UPNetwork  

Go Back   UPNetwork > General Forums > Entertainment

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 08-06-2013, 11:27 AM   #51
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

Haven't seen the finale yet. Throwing some last-minute speculation out there (that I've suspected from the beginning):

Spoiler: show
Stan is actually an imposter/some kind of monster.


Also not sure if people have seen this or it's explained in the episode:

Spoiler: show


Note he has six fingers.
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2013, 10:11 PM   #52
deoxys
Fog Badge
 
deoxys's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 6,513
I decided to record myself voice acting impressions of Grunkle Stan.

Feedback etc would be appreciated, I had fun doing it ;)
__________________





MAL - Fizzy Bubbles - Twitter



deoxys is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2013, 10:15 PM   #53
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

Quote:
Originally Posted by deoxys View Post
I decided to record myself voice acting impressions of Grunkle Stan.

Feedback etc would be appreciated, I had fun doing it ;)
Wow, that is spot-on. =O Would swear it's the real voice actor. Nice job!
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2014, 10:55 PM   #54
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Bumping to show off this:

Spoiler: show


It's funny how a couple years ago the show was just starting and I had to work my way around a joint series signing in order to get just GF cast autographs... They even talked about how surprised they were back then to see cosplayers for the show already in line. Now they've got their own signing block and a panel that's pretty popular. I even saw a Kagepro cosplayer I met earlier in line for the signing as well. Small world.

As an aside- I admit I haven't been following the series that closely, but seeing that and hearing other fans discussing theories such as "Grunkle Stan has a twin" or "Wendy is Manly Dan's daughter" (confirmed by Hirsch in the panel) and pointing to clues made me think the two franchises do have one thing in common that I love: Tons of visual hints and references to tie things together that astute viewers will pick up. (Also the "experience" of summer...)

Anyway, the teaser for season 2 didn't tell much, except for maybe one scene. They also handed out backlight pens and postcards, some of which had secret messages on them. Unfortunately neither my brother nor I received one, so I have no idea of the contents.

It was interesting to learn that Mabel was based off Hirsch's own twin sister, who was wearing a weird troll sweater from back then that inspired the llama one. His favorite game is also SMRPG... I should've said something about it when he commented on my Zelda shirt at the signing. XP *shot*

Last edited by lilboocorsola; 07-27-2014 at 10:58 PM.
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2014, 01:05 AM   #55
Shuckle
Problematic Fave
 
Shuckle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: VA
Posts: 3,199
Okay this is pretty funny. The twists are very fresh and legitimately funny:
Spoiler: show
I had to pause the video to laugh my ass off when the kid opened the book to the wrong page with the gnomes on it instead of the zombie, and then AGAIN when the boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes anyway!


I thought I recognized the boyfriend's voice actor though, but not necessarily...anyone know?
__________________
Shuckle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2014, 11:14 PM   #56
RealMrGame10
CAN'T BELIEVE KH3 IS HERE
 
RealMrGame10's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Trapped in the Land of Darkness
Posts: 1,574
All right, since no one's talking about season 2 yet, I guess I'll start it off. DON'T HATE ME FOR THE POST THAT'S UNUSUALLY LONG AND ANALYTICAL FOR THIS THREAD

Scary-Oke
Spoiler: show
Honestly, the beginning of the episode felt a little bit forced, and Grunkle Stan's interactions with Dipper throughout the episode didn't seem to demonstrate the same charm (patent pending) that Stan demonstrated throughout the first season. I mean, I get that we're supposed to see Stan in a new light now, but I really hope that this isn't how he'll be for the rest of the season. They really pushed that he's hiding stuff, to the point where his character has seemed to completely changed. Also, the black light deal felt sorta cheap. Thanks to those stuff, it was sort of a turn-off throughout the episode as a season premiere. But then there was Agent Powers and Trigger along with Zombie Soos. So basically, minus Grunkle Stan, I really feel like Gravity Falls is back, but in a new kind of way with all the crazy going on in the background. This episode was kinda sucky as a premiere, but it still had that Gravity Falls charm, so I can't really be too mad. I mean, look at my avatar.
__________________

WHEN YOU WALK AWAY

D- Ref on PASBL
(PASBL squad!)
Let's go WILD
I will battle for cheap


lol who knows
RealMrGame10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2014, 09:17 PM   #57
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

Quote:
Originally Posted by RealMrGame10 View Post
Scary-Oke
Spoiler: show
Also, the black light deal felt sorta cheap.
Having been at the SDCC panel...

Spoiler: show
I actually thought it was sorta cute how they hinted at it by giving away backlight pens and postcards with secret messages. That insider knowledge gave me an inkling of the reveal right before it happened. ;P
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-25-2014, 12:47 AM   #58
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
The following fanart may be objectionable to some fans. Viewer discretion is advised.

Spoiler: show


As seen on Imgur.
The things you see at 1:40 in the morning ...

I thought it was Red from Pokémon at first. Then the girl popped up and I was like, "Hey, she reminds me of that Mabel girl from that Gravity Falls show." Comments verified that that's indeed who these characters are supposed to be.

