Teasing Creator: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Q''': ''Do you particularly enjoy being deliberately vague?''<br />

'''A''': ''[[~~Mathematicians~~ Answer|Maybe?]]''|'''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Tom Siddell]]'s''' [http://www.formspring.me/gunnerkrigg/q/831796547 typical Formspring answer.]}}

'''A''': ''[[Mathematician's Answer|Maybe?]]''|'''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Tom Siddell]]'s''' [http://www.formspring.me/gunnerkrigg/q/831796547 typical Formspring answer.]}}

Sometimes you get the feeling that a series creator is having a little ''too'' much fun messing with their audience's collective heads.

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This is a creator who loves to mess around with their audience, keeping them hanging for as long as humanly possible. They'll hint, [[Flip Flop of God|contradict themselves]], be [[Shrug of God|deliberately vague]] and occasionally outright mock the [[Epileptic Trees]] offered... only to prove said Epileptic Trees right at the very moment the majority of the fandom gives up on them. It only really counts as a meta-trope though - all stories aim to keep their audience guessing, but this creator does so outside the story itself, be it in interviews, on a blog or at conventions. [[Shrug of God]] is their language of choice.

There's a fine line to walk here. This tactic can create genuine suspense, since the creator is so unpredictable. Or it can annoy the fans, and make them feel like they're being [[Viewers ~~Are~~ Morons|unfairly toyed with by a superior being]], perhaps leading to cries of [[Small Name Big Ego]]. However, it can also be a reaction to [[Fan Dumb]]: if the creator makes a concrete statement which is then ignored in favour of speculation, they might decide [[Artist Disillusionment|"screw it"]] and play along.

There's a fine line to walk here. This tactic can create genuine suspense, since the creator is so unpredictable. Or it can annoy the fans, and make them feel like they're being [[Viewers are Morons|unfairly toyed with by a superior being]], perhaps leading to cries of [[Small Name, Big Ego]]. However, it can also be a reaction to [[Fan Dumb]]: if the creator makes a concrete statement which is then ignored in favour of speculation, they might decide [[Artist Disillusionment|"screw it"]] and play along.

The creator's pedigree can make this trope more or less effective - if you've [[Ship Sinking|sunk the ship]] or [[Killed Off for Real|eliminated main characters]] before now, there's every chance you'll do it again... but then, if you make a habit of it, people will stop finding it suspenseful and simply give up on caring for your characters, knowing you're likely to [[Kill Em All]] or stick them with a [[Downer Ending]].

The creator's pedigree can make this trope more or less effective - if you've [[Ship Sinking|sunk the ship]] or [[Killed Off for Real|eliminated main characters]] before now, there's every chance you'll do it again... but then, if you make a habit of it, people will stop finding it suspenseful and simply give up on caring for your characters, knowing you're likely to [[Kill'Em All]] or stick them with a [[Downer Ending]].

Tends to be most popular in webcomics, since they're one of the few remaining mediums that can genuinely be kept under wraps, spoiler-free.

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[[Ship Tease]] is a specific variety of this trope, as is [[The Walrus Was Paul]]. Differs from [[Shrug of God]] since there is definitely a deliberate tactic being employed, and it isn't always in response to fans' questions - in fact, you get the feeling the the fans are being ''provoked'' into asking questions. Compare [[Trolling Creator]], when this gets outright malicious.

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

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* Oh, [[Hidekaz Himaruya]]. The whole ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' [[Hetalia Bloodbath 2010 (Manga)|Christmas 2010 Event]] was proof of how he likes interacting with the ''Hetalia'' fandom, both in Japan and the West.

** And he did it again, for April Fools' Day 2011. And he regularly takes requests on his website for things people want him to sketch, even if such things are completely nonsensical and could never be considered canon.

** And it reached epic levels for ''[[Hetaween 2011 (Manga)|Hetaween 2011]]'' with his [[Fan Nickname]] becoming "Himapapatrollking" and many people becoming convinced that he was secretly watching their posts about the event with how he suddenly introduced new characters without warning, brought back [[One Scene Wonder]] characters, and still found time to mercilessly tease fans by deliberately avoiding showing the face of said new characters.

** And it reached epic levels for ''[[Hetaween 2011 (Manga)|Hetaween 2011]]'' with his [[Fan Nickname]] becoming "Himapapatrollking" and many people becoming convinced that he was secretly watching their posts about the event with how he suddenly introduced new characters without warning, brought back [[One-Scene Wonder]] characters, and still found time to mercilessly tease fans by deliberately avoiding showing the face of said new characters.

