"I had to make a decision to post everything on this blog no matter how silly or obsessive, didn't I? Well, now you can see what happens when one obsesses over the show "Gravity Falls" and then spends too much time looking into the Alternate Universes the fans come up with.
That being said, I really have been enjoying this show. How does Disney keep getting a hold of such gems??? I guess I can just credit the madness of creator Alex Hirsch and call him being hired by Disney a fluke. Just like Dan and Swampy with Phineas and Ferb.
“Take them back to their
little novelty store,” Ivan ordered as he tucked the memory device back into
the sleeve of his robe.
“Back to the Mystery
Shack,” the other members chanted as they untied their dazed prisoners. Ivan
turned his back to them and examined the tube labeled “McGucket’s Memories” in
the palm of his hand. Why had it been so important to these children to learn
this man’s secrets? It was too late to ask them now. All four of them were
babbling like idiots. The youngest girl was saying something about kittens, the
young man mumbled something in Spanish, and the youngest boy was muttering
about a journal.
Ivan turned just in time
to see the last of the society members walking off with the smallest boy thrown
over his shoulder. “Wait a moment,” Ivan demanded as he approached them. Ivan
lifted the boy’s head up so that he could look directly into his unfocused
eyes.
“What do you know about a
journal?” he asked.
“My mind is clear thanks
to the Society of the Blind Eye,” the boy muttered in reply. Just then, a book
fell from the kid’s vest pocket and landed on Ivan’s foot. The man cried out in
pain and surprise before moving to pick up the item.
It was just as Mr. Gleeful
had described the other book. A journal bound in red leather with a
six-fingered-hand on the cover. Inside were dozens of illustrations of the
strange creatures that inhabited Gravity Falls. How had this boy come across
something so valuable?
“What was your name, boy?”
the man asked as he lifted the boy off his companion’s shoulders and stood him
on the floor.
“Dipper,” the boy replied
as he blinked and gained a look of focus again.
Ivan pulled the memory
device from his sleeve and began to input the name “DIPPER” into it. He aimed
the bulb at the boy’s face and he actually had enough presence of mind to
shrink back from it, but he didn’t run away, still too confused to understand
what was happening.
“Something tells me you
could be a valuable asset to our society,” Ivan gloated as he fired the device.
The boy gasped in surprise as the beam of light blinded him. He then fell over
and the other society member had to catch him before he hit the ground.
“What did you do that
for?” the hooded man asked as he helped Dipper back to his feet. Ivan quickly zapped
the man with the device as well and he walked away without any further
questions.
“What’s going on?!” the
boy asked suddenly as he snapped out of his daze. The process was always much
quicker when there weren’t other memories for the brain to rectify. He looked
around at his surrounding in confusion, putting his hand to his forehead and
knocking off his hat. “W-where am I, who are you?!”
The boy pointed at Ivan in
what was quickly becoming a panic. He then began to pace in a small circle
while pulling at his hair. “I…I don’t know my name, I don’t know---”
“It’s alright, you’re safe
now,” Ivan assured the boy as he knelt to pick up the cap that Dipper dropped.
“Safe, right,” the boy
nodded, taking in a deep calming breath. “Okay, amnesia 101… I don’t remember
the 101!”
Dipper bared his teeth in
a grimace as he began to pace the floor again. He came to halt suddenly and
smacked himself across the face. “Get it together!” he ordered himself, much to
Ivan’s amusement. The boy turned to the man kneeling before him and raised an
eyebrow at him. “Alright, well, you seem to be the only one around right now,
so I’ll ask you. What’s going on?”
“I am Blind Ivan and we
are the Society of the Blind Eye,” the man answered as he stood up again,
raising his arms dramatically. “We help the citizens of Gravity Falls forget
the supernatural strangeness that plagues this town.”
“Okay, okay, following you
so far,” the boy nodded. “Blind Ivan, Blind Eye. Heh, actually kinda clever
there.”
“I’ve heard it all before
and I’ve erased it just as many times,” Ivan sighed.
“Erased?”
“We in the society often wipe
our own memories to forget the things that trouble us,” Ivan continued. “Everything
from emotional trauma to annoying puns.”
Dipper narrowed his eyes,
glancing apprehensively at the blue and white hat that the man before him was
holding. “Wait, so unless that’s supposed to be the royal ‘we’ you’re using,”
he said hesitantly. “I’m part of this society thing too?”
“Precisely,” Ivan nodded.
“And you erased my
memory?” he shot back in annoyance.
“A simple miscalculation.
Don’t be such a baby,” Ivan scoffed, as he handed Dipper back his journal. “You
see, child, these monsters haunt this town even as we speak. They terrorize the
people until not a soul can rest peacefully! We’ve taken it upon ourselves to
protect Gravity Falls. Thanks to us, people live ignorant and happy.”
