#but the same applies to dipper

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Finally, a video I can yeet at the Mabel Pines haters:

[andiv3r]

People who headcanon dipper as transmasc are so real, same applies to people who headcanon mabel as transfem, but ive never seen anyone hc both at the same time because of "but the whole POINT is that identical twins can't be different sexes, you can't headcanon BOTH of them as trans" yes I can actually it's called headcanoning them both as intersex and trans'd in opposite directions. Hope this helps.

[jinxthequeergirl]

what would have happened if instead of stanley bill had gotten into reader's head? and in the end it was reader who got their memory erased. i just want to see stan's reaction, cuz reader is his partner. how he will try to do something or on the contrary, resign himself?

writing by translation sorry for mistakes

I See you In the Back of my mind

Stanley pines x fiance! reader

Thank you anon I love you 🙏😚

Warning:

~~~~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~~~~~

You knew what he was doing. You knew right away what was happening when Bill brought you and the twins back to the Pines brothers still locked in their cage. You'd spent half your life with Stanley to recognize him even in his twins' clothes.

You locked eyes with them shaking your head, warning him not to do what you thought he was about to do, begging him with your look.

"Alright,times up! I've got the kids and your little wife to be! y/n! I think I'm gonna kill one of them!" You struggled in Bills grip watching the kids hopelessly in his other hand. "Enie meni...minie...YOU!-"

"Wait!"

Everything froze for a moment.

"I surrender!" You shook your head before Bill dropped you.

"Good choice!" The air was knocked out of you on impact with the floor. "Don't do it!" You yelled. Bill snapped his fingers, and a zipper replaced your mouth.

"I accept under one condition, you let my brother y/n and the kids go."

"It's a Deal.

Bill stuck out his hand, a bright blue flame engulfing it. Stanley stared at it, glancing back at his family behind him.

"Grunkle Ford, don't trust him!" Dipper yelled.

You stood to your feet, fighting the zipper on your mouth, finally freeing it.

"Stop! Take me instead of st-Ford!" You said running up to stans side.

"What are you doing?" You ignored him. "I know everything he does, I studied thought journals to reopen the portal, I might even know MORE than him, plus.. you can keep my body as a physical form. it's younger than Fords!." He snapped again, the zipper disappearing from your mouth.

"Y/n! Are you crazy!?"

"Y/n no, you can't do this!" Both brothers were yelling at you now. Stan held your hand tightly, giving you the same look you gave him only moments before. You could hear Bill hum while he thought.

"Alright y/n! You make a good point it's a deal then!"

"Same rules apply the Pines family leaves here untouched!" You added.

Bill rolled his eyes.

"Sure, sure."

You turned quickly and hugged stan,slipping something in his pocket. "Do what you have too, take care of the kids. I love you!" Stan stared at you in shock, unable to speak before you turned away and locked hands with Bill.

The Pines watched you fall into a deep sleep in front of them. "She looks peacful." Mable commented. Voicing exactly what stan was thinking in that moment. He felt in his pocket for what you had slipped inside pulling out your engagement ring.

Ford sighed, deeply pulling out the memory gun.

"Wait, we can't...." stan Said stepping in front of you, blocking for your ring firmly in his grasp.

"Stanley, we don't have any other choice...:

"It should have been me... cant...I can't lose her! Before the kids, she was the only family I had I...Shes everything to me." He said, falling to his knees in front of you helplessly hanging his head.

"Stanley...step aside."

You would have tidied the place up if you knew you were having guests. The only thing on your mind when Bill entered was memories of Stan and the kids.

"What do you see in that guy?" Bill asked, finding you watching your last date with stan. You wondered if that really was the last ever time you'd be with him.

"He makes me laugh." You chuckled, you got up wiping the memory completely from your mind, now only standing in complete nothingness. You thought it would have happened right away, but you figured Stanley was putting up a fight about it.

That was another reason you liked him.

Then you felt it.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you cipher, but you messed with the people I love."

Blue flames engulfed your mind before the blink of an eye.

"You tricked me!" He made a move like he was trying to leave. Instead, you created a cage around him. "Your in MY head I still have some control of you right now." You said as he pulled at the bars.

"Is all of this worth it! All for the Pines family? For STANLEY? "

"If not them, who?"

You sat down in front of his cage and watched the flames get higher. "I can offer you anything! Let me out, fame, money riches! I'll let you and stanley live out the happily married life you've always wanted!Anything, please!"

"You're begging for your life!?" You laughed at him.

That was really the last thing you remembered laughing in Bill's face before it all went away.

It all ended so suddenly. In a massive wave, it was over. Stanley wasn't really sure what else he was expecting to happen when it ended. But he didn't really have time to think about that now.

"She did it." Ford said somewhere from behind him as he made his way to you. "Y/n!" You blinked at him in confusion before he scooped you up in the tightest hug he could muster lifting you from the ground.

"Oh! Ah ow!"

"You did it! You saved us!" He said, placing you down and cupping your cheeks. He was so caught up in the moment that he forgot what you just sacrificed.

You stared at him in confusion. "Uh, sorry, Mr." You said shaking him off. "I'm not really sure who you are or what you are talking about..."

"No...y/n c'mon, it's me! It's stan.."

"Stanley... she can't remember..." Ford said, placing a hand on his shoulder. They watched as the kids tried to talk to you, sharing their own memories with you, trying to get you to remember them.

Everyone decided to go back home and rest a moment before trying any further. Maybe the shack would help. You let stan hold your hand mainly to help guide you through the woods.

"You all live like this?" You asked partly, joking as he helped you step over the ruble and debris of the shack. "You live like this too." Stan corrected in a similar joking manner.

"Huh." Stan guided you to what you assumed to be the family room at one point and let you flop into a big yellow seat.

"This feels nice." You sighed, shutting your eyes. You weren't sure why, but your body ached, your head throbbed, and it felt like the first time you'd gotten off your feet in days.

The room fell silent. You opened one eye to see everyone staring at you and each other silently debating on what to do.

"I know!" Mable shouted, running through the house before returning with a book in hand. "My scrapbook! This has to help her remember!" Mable jumped up onto the seat, squishing herself between you and the arm rest. "Look! This is the first time we met! The day we came to gravity falls!"

"What about that romantic yet almost dangerous date we planned for you and stan?" Dipper asked, flipping through the pages.

You stared at the pages, photos with you in them, stories to go with it. But none of it was clicking.

"LOOK! the wedding invites you, let me decorate!" Mable said, shoving one very glittery piece of pink paper into your hand.

"Wedding?" The paper read both yours and stans name the line where a date should have been remained empty.

"If only your grunkle could commit to a date, these would be beautiful mable." You joked, rolling your eyes.

Everyone shared a look. "And where is my ring!?"

"She's staring to remember!" Stan jumped to find the ring once again, digging it out from his pocket and slipping it into place on your finger. You felt something light up inside you when he did. You placed a hand on his cheek and smiled before planting a reasuring kiss on the top of his head, followed by you squishing his fez down on him with a laugh.

It took the rest of the night, and even a couple of days, but eventually you everything fell back into place. And eventually you and stan where passing out wedding invites together to the towns folk of gravity falls during the twins birthday party.

[marsupials-of-mars]

Was thinking about @ckret2 's bill when i wrote this, but it applies to bill more generally. I think the main thing people pick up on, maybe subconsciously, about their bill that makes him feel so accurate is that he feels.

