#a friend and I were looking for a show similar to gravity falls to watch and I mentioned that I had heard of this one

[madootles]

watched over the garden wall today for the first time! I love u horror fantasy mystery genre

[earthykinous]

I gave in and personalized their designs according to my —perphaps a little self-indulgent— headcanons.

★ Kirby of the stars

To me, he is not just full of positive emotions but also star essence, the lore itself has a lot to do with stars, so I wanted him to have small etherical hints.

About his eyes, normally the glow is visible in darkness but sometimes when he gets too excited or determinated his eyes get brighter.

He is a walking black hole packed up in a pink gumball with a happy face, his kindness is his gravity. It must take much more to make him colapse on his own weight taking in how much he handled before.

Black holes sometimes release burst of light, I find it similar to Kirby when inhales things and he can either consume them or spit them out as stars.

I think "Starborn" might be an appropiate tittle.

He is Kirby of the stars.

He is both deadly and forgiving.

★ Bandana Waddle Dee (Aka Bandee)

About the air jet shoes... At first they were just to cushion the fall, some time later she upgraded them.

I like to think that even if he got more confident he is still a big softie, but doesn't show it when he is on duty or leading the Waddle Dee corp, he let his guard down when he is with his friends thought.

Actually, even with all the things that happened he has a bit of a inferiority complex and overthink every interaction fearing to say or do something wrong or innapropiate, all the Dees loves him and look up to him, that's why.

I know megapunch is not canon, but is so much fun imagining him lifting a weight almost his size like nothing. No, actually, I had an imagery of him cleaning with a vacuum cleaner, then lifting Dedede's throne just so he can clean below.

Waddle Dees are carefree, silly and innocent by nature (totally based in how some Waddle Dees are just chilling and vibing at some parts of the levels)

They are also compliant and loyal to a fault, they are not natural fighters, they may try but ultimately they are prone to run away and hide, Bandee might be the first one to break through that since in Kirby Super Star he tried to fight Kirby out of loyalty.

Even after he lost he still managed to watch Dedede's battle against Kirby.

Compared to them, he is intense and serious, but he seems normal to most, someone has to be the responsible one and keep in check the rest of the bunch.

Mother friend but also the little brother of the gang. (That's what you get for having a cute face)

Lowkey unhigned, dude had fought eldritch horrors, no way he is sane but he doesn't have time to go deeper into the spiral of madness because he has to lead the Waddle Dees and babysit his already unhigned friends.

[erinwantstowrite]

I know you’ve probably answered this dozens of times (sorry) but how do you come up with ideas? I’ve been trying to get back into writing but I’m stumped

usually i go look at other media and ink about how i would put other characters into their situations. you can find a lot of AUs based on this, but there's also tropes from your favorite media that you might want to try writing.

for an AU: often times i see people draw conclusions about which characters would fit into an AU based on the character type (ex: a sunshine character acting like a sunshine character from another show), but i like to think about the situation the character is in. Say I want a Gravity Falls au for the Batfam. I could just shove the characters into the character types and it would be fun. Dipper and Tim are a lot alike with their smarts, I suppose. Or Ford and Bruce have a lot of similarities between each other.

or i could go a step beyond... Tim and Pacifica have similar backgrounds even if they don't have the same personality. Stan and Bruce are nothing like each other, but I can imagine Bruce waiting however long it takes to try and find someone he loves. I could combine these aspects into a fun au: Bruce Wayne lives in a mysterious manor in the woods. He's kind and the townspeople love him. He was raised by Alfred, a family friend, after his parents were killed in the woods. Bruce knows that his parents were killed because of the strange happenings in the town, and he follows his late father's journals while studying everything Gotham has to offer. Only, two of them are missing. Years later, his first adopted son Dick Grayson lives in the town and helps people who are afflicted by Gotham directly, and Bruce is searching for a young Jason Todd, his adopted son, who got lost in a portal. The local rich kid Timothy Drake found the one of the journals that Bruce hadn't found, and starts looking for monsters in the woods. Eventually, he and Bruce start working together.

Thus, I've expanded upon the AU with one simple shift in thinking!

for the tropes: let's use The Sea Beast as an example (wonder wonderful beautiful movie) (spoilers up ahead)

My favorite part was the growing parental relationship between the grumpy sailor Jacob and the young free spirit Maisie. Scenes where they grow closer and form an understanding of each other are fun, but I really liked the scene where Maisie brings up becoming family, and when she realizes that Jacob is turning her down, she grows upset and wishes for them to forget the entire conversation. That scene HURTS because Maisie lost her parents and thought she would find a family in the other Hunters. But she ended up learning that she could never be a Hunter since she doesn't have the heart for it. This is her last chance to find someone who might understand (at least, she believes it is) and Jacob basically implies it wouldn't work. But eventually Jacob figures out that he does want to be a parent for Maisie, and it's really sweet. I ended up wanting a scene like that in one of my fics, and now I've gotten it written into an outline. It won't be exact, but it helped me pull inspiration.

Basically: consume your media critically, think outside of boxes, and nurture your creativity. The more you understand what you're reading/watching, the easier it is to find ideas for your own story :) don't be afraid to push limits and see where it takes you

[flatassthrowaway]

Passionately and Deeply

~Chapter Two~

New to the series? Read the prologue!

As always, let me know what you think! Enjoy!

“Well, perhaps if you’re Irish, you may enjoy the leprecorn,” he told me about his most vexing oddity that he discovered in his younger years as we strolled through the streets of downtown Gravity Falls.

“And it plays ‘Danny Boy’ through its horn? Come on Ford! You don’t like that song?” I asked.

“The song itself is fine. The way that leprecorn plays it is maddening,” he said, making me laugh.

We’ve been hanging out like this since that fateful night when his brother was mean to me. That was almost a month ago, and it’s the first day of spring.

Since then, I found that he lives at a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack with his twin brother. He also neglected to tell me he had a twin brother. Soos (who is the one who runs the show) aka Mr. Mystery, Melody, and Abuelita also live there, and his great-niblings also come to visit during the summer.

That shack looks so small from the outside, but… it must be one of those houses that’s actually a lot bigger on the inside.

I would know, because I actually spent quite a bit of time in that house. While Ford was working on his projects, I took the time to either complete my work alongside him or raid his bookshelf. When I raided his bookshelf, I found that he had the Lord of the Rings series. That series always interested me, but I never got a chance to read them.

Ford also introduced me to a game he adored called Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons. Thankfully, he guided me along the way, but it was confusing when first starting. I did enjoy FCLORPing, which seemed similar to this, so it ended up being fun for me too once I started to catch on, and I knew what the rules were.

I also hooked up an Apple TV to their own TV (which was surprisingly compatible with the newest technology, but I’m not going to question it), and we’ve been watching documentaries on Netflix. From Blackfish, to Mission Blue, it’s held our attention pretty well.

And it’s bonded us closer. Not only us, but Soos, Melody, and even Abuelita.

Speaking of Soos and Melody, she is about to give birth any day now. She is officially on bed rest, and Abuelita and Soos pamper her.

I hope I have that when I start having children. I’ve been longing for a strong, familial unit of my own for a while now.

The only one who still isn’t my biggest fan is Stan. I thought since I showed everyone who I was that he would start to ease up on his rough attitude towards me, but… no. He still doesn’t like the fact that I’m hanging around his brother.

It’s making me question if I’m doing something wrong. It’s a little too late to say that Ford and I should stop being friends, because we would both be hurt in the long run. We work really well together, and… honestly, I can’t picture not having him in my life anymore.

“Hey,” Ford said my name. “Are you up for a little trek? I want to show you something that I’ve only shown a select few.”

“Really? What is it?” I asked.

Ford smiled. “It’s something so rare, not even my brother has seen it. Only my closest friend and my great nephew have seen this.”

“C’mon, quit holding out on me, dude! You have to show me this thing!” I nudged his shoulder.

Ford put his hands up in defense, smiling jovially. “Alright, alright,” he said, as if he wasn’t the one who tried to get me all excited to see this object of his suggestion. “If you insist.”

I rolled my eyes playfully. “Shut up!”

“I never said anything, dear.”

We walked along a path into the forest, where I admired all of the wildlife along the way. Deer, squirrels… gnomes… minotaurs… handsome men…

Wait, what?!

I whipped my head around as we walked to look at a random blonde haired blue eyed man in designer clothing sniffing the ground as if he were a dog, and lifted his bottom in the air as he walked on all fours.

Ford had noticed I stopped, and grabbed my shoulders to keep me moving. “Come along, dear.”

I looked over my shoulder to keep staring at that man. That was a sight I never thought I’d see. It’s almost like that man was completely feral. I looked up at Ford, and he was completely unfazed.

Well, it’s Gravity Falls. If it’s not weird, that’s what’s unusual.

We arrived at a clearing that overlooked a strange shape in the cliff facing it. It was mostly what you’d expect a grassy clearing to look like, except there was a small hill in the middle of the clearing.

“Woah… what is this place?” I asked, in awe of its beauty.

“This is the Crash Site Omega or the CSO for short,” he told me. “It’s a place that… well… only the closest people to me have seen.”

