Reverse Stanford
Getting his science project a one way ticket into West Coast and abandoning his hometown Ford would've believed it was the best decision of his life. Unfortunately, the only thing it earned him was this bitter life goal considering all the other students at West Coast were snobby scientists. Most, atleast. Nobody in the scientific field really cared about the paranormal and dismissed it entirely, considering Ford's fascination with exactly that it was safe to say that people beating down on his chosen scientific field didn't bode well. He still works hard to get his degrees but develops this bitter feeling to prove that paranormal science was infact very valid. How so? Studying them in gravity falls. Regardless of which college Ford had went to he would've still ended up documenting the paranormal in gravity falls.
Using the same spell that's originally used to encase the Shack from Bill in weirdmageddon Ford instead discovers it and uses it to trap Bill in this tiny little bubble for scientific exploration.
(Kind of like when bill is the jester in the book 😆)
Fords own dedication to harnessing this power drives him crazy. Bill still does drive him crazy but not from manipulation and simply his own hubris to unlock the secrets. Making the concept of the portal was what he believed would give him access to said power. He's not trying to rule the world, just reveal it to how everything he's worked for all his life is true...
