Honestly Tho

digital sketch of Ford Pines. He has a serious look on his face, facing forwards as if speaking to the reader. He has his left arm behind his back, his right hand holding a piece of paper to his chest. A speech bubble saying: "Apparently some people go to bed and just... sleep??? They don't softly broil in existential dread or replay every mistake they ever made???"

continuing from the first image, Ford holds up the piece of paper to his face, leaning in slightly to it while his left hand adjust his glasses for a better look. A speech bubble saying: "And then they wake up- hold on, let me check my notes-"

Ford has gone back to looking at the reader, an exasperated and angry look now. He holds up the piece of paper that says in bold black letters SLEEP = REFRESHED. His left hand is palm up towards the paper. A speech bubble saying: "REFRESHED??? I just. It sounds a bit fake to me."

Honestly tho

I have a theory.

This is going to be a long post, but I don't know how to do the "read more" thing, sorry.

Bear with me for a minute. So I realized recently that I don't actually see that much Mabel or Ford hate, it's mostly stuff I hear from other people. (What I see is generally more subtle, like I read a fic that was good, but Ford took responsibility for Filbrick kicking Stan out. What was he supposed to do? He's 17 too! I also saw someone say the apocalypse wasn't Mabel's fault, it was Ford's. I'd just like to say that it was Bill's fault and Ford was manipulated into building that portal.)

But I do see a lot of Billford. It keeps on showing up in my suggested communities and the "For You" thing, despite The Book Of Bill portraying it as a very manipulative, horrifically abusive relationship. (When I say relationship, I don't necessarily mean romantic. It could have been a completely platonic horrifically abusive relationship.) And I have to wonder if, because Bill is a triangle, we let him get away with things we wouldn't if he were a human and/or doing these things directly to Ford.

Say that there was a movie. In it, there are two human men. Their relationship is clearly built on manipulation, and when the manipulated realizes that he's being manipulated, he tries to leave. The manipulator proceeds to torture him. You see this onscreen and it's horrible. The manipulator drives a nail through this guy's hand, shoves spiders down his throat, humiliates him . . .

Would people ship these two characters? This is the main fandom I'm in, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say probably not. (I'd like to say that I don't have a problem with people who write them as together . . . as long as it's portrayed as the abusive relationship it actually WAS and not a good relationship.)

All of those were actual things that happened in The Book of Bill. I didn't even mention the psychological torture (He makes Ford forget his OWN NAME) and forced sleep deprivation.

But Bill is a triangle. Bill isn't doing these things directly to Ford. He's doing them while in Ford's body, which is arguably possibly more horrific than if Bill was a separate person doing these things to him, but it's not something that could happen in real life.

But in this analysis of Ford: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58698496/chapters/158032750 when speaking of the torture Ford endured during Weirdmageddon, Callipraxia mentions that the fact that people can't electrocute others "takes at least some of the realism and therefore some of the horror out of the situation." (I apologize if this quote is incorrect, I couldn't find the part where she says this in this quite long work.)

And that makes me wonder if, again because Bill is a triangle and the things he does are literally impossible, it makes people less inclined to see his relationship with Ford as abusive when I have read two separate analyses (one of them is the one referred to above) that straight up say "This reads like a domestic abuse situation." One of them (the one NOT linked above, I'll look for it later) says that Bill hits every. Single. Criteria. For an abuser.

Even before Ford learned what Bill was really there to do, their relationship wasn't good. Bill doesn't show up for months and when Ford asks him where he's been, Bill responds by basically gaslighting him and making him doubt McGucket.

And there's one more thing I noticed. I wasn't in the GF fandom when the show was airing, but I'm pretty sure Billdip didn't become a popular ship until after Sock Puppet Opera, much the same as Billford wasn't so popular until TBOB. It's a pattern of "Bill abuses someone, then gets shipped with that someone." It's quite disturbing.

I know people are going to ship what they're going to ship, but Bill x Pines family members really shouldn't be so popular imo.

Tl;dr: If Bill were a human and you saw him torturing Ford, would you still ship them?

I'm pretty sure I forgot some of what I was going to say, so I might edit this later or reblog it with the extra information.

I do want to say that I do NOT support being rude, sending hate comments or death threats to people who do ship this. Don't do that. Just wanted to say, just in case.

I also want to say that though I put "anti Billford" and "anti Billdip" in the tags, I'm pretty sure I'm not an anti, though I haven't been able to fully figure out what the term means.

Another addendum: I am NOT qualified to be talking about abuse.

This is just a theory.

Tags

gravity falls the book of bill bill cipher ford pines tw abuse mention anti billford anti billdip

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cakeiscoolsblogthing

5 months ago

Can we talk about this:

And how big a deal it is?

I mean, look…we all know Soos is the perfect replacement for Stan. We all know that by giving Soos the role of Mr. Mystery, he’s not only making Soos’s long-term dream come true, he’s cementing the unspoken father-son bond they have by making Soos the closest thing Stan has to an heir.

But a job title isn’t all Stan gives him.

Let’s be clear here–Stan lives like a poor man. He’s cheap and loath to spend a single penny when he can mend, reuse or steal what he needs instead. But I don’t think that’s a sign the Shack isn’t making him money. On the contrary, everything we see about the Shack reinforces the idea that it’s making great money. Stan isn’t poor. He’s miserly. There’s a big difference.

We never see an episode where Stan’s worrying about how business is dropping off or where the Shack is open but deserted. Whenever we see Stan give a tour, there’s always a crowd. And with one or two exceptions (tourists leaving angrily after Waddles eats the Cornicorn) the tourists are almost always forking over huge fistfuls of cash.The Shack frequently hosts huge events that the entire town shows up for, and Stan’s often surrounded by huge piles of cash. The Mystery Shack is such a fixture of Gravity Falls that it’s on the town map hanging in city hall.

Stan’s bitter promise to his family that he would make millions quite frankly probably came true.

Stan didn’t just give Soos his dream job, he gave him an incredibly profitable business that he could have probably sold for millions. Stan “bleed ‘em dry ” Pines. Stan “wouldn’t loan you a nickel without charging interest” Pines. He gave it to Soos for nothing.

Soos deserved it. After ten years of the most loving, devoted loyalty to his father dad papa padre employer for what I can only assume was terrible pay, he had earned it. But that’s not really my point–my point is that Stan, who couldn’t even bring himself to spend a few dollars on pancakes for his niblings, gave away potential millions to his son heir precious child that he loves so much employee with a smile, without hesitation.

That is huge. That is amazing. That is both an important sign of character growth and an indication of how much Stan loves this precious baby man.

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cakeiscoolsblogthing

2 months ago

HARPVOR ENJOYERS!! I MADE A THING

I heard the song and immediately knew what I had to do