“I can see why,” I told him, turning to see the town. “The view from here is amazing! You can almost see the whole town from here.”

He smiled. “Exactly,” he said. “And… there’s also another reason why I brought you here.”

I turned to him as he walked up to where I was standing. “Yeah? What’s that?” I asked.

“Later tonight, I was planning to stargaze here. Apparently, a meteor shower is supposed to take place at eight thirty,” he told me. “I checked the calculations myself, and for once, the news is correct. And… I would like it if you joined me.”

I nodded eagerly. “Definitely! This will be my first meteor shower!” I told him.

Ford smiled. “This will be the first meteor shower that I’ve seen in over thirty years,” he told me.

“Now we have to make it extra special!” I said, before my face dropped. “What does one bring to a meteor shower to make it special?”

He chuckled. “For starters, some may bring lawn chairs or blankets, but I settle for the latter,” Ford said. “They’re much comfier to sit upon.”

“Ah, that’s it!” I exclaimed. “I’ll provide the hot chocolate! We just… have to meet in town again. I don’t know how to get back here, even if I tried.”

Ford chuckled. “Not to worry, dear,” he told me. “You can meet me by that clock with the fist indent in the pole at 7:30.”

I smiled. “Great! It’s a date. See ya later, Ford!” I told him, going on my way back to town.

Before I could even make it a yard away, Ford called my name. “The way to town is that way,” he told me, pointing in the opposite direction to where I was going.

I felt my face get hot with embarrassment. “I knew that,” I told him. “I was just testing you to make sure you knew that, too.”

Ford laughed at my bullshit excuse. “Let’s get you to town safely,” he said as he began leading the way.

“My hero!” I cheered, running to catch up with him. He cracked a smile, and looked at the trees. His ears turned a little red… unless they were already red from before. I mean, it is the first day of spring, so it is still a little cool.

Ford led me back to town, and from there I bought a whole box of hot chocolate. I returned around 7:30 to the clock with the fist indented pole with my thermos and two mugs and waited for him to arrive. Thankfully, he didn’t keep me waiting long, and had the flannel blanket underneath his arm.

“Shall we get going, my dear?” he asked.

I nodded, smiling at him. “We shall.”

We both softly laughed as we made our way back to the Crash Site Omega, or the CSO to set up camp. Ford straightened out the blanket on the grass as I poured the hot chocolate in the mugs.

Once he was finished, we both sat on the blanket and placed our mugs together with a small clink. Afterwards, we watched over the night sky with no sound but the crickets playing their lovely melody for us.

After a while, the meteor shower started. Never did I see so many natural lights in the sky at once. It was breathtaking, how the meteors danced across the sky. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the display that nature had gifted us on this sunday night.

Good thing I’m off tomorrow.

The peak activity started to die down a few hours later, and Ford decided to break the comfortable silence between us by calling my name. I looked at him.

“You know, it’s rather rare for a meteor shower to be so visible at this time,” he said with a smile on his face. “They usually appear after midnight, and this is usually due to the fact that the Earth is facing forward in its orbit, which means more space debris may be encountered.”

“Woah… that’s so riveting,” I said, looking at the night sky again.

It started to hurt to crane my neck to look up at the night sky, so I laid down on the blanket. I think Ford had the same idea, as he laid down next to me.

“Ford.”

“Yes, dear?”

“What do you think happens when we die?” I asked.

“What an abrupt question…” he said.

“I don’t know why staring at this meteor shower triggered it, but… I was just curious what you thought.”

“Well…” he started. “I believe there is some sort of afterlife.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” he said. “To be honest… I believe that when we die, we gain all the knowledge we lacked in this life, as without our physical bodies holding us back… we can achieve so much more as spiritual beings.”

“Wow… Stanford, that’s really profound…”

“Isn’t it?” he said. “That, and we get to traverse the universe without harm. We are observers, but there is the rare chance that we can meddle in the physical world, just very subtly, though.”

I sighed with a smile. Being here, with him… it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside… almost as if the voice inside of me is telling me that I was supposed to be here, at this exact time, in this exact location, with this exact person, talking about… this.

This must be what it feels like to be at peace.

“What about you, dear? What do you believe?” he asked.

“I believe the same as you, believe it or not,” I told him. “I feel a strong lull from the universe, like I am exactly where I need to be at this moment.”

I’m being really vulnerable with him right now… maybe a little too vulnerable.

He must think I’m insane for saying something like that.

“It’s extraordinary that you said that,” he said my name, looking into my eyes. “Because I feel the same way. I was supposed to be here at this exact moment… with you.”

I smiled serenely, looking into his copper brown eyes. “So you feel the same way.”

Ford nodded, looking back at the night sky. “I… was honestly afraid of how quickly our relationship formed,” he admitted. “I thought I had been finally losing my mind… but I think I finally found someone with whom I can be my complete self.”

I felt my eyelids become heavier as I turned my gaze to the meteor shower, maintaining my smile. “I completely concur…” I said, my eyelids closing.

💚

A/N: I've been thinking about uploading on Saturdays instead of Fridays for this series, but it depends on how I feel. If you've read to this point, thanks for reading!

Next part is here! Click for childfree route!

Click for other route!

[stupidlittlespirit]

Hey, are there any Gravity Falls fics or other fandoms that you like and that motivate you to write? Actually, we can also add all literature to this question. If your writing style is this good, im sure i can blindly trust your taste in books

Thank you!

I actually don't read many fics anymore and I have to actively avoid a lot of GF fics because they're so fucking SAD, dude?! I have a difficult sibling relationship and my life has been/is very similar to Stan and Ford's (unfortunately), so it can be tough on me to read fics with that kind of content, which is really a shame because I feel like I miss out on a lot.

It's quite comical to be honest, I think it's very funny that I love this show so much because it resonates so heavily and runs so scarily adjacent to my experiences but also hate it for those same reasons.

Wonderfully ironic!

I used to read fics a LOT and I was massive into X-Men when I was younger. I would seriously say that shipping Cherik and reading the absolute all-you-can-eat BUFFET of fics for them is why I write so avidly now. There are literally tens of thousands of fics for them and I used to spend hours reading them as a kid until the early AM because so many of them are true novels in their own right. I write now because I hope I give someone else the same fun feelings I got from them and I treasure their memory. Check out stuff from ikeracity, clocks, kageillusionz, thehoyden and those kinds of guys. They were the 'high rollers' to me as a kid in terms of fic writing ability. I hope they're well, wherever they are, I owe them a lot.

Anyways, I am reading a lovely fic right now (stan x reader) called Crash into Me by dog_eyes on ao3 and it's great. I really like their Reader character and they write Stan wonderfully.

I also enjoyed Base12's Ford x reader fic, Night in the Woods. I would say it's possibly more OC x Ford but it uses 'you' so it counts. Very fun fic.

There are tons of great fics for both Ford and Stan, but I'm blanking on them totally because other than the Stan fic I haven't been reading much as I've been doing my own writing!

In terms of other literature, House of Leaves is one I always recommend. If you can stretch to the cost of it, get the 'full colour' edition. Get ready to sprain your wrists turning it around! Alex said he actually wanted TBoB to be like HoL in that sense but Disney wouldn't spring for the cost haha. Would have been cool.

I just ordered the Parabooks SCP Journals too, which I'm excited to get. They're expensive but they're SCP files with art and stuff and they look amazing. I'll post some images of them when they arrive.

I love Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism. I read it when I was younger and it reminds me of my best friend. It's very good (don't watch the movie, it was ass) and emotional, and it made an impression on me. His other stuff is okay but I love that one.

Would recommend the Welcome to Nightvale books. The podcasts, if you're unfamiliar with them, are truly some of the best content out there in terms of unique, creepy stories. I used to listen to them until I was on the cusp of falling asleep and would get weird dreams from them haha. They're all free on youtube I believe.

Also, the Murakami novels I've tried were good. I've only read Audition and Coin Locker Babies so far but I thought they were nice. Weird but good.

[ismellpestilence]

Things to watch if your favorite show is being affected by the WGA strike

This is everything that I have watched and enjoyed. They are by no means perfect shows. This includes complete series, cancelled series, and series that are still in progress. Feel free to add your own recommendations.

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu; currently on season 3)

Murder mystery dramedy set in a wealthy NYC apartment complex

Staring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomes as three residents who decide to make a podcast about the murder

The cast has great chemistry and the twists are compelling

Gravity Falls (Hulu/Disney; ended after 2 seasons in 2014)

An animated show about a pair of fraternal twins who spend the summer with their con-man great uncle in a weird, monster filled town

Absolutely iconic children's show.

