n7spongy

[n7spongy]

This is funny because I made a fanfic of this AU about 3 years back https://archiveofourown.org/works/33792301

I never continued it because I felt I properly expressed myself with the first chapter, but I always did want to go back to it eventually. My ideas were that the crux of the story would be Mabel realizing Dipper is drifting apart from her, and that would inform how a lot of the episodes changed, and that Clones 3 and 4 would have a bigger role as they want to protect Tyrone from Dipper. The idea is also that Tyrone would go out of his way to do things Dipper would never do, just so he could create a new identity for himself. Also, Dipper would become more confident due to having someone exactly like him (and with Tyrone being more brave in general), and maybe confess to Wendy sooner. It's vague but those were my general ideas.

Lastly I considered Tyrone being killed off in Into the Bunker when they flood it to stop the Shapeshifter. Perhaps he does it himself as a sacrifice? I liked the idea of him dying at the same time Dipper's story arc with Wendy ends, since Tyrone was born as a result of it beginning. But also, wouldn't it be nice if he could grow beyond that? Idk. Hope you have fun with your AU!

A Short Gravity Falls AU Idea.

What if🤔Tyrone lived?

A few headcanons I have if Tyrone didn't melt.

While they were printing the rest of the clones, Dipper and Tyrone finds a sticky note on the printer with warnings about copying yourself to make a clone. 🚫WARNING DO NOT LET YOUR CLONES DRINK, TOUCH, OR NEAR ANY LIQUID OF SOME KIND BECAUSE IT WILL IMMEDIATELY DISINTEGRATE THEM.🚫

On the roof, Dipper and Tyrone talk about their chances with Wendy and realize things went more smoothly without a plan, while they're relaxing Dipper wonders what'll happen to Tyrone. Tyrone explains he can stay in the secret room him and Paper Jam Dipper found, much to Dipper's shock.

Dipper helped Tyrone with his new room, making it more comfortable for him and threw away a carpet that made them sneeze.

Eventually it becomes a routine for Dipper and Tyrone. Whenever Mabel is having a sleepover Dipper would sleep with Tyrone at his room, and whenever Mabel and Stan aren't around Tyrone will see Dipper upstairs.

Eventually it didn't take too long for Mabel to find out about Tyrone. She noticed Dipper acting more anxious as usual, so she decided to follow him with Waddles. Upon finding Dipper in the secret room, she thought he was talking to himself at first, only to be surprised when she sees Tyrone in the flesh.

At first she's upset at Dipper, for not telling her that he cloned himself and that now she has "two little brothers."

Dipper tells her that cloning himself was the best choice he made this summer, he has someone who shares his interests, playing d&d and more d with him, and someone that doesn't make fun of him, Mabel laughs it off, but she turns solemn when sees the serious expression on Dipper's face and realizes he has been wounded by her past insensitivity.

Eventually Mabel quickly accepted Tyrone as her new brother, and was happy she has two brothers now. They introduced Tyrone to Soos, Wendy, Candy, and Grenda and promised that they'll keep Tyrone a secret.

I'M CALLING THIS AU THE PINES TRIPLETS! YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE A COMIC, FANART, FANFIC, OR EDITS WITH THIS, AS LONG AS YOU CREDIT ME.

[n7spongy]

I truly cannot disagree with this post. Now I’m wondering if Ford should have had *more* flaws because damn, what a guy. Still I would say that his urge to protect others and belief that he’s the only capable person is at least somewhat ego-fuelled. Alex Hirsch has said so himself and Ford even admitted it in Journal 3. He has a lower opinion of other people, because they’re not *special* like him, they don’t share his great burden. That dichotomy between his ego and his righteousness and heroism is part of what makes him a super interesting character.

What's your stance on Ford as a person? Honestly, I believe that for thr majority of canon he is a bad person. But I believe he grew. Still not great though XD

(Love him anyways obvs)

I disagree entirely! I think he's equally as good a person as any of the other main cast.*

*Except Mabel, who, as we all know, is always right about everything.**

(**This is a lighthearted joke. For the love of god, I don't want Mabel discourse in my inbox.)

His biggest sins in the show:

After telling his brother that he was thinking about changing their shared life plans, and then discovering that his brother had gone to the high school that night for no good reason and gone to the science fair for no good reason and messed around near Ford's science project for no good reason and broke it and didn't tell Ford about it... Ford believed Stan did it intentionally and held a grudge for it. You know what, it WOULD be pretty damn hard to believe it was an accident.

