History Woobie / GravityFalls

The show has a ''lot'' of [[TheWoobie sympathetic characters]]:

** Not to mention the flashback to the twins' fourth grade Valentine's Day, when Dipper didn't receive a single card and ran from the classroom to hide in a janitor's closet when the class laughed at him for it.

** During Weirdmageddon, he spends three days wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland not sure if any of his family or friends are still alive. He goes "to heck and back" to rescue Mabel, to the point where he was ''dragging himself along the ground'' after a car wreck and that still didn't deter him, and when he finally reunited with her, discovered that she'd replaced him with a new "improved" version of himself; for a kid whose self-esteem is in the negatives anyway, that's gotta be incredibly painful. Not to mention the flashback to the twins' fourth grade Valentine's Day, when Dipper didn't receive a single card and ran from the classroom to hide in a janitor's closet when the class laughed at him for it.

** In "Roadside Attraction" he has four failed romantic relationships ''in a single day'' and in the end DidNotGetTheGirl. He was at least [[ThrowTheDogABone thrown a bone]] when he got an ImpliedLoveInterest with Pacifica.

%%Good Afternoon Editors, If you wish to add more woobies, please consult the cleanup thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15391212720A38366900&page=1

** His [[spoiler: struggling to tell Wendy how he feels about her and ultimately having his feelings unrequited]] puts him firmly in this territory during [[spoiler: "Into the Bunker."]]

** Despite the fact that [[ThrowTheDogABone Dipper and Mabel did get Blendin his job back]] at the end of "Blendin's Game", Blendin's secret message in [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]] revealed that [[spoiler: Time Baby and the entire Time Police decided to [[YankTheDogsChain keep on teasing him for losing to two kids]]. It got so bad, that [[DealWithTheDevil Blendin made a deal with Bill Cipher to take care of Time Baby]]. This results in [[DemonicPossesion Bill possessing Blendin]] to jumpstart Weirdmageddon. After Bill obliterates Time Baby, the entire Time Police [[MisplacedRetribution blamed Blendin for Time Baby's demise]], and deemed him an outlaw. Because of this, Blendin had to travel to different time periods to hide from the Time Police. Blendin ultimately [[TrappedInThePast ended up in the 1800s]] after his time tape was destroyed. Sometime later, [[WriteBackToTheFuture Blendin wrote a cryptogram base letter for Dipper and Mabel to tell them what happened to him]]. Sadly, it is all but implied that Dipper and Mabel [[AllForNothing never decoded the message]]. After all that, it's hard not to feel sorry for what happened to Blendin]].

* [[spoiler:Ford. He was more of a JerkassWoobie at the at the start, but it was clear that his experiences with Bill Cipher had put enough stress on him to drive him half-mad, and who knows what he had to endure after he was sent through the dimensional portal. All of his issues also stem from a lack of self-esteem in his childhood, often being deemed a "freak" for having [[ExtraDigits six fingers on both hands]]. As the series goes on, it's shown he's pretty much worried about what will happen to the world, which might include Stan, because of his own work that Bill had tricked him into doing.]]
* Toby Determined. All he wants to do is make something out of himself, namely a professional reporter alongside his crush, Shandra Jiminez. Instead, he's constantly made out to be a wierd, pathetic loser, has his hopes and dreams crushed, is a frequent victim of bad luck, and always gets shot down by everyone, especially the main characters, mostly because his informed ugliness. Add low self-esteem into this, and you have a good example of a guy who has NOTHING going for him. If it weren't for the fact that these were just quick gags and he had a ThrowTheDogABone at the end of the series, he'd have the worst life a person could have.

* Toby Determined. All he wants to do is make something out of himself, namely a professional reporter alongside his crush, Sandra Jiminez. Instead, he's constantly made out to be a wierd, pathetic loser, has his hopes and dreams crushed, is a frequent victim of bad luck, and always gets shot down by everyone, especially the main characters, mostly because his informed ugliness. Add low self-esteem into this, and you have a good example of a guy who has NOTHING going for him. If it weren't for the fact that these were just quick gags and he had a ThrowTheDogABone at the end of the series, he'd have the worst life a person could have.

* Pacifica becomes this as we learn more about her home life in season 2, ''especially'' in "Northwest Mansion Mystery" in which we learn that her parents are flat-out [[AbusiveParents psychologically abusive]] as opposed to just neglectful.

* In "Roadside Attraction" he has four failed romantic relationships ''in a single day'' and in the end DidNotGetTheGirl. He was at least [[ThrowTheDogABone thrown a bone]] when he got an ImpliedLoveInterest with Pacifica.

