#Fiddleford McGucket meta

[fiddlefordisms]

Canon Details and Analysis of Fiddleford McGucket Part 1

I'm writing a series of meta posts centering around everything we know about Fiddleford McGucket as well as what can be gleaned from those details and some theories of mine. At the very end of this series, I will also do a detailed look, analysis, and theorizing about Fiddauthor (a ship which I love) - however, this series of posts will be focusing mainly on what's actual canon (and thus written in terms of Fiddleford's friendship with Ford) and will be mainly focused on Fiddleford's character even as it stands outside of his relationship with Ford. Because he deserves to be his own character outside the context of a romantic relationship, and he deserves it in general.

Fiddleford was raised on his father's hog farm in Tennessee. We've received very few details about his family life other than that the hog farm belongs to his father, Fiddleford has a cousin named Thistlebert who believes in aliens, and Fiddleford's grandmother who does not approve of "coffee" (whatever that is). What we can glean from this is that Fiddleford is pretty familiar with his extended family. We also know he grew up "dirt-poor."

In Journal 3, Ford mentions that Fiddleford crosses himself while stepping over graves and chastises him for saying "what the devil." Tennessee is also located deep in the Bible Belt. This tells me Fiddleford was likely raised Christian and because of the "crosses himself" thing - likely Catholic. He's the first McGucket to ever go to college.

Fiddleford has anxiety issues, possibly an untreated disorder - a fact commented on by Ford in Journal 3 (knee-bouncing, a tendency towards pulling at his hair, his superstitious nature might lend to this as well, and the "SORRY" photograph mentions that he's "mighty nervous" about his first day, he also mentions having the hiccups that day - probably due to how nervous he is). Given how these things go, it's probably been with him since childhood, and he was probably belittled for it. Especially given the stigma around mental health issues, it would not surprise me if Fiddleford has been told multiple times "to get over his anxiety."

Before meeting Ford, Fiddleford had a low sense of self-confidence (and even after meeting Ford, it might still not have been the greatest). His very first day of college, after being laughed out of class, he's already arranging for a tractor (the joke is he's Southern and from a farm) to pick him up. He was going to drop out of college on his first day had it not been for Ford. This tells us that he was led to believe that he was "not right" or "not smart enough" for college. Because it's only his first day at college, he probably didn't get these ideas ingrained in him from the campus itself. Theories? A few. One: His father probably wanted him to stay and help out on the farm - maybe even take over the hog farm one day. Two: Fiddleford easily leaps to the idea that he "got his math wrong" and that his theory must be incorrect because everyone else thinks so. This tells us he does not consider himself "brilliant" despite the fact that he is HIGHLY intelligent. He's also at Backupsmore instead of a first-rate school. Because Fiddleford has a lot of anxiety, I think it's highly possible something that could have led him to believe this is test anxiety. Schools put so much importance on testing, and because of his anxiety, Fiddleford might not have been able to perform very well on tests. He probably really excelled at doing his homework, though, and probably already had a bit of an inventing streak. He might have been persuaded by a teacher to give college a try and probably had an interest in it due to his affinity for machines and likely a love of mathematics and physics (and possibly chemistry given that Old Man McGucket mixes up a voice-changing serum at one point). Fiddleford mentions in the "SORRY" photograph that he thought making a friend was more impossible than solving relativity. This is extremely sad and points to Fiddleford having been lonely through his childhood and school years up until college. It's not hard to imagine that he might have been bullied for being a "nerd" as well. People tend to look down on those who display Southern mannerisms and interests (Fiddleford plays the banjo, has a strong Southern accent, and was probably raised to take pride in his Southern upbringing) as "dumb hicks" - and this might be a cause for even more bullying while he's in Backupsmore and continued confidence difficulties.

[mychapel-004]

I think the most interesting and under-explored part of gf canon is the formation of the blind eye and I'm tired of pretending it isn't: a long post

Because hear me out here, if we really take a look at the timing of the only concrete source we have (mcgucket's video diaries), it doesn't... line up at all?

The clear implication here is that he started making the diaries after the first portal incident on January 18th 1983, so this would be our "day one"

"For the past year I have been working as an assistant for a visiting researcher... But something went wrong. I decided to quit the project, but I lie awake each night, haunted by the thoughts of what I've done... Test subject one: Fiddleford."

But this makes no sense. We know from J3 that the memory gun was actually invented after a series of traumatic events with Ford, months before he left the project. Further, the timeline the video diaries set up of the blind eye show that he began to deteriorate and founded the blind eye on day 22, which would be February 9th, but in J3 the blind eye is already a full blown cult by then.

In addition, where is he in this video? we know from TBOB that he isn't on good terms with his wife after Christmas of 1982 and he likely didn't leave GF after the portal incident, but he was living with Ford up until this so where is this room? If he had somewhere else to stay, why only stay there now?

Now, realistically the answer here is that the lore was changed and slightly retconned between the writing of this episode and the publishing of the book (which alex discusses in some of the commentary for this episode when discussing fidd's character), but I think a more interesting theory to solve this contradiction can be found in the source material.

If we play this all completely straight, there are two options here, both involving Fiddleford lying in his diaries. this isn't entirely new to the series, unreliable narration is a big theme, especially in Journal 3 and TBOB. the only real explanations are that:

A) Fiddleford was lying about this being the first time he used the gun, meaning this video diary takes place after the portal incident.

B) Fiddleford was lying about leaving the project, and was filming these diaries while still working with Ford.

Now, either of them is plausible, but ultimately Fiddleford is a scientist. He has dedicated his life to engineering, and it seems to be his lifelong passion considering it's one of the only character traits that he continues to practice after losing his mind. Would a man who is this talented, this dedicated, really lie about testing results in a video diary he chose to make?

If he had used the gun before, any kind of result he is trying to observe would be ruined. It would be a pointless venture, since we know for a fact that by the time he leaves the project he has used the gun on himself, Ford and other civillians multiple times. It's a complete failure of the scientific method, and I don't think it makes sense for the character we know, the man who quadruple checks his own calculations just to be sure they're right.

However, the other explanation feels like something he might do. We know he invents the gun after the Gremloblin incident likely sometime in August, and seems to use it immediately as evidenced by J3, on both himself and Ford. We know from the audio commentary that for Fidd, the memory gun is very much an addiction, it's something that he uses to curb his anxiety and appear like a better partner, to try and keep himself together until the project is over. But ultimately, he's known something is wrong with the project for a long time, and Ford mentions his tendency towards self destructive anxiety when Fidd rips out his own hair after Ford reveals the tip of the weirdness iceberg to him.

All this to say, I think it's far more realistic for Fiddleford to lie about leaving the project rather than his results. He knows that something is wrong, that he should leave and be with his family, and on the other side of that we know that Bill is using this anxiety to whisper into Ford's ear that Fidd is unreliable and will leave. He's been through a severely traumatic event with the Gremloblin, trapped for days in his worst nightmares, to the point where he is prepared to cause himself potential brain damage to un-see it.

