TalkBack - Gravity Falls - "Weirdmageddon 3: TakeBack The Falls" [2/15]

[King_of_doom]

Wow, this why i call a finale!

I really have to thank Alex Hirsch and his entire crew bringing this that was just amazing and give us a finale where sadly other cartoon shows and series didn't have a chance to get.

Spoiler

It started strong of how Dipper and Mabel brought everyone in the Shack hope and started to do something against Bill and his minions. I like how everyone contribute in the finale battle with Macgucket building one of the coolest giant robots aside of Megas and how Wendy was being as awesome as ever.

We do see how the symbols by reuniting meant the fall of Bill and i like how everyone fitted when it was shown. The ice pack was definitely Wendy and i see now that the broken glasses was more for Macgucket since Ford feels he destroyed one of his only friends in Gravity Falls.

I think people might be disappointed of how the symbols didn't make much impact but i can see that Alex played a good game where in a finale you always expect that "Deus Ex Machina" where a sudden force appears to destroy the evil but was nice watching how Stan messed it up because of still feeling angry at Ford for not thanking him.

What i found most hilarious in this special is with Soos teaching Macgucket Anime and how Bill was annoyed that everyone is hurting his eye, my fav is with Mabel lol. The part where Bill captured everyone was creepy and how he tries to capture Dipper and Mabel but as we see both twins weren't afraid of him and i really like that they are giving Bill a hard time where not every being he encountered give him such annoyance.

Finale we get a moment with Stan and Ford where Stan feels bad of messing what it could've been their last hope and Ford tells that it's not since he had done some dumb decisions also like how Ford realized that how Dipper and Mabel work so well together that he realized that could've been the same with Stan

When Bill caught Dipper and Mabel and literally was about to kill one of them, Ford surrenders and make a deal with Bill to enter his mind but unknown to Bill he entered in Stan's mind and felt for the old switcheroo, an eye to an eye against a professional con man as Stan.

I think that scene where Bill was desperate and scared of how he's going to get his memory and Stan confronting Bill on messing with his family it's probably one of the MOST epic scene i ever seen in this 1 hour episode, seriously Stan taking out Bill that way was both sad and heroic since it did came with a prize......the lost of Stan's memory.

I know what i said before with Bill vs. Stan was epic but that one really touched me, i mean i seen this man sacrifice himself to save his family and Alex wasn't joking on killing a main character, he did and the way he did it was just wow.

But with all hope we do get to see Stan recovering his memories thanks to Mabel's pics and her experience with her grunkle. I like how they do show on what we predicted where everything turns back to normal and everyone celebrating the twins birthday and even tho we didn't get some Pacifica moments as we wanted but showing her appreciate both Dipper and Mabel was satisfying.

Speaking of, we finally see Ford forgiving Stan and tells him if he wants to go on an adventure with him since there's still some paranormal activity in other parts of world and Stan gladly accept but that means he has to shout down the Mystery Shack........until he announced Soos being the new owner of the Shack which was just awesome to see and Soos really deserves it.

The final moments of this episode was just.......heartbroken, as Grenda even mentions "stupid feelings, while punching her heart " lol it was sad but it was also cool how everyone reunited to give the Twins one last goodbye........at least Stan and Ford gave us a good laugh when they wanted Mabel to have Waddles whatever her parents like it or not lol. It was cool to see Wendy giving Dipper his goodbyes but also give him her hat while she keeps his.

The end of credits........so great to watch, it did felt like we where watching a movie and how it ended so wonderful.

I know some are scratching their heads to some stuff not being clear, the most obvious is where was Blending? I was actually thinking he would intervene and try to help the Pines but we know how Blending is so that sucks but still it didn't mess with what they have shown here

 

[ILuvToons]

Great finale to a great series! I've been here since the beginning, so it's nice seeing the show develop over time. Gravity Falls, you will be missed...

On to "Star vs. the Forces of Evil"!

 

[zoombie]

My only gripe was Pacifica still acting bratty in the beginning (though she went back to normal during the Birthday party) and I saw it coming that Stan and Ford change clothes.

