Stan Pines

Stanley "Stan" Pines is one of the main characters from the Gravity Falls series.

Stan, also known as Grunkle Stan, and formerly under the assumed identity Stanford Pines, is Dipper and Mabel Pines' great uncle and summer guardian. After many years of crime and infamy, he has taken up residence in the remote town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, where he exploits local lore and the gullibility of the "dumbest people in the world" to finance himself by running a dubious tourist trap known as the Mystery Shack.

Despite his initial claims of skepticism to the supernatural, he is later revealed to be deeply connected with the paranormal, most notably the decades-long operation of an interdimensional portal he has used to rescue his twin brother, Ford Pines.

Appearance
Stan has brown eyes with cataracts, gray eyebrows, and gray hair (Both of which were brown in his youth), that is almost always covered by Stan's trademark maroon fez, which bore a yellow crescent shape (through episodes 1 to 13) and later a similar figure (because the original fez was eaten by a goat), albeit with straight edges, with a dot next to it, resembling an oyster with a pearl in it. He bears a somewhat large, droopy, pear-shaped, bumpy, reddish-pinkish nose, large ears, and fair skin. As a result of his age, Stan has wrinkly skin, a hearing aid, dentures and a slouched posture. He has a faded burn mark of the symbol on the side of Ford's desk on his back. He usually wears a pair of rectangular glasses with a black rim which later had its outline thinned. Stan also has a perpetual five o'clock shadow covering his lower face.

Stan's typical outfit is a black suit, with the jacket buttoned closed, a bow tie similar in color to his fez, and a white dress shirt. He also wears big, light brown shoes, the aforementioned fez and his glasses. He frequently carries an eight ball cane with him and often wears an unnecessary eye-patch over one of his eyes while working. He has mentioned that he owns a girdle, which he'd presumably wear while in the suit; this would explain why his prominent belly doesn't show in this outfit.

Around the house, Stan wears a white wife beater, a gold chain, striped blue boxer briefs, slippers, and his glasses and fez. This outfit reveals Stan's vast amounts of body hair, burly arms, skinny legs, and his very large belly.

Personality
Grunkle Stan is at first sight a cunning salesman, running a tourist trap in a town with enough unsuspecting customers to sell worthless knickknacks to and take on tours of so-called "mysteries." He conducts his business with surprising flair and wit. When not planning or executing money-making schemes (both legal and illegal), he's usually at home watching television. His preferred shows include Cash Wheel, Duck-tective and period dramas. He also enjoys fishing.

Stan is also manifestly greedy and selfish, even stating once that his greatest desire in life is to "possess riches". He sees tourists as easy cash and nothing more. However, this obsession seems to stem from his father's words when he kicked him out of the house, and by the harsh, poverty-stricken life he led after being disowned.

While his trickery might appear unremarkable to some, Stan's cunning transcends his Mr. Mystery persona: he's been able to figure out Lil' Gideon's plots on numerous occasions and even manages to outwit Bill Cipher in the end. Even though he was written off as unintelligent by his teachers and even his father, he was capable of restoring his brother's universe portal, and can be seen operating its computer in the days leading up to Ford's return.

Stan has a deep sense of family loyalty. He responded to Ford's request for help after an entire decade of being estranged, and was deeply hurt when he realized his brother didn't intend to make amends, even calling him out on how bad a brother Ford turned out to be. He dedicated thirty years of his life to bringing Ford back to their dimension in spite of how strained their relationship had become in the years leading up to the fight. Stan is also shown to be very protective of Mabel and Dipper, despite the morally ambiguous situations he puts them in on occasion: he stood up to hoards of reanimated corpses to protect them, telling the zombies nobody (but him) harassed his family, and ditched the elections for mayor at a crucial moment to rescue the twins as they dangled from Mayor Befufftlefumpter's monument. When he believes Ford might put Dipper and Mabel at risk, Stan has no qualms about warning his brother away from them.

Stan's dedication to his family is outright expressed during Weirdmageddon, when he offers to obliterate his own mind to ensure the twin's survival. Once he and Bill are trapped in his mindscape, Stan points out to the increasingly frantic demon that, while he's a wise guy, he made a fatal mistake: he messed with Stan's family. His final thoughts before his mind disappears are for Dipper and Mabel, even remarking that his mind was finally 'good for something' if its destruction protected them.

Despite his lengthy history as a con artist, he has a compulsion to state his honest opinions on the subject at hand. Some examples include: during "Headhunters" Stan stated to the man who sold him the cursed wax figures that he would just rob him later on for charging twenty dollars per statue, and has blurted out "non-specific excuse" to get out of a bad date. He even admits in "The Stanchurian Candidate" that he has little to no filter between his thoughts and his words.

