Don't you have anything better to do?

Just let them go.

(Yes its based off that pic from Veil)

OLD MAN YAOI BRACKET ROUND 2

Propaganda:

Fiddleford McGucket/Stanford Pines:

lab "partners" who broke the laws of physics and nature together but it went horribly wrong and one of them got stranded in alternate dimensions and the other wiped his memory so hard he went mad. 30 years later and they were finally able to reunite during the apocalypse. even though both had changed so much they wanted to forgive each other and move forwards

if fiddauthor isn't real then why is there only one bed in the bunker. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did they go stargazing and talk about wanting to start a family. if fiddauthor isn't real then why "my partner" and "my fiddleford". if fiddauthor isn't real then why does fiddleford subconsciously hang out around the shack decades after he stopped living there. if fiddauthor isn't real then why does ford have dreams about him every night. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did fiddleford leave his son and his failing/failed marriage to go live alone in an isolated cottage in the woods with his best friend from college. if fiddauthor isn't real then why is ford's ideal world one where he gets to work with fiddleford for the rest of time. if fiddauthor isn't real then why "life would be a nightmare without them" and "it's the most meaningful thing in the world". if fiddauthor isn't real then why did alex hirsch change that one scene in the book to sound less gay. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did fiddleford make his laptop password ford's name. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did they hold hands while hugging. if fiddauthor isn't real then why "i could have sworn that as he joyfully played, i could see the age lift off his face, and see the fiddleford who had been my friend so many years ago". IF FIDDAUTHOR ISN'T REAL THEN WHY DID FORD'S MORE HONEST RETELLING OF THE PORTAL SCENE FEATURE HIM GENTLY CRADLING FIDDLEFORD IN HIS ARMS

Bob Zanotto/Helmut Fullbear:

THEY LITERALLY MADE MR CRY THE FIRST TIME I PLAYED THE GAME. THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH AND THEY FINALLY GET TO BE HAPPY TOGETHER. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO ME.

they are married in canon and are epic and amazing. they had sad canon events where bob thought helmut was dead for like 30 years or something but helmut WASN'T dead his brain was still alive and they are reunited in the game first by way of stealing an evil dictator's body and then later on they put helmut's brain in a ball as a temporary fix while they go out to find his body which has been frozen in ice. the game forces you to walk through bob's memory of saying his vows at their wedding ceremony and it's seriously some of the most romantic and heartwarming shit i've ever heard, especially "just when i thought i was turning to seed, you made me bloom again" like my god. i love them

they're gay and old as hell!!!! there's a level dedicated to their wedding!!!

Helmut is voiced by Jack Black and is currently a brain in a ball, and Bob knows him so well that the mental image of him in his drunken mind says things Bob KNOWS the real Helmut would never say. Also Helmut is temporarily in the body of a guy voiced by Elijah Wood-

Recently did a rewatch of Mutant Mayhem so I thought I’d put down some things I didn’t notice on my first watch through:

The little band-aid on baby Super Fly ☹️☹️☹️

The “15 years later” kinda resembling the 2007 movie logo (coincidence?)

The tape on Raph’s belt buckle and the stickers on Mikey’s chucks I LOVE those details

“Drake is the GOAT of all time” is such a cleverly stupid line lol

“I love being young and free to go places!”

Triceratops on the side of a U-Haul = Triceratons reference (or foreshadowing??? 👀)

Mr. Beast cameo

“That’s not a cat, it’s actually a rat!”

Mikey vocalizing while doing his flips

“How many people has the red one stabbed? Does he need therapy?” LMAOOOOO

Got a picture of the Mona Lisa on the locker next to April’s. Mona reference probably?

Bad Bernie looks kinda like a mouse

Making Leatherhead Australian was the best decision actually

“Cowabunga! I just made that up :D” love the continuing the trend of Mikey getting some of his catchphrases from Mondo

“Oh my god, I’m gonna win a daytime Emmy”

“Don’t cuz me right now, man 🤨😒”

One of the TCRI guys nodding along to their rendition of “Butter”

They wanted Ice Cube to curse so badddd

The parallel between the scene of Raph throwing the ninja star and him shooting the gun

“The Mercedes no!!!” “That was a Prius, it’s ok.”

Donnie doing the AoT salute as he explained the Titans weakness is such a minor detail but I love it so much

Mikey saying “yes and” right after being told to improvise

“Anxious but highly informed teen reports”

Alex Hirsch voiced Scumbug because of course he did

87, 2012, and Rise Splinter in the credits~

MOUSERS LETSGOOOOO

I don't really care abt Hazbin Hotel in any which way so please interpret this as purely a passive neutral observation but, watching the trailer and some of the songs right now, it is genuinely like, incomprehensibly surreal to see something so inextricably tied to a relatively bygone era of Tumblr fandom culture picked up by Amazon Prime. The art style and character designs, thematic elements, humor, Broadway cast and soundtrack, all so deliberately invoke a very specific fringe microcosm of a moment in time on the internet; seeing what functionally boils down to canonically queer Greedlers and humanized Bill Ciphers sing Steven Universe showtunes as demons who say "fuck" a lot in a 1920s-inspired Hell is just... mindboggling. Like it is barely a step above if Disney+ announced that Alex Hirsch would be directing Miss Officer and Mr Truffles with a soundtrack by Rebecca Sugar and a score by Toby Fox.

An attempt at a backstory/character analysis of Bill Cipher

I'm kinda into Gravity Falls again lately, Bill has been living in my head rent free for ages, and I've been thinking a lot about the extra-canonical content around him so I decided it'd be fun to speculate around that!

This post doesn't even include everything I originally wanted to talk about because it was already a long and very speculative mess, but I hope it's enjoyable regardless.

Also credits to this post by weirdmageddon here, this pile of information defenetly made my life easier.

Okay let’s just start with the Axolotl Poem from the book “Dipper and Mabel and the Time Pirates’ Treasure”:

For the purpose of this analysis I’ll be focusing on this part, since it’s easily the most interesting and revealing bit of the poem:

Saw his own dimension burn. Misses home and can’t return. Says he’s happy. He’s a liar. Blame the arson for the fire.

Bill’s birth-dimension and why it was destroyed

This is actually something that is referenced in the show! Bill describes his original dimension as dull, boring and restrictive. He claims that he freed it by destroying it and that he’s granting our known dimension a similar freedom through Weirdmageddon.

But we can dig deeper. In Journal 3, Ford wrote an entry about a dimension called Exwhylia which he encountered during his time in the multiverse. I'll add text under all references to J3 to make things easier to read.

(My quest to defeat Bill led me to a strange world that I mistakenly believed to be his birthplace. / “Above” being a direction they know nothing about and does not exist.

A. an upper-class circle B. a lowly triangle C. a building off in the distance D. a leaf 5 inches from your face I believe Bill came from a similar world that was mysteriously destroyed. But how?)

On top of that, back in 2015, Alex Hirsch hosted a Reddit AMA where he would answer questions as Bill which gives us another piece of information:

Edwin Abbott Abbott is the author of the novella “Flatland” which was published in 1884. I’m going to hold myself back from rambling about this book because this is a post about the funny Mr. Peanut Triangle and not Flatland, we just need some bits of it for this post.

Flatland is about a two-dimensional world of the same name which is inhabited by people who are simple shapes. The amount of sides a resident in Flatland has determines their social class. The more sides, the higher up the ladder.

Due to its two-dimensionality, Flatland’s inhabitants normally can’t comprehend up or down, yet some have discovered three-dimensionality. But it’s such a taboo in their world that anyone who knows of it is locked away at best and killed at worst. The upper-class circles are the only ones allowed to know about it without consequences and withhold this information.

Similarly, though by far not as forbidden, are colors. Color isn’t naturally-occuring in Flatland but it can be created and used to be a whole thing until its use was banned and limited to those more privileged.

At one point, the protagonist himself describes Flatland as dull in relation to the lack of color.

While the two pages about Exwhylia obviously can’t give as much insight as Flatland, both have a few differences, and it’s kept vague exactly how similar Bill’s dimension was to either of these worlds (“came from a similar world”, “has a decent idea”), we can get a pretty good picture of it based on these pieces.

A small, strict, dull world where the higher-ups keep away anything that could provide enrichment or a wider perspective from the general public.

I’m sure many people would hate that. I’m sure someone like Bill (who, as an equilateral triangle, would’ve been part of the middle class and no way in hell easy access to color or 3D knowledge) would especially hate that.

-

I think there’s more to this though. Let’s talk about Bill’s powers.

We know little to nothing about when or how he received them, but the Axolotl Poem implies it was before he destroyed his dimension as he’d need outstanding abilities in order to burn a whole dimension down while also not getting himself killed in the process.

Here we see Bill talk about his newly-gained and expanded powers with the occurrence of Weirdmageddon. Seeing that this leads into his dialogue about his old home dimension (shown earlier in this section), the line “I wasn’t always this way” suggests he wasn’t just born with his power or anything like that.

The way he compares this to his new powers could mean he might’ve even started out with relatively little power that just grew after he left his dimension. For all we know he could’ve burned it down while only possessing the necessary abilities to burn things in large scale and escape his dimension, having learned of higher dimensions through other means and gaining omniscience at a later point.

Still, this isn't my main argument for Bill’s choice to destroy his world being a gradual process that involved several factors. His family is.