So I have to ask: is this fanart completely out in left field? Or is the first portion of this gif (just the part where Mabel bites her brother) the sort of thing that you would actually expect to see in this series? (Or even did already happen in this series?)

Also: I think it would have worked better if it had ended with the first second and a half of the third (final) scene. But then again I know nothing about these characters so maybe I'm wrong and Dipper's comment is what seals the deal for Gravity Falls fans. *shrug*

Really digging the art style though. Makes me wish that the actual show looked like this. (Not that the actual show's look is bad either. Actual show looks quite cute. But this looks so moe nice!)

Enjoy!
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-25-2014, 12:49 AM   #59
Doppleganger
我が名は勇者王!
 
Doppleganger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Emina Isle
Posts: 14,198
Send a message via AIM to Doppleganger
God dang, the incest is everywhere these days!
__________________
あなたの勇気が切り開く未来
ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望
今 信じあえる
あきらめない 心かさね
永遠を抱きしめて
Doppleganger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-25-2014, 12:56 AM   #60
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
What a small world we live in. I was going to edit this update into the post but you replied before I could, so I'll just announce it here: apparently the artist for that fanart piece is none other than Mike Inel of Katawa Shoujo fame. IIRC he was the artist for Hanako's video. (Yep! This sure confirms it!)

A, that explains why I like the art style so much. ;o

And B, this makes me wish we had a Mike Inel-ified Gravity Falls more than ever. haha

In case you want the three scenes of the gif separately, check out Mike's Tumblr gallery: originally he uploaded them as three separate gifs. (Or I can just link them here: 1 2 3.) It looks like someone downstream merged them into one file, which is what I shared above.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-25-2014, 12:59 AM   #61
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

I also thought that was Red at first. o.O;

The biting from Mabel's side I can see happening.
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 02:19 AM   #62
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
So, I've been curious to watch the show off and on, off and on the past few weeks. And it'd been waxing up 'til now, and finally ... whoom! I went ahead and started the series.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87
I'm only like a minute in and I am already shamelessly in love with this OP. >.>

These characters seem fun. Let's try to give the show a second chance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87
That ...

was ...

I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E.

What a pilot. I was so excited/entertained the entire time.
Currently through Season 1 Episode 04.

S1E01:

Spoiler: show
I was smiling inside and/or out the entire time. Show was this delightfully ... how do I even put it ... "Child-friendly yet not written for kids"? It felt like I was watching young adult fiction ... that is okay for children to watch.

I didn't notice that Dipper's hat isn't the hat he has now (i.e. everywhere else I've seen him), but I totally noticed when he lost it during the chase scene. And I was like, "Oh come on guys. You were doing so great. But unless Dipper goes back to get the hat, continuity error? " NOPE! They account for everything. And I love that.

I liked the part where Soos was telling Dipper about his belief that the mailman is a werewolf. And they show him scootching away with a mean look and taking his lunch bag closer to him. haha

I don't know what to say. This was many, MANY times better than the episode someone previously decided would be a great way to introduce us to the series. That episode was boring and stupid humor-laden. This episode was just ... man. What a pilot. This is how you get people to want to tune back in.

S1E02:

Spoiler: show
Episode 02 was good. I recognized the beavers as being from Pengy's signature.

S1E03:

Spoiler: show
Episode 03 is, I think, the episode that someone in the past showed us when trying to get us interested in the series. But I only recognized two elements of it: the wax Grunkle Stan and the part with the bar (when they find the lumberjack).

The episode itself was fine. Probably the weakest one yet, but it wasn't really that bad either.

S1E04:

Spoiler: show
THAT ENDING! O.O Gideon was creepy and ugly, so I was kinda hoping he was a mostly one shot character and we'd be done with him here ... but HOLY SHIT, I'll happily take the plot twist that there are multiple book holders and Gideon's got Book #2! o.o

I wrote more things to Yuki on Skype but I don't feel like parsing everything over here meticulously. ^^; If people want to discuss with me what I've seen, then we can discuss. Otherwise, I'll just offer a few other introductory thoughts.

The opening really is catchy. Fell in love with it pretty much on sight, and I've probably listened to it at this point some ten to twenty times. (I realize it's short, but keep in mind that I've also only watched four episodes.)

The coded messages were fun to decode. I began with the assumption of one of the simplest ciphers of all and Yuki was quick to hint-confirm that I had the right idea. From there, it was a simple matter of getting more to work with since the very first coded message is, admittedly, a little bit of a pain in the butt to brute force. Doable, but I wasn't in the mood for hassle when I knew more messages existed with which I could work. Locating another message with Yuki's guidance, I cracked the code almost immediately.

I really appreciate the creators' fidelity to continuity and internal consistency. Lots of nods to both the past and the future.

The characters aren't complex (yet?), but Dipper, Mabel, and Grunkle Stan are all delights, Soos and Wendy are nice as well, and all five stand out as clear characters in their own rights. No one feels 100% like a cardboard cutout (the one who comes closest to that being Wendy) and yet at the same time they each fit very clear character archetypal roles.

I'm only four episodes in, but already I am enjoying this series quite a bit.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 03:45 AM   #63
Doppleganger
我が名は勇者王!
 
Doppleganger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Emina Isle
Posts: 14,198
Send a message via AIM to Doppleganger
[redacted]

There's an episode in the series that hits home! Perhaps you'll like it, too!
__________________
あなたの勇気が切り開く未来
ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望
今 信じあえる
あきらめない 心かさね
永遠を抱きしめて
Doppleganger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 05:36 AM   #64
DaveTheFishGuy
Primordial Fishbeast
 
DaveTheFishGuy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 12,258
Send a message via Skype™ to DaveTheFishGuy
A friend of mine reblogged a link to every episode online, so I'm probably going to give this a whirl too.
DaveTheFishGuy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 08:54 AM   #65
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doppleganger View Post
[redacted]

There's an episode in the series that hits home! Perhaps you'll like it, too!
Is it the most recent episode?

Spoiler: show



Giffany is best girl.
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 09:17 AM   #66
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
S1E05:

Spoiler: show
Okay episode. Source of what's-his-name's signature of Mabel downing sugar dust. This episode felt super relevant to the younger audience.

Dipper's crush on the older teen Wendy ... this feels an awful lot like a) many such experiences had by real boys and more specifically b) like Finn's relationship with Marceline in Adventure Time. (Wendy reminded me of Marceline right off the bat, so it's kinda amusing+satisfying to see that she matches not only in personality but in role relationship to the main male protagonist as well. haha)

S1E06:

Spoiler: show
The target of Grunkle Stan's affections reminds me of the line in Home Alone -- "Buzz, your girlfriend! Woof! @_@" -- but it's cute to see that he does have someone he has a crush on himself and it was cute to see his feelings not be totally rejected either. In fact, I was kind of disappointed by the ending credit scene where it's revealed that she's a crazy cat lady and an obsessive lover who won't stop calling Stan, making him regret having asked her out. :\

I don't know what it is, but the Manotaurs were both entertaining and yet at the same time took me out of the element. Something about them, I guess, felt too unbelievable, too fantasy. Like, I had no problem with gnomes and ghosts and Loch Ness Monsters, but a society of minotaurs ... I dunno, it just felt a little much. They were fun though!

Loved the ABBA references. Seeing as ABBA is one of my all-time favorite bands and I discovered them around the age of 15 or so, I could definitely relate to 12-year old Dipper's fascination with their music.

S1E07:

Spoiler: show
Another okay episode. I get all hand-wringey when it comes to clones complicating the long-term picture, so I'm grateful that the writers at least made it canon that these clones instantly disintegrate in contact with water, making it trivially easy to tell the real Dipper apart from any of his clones. This little factoid allows me to rest easy despite knowing that Clones 3 and 4, from what I can tell, never returned from running off with Robbie's bike and therefore -- given this series' penchant for continuity -- could very well make a future appearance.

Wendy doesn't do it for me personally; and it's clear that Dipper has very little natural chemistry with her; so it's painful to watch him yearn for her so badly, knowing that he's wasting his time and emotions on what is both a dead end for him and a not-doin'-it for me. I don't hate her though. She's fine as a character. I just hope that by the time Season 1 wraps up we've hopefully gotten past this stage of Dipper fantasizing about asking Wendy out and we're to a point where he knows that he and Wendy will only ever be friends and he's okay with it because he realizes that she's not the one anyway.

From what I know so far of Grunkle Stan, I'm kind of surprised he didn't try to photocopy any money. ¬.¬

Pacifica Northwest is an okay addition to the supporting cast. It remains to be seen whether I like her or hate her. For now I'm, on a -10 to +10 scale, somewhere baaaaaaaaaaaarely in the negatives, like a -0.1 or something. Obviously she's deplorable as a person. And obviously her character archetype is cliche. But she can still be done well, can still be satisfying as a character. So we'll see.

Last edited by Talon87; 09-29-2014 at 10:08 AM.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 10:31 AM   #67
RealMrGame10
CAN'T BELIEVE KH3 IS HERE
 
RealMrGame10's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Trapped in the Land of Darkness
Posts: 1,574
You mean my signature? Yassss.

Soos and the Real Girl stuff
Spoiler: show
I'm completely convinced that this was based on Five Nights at Freddies, but production times probs don't line up.
__________________

WHEN YOU WALK AWAY

D- Ref on PASBL
(PASBL squad!)
Let's go WILD
I will battle for cheap


lol who knows
RealMrGame10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 01:20 PM   #68
Doppleganger
我が名は勇者王!
 
Doppleganger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Emina Isle
Posts: 14,198
Send a message via AIM to Doppleganger
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbleucorsola View Post

Is it the most recent episode?

Spoiler: show



Giffany is best girl.
I checked out the artist's DA/tumblr!

It gave me a seizure.
__________________
あなたの勇気が切り開く未来
ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望
今 信じあえる
あきらめない 心かさね
永遠を抱きしめて
Doppleganger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2014, 02:17 PM   #69
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
S1E08:

Spoiler: show
Second great episode, right behind the pilot. Loved it from start to finish.

