Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it. Remember—in Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust.
Gravity Falls is an animated Disney Channel Original Series created by AlexHirsch and produced by RobRenzetti. It began airing in June 2012 and has quickly developed a cult following due to its ties to nostalgia and clever, sharp humour which makes you wonder how it managed to get picked up by Disney in the first place.The show tells the story of twins Dipper and Mabel Pines, who have been sent to live with their grunkle *
great-uncle
Stanford "Stan" Pines in the mountain town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, where he owns the Mystery Shack—aka "the world's most bizarre museum"—for the summer. Dipper and Mabel's situation worsens (or, rather, betters) when Dipper finds a Great Big Book of Everything explaining the many strange beings, past events, and even federal cover-ups that exist within this town of secrecy. Thus begins their adventures as they interact with the supernatural world that surrounds them.The show has pages for recaps and Shout Outs. Be sure to check out the analysis page.
This show contains examples of the following tropes:
Action Girls: Mabel, Grenda, and Candy have all displayed Action Girl traits.
Downplayed with Soos, who's usually ready to lend a hand in monster hunts.
Sheriff Blubs and and Deputy Durland combine this with Police Are Useless.
Advertised Extra: When the show first came out, many of the promos featured Norman. He turned out to be a bunch of gnomes in disguise. They haven't been seen for awhile.
Affably Evil: The ghosts from "The Inconveniencing" would be just like any other sweet old couple...except they entrap and torment any teenager that comes into their store.
Agent Mulder: Dipper and Soos, the former spurred on by a supernatural compendium. For example, in the first episode, Soos says the mailman's a werewolf and believes Dipper's theory about Mabel's boyfriend being a zombie, a theory Dipper came up with after looking though the book.
All There in the Manual: Lots of info on characters, secret codes, screenshots and animated GIFs of 4 and beyond, as well as information taken from online games and otherwise, are being thrust into the public's hands before most folks can barely watch Episode 2.
Dipper's book serves an in-series example, seeing as it has information on all the creatures, various spells, and even a clue to a conspiracy.
Alliterative Name: Gideon Gleeful, Blendin Blandin, and Nathaniel Northwest
Amazingly Embarrassing Sister: Mabel decides to talk about Dipper's "Lamby Dance" at the very worst possible time...
Ambiguously Gay: The man who shows up out of nowhere to cheer on Manly Dan beating up a fish. He also shows up in the restaurant where Mabel and Gideon go on a date, calling the two adorable. His shorts are...pretty short, and he has visible eyelashes, which otherwise only female characters have. He's called "the Cute Biker", according to this. Also, in "Irrational Treasure" he and Manly Dan are briefly seen sharing a plate of meat between themselves. In "Boyz Crazy" he, along with Old Man McGucket, are in the audience at the Sev'ral Timez concert.
Sheriff Blubs and and Deputy Durland act very much like a married couple most of the time.
Ambiguously Jewish: The Pines family. Mabel and Grunkle Stan occasionally use Yiddish words ("mazel tov", anyone?) and there's also the fact that "Pines" is an eastern Ashkenazi Jewish surname.
"Bottomless Pit" has Mabel utter the line "Sweet Moses!"
Animation Bump: Pretty much the entire intro is drawn with more detailed shading and more fluidly animated than the rest of the show. More evident in some shots than others - for example, Mabel plugging her sweater into the outlet is drawn with great detail, and Dipper getting scared and dropping his flashlight is extremely fluid.
Which is not to say that the show itself is animated poorly. The sea monster in "Legend of the Gobblewonker" is particularly nice.
Rumble in "Fight Fighters", due to being animated entirely by Paul Robertson.
Anti-Mutiny: What the clone Dippers try to do to Dipper in "Double Dipper". When #2 realizes that the original plan wasn't working, they laugh it off and share a soda instead.
