History Main / TrollingCreator

** This series has one of the most classic and well-known examples of this trope. After its GainaxEnding "[[Recap/ThePrisoner1967E17FallOut Fall Out]]" aired, series creator Patrick [=McGoohan=] had people routinely coming ''to his doorstep'' demanding to know what it was all about. His comment:

** He also posted a remix of "Pharaoh's Throne" (a parody of Music/LadyGaga's "Telephone") entitled "Pharaoh's Circus". It's actually kind of interesting how well [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} Circus Afro]]]] matches up with the beat of Telephone.

* The Music/TomLehrer song "My Home Town" implies some horrible secret about a man named Parson Brown, with Lehrer pausing the song to note that the line is so shocking he can't say it on the recording, much to the audible disappointment of the crowd. In fact, he never actually wrote any line for it.

* ZUN has developed a habit of subverting the {{Moe}} personalities fandom attributes to the cast of ''Franchise/TouhouProject''. First, in ''Double Spoiler'', he revealed that Momiji is more of a "lone wolf" type than the GenkiGirl portrayed by fandom, and actually hates Aya, the person she was most shipped with. Then, in ''Symposium of Post-Mysticism'', he did this to about half the cast of ''Mountain of Faith'' and ''Subterranean Animism'': Nitori (the "[[ShrinkingViolet shy kappa]]") is a shameless racist, possible murderer, and InsufferableGenius, Kisume ("[[GirlInABox bucket loli]]" who is also treated as really shy) is depicted as a CreepyChild... and [[ForTheEvulz Tenshi]], who spent much of her fighting game being a gigantic, destructive asshole (even by Touhou standards), [[JerkassWoobie just needs a hug]] after being bullied by the cast.

* Even the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, is given to this at times, most notably when he claimed Mario's line when he throws Bowser a long distance in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' as "So long, King-a Bowser!" when the actual recording has one syllable less, and when he claimed to have rerecorded Wario's [[GratuitousGerman "So ein Mist!"]] line for ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' as [[LadyMondegreen "D'oh, I missed!"]] when that game was the clearest indicator of what the line really was.

** In a case of Ono trolling [[WhatCouldHaveBeen that could have been]], during the buildup to a new ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' character, Ono had released a couple of screenshots of Brazil and Ryu getting [[ShockAndAwe shocked by electricity]]. Fans took it and immediately assumed it was Blanka (who is well known to be one of Ono's favorite ''Street Fighter'' characters), and Ono was going to keep the teasing going all the way to the Brazil Game Show, complete with dressing up as Blanka at the event to get people assuming things. It would all turn out to be a RedHerring for an actual newcomer named Laura ([[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Sean's]] older sister) who was also from Brazil and had electricity powers. But then, well, Famitsu leaked pictures of Laura a couple weeks before the show, ruining the reveal altogether, and made worse by Sony releasing Laura's reveal trailer a couple days early too, so all potential trolling plans were flushed down the toilet.
*** However, when the Arcade Edition of the game was released, Blanka was one of the characters included.
* Creator/SquareEnix when it comes to BonusBoss Absolute Virtue in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''. Every time the players [[LordBritishPostulate find a way to beat him]], the dev team goes out of their way to squash the methods used to beat the monster. Square Enix seem to either ''want'' to make Absolute Virtue unbeatable or they enjoy watching players cry as Absolute Virtue's weaknesses gets changed every time people find a way to weaken him. This has since been subverted with expansions increasing the level cap to the point players can beat Absolute Virtue by sheer force, and they seem to be content with that.[[note]]There ''is'' a specific way to beat Absolute Virtue (involving the use of two-hour abilities to mirror the boss's use of them), and that was, according to the devs, the intended way to beat the boss. So it's not so much trolling (although there is quite a bit of that in the process), but rather removing exploits that allowed players to circumvent the intended method for winning. The fact that there's ''zero'' indication of the intended method, and that ''no one'' found out how to do it until Square Enix almost literally pointed it out, on the other hand...[[/note]]