Trivia

 * The name "Stanley" means "Stony Clearing." "Stanford" means "Stony Meadow."
 * Stan was raised Jewish but is now an atheist.
 * Stan is called "Grunkle Stan" by Dipper and Mabel because he believes "Great Uncle" takes too much time to say, and, according to him, time is money.
 * "Grunkle" was chosen because Hirsch's great aunt, Lois, used to insist on being called "Graunty Lois."
 * Beginning with the episode "Bottomless Pit!," Stan gets a new fez design.
 * At the end of the previous episode, "Boss Mabel," Stan's fez falls off and Gompers tries to eat it. Although the fate of the hat isn't revealed, it's not unlikely that Gompers won the battle and made off with the fez, forcing Stan to get a new one.
 * In some countries, the first symbol on Stan's fez is removed.
 * Stan owns 10 guns.
 * He has been sent to jail in Colombia.
 * He is often seen running away with various items.
 * He is similar to Scrooge McDuck from Ducktales and Mr. Krabs from Spongebob as he has an obsession with money like them.
 * Stan, Mabel, and Dipper have been to the county jail due to them making counterfeit money during one of Stan's "family fun days."
 * In "A Tale of Two Stans," it was revealed that Stan has a sibling, Shermie, who is Dipper and Mabel's grandfather. Although it isn't stated outright, it can be inferred from the fact that Stan shares last names with Dipper and Mabel that Shermie is the latters' paternal grandfather.
 * Toffee Peanuts are Stan's favorite treat.
 * In "Gideon Rises," it is shown that Stan wears a hearing aid.
 * Bob Odenkirk of "Breaking Bad" fame was originally going to be cast as Stan, but he turned the offer down.
 * Stan wears the same necklace as Sheriff Blubs, Sergei, and the carney who gives Wendy the Stuffed creature of indeterminate species, but they wear them under their shirts.
 * In "Bottomless Pit!," Stan admits to the police that he has violated the Lacey Act.
 * In "Dreamscaperers," it is revealed that his belly button is an innie.
 * Stan's appearance has not changed in at least a decade.
 * Stan is banned from airplanes.
 * Every depiction of Stan (wax sculpture, puppet, photo, or otherwise) has been "killed" in some way and most deaths have been related to fire or melting.
 * The 'deaths' of Stan's depictions may have foreshadowed his showdown in the mindscape with Bill.
 * Stan was born 15 minutes after Ford, making him the youngest twin, however he is taller than his twin.
 * Stan has a box of fake IDs and passports. Some of said IDs are:
 * Hal Forrester. Idaho ID. His appearance is slightly altered, including the presence of a mole. The number on the card is: 2145152831545
 * Andrew "8-Ball" Alcatraz. Mississippi ID. His appearance is altered, including a scar on the left side of his face, and a soul patch. He is wearing the gold necklace. He also doesn't wear glasses. The number on the card is 231188111289.
 * Stetson Pinefield. United States passport. His appearance is slightly altered, including different hair style and white shirt. Visa stamps include London, Seattle.
 * Steve Pineington. He advertised the Rip Off, a non-sticky bandage that gave you rashes, in Pennsylvania.
 * All the fingerprints on Stan's right-hand exhibit a double loop whorl pattern.
 * "Northwest Mansion Mystery" is the only episode in which Stan doesn't appear.
 * According to Bill Cipher, Stan's burn mark means "watch your step." It is revealed in "A Tale of Two Stans" that Stan got this mark after being kicked by Ford and stumbling backward into hot metal.
 * In the original pilot, Stan is in his eighties. In the series, he is in his sixties.
 * Stan was divorced from a woman named Marilyn only six hours after being married.
 * Stan has no children.
 * "Stan legal", "Precise Legal".
 * He has been practicing the same coin trick since 1982 and still can't master it.
 * In "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls," it is revealed that Stan can do a perfect vocal impression of Ford.
 * Stan has used Ford's identity twice, with Ford using his only once.
 * Stan wants his body taxidermied and placed like it's about to pounce on the Mystery Shack when he dies.
 * He got into a fist fight with Stan Lee in 1973 according to Lost Legends.
 * When he was twelve, Stan wore Groucho Marx Glasses at his Bar Mitzvah, which upset his father.
 * During the "ULTIMATE CROSSOVER FUNDRAISER!" charity livestream, where Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace, Rebecca Sugar, and Ian Jones-Quartey drew and sang for The Trevor Project, when asked what Dipper, and Mabel would be as Gems, they answered the following (and then did Stan's too):
 * Mabel - Cherry Tugtupite. On her chest, where her heart would be.
 * Dipper - Larimar. On his head, possibly in the shape of his birthmark.
 * Stan - Pyrite (also known as fool's gold). Mirrored to Stan's tattoo on his back, which indicates vulnerability. This was actually suggested by the chat, which was wholeheartedly agreed upon by everyone else.
 * Alex Hirsch mentioned in the episode commentary that Ford and Stan are identical twins.
 * Polydactyly, or having extra fingers, is caused by genetic mutation. Since identical twins share exact genomes, and since Ford is polydactyl and Stan is not, it is possible that Ford's polydactyly is not genetic.