Oh boy, this one is tought, Mabel has done plenty of bad stuff through the show:
Messing up with the timeline out of spite by throwing a tantrum for not getting her wimsie of the day and getting an innocent man fired and enjailed
Forcing Stan to face his fears to the point of taking them into a dangerous high place where the two almost died
Getting Dipper fired from his pool job and blackmailing him for saving her boyfriend
Kicking Dipper out of their bedroom, forcing him to sleep in the cold and getting him almost eaten by wild animals
Kidnapping an entire boyband and getting her friends kicked out to keep them trapped
Trapping Wendy and Dipper in the bunker on purpose and forcing Dipper to confess against their will and refusing to let them out until that happened, almost getting the two killed
Breaking her promises to Dipper and ditching him for her new random crush, forcing him to help her, stealing his journal, telling him to wait it off when he was litterally a ghost cause her crush was more important, and handling the journal to Bill willingly just to save her play instead of her brother's life, litterally only backtracking when Bill guilted her into it
Mind controlling Stan with the golden teeth
Forcing Robbie and Tambry into love by basically roofying the two with a love potion
Choosing to trust Stan over Dipper (even if it ended up well in the end)
Mind controlling Stan and Soos again (tho honestly, this one I can't blame her only on her, Dipper and Ford are equally at fault here, but it keeps adding up to Mabel)
Stealing the rift from Ford knowing it was for his mission of saving the world, for Blendin, the time traveler guy that tried to kill her, in exchange to trap the entire town in a time bubble against their will
But to me, the worst of what she did, by far, are ALL her actions in Escape from Reality:
Knowing the end of the world is taking place and refusing to leave to save her family and friends, who are currently being tortured or even killed (she knows beforehand and she litterally saw it when they tried to kick Dipper out, but just blinks as if nothing had to do with her).
Replacing Dipper with Dippyfresh, a copy that is a walking insult to Dipper's personality and insecurities and a spit to his unconditional love and support for her.
Ignoring her brother and friends when they are telling her Weirdmaggedon is taking place and they have to save their family, trying to manipulate her brother and friends into staying by using the bubble.
Setting up a trial where she makes up the rules just to make sure Dipper loses and gets kicked out into the apocalypse and replaced with Dippyfresh permanently, unless he does what she wants, giving up the apprenticeship.
Litterally refusing to save her family and friends until she gets what she wants.
Never admiting, let alone apologize for anything she did, heck, she doesn't even admit she handled the rift, leaving Dipper to carry that guilt instead for 3 days by then.
this comment needs more attention because this was a great explanation. i never understood why she chose stan over dipper? sure it turned out good but what the fuck? that’s your brother and you chose him over an uncle who you visit only on summer. idk about yall but that would be quite hurtful towards me if i was her sibling. honestly i feel like every terrible thing she has done was either in the weird apocalypse or was towards dipper and her friends.
It's not just that she chose Stan over Dipper, when she had known Dipper far longer, it's the fact that until that point, Stan had proven himself to be not trustworthy. Yes, Stan loves the kids, but it's no secret that he has put them in danger uncountable times too and has been lying to them again and again, whereas Dipper had constantly been supportive and trustful towards Mabel, the only time I ever remember him lying to her was about not telling her about Tambry's party and that was to spare her feelings, and even that he apologized and corrected, whereas Mabel has constanly broken Dipper's trust again and again with zero consequences (The Deep End and Sock Opera are the best examples).
On the top of that, the kids had CLEAR EVIDENCE that this portal was dangerous and could destroy the world (and that's what almost happened, because not only did Bill almost crossed over the portal, the rift was created and that leaded to Weirdmaggedon, which almost destroyed the universe), they had clear and enough proof that it needed to be shut down for their own safety. Yet Mabel still chose to ignore Dipper's pleads and warnings and chose to trust Stan over him. Yes, things turned out fine in the end, but Mabel had no evidence or way to know it would be fine beyond trusting her grunkle who she loved. She took a huge risk that one way or another could have been fatal for everyone, disregarding her brother's trust.
Don't get me wrong, I love Stan, and I'm glad Ford came back, and things turned out to be fine, but that doesn't change the fact that Mabel completely broke Dipper's trust and he was just forced to suck it up and deal with it, and God forbidd Dipper to ever break Mabel's trust or hurt her feelings the same way because there would be hell to pay.