-

We don’t have much information about Bill’s family. The best there is is this bit from Journal 3,

(Apparently, his thirst for power caused him to destroy his home dimension - including his parents)

possibly this bit from Sock Opera? Partially because Bill kinda projects onto Mabel but more on that later.

and this statement by Hirsch from the NYCC 2015:

Q: “I was thinking if Bill has a brother, or is he working with someone?” A: “If you think Grunkle Stan’s relationship with his family is bad, Bill’s is worse.”

Now you can read a lot into this especially with the comparison to Stan and the question being about a potential brother of Bill’s.

Stan was kicked out by his parents, never saw them again, and had a lot of conflict with his brother (which gets resolved by the end of the show). Does this mean Bill had bad parents and conflict with a sibling, especially considering Sock Opera? Maybe!

But I definitely consider it likely that this comparison really serves to further establish Stan and Bill as foil characters with parallels. I won’t go into it here but here’s a great post about it!

But let’s finally get to the point. Bill has a bad relationship with his family and the Oracle mentions his parents in relation to him destroying his dimension. You know what this makes me think of? This statement by Hirsch from an interview:

I know it says here “over thousands of years” and the examples used are probably very childish because a kid asked the question but I can’t help but think this reflects Bill’s attitude even in his earlier life. He doesn’t always get his way, he holds onto this pettiness, it festers the poor relationship with his parents, at some point he learns of an unrestricted world that has been withheld from him, he gets wildly destructive powers and next thing you know the multiverse is doomed.

The Nightmare Realm and Escapism

So, Bill sees a lot of himself in Mabel and projects onto her. It’s very outright in Bill’s page in “Dipper’s and Mabel’s Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun”:

As well as in the DVD Commentary of Sock Opera:

“Bill genuinely believes that Mabel’s kinda like him. He sees Mabel as a chaos agent. Like, Mabel has got a little bit of a seed of anarchy in her, she’s a little bit selfish, she likes to have fun at whatever cost. And Bill is all those things times a billion. So he thinks when he lays it all out for her like: ‘How about instead of being lame, you do something fun! And crush whoever you want in the process!’. He thinks that’s gonna go over. And he’s not wrong in seeing that side in Mabel but Mabel is a better person than Bill Cipher.”

And when you look at how Bill thinks Mabel is like him, how the poem mentions him - a fun and delightful character - lying about being happy, and how he hates rules and holds these little grudges while Mabel learns to face difficulties despite wanting to hide from them, and learns to grow up and move on… it paints an interesting picture.

This post comparing Mabel Land and the Nightmare Realm is kinda similar to what I imagine, but let me make my own case.

(...my old “Muse” is actually one of the most feared beings in the entire multiverse. Bill took over the Nightmare Realm as a hideout for him and his cronies, but because this place is lawless, without any consistent physics or rules, it is eventually fated to self-destruct. This is why Bill seeks a new, more stable dimension to take over and a foolish mind willing to let him in.

Bill’s universe is not exactly a dimension, but rather a boiling, shifting intergalactic foam between dimensions - a lawless, unstable crawl space between worlds that only the strangest and most unknowable beings call home.)

So, at some point after destroying his original home dimension Bill got some buddies and they willingly entered this foam dimension and took over it. The Journal also mentions that the realm acts as a gateway to other worlds and has wormholes that lead to other dimensions. And we know there’s ways not just in but also out of the Nightmare Realm because Ford left it through a wormhole and the Lost Legends comic book has an alien truck driver who helps Stan and Ford get around the multiverse from the Nightmare Realm.

But something’s weird because in Weirdmageddon, Bill says that he’s been trapped in the Nightmare Realm, despite all this.

And it definitely gives him restrictions since before Weirdmageddon, there was no connection between the realm and our known dimension and Bill could only interact with our dimension through the Mindscape. But in theory he should still be able to go to other worlds unless he specifically is genuinely trapped there. But we get no indication of how or why that would be, and why would he willingly enter a space that would trap him in the first place?

Y’know, maybe these restrictions are exactly what makes him feel like he’s “trapped”. Because there still are limitations. But I also think Bill just doesn’t want to leave the Nightmare Realm (behind).

Think about it, Bill made the realm his home after destroying the 2nd dimension. Maybe at this point there was already a lingering regret. But he finds this lawless realm of endless possibilities where he can party forever which is like the antithesis of his old home at just the right time. It’s everything he could want! Maybe destroying his home was all worth it and he never has to think about it again!

So yeah, Bill could theoretically leave the Nightmare Realm to avoid being caught in its decay. But why would he? What other dimension could possibly satisfy him and offer more? Instead he looks for a dimension to merge with the Nightmare Realm so it can keep existing. And hey, he’d kinda be helping the people in that dimension by doing this because maybe they’d realize how limited their existence is just like he once did! Tho it's uh. questionable how much he cares about that part.

I mean he goes so far to risk tearing down all of existence alongside the realm and himself just for the chance to keep it around. 

Anyway the fact that he found this dimension that offered him everything he always wanted at just the right time inspired him to create Mabel Land

But unlike Bill who tried to keep the Nightmare Realm stable no matter what, Mabel leaves Mabel Land and is the one to destroy it because she has accepted that she’ll face hardships, unlike Bill who continues to look for distractions from his problems.

Also this is unrelated to the whole escapism thing but I really want to mention in this section that another reason Bill wants to cause Weirdmageddon is likely not just to keep the Nightmare Realm going, but also simply because it juiced up his powers. Y'know considering the Oralce said Bill destroyed his dimension out of a thirst for power and he wants more power because something something breaking limitations. I know this is obvious stuff but I feel the need to keep this post somehow grounded on solid canon, especially with what I'm about to make up.

Nihilism

Okay I’m going to wildly speculate here and probably look at Bill’s mindset through a more human lens than intended but just bear with me for a moment. I think at some point Bill grew nihilistic as a way to distance himself from his unhappiness and further avoid dealing with it.

What mainly kicked off this train of thought was this here from the AMA.

On the surface this just reads as Bill being a god who is above the concept of reality as we know it and understands things differently ect. ect. but with the context of “Says he’s happy. He’s a liar.” it’s like… that tells something about him.

There’s also these pieces from the AMA which give the impression of Bill being above mortals and the concept of love and whatever but from a human lens I’m just seeing some miserable guy going “love isn’t real and life has no meaningful purpose”.

Also something about him in the show saying things like “reality is an illusion” and “meaning has no meaning”.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of this is just straight up Bill being a chaos God who has an abstract perspective on things. God knows he genuinely sees himself above mortals.

But I just think it’s interesting to think about this in the context of there being something underlying here. Or maybe I’m just lost in the sauce of overanalyzing Bill Cipher’s mysterious backstory and psyche hell if I know.

-

Footnote about the whole escapism and denial thing: I feel like you can vaguely draw a parallel with McGucket here. He tried to just forget about everything but ultimately finds closure by rediscovering and coming to terms with his past and all.

Control

Just something interesting that occurred to me while writing this whole thing. It was kinda odd to me that Bill “took over” the lawless Nightmare Realm and is even described as “The King of Nightmares” by Ford in Journal 3. Bill also tells the residents of Gravity Falls that they can call him their “new Lord and Master” as he tries to turn the dimension into a world without rules with Weirdmageddon. 

And it’s also weird how, despite how terrible the 2nd Dimension was and how much it clashes with someone like him, he still misses it after all this time.

I just think there seems to be an irony about Bill being a chaos god who finds comfort and kinship in the strange, unusual and incomprehensible while at the same time desiring control and craving familiarity.

Conclusion/Summary

Bill grew up with restrictions in his life, be it little things within his personal relationships or on a greater scale within society and the universe as a whole. Once he had the chance to escape these restrictions, he did so by burning down his home dimension and everyone in it but ended up living with regret over this. He made the Nightmare Realm his own home because it offered both the freedom he wanted and the distractions he sought from his unhappiness. The Nightmare Realm was dying but instead of leaving it, Bill was dedicated to merging it with a more stable dimension. Mainly to keep it existing and push the limitations of his own power, but also hoping that other beings would realize just how small their world was.

Additionally, Bill’s perceived superiority over mortals and indifference towards a lot of things might’ve possibly started out as a nihilistic mindset that he adopted to disconnect himself from his regrets. And despite the chaos about him, he wants to have control and yearns for familiarity. 

-

I think I just want to close this post by saying it’s fascinating how such a delightfully cruel villain lives such a miserable and bleak existence. I’m going to tattoo the Axolotl Poem onto my brain.

