I Finally Figured It Out. The Reason Most Fanfics Focus On What Stanford Wants Rather Than What Stanley

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EDIT: how Ford learned Spanish

ford's encounter with the dream hipster revealing his greatest nightmare isnt JUST stanley dying, but it's very specifically stan dying *by his own hands*. one that he is responsible for, and where he'll be a spectator to his brother's doom, caused by HIM, and HIS hands.

And you have to wonder what scenario could possibly exist where that would happen.

I mean him killing his brother, caused by something that's his fault?

something else i really like is how even the dream hipster's joke "LOOKS LIKE YOU FINALLY GAVE YOUR BROTHER A HAND" is a poke at repressed guilt ford had about not helping stan.

guilt ford tries to hide, because it forces him to ask— acknowledge if he had a choice in losing his brother. to write in code, asking himself, "have i been too harsh all along?" while dropping tears onto the drawing of stanley offering him one last high six

"who knows what could happen if Cipher stepped inside stanley's mind for even one minute?" i guess what happened is literally ford's worst nightmare. kind of funny

I LOVE IT

I haven't seen GF in years but was abruptly reminded a while ago and found your blog and your Pinecest+Stancest posts while looking at the Pinecest tag so I gotta share this plot that's now trapped in my brain. If I got the details about canon wrong, blame the passage of time, not me lol.

Ok I'm sure I'm not the only one who came up with that but: Mutually Unrequited/Pining Stans that both never acted on their feelings and spent the entire separation depressed about it and blaming the way they were hiding their feelings partially for how things went down. Enter Pinecest, only just clocking that this is Not Normal Sibling Feelings.

Stan encourages it when he first realizes it because he never got to even try, but maybe Mabel and Dipper can be happy. So he bullies any boys Mabel brings home, shuts down Dipper's flirt attempts with Wendy & Pacifica - Dipper catches on to his feelings first and wants to prove to himself that he's NORMAL OKAY??? he is, in fact, super not normal, but he'll scream that he is at the top of his lungs - and then Ford returns.

Ford also immediately catches on to Dipper's crush. Because he gets Dipper, and of course, he'd love his twin. He can't see Mabel's feelings as easily because he's insta-transferencing her and Stanley and the idea of her liking Dipper back is unfathomable (read: heartbreaking) because then it means perhaps Stanley could've loved him too.

But he cares about Dipper, so Ford thinks the best he can do is maybe help cut off those feelings at the knees before there's no going back for him, at least Dipper might not totally lose Mabel the way he and Stan thought they had lost each other, might eventually lead a normal non-recluse full of regrets life unlike them. So Ford offers to let Dipper stay without letting on his real reason to do so, and Mabel FLIPS OUT.

The thoughts have been building in the back of her head for a while, and she's suddenly confronted with what she never thought possible. Losing Dipper. And it hurts so so much and then Weirdmageddon comes and things go completely off the rails and now she knows she loves him but he's her brother, the world is ending and maybe he doesn't actually like her at all.

It ends with Dipper admitting to Mabel why he was even contemplating separation and Ford is trying to stop him while Stan has been working for this for months, damnit, and Ford's attempts at shutting the confession down just kill him. Dipper says it anyway, and Mabel thinks she's dreaming, but yeah, dummy, I love you too. How could you even think otherwise?

And seeing their dramatic first kiss totally guts Ford. He's happy for them, clearly, but he wants this oh so much and he can't have it. Stanley is shocked at how much Ford's affected by this development and things just blow up from there, and before either of them know it they're kissing.

Meanwhile Mabel and Dipper finally remember where they are and who they're with and fuck this is going to be difficult to explain - wait wtf GRUNKLES WHAT ARE YOU DOING. Well nothing they weren't right before that.

The rest of summer is an insanely awkward transition period where both couples are trying to work out how to deal with this new dynamic and what it means for their lives, especially for when Dipper and Mabel go back home. But everyone is insanely happy and when Dipper and Mabel come back to GF it's together, to a married couple of Grunkles (in everything except the eyes of the law).

And perhaps someday a - but lbr it'll be two - Pinecest Baby crawls around the Mystery Shack to everyone's delight...

