Stan Pines

Stanley "Stan" Pines, better known as Grunkle Stan ("Grunkle" being a play on the words "Great Uncle") and formerly known under the assumed identity of Stanford Pines, is Mabel and Dipper's sly, cranky great-uncle and the tritagonist of Gravity Falls. He runs the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap full of questionable oddities and mysteries. When he's giving tours or sleeping on the couch, Dipper and Mabel are usually sneaking out to explore the town’s secrets.

Background
Stanley was born to Filbrick and Ma Pines about 15 minutes after his twin brother, Ford. They lived in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey, where his father operated the family shop (Pines Pawns), his mother also working there as a phone psychic. He and Ford were extremely close, their clashing personalities making up a perfect duo and unstoppable team of best friends. According to Stan, they never really made any other friends, but always had each other regardless.

As kids, Stan and Ford were bullied frequently, mainly by their childhood nemesis Crampelter and his gang. Unlike Ford, Stan eventually stopped wearing his glasses and started dressing differently in order to fit into the more "cooler" crowd. Eventually, Fillbrick made them take up boxing to "toughen them up," which in the long run benefited him, Stan winning over Carla McCorkle in his early teenage years.

Stan's earlier teenage years were rather enjoyable, as Stan and his girlfriend Carla were the two were frequent attendants of their favorite diner, the 50's-themed Juke Joint, and Stan and Ford continued to construct the Stanowar, as they hoped to fulfill their childhood dreams of sailing around the world searching for adventure. However, this enjoyment soon drew to an end, as in his senior years Carla broke up with him for hippie musician Thistle Downe (whose van was later driven into a ravine by Stan in an act of revenge), and Ford and Stan's future together fell under threat after Stanford's ingenious science fair experiment, a Perpetual Motion Machine, attracted the attention of West Coast Tech, a prestigious university on the other side of the country. On the verge of failing high school and losing his brother, he spends a night thinking to himself in their high school's gym, and ends up accidentally damaging Ford's machine, ultimately getting his brother rejected from the college. Ford sees the act as sabotage, and when he confronts Stan about it, he accidentally gets Stan kicked out of the house by their father. With nobody else to turn to, Stan sets out on his own, his goal to make a fortune twice the size that his brother's research could've.

Over the course of 10 years, Stan establishes his own company called Stan Co. Enterprises, where he selled cheap household items, "Sham Total" shammy towels and pitchforks, both of which were enough to have Stan Co. Enterprises (along with Stan himself) banned from the state of New Jersey. With a quick name change, Stan headed out for Pennsylvania, where his "Rip-Off" bandaids got him kicked out of the state yet again. With numerous encounters with the law and a plethora of fake I.D's and faulty products left in his wake, Stan expanded his business out of the country, resulting in an awry heist in Colombia that landed him in foreign prison alongside cellmates Jorge and Rico. After being released, Stanley returned to the United States practically homeless, renting out a motel room from Dead End Flats, New Mexico. Being imprisoned in three different states, banned from 32 of the 50 of them, and remaining in debt to his former cellmate Rico, Stan's life had pretty much hit rock bottom, until his twin sends a postcard to him from Gravity Falls, Oregon, asking him to come up for urgent matters.

Around winter, Stan eventually reaches Gravity Falls and reunites with Ford, who's on the borderline of going insane and nearly driven crazy (after being deceived by Bill Cipher). Learning of the trans-universal portal Ford had built underneath his house, Stan was entrusted with one of his brother's journals, explaining the paranormal anomalies of Gravity Falls and containing a portion of the blueprints needed to operate the universal portal. Angered that he had only been asked to come up to serve in his brother's insanic plan, Stan prepared to burn the book to spite Ford, causing a fistfight between the two to expand within Stanford's laboratory. During their brawl they accidentally reactivate the portal, resulting Ford being pulled into the portal before its immediate shutdown. Distraught that he had lost his brother, and not knowing whether or not he was dead or alive, Stan stayed at his brother's home for weeks attempting to reactivate the portal, eventually going in to town after running out of food and money.

Upon arriving in town and the townsfolk mistaking him as his brother (who has grown somewhat of a reputation), Stan took advantage of the townsfolk's interest by constructing seemingly paranormal props and placing them on display in his brother's former home, eventually attracting enough popularity to turn the house into the Murder Hut, later renamed the Mystery Shack, an overpriced tourist trap filled with cheap attractions. Faking his death under his name, he then takes his brother's identity and property, and obscured any remnants of his former twin, boarding up Ford's old bedroom and hiding his underground complex with a vending machine in the Mystery Shack gift shop. He took on the role of Mr. Mystery — Stanford Pines by day, while by night he secretly worked on locating his brother's hidden journals and reactivating the portal, hoping to return the real Stanford Pines back home.

As the years went on, Stan kept putting more and more work into his business. He stole many Wax figures and set up a wax museum, which became an arousing success, before Stan forgot all about them and locked them in the Shack's parlor. The shack's popularity only continued to grow, and Stan hired the teenage Edwin Durland as a handyman for the Mystery Shack. Sometime later, Edwin was fired and replaced by the 12-year-old Soos Ramirez in a matter of seconds, who grew to love and idolize Stan as a fatherly figure. About 13 years prior to the series, Stan had visited his great niece and nephew, Mabel Pines and Dipper Pines at the hospital when they were born. According to Stan, he couldn't let go of them and had to fight his younger brother Shermie off of him. At an unknown point, Stan and Gideon Gleeful developed a rivalry (likely due to business competition), and he went on an unpleasant date with Lazy Susan. Under his brother's name, he had grown the reputation of the "local town shyster," including an extensive criminal record.

