Fractured-prism - Currently Heading Unprepared Into The Unknown

"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.

I headcanon that all of Yoda's finest teacups were made by younglings

In fact most masters of the order's finest teacups were made during crèche crafting time when the kids were learning pottery.

"It's Mabel's fault that weirdmageddon started-"

SHE WAS 12

HAD A HORRIBLE DAY

WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE HER FRIENDS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR WITHOUT THEM EVEN BEING ABLE TO ATTEND HER BIRTHDAY PARTY

JUST LEARNED THAT HIGHSCHOOL, THE THING THAT'S UP AND COMING FOR HER WILL BE HORRIBLE

WHEN SHE GETS HOME, HER PARENTS WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT UNTIL THEY DIVORCE, WHICH WILL BE HORRIBLE AS WELL

OH WELL AT LEAST SHE HAS DIPPER- NOPE! HE'S LEAVING YOU TO STAY WITH THE GRUNKLE HE JUST MET RECENTLY

SO NOW SHE'S GONNA HAVE TO FACE ALL OF THIS BULLSHIT ALONE

And this full-grown adult man who is known to have stuff to do with time

Offers to stop it so she won't have to be alone

Which he can do with this weird snow globe thing that NOBODY TOLD HER WAS THE RIFT???

Weirdmageddon was NOT MABEL'S FAULT

It was BILLS FAULT

Dipper knew that his grunkles switching places was necessary to defeat Bill, but--- Dipper hadn't been able to tell them apart. It distresses him, that he confused the two, that he wasn't smart nor observant enough to pick up on their trick. These were his grunkles, his family--- the same things happened with Wendy and the shapeshifter, too, he had to rely on her to be clever enough to give him a sign. He can't be tricked again--- what if the shapeshifter comes back? What if Bill comes back? What if the inevitable next big bad is also an impersonator, a trickster, a disguise artist?

He starts to catalogue the minutia of his loved ones. Stan has a small scar through his left eyebrow, and walks slightly canted to the right because of his bad knee. Ford has a series of faint scars, like repeated scratches, over his hands (which always have a faint tremble to them) and always stands stiff-backed and aware of his surroundings. Mabel pitches up the end of her sentences, and has to sleep with a night light. Wendy has a stick-and-poke tattoo, poor and faded, on her right ankle; Soos holds a screwdriver like a chopstick when he's thinking about a tough problem. Waddles has a mark on his left haunch like a My Little Pony cutie mark.

He starts a journal, not for anomalies but for details. He leaves codes and symbols for himself so an imposter couldn't use his notes to become a more realistic copy. From an outsider's perspective, it would surely look erratic, insane, messy, but that's the point. A feeling he can't name, has never felt before, creeps in, unsettling and persistent and insidious--- what if the enemy is already among them? What if he hadn't noticed, because he wasn't good enough, wasn't discerning enough, wasn't a good enough brother/friend/nephew/person? He stops sleeping, eating, gets quiet. His family becomes concerned, but he can't tell them the truth--- what if someone is watching? Listening? Looking for weaknesses?

He stumbles into his room one night to find Ford reading his journal. He thinks, at first, that the downturn of Ford's mouth is a sure sign of a shapeshifter, because he's never seen his grunkle make this face before; but, no--- this look on Ford's face is horror, and terror, and guilt. Similar to how he looked when Stan's memories were erased, but even more personal. More like... more like Ford knew exactly what Dipper was feeling.

"Dipper," Ford says, even-toned but not enough to conceal his concern, "we need to have a talk about paranoia."

the trolley problem vs. systemic oppression: a comic.

Let’s go brass players

So I started playing cookie rush kingdom again and…

I got White Lily Cookie as my first undetermined cookie. Is this guaranteed or?

The sound wasn’t even working

I'm starting to get the hang of drawing him

Page 2. Face Slurper

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