But despite all of it, he doesn't leave. He is determined to stay, maybe out of loyalty, maybe out of fear for Ford's safety, maybe he needs the money from the project for his family. He has a wife and son who need him and we know that he feels guilt for his treatment towards them, he even cites them as his sole reason for backing out of using the gun immediately before he does it anyway, and uses it on Ford to cover his mistakes up. Fiddleford is a man who is wracked by anxiety and shame and is such a bad way by this point that he is absolutely willing to self-destruct and lie to just get through this project.

I think he absolutely would start documenting his use of the memory gun, even if that meant lying that he had followed his instincts and left the project when he should have done. After all, he says himself that he wants to use this gun on a wider scale as a therapy tool, assuming the gun doesn't turn his brain to mush, surely the tapes of his initial testing will need to be peer-reviewed? He's presenting the reality he wishes was true, the one where he is brave and stands on his principles and doesn't fall into step beside Ford on his path to destruction.

So, where does this leave the timeline?

Finding exact dates is difficult, mostly because the only concrete numbers in J3 are few and far between, but we do have the dates of the tapes to go off as follows. This isn't concrete but it's a fun way to recontextualise the events of J3:

Day 1:

First usage of the gun, followed by it being used on Ford

Sometime after the Gremloblin incident, Fidd's arm is either healed or on the mend from the incident as his cast is gone, so likely towards the end of August.

Note on the cast: It could also be gone as a result of him removing it too early, he doesn't seem to take a lot of time to recover from the incident before he gets back to work in fear of disappointing Ford.

The room he is in is likely his bedroom in the Shack, or whatever location he initially uses to form the blind eye, maybe a room in the museum? The "probability of failure" graph in the back is the same one that he shows Ford the night before the Portal test, albeit a bigger version, meaning he has likely been tracking the output results for a while.

Day 5:

Still exhibiting postive results, no deterioration yet.

Day 22:

First signs of mental deterioration

First mention of the blind eye, Fidd draws the symbol onto a notebook but it is already scribbled in the background over a diagram of the portal. The blind eye symbol is first mentioned in J3, when Fidd hands it to the carny who becomes the eventual leader of the cult, so this diary likely takes place after he has begun using it on other people.

Official formation of the blind eye as a group to help people forget traumatic memories.

His room in the shack is in a state of disarray, his plants are dead and there are handprints in oil or ink on the walls. Notably, he seems to be connecting the idea of a single eye and the portal despite not being aware of Bill at this point, which I'll touch upon later.

The carnival is likely in September according to the timeline by @fordtato

Day 74:

Slight physical deterioration, more physical anxiety

It seems that Fidd has been regularly using the memory gun at this point, to erase even minorly distressing images from his head, and his anxiety has taken a nosedive. Likely explanation is that this diary is after the bunker, where he had another severely traumatic experience (kidnapped by a shapeshifter and reduced to mute from anxiety) and seemed to become obsessed with doomsday planning. During the bunker arc he also used the gun on multiple workmen and Ford once again.

Likely takes place in October/November

His room is a complete mess by now, with the walls covered in papers and "Help Me" scrawled on the walls.

At this point in J3, Ford has made his deal with Bill and is allowing him to possess his body whenever he pleases. Bill has also sucessfully driven a divide between the other two by making Ford doubt that Fidd will be able to make it to the end of the project, and Ford describes his frustration with him.

According to Ford, Fidd is just as agitated and nervous before the portal test as he was during the Gremloblin attack, and obsessively checks and rechecks his calculations, causing Ford to worry for his resolve.

In between this diary and the next are the stolen pages from J3 that are in TBOB, which give us slight insight into Fiddleford during this time but not much. We see that he tries multiple times to reach out to him the only way that Fidd knows how, through invention and creation, with the snowglobe and the six-fingered gloves. Ford, however, treats them carelessly as a result of his increased attention to his muse. At the same time, he tries to visit home but is kicked out by Emma-May after he forgets to get her a Christmas gift. This is played as an example of his connection with Ford, him remembering two gifts for the man and none for his wife, but if he really is suffering from his use of the gun at this time, the forgetfulness makes even more sense and his argument with his family means he doesn't have a support system outside of Ford who is paying all of his attention to the project. After this, Fiddleford is more reclusive than ever as he spends early January compiling a thesis for Ford to publish

Day 189

Physical deterioration is in full effect and he can't hide the result of his addiction any more, even just to keep up appearances.

His arm is broken, likely due to the car accident he mentions accidentally causing, but its the same arm he broke during the Gremloblin attack and could be a result of him taking his cast off too early for it to have healed right in the first place which could explain why he wears it for so long.

Significant mental decline as he has started exhibiting signs of brain damage or swelling (decreased vocabulary, forgetfulness, loss of motor functions) however, he is seemingly lucid enough to question if the memory gun is causing negative side effects.

There are actually bottles visible in the back of the room, possbly referencing the addiction metaphor being used here

This would take place after the portal test, likely late January. Ford is at the height of his paranoia, Fiddleford has left the shack and taken every trace of his research with him except his college picture with Ford, and the blind eye is a fully established and seemingly self-governing cult.

Day 273

At this point, Fidd has relocated to a motel and is seemingly completely mentally gone, ripping out his hair and developing his hunched posture. This likely takes place after the blind eye takes his memories, or he continues erasing them himself. It's possible that the blind eye continues visiting him and taking his memories even after he is ejected as a member, or at least until they forget who he is after using the gun on themselves too many times.

It appears to be snowing outside? Which doesn't line up with either the canon timeline or this timeline, so potentially the days on the video diaries could be incorrect assuming he isn't filming them every day, or has lost so much of his mind by this point that he isn't labelling them right and has lost track of time

The final two entries are a similar story, serving only to show us the end of his decline and him eventually becoming fully homeless, retreating to the junkyard he lives in for the next 28 years (jesus, he really deserved that mansion).

Ultimately though, this timeline asks a lot of interesting character questions.

Why did Ford not realise how bad Fiddleford's decline was becoming? Maybe a mix of circumstances, he was falling deeper into his worship of Bill at the time, to the extent that he was regularly being possessed and judging by the lack of journal entries at the time, very pre-occupied. We also know that Fidd used the gun on him at least twice in canon, and possibly used it more than we know in order to convince Ford he was okay.

If Fiddleford was erasing parts of Ford's memory, did Bill know? Personally, I feel that Bill was aware but knew that ultimately it would serve him. Fiddleford, without ever encountering Bill at this point, created the blind eye symbol which is eerily close to Bill's symbolism, how would he know that when we know Ford is possessive of his muse and doesn't share anything with Fidd about it? How does Ford have visions of Fidd in a red cloak without ever knowing that the cult and Fidd are directly connected? My thoughts are that Bill, who we know has erased Ford's memory himself before when he stole the journal pages we see in TBOB, was using most of this as fodder to drive a divide between the two, mentally creating associations in both of their minds so they stop trusting the other. Chess but with troubled gay men.

