The Confrontation

Acrylic on Canvas

Gravity falls living in my head rent free AU ideas might delete this tho

Gravity falls AU because the tenth anniversary thing made me cry for some reason:

AU where all the characters from gravity falls voiced by Alex (at least the main ones) and maybe others are stuck in the same mind as kinda spirits (think floating possessed Dipper from the puppet show episode) and because it's my AU I've just decided the one who's possessing the body is Stan.

Writing this as I go along but there are multiple says this AU fan go:

1: The other characters get cursed and Stan is the only one who can see them, perhaps this has something to do with him being there but not being a part of the curse/spell. I'm assuming Bill has something to do with this so maybe he witnessed a deal being messed with and the consequences.

2: After the ending of gravity falls Bill is still alive and tries to possess other people's bodies, but for some reason whenever he makes a deal with them their bodies just collapse and he doesn't even get to possess them! Bill is only able to wander away from Stanley when he's asleep, so when Stan wakes up after Bill tries and fails to make deals with people, he comes back to find them all floating like Dipper with a very confused sea grunkle. (And that's how Stan finds out Bill's alive.)

Think I can make these both their own AU's but RN I really like the concept of Stanley just trying to live a normal life but all these would including Bill are just there so now he's gotta somehow deal with them all in the meantime while not telling anyone what the fuck is going on and why a ton of people just went into a coma, and find a way to fix this. (If I do write this I'll only do it after I finish the EYE!Phone chapter I'm working on at the moment.)

Rules and Things about the second AU:

They can't go too far away from him until he's asleep much like Bill.

None of them can touch each other but they can move objects (but only small ones)

Stanley stays up so Bill can't add any more people to the ranks.

Some of the coma gang (people stuck as ghosts) will not stop getting on Stan's case whenever he does something he shouldn't have.

The coma gang all act like angels on his shoulder except most if not everyone have very different opinions on what is morally correct.

Stan is trying not to worry the others by not telling them about Bill or the coma gang, and he also still has the memory relapses so he's gotta keep this a secret while also having to stop the coma gang for picking something up and making it float in front of someone and also deal with having memory relapses every now and then.

Stan has not slept a full 7 hours in days (if you couldn't tell already he is my favorite which means blatant self projection.)

Said this before but this takes place after the end of Gravity falls, think around a year or so.

There is only one person who kens but isn't Stanley the coma gang or Bill, but I'm not saying who.

Anyways good job to the entire gravity falls team for making a show so amazing the fanbase has lived for TEN WHOLE YEARS.

Gravity Falls Theory - Bill Cipher CANNOT Lie

Plenty of characters, fans, and even Gravity Falls writers have called Bill a liar. But Bill strikes me more as an old-school Fae. He can’t outright lie, but he can find all sorts of ways to bend the truth to APPEAR like he’s lying. For proof, let’s look at all of his appearances.

Dreamscaperers - Bill’s Debut

Bill was always a part of the show, but he didn’t receive his official debut until Gideon summoned him to “enter the mind of Stanford Pines & steal the code to his safe.” Bill laughed, then repeated “Stan Pines” to himself as he mulled over the deal. Bill KNEW that the man Gideon called “Stanford Pines” wasn’t the real Stanford Pines, and Bill never called Stan “Stanford.” He called him “Stan,” or “your uncle” when he was talking to the kids, and told Gideon he’d “help him with this” in exchange for Gideon’s help later on, but never said he would go into “Stanford’s” mind.

Granted, later in the episode Bill disguised himself as Soos to better track the Mystery Twins as they hunted for the code to the safe, but he never claimed to be Soos. In fact, it’s impossible to pin down precisely when Bill subs in for Soos. Most fans theorize the Soos who came across the memory of Stan going into the secret room behind the vending machine was Bill, since Bill already knew Stan’s secret and would declare the Portal “boring” and move on to more useful or entertaining secrets. And Fae that are incapable of verbally lying have been known to cast glamours & illusions to trick mortal victims.

Sock Opera

When Bill returned in Season 2, he offered Dipper a way to get into the mysterious laptop and “unlock the secrets of the universe” in exchange for a puppet. Unfortunately, once Dipper accepted the deal, Bill seized control of his body & smashed the laptop. At first glance, it appears Bill was lying to Dipper about his deal. But let’s break it down.

Bill said he wanted a puppet, but took Dipper’s body instead. Yes, he led Dipper to believe he wanted a SOCK puppet, but he was never specific. And to Bill, a “being of pure energy,” the human body may seem like nothing but a meat puppet.

Bill said he would give Dipper access to the laptop & the secrets it contained, then smashed it. Bill CLAIMED he did it to keep Dipper from getting too close to “some major answers,” but smashing the laptop also led Dipper to discovering that it was invented by Old Man McGucket, leading to information about Fiddleford’s past, his relationship with The Author, and the Portal in the basement of the Mystery Shack. Bill may have wanted to keep Dipper off his case, but he was bound by the rules of the Deal & his own inability to lie, so he found the most inconvenient way to uphold his end of the bargain while keeping Dipper in the dark.

And like when he impersonated Soos in “Dreamscaperers,” Bill!Dipper never claimed to be Dipper. He just let everyone assume he was Dipper.

The Last Mabelcorn & Journal 3

I’m combining these into one section, since they both cover the same information.

After some poorly chosen memories & paranoia led to Dipper discovering Stanford’s past with Bill, Ford finally came clean about how he met Bill & created the Portal.

According to Ford, Bill introduced himself as a muse who “chose one brilliant mind a century to inspire.” He also led Ford to believe that all of the weirdness in Gravity Falls was caused by extra dimensional weirdness leaking into our world from his, and building a transdimensional portal would help Ford understand more about the universe & anomalies. And Ford trusted Bill completely, worshipping him as a god, until Fiddleford got a peek into Bill’s Nightmare Realm during the first disastrous test run of the Portal. Ford accused Bill of lying to him, but let’s once again break down what Bill said.

Bill called himself a muse, a source of inspiration for others. And in some ways, he’s right. Granted, he mostly inspired chaos, paranoia, and destruction, but inspiration is inspiration. And Ford was far from the first one to fall for Bill’s flattery - his past victims include the Native Americans who originally settled Gravity Falls (who created the cave paintings warning against his tricks & the Prophecy Zodiac), the ancient Egyptians (who created the Pyramids to appease/honor Bill), George Washington (who included the one-eyed triangle on the currency, again to appease/honor the insane triangle deity he’d been plagued by), and Stanley Kubrick (whose psychological thrillers may have been inspired by Bill’s own psychotic nature). So Bill calling himself a “muse” was the truth, From A Certain Point of View.

Bill claimed all the weirdness on Earth was caused by transdimensional leaks. Ford later realized Gravity Falls itself was a magnet for anomalies, but he never got the answer for where the anomalies came from in the first place. The comic “Lost Legends,” though, confirms that The Boiling Isles & Eda the Owl Lady from “The Owl House” are part of the same multiverse as Gravity Falls, and Eda told Luz that every myth in the human realm was caused by a little of the magic of The Boiling Isles leaking into the other dimension. If that’s true for her dimension, it could be true for other dimensions.

Bill said Ford would gain a better understanding of the multiverse if he built the Portal. And again, Bill was right. Granted, Bill’s intent was to bring all of his weirdness to Gravity Falls & turn everything in that dimension inside-out to suit his whims. But getting shoved into the Portal & spending 30 years on a transdimensional revenge road trip did open Ford’s eyes to the wonders of the multiverse & give him new insight into many mysteries.

Again, these are all truths. Twisted truths, but truths nonetheless.

Dipper & Mabel vs The Future

This is the last major source of lies for Bill, but I want to touch on it real quick.

After a heartbroken Mabel ran away from Dipper, she retreated into Sweater Town & wished summer could last forever. A nervous voice said “that might be possible,” then entreated Mabel to listen to his offer. “Blendin” walked out of the trees, saying “M-M-Mabel, it’s me.” He then told Mabel that, because she once did a favor for him, he was willing to “bend the rules” and give her a Time Bubble where summer could last as long as she wanted, but he could only do it if he has a “small thing” from Ford’s workshop. The “small thing” turned out to be the Dimensional Rift (which Mabel knew NOTHING about, so shut up jerks who still blame her for Weirdmageddon), and after “Blendin” smashed the Dimensional Rift, he revealed himself to be Bill piloting Blendin’s body & trapped Mabel in a dream bubble with a snap of his fingers. Last breakdown, I promise.

How did Bill get inside Blendin’s body to begin with? Again, Journal 3 has all the answers. Blendin wrote a coded letter to Dipper & Mabel explaining that after Globnar, everyone in the Time Enforcement Bureau wouldn’t stop teasing him. Even Time Baby gave him a hard time about being beaten by a couple of kids. One night, Blendin had a dream about a certain triangle who promised to get everyone off of Blendin’s back in exchange for a “little favor.” Blendin agreed before asking about the favor, and Bill upheld his end of the bargain by vaporizing Time Baby & the Time Police during Weirdmageddon.

“Blendin” never gave Mabel his name, or any details about the “favor” he owed her for. He let Mabel assume he was talking about using her victory in Globnar to restore his job & his hair instead of wishing him out of existence, but Bill could also have been referring to the events of Sock Opera, where Mabel’s obsession with impressing Gabe Benton led to Dipper being overworked, neglected, and perfectly primed to make a bad deal.

The Time Bubble. “Blendin” claimed he needed the Dimensional Rift in order to give Mabel her eternal summer, and he was right. Bill is a chaos demon with reality-warping abilities, but without a physical form in our world his powers only work in the Dream Time. By destroying the Rift, he made it possible for his powers to have lasting effects on the real world.

Mabel bad?

Oof sorry for never answering you nonnie! I’ve been pretty busy lately haha. But the post you’re responding to is a bit...old. I now understand Mabel a bit more now as a person, however I do still dislike her as a character because her flaws I was talking about in that post are never meaningfully addressed. 

This might get a wee bit long, oops. Click for a big Gravity Falls writing analysis/essay/thingy.

It’s good for characters to have flaws. Flaws that actually affect them and have consequences. Otherwise you have something of a Mary Sue that isn’t relatable and has a story that’s too easy and boring for the audience. The narrative punishes or addresses those flaws and they present a challenge for the character.

But at the opposite end, you have characters who have flaws that the narrative never addresses, which means the characters never have to grow. There’s two reasons this is bad. One, that you can have the same issue where they don’t face any struggle or grow as characters and it’s a boring story, or two, people don’t generally like to root for characters who they’d want to punch if they ever met them irl. You can have a story with main characters who are bad people, but you have to either make the character likable in other ways, present the situation so that the audience can gather that they’re in the wrong and either be rooting for their downfall or their growth, or have their actual story be compelling enough that the need to know what happens next outweighs dislike for the character. (And all of these things often require the story to be told from said bad character’s point of view.) Gravity Falls doesn't really do any of these things. Or rather, it tries but is ineffective for around 50% of the viewers.

Mabel is often presented as a pure soul, good of heart and just overall a good person. But she’s got flaws. She’s selfish and a bit inconsiderate, which is normal and not an unforgivably terrible thing, especially for a 13 year old girl figuring out her place in the world. All the Pines are a bit selfish, I think it runs in their genes. But the thing is, the show will treat her selfishness as perfectly fair and normal, with anyone her selfishness affects being shown as in the wrong. She often guilts people, mainly Dipper, into sacrificing things for her while rarely making any sacrifices of her own. She does it to other characters as well, but here’s a brief list of times Dipper has sacrificed something for Mabel (which I compiled with the help of this post on Quora):

 Tourist Trapped: Dipper spends almost the entire time worried about Mabel’s safety and trying to protect her, while she just brushes him off and laughs at him.

The Hand that Rocks the Mabel: Dipper agrees to break up with Gideon for her.

Time Traveler’s Pig: Mabel insists that Dipper give up the reality that doesn't break his heart so that she can adopt Waddles, and when he initially refuses she purposely endangers the space-time continuum as retaliation. 

Little Dipper: Mabel is very angry about Dipper making himself taller, even though Dipper would not have resorted to it if now for her teasing. She immediately demands and fights for the magic flashlight, causing it to fall into Gideon’s hands.

Summerween: Mabel drags Dipper out to go trick-or-treating in a costume he dislikes because she’d planned on them having a duo costume.

Boss Mabel: I shouldn’t even really have to explain this one, the whole episode is about her going on a power trip.

The Deep End: Mabel embarks on a rescue mission for Mermando, doing and using things that would lead to Dipper being fired from the pool job he loves, without consulting him at all. She hears his concerns and instead of just explaining she’s saving Mermando the first time, she completely ignores him and speeds off, destroying more pool property and ensuring he’ll be fired.

Carpet Diem: Dipper informs her of the the issues he has with her roommate habits, and she completely denies any fault, even though she and her friends had legitimately destroyed the room and the mini-golf course the twins had built. The two of them both overreact, and act selfishly throughout the entire episode, but she absolutely refuses to listen to him.

Boyz Crazy: This one isn’t Dipper but I still wanted to mention it because she is so ridiculously selfish throughout the whole episode, to the point where it’s to her and the people she loves’ detriment.

Dreamscapers: Again not Dipper or a sacrifice, but her worst nightmare is apparently losing her cuteness and becoming ugly. I dunno if that’s exactly selfish or anything but God did it make me wrinkle my nose in distaste.

Sock Opera: After promising to help Dipper with the laptop, she almost immediately abandons him for her crush of the week, then proceeds to ignore him for, and inconvenience him with, her puppet show, taking his things without asking and expecting him to be completely cool with all her actions. Bill literally mentions her selfishness to manipulate Dipper and it completely works.

The Love God: Dipper leaves Wendy and her friends in chaos to help fix Mabel’s mess.

Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons: Mabel, her friends, and Stan all make fun of Dipper and Ford and insist they should have full use of the living room.

Dipper and Mable vs the Future: This is one of the big ones that people talk about. Mable finds out that Dipper might want to stay as Ford’s apprentice and becomes incredibly upset because she dreamed of the two of them having fun in high school together. She sees Dipper and immediately makes it about her and her feelings, treating something he’d been dreaming of all summer (being The Author’s apprentice) as some direct attack on her happiness. She proceeds to literally give Bill the ability to start the apocalypse to avoid being separated from Dipper, all without having any sort of meaningful conversation with Dipper or considering his feelings.

Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality: Out of all of these, this might be the one that gets to me the most. Mabel, seemingly knowing full well that she’s trapped by Bill, creates an imaginary fantasy land and refuses to leave just to spite Dipper for considering taking the apprenticeship. And despite doing all this, and attempting to convince him to stay with her, she creates an alternate “better” version of Dipper who’s “cool” and supportive and very, very, different from the real Dipper.

And this isn’t even mentioning all the times she just assumed she was completely in the right about something or had the moral high ground. Mabel frequently makes rush decisions because she thinks everything should be her way or how she thinks is right. 

And I want to say again, none of these things are unforgivable. Honestly, a lot of the things on the list are pretty standard sibling things, and like she isn’t even always in the wrong. The issue is that I’m naming at least 15 times where Mabel has been selfish or forced someone to give something up for her, and she almost never learns her lesson or is punished by the narrative. There are also only 2 or 3 times I can think of where Mabel sacrificed anything for Dipper, and they were all times he was in actual danger or someone had to talk to her and say she messed up and needed to fix her mistake. 

Dipper, on the other hand, sacrifices things for Mabel, faces consequences for his mistakes and his flaws, learns substantial lessons, apologizes, and rarely, if ever, repeats said mistakes. Now, this doesn’t mean that Mabel is awful and Dipper isn’t. I mean, Dipper does some pretty crumby things and has to be told he’s in the wrong or to apologize. And Mabel isn’t a bad person. Like legitimately, that is not what I want anyone to take away from this. She does genuinely love her brother and care about his wellbeing. She’s just a little selfish and unthinking sometimes, like anyone else.