I will admit: I'm not normally a fan of things that are as silly as an 8˝th president or preserving yourself in peanut brittle. But I've come to accept a lot of the silliness of Gravity Falls as part of its charm, and the silliness played a major plot point in this episode as well: the idea that you should never be ashamed to be weird because it's the "weirdos" in life who think outside the box and help us to make progress.

Of course what I enjoyed more were the non-silly aspects of the episode. The National Treasure / Da Vinci Code-style codebreaking and exploring? The soft implication that Grunkle Stan might have known the truth of Gravity Falls' founding (and that this would explain why he hates Pioneer Day so much), mostly hinted at by the fact that he holds the Northwest family in disdain? All good. The characters we've been introduced to bit by bit in earlier episodes are starting to be put to work now in the form of fun colorizing of the Gravity Falls universe: Pacifica, Gideon, and the cop duo all featured in this episode as more than mere background characters.

Here's hoping the next episode's every bit as good as this one was!

S1E09:

Spoiler: show
Third great episode. Time paradox episodes are always one of those things where you're not going to be able to please everybody 100% of the way, but if people are willing to just roll with your take on how time travel works then everyone can have a fun time. I was able to do that here and I quite enjoyed the episode.

Needless to say, I revisited several of the scenes which S1E09 hints at the time traveler and/or Dipper and Mabel having been in. The two I checked on were S1E01 (the pilot) and S1E03 (the living wax figures episode), both of which featured the time traveler cleaning up after Dipper's and Mabel's mess but did not (from what I could see) actually show S1E09 Dipper and Mabel while they were there. I may go look for him in some older episodes later, and I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him in the future. It was fun to look for the Easter eggs, and it's nice knowing how much foresight and planning went into making these episodes.

I was wondering when we would get to meet Waddles. He's cute! And I think Mabel's interactions with Waddles are even cuter.

Grunkle Stan's idea to milk the townsfolk of their money by giving them an opportunity to dunk him was genius.

Maybe I missed it, but the episode didn't seem to address how the kids could go forward in time again. The nature of tape measure is that (I would think) it only works one way: you tug out the tape as far as you'd like to go backwards in time and then you let it go. Everything that happened up until their arrival in the future made sense. Their arrival in the future begged the questions of how they got there and of whether it really was the future or not.

Last edited by Talon87; 09-29-2014 at 03:21 PM.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-30-2014, 08:33 AM   #70
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
S1E10:

Spoiler: show
10's the one with the Street Fighter parody, where Dipper summons a Ken-like character to fight on his behalf so Robbie won't kick his ass. It was okay. As a long-time Street Fighter fan I was able to enjoy the parody quite a bit, but divorced from that the episode was only okay for me, I guess.

Had its moments though for sure. Like when Soos is stuck inside of the video game machine and scares the bejeezus out of one of the arcade patrons.

Also, I don't know why it took me this long to put two and two together, but I just realized in this episode -- thanks to them all being shown together -- that Wendy is part of the lumberjack family. I should have realized it an episode or two sooner. That's when Wendy first mentions that she has three brothers, all of whom she is way way taller than. And she shows Dipper the family photo and it shows the three shorter members of the lumberjack quartet (only the big guy is missing) and then Wendy off to the side. But it didn't click then. Clicked just now when all five were in the same shot, as Wendy had just returned from her family camping trip. So if fighting over Wendy with Robbie wasn't bad enough, now Dipper has to contend with the fact that his potential future father-in-law would be the brawniest man in town.

@ Grunkle Stan being cured of his fear of heights. @ Mabel developing one of her own.

One thing I hadn't mentioned yet because I kept forgetting to or it just wasn't opportune timing ... and, admittedly, the lumberjack family development throws a wrench into the works, but ... is that Wendy could be a vampire. The ONLY reasons I say this are:
  1. the pale skin
  2. the laidback attitude towards Gravity Falls' weirdness
  3. Robbie's two pimples that look oddly like vampire bite marks
We'll have to see. It'd be weird for Wendy to be a vampire and not the other members of her family ... and it'd be kind of weird for all of the lumberjacks to be vampires, I feel, though I can't exactly justify why ... *shrug*, anyway, I'm perfectly fine with Wendy being human and she probably is human but I may as well toss this theory out there now so that, if applicable, I can enjoy some brownie points if I guessed right.

S1E11:

Spoiler: show
This was the one with the shrink/growth ray. The kids end up getting shrunk by Gideon and must find a way to grow back to their regular size before it's too late and Gideon shrinks Grunkle Stan and takes over the Mystery Shack.

This was a pretty good episode (not great, but pretty good), particularly once we got to the part where the flashlight winds up in Gideon's paws, but it didn't do too much that was new or clever with the shrunken kids. I actually liked the house of mirrors part better in this sense. And probably the best part is when Gideon loses it to the kids tickling him and Grunkle Stan just thinks Gideon has lost his mind and rolls him out of the house. haha

S1E12:

Spoiler: show
This is the one about Summerween, with the monster made up of loser candy being the villain and the background story being about how Dipper bails on Mabel and their beloved tradition of twinning it up for Hallowe'en because he doesn't want Wendy to think he's a baby.