A lot of people (and most people are guilty of this including me whether they mean to or not) tend to write him as a tragic immortal? In the sense that he's been beaten down by time and learned never to care about people, and has lost the ability to care.

And the first part of that is true!

He HAS learned never to care about people! In the tbob love page, he says its stupid to tie yourself to a mortal in a way where your happiness depends on them. He's LEARNED this. But he has NOT lost the ability to care. And he DOES care despite knowing he shouldn't.

He interacts with people genuinely, he legitimately enjoys the company of "lesser" mortal species, he has fun, he thinks about people when they're gone, he's taken lovers, he speaks in phrases hes picked up from past earth decades because he likes how they sound (ya dig?).

And some people are frustrated when he's written suave and unfeeling for this reason, because he is a goofball. But the thing is, he DOES act, in a way, suave and unfeeling when it comes to situations like Ford and Dipper. He plays up his "immortal deity" persona, constantly reminding them of all the knowledge he knows, PROVING his value to them.

But he gets mad! He falls in love! He jokes around because its fun! He gets stupid and reckless when he's upset! He burns bridges when he doesnt get his way! These are all insANELY short-sighted things for a trillion-year-old to care about!

This is why he can relate to people, and why he acts like a kid sometimes. I firmly believe that he stopped aging the day he destroyed his dimension (which is basically canon i think) not only physically but mentally. He legitimately cannot mature, cannot gain wisdom no matter how much he tries.

He has a lot of INTELLIGENCE and KNOWLEGE, but its like giving a child the library of alexandria and infinite time to explore. Sure theyll probably learn some things out of boredom or curiosity, but theres no curriculum. They COULD read it all, but why would they? That's boring and dumb and they want to climb the shelves and make book forts instead.

Now, more specifically about ckret2's Goldie:

He describes himself as a consumate extrovert. He hangs out with mabel and watches tv and goes to the Rainbow club. And while he does these things, he isnt thinking "this is so below me, why should i care about any of this?" He's just trying to have fun, and is knowingly fulfilling his social needs. He believes he and ford WERE friends.

And the most important part of this that im always thinking about is Bill claiming that being friends, enjoying peoples company, loving, playing, and all that is not mutually exclusive with being an all powerful god of destruction to be worshipped by all.

Which makes sense! Because he is INTELLIGENT and he knows that he's more powerful than these people, and he SHOULD be a being that demands their worship, and he needs to find something that lasts, and makes sense in the wake of INFINITY. But he also has the mind of a mortal, and he thinks the same way he always has. And with both of these insights, the ONLY thing that MAKES SENSE is to have his cake and eat it too. Focus on the big picture while also enjoying the present, SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Manipulating ford to his own end that leads him closer to his forever plan, while also bringing him to karaoke and falling in love. Securing his rule and reputation over the nightmare realm, being feared throughout the multiverse, having his fingers in as many pies as possible-- while partying with his henchmaniacs, drinking out of solo cups and flashing the cops.

Its the only thing that stops him from going crazy. If you have a mortal mind thats built to love and lose and feel and party and wisecrack, and you relinguish it to the horrifying prospect of timelessness, if you're always looking at the existential...you are not going to last a trillion years.

[dansemacabre]

are you stuck trying to decode the book of bill but you don’t want the keys handed to you? i was in your shoes literally three days ago! i failed and looked up codes on reddit (because a good grade in book of bill is a normal thing to want and a possible thing to get) but now you don’t have to!! here are some BOOK OF BILL CODEBREAKING HINTS designed to kindly shove you in the right direction!

my credentials are: one summer cryptography class i took in high school, autism, weirdly good pattern recognition (probably because of the autism), and a desperate need to make things make sense. sorry in advance if any of this seems patronizing. hints below the page break!!

general tips:

- A and I will become your bestest friends. like 99 times out of 100 any single letter is a or i. try those out first

- the apostrophe will also become your bestest friend- especially x’x, which will almost always be i’m (except there’s one place in the book where it is not. don’t make my mistakes.)

- themysteryofgravityfalls.com is SO so helpful. for non-symbolic ciphers u can lowkey put in codes and button mash caesar and atbash. godsend. devilsend? idk someone sent it and it’s wonderful

- call every phone number, visit every website. they bought those domains for a reason! i think!

- any list of numbers 1-26 is a1z26. like that’s simply a truth

cipher specific hints now !!!

RUNES (characters taken from norse runes)

- there is a key for this one in the book! maybe u spotted it right away but i did not lol, so look for an instance of 26 rune-y characters!

- the rune code on the inside cover is a graffiti joke- translates to a common thing people write on walls or carve into books made out of brain matter ig

THERAPESE (found in the last few pages during bills court-ordered therapy)

- bill’s picture is labeled in this section, so those characters translate directly to “bill cipher” ! once you have those, you can apply them to other instances of the code and go from there

- the rest of the names of the… things around him on the inpatients page are puns, titles, and/or weird words. they might look wrong until you have Every Character- trust ur key! use the rest of the instances of this code to find the missing letters first, make sense of it and laugh at the clever little joke later

BROSCODE (only two instances, found in journal 3 lost pages)

- the name is a hint by itself- this is stanley and stanford related! both stans use it once somewhere in the book!

NEWBILL (the most common symbolic cipher in the book)

- if you have journal three, the characters are VERY similar to a code there- not the same though, so don’t try and use that key. but like journal three, this code will (almost) always be bill speaking.

- ok lowkey i think the best way to explain this is just to give you one answer. i cracked this by randomly guessing that the small writing by the galaxy drawing on the journal three page “a voice form the past” translates to “forget the past”. go from there my loves

- that being said. everything else from journal three uses the same characters, but a different code. haven’t cracked it yet. looking for advice tee bee haych. i’ll edit this once i find it out

- also: dipper uses this code in his section. that’s pretty helpful to get most of the rest of the characters!

now some page specific hints!:

silly straw page. Oh god

- damn that themysteryofgravityfallsdotcom sure is helpful! Anyway,

- the numbers code is Weird. but the number don’t equal letters. notice the spaces between number groups- pair the groups, try and add a dash somewhere within the first group and a colon somewhere within the second group. you’ll have to use your resources a little

- if that made zero sense: “uhvrxufhv” phdqv brxu idyrulwh ghhsob ohjdo wy vkrz ylhzlqj zhevlwh. ru brxu kxox dffrxqw

- sorry for the vagueness but i really don’t want to spoil this one- i got it spoiled but i think figuring it out on your own would be really rewarding and worth your Time

messages on your tv

- there are strange boxes on the bottom of the page. gonna be so honest don’t know how they mean anything at all to anyone but allegedly it’s a code! i’ll look into it. idk man

okay. i think that’s all i’ve got? please comment if u have questions for me or other folks on here or suggestions on how to sound less like a fucking nerd talking abt this shit. idk i love that people are set on cracking this book asap but i hope this helps ppl who prefer The Thrill Of The Chase and also like to feel smart and important and so very talented

[fordtato]

The Gravity Falls Timeline

All of this is based on my video, but I assume not many people will want to sit through 2.5 hours of me working this out, so here's a condensed written version.

