History Main / PopCultureUrbanLegends

* In TSR's ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' RolePlayingGame from the 80s, the copyright symbol appears next to the word "Nazi" on some of the cardboard tokens used, sparking a rumor that TSR [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope tried to copyright "Nazi"]]. The copyright was actually referring to the artwork used.
* The original edition of ''Deities and Demigods'' (a supplement for [[TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons1stEdition Dungeons and Dragons]]) featured the [[Literature/TheElricSaga Melnibonéan]] gods and gods from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, but they are absent from reprints. This has led to a rumor that the gods were placed in there without permission from the copyright holders and were removed for legal reasons. However, James M. Ward (one of the co-authors of ''Deities and Demigods'') said they had gotten approval from Arkham House Publishers [[note]]A company that claims to own the copyright to [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft]]'s works although the validity of this claim is unclear[[/note]] and Michael Moorcock to use the characters beforehand. According to Ward, the real reason is that, after the first edition, official Franchise/CthulhuMythos and ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' [[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu roleplaying]] [[TabletopGame/{{Stormbringer}} games]] came out and TSR didn't want to advertise its competitors so [[ExecutiveMeddling they demanded the gods be removed]].
* Among roleplaying circles, there is an in-joke / meme that claims female player characters in ''[[TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons1stEdition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]]'' took a -4 strength penalty during character creation. However, there is no such rule in the book. The closest thing is a section on page 15, where a chart gives different minimum and maximums each of the demihumans have in [[TheSixStats their attributes]]. These number can change depending on gender. However, the mechanics doesn't involve subtracting points from rolls or affect humans, thus making the meme wrong.

** After the release of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'', one rumor was that a G1 figure was made for Unicron, with a projected price tag of over $100 in 1986. This is an odd combination of a misinterpretation of an Creator/OrsonWelles quote, and jealous children pretending to have a toy bigger than a rival's Metroplex. In actuality, there ''was'' a prototype made, along with a prototype toy for Arcee. The [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:G1toy-UnicronprotoHasbro.jpg Unicron toy]] was scrapped for its high price, flimsy arms, and unaesthetic appeal (the robot mode looks like a beach ball with legs), while the Arcee toy was shelved due to the belief that boys wouldn't buy action figures of girls.

* It's believed that the creators of Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey didn't like the AnimatedAdaptation of the series, since they put a TakeThat against it in one episode. This not only ignores that the same people worked on both, but said alleged TakeThat was from the episode "I Slap Floor" which was a BizarroEpisode written for April Fool's [[note]] "I Slap Floor" is an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] for "April Fools" [[/note]] and therefore, nothing in it should be taken seriously. [[note]] The episode also features such things as Eugene & Connie falling in love and [[BigBad Blackgaard]] somehow being alive again. [[/note]]

* There is a rumor that ''Literature/RedWhiteAndRoyalBlue'' is a former RealPersonFic of the ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' actors Creator/JesseEisenberg and Creator/AndrewGarfield with the SerialNumbersFiledOff. The author, Casey [=McQuiston=], never confirms this but some readers speculate that she might be a former fanfic writer involved in ''The Social Network'' fandom. YouTuber [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6xgkqKxmBI Jane Mulcahy investigated this rumor]] and found out there's no evidence about it as she couldn't find the original fanfic though she did allegedly suspect that [=McQuiston=] wrote a ''Social Network'' real-person fic due to the writing style.

* Rumors have long circulated about one or more of the people involved with the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob admitting it was actually a WorkedShoot (and this isn't just limited to fans, Wrestling/ScottHall maintained that he believed the whole thing was a work from top to bottom until he passed away in 2022). The jury's still out on whether it was, but even if it was, nobody has come forward admitting it.

** A Polish counterpart exists for this myth about the old ''Miś z Okienka'' ("The Teddy Bear from the Window") children's show that aired on Program Pierwszy (currently [=TVP1=]). The host of the show at the end of a episode [[IsThisThingStillOn forgot to turn off the microphone]] and said "A teraz drogie dzieci, pocałujcie misia w dupę." (Polish for "And now dear children, kiss the teddy bear in the ass. There aren't any tapes to prove that the host said this.

** This myth even got a Ukrainian counterpart for there is an urban legend about ''Na dobranich, diti'' ("Good night, kids") TV Show on the 1st Ukrainian TV Channel back in the 1980s. The anchorperson who acted as Did Panas (Granpa Panas) was drunk and finished a fairy tale with “Otaka huinya, malyata!” (Ukrainian for “What a bunch of bullshit, little ones!”). There aren’t any tapes that prove this episode and different people remember different variations of this phrase.