Official Bio
Mabel and Dipper's shyster great-uncle, Grunkle Stan runs the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap full of questionable oddities.

Physical appearance
Grunkle Stan has brown eyes with cataracts, gray eyebrows, and gray hair, that is almost always covered by Stan's trademark maroon fez, which bears a yellow crescent shape and later a similar figure, albeit with straight edges, with a dot next to it. He bears a somewhat large, droopy, reddish-pinkish nose, large ears, and fair skin. Stan has wrinkly skin as a result of his age, a slouched posture, and a faded burn mark of the symbol on the side of Ford's desk on his upper right back. He usually wears a pair of rectangular glasses with a black rim. Stan 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 and the aforementioned fez and 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 is seen for the first time with an unbuttoned suit in Carpet Diem. He is also seen briefly wearing a white T-shirt with blue lettering that states "Team Gideon" in "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel."

Around the house, he tends to wear a white tank top, a gold necklace, striped blue underwear, slippers, glasses, and a fez. This particular outfit shows Stan's body hair, of which he has an excessive amount, burly arms, skinny legs, and his large gut, which his suit makes him look sophisticated for.

Personality
Grunkle Stan is a gruff, selfish, cynical, greedy, and childish salesman who has managed to set up his shop in a town with enough unsuspecting customers to sell worthless knickknacks to. His flair for showmanship is oddly hypnotizing, and thus he is able to make money by peddling the bogus trinkets and baubles in his store. His work ethic is mainly driven by his desire to make money, so when he's not generating an income, he's usually at home watching television. He's the show's tritagonist. Stan is also a lot more intelligent than he appears, as he's shown on multiple occasions, such as constantly outwitting Little Gideon. Even though he sends the twins on unpredictable and outrageous errands, he always has their best interests at heart and loves them unconditionally. Stan sees his tourists as a way to make a quick buck and nothing more. His business tends to draw in a more oblivious crowd, whom he more easily fools with his entirely fake exhibits. He is a popular con artist, yet the tourists don't see it.

Season 1
In the month of June 2012, Stan's great niece and nephew are sent from Piedmont, California to stay with him at the Mystery shack for the summer. Stan immediately puts them to work with his other employees include Soos and Wendy. At the end of "Tourist Trapped", he enters a secret door behind the vending machine in the shack for unknown reasons.



In "The Legend of the Gobblewonker," Grunkle Stan wants to take Dipper and Mabel to the Lake Gravity Falls to bond with them, and he states that the guys from the lodge won't go with Stan because they don't "like or trust him". Though he reveals in a way that he does love Dipper and Mabel, since he does make them fishing hats, meaning that he does want to spend time with them for once. Dipper and Mabel try to get away from Stan's fishing idea by going with Soos to catch the Gobblewonker so they can get $1,000 in a photo contest. Stan gets upset that Dipper and Mabel would rather go on a monster hunt than go fishing with him, so he tries to find his own fishing buddies around the lake.

This doesn't turn out right for Stan, since everyone just thinks of his jokes as annoying or creepy. Later when Dipper, Mabel, and Soos return from their voyage, Dipper and Mabel asks if they can bond with Stan, feeling bad that they left him earlier. Stan accepts their request, and they all end up having quality family time Stan has been waiting for.

After the twins and Soos discovers several wax figures in an abandoned room in "Headhunters," Stan tells them that he used to run the Gravity Falls Wax Museum, until he forgot all about it. Mabel uses some old wax to make a wax figure of Grunkle Stan, which he then shows to the town. When Stan's promised free pizza is revealed to be a lie, the crowd goes on a rampage. Later that night, Wax Stan is murdered and his head is gone. While Dipper and Mabel try to figure out the murderer, Stan prepares a funeral. After failing to find out the culprit, the twins, Soos, the wax figures, and Stan hold the funeral. Stan tearfully leaves, and Soos follows him. It is revealed that the murderers are the wax figures themselves, who wanted revenge on Stan for forgetting about them for 10 years. Mabel and Dipper defeat them, even though they destroyed Stan's parlor.

In "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel," when the twins and Soos see a commercial for the psychic Li'l Gideon, Stan tells them that he is his arch enemy and has been nothing but trouble for him since he arrived in Gravity Falls. He also says they're not allowed to see Gideon's show, but Dipper and Mabel find a loophole and go anyway. Later, Stan learns that Mabel and Gideon are dating, and disapproves. He goes to talk to Gideon's dad, Bud Gleeful, about it, but he changes his mind when Bud says that they can pool their profits. Stan even tells Mabel she has to marry Gideon. After Mabel breaks Gideon's amulet, Gideon forces his dad to call off the deal. Stan then steals a clown painting and yells, "Try and catch me, suckers!"

In "The Inconveniencing," Stan falls in love with a classic romance film, The Duchess Approves, and becomes glued to the television as he watches it.

When Grunkle Stan takes the twins to Greasy's Diner in "Dipper vs. Manliness," Mabel learns that he has a crush on waitress Lazy Susan and tries to improve his appearance and behavior in order to appeal to his love. After nothing works, Mabel decides that she should present her uncle to Susan as is, and is successful. However, Susan's incessant phone calls make Stan regret ever expressing his feelings for her.

He has a party at the Mystery Shack in "Double Dipper" to attract a younger audience for the Mystery Shack.

