#alex hirsch you and your voice are incredible

[vanity-breaking]

you always see that gif or a screenshot of this scene but you need to hear the line delivery. it's so funny to me

[hkthatgffan]

I've said this before, but this really was one of the greatest days of my life and one I'll remember it for years to come.

1 year ago today was the day me and @fordtato interviewed Alex Hirsch. A year on and having the chance to share this project at last with you all was an incredible moment. I'm forever gonna be grateful to Alex for his kindness and passion for the questions we asked. I also will be grateful for all the people who helped us along the way from @stephreynaart, who made the amazing art for our thumbnails, @brightdrawings for the 3D renders in the trailer and Rev, Lee and Reuben for helping in making the transcript.

But most of all, thank you to Hana. When I approached them with the idea, I never imagined it would become a collaboration to the extent it did and see us both meeting the creator of the show that changed our lives forever. Hana was not just my co-host on this interview, but a mentor, voice of reason and the literal MVP that made this all possible. Without them, I never even probably would have had 30 minutes to talk to Alex...let alone 3+ hours. Hana, you're incredible and I am forever indebted to you for all your help and support through this. This was our project and no matter what, I am forever grateful to have had you on this with me.

I still look back on this interview happy with how it came out. We got to do something few fans probably will ever be able to say they did. It's a moment I'll look back on till the end. Thank you to all the amazing people who helped us make this happen, all of your for watching and supporting it, Hana for being my co-host on this and Alex Hirsch for even agreeing to do this

Gravity Falls is real and it will NEVER die!!

[none-prob]

I write about a character per day before W&D

Day 6: Hooty

I know a lot of people likes to draw the parallel between Hooty and Bill from Gravity Falls, and I'm indifferent about it. So I'm going to talk about everything else about the bird-worm-owl demon living in Eda's house.

Hooty always tried to help others around him, no matter what. But it pains him that his friends aren't comfortable with that. This is something that I can relate to so much. Hooty's best episode is Knock, Knock, Knock on Hooty's Door, because it described a day in the life of Hooty and how much he struggled to help. I feel like so many characters in the show and people in real life need this, Camila, Gwen, Luz, Amity, Willow, etc., that they are, indeed, helping. It's important to encourage when they're trying to help you, and if possible, show them how they've helped. It's something many people struggled to grab, and worse, guilt-tripping themselves. Hooty's intention in Knock, Knock, Knock on Hooty's Door was definitely in the right place, the method might not be the one expected, but everyone got what they need. Like Eda said in Agony of a Witch, " Hooty! Ah, you're a thorn in my side, but you always dig your way into my heart."

And speaking of Agony of a Witch, Hooty is just, unbelievably powerful. If I have a nickel every time Alex Hirsch voiced an abnormal character with unstoppable power, I would have 2 nickels. This owl demon stop an entire Emperor army, with Lilith, in the least serious way possible. He's the "state-of-the-art defense system". Honestly I can take all day to list his achievements and power, but it's infinite.

Hooty and Lilith is one of my favourite dynamic of the show. I myself just came out as aromantic, so I started reading more into Lilith (I will talk about it more when I write about Lilith), and to me, Hooty is a really cool partner for the aroace queen. But anyway, them befriending each other is so nice, considering one was planning to get pass the other to raid her sister's house just a few episode ago. Lilith had enough time to understand and form a bonding experience with Hooty. It wasn't a long time, like 4 episodes, but they got along so incredibly well, and the scream when Lilith saw puppet Hooty, man, it hurts.

[weirdmageddon]

five years too late let’s analyze this. the commentary has gotten me back into gravity falls reigniting thoughts and insights i came to years ago

i love everything about this commentary in general it hits the points of humor, genuine analysis of the characters, but most of all im so glad hirsch addressed that the droid not detecting any fear from dipper here doesnt make any scientific sense because that was a massive CinemaSins moment for me

IDK the fact that dipper can fucking stand after an airship crash because theres a bigger threat at hand is literally one of the defining capabilities owed to adrenaline lol...... IM SORRY im a biopsychology student if i dont point that out iwill seethe and die because that was just . its a grudge ive held for a long time about this episode but didnt rant about because it was something so minor and i’m sure nobody would care.

i was 13 when this episode came out and i’m almost 19 now, i had a special interest in biology and i still do but now i’m actually having college classes in biopsychology so i can give my arguments more oomph now. and i have to say, now that i know more about the brain and autonomic nervous system the more this scene bugs me, if that was even possible. and it says a lot of dipper and ford’s relationship.

if dipper clearly wasnt calm before, why would he be now just because he’s put up an outwardly confident facade? before he was in the flight but now hes in the fight. my boy just rode on top of a spaceship by nothing but a magnet gun that could detach at any time if it failed and then the ship crashed, he sustained injuries, is in emotional turmoil because he thinks his uncle is Fucking Dead and the threat of a security droid that detects adrenaline is on his tail and produces a Big Fucking Gun in response to dipper saying “i hAvE a MaGNeT gUn” and hes screaming and has his teeth clenched but sure there’s no adrenaline coursing through his body in that moment i can totally believe that

when dipper asks what happened, ford says “the orb didn’t detect any chemical signs of fear, it assumed the threat was neutralized and self-disassembled” but i don’t think measuring someone’s heartbeat alone is particularly relevant in detecting ... chemical signs of fear?? they dont really tell you this shit but noradrenaline (and maybe adrenaline too if the acetylcholine from sympathetic outflow always activates the adrenal medulla??, theres two pathways) is always active in small quantities to make sure your parasympathetic nervous system doesnt slow your heart to dangerous levels on its own, regardless of your emotions. it’s just a homeostatic mechanism. your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are CONSTANTLY modulating control of your organs on a see-saw, literally with every breath you take. simply standing upright causes specialized mechanoreceptor neurons in blood vessels to signal your brain to project signals to release catecholamines via the sympathetic nervous system to constrict your blood vessels so that blood is able to reach your brain and not pool in your legs. i have a deficiency in my body’s ability to adapt to this which is why i know so much about it. if i stand up my heart races to compensate. i’m not feeling fear, my body is just adjusting—albeit grossly and incompetently lol.

but what im saying here is that the security system is flawed. it’s a cool idea to have security droids detect fear, but in practice by detecting adrenaline, and not even directly by detecting the molecule itself—it’s done in a roundabout way by reading the heartbeat, could be a recipe for false alarms. like what if someone’s on beta-blockers. that’s not really an adequate way to measure “fear”; there’s so many variables that could interfere with the measurement the farther you abstract from what you’re really trying to detect. and besides, adrenaline is NOT just a sign of fear, it’s just for preparing the body for action. i know the sympathetic nervous system and adrenaline is constantly linked with the “fight-or-flight” reaponse to a stressor, but 99.9% of the time the sympathetic nervous system is used in your life is to balance out your parasympathetic nervous system to maintain homeostatic equilibrium for mundane things.

i think detecting amygdalar activation would be more efficient in detecting fear. the amygdala sends projections to the hypothalamus which then in turn modulates the autonomic nervous systems. but the amygdala is intensely activated specifically in response to a fear-inducing stimulus (it does activate in response to other emotions but they’re mostly negative and is most activated by startle and fear), and wouldnt be highly activated by many other confounding variables like measurement of the heartbeat could be. the amygala is one of the first stops directly from external stimuli.