*** In a similar vein to that; Another Abrams movie, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', seems to set up a cool fight scene on a freighter ship involving two, badass criminal gangs. [[http://oi66.tinypic.com/mtl05d.jpg One is an angry young]] ViolentGlaswegian (named ''Bala-Tik'') with a bunch of SuperSerum-augemented silent red cyborgs (''The Guavian Death Gang!'') and [[http://oi68.tinypic.com/2rmnm6d.jpg the other consists of the guys]] from that Indonesian action flick series, ''Film/TheRaid'' (''The Kanjiklub!'')....but most of both groups get [[http://oi66.tinypic.com/wcef7o.jpg munched by terrifying (albeit kind of silly) CGI monsters]] (which resemble tentacled meatballs with teeth) before they can do anything (Granted; A few surviving red guys ''do'' exchange blaster-fire with Han & Chewie, though but all the ''TheRaid'' guys end up eaten or M.I.A and the ViolentGlaswegian only shows up in the very end to radio [[TheEmpire The First Order]] of the heroes whereabouts as they escape.)!

** And yet again in the Mirror universe event. The Mirror Universe was originally established in Star Trek The Original Series as a Universe where The relatively peaceful Federation was bloodthirsty conquerors [[BeardofEvil(And Evil Spock had a goatee)]]. It reappeared on Deep Space 9 where rather uptight Kira Neryswas an manipulative ruthless depraved bisexual with power. In the latest season it is revealed The Mirror Federation is lead by a Ruthless Emperor. Who is the Emperor? Only the most hated and complained about character on Star Trek. [[spoiler:Wesley Crusher]]

** When Aonuma made a presence near the end of a WebVideo/NintendoDirect in February 2021, he was aware that his presence alone would excite fans longing for news and updates pertaining the sequel to ''Breath of the Wild''. So he went on to say that he had nothing from the game to show in that presentation. Aonuma had assured fans in 2020 (during the presentation of ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'') that they only needed to wait "a bit longer" for a new preview on the new mainline game, and when delivering the bad news in the later video [[MovingTheGoalposts he used those same words to ask fans for patience]]. He did promise that information would be presented for real in 2021, and presented a trailer for the remaster of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' for the Switch to compensate the wait:

'''[=PS3=] Fans''': YES!!! Wait, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor she's on-disc DLC?!]] And [[TierInducedScrappy tournament]] [[GameBreaker OP]]?! God'''damnit''' '''''MORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!'''''\\

* One cutscene in ''VideoGame/GunGunPixies'' has a case of a BaitAndSwitch regarding a character's age. One of the girls is called out by her sister for playing an eroge. She responds with the line [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall "All characters in this game are 18 years or older"]], only for her sister to then remind her that [[JailbaitTaboo she's only 17]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Occasionally Ashley will pop in anonymously on fan conversations in which therories are being tossed about and post actual spoilers as theory. Like the fact that [[spoiler:Mikaila used the sharpness aspect of the broken glass]] to attack Bastion, six years before the pages revealing the [[https://unsoundedcomic.tumblr.com/post/673730730976804864/ill-have-you-know-that-unless-it-was-you-under fact were published.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' has [[spoiler:a second stinger involving a sneak peek at ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII''. It starts normal, but then suddenly we get JustForFun/{{Rickroll}}ed by Ralph. This example also counts as WereStillRelevantDammit knowing that Rickrolling has become a DiscreditedMeme.]]

* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'': Viewers of the teaser thought one line sounded suspiciously similar to the title character of ''Series/TheMandalorian'', even though he didn't appear onscreen. Articles and videos began crediting it to ''Mandalorian'' star Creator/PedroPascal, treating it as confirmation that either his series would cross over with ''The Book of Boba Fett'', or (since the captions attributed the quote to either "Alien 1" or "Translator" rather than "The Mandalorian") Pascal landed more than one ''Franchise/StarWars'' role. It turned out that ''Boba Fett'' showrunner Creator/RobertRodriguez recorded the line [[DescendedCreator himself]], but he didn't correct any of those articles or videos right away. Instead, he let the rumors that Pascal said it circulate for over a month, before he finally revealed the truth to ''The Hollywood Reporter''. (Pascal couldn't credit Rodriguez because filming ''The Last of Us'' prevented him from finding time to post about the teaser.)

