History Main / EenieMeenieMinyMoai

* In the [[Manga/KingdomHeartsII manga version]] of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2013 expanded reissue edition), the reason that Roxas doesn't have enough money to go to the beach is because the other day he bought a Moai tissue dispenser with tissues that come out of its nose. This, by the way, [[http://www.amazon.com/Retro-51-Tiki-Tissue-Holder/dp/B004XZG2UA is a real thing you can get,]] though it predates the manga and so is not {{Defictionalization}}.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', 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).

* ''Manga/SgtFrog'' 'solves' this 'mystery' once and for all - [[spoiler:the Moai heads are mechanized, able to bob up and down as part of a massive Whack-A-Mole game.]]

** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegalon'' had a brief shot of some Easter Island Moai as part of an infodump on the lost continent of Seatopia, home of the evil monster Megalon.

* In the ''Area 51'' novel series, the moai are statues of the Airlia, [[spoiler: a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien race who created humanity as foot soldiers in their wars.]]

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

* Moai heads somehow end up in [[MysteriousAntarctica Antarctica]] in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'', [[spoiler: built by the Polynesians who lived there before they fled]]. The player is also treated to an assortment of some elaborate heads in the beginning of the second-to-last level of the game.

* ''Lost Kingdoms 2'' [[spoiler: has a secret mission which features floating, morphing terror-inducing Maoi heads throughout the level. Eventually you place the Rune Stones on pedestals shaped like Maoi heads with their mouths open. This is all so you can take a necklace that alters the storyline, allowing you to get the "good" ending.]]

** You can also see them [[spoiler: during the world tour in ''Baseball'' 's ending.]]

* In ''Creator/MontyPython's The Meaning of Life'' (the videogame) you have to put a handkerchief on a moai's head, which gives him the ability to talk - albeit like a Gumby - and he gives you another clue.

*** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' 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 ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' games.

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

* ''Franchise/Godzilla''

* Supplementary material for ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' has Monarch theorize that the Easter Island moai were built to serve as giant scarecrows to keep the Titan Scylla away from the island.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsMegalon'' had a brief shot of some Easter Island Moai as part of an infodump on the lost continent of Seatopia, home of the evil monster Megalon.

* ''Anime/FlintTheTimeDetective'' [[HistoricalInJoke explained the existence]] of Moai as summons for a moai-like monster's attack.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' had these appearing in random places during the [[SchoolFestival Mahora Festival]]. The 3D Background Explanation Corner of volume 16 called them Mysterious Stone Sculptures, with the note "Why these things are around is an even bigger mystery."
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'' 'solves' this 'mystery' once and for all - [[spoiler:the Moai heads are mechanised, able to bob up and down as part of a massive Whack-A-Mole game.]]
** 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]] [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} invader]].
* Known as the Stone Heads of Moi in ''Anime/SaberRiderAndTheStarSheriffs''. [[spoiler:Our heroes find them on an alien planet, implying that aliens had put them on Earth long ago.]]

* In the [[Manga/KingdomHeartsII manga version]] of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2013 expanded reissue edition), the reason that Roxas doesn't have enough money to go to the beach is because the other day he bought a moai tissue dispenser with tissues that come out of its nose. This, by the way, [[http://www.amazon.com/Retro-51-Tiki-Tissue-Holder/dp/B004XZG2UA is a real thing you can get,]] though it predates the manga and so is not {{Defictionalization}}.
* ''Manga/MonsterMusume'' shows some Moai inside an artificial spring (or maybe it's a resting bench), but they just stand around (and Miia uses them as scratching poles to vent off anger).
* In ''Manga/HidamariSketch'', when others build snowmen, [[DitzyGenius Miyako]] builds snow-moais.
* In ''Anime/DigimonUniverseAppMonsters'', the only part of the Deep Web that the heroes visit outside of [[NeonCity Cyber Kowloon]] is a desert where every rock formation, including the floating ones, is embedded with moai heads. There are also freestanding moai heads in areas of flat land.

* The old Creator/{{Capcom}} platformer/action RPG ''MagicSword'' has some as enemies.

* The 1994 film ''Rapa Nui'' takes place on Easter Island in the distant past, and is loosely (quite loosely) based on surviving legends of how and why the statues were erected.

More recently, the island is held up as a GreenAesop, since archeological research suggests there was a thriving population, but it was apparently so obsessed with creating the statues that they overtaxed the island's resources and made it uninhabitable with an environmental collapse [[note]]Even more recently, this explanation has fallen out of favor due to new evidence suggesting that transporting the moai was not done by rolling them on logs, and the extinction of Easter Island's trees was caused by the accidental introduction of rats that ate their nuts[[/note]].

Moai (literally "statue(s)" in the Rapa Nui language) are famous stone statues found on [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Easter Island]] that typically depict a human's head and body and are sometimes seen with a hat called a pukao. For whatever reason, they wind up cropping up in fiction quite a bit. Very frequently their existence or history is treated as a mystery, possibly to be "explained" by some element of the plot, even though in RealLife their significance and means of construction are known and uncontroversial. Many works also tend to describe the moai as ancient, even though they were really built between the [[NewerThanTheyThink 13th and 15th century CE]], which makes sense considering that the people who built them, the Rapa Nui, started inhabiting Easter Island less than three centuries earlier.

Moai are famous stone statues found on [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Easter Island]] that typically depict a human's head and body and are sometimes seen with a hat called a pukao. For whatever reason, they wind up cropping up in fiction quite a bit. Very frequently their existence or history is treated as a mystery, possibly to be "explained" by some element of the plot, even though in RealLife their significance and means of construction are known and uncontroversial. Many works also tend to describe the moai as ancient, even though they were really built between the [[NewerThanTheyThink 13th and 15th century CE]], which makes sense considering that the people who built them, the Rapa Nui, started inhabiting Easter Island less than three centuries earlier.

* When other classmates build snowmen, [[Manga/HidamariSketch Miyako]] build snow-moais.

Moai are famous stone statues found on [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Easter Island]] that typically depict a human's head and body and are sometimes seen with a hat called a pukao. For whatever reason, they wind up cropping up in fiction quite a bit. Very frequently their existence or history is treated as a mystery, possibly to be "explained" by some element of the plot, even though in RealLife their significance and means of construction are known and uncontroversial.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'', there are some enemies called Moais in both name and appearance. ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'', features the strongest iteration, Moai Minstrel, wears clown makeup (Including a big red nose) and has a tendency to stunlock enemies with laughter and Kamikaze you into oblivion. ''VideoGame/DragonQuestX'' has them [[LightIsNotGood breath light]] and pound the ground with Crackerwhack.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' had these appearing in random places during the [[SchoolFestival Mahora Festival]]. The 3D Background Explanation Corner of volume 16 called them Mysterious Stone Sculptures, with the note "Why these things are around is an even bigger mystery."

* ''Anime/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'' shows some Moai inside an artificial spring (or maybe it's a resting bench), but they just stand around (and Miia uses them as scratching poles to vent off anger).

* ''Comicbook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'' featured a story explaining the origin of the (rabbit-shaped) moai heads on Easter Bunny Island (Earth-C's counterpart of Easter Island): centuries ago, an alien rabbit-like being was using Earth to dispose of dangerous glowing eggs from his native world. The being ordered the island's primitive natives to bury the eggs, then construct the giant stone heads to cover them. Unable to return to his native world, the alien put himself into a state of suspended animation, with the memory of the buried eggs/purpose of the giant heads eventually lost to history. The eggs (and the alien) eventually re-emerged in the present, with both threatening the world.