Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries

Host Brenda is back at it again with more spooky scary ghost stories from your favorite amusement parks.  What ghosts lurk in America's oldest theme park, and did a little girl really fall to her death from the Simpsons ride at Universal Studios Hollywood?  And what famous ghost has been forced to watch Shrek 4D for all eternity?   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member a...

While Saturday morning cartoons have been around for decades, the concept of the kid's programming block is a fairly recent invention of the 90's.  Starting with the Disney Afternoon, channels began carefully curating children's programming into themed blocks, not only to satisfy new government regulations requiring certain hours of educational programming, but to compete with the brand new 24 hou...

Blind boxes are the sensation that has taken over the world.  This episode touches on the potential origins of these tiny little collectables, as well as the history of several popular brands;   Kid Robot's Dunnys, Sonny Angels, Smiskis, and Labubus!  Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

As Millennials reached teenhood in the early 2000's, it became apparent that there was a serious hole in the market when it came to creating educational content for them.  Enter the Children's Workshop and the team behind Nickelodeon, who made a home for teens looking for more serious content on a programming block called "The N" (which just so happened to be the nighttime block for preschool chan...

We're trying something new this week by bringing you a selection of updates to previous episodes.  Have you been dying to know what happened to the floating McDonalds?  Or what is the real reason Sonic Sat AM never got a third season?  These updates, along with updates about Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka are all here for you enjoyment.     Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Becom...

According to Hasbro's website, the board game "Monopoly" was created in 1934 by board game designer Charles Darrow.  But what if that information is completely false?  What if Monopoly dates back thirty years earlier, and has a secret history that Hasbro and Monopoly's previous rights owner, Parker Brothers, has tried so desperately to erase?   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Beco...

Back when the internet used to be fun, a little virtual pet website started the trend of doing yearly April Fools Day pranks.  From introducing new pets to unleashing an incurable disease upon its citizens, Host Brenda tells Austin all about the best pranks throughout Neopian History.   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

Ten years ago, the Steven Universe episode Jailbreak aired on Cartoon Network revealing that the character of Garnet was actually two lesbians in a trenchcoat (but it's actually more complicated than that). Host Austin shares the story of the making of this monumental episode along with audio clips from an exclusive interview with show creator Rebecca Sugar and Executive producer Ian James-Quartey...

It’s not MaxFunDrive without a wild kickoff spectacular! Former real-life VJ and host of MTV's Spring Break 1999, Dave Holmes, takes your favorite MaxFun hosts through some wacky ‘90s- and Spring Break-themed mini games!! Featuring: Dave Holmes, Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya, Dimitry Pompée, Tom Lum, Ellen Weatherford, Alex Schmidt, Brenda Snell, Drea Clark, Alonso Duralde, Dan McCoy, Jordan Morris,...

It's no secret that the video game industry is a notoriously male dominated field, but women have been a part of the industry since its very inception.  Today we highlight two women:  Mabel Addis, the writer and historical expert behind the first educational game used in classrooms, and Carol Shaw, the first woman employed at Atari, and the programmer of the best-selling game River Raid.   Help su...

In the early 90's, the Walt Disney company was searching for a way to add some thrills into their theme parks, and somehow, they managed to settle on building a drop tower themed after the 1950's horror anthology show, the Twilight Zone.   But there's more to this attraction than meets the eye! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

A new Smurf's movie is coming out featuring an entire album and musical score by Rhianna!  So, just who are these little blue fellas and how have they managed to stay in the public consciousness all this time?   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

The Superman radio show premiered in 1940, introducing the masses to many new aspects of Superman's Canon, but in the middle of its historic run, the people behind the show decided that they wanted to use Superman's influence to enact positive social change.  Enter, Operation Intolerance, and more importantly, the sixteen part series "The Clan of the Firey Cross" that directly took on real life ra...

Before Nintendo Online, before the PSN, before Xbox Game Pass, there was Sega Channel, a revolutionary way to play new games on your Sega genesis through your cable provider.   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

It's time for a classic Halloween in February celebration.  Learn the tale of the world's (supposedly) only haunted carousel horse, located at Cedar Point, and marvel in some of the more well-known Disneyland urban legends and hauntings.  Why does Tomorrowland have so many ghosts?  Honestly it's a mystery.   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org...

Before Coraline, before Nightmare Before Christmas, before Wallace and Gromit, George Pal was making his "Puppet Toons" starting in the 1930's!  Using upwards of 9,000 individually carved wooden puppets, Pal's work has almost been completely forgotten by pop culture.  And yes, some of it was a bit racist.  It was the 30's!  Of course it was!   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Becom...

In 1993, two cartoons starring Sonic the Hedgehog premiered within two weeks of each other; one airing weekdays on syndication, and the other on Saturday mornings.   Despite being drastically different from modern day Sonic, these shows helped to establish who Sonic was as a character and fleshed out a world that had previously been confined to pixels.   Get Sonic!  Get Atomic!  Help support this...

Since the dawn of time, games have been for the fellas, but in Japan, in 1994, a collective of women designers got together to make a genre defining game.  What if there was one princess, who had to choose between a collection of handsome and beautiful men on her quest to save the world?   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

Rollercoasters don't typically have sequels, and one of the reasons that might be is because of Son of Beast, formerly the world's tallest, fastest wooden rollercoaster, whose entire existence was mired in an endless string of incidents and repairs.   From sections of the track collapsing, to getting hit by lightning, to having its best element, a record breaking loop, removed, the little beast ju...

Before Rudolph, and the Grinch, and a Charlie Brown Christmas and all of the classic animated Christmas Specials that you all know and love, there was a little old man with poor eyesight who was brought to life by one of the scrappiest animated studios there ever was.  This week is about the first (that we know of) animated Christmas Special, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, and how it paved the way f...

This story is about a lot of things. It's somehow about tigers, Sea World Ohio, the world's tallest drop tower, Fabio getting hit in the face by a goose, and so much more, but above all, it's about Kingda Ka, formerly the world's tallest and fastest rollercoaster, and sister coaster to Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster.  For decades, Kingda Ka stood with her records untouched, but soon she'll be d...

Years before the release of Toy Story, when computer animation was still in its infancy, several guys from the UK, riding high on the success of their animated Dire Straits music video, got a wild idea:  What if they made a computer animated cartoon...in the late 80's?   Reboot Rewind Documentary - https://youtu.be/OuAfWhsI-F8?si=ORdxQEAZJgX4NB-D     Help support this show and unlock bonus content...

In 2004, when Kellogg's cereal released a contest to determine what new flavor of cereal they would release in South Korea, they had no idea that they were about to kickstart a sixteen year fight for justice. The contest was between Chocolate and Green Onion Chex, and when the results of the voting weren't what Kellogg's wanted, they had to resort to drastic measures. Help support this show and un...

An episode all about everyone's favorite programming block Toonami!  Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmysteries

Nowadays, comic conventions happen all over the United States, and the world, in many major cities, with the most well known being San Diego Comic Con, in San Diego California.  Many people assume that San Diego was the first, but that isn't true!  Comic Conventions got their stars years earlier, in the midwest, headed by several teenage boys armed only with a dream and some impressive industry co...