#younger stans

[shmisky]

What do you think was Stan's fate in the Better World Timeline?

Ooh, very interesting question! Thanks for the ask and sorry in advance for the enormous answer you’re about to get, hahah ❤️

So, to begin answering that (I promise I will eventually!), I have to first point out that what always caught my attention in Ford’s Better World description in the journal is that not once he meets his parallel self. On that hangs my entire analysis.

Instead, he gives us a reason why they didn’t meet: parallel!Fiddleford explains that he had been leading a portal expedition to a certain dimension, but one of the security officers ran into his parallel self and as soon as they touched hands, the entire dimension started to warp and fizz with static. Fiddleford and his team barely escaped alive!

But that’s the thing: as soon as they touched hands, only! Not as soon as they saw each other, or as soon as they were in the same room together, or as soon as they talked to each other, like you sometimes see in fanfic! No, it very much required actual skin-to-skin contact. You would think that Professor Stanford Pines, celebrated star of the scientific community, founder of the International Institute of Oddology, and our Ford, 12 PhDs (or a few less PhDs at the time) would have enough sense and self-control to... just not try and touch each other? Or, for security reasons, stand at least a few meters away from each other? If they feared an accidental touch so much, they could have talked through a glass panel or some kind of physical divide. I do believe every Ford must be a deeply curious individual, and you’re telling me that parallel!Ford, known genius, wasn’t capable of creating a way to enable himself to interview his parallel selves safely? Wouldn’t you be very curious to meet your parallel self? I think it’s more likely than not that other versions of Ford would end up pushed through the portal, so our Ford might not even have been the first Ford to visit that dimension.

But instead Fiddleford goes so far as to detain our Ford and hold him captive without even attempting to explain things first! A bit overkill, no? You could say, “but Bunny, Fiddleford just didn’t want impulsive, reckless Ford to go and run to his parallel self upon seeing him for the first time!” But herein, my friend, lies the crux of the matter: even after Fiddleford explains things to our Ford, even after our Ford understands he couldn’t touch his parallel self... He still doesn’t meet or talk to parallel!Ford. Wasn’t he trusted enough/allowed to do so, even then?

My Doylist explanation (that considers what led the author to choose a certain path) to that is: the writers just didn’t want the two Fords to meet and wanted to leave it ambiguous. It’s really not that deep 😭

My favorite Watsonian explanation (in-universe headcanon) to that is: Fiddleford didn’t want them to meet 😏

Now, would Fiddleford ever lie to Ford? Yes. In fact, he already did, in our original timeline! Ford asked him to destroy the memory gun, Fiddleford apparently agreed. “He was crestfallen by my advice, but after some discussion he came to see the wisdom in it. He said that he didn’t want to risk forgetting his wife and son. I ordered him to destroy the gun, and he did.” (“Ordered”... Oh, Ford, never change...) Reality: Fiddleford hadn’t destroyed it at all, and in fact used it on Ford to erase his memories without Ford’s consent or knowledge.

So even though I don’t think this was, necessarily, either Alex’s or Rob Renzetti’s intentions, I like to think parallel!Fiddleford was bullshitting our Ford a bit. To which extent, I don’t know. The thing about the parallel selves touching and causing a dimension to end might very well be true (in fact, according to Alex’s Word of God, it is! he has said on Twitter that parallel selves really can’t meet in their home dimensions, but can meet in the in-between spaces!) BUT because of the reasons I explained above, it’s my headcanon that it wasn’t the main reason why Fiddleford didn’t want the two Fords meeting.

I just love, love the vibes of A Better World. I love how utterly smitten with that world our Ford is. He describes himself as “drawn” towards the Institute “like a moth to a flame,” and mentions his desire to “revel in [his] parallel self’s success.” He’s utterly smitten it with it despite never once meeting his parallel self. He imagines his parallel self as the happiest man on Earth despite never once meeting his parallel self. He leaves that dimension sighing wistfully despite never once meeting his parallel self. I love how parallel!Ford is just... shrouded in this very ambiguous mystery. It all sounds a little bit ominous to me. Is he happy? Is he satisfied? Does he like what he accomplished?

Our Ford, of course, imagines that he is. Our Ford doesn’t even wonder about parallel!Stan, because that’s who Stanford Pines is: self-centered as all hell, hahah. His brother doesn’t even cross his mind, since he’s too busy being dazzled by his apparent great success and the fulfillment of his dreams! I think he subconsciously assumed parallel!Stan must have been fine.

What do I think happened to parallel!Stan? Oh, well, he’s very much dead 🪦💐 And parallel!Ford, the man Ford believes to be so lucky, is actually miserable. Fiddleford was merely protecting our Ford from the truth.

If you want to get a bit darker, just look at this excerpt from the Not What He Seems script:

Meanwhile, in the Lost Legends comics, Ford is saying shit like this:

We stan an insensitive king who is utterly and blissfully oblivious to his brother’s dangerously low self-esteem and borderline suicidal thoughts ❤️

Before TBoB, I might have been reluctant to think something so dark could happen in GF, since it still is, after all, a cartoon for kids, and Stan’s a main character! But then TBoB went and revealed to us that Dipper and Mabel died horrible deaths in all the other timelines! 😭 And while I do take that with a grain of salt because it was revealed to us by Bill Cipher and Bill is not trustworthy but a professional liar, just the fact Alex acknowledged and played with the possibility of the two protagonists dying horribly is already pretty telling in and of itself...

