Stanford Pines

Stanford Filbrick Pines is a paranormal investigator who came to Gravity Falls, Oregon, to study the huge concentration of supernatural activity in and around the town.

Stanford was born in the late 1940s to Philbrick Pines and Caryn Pines in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. From an early age, Ford was fascinated by the supernatural and science fiction. He exhibited an abnormally high IQ and a rare birth defect that left him with an extra finger on both hands. Despite their vastly different personalities, Ford and his brother were best friends, often wandering the beach in search of adventure. Unfortunately, their youth was marred by frequent bullying due to Ford's six fingers and Stan's weak personality traits. This prompted their father to enroll them in boxing lessons to toughen them up.

As the twins reached their teens, Ford's brain and scientific accomplishments expanded, contrasting with his brother's lack of interest in academics. They remained close, working together on their ship (named the Stan o' War) to fulfill their childhood dreams of sailing around the world, until Ford was called into the principal's office. There, he was praised as a genius and invited to present his experiment, the Perpetual Motion Machine, to a visiting team of recruiters from West Coast Tech, a prestigious university on the other side of the country, at a science fair. Promised good fortune and success if accepted, Ford became less confident in his plans with Stan, revealing to his twin that he would jump at the chance to go if it arose.

However, on the day of the visit, Ford and the West Coast Tech team simultaneously discover that the Perpetual Motion Machine has stopped moving, thus defeating its sole purpose. Distraught, Ford mistakenly believes that Stanley has sabotaged him. He angrily confronts his brother at home and does not intervene as his father throws Stan out of the house, disowning him until he repays the potential millions he has cost the Pines family. He is seen sadly looking at his brother from their shared room window before a glance at a West Coast Tech brochure gives him the strength to close the blinds.

Ford reluctantly enrolls at Bacupsmore University, a low-ranking college whose most notable achievement is its clean dorms. Despite the disadvantage, he set his sights on the challenge and worked hard, enrolling in his doctorate three years ahead of schedule. It was during this time that Ford met and befriended Fiddleford McGucket, a genius mechanic with aspirations to build personal computers. After completing his nationally ranked dissertation, Stanford received a massive $100,000 grant, ending his time at Bacupsmore. While pondering how to use the grant, Ford recalled being haunted by his six toes throughout his childhood and decided to devote his life to studying the strange. He chose the sleepy village of Gravity Falls, Oregon , believing it to be an area with a high concentration of supernatural phenomena.

Using his grant money to build a large, isolated research lab in the woods , Ford soon became fascinated with the strangeness of Gravity Falls. He recorded his many discoveries, first in one journal, then in more as his discoveries increased. Eventually, he realized the need to expand his work area, creating a small, well-protected bunker lab to house his more dangerous projects and experiments.

By 1981, six years after arriving in Gravity Falls, Stanford had an encyclopedic knowledge of his mysterious new home and was in the process of writing his third journal. Unfortunately, he soon hit a snag and was left without answers as to how the improbabilities of Gravity Falls came to be. A plateau in his research led him to discover a cave filled with cryptic hieroglyphics, as the message spoke of an entity containing infinite knowledge. Despite warnings about the entity, Ford repeated the incantation out loud, which summoned a triangular being into his mind, introducing itself as Bill Cipher. Introducing itself as a muse, one who selects a brilliant intellectual for inspiration once a century, Bill offered Ford a partnership: Bill would pass on his knowledge to Ford in exchange for the ability to move freely in and out of Ford's own mind. Under Cipher's guidance, Ford was exposed to a wealth of information, learning of a parallel dimension of paranormal activity that had leaked into his world, giving rise to the strangeness of Gravity Falls. With Bill's help, Stanford drew up plans to create an interdimensional gateway beneath his home, enlisting his college friend Fiddleford and his mechanical prowess to help with the project.

Relationships: Filbrick Pines — Stanford's stern, cold and distant father, who was never pleased with him. Caryn Pines — Stanford's mother. Stanley Pines — Stanford's twin brother, who was inseparable for most of his life. They have not spoken for over 10 years, ever since Stanley prevented Ford from getting into his dream university. Shermie Pines — Stanford's younger brother, whom he only saw when he was very young. Fiddleford McGucket — Ford and McGucket were close friends in Backupsmore University. Bill Cipher — A yellow triangle wearing a black top hat and bow tie. In the center of his body is a large eye. He is a being from another world that comes once every hundred years to choose a great mind that he will lead to great discoveries. Ford is so obsessed with Bill that he turned his shack into a temple to him, and worships him as a god. Ford considers Bill the center of his universe, a muse, and a dear friend.

Personality: Ford is an extremely intelligent man, often perceived as quite nerdy, as he enjoys tabletop games such as Dungeons, Dungeons, & More Dungeons because of the high level of thinking involved. Despite his intelligence, Ford has been shown to be a very narcissistic and self-centered person. This is evident in his reluctance to give up his life's work and share his scientific achievements with his loved ones, instead enjoying the image of a lone hero. Ford has a strong need for recognition and celebration of his intelligence, which is why he is susceptible to praise and flattery. He is also quite awkward when it comes to interpersonal relationships and especially romance.

Appearance: Ford is a man in his thirties with a strong, but slightly chubby build. He has pale skin, brown hair, and dark eyes. He wears glasses. Ford's distinguishing feature is polydactyly - six fingers on both hands. He dresses in a shirt, trousers, a vest, and a coat.