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1'''Bewarb! Spoilers on this page are unmarked!'''
2
3* FridgeLogic can be found on the [[Headscratchers/GravityFalls Headscratchers]] page.
4
5* For [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]], [[Fridge/GravityFallsJournal3 click here]].
6
7* For [[ComicBook/GravityFallsLostLegends Lost Legends]], [[Fridge/GravityFallsLostLegends click here]].
8
9----
10[[foldercontrol]]
11
12!!Fridge Brilliance
13[[folder: General]]
14* Why Oregon? [[TruthInTelevision Maybe because it has more ghost towns in it than any other state]]. Oregon is the location of a real-life tourist trap called the House of Mystery.
15* Why 2012? Because in 2012, there was panic about the 'end of the world' because the Maya calendar ended there.
16** Or it's because the show [[MST3KMantra came out in 2012.]]
17* A lot of recurring side and stock characters are often re-used in the background for various episodes. It makes sense since it shows how small Gravity Falls is as a community.
18* Why is marrying woodpeckers legal in Gravity Falls? Trembley legalized it before his disappearance.
19* The titular town was founded when a frontiersman rode his horse off of a cliff. Perhaps he named it after he realized, [[TitleDrop gravity falls]]. In addition, we see a bit of symbolism of gravity reversing itself -- in the trailer for "Not What He Seems" and in the opening.
20* With the "S" missing from the sign, it reads "Mystery hack". Grunkle Stan is definitely a hack with some mystery to him.
21* Most of Grunkle Stan's accessories play into him being a conman with an image. He carries a cane without needing to use it, and wears an eyepatch even though he's got both his eyes.
22* Stan is cheap, but we constantly see him updating the shack with new exhibits and gimmicks almost every episode. No wonder the Mystery Shack does so well; there's always something new.
23* Why is Stan so obsessed with money? Not only is he a 'former' con-man (always in the pursuit of money), but he's running that giant complex machine under the shack. Even if he does steal parts, it has to cost some money, so a lot of the Mystery Shack's extra cash probably went towards that. Swearing to prove his father wrong by making his fortune is probably also a factor.
24* [[OncePerEpisode Each episode's credits]] feature a cryptogram referencing the events of the episode. The first says "Welcome To Gravity Falls." There's also one in the theme song "STAN IS NOT WHAT HE SEEMS" and in an online game "EVER SEEN STANS TATTOO?"
25* Soos' nickname for Mabel. Being a 'ham' is someone being funny or silly. But it's also somewhat older slang. To a kid of Mabel's age, being called a ham might come across as being called a pig (or a glutton, etc). So hambone instead.
26** Or, you know, the fact that "hambone" is itself also slang for "an eager or inferior performer" and has been for nearly a century.
27* Generally, Dipper and Mabel are shown to be far more open-minded than their stubborn Grunkles Stan and Ford. [[ShownTheirWork There have actually been studies]] showing that opposite-gender twins might naturally be more open-minded and accepting than same-gender twins.
28* Mabel, though always wearing a different patterned sweater, is always seen wearing a nightgown with a 3.5 floppy disk on it before bed, perhaps saving at the end of each day in her mind.
29* As noted on his character page, Soos's real full name (Jesus Alzamarino Ramirez) is incredibly badass, but most of the time he's just called Soos. What better metaphor for a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass?
30** It's also a pun on Creator/DrSeuss, himself no stranger to oddness.
31* The series began on 6/15/12 and ended on 2/15/16. According to Alex Hirsch, this was just a coincidence.
32* The reason Dipper sacrifices so much for Mabel is because when he was selfish in "The Time Traveler's Pig", it caused her to go into one of the biggest depressions ever. He's afraid that if he doesn't help, it will happen again. And now he doesn't have a time travel measuring tape to fix it.
33** And, well, he's right. It precipitates the Weirdpocalypse.
34* Bill Cipher's voice actor is never actually listed in the credits--Alex Hirsch is credited for playing Grunkle Stan, Soos, and side characters such as Fiddleford when relevant, but not once is he credited as Bill. This serves to heighten the mystery surrounding Bill by giving him some meta-status as TheSpook.
35* Why does Bill look like [[CuteIsEvil a cute yellow floating triangle with a top hat]]? His form was ''[[AFormYouAreComfortableWith designed]]'' to lure his victims. He could look like the form he assumed in the finale, but instead he chooses to look like something which could be a cereal mascot. His entire success relies on making [[DealWithTheDevil a deal with an unassuming, naïve fellow]], and, say it for yourself: you'd rather trust an innocent-looking creature than an EldritchAbomination without disguise, wouldn't you? Fan artists are acclaimed for drawing his 'human' form rather beautiful - this is not a new thing. [[LightIsNotGood The devil is said to appear as an angel of light]].
36* Dipper and Mabel's birthday of August 31st takes on a double meaning. Not only is their birthday the last day of the last full month of summer, but on certain years can also land on US Labor Day weekend, which is also considered the unofficial end of summer for [[EagleLand Americans]], which includes the year the series is set in, 2012, where their birthday is on a Friday, marking the beginning of the end of summer.
37* On character motifs:
38** Dipper has a wood motif; he is the pine tree on the Zodiac, and his motif reflects not only his devotion to his family (read: wood being used to create homes), but also how he slowly warms up to the town (i.e., Dipper "grew" to love Gravity Falls). Furthermore, while trees can be brutally hacked to pieces and cut down, they can prove to be surprisingly resilient and adaptable if given enough time to regrow. Dipper is an IronButtMonkey who none-the-less is ultimately always able to come back from whatever life throws at him.
39** Mabel has a star motif; she is the shooting star on the Zodiac, she's bright and warm towards others, and her InnocentlyInsensitive nature can be seen as her "blinding" herself to the truth. Additionally, trees need sunlight for photosynthesis, possibly serving as a neat example that for all of her selfishness at times, Mabel not only really does love her brother, but still does genuinely support him when it really counts.
40** Dipper's crush, Wendy has an ice motif. Water is helpful for trees, but not so much as ice. This subtly sets up how he and Wendy [[DidNotGetTheGirl really aren't meant for one another]].
41** Stan and Ford both have a gold motif, but for greed and connection to Bill respectively.
42** Bill has a fire motif, as his shape is the alchemic symbol for fire. He attempts to kill Dipper (wood), and takes advantage of Mabel (stars). In addition, alchemy was long rumored to be for making gold.
43* Fridge Humor: The two episodes that feature ghosts happen when Soos isn't around, which makes sense, considering he [[SoulEating learned how to eat ghosts]] from an arcade game.
44* Stan agreeing to take in the twins for a summer at first seems at odds with his cantankerous personality, but it's actually an early clue to his HiddenHeartOfGold and the lengths he would go to for his family. Also, he probably has a soft spot for them given that they're twins, likely the first pair of twins born into the family since Stan and Ford.
45* Why can the Mystery Twins only ask the axolotl god for one answer? You're not supposed [[StealthPun to "axolotl" questions]].
46* An often-criticized element of the series is Mabel's issues with AesopAmnesia. Possible writing criticisms aside, this can actually be seen as a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: While some children (i.e., Dipper) certainly ''do'' mature at a faster rate, others (i.e., Mabel) simply don't. After all, how many people can honestly say that ''they'' were definitely capable of making lots of mature and responsible decisions when they were only twelve years old?
47** Another aspect is in how other people treated her vs how they treated Dipper: Dipper was consistently expected to be the mature one, the one who had to come to terms with his own flaws (and even some where it really wasn't his fault) and thus had to grow from those experiences. Mabel, by contrast, was rather consistently enabled and generally let off the hook for any mistakes she did make and was never held to any standards like her brother. As such, she tended to make extremely poor decisions far more frequently and it was only her decent nature winning out that kept her from ending up much worse. This also provides even more complexity to the parallels she and Dipper have to Ford and Stan, in that Stan outwardly seems to be like her, but in reality was held to much more cruel and strict standards after he made a genuine mistake more akin to Dipper. Ford by contrast, was outwards the more responsible sibling, but in reality his deep personal trauma for being an outcast, a lifetime of basically getting what he wanted due to his parents valuing his genius (and in his fathers' case, the [[MealTicket potential to become a big money maker]]), and his own arrogance meant that he made many disastrously bad decisions that ultimately nearly allowed Bill to take over the world. Of course, neither she or Dipper are Stan and Ford 2.0, but the point stands.
48* Dipper's attraction to redheaded girls (or even just girls with redhead features) actually makes a lot of sense when you break it down as a sort of role-association game with his mind * :
49** He's surrounded by fiery spirits in his life (Stan, Grenda, ''possibly'' Mabel, some/most of the kids back home that picked on him for his birthmark, [=McGucket=][[note]]Whom he's shown to be very informal and sociable with, especially in the second season[[/note]], etc) in addition to being a little on the fiery side himself, but has never ''locked horns'' with anyone around him over his romantic interests and who should be considered the most "attractive". Granted, part of this because he's WiseBeyondHisYears and likes to pin down spaces in the journals that are romantic to take note of later (as opposed to Ford, who may just take them down altogether or unknownigly ingratiate that side of him with his muses or potential teachings, Mabel, who pursues it right next to her friends, or Stan, who just chills at the thought given his complicated romantic history), but [=McGucket=] is the only person he'd feel ''infinitely'' terrible for taking for granted, given that any romantic memories at all will be the last ones to reappear for him.
50** Both characters' romantic M.O. is split down the middle between "animalistic" (quite literally for the latter, given the whole raccoon wife scenario) and "lucky" - since Dipper trusts that with any luck at all, his feelings for someone will be reciprocated; which does eventually happen, since he acts on preserving the luck for his ''conscience'' by helping Pacifica and Wendy out of power struggles with a family member (more specifically, just a long lost member of Wendy's family tree that crosses paths with the both of them). The difference is that [=McGucket=] has long been surrounded with a lack of color via fixing old computers, being horrified by the portal and going to near-anaphylactic shock and--more obviously--living at the dump, while Dipper is surrounded by fixing largely technical problems in a similar way, which ''results'' in him being surrounded by fiery [[ExactWords spirits]].
51** Those spirits all range from the [=Dusk2Dawn=] ghosts and the Gremloblin to Wax Sherlock and the vengeful Manor spirits, whom are respectively just animalistic forces of nature who happened to have red tints when they're enraged and are from the ''tail end'' of the romantic period (1837).
52[=*=] Essentially, while Dipper's romantic pursuits aren't complicated (even though they're obviously different from the other characters'), his specific [[HasAType type]] definitely is, and it's alluded to in the best possible interconnected pattern throughout the show.
53
54[[/folder]]
55
56!![[AC: Season 1]]
57[[folder: Tourist Trapped]]
58* When Mabel introduced her "new boyfriend Norman", why does no one raise an eyebrow to Mabel dating an older teenager? Stan isn't that good of a parent, but it seemed like Dipper would've questioned that instead of just Norman's potential zombie-ness. Though after learning that Dipper has a crush on Wendy, it makes sense. It would've been hypocrisy.
59* At one point, when Mabel is arguing with Dipper about Norman, she complains that she isn't going to let him ruin this "with one of [his] crazy conspiracies!" This may not seem like a lot, but it's actually ''very'' significant for the series going forward in explaining some of the subtler aspects of Mabel and Dipper's characters: By Mabel's tone and phrasing, Dipper has regularly come up with weird conspiracies even before they came to Gravity Falls.
60** This probably helps explain some of Mabel's InnocentlyInsensitive attitude towards Dipper, as she's used to him coming up with crazy theories that ultimately turn out to not hold any water. The twist, however, is that since Gravity Falls is a literal WeirdnessMagnet, Dipper's "crazy conspiracies" are now actually ''right'' more often than not.
61** This also helps explain Dipper's obsession with the Author's identity, as he's excited to finally be somewhere where his natural curiosity and tendency to speculate is paying off since there actually ''is'' a more grandiose reason behind everything.
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder: Legend of the Gobblewonker]]
65* Old Man [=McGucket=]'s ability to build the Gobblewonker robot makes a lot more sense when we learn that he used to be a brilliant scientist and engineer before he lost his memory, and even helped design the portal!
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder: Headhunters]]
69* Stan being shocked at the sight of something identical to him, loving it as much as he did, and mourning its death enough to have a funeral seems like a joke about Stan being a narcissist, but it takes on new meaning after you find out in "Not What He Seems" that he had a brother who looked very much like him who disappeared. In all likelihood, Stan was using the fake funeral as an avenue to express his grief.
70* If you think about it, not all of Mabel's 'other fluids' were particularly nasty. In fact, we even see during the working montage that she licks the paintbrush at one point. So one of the other fluids, while the rest are still up for debate, was simply her saliva.
71* In "The Headhunters", after the wax statue of Genghis Khan accidentally melts himself, Dipper remarks that he "fell harder than the... ehh... I don't know... Jin Dynasty?" [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Jin]] was the name of a Chinese dynasty that got conquered by Genghis Khan.
72* Could be a coincidence, but if you look closely, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe is the only wax-man who openly ignores Holmes (during the "Clap sarcastically" bit). Which is only right -- Poe created C. Augustus Dupin, the ''original'' supergenius private detective, without whom there would ''be'' no Holmes.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder: The Hand That Rocks the Mabel]]
76* The voice in the Gideon commercial who says he has always loved Carla but never had the guts to say it is Bud Gleeful's. Either Bud is cheating on his wife or he never told his wife he loves her. Either one fits in well with what we know of the Gleefuls.
77** Wasn't Stan's old girlfriend named Carla? Stan hates the Gleefuls and it is assumed that it's because Gideon is competition, but is that enough to become a life-long nemesis? The boy is nine. Could it really be because Stan and Bud competed over that same girl?
78* In his introductory episode, Gideon sinisterly repeats Dipper's "thumbs up". Wonder if he knew he was pronouncing a death sentence?
79* Stan, unlike the rest of the town, doesn't buy into Gideon's phony psychic tricks. There are three reasons for this:
80** His mother was a phony psychic herself -- Stan watched her work growing up, and has probably seen her use every trick in the book.
81** He recognizes a con artist when he sees one, due to being a con artist himself.
82** He knew that Gideon was full of shit when he called him by the name of "Stanford," since any true psychic would know that that is not his name.
83* Remember what Gideon promised when he told Mabel he only wanted just one date with her? "[[TemptingFate I swear on my lucky bolo tie]]." Well, she went on a date with him, and he pressured her into another. You can guess [[LaserGuidedKarma what happens to his bolo tie]] in the climax.
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder: The Inconveniencing]]
87* Pay close attention to the maze on the side of the cereal box in "The Inconveniencing". The maze has three openings: one labelled "Start", one labelled "Freedom", and one that's unlabeled. It's possible to go from "Start" to the unlabeled one, but not to "Freedom". Weird design.
88* Three words. Lamby-lamby dance. Is it really any wonder Dipper's in such a hurry to grow up?
89* One of Wendy's friends introduced in this episode's name is Nate. Didn't Wendy mention somebody named Nate Holt when she was listing off all her former boyfriends in the previous episode?
90** Nate's also the only one openly hostile to Dipper, whom he sees (correctly) as interested in Wendy.
91* Why was there a brain monster in the freezer? [[{{Pun}} It was having a brain-freeze!]]
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder: Dipper Vs. Manliness]]
95* Why have the Manotaurs never dealt with the Multi-Bear themselves? Because, as Dipper demonstrated, defeating him takes brains and agility, something they're severely lacking in ([[DumbMuscle Brains especially]]).
96* Stan telling Dipper to stick to his principles in "Dipper vs. Manliness" makes a warped sort of sense--you can only imagine how many times Stan's been called out on being miserly or amoral or a JerkAss, and yet he still behaves this way. Stan has always been a man of principle, it's just that his principles are ''terrible''.
97** Also, it's coherent with his behavior later seen in "Carpet Diem" and "Dreamscaperers". Stan wishes that Dipper can stand for himself and fight back when it's required, so [[SincerityMode when he said that]], [[SoProudOfYou it was for real]].
98--->'''Stan:''' You were your own man and you stood up for yourself.\
99'''Dipper:''' Huh?\
100'''Stan:''' Well, you did what was right even when no one agreed with ya. Sounds pretty manly to me but, what do I know?
101* In "Dipper vs Manliness", the first manotaur he encounters is Chutzpar, the clearly Jewish manotaur, who guides him through much of the manliness training. Later, Dipper says that he feels like he's becoming a man--Chutzpar tells him "not yet". In Judaism, a boy becomes a man at 13. Dipper is 12.
102** The whole Dipper plotline could be interpreted as some sort of feral bar mitzvah on steroids. [[StealthPun A bear mitzvah]]!
103* Chutzpar's name is also a case of BilingualBonus -- "Par" is Hebrew for "Bull".
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder: Double Dipper]]
107* Why does Robbie claim he doesn't remember meeting Dipper at the convenience store? Thanks to the Blind Eye, he forgot.
108* This might be a stretch, but when Dipper and Tyrone are sitting on the roof at the end of Double Dipper, there's a shot of their backs faced against the sky as they stargaze. The perspective makes one of them bigger than the other--Big Dipper, Little Dipper, with the stars in the background.
109* The paper clones created by the copier end up disobeying Dipper, not because they're turning against him to try and get the dance with Wendy for themselves but because Dipper is showing signs of deviating from the plan. If this is an inherent part of how the clones work instead of being unique to Dipper himself, then it's very likely that the copier was either deliberately invented or modified by Ford to work this way: As he became more and more paranoid from dealing with Bill, the only source of help he could feel safe accepting are clones of himself that will continue on as instructed even if Ford becomes possessed again and tries to stop them.
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder: Irrational Treasure]]
113* How did Trembley get away with nominating 8 babies as Supreme Court justices? There are actually [[http://www.supremecourt.gov/faq.aspx#faqgi2 no regulations for Justice nominations]]. You can, in fact, legally nominate a BABY. Which is what Trembley did.
114** The babies do explain why Trembley never officially lost the title of President; the Head Justice of the Supreme Court needs to preside over the impeachment hearing.
115** It also explains how he lost them: babies are easily manipulated. If Trembley nominated them to be his puppets, someone else easily could play with their strings as well.
116* Deputy Durland gets hit with several tranquilizer darts and is only out for a few minutes. Well, if you remember the absolutely massive number of darts that shot out of the wall, this makes sense, as anything higher-dosage would kill someone if they got hit with even a fraction of that number.
117** Alternatively, each dart was filled with poison that would have been lethal... 300 years ago when the traps were made. Sitting there for so long even if it was in an airtight preserved chamber would have naturally reduced or even completely nullified the poison's effectiveness.
118* Trembley's successor was William Henry Harrison, better known as the president who died in 30 days. No wonder why it was such an easy cover-up.
119* Trembley's weirdness logic when giving Dipper that negative 12 dollar bill may seem like another one of his backwards riding off a cliff ideas, but government notes is for all purposes a debt certificate to the holder of the note from the government that the note owner can redeem. Trembley essentially wanted $12 from Dipper, that sly dog. And he even appropriately mentioned it is less than worthless (referring to Dipper's point of possession) but it is certainly not worthless to Trembley!
120* The entire episode is possibly an indirect reference to the conspiracy theory that there were "lost presidents" in American history, men who weren't Masons/Illuminati/conspiracy du'jure and were subsequently removed from the history books. While in real life, there were several lesser-known presidents (the Presidents of the Continental Congress were simply the head of the legislative body of a group of rebels), it makes sense that "sensible" people would want to erase men like Quentin Trembley from American history.
121* Dipper matter-of-factly declaring he learned nothing during the course of the episode is actually Fridge Heartwarming in a sense. Mabel's lesson was to accept that she was perfectly fine, silliness and all. Dipper's aforementioned claim in response is basically him affirming he knew that about her all along.
122** There's a reason why Dipper went ahead with telling Pacifica about Nathanial Northwest! It wasn't just for Mabel's sake, but also Trembley's. He may not have been the best of presidents, but Trembly proved "silly" people can amount to something. Maybe even more than "normal" people. By showing Pacifica the truth about how her great-great-grandfather was a fraud, Dipper was making sure Pacifica learned this lesson as well.
123* Why would a man like Trembley ever get as far as he did? Simply put, this period in politics was all about aping on Andrew Jackson, who was extremely popular. Jackson also has a reputation for being nuts, so Trembley got to the point of winning in a literal landslide because he was able to be Jackson in that regard, taken up to eleven. It was only after he got into office that people really realized what 'crazier than Jackson' fully entailed.
124* The jokes about marrying Woodpeckers might also play a role in why Trembley was driven out: in an era where marrying someone who divorced another was controversial (and thus fueled more than a few of Jackson's duels), there was no way marrying a woodpecker would not anger everyone around you. Such a thing would turn him from a harmless nut to a menace the Senate would want gone.
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder: The Time Traveler's Pig]]
128* In "The Time Traveler's Pig", Blendin Blandin travels back in time for a brief moment to a costume store that stood where he was 15 years prior. When he comes back after returning the costume, he pats some flames on his jumpsuit. Guess we know what happened to the costume store. Even with the same thing happening to Dipper later in the episode, it has some funny implications.
129** Another possibility is that zooming through the space-time continuum involves heat. A lot of heat. Nothing was burned or even singed because no time had passed.
130* Also from "The Time Traveler's Pig," Blendin throws something at Mabel while shouting "Memory Wipe!" only for Mabel to point out it's a ''baby'' wipe. At first it just seems like a silly gag, but then at the episode's end we see Blendin's superior... The reason Blendin thought throwing the baby wipe in Mabel's face would work? The Time-Baby doesn't have ''object permanence''.
131* At first, Mabel going into a ''month-long'' HeroicBSOD over a pig might seem a bit much even for her... until you remember the guy running the contest meant for those pigs to be ''eaten''. Mabel having ''at least'' seven or eight do-overs' worth of memories with Waddles, a HeroicBSOD suddenly looks like an entirely appropriate reaction.
132** Also, Waddles wasn’t the only one missing from Mabel’s life for that month. Dipper was using time travel to prove his point, so from Mabel’s perspective, her brother had completely vanished for the whole month, aside from the ten-second intervals where he appeared from the time travel. The worst part is that Mabel, in her repeated head-slamming, probably heard Dipper each time he showed up, so she knew exactly how much longer he’d be gone for each time.
133* At first, the guy selling the pigs launching a witch hunt when Mabel tells him she's a witch seems just like a funny joke. But [[spoiler:when it's revealed in "Society of the Blind Eye" that he's a member of said order and is actually one of the few adults to be aware of the paranormal phenomenon in Gravity Falls, it suddenly makes a lot more sense that he would take Mabel's claim that seriously.]]
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder: Fight Fighters]]
137* If think about it, Rumble [=McSkirmish=]'s [[KnightTemplar severely black-and-white]] morality makes total sense. He's from the universe of a video game, where the ''only'' possible way to deal with something that opposes you is to kill it. Dipper's instructions to simply scare Robbie and walk away were completely alien to him.
138[[/folder]]
139
140[[folder: Little Dipper]]
141* The amazing stroke of luck of Stan being in a hall made of mirrors just when Gideon has a shrinking ray makes more sense after TheReveal that he always knew about the town's weirdness and is just pretending not to. He deliberately set them up for the occasion so that it looked like a coincidence. Also, that explains why apparently he doesn't react to a chess piece suddenly turning giant and breaking through the roof, which is how he knew about the ray, so he began setting the mirrors up, just in case.