Like I said, my issue is that it goes unpunished, and she repeats the same type of offense wayyy more than any other character. She’ll disappoint Dipper enough that he’d make a deal with Bill and then everyone will still say she’s the best and most caring person ever. That’s just annoying, honestly, or it is to me at least.

This isn’t dunking on her, this is dunking on the writers. And they aren’t unforgivable either, I mean Gravity Falls was a masterful web of foreshadowing, character building, lore, plot work, and incredibly intelligent humor mixed with jokes kids would love too. I don’t blame them for dropping the ball on Mabel, and I don’t hate her or the show or anything because of it. I just want us to acknowledge this flaw of the show, and also have people get it when Mabel gets on my nerves a little bit.

Do you think Mabel gets too much hate? I noticed when a female character acts selfish she gets hated on but when a male character does the same it’s praised

We’re free to love or hate any character with or without reason. That said, I feel sad seeing Mabel hate and agree Mabel receives too much hate. I feel like the rhetoric claiming she’s unforgivably selfish is skewed. I think people have decent criticisms regarding Mabel’s character and how she’s presented. However, I don’t think they sufficiently describe the full picture.

Anecdotally, I don’t think this is a case of sweeping sexism because Ford also receives more criticism than I think warranted. My perspective on how much hate each character proportionately receives could be incomplete, though.

But anyway. Let’s talk Mabel.

First though: please don’t try to debate this with me. If you don’t like my opinion, no worries. That’s chill. I’m just not interested in using my recreation time debating this. Thanks! :) However, if you want further clarifications, analyses, case studies, etc. I’m happy to talk more, because this is NOWHERE close to exhausting my thoughts on this topic.

Mabel’s Selfishness: The General Critique

I think everyday anti-Mabel criticism tends to use points like:

When other characters act selfishly, they’re called out and the narrative punishes them. But when Mabel wants something, she gets it, and it’s a reward (The Deep End, The Time Traveler’s Pig, Escape from Reality).

Mabel never learns how to give up something important and deal with that loss. Even when she lets something go, it’s not something that would have been good in her life. For instance, her failed puppet performance is “dodging a bullet” rather than losing something meaningful, since Gabe’s just a puppet kisser. In the end, she doesn’t have to live with sacrifice (Boyz Crazy, Sock Opera).

Mabel even selfishly causes the apocalypse by giving Bill the rift. She’s never held responsible for that (Dipper and Mabel vs the Future).

The narrative reinforces that Mabel is a good person even when she’s not (The Last Mabelcorn).

People particularly look at Mabel in S2 over S1; many claim that’s when her character began to feel selfish and insufferable. 

This isn’t everything, but I have tried to characterize the rhetoric fairly based upon what I’ve seen.

I find these discussion points understandable. Mabel can be self-focused and sometimes ignores others’ feelings. Alex Hirsch admitted in DVD commentaries that he focused on Dipper learning lessons because he put himself in Dipper’s shoes. And some of Alex’s writing intentions could’ve been clearer, like instances where the twins resolve conflicting desires. We could talk about how the show could be improved or the character is legitimately not-selfless.

At the same time, I think how fandom uses these talking points isn’t 100% fair to Mabel’s character or the show’s full narrative. 

I want to point out that Mabel hate for her selfishness covers two fronts: one claim that Mabel is selfish, and another claim that the surrounding plot doesn’t handle her selfishness satisfactorily. I think there’s fair constructive criticism when it comes to narrative framing (even if I disagree), but I don’t think the same dialogue is good rationale against Mabel’s personality. At times I see the two concepts conflated. The narrative may annoy you if you think selfishness isn’t addressed in plot, and contribute to you disliking the character, but claiming “Mabel is selfish” because of that is flawed logic. 

In this analysis, I’ll cover both fronts. I’ll tackle the four points I mentioned above and explain why I find them too harsh. I’m not going to cover all my thoughts (yes, my original draft was longer!!), but I will argue:

Mabel reverses her selfishness - and that’s the big choice sealing the climax of multiple episodes. She doesn’t get off “consequence free” either (Boyz Crazy, Sock Opera)

Mabel sacrifices for others. The narrative does show that Dipper and Mabel meet in the middle, not that Dipper feels guilty enough to ameliorate his sister’s wishes (Sock Opera, Escape from Reality)

Mabel giving the rift to “Blendin” mirrors Dipper offering a puppet to Bill. Both twins are emotionally compromised and believe they’re making a harmless deal with an inconsequential item. Neither would’ve made these choices in calmer circumstances. Sock Opera doesn’t have Dipper deal with his culpability; relax up on Mabel (Sock Opera, Dipper and Mabel vs the Future)

Mabel’s selfishness is addressed, handled, and resolved. The moral of The Last Mabelcorn isn’t defending Mabel’s goodness; it’s Mabel embracing imperfection. Mabel learns she’s a bad person and changes her perspective of herself multiple times in canon (The Last Mabelcorn, Lost Legends)

I could also have talked about how selfishness isn’t required to be resolved in her character arc, all the times Mabel does nice things for others, how she doesn’t always obnoxiously hog the spotlight, and other things, but I want to cap the length of this essay.

So let’s begin.

Can Mabel learn from selfishness if she’s consequence-free and never handles meaningful loss?

Anti-Mabel Argument: Circumstances don’t adversely affect Mabel. This means she never has to sacrifice for her brother like Dipper does for her. For instance, in Sock Opera, Mabel sees that Gabe is a weirdo over-obsessed with puppets. Her failed puppet performance was “dodging a bullet” rather than losing something meaningful, so she doesn’t learn true self-sacrificial love. Mabel never learns how to give something important up and deal without it. So, she never changes.

Boyz Crazy not only is an episode where the climax is Mabel learning to act against her selfish desires, but it’s got an explicit apology in dialogue. “I’m sorry I went bonkers,” she tells Candy and Grenda. “A catchy song made me realize that you were right. Can you ever forgive me?”

While Mabel has to learn this lesson again in later episodes, it’s to note: most GF characters are fairly static, and Dipper also has to learn multiple times not to hit on Wendy. Character progress doesn’t happen all at once. And in the next episode I’ll talk about, not only does Mabel confront her selfishness, but it’s the last time she lets her boy chasing impact Dipper. It ends after this.

I’m talking Sock Opera.

Mabel’s sacrifice in Sock Opera is big. She doesn’t get off “consequence free.” She decides to sabotage her performance before knowing Gabe’s a weirdo. Mabel is fully willing to lose her most viable romance option… for Dipper. She realizes her brother would be willing to give something up for her, and she’s going to reciprocate by giving up something big for him. 

Mabel might’ve dodged the bullet of dating Gabe, but she still gives up something big and will feel it. Sure, she makes the puppet show to impress Gabe. But she’s also entertaining a full audience. She can feel the people booing her, see them storming out and leaving. Mabel is someone who wants everyone happy, so much that seeing everyone happy except Robbie puts her in Crisis Mode. I don’t know about you, but just because I saw some guy kissing puppets, I wouldn’t think, “Yay! I had a happy outcome to this play ordeal!”

Mabel VERY much says, in the dialogue, that her brother would give up something big for her. And that’s what her Big Choice comes down to. Every episode climax in Gravity Falls comes down to The Big Choice. Here, Mabel’s Big Choice… is to sacrificially watch her hard work burst into literal flames.

Mabel apologizes to her brother, “I’m sorry, Dipper. I spent all week obsessing over a dumb guy. But the dumb guy I should have cared about was you.”

In following episodes, Mabel does put Dipper in mind. She gets momentarily distracted by crushes in The Love God, but that’s in a quest to solve her own mistake - a mistake that came from trying to make everyone, from Robbie to Thompson to Dipper, happy. She wants to include Dipper, from the Ducktective finale to her birthday party planning mission. And if you’re focusing on how she teases Dipper, why aren’t you also targeting Stan, who makes the same action without change?

Mabel Hate rhetoric focuses on how Bill was “right” in Sock Opera and she still acts selfishly in the same patterns after that episode. But, the climax is Mabel resisting Bill and demonstrating self-sacrifice, and that arguably does influence her character afterwards. It’s one step in an incomplete process. She might not be ready to handle Dipper separating off with Ford, but that’s because her arc still isn’t completed.

We do see Mabel dealing with meaningful loss like the collapse of her puppet show. She does show sacrificial love for her brother. And, as I’ll talk about more, she continues to grapple with and grow in selflessness through later decisions like Escape Through Reality.

Does Mabel ever realize she’s a bad person?

Anti-Mabel Argument: Narrative reinforces Mabel is a good person even when she’s not. Alex Hirsch wrote with rose-tinted bias because Mabel represents Alex’s twin sister. The Last Mabelcorn showcases that. Instead of Mabel learning she’s a bad person who can’t receive a unicorn’s blessing… the unicorn’s criticisms against Mabel get nullified – the creature’s lying about Mabel’s impure heart. Mabel got affirmed for who she was rather than dealing with her imperfection.

First off: if you haven’t watched the DVD commentary for The Last Mabelcorn, you should. It’s a wild story how this episode got made. Alex Hirsch trashed the script of an entire episode 48 hours before it was due. He crunched to write a new episode - by himself - from scratch. So yeah. A few lines of final dialogue could’ve been tweaked to improve the message, but the fact he wrote as successful an episode as he did in that short of time is incredible. And the message of The Last Mabelcorn is there:

Mabel learns she’s an *IMPERFECT* person. She embraces being imperfect instead of groveling for impossible perfection and meaningless approval.

Maybe that’s not the “Mabel learns selflessness!” episode you wanted, but this is a fascinating lesson, and one I don’t see touted tons in media. I love it.

Mabel spends the episode attempting to be pure of heart through kind deeds. Wendy tells Mabel they should solve their problem the dirty way. Mabel keeps refusing until the unicorns anger her. This is the moment of triumph: she punches a unicorn. Mabel forsakes the route of “pure” good deeds to do what she first considered dirty. That’s the hero moment, dudes! 

Mabel says the unicorns are “worse” than her, not that she’s good and they’re bad. Mabel comes out of the adventure declaring, “Today I learned morality is relative.” That’s because the episode’s climactic Big Choice isn’t about Mabel accepting she’s a “pure” person; it’s about Mabel accepting she can make “impure” choices.

Ford is the person at the end who tries to tell Mabel she’s good. But Mabel contradicts what he says with that “morality is relative” quote. What she takes away is that she’s imperfect, she can make non-sparkly-decisions, and that’s okay. She’s become more aware of herself and her flaws, but also accepts she can make choices others might shake their heads at. 

So. Ford and Wendy might’ve called Mabel “a good person” in key parts of the episode, which is why I say Alex (not in a time crunch) could’ve considered tweaking lines to make the point clearer. But I don’t think the episode depicts Mabel as a selfish jerk who never learns her flaws.

And frankly? If I had to choose between a standard “you’re not perfect” episode and this? I’d MUCH rather have this, where characters learn lessons, but we also get the show’s humorous, slightly subversive, slightly truthful “anti-morality.” That’s a Gravity Falls thing, after all. (For other anti-morality examples: Stan saying Summerween is about celebrating “pure evil,” Mabel deciding it’s good to lie so Stan doesn’t get arrested, Mabel deciding being an asshole to employees is productive, etc.)

So yes, Mabel realizes she’s a bad person, even if it’s not in the way you expected. And that’s still not the end of her character arc. 

Does Mabel ever sacrifice for others Dipper?

Argument: Mabel only agrees to leave her bubble after Dipper promises to drop Ford’s apprenticeship. This apprenticeship would have been huge for Dipper. But all Mabel “sacrifices” is leaving a fake world she’s hiding in, goofing around instead of helping people in literal Armageddon. 

Much of Mabel and Dipper’s relationship is about how they’re opposites. We repeatedly see the best place for both of them is the middle. Alex Hirsch talks about this tons. Whether it’s perfectly implemented is a debate for another day. I do think these concepts can be seen even in episodes like Escape From Reality where there’s been criticism of narrative execution.

I’ve seen people say Mabel “gets her way” because Dipper turns down Ford’s apprenticeship when he sees it makes her sad. Hirsch has said in commentaries Dipper was making a mistake wanting the apprenticeship. Mabel wants to avoid growing up while Dipper wants to grow up too fast.

We don’t have to take Hirsch’s word-of-god for it: the story does show that Dipper was erring with the apprenticeship. Ford intends well, but his bias against siblinghood means he’s polluting Dipper’s values. He suggests that Dipper staying with Mabel is “suffocating.” He suggests that Dipper is “greater” and should be doing something with it. “Dipper, can you honestly tell me you never felt like you were meant for something more?” And later: “Listen to me, Dipper: this town is a magnet for things that are special. And that includes you and me. It brought both of us here for a purpose! Stay here with me, Dipper. Become my apprentice. Don’t let anyone hold you [back].”

When Mabel and Dipper make resolutions in Mabel Land, Dipper says he’ll drop the apprenticeship. This emotionally touches Mabel. But being emotionally touched doesn’t mean that’s WHY she makes amends with her brother. Instead, Mabel reassures him that he can take the apprenticeship if he wants. She leaves the choice up to him and is willing to let him live in another state during their teen years. She finds his needs and desires important.

And honestly? It’s Dipper himself who realizes the apprenticeship is bogus; it’s not because Mabel is forcing her brother to change. “Mabel, I thought you were living a fantasy, but look at me! I actually thought I was gonna stay here and be Ford’s apprentice. Spend my entire teens cooped up in a basement with a lab coat? How ridiculous is that?” He sheds the idea because he realizes it’s a bad one, not because he’s ameliorating someone too selfish to accept her brother leaving her.

It’s also to note Mabel Land tempts everyone. Calling only Mabel selfish when everyone else gets pulled in… seems incorrect. Bill considers it a diabolical, inescapable prison. People like Soos, Wendy, and Dipper who know it’s a prison get drawn to Mabel Land’s temptations. Heck, Dipper gets tempted with an old vice. He might have grown more mature, but that doesn’t mean he can’t trip occasionally (we can apply the same understanding to Mabel and “selfishness,” by the way - someone can both grow and keep tripping). Mabel, meanwhile, wants to use the bubble to help and comfort her visiting friends (which is, for the record, not selfish) and thinks reality should be avoided because both her and Dipper’s lives have been adversely affected. Dipper’s pain is important, too. Mabel has been in this prison longer than Soos, Wendy, and Dipper, and the prison was designed for her - ergo she’s going to be more manipulated by it. Lots of her actions are avoidance tactics because she’s scared of growing up, yes. The court trial is a lot, yes. But we should bear in mind that this is a child scared of growing up and feeling the burn of conflict with her brother. Emotional and psychological context is important. We all get vulnerable. Do our lowest lows define our entire personality?

When Dipper and Mabel make their compromise, both reject temptations. Dipper rejects a bad apprenticeship; Mabel rejects a bad reality. They offer each other solutions where they don’t get what they originally want. They meet in the middle, and this is the best way for both to move forward in the aging process. They’re both satisfied and confident with their choice. It’s not Dipper giving up everything for Mabel, ameliorating her because she’s sad. It’s about the twins learning they can make it through life together, through thick and thin.

Potentially muddled thematic framing does not erase the resolution the twins make. It does not erase that Mabel’s depicted as someone willing to give up major things for her brother.

Okay. But that rift thing. How can you excuse the APOCALYPSE??? JUST TO HAVE MORE SUMMER!?!

The point is that Mabel is emotionally compromised and outmanipulated.

She’s a terrified twelve year old going through a Very Rough Day. She’s terrified about the future, she’s learned bad news after bad news, and she’s afraid her life as she knows it will be wrenched apart. It feels like everything she loves - from her best friends to her brother - will be distanced from her. 

Would you have handled this well as a kid? Adults have issues with this, too.

When she meets “Blendin,” she’s told that trading one inconsequential item will save her future. It’s self-focused, but it’s important to understand: she wouldn’t have made this choice in calmer emotional states.

Compare this to Dipper making a deal with Bill in Sock Opera. The twins literally make the same mistake for the same reasons, duped by the same villain.

Dipper: Decides to give Bill one of Mabel’s belongings, a puppet, without her knowledge. Mabel: Decides to give Bill one of Dipper’s backpack items without his knowledge. 