Dead End: Paranormal Park (Netflix; cancelled after 2 seasons in 2023)

Animated YA show about two teens, an exiled demon, and a pug, that all work at a haunted theme park and are investigating the disappearances of some of the staff

Similar in style to Gravity Falls

Sadly cancelled by Netflix, but there's also the graphic novels to enjoy

Reservation Dogs (Hulu, ended after season 3 in 2023)

Coming of age dramedy about four Indigenous teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma as they mourn a friend who died and dream of running away to California together

Made by an all Indigenous writers, directors, and main cast

Scrubs (Hulu; ended after 8 seasons 2010)

Workplace comedy about staff at a California hospital

Praised as the one of most medically accurate medical show

Very much a 2000s comedy. Humor can be jarring/mean by today's standards

What We Do in the Shadows (Hulu, currently on season 5)

A mockumentary following 4 vampires and their familiar that live on Staten Island as they go about their boring, pathetic lives

Makes fun of the "cool, sexy, edgy" vampire trope

Based on a 2014 movie of the same name

Dead to Me (Netflix, ended after 3 seasons in 2022)

A traumedy (trauma comedy) following a woman who's husband was killed in a hit-and-run and the perpetrator who lost her own partner and secretly befriends her

It's funny about what happens but does deal with some heavy topics so definitely look into that before watching

The Owl House (Disney; ended after 3-ish seasons in 2023)

About a young girl who wanders into the Demon Realm and decides to stay there and become of witch instead of going to summer camp

Celebrates being the weirdo and being kind to people

Made by many of the same people who did Gravity Falls

The Office (Peacock; ended after 9 seasons in 2013)

Workplace mockumentary about some bizarre people who work in a boring office space

Features a lot of cringe/second-hand embarrassment based humor

Based on the British limited series of the same name

Very much a 2000s comedy that can at times be just plain mean. Season 1 is the worst season by far so if you can get through it the character become way more likeable

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix, ended after 5 seasons in 2020)

An animated fantasy about a young soldier who simultaneously discovers that her side is the aggressor in the war and that the planet has chosen her to be it's legendary protector. This forces her to leave the only home she's known and her childhood friend to fight for the rebellion, who she thought were her enemies

A remake of the 1985 He-Man spinoff series

Very "defeat them with power of friendship and also this sword you found in the woods"

BoJack Horseman (Netflix, ended after 6 seasons in 2020)

An adult animated comedy about a self-centered, washed-up 90s sitcom actor (who is a horse) as he struggles to become famous again and break out of his destructive habits

Satirizes Hollywood, media culture, and American politics

One of those shows where you aren't supposed to admire the main characters

Big trigger warnings for this one. Seriously.

Good Omens (Amazon Prime, currently on season 2)

Follows the misadventures of a demon and an angel, a witch's descendent, two unskilled witch hunters, a sex-worker, and the antichrist and his friends as the antichrist grows into his power and brings about Armageddon, all set to Queen songs

Based on the 1990 book by Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett

The fandom focuses a lot of the shipping side of the show but forget all of that if you plan to watch it

Season 2 wrecked me

Gentleman Jack (HBO Max & the BBC; cancelled after season 2 in 2022)

Based on the real diaries of Anne Lister, a wealthy lesbian in 1830s England who is looking for a wife and to expand her business enterprises

Sadly HBO pulled away and the BBC couldn't afford to make another season without them. What was made is still worth checking out.

Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max; currently on season 1)

A pirate workplace comedy/romcom that loosely follows the real life of Stede Bonnet, a wealthy landowner who ran away to become a pirate due to a mid-life crisis. He wants so badly to be a pirate captain but is far from qualified for the role.

"Traditionally, piracy is a culture of abuse...floggings, keelhaulings. And my thought is, "Why?" And also, what if it weren't like that?" really is the thesis of the show

(Edit) omg I cant believe I forgot:

Avatar: the Last Airbender (Netflix; ended after 3 seasons in 2008)

An animated children's fantasy series in which people can manipulate one of the four elements, and their peacekeeper, the Avatar, can manipulate all four. After being frozen in ice for 100 years, the 12 year old Avatar learns that the Fire Nation has begun a war that he must stop by next summer

Literally the blueprint for the modern animation that we enjoy today. IDK what else to say. It's iconic

Hilda (Netflix; ended after 2 seasons and 1 movie in 2021)

An animated children's fantasy series set in a world full of Nordic folk creatures

After spending much of her life living in the woods with her mom and her pet deerfox, Hilda is upset to learn that her mom now wants to move to Trolberg, a walled-off city where Hilda fears there is nothing interesting to do. She quickly discovers that there is just as much magic and wonder in the city as there is in the woods.

She's voiced by Bella Ramsay and the animation is beautiful. It's all all-around good vibes show.

Interview with the Vampire (AMC; currently on season 1)

After the first interview in the 70s that ended in disaster, Louis de Pointe du Lac reached out to Daniel Molloy and demanded a do-over. He goes back to his life as a black businessman in 1910s New Orleans and the complicated relationship between himself and Lestat de Lioncourt.

It's actually gay enough this time you guys.

I'd also like to add:

The Bear (FX/Hulu; currently on season 2)

A dramedy about a New York chef who inherits a failing sandwich shop after his older brother commits suicide.

Sometimes a found family isn't all sunshine and unicorns. Sometimes its a lot of screaming and resentment and cussing each other out.

It's a very stressful to watch so it's not for everyone, but if you're the type who finds that cathartic then you should give it a watch.

The Sandman (Netflix; currently on season 1)

Begins in 1916 with the capture of the god of dreams by a greedy sorcerer. After he escapes he must rebuild his realm and repair the damage done by his absence.

Trying to describe this show is really, really, difficult. It would be easier to describe what this show isn't.

Based on the DC comic of the same name by Neil Gaiman.

[stantengenandhisflashywives]

My opinion on the “weirdmageddon was Mabel’s fault”

Just a heads up (please read!)

This is my first post, so I’ve been really anxious about actually posting it, but I decided to go for it. I love in depth and passionate conversations, especially taking both complex and simple narratives and looking at them realistically while also looking at the bigger picture. Since this is my first post, I want to make it clear that this is a safe space! If you’re planning to respond, please keep that in mind.

This post is not about “good guy vs. bad guy.” It’s just my take on how everyone had a role in Weirdmageddon. If the comments and discussion become too negative, I might delete this, but feel free to share your opinion!

I’ve been slowly getting back into Gravity Falls over the past few months, watching a bunch of TikToks and Tumblr posts about people’s opinions on the show. One of the discussions I keep seeing (especially on TikTok) is whether Weirdmageddon was Mabel’s fault. Personally, I agree to disagree.

Personal experience

As someone with a twin, I can say that your twin is literally your first friend from birth. I can’t imagine going through my teen years without my twin sister(even though she’s a high pain). Those years are already hard and stressful ( my personal experience) , so the idea of going through them alone would be terrifying. That’s why I understand why Mabel didn’t want Dipper going off with Ford. He had only known Ford for about a week(maybe even less, I’m not too sure), whereas she had been with Dipper since before they were born. It makes sense that she was sad, mad, and scared about the idea of losing him to someone who was practically a stranger.

Being Self centered

At the same time, I also think Dipper didn’t fully understand what it would be like to live with Ford. I’m sure that ford didn’t have any malicious intentions with giving the offer to dipper, don’t get me wrong, but Ford is self centered and I think everything he does is ultimately for his own benefit. He called up Fiddleford to help build the portal, stripping him away from his wife and kids. He only reached out to Stan because he wanted the journals destroyed. It wouldn’t be surprising if he planned to use Dipper’s knowledge of Gravity Falls’ anomalies for his own purposes.

(I’m not saying that he would’ve done that, it’s just a possibility!!)

Fords paranoia

Ford is also incredibly paranoid. Even before we meet him, his journals warn not to trust anyone in Gravity Falls. He later tells Dipper the same thing in Season 2. His paranoia also makes him secretive, especially about important things like the rift, his time in the multiverse, and Bill Cipher himself. If he truly wanted to keep everyone safe, he should have informed them about the dangers of the rift and other threats in the forest.

Filbrick Pines

That being said, I believe Ford’s self-centeredness has a reason behind it. I’d even argue that we can trace the blame back to Stanford and Stanley’s father. He was neglectful and clearly had a favorite, which never ends well with siblings. If he had given them equal attention, not kicked Stanley out, and been a better father overall, maybe the twins wouldn’t have had such a bad relationship and could have lived a normal life.

—

Also, let’s not forget that Mabel didn’t even know about the rift. Ford was too paranoid to tell anyone except Dipper. On top of that, Mabel and Dipper had already made amends with Blendin Blandin back in Season 1, so there was no reason for her to be suspicious of him. Mabel is emotionally intelligent, but that also makes her an easy target for villains because of how accepting and caring she is.

Mable’s selfishness

Even though I don’t think Weirdmageddon was all Mabel’s fault, that doesn’t mean I’m saying she’s blameless. She definitely played a role, and she was selfish in that moment. But I’d argue her actions were similar to how Stan was selfish when he ruined Ford’s science project as a teenager. Mabel should have been more considerate and not given away Dipper’s personal belongings so easily.

—

And, of course, let’s not forget the biggest culprit ,Bill , because, well, we all know why. (He’s hilarious tho, one of my favorite characters)

—

Overall, I don’t think Mabel should take full blame. Weirdmageddon was most likely a domino effect, with many different people’s actions leading up to it!