to show you how integrated the amygdala is as the first step in registering fear after receiving input from sensory stimuli let’s look at the auditory-amygdala connection for example

see how the auditory thalamus projects to the primary auditory cortex and auditory association cortex? the cortex is where conscious awareness of what the stimuli is comes from. this is the “high road”. it goes sensing -> perception -> emotional response. but sometimes you can be startled without even processing what it is you’re sensing, like the startle response of an alarm or a phone ringing in a quiet house before you even register what it is. this goes sensing -> emotional response, without perception happening until after you’ve already felt the startle. that’s when it takes the “low road”. here’s a simplified version:

even if that were the case with these droids though it’s obvious dipper is still fearful on some level here. his body language, voice, expressions all give it away. for the amygdala, aggression isnt too off from fear so it would be detected equally.

the reason this is so important is because ford uses this as evidence for why dipper is special, “i did it?” “you did it. this is what i was talking about, how many 12 year olds do you think are capable of doing what you’ve just done?”

but like....did he really? i’m not saying this to shoot dipper down or make him out to be more of a wuss, he was incredibly strong-willed here and i dont want to take that away from him because it WAS growth on his part. but the underlying psychophysiological reactions of aggression and fear shouldn’t be that different and this was a total asspull. maybe the droid was so old that it fucked up. maybe dipper being covered in grime and dirt made it harder for the droid to measure the correct heart rate through photoplethysmography (im assuming since they use a camera and are non-contact).

and in all honesty everything i just said brings into question the interpersonal healthiness of ford’s judgements, what he thinks, his expectations, and how he communicates that. in this video alex already talks about how ford is projecting onto dipper. and i think ford may be projecting his expectations for himself onto people who are not him, and the fact that it’s on dipper here makes it far more unfortunate. you realize how much this boy idolizes ford, right? how much impressions matter? dipper even tells himself before he leaves in this same episode, “all right dipper, this is your first big mission with great uncle ford. don’t mess this up.”

even though it’s unstated, the implicit message dipper is perceiving from ford based on their dynamic is: “do you have what it takes for me to be proud of you?” and to accomplish this he must be like ford, even though he’s clearly not and he knows this. he says “i don’t think have what it takes. i was tricked by bill, i was wrong about stan’s portal, heck, i can’t even operate this magnet gun right.” then, by simple chance without even knowing what he did, he activates the magnet gun and pulls out the adhesive, which immediately takes the focus away from what dipper was telling ford about his feelings of inadequacy to ford saying, “yes! dipper, you found the adhesive!”

these thoughts of dipper’s hang in the air without resolve or comment from ford. we don’t know what ford would have said. but it then becomes painfully self-evident in the scene immediately after when the droids emerge and ford tells dipper, “they’re security droids and they detect adrenaline. you simply have to not feel any fear and they won’t see you”, to which dipper replies with an exasperated (and rightful) “WHAT?”

dipper goes in a panic trying to indirectly tell his uncle that this isn’t something he can do. and he is completely right and valid to be freaked out by that full stop. that IS crazy. you can’t control your fear. you can control how you interpret that fear in your higher brain regions but the physiological changes will stick around for longer than it takes to cognitively calm down. it’s easy for me to detach from my emotions to analyze them, but being able to do this does not come naturally for everyone. even i have an irrational fear of wasps and i can’t control it by detaching myself, my body is just automatically primed to get the fuck out of there. i know it’s stupid and i know it’s irrational and isn’t helpful to get myself worked up but i literally can’t stop how my body reacts no matter how i cognitively think about it. expecting composure from dipper in a situation like this when he’s being made to consciously be aware of his anxiety is absolutely fucking insane. look what you did, placing these cruel expectations on him, now he’s afraid of being afraid! this isn’t a case where two wrongs cancel out, they just stack on top of each other.

there’s a good reason these scenes were put side by side but it seems up until now it had remained unanalyzed.

what dipper fears from ford is disappointment. not living up to his uncle’s (quite frankly badly placed) expectations for a twelve year old with anxiety. not once did ford say or subliminally communicate “i don’t expect you to be able to do what i can since you are not as experienced as i am and that’s perfectly okay, no judgements”. you don’t put a child on bike before training wheels. you don’t throw a kid into a swimming pool without giving them swimming lessons. the way ford is doing it, there’s no room for trial and error or mistakes that are an opportunity to grow and learn; instead, it’s life or death. he only seems to pride dipper on what he can do while ignoring the underlying struggles that plague him and never making it known it’s okay for dipper to fail in front of his hero and that he won’t think anything less of him for it.

and that’s why i found the ending scene for dipper and ford’s adventure in this episode to feel so.. wrong. on a scientific and social level. because by the sound of it ford focused more on what dipper had done to dismantle the droid (the droid not detecting any fear) instead of how dipper displayed love and protection for him even if he was truly afraid. what if the science was accurate and the droid detected adrenaline while dipper was confidently standing up for his uncle. would ford still be proud of him regardless?

[the-bees-cheese]

Is the owl house any good? I've heard of it and looks like gravity falls, a show I liked, so I will probably like it. what are your thoughts on it?

yes it is incredibly good

if you liked gravity falls, you’ll love the owl house. alex hirsch (creator of GF) works on the show and voices multiple characters. it does have a similar vibe to GF, but in a fantasy setting, and with WAY more queer content, such as a bisexual main character, non-binary characters, aroace characters, older queer characters, and more. 10/10 please watch this show

[simpingforford]

Transgender Grenda

Note: I’ve been out transgender for a year and a half, and if you are cis this isn’t your place to put your opinion in the discussion :)

Some people are saying that Alex Hirsch confirmed that Grenda is transgender, I can’t find it. For the sake of the argument, I’ll be talking about it like it’s cannon. Here’s the article I’ll be talking about: https://www.cbr.com/gravity-falls-trans-grenda-grendinator/ 

First, this is just my opinion. But I think that Grenda wouldn’t be the best transgender representation. To make good non problematic representation, that character needs to be written as LGBTQ from the beginning. Confirming that a character is trans seven years after the show ended has the same vibes as JK Rowling confirming that Dumbledore is gay over Twitter. (Ouch that hurt to say). Yes, Grenda is bigger than Mabel and Candy but that doesn’t make her AMAB (assigned male at birth). Going back to the article, it was clearly written by a cis person who hadn’t done any research. The article states 

“In Season 1, Episode 7, it is revealed that Grenda's voice was not always deep, but it had changed when she hit puberty. The change in her voice is most likely because she was assigned male at birth and hasn't yet taken hormones.”

 It would take a quick google search to find out that the hormone for trans girls (estrogen) does nothing to change your voice. To prevent further voice deepening, transgirls would take hormone-blockers. In order to raise your voice, you either need speech therapy or vocal cord surgery. 

“The show isn't extremely careful with how IT presents Grenda, and some trans or gender-nonconforming folx may find the idea of her being trans offensive. On the other hand, some may find her relatable. Going through puberty is an incredibly difficult thing for anyone, but especially for trans people and folx that don't identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.” The word ‘folx’ is so annoying. It’s not anymore inclusive that ‘folks’, and there’s no point. It’s true that puberty is difficult for trans people but Grenda was never shown to have any difficulties loving her body. In “Carpet Diem”, Grenada was switched into Candy’s body. She didn’t seem happy about being in a female body, instead she screamed “Ew, I have tiny little doll hands.” She was more than happy to get back into her own body. I think that if she was trans, her reaction would be different. Again, I’m fairily sure this article was written by someone who is not in fact transgender. 

“This is the kind of positive attitude that more people should have towards trans people -- embracing them for exactly who they are and never questioning that. The media has a long way to go when it comes to accurate trans representation, but showing characters like Grenda is a step in the right direction.”

