EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT FORD IS WRONG!

Its finally time to deep dive into Stanford's personality and prove once and for all he isnt the character you once believed!

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[sinamoroll]

Ford is living proof that your intelligence quotient might be high, but your emotional intelligence does hold much more importance regarding how to live and be fulfilled in your own life, both socially and individually.

[LaurenSherwood-ni]

I just realized that dipper learned a lot of lessons throughout the summer. A lot of that was thanks to Stanley Stanley taught him more heartwarming lessons. Then ford ever could.

[loisarends]

A 12 year old girl getting blamed for "starting the apocalypse" over the grown ass man that 1. Was the one that trusted bill in the first place (which I know was because of manipulation. But Mabel gets blamed for getting manipulated all the time) and didnt want to tell his family about this important item that legit keeps the world from ending.
Also I'm glad theres someone else who thinks Dipper becoming Ford's apprenticeship was a bad idea

[littleaminal]

bill cipher was lying when he mentioned being praised as a child, there's actually more hinting via ciphers & other subtext that bill was lying about having a happy childhood, he actually had a hard life because of his "odd eye"

[Rekuzan]

"Don't worry, all the aliens have been dead for millions of
Ford is JUST as irresponsible as Stan is, just in different ways. Like in the Stanchurion Candidate when Dipper got the tie.
"YES yes, use it responsibly and all that..."

[constructivecriticism]

I feel like Ford is projecting his issues with Stanley onto Dipper. He sees Dipper as him, and Mabel as Stanley. He feels that Mabel will “hold dipper back” just like Stan did to him. He sees how smart dipper is, and he knows he has a bright future ahead, but to him, that also means that Mabel is a hinderance to Dippers progress. To ford, there are exceptional people, and then everyone else. Dipper is an exceptional person, Mabel is the everyone else.

[Numbuh]

And people had the nerve to say Weirdmageddon was Mabels fault

[gabrielam]

I do think he made a lot of mistakes. Especially with how he was portrayed as very main character esque and thinking he had to only go it alone, keeping grudges and pushing people away. However I’m glad the point is that he gets better altho wish we got an on screen apology from Ford

[matti.]

It's important to remember that Stanford's entire motivation is proving people wrong, his bullies, his father, everyone. So he doesn't want to go to West Coast Tech anymore, he wants to make them regret their decision to dismiss him and prove he never needed them in the first place.

This doesn't change the fact he's still mad at Stan about the accident, Ford's "I never needed you anyway" is a coping mechanism. Plus, at that moment Ford is upset because if it wasn't for Stan, he wouldn't be in this horrible situation.

[belovedbloodmoon]

This is an excellent character analysis. Stanford has always been a deeply compelling character, and it's precisely because of his massive flaws. Almost *everything* you argue in this video has been backed up by Alex Hirsch himself, *especially* his projecting on Dipper. For example, on the commentary on Dipper and Mabel VS The Future, Alex outright says Ford's greatest flaw is his arrogance, that "he believes there's special people, and everyone else" that "the song and dance he's giving Dipper right now is the exact same song and dance he gave Mcgucket back when they were younger" which is an interesting parallel. Alex says Dipper is correct to be hesitant and suspicious of the offer, because "Ford is projecting. Ford loves Dipper because he sees someone who will tell him yes to everything, who will never challenge him". People often point out how damaging this apprenticeship would have been for Dipper, but I also find it interesting to consider how damaging it would have been for Ford. By surrounding himself with Dipper, who practically worships him, his god complex would have only grown. He would continue to make worse and worse decisions, rationalizing them with Dipper’s blind hero-worship support. In a way, he would be in a similar situation to the one he was in before, with Dipper acting both as Fiddleford (eagerly helping under the belief that he’s furthering the innovation of mankind) *and* Bill (stroking Ford’s ego and telling him he’s the best, without the same malicious and manipulative intent Bill had, of course).
I really wish Stanford had gotten more screen time than he did so his flaws could be explored more deeply and we could visually see him beginning to take the first steps in repairing his relationships after Weirdmaggadon. But even though we didn’t get to see very much of his character arc on screen, the Journal really comes through in that aspect. Though I personally don't agree with your labeling of characters as "good", "bad", or "used to be bad but now good" (I think this simplifies them too much) you did an amazing job analyzing Stanford's flaws, and this was just overall a great video. Thank you for bringing Gravity Falls’ complex writing to light, as I feel not enough people realize just how fleshed out it is.

[Attikrow]

From a literary stance, Ford is a classic example of the tragic hero. It's not just his ego, but his hubris which led to his downfall, but with a twist whereby he is given the chance to atone for his mistakes by the end. To quote McGucket in Journal 3: "Remember what happened to Icarus."

[paulschuckman]

Main character syndrome is a big problem today with a lot of people. Sadly not many are actually on the path to save the world. They either think their path is that erroneously or it's just a path of self aggrandizement.

[Lumberjack_king]

The thing about ford is he is bills perfect pawn a egotistical genius with main character syndrome and victim complex

[AGNT_NK]

To be honest, I’ve always seen Stanford as a bad person who tried changing, this is a great video explaining it! :D

[glaceonfrost]

This Would also Explain on Why Stan was always So Against Dipper Being With Ford... He Didn't Want Dipper & Mabel to Suffer The Same Fallout That He & Ford Dealt With...

[Fairygoblet]

Mabel has a kind of monotropic focus where she occasionally gets absorbed in things and doesn't notice what is going on around her. So does ford, but Mabel has a great deal more empathy for other people.

[Cat-ocgc]

Stan: BROTHER I SAVED YOU!! 😭🥹
Ford: you trapped me there in the first place 🙄
Stan: it was an accident and I’ve been working ever since to bring you back 😢
Ford: 😠
Stan: you aren’t even going to thank me? Not even a hello? Do you know how much I did to be able to fix my mistake?
Ford: 😒

[Emmalyn_adoptme]

Off topic but why did the “I did it, I saved the town” ford there that is crazy 😭

[emeraldgirl]

I see my younger self in Stanford. I used to really like him, way more than Grunkle Stan (which is crazy to me now.) I had a huge ego and isolated myself. I truly believed I was the main character in everyone's lives, even trying to spark problems in other people's lives so I could have something to "solve." It's a learning curve, and you have to constantly remind yourself that you aren't the center of attention. I still struggle with it, but, like Ford, I grew SLOWLY into a 'normal' person in how I SHOULD view myself. Still, confidence and pride is a fine line. I still like Ford because it's... little me.

[stillplay]

Stanford really is the smartest, yet dumbest person on the face of Earth. But he's still a good character.