Hilariously ill-equipped to cope with Fiddleford's mental health. A guy who responds to "I have anxiety" with "have you tried yoga, it helps me" isn't a bad person, he's clueless. "Character cheerfully enacts a bad idea while a loved one in the background goes NO PLEASE DON'T DO THAT" describes half the episodes of Gravity Falls.

Was successfully manipulated by a professional manipulator into believing his best friend wished him ill. Man, what a terrible person Ford is for being manipulated by a manipulator and saying cruel things to somebody he'd been genuinely convinced was trying to harm him.

??? Didn't say thanks to a guy he was still mad at after the guy fixed a problem he himself had caused. This is a solitary example of stubborn bad etiquette, jesus christ. There's half a dozen different reasons why it makes perfect sense Ford wasn't in the right mindset to feel grateful, this is not something worth indicting his entire character over.

He had high ambitions, which everyone seems to lambast him for, but high ambitions that wouldn't have required doing anybody harm! (Until the professional manipulator started manipulating him into harming the people around him, but we are going to demonstrate some reading comprehension and not blame Ford's underlying morality as a person for things he never would've done if not for Bill's bullying, con artistry, and outright lies.) Like, what is it that he wanted to do with his life? Use his talents to get rich and famous? Shit, that's exactly what Stan wanted to do with his life. It's what Dipper fantasizes about doing with his life. Even Mabel, who thinks about her long-term future the least, dreams big with her art & performances and is already making big money off cheap-ass commissions. What terrible people they all are, for—let me check my notes here—uhhh... unrealistically fantasizing about achieving success in life by doing the things they're good at.

When their dad accuses Stan of lying as a child, Ford puts his entire summer on the line to defend Stan even though he knows Stan is a habitual liar and has no reason to believe Stan is telling the truth this time.

When his new college roommate he barely even knows gets laughed at for proposing an outlandish scientific theory, his first emotion is outrage at this injustice and he drops everything to convince his already-despondent roommate that he was right and help him prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

When he moves to a new town, he tries again and again to befriend his new neighbors, and fails not because he's rude or a jerk, but because he's awkward as hell, tells terrible jokes, and sucks at identifying phoenixes.

When Fiddleford gets hurt around him, he cares about it, feels guilty about putting him in that position, doesn't want it to happen again, and tries his best to help even though he's bad at helping.

When he gets kidnapped by a weird holiday folklore creature, he concludes without even thinking about it that he's now in charge of protecting and rescuing the kidnapped kids. Yeah, then he immediately starts hollering at the folklore creature for trying to impose his religious beliefs on Ford and the kids—but like, Ford was right tho, he just had bad timing.

When he discovers that the Northwest family committed atrocities against their poorer neighbors a century ago, his first instinct is to march up to their house, find the first Northwest he can locate, and give them a piece of his mind for it. Like, this won't even FIX anything. He's just THAT OUTRAGED over the injustice.

When he sees what he thinks is a fortune telling fraud conning the people, he attempts to debunk her because he's mad to see someone cheating other people with lies—and when he can't debunk her, he just leaves her alone rather than harass her about it. Typically, if assholes think somebody's doing something wrong but don't have any proof of it and fail to get proof when they look, they decide they're right anyway and keep giving that person shit. Ford doesn't give her shit. That's the opposite of an asshole move.

When he discovers his Portal To Knowledge (And Fame & Fortune) is actually a Portal To Doom (But Still Possibly Fame & Fortune, Maybe Even Godly Power), he isn't tempted for a second to keep working on it anyway. There is no moment where Bill manages to tempt him. No matter what Bill offers, no matter how long Bill offers, never, at ANY point, does Ford have a SECOND of "but what if I did make a deal with the devil?" the way so many heroes in similar situations often do.

You ever notice that? So often moral moments in the show are presented as choices the characters make. Will or won't Dipper give Bill a "puppet" in exchange for knowledge. Will or won't Stan fight a pterodactyl to protect Mabel's pig. Will or won't Mabel hand Bipper the journal. Ford is never given a "will or won't he" moment over Bill's threats, offers of friendship, or offers of infinite power—he steamrolls straight past them without a second of consideration—because, to him, the selfish, cowardly, easy choice ISN'T EVEN AN OPTION. He doesn't even SEE it as making a choice because the possibility of doing the wrong thing is invisible. A character who wavers first before turning Bill down would look more noble for "overcoming" temptation—it's harder to notice just how much stronger Ford's moral compass must be to not even feel temptation in the first place.

