Billford
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Bill Cipher/Stanford Pines |
| Alternative name(s): | Billford |
| Gender category: | slash |
| Fandom: | Gravity Falls |
| Canonical?: | |
| Prevalence: | popular |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Billford is the pairing of Bill Cipher and Stanford Pines from Gravity Falls.
Fandom
This pairing had a minor following before even the canonical reveal that Stan had a twin, owing to Journal entries like "seduce you with flattery", but it largely exploded after the episode "The Last Mabelcorn". It was largely jokey at first, often interpreting the pair as two enemies with an equal threat and attraction to each other, or casting Bill as Ford's clingy, demonic ex. After the finale a lot of that died down as things like Bill putting Ford in chains or turning him into a golden statue gave the pairing both more canon basis and a more sinister canon interaction. Some artists who previously enjoyed the ship deleted their art as increasing debate over whether it was a healthy ship ensued, as requiring being a healthy ship in order to be good to ship became a more prominent viewpoint.
Journal 3
It had a resurgence after the release of Journal 3, owing to some pages featuring Ford talking prominently about his "Muse" and Bill writing numerous pieces of code within the pages.
Book of Bill
The release of The Book of Bill in 2024 led to another resurgence in popularity; there's a lot of material in the new book that fans the flames.[1]
Controversies and Shifting Fan Opinions
- https://secret-tacos.tumblr.com/post/145483802983/dissecting-billford (2016)
- https://weirdmageddon.tumblr.com/post/656362316643942400/ok-i-want-to-talk-about-billford-for-a-second (2021)
- https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/1eeb7wo/can_we_not_ship_billford_please/ (2024)
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. especially older works (while show was airing + pre-book of bill) |
Fanart
- CHEERS, SIXER! by life-writer, 2015, in response to The Last Mabelcorn
- drawing giant red monster bill is super fun by cirilee, 2016
- my muse and I by stafsar, 2024
- so ok yeah fine i watched gravity falls again and read the book of bill by itsscaredycat, 2024
- Wanted to draw that scene from The Book of Bill :D by pikatik, 2024
Fanfiction
Animatics/Animations
- once upon a dream by a-megabyte (2024, WIP)
Meta
Other
Links & Resources
- Archive of Our Own tag: Bill Cipher/The Author | Original Stanford Pines
- Gravity Falls Shipping Wiki: Billford
- Tumblr: #billford
References
- ^ some examples in this reddit thread.