#gravity falls better world au

[anonymous-chicken-was-taken]

There is a man named Stanford Pines.

Just about anyone in the scientific community knows his name, and most know his face. It would be hard not to. It's plastered on magazines, on websites, on informational guides about the Institute of Oddology. Stanford Pines is synonymous with the word odd, peculiar, strange; it takes very little digging to find that.

Yet, when it comes to actually meeting the man? No matter who you ask, the answer is almost always no, they have not met him. Everyone knows of him, but nobody knows him. They see his face, they hear his name, they read his papers, they know his arguments. A lucky few even converse with him through email, or letters, or phone conversations. However, meeting him face to face seems to be an occurrence even rarer than the beasts he writes essays about.

Sometimes, he makes a public appearance. Sometimes, someone will see him walking about in some small, secluded space. His co-founder follows him like a shadow, never long taking his eyes away, full as they are of both care and peculiar caution.

Even more unheard of, sometimes, Stanford Pines will do something that interacts with the public. Once every few years, he will appear for an interview, or a photo, or something else to please the magazines that fill up his inbox. McGucket will be with him, every single time, and afterwards there will be whispers on the very internet he created from the people he'd spoken to. By all accounts, Stanford Pines is a very subdued, polite gentleman. Someone who is very intelligent and awkward, and attached to his co-founder at the hip. A man who is followed at all times by an army of personal security and NDAs. "For safety," McGucket will say as Pines' face goes dark. No one ever explains who's being kept safe, or from what.

To the students at the Institute of Oddology, it's even stranger. Nowhere does it say that seeing or meeting the core founder is guaranteed -- in fact, in comparison to other institutes, it's hardly even advertised that he's there -- but it's still surprising. If Stanford Pines is seen at all, it's almost always from behind a screen. Some students graduate without ever having seen him in-person. He does not attend events. He does not greet families. He does not make speeches unless he's being projected on a screen, a stark contrast to McGucket and his exaggerated mannerisms as his very real and present form hovers nearby. He holds no office on the entire campus. It is not unheard of to see him taking a walk with his co-founder, but it's rare enough to be shocking.

Rumors fly. Some are silly, absent things that would seem implausible to anyone who hasn't spent time in Gravity Falls. He's a vampire. He's a robot made by McGucket. He's a whole eldritch entity. Some rumors are more serious, whispered when his reclusive nature rings suspicious among the masses. None of them change the facts.

Perhaps it would make more sense if his co-founder was similar. However, Fiddleford McGucket is the polar opposite of Stanford Pines. He responds to interviewers asking about his computers. He makes speeches. He wanders around campus, stopping to chat with anyone who cares to listen. He's amiable and approachable as long as you can get past his rather extreme eccentricities, with an open-door policy and only one question he won't answer. If anyone builds up the guts to ask about Stanford Pines, and why he's so gosh darn reclusive, his only response is a sad, painful smile and a change of subject. In general, however, if one were to ask a given student of the institute where they could find Fiddleford McGucket, the chances are would be they'd be able to relay the information. However, like so much having to do with Stanford Pines, there is always a but.

At least three days a week, Fiddleford McGucket disappears for hours at a time. In theory, this would not be unusual. There's a section of the campus, slightly separate from the rest, dedicated to research. It takes much clearance to get to this area, for it is full of many very dangerous things. Some of the newer students fall under the misconseption that this is where he goes off to. However, there is a secretary at the entrance to this section of the campus, and when McGucket disappears, no amount of asking will get them to respond that he lies within. There is no summary of what he's there for, and there is no estimate of when he'll be back in his office. He is not there. For those hours, it's like he's vanished off the face of the planet.

There is another building seperated from the rest, barely visible through the trees. Tucked far behind the research area of the campus and heavily guarded at all times. No amount of clearance, or ID, or begging, will get anyone in. This place, most know, is where McGucket goes. No one can be certain, but there's a conviction there that this is the truth. It's the same way people know that this is where Stanford Pines resides. In those hours, McGucket disappears to the same nowhere at all that his co-founder lives.