It is revealed that Grunkle Stan despises Pioneer Day in "Irrational Treasure," and he later gets trapped in a wooden stock for yelling at Steve, a mechanic. While Stan is locked up, Gideon throws tomatoes at his eyes, and he gets taunted by Pacifica Northwest.

In "The Time Traveler's Pig", Grunkle Stan opens up the Mystery Fair to earn more cash, and rigged the Dunk Tank by making the target connected to the seat very stiff, causing Stan to not fall no matter how hard the people threw. When Dipper and Mabel time travel, the twins pass the Mystery Shack from which a younger Stan briefly emerges. Later, one of the members of the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron fires his blaster at the target, which causes Stan to fall off the seat and into the water, satisfying the crowd of people.

In "Fight Fighters", Stan is seen hanging out with Soos and the twins for a while before Robbie challenges Dipper to a fight, which Stan encourages. Later, Mabel learns that Stan is afraid of heights, despite his attempts to cover it up, and tricks him into letting her help him overcome his fear. When he and Mabel are attacked by Rumble McSkirmish, who is pursuing Robbie at the time, at the water tower, he is so relieved to have survived that he no longer fears high altitudes.

In "Little Dipper", a man is at Stan's door when Dipper, Mabel, and him were watching TV, he answers the door and thinks that the tax collector is here for him, so he runs and gets a bag of full of cash behind the painting that he stole from a restaurant (Mystery Shack Mystery) and starts looking for a trap door on the stones on the wall. Soon learning that it wasn't them and that they are the "Winninghhouse Coupon Savers Contest" and that they are there to give him $10,000,000, since his dream was to "possess money" had finally come true, so he signs. but Gideon comes out saying that he just signed the Mystery Shack to him, but on the paper he signs "SUCK A LEMON LITTLE MAN" instead. Throughout the episode Gideon tries taking the Mystery Shack away from Stan but ultimately fails. So, when Gideon has shrunken Mabel and Dipper and has them in his possession he calls Stan saying that he has them and that he has to give up the Mystery Shack in order to get them back but Stan doesn't believe him so Gideon says that he would text Stan a photo of them, but Stan thinks Gideon isn't even speaking English and ends up hanging up the phone. Though Gideon goes to the Shack to shrink Stan and take over the Shack, before Stan and Soos are setting up the mirror maze that is supposedly gonna bring him in cash, and that was Soos's idea that Stan is taking credit for. Once Gideon gets into the Mystery Shack he finds Stan, but since Stan is in the maze Gideon can't find him but soon breaks every single mirror he sees and finds him. He corners Stan and tries to zap him, but meanwhile tiny Mabel and Dipper start tickling him and says that he is a good enemy that maybe their rivalry has gone too far, so he "rolls" Gideon out of the shack.

In "Summerween", Grunkle Stan steals items from the Summerween Superstore by using his Smoke Bomb, and tells the twins that the townspeople love Halloween so much they celebrate it twice a year. Later a group of kids who are trick-or-treating rings the doorbell of the Mystery Shack, and Stan comes to the door with a skeleton mask. This scares the kids, who ran away, but two kids remained. Stan asks them why they weren't scared, and the kids reply they've been watching horror movies since they were two years old. For the rest of the episode, Stan tries to scare the two kids. He first pulls out "guts" from his stomach, but the kids weren't scared because the guts were just sausages. Then Stan had a pig come out of his stomach, but it was just tucked under his shirt the whole time. Stan feels shameful because he used to scare every children in the previous Summerweens, so he took a shower to wash off the shame. The two kids, who wanted candy from Stan, walked inside the Mystery Shack to find him. They finally get scared and runs away after they saw Stan naked, satisfying Stan. When the twins come home from trick-or-treating, they were disappointed they couldn't eat any of the candy they collected (they all fell into a river). Stan shows them two big bags of candy he got, and the family, along with Soos, Wendy, Candy Chiu, and Grenda, watch a horror movie at the Mystery Shack for the remainder of the night.

In "Boss Mabel", Stan's relentless attempts at making money and poor treatment of his employees get on Mabel's nerves, and she decides to confront him about it. So, the two bet that whoever makes more money in three days' time--Stan on vacation or Mabel running the Shack--is in charge for the rest of the summer. After heading out, Stan lands a spot competing on the game show Cash Wheel, and, despite doing very well at first, ends up losing all $300 thousand dollars he earns after failing to correctly guess the final puzzle. Consequently, Stan offers Mabel the chance to be the new boss in accordance with their bet, but she declines, although she still makes him perform the apology dance he promised to do if he lost the bet.

In "Bottomless Pit!", Grunkle Stan has his first major encounter with the supernatural side of Gravity Falls as he, Soos, and the twins fall down a bottomless pit (rather boomerang pit) and tell stories to pass the time. In Dipper's tale, Stan makes fun of Dipper's frequently cracking voice and develops an obnoxious, female voice after his nephew dumps a voice-altering formula in his coffee. In his own tale, Stan wins a major football game with the help of his robotic sidekick, thereby teaching a group of football players a lesson and winning a gigantic trophy. In Mabel's story, Mabel observes his excessive lying habit and grows more and more annoyed by it to the point of forcing him to be honest, via a set of truth telling teeth. Stan's truthfulness is unfiltered, however, and gets on the twins' nerves, and Mabel finally decides to remove the teeth from her uncle's mouth after he almost gets himself arrested. As the group nears the end of the pit, they simply come out the top, though Stan falls back in shortly afterwards.

