Gravity Falls ended exactly on February 15th of 2016. A few weeks have passed now since its five-year-anniversary. I celebrated by rewatching it in its entirety, of course! I can honestly say that it’s one of the greatest cartoon series in animation history. And I’ve watched a lot of cartoons, an embarrassing amount, so for it to make the top five is a big deal (don’t even get me started on THAT list…I might have to write another article about this).
If you’re not familiar with Gravity Falls, it’s an animated series surrounding two twins, Dipper and Mabel. They’re sent to their “Grunkle” Stan’s place for summer vacation (yes, the whole 40-episode long series takes place over one summer). This isn’t just another regular degular Disney kids show though. This masterpiece by Alex Hirsch is like Phineas & Ferb met Twin Peaks and dipped itself in a little bit of acid.
Now, I didn’t just love Gravity Falls– I was obsessed with it. There was a denial phase, of course, so I didn’t realize how shameful and bad it was until I literally got a second-degree burn because of it (more on this later).
Let’s begin by first appreciating the sheer beauty of Gravity Falls. This show had some of the most unique visuals and mise-en-scenes. I would literally have an entire folder of screengrabs that I pulled from the episodes myself to use as header photos on my Facebook on rotation (remember Facebook?).
I loved this weird little show so much to the point where, when the finale date was announced, I mapped out 39 days prior in order to watch one episode per day to seamlessly line up to the finale episode. In 2016, my self-awareness and dignity levels were incredibly sparse as you can see.
Okay, how did I manage to give myself second-degree burns because of this lovely series, you ask? So basically my obsession with Gravity Falls was so cringey that I just had to dress up as Bill Cipher (the main antagonist) for Halloween, and of course, it had to be a homemade costume. I procrastinated (nothing’s changed), and so I was scrambling to finish the costume the night before. So on the eve of Halloween, while stressed and excited to show off my yellow triangle self the next day, I was frantically sticking shit down onto a Gildan shirt with a hot ass glue gun. You can predict what happened next. I unknowingly dropped a whole glob of evil glue onto my left index finger, and by the time I noticed, it was too late. If you’ve ever used a glue gun, you know once it’s on your finger, you’re done, dead. It hurts too much to peel it off as it’s still hot, so you kind of just accept it and let that evil Gorilla Glue burn you while you stare at it intensely. So to this day, I have this one patch on that finger that doesn’t grow hair anymore (DIY laser— just kidding, don’t attempt this. It hurt a lot).
Fast forward, it’s February 15th, 2016— the finale is tonight. It’s a seemingly normal day in the suburbs, but not at all, because one of the most short-lived works of art was ending. I walked my ass over to my friend’s house as I was attending a viewing party for the final episode there (as I did have a couple of friends with which we shared a love for this show). All I can say is lots of crying, lots of feelings and an end of an era, truly.
WEIRDMAGEDDON FOREVER! Thank you Alex Hirsch and your entire team for some of the best entertainment of my pre-teen years.