Greed and pride never tempt him to join Bill's side. Exhaustion, despair, and fear never tempt him to give up. He bears up under weeks, possibly months of extreme sleep deprivation, physical torture, psychological torture, emotional torture, threats of death, threats of brainwashing, threats to his family. He doesn't hold up so that he can pat himself on the back for being a hero—if that was all it was he would've gone "screw it, this isn't worth it and nobody would know I'm the one who gave up" a week in—he does it because he simply knows it must be done and because he's so isolated (half because of Bill's influence!) that he believes he's the one who must do it, all alone.

Thinking he has to do it by himself isn't egotism or pride; it's helplessness. He thinks no one else stands a chance. He thinks he's alone.

And, when he discovers his Portal To Knowledge is a Portal To Doom, he immediately feels guilty. No trying to deny the situation to protect his ego. No shuffling the blame off to someone else. No "maybe the apocalypse could have a silver lining!" No locking the door and trying to ignore the problem. He blames himself for being fooled—he IMMEDIATELY takes full responsibility for his actions—and he CONTINUES to take responsibility FOR THE NEXT THIRTY YEARS.

He takes more responsibility than is even warranted—he treats himself like he's an idiot for believing in an APPARENT GOD who's been practicing manipulating humans for thousands of years and who had never given Ford reason to believe the portal was anything but what Bill said it was. He beats himself up to no end every single time his past with Bill comes up. He even keeps beating himself up thirty years later when he's shoving warning notes to future readers in Bill's evil unkillable book!

When he falls into the multiverse, he dedicates his entire life NOT to finding a way to rescue himself, but to finding a way to permanently stop the CHAOS GOD who's still at the threshold of destroying Ford's world and countless others. He makes himself a hated criminal in the process, just to stop Bill. He's ready to spend the rest of his life trying to protect a world he doesn't think he'll ever see again. He does it because, as he sees it, somebody has to stand in between the children and the obnoxious folklore cryptid menacing them, and he's the only adult in this damn cave with the skills and knowledge for the job.

When he gets home, he doesn't tell his family about Bill and his quest because he's afraid that doing so will get them involved and endanger them too—and because he's too deeply ashamed of himself and his mistakes to stand the thought of his family knowing about the horrible things he's done (AGAIN, WHILE BEING MANIPULATED BY THE GOD OF MANIPULATION).

He loves his great-niece and great-nephew the second he lays eyes on them; he nevertheless tries to steer away from them to keep them safe from Bill; and yet he caves to the very first temptation to emotionally bond with his great-nephew he gets, because in spite of his noble "keep them safe" intentions, he wants so so badly to be close to his family.

As pissed as he still is at Stan and even though neither of them can look at each other without hissing like cats, he still makes an attempt to start bridging their divide by inviting him to play DD&MD.

When the apocalypse happens, he immediately puts his life on the line to try to kill Bill.

And when he's captured, isn't fazed for a second by Bill's offers or threats... until his family is threatened. The exact thing he'd been trying to avoid & prevent from the very start.

And when he's reunited with Fiddleford, his immediate reaction is to point out that Fiddleford's well within his rights to hate him—which isn't a new revelation, it's not like Ford had to do any soul-searching to reach this conclusion, he'd concluded that 30 years ago the instant he realized Bill had played him and that he'd been lied to about Fiddleford.

And then he tries to kill Bill again.

And then he's ready to sacrifice his own life to kill Bill—and the only reason he doesn't is because he has a metal plate preventing him from making the sacrifice... but, Stan doesn't have a plate. If Ford hadn't had the metal plate, he would have gladly done the exact same thing Stan did—and he would have thought it was right for him and only him to make that sacrifice, because it's VERY clear he feels (and has felt from the start) that this is all his fault and he's obligated to fix it.

Over and over and over, these are Ford's two defining character traits: getting so pissed off at injustice that his common sense shuts off and he goes into terminator mode until he's righted this wrong as best he can, even when he can't actually do anything about it; and feeling like he's Atlas, weighed down with the full responsibility of fixing everything he's done wrong and made to believe that, for everyone else's sake, he has to do it all alone. Even when doing so puts himself in harm's way, even when he has to put his entire life on hold for it, even if it might cost him his life. Scrape off his awkward social skills, his loneliness, his nerdiness, his endless curiosity, his zealous love of the strange, his starry ambitions, his yearning for recognition and success—scrape his personality down to the bone and that's what you're left with. A man who believes in defending the exploited so strongly that it makes him a little stupid.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that you probably don't think Stan's fundamentally a bad person, and that you probably think that isn't even worth questioning. Stan's made a whole career out of swindling people, conning them out of as much money as he possibly can, stealing, lying, committing a long list of goofily-named crimes, and attempting douchy pick-up artistry on women; and to cap it all off, he held the safety of the entire universe hostage to demand a goddamn "thank you." Don't send me any "But he had reasons—" "But it was only to—" I don't need it, I don't want the essay, I'm not arguing that Stan's a bad guy, it's fine.