 Ouch. By referring to trans people as ‘them’ instead of ‘us’ confirms that the author is in fact cis. This is not the argument for people who aren’t trans. Cis opinions aren’t needed here, despite the fact that cis people think they are needed everywhere. It isn’t up to them whether Grenda being trans would be “a step in the right direction” or not. 

The article also hints that because Grenda has a more masculine body, but dresses more femme, she must be transgender. Not all girls have a body type that fits the current beauty standard. That doesn’t mean anything other than that beauty standards suck. Grenda’s body has nothing to do with how she dresses. She just likes that style.

In conclusion, I think that confirming Grenda to be trans would do more harm than good. I’m all for more representation but it has to be done right. I love Gravity Falls and I wish they had put in more representation from the beginning, but adding it to the show so long after it ended really isn’t the way to do it. If you have any thoughts please put them in the notes. Thanks for reading!

[anneslovegood]

TV show reviews Friday

Gravity Falls (2012-2016)

“awkward sibling hug?” “awkward sibling hug.” “pat pat.”

Plot: Twins Dipper and Mabel Pines are sent to live with their great uncle, or grunkle for short, Stan in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Follow the twins in the small town that is not what it seems by uncovering the mysteries of it, with the help of some new friends, in a summer they’ll never forget.

Fun fact about me: I watched Gravity Falls when it premiered on TV, and I was actually so indenial about the show ending I didn’t watch the series finale when it premiered and didn’t know how the show ended until a few years later! I wish I was joking with y’all but I am not.

Creator Alex Hirsch was able to combine memories of his childhood and the fantasy of what you really wish summer could be like into the master piece that is this show. the show has great main and side characters, incredible storylines, amazing villains, jaw dropping plot twists, and if you listen and look close enough you’ll find interesting clues that make it feel as though you finally have all pieces to complete your unsolved puzzle. while Gravity Falls is a cartoon and may look as though it’s for children, trust me when I say it is for ALL ages. if you’re looking for a break from reality and want a cartoon with great voice acting, humour for children and adults, beautiful visual effects, and requires your undivided attention with fun braintwisters than no look so further.

Overall rating: 9/10

[disneytva]

The Owl House Panel At NYCC 2019

The show debuts January 2020 on Disney Channel

Luz: loves taxidermy she ends up in the demon realm and decides to stay and be a witch

Eda a rebellious witch she loves to sell human collectibles she is based on Dana Terrace's Mom & Aunt! 

Fiesty & annoying who wants to be big that's King 

The Artistic inspiration for the show was based on Bauer,Vor & Bosch 

Luz is latina Robins loved the fact that there was a Latina character - and she hadn’t had a chance to do that before. 

Alex Hirsch says :"King is basically just me but pitched up ,it’s basically for us to do what we’re best at" 

Wendi says  nonconformity is what makes them endearing,

Wendi says  Eda’s “coping mechanism is to be a little bit of a smart ass.”

I feel like people have a lot of different voices inside them - and Dana Terrace gives us amazing direction so we get to serve the vision ----- Alex Hirsch

Robins says that “Luz just can’t fit in and I was a lot like that. My mom would always say that people will understand my humor later.”

Dana Terrace says  Eda’s sassier now, takes more guff than she would have before Wendie Malick came along

Dana says I’m a fan of a lot of things so like Luz. I’m a hard-ass who believes in tough love like Eda. I’m a fuzzy little weirdo like King, who’s the one I probably identify with most.

Alex Hirsch Says:  I feel like King and I would team up , like I’d put him in a baby carriage and he’d go off and steal something and we’d be a team of grifters  

They were a little concerned when they found out the entire show takes place on the bones of a dead body. I said it’s cool, it’s a fantasy world, it’s not a human body ----- Dana Terrace says on Standars and Practices

Fans so incredible so far, episodes for show without it being aired yet. We do think about whether things would make cool cosplays. We absolutely take fan reaction into account - and plan to hide things ---- Dana Terrace

Robins  probably wouldn’t be friends with Luz at first because she’s annoying but yes, because she’s loyal.

Dana Terrace on working for Disney: “It’s bananas to be running a show on Disney. I saw how well Alex Hirsch ran his show and how he ran his crew. I wanted to be like that. So what are you waiting join the mouse family!

I did voices for GF, it’s cool to be part of somebody else’s vision and this is all from Dana Terrace ’s heart. It’s a little weird as a control freak but this team is so capabale, it’s a pleasure” ---- Alex Hirsch on being back at Disney as VA and not a creator

Luz is based in Dana Terrace's real life roommate Luz "Luz is a witch, she dreads our tarots, so I thought it would be cool for that to be the whole world."

Create a Twitter with contact information just dedicated to the art and separate from personal. Studios are out on social media looking for you - it’s taken over the traditional agent relationship -- Dana Terrace advice in how to get a job in animation 

King sleeps a lot and Bill Cipher invades dreams. Bill would trick King really quickly but King’s vengeance would be long term -- Alex Hirsch on how Bill & King's first meeting will be 

Owls have a reputation for being wise, but owls are actually dumb. They’re STUPID. And I thought that was the funniest thing in the world. They look so smart and soulful. But they’re just dumb as hell. I thought that was great --- Dana Terrace on why an Owl? 

Stories are compelling when there’s high stakes. They’re compelling when there are villains and there’s peril. Sometimes parents worry about the peril But kids LOVE peril. It’s cool that Disney is allowing part of its brand to bring this into it ----- Alex Hirsch

If you don’t fit in, you will fit in somewhere. And those people are out there just waiting to be found---- Dana Terrace in how can you fit in 

For the show as a whole, it’s about some dreams may be impossible, but you can find a way around. Luz can’t ever be a witch, but she can find a way to something similar ------ Dana Terrace  

Luz is completely cut off from the real world. Any part of her culture that she brings is directly tied to her mother and how her mother influences Luz’s life -------------- Dana Terrace

“For people to be invested, you need a core group of characters that people love, that are endearing but also annoy one another ------- Dana Terrace in What have you learned from other shows that you’re going to incorporate? 

Dana Terrace says i learned from DuckTales and Gravity Falls, from Alex Hirsch and others, that you have to be good to your crews. And I wanted to do that.” 

Not revealed at the panel BUT The Owl House will also stream at Disney+ sometime next year!

[sureuncertainty]

Shows I watched in 2020

ranked and reviewed!

8. Avatar the Last Airbender

Yeah, yeah, finally got around to watching this show (although we do still have to watch the finale) with some friends, and I can’t give my final verdict until I finish the finale, so I’ll just say that while I enjoyed some parts of it, it was overall pretty underwhelming, and i was kind of surprised that it’s so massively acclaimed by everyone. It was good, just overrated in my opinion. I could also talk about the racism and ableism but I won’t.

7. Marvel’s Runaways 

Technically we’ve only seen the first season, but I’m putting it on here bc I was surprised by how much I liked this show so far! This was also the latest show we watched in 2020. The storyline absolutely drew me in, and I also felt like while there was some annoyances, the characters were really interesting, and I appreciated the diversity of the cast! I kept forgetting it was Marvel bc I liked it so much asodifhasdoifhsdoih

6. Killing Eve

Again, only watched the first season so far, so I almost didn’t put it on the list, but I’m super excited to continue, and this show just. Really has it all. The Silence Agenda vibes were what made me start watching, but I love enemies to lovers, and it kind of has all my favorite tropes. I just like hot assassin characters, what can I say? Also Sandra Oh is incredible.

5. The Babysitter’s Club 

Gotta preface this by saying I never read the OG books, but the show was super fun! I thought the young actors did incredible jobs, (and man I appreciate having actors play the ages they’re supposed to be), it was funny and heartfelt and the casual queer and disabled rep was 100000/10, particularly the main diabetic character which we pretty much never see positive rep of.