** From the same guys, after season 16 of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' divided fans like hell, the writers decided to do [[https://preview.redd.it/ggqp4xvewtt11.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=42b5da9b1b84f7c97c4c3f7a031c2519c7ed3aed this whiteboard]] for a S17 discussion (a joke so self-aware there's a skateboarder JumpingTheShark...).

** After the release date for ''Deadpool 3'' was announced, packaged with the reveal that Creator/HughJackman would be reprising his role as Wolverine from the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', Creator/RyanReynolds released [[https://twitter.com/vancityreynolds/status/1575101936700772355?s=10&t=dCuXRWu66BwIppIf5m_BZA a video]] where he and Hugh apparently explain how Wolverine's return following his death in ''Film/{{Logan}}''. Except a few seconds after they start explaining, all their dialogue gets covered up by Music/{{WHAM}}'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".

* ''Animation/AgentAli'': On 29th Februaury 2020, the official ''Agent Ali'' [=YouTube=] channel posted a video titled "[[https://youtu.be/QlQzwrtJIxM ejen ali the movie FULL 2019]]". Instead of the actual film, however, the video is an animated loop of [[TeamPet Comot]] dancing to the movie's "Mamak Maju" song for the same duration as that of the movie.

** Also, he resolved the plot with [[spoiler: The Lifemaker possessing Nagi.]] (Hint: [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot He didn't.]] Not in any satisfying way at least). Or the whereabouts of [[spoiler: Negi's mother Arika]]. (That last one was actually him trolling the publishers. See TorchTheFranchiseAndRun for details.)

* Speaking of Anno...While it's unknown who came up with this, [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-07-13/evangelion/3.0-you-can-not-redo-film-promo-streamed this trailer]] for the third ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movie was definitely created to troll the viewers. It begins with clips from the first two movies, and when it finally shows images from the third movie it shows [[spoiler: the internal workings of a CGI piano.]] Yes, this series is known for MindScrew, but ''come on''. In addition, [[spoiler: the piano]] appears in official posters and theatre preview trailers.

* Creator/GenUrobuchi, the [[BlatantLies healing-type]] writer of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. He even trolled the ''other people working on the anime.'' For example, he withheld the knowledge of the show's grim-dark setting from character designer Creator/UmeAoki and neglected to inform Creator/EmiriKatou, the voice actress for [[MentorMascot Kyubey]], of the character's [[spoiler: [[FauxAffablyEvil true nature]]]]. The reactions of both were, in other words, [[HeroicBSOD priceless]]. Not to mention that he refused to bring [[spoiler: Sayaka]] back even when the director Creator/AkiyukiShinbo requested that he do it.
** And that was before the whole [[spoiler: [[FaceHeelTurn Akuma Homura]]]] situation tore apart the Madoka fandom.

-->'''[[spoiler:Creator/CarrieKeranen]]''': ''[[spoiler: [[FreakOut Did I just... Did I just DIE!?]]]]''

** That's nothing compared to his ''seven year time skip'' where [[spoiler:none of his core cast aged]]. Let's not even get started with Chapters 261-263... after trolling the fans for ''3 chapters in a row'', he whips out Chapter 264 which treads into MagnificentBastard territory. Generally, it has become somewhat of a [[MemeticMutation fan meme]] on some Fairy Tail forums that Hiro trolls his readers[[note]]Which goes all the way back to the very beginning of the story (i.e., when Lucy sets out to join Fairy Tail).[[/note]], sometimes even stretching to HateDumb when he actually isn't trolling in the way the trope describes[[note]]Except when he is.[[/note]], but people insist he is[[note]]Except when he isn't.[[/note]].