All in all I think Fiddleford's decline is such an interesting way to approach a theme of addiction, particularly a high-functioning addiction. If this really is how things played out, we know that throughout his use of the gun and even 30 years later when he is considered a write-off, the one thing he maintains is his engineering prowess and his smarts. It makes sense that even when actively using the gun and hiding it from Ford he would be able to keep up in terms of building the portal, especially when we know he secretly hired workers. It's also a great example of someone drawing others into their addiction, even if it was unintentional and he didn't believe they would be hurt in the long run.

I feel like sometimes there's a lil bit of a push to see Fidd as a naive or morally good character even through his mistakes and to demonise Ford in response, but ultimately both of them are very morally grey and have their own vices that they develop and grow from.

Anyway, interested in this idea?

Well, good news if you are or my condolences if you hate it and want me dead, this is also an au I'm working on and writing at the moment! My fic link is below, the introduction is up right now and the next chapter will be coming out tomorrow with updates every few days now I've finally gotten this post out. The tag for this fic is 'Geiger counter au', hopefully I'll be able to get out some other headcanons I have for this idea because it's been floating around in my head since J3 came out.

Thank you for reading!

[zephrunsimperium]

Thinking about how BillFord as a ship often gets a bad rap in this fandom as being incredibly toxic.... which isn't wrong. But FiddAuthor is often seen as the "safer" ship even though it's incredibly toxic too?

In canon, they bring about the worst in each other. And yeah, Bill had a hand in that, but he didn't create anything new in Fidds or Ford. That's what makes Bill a master manipulator. Fidds and Ford don't just have the capacity to be destructive, they actively are destructive towards each other in canon.

I love both ships, I think they can both be portrayed in a nuanced way without glorifying abuse or toxicity. Bill, Ford, and Fidds are all incredibly interesting characters and their relationships can help us as fans make sense of things in our own lives.

Just my two cents.

[cardentist]

I'm like, 70% sure this is only an issue with the gravity falls fandom on twitter, but if I don't say something I think I'm gonna explode

there Doesn't Need to be a bad guy between fiddleford, emma-may, and ford ! we can recognize one character causing harm to another, both directly and indirectly, Without framing it like it's intentional or that it makes any of them inherently bad.

in particular, I think there's been pushback against people vilifying ford (both in general and as angst material for other characters) by just. shifting that blame over to another character instead and running with it.

so to get this out of my system:

Yes I agree that fiddleford and ford have a lot of queercoding between each other. I think it's always been there to an extent, but it's absolutely been reinforced with the book of bill and "thisisnotawebsite."

and even if you choose to read their relationship as platonic (which is fine ! a lot of people like to read ford as aroace, for instance), it's very clear that fiddleford's relationship with ford heavily put a strain on his relationship with his family and ultimately lead to his and emma-may's divorce.

and there's nothing wrong with exploring that! exploring how it hurt emma-may and tate, exploring how it's another facet of fiddleford ruining his own life without even thinking about it, exploring the complicated feelings that were happening in that cabin. and I don't even think there's anything wrong with joking about fiddleford being a cheater or ford and emma-may being rivals.

but it Really grinds my gears when people frame fiddleford as being inherently in the wrong for taking the job with ford, as if he was intentionally hurting his family or that he Genuinely went there to cheat.

1: one of the first things we're told about fiddleford in journal 3 is that he was raised dirt poor and wanted to climb the latter in the scientific community to give his family a better life than HE had.

and that's Exactly why he took the job in gravity falls ! it was someone he trusted as his good friend AND someone he trusted academically. the whole idea is that this was supposed to be a temporary job that would Both help a dear friend of his And open up opportunities for his future.

and like, this aspect of his character isn't insignificant. he is Very Much So an archetype of a poor person, and has been since his inception. it's part of what Makes him a match for ford, he's an intellectual match yes but he's also an Outcast that wants more out of life than what he has. this aspect isn't Malicious by any means, but it equally lead them to hurt people they cared about.

Yes he left emma-may and his young son, but it was Never supposed to be forever. he left FOR them, which is half of what makes what happened so tragic in the first place. in many ways, he hurt them Because he cared about them.

and Yes, I do love a queer reading of these characters (and I'll get to that), but it's Very clear in the source material that fiddleford Does care about his family. a big part of his falling out with ford in the first place was because Fiddleford thought they both needed to leave gravity falls to raise their own families, and it's something that fiddleford brings up earlier on in their stay together as well.

that doesn't excuse how he'd mistreat emma-may at all. she was absolutely in her right to divorce him (which I thought even before the book of bill dropped). but I feel like we're letting the subtext overtake the TEXT while examining these characters and their dynamic.

2: lets assume that fiddleford IS a closeted gay man (or bisexual, or that he and emma may are in a lavender relationship, or-), as I so often like to do.

while exploring the pain that could cause emma-may and tate is Very Interesting and fun, I think we're ignoring the systemic homophobia in the room.

fiddleford was born in the 1960s to a religious poor rural southern family, and emma-may and fiddleford's relationship happened in the 1980s.

I Do think fiddleford is definitely progressive for his time (and just overall a very chill dude), but his upbringing Also very clearly had an affect on him. if it's possible for a man who believes the world is a simulation to also believe in jesus then fiddleford's the one to have done it.

and this is implied directly in the text mind, whether fiddleford is still actively religious or not he gets on ford for doing things like taking the lord's name in vein. not something that someone who Wasn't affected by a religious upbringing would do.

there's also the textual (rather extreme) anxiety, and the Implied ocd (the hair pulling, the cubix cube, the moral fixation, etc).

with all that said !

YES it would be extremely painful for emma-may to be in love with a gay man who had a crush on someone else, whether fiddleford was aware of or even acted on those feelings or not.

but I do hope we can all understand why it's Not Great to frame fiddleford as being inherently in the wrong for this right? for either not realizing his feelings at all or deliberately repressing them in the wake of Probable religious trauma and Definite safety issues in the society he lived in? Yeah?

no we should not treat emma-may like she's "getting in the way" of our beautiful yaoi, but ignoring systemic homophobia to vilify a queer man being afraid of appearing as anything but straight in the 1980s is. um. Bad.

the thing that's Most interesting about this whole situation is that it's a tragedy through and through. you can't inherently blame Any of them for what happened, and trying to do so loses what actually makes the situation so complex and painful.

because fiddleford clearly DID care about them, ALL of them, very dearly. and he obviously wanted to do the right thing. and yet he hurt them all, and yet his entire life and mind fell apart to ash in his fingers.

it's Crazy, and it absolutely does a disservice to the situation to frame it as fiddleford just being a slutty lying cheater (or ford Ruining a perfectly good man by being abusive, or emma-may getting in the way of our old man yaoi).

except bill, we can vilify bill. I think he'd like that

[saltysciencesixer]

Bill Cipher, The Blind Eye

So, I recently saw this video involving the Destruction is a Form of Creation McGucket doodle page on this is not a website dot com as well as the wallpapers from Dispense My Treat. And I was immediately struck by some thoughts involving that video as well as the Book of Bill in general (as well as looking back on the show). Buckle up because there's a lot of stuff here. The main crux of this theory is that Bill is severely vision-impaired. Let's start with two examples relating to my first point in regards to Bill Cipher's vision impairment.

