between them.
  • There's a lot of tension all around... between Stan and his brother, between Stan and the Gems (especially Amethyst), between Dipper and Mabel...
  • Greg and Stanford's conversation about Rose, and how much she missed Stanford and blamed herself for what happened to him. And though he tries to hide it, Stanford is deeply moved when he finally gets Rose's letter.
  • Dipper's big argument with Mabel and Steven over choosing to trust Stan over him. Especially when Dipper dismisses Mabel's claims she'd do just what Stan did if Dipper was lost in another dimension; the irony is extra-cruel to fans of the "Relativity Falls" AU, where Mabel and Dipper take on the roles of Stanley and Stanford respectively.
  • The Gems' reactions to their lost memories. Garnet is dumb-struck, and Pearl is horrified by recalling how the Gems were "tricked" by someone (And given that she whispered only two words into Ford's ear, that someone is likely Bill). Amethyst takes it the worst, as she's furious that the only reason she could see Rose Quartz taking such drastic measures is to "fix one of her mistakes".
• "Cry For Help", as could be predicted, has a lot of moments like this as well, some leading off of the previous episode.
  • The Gems are all still clearly upset by what happened in the last episode, but trying to pretend that they aren't.
  • Stan is worried about Amethyst, especially since she didn't come to him to complain about Sardonyx.
  • Steven blaming himself for everything Rose did to the Gems and Stan. Luckily Stan snaps him out of it.
  • Amethyst having a self-deprecatory outburst due to the combined angst and guilt of the mess with the portal and her memories and Sugilite.
• "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons":
  • Dipper breaking down in grief when talking to Ford about Malachite.
  • Pearl is so depressed about what happened in the previous chapter that she doesn't feel that she deserves to be happy playing with Dipper and Ford.
  • The mad math wizard destroying Dipper's sword.
  • When captured by Probabilator and told what he plans to do to her Gemstone, Pearl honestly can't decide if she'd rather be there or at home with Garnet, with how tense things are between them, and seems honestly a bit unsure if Garnet would actually come to rescue her.
• Ruby and Sapphire's argument in "Evergreen Inn" is expanded on, enough said. Even worse, Stan makes some comments on how their relationship must not be that strong after all if they're fighting like they are.
  • While it's bad enough for Steven to see Ruby and Sapphire fight like in the series, feeling it's somehow his fault. Here, it's the addition of returning the Gems' memories, which seem to made things worse amongst them.
• Amethyst is still mad at Stan in "The Stanchurian Candidate", and even uses the tie to humiliate him.
  • Why didn't Stan tell Amethyst about Ford? He didn't want to put the same weight that he had on his shoulders on hers.
• As if Pearl's canon angst in "Friend Ship" wasn't bad enough, we also have the stuff about the erased memories and Ford's own feelings.
  • Peridot also makes a crack about how only a Pearl would have fallen for her hologram trick, and it clearly bugs Pearl.
• In "Chille Tid, Part 1", when Dipper learns Steven can communicate with Lapis via his dreams, he desperately begs Steven to try and convince her to break up Malachite and come back.
  • When Steven tries, Lapis refuses to listen to reason, shouting "Just let me do this for you, Dipper!"
  • After his rather disastrous encounter with Lapis, Steven soon finds himself in the mindscape where he encounters Bill. Bill then attempts to manipulate Steven into handing over his gem to him by saying he'll never be normal on the grounds that he's not a full human or a full gem.
• It's hard enough in "Chille Tid, Part 2" to see Rose having to fight agains Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (all of whom have been possessed by Bill Cipher), but afterwards Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, and Amethyst are all traumatized in various ways from their possession. It's the real reason why Rose Quartz erased their memories of Bill and everything related to him, including the portal and Stanford; they were in such a state she wasn't sure they could recover on their own.
  • According to Garnet's story, Bill tricked the other Crystal Gems into their "deals" by revealing Rose was going to have a half-Gem child with Greg. Steven immediately (but thankfully briefly) becomes convinced that the Gems wouldn't have gotten into that mess if it wasn't for him, and he wasn't even born yet!
  • Rose tries an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight with Pearl when Bill is controlling her. It seems to be working, but then Bill takes control again. Then Pearl tries to turn her spear on herself before Rose stops her.
• In "The Last Mabelcorn", a guilty Dipper has a nervous breakdown after he attacks Ford, thinking him possessed by Bill. Fortunately, Steven is there to reassure Dipper that it'll be okay.
• Rose was once told by a certain unicorn that she wasn't "pure of heart", and Pearl still seems bothered by it.
• When Bill fuses with Peridot into Pyrite, he wastes no time insulting the Gems.
• When Mabel hugs Peridot, who was frantic at the thought of Bill being around, Peridot doesn't even know what a hug is.

