Let’s circle up about our ‘Gravity Falls’ predictions
[WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]
The time has come! Gravity Falls officially premieres on the 13th of July for it’s second run of season 2. We were left on a frustrating cliff hanger last time as Stan’s now open universe portal began sucking in everything around it, including Mabel who vanished within it along with the on/off switch. We’re dying to know what happens next, and fans have been very busy predicting what will happen next for Stan and the twins. However, this isn’t the first time the web has been on a Gravity Falls prediction binge.
Since the very beginning of the show, the fan base miraculously managed to work out that Dipper would become possessed by Bill, and that Stan had a secret twin – based on very subtle evidence – so what predictions will come true this time?
Without further ado, here’s a collection of my predictions for the final act of Gravity Falls:
1. Grunkle Stan may be heading for a fall
There have been a number of inanimate versions of Stan; the wax model, the puppet, the hot air balloon, and every single one of these ‘doubles’ have been quite horribly destroyed. The wax figure melted, the puppet burned, and the balloon literally crashed and burned. Is the show’s creator, Alex Hirsch, implying that one day Stan will suffer a similar fiery fate?
Or will it be his once estranged Twin who is set to go? After all, cartoons have a kind of irritating knack for refusing to abandon the status quo, what if the show returns to ‘normal’ and his Twin ceases to be on the cast list? Then again, Hirsch has suggested that the show will come to a close after this final run, so maybe the Stans will be safe from harm if the show is ending anyway…but what about a movie?
2. Mabel may be the key to defeating Bill (or something scarier) once and for all!
The shooting star imagery has been used countless times in terms of Mabel; Bill Cipher refers to her as ‘Shooting Star,’ we see many flying comets lighting up the sky when she’s around, and she even has one on her sweater for crying out loud. It would make sense if the shooting stars that are seen so often on the show are actually the same star, or more specifically, that the star is Mabel. Sure Mabel has seen the comets herself, but who’s to say that time travel doesn’t play a part in this story? At the end of ‘Not What He Seems‘ we see Mabel transported into a strange space-like place, with floating colors and lights similar to a galaxy or nebula, it’s almost as if she’s flying through the universe…Is she the shooting star?
The shooting stars often appear when something of great significance happens, almost as if it (or she) is willing a situation to happen, progressing the situation further, or just letting the world know all will soon be safe because she’s there to protect and watch over it.
Though Mabel destroyed the puppet that Bill was inhabiting in ‘Sock Opera‘ we can never really be sure that he didn’t transfer his being into something or someone else. So if he’s still out there, or if the real big-bad of the show has yet to make itself known, then I’m willing to bet that Mabel the ‘Shooting star’ will be a major player in its defeat, if not the main player.
3. We could lose one or more of the kids…
It sounds rather dark, but take a look at that image…surely that placement is no coincidence? Each of the characters, barring Mabel and Dipper who are sharing one, are sat on top of a grave. The artists could have drawn these characters sitting anywhere in the graveyard, in any position, but they manually drew them into this specific composition. What does it mean?
I’m not saying this proves that these kids will die, but what if it signifies something related to death? A trip to the underworld, A (temporary) zombie apocalypse of the younger town generation, or perhaps just a subtle message from the show’s makers that the audience needs to remember that life is only temporary. But my mind keeps coming back to the fact that the twins are sharing a grave here, with Dipper taking up most of the space on the first image. Surely I’m looking too deeply into it, it’s not as if we’ve been giving such a macabre clue before…
Hmm, not so sinister on its own, but if you mix it with some quotes from Dipper and Mabel’s Guide to the Unexpected then…
“The end of the world is closer than the end of the Summer.”
“Growing up is optional.”
Oh…
And not to mention…
Ohhhh…
4. Pacifica may be cursed
So during ‘Northwest Mansion Mystery,‘ we got a chance to see further into frenemy Pacifica’s family life, and a little more about why she lives in a never-ending bubble of uptight sarcasm. Sadly the reason goes beyond over-privilege or general brattiness, but turns out to be due to a tough home life. We discover that Pacifica is actually being controlled by her parents with the ringing of a bell, a horrific form of classical conditioning to make her do their bidding, and avoid her putting her foot down about certain issues. What some fans wonder, however, is whether or not this Pavlovian form of control is purely psychological, or if Pacifica has been cursed. If you take a look at the front of the mansion, you can clearly see the word ‘Cursed’ amongst the brickwork, which could be a clue.