Of all the episodes I've seen so far, this is the only one that I think can make even a quasi-legitimate claim that Dipper and/or Mabel may be in love with one another. Previous episodes have been barren wastelands for fodder for this ship, but the Summerween episode *does* admittedly give the Twincest is Wincest crowd some fodder to work with. That stated, I still think the fans who ship this pairing are being a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bit desperate. ^^; Mabel displays obvious disappointment and jealousy when Dipper chooses to prioritize Wendy before Mabel ... but why wouldn't she when they're best friends, same-age siblings who do everything together? And Dipper, as he has done in a number of previous episodes (notably the time travel episode among them), places Mabel's happiness before his own -- and before his chances with hooking up with Wendy. But again: this is simple "bros before hos" we're seeing here. No reason to make the jump to assuming that we're seeing Dipper prioritize a greater romantic love interest over a lesser one.

When I watched the episode online, my first attempt landed on a truncated file of only nine minutes' length, starting at the part where Mabel discovers why Dipper has been behaving strangely all day. I watched up until the point where the monster presses his attack on the children, at which point it became clear that I hadn't been witnessing a "we start the episode way ahead in time and then we rewind" kind of opening but was instead far, far ahead of where I should've been. Sadly, I think this diminished my overall excitement for and enjoyment of the episode somewhat. I still liked it, but I imagine I would have liked it a whole heck of a lot more if I hadn't been tossed into the middle first.

S1E13:

Spoiler: show
This was an alright episode. I enjoyed it. Nothing great though.

It was painfully obvious that Stan would somehow end up losing all of his money. I really wanted the show to surprise me, prove me wrong, but alas. ^^;

Really not much else to say. ^^;; Stan goes on Wheel of Fortune and Mabel tries to fill Stan's shoes for a day.

Last edited by Talon87; 09-30-2014 at 10:06 AM.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2014, 09:15 PM   #71
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
S1E14:

Spoiler: show
I don't tend to like episodes where the writers are like, "We had a bunch of ideas for stories but none would've been longer than like 8 minutes ... so let's just toss them together like a salad and have 'em all be in the same episode! " This one wasn't much of an exception. :\ ^^; The three stories -- Dipper's new voice, the haunted pinball machine, and Grunkle Stan can't lie -- were each okay but kinda boring.

"At least before you sounded like a real person. Now you sound like some sort of commercial dude." Hahaha. And ouch. ^^; They bring in the professional announcer guy for this guest bit and have a line like that.

At 11m38s in Episode 14 (at least with the version I was watching), I don't know if this is a code or just them putting down voltage notes for the pinball machine's electrical components or what, but they have written:
9-V (or maybe it's 9 dot V)
96-11
K
Something to pay attention to for future decoding, I guess.

S1E15:

Spoiler: show
Another okay episode, and unfortunately one which leaned a little more to the weak side than the strong side of that rating. :\

Didn't care much about Mermando as a character. Called that he was a mermaid immediately, making him one of the most obvious / least exciting Monsters Paranormals of the Week yet. It was also kinda gross to me how much he seemed like a half-naked dude in his 30s, even if he was canonically 12 years old, given his relationship with Mabel.

The "Wendy is a vampire" theory takes a massive hit this week. While Wendy's been out in sunlight before now, this episode takes the cake by placing her in a bikini and assigning her to life guard duty at a local swimming pool. Unless we're dealing with Twilight vampires here, the odds that Wendy is a vampire are drastically low. She could still be some other sort of paranormal entity though. *shrug*

God, Gideon is gross. >_< ^^; I realize he's supposed to be, but man. Ugly little porker.

And speaking of gross, OH GOD, THE EATING THINGS IN THE POOL! @_@ *vomit reflex* Mabel's soggy sandwich for Mermando was the best / least gross. From there we had the jailed kid eating the pool Doritos ... and worst of all was when Mabel coughed up a used band-aid! X_X Good job, writers? ^^; Way to bring the disgustingness of public pools into my home.

S1E16:

Spoiler: show
Ah yes, the classic body swap episode. Gravity Falls' submission was a fun one. All's well that ends well and the episode (thankfully! -.- ) doesn't tease that some of the parties never managed to get back into their rightful bodies.

The highlight for me of this episode was the secret room and all that that entailed. Stan obviously knew of the room's existence. The glasses he's shown pocketing would appear to be glasses that belonged to a younger version of himself (though I haven't gone back to confirm if they are in fact the glasses worn by the younger Stan shown in the time travel episode). The fact that July 4 is marked on the calendar seems slightly significant since Stan, despite all of his grousing and grumbling about Pioneer Day, seems to be the sort of fellow who would be expected to be somewhat patriotic. It could also be that July 4 is an important date in this universe for other reasons besides its being a national holiday. *shrug* That the carpet was labeled Experiment 78 (or whatever the number was) would seem to suggest that there are no fewer than seventy-seven other experiments. And they were probably made by either a) the creator of the books possessed by Dipper and Gideon and/or else by b) one of the other current possessors of the books.

This was a pretty solid episode, all told. The part where Grunkle Stan sits Mabel (in Dipper's body) down for the puberty talk ... the part where Mabel's friends force Dipper (in Mabel's body) to listen to trashy romance novels ... the episode definitely had memorable moments to it, moments that I think any boy or girl could find funny.

