"Cowboy" means Bounty Hunter, "Bebop" is the name of the Cool Starship, her name is Ed, and that's not her computer.
"Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true except for that rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge."
— Erwin Knoll
This is when a work contains blatantly incorrect facts about another work that any fan of the work the mistake is about or — in the most egregious cases — even just someone with any kind of passing knowledge of said work would know to be wrong. It seems like some people just can't be bothered to do any fact-checking. Let's face it — sometimes, it's easy to do.
While any kind of work can contain this kind of mistake, a lot of these errors come from the news. Newspapers, a News Broadcast, national news, etc.? It is in their job description to do at least some research, to make sure they aren't stating factual untruths.
This rule apparently doesn't apply much to works of fiction. Maybe the creators of the works that make these mistakes don't seem to care as much as about whatever effect it had. But that's no reason to make an error that could have been avoided by looking into the material a bit, especially if said error involves news media making serious accusations like blaming a child's death on imitating something they saw on TV. This often results in examples either factually incorrect, from minor to grossly wrong like the Trope Namer itself, or taking some "facts" from The Theme Park Version of a larger entity, which to some is much worse than just not doing the research.
Subtrope of Referenced by… and Common Knowledge. Compare Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch. See also Fandom-Enraging Misconception (for particular errors that will incur the wrath of the fandom), Animation Age Ghetto (when people dismiss various kinds of cartoons as family-friendly when they, in fact, are not) and All Anime Is Naughty Tentacles (a problem endemic to Anime and Manga). I Am Not Shazam is a key trope involved. Also compare Falsely Advertised Accuracy, the version for fictional works. When TV guides do it, it might be either a Manual Misprint or Acquired Error at the Printer. Also see New Media Are Evil, though if you find yourself constantly annoyed by this kind of thing then you probably believe Old Media Are Evil. May also overlap with a Shallow Parody if the parodists in question are really careless with their research.
Not to do with characters using technology outside of their era, yeehaw.
Example subpages:
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Comic Strips
- Films — Animation
- Films — Live-Action
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Music
- Myth and Religion
- Professional Wrestling
- Tabletop Games
- Video Games
- Web Media
- Western Animation
Other examples:
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Advertising
- This article
from Cracked identifies the Kid Cuisine mascot, K.C. Penguin, as a duck.
Asian Animation
- The IMDb page of Catch! Teenieping apparently has very false information about it such as the fake episodes.
- One official Chinese streaming service lists Lamput as an American series. It's actually from India.
Poetry
- In the poem "Bradley Bentley Baxter Bloome", it likens Bradley's death by suffocating in trash because he wouldn't clean his room to other Karmic Deaths in poems. However, one of them was Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore, who wouldn't shut the door — but in that poem, he didn't die - what his parents threatened to do was send him to Singapore, and they didn't even follow through, because he promised to shut doors from then on.
Radio
- The Radio Times listing for Season 2, Episode 1 of Abled says "Matt finally meets a woman that he likes, Anna. She is a wheelchair user, so they share their annoyances and grief at people's attitude to disabilities." Matt only learns Anna sometimes needs to use a wheelchair at the very end of the episode, at which point he says exactly the wrong thing and she wheels off. This more or less becomes their relationship in future episodes, but it's not in this one.
- Hancock's Half Hour: In John Le Mesurier's autobiography, A Jobbing Actor, he incorrectly calls Bill the "dim Australian cousin" of Hancock, when in reality, he is only his lodger.
- The Navy Lark:
- In a 1973 Radio Times interview, Heather Chasen incorrectly referred to Myrtle Pertwee as CPO Pertwee's niece when describing her roles in the series. Myrtle is actually CPO Pertwee's sister and is Nunkie's niece.
- Laughter in the Air by Barry Took claims that Chasen never missed an episode, despite the fact that she only joined the cast after "Operation Fag End" (which featured Pamela Buck as the sole female cast member) was recorded, was absent for all of The TV Lark and Series 5 (which saw her temporarily replaced by Janet Brown), and wasn't available for "Taking Some Liberties" (which had Jan Waters in her place).
