...

So now imagine that before Ford spent all his money on building the portal, he was a millionaire—or close to it. Having sold inventions and patents to the government, the military, and other companies, as well as successfully publishing some research on non-anomalous stuff.

He’s doing well for himself, but he doesn’t think much about the money. Because Ford never really cared about being rich so much as he cared about being respected and famous in his field as a scientist. He’s in it for the love of the game, not profit. No one would even know he’s rich just by looking at him; he’s content with the setup he has in Gravity Falls.

And imagine in this AU, that Ford and Stan meet again like this. Someway, somehow, they see each other. Ford is bright eyed and happy and doing well for himself. Stan is… still running unsuccessful scams, and running slightly more successful crimes.

Stan finds out that Ford is a millionaire, and it rankles him so badly. Here he was trying his hardest to make millions, to make his family rue the day they threw him out like trash, and he’s gotten nowhere on that. And here comes Ford, not even caring about the fact that he’s casually made a million dollars. Just using the money to further his own research.

Like fantastic. An actual human being made this. It didn't try to lie to me. It didn't try and trick me. It didn't make me feel stupid for believing it, even for a moment.