Weirdmageddon 2: Escape from Reality was everything I hoped for and more. I’d say more here, but it would turn into gushing. Let’s get the recap out of the way, and then I’ll commence with the gushing.
Recap
We open on what appears to be an idyllic little scene: an adorable little squirrel races up to a tiny acorn laying by a mailbox, chattering happily. Suddenly the mailbox snags him with its tongue like a frog and swallows him whole. The scene pulls back, and we see that it’s day 4 of Weirdmageddon, and things have only gotten worse.
An eyebat turns Manly Dan to stone, followed immediately after by Farmer Sprot, who he picks up and flies away to the Fearamid, where Bill has stacked most of the citizens of Gravity Falls into a massive throne of human agony. Don’t worry, they’re not conscious anymore. Or are they? Lazy Susan briefly wakes up, before being immediately re-petrified.
Bill is giving a charismatic speech, getting his minions ready to spread their chaos world-wide! He opens the ceiling and directs them all to set the world aflame with their weirdness. His friends all take flight and try to leave town, but they hit a massive invisible wall and fall to earth. Enraged, Bill goes up himself, and discovers that the entire town is encased inside a giant bubble. Weirdmageddon is only happening in Gravity Falls! Outside the bubble, the world is clear and beautiful!
After the opening credits, we resume where we left off in part one, with Dipper, Wendy, and Soos entering Mabel’s prison bubble. Once inside, they discover they are in a world of nothingness. Everything around them is white. Dipper calls for Mabel, but there is no answer. Suddenly the ground beneath them shatters, and they are plunged into a Technicolor freefall. They fall down and down and down, before finally landing in…a bouncy castle? Outside they can faintly hear 80’s music, and the air smells like childlike wonder. They open the door to the castle, and outside they see a world that appears to be a Lisa Frank fever dream. Literally everything is colored in those signature neon colors, Aoshima flies overhead, shooting rainbows from his dolphin hand-mouths, and all manner of adorable, magical creatures cavort around a massive adorable city.
As they squint from the blinding Technicolor, Mabel’s imaginary boyfriends, Xyler and Craz, now completely not imaginary, roll up in a hot pink convertible to welcome them to Mabeland and give them the grand tour. As they drive, they tell the trio that Mabeland is the ultimate paradise, and that the only rule is there are no rules! Except for one, which is very serious, but no one would ever break it, so it’s not worth mentioning.
Dipper wants them to take them straight to Mabel, but Xyler and Craz take them to a beach for snacks served by penguins instead. When Soos and Wendy try to eat something, Dipper slaps it away and tells them to remember that this whole place was made by Bill, and not to eat anything; everything is part of his trap.
Dipper tells Wendy and Soos that they need to get to Mabel, but Xyler and Craz tell them that she’s at the top of the tower that is currently being guarded by two giant, buff waffles, and there’s no way past them. Soos takes matters into his own hands and begins eating them alive, while Wendy helps punch them to pieces, and they all enter the tower.
Inside, they race upstairs and find Mabel asleep at the top of the tower. They quickly barricade themselves inside to escape more waffle guards, and Soos picks Mabel up. As more waffles begin pounding on the door, Mabel wakes up. Soos sets her down and goes to help the others shove as much stuff against the door as possible. Mabel tries to talk to them, but when they are too busy to listen, she suddenly starts using telekinesis, and rearranges everything they set up, and moves them each into a separate seat.
With nothing blocking the door, two waffle guards burst in but are stopped in their tracks when Mabel claps her hands. Dipper tells her that they’re trying to rescue her, but Mabel tells him that she doesn’t need to be rescued; she made this world, or rather, she woke up here. It’s complicated. After Dipper told her that he was going to take the apprenticeship with Ford, she wanted to hide her sweater forever. Instead, she woke up here, in this magical land where she can have everything she wants; namely, an endless summer where she’ll never have to grow up.
Dipper tries to tell her she’s crazy and that she needs to come back with them, but Mabel won’t have it. She tells him that she figured he would do this, so she prepared a backup brother, just in case. Just then, someone comes flying in on a skateboard. His name is Dippy Fresh, and physically he seems to be an exact copy of Dipper; but like just about everything else in Mabeland, everything about him is straight out of the 80’s. Dipper hates him instantly.
Mabel tells them that they should just try to give Mabeland a chance; they have everything they need to be happy there. In fact Mabelands knows what you want before you do! Soos is easily convinced with a flying hamburger, but Dipper and Wendy are not so easily swayed. At least, not until Wendy’s friends show up to take her for a ride in a monster truck full of fireworks. Then Soos’s “father” suddenly shows up and takes him away to play catch.
When they’re alone, Dipper tries to reason with Mabel, but she’s not listening at all. He tries to tell her that nothing is real, but she counters that it doesn’t matter. The outside world is awful; at least in here, everyone can be happy. She tries to conjure up something that will make him happy, but Dipper marches out before he can even see what it is.