* Some fans say this about the creator of ''Manga/OtakuNoMusumeSan'', as Kouta, the main character and [[TheWoobie the woobie]] by default, is constantly trolled by everything that he's getting serious about. [[spoiler: Consider that he became an otaku after Kanau's mother just left him and disappeared, as a form of consolation. So you can tell how [[TheWoobie woobie]] his life is]].

** This isn't the first time it's happened. There was a leak of a Cure Symphony in ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure''. [[spoiler: It never came to be, and was intentionally made to throw off people who uncovered the identity of Cure Sunshine in Heartcatch a year earlier.]]
* ''Manga/VampireKnight'''s Hino Matsuri seems to have a particular knack for trolling every inch of the story's LoveTriangle. [[spoiler:This becomes especially apparent towards the ending where she has the heroine finally admit that she's in love with Zero, and kisses him, only to then run back to Kaname and sleep with him.]] And she soon amped up the trolling via [[spoiler: sending Kaname into a decades-long coma, having Zero and Yuuki ''get married'' and live together until Zero dies of natural causes, and finally having Yuuki say goodbye to her kids (one is Kaname's child, the other Zero's) before pretty much ''killing herself to revive Kaname''.]] Uhm, oh boy.

* The author([[Creator/ExquisiteCorpse s]]) of ''Fanfic/DaringDoAndTheJourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'' initially posted this story as a single 20,000 word long chapter. Fimfic users complained about the length and asked to split the story into smaller chapters. The result is that it was split into three chapters... by word count, so each chapter had exactly the same number of words, even though it resulted in chapter breaks happening in the middle of sentences.

** He also teased in an author's note that TonightSomeoneDies...[[spoiler: then resurrected them and cheerfully added, "I never said it would stick."]]
** In addition, another author's note mentioned that he considered calling Chapter 70 (in which [[spoiler: Luna Lovegood and Arthur Weasley]] get killed off) '[[LampshadeHanging Yes, I Really Am A Bastard]].'
** As the author is a big fan of Spider-Man, readers were wondering when Peter Parker would get bitten, gain his powers, and join the story. In Chapter 29 of the sequel, ''Ghosts of the Past,'' Peter Parker does indeed get bit...by a [[spoiler: vampire]].
** In Chapter 41 of ''Ghosts'', Nimbus justified his [[ForWantOfANail changing the nature of the First Task]] by noting that "Harry would quite literally walk over any normal dragon with ease." As it turns out, [[spoiler: [[ExactWords the key word there is "normal"]], and Harry winds up fighting an Elder Wyrm, which is indeed a kind of dragon, albeit one far more badass than a mere Hungarian Horntail.]]

* Transwiththeplans, author of ''Fanfic/OfGemstonesAndWatches'' releases Chapter 34. On Christmas Eve. In the chapter, [[spoiler: Max Tennyson dies]]. One reviewer made a review that simply said: "I hate you."

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'' has a scene near the end where [[spoiler: Arnold wakes up, and thinks that everything that happened, including finding his parents and [[RelationshipUpgrade sealing his relationship with Helga]], were AllJustADream, seemingly undermining everything that's been built up over the series. He then sees his parents downstairs for real, [[OrWasItADream meaning that the whole movie really did happen]].]] Creator/CraigBartlett has a pretty dark sense of humor about this.

** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': The trailers and promos were basically trolling fans since day one. Apart from shots that weren't even in the film (such as Hulk fighting alongside the Avengers and the Wakandan Army), and fake scenes being shot to protect the secrecy of the real plot of the film, almost every trailer baited the audiences into thinking that [[spoiler: the Avengers and Guardians were going to resolve the threat of Thanos' quest for the Infinity Stones by the end of the film, despite the apparent increased stakes. [[TheBadGuyWins And we all know]] [[ShaggyDogStory how that turned out.]]]]

** And again with the ShipTease [[RedHerring Red Herrings]] involving Amy, the Doctor and Rory. Especially regarding [[spoiler: who fathered Amy's baby throughout her is-it-real-or-isn't-it pregnancy and even after the birth of her daughter. This culminated in a long speech by Amy to her baby daughter about her father, which seems to be describing the Doctor to a T, but is actually about Rory (incidentally highlighting the many similarities between the two)]].

** It apparently came back to bite him when he wrote ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': According to his DVD commentary, Marvel told him that they wanted to kill off [[spoiler: Agent Coulson]]; he immediately realized that he was going to get a lot of crap for this, and that [[MisBlamed no one would believe it wasn't his idea]].

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Executive Producer Stephan Nathan's response to being told that [[spoiler: dangling an engagement between Booth and Bones in front of the viewers]], and then having Pelant tear it to pieces, was not cool? "Hahaha! That was so much fun to do!" Cue the fanbase wanting his head alongside Pelant's.

** In the 9th season finale [[spoiler: Dean is turned into a demon with black eyes. Jensen Ackles had given an interview not long before it aired saying that finale would be "...a bit of an eye-opener," and mugging for the camera]]

--> "[[NoYou I'll]] [[https://twitter.com/harada_tekken/status/541648166362157057?lang=en remove]] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNRghF_UAAAaJbL.png you.]]"

** He struck once again as he claimed the next game in the series, ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'', was just a spin-off, similar to ''FNAF World''. Everyone believed him, as ''Sister Location'' was considered by fans to be the final game. [[spoiler: It turned out to be ''Five Nights at Freddy's 6'', and he may have just pulled off one of the greatest trolls ever.]]

* After the Community Challenge Pack for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' was released, people quickly found an easter egg that seemingly had a date on it (4-25). The developers never addressed this, and people made all kinds of theories about Remaster announcements, ''Origins 2'' announcements, Season of Infamy 2 announcements, More skin packs releases, etc. The date came and... a moderator posts a "Happy birthday Joker" thread on the forums. (Joker first appeared 76 years ago that day). Some predicted this, some found it disappointing, some were demanding free content that was "promised" by the easter egg and some were telling [[BreadEggsMilkSquick how their dreams and hopes were crushed.]] [[spoiler: However, this EasterEgg might've been a [[SequelHook Prequel Hook]] for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamVR'', as "425" is an ArcNumber throughout the game, it involves the Joker's blood infection, and part of the easter egg involved Bruce suspecting a murder victim was killed by someone they knew and ''VR'' was [[ItWasAllADream a nightmare about a Jokerified Bruce killing Nightwing]].]]

* Brian Clevinger of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' fame, noted for his love of the AntiClimax. He wrote ''two'' separate fake-out endings to his webcomic (one where [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/04/01/episode-133-if-you-did-see-it-coming-you-might-be-psychic-joke-comic/ Garland sets a computer to blow up the universe]], and one where [[https://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/12/11/episode-1070-what-were-you-expecting/ Fighter wakes up as a real-life woman and dismissing the apparent dream as "80% filler"]]), and admitted to doing the second one solely to see the readers' angry reactions. The fanbase was onto him by that point, though, and thought it was a hilarious and fitting ending. Clevinger was disappointed.

** The mystery of [[EmotionlessGirl Jones]]. After [[WildMassGuessing a long time of speculation from the readers]], and a RunningGag about her most definitely ''not'' being a robot, Tom finally writes a chapter where Annie just directly asks Jones what she is. This leads to a series of flashbacks that keep going back further and further in her backstory and basically tell us that Jones is [[spoiler:a TimeAbyss who has been on Earth ''since before it could support life'']]. Then we return to the present and Jones says: "[[spoiler:And to answer your previous question... I do not know what I am]]." This is bad enough, but in the author's comment section there's a [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/images/jonesface.gif flashing GIF banner]].
** [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1588 Chapter 55: The Break-Out]]. Antimony psyches herself up to get Renard back from her father. [[spoiler: Tony hands the doll over without a word, and asks if there will be anything else. They exchange good-nights, and Annie leaves. End of chapter!]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1590 Next page]]: [[spoiler: [[TricksterGod Coyote, laughing]].]]

** When "Season Two" of ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'' started, Willis put up a silhouetted cast picture, with characters "appearing" as they got reintroduced. Since some of the characters have distinctive appearances even in silhouette, Assumptions Were Made. Then [[spoiler: Walky mentions ''in passing'' that Mike (last seen in hospital) is dead]], and the next strip [[spoiler: introduces Booster, who doesn't even look much like Mike, but has a hairstyle that lets them fit in the "Mike-shaped" space on the cast pic]].

* Creator/RoosterTeeth seems to have lapsed into this with their ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' Achievement Horse series. Despite people clamoring for the original best-of-five rounds, they've steadily decreased the number of rounds to 3 (Achievement Pig) to [[spoiler: seemingly]] 1 (Achievement P), all the while claiming it's what the fans want and that they want to go back to the original 5.

** He also posted a remix of "Pharaoh's Throne" (a parody of Music/LadyGaga's "Telephone") entitled "Pharaoh's Circus". It's actually kind of interesting how well [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} Circus Afro]]]] matches up with the beat of Telephone.
-->'''LK''': [[spoiler: I'm not sorry.]]

* WebVideo/RedLetterMedia's Mr. Plinkett "[[https://youtu.be/PiRS1b--TTQ review]]" of ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' consists on him talking for thirty seconds about how awful the movie is before saying that [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere he shouldn't waste any more time on it and saying "Bye!"]], leaving a black screen with Transformers' sounds that runs for about ''58 minutes''. It should be mentioned that in the original video the length of the black screen was of 20 minutes, then after they received backlash for it in the comments ''they increased it to its current length in response''.
* [[{{WebVideo/Jreg}} Greg "Jreg" Guevara]] is fond of being this, particularly with obfuscating jres actual political beliefs. Jre uploaded 6 videos within an hour proclaiming that jre was 6 contradictory political ideologies in a completely earnest tone, made jres discord server publicly accessible for anyone on the internet which effectively turned it into a warzone, made a very serious video about how unsure jre is about the future of the channel, and released a video a week later stating jre's going to quit Youtube, only to [[spoiler: upload another video an hour later stating jre's just suddenly changed jres mind and then guilt trips the audience because of how tired jre is of making videos.]] A few months after the discord dilemma, jre made a livestream where he singlehandedly "purged" individual members of his server, before deleting it altogether.

** Back at SDCC 2013, the crew shared some upcoming teasers, including [[http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/52847674525/we-have-the-best-storyboards-no-one-comes-close a storyboard for a future scene]]. Completely out of context and with no explanation, it was revealed to be the sketch for the [[spoiler: last scene of season 3]], a very dramatic and heavy WhamShot.

* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' ended on a cliffhanger as everyone waited to learn who Cartman's father was. The reveal was promised to come on April 1, but after teasing the answer with "Now, finally, the shocking truth about Cartman's lineage…" Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone threw in an April Fools Joke at the public with "Not Without my Anus", an episode starring Terrence and Phillip, the boys' favorite Canadian TV stars. Cartman's father's identity ''is'' mentioned during "Not Without My Anus," but it's almost completely drowned out by Terrence and Phillip's laughter, so it's extremely easy to miss, and was not properly revealed until several weeks later. Many viewers were not pleased. Oh, and [[spoiler: the identity of Cartman's father was subject to a RetCon years later anyhow.]]

* The creators of ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' promised that while Raphael was currently the leader, Leonardo would eventually step up to become the leader of the team like in every other incarnation. [[spoiler: He becomes the leader during the last few seconds of the '''''series finale'''''.]]

