Chapter 137: Bubble Trouble
Art by Crash X Fusion: Two win or Luz situations: free the prisoners, or get lost in some new realities.
While Mabel's group goes into Dipper's bubble to save him, Gus and the remaining Gatesfieldians enter Camila's bubble to rescue her and Abigail.Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Action Survivor: Gus's group and everyone at the Mystery Shack, which includes Vee and self-appointed leader Blubs.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Mabel manages to get Dipper to laugh by botching up how to say "Mashugana" even after asking Stan how it's pronounced.
- Adaptation Deviation:
- To "Escape from Reality": Unlike Mabel, Dipper feels immense guilt over his role in causing Weirdmageddon and resists the alleged paradise his prison bubble seems to give him.
- To "Take Back the Falls": Instead of Stan, it's Blubs who is the self-appointed mayor. Because of Larry King's death, his wax counterpart is replaced with Wax Jerry Seinfeld. And since petrification is treated more seriously in The Owl House, an alternative for curing those turned to stone and forming Bill's throne is conceived.
- Adrenaline Makeover: After just one day, Gus P, Clara, Masha, and Nora have had one and now sport damaged or entirely new clothes.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Apparently, the Huntsman wasn't the only male supervillain Abigail dated before settling down with Frank. She also dated Drew Lipsky, AKA Dr. Drakken.
- Alternate Self: Although Gus P. sees some similarities, he doesn't put together that Mary and Mosely are human counterparts of Emira and Edric.
- Ambiguously Bi: Abigail isn't actually sure whether she's bisexual or gay and if she dated guys because she was in massive denial about her attractions to women.
- Badass Driver: Both Nora and Stan execute such driving skills when maneuvering past all of the obstacles keeping their groups from leaving the bubbles.
- Big Damn Reunion: The Pines Family/Mystery Shack gang is brought back together once they free Dipper, as do Gus's group with Camila and Abigail. They all regroup with Vee, Blubs, Grenda, Steam Punk, and all the refugees hiding out at the Mystery Shack.
- Call-Back: The version of Luz that appears in Dipper's bubble prison reuses her design from Season 1 (long hair, green jacket) and acts like the delinquent bully she used to be.
- Character Development:
- Back in "That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles", Camila wanted Luz to be a normal human girl because she couldn't accept her abnormal lifestyle. Now when she's given a Luz who represents the daughter she thought she wanted and the life together with her and Manny, she rejects the concept since it isn't who Luz really is and Manny's dead. As such, Camila has accepted who her daughter truly is.
- After being locked up, Stan had a lot of time to reflect on his recent actions, namely how he endangered his great-nephew/adopted son and great-niece by trying to fix his past mistake and save his brother, who didn't even appreciate what Stan had done and thanked him for it.
- Abigail has struggled with her sexual identity for years and the toll her miscarriage had factored into her depression, but her talks with Nora and Clara at least help her slowly start to accept her orientation.
- Implied for Nora. Back in "Escape from Gatesfield", she had tried to direct Gus G. into finding something other than music to take an interest in. Unlike "Perfect" Luz, when Gus G. shows up at the barbecue, he doesn't have any sort of alterations that would indicate Nora wanted her own perfect version of him. Like Camila, Nora accepts her Gus for who he is and even tells the fantasy version that he isn't her real son.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Just as Nora notes that she and the survivors don't know where the petrified victims are, the news comes on showing that they're at Bill's Fearamid.
- Composite Character: Mary and Mosely Gates, Abigail's fantasy version of her deceased twin children, take Craz and Xyler's roles as the fantasy characters who end up in the real world after the prison bubble is popped.
- Continuity Cameo: A copy of Vaggie shows up in Camila's bubble as a way to persuade Gus P. into staying.
- Continuity Nod:
- During her fight with Delinquent Titan Luz who complains about being harmed by Wendy when she looks like her friend, Wendy brings up fighting the Shapeshifter while it looked like her.
- Abigail's affection towards unicorns is seen again, as she comforts Celestabellebethabelle the same way she was in the past.
- McGucket remembers meeting Steam Puck, who proceeds to geek out over it.
- Cool Big Sis: Played for both genders. While Mary and Mosely are figments of Abigail's imagination, they're fully caring and supportive of Clara even if they tease her about her relationship with Masha. They serve as emotional support and treat Clara to ice cream after their mother is outed in front of everyone.
- Costume Evolution: Gus has had to make some adjustments to his new outfit following the chaos of the last 24 hours. Now he's got a pair of goggles above his head, a brown coat and boots, and black fingerless gloves.
- Crazy-Prepared: Rocky sets up a pile of matresses outside Camila's bubble so the rescue team would be able to cushion their landing. While he couldn't have expected them to use a vehicle to escape, the matresses successfully serve their intended purpose.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Delinquent Fantasy Luz gets her head chopped off by Wendy, then is run over by Stan using the golf kart.
- Dead Guy Junior: The Mary Gates that appears here may have been named after the one that turned into Bloody Mary.
- Distant Prologue: The chapter opens up on how Camila and Abigail were discovered and imprisoned in a bubble by Bill, leaving Gus P, Nora, Clara, and Masha to continue on to the Mystery Shack so they can plan out how to save them.
