Why did Gravity Falls Waste Wendy?
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Wendy Corduroy? More like Wendy, uh... um... Uh... I'll think of a joke eventually idk
00:00 The Problems with Wendy
14:05 Wendy as a Reflection of Culture
22:10 Crafting the Perfect Wendy Storyline (0 flaws, anywhere)
I love how nonconfrontational this video is. You're basically pointing out that a bunch of guys screwed up writing a female character, and there is no outrage. Just acknowledging that they tried and failed.
That does not mean Alex Hirsch was bad at writing every female character! He was good at writing Candy, Pacifica, and most of the time Mabel.
You know what always bothered me about Wendy? Ok so remember when Wendy dumped robbie and dipper asked her to go bowling or something and Wendy went off on him and got emotional telling everyone to leave her alone . I was shocked and wondered where they were going with this , and the next episode didn't feature Wendy so I was sure we were gonna get some sort of Wendy centered episodes where she reconciles with dipper and comes to peace with her emotions . So imagine my shock , confusion and a littler anger when the next episode to feature Wendy has her totally fine and hanging out with dipper and the others. So basically her recovering from the break up and making amends with dipper was offscreened. That bugged the crop out of me, it genuinely feels like we skipped a episode .
To me it just felt like she wanted to be alone at the moment and started to hang out with the Pines again.
@@BlueBlazeKing I get that she wanted to be left alone , but I just hate that her cooling off and making amends with dipper was offscreen .
That's pretty much how it is with my gf sometimes when she has her period, sometimes our emotions aren't clear and get the better of us
@@smo-king6504 did you even read my whole comment , I wasn't bashing wendy herself , I don't blame her for how she acted, the problem is her and dipper reconciliation was offscreen . Her development of getting over the break up was offscreen.also your " gf having pms" is not a accurate comparison to the scene with wendy.
@@bqw2094 sometimes there isn't reconciliation, you just give the other person space
I feel like having Wendy and Stan being like best friend crime buddies would’ve been a great dynamic to have at the beginning of the show. Have the “Wendy and Stan steal diamonds” subplot happen early on, maybe replacing one of the more underwhelming or straight up bad subplots from season 1, and then it can give a cool dynamic drama where dipper likes Wendy but doesn’t care for Stan yet they are very similar and best friends. It would also make Wendy’s ability to do a ton of crazy high action spy stuff make sense. It also would have it make sense why Stan still keeps Wendy employed even though she doesn’t do anything and sucks at her job
I want to say get rid of the mermando episode but that means we no longer have Stan saying “Yes, burn the child”
Yes! Maybe they could have had that b-plot for one of the episodes where Mabel drags off stan to do something inconsequential - like the video game one or dipper vs manliness. I think it would have been amazing if there was just this entire episode of dipper and Robbie fighting over Wendy and she's off accidentally getting Stan arrested somewhere
Bruh Wtf??? I Read Wendy And Stan Steal Diamond While Video Playing And The Guy In Vids Say That At The Same Time Lol What Are The Chances?
12:12
I would also make it that Stan becomes more of a father figure to her or better yet a grandfather figure. It would have been a really cute bonding moment.
I wish the whole "Wendy is always stressed", would have been thought of at the premiere of the show and in some scenes she subtly cracks before reverting back to her chill persona
Turning every strong female character into someone who hates all things "girly" is silly, but honestly I find some of the pushback against that to be equally silly when taken too far. Like, not every female character has to love dresses and the color pink to avoid being labeled as bad representation either. Some girls like more traditionally feminine associated things, some don't. If you want to write more realistically, have both (but of course this means having more than one fleshed-out female character in your main cast, which is already a stumbling block for so many shows/movies :/)
Wendy isn't unbelievably masculine, thankfully. She's a barnyard girl who has a manly family, but she's still obviously a woman. So she's accepted.
The games and animations that copypaste a woman's face onto a man's body and a man;s personality becoming a trend is what most people are getting tired of.
@@CorwinTheOneAndOnly Indeed.
@@CorwinTheOneAndOnly what the fuck is a “man’s personality” this comment is unbelievably sexist 💀
@@CorwinTheOneAndOnlydude what
It also doesn't have to be one or the other, you can like traditionally masculine and feminine things
They could've fit a Wendy-Stan Storyline in "Soos and the Real Girl", seeing how Stan has such a mid storyline that's funnier in the credits than in the episode itself. Or maybe a short story with her in one of the two Treehouse of Horror type episodes.
I agree, but I also think Blendin's Game could fit a Wendy-Stan storyline even better since they only appear in a few scenes. I assume the rejected B-story about them stealing a diamond from the Gravity Falls museum was originally written in conjunction with the A-story of Mabel and Dipper giving Soos a happy birthday.
I like how they keep saying "her 7,000 brothers" when she has three brothers which is a pretty reasonable sized family.
That’s what it feels like….
She was very annoying in this video
@@yuriscynicism she really wasn’t
Bro Wendy is real... *I HAVE 3 YOUNGER BROTHERS!!!*
I have 6 siblings 5 brothers 1 sister
Seems like the inspiration for Wendy is kinda the problem. They based her off their unrequited crushes who they probably didn't get to know very well, so when trying to develop Wendy, nothing seems to fit because they only see her as an idea, not a real person. (Not trying to be malicious in saying this, it's just a thought i had)
Edit: I finished watching the vid and i think it would've been cool if Wendy saw Stan as a kind of father figure or cool uncle like Soos does, and the Mystery Shack as a 2nd home where she can relax and be herself
They should have made her lose her dad instead of her mom. That would make her see Stan as a father figure since she was lacking one.
