Dipper's first temptation where they cut away before they showed it. What do you think that it would have been?
shareProbably Wendy, but IMO, it would have been interesting if it had been Pacifica instead, or rather a submissive and fawning over Dipper fake Pacifica.
shareHonestly I dont think it wouldve been Wendy. Storywise its too obvious and Dippers aware enough of whats happening to not fall for something that blatant. Plus IMO the idea that the one thing Dipper wants more than anything in the world is a girl he's known all of 3 months seems rather 1 dimensional for an emotionally complex character. Especially compared to the others' temptations: Soos being with his longlost father, and even Wendy getting to live out the ultimate consequence-free act of rebellion with friends that (as far as she knows) she may never see again.
If I had to guess, I'd think it might be something like a future version of Dipper who has all of the qualities he looks up to with Ford (tall, strong, brave, adventureous), but also is cool and suave and has much better luck with women than current Dipper (maybe hes even surrounded by a harem of lovestruck Wendy lookalikes). Like a cool grown up Indiana Jones version of Dipper who'd invite him on some wild quest.
If I had to guess, I'd think it might be something like a future version of Dipper who has all of the qualities he looks up to with Ford (tall, strong, brave, adventureous)
but also is cool and suave and has much better luck with women than current Dipper (maybe hes even surrounded by a harem of lovestruck Wendy lookalikes). Like a cool grown up Indiana Jones version of Dipper who'd invite him on some wild quest.
Fair points, and maybe it isn't any more dimensional than the Wendy one.
To me, showing a fantasy Wendy just seemed too predictable at the moment. It made more sense later on because Dipper nor the audience was really 100% sure if she was fake until she made it obvious she was. That's much more manipulative than just showing him an obviously phony version of her.
And I just feel like Dipper seeing an actual version of the man he wants to (and could) become, whether it's fantasy or not, would hit Dipper on a much deeper level than a fantasy of Wendy who only loves him literally "in his dreams". Plus whether Wendy is his dream girl or not, I think Dippers goal at this point is what he said to Gideon; to become "someone worthy of loving", and a full grown up and idealized version of himself would cover both achieving his love life fantasy and his "growing up and becoming who I really want to be" aspirations. And with his previous mentor (Ford) pretty much gone now, I could see Dipper being much more easily tempted to spend just one adventure with an awesome future of himself, if only to get a peak into his future.