How do people describe Mabel Pines? To her Brother, she is the bright twin who always sees the bright side of everything, to her Grunkles she is the sunshine that never goes down, and to her friends, she is the girl who is always hopeful.
Yet, What is Mabel Pines to herself? There have been times that she had a self-image problem like her anticlimactic meeting with the unicorns, the beings who were considered the purest of all supernatural beings turned out to befarfrom the paragons of virtue they were painted as, just as flawed as humans. Guess even in the world of supernaturals some fantasies are just that, fantasies.
Or how some people view her as a silly girl too obsessed with glitters, yes Dipper wasn't the only one who got bullied in schools. Sure, it wasn't as bad as Dipper and she had a lot of friends, but still, she was a magnet for queen bees to mock her for being… herself, it is either her fashion sense or her attitude or whatever obscene reason they could think of.
Despite all that, she passes the barriers with pride and optimism as she knows, that whatever happens, she will have her brother, her family, and her friends to support her. That was until the eventful summer.
During that summer vacation, Mabel and her twin saw wonders, made new friends, met people, and had 2 new family members whom they hold dear. However, it wasn't all rainbow as Mabel hoped to be because she faced the dark parts of her life which she refused to acknowledge and masqueraded her willful ignorance as optimism. Even so, her attempts failed as reality crashed down on her like a hammer on a glass board.
Unicorns are jerks, not all people are good, life is not a romance novel, love is not cut and dry, and invading someone's privacy even if it was for their own sake tends to do more harm than good as she realized when she learned about the deteriorated state of Tambry and Robbie's relationship and that fiasco during the road trip leading to Candy's heartbreak and her brother being bashed for her own mistakesand the harshest of all, Change is inevitable.
As life shed their old skins, so as people. Her friends from Piedmont wore revealing clothes in their teenhood and kept gossiping to the point they were almost unrecognizable. Pacific, though still haughty, has developed into a better person and even become friends with Mabel. Grenada, one of her girl friends, had managed to live every girl's fantasy and had a prince charming as her boyfriend. Wendy, the slacking cashier has started taking her studies seriously and even asked for Dipper's aid in tutoring her online. Speaking of Dipper, her brother was far from the nervous wreck he used to be, in fact, he put his bully in his place with his bare hands which made her both worried but also proud. Yet the most frightening of all changes was herself.
Don't get wrong, at the core she is still the same girl who sees the glass as half full, yet she has changed either way. The old Mabel was into making gossip and talking about boys whereas the current Mabel has lost interest in any of that, the new Mabel no longer flirted with every boy she sees due to how jaded she become after her disaster of a summer romance, the present Mabel no longer obsessed with unicorns and the old Mabel was afraid of growing up.
Sometimes, Mabel like her male twin has nightmares of their time in the small town of Gravity Falls, often it involves a certain isosceles. Worst, she couldn't talk about it to her parents knowing full well that at best they wouldn't believe her and at worst she will never see that small town in Oregon ever again. On the plus side, she had her sibling to comfort her, as her friends from Gravity Falls and her Grunkles, although because of Stan and Ford's adventures they aren't always available.
Despite that, there was a particular detail she was afraid of telling them, her role in Weirdmaggedon. She saw how bad it was, but she only started to grasp how bad truly was when it was over. She heard horror stories from his friends and family, but still, that wasn't even the worst part, no the worst part was when she learned that people died.
His family tried to hide that piece of knowledge from her; Nevertheless, they underestimated her as she learned later. The revelation hit her like cold water as she finally comprehend the weight of what had happened to her horror.
And after horror, it was guilt. A pang of gut-wrenching guilt threatens to cripple her. The fact that she sometimes hears her brother's screams and nightmares only made it worse. She wanted to shout out and declare that she is guilty, yet the fear of how her friends and family would react kept her from doing that. How was it fair to trade the world foronemore summer? How was it fair that others suffered but she got to live in her own fantasy? How was it fair that she got to live while others died? What kind of sister would replace her own brother for a yes man?