Dipper: Irritated with Mabel because she isn’t helping unlock the laptop.Mabel: Frustrated with Dipper because it feels like he’s abandoning her to be “special” with Ford. 

Dipper: This is an inconsequential bargain. Bill is just unlocking the laptop. He’s just taking a sock puppet - Mabel has plenty of those.Mabel: Nothing bad will happen. Just a few more weeks of summer. And she’s giving an item Ford allegedly won’t notice is missing.

Dipper: The laptop counter is ticking. Only a matter of minutes before the data gets erased.Mabel: Summer is ending in a week. Separation from Dipper is imminent. 

Dipper: Not thinking clearly due to sleep deprivation.Mabel: Not thinking clearly, emotionally compromised from a walloping bad day.

Hirsch and company have confirmed that only this combination of factors convinced Dipper to make a deal with a demon. Mabel wouldn’t have shook “Blendin’s” hand in less severe circumstances. It’s ironic that, in Sock Opera and Dipper and Mabel vs the Future, rhetoric attacks Mabel in both episodes.

So yes, Mabel gave Bill the rift. But yes, Dipper jeopardized the town’s safety by letting Bill into his body.

I know that, at this point, people might argue there’s a narrative difference. Dipper learned from his mistake but Mabel didn’t. However, I disagree. There wasn’t dialogue in Sock Opera where Dipper explicitly confronts his transgression and works it out with Mabel on screen. Same thing with Mabel and the rift. I know fans wanted it addressed that Mabel started the apocalypse… and frankly I would’ve enjoyed that too… but it doesn’t make Mabel’s writing as a character suddenly, “OH NO SELFISH SELFISH! AND THE NARRATIVE IS LETTING HER GET AWAY WITH BEING SELFISH!”

It’s no different than how writing handles Dipper in Sock Opera. And again, give a terrified kid a break instead of calling a large emotional low “irrevocably selfish.”

By the time Take Back the Falls comes around, Mabel encourages everyone to work together to fight Bill. Mabel risks her life to save the town and her family. Mabel works together with Dipper and puts the people she loves first.

Lost Legends: Fixing remaining narrative holes

After S2 ended, Mabel’s selfishness is head on tackled. That’s the ENTIRE point of Don’t Dimension It in Lost Legends. I suspect Alex Hirsch read Mabel criticism and intentionally reacted through Lost Legends. In this story, Mabel acts out of self-focused energy and doesn’t realize her actions have negative consequences to others. It puts the Pines family in an interdimensional conundrum. Once Mabel runs into other Mabels from other dimensions, she comes to terms that she’s self-absorbed and needs to be attuned to how others feel. Mabel realizes she put everyone in this mess. She apologizes to her family and resolves to be better.

It’s great.

I’ve still seen people criticize it. And that’s where I think Mabel hate rhetoric definitely goes too far. I suspect there’s bias in how people responded to that comic. By the time Lost Legends came out, criticisms for selfish Mabel were rampant and people were set in their perspectives, so seeing a character arc about Mabel’s selfishness got unfairly nitpicky responses. 

I’ve seen people say things like, “Well, she only learns when she interacts with herself, not with others!” But that’s a cool way of presenting story! Mabel sees herself in a literal mirror and takes away truth. Sometimes we don’t see our flaws until it’s right in our faces. This is Mabel’s in-the-face moment. The “I’m selfish” revelation doesn’t have to be with Dipper to be relevant toward how she treats Dipper. She takes away the full lesson she’s self-absorbed and needs to fix that. She immediately makes sure to talk to Dipper about becoming a better person. She owns responsibility toward how she’s treated her brother - and mentions the entire summer as the scope of her fault.

“I’m sorry for being selfish this summer,” the comic ends. “I guess it took me dealing with myself to realize what you put up with. It’s time for us to start some new adventures! And this time I won’t always hog the spotlight.”

There are other criticisms about Lost Legends, which I feel boil down to “I don’t know, still doesn’t satisfy me, not enough.” It makes me wonder what would get people satisfied. Does every possible angle of how someone could learn selfishness have to be covered thoroughly? No franchise can cover that scope. Isn’t there still lots of takeaway with Mabel? Don’t Dimension It alone is an episode’s worth of material, the same amount of content which most fans deemed enough to wrap up Dipper getting over Wendy, Pacifica being a brat, and Gideon being creepy on Mabel.

Mabel’s selfishness gets addressed, multiple times, and gets a final-final resolution in the comics.

Final Thoughts

I think it’s an interesting point you make, anon friend, that male characters get praised while women get condemned. I haven’t talked about gender aspects or other selfishly-acting male characters like Stanley (whose selfishness people perceive as lovable). I said earlier I don’t think it’s rampant fandom sexism, but there still could be a point there. Maybe you’re right it’s a factor. It wouldn’t be the first time gender perception’s done that.

I think there’s also point to be made that Dipper is the protagonist. Mabel’s a deuteragonist. It’s more common to write life lessons for the protagonist. That’s fine. Dipper learning more lessons than Mabel and Dipper giving up a little more than Mabel is a result of being a protagonist, not narrative excusing Mabel for her flaws or letting her waltz around scott free.

So yeah. I think Mabel’s gotten too much criticism for that flaw. Constructive criticism is almost always interesting in fandom dialogue, but rampant hate movements make me sad. Talking about how narrative structure could’ve been improved I find cool; pinning it on the character’s humanity bothers me. I think lots of the dialogue turns into criticizing Mabel unfairly as a person, and given as other GF characters have glaring flaws, it feels imbalanced and uncomfortable that SHE gets disproportionate attacks. 

This is Mabel we’re talking about. Mabel Pines, who’s SO selfish she tries to rescue Mermando when that means she’ll never see him again. Mabel Pines, who’s SO selfish she knits everyone sweaters during the Apocalypse. Mabel Pines, who’s SO selfish she calls out Dipper when he’s leading on Candy. Mabel Pines, who risks her life in multiple daring moves to save the town, parachuting through the sky into the demon’s lair… acting as a decoy to distract Bill Cipher… and more. Mabel Pines, who spends an entire episode trying to make everyone happy, down to Robbie, whom everyone else didn’t care enough about (but Mabel did!!!). Mabel Pines, who encourages Soos to date women and find a romantic connection he’s satisfied with. Mabel Pines, who fights in Globnar and risks her life, just so Soos can have a happy birthday and forget about his dad. Mabel Pines, who decides it’s better to be friends with her enemy Pacifica than fight petty battles. Mabel Pines, whose love for her brother helps even the thirty year rift between Stan and Ford mend. Mabel, who couldn’t give up on Stan and found a way to restore his memories when all others thought it lost. Mabel. Fucking. Pines!

That actually helps a lot. In regards to outlining chapters, would it be possible to see an example? I think I remember you posting a partial outline for Scary-oke a few months back?

Yeah sure! I’ll give you an example of what my notes look like for Sock Opera, seeing as how my notes for that chapter were, in my opinion, very thorough and good (warning this is in a bunch of parts because my notes for that chapter were VERY long, hence why they’re under the cut). But let me just say that I structure my notes in OneNote, just like how you see them here more or less. It helps keep me fairly organized. But the big thing that I do is that I structure my notes by beats that I have to go through, and generally give myself a little wiggle room to work with when it comes to things I won’t come up with until I’m actually writing. Still, I hope this helps! ^_^

Characters: Dipper, Mabel, Steven, Connie, Bill Cipher, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Gabe, Candy, Grenda, Stan, Soos, Wendy, various GF and SU characters, Lapis (dream), Jasper (dream), Malachite (dream)Settings: Mystery Shack, temple, theatre, some others Episodes to look at: Sock OperaTone: BIG drama, action, angst, horror, family, hurt/comfort, foreshadowing, some humor (dark humor)