Radio NET Bulgaria (October 05, 2022)

23:59 JESSY J - Soul Kisses (Gregg Karukas feat. Jessy J) 23:55 EVERETTE HARP - Old School 23:51 BRIAN SIMPSON - One and Only 23:47 NILS - Dance With Me 23:43 MEKIEL REUBEN - That Girl Told Me 23:39 BOBBY WELLS - She's Playful 23:35 KIM SCOTT - Emerge (Feat. Jonathan Fritzen) 23:31 DARRIUS JAMAR - Bounce Back 23:27 JULIAN VAUGHN - Time Is Now 23:23 ALTHEA RENE - Let Me Love You 23:18 DERRICK HARVIN - When You Say 23:13 ALEX FALDIN - Cold Wind 23:09 JAREZ - Lil Jazzy 23:04 BOBBY LYLE - Living In The Flow 22:58 PROJECT BLUE SUN - Ibiza Zouk (Sunny Mix) 22:52 SMOOTH DELUXE - Wonderful Micronesia 22:47 SYNTHETICSAX - Beach (Dj Rostej Remix Chillout Dreams) 22:41 RUSLAN-SET, V.RAY - The Voice of Star (Union Sense Remix) 22:37 PIANOCHOCOLATE - Les Souvenirs (Original Mix) 22:33 MENZI - Zug nach nirgendwo 22:25 EUPHONIC TRAVELLER - Crescent bay (original mix) 22:21 SOUND BEHAVIOUR - Arena 22:17 THE UNDERDOG PROJECT - Summer Jam (Unplugged) 22:12 SHAUN ESCOFFERY - Into the Blue (Mark de Clive 22:05 KITARO - A passage of life 21:59 DINKA - Magnolia (Original Mix) 21:55 THOMAS LEMMER - Through My Father's Eyes 21:51 SYLVERING - Just an Illusion 21:46 VIVIAN LACOSTE - Clair Del Mar 21:41 REUNITED - Sing It Back (Shazz Man Chill Mix) 21:39 INNA - Hot (Chill Out Remix) 21:32 COASTLINE - Adriatic Sea (Lounge Cafe Chillout Del Mar Mix) 21:27 KENNY FONTANA - U R The Sun (Toni Rivera Mix) 21:22 MICHAEL E - Promise 21:17 ANDAIN - You Once Told Me 21:11 JOSEPHINE SINCLAR - Paradise Deluxe 21:06 ALBERT ST. BARTH - Sabor Do Lounge 21:03 METAHARMONIKS - Doors 20:59 LEO ROJAS - The last ot the Mohicans 20:54 MANDALAY - Beautiful (7'' Canny mix) 20:49 MARTINIQUE LE SOUFFLEUR - El Guapo 20:45 JENS BUCHERT - Polaris (JB feat. Shine) 20:40 351 LAKE SHORE DRIVE - Summernights 20:34 JES - Heaven (Orange Project del Sol Interpretation) 20:29 BLANK & JONES - Coming Home (Afterlife Mix) 20:24 ATB - Still Here 20:18 LA CAINA - I Gotta Know Now 20:14 LAZY HAMMOCK - Star 20:09 GUENTER HAAS - Secret Diary 20:06 JAMES BUTLER - Coastline 20:00 CLAUDE CHAGALL - Sunset Buddha 19:54 ADELE - Skyfall (Skerdi M & Angelo DownTempo) 19:48 YOGEE, TWEET, MISSY ELLIOT - Thugman (Lounge remix 2011) 19:45 VINTAGE - Eva (Roman B & Vova Baggage Slow Mix) 19:40 ZETANDEL - Glowing Spots (Original Mix) 19:36 WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS - Psychasthenia 19:30 VECHIGEN - No Fear (Summer Vibes Chill Mix) 19:24 VLAD ZHUKOV - Nothing (W&D Chill Out Vocal Mix) 19:17 AMBITUS - Answers 19:13 OCEAN DRIVE, DJ ORISKA - Without You (Acoustic Version) 19:10 KATO, JON - Turn The Lights Off (Bullytrax Campfire Mix) 19:06 KIRSTY HAWKSHAW, TENISHIA - Reason To Forgive (Piano Mix) 19:02 MATT DAREY, STAN KOLEV, AELYN - Follow You (Acoustic Version) 18:57 NUAGE, N4M3 - Sunday Morning (Original Mix) 18:53 NITIN SAWHNEY - Breathing Light 18:49 LOWLAND - Children (Orchestral Version) 18:42 LERRY MULLER, ANETTA GRANT - Dreaming (Original) 18:38 LIVING ROOM - Teneriffe 07 18:35 MODJO - Lady (Acoustic Version) 18:30 MIGUEL LARA - Oblivion 18:26 MR. SPECIAL - Aren't You Clever (CJ Alex Chillout Remix) 18:23 MARIUS NEDELCU, RED HEAD - Rain (Acoustic Version) 18:19 MANDEL TURNER - Come Into My Life 18:13 LOUNGAHOLIC - Careless Whisper 18:10 MOBY - Porcelain 18:05 LUIGI LUSINI - I'll Be Home (Original Mix) 18:01 MAX MILLION - Do You Believe (Original Mix) 17:57 MARCELA MANGABEIRA - Don't Stop The Music (Lounge Version) 17:54 JOEL HIRSCH, ROXANNE EMERY - Neon Dreams (Cinematic Version) 17:50 MAKIS ABLIANITIS - Love Secret 17:46 LIULA - Sweet Dreams 17:43 MARIO BASANOV VIDIS, JAZZU - Give It A Try 17:39 MIA LEMAR - Colourful Life (Photo In Lounge Remix) 17:34 MARC PUIG, MARIA COLLADO - To Forget Me 17:28 SIMON LE GREC - Decisions (Delor Mix) 17:23 MEHMET CEMAL YESILCAY - You And I 17:19 MAZELONOSTRA - Twilight Room (Spanish Edit) 17:14 MARGA SOL - Prayer For Love (Soul Avenue's Balearic Blues Mix) 17:10 NIK LLOYD - Number 1 (Acoustic Cover) 17:06 SIMON G - Crazy (original Mix) 17:03 NURKO, AUTREY - So Far Gone 17:00 LOST FREQUENCIES, FLYNN - Recognise (Acoustic Version) 16:55 DEE LUCAS - Dollar Bill 16:51 AL DEGREGORIS - No Holding Back (Feat. Nils) 16:47 AL GOMEZ - For Sure 16:41 OLI SILK - Steppin' Out 16:37 TIM BOWMAN - Love Forever More 16:33 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - March On (Feat. Jeff Lorber) 16:29 SEAN U - Electrify 16:24 STEVE COLE - Looking Up 16:21 SHAWN RAIFORD - Magic Man 16:17 BOBBY WELLS - End of Summer 16:13 GREGG KARUKAS - Daylight 16:09 DARRIUS JAMAR - Heaven 16:04 NELSON RANGELL - Clutch 15:59 DERRICK HARVIN - Gone 15:54 BOBBY LYLE - What Kind Of World 15:49 BRIAN SIMPSON - From the Hip (feat. Chuck Loeb) 15:45 JEANETTE HARRIS - Groovin' 15:41 JAREZ - Its Over 15:37 BLAKE AARON - Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (feat. Kim Scott) 15:33 ALTHEA RENE - Inner Circle 15:29 ALEX FALDIN - Hand Claps 15:25 AL DEGREGORIS - All Over The Place (Feat. Eric Marienthal) 15:20 AL GOMEZ - Sip Thy Wine 15:16 JACKIEM JOYNER - Southside Boulevard 15:12 JULIAN VAUGHN - Ecstasy 15:08 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Tonight Is the Night 15:03 TIM BOWMAN - Columbus,Ga 14:58 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Emotions 14:54 MARION MEADOWS - Andalusian Sunset 14:49 BOBBY LYLE - Spirit Song 14:45 LOUIE FITZGERALD - Jukin' and Jivin' 14:40 DERRICK HARVIN - Another Day in Paradise 14:36 BRIAN SIMPSON - Bonita 14:32 JAREZ - Slow Motion 14:28 BOBBY WELLS - Oooh Baby 14:24 NICK COLIONNE - It's Gonna Be Alright 14:20 DARRIUS JAMAR - My Everything 14:17 DEON YATES - First Day of Summer 14:12 ADAM HAWLEY - Shuffle (Feat. Darren Rahn) 14:08 BONEY JAMES - Sunset Boulevard 14:04 ALTHEA RENE - Barbara Mae 13:59 AL DEGREGORIS - Follow Your Dreams 13:54 FREDDIE FOX - Sensual 13:50 JC SOL - Our Groove 13:46 KENNY NIGHTINGALE - My Saxophone 13:42 JULIAN VAUGHN - Ride Along 13:38 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Waiting For You 13:35 ALEX FALDIN - Throwback Vacations 13:32 JUSTIN KLUNK - Dive 13:27 BOBBY LYLE - Living In The Flow 13:23 RANDY MULLER BOOM CHANG BANG - Sunnyside Up 13:20 LOUIE FITZGERALD - Through the Rain 13:15 AL GOMEZ - Catchin' a Vibe 13:11 BRIAN SIMPSON - So Many Ways 13:07 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - Loving 2 13:02 DERRICK HARVIN - From Here 12:58 JAREZ - Mr. Sexy Saxy 12:53 JACKIEM JOYNER - Beautiful Seduction 12:48 MARION MEADOWS - Magic Men 12:45 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Force 12:42 BOBBY WELLS - My Sweet Butterfly 12:37 STEVE COLE - Neo Sol 12:31 EUGE GROOVE - Chillaxin 12:26 GREGG KARUKAS - Believe in Me 12:21 CHRIS STANDRING - Fat Tuesday 12:17 BRAD ALEXANDER - Yearning for Your Love 12:14 AL DEGREGORIS - Sunnyside 12:09 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - After Hours 12:06 