Well as I said in my review, this what happens when plans change. You see the plans was Pacifica was going to be a minor character that gets no development, and be her season 1 self for the whole series, but she became popular and plans changed and they developed her characters in season 2, but always going to be the Llama and take part in the final battle. So you kind have those two plans kind of at war with each other. That being said she would have been more bratty and down right unbearable in the original draft. And the whole you are only getting one pony this year, that joke only works if she freaks out and cries like her parents, we all have a laugh at her expense. But post development that would be a big step back to her character, had they done that, I don't know why they did that joke with a set up and no punchline, should have just stopped at Preston crying like a baby and go to the next scene.

 

[TsWade2]

That was so freakin' awesome! What a way to end the show with the most episode hour episode! I don't want to spoiled it, even though someone else already did, but all I have to say is, but thank you, Alex Hirsh, for making this an incredible series. God bless you, Alex!

 

[ToonJay723]

I don't want to spoiled it, even though someone else already did

You can't really post a spoiler of an episode on its talkback thread. That's the point, talking about the episode.

 

[Eldorado]

What a WONDERFUL finale.

But there ARE still some question left unanswered like if Bill ISN'T the one causing all the weirdness in Gravity Fall what or WHO is? Where did Blandon go? And will Tad Strange ever be the same person again? Hopefully Alex DOES continue this series in some form and we can finally get answers for ALL the questions.

 

[PapaGreg]

I'm gonna be the turd in the sandwich and say I didn't really like this finale, felt too predictable I could list what happens next scene( at least MI had a girl got shot in the head, she got better but still) by scene and while there were some great moments but I found it eh to be a finale and thought this went too well for everyone in Gravity Falls.

 

[Tommy Lawson]

You can't really post a spoiler of an episode on its talkback thread. That's the point, talking about the episode.

Exactly. Especially since we're on the second page now. Spoilers are implied by the title of the thread.

As for the episode, it was an awesome finale IMO. It will almost certainly be the highest rated animated episode in Disney XD's history when the ratings become available. It had great action, tension, and emotional drama. The anime reference joke early in the episode was great. I felt that the brothers switching clothes with each other was supposed to be obvious to the viewers. It was the other part - duping Bill into believing he had entered Ford's mind, that was the challenge, and thus, the importance of the dialogue exchange that occurs before it. One thing I think can easily be taken for granted in a show like this is the music. It can add a lot of emotion to the scenes. I feel Disney really went all-out for the music in the finale. The epic background music in the climatic scene I feel would have fit perfectly in a Disney Animation theatrical movie. There have been disappointing finales from shows that went on for so long that they changed from what they were originally supposed to be, so it is great that Gravity Falls got to end on a high note.

 

[Whimsical Crank]

So Bill was the 'big' character death Hirsch was talking about, huh? Great finale, ended a lot happier than I expected. Two of the things that I wished got addressed were an overview of where Ford has been for the past 30 years (though Dimension 52 will be mentioned in the upcoming journal replica) and where Blendin went. But the few nitpicks of mine (some of which I only noticed after watching the episode) are vastly overshadowed by everything else that happened here.

I definitely liked Gideon being a 'normal' kid, the reunion of both McGucket & Ford and Durland & Blubbs (the latter EXACTLY matched how I envisioned it). And even that's barely scratching the surface.

 

[Daikun]

That was a great finale! Although there are still some loose ends that we'll never have the answers to.

 

[Golfkid]

I stayed up for the late night airing, like I did most of this last season.

Gravity Falls was a good series. I liked it. It's probably one of the few "Scary" shows/movies I've made it through. I also found this series when I first moved to college and it was completely by mistake.

I liked the finale with it sort of coming full circle and having lot of people there (even if it is a bit predictable for finales).

Gravity Falls was a fun series. However, there are only three really big complaints I have about it:

1. The dramatic shift in the way the show was from Season 1 to Season 2. This could be in a number of ways: the fact that it moved from Disney Channel and they never really aired the new episodes on the channel (until the show had only one episode left), the dark turn and things that the show got away with (thus probably why the shift), the fact that Alex more or less lied at a panel from last Summer about him getting leeway with the show moving to XD and also the show getting away with more stuff than other Disney Channel Shows (this felt cocky and rubbed me really the wrong way. It makes it look like he could punch a bunch of exes and not get in trouble.), and the way the comedy took a back seat, especially towards the end. I also didn't like how they cut the theme song a lot in Season 2 or that he needed a 38 or so minute episode for a Tale of Two Stans. Either cut something or ask Disney to make one more episode to make up for all the theme song skips and also the extra time in the episode.