- Evil Laugh: Provided by Bubble Mabel when she prepares to keep the Mystery Shack gang's second attempt to convince Dipper they're real.
- Failed a Spot Check: It took Fantasy Camila flirting with her mother for Clara to take a moment and look around to see Frank's missing from the Gates barbecue. This builds up to Abigail being outed to her.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Fantasy Camila exposes Abigail as being secretly queer to the real Camila, Gus, Masha, Nora, and of course Clara, having dated multiple guys and liking Angel and Camila before their deaths.
- Freudian Excuse: It's implied that the main reason Abigail bullied Angel when they were kids was because of Abigail developing feelings for Angel, which she suppressed.
- The Ghost: Preston is brought up, Bill intending to punish him severely for failing to keep Dipper and Camila in their bubbles.
- Hidden Depths:
- Masha took Spanish classes in school, which she regrets when she hears what Fantasy Camila say to Abigail when flirting with her in Spanish.
- Steam Punk proudly announces his love for anime when Soos makes his robot suggestions to McGucket, mentioning the works of Akira Toriyama.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Rachel Jones seems to instantly trust Angel's word that she's come to Gravity Falls to save the world, despite the hostility the other agents show towards the director.
- In Spite of a Nail: Mabel, Candy, and Grenda went to the Sev'ral Timez concert and freed the band from Ergman Bratsman's imprisonment.
- Internal Reveal:
- Gus P, Nora, and Masha have met Frankenstein's Monster, and everybody learns about how he escaped Purgatory after trying to end his creator.
- Gus finds out how the former Gatesfieldians really met Willow.
- Camila, Gus, Clara, Masha, and Nora learn that Abigail was in the closet and has feelings for Camila.
- Mabel and Stan find out about Ford planning to abandon Dipper and that Dipper and Candy became a couple.
- Abigail tells Nora about her past relationship with Jeff before he became the Huntsman.
- It's All My Fault:
- Dipper resists leaving his bubble prison because he blames himself for Bill causing the apocalypse, even though his family was brought back to save him. Stan tells Dipper he isn't to blame as he's Just a Kid: Stan was the one who restarted the portal in order to bring his ungrateful brother back home.
- It wasn't Abigail's fault that she suffered a miscarriage and lost her unborn children before Clara, but she felt like it was because her family made her think that way.
- It's the Only Way to Be Sure: An agent named Brown doesn't want to risk Bill and his minions breaking free of Gravity Falls' weirdness barrier and taking Weirdmageddon global, so he suggests using a Kill Sat to wipe the entire town off the map. Agents Li and Stone refuse to take that option into account because A.) They need the president's approval, B.) The satellite would kill the remaining citizens who are trapped in the town and C.) The satellite will likely not work on Bill.
- Losing Your Head:
- Wendy chops off the head of Delinquent Bubble Luz to finish her off, but it doesn't work: she just grows spider legs and skitters off.
- Soon after the previous moment, Mabel plans out and successfully gets Fake Mabel/Fabel and Snake Candy to bite off the heads of Fake Stan and Snake Pacifica, respectively.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Like in canon, the bubbles act as this giving the inhabitants everything they would want (their families and friends safe and sound and how they see them). Dipper and Masha even simultaneously drop the trope name.
- Luminescent Blush:
- Clara has one after Mary and Mosely tease her about having a girlfriend and suggest inviting her for a sleepover.
- Abigail and Camila both turn red from embarrassment due to the presence of Bubble Camila.
- Malicious Misnaming: Once Bill gets word that Dipper and Camila have been freed, he demands for "Peston" to be brought to him at once.
- Meaningful Rename: Frankenstein's Monster is now calling himself "Rocky" to distance himself from his creator. And no, not after the one movie, the other one.
- Mirror Match: At one point, everyone in Mabel's group fought against their doubles. It's subverted for Wendy and Soos as the doubles claim they're better versions of everyone but the latter two's doubles disappear as Dipper has no anger towards them. As such, Wendy fights Bubble-S1 Luz with Soos sitting out before he helps out.
- The Mole: The government agents have an Archangel in their ranks named Enoch, who contacts Angelica so she can take over the operation.
- Ms. Fanservice: Bubble Camila. She represents Abigail's repressed feelings for the real Camila and is brought into existence through a Sexy Surfacing Shot in a revealing swimsuit that shocks everyone.
- Multi-Part Episode: Part 2 of the Weirdmageddon arc.
- Mythology Gag: Dipper killing Dippy Fresh alludes to a
Deleted Scene of the episode this chapter is based on. - Named by the Adaptation: Pacifica's two friends are named Tiffany and Ariel.
- Neck Snap: Happens three times.
- The first occurs when Mabel uses Wendy's flannel shirt to pull Fabel's giant head back so it snaps her neck.
- Then Camila does this to her fantasy self, fed up with her mere existence.
- And finally, Dipper casually snaps Dippy Fresh's neck because he just showed up and he had the desire to do it, finding it satisfying.