• Start the chapter off more or less the same as the episode, with the kids at the library; the laptop from the bunker has been fixed and Dipper is determined to uncover what secrets it might hold (Connie is pretty much just as resolved in this, Steven and Mabel a bit less so, though make it clear they still want to help)Side note: Make sure there’s a good bit of underlying tension between Dipper and Mabel throughout much of this chapter (and make it come to a head later on)• Extend this intro a bit, and drop the implication in here that Dipper’s intention in figuring the laptop out is twofold: to not only find more clues about the author, but also to look through his research in the hopes that he might be able to find something that can help free Lapis from Malachite (angst)• However, their attempts are quickly halted upon discovering that the laptop is protected by a password (maybe through some humor in here as the kids make initial guesses about what it might be)• Not too long into this, however, Mabel is distracted by a show being put on by a young puppeteer, Gabe; of course she instantly falls for him, so she asks Steven to be her wingman as she goes over to talk to him• Make this part appropriately funny, though it eventually leads into Mabel panicking and telling Gabe that she’s going to put on a puppet show at the end of the week (make sure to give Steven dialogue in this)• Cut back to Dipper and Connie as they’re trying to crack the laptop, only for Mabel and Steven to return and beg for their help in putting the show together; Connie mostly agrees (she doesn’t think its going to be that big of an undertaking) and while he’s much more begrudging about it (since he believes time is of the essence for helping Lapis) Dipper agrees as well• Cut after some more interactions as the kids leave, though imply that an ominous, familiar shadow is lurking right behind them… (but don’t imply too much)• Cut to the temple as the kids rush in, with Steven and Mabel on the hunt for supplies that can be used during the show; the Gems are naturally confused by their excited panic, so they explain about the puppet show, which only ends up bewildering them even more (humor)• Also include a bit in here where Dipper asks the Gems if they might know what the password is (given their apparent connection to the author), but of course they don’t have a clue; in this, maybe show that they’re supportive of Dipper taking this mission on (they want to know who the author is too, of course), which will ultimately set up for irony later on (while also bolstering Dipper’s resolve to figure it out)• From here, go into something of a descriptive montage as the kids work on the puppet show (with help from Soos and Wendy; in here also mention how Dipper and Connie are still hard at work on the laptop, though Dipper more so• Generally in this part bring up several things, including Dipper’s near obsessive drive to unlock the laptop and his reasoning for doing so (mainly to help Lapis (maybe include some retrospective bits in here, including the pictures (for later on))) and how that drive is depriving him of sleep because he refuses to rest until he’s solved it (also highlight his frustration at being unable to do so thus far) (basically just set up the reasoning behind why he would make the deal with Bill in the first place) (make this angsty)• End this bit off the night before the show, with Mabel being content in how things are coming along for it (she’s on the phone with Steven discussing it); meanwhile Dipper and Connie are also on the phone, discussing their bafflement at how difficult figuring the password is going• After a bit of this, the twins both end their calls and so have some somewhat fun dialogue in here, but again, use this as a chance to foreshadow the conflict between them later on in the chapter• Still frustrated, Dipper goes up onto the roof to keep working with the laptop (maybe include a brief callback to Dipper and Lapis in here, (pictures!) for angst); have his irritation continue to grow until of course, the scene leads into Bill’s appearance (be descriptive with this)• Extend this scene quite a bit and keep all of Bill’s usual humorously twisted beats (maybe add a few) as he offers to give Dipper some help with the laptop in exchange for a “favor”; in this, have Dipper adamantly refuse (recalling Dreamscaperers), claiming that he doesn’t need Bill’s help• Of course, Bill counters this by claiming that the Gems are pretty much useless in helping him with this (again implications), as is pretty much everyone else; have him also be a bit manipulative in here by bringing up Dipper’s resolve to help save Lapis• Though briefly conflicted by that, Dipper still refuses, though Bill tells him the offer will still be on the table (make this ominous, maybe foreshadow more) before making his abrupt exit• Give Dipper a little introspection here before cutting, show that he’s still resolved to do this without Bill’s help, knowing that making a deal with him couldn’t possibly end well at all (though imply that he’s still a little conflicted about actually being able to do it on his own)• Have some humor the next day between Stan and Mabel for a bit as Steven and Connie show up; after a little of this, Dipper pulls them aside and tells them about his confrontation with Bill the previous night, so give the others appropriate interactions to thisSide note: Be sure to show that Dipper is sleep deprived in here, don’t just say it• Still, Mabel assures Dipper that she’ll be able to help him with the laptop after handing her materials off to Candy and Grenda; in the midst of this, however, Gabe shows up, so have a bit of humor as Mabel realizes she’ll have to up her game in order to impress him• Bring the underlying tension between the twins to a head here as Dipper angrily protests Mabel putting him off again; this of course, leads to an argument between the two (give Steven, Connie, Candy, and Grenda somewhat humorous reactions to this)• Make sure both of the twins abnegate their goals in here (with Dipper claiming that Mabel will quickly get over Gabe anyway, while Mabel calls Dipper’s ongoing obsession out); either way, make sure both of them are equally in the wrong against each other here• Still, have Mabel go a little further by claiming that Dipper should slow his search down because Lapis can wait (and have her regret saying that instantly); also, make Dipper’s reaction to this shocked and tranquilly outraged• As Steven finally intervenes in the argument, Dipper bitterly storms off to figure the password out on his own, leaving Mabel feeling pretty guilty about what she said (though not guilty enough to call the show off); still, before cutting, have some dialogue between her and Steven, where she asks him to go talk to Dipper in her stead• Cut to the attic, and have some introspection in here as Dipper’s not just frustrated with the laptop anymore, but also with Mabel; include a bit in here where he notices one of his pictures with Lapis and his resolve starts to crumble as he fears he’ll never be able to help her (PICTURES HERE)• In the midst of this, Dipper’s lack of sleep finally catches up with him and he gradually nods off, leading into a dream where he sees Lapis again, though keep their interaction very brief before she disappears and Jasper shows up in her place• In this, Jasper both mocks and threatens Dipper, telling him to give up on trying to save Lapis because he’d never be able to do so anyway (make this REALLY dramatic and dark); the dream of course ends on Malachite showing up (again, make this dramatic, kind of a parallel to Chille Tid later on)Side Note: Imply Bill induced this nightmare as an attempt to further manipulate Dipper into making a deal with him (don’t outright state this)• As Dipper wakes up in an abrupt panic, he’s of course met with none other than Bill, who makes a few snide remarks before casually informing him that the laptop’s about to erase all its data from too many failed entries (make this part a little different from the episode)• This is enough to convince Dipper to hear Bill out; the demon claims that all he needs is a puppet, and implies that he’s just going to use one of Mabel’s; of course, Dipper is hesitant to relinquish one, since Mabel worked so hard on them• Before Bill can counter this, however, he’s interrupted by Steven knocking on the attic door, having come to talk to Dipper as he promised Mabel; Bill lowkey panics at this but he’s quick to regain Dipper’s attention by reminding him about the laptop counting down, forcing him to put Steven on hold• Build tension in this part as Bill continues his appeal, reminding Dipper not only of how Mabel failed to help him, but of the fact that Lapis is still trapped at the bottom of the lake, essentially because of him• Remember to include Steven outside the door, continually worried over Dipper not responding (imply that he can he can kind of hear Bill talking to him, but he can’t really tell who it is, implying that Steven sort of defies the mindscape)• And so, as the laptop counts down its final seconds, on a burst of mere impulse and desperation alone, Dipper agrees to Bill’s demands (make this MOMENTOUS, as this moment alone changes a TON in UF as a whole)• Keep this tension high as Bill suddenly turns the tables, and be VERY descriptive and dark as he rips Dipper’s consciousness out of his body and possesses it in his place (again, draw this out, make it very dramatic)• As this is happening, Steven breaks into the room just in time to witness Bill possess Dipper, so of course show his shocked, horrified reaction to this (include Dipper’s as well); also remember that Steven can’t see/hear Dipper in his incorporeal form• Of course, Bill only welcomes Steven’s intrusion as he smashes the laptop right in front of both of the boys, while also tearing up the pictures of Dipper and Lapis, just as an added measure of sadism (make this hit Dipper hard)Side note: Make sure to have Bill’s dialogue switch to normal text and Dipper’s to italics post-possession and for the duration• Have some dark humor in here as  Bill experimentally messes around with Dipper’s body, intentionally injuring it (more so than the show, again, make it darker) just for fun and to also psyche Steven out; however, when Steven tries to heal these self-inflicted wounds, his powers do nothing, much to his confusion and Bill’s sadistic delight Side Note: Make sure that Bill addresses both Steven and Dipper (and yes, make sure to have Steven be confused by this) in a lot of theses scenes• Needless to say that Steven’s still in a panic in all this, since he really doesn’t know what’s going on, but he resolves to tell the Gems so they can stop Bill and save Dipper; of course Bill casually blackmails him, saying that if he does that, he’ll destroy (kill) Dipper’s body, so that of course forces Steven to remain silent about it (even if Dipper tries to tell him not to, but of course, Steven can’t hear him)Side note: Also imply (from the journal) that Dipper (or at least his body) might be dead while Bill is possessing him (again imply, don’t state) (possibly do this through Steven being unable to heal the injuries Bill inflicts)• Keep both the suspense and humor going as Bill inquires about the journal, claiming that his intention is to destroy it to keep the kids from getting answers (that might stop his plans, but only imply this); of course both boys refuse to divulge where it is, only for Connie and Mabel to innocently pop in (hint that she still feels bad about earlier but she’s had time to get over it) and Mabel says that she’s going to use it in her show• Extend this scene as Steven attempts to warn Mabel about Bill, only for Bill to remind him of his ultimate; still, even though Steven remains silent, Bill ends up inflicting a pretty sizable cut on Dipper’s shoulder all the same, much to Steven’s (and Dipper’s distress)Side note: Be sure to have Connie in specifics notice how strange both Steven and “Dipper” act in this brief scene, though it goes over Mabel’s head• As everyone heads off to see the show, Bill takes the time to mock and gloat at Dipper specifically, claiming that he won’t be able to stop him because he effectively doesn’t exist anymore, cap this part off with some pretty heavy introspection for Dipper, show the severity of his situation here and his desperation to fix it• At the theatre, a huge audience has shown up to see the show; give some interactions between Mabel, Stan, and the Gems in here (have some humor with the Gem’s confusion as to what this show is)• Also include some interactions between Bill and Soos, Wendy, and the Gems (the Gems in particular, use this to imply/foreshadow a bit, but not too much); have the Gems (especially Garnet) pick up that something seems off with “Dipper”, but none of them can really pinpoint what (though it does seem somewhat familiar to them)• Bill’s plans are aided along when Mabel recruits him to be the reverend in her play, which will get him even closer to the journal; Steven fearfully attempts to protest this, but once again, he’s forced to say nothing (much to Connie’s continued suspicion)• From there, the show starts, to have it be appropriately humorous (include cuts to the audience reactions, including Stan and the Gems being somewhat weirded out by it); but for the most part, keep this relatively close to the episode and keep it short• Amidst all this, Dipper’s still trying in vain to get the attention of anyone who could possibly help him, but as Bill told him, he can’t interact with the physical plane without a vessel, which gives him the idea to use one of Mabel’s puppetsSide note: Make the implication throughout the chapter be that no one can notice stuff like the eyes or Bill’s voice coming out of Dipper until they are aware that he’s possessing him (Steven can though cause he knows about it from basically the beginning) • As the play reaches its intermission, include a scene in here of Bill confronting Steven, reminding him of just what will happen if he doesn’t keep up their “bargain” (imply that Bill kind of does want Steven to break it, but only after he’s destroyed the journal and won and its too late to do anything to stop him anyway)• Amidst this however, Connie comes in and acts just as smooth in her suspicion as Bill does in his “innocence”; have a bit of snappy dialogue in here (while Steven’s lowkey panicking all the while), and have Connie come very close to breaking Bill’s ruse, only for Mabel to call Steven and Connie into the nearby dressing room for their help• Of course, Mabel hardly notices the ongoing tension as she shows her excitement for how well the show is going so far; amidst this, Gabe pops in and compliments her while also putting the pressure on for the rest of the show to be just as good• After she leaves, Connie mentions that she thinks something’s up with Dipper, only for Steven to adamantly refute that (out of obvious fear); however, right before the girls can break him down into telling them about what’s really going on, they’re interrupted by Dipper (the real one), who’s using one of Mabel’s puppets to communicate with them• While the girls are aptly confused, Steven’s overwhelmed with relief that Dipper’s still technically ok and finally, the boys tell the girls about what happened with Bill, shocking them both; Connie’s resolved to do what she can to help, but Mabel’s hesitant, not wanting to ruin the rest of her show• The others scold her for this, however, which gets her to compromise and agree to secure the journal along with Steven and Connie while Dipper finishes off the show for her• So the kids split up, with Mabel, Steven, and Connie heading to grab the book from the stage catwalk; however, before they can get it, Bill confronts them (make this really dramatic and intense); give him dialogue with each of the kids, chastising Steven for breaking their deal, “praising” Connie for nearly figuring things out on her own, and threatening Mabel with ruining the show if she doesn’t hand the journal over to him• Give Mabel some conflict here (even as Steven and Connie are arguing with her to keep the journal away from Bill) as she doesn’t want all of her hard work to be for nothing; however, at the same time, she knows that she can’t let Dipper down like this, especially considering all he’s done for her in the past and since the consequences of doing so could be very severe• Still, it seems as though Bill manages to convince her before, suddenly, she turns the tables on him, pulling him down with the journal; make this a bit different than the episode, as instead of falling to the stage, Bill catches the journal while Steven catches both the catwalk railing and the girls• For a moment, Bill gloats his apparent victory over the kids, only for Mabel to cut it short by throwing one of her spare puppets up at him, knocking the journal out of his grasp; of course he thoughtlessly dives after it, but not before knocking the kids off the catwalk• Make this fall intense as Steven barely manages to catch them all (including Bill) in a bubble that cushions the fall a bit as they land on stage, crashing right through the play, much to the shock of the audience (have the Gems hint at intervening, though none of them are sure what’s even going on, much less how to stop it)Side note: Imply during this part that Dipper’s ribs get broken from the fall, something that’ll come into play in the next chapter• Chaos unfolds as the kids all fight against Bill for the journal, and extend this part a bit from the episode, as they all essentially play keep away with it, much to Bill’s growing frustration (make this somewhat funny, but also climactic)• Bill almost manages to overpower Mabel and get the journal back, only for her to utilize Dipper’s weaknesses against him, such as his ticklishness and his exhaustion, have Steven and Connie join in on this and add an element of fun to it• After a while of this, the kids finally manage to wear Bill out entirely, which in turn finally forces him out of Dipper’s body, allowing Dipper to rightfully reclaim it (be descriptive in this)• Of course, while the kids are all exceedingly relieved and overjoyed by this, their levity doesn’t last long as Bill leaves them all with one final, ominous warning (one that divulges a bit more than the episode does, specifically about the SU side of things)Side note: Possibly foreshadow to chapters such as Pyrite, Rifts/Memories/Dimensions, ect in here• This is cut short, however, as the kids light the show’s pyrotechnics, effectively destroying all the puppets (make this both dramatic and hilarious, show audience reactions to this)• Of course, the audience is anything but pleased with how the show ended up being a bust and they all storm out; Gabe breaks things off with Mabel (make this kind of funny), leaving just the kids, Stan, Soos, Wendy, and the Gems behind• After this, have Mabel apologize to Dipper for her selfishness, though Dipper apologizes for his obsessiveness too; give a few good feelings in here, and incorporate Stan and the Gems as they wonder what just happened; of course, considering what did just happen, none of the kids really no how to explain, so they lowkey unanimously decide not to • However, not too much longer after this, Dipper’s various injuries (specifically his shoulder cut and broken ribs, among others) finally catch up to him and he ends up passing out from them before they can even leave the theatre (much to everyone’s surprise as they realize this was more serious than they thought)• Give Mabel plenty of guilty introspection during the rushed trip home to get Dipper patched up, especially as she finds a note that Bill wrote while he was still in Dipper’s body on the floor of the car (don’t show what it says yet)• Steven lamenting that he tried his best to keep Bill from hurting Dipper, only for him to fail completely (the girls try to reassure him, but it doesn’t really work)• After a while of this, Dipper finally wakes up, in a lot of pain and still rather exhausted (give him some introspection); Steven hesitantly offers to try and heal his wounds again, but Dipper quickly turns him down (he claims that he’s not sure if it would work, but its mostly because he thinks he put Steven through enough during what happened with Bill)• As everyone voices their concern for him, Dipper staunchly assures them that he’s fine, hugely underplaying his injuries, both inside and out; still, show that he’s mentally shaken from it all, beginning signs of PTSD, trauma, ect, but he forces himself to suppress all that as he goes upstairs to rest• Cut back to Dipper (give him pretty much continual introspection by this point) as he goes upstairs and stumbles across both the broken laptop and the torn picture, which he desperately tries to piece back together as he realizes that he lost what was likely his only chance at helping Lapis while also partially losing a bit of himself (metaphorically) in the process, and all because of him making a choice that nearly cost him so much more • End the chapter on a very sad, angsty note, with Dipper finally breaking down over both what happened to Lapis, but mostly over what just happened to him (imply that he’s deeply traumatized by what just happened, and that that trauma likely won’t go away any time soon)Side note: End on the imagery of the light from the triangular window falling upon Dipper (ominous, angsty foreshadowing)

Cryptogram (keyword: SOCK):He claims to see all with his ancient eyeHe works in flattery, deception, and liesDon’t take his deals or play his gamesOr all you know could go up in flames

Untranslated: WY RAEBBM ID WXT UAA ABIB WXW TCWXTRM TSTWI WTUAH MG UFPIXXGS, STGXENXDR, TCX AXILSIC'I XTZY WXW WTUAH SK EFPN LBH APBILDL PAP RDO ZCSP RIJAH ZD OE XR YAUBTW

Part 2 (keyword: PUPPETS)A pine tree has burnedA shooting star’s fallingA sword swinger’s been spurnedA rosebud’s remorsefully calling

Untranslated:P JXCI MJTY WPW UMGHTSE LZDIIXRZ KIUG'H JTDACCVE LODLS HABFVYG'H FXWC MEJVGWSU GDWXTJX'H GIFGGMTUYEDN WPAPBFV

Episode 1: Retail Revolution

A lone employee was setting up a display in the superstore known as All-Mart, carefully stacking package after package into an elaborately decorative showcase of Auntie Helen’s Homecooked Uncooked Pasta. Soon, summer vacation would draw to a close in Piedmont, California, and he as well as the rest of the student body would have to go back to school. He would be a senior this year, and how he longed for the joys and freedom that came with eighth grade as he delicately placed the final box of pasta on the precarious tower-

-this was when Dipper Pines’s body plowed through the display, scattering the Homecooked Uncooked Pasta across the aisles, destroying several boxes in the process and shattering any of the employee’s hope of a pay raise.

It may have been Dipper’s body, but Dipper wasn’t piloting it; no, Dipper himself was essentially a ghost at this point, and an apocalyptic demon was controlling his every action. This demon is best known as Bill Cipher.

“Get OUT-” Dipper dove for his body, but Bill ducked and sprinted down the aisle, dragging his fingers down the shelves of chips- which all promptly came to life, jumped off the shelves, and joined the mob of various formerly-inanimate monsters currently chasing him.

Bill scaled a shelf and turned to face the horde. “Hey guys, how’s it going-” Dipper made another move to regain control of his body, but before he could reach it Bill leaped across the aisle and grabbed onto a back-to-school banner hanging above it.

Dipper stared. It was going to break- it was going to break- The banner tore slightly.

Bill stuck his tongue out at Dipper. “What’re you gonna do now, Dipstick- this vessel is mine-”

The banner tore, unable to support the weight of a thirteen-year old, and Bill in Dipper’s body plummeted down to the mob of aggressive toys, potato chips, and birthday cards.

You may be wondering how Dipper Pines had ended up in this specific scenario.

Dipper had spent the summer months in Gravity Falls, Oregon, a bizarre little town that was absolutely swarming with monsters and magic. He and his twin, Mabel, had encountered a series of mysteries and trials; there was that time Dipper had accidentally raised an undead army, or when Mabel had kidnapped a boyband of clones. Their great-uncle Stan had failed to be much of a supervisor until the later weeks, but when he did step up it was obvious that he wasn’t as incompetent as he might have seemed.

Throughout the summer, Dipper had been plagued by the triangular demon Bill Cipher. He only operated within the mindscape, but that hadn’t stopped him from possessing and traumatizing Dipper; and once he had his hands on a dimensional rift, things went from bad to worse. Bill opened a portal between Gravity Falls and the Nightmare Realm, entered the real world, and began wreaking havoc. It was... weird. Hence the name: Weirdmageddon.  

Luckily, Dipper had been able to team up with his friends and family to cancel the apocalypse- and all would have been well if Grunkle Stan hadn’t had to sacrifice his memories to destroy Bill. They thought Stan was gone forever, but Mabel had kept a summer memories scrapbook that helped to start restoring his memory. It took time and effort, but eventually he had remembered almost everything. Life calmed down after the apocalypse and the status quo seemed to have returned back to normal.

That was, until the night after Dipper’s thirteenth birthday party.

The night before Dipper and Mabel would leave for Piedmont, Ford snuck up into the twins’ attic room and shook Dipper awake. Dipper, being the brave, apocalypse-hardened teenager he was, woke in a panic and nearly screamed before the six-fingered hand covered his mouth. Before he could ask questions, Dipper was pulled down the stairs; Ford’s face was nearly hidden in shadows, unreadable.

He pressed his finger to his mouth just before the living room. In the silence, Dipper could make out the obnoxiously loud, gravelly snores. Ford turned and tugged Dipper through the room; Dipper glanced over at the chair and saw Stan asleep, hunched over, mouth open, probably needing a shave and definitely needing a shower. Just like old times- so what was with all the secrecy?

Ford led Dipper down to his underground lab, flicking on a desk lamp. Dipper was momentarily blinded by the sudden light and had to squint to make out anything.

“Grunkle Ford? What is this about?”

Ford was pacing, arms folded behind his back. “Dipper,” he began, “we’ve constructed a situation that is only becoming more dire by the minute.”

Wonderfully helpful information, considering Dipper hoped he hadn’t been woken up in the middle of the night over spilled coffee. Truly, this man of many talents should have added “explaining things” to his resume, right next hoarding mysteries and speaking in cryptic messages instead of actually telling anyone anything. “...what is it?”

“I made a risky and debatably stupid decision, pulling that trigger. No action is inconsequential, and now I have to face the repercussions myself- and I would, if that were an option. However, it’s starting to look like that may not be the case.” Dipper had already put together eight crack-theories on Ford’s vague exposition (or lack thereof) when he crouched and put his hands on Dipper’s shoulders.

“Now, Dipper, I understand that you would rather not be my apprentice. That was your decision, and ultimately you chose your sister- and I’m not here to sway that. But something’s come up that gives me no choice but to ask you to do something incredibly crucial to the well-being of Gravity Falls, the planet, and most importantly, our family.”

There it was. Dipper was almost sure it was crack theory number two by now, but the thought of it made his heart sink and his palms clam up even more.

“What I’m about to tell you may be shocking. So I’m asking you to keep your head and retain integrity when I say that-”

“Bill’s alive.”

“...well, yes. That’s… a bit anticlimactic, determining the plot twist before it can be said...” Ford dropped his hand absentmindedly. “Sort of… waters it down, you know? Now if instead you had asked, ‘say what’, giving me a moment for a dramatic pause and heightening the tension-”

“He can’t have- we spent so much time working on this- I thought we planned it all out- didn’t we- didn’t we-”

“-Dipper, I know this is alarming.” Ford was looking him in the eyes. “I felt the same way when I learned this, but it’s important that we retain our senses. I’m not about to suggest we undo all our hard work- we’ve spent too much time getting him back. Unfortunately, part of Bill must have remained in his head, and in bringing Stanley’s memory back we’ve inadvertently revived him.”