- The booklet that came with The Very Best Episodes Volume 1 CD claims that Tenniel Evans never missed a show and listed "boozy Sea Lords" among the range of characters he played. In reality, Evans missed two episodes (Series 6's "Wren Chasen Returns" and Series 8's "Farewell to HMS Varsity") and never played any Sea Lords — those characters were often played by the likes of Michael Bates or Stephen Murray.
- The Series 2 — Volume 1 CD booklet claims that Lieutenant Bates debuted in Series 2 (mixing him up with Lieutenant Commander Bates from "Fatso's Box Brownie") and accidentally used a picture of Dennis Price for Murray's cast biography.
- In Judy Cornwell's autobiography, Adventures of a Jelly Baby, she claims she did two series as Wren Cornwell, despite the fact that she only appeared in the fourth series.
- The BBC Radio 4 listings for the episodes have several errors:
- It claims there were thirteen series instead of fifteen.
- The rank of Able Seaman is incorrectly abbreviated as "AS" instead of "AB".
- Richard Caldicot is credited as "Captain Povey" from "The Missing Jeep" to "The Multiple Mines" despite his character still being a Commander. The summary of "Pertwee Posted to Portsmouth" also calls him a Captain too early.
- Similarly, Evans is credited as "LS Goldstein" for "The Missing Jeep" even though Taffy was still an Able Seaman at that time.
- The summary of "The Missing Jeep" claims that Commander Shaw is coming to inspect HMS Troutbridge, despite the fact that Troutbridge wouldn't be introduced until "The Fairground Lights".
- The summary of "The Cross Country Run" mentions "Captain Stanton" instead of Lieutenant Commander Stanton.
- The summary of "In Portsmouth for a Re-Fit" claims that the base on the Island was shut down, rather than the Troutbridge crew being relocated.
- Bates is uncredited for "In Portsmouth for a Re-Fit", "The Efficiency Expert", "The Hitch-Hiking Counterfeiter", "Commodore Goldstein", "Mr Phillips Has Navigation Tuition", "CPO Pertwee and the Laundry", "The Northampton Hunt Ball", "Z Ambulances", "House of Commons", "Back to Portsmouth", "On Safari", "First Day out of Dock", "On the Carpet", "The Bungalese Spies", "Troutbridge's Party", "Rescuing Admirals", "The Submerged Island", "The Calais Dock Strike", and "Johnson's Memoirs".
- Lieutenant Murray is called "the Commander" back when he was just a Lieutenant in the summaries of "The 50th Show: Mr. Murray's Houseboat" and "Just the Ticket".
- Just like Bates, Evans is also uncredited for several episodes — "The Efficiency Expert", "The Hitch-Hiking Counterfeiter", "Mr Phillips Has Navigation Tuition", "CPO Pertwee and the Laundry", "The Northampton Hunt Ball", "Z Ambulances", "House of Commons", "Back to Portsmouth", "On Safari", "First Day out of Dock", "HMS Troutbridge gets a Rocket", "The Ghost Ship", "Wren Chasen Returns", "On the Carpet", "The Bungalese Spies", "Troutbridge's Party", "Confirming Povey's Rank", "The Calais Dock Strike", "Johnson's Memoirs", "The Emperor of Tratvia", "Open Day", "Stuck on a Sandbank", and "The Poveys Move House".
- Another victim to having multiple uncredited episodes is Chasen, who doesn't have credits on "The Hitch-Hiking Counterfeiter", "The Submerged Island", and "The Sicilian Secret Agent".
- "The Prestige Show" incorrectly has Bates down as playing Sir Jimson Whittaker-Smythe instead of Evans.
- Brown isn't credited for "Z Ambulances", "House of Commons", "Back to Portsmouth", "On Safari", "First Day out of Dock", "Whittlesea Regatta", "HMS Troutbridge gets a Rocket", or "The Ghost Ship".
- "On Safari" credits Ronnie Barker as Johnson instead of Arnold Crump, despite Johnson not being in that episode.
- The credits of "Ship Ahoy!" claim that Barker was Johnson and Commander Stanton, rather than Commander Stanton and Intelligence.