** On top of that, Wendy's facial expression when she sees Dipper do the "Lamby Lamby Dance" can be interpreted as a form of {{squee}}. So, while Dipper feels absolutely humiliated, it's not all bad.
** In "Fight Fighters", the poor kid seemed genuinely, ''realistically'' terrified that he had to fight with Robbie.
** His [[spoiler: struggling to tell Wendy how he feels about her and ultimately having his feelings unrequited]] puts him firmly in this territory during [[spoiler: "Into the Bunker."]]
** In "Sock Opera", when [[spoiler: Bill tricks Dipper into letting him possess his body]] the poor kid ends up so beat up that at the end of the episode he insists on needing to go to the ''hospital.''
** By a little more than halfway through the second season it's clear he's quietly been an emotional wreck for awhile. It's been noted that he has an extremely low concept of self-worth and is quick to blame himself for things that go wrong, even if it's not his fault. He's also extremely lonely (he still misses Tyrone, his clone, "the only one who ever understood") due to his only close friends being members of his family, most of whom pick at his insecurities in moments of [[InnocentlyInsensitive insensitivity]] just for the sake of [[ButtMonkey jokes]]. The major exception is currently [[spoiler:Ford]], who validates and even shares Dipper's interests and feelings and passes no judgement on the quirks that others have often alienated Dipper for. But as of "The Last Mabelcorn", it's very clear Dipper's been mentally traumatized by Bill's abuses towards him, and unfortunately [[spoiler:Ford]] seems to have unintentionally added to the nightmare fuel. To top it all off, he's been put in charge of protecting a McGuffin that, if broken, would end the world, and has very little idea what the right thing to do is in terms of protecting it. All of this adds up to one incredibly confused, hurt, frustrated, and lonely child.
** During Weirdmageddon, he spends three days wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland not sure if any of his family or friends are still alive. He goes "to heck and back" to rescue Mabel, to the point where he was ''dragging himself along the ground'' after a car wreck and that still didn't deter him, and when he finally reunited with her, discovered that she'd replaced him with a new "improved" version of himself; for a kid whose self-esteem is in the negatives anyway, that's gotta be incredibly painful. Not to mention the flashback to the twins' fourth grade Valentine's Day, when Dipper didn't receive a single card and ran from the classroom to hide in a janitor's closet when the class laughed at him for it.
** The reveal in ''VideoGame/GravityFallsLegendOfTheGnomeGemulets'' that Dipper, not even 5 minutes old, nearly suffocated in the hospital because of his umbilical cord. ''How'' can you not feel bad for the kid?
* [[BreakTheCutie Mabel]] can be this as well, ''especially'' in "The Last Mabelcorn" and "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future". Additionally, "Weirdmaggedon 2: Escape From Reality" depicts her as having been an AllOfTheOtherReindeer prior to her time in Gravity Falls, though to a lesser extent than her brother.
* [[ButtMonkey Blendin Blandin]] from "The Time Traveler's Pig." He wasn't a bad guy, yet he was reprimanded and punished for just doing his job. Clearly, he had been overworked and was a nervous wreck, and the minute he decided to take it easy, two kids stole his time machine. This was all PlayedForLaughs (and in no way was his story as sad as poor Mabel's when she lost Waddles).
** If it's any consolation, his only punishment was to finish doing the job he was trying to do in the first place, so no harm no foul with any luck. Though he is on his boss's bad side now.
** He did get sent to time jail for life. But then again, he did establish a combat match to get a wish to wish the kids out of existence (rather than just using it to undo the damage done to him). Also, from a managerial standpoint, a guy who lets himself get tricked by 12 year olds out of a time machine does not make you look good at all.
* Li'l Gideon's mother. "''[[SurvivalMantra Just keep vacuuming... just keep vacuuming...]]''"
* Bud Gleeful is a JerkassWoobie who's clearly being victimized and abused by his nine-year-old dark-magic-using son.
* [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Mermando]] in "The Deep End." Just a twelve year old kid, and he was separated from his family, just barely escaped from sailors who were going to [[ForTheEvulz feast on his flesh]], and wound up trapped in a swimming pool for an undetermined amount of time.
** It's also dang near impossible not to feel awful for the poor kid stuck in solitary confinement in the same episode.
** Again from that episode, Dipper can be considered one for giving up his new-found job as an assistant lifeguard to help Mermando. Of course, Dipper only wanted the job to reach his unrealistic desire to "eventually marry Wendy" so it might be mitigated somewhat.
** And later, Mermando's forced to marry a manatee! Guy can't catch a break.
* Sev'ral Timez. Let's see... they were raised in a giant hamster cage and cloned, were verbally abused by their creator/manager and were denied food if they didn't perform well, they are {{Extreme Doormat}}s who are too timid to stand up for themselves and allow themselves to be controlled by people, [[spoiler:they are now homeless and live in the forest and have to resort to eating ''garbage'' so as not to have empty stomachs]], and they have no idea how to take care of themselves. The astonishing thing is that, while the episode was a TakeThat towards the manufactured nature of 90s boy bands, the singers themselves were portrayed in an astonishingly sympathetic way.
* The "Free Pizza" guy never gets anything he wants, whether it's free pizza, a package, or barbecue. And he looks so dejected every time.
* Wendy, after she reveals that [[spoiler:[[StepfordSmiler she only pretends to be constantly laid-back]] as a way to cope with her aggressive family]], which is a burden on her emotions. This suddenly makes her rare emotional outbursts such as in "Boyz Crazy" [[HarsherInHindsight even worse.]]
* Old Man [=McGucket=]. [[spoiler:He worked with the author, and witnessed something so horrible that he decided the best thing would be to erase his memories of it with a mind eraser gun he created. He then continued to use the mind eraser gun for every event he wanted to forget, without ever realizing he was driving himself insane. It certainly makes the fact that his family ignores him now all the more harsh.]]
** Made even more sad in Journal 3, [[spoiler: where we see that he initially created the gun to cope with the trauma of being attacked by a gremloblin. Ford's musings in the journal even suggest that [=McGucket=] was suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder, even prior to the portal incident]].
* Poor Soos, as revealed in "Blendin's Game": [[spoiler: his dad left him at a young age and never came back, making up for missed birthdays with postcards saying things approximate to "Sorry I couldn't make it champ! Busy with work!" From the way Soos's Abuelita talks about him, it's clear the ParentalAbandonment was pretty purposeful rather than neglect stemming from travel work.]]
* [[ButtMonkey Thompson]], as revealed in "The Love God"; he [[spoiler: deliberately allows himself to be picked on to get friends and pleaded not to be alone when his friend group split up in anger]].
* Pacifica becomes this as we learn more about her home life in season 2, ''especially'' in "Northwest Mansion Mystery" in which we learn that her parents are flat-out [[AbusiveParents psychologically abusive]] as opposed to just neglectful.
* Grunkle Stan if you think about it. "Not What He Seems" has dialogue that suggests that [[spoiler:he feels directly responsible for his brother's disappearance, lamenting that he had to get involved in things 30 years ago. He's spent the last 30 years of his life looking for a way to save his brother.]]
** It only gets [[TearJerker worse]] in "A Tale of Two Stans".[[spoiler: After an accident in his teen years, Stan gets disowned, betrayed, and has to run from the law. After 10 years, he finally gets to see his brother and former friend, only to be told that he still doesn't want to see him again. On top of it all, he loses his brother who he brings back after 30 years, and his brother STILL hates him (or at least is just mad about how dangerous it was to try bringing him back to begin with) even though Stanley regretted those moments his entire life.]]
* [[spoiler:Ford. He was more of a JerkassWoobie at the at the start, but it was clear that his experiences with Bill Cipher had put enough stress on him to drive him half-mad, and who knows what he had to endure after he was sent through the dimensional portal. All of his issues also stem from a lack of self-esteem in his childhood, often being deemed a "freak" for having [[ExtraDigits six fingers on both hands]]. As the series goes on, it's shown he's pretty much worried about what will happen to the world, which might include Stan, because of his own work that Bill had tricked him into doing.]]
* Toby Determined. All he wants to do is make something out of himself, namely a professional reporter alongside his crush, Sandra Jiminez. Instead, he's constantly made out to be a wierd, pathetic loser, has his hopes and dreams crushed, is a frequent victim of bad luck, and always gets shot down by everyone, especially the main characters, mostly because his informed ugliness. Add low self-esteem into this, and you have a good example of a guy who has NOTHING going for him. If it weren't for the fact that these were just quick gags and he had a ThrowTheDogABone at the end of the series, he'd have the worst life a person could have.

