Gertrude: James Is Dead Elias Bouchard Is The New Head Of The Magnus Institute

"You, you know what, no. I’m, I’m done with that. No more paranoia. It’s almost got me killed more than once, and Georgie was right. If I am, uh, slipping then I need people I can trust. And I… I don’t think that can happen naturally for me an-anymore, so I’m making a decision. I trust them. All of them."

YES ARCHIVIST, YES!

"Ex-except Elias, obviously, that’s not – I mean – I’ve listened to the tapes."

OH LOOK AT YOU, BEING SMART AND WHOLESOME FOR ONCE!

1) PM: Come one, let’s hurry up and finish this. I don’t like working with ardor in an arbor like this. YEAAAHHHHH!! Jirou: So loud!

2) PM: Hurry up and COME OUT! Jirou: My ears! PM: You coming YET?! Jirou: I can’t take this anymore, I can’t…

3) PM: HURRY UP!

4) PM: THERE YOU ARE! Jirou: This isn’t good…For now…Cancel out!

5) Jirou: What should we- PM: YOU COMING YET? Jirou: W-we need some way to break out of this! At this rate, we won’t even be able to get close to him. What a joke!

6) Jirou talking to Koda: I know it’s scary, but- PM: HEY! Jirou: He’s too strong! I can’t think of anything else!

7) Koda’s bugs popping out of the ground and crawling up his body: They’re coming from underground, where it’s hard for sound to travel! This is why I hate forests!

Parallels and contrasts between Stan and Bill in the new book and website

Aka miscellaneous thoughts that I'm too lazy to condense into something comprehensible– what you see is what you get folks! (Book stuff, DVD commentaries! The website that came out when I was trying to write this out and is now making me pull my hair out! But in like a good way? That god damn poem!)

not necessarily same coin stuff but I sure am thinking about it.

It’s been said that a large part of Ford’s relationships with Bill, Fiddleford and Dipper was him trying to fill a hole that his estrangement with Stan had left, with none of them clicking in that same way. Dipper was directly compared to Fiddleford as someone who was completely charmed by Ford but is ultimately too anxious of a person to properly deal with the life he's offering nor pull him back when starts going too far. Meanwhile, Bill is more analogous to Stan but to the extreme with all the doubts that Ford had been fed about Stan (that he was using him, he never grew up, he betrayed him, sabotaged the machine on purpose) turning out to be exactly true with Bill.

The book has Bill saying flat out that Ford wanted the charisma Bill had and then shows that at the peak of Ford's loneliness he was being envious of Stan's charisma, social skills and hands.

[STANLEY COULD HAVE MADE HER LAUGH]

(There’s an irony that Stan always thought that Ford was the popular twin even after doing embarrassing stuff like the kissing machine – if you haven’t seen the Swine Before Time Stan commentary get going, it’s great)

Then Bill swoops in with jokes and endless encouragement and the nickname only Stan used for him, all this in a way tailored for Ford to immediately like him while also reminding him of Stan but "better."

(The show rarely used it but Bill’s use of Sixer is extremely frequent in Journal 3 alone but the comics solidify it as being a pretty personal childhood nickname that kid!Stan used as his default way to call Ford.)

And then you see all of this working because Ford straight up writes Bill’s words using Stan's handwriting (and it turns out that Ford’s capital letter ‘for emphasis/angry’ font in general is the same as Stan’s handwriting too)

(It’s important to note that this is different from all the fonts that Bill uses for himself!)