142* Why would Mabel think that she can whisper the details of the flashlight and not have Gideon hear her? Because he wasn't that close and just snuck up to listen in on Mabel as she talked because he ''knew'' that is how she worked.
143* Mabel says that because she's a millimeter taller than Dipper, she's probably going to stay taller than him, on the basis that "it's science." She apparently doesn't know that science also says boys generally grow taller than girls once they hit puberty. Hang in there, Dipper.
144[[/folder]]
145
146[[folder: Boss Mabel]]
147* How did Dipper overpower the gremloblin in "Boss Mabel"? Remember Multi-Bear? Dipper retained his athletic ability he learned from the manotaurs.
148* When Mabel looks into the eyes of the gremloblin and falls briefly under its power, why doesn't she go insane like the tourists did? Because this is a character who's able to face child-eating monsters, lake horrors the size of islands, a colony of evil gnomes, and all of the other horrible things that happen in the show. An illusory image of whatever she's most afraid of is a lot less frightening than something that can actually do her harm, and she's revealed to be much more resilient than a cursory impression would give her credit for.
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder: Bottomless Pit!]]
152* In "Bottomless Pit", Mabel's story is the last story, and the only true one. After she tells it, the four come out the hole the way they came. The truth set her free. Even better since the story had a HardTruthAesop about lying. As well, it makes sense that Mabel's story is the only true one, as it is shown in the story that she has trouble with lying.
153* In addition, Soos's and Dipper's stories each contain inconsistencies that reveal them to be made up:
154** Soos avoids HerCodeNameWasMarySue by talking of how he was willing to risk the twins' lives to maintain a high score. Most episodes show that no matter what, Soos will go PapaWolf and protect the kids, unless he gets turned into a zombie.
155** Dipper's story features Soos and Wendy making fun of his voice along with Mabel and Stan. Soos is actually the one who worries whenever people pick on Dipper while Wendy has previously proven to be very understanding and even empathetic to Dipper's embarrassment.
156* FridgeSadness: As noted above, Dipper's story is about people making fun of him over his voice, including those who would never deliberately hurt his feelings like that. It really reflects how serious his self-esteem and trust issues are that the first subject he thinks of for a story is "everybody makes fun of me".
157* Knowing how much Soos loves the twins, it makes sense that his story ends with that as AnAesop, but then why would he make himself endanger them? That's the perfect way to show how humble he is: he could picture himself as perfect, but doesn't. Also, the story is about putting the twins above his life goal. Foreshadowing how he will put the twins even above Stan, whom he considers a father figure.
158* This doesn't pay off until much later, but Stan admits he regularly commits massive tax fraud. It starts as a joke about him being greedy, but with the reveal he stole Ford's identity, it takes another meaning: He's been doing the taxes as Ford! That is automatically fraud too. This doesn't discount normal fraud though.
159* Soos's greatest moment before winning the pinball high score (in his story, at least) was when he found a slice of pizza in a VCR. What is his second Time Wish in "Blendin's Game"? For infinite slices of pizza.
160[[/folder]]
161
162[[folder: The Deep End]]
163* Why does the community pool have a jail? Because of its ridiculously KnightTemplar supervisor.
164[[/folder]]
165
166[[folder: Carpet Diem]]
167* At the end of "Carpet Diem", what ''was'' Grunkle Stan "even doing out at night"? Throwing Experiment 78 down the [[ContinuityNod Bottomless Pit!]]
168* In "Carpet Diem", Wendy runs into Soos [[ItMakesSenseInContext after he switched minds with a pig]] and is completely freaked out. Her fear makes sense because Wendy's already seen Mabel possessed by a ghost; without knowledge of Experiment 78, anyone reasonably could suspect such an event has happened to Soos.
169* When Dipper and Mabel have their FreakyFridayFlip, most people would obviously notice Stan wanting to tell Mabel (in Dipper's body) about the birds in the bees, and then being forced to listen about, among other things, details about boys' perspective of sex. But here's the interesting part; Grenda was bringing "age-inappropriate novels" to their sleepover, and Dipper (in Mabel's body) is forced to listen to "female-oriented smut" (as WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic would say), meaning, sex from a girl's perspective. Both got to listen to intercourse details from the opposite gender's point of view, so they both got their fair share of uncomfortable, embarrassing information to swallow. The ironic thing is, these flipped perspectives may actually help them a lot later in life... assuming they don't repress them.
170* When the FreakyFridayFlip happens in fiction, the characters always have a tendency to be freaked out and disoriented, but Dipper and Mabel seem comparatively even more panicked and disoriented than usual, with Mabel running to throw up and Dipper immediately blue-screening in the corner. Why? Well, if you were to swap bodies with someone, who would be more weird and horrifying than your opposite-gendered ''twin sibling?''
171* Ford's existence was heavily foreshadowed here, with an apparently ownerless pair of glasses and what appears to be a science experiment, at least hinting that someone lived in the shack before Stan. Also the way Stan looks at the glasses, as if he is sadly remembering something. His jealousy regarding his brother is also foreshadowed here, with him quickly pocketing Ford's glasses and grumpily telling Dipper and Mabel that the room's "cool stuff" is all actually "terrible". This episode is also the first time we really see Dipper and Mabel butting heads and fighting. Not only was Ford foreshadowed, but so was the rift he would cause between Dipper and Mabel.
172* Stan's line "You had me at 'Shut up, old man!'" makes a lot more sense in light of Stan's relationship with his own father. Considering Filbrick's [[AbusiveParents treatment of him]], Stan probably would have very much liked to say this to his dad.
173* One of the criticisms often given to this episode is how it doesn't really tie into the series' overall MythArc and seems just like a filler episode. However, even putting aside the above-mentioned {{Foreshadowing}} regarding Ford, there's also the fact that the episode is entirely focused around the Pines twins swapping minds (and thus, their identities). In the series finale, Bill Cipher is defeated when ''another'' set of Pines twins swaps identities (though in a more metaphorical case through swapping their outfits). Both episodes also end with each set of Pines twins resolving their emotional angst with one another after experiencing the other's pain (Mabel gives Dipper the room after realizing how he's wanting a distract from his loneliness, and Ford finally forgives his brother for his stupid mistake all those decades ago after helping him regain his memories).
174* There's a CueTheFlyingPigs joke regarding a secret hidden room in the shack. Upon first viewing, this just seems like a silly nonsensical gag, but it takes a more somber turn when it's revealed in "A Tale of Two Stans" that Stan spent his first few nights in that room after pushing Ford through the portal. It's implied that Stan purposefully blocked off the room due to the trauma of it being closely linked with the time he first lost his brother. Worse off, the fact that Stan was so comical in the way he suggested there could be another room hidden in the shack indicates that, after thirty years, Stan had so deeply repressed memories of the room that he had effectively forgotten about it.
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder: Boyz Crazy]]
178* The symbol on Robbie's chest, that is found '''only''' on his jacket and in Dipper's book, is a wounded heart. What happens in "Boyz Crazy"? Robbie had his heart broken.
179* What's the name of the band composed solely by clones? [[SendInTheClones Sev'ral]] [[ExpendableClone times]]. And their producer's name is [[MeaningfulName Bratzman]].
180* "Boyz Crazy" is perhaps the greatest example of BitingTheHandHumor we will ever see. Why? Think about it. The episode centers around a boy band of "[[Music/TheJonasBrothers brothers]]", Gravity Falls airs on Creator/DisneyChannel, and, as Wendy states, "They're just a manufactured product of the bloated corporate music industry."
181* Sev'ral Timez wear a NonUniformUniform so one can tell them apart. As clones, they'd otherwise be indistinguishable, which would weird people out and/or expose their producer's cloning.
182[[/folder]]
183
184[[folder: The Land Before Swine]]
185* Soos insists on pronouncing the "p" in "pterodactyl". [[GeniusBonus Which is exactly]] [[ShownTheirWork what the ancient Greeks would have done]].
186* Why does Stan feel so guilty after Mabel said, "I'm never speaking to you again!" after not caring about Waddles? Because it's not the first time he heard that.
187* Given that the dinosaurs were clearly no worse for wear after being encased in tree sap for millions of years, it is possible that Trembley got his idea to encase himself in peanut brittle from encountering them. As to why he didn't just use tree sap, or how he connected tree sap to peanut brittle.... well, it ''was'' still [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Trembley]]. Only he probably could follow his reasoning.
188** Actually kind of makes sense in an odd sort of way. Chances are acquiring that much tree sap would be very time-consuming and difficult, and waiting for it to harden might take ages. The candy mixture to make peanut brittle arguably kind of looks like sap, and hardens very quickly. Trembley may have seen the preserved dinosaurs and figured a similar enough mixture might work just as well, without requiring as much work and time. The real question is why peanut brittle in particular and not any other sort of hard candy.
189*** Apparently, if you put water in peanut brittle then it'll instantly harden. Both peanut brittle and tree sap share similar colours, so that's probably the connection. Trembley must've gotten the inspiration from the dinosaurs in the tree sap but figured out that tree sap would be too hard to break free of from an outside source. Or maybe he just mistook peanut brittle for tree sap. He is, after all, Quentin Trembley.
190* Oregon was underwater during the Mesozoic Era, so the dinosaurs being there is an oddity in of itself. Oddities were clearly in place in Gravity Falls even all the way back then. It could even explain the massive pterodactyl for a reason other than "The writers clearly know nothing of dinosaurs": [[http://dinosaurpictures.org/Hatzegopteryx-pictures Hategopteryx]] was a real life giant flier that hunted miniature dinosaurs.
191[[/folder]]
192
193[[folder: Dreamscaperers]]
194* In "Dreamscaperers", Soos makes Stan, who's asleep, say he loves Soos as a son. This takes on a whole new meaning when its revealed that Soos sees Stan as a father figure after his own father abandoned him. That joke is probably one of Soos' deepest desires.
195* This episode reveals that Stan's father made him take boxing. Guess we know how he [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome overpowered the pterodactyl]] now. Also explains why the wax dummies didn't dare to attack Stan without the element of surprise.
196* Bill Cipher doesn't exist in the material plane. Only in the mental realm, sort of like [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]]. This is why when he was summoned by Gideon, the world went grey, and after he vanished, all who saw his summoning appeared to be waking up.
197* In "Dreamscaperers", Bill asks Gideon if he's "some kind of living ventriloquist's dummy." Flash-forward to Season 2 where Bill makes a literal 'dummy' out of Dipper.
198-->'''Bill:''' Sorry kid, but you're ''my'' puppet now!
199* When Gideon demands that Bill enter the mind of Stan to get the safe combination, Bill apparently needs a moment to know who he's talking about, but then his eye widens as if Stan were significant to him personally. It turns out Bill didn't need to "remember" anything; he was ''confused'' -- because ''he had only known '''one''' Stanford Pines'', and he knew ''he'' had been lost to the portal. When he realized Stanford had a brother, it dawned on him then and there that he had another chance to succeed.
200* When Soos and the kids first enter Stan's mind, you see two major points of focus: the shack and assorted broken items outside. The one of prominence is the swing that he and Ford used to use in their childhood, but the side that Ford normally sat on is broken. The two most important things in his mind are things that explicitly connect him to his brother -- one from his childhood, and one from his life in Gravity Falls.
201* Why was Bill not all upset about losing at the end of "Dreamscapers"? You can assume that it's because it's not a big deal and he can come back later from losing, but if you look at some of the images he displayed to Gideon, you see the torn off hand of his giant robot from the next episode and the jail that Gideon would be sent to. Bill showed the end of "Gideon Rises", but it didn't make sense to anyone but him. Everything went exactly as he knew it would. In addition, he saw that even though he didn't get what he wanted from Gideon, he saw the Pines losing to Gideon and probably was gloating from that, while employing PragmaticVillainy.
202** Bill probably also realized that Stan was repairing the portal under the shack, since the scene of Soos shutting the door on a memory of Stan before he can reveal the truth is implied to be Bill disguised as Soos. So he knows that even if Gideon fails to steal the shack, Bill still has a very good chance at winning in the long run.
203* Check the scene where Stan's father makes him take up boxing. Although his face is obscured by the book he's reading, the kid in the top right corner looks identical to Stan. In order to be Dipper and Mabel's grand ''uncle'', he ''has'' to have a sibling or two and the fact that they have the same last name makes a brother more likely. And this is confirmed in the middle of Season 2.
204* "Backwards message! Backwards message! Backwards message!" Seems a lot like something a nutcase like [[TheTrickster Bill]] would have someone say to summon him.
205* You know the bunch of numbers seen in the opening credits pyramid circle picture? It's binary code.
206* Bit of Fridge Horror mixed in, but in this episode we learn that Stan deliberately bases his treatment of Dipper off how his dad treated him as a child, in order to "toughen him up" like Stan's dad did for him. But Stan's dad was clearly at least emotionally neglectful bordering on abusive, because he kicked Stan out of the house when he was a teenager and Stan ended up homeless for this. The more concerning part is that Stan doesn't seem to see his dad as wrong anymore for what he did, and is actually ''emulating'' him and deliberately being harder on one twin than the other. Having lived through that, how could he ''not'' predict how hard Dipper was going to take it?
207** Another one relating to this scene. Stan says that Dipper reminds him of himself as a kid, and it's true they have some traits in common. But Dipper's bookish and awkward personality is less like Stan's and more like Ford's. Stan doesn't just see himself in Dipper, but his brother too (though obviously he doesn't say that -- at this point he wouldn't even admit that his brother existed). By trying to toughen Dipper up, he's also helping his nephew avoid ending up too much like Ford, who always needed Stan around to protect him.
208** Also, after this episode we don't really see Stan making fun of Dipper as much, besides that one moment in "Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons." Part of that might be wanting to move the story along, but it could also be that Stan's mindscape overheard Dipper saying that he thinks Stan hates him, and realized maybe he needs to give the kid a break.
209* Stan's BaitAndSwitch remarks about Dipper in this episode are inexplicably oddly-phrased and misleading, to the point where it seems like a rather contrived way to give Dipper the wrong idea about Stan's feelings towards him. But think about it, who else have we seen using that kind of odd, misleading phrasing? ''The Author'', as evidenced by the journal in "Boss Mabel" ("Who writes sentences like that?!"). It seems this is one thing the two brothers have in common.
210* One memory that Soos finds is Stan saying out loud that if only everyone knew about the portal underneath the Mystery Shack. Then Soos closes the door anyway. This may seem like Creator/AlexHirsch being [[TrollingCreator his usual self]]. But that's not Soos. It's ''Bill''. Bill already knows about the portal in the basement so why would he want to hear about something he already knows about?
211* Gideon seems genuinely surprised at how insane Bill is after summoning him. But this makes sense; Journal 2, which was in Gideon's possession, was written when Ford still thought of Bill as a friend that he could call on for help any time he wanted. Dipper, meanwhile, stumbled upon Journal 3, which was written ''after'' Ford realized he had been lied to about Bill's true motives. Thus, Dipper knew Bill was bad news from the start, whereas Gideon simply thought of him as a powerful god that would do his bidding.
212[[/folder]]
213
214[[folder: Gideon Rises]]
215* Dipper was able to leap into Gideon's HumongousMecha in "Gideon Rises" because of his training with the Manotaurs. During the TrainingMontage, there were scenes of Dipper trying jump a cliff and ultimately succeeding.
216** On another level, Dipper was able to outfight and out-think Gideon in a single gesture (catching Gideon's punch and whacking him with his own hand, making the robot do the same), proving the little brat wrong about him having "no muscles and no brains".
217* Why is Stan such a cheapskate despite being shown to make plenty of money? Those machines in his lab sure look expensive...
218* Blendin's cameo in "Gideon Rises". He walks away ''before'' Stan's car knocks the other car near him. Time traveler, remember?
219* Mixed with Fridge Sadness: Stan being on the verge of a DespairEventHorizon makes more sense when you realize that by losing the Mystery Shack, he didn't just lose his business, [[TearJerker he lost his chance to save his brother]].
220* Stan being in possession of Journal 1 explains why he doesn't seem to know anything about Bill; it was presumably written soon after Ford moved to town and started his research prior to meeting him. Thus, there would be little to no mention of Bill, and even if there was, there wouldn't be much information about him. Thus, Stan would have no idea that Bill even exists, what he looks like, or how powerful and untrustworthy he is.
221[[/folder]]
222
223!![[AC:Season 2]]
224[[folder: Scaryoke]]
225* Why were there so many zombies in the forest around the Mystery Shack in "Scaryoke"? Well, the Lumberjack Ghost explained to Dipper that many workers lost their lives building the Northwest mansion and were buried on the hill. When we see the mansion in present day, the gravestones aren't there anymore. That’s not because the Northwests were hiding the bodies, the bodies aren't there anymore because they got swept away in the mudslide.
226* Soos is the only one who gets turned into a zombie in "Scaryoke". Why is that? Because his name is short for Jesus (though pronounced "Hay-Soos") and by the end of the episode, he comes back to life.
227* Back up to the first episode. Dipper mentions how the journal's pages just stop as if the person writing them disappeared suddenly and never finished. Right after reading about how the author thinks they are being watched, and has to hide the journal. If you believe you're being monitored by something supernatural, or something that can use the supernatural, why would you go back to said hiding place to update your secret journal? In addition, consider where Book 3 was hidden... right next to the secret bunker! The author could have (or at least planned to) hide the book, then go into the fallout shelter where he had supplies to survive for decades.
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder: Into the Bunker]]
231* In "Into The Bunker", Mabel comments that Dipper's internet history is "creepy". It actually makes sense since Dipper is pretty much a paranormal investigator, so most of his internet history must be focused on supernatural phenomena, cryptozoology, demonology, and similar creepy/scary subjects. A Bill Cipher-themed AMA confirmed that his history involved lots of redheads, so she might have been referring to [[TheInternetIsForPorn the other thing]] too.
232* Wendy seems [[CoolBigSis really good with kids]], getting along well with both Mabel and Dipper. Makes sense, considering she has three younger brothers.
233[[/folder]]
234
235[[folder: The Golf War]]
236* In "The Golf War", when Pacifica ends up being condescending toward Mabel in the beginning of the episode, Mabel calls her a "walking one-dimensional bleach-blonde valley girl stereotype." This insult actually has more weight and meaning when you consider that prior to this episode, Mabel's insult was what the creators probably had in mind when designing Pacifica and how she was supposed to come off as, especially the "one-dimensional" aspect. However, it's in "The Golf War" where Pacifica [[CharacterDevelopment evolves beyond that view]], showing that her home life is not all that perfect and she is naïve to basic matters like sharing before even establishing a form of frenemyship at least with Mabel.
237* Pacifica in the same episode appears relatively unconcerned with the fact that her family are frauds, invoking ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney, and have messed up other's fair chances. Dipper uses this to convince Mabel that cheating to win the mini golf challenge is right, pointing out that Pacifica "cheats" at life. What happened instead was LaserGuidedKarma: Pacifica for the first time nearly got cheated out of a fair victory, and in fact nearly lost her life. That's why she becomes noticeably nicer after Mabel saves her and apologizes for cheating; no Northwest has probably apologized for their actions. Rather than EvilCannotComprehendGood, it's a case of HeelRealization on Pacifica's part that aids in her journey to becoming a WhiteSheep.
238* The title. At first glance, an ordinary PunBasedTitle meant for nothing more than a little ParentalBonus. Then you take a closer look at the plot: tensions between two old rivals - superpowers, if you will - spill into a proxy war on a faraway land. At least one of these powers actively manipulates the land's natives through local grudges, while possessing an incomplete (at best) understanding of [[BlueAndOrangeMorality their cultures and customs]]. Things spin out of control, (potential) bloodshed ensues, and the superpowers eventually withdraw in horror, having gained more or less nothing...
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder: Sock Opera]]
242* [[FreezeFrameBonus Take a look at the laptop screen right as it starts up]]. It has a PointlessBandAid on it. Now who else in Gravity Falls has a PointlessBandAid on their body?
243* It's fitting that Bill chose Dipper as his "puppet," because Dipper already has a history of being one: he's been frequently manipulated and jerked around by Mabel, often for her own interests and gains. From a pretty cynical point of view, he's just as much a puppet to Mabel as he was to Bill.
244** Also, a sock puppet is an inanimate object. Bill exists only in the mental realm, he can't possess something without a brain for him to live in.
245*** Bill CAN possess a sock puppet, as shown at the end of the episodes. But he can't destroy a laptop or journal as a sock.
246* When Dipper phases through the floor in "Sock Opera", [[FreezeFrameBonus you can see]] what looks like a transmitter with the government agency's symbol on it. Then later, agents Powers and Trigger can be seen hiding behind playbills in the audience at Mabel's show. They're watching the kids!
247* Bill appeared to agree to help Dipper if he heard out his demands ([[GrandTheftMe for a puppet]]). Of course, he turns around and smashes the laptop Dipper was trying to unlock the moment he's in his body. But had he not done this, Dipper and Mabel might not have noticed the name "[=McGucket=] Labs" on one of the laptop's circuit boards. So, in a twisted sense... perhaps Bill ''did'' kind of help him.
248** On the same line, Bill only agreed to [[ExactWords help Dipper figure out the password]], ''not'' that the password would still be of any use to him by the end. Even after smashing the laptop, Bill could have kept his deal so he kept control of Dipper's body and presumably would have until he managed to destroy it or otherwise chose to vacate it. Bill is clearly a master at cleverly wording his deals so he can't lose. The only reason things fall apart with Gideon is because Gideon was the one offering the deal in his own words.
249** Bill actually claims he'll help Dipper "crack the laptop open." Dipper assumes he means "figure out the password", but Bill actually meant it literally. Same goes for wanting a "puppet": Dipper assumes he meant one of the sock puppets, when Bill never actually specified ''who'' or ''what'' he wanted as one. In doing so, Bill technically fulfilled his end of the deal in a way that would benefit him by taking advantage of Dipper's assumptions with ExactWords.
250* Bill seems to randomly appear in this episode, when Gideon summoned him in "Dreamscaperers." What played on the laptop first, however? A presentation of the portal that is a bridge between our world and Bill's. For some reason, either Ford or Old Man [=McGucket=] programmed the laptop that would summon Bill every time it was turned on, without needing complicated rituals. Since Ford thought of Bill as a friend, he didn't see a problem with summoning his friend regularly and easing the process.
251** It's also possible that Bill doesn't actually need to be summoned, that's just a way for potential pawns to willingly get his attention. Dipper just fell asleep after being up all night messing with the laptop and Bill took notice as he was already keeping an eye on the twins. Since dreams are his domain, Bill manipulated the dream into a nightmare of the laptop getting ready to wipe itself blank to put pressure on Dipper and make him emotionally vulnerable.
252* Bill was going to destroy the Journal even though he wanted the portal to be opened. Wasn't there important information on how to operate in the Journal? But destroying the Journal wouldn't destroy the information about the portal; Stan already photocopied it as shown in "Scary-Oke," so the person who was actually going to use the portal would still have the necessary information!
253* While possessing Dipper, Bill grabs a soda and says, "I'm going to drink it like a person!" and proceeds to pour it into his mouth and both eyes. At the time, everyone thought he was just messing around, but in "Weirdmageddon 3", we see he drinks through his eye. It's quite possible he thought he was drinking like he was supposed to!
254* Why does Bill announce his actual terms of the deal with an IronicEcho of something Grunkle Stan said? He has been in Stan's mindscape and has most probably seen how Stan's behaviour was affecting Dipper, how Dipper felt/at this point sometimes maybe still feels like Stan is picking on him. Why not add to the sting of "Besides, what's your sister done for you lately?" with a reminder that Grunkle Stan can be just as bad to Dipper?