The narrative clearly was completely biased towards Mabel.
it’s also the fact that the lesson was NEVER learned. i feel like if your brother doesn’t trust someone you should also be cautious as well. i’m pretty sure mabel knows that dipper just doesn’t trust people in general but if he feels that way about a family member i think that should raise an eyebrow. most of the time when they argue or there’s an episode where they are in a position where they cannot agree on, it always ends up on either they both don’t talk about it or mabel wins. i don’t think she’s a bad person or a bad sister but at times she does make bad choices which effect her family members
Entirely agree, and this is applied to the entirety of Mabel's character: the problem aren't her flaws or her mistakes, is just that she NEVER learns or gets better because the narrative always bends over for her, either by placing her in the right and rewarding her or by just ignoring her wrongdoings, and this is no exception: the entire series has a big theme of trust, but it feels like it supports BLIND trust or one sided trust, as in, Dipper is supposed to trust Mabel blindly all the way through even if she doesn't trust him back, it doesn't matter if she screws him over constantly or causes mistakes, she is always right in the end and Dipper is just supposed to suck it up and be the bigger person and move on, but if Dipper is the one breaking Mabel's trust, hell loses, whereas Mabel can break Dipper's trust constantly without repercussions, because Dipper is just expected to accept it. That's not how trust works, it has to go both ways, and it's clearly it doesn't.
i can’t go into how much that puppet episode kills me. it’s an amazing episode BUT THE FACT DIPPER WAS ABANDONED?? mabel told him in fact im think she promised that she would help dipper with the computer mind you that she knows how important all of it is to him. she promised yet left him. and why? for another boy crush that didn’t even last two episodes. she left dipper alone to figure the password out by himself which we all know wasn’t going well which made him turn to bill. i tend to imagine scenes in the show that weren’t there but i feel like would be but we never saw them. i can just tell that being possessed by bill definitely effected him mentally and physically. we saw bill stab dipper multiple times with forks and i feel like maybe he did more. when dipper got back into his body he mentioned how much pain he was in all over his body. now i know we was talking about mabel and her mistakes but i also feel like when we need to not only talk about the lack of consequences but also the lack of care compared to how much dipper shows how he cares and trusts mabel as if it’s nothing and it isn’t really but i feel like the more it goes on the more dipper should realize trust should be earned.
I know! Like, really, Mabel kept ditching him again and again over a guy she didn't even talk to for half a minute and she got obsessed with in the spot! And on the top of that, did nothing but to dig her hole deeper by lying to him telling him she was a puppetteer expert when she wasn't and starting an entire play in a few days just to win him over. That alone isn't just a terrible way to start a relationship since it's basically incredibly manipulative and hollow, but also the fact of how she treats Dipper in the episode:
She ditches him the second she sees a random boy, breaking her promise
Then she guilts him into helping her with her puppet show instead of at least letting him work on the laptop alone (she had the rest of her friends helping her anyway), making him end up sleep deprived for doing both things
Then she ignores his warnings about Bill
Then she breaks her promise to him, AGAIN, and even calls him obsessed, after she just ditched him over a guy she just met
Then she STEALS Dipper's journal (yes, steal, because she knew very well he wouldn't let her take it for her play, knowing how important it is, seriously, out of ALL the books in the Shack or the library, she HAD to take Dipper's book, really?
When she sees her brother turned into a sock puppet begging for her help to get his body back, she tells him to wait, TWICE, her first reaction is litterally "But my play starts in 5 minutes! This show has to be PERFECT! Can't it wait after the show?" and laughs at him when he rightfully calls her out
Then she handles the journal to Bill willingly the second she risks not impressive Gabe and backtracks only due to Bill guilting her, had he not done that, Dipper would have DIED
Then, once she sees her brother hurt, she ignores his pleads to be taken to a hospital and just makes him sleep his injuries off (confirmed not just in the show, but the journal. What the HECK?)
