#merman dipper

[arttsuka]

dipper as the merman and mabel as the deertaur

mabel keeps making "doe" puns to dipper's annoyance

[lilicannotfly]

gravity falls doodles (mostly) in my sketchbook! from stanley pines merperson to mystery twins in college to my first semi sucessful attempt at drawing fiddleford :)

also what was supposed to be human bill cipher but both my father and my friend said he looked like "soft uncle sam" so idk lols

[fawnydoe]

remaking this post because i can word it better but sock opera hammers in that dipper is sleep deprived and on a time limit and bill is clearly exploiting his recent frustrations/spat with his sister and for whatever reason people seemed to think you were supposed to think bill was like correct in his manipulations and not exaggerating and intentionally reframing past events to get dipper to do what he wanted

[incorrectpinescone]

Dipper: *watching Wirt race Sara and win every time in the community pool, thinking about how Wirt can hold his breath for minutes at a time and swim like a dolphin and how much he’s attracted to that*

Mabel: “We need to check if he’s fae. He doesn’t swim enough to do all this.”

Dipper: “I’ll follow him into any faery world he calls me to.”

Mabel: “You just like his back muscles.”

[freshydip]

dipper’s search history in the book of bill had me fucking crying like what do you mean he googled if it was normal to desire the green m&m carnally

(full search history below)

these are all so fucking funny to me the way he’s phrasing them is true Urgent Google Search Cadence. “first kiss was Merman does this count?” “tension in household excessive glitter” “toby determined what is he” this boy is rapid fire anxiety googling in a most relatable form fr

[ciderjacks]

mabel:

SELFISHLY is sad after her brother makes her lose her pet by begging her to help him instead, all to impress a girl who wasn’t going to date him in the first place

Wants to help Save a trapped merman (which tbc is also sacrificing her own relationship with the merman, and she was doing it anyways bc she realized he was unhappy) and so SELFISHLY asks her brother to help, which ig loses him a chance to impress that same girl who still isn’t going to date him

puts her own wants ahead of her brothers briefly by cruelly and maliciously asking him to help her with a sock puppet show for a day (this is somehow different than that time dipper asked her to put his needs ahead of his to impress wendy) then sacrifices all her hard work and also her chance with the guy she’d wanted to impress (and actually did have a chance with) in an Explosion when she realizes her brother needs her help.

Is SELFISHLY upset when her brother is genuinely considering just leaving her alone and staying in gravity falls forever (which would also mean missing out on his childhood, growing up, his family, school, friends, and having a close relationship with her) because he wants to pursue his own interests, and so SELFISHLY is tricked by Bill (this is of course different from when Dipper was tricked by Bill).

Conclusion: Mabel is selfish and irredeemable and basically the worst character who doesn’t deserve her pure and selfless brother.

Dipper:

Was going to sacrifice Mabels pet pig for a small increased chance wendy, until he realized that she wouldn’t just “get over it” and felt bad

was going to let Mermando stay trapped in the pool and also maybe die for a chance with Wendy

was going to let Bill take over Stans mind because he was mad at him

Was tricked by Bill because he wanted answers about his own interests

Raised an army of zombies to impress the FBI guys and almost got everyone killed

was going to completely abandon his sister, friends, family, and entire life just to pursue his own interests in gravity falls.

Conclusion: Dipper is pure and selfless and has never done anything wrong or self serving, unlike his evil sister Mabel.

[piss-pumpkin]

🏖️ A beach episode 🌊

Older!Dipper pines x reader, Douce amere chapter 23 ~4.0k words Masterlist Prev

The state of your head meant you couldn’t swim much. Getting water on it, especially dirty water, like that of the Gravity Falls lake was a bad idea. Having the cut contaminated or infected was a big no-no. Even with it healing well, there was still a somewhat open wound under your bandaid, and the cover was far from water proof. That being said, you also weren’t a bitch. 

You just couldn’t let the water touch your head. Seemed easy enough. 

Your flip flop broke on the way to the shore, so Dipper gave you a piggy back ride, and you kicked your other sandal at Mabel, who walked ahead of you. She didn’t dodge, and it hit her in the back. The Grunkles were grabbing things from the trunk: floaties, a chair for Stan, some weird invention of Fords that would do… something to the water. 

Dipper let you down on the dock, where you wouldn’t get sand stuck on your feet. 

The dock was worn down from years of splashing and walking, and you’d been told it was the place where Mabel got her first kiss. And with a merman Dipper was not fond of. That was a fun bit of mythology. 