Some rules I set for myself: If the actual name of an IP, a person or an event is referenced in J3/the Show, I included it into my math for my timeline (ex: references to Ronald Reagan or The Eurythmics, or other REAL WORLD figures). If a REFERENCE is made without the actual name being referenced (ex: in the Journal, Ford mentions Phantom Bustifiers, a reference to Ghostbusters, a movie that didn’t come out in our world until 1984), I did not put that into this timeline (I know what year Ghostbusters came out, but not which year Phantom Bustifiers came out).

With that in mind, let’s begin:

The Stans are born June 15 1951.

Evidence: 

Their Bar Mitzvah happened when they were 12 (not 13, as is typical) and their birthday is on June 15th. Because a Bar Mitzvah is dependent on one’s birthday on the Hebrew calendar and not the Gregorian calendar, this means that their 13th Hebrew birthday must land on a date that is BEFORE their 13th Gregorian birthday, something that is typically more rare (the Hebrew birthday is usually AFTER one’s typically celebrated birthday).

The only viable year where this applies is 1951, when their birthday lands on Sivan 11, resulting in a 13th Hebrew birthday in May of 1964, BEFORE their 13th birthday on June 15th

The Stans find the Stan O War in spring of 1964 at age 12 (or 1961, if you think they were 10)

Evidence:

There are two viable dates for when they find the Stan o War, depending on if they’re 10 (the same age Stan was when he started writing Lil Stanley in the Lost Legends comics) or 12 (the same age as Dipper and Mabel). I think that the way the artist drew the young Stan twins in the Lil Stanley comic looks (age 10) looks slightly younger than how they look in the series (and they are designed a little differently than they look in the Jersey Devil comic, when we KNOW they have the Stan O War already), but there is evidence for both sides.

I lean toward them being 12 because they pull out a sharpie, which wasn’t invented until 64, but there is a reference to a Bruce Springsteen song in a magazine in Lost Legends, quoted by someone named “Brucey S, age 11” and Bruce Springsteen would have been 11 in 1961, so this might be 1961 (or the magazine Ford is reading from might be an old magazine.) I went with 1964, because I think 12 parallelled the ages of Dipper and Mabel better. 

Stan gets kicked out in spring of 1969 right before they turned 18. Ford starts at Backupsmore in the fall semester.

Evidence: 

Stan makes a reference to Jackie O, which means Jackie Kennedy already remarried to be Jackie Onnassis, and is also still in the public eye, something that would be progressively less common after 1969 (she also happened to visit New Jersey in spring of 1969 and that would have made state headlines, something which is probably a coincidence, but nonetheless very interesting).

Furthermore, there is a portrait of Nixon in the principal’s office, and he would have been sworn in in early 1969. 

I think 1969 is more likely than 1970 because ‘69 gives more wiggle room for Shermie to be the baby (more on that later) and for Ford to get at least one PhD.

-Stan dates Carla “Hotpants” McCorkle,(reconnecting for another date after the one at the theater in their teenage years), probably in 1971 (if this “hallucinatey” date even happened at all; if you dont think it happened at all, disregard). 

Evidence:

We know this is a later date, when stan is an adult, because his design matches the designs on one of his fake IDs from his years on the run. It was likely 1971 because that is when the term “hotpants” was used to describe those short shorts.

The hippie aesthetic also started dying down after 1972 after the Manson attacks, so I picked 71 for the Juke Joint date.

Ford graduated from Backupsmore at the very earliest 1974, MAYBE early 1975.

Evidence:

In the journal it says he went to Gravity Falls in 1975, but we know he couldn’t have graduated earlier than 74, because we know that he played DDnMoreD in college, and he says in the journal that it was copyrighted in 1974. He also says Stanley always mocked him for playing it, which literally isn’t possible, so he’s either misremembering Stanley mocking him for an EARLIER TTRPG, or this copyright is for a later edition (though I think it must be the former, since DDnMD is a clear reference to DnD which WAS copyrighted in 1974. Still. Up to you.)

This means he completed his PhD in 6 years (or, three years ahead of schedule as described in the series). I believe many of his other PhDs were honorary degrees, and didn't bother working them into this timeline. He got them later.

Stan joins Rico’s gang in the late 70s

Evidence: 

Sometime in the late 70s, Stan gets tangled up in what is implied to be the Colombian cartel, which would have been most active in the late 70s, between 75 and 79. Following his trajectory on the map in ATOTS showing his path across the country, he headed below the border toward the end of that trackline, so it was probably later on.

Ford started Journal 3 in 1981, shortly after meeting Bill in 1981. 

Evidence: 

He says he discovered his muse in 1981 in J3. He also says he is starting J3 six years after he started investigating Gravity Falls (which he did in 75). He also says early on in J3 that he is in his 30s, and he would have turned 30 in June of 1981, three days before he started J3.

There is some fuckery here on how he’s known his muse for “two years” midway J3, and the way I explain that in the video is that the first part of J3 spans nearly 2 years, and there is ample evidence that he wrote many pages out of order. This might be a page from later on in 1982, early 83, instead of mid-81. 

We know that Reagan was already in office at this point.

 Fiddleford shows up in July of 1982. Fiddleford begins making the memory gun after the Gremloblin incident later that year. 

Evidence:

We know at least a year has passed because if you track the months, they go from June, to August, and then later on down to July again when Fiddleford is called. As for the Gremloblin incident, it happened relatively close to the bunker incident (which would have been closer to summer, since it was still hot outside) but it was followed closely by the carnival, where they had squash for sale, and squash are in season after September, typically. 

First Portal Test is on January 18, 1983

Fiddleford falls through the portal, his head poking through, on January 18 1983, the day after the confrontation he had with Ford in the diner. 

Late February, 1983 - The Portal Incident

Evidence:

There are three many reasons I chose this date. Firstly, we know it is 1983 not just because it follows the trajectory of earlier dates, but because we know that Ford has heard The Eurythmics’ chart topper “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” because when he returns he says he is looking forward to their next one, and that came out in January of 83’, before he would have been sucked through.

Secondly, five weeks after January 18th, it would still be snowy in up-mountain Oregon where Ford is, but not that snowy in New Mexico where Stan is when he gets the post card.

Thirdly, we know at least 5-6 weeks have passed because Ford describes about this many weeks during his “paranoid era” in the journal (more than one instance of “a couple weeks, several weeks, a few weeks”, etc.). 

In the year 2000, Dipper and Mabel are born. 

Evidence:

I know most people think it’s 1999. And that is fine, but I have ample evidence that the show takes place in 2013, not 2012 (see below), so 2000 would have to work for their birthday.

But 2000 also gives a little bit of wiggle room to Shermie being the baby. (If you don’t think Shermie is the baby, disregard this section). If Shermie IS the baby, then if he was born in spring of 1969 (late 68 at the earliest), then you can barely fit two generations of Pines in the space between 1969 and 2000. It would mean that both Shermie and his kid would need to be 15 when they had a kid, which is … not great, but not impossible? I dunno man, take it up with Hirsch. (Or just assume the baby is Shermie’s kid. Follow your dreams).

In 2013, Dipper and Mabel visit their Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls. 

Evidence: 

The Northwest ghost died in what is described in the journal as “The Great Flood of 1863”. The Northwests are trying to keep this flood under wraps in J3, because they don’t want people finding out about the lumberjacks killed in the flood. The Northwest Ghost swore with his dying breath to come back 150 yrs after his death. 150 years later from 1863, is 2013.

