Stanford "Ford" Filbrick Pines (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cryptograms) wrote2023-09-04 05:58 pm
cryptograms) wrote2023-09-04 05:58 pm
(no subject)
Player Info
Player Name: Kei
Pronouns: She/He
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
begleiter
Permissions: Link
Invite: I am the invitation
Character Info
Character Name: Stanford Pines
Canon/Canon Point: Gravity Falls | S02E21, right at the end of Bill's Eenie Meenie Miney YOU countdown
Character Age: 62
History: Link
Powers:
Role in Ashbrook
Character Skills: Drawing; research skills; marksmanship; designing and building weapons; designing and building various other sci-fi gadgets; combat experience; extensive knowledge of physics, theoretical physics, astronomy, folklore, and cryptids
Character Values: Intelligence; learning; seeking the truth; creativity; perseverance; self-sufficiency; family (doesn't realize this is a value)
Role Opt-Outs: None
Bonus details?: YES
Personality
Stanford Pines is, in a word, weird. The most obvious, and superficial, example is his polydactyly, which gives him six fully functional fingers on each hand. While the extra digits earned him vicious bullying from many of his peers ('freak' was a common insult) Ford grew to embrace his uniqueness during his college years. Eventually, he decided to dedicate himself to the study of anomalies like himself and has spent his life since then researching and interacting with supernatural and paranormal creatures and phenomena.
To say that he now thrives in an environment of weirdness is sort of underselling it. In six years he filled hundreds upon hundreds of pages with notes on the behavior, habitats, history, and patterns of supernatural happenings. He's interviewed gnomes, spent the weekend in a ghost-infested cabin, raised a shapeshifter as a pet, gotten into a fistfight with a talking chair, raided an ancient alien spaceship for parts, made a deal with a demon, and lent Mothman money, among many other encounters - all of this before he went on a 30 year dimension-hopping journey. He described Gravity Falls as the first place where he felt at home, and once he realized he was getting too old to adventure alone he thought not of retiring, but of finding a partner.
He's relentlessly, tirelessly curious in a way that overpowers more reasonable reactions to strange events. The nerves he gained from chasing after the paranormal mean he's frequently able to keep a cool head in the face of danger. Seeing his car get crushed by a tree giant filled him not with frustration, fear, or dismay, but with unbridled delight. Being captured by an alien security drone had him concerned but not panicking. The few times he's shown to react with actual fear are when things are truly bleak - when he was sucked through a portal to the nightmare realm, for example, or when his greatest enemy was on the verge of murdering his niece and nephew.
But in the process of embracing his own weirdness, Ford began to reject the idea of mingling with and befriending normal people. His childhood experiences left him reclusive, distrustful of other people, deeply concerned with his own value as a person, and more than a little arrogant. Even in a town as strange as Gravity Falls he was a rarely seen hermit, and his property was covered with barbed wire, boarded up windows, and no trespassing signs.
Not to mention Ford's standards for normal behavior and acceptable safety standards are just a bit skewed. The only two friends he's shown to have (besides his twin brother) are Fiddleford McGucket and Bill Cipher; the former is an incredibly brilliant mechanical engineer with a proclivity towards doomsday devices, and the latter is an inhuman, interdimensional dream demon. Upon finally returning to his home dimension he immediately complimented his niece Mabel for her weirdness, and formed a relatively easy bond with his intelligent, nerdy, paranormal-obsessed nephew, Dipper.
Of course, Bill also flattered Ford to manipulate him into building a portal that would allow him to enter Ford's dimension and take it over. Which comes back to two critical and conflicting flaws for Fords: he's an extremely egotistical person with absolutely no self-worth. His incredible intelligence and achievements against steep obstacles gave him a horrendously over-inflated sense of pride. At the same time, the bullying he faced as a child and his difficult relationship with his family has him feeling like he's consistently failing to prove his value to the people around him. Even when the fate of the world was at stake he couldn't bear the thought of destroying even part of his research to keep it out of the wrong hands. It was his life's work, too big of an achievement to be destroyed - and if it was gone, how could he prove his significance to anyone?
His fragile sense of superiority and distrust of other people instilled in him the idea that he could - and even needed to - reach his goals alone. He became fixated on the idea of changing the world, of making a difference, of being a hero that stood apart from others. Not for money or even exactly fame, but to prove that he could. This isolated mindset was further cemented after a perceived betrayal from Fiddleford and an actual betrayal from Bill. When a prophecy that would allow him to stop Bill's world-ending plans required other people to achieve, he ignored the logical course of action (preemptively seeking those people out) and instead devised his own plan to stop Bill.
