The McGucket Hoax - A Decade Later!

[@ThatGFFAN]

A huge thank you to MF99K for helping out on this video and providing some awesome insight into how the GF fandom in 2013 responded to the leak. Be sure to sub to her as she as some awesome new videos coming soon (also you know...sub to me too if you've not, lmao). To 10 years of the McGucket Hoax!

[@jvdos]

the only KZbinr I know that could take any amount of information and turned into a 30 minute long video as long as it’s about gravity Falls. ❤

[@ThatGFFAN]

lmao, appreciate that :P

[@mmrw]

The reveal of what happened to McGucket is probably the most heartbreaking scene in the show too, and it wouldn’t have hit nearly as hard without the hoax to build it up before

[@svxd7369]

I still can't believe that Alex Hirsch and the Gravity Falls crew managed to pull off a hoax like that

[@jessehcreative]

I met Alex Hirsch in 2014 or so and said I’m sorry about the leaks in sympathy, and now I’m humbled. Really proud this all worked out for him. Super crafty and insanely clever.

[@GhostsGraveyard]

@@jessehcreative I can just imagine him giggling to himself the second you were out of earshot

[@jessehcreative]

@ lol.

[@rayvonistired]

the Vigenère cipher at 17:03 says "metadata is officially now my word of the year" for anyone who was curious about it

[@distinguishedgentleman756]

What was the key?

[@fuseegelee]

@@distinguishedgentleman756green goblin

[@Blackcat5676]

I love how we're still finding new things from ten years ago! I appreciate you making this video for those of us who weren't around during the OG days

[@NerdOwlLover487]

Never thought this would be brought up again, but I'm glad it did.

[@BlipBlop25]

the main thing that made me think the hoax was fake was the fact that the wrong hand had 6 fingers. when the theories circulated they said that the 6th finger was cut off somehow and thats why he wears the cast on his right hand but the hand on the book was the left hand so i immediately shot down the mcgucket theory

[@Jewls2]

But isn’t the hand on the book the right hand?

[@leadingbookkeeper74]

i think its the left hand tho

[@Rinkutsu]

@@leadingbookkeeper74 our left is *his* right, so he's writing in the journal with his right hand!

[@ThatMemerDude89]

I was probably the only one who wasn't fooled by the McGucket hoax, as I had a feeling that he wasn't really the author and just an assistant who underwent Sanity Slippage the whole time. If I got into this show a decade earlier, not even my 9 year-old self would be convinced.

[@Bella-zp8rn]

Still cannot believe you can put so much research and work into your videos. Great job! ❤

[@loganmiller7827]

Sometimes I think about this and wonder like, could they have pulled off convincing the fans of something even more crazy? Like could they have convinced people that, like, Lazy Susan was the author? Pacifica? President Quentin Tremblay? WADDLES? I feel like if they wanted to they definitely could have pulled off convincing people of something insane like that and then sitting there watching everyone SCRAMBLE to make sense of it

[@alchemistofsteel8099]

@@loganmiller7827 the book of bill did something like this. Bill beamed images of random people writting the journal into dipper's head everynight. It got so absurd that dipper halluncated waddles being the author of the journals

[@loganmiller7827]

@@alchemistofsteel8099 I'm taking that as Canon evidence they wish they could go back and convince the Fandom that it was Waddles

[@Kay_Lock]

Omg, I'm so happy you're talking about this because I was in the fandom when this happened & I think about it a lot. This whole hoax made me rethink everything. Here's the thing, I was pretty convinced the author of the Journals was Mcgucket UNTIL this image was "leaked". I immediately thought it was fake but, Alex's tweets made me question (which is hilarious to me now knowing what I do about Alex). So, I was of the mindset that if it's real then yay! I was right! (Kinda sucks that it was leaked though). However, if it is fake then who is the author of the journals? & I wasn't the only one completely thrown off by it. I remember talking to someone who was convinced the secret twin theory was true who said that while they're unsure the "leak" is real they were still questioning the theory because Mcgucket being the author did make sense to them as well so, they felt very off kilter & where questioning everything. It really did make the fandom question & think more about accepting things whether it be leaks or fan theories at face value like you said. It was truly a fun time to be in this fandom & I'll always remember it foundly. Also, I do appreciate the amount of research & time you put into these videos. Even if I was in the fandom at the time you almost always bring up something that I didn't really think about or was unaware of. So, thank you! ❤

[@MF99K]

I forgot to mention this, but the fandom had already sort of realized that the McGucket image was a hoax before Society of The Blindeye released. I don't remember at what point exactly, but people had turned back towards the Stan twin theory sometime in the beginning of S2

[@MF99K]

Another thing that could've been used to sleuth out the metadata at this time is that the vast majority of Disney Studio tours seem to take place on Fridays when less work is being done. If the photo had been taken a different day of the week, it would also point towards a staff member vs someone on a tour

[@car9723]

It's intriguing to learn how a version of well-known images could make a subject for videos with depth like that. But to give it a thought, you'll wonder if there was a complete version of it if what we got is rather incomplete or shot like that. A similar way of thinking may have given birth to one of previous videos featuring a background image of the logo.

[@p0fugiste841]

I did some of the cipher because I have nothing else to do 😅 2:23 The fandom didn’t just get close … They literally solved it ! (Ceasar cipher) 12:08 I wish I could’ve seen McGucket hoax talk on the defunct mystery skack forums :( (Ceasar cipher with the pattern 6,6,5 letters back) (you start with just one 6 and then 5) 17:04 Metadata is officially now my word of the year (Vigenère cipher, key word : metadata) 17:25 Shot on Iphone by Linda H (Atbash cipher)

[@grilledcheezemurp]

The reveal of the time stamp being ALX killed me

[@itsmekaarma]

The numbers saying "ALX" really pissed me off he is a genius

[@MeneerEnMevrouwTrein]

25:48 Holy sh't. Darnit Alex!!!

[@OyLorelai]

Can’t wait! ⚠️

[@L0rdOfThePies]

The way alex probably planned this hoax out because of what the shapeshifter says, which could apply to both stanley (mistakenlyand mcgucket

[@Charlie_A24]

0:08 HELL YEAHHHHHHHH WE ALL REMEMBER THIS !!!!!!

[@kaileypickford8244]

thank you

[@AndyToons64]

Didn’t this get referenced in the book of bill?

[@ThatGFFAN]

Pays to watch the full video :)

[@billcipherfan-l5q]

wow i didn't know it was that old!

[@hectormanuel8360]

I did guess Stanley/Ford wrote the journals a few months after season 1

[@WOLF36554]

I miss being 15

[@LizzieDoodles-j1d]

I got here 14 minutes in 😭

[@Ciphertology4nerdz]

Help I just stood up an my leg made a popping sound and I'm lifitimatly fell over and it hurts omfg I'm laughing and crying so hard

[@andrewturner4375]

it been how long now???

[@ThatGFFAN]

20 years

[@ladymilliejean4166]

love this video

[@IsaThoRol]

What cypher is it WAXS SPDTS: SEXTH PHUH SEH ALKNUDYSE LYI IXAA JXAAHJSXU HWDTXIHT!

[@Maxanimates2763]

If I had to guess, that is a Caesar cipher.

[@ripcrybb.ৎ]

Yippie I’m 2nd Btw I love your content

[@queenbluecats7711]

Didn’t they do that to get people off the trail that it was stans twin brother

[@ThatGFFAN]

That...that kinda is one of the literal first things mentioned in the video

[@authenticity555]

10th comment! Also, good job on thes vids! U must work hard lol

[@Joe-rz3fd]

Were you drunk at the keyboard this time?

[@KingdomHeartsFan-mu9cf]

The worst thing the show ever pulled, in my opinion.

[@charlesbennett7484]

🪕👍

[@E3lëy]

æürgh

[@RayRay-sp5sk]

Imma be at work! 😭😭😭