The 1040 form that Stan is filling out his Tax Fraud note on in the truth-telling ep is a 2012 form. To file tax returns, you use w2s 1040s labeled under the PREVIOUS year

Sevral Timez shouts "2013"

1983 is 30 years before 2013. 

Note: This would mean that the Stans are 62 at the end of the summer, which might mean that they are "pushing 70" as Stan describes himself.

Anyways, here's the full video if you have 2.5 hours. Otherwise, enjoy this resource!

[princessbutler1316]

O!Ciel's Real Name Theory

So, where do I start? First we may have some clues, here and there.

But I will start first with Yana's name, we all know that's a pseudonym, so a Brief description of how the Japanese letter system works, it has three types: Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana

Katakana and Hiragana are basically the same, but one is used to foreign language and the other Japanese language

Kanji is composed of ideograms where each one represents a concrete or abstract idea. Also they can have more than one meaning

枢- toboso

やな- ya na

Let's forget about the Yana and focus in the surname, 枢, when you search on a Japanese name site (I'm also an author and these sites are my salvation), one of the pronunciation is this:

The constellation is composed of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major;

Not only are the stars in the Big Dipper easily found themselves, they may also be used as guides to other stars outside of the asterism. Thus it is often the starting point for introducing Northern Hemisphere beginners to the night sky:

Polaris, the North Star (seems familiar?), is found by imagining a line from Merak (β) to Dubhe (α) and then extending it for five times the distance between the two Pointers. Extending a line from Megrez (δ) to Phecda (γ), on the inside of the bowl, leads to Regulus (α Leonis) and Alphard (α Hydrae).

BUT THE STAR THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION WAS THIS ONE:

By following the curve of the handle from Alioth (ε) to Mizar (ζ) to Alkaid (η), one reaches Arcturus (α Boötis) and Spica (α Virginis). A mnemonic for this is "Arc to Arcturus then speed (or spike) to Spica."

Why was this the only star that caught my attention?

No specific reason the name sounded good to me.

Jokes apart after some research, I'm positive this is O!Ciel real name:

ARCTURUS PHANTOMHIVE

Or Arturo Phantomhive, since u know, French names

But if you ask, do I have more proof or evidence?

HELL YES

Evidence 1

Firstly, let's go back a little and talk a little about colors, starting with Weston High School, which, as everyone knows, is an improved version of Harry Potter but without magic.

The only house that was not represented was Hufflepuff, which has the main color: yellow.

Instead we have Violet Wolf which is represented by the color violet/purple

What does it have to do with it?

They are complementary colors in the spectrum of colors, any painter or artist knows that

This was also applied to the Green Witch Arc, which in this case was used to replace Little Red Riding Hood

So, what else does this have to do with it?

Well, Arcturus is an ORANGE star

While Sirius is a BLUE star

Yes, the two are complementary colors also the fact O!Ciel is always using Blue...

Evidence 2

I'm not going to deny this one but it's kind of stupid, but it could still be relevant

Did you notice that the name Ciel Phantomhive has the same initials as his grandmother?

C.P.

Well, if the name Arcturus Phantomhive has the same initials as if Madame Red had married Vincent

A.P.

And all the evidence points to O!Ciel being closer to his mother than his father…

You understand what I meant

[thebestusernamepossible]

Thoughts combining two of three of my biggest interests rn

Isat x Gravity falls (note I’m role swapping, but if the roles had romance between them please note that it’s platonic now. Like the people in the Isa and Sif roles aren’t being shipped. Likewise, if I put someone in the gravity falls roles and they are being shipped I don’t ship those GF characters necessarily.)

Anyway, GF characters in isat roles

Siffrin -> Mabel. Her whole thing is that she doesn’t want to lose the people she loves and she tries to hold onto them, accidentally causing the apocalypse. Sounds VERY similar to Sif’s whole deal tbh. Mabel is also someone who acts as the ‘funny jokes person’ in her group, similarly to Siffrin, and controversy i’d say it’s a bit of a protective layer for both of them. Also the way Siffrin’s loops works and how he almost seems to crave them near the end and how Mabel was in the bubble can be parallels. Do you see the vision???

Odile-> Dipper. OK HEAR ME OUT!!! I know you’re going ‘no Ford would be Odile!!!’ WRONG! First of all, no Dipper is scrappy in a way Odile is and Ford isn’t (Ford is badass and kinda unhinged but he’s not ‘scrappy’ even when going insane). Also Dipper is generally more pessimistic and less gullible than Ford. Dipper and Odile are both people with a thirst for knowledge who don’t like not knowing things. Both these characters have a clear ambition, but are similarly grounded in how much they CARE. Also Ford could never pull off the sus quest, but I think Dipper could 100%. Also also Dipper and Odile are doing the same type of shenanigans to me (-awkward teen boy things).

Isabeau-> Stan. Hmmmmmmmmm…. Changing everything about yourself until the old you is dead because you hate yourself? Being too much of a coward to communicate with the people you love despite them meaning everything to you? Refusing to acknowledge how smart you are and acting dumb (well ok this one is a stretch because Stan actually thinks he’s stupid, but he TAUGHT HIMSLEF TO REBUILD THE PORTAL???? FORD needed BILLS help for that! Ofc Stan had some of Fords notes, but like…. He taught himslef complex physics to PUNCH A HOLE IN REALITY. I think it applies.)? Yeah Isa and Stan are weirdly good parallels.

Mirabelle-> Ford. I’m mostly relating him to Mira becaus Sif the way he felt like he was solely responsible for killing Bill weighed on him. This isn’t the most 1-1, but Mira is someone who is different from her peers. She follows a belief of change while being the most aroace autistic invidual ever who wants to stay the same execpt she gets to be a scholar and learn everything. OK FORD. Also I think if the Change God pulled a Bill Cipher on her she would also become a Sci-Fi hero and go try to fucking kill it, Ty <3

Bonnie-> Pacifica? Sorry the pines family is four members and none of them except maybe Mabel fit into the Bonnie slot, and Maybel is better as Sif to me. They could theoretically be Soos or Wendy who sometimes get added but none of them give Bonnue vibes and also if you have one you need the other.

Loop-> I so BADLY want to say Dippy Fresh…. so I will. Loop is Dippy fresh, fuck you. (Created from a wish of an alternate Mabel wishing that somewhere she had company while going isane? For a Dipper that understood the Loops? Idk.) OR MAYBE!!!! Anti-Mabel????? Alternatively she’s ‘Shooting Star’ (Mabel in a loop situation)

King-> Bill. Do I need to explain this? Pathetic horrible guys who have sympathetic backstories but are sopping wet assholes

Change-> axolotl

Euphie- J the Unswerving (Oracle)

[eldragon-x]

Okay let's talk about how actually Bill is attached to Ford and genuinely sees him as a friend and maybe even likes him more than literally anyone else which was originally going to mainly revolve around Weirdmageddon, however I absolutely needed to add creator commentary and extra-canon in order to dig into Bill's mentality.

First, I'd like to point out this comment by Hirsch from the Sock Opera DVD commentary about how Bill views Mabel:

“Bill genuinely believes that Mabel’s kinda like him. He sees Mabel as a chaos agent. Like, Mabel has got a little bit of a seed of anarchy in her, she’s a little bit selfish, she likes to have fun at whatever cost. And Bill is all those things times a billion. So he thinks when he lays it all out for her like: ‘How about instead of being lame, you do something fun! And crush whoever you want in the process!’. He thinks that’s gonna go over. And he’s not wrong in seeing that side in Mabel but Mabel is a better person than Bill Cipher.”

as well as this bit from "Dipper's and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun" written by Bill:

Both which pretty much confirm that Bill likes Mabel and assumes they're alike based on a couple similarities, which adds up when you look at how he treats and interacts with Mabel in the show but let's not derail.

The point I'm trying to make here is that if Bill can get attached and relate to a twelve year old he's known for half a summer, it's pretty easy to imagine he probably feels similarly about a guy he's known for thirty years and is the character who by far has the strongest connection to Bill.

Of course for Bill to relate to Ford there has to be some similarity in the first place. And there are! You could compare Ford's willingness to build an interdimensional portal to gain knowledge and admiration to Bill's desire to reach beyond his own two-dimensional world and eventual attain of knowledge and power.

Of course, Ford isn't the first person to attempt to build a portal for Bill. But the similarities run deeper than that.

So you know how Ford's been ostracized for all his life and leaned into trying to be outstanding and special which was encouraged and made worse by Bill?

Because Bill namedrops the author of Flatland in the Bill Cipher AMA when asked about his birth dimension.

and on top of that, in Journal 3 Ford describes a dimension called Exwhylia which references Flatland and suggests Bill could have come from a similar dimension.

To keep it short for those unfamiliar, Flatland is a book about a place of that same name and describes it as a plane where three-dimensionality is incomprehensible, only the heads of society are allowed to know about other dimensions, the social system depends on a strict hierarchy, everything that risks deviating from the norm is shut down, may be worth mentioning here that triangles are near the bottom of the hierarchy too.

Yeah I don't think I need to really explain that Bill would absolutely hate it here and it's really jarring how much this place clashes with him.

Anyway do you see where I'm going with this? Bill probably being shunned by his world and Ford's whole deal?

About the leaning into being special thing, Flatland people are really just. people but shapes. So to me it implies Bill didn't always have his powers (on top of him literally saying "I wasn't always this way" in Weird 3 while talking about his newly gained powers and before talking about his old dimension). Can you imagine how much gaining those brought out the worst in him? I think he was already self-centered before but now he has more reason to see himself above others.

Now obviously, Bill just claimed Ford was special and called him his friend as a manipulation tactic, but it's significant to remember that we're talking about the guy who said this:

and is pretty much confirmed to apply this mindset to himself:

I think that while yes, Ford and Bill's friendship started out as nothing but manipulation on Bill's part, he really grew attached to the guy based on what they had in common.

Unfortunately, Bill does the same mistake with Ford as he does with Mabel and assumed he's more like him than he really is. I mean,

Bill wrote this into the Journal during Ford's paranoid era. And I don't think he's just rambling because he says "don't you understand" and "I ask you" which very much sounds like he's trying to be convincing.

Anyway, yeah I think this scene from Weirdmageddon 1 was really another genuine offer, rather than just plain and simply Bill mocking Ford.

Also Weirdmageddon 2 pretty much proves to me that Bill does see Ford as special. Just look at how he's always carrying golden Ford around in contrast to all the stone-turned townsfolk being built into his throne. Literally special treatment! In a bad messed up way.

Also a big fan of this episode showing that Bill does not care about the well-being of his so-called friends (which is even more outright in the uncut storyboard version of this scene)

really cementing the fact that not only does Bill see himself above mortals, but above everyone and really the only apparent reason they are friends is because they support Bill and he thinks they're fun.

So yeah it is absolutely possible for Bill to regard Ford on a similar level as them, maybe even above them. Finally, let's talk about the penthouse scene because I have a lot of feelings about that one.

-

After attempting to charm Ford, Bill's first move in trying to negotiate is talking about his old dimension and how restricting and narrow-minded it was. Already brought this scene up earlier but honestly the fact that he just drops that on Ford is wild to me.

Like, this is the same guy who, according to the Axolotl, yearns for his old dimension but denies to himself that he deeply regrets destroying it. Bill hates showing vulnerability. He hates even acknowledging it. He only cares for vulnerability if it comes from other people for him to exploit!

So him telling Ford that his dimension was awful and he was genuinely miserable there is huge. Not just him telling Ford that, but also just the expression? The tone? This is the most sincere Bill has ever been throughout the show and possibly the most sincere he's been in decades, centuries, millennia, God knows. Even if it's still filtered through a lie he's been telling himself for most of his life.

And yeah obviously, Bill was desperate and needed Ford to help him at this point but I think it would've been "easier" for Bill to just. Maybe try and solve the barrier problem himself. Ford figured it out, so surely Bill can at least try instead of, Idk, laying his heart out to the person who has dedicated his life to killing him.

I think Bill tried to make Ford relate to him in this scene for the sake of getting him to join but also maybe, just maybe, Bill craved connection? Dude's a lot more sentimental than he seems and lets on and spending an eternity only befriending people who you'll put below yourself after killing everyone you've ever known has got to get lonely.

Not that I think Bill truly saw ford as an equal, Absolutely Not, but I think Bill saw in Ford someone who could understand him. Someone who, at least for a short time, just simply enjoyed and appreciated his company as a friend. Maybe even a more naive version of Bill himself who hasn't yet realized what's good for him, which is really ironic because Ford is the one ended up stirring his life into a positive direction where he can be truly happy again, while Bill revels in his own misery.

Well. So much about this eleven second long scene I think about way too hard 👍

Bill then goes into his whole tangent about just trying to free the dimension of restrictions and making it into a fun and better world which is reflected in the Journal 3 messages from earlier and ends up on this:

Because this is what Bill believes to be Ford's ideal. He wants knowledge and admiration? Why here you go! Surely there's no reason Ford wouldn't agree to helping Bill now, right?? He's offering him everything he could ever want! He'd be part of his group! Everyone gets what they want!

And again, yeah Bill could've just made things up and immediately tossed Ford to the side as soon as he would've given him the equation to break the barrier, but that little scene where he talks to Ford about his old home dimension just. Really drives it home for me that he does in some way truly sees Ford as his friend. Y'know, on top of literally everything else I talked about here.

-

EDIT: Like the fool I am, I forgot to bring up a point about Bill keeping Ford alive during Weirdmageddon despite Ford posing a huge threat to him which is odd but uuh just read this, it pretty much covers it.

[ahkylous]

Drifting Stars Masterlist Ⅱ

I never thought there would be a part two of this solely because of the limited number of fanfictions there actually are for this au. Yet here we are, four months later and somehow able to make this post. Same rules apply; general order of favourites, you are all entitled to your own opinion, add any I may have missed, and that's kinda it.

Onward!

Disconnected by DarrowWyrlde - 4th part of a series, 2 028 words, 2/13

Ok so this one probably should not be in this post at all since it's not drifting stars and more of a lost legends fic. I only put this one here because it's still about Mabel in the multiverse and who knows, maybe that's why you read drifting stars. I don't have much else to say, just thought I'd put it here.

Drift Away by GravityUniverse115 - oneshot, 1 174 words, 1/1

This one was written well despite it being fairly short, the only catch being that it - again - is not entirely drifting stars. It is about Mabel going through the portal, but it is written more as a concept in comparison to a typical oneshot. If someone did write a fic based off of this tho I would definitely read it.

The Drifting Star by Booblybaba - standalone, 35 337 words, 15/?

This was your typical drifting stars fic, I don't have too much else to say except that it was good and that it ends just as I was getting into it. It was a bit fast paced but again, not bad.