This multi-layered, self-imposed disconnect from other people means he can be incredibly self absorbed and blind to the problems of others. He projects his feelings about his own awful relationship with Stan (which he describes as 'suffocating') onto Dipper and Mabel and never considers that maybe they'd actually prefer to be together. When the apocalypse started and Dipper wanted to look for Mabel, Ford insisted on stopping Bill first - logical, but not very considerate of a 12-year-old boy worried about his sister.
And yet, despite holding logic and rationality up as the pinnacles of human thought, Ford is ruled almost entirely by his emotions. He takes rejection of his ideas, passions, and hobbies extremely personally. He can hold grudges for decades and had to be blackmailed into thanking Stan for rescuing him from his interdimensional travels. When he finally utilized the previously mentioned prophecy to try to defeat Bill, he pettily criticized Stan's grammar as revenge for the blackmail - twice, causing a fight that derailed the prophecy and almost got everyone killed.
But Ford's not without his merits! Like his inclination towards serving the greater good, his relentless work ethic, and his fondness for his family. He encouraged Dipper to believe in himself and have faith in his own abilities. He had complete faith that Mabel's charisma would let her thrive even if she were separated from Dipper. In his quest for recognition he veered towards projects that would benefit humanity, rather than those that would simply benefit him. He worked for 30 years to solve the Bill issue all on his own, and he never once shied away from the danger. Even when he was being held captive and brutally tortured for information he refused to share it, and only considered relenting when his family was threatened instead.
At his canon point, Ford is in the middle of a rude awakening. His efforts to stand as a lone hero have not only fallen through, they've just made the situation worse. Now someone else has to step in and save the day: his twin brother Stan, a lifelong criminal with a long history of screwing up both he and Ford's lives. But when his family was on the line Stan volunteered himself for a scheme that would defeat Bill at the cost of his memories, identity, and sense of self. He'll live, sure, but he won't really be him anymore.
And worse, Ford won't even know the outcome of their plan. He hasn't even begun to process the implications of he and Stan's plan, and much of his early days in Ashbrook will be dedicated to doing just that.
Samples
Please link two threads (or a TDM toplevel) displaying your character.
Link 1:
Link 2:
Player Name: Kei
Pronouns: She/He
Contact:
Permissions: Link
Invite: I am the invitation
Character Info
Character Name: Stanford Pines
Canon/Canon Point: Gravity Falls | S02E21, right at the end of Bill's Eenie Meenie Miney YOU countdown
Character Age: 62
History: Link
Powers:
Metal Plate: Thanks to a special metal plate surgically implanted on his skull, Ford's mind cannot be forcibly invaded or tampered with. It was able to deny a dream demon access to his head, even though Ford had previously allowed such a thing, and prevented a memory-erasing device from working on him. However, its protection isn't absolute and there are two noteworthy gaps in its defenses.
First, any surface level or 'natural' means of entering his mind still works. The mindscape is a separate plain of existence in Ford's world; people can naturally connect to their own mindscape via dreaming and meditation, or enter the mindscapes of others via spells. Should Ford enter the mindscape (or its Deerington equivalent) with either method, other residents of the mindscape are able to freely interact with his surface level consciousness. Second, Ford is still able to willingly allow other entities into his mind, at which point they can wreak whatever havoc they see fit. He tries to avoid this for obvious reasons, but if he can be tricked or coerced into allowing such a thing then he's as helpless as ever.
Role in Ashbrook
Character Skills: Drawing; research skills; marksmanship; designing and building weapons; designing and building various other sci-fi gadgets; combat experience; extensive knowledge of physics, theoretical physics, astronomy, folklore, and cryptids
Character Values: Intelligence; learning; seeking the truth; creativity; perseverance; self-sufficiency; family (doesn't realize this is a value)
Role Opt-Outs: None
Bonus details?: YES
Personality
Stanford Pines is, in a word, weird. The most obvious, and superficial, example is his polydactyly, which gives him six fully functional fingers on each hand. While the extra digits earned him vicious bullying from many of his peers ('freak' was a common insult) Ford grew to embrace his uniqueness during his college years. Eventually, he decided to dedicate himself to the study of anomalies like himself and has spent his life since then researching and interacting with supernatural and paranormal creatures and phenomena.
To say that he now thrives in an environment of weirdness is sort of underselling it. In six years he filled hundreds upon hundreds of pages with notes on the behavior, habitats, history, and patterns of supernatural happenings. He's interviewed gnomes, spent the weekend in a ghost-infested cabin, raised a shapeshifter as a pet, gotten into a fistfight with a talking chair, raided an ancient alien spaceship for parts, made a deal with a demon, and lent Mothman money, among many other encounters - all of this before he went on a 30 year dimension-hopping journey. He described Gravity Falls as the first place where he felt at home, and once he realized he was getting too old to adventure alone he thought not of retiring, but of finding a partner.