LOUIE FITZGERALD - Keepin' the Groove On 12:02 FREDDIE FOX - So Much Love 11:57 BRIAN SIMPSON - A Soft Touch 11:52 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - In the Mood 11:48 MARCUS ANDERSON - Mel-Ow Mood 11:44 JULIAN VAUGHN - Sunday 11:39 DERRICK HARVIN - This Time Around 11:35 JAREZ - Around The World 11:30 THE SMOOTH JAZZ ALLEY - EBF 11:25 MARION MEADOWS - Celebration Road 11:21 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Jubilee 11:17 CHRIS STANDRING - Living the Poetry 11:11 BOBBY WELLS - Bella's Pier 11:06 JOE MCBRIDE, THE TEXAS RHYTHM CLUB - Morning In A Distant Land 11:01 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Nobody But You (Feat. Billy Mondragon Of DW3) 10:58 LOUIE FITZGERALD - Thinkin' Back on When 10:53 JEFF KASHIWA - Back To Love 10:49 BRIAN SIMPSON - When I Found You 10:42 MARCUS ANDERSON - Give Love (Feat. Anthony Saunders) 10:38 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - On the Move 10:34 TIM BOWMAN - Flyin Away 10:29 DAVE BRADSHAW JR. - Set Me Free 10:25 PIECES OF A DREAM - Steppers ''D'' Lite 10:21 J. WHITE - Mr. Nugroove 10:17 NAJEE - Happiness (A Felicidade) 10:13 LOWELL HOPPER - See the Light 10:08 DERRICK HARVIN - Colombiana 10:04 DARREN RAHN - Duplicity 10:00 JAREZ - Together Forever 09:57 JOYCE COOLING - Coasting 09:53 NORMAN BROWN - Keep The Faith 09:49 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Feelin' Good 09:45 MARION MEADOWS - Last Ticket To Somewhere 09:41 CAROL ALBERT - Love Again 09:37 LOUIE FITZGERALD - When I Look into Your Eyes 09:33 MARCUS ANDERSON - Backseat Drivers (Feat. Adam Hawley) 09:28 JULIAN VAUGHN - Waymans Way 09:23 BRIAN SIMPSON - Mystical 09:20 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - Happy Cause I'm Going Home 09:15 PIECES OF A DREAM - Give U My Heart 09:11 NAJEE - Modern Lovers 09:07 JIM ADKINS - Turning Point 09:06 TONY SAUNDERS - Uptown Jazz 08:55 TIM BOWMAN - Friends 08:51 BOBBY WELLS - Tee It Up 08:45 CHRIS GODBER - Chips 'n' Salsa 08:42 LOWELL HOPPER - No Turning Back 08:40 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Give And Take 08:30 NATE WHITE - Ducie's Groove 08:19 MARCUS ANDERSON - Let's Not Wait (Feat. Nicholas Cole) 08:19 DANNY LERMAN - You Take My Breath Away 08:04 NAJEE - Dr. Dolittle 07:59 PIECES OF A DREAM - Fired Up 07:54 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - I Want Her 07:51 KIM SCOTT - Best Part 07:46 TIM BOWMAN - Glory to Glory 07:42 RHODA GRAHAM - Finally 07:37 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Poppa J 07:32 DEE LUCAS - The Grady Curve 07:28 LOWELL HOPPER - Affection 07:23 JEFF KASHIWA - Hyde Park (The 'Ah, Oooh' Song) 07:19 UNDER THE LAKE - Bridgetown 07:16 WARREN HILL - Play That Funky Music (White Boy) 07:11 MARION MEADOWS - Mother Earth 07:07 OLI SILK - Meet Me In The Middle 07:03 MARCUS ANDERSON - Understanding (Feat. Brian Culbertson) 06:58 NAJEE - Savoir Faire 06:54 DONN BYNUM - Because I'm Feeling You 06:49 SEAN U - Second Wind 06:43 PIECES OF A DREAM - Feelin' Good 06:38 BRIAN SIMPSON - Sunlit Sea 06:33 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - Susie Mae 06:30 SHAWN RAIFORD - It Feels so Nice 06:25 NELSON RANGELL - Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing 06:21 HANK BILAL - Perfect Harmony 06:17 JEFF KASHIWA - Thanks To You 06:13 ZOLBERT - A Song for You 06:09 TIM BOWMAN - Just Another Day 06:04 KIM WATERS - Nightfall 05:59 ZACH BRIDGES - These Hands 05:54 NAJEE - Isla Hermosa 05:51 MARION MEADOWS - Dream Catcher 05:46 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Time Marches On 05:42 MARCUS ANDERSON - Limited Edition (Feat. Steven J. Collins ) 05:38 LOWELL HOPPER - Resurgence 05:34 JEANETTE HARRIS - Night Jam 05:29 PIECES OF A DREAM - Gettin' Through It 05:25 DANIEL CHIA - Cali Style 05:21 DONN BYNUM - Mercy Mercy Me (feat. Lew Laing Jr.) 05:18 ADRIAN CRUTCHFIELD - Morning After 05:12 STEVE COLE - Toronto 05:09 BRIAN SIMPSON - Whisper To Me 05:04 JEFF KASHIWA - Show Me Love 05:00 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - Hip Hug 04:55 EUGE GROOVE - Take You Higher 04:50 NAJEE - Bounce 04:46 GREGG KARUKAS - Coyote Party 04:42 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Better Days Ahead feat. Jeff Pescetto 04:38 KIM SCOTT - I'm Every Woman (feat. Althea Rene & Ragan Whiteside) 04:34 MARION MEADOWS - Life In The Clouds 04:30 ZACH BRIDGES - Yonder 04:26 BRAD ALEXANDER - A Matter of Time 04:20 MARCUS ANDERSON - Dandelion 04:16 PIECES OF A DREAM - Going Home 04:12 ZOLBERT - On My Way 04:08 TIM BOWMAN - Heart & Soul 04:03 BALANCE9 - 110 at Night 03:59 JEFF KASHIWA - Something About You 03:54 NICK COLIONNE - Whatcha Gonna Do 03:51 JACKIEM JOYNER - Don't Make Her Wait 03:46 NAJEE - Hurricane 03:41 DONN BYNUM - Our Turn to Dance (feat. Paul Jackson Jr.) 03:37 BRIAN SIMPSON - What I'm Waiting For 03:33 LOWELL HOPPER - Ever Lasting 03:29 WALTER BEASLEY - She Can't Help It 03:24 ADAM HAWLEY - Detroit 03:20 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Bittersweet 03:16 MARION MEADOWS - Real Time 03:12 DANIEL DOMENGE - Between Your Hands 03:08 NORTH 2UNES WOODALL - 102 Degree 03:03 BONEY JAMES - You Can Count on Me 02:59 PIECES OF A DREAM - It's A Vibe 02:54 FRANK MCCOMB - Movin' In Traffic (For Russell Ferrante and George Duke) . 02:50 MARCUS ANDERSON - Can I Come Over 02:46 JEFF KASHIWA - Mediterranean Nights 02:42 JASON PETERSON DELAIRE - Check Please (feat. Chris Camozzi) 02:39 NAJEE - Luna 02:35 DANIEL CHIA - Say You Will 02:31 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Tell Me Why (Feat. Paul Brown) 02:27 BALANCE9 - Sway 02:23 MICHAEL SILVERMAN, ERIC MARIENTHAL - In These Times 02:20 ADRIAN CRUTCHFIELD - Now I See 02:16 ZOLBERT - Smile 02:12 AL DEGREGORIS - Time Sensitive 02:08 WALTER BEASLEY - Lovely Day 02:04 PHIL DENNY - Around the Block 01:59 TIM BOWMAN - Happiness Is 01:55 THREESTYLE - Missing You 01:52 FREDDIE FOX - Feelin' It 01:48 MARION MEADOWS - Invisible 01:44 FRANK MCCOMB - Cha Cha (For Ramsey Lewis) 01:40 LOWELL HOPPER - Change of Seasons 01:36 JASON PETERSON DELAIRE - After Hours 01:32 NAJEE - Bottom To The Top 01:27 JEFF KASHIWA - 3 01:22 THE SMOOTH JAZZ ALLEY - Smooth Jazz Alley 01:18 PIECES OF A DREAM - Livin' The Life 01:14 BRIAN SIMPSON - All That Matters 01:10 MARCUS ANDERSON - Will Power 01:05 JAREZ - Just Can't Wait 01:01 JAZZ IN PINK - Positivity 00:57 PHIL DENNY - Lifted 00:53 FRANK SUTTON - Its Gonna Be A Lovely Day 00:48 MARCIN NOWAKOWSKI - Huggy Bear 00:44 VANN BURCHFIELD - I'm Holding On 00:40 WALTER BEASLEY - Barack's Groove 00:36 THE SAX PACK - Back In Style 00:32 SKINNY HIGHTOWER - Now Or Never 00:29 ZOLBERT - Frappe 00:25 BLAKE AARON - Dreamland 00:21 JASON PETERSON DELAIRE - Nightcap (feat. Chris Camozzi) 00:16 NAJEE - Valentine Love 00:12 FRANK MCCOMB - Just Ride (For George Duke) 00:07 JEFF KASHIWA - The Good Life 00:03 TIM BOWMAN - Watchout

