Gravity Fallsand the Vanishing Symbol: A Disney+ Illuminati Mystery

Gravity Falls was a series thatthrived on enigma . Not just for the characters , but also for the hearing , who spent the show ’s two season decode codes , reading hint , andsolving puzzleslovingly cultivated by creatorAlex Hirsch . Now the inspire series is onDisney+and there ’s a young mystery afoot — one that Hirsch says he had no part in and has no estimation why it ’s encounter .

Hirschpointed outthat Gravity Falls episodes have erase the symbol from Grunkle Stan ’s fez , leaving it blank : “ plainly the genius over at Disney+ decide to remove Grunkle Stan ’s fez symbolic representation for no reason , but then unintentionally left it in the thumbnails because even they ca n’t keep track of what they ’re pretending to be interested about this week , ” he wrote .

We ’ve reached out to Disney for clarification on why the symbol has been erased , and have sought extra comment from Hirsch . In the interim , io9 has watched through Gravity Falls on Disney+ and can verify that the symbol has been take from Grunkle Stan ’s tarboosh ( with an unexpected twirl , which we ’ll get into below ) .

Where did you go?

Where did you go?Image: All images via Disney

https://gizmodo.com/disney-is-embarrassing-1839836190

This include his view in episodes …

… the opening credits successiveness …

… and even the ware Grunkle Stan is selling in his store !

Fans of the serial will sleep with that the fez , much like everything else in Gravity Falls , is n’t only an aesthetic choice . It have in mind something . Specifically , it ’s part of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackarel , a secret society modeled after the Shriners , a Masonic sodality that ’s been around since 1870 . Grunkle Stan ’s Father of the Church was a penis of the Royal Order , and it was confirmed in a companion Good Book that that ’s where the tarboosh come from .

As far as the symbol , you could spot it on the Zodiac — a flake secret plan detail that I wo n’t get into as it would frustrate some thing . But what it means remains a enigma that was n’t help by the fact that Hirsch altered it slightly in the heart of the show . Even though it ’s never been explained , there areplenty of rooter theoriesabout the symbol . These include it representing Stan as being a capital of Arizona rising from the ashes , or an inside gag play off Hirsch ’s DeviantArt handle .

So yes , a comparatively underage but still important part of the show has been erased without account . But that ’s only the commencement of the mystery .

Halfway through season one … the symbolization come back .

The first 13 episodes have the fez symbolisation escape , but it return in “ Bottomless Pit ” and stay in all subsequent episodes . As Hirsch pointed out on Twitter , it ’s also present in all of the sequence thumbnails , including those where the symbol was already remove . This could change if whatever is happening is an ongoing process , but as of now , Grunkle Stan ’s complete fez is still there from episode 14 through the final stage of the series ( and the inadequate films ) .

What does it all mean ? ? ?

It could be that Disney+ is leaning into the overall vision of Gravity Falls , give us a unexampled mystery story to try and work out … one that not even the creator himself get laid the solvent to ! Or perhaps the Shriners are profoundly entrenched in the Disney empire , and are trying to crack down on anything that could expose them . But that ’s dazed . The most likely solution is normally the correct one , and I ’m guessing it ’s just another illustration of Disneymaking strange choicesthat are bollix the unveiling of one of the biggest streaming armed service of all fourth dimension .

Or maybe … that ’s what exactly they want us to think .

Update : 2024-12-01 2:00 p.m.

After doing a bit more delve , we discovered the fez symbol change previously mentioned did take place in episode 14 , “ Bottomless Pit . ” There arereportsthat the first symbol was later on removed before primitively airing in certain countries because it was moot offensive , possibly for its resemblance to the Nation of Islam masthead . This would mean that Disney+ had uploaded that version for some reasonableness instead of the original ( which is still available to watch on Hulu for the time being , if you ’re curious ) . We ’re still await on comment from Disney .

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