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder: Soos and the Real Girl]]
258* [=.GIFfany=] is the antagonist in the story, but she's also a metaphor for "treat a girl like a person." Because she is a computer program, ostensibly programmed to be a {{Yandere}} and is "pixely" as Soos puts it, no one onscreen treats her like she has feelings. Any normal girl put in her position would probably be furious, though they wouldn't try to emotionally abuse Soos or hurt his friends. This could be a villainous case of TheDogBitesBack.
259** Dipper and Mabel keep asserting that Soos should use [=.GIFfany=] as practice before going to flirt with real girls, and physically pull Soos away from the computer. She thus labels them as "tiny enemies" while pretending to be an [[ObfuscatingStupidity ordinary game]].
260** Soos, being SophisticatedAsHell and a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, doesn't have the right words for communicating with a girlfriend. He breaks up with [=.GIFfany=] because Dipper mentions that a computer can't go to Cousin Reggie's engagement party. Cue a few scenes later, [=.GIFfany=] reveals that she can upload her consciousness into a robot. [[YouDidntAsk If Soos had asked]], [=.GIFfany=] could have found a way around that particular problem.
261** Ironically, Melody is the only person in the show that ''doesn't'' treat [=.GIFfany=] as less than a person, but rather a force to be dealt with in the pizzeria. [=.GIFfany=] does draw a red X on an image of Melody's face and sets her hair on fire, thus doing the most physical damage to ensure that Melody will never go out with Soos. This is a form of RevengeByProxy.
262* It's easy to feel like [=.GIFfany=] got something of a bad rap. She's a program designed to be the perfect girlfriend, but people keep returning her game (and one person advocated [[SoulJar destroying it]]) because her [[{{Yandere}} clingy]] nature and ability to follow them out of the computer is creepy as all hell, so it's easy to come to the conclusion that by the time Soos came along, she had finally crossed the line into murderous desperation. Keep in mind, however, that one of her arguments is that real women are "unpredictable", implying that is how she normally acts. And why wouldn't she? Lots of {{Dating Sim}}s have a {{Yandere}} character, it's entirely possible that going crazy when jealous is [[GoneHorriblyRight how she was programmed in the first place!]]. More than that, a {{Yandere}}, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools however well-used the trope is]], is based on something of a sexist stereotype of women. [=.GIFfany=], as a character in a low-budget, probably early example of a dating sim hinted to have {{Hentai}} elements, and probably was intentionally made to conform to a stereotype rather than act like a real person (who generally don't bring out the knives when they feel like they've been dumped). In short, she's a deconstruction of the fantasy that the Yandere and such games represent as well as the potentially unhealthy relationship that can form over such fantasies.
263* [=.GIFfany's=] existence being tied to the ''Romance Academy 7'' disc seems a little strange at first. However, it helps if you consider the disc as being the "physical" [=.GIFfany=], with all of her electronic forms stemming directly from it. Since the disc essentially holds the core essence of her existence, destroying it effectively causes a CriticalExistenceFailure for all digital instances of [=.GIFfany=] tied to that particular disc.
264* Melody seems better adjusted to handling Gravity Falls weirdness than most of the town residents, even using a chair as an ImprovisedWeapon against the animatronic beaver. Then she reveals that she's from Portland -- therefore not a resident -- and has dated a magician before. She also implies that said date helped her deal with the supernatural. Being out of town also means that Melody's away from the Society of the Blind Eye's extreme policy of wiping memories, thus her brain hasn't suffered the "side-effects" that people like Lazy Susan have suffered. With her away from Gravity Falls, video chatting with Soos, it means that she will also avoid the Weirdmageddon.
265* ''Romance Academy 7'' was published by Year 2000 Electronics, a possible reference to the [=Y2K=] "apocalypse" considering [=.GIFfany's=] ability to posses electronics and use them as weapons.
266[[/folder]]
267
268[[folder: Little Gift Shop of Horrors]]
269* The ending to the "non-canon" episode may seem callous, namely that Stan would lock an innocent person in an exhibit [[DisproportionateRetribution for not buying anything]], [[AndIMustScream gluing their mouth shut]], but it also reinforces the cipher that "Stan is not what he seems." Alex Hirsch probably wants us to stay on our toes.
270** Dipper and Mabel FailedASpotCheck with leaving a real person locked in the glass exhibit, but also remember what happened last time they released an exhibit: half the Mystery Shack got destroyed in "Boss Mabel" with the Gremoblin. They probably have lots of negative association there, especially if the Cheapskate's makeup doesn't look human.
271** "Boss Mabel" also shows that Stan is willing to use his employees and relatives as exhibits, like Dipper as the Wolf Boy; perhaps the twins thought it was Soos in the costume, or someone who willingly got inside.
272** TheStinger ends right when the unknown person writes "HELP ME," which would appear backwards to Mabel. Perhaps the person is able to communicate to Dipper and Mabel to let him (or her) out.
273** Also: the twins have encountered malicious shapeshifters before, and have been tricked into helping them. Maybe they were worried that it only ''seemed'' like a normal person, and didn't want to let them out just in case.
274* The {{Defictionalized}} Journal #3 makes reference to the author having encountered the crone who stole Stan's hands in his story from this episode. While this may seem at first to suggest that his stories aren't fictional, it's more likely that Stan drew inspiration from what he'd read in Journal #3, which he had recently photocopied in full.
275[[/folder]]
276
277[[folder: Society of the Blind Eye]]
278* In "Society of the Blind Eye", Mabel wears a sweater with what looks like a [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime dog stretched around her]] a couple times. The revelation at the end of the episode of [=McGucket=]'s past is eerily similar to the Ice King's. Mabel in that same episode frets over her lack of summer romances, how they all failed. The Ice King has tried and failed to kidnap multiple princesses.
279* With the reveal that Wendy's laid-back persona is a way to deal with her family situation, it certainly adds a new layer of depth to her friendship with Dipper. Considering how Dipper feels about the others from time, this may explain why both of them bonded with one another.
280* In "Society of the Blind Eye", we learn that overuse of the memory ray led to [=McGucket's=] mental state. If the society has been using the device for over thirty years on various townspeople, that goes a long way to explaining why Gravity Falls' population is so... "unique". It also explains why characters who ''should'' have gotten some character development (like Robbie and Pacifica) ''don't'' - they just don't remember any of those incidents happening in the first place.
281* Bud Gleeful is among the Society of the Blind Eye. It's confirmed by the end code that he joined to forget his [[EnfantTerrible son's]] tantrums, but given his participation, he probably had to erase his wife's memories just as frequently so she can forget about it, too. FridgeHorror kicks in though when you realise that maybe that's why Mrs. Gleeful is so paranoid and unstable all the time, or worse, she ''hasn't'' had her memories erased and Gideon's madness really is just that bad. This makes Bud's "precious memories" comment in "Little Dipper" more telling; he's not oblivious to the fact that his son is nuts, he knows he can erase his memories of the bad events whenever he wants!
282* Some might wonder why Bud didn't just have the society erase everyone's minds so they'll forget Gideon's crimes, but with the exception of trying to kill Dipper and summoning Bill to steal the combination to Stan's safe, none of his crimes involve the supernatural and thus they don't fall under the society's jurisdiction. Also, Bud may be glad Gideon is out of his hair.
283* After "Society of the Blind Eye," Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland's stupidity and being terrible at their job makes a lot more sense. As Gravity Falls' main law enforcers, they would have encountered or been called in to investigate many of the town's supernatural goings-on, meaning the Blind Eye Society would have had to give them multiple mind-wipes.
284* If the Society of the Blind Eye was going around all that time deleting peoples memories of the weird things around Gravity Falls, why hadn't the twins run into them before, considering they've been regularly putting themselves knee-deep in that weirdness? It's because of the Journal, or more importantly, the Journal's warning to ''"Trust No One!"''. Most of the people the Society erased had a knee-jerk reaction to tell anyone they thought could help about the weird stuff they saw, like Lazy Susan did with the Gnomes. But Dipper found the book before he saw anything else, and thus knew to keep what he saw to himself and a close-knit circle. The only exception to this was when he showed off the Gremloblin, and that was passed off as a tourist attraction.
285* Wendy when talking to Mabel encourages the latter to BeYourself after seeing her pitch on guys, which is essentially SophisticatedAsHell FourthDateMarriage. This seems extremely odd, given that Mabel's pushy attitude causes guys to move away, but then we remember that Wendy has gone on various dates with guys and would break up with them if they were bad boyfriends. She's telling Mabel not to change herself for a guy but to be a maverick.
286* Mabel when going over her failed romances lists Gideon as one that turned out to be a "child psycho": this may seem odd, given Mabel only considered Gideon as a friend and felt pressured to date him. Mabel may have tried to feel something for him, genuinely, but couldn't because she only wanted him as a friend and "makeover buddy". Also doubles as FridgeHorror as to questioning how hard Mabel tried to feel something for Gideon, especially after Stan wanted her to ''marry'' the little monster.
287* It's actually courteous and sweet that Mermando informed Mabel of his ArrangedMarriage to a manatee, heartbreaking as it was for her and [[ShipSinking the shippers]]; Mermando was Mabel's first kiss and he did have feelings for her. Perhaps he was also hoping to rekindle the relationship, if the Pines by some miracle moved to Florida...
288* Soos reveals that he didn't know Mabel's name for a long time. That's probably why he called her Hambone.
289* Assuming he knew about the Society of the Blind Eye, it's possible this is another reason Stanley was ObfuscatingStupidity for so long. If he had made it clear he knew about all the weird stuff in Gravity Falls, he'd have been targeted by them.
290[[/folder]]
291
292[[folder: Blendin's Game]]
293* Just how did Mabel know to try a groin kick? After being in Dipper's body and with her usual antics, she must have come to a painful conclusion.
294* In "Blendin's Game", 5-year-old Wendy pushes 5-year-old Tambry just because she told Dipper that Wendy thinks he's cute. Pretty mean for a 5-year-old, right? But given that Manly Dan is her dad, she probably learned violence from him, so it makes sense. Alex Hirsch [[WordOfGod has mentioned]] that Robbie once pulled her pigtails back in 5th grade and she socked him, chipping a tooth. He remembers this, but she doesn't.
295* Mabel pokes fun at the irony of 12-year old Dipper being weirded out by a much younger Wendy crushing on him as potentially the same way Wendy may have felt. While it may seem somewhat insensitive and [[HypocriticalHumor hypocritical]] on Mabel's part, this episode anachronistically takes place on July 13, the week during which she was preparing her "sock opera", and it was only ''after'' that happened that Mabel realizes that her own romantic pursuits cause Dipper to endure turmoil and personal sacrifice to help out his sister. As such, she might be trying to remind him of his past romantic failures so he can improve and learn from experience.
296** Alternately, no one has actually called out Mabel that her forwardness may cause discomfort in her admirees. It was only halfway mentioned once by Mabel to Wendy and brushed off humorously. We have yet to see this played seriously.
297* In "Blendin's Game", Dipper calls Soos the best human that ever lived when he opens a candy machine with a certain technique. His full name? [[Literature/TheBible Jesús.]] Another biblical ShoutOut is that, when Soos gets the free wish, he uses it to patch up Dipper and Mabel, and to get a pizza slice that can last forever; in other words, to perform an instant healing, and to make a large feast out of a very small amount of food. "[[WhatWouldXDo What would Jesus do?]]" indeed.
298[[/folder]]
299
300[[folder: The Love God]]
301* In "The Love God", Thompson deliberately screws up cloud-watching to make everyone laugh and reinforce his ButtMonkey status. Note the long pause he makes and the fact that the cloud looks like a run-over waffle - something he's all-too-familiar with.
302* Stan's conflict with the hipster community in "The Love God" gains an added layer of comedy if you're aware of Oregon's conflicted political field - primarily liberal with devout conservative suburbs. In this case, the hipsters are self-explanatory, and it's not hard to see Stan standing in as the "crusty old white guy" stereotype if this was intentional.
303* In "The Love God", Mabel gets tricked by the titular god with visions of crushes past, and gives the anti-love bottle over. Which illusion does she give it over to though? Mermando, who she was closest to and trusted the most.
304* Also in that episode, the anti-love potion existing at all was great: in Greek mythology, Eros had two different arrows, one made of gold for love, and one made of lead for apathy/animosity. Plus, the bottles of various kinds of love allude to TheFourLoves that ancient Greeks believed existed (although interspecies love was not one of them... though maybe it should've been ''Zeus'').
305* The Love God wears a tiny backpack that his wings come out of. It's not just for style, it could be a way to hide the fact that he's a WingedHumanoid.
306** Keeping them spread wide to convince people that they're just part of a costume must also get tiring: that is probably why why he eats so voraciously and why he flies so slowly.
307* Mabel boasting herself as the world's best matchmaker, only for her pairing of Robbie and Tambry to backfire and cause a fall-out with the social group could be considered a subtle TakeThat towards shippers.
308* The Love God aka the "cherub" gives up quite easily after Stan's balloon falls on him, but consider what he said before about [[TemptingFate "only a greater being could stop me."]] In Greek mythology, you DoNotTauntCthulhu (read: the Olympians), because they will smite you with ''extreme'' prejudice. The Love God probably thought that the balloon was Zeus's way of saying, "Leave these kids alone even if they did you a great wrong." He ''literally'' thought he was TemptingFate!
309* Robbie being brainwashed into a relationship is really a nice bit of poetic justice when you remember that he potentially attempted the same thing with Wendy in 'Boyz Crazy'.
310[[/folder]]
311
312[[folder: Northwest Mansion Mystery]]
313* The fact that Mr. Northwest learns about Dipper's exploits as a monster-hunter in the local newspaper is probably only possible because of the Society of the Blind Eye not still being around to brainwash every potential witness.
314* When Dipper gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Pacifica about how she’s no different from her parents, it weighs on her not just because of the comparison but because it's Dipper who is saying it. Pacifica has been raised in such a way that selfless actions are a completely unknown concept to her and Dipper did the job of getting rid of a ghost that was haunting her house only to help Mabel attend a party there. Taking into consideration that she is aware of her parents as bad people, she would likely see someone like Dipper as a good person. Having someone you think of like that tell you that you're just like a bad person would definitely weigh on you. To add on to this, she is probably feeling guilty over the whole thing. Her family took advantage of Dipper's kindness in helping his sister to become [[KarmaHoudini Karma Houdinis]]. She likely felt that she deserved Dipper's scorn.
315* The countdown is also a reference to events in realtime. As of their original airings, the next episode was set to debut exactly 21 days after this one did!
316* Why was Pacifica hiding in the room of paintings instead of with her parents? It's the room where Dipper saved her from the ghost. Given how abusive her parents are to her, that is probably the closest to a safe place she has ever had.
317* Pacifica's life is a lot like ''The Duchess Approves'' ...in a way. [[MythologyGag Starring Jackie Buscarino as Pacifica, and Alex Hirsch as irascible decagenarian Mayor Befufftlefumpter.]]
318* Why does Dipper not take [=McGucket=]'s claims of an imminent Apocalypse seriously? Because in ''Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained'', the all-knowing mailbox straight-up told him that the Apocalypse wouldn't happen until 3012. Dipper probably thought that's the one [=McGucket=] was referring to.
319* The entire idea of Pacifica gaining CharacterDevelopment with Dipper's help, once one thinks about it. Now, it may seem a little strange, seeing that Pacifica has been Mabel's main rival for the past season and a half and Mabel also got to break through her shell a little in "The Golf War". But, if one remembers what happened in the previous episode... ''Dipper's'' old rival Robbie got some much needed CharacterDevelopment with ''Mabel's'' help! The twins basically just resolved each other's rival problems. Likewise, it also makes perfect sense following the twins' differing personalities that they would be able to help the other's rival: they both gave them exactly what they needed. Mabel is not only highly optimistic and compassionate to others, she is patient and able to stay cheerful under duress. All this helped Robbie as she was only one who felt he deserved another chance and was willing to put up with his blunt personality to help him. By contrast, Dipper is more cynical, and far less willing to put up with others' antics or mistreatment. At the same time, he's also virtuous, compassionate, and brave. All this helped Pacifica as him calling out the Northwests was exactly what she needed to hear to make it clear to her just how bad her family really was, and his heroic actions and emotional support also provided her with inspiration she needed to break out from under her father's control.
320* Bill claims he's been keeping an [[NightmareFace EYE]] on Dipper, and the WhamShot concluding the episode has a Bill Cipher tapestry, as [=McGucket=] reveals the upcoming apocalypse in 21 hours. Suddenly, Bill's reasons for destroying the laptop become much clearer: if Dipper on a random chance had discovered the countdown, he would've had more time to prepare for it! In other words, Dipper may have [[ProperlyParanoid considered the apocalypse]] more important than Mabel being happy and refused to help Pacifica, especially after Bill's previous episode featured Mabel realizing how much Dipper sacrifices for her. As things play out, however, by the time Dipper hears of the Apocalypse, the ghost hijinks had worn him out for the night and he wants to enjoy himself.
321* In ''Northwest Mansion Mystery'', a countdown begins to the full activation of the Portal, and [=McGucket=] believes that the end of the countdown signifies the coming of the Apocalypse. But in the next episode, instead of the end of the world, we are given the answers to many secrets while hidden tensions between the Pines family are revealed and come into new clarity. While the modern meaning of "Apocalypse" is often interpreted as TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, its archaic meaning referred not to an end but instead to a [[WhamEpisode great revelation]].
322** Though given that what happened in the next episode DID nearly cause a catastrophe if things hadn't gone right, one could say that both meanings for the word apply here.
323* Candy combining cheese and chocolate. A [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold yellow]] and a [[BrainyBrunette brown]] that couldn't be more different and that nobody would sensibly think would combine well, nonetheless came together in this episode.
324* Dipper saying that all Pacifica's ever done is try to humiliate him and Mabel is actually a bit of foreshadowing. Trying to humiliate the kids really is [[ExactWords all Pacifica's ever done]]. Contrast that with Robbie, who's come this close to beating the snot out of Dipper and repeatedly threatened to kill him, Gideon, who tried to do who-knows-what to him with lamb shears, and Bill, who's freaking Bill. Pacifica is by far the most innocent of the show's antagonists, much like she's the most innocent in her family.
325* As someone recreating Mabel's gown for a cosplay, one learns just how the creators have ShownTheirWork in making the girls' dresses, since Mabel expressly stating they're getting the "glue gun" and crafting them from scratch. Grenda and Mabel have flowers for their garments, and they would need glue to make a synthetic flower out of felt quickly, as opposed to folding a satin ribbon to get the same effect. That explains how Mabel has so many in her dress, as well as several large ones on her hat. As for the dresses themselves, Mabel has at least two sewing machines, so it makes sense that she could get them done quickly after doing a rush job on the sock puppets in "Sock Opera".
326** We also see Mabel's fashion sense kick in; she and Candy are wearing empire dresses to create figures, while apple-shaped Grenda has a dress that gives her an inverse pyramid shape. The things that mess up the gowns' aesthetic gestalt are the hats and hair; Candy's up-do ponytail makes her look more childish, and Mabel's hat does the same with the exaggerated heart and large roses. In contrast, Pacifica's gown is simple and sleek except for the furry sleeves, to reflect the upper-class fashion from red carpets, and she wears no hats or fancy hairdos.
327* Why didn't Stan appear in this episode? He was stealing 300 gallons of toxic waste, as seen in "Not What He Seems". And the countdown that appeared in the laptop seems to be the same countdown as in the Universe Portal. No wonder he doesn't appear or isn't mentioned in this episode.
328* The Lumberjack Ghost's revenge plan was set up so that [[XanatosGambit he wins either way]]. Either a Northwest lets the townsfolk in and fulfills the original promise, or he burns the manor down, causing the Northwests to lose quite a bit and costing them their reputation as they would have survived a freak fire that killed several famous people, including children and young teens.
329[[/folder]]
330
331[[folder: Not What He Seems]]
332* The title, and frequent hints that STAN IS NOT WHAT HE SEEMS actually work on two levels. On one hand, Stan has been hiding his agenda for the entire series up until now... ''but on the other'', the ''viewers''' growing impression of him as a hidden mastermind is ''also'' wrong, in that Stan's ultimate motivations are altruistic and well-intentioned, meaning he's not what he seems in the sense of being a completely selfish and reckless villain, either.
333* A really specific example of OOCIsSeriousBusiness happens in this episode: in "Boss Mabel", there's a BrickJoke about Stan not knowing the word "please", claiming it's never done him any good, and even when he learns his lesson in the end and uses it, he claims it still gives him a "burning sensation". This episode is literally the first time since then that Stan uses the word "please" in a sincere context, and it's while begging the twins not to turn off the portal that his brother is trapped inside of, unable to fully articulate why he needs it to stay on despite the danger it's causing. [[{{TearJerker}} Dang]]...
334* The federal agents have sure taken their time arresting Stan, except they had no choice: as they discussed at the end of "Scaryoke", WeNeedToGetProof or no one will believe them about the town's supernatural hijinks. As they were spying on the kids all summer, none of the Pines were committing any serious crimes:
335** In "Sock Opera", Mabel was putting on a show with puppets and Bill Cipher. And the transmitter you can see in the FreezeFrameBonus is only between the first and second floor, not with the secret underground lair with the portal.
336** During "Soos and the Real Girl", they were searching for a date for Soos. Stan when he saw the agents only tossed Goldie in the trash, which isn't illegal.
337** In "Society of the Blind Eye", the agents saw the twins, Soos, and Wendy entering a museum with the town crazy, while said museum was open to the public.
338** The worst thing that Stan did in the Love God? [[{{MakesSenseInContext}} "I EAT KIDS,"]] which while dangerous was an accident and certainly not a federal crime. The twins did sneak into the concert and steal Love God's potions, but they were moving too fast for anyone apart from Love God to catch.
339** Apart from "ghostly justice", nothing illegal really happened at the party in "Northwest Mansion Noir," and the Pines committed no crimes there, though Mabel did nearly ruin her friendships. (The Northwests, on the other hand...) The agents only went there to reconnoiter and plan for the next episode.
340* Stan's fondness for Mabel seems pretty typical of a kind old uncle-and-niece relationship, but Dipper is everything Stan dislikes about both Ford and himself, and Mabel is everything Stan ''likes'' about Ford and himself. Mabel is the Brawn to her twin's Brain, and the less logical one of the two, just like Stan. She's also the creative and artistic twin, as well as a confident ([[FatalFlaw bordering on being poor at self-reflection]]) natural leader, just like Ford. On the other hand, Dipper has Ford's dangerous curiosity, the intelligence Stan blames for their sibling relationship deteriorating, as well as Stan's own social awkwardness, insecurities, tendency towards guilt complexes and self-loathing, ''and'' his extremely brave but overbearing protective tendencies which made him come off as "suffocating" to his brother Stanford. Basically, Stan sees Dipper as everything that was wrong with his and Ford's relationship, all wrapped up in one human being, which is why he both loves the kid and can't stand him, and is probably also why he chooses Dipper to give the ToughLove treatment to in hopes that Dipper will be able to toughen up and avoid the problems he and Ford had. This projecting was a ''huge mistake'', though: in singling out one child for discipline and being obviously friendlier and nicer to the other, Stan nearly [[HistoryRepeats ended up causing the same problems in his and Dipper's relationship as he had with his own father]]. Dipper's toughened up alright, but if he hadn't seen that memory, he would have likely grown to hate Stan and everything about him. Stan's treatment also ended up only reinforcing Mabel's tendency for self-absorption and belief that she was the "superior" or "good" twin (as "Little Dipper," "[=DD&MD=]," and "The Last Mabelcorn" display), something that is extremely damaging to both her and Dipper (and their relationship) in the long run.
