Quick pinned comment: I was not comparing the LGBT with the DND community. I was pointing out that blind and ignorant discrimination is harmful towards any group. I was not implying that DND fans have somehow suffered more than the LGBT. Just wanted to clarify that for any future irate commenters who’ve gotten the wrong idea.
I definitely think the execution of the comparison could be a lot better. The comparison is not prefaced nor elaborated on enough to get the intended point across, especially since the tones intention is somewhat alien to non-dnd players, yet is also not left vague enough to give plausible denyability so that you wouldn't need to have to elaborate in this comment here. It was a potentially volatile comparison to make, and you could've accounted for it better instead of having to write this now after people have gotten upset.
I wish he would have screamed at her like he did at Stan in not what he seems it would make Mable seem like more of a victim and less of a villan the show wants u to think
You’re absolutely right that GF’s problem with female characters was an accident. Alex Hirsch has said many times that he and the team tried to make a Wendy episode but every single time they just couldn’t find a conflict or hook that fit because Wendy was just too chill and cool
The implication that the pool kid in solitary was there for the whole summer means he was in there through the entirety of weirdmageddon, which makes the joke even funnier
One thing I have to say about this when I’m barely an hour in, let a one off villain be a one off villain. No, not every villain or bad guy needs to return. Sometimes they can just show up in an episode, be defeated and we move onto other bad guys. Summerween trickster wouldn’t make sense showing up in any other context, I don’t know why anyone would want to see them again. Giffany didn’t need to be redeemed. She served her purpose for the plot and didn’t need to do anything else, I don’t know how else she could’ve served the plot in any meaningful way. Just let a one off villain be a one off villain, simple as that.
As much as a cop-out it was to restore Stan's memories, I genuinely think it was a 100% necessary thing to happen for the finale to be satisfying. I mean, without it, the scene where Dipper and Mabel go on the bus and Stan says goodbye would've been waaaaay less emotionally resonant without the person who made the single biggest impact on their lives that summer present. And Stan finally getting to go on world-sailing adventures with his brother like he always dreamed of is such a perfect way to end his story in the show that if they wiped his memory, that plot point would've hit way less hard than if he was essentially some random guy who was only really Ford's brother by blood but who was a completely different person. Everyone critiques that he just gets his memory back, and while it does feel like a cop out, this is the one "shortcoming" of the series I will wholeheartedly defend because the entire ending of the show depends on the fact that Stan is present and himself. Originally there was going to be an entire episode after Weirdmaggedon 3 dedicated to Stan getting his memory back, but they could never crack it, and they also decided that pacing-wise it wouldn't really make sense since Weirdmaggedon 3 is so obviously a finale. If they could've added another 5 or 10 minutes to the episode to dedicate to getting Stan's memories back, or did it in a different way, it would've been better, but having it not happen is just not an option in my opinion. And while your take on grudges is an interesting way to take it, and I respect that opinion, I just can't agree. sorry if all my comments are getting annoying lol I just have a lot of things to say about Gravity Falls lol
I can respect that perspective. I think it's a catch-22 though. If you undo the sacrifice, then the beautiful emotional moment of Stanley's death is ruined. If you keep the sacrifice, then the emotional farewell is ruined. Personally, I think the emotional farewell isn't as important as the sacrifice and moral about grudges, but of course to each their own. x)
I agree with both of you in some ways. Movies and TV have taught me that a loss of memories do not equal a loss of emotion. Take Spider-Man no way home for example Peter decided to erase his friends memories to keep them safe, but in the end, as he is trying to re-introduce himself to MJ, you can see that although she doesn’t recognize him there is still an an emotional response to him. Doing something like this in the final episode would’ve been more impactful. Having Stan slowly regain his memories starting from the time he was a child. That still would’ve made it possible for him to give up control of the shack and travel with Ford around the world as Ford helps him regain all his memories and fulfills his childhood dreams. I also think, having Stan not completely remember the twins, but still have a powerful emotional bond with them would’ve made the ending just as beautiful because they would have known that eventually their grunkle would return to them leaving their future open ended and hopeful. Sorry if this is long or if it doesn’t make sense that’s just how I interpret it!!
This reply is a month late, and it’s a wall of text, but I feel like they could’ve given a compromise. Maybe make it so that Ford says something along the lines of “We could still save him while the memory erasure is fresh, although he won’t ever be the same for a long time. This process could potentially take years even!” And make it so that he only really remembers the core characters (Dipper, Mabel, Ford, and maybe Soos and Wendy). That way, it feels right with him at the farewell. In addition to that, if it takes years to reverse his sacrifice, then it could be a clever parallel between Ford trying to remind Stan of his past self and Stan trying to bring back Ford. Also, it could be fun for Stan to get a second chance in a lot of scenarios where he caused problems for people.
I think the weakest aspect of the show is that after revealing the author, barely anything is done with it, when a huge status quo change like that would be such a big opportunity to do some new stuff but it just… doesn’t
@@JaruJaruJI wish Ford had gotten at least one sole episode focused on him tbh Like maybe his struggles to fit in the formed family and feeling like a stranger, intruder, into someone else's home. Like him watching from afar how Stan interacts with twins and realizing... That he's kind of intervening with their usual family dynamic. I just wish he had more relationships with Stan and Mabel on screen:')
While I can absolutely understand all of your criticism on the d&d episode, I wanted to share how I saw it as well. Me and my family all love d&d, to the point where we would have weekly d&d sessions, with everyone from my cousins to my grandma playing, and we thought this episode was really funny. To us, it came across more as making jokes about how people who don't understand d&d think d&d is, rather than saying what it's actually like, and I definitely took what Durland said at the end as not being a serious statement, but more just for the absurdity of "Oh, this guy who usually says random funny one-liners goes on an entire monologue, just to then say he's a fortress." That's just how I saw it though, I can absolutely understand disliking it as well.
Compare this episode to the episode of Dexter's Laboratory in which his sister Dee-Dee takes over as GM for a session of D&D with him and his friends. Despite Dee-Dee's silliness and sweetness, she ends up running a much better campaign than her brother did-- But I think the difference is that the writers who did that episode of Dexter- and this is the important point- REALLY LOVED THE GAME. I think it shows. You can't properly spoof or satirize a story that you don't really love. (Another example; if you watch Mel Brooks' "Robin Hood" movie, all the bits that spoof the new Kevin Costner version are really quite flat, but those parts that poke fun of the Errol Flynn version are brilliant. It comes down to love for, and familiarity with, the subject.)
genuinely fantastic. i don't agree with everything you said, obviously, but there's a lot of stuff in here that i think is amazing. i never even realized how lackluster wendy was throughout the story, just as an example. it never even occurred to me, and seeing it laid out like this was really eye opening.
Damn, now I want to see this alternate timeline's version of gravity falls. I also really do appreciate you pointing out the flaws in the show, some of which I was aware of and others I wasn't. It's so interesting to see genuine critiques of such a universally loved and praised show. Gravity Falls has always been one of my favorite shows, and while its number one spot has been taken by Amphibia in the past couple years, the show still holds a very special place in my heart. Thank you for making such a thought-provoking critique of this amazing show.
I just realized there's only 6500 views ?? like what ?? A 3 hours long video analyzing AN ENTIRE SHOW has only 6500 total views while some of the shorter 10 min videos have 35k ? bruh
@@MatheoZ14 It's actually BECAUSE of It's length that it's so unpopular. It is too long, such a long video comes across as intimidating to anyone who isn't a hardcore Gravity Falls fan. I put off this video for a while just because of what a huge time sink it seemed, and even now that I'm watching it I'm just nibbling at it in bite sized chunks. It's also outside of his target demographic, so that doesn't help.
Always felt that headhunters had little impact on first watch, yet actually shows a lot on rewatches. Stan having the "perfect twin" he never had rather than Ford with whom he often fought, and not to mention their separation (which must have left Stan scarred for years as he tries to get his brother back) is interesting to me. I'd say it makes complete sense how Stan would be so overreactive of his wax counterpart. The death of wax Stan must have triggered trauma for him, and, at least to me, his behaviour during this episode is pretty understandable if you keep stands relationship with ford in mind.
i also agree because this is one of those episodes alongside gobblewonker (where stan wants to go fishing with the kids with a written “stanowar” on his boat) where its sad and heartbreaking to rewatch knowing the full context of his missing twin
your comments on Wendy’s anxiety as a potential character trait and plot threads has instantly become a head canon for me. incredible brainstorming and in 5 minutes you’ve deepened the character in such a meaningful and relatable way better than the writers did in the entire show. thank you for making wendy a better character and a form of representation in my own headcanon
I think the issue with Mabel having a mentor figure is that it would make grunkle stan somewhat irrelevant and if anything stan and said figure would possibly end up in a relationship, which is another thing I think the show writers wanted to avoid.
Fair point. The issue is that Stan and Mabel are on opposite ends of the morality spectrum, and so stories where they'd come together over their shared talents just don't generate naturally.
Wendy was my third favorite character, yet I found myself agreeing with all your problems with the character. As it stands I suppose her character comes down to whether you found her cool or not. I'm thinking my biggest reason for liking her is that she has a similar color pallet to Frankie Foster from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, thus causing some primordial reaction in my late teen brain to make me instantly like her. Otherwise idk, I thought she was cool, I guess.
Totally valid! I'm glad you could find the video enjoyable despite me going after Wendy so hard. I really did want to like her! She's definitely got a lot of cool potential, for sure.
for the critique of the found family thing i argue against that, soos is a feeling type of dude who is heart first into a lotta subjects. he has very little reservations about anything, he takes pain as fast as he takes love. it makes perfect sense he'd feel that way and express it. also it's very, very minor but the d&d episode was super fun. it's a play on not the new ttrpg stuff but the crazy ass shit that came out in the yonder years of the 80's. ad&d sure but as well stuff like cyberpunk red, west end games star wars. have you tried playing some of the old ad&d stuff and remembering that strength at 18 goes into percentile and ONLY strength?
This retrospective on Gravity Falls is an absolute gem! It's evident how much love and passion you have for the show, as I do. Your analysis and ranking of each episode added a new layer of appreciation for one of my favorite series. By the way, have you ever considered making a video about the Undertale alarm clock dialogue? It would be fascinating to hear your insights on that because I can't find many theories about it. Keep up the fantastic work, and I can't wait to see what you create next!
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed! And sure, I might do a video on the Alarm Clock dialogue sometime! I'll add it to the list of potential video ideas. Thanks for supporting me and my content! :D
just found your channel a week ago after playing deltarune for the first time. now you're analyzing one of the best story driven cartoons of a generation and i couldn't be happier that i subbed ❤ time to strap in for this one!
thank you so much for getting upset at wendys writing! i love her basic idea so much, and i wish she was more than just a cardboard cutout. i just wanted one episode where shes the focus, but we didnt get anything also, i think giffany could just be vibing on a computer or something. hanging out with my dorks, working with ford on tech... i like that idea a lot. great vid, jaru!
I like the concept of Dipper of getting angry at Mabel for *seemingly* wanting to selfishly hold him back, just as Ford accused of Stan, but I’m not sure the fatal flaw is coldness or lack of empathy so much as it is a desire for self-grandiosity and also the reoccurring trust issues. Dipper’s mistrust of Stan in NWHS is built up so strongly and then gets immediately resolved with a quick apology. We get an echo of it in Mabelcorn when Dipper thinks he can’t trust Ford and nearly attempts to erase him, and then Dipper seemingly never struggles with huge trust issues (between family) again. I feel like bringing that back a third time and making Dipper believe in the moment that he can’t trust Mabel would be an ever deeper parallel to Ford, and the fear and hurt would cause him to lash out or say/do something very rash. Maybe Mabel says something in their argument that is something similar Stanley says, and that caused Dipper to think that Stanley is manipulating Mabel into creating a rift between them (or maybe he comes to believe Bill has been talking to Mabel, or any other variety of situation). It would be sympathetic while still incredibly flawed, though just because Dipper is the intelligent one doesn’t mean he doesn’t have incredibly emotional moments too. I think it would be more natural to his character as Dipper’s struggles with suspicion and paranoia don’t ever really come to a conclusion. In Weirdmaggedon Part 2 this could be rechallenged in a situation where Mabel provides 0 reason for Dipper to trust her or no sign that he should believe in her to make the right choice, but in a moment of danger Dipper chooses to let go of his logic and blindly trust Mabel anyway.