Arc Seven

• The plan to reconcile Stan and Ford with the campout in "Split Up" actually works, with both reminiscing about their childhood adventures, but then Ford says something about how they can't stay out there forever, and Stan gets the idea to try and extend the trip... which only makes things worse between the two.
• Peridot unwitting hurts Amethyst's feelings by revealing her "defective" nature, like in canon, and Stan is furious at her for it. After expressing his feelings on how Amethyst is the best out of all the Gems he's met, he consolidates with the Quartz because he's also used to being a defective screw-up.
• Ford's guilt over what happened to his old friend Fiddleford after their argument over the portal, blaming himself for what happened as a result of his traumas.
• Things between Ford and McGucket quickly devolve when Fiddleford accuses Ford of letting the portal project go too far because of his pride, to which Ford retorts that Fiddleford just washed his hands of the whole thing and buried his head in the sand instead of trying to help stop whatever damage it caused, when even Rose came back to lend a hand after she quit.
• When Ford is thrown out of his and Pearl's robot due to McGucket pushing forward on it with anger, he lands hard, and McGucket is horrified but what happened.
• In "The Answer", Steven's canon worries about discovering that he hasn't visibly aged in years is only made worse by remembering what Bill said to him back in "Chille Tid, Part 1".
• Pacifica nearly has a breakdown in the Titan's Ore mine, where she despairs and feels that she'll never be better than her parents. Luckily, Dipper is there to comfort her.
• Steven and Mabel are both rather hurt by Peridot's apparent betrayal, despite all the trust and friendship that they showed her. Even Dipper, who never trusted Peridot as much as they did, does his best to reassure them instead of pulling an I Warned You.
• Dipper nearly managing to reach Lapis inside Malachite, only for Jasper to interfere.
• Malachite admitting to Dipper that she's tired of existing when Dipper asks her what she wants. That she hates how she's born from two gems who despise each other.. and then Jasper manages to fight back again, and even tries to attack Dipper.
• Ford, when Peridot mentions not being able to return to Homeworld, is reminded of the sandy shores and beaches of his youth, wondering if he'll ever get to see them again.
• Mabel, terrified when it looks like they were too late and the Cluster is going to emerge, can only curl up on Ford's lap, fretting about how she never got to say goodbye to Dipper, Stan, or Waddles, begging Ford to do something.

Arc Eight

• Dipper's reaction to Lapis wanting to leave again so soon after he finally rescued her. He can't even find any words to say goodbye with that manage to come close to feeling sufficient.
• In "Mismatched Making", Pacifica and Dipper tearfully confess their respective fears about getting into a relationship; Pacifica still feels guilty about the way she treated Dipper and Mabel and worries she's not good enough for Dipper, and Dipper is afraid he'll mess things up like he did with Wendy.
  • Pacifica's parents are so controlling about even what she eats that not only has she never had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before, she's apparently never even heard of a sandwich before.
• In "Mr. Greg", once again, Stan and Ford seem to be reconciling, only for something to get them mad at each other again. Dipper and Mabel being at a loss regarding what to do about it just makes it worse, and the two spend hours arguing. Loudly.
  • Then, when Dipper tries talking to Ford and Mabel to Stan, it only ends up making the twins depressed and uncertain about their sibling relationship.
• "A New Stan" ends on an uncertain note, with Dipper deeply afraid of Steven's willingness to use his powers of possession on humans, because it reminds him far too much of the "Bipper" incident.
  • And before that, Ford summing up his issues with Stanley (albeit, with Steven possessing him). He does think about trying to bury the hatchet, but Stan's tendency to try forget everything that caused the feud between them, and thus go back to a dynamic that never takes Ford's opinions into account reminds him why it's a bad idea. He's actually crying during this, and claims that he'll do quite fine on his own once Stan is out of his hair...which finally trigger's Steven's own breakdown as he apologizes, which convinces Ford that it's Steven. After all, Stan would never apologize to him for real. ...Ouch.
• During his travel's across the multiverse Ford comes across a reality almost exactly like his home one. Except with one small difference. In this world, he never fell into the portal. He revealed the nature of anomalies to the world creating a whole new branch of science. He became one of the wealthiest and most respected scientists in the world advancing mankind dramatically. He prevented Bill Cipher from ever entering this dimension, published much of the work in his journals, and has ushered in a great age of prosperity. The main version of Ford is proud of his counterpart but also becomes even more bitter and resentful of his brother because the one difference between this reality in his that in this world Stanly actually listened to him and simply left with the journal instead of trying to angrily destroy it in front of him. The world was denied all of this advancement, all of this wonder and he was once again denied the reward for all his hard work because his idiot brother once again refused to stop thinking about himself for once.
• A big part of why Ford idiotically revealed himself on Homeworld? He was so desperate to get home and see his friends again that he tried to talk to the first Ruby and Sapphire that he saw.
• Poor Centi sees Bill and Yellow Diamond's attack in "Monster Falls" and freaks out.
• Lapis is horrified enough to learn about Bill, and Dipper's deal with him, but she's completely taken for a loop when Dipper reveals why he made the deal when he gets angry at the idea of Lapis wanting to fuse with Jasper again after everything that he did to rescue her from Malachite to begin with.
• Steven is horrified when Dipper accuses him of being not so different from Bill. Even worse, Dipper makes very good points about this.
• In "Rifts", Bill gives Stepper a Breaking Speech...using illusions of their loved ones. Bill knew how to hit them both where it hurts.
• In "Memories", Mabel continuously tries to remind Stepper of Dipper and Steven by showing them people and things important to the two of them, but that just causes pain for the lack of recognition, like Pacifica and Greg.
  • It especially hits home with Lapis, who is furious about what Bill did to Dipper, and Peridot, whose trauma from the Pyrite experience flares up.
  • Throughout all this, Stepper is in denial that he even is a fusion. Only to start breaking down when he realizes he is and starts believing he's not even real.
  • Ford finally comes clean to the Gems about the existence of the Rift, weakly trying to justify his rationale. Garnet's reaction to that is...well...
  "You thought wrong. Because look at where we are now, Stanford. Look at what's happened to Stepper, to Steven and Dipper! He's cracked, broken, stuck together; he doesn't even remember who he's made of! By burdening those boys,-our boys-with this kind of information, you forfeited their safety. By not telling us about the rift in their stead, by not trusting us like you should have, you kept us from protecting them. And in doing so, you showed how little you care about either of them. And how selfish you really are."
  • It's especially worth noting this moment since Universe Falls has shown much more of Ford's nobler traits, and provided significantly more depth to his troubles with his brother. Yet even despite all of this, he's still kept the Rift secret, and unlike in canon, that secret has caused significantly more harm. Stan in this chapter is notably furious at Ford for getting the kids in danger, especially since this time around, they were actually hurt. While at first Ford tried to defend himself on this angle due to Bill's threat level, Garnet's anger essentially proved that it was pointless. And yet even then, the Author still tries to stress that keeping the secret is for the greater good. The only reason the Gems even agree? It's to keep anyone else from getting hurt. Of course, considering the chapter list, we all know how that will turn out.
• In "Dimensions", Stepper manages to get his hands on the shield journal with Mabel's help, but in the struggle with Bill over it the already-damaged journal is ripped in two. Steven and Dipper are unable to un-fuse, but since Bill still has half the journal Dipper is left comatose, to everyone's shock and horror. And just to twist the knife, Bill destroys Dipper's half of the shield journal in a fit of vindictive rage, then possesses Dipper's seemingly-lifeless body to hold him hostage as "Bipper".

Arc Nine

• Mabel becomes almost maniacally desperate to help Steven in "Theory of Weirdness". It's funny at first, but it quickly gets sad, especially when she feels guilty about spilling Steven's pine-needle tea and getting a small burn on his face and runs away in a panic.
• Reverse Ford is downright abusive to Reverse Dipper and Mabel; Jen has compared their dynamic to Ozai, Zuko, and Azula.
• The Crystal Gems in the Reverse dimension are in a sorry state: Rose Quartz was seemingly killed by Yellow Diamond, Pearl is damaged, Amethyst is half-corrupted, and Garnet is desperately trying to keep it together in more ways than one. And something horrible happened to Reverse Connie's parents when they tried to stand up for themselves. Until they get a badly-needed pep talk from Steven, the Reverse Crystal Gems have all but given up hope of being able to do more than contain Steven Diamond and the Pines family and keep them from spreading their influence outside of Gravity Falls.
• In "Crack the Whip", Ford feels guilty for getting angry at Mabel, Peridot, and Lapis over getting distracted by a kitten, because he realizes his preoccupation with sealing the portals is more about his own desperation to get back in the Crystal Gems' good graces.
  • Stan asks Amethyst if she's okay after seeing how Convenper beat Jasper without her help affected her. She says that she's fine, but they both can tell that she's lying.
• In "Opposites Attract", Amethyst is clearly still affected by what happened with Jasper in "Crack the Whip", and seeing the alternate Crystal Gem Jasper isn't helping either.
• The reveal that Pacifica is still having doubts about whether she belongs in the kids's friend group in "Opposites Attract".

Side Materials

• The Pink Twins AU^note Not an AU being used in UF itself, but may be delved into in the sequel., where Dipper and Mabel end up dying and being brought back to life by Steven, turning pink a la Lion or Lars. The sheer amount of times the twins almost die means there's a stunning amount of possibilities for how things can go down and how it affects those around them.
• Another angsty AU that sprung up due to fan discussion and "what if?"-ing is one where Dipper gets captured by Homeworld forces and Yellow Diamond turns him into a ruthless cyborg assassin known as "the Stonemason", who is sent to eliminate his former friends and family, not unlike the Winter Soldier or the Masked Man from Mother 3. And because she loves angst so much, Minijenn is considering including it as a plot arc in the sequel.
  • Apparently Lapis's reaction to Stonemason being Dipper is going to be just as bad (or even worse) than that of Dipper and the other kids to Malachite.
• What happened to Dipper in the Crystal Falls AU. Abducted by Earth loyalists, struck blind, and kept captive for seven years, with no company except some Geodites. And when he's finally set free, he's furious at Mabel, Stanley, and Stanford for giving up on him. But then he proves he still loves his family by agreeing to be possessed by Bill Cipher, then seizing control of "Bipper" and trapping himself in an abandoned Kindergarten.

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