Big Brother Instinct: Dipper, most prominently when warning Mabel about her new boyfriend and driving a golf cart like crazy when he thinks she's in danger. Mabel also has had several instances of Big Sister Instinct. For the record, Mabel is older by five minutes.
Big Screwed-Up Family: While not exactly "big", Gideon's relationship with his parents is very, very, very messed up.
Bland Name Product: "Pitt" brand soda, possibly a parody of the real-life brand "Mr. Pibb". It's been sighted on a machine inside the haunted convenience store, and Dipper and his clone drink it at the end of "Double Dipper".
Or, more likely, "Cott". Cott's is also almost immediately associated with orange-flavored pop, and what's the logo seen on a Pitt vending machine?
It's a peach. Pitt Cola is shown in almost every episode, and the Gravity Falls site say it's a peach flavored cola with an actual pit inside the can.
Fun fact: The soda is very probably named after the show director "Joe Pitt" whose name you can find in the credits.
"Blind Idiot" Translation: In-universe, all the dialogue of Rumble Mcskirmish and the "Fight Fighters" game.
Bookcase Passage: Shown in the pilot, Stan has a passage hidden behind his vending machine. Where it leads to, however, is yet to be revealed.
Bowties Are Cool: In addition to the bowtie in Stan's regular ensemble, Quentin Trembley wears one, and Dipper and Wendy both don them in "Double Dipper".
Boy Band: Sev'ral Timez, an affectionate lampoon of 90s boy bands.
Brains and Brawn: It's subtly portrayed, but Dipper is more inclined to planning and reading while Mabel is more of a girl of action.
Brick Joke: In Episode 2, there's a Cutaway Gag of Grunkle Stan and the kids forging money, and he remarks that their Benjamin Franklin looks like a woman. Several episodes later the twins find a repository of America's embarrassing secrets that includes a folder about which Mabel remarks: "Oh man, Benjamin Franklin secretly was a woman!"
In "Double Dipper", Soos is the DJ for the party and needs a lightning sound effect for a punchline to one of his one-liners but can't find it on the soundboard. During the credits we see him go over the entire soundboard and find the lightning on the very last key to which he cheerfully exclaims: "Found it!".
Rather than feeling resentful to their master for putting himself above them or trying to take over the army of Dipper clones clones are totally in sync with the original - to the point where they have the same ideas and thoughts at the same time and tend to totally get along. They have no problem with helping Dipper fulfill his plan even though they won't be benefiting from it, since they're also Dipper and thus agree with the plan in the way he thought of it. It works out fine until Dipper has an epiphany they didn't and decides he doesn't want to follow the plan any more.
They are aware that they are expendable and don't seem to mind - #2 is even reassuringly points out before the plot happens that if they do go nuts Dipper can just get rid of them easy using water - and they treat being disintegrated as more of an inconvenience than anything.
They totally avert Kill and Replace, even when they briefly revolt against Dipper. At no point do they even think of replacing the original Dipper for more than a few minutes, and make sure he's comfortable while they do so.
In "Boyz Crazy", it turns out all the singers in Sev'Ral Timez are clone lab rats.
Cloudcuckoolander: Quentin Trembley. Full stop. Mabel, Old Man McGucket, and possibly Soos count as well.
Collector of the Strange: Grunkle Stan sure heaped together a whole hodgepodge of oddities when he created the Mystery Shack.
Coming of Age Story: Several of Dipper's experiences in Gravity Falls include learning about himself, defending a first crush, and boldly standing up for what is right; all elements of this trope.
Confusing Multiple Negatives: The song "Don't Start Un-Believing" the lyrics of which include "don't start un-believing / never don't not feel your feelings."
Conspicuous CG: All the vehicles are rendered in CG, and so is the water in certain shots from the second episode.
Continuity Nod: Besides the Myth Arc hints, there's the time when Dipper asks Mabel if they've got any pictures of the gnomes they saw the first episode and Dipper apologizing to Toby Determined for accusing him of murder in "Headhunters".
