#pengychan flat dreams

[craycray-wolf]

HELLO FELLOW FALLERS!!

(⚠️🚨 SPOILER ALERTS FOR THE BOOK OF BILL AND FANFICTION FLAT DREAMS ⚠️🚨)

I would like to propose something.

Back in 2016 a fantastically creative individual known as PengyChan wrote a fanfiction on Bill Cipher's origins/backstory based off of novel Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (if you haven't read the fanfic I 100% recommend). I loved its characterization of Bill and the references to Flatland! I'll provide a link at the end of this post for any who are interested.

BUT as many know, the Book of Bill just came out on the 23rd! And he discusses his origins in it. I figured this would either debunk what Pengy had written/make their fanfic an AU.

And of course that's true for some of the story.

But here's the thing. I personally think quite a bit of it would still work! And thus blending the 2 could be plausible.

1. Bill is a horribly unreliable narrator.

2. Bill despite going a bit into his origins/home dimension actually doesn't say much at all, either because of omission or censoring (whether that was intentional or not is also its own conversation, I personally believe he's- I apologize if I'm phrasing this wrong- dissociating/repressing and thus not intentional). It does indeed reference Flatland in a way but it's never outright said whether its a version of it or not.

3. We actually know very little about his family asides for sure having a mom (assuming his ramblings are correct), so Liam still existing and being the Axolotl are not necessarily out of the question especially considering Bill's "punishment" is therapy rather than say- proper imprisonment or hell or anything.

4. As far as I can tell, not much is said about the Oracle/Jheselbraum the Unswerving other than an implication she was once a Henchmaniac (which is huge! But it doesn't necessarily completely mess with the fanfiction. She could still be Nora with a slightly different story).

5. Bill is very supportive of feminine people as seen by how he helped the women in the 1600s, and is fond of Mabel. Though the latter point is more because of Mabel's personality and self, it's another trait of Mabel that maybe- just maybe attributes to it.

Yes he's still Bill and thus a homicidal asshole who's committed horrid atrocities that should absolutely not be excused - I just find it interesting how strangely supportive he is. Perhaps this could be connected back to Nora?

______

The reason I thought of blending the 2 in the first place is because I love fan content and wnat to make some myself, however I'd also just like to have what sounds like an interesting discussion. I understand that fanfiction ≠ canon of course but I personally just like to think of it this way.

I invite you to tell me what you think, either by reposting or commenting! 😁

Here's that link I mentioned earlier:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6062122/chapters/13896454

[videogamelover99]

A hidden irregular, if you will.

[bipposting]

unfriendly reminder that:

the author of flat dreams (pengychan) is proship

the creator of the transcendence au (mod z/zillychu) is proship

if you support these fanfics/aus, congratulations! you support people who regularly defend ao3, pedophilia and incest pairings, and rape fics!

also billford is proship, so is billdip and mabill, fuck off if you ship them

[chiiroptereh]

Grief is a hole in the chest

[humlors]

Wait which billford fics pspspspsps

gotta say, it feels just a little surreal and silly to make a billford fic rec list in the year of our lord 2024, but hell yeah sure

There's an Endless Road by @agentquinn is one of those fics I reread like. at least once a year at this point. Post-canon, human!bill (absolute trash gremlin, as he should be), roadtrip with Bill, Stan and Ford. Cannot understate how much of a comfort fic this is to me. Do yourself a favor and read it

Also by Quinn, State of Dreaming is very much as the description of "One of Us AU, sort of". I remember for real gasping when figuring out what was going on. It's dark, it's just the right flavor of a bit surreal, it's fantastic

In All My Dreams I Drown (also by Quinn, I swear I've read fics from different authors) is a Pirates of the Caribbean AU with Bill as Calypso, Ford as Davy Jones that kickstarted me and @swiftboone talking non stop about this AU for months on end back in the day. Here's a masterpost of the AU of all of the wonderful peeps contributing to it!

While not really a billford fic, if you're on the Bill canon backstory high rn, please please PLEASE read Flat Dreams by @pengychan. It's an absolute masterpiece that very much made me weep reading back in the day. 100% one of those fics I want everyone who's into GF to have read at least once.

