What's So Interesting To Me About Dipper Is That He Has No Friends!

Sometimes, often a lot of the time, the little things won’t fix your trauma. They won’t cure your mental illness. But a lot of the time, they can make the world a bit of a nicer place to live in. And I think that makes them worth doing.

So, go for a walk outside. Feel the fresh air. Feel the sun in your face. Step on a crunchy leaf. Smell the ocean breeze. Listen to the birds. Blow on a dandelion and make a wish. Watch the clouds and notice the shapes.

Do whatever little things bring you joy. They’re worth doing.

"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.

also as a further addendum to my bill made a huge mistake underestimating stan post - i was recently listening to the commentary for sock opera

and like everyone and their mother can draw the parallels between ford/dipper and stan/mabel, it's one of the major themes of the show

bill gets the first half of the equation just fine - he thinks dipper can be manipulated in exactly the same way as ford, and while dipper will grow past that by the end of the show, in this episode, he's right. the best ways to get dipper to do what he wants, are to tempt him with all the secrets of the universe, and to remind him that he doesn't owe mabel anything, when mabel's done nothing but hold him back and cause trouble for him. it's probably exactly how he talked about stan to ford back in the day, who was still nursing those grudges and wanted to be the one to discover things no one else had

but the fun thing alex hirsch mentions in the commentary for that episode, is that bill doesn't see mabel as a parallel to stan (bc lbr he barely even recognises stan as a person). he sees mabel as a parallel to himself. yeah dipper and mabel are a good team together, but ultimately when it comes down to it, mabel is a powerful creature of chaos who would choose her own happiness over anyone who relied on her. (alex hirsch at this point jumps into bill's voice to say "how about instead of doing something lame, you do something fun, and crush whoever you want in the process!", and that bill genuinely thinks that is going to work, because it would work on him)

he doesn't expect mabel to destroy all her hard work and crush her own dreams just to help dipper. when he says "who would sacrifice everything they worked for just for their dumb sibling?", he's speaking from experience. he wouldn't. ford didn't. given the type of people bill considers worth talking to, i doubt he's ever come across that type of loyalty before

but the audience has, plenty of times, and will see it even harder by not what he seems. because while mabel does have some of the anarchy and selfishness bill sees in her, that kind of loyalty is a huge part of what she shares with stan

and like in a lot of the commentaries the writers say they weren't sure at first if bill would be the big bad, or how exactly the ending would come together, but in retrospect it never could have been anyone else, and there never could have been anyone but stan to defeat him

because so much of this show is about the relationships between family (including found family), what you would or wouldn't give up for them, but then how much better your life is when you value those relationships over temporary personal gain

so of course the main villain is someone so incapable of understanding that that he is utterly blindsided by the person who embodies it the most

I love it so much when Ford is portrayed as doing bad and morally wrong things that hurt others not because he doesn't care and chooses to be cruel, but because he cares too much and loves too strongly. Like, him thinking he knows what's best for other people (but that's also him wanting the best for them) him not wanting to be alone and trying to keep people from leaving or being very angry at them, because he cared about them and was hurt because of that.

It's sad to me that he is portrayed as cruel and uncaring so often in fanon when in canon he's anything but

"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

Gaslight falls au

Mabel is just as smart as her brother she just doesn't like showing it off. She also likes to be underestimated by others sometimes.

So imagine Ford absolute confusion when Mabel walks in and See's both Ford and dipper struggling with some equations.

Mabel: you forgot a two and that should be squared not divided.

Dipper in the know: oh thanks Mabel

Ford not in the know: blue screens. Looking at Mabel's eyes to make sure she is not possessed( see she is not) and turns back to the equation absolutely dumbfounded on what just happened.

Ford later See's Mabel trying to dress and makeup a feral raccoon.

Ford......?????????

I feel like i'd remind Ford even more Bill, Bill who would be able to correct calculations and matched him in intelligence...and then do insane bullshit.

forgive yourself for making the wrong choice during a tough time

get in the car ford