* [[Eiichiro Oda]] of ''[[One Piece]]'' fame certainly has some interesting answers when fans ask him questions, just to screw around with them. Given Oda's sense of humor and the generally odd nature of the ''[[One Piece]]'' world, it's sometimes hard to tell when his answers are serious and when they're just jokes.

* Kunihiko Ikuhara and ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' - see especially the car girl incident and Miki's Goddamn stopwatch.

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* Fred Gallagher of ''[[Megatokyo]]'' does this from time to time. Miho in particular was a figure of mystery for a long time.

* Randy K. Milholland of ''[[Something Positive (Webcomic)|Something Positive]]'' is known to do this. An example is his [http://somethingpositive.net/sp05312009.shtml admittance] that the continual [[Ship Tease]] between characters Davan and Pee Jee would never actually lead to anything, the result of an early promise he made to the woman that Pee Jee was based on, but he decided to "play with" the readership concerning the pairing.

* Brian Clevinger, creator of ''[[~~Eight~~ Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' and ''[[Atomic Robo]]'' is one of those few Teasing Creators who actually ''are'' unfairly toying with their readership, but is still pretty beloved because he makes it funny. In this case, it's less [[Ship Tease|Ship Teasing]] and more 'changing the plot if you even try to guess what's going on, and hell why not have an [[Anticlimax]] instead of an awesome fight'. His most common quote is this:

* Brian Clevinger, creator of ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' and ''[[Atomic Robo]]'' is one of those few Teasing Creators who actually ''are'' unfairly toying with their readership, but is still pretty beloved because he makes it funny. In this case, it's less [[Ship Tease|Ship Teasing]] and more 'changing the plot if you even try to guess what's going on, and hell why not have an [[Anticlimax]] instead of an awesome fight'. His most common quote is this:

** Once, he attempted what was perhaps his biggest joke on the readers at the time, when he appeared to end the ''entire comic'' on a [[All Just a Dream|horrible anticlimax]], expecting to get a ton of hate mail and rile up his fans. This backfired when he got a ton of mail sincerely ''thanking'' him for the years of great comics, and assuring him that the anticlamix was horrible, and thus, the perfect ending for the particular comic. He appreciated the irony; his favorite joke, a joke on the reader, [[Insult Backfire|whipped right back around]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|and became a joke on HIM.]]

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== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' writers Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick ''love'' to mess with the fans. They have claimed that third season [[The Scrappy|Scrappies]], The Murderous Moppets, will be getting [[~~Creators~~ Pet|more screentime]] in the next season just to spite the fans who don't like them ({{spoiler|which is the exact opposite of what happens in season 4, as so far one of their few roles is The Monarch telling them to quit bothering everyone}}). They also throw in [[Brick Joke]] references to episodes that nobody (including themselves) likes all that much and threaten ([[Rule of Funny|hilariously]]) to kill off popular characters. Oh, and the episode commentary for the first episode of season three spoils all of the twists in the season finale because, according to them, nobody should listen to the commentary before watching the episodes.

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' writers Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick ''love'' to mess with the fans. They have claimed that third season [[The Scrappy|Scrappies]], The Murderous Moppets, will be getting [[Creator's Pet|more screentime]] in the next season just to spite the fans who don't like them ({{spoiler|which is the exact opposite of what happens in season 4, as so far one of their few roles is The Monarch telling them to quit bothering everyone}}). They also throw in [[Brick Joke]] references to episodes that nobody (including themselves) likes all that much and threaten ([[Rule of Funny|hilariously]]) to kill off popular characters. Oh, and the episode commentary for the first episode of season three spoils all of the twists in the season finale because, according to them, nobody should listen to the commentary before watching the episodes.

** Doc Hammer actually made it his personal mission to spoil the end of season 3 in '''every''' episode commentary for said season. In the first episode, he did it accidentally, then he decided that if you listen to the commentaries before finishing the season you deserve what you get.

* It's hard to decide if the people working on ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' are this or [[Trolling Creator]]. The fans have been working themselves into an absolute tizzy over season 2, and what do they send us? A picture of a single scene with Twilight reading a book. SPOILERZ GUIS!

* It's hard to decide if the people working on ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' are this or [[Trolling Creator]]. The fans have been working themselves into an absolute tizzy over season 2, and what do they send us? A picture of a single scene with Twilight reading a book. SPOILERZ GUIS!

** Then, just for extra [[Trolling Creator|Trolliness]], when the fandom exploded over that picture, they posted another picture. What can you see in the background of the second picture? The post of the first picture. Yeah.

** A [http://youtu.be/jMi1JRvW9E4 recent commercial] showing previews of the fall lineup includes literally 2 seconds worth of footage from the show, including a bit with Princess Celestia that has fans wildly speculating as to the circumstances of the particular scene.