On the hottest day of the year, Stan, Dipper, Mabel, and Soos go to the town pool to cool off. When Stan tries to get his ideal lawn chair, he is horrified when he finds that Gideon has taken it from him. As he tries to reclaim his seat, he is put into pool jail for roughhousing, and Gideon foils his other attempts. At night, Stan decides to go to the pool extremely early to get the chair before Gideon shows up, but is enraged upon finding out that his young foe yet again anticipated and ruined his plan ahead of time, at this instance by gluing him to the pool chair.

When Dipper and Mabel are fighting over a new room they found in the shack, Stan takes the key and tells them that whoever sucks up to him the most will get the room. He makes them run around and do chores and make things for him, all the while rewarding them 'suck-up points'. Eventually though, after Dipper and Mabel switch bodies, he catches Dipper (Mabel) spying on the sleepover and thinks that Dipper is at 'that creepy age where you spy on girls' and drags Mabel over to a room where he tells her all about puberty. When she tries to sabotage Dipper by calling Stan a stupid old jerk, he decides that Dipper would get the room and gives Dipper(Mabel) the key and sends her out.

In "Boyz Crazy", Stan listens to Dipper talk about how Robbie got Wendy to go on the date with him and relates it to something that happened to him and his old sweetheart Carla "Hotpants" McCorkle. He helps Dipper uncover a hidden message in the song, and drives Dipper to Lookout Point to help him tell Wendy about it. When Wendy breaks up with Robbie, he calls it "a victory for every man who is either too weak or fat to play an instrument." After Wendy gets mad at Dipper for asking her to go bowling, Stan tells Dipper that he could always just go bowling with him, and that he was trying to do the right thing even if he destroyed a relationship. In "Land Before Swine", Stan kicks Waddles out of the house against Mabel's wishes. Because Waddles was outside, a pterodactyl took him and Stan lies to Mabel about it, saying that the pterodactyl came inside the house to catch him. Eventually Mabel figures out that Stan had lied and refuses to talk to him. Eventually she forgives him after he saves Waddles and punches the pterodactyl in the face.

In "Dreamscaperers", Gideon sends Bill Cipher into Stan's mind to find the combination to the safe containing the deed to the Mystery Shack. Cipher is prevented from doing so by the efforts of Dipper, Mabel, and Soos, so Gideon uses dynamite to blow open the safe. With the deed in hand, he then forces Stan and the others out of the Shack, and has it demolished via wrecking.

Stan and the rest of his group are stuck living with Soos and his grandmother in "Gideon Rises" after the events following Dreamscapers. He attempts to reclaim the Mystery Shack after Gideon unveils his plans to no avail. During the course of the skirmish, however, he unintentionally discovers the truth behind Gideon's powers. Later, after Gideon's arrest, he swindles Dipper out of 3. His secret underground laboratory is a series of rooms containing computers and electronic equipment deep beneath the Shack. He keep 1 down there and used the unmarked pages of the three books together to form an portal.

Season 2
Picking up right after the events of the previous episode, in "Scary-oke," Stan continues operating the portal, which send off strange phenomenal readings, alarming the U.S. Government whom set out to investigate. Later on during day, he returns Dipper third journal to him (after he had photocopied it), claiming "It was so boring (he) couldn't even finish it." The two government agents then show up, after seeing the mysterious readings that were caught on radar by the portal. Dipper tries telling the agents about the journal, but Stan quickly steps in, insisting that Dipper had an overactive imagination. The government agents leave, but give Dipper a business card, which Stan then confiscates and puts in his room. Later on, he finds Dipper snooping around in his room for the card, grounding him after the parties over. After Dipper accidentally raises the dead and Stan saves him and Mabel, he then reveals he had always known about the supernatural part of the town, but he lied because he wanted to protect them. After defeating the zombies using karaoke, Stan then allows Dipper to keep the journal, but only for self defense-- and in return he didn't hide anything else. Stan states his promise, crossing his fingers behind his back as well.

Stan briefly appears in "Into the Bunker," where he is seen giving orders to the construction workers, whom are fixing the shack after the zombie incident. After one of the workers asked what the cause of the destruction was, Stan lied and told them it was "a big woodpecker."

He appears again in "The Golf War," where he, the twins, and Soos visit Ye Royal Discount Putt Hutt. After they encounter Pacifica (who insults them all) Stan prepares to punch her, before Dipper steps in. Later on, Stan is thrilled to help Mabel and Dipper break into the golf course while he and Soos stay on look out. At the end of the episode, under Mabel's request, he gives Pacifica a ride home.

In "Sock Opera," Stan goes as long as he can attempting to ignore Mabel's puppet obsession. One morning, upon seeing Dipper with bags under his eyes, he makes a joke towards it. He appears later on attending Mabel's puppet show, and records Mabel and Bipper's fight over the journal, rather enthralled, claiming he could "sell it."



Stan appears again in "Soos and the Real Girl," where Wendy tells him he should throw away his old novelty coin dispenser, Goldie. He declines at first but then ultimately decides to, after being "bitten" by the machine. He tosses Goldie in the garbage by the Gravity Falls Mall after having a heartfelt moment. He then walks into Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree (which in his opinion, looked like a nightmare.) He then spots an animatronic badger and thinks it'd be a great way to con others out of their money, to which he asks the manager to sell it to him. The manager, however, declines and insults him, driving Stan to steal the badger no matter what. The next day, Mabel and Dipper ask him if he's seen Soos, to which he comments he missed work for the first time ever. Later on, he attempts to steals the animatronic badger, but it is then brought to life by .GIFfany. The badger attacks him, and they face off. Despite being outmatched, he is able to dodge one of its attacks with it mistakenly hitting the garbage, turning on Goldie, which munches on the animatronics' arm. After .GIFfany loses control and the badger shuts down, Stan believes Goldie saved his life and decides to go to Las Vegas with it. While they are there, they get married at a Wed and Breakfast joint.