—

Pleaseeee tell me your thoughts!! I would love to know, I’m not a full on expert on gravity falls, I’m just curious to see what others think and thought this would be a good conversation starter, I might missed some very important details so please let me know, I tried to include everything!

[skeletboi]

Intridimensional AU update:

Previous Part

This is going to be a very long post!

I've been too tired and unmotivated to actually make any art or fics to go along with this AU. I work 50 to 60 hour work weeks and have really bad Seasonal Depression, so I just don't have the energy to do more than this. I'm sorry, I tried, but I just don't have it in me.

So, instead, I'm doing a general rundown of what happens. I'll post it on ao3 as well, which might make it easier to read. AO3 Link.

But here it is:

The trio are in the multiverse for around 15 years.

In that time they go from dimension to dimension having adventures, being ridiculous, and gathering what info they can to use against Bill.

Notable stops that I haven't yet mentioned:

Lottocron 9! 

Fidds gets kicked out for using probability to win a variety of pig and horse races. Ford gets kicked out because they think he was counting cards, but he was also just using probability to win. Stan gets kicked out for accidentally flirting with a guy who ended up being a powerful royal who was visiting Lottocron 9 from a kingdom in a nearby dimension.

All three of them find it hilarious that Stan was the only one not kicked out for gambling-related reasons.

Dimension 47/1.

They show up in this dimension that seems similar to earth and accidently piss off a sleeping monster of some sort or another. Fidds and Ford both get knocked down in the fight and it's left to Stan- but it's not looking good. He tries to fight, but loses his knife in the commotion and gets knocked back as well.

Cam shows up and kills the monster, then proceeds to give them shit about nearly dying. They ask Cam why they're there and Cam says they were just passing by on the way to get Thai food and begrudgingly invites them along.

Ford mentions the Oracle telling them about Cam and Cam complains about how the Oracle always ruins their fun, but without any heat. (Cam considers Jheselbraum a good friend.)

Cam leaves the trio a communicator, saying to contact them if they're ever in life-threatening danger. Then reiterates “ONLY in life threatening danger, or so help me Ax, I will make it life threatening.”

Other dimensions..

It’s 15 years. They do a lot. I don't have the spoons to come up with more ideas of where they go, but ya’ know. They do things. Adventure and what not.

Meanwhile, in their own dimension:

Shermie is alone when he shows up to his mother's funeral. She died too young only a year after the passing of his father.

He's convinced his mother died of a broken heart. She occasionally got phone calls from Stan, conversations she artfully pretended were with a client, and not with her little free spirit Stanley to avoid the ire of her unimpressed husband. Ford called even less often, and the cnversations were short- he was always too busy with his reasearch.

The last call she had gotten from either of them had been from Ford, calling her to say Stanley was staying with him for a few days. It was a very short call, and Ford gave her no details.

After a year of calling and getting no reply she finally called Shermie to go check up on them. She couldn't find a way to Oregon, but he was closer in California than she was in New Jersey. He agreed, but all he found was an empty house. Food molding in the fridge, gadgets and books strewn about everywhere, and no sign of Stan or Ford.

Fifteen years have passed since then, and Shermie's mother passed never knowing what happened to her twin boys.

Shermie didn't grow up with them, he was ten years older and fell in love with a girl when he was only 18. He moved to California to be with her and her family when he found out she was pregnant. He has two 12 year old grankids now, his daughter also had kids very young. She is having trouble with her husband and asks him to watch to kids for the summer, so he says yes, and brings them with him to the same place he's been going the last 10 or so summers: Gravity Falls, Oregon.

Dipper finds Journals one and two, and spends the next month or so doing ridiculous Dipper and Mabel cartoon-like adventures. They befriend the owner of the Gravity Falls Arcade, Soos, and his one employee, Wendy. They also befriend the young man that works at the bait shop by the lake.

Then, when on some Dipper-style anxiety rant, they find the bookshelf that leads to the basement, where they find the portal and journal 3. 

There are no warnings in the journals because Ford learned too late about Bill being evil, so Dipper, Mabel, Soos, Wendy, and Shermie all open the portal. 

Three men fall out of the portal, two of them looking oddly similar to their Grandpa Sherm and one with a robot arm. They are all very unhappy to be back in this basement, and quickly shut down the portal, but it's too late, and there's a rift open into their dimension.

Long story short, they all meet, they all panic, Bill gets the rift, the whole town is fuckeroinied, they try to kill Bill and fail, so they call Cam.

Cam says they're all dumb, and opens the journal to the zodiac, only to find that they are also part of this dimension's zodiac. They break the fourth wall by saying that doesn't make any damn sense, the lengths people go to to put an OC in their stories is ridiculous, and they use the zodiac to defeat Bill. 

Why the zodiac, Skelet? That seems lame! Well, it's because I do what I want, also I like the idea of the zodiac actually working since the brother's have mostly gotten past their differences and learned to get along since they traveled time and space together. Also, I think it's funny that Cam could have defeated Bill without much issue, but just held hands with some random humans instead because it seemed like less effort. The road less traveled or some shit! I never do low effort things. (Refer to exhibit A, this outline I'm doing instead of actually finishing this AU the way I started it.)

Anyways, Fiddleford is finally able to see Tate again, who was in Gravity Falls trying to figure out what the hell happened, and Shermie finally found out what happened to his brothers. The young twins love their grunkles and are super excited to find out twins run in the family. (They get along as well as they do in the original series, with the added bonus that the young twins are extra excited at having two super badass grunkles and a super badass grunkle-in-law. Also that makes Tate their Uncle? Right? Maybe?)

The grunkles stay in Gravity Falls and still go on crazy adventures together because they don't need a boat and the adventure of a lifetime when they already spent the last 15 years fulfilling that dream, just different than how they originally assumed. They are no less adventurous, though, and end up making the Mystery Shack into a museum of weirdness. It's world famous, of course! The young twins and Shermie visit every summer, and Soos ends up working at the Mystery Shack, and thinks of the trio as his weird parent-uncles!

That's about that. I don't know if I'll do much more in the way of art for this AU, but I'd be happy to answer questions or talk about it or whatever! 

(Also I did not proof read any of this. So sorry if it makes no sense.)

Oh! Also, if you want to read a similar, but way better au that is like the twin (lol) to this one go check out @squatch-and-stretch 's Myster Trio Through the Multiverse AU!

[chaifootsteps]

Since the other anon mentioned the Japanese HH fandom I just wanted to add that the majority of the artists love Charlastor because a lot of them used to be Bill Cipher/Mabel shippers. After Gravity Falls' hype has ended I think Charlastor gave them a new wind since the dynamic is pretty similar. I'm not fluent enough with Japanese to tell if the dub made Chaggie unclear for that audience but maybe that's why? Honestly the fact that there's so much high quality fanart of the ship that Viv hates (and fan songs! one with the pilot VAs!) makes me laugh, but also I think it was really dumb of them to make Chaggie an established pre-show relationship. It's so boring - I would much rather them start off as friends that fall in love while trying to run the hotel together. If Viv was smart she'd do that and ship tease with both Vaggie and Alastor to keep the conversations going and people watching. But instead it's shut down with making Chaggie canon from the start and Alastor aroace. (Which I would really like to know Viv's reasoning behind since Alastor and Mimzy used to be a thing and Viv's art of them together was really cute.) Anyways sorry for rambling. It's hard to talk about any of this with nuance because a lot of the fanbase hates Charlastor shippers and I try not to be an obnoxious one (I really would've liked Chaggie if we got to see them develop! I genuinely really hope there's a scene about how they met in the show and flashbacks to their relationship starting!) but it's kind of infuriating that Viv is so mad about two characters being shipped that literally have *sparkles* around them when they dance together. Like why include that if you're going to be mad about it later?!

Nah, don't apologize, obscure little tidbits like that are fascinating! I had no idea there was Mabel/Bill overlap, that's neat. Also pretty crazy that neither Chaggie nor ace Alastor were something Vivzie intended from the beginning, and her heart doesn't seem to be in either one, and yet here we are.

Incidentally, I did look up the pilot voice duet and gotta say, this is doing absolutely nothing to help me win the fight against the urge to ship this like wildfire.

[goat-and-a-pig]

Chapter 19

Icarus gasped. “Whoa…” Gravity Falls was amazing! The town was bustling as they stepped into the town square.

“So… I’m gonna need a disguise. And you need to put up your hair!” Icarus winced. Stan was right- everybody was stepping on it. When they finally gathered it all up, Mabel’s eyes widened. “Are you saying you need a Braid Train?!” She exclaimed. “Be right back!” She dashed off, then came back with five very similar looking men.

“I’m sorry how I behaved the last time we did a Braid Train. Can you forgive me? My friend needs your help.” She gestured to Icarus. They thought for a minute. “We accept your apology, Mabel-Girl! We’ll help you!” One of them declared. “Thanks Deep Chris!” She replied.

Stan coughed awkwardly. “Just gonna… go. Goodbye.” He darted into an alleyway.

Mabel and the boys braided his hair.