4. The Owl House

Okay, as a longtime fan of Gravity Falls, I can’t say I was surprised that I freaking loved this show, and I’m so excited to watch it in the future! The characters are amazing, the world is incredible, it was funny, had wlw characters, and Alex Hirsch like what’s not to like. I can’t even pick a favorite character, I love them all.

3. Julie and the Phantoms

The only reason this show isn’t higher on the list is because the other two are just SO GOOD, but holy shit this was hands down one of my favorite shows of 2020. It was such an unexpected gem, that I almost didn’t even watch but I’m so glad I did. I still listen to the soundtrack on a daily basis (literally it’s been on my spotify repeat since I watched the show), the music is incredible, there’s queer rep, there’s diversity, actual teenagers playing teenagers, heartwarming and emotional but also hilarious, the humor is perfect, I just can’t sing this show’s praises enough, if you haven’t seen it, please please please watch it!!

2. Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Y’all know I’m obsessed with this show, but I gotta plug it one more time because the fact is that tumblr is sleeping on it and that’s just ridiculous. The animation is vibrant and incredible, the MUSIC is absolutely boppin (I also listen to its soundtrack a lot), and pretty much everything about this show is almost perfect, from the characters to the humor, to the mlm rep which makes me cry, to the voice acting, to the music, to the worldbuilding, to the heart of it. I only have one complaint but that’s a spoiler so I’ll just leave it to say that enemies to awkward siblings is my new favorite thing. Anyway please watch this show if you haven’t on Netflix, it will change your life.

1. The Haunting of Bly Manor/The Haunting of Hill House

And it’s no one’s surprise that this show is my top show of 2020, mainly because it was the first major hyperfixation I’ve had on a piece of media in a LONNG time. I’ll try not to talk about it too much, but this show literally changed me, it’s the perfect blend of a bit of scariness with EMOTIONS and the characters and writing and filmmaking are just absolutely superb. Honestly, all I really need to talk about is the long take in episode 6 of Hill House because that alone is enough to put this show on the top of this list.

[themysteryshack]

See You Next Summer...

I think there’s only one other time that I’ve ever posted on this blog out-of-character.  But now here I am:  Lil’ ol’ Jessica, the one who conjured up this goofy blog six whole years ago.

Alas, I am just one small frog, with many big voices.  Taking on every character on one askblog was probably a bit over-ambitious--I actually did that because in the beginning, I couldn’t draw worth squat and felt that if I used screenshots, including every character was this blog’s only saving grace.

Yet, Gravity Falls granted me characters so strong and rich and vibrant that it was like...they were speaking for me.  Not me for them.

I started this blog on August 8th, 2013.  Gideon Rises had just aired a week prior, and I was unfathomably hooked on this awesome little show...with no fandom whatsoever.  Before season 2, the Gravity Falls community on Tumblr was almost non-existent.  Heck, that’s the only reason I got the URL “themysteryshack.”  So honestly, I thought this blog was a fun little shindig I’d keep up for a week or two as writing practice, and then send off into the void of animated obscurity.  (Fun fact: I tried running a Tangled askblog in 2011...We don’t talk about that Tangled askblog).

But yet, that is far from what happened.

Out of nowhere, Gravity Falls exploded in popularity.  What had started as people asking Dipper and Mabel’s favorite video game now turned into requests for life advice, for comfort, for help.  As this surmounted, I was terrified that I would never be able to give you guys adequate advice--I was just one girl voicing a bunch of cartoon characters!  Yet, you guys’ encouragement and love...It was overwhelming.  It still is.

I read so many of you guys’ tags, and so, so many of your messages.  I teared up over your kind words tonight.  Thank you, thank you so much.  To many, an askblog seems like nothing, but TheMysteryShack...This honestly made me who I am.

I met the love of my life through this blog, in its early days, no less.  We chatted for years via fan mail before asking each other out--immediately after the airing of the Gravity Falls finale.  We’ve been together ever since.

I met so many amazing friends through this blog.  Artists that encouraged me, taught me, inspired me with their renditions of this lovely, lovely show.  Through their support, I got my first commissions through this blog. As things grew, I was shocked to actually have people at conventions recognize my URL, just because this blog gave me the incredible honor of a voice in the community.

And above all, the feeling of just...helping people...I’ve gotten messages from so many of you that have brought me to tears through just the joy of being able to help.  I had one of you tell me you’re pursuing veterinary school because of advice from Ford.  Another who said the blog helped them cope with the passing of their father.  And when I personally started going through some really hard times, it was like I could detach myself from everything, knowing Dipper and Mabel and Stan and everyone would be there even for me if I needed it.

I’ve had a few of you ask me why I can’t just go on hiatus and come back to TheMysteryShack after a break.  Well, those of you who have been following for a while know that this blog has been hiatus soup for a while...And at this time, so many drastic things are coming up in life that I don’t know if this blog can ever be the priority it deserves to be again.  So I wanted to give you all this final send-off instead of letting the blog wither away.  And above all, I wanted to include all of you in its closing--You all deserve to know how valued you are.

I remember when I was celebrating 50 amazing followers, and now I’m looking at nearly 15,000--15,000 of you incredible people who took the time to send in asks, to read our responses, to laugh and cry and DANCE A JIG OF GRAVE DANGER with us.  And I say “us” because the characters are still there.  While this blog won’t be updating anymore, it’s not going anywhere.  The Mystery Shack Crew will always be here if you need to come back and hear a friendly voice.  That’s been my goal from the start, and I pray that it continues to help anyone who needs it.

I want to give a special shout-out to @galladerocksgamer​ for helping me with tonight’s asks, and being patient with me when I wanted to throw my laptop out the window.  He embodies the characters incredibly and I truly could not have orchestrated tonight without him and his brilliant positivity and talent.

I also wanna thank Alex Hirsch for giving us this blessing of a show in the first place.  From the writing to the animation to the sheer complexity of it all...I can say without a shadow of a doubt that no television show has ever meant so much to me.

And finally, I just want to specifically thank all of you, everybody who’s ever interacted with TheMysteryShack.  Whether you’ve been here all six years or just discovered us tonight, it’s been my privilege to answer your questions--And house the entire shack crew in my heart all this time.

And in closing,

We’ll meet again

Don’t know where, don’t know when...

But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.

Stay weird, everyone.

~Jessica

[fihznzqli]

Ursa Major - Part Of My Charm

Chapter 1 - Chosen

A/N

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and Disney owns it.

However, I do own a few OCs in this story.

The story takes place after

Weirdmageddon 3 (Gravity Falls Epilogue).

This story is going to need a lot of work and a lot of research. But all I need is your approval and praise for this story.

______________________________

The sounds of boots can be heard across a very hall of a greek-like temple. A young girl, about 13 years of age, who's face cannot be seen under her white hood with blue accents that goes all the way to the cuffs of her long sleved yet comfortably body suit she was wearing but only strands of her black hair can be seen in front of her face.

She inhales and exhales deeply as she struggled to keep a steady breath. Her eyes shows anxiety and excitement by the impossible news she has.

Something has happened in Earth, something has happened. The oracles can see it. She need to find the Malco-

"Maya? What's the rush?"

She hears a familiar voice behind as she looks over to her shoulder and a tall man in his thirties wearing a white smog mask with noticable yellow glow brewing in one of the mask's outline , wearing silver pauldrons on his shoulders with a yellow accent running down each side and underneath is avery tight metallic body suit that hugs his body very well. He wears a waist guard that has an emblem shape like a unicorn and silver legplates.