No one tries to get there. Not anymore. There would be no point.

In order to do so, one would have to get into the research zone of campus. Already, this requires more clearance than most students could imagine. From there, one would have to go through a building only staff can open, at the very back of the campus, where only the most dangerous of research is kept. A security officer stands ever-vigilant at a back door leading to a winding pathway, intersected halfway through by a pair of guard stations. Past them lies a towering locked gate, centered in the midst of a towering electric fence. There is no guard station at the gate itself, though guards patrol the perimeter, even though the underbrush is too thick to walk through. There is no visible way to unlock the gate, but if one managed to get through regardless, they would find that the obstacles were still not over. The acre the fences encircle is thick with security, only some of which is human. It's impossible not to get caught, but if somehow, someone did, they would find themselves face to face with the sloped roof and charming wooden exterior so vaguely visible from the more well-trodden paths.

If one were to make it behind the reinforced door and yet one more pair of security guards, they would find nothing of note at all. In fact, were the windows not so thick, and the place not full of rooms with no place in a residence, and the path not so elaborate, and the whole area not so heavily reeking of isolation and uncanniness, one could almost mistake it for a normal home.

Inside, one would find Stanford Pines. Shorter than his head-and-shoulders shot makes him seem, and with a tangible air of melancholy about him that no projection could ever communicate.

Above all, Stanford Pines would appear incredibly alone, with only security, a McGucket Computer, and shelves upon shelves of books for company. If this someone who somehow managed to sneak in got lucky, they would arrive in this not-quite-a-home while McGucket had disappeared to there. They would find the two of them in deep conversation, and Stanford Pines would appear happier and more animated than most any living soul had seen him in decades, content in the company of his one connection; his shadow. Even when they had serious conversations, about the most serious topics in the world, something about him would be just that bit more lively. The visit would end, every time, with McGucket asking the same question. Every time, Pines would shake his head sadly as he responded; would the answer have been different, they both know that McGucket would have been informed long before he arrived.

Upon his co-founder's departure, one would be able to see Stanford Pines either sigh and sink right back into his melancholy, or the energy persist for another handful of hours. One would wonder why he was so reclusive, if he seemed so much brighter when he was among friends. One -- the impressive, unstoppable individual who managed to get into such a heavily monitored area -- would more than likely leave confused.

They wouldn't realize, unless they stayed within the bounds of the not-quite-home until it was far too late, what the hoards of security was designed for. Wouldn't realize that just as much as much as they are meant to keep someone out, they are also meant to keep someone in.

[nellandvoid]

to celebrate the pines twins birthdays, i’m gonna make them miserable!!!!!

jkjk i just want to show a wip of my better world au designs for mabel and dipper, a (r o u g h) sketch that just so happens to be (semi) done on their birthday!! (it’s still the 31st. shut up/j)

lore dump under cut cause man am i gonna yap

the main thing i wanna do with these two is keep their fundamentals while still realistically changing their external personalities based on how they were raised (especially since their great-uncle ford is head of the institute of oddology and an estimed scholar in cryptozoology)

design-wise, i wanted to show how mabel's a bit more insecure while dipper's the opposite, so her sweaters don't all have designs on them, her hair is pulled back, and she has shorts and tennis shoes instead of a skirt and flats - dipper, on the other hand, doesn't have a hat since he doesn't care if people see his birthmark, and he has the space tee and button up combo that he was wearing in the valentines flashback in weirdmageddon pt 2 since he wouldn't be as self-conscious about showing off his interests

personality-wise, dipper has probably changed the least: still socially awkward, still has an undiagnosed anxiety disorder (same), still considers mabel his best (and only) friend - the main difference, though, is that growing up he wasn't bullied as much for being interested in the strange and unusual. kids are still cruel, of course, but he always had his great-uncle's reputation to look up to whenever someone made fun of his birthmark or obsession with ghosts. and now, getting to finally spend a summer with his idol, he's more than ready to finally be accepted for all his weirdness. he can finally be loud, be weird, be himself, and not get those looks people in piedmont give him when they think he's not looking. the few times he's met great-uncle ford growing up, the few times he slipped up and said something weird, his great-uncle never gave him the look like everyone else did. he'd just smile, always softly, always distantly, and always tell him to never change.