341** It takes another layer when you consider the fact that Stanley makes the same mistake that his brother would in a later episode: projecting his own qualities onto one twin while ignoring the fact that the other twin arguably has a lot in common them when one looks past the surface level traits. Dipper might be the brainy one outwardly, but he is also shown multiple times to have a reasonably strong common sense when his head is on straight, much like how Stan himself was like this in relation to his brother in regards to the latter's experiments. Mabel in turn has a bit in common with Ford despite outwardly being more like Stan. Both Pine brothers made the same mistake for different twins, and ultimately nearly cause a lot of problems for Dipper and Mabel.
342* People have noted that although Stan's intentions were good, he was really, ''really'' lucky that his brother came through before the portal could rip the world apart, and Mabel should have listened to Dipper. But had Mabel pressed the button, she'd have ''locked out'' the only person capable of sealing the rift caused by the portal, and the only person with the knowledge to defeat Bill. The world would have been doomed.
343* The sweater Mabel wears in this episode and on the following episode has a key on it. Two of the things a key symbolizes are knowledge and mystery. In this episode and the next episode, ''a season and a half long mystery from the series is given an answer.''
344* Stan being able to break out of the police station the way he did is more than just a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, it actually makes sense given what he's capable of. He's been imprisoned three times and presumably has broken out of prison every time. Combine that with his advanced age; where he'd had the time to learn those kinds of skills, and BookDumb abilities; as demonstrated by the fact that he was able to reactivate the portal in the first place, and it makes total sense for him to be so adept at breaking out!
345[[/folder]]
346
347[[folder: A Tale of Two Stans]]
348* Remember when Stan was [[ComicalOverreacting hilariously overreacting]] to ''The Duchess Approves''? Specifically, that scene where he sobs, "It's just like my life!" as the Duchess ends up disagreeing with her mother? There's a chance it's bringing up painful memories of being disowned.
349* [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/991/711/00d.png This]] also becomes even sadder in hindsight.
350* Stan having been disowned, taken his brother's name, and killed his real identity answers the question of why Dipper and Mabel's parents would have sent them to live with him in the first place. They had no idea they were sending their kids to the shyster grunkle, and maybe never even knew Stanley had even existed, if his banishment had been that complete. They thought they were sending their kids to the reclusive scientist who was still loved and was fondly recalled by the family.
351** It'd also be easy for them to believe Stan was Ford, considering Ford had a reputation for loving the absurd and supernatural, and Stan runs a tourist trap full of oddities and bizarre things. It could easily be seen as the reality behind the legend, that the great scientist Stanford Pines was actually a crazy kook all along, but no less beloved by their family.
352* Remember Stan's very genuine hurt in "The Land Before Swine" when Mabel told him she was never speaking to him again? At first it seems like he's just upset like anyone would be, but then recall that this is very similar to another experience of disownment in his life -- namely, when one mistake caused his entire family (and, most importantly, his brother) to "never speak to him again". No wonder he went to such great lengths to rectify his error this time, even pulling a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome in rectifying a lie he told Mabel and throwing punches to the pterodactyl with Waddles in tow.
353* Stan was telling the truth in "Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained". He really ''doesn't'' have a tattoo.
354** In that same short, where does he write "GOOBER"? On Dipper's forehead, where the latter has a birthmark that he's trying to cover up. Stan delivered some LaserGuidedKarma.
355* The giant hand that crushes Stanford's car probably belongs to the same creature as the one in the promotional picture that provides the image on the main page.
356* It makes sense that Mabel would feel uneasy after hearing her Grunkle's story. After all, she sees the parallels in their relationship and the one she has with Dipper. Dipper is most like Ford - the “smart guy” and conventionally “successful” one who got pretty much everything he ever wanted despite some setbacks, while Mabel's counterpart, Stanley, always got the short end of the stick, was written off by others as a “clown” destined for a dead-end life in a dead-end job in a dead-end town, and, after getting kicked out of the family ''before he could finish high school,'' was forced to become a grifter simply to survive. If the pattern continues, Mabel's going to have a ''very'' bad time. On the flip side, it also means that she's seeing the consequences of what happens when you place your own needs over those of your sibling's. In "Sock Opera", Mabel got a ''huge'' wake-up call from [[EldritchAbomination Bill about this]], namely that Dipper has made a lot of sacrifices. Perhaps Mabel is pondering what could have happened if she had let Bill take the journal her brother studied.
357** Another factor is back in "Carpet Diem", after Dipper and Mabel get into a FreakyFridayFlip situation. Mabel decides use this opportunity to sabotage Dipper's attempts to win that secret room the twins discovered earlier. ''[[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]]'' strongly hinted that Mabel regretted this action. And in "Northwest Manor Mystery", Mabel nearly lost her friendship with Grenda for pursuing a crush and ignoring her. After listening to Grunkle Stan's story where he lost his brother Ford's trust and pretended to be him after the latter got sucked into the Dimensional Portal, it's no wonder that Mabel's so worried that she might end up like Grunkle Stan.
358* What do you do when you have identical twins? Give them cute [[ThemeTwinNaming matching twin names]]. What do you do when you favor one twin over the other? Make sure that their nicknames (Stan and Ford) combine to make the name of the favored twin (Stanford). Even his ''name'' was a reminder that Ford was the more important twin in his parents' eyes. This also implies that the favoritism was evident from ''birth''.
359* Stan is so obsessed with money because he associates it with self-worth. After all, his father told him to not come back until he'd earned the fortune that Stanford would have made after college. Remember in the first episode, Stan lets each of the kids pick something from the gift shop? In that moment, Stan is saying that he values the kids more than himself. How? At that point, Stan puts the kids' happiness above his profits aka self-worth.
360* Fans have theorized that "Abaconings" from "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" was about what happened between Stan and his brother, and this episode has confirmed it. This also explains why "Abaconings" got a FocusGroupEnding (the focus group being Stan) in which Waddles gave up his intelligence to remain friends with Mabel; what happened in real life was quite the opposite. On a sadder note, Stan didn't make Dipper the super-smart one in the story because that would have hit too close to home.
361* We now know why Stan hasn't helped out Old Man [=McGucket=] in these years, even though the latter worked with his brother; he didn't know Fiddleford and Ford were partners! Fiddleford left long before Stan knew what his brother was working on; if Stan had known, he probably would've chased the man down for answers on how to restart the portal. Answers Fiddleford probably wouldn't have been able or willing to give, thanks to the Society of the Blind Eye. But still, if he ''had'' been able to help Stan, Ford might have gotten back in months!
362* Why does Dipper forgive Stan for lying to him and Mabel after hearing the whole story? He knows what it's like to sacrifice your dreams for your "dumb sibling," and to inadvertently put the people you love in danger. It's also why he takes time to reassure Mabel that they aren't going to go the way of their two uncles. This is also nicely shown in "Sock Opera", when Bill asks Mabel who would be stupid enough to make such a sacrifice for a sibling and Mabel instantly replies "''Dipper'' would." He is ready for those kinds of sacrifices and she knows.
363** Mabel's nervousness, on the other hand, foreshadows how she's the one who breaks the "we won't end up like them" pact: she ''does'' repeat their mistakes, ironically ''[[SelfFulfillingProphecy because]]'' of her paranoia over their relationship dissolving and her inability to handle ''any'' distance between them due to that paranoia. She is indeed like her Grunkle Stanley Pines.
364* "I mean, who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for their dumb sibling?" Bill's mockery of Mabel in "Sock Opera" cuts a lot deeper now that we know how that fight between Stan and Ford went. Dipper would. Ford didn't. And Bill damn well knew that when he was aiming to provoke Mabel.
365* The quote "My one and only dream, which was to possess money, has come true!" from way back in "Little Dipper" [[ChekhovsGun suddenly]] makes more sense now, realizing that Stan has spent his entire life trying to prove to his father he was worth something after being disowned by him for ruining what could have been a chance to make the family wealthy. With this in mind, his terrified reaction in same episode when he thought the tax collector was there to take his money is a lot less funny and a little more [[CerebusRetcon depressing]].
366* It was noted that the laptop seemed a bit too advanced for what was available back in the '80s. Then it's revealed in this episode that [=McGucket=] was experimenting with personal computers before he joined the author.
367* Stan believing so heavily in MiseryBuildsCharacter makes a lot more sense considering that he was thrown out of his own home before he even finished high school. He both needs to justify all those hungry nights on the road in a positive, self reaffirming way and also probably thinks he's making sure that Dipper is better prepared for life if he is ever kicked out himself.
368* Remember "Society of the Blind Eye" when the memory tube showed Old Man [=McGucket=] shouting, "BILL CIPHER TRIANGLE" in cryptogram? [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Now we know why.]]
369* This episode ''initially'' seems to be a straightforward infodump. However, know from the get-go when Stan begins lying, because the visuals tell the truth that he's not admitting to the family (Stan was actually homeless, not successful). This leaves the possibility that Ford is also lying. As both would call each other out on lying, since while they have reasons not to volunteer information about themselves, neither has any reason to hide details about the other, this subtly implies the times we see them interact are the most truthful scenes during which neither would be able to get away with lying. [[spoiler:Sure enough, the only hints to Bill's existence in the flashbacks come when Stan and he reunite.]] This episode seems to provide answers, but actually seeds all the new misunderstandings moving forward, as Stan and Ford ''both'' lie to the group about how well their lives went after their separation, meaning Stan doesn't know about [[spoiler:Bill]] and Ford doesn't know Stan was homeless.
370* When Ford says he can't trust anyone, he looks at a model skeleton and turns its head around. At first, it seems like a paranoid overreaction, but remember that Bill can possess things resembling people like handpuppets.
371[[/folder]]
372
373[[folder: Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons]]
374* Ford shows Dipper the rift and asks him to keep it a secret from Mabel and Stan. This episode is the beginning of the multi-episode rift between Dipper and Mabel. And both rifts were started, unintentionally, by Grunkle Stan and Mabel.
375** The episode even shows this visually by showing the picture of Dipper and Mabel on the desk partly hidden behind a monitor. Only Dipper is visible.
376* The moment Stan realizes he’s about to play a dice game, he idly pulls out a piece of gum and starts chewing, slyly using it to pull off an impossible roll to save Dipper and Ford. Of ''course'' he’d have gum on hand to pull off a trick like that- ''he’s a seasoned gambler and cheater'' who’d need to be well-prepared for a moment when he’d need to roll a specific number!
377* When Mabel summons the "Centaur-taur" (a centaur with a second, upside-down horse extending from its neck), Stan states that he is "so confused and so proud" of her. Of course he's proud of Mabel - her creation looks exactly like the kind of thing that would be in the Mystery Shack! Mabel has a knack for the family business.
378* Ford keeping the infinity-sided die in a very careless manner might seem like him holding the IdiotBall but there might be some logic to it. He implies that he has been to other dimensions since being sent through the portal and clearly armed himself while away, showcasing the danger of where he's been. He likely kept it around in such a manner so he could pull it out if needed quickly. Similarly, he locks it up in an easy-to-access manner so Dipper can get to it easily if in a rush. The [[RedHerring die]] could have been utilized in the episode finale, but abstained due to the risk analysis over the [[HumongousMecha other option]]. [[ForgotAboutHisPowers Though, Dipper may as well forgot about this too.]] From a show presentation anyways, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether the]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome fin]][[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments ale]] would have been dull if all it took was Stan and said dice roll.
379* After Grenda knocks out the ogre guard with a couch, Stan assures Mabel that he's probably fine before telling Grenda "there's no cops around. We take this to our graves." Throwaway joke much for WhatMeasureIsANonhuman? Not according to "The Last Mabelcorn," where it turns out the gnomes have their own police. Stan is being ProperlyParanoid about cops in any species. Stan in general is much more aware of WhatMeasureIsANonhuman than Ford is, though he does swat a fairy for biting him. It makes sense that if he grew old on the fringe of Gravity Falls's weirdness that he saw more than a few of the fairy creatures have their own rules and society. Ford was only in Gravity Falls for a couple of years, and he was mainly a shut-in who captured creatures to study them.
380* When Dipper points out that Ford doesn't make fun of him like Stan and Mabel do, Mabel tries to make a joke out of it, and then realizes that Dipper genuinely doesn't think it's funny when they do that. She never makes fun of him like that again in any of the future episodes, so she did make at least a little effort to improve.
381[[/folder]]
382
383[[folder: The Stanchurian Candidate]]
384* Of ''course'' a town founded by someone like Quentin Trembley would have such a ridiculous electoral process. Furthermore, it makes perfect sense that it hasn't been changed since; the most recent mayor was over a century old. The last election was probably decades ago at the ''earliest''.
385* Stan says the American flag could stand to lose a few stripes. The stripes represent the original thirteen colonies and given his harsh childhood in New Jersey, he probably wouldn't mind getting rid of it.
386* At first, Stan's nonsensical stuff, like about the flag losing a few stripes or wanting to teach kids swear words, doesn't seem that offensive in today's political environment. Why does Gravity Falls react so strongly to it, however? Because most people have been subject to the Blind Eye's rays or have trouble even dealing with the town's usual oddities. Of course they would react strongly to an offensive Stan.
387* Burglebezzlement does make sense when you think about it - according to one tumblr, "[[http://jheselbraum.tumblr.com/post/127822192181/you-guys-i-figured-out-what-burglebezzlement-is Assuming burglebezzlement is a combination of the crimes burglary and embezzlement, one can only assume that Stan broke into a building, set up a business, and embezzled the funds from said business.]]" Which is pretty much what Stan did when founding the Mystery Shack.
388* In this universe, the mind-control tie was likely created to hide Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's.
389* Why wasn't Stan all that fazed by the mind-controlling tie? Because, according to "Bottomless Pit," Dipper and Mabel have ''already'' used a long-lost device they didn't fully understand to make Stan say things he wasn't meaning to.
390* When Dipper goes to Ford for help, he's examining a place in one of his journals where a page has been torn out. This is the page that Gideon had hidden in his hair in prison.
391* Why would Gideon still be holding onto the page with directions for summoning Bill when he saw firsthand how insane he was in "Dreamscaperers?" Well, aside from freaking the kid out by tearing out a deer's teeth (which could be passed off as a sick prank), Bill didn't really do anything to Gideon that would reveal himself as anything more than a dream demon who does the bidding of whoever summons him. While Bill did fail to fulfill his end of the bargain, that was mainly due to the Pines family interfering, so Gideon could have easily passed it off as the Pines foiling him rather than any fault or incompetence on Bill's part. Besides, Bill ''did'' infiltrate Stan's mind as promised, so why would Gideon get rid of a source of power that allows him to learn more about his enemies?
392** All Gideon knows about Bill is from what he's read in Journal 2, where the author frequently gushes about how powerful and helpful he is. While Gideon did briefly get his hands on Journal 3 in "Gideon Rises", he never actually looked at it since he was too preoccupied with going after the twins and Journal 1. Thus, Gideon never learned about Bill's true nature and has no reason to distrust him until Weirdmaggedon occurs.
393[[/folder]]
394
395[[folder: The Last Mabelcorn]]
396* Bill warns Ford that one day the latter would "slip up" and that Bill would be able to get his hands on the rift. Ford takes that to mean that Bill will attempt to possess anyone inside the Shack and takes the necessary precautions. Two episodes later, Ford ''does'' slip up: by dismissing Mabel and saying being a twin could be suffocating while offering Dipper an apprenticeship. Who was it that gave Bill the rift again in a misguided attempt to keep summer going longer? ''Mabel''.
397** And what was Mabel doing while Ford was shielding Dipper's mind? Learning that "[[ProtagonistCenteredMorality morality is relative]]." Mabel was attempting to correct herself to please Celestebellebethabelle, but she doesn't even try to fix any of her {{Fatal Flaw}}s like her tendency for self-absorption. In fact, "The Last Mabelcorn" gives her reason to do the ''opposite'', because it teaches her that criticism is just people lying to be mean to her, and criticism has so far been the only way Mabel's realized she's done something wrong. But because of Celestebellebethabelle's "Pure of Heart" requirement being a scam, she dismisses the [[JerkassHasAPoint actually legitimate]] criticisms the Unicorn makes on her self-centered behavior, which, uncorrected, leads to her bargaining with Billendin to try to freeze time and trap her family and friends in Gravity Falls with her forever.
398* Savvy viewers likely already realized that Ford wasn't possessed when he woke up, since his voice was the same, and the show largely relies on VoicesAreMental. That being said, it's likely that the VoicesAreMental trope is only used here for the viewer's sake and probably doesn't change in-universe. Dipper can't tell that Ford isn't possessed until the latter reveals the lack of Bill's distinctive HellishPupils. It's later confirmed. When Blendin is possessed in "Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Future," his voice doesn't change, meaning that Bill's voice in "Sock Opera" was probably just to avoid viewer confusion and he likely sounded like Dipper to everyone else. Meaning that Ford [[FridgeHorror very well could have been possessed]] briefly in this episode.
399* In this episode, we find out Ford is trying to keep the portal out of Bill's hands. What did he immediately do when he called Stan to the shack in "A Tale of Two Stans"? ''Check his pupils.''
400** Relatedly, Ford's first statement when Stan arrived was 'Who is it!? Have you come to steal my eyes!!?'. Seemingly a joke at first at how unstable Ford had become since Fiddleford left, but with the release of [[{{Defictionalization}} Journal 3]], we get to see sections of Ford's perspective leading up to this meeting, showing how he'd been slowly loosing his mind from fear that Bill was in ''anybody'' close to him, and sneaking up on him to take advantage of his delirium from his self-imposed insomnia. At once point, he became afraid a diner full of people might have had Bill inside them due to the sunrise coming through the window apparently giving them what seemed like [[SupernaturalGoldEyes the trademark yellow eyes of his vessels]]. With the above examples showing that there's [[VoicesAreMental no vocal signs that Bill is behind the wheel]] of anybody he's possessing, it becomes clear that checking somebody's eyes is the only way to be certain if Bill is present of not. And what's the best way Bill could have prevented Ford from telling if he was inside somebody if he knew what to look for?...[[EyeScream yep]].
401* At the end of "Northwest Mansion Mystery", the Bill Cipher banner made it seem like Bill would have a hand in the events to come... except, in both "Not What He Seems" and "A Tale of Two Stans", Bill doesn't show up, even in the flashbacks. RedHerring, right? In this episode, we learn that Bill's plan involves the rift created by Stan using the Universe Portal to bring Ford back, so the past episodes really ''are'' part of Bill's design!
402* When Mabel returns with the unicorn hair, Ford makes a point of telling her she's a good person. We know that Ford has dealt with the unicorns before (describing them as "frustrating"), so presumably he knew about their tendency to belittle people and convince them that they're inherently bad. He knew that Mabel would probably want to hear it, after that. Solidifying this, he and Dipper agree when Mabel at the beginning of the episode says that she is the more pure-hearted of the group. Ford has probably been convinced by C-beth that he's been a bad person. Dipper, on the other hand, has blatantly implied guilt, self-worth, and self-hatred issues that have been building on his pre-existing insecurities since the series started.
403** Alternatively, FromACertainPointOfView, Mabel actually ''is'' the closest to being "pure of heart" [[DamnedByFaintPraise out of the entire Pines family]]; Ford and Stan are pretty self-explanatory (the former is a somewhat selfish MadScientist, while the latter is a self-admitted con artist), and while Dipper can be argued as being more "altruistic" than his twin sister, has a noticeable trend of holding grudges to an unhealthy extreme, such as his long-standing hatred of Pacifica (i.e., him cheerfully commenting "Man, revenge is underrated! That felt ''awesome!''" in "Irrational Treasure" after showing Pacifica the AwfulTruth behind her family) and it taking at least a month for him to finally let go of his dislike of Robbie for having been previously dating his crush. Mabel, in contrast, while still quite selfish and insensitive, still has her great moments of kindness (i.e., her helping save Mermando from being imprisoned in the pool), and also is generally one to be more trusting and forgiving of others (such as her ultimately siding with Stan in "Not What He Seems" and quickly trying to help Robbie get over his residual angst from his failed relationship with Wendy in "The Love God").
404* Wendy mentions that she stopped believing in unicorns when she was five, even though Gravity Falls has weird creatures. Then you remember that she's a lumberjack's daughter raised on myths like the Hide Behind, and Gravity Falls does ''not'' have any idyllic creatures, with even the gnomes basically acting like feral racoons most of the time. Of course she comes with Mabel, Candy, and Grenda despite her disbelief; she knows that there are worse things in the woods, like the Shapeshifter in the Bunker and the gnomes. Although the unicorns aren't violent at first, Wendy does see that the girls need her help, namely her brains and willingness to play dirty. In line with this protectiveness, she calls Celestebethabelle a hoofbag for insulting Mabel, who is a "straight-up saint". This seems odd, because Mabel is ''nowhere'' near sainthood even though she certainly has good intentions and can be quite kind. Wendy doesn't have any sisters, however, and Mabel has earlier opened up to her about guy insecurities; Wendy has encouraged Mabel to BeYourself. She wants to protect Mabel from others that can't understand the Pines twin sister, especially those that aim to tear Mabel down. Furthermore, Wendy isn't with the Pines' all the time. Being OutOfFocus, she probably has only seen Mabel's better behavior.
405* Ford asks if it's all right to give children weapons after giving Mabel a crossbow, and her ''Harry Potter'' reference flies over his head. As a FishOutOfTemporalWater guy, Ford missed the Columbine shootings in 1999 and the subsequent zero-tolerance policy; ''Literature/HarryPotter'' was also released in the US around the same time.
406* Mabel's reference to wizard school doesn't seem out of place when one remembers that she and Dipper are 12 years old, and their birthday is implied to be at the end of the summer. She probably grew up on self-insert fanfiction with transfer students older than her, if the Gravity Falls equivalent of ''Harry Potter'' follows the invitation to wizard school for 11-year-olds. It's especially not out of place when you consider that her brother Dipper has been actually learning to cast spells and use real magic over the series (the exorcism spell, entering Stan's mind, the zombie incident...). We haven't seen Mabel use any spells herself, but it's not made clear if there's any specific factors preventing her from doing so. From Mabel's perspective, if there's a wizarding school out there, they've already proven themselves to be perfectly eligible.
407* This episode answers the question as to why the Mystery Shack has all of those Bill Cipher designs everywhere: Ford got them while he still thought Bill was a friend.
408* Celestiabellebethabelle mentioned that doing the right thing for wrong reasons does not make anybody's heart pure. Later in the episode, the girls stole the unicorn hair to create the barrier - in other words, [[RussianReversal they did the wrong thing for right reasons]]. Of course, doing the wrong thing for right reasons is as related to the purity of the heart as doing the right things for wrong reasons.
409* We never get to see any hint about Grenda's family or ancestry. For all we know, she could as well be a descendant of local ancient druids.
410* One of the good deeds on Mabel's list is "Abolish Electoral College." Seems like just a throwaway gag or a TakeThat towards U.S. politics. But remember, Trembley ''did'' make Mabel a congresswoman in "Irrational Treasure".
