u/BrushSignal3

For me:

1. Stan
2. He begins the show as a greedy con artist who lies to everyone. When the truth is revealed in NWHS/A tale of two Stans, his entire persona is brilliantly reframed. For 30 years, he lived under his brother's identity, running a fake tourist trap just to buy back the house and fix the portal to save Ford. His ultimate sacrifice-allowing his mind to be erased to destroy Bill Cipher—completes a tragic, beautiful arc of a man who spent his whole life being told he was worthless, only to become the world's savior.
3. Dipper

He

1. has one of the best-written coming-of-age arcs in cartoon. He starts as an insecure, anxious boy who uses Journal #3 as a shield against the world. Over 40 episodes, we watch him learn to move past his unrequited crush on Wendy, develop genuine bravery, and realize that being a man isn't about looking tough, but about taking responsibility. His decision to ultimately turn down Ford's apprenticeship to stay with his sister is a perfect, mature conclusion to his arc.
2. Mabel
3. She is the heart and humor of Gravity Falls. Her fear of growing up and losing her twin brother forms the emotional catalyst for the entire climax of the show (Weirdmageddon). The main flaw in her writing is it didn’t feel as consistent as Dipper’s writing, as she didn’t always face consequences for her actions like Dipper did. Despite this, her ultimate realization that change is inevitable is well executed.
4. Ford
5. He is a fascinatingly flawed character: a genius whose extreme hubris and isolation led him to be tricked by Bill Cipher. His strained, prideful relationship with Stan mirrors Dipper and Mabel's potential dark future. The only flaw in his writing is pacing; because he is introduced so late in Season 2, the audience has very few episodes to watch him interact with the rest of the cast before the apocalypse begins.
6. Soos

He

1. is the ultimate comfort character. He represents unconditional loyalty and pure-hearted faith in the Pines family. The show elevates him by giving him a sad past regarding his absent father (Blendin's Game). This reframes his character, showing that he views Stan as his true father. He ranks lower only because he mostly functions as a comedic static character rather than one who undergoes a massive personal transformation.

6
Wendy is highly capable and loyal. However, out of the main cast, she receives the least character development. Her primary role for the first season and a half is to serve as the object of Dipper's infatuation. While she gets excellent action moments in Weirdmageddon, her personal life, family struggles, and internal motivations are rarely explored deeply.

Edit: Sorry about the formatting. For some reason it keeps changing when I try to fix it. Incase it’s still confusing, it’s goes most to least being Stan-Dipper-Mabel-Ford-Soos-Wendy.

With how divisive Act You Age is, do you think they should have gotten together sooner than they did? One of the main criticisms of that episode is how it took till they were about to enter college for them to start dating and as a result felt somewhat underwhelming. I know most people, including myself, don’t care to much for shipping, but the series spent so much time on teasing the ship and including fake reveals that it was practically necessary for them to end up together. I understand the writers wanting to wait to age them up to have the date, since they were young, but if AT2D and NOTLP are any indication, Phineas would have reciprocated back then if not for the memory wipes. So despite being young, they have been shown to be pretty mature and imo, I personally feel a relationship between them in the present timeline could have worked. What do you guys think?

Do you find them entertaining or do you find them boring? They are stated by the creators to represent the setting and therefore don’t change often. As a result, more fans are usually and understandably more invested in Doof and Candace’s storylines as they are the ones who experience growth, being the true protagonists. Should they do more with the brothers or do they already serve their roles well? And who’s character do you like more between Phineas and Ferb and why?

They were some of the only characters who didn’t appear in the finale(before the revival). Being Candace’s best friend and boyfriend respectively, it would have been cool to see them try to rescue Candace. Stacy also knew about Perry identity so it would have been a good opportunity to see her team up with him. That said, I appreciate them at least appearing near the end of the movie and the reveal that Jeremy is LARPing.

Being the true main characters, who’s plotline’s do you look forward to and/or find more interesting between the two?

Ignoring external factors like Perry and Vanessa who are major positive influences in his life. And assuming Phineas and Ferb are unaware of Doof being evil, like how they are unaware of Candace trying to get them in trouble.

Mine would probably be:

5. Ferb (least favorite)

6. Perry

7. Phineas

8. Doof

9. Candace (most favorite)