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dimonds456 · 2 months ago

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No I'm not done talking about them actually. People have been hard victim-blaming Ford and I'm starting to get sick of it.

Ford Pines is not to blame for being manipulated. The abuse he suffered at the hands of Bill was NOT HIS FAULT in ANY WAY.

Yes, he treated Fiddleford worse as the project got closer to being completed, and yes, those were Ford's choices that he made. But he only made those choices as a result of either previous trauma or because of Bill's manipulations.

In the Journal, Fiddleford suffered two traumatic events while around Ford- the first being the Gremloblin incident, and the second being the portal.

The Gremloblin Incident: Basically Fidds got grabbed by a creature that, when you look into its eyes, you see your worst fears. It traumatized him heavily and took him days, maybe weeks to recover. During that time, Ford paused working on the portal to help Fidds however he could.

After that, though, Bill started whispering in Ford's ear about how Fiddleford wasn't loyal to the project, and started planting seeds of doubt in Ford- seeds that only took root because of Ford's previous trauma with his father (which we will get into in a second).

So when the portal thing happened and Fiddleford quit, it looked like Bill was right about Fiddleford, further pulling Ford under his wing, if only shortly. That's why Ford reacts the way he does- that page he wrote where he vented about Fiddleford leaving the project was not a genuine reflection of his character, but moreso how betrayed he felt- a feeling he would not have had if not for Bill.

Now, backing up a bit, the reason Bill was able to manipulate Ford at all was not for any fault of Ford's own. Like yeah, the incantation, but like Ford said, he was "desperate."

But why though.

Ford and Stan both suffer a similar trauma when it comes to their father Filbrick. That man taught them that they only have worth if they can bring something to the table ("your brother was gonna be our ticket outta this dump!" "But now you've cost our family potential millions! And until you make a fortune, you're not welcome in this household!"). They were only worth something if they were successful.

Ford internalized it, but especially so after Stan was kicked out (Stan was a failure and got shut out for it. Imagine what'll happen to Ford if he also turns out to be a failure...). I bet you that's why he was able to blast through college as fast as he did. He got that grant money and decided to become a famous scientist, which would, in turn, make him rich, thus making his father proud.

So, when he came to a dead end in his research, it wasn't just about the fact that he couldn't think of the answer on his own. It was about his self-worth. His entire sense of self-esteem was tied up in anomalies, weirdness, and being successful as a direct result from the shit he suffered as a child, so if he couldn't figure this out, what did that say about him, huh?

Now obviously, no one's self-worth should be tied up in success. That is just doomed to make someone feel horrible about themselves. But no one was able to tell that to Ford, y'know?

So when Ford says he was "desperate"... yeah, I can see why. He didn't want to feel useless, or like a failure, despite all the stuff he'd already discovered. It wasn't enough.

Ford is also prideful, and while I do think it was amplified by Filbrick I do think he's also just Like That gfdhsjk. So he wasn't gonna back down and settle. He needed to figure out everything. Come out swinging into the scientific community.

THAT is why Bill was able to manipulate him so well. All he had to do was offer Ford the solution to his problem, and suddenly, Ford's self-worth has returned! His self-esteem, his purpose- hell, his reason for living! All back! All he has to do is listen to this triangle god thing and he'll be good, right?

This is also doubled down on once Fiddleford gets involved. Bill's work to isolate Ford from his friend was made easier by preying upon his want to be known and validated. So he kept saying Fidds wasn't loyal. He planted seeds of doubt, made Ford come to conclusions he wouldn't have otherwise (like how he thought Fiddleford might take all the credit for himself when we KNOW he wouldn't do that).

That paranoia was easy to build up in Ford because it was feeding off of his self-worth. If he isn't successful, he's lost and purposeless. Ford can't have that. Especially after what happened to Stanley.

So yes, while Ford is ultimately the one who turned against Fiddleford in the end, the only reason he was pushed to that point in the first place was because of Bill. And then the reason he didn't reconnect was because of paranoia, fearing that Bill could be anyone, anywhere, watching him, waiting for him to let his guard down. He couldn't be outside the house, it was too dangerous.

And pretty much all this information was given to us before the Book of Bill. After that thing? No excuses. Ford was the victim here.

Because it needs to be said, no, there is no such thing as a perfect victim. Ford did legitimately make mistakes and push away the people around him. He was rude and inconsiderate towards Fiddleford, and the way he handled Stanley was just. Honey no fghdjsk

But that doesn't mean you're suddenly allowed to point fingers at him and say that he did this to himself or that he deserved the shit he went through. Like, do you hear yourselves? No one deserves to suffer abuse, no one. The person doing it to him was Bill. Bill encouraged the worst parts of Ford and fed off of his self-worth to make him paranoid, scared, and defensive.

Leave him alone.

Billford and Abuse: An Analysis

Honestly, as someone who ships both Billford and Fiddauthor, the thing I like about the toxic yaoi ship is the fact that it IS toxic. Like, the jokes are great, but its depiction of abuse is so, like... genuine. Without getting personal, I've been in a really fucking bad toxic (platonic) relationship before, and Billford deadass helped me come to terms with it.

Cuz here's the thing: most fictional abusive relationships just start with the abuse itself. It shows the victim and the perpetrator at the height (or almost at the height) of the abuse, and we see as either one of them is destroyed by it or the victim becomes free. But Billford actually shows the WHOLE timeline.