- "Ship Ahoy!" and "Back in the Navy" credit announcer Robin Boyle as the T-tv announcer when he only did his regular announcer duties for those episodes.
- "Back in the Navy" credits Commander Pearson as one of Bates' roles instead of one of Evans'.
- Writer Lawrie Wyman occasionally made guest appearances in the series, only to go uncredited for his roles in "The Struggle for Promotion", "Harold Wilson Reviews the Fleet", "CPO Pertwee and the Lead Half Crowns", and "Sir Willoughby at Shanghai".
- "Confirming Povey's Rank" credits Evans for playing Commander Bracewell instead of Bates.
- Jan Waters didn't get a credit for her two-episode stay as Wren Jan Waters in "Taking Some Liberties" and "Smugglers in the Solent".
- "The Portarneyland Training Exercise" incorrectly claims Evans was Goldstein in this episode instead of Sir Willoughby.
- Barker wasn't in "Jigsaws and Jemmies", yet still got a credit as Captain Hardcastle.
- "Women in the Wardroom" and "A Fishy Business" incorrectly refer to Nunkie as just "Uncle".
- The summary of "A Russian Rendezvous" claims it "stars Leslie Phillips and Bill Pertwee", rather than his cousin, Jon.
- "Commander Trotter Takes Charge" credits Evans for playing Goldstein and Nunkie, but only the former was in the episode.
- Similarly, "The Portsmouth Kiosk" has Chasen down as Heather and Ramona, when Chasen had actually played Heather and an old tobacconist.
- "The Mickey Mouse Toothbrush" credits Wyman as Able Seaman Tiddy instead of Intelligence.
- The summary of "The Phenomenal Pertwee Tug" takes the time to mention that Frank Thornton appears in this episode as Pertwee was too busy filming Doctor Who to make the recording. This is false; Pertwee only missed the recording because he was ill at the last minute.
- The summary of "The Security Clampdown" incorrectly calls Commander Murray "Commanding Officer Murray".
- "The Mark 31 Radar" has the full cast list for "The Relief of the Weather Ship", while "The TV Documentary" has the same error, only with the cast of "Cuthbert Joins the Navy".
- "Number One's Married Quarters" lists Bates as playing Ginger, when he was actually The Master's Number Two in this episode.
- The Independent's obituary for Evans contains a few errors regarding his time on the series:
- It claims the only promotion Goldstein ever saw was his time as a Commodore in "Commodore Goldstein", disregarding that Goldstein was promoted to Leading Seaman in "Leading Seaman Goldstein's Party" and spent more time in this promoted rank than he did as an Able Seaman.
- Lord Quirk is mentioned as one of his parts, even though he was one of Murray's roles.
- Seamus O'Ginsburg (misspelled "Shamus") is also mentioned as one of Evans' recurring roles, even though he was a only One-Shot Character from "The Put-a-Horse-out-to-Graze Fund". It stands out even more as more prominent characters such as Admiral Ffont-Bittocks, Nunkie, and Lieutenant Deacon aren't mentioned at all.
- Remembering Ronnie Barker claims that "Snogger" Pettigreaves was one of many Barker characters to become a semi-regular, despite the fact that Snogger only appeared in two episodes — "Mr Phillips Has Navigation Tuition" and "Relatives and Reservations".
- The booklets included with the CD boxsets of Series 8, 9, 10, and 11 all incorrectly call Captain Hardcastle "Commander Hardcastle".
- The Radio Times listing for the 2022 repeat of Now the Twelfth Night Show says "Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis offer a unique take on Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night using archived extracts from various stage, TV and radio versions of the play". Now maybe they're deadpan going along with the joke, but it certainly reads as though they believe the BBC schools production where Barbara Windsor played Maria as Peggy Mitchell, the spoof police documentary about Malvolio getting arrested, the stage production where a method actor actually did get paralytically drunk to play Sir Toby, and the cheesy American musical The Chick Wears Pants! are all genuine archive recordings.
Sport
- This◊ article in a Polish newspaper about the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, featuring an image of the three Winter Olympic Mascots... and the Internet meme Pedobear.