The "S" on the Mystery Shack sign was knocked off in "Headhunters". It has since yet to be fixed and appears broken in every following episode.
Mabel shows her scrapbook in "Dipper vs Manliness". You can see that it has a picture of the beheaded wax Stan from "Headhunters".
In the episode "The Time Traveler's Pig", the pilot of the wagon on the Oregon Trail exclaims "By Trembley!"
In "The Time Traveler's Pig", the show has a moment for all the previous episodes.
In "Boyz Crazy", Dipper sees Mabel dancing happily and comments about if she ate Smile-Dip again.
Credits Gag: There's a different cryptogram in the ending credits of each episode. To decode the cryptograms, each letter must be replaced with the letter that comes three spaces before it. The first episode's cryptogram reads "ZHOFRPH WR JUDYLWB IDOOV." Once decoded, it reads "WELCOME TO GRAVITY FALLS."
Once decoded, Episode 2's cryptogram reads "NEXT WEEK: RETURN TO BUTT ISLAND".
Episode 3: "HE'S STILL IN THE VENTS".
Episode 4: "CARLA, WHY WONT YOU CALL ME?".
Episode 5: "ONWARDS AOSHIMA!"
Episode 6: "MR. CAESARIAN WILL BE OUT NEXT WEEK. MR. ATBASH WILL SUBSTITUTE."
Caesarian and Atbash are both ciphers, Caesarian being the three-letters-back code, while Atbash is the Z=A-Y=B-etc. code. So, there's a technical break in the mix.
Once decoded using the Atbash code, Episode 7's crytopgram reads PAPER JAM DIPPER SAYS: 'AUUGHWXQHGADSADUH'". The cryptograms in later episodes are also solved using Atbash.
Episode 8: "E. PLURIBUS TREMBLEY".
Episode 9: NOT H.G. WELLS APPROVED!"
Episode 10: SORRY, DIPPER, BUT YOUR WENDY IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE.
Episode 11: THE INVISIBLE WIZARD IS WATCHING.
Episode 12: BROUGHT TO YOU BY HOMEWORK: THE CANDY.
Episode 13: HEAVY IS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE FEZ.
Episode 14 supplied a number substitution coded message, with dashes between letters and regular punctuation left as usual. The translated message reads: NEXT UP: "FOOTBOT TWO: GRUNKLE'S GREVENGE"
One episode even had live wax statues trying to chop off Grunkle Stan's head (not to worry, though: they only succeeded in decapitating his wax figure instead).
In "Fight Fighters" Grunkle Stan reveals that he owns ten guns, specifically to shoot anyone who tried to sneak a ladder into his house.
Deadpan Snarker: Grunkle Stan. Dipper has his moments as well.
Deliberately Monochrome: Played with in Episode 8. Dipper holds up a postcard of the town square, then lowers it to a sepia-toned town square. He was really just looking through some very dirty glass that was being carried across the street.
Early Installment Weirdness: The first episode was narrated by Dipper and ended with him writing in the journal, kind of like an episode of Doug. After that, the narrations seem to have been dropped.
Easter Egg: The messages in the credits at the end of every episode. To decode them, you have to send each letter "three letters back", as explained when the intro is played backwards. JHW WKH SLFWXUH?
Evil Is Petty/Poke the Poodle: Gideon returns in "Irrational Treasure". Not to carry out an evil revenge scheme on the Pines, but to taunt Stan while the latter was in stocks.
Gideon fights with Stan over a pool chair in "The Deep End".
Evil Laugh: Stan, Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, Grenda and Candy indulge in one in Episode 12 after Stan's Warped Aesop.
Extreme Omnivore: Implied when we see one of Mabel's drinks contain a strange cyclops Troll Doll and several dice, all in a green fluid.
She also once ate a whole tube of toothpaste because "it was so sparkly".
