Yeah, just gonna update the long-dead blog like it ain’t no thing. Who knows? It might be happening more often…
This is the Author’s Note I had originally written for FiD #596 before I thought it might be too much, but here goes:
Jokes based on continuity are a weird thing. It’s different from jokes based on character, because the mental leap of a joke and the mental leap of character development tend to go hand in hand. With a continuity joke, I’m basically asking, “Hey, does anyone remember the joke from two and a half weeks ago, even though it was two and a half weeks ago? I hope so, because this critical line might be confusing otherwise!”
I’ve been burned before. In the last arc, even. Against all odds, #543 was the latest one to get passed around a bunch of forum threads (How do I know? Ego-surfing, son.), and everyone’s reaction was, “‘Welcome to the joke’? What the heck does that mean?” when the ghost of Nightmare Night past joke was something that had been brought up in passing and only Rarity and the DM had really understood… 43 pages and almost two months ago.
Alright, a few people in the comments section were confused too. I had really underestimated the time difference.
But then again, when you write a joke, you write it for the specific person who will get the joke and laugh at it. And today, that joke is for the person who loves to pay extra attention to the details and theorize their hearts out.
And also for the people who easily remember a joke from two and a half weeks ago.
Hah, it was still funny. And in light of recent events, congrats! I hope that you’re doing what makes you happy, Spud.
And also the people who are reading the archives!