The lake wasn’t exactly crowded, but it was on the busy side. You couldn’t be too surprised considering the good weather. On the beach, the cops, Blubs and Durland were laying in towels and giggling to themselves over magazines you couldn’t make out from the dock. A couple of Wendy’s brothers were on the water fishing. Mcguckets son was lecturing some teenager sternly.

Stan had used the car to inflate a couple floats. He was walking towards the three of you, tube in hand, a  nice one too. It had a headrest, and netting in the bottom to sit on.

“Oh my god, look at that!” Mabel said, pointing into the water. 

You looked. The lake water was a little dirty, tinted greenish from some underwater plants growing off the dock legs.

“Um, what?” Dipper asked, leaning over the edge of the dock. You fought the urge to push him in, he hadn’t wronged you in a while, probably didn’t deserve it.

”Yeah, I don’t see anything, what are we looking at?” You asked, studying the lake. You didn’t even see any fish.

Mabel looked up at the both of you, jaw hung open. She pointed accusingly at the small waves. “You guys seriously didn’t see that?” She asked, brow raised. “It was like- I fucking huge fish or something!” 

You pursed your lips, glancing back at the water. It seemed all clear. “Uhhh,” you looked at Dipper, who had a matching look of apprehension, with a little curiosity. “Yeah, I didn’t see anything,” you admitted.

Dipper put his hand up like he was in a classroom, “I also didn’t see-“

“Hey kids, catch,” Stan called, hurling the tube like a frisbee. 

You turned around to look at the shore where he came from. “Huh-“ the tube hit you square in the face. The impact of the rubber got your straight in the forehead. For a soft material, it sure did hit hard when you had stitches in your face. “Fuck!”

You heard Stan suck a breath in through his teeth, “Sorry, my bad,” he said. 

Dippers jaw was hanging open as he looked at Stan, and Stan shot a thumbs up with a guilty smile and shuffled away. 

Mabel swooped I’m in front of you to look at your head. “Bandaids still on,” she said, examining the edges. She picked up the tube Stan threw, and handed it to you. “So your still alive, that’s good!”

You grimaced. At least you could tell your head was getting better, because it didn’t stay bad for long. You blinked a few times, and the pain was nearly gone. “Yippee,” you said dryly.

                                         …

Dipper and Mabel could swim, and you could… hangout. When they went in the water, you lounged in the tube.

Mabel actually had one too. She swam to shore to grab a float shaped like a pizza slice. She flopped up on it, and laid on her back, saying she was trying to get tan.  Her head was buried face down in the crust.

You might’ve rested your sunglasses on your forehead if not for the bandage. Instead, they were over your eyes as you lounged on the tube, and you hoped to god that your sunscreen would be enough to avoid a sunglasses tan line. 

It was surprising how good a job you were doing keeping the water off your face. The headrest of your float was completely dry. 

The twins traded the pizza slice around. Dipper ended up sitting on it, holding onto the side of your tube so he didn’t drift away. The tube was much higher in the water then Dippers float, so for today you were taller than him. Felt good. 

Mabel insisted on diving for pearls. You and Dipper ended up slowly drifting away from her spot by the docks, carried by the weak waves. You caught a glimpse her feet above the surface before she vanished under the water for another dive. 

You leaned over to Dipper, “I feel like we should be betting on if she finds anything, you know?”

He leaned on the tube, and you smiled seeing up close how you were a good head and a half taller than him like this. “She totally won’t, right?” He said, half as a question. 

You shrugged, “I don’t know.” She came up for air again, and took her goggles off to get some water out of them. When she saw the two of you facing her, she waved enthusiastically before putting them on again and diving. “I would say no, but it’s Gravity Falls, you can never know for sure,” you grinned. 

Dipper snickered. “Okay, if she finds a pearl, it’ll be super weird,” he said, talking with his hands as he tried to draw an elaborate picture in the air. 

“Or better yet,” you added, “not even a pearl. She finds some weird cursed gem or artifact.”

He tapped at the rubber of the float. “Okay, I like your thinking,” he said, “but she’s so shallow, like what, did some dude just drop some weird magic thing off the dock?”

You waved your hand in dismissal as you snickered. “Well maybe, like a wizard or something was walking one night and just keeps shit in his pockets,” you said, trying to think. Thinking was hard through. “Or it’s just washing up from the tide.”

Dipper snorted, “washing up from where? This is not a big lake.”

You winced, swishing your cheeks around your mouth. “Uhhh,” you started. 

Before you could come up with something, Dipper gasped. “Wait no- no you’re right,” he said quickly, looking over at the island in the other side of the lake. “I, uh- remembered. There is very much weird shit in here.” 

