Stanley "Stan" Pines

Did You Know?

• Stan is based on series creator Alex Hirsch's grandfather, also named Stan, who was a big, barrel-chested man whose clothes had popped-undone buttons and who wore a gold chain and gold rings.
• An alternate version of the character, an anthropomorphic frog named Mr. Ponds, appears in the episode Wax Museum of the animated series Amphibia, with Alex Hirsch reprising his role.

Role in Gravity Falls

Stanley Pines, better known as Grunkle Stan or by his brother’s name Stanford Pines before the real Stanford returned, is a cunning and tightfisted man. He runs the Mystery Shack, a roadside attraction where he uses clever and funny tricks to make money. Even though he often seems greedy, he truly cares for his great-nephew Dipper and great-niece Mabel, who spend the summer with him at their parents’ request. Stan pretends not to notice the strange things happening in Gravity Falls and frequently butts heads with Gideon Gleeful, a nasty child who runs the Tent of Telepathy and wants to steal the Mystery Shack.

Stan secretly holds the first of three mysterious journals written by his twin brother Ford. By the end of the first season, he gets all three journals—the second and third were owned by Gideon and Dipper. He then turns on an interdimensional portal, which is described in the journals, bringing Ford back from another dimension in the episode “Not What He Seems.” The brothers tell Dipper and Mabel their history: they grew up in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey, as sons of Filbrick and Caryn Pines. Their bond broke when Stan accidentally ruined Ford’s chance to get into a top university. After their parents kicked Stan out, he spent years moving around, working sales and doing illegal jobs.

Later, Ford invited Stan to Gravity Falls, Oregon, where Ford was studying cryptids and supernatural events. Stan was furious to learn Ford didn’t want to make up—he just wanted Stan to take and hide one of the journals because the portal’s blueprints were too dangerous. They fought, accidentally activated the portal, and Ford fell through. Stan then took Ford’s identity, faked his own death in a car crash, and for thirty years ran the Mystery Shack from Ford’s cabin, using it as a cover to rebuild the portal and bring Ford back. While watching Dipper and Mabel that summer, he finally succeeds. The brothers struggle to fix their relationship as they get ready for “Weirdmageddon,” an apocalypse predicted to be started by Bill Cipher, a demon from another dimension and the main villain of the series.