Dipper’s entire body was rigid. “He’s not going to- start the apocalypse all over again- can he- is he-” He couldn’t go through that again. It had been taxing enough the first time around; just the thought of reliving that emotional, mental, and physical strain made Dipper nauseous.

“He could do that.”

And now Dipper really felt sick.

“-but,” Ford added, “only if we don’t act quickly.” He straightened up and resumed pacing. “Bill has yet to regain all his energy and strength from the depths of Stan’s mind. This means that he’s too weak to re-enter the mindscape- for now. My calculations suggest that we have less than six hours before it absorbs into him again, assuming the growth isn’t exponential. If it is, we have even less time.”

“So we have a maximum of six hours to make a life-or-death decision where the fate of time and space and the lives of everyone I know and love hangs in the balance?” Dipper asked.

“Precisely.”

“Ohh boy…” Now Dipper was pacing, too.  It was too early for this. Too late?  “So what is Stan doing about this-”

Ford glanced away. “Since his deal with Bill, Stanley’s been aware of his own mind. This gives him full lucidity whenever he is asleep- according to him, he discovered Bill poking around the place, and managed to subdue him by trapping him under an armchair and hitting him with a newspaper. Before he went back to sleep he informed me that he had made plans to force Bill to listen to a fifties soundtrack until I got rid of him.”  Ford turned his head back towards Dipper.  “A perilous task for sure.”

“And what should we do?” Dipper asked. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you.”

On one hand, Dipper could have squealed- Ford trusted and respected him enough to get his thoughts on the fate of the universe. On the other, this was the fate of the universe, and fate-of-the-universe situations tended to be nerve-wracking. “What about- what about the zodiac?”

“That would be the only chance we have to destroy him entirely,” Ford acknowledged. He opened his mouth to continue, but Dipper cut him off.

“-so let’s just get everyone on it and- and kill him right now-! And it’ll be fine- that’s all there is to it, right?” He already had the happy ending- there wasn’t supposed to be a sequel. Bill was dead, and he was going to stay dead, damn it, no matter what the cosmic forces of the world were thinking- no more triangles, no more sock puppets, no more six-armed monstrosities or statues or magical apocalypses-

“We can’t use the zodiac.”

Dipper wheeled around and stared at him. “What.”

“In order for the zodiac to work, Bill needs to be inhabiting his own physical form- from what I’ve gathered, it’s a brand of magic that requires a very clear target to work properly. And even if we could trick him into re-entering it and still have enough time to form the circle, not everyone for it is here. Fiddleford went across the country to discuss his inventions with a branch of the U.S. Government, and even if he came home now, he wouldn’t be back within six hours. Bill would be strong enough to start the apocalypse and will have learned to kill us this time around instead of letting us conquer him.”

“Are you kidding- why now-” Were all the forces of the world stacked against the Pines family? Maybe there really was a cosmic power out there that was messing with his life for the sole purpose of watching the drama. “What else could we possibly-”

Ford diverted his gaze, rubbing the back of his neck. “I had one plan,” he said. “It’s hazardous, and may be even more difficult than I initially thought. Nevertheless, it may be our best option.”

Exactly the kind of encouraging statement Dipper needed to hear. “What was it?”

“I’d need you to make a deal with him.”

It was about this moment that Dipper lost his ability to speak. He would have accepted any number of odd solutions - it was his Great Uncle Ford, after all. But he of all people should have known the dangers of making a deal with a literal demon, the way the cold fire singed your nails, the way reality doubled over on itself and his voice came from all angles, the nauseating, unsettling feeling of those fingers latched onto your palm- Dipper couldn’t believe that this was Ford’s most viable option- unless it wasn’t Ford’s option, unless it wasn’t even Ford-

“Dipper, listen to me, I can explain this.”

“Take off your glasses-”

“Dipper-”

“-I said take off your glasses!”

Silence. Ford complied. His hand dropped and he crouched in front of Dipper again, gently handing him a flashlight, keeping his eyes open while the beam hit him in the face. Dipper became aware after a few moments that with every breath he was shaking. The flashlight beam was shuddering up and down Ford’s face, illuminating his eyes- the sclera still white, if bloodshot, the irises intact, the pupils round. A dull pounding was echoing in Dipper’s ears. He lowered the flashlight and looked away, half expecting Ford to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder, relieved when he didn’t.

Ford put his glasses back on, watching Dipper. Dipper slowly flicked the flashlight off. They sat in silence for a few moments, alone in the near-darkness. Dipper felt the thudding in his chest subside. Quietly, he set the flashlight back on the shelf.

Ford breathed. “...I know that it’s not ideal. You’ve dealt with him enough for a lifetime, and it’s… harsh of me to expect you to make this decision so suddenly, or even at all. Unfortunately, this is the best solution I’ve been able to draw up on such a short notice.”

“...why,” Dipper asked. “Why is this the best chance we have.”

“...we can’t kill Cipher, at least not yet,” Ford said, slowly. “If he remains in Stanley’s mind for too much longer, or even in a close enough proximity for an extended period of time, he’ll regain all of his energy, re-enter the mindscape, find his body and incite a second Weirdmageddon.”

Dipper stared at the floor. “And… me making this deal…”

“Would prevent him from doing this. Believe me, Dipper, I have no intention to jeopardize your safety through this. I’ve drafted a contract that states he can cause no harm to you or anyone else, directly or indirectly, mentally or physically, that keeps him from reentering his body, that allows you to create modifications to it at any time.”

“...what exactly would you want me to do?”

Ford hesitated. “...I suppose that the best way to put it is that I would want you to hold onto him.”

“...hold… onto him.”

“Yes. Keep him away from Stanley and Gravity Falls so that he can’t cause any more harm. You’d come back for the summer, of course… and at that point everyone should be back in time to use the zodiac. Now, this isn’t our only option- I don’t want to force you into anything. You certainly have every right to make the decision you want, and the last thing I’d want to do is coerce you into a situation that-”

“-what are the other options?” This was something Dipper needed to know, although he had a sinking feeling that he already did.

There was a long pause.

“...great-uncle Ford?”

“I think it’s best if you don’t worry about those.”

“...it’s deleting Stan’s memory,” Dipper said, “and not letting it come back.”

Another pause.  Ford nodded.

“...can I see that contract?”

He passed it to him without a word.

Dipper slid closer to the dim desk light and read the fine print. It was funny; after a summer of reading Ford’s handwriting, suddenly it looked like a different language. Journal entries had only described mythical beasts catalogued long before Dipper was even born. This… this affected his life directly. Seeing his name written in Ford’s clear, artistic writing sent a strange chill up his spine.

He only found one discrepancy in the contract.

“Here it says Bill will be allowed to enter my body and take over.” Dipper had been a puppet once, and it wasn’t an experience he had particularly enjoyed.

“I knew you would ask about that, but… bear with me,” Ford said. “Bill’s already been killed. He’s already powerless. Once we go in there, he’ll realize that we don’t plan on using the zodiac- he’ll know that by killing him we’ll destroy Stanley’s memory again, and he knows that the longer he waits the more powerful he gets. Without some form of incentive, something he gets out of it, he would never agree to the deal. After all, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain in the form of revenge if we try anything else.”

“If I let Bill control me, then he’s only going to try and kill me and my friends-” Dipper started, but then he stopped as the words on the contract brought themselves back to his mind.

“Ah, you see now, don’t you,” Ford said with more confidence, “The contract specifically says he can’t hurt any living, half-living, quarter-living, or undead being. Along with… everything in-between. For good measure.” Ford pointed at the rules in the contract.

Dipper stared at the words, weighing his options. He could put up with Bill for a school year… or it would be his fault that Stan wouldn’t remember anything for the rest of his life. A wave of guilt washed over Dipper, even as he thought about the soul-sucking process that was deal-making; he didn’t have the right to just let Stan die, not after everything he did for them…

“...regardless, Dipper, it’s all your choice.” Ford was saying as he sank back into a chair. “It would be temporary.  By the time you returned next year we could easily vanquish him with the zodiac.  However, I understand if you’d rather not.  Trust me, I know from personal experience...”  he glanced at the exit to the study. Dipper’s head was clearing. He couldn’t let Stan be erased again, that was a given, not after all the work Ford had put in to bring his brother back. Dipper couldn’t bear to be the reason they were torn apart. His thoughts told him to rethink, to plan, that he still had a few more hours before the deadline. But while his brain was on one track his mouth said something different.

“-I’ll do it.”

Ford turned his head and looked much more alert than he did just a moment ago. Dipper hadn’t realized, but the life had been drained out of him; upon hearing the news, it seemed to be flooding back. “You’re sure about this?”

Dipper took a deep breath. His mouth wouldn’t work for a second, and he felt his tongue going dry. “...yes.”

“Excellent, then all we have to do is enter Stanley’s mind and convince Bill to make the deal.”

“Wait, what-” was all Dipper could manage before he was taken out of the study.

Dipper would have loved to say that he marched into Stan’s mind, threw the chair off of Bill, and forced him into signing the contract immediately while theatrical music played in the background and his great-uncles applauded.

In reality, Dipper and Ford stumbled into Stan’s mind to the classic tunes of Jerry Lee Lewis just in time to see Stan hit Bill in the eye with a rolled-up newspaper.

“If you hit me one more time with that cylinder of tree pulp I will personally dismantle your ribcage and use it to play croquet-”

Bill was cut off with another slap to the eye. His voice wasn’t even echoing, or maybe the blaring music was just interfering with Dipper’s ability to hear correctly. Just as Ford had described, Bill was pinned under Stan’s armchair, completely lacking the distorting, glowing aura he normally had. Stan himself was seated in the chair and didn’t look much more hygienic than he currently did in reality, but he at least seemed to be enjoying himself by abusing a triangle who could no longer fight back.

“Stanley,” Dipper heard Ford say, but his voice was drowned out by the music, “STANLEY-”

Stan glanced over and the music stopped abruptly. “And you call me evil,” Bill muttered darkly as Stan pointed an accusatory finger at his brother.

“Why is he here.”

Dipper realized with a start that Stan was talking about him. “I knew you didn’t like me, but geez…”

“I told you not to drag anyone else into this, Ford.” Stan got up from the chair, making it a point to step on Bill. “I told you, whatever had to be done could be done with just you and me, and you didn’t have to make this anyone else’s business- let alone the kids’-”

“-Stanley, I’m not sure you fully understand the severity of the-”

“-I do,” Stan said shortly, “and I know damn well that Dipper doesn’t deserve to be roped into whatever mess you’re planning this time-”

“-I don’t want this any more than you do,” Ford started.

Stan cut him off, “-so why the hell-”

Ford grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, beginning to explain the scenario in a low voice. Dipper glanced around the room. The first time he had seen inside Stan’s head, it had been a massive shack that had fallen into disrepair, placed in the middle of a grayed-out forest; the shack had resembled the Mystery Shack as much as it could while also existing as a dimly lit labyrinth of secrets and memories. Now, however, there was only the living room. There weren’t any winding corridors, and as far as Dipper could tell there was only the one door. The place was fully lit and out the window and all Dipper could see was a white expanse of nothingness. He wondered when the change had taken place, or if it was a result of burning his memories. If it was the latter, then Stan still had far from all his memories- after two weeks of effort, Dipper didn’t want that to be the case.

“...still don’t like it,” Stan was muttering. “I’d almost rather-”

“I wouldn’t.”

“It’s not your choice-”

“-no, but it’s his, and he already made it.”

“You’re not listening to this idiot, are you?” Stan asked Dipper, jerking a thumb at Ford.

Dipper blinked. “Well I-”

“Because he’s trying his best,” Stan continued, “and we’re all going to have to do that to make this work out.”

As bewildered as Dipper was, Ford seemed to be even more so. “Stanley-”

“-and tell your sister,” Stan added. “I’m sick of everyone keeping secrets like this- it only gets us into a bigger mess.” He sat back down, the chair buckling slightly under his weight. If a two dimensional entity could become flattened, Bill did so.

Something touched Dipper’s shoulder and he jumped before he realized that it was just Ford’s hand. “This is something you’re certain about.” It was a little late to ask that when they were already standing in front of the demon himself, but Dipper nodded. He felt Ford press the contract into his hands.

“Hey so while we’re all gathered around for this whimsical family meeting does anyone mind explaining who’s going to die first?” Bill got hit with the newspaper again but didn’t seem deterred. “Because I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to be one of you- what about Starface over there, eh Sixer? He looks fragile-”

“Nobody is going to die,” Ford said, “except for you, if it comes to it.”

“Oh I’m absolutely terrified, I promise.”

Maybe it was Dipper’s imagination, but Bill didn’t exactly look “terrified”. If anything he looked mildly irritated. Probably because he wasn’t out ruining lives like he normally was.

Bill was digging his eye out of its socket. “So what do you want from me? To leave and never return? Run run as fast as I can? Three wishes?” He threw it across the room- Dipper ducked and it stuck to the wall behind him. Dipper whipped around, startled, in time to see a triangular outline solidify around the eye and Bill peel himself off of the wall.

“That can’t be good,” Stan pointed out.

“It just means he’s regaining more energy,” Ford said, quietly. “We still have time before he’s able to cause any real damage.”

“Oh look at this! You figured something out!” Bill circled the group, growing larger by the second. “I’m so proud of you-” An arm that resembled a rod more than anything stretched out and messed up Ford’s hair. “I’m sure you’ll also figure out immortality in no time flat at this rate!” The room was growing darker, dropping them into a void.

Ford glared up; Dipper was currently hiding behind his leg. “We didn’t come here to be taunted,” he said, “and I’m warning you, if you fail to listen, I won’t hesitate to-”

“-to what? Tell me, brainiac, you won’t hesitate to do what?” The entire space seemed to warp and twist until Bill’s eye was bent over all three of them, staring down in a beam of light. “The most you could do right now is kill your brother all over again! I’m only getting stronger by the minute, Fordsie, you know that, he knows that, we all know that- and any trick you try I’ve seen before a million times! I’m the curse of dimensions and the scourge of the multiverse, your tiny thirty years of interdimensional travel couldn’t possibly measure up to what I’m capable of! And all I have to do is intimidate you and stall for the next five hours and then I’ll be back and ready to kill you more than ever before- starting with your precious little nephew over here-” Bill’s finger jutted into Dipper’s neck, lifting his chin- Dipper seized up, this was too much, how could he have ever thought this was a good idea? Bill was immensely powerful and had about as much empathy and compassion as a pit of tar-

-suddenly Bill’s form compressed back down into a miniscule size. The void of space folded back up and gave way to the shack’s living room, just as it had been a few moments before. Bill was currently stuck behind the glass of a family picture hanging from the wall. “What the- hey- heyheyheyhey-”

“My house, my rules,” Stan grumbled. “Nobody gives any dramatic speeches until this is taken care of.”

Awkward silence filled the room for a few moments as Bill pounded against the glass and rocked the picture from side to side. “...that’s… a thing someone can do?” Dipper asked Ford, incredulous.

“...apparently,” Ford responded. He sounded just as surprised as Dipper felt.

In the chair, Stan started to snore. Dipper would never know anybody else who could sleep in a lucid dream.

Bill rocked the picture a few more times before giving up. Instead, he made a point to grow as many extra arms as necessary to give everyone in the photo bunny ears. “So what did you want, IQ,” he asked, cheerful as ever.

“...we had a deal to offer you.”

That got Bill’s attention, but not necessarily in a positive way. “You can explain it, but I don’t think you’re going to get anywhere on this track.” He folded his arms and slid in front of Dipper’s face on the picture. “I’d pretty much rather die at this point. It’s not that bad. Hey, you should try it-”

Dipper felt himself get nudged forward suddenly. He swallowed- “Bill, we- I- have a contract for you.” He raised the paper. Bill did not cower or stare in awe. No dramatic chords played in the background. Stan continued snoring as Jerry Lee Lewis started playing again.