Eye Colour Change: Mabel's eyes turn green when she's had too much Smile Dip. Additionally, looking into the Gremloblin's eyes causes the eyes of two tourists to match the creature's bright yellow ones.
Fiery Redhead: Manly Dan. Averted with his daughter Wendy.
In "Tourist Trapped", when Dipper is trying to warn Mabel about Norman, he accidentally opens up to the gnome page of the journal instead of the intended zombie page. Turns out his first guess was more accurate.
At the end of "Tourist Trapped", Stan uses a vending machine to access a secret room. That surely won't come into play later.
During Lil' Gideon's Villain Song in "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel", he gets everyone to stand up after holding his amulet. Turns out, his amulet gives him Psychic Powers. Dipper was forced to stand up against his will, making Dipper question what just happened.
The Number 2 book.
There's also a newspaper in one of the earlier episodes which has an ad for a "child psychic".
In Irrational Treasure, the top secret document mentions a giant, evil, time-traveling baby from another dimension being frozen in a glacier in Antarctica. Fast forward to "The Time Traveler's Pig", where we see said giant evil baby apparently ruling over the future.
Four-Fingered Hands: Most of the characters in the show have four fingers, but some characters, like Stan and Soos, have five fingers on each hand.
Making it even stranger is how the cover of Dipper's book features a six-fingered hand.
Four Temperament Ensemble: Dipper is melancholic, Mabel is sanguine, Grunkle Stan is choleric, and Soos and Wendy are both phlegmatic.
You get a shot of Bigfoot◊ in the opening credits. Blink and you'll miss it.
Dipper's book has a lot of these, in the forms of foreshadowing, creepy info about the local monsters, and the occasional joke.
"Knock! Knock! Who's there? THE FORCES OF EVIL!"
At the end of the opening credits, you see a page from the journal with the words "VWDQ LV QRW ZKDW KH VHHPV". When decoded it reads "STAN IS NOT WHAT HE SEEMS".
Episode 8's document about Nathaniel Northwest can be read in full.
Blendin Blandin, the time traveler from Episode 9, can briefly be seen in the first◊ three◊ episodes◊, fixing the paradoxes the twins caused.
Episode 16- Pause at exactly 12:34, when Stan opens the book to the page about the pituitary gland, and you'll find a "three letters back" code at the bottom: "SXEHUWB LV WKH JOHDWHVW PBVWHUB RI DOO. DOVR: JR RXWVLGH DQG PDNH IULHQGV" (PUBERTY IS THE GREATEST MYSTERY OF ALL. ALSO: GO OUTSIDE AND MAKE FRIENDS).
Generation Xerox: The monster from "Boss Mabel" had his power reflected back at him showing him his worst fear he sees himself with glasses looking into a mirror, while the reflections screams "You've become your father!" He proceeds to scream and run away.
G-Rated Drug: Smile Dip, especially after eating "bleven-teen" packages of it ("The Inconveniencing")
Great Big Book of Everything: Dipper finds a book in "Tourist Trapped" with a six-fingered hand and a "3" on the cover; it gives clues to all the strange happenings in Gravity Falls. The book ends abruptly in the middle and the author is unknown. Li'l Gideon has a similar book with a "2" on it.
The Great Politics Mess-Up: Considering that Rumble McSkirmish is from an 80's video game, he believes the Soviet Union in still around.
Heroic BSOD: Mabel goes into a brief but pretty major one (for her, at least) in "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel" when she finds out she has to marry Gideon, sending her into "Sweater Town".
She goes into an even worse one in "The Time Traveler's Pig", where losing Waddles to Pacifica sends her into a BSOD lasting over a month.
Homemade Sweater From Hell: Averted with Mabel's sweaters. She knits them herself and enjoys wearing them regularly.
Mabel is hardly ever seen without one of her homemade turtleneck sweaters.
Ditto for Dipper's cap.
Grunkle Stan's fez and black tuxedo.