ANON YOU'RE SO CRACKED AAAAAAAAH

such a cute premise of them finding out about each other's budding relationships despite the warnings from Ford and adamant attitude from Stan. SO good. flavor.

also implying that ford and stan were like watching/listening from around the corner or something is peak. honestly? this ask means so much to me.

I'm gonna explain how I see the Stan twins romantic orientations/sexualities (but mostly romantic orientations) for a moment so bear with me here. Ramble incoming!

So a pretty...I want to say common...? headcannon/interpretation for Stanford Pines is that he is aromantic, aroace, asexual and the like. And while I can and do respect that headcanon it isn't my personal interpretation of his character and here's why:

So first of all I will admit that I do ship Ford with Bill and Fiddleford and yes, guilty as charged I am less likely to adopt an aspec headcanon of him due to that but there are other reasons and I'm going to explain but first: the character that I do consider to be aromantic: Stan Pines.

"But wait!" You ask "What about lazy Susan and Carla Mccorkle?" Ah, you see there's where the arospec identity lithromantic comes in!

Lithromantic is when you do experience romantic attraction but have no desire for it to be reciprocated. Feelings may vanish after they are reciprocated. Familiar?

So first of all, sick ass aromantic headcanon for awesome character that makes sense. Second of all, how it would fit in with his character and trauma and the like.

Stan Pines is known as Mr Mystery. But he knows himself as more like Mr. Scewup. Maybe not the best analogy I could have applied there but it gets the point across. Due to all the people in his life and the recurring narrative he has unfortunately slipped into, he sees himself fail over and over.

And that's why I feel like it's a great thing for the character. As you probably know, romantic relationships are seen as the greatest thing ever and that everyone should pursue them. Lack of a romantic relationship beyond a certain age is seen as sad for some reason.

So Stan with this romantic attraction he does feel gets stuck in starting relationships and never following through, trying to pursue this thing that's for some reason seen as just basic humanity and failing and failing and failing which goes along nicely with his already existing life story, the aromantic seasoning on the top of the shit show.

Why can't he just follow through? Why can't he just commit? Why does everyone leave him and why is it always his fault? No, no it's just that he hasn't found his big break yet, you'll see, you'll all see!

Meanwhile his twin brother Ford is facing the same commitment problem except orange, in a different flavour and baked in a different gelatin mould. Goddammit that's a second, more weird analogy.

You see I feel like he deals with some good old internalised homophobia.

Concerning Fiddleford Mcgucket- Bill Cipher too but he comes later.

You see Ford has always had something to hide from prying, judging eyes. His abnormal, ultimately harmless six fingered hands.

Fiddleford he's known since University (I'm Australian goddammit it's uni, it's university IT'S UNIVERSITY) And that's after he's already lost his best friend. He doesn't want to blow it.

And then his best friend and gay crush gets married. Yeah that's fine. That's what a respectable man does after all. Yeah. He's not jealous why would he be jealous at all he isn't at all jealous!! So he does what any sane man would do and call up his bestie to join his emo band- uh, make a giant transpolydimensionalwhateverthefuck in his basement. In his shack in the woods. Alone. Together. Great.

In my personal interpretation they didn't have an established romantic relationship. They were gay for each other, sure. They both wanted to be together, sure- but Fiddleford's married status and internalised homophobia and Stanford's unwillingness to lose his best friend AGAIN and internalised homophobia prevented them from actually entering a relationship. Also it was the 80s. And it really does fit in with the themes of Gravity Falls if you think about it, all these themes of being true to yourself and outside judgement and societal pressure and whatnot.

And so they are close, SO FUCKING CLOSE to having what they want because they have this weird alloromantic urge to be in a relationship with the person or whatever but they can't say it.

And then Bill Cipher comes along,

Bill Cipher presents himself as "safe". Oh Fordsy, you're so smart, Fordsy they were all wrong for bullying you and surpressing your genius, Sixer I'm so glad that dumb brother is out of the way so you can unlock your true potential, Fordsy I don't like your lab partner he's getting in the way, Sixer you're safe here, I'm a muse outside of societal structure and I'm an alien anyway, plus it's only in the mindscape we can do whatever you want- you see what I'm saying?

He's "safe".

