Gravity Falls!!!

[Mandle]

OH MY GOD!!!

I just got finished watching the full show today and there is nothing else I can think about!

(No Spoilers, just a side comment)

Spoiler

The show is 40 episodes long and it IS confirmed that that is IT! It's over...Story arc start to finish is done...No hanging around for years outstaying your welcome while you have nothing new to add like some other shows...cough...Simpsons...cough...

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So, I was compelled to make a rather late-to-the-party-I'm-sure thread about it...

THIS is the perfect show for exactly our breed of mystery-loving adventure gamers:

You can pause the show at pretty much any point and "hover over every hotspot" in every gorgeous background and find all the clues you need to try to figure out the grand mystery behind it, OR you can just go with the flow and wait until the show answers ALL THE QUESTIONS!!!

The feel of the show is Twin Peaks meets Lost meets X-Files, but has learned its lessons (especially from the latter two) and actually HAS a cohesive mystery that MAKES SENSE and will deliver on ALL THE ANSWERS...

Also: Totally charming characters, amazing comedy, and extreme "I-Can't-Believe-Disney-Let-Them-Do-That" moments don't hurt either.

The show ran on a pretty much random schedule as well: They did not have to stick to an episode-a-week framework while making it: At some points new episodes did not come out for a month or two following the last, but this was not from Beavis And Butthead or Ren And Stimpy style laziness: Whenever that new episode came out, it was AMAZING and you can see where the extra time and money was spent...

Anyways, I'm still coming down off the high from watching the last episode...And feel really pumped and, at the same time, sad and alone that the ride is over, kind of like having been on an awesome roller-coaster all on my own with nobody to talk to about it afterwards...

So I went and watched the Nostalgia Critic's vlog on the last three episodes (which are all to-be-continued structure with a total running time of 90 minutes or so...a movie right there in itself) and here is a comment I left on their channel:

(MAJOR SPOILER ALERT also OUT-OF-CONTEXT ALERT):

Spoiler

I really don't understand how Rob, who is usually so insightful about subtle points in storytelling and visual presentation, says that he could never take Bill Cipher seriously as an intimidating character until he got a Sauron eye and grew spider legs.

For me, Bill Cipher has always been one of the most disturbing characters I have seen in fiction since Bob in Twin Peaks...

And the main reasons are BECAUSE he was drawn so cutely, and his voice was always so quirky (until it goes into full-on Satan-mode suddenly and for a split second mostly)

He is a Chaos-God (as one of the Mad Max gang says)

The scariest thing about him is his sheer randomness, and the way he has no concept of what normal reality is or why anyone would even begin to consider why the mundane is better than what he has to offer: A completely new version of reality from moment to moment where the context of the previous moment has nothing to do with what happens next. That is a fun world for all in his eye...And a great parody of humanity craving entertainment for the exact same reasons...

He is hiding the true cosmic insanity of what he really is behind the comical visage of his looks and his voice. But it leaks through now and then, until he is actually pushed to show his true colours, at first only briefly, but then goes full-on Iron-Giant-In-"Gun"-Mode , and we see what he really is behind the facade...

I would rate Bill Cipher as a Lovecraftian Elder One of the very worst level: Azathoth, for being a swirling vortex of random actions with no feedback-loop from the consequences, meets Nyarlathotep for his conscious ability to scheme and plan in the long-term (A trillion years I believe Bill mentioned)

Deer teeth and a head that can only scream are two very well-placed early examples of his disconnect with what humans would really want from reality, and what they would expect from him as acceptable gifts.

Maybe it's just me, but Rob not feeling the vibe that the writers were gradually building with Bill and not feeling he was especially scary until he physically turned into the monster that was constantly hinted at hiding behind his simple facade...

Rob...go back to sweater town for penance!!! Doug was right!!!

(I'm joking of course...I just felt like writing an essay on Bill Cipher, as I just watched the last episode today, and attacking Rob is my obvious way of getting comments...)

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It's mostly what I felt about the main bad-guy character, and how awesome what they did with him was...I haven't been this excited about a villain character since Bob in Twin Peaks...

So...the point of this thread is that I really want to:

(A) Introduce the show to people who haven't seen it before as I feel that anyone who loves adventure games and mystery stories will have a life-enriching time with it...

(B) Talk with current fans about it (But please use hide tags for spoilers as this show has an incredible mystery that should not be spoiled for anyone)

After just finishing the show I don't think I can get to sleep tonight, and when I do:

Spoiler

"Well hello there Mandle, I'm Bill Cipher: Here's a daisy-chain of post-surgery appendixes as a gift for summoning me..."

      ^
~/@\~
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[Cassiebsg]

I've been following the show for... uhm... almost the start, a friend recommended it and I've stick with it.
Don't think I've seen the last ep yet, am so out of my shows that I have no idea if or not... but great fun moments were had. Trying to catch all the small "extras" is though a hard thing.

[Danvzare]

Anyways, I'm still coming down off the high from watching the last episode...And feel really pumped and, at the same time, sad and alone that the ride is over, kind of like having been on an awesome roller-coaster all on my own with nobody to talk to about it afterwards...

I know exactly what you mean. It's been months since I finished watching it, and I'm still coming down from it!
It's such a great show, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

It's even better once you realize there's a small part in Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty, where they sort of cross over.
No joke, look it up.

[Mandle]

I know exactly what you mean. It's been months since I finished watching it, and I'm still coming down from it!
It's such a great show, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I haven't been able to watch a TV show since Breaking Bad ended and get even halfway interested...

Until Gravity Falls that is...