Ask HC: Vesper here and I just wanted to report that our Alya got an interview with our versions of The Creator Holy Trinity (aka Dana Terrace, Alex Hirsch, and Matt Braly) that has turned into a four-person roasting session of how Hawkcock could’ve used Mr. Pigeon differently (don’t worry, our Mr. Ramier has an Antikuma Charm. Yes, Cat named them.). Wanna see if I can get you all autographs? I know they’re not your versions of The Holy Trinity, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Falun Feather: "YES ABSOLUTELY PLEASE IDC ABOUT TIMELINES JUST LET ME SAY HELLO!!!"

August media recap

I read 7 books and 3,217 pages

The City in the Lake by Rachel Neumeier. 4/5. summary The Kingdom's heart is the City, the King, and the King's heart is the Prince, who has disappeared. The Kingdom's magic is disturbed, and the Prince's disappearance leads to a disturbance in the farthest reaches, including Timou's village. Her father's journey to find the Prince is unreturned, and she must leave her village to confront powers greater than her own and leave love behind. review I really liked this book; at times it was a little confusing but that's what i liked about it at the same time.

Legacy and unlocked by Shannon Messenger 5/5. as this is book 8 i will give a summary of the first book Twelve-year-old Sophie struggles with her identity and family, as she is a Telepath who can read minds. When she meets Fitz, she discovers she is not alone. Fitz exposes her to a shocking truth, forcing her to leave her family for a new life. Sophie's secrets are buried deep in her memory, and the truth could be life-or-death, as time is running out. review I feel like I can't say much with giving a lot of spoilers. but WFT was this book like the things that happened I needed 2-3 days to recover. I did lock on a team; I am now 100% team Keefe. unlocked was a fun extra book except the novelle at end, I need to have some word with Shannon.

Gravity Falls: Journal 3 by Rob Renzetti, Alex Hirsch with Stephanie Ramirez. NA/5. I did not feel like giving this a rating. it was nice being back in the world of gravity falls.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. 5/5. Summary Viv, an orc barbarian, returns to Thune after decades of fighting and reminiscing about a forgotten legend and artifact. She plans to open the first coffee shop, but faces challenges from old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly. To build a lasting business, she needs new partners and a different kind of resolve. I won't put my review here because I already made a post about it.

The Sun and the Star by Mark Oshiro, Rick Riordan 5/5. Summary Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, has experienced numerous hardships, including the premature deaths of his mother and sister, outings, and losing his friend Jason. However, he has a ray of sunshine in his boyfriend, Will Solace, who can overcome obstacles. Nico is haunted by a voice from Tartarus, claiming it is Bob, a reformed Titan who Percy and Annabeth left behind. Rachel Dare's prophecy suggests Bob is in trouble, and Nico must embark on a quest to find Bob. Will insists on accompanying him. review This was every I wanted and more. I love my little sun and star.

Tomb of Ancients by Madeleine Roux. NA/5 I forget to rate on storygraph but I would give it a 4/5. This was the last book, so here is the summary of the first book House of Furies is a chilling story about seventeen-year-old Louisa Ditton, who finds employment as a maid at a boarding house. She discovers that the house's owner, Mr. Morningside, is a judgmental place where he executes justice on those who have been saved. Louisa fears Lee, a charismatic and kind young man, who may be her only hope to save him from untimely judgment. review I quite enjoyed the ending, there of course a few things that would change like I would have liked her with someone else, but I think you can say that about any series.

Okay so now on the music.

The only new music I listened to this month was love me again and rainy days by v. I really thought he was going to something more on the jazz side but he does so well with RnB. Love me again is my favorite of the two, it made me commit one of the big sins in the kpop world.... I looped the songs for like an hour.

Stan never nicknamed his car tho?

Alex, thinking this man never gave his own car a name??

Are You tryin ta tell me

this man wasn’t attached to the only thing that’s STAYED in his life

for over 42 years

including his super volatile homeless years

And that he never named it??????

???????????

i had no clue about this new show until now so i looked it up and, while i can definitely see that this show has some potentially massive issues if it's not handled properly, i'm not seeing anything so far that would make it more problematic (i know that word's overused but it's the best i can think of h) than Gravity Falls already was. i mean, Bill Cipher himself is a sentient illuminati symbol who posses canonically Jewish characters on screen multiple times (Ford and Dipper). There's also Grunkle Stan starting off as a pretty glaring stereotype of Jewish people being money hungry, but that's at least slightly subverted when his motives are explained. i'm not saying any of this to condemn Gravity Falls or Alex Hirsch or to excuse anything going on in the upcoming show (especially since i'm not Jewish myself and have no say on the matter either way), i'm just curious as to why you're more wary of this show when Gravity Falls has very similar problematic elements. Thanks for reading this all the way through, sorry if any of this was confusing or came off as accusatory.

okay so let me answer this as an actual jewish person

the design of bill, eye of providence, isnt by itself tied to the illuminati (and there are different illuminati groups anyway) but has become conflated with such in the modern age which is what made bill such a controversial design so alex could piss off rosary-clutching evangelicals (which i gotta say is something i can respect). it would be wrong of me to completely ignore the conflation though and as we all know once historically normal symbols can become corrupted and lose their original meaning but nowhere in the show is the illuminati called by name.. in the show, the eye of providence symbol was modeled after bill himself appearing throughout history and bestowing guidance upon human beings for millennia which is more in line with the original symbol itself—the eye of god bestowing divinity and providence—than a “secret elite group”. he’s also got a pyramid pattern which is inspired by the half pyramid on the back of united states seal. the eye of providence itself does not have anything to do with pyramid imagery outside of this. (this also goes without saying but bill also has one of the fucking best character designs in history im a sucker for eye imagery, his stupid little mr. peanut top hat and bowtie and his little L-shaped feet)

the problem with the illuminati anyway isnt the illuminati themselves but the DEMONIZATION of them by the catholic church because they opposed superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life and abuses of state power. the catholic church and conservatives did not like that and of course used the jews as a scapegoat for their paranoia like fucking usual. the eye of providence is not even mentioned on the wikipedia page. the only common thread between the illuminati and the eye of providence is freemasonry (who are also subject to antisemitic conspiracies)—which used the eye of providence as iconography sporadically and even then was only sometimes enclosed in a triangle. sometimes all the answers are right in front of you

and i think that you’re reaching too far about bill possessing them. stan and ford were definitely raised jewish as seen in the journal but i dont think theres any canon evidence for mabel and dipper other than people going wild with headcanons because hirsch is half-jewish. and even if the pines are all jewish it affects nothing about the plot of the show which is uncovering the weirdness and mysteries of a strange town called gravity falls wherein bill uses them as pawns so he can move his triangle ass to a new dimension because the nightmare realm is unstable.

even after it was revealed he was raised jewish i never got jewish stereotype vibes from stan but that’s probably because it was revealed after we found out the reason he was so money-fixated (kicked out of home, forced to survive and told his dad he’d millions on his own to prove that hes capable without ford). if we were told he was raised jewish before we knew his backstory and before he got much depth i think it would’ve been different though.

i’m wary of alex’s new show because it’s actually going to be a comedy about the about the actual real life conspiracies that are used as antisemitic dog whistles (reptilians, new world order shit) and it will be a disaster if not handled properly. i don’t care if he’s half-jewish—i’m jewish and i just don’t think it’s right to be playing those things off as some lala funny things and distorting the conspiracies from their antisemitic roots any further so that they dont seem as bad. even if conspiracy jokes are made in good faith because of how absurd it is (like sure reptilians controlling the government does seem absurd) it still holds the feeling of being called a slur deep down because they were originally created to dehumanize us

and looking at this...

great! still feels like im lowkey being shit on but dont worry its a new spin on it. how about you guys just dont make the show❤️

it’s just a bit tone-deaf and insensitive i think, especially in this day and age when misinformation and conspiracies in general are actively out of control and a present danger, due to the information bubbles and digital tribalism curated online. it’s not the right time for lighthearted comedy on this because it walks a very thin line of falling into insensitive territory by making real life conspiracy theories seem less dangerous to society than they actually are. and of course it also downplays the roots of classic conspiracies, which are of course drenched in antisemitism

Matt Braly: Mr. Pi- I mean, Mr. Ponds returns with a message from BEYOND THE GRAVE!  We are SO close to the official release of #truecolors now, just avoid those spoilers for a few more days!  Thanks to Mr. Mystery himself and all around sweetheart @_AlexHirsch for sending this in!!

Alex Hirsch: You all heard the frog!! Watch the amazing Season Finale of #Amphibia THIS SATURDAY 8pm, on the Disney  Channel!   

WHAT'S UP, SUCKERS!

I'm Grunkle --- uh, Frog. -- What do we call me? The Curator? -- Here to deliver an important message!  There was a bit of a whoopsy-doodle at the Channel, some classic monkeyshines and screw-em-ups... Anyway, you're gonna have to wait a little longer for the season finale of Amphibia.  But trust me when I say IT IS WORTH IT.  Frog Soos saw it, and he passed out immediately. WAKE UP. *snapping fingers* Frog Soos: I'm... still... dazzled by the wonderment!

Mr. Ponds: Anyway, avoid the leaks and spoilers, and join me and the gang to see the season finale at the right time. Because I guarantee, when you do, you'll say... "OH.  This.  This is beautiful."

BYE!

Link to tweet.

Amphibia Weekly Reviews and Analysis Mid-Season Finale!: Froggy Little Christmas: The Keith David Murder Santa We Deserve

Happy Holidays all you happy people! I”m Jake, I review and analyize stuff and things and i’m in a heck of a christmas mood.. not the least of which because one of my dearest friends @jess-the-vampire​ bought me this lovely fanmade tuca and bertie merch featuring my boy

But warm heartfelt gifts aside I just love Christmas, how it can bring out the best in people, the warm memories of christmas past, and relevant to this blog the sweet sweet ichor that is Holiday Television. We’ve gotten tons of great Christmas episodes, a handful of great hannukah episodes and far less Kwanza or Ramadan episodes than they deserve. Writers tend to break out their best stuff, so it’s fitting that much like last year we kick off full holiday hyjinks with a great chistmas episode that’s a capper to a great round of episodes in general... and one of the last hurah’s of the series before it enters the final stretch.  Last year Ducktales did the honors with it’s all time classic third christmas episode, this time it’s Amphibia’s. 