So he pushes his friends away, tears himself up working on the portal and lets himself get manipulated because he's in love with him! And as the living tombstone said "Love is blind when you are staring at the sun"

And then Fiddleford leaves.

Fiddleford leaves, meaning that once again everything he's worked for is gone, once again a loved one is gone, once again Bill was right, they'll just all leave you in the end, all you need is good ol' reliable Bill Cipher!

And it all comes back to a child holding his six-fingered hands behind his back in case the bullies came.

(Gasp for air) SO!!! In conclusion, as well as mlm headcanons being a great potential for angst and kicking ass, aromantic headcanons also have a great potential for angst and kick ass!

Also I could headcanon Ford as some kind of aspec identity, go suggest something, go nuts! It's like 3am for me tho so..........I'm going to....go....now. BUH-BYE!!!!!!!

........is this even coherent?

any songs that remind you of stancest?

AGAINST THE KITCHEN FLOOR BY WILL W00D IS THEEEE STANCEST SONG YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE

other than that taking what’s not yours by tvgirl is Very post-portal stancest coded

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hi there. I'm new to Stancest ( your art has helped me radicelise into it. )

Got any good fic recomendations for beginners?

omg HI HELLO HIII welcome new stancestie bestiee <333

heres some of my absolute faves of all time!!

Third Time's the Charm by Dejaboo (deja writes them so good man GODDDD)

Tune in to the Beat of My Heart - It’s Writing You a Love Song by sillylilguy900 (reading it made me feel like i was getting into stancest for the first time very banger and awesomesauce 👍)

Ringing in the New Year by fractured_hourglass (honestly everything by hourglass fucking SLAPS)

National Cherry Turnover Day by Sock_Lobster (this writer also made PEAKK)

Love Potion No. 10 (banger fic based on banger art)

bonus some of my fave authors (couldnt pick just one fic from them so look at them all NEOWW ‼️‼️‼️ )

cellard00rs

fractured_hourglass

sixerstanley

Shmisky

WettBlankett

When I think about the soft parts of the Stan twins’ personalities in canon and the way they’re buried in layers of toxic masculinity but in very distinct ways, it looks like Stan is more sensitive, while Ford is more sentimental; Stan is more outwardly aggressive, while Ford is straight up more violent.

Stan is definitely more easily brought to tears than Ford, as well as, in my opinion, more easily flustered. He cries about at least (if I’m not forgetting any) four times that we know in the show: at the funeral of the Stan statue, as he watches The Duchess Approves, when he temporarily wins the post of mayor of Gravity Falls, when he says goodbye to the children. (One time in his childhood flashback, too, but I’m giving him a pass because he was just a kid and I don’t fully trust Stan’s flashbacks for many reasons.) In the Lost Legends comics, he also cries twice as an adult: first of sadness, then because he was touched by the little boy’s pick of his book. (One time as a child, too, when he confesses to Ford about his wish to be appreciated by Filbrick, but that arguably doesn’t count.) The interesting thing is that, in the story, Soos comments that he knew those sobs, implying that he heard Stan cry often enough for him to be able to recognize them immediately. And the funny thing is that Stan never, ever admits that he’s crying: he got glitter in his eyes, or campaign confetti, or was simply cutting onions, among other flimsy excuses. To me, Stan is the textbook example of that tumblr post: “I don’t care, I say, caringly, as I care deeply.” No one really buys his facade 😭

Ford, on the other hand, seems to be considerably more stoic. Dipper observes in Journal 3 that Ford finally cries when he loses Stanley, and that it was the first time any of them ever saw Ford crying—just the need to point that out, the fact that everyone was surprised, says a lot. In TBoB, Ford cries after Bill’s utterly terrifying tormet reaches a breaking point. We know he does because he tells us himself that he “wept,” and is not ashamed of it.

The way I see it, a lot of Stan’s macho man masculinity is performative, and exaggerated, as well as his confidence. Stan has a very low confidence, but he acts as if it’s the contrary. Meanwhile, Ford’s egotistical confidence is not faked, it comes from within—I feel like he is so much more secure in his badassery, in his talents and abilities, in his masculinity, that it makes him just act more natural and casual about it. Of course, Ford is insecure too, and has a low self-esteem even as he has high confidence, but his insecurity is rooted in guilt and the feeling of being an outcast, never about his own competence.