on the other hand, mabel is much more reserved and self-conscious, especially when she arrives in gravity falls - weirdness has always led to genius in her family, so when she let her mind drift away her parents would always drag her back down to earth, telling her she's just as capable as her great-uncle and brother, why doesn't she just take homework, take school, take life seriously like they do? and so she tries to, and tries, and eventually she learns about the look: the one people give her when she tells them about the time she swallowed a whole bag of gummy worms without chewing, or about the sweater she knit last week that's scratch and sniff, or about anything not serious. she hates the look, and starts to do anything she can to avoid it. especially when she does something silly in front of her great-uncle ford. the look he gives always hurts more, like something she did reminded him of a nightmare or a bad memory. and she didn't want to hurt him.

[abyssalzones]

put me to work

[voice crack] hey guys I remembered how to draw

[apradonite]

a realization across dimensions

[taco-with-butter]

My version Better World Fiddleford and Stanford! this is their expedition clothing

ok guys i have so many thoughts about this

I think I'll do some more sketches with this AU (Can we call it an AU if it's technically canon and it's just a different interpretation?)

some information about my version! Sorry for any mistakes, English is my second language

For people who don't know what a Better World is:

[queer-here-and-in-fear]

au where both twins go through the portal in not what he seems. and ford finds them and helps them out of the nightmare realm.. but he cant keep them. so he goes to the safest dimension he cant think of: a better world.

alternate fiddleford and later alternate ford agree to watch them until ford can get them home. anyway, shenanigans Ensue.

including but not limited too:

grunkle stan, wendy, and soos raising every form of HELL known to man to get the twins back. maybe even getting mcgucket involved.. shermie learning stan Lost his Grandbabies.

og ford occasionally visiting over the months like a weird absent father. feeling so Strange but parental abt these kids.. maybe even taking them on Adventures. those end badly ofc.

the twins being so Weird and Sad abt fiddleford for reasons he doesnt get

alternate ford and dipper bonding over getting over their weird fucked up bill possession trauma.

ALTERNATE FIDDLEFORD GETS MABEL A PIG. WHO SHE NAMES STOMPS.

the kids marvelling over this weird but better (?) gravity falls with alternate versions of all the main cast influenced by fords work. such as:

thief wendy who was forced to steal after her dad lost the ability to lumber because ford made gf protected land.

gleefuls who are northwest level rich after gravity falls became more suburban.

northwests who payed ford to get rid of the ghosts AGES ago and therefore pacificas even worse

amateur cryptid hunters candy and grenda who come by the research center often. their ford and fiddles honorary nieces.

(YES i am going to be weird and sad abt how Definitely Gentrified gravity falls would be in this au)

and ofc: the twins trying their darndest to reconnect the brothers.

[k9ninedecay]

i think about the better world/parallel dimension so much, man, like what happened to stanley after he left with that journal ? is he just off on a boat running away again still homeless ? did stan and Ford have a small reconciliation, did stan come back after leaving with that journal? WHAT ABOUT EMMA MAY AND TATE ?? DID FIDDS STILL ABANDON THEM, did fiddleford not have the memory gun, or did he not have a chance to really use it when Parallel Ford went to reconnect with fiddleford ?

im pretty sure the parallel world is just supposed to show how our ford thinks its all amazing and "better" because he got what he think he wanted in the end ( recognition , fame , someone who changed the scientific world ) but in reality the parallel world is kinda sad to me guys idk 😭 in that world ford never got to reunite with his brother. ( from what we know ) granted, the apocalypse never happened, and Ford didn't have to wipe stans memories, but they didn't even get to reunite like they did in our version of Gravity Falls. Did Tate ever come down to gravity falls to meet his father ? did Emma May and Tate move to Oregon to be with Fidds? did they still divorce because Emma, your husband MIGHT just be queer. I have so much going on in my brain over this au it makes me crazy

[earako]

Gah!