In "Little Gift Shop of Horrors," Stan tells three short stories. In the first story, Hands Off, he steals a golden watch from a Hand Witch. Despite Dipper and Mabel's protests to return it, he ignores them. The next morning, he wakes up with no hands, due to the witch cursing him. He tries to hide this fact from Dipper and Mabel by putting mittens where his hands would be, but the mittens fall off and the twins find out anyways. Stan attempts to get along without his hands but eventually decides to go and return the watch. After reaching the Hand Witch's cave with the his great niece and nephew, they all shriek in the surprise of the many living hands in the cave. They fight off the hands but are subdued. Stan is willing to give her the watch back in exchange for his hands back, which she then accepts. However, she tells him he has to kiss her to seal the deal, much to his dismay. Refusing, Stan decides to leave, and the Hand Witch confesses that she's "desperate" to get a date, prompting Mabel to redecorate her cave instead. Pleased, the Hand Witch gives Stan his hands back, but still asks him to be her boyfriend. Stan refuses and leaves with the twins, admitting that he learned nothing from the whole experience.

He appears again briefly in the credits of "Society of the Blind Eye," where he continues to work in secret on the universal portal beneath the Mystery Shack, accidentally slicing his hand on a flying pipe in the process.

In "Blendin's Game," Stan joins the twins, Wendy, and Soos on a visit to Big Gunz Laser Tag, in order to cheer up Soos on his birthday. After Wendy question whether or not the arcades walls were just spray painted mattress, he exclaims that he believes the arcade used to be a mattress store.

In "The Love God," while Stan is preparing a new exhibit, he notices the Woodstick festival's balloons, bikes, and folk singers. Upon seeing this, he begins to panic, and orders Soos to lock up the shack and attempts to shoot down the balloons with a crossbow. Soos then interferes, telling Stan he could easily make money off the visitors. Stan agrees, and him and Soos proceed to make a Mystery Shack themed balloon to appear to the youth. However, upon releasing the balloon, a few letters fall off and it catches on fire, revealing a slogan that says "I Eat Kids." The crowd grows afraid and the balloon eventually lands on the Love God. At the end of the episode, when the crowd sees Stan, they end up panicking, and Stan finds their reactions amusing.

In "Not What He Seems", Stan is working on the machine despite it's warnings that it could destory the universe, he ignored the warnings and the machine causes temporary gravity anomalies, he sets the timer on his watch to 18 hours until the machine is complete. The next morning, Stan spends some time with the kids letting them play with fireworks and water balloons. Stan wanted to tell them something, but he was afraid to tell them and get another soda. Suddenly, a red dot appears on his fez thinking it was a ladybug, until multiple red dots all over him, the US Government arrives, including Agent Powers and Agent Triggers, who survived the zombie attack that Dipper unleashed. Agent Powers shows him security footage of someone stealing hazardous waste last night, but Stan said he was restocking the Mystery Shack and was taking to the police station. Stan calls Soos to guard the vending machine at the Mystery Shack so none of the agents would come near it.

Dipper and Mabel went back to the Mystery Shack to prove the Stan is innocent. The surveillance shows him that he was restocking the Mystery Shack, but after that, he did stole hazardous waste. Not only that, they discovered that Stan had been using fake ID's, but they were most shocked when they found a news article that Stan Pines died in a car crash. At the police station, the agents were about to take Stan to a a helicopter and take him to Washington, but Stan escapes them thanks to the gravity anomaly generated by the machine. Stan tricked the agents into thinking that he's leaving town in a taxi after Stan told the taxi driver to drive as far away from the Shack and not to stop. With that, Stan runs back to the Mystery Shack. He arrived at the basement and stopped Dipper, Mabel, and Soos who were about to shut down the machine. He wanted to explain the situation to them, but another gravity anomaly lifts them up. Stan tries to stop Mabel from shutting down the machine, but Soos and Dipper restrained him. Stan begs Mabel not to shut it down and Mabel decided to trust him. After the machine was activated, a mysterious man comes out of the portal and Stan reveals that he was the author of the journals and that he was also his long lost brother.

In "A Tale of Two Stans," Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Ford corner Stan in the basement of the Mystery Shack, Stan tells his entire past to explain everything to his relatives and Soos. After Stan's tale they hear the government agents about to break in the basement until Dipper grabs out the Memory Eraser from the Blind Eye Society and gives it to Ford, who connects the gun's power to the outside and erases the agents' memory and makes them leave. The Stan brothers later have a talk. Ford says that Stanley can have the Mystery Shack for the rest of the summer and Stanley tells Ford to stay away from Dipper and Mabel saying that they're his only family left.

In "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons," Stan tells Dipper that his brother is dangerous and should be avoided. Later in the episode, Stan and Mabel (who are joined by Grenda afterwards) prepare for the season finale of Duck-tective, but without warning, they find Dipper and Ford playing Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons board game in the TV room. To their dislike, the two new bounding friends take up the entire room with their game, Stan then argues with Ford for the right of the room, then which out of anger, Stan throws the bag containing the infinity sided die on the floor, by doing this he unwillingly sends the main characters from the board game into Gravity Falls' dimension. As soon as unleashed Probabilitor the Annoying and his servants kidnap Dipper and Ford and bring them to the forest so that Probabilitor can eat their brains to gain their intelligence. Stan then decides to help Grenda and Mabel save Dipper and Ford from getting their brains eaten, but to do so the group must travel to Probabilitor's base camp and defeat him in a game of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons "real life" edition, in which Dipper and Ford must face Probabilitor's characters, two ogres. Stan and Mabel win the game, Probabilitor and the others are forced back into their own realm, and Dipper and Ford are broth out of the game. Stan then tells Dipper that if he wants to hang out with Ford he won't get in his way. After a day's work Stan, Mabel, Dipper, and Grenda go watch the Duck-tective season finale's second showing.

In "The Stanchurian Candidate," Stan wants to make a name out of himself since everyone sees him as some dumb old man or less than his brother, so he decides to run for mayor against Bud Gleeful. Since his first speech was a total failure, Dipper turns to Ford to help him. Ford gives him a tie to control Stan's mind. Dipper and Mabel use this tie to make Stan the perfect candidate. Stan later realizes that it has been controlling him the entire time so he decides to never wear it. But his decision only makes things worse. He goes back to being the worst candidate and with Gideon controlling Bud. Bud starts to win the election. Later, Stan sees Dipper and Mabel falling out of the statue of Mayor Befufftlefumpter's nose and goes to save them, by saving the twins' lives he successfully wins the election. Later that day Stan hears that he hasn't won the election because of his criminal record, so Tyler wins instead.

In "The Last Mabelcorn," Stan is seen speaking to a man named Santiago about smuggling barrels of pugs over the U.S. border. When Ford gives Mabel a crossbow, Mabel accidentally shoots the crossbow outside the shack and Stan mistakes it for the police. Later, when the girls put a treasure chest overflowing with gold on the table, Stan runs towards it, shouting "money!" and taking most of the gold.

In "Roadside Attraction," Stan takes the twins, Soos, Candy, and Grenda on a RV trip to sabotage various tourist traps across Oregon. When he notices Dipper having a hard time forgetting about his crush on Wendy, he gives him advise on how to be confident with girls, which works out extremely well for Dipper at first. When Dipper approaches Stan with feelings of uneasiness due to Candy's sudden attraction to him, Stan decides to make an example of how confidence can get girls with a woman named Darlene. As Stan flirts with Darlene, she reveals herself to be a "spider-person," and she captures Stan in order to eat him. Stan calls for Dipper to help over his walkie-talkie, and Dipper along with the girls go to rescue Stan. After being rescued, Stan confides in Dipper that he really isn't that smooth with women. The gang return to the Mystery Shack, only to see it vandalized by the vengeful owners of the tourist traps they destroyed.

In "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future," Stan joins the twins and Soos in the excitement for the upcoming week as his senior ponytail kit arrives on the coming week, stating he is going through some things. When the twins and Soos prepare for their birthday party, Stan forbids them from throwing a party due to their previous party incident, with Stan finding zombie pieces around the Shack. After Mabel becomes saddened over the summer ending, Stan comes to comfort her, telling Mabel that while summer is ending, Mabel still has Dipper around to be with her, telling his niece that not everyone can say their siblings are there for them.

In "Weirdmageddon Part 1," Stan makes a brief appearance as he's in the forest putting up signs until Gompers eats the tassel of his hat. As he gets angry at Gompers, a weirdness wave hits Gompers and turns him gigantic, causing Stan to run away screaming from the gigantic goat.

In "Weirdmageddon 2: Escape From Reality," Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Soos approach the Mystery Shack to find shelter. Inside, Dipper hears noises and the group proceed inside and find Stan as well as a number of people and creatures taking refuge within the Shack due to its protection from Bill.

During "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls," after reuniting with the twins, the Mystery Shack is scouted by an Eye-Bat. When the Eye-Bat leaves, Stan explains that after realizing the Mystery Shack is immune to Bill's powers, McGucket took all the remaining refugee into the Shack to escape Bill, Stan then appointed himself Chief and decided that the best course of action was to wait until they run out of supplies and eat the gnomes as backup. Dipper attempts to get Stan to help rescue Ford from Bill but Stan shrugs it off commenting that Ford should get himself out of the mess. He then persuades Dipper and Mabel to simply stay inside the Shack as it is the safest place to be in. Stan watches with the other refugees as Shandra reports about what happened to the citizen of Gravity Falls. Dipper and Mabel encourage everyone to fight against Bill but Stan objects as the Mystery Shack is the only safe place and there was no way to bring it to Bill. McGucket suddenly has an idea as to how they could fight Bill but Stan remained pessimistic.

When everyone takes a break from building McGucket's plan, Stan rants to Schmebulock about the resistance's plan. Dipper and Mabel ask Stan why he's upset, and he admits to being angry that Ford never thanked him for his efforts to bring him back to their dimension (as well as Ford's folly causing Weirdmageddon in the first place). He laments that he's always seen as "the screw-up" while Ford's always "the hero." Dipper and Stan argue, but Mabel quickly breaks the argument and reassures the two that everything will turn out fine.

Stan is next seen inside the Shack-tron, stating it was a bad idea as the Shack is surrounded by Bill's henchmen. He is then sent inside the Fearamid to help rescue Ford. When all of the citizens of Gravity Falls are returned to normal after toppling Bill's throne, Dipper asks Ford about Bill's weakness, which he tried to tell Dipper about before being initially frozen. Ford then draws the Zodiac and tells everyone who matches a sign to stand on their sign and hold hands. However, Stan refuses to join the circle, as it would require him to hold Ford's hand- and he won't until until Ford thanks him. Ford grudgingly does so, and the ritual seems to work- however Stan and Ford bicker over Stanley's grammar, and break the circle. Bill approaches the group and turns everyone on the Wheel but the Pines into tapestries. Bill attempts to persuade Ford to help him but Dipper and Mabel distract Bill. Stan and Ford are imprisoned while Bill chases the younger twins.

Stan grieves over the kid's possible deaths, believing it his fault because he "couldn't shake [Ford's] stupid hand." He laments his belief that that his dad was right about him-that he really is a screw-up. A saddened Ford tells him it wasn't his fault- he himself was the one who originally made a deal with Bill and fell for his easy flattery, and claims Stan would've instantly "seen him for the scam artist he is." Stan and Ford have a brief moment to reflect on their childhood and how they were once as close as Dipper and Mabel. Ford, believing all hope is lost, tells Stan that he'll let Bill inside his mind and get the equation needed to completely take over the universe if means the children will be safe. Stan disagrees with the plan, asking if there's any other solution. Ford brings up the fact that, while he could simply erase Bill with the memory erasing gun, once he steps into his mind, the metal plate in his head prevents Ford's mind from being erased. Stan gives an alternative solution- what if Bill went into his mind instead?

When Bill returns, Ford appears to surrender, agreeing to let Bill inside his mind on the condition that he lets Stan and the kids go. However, when Bill enters the mindscape and opens the single door there, he's shocked to find Stan waiting there instead. Stan reveals that he and Ford switched clothes and faked each other's voices, tricking Bill into making a deal with the wrong person- and leaving him vulnerable to the memory erasing gun's effects. In the physical world, Ford begins erasing Stan's memories to erase Bill along with them, while Stan defeats Bill with a single punch from within his mind. Stan, looking at a photo of himself with the twins, comments that he was "good for something after all" before becoming engulfed by the blue flames consuming his mindscape.

With Bill's defeat, everything in Gravity Falls returns to normal- but it's a bittersweet victory. Ford, Dipper, and Mabel are saddened by Stan's sacrifice, with Ford lamenting the fact that Stan has no idea that he saved the world (as well as Ford), calling Stan "our hero" as he hugs him.

Ford, Dipper, Mabel, and Soos then take Stan back to the ruined remains of the Mystery Shack. Stan doesn't remember the place, but slides easily back into his favorite chair. Seeing everyone's distraught faces, he asks why everyone seemed downed, claiming that it's "like [they're] at someone's funeral." Mabel, frantically trying to find some way to bring him back despite Ford's insistence that he's gone, finds her Summer Memories scrapbook. After the children's failed attempt to jog his memories using it, Waddles licks Stan and Stan subconsciously calls him by name. When Soos tells the twins to skip to his page to make Stan remember him, Stan also calls Soos by name, telling him not to try giving himself a raise just because he has amnesia, making everyone happy that Stan is slowly recovering his memories as Mabel reads from the book.

When the town of Gravity Falls return to their normal lives, Shandra reports that Stan has fully recovered his memories and is celebrating Dipper and Mabel's 13th birthday (and final day in Gravity Falls.) At the party, Ford takes Stan aside and tells him about a new anomaly near the Arctic Ocean. Ford wants to investigate, but feels he's too old to go it alone. Stan asks if Ford wants someone to go with him on an adventure of a lifetime, but Ford doesn't want just someone to go with him, but Stan himself, showing Stan a old picture of them together on the Stan o' War as children. While Stan and Ford seem happy about their new adventure, Ford questions what to do with the Mystery Shack in their absence.

After a hushed conversation between himself and Ford, Stan announces to the town that the Mystery Shack will shut down for good, as Stan and Ford have catching up to do and will be away for quite some time. Soos quickly objects, stating that his own dreams will be shut down should the Mystery Shack close. Stan states that no one would be around around to run it, but then quickly takes it back, telling Soos he found someone perfect to run it, and gives Soos his fez as he announces that the Mystery Shack is "under new management."

The next day, Stan joins with Soos, Ford, Wendy, and Mabel's friends in saying farewell to his niece and nephew. Stan makes an excuse about wearing Mabel's Goodbye sweater and, along with Ford, silences Soos when he brings up how hot it is to be wearing a sweater. When the bus arrives, Waddles appears and wants to go with Mabel,but can't because her parents won't let her bring him back with her (as well as the bus not allowing pets) Stan gets upset and tells Mabel that he lived with Waddles all summer, and now Dipper and Mabel's parents will have to. When the bus driver attempts to remove Waddles from the bus, Stan and Ford threaten the bus driver into letting him stay. Stan says goodbye to the twins one more time, attempting to hide his emotions from them. Mabel says they'll miss him too. Stan joins everyone in shouting their final goodbyes to Dipper and Mabel, he is then approached by his twin brother and the two look as their niece and nephew depart. In Dipper's monologue, Stan and Ford are seen venturing the ocean and fighting a giant squid on their new boat, the Stan o' War II. After the two defeat the squid, they huddle and laugh.

Other appearances
A modified version of Stan appears in the Wander Over Yonder episode The Cartoon.