Don’t get me wrong, though. Ford’s toxic masculinity is quieter than Stan’s, and very different, but just as present. It’s not performative at all, but second nature to him. It’s mostly about repressing his feelings and being, quote unquote, “distant from himself.” Very highlighted in Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Future, when he tells Dipper to simply not feel fear as if it’s the simplest, easiest thing a human being could achieve, as if you could just turn off that switch in your brain and make a conscious decision to ignore those damn pesky emotions. More than that, he acts as if that’s the right, rational, desirable thing to do.

I think that a lot of fans pay far too much attention to Ford’s nerdy, quiet side and end up assuming he can easily be fit into the softer, more responsible stereotype of a nerd. That is, more of a prude, more easily flustered, the kind of man who would be genuinely bothered by Stan’s swearing. That is not what we see in canon at all. When JK Simmons (Ford’s VA) asked Alex how he should sound, he was told to act “loud and brash”; in Journal 3, Ford tells us that he wanted to give himself up to Bill just to curse him right to his face; he consistently doesn’t shy away from weird or freaky or illegal things, but is casually and shamelessly attracted to them. (Not that I don’t think Ford would nag Stan about swearing. Ford is hypocritical like that.)

Which brings us to the aggressive vs violent comparison I used. Stan acts tough and makes threats, alright, but Ford actually means them. Stan might attempt to punch someone; Ford’s trigger-happy hand goes straight to his gun. His bounty poster in the multiverse warns that he is “armed and dangerous.” I wouldn’t want either of the Stan twins as my enemies, but Ford is the one I’d dread to find in a dark alley, so to speak. Beneath the veener of superficial calm and control, lies the truth that he’s (way) scarier than Stan and willing to go even crazier lenghts to get what he wants, be it a selfish, ambitious desire or the safety of his family.

Still, Ford is sentimental—melancholic, brooding, prone to nostalgia, with a penchant for drama. The way he writes about people in his journal is often very reflective and thoughtful, calling Stan the most selfless man he had ever met in any dimension, or Bill as (formely) the sun in his galaxy. A poetic soul, lover of flowery language.

That makes me think about their interactions post-Weirdmaggedon. I can easily imagine Ford suddenly saying some intense truth about the depth of his feelings for Stan in his most earnest tone and Stan predictably trying to play it off as a joke and ruining the mood but evidently (not secretly at all) melting inside. Don’t start acting all mushy, bro, Mabel isn’t even here 🙄 (😳) (he’s almost crying again and Ford knows it)

Edwin A. Abbott gave Flatland an unreliable narrator that describes his sexist, classist, racist society with pride in terms of “I am a Square. I have 4 sides. the more angles and sides you have, the better you are as a person. Also you can't change this even though the people in power will encourage you to try,” and he wrote this for Victorian societies in 1884 to the tune of “THIS IS WHAT YOU SOUND LIKE. THIS IS HOW STUPID YOU SOUND.

"You claim to know intimately the nature of every being around you, yet you know nothing. You call yourself a square despite the fact you’ve never seen one! YOU'VE NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN A SQUARE.”

In the book, A Square goes down a rabbit hole of thought until eventually drawing the conclusion that women should be educated. It is after this that A Sphere chooses to teach him about the 3rd dimension, and says it's because A Square “seemed a man of sense.” A Sphere mentions the importance of love and art, something A Square thinks is ridiculous because "love" is for women, and "art" is for socialists I mean chromatists. A Square never really does get it though. He fails to explain the 3rd dimension to his fellow Flatlanders, partly due to comedically terrible political timing, largely due to the fact A Square has always been prone to understanding only what is directly in front of him. He lives out the rest of his days in prison.

And then 123 years after the book was published, Ladd Ehlinger (an incredibly reactionary misogynist and racist) makes an adaptation of the book where he voices the main character. He releases a movie that pathetically mimes the social commentary of the original, and now lives out his days as a sad, angry man crying on YouTube about leftists. He's lived out the plot of Flatland, playing an even worse version of A Square's role. The only thing that's missing is getting sent to jail and that’s bc unlike A Square, Ladd Ehlinger doesn't experience oppression of any kind. 

However, exactly like A Square, he didn't get it. He didn't fucking get it.