I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You: Soos pulls one when Gideon demands to know where Stan is. To his credit, he at least realizes how stupid it was immediately after doing so.
Imagine Spot: In "The Legend of the Gobblewonker", when Dipper asks Mabel what she'd do with $500, she imagines blowing it all on a giant human-sized hamster ball.
In the same episode, Dipper has one detailing an interview he would have if he caught the Gobblewonker.
Which would then be crashed by Mabel in said hamster ball.
Just You And Me And My Guards: Dipper and Robbie decide to settle their differences with a fight. Dipper, being a noodle-armed weakling, enlists the help of martial arts video game character Rumble McSkirmish to scare off Robbie. Granted, Rumble doesn't know the difference between scare and fight.
Karma Houdini: Almost happens to Pacifica Northwest in "Irrational Treasure". The twins found evidence of who actually founded Gravity Falls, but Mabel's willing to let it go. Dipper, however, isn't going to let this happen, and so, at the last second, right before she leaves, he gives her the evidence, which doesn't exactly please her.
Pacifica:What!? Mom! Dipper: Man, revenge is underrated. That felt awesome!
Love Triangle: Dipper and Robbie both vie for Wendy's attention, with both succeeding and failing at different times.
Lying Finger Cross: In the episode "Fight Fighters", Mabel makes a promise to Grunkle Stan and puts on a sweater with a hand doing the "Scout's honor" gesture on the front. When she turns her back to the fourth wall we see the back of her sweater has a hand with its fingers crossed.
The Magazine Rule: The characters have some interesting magazine subscriptions, such as Wendy's Indie Fuzz and Lake Ranger McGucket's Stoic Monthly.
Nice Hat: Grunkle Stan really likes his fez. Dipper also gets his hat by the end of the first episode.
No Communities Were Harmed: The fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon was probably inspired by many local landmarks/tourist traps from both Humboldt County, California and southern Oregon.
Bud: It's imported from Co-lum-bia. Stan: Wow, I went to jail there once!
No Smoking: In "Headhunters" the wax model of Groucho Marx isn't holding his signature cigar. Lampshaded by Groucho as he's killed.
Nothing Is Scarier: Played for Laughs in "Dipper vs. Manliness", as we never find out exactly what is in the Pain Hole that makes it so painful.
Occult Detectives: Dipper and Mabel, who often team up to investigate fantastical happenings in Gravity Falls. Soos lampshades this by calling them the "Mystery Twins".
In the first episode, Dipper suffers from 2 cases of this - in a row! In the first one, Dipper has 3 arms instead of 2, and in the second one, he has 4 arms!
Our Mermaids Are Different: They apparently go through puberty quite early and have seventeen hearts ("Horrifying but true!") They're actually pretty standard otherwise.
Out of Order: A bizarre case where the production order is off but the airing order matches the writing order. *
"Tourist Trapped"'s production number is 105, "The Legend of the Gobblewonker" is 101, "Headhunters" is 102, "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel" is 104, "The Inconveniencing" is 103, "Dipper vs. Manliness" is 106, "Double Dipper" is 109, "Irrational Treasure" is 108, "The Time Traveler's Pig" is 107, "Fight Fighters" is 110, and "Little Dipper" is 111.
Police Code For Everything: An officer about to fit an entire cantaloupe in his mouth is a "23-16", and a citizen delving into the true story of the town's origin is a "Code Sepia".
Precocious Crush: Dipper has one on Wendy, the 15-year old girl who works at the Mystery Shack.
Properly Paranoid: The old coot was right to be worried about the wax figures.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: Dipper thinks that Mabel's new boyfriend isn't normal and he's a zombie. He was right that Norman isn't normal,but he's actually a bunch of gnomes.
Running Gag: There are a couple of potential running gags, like Grunkle Stan being unable to find his pants and Manly Dan beating something up while the Cute Biker cheers him on.
We have:
Dipper dropping ice that he gets for Wendy.
Dipper's hat catching fire.
