Review responses for "Multiversity" [Gravity Falls]

[GeorgeGlass]

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From nukerat on August 29, 2018

glad it's coming to my OTP. but is it in dipper prime's universe, or just another alter-universe to be test with?

 

Neither, actually. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait and see.

[GeorgeGlass]

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From Dex on September 02, 2018

Great! Now we're getting to what I was waiting for. I do hope that Dipper puts all that he has learned towards having some really special time with Pacifica.

 

That would be consistent with his behavior so far. Dipper loves to learn.

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Though I do believe it will be rather strange for Dipper to see his real sister and wendy again after those alternate universe experiences.

We shall see.

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But anyway, i'm really looking forward to the next chapter. 

Hope you’ll like it. And thanks for the review!

[GeorgeGlass]

Author notes on “Multiversity”

Note: Some of the comments below contain SPOILERS for the story.

The “by George Glass, with Eh Steve” refers to the fact that although I did most of the writing, Eh Steve wrote chapter 1, and he and I worked together on outlining the plot and thinking up the different universes that Dipper visits. Among other things, the postapocalyptic universe where Dipper and Soos are dating AIs (J-Peg and Giffany 9.0) was entirely his idea.

The mechanics of Dipper’s travel from one alternate self to another, and especially his unreliable “Swiss cheese” memory, were inspired by (read: shamelessly stolen from) the TV series Quantum Leap. Dipper’s saying “Oh boy” every time he lands in a new universe is an homage to that show, as well.

Aphrodite’s look—a cheap, overly short leopard-print dress and spike heels on a body way too aged to pull them off—was inspired by a cocktail waitress I once encountered at a low-end strip club in Germany, as well as the Love God’s slovenly appearance in his titular episode.

The title of chapter 1, “Into the Multiverse,” is borrowed from a Family Guy episode with the same title.

“Spackler’s Underground Pest Poison” is named for Carl Spackler, the gopher-hating greenskeeper played by Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

In Mexican cooking, “cabrito” refers to meat from a young goat. Because Gravity Falls is a place of mythical monsters, “chupacabrito” (the meat of a young chupacabra, a folkloric monster that sucks the blood of goats) seemed like something you might find on a menu there—and, of course, something Thompson’s friends would dare him to eat.

The abandoned church where Dipper and Wendy have sex is the one seen in the episode “The Land Before Swine.”

The Incestverse, where Dipper and Mabel are lovers, was all my idea, because I’m a pervert who is turned on by the notion of underage twincest. But I also really enjoyed writing Dipper’s inner conflict over the whole thing.

I didn’t really make this clear in the story, but in the Incestverse, most people don’t grow up to marry their siblings or cousins and have babies with them. Incest is reserved for one’s FIRST romance; after that, people date non-relatives.

The movie that Dipper and Mabel see with Mermadeline and Squatchie, Loch Ness Mobster—in which a Chicago mob informant assumes a new identity in Scotland—was inspired by the plot of the show Lilyhammer, about a New York mobster who hides out in Norway for similar reasons.

The line “Release the kraken!”—shouted by Pacifica as the sheriff and deputy harass her tentacled boyfriend in chapter 6—is originally from the cornball 1981 Greek mythology movie Clash of the Titans (and has been referenced on several occasions on The Big Bang Theory).

When Dipper and Mermadeline go to find and photograph the Gobblewonker, Dipper brings a flash that is separate from the camera. The principle of keeping the flash a few feet away from the camera lens is something I heard about long ago from a friend whose hobby was underwater photography. He said it keeps any floating particles in the water from reflecting the light from the flash straight back at the camera.

Chapter 7, “Flipping Channels” was written to insert some comic relief between Dipper’s frightening encounter with the Gobblewonker in chapter 6 and the gloomy postapocalypic world of chapter 8. It was also meant as a quick way of ruling out Candy and Grenda as potential girlfriends for Dipper (although it’s arguable that the possibility of a Dipper/Candy relationship had already been taken off the table in the episode “Roadside Attractions”).

In chapter 8, the mention of tiramisu (the Italian dessert of custard, ladyfingers, and espresso) is a reference to the one good joke (IMO) in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Sam, who is getting back into the dating game after the death of his wife, asks his friend Jay if there’s anything new in the dating world that he should know about.

Jay: Tiramisu.

Sam: What is tiramisu?

Jay: You’ll find out.

Sam: Well, what is it?

Jay: You’ll see!

Sam: Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her, and I’m not gonna know what it is!

Chapters 9 and 10, which are set in Dipper’s home town of Piedmont, California, were by far the hardest chapters to write. Whereas each of the preceding chapters included one or two original characters, ALL of the characters in these two chapters were original save for Dipper. Creating them all, as well as the places Dipper visits and the activities he engages in back home, was a huge task. But I like to think it was worth it.

