#megangate

[papenniesandbentoboxes]

There's some DRAMA on Instagram rn lmaoooo and I am PROUDLY being a shady bitch about it so FUCK AI ALL MY HOMIES HATE AI

[sonnys-space-junk]

BIMism as the newest Clue Crew thing makes me so happy, it's my favorite Thing we've had since MeganGate and seeing the Big Island Mike stuff make a comeback after so long is nice

anyway Big Island Mike brings us Big Island Love and Big Island Joy and also booooo penny milliken

[thebeastofblackmoor]

MEGANGATE: A Complete History

Given the way the lore of Megangate keeps cropping up in the Clue Crew and because some people have expressed confusion as to what it was, I thought I'd compile a COMPLETE history of Megangate so that even if you weren't there, you can feel like you were! This is compiled entirely through my own point of view; although I was very involved and kept regular tabs on #Megangate drama, I may well be missing information or funny posts that were a part of it. I encourage you to add anything I missed!

Long post, so TL;DR: During the pandemic, a bunch of us went insane trying to figure out who was behind the sideblog @picture-of-megan that literally just posted pictures of Megan Vargas from Warnings at Waverly Academy as that was a meme at the time. Full story under the cut.

The Setup

Even before Megangate, Picture of Megan was a meme in the Clue Crew. It all began with a post by @shawnandthecenturion-blog from 2014, six full years before Megangate would be upon us.

(For those who haven't played or watched Warnings at Waverly Academy, there is a part where you need to get a picture of someone named Megan by beating another character at air hockey, which can be difficult.)

From then on, we joked that a picture of Megan would be rewarded whenever we truly botched puzzles or needed a pity win:

This meme floated harmlessly around the Clue Crew for six years or so until April of 2020, when a sideblog called @picture-of-megan (or POM, as it was later known) appeared, and rewarded Clue Crewers expressing frustration with puzzles with pictures of Megan:

The blog revealed no personal details or links to their mains or other sideblogs, but knowing the in-joke, they were obviously a member of the community. Being mystery fans who were stuck inside, it didn't take long for people to start asking who was behind POM...

The Controversy

The first accusations of Megangate, to my knowledge, occurred on April 27th of 2020. After some discussions about who POM could be, which even included analyzing typing patterns and emojis, @henrikvanderswoon accused @knockoutqueenoftheunderworld in this historic post. In short, she believed that @knockoutqueenoftheunderworld was in a Tumblr chat with herself because the URL of POM was listed first, which wasn't the case when she messaged other people, leading her to believe that the culprit had slipped up and the chat had actually been screenshotted from POM's perspective.

Of course, this was debunked quickly as general Tumblr bugginess in this subsequent post. But the first accusation had been made, and it had been made with memes and Ace Attorney-esque argumentation. It was undeniably fun, and soon accusation after accusation was flying right and left as people were trying anything to reveal who was behind the blog. (The linked accusations are only a small sampling of the accusations flying around at the time; everyone had their own theories and they weren't afraid to share them!) At one point, I sent anons to almost every Nancy Drew blog I followed and to POM to see who would respond closest to when POM responded... It was a dark and desperate time.

Because of this, I was dubbed the head investigator of Megangate, a title I took proudly (I made the sideblog @megangate to save important Megangate-related posts), and I was even invited to the @clue-crew-podcast episode that week, covering Megangate... WHERE POM HERSELF WAS ALSO INVITED TO SPEAK:

This, of course, largely eliminated myself and the three others who hosted the podcast (@naancypants, @professorhotchkissesta, and @hurricanesonny). POM's speaking voice also made it unlikely that the culprit was a male, so the few male members of the Clue Crew were largely dismissed as suspects as well.

But far more importantly, POM herself had teased a reveal! The end was in sight...

The Copycats

Now, Megangate was getting a lot of attention. From the beginning, reply-heavy posts and accusations dominated peoples' dashes, and the memes were booming. (The memes linked are, of course, only a small sampling.) This was, understandably, annoying to some people, but others wanted in on the action!

As mentioned in the podcast, as Megangate gained more attention, copycat blogs and anons falsely claiming to be POM herself started taking off. @picture-of-picture-of-megan, @painting-of-megan, and @picture-of-painting-of-megan all sprung up in one day. Anon messages like this one appeared in many inboxes, spurring more controversy with their choices of emojis. Before POM herself denied ever sending anons, it was difficult to discern the fakers from the real POM, and some were made with the intent of framing others.

Additional copycats, like @horse-shirt, @bucket-himself, and a Dwayne Powers persona blog sprung up, taking on the identities of people or objects from the games.

You'll notice that a lot of these blogs aren't around anymore... That's because the copycat blogs came and went remarkably fast, as they didn't gain nearly as much attention as the original POM.

The Reveal

As promised, the original POM blog launched an online puzzle series event that would culminate in her reveal. This was excellent timing, as many of us had gone as far as we could with our investigations and were getting nowhere fast.

In a rather cryptic reply, POM set a date for her reveal. Graciously, she specifically made it after my university classes let out so that I could devote myself more to her reveal puzzles.

On May 9th, 2020, after quite the hype, POM dropped this link. A webpage with a puzzle for every Nancy Drew game, truly a treasure for us, like a love letter to the games and the community. Nancy Drew-themed playlists made by members of the Clue Crew were promoted on the site for people to listen to while they worked, and POM happily gave out hints. People worked individually or in groups to finish all of the puzzles and put together POM's true identity. I would highly recommend visiting the site and playing through the puzzles yourself, as they're all still functional and it's much more satisfying to see the reveal video after working for it.

But if you really want to know, click here to watch the reveal... Or here if you'd prefer to forgo the video.

Overall, Megangate was just such a weird and wonderful thing that was made a billion times better by the culprit's willingness to not only go along with the whole thing, but design such a wonderful series of puzzles. I really think it helped bring us together as a community, and it was very rewarding for those who chose to get involved. I would like to say that the only reason I went so far in for Megangate was because the pandemic made me a little looney but... well, I just spent an hour typing up this retelling of it. I would love to see more weirdness like Megangate in the future, and I hope that if that happens, people don't hesitate to get involved, make your own posts and accusations, and have fun with it!

I really can't thank the mastermind behind POM enough; it was definitely the highlight of my experience in the Clue Crew on Tumblr, and I've been here for ten years this year!!

[detectivedrewshouldgetaclue]

Since I’ve been making so many #darylgate posts, I’ve come across #megangate. I gather it was during 2020 quarantine (which, in itself, explains a lot). Like a good detective, I did a little research, trying to make sense of the old posts with the tag. Boy, was that chaotic. From what I understand, there was some sort of mystery to solve (perhaps using an outside website?) and everyone was trying to discover who “picture of Megan” (as in, the pic of Megan Vargas, from WAC) was. Maybe I’m getting this all wrong, but it seemed like POM created a puzzle website, with clues to her Tumblr identity. And that’s what the puzzles were accomplishing—pointing the detectives on their way to discovering who she really is? Is that what happened? Considering words like “drama” are attached to the posts, I think I’m missing something (though, we Nancy stans can be rather dramatic…). I could be way off base (if so, just laugh and forgive me, these post-tonsillectomy drugs got me all messed up!).

Would any of the Clue Crew be kind enough to explain what #megangate was? Or is that a whole can of worms no one wants to get into? 🔎🪱

Feel free to PM me…or, you know…reblog or comment, with anything but the truth. I’m sure your own, sarcastic narrative would be hilarious. I won’t know the difference. 😅

[penny-milkin-em]

Just curious, was the mystery of the picture of Megan revealed officially? Or did we all complete that puzzle site and find out?

[gaypapercuts]

I’m working on a papercut for the first time in a long while, and remembered this was still in my drafts like years later, so, happy April Fools Day or something.  [Image description: A papercut of Megan Vargas from Warnings at Waverly Academy. The words “ It’s up to you as Nancy Drew” are cut out around her.]

[hotchkiss-and-tell]

Will anything in our fandom ever match the chaos of spring 2020? There was official Bucket Day, the beginning of the Nursing Home Saga, the Picture of Megan investigation and accusations flying known as Megangate, new on-theme anon accounts created daily, a special edition podcast for POM, a surge of FMK asks, and then the POM website launched and we tackled its riddles on mother’s day weekend. All while the #cluecrewplaythrough content continued in the background. April 22 to May 11 was a wild ride!

[charleenapurcellslaptop]

I just scrolled through the megangate tag and

y'all we did not handle quarantine well, just saying. It took us all of two seconds to collectively lose our shit. 😂