You pursed your lips, “Okay, well now I’m worried.” The best you could think of was how Mabel’s merman boyfriend somehow ended up in the ocean from here, so it clearly connected somewhere. That or you could make up some underwater ancient city. 

Dipper glanced around, then pointed at the island on the far side. “I’m like, eighty percent sure that island is alive, and it’s a giant floating head,” he whispered. “But we’re fine, we’re… so far over here.”

”Um,” you said, trying to think about that. You had nothing though. Your head was completely empty. You’d totally been on that island before. 

In very convenient timing, you caught a dark glimmer under the water under you. Like… a big fish. But it didn’t look right in the way it moved. “Dipper,” you said sternly, pointing to the water. 

He hummed, looking first at you, then following your finger. Luckily, it was still in a sight. A big, maybe human sized, dark shadow swimming… towards the dock. You could tell Dipper saw it, because his face first lit up with excitement, then fell. Mabel had just come up for air. 

You and Dipper looked at each other, then back at Mabel. The dark shadow had disappeared in her direction. “Dude,” you said.

”Yep,” he affirmed quickly. 

You turned, and started to paddle your tube back over to the dock. Dipper looked like he was about to do the same. You poked at his arm, “you can just swim over, man,” you said. 

He glanced at Mabel, then at the pizza slice. “Yeah, okay,” he said, rolling back into the water.

As he started to swim away, Mabel raised her hand above the water, and you couldn’t hear what she was saying. It looked like she was holding something to show. Maybe a pearl. 

In a blink though, she was almost under. Your eyes widened as her head, all but the top of her hair sunk. Then she was back with a gasp, thrashing.

You sat right up, pointing, “Holy fuck!” You couldn’t tell if Dipper saw, but he definitely heard. He looked back at you for a moment. “Go get her!” you yelled, frantically trying to paddle over. How important was your head? Should you just jump in?

You worried faded quickly though, as Dipper picked up the pace swimming to the dock. He’d get there far faster than you could anyway, now. So you paddled as best you could. 

Mabel disappeared under, and Dipper was close enough to dive after her. And for a good moment, it was oddly quiet. Most of what you heard was your own paddling. You swallowed hard. Ford was far off on the shore doing something with the water. Stan was asleep on his chair. The rest of the people on the lake didn’t seem to see anything. It was just you, the twins, and some random sea monster. Or… lake monster.

By the time you got close, they were still under. You tapped against the tube. You pulled your feet out of the water, like touching it would get you pulled down too. Should you just go? You stood up, and peered over into the waves.

Just then, you heard the surface break behind you, and gasps for air. You whipped around, nearly falling off as you did. Your knees hit the netting in the tube as you crashed down. “Guys?” You asked, paddling over to them. 

Dipper was holding Mabel, who looked more shaken up, and swimming towards you. You offered a hand, and he made Mabel take it first. Only sliding around a little bit, you managed to help haul her into the tube beside you. 

Next was Dipper. Three people in one tube was not great, but it beat touching the water. You caught a glimpse of the shadow fish under you just as Dipper was climbing on. You held the pizza slice float like a weapon to bat it away if it tried anything. It didn’t. 

Dipper and Mabel were panting, and Dippers eyes were locked on the water. 

“Guys, what happened?” You asked, starting to paddle to the dock. If you could climb up onto it, you wouldn’t have to be on the water so long. Dipper must have had the same idea, because he started helping. 

But he also kept looking back at the water. The fish was gone, though. He hummed lowly, “there was-“

”-That bitch had arms!” Mabel shouted, staring at her hands. They were shaking a little. “And they were fucking gross!” 

You grimaced. Fish with arms. Alright. You got to the dock, and Mabel was talking about the fish with arms, and black hollow eyes, according to her. The dock wasn’t too high off the water. With a boost at the feet, you and Dip got Mabel up first, then you, then you both helped to pull him up. You had his hands, so he brought the floats up one with his leg, and one with his teeth. 

You all sat on the dock a moment, catching your breath. You looked around. Nobody seemed to notice the commotion, somehow. 

“Guys!” Mabel shouted, pointing at the water.

You rushed over to the edge to see. The big fish was moving towards the shore, and closer to the surface. You could see the… arms.. flowing at its sides more clearly now that Mabel pointed them out. 

You scanned the beach. Nobody was too near the water except… Ford, kneeling by the waterline with a little machine. You sucked a breath in through your teeth, “God, Fuck.”

The fish moved pretty fast. The three of you stood up, and started to run.

Running felt weird on the head. You slowed to a jog while the others sped to Ford. 