Those dark thoughts threaten to cripple her as it was eating her from inside. She tried to suppress it, yet all she managed to do was make it worse. She sought distractions in her passion for art, her love for Waddles, and even tried to listen to the annoying buzzing of her friends in Piedmont, chatting and fuzzing about new students, which boy is the most handsome and cosmetics. Old Mabel would enjoy those, Not the present-day Mabel.
In spite of all that, all she did was build a dam against a harsh tide, cracks started to show such as being less cheerful and that one time having a reaction to a newbie in school for his name being 'Bill', how ironic that this time she was the paranoid twin and not his brother.
His twin was the first one to see the cracks, which was followed by their worried parents, except in the case of her parents she knew it is certainly that whether they would believe her or not, she and Dipper would be banned to set foot in Gravity Falls or ever be in contact with the Grunkles ever again. Not that their parents are bad though, they are decent and Mabel loves them, but let's be honest, what kind of sane mother and father wouldn't be horrified if they find out that their kids were in constant life-threatening situations and are scared for life? Things are already heated between her parents and her Grunkles after they learned about Stan's fake death and switching identities between them minus the extramundane part, no need to add more fuel to the fire.
As for her dear sibling? She was too afraid to tell him and she felt that she already had taken him for too much granted and this is a burden she should carry by herself. Unknown to her that thanks to her suppression, there will be consequences.
"Huh? What is this?" Mabel replied as she was in the dark.
"Where am I?" Mabel questioned as she looked around, then she collided with a wall.
"Oops! Silly me" She moved past the wall, and despite the darkness, she could tell she entered a room "Now…where is the switch…" Mabel used her hand to search for the switch until she hit a switch and flickering light came, what she saw both surprised her and confused her.
The room she entered had a desk with her name on it with a window to a view that made her dread, what she saw beyond the window was the sight of something that looked like the love child of a carnival and one of those sparkly old cartoons, except there was no one, there were no sparks, the sky was dark and the whole place looked like a ghost town, that was then she realized she is in-
"MABELLAND?!" Mable exclaimed, she thought this place looked familiar, she was in the her-used-to-be room and what looked like the used-to-be room.
"But… I destroyed this place!" Mabel started walking backward, her mind racing with a hundred thoughts, 'What am I doing here?!', 'How is this possible!?', 'We left this place!', 'Wasn't this place supposed to be no more?' , 'What if…I never left this place in the first place?!'that last thought only made her panic worse, then she hit something from the back.
"SWEET SALLY!" Startled Mabel jumped back to see what he hit "Bro bro?" Mabel respond as she saw it was none other than her brother, Dipper Pines but from his back.
"Oh gosh, I nearly had a heart attack." Mabel vocalized in relief.
"Did you mess with magic again? Or is this one of that typical weirdness we keep finding ourselves in?" Mabel questioned, yet Dipper was unresponsive.
"Bro?" Mabel called, but still no response.
"Okay broseph, you won I'm scared, now will you stop the prank?" Mabel remarked in annoyance, still no response, Dipper didn't even turn back.
Mabel walks toward him slowly "Dipper?" She stated his name in worry, by walking close she noticed something odd, he wore glasses in the dark and Dipper had his tapping hat upside down, Dipper traded hats with Wendy and he doesn't wear his hats upside down.
When she got nearer, her right hand came for his shoulder "Is everything all ri-" Dipper's head rotated 180 degrees in a swift move which caused her to yep and fall, when Dipper slowly opened his eyes, her blood ran cold from what she saw as Dipper removed his sunglasses.
"HIYA SHOOTING STAR!" the pupils of his looked like cats with yellow scleras, his grin was disturbing wide and his voice was of none other than-
"BILL!?" Mabel shouted in fear.
"WAS THE MATTER? DID YOU MISS ME? ADMIT IT! YOUMISSED ME!"His last words became demonic as his body fell to thousands of worms and insects which attacked her.
"WAIT WAIT!_Too late, she tried to run but the swarm devoured her like a blanket, she wanted to scream; however, she was unable to do so.
Then she finds herself in what looked like a court, it was the very court she had with Dipper in real life. Her first reaction was to startle and try to remove the swarm of insects that no longer appeared, after which she looked around.
"What the hey hey!?" Mabel uttered.
Then a light inside of the dark court shows up in the place of the judge, which is sat upon by the possessed Bill.
"SORRY, THE TRAVEL AGENCY CAN BE QUITE TOUCHY, GET IT? TOUCHY! HAHAHAHAHA!" Bill or Bipper cackled at his own joke.
"What have you done to my brother!?" Mabel yelled in anger and fear.
"NOTHING! I MEAN, DO YOU KNOW WHAT A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE IT WAS TO POSSESS THAT BODY? I RATHER POSSESS A MOOSE THAN THAT MEAT SACK EVER AGAIN! AND DON'T TELL ME YOU FORGOT YOUR COOL BRO THIS SOON." Bill poses to himself.
"My-" She looked again, and recognized that the body Bill had was none other than Dippy Fresh.
"Dippy Fresh?" Mabel replied.
"WELL, YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU HAVE." Bill shrugged.
"How are you alive!? Grunkle Stan beat you!"
"BEAT ME IN THE BUSH!"
"That's not_!" then realization hit Mabel "Hehehe, Now I remember, I was asleep this isn't real! I'm hallucinating…" Her giggles continued, "HAHA, Perfect! I'm going loony! This whole thing is just a fragment of my subconscious torturing me!" her giggles turn into laughter.
"MAYBE…OR MAYBE I'M YOUR CONSCIENCE! OR MAYBE I HAVE COME BEYOND DEATH TO HAUNT AND ACCOMPANY YOU AND MAKE A SHOW ABOUT IT!" Bill snaps his fingers, suddenly blue fires lit up around the court, and his clothes change to the ones he wore when he possessed Dipper.
" I BET IT WOULD BE POPULAR WITH THE KIDS! THE GHOST AND MABEL PINES! TOTALLY PG FRIENDLY! NOT LIKE THOSE DISGUSTING FANFICS, MY FANS LOVE TO WRITE ABOUT ME!" Bill expressed in a way as if he wanted to vomit from saying those last words.
"What fanfics?" Mabel quizzed.
"ANYWAY! WHETHER IT IS REAL OR YOU HAVE GONE INSANE ISN'T THE ISSUE, WHAT IMPORTANT IS THIS COURT IS NOT FOR THE JUDGE, BUT THE SUSPECT! BY THE WAY! NO LAWYERS ARE ALLOWED, THEY ARE ICKY!" Bill points his hammer at Mabel.
"YOU ARE GUILTY OOOOF…."
drum sounds come from nowhere.
"INNOCENCE!" drums stopped and smacks his hammer.
A minute passes until Mabel states "I'm starting to see why Dipper hated my court…" Mabel wondered in bafflement at this ridiculousness.
"NO CHEERS? WHY? USUALLY, SUSPECTS ARE HAPPY WHEN THEY ARE PROVEN INNOCENT, UNLESS…" Bipper's grin turns malicious.
"YOU ARE FAR FROM BEING INNOCENT!" Bill snaps his finger again, this time a video of Mabel showing up which shows her putting a love portion in Tambry and Robbie's fries.
"OK time out! That ended well at the end." Mabel argued.
"NOT FROM WHAT WE HEARD OF YOUR TWISTED MASTERPIECE LAST TIME!" Bill retorted.
"Melody and Soos-"
"TATATA! NOT COUNTING THAT, YOU ONLY ADVISED HIM, NOT PLANNING THEIR WEDDING!" Bill uses the hammer to point at Mabel as Mabel's hands lock together as she sits grumpily.
"BESIDES, THAT'S LIKE CONGRATULATING A KID FOR STEALING DRUGS AND USING THEM TO SLOW THE PAIN, BUT IF YOU AREN'T CONVINCED, THEN LET'S SHOW YOUR LAST "MATCHMAKINGS".
The Video shows the whole fiasco with Dipper during their road trip.
"I MEAN HYPOCRISY MUCH? YOU LITERALLY CONDEMNED PINE TREE FOR NOT AGREEING WITH YOUR MATCHMAKING AND DOING THE SAME THING YOU DO ON A DAILY BASIS!"
Then the video shows Mabel's advances toward boys and creeping them out, one time it shows Mabel giving a boy her 'Yes, Definity, Absolutely" paper to him, only for the boy to circle the N and the O together, hence Mabel's sour face.
"PFFHAHAHAHA! OH, THAT ONE SLAPS ME ON THE KNEE!" Bill slaps his knee to Mabel's soured face, which looks similar to the one from the picture shown.
"I get it, I get it! Invading others' privacy even if it is with good intentions rarely ends well, I learnt that!" Mabel refuted in irritation.
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU APOLOGIZE TO PINE TREE FOR MAKING HIM LOOK LIKE A PLAYBOY?" Bill vocalized with a smug face.
"I...I..."
"I!OH!I! BECAUSE MABEL PINES CAN'T ADMIT TO HER INFALLIBILITY!" Then the sound of 'Boooo!' Came from nowhere.
"That's wrong! I admitted to my faults before!" Mabel protested.
"LIKE THAT TIME YOU TRAPPED RED AND PINE TREE AND AFTER THAT YOU PROMISED TO NOT BE PUSHY?" The video shows Mabel during that Bunker exploration, Mabel cringes at that.
"OR MAYBE… WHEN YOU DEFEATED ME AND APOLOGIZED FOR BEING SELFISH!" The video shows the Sock Opera incident only to later show the times after which Mabel took Dipper for granted.
"I MEAN FROM ONE DECEIVER TO ANOTHER, YOU ARE TERRIBLE AT GIVING FALSE PROMISES, THIS LOOKS LIKE SOME STUPID EPISODES FROM A SATURDAY NIGHT CARTOON SHOW!" Bill gave his opinion on the art of deceiving.
"I'm not that person anymore, I've grown up!" Mabel snared.
"OH REALLY? THE GIRL WHO WAS AFRAID OF GROWING UP, NOW IS A FAN OF IT?" The video now plays Mabel being afraid of growing up.
"IF YOU ARE SOOOO "MATURE '' '' Two indexes of each of Bipper's hands come up moving up and down "THEN WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF TELLING THEM OF OUR DEAL?"
The video pictures Mabel giving the rift to Blendin.
"Objection! I didn't even know it was you! Heck, I didn't even know what that thing was!" Mabel objected.
"ACCEPTABLE!" Bill uses the hammer to smack on the table to Mabel's amazement, not expecting to be heard "NOT THAT YOU HAD ANY CHANCE OF FIGURING ME OUT ANYWAY, BEING THE DUMB TWIN AND ALL THAT CLICHÉ…" Mabel glared at Bill, this court was striking her nerves.
"THEN LET'S SEE HOW YOU REACTED AFTER YOU FIGURED IT OUT!" The video manifests Mabel ignoring Dipper's claims about Bill's Weirdmaggedon, talking about how sucky real life is, and even threatening to throw Dipper out, this particular hit on Mabel as she looked down in shame.
"TO BE FAIR, THE WHOLE INGENIOUS BUBBLE IDEA OF MINE, WAS TO KEEP YOU STAY BY GIVING YOU WHAT YOU WANTED, WHICH SAYS A LOT ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU VALUE YOUR BELOVED TWIN!" Bipper with a snap changes his clothes into Dippy Freshs'.
Mabel now felt even more guilty as the guilt washes her.
"PEOPLE IN MABEL'S WORLD ARE GOOD ONLY AS LONG AS THEY GROVEL UNDER HER FEET!" Bill makes a malevolent grin and the video shows Dipper giving up on his apprenticeship with Ford "JUST. LIKE. ME!" His eyes go red as the fire around and a blue fire burns the video.
Bill or rather Bipper grows larger all of sudden which causes the chair and the table of the judge to be broken, Mabel reacts by frantically running from the giant Bipper as he follows her with multiple hands growing out of him. Mabel ran toward the door to get away from the grinning multi-hand monster; nonetheless, Bill had no plan to let her escape as the door closed before Mabel could get out, leaving her at the mercy of her mockery of her brother's flesh.
"AND YOU ARE JUDGED! GUILTY!" The Sludgehammer falls on Mabel.
"OBJECTION!" Mabel yelled just before her head touched it as she closed her eyes in fear.
"YES?" Bill questioned.
Mabel carefully opens her eyes "If Mabelland was designed to hold me, doesn't that mean it would be much more elaborate to hold me by giving me what I thought I needed instead of what I truly needed?"
Mabel inquired.
Mumbling sounds came out of nowhere, whereas Bill looked around.
"And true, my words are empty but what about actions?" Mabel inquired again.
Then a video plays near the end of the summer where Mabel gives Dipper a journal to write on.
"How about that time I ditched my So-Called-Friends at school for making fun of Dipper?"
Mabel grabbed the collar of one queen bee and angrily threatened her.
"Or that time I essentially committed social suicide by distracting everyone from seeing Dipper with ruined clothes?"
It now shows Mabel making a fool out of herself by acting crazy by trying to eat a boy's head, while Dipper runs away with holes all over his clothes, turns out he was experimenting in a Chemistry lab with no one's supervision, good thing he always brings spare clothes.
"Or how about my conversation about future plans?"
The screen now shows Dipper and Mabel conversing with each other in their house.
"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there."
"But-"
"Me accepting Great Uncle Ford's apprenticeship was a heat-of-the-moment thing; besides, do you really think our parents would allow me or us to spend the rest of our childhood with someone who is a complete stranger to them? Just because I intend to spend the rest of my childhood with you doesn't mean I don't have plans and aspirations, you have yours as well, as long as we don't let that jeopardize our relationship and learn to balance things out, we won't end up like our Grunkles, are you ready to face the unknown?"
"...Nope! But hey, who is?" Mabel smiled and fist pumped with Dipper.
Mabel smiled at that particular memory, "I may use to be selfish, but not anymore I ain't! because I grow up" Mabel declared in triumph.
"OH, THAT ALMOST REACHED MY NONEXISTING BLOOD PUMP DRIVE…OH WELL, TIME TO WAKE!" Bill readies his sledgehammer.
"WAIT WAIT!" Mabel shouted.
SMACKED
"YAHOO!"
Mabel wakes up in her bed.
"Woah, what's it?" Dipper wakes up in worry.
" * phew * nothing, just some weird dream…" Mabel replied in relief.
"Oh by the way, sorry for the whole road trip thing bro, that was hypocritical of me."
Dipper was startled by the unexpected apology and looked at Mabel weirdly "Okaaay, a bit random, but thanks anyway." Dipper lay down to bed.
"Good night."
"Nighty night."
And thus both fall asleep,'Not today, but one day I will tell them about the rift.' Mabel reassured herself internally, only for Mabel to realize that technically their room's window is triangle shaped, thus she hard a hard time sleeping.
'Damn you, Bill!' Internally cursed Bill.
Note:I may be a hard critic of Mabel's character, but that is only because I believe she didn't reached her potential as a co-protagonist and was cuddled too much( The Author's favorite pet syndrome).
The only time I actually disliked Mabel was the infamous Roadside Attraction episode.