See I think Ford couldn't tell him that because it really would have destroyed Mr Thank You Is More Important Than Saving The Planet's battered soul, and he doesn't actually want to do that. Just remember, I am not the only person who is making interpretations here. :( I really hoped you would see the note and not engage because I knew it would make you mad but we both have the right to an opinion and by now we should both know neither of us is changing theirs.
I feel like 'the three decades of baffling bullshit that happened the Stanford Pines in other dimensions' were not included mostly because GF has the fast-paced mostly-kid's show feeling that doesn't really allow for meandering reminiscence. Stanford also appeared so late in the game that I'm not sure they had time to do justice to three decades of life had and lost, good or bad. Like... how do you do that? Discuss that in one episode, have a fight about it, a way too fast reconciliation, and then on to the finale? With everything else happening there wasn't really time to do it justice, so they just stuck to the plot they had and kept it in Dipper and Mabel's perspective, not Ford's. His story would be super different and involve a lot of time off of earth, but to the kids, that's one big mystery that has less to do with their lives than what happened 30 years ago at this point. There just wasn't enough time in the... what, eight episodes after his appearance to tackle that as anything other than a slide show imho which would have been a disservice. Stanford's existence, relationship with his brother, and life story was filed down to be enough for the kids to handle basically. And the timeframe. And on a level I like the judicious 'never mind all that' Ford seems to have applied to his past. He's going to first mention something stupid that happened in dimension 35 in a year, maybe two, and totally break down.
Oh I didn't realize this was a private fight between your custom titles should I take the gay battle out of here
I actually have avoided posting here for a while because this, I try to only be silly here and keep my meta on WT threads but dammit I had a thing I wanted to say to the actual correct thread.
I've noticed that 'which Pines is your favorite' is a question you only ask people if you want enemies. Well, at least rivals.
... That sounds a lot as if you're trying to pick a fight and I'd really rather we try to stay civil with each other. If you have a problem with CT you can take it to the dispute subforum and try to hash out what the conflict is here?
On second thought, yeah, that was poor phrasing. No attack meant at all! And no worries about meddling either, it's good to try to keep fights from happening >u<
NOW, FOR THE SAKE OF ACTUALLY LIGHTENING THE MOOD, I want to make sure this post is fully considered by everyone. Thank me later.
On account of my actually knowing some MTG nerds. Yes. His room would be fucking mayhem. Cards everywhere. Its a deathtrap because at any movement you could either trip and break your neck or get buried in an avalanche of half finished commander decks.
Doylistically, maybe, and even then I think kids could understand "he was happy and Stanley tried to help without knowing that". In-universe, we know that he was piqued enough to snipe at Stanley over the most trivial word-order issue imaginable, and also that he's not an accomplished liar, and yet he gives no indication of thinking that he was better off where he was. Not the slightest one. Something would have come up at some point, is what I'm saying.
OK, here is the canonical basis for my theory about Ford's other life. From canon we know that Ford came back through the portal much bigger and stronger and older than he was when he left, wearing different clothing, a different pair of glasses (they have to be; his old ones landed on the floor), and carrying weapons and interesting items in his pockets inside of his Badass Longcoat (which he presumably bought, made or stole from somewhere). He has an infinity-sided die which he knows is illegal in over 9000 dimensions and someone presumably told him that. He says DD&MD is his favourite game in "the whole multiverse" implying that games exist elsewhere and he's played them. He jokes that being "stuck between dimensions" would have been better than having to endure "Diggity Dungeons and all that" and whenever he is asked what he did over the last 30 years he gets a sad, wistful expression and then drops some bullshit about "it's too much for you to handle or understand" which is what he ALWAYS does when he is asked a question he doesn't want to talk about or a question that Stan specifically asked him not to answer. He never says anything to imply that he has had terrible experiences out there, all his nightmares are about Bill. But the really big thing is that when Dipper puts the Project Mentem headpiece on him while he sleeps in order to learn the answers to the questions he's refused to answer, we learn that among the main thoughts that go through his mind while he's sleeping and not in conscious control of his mind, which are constantly repeated, not just interjections, are: 1) I'm sorry Fiddleford 2) Crampelter 3) I miss Dimension 52. Even if it was only for a little while, he was in a place where he was happy that he really wishes he could go back to. And it made just as deep an impression on him as his relationship with Fidds and its bad ending and his mistreatment at the hands of Crampelter did. And maybe that's where he was when Stan brought him back. And maybe that's why he doesn't actually feel grateful to Stan for bringing him back. Because if Stan hadn't brought him back, he wouldn't have got to know Dipper or Mabel and that would be sad, but none of the Weirdmageddon events would have ever happened, which on a larger scale is really a lot sadder. And maybe, just maybe, he would still be in a place where he was happy. I'm FAR from the only person who's done fanart or fanfiction about Dimension 52 and one of the really common threads in all of them, not just mine, is that there was someone there who really, truly loved Stanford Pines, or maybe several someones. It's fine if you prefer not to accept this line of reasoning, but declaring that it can't be plausible despite all the hints at it just because he never used it to hurt Stan isn't much of an argument.
Okay but now I'm just imagining a GF/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover. Or, better yet, a GF/Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged crossover. (Stan spent thirty years playing children's card games in an attempt to save Ford from the Shadow Realm (God only knows how Ford got there)? But also he kept betting money on children's card games and losing really badly every time and finally said "FUCK IT, MY BROTHER CAN SUCK MY DICK" (wow, rude) and...I dunno, retired from children's card games, and now Dipper and Mabel are going to the Duelist Kingdom Tournament in his stead because Stan has long since ceased to give a fuck but the Mystery Twins 2.0 haven't? Shit, I'd actually read this terrible crossover idea.)
Something did come up. Missing Dimension 52 is just as big in his litany of mental pain under the brain colander as his regrets about Fiddleford and Crampelter. I don't make this shit up. He is capable of suffering quietly but the brain colander Project Mentem spilled the beans. I don't know what he misses there (though I sure have a lot of theories and I write a ton of wish fulfillment fic involving a certain infamous cat girl and a planet where he made perpetual motion really work) but it makes him just as sad as those other things.