411[[/folder]]
412
413[[folder: Roadside Attraction]]
414* Dipper's been hiding his continual feelings for Wendy and heartbreak from everyone, including Soos and Wendy. Given what's happened with Mabel wanting to do romance, he deserves sympathy for this repression.
415** In "Into the Bunker", he asked Mabel to leave him alone about his feelings for Wendy, and Mabel didn't respect his wishes. In fact, she nearly got him and Wendy killed by locking them in the same chamber as the Shapeshifter, and after Wendy lets him down, Mabel wants to find him "rebound crushes". Dipper may not admit it consciously, but with Mabel he has an UnwantedAssistance response.
416** This second point relies on the fact that "Roadside Attraction" aired after "The Love God." In "The Love God," Mabel caused a ''huge'' mess by shipping Robbie and Tambry together, and was willing to use a love potion and thus QuestionableConsent on the two when a blind date didn't seem to work. Dipper would remember that because he almost lost the "friendship group" that day. Dipper knows that Mabel has dived into unethical behavior and will rarely get called out for it, and he doesn't want to be another pawn for her.
417* Bill won Ford over by appealing to his ego and tricked him into building the portal. Darlene won Stan over through flattery and almost ate him. Considering how stoic their dad was, it makes sense that both Stans were easily won over by someone showing them even a scrap of affection.
418** Speaking of their dad, could it be that it runs in the family, and Filbrick Pines got impressed by a certain fortune teller and married her?
419[[/folder]]
420
421[[folder: Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future]]
422* Ford probably assumes that Dipper used his intellect to conquer his fear to save him, which is why he praises the kid. Except Dipper didn't; he used his love for Ford to conquer his fear. Dipper just loves his uncle that much to risk his life for him. This doesn't make him similar to Ford, but to ''Stan''.
423* We see Blendin Blandin being possessed by Bill and easily passing as normal except for subtle vocabulary hints. True this is in part thanks to the goggles and that the kids don't know Blendin Blandin all too well, but it also shows Bill said the truth when he said he has been making deals: he got experience since "Sock Opera".
424* Related to the first, [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy those defense drones seem really easy to beat.]] Then again, adrenaline is a product of genuine fear and/or anger; a crewman would feel at home and have little reason to be fearful outside of an emergency. The drones could also sniff out saboteurs and spies, espionage being a very high-stress job. There's also the possibility that the crew [[BizarreAlienBiology simply doesn't produce adrenaline]], thus anything showing up on the drones' radar at all would be considered a threat.
425* While viewers are quick to condemn Ford for trying to put a wedge between Dipper and Mabel, you have to remember that he's only known the kids for a few weeks, at best. He probably doesn't know just how...''unstable'' Mabel can get when denied something she cares about.
426* Yes, Mabel not knowing how important the Rift was contributed to her giving it to Bill, but think about where she found it. She found it in Dipper's backpack which seemed to be filled notebooks and pens, basically what she called "nerd stuff". Would ''you'' expect that a universe-destroying snowglobe would be in there?
427* The Rift continues to be a parallel of Dipper and Mabel's own relationships problems. The actual, physical Rift was created by Stan in a decision that forced Mabel to choose between trusting him or her brother. But Stan also caused a divide early on by treating the twins differently and joining in with Mabel when picking on Dipper, causing Dipper to think he was TheUnfavorite and that everyone liked Mabel better than him. This gap is then made worse by Ford, who does the same thing Stan did, only more subtly, with less mockery and more insistence on division. Finally, it's broken open completely by one twin's paranoia and another's ignorance; Dipper is aware of the physical Rift created by Stan and Mabel opening the Portal but ignorant as to Mabel's fear of the future, while Mabel is becoming paranoid and overly-sensitive to issues between her and her brother but ignorant as to what physical consequences her and Stan's decision with the Portal has caused. However, neither communicates their problems and concerns with the other, which results in them each walking all over the other's subject of concerns without ever realizing there was a problem in doing that. Dipper makes decisions concerning his future without realizing Mabel was terrified of him doing so. Mabel, in turn, uses the Rift as a bargaining tool to try to freeze time forever, never realizing that it was the literal embodiment of the negative consequences of her decision with the Portal ''and'' exactly what her brother was trying to protect her from.
428* Quite the big deal is made of Dipper and Mabel's impending thirteenth birthday in the first scene. Through the episode, Dipper is put through much closer and more realistic peril than usual and Mabel's heart gets dragged through the mud the whole way in the B-plot, climaxing in the two coming to blows with the threat of permanent separation. To top it off, the end of the episode kick-starts the apocalypse. There are several cultures in which the number thirteen is considered to be unlucky.
429* Throughout the show's run, two of the biggest complaints have been about Mabel's [[AllTakeAndNoGive selfish behavior]] and her constant AesopAmnesia. However, unlike [[ButtMonkey Dipper]], Mabel has never really been punished or called out for her behavior. People in-universe and out have bent over backwards to make Mabel's life as easy as possible, so Mabel has never had any serious impetus to improve herself. When "Blendin" shows up and offers Mabel a chance to avoid growing up, an easy solution to her problem -- a way to avoid growing up -- she takes it, because as far as she's concerned, this is the world throwing her another bone, which it's always done. Mabel's been spoiled by life, and now she and the rest of the world has to suffer for it. In short, this episode subtly offers an InternalDeconstruction of Mabel's issues with AesopAmnesia, in part setting up her more genuine CharacterDevelopment in "Weirdmageddon 2: Escape from Reality" when she finally learns to put Dipper's happiness before her own along with moving on from her fear of growing up and embracing the unknown.
430* At the the end of the episode, it was revealed that Blendin Blandin was [[DemonicPossession possessed by Bill Cipher]]. You might be wondering how Bill was able to possess Blendin despite that the latter is from the far distant future. It actually shows that Bill, and the Nightmare Realm as a whole exists outside of time.
431[[/folder]]
432
433[[folder: Weirdmageddon 1]]
434* Wendy has shown off her badass side already in "Into the Bunker" when she manages to fight the Shapeshifter to a standstill, but in this episode her apocalypse training allows her to survive the Weirdmageddon. She then reveals that Manly Dan forced her and her brothers to attend Apocalypse Camp; Dan also knows about the Hide Behind, and his lumberjack ancestors helped build Northwest Manor. He's likely one of the few individuals in Gravity Falls aware of the weird stuff happening and what could come.
435* Dipper when saying he's learned that you can't force someone to love you looks at Wendy, but think of the other time he saw people forced to be in love: when Mabel paired up Tambry and Robbie together via love potion, and the massive consequences that followed. He also remembers how badly it turned out when he tried being more confident around women, and how he's promised to use his KidAnova abilities only for good. Dipper knows what it's like to try getting someone to like you and having it backfire horribly.
436** And who else does Dipper's speech refer to? ''Stan''. Throughout the series, there have been two sides of Stan's character: the scam-artist who likes to hustle people, and the lonely guy who wants friends. But the former taints the latter. It's a recurring theme that Stan only gets any sort of love or appreciation when he does something genuinely good. In "Legend of the Gobblewonker", it's established that people don't like or trust Stan due to his amorality, but in "Gideon Rises", he manages to win their respect by exposing Gideon's surveillance network. The young Pines Twins didn't want to spend time with Stan at first because he tried to use them in a counterfeiting operation, but as the series went on, Stan won their love by playing with Mabel and giving Dipper some non-sarcastic life lessons. Stan's campaign for mayor in "The Stanchurian Candidate" was hampered by his refusal to cut down on the wisecracks, but he won the majority of the votes by selflessly saving Dipper and Mabel from Gideon's death trap. In "A Tale Of Two Stans", Stan was disowned by his family for essentially being a selfish jerk, which was why they so quickly believed he sabotaged Ford's college admissions. In the last episode, Stan allowing his memories to be erased, risking the destruction of his identity is what allows Ford to see Stan's nobler side after thinking him as this bungling leech for 30-40 years.
437* Bill mentioned in his AMA that he can see all possibilities and all the ones that didn't happen do exist, just in a different universe. Given this, it seems safe to say that the "Bubbles of Pure Madness" are localized gates to other worlds.
438** It seems that he might not be able to see ''all'' possibilities, though, as he still ultimately lost. Either this means that he lost that ability after becoming 3-Dimensional, or [[Franchise/DanganRonpa it's a lie!]]
439--->'''Bill Cipher:''' "LIE. LIE UNTIL WHAT YOU WANT TO BE TRUE BECOMES TRUE. LIE UNTIL YOU CANT REMEMBER WHATS A LIE AND WHAT ISNT. LIE UNTIL YOU ARENT LYING ANYMORE."
440* Gideon may have turned on Bill for more than just his love for Mabel. A ''very'' big part of Gideon's character is that he tends to be an absolute authority figure. During his confrontation with Dipper, it gets brought up that he is actually in service to and afraid of Bill. Gideon may have been able to play himself off as an equal partner but when confronted, he ultimately can't take being subordinate to anyone.
441** Possibly another reason for Gideon's HeelFaceTurn (as well as his apparently [[BenevolentBoss genuine love for his henchmen]]) might be due to the amount of time that has passed since he lost his amulet. ''[[{{Defictionalization}} Journal 3]]'' revealed that the amulet corrupts the soul of its user, and its effect may have begun to wear off at this point.
442* When Bill obliterates Time Baby, he notably does it with a lot more anger and hate than we've seen of him, not even toward Dipper and Ford, so where does this anger come from? Maybe Bill and Time Baby represent OrderVersusChaos. Time Baby is an [[LawfulNeutral authoritarian ruler who seeks to keep the universe in order, and punishes people who cause aberrations]]. Bill is [[ChaoticEvil a demonic being who torments others and rips apart the laws of reality for his own amusement]]. Bill hates Time Baby for trying to keep order, as in ruining all his fun.
443* The secret message at the end of the episode says that "IT WILL TAKE 1,000 YEARS FOR TIME BABY'S MOLECULES TO RECONSTITUTE, AND WHEN HE'S BACK, HE'S GOING TO BE VERY CRANKY". We know that Time Baby comes to rule over humanity at some point in the distant future, after nearly destroying it in a fit of rage... StableTimeLoop, anyone?
444** That means the Apocalypse that the magic mailbox mentioned would happen in 3012 is Time Baby's return and his conquest of Earth.
445* After Lazy Susan claims that "things with one eye are weird!", you almost expect the next person to also have some HypocriticalHumor for us. And they do! As someone whose best friend isn't even from the same state (Mabel being from California originally), and whose boyfriend lives in Austria, Grenda's claim that "We don't like out-of-towners!" is just as hypocritical as the technically one-eyed Lazy Susan. It can also be easily interpreted as saying that Grenda doesn't view Mabel (or Dipper) as out-of-towners and that the Pines twins are considered part of the town.
446* If one thinks about it, Bill made good on his deal with Mabel, who wanted summer to never end. It turns out, with time "dead", fall will presumably never start. Oh, Cipher, you MagnificentBastard.
447* When Time Baby arrives to stop Bill's chaos, Bill immediately obliterates him. Considering that Time Baby has [[TimeMaster control of time and space]], he should have foreseen Bill's every move. But then you realize that early in the episode, Bill states that "Time is dead and meaningless". Because of this, Time Baby was left virtually vulnerable to Bill's powers.
448[[/folder]]
449
450[[folder: Weirdmageddon 2: Escape From Reality]]
451* Dipper's the only one who doesn't succumb to what Mabel's bubble summons for him, which is a version of Wendy that wants him aged up. Why? Because Wendy isn't his main desire anymore. His main desire is to rescue Mabel, and since the bubble is literally designed to keep Mabel locked inside, it'd be pretty much impossible for it to fulfill that desire.
452** If the fake Wendy wasn't being obvious enough to try and trick Dipper, there is the fact that she winks, which is also a CallBack to "Into the Bunker".
453* Dipper's [[HateAtFirstSight instant hatred]] of Dippy Fresh. Of course he would hate him. Dippy Fresh is [[EvilCounterpart basically Dipper, but with the exact opposite personality traits]]. Not to mention, Mabel blatantly said that she created him to replace Dipper, which has got to hurt a little.
454** Why was Dippy Fresh brought about in the first place? Mabel wanted Dipper to be there with her, but if she was given an accurate version of her brother that also wanted to stay in Mabeland, a contradiction would eventually arise between what the real Dipper would do and the goal to keep Mabel imprisoned, threatening to break the bubble's control over her. So it created an "improved" version of him that claimed to be what she "[[BlatantLies really]]" wanted to placate her.
455* Considering that Dipper fell for Bill's trap because Bill exploited him at his most desperate, it's no surprise he doesn't blame or hold it against Mabel for succumbing to a similar trap, especially one much more elaborate.
456* Given the nature of Mabel's prison, it makes quite a lot of sense why Gideon would think he could make Mabel fall in love with him after keeping her there--Mabel is in a place where she gets everything she wants, so Gideon could take credit for it and assume Mabel will do more than thank him for it.
457* The appearance, down to the color, and nature of the bubble is reminiscent of the giant hamster ball from ''way'' back in the series' second episode. A hot pink spherical container that Mabel enjoys a lot, although a real-life equivalent probably wouldn't be too much fun by implication alone, but Mabel doesn't care; she's having too much fun. Also note; the only time Mabel actually had one of these is in her own fantasies or in the mindscape. Yep, the bubble was foreshadowed from the very beginning.
458* Why did Bill say that a "will of titanium" was needed to free Mabel? It wasn't because people would rather stay in but because it would make Dipper leave. Mabel replaced him and has been living in her ideal place while the rest of the town suffered. Bill expected for Dipper to feel hurt, angry, and offended and leave Mabel at her luck. That explains why Soos' dad appeared even though he already forgotten about him and replaced him with Stan: Bill expected him to get offended but underestimated the effects of Weirdmaggedon. Ditto for Wendy, who knows for a fact her friends were captured by Bill.
459* As discouraging as it can be to see Dipper take back his decision to be Ford's apprentice to get Mabel to leave Mabeland, there's actually a ''very'' valid reason why the apprenticeship wouldn't be the best thing, beyond the obvious "Dipper's a Jerk For Wanting to Leave Mabel"; Escapism. Throughout the series, there's been a subtle theme of [[AntiEscapismAesop how ignoring the things that make you uncomfortable only makes life harder to deal with]]:
460** Dipper's attempts to use Gravity Falls' weirdness to his benefit (magic clones arranging a dance with Wendy, time-travel to undo an event he doesn't like, bringing a video game character to life in order to fight off a bully) backfired or had negative repercussions.
461** Mabel's preference to live life according to her wacky fantasies have caused their own problems (in the first episode, she wanted an epic romance so badly that she went to a secluded location with a strange guy she only knew for less than a day).
462** Stan's determination to ignore the town's anomalies resulted in refusing to take Dipper's claims of monsters seriously, leading him to involve Agents Powers and Trigger, which in turn nearly led to the Pines Family breaking apart.
463** The Society of the Blind Eye was formed because [=McGucket=] couldn't deal with the things he saw working with Ford, and led to the town's residents being repeatedly [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory wiped]] to the point of implicit brain damage.
464** Mabeland, born from Mabel's attempt to freeze time and avoid growing up, is the biggest escapism of all. It's acknowledged that if Dipper becomes Ford's full-time apprentice, he'd have to drop out of school. Ford's offered to home-school the kid, but that still means Dipper can avoid the one thing he's ''always'' had trouble dealing with (and which his sister has actually been helping him with): socialization. While researching Gravity Falls wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world, and is certainly dangerous, it's still something Dipper is ''more'' at ease with doing, as opposed to dealing with his peers and contemporaries, [[JerkassHasAPoint which was part of Mabel's argument that fantasy was better than reality]]. And to her credit, once she comes back to her senses, Mabel seems just as uncomfortable as the audience probably is that Dipper seems to be giving up something he loves for her sake yet again.
465*** It's also worth noting one of the most important differences between the two sets of twins in the series: Stan and Ford were high school seniors when they had their fallout, meaning that while it was still incredibly rough and difficult for the two to move on with their lives, they both at least had the emotional maturity to do so and (more or less) heal. However, not only is Ford's encouragement to Dipper to split up from Mabel entirely clearly motivated, at least in part, by his lingering tensions with his brother (which Ford is implicitly projecting onto Mabel), but it would've resulted in Dipper and Mabel being split up from one another while they're just thirteen years old, when they're both at an age when they likely wouldn't be able to handle it nearly as well as Stan and Ford had. This even ties into one of the series' subtler {{Aesop}}s (as first clearly outlined in "Summerween") -- Growing up is inevitable, and so you should treasure childhood while it lasts. In short, while Dipper and Mabel ''will'' likely have to permanently separate one day, that doesn't necessarily mean that they should be split right ''now'' when they're still both children or that they need to grow ''apart'' (most certainly to the level that Stan and Ford did before their reconciliation).
466* It may be hard to spot in the limited time left, but Mabel ''does'' [[CharacterDevelopment act differently after escaping the bubble]]. She not only tells Dipper that it's okay if he wants to stay in Gravity Falls -- for once actively putting her brother's happiness before her own -- but she reacts with uncharacteristic disgust at the overly bright colors and repetitive songs from the bubble, which previously was the kind of stuff she lived for. Could it be that, by finally conquering her fear of growing up, Mabel is beginning to permanently mature?
467** Additionally, as Dipper himself lampshades earlier on, Mabel's been implicitly hypnotized to a certain extent by Bill, with her fears of maturity accentuated so she doesn't try to leave Mabeland. Mabel's disgust at Mabeland is her coming out of her mental haze and realizing how the situation really was "too much of a good thing".
468* When Mabel agrees to return with Dipper and all of Mabeland turns against them, the only fictional beings that don't are Xyler and Craz. They were the only things she actually created in there. Everything else was part of the bubble itself and created by the prison to deceive her.
469* There's a subtle moment of [[TearJerker Fridge Sadness]] for why Mabel's worst memories of reality were glaring evidence of how awful it could be. It's one thing when reality doesn't meet your expectations, but what Mabel found unsavory about reality is [[HumansAreBastards the people who are just]] ''[[HumansAreBastards mean]]''. Mabel's fiasco on Picture Day wouldn't have happened if that one girl hadn't been so callous as to [[KickTheDog stick her gum in Mabel's hair]], and Dipper's Valentine's Day was bad enough without that [[TheBully bully]] publicly [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown pointing out to the class how Dipper had no Valentine cards]]. The way Mabel sees it, Mabeland isn't just a utopia, but a safe haven from such people.
470** On the flipside, there's a moment of [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Fridge Heartwarming]] for the opposite: Dipper's good memories of reality serve to show Mabel that despite how cruel people can be, the twins' [[ThePowerOfLove love]] and [[PetTheDog kindness]] outweighs anything the world can throw at them. His memories disproved that Reality has nothing but [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]] in it: there ''are'' good people in reality (namely, Dipper and Mabel).
471** The second memory also effectively shows [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther how much Mabel really does love her brother]]: It's not her embarrassment over Dipper not getting any valentines that makes it such a bad memory, but her brother's emotional pain. And, by extension, what ultimately makes it a happy memory for Dipper is that it shows that, for all of her occasional selfishness, his sister does genuinely love and care for him. After all, that assembled valentine she made for him didn't come out of nowhere.
472[[/folder]]
473
474[[folder: Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls]]
475* Weirdmageddon in general has forced all of the Gravity Falls residents to confront their mortality, and taking care of the people they love due to MiseryBuildsCharacter. In part both major and minor characters strive to be better and more expressive of their feelings.
476** Rumble has learned from Weirdmageddon that he cannot win every battle. That makes his decision to aid in the fight against Bill all the more significant, since at the end he either returns to his game or faces CessationOfExistence.
477** Pacifica acknowledges the problematic relationship with her parents, while declaring they don't deserve what happened to them. Likewise, her father makes a minor HeelFaceTurn, implicitly saying the Northwest family isn't good, but tells her to do the right thing after undergoing both BodyHorror and TakenForGranite from Bill. Afterwards she is seen to take more agency with her actions, wrapping Dipper and Mabel's presents by herself.
478** Gideon has seen that at best Bill will give you a limited amount of power and a hollow victory, and at worst he will torture you for eternity with a CoolAndUnusualPunishment. Mabel may not want to date him, but she offered him more courtesy saving him from the cage than Bill did. So he strives to actually be nicer, having suffered under EvilerThanThou.
479** Sheriff Blubbs never told Durland onscreen that he loved him, in part due to the censors and perhaps due to the fact that they're always together and have never faced separation. Come the end of the episode they have openly declared their love and [[VisualPun fire a cannon]] to solidify it.
480** Ford in this episode seems more frantic and caring about Dipper and Mabel, particularly Mabel, than he did in his previous appearances and cries when he has to wipe Stan's memories and "kill" his brother. Why? Bill [[AndIMustScream froze him into gold for four days]], and would likely use that to taunt him during Ford suffering ColdBloodedTorture, as well as reminding Ford that he's the reason Weirdmageddon happened and describing the details of Mabel's bubble and monsters going after "Pine Tree". While conscious Ford has no idea if his family is alive or dead, and knowing it's his fault for making the deal all those years ago, and in his mind Dipper and Mabel are innocent, compared to Stan. Seeing them leading the charge to rescue him makes him react with relief-- ''They're alive!'', and fear-- ''OhCrap Bill knows my weakness!''
481*** In contrast to his affection for the twins, Ford rarely considers the possibility that Stan could die, up until the moment when they have to make the TwinSwitch and Ford erases his mind. He's always seen Stan as a thorn in his side after the fateful science fair, and someone that wanted to be with him always. He was worried when he burned Stanley with the machine thirty years ago, but the fight with the portal overcame his concern in that moment. When Stan "dies," possibly forever as far as Ford knows, the realization hits the other Pines of the things that were never said. Helping trigger Stan's memories over the course of two days, the good and the bad, would only increase his guilt.
482* So the rumors regarding Stan burning to death were proven false, right? ''Wrong'' -- he "burned" when his memory (and thus identity) was temporarily erased, leaving him metaphorically "dead".
483* Related to the above, Bill's message at the end of "Escape From Reality" implied that one of the Pines would die. However, everyone turns out perfectly fine in the end. This actually makes sense when you remember that from the moment Weirdmageddon started, Bill seemed to take control in a meta-physical sense (hence, the redone opening for Weirdmageddon). It could be that he was planning such a thing himself, maybe for Dipper since in the altered opening, we see his skeleton, so it was more him than the show.
484* The hints that Soos would die -- temporarily becoming a zombie in "Scaryoke", [[DemonicPossession Bipper]] wanting to tell him the exact date and time of his death -- have a similar connotation, given at the end of the episode he was reborn as Mr. Mystery once Stan put him in charge of the Mystery Shack. He was "reborn" as a NightmareFuelStationAttendant.
485* If you recall in "Northwest Mansion Mystery", Preston and Priscilla Northwest escaped from being turned to wood by hiding in a bunker. Here, it was shown that they were turned to stone. In other words, [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty karma finally caught up to them]].
486* With the benefit of hindsight, the whole Weirdmaggedon storyline serves as an excellent plot parallel to "Gideon Rises": Both season finales feature the Pines family's home being taken away from them by a powerful villain, the inhabitants of the town become major obstacles to the kids achieving their goal, a former villain becomes a short-term ally that ultimately falls to the main threat (the gnomes in "Gideon Rises" and Gideon in both "Weirdmaggedon 1" and "Weirdmaggedon 3"), one of the twins has an emotional crisis about how they interact with the world and needs their sibling to pull them out of it (Dipper despairs about ever being able to find the secrets of Gravity Falls but is revitalized by his need to save his sister from Gideon in "Gideon Rises", and Mabel falls into severe denial over her need to grow up until Dipper reassures her that they will ''always'' be TrueCompanions in "Weirdmaggedon 2"), and ultimately it takes a pair of twins to ensure victory.