If you're not intimidated by long (LONG) fics, I slavishly followed Knowing Me, Knowing You by @f-imaginings back when. On surface, a typical 'bill gets trapped in a human body pre-betrayal' fic, but holy damn does it go places. equal parts rom com with an ABBA theme, equally character study/exploration with some great sci fi stuff

for something shorter, this fic by @marypsue is 100% one of my fave AU concepts of 'bill losing his own powers to make Ford a demon instead, making himself human in the process'. It's so good, bill being his usual trash baby self while coming to terms with the whole "being powerless" thing.

Anyway, these are the one's I can come up with from the top of my head! I've still got a whole heap of GF/billford fic recs under my fic rec tag, so that's another place to go searching! (and what the hell, shameless self promo of my own old fics lmao)

happy hunting for those fics my friend!!

[bl4pe4r]

FLAT DREAMS - GRAVITY FALLS FANFIC ART

Author fanfic - PengyChan

[dailybill-cipher]

[150] HEAVEN SAYS.

Bill's backstory loosely based on the Flat Dreams fanfic by PengyChan

Audio is from here!

[thebookofbill]

@pengychan you gotta see this

Flat Dreams took over my life Im gonna go insane

Nora and Bill's human design by @/doodledrawsthings

[dipperpines-kin]

Liam & Billy plushies I made from @pengychan Flat Dreams fan fic! One of the best Gravity Falls fan fics I've ever read in my life time.

[velveteencosmocrat]

Y'know as much as I love the new lore drops of Bill's backstory after so long and the new works and headcanons and aus made with Bill's parents, I am kinda sad that it essentially dethrones @pengychan 's flat dreams fic from what a lot of people probably accepted as his backstory, even if just fanon. If only for the sole purpose that Liam wouldn't exist.

but then I remembered I could do whatever the fuck I want.

So in my personal au, I like to think that Liam does exist and still is Bill's brother, but their roles would be reversed (ages can stay the same or swap, either would work for different dynamics). Bill would be the treated irregular child. Liam would be the 'right' one. Just an average triangle in Euclydia, with normal eyes not made to see the stars. I think he'd still read to Bill, still spend whatever time he can with him. Not because it's all he can really do constrained, but because of his own love and care for his brother, accepting even if he doesn't exactly understand him. Liam would be happy for the most part, healthy, and just living his best life as he can.

And Liam would be purple.

[c0rvidbones]

Salem

Flatlandian

---------

I haven't done much with Salem yet but he's an adopt that was actually gifted to me by an awesome friend!! I adore his design bc it works with my usual style of ocs anyways and I like to think his little freckles glow in response to his mood :> He's a flatlandian that escaped during [redacted] and is loosely based in the same verse as pengychan's Flat Dreams fic

[videogamelover99]

Bill Cipher angst at 2AM??? Also plz read Flat Dreams

[bipposting]

thank you the book of bill for throwing everything flat dreams stood for out the window

[toytanks]

A BillFord shipper! We still exist!

Do you have and headcanons you'd like to share?

wow, another one of my kind! i thought we'd all gone extinct...

anyway headcanons, headcanons... i uh, honestly dont have that many haha 😅

for the most part i just take traits and play dress up with ford to see how he acts, but there are a few things i stick with (also im just gonna info dump here bc all of my friends think im cringe 😭)

ford is capital g Gay for bill even post-betrayal, (which i guess is kinda redundant to say since this is pretty much widely accepted billford fanon, but whos keeping track?) making ford just a little ball of regret and denial

as much as i love flat dreams by pengychan i just couldnt help making up my own backstory for bill. im not gonna recite the entire thing bc it constantly fluctuates and we'd be here all day, but the gist is that bill is a god of knowledge pre-dating jeheslbraum (that spelling was all vibes) and the axolotl but sorta like...rebirths himself as someone new every once in a while/whenever he dies

bill is also in love with ford, and he knows it but will never admit it bc idfk something something human emotions are beneath him? again the reasoning changes with my mood much like with fords entire existence

i do think that bill had to swoop in to save ford several times on the other side of the portal and them both just being like "lets agree that never happened"

i think that ford tattooed/marked himself with bill's image, but doesnt get rid of it (bc hes GAY) bc bill is absurdly territorial over the things he considers his- which includes ford -and all the demons/creatures that have even a slight idea of who bill is leaves ford the fuck alone out of fear of angering bill

thats all for now! theres definitely more running around in my mind but i cant think of any im dying to talk about rn. i hope this sated your curiosity! :)