- When the September 2009 G20 came to Pittsburgh, a BBC reporter did an article, "Pittsburgh steeled to be host city", and included a photo of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team playing at PNC Park. The caption reads "The Pittsburgh Pirates are a symbol of the city's transformation." which sounds very nice. Unfortunately in reality the Pirates were near the end of their 17th consecutive losing season at the time!note
- Auto racing series are frequently jumbled up by the mass media and in-particular by picture editors who often will place a large picture of a car from a completely different series in an article. IndyCar is probably the most ill-served as the cars are often labelled as Formula One cars and the Indianapolis 500 is called a NASCAR race. And some media outlets continued to refer to IndyCar under the name of the previous CART sanctioning body, even more than 3 years after its demise. Other examples include labelling junior formulae cars as "Formula One", rallies as "Rally cross", Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) stock cars as NASCAR (the two series are affiliated but are still separate entities), mixing up IHRA and NHRA drag racing, assuming any off road trophy truck race is the Baja 1000, calling MotoGP "Superbikes" and vice-versa, and so forth...
- Mashable's article on the All Blacks Sevens team's performance of the haka seems to have confused the team with the All Blacks proper. The latter play the full, 15-man game of Rugby Union, whereas the former plays the Sevens game, a shortened version with seven players on each side. The article introduced the Sevens team as "New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks" (technically true but more accurate for the 15 man team) then went on to explain that they usually perform the haka before every match, which is the 15 man team's tradition. The Sevens team only do the haka when they win a tournament - there's no point spending five minutes on the haka for each of the five or six 15 minute games they play over a weekend. In addition, the writer states the haka is a "dance" performed for "intimidation" - both something of a Fandom-Enraging Misconception to some All Blacks fans.
- The Sky Sports Footballnote Yearbook has a quote on the back saying that it "stands for authority and integrity". So why their "Cups and Ups and Downs Diary" in the 2014/15 edition stated that Germany beat the Netherlands (instead of Argentina - the team that knocked the Netherlands out of the World Cup) in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final is anybody's guess.
- An “Ultimate Guide” to the English Premier League states that every team to have played in the Premier League has been relegated at least once from it. This ignores the six teams to have featured in every seasonnote and the at-the-time-of-publishing three teams who had never been relegated since their promotion to itnote . Even if this extended to include the First Divisionnote , it still isn’t true since AFC Bournemouth had never been in the top flight before their promotion in 2015.
- An official guide to the London 2012 Olympics included a list of countries that had never won a gold medal. This list was apparently compiled by them going through the previous Summer Olympics medal tables and removing those countries that had won a gold medal, as the list didn’t include any country that had yet to win a medal of any colour.
- A special magazine printed in 2012 to mark the Premier League’s 20th anniversary included a list of, in their opinion, the 10 most shocking moments of it. One of these was when Bolton Wanderers’ midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch in a game against Tottenham Hotspur in 2012. Whilst it was shocking, it was in an FA Cup match, not a Premier League one.
- Although it would be caught and corrected, the official sticker album for the 2018 World Cup printed Roberto Firmino’s club as being “Liverpool FC (BRA)”, incorrectly calling them a Brazilian club instead of English.
- Georgia Tech's 1916 defeat of Cumberland University (a tiny school from Tennessee) by the score of 222–0 has long been recognized as the worst Curb-Stomp Battle in Collegiate American Football history, but for a while some reputable sources claimed that it was only the second-worst blowout of all time, reporting that 16 years earlier, a game between Pennsylvania colleges Dickinson and Haverford in 1900 ended with Dickinson inflicting a 227–0 decimation on hapless Haverford. Eventually some journalists contacted both schools and got denials that the 227–0 game ever took place, but there was some conflicting info about about what really happened. Finally, a researcher dug up the definitive answer: Dickinson defeated Haverford in 1900 by the comparatively mundane score of 27–0, but at some point someone had a slip of the fingers and accidentally typed a second "2", wrongly adding 200 points to Dickinson's tally, and the mistake got repeated as fact in many places over a span of several decades (The '40s to The '70s).