Into the Unknown by MintGreenMare - standalone, 31 681 words, 22/22

Finished and Drifting Stars does not go in the same sentence, and yet this fic exists. Fully complete, 100% resolved. It only took like 9 years for someone to actually finish writing one of these. It did take me a bit to get into it compared to other stuff I've read, mostly because it feels more like a collection of oneshots as opposed to a whole fic, but I did still enjoy it.

Ad Astra by Queen_Mab - standalone, 103 406 words, 18/?

So many people go crazy for this fic and I kinda get why, the worldbuilding is done really well and the stuff going on back in Gravity Falls is a lot more interesting than just Dipper and Stan rebuilding the portal. The only setback for me is that it feels unrealistic and was almost pushed too far in some aspects. But again, I get the appeal and do wanna see what would happen next.

Save That Light by Mezzorellasticks - standalone, 11 293 words, 5/?

I'm surprised there aren't more fic's with some of the concepts in this one. I won't spoil it but I could see this happening to Mabel more than once and yet no one has written about it. Some parts felt a little off in terms of character but overall it was pretty cool.

A Familiar Face by Missintroverted - 1st part of a series, 2 350 words, 1/1

This is another fic that's not entirely drifting stars but at the same time kinda is. Instead of Mabel being fully related to Ford, it's another version of her but older (possibly a relativity + reverse portal version). I thought it interesting and I enjoyed the interaction between the two.

Among The Stars by Maviiigirl - standalone, 4 603 words, 2/?

This fic follows the typical outline so far; Mabel falling through the portal, Ford being an awkward dumbass, the two figuring out what's going on before any proper multiverse madness occurs. But the way it was written was really good, that and the fact that this author also wrote a very good oneshot which gives me hope for the future of this fic.

A Little Help by Maviiigirl - oneshot, 3 130 words, 1/1

I thought this oneshot was so cool. Mabel being all responsible while internally panicking and Ford being delusional was actually so funny to me. Some parts were a little quick but overall I thought it was really well done. I kinda wanna see it be continued just to see what Ford would say when he woke up tho.

That's mostly it, if I were to compare the two list's I'd say the quality of the fics from the other one are far better, but these one's are a lot more recent meaning there is hope that some of them will be continued.

I didn't mean to insult any of these, I find my main problem with fanfiction is the way the characters are written and the way characters bond, especially since many are rushed and often there isn't enough time allowed for certain emotions to properly form before diving straight into hurt/comfort. I understand tho, I struggle with that a lot in my writing too.

Anyway, here's the first masterlist if you wanna look at those too :))

[i-love-orion]

something weird about asexuality is i haven't exactly found a replacement word for finding someone hot?

like, despite how much i abhor the idea of having sex i'll still make 'horny' comments, for example 'i'm no better than a man'..

but if you were to ask me what i wish to do to the individual in question the answer would probably be to just look at them??? hold hands i guess???

but like what do i say to convey that? attractive feels too stuffy. cute does not apply in all contexts. cool doesn't feel strong enough.

what, i say pleasing to the eye???

how do i describe that someone gives me the same feeling as the big dipper or turkey vultures or beetle where i just kinda want to sit and watch them.

[ckret2]

This design is so good!!! Would love to know more about Mabel’s interactions with Bill!

(Footnotes: "wtf is that purple thing Bill's wearing?" The first thing he could find. "Mabel has an earring?" Yeah that's how I've decided to show she's 13. Also her braces are a slightly different color because I got to choose new rubber bands colors whenever I went to the orthodontist. "What's the joke with Xanthe?" It's an Ancient Greek name that means golden/yellow. "Is this why Bill's fake name around outsiders is 'Goldie'?" Yes. It's short for Goldilocks.)

They get along like a house on fire. They get along so well it makes everyone else kind of nervous. They get along so well the others suspect Bill's faking it to manipulate Mabel.

In truth, they actually do get along like that. If the inside of Stan's mind looks like a black-and-white Escher painting and the inside of Ford's mind looks like a somber Kubrick movie and the inside of Dipper's mind looks a lot like reality, then the inside of Mabel's mind looks like a collaboration between Hieronymus Bosch and Lisa Frank—and wouldn't you know, the inside of Bill's looks a lot alike. Neon DayGlo chaotic colorful anarchy.

They're similar enough that if everyone in the shack takes a random guess at what it is Bill wants, Mabel's guess is usually closest to the mark—and because of that, he gravitates more toward her, which gives her more practice making sense of him, which quickly turns her into the household Bill expert.

Add to that, when Bill's not being creepy, Mabel's the most willing to help him with not-bad not-evil things. And as the local arts & crafts specialist she's the most qualified to help with his acute self-image issues. It sounds fun!!!

Bill won't talk about (or acknowledge) his feelings unless he's hit an explosive boil-over point; but inwardly, privately, he's raw and lonely and desperately grateful for someone who's on the same wavelength as him and who's willing, in a tiny way, to help fix his body.

He's also too alien to recognize (or care) that Mabel's efforts are straight up ridiculous.

For all their unexpected and frightening similarities, the main difference between Bill and Mabel is that Mabel's idea of a good time ends when real harm to other people begins—but that only applies when she notices the harm. Bill only half comprehends that she has limits at all, and when he does understand, he assumes her limits are like his: they're driven by fear of external consequences rather than an internal moral compass.

He thinks with enough time he could free her from those fears. She doesn't mind recklessly shooting a fireworks rocket if she doesn't notice the broken bones and bloody noses it leaves behind; so the next step is to teach her to notice them without fearing she'll get in trouble for it; and from there he'll teach her to enjoy the bones snapping as much as she enjoys the rocket exploding, just like he does. She's got a whole world of bright, colorful, sparkly mayhem to enjoy once she stops worrying about the consequences!

But until he can teach her to appreciate a cherry bomb, he can deign to appreciate a glitter bomb. They're both overstimulatory assaults on the senses, and that's great.

Mabel, meanwhile, is convinced she's well on the way to reforming Bill into a Fun Big Sister/Brother.

(Starting from this post, I'm gonna put all my human Bill AU posts under the tag #bill goldilocks cipher. Easy to remember—but you can bet nobody else is using that tag.)

[prettyinpwn]

Reading your analysis about Mabel and the one about the Fantasy Vs Reality Weirdmaggedon episode, what do you think of the detail that Mabel made Dippy Fresh? Do you consider it another reason why the fandom hates/dislikes Mabel? Does it in some weaken your analyses that she’s well-written?

Er... actually, that just strengthens my analysis that she's well-written. Why? Because she's got flaws, Dippy Fresh's creation being one of her mistakes. She's not perfect, she does wrong at times, and that's good. Because a good character is one that's imperfect. If it makes the fandom hate her more, so be it.

But that doesn't mean she's poorly constructed. "Character did a bad thing fandom didn't like." does not mean, "This character is objectively badly written.".

I'll requote a small part of my analysis on Mabel that I think is relevant here. For context, in said analysis I had pointed out the many ways in which all of the Pines have been selfish at times, before this quote:

"So if people dislike Mabel for being selfish, well… they should dislike all of the Pines, then. And there are times she gives up her wants for Dipper, too, albeit shown less often. She trashes her sock puppet show - her chance at impressing a guy and compromising her core want of love - to save him, inspired by all the times he sacrificed for her. She lets go of a land of perfection and her delusion - albeit one that really wasn’t real - to help him fix Weirdmageddon and save Ford.

