{"id":13349,"date":"2016-08-07T17:30:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T00:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/?p=13349"},"modified":"2016-08-08T08:46:59","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T15:46:59","slug":"farewell-to-the-falls-gallery-nucleus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/farewell-to-the-falls-gallery-nucleus\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell To The Falls @ Gallery Nucleus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every so often, geeks get a chance to have an epic experience meeting their heroes and idols. \u00a0If we’re lucky, we accidentally bump into them at conventions and have a brief, flustered moment where we blurt out things like, “OMGILOVEYOUYOUAREMYHEROPLEASESIGNTHISICANTBREATHEWHATSMYNAMEAGAIN!?!?!<\/p>\n

Oh<\/span>\u00a0…maybe that’s just me?<\/p>\n

ANYway…<\/p>\n

Rare is the moment when a true fan is\u00a0able to immerse\u00a0themselves\u00a0in the\u00a0culture of their\u00a0favorite thing in a small room where the\u00a0creator can be seen casually wandering around, the voices of your idols are willing to take photos and listen to you no matter how flustered you sound, and the friends and family of cast and crew are\u00a0hanging out\u00a0as though they’re just regular folks, totally approachable and kind to everyone.<\/p>\n

Guys, my five year old got to have that moment.<\/p>\n

That’s right, my five year old had that golden experience most fans wait lifetimes to have. \u00a0It took place at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra last night at the opening of the #FarewellToTheFalls exhibit, dedicated to the two-season hit on Disney XD; Gravity Falls, created by Alex Hirsch.<\/p>\n

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Now, before I get into the details of the evening, you need to know a little something about my first born and our journey through Gravity Falls. \u00a0I know, it’s going to take this from being a “review” to more of a blog, but it’s important to understand WHY this event even happened for us.<\/p>\n

Who is Liam?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am not one of those moms who hides my child’s diagnosis. \u00a0I’m not ashamed to be honest with others about what makes him different because knowing helps others understand him and it protects him\u00a0from being judged. \u00a0(Please know I do not judge moms who struggle with this or\u00a0prefer to keep it hush-hush, I’m just not like that) \u00a0Liam has autism & ADHD. \u00a0He has difficulties expressing himself verbally\u00a0and responding to questions appropriately. When he gets nervous\u00a0or\u00a0overwhelmed, he either shuts down or starts running around and screaming. \u00a0He\u00a0has no short term memory but an excellent long-term, so\u00a0concepts\u00a0that repeat are important. \u00a0He fixates on certain stories and\u00a0they become tools to understand his world.\u00a0\u00a0He struggles with writing and being creative on paper, but is SUPER creative in his physical\/pretend play, building and creating physical things. \u00a0He gave up painting at around 17 months after sobbing when I asked if he wanted to paint a green letter for his alphabet wall. \u00a0After that, any kind of creativity that involves writing, coloring, drawing or painting has been met with tears. \u00a0So, those are a few of his challenges. \u00a0Mostly though, and to the rest of the world that has no idea, he is a regular, beautiful, happy, energetic kid who\u00a0wants to be friends with everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what’s the deal with Gravity Falls?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, if you have never seen the show, here’s a quick rundown; Twins Mabel and Dipper get sent up to nowhere Oregon with their great-uncle for the summer. \u00a0While working in his tourist trap business called The Mystery Shack, Dipper begins to unlock secrets about the town. \u00a0With his sister by his side to help him, they solve mysteries, save each other and the town all while battling monsters, ghosts, time babies and pre-teen hormonal trouble. \u00a0The show is rated N-7 but there are very clear lines about attitude, meanness and the good guys always come out at the end loving each other and doing the right thing. \u00a0Even when the good guys have mean moments, it’s almost always something that is brought up and the family works through it. The show contains thousands of wise lessons for children about cooperation, compassion, patience and problem solving.<\/p>\n

People are shocked when they find out my kids are watching this show. \u00a0When he first started watching Gravity Falls, I admit, I was frustrated. \u00a0I filter what my children watch substantially because Liam will repeat what he sees and if\u00a0the\u00a0bad behavior of some rotten character gets locked in there, it takes months to get it out. \u00a0So, when I found out he was watching a show on Disney XD instead of something for his age range on Disney Jr, I was… well, put out. \u00a0The thing was, he wasn’t just watching, he was diving into it. Something about it resonated within him on a deep level and he became obsessed as something magical began to take place.<\/p>\n

Gravity Falls began to affect his behavior\u00a0and it wasn’t long before I began to see\u00a0changes in his personality. He began problem solving his way out of challenges. \u00a0He started asking his sister, who is almost four, for help in his games instead of avoiding her. \u00a0His games were changing, too. \u00a0They became epic quests for the sake of the universe to save all humanity and fight monsters who wanted to destroy everyone instead of just, “get the bad guy”. \u00a0He started talking about dimensions, space, robotics, how the body worked,\u00a0\u00a0what computers were made of and began to ask legit, science questions about all those topics. \u00a0I happily dropped whatever I was doing to answer him as best I could. \u00a0We looked up many things and watched videos on everything from digestion to ghosts to time travel. \u00a0He wanted to understand how a piano worked for the first time and asked how he could learn to make the Gravity Falls song on it, which led to my finding the sheet music and teaching him the first 15 notes in the easiest key possible.<\/p>\n