He steps closer and looks at the girls face, Concerned, he kneels down to the girl's level, holding her shoulders in comfort. He knows something is up.

"Maya. Whats going on?" he asked.

His face of concern slowly turns into confusion as he sees her slightly smiling with excitement.

"Malcolm! Oh my god! Oh my god! Your not gonna belive this! You see I was visting one of the watchtowers and one of the watchers came to me and said a new constellation has been chosen. And your not gonna believe this, it's finally back." She rambles in a slight Russian accent. She jumped in excitement and breathing for air as she tried to form a few words or sentences from her mouth, because of running about 3 miles to get to this place to tell the General about the incredible news. She couldn't believe it herself.

She had heard of the legends, the myths, their stories, their fights, their adventures. She admired them even if she has a different mark and path but they were once one of the amazing constellations of all time.

She had never expected to be this excited. But after 100 years of its absence and involvement after the Dark Ages, It finally chose someone. Whoever this is, might be as powerful as she hopes like in the stories.

"What? Who, Maya? What constellation?" Malcolm asked as he seems to be catching on to whatever the girl is saying. He has a pretty good idea... And he hoped it is true.

Maya looks up to his face with a grin.

"An Ursa Major has been chosen."

______________________________

"Maso- Dipper Pines?"

"Present"

It was 8:37 AM in the morning at school. Class for the past few days has been normal.

A little too normal for the Pines twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines.

They were sitting at the third row, bored and a little tired. Mabel covers her mouth with uer hand and let out a muffled yawn while Dipper is struggling to sit up straight and rubbing his eyes with bags underneath.

Everything went back to normal, in a bad way for them when they returned to Piedmont, California. Nothing has been the same since Weirdmageddon in Gravity Falls, Oregon. While it was a really bad memory to even forget, that town that they used to live during the summer, holds many good memories to them. 

Of course, they could always come back next time...

Dipper was copying the lesson written on the blackboard when he felt something hit his neck, something wet. Then he realizes and he frowns. Spitball... He looks behind to the direction where the projectile hit him and sees his childhood bully, Chad. Looking really innocent and looks at Dipper with eyeborws furrowed.

"You got a problem, Dipstick?" He sneered at Dipper with a smug grin plastered on his face. Dipper looks down under Chad's desk and sees him holding a straw. He turns his back to the board again, plucks the spitball and flicks it away from his reach.

"Psst!" he hears his sister from his side and whispers "Ignore him, don't let him get through your head" with a comforting smile, but soon turned into a frown when she shoots a glare at the bully who scoffs and rolls his eyes at her.

______________________________

Dipper stuffs most of his books in his locker and closes it. He sighs since today was horrible for him. Not for his sister, Thank God. Somehow, he's glad that no one bothers his sister but him. If anyone ever lays a hand or hurts Mabel's feelings, who nows what he'll do.

"Hey, bro-bro!"

Dipper turns his head to see his sister with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Could you tell Mom and Dad that I will be coming home late today? I have cheerleader practice later after school."

"What? But, we go home together... And why are their cheerleader practice after dismissal?" Dipper asked with a raised eyebrow. It was odd that they have practices after school.

"Oh don't worry, Dipper. It's only 2 hours. I'll be home right on time." Mabel reassuringly says to Dipper.

She was ecstatic when she joined cheerleading club of their school. Dipper, on the other hand joined the chess club.

Dipper sighs. "Ok, you can go practice. But Dad will come pick you up after that."

"And I will need your help on some of the homework. Thanks, Dipper. See back at home!" Mabel hugs her brother and runs off.

Dipper slungs his bag over his shoulder and walks outside to his father's car waiting for them. Well...for him actually.

As Dipper walks towards the car, thr front seat window rolled down to see Alex Pines, his father.

"Hey kiddo. Where's Mabel?" He looks over to Dipper's shoulder as if to see his daughter standing behind his son.

"Cheerleading practice."

"After school?" Alex asks.

"Eh. School's getting weird these days. But, she can handle herself. Trust me." Dipper says to his father as he open the car door and sat in the backseat.

Alex deeply sighs and turns his head to Dipper with his right arm resting on top of the front seat.

"Listen, I know that whatever happened in Gravity Falls, I hope it doesn't happen in here too. And I am concerned for both you and your sister's safety. I mean gnomes, flying eyeballs, manotaurs, time travelers, 'dream' dimensions? Things like them exist in our world? How is that even possible?"

Alex and his wife, Dana was very suspicious whenever they asked the twins about how was their summer, they were hesitant... But the only thing they told them was that Grunkle Stan had a twin brother and he came back after he went missing for two years.

It took an hour for them to close their mouths from the revelation that day. But completely shrugged it off later.

His own son was a lot like him when he was young, smart, curious, adventurous, and a nerd. But that didn't stop his future wife to marry him and have twins.

So like Dipper, he 'checked' Dipper's room one day and found a blue journal with golden accents   around the cover. He read it and it was filled with ripped pages, obviously not ripped from the book itself. It was old and written in black ink. He could've swore it was also written in blood...

Dipper came in later on, mouth gaping as he saw his dad holding the pages from his journal. A heated argument can be heard with Dipper shouting at his father for looking through his stuff and Alex, who is a little angry tried to apologise and tries to explain what he was doing. It's a good thing the two were alone, Mabel is with her mother, going shopping.

After the argument, Dipper calms down and sit nexts to his father in the bed as he tells him. He explains that Gravity Falls is a place where magic and monsters reside. He says it in a excited way, like he always does when it comes to solving mysteries.

Alex have had a hard time believing the things his son is saying that monsters and ghosts exist in real life. What is this... A Mystery novel now? He was also shocked to hear that Dipper and Mabel met Stanford Pines. Not the one who runs the Mystery Shack. But the real one who was stuck across the multiverse.

Does that mean that their Grunkle Stan, his Uncle Stan was not 'Stanford' but 'Stanley'? The other twin who faked a car crash?

He thinks he might have a heart attack.

Then Dipper told him that they stopped the end of the world by a flying dorito demon thing.

He doesn't know if he should be worried or proud, he probably prefers the latter. This will take a long time getting used to. But he trusts Dipper's choices, as long as he doesn't get any trouble. He promises to keep this a secret from her wife. Knowing she will freak out and become overprotective to her little angels. He told her daughter that he knows and has nothing to be worried about.

"Dad look, We're fine. Me and Mabel have fought gnomes, haunted wax sculptures and tiny golf people. But we're still in  good shape. We can handle ourselves. We are still your kids but you don't have to worry about us." Dipper comforts his dad while he scratches his birthmark on his forehead under his hat that Wendy gave as a farewell.

His dad sighs and says "Ok, But, please be careful. And protect your sister. For my sake-" He looks at Dipper who was scratching very loudly, he can hear the scraping it makes. It is really cringey

"-And stop scratching your head. You'll probably get rashes on that."

"Sorry, My head feels itchy just now. This never happened before." Dipper says that as he continues to scratch his forehead.

"Well, you'll only make it worse. Your mother probably has some skin treatment. Ask her." Alex starts up the car and drives away from the school.

Dipper asks "You'll pick up Mabel later, right?"

"Of course, what time will her practice be over?"

______________________________

"I thought you were one of the most powerful entities of this multiverse. Have you lost your fucking mind?!" A man with gruff voice shouted at someone.

The man was about in his forties, who looks like he's Midwestern, is very large, has a well shaven head and a bushy beard and a small scar across his left eye. He was wearing armor similar to the armors from the gladiators in Greece, but it's color are charcoal black and has magma flowing in his armor's accents. He is like a living volcana.