Bruh gave Summerween a 2 in comedy. Literally the episode with the most classic gags. Stan and the kids are also hilarious, why you hating? The first 90 seconds is the best opener the show has to offer in regards to comedy. Past that, Gorny is twuamatized. Lazy Suzan getting all the costume names wrong. Soos saying "I ate a man alive tonight", Homework: the Candy. I can go on with the amount of top-tier jokes. The biker tearing up, Toby's "That's just my face", MCGUCKET, not s&p approved, Gorny getting eaten, the low-budget alien film they watch for four seconds.... yeah, top-tier. Deserves a 5/5 in comedy. You made some good critiques on the structure of the episode though.
Honestly with how plot relevant Northwest Family Manor is, they easily could’ve made it a two parter and involved Wendy in it When hearing about the legend, Dipper takes great note of the fact the ghost has the exact same last name as his friend Wendy, and so enlists her help to try and calm down the spirit since they’re family. Likely the attempt wouldn’t be successful, but it’d still give Wendy some room to grow and maybe even cause some tension between her and Pacifica, not because of Dipper, but because Wendy now learns that her ancestor died at the ignorant hands of a lineage of thieves that, while Pacifica is distancing herself from them, is still a part of
I think the Comedy-Plot-Relationships scoring system might not be the best; there are more aspects to each episode you could consider (like how Summerween scored so low, and fairly so, but at least it was fun, y'know?)
Never expected this from you but I'm so hyped to watch a three hour retrospective to one of my favorite shows from the funny Deltarune theories guy! I personally love how in-depth you get with these long analysis videos
A debate over whether free will or happiness is more important is NOT what I expected from a Gravity Falls analysis video but it is very appreciated. I love how philosophical you get in your videos.
After rewatching gravity falls I never appreciated how good it actually is, even the episodes I would rank at the bottom I still really liked them overall, imo it's a show with no bad episodes. I do wonder if bringing stans memories back was a good idea but it lets the ending be nice and emotional instead of feeling off in some way, also wonder if Stan getting his memories back would bring back bill in some way. Good video though I agree with all your criticisms you had with the episodes.
Also the Lumberjack ghost named Archerbald Corduroy is Wendy's ancestor and in the journal Dipper mentioned that in her house was a picture if him when he was alive but in the show Wendy doesn't bring him up also the zombies in Scary Okey are his lumberjack friends after they died in the same mudslide
I was originally going to disagree with you about the D&D parody episode, but now I agree it could’ve handled its jokes better. Ford’s face when he says “Princess Unattainabelle” is still fabulous though, lol.
Bro literally talked about legend of the gobblewanker without mentioning “My ex-wife still misses me” “BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER” … “BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER”
Okay while I agree with some of your points I frankly think docking points for an episode not having a bunch of lore is kinda stupid, that's not what Gravity Falls is about, it's character focused with the mystery being something fun for future rewatches, if every episode was focused on the lore then it wouldn't be Gravity Falls, It'd be the Stan Show Starring Stan and every episode is just him trying to figure out how to rebuild the portal, and that show would be piss boring tbh Also heavily disagree with your read of Love God, obviously it's not going to be a 1:1 to drugging someone it's a disney show, doesn't get rid of the fucked up implications because Mabel in all effect did Drug Robbie and Tambry, just because it's magic and they eventually retcon it in third party materials to only be temporary doesn't stop that, all you'd need to make it work is an off hand line from Live God saying "oh yeah I broke that like, an hour ago, they're just like that I guess" and it'd be fine but that never happened. It's a good video overall but you have a lot of critical blindspots to work through before you make something truly great
Bro had a melt down when a cartoon show made fun of dnd. Like bro being able to laugh at your hobbies is half the battle when it comes to being confident about them.
Didn't have a meltdown. I simply became aware of the ignorant and harmful rhetoric used in this episode and called it out accordingly. And there's a huge world of difference between being able to laugh at my hobbies in a good-natured way, and being targeted with hateful mockery that mischaracterizes everyone who partakes in that hobby. The people who made this episode weren't members of the community and weren't poking fun in a good-natured way. They were ruthlessly insulting a group of people they don't understand. It's not an issue of me being too sensitive. It's an issue of the writers doing a bad job and being appropriately critiqued for it.
@@comixquinn5031that’s exactly what lost me during his whole rant… what does dnd and an historically oppressed community have in common…at all? it’s super weird to compare or bring up, and made me take his point way less serious
@@comixquinn5031 I wasn't comparing them at all. I was pointing out that for a man who should have experience with empathy towards downtrodden groups, his kindness rather abruptly ran out when faced with a group who was less popular to treat well.
Ok as a teenager doing finals, I respect wendys desire. It kinda fits with the whole anxiety thing. Sometimes I wish I could to dumb teenager stuff without any consequences
Hell yeah, solid solid critique. I disagreed with a few things but I'm not important lol. What's important is that Gravity Falls is one of the greatest stories ever told and you did it an honor. Also I'm so sorry for taking three months to get to it lmao
Finally made it to the end of the video. I was not one of the fortunate ones who got to watch gravity falls growing up, or when it was still being released, but I absolutely oved getting to binge it as an adult, and I found this video very interesting, and it gave me more insight, both into the show itself, and the characters as a whole, giving me different things to think about that I would have never thought about before. ☺
You said that Wendy never had conflict with another core character but in Boss Mabel she has conflict with Mabel. This doesn’t have many lasting effects but it is a conflict from her flaws with a main character.
That's why I said her punk activities were a superficial flaw that don't actually lead to any sort of substantial character conflict. Emphasis on substantial. Wendy is a plot device in that story; acting as a generic teen obstacle for Mabel to overcome. It has no effect on Mabel and Wendy's relationship and is given no focus or depth. It's not comparable to any of the proper relationship stories. It's not even on the same level as the conflicts we see in Land Before Swine. Those conflicts actually reflected on the specific relationships of the characters and ultimately developed those relationships in small ways. I won't ramble further than that though. Thank you for the comment! That was a fair counterargument to make. x)
I'm surprised you didn't notice the often-cited purpose of Abaconings as a foreshadowing of Stanley and Stanford's relationship. I also personally reject the idea that LGSOH as a whole is noncanon - the stories themselves, certainly, sure, but much like The Bottomless Pit, I take the frame story as canon. (I think the writers have likely said otherwise? But I don't really trust that, lol, I think they're just trying to do damage control for Stan being an evil enough character to just kidnap/maybe murder a random traveler.)
You saying NWHS wins "by a landslide" is just so true. Like I could talk for hours and hours about just that episode and everything surrounding and leading up to it because it is just. that. good. While Weirdmaggedon 3 was the finale of the overall plot, NWHS was the finale to the overall MYSTERY of the series, which was what I, the 10 year old who LOVED watching theory videos and code cracking videos and analysis videos etc. was SLIGHTLY more invested in. NWHS was such a cultural reset and a "you had to be there" moment because GOD it was just so satisfying. That climactic scene NEVER fails to make me tear up because it is just so powerful and well written. The fact that the name of the episode is the source of so many theories because the cipher wheel has a code that says "Stan is not what he seems" on it such a perfect name. You really TRULY get set up to believe Stan is actually evil but the fact that Alex's performance as Stan is so good you can understand WHY Mabel trusts Stan enough to let the countdown finish despite all logic is truly mind blowing. I'm going to stop this comment here because if I don't I'll have an entire essay in the comments but... god, I really think Stan is objectively the BEST character on Gravity Falls. He embodies everything great about Gravity Falls. He's not my personal favourite, that would be Bill, but... he's just so good.
What an amazing video it really shows not only how much you love this show but writing in general. I really love how you suggest how your critiques could of been solved in the show; it really sets you apart from other media analysis videos I've watched.
A comment regarding your thoughts on the Love God: I do agree with your idea of happiness being more important then free will for the most part. I think the issue I have with the episode is that romance ≠ happiness, and having the media constantly push the idea that you can only be happy if you're in a romantic relationship is something that I personally really dislike. I think it would've been better if Robbie learnt to be happy on his own for a while and to find happiness elsewhere other then through romantic partners. Not saying that he should remain single forever, just that learning to love yourself and to be happy on your own is a pretty important message to teach to kids. Even though learning to love yourself is WAY easier said then done, something about just putting him in a relationship and making it his 'happy ever after' just feels wrong to me. Gravity Falls definitely doesn't push this idea as hard as I've seen other media do it, but I can't help but be disappointed when a characters sadness is solved by just putting them into a romantic relationship and calling it a day
Interesting! I'm glad to hear your thoughts on this! That's a perspective I hadn't heard before. I do think that outcome is fine in this context, as Robbie's issue was that he couldn't get over Wendy, so magically forcing him to move on made sense for that story. That said, I totally agree with the notion that fiction does overemphasize the romance/friendships solve everything concept. I would love to see a story where a character starts off engaging with a lot of romance (maybe someone like Mabel), but then they grow and learn that you can be happy on your own, and not everyone is destined for such relationships. Great comment! Very interesting!
Honestly same. I always thought that the mind control was, dubious but that whole thing also bothered me. Like, he's really just gonna move onto someone else RIGHT after his last relationship ended badly?
I feel I offer a unique perspective on the whole Love God/free will debate. I don't love anyone in my life more than I love my grandma. She's the most caring person I know and essentially raised me. But when I recently came out as aromantic/asexual to her, she didn't really get it. She still wants me to someday find a man to fall in love with because she wants me to be happy. It's well meaning, but feels horrible for someone I trust so deeply to have such a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes me happy. Finding my aroace identity is the best thing to have happen to me. But if it were up to anyone else, my teenage angst and depression would be "cured" by me forcing myself into a romantic relationship. But I think true happiness comes from understanding what you really want, rather than settling for what others say will make you happy. It's funny timing how you posted this video with so much to say on this conflict as I'm having a conflict of my own. But the way the episode portrays free will by forcing two characters into a romantic relationship will always strike a personal nerve, even if I know the free will debate goes far beyond love.