Something that bothers me about a lot of fictional abuse reps is the fact that you cannot sympathize with the victim aside from "aw that's horrible :(". Cuz it just starts AT the abuse. We don't see how they got there or what's causing the victim to stay. We just know they need to escape.

But with Billford, we see EVERYTHING. How it started out as something Ford genuinely loved, seeing Bill as a friend and someone he could trust, how it made him feel better because he was actually making progress on his research and he wasn't lonely anymore.

To Ford during those early days, Bill was the highlight of his time in Gravity Falls. We can follow his train of thought exactly to where he let Bill possess him with basically no strings attached (pun intended).

That's what makes it all the more devastating. Bill isolated Ford from everyone. He sabotaged his friendship with Fiddleford by planting that seed of doubt in the engineer and pulling Ford further and further into his plans. Then the thing with the portal happened and Ford had NOWHERE to go. Plus, Bill kept trying to get Ford to stop thinking about Stan, to move on and let him rot. So he kept planting seeds of doubt in his own brother as well, causing Ford to further and further slip away.

Then Ford confronts Bill. And the monster is unleashed.

Once Bill realizes he's lost control of Ford's devotion and the illusion has shattered, Bill just LEANS into it. In order to take control back, he started tormenting Ford and just being horrible to him, to try and make him fall in line. Love and fear ARE right next to each other in the brain, after all. And there's NOTHING Ford can do but just fall further and further into paranoia.

Bill demonstrates many real-world abusive/manipulative tactics on Ford, the big one being isolation, since that allows the rest of the everything to even happen, but the way he turns Ford against LITERALLY EVERYONE using paranoia is really true to real life.

Now obviously your toxic boyfriend cannot possess random strangers irl. But you know what he CAN do? Start spreading rumors behind your back. Stalk you. Harass you. Make you feel unsafe everywhere except home (which isn't safe either, but it's better than the outside world). He can spend your money or break your things. Slash your tires. In Ford's case, LITERALLY abusing his body. There's the sticky notes, the threats, the roof incident, all of it just piling one atop the other.

I cannot imagine how fucking terrified Ford must have been to finally send that postcard to Stanley. He was at a point where he assumed Stan would hate him, or at the very least wouldn't respond so why even bother, and he'd just gotten the "steal your eyes" threat. He was out of options, and was absolutely sure he was putting Stan in danger by getting him involved (another irl abuse thing that happens).

He was scared to reach out for help because 1) he didn't want others getting hurt (like Fidds had), 2) he was ashamed he'd let this happen, and 3) he, on some level, felt like he deserved this.

Justified? To a paranoid, scared, abused, irrational brain: Absolutely. In reality? Never. But HE'D built that portal. HE'D allowed Bill to possess his body basically freely. HE'D basically helped start the apocalypse. And that shame would have lead to SO much self-hatred and despair.

His reaching out to Stan was his last resort, his only way out. THAT'S what intrigues me about the ship so much.

I do not want them to make up and get back together. They're horrible for each other. But I do enjoy exploring the dynamic of it, fully seeing the cycle and how it happens, and seeing a whole new side to Ford that we only caught a glimpse of in the show and Journal 3. Plus Bill but his side is more comedic and sad to me I do not take him seriously FSDGHJ

The jokes are great and I love it here, but if I ever write a fic or draw art for these two it's going to be toxic as hell man. And not in the fun way fgsjd

#it's almost 9 AM i just pulled an all-nighter #im tired #anyway fiddauthor is soft and warm and i'm gonna go stare at artwork for that forever #no im not actually im gonna go to bed #THEN it's fiddauthor time #gravity falls #billford #dimond speaks #book of bill #the book of bill #book of bill spoilers #bill cipher #stanford pines #ford pines #tw abuse #abuse #abuse tw

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lavenoon · 2 years ago

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definitely not asking for writing reasons... However, if I was the question would be; How do the boys charge? Is it just a special cord they plug in? Or like a whole setup, like a big ol tube for charging? And is it something easily moved/to get multiple of? (Say they needed to have a charger at multiple locations for example.)

I'd think something in the direction of a charging cable - might need a bit of a set-up to ensure no fuses are blown (like don't plug it into like a multi-outlet power strip, some child safety things to lock it into place) and maybe a bed or comfy chair near the cord, just so it's not too awkward sitting on the ground or something. Connects to their back I'd figure - the area where in canon the latch for the wire is. They're belly "sleepers" due to that hehe, and I like the thought that this vulnerable spot is on their back, all in line with the "Got your back" sentiment <3

They mostly prefer to go into rest mode while charging, since it goes faster then, though they could stay awake, it's just less efficient. It's a very strong charger, so a few hours of charging can last them a couple days on normal use, though Eclipse charges daily to the max to prevent rest mode spells.

Re: ease to get, think of it like very early phone chargers! The time where every brand had their own socket - it'd be a bit tricky to get a high power charger for their model exactly, but adapters exist and they can make do with slower chargers, too, if necessary. But a good one should only be an online order or specialty shop away - a bit pricey, maybe, definitely not like a phone charger here, but definitely a good investment if there's need for it <3

#answer let luce #zelda7999 #accidentally undercover #so *smuggest grin as I fold my legs and hands as I lean forward* Neon gonna get a charger for their boy; huh?#HEHEHE #admittedly have not thought about this too much #I almost made the charger connect to their heads - but they *are* extremely flat #so ehh #back it is! This then ofc is not how I'd imagine canon dca to charge but. au. creative freedom n all that gfdhsjk

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