Icarus supposed it was strange, but he didn’t care. He enjoyed it immensely. It was therapeutic to just sit back and observe the townsfolk. When they were done, Icarus thanked them for the help. Eventually, Stan came back, dressed in black trousers, a light gray poet shirt, and a darker gray wool overcoat.

He also had on a blond wig and beard.

Icarus snorted. “Look, if it gets the job done, it gets the job done. Doesn’t matter how ridiculous I look. Those guards are idiots.” He glanced at Dipper then cringed. “Uh, sorry.” Dipper waved him off. “It’s fine.” While the awkward exchange went on, Icarus took time to study his surroundings. The flag caught his eye. “Hey Stan,” he said, grabbing Stan’s attention. “Yeah?” He answered. “Why is the Gravity Falls flag decorated like the journals?” The flag was indeed burgundy with a six-fingered hand on the front.

“Because the king, who went missing, wrote the journals,” Stan explained quickly, then gave Icarus a pair of gloves. “Here. Put these on and stick two fingers in one of the fingers. Your hands could bring us… unwanted attention. And put these shoes on, for goodness’ sake.” Stan threw a pair of boots at him. As Icarus pulled on the gloves and boots, he thought. Something wasn’t adding up…

But he was interrupted. “Hey there!” The stranger greeted them. “Hello,” Icarus replied. “’Sup dude! I’m Soos! Who are you?”

Stan answered quickly. “This is Icarus, Mabel, Dipper, and I’m, er, Steve Planter. Pleased to meet ya.” His voice took on a southern accent. Soos’ smile grew even wider. Somehow. “Well, welcome to Gravity Falls! Want me to show you around?” Icarus’ eyes widened.

“N-”

“Yes, yes, yes! Definitely! Absolutely! Positively!” Icarus was not going to let Stan ruin this. He was going on this tour one way or another. “Ugh. Fine,” Stan grumbled. Icarus bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “This way!” Soos declared. Here are some of the highlights of his tour:

The arcade- “Super awesome, dudes. I learned almost everything I know here. Also possibly haunted.”

The news station- “Not too reliable. Mostly because nothing goes on here and some people make up wild stories so that there’s something interesting in the paper.”

The mailman- “Pretty sure he’s a werewolf, dudes.”

The Northwest Mansion- “The second richest family in town, the first being the royals. They’re pretty upset by being second, but they still make sure we know we’re below them!”

The cemetery- “Definitely haunted. And I think a zombie lives here. Not sure. Might just be the funeral directors’ son. Oh, and watch out for zombies, dudes!”

The library- “And here’s the library. What do you think? Pretty cool, right? It’s got a bunch of books and historical-y documents.” While Soos blathered on about the library, Icarus went up to the front desk and politely asked, “Excuse me, do you know where your record of citizens would be?” The purple haired girl hardly looked up from her book. “You’re in the wrong place- you’d want the Royal Archives for that,” she said flatly.

“Oh come on!” He muttered angrily. “Thanks anyway, Tambry,” he said, reading her name tag. He stormed out of the library and sat down under a tree. Stan, Mabel, and Dipper came outside. “Now I’ll never- never-” He choked on his words. It was too much. “I can’t get into the castle! It’s over… I- I can’t-” He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He panicked until Mabel hugged him, which slowed his heartbeat a bit. Dipper hugged him too. Stan rested his hand on Icarus’ shoulder.

“I can get you into the castle.” Soos’ voice startled the tender moment. “What?” Someone asked. Icarus squinted at him. He could gasp a bit better now.

“I can get you into the castle,” Soos repeated. “I work there. Handyman,” he said proudly. “ Anyway, I can get you in as long as you don’t try to murder the king or something. Deal?”  Icarus nodded and Stan spoke for him. “Deal.”

Soos grinned. “Once you’re ready, the castle is thataway.” Everybody around him would be ready when he was ready.

Icarus just sat there and breathed.

[boypussydilf]

for the letters ask meme M O and U. for fun. mou <- said like a cat with a silly voice

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHH CATBOY BLAAAAST *a ray of bright light disintegrates me into ash* *when it clears i have turned into a little cat*

m - name a character you’d like to have for a friend

So many…………. so many…….. i w GASP. I WANT TO HANG OUT WITH FINN MERTENS AND KOYUKI AZUMAYA AT THE SAME TIME. They would put me into life threatening dangerous situations but it would be okay because they can protect me from anything. they are trying to teach me self defense and it is NOT working i have poor reaction time and no muscles. we are also going clothes shopping and getting food. it would be great. genuinely i need to go think about what would happen if finn and koyuki got to hang out now they have. similar experiences. what if you were raised to Go Out And Fight ever since you were a little kid and also you were in some way fundamentally estranged from the common human experience. but also you were just so funny and silly and charming. anyway they’re my friends :)

o - pick a song at random. what character/ship does it remind you of

Alright playlist of nearly one thousand songs let’s see what shuffle brings me. Hmm. Shuffle brought me remains of the day from corpse bride which. Is. Much too specific. What that song reminds me of is corpse bride. Let’s try something else. OH. PORTUGAL - WALK THE MOON WHICH ISNT 100% LYRICALLY APPLICABLE BUT IT ALWAYS MAKES ME THINK OF A REALLY GOOD GRAVITY FALLS AMV I SAW SET TO IT… gives me psychic images of mabel & dipper. Ok let’s get one more song just for fun. oh i got fucking land of the dead by voltaire. isnt that the billy & mandy theme song. or whatever that show is called. anyway i only know that song exists because of my friend Darwin from Tumblr Ask Blog The Reckoning so. you guys heard of the reckoning? it’s good.

u - 3 favorite characters from 3 different fandoms and why they’re your favorites

i wonder if i can come up with all characters who r my favorites for anything other than Kin Reasons. because most of the time, it is Kin Reasons.

sgt frog: dororo. because ever since i was young i have been easily bewitched by sad pathetic loser men.

psychonauts: loboto- ok so like i didnt get the loboto hype at first when i watched the first psychonauts game i was like yeah hes… fine… i guess? hes barely fucking in that though? why do people care? and then iwatched rhombus of ruin and i. i am not immune to the Guy With A Sad Backstory effect. maybe iwould not call him my favorite psychonauts character if i had seen psychonauts more recently and had actually. Seen The Other Characters recently,. but in the period of time ive gone without directly looking at psychonauts at all my emotional response to caligosto loboto has grown exponentially, i am bewitched by his freak tendencies. God damnit i already said bewitched already. Oh well. You know what? Fine,. Let’s make it a running theme. Let’s go for a third

adventure time: BETTY. YOU GUYS KNOW WHY THE FUCK THE GUY WHO PUT SIMON AT THE TOP OF HIS LIST OF NAMES THE SECOND THE F&C TRAILER DROPPED LOVES BETTY GROF. But I would be obsessed with her either way, because ever since I was young i have been easily bewitched by chaotic unhinged in-need-of-professional-help women.

takes a bow. Thank you for coming everybody

[salty-dracon]

You could hear it on your mother's tongue when you were a child, like a weight holding it down, changing the sound of her voice. The weight of knowledge. But not academic knowledge, like the kind you study in school and parrot back. The weight of horrible truths you've learned by living life. The weight of memories so heavy that they must be handled with a similar gravity, proportional to the octave of voice used to utter those secrets. Truths so horrible they must be hidden away, barreled up like wine, before one accidental little shake causes them to explode.

"Are you saying you wouldn't be sorry if it was any other little girl?"

His question, and the weight on his tongue, told you that there was something behind his words. Had he lost another daughter? Did someone kidnap someone dear to him? Perhaps he had a friend who had lost a daughter. Or maybe someone else had made this "mistake" before, and it cost him dearly. Or perhaps he was just kind- so kind that he wasn't just angry on behalf of his daughter, but on any number of your gang's victims.

Was there any way to answer his question?

Could you explain to him how you got here, on his front porch? No, because that would mean going back decades in time, back to when you were still a teenager. You were burned out of high school and looking to take some time off. You said you'd apply to college in the spring, and recuperate with your friends instead. And that's what you did, following them around on their excursions late into the night. Dad always told you that the time between high school and college was the happiest time of your life. You intended to live it to the fullest with all of your friends.

One morning, the night after a big party, the police showed up at your door. They accused you of selling hard drugs. You argued with them that you had done no such thing. They could search your car, search your room, search your body- there was no evidence that you'd done anything like that. You were so confident. When the cops collected evidence from your clothes and car, they found the evidence.

And of course, no one believed you after that. Not the judge, not the jury, and not even your parents.

You ended up in prison, scared for your life. You weren't particularly strong, smart, or rich. You'd just be a punching bag, hated by everyone else.

And then you met Pike.

Pike had a big, hearty laugh. He slapped your back and said, "I took one look at you and I knew you weren't supposed to be in here! It's dangerous to go alone, kid. Come roll with me, and I'll help you get out ASAP."

You believed him. And true to his word, he was right. He knew exactly what to say to the right people, and taught you what to say too. You watched your sentence be shortened and shortened, until ten years later, you finally walked back into the streets of your hometown alongside him.

