Who's ready for my latest research? :D

Okay, so there are eleven main characters of Gravity Falls, right? The ten on the Cipher Wheel, and then, of course, Bill. These characters can be separated into eleven distinct roles, or archetypes:

~Journal holder AKA main character

~Supporting close friend (Shooting Star)

~[Creepy] psychic

~Rich [snob] (Northwest)

~Geriatric caretaker (Grunkle)

~Author and/or lost [twin]

~Teen crush

~Caretaker's employee

~Teen rival

~Old loner

~Dream demon

These archetypes generally have personalities assigned to them (the Journal holder being curious and paranoid, or the Shooting Star being bright and creative and happy), but these personalities aren't required to fulfill the archetype. 

A lot of AUs are based on putting characters into new roles. We all know that Dipper is the Journal holder in canon, but he's Shooting Star in Gravity Rises, Northwest in Reverse Falls (he may be a Gleeful, but he fills the rich snob archetype), and Author in Relativity Falls. Conversely, Mabel, Gideon, and Ford have all been Journal holders in the same AUs.

There are two ways to make an archetypally manipulated AU: you can either keep the same personalities and simply change the archetypes (Relativity Falls, Anti-Gravity), or change both the personalities and the archetypes (Gravity Rises, Reverse Falls). The first option usually includes the ages being manipulated, while the second usually has the ages stay the same, but characters switch within their age group. Finally, family relationships aren't usually changed, although they can be (Twin Demons).

So, now, an analog of how many times each archetype has been fulfilled, which archetypes characters have fulfilled, characters besides the central eleven that have filled archetypes, and which archetypes characters have yet to fill.

{Universes used are canon, Gravity Rises, Reverse Falls, Relativity Falls, Twin Demons, and Anti-Gravity, in that order. I know there are other AUs manipulated by archetype, but many of them are, heh, uncomfortable for me to think about.)

~~~

How many times each archetype has been fulfilled:

Journal holder: 6

Supporting close friend (Shooting Star): 6

[Creepy] psychic: 3

Rich [snob] (Northwest): 3

Geriatric caretaker (Grunkle): 2 and a half

Author and/or lost [twin]: 2 and a half

Teen crush: 3

Caretaker's employee: 2

Teen rival: 3

Old loner: 1

Dream demon: 3

~~~ 

Which archetypes have been fulfilled by which characters:

Dipper: Journal-holder, Shooting Star, Northwest, Author, demon, crush

Mabel: Shooting Star, Journal-holder, psychic, Grunkle, employee, demon

Gideon: psychic, Northwest, Journal-holder

Pacifica: Northwest, psychic, Shooting Star, rival

Stan: Grunkle, lost twin, Shooting Star

Ford: Author, Author/Grunkle, Journal-holder

Wendy: crush, rival, Journal-holder

Soos: employee, Shooting Star

Robbie: rival, crush, employee-ish

McGucket: loner (poor Fidds)

Bill: demon, Journal-holder/Shooting Star (in Twin Demons, he's both)

~~~

Other characters that have filled archetypes:

Melody (employee)

Bud (Grunkle)

Will (demon)  

Preston (Northwest)

Wendell (crush)

~~~

Which archetypes are left for characters to fulfill:

Dipper: psychic, Grunkle, employee, rival, loner

Mabel: Northwest, Author/lost twin, crush, rival, loner

Gideon: Shooting Star, Grunkle, Author, crush, employee, rival, loner, demon

Pacifica: Journal-holder, Grunkle, Author, crush, employee, loner, demon

Stan: Journal-holder, Northwest, psychic, Author, crush, employee, rival, loner, demon

Ford: Shooting Star, Northwest, psychic, Grunkle-ish, crush, employee, rival, loner, demon

Wendy: Shooting Star, Northwest, psychic, Grunkle, Author, employee, loner, demon

Soos: Journal-holder, Northwest, psychic, Grunkle, Author, crush, rival, loner, demon

Robbie: Journal-holder, Shooting Star, Northwest, psychic, Grunkle, Author, employee-ish, loner, demon

McGucket: Journal-holder, Shooting Star, Northwest, psychic, Grunkle, Author, crush, employee, rival, demon

Bill: Northwest, psychic, Grunkle, Author, crush, employee, rival, loner

That is a TON of possibilities right there! So, if you ever want to make an AU, all you have to do is come pick out of that last list and re-arrange all the characters. It is tricky, since a lot of the obvious switches have already been done (switching within pairs, switching heroes with villains, switching kids with adults, switching kids with demons, and switching kids with teens). But you may be able to find something, and you don't have to rearrange every single archetype (everybody is the same in Twin Demons except Bill, Mabel, and Dipper). 

Also, don't worry about changing someone's personality to fit a role. Sometimes the little differences, like GR Mabel being more sensitive than canon Dipper, or AG Wendy being more feisty, really make an AU special. Or even the big differences - what if you made Wendy the Northwest, but instead of being a rich snob, she was a rich rebel? Same personality, different archetype. It can work.

I did all this partly because it was fun, and partly because I want to create an AU where McGucket is the Journal holder (so yeah, dibs on that), and it would be especially fun to rearrange every single character into something completely new (I'm considering making Wendy the Author and Ford the Northwest). 

This type of exercise also could help someone with the transition from fanfiction to realistic fiction: you could keep all the archetypes of Gravity Falls for something, if you really wanted to, but if you change the characters and their personalities up, creating your own characters to fill the archetypes (or even merging archetypes together), you could potentially create your own work. 

For example, I'm going to randomly throw something together by keeping all the personalities of the characters, but changing the archetypes and ages. See if you can pick out which unnamed character parallels with which Gravity Falls character as we go.

"A shy young boy with an absent father goes to stay with a family friend, a rather snobby old women who doesn't want much to do with him, and her employees: a brilliant young man with a passion for science, and a bright, happy, bubbly teen girl always giving people stickers. The main character meets a rather depressed boy who seems to be happier around him, and the two start to hang out. One day, MC finds an analog from a mechanic, telling about some of the amazing inventions he's built in the area. MC and his friend decide to start searching out these inventions, some with amazing capabilities. On their way, they meet a girl with psychic powers and a fiery personality, who's tethered to her powers and doesn't know how to break free. Sometimes she almost attacks them, but she stays with the boys and helps them despite her burden. They also meet a sadistic rich blond boy who tries to thwart them at every turn, but luckily a kindly old dream demon (with a bit of a rude sense of humor) helps them (and sometimes pick-pockets their memories). As they go along, MC starts to develop a crush on the happy teen girl, admiring her confidence. Her twin brother, however, is a paranoid teen who tries to stop MC from finding the inventions, as he wants to discover them himself. As MC and his group of friends go on adventures, they meet an old albino man who knows secrets about the Inventor, and eventually, the Inventor himself: brought back from one of his own inventions by his adopted daughter, MC's seemingly uncaring caretaker."

Well, that was fun! Did you guess who was who? Did you notice how putting different personalities into different archetypes completely changed the mood of the story? Even though the basic plot points are still there, the story would end up completely different from the original show of Gravity Falls. Here's the list of archetypes, in case you didn't catch 'em all:

Journal holder: Soos

Shooting Star: Robbie

Psychic: Wendy

Northwest: Bill

Grunkle: Pacifica

Author: McGucket

Crush: Mabel

Employee: Ford

Rival: Dipper

Loner: Gideon

Demon: Stan

So, what do you guys think? (I'm not gonna write that AU, by the way; it was just purely for example). I hope you liked this! Wish me luck with my McGucket AU!