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Welcome brothers and sisters to this week's meeting of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel.
A secret society dedicated to discovering, decoding, and protecting the secrets of Gravity
Falls. I am this chapters founder and duly appointed High Exhaulted Big Fish, Douglas
Mackrell. As always, if you would like to see the minutes of last week's meeting you
can click this link - right here. And now for this week's order of business: The mystery
of Mabel Pines!
It's the first week of February, and Mabel's Guide to Life is in full swing on the Disney
Channel. And as I film this - I haven't even seen the first one yet! Since I plan on analyzing
the shorts next week, I thought it was best to focus on breaking down a much requested
character - Mabel Pines.
As far as we currently know, Dipper and Mabel are the youngest of the Pines family tree
- and of the two siblings, Mabel is more of a free spirit. She carries no burdens of social
taboos - she's fearless when it comes to how she's perceived by others. And that fearlessness
can be both a positive and a negative attribute.
There's no stopping Mabel when she wants to do something - and here's something very empowering
in that fact. She jumps at the chance to compete for the party crown despite the fact it put
her at odds with the town's most popular girl. She sees the possibility for romance and tries
to train Grunkle Stan to be more charming despite the fact it's a lost cause. She sees
an inequality in the workplace and challenges Grunkle Stan for leadership despite the fact
that the staff needs his gruff and abrasive leadership style to function as a team.
But since she always leaps before she looks, she's more apt to fall flat on her face - and
more worrisome - is the fact that she's not afraid to use subterfuge and outright lies
on occasion to get what she wants. Whether it's rigging a quiz, keeping a barnyard animal
as a domesticated pet, or keeping a boy band secretly hostage - Mabel has shown that she's
bullheaded and sometimes needs to learn a life lesson the hard way before it sinks in.
This doesn't mean she's a bad person though. In fact, most of her trickery is motivated
by the need to do seemingly good deeds - like getting Grunkle Stan over his fear of heights.
Though this ultimately put them in harms way, her core intent was to cure Stan of his needless
phobia. Though it's a wacky plan that's over the top, there's something very noble in that.
Mabel's charisma feeds into her need for attention - and that's a good thing. She's a ham, but
she's a lovable ham. She's quick to dance or shout or launch into a freestyle rap or
even take up ventriloquy in order to stay in the center of attention. A core part of
her seemingly random actions is a calculated move on her part to get people to laugh, love,
or notice her in some way. Wearing nachos on her ears and loudly announcing it isn't
just silliness. It's a cry for attention.
It's easy to dismiss Mabel as foolish and impulsive, but she can be very clever and
good in a pinch. She can use her charisma and subterfuge to her aid by getting enemies
to drop their guard - much like she did with Jeff, the leader of the Gnomes, and Gideon
Gleeful. She misdirected Jeff from the leafblower attack, and got close enough to Gideon to
steal his mystical bolo tie. Another great example of this is when they were confronted
by Bill Cipher, she uses the chance to have her mind read to summon Xander and Craz - her
dream boys who become allies in the final fight!
One of the best ways to break down Mabel's character simply comes directly from Alex
Hirsch, who explains a few of the rules he crafted for the writers when working with
the main characters. For Mabel he writes: "Mabel's not stupid. She's a ham! There's
a big difference. Mabel's love of goofing off is a natural force of her personality,
but she can still understand when people she cares about need help or are in danger. Don't
just make her a catchphrase machine. She really cares about the people around her. (Secret:
Mabel's secretly jealous that her brother is better academically than she is)"
And that's really the core of who Mabel is. She can size people up just by looking at
them and know that they'll be close friends. She will spend countless hours artistically
sculpting a wax figure just to make her Grunkle happy. She will run head first at a pterodactyl
nest to save her pet pig. Mabel can be self centered, but she will drop that if someone
she cares about is in need.
Now before I close this topic, it's probably important that I mention the theory of member
- and YouTuber - The Sqoou, which was explored in a video by VailSkiBum94. His theory is
that Mabel possibly has a duplicate or doppelganger in the show's first season. It's a bit of
a stretch, and very dependent on circumstantial evidence - but there is an outside chance
for this to be true. Rather than recapping - you can catch Vail's video by clicking the
link on the screen. You can also click this link to check out The Sqoos' channel - where
he's been cataloging evidence to support this theory.
But what do you think? Will Mabel have learned from her mistakes in the first season and
put an end to her lying and wacky hijinks? Will Mabel be able to keep Waddles when she
has to return home after the summer? Does she in fact have a duplicate working with
or against her in the shadows? Leave your theories and suggestions in the comments below.
And now, before we close today's meeting - I have two more orders of business.
The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel's store is open and going strong. But if there's one
thing I was unhappy with - it was the high cost of shipping. The cost directly stems
from my desire to keep the Membership Kits safe in transit. Because of it's size and
shape, the boxing process I devised was the safest bet, albeit costly.
But the good news is that, after a trip to the post office this weekend, I was able to
work out cheaper - though slower and possibly less safe - shipping alternatives to help
get the tools of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel into more hands. This is important
as I plan to start using the Decoder Ring's code in more secret messages throughout the
society. So if the initial shipping cost scared you away last week - be sure to check out
the store's page today to check out the new rates!
Also - I've only calculated for the UK, Canada, and the US. If you're outside of any of those
countries, please let me know in the comments below - and I'll add the specific shipping
rates for your country to the store!
Finally, there's this week's challenge! The Trial of Mabel's Anti-Chore Wheel! If you
can decode and answer all three of this week's riddles - then you'll get your hands on an
Anti-Chore Wheel designed by Mabel! Chores are boring, so if you spin the wheel you'll
get a silly extra goal you need to fulfil while completing the chore! It makes chores
100% more fun! Or annoying. Odds are it's going to be both.
Well folks, that concludes this week's meeting of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel. Until
next time, share, subscribe, and keep cracking those codes!
Member number 0007 GumballFallsFan asks Which is your favorite Gravity Falls episode? Answer:
The Land Before Swine. No other episode from the first season fully encapsulates the entire
series. Every character plays to their strengths and the episode is very well assembled. It's
the only episode that made me cheer with excitement.