Puzzling Pines

Puzzling Pines, or #PuzzlingPines, is a mini alternate reality game (ARG) event hosted by series creator Alex Hirsch on February 15, 2018. On the two-year anniversary of the finale, he and various other artists and accounts tweeted out a series of pine tree shaped puzzle pieces which led to the creation of the cover for the then upcoming Gravity Falls graphic novel, Gravity Falls: Lost Legends.

Background[]

Lost Legends was formally announced in 2017 by Hirsch at D23 during a shared panel with Star vs. The Forces of Evil. With a planned release date of July 24, 2018, there was barely any mention of the book following its original announcement.

Overview[]

Hirsch began the event at 12:00 PM EST with a tweet with a pine tree-shaped puzzle piece. The image had Dipper on it as well as a zombie hand. Part of the Gravity Falls logo was also visible above a scroll with the letters "Lo" visible. As well as that, Hirsch's tweet had the following poem,

Somebody tell me what this could be / I’ve got the lock / But what is the key? #LbzshpnzLpnxo ^[1]

When decoded with the Vigenère cipher using the key "WHAT", the hashtag was PuzzlingPines. This would be the name of the event and the hashtag used by all participating members.

First pieces[]

Piece 2 was tweeted out by Oregon Parks Dept. at 12:30 PM. The piece had the bottom half of the book with Mabel's shooting star symbol. The tweet also stated,

Birds use the strangest things to build their homes. This pine-tree-shaped item fell from a blue jay’s nest. Curious. Nature is a beautiful thing. #OregonParksDept #PuzzlingPines ^[2]

Piece 3 was tweeted out by cartoonist Asaf Hanuka (an artist on Lost Legends) at 1:32 PM EST. It was the top-right corner of the book with Grunkle Stan's fez symbol partly visible. His tweet read,

Just found this piece of something that is definitely part of something bigger... but what?? #PuzzlingPines ^[3]

Piece 4 was tweeted out at 1:48 PM by Eric Geron (editor on Lost Legends). The image was of the bottom-right corner with Ford's six fingered hand symbol. His tweet was,

Special delivery for @TheMysteryofGF! #PuzzlingPines ^[4]

Piece 5 was tweeted out at 2:30 PM by Oh My Disney. The image showcased part of a lantern and Ford's magnet gun, but it was unknown who was holding it. The tweet read,

Hmm, a puzzle piece ... what could it mean? #PuzzlingPines ^[5]

Oh My Disney tweeted the 6th piece a few minutes later, but on their Facebook page. It was the first piece to not be tweeted out. This made it hard at first for the it to be found but it eventually was. The piece showcased the top left corner of the book with Dipper's pine tree symbol. The post said,

Ooooh, we found a mysterious puzzle piece... #PuzzlingPines ^[6]

Oh My Disney was also responsible for the 7th piece which they posted on their Instagram page...

hey #gravityfalls fans, we found this puzzle piece... anyone know what it’s for? 😉 #PuzzlingPines ^[7]

This piece had the most significance of all the pieces yet as it revealed the appearance of Shmebulock (as the one holding the lantern), Ford, Stan and most surprisingly, Pacifica, indicating their involvement in the stories to come. A glimpse of Mabel's grappling hook was also in it. The Official Disney account then tweeted out the 8th piece at 3:31 PM with the Gravity Falls and Disney logo on it and the message,

This weird puzzle piece came out of nowhere! Do you know what it could be? #PuzzlingPines ^[8]

Disney XD's Pieces[]

Disney XD was then responsible for the next 4 pieces in a row. They posted the 9th piece on their Facebook page. It showcased part of the book the characters were coming out of inside the cover and of a tentacle. The post read,

Today is the 2nd Anniversary of the Gravity Falls Series Finale, and we received this mysterious puzzle piece. What could it mean?!? #PuzzlingPines^[9]

The 10th piece on their Twitter account at 4:30 PM, which showed only the book spine and read,

It's the 2nd Anniversary of the #GravityFalls finale, and this puzzle piece suddenly shows up in our inbox. What does it mean?! #PuzzlingPines ^[10]

The 11th piece was posted on their Instagram account, showing the mouth of the book and read,

2 years ago, we said goodbye to #GravityFalls. Today, this puzzle piece mysteriously shows up... What does it all mean?! #PuzzlingPines^[11]

And finally, the 12th piece was posted on their now defunct Tumblr page, which was also the first piece to be posted on that site too. The image showed the rest of Dipper's pine tree symbol and Gravity Falls logo. It read,

Is it kinda weird that exactly 2 years ago Gravity Falls ended, and then today this puzzle piece mysteriously shows up? WHATDOESITMEAN?! #PuzzlingPines ^[12]

Final Pieces[]

Piece 13 was tweeted out by Ariel Hirsch at 6:03 PM. The image was of Mabel and Waddles inside of a book with a question mark cover. She also stated,

Huh, I found a thing... is it a thing you’ve been looking for? Ehhh? #PuzzlingPines^[13]

The 14th piece was then posted on the old official Gravity Falls Tumblr page (also home to one of the oldest mentions of Gravity Falls on the internet). The image showed the rest of Mabel's Shooting Star symbol the bottom of the inner book and rest of the tentacle. The statement at the bottom read,

Just when we thought Gravity Falls couldn’t get more weird… Exactly 2 years ago was the Series Finale, and then today this puzzle piece shows up out of nowhere. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! #PuzzlingPines ^[14]

Shortly after, Disney Books posted the 15th piece on their Facebook page. The piece showed Grunkle Stan's fist with brass knuckles on and read,

Pines like this one are showing up everywhere… very puzzling.  #PuzzlingPines^[15]

The piece also showed the rest of the Gravity Falls logo and showed the other side of the scroll which said "ends." and also the words "entures!" in yellow. The reveal led to the name of the book being cracked, Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, 4 All New Adventures. At 8:00 PM, Disney Books tweeted the 16th piece. It had the rest of Ford's hand symbol and revealed that he was the one holding the magnet gun. The tweet read,

On the topic of suspicious digital pines, we found another one! #PuzzlingPines^[16]

Although he took part in the event, Jason Ritter also had a piece himself. At 9:01 he tweeted out the 17th piece with Dippy Fresh's help. His piece had the other half of Mabel (who was confirmed to be holding her grappling hook) and Waddles, the rest of Pacifica, confirming she would be in the book, the tentacle and the rest of Ford. His tweet read,

I guess you could say we’ve finally made piece with each other #PuzzlingPines^[17]

Jason tweeted out a clearer image a short while after when people began asking for a better quality image of it.^[18]

After a slightly longer wait, Dana Terrace tweeted out the 18th piece. Her tweet got deleted a while ago due to her disabling her account for a while. Luckily fans at the time saved screenshots of it and the image of the piece she tweeted which read,

This watercooler goblin has a present for me. Should I take???? #Puzzlingpines

Dana didn't tweet out a clearer version of the piece which led to some awkward cropping in fan attempts at piecing together the cover.^[19] Her piece had the end of the Gravity Falls logo and the remainder of Stan's symbol.

The 19th piece was tweeted around the same time as Dana's, by blogger Aldrin Gamos. It showed the remainder of the zombie hand and read,

Been seeing these pieces pop up, and one of them mysteriously got in my hands. Anyone figure them out?! #PuzzlingPines^[20]

The Mystery of GF's Thread[]

The wait for the 20th and final piece would be the longest. Eventually at 10:41 PM, fans began to notice an unusual thread from The Mystery of GF. He began tweeting about how nostalgic the Puzzling Pines event was for bringing the fandom back together but then deviated to him going out in the night on a hunt motivated by a message left on a Bill Cipher statue. The adventure would conclude with the reveal that he had the final piece. The thread went as followed...

This whole #PuzzlingPines thing is great. Brings bad old memories of good times but also makes me a little paranoid of what’s to come ^[21]

Sometimes you start hearing things. Like it’s coming from outside. You must be imagining things but you can’t help checking it out^[22]

I..... Uh..... That’s not normal^[23]

Oh, hey, Bill^[24]

What’s that in your hand, buddy? Is it for me?^[25]

The Lion! Of course! You would befriend that thing, wouldn’t you. Ooo, a piece of paper^[26]

It’s a key!^[27]

I want off Bill Cipher’s wild #PuzzlingPines ride^[28]

Okay.... Let’s see here^[29]

Phew! That wasn’t so bad!^[30]

The Mystery of GF tweeted out a higher quality version of the piece for fans to use in solving the puzzle. The final piece's discovery confirmed the book's name and concluded the Puzzling Pines event. Hirsch tweeted out the full cover image and formally announced Lost Legends shortly after. ^[31][32]

Lost Legends would then be released on the 24th of July, 2018, alongside the Box Set.

[1]

Trivia[]

• This was the first Gravity Falls ARG type event since Cipher Hunt.^[33][34][35]

• Almost every person who took part in the event/had a piece had some relation to the book.
  • Hirsch was the book's author and owner of the Parks Departments of Oregon account.
  • Asaf Hanuka and Dana Terrace were illustrators on it.
  • Eric Geron was Lost Legends' editor.
  • Oh My Disney, Disney XD and Disney all aided in promoting the book.
  • Disney Books published Lost Legends.
  • Ariel Hirsch is Alex's sister.
  • Jason Ritter was the voice of Dipper.
  • The Tumblr blog was the official Gravity Falls blog.
  • The Mystery of GF is a close associate of Alex Hirsch and aid to Gravity Falls' fandom

• Aldrin Gamos is the only person involved in the event whose involvement with Lost Legends is unknown. Likely his role as a Disney blogger allowed him to have one of the pieces.
• During the event, there were several fakers who tried to release their own pieces to throw fans off.
• The code in Alex's original tweet was solved in less than 10 minutes.
• Each piece was supposed to be revealed at half hour intervals starting at 12 PM EST though some were tweeted out earlier or later.
• As of 2022, Dana Terrace's tweet with her piece is the only one that no longer is up due to Dana deleting her account for a while.
• Disney XD released the most pieces at 4, followed by Oh My Disney with 3. Disney Books and Alex Hirsch both released 2 pieces each (Alex using the Park Department of Oregon account).
• Oregon Parks Dept., Jason Ritter, Dana Terrace and The Mystery of GF were the only people to not tweet out a transparent background version of their pieces had to be cropped out of the photos they posted in order to be used by fans trying to solve the puzzle (though Jason and The Mystery of GF did tweet out the transparent versions of their pieces too).
• Due to Dana's account being deleted for a while, it is unknown now if she did ever release a transparent version of her piece, though fans did end up fixing it themselves.^[36]
• Many speculated that Kristen Schaal had a piece, however she was not involved in Puzzling Pines in any way.
• Contrary to popular belief, Lost Legends' name was not revealed with Puzzling Pines as several websites had already released the name of the book out and it had already been known for several hours before the last piece was revealed. The event instead was how most people found out about the name and how the cover was formally revealed.

See Also[]

Video on Puzzling Pines

Gallery[]

References[]