Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5977013-20160828214444/@comment-28775092-20161001230733

I think it wasn't to symbolize "moving on," but instead "evolution." The show started as a pretty innocent thing. BOY, WERE WE WRONG. Around "Northwest Mansion Mystery," the show suddenly got very deep and...well...when I read the article of Weirdmaggedon 2, it was before I saw it with the jokes and my dreams that night included Bill, pink, and a loop of the Ice Age 2 credits music. It's hard to look back at this as some cute fun show.

But not impossible. If you didn't know to look for this stuff, you never found it. This may be a dark and disturbing show, but it's absolutely beautiful. Growing up in no way means that you should give up your childhood pleasures. Bill says that Dipper's internet history consists of some...inappropriate stuff. But, that's pretty adult, and yet he's still doing a bunch of stupid with Mabel (let's be honest, these kids are idiots). And when Mabel, as you say, reluctantly said it was time to grow up, she TOOK THE PIG WITH HER. The pig doesn't seem like it, but it's kind of a symbol of innocence. Fifteen Poundy was a prize basically given to her. Stan also TOLD her to take the pig. She hasn't given up childhood, but she took it with her.

Also, giving up childhood was mentioned in Summerween, Bottomless Pit(!), and was symbolized when Bill kept saying, "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW WILL CHANGE."

Well, Bill's dead, so that's how much he knows.