He has two large pistols that resemble deagles but almost has the same design as his armor.

Beside him was a small man, about as tall as his shoulder height. He was blonde and has noticeable stubble in his face. And he looks to be Australian. He iswearing a green scaly tabard instead but with armor leggings. He wears gauntlets in his arms, and it has a noticable blade inside it.

They were talking to a giant white lizard who was actually one of the powerful entities known as the Axolotl.

"I am aware of what you're feeling right now. But, he needs to be helped. He is troubled, he always has been. All those stories are merely stories only for everyone to see him as a threat." The Axolotl states in a very deep voice that can be heard a mile away.

"As much as I have a hard time believing that, Why did you want us take care of this bastard? And couldn't you at least ask other blokes to bring his sorry arse with them?" The small man crosses his arms and narrows at the Axolotl. Waiting for a good reason why they we're brought here.

"Isn't that what you Constellations do? Protect the Earth and its inhabitants, prevent any disasters, and contain dangers?.. like him?" The reptile says as if it was the most obvious thing.

"That is true. But why would you think that he would be redeemable? He destroyed his home and entire family. And just because he invoked your name that doesn't mea-" The large man was suddenly cut off by the reptile's action.

Axolotl stomps in front of the two and stares at them. Almost looks like he's glaring at them.

"I see him as just a troubled child who was manipulated into doing those horrible things. I was upset that he has had the nerve to invoke my name and bring him out of death's grasp. But I sense that he deserves a second chance if you guide him through your path. He will not be like you, but he will fight on the same side." Axolotl states in his booming voice at the two.

The two men looked at each other for confirmation, until they both decided and looked back at the Axolotl.

"Fine, bring the wanker in. Before we change our minds." The small man narrowed his eyes to the reptile.

He nods and opens his mouth to shoot a beam in front of them. A small blob can be seen in the beam and is forming into the shape of a triangle with arms and legs a top hat hovering on its head. It suddenly screams, like its being burnt to death. It quickly reforms and turned into human male body. Black and yellow fabric wraps around him and creates clothing around him with his top hat still intact on his head.

The beam then slowly disspears, and the person or thing flops to the ground, groaning.

He then he sits up and sees the two men who was glaring at him, arms crossed. He stiffens when he looks at and turns back to see the Axolotl.

Oh boy...

"You know, when I invoked your name and asked to be return to the living. I never expected living with these hippies" Bill Cipher narrows his eyes at the reptile, who merely shrugs with his arms. Bill scoffs and felt a hand grabbing his suit tightly.

"Hey watch it, Scorpio! I just got my clothes back."

"Shut up, you twat." Scorpio shots back.

Bill then looks at the large man with a raised eyebrow.

"What're you supposed to be? An Aries? Thought you guys would be bigger."

That earned him a black eye.

______________________________

A/N

Wow! This took like 2 days to write. I'm completely new to writing but I'm getting pretty good here. I hope you all enjoy this book. More chapters will come out randomly. Sorry it's not scheduled. I'll try to formulate on how the story progress.

7/14/19: Completely changed the entire chapter for improvement... I hope this is way better.

I hope you all enjoyed reading and I'll see you guys next time. PEACE!

[peachhoneii]

Can’t believe my love post for Ducktales got 3K notes. Goes to show you how much of a success the pilot is and how much of a success the show will be later on.

But in the heat of the moment, I totally forgot to talk about the nephews. Was too happy to see Donald get on-screen development and Della getting her first animated appearance ever, and they slipped my mind.

HDL were always a combined set meaning they had the same amount of knowledge, the same personality, and same voice actor. They were the cute, mischievous nephews of that hot tempered sailor, and they were rarely more than that. They were identical in all ways.

Ducktales spins it around. They’re still identical, and their personalities are vaguely similar in the way siblings seem to be.However, they’re separate entities and each have their individual personalities. 

Dewey is easily distracted but has a thirst for adventure for adventure’s sake. He can also be incredibly insightful from what Episode 2 has shown us. Huey is the Jr. Woodchuck holder, book smart, but has a thirst for adventure for possibly knowledge’s sake. Knowledge is power after all, you know? Louie is in it for the money; the reason why he has dibs for all of Scrooge’s stuff. Scrooge is an old man; like really old.

Louie helping Webby to lie to Mrs. Beakley. It was wrong to lie, but there were good intentions. Donald, up to episode two, was an extremely overprotective parent, and for them to breathe, Louie lied ---- like a lot. I’m betting my bottom dollar on it.

Also, it appears the triplets understand why Donald’s overprotective, but not the exact reason. “She’ll be worried,” yeah, they don’t want to worry their uncle, but they don’t know the exact reason for this. They think he’s a stereotypical overprotective dad, and I’m really curious how their relationships with him will change when information about his and their mother’s past comes to light

Gravity Falls is its own show and story. The same applies to Ducktales, and I appreciate that the triplets genuinely like each other, care for each other, and can bounce of each other be it comedic or serious wise. Alex Hirsch, in an old AMA, said Mabel and Dipper genuinely like each other, and it shows. This is the same for Ducktales; the triplets genuinely like each other (will always love each other, duh, but you don’t always have to like your family). 

The first two episodes focused primarily on Dewey, but we have about 21 episodes in total to get through. I’m guessing each of the kids, Webby included, will get their time in the spotlight.

[vivalatoons]

My Talk: Wander Over Yonder

If you’re ever need some help, look for an orange, furry person and his best friend who’s a Zbornak. I’m talking about the great cartoon, Wander Over Yonder. We celebrate the show’s 4 year anniversary with a reflection of Wander Yonder Over. Doodley doot da doot doot, whoo!

Originally, this was supposed to be posted on June 27th on the one year anniversary of “The End of the Galaxy”. Something happened, and it didn’t post. I was upset, because it was lost forever. Thanks to @peepsqueak she has My Talk from her email. She noticed me about it, and I thank her a lot for saving me from doing this all over again. That’s the story. Again thank you to @peepsqueak, and let’s get into this reflection.

It was 2013 when I saw a commercial of this orange person wanting to give this skeleton a sandwich. The skeleton man was getting furious at him. A new show titled, “Wander Over Yonder” was coming to Disney Channel.

August 16, 2013 The Picnic premiere. The episode starts with Lord Hater and Emperor Awesome battling to get a wish from a visiting celestial being during the aligning of the planets that happens once every millennium. Wander is also there to watch the aligning of the planets, which makes Hater angry. Hater can’t achieve his goal on getting his wish, when Wander offers him a sandwich and taking photos. Hater realized that the planets are almost aligning, and rushes to ask the visiting celestial being a wish. Before he says what he wanted, Wander comes over to take more photos. Angry at Wander, he wished Wander would leave him alone for 5 seconds. The celestial being granted that wish, and everyone isn’t happy. The being leaves, and Wander continues to take more photos of Lord Hater and Commander Peepers. They would fall down, Sylvia would leave the restroom and asked Wander what she’d miss, Wander has photos he took that shows what has happened, ending the episode. I really liked what I saw in this show. I laughed, the characters were great, and the story was simple but fun to watch. From there, I decided to watch more of Wander Over Yonder. It’s worth knowing that Wander Over Yonder would broadcast to Disney XD starting with episode 15.

Plot. The plot is simple to follow. Wander, who’s an optimistic being, and his Zbornak steed, Sylvia travel the galaxy to help anyone in need. While they help others or having fun, they always followed by Lord Hater, Commander Peepers, and his army of Watchdogs. They would help bring an egg back to its nest, delivering a box, bring a baby back to their parents, return a sock, give everyone a gift, and do more good deeds in the galaxy.