But. You can look at Stan's moments of cruelty and unkindness, his uncharitable thoughts, his character flaws, and think, "that doesn't define him. He's more than his cruelest moments and worst mistakes. He's imperfect, but he cares so much and his heart's in the right place, and beneath all the flaws his core is good."

And if you can't do the same for Ford, it's not because he's a worse person. It's because we got two seasons with Stan and five and a half episodes with Ford—and while we saw Stan yearning to fish with the kids or encouraging Mabel to whoop Pacifica's butt at minigolf or crying over a black and white period drama or punching zombies to save his family, we only saw Ford at the worst moments in his life and under the stress of a prolonged apocalyptic crisis—and, it so happens, all the moments he was pissed at the guy we spent two seasons learning to love.

Ford's got moments of cruelty and unkindness, uncharitable thoughts, and character flaws. But, at his core, he's a good person, and he always has been, and he still is.

[n7spongy]

Calling all Gravity Falls fan artists for a charity project benefiting Palestine!

Hello, Hana Hyperfixates here! I’m a YouTuber with videos focusing mainly on Gravity Falls and fandom culture. But I’m also a Palestinian person who has been heartbroken watching the violence unfold in Gaza. So far more than 40,000 people have been killed, and countless more have been injured, starved, displaced and oppressed under the threat of genocide.

I want to do something about it, and if this fandom is what I know it to be, I’m sure others do, too. 

The Gravity Falls fandom has had no shortage of wonderful, generous efforts to extend aid to various charities and to those in need. Through my ten years in this fandom I’ve seen calendars and zines and similar projects be sold, with hundreds of dollars being raised.

So I am happy to announce a new fundraising effort: Mystery Twin Mystery Bags. 

The idea: bring in artists from across the fandom to design pins, stickers, charms, posters and more. These items would be pre-ordered, purchased, randomly assorted into mystery bags and shipped out to fans like you!  Options would exist at differently-priced tiers, for you to buy anything from a handful of random stickers, to a big box of everything, and the funds would all go to a great cause!

After shipping out items, 100% of the profits for this project would be split 50/50 between these two funds for aid and relief in Gaza.

Watermelon Relief: Aid for Displaced Families in Gaza 

The Sameer Project - Tents for Palestine refugees

As the situation in the Gaza is ever-evolving and needs change, we might add other charities onto this roster. We will be transparent if this ever happens. The most important thing is getting the money where it is needed the most.

We need artists and graphic designers with a wide range: Remember, the plan is to make everything from stickers to posters! 

If you would like to be a part of this project, either as an artist, as a manufacturing manager, or as a mod, please apply with this link:

Before you apply, I also want to make something clear: Our ability to extend compassion and aid to Palestinian refugees is not at all at odds with our commitment against antisemitism. We condemn any antisemitic rhetoric in our space, in our replies, in our askbox and (once established) in our Discord, and that rhetoric is not welcome here. 

Our condemnation of the horrific actions of the government of Israel does NOT mean that we can’t protect and stand with our Jewish friends and community members. Likewise, us standing against antisemitism does not mean we can’t extend empathy and funding to the refugees of Palestine. People are dying, to help them is to be human. 

So do your part to help! Apply above to be an organizer (bonus points if you have experience managing a large fandom project), as an artist (bonus points if you’ve made art for a big fandom project before), or as a manufacturing manager (bonus points if you have experience with selling stickers/pins/etc.)! 

And if you can’t apply, please reblog this to give us a boost! Spread the word!

Application link

Thank you!

[n7spongy]

You said it yourself, the website is effectively a point and click game. In fact, it’s the most gamified approach to Gravity Falls that Alex has directly worked on. Perhaps he’s gauging our interest/skill/reaction for a possible video game? He wanted to do one.

I know I'm gonna sound like a crazy old broken record... but hear me out. Lots of speculation as to the true purpose of the thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com thing beneath the cut.

So... does anyone else feel like the ARG website is... odd? Like it's leading to something more coming? And before anyone screams, "Well, ackshully, Hirsch said he doesn't want to do a Season 3-"

YES. I KNOW. He said no Season 3 a million times. I was there when he told us Season 2 was it for the first time. But what he didn't say, however, was, "No more Gravity Falls anything... EVER.". Hence why we've gotten Journal 3, Lost Legends, and now The Book of Bill. Hirsch is veeerrrrry comfortable making more GF stuff.

And as someone that studied programming in college, I can tell you, this website does not seem like it was easy or cheap to make. It's effectively a single screen point and click game in a browser. Looking at the code, it seems they did use a framework called Bridgetown, lacing in looped animated MP4 files with clickable assets on top that make up the interactive elements (e.g the computer), with a lot of content made for the website itself from image files and text for each prompt a user might type. Sure, it's not the most difficult thing to program, but it's a lot more complex than, say, the searchfortheblindeye site back in the day.

That, and as someone who has worked in the corporate world, I'm sorry, but you don't pour this much effort/money into something that is just "lol cool things after product for funsies". If this was just for The Book of Bill, the smart marketing decision would have been to make the lofi album and the website, tease fans with both of them, and let them lead to an announcement of the book itself to tempt them into buying it, not the other way around. Like... Disney ain't gonna do that just out of love for fans. It's Disney, come on. They do things for money.

It's possible that Hirsch paid for it himself just for the fans, but I doubt it. Wanna know why? Because of the website's security certificate and ownership. Let's take a gander at this:

There are two odd things here. One, the range of the expiration. Most security certs last 1-2 years, at least they did at one of my previous places of employment (and we had like 50+ of them). This one expires November 7th, 2024. Odd, but maybe they only want the website up for a few months? Anyways, as an aside, everyone keep an eye out for November 7th, 2024. Could be nothing, could be something.

The other weird thing is the domain holder. Looking it up on ICANN, it gives this address:

Look that up on Google Maps, and it takes you to a company called Dun and Bradstreet. Long story short, the company does a bazillion things, but the main thing we're talking about here is:

Oh gee, Sales and Marketing. And their Sales and Marketing tools? Basically, they use data to tell companies who their audience is, so that they can market to them. Now, why would Disney care about this for a fandom for a show that's been done for almost a decade, just for a book that was released before said website (so we know they're not gathering marketing data for the book)?

Well, if I were to guess... long story short, all this stuff is a tactic to gauge who the Gravity Falls audience is now. Release the book, make some dough and fans happy, tie in a secret marketing data collection gimmick (AKA the website) using D&B as a vendor to hook the data into your CRM, send fans to a website to collect marketing data, and shabam. Now you know who the target market is all this time after.

And why in the hell would a company care about that? You tell me. Why care about who a target market is if you're not planning on marketing something to them later?

It could be that Disney is planning something similar to Gravity Falls and wants to gauge if there'd still be a market for that kind of show. Or... it could mean that Disney is planning on something more substantial related to Gravity Falls or Hirsch pitched it, and they were like, "Well, wait, let's collect data on this, first, so we'd know if it'd be a good business decision.". Not sure.

I mean, maybe I'm crazy, but doesn't this seem fishy to anyone else? If anyone else has any hypotheses as to why Hirsch and Disney have a Gravity Falls website owned by D&B, let me know, but to me... this smells... very... marketing oriented. And Hirsch doesn't seem like the guy to pour his own money into hiring an outside company to gather marketing data, that seems more up Disney's alley.

[n7spongy]

Definitely a dirty blonde

Note however: Priscilla seems to be of dirty blonde/darkened blonde than brunette

[n7spongy]

I wasnt convinced at first but saw the weathering marks and it just clicked. I wanted to believe it was just a coincidence or maybe the artist was inspired by Jam's, but uh...I mean look at it

Gently trying to push to find out why Thisisnotawebsitedotcom took my artwork.

I'm still not like, angry about it. Just sort of confused as to why somebody from an official Gravity Falls website's art team decided to use my stuff when they've clearly got a huge amount of talented people on the project.

My header, as in A Return to the Falls:

The site's header, as in Thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com

Again, I can't emphasise enough - it's spot on. It's pixel perfect. It even has weathering marks that I added, which the designer has attempted to cover up. Somewhat tellingly, it's also got a Greasy's diner coupon which is a very similar design to my own efforts, in the same location.

I get that this is fanart and it's all a good bit of fun but I would have at least liked to have been asked. I don't even expect to get anything out of this, just an acknowledgement of 'we took this unfairly' would be nice.

I even get that this is something most fans would be super proud of, even be excited by - but this is mostly just really, really strange. Like it doesn't make a lick of sense as to why they'd use a fan creation for this.

Please do reblog. Maybe bring it up on Twitter. A few of my friends have already, just in the vain hope that Alex acknowledges it. If you do the same please just tag me as well so I can keep track.

https://x.com/JAMooneyArt

Thanks.

[n7spongy]

My Problem With How We View Shipping

Or: A cynical loser rants about how fictional people get more action than him.

Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoy shipping. I’ve seen so much wonderful fanart, fanfics, and other fan-related pieces of media that result from the passion we insane fans have over our beloved characters. However, I think there’s a component to our obsession that makes us vulnerable to the harsh realities of romance. Obviously I’m sure you all know romance in fiction is nothing like in real-life, but that doesn’t mean you know that subconsciously and act like it’s true.

It’s just...I see this all the time. Many people I know in fandom circles who obsess over these fictional characters take real-life heartbreak so hard, and while I don’t want to blame their media obsessions for that, I think this is something both fans and shows would do well to remember:

Shipping is an idealized form of romance.

Take the Willow x Hunter ship (Huntlow) from The Owl House. It’s cute! It’s really cute! But the way we make it out to be is...too cute, and it’s indicative of how the Owl House fandom in particular feels this incredible ache to ship everyone with everyone. Just search any of MoringMark’s fancomics about them. They’re all so perfect and happy and optimistic. Hunter will always be dumb and awkward in his attempts to flirt but Willow will fall for him anyway.

I wish real life was that way.

This never happens. There’s never that perfect girl, that perfect situation of circumstances that leads two wonderful people into each other’s arms, finally feeling complete in the embrace of each other. Well, there *could* be, but the odds of that are so slim it’s best to act like there isn’t. We need to harden our shells, and accept the harsh truth:

Rejection happens, and it happens a lot. But that’s okay.

Hardly anyone succeeds on their first attempt, or their second, or their third. I’ve personally failed at least a dozen times. More than we like to admit, we’ve all ended up like Dipper over there, sitting alone in a world that goes on without our happiness. Everyone who’s ever gotten far on a path had to fail to know where that path even was.

So many times in our favorite shows, movies, games, books, etc. characters will succeed on their first or second attempt, and so it’s conditioned us to see that as the baseline for romance. I know this because that’s how I was. So many times in high school and college I met what I thought was the “perfect girl”. I found so many people I had everything in common with, who checked off all my boxes, who stimulated me in so many wonderful ways, and we had great friendships. Our friendships were *exactly* like what I saw on-screen: Star and Marco, Luz and Amity, Peter Parker and Mary Jane. But that never guaranteed anything. I was always rejected in the end.

I bring this up because, again, I see this same attitude all around me. I see it on the Reddit posts in how we squeal over tiny signs that a character is into another, when that could easily be a sign of a strong friendship (TV is often terrible at differentiating best friends of opposite sexes from romance). I see it on Discord from the text walls people write over which ship is going to happen. I see it on Tumblr with the angsty fanart we make over two lovestruck individuals venting their deepest emotions to each other only to finally confess and embrace. I see it on AO3, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad with those same types of fanart in textual form.

Please know I am not criticizing any of these ways we show our passion, I’m just asking that when we do them, we consider how we may be affecting our thought processes. We can invest ourselves too much in these ships, and thus expect real romance to be the same. This makes us cynical, it makes us blame ourselves when things don’t go our way in reality. And thus, we escape further into fiction, into stories with people who just *get it right* somehow. That only increases the pain in a negative feedback loop. “Why can’t I be like Luz with Amity?” Because a writer’s room all gathered together to write a compelling story, and that’s not how reality is determined. It’s determined by how much we’re willing to fail to eventually succeed.

But its not entirely our fault, its partially the media we consume to blame. I appreciate Gravity Falls to show the realities of being rejected, and the need to stay strong and move on. I think other shows should normalize rejection and failure, not just in shipping, but in all aspects of life. Media is at its best when it inspires, and in our lives when failure is so common, I think this same media, which has raised so much of us, has a responsibility to teach us right. We should be better equipped to deal with heartbreak than those who aren’t in fandoms. It will allow us to fully appreciate when a relationship does succeed, both in fiction and in real life.

You will succeed, if you accept that you will fail first. Never stop trying.

“I’ve been so miserable since Wendy broke up with me that I thought my life was over. But you were right, I just needed to move on...” - Robbie

[n7spongy]

Wrote my first fanfic about Double Dipper

I swear this isn’t a Double Dipper stan blog, I just wanted to post this thing I wrote last summer. It’s called Big Dippers, and it follows what would have happened if Dipper saved Tyrone from drinking the soda that killed him. Enjoy!

AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33792301

FF:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13953149/1/Big-Dippers

[n7spongy]

And now, a little essay on why I love Double Dipper so much.

This episode is probably one of the best episodes of the entire show. And, surprisingly, its the episode with the lowest stakes.

Think about it. Even in Deep End, Mermando's life was at stake. Even in Carpet Diem, Dipper and Mabel's relationship was at stake. Even in Boyz Crazy, Mabel's relationship with her friends is at stake.

But in Double Dipper, one thing and one thing only was ever truly at stake for Dipper: whether he would get to dance with Wendy. He's already good friends with her, his clones never try to kill him or take over his life, instead the only source of conflict was if Dipper could make the most of the moment.

And yet, why is the episode so gosh darn compelling? Because to Dipper, it's just as important as any mystery, heck maybe even more so because he freaks out over Wendy like she's the be-all end-all of life (12 year olds don't have the best judgement after all). So chances are if you relate to Dipper you totally understand and believe why this matters so much to him, and the extreme lengths he goes to in order to get the perfect night with Wendy. I'm sure we've all had that crush we would have fought and died for, so we root for Dipper to succeed at his childhood fantasy. To win for us.

And if you've had that kind of crush, chances are you've realized that the reason you probably didn't work up the courage to ask them is because you were stopping yourself, because you were *scared*. You invented excuses and were convinced that nothing in life ever happens by just doing it, but by overthinking every step. It's a weird contradiction that Dipper and people like us went through: we don't have faith in ourselves to just talk to our crush normally, but we have faith that we can game the system by overplanning a convoluted method to break it, somehow believing that that's better. So what better way to represent Dipper getting in his own way than with clones of himself?

Frankly, its genius, and it's really hammered home with how his clones are, for all intents and purposes (minus meltability), *him*. The way they praise him and each other, the lame way they fight, the way they're able to understand what each other are thinking ("I just had the same jealousy fantasy"). They may know they're clones but that never stops them from acting like Dipper. There is no cliche clone madness or jealousy, all of their actions are something Dipper would do. Their decision to trap Dipper and take matters into their own hands is the kind of rash thing Dipper himself is known for doing (furthermore, they're never malevolent towards him, they leave him snacks and a coloring book!). Or at least, what the Dipper before the end of this episode was known for, because in a way the clones are quite literally a snapshot of him at his most paranoid. Who knows, perhaps him getting cloned at the moment of saying "I wonder if this is a good idea" is why the clones are so paranoid.

However, the more you plan for things, the more things you accidentally look over, and are unable to account for. So it follows that despite Dipper's immense effort, he was forced into a chance encounter with Wendy, the one thing he never planned for. Being pushed to his 12-year old mental limit in such an awkward and unknown setting, he realizes his attempts to force small talk don't work, and gives up, deciding to answer Wendy's silly questions genuinely. And what do you know, talking like a person works, he bonds with her! But his clones, the very manifestation of his arrogance, don't agree this is the way forward, and so he's forced to clash with his ego. But in the end, all the fighting was just another instance of overthinking that prevented him from doing what he should have been doing the whole time, just shooting his shot and taking whatever came next. Hence, Dipper loses his chance and Wendy seemingly decides to spend the party with Robbie.

It's at this moment that Dipper and Tyrone look at each other on equal footing, recognizing their shared blame. And then the strangest and most unexpected line of the episode comes in from Tyrone: "I dunno, do you wanna go grab a couple sodas or something?" Dipper surprisingly opts to try and enjoy his own company, literally.

He doesn't mope too much over the fact that he blew it, because he's not overthinking anymore. He instead decides to have an honest heart-to-heart with himself (if only we could have one so literal right?), and what comes next are probably my favorite two shots in the show: Dipper and Tyrone's gently smiling together as they look up, and the subsequent shot of the night sky, with a brief shooting star. In that is the perfect encapsulation of the arc Dipper has gone through: he's reconciled his ego (Tyrone) with reality, and so he learns how to be comfortable just being himself around Wendy. It's an important step for Dipper, and it's a lesson that will be reaffirmed to him many times over the course of the summer: that he can't force anything and can't know how it will all work out, so he needs to love himself.

But then he gets unsure again, and of course he would, he's 12 after all. So he wonders if he even has a chance with Wendy, if any of this was even worth it. Tyrone's last gift to him is the reminder that the only way forward, the only way to truly know anything, is to swallow everything and take a real chance. And after Dipper briefly mourns the untimely end (yet another way the clones *were* Dipper, Tyrone forgot he had a weakness) of the Dipper that he once was, he decides to take the last chance he'll ever get that night. The party may be over, but all that really matters to him is hanging out with Wendy, so he goes forward and, from what we see in Journal 3, he succeeds.

There are so many more praises I could give Double Dipper. I could talk about the humor or Mabel's inspiring side plot (which is the perfect complement to Dipper's, look where being confident landed her). But what really sold this episode to me was Dipper's realization that his overthinking nature could prove disastrous to forming a deeper human connection and, ultimately, making the most of the moment, and life. It's such a universal feeling that goes beyond crushes or parties. I relate to it so so much, I mean I tend to overthink my future constantly and how to spend my time, so this episode is helpful in that way, reminding me to just simply aim and shoot every now and then. And so whenever I see Dipper walk up to the Shack's door, rip up the list, and walk in as that amazing and melancholic tune plays, I get a bit emotional. I wish I had his bravery when I was his age.

[n7spongy]

Perhaps one of my favorite scenes in all of Gravity Falls.

Why?

Well, it may not be the *greatest* scene out there. There are far more funnier and heart wrenching scenes in the show (I only need to point to Not What He Seems and the finale). But what this scene was, was something that I completely and totally connected to in every way.

As a kid I had one objective and one objective only each day: to have fun, and as much of it as possible. Anything that got in the way would annoy me because it prevented me from what I thought truly mattered. This made me a naturally more sensitive kid, so one of the things that pissed me off especially was when my dad would force me to do chores (the usual like vacuuming, mopping, dishwashing, and lawn mowing, sometimes multiple in the same day). I *hated* it. Like Dipper, I'd often get into fights with him on how it wasnt my responsibility to do his "dirty work", and I thought he was being stupid and trying to remove the fun from my life, and it blinded me to the favor he was doing me all along.

Years later I finally moved out on my own, and it was then that I truly gained an appreciation for everything he had done for me and made me do. He taught me the necessity of working hard, that I'm ashamed I even had to learn, and that there was a true satisfaction to be gained in doing these kind of chores for *yourself*. It seems like dirty work but the fact that *you* are putting yourself through it is worth commending yourself for, because it all prepares you for growing up, so that when you do become independent you aren't floundering around figuring out what you have to do to take care of yourself.

Whenever I look at Grunkle Stan, I'm reminded of my dad. He's a lovable cynic that likes to bust my ass and mess with me a bit, and at times yeah I did get pissed off, but I know it was all out of love and for a good lesson. And when I see that memory of Stan crying on the playground as a kid, his cries echoing hauntingly through his memories, it made me feel closer to him, and in a way, my dad as well. In Stan's sadness and regret I see my dad's fears of what could happen to me. This is why, out of all relationships in the show, Stan and Dipper's is one of my favorites (just behind Dipper and Mabel's). Their conflict is amazingly well written and honest, and I can tell it's really inspired.

Dreamscaperers is my absolute favorite episode of Gravity Falls. Not only is the art direction beautifully eerie, the humor at its best, and Bill at his most memorable, but it has a genuinely relatable message that gives the episode both heart and melancholy. There's something poetic about Dipper learning the true powers of the mind once he understands the value of hard work and toughening yourself up. Because the true battle is never physical, it's always mental, but you only realize that through physically working hard. I've rewatched this episode constantly since 2013 and I feel bad it took me until these past couple years to truly appreciate this lesson. It's even more relevant now when I'm struggling with nostalgia and depression, because I know the only way forward is to roll with the punches that life gave me through what it took from me, and still push forward anyway.

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[n7spongy]

This is beautiful dude, It’s good to know I’m not the only person getting randomly emotional over right now. Thanks for making this.

Got randomly emotional over the Gravity Falls ending and proceeded to spend several days on this

[n7spongy]

Perhaps my favorite page from Lost Legends.

Why?

Well, every other page may be far more hilarious and aesthetically incredible, but this page right here gave me something that I’d always wanted, but didn’t think I’d ever get: a dialogue with Alex Hirsch.

Through using Shmebulock as a mouthpiece, Alex recognizes the profound impact the show had on all of our lives. He knows we’ve invested so much of our beliefs and love into these characters we hold dear, and while he does poke fun at us a bit (as he should, I mean we do deserve it for being crazy), he tries to reassure us directly by saying that it’s time we stop trying to live through someone else’s story, and instead create one worth living through for ourselves.

This hit me on a personal level because the past summer I had been struggling with depression. Fears of the future and regrets for the past had made me curl up in a ball and nostalgically regress to my younger years, when I was just a starry-eyed kid laughing at the world with Gravity Falls. For months I had felt so awful and one of my biggest desires was to ask Alex what to do, because I really really looked up to him and he seemed like he had all the answers when it came to coping with nostalgia and uncertainty. I was able to improve quite a bit through therapy, but I never lost that desire. However, here I finally find it somewhat satisfied.

We’re never going to get anywhere by just repeating someone else’s story. We have to take the offer of that sunrise, no matter how groggy and unprepared we feel when we wake up that day. We all got to start somewhere. In the end, just remember to do one very important thing:

“Go outside, it’s a beautiful day” - Alex Hirsch, 2016.