I know I explained to myself a lot of why some of this happened. And, don't get me wrong, the show was only going to last two seasons and a lot of the last few episodes had to force the plot a long. However, the show felt a lot different in Season 2 than Season 1. I know it might have been tough for Alex to stretch a 3rd Season and I'm sure he, as much as he loved it, wanted to move onto something else (and has). However, I just didn't care for the show going a lot darker in some aspects that just made the series feel different. Watching the marathon before the last episode really made me see this too. I liked how a lot of early episodes had mostly comedy with a little plot, and then overall plot in them. No need to push the envelope and they could have kept this up for a lot more of the series. I also liked the show when they had to dance around issues rather than when the filter went away.

2. I'm not really into how obsessed people get with trying to find EVERY answer or little thing in the show. Going frame by frame to find stuff makes me feel like you might be a little to obsessed (saw someone on Twitter saying they practically devoted their life to the show the past 4 years). If you do, go for it. However, people went into the finale wanting EVERY question answered and EVERY question addressed. The book coming out (next year? This Summer? Whatever!) should have a lot of answers. However, even if there are some that still aren't there, I really hope people are not bugging Alex about it or forcing him into another series, just because their question didn't get answered. I'm sure there's information that gets tossed around at almost every show that people either never know, find out, or will be revealed.

3. I hope the show doesn't make a whole new series. Granted, I'm sure there will be specials, like Phineas and Ferb, and I honestly could see more likely than not, in about a decade or so (look at all the retro anime coming back), that Disney could be crawling back, trying to get Alex into a new series. I would probably end up watching the spin off too and I'm sure Disney would let Alex do basically everything, but murder someone on TV. However, I kind of liked it when he went with his childhood and not just out of the blue. It could create new ideas, but I feel the show was best when he knew where it was going (I had this for a lot of fanfic stories) rather than coming up with stuff out of the air.

Don't get me wrong. I liked the series and, like I said, probably watch any specials or a new series. However, there were just a few big things that I needed to get off my chest about the show. I know people won't agree, but it had some flaws.

Still, a good ending to a good show. Thanks Alex!

 

[TheVileOne]

It was a good finale and no really huge surprises.

I think it was a little contrived to set up a magic circle power to defeat Bill only to not use it at all. It was really a pointless set up. They should've actually used it and maybe it didn't actually defeat Bill at all only empower him more, another trick. The one weakness should've been somehow erasing him in his mindscape making Bill vulnerable. So the mindscape trick was the last ditch effort. I figured when Stanley volunteered to take Bill into his mind, they would switch clothes. I mean it's an obvious trick since they are twin brothers.

So basically, the memory eraser gun is only a temporary fix. McGucket has his memories back now. And so does Stanley. That means Blind Ivan should probably be able to get his back too at some point.

I also didn't care for bratting Pacifica up so much. It was inconsistent even in the last time we saw her when she was disappointed with her dad trying to submit to Bill and his minions.

The ending was a good ending. But here are my only two nitpicks:

1) They make Soos the new Mystery Shack owner and he gets the fez. Then in the very next scene, Stanley has the fez back and Soos is back with his regular cap. Ah, the problems with animating based off character models overseas.

2) I think Dipper did enough to earn a kiss from Wendy at the end. It didn't have to be a full-on kiss, but a fist bump and hat switch along with a thank you letter from everyone, bleh. Give the guy a kiss and it's like, "yeah, I'm definitely coming back next summer!"

 

[thomas2313412]

I saw the episode and it was not only amazing but it was heartwarming , It might have two loose plots like what adventure Stan and ford are going to do in the arctic and why isn't blendin appear in the finale but it doesn't matter I can deal with that.