Characters. Wander and Sylvia are the good guys who help those in need. Lord Hater wants to be the greatest villain in the galaxy, but gets distracted from chasing Wander. Commander Peepers is Hater’s right hand man eyeball in command. These four are the main characters of this show. There’s a lot of recurring characters, like the Watchdogs, Emperor Awesome, and other villains and creatures that need help.

Season 2. This season would shift from silly to a bit serious. Season 2 would introduce a new villain to the show, Lord Dominator. Dominator is more of a villain than Hater is. Dominator likes to destroy planets than conquer them. Under all that armor, Dominator is an alien woman who likes to bully everyone in the galaxy. Wander and Sylvia still continue to help people, but have to deal with Lord Hater and Lord Dominator along the way. This season shows how Wander and Hater make breakfast, Sylvia collecting all of Wander’s personalities, an epic battle with the villains, Hater having a rock and roll concert, an cartoon in a cartoon, a musical special, Wander and Sylvia traveling in the past and future, and more stuff like that. Just as I was excited about how this season was amazing, I saw something I never wanted to see.

March 5, 2016. Craig McCracken announced that Wander Over Yonder isn’t coming back for a 3rd season. The reason Disney didn’t give the show a 3rd season was because they felt that 80 episodes of Wander Over Yonder were enough. I doubt this claim, because I think Disney cancelled it because of ratings. Craig also stated it wasn’t ratings. Then, I was lost. Why would Disney XD cancel a show with such upbeat tone and puts a smile on your face? This news did drop hard on me. Knowing the show was over made me mad and I would say “I hate this network, they made the biggest mistake of their life.” My anger wasn’t going to do anything. I got over it slowly, but I still continue to watch the new episodes. As I was smiling and laughing at what I saw, deep down I knew the end was coming.

The final episode. I was in Ohio, visiting family over the summer. I was in my grandparents’ home. It was a typical day until it was time. I went to the TV room, turn on the TV, and loudly sing the theme song. As the episode was playing, I was screaming, fangirling, laughing, crying, and cheering. I was feeling a lot of emotions. I absolutely love the finale. The finale was outstanding and had a perfect sendoff also the ending animatic had a twist, and I’m not talking about it because I’ll get mad.

Animation. If there’s one word to describe the animation, it’s bright. I truly admire the animation style. Everything from background, characters, ships, etc has such a nice palette of colors. It grabs my eyeballs, and I can’t stop looking at the screen. The animators in this show has such great talent.

Voice acting. Another great group of talent in the show. Jack McBrayer voiced Wander, April Winchell voiced Sylvia, Keith Ferguson voiced Lord Hater, and Tom Kenny voiced Commander Peepers. Lord Dominator was voiced by Noël Wells and Fred Tatasciore when Dominator is in armor. Wander Over Yonder had some great guest stars on their show. They include Aziz Ansari, James Marsden, Edie McClurg, G Hannelius, Will Arnett, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jon Hamm, Eddie Deezen, Alex Hirsch, Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal, and more. Every character in Wander Over Yonder has amazing person voicing them.

#SaveWOY. This started as a petition from Change, created by Gemma Cummins. She runs @peepsqueak and continues to help get Wander Over Yonder a 3rd season. The petition was to encourage Disney to make Wander Over Yonder season 3 happen. People would sign up for it, and the campaign got stronger. Now, every 27th of the month we post things to make Wander Over Yonder trend. There’s also Operation F.O.R.C.E, where fans around the world help Lord Hater conquer the Earth by taking photos of places with the Hater flag. Fans still want a 3rd season, they’re not going to stop until Wander gets the ending they deserve. Link is here to sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/walt-disney-encourage-disney-to-make-wander-over-yonder-season-3

Craig McCracken. A man who deserves a lot of praise for being in the animation world. Craig has created The Powerpuff Girls (1996), Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, and Wander Over Yonder. I love how he tells stories, his animation style, and the message he put in his shows. @crackmccraigen is such a treasure in the animation world. I love him and he’s the one of the greatest cartoonist in history.

Wander Over Yonder as a way to think positive. It’s no shock that Wander is full of optimism. This show is full of that. No matter what happens, Wander always look on the bright sides of a problem. I mention this, because we need Wander Over Yonder in the world. As current news can be depressing and horrible, we need A LOT of positive thinking and optimism in our lives. What I love about the show is that fans say the show helped them in their lives. No doubt it has made a life a bit easier. I would have depressing periods where I kinda feel numb. I would turn on Wander Over Yonder, and it makes me feel a little happier. It does help me pull me out of those dark times. This part of Wander Over Yonder has a great impact of fans and people. For a cartoon to help people with their lives, that is incredible.

Wander Over Yonder is one of the greatest things that Craig McCracken has created. It has clever humor, creative storytelling, and amazing animation to look at. I highly recommend this show for anyone who wants some positivity in their life. It’s so interesting how Craig created Wander and he represents optimism, happiness, and just a bouncing ball of joy. I do hope Wander does get a season 3. I continue to spread the word about this show. I think if anyone needs to smile or be cheer up, Wander is the key. This show is an underrated gem that everyone needs in their lives. Everything about this show has a huge smile on my face. At the end of the day, I always live by WWWD. What would Wander do? This orange, furry spoon would do anything to help anyone in need, cheer someone up, or play his banjo.

[bugeyedfreaks]

smwilke1384 replied to your post:

Also, can we point out that writing problems aside, unless you are the CREATOR of the show and planned to voice some characters from the beginning (like Alex Hirsch on Gravity Falls), it's pretty scummy for some writer who's probably not an actor at all to just decide they're part of the cast now?

Yeah, let’s point it out, it’s a very scummy practice (considering how much self-referential stuff they’ve done... it’s honestly incredibly off-putting and makes them look very pretentious).

[animator19]

Interview from before the Series 2 Finale

http://ew.com/article/2015/10/26/gravity-falls-weirdmageddon-jason-ritter-alex-hirsch/ 

Gravity Falls has been pushing the boundaries of what anyone assumes a kid’s cartoon can do since its 2012 premiere. It has crafted quality sci-fi plot lines, snagged compelling guest stars, and most of all, the supernatural lore and mythology created by Gravity Falls has inspired a rabid fandom dedicated to uncovering clues and learning as much as they can about this mysterious town. Now, reaching the climax of its second season, the show is about to unleash all of the supernatural weirdness that has only been trickling out for so long — the demonic chaos god Bill Cipher has broken into Dipper and Mabel’s dimension and is wreaking havoc on Gravity Falls.

In a converstion with the voice of Dipper Pines himself, Jason Ritter, and the show’s creator, Alex Hirsch, the pair tease details from the apocalyptic new story, the show’s penchant for incorportating hidden messages, and the surprising new monster voiced by Louis C.K.

ALEX HIRSCH: This is definitely a unique episode. Gravity Falls normally follows very particular rules: we start out in reality close to the world as we know it, usually one magical element presents itself, and then it’s essentially vanished or hidden back to where it came from by the end of the 20 minutes. “Weirdmageddon” completely upends those rules. “Weirdmageddon” throws us into an episode essentially directed by Bill — a trickster, maniac demigod, who only wants to create as much surprise, confusion, and chaos as possible. So that’s allowed the artists to unleash their inner Bill and make something completely insane and off-the-walls.

Louis C.K. voices a paticularly bizarre monster in this episode. How did you get such a huge comic to do the show?