“-it’s going to get you out of Stan’s mind,” he continued, “and Gravity Falls- for- a while. You’re… going to…” he glanced at Ford for confirmation. His tongue felt like lead in his mouth. Ford looked concerned- like maybe he was having second thoughts, or doubts. As if Dipper couldn’t really be trusted to handle this, as if he wasn’t capable of handling it. That was how much faith Ford had had in him; he respected him enough to take care of situations too dangerous for anyone else- this was something that he could do for Ford if he couldn’t be his apprentice. Dipper steadied himself as Wild One began playing in the background. “-you’re going to share my body with me for nine months.”

Bill choked, then burst out laughing. “I’m sure, I’m very sure-” a flattened arm reached out from the photograph and took the contract from him, pulling it up to the frame. Bill’s eye glowed purple like a blacklight, scanning it over. “Because we all trust each other here just so much, don’t we-”

“This isn’t a trick,” Ford said. “This isn’t a game, it isn’t just for fun.”

“So what then, you lost a bet?”

“This is a serious offer.”

Bill stopped talking for once in his trillion years of life. Dipper couldn’t tell if he was thinking over the options of the deal or deciding whether they would look better as mattresses or mounted heads.

A pen materialized in Bill’s free hand. “Well I see no possible consequences of this,” he announced. It slid across the page leaving an unreadable signature in bright blue ink. “Don’t tell me you’re having doubts, Pinetree.” He offered the pen.

“-not at all,” Dipper said, with a lot more confidence than he felt. He took the pen, being very careful not to touch Bill’s fingers, and signed the other spot on the contract as illegibly as he could; the last thing he wanted was for Bill to know his actual name. As soon as he finished, the contract rolled itself up, caught on fire, and vanished into thin air.

“And now that that’s taken care of,” Bill continued, “why don’t we seal the deal once and for all-” His hand was right in front of Dipper’s face. Dipper stared, nearly immobile. He couldn’t touch that thing- that death trap- there was no way he was locking fingers with a demon twice in his life, or ever again. He was going to actually be sick. Uneasy, Dipper forced all his apprehension aside and slowly lifted his hand, taking Bill’s and shaking it. His hand lit itself on fire and Bill laughed- a sharp, piercing, echoing laugh that rattled around the inside of Dipper’s head, sending a disorienting cacophony through his ears, blocking out anything anyone else might have been saying at the time. The room spun and collapsed in on itself, and Dipper couldn’t tell if it was the work of Bill regaining power or only his mind getting nauseous- he was dimly aware of Ford telling him something, whether he was proud or worried Dipper couldn’t quite remember, and Stan holding onto him, and after that his memory blurred together until he woke up the next morning.

Apparently, the one part of the contract that neither Dipper nor Ford had considered was the lack of restrictions on Bill’s ability to perform magic.

There were multiple reasons for this; for one, he wouldn’t be in his own body. All the spells Ford knew required an immense amount of energy, or candles and a circle or something, and there was no way Bill would be able to use that- and in fact, Ford had specifically denied him the opportunity to use hex circles.

Unfortunately, nobody but Bill had realized that he might be able to use his godlike powers while inhabiting Dipper’s body.

This had left Dipper in the uncomfortable scenario in which he was watching his possessed body plummet towards an angry mob of animate supermarket items that, (and this was only Dipper’s best guess) wanted him very, very dead.

Bill crashed into a shelf with all the grace of a senile elephant. The back-to-school banner fluttered down into the horde of formerly-inanimate objects as Bill clung to the shelves of pasta supplies; before Dipper’s eyes, the mob tore the banner to shreds, leaving nothing but vaguely multicolored debris across the aisle.

“You summoned a mob that’s going to get me killed-”

“Oh relax,” Bill said, throwing a jar of marinara at a teddy bear. “They’re just playing-”

The teddy bear that was “just playing” picked up one of the glass shards the jar had made and threw it with uncanny accuracy towards Dipper’s body’s eyes.

Bill ducked out of the way, laughing. “Oops- haha- just a lot of fun and games, aren’t we guys?! Just the tightest-knit group of pals if ever there was one-”

Dipper darted back into his body, forcing Bill out and into the mindscape- immediately, he was hit with a wave of weariness, his eyes starting to droop shut. Shaking, he hooked his fingers around the edge of the shelf and pulled himself up onto it, only to drop back down when another shard of glass made its way to his face. “You need to get rid of them-” he said, quietly, “now-” He felt his fingers slip from pure exhaustion. What had Bill been doing to his body that made him this tired- “You’re such a buzzkill,” Bill rolled his eye. “They’re not gonna cause any harm.”

“That one is literally throwing glass at my eyes-”

Dipper heard the shelf crack underneath him- he stared down at the floor but he was too tired to fully process what was going on until he had already fallen into the pile of murderous stuffed toys and jewelry. “I’m going to die,” he mumbled through a bloody lip as the sentient objects tossed him back and forth. “I’m going to die in an All-Mart because silly me, I thought that magic didn’t work like that-”

The next thing Dipper knew, Bill had overtaken his body again and was personally petting every box of crackers and coat hanger in the vicinity.

“They’re not gonna kill you,” he was saying. “They just despise your tiny, miserable, insignificant, and frankly ugly human form-”

“-thanks-”

“-and honestly I don’t blame them,” Bill continued. For all his claims of the mob intending no harm, they were slowly piling up on him and covering him from all sides, probably trying to find a more effective way to kill him than just throwing marinara shards at his face. “Your body may be hideous, but they know it’s still me. Look, this even says my name on it,” he said, reaching over to a magic eight-ball. Dipper, uncomfortable but still curious, slipped behind him to see. Floating inside was a little white triangle that read:

Cipher.

“They love me too much to kill my only vessel,” Bill said. “See, watch- Would you ever kill me?” He shook the eight-ball, rattling the message around and submerging the little triangle. Dipper and Bill both watched in somewhat awkward silence as the liquid stabilized and the next message floated up to the surface.

Outcome likely.

“...it’s gotta be making a mistake,” Bill explained. “There’s no way they’d ever actually-” He raised the ball closer to himself and stared into the opening, enunciating every word. “Do- you- want- to- kill- me?” He shook the eight-ball again. This time, a different triangle rose to the top of the liquid;

It is certain.

“Well that’s a little rude,” Bill said, as the swarm started to take him down.

Dipper had no choice- he dived back towards his body, slamming into it and knocking Bill back into the mindscape, taking over- and of course he was just as exhausted as he was before. The last thing he wanted written on his tombstone was “died to savage pack of children’s toys”, though, and that gave him the motivation he needed to rip the assorted items off of himself and take off at a sprint down the aisle, skidding around the corner.

The world was blurring around him; his legs were going numb and so was the rest of him. “What did you- even do-” he gasped, ducking into the clothing section and backing into a rack of clearance coats.

“No wonder these are clearance- look at the colors- hideous-” Bill clearly had his priorities in order.

Dipper retreated into the center of the clothes rack, pulling the coats tight so that- hopefully- nobody could see in. Now he just had to stay in his own body until he came up with a way to fix this, and then he could go back home and everything would be fine. As long as he and nobody else died, this would all be fine. Dying was seeming like a less and less likely option, though; Dipper could feel the fatigue catching up to him. He couldn’t focus on anything, he was light-headed- what he really wanted to do was take a nap, just lie down somewhere, anywhere, and sleep, he was so drained… just a few minutes, just to regain a little energy...

“Oh did you want me to fix this-?” Bill asked suddenly, turning to face him.

“No-”

It was too late; Dipper was already being thrown back into the mindscape. On the plus side, he was immediately fully awake. On the downside, Bill was not. He stood up and staggered a bit, gripping onto the rack to steady himself. “Let’s get this over with- I really donwanna die-” He was slurring his words. Clearly, whatever toll Dipper had felt didn’t apply just to him; it applied to everyone who was in his body.

“You’re only going to make it worse at this point-”

“I think I know- what I’m doing- kid-” Dipper watched as his body slowly toppled over and faceplanted onto the tiled All-Mart floor. That was another thing he had learned from his previous experience with Bill- there was a certain point when his body was so broken that it couldn’t host a demon. Bill was forced out of it, back into the mindscape, across from Dipper.

The two looked at each other for a minute. They were both the same distance away from Dipper’s body. They both thought they knew what they were doing. Actually, truth be told, Dipper didn’t have any idea what he was doing; he just trusted himself a whole lot more than he would ever have trusted Bill. Presumably Bill wanted to cause as much havoc as possible before dying.

Whatever the case, they both made a move to enter Dipper’s body at the exact same time. They collided just as they reached it.

Dipper had had fever dreams before, but nothing like this.

A massive coniferous forest stretched across the land, blue covering every inch of sky above it. About three feet in front of Dipper, though, the trees abruptly stopped to give way to a blackened, twisted nebula, devouring the sky and eating its way across the landscape. It almost looked like a hole in the fabric of reality, revealing a cosmic power beyond Dipper's comprehension- or at least it would have, if this hole in reality had managed to stick to a theme. Stars and comets and constellations glimmered from within it, but Dipper noticed some things that didn't quite fit. Pianos, crystal balls, theater chairs, icicles, a bowling ball, pyramids, shattered flowerpots, trumpets, cloaks, a severed unicorn horn, eight-balls, books, tap shoes- the strangest assortment of objects Dipper had ever seen, all of which had no business being in space.

As Dipper watched, the nebula ate away at the forest, sucking up a tree and destroying it- Dipper staggered backwards, his ears ringing. Another tree vanished and he felt a stabbing pain in his head- what was going on-? He forced himself to look up and scan the area, his vision shaky, trying to focus in on any point- there. A small yellow dot, hovering in front of the cloud- yellow. Yellow.

Dipper forced himself to run towards it- walls were appearing out of nowhere, forcing themselves up out of the ground, destroying anything in their path- he scrambled up a tree and shouted with more courage than he ever thought he would- “BILL-”

The next thing he knew he was being knocked out of the tree, falling- slamming into the grass just in time to see another wall erect itself, between the swirling pattern of galaxies and mismatched objects and the windswept pines- pines? Pine trees- he was surrounded by-

Dipper woke up on the cold, tiled floor of All-Mart. Mabel was crouching over him, shaking him, asking him if he was awake- the aisle was empty. Dipper numbly replied that he was fine, but in reality he had a pounding headache and a lot of questions for a certain triangle.

Top 10 worst episodes of anything i watch (saved from my now defunct deviantart page)

Note: This will only include shows that i actually like. Also, dishounorable mention to 1."The Ocean! The Island! A Vacation! A Break for the Sailor Senshi" (Sailor Moon R) Plot: Chibiusa befriends a baby dinosaur. WTF? Most pointless episode of the series 2. "Over the Fear! Jump to Freedom" (Sailor Moon SuperS) This episode was basically about a random guy who couldn't jump over a box. 3. "Protect a Mother's Dream! New Attack for the Double Moon" (Sailor Moon SuperS) This episode barely escaped making this list, and that was only because it has the same problems as #2, so anything i would have said about this episode would have been redundant. 4. "Town and Out" (The Powerpuff Girls) (To be updated) 10. Lobster Claws (Star VS The Forces of Evil) While i love reforming villains and am usually all for it but this episode does not do a good job at it. Why doesn't it? Well for starters, Star's attitude is really annoying. Her dialogue is nothing but "Your a monster, Monster = Evil, Monsters can never be good". You know where i've seen this before? The Sailor Moon manga. Another reason why this episode is so bad is because Lobster Claws just goes back to being a bad guy  after getting re-hired by Ludo. I think it was supposed to be funny but i didn't really get me laughing. 9. Roadside Attraction (Gravity Falls) This episode was just plain boring. It didn't engage me at all and the plot was very predictable and contrived. Not to mention DARLENE IS FUCKING CREEPY 8. Someday in the Rain (Haruhi Suzumiya) Some people regard the Endless Eight as the worst part of the Melacholy of Haruhi Suzumiya but to be honest i didn't mind it, but that's probably because i watched the episodes online and after i realized what they were doing just skipped to the last one. This episode, however, literally nothing happens. I'm not joking. NOTHING HAPPENS. The entire "plot" if you can even call it that is just about Kyon and Yuki sitting in the club room making idle conversation. 7. Sock Opera (Gravity Falls) Why is this episode so popular? I swear, the only reason people like this episode is because of Bill Cipher and Bipper. What i find even more insulting is that Shion Takeuchi, the person who wrote this episode, also wrote Not What He Seems and Weirdmaggedon Part 3. WHAT THE HELL? My main problem with this episode is how Mabel treats Dipper. I get that her being self centered is the main focus point of the episode but it still really bugs me. She repeatedly breaks her promise just so she can get the attention of some random guy who doesn't even care all that much about her. Also, why on earth does Dipper make that deal with Bill? Bill Cipher is a DEMON for cats sake, and he's evil. So obviously he's gonna trick you. Besides, why would somebody like Bill want an ordinary mundane puppet unless he was scheming for something bigger. I thought Dip's was supposed to be the smart guy? FAIL 6. Pixtopia (Star VS Evil) One word: BORING.I honestly don't get how one of the best episodes of the series was aired with one of the worst This episode did not need to exist, and to me, it doesn't exist. It really confuses me when Marco tries to use Earth money to pay for Star's phone bill.They're on a different planet, so the currency is  going to be different. Why didn't Marco think of that? Also, how come nobody has every tried to escape from the Shard Mines before, since apparently the exit was literally right there, UNGUARDED. The pacing in this episode was really and off, and everything was happening way too fast. 5. The Show Stoppers (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) This episode ends up on everyone's worst of lists. Do i need to say why? 4.Bought and Scold (The Powerpuff Girls) Oh man how i hate this episode Honestly, i actually sympathized with Princess this episode. Having your stuff taken from you in very annoying indeed. The episode rode on the fact that her Dad bought Townsville and since she made crime legal, she deserves this. But let's not forget: Princess Morbucks is a kindergartener, a bratty spoilt one, but she's still pretty young. Her whole villain schtick is basically wanting to upstage the Powerpuff Girls. Since she was very young, she didn't understand the full implications of her new law, so it is unfair to punish her. I always found it odd when the Powerpuff Girls screwed up, they were all forgiven and received no consequences for their actions yet when Princess makes an irrational and illogical law, she gets all this torment despite her being the same age as the Powerpuffs. Also, why is it legal to throw kids in jail in Townsville? 3. Owl's Well That Ends Well (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) An episode which takes a perfectly love-able character and treats them like absolute shit. I hate Owlicious: he is a Mary Sue that needs to DIE. Spike gets tortured through out the episode even though he has done nothing to deserve it. And seriously, the reason Twilight had for employing Owlicious is stupid: she needs help during the night. Yet we never see Owlicious work through the night in the episode. Plot hole! 2. Art Is An Explosion Of Love! Chibiusa's First Love (Sailor Moon S) That title isn't even accurate. Mamoru is Chibiusa's first (incestous creepy) love. There is so much wrong with this episode that it isn't even funny. First of all, Chibiusa overreacts about Usagi eating her lemon tart when that whole thing could have been avoided if Chibiusa had just wrote quick note saying 'Hey, I baked a lemon tart. Do not eat it'. Even after Usagi apologizes, Chibiusa holds it over her head the entire episode. Whats worse is that instead of being GOOD LOYAL FRIENDS and calling out Chibiusa for being a brat, The Senshi get it on it! The way the Senshi act this episode reminds me of how the citizens of Bikini Bottom acted in the Spongebob episode "Little Yellow Notebook". Both groups of people shame someone (Squidward,Usagi) for doing something that they did to and both groups never receive any punishment for it. They are hypocrites 1. Putting Your Hoof Down (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) This is the worst episode of the series. It turns Fluttershy into an absolute bitch. In this episode,Fluttershy tries to learn to be more assertive and seeks help from Iron Will. She then takes her training too far and behaves like a bully. She drenches her gardener with water for no reason, gets mad at the mailman because he gave her the wrong mail, and flips a random tourist across town JUST because he talked to her. And don't get me started on how she treated Rarity and Pinkie Pie. All i'm gonna say is that scene made me cry. She's basically saying her friends lives are pointless. Then they....blame it all on Iron Will. No. Iron Will did not turn Fluttershy into a raging bitch. She was taking her training too far. Then somehow off screen she learns self-control and how to be assertive.