You’re right, in real life most high schoolers with a boy/girl friend wouldn’t start a love triangle with a 12 year old and then dump their boyfriend for said 12 year old
I have my own idea for a Wendy episode that goes off from what you guys were talking about. I love the idea of Wendy being a painter, and I think an episode focused on her could start with the revelation that she is a painter but only paints in secret due to embarrassment or shame. Of course her dad finds out and takes her out to chop down trees, but in the middle of that she finds a mysterious yet comforting tree. She keeps the tree a secret so her family doesn't chop it down, and she comes back on her own multiple times to paint it. Eventually her dad follows her and finds the tree, but instead of chopping it down like expected, he begins to cry. He reveals that Wendy's mom was cursed to one day become a tree, and when that day arrived she disappeared into the woods and never returned. Manly Dan was obsessed with finding her again and starting cutting down all the trees in hopes of finding the one special one, his wife. He sees the painting that Wendy made and has a change of heart, supporting Wendy's art and even hanging the painting in their home. This could lead to Wendy painting in public more in future episodes, and possibly even selling some in the Mystery Shack. I have no idea about what the side plot could be though, but I hope anyone likes my take on a Wendy focused episode.
I feel like that could be a great episode, but manly Dan is too manly to cry
@@MordecaiAndRigbyYourFired Mainly Dan can cry if he feels like it!
@@MordecaiAndRigbyYourFired he’s too manly not to feel comfortable crying
Damn, made me cry with that twist
The side-plot could be Dipper trying to figure out how to impress Wendy's dad, only to see him crying, and back off for now
I feel like if Alex has the chance to tell more stories in the GF universe (comics or a video game), he'll give her some more of the spotlight.
holy shit
holy
* holy
Hol
They had a full script of the episode fully for her but instead they decided to write something else in tho days instead of using it
I think they could've replaced the road trip episode with a Wendy episode. The road trip episode isn't bad, but is probably one of my least favorite episodes and doesn't really add anything to the series, so I think it would be fine to change it to a Wendy episode
Tbh, I find the RV episode sexist so I feel like that episode could’ve been replaced with a well needed Pacifica Mabel episode after Golf War and between the manor mystery episode. OR a well deserved Wendy episode that makes her a more interesting character
@@ma.2089 Aye. Either of those would be significantly better.
@@ma.2089 or a DESERVED Robin and Dipper apology/spending time together episode.
@@ma.2089How is the RV episode sexist?
@@ma.2089how is it sexist?
I think a big problem with the “tomboy/masculine presenting girls vs traditional girly girls” conversation is that it’s still entirely driven by what makes these characters “ideal women.” Whether the female protagonist is wearing a pink dress and perfectly applied makeup, or combat boots and a messy hairdo, she still has to be conventionally pretty and a “good role model to young girls.” It’s never about how to give her believable flaws and a consistent story arc, it’s about how to make her the most attractive and aspirational #woman for a modern audience.
The fact that so many people can't write women as characters instead of what they think a woman should be is just weird to me.
@@bencox3641it's because most writers are male and people usually crack down on female characters more often. So they just don't write characters for them, just "good role models."
Wendy was my favorite character when I first watched Gravity Falls. idk why but I was just inspired by her and looking back now I was kinda sad about how they did her so dirty lmao
Yeah
yeah.. it was a shame how they utilized her lol
I don't think dirty is the right term , underutilized I guess. The character served it's purpose but we all agree there could have been more
Agreed. I always really enjoyed her and who she was, since I loved very down to earth girls who are pretty cool, but going back...it's extremely sad in retrospect
The fake Wendy story that you had to create is legitimately phenomenal.
ikr it was great
Weather powers seems like such a good idea tbh. Like, on the surface she's still acting super chill, but the weather is reflecting the emotions she has inside. And something really shitty happens to her and she's pretending to be chill, but a huge storm is brewing outside. So she's forced to be truthful about how she's feeling and actually be open and vulnerable by the end. It's a conflict that can be sparked without forcing Wendy out of character, and it facilitates more character depth
They so easily could've done an episode about Wendy struggling with femininity because she doesn't have a mom or other female role model in her life. Maybe she's going to a dance and feels awkward, showing us that under her cool girl persona she's self-concious, and they could've written in a supernatural element in there and/or had Mabel and her have the episode/plot line together which could I think would've been cool cause most of Wendy's scene are with Dipper
I really like this video! Usually people are too afraid to critique Gravity Falls' problems (Or even make a review on it) without the Gravity Falls fans breathing down your neck because you dare criticize their favorite show.
(Coming from a Gravity Falls fan, this does get annoying. I love the show but I can't deny it has its problems)
Oh my god so true!!!!
I’m coming in here with a completely different perspective as someone who didn’t watch gravity falls when it came out, only watching it for the first time during the pandemic. I still really like it but it’s annoying how people treat it as infallible. Like if it’s your favorite show of all time more power to you but if you aren’t giving any other show’s a chance and aren’t willing to hear criticism then that’s cringe.
I love the show but I wouldn't call it perfect. Characters sometimes acted like jerks when the writers thought it was funny. Like at the end of Stanchuran Canidate.Mabel and Dipper we're excited about vandalizing the Get em guys house. I get Stan doing vandalism but Dipper and Mabel. That feels out of character in an otherwise good episode.
@@Taylor-mh5ot like breaking bad fans
@@icecreamhero2375 nah they did have a tendency to do illegal stuff tho. And since they lived with Stan for a long time, it feels like it prob worsened that aspect of them
Also, breaking the laws are kind of Stan and Ford’s thing. The fact D&P also do it kinda shows the parallels more
Yeah, as time has gone on I’ve found myself finding more flaws. But I think the fanbase is an even bigger problem.
Disney did strike a good balance of badass with feminine with Kim Possible. If you were a villain she could keep toe to toe with you and you could still believe it’s the same teenager who’s trying to convince her parents to give her the money for a jacket, fretting about a crush or griping about Bonnie. Indeed, cheerleading, an activity seen as overly girly, is how she has her athleticism that she uses to regularly prove a match against people like Shego. All this in the mid 2000’s. The less said about the live action interpretation the better.
Even before Kim Possible, there was Buffy "I want to date, and shop, and hang out, and save the world from unspeakable evil. Y'know, girly stuff" Summers.