One of the interesting things about making a kids TV show is that you are in living rooms all across the world and you never know who’s watching. You always know about the kids who are watching, but you sometimes forget that kids all have parents. I found out that Louis was a fan of the show and that he watches it with his daughters, and that was incredibly exciting to me — I’m a huge fan of his. So I reached out to him and said “Would you be interested in being one of the weirdest things Dipper has ever seen in one for our episodes?” The whole thing was just a personal and professional honor. I often love the idea of using a big-name guest cameo for a really stupid, strange role, and Louis was definitely game for what we threw at him.

You guys have gotten so many great guest stars to come on. Nathan Fillion, Neil deGrasse Tyson, John Oliver, Lance Bass, and now Louis C.K. just to name a few notables. Do you have a dream guest star?

HIRSCH: I would say that my top two guest stars that I would want to have happen in the world on the show have happened. One of them is Louis and one of them is coming up. You’ll see when that star arrives.

This show is well-known for including hidden messages and clues to help solve the mysteries of the town. The Internet is quick to find and dissect every minute detail that may seem important. How aware are you, Jason, of these subtle clues?

HIRSCH: I would add that the lines separating Jason Ritter and Dipper Pines are very thin. Jason is a very Dipper-like character, albeit with much broader shoulders and a much manlier vibe. Jason loves games and puzzles, and has the same enthusiasm for decoding and discovering that Dipper does. Jason is both in the show and a fan of the show which makes it even more fun to work with him, because we can talk about this stuff.

Alex, you’ve voiced a character on the Adult Swim series Rick and Morty and that show creator Justin Roiland voices Blendin on your show. People have also noticed tiny references between the shows, like a tiny Bill Cipher image hidden in a Rick and Morty episode. Was that just for fun or could these shows exist in the same universe?

HIRSCH: There was a time when Justin and I were both working in the same tiny office for the Disney Channel. We both dreamed one day of having our own weird TV shows, and we would talk about ways in which we would childishly abuse this power. For some reason, the universe has blessed us with our mad wishes, and it occurred to us — let’s start doing things that nobody else does, that maybe you’re not supposed to do. We started putting little easter eggs in our shows that sort of connected the two. Our motivation for that is primarily to freak people out and blow their minds. The impression of a grand brilliant design is probably more something that the fans have invented.

Could there ever be a Gravity Falls/Rick and Morty crossover episode?

HIRSCH: I remember when I was a kid, whenever you’d see cartoons cross over with each other, it always ranged from a delightful, magical surprise to a cynical, annoying cash grab. So far, we’ve found that these little winking nods between our shows strike the right balance. I can’t say whether or not there will be more, but I can say that we like to confuse and amuse people so who the hell knows.

[spanlish-blog]

What Makes 'Rick and Morty' TV's Most Ambitious Animated Series

Television animation is going through something of a renaissance in the past few years, and it shows no signs of stopping. What's fascinating is that, due to the relative safety of network television and the all but abandonment of the Saturday morning cartoon programming block, animation has flourished outside of the traditional boundaries, with cutting-edge programming coming from places like Nickelodeon ("Avatar: The Last Airbender" and its companion series "The Legend of Korra"), Netflix ("BoJack Horseman"), and Disney XD ("Star vs. the Forces of Evil," the dearly departed "Gravity Falls").

But no one is pushing things quite as far as Cartoon Network. Not only are they committing to gentle, gorgeous miniseries like Patrick McHale's "Over the Garden Wall," but their Adult Swim programming lineup is home to some of the weirdest, most out-there animated series ever (those of us that watched "Liquid Television" on MTV in the '90s are having some extreme flashbacks). And the crown jewel of the Adult Swim broadcast (and indeed Cartoon Network as a whole) is its highest rated, most boundary-pushing marvel, "Rick and Morty."

"Rick and Morty" started off as a crass "Back to the Future" parody called "The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti" (feel free to look it up, but keep in mind that it's tres NSFW) that creator Justin Roiland came up with for Dan Harmon's Channel 101 film festival. When Adult Swim approached Harmon about creating a new television series, he thought of Roiland and his perverse parody. So the show was altered, removing any punishable copyright infringement and given a more grounded emotional base, with Rick (formerly Doc) being an estranged mad scientist father who drops in on his daughter's family and whisks her young son Morty (formerly Mharti) on a series of far-flung adventures that sees them crossing both time and space. Roiland does the voices for both of the main characters. It's wacky as hell. But it's also the most ambitious animated series currently on television.

The first thing you'll understand when watching an episode (any episode) is that the show is insanely complicated. Not that the family dynamics are that hard to figure out -- the would-be patriarch Jerry Smith (voiced by Chris Parnell) is threatened by Rick's return, teenage daughter Summer (Spencer Grammer) feels lost and insecure, and so on. But the multitude of alien species, bizarre planets and parallel dimensions will have your head spin. Seriously. The show has only been on for two seasons (its third season just started this past weekend) and there are countless You Tube videos offering crazy theories and hypotheses. There's a fairly open dialogue about how real the two main characters on the show are.That's crazy and awesome and sometimes dizzying. In the first episode of this season, aired earlier this year as an April Fools' Day surprise, we see that Earth has been taken over by a race of insect bureaucrats. There's an offhanded joke about how the children have aged differently under this regime. It's funny, for sure, but something of a throwaway. But during the second episode, which aired this past Sunday and is set largely in a world inspired by "Mad Max: Fury Road" (of course), Jerry's wife, Beth (Sarah Chalke), says something about how the kids (replaced by robotic doppelgängers) are being typical millennials. Then she pauses. "Or are you in your forties now?" she asks. It's a call back to that first episode of this season, which aired a few months ago, and a joke that flitted by mostly undetected.

It's those kind of interlocking gags that both serve the plot and are incredibly hilarious, that make "Rick and Morty" unlike anything else on television. The amount of Easter Eggs and hidden messages are overwhelming; again look to YouTube for the full spectrum. One of my favorite things is how "Rick and Morty" aligns with "Gravity Falls," which aired on a completely different network run by a completely different corporation but referenced one another thanks to the ironclad friendship of Roiland and "Gravity Falls" creator Alex Hirsch. "Gravity Falls" might be over but there's a possibility it could live on in the background of "Rick and Morty" somewhere.The show is also ambitious in how forcefully it's become an aspect of popular culture. Before its second season had even premiered, merchandise was already flooding into shops around the country, and Roiland and Harmon had created a "couch gag" for the season finale of "The Simpsons" that was arguably funnier and more inventive than that entire season of "The Simpsons" ("They did an episode where George Bush was their neighbor," Rick helpfully reminds us.) This kind of cross-platform ubiquity is hard to establish for a show that has been on for years but "Rick and Morty," which has a clear dialogue with popular culture, sending up and subverting key aspects of science fiction in new and refreshing ways.

So it makes sense that would embed itself, like some kind of venomous space-tick that Rick and Morty come across on one of their adventures, in the larger social consciousness. And what's more -- the culture has been remarkably responsive. A gag in the Season 3 premiere centered around Rick returning to an imagined version of 1998 so that he could relive his infatuation with a Szechuan dipping sauce from McDonald's (a promotional tie-in to Disney's "Mulan"), and just last week a chef from McDonald's sent Roiland a vat of the stuff.

But it's important to remember that the show isn't just a send-up of classic science fiction -- although, that is obviously a huge part of the appeal. What makes "Rick and Morty" so special and ambitious is just how emotionally grounded the series is. This past week's episode, while based on "Mad Max: Fury Road" and featuring a subplot where Morty is injected with a serum that gives him a giant muscular arm, is actually a fairly moving look at how the different family members are dealing with the impending divorce of Jerry and Beth. It's as touching as it is funny and it's totally, wonderfully ambitious.

Source: What Makes 'Rick and Morty' TV's Most Ambitious Animated Series