Now it’s pretty obvious this is in reference to the curse that had been placed on the Northwest family and their descendants by the lumberjack who was killed, but what if the curse took various forms? It’s likely that the ghost ridden mansion was not the only symptom of the curse, but that each family member had their own specific kind of horror. Pacifica’s version being that a ring of a bell can make her a slave to anyone who wishes it. Will it be impossible for her to break free of this control by normal psychological means? Will Dipper and Mabel have to consult their adventurer books to find a magical cure for her?
All this being said, It doesn’t really matter either way what’s causing it, because at the end of the day her parents are still using an abusive method of control against her, and breaking free from this will be just as difficult no matter the cause.
5. We may see Dipper clones #3 and #4 again one day
In ‘Double Dipper,’ Dipper has the genius (sarcasm) idea to clone himself in order to both man the ticket desk at a town disco, and spend said disco with Wendy. The plan starts off pretty simple, but after a whole wad of ‘bright ideas’ later and a revolt amongst the paper clones, Dipper ends up with around 10 doubles of himself. After learning the clones can be destroyed with liquid, Dipper successfully manages to destroy each of them…well, 8 of them. worryingly clones #3 and #4 vanished into the woods and never came back. Maybe the clones met up somewhere and are biding their time before they return. Since we’re unsure if Bill Cipher was actually defeated or not, there’s a worrying chance that he could take control of #3 or #4, and we’d see another stand-off between Dipper, and ‘himself.’ Luckily all it would take is a splash of water to stop this from happening, but let’s be realistic; if Bill can live inside your dreams then he’d probably figure out a way to make the clones magically indestructible.
6. Stan’s brother could be his childhood clone
There’s still speculation on who ‘Stanford’ the Author really is, we’re told he’s Stan’s brother, but the only real information we have to go on is that he looked pretty identical to Stan, minus the fact that he has 6 fingers on each hand, and based on the above flashback image, that he and Stan were close as children. It’d probably be a no brainer to agree that they’re brothers, identical twins, but this is Gravity Falls we’re talking about here, it can’t be that simple. First of all an identical twin wouldn’t have a different number of fingers from his brother, and though it can happen in reality, it’s likely that there is a scientific or paranormal reason for it. A twin would also not appear visibly younger than their sibling as Stanford appears to be. From what we know of Stan, he is a loving yet incredibly snarky and irate man, who likes people to believe he’d rather keep to himself, so it would make sense if he didn’t have the most social of childhoods, maybe he was lonely, a lonely only child. What if his father cloned him to get the brother he never had? That may explain the extra fingers; a glitch in the cloning process perhaps.
7. Gravity Falls and Rick & Morty could easily crossover, and may already have!
Okay so this one hasn’t got anything to do with the main plot of Gravity Falls, nor is it likely to even happen since Rick & Morty is R rated, but it’s a fun conspiracy none the less. Considering Rick & Morty deals directly with alternate dimensions, it’s technically possible for the duo to end up anywhere: the X-Files universe, on the starship Enterprise, the Buffyverse, or heck even the Teletubbies universe, but if you look deeper this theory goes beyond the duos mere ability to travel anywhere. It’s a stretch, but there is some surprisingly believable ‘proof’ that both worlds actually collided. In Gravity Fall‘s ‘Society of the Blind Eye‘ we see Stan’s mug and notepad fly through a portal, which is nothing special by itself, until you watch ‘Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind‘ of Rick & Morty, and see the same objects fly out the end of another portal.
Not only that but the shows just fit together perfectly, the fan bases overlap significantly, and despite the intended age difference they are pretty similar shows. Plus you have to admit that barring a few heated arguments and maybe even fisticuffs, Rick and Stan would probably hit it off really well. If this crossover did ever happen, then it would probably be a one-off, possibly a non-canon special that would air on Adult Swim, but I know however they’d do it it’d be awesome. I mean heck, even The Simpsons crossover worked!
