#mabel pines analysis

[icanlife]

The tight writing in Gravity Falls just gets crazier and crazier because Alex Hirsch in the director’s commentary of Dipper & Mabel vs. the Future (11:25) says:

“Ford sees Dipper as someone who’s special like himself. That’s Ford’s great flaw, is arrogance. Is he believes that there’s special people, and everyone else. That human attachments are actually weaknesses. And the song and dance that he’s giving Dipper right now, is the song and dance that he gave McGucket, back when they were younger… ‘You and me are different, we’re better than everyone else. We have a path that no one else can understand, and only us can do this.’ It’s a very seductive idea for Dipper… Dipper is a smart kid, but Ford’s projecting. Ford loves Dipper because he sees someone who’ll tell him ‘yes’ to everything. Who’ll never challenge him, who’ll do a really insane dangerous mission.”

I CAN’T BE THE ONLY ONE WHO’S SEEING THE BILL -> FORD -> DIPPER PIPELINE HERE. YOU CAN JUST REPLACE THE NAMES IN THE ABOVE QUOTE. I’M GOING INSANE.

Gravity Falls and the cycle of “Hey, person who feels outcast from your society like me, you’re special, fuck human connection, join me and be something great!”

[rebisrot]

i KNOW the obvious route is to compare mabel-stan and dipper-ford but i need you guys to see my vision of mabel-ford dipper-stan. it's mabel and ford's stead fast dedication to the thing they love, all too easily caught up in it. it's the selflessness that both stan and dipper have. it's being willing to give everything up to make their twin happy. to keep their twin safe. it's "who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for their dumb sibling?" "dipper would." and stan would too. stan DID too.

[callme-aprilroseisha04]

I DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO DOES GRAVITY FALLS ANALYSIS BUT ARE WE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS?????????

[cracklinhaze]

the most important thing when i write dipper and mabel is to understand that they are not stan and ford.

that's not to say that there aren't similarities. obviously, the twins have dynamics that can be compared to each other in a myriad of ways, both separately and together.

but it's so very vital that dipper is NOT a 1:1 ford. and mabel is NOT a 1:1 stan.

dipper has ford's love of rationality and mysteries, but he has stan's love of stories and family. mabel has stan's pure chaos, but ford's pre-bill trust in people.

dipper and stan both approach the world with cynicism. young ford and mabel approach the world with wonder.

stan was the twin worried about being left behind, just like mabel. ford and dipper both wanted to carve a path for themselves and their future.

mabel was so scared of losing her brother that she accidentally caused weirdmaggedon, just like stan was worried about losing ford that he accidentally sabatoged ford's science project/collegiate future. but dipper was the one who fought like hell mostly by himself in the apocalypse for three days to get her back, just like stan worked for thirty years to save ford. there is nothing dipper wouldn't sacrifice for mabel.

in my humble opinion, this is why the pines family dynamic is so damn compelling. they aren't carbon copies because that's not how people work. there is a sincerity, an honesty, a relatability between all of these characters and their flaws.

mabel and dipper aren't just the younger version of their grunkles. they are a crazy mishmash of the best and worst traits swapped around and punted to the moon and back.

exploring each micro-dynamic is so fascinating. i love this weird little family.

[marlshroom]

came to the fucked up realization after finishing gravity falls again last night the parallels of the dream bubble bill made for mabel and the literal state of delusion he keeps himself in.

in the book of bill on the page where bill cipher describes how he figured out a way to manipulate her into giving him the rift, it says:

"Summers ending, my guy. Ending to death, bro. She'd do anything to make it last just a day longer. Probably something RASH and OUT OF CHARACTER, even!"

as we know, mabel cannot handle the fact that she will be growing up. that the relationship with her brother is going to change. she is scared of high school.

bill then says "That was it. She'd never make a deal with me. But she'd make a deal with someone she believed could give her more time. The dream was done. I had her."

bill then creates the dream bubble for mabel, he makes every one of her dreams come true, a place where time is still and she can be a kid forever. a lie so great that she wont have to face the truth.

