Chapter 18: Reunion
Art by Crash X Fusion: Two crazy adventurous kids having a peaceful moment to catch up.
Eda takes Luz and King to the human world for a vacation with family, but a few unexpected guests might make it hard to unwind.Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Accidental Misnaming: Eda introduces Gus as "Geese" to Stan.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Dipper and Mabel's parents weren't expecting twins, so they sent Dipper up to Gravity Falls so Stan could take care of him, thus he grows up knowing everybody in town. And because Eda and Stan are legally married, Luz, Dipper and Mabel are all stepsiblings.
- Alien Arts Are Appreciated: While Gus takes a liking to pancakes, Luz is shown to love pixie heads.
- Big Anime Eyes: Used by Gus to coerce Luz into bringing him with her to Gravity Falls. They work because she couldn't handle that much cuteness from him.
- Big Sister Instinct: According to Wendy, Luz didn't let Dipper anywhere near her when they first met.
- Big "WHAT?!": Stan lets one out when Luz claims she's from the IRS as a greeting.
- Black Comedy: Luz loves eating pixie heads, especially if they're alive. When she and Dipper found a hive of them, she ate several of them.Dipper: (after Luz eats a pixie head in front of the adults) It was a "glitter-bath".
- Bookends: The chapter starts on a flashback to Luz first meeting Dipper and ends with one of them getting along.
- Brick Joke: When Dipper met the Clawthornes, he asked if they were from the IRS. When the Clawthornes arrive for their visit, Luz pounds on the door and yells they found Stan which gets his attention.
- Call-Back: Several events from the first 11 episodes of Gravity Falls (as they happened in Reunion Falls) are mentioned: specifically, the reason Dipper couldn't talk to Luz back in "The Conjuring Conflict" was because he was dealing with Mabel and her friends bringing a werewolf to life using the magic copy machine.
- The same goes for the events of the previous chapter and "Heart to Heart", which are also brought up.
- Eda mentions the slayground incident in the flashbacks as she told Stan about them.
- The Cameo:
- Several Gravity Falls residents make appearances throughout the chapter:
- Gompers appears as a kid in a flashback.
- Old Man McGucket, Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland, Lazy Susan, Tate and Robbie all appear at Greasy's Diner.
- Waddles briefly shows up with King treating him as a rival.
- Tats is briefly seen working his job at the bar.
- Toby Determined, Shandra Jimenez, Tad Strange, Mayor Befufftlefumpter and Blendin Blandin all appear in photos as suspects of Blind Eye members.
- For Boiling Isles residents, Amity, Bo and Perry have quick appearances.
- Several Gravity Falls residents make appearances throughout the chapter:
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Mabel flirts with Gus, he questions her about her braces. She assumes it's part of a pickup line.
- Luz doesn't understand why Mabel suggests taking her to a hospital... while she's sweating up a storm and breathing fire because of her pancake.
- Continuity Nod: Luz and Willow taking a break from each other is mentioned along with Luz causing the Abomination track ghost infestation and going to jail for her slanderous graffiti.
- Crossover: With Gravity Falls, and many events and nods are mentioned:
- King watches TV for a portion of his stay and watches "Cash Wheel" at one point.
- Stan signed Dipper up for boxing lessons to defend himself, like his father Filbrick did for him.
- Wendy remembers when she and her friends were attacked by ghosts in an abandoned convenience store, as seen in "The Inconveniencing".
- Dipper and Mabel recall when a certain fake psychic went out with the latter, although it seems to have been an attempt to bug Dipper.
- Dipper also notes that he's been looking into the mysteries of Gravity Falls despite Stan telling him not to go looking for trouble. This means he's had to avoid making the Blind Eye Society suspicious of him.
- Blubs, Durland, the Northwests, and Blendin were all considered suspects in being connected to the Society of the Blind Eye, but were cleared since the officers had an opportunity to hand the Pines twins over to the Society but didn't, and Dipper saw Blendin around town but found he had a different story to tell.
- Crossover Relatives: Luz and Eda are now connected to the Pines family through Eda's marriage to Stan. This means Luz, Dipper and Mabel are stepsiblings and Lilith is the twins' aunt.