COPY PASTING SOME YOUTUBE COMMENTS BC ALL THIS MABEL HATE MAKES ME MAD

ShadowRevya91 week ago "He wasn't lying in that regard as to just casually mocking her." Bill wasn't just casually mocking her. In context, he was trying to create a rift between the twins because at the time Dipper wasn't yet willing to make a deal with him for so much of a stitch of one of Mabel's puppets.

"Makes Mabel seem like a Mary Sue." I don't follow, what is it that makes Mabel seem like a Mary Sue? I thought a Mary Sue was a character without flaws, but your issue here seems to be based in Mabel being deeply, brokenly flawed.

"Dipper is shown to constantly give something up for Mabel" Dipper willingly giving things up for Mabel—in circumstances where it is clearly established as the decent course of action, with Dipper learning a lesson in doing so—does not mean Mabel is selfish. Ex. Dipper learning that it's creepy to be so controlling over another person's life choices and choosing to give up his hard work for his sister the moment he sees for himself that losing her pig would genuinely hurt her means that Dipper grew as a person and cares about his twin respectively, not that Mabel somehow got away with something to his detriment. For comparison, in Carpet Diem, the moment Dipper explains to Mabel why it is he wants his own room, she gives up the key and tells him she won't fight him for it. This obviously isn't an example of Dipper being selfish, it's just that Mabel understands and cares about her twin. And as you say, the lessons Dipper learned in his eps and his ultimately being able to forge a genuine friendship with Wendy are positives, not losses, and certainly not losses "because of Mabel's selfishness".

"Everything (in her mind) has to be about her." Mabel is portrayed as constantly trying to help other people. As shown in The Last Mabelcorn, other peoples' happiness is what she stakes her own happiness on. She says as much in The Love God when Dipper and the teens ditch a suffering Robbie: "How can I be happy if I know someone else is sad?" In contrast, Dipper holds grudges; he isn't invested in the well-being of people he doesn't know or people who have crossed him/his sister in the past (Robbie, Pacifica, the gnomes, etc.). Mabel's so concerned about Gideon's happiness in The Hand that Rocks the Mabel that she can't bring herself to turn him down even when it distresses her. She tries to help Dipper along in his crush on Wendy and in building confidence, and when it doesn't work out offers to make him a list of rebound crushes. She tries to play matchmaker between Lazy Susan and Stan when she finds out he wants her to like him. When she finds out Stan has a fear of heights, she spends the episode trying to help him move past it. I could go on, but seriously she does these things for the entire length of the show; it's her 'thing'. Ford, Dipper, and Wendy agree in Mabelcorn that Mabel's the most pure-of-heart, well-meaning person they know.

"she is shown to constantly take advantage of his dedication and/or belittle his ambitions" When is she ever shown to consciously take advantage of Dipper or hurt his feelings? She makes fun of his voice, lack of manliness, and love of nerd things, but only playfully and she's definitely not the sole character to do so (see Stan, Wendy, and Soos) (Stan is so hard on Dipper that it becomes a major plot point near the end of season one). In Bottomless Pit, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy all express how much they think Dipper's voice is perfect at the end of their mixtape. Mabel realizes in DD & More D that Dipper's actually been taking a lot of their teasing to heart and feels bad about this because it was not her intention. This isn't a realization specific to Mabel either. In Little Dipper, Dipper realizes that he's unintentionally been rubbing his success in Mabel's face, that she feels inferior to him because "you're better than me at like everything", and that her teasing is her attempt to feel better about what few victories over him she has.

"And she never really "pays" for it" Mabel is punished while learning lessons, same as Dipper. As I said before, it's just easier for the audience to brush off. Ex. Mabel gets multiple attempts to kickstart the summer romance that is her central desire for the summer; every single one goes down in flames (literally, in Sock Opera) and we see in Society of the Blind Eye how much those failures weigh on her and how difficult it can be for her to remain confident in the face of them. Like Dipper, we see throughout season 2 that Mabel makes an effort to move past this and comes out better for it.

"Is she at least sorry for nearly getting her brother and close friend killed simply to teach them a lesson? It was an accident, yeah, but it was a result of how short-sighted she is." Maybe it's just me, but Mabel... pushing Wendy and Dipper into a closet together... falls a bit short of consideration as a heinous crime. Besides, Mabel 1) was trying to be helpful, 2) was also in danger, 3) didn't know there was a monster in the bunker. Pinning Into the Bunker on Mabel is like pinning Sock Opera on Dipper for not realizing he was about to be screwed over or pinning The Inconveniencing on Dipper for going along with the teens in an attempt to fit in or pinning Weirdmageddon on Dipper for not telling Mabel about the rift in the first place. You could pin Into the Bunker on Dipper as well while we're at it; he led the mission, the purpose of which was to benefit his summer priority, and the gang almost were crushed in the security room. Point being: The kids not being able to see the future isn't a character flaw and the others don't typically expect apologies from them in such instances. This is different from, say, when Dipper intentionally raises the dead in Scary-oke or Stan leaves Waddles outside in Land Before Swine.

"Unlike in season one where it's pretty obvious that the story is about Dipper" How is season one about Dipper? I didn't get that impression personally.

"I can only think of two episodes where she actually learns a lesson (Boy Crazy and Sock Opera)" Here's what I can remember off the top of my head: Tourist Trapped, Irrational Treasure, The Legend of the Gobblewonker, The Hand That Rocks the Mabel, Boss Mabel, The Last Mabelcorn, The Golf War, Society of the Blind Eye, Northwest Mansion Mystery, and The Love God. Not that number remotely matters (as you say, Ford's arc wrapped up neatly despite his only being present for the final 7 episodes), but hope that helps.

"She KNOWS this isn't real that Bill is gonna destroy everyone she cares about in the REAL world... but CHOOSES to stay put." This... ignores a couple things. 1) So did Wendy and Soos and nearly Dipper, only he remembered that what the bubble was showing him wasn't actually what he truly wanted, only what he thought he did (i.e. being Wendy's age). Which ties into his speech to Mabel later. 2) It's a magic prison bubble; Mabel's under a spell. She doesn't snap out of it until the sincere sibling hug. 3) This incident is parallel to the first season's penultimate episode, wherein Dipper initially decides not to save Stan and the shack because he feels Stan doesn't care enough about him to merit rescuing. Mabel is similarly hurting because she believes Dipper has decided to ditch her. This is part of the reason she creates a false Dipper; she thought the real Dipper meant to abandon her and couldn't accept a reality where that could be true. Because when it comes down to it, and Dipper spells this out himself, Mabel isn't stuck in her fantasyland because she's selfish and it's giving her everything she thinks she wants; she's stuck because she's afraid of losing Dipper and "of growing up".

Throughout the series, Dipper and Mabel are both portrayed as childish. Dipper has a childish idea of what it means to be grown up and can't wait to leave his childhood behind and become the great person he imagines he will be as an adult. Mabel is a tad more mature in that she understands being afraid of being perceived as childish is itself childish and that the twins have to cherish their childhood and their time together while they have it because it won't last forever. However, faced with both the thought of her childhood ending and Dipper leaving, she can't handle both at once and instead seeks solace from reality, refusing to move forward in the process. Dipper developed as a character over the series, but like Mabel those lessons don't fully sink in until the events of Weirdmageddon, where he becomes a realist who understands he can't deal with reality by constantly living in the future. He sees Mabel struggling with the unrealistic desire to remain stuck in time as similar to his unrealistic desire to have already grown up and explains to her they can kill two birds with one stone and face reality together; the spell breaks here because Mabel no longer needs the fantasy world to deal with losing Dipper and that subsequent panic of having to grow up alone. "Man, I went nuts back there. The real world can't be that bad, right?" Show less Reply 3     ShadowRevya9 ShadowRevya91 week ago (edited) "It's sad to see that ONCE AGAIN, Dipper sacrifices his ambitions for her" "All she really learned that is if she guilt trips Dipper enough times, he'll always turn around for her." I think you're missing a critical component of Dipper's character arc here. Dipper's 'ambitions', to essentially begin a career path at friggin' 12 and skip/squander the remainder of his childhood and teenage years, are explicitly portrayed as being as delusional as Mabel's fantasyland. Dipper isn't giving up anything of value here and he isn't giving it up for Mabel's sake; it's a personal decision he's made and he's using this decision to show Mabel that he's chosen to face the music and implore her to join him in doing so. This is why when Mabel tells Dipper—immediately after they've escaped the prison bubble—that while she appreciates his speech he's free to take the apprenticeship if he wants to and she doesn't want to be responsible for holding him back, Dipper simply reiterates that he doesn't want it.

Again, Dipper letting things go of his own volition (not due to supposed emotional abuse on Mabel's part) is not somehow synonymous with him getting the short end of the stick. The only ones who try to frame it that way in-universe are Bill "literal monster" Cipher and Stanford "isn't having siblings suffocating?" Pines.

"with her... not really giving up much this time" This is what I meant when I said it's easier for the audience to value what Dipper sacrifices more. Mabel gave up the prison bubble, a world where she gets everything she wants (except Dipper, which makes the whole thing worthless). The bubble was her dream the way Ford's apprenticeship was Dipper's: unrealistic and unfulfilling. It would have been awful of her to choose to stay, the same way it would have been awful of her to give Bill the journal to keep her play; the same way it would have been awful of Dipper to keep the megaphone, the same way it would have been awful of Dipper to deny Wendy's freedom to make her own choices. These are all sacrifices, but only seem to be viewed as such when they are Dipper's, despite the fact that in each instance, 1) giving up the thing was hard for them, 2) unambiguously the right thing to do, and 3) they realize the thing being given up wasn't actually worth much at all. Show less Reply 2     jenny xu jenny xu6 days ago I'm feeling bad for jumping into this argument but at the same time...

Alright, I see a lot of what you're saying here, but my first impression agreed with Edward Gil and my reason for 'why' stands thus. Dipper, as far as I've perceived him in both season one and season two, drops everything (except for Wendy, I suppose) the moment Mable needs his help. When Waddles was taken by a pterodactyl in the Land Before Swine, Dipper dropped his attempt to photograph the pterodactyl the moment he learned that Mabel's pig was taken. Of course, he would help, but as far as I remember, it never occurred to Dipper to bring a camera 'just in case.' That's him caring for Mable and putting her above his priorities.

Later on, in the Golf War, Mable may have been the bigger person and stated that cheating was wrong while Dipper was perfectly fine with it, we have to remember that Pacifica is Mable's nemesis. Not Dipper's. The only reason Dipper would have any issue with Pacifica would be because of the way she treats Mable.

Even earlier, in the Deep End, when Mermando couldn't breathe and Mable told Dipper (as the assistant lifeguard) to give him reverse CPR, Dipper didn't hesitate. The obvious solution would have been to roll Mermando into the lake, yes, but I thought it was heartwarming that Dipper /didn't hesitate/ to give reverse mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a merman he met literally seconds earlier. He probably would have done it, Mable or no Mable, but I think the fact that his twin went through all that trouble before hand to get Mermando to the lake played a role in how quickly he conceded to the demand.

In dangerous situations, Dipper's first words are always 'let her go!' and 'her' always being Mable. Despite not being the bravest or strongest person (don't we know it), Dipper always, always, stands in front of Mable against monsters and threats to shield and protect her. Obviously, this isn't to say that Mable is less capable than anyway. If it comes down to it, I'm willing to bet that she's the more athletic one, but the fact of the matter is, Dipper is constantly proving how much he cares for his twin.

Now Mable on the other hand? Aside from how she always supports Dipper fully in his investigation of the supernatural (Mystery Twins!), it's hard to think of an example where she dropped her own priorities in order to help Dipper.

Now, in terms of 'being a good person,' I think Mable probably has Dipper beat. She goes out of her way to help others, she has a stronger sense of morals and in the Last Mablecorn, Mable outright stated that she had the purest heart and Dipper just went, 'no arguments there.' I just think, when it comes down to paying attention to each other's needs and such, Dipper is just more aware than Mable, you know? He's the analytical one, the one who's always winning at chess. So he's the one who takes more care to see things from Mable's perspective.

Meanwhile, Mable is playfully ribbing Dipper about an assortment of shortcomings, from lack of manliness to his voice to being slightly shorter to his crush on Wendy to a miscellaneous collection of other small, harmless comments that... frankly add up. It's not much of an issue considering. as you've pointed out, Wendy, Soos and Grunkle Stan do virtually the same but considering how Dipper is towards Mable, it's worse coming from her.

When things get serious, Mable is there for Dipper, but not the same drop-everything way he is for her. When it comes down to it, I think that's what rubs people the wrong way.

This is all open to discussion, of course. Show less

I'd actually be very excited to see what your notes would be for something like sock opera

Ask, and ye shall receive…. ;) (They’re under the cut)

Characters: Dipper, Mabel, Steven, Connie, Bill Cipher, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Gabe, Candy, Grenda, Stan, Soos, Wendy, various GF and SU characters, Lapis (dream), Jasper (dream), Malachite (dream)Settings: Mystery Shack, temple, theatre, some others Episodes to look at: Sock OperaTone: BIG drama, action, angst, horror, family, hurt/comfort, foreshadowing, some humor (dark humor)

• Start the chapter off more or less the same as the episode, with the kids at the library; the laptop from the bunker has been fixed and Dipper is determined to uncover what secrets it might hold (Connie is pretty much just as resolved in this, Steven and Mabel a bit less so, though make it clear they still want to help)Side note: Make sure there’s a good bit of underlying tension between Dipper and Mabel throughout much of this chapter (and make it come to a head later on) • Extend this intro a bit, and drop the implication in here that Dipper’s intention in figuring the laptop out is twofold: to not only find more clues about the author, but also to look through his research in the hopes that he might be able to find something that can help free Lapis from Malachite (angst) • However, their attempts are quickly halted upon discovering that the laptop is protected by a password (maybe through some humor in here as the kids make initial guesses about what it might be) • Not too long into this, however, Mabel is distracted by a show being put on by a young puppeteer, Gabe; of course she instantly falls for him, so she asks Steven to be her wingman as she goes over to talk to him • Make this part appropriately funny, though it eventually leads into Mabel panicking and telling Gabe that she’s going to put on a puppet show at the end of the week (make sure to give Steven dialogue in this) • Cut back to Dipper and Connie as they’re trying to crack the laptop, only for Mabel and Steven to return and beg for their help in putting the show together; Connie mostly agrees (she doesn’t think its going to be that big of an undertaking) and while he’s much more begrudging about it (since he believes time is of the essence for helping Lapis) Dipper agrees as well • Cut after some more interactions as the kids leave, though imply that an ominous, familiar shadow is lurking right behind them… (but don’t imply too much) • Cut to the temple as the kids rush in, with Steven and Mabel on the hunt for supplies that can be used during the show; the Gems are naturally confused by their excited panic, so they explain about the puppet show, which only ends up bewildering them even more (humor) • Also include a bit in here where Dipper asks the Gems if they might know what the password is (given their apparent connection to the author), but of course they don’t have a clue; in this, maybe show that they’re supportive of Dipper taking this mission on (they want to know who the author is too, of course), which will ultimately set up for irony later on (while also bolstering Dipper’s resolve to figure it out) • From here, go into something of a descriptive montage as the kids work on the puppet show (with help from Soos and Wendy; in here also mention how Dipper and Connie are still hard at work on the laptop, though Dipper more so • Generally in this part bring up several things, including Dipper’s near obsessive drive to unlock the laptop and his reasoning for doing so (mainly to help Lapis (maybe include some retrospective bits in here, including the pictures (for later on))) and how that drive is depriving him of sleep because he refuses to rest until he’s solved it (also highlight his frustration at being unable to do so thus far) (basically just set up the reasoning behind why he would make the deal with Bill in the first place) (make this angsty) • End this bit off the night before the show, with Mabel being content in how things are coming along for it (she’s on the phone with Steven discussing it); meanwhile Dipper and Connie are also on the phone, discussing their bafflement at how difficult figuring the password is going • After a bit of this, the twins both end their calls and so have some somewhat fun dialogue in here, but again, use this as a chance to foreshadow the conflict between them later on in the chapter • Still frustrated, Dipper goes up onto the roof to keep working with the laptop (maybe include a brief callback to Dipper and Lapis in here, (pictures!) for angst); have his irritation continue to grow until of course, the scene leads into Bill’s appearance (be descriptive with this) • Extend this scene quite a bit and keep all of Bill’s usual humorously twisted beats (maybe add a few) as he offers to give Dipper some help with the laptop in exchange for a “favor”; in this, have Dipper adamantly refuse (recalling Dreamscaperers), claiming that he doesn’t need Bill’s help • Of course, Bill counters this by claiming that the Gems are pretty much useless in helping him with this (again implications), as is pretty much everyone else; have him also be a bit manipulative in here by bringing up Dipper’s resolve to help save Lapis • Though briefly conflicted by that, Dipper still refuses, though Bill tells him the offer will still be on the table (make this ominous, maybe foreshadow more) before making his abrupt exit • Give Dipper a little introspection here before cutting, show that he’s still resolved to do this without Bill’s help, knowing that making a deal with him couldn’t possibly end well at all (though imply that he’s still a little conflicted about actually being able to do it on his own) • Have some humor the next day between Stan and Mabel for a bit as Steven and Connie show up; after a little of this, Dipper pulls them aside and tells them about his confrontation with Bill the previous night, so give the others appropriate interactions to thisSide note: Be sure to show that Dipper is sleep deprived in here, don’t just say it • Still, Mabel assures Dipper that she’ll be able to help him with the laptop after handing her materials off to Candy and Grenda; in the midst of this, however, Gabe shows up, so have a bit of humor as Mabel realizes she’ll have to up her game in order to impress him • Bring the underlying tension between the twins to a head here as Dipper angrily protests Mabel putting him off again; this of course, leads to an argument between the two (give Steven, Connie, Candy, and Grenda somewhat humorous reactions to this) • Make sure both of the twins abnegate their goals in here (with Dipper claiming that Mabel will quickly get over Gabe anyway, while Mabel calls Dipper’s ongoing obsession out); either way, make sure both of them are equally in the wrong against each other here • Still, have Mabel go a little further by claiming that Dipper should slow his search down because Lapis can wait (and have her regret saying that instantly); also, make Dipper’s reaction to this shocked and tranquilly outraged • As Steven finally intervenes in the argument, Dipper bitterly storms off to figure the password out on his own, leaving Mabel feeling pretty guilty about what she said (though not guilty enough to call the show off); still, before cutting, have some dialogue between her and Steven, where she asks him to go talk to Dipper in her stead • Cut to the attic, and have some introspection in here as Dipper’s not just frustrated with the laptop anymore, but also with Mabel; include a bit in here where he notices one of his pictures with Lapis and his resolve starts to crumble as he fears he’ll never be able to help her (PICTURES HERE) • In the midst of this, Dipper’s lack of sleep finally catches up with him and he gradually nods off, leading into a dream where he sees Lapis again, though keep their interaction very brief before she disappears and Jasper shows up in her place • In this, Jasper both mocks and threatens Dipper, telling him to give up on trying to save Lapis because he’d never be able to do so anyway (make this REALLY dramatic and dark); the dream of course ends on Malachite showing up (again, make this dramatic, kind of a parallel to Chille Tid later on)Side Note: Imply Bill induced this nightmare as an attempt to further manipulate Dipper into making a deal with him (don’t outright state this) • As Dipper wakes up in an abrupt panic, he’s of course met with none other than Bill, who makes a few snide remarks before casually informing him that the laptop’s about to erase all its data from too many failed entries (make this part a little different from the episode) • This is enough to convince Dipper to hear Bill out; the demon claims that all he needs is a puppet, and implies that he’s just going to use one of Mabel’s; of course, Dipper is hesitant to relinquish one, since Mabel worked so hard on them • Before Bill can counter this, however, he’s interrupted by Steven knocking on the attic door, having come to talk to Dipper as he promised Mabel; Bill lowkey panics at this but he’s quick to regain Dipper’s attention by reminding him about the laptop counting down, forcing him to put Steven on holdSide Note: Have a foreshadow/parallel in here to how Rose essentially ruined the deal between Bill and Ford with how Steven nearly ruins his deal with Dipper (shit that’s kinda spoilery, isnt it?)Side note: Drop more implications in here about what happened between Bill and the Gems (specifically Rose) years ago, and especially do this in his interactions with Steven (SHIT that’s spoilery too)  • Build tension in this part as Bill continues his appeal, reminding Dipper not only of how Mabel failed to help him, but of the fact that Lapis is still trapped at the bottom of the lake, essentially because of him • Remember to include Steven outside the door, continually worried over Dipper not responding (imply that he can he can kind of hear Bill talking to him, but he can’t really tell who it is, implying that Steven sort of defies the mindscape) • And so, as the laptop counts down its final seconds, on a burst of mere impulse and desperation alone, Dipper agrees to Bill’s demands (make this MOMENTOUS, as this moment alone changes a TON in UF as a whole) • Keep this tension high as Bill suddenly turns the tables, and be VERY descriptive and dark as he rips Dipper’s consciousness out of his body and possesses it in his place (again, draw this out, make it very dramatic) • As this is happening, Steven breaks into the room just in time to witness Bill possess Dipper, so of course show his shocked, horrified reaction to this (include Dipper’s as well); also remember that Steven can’t see/hear Dipper in his incorporeal form • Of course, Bill only welcomes Steven’s intrusion as he smashes the laptop right in front of both of the boys, while also tearing up the pictures of Dipper and Lapis, just as an added measure of sadism (make this hit Dipper hard)Side note: Make sure to have Bill’s dialogue switch to normal text and Dipper’s to italics post-possession and for the duration • Have some dark humor in here as  Bill experimentally messes around with Dipper’s body, intentionally injuring it (more so than the show, again, make it darker) just for fun and to also psyche Steven out; however, when Steven tries to heal these self-inflicted wounds, his powers do nothing, much to his confusion and Bill’s sadistic delight Side Note: Make sure that Bill addresses both Steven and Dipper (and yes, make sure to have Steven be confused by this) in a lot of theses scenes • Needless to say that Steven’s still in a panic in all this, since he really doesn’t know what’s going on, but he resolves to tell the Gems so they can stop Bill and save Dipper; of course Bill casually blackmails him, saying that if he does that, he’ll destroy (kill) Dipper’s body, so that of course forces Steven to remain silent about it (even if Dipper tries to tell him not to, but of course, Steven can’t hear him)Side note: Also imply (from the journal) that Dipper (or at least his body) might be dead while Bill is possessing him (again imply, don’t state) (possibly do this through Steven being unable to heal the injuries Bill inflicts) • Keep both the suspense and humor going as Bill inquires about the journal, claiming that his intention is to destroy it to keep the kids from getting answers (that might stop his plans, but only imply this); of course both boys refuse to divulge where it is, only for Connie and Mabel to innocently pop in (hint that she still feels bad about earlier but she’s had time to get over it) and Mabel says that she’s going to use it in her show • Extend this scene as Steven attempts to warn Mabel about Bill, only for Bill to remind him of his ultimate; still, even though Steven remains silent, Bill ends up inflicting a pretty sizable cut on Dipper’s shoulder all the same, much to Steven’s (and Dipper’s distress)Side note: Be sure to have Connie in specifics notice how strange both Steven and “Dipper” act in this brief scene, though it goes over Mabel’s head • As everyone heads off to see the show, Bill takes the time to mock and gloat at Dipper specifically, claiming that he won’t be able to stop him because he effectively doesn’t exist anymore, cap this part off with some pretty heavy introspection for Dipper, show the severity of his situation here and his desperation to fix it • At the theatre, a huge audience has shown up to see the show; give some interactions between Mabel, Stan, and the Gems in here (have some humor with the Gem’s confusion as to what this show is) • Also include some interactions between Bill and Soos, Wendy, and the Gems (the Gems in particular, use this to imply/foreshadow a bit, but not too much); have the Gems (especially Garnet) pick up that something seems off with “Dipper”, but none of them can really pinpoint what (though it does seem somewhat familiar to them) • Bill’s plans are aided along when Mabel recruits him to be the reverend in her play, which will get him even closer to the journal; Steven fearfully attempts to protest this, but once again, he’s forced to say nothing (much to Connie’s continued suspicion) • From there, the show starts, to have it be appropriately humorous (include cuts to the audience reactions, including Stan and the Gems being somewhat weirded out by it); but for the most part, keep this relatively close to the episode and keep it short • Amidst all this, Dipper’s still trying in vain to get the attention of anyone who could possibly help him, but as Bill told him, he can’t interact with the physical plane without a vessel, which gives him the idea to use one of Mabel’s puppetsSide note: Make the implication throughout the chapter be that no one can notice stuff like the eyes or Bill’s voice coming out of Dipper until they are aware that he’s possessing him (Steven can though cause he knows about it from basically the beginning)  • As the play reaches its intermission, include a scene in here of Bill confronting Steven, reminding him of just what will happen if he doesn’t keep up their “bargain” (imply that Bill kind of does want Steven to break it, but only after he’s destroyed the journal and won and its too late to do anything to stop him anyway)Side note: Completely retracted because major spoilers, just know it was a foreshadowing thing • Amidst this however, Connie comes in and acts just as smooth in her suspicion as Bill does in his “innocence”; have a bit of snappy dialogue in here (while Steven’s lowkey panicking all the while), and have Connie come very close to breaking Bill’s ruse, only for Mabel to call Steven and Connie into the nearby dressing room for their help • Of course, Mabel hardly notices the ongoing tension as she shows her excitement for how well the show is going so far; amidst this, Gabe pops in and compliments her while also putting the pressure on for the rest of the show to be just as good • After she leaves, Connie mentions that she thinks something’s up with Dipper, only for Steven to adamantly refute that (out of obvious fear); however, right before the girls can break him down into telling them about what’s really going on, they’re interrupted by Dipper (the real one), who’s using one of Mabel’s puppets to communicate with them • While the girls are aptly confused, Steven’s overwhelmed with relief that Dipper’s still technically ok and finally, the boys tell the girls about what happened with Bill, shocking them both; Connie’s resolved to do what she can to help, but Mabel’s hesitant, not wanting to ruin the rest of her show • The others scold her for this, however, which gets her to compromise and agree to secure the journal along with Steven and Connie while Dipper finishes off the show for her • So the kids split up, with Mabel, Steven, and Connie heading to grab the book from the stage catwalk; however, before they can get it, Bill confronts them (make this really dramatic and intense); give him dialogue with each of the kids, chastising Steven for breaking their deal, “praising” Connie for nearly figuring things out on her own, and threatening Mabel with ruining the show if she doesn’t hand the journal over to him • Give Mabel some conflict here (even as Steven and Connie are arguing with her to keep the journal away from Bill) as she doesn’t want all of her hard work to be for nothing; however, at the same time, she knows that she can’t let Dipper down like this, especially considering all he’s done for her in the past and since the consequences of doing so could be very severe • Still, it seems as though Bill manages to convince her before, suddenly, she turns the tables on him, pulling him down with the journal; make this a bit different than the episode, as instead of falling to the stage, Bill catches the journal while Steven catches both the catwalk railing and the girls • For a moment, Bill gloats his apparent victory over the kids, only for Mabel to cut it short by throwing one of her spare puppets up at him, knocking the journal out of his grasp; of course he thoughtlessly dives after it, but not before knocking the kids off the catwalk • Make this fall intense as Steven barely manages to catch them all (including Bill) in a bubble that cushions the fall a bit as they land on stage, crashing right through the play, much to the shock of the audience (have the Gems hint at intervening, though none of them are sure what’s even going on, much less how to stop it)Side note: Imply during this part that Dipper’s ribs get broken from the fall, something that’ll come into play in the next chapter • Chaos unfolds as the kids all fight against Bill for the journal, and extend this part a bit from the episode, as they all essentially play keep away with it, much to Bill’s growing frustration (make this somewhat funny, but also climactic) • Bill almost manages to overpower Mabel and get the journal back, only for her to utilize Dipper’s weaknesses against him, such as his ticklishness and his exhaustion, have Steven and Connie join in on this and add an element of fun to it • After a while of this, the kids finally manage to wear Bill out entirely, which in turn finally forces him out of Dipper’s body, allowing Dipper to rightfully reclaim it (be descriptive in this) • Of course, while the kids are all exceedingly relieved and overjoyed by this, their levity doesn’t last long as Bill leaves them all with one final, ominous warning (one that divulges a bit more than the episode does, specifically about the SU side of things)Side note: Possibly foreshadow to chapters such as Pyrite, Rifts/Memories/Dimensions, ect in here • This is cut short, however, as the kids light the show’s pyrotechnics, effectively destroying all the puppets (make this both dramatic and hilarious, show audience reactions to this) • Of course, the audience is anything but pleased with how the show ended up being a bust and they all storm out; Gabe breaks things off with Mabel (make this kind of funny), leaving just the kids, Stan, Soos, Wendy, and the Gems behind • After this, have Mabel apologize to Dipper for her selfishness, though Dipper apologizes for his obsessiveness too; give a few good feelings in here, and incorporate Stan and the Gems as they wonder what just happened; of course, considering what did just happen, none of the kids really no how to explain, so they lowkey unanimously decide not to • However, not too much longer after this, Dipper’s various injuries (specifically his shoulder cut and broken ribs, among others) finally catch up to him and he ends up passing out from them before they can even leave the theatre (much to everyone’s surprise as they realize this was more serious than they thought) • Give Mabel plenty of guilty introspection during the rushed trip home to get Dipper patched up, especially as she finds a note that Bill wrote while he was still in Dipper’s body on the floor of the car (don’t show what it says yet) • Steven lamenting that he tried his best to keep Bill from hurting Dipper, only for him to fail completely (the girls try to reassure him, but it doesn’t really work) • After a while of this, Dipper finally wakes up, in a lot of pain and still rather exhausted (give him some introspection); Steven hesitantly offers to try and heal his wounds again, but Dipper quickly turns him down (he claims that he’s not sure if it would work, but its mostly because he thinks he put Steven through enough during what happened with Bill) • As everyone voices their concern for him, Dipper staunchly assures them that he’s fine, hugely underplaying his injuries, both inside and out; still, show that he’s mentally shaken from it all, beginning signs of PTSD, trauma, ect, but he forces himself to suppress all that as he goes upstairs to rest • Cut back to Dipper (give him pretty much continual introspection by this point) as he goes upstairs and stumbles across both the broken laptop and the torn picture, which he desperately tries to piece back together as he realizes that he lost what was likely his only chance at helping Lapis while also partially losing a bit of himself (metaphorically) in the process, and all because of him making a choice that nearly cost him so much more • End the chapter on a very sad, angsty note, with Dipper finally breaking down over both what happened to Lapis, but mostly over what just happened to him (imply that he’s deeply traumatized by what just happened, and that that trauma likely won’t go away any time soon)Side note: End on the imagery of the light from the triangular window falling upon Dipper (ominous, angsty foreshadowing)

Cryptogram (keyword: SOCK):He claims to see all with his ancient eyeHe works in flattery, deception, and liesDon’t take his deals or play his gamesOr all you know could go up in flames

Untranslated: WY RAEBBM ID WXT UAA ABIB WXW TCWXTRM TSTWI WTUAH MG UFPIXXGS, STGXENXDR, TCX AXILSIC'I XTZY WXW WTUAH SK EFPN LBH APBILDL PAP RDO ZCSP RIJAH ZD OE XR YAUBTW

Part 2 (keyword: PUPPETS)A pine tree has burnedA shooting star’s fallingA sword swinger’s been spurnedA rosebud’s remorsefully calling

Untranslated:P JXCI MJTY WPW UMGHTSE LZDIIXRZ KIUG'H JTDACCVE LODLS HABFVYG'H FXWC MEJVGWSU GDWXTJX'H GIFGGMTUYEDN WPAPBFV