The Simpsons Fans Stunned After Learning The Reason Behind Maggie's Scan In The Opening Credits

There's a hilariously brilliant reason why Maggie has one of the best and most quirky gags in The Simpsons' opening credits.

It’s definitely one of the most memorable things to ever appear on TV screens, and there’s no shame in admitting that you occasionally revisit an old Simpsons episode. 

Just make sure it's from seasons 1 through 12. The less said about the later seasons, the better, to be honest.

Anyway, have you ever wondered why Maggie gets scanned in the opening credits? 

And beyond that, have you ever been curious about what it actually says when she’s scanned?

There are technically two answers to this, so grab your Duff hats and hold on.

According to the season 7 episode titled ‘The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular,’ the barcode on Maggie's tag reads ‘NRA4EVER.’ 

In the episode, the narrator jokes: "Just one of the hundreds of radical, right-wing messages inserted into every show by creator Matt Groening."

But there’s another explanation that Matt Groening himself has previously mentioned. 

In the early episodes of The Simpsons, the cash register charges $847.63 for the youngest Simpson.

Maggie is one pricey baby. Disney

While this may not seem like a huge amount for a human life, it actually fit with a real-world fact at the time.

Show creator Matt Groening has confirmed that in 1989, the year The Simpsons debuted, the estimated monthly cost of raising a child in the US was indeed $847.63. 

This figure was an inside joke by the creator, though it has changed over the years.

More recently, viewers might notice that Marge’s total shopping bill comes to $243.26 before Maggie passes through the register. 

After Maggie goes through, the bill doubles to $486.52.

Unfortunately, the cost of raising a child hasn’t decreased. Instead, the creators decided to update the figure to show that kids are still expensive, without tying themselves to a specific amount that would quickly become outdated.

Maggie being scanned was an inside joke. Disney

Finding out there’s a real reason behind Maggie’s scan, rather than just another gag about the family’s chaos, has left fans of the show amazed. 

When Uber Facts, formerly known as Twitter, shared this revelation last month, one person commented: "I’ve always wondered about that. Not kidding."

Another Simpsons fan responded to the news with a gif saying 'you just blew my mind,' while others pointed out that the cost of raising a child has increased significantly since the show first aired.

"That’s one month of daycare for an infant (if you’re lucky)," one person wrote years after the show’s first episodes.

If you’re curious, a 2022 analysis from the Brookings Institution revealed that raising a child in the US now costs a staggering $310,000.