I think it'd be neat if they gave Wendy an artistic hobby, though I think I'd go with woodworking! To like, contrast her family's lumberjacking. Also, I really think they should've explored her hidden anxiety/stress more. Have my rough proposal for a Wendy episode (also keeping in mind that I never finished the show):
We see Wendy's household, it's loud and chaotic and she's incredibly stressed out by it. She walks away from her family's antics, grabbing a piece of chopped up wood, and starts whittling a little statue to calm down. Maybe her phone rings or someone calls her name, so she sets down her little wooden statue somewhere hidden. Assuming we need magic in the episode, we see the eyes of the little statue glow as she walks away, hinting to us that it's possessed or something of the sort. I'm not sure exactly what possessed it, or what it should do, but I think that through whatever shenanigans involve it we could learn that maybe her mom was the only one able to rein in the chaos at home, or was at least a calm oasis for Wendy to go to when she was younger, and ever since she lost her mom she's been struggling to find that sense of peace again, but she feels the need to put on a chill facade to emulate her mom. Maybe the episode could end with her either dropping the chill facade and seeking support from those around her, or maybe it could end with a Ghost Mom appearance to reveal that she also wasn't as chill as she appeared-letting Wendy know she has nothing to live up to, or maybe just to reprimand the rest of the family for never giving Wendy a break in a slightly sillier scene.
Idk, I'm too tired to write a perfect pitch, but I'm sure you can see the bones of a decent idea there.
Edit: also I paused the video right after you guys showed the clip of her saying she's not actually chill, and I wrote this comment before I finished the video. So any similarities to your pitch are a coinkidink lol.
This reminds me of a writing barrier I had to get through. I wrote a really “cool” and “snarky” girl character when I was a teenager and it became difficult to put her in certain situations where she’d have to be vulnerable, because I couldn’t see her acting like that. Vulnerability is innately human and robbing my main character of that took away that humanity that she needed to be able to carry a whole series. Wendy reminds me of that. I love Gravity Falls with my whole heart, it actually made me first interested in writing, but I think if Alex and the writing team wasn’t thinking about how it “wasn’t their Wendy” to see her act with flaws and vulnerability, you might need to rethink the way you perceive that character in order to flesh them out.
> "you might need to rethink the way you perceive that character in order to flesh them out."
What worries me is that Wendy was probably based on an actual person. Specifically, Alex Hirsch used to have a crush on Lauren Faust. Faust is also the inspiration for Frankie Foster, who is basically the same character as Wendy.
IF Wendy is based on Hirsch's unrequited crush on Faust, then the way he perceives the character might reflect the way he perceives actual women. That's kinda troubling, if true.
@@SynthApprenticeWhen has Alex Hirsch ever admitted to once having a crush on Lauren Faust? Do you have a source on that? Genuinely asking here.
@@theluigifan1 he probably didn't. Lauren graduated CalArts in 94, Alex in 2007. i guess it's just a joke in the fandom that some people take seriously
@@theluigifan1 As far as I know, he hasn't specifically named Lauren as the crush. He has said that Wendy was based on an actual person that he had a crush on, though, and Lauren has made public comments clearly suggesting that Wendy was based on her. Lauren also once wrote a "joke" comment about what it's like having been Alex Hirsch's crush.
@@aninha-007 I'm not sure how the fact that they didn't go to school together is supposed to prove that he never had a crush on her, or that Wendy isn't based on her.
when i was a kid i always wished i could be wendy she was an icon
Who didn't tbh
Bro I think most kids who grew up with the show had a crush on her. I know I did
I think that was the point of the character, like how Dipper idolized Wendy probably too much. That's why the "rejection" was important for the character
Honestly I'm pretty sure everyone who watched that show as a kid either wanted to be her or wanted to date her. Or both. Somehow
@@ChaiLatte666 I always thought that was the intention with how she was written see even in the show everyone has either a crush on her or found her cool (Dipper , Robbie , Mable , Soos).
Wendy is that cool teenager that everyone admired. It also why it was important for Dipper character to get "rejected" to lose this crush and be more like a friend instead of an admiration
I will defend Katniss because much of her characterisation is tied to the captial, which is associated less with just femininity and more captial consumption. But it's interesting to see what the books that came after it (i.e Divergent) saw in the Hunger Games and copied. Like they didn't exactly make nuaced replicas... Which is why I think you get a lot of YA protagonists that reject being "girly" with the social and political context being replaced with a general sense of interpersonal superiority 😂
I always thought of wendy as a secondary character, I never realized it was a main one
My first mother turned into a tree... That's rough buddy
Gretchen being unable to count past 3 is far more hilarious than it should be
oh my god im so glad someone finally brought up wendy only getting one sentence in between the pines. i remember watching it live and being eager to learn more about her only to just hear that and a barrage of clips of her
I think that Dippers crush on Wendy was the only part of this show that I extremely dislike.
It was the part I related too most
It's just like every episode about Mordecai and Margret in Regular Show
@@someone24688 exactly
Honestly i didn't dislike it much. It did drag on way too long, but it wasn't awful
On the bright side without that side plot Wendy would have had even less screen time
Unrequited crushes aren’t too bad a concept, but the execution was wack.
Wendy was hyped up as being cool by the cast, but 9 times out of 10, whenever we saw her in s1 she was acting lazy or irresponsible. And at times not even getting punished for it. Girl took advantage of someone that she was friends with too. All her flaws were brushed off as being cool, and there wasn’t anything else relatable or flawed to latch onto. S2 fixed it marginally. But not enough.
It also bothered me cuz Dipper would act super selfish whenever she was involved, with him usually having to “give up” the chance to be close to her by not taking actions that would deprive someone else. And when that happened, a lot of the fanbase would take his side cuz his unrequited crush on her was more important than literally everyone else. And it wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t devalued Mabel’s crushes. So when Dipper acted selfish to get his crush, it was a GOOD thing and ppl sympathized. Whereas when Mable did, it was a BAD thing and she was selfish. Her being the major part of the clear bias present in the fanbase, makes liking her even harder.