Hey man, great video! But I think there’s more to Gideon as a character than you might think. Imagine being born into a world where you’re immediately made into your father’s “cute little mascot”. You had no choice in the matter because you were a baby who couldn’t vocalize or consent at all to this exposure to massive fame. You are exposed to intoxicating amounts of love and fame and have NEVER been told no in your entire life. You have everything and so this makes you a selfish and bitter human, but you weren’t always that way. So when Mabel says no, that’s the first time he ever had anyone say that to him; and it infuriates him. That’s how I see Gideon. I mean you can see this in the Globnar episode where Gideon is literally a newborn child on a billboard used to advertise Bud’s business. It’s a similar dilemma to these family channels. Gideon knows nothing but fame and power, and so he only ever wants more of it. Of course I do NOT condone his actions. He is a villain after all. But he isn’t “evil for no reason”. I do wish the writers would have delved into this more, but perhaps it’s a bit too heavy of a subject. And in my opinion, I find it a little disingenuous that you try to compare Giffany, an AI Tsundere who is designed to have an obsessive and over exaggerated love for the player, to Gideon: an actual child who was born into a world that he could not have said no to. I do understand that Giffany was sentient and her backstory is tragic, but at the end of the day she was still programmed to be obsessive. We even see in Journal 3 she is abusive towards Rumble MkScirmish. I mean her whole character is based off the anime tsundere archetype. Comparing the idea of her dying to an actual child living being strange is off to me. But I get where you’re coming from. I hope you’ll appreciate this constructive criticism of your analysis :) again I wanna say great video! Even if I disagree with a lot of what you say it’s so interesting to see what you have to say, and I do agree a lot with your complaints of Wendy’s characterization
I disagreed with just about everything you said but still enjoyed the video. It's a sign of a great show that people can take so many reads on its strengths, weaknesses, and intentions
These are some things I felt like saying. When it comes to -"tourist trapped"- "roadside attraction" I think it would've been better if, instead of focusing on love, it could focus on the relationship between Dipper, Mabel and her friends. They still go on a road trip but now Stan's sabotaging antics take place in the background and Zoos stays at the schack with Ford. This allows us to get more character depth for Grenda and Candy, while also showing a new character interraction between Ford and Zoos. Also if you're wondering how it would be between Zoos and Ford it would probably start with Ford being dissapointed that he's stuck with Zoos, but then coming to appreciate how genuienely dedicated and handy Zoos is... only to reveal at the end during the credits sequence with a shot of Zoos leaving the underground lab, Ford smiling as he leaves. Then when Zoos has left Ford's smile quickly dissapears as he checks the cupboard seeing "the rift" and seeing a crack. As the inside of the cupboard becomes pitch black (due to Ford closing the cupboard), only the rift and the crack are visible in the darkness. Showing that Ford still "trusts no one"... (seeing as he doesn't tell Zoos) Also kind of a small nitpick, but it feels weird that you gave "the bottomless pit" a plot of 1, just because of the cameo in "dreamscaperers", when so many other episodes have similar reccurences like (off the top of my head), "the land before swine", the dinosaur head comes back in the end and is the thing that pulls out Bill's eye, so without watching "the land before swine" you wouldn't know where that dinosaur just came from. 2:02:14 tbf its not like the unicorn only "just lied" to Mabel, let's go through what the unicorn did: - It lied to Mabel saying that it can see if someone is pure of heart, making Mabel think she's a horrible person and making her reconsider her life choices. - When the unicorn wakes up and reacts to Mabel holding the scissors its first reaction isn't to be scared, no its to tell her she's still a bad person, while Mabel knows she had nothing to do with this "stunt" the others pulled. - Then when its revealed the Unicorn lied the first thing the unicorn did was to gloat and tease Mabel, with the hair Mabel needs to "protect her familiy". So yeah I would be pretty pissed at the unicorn who is also (to put it midly), kind of a douche. Though i'm not saying its an appropriate reaction, just saying its an understandable reaction, with more depth than just "someone lying to her". Also I feel like the actual lesson Mabel learned was either "don't be too trusting" or "never meet your heroes" and not "morality is relative", where did that even come from? Also yeah Wendy and co. were bastardized. (writing before seeing the result of the poll) You're right that is a really fascinating concept, people losing free will, but humanity and by extension the World prospers. While the idea of getting world peace is great, the price of undermining humanity is something I don't like. Personally I prefer free will and feel everyone can figure it out in due to time. Though who knows, maybe we'll find out in the future that mind control is the only way to bring world peace. That still wouldn't change the fact that I personally prefer free will over world peace. Now that I have seen the result and heard what you said. While having all problems solved at the cost of "a little mind control" is nice and all to me it just feels "cheap" or like an "easy way out". This is probably due to the fact that I'm the type of person to "tough it out" no matter the cost, altough I have become a bit more lenient towards this mentality as too much has proven to be unnecessarily difficult.
Hello! My thoughts: -That's an interesting alternative version of Roadside Attraction! -I consider the plot gained from the Bottomless Pit existing to be more substantial than the dinosaurs existing, as the Bottomless Pit is the only thing that could specifically accomplish the goal set out in Dreamscaperers, while the T-Rex head was really just a decently cool, if optional, addition. I ultimately concluded that something minutely contributing to the Shacktron wasn't enough to qualify as "Plot" as that thing is just an amalgamation of references. I don't consider the dinosaurs to be any more significant than Rumble or the Gobblewonker or Larry King or the Multi-Bear. -I don't think the Unicorn lying, but also being mean about it, changes my point at all. It's still a gross overreaction. It would be like Mabel assaulting everyone who has ever said anything even vaguely mean to her. It's mad, and it contradicts her behavior in previous episodes, especially her interactions with Pacifica. -I can't tell if you're arguing with me and saying that the lesson wasn't "Morality is Relative," or if you're agreeing with me and saying that it makes no sense for her to call that the lesson she learned. -That's a valid perspective on the Free Will VS World Peace scenario! Personally I think the tens of millions of people who will be killed before we get anywhere close to world peace is too high a price to pay, but to each their own. x) Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and for watching the video! :D
@@JaruJaruJ thanks for the reply! My thoughts on your thoughts: - Thanks! (also just realized I accidentally wrote "Tourist Trapped" instead of "Roadside Attraction" ooops, I've now "fixed" it!) - I guess that makes sense, I just still feel like the pit is on the same scale as a neat reference to a past episode, that just so happened to serve more of purpose than most of the other memories sorrounding that part. - That's fair, I think I just got caught up in the semantics of your point feeling like it was just "because she lied", when there was a little more to it than that, altough perhaps not enough to warrant Mabel's reaction. - Apologies for the confusion, I agreed with you, while trying to spitball a better lesson than what the episode gave us (though I don't think there's any saving it). - Yeah that is a pretty steep price isn't it? definitely too high, but, and I know this sounds wrong, such is nature. This question of "do the means justify the ends?" sure is a goldmine for hot takes now isn't it? I think I'm gonna conclude with that statement before I say any other off the wall stuff.
haven't watched the video passed the intro yet but I loving the fact that all deltarune youtubers are making gravity falls videos too, the content variety is great. keep up the good work Jaru!
Using a magic potion that causes mind control which alters the emotions in someone's heart IS quite a bit different from a roofie. I'm not budging on that one. xD
Another Jaru Banger. I’ve never even watched this show lol and yet I watched this whole video. I find your morality discussions very interesting. Especially during the love god episode. I personally value free will above all mostly for stubborn reasons lol but I do think it is more satisfying for someone to choose to walk the way of good rather than being forced too. Obviously that’s unrealistic for everyone but if someone chooses to do horrible things that’s their own bad choices and we can learn a lot from watching bad things play out.
@@JaruJaruJ have you thought the reason why the sight of stan's headless statue makes him cry is not because he is a narcissist but because it reminds him of his twin brother.
@@vol94 It's fine to read that into this episode. But the episode does next-to-nothing to suggest that's what's going through his head. I expressly say as much in my review of the episode.
1. Its nice to see analysis from a story teller's perspective. 2. For morality I always saw Dipper as someone who chose head over heart and Mabel heart over head. So, when Dipper did something morally grey related to wendy, even if messed up, I saw it as a choice made an emotionally immature 12 year old, though the season 2 choices made by him felt more on the side of logic over heart, which makes sense as not being appealing to you, seeing as you choose heart over head. 3. Finally someone who gets dipper and Mabel's flaws correctly, along with their strengths and sees them as flawed characters yet doesn't hate them. 4. I do agree they wrote Mabel character poorly by the end. I always viewed mabel as a bizarre yet good person, balancing herless moral twin, so rewatching a few scenes did make it feel wrong, even at times making her fall in my eyes. Also I think the Mabel hate started before sock opera even came, so the rest of S2 might have been influenced by that. There's a lost legends comic too, theres a voice dub on UA-cam if you don't know about it. 5. Love god and the Stanchurian candidate both deal with mind control for the 'greater good'. 6. For your 'free will vs world peace' question, I think there should be a mix of both. Taking someone's free will might take away a core part of who they are, not allowing any growth and giving all free will is of course leading to a disaster. Just because I know how to live my life the best doesn't mean I get to choose someone else's but I could always nudge them in the right direction, if you catch my drift. There's actually an mlp comic revolving around it. Due to magic, discord (god of chaos) becomes the total opposite, accord. I recommend reading it. 7.I think love god could have been improved by giving Robbie and tambry a platonic relationship. Maybe have the friend group's mood being soured after encountering Robbie and tambry being mad at each other due to the love potion wearing off sooner than expected and having everyone reconcile like in canon but Robbie and tambry having a platonic relationship as their own choice.
Thank you very much for the kind words and for sharing your thoughts! I mostly agree with everything you said here, and your thoughts on free will vs world peace were interesting! Thank you again for watching! :D
I'm leaving a lot of comments, but that plot about Wendy doing crime and Stan talking to her about it was actually similar to an idea Alex Hirsch mentioned in the directors commentary. Wendy was going to be caught shoplifting from the shack by Stan and instead of getting mad, they'd team up to steal something (I think it was going to be the B plot to Soos and the Real Girl, so the badger animatronic) and have them thrown in jail, where Stan basically takes all the blame for the crime and lets Wendy go free since he's been in jail so many times already anyway (this is all according to my memory, so parts may be wrong)
tyson is a real scientist who has credentials but he is also a TV scientist who focuses on providing general knowledge to public so it makes sense he would be on a TV show
If I had a nickel for every time a big deltarune-dedicated channel decided to do a Gravity Falls video out of the blue to my excited glee, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but its weird it happened twice, right?
* Having never watched or heard of this show, I can in fact agree that this is a full series retrospective where all the episodes are ranked. * Edit: One year and 4 months after this comment was posted, having now heard of AND watched this show and immediately being obsessed with it, I can still confirm this is a full series retrospective where all the episodes are ranked.
Enjoyable video, and gotta say yeah Wendy feels like a side-character more then anything really xP It was nice watching a video of the show that was more critical cause most the time you'll find videos praising the show all the time, gotta remember that it isn't quite perfect. Makes me wonder if you'll make a video in the future about writing advice or something similar to that. I know this video probably won't get anywhere close to the amount of views on your deltarune videos, but I think you did a good job on it!
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, I don't expect it to do well in terms of views, but it was a passion project, and diversifying one's content has to begin somewhere. As long as the people who did watch it had a good time, I'm content with that. x)
Ngl prob not for everyone but the joke at the end of dungeons dungeons and more dungeons was so funny 🤣 i dont play dnd tho so i dont have too much of a viewpoint here.
You brought up great points about The Last Mabelcorn that I never considered, but I do want to play some devil's advocate for the story. I do agree, on second thought the girls deciding to do the immoral thing does read as really weird, and particularly subverts the points you brought up with Mabel being the "heart" of the show when she proceeds to violently beat someone up. And I never realized the double standard with the love potion episode. But when I first watched The Last Mabelcorn, I didn't interpret Mabel's "morality is subjective" line as the ACTUAL intended moral, but rather as a one-off joke to close the episode off. Instead, the moral I took away--the moral that I still think the episode is trying to convey, even after all these years--is that you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself to be a good person. Mabel was stressing herself out trying to be Pure Of Heart, and it was seriously taking a toll on her every time the unicorn said that she wasn't. She was NEVER going to meet the standard of "Pure Of Heart" that the unicorn was trying to hold her to--mostly because the unicorn wasn't ACTUALLY interested in Mabel being a good person, and was only stringing her along for... amusement? I assume? The moral I took away was that you shouldn't put so much pressure on yourself to meet some vague standard that other people hold you to. Especially because, more often than not, the people putting that standard on you are never going to think you're good enough. That being said, I do think the beatdown at the end was a bit much for this moral. The episode should've ended with Mabel being like "screw you, I don't care about your standards, because I know I'm good even if I'm not Pure Of Heart." Then she could've convinced the other girls to stop all the crazy stuff they were doing. And if we still needed the unicorn hair for future plot reasons, maybe we could have had one of the other unicorns be less of a jerk who was impressed by the way Mabel stood up for herself and willingly handed over the hair.
I feel like if Stan actually didn’t gain back his memories then it would’ve been so depressing. Even though it would have made a way bigger impact it would’ve been too depressing to see the greatest character in gravity falls die. It would’ve also overshadowed the dipper and Mabel growing up arc.