It does just about everything flawlessly...And I have an idea for a fan game about one thing that slightly felt off in the finale for me. I can see why they had to do it, but:

MAJOR SPOILERS:

Spoiler

What if Stan was just pretending to regain his memories from hints around him in the room? Kind of like Verbal making up the whole story in The Usual Suspects from the stuff in the cop's office...Stan has a huge heart and is an awesome con-man and would be able to pull it off for the sake of these people he didn't actually remember but felt so much love from that he didn't want to let them down by bumming them out.

I think I would call it:

"The Grunkle Stanley Parable"

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[Snarky]

Good show. The way I heard it, though, the random scheduling was not due to the production having however much time they needed: it was simply Disney not giving a shit about running it properly. (I think the final episodes had been in the can for almost a year before they aired.)

However, the recent(ish) kids' cartoon I think is a real goddamn masterpiece is Over the Garden Wall.

[Mandle]

Good show. The way I heard it, though, the random scheduling was not due to the production having however much time they needed: it was simply Disney not giving a shit about running it properly.

Maybe that could explain how the hell Disney let them get away with so much as well...

Either way: thank the lord all those totally "not-Disney" moments managed to get aired. Imagine being able to work with the resources of Disney but also being able to air some pretty damn edgey content...

I was a bit disappointed that:

SPOILERS:

Spoiler

The two policemen never got their kiss scene...But they managed to throw in a comment at the end that confirmed them as a gay couple...Probably far enough to go for a "kid's show"...Parents can still say, when their kids ask that inevitable question about what they see in the real world: "Oh, John and Bob down the street are like the police guys in Gravity Falls: They just love each other is all."

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[Mandle]

The crime of double-posting is worth this:

MABEL LAND!!!

[CaesarCub]

I loved that show.

Here is a really great synopsis (might be spoilerish).-

[embed=640,390]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tww2PhIJuB4[/embed]

[ThreeOhFour]

However, the recent(ish) kids' cartoon I think is a real goddamn masterpiece is Over the Garden Wall.

I loved this.

[Mandle]

Here is a really great synopsis (might be spoilerish).-

I realize the video is comedy, but I got a bit offended by the part where they...

SPOILERS

Spoiler

...call Mabel out as being selfish and "destroying" Dipper's dreams just to get her own way...

I've heard this complaint about the show quite a bit, but it's not valid:

The moral here is about how scary it is as a kid to go start growing up for real: and, as a parable, they use the theme of becoming a teenager and moving from the safety of Middle School to the stand-on-your-own world of High School...

BOTH of the twins are trying to escape from this threatening future:

Mabel is trying to escape into her fantasy world: An endless summer where nothing ever has to change.

Dipper is trying to escape through the offer Ford makes him to just skip school altogether and become his apprentice.

Both escape routes offer both twins an easy out, but also a bleak future where they never have to go up against life's challenges and grow stronger for having faced them.

So: Mabel is actually saving Dipper from making his wrong life-choice, at the same time that Dipper is saving Mabel from making hers...

And then there are the complaints that it's weird that Dipper and Mabel have to "grow up together", but the show has earned this by showing that they need each other: They are the opposite sides of the same coin...

And the show even addresses this perfectly with Stan's line: "They're kids...They don't know any better!" which is not just the throwaway comedy line it sounds like:

The fact is that Dipper and Mabel WON'T need to be side-by-side forever, but at this point in their young lives they need to be...

They will grow apart to some extent at some point in the future, but now is not the time for that, especially by making bad life descisions to escape growing up...

Okay...My rant is over...

Please visit the Mystery Shack Gift Shop before exiting the attraction!

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[CaesarCub]

Spoiler

I guess it has to do with how our culture works.
When Mabel demands things it's seen as selfish because she is more goofy, while Dipper also demands stuff but he is seen as the more reasonable one, since he is more serious.
So even though they both can be selfish, when Mabel is, she is interpreted as more unreasonable.

That and misogyny.

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[Mandle]

Spoiler

I guess it has to do with how our culture works.
When Mabel demands things it's seen as selfish because she is more goofy, while Dipper also demands stuff but he is seen as the more reasonable one, since he is more serious.
So even though they both can be selfish, when Mabel is, she is interpreted as more unreasonable.

That and misogyny.

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Yes...all that, and the fact that the complaints are coming from the internet where hating on something popular can go viral and then just go ballistic...

Once hate reaches a certain level somewhere past 9000 or so, there is no stopping it...

It's the same with anything that the internet loves, until the backlash-effect hits of course, and then everyone suddenly hates it...

Mob mentality on a global scale...

Which is why I never log into facebook...

[Snarky]

BTW, I think Gravity Falls also has a lot of Eerie Indiana in its DNA. And every episode of that is on YouTube, I'm pretty sure.

[Mandle]

BTW, I think Gravity Falls also has a lot of Eerie Indiana in its DNA. And every episode of that is on YouTube, I'm pretty sure.

I watched the start of the first episode today, and it looks incredibly inventive and intriguing!

The budget is obviously not there, but that looks like a big part of the charm...

I'll be watching more for sure...

Does it have an overarching main mystery or is it one-off twilight zone episode kind of fare?

[Snarky]

Mostly one-off; this was before The X-Files, before continuing storylines became common on non-soaps, and I imagine the series was conceived as a kind of "Twilight Zone for kids". But if I remember correctly they introduce a character later on (a kid with gray hair) who provides something of a running mystery.

It's been a while since I watched it. But looking at the Wikipedia page, I see that Alex Hirsch has indeed cited it as an influence on Gravity Falls.