When you got to enter your home again, Dad wasn't there. Only Mom. It turns out they'd had a falling out after your arrest. Dad wasn't interested in having a kid who went to prison. He'd gone to spread his seed elsewhere. And Mom... her house stank of trash and vermin, and her skin sagged off her arms.

You tried to get a job. Anything to pay for Mom's bills and get her some help. In between your job applications, you cooked and cleaned, killing rats and throwing out the endless mound of trash. But no matter what, you couldn't... you just couldn't get an interview.

Then you remembered Pike. You called him, asking if there was any place a former inmate like you could find work. Pike said, with his usual jovial tone, "Come visit me. It's dangerous work, but I know you can do it, kid."

And you believed him. And true to his word, he was right.

He was a ransomer. He had connections that would identify targets- usually children of poor families with little in savings- and he would get his people to kidnap them. They would be safe, of course. Pike wasn't a monster. The kids would be given snacks and games and food, while locked in a little apartment. If they tried to escape, they were threatened with dismemberment. Of course, the threats were empty- you knew that, because you were in charge of watching the kids. But the threats were enough to get their parents to pay.

Once, one of the kidnapped children- a little girl- began crying and you instinctively tried to comfort her. She escaped, but she came back to you when you apologized for scaring her. Pike clapped you on the back again after that- he said you had a real knack for taking care of kids.

You never kidnapped any of the kids. But you saw the ones who did. Huge men, covered in tattoos. Were they like you were in high school? How long were they in prison? What horrible crimes had they committed, besides kidnapping? Did you want to know? The paycheck kept you from asking.

Until one day, things went really wrong.

One of the kidnappers had been arrested in connection with a different crime. Pike needed a getaway driver. That had to be you. He promised he'd pay you double for this job. And besides, you wouldn't even be manhandling the kid.

The target was a little girl, about 10 years old. She was walking home alone from school when you stopped the car beside her, your two co-conspirators grabbed her, and they threw her in the car as she screamed and cried. She was silent, almost catatonic with fear, when the kidnappers handed her off to you to take care of. You asked her, your voice trembling, if they did anything to her. She said they'd just grabbed her, and she was scared. She wanted her dad. You asked her to tell you about her family. It usually calmed the kids down to talk about the people they loved. She began talking about her dad- he was a tall man with big hands, and his name was Adam.

... Adam?

"Pike," you said, running to his office, "she says her name is Robin, and her dad's name is Adam Monteith. I know Adam Monteith- we went to school together! Are you telling me I kidnapped his daughter?!"

Pike checked his notes. "Shit, did we pick up the wrong girl? That explains why Marco was so cocky over the phone- we didn't nab his daughter." He shrugged. "Do you know his phone number? It's worth a shot to-"

"No." You shook your head. "Like I said, I know Adam. He's a good guy. I kidnapped his daughter, but that doesn't mean I can't make things right. I have to give her back, now."

"You're missing out. The big payday comes after we-"

"Pike, just this once. Adam was my friend."

Pike narrowed his eyes at you. "No pay for the next job."

You nodded. "No pay. But in exchange, you keep your hands off her."

Which led you to here.

Robin, the scared little girl, was watching you carefully through the glass screen. The moment you let her out of your vehicle, you apologized to her over and over, hoping she understood. She ran to the door and into her mother's arms, screaming for her. Adam came out to greet you with a gun in his hand, furor rippling through his voice as he stared at you, the whites of his eyes the only part of him visible in the cold, dark night.

"We're sorry," you said, your voice shaking under your breath. "We didn't know she was your daughter."

Adam's voice dropped. Just like you heard your own mother's voice drop when you were a child. "And that’s your justification?" he asked. "You’re sorry because the vulnerable little girl you kidnapped was the wrong little girl?"

He gave a huff- was it the cold of the night? A gasp of disbelief? A sadistic chuckle? "Are you saying you wouldn’t be sorry if it was any other little girl?"

Every moment of your life, from ten years ago up until now, flashed through your mind in that moment. You made a mistake, and you didn't know that mistake would cost you everything. You believed the wrong person, and that person took your future away from you. You had every opportunity to be a better person, and you resigned yourself to being the only good apple in a barrel of bad apples. Could you explain any of that to him?

There really was only one answer.

"I've... lost my right to be sorry."

You heard the click of a gun. The barrel was pointed at your chest now.

"It's for your mother, right?" he asked. "Because you need the money for her. So you harm other mothers you don't know. Because they're not the 'wrong' mother."

You nod. "Yes."

"So, if your mother were to learn what you did for her, do you think she would feel sorry?"

The truth was, you didn't know. You never told her what you did.

"Depriving a mother of their child," he said, the anger in his voice transforming into cold sadism. "Maybe you've lost your right to be sorry. But I'm not sorry at all."

He pulled the trigger.

“We’re sorry, we didn’t know she was your daughter!” “And that’s your justification? You’re sorry because the vulnerable little girl you kidnapped was the wrong little girl? Are you saying you wouldn’t be sorry if it was any other little girl?”

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: Wicked: Part I (2024)

Wicked: Part I (2024)

Rated PG-13 for some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/12/review-wicked-part-i-2024.html>

Score: 4 out of 5

Many years ago, back when I was in middle school, I went on a class trip to Broadway to see Wicked, a musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel of the same name that was itself a revisionist retelling of The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of its villain, the Wicked Witch of the West, featuring the original cast led by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. My memories are hazy, but I do distinctly recall enjoying it, with the highlight of my evening being the show-stopping performance of what has since become its signature song, "Defying Gravity", a song that Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the writers of Frozen's music, leaned heavily on when they gave Menzel a very similar musical number in the form of the equally iconic "Let It Go". My mom, who was a chaperone, wound up getting the soundtrack and playing that CD in her car for years. I was never much of a theater kid, so I didn't really fall into the fandom of the show or the original book, but looking back, I'm not surprised that Wicked became the runaway smash hit that it did, a show that's still playing on Broadway to this day (the fourth-longest-running Broadway show in history) and has inspired many other revisionist takes on classic fairy tales. The only surprise, really, is that it took more than twenty years for a film adaptation of the musical to come out.

But it was worth the wait. This movie had its problems, to be sure, feeling padded out to the point that some of the themes it explored felt like they could get lost in the noise. When it comes to the important stuff, however, this movie shines. Its two protagonists were both perfectly cast, the music was amazing, it managed to pair a whimsical, often humorous tone with some genuine darkness lurking behind the curtain, and director Jon M. Chu made it beautiful to watch. It's a film that does justice to its source material and which I can see bringing a whole new generation into Wicked's fandom, and one where I'm excited to see the inevitable second half of it next year.

The main hook here is that this is an origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West, who was previously a woman named Elphaba Thropp. Born from an affair between her mother and a traveling salesman, she came out of the womb with green skin that caused her parents and her fellow children to treat her like dirt, bonding only with her paraplegic sister Nessarose. What's more, her skin isn't the only thing strange about her, as she seems to have some sort of innate magical powers. Now, Nessa is heading off to Shiz University, and Elphaba has been sent to help her move in. However, when Elphaba accidentally displays her powers in a fit of emotion, Shiz's dean of sorcery studies Madame Morrible takes notice and offers to make her a student and teach her proper magic. Elphaba eagerly accepts, hoping that this could be a stepping stone to meeting the mysterious Wizard in the Emerald City, even if it means having the rich airhead Galinda Upland as her roommate. Here, Elphaba and Galinda navigate college life, learn to become friends after their terrible first impressions, and get caught up in a conspiracy to suppress the rights of the sapient animals in the Land of Oz.

First things first, there is Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. Nailing the look of the Wicked Witch of the West was the easy part, as she gets most of the biggest musical numbers in the film and otherwise has to more or less carry the whole thing. Fortunately, this is a task that Erivo, with her background on Broadway and the West End, pulls off remarkably. She may be just the latest in a long line of actresses who've played Elphaba, but as a fan of good acting and good show tunes, I can certainly say that not only did she honor the part and do it justice in such a manner that I can see her take on the character becoming as iconic as Menzel's, but she also brought a particular subtext that you don't normally see with Elphaba by simple virtue of who she is. A key part of Elphaba's alienation from those around her comes from the color of her skin, and while Erivo spends the film covered in heavy green makeup, it's not that difficult to make out the fact that she is a Black woman underneath it. (And a quick trip to her Wikipedia page will also reveal that she's queer and in a relationship with another woman.) With this, the already-existing subtext of Elphaba being a metaphor for minorities reacting to a lifetime of discrimination and abuse becomes something pretty close to outright text, especially when you get into the major story thread about the sapient animals facing discrimination veering into a campaign of outright erasure (a fairly obvious metaphor for Jewish people, LGBTQ+ people, or any other real-life group subjected to such), much to Elphaba's horror as somebody who can sympathize with their plight. When "Defying Gravity" kicked in, it felt like a pissed-off "screw all of you and your rules" from a woman who has Had It with both respectability politics and what others have done to her, and watching this in a theater at this moment in time in particular, when rank misogyny and racism have come crawling back out into the open, it felt downright righteous. Erivo owned the screen and knocked it out of the park, the kind of role I can see making her a star.

