So, I'm currently planning a cartoon that I've noticed has some similarities to Gravity Falls...

So, I'm currently planning a cartoon that I've noticed has some similarities to Gravity Falls. What are some mistakes the show and creator made that I should try to avoid?

after a solid amount of foreshadowing, the spooky conspiracy cult The Blind Eye Society was finally stumbled upon, and immediately made no longer a threat in a single episode.

a picture in the Northwest Manor implies that the family has ties to Bill Cypher
Pacifica's dad both fails to recognize Bill as that thing he has paintings of in the mansion, and while he does pledge himself to try and save his own hide no mention is made by him nor Bill about the Northwest family.

Despite selling it as a brother-sister duo, in execution its clear Hirsch only saw Dipper as the main character. Mabel gets only 1/10th the character development he does which makes Mabel seem like a way more despicable person than was intended.

A villain who is just sitting on their throne and only ever reacting to the hero's attempts to thwart him seems borderline harmless compared to a villain that actively pursues the heroes. This is why Bill felt so underwhelming in weirdmageddon compared to before.

approaching the end of the series, a minor recurring antagonist, Pacifica, has two nonconsecutive episodes that indicate she is going to become a proper ally, like Soos, Wendy, Candy, and The Thing.
That gets completely dropped and the way she talks in the grande finale its like those episodes never happened

a Big Deal like the author finally coming back typically heralds that the story has entered Endgame. That's the time for shit to get real. One breather episode is okay, but almost nothing but breather episodes until the finale is not.

Alright, thanks

Bump

Don't diffuse elements so quickly (as stated by fpbp.)

The villain needs motives that are in some way relateable, if possible make the protagonist question their own motives (easier to say than create.) Bills motives were low tier at best. Just partying and goofing off really diffuses the terror built up behind him.
A lot of people dislike the last episode of gravity falls, and I have to agree, it falls short, but there is one scene that's quite well done. The whole sequence in how they defeat Bill, I think, was well made. Bill loses in part because of his own pride, and the desperation of him in those final moments is just gold. It also used some great callback elements when knocking Bill off, and Stan got some character development too. Its just as shame they undid it all so quickly by giving Stan back his memory.

Honestly Gravity Falls wasn't that bad, it just fell short on its last hurrah, and Sup Forums "rightfully" hates Mabel.

>Bills motives were low tier at best.

Maybe if they'd made the Flatland stuff canon or been consistent with the secondary material.

In the ancilliary material stuff they hint that Bill was some kind of revolutionary who accidentally destroyed his own dimension and own family in the pursuit of freedom and knowledge and now regrets it but won't admit his sadness or guilt to himself and is in denial of his own feelings.

That's pretty deep motivations especially if "triangles are an oppressed class and free thought is oppressed" and learning about other dimensions and the true weird nature of reality stuff from the mentioned Flatland novel gets used.

Unfortunately none of it ever makes it into the show, even the song that alludes to it is cute, and instead Bill just shows up and does things for the lulz or something, it's not clear and so we don't care as a result. Ironically Bill also became a gigantic meme and maybe the show's most popular character in some places so the fanbase probably wouldn't have minded the show wasting time going into it.

Pacifica gave the Pines a present and she did touch McGucket. That joke definitely wasn't worth the confusion it caused tho.

song was cut not cute but you get it. Kind of a waste.

When you think about it the finale's key moments were about just Stan and Ford. They not only weren't about Bill but Dipper and Mabel's story was put far to the side in the last half too.

Which is weird, considering that Dipper's the main character of the show.

A little bit, the Dipper and Mabel storyline and their real role wrapped in part II then they did not do much at all, the entire focus was on the Stans. I think I wouldn't have minded if Ford had been more developed before then. As it was it was a little weird because Ford hadn't been in the show much and I didn't care much about him.

Pretty muc

Much*

What ancillary material?

The Choose Your Own Adventure, Journal 3 and the AMA all have stuff about Bill's backstory, plus some other things and Alex's comments.

>The Choose Your Own Adventure

Where?

To put it into fewer words, actually finish the story you're going to tell. Hirsh had a story on him that he could have told in 2, maybe even 3 seasons, but in practice he only wrote 1.5 seasons worth of plot development.

It's funny, because Not What He Seems is one of those episodes that is so out of left field and perfect that you'd almost expect that it would be the end of the series or something, one of those situations where the show starts getting good right as it gets cancelled.

Where in all actuality the show's plot and overall quality ultimately starts going downhill immediately afterwards.

the page with the big pokemon

What?

>Hirsh had a story on him that he could have told in 2, maybe even 3 seasons, but in practice he only wrote 1.5 seasons worth of plot development.

To add to this, Hirsch is a good example as to why you should always try to avoid micromanage too much or take on more work than you can reasonably handle, since it ultimately lead to him burning out and ending the show prematurely as a result.

Unless you can completely justify as to why the task at hand, whether it be voice acting a specific character to writing a specific episode, can't be done by no one else except you, pass it on to someone else on the team.

I love how people just make up shit and post it over and over to try and get people to stop questioning it.

Pardon?

If you're going to involve an all-powerful being that is capable of deeds beyond imagination, don't allow them to actually make it out of whatever dimensional prison they're in because then you'll have to show them doing something very easily imaginable to demonstrate their power. The scariest thing about an evil ultimate power is the idea that they are capable of things of which you'd never even conceive, so don't try to demonstrate the impossible.