All of this leads to the deja vu of Ford getting stabbed in the back by someone he was codependent on over a machine he thought was going to change his life for the better

Other things in the book that I’ve seen others point out and noticed myself:

Bill trying to reinforce that Ford would be alone without him, and threatening to tell Stan that Ford never loved him but the first thing Stan does in his letter is tell Ford that he loves him with their childhood code

Stan also only uses ‘Sixer’ in his letter when he normally tends to use a mix of nicknames post-Weirdmaggedon (sure it’s only twice but idk I find it noticeable)

Stan ripped a dollar in half when Bill taunted the reader earlier about how they wouldn’t do that

The promo photo vs the one in the book, Ford’s face being untouched vs Stan’s. While I initially interpreted this as “Bill’s book being a way to torment Ford” and then “him ending up having a meltdown at the thought of Stan”, the new poem kinda gives off an ominous vibe of "him moving on to focus on Stan instead whether he wants to or not"

Ford writing “miss you” in the bro code soon after arriving at Backupsmore which is shown in the Fiddleford photo, then Bill taunting Ford that he misses him

Bill and Stan now have another parallel of losing everything because of a genuine mistake but only Stan was willing to work to make up for it while Bill doubled down and became far far worse

The utter hatred Bill has for Stan being able to win in the end and get back his family

Both of them being institutionalized, with Stan’s mentioned in Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun (which has references to Bill liking Mabel for her chaos, silly straws, etc. Also Dipper basically came up with the Author theory but slightly wrong from theorising about the ink blot like a year before the Ford reveal)

(saturn devouring his son perfectly depicts my emotions when reaching this part of the book)

And now for the stuff we know from the website:

Bill having severe family issues with daddy issues implied since only his mum is mentioned directly with her trying to comfort him as a kid vs Stan having severe family issues with a definite focus on his dad while his mum was the only one to ask about Stan during that meeting with the principal and her being the only one to show up to his funeral

Both of them wear their dad’s hat despite of all of this

Bill starting a billion cults and has a lawyer called Multilevel Mark, Stan having his Scientology-esque cult being shot down by irl Disney and as a kid having his “technically a pyramid scheme” comic being shot down by a publisher

(I doubt that Stanentology would’ve gotten far but also you can see that a trend that the main way Bill gathers followers is by reading minds and revealing secrets only the victim would know, so let's hope that Disney-let-him-start-a-cult AU Stan never gets mind reading abilities)

Despite how we know how Stan is traumatised as hell from losing Ford, it’s noticeably isn’t referred directly in the Wheel of Shame (like you can’t tell me that the time between pushing Ford into the portal and starting the Shack isn’t as rock bottom as it gets, Bill literally recognises Stan in the first place by thinking about his brand). This probably is because Bill knows that they managed to repair their relationship and he’s fucking pissed about it.

There's further parallels between Stanley and Bill in poem; with lies and redemption and home, and further association with fire for the both of them

“Saw his own dimension burn.

Misses home and can't return.”

“Always dragged his family down.

One mistake, disowned, denied,

Only thing to do was hide.”

“One way out: the open road.

Reinvent, retry, reload.

A girdle, eyepatch, fathers fez,

"I'm a new man!" so he says”

“One way to absolve his crime.

A different form, a different time”

“His big break, it finally came,

Redemption from a life of shame.”

“Says he's happy. He's a liar.”

“Truth is just whatever sells.

When you've lost track of your lies,”

“Lie until you aren’t lying anymore”

Bill in a rotting corpse of a snake oil salesman

This triangle can fit so much self-loathing projection while being a hater

(Also it's funny that Bill is so insistent that Ford had to be the one who came up with the plan

Like look at this

See ‘em cogs turning in Stan’s head while Ford has clearly given up hope)

“How dare he dress up fancy when his jokes suck!!”

There's a parallel of Ford projecting onto Dipper in a way that makes him feel like kindred spirits with his nephew but Stan projects on Dipper in a way that causes him to be more harsh even if he has good intentions. Meanwhile Bill projects onto Ford in a more positive light in comparison to Stan, who in this case Bill wants to rip him and himself into shreds whenever he thinks of the guy. Bill’s shared love for fun/chaos with Mabel (despite them being so different at their core) is why he likes her the most out of all the Pines but that doesn’t stop him from trying to murder her (although I think most folks don’t know about that interview where Alex was like “yeah, I think Bill would’ve burnt Ford alive the moment he got the equation, he’s done playing with his toys at that point”)

Other tidbits:

I find it interesting that the full version of the Wheel of Shame has blue sparks and fades to grey scale (which automatically reminded me of his mindscape)

Stan signing off as Stanley in the book – this ain’t anything huge to chew on I'm just very over emotional about this… but also there’s Bill being called Billy by his family/in the codes

Ford thinking of Stan as childish/someone who never grew up and then we get hit by “yeah Ford always had some part of himself stuck at 18” oof

Ford underestimating Stan’s control over the mindscape, not knowing that he’s able to hide memories in Dreamscaperers, manipulate the layout of his mindscape enough to trick Bill and memory!Stan telling Dipper how to use the mindscape which Bill was genuinely surprised by

I'm headcanoning that Stan doing so bad at that history test is due to some latent bs from what Bill knows which is all crazy conspiracy level stuff

I think it's also intensely funny that all of the Pines promise that they'll murder Bill if they ever see him again and then they immediately turn to Stan and go “now it's your turn to write a letter! :D!!”

(I feel like the main requirement that the Theraprism has for Bill before he can reincarnate is mainly acknowledging his family idk which honestly would fit even better if his soul becomes Stan’s)

I'm at episode 118, Tim I asked you not to die, IF I GO TO THE NEXT EPISODE AND DON'T HEAR YOUR VOICE I'LL BE CRYING FOR A WEEK.

So, some thoughts about episode 117:

"I don’t quite get those two. I suppose what they’ve done, seeing what they’ve seen… it’s a hell of a bond." I thought that with the Eye's power you would be better at seeing things like this one

But then again, you haven't seen how much Martin's been trying to get closer to you, so I should've expected that.

THEY'RE GAY, ARCHIVIST-

God, Basira, I just want to hug the shit out of you.

"How the hell did I end up having to save the world?" Dear I don't have the slightest clue, other than Elias Bouchard being a dick and involving you and your girlfriend into this mess.

Melanie being awkward is adorable, but then she monologues about her violent tendency and thoughts against Elias...

I am worried.

Like, Miss King, please, PLEASE. I know Elias Bouchard is, as you said, and asshole, but please don't.

I know that at least two entities feed on violence and FUCK I DON'T WANNA LOSE ANYONE TO THEM-

"Good luck, John. I do hope you win." Good Melanie! :)

"...But I also hope it hurts." Bad Melanie! :(

I love every single Martin interaction.

EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Baby! Dear! Don't worry! It's normal to feel scared!

 "I need them to be safe, I need him to be okay. So-sorry, umm." Don't say sorry, dearie, you just made my day, don't say sorry-

Oh, okay Daisy, good talk. :)

Getting ready to kick some plastic ass!

God, seeing Tim this fiery and passionate is SO GOOD, but, as I said for Melanie, PLEASE DON'T DO DUMB SHIT.

"I’m gonna hurt them, though. I’m gonna hurt the thing that stole my brother and wrecked my life." UHHHH, TIM?! PLEASE DON'T DIE-

"I’m the distraction. If it looks like any of the circus folk, mannequins, whatever, are gonna see the others, I’m to make the biggest mess I can, draw them away, keep them busy." TIM, LOVE, YOU'RE NOT GONNA DIE TODAY, ARE YOU?!

"I don’t expect I’m going to be coming back from this. I don’t know if I want to."

TIM NOOOOOOO-

My favourite word used to describe Jon in a fic is “coltish”. I’ve seen it used twice, maybe three times, and every time has been a delight because I think it just sums him up nicely

Physically it gives an impression of being kind of skinny and gangly, disproportionate and all leg, but still smaller than you’d expect

Emotionally it’s like “should... should that thing be able to move? I don’t think it should be able to walk let alone- oh god it’s coming this way-“

Playlists can be a coping mechanism 🚶🚶🚶

scout’s VA brings us that A+ phrasing as always

Hey, Episode 124 Jon? Jonathan Simps? How does it feel to finally be the one pining after someone that won't consider you?

After the S4 trailer I was getting ready for a tearful reunion and instead I get these two emotionally constipated men, I'm loving it.

(courtesy of rudy @lesbianlotl​!!)

this is one of the best things i watched all week