Just here to ramble and reblog stuff

incorrect response: write the rest of the story to be as twisty, shocking and counter to expectations as possible, regardless of whether this is a logical or satisfying way for the plot to go

correct response:

(you’re not stupid. I posted this thinking it would amuse a handful of mutuals who all knew the context and that would be about it, so I didn’t think about providing any other explanation. I had no idea it would spread this far.)

I’ll start from the very beginning just to be thorough. so this is Alex Hirsch, creator and head writer of Gravity Falls, a show which had a big focus on mystery, conspiracies, codes and ciphers, etc. the whole plot is kicked off by one of the main characters finding a mysterious old journal in the woods, which detailed all kinds of weird and supernatural things, but then ended abruptly with the author saying they had to hide the journal because they were being watched. the central driving mystery of the show, therefore, was the question of who wrote the journal and what happened to them.

now, the thing about Gravity Falls is that, while it must be said that the writers weren’t always quite as sure of their plans as we tend to like to think they are, it is very much a fair play mystery, with legitimate clues to what was going on. but the writers were caught off guard by how quickly the show attracted a dedicated audience, including a lot of people outside the primary presumed demographic, who started solving the clues faster than expected. so some of the fans were able to correctly guess who the author was before it was revealed in the show, and the theory started spreading. this put the writers in something of a panic, because this was THE mystery that the whole story revolved around, with ¾ of the show building up to the dramatic reveal in the middle of season 2. they wanted it to be a mystery that could be figured out, sure, but they weren’t prepared for people to solve it so far in advance of when it was planned to be revealed, which would have really taken away from the big moment. they weren’t going to change the main story itself, but having been caught unaware by how much attention the fans were paying, they wanted to up the ante and make the mystery more complex to solve going forward–but first they needed to buy some time and throw the fandom off the scent for a little longer.

hence, Alex’s plan as described above. they whipped up a fake shot that appears to give away the identity of the author as being another character in the show, put it on a screen in the studio as if it was a real animation frame, took a picture of it, and ‘leaked’ it online. it was initially decided to be a hoax (albeit, I think, presumed to be a hoax originating from outside the production team), until Alex posted this tweet:

…before quickly deleting it (though not so quickly that it didn’t get seen, of course).

it worked well enough to distract most people for a while, and wasn’t revealed as a hoax until a year later, when an episode aired that definitively proved that the supposed screenshot could never have happened, at which point Alex owned up to the whole thing as seen in the tweet above. by then the episode with the real reveal wasn’t far off, and while people did still work it out ahead of time, it was more of an “OH MY GOD I KNEW IT!” moment than a “booooooring, we’ve known that for ages” moment, which of course was what the writers wanted all along.

personally I find this a fascinating approach to dealing with the problem of spoilers, because it doesn’t affect the story itself at all; if you watch Gravity Falls today–or if you were watching it when it aired without any significant contact with the fandom–you’d never know about it. ultimately, the problem the writers were facing wasn’t that some people might guess the answer to the mystery–they never wanted to make it completely impossible to predict–so much as it was that they hadn’t designed the story to stand up to so many people working on the puzzle together, which resulted in a sort of total output of puzzle-solving ability that far outstripped the capability of any one solo human being. so their solution is something that’s very much targeted toward delaying that group problem-solving, without actually affecting the experience of any individual person watching the show.

plus, it’s very in keeping with the overall tone of the show.

don’t:

change the ending

do:

Glimmer: Oh no that means...

Bow: I'm sorry I misheard you but maybe this guy can help us too?

Adora: I don't think he can

holy shit they did it, they stuck the landing, hell yeah let's go lesbians

THAT'S RIGHT

Katie and I are going to be watching and reacting to the She-Ra finale LIVE on discord TOMORROW NIGHT at 8pm Pacific

This is FREE and we are doing it for FUN

come and join us if you want!

Glimmer: Oh no that means...

Bow: I'm sorry I misheard you but maybe this guy can help us too?

Adora: I don't think he can

holy shit they did it, they stuck the landing, hell yeah let's go lesbians

they post about me every day, multiple times a day, speculating about my income, my family, my medical transition, my disability, and so on. extremely transphobic things have been said. extremely ableist things have been said. I have blocked them, but this has not stopped them from screenshotting everything I post. and when I don't say anything new and interesting, they scroll through my blog history until they can find something worth mocking. it makes feel genuinely unsafe to have this level of obsessive attention on me.

even still, I would love to ignore this person! that's largely what I've been doing. but every now and then, one of their HUNDREDS of posts about me finds traction, and then I have to deal with large numbers of people who spam my posts, fill my inbox, and make very real threats.

and recently, the concentration has been on taking away my ability to make an income. which, not to play the 'disabled' card, but I am not a wealthy or powerful person. I am on immunosuppressants, there are times when I'm housebound or bed bound, and I am very much struggling to scrape by. you are not punching up.

I just don't know what to do. this isn't "healthy criticism". I am open to criticism. I want to have conversations, and look into my blindspots, and make changes about how I write and present myself. even if you can't see me doing it publicly, that IS what I am doing.

that is not the goal of this campaign, though. I genuinely think the goal is bully me into suicide, and hey, it's kinda working!