- A round-up of the final round of games of the 2024 NFL regular season on the BBC Sport website featured the line "so any team wanting to reach the Super Bowl must go to Detroit and win". Whoever wrote the article seemed to forget that the Conferences are kept apart in the play-offs, thus meaning that no AFC team would have to win in Detroit to reach the Super Bowl (they'd have to win in Kansas City instead), having correctly said that the NFC Super Bowl path would go through Michigan a few sentences earlier.
- A commercial for the MGS5 EV compares it to a modern pentathlete, asking "Why be good at one thing when you can be great at five", with generic shots of a modern pentathlete in the various eventsnote . It seems that whoever made those shots forgot that, after a scandal in the 2020 Summer Olympics which saw a coach punch a disobedient horse, the UIPMnote announced that, after the 2024 Olympics, the showjumping part would be replaced with an obstacle race, with lesser competitions having it replaced before then. (Presumably, the director doesn't watch modern pentathlon outside of the Olympics and is unaware of that.)
Theatre
- This Daily Beast article on the trend of Screen-to-Stage Adaptation on Broadway and the West End in The New '10s laments the lack of originality in musical theatre these days. Unfortunately, it makes several huge errors that undercut the intended point, some of which are addressed in the comments for the article:
- Carousel, Chicago, Mame, Oklahoma!, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying are mentioned as examples of original musicals. The first four were actually adapted from non-musical stage plays, and Auntie Mame itself was originally a novel. How to Succeed was originally a book.
- Frank Wildhorn's Bonnie and Clyde musical was Based on a True Story, not the 1967 film on the same subject.
- If/Then wasn't the only original-to-the-stage musical on Broadway in the spring of 2014...The Book of Mormon, which happens to be one of the biggest stage hits in years, was still running.
- Stage musicals falsely accused of being direct film adaptations are American Psycho, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, From Here to Eternity, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (of Kind Hearts and Coronets), High Fidelity, and Matilda the Musical. All six stories originated as novels, two of which were written by the same author. While their film adaptations did predate their stage incarnations, the musicals return to their respective novels as the jumping-off point; Charlie does include some internal homages to and one song from its two film incarnations, but is a very different beast than either (though the later Retool mounted on Broadway does play as a really loose adaptation of the 1971 film).
- The article largely forgets that there's a reason the trope All Musicals Are Adaptations exists.
- Cirque du Soleil-related examples:
- An article about how Mystère was a key inspiration for NiGHTS into Dreams… used a photo of the cast of another Cirque show, "O". "O" didn't even open until 1998, two years after the release of the first game!
- An infomercial for the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois mentioned the forthcoming visit of the tour Dralion...and used cast photos from Alegría to illustrate it.
- Robin Leach's report on the first preview of Michael Jackson: ONE mentions that one setpiece is set to "How Does It Feel" from Stranger in Moscow. The song in question is "Stranger in Moscow" ("How does it feel" is a key refrain) from HIStory. He also mentions "I Cant [sic] Stop Loving You"; the correct title is "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". These are especially silly errors given that the piece reads like a paid advertisement for the show.
- An article
- On Opera-Guide, the German-language plot summary of Iolanta states that once the union of Vaudemont and Iolanta is blessed by Iolanta's father King Rene after Vaudemont helps Iolanta gain her sight, "Duke Robert, for whom Iolanta was intended, must resign". This phrasing omits or misinterprets some important context, in addition to getting the timeline wrong. What actually happens is this: first, Robert confesses to Rene that he loves another and can't give his heart to Iolanta (as it has been the case since the start of the opera before Vaudemont even met Iolanta — so there is no "must resign" for Robert), so Rene releases him from the betrothal; then, Rene gives his blessing to Vaudemont to marry Iolanta regardless of whether Iolanta has her eyesight; and then, it's announced that Iolanta's operation was successful and she can see.
- Zazzerino, a German-language site intended as a guide to operas, operettas, and musicals, can be pretty inaccurate when it comes to plot summaries:
- The original title of Igor Stravinsky's The Nightingale is written as Соловья, which is in fact how the Russian word looks in the genitive and accusative cases. The correct nominative form is Соловей.