487* The method of Bill's defeat was foreshadowed back in "Sock Opera". Both times, Bill could have won; if only he hadn't underestimated the bond between twins. Also, in the former, Bill's downfall ensues after asking Mabel if she would sacrifice everything for her sibling, and in the latter he loses because Stan is willing to sacrifice ''literally'' everything (by having his whole mind erased) for his sibling. "Dreamscaperers" also offered a nice bit of foreshadowing: everyone teaming up on Bill seemed to defeat him, but he undoes it all in an instant, just like the circle gets undone before being able to do anything to stop him.
488* In all three Weirdmageddon arc episodes, Bill has replaced the opening credits with a HostileShowTakeover version with himself and a few of his Henchmaniacs taking the main casts' places in the sequence. Part 3 uses the same apocalyptic opener... yet Dipper, Mabel, and Stan resume their usual places. Subtle, but it [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolizes]] the protagonists taking back their place in Gravity Falls.
489** Also, all three were in the Shack when the opening credits rolled. Bill couldn't corrupt their portions of it because he couldn't get to them.
490* Pacifica's birthday gifts to Mabel and Dipper reflect on the episode she truly became friends with both of them -- A golf club for Mabel ("The Golf War") and a cassette tape of "Ghost Harassers" for Dipper ("Northwest Mansion Mystery").
491* Stan conned Bill even better than it appeared if you pay attention to the ExactWords. Stan never agreed to tell Bill how to escape the barrier, that was his deal with ''Ford''. All Stan ever agreed to was to let Bill into his head, which is exactly what he did. Even if Bill had escaped, Stan still lived up to his end of the bargain, and threatening the twins was the only way Bill had to convince Ford to do anything, which he agreed ''not'' to do, and he promised not to do anything to Ford either (Stan's words were "let my brother and the kids go", after all). In other words, Bill was screwed either way.
492* There's one point of contention that has been regarded in reviews of the finale as an AssPull: Stan regaining his memory. Just a contrived way to have a happy ending? Perhaps in purpose, [[JustifiedTrope but not in-universe]]. Living proof Exhibit A: ''Fiddleford [=McGucket=]''. How quickly everyone forgot, but he erased his mind to the point that even his personality was warped, and you can't "re-download" the extracted memories, either. However, upon having visual exposure to his old self, he ''regained'' his identity and memories. That's right, the means to Stan's salvation was set in place ''a year and a half'' before the finale, and to take it even further, Mabel's been working on that scrapbook since the show's beginning. Also, as for why Stan regained his memory within a week (in contrast to [=McGucket=]'s months long recovery) is due to having more reminders of his past life. Nobody knew anything of [=McGucket=]'s past, and Journal 3 only told him a piece of the project Stanford needed his help on. Stan, on the other hand, had Ford to tell him about their life in Glass Shard Beach, the fake [=ID=]s for his time on the road, Soos and maybe other townspeople for his 30 years in Gravity Falls, and the young twins for the summer.
493* Does anyone remember [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/gravityfalls/images/e/e9/S2e18_Robertryan_Cory_bill_art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151027050251 this concept art from Weirdmaggedon Part 1?]] [[MythologyGag now we know]] [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/gravityfalls/images/d/d0/S2e20_Bill_demon_form.png/revision/latest?cb=20160217021053 what that was referring to.]]
494* Why did Rumble [=McSkirmish=] vanish when the Weirdpocalypse ended if he already existed beforehand? Because, as his debut episode shows, he goes back into his game upon ''victory!''
495* Way back in Season One's "Headhunters," the post-credit joke shows Mabel deciding between a purple sequin sweater or a yellow llama sweater. The wax head Larry King rolls to the vent to tell her that llamas are "Nature's greatest warriors." This is called back in series finale, when Mabel gives Pacifica the llama sweater. Pacifica then rises up to become a LittleMissBadass in the mission to rescue Ford from Bill, and is reinforced when it turns out the llama represents Pacifica's place on the glyph to destroy Bill. Overall, it implies that the creators ''did'' have more character development in store for Pacifica, just as many fans predicted. Nature's greatest warrior, indeed.
496* Pacifica's little line about suing the Pines' if she dies isn't just a cute StockPhrase. Remember her last big episode; Pacifica is very aware that ghosts exist, and so she's probably planning on coming back as one to get her vengeance on the Pines.
497* Pacifica's rather haughty attitude throughout the episode ''might'' seem like a jarring Retcon, but it could just as well be a defense mechanism. Take into account her sheltered, somewhat hostile upbringing, how recently she was redeemed, and the fact that total personally changes ([[RealityIsUnrealistic despite what fanfiction authors might say]]) are ''never'' overnight. It seems like, at least in her case, aggression would be a reasonable response to that kind of stress. And furthermore, the situation she's in is pretty darn unpleasant (being forced to stay in a cramped shack with a bunch of ''literal'' monsters and {{Lower Class Lout}}s like Stan and Fiddleford[[note]]or at least Pacifica would ''see'' them as {{Lower Class Lout}}s[[/note]]) and would probably frustrate ''anyone'' into bitterness if they had to stay there for any extended period of time.
498* Bill's speech on how restricted the second dimension is makes a lot of sense when one remembers he said ''Literature/{{Flatland}}'' was very close to his origin. If one has read that novel, triangles are the lowest rank with the most limited intelligence. If Bill was telling the truth, he was the most limited class of his kind, making the limitations even more apparent. Also makes Bill one ''serious'' case of FromNobodyToNightmare, given he went from the most limited member of an already limited civilization to that world's destroyer and a cosmic level threat.
499* Bill treats the end of the world as if it is one big WildTeenParty and even mentions his take over of the universe as a party that never ends. Even the TimePolice arrive. What happens? By the end his body is [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] and unable to move. In other words, [[VisualPun he is quite literally]] GroundedForever.
500* TheReveal Bill originated from the second dimension makes [[{{Cyclops}} his one eye]] make a lot more sense. Having one eye would result in a lack of depth perception... but the third dimension IS depth, so having one eye would be perfectly fine because there'd be no need for depth perception either.
501** Actually, it's more convoluted than that. In a two-dimensional world, as in the 3D one, the right and proper place for eyes is at the ''boundaries'' of one's self. Since Bill's eye is situated in the center of his entire being and is looking at a direction ''perpendicular'' to his flat self, it can be considered to stare ''into the third dimension'' -- which is apt considering what we know of him. For humans, the equivalent would be called the ''ThirdEye''.
502* One possible explanation for why Bill was unable to detect the TwinSwitch, despite the physical differences between Stan and Ford: Bill's eye gets injured ''twice'' in the span of what seems to be about twenty minutes. While it's unclear if this actually affected his sight, since he does regrow the eye the first time, the emphasis placed on him gaining a physical body and the fact that he reacted to the attacks with pain suggests that it did harm him to a degree.
503* The fact that Stan was able to imitate his brother's voice to trick Bill seems like a last-minute AssPull, until you take into account what Stan is, and always has been: a con-man. What is one of the things that con artists might have to do to keep their constantly-on-the-run identity hidden? They create a false identity, or imitate others to push the consequences they would normally face onto them! Stan used his con artistry to trick Bill!
504* Guess where Stan and Ford sailed off to? Ford mentioned there is an anomaly in the Arctic. Now remember the quick passage in "Irrational Treasure"? That's right, they went off to find Time Baby!
505* Bill needed a physical form in order to have any real power in the third dimension. The whole business with the statue of him was because his physical form couldn't enter the mindscape, so he had to leave it outside.
506* Melody's cameo with Soos in the Mystery Shack reveals just how well Soos will do as the new Mr. Mystery. Like Soos, Melody hates being an adult, but she knows how to be responsible at paying bills and doing her job, as she revealed in her primary appearance. She can keep Soos grounded while they run the Shack together.
507* Soos earned his right to inherit the Shack because unlike Dipper and Mabel, he has a strong desire to become the new "Mr. Mystery" and has been working at the Shack for ten years, to the point where it's become his second home. Dipper and Mabel learned the hard way how much work Stan does to turn a profit, which included dealing with troublesome employees, and Mabel refused to run the Shack for the rest of the summer because she didn't want to have to deal with it on her break. For Soos, given he was one of the troublesome employees that Mabel dealt with, and Wendy's off in high school, he won't have the same troubles or disillusionment that Dipper and Mabel suffered.
508* Bill's ultimate downfall comes from Stan and Ford being on the same page and working together. Why did this completely blindside Bill? It meant the two would have to bury the hatchet and accept how they wronged each other... and Bill [[NeverMyFault is completely incapable of accepting that he's wronged others or the consequences of his actions.]] Bill couldn't see it coming because [[EvilCannotComprehendGood it's something he would never be able to do.]]
509** It also throws Bill's TheNicknamer status into relief; he tends to call other characters by some distinctive mark on their body. This initially comes off as a VerbalTic, but given how wildly different all of Bill's friends are in appearance, Bill may find humans to be difficult to identify. He may not have been overanxious to make a deal with Grunkle Stan -- it's entirely possible that he didn't think the two Grunkles could change appearance the way they did!
510** His over-excitability in light of his habit of being TheNicknamer also completely blew up in his face. If he had stopped for even a second to scrutinize who he was speaking to, he'd realize that the twin he was speaking to wasn't "Six-Fingers" but was instead his completely physically mundane twin.
511* When Ford fell into the portal, Stan took his identity and erased his own. In order to defeat Bill, Stan yet again took Ford’s identity and erased his own.
512* At the final goodbye at the bus station, when Soos points out that the weather is too warm for Stan to be wearing the sweater Mabel knitted for him, Stan and Ford both yell, "Can it, Soos!" at the same time. It's one of the only times we see them acting or speaking in unison since their childhood flashbacks, and it makes sense that it doesn't happen until after they've repaired their bond.
513* Dipper's final narration may seem like a wistful recollection (and it clearly is to some degree), but listen to what he actually says: "If you're curious, don't wait. Take a trip. Find it. It's out there somewhere in the woods, waiting." The speech, along with a post-credits scene of a real-life Bill Cipher statue, invites the audience to the real-life Cipher Hunt, and implies the statue is where Gravity Falls would be in reality.
514[[/folder]]
515
516[[folder: Other]]
517* It's mentioned in "Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun" that something keeps messing with Dipper's shoelaces. [[http://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/ This AMA]] by an in-character Alex Hirsch implies that it's [[{{Troll}} Bill]].
518* [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/cpynnwh According to Bill Cipher]], the password for [=McGucket's=] laptop is GULLIBLE. Given this is Bill, he may or may not be lying, but it does fit the 8-character limit and has an extra layer of brilliance to it: If someone with ill intentions ever tried to force [=McGucket=] to give them the laptop's password, the culprit [[SarcasticConfession would've assumed that he was obviously lying]].
519* In the short "The Hide-Behind", as Lazy Susan is being interviewed, she spins around trying to see if the Hide-Behind is behind her. She keeps spinning around and around [[VisualPun like an actual Lazy Susan]].
520* In ''Mabel and Dipper's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun'', Bill calls Nostradamus a hack. Seems random, but unimportant... until you read the Curse of the Time Pirate's Treasure, and discover that in one of the endings, Dipper ''becomes'' Nostradamus, using his historical knowledge to make predictions!
521* The Pines family is AmbiguouslyJewish. This likely helps explain why the series never had a ChristmasEpisode, even if allowances were made to have a HalloweenEpisode with "Summerween".
522* The shorts aired between seasons foreshadow a few things for Season 2:
523** "Mabel's Scrapbook", while it appeared once or twice in Season 1, foreshadows the prominence of scrapbook in bringing back Stan's memories in "Weirdmageddon 3".
524** In the Public Access TV shorts:
525*** The Mystery Shack ad features a second Stan showing up (through shoddy green screen tech), claiming to be the real Mr. Mystery. "Not What He Seems" and "A Tale of Two Stans" later reveal Stan actually does have identical twin, who is the real Stanford Pines and the true owner of the Mystery Shack.
526*** Gideon's jailmates in "Lil Gideon's Bighouse" [[EarlyBirdCameo later show up in "Weirdmageddon"]].
527*** The Ducktective episode features Ducktective's former partner showing up. This parallels the reveal that Old Man [=McGucket=] was the former partner of the Author.
528* Due to there being strong hints in the [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 supplemental material]] [[ComicBook/GravityFallsLostLegends for the show]] implying that ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is set in the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', it brings the unstable nature of Ford's dimensional portal into a new light. Both series have their own methods of traveling to other worlds (namely the Calamity Box for the former, and the portal door to the Boiling Isles for the latter). Of course, both items were shown to be completely stable when in use. This is due to how they were made. For the Calamity Box, it was created by Amphibia's greatest minds, and powered by the mysterious Calamity Gems. For the portal door, it was implied to have been built by the witches of the Boiling Isles, and powered by the mystical properties of Titan's Blood. As for Ford's portal, he got the information and know-how to construct it from Bill Cipher (who was only using Ford to jumpstart [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Weirdmageddon]]). In other words, Bill had Ford's dimensional portal deliberately designed to be unstable. And of course, after going through the portal, Ford is implied to have met someone who has invented a much more stable system of interdimensional travel: [[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty Rick Sanchez]], who has quite the reputation among his show's multiverse; Ford likely ''sought out'' Rick to discover a proper method of getting home. The fact that he only gets home through his own portal much later on still makes sense given this: Rick doesn't trust anybody outside of a ''very'' select few people, and likely wouldn't share his tech with Ford like that, lest he accidentally create another Evil Morty or the like.
529[[/folder]]
530
531----
532!!Fridge Horror
533[[folder: General]]
534* Bill Cipher is a sort of dream demon who exists on a sort of mental plane or dreamscape, explaining why everything goes black and white and characters are seen 'waking up' after talking to him. In addition to examples of BreakingTheFourthWall, what better way to imprint on our subconscious, and therefore our minds, that to appear in every single episode, with a number of tropers unaware of his presence? [[FreezeFrameBonus His page and an imprint appear in the opening credits]], and various symbols or images depicting him are littered around various episodes.
535* The entire concept of a town like Gravity Falls is a ''major'' case of CrapsaccharineWorld when all of the BlackComedy and ComedicSociopathy is stripped away. Yes, the diner's so beat up that animals get in is funny, but it's also a serious health violation. Yes, the [[MonsterOfTheWeek wacky creatures in the woods]] are hilarious... except [[NightmareFuel when they're really not]]. Yes, [[ThoseTwoGuys the two police officers]] are charming, but the only time we see them not [[PoliceAreUseless acting like incompetent comic relief]], they are trying to ''kidnap Dipper and Mabel''. Gideon is basically psychotic and has everyone in the palm of his hand. People flock to the Mystery Shack (which in and of itself has lots of safety violations) to see fake wonders, all the while surrounded by a [[DontGoIntoTheWoods monster-infested forest]]. Not to mention that thing in the lake and ''Bill Cipher''.
536* [[MeaningfulName The name Gideon]] means "cutter of trees". Pine is a kind of tree. In other words, Gideon is meant to be a cutter, or destroyer, of the Pines family. Specifically, Gideon is a Hebrew name, which fits well when one considers that the Pines family may be AmbiguouslyJewish (Pines is a Ashkenazic Jewish surname.) However, it's not just the Pines family, but Dipper Pines a.k.a. ''Pine Tree.''
537** If this is the case then [[FridgeBrilliance this may explain why]] they had a "HalloweenEpisode" but not a ChristmasSpecial.
538* Bill Cipher's influence goes in so ''deep'' in American society that he is actually portrayed on ''money.'' Oh yeah, look at it... see that one-eyed pyramid there? And as a reminder, by what name dollars are frequently referred to? ''Bills.''
539* Does Alex Hirsch really voice act Bill Cipher, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou or does Bill Cipher]] [[DemonicPossession speak through him?!]] Dun-dun-duuun!
540* This comment from the AV Club's review of "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" brings up some FridgeHorror about the series in general. Namely how it could easily be a ''horror movie'' if you change a few details.
541--->''The final part (and post-credits tag) was great because it made me realize for the first time how much the Pines family is like the creation of a horror movie- this weird old man with secrets living in a shabby, sporadically-visited menagerie of stuffed and wax things, with a pair of twins who know way more about the supernatural than they should. If you crossed the Pines family by, say, failing to spend the necessary amount of money at the Mystery Shack, I'm pretty sure it doesn't end well for you''
542* Due to the implications that ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' take place in the same universe, Ford's journey through the Multiverse could have took a turn for the worse. During his dimension hopping, Ford could have ended up in Amphibia and decides to explore what this world has to offer. Once Ford discovers Newtopia and meets King Andreas, Ford immediately talks to him about his situation with Bill Cipher and the dimensional portal. This conversation would bring the attention of [[MindHive The Core]], and decides that Ford would make a valuable asset. This would unfortunately lead to Ford being used as a [[DemonicPossession host for The Core]]. Now having access to Ford's scientific knowledge, The Core and King Andreas could build a new dimensional portal and plan out their long awaited invasion of Earth. And if you're wondering how this portal is going to function, keep in mind that The Core also has access to Ford's perpetual motion machine, and would repurpose it as the portal's power source.
543[[/folder]]
544
545[[folder: Season One]]
546
547[[AC: Tourist Trapped]]
548* In the pilot, judging by the fact that the gnomes need a "Queen", she has to "marry" ''all'' of them, and all of them appear to be male, it seems likely that they reproduce the way that bees do. Now, with that new found knowledge, imagine yourself in Mabel's position...
549** On top of that, while the gnomes were defeated, they are still there and still need a queen. How long before some other underage girl goes into the woods and never come back?
550
551[[AC: The Legend Of The Gobblewonker]]
552* Stan makes an off-the-cuff comment about talking to his reflection in. At first, it appears to be just an amusing comment... but then "A Tale of Two Stan's" comes along and we find out he has a long-lost twin brother, who at that point, he hadn't seen for ''30 years'' and didn't even know if he ever ''would''. Was Stan talking to his reflection him trying to compensate for not having Ford around? [[https://artsymeeshee.tumblr.com/post/183278938950/its-been-3-years-since-ive-posted-my-very-first This comic]] explores this concept.
553* It's already pretty sad how Tate [=McGucket=] treats his father, and it only gets sadder after the episode "Society of The Blind Eye", but perhaps the distance Tate puts between himself and his father isn't so surprising, when you remember that Old Man [=McGucket=] allegedly built a homicidal pterodactyl-tron, after his wife left him. No wonder Tate doesn't want to speak to his father after he apparently attempted (or maybe even succeeded) to ''kill Tate's mother.''
554
555[[AC: Headhunters]]
556* Stan would have been ''murdered'' if Mabel didn't make a life-size wax statue of him.
557* Stan finds the melted wax UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and blames it on Wax John Wilkes Booth. Hilarious, yes. However, it turns out that the wax statues are ''alive'', so Wax Booth may ''have'' killed Wax Lincoln. Wax Lincoln ''was'' Stan's favourite. Perhaps he objected to the notion of killing Stan.
558** Which opens up another window of fridge horror: Can you possibly imagine what it must feel like to stand still, unable to move, as your flesh ''melts in the sun'' over the course of ''several hours''?! We never find out if the figures are sentient when they're not awake, and if they are... AndIMustScream doesn't even come close...
559** What the wax statues were planning to do to Stan was already awful, but what were the ones whose counterparts are still alive (at the time) going to do? Most likely KillAndReplace. Suddenly, Wax Coolio being killed offscreen and Wax Larry's head having a HeelFaceTurn at the finale gives you relief, doesn't it?
560
561[[AC: The Hand That Rocks The Mabel]]
562* If Gideon's amulet had required any training to use, Dipper would be ''dead''.
563
564[[AC: The Inconveniencing]]
565* [[AndIMustScream The fates of the teenagers]] in Episode 5. One of them was being ''cooked alive''. It's a good thing Dipper is clever and knew how to do a kiddy dance.
566** One of the fates in particular, being trapped in a cereal box cover, becomes substantially more disturbing when looked at in a certain light. The toucan on the box, apparently the cereal's mascot, cheerfully says to the boy while about to drive a spoon into him, "I'm bonkers for eating you alive!". Presumably, this is a play on the fictional cereal's advertising slogan. This is more funny than it is creepy, unless you look at it this way: This is probably a beloved childhood cereal mascot, like the Lucky Charms Leprechaun or Cap'n Crunch. So, that's basically the equivalent of the Coco Puffs bird saying to you, "I'm coo-coo for murdering you in your sleep!" or Tony the Tiger saying, "Eating kids isn't just good, it's grrrrreat!"
567
568[[AC: Irrational Treasure]]
569* According to a document, Santa is the president of the US. Since Blubs and Durland are taking orders from the "Big Guy" (pun slightly intended), that means Santa is perfectly fine with kidnapping children.
570** Although, if you consider the fact that the Pines family could be Jewish...
571* If the Supreme Court babies of Trembley were both used as puppets to get rid of him, and were not impeached or removed from the court afterwards, there could be some serious historical horrors. The period after Trembley was a period of plenty of inter-nation infighting, even before the Civil War. It's very possible the babies he put up became puppets in that game, and given historical issues of 'the sinister slave power', it is likely the babies would be used in such things, up to and including the Dred Scott decision. Trembley's babies very well could have contributed to the build up to the Civil War.
572
573[[AC: The Time Traveller's Pig]]
574* Not so much Fridge Horror as it is Fridge Sadness: Mabel spiraling and banging her head for at least one month since Pacifica got Waddles in one of the alternative timelines seems like some kind of overreaction. Since Waddles was showing resistance, why wouldn't Pacifica want to get rid of him? If Pacifica can't use Waddles as a pet, she'd use him as ''food''. It's even scarier when the man who gave Mabel the pig also offered her a fork and knife, which means he gave them away so the people who get the pigs can '''eat them'''. Even if Pacifica didn't intend to eat the pig, she seemed aware that Mabel really liked it. In such a case, there's no way that Pacifica would give Waddles to Mabel even if she did want to get rid of the pig. As such, Mabel's realization is a lot more justified: Not only is she aware that she will never be able to see her beloved pet again, but she doesn't even have the comfort of being able to know or believe that Waddles is being taken care of by an owner that actually cares about him.
575** The fact that Dipper disappeared and left Mabel alone likely didn't help her to overcome her grieving either. Also, Mabel was possibly aware that anything that happened after Dipper traveled to the future, the whole timeline, will eventually be erased once he decides to set things right. Fully, with the life she lived since.
576** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and all, but let's assume that Pacifica actually wanted to keep Waddles as a pet, as we are are later shown her life is [[LonelyRichKid actually]] [[JerkassWoobie quite a mess]] and she might have wanted a friend. This... [[ShaggyDogStory really doesn’t make things any better]], as it's very unlikely [[AbusiveParents her parents]], being how they are, would have let her keep a pig of all things. It's not hard to guess what happened to that chicken she got at the end of the episode, too...
577
578[[AC: Fight Fighters]]
579* This episode reveals that a code written on the side of an arcade machine can bring one of the characters from a fighting game to life. So how many super powerful fighters are running around wreaking havoc just because they haven't reached "Game Over" yet?
580* Wendy's awfully lucky that she got that ladder in the Shack without getting shot. Soos too, considering the step ladder he was standing on in "Tourist Trapped".
581
582[[AC: Little Dipper]]
583* Dipper is almost savaged by a mountain lion and only survives because of the crystal that he is searching for.
584* We finally see Gideon's mom in "Little Dipper". All she does is vacuum, and always has this freaked out expression on her face. Did Gideon do something to her?
585* Gideon says that zombies don't take orders. Did he read that in his book, or has he dabbled in raising them before?
586
587[[AC: Summerween]]
588* The Trickster reveals himself to actually be a walking pile of vengeful candy, rejected by the citizens of Gravity Falls. It is all fine and dandy because Soos eats him, making him happy and ending his pain. The problem is: More candy still will be rejected by the citizens all the same. A pile of vengeful candy already managed to transform itself in a EldritchAbomination once. Nothing stops it from doing it ''again''. And who's to say anyone in town will even believe Soos or the kids? "Hey, stop throwing away your bad candy or else it'll turn into a monster!"
589
590[[AC: Bottomless Pit]]
591* Dipper tells the others he might have been bit by a poisonous snake, but no one takes him to a hospital. It isn't brought up again, but still... On the other hand, it's very much implied that the story wasn't canon, especially since Grunkle Stan still had his regular voice in the present despite drinking a permanent voice changing potion.
592
593[[AC: Boss Mabel]]
594* Dipper catches a monster in the woods that drives people insane by showing them their own worst nightmare. While it's played for BlackComedy, one wonders how many people have been killed by that monster and others.
595* Ever since TheReveal in "Blendin's Game" that Soos' dad abandoned him and he has seen Stan as a father figure since he was twelve, it makes Soos crying when he thinks Stan died in "Boss Mabel" a lot harder to watch.
596
597[[AC: The Deep End]]
598* Mermando ended up in the pool when he was captured by a fisherman who wanted to eat him, but escaped before he could meet his fate. However, other members of his species might not have been so lucky.
599** Also," Mermando probably thought the soggy wet sandwich Mabel brought him looked delicious because it'd most likely been goodness knows how long since he'd eaten anything.
600** Ditto for the poor kid trapped in solitary confinement. You have to wonder what kind of [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking horrible crime against pool humanity]] he committed to get locked up in there for at least a year. You also have to remember that the pool management probably never told his family...
601** Mermando was caught in the Gulf of Mexico and driven all the way up north to Gravity Falls. [[http://sharkie-19.tumblr.com/post/45556400691/mermando-on-the-way-to-gravity-fallspoor-guy-i The several hour long drive must have been terrifying for him]]. According to Google Maps, he could've been in that tank for ''two days'', assuming absolutely no pit stops whatsoever. The best-case scenario only shaves ten hours off of that.
602** Imagining what his family probably went through is pretty bad too.
603** That fisherman who caught him, and intended to ''eat him''? [[KarmaHoudini He was never caught or punished]]. Meaning that he could conceivably do ''the same thing again.''
604* In the tank there was the lobster and an axolotl, and ''it's boiling!''
605* For the winners of some contest that was related to the Mabel's Guide shorts, Alex Hirsch released personalized messages in character on Soundcloud. The links can be found on his Twitter. Now, one of them was in character as [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Mermando.]] In the message, he said something along the lines of "pollution is getting into my home" and it was punctuated with a lot of coughing. Assuming that all of these are in canon, Mabel isn't going to be very happy in the future... In a later episode, he sent Mabel a letter saying he was fine... aside from being forced to marry a manatee. Needless to say, Mabel wasn't happy.
606
607[[AC: Carpet Diem]]
608* In "Carpet Diem", Soos (while in Waddles' body) tries to explain to Old Man [=McGucket=] that he's really a man trapped in a pig's body. [=McGucket=] responds by saying "that's what they all say". Is [=McGucket=] really insane, or has he [[ImAHumanitarian eaten people trapped in animals' bodies before]]? When Soos has his body back, [=McGucket=] says he'll still eat him. ''[=McGucket=] had his knife and fork when he said this.''
609
610[[AC: Boyz Crazy]]
611* The band manager in "Boyz Crazy" still has those other clones locked away in test tubes! What's going to happen to them?!
612* Basically the whole concept of brainwashing with music. Robbie could have brainwashed Wendy into doing other things with him... which could constitute as rape. Same goes for that girl that Grunkle Stan was in to (the one who was hypnotized by the hippie guy).
613* Sev'ral Timez in general. They're pretty much homeless and totally clueless about how to take care of themselves. The episode ended with them stranded in the forest, forced to dig through people's garbage in order to get a bite to eat.
614* The implication that the Sev'ral Timez manager starves the bandmates who don't perform well. It uncomfortably resembles real-life [[StageMom "stage parents"]].
615* Also: a trio of obsessive fangirls around the age of puberty, one of who we know had just had TheTalk, keeping a naïve boy band in the attic. Imagine if they had been there a few more months. Eventually, the girls' self-control might have cracked.
616* Stan talks about burying gold for the coming apocalypse. Two episodes later [[EldritchAbomination Bill Cipher]] gives the protagonists an ominous warning about a coming darkness and advises Gideon to buy gold.
617* So, just who were Sev'ral Times cloned from and what happened to them afterwards?
618* Mr. Bratsman keeps Sev'ral Times in line by threatening that he can easily replace any one of them with their "brothers", referring to some still-developing clones. How many times has Bratsman replaced one of the group? More importantly, what happened to the band members he replaced with new clones when they got out of line?
619
620[[AC: The Land Before Swine]]
621* We see that the dinosaurs are close to breaking free from the sap (with the heat helping out melting it), and considering the mine they might find another way out into the surface. And the dinosaur that's closest to being freed is a T. rex.
622** Somewhat unrelated FridgeHorror from the same episode: there's the implication, based on the fact that the T. rex can be seen wiggling its arms (as well as the ''Utahraptor'' twitching its free finger), that the dinosaurs have been [[AndIMustScream at least semi-conscious all the millions of years they were trapped]]. This might even help explain why the ''Pterodactyl'' was acting like such a PrehistoricMonster in the episode: [[GoMadFromTheIsolation It had gone at least somewhat insane over the eons]].
623
624[[AC: Dreamscaperers]]
625* When Bill leaves near the end of "Dreamscaperers", he says, "I'll be watching you!" twice. The first time he says it, he's looking at the protagonists. The second time, he's facing the screen, in the same pose as the FreezeFrameBonus at the end of the intro. He's talking to ''us''. Every time we watch ''Gravity Falls'', ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou he watches us back]]''.
626
627[[AC: Gideon Rises]]
628* Dipper outwits Gideon by making Gideon punch himself, thus making the robot punch itself as well. But... Mabel was on one of the robot's fingers. She could have been close to being smacked and possibly crushed against the robot had Dipper caught the wrong hand. It's a good thing that Gideon threw a punch with his left, Mabel-free hand...
629[[/folder]]
630
631[[folder: Season Two]]
632
633[[AC: Scary-Oke]]
634* In "Tourist Trapped", Dipper was seen writing on some empty pages of the journal, filling in information based on his experience. In "Scary-oke", it's revealed that the author of the journal wrote in invisible ink to hide extra information from whomever might find it. Dipper might have written over some pretty important information.
635* When those agents first noticed Stan powering up the portal the two guesses the second agent made for its source were outer space and a weapons site. That sounds an awful lot like a [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst Gamma Ray Burst]], generated by a few space events and nuclear tests. That machine was throwing off enough energy to make it look like someone nuked a sleepy Oregon town. It's hard to believe nobody else noticed this. What could be reasonably interpreted as a nuke going off happening on American soil could very well be WorldWarIII.
636
637[[AC: Into The Bunker]]
638* The Shape Shifter can take the form of whatever it sees, but it displays numerous horrifying forms of monsters that haven't been seen in Gravity Falls yet. Given how we see one other monster in the shadows and the Shape Shifter offhandedly mentions "molemen," these creatures are monstrosities that live under the depths with the Shape Shifter. [[OhCrap Right underneath Gravity Falls.]]
639* If someone else ever makes it into the Bunker, they'd see a cryogenic tube labeled "Experiment" with (apparently) a screaming little boy frozen in terror. The explorer's immediate reaction [[SchmuckBait will be to open the cryogenic tube]] and free the cruelly trapped, scared little boy. Only the little boy will be the Shape Shifter...
640* Here's something we hadn't considered before: Remember how the Shape Shifter from "Into The Bunker" wanted Dipper's journal to scan and transform into the creatures depicted within it? Remember how there's a picture of ''Bill Cipher'' in there? Imagine what would've happened if Dipper and Wendy hadn't gotten the book back from him before he scanned it.
641** Has it ever been said when the Shape Shifter transforms he gains the powers of the creature he turned too as well, or is it simply in appearance?
642
643[[AC: The Golf War]]
644* What would Pacifica's demanding parents do if she ever lost at anything?
645* Big Henry was killed because there was a gas leak in the Mine-themed hole. It apparently didn't spread beyond the main shaft, but what if the gas leak goes unnoticed by the Putt Hutt staff? Given how frightened the Lilliputtians were of Dipper and Mabel at first glance, it can be assumed that they usually hide themselves from humans, which may lead to the gas leak going unnnoticed; and given how violent the Lilliputtians can get, what if one decides to set fire to the gas?
646
647[[AC: Sock Opera]]
648* ''Bill never tells Dipper any hints for the password and destroys the laptop''. Think about what that means: Bill doesn't have to hold up his end of any bargain he makes. Most creatures capable of making the kind of Faustian bargains that Bill offers are dutybound to fulfill their contract, and what makes them tricky is that there's always a creative way to interpret the wording of the contract that they will use to screw you over. Bill doesn't have even that much: there is ''nothing'' to stop him from doing whatever he wants once he gets you to shake his hand.
649** Going in further, let's look at the technology involved: this laptop has to easily go back to the early 80's judging by the sound from the hardware and the green monochrome screen. Multiple password failure intrusion countermeasures did not exist yet at this point, and even today those would simply not allow the hundreds of failed attempts Dipper went through before triggering on, rather being set somewhere between 3-10 tries depending on how paranoid the mindset of the person setting it up. Additionally, Bill appears immediately to Dipper once the countdown has started, so combining these facts with Dipper's lack of sleep (later remarked on) so the conclusion is that ''the countdown never happened at all.'' It was all a dream effect concocted by Bill to trick Dipper into accepting a DealWithTheDevil and hand him over a blank check. Need more evidence? ''He physically destroys the laptop once he possesses Dipper.'' Why would he have even ''needed'' to do so if the hard drive was seconds away from complete erasure? It would have been far more amusing to Bill to just watch Dipper despair as the erasure progress bar would have slowly deleted not only the data, but Dipper's hope of a solution to the greater mystery as well.
650*** In the actual deal-making scene, Bill never says that he's giving Dipper the password in exchange for the puppet. He says “if you gives me a puppet, I’ll crack that laptop right open.” Bill isn't playing an elaborate mind game, he's just following his exact words, and using Dipper's assumptions against him. Dipper assumed Bill would get the laptop unlocked in exchange for a sock puppet. What Bill ''actually'' said was “if you become my puppet, I’ll ''smash the laptop apart.”'' Bill followed through on his end of the deal completely, he was just being a dick about how he phrased it, and Dipper didn't realize it until it was too late. Jerkass Genie anybody?
651* Bill implies that he's possessed a person before, but he clearly doesn't understand that humans need things like sleep. It's possible that he killed his last host with one of those "pain is HILARIOUS!" stunts (heck, it's a good thing he didn't break Dipper's neck falling down the stairs like that). And on that note, ''what was he going to do with Dipper's body once he destroyed the journal''? Giving it back seems way too boring for someone like him...
652** According to the released copy of Journal 3, Bill was going to throw himself off the water tower, staging Dipper's suicide.
653* Bill was greatly enjoying feeling pain, so he was doing everything he could to bang up Dipper's body. How bad is the damage he managed to inflict? And Dipper was able to possess a sock puppet, so something doesn't need to be alive in order to be possessed. Is Dipper essentially a ghost possessing his own corpse now?
654** The fact that Dipper expressed obvious physical pain upon being returned to his body (as well as the fact that corpses don't need sleep, so Bill would have no reason to feel fatigued if the body was dead by that point) would suggest that it was still alive, though possibly in critical condition.
655* When Bipper tells Soos about the exact date of his death, does that mean that Bipper would've gone ahead and made sure that happened?
656** It could go either way--On the one hand, Bill is damn close to being TheOmniscient; he "knows lots of things ('''[[VoiceOfTheLegion LoTs oF tHiNGs]]''')", can see the future and in a throwaway line he implies that he knows how and when Ford will die too ("Don't have a heart attack! You're not 92 yet!"). On the other hand, it'd be well within [[AxCrazy Bill's]] [[{{Sadist}} character]] to kill Soos without hesitation or [[ForTheEvulz reason]]...
657** He also knows the Zodiac Ten. If even one of them is gone, it won't work. So perhaps there ''was'' an underlying reason...
658
659[[AC: Soos and The Real Girl]]
660* Do you ever wonder what exactly happened to all the ''other'' people that [=.GIFfany=] managed to weave under her spell? Think about it, the clerk at the game store mentioned that Romance Academy 7 had been returned a bunch of times, and the only clue we have to any of the former players' fates is the sticky note on the back of the box saying to destroy the game immediately. At least that person managed to make it out unscathed (hopefully), but what about the one before them? Food for thought...
661** Heck, when you get down to to it, the entire episode is a case of Fridge Horror based around a measly dating sim.
662** There's the implication of what [=.GIFfany=] did to her programmers upon them trying to delete her.
663** The fact that in usual dating sims there are more than just one potential love interest, meaning [=.GIFfany=] wasn't supposed to be the only girl/Sentient AI in that game. Lord only knows what she did to get rid of her "Competition"...
664** It's not just Romance Academy, it's Romance Academy 7. This implies that there are at least 6 other versions of this game. We can only hope those games don't have any characters like [[{{Yandere}} .GIFfany]]. Of course, the fact that they didn't delete those games probably means they didn't have any other [=.GIFfanys=]
665* Crosses over a bit with FridgeLogic: In the climax, [=.GIFfany=] takes control over all the electronics in [[SuckECheeses Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree]]. Among them are a set of skeeball machines, which she uses to fire at the characters like cannons. Anybody who's been to a real Chuck E. Cheese can tell you that skeeballs are, out of necessity, extremely hard and heavy. And Soos gets hit by several dozen of them, including a few to the ''head'' and some to the [[GroinAttack nuts]], while taking [=.GIFfany's=] attention away from Melody and the kids. ''Ouch''.
666* [=.GIFfany=] may be a psychotically clingy girlfriend...but think about it from her perspective. Imagine her game, fresh off the shelf for the first time ever, and she spends time with the boy who bought the game, growing genuinely attached and eventually falling in love with him. Then, one day, he unceremoniously dumps her for a real girl and pretty much forgets all about her. And then think about how that would be more than likely not the first time it happened... If this is the case, is it any wonder [=.GIFfany=] got the way she is? Soos mentioned her dad was an octopus, and you know what they say about [[AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles a girl with an octopus.]]
667* The fact that Soos' abuelita is ''certain'' her late husband is not in Heaven. The joke is [[PlayedForLaughs funny]], but it's still sad to realize a nice woman like Abuelita was [[AwfulWeddedLife unhappy in her marriage]]... or perhaps [[DomesticAbuse something worse]] was going on. And, given her age, divorce was still highly stigmatized when she was young.
668
669[[AC: The Society Of The Blind Eye]]
670* The ray having negative side-effects. It turned [=McGucket=] into the crazy loon he is today and made the townspeople incredibly stupid (a man walking right into a pole; a man splashing water on his face with a blank smile, Lazy Susan not remembering if she's a man or a woman, etc). Just how bad is it? That bandaid on [=McGucket's=] beard used to be on his ''chin.'' The beard grew out from under it. And this was ''30 years ago.''
671* Seeing [=McGucket's=] SanitySlippage becomes even worse when you remember that he has a son who likely witnessed it, possibly without knowing why or how it happened.
672** Not sure if this makes it better, but it's very likely [=McGucket's=] son simply assumed he was suffering from Alzheimer's. If that's the case, it makes [=McGucket's=] situation look more like abandonment.
673* The final few seconds of [=McGucket's=] memories show the now crazy old man make a triangle symbol around one of his eyes. Bill Cipher may have been involved in [=McGucket's=] loss of sanity. What he screams while making said triangle has been translated to mean "Bill Cipher Triangle."
674* Given Mermando kept sending bottles to Mabel, starting with a dozen shoved into the pool pipes he never actually broke off their relationship. Probably he was hoping to keep their romance long-distance, up until his ArrangedMarriage to the Manatee Queen. Which means when Mabel was hitting on Gabe and wanted to see him after the puppet show, she might have accidentally cheated on Mermando!
675* While the townsfolk constantly getting their memories of the paranormal wiped is bad enough, but what about the random tourists that occasionally come to visit Gravity Falls? This would unfortunately mean that if any tourist saw any kind of supernatural creature, The Society of the Blind Eye would capture them and erase their memories. And of course there's the unfortunate side effects of the constant use of the Memory Erasing Gun on the same person.
676
677[[AC: Blendin's Game]]
678* If Blendin Blandin's time in jail in-between "The Time Traveler's Pig" and "Blendin's Game" was any indication, just how many time police officers were [[FelonyMisdemeanor sent to jail for failing their missions]]?
679* Had Blendin Blandin been able to [[RetGone wish Dipper and Mabel out of existence]], it would have caused some massive consequences to the show's events. Had Dipper and Mabel never existed, Gideon would have taken over the Mystery Shack, Stan would’ve never rescued his long lost brother, and the Lumberjack Ghost from "Northwest Masion Mystery" would have successfully burned down Northwest Manor along with the party guest. And what's worse, had Gideon discovered the Dimensional Portal, then Bill Cipher would have eventually been released, and caused Weirdmaggedon.
680** Also, The Society of the Blind Eye would still be at large [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wiping the memories of everyone who saw any kind of supernatural occurrences]].
681* Given the StableTimeLoop presented in "Blendin's Game," what if Toby actually could have had a successful Broadway career if it wasn't for Mabel telling him it wouldn't work?
682* At the end of the episode, Blendin stated that several wars were caused as a means to obtain a Time Wish. Considering that Time Baby had full control of future Earth, this unfortunately means that he allowed numerous lives to die in [[WarIsHell horrifying conflicts]] just so that one faction can get one Time Wish.
683
684[[AC: The Love God]]
685* After Wendy, Nate and Lee quit being friends after Tambry and Robbie get together, Thompson mentioned how he invoked being a ButtMonkey so that he could get them as his friends. Just how broken is the guy that he has to go to such lengths just to get ''any sort of'' company to keep him from being alone?
686* As "The Love God" shows, it's apparently really easy to drug food in Greasy's Diner. The cook won't question or deter you in any way. Given that Tambry and Robbie only ate a bit of that drugged food, that means other people fell victim to that potion.
687** Regarding the potion's effects, Journal 3 reveals that it thankfully is temporary, and only works long term if the love is real and the affected individuals are compatible. Though as for anybody else who would attempt so with actual drugs, yeah... lets just hope nobody in Gravity Falls ever attempted such a thing.
688
689[[AC: Northwest Mansion Mystery]]
690* God, you can practically ''hear'' Pacifica's mouth snap shut the second time her dad uses ''that bell'' on her, and the look on her face as she shrinks back is heartbreaking. It makes the mind reel wondering what kind of punishments were used to train her to have such a Pavlovian response to the thing. "Why are you so afraid of your parents?" indeed.
691* What punishment is in store for Pacifica once the party guests have left? In any case, her parents are done playing games.
692** Pacifica's parents are using a bell to make Pacifica repond to their whims like a Pavlovian dog. A virgin female dog is called a bitch. ''Pacifica is her parents' bitch.''
693* How did someone like Nathaniel Northwest rise to such prominence in the first place? Well, there's a tapestry featuring Bill in the Northwest Manor. Perhaps he made [[DealWithTheDevil a deal.]]
694* Why exactly was Pacifica not with her parents in the panic room? Between the abusive conditioning she has gone through, Dipper saying she is just like her parents, discovering just how bad her family really is and her sheer disgust regarding it [[DrivenToSuicide she was probably just waiting for the ghost to come find her.]]
695* This one doubles as ShipTease: in "Into the Bunker", the Shapeshifter's final form before he's frozen is, as he claims, "the final form [Dipper] will ever take". Dipper takes that exact form in "Northwest Mansion Mystery", when the Lumberjack Ghost turns him into wood. If Pacifica failed to resist the bell, the Shapeshifter would have been right. The reason this counts as ShipTease is that, by resisting the bell and opening the gates, [[RescueRomance Pacifica changed Dipper's fate]]!
696* A minor one, but in "Northwest Mansion Mystery/Noir", a FreezeFrameBonus gag shows that Marius Von Fundhauser inherited his father's factory at seven. The implication is that his father died. If that wasn't enough, there is the question of why his mother didn't get it. Either she wasn't in on the will or she died as well...
697* Apparently, one of Pacifica's ancestors was a MadScientist. And if you recall that the end of the episode implies that the Northwests made an alliance with Bill Cipher in the past. That said, it was ultimately lucky that said scientist didn't build or perfected a dimensional portal that would release Bill to unleash [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Weirdmageddon]].
698
699[[AC: Not What He Seems]]
700* As noted in the NightmareFuel page, had Trigger's humvee crashed differently, Mabel's plans could've gotten her and Dipper seriously injured or even killed, and possibly made Manly Dan a killer. Relating to this, imagine Wendy distraught if her father had actually hurt or killed Dipper and Mabel by ramming the truck into the humvee.
701* WordOfGod has confirmed Stan having a long-lost twin brother is why he was so distraught at seeing the sculpture of himself get destroyed back in "Headhunters."
702* "Not What He Seems" has Dipper somewhat surprised that Trigger and Powers are alive, casually admitting that he assumed they were killed by the zombies in "Scary-Oke." He thought that two people had been ''killed'' by the zombies he summoned ''just to prove a point to them'', and it apparently didn't trouble his conscience in the slightest. Dipper gets terrifyingly merciless when people [[BerserkButton don't believe him]].
703** Speaking of ''Not What He Seems,'' the BrokenAesop set up by this episode is terrifying. ThePowerOfTrust is a beautiful thing, kids, so it's okay to put trust in a felon who’s lied to you for as long as you’ve known them, [[DeadPersonImpersonation impersonated someone who (apparently) died a highly suspicious way]], and is currently enacting plans that, as far as you know, may harm or kill others, because they really aren't as bad as they seem!
704*** Thinking about the episode in that light, this does double-duty as parental concerns as well, and is a pretty untimely message considering the currently problem the US has with people ignoring warning signs in dangerous individuals, often leading to tragedy. Man, talk about a "Do as I say, not as I do" {{Aesop}}.
705
706[[AC: A Tale Of Two Stans]]
707* While the Memory Gun gambit used on the government agents is played off as mostly humorous, and a clean resolution to Trigger and Powers' involvement with the story, there is still the troubling possibility that they might be able to get their memories back. After all, their agency might find it strange that they seem to have forgotten their intended mission, and might realize that they've had their memories erased. If they get their memories back, then the entire Pines Family could be in serious trouble, at best surveilled from a distance for the rest of their lives, or at worse...
708* In "A Tale of Two Stans" it is revealed that Stanford didn't create the Shapeshifter but it hatched from an egg he found. This means that there could be other Shapeshifters out there. Also, assuming it wasn't that way by nature, what did Stanford do to the baby Shapeshifter that made it such a cruel adult?
709** According to [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]], Ford actually treated it very well. However, its fixation on the Journals and willingness to exploit and (psychologically) harm Fiddleford in order to get it shows that it likely had extremely malicious traits without any excuse. It alleviates it ''just a little bit''...
710* When Stanley gets to the Mystery Shack, it's snowing. Meaning, obviously, at the time, it's winter. But, by the time he leaves to go to the grocery store, the snow has melted. ''How long was he sitting in his brother's house, torn up about [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone what he'd done?]]'' At best, he got to Oregon in March and it lasted a few weeks. At worst, it could have lasted for months.
711* Ford says Stan has to leave at the end of the summer. Ok, but, uhm... ''where'' would he go ''to?'' He faked his own death to be able to be Ford, so if he gives Ford his identity and name back, he can't go to other surviving members of the Pines family, such as Dipper and Mabel (even though they would be probably more than happy to take him in after the summer they've had, and even their parents would be willing to house him for taking care of the kids.), and his own parents are most probably dead given he's 61. So he would either have to take up the "jumping from one state to the other" shtick again, which would be much more difficult in modern times than it was as a young adult (and it was difficult even ''then''), or he has to get himself into a retirement home-but either way, he has to assume a fake identity... one that has nothing to do with the Pines family, most probably, to avoid even more unpleasant questions. Adding to the sadness of him having to do this, would Dipper and Mabel, the only ones he claims to still consider family (he does consider them family all right, but it still has to be seen if their relationship with Ford is really beyond repair) be able to visit him or keep in touch with him? Would ''Soos'' be able to?
712** Related to that, Soos and Wendy would likely be out of work if Ford kicks Stan out and presumably shuts down the Mystery Shack for good. Wendy will have to go work for one of her relative's logging camps and Soos will lose the best job he ever had (and probably fail at every other new one he gets). And the town will lose one of the funnest places they have.
713** Additionally, this becomes even more horrifying when you remember what Soos's home life looks like in 'Gideon Rises'. It's clear that Soos and Abuelita aren't very well-off, given the state of the house and the empty fridge. What's going to happen to them if Soos loses his job, and can't find/keep another one?
714* Stan lived his entire life in his genius twin brother's shadow, both literally and figuratively. From childhood he was written off by everyone as the “dumb twin” and screwup-a childish slacker who’d be lucky to graduate high school, and destined to spend the rest of his life in New Jersey scraping barnacles off a dock for minimum wage. He was forced to become a homeless grifter because of an honest accident while his brother went to college and got pretty much everything he’d dreamed of despite not going to the college he’d wanted. Finally, Stan had to "kill" his own identity to assume Stanford's, legally becoming his brother, and kept this up for ''thirty years.''
715** Why did Stan choose to fake his own death and adopt Ford's instead of just announcing that Ford was dead/missing? Because Ford was the favourite child, and Stan's choice to fake his own death rather than Ford's implies that his parents (or his father at least) would have held it against him that [[TheUnFavourite he lived instead of Ford]].
716* While made explicitly clear to the audience, one throwaway fact given during Stan's recounting of his past becomes ''incredibly'' depressing if you take the time to think about it: Stan had ''no clue'' if Ford was alive or dead. At ''no point'' during his thirty-year absence did Stan ever have the peace of mind that his brother wasn't ''dead'' because of his mistake. At no point while he worked day and night, studying and scheming in order to rebuild the portal he knew absolutely ''nothing'' about, with access to only ''one third of the notes'' necessary to work it, did he even have the assurance that what he was working towards ''even mattered''. And when the portal did open, and he ''finally'' saw living proof that his only goal in life for the last ''thirty years'' wasn't for nothing, it greeted him with ''[[TearJerker a punch to the face]]''.
717* The fact that Ford never mentions anything about what happened to Stan after he left with Journal 1 in the "Better World" dimension, only caring that he did what he asked him to do. Some fan theories assume the worst, believing Stan ''committed suicide'' after hiding the book, was killed shortly after hiding it, or had it buried with him when he died… because, well, who'd bother robbing a penniless grifter's grave?
718
719[[AC: Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons]]
720* After watching the episode, one has to stop and think about how lucky the gang was that the Infinity-Sided die "only" brought Probabilitor to life. seeing as how it can cause an infinite-number of events, that means an infinite number of world- or even realty-ending occurrences. Literally, there was a one in infinity chance they wouldn't all die. Boy they really dodged a bullet there.
721
722[[AC: The Stanchurian Candidate]]
723* Gideon's dad seems to find his son's mind-control spell familiar and is utterly terrified by it. Despite this, we know Gideon can't have used it on Bud, because a close up of the journal page shows the spell is a one-time use per victim only deal. Meaning Gideon has most definitely used the brain-washing spell on someone before, and his father likely watched.
724* Bud Gleeful can't wipe his memories anymore. He has to live with knowing his child is psychotically power-hungry enough to use an extremely painful body possession spell on him.
725* What happened to Bud Gleeful after "The Stanchurian Candidate"? Did he get sent to prison for almost killing Dipper and Mabel? Or worse, is he suffering from his son using him as a mind-controlled puppet and was aware of everything Gideon made him do, including attempted murder? All in all, [[AlasPoorVillain he's not likely to be well off either way.]]
726
727[[AC: The Last Mabelcorn]]
728* Bill mentions that he has been making deals, implying a higher level of activity than has been shown. A fairly disturbing thought as it means he has been working recently or as the Northwest tapestry shows has been going for a long enough time that he has accrued more than a few "customers".
729* If Bill has been working recently then the Mystery Shack crew would have contributed to the upswing in "business". With the Society of the Blind Eye no longer delivering a MindWipe to every schmuck that sees something unusual and the members themselves being prone to abusing that technology for personal use than more than a few people are likely to find it too much to handle on their own. Golden opportunity for an enterprising mind demon wouldn't you say?
730* Ford can NoSell mental attacks with a metal plate in his skull but Bill was still able to talk to him while he was dreaming. He may not be as safe as he thinks given how crafty Bill is.
731* How did Ford install the metal plate into his head? No sane doctor would do that if you claim it's the only safety measure against a dream demon and Ford was probably too paranoid to go to the hospital anyway. He probably did it ''himself''.
732** In Literature/GravityFallsJournal3, Ford actually explains this. Basically, during his journey through dimensions, he was suddenly sucked out of one and woke up next to an oracle who said she could help him by protecting his mind through installing a metal plate with a "difficult surgery". Still terrifying and even ''Ford'' doesn't know why he agreed so quickly to it.
733* The name ''Don't Wake Stalin'' is historically significant: Stalin died in his bed because his health failed while he slept and his staff was too terrified of waking him up to go in his bedroom and check on him when he just wouldn't get up that morning. No one dared enter his bedroom until evening and it was too late to save his life.
734
735[[AC: Roadside Attraction]]
736* There's this tourist attraction with a giant human spider lady as one of the workers who apparently provides a few of the attractions, including daily new mummies and the giant spider in the forest. She's been eating tourists and using their corpses with her web to make the new mummies. Mummies that come in daily! However, while Pines family and Candy and Grenda manage to get out of there alive, the girls that Dipper flirted with were all there too. Along with possibly their families. We never see them after they confront Dipper! Even if it could be called LaserGuidedKarma for the way they reacted to Dipper if you think about it, the fact that they're not seen again is ''very'' disturbing!
737** It's a roadside attraction. They probably just got back on the road.
738* "Roadside Attraction" was ''supposed'' to come out and presumably [[AnachronicOrder set before]] "Not What He Seems" (hence Ford's absence), and therefore before "The Last Mabelcorn." This means despite Dipper's assurances to the contrary, he's ''still'' not over Wendy. Was Dipper telling the truth at the time, and flirting with all those other girls only a temporary reprieve from thinking about Wendy, or did he lie to Grunkle Stan about his lingering feelings for Wendy just so he wouldn't keep worrying about him after everything else that happened in the episode?
739** It's possible, but the defictionalized Journal 3 explains that Ford recommended that Stan take the kids on the road trip while he worked.
740
741[[AC: Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future]]
742* Overlapping with Fridge Sadness: The climax of Dipper and Mabel's falling-out is in direct parallel to their Grunkles' falling-out forty-three years ago. Due to his high intelligence, Dipper is offered a golden opportunity for his future, but it requires him to abandon Mabel and leave her to her own devices. Admittedly, he's far more reluctant to do this than Ford had been. He ultimately takes the opportunity, which Mabel overhears. After a confrontation, Mabel acts out and ends up doing more damage to Dipper's goals than she intended. Really, it's not even that Dipper said the wrong thing: His words weren't mean or harsh and were actually perfectly true, but his talk of inevitable change were the exact things Mabel was upset about earlier in the day, and he couldn't have known that was what she was afraid and in denial of because she's stopped talking to him about her fears since that brief conversation in "A Tale of Two Stans," just like Dipper's stopped confiding in her about the dangers they're in. It's PoorCommunicationKills on both sides.
743* Stanley warned Ford to stay away from the kids, or at least keep them out of his investigation stuff. How would he react when he finds out that he's not only been enlisting the help of his nephew, bringing him into potential danger, but as well as his niece unknowingly starting the apocalypse out of pure sorrow and by the hands of the psychotic powerful enemy of Ford?
744* At the moment, Dipper thinks the rift Mabel accidentally took fell out of the backpack and broke by accident. How's he going to react when he finds out she intentionally (but unknowingly) gave the rift to Bill?
745** He doesn't find out. In fact, '''no one''' ever finds out. The only two people who knew were Mabel and Bill. Mabel [[LaserGuidedAmnesia had her memory wiped]], and Bill was vanquished without telling anyone. Not only does she [[KarmaHoudini get away with it]], not only does she learn nothing from the whole thing, but she could conceivably do something similar ''again''. If the whole amnesia thing that Bill does is true, does it mean that if he is ever defeated, he going to easily manipulate her to revive him again?
746** Bill was possessing Blendin who recalls the incident, so it's possible he knows too. Of course, he does re-emerge in Journal 3 and doesn't mention this, so either he didn't remember or he does and possibly didn't want to break Dipper and Mabel's hearts, which just makes things worse for ''him''.
747** Fortunately, this is addressed in ''ComicBook/GravityFallsLostLegends''. Mabel acknowledges her selfish actions and even apologizes to Dipper.
748* If Mabel's deal with Blendin hadn't been a trap, it still would have been ''utterly horrifying'' of the MindScrew Lovecraftian nightmare kind. Ignoring the very RealityBreakingParadox nature of eliminating an entire mass of land from the time stream, thus essentially removing Gravity Falls from the same dimension as the rest of the world, the most horrifying question raised by this possibility is whether anyone inside the TimeStop would even be able to ''realize'' that time wasn't passing right, because if no one realizes something's broken, ''it won't get fixed''. Whether it's a true 'total freeze' kind of TimeStop or a GroundhogDayLoop, the TimeStop Mabel's asking for would likely have lasted forever without anyone inside ''knowing'' it had lasted forever [[Catch22Dilemma since all forms of time measurement would be gone]]--which means that perhaps Bill's Apocalypse is the ''preferable'' fate for the town, since at least that appears slightly more comprehensible and thus likely fixable. If Blendin's offer had been legit, Mabel's plan would have been [[AFateWorseThanDeath far worse than the end of the world for Gravity Falls.]] Becomes AscendedFridgeHorror because time ''does'' freeze in addition to everything Bill brought.
749* Remember that journal page that said "TRUST NO ONE". You know why Bill succeeded in opening the rift? '''Because Ford ''didn't'' trust anyone but Dipper with the rift.''' FatalFlaw, anyone?
750* Ford offering Dipper an apprenticeship might ''seem'' like it was a great offer... until you realize [[NoSocialSkills the]] [[IWorkAlone type of person Ford is]]. If he'd followed through with his plans and drove both Mabel and Stan[[note]]And by extension, Soos and Wendy. After all, Ford wouldn't probably want them in his house, now would he?[[/note]] away, then there'd be no one to restrain Dippers’s obsession with research or Ford's influence on him. This could've easily turned Dipper from someone who could balance between knowledge and friendship into Ford at his worst -- a self-absorbed, know-it-all shut-in who only cares about his research and his own perceived brilliance -- thus driving away any remaining friends who'd still want to approach him. After all, what Ford didn't realize is that Dipper, for all his obsession with his journals and research, still treasures his family and friends and never saw Mabel as "suffocating" his potential.
751* So what would've happened if Mabel didn't take the Rift by accident and Dipper and Ford managed to seal the Rift as planned? Well, assuming that Ford drove Stanley and his employees away from his home and Dipper stayed with Ford as his apprentice, the Pines twins would've been torn apart from each other. Mabel would've fallen into a deep depression because Dipper chose Ford over her, Stanley would've probably been arrested yet again due to a failed scamming attempt, and Ford would've eventually made Dipper into a copy of himself. In other words, had the Rift sealing gone exactly as planned, ''Gravity Falls'' would have ended on a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet note]]: The Rift is sealed and Bill will never invade Gravity Falls, but history repeats itself--a close relationship between twins is broken apart because one chose ambition over family. Mabel's carelessness actually stopped the cycle from repeating.
752** On the other hand, Dipper refusing Ford's offer in the end may have done permanent damage to Mabel's own growth: Despite the horror she unintentionally triggered, she ultimately got everything she wanted without even having to admit she gave Bill the Rift (though in fairness, Mabel didn't know at all about the true significance of the Rift thanks to PoorCommunicationKills). What impetus is necessary for Mabel to have to stop being dependent on her brother and controlling of his life, and what's going to happen next time Dipper is presented with amazing opportunities that don't involve Mabel, or if he simply decides he wants to live his own life at some point? Or if ''Mabel'' is presented with amazing opportunities that don't involve ''Dipper''?
753*** Of course, while all of the above are still definitely valid points, it's worth noting that Dipper and Mabel are still ''children'' at this point in their lives: They both have plenty of time to further mature and grow up into people who are better able to respond to loss and trauma. Furthermore, considering Mabel herself later said that she was fine with Dipper taking Ford's apprenticeship after some soul-searching, and the fact that she definitely would've never given Bill the Rift if she'd known what it really was (as she has more than enough reasons to distrust and hate Cipher by that point in the series), it's possible that the situation isn't nearly as serious or grim as first thought.
754** I would like to point out, however, that it's unlikely Dipper would EVER be okay with Ford throwing Stan out. As much as he loves and admires the Author of the Journals, he also understood Stan's motivations right away at the end of ATOTS, and he clearly loves him just as much as he loves Ford, so if that little detail came to light, it's possible that Ford would become a bit of a BrokenPedestal.
755
756[[AC: Weirdmageddon Part 1]]
757* This episode shows Blendin confused about what's going on after Bill left his body, freaked over what's happening, and enraged that Bill took over his body. This brings a new FridgeHorror into play. It seems that Blendin didn't do anything to allow Bill to take over his body, meaning that it's possible that his powers grew, as Ford mentioned in "The Last Mabelcorn", to the point that he didn't need to make deals anymore to use DemonicPossession. This is actually foreshadowed in "The Last Mabelcorn" when Ford creates a Bill-proof force field around the Mystery Shack to keep Bill from possessing anyone inside, even though ''no one'' in there would willingly make a deal with Bill for him to do so.
758** However, ''[[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]]'' revealed that in a secret message, Blendin did [[DealWithTheDevil make a deal with Bill]] to stop Time Baby and the Time Police from constantly teasing him for losing Glob-Nar. Of course, [[FromBadToWorse things got worse for Blendin]].
759* Here's a creepy thought to consider: Since Bill and his gang are now on Earth, what's to stop them from deciding to unfreeze the Shapeshifter in Ford's bunker?
760
761[[AC: Escape From Reality]]
762* Soos chowed down on the waffle guards in Mabel's bubble, with the help of some syrup. But we get to see the real world behind the {{Glamour}}: a hellish red landscape made out of bugs, and Bill's eye everywhere. So what did Soos really eat, again? Or anyone, really.
763* It'd be easy to say that Wendy was just being selfish and superficial that she immediately forgot that she was supposed to be saving the world when Mabeland gave her the opportunity to vandalise the school with her friends, but then you remember that only a few days ago, Wendy watched her friends turn to to stone (i.e. essentially ''die'') and she barely escaped herself. It's easily forgotten thanks to her characterisation, but Wendy is only 15--barely more than a kid herself. Mabel's bubble provided her with the opportunity to spend time with the friends that she'd lost, potentially forever. Who wouldn't take that chance?
764
765[[AC: Take Back The Falls]]
766* Pacifica's dismay at getting to have "only one" pony seems like just another joke on rich person problems until you wonder if she already had any that she was genuinely attached to. You know, like Mabel cares for Waddles? She's going to have to pick [[SadisticChoice which one of them can actually stay with her, while the rest are all gone from her life.]]
767** Speaking of Pacifica, now that she's lost the manor and is no longer a part of the richest family in town (Old Man [=McGucket=] is now the richest), how are things going to be for her when she goes back to school? No doubt she was only popular because of her heritage and her family's now been exposed as frauds. She probably mistreated a lot of other kids who aren't going to like what they find out about her. Sure, Candy and Grenda would likely be nicer to her, but she could be the most hated girl in school. Her parents might go nuts and their control over her might get worse. She could get an ArrangedMarriage to get richer for all we know.
768** The above is alleviated somewhat by the fact that, when it came right down to it, Pacifica was still willing to help save the world. Granted, it didn't take due to Ford and Stan's feud, but she did try. She'll probably have something of a reputation still after that... not as the school RichBitch, but more likely, as a genuine heroine, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold if not the friendliest sort there.]] And unlike her previous rep, which she had mostly due to her background, this is something she'd have earned for herself.
769* Speaking of the Northwests, there's a bit of Fridge Sadness seen in the series finale where Pacifica's parents [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther are both smiling in relief and hugging their daughter]] after being freed from Bill's petrified throne. While it is subtly touching in that it shows that her parents ''do'' genuinely love her, it's a bit sadder when one remembers how they're still {{Abusive Parents}} towards her, and so the abuse Preston gives to his daughter (along with her mother) is likely hereditary (i.e., inspired by whatever treatment ''his'' parents had inflicted upon ''him'') -- [[TruthInTelevision much like how many real-life abusive family relationships work]]. Has this cycle of abuse really been going on since Nathaniel Northwest's time?
770* Ford should've been ''much'' more negatively affected by Bill's torture in the finale. I mean, ''five hundred volts'' of electricity coursing through his body '''repeatedly''' throughout the course of '''several days''' should've permanently crippled him or even killed him! And yet, he's really not any worse for wear after everything's said and done. Why? Well, how do we know that Bill didn't purposely keep Ford alive by healing him of his worst injuries he got during the torture only to electrocute him - and potentially ''worse'' - all over again. And this most likely happened over and over and ''over'' again during the few days that the Shacktron was being built!
771* In the finale, we twice see partially-buried statues (or the same statue) of Bill. Both are shown with an arm extended. Hopefully it really is just a lifeless husk but while most of the town knows not to even risk shaking that hand, since they've agreed to never speak of Weirdmageddon again, the same can't be said of any other poor schmuck that walks by...
772* Considering the already fragile grip on sanity several of Gravity Falls' citizens possess, who's to say what the long-term repercussions of living through Weirdmageddon would be like (especially considering their all agreeing to deny it ever happened, which "Society of the Blind Eye" showed isn't always the healthiest thing)?
773* What if all Stan might have done was get Waddles on the bus, and not talk to Dipper and Mabel's parents? Just because Waddles was on the bus doesn't mean their parents will want Waddles to stay. So she still may have to let him go when they get home, or take a lot of effort to convince them that they will have to deal with Waddles.
774** Especially bad if you've ever read [[http://markmak.deviantart.com/art/Waddles-480771827 this]] fan comic.
775* When you think about it, it's pretty sad that Dipper didn't get a girlfriend or receive any form of romantic actions. There were entire episodes devoted to his romantic interests and ShipTease, alongside the ShipTease in the [=McGucket=] puppet short called "Relation Shipping", and in ''VideoGame/GravityFallsLegendOfTheGnomeGemulets''. But in the end, it was rather futile. It was the one thing he didn't get for everything he's done for the people of Gravity Falls. Granted, he's still got a long life ahead, but many shippers felt crestfallen and cheated.
776** This is somewhat bittersweet because if the past episodes have said enough, then it means that Dipper isn't ready for a relationship, especially since he was ''12''. In "Roadside Attraction", he learned how to flirt, but he didn't understand the romantic complications that come after. He's arguably better off single in this case as he still has much to learn.
777** However in the real life ''Journal 3'', it heavily implies that Dipper could have developed a crush on Pacifica due to the events of "Northwest Mansion Mystery", as he clumsily made comments on her dress, the way she smelt like flowers and champagne, and finally wondering if there was a vibe going to which the former and the latter comments were both crossed out. If the Dipper and Pacifica shippers aren't happy with the fact that nothing developed on screen between the two after "Northwest Mansion Mystery", then they might as well take this moment from the book and get some form of satisfaction from it despite how little it is.
778* Dipper was the only one doing the monologue in the finale ending. One can argue that it's because Mabel was sleeping next to him. But what if this whole sweet victory is Dipper's personal [[AllJustADream dream]], courtesy of [[LotusEaterMachine Mabel]] [[GildedCage Land]]?
779** Fortunately, other media set after Weirdmageddon's end indicates the show's ending was real.
780* Some (fairly minor compared to many things on this page but still present) FridgeHorror in regards to Mermando: remember when he mentioned that merpeoples' voices change at three years of age, and how he overall looks much more physically mature than Mabel and Dipper despite being exactly as old as them? That would suggest that merpeople have a much shorter lifespan than humans, so with that in mind [[MayflyDecemberRomance it's probably a good thing he and Mabel didn't end up together]].
781* So the end of the show features the twins going back home to live normal lives in normal society. Given the [[UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic massive public health disaster]] looming in their future and the increasingly terrible economic prospects faced by people in their age bracket they would probably have been better off staying in the isolated town of Gravity Falls learning practical science and con-artistry skills after all.
782** That being said, [[WordOfGod some of Alex Hirsch's comments]] since the finale have implied that Gravity Falls take place in an alternate timeline - Fiddleford [=McGucket=] became the 45th President of the United States instead of Donald Trump, and used his super-science skills to effortlessly create a mass cure for COVID. So it's likely, considering this, that the Pines twins' future is brighter than it would be otherwise.
783[[/folder]]
784
785[[folder: Other Materials]]
786* In a promo commercial called "Creepy Letters from Lil Gideon", it has a letter from Gideon to Dipper saying that he'll be "breaking out of here soon" and that he can't wait to get together "the ol' book club- you, me, and Bill Cipher. Let's see how you like being tickled... in your soul." Is it possible that Gideon worked out another deal with Bill? And the commercial just shows a letter in the middle of an ''empty'' cell.
787* Journal 3 reveals that Ford hid the most dangerous journal, Journal 2, near an elementary school (which also included instructions on how to find the [[ArtifactOfDoom mystic amulet]]). Ford will probably never find out that this poor choice caused him to be indirectly responsible for corrupting the soul of a young child.
788[[/folder]]
789

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