S1E17:

Spoiler: show
This was a pretty great episode. It consisted of two halves: the story-of-the-week half focusing on Mabel and the boy band and then the universe-building half focusing on Dipper, Robbie, and Wendy.

The boy band half was surprisingly entertaining. Pretty silly. But entertaining. Kind of sad though that Mabel ends up releasing the boy band into the wilderness despite the fact that they are supremely domesticated pets. ^^; Like Candy says, "They won't last a week."

The Dipper-Robbie-Wendy half was solid Gravity Falls mystery entertainment. I figured that Robbie got the CD from another source rather than making it himself, but I didn't figure that it'd be from some other boy band. I also didn't see Dipper's setting back his relationship with Wendy the way that he did. I liked how the writers kept it deliberately ambiguous as to whether Grunkle Stan's belief in subliminal messages through music were well founded or not.

Yuki already told me about this, so the cat is out of the bag, but I also liked how this episode was somewhat meta in that it encourages fans to check out Gravity Falls' very own theme song. I haven't done this yet myself, but Yuki was saying how the final three seconds or so of the opening contain a message when played backwards. That's pretty cool that it does in and of itself, but it's even cooler now that we had an episode that was actually devoted to subliminal messages in music. When Gravity Falls acts like a scavenger hunt, it really shines. I'd actually forgotten to keep looking for the time traveler, but this episode reminds me to do that. Who knows what other secrets I've seen and not realized it. :o
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2014, 10:10 PM   #72
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

>Mermando

There was a Mermando cosplayer who showed up to the signing booth with Mabel at SDCC. Alex Hirsch's real twin sister (who was wearing her original version of the sweater Mabel's was based off of) requested a picture with him. XP (Thought about snapping a pic as well but was too slow.)

>boy band

They're still out there in the woods, according to Hirsch at the panel. Possibly making cameos in the future.
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2014, 11:31 AM   #73
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
S1E18:

Spoiler: show
Well that was just about the best episode yet. (Well, pilot was pretty good too. So tied, maybe? I dunno ...) It wouldn't be much to see though if you weren't already invested in the characters. Definitely a solid example of, "You have to watch things in order. You can't just skip ahead." But yeah ... man ... what an episode. GRUN-KLE STAN! GRUN-KLE STAN!

So this is the one where the dinosaurs preserved in tree sap are starting to thaw out because [lol disney logic] the sap hardened without turning into amber and thus the summer heat is sufficient to start melting it. [/lol disney logic] A pterodactyl is amongst the first to thaw out -- in fact, the only one to have completely thawed out even by episode's end -- and is terrorizing the forests of Gravity Falls as it searches for food to keep itself and its newly-hatched offspring fed.

This episode was magical for all of the character relationship development and all of the epicness. On the one hand, we have Grunkle Stan and Mabel, definitely the highlight for me. On the other, we have Dipper and Soos, also quite good.

Let's do Dipper and Soos first. The story here is, the two have fast become age-gap friends over this magical summer, but Soos is kinda ... clumsy. :\ And as a result of his clumsiness, he keeps messing things up for Dipper. So Dipper eventually loses his patience with Soos, hurts Soos's feelings, and apologizes to Soos afterwards when Soos saves the kids' lives with his oddball wisdom.

Now, Mabel and Grunkle Stan. Oh my gosh. This was so great. Mabel heads out of the Mystery Shack to purchase a special carrying pouch for babies and pigs. She asks Grunkle Stan to take care of Waddles while she's gone. Stan, meanwhile, is shown to not care for Waddles. He does his best to entertain his beloved great-niece's wish, but when Waddles devours one of the shack's showpieces and costs Stan an entire tour bus's worth of tourists, he sets the pig outside ... who is promptly carried off by the pterodactyl. Mabel returns, Stan tells a tall tale about what really happened, Mabel eventually finds out Stan lied to her, she quits speaking to him, and Stan and Waddles fall off a cliff to their near death. Stan eventually has a change of heart and decides to risk his own life to save Waddles ... and ends up living out the very tall tale he described to his great-niece. In fact, reality trumps fiction as Stan not only punches the pterodactyl in the face (per his story) but does so whilst riding it through the sky too. It's an amazing scene that will have you cheering for Grunkle Stan before all is said and done. And when he and Mabel hug at the end ... oh man.

S1E19:

Spoiler: show
That was a decently good episode. Lots of canon / universe-building stuff, which is always appreciated. The background plot could've been better though. And I would've liked a lot more information about Stan's past than what we got. But what we did get was at the very least a nice start.

So the Southern Baptist charlatan summons a demon. Figures. The demon's name, "Bill Cipher" ... somehow I missed the significance of the last name when Gideon spoke it aloud. ^^; Wasn't until seeing it in print in Dipper's book that I was like, "OH! CIPHER! " And then they go and write "CAESAR ATBASH A1Z26" off to the side. Nice of them to list off the last three codes.

Speaking of codes, this is prooooooobably on the Internet somewhere already, but just in case it isn't: recording PBVWHUB VKDFN here for later fun decoding.

