The Author of the Journals, My Brother

Editor’s Note: This entry contains spoilers from Gravity Falls

About

“The Author of the Journals, My Brother” (sometimes known as “Dramatic Author Meme”) is a quote by Stanley “Grunkle Stan” Pines from American animated series Gravity Falls announcing the arrival of his twin brother Stanford Pines in the episode “Not What He Seems”. The climactic quote and scene (specifically the reveal shot) gained memetic traction and became something of a catchphrase in the fandom.

Origin

“Not What He Seems” is the eleventh episode of the second season of Gravity Falls. Airing March 9, 2015, it was Disney XD’s most watched series broadcast ever with just over 2 million viewers ^[1]. The climax in question involves Grunkle Stan’s mysterious giant portal about to go off. His great niece Mabel Pines, despite her twin brother Dipper’s demands to shut it down, trusts her great uncle and allows the machine to activate, risking the fate of the universe. After a long, bright flash and a gravitational anomaly, a man walks out of the portal. Dipper says, “What? Who is that?” to which Grunkle Stan replies, “the author of the journals, my brother” as the twin reveals his face. That night, YouTube user TheNextBigThing uploaded a clip of the scene (quote starting at 2:11) which received upwards of 900,000 views as of September 27, 2015.

Spread

References to the scene and quote, mostly on Tumblr ^[2], ranged from GIF’s, text posts, fan art, edited images of the reveal shot, to remixed videos of the scene, including at least two Unexpected John Cena derivatives shown below (the lower one containing clips from “A Tale of Two Stans”, the episode following “Not What He Seems”)

The quote and scene often crossover with the Steven Universe fandom, such as in the video below by YouTube user Morgan Wable-Keen, an edit of the Steven Universe theme song which received upwards of 100,000 views as of September 27, 2015.