As the man spoke, Dipper
flipped through the worn pages of the book with astonishment and apprehension.
He came across a page that had a picture of a man in a hooded robe much like
Ivan’s and stopped to read what wasn’t written in code.
What does it mean?
Can’t be unseen!
“But you can’t just take
someone’s memories away,” the boy protested. “I can’t even remember my own
name!”
“You wanted to do
something about the strange things happening in this town,” Ivan insisted,
handing Dipper his hat again as he took the journal away from him. “Because of
you we saved three more people not moments ago. Your memories are of no
importance.”
Dipper turned the cap over
in one hands so that he could clearly see the pine tree embroidered on it. He
frowned as he stared down at it, but he eventually sighed and handed it back to
Ivan. “I guess I could take a look around the place and see if anything comes
back to me,” he shrugged. “This is like our super secret headquarters or
something?”
“Indeed,” Ivan said with
satisfaction as he began to lead Dipper down the long halls beneath the museum.
As they walked, he told the boy all the known history of their proud society
and all the good that they had done.
As their shadows stretched
across the system of pipes mounted to the walls, a triangular silhouette bobbed
after them. There was nothing there to cast the shadow, but a distorted voice
rang out all the same. “Timber! What a twist on our little game! I can’t wait
to see how this plays out!”
▲▲▲
Mabel began leafing
through the postcards on the spinning display and soon realized that they were
all from Gravity Falls, Oregon. “This must be the Mystery Shack,” the girl
concluded. “That must have been one wild bus ride, because I don’t remember any
of it! Wah, ha, ha!”
She ran to the front
counter and began rocking back and forth on her heels. “Excuse me!” she called
to the teenage girl who was absentmindedly reading through a magazine. “I’m
looking for my Great Uncle Stan!”
“Haven’t seen ‘im since
this morning,” the girl replied without looking up from her magazine.
“Well, me and my brother
were supposed to meet him---,” she stopped short with a gasp. “Hey! Where is
Dipper?”
Mabel ran off to look
around the rest of the shop for her missing brother. She peaked between the
hanging t-shirts with a cheerful “Peek-a-boo” and then looked underneath the
rug while calling “Marko,” but there was no “Polo” in answer.
“Kid, if you’re looking
for that pig of yours, he’s chewing on the armchair in the living room,” a
rough male voice said.
Mabel looked up at her
Uncle, who was coming down the stairs, and her eyes lit up with excitement.
“You got me a pig?!” she cried with joy.
“Don’t be ridiculous,”
Stan sighed. “You’re lucky I let just one of them run loose in the house.”
Mabel ran over and wrapped
her arms around her Gruncle’s waist, happy to see him again after so long.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” the man asked, taken aback.
“Greeting you with a warm
hug!” she shouted.
“Well, knock it off,” Stan
ordered.
Mabel pulled away and
smiled at her Uncle in spite of his grumpiness. “So, let’s get this Summer
Vacation rolling!” she declared. “This is our first time away from home and I
want to make the most of it!”
Stan raised his eyebrows
and stared down at the girl in confusion. “What is this? You’re not making any
sense, kid.”
“I don’t know what you
mean,” the girl replied with a laugh.
“Where’s your brother at?”
the man complained as he began to walk away. “Go and confuse him for a while.”
“I don’t know where Dipper
is,” she shrugged. “I sure hope he got off the bus with me.”
Stan stopped short at this
statement and narrowed his eyes as he turned back to the girl. “Whadda ya mean
by ‘bus?’” he asked with concern.
“The bus that Mom and Dad
put us on this morning,” she explained, smiling mischievously as she added, “I
must have eaten a lot of gummy bears and blacked out.”
“Kid, what day do you
think it is?” he asked.
“The first day of summer,
silly,” she answered, with an off handed wave of her hand.
“Wendy! Have you seen
Dipper?” Stan demanded as he walked up to the counter. The girl turned the page
in her magazine and then shrugged. “Don’t know any dipper,” she replied.
Stan ripped the reading
material from the girl’s hands and slammed it down on the counter.
“What’s the matter with
you people?!” the man shouted. “This joke isn’t funny! Are you all covering for
him or something.”
“Psshh, this is the worst
first day ever,” Wendy sighed. “I’m going home.”
Stan stared blankly at the
wall as the girl headed out the door. Mabel watched him with a look of concern,
really starting to worry about where Dipper had gone.
“I’m sure that he’s right
outside on the porch, Gruncle Stan,” she assured him halfheartedly. “He’s
probably just struggling with our backpacks.”
Her uncle didn’t move, but
he watched her carefully as she walked across the store to the front door.
“Dipper?” she called out. “Dipper! Come out, come out wherever you are!”
There was no answer from
the porch or the surrounding woods. Everything was silent and Mabel frowned as
she called out once more, “Dipper?”
Her uncle marched out
after her and locked the door behind him. “Come on, kid,” he instructed. “Let’s
go find your brother.”
▲▲▲
Once the tour of the
museum was finished, the boy found that they had come back around to the place
where they stored all the lost erased memories. He could hardly believe most of
the crazy things that Blind Ivan had shown him, but there was a whole room of
staggering evidence before him. Not to mention the Journal that Ivan kept
tucked under his arm.
“Perhaps after you see the
good that we can do here, it’ll erase your doubts,” the man stated.
He then handed the child a
small red robe that was folded neatly so that the symbol of the eye crossed
over with an “x” was plainly visible. He then walked through the curtains that
lead to the outside without another word.
“Hey! Wait!” the boy
called as he darted after him, not daring to venture beyond the drapery.
“You’re not just going to leave me here, are you?”
“I shall return first
thing in the morning,” the man assured him before he disappeared through the
secret passage.
“Great,” the boy sighed in
annoyance as he slumped against the wall. “And just where am I supposed to
sleep?”
He slid down the wall
until he was sitting on the hard stone floor and then went through his vest
pockets to find something with which to write. Lo and behold, there was a
notepad and a pen there and he quickly set to writing a list.
Society of the Blind Eye
Society’s Ivan’s Journal?
Pine Tree Hat
What he did know was
pretty limited, but there was plenty he could do to learn more. Ivan was
reluctant to give away any information, but perhaps the other society members
he’d mentioned would be more likely to talk.
Talk to other members
Get proof of supernatural strangeness
Examine Memory Gun
“Making a list and
checking it twice, huh?” called out a distorted voice. “Boy, I guess some
things never change!”
The boy cried out in
surprise and shank away from the voice that practically rang right in his ear.
He found that the voice had come from the glowing yellow triangle with a huge
fiery blue eye.
“What the heck are you?!”
he shouted at the creature, trying to fend it off with his pen.
The blue fire of the
triangle’s eye faded and it then used its thin little black arms to tip his top
hat politely.
“I guess introduction are
in order,” it said without any visible mouth, though there was a bowtie where
one should have been. “The name’s Bill Cipher! I’m here to haunt the rest of
your miserable existence!”
“How did you even get in
here?” he demanded as he jumped to his feet.
“You’d be surprised by the
things I can do, Pine Tree, especially in the mindscape,” Bill replied with a
snap of his fingers. The boy gasped as he found himself blinded by a hood
suddenly falling over his eyes. He pulled it up far enough so that he could see
again and found that he was now dressed in the red robe of the Society of the
Blind Eye. The very same robe Ivan had given him before he left.
“Bwah! How did you do
that?” he asked in surprise.
“Ya know, I think that
that hood actually suites you,” Bill mused. “Well then! What’s your name, kid?”
“My name--m-my name…well…”
he stuttered, caught off guard by the question. “I haven’t figured that out
yet.”
“I’m sure it’ll come to ya!”
Bill assured him. The triangle turned away and the scene change with the
movement, like the iris-out of a movie from one location to another. They were
now in the middle of the woods with the sun shining down from high above the
tall pine trees. The boy walked through the tall grass and mushrooms until he
was finally out in the open. He was outside a rundown shack with
incomprehensible letters across the roof.
“What is this place?” he
asked aloud, though he’d already lost track of Bill Cipher.
A strange, but mirthful
laugh broke the eerie silence. The boy ran off in the direction of the sound
and found the small figure of a girl kneeling beside a wide pit. She had her
back to him, but beside her was a plump little pig that she was petting
lovingly.
“All this gravity will try to pull you down,” she was singing playfully. “But not this time! When the sun goes down and the light go out!! Then
it’s time for you to shine!!!”
The boy drew closer, his
footsteps dead silent as he walked. The girl didn’t seem to notice as she
continued to sing gleefully.
“Brighter than a shooting star!” she droned. “So
shine no matter where you are!”
He finally came up and put
his hand on the girl’s shoulder. She spun around to face him, but suddenly she
was a huge sock puppet with googly-eyes and limp little arms and she was
laughing with the same distorted voice of the triangle.
The boy fell backwards in
surprise and screamed as he found himself falling down a bottomless pit.
He woke up screaming with
his arms flailing around widely for something to grab a hold of. His grasp
landed on the hood that had been folded at his side when he had fallen asleep.
He was still beneath the museum where Ivan had left him. He sighed with relief
and then removed his dark blue vest and placed it on the floor. He curled up
while using it as a pillow and draped the robe over himself like a blanket.
Gravity Falls (C) Alex Hirsch