In chapter 11, Dipper tells Mabel and Grunkle Stan, “I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in a week.” That’s about the total amount of time (from Dipper’s perspective) that he spent in the various universes he visited.

Eh Steve and I first conceived of this story back when Gravity Falls was still on the air, and we originally planned for Dipper to end up with Pacifica. However, after “Northwest Mansion Mystery,” Dipper and Pacifica’s potential relationship never went anywhere, so putting them together at the end of this story didn’t make sense anymore. So we ultimately decided that Dipper wouldn’t end up with anyone and that he would instead focus on the other relationships in his life, like his new friendship with Nat.

Edited September 22, 2018 by GeorgeGlass

[GeorgeGlass]

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From nukerat on September 22, 2018

can't really enjoy this last chapter, to be honest.

 

Fair enough.

[GeorgeGlass]

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From Dex on September 23, 2018

Nicely done. 

 

Thank you!

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And one final callback to Pacifica's longrunning tentacle thing, that was fun. 

I figured I couldn't just leave that hanging out there. As it were.

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I really enjoyed the story, even if we never really did meet Dipper's "dream girl" as some say, sometimes the journey beats the destination. 

The name "Multiversity" is meant to imply that Dipper's trip through the multiverse is ultimately going to be a learning experience for him. So yeah, the journey. 

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And i'm glad Dipper got to meet Nat again. He didn't get his girl but he did get a friend out of the whole ordeal, and some wisdom from a very wise woman who would have all kinds of lung cancer by now if it wasn't for her god immortality. 

If there's a moral to this story, it's that romantic love isn't the only kind of love that matters. 

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Good story all in all dude. Hope to see more of your stuff in the future, as always.

Thank you. More stuff coming up! 

[GeorgeGlass]

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From Fairy-Slayer on October 22, 2018

Oy, I had so little opportunity to just concentrate on the story that it took me even longer than usual to get through – though to be fair it's not like I want such fun and sexy stories to end at all. It just means I may be a bit fuzzy on some of the older details, despite popping open the file and combing through the author's notes. (Fortunately I got most of the references, except for things I'd never seen.)

 

No problem at all. I'm always happy for your comments.

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¡BEWARE SPOILERS! below...

Egad! *dives under sofa*

I mean, thank you.

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I do love the succession of "what-if" scenarios where the one thing that's different about the world is kind of far-fetched, just like Gravity Falls itself. It's all the more fitting that the "normal" issues with Tiffany when he was back in boring-old Piedmont made even more sense. (Of course some will say it's even more far-fetched that a popular girl would ever want to be with Dipper.) 

I figured if Pacifica can develop an interest in Dipper, then anything's possible. Besides, it's not like Dipper is unattractive or unmannerly -- he's just kind of a nerd. 

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The lessons succeeded nicely and still held up even against the various kinds of action (sexy and some not-so-fun) driving each semi-story forward; then it all tied together pretty wonderfully in the end. The "real reward" was a wonderful little twist that really tied it all together perfectly… while still giving us some nice explicit fun. If it was too easy in the end then it would have been all for nothing, plus it was a terrific little subversion of our expectations.

Blame Frozen and other movies where it turns out that romantic love is no more important than other kinds of love. I just like that message (as you saw in “Star’s Crossed Lovers,” too).

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And though I was half-expecting Nat to have a more-center role in the tale, it was nice that Dipper got a head start on a friendship that, yeah, likely would have happened anyway, but even without his memories it was clear that his instincts were on the lookout for Nat.

He remembered Nat on some level, just not consciously. 

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Thanks for another fantastically fun story with meaning that's at least as good as the juicy bits.

And thanks for another nice review!

[Maxsteele1986]

So I'm glad he met Nathaniel and they will be best friends. But the main question still didn't get answered. Who is the best girl for Dipper? 

[GeorgeGlass]

11 hours ago, Maxsteele1986 said:

So I'm glad he met Nathaniel and they will be best friends. But the main question still didn't get answered. Who is the best girl for Dipper? 

Right now, there isn’t one. But now he’ll have the tools to find her.

[Maxsteele1986]

25 minutes ago, GeorgeGlass said:

Right now, there isn’t one. But now he’ll have the tools to find her.

So we might see a sequel eventually then?

[GeorgeGlass]

18 hours ago, Maxsteele1986 said:

So we might see a sequel eventually then?

No, I don’t have plans for a sequel. The point of the ending is that – to be painfully trite – it’s about the journey, not the destination.

[GeorgeGlass]

From Jojo on January 31, 2024

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Your Grunkle Stan is really good; I'm incredibly impressed at how accurately you write his dialogue. I really heard Stan's voice in my head at each line.

Thanks! Although Stan isn’t my favorite GF character, he might be my favorite one to write. There’s just something intuitive about the way he talks. Not sure what that says about me.