It’s also time to say goodbye to the show for now, and thus a time to reflect on how awesome this season has been thus far. Granted we have half a season left for things to go south and while you’d THINK a show couldn’t entirely botch things for it’s final season THAT fast... THIS still exists 

But I also know my fears are likely unfounded: Season 3 is easily the show’s best, taking what makes the show great, it’s slice of life mixed with fantasy feel, great characters, gorgeous animation and top shelf humor, and added some new things in that make it better. 

For starters this is the series best pacing period: each episoe feels important, but it keeps the series slower pace to allow it to have fun with the new setting.  The resulting mix allows the plot to move at a steady clip, while still having the episodes feel like you aren’t wasting your time waiting for something good to happen. Given how much of a mess season 2a was this is a welcome change.  We get plenty of answers while still having some room for some one off fun. It’s perfect

Not only that but thanks to having a looming villian instead of having to wait for the finale, we get frequent conflict: Andrias isn’t sitting around anymore and our heroes are in constant danger from him or X and it adds a nice sense of tension: any slice of life episode could turn into a life or death struggle and has.

The next is the setting: Moving to earth was a brilliant move and a geninely shocking twist back in True Colors as I assumed, via standard fantasy tropes, that Anne wouldn’t go back till the story ended and if she did before then, it’d be in the endgame. 

Instead shifting to earth allows us to learn more about Anne’s life outside of her disfunctional realtionship with her girlfriends. The best part of this is meeting Not-Jeff and Mae, Anne’s parents. Yes we finally got a name if on Brian Sonaluth’s twitter. God bless him. But since i’td be weird to still call him Mr. B i’m calling him Not-Jeff, since Jeff turned out not to be his name, until we get one. The two just add tons with Not-Jeff filling the unlucky dad void in my heart left by Donald, and Mae being tons of fun. The two are just adorable as heck while still being hilarous and often the highlight of their episodes. Especailly not-jeff.  I also have to give props to On Braly: as far as I can tell this is her first voice acting role but she steps up to the plate with the rest of the main cast like it was nothing, as does Sonaluth though he has a tad more experience. Not EVERYONE can pull that off, only select few like Olan Rogers or Alex Hirsch have really stepped up to the plate that fast, and i’m proud to welcome Mrs. Braly to the club. 

So yeah, Season 3 is  excellent and I can’t wait to see where it goes... but before we can get to that next year and say a tearful goodbye, we have to say hello to the newest episode so join me under the cut for that! Full spoilers as always and happy holidays!

We open with CHRISTMAS! Mae is decorating up the place at a rapid place and is easily the happiest i’ve seen her since her daughter came back. She’s just so dang gleeful as she christmases the hell out of places and it’s so nice to see her just so happy given all the crap she’s been through these past 6 months. 

Anne and Not-Jeff are naturally compeltely stoked. The plantars.. are taking things less well...

With this new tradition confusing them Anne TRIES explaining it, but it’s difficult as you’d expect. It’s also cut off by some big news as Mae gets an important call: it’s from the parade board. The downtown LA Parade wants her to take part at long last. Turns out this has been a lifelong dream of hers... and one she reluctantly turns down to her husband and daughter’s shock.

The explanation for this is the obvious one: She dosen’t want to risk exposing the Plantars, as having the three frogs in such a public venue, and one that will likely be recorded and threw up on youtube immediately by thousands of people, while their actively being hunted is just too risky. This is her lifelong dream sure.. but it’s not worth risking their lives over. And i’m sure some of you watching it thought: “Well why doesn't she just not include them?” And the answer.. is as obvious as it is so heartwarming there’s a tiny sun where my chest used to be (it itches slightly): She dosen’t want to do this without her family.. and the Plantars ARE family. She’s gone from wanting to get rid of them so she can forget about all this... to seeing them as so much a part of her world that leaving them out, even if it means her dream, just isn’t an option. Their part of this too. It’s all of them or none of them. While she’s visably crushed to be giving this up, if trying badly to hide it.... it’s worth it to protect the people she cares about. 

Naturally Anne can’t let this slide and spirits the plantars off to her room. She uncancel’s the float, and explains why to her froggy family: Anne feels she’s already done enough to her mom with her absence, having to stash the plantars, and that porthole to hell she opened up last week. She’s not costing her her dream. So Anne’s going to sneakily build the float and unveil it as a suprise and the Plantars are naturally in. She even has a beautiful design ready to go that has the plantars incorporated in a way that keeps them safe by passing them off as just part of the show. And really the town buys the ninja turtle logic of them being just humans in coats so this is somehow MORE of a disguise than usual. 

Meanwhile at the Legion of Doom er... at Andrias Floating Castle, the three Newt Advisors are still working for andrias and unlike Olivia and Yunan seem to be fully on board with their bosses horrifying new ambitions. 

Their also dressed as elves, having been told about Christmas by Marcy. You know the girl whose currently being used as a horrifying meat puppet, something you three Schmucks clearly have no issue with. And no i’m not letting them live that down: Oliva and Yunan may be MIA but at least they TRIED to do something instead of kissing Andrias titanic ass. 

Speaking of which they have a gift for him: a new dragonfly drone , complete with wireless controler and headset to send after anne. Andrias tests it out on them, as he should, and prepares to send it after our heroine. 

Meanwhile Anne is putting her plANNE into action. You can’t hate me for that pun on christmas it’s .. yule law... yeah. That’s it yule law..... .... just let me have this. 

So she gets help from their various allies. First up she needs tech support and Polly knows just the gays for the job so it’s time for a ROBOT PARTY!

At the community college their apparently headquartered out of, the IT Girls are throwing a robot rager. Anne even hits on ... whatever this is

Good to see her get a rebound while she waits to get her girls back. Good for her. The Gals naturally gladly agree to help, sweethearts they are. The Plantars are naturally even more confused as Christmas now apparently involves mechanical men, so they ask the Gals what Christmas is. The two try their best to explain it but at best get out that you shouldn’t light trees on fire and that you should get people you care about nice gifts..  and we get this as a result. 

Well my heart just collapsed on itself from adorable.. it’s a dwarf star now. This naturally sends Sprig into a panic about getting his best buddy Anne a good enough gift. 

Onto their next stop Dr. Jan, who turns out is nuts about christmas and is intense about explaning it as I am about explaning marvel history. Fun Fact: Vision and Wanda’s wedding in the comics was a double wedding with Mantis, whose a space jesus in the comics, and the Swordsman, who was a bad guy who turned good then died then got reborn by fusing with a plant monster and the marriage was procided over by Immortus, one of the various kang variants. Why any of this happened.. I have no idea. No really I geninely don’t. 

Jan is naturally happy to help Anne and gleefully allows her young friend to raid whatever she needs for her float, which Anne gladly does. So while Anne pilfers valuable historical displays for her float, Jan tries explaining christmas to the Plantars.. but has the opposite problem of our technogays. Instead of underdoing it, likely not knowing exactly HOW to unpack something like christmas for someone who has no idea what it is, Jan OVERDOES it and goes deeply into the history of it so much it makes Sprig’s brain grow three sizes.  Thankfully Hop Pop at least finaally has SOME grasp on it as it’s like their own holiday, swamp hollow’s eve.. just without the ritual sacrifices. 

So with our heroes slightly less confused they set to work and we get a montage.. set to a minty fresh new song from none other than Rebecca Motherfucking Sugar. If you don’t know who that is first off...

And secondly she’s the creator of Steven Universe, having run the show, written the vocal songs for it, and in general being a delightfully nice and thoughtful person. While she’s currently between shows because making a show is exausting and she needs a break before doing a new project, she gladly did a song here, showing up as herself casually singing an often odd but still heartfelt christmas song as the episode goes on. It feels perfectly fitting given this show has a lot of Steven Universe’s dna in it: it’s also a slice of life show that slowly builds to universe saving levels, while never loosing it’s focus on character growth or empathy. So I feel this is a wonderful way to tribute it by letting the show’s creator have a cameo. 

While rebecca strums Sprig struggles with gift anxiety and the Thai community helps Anne with her float because their just the best. With that Anne’s masterwork is finished, a loving wintery tribute to her culture. The next morning she shows it off to her mom whose brought to tears by it and her daughter’s efforts, with Anne also showing the Plantars in a crows nest, with Hop Pop as santa.. and a great runner about him forgetting the final ho. Mae hugs her daughter and graciously accepts the gift and they head out for the parade. 

A the parade, which looks downright gorgeous by the way, our heroes gladly celebrate and work the crowd... .and we find out WHY Mrs. B wanted this so long. We find out that she and Mr. B immigrated here and thus she’s always felt getting into the parade meant finally being accepted by this country. It adds a shocking and suprising amount of depth to the story, and as Anne points out she can relate having gone through the same in Amphibia, her trip there itself an allegory for Braly’s own trips to thailand. It feels like Matt is , through mae, letting his mother tell her story and it just warms my heart back up to supernova. It’s truly beautiful. 

So our heroes party on the float like their the joker. But since we have a chunk of episode left we can’t just leave it there. Andrias has been hunting them, but while he can now fly the drone properly, it dosen’t have the fancy scanners the annesterminator did so he can’t find them as easily. Lucky for him Anne just happens to be on a giant float, with her last name on it screaming her full name for the crowd for no reason, so it’s time for our big climactic fight. 