Woodpeckers.
The Dipper and Mabel look-alike kids.
Sarcasm-Blind: Mabel and Soos have both displayed shades of this trope.
Dipper and Mabel, during their "awkward sibling hug": Pat, pat.
"Dipper vs. Manliness":
Stan: Tap, tap. (later)Lazy Susan: Wink!
Scenery Porn: It's especially evident in the opening theme, but Gravity Falls is beautiful.
''Scooby-Doo!'' Hoax: Played straight in Episode 2, with the Gobblewonker. Even this straight example is subverted in the final moments of the episode suggesting that there really is a creature, but it just hasn't been seen (yet?). Otherwise averted in most other episodes, with the monster or ghost proving to be very, very real.
Serious Business: Mr. Poolcheck puts a lot of angry violent determination in making pool time safe. He, and a bar of angry men, also don't take kindly to prank calls.
Signs of Disrepair: The Mystery Shack's sign regularly loses the second "S" to spell out "Mystery hack", including in the opening theme. Rather fitting considering Grunkle Stan's personality.
Someday This Will Come In Handy: When Dipper finds the book in the first episode, he sees an amulet but ignores it and continues flipping through the book. Later on, in the fourth episode, it is revealed that the amulet grants the wearer mystical powers. Dipper hasn't realized this yet, however.
Spoiler Opening: Paying attention to the part with the photos in the opening shows Gideon, the gnomes, Blendin Blandin, and the Summerween Trickster.
Stealth Pun: "Will you join us in holy matrignomey...matri-matriMONY, BLAH, can't talk today..."
Urban Legend of Zelda: There is a picture circulating the Internet of the Slender Man watching Dipper and Mabel from the background in one of the episodes. This is not the case; viewing the episode itself yields no Slender Man.
Visual Pun: The Mystery Shack's sign has the second S in an odd position or completely taken off, spelling out MYSTERY HACK. Considering who owns the place...
Vomit Discretion Shot: While the gnome vomits on screen, it throws up rainbows. Taken to extremes when it fills up the entire closing credits of the first episode.
Later, in "Boss Mabel", we see a group of tourists from Stan's point of view. They all appear as walking, talking wallets, and one of them vomits coins.
We Will Meet Again: Used three times so far: the leader of the gnomes, Gideon and Blendin Blandin all swear revenge after being defeated.
What Have I Become?: In Episode 13, Mabel reaches her breaking point with Soos and Wendy. She tells them for their goofing off in a Stan-like manner, ending up with the fez on her head. She quotes this word for word when she looks in the mirror.
Though considering all that happened, she had a reason. Dipper himself stated: "What you had to, Mabel."
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Played for laughs in "Summerween". Soos hits the Trickster and shatters him completely when he was about to kill the kids, and freaks out when he thought he accidentally hit a guy. After Soos eats the Trickster, the episode draws to a close with an EverybodyEvil LaughsEnding as soon as it ends, Soos nonchalantly says "I ate a man alive tonight."
It should be noted that The Trickster was very happy that Soos liked eating him.
Whole Episode Flashback: "Bottomless Pit!" is focused on the characters telling stories, at least one of which we discover actually happened. Also qualifies as a Vignette Episode, as listed above.
Widget Series: Definitely the most off-kilter series on the channel.
The World Is Not Ready: Based on the events of "Boss Mabel", it seems that the tourists aren't quite up to seeing real magical creatures just yet.
The cursed wax figures in Episode 3. They try to murder Dipper and Mabel without hesitation.
Also, in "Summerween", the Summerween Trickster. In fact, he makes it look like he KILLED a child until the end of the episode!
Rumble, the Fight Fighter, was genuinely trying to kill Robbie, endangered Stan and Mabel by toppling the water tower, and beat up Dipper with a nearly lethal combo attack just because Dipper had lied to him.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: The convenience store ghosts in Episode 5. They would hurt teenagers though.
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