[billcipherstuff]

I wanted to make a hurt/comfort au cause why not ;) (warning: cringy and I suck at writing actual stories)

This is also based on PengyChan’s flatland fanfic so check that out(I finally figured out who was in my dream)

My Gravity Falls/Flatland au Idea :The Axolotl lets Bill live but wipes his memories and takes away some of his powers causing bill to look like that, now he only remembers his life in flatland…before Liam gets consumed…

Bill wakes up, he squints his eyes before getting up in a cold sweat and covered in vines.He looks as his surroundings, confused and bewildered at the sight of “color” and the 3d world.He the looks down at himself to see vines. “W-where… who am I?Is anyone here?”However, before he could even think, his feels a sharp pain in his head, in his mind.

Suddenly, he gains certain.. memories of a time where it was a flat world, with flat people, with f-flat minds I- think… Bill gets sudden flashbacks to his life in flatland. He now slowly remembers the society of flatland, his birth, his foster parents, his friends, his job, his name, the books, and most importantly his brother… “Liam…”. Bill holds his head trying to ease his migraine. “ I remember Liam, I remember him… Is this, really the Third dimension? The one Liam wanted to see” Bill looked at his surroundings in complete awe, the fresh pine air, the huge, comforting dark green and brown trees, the clear sky, the soft grass, the deer peacefully eating a leaf, he was bewildered and confused by the “new” sights he was seeing and for the “first” time, he actually felt free instead of that prison of flatland…but, something is off…Bill looked around himself “I shouldn’t be the only one who escaped RIGHT, where’s Liam, where’s Tad, the old man, a circle even…ANYONE?!”, Bill then takes a good look at himself, suddenly feeling his unknown sins crawl down his back“ Did I… do something to them, is that why I look so strange, is that why I don’t see anyone or how I even got to this strange place?!” Bill basically screaming at no one. Then after calming down and acting rational,“I don’t remember much but I want to find my brother as soon as I can, but for right now I need shelter”Bill says in his head. Bill then removed the vines on him and dusted himself off, for a minute he looks at himself, contemplating the fact he did it, he made it out of that hell. Finding a newfound hope, he left to find shelter. Unknown to Bill he is about to meet some of his old “partners”.

I know this au might be a little similar to the other au I made but this one has an actual storyline that might have a part 2 if I get at least 10 likes! :D

[millenianthemums]

Bill Cipher or Surge the Tenrec for the headcanon ask game?

thank you for the ask!! sorry i took a while to get around to it. i’ll do Bill this time, i might do Surge later!

A: realistic

i think the headcanon that Bill comes from a Flatland-like dimension where everything is gray and oppressive and samey fits really well with his character. like, he hates tyranny and oppression and stuff, which is cool, but he’s overcorrected in the opposite direction and now also hates anything less than total chaos all the time.

B: unrealistic but hilarious

i have so many unrealistic headcanons about him. most of them are unrealistic, i would say. i guess one semi-funny one is that he really likes cheesy pop music. i know he canonically hates synthesized music but i like to think he’s just trying to be cool. like, he’s weirdly embarrassed about his music taste considering he’s a semi-omnipotent demonic entity, but he acts like he has really refined taste while secretly loving to belt along to Britney Spears

C: soul-crushingly awful

remember Flat Dreams by pengychan? well, uh, that. i don’t really know how to improve on it, but it’s definitely canon to my AU, at least in the broad strokes.

i have to come up with my own, don’t i. okay. i think Bill’s childhood in the second dimension was an absolute nightmare. i think he had that undiagnosed autism experience of just never knowing how to do what’s expected of him and constantly being treated like a “bad kid” for just not KNOWING what the rules are. hence why he just eventually decided that he would make it so there were NO RULES AT ALL anymore.

D: unrealistic but i will disregard canon and believe it anyway

ever since i first saw the show years and years back, i’ve headcanoned that Bill and Mabel would vibe really well and be best friends if the situation allowed it. i don’t care how unlikely it is, i think their brains are just compatible. it’s not just that Mabel is nice enough to make friends with anybody, or that they’re both chaotic. it’s like. autism to autism communication. they’re different flavors of the same mental issue, the big difference i think is that Mabel had a support system and Bill didn’t. and i like the idea of her being able to at least try and help him with that, whether it ultimately works out or not.