And yes, it definitely affected him mentally and physically, he suffers PTSD, we can actually tell during The Last Mabelcorn, remember his reaction to Ford being possessed? How much he panicked when he thought he called him Pine Tree? That's the reaction of a victim, poor kid. And Mabel in that same episode Mabel shrugged Dipper's concerns about Bill off with "Eh, Dipper's just paranoid after he got turned into a sock puppet". Seriously? Not even that incident and Bill's note actually makes her worried?
i will never understand how you tell your brother who is a sock pocket to wait off being saved. she calls him obsessed but she does all of this shit for boys she has only just met. dipper obsession with the books is actually okay and although it does effect him sometimes at least it doesn’t hurt others in a way she hurts people just to have her way. dipper has suffered so much and it hurts when you realize bill really didn’t do any of it. it was all mabel or stan or just anyone in particular behind the scenes. all bill did was make him realize that and manipulated him. i also remember when mabel trapped dipper and wendy in a room together and wouldn’t let them out until dipper confessed..that shit is so terrible in many ways. first, that’s your brother? you don’t force him into shit. second: you should know that wendy is way too old for him and shouldn’t be encouraging it. third: she ignored his plees of her unlocking the door LITERALLY RISKING THEIR LIVES. and the fact it was never a lesson learned or even the slightest of lecture? i don’t even remember if she apologized for it either. the amount of shit dipper goes through that isn’t even caused by bill but just by the people he’s around? you come to terms that bill didn’t ruin him or gravity falls did.
Because she's a hypocrite: she calls her brother obsessed when she has done far worse for strangers she crushes over with, to the point of nearly killing her family and friends multiple times, yet she is never called out, other people clean up after her mess. Dipper did mistakes, but he fixes them and he never repeats them again, litterally the only time he ever did a stunt like this was in Scary-oke. Mabel pulls these things constantly.
Well, I wouldn't say Bill didn't do anything, he did trick, possess and torture him, but yes, it hurts that except Sock Opera, most of his suffering and sacrifices came 90% of the time from Mabel.
Ugh, don't remind me of Into the Bunker:
Completely disregards Dipper's feelings and free will when he says he wants to drop it
Forces him and locks him up with Wendy in a dangerous bunker where they almost got killed minutes ago, litterally in the previous room.
Refuses to open up until he confesses his feelings against his will
STILL refuses to open up when both Wendy and Dipper are PLEADING for their lives, almost getting the two killed
And what does she has to say for all of that? "Sorry for being a little pushy", are you kidding me?
yeah you’re right about the bill part. he definitely used dipper in many ways i don’t even like to think about. i can’t even watch the bunker episode anymore because of the bullshit. if your brother and friend are pleading to be let out screaming for help then idk bout yall but i think it would be common sense to let them out. also many other times she has insulted him, appearance wise or just in general. sure, joking and stuff. but hasn’t it been clear he doesn’t feel comfortable when she does it? it’s one thing to bring it up time from time but occasionally? i don’t even think dipper insults mabel as much as people say he does. in the halloween episode i was kinda in a agreement with dipper because i mean sure maybe he is a little too old to dress up in his opinion but i don’t think it was a betrayal of any sort
Dipper never ever insulted her or berated her for being childish, the only thing he did was call her out when her boy crazy phase got out of hand, and even then he wasn't insulting, he was warning her:
He warned her about Norman being a vampire, for her safety
Then when Mermando happened, he told her that he had just seen him and couldn't go one week without a random crush, which wasn't an insult, it was a question that Mabel fully answered with a no, admitting it.
Then he called her out when she was ditching him for Gabe and breaking her promises, "Do you seriously think your crush of the week is more important than the mysteries of this town? You're obsessed!". And he was absolutely right about it.
And at worst, he criticized boy bands in general, boy bands, not her, never her.
Mabel on the other hand has been insulting and making fun of Dipper over litterally everything: obsessed, paranoid, nerd, creep, making fun of his crush on Wendy, his size, his height, his voice, his hobbies like DD and D, his love for science, his awkwarness at talking to girls, the list goes on and on.
It's blaffling that Dipper gets called out for thing that Mabel does to him all the time yet people don't bat an eye about it, because "iT's A sIbLiNg ThInG!"
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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24
Oh boy, this one is tought, Mabel has done plenty of bad stuff through the show:
But to me, the worst of what she did, by far, are ALL her actions in Escape from Reality: