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Gravity Falls: Little Dipper
Reviewed: 10/28/2017
...Just Got Big In A Big Way!
Okay; here's some more insecurity incoming: Dipper feels self-conscious that Mabel is taller than him and is becoming the alpha twin, so he seeks out a magic way to grow himself the same height as her. Meanwhile, Li'l Gideon takes advantage of Dipper's and Mabel's height discrepancies. Yeah; it's a shrinking episode, you expected anything else? So, how does this episode fare? Let's rant on shall we...?!
Little Dipper is written by Zach Paez, Tim McKeon and Old Man McGucket. Storyboards were done by Chris Sonnenburg and Niki Yang; while direction is done by Aarron Springer and Joe Pitt. Animation is done by Digital Emation Inc.
Episode opened with inside Gideon's room! YES! It's about time Gideon got some actual screen time to get his heel heat back after throwing tomatoes at Stan. I should also note that Gideon actually does threaten to send blood rain on Stan and company before blowing it off. The guise of this is that he wants revenge for being screwed after The Hand That Rocks The Mabel; although he did steal Mystery Book #2 from Dipper on that episode. He also blows off demon catapilliars as he doesn't just want to hurt them; he wants to basically take something from them for his ultimate power. Which is basically killing someone and sucking the corpse dry, which is uber creepy in hindsight. Oh wait; he wants to steal the Mystery (S)hack from them; which is basically reduces this feud to Plankton Vs. Mr. Krabs from Spongebob SquarePants. He holds up a model Mystery Shack for all to see (complete with popsicle stick roof) before we head to the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM (The Mystery (S)hack) and head into the living room with Stan, Dipper and Mabel (upside down; so that's her new gimmick now) watching a television show about a duck who is a detective. Don't ask me why because there is a knock on the door. Stan goes to the door to answer it. It's a man in a full suit who appears to be Gideon's lawyer and is voiced by Corey Burton. Stan's response to said lawyer is much more compelling than this because he thinks the lawyer is the tax collector, as he bails with a magic smoke bomb and panics in the living room; as he opens the wall to reveal a duffel bag load of money (probably the same money he hookwinked in The Time Traveler's Pig), but the lawyer don't care as he casually walks in and informs Stan that he is from the Winninghouse Coupon Savers Contest and Stan just won ten million dollars! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~! Yes; it's literally Publishers Clearinghouse-epquse in terms of motifs here. Stan claims that his one and only dream was to possess money which has come true. Oh, please! Dipper wants a butler and Mabel wants a talking horse. Sadly; she couldn't say "that speaks like Alan Young"; which would have made this even funnier. The lawyer gives Stan the papers and Stan signs; literally one second after he signs, Gideon tears through the giant cheque and proclaims victory, because the papers are the deed to the Mystery (S)hack, and Gideon does a happy dance that would make Squidward hang his head in shame.
But, wait; as Dipper and Mabel are gasping, Stan is laughing because Gideon should read the signature first and Gideon does. Basically; it's almost the exact same response Raph gave to Shredder in TMNT 1987 on joining the heels. It's go suck on a lemon. Gideon is pissed and tears up the deed in disgust and he's so mad that he requires his lawyer to hoist him up. Gideon declares that he'll get his revenge on the Pines and that is that. So yes folks; this starts the major angle for the payoff to commence in season one. Which sadly; I will probably never review unless there is a third DVD set volume in stores. Don't count on that; although it's basically Stan VS. Gideon in the same way Plankton wants the formula for Krabby Patties. The babyfaces look on while Gideon leaves with his lawyers (and the cameraman and two women with him were written out by teleport of course); and they go back to watching television. WE HIT THE OPENING~! I should note that there is a sublimal image of Bill Chiper during this. Nah; he could never be involved in this crap; could he? We return to the Mystery (S)hack and at the gift shop with Soos putting bobble head Stans on a top shelf with a ladder and Dipper/Mabel playing chess on wooden logs with a table made from a turtle shell and skeleton. Mabel's chess playing sucks so badly here as Dipper calls her out on it. Mabel has the horse chess pieces in her sweater and treats them like she's a parent. Awww! My heart melted. Dipper then knocks over one of Mabel's pieces and calls checkmate, this causes Mabel to boo him. HAHA! Dipper has a notepad and it shows him winning eighty-five times to nothing over Mabel. Soos wants Mabel to grab the jar of brains with the blond wig on it; and Dipper wants to do it instead; but Soos tells him no, because Mabel is taller. Dipper blows it off because they have always been the same height, you see. Soos puts them together and invokes the tape measure, and Mabel is exactly one millimeter on Dipper. Pfft; this is stupid. At least make it one centimeter; so the animation makes it look like Dipper is shorter. This of course is enough for Mabel to claim that she's the alpha twin now. Because she's taller? That's like saying that Dipper was the alpha twin because he's a...Oh wait... Mabel's cheering is so lame that I laughed at it. I thought she was already the alpha twin just on being the most over of the entire show?
Dipper shows off his vast stupidity by claiming that no one in the US uses millimeters; which Soos JUST did and he's only taller in Canada. Ummm; in USA measurements; you are 0.04 inches shorter. Not ZERO! Mabel is still taller than you as Mabel gleefully points out that she always wanted a little brother. I wish she said "little baby" and dressed up Dipper as one, since Dipper is always so insecure about himself. In comes Stan rubbing his eyes because he hears the sound of mockery. Mabel explains that Dipper is shorter than one mm; and then this whole situation is "reduced" into short jokes. POW! OUCH! Ummmm...Soos wants them to lay off of this a tiny bit; and this is constructed as Soos being in on the joke. Umm; Soos is actually being serious because, this is bullying and harrassment, you see. Soos is actually defending himself as Mabel and Stan laugh; causing Dipper to storm off stage right. I don't blame Dipper; it's just one mm, and all this is going to do is make Dipper want to do something with magic in a really stupid way that does more harm. Dipper is extremely thin skinned, you see. Mabel and Stan think Dipper will forget this, because he has a three second memory, like a goldfish. Yeah; that was the joke. It's BS by the way. The only ones with three second memories are scoiopaths, ironically those who project themselves into children. See most children television execs. Mabel proclaims that they are on fire and slaps skin with Stan so hard; that Stan sells a hand injury. HA! Mabel claims that she high-five's hard. No fleas on you, Mabel. So we head to the attic as Dipper paces around and blows off Mabel and calls her stupid. Geez; talk about losing sympathy for Dipper in the first three words. Dipper goes to a high shelf and tries to grab the Mystery Book #3 from it; no dice. Oh come on, now! If Dipper cannot touch the book; Mabel cannot either at 1 mm. Dipper then kicks the shelf and the book dislodges; as Dipper opens it and looks for a way to get taller. So inside the book, we find a page for height altering. Apparently; giant squirrels and mini buffaloes have lead to the discovery of crystals that make you tall and short. This is a segueway to Dipper walking deep into the forest reading the book while not seeing where he is going. I mention this because Dipper trips on a tree root and tumbles head over feet down the hill to fetch a pail of Insecuro Nuts. Dipper has leaves in his hair as he wakes up to see a tiny deer on his chest. The tiny deer bails instantly.
Dipper is surprised by this as he notices a pack of tiny deer underneath some mushrooms and then notices a tiny eagle flying around. Then a average sized mountain lion tries to pounce on Dipper (prespective, indeed!) and walks into some purple light that turns the mountain lion into a tiny model mountain lion; who jumps into Dipper's outfit and tickles him. Not as funny as Molly with the Inkara, sadly. Mountain lion crawls onto Dipper's hand and bites his thumb. No blood, sadly as the lion bails stage left. So Dipper sees a giant crystal spike showing off purple and cyan blue colors. A butterfly flies through the colors as in the purple light, it shrinks, while in the blue light, it grows and knocks down a tree in the process. The problem with this is: Logic should dictate that if the butterfly went through the blue light, it would return to normal size, so that implies that the blue light is stronger than the purple one; or this was done for the sake of a cheap joke. Just like Dipper being only one mm shorter than Mabel. Dipper then uses a screwdriver and pops out a small crystal from the rock and holds onto it. He also swore in dubbed anime style (which was muffled for some reason) during this; but we return to the attic (the window with the Eye Of Providence stained glass window on it as Dipper is putting the crystal in front of the flashlight; so he has been watching Teddy Ruxpin episodes at some point of his life. So he's testing the chess piece pawn and shines the flashlight on it. Of course; the blue light is stronger and thus the chess piece goes through the roof. So we head back to the gift shop (and yes; Stan CYA's us with the No Refunds sign) with Soos at the counter and Mabel talking about buying big clothes and growing into them. Dipper comes in and claims that he has grown an extra mm; Mabel is not buying this crap. Soos brings out the measuring stick and indeed; they are exactly the same height. Mabel then end arounds Dipper claiming that she'll be taller than Mabel because science always wins BABEE~! ALPHA TWIN~! ALPHA TWIN~! Yeah; this is one time I would have told Mabel to sod off now, because she looks like an ass now. Dipper basically calls her bluff and bails stage left. Yes; I for once think Mabel should not be held blameless for this. I mean; Dipper won and you simply couldn't let it go. And why bother when Mabel's the best character on the damn show without this height crap?!
So Dipper goes back to the attic and uses the MINI SIZER FLASHLIGHT EDITION~ (Eat your heart out, Newton Gimmick!) on him to grow at least two inches taller; as Mabel runs in and is shocked to see Dipper is officially taller than her. See what your mockery has done, Mabel?! Now Dipper is going to really do something stupid and harm everyone, including you! Mabel claims that this makes no sense and I would say she should check Dipper's flashlight. Mabel then accuses Dipper of using magic and having a secret wizard in a closet. Dipper of course points out that this is BS; which is fact is true. Mabel opens the closet and there is nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING in said closet, and Mabel insists that the wizard is under the clear status. HAHA! Mabel; you are the best idiot ever. So the doorbell rings and Stan of course answers it. It's Gideon with a baseball bat and a jar of thousands and thousands of cursed Egyptian super-termites. Why do I get the feeling that this is going to end up like the Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild/Horizon Zero Dawn detail comparisons I saw in those "Sony Always Wins BABEE!" skits on Youtube? Bascially; Gideon threats violence if the deed isn't given to him and Stan does the "Made you look" spot; which Gideon is fooled as Stan slaps the jar down to the ground. It somehow shatters (glass just ain't as tough as it used to be...); the termites fly and destroy Gideon's baseball bat and get into his hair as Gideon panics and runs away like a scalded dog. Sort of; he stops with his back to the hard camera as Stan calls for Soos to bring the camera because Stan is a scumbag. This gives Gideon enough time to cut a threatening promo before finally running away stage left. Cut back to Mabel in the closet, still not getting the fact that there is no wizard in the closet. To be fair with Mabel, an invisible wizard in the closet would not be the most absurd thing to happen in Gravity Falls. Suddenly; Dipper confesses that he used a flashlight with a crystal taped on the front. That is a stupid move, Dipper; because after seeing Mabel's attitude in The Time Traveler's Pig, we all know where this is going. Dipper then realizes his gaffe and runs out of the attic as Mabel chases him and even threatens to return later for the "wizard" in the closet. So Mabel tackles Dipper right in front of the door; thus showing that Dipper's running skills also suck. The flashlight goes flying and it shines the blue light on an inchworm and it grows large.
The inchworm crawls over two cars and crushes them and you can tell it's the new Disney because the car alarm siren blares instantly afterwards. Mabel grabs the flashlight and shines it on her hand and it grows big. This shocks her; but Dipper insists to her not to worry because reversing the crystal shrinks the hand. Mabel then karate chops (normal handed edition) down the flashlight and grabs it. Mabel then turns and shoots Dipper in the head as he's now Dipper "Big Head" MacPines; this causes Dipper to lose his balance and crash into the roof backwards. Dipper than somehow runs in and we don't see him steal the flashlight back (implying that he nailed Mabel in the face; but Mabel didn't sell at all) as we see flashing purple lights and Mabel got her head shrunk. They fight over the flashlight for a while and then engage in a tug of war. The flashlight then flies out of their hands and somehow lands behind Gideon and this was enough for Gideon to stop cursing the Pines family. He checks it out as Dipper and Mabel somehow notice him. Mabel of course whisper yells in a normal voice tone and blows their cover. I hope Gideon heard that and shines the flashlight on them...YES! YES! YES! Finally! A whisper yell that actually lead to something! Gideon is all like "checkmate, idiots!" and shines the flashlight on the kids and shrinks them. Dipper and Mabel cover in fear, holding each other as Gideon's giggle laugh is much more scary when you are only two inches tall. So yes; it's basically Getting Antsy; only Gideon is much much better as a heel than Suckyputt. So Gideon brings down the jar on the babyfaces as we go to black to end the segment nine and a half minutes in. The episode is fine; but it's not like I haven't seen this plot before or anything.
After the commercial break; we discover that Bud Gleeful is Pete Pete in every single way; including selling like Pete Pete from Goof Troop. The only difference is that he wears a Mexican hat and a floral pink shirt; which means Bud is automatically slightly more likable in comparison. Also; even Pete's cars didn't have a rat in the engine of a station wagon; and Old Man McGucket of course, buys it hook, line and sinker. Because Alex Hirsh somehow has to get on his own cartoon somehow. Also; the crowd simply brings out the money anyway; killing the funny joke altogether as Gideon steps in with his jar. Bud asks who is in the jar and Gideon calls it his widdle secret. The crowd acts like their hearts have melted. Gideon turns around and heads inside, calling them mouth breathing fools. I should note that Hank's beloved and Reggie made another cameo as well. So we head inside the house as we see Mrs. Gleeful vacuuming the floor; so she's no Peg Pete by a mile. She also doesn't speak and wears a green dress; and looks like she might have been raped at some point in her life; but I have no evidence of this. Depressing and horrible, any order will work. So Gideon goes into his bedroom and shakes out Mabel and Dipper onto his desk; which contains a model of the entire Mystery (S)hack area. Mabel asks what Gideon is going to do with them and Gideon insists that he is not going to harm Mabel; because he has feelings and eyes for her. Damn; that is awfully creepy and gross. Oh; and he basically assaults Mabel's hair anyway, so he's a lying ass. Mabel refuses to be his queen because this is a democracy. No; it's a republic, Mabel. Gideon then grabs Mabel and claims that he'll force her to change her mind; and Mabel fights and fights -- getting nowhere with this -- and Gideon puts her into a bag of Gummi Kolas; in which Mabel changes her mind and eats up. HAHA! At least it's not shiny things and it's something useful, albeit it's pure sugar. Gideon then gets into his threatening of torture stance against Dipper as he shines the desk lamp on Dipper; and wants answers to the flashlight. Dipper then realizes that Gideon is after Magic Book #3 in his vest. Dipper motions to Gideon to lean closer and there's an airhorn conveniently placed on the desk. If you cannot guess the next spot; you deserve to be deaf after Dipper invokes said spot. Yip. Gideon blushes, sweats, turns around and backhands the desk lamp onto the ground; threatening to squash Dipper like a bug. Riiiggghhhtt.
Gideon then stops and steels himself because he's going to use them as ransom. Jump cut to a room where Soos in putting up mirrors as Stan proclaims that he is taking credits for Soo's idea to have a mirror maze. So Darkwing Duck-ish of you, Stan. Stan takes off his fez cap and places it on a desk near a mirror and comments about his big ears. Then the telephone rings and Stan bails stage left to answer it. Soos comes in and wears the fez cap and says "one day". Hmmmm; I wonder if something awful is going to happen to Soos now. Nah; that would expose the bigotry of the writers and Disney would NEVER allow that, could they? Anyhow; we head to the kitchen as the phone is ringing on the desk, next to a camping light, and a can of Pitt Cola. Stan answers the phone and it is Gideon calling out Stanford Pines (which is by the way makes sense in real life since the University of Stanford uses a pine tree as a logo; despite being called the Cardinals, since it's the name of the shade of red color which makes sense as well) as we jump cut to Gideon brushing his hair with a hairbrush talking on his cordless phone, so Bud is also cheap, albeit less so than Stan. So Gideon basically threatens to kill them if Stan doesn't give him the deed to the shack. Stan -- scumbag who likes to blackmail with the best of them -- no sells as he opens the can of soda; calling it the worst plot yet because he saw them playing out in the front yard minutes ago. So Stan considers roughhousing, playing? Hmmm; that sounds very Chargeman Ken-equse. Gideon threatens to text the photo to prove that he's SERIOUS BABEE! Stan is confused and...Okay; In the audio, Stan proclaims that Gideon is not even speaking English, but the transcript on Wikia claims that Gideon is not speaking Spanish. So; was that line changed in between first and second airing? Stan hangs up, Gideon is pissed and throws the phone and nearly kills Dipper with it. Phone is completely destroyed into pieces as Gideon laughs like a maniac as Gideon takes the flashlight and decides to screw the ransom and shrink Stan instead to take over the shack. Gideon threatens to break them in half if the kids get out of line, rendering them helpless to stop him. I believe you, Gideon; now go to the nice ice cream truck that Bud just informed you of and let's advance this plot, BABEE!
Gideon brings out a cage with a giant ass hamster called Cheekum and opens it; telling it to guard Mabel and Dipper with it's life. Why not just put the two in the cage instead; and place the cage on the desk instead? Of course he doesn't and Gideon leaves his room. That is really stupid of him. Mabel eats gummis, Cheekums squeaks, Dipper finds an out of nowhere Q-tip and pokes Cheekums in the belly with it, Cheekums no sells it. Mabel takes the head of a green Gummi and puts it in her red sweater; which has a kanga pouch now. Dipper claims that Gideon has a zillion inches on them and magic. More like 45 inches tall and 46 inches wide. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...So, then they just had to do another spot with a ruler in order to make Mabel taller than Dipper; by one cm...AGAIN! The joke is over; let the plot breathe, Dipper! So we finally begin the shrinking episode proper as the knobs on the drawers (NOT THOSE ONES!) are circulars. Literally seconds later, Mabel has already controlled Cheekums, and makes Dipper look like a goddamn idiot. Although to be fair; he has been acting like one in this episode...and Cheekum no sells Mabel's ass slapping. Mabel then calls him a dummy, so she's projecting herself of course. Dipper sees the hairbrush and it is filled with Gideon's hair as Dipper sees his ticket out. So yes; they are using Gideon's hair to do the makeshift rope sheet spot. And no; I'm not going there. So Mabel and Dipper scale down the desk and then hide behind some boots via teleportation; as we watch in the living room, Gideon and Bud eating ice cream. Gideon is literally pigging out of cherry ice cream; because he is a dirty, rotton pig with the whitest hair you have ever seen. Gideon orders his father to clean him; and Bud cleans him, because Gideon is a scummy heel child. He then asks if he can have a ride to the Mystery Shack and Bud no sells him because he has a lot of cars to sell; and then just tickles him senseless, for no reason. Gideon is pissed off as he throws his ice cream bucket right into the wall and almost hits his mother in the head with it. Gideon treats tickling like he was raped and yes, I'm serious and Gideon has told him to look at him; and Bud proclaims that tickling is no laughing matter. So yes; there is someone who hates tickling much, much more than Kit Cloudkicker does. (Kit: I would say, "hold my beer"; but I don't drink beer and I don't think soda will work on this one.)
Gideon then acts like nice and pats him anyway. Bud asks if he needs a ride and Gideon decides to take the bus and he's so pissy about it that he upends a desk and breaks a lamp (which again causes a cat to screech off-screen of course); kicks the door open and storms out. Bud calls it precious memories, like a scoiopath as Bud's beloved is vacuuming and repeating herself to keep doing it. Yeah; she has Stockholm Syndrome and has clearly been beaten by either Bud and/or Gideon at some point. Dipper and Mabel hop out of the boots and run through the doggie door; leading them into the car lot. Dipper wants to go higher and somehow Mabel doesn't construct this into a drug reference and still makes it funny due to not doing that. So they somehow climb up to an inflatable dollar sign air balloon (which I'm certain will be the device the kids use to get back to the Mystery (S)hack) and they notice the road with a wooden bench. Most bus route do have benches (but not on my route, sadly) on most stops; but they are housed within huts to keep out the rain. So sitting on the bench is Gideon and Lazy Eye Susan asks what he is doing and Gideon basically proclaims that he is going to destroy his archenemy, and Susan don't care at all. The bus comes and Gideon walks into the bus while Lazy Susan just sits there. So why is she there? Dipper and Mabel notices this right away as Mabel wants the discount dollar to fly them to the said shack. Dipper claims that it might as he takes off his Swiss knife and cuts the ropes to release the flying dollar sign into the air. Bud looks out the window, does a spit take and screams for his sky high prices. HAHA! So after some flying and dodging; and moving; the balloon finally reaches the Mystery (S)hack and hits a totem pole in plain sight. Dipper and Mabel get off and sit on the totem pole as the bus arrives with Gideon; as Dipper ponders how to stop Gideon. Suddenly; a woodpecker flies out of nowhere and peaks Dipper's head. HAHA! Dipper fights woodpecker off-screen as Mabel notices the rope banner attached to the entrance to the shack and has a Krackpotkin plan for that. In comes Gideon humming and twirling his flashlight towards the Gift Shop as he thinks he's won.
Then a gummi bear head lands on Gideon's head and Gideon sells it like he was punched in the arm. Mabel apologizes to her gummi friend of course as Gideon's hair has also gained Oscar's objects sticking in afro gimmick. Gideon is struggling and drops the flashlight like a complete and utter moron as he proclaims that he cannot defeat Stan looking like this; so he also has gained Darkwing Duck's vanity in the process. Somehow; Stan has a mirror on a pillar as Gideon goes to it and removes the gummi bear head; then sprays hairspray on the hair as Dipper and Mabel climb down and get to the flashlight. Dipper reverses the crystal to blue as Mabel is going to shoot. But then Dipper has to be completely stupid because he is basically accusing Mabel of trying to grow Dipper to be shorter than Mabel...AGAIN! Mabel points out that it doesn't matter; and Dipper calls her bluff and that angers Mabel and she accuses Dipper of acting so weird. Dipper then calls out Mabel on her mockery of his height and Gideon finds them and grabs them. Insecurity is going to be the death of you two; as Gideon even admits that Dipper and Mabel could defeat him if it wasn't for their stupidity. When the heel can see this; it's time to kill the insecurity. Gideon flings open the door and declares that the shack is his and Stanford Pines can shrink in hell. Okay; I'm embellishing this. So Gideon shines the flashlight without changing the crystal; and yet it still shines purple as the fez cap drops, while Dipper and Mabel scream to end the segment sixteen and a half minutes in. Now; if you have been following the episode carefully, you should see the tiny flaw in Gideon's plan...
After the commercial break; we see Gideon stop flashing the flashlight as the fez cap is down on the ground. Gideon cheers victory as he grabs the fez cap; and it's Soos. Gideon is shocked and appalled as Soo puts his hat on and calls this different somehow. So Dipper, Mabel and Soos are thrown into the jar and shaken as he demands to know where Stan is. Soos refuses to tell...and then confesses that he is on the second door to the left down the hall... and then catches himself. You did this so you could avoid a torture scene despite Gideon was already tickled earlier in the episode! Gideon seals the jar and puts it in his pocket; calling for Stan. The babyfaces try to break out, no go; as Mabel does a raspberry on Gideon's ID card; with an angle that was shot completely off, for some reason. Soos apologizes for messing up; but Dipper insists that it's his fault because he made the device in order to get back at Mabel for teasing him. However; Mabel trumps him by showing him the notepad where she got her ass kicked in everything and the whole height thing was just her winning for once; and this causes Dipper to admit that he was acting like a jerk since he kept mocking her for losing. This is actually a freaking great moment here; since the story here was that Mabel's teasing was as a result of actually winning for once and Dipper's fragility/insecurity made Dipper think that he was being bullied when it was Dipper who was acting like it in a false equalivancy fallacy moment. The only problem I have with this is: Mabel won because of nature and not her skill; and so her teasing was kind of silly anyway. However; despite all this, Mabel is still the better character anyway, so we can throw all of this out the window in real life. Mabel laughs it off as him being a little jerk; and they both laugh it off. They all fist bump each other and everything is cool, yee-haw. Jump cut to the hallway with Gideon sweating like he's in an Oscar convention. He heads into the dance floor area where the mirror maze is and Gideon finally sees Stan's image in all of the mirrors. So you can guess the next spot here as Stan is happy to see him try the new maze; and then calls him an idiot and the end of the sentence. So Gideon runs down in anger and fury as we jump cut to inside the pocket as we get the human chain ladder spot to get the top of the jar popped open (which means Gideon forgot to screw the lid shut like a goddamn idiot) and they go up the pocket to notice the flashlight.
So the babyfaces all climb onto Gideon's shoulders and to the back of his neck as Mabel -- like so many new Disney characters -- is attracted to shiny things, like Gideon's hair. Dipper pulls her away as Soos makes snow angels with Gideon's neck fat. Of course! Soos of course gets slapped in the neck by Gideon's hand and freefalls into the rug, and finds a giant corn chip. Pfft; whatever. Gideon walks around and sees the images of Stan in the mirror and begins shooting at the mirrors and we get pinball city as Gideon ducks and a moose head gets shrunk. Gideon is now pissed and throws his flashlight into the mirror and that shatters it. Uh-oh! Stan isn't laughing anymore now as Gideon breaks a billion mirrors and don't care about getting bad luck, because he is the bad luck. Stan finally comes out pissed because the mirrors cost five hundred apiece and he's footing the bill on Gideon for this. Gideon tells him that Stan is paying and he raises the flashlight at Stan as he is doomed. Dipper; Stan is not doomed. Nintendo is the only one who is doomed and Switch is getting Doom; so it's literal now. Dipper and Mabel crawl into Gideon's suit towards his armpit. If you cannot guess the finish right now; you have no business reading this rant. Gideon backs Stan up and cuts his promo about getting his ultimate revenge; as Dipper and Mabel invokes the most devastating move in all of DTVA; the CHOOIE-CHOOIE-COO OF DEATH~! Stan is backed against the wall and is totally confused; so he doesn't watch DTVA at all. Why doesn't that surprise me? Stan thinks Gideon has completely lost his mind as Gideon is rolling on the floor laughing. That's not a figure of speech; he is rolling on the floor. Gideon manages to point the device at the ceiling and is foaming at the mouth; which is probably because they will not let him pee his pants, which is odd considering how many times Milo teased this in Fish Hooks. Stan's attempt at psychology is so laughable that I laughed at it. Seriously; Stan acting like a psychologist is so absurd. Stan rolls Gideon out of the door and nearly kills Soos in the process. Dipper and Mabel roll on Gideon and then jump off and head inside as Gideon checks himself and notices that the flashlight is gone. Stan calls Gideon the light of his life and slams the door shut. Tickling: It always works, ask Kit about it. POW! OUCH! Ummmm...
So Dipper and Mabel run to the flashlight; which is now helpfully reversed anyway; and they return themselves to normal as Dipper lets Mabel be a mm taller and that is that. Mabel hugs him and Dipper blows her off; because they should destroy the crystal in case Gideon gets it back. Mabel smashes the crystal and then uses her foot to really crumble it, and somehow says die twice in that sequence. HA! Then Dipper and Mabel turn around and see Soos is still small, and using the pieces of broken mirror to read "Help Soos" to get their attention. Ooops! Mabel and Dipper want lots of glue and so we return to Gideon's house AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Gideon is pacing around the living room with Bud and Not Peg Gleeful sitting on the couch. Bud tells Gideon not to worry because he'll get his revenge one of those days. Gideon upends a love seat in piss ant fashion because he doesn't just want revenge, he wants the secret inside the shack and that's why he wants the shack. Gideon sits down on the couch and cackles, rubbing his hands like a villian as Bud offers him some ice cream. Gideon asks if the nuts are taken out; Bud says yes and spoon feeds him like a baby. Gideon makes a mess of himself and laughs like a maniac some more and we do it again just to overkill the scene some more. Gideon calls it that good as we jump cut to outside and then return to the shack as we repeat the scene from the beginning of the episode with the babyfaces watching television. Mabel is drinking while upside down, I should note as Stan answers the door. It's the Winninghouse Sweepskates people again as Stan sees them, looks unamused as birds chirp. Only this time this is the real deal; but Stan slams the door in their face anyway. So the man reads the piece of paper and decides to give the prize to the runner-up, who is...wait for it...Fiddleford H. McGucket. If you cannot guess who this man is...you guessed it. Yip; it's Old Man McGucket winning ten million dollars. He eats the giant cheque to end the episode at 22:04. I should also note that the official ends the episode by doing the cut throat signal to cut Gravity Falls off the list. Wow; what a sucky town this place is?! All kidding aside; this was a really good episode, and was better The Incredible Shrinking Molly, but mostly because the Incredible Shrinking Molly had really bad continuity. And this episode had progression to the overall story now that Gideon and Stan have a feud going that ties into the mystery of Gravity Falls. So, call it **** 1/4 (85%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Little Dipper was a really good episode that improved on the mechanics of The Incrediable Shrinking Molly. The shrinking device was merely a device for the real story which was the beginning of the Stan/Gideon feud, which sounds a lot like Plankton/Mr. Krabs; but with much higher stakes. I mean; who cares if Plankton steals the Krabby formula? At least in this show; Stan losing the shack is a huge deal since Gideon's motive is not just revenge, but the secret of Gravity Falls which is the main stake of this show overall. I also like the way the Dipper/Mabel sibling thing played out in the end as they teased Mabel looking like a jerk; but it ended up showing a false equalivancy on Dipper's part, because Mabel was only taunting him because for once, she won at something, even if it was completely unintentional on her part; making Dipper look like an ass who complains about everything despite winning all the time, playing more into his insecurity and fragilty. Gideon's weakness is downright laughable and the logic was sound for the most part. It felt like a much better version of the shrinking episode in TaleSpin, mostly due to better animation and better continuity. The pacing was good and everything played into the episode really well. The only downside is that the shrinking episode has been overplayed a lot over the ages, but in terms of good shrinking episodes, this is one of them. Overall; really good episode that outplayed a really good TaleSpin episode in terms of story. So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.