- Crush Blush: Luz has to turn away from Amity while she's smiling at her so she doesn't see Luz blushing.
- Curse Cut Short: Mabel realizes she misheard Stan when he told her his ex-wife and her kid were coming.Mabel: Wow, a witch! I thought Grunkle Stan meant to say that you were a bi-
- Cuteness Proximity:
- Gus uses adorableness to his advantage, giving himself Big Anime Eyes in order to convince Luz to take him to the human realm.
- Mabel automatically gushes over King upon seeing him and pulls him into a hug.
- Dark Secret: Luz threatens to expose one of Robbie's so he'll give up his booth to her and her friends. He relents.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Rev. Jones briefly appears to make his resentment towards Luz known.
- Even the Girls Want Her: While talking on the roof with Dipper, Luz confides in him that she thinks Wendy's hot.
- Extreme Omnivore: Luz has a bizarre palate, being able to eat bugs, unorthodox human foods and even stuff from the Boiling Isles she couldn't normally eats, preferably raw pixie heads.
- Fire-Breathing Diner: The hot sauce pancake Luz eats is so hot, she starts sweating, emitting steam from her ears, tearing up and eventually starts to breathe fire after just one bite.
- Flashback B-Plot: The chapter's flashbacks reveal how Eda introduced Luz to Stan, how the adults reconnected, and how the kids bonded with one another.
- Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Eda and Stan may be divorced in name, but not in legal terms, as she never signed any papers. As such, they're still legally married.
- Foreshadowing:
- Luz nearly attacks Mabel under the assumption that she's a shapeshifter. She'd end up having to deal with one of those in the next book.
- Luz being able to eat Boiling Isles cuisine has some importance along with her Big Sister Instinct.
- Dipper theorizes that giraffes became more docile on Earth due to their biology adjusting to the environment. This plays an major role near the end of the season.
- Game Changer: The addition of Gravity Falls begins expanding Earth in a whole new way for the series.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Wendy can see that Mabel's jealous of Luz's sisterly relationship with Dipper and how everyone in town knows her. Wendy advises her not to take it competitively and to just focus on slowly bonding with both of her siblings.
- Handshake Substitute: Luz greets Dipper by playfully punching his shoulder and Gus immediately catalogs it as an important human greeting.
- Imagine Spot: Luz briefly imagines finding Azura #4 for Amity and being rewarded with a kiss on the cheek.
- Innocently Insensitive: Gus's first question about humans for Stan; how old is he in centuries?Stan: What a way to sting a man.
- In Spite of a Nail: Luz learned her glyph cards won't work in the Human Realm some time ago.
- Internal Reveal:
- Gus learns about the Pines family and their home, and meets them and their friends.
- Luz and Eda also meet Mabel for the first time.
- It's implied that Stan might have explained how he ended up in Gravity Falls to Eda.
- Gus learns that Luz's glyph cards don't work in the human realm.
- Luz confesses her crush on Amity and her issues with Willow and Lilith to Dipper.
- In the Blood: Turns out Gus inherited his fear of clowns from his father.
- Luminescent Blush: See Crush Blush listed above.
- Multi-Part Episode: This is the first of the 3-part "Gravity Falls Vacation" arc.
- Mythology Gag: Several are made to both The Owl House and Gravity Falls.
- Eda got married to Stan under the name Marilyn (which was confirmed to be the name of his ex-wife who stole his car). This was also confirmed to be Eda's alias in "Yesterday's Lie".
- On top of that, Eda and Stan were wed in Las Vegas, which Eda was officially confirmed to have visited by Dana Terrace.
- Stan trying to avoid the IRS is constantly brought up. This had been mentioned in "Little Dipper".
- Gus questions Mabel on why humans like her need braces and if they make her magnetic, a question he had in "I Was a Teenage Abomination".
- Noodle Incident:
- Luz has four more revealed:
- After she and Gus get thrown out of Bonesborough Library, Luz mentions she's been banned... again.