* [[spoiler:Bill Cipher]] may also be one of these, albeit a destroyer of worlds. Even though the majority of his back story was revealed in other ''Gravity Falls'' merchandise. [[spoiler:''Especially'' the implication from the creator that Bill had a lousy childhood and the Axolotl's poem about him...]]

** Made even more sad in Journal 3, [[where we see that he initially created the gun to cope with the trauma of being attacked by a gremloblin. Ford's musings in the journal even suggest that [=McGucket=] was suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder, even prior to the portal incident]].

* Toby Determined. All he wants to do is make something out of himself, namely a professional reporter alongside his crush, Sandra Jiminez. Instead, he's constantly made out to be a wierd, pathetic loser, has his hopes and dreams crushed, is a frequent victim of bad luck, and always gets shot down by everyone, especially the main characters, mostly because his informed ugliness. Add low self-esteem into this, and you have a good example of a guy who has NOTHING going for him. If it weren't for the fact that these were just quick gags and he had a Throw the Dog a Bone at the end of the series, he'd have the worst life a person could have.

** The reveal in ''VideoGame/GravityFallsLegendOfTheGnomeGemulets'' that Dipper, not even 5 minutes old, nearly suffocated in the hospital because of his umbilical cord, the universe either hates him or Bill has been watching, and screwing with 'Pine Tree' for ''years'', how can you not feel bad for the kid.
* Mabel in "Dipper and Mabel Vs. the Future". So much. As if having her big birthday plans shot down wasn't enough, she [[spoiler:might have to leave Dipper behind in Gravity Falls]]. Additionally, "Weirdmaggedon 2: Escape From Reality" depicts her as having been an AllOfTheOtherReindeer prior to her time in Gravity Falls, though to a lesser extent than her brother.

** The reveal in the game that Dipper, not even 5 minutes old, nearly suffocated in the hospital because of his umbilical cord, the universe either hates him or Bill has been watching, and screwing with 'Pine Tree' for ''years'', how can you not feel bad for the kid.

* Sev'ral Timez. Let's see... they were raised in a giant hamster cage and cloned, were verbally abused by their creator/manager and were denied food if they didn't perform well, they are [[ExtremeDoormat Extreme Doormats]] who are too timid to stand up for themselves and allow themselves to be controlled by people, [[spoiler: they are now homeless and live in the forest and have to resort to eating ''garbage'' so as not to have empty stomachs]], and they have no idea how to take care of themselves. The astonishing thing is that, while the episode was a TakeThat towards the manufactured nature of 90s boy bands, the singers themselves were portrayed in an astonishingly sympathetic way.

* Wendy, after she reveals that [[spoiler:she only pretends to be constantly laid-back as a way to cope with her aggressive family]], which is a burden on her emotions. This suddenly makes her rare emotional outbursts such as in "Boyz Crazy" [[HarsherInHindsight even worse.]]
* Old Man [=McGucket=]. [[spoiler: He worked with the author, and witnessed something so horrible that he decided the best thing would be to erase his memories of it with a mind eraser gun he created. He then continued to use the mind eraser gun for every event he wanted to forget, without ever realizing he was driving himself insane. It certainly makes the fact that his family ignores him now all the more harsh.]]
* Poor Soos, as revealed in Blendin's Game: [[spoiler: his dad left him at a young age and never came back, making up for missed birthdays with postcards saying things approximate to "Sorry I couldn't make it champ! Busy with work!" From the way Soos's Abuelita talks about him, it's clear the ParentalAbandonment was pretty purposeful rather than neglect stemming from travel work.]]

** It only gets [[TearJerker worse]] in A Tale Of Two Stans.[[spoiler: After an accident in his teen years, Stan gets disowned, betrayed, and has to run from the law. After 10 years, he finally gets to see his brother and former friend, only to be told that he still doesn't want to see him again. On top of it all, he loses his brother who he brings back after 30 years, and his brother STILL hates him (or at least is just mad about how dangerous it was to try bringing him back to begin with) even though Stanley regretted those moments his entire life.]]
* [[spoiler: Ford. He was more of a JerkassWoobie at the at the start, but it was clear that his experiences with Bill Cipher had put enough stress on him to drive him half-mad, and who knows what he had to endure after he was sent through the dimensional portal. All of his issues also stem from a lack of self-esteem in his childhood, often being deemed a "freak" for having six fingers on both hands. As the series goes on, it's shown he's pretty much worried about what will happen to the world, which might include Stan, because of his own work that Bill had tricked him into doing.]]
* Bud Gleeful (and his wife), who's clearly being victimized and abused by his nine-year-old dark-magic-using son.
* [[spoiler: Bill Cipher]] may also be one of these, albeit a destroyer of worlds. Even though the majority of his back story was revealed in other Gravity Falls merchandise. [[spoiler: ''Especially'' the implication from the creator that Bill had a lousy childhood and the Axolotl's poem about him...]]

* Mabel in "Dipper and Mabel Vs. the Future". So much. As if having her big birthday plans shot down wasn't enough, she [[spoiler:might have to leave Dipper behind in Gravity Falls]].

* Toby Determined. All he wants to do is make something out of himself, namely a professional reporter alongside his crush, Sandra Jiminez. Instead, he's constantly made out to be a wierd, pathetic loser, has his hopes and dreams crushed, is a frequent victim of bad luck, and everyone, especially the main characters, feels the need to put him down, mainly on his informed ugliness. Add low self-esteem into this, and you have a good example of a guy who has NOTHING going for him. If it weren't for the fact that these were just quick gags and he had a Throw the Dog a Bone at the end of the series, he'd have the worst life a person could have.

* Mabel in "Dipper and Mabel Vs. the Future". So much. As if having her big birthday plans shot down wasn't enough, she [[spoiler:might have to leave Dipper behind in Gravity Falls]].