So Andrias finds a santa float and jingle jangle hey chris kringle’s now got nanites in his veins for a reason. So thus we get keith david piloting and voicing (since the drone has speakers.. despite not having a mic. ) a murderous santa claus. They say the best christmas gifts are the ones that suprise you and this proves them right. 

So after the giant santa attacks the crowd Anne has the IT gals book it as their driving.. once Polly snaps them out of their giant robot stupor because as we all know, Chicks Dig Giant Robots. 

So an awesome chase/fight insues as the nanites allow santa to have tree themed sheileds, candy cane lasers.. it’s just so wonderfully insane. Our heroes throw everything they got at it even the kitchen sink but eventually Anne realizes the way to stop it is a chekvos gun: light the tree on fire. Polly’s time has come. So they use the old video game standby of attacking it when it’s weakpoint is open and fire it into it’s mouth leading to the best two bits of the episode in rabid succesion. First...

Anne: Merry Christmas!z Andrias; (geninely and reflexivley) Merry christmas! .... wait OH NO!

This destroys santa which a young child sees and asks if santa is going to be okay to his dad... who says no reasuingly. Back on Amphibia, Andrias blames the controller.. before the Core gets him to compose himself. Once he has Andrias decides his master is right and that this loss dosen’t matter.. their army is almost complete... and is terrifyingly massive. 

So with that our heroes escape and now it’s clear SOMETHING’S going on to the public, and everyone’s worn down.. and Mae STILL enjoyed it because they were together. And because let’s face it who WOULDN’T love killing a giant robotic santa. Anne finally explains the true meaning of christmas: it’s not the getting, i’ts not the getting, it’s the loving. It’s spending time with those you love most and the presents and trappings are just to celebrate that. Sprig gives anne her gift, a handmade action figure and she loves it. Awww. Our heroes go for cookies.. and clearly the fact the invasion is happening SOON isn’t enough of a wham for one episode as we FINALLY tackle one of the most obnoxiously hanging plot threads of the season. But I was patient since I figured Matt had some sort of plan for it.. and he did... as Anne writes anonomus letter’s to Sasha and Marcy’s parents, promising their okay , telling them about the other dimension thing.. and saying she swears to bring them back, singing it a friend.  Because SURELY four grown adults can’t spot the handwriting of one of their daughter’s best friends. Surely. Also we find out Sasha’s parents are divorced so that’s a thing. 

We go out on some closing credits, as we see something fans kept bringing up even AFTER a christmas episode was announced finally also resolved: Anne gives her mom the pin she got her last season, to tears. Mr. B is just as generous giving Sprig a Tarantulaman figure, HP a book on directing and Polly a nerf machine gun because she apparently wasn’t terrifyign enough. Add in domnno perched on frobo’s head and it’s just.. so fucking sweet. Merry christmas, see you next year Plantar-Boonchuys. You’ve earned a break. 

Final Thoughts: This special is terrific: sweet, heartflet and featuring Keith David in the part he was born to play, this will be required viewing every year for me here on out. 

If you enjoyed this review consider jingle jangling a few bucks over to my patreon which has exclusive reviews and just ONE contributor means i’ll start covering the first season monthly, so you get a nice gift too. 

LINK TO MY PATREON IS HO HO HERE

And if you want to talk frogs while we wait for the rest of the season, dash in a one horse open sleigh over to my discord, which is open to all

INVITE LINK IS HERE. JOIN THE PARTY. 

Mabel is selfish sometimes but people forget that shes like. Twelve. And that she consistently tries to make others happy. Like i cannot IMAGINE GF-critical like how anyways i hope Alex hirsch is having a time these days

Judging by his twitter I'd say Mr. Hirsch is having one of the most times ever. But yeah it's....fascinating how people's perception of characters can be in long-lasting fandom spaces, it's a weird phenomenon to have watched multiple times

“Ten years after the canonical events of Gravity Falls, Dipper and Mabel Pines are reunited with their great uncles for one last adventure across the world. Joined by Pacifica, now a close friend of the twins and romantic partner to one of them, as well as Mr. Mahina, a hearty boat captain who has been travelling with the Stans for a few years, the Pines family must solve the world’s mysteries that nobody else would dare to decipher, make sure the dangers of the past are no longer there to harm them, and kick complete ass while doing so.”

hi my name is zachariah and I made a cringe au for my cringe middle school interest... its not really an au its kinda just a theoretical gravity falls season 3 so um. yeah I have been working on these for like a month and im just glad to post it at this point sjhfjdsjf

more notes under the cut!! also reblogs not likes uwu

-since I know thisll never exist and therefore I can do what I want, this would definitely not be a Y-7 show on disney (fuck disney actually alternate universe me is helping alex hirsch steal back the rights to this show) and since theyre all older I think this’d be pg-13 or maybe even MA just because I want mabel to say fuck lmao

-when I say “pacifica is dating one of the twins” I mean shes dating mabel (even all these years later, mabifica still fucking rules), I’m just theoretically straight-baiting people lol (though, dipper and pacifica dated 2 summers after the OG GF summer, if that makes u feel any better, its just that it didnt work out and also shes a lesbian now so... lol)

-the twins went to college!!! mabel is an animation student at my shitty parody of calarts, and dipper is a journalism student (he specifically does supernatural journalism which would be an important part of the series) at west coast tech. also pacifica goes to the same school as mabel and is a fashion design student (I have a drawing of dipper in drag bc of her if anyone wants it lol). their schools are miraculously in the same general area so they share an apartment!! more on this later if I end up continuing this

-themes of this series/season/au/whatever would b like. generational trauma, recovery from abuse (every single one of the main characters have been through some form of abuse besides *maybe* dipper and mabel which in itself is even debatable), self redemption/self forgiveness and like. maybe even some coping with loss thrown in there. also found family DUH what else would I do

-noa/mr. mahina (and his dog scuttles) are new!!! so he originally wasnt gonna be a main character or anything but I got,, really really attached to him and ended up making him into an actual full-blown well rounded character so here we are! uhh what else can I say about him,, hes 63 (4-5 years younger than the twins, this takes place in the summer and his birthday is in december so idk) and hes just an old artsy himbo who loves his dog. absolutely no secrets or backstory here :) nope not at all :)

-samuel is dippers best friend, I wanted to incorporate him more but the boat was getting crowded and hes the least connected to the entire family as a whole so hes less relevant sadly :( he and dipper met in Jew Club™ and then ended up being roommates their first year and it just spiraled from there, if this were a real thing id make it so he facetimes the twins a lot and maybe even gets to visit bc I really love him and think he works well with them all

-ford is super depressed uh,, I guess not entirely but he REALLY spends a ton of time moping about how he basically fucked up his entire family for generations and the fact that he ruined a ton of shit so um. yeah. hes my fave though so expect some good shit >:) also hes gay as hell lemme clear that up lol

-can you think of some reasons for stans memory loss issues besides old age?? :)

-finally; you dont get to know anything about mary. does her name sound even remotely similar to any other name though? shrug. I dont know. 

regardless of how many notes this gets expect me to make more because I have SOOOOO much content I have been wanting to upload but I havent been able to because I havent posted any of these so :)

SpongeGuy Reviews Every Disney Animated Show Ever!: Fish Hooks (1.1 and 1.2): “Bea Stays In The Picture” and “Fish Out of Water”

Fish Hooks led to all the shows we have today. I think. I don’t know.

It’s about FISH.

...

Look, I used to hate this and now I sort of like it, let’s just get to it!

Fish Hooks is a high school cliche/Alex Hirsch has a practice round before becoming GOD/Rick and Morty fish AU/ Animated show featuring Cory In The House, Morty from Rick and Morty and the only Disney character who wants to be famous who doesn’t piss me off. These three friends (Milo the party animal, Oscar the anxious nerd and Bea the diva) hang around in their fish tanks leading life as not normal fish teens. Alex Hirsch voices a teen clam girl, this should be fun!

Honestly, I grew up hating this show and thinking it was dumb, but I am open to liking it, and honestly it had a good start, so let’s do this!

SUMMERIES: “On the school's picture day, Bea, Milo and Oscar try to make their picture the best. While Oscar's photo turns out bad with the flash reflecting off his braces and Milo's turning out a little weird, Bea tries to make it perfect. When the photo is taken and Bea does not appreciate it, she and Milo infiltrate Clamantha's yearbook office while Oscar takes Clamantha on a date in order to keep her away from the yearbook office.”

“Milo panics when everyone believes he is selfish, so he decides to go out of the tank. He subsequently starts to lose oxygen, so Oscar and Bea go to save him. However, when a huge cat named Wilford comes to them, it is up to Milo to save Bea and Oscar, and to prove that he is not selfish.“

COMEDY: 3 Out of 5 (”Bea Stays In The Picture”) and 3 Out of 5 (”Fish Out of Water”)

Fish Hooks mainly uses a style of comedy we would soon see a LOT of in this mid to late 2010′s and now early 2020′s era: Meta-textual, dialogue heavy weird visual comedy. The joke is that the characters are weird yet likable, that they clash yet also bond well, that they sort of realize they are in a show but still care enough to make us care, that everything is ripe for a weird cutaway or fourth wall break. This was perfected in other shows, so you can see how it has just begun and not fully ripened with Fish Hooks. This is no comedy masterpiece, after all: Both episodes have a lot of Idiot jokes and overreactions and teen cliches. But the jokes work BECAUSE of the self awareness and variation: If this one was too on the nose, the next one is a little more surprising. Helped by the fact that the slapstick and the banter are fun, and you get two episodes that are pretty decent on the laughs!