I thought of an idea for a Wendy episode. It takes place in late season 1 early season 2. Wendy gets a new boyfriend who turns out to be a vampire. He bites Wendy and she becomes a vampire. She dumps the boyfriend for lying to her and biting her. She uses her Vampire powers to pull pranks on people. At first it is fun but she starts to miss the Shack and her friends. She can only go out at night and all her teen friends are too tired. Since there is nobody to be the cashier Stan hires Robbie. This annoys Dipper and Mabel. Robbie's parents said he needs a job. Wendy goes to Dipper and Mabel and finds a cure for being a vampire. They look one up in book number 3 and find it. They then set up a home alone style prank to get revenge on the boyfriend. Wendy wants her job back and Robbie quits. He said that Stan is a terrible boss and he found a better job working at a gas station. He said he looked up minimum wage laws and he found out he was being underpaid. *Mabel:* and the Moral of this adventure is don't get bitten by a vampire *SooSoo:* That is something we can all relate to.
suoerman!
Wendy's personality was strong enough so that you didn't really notice she didn't have a ton of focus. But I would've liked a little more focus and development on her character
If I were to create a Wendy storyline. It would be about her and her dad reconciling with the lost of her mother. We learn that after the death of Wendy’s mom. Her dad was devastated and as a result threw himself into his work, and pretended like she never existed, and went a little crazy. He did this as a way to cope with the loss, and destroys every picture of her. Now the meat of the plot is about Wendy painting. She remembers that her mother liked to paint and has been doing for years as a way to connect with her. Now one day she buys some special paints and discovers that what ever she paints comes to life. She paints a tree and it’s there right in front of her. So she paints her mother and she is there. Now any object that is created by the paint is connected to is so if the painting is destroyed the thing that came to life is destroyed. Furthermore after the paint fully drys it turns into a normal painting and anything created by it disappears. So Wendy paints her mother to life from memory and you can tell that something isn’t right. She loses track of thoughts, is forgetful, and is just not the women Wendy remembers. So she try’s again, and again painting her mother in excruciating detail but it’s never quite right. Then her dad comes looking for her because at this point she’s been missing for days. Her dad finds her crying defeated. And she confesses that she wished he was there for her after she died. That he was so focused on forgetting her that he didn’t focus on helping his kids get through it. She had the be there for her brothers but no one was there for her. Then she said that all she wants to do is say good bye, and she can’t even remember what her mother looks like because it’s been so long since she’s even heard her name. At this part he dad doesn’t really say anything but say her moms name (like Wendel or something). Then he pulls out a picture that despite everything he kept, and gives it to Wendy. Then Wendy gets rid of the magical paint and paints a normal picture of her mom putting it up in there living room.
I think a more fitting backstory to Wendy I have as a headcanon is that her father and brothers were always protective of their "little girl" specially after her mothee died and so she had to "toughen up" and learn to be a lumberjack and exceed her brothers with her axe master or whatever skills for her father to even respect her and see her more than a prized possession, but in reality she HATES lumberjacking and she hates even more the fact that she has to be twice as greater than her brothers to even be seen as an individual, so she is "cool and laid back" because she actually is having an identity crisis, not knowing if what she likes and dislikes is a product of her having to prove over and over that she's strong enough to be taken seriously
"Are your girl parts dripping? Ew get outta here, we don't want you to get that on the trees!" Holy shit that part got me
I feel like the thing that makes Wendy feel so underutilized is the fact that she is really the only character to be absent from most of the episodes. Like if Soos was absent from more episodes or there was an episode that Wendy was in that he wasn't I think her absences wouldn't be as noticeable. It was something even as a kid watching it I noticed.
The fact that you said the fact that shows the fact that you didn’t really need to say the fact that
Even if she got no specific hobbies they could have made this the plot. Wendy always joined people’s activities but hasn’t figured her own likings out yet and now she doesn’t know what to do and how to act anymore
Confused why the writers didn’t just, break down her cool kid barrier? No one’s always that cool, everyone has some faults. They could of humanized her by having her face literally any sort of struggle that passed the Bechel test. I still didn’t mind it, but it would of made the show more interesting because I liked Windy
Exactly! Gloria Shen and Matt Braly had no problem with, um...breaking down Ivy Sundew's cool kid barrier in Ivy on the Run, because it gave her more of a character outside of being Sprig's love interest, and gave her a meaningful conflict with her mom that Blendin's Game almost did with Wendy and her dad Manly Dan. I think the deleted B-story that Alex Hirsch told us about Wendy shoplifting for Stan was written next to Blendin's Game when Mabel and Dipper are trying to win a time wish for Soos.
@@adamkalb1 They also weren’t afraid to do that to Marcy. She was quite the ray of sunshine of a nerd that the fandom loved. But when certain episodes kicked in they weren’t afraid to break her down. That bit of commentary from Alex near the start of the video showed that the GF crew were too scared to give Wendy that treatment.
@@kaylemathewcomendador6964 So...why did the GF crew view Wendy any differently in this regard? Why not take a risk and dare to break down Wendy's cool kid barrier the way Amphibia's second season later did with Ivy Sundew and Marcy Wu? How come Gravity Falls was too scared to do the same thing with Wendy that Amphibia was not too scared to do with Ivy and Marcy, huh? (sigh) I am not too surprised that the GF crew was afraid to go there with Wendy because of how cool and perfect Alex viewed her, considering Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality also never faced the true gravity of Mabel's faults and selfishness causing the problem by allowing Bill to start Weirdmageddon, but I am still very extra disappointed that a series which is normally big on character building and world building and serialized storylines, does not want to give Mabel or Wendy any faults or admit that they have any - and I am not even attributing it to them being female characters. Matt Braly was not worried about Ivy and Marcy being cool female characters when revealing their not-so-cool, sensitive side in Ivy on the Run, True Colors, Sprivy and All In.
The real reason why I am still disappointed with Alex and the state of Gravity Falls is...I just can not believe that Alex Hirsch had the gall to tell us why Gravity Falls does not need another season that takes place the next summer, when such a thing theoretically seems possible when Ford and Stan have to travel the world to patch up weirdness holes and dimensional rifts in space before more Weirdmageddon monsters can get out again, and Pacifica and Gideon never interacted with each other and Wendy and Stan still have yet to get an episode focusing on pairing them up. As glad as I am that Alex Hirsch and the Disney Channel network could mutually agree on when and how to conclude Gravity Falls, I can not help myself to shake the *mysterious* feeling that they might want to that show someday, once GF's writers are eventually inspired with new mysteries and character-building storylines to show us... May 10, 2024, 6:43am
@@adamkalb1 It just looked like they were too cowardly to make the embodiment of what they perceive as a cool dude to be not cool even a bit.
