#mabel defense squad

[azelmaandeponine]

Gotta love how the Gravity Falls fandom still has no media literacy and is putting out the worst """character analysis""" videos known to man.

[rynnthefangirl]

Me when someone is a Ford hater: I mean, yeah I understand why you feel that way. He really made a lot of awful and selfish choices. He’s such a compelling character though and has a better heart than people give him credit for, I’d really encourage you to put aside your frustration with him and try to appreciate his nuances.

Me when someone is a Mabel hater:

[sirghostheart]

I honestly don't get people who thought Dipper should have accepted Ford's apprenticeship offer or that he was once again bending over backwards to please Mabel by rejecting it, as if the apprenticeship and Mabel Land weren't two sides of the same coin.

Everybody can tell Mabel Land was a bad coping mechanism to Mabel -a way to have her avoid facing reality. But Ford's apprenticeship would've be the same thing to Dipper if he accepted it.

Since the begining of the show Dipper wanted to fastfoward childhood with his attempts to woo Wendy, lying about his age to seem more mature and skipping trick r treat to go to a teenage party, and getting the oportunity to just skip middle and high school and go straight to studying the paranormal like an adult with Ford is just more of that. It's another form of escapism, even if it seems more "grown-up".

When he gives up the apprenticeship, he's not giving up his dreams -if they defeat Bill he can come back to Gravity Falls with Mabel and study the paranormal as much as he likes and he even had a plan for making a ghost-hunting show when he grew up, as he told Ford as the latter was doing his offer.

Instead, he promisses to have Mabel's back and vice-versa as they've always had before, because as much as reality and growing up sucks, it's the people around you that make it bearable.

[freshydip]

the righteous mabel pines appreciator vs the piteous mabel pines hater

[xadeone]

The fact that this is a CANON FORD AND MABEL BONDING MOMENT. I am healed... Beautiful fanart

Of course I was gonna draw them in their witch hats, obviously

[beartitled]

I think Normal Bill is almost just as intelligent and knowledgeable as his canon counterpart, since he had more time to focus on science and such instead of chaos and despair and.. just about every problem in the book.

Can he also still see through trees and The All Seeing Eye on the dollar bill?

Does he have all the powers of Canon Bill?

How does he feel about Ford and Dipper?

What would he think if he saw his parents?

And.. how does he feel about all the.. imagery of him throughout the world? (Remember how Ford had a fucking golden statue of him? And with the cave paintings.. and the dollar bill, the pyramids have a vague eye shape on them (since canonically they were statues of Bill until the top hat and hands fell off) The Eye Of Providence being a sign for God.. yeah it’s REALLY suspicious, I don’t think he really trusts the Pines family at this point, because they are horrible at hiding things, you don’t need to be an all seeing god to know that.

(Sorry for the long rant, I just love this AU)

Don’t apologise for a rant 🫵 I love rants, my brain just can’t comprehend them sometimes 💥

And also aww 🥹 glad you enjoy this AU ❤️

Okay lemme try answering 👏

First yes, absolutely, he’s a smart boi

His energy is just in the nerd stuff now, instead of chaotic insane vibes he has in the canon

Yea and I think he considers it normal lmao

“Wait what do you mean you don’t see through trees Mabel? Like.. I thought everyone did??”

He’s a smart boi, but he is oblivious in some instances

Not sure about all powers, but some for sure

Also this Bill walks everywhere, bc he never saw humans fly and didn’t consider trying (maybe he saw one human attempt it and decided to never try it himself 💀)

I honestly not really sure

Again not my initial idea, but remember one person saying that Bill would have some intrusive thoughts about Pines time to time, not understanding where they come from and probably feeling really guilty about those

But ultimately I think he would consider them a semi family to him

If y’all want a more detailed answer

He’s probably the closest to Mabel, bc she’s a forgiving person and treats Bill as a new person

This version of Bill would be in a girls squad and hang out with them during sleepovers (he’s a gossip girl come on 💅)

Dipper would still be cautious around Bill (as well as Ford), but would get used to him over time forming some sort of brotherly bond

Also Bill would ship Dipper and Pacifica, occasionally playing cupid for them during Dipper crushing on Wendy

He saw an opportunity to tease Dipper (and he said it would be a good enemies to lovers trope)

When people said “Stan would’ve taken that shot” yea, he would kill the child

But perhaps after seeing Mabel being buds with Bill, he just might be a little less defensive

It could both ways really: either Stan would be completely against Bill, but grow to tolerate his presence with occasional (semi)friendly bullying; or Stan would double down and just actively trying to kick Bill out

Either way they would have some sort of rivalry for sure

He would be buds with Soos and Wendy, just chilling with em on the occasion

And the last but not least Ford

He would be the most paranoid and cautious, not because he’s afraid of Bill like Dipper, but because Ford is afraid of “trigger the old Bill inside”

He and Dipper had an agreement to hide all possible information that could potentially remind Bill about his old self (all the Pines agreed to it too to some extent)

Were they successful in it? Who’s to say

Bill obliviousness saved em a bunch of times

And to address the elephant in the room: no, Billford does not exist in this AU

*booing can be heard across the fandom space* NO, YOU’RE NOT GETTING OLD MAN YAOI ON THIS ONE

🍅💥🐻‍❄️ *tiny bear screaming*

Anyway

I just don’t think it would be fitting in that particular scenario

Don’t get me wrong I like canon Billford (I love the memes and the fact that they are implied to be canon exes is hilarious), but canon Billford

This particular AU just makes the situation incredibly specific 💥

I tried to imagine a scenario where Billford could happen (like i dunno, they gave baby Bill to Oracle and then met his “normal” version)

But with the direction in which this AU went, I think it’s best to leave Ford and Bill with a platonic/parental relationship

To be fair it would be incredibly weird to raise your ex in a baby form 😭💥

But I never actually considered to continue this AU originally, so um 💥💥

I think Ford would just eventually start treating Bill like Mabel: he’s a new person now and to keep that new person undamaged, you need to keep a lot of information hidden (for everyone’s and Bill’s own sake)

This version of Bill and Ford would get along, bc they would both be nerds

(btw Bill’s design is similar to Ford, bc this is how nerds look 🤓💅/silly) (but you can adapt it in a way that Ford just had an influence on Bill, they have a family nerd look™️)

I’m still not sure what kind of time paradox shenanigans the went through to raise Bill tho 💥

This

Honestly I think it would be hilarious if he just thought it was some different guy

“A triangle… with one eye… what if.. naaaah I don’t have a top-hat”

Anyway thank u for the ask ❤️ hope it was fun to read through💥

[themoonweaversden]

Messeges that were found so far: AD ASTRA PER ASPERA (spoilers)

This is just to collect all the codes that you can type in in thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com and their effects only (please click images for better quality)

Masterpost with all messeges / codes

Transcript:

"CIPHER'S CORPSE?

I spent yesterday with Mabel applying apells, curses and unicorn hair to the base of Cipher's remains. Mabel is talking her role as my "Cipher Defense Squad Assistant" very seriously, but asked us both to wear witch hats for some reason, which I happily abliged! I have always seen Dipper as cut from a similar cloth as me, but I'm delighted to report that Mabel has a vibrant curious mind well suited to discovery and adventure. Anomalies are indeed present at the site of the statue. Nearbye shadows stretch into triangular shapes, compasses point directly away from Cipher, (as though he is the anti-North.) There is no sound, not even birds will come near. Mabel, perhaps sensiing my unease, threw an impromtu eulogy for Bill, which involved a lot more sock puppets than you usually expect at a funeral.

"Goodbye Cipher, you are dead. Blown up in my Grunkle's head. Too much power hurt your soul. Reincarnate as a vole. Amen.""

Transcript:

"←SOUVENIR PEN QUESTION MARKS DRAWN TOWARDS STATUE!

Wise words from my assistant.

His «funeral» gave me a bittersweet sense of closure. How strange it is to look back on it now. I once considered him the center of my life, the sun in my galaxy, when all along he was a black hole sucking everything bright into his bottomless ego.

Is this statue the lost, sun bleached husk of a powerless forgotten failure? Or a warning of something sinister yet to come? You tell me, dear reader.

What do YOU see when you look in Cipher's eye?

Ad astra per aspera, STANFORD and MABEL PINES"

Speech bubble: "No way! I like sweaters & writing in my diary too!"

[fordtato]

Mx. Tato, do you recommend any good Relativity Falls fics?

Yes, actually!

Up until recently I've read a surprisingly small amount of AU stuff, but I always love some good relativity falls.

That being said, I think my fic recs are a bit older and already popular, and you might have already read them:

@thesnadger - It’s A Great Idea (Who Are You To Judge?)

and this series from @scribefindegil - Normal

also this one by @astriiformes - Northwest Mansion Nouveau

(also I love everyone on this list's blogs, and their past contributions to the GF fandom were so meaningful and literally shaped how we see the characters so much for me. Snadger was instrumental in character analysis and some stellar posts analyzing every ep as it released, Scribe was basically president of the Mabel Pines Defense Squad, and I believe astriiformes went by another tumblr username back then, but even so I remember all of their fics and revisit them regularly - like, he had an 1800s gothic AU????? very neat)

[azelmaandeponine]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Ford was absolutely hated by the fandom back in the day.

It's good that the fandom is moving on from the Mabel hate, but shifting it to even more intense Ford hate is...not it.

The reason Ford gets hate is a) he's an abuse victim who acts in a realistic and messy way, and b) ableism.

Ford and Bill's relationship has always been abusive. TBOB just made that extremely explicit. However, since Ford is an abuse victim with flaws, since he's an abuse victim who behaves in a realistic and messy way--the fandom hates him, demonizes him, and victim blames him.

They unironically state he caused his own abuse.

People demonize him for showing trauma symptoms as a result of being abused (ie, his trust issues).

The fandom wants a Perfect Victim. Since Ford is not that, they deem him unworthy of sympathy despite being a literal victim of severe trauma, abuse, torture, and manipulation.

(And that's not even addressing how people blame Ford, a child living in an abusive home, rather than Filbrick over Stan being kicked out.)

And as for the ableism. Ford is heavily autistic coded. And it has not escaped my notice (I am literally an autistic woman) that Ford is frequently demonized for autistic traits. He's made out to be uncaring and a terrible person for having low empathy and low emotional intelligence. He's made out to be a bad person for having a Special Interest. He's made out to be a bad person for being upset when his brother turned his Special Interest into a joke/freak show.

This fandom doesn't understand how abuse and trauma works or how it can effect people and it's obvious. This fandom also really hates autistic people.

And this fandom definitely hates autistic-coded abuse victims.

Maybe a hot take but I think Ford is so hated by the fandom rn (which he shouldn’t be 😀) because people shat so hard on Mabel and they’re trying to dissuade it and almost feel betrayed as Ford is widely loved by the fandom and we never thought that that deep on Ford’s actions which was a mix of his own mistakes but a decent chunk of it was that he was manipulated and overall losing his mind. Especially when he realized the evil he unleashed.

Did he make mistakes ? Yes. That’s what makes a good character. Flaws. Should we acknowledge he makes mistakes ? Yes. Should we say he’s a bad person who hates his brother and a jerk to everyone ? No :S. Overall I think people feel like they didn’t give Ford enough credit for weirdmageddon rather shifted the blame to Mabel. Altho obviously the real villain is Bill (altho dammit Ford the cave said NOT to summon but realistically most people would probably say the incantation anyway including me lol)

[azelmaandeponine]

The fact this fandom has the audacity to hate Ford but idolise Bill pisses me

You guys loooove Bill cuz he's funny silly and a well written character but the moment you're faced with the fact that he's terrible, possessive, and extremely abusive and that, does in fact, actually affect the people around him instead of it being a "funnies love thing" he thinks of it you guys go hate on his victims instead of him.

I seriously bet Ford haters and Mabel haters switching their victim blaming takes/mindset on him and thinking they have matured for it. Hey guys. Reminder: Bill is literally RIGHT THERE

It's true and you should say it.

Bill's funny and charming and well-written and is a popular character for those reasons. And they don't want to admit the fact that their blorbo. is irredeemably evil, completely lacks remorse and is, in fact, monstrously abusive and traumatized his victims.

So they blame the victims while excusing Bill.

The Bill/Ford dynamic isn't "toxic yaoi", it was straight up abuse.

And yeah. People went from hating Mabel and victim blaming her to hating Ford and victim blaming him and thinking they've ~matured so much~ for it. They have not matured one iota. They are still the same bigoted victim blamers they've always been. Just instead of being misogynistic, their hate is now rooted in ableism. And as mentioned, the victim blaming mentality never left. They just switched targets.

There IS someone at fault: Bill Cipher. Maybe try blaming HIM for a change.

You know, since Bill, unlike Ford and Mabel, is ACTUALLY AT FAULT.

[sovengardeswag]

If Mabel Pines has a million fans, then I'm one of them.

If Mabel Pines has ten fans, then I'm one of them.

If Mabel Pines has one fan, then I'm THAT ONE.

If Mabel Pines has no fans, that means I'm dead.

[incomingalbatross]

This is ADORABLE.

[nikiniluna]

I get your point.

When I first heard of the hate towards Mabel, I got confused because I would usually interact with the Brazillian part of the fandom and I have never seen someone on Brazil being vocal about hating Mabel.

Basically, the Brazillian fandom saw Mabel and Dipper’s relationship as exactly as what Alex Hirsch’s showed us.

I love when people who aren’t like super deep into the fandom reblog my Mabel Defense posts and go “Wait, are people ACTUALLY blaming Mabel?”

Just, warms my frozen heart

[ceslatoil]

When you’re just having a nice scroll through TikTok and some uggo posts a vid about hating Mabel Pines 🙃🔪

[sailor-brunette]

If you hate Mabel Pines,I will personally come to your house and set all of your possessions on fire.

[macabremadness]

THIIIS THIIIIIIIS

BUT ALSO THE PAGES ABOUT HER AND FORD ON THISISNOTAWEBSITEDOTCOM...

mabel is ford's cipher defense squad assistant. girl threw together an entire eulogy with sock puppets because ford was uneasy and she KNEW IT and wanted to help him

they essentially had bill's funeral then so can we normalize mabel throwing confetti at his funeral because that probably happened, girl brought sock puppets who knows what else she brought

she is such an emotionally mature 12/13 year old by the end of the series, she's had her moments because at the end of the day she's still a kid but after dealing with crazy relationship drama throughout the summer (and like everything else) she's learned a lot and one of those things is that ford and bill deserve to move on more than anything

sorry i keep complaining, but did everyone just collectively forget the page in TBOB where Mabel talks about Billford?? She literally tells Bill to move tf on and get over it and that Ford doesnt care anymore. And that she will eat him like the dorito chip he is if he comes back. She is a GIRLS GIRL. She would not in a million years try to have Ford get back together with his terrible horrible abusive ex from one of the darkest periods of his life. Can we normalize Mabel showing up to the divorce hearing and throwing confetti?? Have her helping him move on and maybe awkwardly trying to set him up with other people (who he politely declines bc he's done with relationships for at least another 30 years). Like im sick of everyone treating Mabel like a 5 year old who cant understand the concept of two people breaking up and not being right for each other. Shes optimistic and bubbly, but really smart!! And so considerate of other people's feelings! She knows Ford and she knows whats good for him, and it isnt couples therapy with a GENOCIDAL MANIAC!!! WHO TRIED TO KILL THEM ALL!!