His imagination was exploring new concepts and he was pulling aspects of this show out into his real world and they were helping him to see the world around him in ways he’d never considered. \u00a0He wanted to find truth the way Dipper did. \u00a0He wanted to search for answers the way Stanford did. \u00a0He was being kind like Mabel and strong like Wendy. \u00a0And of course, every single person we know is now “dude” because of Soos.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t long before he began asking for a journal of his own. \u00a0He didn’t say, “mom, we have to go buy a journal”. He said, “Mom!!! I HAVE GOT to have\u00a0a journal to know the answers!! \u00a0You have to help me make one right NOW!!” Remember, this is the kid who would turn into a puddle of tears and anxiety at the task of writing his name or drawing a picture. \u00a0This is the kid who couldn’t hold a crayon without sobbing about how\u00a0he couldn’t do it right, it never worked, it hurt his hand and he hated it. \u00a0I stopped what I was doing. \u00a0I put everything else away. \u00a0That day, we made Journal #3 and he drew, colored, WROTE, cut & pasted 5 pages. \u00a0It took him all day with several breaks and a few tears (but he would not give up, even when I told him we could) to create four pages and the cover of his first journal. \u00a0Over the course of a few more weeks, we created more pages, as well as covers for Journal #1 & #2. \u00a0A total of 18 pages, not including cover art. \u00a0All from the kid who cries when you ask him to pick up a pencil.<\/p>\n

This show was changing him, pushing his boundaries and opening him up in ways I never would have expected and it was a revelation.<\/p>\n

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Eventually, he saw a 30 minute special about Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls. \u00a0He watched it probably 60 times in the first week, studying him and learning about him. \u00a0He understood Gravity Falls was a created place and that Alex was it’s father, it’s creator… it’s… author. \u00a0The biggest mystery of season one is “who is the author”. \u00a0Liam put it together\u00a0that Alex, as the creator, was the author of the author. \u00a0He talked about Alex like most kids talk about an older sibling or a really cool cousin they admire. \u00a0He would talk about him in conversation as though they had just hung out the day before.<\/p>\n

At this point, he has most of each episode memorized. \u00a0Now that you understand Liam’s relationship with this show, let’s go back to the review of last night’s event.<\/p>\n

The set up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_6729\"For about a month beforehand, I’d been gathering costume pieces one at a time so he could attend the event as Dipper. \u00a0Amazon.com was largely responsible for this, except for his socks which I found at Target the day before and had to color in the orange stripe about 10 minutes before we left. \u00a0When he put the whole outfit on the first time, I had him close his eyes so he didn’t know what was happening. \u00a0You’d think, by his reaction, I’d given him 12 puppies. \u00a0It was priceless.<\/p>\n

The entire day was filled with secrecy and clues about what was to happen. \u00a0I told him I wouldn’t tell him, but he was welcome to try and figure it out. \u00a0I kept giving him hints all day but he couldn’t quite understand and was still in the dark. \u00a0After we got into the car, his father and I gave him a gift we had been saving; the newly released Journal #3. \u00a0I had pre-ordered almost a month prior and was waiting for just the right moment. \u00a0His reaction was priceless and\u00a0his dad told him where we were going, but only by telling him he was about to meet the true author. \u00a0It took him about five minutes to figure that out.<\/p>\n

The event.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nWhen we arrived, there were fans lining the sidewalk for 1\/2 a block down the street. \u00a0Most of them were in costumes or nods to characters in one way or another. \u00a0We saw almost every character in the story standing outside waiting for the doors to open.<\/p>\n

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The first fan we met was Brigit Valeri, dressed in an adorable, hand-made dress inspired by Bill Cypher. \u00a0She was thrilled to meet Liam and was gracious, kind and attentive to him as he spoke to her. \u00a0She asked about the journal he had made and poured over his pages. \u00a0He was so excited to see someone who understood his love. \u00a0She made our day and we took a few photos with her and two others who were dressed for the occasion.<\/p>\n

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\"IMG_5406 \"IMG_5402When we walked in, we were greeted by Gallery Nucleus staff members who took our names and attended to our needs. \u00a0They were kind, attentive, compassionate and had stellar customer service skills. \u00a0I genuinely felt valued and this was reciprocated in my decision to purchase many items there, when I knew I could have\u00a0found them\u00a0on Amazon. \u00a0The Gallery’s prices were fair and everyone was down to earth and “real”, not at all the stuffy, stuck up feeling you can get from some gallery experiences.<\/p>\n

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Linda from Gallery Nucleus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we waited to go into the exhibit area, we saw a few pieces of original artwork available for the event.<\/p>\n

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Limited edition, numbered artwork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We finally made it into the exhibit room\u00a0which was buzzing with excitement from mega-fans and artists alike. \u00a0Everyone soaked in the art on the walls and in glass cases throughout the room, but the true stars of the show were literally everywhere and it was a bit overwhelming. \u00a0Writers, artists, voices, production people, even Alex’s twin sister and inspiration for Mabel; Ariel Hirsch. \u00a0(I admit, I was too anxious to bother her, but I saw her and smiled at her a few times.)<\/p>\n

Of course, meeting Alex was the highlight, but Liam also had the opportunity to meet the “real Dipper”, voice actor; Jason Ritter.<\/p>\n

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Check out the video, as no words could appropriately describe his reaction to this experience.<\/p>\n