Damn bro I'm almost done with the series I need to finish but I promise I will return and watch this also it'll be interesting because I've hardly ever seen anything negative about the series at all so seeing you rank them will be interesting, can't wait. Greatest animated series of all time
The fact that i can watch a 3+ hours long video about a cartoon i never watched multiple times just because it's Jaru to talk about it really makes me realized how awesome he is
Denying people the ability to commit violence would require a very intimate and thorough understanding of what violence and harm is and how to define it. THere's so many scenarios where that could really horribly backfire. So nay on the mind control.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I think subtle violence being left unchecked while explicit violence is made impossible would still be a better reality than the current reality in which both forms of violence exist unchecked. But that's just my opinion. Thank you for watching!
Dipper lied about being 13, he is actually 12 and while a 3 year gap may not seem that much different than 2….the difference between a mature 15yo girl and a prepubescent 12yo boy is actually massive.
For Roadside Attraction. I would've had the relationship plot be with Pacifica instead of Candy. Considering based on the comics/novels. The writers really seem to like Dipper and Pacifica as a pairing despite never using it other than the one time.
On the giffany section, while I think she would’ve been a cool character, I don’t think she was redeemable. She’s a cursed object type, she would’ve only remained as a carry over villain most likely, she has no more depth than the golf ball characters. In fact the characters truly given the most depth in this show are genuinely Stan and ford. They’re the only characters in the entire show that get proper background information. I think Gideon’s arc was that he didn’t care about others, and then went to prison and learned to care, which in the end shows him maybe if he cares about Mable over his love for her, than in a way, that’s still his love for her. Idk it’s a good point you make but I feel like any of the villains in this show could’ve been reoccurring or helpful.
Yeah, Gideon siding with the good guys at the last moment really came out of left field and wasn’t believable at all considering how one dimensionally evil he was in every other episode.
23:40 my hot take is that Mabel is underdeveloped, especially compared to Dipper. Like, they’re supposed to both be the main character of the show, but Dipper gets SO MUCH more development and complexity than Mabel throughout the show, and Dipper is generally just the focus of more episodes. Mabel deserved better!!!!
Personally i think keeping wendy's family situation a secret is one of the best decisions (not specifically that is was wendy's mind you) the core of gravity falls is the mystery, and how everyone peiced things together in different ways, of course since the show is over there isn't any room for that anymore, we know what theories turned out true and what didn't, But keeping a main character's family a secret, especially when it's important enough for one of the memebers to become a vengful spirit caple of changing people's matter on the fly, allows for there to still be theories and discussions to this day outside people speculating on what would happen if the series continued. To me at least it was pretty clear thay wendy does everything in her power to stay away from her family, her dad is clumbsy and destructive, her brother e courage unnecessary voilence, and her mom is greatly implied to be gone, and basically confirmed in the society of the blind eye when everyone is about to get their minds erased she mutters "i miss my mom so much" There's a really cool video called "the yellow ribbon theory" on wendy's mom Also stress doesnt necessarily mean anxious Of course the lack of info on her family combined with her lack of everything else is where the problem arrises. As for paper jam dipper i see where you're coming from, but with the part where they try to feed him and are unable to is due to him not fully leaving paper form not being incompetent, and for his death, if someone else said he was better of dead then what you said would defiently be true, but since paper jam dipper himself said it theres nothing wrong with it, "the sweet release of death" is something stan mentions too, i see nothing problematic with a character born into a miserable existance accepting or embracing their death. On your scale of good to bad on characters ford should actually the most evil; ford had absolutely no justification for abandoning their original dream, and chose to keep the instructions of destroying the universe in the world just because he worked hard on it, Even if we go the legality route according to the offical physical journals and one of the comics (both of which i believe are stated to be canon) ford is said to have commited infinitely more crimes in thosands of dimensions than the amount of crimes stanley has commited on earth As for "morality is relative" it's true with context, they are trying to create a barrier that is completely immune to the weirdmageddon, creating a place where everyone could be safe as long as there was enough room, even if the unicorn was a completely innocent person its a small price to pay for safety against the apocalypse. Finally, your free will debate. In the case of murder you are absolutely correct, murder is already obstruction of free will, taking a life completely destroys that person's ability to choose anything. As for violence and and conflict as a whole, reality would lose all meaning if everyone unanimously agreed on everything, the freedom to choose is what makes life matter. Over all defiently an eyeopener of a video.
32:11 STANFORD had a decent relationship with Shermie. STANLEY died in a car crash. Their mother unfortunately probably thinks Stan is dead. Edit: I also think that at 34:03 when Stanley has a funeral that it’s for himself, not Ford, because he either never got one or no one came.
@@JaruJaruJ as the eldest of 5 children, i use it frequently since i originally watched the show with my younger siblings, and its just become how i tell them to move their butts out of my spot
Re: The Inconveniencing -- "Some of these gags are hilarious!" spoken over the image of Mabel riding the flying fantasy dolphin ("Onward, Aoshima!") is perfect. That bit and the Duchess Approves make the episode for me. I confess my deep affection for Mabel and admiration for Pacifica blinded me to the series' shortcomings where the writing of the other female characters is concerned. That's a legitimate criticism. It doesn't diminish my love for the show, but it does make me sad for what might have been. (Thankfully, the show's spiritual offspring, The Owl House, does MUCH better in this regard, IMO.) Re: Giffany -- perhaps SHE should serve as a kind of mentor to Mabel, considering that the desire for romantic love drives both characters. Also, with Mabel being the heart of the show, Giffany's interaction with her could be the key to her redemption. Re: The Deep End -- I politely disagree that Mabel's relationship with Mermando has no more substance than all her other summer romances. It's the only one in which Mabel's affections are requited. Plus, it gives Mabel a chance to be her best self, in that she chooses to return him to the ocean even though that means they can't be together, showing her as both heroic and selfless. I'd give the episode one additional Relationships point due to this. Re: Fight Fighters -- I think I enjoyed the Mabel/Stan B plot more than you did -- "That's why I own ten guns, in case some maniac tries to sneak in a ladder" is an awesome line, IMO -- but your suggestion of the alternative B plot is the absolute BEST, and it breaks my heart a little that the show didn't go in this direction.
The free will example is a really interesting thought experiment. I respect your view, but vehemently disagree with the idea. I believe rules, laws, and regulations are to protect and enforce free will, not take them away. The scenario in your post however, was so tempting that I would likely take the Genie's opportunity. However, the reason why I don't believe it to be the morally correct choice, and more importantly, not possible. The reason why free will is so important is BECAUSE we can't use genies. Its because humans are unfit to force others to give their free will. Even with laws, they are to protect free will. Murder is illegal because human life is freedom. Humanity without freewill isn't humanity. Imagine not being free. Not being free to think your own thoughts, say your own beliefs, see your own sights. You would be nothing more than an ameba. I prefer to die in an awful painful long horrific death as myself, than live as a non-sapient being. To be free is to be human. To have your freedom forced away from you to be treated less than human. Freedom and safety are not different choices. Freedom IS safety. But even as I type out this long rant, I still see the genie's offer, and want to accept. But the genie can never be real. The closest thing would be God or a man, and most death is caused by men who seek godhood. Tyrants are born through forcing others to not be free. Its why things like democracy are so important, because free will is humanity, and to not have lawmaking be a practice that incorporates free will is inhuman. And yet still, after this pitiful drawn out gasp I write down, the genie is so tempting. This question is so hard to answer for me because I love the idea of a world without violence, but a world with free will is a world that I'd rather die than be in. And thats assuming that the violence the genie speaks of is applicable to all evil actions. Is stalking violence? Is harassment violence? Is arresting or handcuffing someone a violent act? Would it include emotional pain? If I was being harassed by a stalker, having my life by controled by a stranger, could I use violence as retaliation? Could they even be arrested or is tackling them to cuff them a violent act? The laws he have to protect the free will we so crave, gone to dust? Ive been questioning this, for like 30-40 minutes, and I just expected to watch a Gravity Falls video. Even then I feel as if the question is irrelevant to the topic at hand. This isn't about violence, its about love! And love is something that should always be a choice. It should never be forced, only choosen. In the events of the episode, I absolutely think Mabel is in the wrong, same as Love god. If I were to answer the genie, I probably wouldn't choose the deal, as even worse consequences could arise, but the question is undeniably intriguing. Thank you for the interesting thought, but also please don't make me has another moral dilemma for 40 minutes please. I'm gonna watch the rest of this video now.
Quick pinned comment: I was not comparing the LGBT with the DND community. I was pointing out that blind and ignorant discrimination is harmful towards any group. I was not implying that DND fans have somehow suffered more than the LGBT. Just wanted to clarify that for any future irate commenters who’ve gotten the wrong idea.
amazing vid jaru
0:00-42:00-3:14:50 lol ❤😂😊😊! Watching the tv show on ❤😂😊😬😱🕛🔜😂👍
@@liamshaughnessy6246 what
implying that the LGBT and DND community are separate /j
I definitely think the execution of the comparison could be a lot better. The comparison is not prefaced nor elaborated on enough to get the intended point across, especially since the tones intention is somewhat alien to non-dnd players, yet is also not left vague enough to give plausible denyability so that you wouldn't need to have to elaborate in this comment here. It was a potentially volatile comparison to make, and
you could've accounted for it better instead of having to write this now after people have gotten upset.
God the idea of Dipper freaking out at Mabel and basically telling her she’s “just as horrible as Stan” is such an incredible idea
Thank you so much! Glad you liked it!
I wish he would have screamed at her like he did at Stan in not what he seems it would make Mable seem like more of a victim and less of a villan the show wants u to think
You’re absolutely right that GF’s problem with female characters was an accident. Alex Hirsch has said many times that he and the team tried to make a Wendy episode but every single time they just couldn’t find a conflict or hook that fit because Wendy was just too chill and cool
Makes sense.
@@JaruJaruJ Also the Last Mablecorn being about Wendy and weather powers is true, he said it in the director's commentary iirc
Ford confirmed that in Wierdmaggedon 3
immovable force
The implication that the pool kid in solitary was there for the whole summer means he was in there through the entirety of weirdmageddon, which makes the joke even funnier
Oh the implications of *that!*
One thing I have to say about this when I’m barely an hour in, let a one off villain be a one off villain. No, not every villain or bad guy needs to return. Sometimes they can just show up in an episode, be defeated and we move onto other bad guys. Summerween trickster wouldn’t make sense showing up in any other context, I don’t know why anyone would want to see them again. Giffany didn’t need to be redeemed. She served her purpose for the plot and didn’t need to do anything else, I don’t know how else she could’ve served the plot in any meaningful way. Just let a one off villain be a one off villain, simple as that.
100% agreed
As much as a cop-out it was to restore Stan's memories, I genuinely think it was a 100% necessary thing to happen for the finale to be satisfying. I mean, without it, the scene where Dipper and Mabel go on the bus and Stan says goodbye would've been waaaaay less emotionally resonant without the person who made the single biggest impact on their lives that summer present. And Stan finally getting to go on world-sailing adventures with his brother like he always dreamed of is such a perfect way to end his story in the show that if they wiped his memory, that plot point would've hit way less hard than if he was essentially some random guy who was only really Ford's brother by blood but who was a completely different person. Everyone critiques that he just gets his memory back, and while it does feel like a cop out, this is the one "shortcoming" of the series I will wholeheartedly defend because the entire ending of the show depends on the fact that Stan is present and himself. Originally there was going to be an entire episode after Weirdmaggedon 3 dedicated to Stan getting his memory back, but they could never crack it, and they also decided that pacing-wise it wouldn't really make sense since Weirdmaggedon 3 is so obviously a finale. If they could've added another 5 or 10 minutes to the episode to dedicate to getting Stan's memories back, or did it in a different way, it would've been better, but having it not happen is just not an option in my opinion. And while your take on grudges is an interesting way to take it, and I respect that opinion, I just can't agree.
sorry if all my comments are getting annoying lol I just have a lot of things to say about Gravity Falls lol
I can respect that perspective. I think it's a catch-22 though. If you undo the sacrifice, then the beautiful emotional moment of Stanley's death is ruined. If you keep the sacrifice, then the emotional farewell is ruined. Personally, I think the emotional farewell isn't as important as the sacrifice and moral about grudges, but of course to each their own. x)
I agree with both of you in some ways. Movies and TV have taught me that a loss of memories do not equal a loss of emotion. Take Spider-Man no way home for example Peter decided to erase his friends memories to keep them safe, but in the end, as he is trying to re-introduce himself to MJ, you can see that although she doesn’t recognize him there is still an an emotional response to him. Doing something like this in the final episode would’ve been more impactful. Having Stan slowly regain his memories starting from the time he was a child. That still would’ve made it possible for him to give up control of the shack and travel with Ford around the world as Ford helps him regain all his memories and fulfills his childhood dreams. I also think, having Stan not completely remember the twins, but still have a powerful emotional bond with them would’ve made the ending just as beautiful because they would have known that eventually their grunkle would return to them leaving their future open ended and hopeful.
Sorry if this is long or if it doesn’t make sense that’s just how I interpret it!!
@@Maria-yy6et heya
This reply is a month late, and it’s a wall of text, but I feel like they could’ve given a compromise. Maybe make it so that Ford says something along the lines of “We could still save him while the memory erasure is fresh, although he won’t ever be the same for a long time. This process could potentially take years even!” And make it so that he only really remembers the core characters (Dipper, Mabel, Ford, and maybe Soos and Wendy). That way, it feels right with him at the farewell. In addition to that, if it takes years to reverse his sacrifice, then it could be a clever parallel between Ford trying to remind Stan of his past self and Stan trying to bring back Ford. Also, it could be fun for Stan to get a second chance in a lot of scenarios where he caused problems for people.
@@Gemini-Lion I agree with that
"But just a reminder, you typically don't want heroes to give permanent brain damage to people"
Batman
@@mrepicgamer42o87 This made me choke on my own spit.
@@mrepicgamer42o87i am going to randomly reply with “batman” under peoples comments
I think the weakest aspect of the show is that after revealing the author, barely anything is done with it, when a huge status quo change like that would be such a big opportunity to do some new stuff but it just… doesn’t
True, true. Ford is generally squandered by the show on weak episodes and cameo appearances, which is a shame.
@@JaruJaruJ there good episodes that focus on that like: dungeon dungeons and more dungeons and the last mabercorn
@@JaruJaruJI wish Ford had gotten at least one sole episode focused on him tbh
Like maybe his struggles to fit in the formed family and feeling like a stranger, intruder, into someone else's home. Like him watching from afar how Stan interacts with twins and realizing... That he's kind of intervening with their usual family dynamic.
I just wish he had more relationships with Stan and Mabel on screen:')
While I can absolutely understand all of your criticism on the d&d episode, I wanted to share how I saw it as well. Me and my family all love d&d, to the point where we would have weekly d&d sessions, with everyone from my cousins to my grandma playing, and we thought this episode was really funny. To us, it came across more as making jokes about how people who don't understand d&d think d&d is, rather than saying what it's actually like, and I definitely took what Durland said at the end as not being a serious statement, but more just for the absurdity of "Oh, this guy who usually says random funny one-liners goes on an entire monologue, just to then say he's a fortress." That's just how I saw it though, I can absolutely understand disliking it as well.
I strongly agree with you on that
Compare this episode to the episode of Dexter's Laboratory in which his sister Dee-Dee takes over as GM for a session of D&D with him and his friends. Despite Dee-Dee's silliness and sweetness, she ends up running a much better campaign than her brother did-- But I think the difference is that the writers who did that episode of Dexter- and this is the important point- REALLY LOVED THE GAME. I think it shows. You can't properly spoof or satirize a story that you don't really love. (Another example; if you watch Mel Brooks' "Robin Hood" movie, all the bits that spoof the new Kevin Costner version are really quite flat, but those parts that poke fun of the Errol Flynn version are brilliant. It comes down to love for, and familiarity with, the subject.)
genuinely fantastic. i don't agree with everything you said, obviously, but there's a lot of stuff in here that i think is amazing. i never even realized how lackluster wendy was throughout the story, just as an example. it never even occurred to me, and seeing it laid out like this was really eye opening.
Thank you very much! :D
exactly my thoughts
Damn, now I want to see this alternate timeline's version of gravity falls. I also really do appreciate you pointing out the flaws in the show, some of which I was aware of and others I wasn't. It's so interesting to see genuine critiques of such a universally loved and praised show. Gravity Falls has always been one of my favorite shows, and while its number one spot has been taken by Amphibia in the past couple years, the show still holds a very special place in my heart. Thank you for making such a thought-provoking critique of this amazing show.
It was absolutely my pleasure! I'm super happy to hear you enjoyed it and found it interesting! :D
It actually makes me sad how underrated you are, your videos are great and you definitely deserve more recognition.
You're far too kind! I'm just glad folks like you are enjoying it. x)
I just realized there's only 6500 views ?? like what ?? A 3 hours long video analyzing AN ENTIRE SHOW has only 6500 total views while some of the shorter 10 min videos have 35k ? bruh
@@MatheoZ14 It's actually BECAUSE of It's length that it's so unpopular. It is too long, such a long video comes across as intimidating to anyone who isn't a hardcore Gravity Falls fan. I put off this video for a while just because of what a huge time sink it seemed, and even now that I'm watching it I'm just nibbling at it in bite sized chunks. It's also outside of his target demographic, so that doesn't help.
Always felt that headhunters had little impact on first watch, yet actually shows a lot on rewatches. Stan having the "perfect twin" he never had rather than Ford with whom he often fought, and not to mention their separation (which must have left Stan scarred for years as he tries to get his brother back) is interesting to me. I'd say it makes complete sense how Stan would be so overreactive of his wax counterpart. The death of wax Stan must have triggered trauma for him, and, at least to me, his behaviour during this episode is pretty understandable if you keep stands relationship with ford in mind.
i agree
i also agree because this is one of those episodes alongside gobblewonker (where stan wants to go fishing with the kids with a written “stanowar” on his boat) where its sad and heartbreaking to rewatch knowing the full context of his missing twin
your comments on Wendy’s anxiety as a potential character trait and plot threads has instantly become a head canon for me. incredible brainstorming and in 5 minutes you’ve deepened the character in such a meaningful and relatable way better than the writers did in the entire show. thank you for making wendy a better character and a form of representation in my own headcanon
My pleasure! I'm glad you enjoyed! :D
the “forgettable” comment on the pterodactyl episode obviously mean you weren’t as attracted to stan as we were
I think the issue with Mabel having a mentor figure is that it would make grunkle stan somewhat irrelevant and if anything stan and said figure would possibly end up in a relationship, which is another thing I think the show writers wanted to avoid.
Fair point. The issue is that Stan and Mabel are on opposite ends of the morality spectrum, and so stories where they'd come together over their shared talents just don't generate naturally.
Wendy was my third favorite character, yet I found myself agreeing with all your problems with the character. As it stands I suppose her character comes down to whether you found her cool or not. I'm thinking my biggest reason for liking her is that she has a similar color pallet to Frankie Foster from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, thus causing some primordial reaction in my late teen brain to make me instantly like her. Otherwise idk, I thought she was cool, I guess.
Totally valid! I'm glad you could find the video enjoyable despite me going after Wendy so hard. I really did want to like her! She's definitely got a lot of cool potential, for sure.
Thank you Jaru. Thank you for fueling my strange need for 3-hour ranking and explanation videos. Sincerely, thank you.
for the critique of the found family thing i argue against that, soos is a feeling type of dude who is heart first into a lotta subjects. he has very little reservations about anything, he takes pain as fast as he takes love. it makes perfect sense he'd feel that way and express it.
also it's very, very minor but the d&d episode was super fun. it's a play on not the new ttrpg stuff but the crazy ass shit that came out in the yonder years of the 80's. ad&d sure but as well stuff like cyberpunk red, west end games star wars. have you tried playing some of the old ad&d stuff and remembering that strength at 18 goes into percentile and ONLY strength?
This retrospective on Gravity Falls is an absolute gem! It's evident how much love and passion you have for the show, as I do. Your analysis and ranking of each episode added a new layer of appreciation for one of my favorite series. By the way, have you ever considered making a video about the Undertale alarm clock dialogue? It would be fascinating to hear your insights on that because I can't find many theories about it. Keep up the fantastic work, and I can't wait to see what you create next!
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed! And sure, I might do a video on the Alarm Clock dialogue sometime! I'll add it to the list of potential video ideas. Thanks for supporting me and my content! :D
just found your channel a week ago after playing deltarune for the first time.
now you're analyzing one of the best story driven cartoons of a generation and i couldn't be happier that i subbed ❤
time to strap in for this one!
thank you so much for getting upset at wendys writing! i love her basic idea so much, and i wish she was more than just a cardboard cutout. i just wanted one episode where shes the focus, but we didnt get anything
also, i think giffany could just be vibing on a computer or something. hanging out with my dorks, working with ford on tech... i like that idea a lot. great vid, jaru!
Thank you very much!
I like the concept of Dipper of getting angry at Mabel for *seemingly* wanting to selfishly hold him back, just as Ford accused of Stan, but I’m not sure the fatal flaw is coldness or lack of empathy so much as it is a desire for self-grandiosity and also the reoccurring trust issues.
Dipper’s mistrust of Stan in NWHS is built up so strongly and then gets immediately resolved with a quick apology. We get an echo of it in Mabelcorn when Dipper thinks he can’t trust Ford and nearly attempts to erase him, and then Dipper seemingly never struggles with huge trust issues (between family) again. I feel like bringing that back a third time and making Dipper believe in the moment that he can’t trust Mabel would be an ever deeper parallel to Ford, and the fear and hurt would cause him to lash out or say/do something very rash. Maybe Mabel says something in their argument that is something similar Stanley says, and that caused Dipper to think that Stanley is manipulating Mabel into creating a rift between them (or maybe he comes to believe Bill has been talking to Mabel, or any other variety of situation).
It would be sympathetic while still incredibly flawed, though just because Dipper is the intelligent one doesn’t mean he doesn’t have incredibly emotional moments too. I think it would be more natural to his character as Dipper’s struggles with suspicion and paranoia don’t ever really come to a conclusion. In Weirdmaggedon Part 2 this could be rechallenged in a situation where Mabel provides 0 reason for Dipper to trust her or no sign that he should believe in her to make the right choice, but in a moment of danger Dipper chooses to let go of his logic and blindly trust Mabel anyway.
I love seeing your criticism because it’s very story based- I can tell you are a story writer lol 💕💜
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed! :D
@@JaruJaruJ Always enjoy your content 💜
Bruh gave Summerween a 2 in comedy. Literally the episode with the most classic gags. Stan and the kids are also hilarious, why you hating? The first 90 seconds is the best opener the show has to offer in regards to comedy. Past that, Gorny is twuamatized. Lazy Suzan getting all the costume names wrong. Soos saying "I ate a man alive tonight", Homework: the Candy. I can go on with the amount of top-tier jokes. The biker tearing up, Toby's "That's just my face", MCGUCKET, not s&p approved, Gorny getting eaten, the low-budget alien film they watch for four seconds.... yeah, top-tier. Deserves a 5/5 in comedy. You made some good critiques on the structure of the episode though.
Honestly with how plot relevant Northwest Family Manor is, they easily could’ve made it a two parter and involved Wendy in it
When hearing about the legend, Dipper takes great note of the fact the ghost has the exact same last name as his friend Wendy, and so enlists her help to try and calm down the spirit since they’re family. Likely the attempt wouldn’t be successful, but it’d still give Wendy some room to grow and maybe even cause some tension between her and Pacifica, not because of Dipper, but because Wendy now learns that her ancestor died at the ignorant hands of a lineage of thieves that, while Pacifica is distancing herself from them, is still a part of
I think the Comedy-Plot-Relationships scoring system might not be the best; there are more aspects to each episode you could consider (like how Summerween scored so low, and fairly so, but at least it was fun, y'know?)
It's effective enough for expressing the aspects of the show that I enjoyed.
I LOVED your idea for improving Dipper and Mabel's relationship stuff at the end, that would truly be amazing
@@JaruJaruJ I agree, if the scores did match your overall rating then it doesn't really matter
@@Zyxdee Thanks!
Solo episodes were unfairly negatively weighted too
Never expected this from you but I'm so hyped to watch a three hour retrospective to one of my favorite shows from the funny Deltarune theories guy! I personally love how in-depth you get with these long analysis videos
Thank you! I hope you enjoy this! I worked very hard on it. x)
A debate over whether free will or happiness is more important is NOT what I expected from a Gravity Falls analysis video but it is very appreciated. I love how philosophical you get in your videos.
Thank you!
After rewatching gravity falls I never appreciated how good it actually is, even the episodes I would rank at the bottom I still really liked them overall, imo it's a show with no bad episodes. I do wonder if bringing stans memories back was a good idea but it lets the ending be nice and emotional instead of feeling off in some way, also wonder if Stan getting his memories back would bring back bill in some way. Good video though I agree with all your criticisms you had with the episodes.
“Pacifica Northwest is actually my favourite character.”
-ohhhh he’s gonna rate Northwest Manor so high isn’t he-
You've been KERPRANKED! XD
@@JaruJaruJ I actually got replied to! Hahaha :D
BRO BEFORE YOU SAID 39 I LITTERALLY THOUGHT: "Summerween is a good episode, theres no way he's gonna dislike it."
LOL
Also the Lumberjack ghost named Archerbald Corduroy is Wendy's ancestor and in the journal Dipper mentioned that in her house was a picture if him when he was alive but in the show Wendy doesn't bring him up also the zombies in Scary Okey are his lumberjack friends after they died in the same mudslide
I was originally going to disagree with you about the D&D parody episode, but now I agree it could’ve handled its jokes better.
Ford’s face when he says “Princess Unattainabelle” is still fabulous though, lol.
Bro literally talked about legend of the gobblewanker without mentioning
“My ex-wife still misses me”
“BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER”
…
“BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER”
Okay while I agree with some of your points I frankly think docking points for an episode not having a bunch of lore is kinda stupid, that's not what Gravity Falls is about, it's character focused with the mystery being something fun for future rewatches, if every episode was focused on the lore then it wouldn't be Gravity Falls, It'd be the Stan Show Starring Stan and every episode is just him trying to figure out how to rebuild the portal, and that show would be piss boring tbh
Also heavily disagree with your read of Love God, obviously it's not going to be a 1:1 to drugging someone it's a disney show, doesn't get rid of the fucked up implications because Mabel in all effect did Drug Robbie and Tambry, just because it's magic and they eventually retcon it in third party materials to only be temporary doesn't stop that, all you'd need to make it work is an off hand line from Live God saying "oh yeah I broke that like, an hour ago, they're just like that I guess" and it'd be fine but that never happened.
It's a good video overall but you have a lot of critical blindspots to work through before you make something truly great
This is a perfect comment
I love that Jaru gives Robbie the credit he deserves, he’s probably one of the only NORMAL characters in the show.
He's underrated!
Bro had a melt down when a cartoon show made fun of dnd. Like bro being able to laugh at your hobbies is half the battle when it comes to being confident about them.
Didn't have a meltdown. I simply became aware of the ignorant and harmful rhetoric used in this episode and called it out accordingly. And there's a huge world of difference between being able to laugh at my hobbies in a good-natured way, and being targeted with hateful mockery that mischaracterizes everyone who partakes in that hobby. The people who made this episode weren't members of the community and weren't poking fun in a good-natured way. They were ruthlessly insulting a group of people they don't understand. It's not an issue of me being too sensitive. It's an issue of the writers doing a bad job and being appropriately critiqued for it.
@JaruJaruJ you did not appropriately critique, you equated a hobby which is a choice with sexuality that isnt
@@comixquinn5031that’s exactly what lost me during his whole rant… what does dnd and an historically oppressed community have in common…at all? it’s super weird to compare or bring up, and made me take his point way less serious
@@comixquinn5031 I wasn't comparing them at all. I was pointing out that for a man who should have experience with empathy towards downtrodden groups, his kindness rather abruptly ran out when faced with a group who was less popular to treat well.
@@JaruJaruJ downtrodden? It's a hobby. Grow up and admit to your shitty behavior instead of trying to justify it.
glad to see jaru branching out a little though i do LOVE his deltarune videos also happy to see him saying dubious again
so glad to know sock opera is so beloved by most of the fans, it's always been my favorite episode
It's quite good!
Summerween at 39 is absolutely insane
agree
Ok as a teenager doing finals, I respect wendys desire. It kinda fits with the whole anxiety thing. Sometimes I wish I could to dumb teenager stuff without any consequences
Hell yeah, solid solid critique. I disagreed with a few things but I'm not important lol. What's important is that Gravity Falls is one of the greatest stories ever told and you did it an honor. Also I'm so sorry for taking three months to get to it lmao
No worries! I’m glad you enjoyed!
Finally made it to the end of the video. I was not one of the fortunate ones who got to watch gravity falls growing up, or when it was still being released, but I absolutely oved getting to binge it as an adult, and I found this video very interesting, and it gave me more insight, both into the show itself, and the characters as a whole, giving me different things to think about that I would have never thought about before. ☺
That's awesome! I'm glad I could provide that for you. x)
You said that Wendy never had conflict with another core character but in Boss Mabel she has conflict with Mabel. This doesn’t have many lasting effects but it is a conflict from her flaws with a main character.
That's why I said her punk activities were a superficial flaw that don't actually lead to any sort of substantial character conflict. Emphasis on substantial. Wendy is a plot device in that story; acting as a generic teen obstacle for Mabel to overcome. It has no effect on Mabel and Wendy's relationship and is given no focus or depth. It's not comparable to any of the proper relationship stories. It's not even on the same level as the conflicts we see in Land Before Swine. Those conflicts actually reflected on the specific relationships of the characters and ultimately developed those relationships in small ways. I won't ramble further than that though. Thank you for the comment! That was a fair counterargument to make. x)
I'm surprised you didn't notice the often-cited purpose of Abaconings as a foreshadowing of Stanley and Stanford's relationship. I also personally reject the idea that LGSOH as a whole is noncanon - the stories themselves, certainly, sure, but much like The Bottomless Pit, I take the frame story as canon. (I think the writers have likely said otherwise? But I don't really trust that, lol, I think they're just trying to do damage control for Stan being an evil enough character to just kidnap/maybe murder a random traveler.)
You saying NWHS wins "by a landslide" is just so true. Like I could talk for hours and hours about just that episode and everything surrounding and leading up to it because it is just. that. good. While Weirdmaggedon 3 was the finale of the overall plot, NWHS was the finale to the overall MYSTERY of the series, which was what I, the 10 year old who LOVED watching theory videos and code cracking videos and analysis videos etc. was SLIGHTLY more invested in. NWHS was such a cultural reset and a "you had to be there" moment because GOD it was just so satisfying. That climactic scene NEVER fails to make me tear up because it is just so powerful and well written. The fact that the name of the episode is the source of so many theories because the cipher wheel has a code that says "Stan is not what he seems" on it such a perfect name. You really TRULY get set up to believe Stan is actually evil but the fact that Alex's performance as Stan is so good you can understand WHY Mabel trusts Stan enough to let the countdown finish despite all logic is truly mind blowing.
I'm going to stop this comment here because if I don't I'll have an entire essay in the comments but... god, I really think Stan is objectively the BEST character on Gravity Falls. He embodies everything great about Gravity Falls. He's not my personal favourite, that would be Bill, but... he's just so good.
Couldn't agree more!
Jaru talking about one of my favorite shows wasn't what I expected for today, but it's more than welcome :)
What an amazing video it really shows not only how much you love this show but writing in general. I really love how you suggest how your critiques could of been solved in the show; it really sets you apart from other media analysis videos I've watched.
Thank you so much!
A comment regarding your thoughts on the Love God:
I do agree with your idea of happiness being more important then free will for the most part. I think the issue I have with the episode is that romance ≠ happiness, and having the media constantly push the idea that you can only be happy if you're in a romantic relationship is something that I personally really dislike. I think it would've been better if Robbie learnt to be happy on his own for a while and to find happiness elsewhere other then through romantic partners. Not saying that he should remain single forever, just that learning to love yourself and to be happy on your own is a pretty important message to teach to kids.
Even though learning to love yourself is WAY easier said then done, something about just putting him in a relationship and making it his 'happy ever after' just feels wrong to me. Gravity Falls definitely doesn't push this idea as hard as I've seen other media do it, but I can't help but be disappointed when a characters sadness is solved by just putting them into a romantic relationship and calling it a day
Interesting! I'm glad to hear your thoughts on this! That's a perspective I hadn't heard before. I do think that outcome is fine in this context, as Robbie's issue was that he couldn't get over Wendy, so magically forcing him to move on made sense for that story. That said, I totally agree with the notion that fiction does overemphasize the romance/friendships solve everything concept. I would love to see a story where a character starts off engaging with a lot of romance (maybe someone like Mabel), but then they grow and learn that you can be happy on your own, and not everyone is destined for such relationships. Great comment! Very interesting!
Honestly same. I always thought that the mind control was, dubious but that whole thing also bothered me. Like, he's really just gonna move onto someone else RIGHT after his last relationship ended badly?
@@JaruJaruJIm happy robbie is happy but how come I don’t see anyone mentioning Tambry 💀 thoughts and prayers for her I guess
I feel I offer a unique perspective on the whole Love God/free will debate. I don't love anyone in my life more than I love my grandma. She's the most caring person I know and essentially raised me. But when I recently came out as aromantic/asexual to her, she didn't really get it. She still wants me to someday find a man to fall in love with because she wants me to be happy. It's well meaning, but feels horrible for someone I trust so deeply to have such a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes me happy. Finding my aroace identity is the best thing to have happen to me. But if it were up to anyone else, my teenage angst and depression would be "cured" by me forcing myself into a romantic relationship. But I think true happiness comes from understanding what you really want, rather than settling for what others say will make you happy.
It's funny timing how you posted this video with so much to say on this conflict as I'm having a conflict of my own. But the way the episode portrays free will by forcing two characters into a romantic relationship will always strike a personal nerve, even if I know the free will debate goes far beyond love.
Fascinating! Thank you very much for sharing! That's a unique perspective.
I love these absurdly long videos, gives me stuff to put on in the background
Hey man, great video! But I think there’s more to Gideon as a character than you might think. Imagine being born into a world where you’re immediately made into your father’s “cute little mascot”. You had no choice in the matter because you were a baby who couldn’t vocalize or consent at all to this exposure to massive fame. You are exposed to intoxicating amounts of love and fame and have NEVER been told no in your entire life. You have everything and so this makes you a selfish and bitter human, but you weren’t always that way. So when Mabel says no, that’s the first time he ever had anyone say that to him; and it infuriates him.
That’s how I see Gideon. I mean you can see this in the Globnar episode where Gideon is literally a newborn child on a billboard used to advertise Bud’s business. It’s a similar dilemma to these family channels. Gideon knows nothing but fame and power, and so he only ever wants more of it. Of course I do NOT condone his actions. He is a villain after all. But he isn’t “evil for no reason”. I do wish the writers would have delved into this more, but perhaps it’s a bit too heavy of a subject.
And in my opinion, I find it a little disingenuous that you try to compare Giffany, an AI Tsundere who is designed to have an obsessive and over exaggerated love for the player, to Gideon: an actual child who was born into a world that he could not have said no to. I do understand that Giffany was sentient and her backstory is tragic, but at the end of the day she was still programmed to be obsessive. We even see in Journal 3 she is abusive towards Rumble MkScirmish. I mean her whole character is based off the anime tsundere archetype. Comparing the idea of her dying to an actual child living being strange is off to me.