Partial list of Stan's past experiences:
  • time spent in a Columbian prison as a prisoner
  • a door-to-door salesman selling vacuum cleaners
  • Stan's childhood (weak, nerdy)
Not too much else to say for right now. On to the season finale!

S1E20:

Spoiler: show
This was a pretty good episode. It wasn't the greatest in my opinion, though it did contain some of the individually greatest moments in the entire series, so that's good.

When Episode 19 ended, I was wondering what happened to Waddles since it looked like he had been left behind at the Mystery Shack. I should know better by now than to doubt this creative team's attention to detail, but I'll admit that I did worry that it was an oversight on their part, that they were just going to magically have Waddles be with Mabel at Soos's grandmother's even though he had not been shown with her at all from the moment Gideon had obtained the deed forward. So I was glad to see that the writers, sure enough, do pay attention to details -- as I should trust by now that they will! -- and that they explained Waddles' fate in having been left behind. I was glad to see Mabel reunited with Waddles in the end and to see that he didn't seem to have suffered any long-lasting trauma.

The first third or half of the episode was a mix of slow and cutting a little too close to home. So it wasn't the best watching experience for me. ^^; But from the moment when Gideon chases after the bus via his new Mecha Gideon onward, the episode was faaaaaaaaaantastic.

Really loved the drama that came about from Gideon stealing Dipper's book. The only part I disliked about it was that the writers had both Gideon argue and Dipper believe that Dipper had accomplished nothing this summer without the book's help or influence. And I just don't think that's true at all. I feel like there have been some episodes, surely, where the book didn't even make an appearance. So it felt a little forced on the writers' part to have Dipper become so deflated by Gideon's rhetoric, but I was otherwise able to run with it and I enjoyed the direction that this development took us in.

Everything with the mecha was solid.

It was cute (if a little silly? ^^; ) of the writers to re-introduce Mabel's grappling hook, last seen in Episode frickin' 01 , and to semi-break the fourth wall by having Dipper constantly remind Mabel that the grappling hook has never proven itself worth anything all summer. I had completely forgotten that it even existed come the end of the episode, so getting to see the kids survive the fall thanks to the grappling hook was a nice little surprise.

I think everyone called, at one point or another, that Grunkle Stan either a) was the original creator of the books and/or else b) was the current owner of at least one of the books. It ends up being just B, which is perfectly fine by me. I think my only complaint with this scene was that it's revealed that there are only three books -- Stan's, Gideon's, and Dipper's -- and that once Stan had all three he was able to complete the puzzle he'd been trying to solve for years. I was kind of fond of the idea that there were probably also Books 4, 5, and who knows how many more. And maybe there still are. *shrug* Anyway ... everything else about this scene was pretty much perfect. I loved how competent and rational Stan seemed. I loved how protagonist-ey he felt, and yet at the same time ... antagonistic with respect to Dipper? :o (I mean, after all: he did steal Dipper's book. And he did fail to invite Dipper along to see the underground lair and the answer to the puzzle.) It's really interesting to have a character like this, someone you feel is a hero ... yet at the same time possibly an antagonist with respect to your main hero.

Probably one of the best elements of this scene, though, was the fact that a framed photograph of Dipper and Mabel was shown in a prominent place atop Stan's desk in the control center. So like, we know he clearly cares about the kids. If he's chosen to keep this information a secret from them, we have to expect that it's because he feels it's for their own good. I'd like to believe that he isn't being greedy, isn't trying to keep all of the wonder to himself, that he'd be willing to share it with Dipper and Mabel so long as he knew it was reasonably safe to do so.

While I'm looking forward to Season 2, I honestly have no idea where the series intends to take us from here. We still know so little about Stan and what Stan has just discovered that it makes it all but impossible to predict the specifics of what's going to happen next. I guess the most immediate questions I can think of are:
  • Will Dipper get his book back, now that Stan no longer needs it? (Does Stan no longer need it?)
  • Will Stan show the kids his secret base? Will he explain to them what he does down there, what's going on, etc?
  • Will it be revealed that there are more books?
  • Is it important for the Pines to try and locate the original author of the books (if still alive)?
  • What connection, if any, does the 8˝th President of the United States have with the books? Is he their author? Was he an earlier possessor of one or more of the books?
  • Who hid Book 3 inside the tree where Dipper discovered it? Did they intend for Dipper specifically to find it?
  • How far into the summer are we? Summer vacation is at best 3˝ months long. How much time do we have left before the kids really do have to head home?
  • Pacifica Northwest pretty much fell off the map after the Pioneer Day episode. Will she and/or her family return in Season 2? Will they have some connection to the books?
  • Will Gideon charm his way out of prison?
I could probably think of more questions than these, but these are the main ones for now. Still though. As you can see from my list, I don't have any good sense of what to even ask as far as Season 2's overarching plot is concerned. Like, from the moment I finished the pilot, I had at least two things to focus on: 1) Grunkle Stan's mysterious secret door behind the vending machine and 2) the fact that Dipper's book said '3' on its front cover, suggesting there were more books. Now that Season 1 has wrapped up, it feels like these two issues have largely been explored. Maybe not fully, but largely. So I really don't know where we're going from here other than "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Generic monster-of-the-week episodes ahoy!" And those won't be able to keep my interest for very long. Not unless they're really good.