in journal 3 on one of the pages bill is writing in code, we see this:

[ID: "I ask you, why must[should] time only move forward? Why must cause preceded effect. Who voted on the law of physics."]

my friend helped me break down what bill means by this:

why can we only move forward in the 4th dimension of time. why does something have to make another thing happen, why must cause come before the effect. why cant you move backwards, in the other direction, change the decisions youve made.

how interpret this is bill asking why he is not able to back and stop what he did to his family. he says to ford that he tried and failed to undo the past.** why did him wanting people to acknowledge his advantages instead of suppress him lead to the destruction of his whole dimension?

**(i just want to point out that this is probably the time where bill is the MOST open to anybody, or at least the first. to his henchmaniacs he had been telling them that he liberated his dimension until the oracle discovered the truth. here, to ford, he got so much closer to telling the truth. he SHOWS ford the last atoms of his world. he says that it was destroyed by a monster, not that it was liberated! destroyed)

back to when bill says "I had her" about mabel, he had her cause he knew exactly what needed to happen to trap mabel in a delusion because it is exactly what he is doing to himself. creating a fake narrative of what happened to him, that he was vindicated in killing his whole dimension. only ever doing exactly what he wants because confronting the truth is too scary for him(good fucking lord). the morality page offers good insight into this too.

i am actually just going to quote the whole page and highlight the important part. it speaks for itself really

"THE POINT IS it's[morality] is a very flexible concept! But parents and presidents don't want you to know that, because then you might start asking other questions, like who put them in charge, anyway? So they cram your brain full of guilt and regrets for transgressing the laws that they just made up(the laws that they made to prevent the destruction of their dimension, regardless of if the law + the wrongful medication of a fucking baby triangle did any good to actually prevent it). Wouldn't it be nice if you could put all that baggage down? Quell the shame that follows you everywhere for a lifetime of crimes? MAKE THE SCREAMS FINALLY STOP? The good news is you CAN silence that annoying voice, and here's how!

DENIAL

Works 100% of the time in every situation. What you you mean there are people who disagree? I can confidently say there aren't!

RATIONALIZATION

If you can do it, you can justify it! "Truth" is open-source code and anyone can edit it anytime! Want to be like me? List 3 "evil" things and then 3 "reasons why they're actually good." You'll be rationalizing like Bill in no time!

DETACHMENT

Did you know 100% of your human cells die and are replaced every 7 years? That means that anything you did 7 years ago wasn't even you-it was some dead loser! You can't be held accountable for what a dead person did! What? You think this is just another form of rationalization? I DENY THAT!

THE BILL CIPHER DECISION METHOD!

Working over the eons, the voices in my head teamed up and worked out a foolproof method for making any decision in any situation.

DO WHATEVER I WANT."

ooooooooooooooooooh boy.

he is fully admitting here that he is living in a completely different really in order to justify doing whatever he wants. he gives mabel the tools to deny, to rationalize, to detach herself from the reality of it all. that time has to move forward. and he thinks it will work because it worked on himself.

but it doesn't work on mabel because she understands that she needs other people. shes vunerable, she lets people in, admits when shes wrong. and bill cant do that because it would destroy the fantasy he's created for himself.

[bags-of-regret]

If I was smart enough I would properly dissect the Pines family parallels and how it corresponds with how the Stans treated the twins, specifically how they treated the twin that wasn’t like them.

Stan understanding the bond the two have and encouraging them because thats what he misses, while Ford pushes Dipper away from Mabel because thats what he had at the time with Stan and thinks Dipper needs the same. Once Ford rekindles with Stan is when he grows closer to Mabel.

Stan being rough with Dipper because thats how he treated Ford, while Ford takes longer to bond with Mabel because he sees how much she’s like Stanley.

Both project themselves and the other onto the twins(Ford more so than Stan). They love and care for both of course, but seeing their brother in one of them hurts deeply in opposite ways. Stan is angry but longs for his brother while Ford can’t stand him but still loves him.