The fish got there first, though. Dipper and Mabel were calling his name, but Ford didn’t seem to be listening. He was staring at the water. The dark shadow was swirling where he knelt, and Ford seemed hypnotized. 

“Cathrine, you came!” He said giddily. His eyes were wide and enchanted as the fish emerges from the water. 

The twins slowed down, stopping to stare. You caught up to have with them. The fish, apparently named Cathrine, was disgusting. It… or maybe she- had arms that moved and sagged and hung like kelp, and were the same colour, too. She didn’t have fingers, instead just… leaves. Her hair was a wet lump of darker plant, cooled down her back. Her skin was also a murky green, and feathered with plants and dusted with sand.

Mabel was gaping, and pointed at the slimy kelp hands, “oh my god, that touched me,” she said meekly. 

“Great uncle Ford!” Dipper yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Get away from that, it’s dangerous!”

His warning were in vein, though. Ford finally looked over at the three of you on the docks, and just waved happily, “Hi Kids!” then went back to staring into Cathrines eyes. Or… actually you weren’t sure if it had eyes, you didn’t see its face. 

Dipper started speed walking to him again, and you and Mabel followed behind. He stopped suddenly, “wait, Cathrine?” He said, one hand moving to his chin. 

You and Mabel shared a glance, silently agreeing not to interrupt his thought process.

”Cathrine- ugh, where do I recognize that…” he grumbled, string between the wood planks of the dock into the water. He snapped his fingers, “oh my god, I’ve got it,” he said, looking at Ford again. “Great uncle Ford wrote in the journal, he used to date a siren names Cathrine, do you guys think…” he trailed off, and you all looked at the big fish again. 

Yeah, she could look like a Cathrine.

“Okay, so let’s kick her away from him, right?” You asked, eying Cathrine. 

They nodded. 

When Ford saw you all approaching again, he grinned even wider at you. He pointed the three of you out to Cathrine, who turned her head to look, and for the first time you saw she did have eyes. She had hollow, pure black eyes, and completely sunken in skin, worn down like when water blazes a trail into stone. Her cheeks could have been a river, and her wrinkles like streams. 

“Kids, come meet Cathy!” Ford called happily. How Stan was still asleep on the chair with a magazine over his face, you’d never understand. 

Dipper practically wheezed, “fucking Cathy?” He looked frantically between you and Mabel, then back to Ford. He shouted across the water again, “That thing tried to drown Mabel!”

Ford waved his hand, “she wouldn’t do that,” he said quietly, possibly forgetting that you were all across the dock from him.

That might’ve been the last straw. The three of you started running to the shore again to catch Ford before something unfortunate happened. You had to slow down for your head, but even in a jog the old planks of the dock hammered under your feet. 

“You’ll love her,” Ford declared happily, taking her slimy kelp hands in his own to hold lovingly. “I think we’re going to finally tie the knot!”

Mabel had to stop running to cough and sputter as she started to laugh. “Go on without me,” she wheezed, planting her hands on her knees to support herself.

You heard Dipper mumble under his breath at her, but he kept forward towards Ford. When your feet hit the sand and dirt off the ground, Dipper was already close. Mabel coughed behind you as she caught up.

Ford was entranced in Cathrines eyes, and she was subtly pulling him closer by the hands. Well, not that subtle, actually, if you could notice from across the beach. Subtle enough that Ford didn’t seem to pay any mind. “I can’t believe it,” he said dreamily. “After all these years, I found you again.”

 ”No fucking shot,” you said, turning to Mabel as the two of you rested. Damn your head. Dipper was the only one doing anything productive. 

Catherine pulled harder, and Ford started idly leaning more toward the water, until he was wading in on his knees to follow her direction. It was only when she smiled wide that you saw her mouth. Her lips blended well into her skin, almost unnoticeable until she opened her jaw, and you could see the rows upon rows of sharpened teeth. 

“Great uncle Ford, no!” Dipper said, as if he was scolding a dog. 

You and Mabel shared a glance, and decided rest time was over. You both tried to catch up with them. 

Just as Cathy tried to yank Ford into the water, Dipper practically tackled him, wrapping his arms around his torso and pulling him back. “Great uncle Ford, snap out of it!” He yelled, turning his head so he didn’t scream in Fords ear. 

“D-dipper, what are you doing?” Ford asked, with all the hurt in his tone of a kicked puppy. He fought back against Dipper, and was far stronger. 

Luckily, just as he broke free, and Dippers grasp broke, you and Mabel got there. She took his arms, pulling them out of Cathy’s grip, while you shoved Ford onto his side in the sand and held him down. Ford tried to thrash and resist, but Mabel kept a firmer grip than Dipper did. 