*Alex when writing the rest of the main cast:* Let’s have some fun & show off some character flaws for some drama 😁👍!
*Alex when writing Wendy:* NOOOO!!! NOT MY FICTIONAL GIRLFRIEND 😭😭😭!!!
It’s pretty clear that’s just Alex’s nice way of saying “I ain’t in the mood for another season at the moment due to working with Disney being a pain”. He’s shown off how strict Disney was with censorship while working on GF multiple times & how he kinda respects the fandom, like with the Cipher Hunt, several times.
I’m very glad this channel has gotten so much attention as of recent. Such high effort and dedication to these videos and all of them are good. Hats off to you mate
It's a shame too cause they did a great job with Mable; they had great building ground for a strong
capable female character that can still be feminine. Like the first episode ends with Mable getting a grappling hook
and stan ask her if she'd like a doll or purse or something; and she goes no I like it. And he goes "fair enough" and I always
felt the same, I turned to a friend and asked after watching G.F multiple times: "Have her and ford interacted since he came out the portal?"
I would of loved (I know this might be overpowered.) if Wendy got that griffin from the D&D episode; she goes on a hunting trip with her father,
and she finally ask her dad why he's so stereotypically angry; and he tells her he used to be less buff and it ended with his wife's death so he trains
up his body and his kids cause he wants to protect her and his sons; Wendy protest she didn't wanna go on the hunting trip but her dad only knows
physical repetition to bond. She finds the griffin and befriends it and her dad apologizes, she doesn't need to be like him. She's strong in a way that matters,
her heart and her bravery in the face of peril. He finally ask her what she wants to do.
Wendy would answer that she wants to paint or something; In Weirdmeggedon she'd ride the Griffin into battle and the series would end with her opening a delivery
service where she can fly everywhere on griffin back and that funds her art later.
Is Mabel all that feminine? She sorta is.
Yes! This was one of my biggest critiques of the show. Wendy is extremely underutilised to a point where you forget she wad supposed to be a main character.
I remember watching the show for the first time in 2020 and really liking Wendy as a character, she really stood out to me, even though all of the main cast are really strong in their own right. It's only when I retrospectively think on the show do I realise that they didn't do a lot with her, which is a shame as she's really likeable imo
Here’s a idea, so to expand on the Wendy painter thing what if she’s really into wood carving? It’s artsy and could be a bonding activity with her dad cuz you know Wood 🌳. Also what if she’s like really into dinosaurs and is a huge Dino nerd and is kinda embarrassed by that because she is scared of being seen as lame. (The Dino thing is entirely for me but it be cool tho) Also also less Robbie this less of a Wendy criticism and more I just hate Robbie.
I feel like Katniss’ case is more complicated because of the internal politics of her world and also being the sole provider for her family and Annabeth Chase (in the books at least) is very much a female character written in the early 2000s, but her romance with Percy is an important part of her character and that shouldn’t be ignored.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who thought of Thalia Grace when they mentioned the turning into a tree part.
I thought of her immediately during the recording session but forgot about her while editing
Awesome character analysis video Keyan! And thanks for featuring my art! That made-up Wendy episode segment was hilarious.
I now realize Wendy really was wasted potential, and it’s really a shame we didn’t get to see more of what she could’ve been- these kinda videos help me to not commit these mistakes with my own characters and story!
honestly thats why i think i hate the notion that gravity falls was "the best cartoon" or "the perfect cartoon". its really fucking good, genuinely my favorite cartoon ive ever seen in my life. that doesnt mean its the best cartoon ive seen in my life.
that award goes to adventure time
@@otakupower1048 id still disagree. one of my favorites of all time but genuinely i feel that whole seasons of it are unwatchable due to bad writing. it just had a period where it didnt even know what it wanted to be and it soured the series for me (at the time) as a result.
@@kiwitchi5053 what season are you referring to I’m curious? I recently rewatched it and I had such a good time.
I 110% agreed this
I think a core thing to note about the rejection of traditionally feminine characters is that those strong girl characters are *still* hyperfeminine in appearance, they still have perfect hair and makeup while apparently knowing nothing about either, they look beautiful in nothing but traditionally feminine ways. It manages to fully uphold unrealistic expectations for women, and add the extra stipulation that they have to do it all effortlessly. I feel like we today have taken the wrong message from this era -- the problem wasn't that they were 'masculine', it was that they weren't fully realized human beings
" I can't believe Ariana Grande turned my ex girlfriend into a tree " 💀
Here's a solution: Make the Last Mabelcorn an episode on its own, expanding on Mabel's guilt by involving always teasing Dipper and possibly expanding that so it can connect to D and M Vs. Future. Now, mush the story of Ford and Dipper as the A Plot and make the Grunkle Stan and Wendy one the B Plot. Use Stan's subplot as a way of making him look bad before showing that Ford is possibly worse (working with Bill). You could call that episode, "Between Me and Him." Get rid of Roadside Attraction entirely and burn it in a dumpster fire.
Roadside Attraction should have been just after Into the Bunker, and not have Dipper be the bad guy according to the episode’s writing. Dipper gaining self-confidence is development he definitely needed, and Stan teaching him makes it a good episode for their relationship after how rocky it was depicted as being. I hate that the narrative makes him out to be someone leading girls on because it turns the episode into another example of Mabel Validation when her selfishness creates the problem in the first place and she’s never called out on it. Seriously, if Dipper brought up her previous crushes the way she went into a box saying DO NOT OPEN MABEL it’d be Dipper as the bad guy.
All those girly girl princesses i couldn't relate to made me develop the "ewwww dresses and makeup" mentality and forever i did all i could to hide my femininity since i felt like there was no females i could ever relate to, lets just say i fell in love with wendy and i wish she was more than tough tomboy female crush
I think the core issue is that all the other main characters were based on people the writers knew deeply. And wendy is just an amalgamation of the surface level perception of 'cool girls'. That simply does not make for a compelling character, and it never could without a fundamental shift in the way they wrote her
scrapping that wendy shoplifting plot is crime that's so fucking funny
Absolute banger of a vid as always. I haven't revisited Gravity Falls as a whole since the series ended, but I definitely noticed that Wendy didn't get as much attention from the narrative after Dipper gives up on pursuing her :( Alex Hirsch wishes he could've written an episode like yours
(Also shoutout to Gretchen her presence is very fun and she has good takes and ideas, big Gretchen fan)
Why do i feel like it couldve been so easy for them to flesh out wendy's character more?
I feel like an OK (no pun intended) comparison is Enid from OK KO. She reminds me of the same kind of character. The un-phased, badass cool girl, except Enid has a lot more to her in comparison to Wendy. She had insecurities and strays away from what her parents want and has to work through her own feelings with friends and romantic interests. Same kind of Laidback Cool Girl™️ but with more depth.
Throughout that whole middle section, I couldn't stop thinking about Buffy Summers. She dressed up in a super cute Red Riding Hood costume for Halloween, and when Xander tried creeping on her, she pointed out that she's heavily armed. She cocked a grenade launcher while talking about looking cute in a tiara. A literal hellhound couldn't stop her from going to Prom. And all of this was in the late 90s, before that era of "Strong Female Protagonists" rejecting femininity. Also, don't forget that during that era, we still had Powerpuff Girls (sugar! Spice! Everything nice!), Kim Possible was a cheerleader, and Totally Spies saved the world with top of the line fashion accessories.
I thought basically the exact same thing while watching this. I think the video oversimplifies things a little bit trying so neatly to divide the feminist depiction trends in the 2000's, 2010's, and 2020's. Even looking at Whedon specifically, Buffy is a protagonist who embraces femininity while being a strong character, but his very next series, Firefly, has the female lead of Zoe, who usually doesn't embrace feminine traits or roles besides (very) occasionally in the context of her marriage.
Still some good stuff in here, but the reality is moreso that these two interpretations exist on a spectrum, and even though the pendulum does swing in favor of one or another at different times, both have coexisted and will probably continue to.
Your video essays are of such good quality! Keep it up, and thank you for your work and time!
“Bro why the fuck did my mom turn into a tree”- Wendy 2012 probably
I noticed that in the MCU guys liked the badass girls until they started to become the main character of the story. Now they're all upset in their own way about it because they were so used to having the guys be in the leading role for 10+ years.
I'm a girl, and the MCU has the same problem but worse because they have to carry an entire movie.
The issue then becomes that they’re not written as compelling or well in relation with the main story
Not exactly that simple. Especially when take into account athore girls don't like those products as well.
That is not it in the slightest, Wanda turned into a monster and Black Widow was just terribly written.
@Blended Circuit well as a man I can say I know a little about women but as far as their feelings on the women in the MCU I definitely know nothing as most women i encounter are more casual fans of it and don't really care too much. That's why I only noticed how men have been reacting as I would see their reactions more often and even some of the men in my own family have been feeling some type of way about the increased roles of women in the MCU
God I LOVE the Wendy/Stan as partners in Crime concept!!! We were ROBBED!!!
First off, I love how we’ve established that Ariana Grande is canonically an anomalous fairy creature/reality warper in Gravity Falls lore.
Secondly, another way we can use the Ariana Grande character is to establish how powerful she is, then have her return in Weirdmageddon but have Bill Cipher just exterminate her easily. It’ll add to the villainy of Bill and up the stakes of the gang fighting him.
the concept for the stealing episode is so incredible oh my god
Honestly, a Wendy episode could have easily replaced Roadside Attraction.
I think a good Wendy episode would be her and one other character getting trapped in a survival situation and as she absolutely slays at getting them food and protecting them the other asks her questions about where she learned all this shit she ends up delving into how it feels being the only girl in such a insane masculine family with a dead mom. I imagine a scene where she’s just casually doing all this badass shit handling it like it’s nothing while talking about her childhood
Good video, unfortunately, there wasn't enough She-Hulk in it
the wendy and stan pickpocket b story could've fit into soos and the real girl...
yeah bc of the storyline that Stan already had in it and Wendy coming across him as he's prepping for it. he could've even asked her if she wanted to come with him
Soos and the Real Girl? Why does no one on these comments except for me think it could also fit into Blendin's Game?
Lmao loved the concept of the Wendy centric episode y’all came up with! Wendy was really cool and Linda Cardellini played her well, but unfortunately she was not a full character.
I just noticed that at 3:08-3:09, there’s a animation error where a part of Wendy’s shirt turns Red.
Dipper interpreting Wendy's painting as having something to do with him and her going "dude, I've been haunted by the memory of my missing mom since before you were born" cracked me up AND is a reaction that is 100% in character for him. Because of his feelings for her (and his pubescent hormones), he interprets everything having to do with Wendy through his MALE GAZE. I love how a seemingly simple and silly plot point would completely reframe Wendy's role in a supposed episode and flip the focus from Dipper to her.
It's disappointing that she is just Dipper's love interest
After S2E2 she was literally a side character and before that she was one of the 5 Main characters. She only really appeared in "The Love God" in which two of her side character friends got more screen time and "the last mablecorn" were she is just a filler (replace her with another female character (maybe Pacifica giving that she just got a redemption arc) and nothing changes)
And in Weirdmageddon Part 2 and 3 she just appers because she appeared in Part 1 (the only Episode after "Into the Bunker" where she wasn't fucking useless)
Of all the 10 Characters in the Zodiac (and Grenda and Candy in that regard) she is the only one without an Episode giving character development. Fucking Robbie (Love God) and Gideon (Weirdmageddon Part 1) got character arc. She got nothing
She could have literally died just after "Into the Bunker" and nothing changes (they could just use someone else to drive Dipper to Mabel like Bodacious T or maybe even Robbie (kinda would be nice to see these former rivals work together))
I wish they developed this "I'm stresses 24/7" because her appearance does look like she cares about conistency of her style and presenting cool to others.
Wendy is that character where she's so goddamn perfect it became an issue to write something around her. She has zero flaws or interests outside of the generic anti-girl flaws and Dipper's slightly annoying crush on her.
It's the MCU's characters all over again and *STOP WRITING GIRLS LIKE THIS. WE'RE NOT GODDESSES.*
Wouldn't describe th mcu characters like this since th girls normally several issues( both as people and characters).
Zero flaws? In Society of the Blind Eye she confesses her home is super stressful, that’s an angle even Blind Freddie could see an episode being premised on. It explores Wendy’s psyche and gives Manly Dan a focus as a father. Maybe even touch on how Wendy can see Stan as a father figure, since he’s definitely one to Soos.
@@jbcatz5 But that's a one-liner that's never explored again. It doesn't really mean much
@@mosorireayewale2820 It’s still an angle that’s canon with the show and could have been the starting point for an episode. How specifically does her family make her stressed? Do her father and brothers learn how they’re affecting Wendy and try to change to make her home life less stressful? Multiple episodes with the Pines have been done because of interpersonal conflicts based on regular or irregular behaviours.
Another flaw Wendy has, and which is so very teenager of her, is in Boss Mabel when she takes advantage of Mabel’s generosity and showing why Stan has to be as strict as he is when running the Shack. She’s not the most disciplined and can be opportunistic, again typical of a teenager but this wouldn’t be seen as a flaw from the perspective of Dipper or even the creation method of Wendy as a character. Mabel herself only realises how selfish Wendy is like this when she’s the one with something to lose by it.
Eh...It's hard for me to agree with that for the MCU as a whole. It's not possible to make a perfect comparison when women were denied the spotlight for an embarrassingly long time, but you can't say that Scarlet Witch, Jessica Jones (though she's defunct now, I guess), Nebula and Gamora are flawless queens. They've all been toxic to themselves and to others.
There's honestly two perfect places in season 2 where a Wendy episode could have fit. You could go for "Roadside Attraction" which commonly is seen as the worst episode in the series with it adding nothing to any dynamic or developing anything. Or if you want her episode earlier "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" could be moved to the "Roadside Attraction" slot with the Wendy episode taking place during 2x6.
I would have loved to just have a episode focused on Wendy, and maybe her dynamic with Stanley (since he's such a huge part of her life). That theif pitch would have worked perfectly where Stan would have taught her how to scam people, and then realized that she has a chance to be a better person than him. It feels like a dynamic that is severely underdeveloped compared to the Stan-Soos relationship, and I think that it could have added an extra dimension to her character. It could also be a perfect opportunity to explore her backstory, or her stressed feelings.
That fake Wendy episode idea was pure art, I was dying of laughter
I was literally watching one of your videos as this came out, what a treat!
i would love Wendy’s dad being actually loving and supporting like “YESS MY BEAUTIFUL STRONG GIRL” but he’s just fucking inoperant like man is too inoperant to show his love
“I cant believe ariana grande turned my ex girlfriend into a tree”
This is the single greatest line in the show and its not even in the show
Obsessed with the Wendy tree painting episode
Legit I have been scripting a video like this in my head for so long, glad to see it come to fruition somehow! I love your videos!!
also the tough female character archetype is always presented in a way that's appealing to straight guys, while they reject femininity on a superficial level they still present pretty feminine. You almost never see truly butch women represented in mainstream media
one thing i will say for Wendy is while she’s not a fully fleshed-out character, she didn’t have the aversion to classic girly things that many strong female leads had at the time. she wasn’t afraid to feel pretty, nor was she afraid to get dirty. she sports long hair and wears dresses occasionally but is generally more comfortable in flannels and muddy boots, as most people would be. The Last Mabelcorn does a pretty good job of cementing this, where she gives Mabel her pick-me-up speech, saying (more or less) being feminine is fine but we’re not just women, we’re people, and we’re very pissed off people at that. let’s go get some revenge!”
i do wish we’d seen more of her flaws and growth, but there’s almost an appeal to the mystique. for a teenage girl character, she’s refreshingly *normal,* and that’s something we don’t often see in media either.
i love the wendy episode idea you came up with in the end
"Well, at least I still have my personality."
Wendy: THEY TOOK OUR PERSONALITY!
"No bitch my mom's a fuckin tree!" YES PLEASE I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE
I think Wendy could’ve been even better and it’s so sad that she never got a single stand alone episode. Also daphne from the live action scooby doo is everything. Strong independent and comfortable with her femininity
I love how the entire last 5 minutes perfectly encapsulate why the writers struggled so much writing a Wendy focused episode
So was I right that that first bit about pouring everything cool into a bottle being from Between The Pines?
Yes!! I saw your reply but I wasn’t able to respond to it because I had already deleted the community post once someone else identified it. Thank you!
i always saw Wendy as a teen character that diper and mabel look up to especially the birthday episode but also diper love interest. Plus once she did do a lumberjack thing where she used her belt to climb a tree
I appreciate your inclusion of trans women in the feminism section! As a trans man and Gravity Falls fan, I'd like to give my two cents. It always bothered me that 2010s era strong female characters were made to be as masculine as possible in order to be considered strong. Not only does that hurt women who find strength in their femininity such as trans women, but it also hurts trans men because people see us as trying to fill that "strong female character" role instead of, y'know, just being dudes. I've been accused of being anti-feminist for expressing my true gender because people assume I look masculine to "gain privilege" or "kiss up to the patriarchy" in the same way that characters like Gamora were written to act more manly to be considered equal with the rest of the main cast. People have asked me why I wouldn't just be content with being like Wendy, a butch woman with traditionally masculine hobbies, instead of being a man - and don't even get me started on the Mulan comparisons. Mulan takes off the man costume at the end of the movie and embraces her femininity. I'm not in costume. I don't know if this was coherent at all, but you made a lot of good points and your inclusivity means a lot to people like me.