He's relentlessly, tirelessly curious in a way that overpowers more reasonable reactions to strange events. The nerves he gained from chasing after the paranormal mean he's frequently able to keep a cool head in the face of danger. Seeing his car get crushed by a tree giant filled him not with frustration, fear, or dismay, but with unbridled delight. Being captured by an alien security drone had him concerned but not panicking. The few times he's shown to react with actual fear are when things are truly bleak - when he was sucked through a portal to the nightmare realm, for example, or when his greatest enemy was on the verge of murdering his niece and nephew.
But in the process of embracing his own weirdness, Ford began to reject the idea of mingling with and befriending normal people. His childhood experiences left him reclusive, distrustful of other people, deeply concerned with his own value as a person, and more than a little arrogant. Even in a town as strange as Gravity Falls he was a rarely seen hermit, and his property was covered with barbed wire, boarded up windows, and no trespassing signs.
Not to mention Ford's standards for normal behavior and acceptable safety standards are just a bit skewed. The only two friends he's shown to have (besides his twin brother) are Fiddleford McGucket and Bill Cipher; the former is an incredibly brilliant mechanical engineer with a proclivity towards doomsday devices, and the latter is an inhuman, interdimensional dream demon. Upon finally returning to his home dimension he immediately complimented his niece Mabel for her weirdness, and formed a relatively easy bond with his intelligent, nerdy, paranormal-obsessed nephew, Dipper.
Of course, Bill also flattered Ford to manipulate him into building a portal that would allow him to enter Ford's dimension and take it over. Which comes back to two critical and conflicting flaws for Fords: he's an extremely egotistical person with absolutely no self-worth. His incredible intelligence and achievements against steep obstacles gave him a horrendously over-inflated sense of pride. At the same time, the bullying he faced as a child and his difficult relationship with his family has him feeling like he's consistently failing to prove his value to the people around him. Even when the fate of the world was at stake he couldn't bear the thought of destroying even part of his research to keep it out of the wrong hands. It was his life's work, too big of an achievement to be destroyed - and if it was gone, how could he prove his significance to anyone?
His fragile sense of superiority and distrust of other people instilled in him the idea that he could - and even needed to - reach his goals alone. He became fixated on the idea of changing the world, of making a difference, of being a hero that stood apart from others. Not for money or even exactly fame, but to prove that he could. This isolated mindset was further cemented after a perceived betrayal from Fiddleford and an actual betrayal from Bill. When a prophecy that would allow him to stop Bill's world-ending plans required other people to achieve, he ignored the logical course of action (preemptively seeking those people out) and instead devised his own plan to stop Bill.
This multi-layered, self-imposed disconnect from other people means he can be incredibly self absorbed and blind to the problems of others. He projects his feelings about his own awful relationship with Stan (which he describes as 'suffocating') onto Dipper and Mabel and never considers that maybe they'd actually prefer to be together. When the apocalypse started and Dipper wanted to look for Mabel, Ford insisted on stopping Bill first - logical, but not very considerate of a 12-year-old boy worried about his sister.
And yet, despite holding logic and rationality up as the pinnacles of human thought, Ford is ruled almost entirely by his emotions. He takes rejection of his ideas, passions, and hobbies extremely personally. He can hold grudges for decades and had to be blackmailed into thanking Stan for rescuing him from his interdimensional travels. When he finally utilized the previously mentioned prophecy to try to defeat Bill, he pettily criticized Stan's grammar as revenge for the blackmail - twice, causing a fight that derailed the prophecy and almost got everyone killed.
But Ford's not without his merits! Like his inclination towards serving the greater good, his relentless work ethic, and his fondness for his family. He encouraged Dipper to believe in himself and have faith in his own abilities. He had complete faith that Mabel's charisma would let her thrive even if she were separated from Dipper. In his quest for recognition he veered towards projects that would benefit humanity, rather than those that would simply benefit him. He worked for 30 years to solve the Bill issue all on his own, and he never once shied away from the danger. Even when he was being held captive and brutally tortured for information he refused to share it, and only considered relenting when his family was threatened instead.
At his canon point, Ford is in the middle of a rude awakening. His efforts to stand as a lone hero have not only fallen through, they've just made the situation worse. Now someone else has to step in and save the day: his twin brother Stan, a lifelong criminal with a long history of screwing up both he and Ford's lives. But when his family was on the line Stan volunteered himself for a scheme that would defeat Bill at the cost of his memories, identity, and sense of self. He'll live, sure, but he won't really be him anymore.
And worse, Ford won't even know the outcome of their plan. He hasn't even begun to process the implications of he and Stan's plan, and much of his early days in Ashbrook will be dedicated to doing just that.
Samples
Please link two threads (or a TDM toplevel) displaying your character.
Link 1:
Link 2: