trianglesimpfordpines

[trianglesimpfordpines]

ok so like 2 people said they wanted to see the "ford is the most realistic genius" post and that's all the encouragement i need. i'm probably gonna sound pretty full-of-myself on this post but that's just how it be like sometimes.

a lot of the time, "intelligence" is assumed to mean "knows more things." fictional characters who are supposed to be geniuses typically just...miraculously Know information they have no real way of acquiring, anticipate events that cannot reasonably anticipated, or every other character just suddenly gets stupid when the genius character is around so that the "genius" character just doing the logical thing comes off as particularly smart.

so you have a character who supposedly has a really high iq, but in practice they may as well be psychic.

as someone who actually has an iq of 147 (bear with me, because this isn't a flexing post), being "really intelligent" does not mean Just Knowing Things. what it means is that someone who's "smart" (in the traditional sense) can process more information, draw more conclusions, and do so faster than most people. it also usually means being really good at rationalizing things. so if you're someone who's well-adjusted and well-informed, that can definitely look like knowing all the right answers...but if you're someone who's not well-adjusted or well-informed, it can, if anything, make you even wronger. you get better at rationalizing your mistakes and digging yourself in deeper. and heaven help you if you have paranoid tendencies, because it's that much harder to convince someone they're being irrational when they're on a whole 'nother level of finding information to back up their irrationality.

ford is a genius. he learns incredibly fast and thoroughly. but he's also constrained by the information he has available to him, and by his own biases and past trauma and people issues.

that one writing advice post that made the rounds saying that a character's biggest flaw is usually their biggest strength in the wrong situation is very true of people who are very intelligent. it's why, for example, you'll sometimes see doctors, academics, experts buy into conspiracy theories. it's not because they're stupid; it's because they're smart enough to recontextualize all their knowledge to support their biases and beliefs.

and so many people do not understand this because they still think of "intelligence" as "knowing & being right about everything." so you get people arguing that ford isn't really a genius, because he was wrong and he made mistakes. but in my opinion, the mistakes he makes make perfect sense because he's a genius. that kind of recklessness is exactly what you get when you combine abnormally high iq with ford's myriad of personal issues. you get someone who's great at rationalizing, great at taking in information, and great at finding surprisingly well-thought-out reasons why their paranoia and antisocial tendencies are totally just the rational response.

think of it this way; the smartest people alive in the medieval era believed in the miasma theory. they weren't too stupid to understand what bacteria and viruses are; they just didn't have the tools needed to observe them. so they came up with a theory based on the information they did know, wrote essays and papers about it, made medical practices based on it...and it was completely incorrect, because genius without correct information leads to spectacular and very well-thought-out mistakes.

anyway, all this to say, as someone who could nominally be considered a "genius" but has been hella wrong about a lot of things in my life, i think ford is an incredibly realistic take on what most "geniuses" are really like. impressive in the right situations, not so much in the wrong ones, and very much not magical beings capable of mysteriously knowing all the correct information because they're Just That Smart. and very much not immune to emotional and personal issues getting in the way.

thanks for coming to my "i-just-slept-for-20-hours-and-my-brain-is-a-bit-scrambled-right-now" ted talk

#god this was way longer than i expected my brain really IS fried #anyway like i said the ''i have a 147 iq'' part is NOT a flex on my part #despite that high iq i was held back a year in high school then dropped out and am currently an unemployed loser living in my mom's basemen #so like. i'm not exactly the pinnacle of human achievement by any means #but i've always really related to ford in the sense of being able to pick up skills really fast except people skills #anyway #gravity falls meta #ford pines is the ''technically a genius personally a human disaster'' representation we need

[trianglesimpfordpines]

part of me wants to write a post about how ford is one of the most realistically-written geniuses in fiction but the world isn't ready for that conversation and i don't know how to write that post without making myself look like a pretentious asshole 💀

#google search how to bring up my iq in a post without gettin screenshotted on r/iamverysmart

[trianglesimpfordpines]

omg new ford pines multiverse era spinoff announced

having had one of my hcs disproven i must now formulate new hcs about ford's Fuckin Around The Multiverse Era and all i can think of is he ends up being a sort of interdimensional The Doctor type character (i.e. he just kinda aimlessly wanders around getting up to wacky hijinks and into a lot of dangerous situations) (maybe ft. a rotating cast of short-term companions although that part feels less like his style)

#can't write can't draw but i can do...whatever this is #gravity falls #ford pines #make the tenth doctor american and you get ford

[trianglesimpfordpines]

having had one of my hcs disproven i must now formulate new hcs about ford's Fuckin Around The Multiverse Era and all i can think of is he ends up being a sort of interdimensional The Doctor type character (i.e. he just kinda aimlessly wanders around getting up to wacky hijinks and into a lot of dangerous situations) (maybe ft. a rotating cast of short-term companions although that part feels less like his style)

#the portal era fic i wrote is no longer canon compliant i must write a new one #i must come up with scenarios.....

[trianglesimpfordpines]

down bad is actually about ford breaking up with bill

#billford #every song is about blorbo from my shows

[trianglesimpfordpines]

the temptation to write a screenplay format gravity falls fic grows stronger every day

#too bad the creativity seems to have vacated my body along with the excess sodium

[trianglesimpfordpines]

ford is like the anti companion. you know how companions are supposed to stop the doctor from doing reckless shit? ford is just as bad he makes it worse like yeah okay let’s jump into that fiery pit full of horrors what could go wrong lol

#LITERALLY

[trianglesimpfordpines]

cell-powerhousosity

#actually i think this belongs on this blog ngl

[trianglesimpfordpines]

Far worse, in my opinion, than the famous “he wouldn’t fucking say that” is “he WOULD fucking say that, as part of his facade, but you seem to think he would mean it genuinely”

#on god 😔

[trianglesimpfordpines]

and a very happy Valentine’s Day to Timeford 💙🩵

#i love them a normal amount #(<- lying) #(i love them way too much)

[trianglesimpfordpines]

ford + text posts part 7 i think

#gravity falls #gravity falls memes #text posts meme #stanford pines #ford pines #billford #fiddauthor #i can't believe it's only been like...a little over a year? since part 6

[trianglesimpfordpines]

listening to eternal sunshine and she uses possession as a love metaphor and u KNOW that song went straight into the billford playlist

#i'm so predictableeeeeeee

[trianglesimpfordpines]

well hold on, if we define a character flaw as any limitation a character deals with, regardless of whether it's something Morally Wrong With Them or not, then Ford's paranoia counts as a character flaw since it does in fact negatively impact him and the people around him. Let me use better wording here: I will die on the hill that Ford's paranoia is not a moral failing.

#good post op!! #those tags slap too ngl

[trianglesimpfordpines]

"Ford was stupid for trusting Bill, I wouldn't have fallen for a demon with warnings to his summon ritual" skill issue. I would let an eldritch monster manipulate me.

[trianglesimpfordpines]

I’m not even mad, that’s amazing

#ford energy

[trianglesimpfordpines]

FIRST OFFICIAL PREVIEW OF THE BOOK OF BILL

#METRIC SYSTEM ADVOCACY SOCIETY #based ford

[trianglesimpfordpines]

BELATED WEEK 3!! Portal Ford as the Doctor’s companion

they’re my Stanchez <3

@forduary

#YEEESSSSSSSS #galaxy brain post op #ford and the doctor = ultimate crossover right there hell yeah