I think that once parallel!Ford called Stan after a decade, unwittingly gave him hope, and then ripped it out from his hands... Yeah. We know how Ford is important to Stan. Reconciliation with Ford might very well have been what was pushing Stan forward. Stan can be very, very stubborn — working on a portal for 30 years — when Ford is involved. But having no Ford at all...

Parallel!Ford might have planned to call Stan back, but by then it was probably too late. So yeah. I like to imagine that parallel!Ford would be, ironically, so, so jealous of our Ford’s happy ending with Stan.

Actually, as I type this, the funniest idea occurred to me. The real reason Fiddleford didn’t allow the two Fords to meet is that parallel!Ford, upon listening our Ford praise his accomplishments and shit-talk Stan (“I can’t believe Stanley listen to you! He’s so stubborn, so selfish, he never listens!”) would disregard all reason, all training, and all self-control just for the precious chance to punch himself in the face. Dimension ending catastrophe? A minor detail.

[artsymeeshee]

Wanted to make some supportive Ford

[poobirdy]

xin mo did not become the demonic op sword of all three realms for this!!! for @kawouwu who asked for binggeyuan sillies! thank you for your donation to svsss' gotcha 4 gaza!

[pxxrthotie]

🎀 How I be staring at that older man who doesn’t just lust over me and actually loves me, knows how to treat me, babies me and respects me in every way (he doesn’t exist) !!! 🎀

[cup-o-stars]

Part four of old GF sketches

The twin thing, Stan and Ford edition

[paintedcrows]

they make me feel unwell

(continued: Stan & Young Ford)

[gracefireheart]

A lil' gift to the best father figure boss :]

Originally, I wanted to make a lil' comic, but I just don't have the energy for it. So instead, I'll write what I wanted the comic to be about here.

Basically, I was reminded of a moment in the Lost Legends comic, where Soos hears sobbing and said how he recognized those sobs- which then showed that it was Stan sobbing.

The lil' comic I wanted to make was gonna be set maybe around a year into Soos working at the Mystery Shack. After it had closed for the day, Soos had gone home to eat dinner with Abuelita. After they're finished, she gives Soos a gift for him to give to Stan as a thank you for the fair amount of money he pays Soos for his work and for being there for her lil' Soos when his father just isn't.

When Soos arrives back at the Mystery Shack, it's ofc closed, so he just let's himself in with the keys Stan had given him not that long ago. He calls out to Stan when he doesn't see him in the gift shop, but gets no answers. Making his way through the building towards Stan's office, Soos hears the faint sound of sobbing coming from there. Knocking on the door to the office and calling out that it was just him, Soos gives Stan enough time to compose himself before he enters the office.

Stan cuts to the chase and asks why Soos is here when he saw him leave earlier after his shift was done, to which Soos presents him with the gift from him and Abuelita. Soos tells him about the reasoning behind the gift while Stan just stares at it in silent surprise before finally opening it and finding home baked cookies. Finally, Stan smiles and gives Soos a lil' thank you- and asks him to forward that thank you to Abuelita- for the gift, and it makes Soos smile in turn.

[nenoname]

"And now I know why! He hates me!"

[lcuyscs]

[laylaluvsu7]

teachers pet<3

[tadbitsilly]

Hey! It's been a while since I posted anything. So, have this small comic based on the cousin(?) Stans au cuz I'm kinda obsessed with this concept

[doctorsiren]

How would the Bill situation go in the monster hunter pines au?

Ford would definitely still summon Bill. He’s a curious guy and so of *course* he’d read a random ancient incantation out loud still. Bill then does what he does in canon and sweet talk Ford and gain his trust, slowly turning him against his brother while also trying to keep Stanley from figuring out what’s going on

The issue here though is that Stanley can see through BS quite easily. He’s not one that can be tricked, and so he gets on Bill’s trail faster than Bill anticipated

I’m not sure how the later stuff would go down yet, but there’s that at least

It’s kind of like in my Moth Psycho 100 AU with Mogami and Reigen at first, how Reigen is under the impression that the voice in his head is his only true friend and the only one he can really trust because he’s just been so isolated

[pxxrthotie]

How I look at him after he calls me “baby”, “sweetheart” or “angel”

[noodles-and-tea]

Question for your au! Obviously this takes place before Fidds sees what’s in the portal, and before Ford starts to become paranoid, as he looks younger than 28, so what’s the reason Ford calls his Stanley over? Or maybe their Ma called Stan to go check on Ford?

So it’s actually set after their whole debacle - the timeline stays the same as the og up until the moment Stan goes through the portal (he ends up going in instead of Ford this time (although there would be some other minor differences since the portal doesn’t actually work right and send Stan back in time))

Since this happens after Ford’s falling out with Bill, when baby Stan pops out of the portal he calls the one person he can trust, especially with a kid - Fiddleford.

That means that Fidds and Ford have to figure out: a) Dealing with their own falling out, b) Working on the portal that they both agree is dangerous and a bad idea, c) staying alert now that Bill is an active enemy, and d) LOOKIN AFTER A KID

[strawb3rryangelw]

[nenoname]

casual mr mystery my beloved