- She assaulted Blubs and Durland with multiple water balloons during her last visit on April Fools' Day.
- She got herself banned from the Gravity Falls church after disagreeing with the reverend's "one man, one woman" beliefs and for lighting a rocket underneath his podium.
- Eda has one listed as well: Luz states that she fought a demon bear at the market over a bludgeon fish.
- Luz has four more revealed:
- Obviously Not Fine: Luz clearly isn't okay with Gus joining her family getaway but doesn't say anything to him.
- One-Word Title: "Reunion", between the Clawthornes and the Pines.
- Only in It for the Money: Subverted. Stan offers King a cut of the profits he'd make as a live exhibit for the Mystery Shack, but King rebukes the offer, only wanting the attention.
- Parental Substitute: Like Eda for Luz, Stan had become one for Dipper.
- Pet the Dog: Apparently in the early days of Belos' rule, he decided to free the house elves of the Boiling Isles and make it law that they had to be paid for their services.
- Point of Divergence:
- Mabel was the one who found Journal #3 instead of Dipper.
- Amity has Azura Vol. 5 but not #4, so she can't read the fifth due to spoilers.
- Luz learned her glyph magic doesn't work in the Human Realm long before the events of "Young Blood, Old Souls".
- The Blind Eye Society is alluded to a season earlier as Dipper has been looking into them for his whole life.
- Properly Paranoid: Old Man McGucket attempts to warn everyone at Greasy's Diner that the Clawthornes are back in town, but nobody takes him seriously long enough to let him explain.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Perry's only letting Gus go to the human realm because Gus trusts Luz and Eda, and that's good enough for him.
- The Reveal:
- Stan Pines is revealed to be Eda's human ex-husband and they're still legally married. They wed in Las Vegas and Eda stole Stan's car and whatever money he won.
- Stan is Dipper's legal guardian, making Dipper and Luz stepsiblings.
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Word of God confirms Dipper was the person Luz called in "The Conjuring Conflict", the boy in the picture next to her bed, and the person who explained the universe to her that she mentioned in "Friendship Dynamics". - Amity doesn't have Azura Vol. 4, so she won't open the fifth one until she gets it.
- Hexside's seasonal vacation takes place during the Fall season.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: A family that sees Luz in Greasy's Diner decides to move to Nebraska right then and there.
- Seen It All: In the flashback of Eda and Stan catching up, Stan says he's not surprised by his wife being a witch.Eda: Honestly, I was expecting you to be more shocked by that.Stan: Lady, I live in Gravity Falls. I've seen my fair share of the strange, bizarre and the, eh, macabre. My ex-wife being from the demon realm is normal in comparison.
- Shout-Out:
- Soos' conversation with Wendy during their first scene is almost exactly the same as the one between Frog Soos and Curator Ponds in the Amphibia tribute episode, "Wax Museum". "Almost" being that Soos doesn't answer if he has been licking himself again.
Frog Soos/Soos: Say Mr. Ponds/Wendy, do you ever get the feeling that we exist simultaneously in multiple parallel universes completely unaware of the others' very existence?Curator Ponds/Wendy: Have you been licking yourself again, Frog Soos/Soos?- When Gus meets Wendy, he assumes she runs the fast food chain of the same name.
- Lazy Susan refers to Luz as "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" at one point.
- Luz mentions that one of the misconceptions humans have for witches is melting a witch with a bucket of water.
- Tagalong Kid: Gus begs Luz to let him come with her family to the human world. She reluctantly agrees to it.
- Unaffected by Spice: Inverted. Luz doesn't take notice of what she's physically experiencing while eating her pancake.
- Vacation Episode: The Clawthornes (joined by Gus) begin their weekend vacation in Gravity Falls.
- Wham Episode: Luz, Eda, King and Gus arrive in Gravity Falls for the weekend, Gus meets the Pines family, Soos and Wendy, Luz and Eda learn about and meet Mabel for the first time and the twins reveal they're investigating the Blind Eye Society.
- The World Is Just Awesome: Once he sets foot in the human world, Gus is amazed and takes as many pictures as possible to show the Human Appreciation Society.