[asiuapng]

Pines Twins Parallelisms

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who thought about the parallelisms of the oh-so untouched dynamics of Ford and Mabel, and Stan and Dipper, but humor me.

In a previous post, I mentioned Mabel is a mini-Ford in Stan’s font and Dipper being a Stan Jr. in Ford’s flair so here’s my take.

Mabel is just like Ford because, other than being the sweater-loving older twin that would always add something to in their diary/scrapbook, her mind is the only other stand-out to the Bill Cipher other than Ford's. He took genuine interest to her mindscape.

As for Dipper, he's so much like Stan. No book? Left hook!

Both Dipper and Mabel mirror the different aspects of Ford's mind and Stan's heart. Let's start with the obvious:

Dipper has Ford's academic mind and craving for problem-solving adventure.

While Mabel has Stan's emotional capacity to know what to do to the things left unsaid.

And now for the other way around:

Mabel has Ford's mental fortitude to face the unknown with the optimistic belief that they'll survive it all just so that they can record it on paper.

And Dipper has Stan's immovable tenacity to protect the family he loves so dearly, no matter how dangerous or afraid he is. For them, he'll do it all.

I just love them so much how can I be normal about it.

[wheeliescoot]

im going insane mabel loves her grunkle and he loves her...shes so dedicated to protecting him from his ex and making him feel loved and he embraces her creativity.....aauauauuaughhhghgh

[basilthesnakingthing]

Favorite friendship dynamic has got to be, “Villain grows to respect hero causing their worldview to change and eventually (probably as a result of hitting rock bottom) realize they were wrong and repent. Hero accepts this, offers their friendship, and helps the villain begin to grow as a person by directing them how to go about earning redemption and how to heal from whatever was making them do villain stuff before.”

This is how I see post season two Romeo and Jesse MCSM, Viggo Grimborn and Hiccup Haddock (if Viggo had lived) in How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge, The Pines Twins and Pacifica from Gravity Falls, Zuko and the Gaang in ATLA, and my own two OCs, wish I knew more.

[raiidsol]

it´s so sick to think what stan's life would be if mabel and dipper didn't spent the summer in gravity falls. yeah i mean he probably would've made it to open the portal but stan changed so much because of the kids. better than that, he didn't change, he just found his heart again inside all of those walls. seeing himself in dipper and learning how to be a better person with mabel? without them, he would stay grumpy and bitter on the inside, fake laughing and preteding that money is all that he wants.

they pulled out the best of him, the funny and caring part. the one part that only ford knew so far.

[discofama]

Was thinking about our Pineses different styles of comedy and I realized Mabel's and Ford's are kind of the same in a way.

Originally was thinking of who of the 4 of them was the funniest for me, and I decided it's Dipper. I can't express how much I've laughed with him. Or more like, AT him, i realized. Unlike the others, most of the comedy that involves him is at his expense. Almost every character thought bad things of him at the very least (including Ford! In his first impressions in Journal 3) and the way he's so insecure and awkward and weird, and that almost everybody bullies him, is just so funny to me. God forbid me lmao.

Stan's comedy is more aimed at how shameless he is with his criminal activities and kind of fucked up stuff he says, like "finally a good reason to punch a teenager in the face!". Most of the times the jokes that involve him are simply funny because they're sudden, mean (him to others, which feeds the kind of humor that involves Dipper and a variety of other minor characters) and/or unexpected of someone as rough as him, like crying at a telenovela. Of course we also laugh AT him many times just like we do with every character, but the fact he is so shameless, unlike Dipper, makes it very different.

Mabel and Ford are funny just because they're both insane and have extremely weird interests. You could say it's also laughing AT them but this feels of a different nature than laughing at Dipper. So i'd say it's more like laughing WITH them, like we usually do with Stan. What's funny (in the strange sense) is that Ford did share Dipper's awkwardness when he was younger, but as far as I remember, it was never played for laughs like it was for Dipper. Mabel and Ford both are reckless, absentminded and go extra on everything, which is very amusing, but they also have a riddiculous taste in everything. For example, Mabel likes toothpaste and Ford likes human blood. Mabel bedazzles her face and Ford sets it on fire. They use grappling hooks and jump out of windows epically. They are shameless too, but while Stan is unabashedly greedy and his comedy usually intentionally harms others or their property, they unabashedly just are their own strange person from start to finish. And the result is pretty funny.

[bee-ina-boat]

pattern ive noticed <3

[cryoalliums]

Something i never saw anyone talk about was how the trial in “Escape from reality” wasn’t only for Mabel, But also for Dipper.

People tend to brush the trial off as “Dipper reasoning with Mabel” but isn’t only that, it isn’t that all in my perspective.

The trial serves as a way to remind both twins of everything they’ve been through together. Reinforced by the fact that it shows bad moments from both of their lives.

Yes these were shown in Xyler and Craz’s speech to prove their argument that fantasy is better than reality, but it proves the exact opposite to Dipper.

I actually think this speech was constructed in a way that would allow Dipper to reach the opposite conclusion, probably influenced by Mabel’s subconscious — her subconscious desire to go back to reality weakly fighting against Bill’s hypnosis — as we know it affects the entirety of Mabel-Land

No matter if that’s true or not, it still helps Dipper build his own case, as we know he didn’t even have an argument ready previous to being put in trial, as it was completely unprompted, and even worse provided him no attorney ,leaving him to fend for himself.

We know for a fact that Dipper’s argument was constructed based on Xyler and Craz’s case as it shows him holding notes, ones that he probably took mid-speech.

Being faced with these memories reminds Dipper that whenever reality got rough they were always there for each other. I think that at the start of the trial Dipper still intended to take Ford’s apprenticeship, and this is the moment he decides otherwise.

This is the moment he realizes that he doesn’t want to be holed up in a lab, that he wants to grow up alongside Mabel.

After that he shows his conclusion to Mabel, which subsequently brings her back to her senses. This trial was meant for the both of them, to bring back both of the twins from their own respective fantasies by making them realize how much they actually suck.

Mabel realizes that staying in Mabel-land would mean never actually growing up, being trapped inside a dream-like state forever, leaving all her friends and family behind. It would mean never being able to see her brother again after he loses the trial since he would be banished.

Dipper realizes that taking Ford’s apprenticeship would mean growing up too fast, being trapped in his studies for his entire life, leaving his friends and family in favor of acquiring knowledge. It would mean losing his sister.

They both leave these fantasies behind in favor of each other, and yes they might be scared, terrified of what’s coming after since weirdmaggedon is still going on after all. But they know that they will always be there for each other, it’s the one thing they’ve always known.

They know it will be okay because they are together, since they will go home together, no matter what.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

One thing I don't really see anyone talking about with regards to Gravity Falls is the parallel's between Ford's apprenticeship and Mabeland. Many, many times, the question has been raised 'should Dipper have accepted Ford's apprenticeship', but no-one ever argues 'should Mabel have stayed in Mabeland', for obvious reasons, the show portrays one as a no-brainer and the other as a complex decision. But I think the two situations parallel one another nicely.

For Dipper, taking Ford's apprenticeship is definitely the more attractive option. He doesn't appear to have a lot of friends in Piedmont, has been historically bullied and may still be, and Dipper generally doesn't want to deal with the trials of growing up. Ford meanwhile, basically treats Dipper like an equal, not like a kid, encourages Dipper, and allows Dipper to pursue his interests to the fullest. However, to take the apprenticeship, Dipper will be cloistering himself in an environment in which he never has to do the things he's scared of, he avoids confronting the realities that he doesn't want to deal with, and he'll miss out on going through life with his sister.