That episode has Stan and ford forgiving each other after Stan makes a heroic sacrifice for defeating bill to make up for all the past mistakes he did including the bill cipher wheel attempt .I like the "mecha" part in the first half probably that Alex Hirsch likes anime because duh most of us like anime it inspires us . Though stan is not "dead" his memory wipe is considered a ‘Death to his current self ’ but at least the gang revives him back thanks to Mabel’s scrap book. :')

Even the town begins to accept the supernatural and Stanley hands over the mystery shack ownership to Soos since its always his life and now he becomes its owner. Gideon did try to redeem himself and try to live as a normal kid well almost anyway.

Still it was a great finale as this series shows not only about mysteries and adventures but it also has two important elements Forgiveness and Family. :')

 

[SaneMan]

What a satisfying conclusion

As probably everyone already noticed, we finally got a pay-off for all that "burning Stan" imagery throughout the series
I generally find it fun how many of these twists were expected, like for example Soos taking over the Mystery Shack

As for the scene with Pacifica, I think it still had a point
mostly in that she was shown to be taking it better than her parents
she was still obviously bummed-out by having to "downsize" , but she avoided making a scene like her parents, showing that her priorities have changed

Also, I agree that Stan might have gotten over his aminesia rather quickly, but it does give a whole new meaning to the Gravity Falls shorts we got earlier
ESPECIALLY the batch that has Mabel read her scrapbook to someone

I wish Alex Hirsch good luck with his future projects

 

[zoombie]

Am I the only one who thinks it would hilarious if Preston became McGuckett's butler. S

Seriously as much as I love to bash Preston, maybe losing his fortune, maybe he can redeem himself and become a better person and father, similar thing happened to Jude Heartfilla in Fairy Tail so you never know.

 

[thomas2313412]

Oh i also forgot to mention to you that i watched the first episode from the very beginning and now i seen the end

 

[Toon4Thought]

Yep, this finale was grand alright. Just the kind of send-off a show like this deserves. I can't say it was perfect, but dang if it wasn't totally worth all the fantastic positives offered.

Now, while Dipper and Mabel take enough of the spotlight to be considered the heroes, in my opinion the real stars of this finale were Stanley and Stanford. Their relationship here was unbelievably good. Not only is their behavior completely believable given all they've been through, but it ties up pretty much all of the loose ends established in episodes like "Tale of Two Stans", "The Stanchurian Candidate", and even "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future" to a small extent. On top of that, even the arguing and bitter attitude towards each other is toned down for us to only see what we have to for this story, with most of the rest being strongly implied, which prevents it from grating on the viewer while still keeping the message intact. It's probably the arc I can safely say was handled flawlessly. Not to say the others were bad at all, it's just this one in particular hit every right note.

As for the younger twins, they don't really get a lot of character moments to speak of until after the climax - which is for the most part quite fine, seeing as how their conflict was resolved in the previous episode. And it's not like they don't majorly contribute to the plot in the first half; after all, they did urge the resistance to battle Bill and pretty much led the resulting fight. I just think maybe they could've given them a couple of more shining moments, but at the same time, I kind of understand why they didn't. It was a crucial situation, and they do still make up for it in the second half by giving them plenty of fun and heartfelt moments to themselves, the very end especially.

Most of the conclusions were quite solid, too. Again, the Stan twins finally making up and going on that voyage while observing anomalies together was perfect. Stanley giving up the Shack to Soos was also very good (and seeing Melody at the counter was the icing on the cake). Dipper and Mabel having to say goodbye to the town and dealing with the unknown of their teenagerhood together was great, and the fact they left their aftermath ambiguous was extremely clever and one of the best examples of that trope I've seen. I even really liked most of the conclusions that we saw for the rest of the town; they were brief, but that's all they really needed. The only one that didn't feel too complete was Pacifica's; I think the last time we see her in the show, her family is crying over losing their mansion. Um... yay? I don't know, I would have loved to see at least one silver lining for her, since she has proven that she is capable of doing good. I guess you can't have everything, though.