Side note: I dressed up as Mabel for Halloween as a kid before I came out and dressed up as Dipper for Halloween after I came out. I know the fandom has mixed feelings about the episode Dipper vs. Manliness, but it really resonated with me because I felt insecure about "not being man enough" since I wasn't raised as a man. I even put my first chest hair in a scrapbook once I started taking testosterone like Mabel did with Dipper in that episode.
For real,, as a transmasc non-binary person, I’ve seen so many accusations by cis people that transmasc people somehow aren’t actually trans and just have internalized misogyny, and that pisses me off more than I can possibly express :)
Like no, I’m not trans because I’m “rejecting womanhood/femininity” or some bs like that. I’m trans because I’m simply not the gender I was assigned at birth. (and like, these TERFs are the same people who love to say how gender stereotypes shouldn’t define your gender identity right? Well guess what? I still love jewelry, painting my nails, and the color pink; a lot of other transmasc people I’ve met/seen do too. So clearly it’s not about that at all, they just want any excuse, no matter how flimsy, to hate trans people.)
(But, ranting aside, your side note at the end really warmed my heart~ I’m very happy that you’re getting to live as your real, authentic self now ^^)
Tbh, I think Gamora’s thing is less “manly”, and more based on mentality behind gender stereotypes. For men, it’s impt to be “manly”, which means to not show weakness.
Considering Gamora is a character who experienced a mass murder, was forced to fight and win at risk of serious bodily harm/torture/surgery if she failed, and was trained to kill, her desire to never show emotion is understandable. She was never shown to be physically stronger than anyone else on the team, and it felt like more of her strength was her intelligence and technique.
Her arc was going from someone who was closed off, couldn’t have fun, and refused to show love or weakness, to someone who did. Both her and Starlord lived in similar circumstances and had to become more like the other due to them existing within a extremes. Being emotional is seen as a more “feminine” thing, which was what Starlord was/is.
I’m curious as to why you call her “masculine”. I don’t believe in the gender stereotypes listed above, and I don’t see Gamora act in any “masculine” way. So I’m super confused.
“her mother is actually a tree”
princess gretta?
A potential Episode
In it Wendy, Soos, Stan, Mabel and Dipper go wandering and in the Episode she lerns about having to stop pretending to care about nothing and to show her soft side
During a Camp fire she leaves the Group to get some more wood or something when they are greeted by a Monster. They begin to negotiate about leaving when Wendy sees the Monster and rams her axe into its back
The Monster then imprisons the Group while Wendy manages to escape
Deep in the woods she meets with her ghost mom only to wake up as it was only a dream
She confronts the Monster but lays down her Axe and asks for forgiveness and for the Release of the Pines and Soos. In the end the Monster is merciful and they leave the forest
In the end we see the ghost of her mom looking back at Wendy (aluding that it was not a dream)
The whole Perfect Wendy Storyline you guys created is so perfect - it is both beautiful and the right kind of Gravity Falls crazy (I lost it at Ariana Grande comes down😂) - that this whole thing shall be my head-canon from now on.
I'm just wondering what Wendy's mom's name could be. My top picks are:
1. Wilhelmina (to kind of match Wendy's name with the w)
2. Ariana - which becomes the trigger of the whole turned-into-a-tree plot. Lemme explain. As Ariana (Wendy's mom) wonders through the woods, she starts to talk to herself out loud, she has had enough of her 7 000 sons' constant wailing and her husband's bossing her around the house so she goes something like: "Ariana! Do the dishes! Ariana change his diaper! Ariana cook me dinner! Ariana! Ariana! AriANA-" *poof* Ariana Grande appears after being summoned by saying Ariana three times exactly like Bloody Mary. Ariana G. turns Ariana C. into a tree, yada yada yada... and in the end Ariana C. (after years of standing still as a tree and thinking about her life) misses her family despite them being absolutely the worst, she has had enough of the calm nothing doing as a tree and wishes to go back to her noisy household, and Dan (after losing the love of his life and needing to learn how to take care of himself AND his 7 000 sons) is a way better man than the one she remembers. Their spark is reignited. They lived happily ever after- until Weirdmageddon turns them both into trees. The end.
An interesting wendy episode could be if dipper had like a body swap with her and he saw how wendy is parentified into being a mother role to her brothers.
i loved her as a gay lil gremlin, it’s a shame we didn’t get better characterisation + development for her ^_^’
Yk this gon be a banger
To summarize: writers pull from their own experience, and Alex has no game
Katniss isn’t the best example. Her background and situation provide plenty of reason she focuses on the practicalities. She grew up in the poorest district, having to be the family breadwinner when her father died in a hazardous line of work. She has to hunt so her mother and sister have something to eat, a key part of the relationship she has with Gale. The glitz, glamour and style represents a lifestyle she could never have hoped to achieve, and the circumstances of the Games do nothing to make it desirable. The population of Lady Gagas in District 1 never had to work, proper work, for their wealth, clothes and cosmetics. The way the loss of human life is treated as a game alienates her to the fashions even more.
^^exactly. Took the words out of my mouth
Including Gretchen in this episode wasn’t only a good idea for the topic but she, and your banter together, is hilarious
if dipper and mabel were also at the museum doing some hijinks shit, and then released a monster they would all have to fight or whatever that would be way better, no one ends up going to jail there’s no repercussions to the series it ties in with the a plot it’s perfect
I never cared for Wendy cuz they never gave me a reason to care. She was just the source of character’s obsession, which was annoying, and “cool”. This meant was hyped up a lot, but didn’t do much besides be kind of annoying for the entirety of s1.
I think a Wendy episode would’ve fixed that. S2 made her better, but only marginally. I wish there was more to her to latch onto.
I think you are talking it too seriously. Wendy isn't a main character. She is a side character. Dipper and Mabel are the main characters. "She never gave me a reason to care." Do you need one. Also her relationship with Dipper is more of a running gag than a real relationship. What's wrong with being laid back at chill.
Love your channel man!
pls bring your friend in for more of your videos i cant stop laughing at that last part