For Mabel, staying in Mabeland is the more attractive option. There's an apocalypse raging outside, her brother is growing away from her, she's going to have to leave friends that it's implied are the best she's ever had, and we know that she too, has been bullied in the past, and may still be, and Wendy's well and truly terrified her about the concept of growing up. In Mabeland however, Mabel can continue to live in a charmed reality, surrounded by the things she's interested in and in an environment where she's constantly being enabled, and any dissenters are ejected. However, to remain in Mabeland, Mabel is cloistering herself in an environment where she never has to do the things she's scared of, she avoids confronting the realities she doesn't want to deal with, and she's pushed away one of the most important parts of her life: her brother.

During Dipper's trial, we as viewers see Mabel's change of heart as Dipper shows her that despite the trials the real world has thrown at both of them, that they've always had each others backs, and Dipper realises that too (there was a really good essay on this a while back by @cryoalliums ). Even though they're both scared, and both wanting to avoid the reality of adolescence and high school and unpredictability, they both realise through Dipper's trial that by burying themselves in their respective fantasies, they'll lose the one person who's always had their back: each other. Whether or not it's bullies or a giant robot, the twins have always had each other as a support system, and an ally, and they both realise during the trial that they'd rather fight by one another's side than hide from their problems.

So sure, Dipper could have taken the apprenticeship. He could have chosen to take the tailor-made, one-on-one advanced education that allowed him to pursue his interests to the fullest. But Mabel could also have chosen to stay in the world surrounded by her interests, where she was safe from the things she wanted to avoid. I think it's interesting that these two situations are so paralleled, and yet it's rarely discussed.

[cracklinhaze]

underrated part of the gravity falls opening: mabel's little smile during this sequence. they both look all worried, check in with each other, and mabel gives her brother just the tiniest little hopeful smile.

i love a good over-analysis, so lemme hit you with this: mabel does that A Lot. she's often the one who takes on the "making dipper not feel so anxious" role, usually through jokes and hammy behavior, but occasionally she lets the Big Personality drop and we see a quieter side of her. when dipper is worried about something, he looks to his sister. she's the first one to comfort, irritate, and distract him. she's the one who tells him that everything is gonna be okay, even if she has no idea.

we see dipper protect mabel constantly throughout the show. mabel protects him right back, just in a different way.

anyway. something something pines twins love each other a whole lot and mabel's protectiveness comes out in her "i will be silly and cheerful at all costs so dipper doesn't lose it" energy the end.

what are you looking at?

[comically-blu]

Bill Cipher’s Favorite Humans Club (even including the former favs)

explanation below (TBOB & a little Journal 3 Special Edition spoilers) ⬇️

From rereading TBOB & the invisible ink pages in the Journal 3 special edition, turns out Bill did have a few humans he was close with before Ford: Modoc the Wise (the Shaman) & Xgqrthx the Unpronounceable. Pharaoh & Trembley doesn’t exactly count as close here .3.

The Shaman & Bill

Shaman probably would be ranked a little high in Bill’s standards, even when he immediately dumped Bill with a banishment spell & made the murals after finding out Bill’s intent. Sure seems similar to how Bill and Ford’s relationship was, especially the drugs bit. (Having hallucinogenic grass w/ Shaman vs. getting wasted w/ Ford in the mindscape).

The Wizard & Bill

Like Mabel, Bill sure likes a chaos in a genius. But Xy’ would be ranked really low for what he did to cause himself to be killed by Bill.

Ford is the Favorite

The difference between the Shaman, the Wizard, and Ford is that Bill just decided to keep Ford alive. Bill most likely killed the Shaman, according to the “survived a shaman’s curse” and met a “gruesome end” bit. Then there’s Xy’ humiliating Bill to being a cosmic trick to impress his ex and the king that he killed him off in a rage. He even cursed the medieval age with nightmares!

Then, there’s Bill with Ford— Maybe the most closest that Bill has with any humans and his Hench-maniacs. Altering Ford’s vision to see Euclidean colors, offering to give a tattoo in Euclidean language, opening up about the last atom of his home dimension, keeping Ford alive, turning Ford into gold & many more… Ford is definitely the biggest favorite

Either way, “Brilliant, morally ambig-uous, and romantically challenged?” Bill said himself, Bill certainly has a type!