- The Maid of Orleans (Tchaikovsky):
- Joan's unlucky suitor Raymond is described as "hartnäckig" ("obstinate" or "persistent"). The description is pretty hard to apply to Raymond, who is a sweet Tenor Boy who adopts an I Want My Beloved to Be Happy attitude throughout the opera and is a bit of a pushover but absolutely refuses to pursue Joan while she is uninterested.
- Lionel is described as an Englishman, which he is in Schiller's original play — however, Tchaikovsky makes him a Burgundian (which is significant plot-wise, since him switching sides and joining the French army is treated as him repenting of treason instead of committing it — while the plot summary on the site makes it seem he becomes a traitor to the English).
- It is said that Lionel kills himself, which is absolutely not true — he dies trying to defend Joan from her captors.
- The plot summary of The Snow Maiden:
- It states that The Good King Berendey is able to make peace between the Snow Maiden and Kupava, and that later Kupava leaves her ex-bridegroom Mizgir alone with the Snow Maiden to help the latter find love. It's not even close to the truth: the Snow Maiden and Kupava's friendship is never repaired, and Kupava has (and wants) nothing whatsoever to do with Mizgir after he renounces her, again, at Berendey's court. Mizgir ends up alone with the Snow Maiden because she wanders off alone in the woods and he pursues her.
- It's said that Berendey tells Lel to choose a bride among the maidens present at the celebration. It's not true: Berendey tells him to kiss a girl he likes best, and while Lel does pick Kupava, the very girl whom he ends up marrying, the kiss isn't treated as any kind of engagement or wedding ritual by anyone, and Lel and Kupava declare their love unambiguously and decide to get married much later.
- The plot summary of The Tsar's Bride:
- It's said that Lyubasha was brought from Cashmere. She wasn't: the opritschniks captured her in Kashira, which, although not precisely in the vicinity (more than 200 km away from Alexandrov where the opera is set), is a Russian town that was quite within the opritschniks' reach.
- Bomelius is called "the old man" (in the obvious context of Dirty Old Man) in the summary. However, his age is never stated in the opera (although he's fit enough physically to run after Lyubasha), and the real-life Bomelius was thirty-one at most in 1571 when the opera is set (and never lived to see old age at all, since he was executed in 1579).
Theme Parks
- In Steve Birnbaum's guidebooks for the Disney Theme Parks, the description for Muppet*Vision 3D states Waldo C. Graphic to be a new character created for the attraction. Waldo actually first appeared in The Jim Henson Hour about a year prior to Muppet*Vision 3-D's opening.
- On Apple Music's Disneyland playlist, one of the songs is "One Little Spark" from the original version of Journey into Imagination, a ride which is from Disney World, not Disneyland. Funnily enough, a clone of said ride was planned for the park's second gate in the 90's, but those plans were scrapped.
Toys
- American Girl has multiple ones, in some cases with too many examples to link to individual articles.
- The claim of the modern dolls that launched in the 90s are custom-ordered or personalized to look like the recipient is a frequent one, such as this USA Today article that also states that dolls are worth thousands: In 1995, the company introduced what would become the My American Girl line with customizeable dolls that allow girls to select skin, hair and eye colors so the doll can look just like they do. The line when launched was called "American Girl of Today"; it was not named "My American Girl" until 2010, fifteen years after release. Also, American Girl didn't offer custom-design dolls until 2017 and the "modern" dolls that are assumed to be customized are actually picked from a set pool of options which aren't modified from however they're designed at release. There's often more options for white female children—the first twenty dolls were mostly light-skinned with the same face mold — so recipients who matched those looks or were given dolls to look like them may think they were customized. Or mistake them for another then-available brand, MyTwinn.