Final impressions on Season 1:

This show came as a pleasant surprise. When I'd first been shown it several years ago, I really hadn't cared for what I had seen. It felt like a typical cartoon of the 2000s era of television from Nickelodeon or Disney. It had dumb humor that felt like it was killing my brain cells every minute I watched. Giving the series a second chance and starting from the beginning proved to be the ticket. Maybe it was because I was going in with low expectations now. Maybe it was because I had been "inoculated" to the series' brand of humor. I dunno. But whatever it was, I was able to smile at the sillier parts while thoroughly enjoying the more lore-ey or character development-ey parts.

The characters were charming. I didn't hate any of the main five, though the two in more of a sidekick role (Soos and Wendy) I found a lot less interesting than the three in more of a driver's seat role (Dipper, Mabel, and Grunkle Stan). The supporting characters were for the most part entertaining.

Gravity Falls doesn't hold up to most anime I've watched or to a cartoon like The Legend of Korra if we want to talk character depth, plot depth, etc. But it holds up to them nicely in terms of how entertaining it was to watch. The comparison I would raise is Disney's earlier cartoon Recess. I wouldn't say Recess was particularly strong on plot or character development either. But it was still a fantastic kids show, one of the most entertaining of its time. They're not the same show, but I imagine that if you loved one you'd love the other and that if you hated one you'd hate the other.

I told Yuki early on that Gravity Falls felt to me to be less like a show written for children and more like a show that was written for young adults but could be enjoyed by children all the same. I'd have to flip on that position now and say that I feel Gravity Falls' intended demographic is in fact kids ages 8-12 ... but that it's got so much in it that can also be enjoyed by viewers ages 13+. Yuki suggested to me that the series does get "dark" later on. Not sure if we've already seen that or what, but I'd describe any of the darkest moments in Season 1 as perfectly ordinary for children's television.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2014, 12:01 PM   #74
lilboocorsola
Dragon's Tears
 
lilboocorsola's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Searching for light
Posts: 6,453
Lil' Bluey

>grappling hook

Hirsch said at the panel Mabel carries it all the time under her sweater. Mabel's voice actress said she wished she had known that, it would have affected her performance.

>darkness

Episode 05 is what I was thinking of when I mentioned that since it was the first one to be kinda creepy/scary for kids' television IMO. One of the new episodes gets particularly uncomfortable though.

I also forgot to mention this earlier, but Robbie's CD is something fans point to towards the theory of him being a supernatural being/zombie.
lilboocorsola is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2014, 03:32 PM   #75
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
As a quick update: I've watched the first six Gravity Falls shorts in the Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained series. Just in case you're not clear on what these shorts were about, spoilers below so you can assess whether you've seen them already or not:

Spoiler: show
The first short deals with a gross little midget-man who steals the kids' Summerween candy.

The second short deals with Grunkle Stan's mysterious tattoo and Dipper's various failed attempts to see it.

The third short deals with an extraterrestrial mailbox which offers correspondence with Dipper and Soos until Mabel offends them.

The fourth short deals with several miniature lifeforms who are piloting a robot in the shape of a human that only has a left half.

The fifth short deals with a lion turtle enormous head that floats in the lake pretending to be an island.

The sixth short deals with the Hide-Behind, a creature rumored to show up behind you. Dipper wants to see if it's real or not.

The shorts are okay. They're worth watching if you're a completionist or if you're a crazy big fan of the series, but for everyone else they can be passed over at little cost. Each short contains codes at the very end, but I assume that most of these codes are outdated. I'll look into it later.

I will say this though: the first short reminded me 100% of the rides at theme parks like Walt Disney World or Universal Studios where you get on a "car/train car/boat" with other passengers, the "vehicle" is raised up into the air, and then you go on a scripted "adventure" with a 3-D movie. Like the Simpsons ride, for any who may have been on that. Or (much older) the Back to the Future ride or Jetsons ride. I could honestly have seen Short #1 being the video footage of a Gravity Falls-themed ride at a theme park. So I guess check it out for that alone if nothing else? ^^;

Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbleucorsola View Post
I also forgot to mention this earlier, but Robbie's CD is something fans point to towards the theory of him being a supernatural being/zombie.
I feel like Robbie got the CD from elsewhere and that the CD case he used was a red herring. Like, it looks so obviously scary and supernatural that it just has to be a death metal-style CD sleeve, y'know? The disc itself I won't deny is probably supernatural (and not simply a black CD-ROM), but I don't think Robbie's the one who made it.

Another thing to keep in mind: if Robbie were the threatening kind of supernatural, he would've already used his powers against the video game bodyguard (S1E10) or against Dipper (any number of episodes). All he's ever done is threaten violence the way a normal teenage boy might be expected to do. No fireballs, no wolf bites, no ripped-off limbs used as beat sticks, nothing supernatural.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Lower Navigation
Go Back   UPNetwork > General Forums > Entertainment


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:47 PM.


Design By: Miner Skinz.com
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.