Okay, apologies in advance for the feels but I refuse to be the only one subject to my brains shenanigans-

Thinking of the "better world au" from journal three and I'm imaging what if somee weird magic stuff basically turned Stan into a guard against Bill entering their dimension

Like, I'm thinking maybe Stan pulled a Betty Grof and when he stumbled across wish magic, he wished for the power to keep his family safe, only instead of merging with a chaos entity Stan becomes a statue or he's transformed into something that makes it impossoble to accrss the journal he's holding.

And maybe an expedition group digs up magicified Stan and call in Ford for an inspection cause they don't know what they're looking at "but it's neat that it looks almost exactly like you, huh Dr.Pines?"

At first Ford tries to laugh it off as a coincidence but then they run some tests.

They find out their artifact is alive.

They find out its binding magic,meant to keep something hidden.

They fins Journal three and Ford can't ignore it anymore-this was Stanley, his twin, his little brother he sent away all those years ago, eternally stuck as nothing more than a magic safe for Stanfords mistake.

Cue a whoolleee lot of guilt, but also, for maximum angst, if they manage to undo it, Stan swinging between being angry at Ford but also secretly believing keeping the journal hidden was the one thing he did right and now its back with Ford and underneath Stan's prickly, passive aggressiveness is a concerningly low sense of self-esteem.

So in short: Stan twins gotta wrestle with hating themselves, lingering anger at each other, but also trying to be the bigger person (and failing miserably)

[frogemeat]

A small snippet from the first chapter of my better world au that’s Stan Pines centric because he’s my favorite character!! I would love some advice if anyone has any < 3

Stan has woken up to many different kinds of scenarios in his life. From waking up in an ice bath, to finding out the next morning that the woman he married for tax benefits was actually possessed by a Dybbuk, he’s had good to bad to horrible experiences. But if he were ever asked to rank them, he’d say waking up to the demon that’s been haunting him for over thirty years screaming his name in its final moments was one of the best ways to start his day. Glancing at the shitty analog clock next to him to see the blinking, bright green 3pm, he let out a loud groan. Then he let out an even louder, more frustrated groan when his phone started to vibrate wildly on the motel nightstand.

“Pines.” He grunted, tone flat as he sat up.

“Pinington, did you feel it?” Jimmy asked without missing a beat, the bikers usual gruff voice full of emotion Stan was too tired to figure out,

“Of course you did, anyone even remotely tangled up in the unnatural would have felt it. There’s no way you didn’t,” the other man almost sounded amused at the thought. “Did you really wake me up for this?” The words came out sharper than Stan intended, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care as he made his way around the room, eyes scanning lazily around, searching.

Where the fuck did he put it again? Ah, there it was.

Stuffed between the bullet ridden mirror and the toilet with questionable red stains sat a rather worn and unassuming black duffle.

Throwing open his bag of wonder and oddities he started to rummage through the random assortment of items as Jimmy continued, “Like you weren’t already awake, sweetheart.”

Rolling his eyes at the pet name, Stan let out a scoff. Sure, Snakes may have been right, but that doesn’t mean Stan was going to tell him that.

“I was sleeping like a baby, actually. Was having the most amazing dream where I wasn’t having to talk to a ghost rider rip-off.” Stan couldn’t help but smirk as Jimmy growled in annoyance. He could practically feel the anger radiating through the phone as the other man ground out the next few words. “Fuck you, Pinington. Just wanted to confirm with the thing’s special little boy that it was actually gone.”

“Have to call me something worse than that to piss me off, Jimmy.” Stan replied cheekily, knees protesting as he stood up. “If that’s all you wanted to do, then I’ll have to let you go. I’ve got a hot date that I can’t miss.” Jimmy let out a scoff, and man, it was still so easy to rile up the demon all these years later, “Yeah, whatever you say Pinington,”.

Shaking his head, he pocketed the phone before taking a brief glance into the mirror. Looking only mildly homeless, he deemed himself presentable. Not like the clothes were going to be worn after today, he mused as he made his way out the front door.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

What Stan and Eda think convinced Raine to join the band and later start dating Eda again in my two worlds band au:

*powerfull love ballad about love and trust and how difficult opening up is but how sometimes it's worth trying and how much the narrator (and by consequence Eda) regrets that their lack of trust ruined a good thing*

How Eda and Stan actually convinced them:

Stan: My ex-wife still misses me.

Stan: But her aim is getting better.

Eda: *sucessfully throws an empty apple blood juice box at Stan*

Eda: Is funny cause marriage sucks.

Raine: *internally* *and that is how I knew I still loved her*

[mr-cactis]

tired

[anonymous-chicken-was-taken]

Hi! I found you from your better world fics on ao3 and i have one question has been rattling around my brain

Why can't ford go outside?

Is it because he just doesn't want to? Or is there anything else? Please answer im so curious! Been loving the concept of the better world dimension and i love your rendition of it!

First of all weh thank you!! I'm absolutely loving writing it so so much and it means so much to me that you came all the way over to my tumblr to ask about it. As for the actual question! The main thing with this Better World I've concocted is that Bill Cipher is very much Still There and very much Still A Problem. We see all this security, and Fiddleford is always getting his eyes checked, and always checking Ford's eyes, because Bill is ever-present in this au in a way he isn't in the base universe. The actual reason I've worked out for this is a key difference in the wording of the deal Bill made with Better World Ford vs. OG Ford regarding possession. OG Ford's Bill deal was that Bill would be able to possess him when he was sleeping. Better World Ford's deal was that Bill would be able to possess him when he was tired. This is a really minor difference, but it has catastrophic consequences, and that's where most all the differences in Better World stem from. It's also why it's such a big deal for Ford to be out and about. Because what defines tired, really? How tired does Ford have to be before fending off Bill's possession becomes impossible? Or what happens if he's not as tired as he could be, but he slips up? Even for him, the line is pretty blurred. For the safety of himself and others, he stays hidden away in the would-be Mystery Shack. The little, mysterious, heavily-guarded cabin on the far, far edge of the institute.

[nellandvoid]

and if i said i was working on my version of the better world au,,,,,,,,, with a main plot thread in 2012,,,,,,,, what then

[abyssalzones]

If you have the same hyperfixation for too long they put money on your head and baby I'm frontlining America's most wanted

bonus parallel fidds sprites

[themurphyzone]

Better World AU Excerpt

I've been eating up stuff from the Better World AU, cause Journal 3 completely leaves Stan's fate open to interpretation and it bothers me so much that I needed to write something myself. I've seen works where he survives long enough to hold Dipper and Mabel when they're born and others where he doesn't make it.

[strawberryshortcake1495]

My official designs for Dipper and Mabel in my Oddology AU :3

Note: Oddology AU isn’t just some regular ABW!AU. This is completely different from my interpretation of the actual dimension, I just wanted to make something cool.

Story: An autistic 12-year old girl named Mabel Pines is sent to stay with her great uncle Stanford in Gravity Falls Oregon alongside her twin brother, Mason “Dipper” Pines while their parents get a divorce. There, the kids are surprised to find that their Grunkle Stan founded the International Institute of Oddology, alongside his business partner, Fiddleford McGucket. Grunkle Stan never attends family gatherings, so Dipper just assumed he was some sort of conman who ran a tourist trap or something. Mabel is ecstatic to spend some time with her Grunkle but he leaves her and Dipper in a secluded room with nothing but blank white walls away from all the “anomalies”. Fiddleford looks after the kids while they have their summer fun. One day, the hillbilly takes the twins to the beach to have some fun and while there, Dipper discovers an old journal washed up against the shore. He takes the journal home and opens it, not knowing it would change his life forever.