CHARACTERS: 3 Out of 5 (”Bea Stays In The Picture”) and 2 Out of 5 (”Fish Out of Water”)

Fish Hooks, for all intents and purposes, relies on you liking it’s 3 main leads enough to see them do really about anything. Sure, there are supporting characters (like the terriifying in a good way Clamantha and the admittedly hilariously voiced Mr. Mussles) but really it’s all about Milo, Oscar and Bea.

Now, they ARE cliche’s, and Milo is sadly quite annoying (FORGIVE ME CORY-SENPAI!) which is why I gave a 2 to his focus episode “Fish Out of Water”, but thankfully the weirdly likable Bea and the almost simp but honestly quite sympathetic Oscar end up being so weirdly likable as said before that they sort of carry the show on their own right. And again, the supporting cast is fun to have, and they don’t hog the spotlight, so Strong 3 and 2 for both episodes!

STORY AND HEART: 4 Out of 5 (”Bea Stays In The Picture”) and 2 Out of 5 (”Fish Out of Water”)

I have to say before hand: while the scores will mostly serve as guidlines for my basic feelings, it’s the rankings that are really important, which is why despite “Fish Out of Water” getting 7 out of 15, it will rank higher than the 8 out of 15 Lilo and Stitch Episode “Richter”, so take the scores with a pinch of salt, they’re not 100 percent accurate, more like ways of delivering my feelings on each one in numbers.

Moving on! The latter episode has a pretty boring and basic story, elevated by the comedy and characters focusing on how Milo is kind of an asshole, and while he does make up for it, and again, the humor and characters make it worth watching, it’s nothing too special.

Thankfully, “Bea Stays In The Picture” manages to showcase a surprisingly strong display of writing, with a “School Photo” episode actually being... Entertaining? Like, it’s the lesson we’ve all seen a million times, but the added spy thriller jokes, genuinly heartwarming moment between Bea and Milo and just the atmosphere of the episode take what could have been an average episode and make it quite the fun escapade, enough to earn a whopping 10 out of 15! Both segments (even if 1 is way better than the other) are fun, and that’s the real gist of it. I found myself enjoying myself, even laughing, and though i came hesitant, i left with a feeling that I would enjoy the rest of it! So, that’s pretty impressive!

FINAL SCORES: 10 Out of 15 and 7 Out of 15

And with that we have our first “The scores don’t matter” episode, this will happen a lot. I enjoyed this, I wonder what’s next!

...

Amphibia.

With my all time favorite Disney character?

...

I’M READY

https://docs.google.com/document/d/194d3gsPrhlOsFPYsXU-lJirY4sWncrBl/edit#

It's anon-whose-dad-looks-like-McGucket again! He hasn't eaten any raccoons... yet... at least that I know of... XD Having fallen into this fandom hole rather aggressively with a lot of time on my hands, I have found the episode commentaries, graphic novel, and shorts. Are there any other behind the scenes or supplementary materials you recommend?

Hey there again! And bless, bless you for falling down the fandom hole.

As far as supplementary materials are concerned, I’m going to list everything I would recommend. I’ll even list things you’ve mentioned above, in case other people reading this post would be interested learning about GF extended materials too! I’ll be listing GF content in order roughly from “most essential” to “not so essential.” Note: this isn’t a comprehensive list of tie-ins. Also note: this list talks about spoilers from the show itself.

Journal #3. If you’ve already found out about the graphic novel and gotten your hands on that, I imagine you know about Journal #3 too - but since you didn’t mention it above, or if you were going to skip it over, I’m bringing it up now! Journal #3 is a *MUST*. I consider this book as essential to the Gravity Falls experience as the show itself. (Probably because the 1980s boys are my soul, life, and feels.) Journal #3 isn’t written to be a dump of monster lore, though there’s paranormal experiences in this book, of course. Journal #3 is a well-done narrative focusing on Ford’s hubris character arc and providing it amazing resolution. It also complexly dives into the relationship between Ford and Fiddleford, and to say that that narrative has ruined me and kept me awake at night would be an understatement. It makes the scenes and events of S2 more meaningful, and just… aughghgh. There’s so much to unpack there and I keep waiting for an excuse to yak about it.It’s also got several moments I wish could have been in the show proper (though I respect the need to cut for time and focus on the Essential Essentials, and think they did a great job prioritizing). If you’ve finished the commentaries (don’t know how far you are), you may remember Alex Hirsch saying they tried to get Dipper’s real name reveal into the show sev’ral timez, but ultimately cut it and left it for Journal #3. That scene definitely reads as “should have been in the show,” and it’s a great moment. Plus, Ford’s final remarks about “trust no one”? Ohhhhhh it’s so good, and makes the resolution to the show’s events all the better.

Journal #3 Blacklight Edition. Unless you can travel back in time to preorder, or have several thousand USD to spend today (no, I’m not joking, go onto eBay and cry), you’re not going to get your paws on the special blacklight edition of Journal #3. But there are people who have photographed important notes! Such as: [1] [2] [3]

Lost Legends. A  graphic novel with several short adventures. They’re all side adventures, but there’s some development on Dipcifica, and Mabel confronting her selfishness, that are nice additions and expansions to people’s characterizations. Wonderfully done, nicely arted, and feels like reading four new short episodes of the show.

The shorts, etc. I know you said you’ve gotten to the shorts, but there are so many shorts and promotional ads that I hope you’re going through the wiki pages and not just DVD menus to unearth everything. I don’t feel like pulling up my DVD to check, but if I remember right, some things like Creepy Letters from Lil’ Gideon didn’t make it to hard copy release?So anyway. I know some of these are easy to find and you’ve probably gone through them, but for the sake of thoroughness:

The Unaired Pilot

Creature in the Closet

Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained

Mabel’s Guide to Life

Fixin’ It with Soos

TV Shorts 1 and TV Shorts 2

Mabel’s Scrapbook

Mystery Shack: Shop at Home with Mr. Mystery and its Outtakes

Old Man McGucket’s Conspiracy Corner

Creepy Letters from Lil’ Gideon

Gravity Paws

’Pocalypse Preppin’

The deleted scenes. The special edition DVD/Blu-ray provides a ton of S2 footage of the writer’s room, Alex narrating the storyboards, and through that showing us scenes that were cut or altered. There’s AMAZING stuff there, oh my goodness.It’s complicated finding all released deleted scenes materials, though, and honestly, I’m still trying to fish through the interwebs for more. You’ll find some released storyboards online for S1 and S2 that didn’t make animation. There’s a second long animation of Ford and Stan adjusting their glasses at the same time that made trailers but not “A Tale of Two Stans.” Or you’ll find things on Alex’s twitter page, like the now-notorious Dipper-snaps-Dippy-Fresh’s-neck-on-screen moment. And things like Bill’s initial introduction scene have been animated by fans. :)

Shmeb-you-unlocked website. I have fondness for this page because I love learning minor details about characters. This is a hidden website url you can uncover going through Lost Legends. Got some fun stuff on Anti-Mabel, Tate McGucket, and Pacifica, for instance. 

The Episode Commentaries. Seriously, these are the most enjoyable commentaries I think I’ve watched (outside of the LOTR cast commentaries, anyway). They’ve got insight into everything, from talking about character psychology, to storytelling techniques, to storyboard artists’ contributions, to how fans’ responses literally changed how the creative team wrote the show. 

The Special Features for the Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray release. All the special features on the DVDs are cool and enjoyable! Between the Pines, etc.

The Hidden Special Features. The Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray release comes with lots of hidden special features! Grunkle Stan’s hidden commentary for Land Before Swine is treasure. Like, Stan starts rambling about his childhood and embarrassing stories about Ford and stuff… it’s amazing. There’s also a Bill special feature that I love. 

Cipher Hunt! Most of it’s just fun, but it’s wild to consider that Alex staged an international scavenger hunt by choice. I don’t like road trips, but I would be very tempted to travel to see that Bill Cipher statue. Because I have… fandom issues. Haha.

Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates’ Treasure! Though I’ve entertained myself with this, I don’t recommend this as highly as the other stuff on here. But if you want to keep living Gravity Falls, this is one of the books out there with original non-show content. There’s even a few moments in this book that were taken from the unaired pilot or deleted scenes. It’s a choose-your-own adventure, has nice art, and stuff. While it is written by Rowe, I don’t consider this as necessary of an addition to Gravity Falls fans because the choose-your-own adventure doesn’t (to me) capture the deep heart of the show. It’s more of a light, silly, random what-have-you. It does have a hidden web link to a page with the Axolotl, though, so that’s sort of important?

The Games. Most games are simple online flash games with no informative or lore-adding content to them. You won’t get anything new out of them, so take or leave them. But ya know, they still pass time in non-objectionable ways. If you’re really craving ANYTHING GF, why the fuck not. That’s how I ended up playing them. Some games have enjoyable versions of the main theme… the Weirdmageddon: Take Back the Falls game did not have to go so rocking hard on the music, and yet it did. (I may have recorded the audio to the level select and stuff and added it to my iTunes library.)I know you’ve been watching me play Legend of the Gnome Gemulets on my twitch. The other games that I think are the most entertaining are Rumble’s Revenge and Pinesquest (mostly Pinesquest, but it’s a “sequel” to Rumble’s Revenge). 

And if you haven’t gone clue hunting and decrypting yourself, and don’t want to extend the effort to do so, the cryptograms page on the wiki is a must!

Alex’s old twitter posts have some interesting things too from time to time?

I hope I remembered the main things. And I hope this helps!