Squinting here trying to read the combination to Stan's safe.

Arguably, the other example could be in Weirdmageddon when despite Ford having a cleft chin and Stan not having one - Bill was unable to tell the two apart. Now, this could just be because it's hard to tell twins apart in general, and Bill doesn't seem like the type to pay very close attention to detail. But... Let's look at the other evidence. In the Book of Bill, we see this sort of flashback pov from that time Stan punched Bill near the end of Weirdmageddon.

Now, maybe this is just for effect. Or maybe this is how Bill actually saw Stan at the time - covered in static because he can't actually see that well. We also have from the Book of Bill evidence that Bill's vision could have been impacted badly in some way. "Eye doctor of a different kind / Wants to make his patient blind" and "Three sips a day to make the visions go away."

In the Book of Bill, there's also this question in the "Intelligence Test" section. I think this may, in fact, be a legitimate question of Bill's. He sees something akin to this in the same way one might see "floaters" "vision spots" or "vision snow" (in people who have that condition). And then going back to that video of the Destruction is a Form of Creation doodle, I noticed some interesting things. I decided to try and recreate the way the images were overlayed and-

This is the Seeyouinmydreams wallpaper that lines up with the stars on the corner of the McGucket doodle. If you look at the writing within this image, It says "I MIGHT HAVE TO TO TELL FORD I CANNOT SEE HIM." Is this one of Bill's dreams?

HE IS BLIND is right next to this Bill statue (which also has some rectangular boxes scribbled in covered over his eyes). It also has "I might be wrong" here - so this could be an acknowledgment that Bill is not FULLY blind - just partially.

Finally, there's the fact that Fiddleford McGucket is the founder of the Society of the Blind Eye. If Bill Cipher is "blind" as McGucket sees it, does this mean the society was centered around Bill? Food for thought: Why was the Society of the Blind Eye located in what looked to be a Bill Cipher Temple? (Watch the episode again - one of the ways to enter the Society of the Blind Eye temple was through pressing a triangle with an eye at the center of it - and if you look on the Society of the Blind Eye page in the Gravity Falls wiki, it talks about how the Pythagorean theorem is written on one of the pillars in the temple). I have A LOT more thoughts about McGucket and the Book of Bill as well which I will post later.

[huginsmemory]

Fiddleford and Ford's creations, and parallels

Just a quick blurb on how Fiddleford and Ford parallel each other in regards to their own creations, considering the memory gun and the portal.

First of all, if you haven't read journal 3 then you're missing some context about Fiddleford and the memory gun; that is, that it was created after Fiddleford ended up staring into a gremloblin's eyes and saw his worst nightmare (due to Stanford insisting on stopping to sketch it). Afraid, Fiddleford then created the memory gun as a solution to deal with the fear.

Now what's fascinating is there interaction around the gun, because just as Fiddleford warned Ford against the dangers of the portal and begged him to not use it and destroy it, Ford also did that with the memory gun. He immediately points out the dangers of the gun, and tells Fiddleford to destroy it. And ultimately, both of them refuse to acknowledge the valid worry of the others; Ford refuses to shut down the portal and Fiddleford even going so far as to use the gun on Ford to keep the gun. They both cling to their creations; Ford out of desperation for acknowledgement which the portal will give him, while Fiddleford is motivated out of fear, and the comfort that the gun will give him through erasing his memory. They both are driven so strongly by these motivators that they will put their creation's wellbeing over the wellbeing of others; Fords preoccupation with the portal and his work to the point that he endangers Fiddleford, and Fiddleford literally using the device to erase Ford's memory unconsented.

And both of them in the end fall victim to their creations; Fiddleford loosing more and more of his memory until basically nothing remains, and Ford with the realization the portal leads to the nightmare realm, and heralds the apocalypse, and literally going through the portal himself. Both of them as a result of not heeding the others warnings end up serving penance for the next thirty years of their life, Fiddleford as the local crazy coot who lives in the dump, and Ford dimension hopping, narrowly avoiding capture by Bill, his life devoted to taking him down.

What's also interesting is both of them are driven to create these devices that ultimately ruin their lives out of their devotion and seeking acknowledgement from people they love. Fiddleford, who left his kid and wife to work from Ford, chooses to stay with Ford even though he's afraid, and creating the memory gun instead of leaving; and Ford, who makes the portal in tandem with Bill who he openly worships, who suggests the idea.

Even absent, both their creations continue to impact the town. Fiddleford with creating the Society of the Blind Eye, a cult who literally kidnaps and erases the town peoples memory unconsented, all centered around the memory gun; meanwhile, Ford leaves behind what becomes the mystery shack, and Stan who is left in his wake, works on the portal for the next thirty years to get it running again.

And in the same way, in the end, the danger of the portal and and the memory gun double back on themselves; it is the portal used in the hands of Stan that brings Ford back, even if the rift in space causes wierdmageddon, and it's Fiddleford's memory gun that allows them to defeat Bill. By the end of the show, both powerful tools are dismantled and destroyed, as they should have been originally. In much the same way, both Fiddleford and Ford find happy endings, reuniting with what they had lost.

[therealicething]

I m going to headcanon that Fiddleford's parents were genuinely nice folks. Who maybe didnt have the resources to get a college education or anything themselves, but were pretty smart people. Mostly out of spite.

It rubs me the wrong way i guess the way some fics sorta assume because they are southern, assumed to be poor, and farmers. That they must have a lot of kids, are super conservative, religious, and uneducated.

They love their son very much even though they dont always understand him very well. Yes theres some generational issues and trauma thats inherent to the location, and also time period.

And they werent perfect parents of course but he was very much loved by them and they wanted him to get the best education possible.

Fidd def has issues but they werent wholly from them. I mean, again these were the tennessee pig farmers who gave their son a middle name from the latest in particle physics (... and the latest from a soviet physicist). They are nerds!

[tesser-rp]

oh man, I think I know what Fiddleford saw in the Portal.

I believe these are notes he wrote immediately after getting his head stuck in the Portal, and I believe that he's drawn the multiverse (it looks similar to Bill's own depiction of it on the "Universe Is A Hologram" page in TBOB). It's not clear to me whether this rupture he shows is something he learned about, or something he watched happen. The obvious focal point is THERE'S A HOLE IN SPACE, which he's also labelled "weak point" in smaller print below-- is he referring to the way the inherently unstable nature of the Portal exploits the natural weakness of the planar boundaries surrounding the Earth, to create a rift? Probably, but maybe he saw more than one hole. "Many things can break", he's written next to a scribbled out depiction of his own face.

That face is the center of what I'm talking about. He drew it and scribbled it out, like he couldn't bear to look at it. Maybe that's because that isn't how he would normally draw himself. Maybe he looked at his reflection and saw it very, very differently than usual, for a second.