“Ford, you fuck,” you said, looking as Cathrines deranged smile curled into a teeth scowl. “Do we have to kill you? What’s going on?” 

“She’s the love of my life!” 

Dipper groaned, glaring down Cathrine. 

Ford struggled against you and Mabel, hard. Mabel grumbled holding back his arms as his thrashing grew more desperate the closer Cathrine inched to the sand. Ford tried to wiggle towards her, so you sat on him to hold him down.

You looked to Dipper, expecting help. Or for him to swat the creature away. Instead, he was staring down Cathy, with what at first looked like a glare, but you went on to realize was… a trance. “God fucking-“ you started. You tried to reach him without moving too far from your post, but it didn’t work. At least Dip wasn’t moving. 

Cathy had turned her attention to your boyfriend, and Ford was not happy. “Cathy?” He practically begged. 

You were also not happy. “Dip,” you said, snapping your finger at him to get his attention. It didn’t work. In fact, he hadn’t blinked the whole time you’d been looking at him. You glanced back at Mabel, still holding thrashing arms. Ugh. “Dipper, snap the fuck out of it,” you complained. 

The siren creeped closer to him, and he made no effort to move away. Worse, he knelt down to her level. Mabel seemed to notice too, “uh, bro?” She asked. 

“Ok, Mabes, let’s both agree not to look too hard at Cathy, alright?” You said, trying to keep the fish out of your peripheral. “Cuz he can’t look away right now.”

Mabel nodded, averting her eyes. At the very least, Ford was calming down. Well, no. Calm was not the right word. Ford was depressed and disparaged like you’d never seen before, practically melting into the sand rather than thrashing for escape. 

You tentatively got up from Ford. The moment your weight was off him, he sprang up and tried to lunge for Cathrine. “Oh, fuck off,” you grumbled, tackling him again and holding him down. A low groan escaped his lips. 

Things were getting worse for Dipper though. Slowly, as if crossing a threshold, he outstretched his hand for Cathrine, despite Fords despondent wails. Her disgusting slimy leaves were dangling above him as she lowered them onto his palm. You made mental note not to touch his hands until he washed them.

You looked at Mabel. There seemed to be a stalemate going on. “Ok, what if one of us takes arms and body,” you suggested, looking at Fords sad face resting in the sand. 

“Oh!” She perked up. “I can try,” she offered. 

“Uh, on three?” You asked. You shared a nod and started to count.

On three, you leapt up towards Dipper, shoved him out of the way. You pressed your eyes into a squint as you faced Cathy, trying to avoid her face. Holy fuck her gross hand was near your legs. 

You squirmed at the thought of that touching you, and your legs moved on their own. In a swift motion that you didn’t even fully register, Cathrine was kicked in the head. Easy, since she was low to the ground on the water. 

The moment your foot collided with her face, you regretted it. Still barefoot, you could feel her grainy, slimy skin on yours, and feel the way her jaw moved with your hit, and the way it freaked with the motion. You squeaked as you recoiled away, almost wanting to cleave your foot from your body. 

Cathrine hissed, with a remarkably similar reaction to you. She slithered away back under the water like a snake, and swam away. That was all it took? 

You looked back to take stock. Mabel had knocked the wind out of Ford landing on his back, taking his arms down with her in a makeshift arm bar. Why in gods name she wasn’t doing that the whole time, you didn’t know. With Cathy gone though, he seemed to be doing better, and was actually spitting out the sand that had gotten in his mouth instead of gnawing on it defeatedly. 

You glanced at Dipper, who blinked a few times. His eyes were watery, probably recovering from the dry spell staring context he seemed to have with Cathrine. “Hey, so-“ he started, looking at you, the Ford and Mabel, then the empty spot in the water where the siren was. “Um, what happened just now?”

You snickered, “Found out you’re into old fish hags.”

Ford mumbled out a dazed, “Don’t call her that, she’s a beautiful woman.” None of that was factually correct. She looked more like a fish. 

Dippers face reddened. “I-“ he stopped himself, jaw hanging slightly open. He closed it, pursing his lips, “Yeah, I got nothing, actually.”

You rolled your eyes, and offered him a hand up. “Yeah, I didn’t think so, you freak,” you laughed smugly, “should I be jealous?”

He took the hand, brushing the sand off his legs. “Uh, maybe not you,” he said, glancing back at the ground. “But Great uncle Ford should be.”

He groaned again from the ground, and Mabel got off of him. “Do you guys, uh, wanna leave?”

You stared at the water a moment, scanning for anymore dark shadows underneath. Your eyes caught on the boat Wendy’s siblings were on. “Yeah, alright,” you affirmed. “Is somebody gonna wake Stan?”

“Not it,” Mabel said. You quickly echoed her, leaving Dipper the odd one out. 

“Why are you guys the worst?” He said, walking off toward Stans chair. Ford mumbled an agreement from the ground, and you were fine to call the beach episode done. The water was not looking amazing after seeing its creatures. And you had to go home and wash your foot as soon as possible, since cutting it off wasn’t an option. 

Next

Chat I did smth scary 💀 after like 2 years I’ve given my friend fanfic privileges back. I got one friend who matches my freak and I can trust to read my fucking x readers. Trying to write this chapter was so stressful cuz for once I was self aware of my cringe.

Taglist: @cipheress-to-k-pop @dead-esque @phobo-ss

[t1oui]

okay but what about a marauders era gravity falls au

regulus as dipper

sirius as mabel

james as wendy

severus as robbie

evan as pacifica except he has a weird twin sister/cousin who actually wants to be friends with sirius and reg from the start (aka pandora)

remus as mermando. i have so many thoughts about this one

idk who as gideon??? LUCIUS AS GIDEON

bellatrix as bill

regulus getting a crush on james. sirius having his first kiss with merman remus. evan being a stuck-up rich boy. regulus with a baseball cap!! and sirius with a bunch of charms on his jacket, including a shooting star. severus crying in a grave bc james broke up with him and sirius becoming determined to get him with someone else.

just. marauders gravity falls au

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Warrior Cats

Mabel Propaganda

"[insert "i am 12 years old" comic]"

"You probably already know about this but back when the series was airing people were really pissed at Mabel because she was supposedly selfish. Yeah ok guys asking for a fucking megaphone to help a merman find his family was TOTALLY unreasonable. Dipper giving up one (1) "date" with a girl way older than him to save Mabel's pet was SO not worth it. (This is sarcasm btw. Side note a lot of these have to do with Dipper's crush on Wendy which is a whole other discussion.) And then there's the big one. Mabel causing Weirdmageddon. What people fail to realize with this is that 1) she was extremely stressed when she handed Bill the rift 2) she was tricked by Bill, a being that is A MASTER AT TRICKING PEOPLE, into thinking that she was being handed a magic solution to what felt like the end of the world to her, and 3) she was TWELVE. Not to pull out the "she is literally neurodivergent and a minor" card but do you really expect a 12 year old who's just been told that she's gonna have to face a big and difficult transition WITHOUT her brother who's been there for her all her life to make a rational decision? Y'all seriously fell for Bill's empty words in Sock Opera. Absolute bufoons. You would not survive Weirdmageddon."

"Oh wow, a preteen girl under extreme distress acts like a preteen girl under extreme distress. Whoda thunk?"

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

honestly in light of another show getting cancelled after one fucking season despite being very loved and full of potential recent events i'm thinking a lot about the current state of TV and how it relates to the Gravity Falls renaissance going on right now with the new content (the book of bill/thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com). i'm thinking about how this show was adored as it aired and how it's still loved now, a decade later as it's audience has grown up. i think about what led to this story being so loved and adored so far past it's end.

and I think one of the biggest reasons for that is that Gravity Falls lasted long enough to tell the story it was made to tell.

While there are still fans who wish for a new season, it's largely agreed upon that the show lasted just long enough to tell it's story without dragging on. It finished in such a way that most major plot points were resolved with good pacing and not being rushed out of fear of cancellation. It goes down in television history as one of those shows where people think

"did it end at just the right point? yes. would I love more of it if the creators/crew wanted to do it? ALSO yes."

(definitely! ABSOLUTELY!)

So when new content was released and it builds on what was already masterfully established, people have ran back to it like it never left and are engaging with the story they love all over again.

And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Gravity Falls is one of what feels like the few modern shows (especially since the last few years where everyone can name a show they loved that they're angry got cancelled after one or two seasons) that has gotten to just... come to an end. It wasn't cancelled prematurely because of nonsense streaming criteria or censorship; it didn't get a cut-down final season that forced half-completed plotlines to be thrown out or pruned to a shell of what they were meant to be; it came to it's natural intended end when it was meant to.

But it was also given time to breathe.

While the overarching mystery was constantly present throughout the show, it was also paced in such a way that it was mainly hinted at early on and not explored in detail until later, after we'd seen how the characters act in mundane, self-contained situations; episodes that focus on the main plot (mainly those in season 2) often happen after a good number of "normal" episodes that focus on the day-to-day hijinks of the Pines family, where we don't have to focus on the plot - we can just watch what the characters do and enjoy the ride.