I think the only negative I have that isn't a nitpick is the whole Stan's memory thing. Now, to me the sacrifice to have Stan volunteer to have his memory wiped to destroy Bill once and for all is a really solid means of defeating him (even if the whole 'circle' thing turned out to be kind-of a Red Herring, but I'm kind of glad it was since a lot of people - myself included - saw that being the true MacGuffin). But the fact it was restored as easily and quickly as it was seemed like a bit of a cop-out. I know this was pretty much foreshadowed in a previous episode, but still, I think it would've carried a lot more weight if they either kept him that way until the very, very end or merely imply that there's still traces of his memory remaining but keeping it ambiguous. Granted, without that we wouldn't have had him and Ford reach their full conclusion, but the fact the last memory Stan has before it's wiped was a reminder that he really did do something good for the family felt like a perfectly bittersweet note. The fact something like that was retconned just ruins quite a bit of the mood there in my opinion.

However, with that said, the actual scene where Bill is defeated is by far the visual highlight of the episode, and this is an episode that really amped up the animation in multiple regards so that's saying a lot. Note that the head-on shot of him punching Bill has the same fluidity in the animation as the theme song. Between this and Spongebob season 9B, I'm suddenly getting much better vibes for Rough Draft becoming the main animation studio for season 2 of Star Vs..

In fact, that scene in general can pretty much be the perfect representation for the entire episode. I don't think everything in it works perfectly, but way too many others do, and it all comes together for a truly great series finale, and a really solid send-off to what is easily one of my absolute favorite animated shows of all-time.

More notes!
- I'll admit that I didn't see the clothes switcheroo coming when I watched this. Granted, there are a lot of things I didn't see coming in other animated media that seemed obvious on second watch, but still, I guess it goes to show you just how much the drama managed to wrap me in.
- The fact they literally outlawed any mentions of Weirdmaggeddon to prevent word being spread is just the kind of lampshade I expect from this show. And yes, it is very funny.
- I haven't even talked much about the comedy, but that's because it primarily takes a backseat to everything else. It's still there throughout, with at least one joke every minute, most of which were effective, but it surprisingly wasn't all that important of an element here. And it strangely actually feels okay given what kind of episode this is. Go figure.
- So Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland are pretty much confirmed to be homosexual. Can't say I didn't see that coming.
- Apparently the bus driver at the end was voiced by what was essentially Alex Hirsch's inspiration for the series. How incredibly fitting to have it come full circle like that.
- I was amazed they actually had a custom end credits sequence, and it's probably one of the biggest highlights of the episode. The music was fantastic, the brief videos do a great job of expressing the idea to keep the good ol' memories in your heart, and it feels like the perfect note to end a show like this on. It definitely gives this a bittersweet punch the regular credits couldn't have possibly pulled off.
- In case your curious, if I ranked all the episodes of the series, this would probably be #4, behind "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future", "Tale of Two Stans", and "Not What He Seems".

Goodbye, Gravity Falls. You left me with some awesome, hilarious, and heartfelt memories. Best of luck to Alex Hirsch on whatever his FOX project is, and I'm definitely really looking forward to that too.

 

[Gatordragon]

I'm gonna be the turd in the sandwich and say I didn't really like this finale, felt too predictable I could list what happens next scene( at least MI had a girl got shot in the head, she got better but still) by scene and while there were some great moments but I found it eh to be a finale and thought this went too well for everyone in Gravity Falls.

I gotta agree with ya. This finale was satisfying, but I wasn't really wowed by it. At least the Pacific Rim mecha scene and Stan tricking Bill were cool as heck.

 

[King_of_doom]

I think it was a little contrived to set up a magic circle power to defeat Bill only to not use it at all. It was really a pointless set up. They should've actually used it and maybe it didn't actually defeat Bill at all only empower him more, another trick.

As i mentioned on my comment, the whole purpose of that was just a prop, it's suppose to introduce a moral conflict(Got that from Genndy in Samurai Quack)

Alex already knew that so he used on having people believe it's the key to defeat Bill but it didn't.

 

[ILuvToons]

What a WONDERFUL finale.

But there ARE still some question left unanswered like if Bill ISN'T the one causing all the weirdness in Gravity Fall what or WHO is? Where did Blandon go? And will Tad Strange ever be the same person again? Hopefully Alex DOES continue this series in some form and we can finally get answers for ALL the questions.

Well, there is a Journal #3 book coming out soon, maybe there will be answers there for the questions the show didn't address. Otherwise, bug Alex about them until he answers.