Puzzling Pines, or #PuzzlingPines, was a mini event hosted by Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch on February 15, 2018. On the two-year anniversary of the series finale, he and various other artists and accounts tweeted out a series of pine tree-shaped puzzle pieces, which fans had to put together to solve a puzzle revealing a book cover. The cover was for the upcoming graphic novel Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, which was originally announced untitled in July 2017.

The puzzle was conducted across social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. It was solved in less than 12 hours, with the first post going out at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time and the formal announcement going out at 11:16 PM.

Background

On July 14, 2017, Alex Hirsch did a shared D23 panel with Star vs. the Forces of Evil creator Daron Nefcy. During the event, both creators discussed production of their respective shows and announced new projects for them. Alex Hirsch announced a graphic novel to be released for the show on July 24, 2018.^{[citation needed]} For several months after the announcement, the book was simply referred to as such and later "Untitled Gravity Falls Graphic Novel"^{[citation needed]} with barely any mention of it following its original announcement besides various tweets by Hirsch and other crew members. Fans did not yet even know what the graphic novel's name or cover would be.

Overview

The event began at 12:00 PM EST with a tweet from Alex Hirsch with a pine tree-shaped puzzle piece. Dipper and a zombie hand could be seen in the image. A part of the Gravity Falls logo could be seen next to a scroll with the letters "Lo" on it. It was accompanied by a poem:^[1]

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

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 two was tweeted out by Oregon Parks Dept. at 12:30 PM. This account was owned by Hirsch and used to promote upcoming books related to the series, such as Journal 3 prior and later The Book of Bill. The piece had the bottom half of the book with Mabel's shooting star symbol. The tweet also stated,^[2]

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

Piece three 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:^[3]

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

Piece four 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,^[4]

Special delivery for @TheMysteryofGF! #PuzzlingPines 

Piece five 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,^[5]

Hmm, a puzzle piece ... what could it mean?  #PuzzlingPines 

Oh My Disney tweeted the sixth piece a few minutes later, but on their Facebook page. It was the first piece to not be tweeted out, which made it harder for fans to find. The piece showcased the top left corner of the book with Dipper's pine tree symbol. This piece is now no longer visible, due to the shut down of Oh My Disney. When up, the post read:^[6]

Ooooh, we found a mysterious puzzle piece... #PuzzlingPines 

Oh My Disney was also responsible for the seventh piece which they posted on their Instagram page. This piece is now no longer visible, due to the shut down of Oh My Disney. When up, the post read:^[7]

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

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 Pacifica, indicating their involvement in the stories to come. A glimpse of Mabel's grappling hook was also in it.

The official Disney account on Twitter posted the eighth piece at 3:31 PM with the Gravity Falls and Disney logo on it and the message,^[8]

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

Disney XD's pieces

Disney XD was then responsible for the next four pieces in a row. They posted the ninth 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:^[9]

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

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

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

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

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

And finally, the 12th piece was posted on their (now defunct) Tumblr page. The image showed the rest of Dipper's pine tree symbol and Gravity Falls logo. It read:^[12]

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

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:^[13]

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

The 14th piece was then posted on the official Gravity Falls Tumblr page, showing 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:^[14]

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 

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:^[15]

Pines like this one are showing up everywhere… very puzzling.  #PuzzlingPines

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:^[16]

On the topic of suspicious digital pines, we found another one!  #PuzzlingPines

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, the tentacle and the rest of Ford. His tweet read:^[17]

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

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

Dana Terrace tweeted out the 18th piece on her personal profile (which was temporarily deactivated in 2020). An image was tweeted with the caption:

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

Terrace's piece was the only one posted as a real-life photograph, which wasn't followed up by a digital version. This stood out during fans' attempts to put the picture together.^[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. Aldrin's piece is no longer visible due to his account going private. It showed the remainder of the zombie hand and read:^[20]

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

The Mystery of Gravity Falls

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 Gravity Falls. 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 Gravity Falls 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] The book would be published on July 24, 2018, alongside the box set Gravity Falls: The Complete Series.

Trivia

• This was the first Gravity Falls ARG type event since Cipher Hunt.^[33][34][35]
• All parties involved in the progression of the hunt were involved with the series except for Aldrin Gamos. His involvement with the book is unknown, however his role as a Disney blogger likely landed him one of the pieces.
• During the event, there were several fakers who tried to release their own pieces to throw fans off.^{[citation needed]}
• The code in Alex's original tweet was solved in less than 10 minutes.^{[citation needed]}
• Each piece was supposed to be revealed at half hour intervals starting at 12 PM EST though some were tweeted out earlier or later.^{[citation needed]}
• 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]
• Contrary to popular belief, the name of the book was revealed prior to the hunt, however the event is how most people found out.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

External links

• That GF Fan (September 3, 2021). The Last Gravity Falls Fan Event - The Story of Puzzling Pines. YouTube.

References