History Main / EenieMeenieMinyMoai

* The DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse novel ''Eye of Heaven'' reveals that, like most things in the {{Whoniverse}}, the moai were put there by AncientAstronauts. They're alien computers that run a [[TeleportersAndTransporters Transmat]] network.

*** ''Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia'' has the Rusalka boss in Somnus Reef. She herself is not a Moai, but one of her attacks involves raising her arms in a dramatic manner, calling 'Moai!' or 'Go forth, moai!'. Upon this command, three spike pillars shaped like hat-wearing Moai drop down in an attempt to impale you.

** In yet another, he visits his mother's house, which is a moai with curly hair.well actually spongebob and mr krabs visit,not squidward.

** In yet another, he visits his mother's house, which is a moai with curly hair.

Moai are famous stone statues found on [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Easter Island]] that typically depict a human's head and upper body and are sometimes seen with a hat called a pukao. For whatever reason, they wind up cropping up in fiction quite a bit.

[[quoteright:22:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Moai_Heads.png]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Moai_Heads.png
[[caption-width:225:"...catch a seagull in the sky, if he hollers, let him fly, my mother said to pick the very best head and you are... IT!"]]

* The Legoland Windsor theme park in the UK has a series of miniature (about 2ft high) moai heads on the slope down from the gate to the main park. Made of Lego, naturally. They also play '[[{{Queen}} We Will]] [[{{IncrediblyLamePun}} Rock]] [[{{Queen}} You]]' as you go past.

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** The manga has them as transformed islanders that seal away "aku aku". The aku aku fought by Fuyuki and co. turns out to be a [[ShoutOut Bacterian]] [[{{Gradius}} invader]].

* In ''TheRealAdventuresOfJonnyQuest'', moai are based on aliens who were conducting evolutionary experiments in the area.

*** ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow'' has the [[IncrediblyLamePun Bat Company]], a cluster of bats that think and act like a single entity. This boss has three forms: a bat-shape that moves fast, a hand-shape that will stalk you and grab on to do damage, and a Moai head shape that retreats to one side of the room, bobs up and down and fires the typical Konami Moai Ring Lasers[[superscript:TM]]. And the nifty part? Since the boss is made of red bats, the moai head only faces to the right -- just like the red moai from the ''{{Gradius}}'' games.

* Most Konami games have moai, as a staff in-joke - one of the founding members of the company apparently resembled one:

*** ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow'' has the [[IncrediblyLamePun Bat Company]], a cluster of bats that think and act like a single entity. This boss has three forms: a bat-shape that moves fast, a hand-shape that will stalk you and grab on to do damage, and a Moai head shape that retreats to one side of the room, bobs up and down and fires the typical {{Konami}} Moai Ring Lasers(tm). And the nifty part? Since the boss is made of red bats, the moai head only faces to the right -- just like the red moai from the ''{{Gradius}}'' games.

* In yet ANOTHER {{Hideo Kojima}} example, in {{Snatcher}}, Gillian has a choice of wearing a Moai or a Mummy mask to the [[MetalGearSolid Outer Heaven Nightclub]]

* In the DS game ''MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes,'' one of the species of fish in the game is the "Human-Faced Fish." It's a swimming Moai head with fins.

* One of the Enemies in Super Bomberman 2 was a moving Moai Head. It only featured in the later levels of Area 1 and took two hits to kill.
* In DragonQuestIX, there are some enemies called Maois in both name and appearance.

* Moais appear as occasional [[EasterEgg Easter eggs]] in ''FinalFantasy'' games. [[http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/incross.shtml#moai Here's some examples]].

* The Legoland Windsor theme park in the UK has a series of miniature (about 2ft high) moai heads on the slope down from the gate to the main park. Made of Lego, naturally. They also play '[[{{Queen}} We Will Rock You]]' as you go past.

** A staple enemy of the ''{{Gradius}}'' series. They shoot donut-like projectiles and occasionally jump around, chasing your ship.
** Logically, a prominent feature in the ''{{Parodius}}'' series, what with its inherent insanity. A popular way moai appear is to star in their own special stage that usually includes a moai head (that may or may not fire other moai heads) as a boss, as well as a gigantic battleship with moai-themed turrets. Some of them have three eyes, some of them have sunglasses, some of them smoke pipes...
** A later game turns the cast of ''TokimekiMemorial'' into Moai heads.
** As part of it's {{Shout Out}}s to the series, the ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' card game has the cards "Statue of Easter Island" and "Moai Interceptor Cannons".
* Moai are used as playable characters in various games, such as a Mahjong game for the MSX, and a racer in ''Konami Krazy Racers''.
* They're scattered around games as {{Easter Egg}}s for enterprising players to find. One of the earliest is a secret treasure in the original NES ''{{Castlevania}}''. Probably the most recent is in ''MetalGearSolid 2'', where they can be found amongst pipes and so on (one of Raiden's Photography missions in ''Substance'' concerns him getting a perfect shot of one).
* Konami developed a puzzle-adventure game for the Famicom in Japan known as ''Moai-kun''. One guess as to what its main character is.
* In the latest ''Gradius'' game, ''Gradius Rebirth'', the requisite Moai stage has a massive one as a BackgroundBoss.

* ''{{Castlevania}}'' has at least two examples:
* ''Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia'' has the Rusalka boss in Somnus Reef. She herself is not a Moai, but one of her attacks involves raising her arms in a dramatic manner, calling 'Moai!' or 'Go forth, moai!'. Upon this command, three spike pillars shaped like hat-wearing Moai drop down in an attempt to impale you.
* ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow'' has the [[IncrediblyLamePun Bat Company]], a cluster of bats that think and act like a single entity. This boss has three forms: a bat-shape that moves fast, a hand-shape that will stalk you and grab on to do damage, and a Moai head shape that retreats to one side of the room, bobs up and down and fires the typical {{Konami}} Moai Ring Lasers(tm).
** The nifty part? Since the boss is made of red bats, the moai head only faces to the right -- just like the red moai from the ''{{Gradius}}'' games.
* ''Castlevania: Curse of Darkness'' has a moai as an OldSaveBonus which is just an inventory item that can either give a moderately large heal or can be sold for a large amount of money. Otherwise, it doesn't do anything special.

** As part of it's {{Shout Out}}s to the series, the ''YuGiOh card game has the cards "Statue of Easter Island" and "Moai Interceptor Cannons".

* In one of the Aardman Animations ''Rex the Runt'' shorts, three Moai are aliens with large heads.

* In ''Sherman's Lagoon'', a moai is a recurring character. He has magical powers that are usually used to [[HumanityEnsues transform Sherman and friends into humans]] for brief land-side adventures.

* The obscure NES game [[CaptainObvious Moai Kun]] is an action puzzle game very similar in playstyle to others of the era, but features a "young" moai as the protagonist and levels with a Pacific island theme.

* ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow'' has the Bat Company, a cluster of bats that think and act like a single entity. This boss has three forms: a bat-shape that moves fast, a hand-shape that will stalk you and grab on to do damage, and a Moai head shape that retreats to one side of the room, bobs up and down and fires the typical {{Konami}} Moai Ring Lasers(tm).