- Oh, Crap!: Abigail reacts in strong fear and embarrassment when Fantasy Angel tells her she could have anything she wanted in the prison bubble, right before a flirtatious version of Camila is manifested and proceeds to woo her in front of her daughter and their friends.
- Open-Minded Parent: Abigail's versions of her parents, Manny, and Luke are shown to be this as well as Joseph and Angel, as none of them had any issues with witches or "Perfect" Luz and Clara having girlfriends.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Pacifica, Tiffany, and Ariel came to verbal blows over the former two complaining about Paz hanging out with Mabel and her friends, leading to Paz denouncing their friendship since they were only friends because of their parents. Whem they see each other at the Shack for the first time in a month, they make amends.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Of the mistaken reference variety: Upon learning that Frankenstein's Monster is now calling himself "Rocky", Mabel thinks it's a reference to the Rocky films instead of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Larry King perished three years before this chapter's release, so his wax counterpart from Gravity Falls is replaced by one of Jerry Seinfeld.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: When the Mystery Shack gang enter Dipper's bubble's Gravity Falls, they see Delinquent Luz assaulting Blubs and Durland with water balloons and enlisting the children of the town to attack them so she could escape. This event was previously mentioned by Luz herself back in "Reunion".
- The Reveal:
- Camila and Gus's group took shelter at the Mystery Shack due to the unicorn hair shield protecting it, which is where they met up with Vee and Blubs.
- Camila and Abigail got captured by Bill during the beginning moments of Weirdmaggedon. He also recognized Abigail as a member of the Gates family.
- Ex-Rev. Jones died when Weirdmageddon began. His granddaughter Rachel, who moved to Gravity Falls to take care of him, escaped from the town alongside Shmipper, Shmabble, and Soos' cousin Reggie.
- Abigail only married Frank because her parents wanted grandchildren. She was going to have twins before she had Clara, but had a miscarriage.
- Abigail used to date Dr. Drakken, back when he was Drew Lipsky.
- Pacifica has a falling out with Tiffany and Ariel during the Sev'ral Times concert.
- Ford made a device that can reverse petrification, which he had to use on McGucket.
- Sequel Hook:
- Gus P. makes a note to talk to Willow about her experiences in Gatesfield, but being reminded by Masha that he should back off if Willow isn't comfortable with it (since it's Willow, the girl who always represses her issues) may make it harder to get through to her.
- While the Gravity Falls resistance is formed and prepares to take on Bill, Angel shows up outside the town border to fight the mind demon with her own forces.
- While Clara accepts that her parents might divorce and comes to terms with Abigail being LGBT like her, there's going to be a cloud of awkwardness hovering over Abby and Camila concerning the former having a crush on her being out in the open now.
- Sexy Surfacing Shot: Bubble Camila makes her presence known this way, emerging from the Gates' pool wearing a revealing blue swimsuit.
- Shout-Out:
- Frankenstein's Monster is now going by "Rocky", the name of his counterpart in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- The undercover Archangel is named "Enoch" like the Forever Knight, who was also a villain.
- During Bill's Flashback to his origins, we see him playing with an older blue triangle. This is likely a reference to Will Cipher of the Reverse Falls AU.
- Fantasy Stan gives himself Popeye arms while fighting the real Stan.
- Abigail sings "I'm Still Here" while reflecting on her life.
- At the Mystery Shack, Pacifica is given canned bread to eat.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Clara, Masha, and Nora all don new outfits as a result of an Adrenaline Makeover.
- Clara's wearing an air-flight suit with a scarf, black boots, and gloves, and goggles.
- Masha's wearing a black top, camouflage baggy pants and boots, and a bandana.
- Nora's wearing a white tank top, green gloves, a helmet, brown hiker boots, and pants with the left leg torn above the knee. She also has bandages on her left arm and shin.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Fantasy Pacifica and Candy turn into a conjoined snake biped while fighting their real counterparts.
- Suddenly Speaking: Even though it's just a fantasy version of him, Luke Gordon speaks for the first time when he appears alongside a fantasy version of his son to tempt Nora into staying in the bubble.
- Take That!:
- Dippy Fresh shows up for a few seconds, then Dipper snaps his neck. He mentions that he doesn't know why Dippy Fresh came to exist, but he just wanted to do that and was satisfied he did.
- As everyone at the Shack discusses building the robot, Wax Jerry Sienfeld questions why they shouldn't let the government handle things. Everyone bursts into laughter at the idea that they'll be helpful with defeating Bill.
- Time Skip: It turns out one day has passed since Weirdmageddon began, which is how long it took for Mabel and Stan to come back, rejoin everyone, and alongside Gus's group, enter Dipper and Camila's bubbles.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The chapter shifts between what's happening to both groups within Dipper and Camila's bubbles.
- Uncertain Doom: Grenda and Steam Punk evaded the Heartless, but Gideon and the Ghost Eyes' fates are still unknown.
- The Un-Reveal: Bill isn't the yellow-eyed being who Sara warned Willow to beware, but he seems to have met the beast with one yellow eye before. What the hell is it, though!?
- Wham Shot: Among those who are at the Gates backyard barbecue are Manny, Luke, Joseph, and Abigail's parents, and Angel, the latter four acting nicer than they were in reality.