Because here’s the thing: a well-written character has flaws. There’d be no story if they didn’t. A character without flaws has no arc and is poorly written. Mabel - just like the other Pines - is flawed and that’s great. Because it means… she’s well-written. I’ll quote my post on Ford again:

“This is why Ford is a well-written character. He has flaws and suffers for them until he makes up for his mistakes. They are understandable flaws, but like in real life, just because it’s understandable why we act poorly at times - be it because of trauma or upbringing - it doesn’t mean we’re justified in continuing to hurt others or ourselves because of those flaws. We must acknowledge them, grow past them, and do our best to do better in the future, as well as apologize to those we hurt along the way.”

Just like Ford, Mabel has flaws - albeit understandable ones based on who she is and her history - and she suffers for them. But in Escape From Reality, she acknowledges them, grows past them, and does her best to do better in the future."

I didn't mention the Dippy Fresh part in my analysis on her, but the same thing applies. Was it a dick move to make a "better" version of Dipper? Yeah. But Mabel is still her flawed version of herself in her character arc at this point, escaping from reality, and Dipper is the one that tries to pop her delulu bubble of rainbows and sunshine. So flawed Mabel - who wants to stay in delulu land - makes a Dipper that doesn't have that "flaw" of realistic pessimism and supports her delusional world. Dippy Fresh is a Dipper that enables her flaws.

That's why real Dipper works in breaking her free. That's why she needs Dipper. He anchors her to reality. In contrast, she gives him levity. I'll go back to the show's thesis I mentioned in that same post: a Pines twin alone is a dysfunctional Pines. Dipper alone is a pessimistic little wet blanket. Mabel alone is a delusional, naive rainbow clown rocket. But together, they balance each other out.

Her character arc climax is in letting Mabeland - and Dippy Fresh - go, and accepting reality and her real brother. She made mistakes, learns she was wrong, and grows. That's what a well-written character does.

[fantasyinvader]

With the last few points in mind, we can see how SS, AM and VW are may be somewhat radical from a Japanese POV.

In SS, Byleth's leadership goes against a very common mentality in Japan where it's viewed as wrong to give people money they did not earn, even when that person is in dire straights. In fact, begging for money is actually illegal over there. So with that in mind, Byleth focusing on reconstruction of Fodlan in addition to the Japanese text saying he supported “every soul” in a motherly-fashion, it does point to Byleth's rule being one that looked out for the people.

It also has elements associated with oudou, considering the Sword of the Creator's Japanese name the Sword of the Emperor of Heaven. Emperor of Heaven is term for the Jade Emperor, the deity that oversees Heaven's mandate (Mazu, the Emperess of Heaven, is commonly depicted in red robes... but she's associated with water as a sea goddess, not fire. She's also said to be an incarnation of the Jade Woman of Marvelous Deeds, and associated with a star in the big dipper, who is said to oversee all aspects of life and death and help those who call upon her. So, Edelgard's color scheme itself might be a red herring, as Sothis is the one associated with water). Byleth judged Edelgard as unworthy of following, rejecting her and in turn leading the Black Eagles to do the same. They no longer bend the knee to their emperor simply because she is their emperor, they take a stand against her actions and work to remove her from power. And this is consistent for them regardless of whether Byleth taught their House or recruited them to another House, not joining Edelgard is tied to their character development (see Ferdinand and Caspar's paralogues not being available in Flower).

Dimitri takes Byleth's supporting the poor a few steps further, believing change has to come from the people and giving them a voice in politics while at the same time supporting them. He empowers the masses, and on top of that even has focus on improving relations with foreign nations (whereas the Japanese text indicates Edelgard begins invading other countries). Dimitri is also meant to represent oudou himself, a benevolent ruler justly governing the people.

Claude also identifies Edelgard's rule as oudou, stops her, but then puts Byleth and his version of oudou in charge of Fodlan. I think the best way to put how Claude is radical is, to put it bluntly, fuck the past and fuck the traditions associated with it.

Claude's goal in coming to Fodlan was to learn from it in order to change Almyra, and he got that in Verdant Wind. He begins transforming his homeland into a trading powerhouse, works with the Church in order to bridge the two nations, and can even introduce magic to his country in one ending. On top of that, people have noted that he embodied a very negative stereotype of his people in Hopes, so his character growth proved beneficial. He's no longer the type who will flee to save his own life rather than protecting his people, he stops trying to manipulate everyone and instead work with them as well.

When applied to Fodlan, it's not saying that the Church is bad. It still continues to exist, but now the false history of Fodlan has been corrected. People now know what the past really was, not some glamorized image of it from the Agarthans nor the story told as part of a peace treaty. The Church is still going to be there, helping to rebuild Fodlan after the slate was wiped clean, free to spread it's messages without having to also recite falsehoods that can give people mixed messages. And on top of that, there's also support for other faiths and customs to be brought in, accepted and learned from. The game really drives home it's the dawn of a new era for a reason.

So, we have that. Meanwhile Edelgard trying to set the clock back on Fodlan, spouting ideals informed by Agarthan manipulations, and trying to conquer the world... this is all supposed to be tyranny according to the devs. SS, AM and VW all support some form of progress whereas Flower, once you see through the cracks and get to know Edelgard, is supposed to be regression. To return to old ways, old traditions, that the Church put a stop to for good reason.

[gf-seasons-zine]

Information About

Writers, it's your turn to shine/see the specific application guidances that apply to writing applications (same thing, really...)

Applications open April 1 (this upcoming Monday)! Of course there is always complete information on our carrd, but if you are curious to see the application guidance for writers here instead, we entreat you to read below the cut!

General Application Guidelines

1. PLEASE tag your content!

The zine will be completely SFW and will not feature ships but we understand some people may wish to submit ship art or content that might be less family-friendly in their portfolios.

All mods are 18+ but we don't want any surprises, so please describe your art in the boxes provided if required!

2. At least ONE of your pieces must be Gravity Falls themed or featuring Gravity Falls characters.

We would particularly like to see your work of Ford, Stan, Mabel, or Dipper as the Pines family is the main focus of this zine!

3. Check your sharing settings!

If sharing a Google Drive folder link for your portfolio, please ensure your folder's sharing settings are set to 'allow anyone with the link to view'. You can test this on an Incognito browser or a browser NOT logged into your Google account to make sure.

Mods will NOT be able to contact every person who makes this mistake to ask them for a new link to their portfolio and it is very likely your application will just be dismissed.

Writer Specific Guidelines

*~*~*~*A note from us mods to you, for transparency: ~*~*~*~*

We won't have space for long fics in the physical zine due to page limitations, but we would like to include more of your work in our digital zine where we will have unlimited space. For the physical zine, a maximum of two pages of writing per writer will be printed, whether it is for the diary entry OR the writing piece. The rest of the pages will be printed in the digital zine if you wish to write more!

Please submit 2-3 pieces that best demonstrate your style of writing.

1. At least one sample should be a minimum of 1,500 words. All three samples combined should not exceed 7k words. (If you would like us to read a particular chapter or extract of one of your fics you should copy that into a word document and put it into a folder in your Google Drive portfolio).

2. Samples should be in English as this is the language the zine will be published in.

It doesn’t matter what kind of English spelling or vocabulary you use (British, American, etc) as long as you are consistent. 