Mabel Pines
Stan and Mabel's conflicting personalities sometimes clash, often resulting in arguments and disapproval between them. Nevertheless, they care about each other and enjoy spending quality time with one another. Mabel often gets involved in whatever problem Stan is dealing with on a given day and tries to help him solve it, usually when Stan does not ask for her help. Stan can be protective of his niece and will get jealous when she spends time with others instead of him, and he has a tendency to find Mabel more likable than Dipper.

Dipper Pines
Stan does not often supervise Dipper, as he is supposed as the boy's summer caretaker and is known to take advantage of him, which annoys and angers Dipper. Stan also teases his nephew frequently, and Dipper can get annoyed with Stan. However, they still love each other and like to bond, and Stan seems to have a soft spot for both of the twins, and is well-meaning. Stan seems to forget his name frequently, and he also likes to do the trick of taking a quarter out of Dipper's ears to freak him out, as mentioned in the PodCast interview. In the episode "Dreamscapers", we discovered that Stan is tough on Dipper only because he is trying to toughen him up.

Stanford "Ford" Pines
Ford is Stan's twin brother. As children, the two were extremely close, even planned on sailing around the world together and becoming national treasure hunters. Growing up, Stan often stood up for Ford when he was teased for his six fingers, and Ford allowed Stan to copy off his work in school.

In their late teens, their bond was broken when Stan accidentally broke Ford's science fair machine, sabotaging his chances of getting into his dream school. Ford sees this act as sabotage, and after confronting Stan accidentally gets him kicked out of the house. A decade later, Ford calls Stan to come up to Gravity Falls, entrusting him into hiding his journals. Their reunion soon turns into a fight, resulting Ford being sucked into the universal portal.

Thirty years later, Stan saves Ford, but the two still appear to be on broken terms and mainly ignore each other, only times they ever interact turning into an argument. Despite this, they recognize each others needs and are willing to go to great lengths to sacrifice for one another. By Weirdmageddon, they realize that what had happened between them endangered so much, and accept their own shortcomings and faults. Ford later asks Stan to give him a second chance and leave Gravity Falls with him.

Soos Ramirez
While Stan views Soos as a loyal employee, he still takes advantage of the man-child, using his cluelessness to his advantage. Soos, on the other hand, admires Stan and attends to his boss' every whim, spending a great portion of his time at work. Despite this, it's shown Stan cares for Soos, even once going to far lengths of getting Soos' birthday officially removed off the calendar for him. The two men have developed a friendship over the years.

Wendy Corduroy
Wendy is disrespectful toward Stan and is notorious for slacking off and breaking rules when he is not looking. Stan is harsh on her, contributing to her view of him as the "worst boss ever," and she is not above playing pranks on him. But, Wendy still helps Stan, even with his personal life from time to time.

Gideon Gleeful
Stan and Gideon have been rivals for years, both in business and life. Stan sees Gideon as a moronic, hindering, and irritating nuisance. As Stan mocks and is angered by his young foe, not taking him to be a threat in any way, Gideon plots his revenge on Stan and his family, with pranks on the side. Gideon also seeks a mysterious secret hidden within Stan's Mystery Shack. At the end of season 1, Stan ends up getting Gideon arrested.

Trivia

 * Stan's supposed "tattoo" was actually a burn mark from the control panel on the side of Ford's desk, as revealed in "A Tale of Two Stans."
 * His car has a vanity license plate that reads "STNLYMBL". This is most likely short for Stanmobile.
 * He has been sent to jail in Colombia, along with three different states.
 * Stan is continuously seen running away with stuff, mostly bags of money or cash registers.
 * He claims to own ten loaded guns, just in case "some maniac decies to sneak a ladder in."
 * Toffee peanuts are Stan's favorite treat.
 * Grunkle Stan, Mabel, and Dipper have been to the county jail due to them making counterfeit money.
 * In the working stage, his fez had a crescent moon and star, much like the Islamic symbol which is probably why it was changed.
 * The fez he wears on his head has its origins from the Ottoman Empireculture which occupied most of the Middle East, and Turkeyonly a century ago before losing their land in WW1.
 * The symbol on Stan's hat may be the Luwian hieroglyph for "Luna" or moon.
 * In some countries, the symbol on Stan's fez is removed.
 * In "A Tale of Two Stans," it was revealed that Stan and Ford have a brother, Shermy, who is Dipper and Mabel's grandfather. Although it isn't stated outright, it can be inferred from the fact that both Stan and Ford share last names with Dipper and Mabel, Shermy is the twins paternal grandfather.
 * According to Alex Hirsch, Stan never had kids.
 * He has a cameo on the Disney Channel website, trying to scam the user with the Sack of Mystery.
 * Stan has cataracts and is almost completely blind by them.
 * Stan wears a hearing aid.
 * It is strongly hinted that he, as well as the rest of the Pines family, are Jewish: "Pines" is a common Ashkenazi surname, being greedy and miserly are stereotypes commonly attributed to Jews, and his father's old shop/the family home, Pines Pawn's, had a mezuzah attached to its entrance. This is further underscored by the fact that creator Alex Hirsch is Jewish and Dipper and Mabel are based on him and his twin sister Ariel.
 * However, according to Alex Hirsch, none of the Pines have a canon religion, and he left it for anyone to interpret what they'd like.
 * Gideon is one of the only characters to call Stan by his full "first name," Stanford (which is actually his brother's first name).
 * The only episode he doesn't make an appearance in is "Northwest Mansion Mystery."
 * After the events of "Weirdmageddon", it's implied Stan has gone back to using his real name again, as the news referred to him as such.

Gronkel Stan