And it's the presence of silly episodes about a merman being broken out of the local pool and dipper cloning himself via a copy machine to be able to party and two elderly ghosts who haunt a convenience store being appeased by dipper dancing in a lamb costume that make the episodes like the one where a recurring "crazy ol' hillbilly" was revealed to have been a highly skilled and intelligent scientist who was so haunted by the harrowing otherworldly horrors he'd seen that he drove himself insane so daunting and memorable. There is a balance to the pacing and tone that is a rarity in newer shows.

And honestly? I think one of the other reasons Gravity Falls is still so loved today is because it encompasses so much about TV shows that people really miss in today's era of how shows are structured.

"I miss when shows had 15-20 episodes a season." Gravity Falls did that.

"I miss when shows had filler and didn't rush through the plot so fast." Gravity Falls did that.

"I miss when we got to watch the characters do things besides The Plot and just got to watch them do funny hijinks that don't lead to something big and Plot Relevant." Gravity Falls did that. Gravity Falls did that. Gravity Falls did that and it was so much fun.

And I think about how if it were being aired now, we might have gotten that iconic and unforgettable years-in-the-waiting "The author of the journals... my brother." reveal as early as episode six out of eight.

Or even worse - it would have happened at the very end of the first season, and the second the credits rolled, fans would have had to scramble to write PSA posts to watch it as soon as possible and play the season on loop and tell everyone to stream it; they wouldn't have been able to just revel in the excitement of a well-paced reveal that was years in the making; they most likely would have had to immediately get to work and jump through hoops and fight like hell for a chance at the story to be completed.

And worst case scenario - it probably wouldn't have worked.

TLDR; Gravity Falls is a well-loved masterpiece bc it got to do what so few new shows get to do and have enough time to tell the story it was meant to tell and I'm so relieved it aired before the shithole that is 8-episode seasons (read: only one 8-episode season before the near-inevitable cancellation) became the norm for new shows.

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Mabel hate in general is so forced but it feels especially forced in The Deep End. Like, Dipper was the one hesitant to help an injured merman get back to his family because it threatened the job he only got to impress a girl, while Mabel was risking life and limb to get that same merman home. Why was she the one thrown under the bus??

[eksvnd]

Ford dated a siren which is Bill cause of that one comic panel and Dipper kissed a merman. It's a funny coincidence.

[tswwwit]

Will bill or dipper still love the other even if one of them is a immeasurable cosmic eldritch being that is capable of swallowing galaxies with no great effort or maybe an earthworm? :]

Compared to Bill, Dipper basically already is a worm! (He is beaten with a pillow for this response)

But if Bill asked the question, Dipper tells him that he'll put him on a hook and use him to catch a better merman husband. And Bill is very >:(

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: March 15…

While at the pool during a heatwave, Mabel befriends someone by the deep end, only to reveal himself as a merman, and wants to get back home in the ocean as Dipper volunteers as a lifeguard to get close to Wendy with Stan fighting to get a good seat and let Gideon win that seat. “The Deep End” premiered on this day, 11 Years Ago.

[bestepisode]

Vote on the first half of the season here!

Episode descriptions below the cut.

Little Dipper: Mabel realises she's a bit taller than Dipper and boasts to him. Jealous, Dipper treks into the forest to find height altering crystals so that people will stop teasing him.

Summerween: It's Gravity Falls' Summer version of Halloween, with Jack-o-Melons and trick-or-treating. Dipper insults a candy monster that threatens to eat him if his candy quota isn't filled by the end of the day.

Boss Mabel: Mabel thinks Stan is a terrible boss, and is sure she can do it better than him. While Stan takes a holiday, Mabel tries to run the Mystery Shack, but it's harder than she thought.

Bottomless Pit!: Stan, Soos, Mabel and Dipper accidentally fall down the Bottomless Pit. To pass time until they are rescued they tell stories, including the one where Dipper got a new voice.

The Deep End: When Mabel befriends a cute merman trapped in the deep end of the public pool, she's determined to return him to his family in the ocean, even though that means her whirlwind romance will come to an end; Dipper learns that Wendy is a lifeguard.

Carpet Diem: After a sleepover, Dipper and Mabel decide they can't share the same room any more. They find a spare one, which contains an old carpet that it turns out can swap people's bodies.

Boyz Crazy: When Mabel discovers that her favourite boy band is actually a bunch of imprisoned clones, she sets them free, only to decide on keeping them for herself. Dipper is convinced that Robbie plans to brainwash Wendy with a secret message.

Land Before Swine: When a prehistoric beast flies away with Mabel's pig Waddles, the gang must search a dinosaur cave to try and find him.

Dreamscaperers: Dipper, Mabel and Soos have to travel through Grunkle Stan's mind to overthrow a dream demon that was summoned by Lil' Gideon.

Gideon Rises: After Lil' Gideon takes over the Mystery Shack, Dipper and Mabel try to get it back. But Lil' Gideon is always one step ahead of them.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

You can't just post a "choose violence" ask game and not expect me to choose violence.

1, 3, 4, 7, 16, and 20?

The character everyone gets wrong. Has to be a tie for me really between two fandoms: Ben in Descendants and Marinette in Miraculous. Ben because for some reason some fans think he's the one who wanted Mal to act like a lady of the court in the second film and that the film was right that he didn't love her as she was when??? No??? The film itself showed Mal kept doing the spells to herself even when told not to by Evie??? Let alone the films climax literally had Mal see Ben always loved her for who she was because of how she looks on her cotillion portrait??? And even in books, Mal's shown deciding to use magic on herself with no prompting from Ben at all??? Like where the fuck is any of these claims about Ben in film or books because I fail to see them anywhere. And Marinette is just a victim of the fandom's sexism, because despite it being shown she wanted to tell Chat Noir everything but Fu instructing her not to, fandom for some reason blames her for it and acts like she mistreats Chat Noir as a result, with fandom even getting pissy at her for finally having enough of Chat Noir's flirting and yeeting him into a bin before dragging him to a roof to lecture him as by this point, Chat Noir has been shown constantly not respecting her boundaries or no to a relationship- but according to fandom, she's a meanie who shouldn't tell the future Nice Guy no and just go along with his shit.

3. Screenshot or description of the worst take you're seen on tumblr. I don't have screenshot's really because these takes go between Tumblr and Twitter in all honestly: Mabel Pines is the worst character in Gravity Falls. I know its cooled down nowadays and people even are realizing how stupid the hate for Mabel was, but we really have to acknowledge how sexist it was and still kinda is at times in the fandom when it comes to Mabel. A demon tricks her into handing over a rift that she has no idea what it is even as Ford and Dipper didn't tell anyone about the rift because said demon preyed on her emotional vulnerable state??? It's her fault the demon proceeded to begin his take on the apocalypse because didn't you know female characters are supposed to know everything in the plot and be perfect human beings who never get negative or fall for anything. She wants to save her pig from being given away to someone who will just eat him while Dipper is just obsessed with a relationship with Wendy that will never happen no matter what he does??? Mabel's the selfish one who has to let go of what she loves just so Dipper can be happy apparently...ignoring said happiness won't happen but- Mabel wants to help a merman stuck in a pool ultimately so he can get home while AGAIN Dipper is just obsessed with being around Wendy for a relationship that won't happen??? Somehow Mabel's selfish, ignoring the definition of selfish is putting your own needs before others but here was she putting someone else's needs before hers. And no I'm not calling Dipper selfish and the worst either, it's just noting how Dipper throughout the show also did shit like Mabel, but somehow he's given a pass while Mabel isn't by these people.

4. What was the last straw that finally made you block that person? I...honestly don't think I've blocked many over fandom reasons, more like non-fandom reasons such as someone constantly stalking me and whenever I see terf's.

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because of how the fandom acts about them? ...Does a fan creation count or...because I wanna say humanized version of Star from Wish, aka Star Boy. Because he's literally just another Jack Frost from Rise of The Guardians but with zero anything that made Jack good. He literally just exists in fandom just so they can force a straight romance onto Asha, because for people who say Asha should have a romance, they forget about her best friend in the movie as a option, let alone don't seem to care for Asha as a character overall beyond shipping her with OC fan creation, but then they'll probably complain in the future about wanting a Disney main girl whose got no romance...

16. You can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcannon, etc). So much came to mind for Percy Jackson here, aka Percy suddenly going from someone who wants to try in school despite how people treat him for his disabilities to now just being a lazy student, Annabeth in book terms calling Percy 'Seaweed Brain' as in books its just adding to how Annabeth treats him like he's an idiot always and Percy being seemingly fine with abandoning his life and family in New York to live in the military organization known as roman demigods who literally use child soldiers while the adults sit around doing nothing and said child soldiers don't really get a choice as they have to enlist and do some years in service before they can just live as they want...so uh, guess tie between all three???

20. Part of canon you found tedious or boring. Final tie for these answers: 73 Yards from Doctor Who and Rise of Red for Descendants.

Choose violence.