.GIFfany[2] (/ˈɡɪffəniː/) or Giffany[3] is the sentient main protagonist in the dating simulator game Romance Academy 7, who becomes infatuated with the player to the point of extreme violence when the player gets close to someone else or gets far from her.
History[]
While the programmers were developing .GIFfany's game, they noticed her obsessive tendencies and attempted to delete her. However, she retaliated and "deleted" them in ways she politely refuses to specify due to a supposed lack of importance (which can obviously mean death). The game made its way into BeeblyBoop's Videogames, and three unlucky individuals purchased and returned the game.
In "Soos and the Real Girl," when Soos is looking for a way to help him talk to girls, he finds and buys her game. He immediately takes a liking to the simulation, despite him believing that it is not real, though he quickly becomes addicted to it and plays for thirteen hours straight, missing work at the Mystery Shack for the first time ever. Worried, Dipper and Mabel come to look for him. When they find him playing the game, they decide to take him to the mall to try to talk to real girls. However, .GIFfany follows him via power lines.
As Soos grows increasingly nervous in the face of real women, he is relieved to see .GIFfany, albeit slightly suspicious. He ignores his suspicions and decides to spend time with the simulation. After Soos meets and arranges a date with Melody, he attempts to "break up" with .GIFfany, who is infuriated by his actions. Soos promptly pauses her, which makes her even more furious, and leaves for his date with Melody, taking .GIFfany's CD with the intent of returning it. Unbeknownst to Soos, .GIFfany manages to leave her CD and follow him.
At the restaurant, she projects herself onto numerous monitors and video games, and takes control of the Hoo-Ha's Jamboree band in hopes of ridding herself of her competition. Soos does his best to defend his date and the twins, who came to supervise the date. Enraged, .GIFfany attempts to download Soos' brain into the game so they can be together forever, but Soos melts the Romance Academy 7 disc in a pizza oven, apparently causing .GIFfany's code to be destroyed, along with the game itself.
Gravity Falls: Journal 3[]
According to the book, .GIFfany actually survived the destruction of her game and ended up in a nearby arcade version of Fight Fighters, where she set her sights on wooing Rumble McSkirmish.
Personality[]
At first, .GIFfany comes across as a seemingly friendly, innocent, and passive schoolgirl with little capacity for malice. However, her extreme obsessiveness and very sadistic features quickly reveal this image to be a ploy as she grows more and more fixated on the player. She will do anything she can to keep the object of her affections with her at all times, as well as keep her at the center of their thoughts. When she sees potential competition, .GIFfany will employ a variety of tactics to eliminate them. While her initial methods of badmouthing and manipulation are relatively tame, she will quickly descend into a homicidal rage if the perceived problem persists. These are all the traits of a "yandere", an archetype often used in anime to describe a person who is sweet on the outside, but becomes extremely possessive and violent when the person they love falls in love with another person.
Appearance[]
Drawn to resemble characters in anime and manga, .GIFfany has light tan skin and very long, straight, beautiful pink hair. She wears a large pink, blue, and yellow bow that resembles a computer ribbon cable. Her eyes are a reddish pink, with highlights that increase as she is complimented by the gamer. She wears a white sailor school uniform (known as a seifuku in Japanese) with blue trimmings and a pink bow. The collar of the shirt is the same pink, yellow, and blue of her hair bow. She also wears a short pleated blue skirt. She wears white thigh-high socks with two pink stripes near the top and pink Mary Janes.
Abilities[]
.GIFfany is a sentient AI, and her most prominent ability is the power to override computer functions and transfer herself between electronics, including computers, toys, power lines, TV monitors, arcade machines, etc. She can easily weaponize machinery, able to utilize everything from Hoo-Ha's Jamboree's animatronic characters to the skeeball games. She opens and closes several doors using her power. She can download a person's conscious mind into the digital world, thereby uniting that individual with her forever. However, her code is destroyed when her game disc is melted.
Sightings[]
Season 2
- 205. "Soos and the Real Girl"
Quotes[]
"And I'm sure you'll never abandon me, new boyfriend." |
"Every time you compliment me, I get another highlight in my eyes!" |
"Oh, Soos, I am not an ordinary game. I am… special. The programmers tried to delete me. So I had to delete them." |
"I won't let another girl take you away from me, Soos! You hear me?! You are MINE Soos! MINE! DO YOU HEAR ME?! MI—" |
"Think about it. Real girls are unpredictable. They judge you. You really think Melody is going to take you back after this awful date? I can download your brain into the game with me, and we'll be together… forever." |
"No! Wait!" |
Trivia[]
- All of .GIFfany's animation is done by Paul Robertson.
- .GIFfany's name is a portmanteau of GIF and the name Tiffany.
- Although her name is spelled as .GIFfany, in the end page cryptogram of "Soos and the Real Girl", her name is written as "Giffany."
- When first meeting Soos, .GIFfany pronounces her name with a hard "G" (/ˈɡɪffəniː/), not a soft "G" (/ˈdʒɪfəniː/), and the name is pronounced between these two multiple times throughout the episode. Soos even brings up the question of how the name is meant to be said. This is in reference to the long-standing debate on the pronunciation of ".gif."
- .GIFfany is a "Yandere," a character archetype (often associated with anime and manga) that starts off cute and innocent but eventually becomes increasingly possessive to a person they care about, much to the point in attacking anyone else who they believe will take them away. This archetype is commonly used in Japanese manga and animation, some of whom in anime also have pink hair (Yuno Gasai from Future Diary, Mizuki Himeji from Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts).
- .GIFfany was originally going to address Soos as "senpai," a Japanese term used to address older or superior classmates.[4]
- .GIFfany's father being an octopus man is a reference to tentacle monsters doing morally unspeakable things to women in Japanese fiction.
- Some of her original designs had features with some similarities to Bill Cipher, such as a bow tie with an eye.[4]
- Alex Hirsch revealed at BigFest 2016 that .GIFfany is not dead, and still around somewhere. This was confirmed in Journal 3 where it's revealed that she's dating Rumble McSkirmish in the arcade section of Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree.
- .GIFfany is partially inspired by creepypasta and ARG Ben Drowned, as seen by some concept art.
- Some people believe and say that .GIFfany is technically an inspiration for Monika from the horror game Doki Doki Literature Club, both being Japanese schoolgirls in a dating simulator, have self-awareness, eliminate all the real girls wanting to date their boyfriends, the only best girls, and are in love with the ones playing their respective games. Additionally, .GIFfany's original concept art bears a striking resemblance to Monika. Dan Salvato, the game's creator, has confirmed that he had not so much knowledge of .GIFfany until after fans drew the comparison.
- Additionally, the game released exactly 3 years after "Soos and the Real Girl" aired.
- Amphibia's character Ned from the episode "Thai Feud" wears a Romance Academy 7 shirt, referencing .GIFfany's game.
- Fitting since Matt Braly (creator of Amphibia) directed the episode "Soos and the Real Girl."
Gallery
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References[]
- ↑ Gravity Falls: Journal 3 by Disney Book Group. July 26, 2016. Published by Disney Press. ISBN: 978-1484746691.
- ↑ Hirsch, Alex (August 20, 2015). Tweet number 634533145006710785. Retrieved on August 20, 2015. “Actually it's .GIFfany. The second f is lower case”
- ↑ "Soos and the Real Girl." Mark Rizzo, Alex Hirsch (writers) & Matt Braly (director). Gravity Falls. Disney XD. September 22, 2014. No. 5, season 2.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cotugno, Sage (September 23, 2014). Tumblr Post ID 98265331232. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved on September 24, 2012.