An even bigger surprise, however, was Ariana Grande (credited here by her full name, Ariana Grande-Butera) as Galinda. I've always known Grande as a pop star first and foremost, and as an actress only in Nickelodeon sitcoms during her teenage years that didn't exactly show off her range, not even knowing until now that she too had a background on Broadway as a young girl. What's more, her public image is the pinnacle of the modern "influencer celeb", known for having an Instagram follower count higher than the population of the United States. In short, a talented actress, singer, and dancer who still had the capacity to surprise me with a great performance. Which is exactly what she delivered, leaning heavily into her public image to play Galinda as more or less an exaggerated parody of her real-life self with all the worst elements played up for humor. She's a rich, self-absorbed brat who looks down her nose at Elphaba when they first meet and have to share a room, her attempts at activism are self-serving, airheaded, and disingenuous, and the fact that we know she grows up into Glinda the Good Witch seems almost comical at first. Grande is clearly playing Galinda as a more modern version of the archetypal "dumb blonde" than Chenoweth did, but like Erivo, she does the role justice while clearly enjoying herself in it.

As for the look of the film, much hay has been made over how director Jon M. Chu tried to make the visuals more grounded in realism as opposed to the vibrant colors that the original 1939 movie is famous for, but if that's the case, then maybe I'm just desensitized by the flat color palettes of modern movies, because I thought this looked incredible. Chu has a long track record directing both movie musicals and dance films, and he put that talent to great use here, not only showing off the musical talents of Erivo, Grande, and a supporting cast stacked with both character actors and Broadway veterans but also giving the film's fantasy-with-a-touch-of-steampunk world the room it needs to shine. This was always a fun film to actually watch, even when the plot was getting into some heavy territory, a modern movie musical that wasn't ashamed to fully embrace being a musical while taking full advantage of everything that you can do on screen that you can't on stage. Big set pieces like Elphaba taking flight, or things like the talking animals, get exactly the glow-up you'd expect in a Hollywood blockbuster adapted from a stage play where all the effects have to be practical and capable of fitting onto a stage and being reset in a matter of hours for the next showing. This movie felt big, showy, and and epic in all the right ways.

Unfortunately, size was a double-edged sword here, and the source of this movie's biggest problems. The stage play runs for roughly two hours and 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission, and yet despite this movie explicitly covering only the first half of the musical, it has a runtime almost as long. Only some of the bloat can be attributed to the filmmakers taking the opportunity to stage more elaborate scenes, as there are a lot of long stretches of nothing at all taking place to the point where, when the plot suddenly kicked back in, it was at times a jarring shock. While the film was gorgeous to watch and listen to, the pacing was jerky and stop-and-go and often left me wondering when it would get moving again. What's more, a lot of these added scenes did little to get me invested in any of the characters they were focused on. I barely cared about Elphaba's love interest Fiyero, and Nessarose (whose importance to the plot was largely in the second half) had barely anything to do here beyond serve as a prop. In all honesty, this should've been one movie rather than two, even if it would've meant dragging out the runtime to over three hours. There were a lot of moments that I believe could've been cut to not only bring the runtime down but also, more importantly, tighten up the pacing without sacrificing the music or the wonder here, but modern Hollywood, unfortunately, is finding itself increasingly warped by the binge-watching economics of streaming, which favors movies that get downright decadent with their runtimes so that people will stay tuned in for as long as possible.

The Bottom Line

Even with its bloat, this is still a damn good movie musical carried by two standout performances and a ton of style. Whether you're a fan or a newbie, this is, for better or worse, a faithful translation of what made the Broadway show so memorable to the silver screen, and one I'd happily recommend.

[sirenedeslily]

i wish halloween was bigger in aus 💔 doesn’t fit the spring vibe bc of the swapped seasons and also bc the neighbourhoods are just not fun 😭😭 i think the main celebrations here would be the uni halloween parties but i am unfortunately too socially awko taco to be attending 😞 me 🤝 matt on staying home to avoid interaction w people our age 😍

the only thing i’ll be this year is an academic victim bc i had my russian oral exam on halloween and HELP why did the language makers make completely different things sound so similar 😟🙁 like i said “we are getting divorced” instead of “we eat dinner” AND “my parents and i humiliate ourselves at 6pm” instead of “my parents and i make a fire at 6pm” …🧍🏻‍♀️…🧎🏻‍♀️ clearly was not meant for the trilingual life !!! what languages do u speak queen :3

if i WERE to dress up tho (ever since i found out s1 of gravity falls was on youtube i’ve been rewatching it all week :D) id go as mabel pines my no. 1 girl forever !!! she is too cutie 💘 BUT ALSO OMG I HAVE been seeing soo many people dress up as lottie wearing the antlers w her party dress and they look so mf cool like that is definitely going on my bucket list of costumes

whoops sorry for the rant queen its 1.30am here and im delirious from yet another day of being in the hell that is exam szn 🔥🔥🔥 happy halloween queenie weenie 🎃 !!! hope u have a haunting day

-🦌<3

i hate that i’m replying to this two flipping days later but we’re literally triplets with matt bc i too am deeply awkward in any social setting and this halloween was my first time actually doing something in years 😭😭 also just my first time hanging out with friends in forever

see i don’t think i’d ever be able to learn russian i feel like it’s one of the hardest languages to learn.. like you’re an better than me fr and honest to god you should be proud of yourself cause you still said a whole phrase in russian eeeeeven if it’s not what you wanted to say :3 and i speak french and english and i can understand arabic a teeny bit >< but fun fact i only learned english when i was 9, it’s my excuse for me sounding illiterate sometimes

you are so mabel’s like she is so cutieful !!! i never really watched the show but i love her :p AND THE ANTLER QUEEN LOTTIE MATTHEWS COSTUMES ARE EVERYTHING i love it so freaking much man. ppl are soooo creative, i loved all the yjs costumes :)

[wicked-elfie]

Love Letter

I’m not sure what this is. You could call it a diary entry, a vent post, an emotional word-vomit; I’ll call it a love letter. “To whom?”, you and I may both find ourselves wondering. I suppose it’s for several people, several places, things, and times in my life. However, I guess in the end it’s a love letter in the most classic, stupid, corny way; for my boyfriend. Well, him, and cartoons.

I watched Avatar the Last Airbender when I was nine. My cousin and I were sticky with icecream and cake from his tenth birthday party in a sunny Arizona October. Our Opa had just passed away, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had been shipped off so I wouldn’t have to watch my dad and his siblings pick up the countless memories and piles of chess sets collected from all around during World War II. My cousin and I, however, got to celebrate life with a deadly amount of sugar and a movie-length series finale, culminating in a breath-takingly animated fight sequence and heart-wrenching soundtrack as the sky faded to purples and oranges over Iroh’s tea shop. Maybe that moment sticks with me because I realized that I had finally found a universe that lived up to my imagination; Maybe it sticks with me because that was the last time I went to visit my cousin before his dad and mine got in a fight over our Opa’s orphaned possessions.

I discovered Gravity Falls several years later. I created mountains of horribly drawn fan art of Mabel. I loved the colors she wore, how she never shut up, and how she always seemed so positive; strikingly similar to me. My dad noticed my interest in the show and decided to start watching it with me as season two began to air. It started as curiosity, and ended with him shouting from the living room couch to me in the kitchen to hurry with the snacks as the final few seconds of an ad played before Weirdmageddon III aired live.

The obsession only progressed from there. I remember hours and hours of drives and dinner-table conversations with my father, pouring over theory after theory, compiling art books and comics, and dragging each other to conventions when we had time. I remember dancing my hand out the passenger-side window; taking in the scent of barbeque; as yellow, orange, and red leaves covered the Blue Ridge parkway in the most beautiful blush. I would recite episodes word for word if he hadn’t already seen the show. I would comment on how Korra had a polar bear-dog that looked strikingly like the retriever that had his jaw laid against the center console, nudging our elbows. I would rant about the numerous queens in Star vs The Forces of Evil and I would go home at night and pick up my guitar to practice another Steven Universe or Adventure Time song, while he made verbal notes about Rebecca Sugar’s ethereal compositions.

I would sit awake at night, staring at the blue light that sparkled across my ceiling from the window, making my own stories and creating my own realities. I would tie myself to certain characters, at one point making the connection to Marceline, and taking notice of how a girl I knew reminded me of Bubblegum. We would sit on the carpet in my room, dissecting every second of Legend of Korra for scraps of queer representation, all the while experiencing what I would later call love for the first time. And I would love her for three years.

But she would create a new life, my dad would create a new life, and I would move in with my best friend who screamed and kicked and pulled at the worlds and stories that I had held to my heart my entire life, and I would lose them all.

I would forget my guitar and my music, forcing myself to listen to countless grey minutes of whatever she wanted. I would remove myself from any of the communities I had grown fond of, whether creative or queer or both, for the sake of making my life more in tune with hers. In the dead of night, I would force myself to drive for hours and hours to take her friends wherever they wanted, and I would hate myself when she ignored me the next day for nearly falling asleep at the wheel. I would wear unwashed sweatshirts, under-eye bags, and my hair would come out a little too quickly.