*** For series two, they were "Adler. Hound. Reichenbach." For series three, they are "Rat. Wedding. Bow."

* Creator/{{SNK}} performed a 20-year long con on fans of ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'': first they introduced a CaptainErsatz of ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'''s Tetsuo Shima named K9999 in ''2001''. Then, beginning around 2003, they went to great extremes (such as introducing [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Nameless]] and editing K9999 out of ''XIV'''s gallery) to [[BuryYourArt make it appear as though he never existed]], osteniably for [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal reasons]]. And then, they reintroduced him as "Krohnen" in 2022's ''XV'', confessing that the whole fiasco was intended to create numerous EpilepticTrees of what happened to K9999. [[Film/TheUsualSuspects "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist."]] ''indeed''.

* Creator/{{SNK}} performed a 20-year long con on fans of ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'': first they introduced a CaptainErsatz of ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'' named K9999 in ''2001''. Then, beginning around 2003, they went to great extremes (such as introducing [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Nameless]] and editing K9999 out of ''XIV'''s gallery) to [[BuryYourArt make it appear as though he never existed]], osteniably for [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal reasons]]. And then, they reintroduced him as "Krohnen" in 2022's ''XV'', confessing that the whole fiasco was intended to create numerous EpilepticTrees of what happened to K9999. [[Film/TheUsualSuspects "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist."]] ''indeed''.

*** The series finale took it UpToEleven, which in all its advertising asked "Who Killed Annalise". [[spoiler:No one "killed" her. The scene in the winter finale that appeared to show a dead character alive and attending Annalise's funeral was in fact a hint that she lived a long life--long enough for the character's son, who wasn't even born until six months after he died, to grow up [[SignificantDoubleCasting to look just like his father.]]]]

* No, your copy of ''[[Music/{{HIM}} Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666]]'' isn't damaged. "It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)" is ''supposed'' to make you think so, with the way it ends - cutting off abruptly after apparent issues with one of the stereo channels. The joke worked so well people actually brought their copies back to where they bought them, thinking they'd gotten one that was damaged. [[UpToEleven They take it to another level]] in concert: Playing on the obvious innuendo already in the song, they ''really'' throw any and all subtlety out the window to close out this particular number as Valo screeches some raunchy lyrics from [[Music/MonsterMagnet "Wall of Fire"]] to the rest of his band playing [[Music/TheStooges "TV Eye"]].

** [[UpToEleven The epitome of this trope]], however, is the mystery of [[EmotionlessGirl Jones]]. After [[WildMassGuessing a long time of speculation from the readers]], and a RunningGag about her most definitely ''not'' being a robot, Tom finally writes a chapter where Annie just directly asks Jones what she is. This leads to a series of flashbacks that keep going back further and further in her backstory and basically tell us that Jones is [[spoiler:a TimeAbyss who has been on Earth ''since before it could support life'']]. Then we return to the present and Jones says: "[[spoiler:And to answer your previous question... I do not know what I am]]." This is bad enough, but in the author's comment section there's a [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/images/jonesface.gif flashing GIF banner]].

*** This is lampshaded in the final season, when Bolin states that he's always wondered who Lin's father was, as even Lin herself doesn't know. The answer ends up taking this example UpToEleven, with it being revealed that her father is [[spoiler:just some guy named Kanto. A nice guy, but things didn't work out.]]

* Creator/NDStevenson enjoyed having fun with the fans of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', namely by posting a series of emojis on their Twitter at the start of each season that actually detailed the exact events of it. But the most notable example would have to be when a co-worker asked fans to give wrong answers to what they wanted to see in the fourth season. [[https://pillowspace.tumblr.com/post/618939398810189824/oh-my-god ND herself responded with some fake spoilers]]. Well, fake spoilers for season four. All of her ridiculous statements turned out to be accurate descriptions of plot elements in season ''five''.

* In the first making-of documentary for ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', Robert Zemekis said that hoverboards actually existed, but parents groups were keeping Mattel from releasing them. He later said it was a joke and wanted to get a rise out of kids. He even faked "test footage" of the hoverboards in action with special effects to sell the gag.