- Any article—clickbait or otherwise—that claims that American Girl items are worth thousands of dollars on the secondary market and encourage people to search their attics for their old toys to resell. The article will often link to eBay auctions that are listed for thousands of dollars for dolls and/or collection items, such as this USA Today article. What's not said is how these auctions are either for signed dolls that are rare, very large collections that include multiple items or large items such as furniture, harder to find outfits that had short releases, or common items that almost always end without a single bid or purchase. While something such as a first release signed doll from the first owner of the company, Pleasant Rowland, can go for quite a lot, most people aren't going to have that tucked away in their old room. The majority of collectors searching on the secondary market don't want to or outright refuse to pay such high prices for secondary clothes or much more than $200 for a new in box doll, and that's for unique dolls that are harder to find such as Cécile, Kanani, or the short-lived first edition of American Girl of Today #6; some short-run limited edition dolls may sell for more, but not much more above retail. Even the rarest doll or item can be found at sensible prices with patience or through direct sales among collectors, especially as children age up and sell off old collections. No one's paying $2000 for a incomplete used Samantha found in your old bedroom in messy clothes missing her shoes and stockings unless they have more dollars than sense.
- This article about Lila states that "Josefine Montoya [...] struggles with the recent loss of her mother after the Mexican-American war." The Mexican–American War was from from 1846 to 1848. Josefina's series is set in the 1820s.
- In an article by Entertainment Weekly, contributor Jessica Wang erroneously lists the first three Historical Characters—Kirsten, Samantha and Molly—as from World War II. Kirsten was a Swedish immigrant from the 1850s Pioneer era, while Samantha was from the Edwardian era during the turn of the 20th century. Molly is the only one of the original bunch who actually represents that particular era. This was later corrected by removing the incorrect paragraph; the original error can be seen here.
- An article in a 2025 issue of ReMind Magazine (a spin off of TV Guide) stated that after Pleasant Company was bought by to Mattel in 1998, the brand released baby dolls and contemporary verisions. Modern era themed dolls were first released in 1995, and the first baby dolls, Our New Baby, was released in 1990 with its updated version Bitty Baby coming out in 1995—all under Pleasant Company. They also stated that the dolls were released at $65, when the cheapest they were ever sold was in 1986: $68 for a doll and the paperback first book.
- This article from The Guardian claims that Gwen was released in 1986, apparently confusing her release date with the beginning of the company. She was released in 2009. They also state that the company is called the "American Doll" company and say she was withdrawn after a few weeks. Gwen was discontinued with the retirement of Chrissa's limited collection she was released in, not withdrawn early.
- A 2025 article in The Washington Post, "American Girl dolls are turning 40, just like the millennials who loved them", states that Rebecca Rubin is a "Jewish immigrant from Russia[.]" Her parents and grandparents immigrated, as do her aunt, uncle, and cousins, but Rebecca and her siblings were born in the US. The article also makes the mistake of stating the modern dolls were customizable.
- A 2026 article about American Girl from Book Riot states that the characters include "Claudia (who lived during the Harlem Renaissance)." The character's name is Claudie.
- The claim of the modern dolls that launched in the 90s are custom-ordered or personalized to look like the recipient is a frequent one, such as this USA Today article
- BIONICLE:
- In February 2014, the platinum Mask of Light piece made news as the most expensive LEGO piece ever to be sold. Articles such as this claimed the mask belongs to a character named Avohkii — actually, Avohkii is the name of the mask itself, and its wearer is called Takanuva.
- The nonfiction book Brick by Brick about the LEGO company has a picture of what it calls the "Kanohi Mask of Life", but it's the Pakari Nuva, worn by Onua and released five years before the design of the Mask of Life was even known to the public (and four years before it was even revealed to exist).
- In February 2014, the platinum Mask of Light piece made news as the most expensive LEGO piece ever to be sold. Articles such as this
- This article about Teddy Ruxpin calls Grubby a bear. Grubby is actually a worm-like creature called an Octopede.
- Transformers: In The Angry Video Game Nerd's review of the Magnavox Odyssey, while talking about how the console's lightgun is more realistic-looking than later video game guns (which were made more toy-looking due to safety laws), James makes a reference of how the G1 Megatron toy also turned into a realistic gun, but later on got first an orange cap and then ditched the gun mode due to the same safety laws. However, the thing as said and shown isn't completely exact: the orange tip was something that came only for Western imports of newer reissues of the original toy, while the picture shown when talking about Megatron's alt mode changing from a gun to a tank is not of an official Megatron toy, but rather of a custom action figure that used Wreckage from the 2007 movie toyline as basis.
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