But sometimes she would work late. So one day, in a random spur of the moment decision, I pulled up a new show, The Dragon Prince, on Netflix. I recognized one of the creators as the head writer from Avatar; How cathartic is it that I began to live for the second time, reading Aaron Ehasz’s name across the screen.

You were there for it. You were her friend at the time, but at some point you just started to hang around to talk to me. You never really watched anything like this: usually sticking to Spongebob or That 70’s Show. You even openly admitted to changing the channel when Avatar would air on Nickelodeon; I punched your shoulder for that, “You’re crazy for thinking Spongebob is better.” However, a few hours in, I found myself buried against your chest, my lungs constricting as you rested your chin in my hair, while we stared teary-eyed as Rayla fell.

You listened to me when I talked about it; the colors, the music, the character designs, the everything; and not for any particular reason- just that you liked it when I talked. In fact, you never told me to stop talking or being emotional. You never once asked me to hide it all.

For three years you’ve watched me and listened to me and encouraged me. When I watched through the Owl House and Amphibia, you would let me fumble groggily over my thoughts and ideas as we downed Voodoo Donuts after twelve hour shifts. You helped me submit my application for a degree in Graphic Design and sat on a call with me when I had to wait in line for my new drawing tablet. You would watch me try on the brightest, most abstract sweaters; the most sparkly and colorful dangle-y earrings; and you would beam at me, telling me I looked beautiful when I wore what I wanted to.

Most recently, I’ve gotten you to watch the 2018 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first the animation was overwhelming to you, but you persisted after you decided Raphael was your favorite. I always say you have to watch it through if you have a favorite. You’ve never seen me write or draw this much, and it almost worried you, till you heard me talking to my dad over a facetime call while we both cooked quesadillas. His was paired with home-made salsa verde and black beans. You and I don’t have a lot of money- running on the bank account of a couple of college students- so mine was a solo cheese and tortilla, crisped up in my favorite butter. You told me later that I had been ranting to him about autism representation and deconstruction of toxic masculinity for three hours.

You took me for a drive. And I laid back in the passenger seat, dancing my hand on the window, imagining wild horses galloping beside the car, led by a striking buckskin mustang through the plains. I could see spaceships hovering amongst the stars: lasers zapping in greens, reds, and blues. I built castles above the crests of the Rockies, and painted various dragons, twisted around the spires. I could hear frogs, croaking in a river band as they drifted down the bayou on the most extravagant Louisiana ferry. I smelled fresh pizza, set down on the tacky surfaced table in some small corner shop in New York. And you were there; You wanted to be there.

I will never again experience the life I once had. I will never be able to gain back the months and months of storm clouds and dissociation and self-hatred at nineteen years old. I will never have another 20th birthday: one that isn’t tainted with COVID and minimum wage work in a 40-year-old-male-dominated kitchen. However, every single year, this gets easier. You didn’t make this happen, I know that. I did this myself. I got out of that apartment, I stood up for myself, I decided to take classes again, I decided to draw and write again. But you were there. You’ve gotten to watch me rebuild myself, a happier version of myself, and you’ve expressed nothing short of admiration for my success. You have to know how much that means to me.

You have to know- spending forty minutes every few nights to watch stories of siblings, friends, and families- how much that means to me. Every time we watch an episode, I get to remember my cousin, my dad, being a kid, being a teenager… being me. I get to be me.

[pigeon-eyed]

Firstly, I love the snippet. It also made curious about what could happen later, I thought about Zuko trying to delicately ask Katara whether Aang has ever hurt her before, intentionally or not. I know, it was before The Southern Riders (I think), so she probably wouldn't want to be vulnerable with him, but still, a part of me melted at that thought.

Secondly, forgive me this rant, because I just noticed something about the lava fissure incident. I admit I don't know the comics, I just saw the scene you ("you" as in "the-badger-mole", I'm not sure if reblogging works the same as replying? I don't know much about tumblr, still) shared some time ago. If there was something more to it, idk, something important I missed, please let me know.

I won't talk about why opening a lava fissure in someone's face is wrong. You did it already, I think more than once. I wanted to focus on what happened later. At first he was understandably scared and called out Katara's name. However, when he realized she was neither physically hurt nor angry with him, he... resumed being angry with her. That proves he didn't understand the gravity of the situation at all. If he had, he wouldn't have started acting like nothing had happened the minute he noticed there were no immediate, visible consequences.

A possibility of physically injuring someone isn't the only bad thing about violence. Neither is a possibility of someone getting mad at you. And these seem to be the only two things Aang was worried about, because when he realized they hadn't happened, he jumped right back to his anger about how Katara was playing cruel games with his poor little heart. He didn't stop to think that he had scared the love of his life - and not in a "now that was one hell of a prank" way, but in a "she was put in a potentially dangerous situation and could fear for her life and health" way. He didn't ask himself the most basic "what if...?" questions: what if he had miscalculated where the lava fissue was going to be/how big it was supposed to be/where the lava drops would fall? Or what if Katara, startled, had made some unexpected movement and ended up falling right on some lava? He didn't even seem to be selfishly wondering whether Katara would still feel comfortable around him, or whether she would become afraid of being alone with him/being honest with him. He didn't even have a moment of fear of himself ("Is it really me? Am I capable of trying to intimidate someone I love into doing what I want?") - and he should have, I'm saying it as a person who has struggled with emotional regulation for years. Nope. He looked around, didn't see any bodily harm, didn't hear Katara scolding him, so he returned to thinking about himself. Out of sight, out of mind.

Then I realized it was a consistent attitude of Aang's. We could see it The Great Divide. Yes, these two peoples had hated each other for over a hundred of years. Yes, one touching story wasn't going to undo such a long time of propaganda, besides, the lifestyle differences between them were still pretty extreme and had to lead to some fights, but well, Aang wouldn't stay around long enough to watch them, so what was the issue? Out of sight, out of mind. I'm under the impresison a similar thought process led him to running away from the Southern Air Temple and ending up in the iceberg. The same mindset led him to forgetting about the sacrifice Hakoda and the other adults had made for him (when he went to play in the Western Air Temple), ignoring the problem of what he would do with Ozai since he didn't want to kill him, and leaving an unpleasant conversation with his friends right before he got kidnapped by the lion turtle. You could see some echoes of it in his attitude towards the loss of other Air Nomads. It's so consistent it would be brilliant if it was intentional and addressed.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show. But I think it had a chance of being better. The creators gave Aang this tendency and could have used it to show what kind of consequences it may have, especially in someone who is in position of power. It was right there. I would love seeing it explored a little bit.

OK, rant over. Wow. It was long. I'm sorry about that and I'm going to hide in my little corner and hug my cat. And I'm sorry for coming with it to your snippet, but I started thinking about it right after I'd read it, so I thought I would share my conclusions. I hope it's no big deal.

Fic Snippet!

“Are you out of your mind?” Zuko rushed across the courtyard and bore down on Aang with an intense, almost palpable fury. “Do you know how badly you could’ve hurt her?”

“I was just…I didn’t mean to-“ Aang stammered.

“Fire is not a toy!” Zuko bellowed at him. He turned to Katara, examining her for injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” she assured him, her voice shaking. “I’m fine.” She was trembling visibly, and there were singe marks on her clothes, but she otherwise seemed unharmed. Zuko turned back to Aang, how was looking down at his feet in shame.

“What were you thinking?” Zuko demanded.

“I don’t know,” Aang mumbled, kicking at the ground. “I was…mad.”

“About what?” Zuko was absolutely bewildered. “What could Katara possibly have done that you thought it was a good idea to do that?”

“Nothing,” Aang admitted sullenly. He didn’t say anything after that. Zuko glowered at him, took a few deep breaths to quell his own anger.

“You’re going to clean this mess up,” he said gesturing to the torn up stones, dirt and cooling lava. “Then you’re going to do 100 fire squats. Then you’re going to work on your forms for an hour. And I don’t want to see so much as a curl of smoke out of you. You’re not responsible enough for fire. Understood?” 

“What? That’s not-“ Aang’s protests died on his lips when he saw Zuko’s expression.  He huffed, kicked at stone, and finally nodded.

“Get started,” Zuko ordered through clenched teeth. He turned back to Katara, who was watching the exchange. She was still shaking a bit. Zuko draped his arm protectively around her back and guided her away. He glanced back once more at Aang, and almost rolled his eyes when he saw the younger boy still moping at the ground. It was hard sometimes to reconcile the awesome might and eminence of the Avatar with the reality of Aang, the child.

“I’ll be back,” he warned Aang. “Have this mess cleaned up. And don’t even think about asking Toph to help.” 

I know canonically, the Lava Fissure Incident takes place while Zuko and Sokka are rescuing Hakoda, but I wanted to have Zuko see and react to it. Personally, I think it was another accidentally accurate depiction of how unready Aang is to be the Avatar. And it is also another incident that the narrative decides not to call Aang out for, so the chances of him growing from it are...well, we all know how things turned out in LoK.