Back at the Fearamid, Bill is in a rage. He demands to know why, even though he has infinite powers, none of them can escape the borders of Gravity Falls. He picks up the statue of Ford, and wonders if he knows why they’re trapped.
As he contemplates whether or not to bring him back to life, Keyhole runs up and tells him that Gideon let the Pines family escape. They’re all inside Mabel’s bubble as they speak. Bill is unfazed. He laughs evilly and tells him that Mabel’s bubble is the most diabolical trap he’s ever created. It would take a will of titanium to resist its temptations. He instructs Keyhole to fetch Gideon and then take the day off. Things just got a little more interesting.
Inside the bubble, everything is joyous and happy, except Dipper. As a stuffed animal tree dances and sings with its stuffed animal fruits, Dipper stands by a pond scowling. He tries to angrily throw a rock into a creek, but it just giggles like a baby and skips perfectly.
As he wonders to himself if Mabel was right, Wendy comes back. She tells him that she thinks he’s right about this place, and that he’s so much smarter than everyone else. She wishes he were the same age so they could be together. In fact, Mabel could probably do that for them! She’s the ruler of this place; she could make them the same age!
Dipper is extremely happy to finally hear this, after his summer-long unrequited crush, but just as he’s about to take her hand he realizes what’s going on and he pulls away. Suddenly Wendy dissolves into a pile of cockroaches, and the singing tree turns demonic. The sky goes dark, and the tree screams that he shouldn’t have done that; they’re watching him. They have eyes everywhere!
And immediately everything reverts to normal as Several Timez rides by on a five-seated bike. In a panic, Dipper says that this place is crazy; they need to get back to the real world! Suddenly he is tackled by a waffle guard and arrested. He has broken their one rule: mentioning reality! As they prepare to banish him back to Gravity Falls, Mabel stops them, but they tell her that if he wishes to stay, he’ll have to plead his case in the ultimate trial: Fantasy vs. Reality.
Inside the Mabeland courtroom, everyone gathers to witness the trial, which is presided over by Judge Kitty Kitty Meow Meow Face Shwartstein. The judge ascends his bench and tells them that if Dipper wins his case, Mabel will return with him to the real world, but if he loses, he will be banished forever and replaced with town darling, Dippy Fresh. Mabel’s lawyers are Xyler and Craz and the jury are made up entirely of Mabel clones, so things aren’t looking so good for Dipper.
Xyler and Craz bring out Mabel’s scrapbook as evidence against reality. They bring up several painful childhood memories, such as Mabel getting gum in her hair on school picture day, and Dipper being completely ignored on Valentines Day. They make a pretty solid argument, and everyone takes Mabel’s side.
The judge is completely convinced and wants to make a ruling right then and there, but Dipper insists on making his case too. He calls Mabel to the stand and tells her that he knows her too well. Even though she acts like it, she doesn’t really want to live in this fantasy world; she’s just scared of growing up. They both are. Reality stinks sometimes, but they can get through it together; that’s what they’ve always done.
He then reminds her of what happened after those painful memories that Xyler and Craz brought up. When Mabel got gum in her hair, he shaved his head so she wouldn’t look bad alone, and when he didn’t get any Valentines, Mabel made him one giant one out of hers. They’ve always been there for each other, and they always will be. He tells her that he’s not going to take Ford’s apprenticeship. They need to get out of this place. They need to get out and beat Bill, together!
Mabel finally sees the light. As the citizens of Mabeland protest in horror, the siblings hug each other, and the magical land begins to unravel. The Mabel clones disappear, the judge turns into a cat-shaped mound of worms, and everyone around them turns evil. Except Xyler and Craz, for some reason, who hug each other and cry out in fear.
As Mabeland collapses around them, Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Soos race out of the courthouse and find Waddles, who had been turned into a giant. They all jump on his back and ride to freedom. They leap over a giant gorge, and Mabel takes a giant knitting needle and bursts the bubble. They land back on the ledge outside the bubble, and Waddles shrinks back down to normal.
As they all make their way back to town, they look around for signs of life, but it seems like everything has been deserted. Gravity Falls is in ruins, and there’s no one in sight. Soos wonders if, in their absence, Bill has already won. They decide to just go back to the Mystery Shack and hide out.
When they get back, it looks just like it always has. They go up to the door, but it sounds like someone is already in there! Someone with a deep, growling voice! They all arm themselves with weapons they find outside and slowly approach the door. “Let’s get ‘em, dudes,” Soos says, and they kick open the door and run inside screaming. Inside they’re met with a massive crowd of screams in return! It’s all their friends! And quite a few others! It would seem that the survivors of Gravity Falls have all taken up residence in the Mystery Shack with Grunkle Stan!
