Stanley Pines

Introduction

Stanley "Stan" Pines (born June 15, 15 minutes after his twin brother, Ford Pines), also known as Grunkle Stan, and formerly under the assumed identity Stanford Pines, is Dipper and Mabel Pines' great uncle and summer guardian, and a paternal uncle of Mr. Pines. He is the deuteragonist of the series. After many years of crime and infamy, he has taken up residence in the remote town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, where he exploits local lore and the gullibility of the "dumbest people in the world" to finance himself by running a dubious tourist trap known as the Mystery Shack. Despite his initial claims of skepticism to the supernatural, he is later revealed to be deeply connected with the paranormal and about the town's weird paranormal status, most notably the decades-long operation of an interdimensional portal he used to rescue his twin brother, Ford Pines.

Appearance

Stan has brown eyes with cataracts, gray eyebrows, and gray hair (Both of which were brown in his youth), that is almost always covered by Stan's trademark maroon fez, which bore a yellow crescent shape (through episodes 1 to 13) and later a similar figure (after the original fez was eaten by Gompers), albeit with straight edges and a dot next to it, resembling an oyster with a pearl in it. He bears a somewhat large, droopy, pear-shaped, bumpy, reddish-pinkish nose, large ears, and fair skin. As a result of his age, Stan has wrinkly skin, a hearing aid, and dentures. He has a faded burn mark of the symbol on the side of Ford's desk on his back. He usually wears a pair of rectangular glasses with a black rim which later had its outline thinned. Stan also has a perpetual five o'clock shadow covering his lower face. Stan's typical outfit is a black suit, with the jacket buttoned closed, a bow tie similar in color to his fez, and a white dress shirt. He also wears big, light brown shoes, the aforementioned fez and his glasses. He frequently carries an eight ball cane with him and often wears an unnecessary eye-patch over one of his eyes while working. He has mentioned that he owns a girdle, which he'd presumably wear while in the suit; this would explain why his prominent belly doesn't show in this outfit. Around the house, Stan wears a white wife beater, a gold chain, striped blue boxer shorts, slippers, and his glasses and fez. This outfit reveals Stan's vast amounts of body hair, burly arms, skinny legs, and his very large belly.

History

Stanley Pines was born on June 15th in the late 1940s - early 1950s to Filbrick and Caryn Pines in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey, about 15 minutes after his twin brother Ford.[15][2] He and his twin brother Stanford were very close. Stan's strong, brawny personality combining well with Ford's brilliance: when together, they were an unstoppable pair. Stan also faced frequent bullying due to his weak appearance as a child, most notably from childhood foe Crampelter. This eventually inspired their father to force the twins into taking boxing lessons, as a means of toughening them up and giving them the strength to overcome their tormentors. Stan's teenage years were initially pleasant, frequenting the 50's-themed Juke Joint with then-girlfriend Carla McCorkle and building their ship - named the Stan’o’war - with Ford, as they hoped to fulfill their childhood dreams of sailing around the world searching for adventure. His aspirations began to crumble near the end of senior year, when Stanford's intellect attracted the interest of West Coast Tech (a prestigious college on the other side of the country, which meant he'd move away from him), and with Carla ending their relationship over her infatuation with hippie musician Thistle Downe. Stan would later confess to having driven Downe's van into a ravine in an act of revenge, which only served to further alienate Carla from him. On the verge of losing his closest friend, barely passing high school and seemingly destined to stay in Glass Shard Beach forever, Stan took his frustrations out on Ford's infinite motion machine, accidentally damaging it and causing it to malfunction. As his Toffee Peanuts bag was found at the machine's display, Ford accused Stan of sabotage, driving a wedge between the twins and prompting their father to disown Stan for losing them the "potential millions" Ford's scientific achievements would have reaped.

History

After a failed foray into combing beaches for buried treasure, Stan founded Stan Co. Enterprises. Through his self-managed company, Stan made and sold a variety of cheap and poorly-constructed household utilities, from Stan Co. Pitchforks (whose heads tended to fall off) to the "Sham Total" sham towels, both of which resulted in Stan Co. Enterprises, along with Stan himself, being banned from the state of New Jersey. The process repeated itself in Pennsylvania with his rash-inducing "Rip-Off" band aids. After the failure of his "Stan Vac" vacuums, Stan expanded his business out of the country, resulting in a heist gone awry in Colombia [20], which landed him in one of the country's prisons alongside cellmates, Jorge and Rico. Stan attempted to bond with them, much to both prisoners' intense dislike. Upon his release, Stanley returned to the United States. Banned from a majority of states, imprisoned in three different countries, reduced to renting a room at the Dead End Flats motel, and remaining in debt to Rico, Stan's life had seemingly hit rock bottom - until the arrival of a postcard from his brother Stanford, the first he had heard from his twin in over a decade. It contained a desperate plea for Stan's presence.

Personality

Grunkle Stan is at first sight a wise and cunning salesman being highly manipulative, very charismatic and charming, running a tourist trap in a town with enough unsuspecting customers to sell worthless knickknacks to and take on tours of so-called "mysteries." He conducts his business with surprising flair and wit. When not planning or executing money-making schemes (both legal and illegal), he's usually at home watching television. His preferred shows include Cash Wheel, Duck-tective and period dramas. He also enjoys fishing. Stan is also manifestly greedy and selfish, even stating once that his greatest desire in life is to "possess riches". He sees tourists as easy cash and nothing more. However, this obsession seems to stem from his father's words when he kicked him out of the house, and by the harsh, poverty-stricken life he led after being disowned. While his trickery might appear unremarkable to some, Stan's cunning transcends his Mr. Mystery persona: he's been able to figure out Lil' Gideon's plots on numerous occasions and even manages to outwit Bill Cipher in the end. Even though he was written off as unintelligent by his teachers and even his father, he was capable of restoring his brother's universe portal, and can be seen operating its computer in the days leading up to Ford's return. Stan has a deep sense of family loyalty. He responded to Ford's request for help after an entire decade of being estranged, and was deeply hurt when he realized his brother didn't intend to make amends, even calling him out on how bad a brother Ford turned out to be. He dedicated thirty years of his life to bringing Ford back to their dimension in spite of how strained their relationship had become in the years leading up to the fight.