I think it's possible that Fiddleford saw his own model sheet, or something like that, and understood the true nature of his own fictional being, even if it was just for a minute.

He's written "2012" in very small print in the left hand margin, near where he wrote a box around the number 20. Contrary to popular belief, Gravity Falls the show takes place in no specific year, but if it did, it would probably take place the year it started airing, 2012. Fiddleford could have looked into the Portal, and one of the things he saw was that he was not actually in the early 80s. It was the mid-teens.

"INFINITE TIME PHYSICALITY"... might accurately describe what it means to be fictional. What about that Hole in Space, then? Well, it's not typical for stories to break the fourth wall, and near every time it's happened in Gravity Falls, the break has been conspicuously related to Bill in some way, going all the way back to things like the Rumble's Revenge cryptograms, the Search for the Blind Eye ARG website. (With some exceptions.) When that hole appears in that boundary, the narrative is, as Fidds wrote, "Forever Changed". New and wild possibilities arise. After all, "Destruction is a Form of Creation".

[discofama]

Just gonna give Gravity Falls' characters from the Bill Cipher wheel a soul color like in Undertale. If you don't know what the colors mean, here it is:

Red: Determination ❤️

Orange: Bravery 🧡

Yellow: Justice 💛

Green: Kindness 💚

Light blue: Patience 💙

Deep blue: Integrity 💙💜

Purple: Perseverance 💜

Okay let's get started.

• Dipper: Purple for perseverance 💜

Perseverance, here, is to keep going besides whatever obstacles could get in your way. Even if your goals change, your pace doesn't. Dipper always has some kind of objective in mind, clear stuff like finding the author or more abstract things like impressing his crush or getting manlier. The truth is that, even if Dipper might doubt himself sometimes, he's always working for what he (thinks he) wants. Another considerable color in his soul could be orange, for bravery.

• Mabel: Green for kindness 💚

The good old kindness, no need to explain. Mabel cares so much about everyone around her, wants them to smile and does her best for them to be happy, even if sometimes does it wrong (she's still a child after all), her intentions are nothing but the best and the kindest and she always ends up rectifying the moment she realizes she made anyone sad. A secondary color to mention might be orange as well.

• Stan: Light blue for patience 💙

The needed patience, the ability to wait. Stanley has waited a lot through his life, that's no secret for anyone. Even if it took him ages, he waited and step by step worked as best as he could taking the needed time and never gave up. Even if it might not seem like it, he has an easy character towards those he cares about (that was lost when Ford came back and Stan got his last straw, but let's ignore that) and... he's just actually very patient with them, specially the kids but Soos and Wendy too since he rarely gets really annoyed by any of them, something I didn't realize until I tried to align him with any of the soul colors and found out that this... is the one trait that fits him; I literally couldn't fit him under any other color.

• Ford: Red for determination ❤️

Determination (sigh). Undertale players can feel this word's weight. You have an objective in mind for the long run and you won't let it go until you reach it. That's literally Ford Pines, the guy who worked half of his life to accomplish a successful scientific career and fame, and the other half to destroy a specific yellow triangle. Ford's eyes will focus on a goal and he won't stop until he makes it. A secondary color might be orange, cause he is almost too brave. Also maybe yellow, for his strong-but-not-always-accurate sense of justice, but I wouldn't consider that one as much.

• Soos: Deep blue for integrity 💜💙

He has a moral conscience, and stays loyal to the truth and to himself. Soos might seem a green type of person, but he won't hesitate when telling you a hurtful truth, but still a truth that needs to be said. He won't be anything but himself even if he's not perfect, without ever needing to perjudicate anyone. He is sincere, trustworthy, and a great person, who stayed loyal to Stan but then to the kids the moment they showed him he was hiding something to all of them. Definitely a soul of integrity. Another color to be considered might be light blue, for patience, or orange again. These guys are really brave, let me tell ya.

• Wendy: Orange for bravery 🧡

Could I make it more obvious? Wendy doesn't really try to get in dangerous places, but she never runs away from them. It is revealed in the Society of the Blind Eye episode that she is always stressed inside, which is a poorexcuseforcharacterdevelopment but anyway, she lives with a deep fear but is able and willing to get over it and face situations without letting it control her, and that is actually what bravery is rather than jumping to danger like an idiot. Another color to be considered might be green, since she's actually pretty kind as shown in the series.

• Gideon: Purple for perseverance 💜

An interesting aspect of the show is all the parallelisms between Gideon and Dipper, like both having a crush on an older girl or both getting a journal and more stuff I don't remember but I read that analysis somewhere, and you get me. It was also interesting for both to have the same soul color along with the possibility of orange. Gideon... keeps it going. He's always planning something to get away with his whims, doesn't matter if it's stealing the Mistery Shack or a deck chair. Gideon's vision and wantings might change, but like Dipper, his pace never does.

• Fiddleford: Green for kindness 💚

At first, i put Fiddleford here just because he couldn't fit any other color, but I realized green is actually perfect for him. I'm talking mostly about when he was sane since I don't think his attitude during most of the series should be considered to judge his real personality. He seemed a nice person and dedicated to others with things like writing a whole tesis for Ford, giving him a laptop or a pumpkin that "looked like him", and the way Ford described him talking about family and stuff, also he seems to love children by the end of Gravity Falls when he recovered his memories, his vibe just seems very kind by nature. I haven't read the journal for a while so I don't remember a lot, but definitely, green is his color. Mostly because he literally just can't fit under any other and I'm not joking this time.

• Pacifica: Yellow for justice 💛 (Why is there not a yellow text option?)

Am I judging her whole character because of one scene? Yes. Do I think I'm right? ... not really. The first time she stopped her parents' influence, she did it with an act of justice. She let the town people into the party, she did what was fair. Yes, it was because there was a ghost threatening to kill everyone if not, but I think there's a meaning behind her first... true action being something fair. Well, she cheated in the singing contest, but honestly, I'm having trouble here giving Pacifica a color. Her parents' bad influence made her a completely different person than what she really is inside, so her soul color might be actually anything, but I personally believe yellow is the one.

• Robbie:

....

....

Who is Robbie?

No, really. I have no idea what to give him. Maybe perseverance? Because of his search for ✨love✨? Idk man. Not kindness, nor patience, nor bravery (maybe? Nahh... Maybe? Naahhh), nor justice (i mean what justice yk), nor integrity, and I laugh at the idea of giving him a determination soul. Could you imagine? (Probably only Undetale fans will get me here but come on).

Though that would actually be hilarious.

Anyway I hope you liked this... something. I love Undertale and a crossover with Gravity Falls would be SO fun and I couldn't get this out of my head, so... yeah. Tell me if you think I'm wrong about any of these and why, I'd like it tho probably no one will read this but I will be happy anyway.

Also I forgot but Bill's is Determination, if he even has a soul, much less a human soul. His magic could be red tho, like the monsters with colored magic instead of colored souls.

[fannishstuff]

My own lowkey headcanon: he's a grad or post-grad dropout. He probably didn't have his life in order even before working for Ford, given how willingly he put up with the absolute WORST working conditions. He also dropped everything, including his attempt at starting a business, to run away to a two-man operation in the mountains far from his home.

I have a lot of Really Weird men in my family who were working on their doctorates or engineering degrees around the same time he was. The focus on job security in the form of professorship, starting a medical practice, or whatever is Expected in your field was very high for them. Get into a company or university asap, keep your nose to the grindstone, build a career until you can retire. Ford got twelve doctorates, and in that time, Fiddleford didn't have anything that was worth committing to, despite - as you said - having a young family that he really should be supporting with unconditional stability (by the American cultural standards of the time).

Of those Weird Men with Doctorates in my family, all of them followed a straightforward career path... except one. That one only has one degree, and it is his doctorate. He just didn't fit in with a normal school track, career track, anything. I don't know the whole story because he and I don't get along well at all, but I know he struggled with the constant "I am smarter than this, I'm good at my job, this business should be working" thoughts that we see a lot of in people with undiagnosed ADHD or other neurodivergencies. I could see him going full McGucket. Heck, he even went through the suits-and-bowties to weird-bearded-ragman transformation as his mental health declined, same as McGucket.

I imagine Fiddleford, who quadrupal-checks his equations and can make a functioning mecha out of junk heap materials, as the kind of guy who tried and tried and tried to make the career path people expected of him work, and then it just didn't for some reason. He couldn't juggle PhD and family. He couldn't honestly talk to his advisor when he was confused or stressed. He overworked himself, blew up an important piece of equipment in a bout of impaired decision-making, and was asked to leave. He couldn't handle academic politics, ruined his relationships with his peers (or was bullied as people with southern accents in academia often were at that time) and left. There are so many plausible reasons.

Besides: he both blames himself for his shortcomings ("Ford can handle the stress of almost getting eaten by monsters just fine, so I should get over it") AND has a grandiose sense of self confidence ("Oh, that mathematically feasible but totally unheard of piece of technology that I only thought of or heard about today? No problem, we'll get a prototype out soon"). Perfect recipe for an explosive burnout.

Do y'all think Fiddleford has a PhD or just a bunch of master's degrees

(and is there a canon/interview source that specifies? Couldn't find/remember one.)

It's not a matter of intelligence; he absolutely COULD have a PhD if he wants one. But pursuing one means focusing on researching and writing about one specific narrow topic for several years, delaying starting your career (or going to work first and then later going back to get the PhD), and specializing in one very small field; and when you come out of it, you're geared to either work in that one narrow field or continue with research.

Fiddleford had a young family to take care of (can't spend extra time in academia), and prior to joining Ford he was developing computers in his own garage (not working in academia or applying his research in some small field). Considering he makes everything from giant mecha to guns that can target and suppress memories to vocal cord-altering medications, he doesn't seem to be a specialist in any one particular field, but rather broadly educated in a bunch. Pursuing a PhD might just not have made sense for his career goals and life.

On the other hand: he is very much making original groundbreaking inventions at a rapid pace, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he did the same thing in academia in order to get a doctorate. We know he can write sweeping academic papers in his spare time. And this is the cartoon where one dude can rack up 12 PhDs, so the amount of time it would take might just be considered a non-factor for this show.

[fiddlefordisms]

Canon Details and Analysis of Fiddleford McGucket Part 2

See the first part here

Let's flash-forward to what we know about Fiddleford after college. At some point, he got married to Emma May Dixon, and they had a son together (Tate McGucket), they live in Palo Alto, and Fiddleford seems to be self-employed: McGucket's Computermajigs. Now, don't get me wrong I enjoy Fiddauthor quite a lot (and I'll give some in-depth analysis and theorizing and thinking of possibilities about that particular relationship in that context at the very end), but I want to focus on Fiddleford's character and what we do know about his wife and child.

We know from Journal 3 that Fiddleford keeps a picture of his wife and son on his desk because he says it helps keep him "grounded." It's very important to note that this picture includes his wife - if they really wanted to imply that Fiddleford's relationship with his wife was on the rocks, they could've easily made it just a picture of his son. We know that Fiddleford must have had strong feelings for his wife because in the Gobblewonker episode of Gravity Falls, Old Man McGucket claims that when his wife left him, he built a pterodactyl-tron (building giant death robots is something he does when he's upset or wants attention). If he was wanting to leave that relationship, he would not have been upset about her leaving him.

In another page of Journal 3 when Fiddleford quits the portal project, Ford writes about how he should "go back to his doting family." This tells us that while Fiddleford and Emma May did have a fight over him not getting her a Christmas present, Ford still somehow had the impression that his family was "doting." I think it's important to point out that Fiddleford has been erasing his memories since the Gremloblin incident - and the fight scene with his wife happens very shortly before the big portal test. We know the memory-erasing gun has side effects. So, anytime Fiddleford "forgets" something should be looked at as highly suspect and indicative that his memory-erasing gun is affecting him.

We know that Fiddleford must have been a good father before he left to work on the portal for Ford via context clues. In the show, despite Tate's original home being in Palo Alto, Tate chose to pack up his things and live in Gravity Falls where his mentally-addled father now lives. He chose to do that and seeing what became of his father, even though he's the town's biggest embarrassment with a reputation for being a crazy old man - chose to stay. In Shmeb U Unlocked, we're informed that Tate is extremely intelligent and capable of predicting lottery numbers.

He could literally go anywhere he wanted if he wanted. And yet, he stays in Gravity Falls where his father lives. He must have really loved his father despite it being so hard with his father's mental state and the fact that he has every right to be angry that his father left. We know that Fiddleford must have really loved his son because of that picture on his desk, because much later even with all of his memory problems, he still remembers his son, and he's desperate to spend time with him, and in the end, they're able to repair their relationship and spend quality time together.

Now, let's talk about a couple of details that I think a lot of people overlook. During the stargazing scene in Journal 3, Fiddleford mentions offhand that he'd like a place where "the screen door ain't broken." I think this is a VERY interesting detail because it makes it sound like Fiddleford's business hadn't quite taken off yet and that he might have been struggling financially because he can't afford to get his door repaired.

This opens a doorway into a theory of mine that Fiddleford is being paid for his time as Ford's assistant. Now, we're not told this outright in Journal 3, but I think we can gather this from a little thing I like to call context clues. After all, Ford probably thought the exact nature of payment deals for his assistant didn't need to be included in his research and personal journal. There's nothing interesting about it. Additionally from a narrative standpoint, it might have come across as looking like Ford had to bribe Fiddleford to help him, and that's not the vibe they wanted for Fiddleford. They wanted to emphasize that these two are at the very least good friends and that Fiddleford is the type of person who will set aside his own personal projects and self-sacrifice to help a friend at a moment's notice.

We know from the show and Journal 3 that Ford was given grants to study the anomalies of Gravity Falls. Presumably, this money would not only cover the costs of field research equipment and a research base (the shack) but also money for a research assistant if needed.

Fiddleford's wife would have to be the most permissive, most doormat wife in THE HISTORY OF EVER to allow her husband to go up to Oregon to work on a project leaving her to not only take care of her son by herself but also have to pay all the bills and rent/mortgage by herself. We know this is not the case because she (rightly) did NOT let it slide that her husband forgot to get her a Christmas present.

Fiddleford would not have had much time to work on his own business while working on Ford's portal. At this point in his life, he has his mental faculties intact, he's proven time and again to be considerate and sweet (Alex Hirsch even refers to him as a sweet soul). He's big on making thoughtful gifts, he wants to help others (in Journal 3, he is seen fixing up the ferris wheel at the carnival where he meets Ivan, although it was definitely wrong - he had good intentions in wanting to help people with their bad memories, even in the show - Old Man McGucket shows up in the sap-hole with the dinosaurs having fixed a broken lantern - Fiddleford is exactly the type of person who would see a broken-down car on the side of the road and pull over and get out his toolbox and help that person out), and he loves his family very much. He would NOT let them go unsupported and floundering for themselves while in his right mind.

So, this leads me to believe that to help convince his wife to let him help his old college buddy with his project, he'd be getting paid for his help. Ford likely would've found this reasonable and might have suggested it himself if Fiddleford expressed wanting to help but not being able to leave his family without any support. It probably wasn't a lot, but it might have been a bit better than what he was currently drumming up via his own business. This could also be why Ford is so adamant about referring to Fiddleford as his assistant in the journals rather than his friend.

Do I think his wife might have still had some reservations about her husband going to Oregon and could be a fertile field for argument later? Yes. Absolutely. But I think the fact that she let him go in the first place and the fact that Fiddleford is self-employed rather than more conventionally employed generally shows that she was a supportive wife and trusted her husband.

I absolutely DO NOT think, as some have posited, that Fiddleford abandoned his wife and son (especially his son whom he dearly loves) to have a "Brokeback Mountain" situation with Stanford. That is a terrible misreading of Fiddleford's character AND the situation. Again, Fiddleford is the type of person who HELPS people, and how much more so for someone who is likely his best friend? Not only that, but his FIRST EVER friend. A friend who Fiddleford probably knows has been alone in Oregon for years and who also has a hard time making friends, a friend who probably doesn't call him enough because he's "busy" with his research (Ford even says in the journal that he "has no choice but to call Fiddleford"), a friend who is probably stubborn about asking for help who is asking HIM (the guy who helps) for help?

Fiddleford might even already be worried about him.

And this is a "project" - a project has a beginning and an end. Fiddleford was NOT expecting to stay in Gravity Falls. He was going to go there, help Ford, and then go back to his family whom he loves. I'm not saying complicated feelings couldn't have arisen (again, I am a Fiddauthor shipper), but I am saying that Fiddleford didn't go to Oregon because he was running away from marital problems with his wife (on an additional note - people are free to write what they want - But what is WITH bisexual erasure and villifying / ignoring female characters? I mean, just because she wasn't in the show or talked about much doesn't mean we should do female characters a disservice) and intending on cheating on her.

Because again - A) He loves his family (family photo on his desk which doesn't exactly scream "Make sweet love to me Ford") B) His anxiety issues C) His empathy - he doesn't have the narcissistic traits cheaters generally have D) He's likely Catholic and all the religious hang-ups with that - (also adultery being a sin is mentioned waaaaaay more than homosexuality) E) The hostile time period for queer folks.

Also, Stanford "I find romance baffling" (Journal 3 - stargazing scene) is probably one of the biggest indicators that no cheating went on (but I'll throw you "cheating Fiddleford" headcanoners a bone much later on in which I think a possible "cheating" scenario could have realistically occurred - and I'll tell you my reasons for why I personally don't believe that happened either, but I'll begrudgingly accept a "possibility" and let you guys go nuts with the idea.)

More to come in later parts.

[mychapel-004]

something i've been thinking about post-portal fiddauthor

this could entirely be something i've just missed people discussing, but i haven't seen anyone mention before how this motel:

(presumably the place fiddleford relocates to after being kicked from the blind eye and having his memories taken)

is incredibly similar to the only other motel we see mentioned in the journal:

arguably twin bed motel is just a reference to twin peaks, or back to the future, or just the twins themselves, but honestly? the two seem like they could be the same motel. they're both out in the woods, surrounded by forest (presumably near route 14 and the truck stop ford has been frequenting) with pine tree motifs, and they're both out there in the snow. ford stays there for one night multiple weeks after the portal incident, sometime at the end of january or start of february, and fiddleford is there somewhere between day 189 and day 273.

that might seem like it puts a bit of a wrench in it, because it seems like fiddleford couldn't have been there at the same time if it has been 273 days since the portal incident, but this just adds to the theory that fiddleford is lying in his initial video diary and is filming the first four entries while still working with ford (which i want to make a post about if anyone is interested, i have a lot of evidence). so, with that theory, it is plausible that they are at this same motel at the same time, especially when you consider that neither ford nor fidd have a car at this point. ford's was destroyed shortly after he moved to GF by steve, and he seems to travel solely on foot since then, and fiddleford assumedly stops driving after day 189 when he accidentally hits another car on the road and breaks his arm. how many motels are accessible on foot in this area in the snow?

so two men, both tormented and driven to their limit by the same creature, the same project, unable to escape very far without transport end up in the same motel for one night weeks after their partnership fell apart. ford doesn't even make it inside, he collapses in the parking lot staring at the sign, thinking of the only person in the world who he could trust anymore. he says it himself, "F is nowhere to be found", "if only i had listened to him when i had the chance", but in reality fiddleford was metres away, holed up in a dingy room he rented with the last of his money, driving himself mad with paranoia.

the worst part is arguably that the video diary that takes place in the motel is the first one where we see the start of mcgucket vs fiddleford. his voice is pitchy and anxious, he's rambling about seeing something he didn't understand, he's hunched and scared and tearing out his own hair. he's stopped using the gun, most likely having been thrown out of the blind eye by now, but his mind is gone for good and he's continuing to decline without even using it. if ford had known F was there, just behind a door, and tried to see him, he wouldn't have seen the man he knew. at this point, fiddleford was gone either way. he would have been completely unrecognisable.

in another universe did he find him? did fiddleford see him through the window and try to place where he knew this man's face from, why his chest hurt so badly looking at him slumped over outside his window? did they figure it out instead of slipping past eachother again?

just like the few moments he spent with stanley before the accident, he fumbles and blanks the people around him without even trying, and fails to see past his own goals into how they affect others. he doesn't understand stan's anger at being sent away again, doesn't see fiddleford's collapse even though he's seemingly become known in the community for his very public deterioration, destroys the possibility of anyone "understanding what he's up against" because time and time again he doesn't tell them.

he believes that he needs to keep this information to himself, save the research even though its dangerous, stop others from knowing or they might steal it, but at the same time he needs help so badly and he needs stan and fidd to finish his plans, both to build the portal and to stop bill. but he lets them walk in blind every time, refusing to share what he knows, all under the name of that sly piece of advice bill gave him, "trust no-one." even though, what bill really meant is "trust no-one but me".

arguably it's the same habit which leads to weirdmaggeddon, he doesn't tell anyone but dipper, the child he sees himself in, about the rift or about the truth of his relationship with bill. if mabel knew, she would never have given bill the rift, or felt left out enough to run and be vulnerable, which lends so much more to his character post-BOB, where he's finally opening up to the people around him. he's reunited with his family and fidd, they all know his embarrassing secrets and the things he tried to hide about himself, about him and bill. and it's okay. if anything it makes him more human, more flawed but more relatable. and at the end of it all, F is there, as forgiving and kind and understanding as he always has been, with no door in the way this time.

[zephrunsimperium]

I was laying down to sleep when I was suddenly possessed with a powerful urge to rant about one of my favorite things about Gravity Falls that I have literally never heard anyone else talk about and I feel like I have a unique perspective on:

I love that Gravity Falls allows tweens to be as chaotic and vibrant as they actually are.

As an aspiring middle school teacher, I spend a lot of time around tweens. It’s a special age and while I can easily understand why a lot of people would rather avoid kids in those years, I absolutely adore them. Middle schoolers are very invested in the idea of “coolness” but the secret is that being “cool” really just means being loved and accepted.

Not-so-fun fact: most kids stop drawing in 4th grade because they start comparing themselves to others and worry about their art being “good enough.” That is an utter tragedy. Every kid deserves to feel accepted and loved enough to create.

To me, one of the sweetest experiences I can have is hearing kids talk about what they’re passionate about. Because they are passionate. Stan says that you don’t have to grow up even though you get older and I absolutely love that. Kids have so much excitement about life and I think that’s something adults often lose which is a real shame. There is no better way to live than passionately.

So when I see sweet Mabel being aggressively herself and Dipper being so delighted to talk to his Grunkle Ford about what’s he’s interested in, it absolutely warms my heart. Especially because you KNOW Ford grew up being told that nobody cared about what he had to say or what he was passionate about, so you KNOW he‘ll jump at the chance to let this kiddo know that somebody does care.

And Mabel specifically really gets me. It’s so sad to me that she gets as much hate as she does. She isn’t my favorite character, but she is definitely a kid I would love spending time with. I love how sweet she is whenever she interacts with Fiddleford and I love how much effort she puts into making other people feel loved.

So yeah, I like this show a lot and tweens are wonderful.

[eregyrn-falls]

Exactly. :) I don't know if everyone gets it or not, any more. (I'm sure a lot of the kids watching at the time didn't get it, although the adults absolutely did!)

I remember a meta post going around way back in the day about it, but who knows how to dig that up. So here's some of the side by side comparisons again:

Steve Jobs' childhood home in Palo Alto, CA.

Fiddleford's home in in Palo Alto, CA. (Bruh.)

Steve Jobs working in the garage. (I believe this is an actual photo from back then, although apparently they painstakingly recreated the garage workshop for the Steve Jobs biopic a few years ago.)

Fiddleford working in his garage. (God, right down to the open pizza box!)

Original Apple logo and "Think different" ad campaign.

Fiddleford's logo for Fiddleford Computermajigs.

It goes by so quickly in the episode, but it's always been such a great gag for people to pick up on.

The kids these days know that Fiddleford working on computers in a garage in Palo Alto is a direct reference to Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computers, that worked on computers in his garage in Palo Alto, right? RIGHT??

[strawberry-smog]

I find it interesting that regardless of whether a Fidd/Ford meta post is trying to argue that they’re healthy or toxic or in between or whatever they all still tend to take the stance of “Fiddleford is such a saint for putting up with and forgiving Ford!” when the more canon stuff I see about him the more I’m convinced he’s a fucking maniac. I don’t mean this is a “wow McGucket is so problematic, I guess he’s the REAL toxic friend” way, but I do mean this in a way where I don’t find how he acts around Ford very admirable at all.

Like, this is a guy who cannot have a serious argument or disagreement with Ford, not just to the point where he hides his own feelings around him and then snaps, but to the point where he hides his own feelings around him and then snaps and then secretly uses his memory gun to erase it out of both their heads so it’s like the argument never even happened. This is a guy who moved to and stayed in a town full of dangerous monsters that gave him panic attacks because Ford asked him to. This is a guy who moved ten hours away from his wife and small child for a year, visited them once on Christmas, and then immediately flew back to work because he got into a fight with his wife over not buying her a present while he was busy hand-making Ford, a man who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, two presents. This is a guy who started a cult to cope with all of this rather than telling Ford something was wrong. This is a guy who stood by Ford even after receiving a really mean and disrespectful ultimatum from him and only left when he got irrefutable proof that Ford was about to unleash a demon that would devour the earth, and even then he just ran off to forget everything with his cult rather than try to, you know, stop Ford from doing that.

This is him bending over backwards for Ford, yes, but this is fucking insane. Yeah sure he’s pretty put upon by Ford, but he’s also putting quite a lot of this upon himself, because he can’t just have an important discussion with him and will instead martyr himself upon Ford’s disregard endlessly, to the detriment of himself, everyone who knows these two, and, tbh, Ford.

[year2000electronics]

What happened to Tate in this AU? Did he eventually move to Gravity Falls and succumb to the curse? If so, what is he? Does he even recognize his dad?

(for those of you playing at home, the au is my own take on monster falls!)

NOW THERES A GOOD QUESTION. i think that tate would stay, even despite the curse. because, like, if you think about CANON tate, HIS dad packed up and left to go to gravity falls, and when tate went to gravity falls, he surely must have found a crazy memory-less old man mcgucket who doesnt even know who his own self is, let alone who tate would be. but the thing to me is, somethings keeping tate there. despite all the hopelessness, somethings keeping tate in gravity falls. with his dad. is emma-may out of the picture for him too? is he desperate to have his dad in his life again? is the rent in gravity falls just cheaper? who knows.

so that means i would have to assign tate a monster. right. i think i would want to have it be something adjacent to mcgucket, obviously... and i think tate might have to be a scarecrow.

REASONING.

one of the popular assignments for monster falls mcgucket is a scarecrow (likely due to his hat)! so theres that sort of meta-connection

scarecrows being associated with farmers and fields keeps that sort of connection tate and fiddleford have with them being farm boys

this one feels weird-but-right. you know what a scarecrow and a "tin man" would be? thats right. 2/3 of dorothys buddies in wizard of oz. "BUT WHERES THE COWARDLY LION?" i dont know. im the cowardly lion. youre the cowardly lion. we're all the cowardly lion. in my mind im just justifying why i think scarecrows and robots are linked together in my mind

"you could have made ford the cowardly lion if you kept him as a sphynx" shut up.