You're Not An Horrible Person You Are 15 Years Old

get in the car ford

"You are a dumber, sweatier version of him."

Ford and Stan conformed to society's expectations of twins and their individual pursuits throughout their entire lives. Ford is the talented, gifted academic. We know he can play piano extremely well. His abilities aren't restricted to the sciences obviously. In contrast, Stan is demoted as the less intelligent, less gifted twin. In many cases, especially in his father's treatment of him, he's perceived as the dumb twin.

After listening the GF commentary podcast and rewatching the show, we've all come to the general consensus that Stan isn't dumb. Stan can't be dumb. He lacks Ford's academic gifts but is able to recreate the portal using advanced sciences, maths, and etc. This man who didn't finish high school at best is able to understand and recreate the concepts his brother included in his journal.

The more I read and rewatch I can only assume Stan has some kind of learning disability that went undiagnosed. Let's not forget, Stan and Ford were likely born in the 1950s. There were not many resources for children living with dyslexia or adhd or add or any person living outside the "norm." Or he was lazy, felt defeated in trying to make good grades especially after what his dad when he got an F-.

They can never make me like you, Filbrick Elmer Pines. If he has no haters, then I'm dead.

While I don't want to say Ford treated Stan like he was dumb, he treated Stan as if he was less intelligent than him. Stan used to cheat off of his tests in school. We saw that. This behavior is another parallel/contrast between Mabel and Dipper. It highlights how close they are and how well they understand each other.

In Journal 3 Dipper says, "Can be a real friend when she's not doing one of her bits. She's smarter than people give her credit for, and often acts the way she does just to drive me insane."

This isn't to imply their dynamic is perfect. It isn't perfect. There are bumps and a few potholes in the roads, but Dipper always treats Mabel as an intelligent person, knows she sleeps on her own gifts so she can do her bits. The difference between Ford and Stan is that I don't think Ford wanted to accept Stan's gifts and would only begrudgingly internally.

The show doesn't highlight Mabel being treated as the dumb twin. She's treated as the silly twin with more emotional intelligence than Dipper. She can be selfish, but she's also considered more mature than Dipper. Hirsch definitely sees her as more mature in a way to Dipper.

The parallels are simply so beautiful to me. I appreciate how they're not 1:1 parallels, y'know. They can fit in each various slots but serve similar roles for each other.

Moment of peace inbetween observing/punching anomalies

Man though you know what makes me sorta sad is when nerdy, “quiet” kids latch on to me during camp and they just talk and talk and talk about a thing they’re into (Skyrim, Pokemon, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, dinosaurs, whatever). And I see the kids just light up when they say something and I can chime in with an ‘oh hey, are you talking about [x]? I love that thing! Tell me more about it.’

Like, their parents will warn me ‘so-and-so is pretty quiet and hard to engage’ but no, man, just listen, your kid is so smart and so into This Thing, they’ll engage like fuck and talk your damn ear off it you let them. Frame it in their damn terms. Or! Just! Listen to them about their Thing! And they will engage with the rest of the material! Because they know you care about them! Amazing!!!

Day 21 (page 25d) (goth phase ver. under the cut)

hey. don't cry. stanlittle pines, okay?

Dude thank you so much for portraying Dipper as the asshole (affectionate) he is. He’s a ball of anxiety and awkward social skills but he’s also five seconds away from slamming doors on people and swinging punches. My beautiful son stands on BUSINESS

fuck yeah, man. it's one of my favorite things about dipper (as you can probably tell).

he's got anxiety. he gets panic attacks. he's paranoid and sweaty and super awkward. AND he's absolutely done with everyone's shit all the time. it's that stan pines snark coming out in him.

i just adore when characters have contrasting personality traits like this -- it fleshes them out so well and creates really interesting duality.

here, friend, have some of my favorite shithead dipper faces:

go ahead, try his patience. it'll be fun.

In the echoing remnants of Weirdmageddon, Mabel had one question for herself:

Was she a good person?

Sure, the whole unicorn 'pure of heart' thing was a farce. And, sure, her Mabel Bubble was classic Bill Cipher manipulation. But if she hadn't given the rift to him--- if she hadn't been so selfish---

Mabel wasn't scared of Bill coming back (she didn't doubt the powers of Stan's punches) and she wasn't scared of 'the next big bad' like Dipper was. She wasn't even scared of her Grunkles going off to sea--- she knew they would come back. She was scared, in the way a child can be, of herself. She wanted to be a good friend, a good sister, a good niece, a good person. She wanted to be so golden-hearted that no one could convince her into doing something so selfish again. Her time after Bill is the time, she determines, to reinvent herself into something better.

She starts to give up parts of herself, in order to serve others better. All of her knitting projects must be gifts to others, so she stops wearing sweaters herself. Ducktective was her favorite show, so she stops watching it. Forcing others to look at her crafts is selfish, so she hides them, doesn't share them, eventually stops making them. Mabel dissolves into a shell of herself, because she's trying to become something better. Loud, bright, colorful Mabel helped start Weirdmageddon, so she had to die. She doesn't share her fears or her nightmares, because that would selfish, but sometimes she dreams that they all just left her in her Bubble to rot away, and the world was better for it.

The kids are visiting the Shack at the same time the Grunkles are rolling into port, so it should be loud and chaotic and covered with glitter, but it's not--- Stan has never been so unnerved. He finds Mabel on the porch, but it's not the Mabel he knows--- reading quietly, wearing all black, eyes pinched and tired. She smiles when he sits next to her, but it's a dim smile. Stan's heart hurts

"Mabel," Stan says, his voice gruff, but not gruff enough to hide his concern, "The parts of my life where I was my worst, my meanest, my saddest? Those were the days when I pretended to be something I wasn't." He holds up a lumpy pink and purple sweater he learned to knit just for her, because he was a good Grunkle, dammit. "Pumpkin, I think we need to have a talk about guilt."