3. We will judge samples based on characterisation, grammar, punctuation, flow, and plot. 

4. All samples must be entirely written by you. AI generated content is NOT allowed and does not count. Previous zine works are allowed but please ask for permission from your mods to share first! We will not be sharing ANY applicants’ links outside of the GF Seasons Zine Mod Team.

5. NSFW works will NOT be allowed in the zine (this will be a family friendly SFW zine!) but you CAN put them in your portfolio. 

If your pieces require trigger warnings, feature ANY ships, or feature NSFW content there WILL be a space for you to write this on your form and we expect you to do so. All moderators are 18+ but we wish to avoid any surprises. 

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding (Yep, this was so important we included it twice!)

6. Two types of writing pieces will be featured in this zine- ‘diary entries’ from the perspective of Dipper, Ford, Stan, and Mabel; and ‘normal’ fics. 

If you would be interested in contributing a diary entry for characters from the perspective of Stan, Ford, Mabel, or Dipper, please also provide a SHORT extract of how you think a diary entry by them might go!

And there you have it! Please let us know if you have any questions, and we look forward to checking out your applications! See you April 1st!

The GF Seasons Zine Mod Team

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Disclaimer: We are not affiliated with Disney in any way. The zine will be a charity zine with all surplus going to charity- no one will profit from this zine.

CARRD TWITTER RETROSPRING

[dipperscavern]

Dipper, I need the wonderful opinions of you and your fellow anons because I feel like I’m going crazy, but I know I can’t be the only one who feels like this. I just finished season 2 of HOTD yesterday because I stopped watching it because I got bored. At that point, I was only watching it to see Jace (and hoping to see Cregan again), but I gave up because it just didn’t seem worth my time to watch anymore.

(⬇️Contains a few spoilers for Season 2 ⬇️)

Fast-forward to today, I got jumped on the interwebs because I said I didn’t like season 2 of HOTD and that I feel like there’s definitely a possibility (maybe not a huge one but still a possibility) that HOTD is going to have a downfall similar to GOT. (This conversation started because of the news that GRRM is planning to release his thoughts on HOTD and we all know he probably has a LOT of critiques to share. I got tagged by a mutual of mine in a post talking about this and they asked me for my opinion in the comments on the second season of HOTD because they hadn’t finished. I stated my opinion, people saw it, and then I got dogpiled.)

I get wanting to be defensive of the show because we love the characters and the actors are phenomenal, but my problem is that the writing was just not it for season 2. It was slow, they had the same conversations 100 different times, most of what happened in this season could have been compiled into like 3 or 4 episodes. Season 1 was action-packed and kept people thoroughly entertained. The writers completely lost their rhythm with the pacing in this season, which is a big no-no in any fictional series (novel, show, film, etc.), especially speculative fiction. You have to keep a similar pace or you’ll lose your audience’s attention or disappoint them entirely (especially if you slow down) because they’re expecting the same pacing.

Also, it felt like fan fiction, tbh. There were so many things that felt out of place and, therefore, felt forced because, just like the GOT writers, the HOTD writers are not developing certain aspects they’re trying to showcase on screen enough for these things to make sense within the context of what they’ve already shown us. For example, Daemon and his mommy’s back-shots of doom vision (did not make sense whatsoever because there was no prior information that would suggest this even needing to happen), Rhaenrya and Mysaria’s kiss (should have been better developed but ended up feeling forced/rushed to most people), Daenerys going mad (could have been done well but was rushed and poorly executed), etc.

I also think the writers are trying to pander to the viewers too much instead of trying to write an actually good show, you know? They’re also trying to hint at things present in the books without fully fleshing them out in any way within the show’s storyline, while simultaneously steering entirely away from the canon events in the books. This did nothing but make it hard to follow for not only the folks that only watch the show but also the folks that read the books because now people are speaking about things that are canon in the books and wondering if they apply to GOT and HOTD. It’s all a mess. (For example: the antlered figure in one of Daemon’s visions. Most people who only watched the show think it’s foreshadowing of the Baratheons taking the throne, but people who read the books believe that it could be one of the Green Men, which is a member of a mysterious order that maintains the Isle of Faces at the center of God's Eye by Harrenhal. This is, of course, something only people who have extensive knowledge of the ASOIAF world and history/read the books, would know.)

Idk, maybe I have a different outlook on this because I am a writer and I don’t just do it for fun. I’ve published quite a few pieces of my own, almost all of which have been speculative fiction (sci-fi and fantasy) and I’m currently writing a fantasy series, so I know what it takes to make a storyline work properly. I tried to explain this to the people who were dogpiling me, but they just discredited my experience because I’m only 18. So, in their words, ‘I don’t really know what I’m talking about’ even though I’ve been writing stories, mainly speculative fiction, since I was in fucking grade school (can you tell I’m a lil pissed about this part?). Anywho, this show just feels like it’s gonna spiral into something that is reminiscent of the catastrophe that was seasons 7 and 8 of GOT if the writers don’t get it together. (I really hope it doesn’t.)

I’m so sorry that this is so long but I really had to get this rant out of my head and I felt like this was a safe place to do that.

please. lets fucking talk about it.

@rise-my-angel made a post about this that really hit the nail on the head about hotd’s main problem -> post here

hotd uses its visuals as a crutch for bad writing. that is its (main) problem. early seasons got was so great in the way it didn’t have half the budget hotd had, but it felt so much more high quality. some of got’s best moments were it’s dialogue, where it was just two people in a room talking (for example petyr & varys in the throne room)

hotd doesn’t have half of the storyline it thinks it does, which, there’s multiple different reasons for this. not letting morally grey characters be morally grey, always having to have a justification for their actions when most of their actions were simply unjustified, delving from being a book adaptation of the downfall of house targaryen to changing everything to become its own stand-alone tv show etc etc. but, as i & mimi said, it’s main problem is it’s visuals.

the dragons, the actors, and got season 7/8 are the only thing keeping the show alive.

in got drogon viserion & rhaegal were three dragons with the exact same design and just different (not even book accurate) colors. the shows main focus was drogon while putting rhaegal and viserion on the back burners, and not really highlighting much about the dragons in general. while in hotd, we get so many different dragon designs, sounds/roars/noises, and personalities. everyone was so interested in the dragons in got, but they just didn’t handle it right, and in hotd, it’s dragons dragons dragons!! all you could ever want, step right up folks & look away from the mess that is this show.. OH LOOK DRAGON FIGHT 😍 hotd visuals are amazing, and we get everything we didn’t get about dragons in got, but that’s literally the problem.

& the actors are wonderful. emma d’arcy, phia sabian, fabian frankel, matt smith, harry collett, etc. they’re all outstanding in their performances, and the butchery is frankly an insult to them and these characters that they’ve grown to love & understand. oh look, olivia cookes amazing performance🙂‍↕️ btw daemon has a piss kink LIKE WHAT

and, the end of got was an obvious disaster. people are still (rightfully) angry and hurt about it, and they want something like hotd. something to sit down and watch on sundays, and enjoy the asioaf universe again. like yeah, season two’s bad, but not as a bad as 7/8 got… so there’s that. got left so much unfinished that people are hoping to consume in hotd, and it’s just not working. but, it keeps people tuned in, because got is finished with an ending thats un-re-watchable. in conclusion, people miss their show, and watch hotd as an attempted bandaid to put on the gunshot wound.

hotd is poopy, and i think (as anon said) over time people will recognize it more & more. but for now, it’s our bandaid, and it’s unfortunately the only one we’ve got.