Out in the woods, a pile of confetti from Mabeland stirs, and Xyler and Craz pop out! “Are we real?” Xyler asks. “Is this reality?” They go and sit on a bench overlooking Gravity Falls and watch the giant monsters ravage the town. As they sit, they discuss Jean-Paul Sartre, who said that everything is born without reason and dies by chance. The two exclaim that that’s totally righteous!
Review
Everything about Weirdmageddon 2 was perfect. Mabel’s imagination has long been a fan-favorite aspect of the show, and it was amazing to get an entire episode devoted to it. And not only that, but we got a bunch of favorite imaginary characters back as well! Aoshima, Shimmery Twinkleheart, a Flavor Pup, Xyler and Craz, and a whole host of other characters from Mabel’s stickers and toys! There were even a few real-world characters like Several Timez and Ducktective!
The imagination and color in this episode were off the charts. This episode was pure fan-service for Mabel lovers. From the callbacks to favorite Mabel characters, to the introductions of the new ones, from the sweaters and the 80’s music, to the overwhelming cuteness of literally everything, you can’t get more Mabel than this episode. And of course, if you’re not a fan of all things pink and adorable, the fact that everything was also evil and filled with cockroaches and worms made for a nice touch, sure to please fans of the darker stuff. I love both aspects, so I was very happy with everything.
This episode was the perfect follow-up to the events of Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future. Dipper and Mabel had a massive falling out, and things were looking very bleak for their relationship. The way they brought them together at the end was such a great payoff to all the tension we’ve had, and the sincere sibling hug was both an excellent callback and an excellent resolution.
While Bill and his gang were definitely not the focus of this episode like they were in the last one, the small amount of time we spent with them was great and raised a whole pile of new questions; the most obvious one being: who is responsible for that bubble?!?! The entire town is locked inside a bubble that even Bill, a being with seemingly infinite power, cannot penetrate, no matter what he tries! Where did this bubble come from? Who put it there? How long will it be able to hold Bill back? I can’t wait to find out.
Another question I have comes from the fact the Lazy Susan woke up. Lazy Susan woke up! Bill acted like that wasn’t supposed to happen, and he refroze her, but what exactly does this mean? Perhaps Bill isn’t as powerful as he wants everyone to think! First he can’t get out of that bubble, and then his stone spell wore off! Does that mean that everyone will eventually wake up?
The end of this episode had me suppressing an excited “YES!” We had so many people back! If you thought the list of characters who returned in Mabeland was impressive, just wait until you see who was hiding in the Mystery Shack! Not only did we have staple Gravity Falls residents like Pacifica, Old Man McGuckett, Sheriff Blubs, and Candy and Grenda; we also had a few side characters like one of the bikers from Skull Fracture and the woodpecker guy and his woodpecker wife! Not only that, but we had a bunch of gnomes, one of the manotaurs, Celestabellebethabelle, and even the flippin’ Multi-Bear!
Side note: Did anyone else notice that it looks like the woodpecker guy’s wife seem to now be permanently fused to his shoulder in stone?
As is expected with this show, especially one populated with Mabel’s imagination, there was a treasure trove of great lines. And as usual, I’ve collected a few of my favorites.
Favorite Quotes
Bill: “Ladies! Gentlemen! That creature with like 87 different faces!”
Creature: “88 different faces!”
Bill: “Woah, sorry, touchy subject.”Soos: “What is this new world! Shining! Shimmering! Splendid!”
Wendy: “Dude! This place hurts my eyes!”
Xyler: “Oh, that’s normal, Mabeland’s rainbows have colors only bees and art students can see!”Dippy Fresh: “Hey! Take a chill pill! Those grow on trees here!”
Dipper: “You stay out of this, Dippy Fresh!”Waffle Guard: “Under Article Smiley Face of Exhibit Squeaky Duck, you are hereby accused of breaking our one rule: Mentioning reality!”
Craz: “We have a Doctorate Degree in hunkiness.”
Xyler: “Also criminal and international law.”Xyler: “Totally righteous bro.”
Craz: “Are we brothers!?”
Xyler: “I don’t know!!”Dipper: “I call as a witness, Mabel Pines!”
Mabel: “Uh, objection?”
Judge Shwartstein: “I’ll allow it. Us cat’s are famously curious. Meow, meow.”
Weirdmageddon 2 was one of the best episodes to date. It was full of amazing callbacks, great dialogue, hilarious jokes, and heartfelt moments. What looks on the surface to be a bit of a filler episode to give us a break from the heaviness that came before and that is still to come is actually a very important stepping stone in Dipper and Mabel’s relationship. It resolves the tension from previous episodes and sets us up for the final showdown that is coming. February 15th can’t get here soon enough!
What did you think of this episode? Did you catch any callbacks that I missed? Let me know in the comments below!
Edited by: Kelly Conley