But I get where you’re coming from. I hope you’ll appreciate this constructive criticism of your analysis :) again I wanna say great video! Even if I disagree with a lot of what you say it’s so interesting to see what you have to say, and I do agree a lot with your complaints of Wendy’s characterization
I disagreed with just about everything you said but still enjoyed the video. It's a sign of a great show that people can take so many reads on its strengths, weaknesses, and intentions
Indeed! x)
These are some things I felt like saying.
When it comes to -"tourist trapped"- "roadside attraction" I think it would've been better if, instead of focusing on love, it could focus on the relationship between Dipper, Mabel and her friends. They still go on a road trip but now Stan's sabotaging antics take place in the background and Zoos stays at the schack with Ford. This allows us to get more character depth for Grenda and Candy, while also showing a new character interraction between Ford and Zoos.
Also if you're wondering how it would be between Zoos and Ford it would probably start with Ford being dissapointed that he's stuck with Zoos, but then coming to appreciate how genuienely dedicated and handy Zoos is... only to reveal at the end during the credits sequence with a shot of Zoos leaving the underground lab, Ford smiling as he leaves. Then when Zoos has left Ford's smile quickly dissapears as he checks the cupboard seeing "the rift" and seeing a crack. As the inside of the cupboard becomes pitch black (due to Ford closing the cupboard), only the rift and the crack are visible in the darkness. Showing that Ford still "trusts no one"... (seeing as he doesn't tell Zoos)
Also kind of a small nitpick, but it feels weird that you gave "the bottomless pit" a plot of 1, just because of the cameo in "dreamscaperers", when so many other episodes have similar reccurences like (off the top of my head), "the land before swine", the dinosaur head comes back in the end and is the thing that pulls out Bill's eye, so without watching "the land before swine" you wouldn't know where that dinosaur just came from.
2:02:14 tbf its not like the unicorn only "just lied" to Mabel, let's go through what the unicorn did:
- It lied to Mabel saying that it can see if someone is pure of heart, making Mabel think she's a horrible person and making her reconsider her life choices.
- When the unicorn wakes up and reacts to Mabel holding the scissors its first reaction isn't to be scared, no its to tell her she's still a bad person, while Mabel knows she had nothing to do with this "stunt" the others pulled.
- Then when its revealed the Unicorn lied the first thing the unicorn did was to gloat and tease Mabel, with the hair Mabel needs to "protect her familiy".
So yeah I would be pretty pissed at the unicorn who is also (to put it midly), kind of a douche. Though i'm not saying its an appropriate reaction, just saying its an understandable reaction, with more depth than just "someone lying to her".
Also I feel like the actual lesson Mabel learned was either "don't be too trusting" or "never meet your heroes" and not "morality is relative", where did that even come from? Also yeah Wendy and co. were bastardized.
(writing before seeing the result of the poll)
You're right that is a really fascinating concept, people losing free will, but humanity and by extension the World prospers. While the idea of getting world peace is great, the price of undermining humanity is something I don't like. Personally I prefer free will and feel everyone can figure it out in due to time. Though who knows, maybe we'll find out in the future that mind control is the only way to bring world peace. That still wouldn't change the fact that I personally prefer free will over world peace.
Now that I have seen the result and heard what you said. While having all problems solved at the cost of "a little mind control" is nice and all to me it just feels "cheap" or like an "easy way out". This is probably due to the fact that I'm the type of person to "tough it out" no matter the cost, altough I have become a bit more lenient towards this mentality as too much has proven to be unnecessarily difficult.
Hello! My thoughts:
-That's an interesting alternative version of Roadside Attraction!
-I consider the plot gained from the Bottomless Pit existing to be more substantial than the dinosaurs existing, as the Bottomless Pit is the only thing that could specifically accomplish the goal set out in Dreamscaperers, while the T-Rex head was really just a decently cool, if optional, addition. I ultimately concluded that something minutely contributing to the Shacktron wasn't enough to qualify as "Plot" as that thing is just an amalgamation of references. I don't consider the dinosaurs to be any more significant than Rumble or the Gobblewonker or Larry King or the Multi-Bear.
-I don't think the Unicorn lying, but also being mean about it, changes my point at all. It's still a gross overreaction. It would be like Mabel assaulting everyone who has ever said anything even vaguely mean to her. It's mad, and it contradicts her behavior in previous episodes, especially her interactions with Pacifica.
-I can't tell if you're arguing with me and saying that the lesson wasn't "Morality is Relative," or if you're agreeing with me and saying that it makes no sense for her to call that the lesson she learned.
-That's a valid perspective on the Free Will VS World Peace scenario! Personally I think the tens of millions of people who will be killed before we get anywhere close to world peace is too high a price to pay, but to each their own. x)
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and for watching the video! :D
@@JaruJaruJ thanks for the reply!
My thoughts on your thoughts:
- Thanks! (also just realized I accidentally wrote "Tourist Trapped" instead of "Roadside Attraction" ooops, I've now "fixed" it!)
- I guess that makes sense, I just still feel like the pit is on the same scale as a neat reference to a past episode, that just so happened to serve more of purpose than most of the other memories sorrounding that part.
- That's fair, I think I just got caught up in the semantics of your point feeling like it was just "because she lied", when there was a little more to it than that, altough perhaps not enough to warrant Mabel's reaction.
- Apologies for the confusion, I agreed with you, while trying to spitball a better lesson than what the episode gave us (though I don't think there's any saving it).
- Yeah that is a pretty steep price isn't it? definitely too high, but, and I know this sounds wrong, such is nature. This question of "do the means justify the ends?" sure is a goldmine for hot takes now isn't it? I think I'm gonna conclude with that statement before I say any other off the wall stuff.
haven't watched the video passed the intro yet but I loving the fact that all deltarune youtubers are making gravity falls videos too, the content variety is great. keep up the good work Jaru!
Thank you!
“Using a magic potion is nothing like drugging someone” … yeah, nah, agree to disagree here.
Using a magic potion that causes mind control which alters the emotions in someone's heart IS quite a bit different from a roofie. I'm not budging on that one. xD
Your honor it wasn’t “drugging” I just gave them a mystical potion.
Another Jaru Banger. I’ve never even watched this show lol and yet I watched this whole video. I find your morality discussions very interesting. Especially during the love god episode. I personally value free will above all mostly for stubborn reasons lol but I do think it is more satisfying for someone to choose to walk the way of good rather than being forced too. Obviously that’s unrealistic for everyone but if someone chooses to do horrible things that’s their own bad choices and we can learn a lot from watching bad things play out.
Glad you enjoyed. x)
@@JaruJaruJ you remind me of Yoda your so noble and wise lol.
You're far too kind. xD
Ranking headhunter this low makes me realise how different our tastes are
It's very funny. I just don't see much worth in it beyond that.
@@JaruJaruJ have you thought the reason why the sight of stan's headless statue makes him cry is not because he is a narcissist but because it reminds him of his twin brother.
@@vol94 It's fine to read that into this episode. But the episode does next-to-nothing to suggest that's what's going through his head. I expressly say as much in my review of the episode.
I loved this video so much! I'd really like to see the Pacifica deep dive myself and i hope viewership goes well so that its possible.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed!
1. Its nice to see analysis from a story teller's perspective.
2. For morality I always saw Dipper as someone who chose head over heart and Mabel heart over head. So, when Dipper did something morally grey related to wendy, even if messed up, I saw it as a choice made an emotionally immature 12 year old, though the season 2 choices made by him felt more on the side of logic over heart, which makes sense as not being appealing to you, seeing as you choose heart over head.
3. Finally someone who gets dipper and Mabel's flaws correctly, along with their strengths and sees them as flawed characters yet doesn't hate them.
4. I do agree they wrote Mabel character poorly by the end.
I always viewed mabel as a bizarre yet good person, balancing herless moral twin, so rewatching a few scenes did make it feel wrong, even at times making her fall in my eyes.
Also I think the Mabel hate started before sock opera even came, so the rest of S2 might have been influenced by that.
There's a lost legends comic too, theres a voice dub on UA-cam if you don't know about it.
5. Love god and the Stanchurian candidate both deal with mind control for the 'greater good'.
6. For your 'free will vs world peace' question, I think there should be a mix of both. Taking someone's free will might take away a core part of who they are, not allowing any growth and giving all free will is of course leading to a disaster.
Just because I know how to live my life the best doesn't mean I get to choose someone else's but I could always nudge them in the right direction, if you catch my drift.
There's actually an mlp comic revolving around it. Due to magic, discord (god of chaos) becomes the total opposite, accord. I recommend reading it.
7.I think love god could have been improved by giving Robbie and tambry a platonic relationship.
Maybe have the friend group's mood being soured after encountering Robbie and tambry being mad at each other due to the love potion wearing off sooner than expected and having everyone reconcile like in canon but Robbie and tambry having a platonic relationship as their own choice.
Thank you very much for the kind words and for sharing your thoughts! I mostly agree with everything you said here, and your thoughts on free will vs world peace were interesting! Thank you again for watching! :D
I'm leaving a lot of comments, but that plot about Wendy doing crime and Stan talking to her about it was actually similar to an idea Alex Hirsch mentioned in the directors commentary. Wendy was going to be caught shoplifting from the shack by Stan and instead of getting mad, they'd team up to steal something (I think it was going to be the B plot to Soos and the Real Girl, so the badger animatronic) and have them thrown in jail, where Stan basically takes all the blame for the crime and lets Wendy go free since he's been in jail so many times already anyway (this is all according to my memory, so parts may be wrong)
That would have been awesome! Christ! They had so many good ideas for Wendy that they never followed through with! x(
I remember being obsessed with Sock Opera when it came out. I rewatched it the most of any other episodes.
It was awesome! xD
1:12:28 i love that this kids was just stuck in there for all of weirdmageddon and beyond
If I ever write a TV show, I would definitely remember you and your analysis for sure!
Thank you so much! :D
tyson is a real scientist who has credentials but he is also a TV scientist who focuses on providing general knowledge to public so it makes sense he would be on a TV show
If I had a nickel for every time a big deltarune-dedicated channel decided to do a Gravity Falls video out of the blue to my excited glee, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but its weird it happened twice, right?
xD
* Having never watched or heard of this show, I can in fact agree that this is a full series retrospective where all the episodes are ranked.
* Edit: One year and 4 months after this comment was posted, having now heard of AND watched this show and immediately being obsessed with it, I can still confirm this is a full series retrospective where all the episodes are ranked.
SUCCESS! XD
56:50 Ah yes, the time when gravity falls predicted DDLC and FNAF in the same episode.
Jaru how’d you know I was getting back into Gravity Falls? Your timing couldn’t have been more perfect lol
Glad I could provide! xD
Enjoyable video, and gotta say yeah Wendy feels like a side-character more then anything really xP
It was nice watching a video of the show that was more critical cause most the time you'll find videos praising the show all the time, gotta remember that it isn't quite perfect. Makes me wonder if you'll make a video in the future about writing advice or something similar to that. I know this video probably won't get anywhere close to the amount of views on your deltarune videos, but I think you did a good job on it!
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, I don't expect it to do well in terms of views, but it was a passion project, and diversifying one's content has to begin somewhere. As long as the people who did watch it had a good time, I'm content with that. x)
I think it’s implied the Dipper clones on the motorbike are still alive in the woods t this day
"found family is an overdone trope" might be the worst take you've ever had
Sounds like something a found family addict would say. xP
@@JaruJaruJ You win this time
Ngl prob not for everyone but the joke at the end of dungeons dungeons and more dungeons was so funny 🤣 i dont play dnd tho so i dont have too much of a viewpoint here.
Nah bro you right fr
You brought up great points about The Last Mabelcorn that I never considered, but I do want to play some devil's advocate for the story. I do agree, on second thought the girls deciding to do the immoral thing does read as really weird, and particularly subverts the points you brought up with Mabel being the "heart" of the show when she proceeds to violently beat someone up. And I never realized the double standard with the love potion episode.
But when I first watched The Last Mabelcorn, I didn't interpret Mabel's "morality is subjective" line as the ACTUAL intended moral, but rather as a one-off joke to close the episode off. Instead, the moral I took away--the moral that I still think the episode is trying to convey, even after all these years--is that you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself to be a good person. Mabel was stressing herself out trying to be Pure Of Heart, and it was seriously taking a toll on her every time the unicorn said that she wasn't. She was NEVER going to meet the standard of "Pure Of Heart" that the unicorn was trying to hold her to--mostly because the unicorn wasn't ACTUALLY interested in Mabel being a good person, and was only stringing her along for... amusement? I assume? The moral I took away was that you shouldn't put so much pressure on yourself to meet some vague standard that other people hold you to. Especially because, more often than not, the people putting that standard on you are never going to think you're good enough.
That being said, I do think the beatdown at the end was a bit much for this moral. The episode should've ended with Mabel being like "screw you, I don't care about your standards, because I know I'm good even if I'm not Pure Of Heart." Then she could've convinced the other girls to stop all the crazy stuff they were doing. And if we still needed the unicorn hair for future plot reasons, maybe we could have had one of the other unicorns be less of a jerk who was impressed by the way Mabel stood up for herself and willingly handed over the hair.
I feel like if Stan actually didn’t gain back his memories then it would’ve been so depressing. Even though it would have made a way bigger impact it would’ve been too depressing to see the greatest character in gravity falls die. It would’ve also overshadowed the dipper and Mabel growing up arc.
Damn bro I'm almost done with the series I need to finish but I promise I will return and watch this also it'll be interesting because I've hardly ever seen anything negative about the series at all so seeing you rank them will be interesting, can't wait. Greatest animated series of all time
Thank you for the support! x)
The fact that i can watch a 3+ hours long video about a cartoon i never watched multiple times just because it's Jaru to talk about it really makes me realized how awesome he is
You're far too kind! Thank you for watching! :D
Denying people the ability to commit violence would require a very intimate and thorough understanding of what violence and harm is and how to define it. THere's so many scenarios where that could really horribly backfire. So nay on the mind control.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I think subtle violence being left unchecked while explicit violence is made impossible would still be a better reality than the current reality in which both forms of violence exist unchecked. But that's just my opinion. Thank you for watching!
Dipper lied about being 13, he is actually 12 and while a 3 year gap may not seem that much different than 2….the difference between a mature 15yo girl and a prepubescent 12yo boy is actually massive.
For Roadside Attraction. I would've had the relationship plot be with Pacifica instead of Candy. Considering based on the comics/novels. The writers really seem to like Dipper and Pacifica as a pairing despite never using it other than the one time.
Great choice in shows to cover, what an absolute treat! 🦄
It was a treat to watch. Glad to see a new Jaru video in my feed.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed! x)
"That is why i rewatched it for the twelfth time"
Me: Those are Rookie Numbers.
It was a random number! I don't keep count of how many times I rewatch things! xD
Just finished rewatching Gravity Falls, so now I’m back to rewatch this. :)
Yay! Enjoy! x)
This video smells like chocolate cookies in the bad way
What a strange thing to say.
On the giffany section, while I think she would’ve been a cool character, I don’t think she was redeemable. She’s a cursed object type, she would’ve only remained as a carry over villain most likely, she has no more depth than the golf ball characters. In fact the characters truly given the most depth in this show are genuinely Stan and ford. They’re the only characters in the entire show that get proper background information. I think Gideon’s arc was that he didn’t care about others, and then went to prison and learned to care, which in the end shows him maybe if he cares about Mable over his love for her, than in a way, that’s still his love for her. Idk it’s a good point you make but I feel like any of the villains in this show could’ve been reoccurring or helpful.
Omg for being out for 4 hours this is severely underrated (I think, haven’t watched much but it’s Jaru and GFalls I mean how much better can it get)
You're too kind. xD
me and my girlfriend love saying kerpranked to each other
that was really interesting! it made me realise how much of gravity falls i've forgotten about and i wanna rewatch it now
Nice! Glad you enjoyed!
this is the biggest mandela effect ever. I thought it had 3 seasons and like 70 episodes.
Sorry, you entered into the loser dimension :(
Yeah, Gideon siding with the good guys at the last moment really came out of left field and wasn’t believable at all considering how one dimensionally evil he was in every other episode.
50:48 Dipper is twelve and Wendy is fifteen. They are three years apart.
In that scene, a 5-year-old Wendy is crushing on a nearly 13-year-old Dipper.
23:40 my hot take is that Mabel is underdeveloped, especially compared to Dipper. Like, they’re supposed to both be the main character of the show, but Dipper gets SO MUCH more development and complexity than Mabel throughout the show, and Dipper is generally just the focus of more episodes. Mabel deserved better!!!!
Personally i think keeping wendy's family situation a secret is one of the best decisions (not specifically that is was wendy's mind you) the core of gravity falls is the mystery, and how everyone peiced things together in different ways, of course since the show is over there isn't any room for that anymore, we know what theories turned out true and what didn't,
But keeping a main character's family a secret, especially when it's important enough for one of the memebers to become a vengful spirit caple of changing people's matter on the fly, allows for there to still be theories and discussions to this day outside people speculating on what would happen if the series continued.
To me at least it was pretty clear thay wendy does everything in her power to stay away from her family, her dad is clumbsy and destructive, her brother e courage unnecessary voilence, and her mom is greatly implied to be gone, and basically confirmed in the society of the blind eye when everyone is about to get their minds erased she mutters "i miss my mom so much"
There's a really cool video called "the yellow ribbon theory" on wendy's mom
Also stress doesnt necessarily mean anxious
Of course the lack of info on her family combined with her lack of everything else is where the problem arrises.
As for paper jam dipper i see where you're coming from, but with the part where they try to feed him and are unable to is due to him not fully leaving paper form not being incompetent, and for his death, if someone else said he was better of dead then what you said would defiently be true, but since paper jam dipper himself said it theres nothing wrong with it, "the sweet release of death" is something stan mentions too, i see nothing problematic with a character born into a miserable existance accepting or embracing their death.
On your scale of good to bad on characters ford should actually the most evil; ford had absolutely no justification for abandoning their original dream, and chose to keep the instructions of destroying the universe in the world just because he worked hard on it,
Even if we go the legality route according to the offical physical journals and one of the comics
(both of which i believe are stated to be canon) ford is said to have commited infinitely more crimes in thosands of dimensions than the amount of crimes stanley has commited on earth
As for "morality is relative" it's true with context, they are trying to create a barrier that is completely immune to the weirdmageddon, creating a place where everyone could be safe as long as there was enough room, even if the unicorn was a completely innocent person its a small price to pay for safety against the apocalypse.
Finally, your free will debate. In the case of murder you are absolutely correct, murder is already obstruction of free will, taking a life completely destroys that person's ability to choose anything. As for violence and and conflict as a whole, reality would lose all meaning if everyone unanimously agreed on everything, the freedom to choose is what makes life matter.
Over all defiently an eyeopener of a video.
OH, MY, GOSH, I love this video so much. I’ve never heard some of things you mentioned. I think every young writer you should this.
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked it! :D
32:11 STANFORD had a decent relationship with Shermie. STANLEY died in a car crash. Their mother unfortunately probably thinks Stan is dead.
Edit: I also think that at 34:03 when Stanley has a funeral that it’s for himself, not Ford, because he either never got one or no one came.
1:12:17 absolutely heartbroken that "BURN THE CHILD" wasnt mentioned (unless im horribly misremembering which ep thats from)
That's a great joke too. Just another reason the pool episode is a riot. xD
@@JaruJaruJ as the eldest of 5 children, i use it frequently since i originally watched the show with my younger siblings, and its just become how i tell them to move their butts out of my spot
Re: The Inconveniencing -- "Some of these gags are hilarious!" spoken over the image of Mabel riding the flying fantasy dolphin ("Onward, Aoshima!") is perfect. That bit and the Duchess Approves make the episode for me.
I confess my deep affection for Mabel and admiration for Pacifica blinded me to the series' shortcomings where the writing of the other female characters is concerned. That's a legitimate criticism. It doesn't diminish my love for the show, but it does make me sad for what might have been. (Thankfully, the show's spiritual offspring, The Owl House, does MUCH better in this regard, IMO.)
Re: Giffany -- perhaps SHE should serve as a kind of mentor to Mabel, considering that the desire for romantic love drives both characters. Also, with Mabel being the heart of the show, Giffany's interaction with her could be the key to her redemption.
Re: The Deep End -- I politely disagree that Mabel's relationship with Mermando has no more substance than all her other summer romances. It's the only one in which Mabel's affections are requited. Plus, it gives Mabel a chance to be her best self, in that she chooses to return him to the ocean even though that means they can't be together, showing her as both heroic and selfless. I'd give the episode one additional Relationships point due to this.
Re: Fight Fighters -- I think I enjoyed the Mabel/Stan B plot more than you did -- "That's why I own ten guns, in case some maniac tries to sneak in a ladder" is an awesome line, IMO -- but your suggestion of the alternative B plot is the absolute BEST, and it breaks my heart a little that the show didn't go in this direction.
That's awesome! Glad I could contribute. x)
The free will example is a really interesting thought experiment. I respect your view, but vehemently disagree with the idea. I believe rules, laws, and regulations are to protect and enforce free will, not take them away. The scenario in your post however, was so tempting that I would likely take the Genie's opportunity. However, the reason why I don't believe it to be the morally correct choice, and more importantly, not possible. The reason why free will is so important is BECAUSE we can't use genies. Its because humans are unfit to force others to give their free will. Even with laws, they are to protect free will. Murder is illegal because human life is freedom. Humanity without freewill isn't humanity. Imagine not being free. Not being free to think your own thoughts, say your own beliefs, see your own sights. You would be nothing more than an ameba. I prefer to die in an awful painful long horrific death as myself, than live as a non-sapient being. To be free is to be human. To have your freedom forced away from you to be treated less than human. Freedom and safety are not different choices. Freedom IS safety. But even as I type out this long rant, I still see the genie's offer, and want to accept. But the genie can never be real. The closest thing would be God or a man, and most death is caused by men who seek godhood. Tyrants are born through forcing others to not be free. Its why things like democracy are so important, because free will is humanity, and to not have lawmaking be a practice that incorporates free will is inhuman. And yet still, after this pitiful drawn out gasp I write down, the genie is so tempting. This question is so hard to answer for me because I love the idea of a world without violence, but a world with free will is a world that I'd rather die than be in. And thats assuming that the violence the genie speaks of is applicable to all evil actions. Is stalking violence? Is harassment violence? Is arresting or handcuffing someone a violent act? Would it include emotional pain? If I was being harassed by a stalker, having my life by controled by a stranger, could I use violence as retaliation? Could they even be arrested or is tackling them to cuff them a violent act? The laws he have to protect the free will we so crave, gone to dust? Ive been questioning this, for like 30-40 minutes, and I just expected to watch a Gravity Falls video. Even then I feel as if the question is irrelevant to the topic at hand. This isn't about violence, its about love! And love is something that should always be a choice. It should never be forced, only choosen. In the events of the episode, I absolutely think Mabel is in the wrong, same as Love god. If I were to answer the genie, I probably wouldn't choose the deal, as even worse consequences could arise, but the question is undeniably intriguing. Thank you for the interesting thought, but also please don't make me has another moral dilemma for 40 minutes please. I'm gonna watch the rest of this video now.
Haha! That's amazing! Thank you so much for the response! It was very interesting and fun to read! I hope you enjoy the rest of the video! xD
@@JaruJaruJ I did. Very good and I enjoyed your opinions on the show.