History Main / GeniusBonus

* Although ''Comicbook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'' can be enjoyed as a PsychologicalHorror story with drool-worthy art, readers with a knowledge of [[UsefulNotes/CarlJung Jungian psychology]] and symbolism (or who own a copy of the fifteenth anniversary edition with Creator/GrantMorrison's annotated script) will get much more out of it.

-->-- '''Daru,''' ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate''

* ComicBook/{{Asterix}}: Numerous references to antiquity and Latin language that only history buffs and Latinists will understand. Little jokes referencing French literature and linguistic brain-twisters are also thrown in.

* Although the ComicBook/{{Batman}} graphic novel ''Comicbook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'' by Creator/GrantMorrison can be enjoyed as a psychological horror story with drool-worthy art, readers with a knowledge of [[UsefulNotes/CarlJung Jungian psychology]] and symbolism (or who own a copy of the fifteenth anniversary edition with Morrison's annotated script) will get much more out of it.
* ''ComicBook/BodyBags.'' The city where all the action takes place is Terminus, Georgia. A little research reveals that Terminus was the original name of the city of Atlanta. By this the reader can assume that Terminus is just Future Atlanta.
* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': Issue #27 of his 2013 run touts itself on the cover as "[[OverlyNarrowSuperlative The most important issue #27 in the history of comics!]]" While it does involve the title character getting married, and wedding issues are usually important, there's the small detail that [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a certain high-profile star of the Distinguished Competition]] made his debut in an issue #27 as well...

* An Italian Donald Duck comic story had Daisy Duck and her friends eating madeleine cookies. One of the friends remarked "The memories they awaken..." If you're a fan of Creator/MarcelProust, a writer most ''adults'' consider too "heavy" to read, you recognize this reference to classic, deep French literature. In a ''children's'' comic. Never let it be said that the Walt Disney company underestimates the smarts of their readers.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': In Issue #418, Death herself appears as a guest in Rick Jones' wedding, and gives Marlo, the bride, a hairbrush as a gift. It could be just a joke about a {{Psychopomp}} giving something so mundane as a gift... or it's a reference to the fact that in japanese culture, hairbrushes are considered [[{{Irony}} bad gifts to give]], since their name contains the words for pain ''and'' death. It could however just be a {{pun}} on the phrase "A Brush with Death".
* In ''Comicbook/InnocenceLost'', a minor detail during Comicbook/{{X 23}}'s training scenes with her sensei is the color of her belt. The first time we see her train she's wearing a white belt. We then see her progress to yellow, then brown, and finally, by the time she kills her sensei, she's wearing a black belt.
* In ''Comicbook/KnightAndSquire'' #3, Britain is under threat from the Bad Kings of England, superpowered clones of the originals. Each of them attempts to conquer a different area of the country; Edward I takes the north, and his superpower is a massive energy-mallet. If you know the ''real'' Edward was called the "Hammer of the Scots"...
* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' by Alan Moore. Just try to catch all the references in it to Victorian literature, politics, and events.
* Brazilian comic book ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'' has "[[StayInTheKitchen Chauvinist]]" as the name of a character's pet pig..
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' has a ton of mythological and literary references, and you'll need to have read a lot to catch them all. Just to throw in a few:
%% ** ''World's End'' has many parallels with ''Literature/TheDecameron''. [like?]

* The original [[Comicbook/SquadronSupreme Squadron Sinister]] version of Hyperion, one of Creator/MarvelComics' {{Superman Substitute}}s, believed his real alien name was Zhib-Ran. This is a StealthPun on "[[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Kal-El]]" by way of the early 20th century writer Kahlil Gibran.

* Alan Moore's ''ComicBook/VForVendetta''. Nearly every other sentence V utters is a quote from some famous writer. %% [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] near the end. [please elaborate]

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** The biology bonuses. While Hussie is a bit [[ArtisticLicenseBiology artistic]] with the trolls, the fact that the handle abbreviations are genetic code pairs (GCAT), and the fact that [[spoiler:Bslick's "cancer" is caused by an error in his genetic code]] are completely sound. Especially if you consider that [[spoiler:the "cancer" was caused by Karkat, whose chum handle (carcinoGeneticist) practically means "creator of Cancer". He's also the Cancer troll, and John changed his handle from valid genetics to "EB", (a [[FridgeBrilliance mutation]]) after Karkat messed with Jade, who brought it up, causing John to decide to change his handle. And his WeaponOfChoice is a sickle- this initially appears to just be because it resembles a crab's claw, until we find out Karkat is a mutant himself, with the only other troll sharing his blood color being his ancestor. Let's see, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle-cell_disease sickles and genetic blood disorders caused by a mutation]]...]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', the side of the titular island on which its indigenous predators live bears several signs warning passerby of "foosa". Since that's how the word is pronounced and it's [[SeldomSeenSpecies an incredibly obscure species]], very few people are likely to catch the joke that "fossa" has been misspelled.

* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'': In Issue #418, Death herself appears as a guest in Rick Jones' wedding, and gives Marlo, the bride, a hairbrush as a gift. It could be just a joke about a {{Psychopomp}} giving something so mundane as a gift... or it's a reference to the fact that in japanese culture, hairbrushes are considered [[{{Irony}} bad gifts to give]], since their name contains the words for pain ''and'' death.

Whenever a series of binary or two-digit hex codes are shown, chances are they'll spell out something when decoded as ASCII text.

* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' does this a lot. DM Maus tends to explain the references for those who don't get them in TheRant, though. Even then, they can be a bit brain-breaking and tough to understand. In [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2339.html this one]] he goes UpToEleven by explaining the [[MindScrew Banach-Tarski theorem]] and ''making it make sense.''

** GeniusBonus/YuGiOh

** GeniusBonus/{{BTS}}

** GeniusBonus/TheBindingOfIsaac

** GeniusBonus/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory

** The Amazing Bobinsky from wears a Liquidator's Medal on his chest, which was given to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidator_%28Chernobyl%29 clean-up crew]] of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster Chernobyl Disaster]]. This turns his baldness and odd color scheme from a funny quirk to a DarkAndTroubledPast, when you think about it.

* ''Spinnerette'' nails it with the engineering crowd with one superhero claiming to fly via the [[https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/10-08-2012 "Left Hand Rule".]]

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*** The boat rental service for the Cyan Desert Car is called "Ubar". At first, it's a punny reference to "Uber"; but it's actually said to be one of the possible names of the legendary "Atlantis of the Sands". Moreover the "Atlantis of the Sands" was named that way by [[UsefulNotes/TELawrence Lawrence of Arabia]], hence the boat that is used is called a Telawrence. The author even lampshades that she'll see the reader in the GeniusBonus tab after they research this little factoid.

** Alternately: [[spoiler: [[StealthPun she had a brush with death]].]]

** ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainKnightOfTheOrangeLily'' Margaret crushing a pearl to mix with the grape juice is based on a myth that Cleopatra did the same thing (albeit with a pearl earring) to Marc Anthony in a bet that she could devour the most expensive dish ever.

* At the 2014 Paris Motor Show, Lamborghini released the Asterion [=LPI910-4=] hybrid concept car. "Asterion" happens to be the name of another hybrid -- [[ALoadOfBull the Minotaur of Greek legend.]] In addition, Lamborghini's emblem is a charging bull, and many of its models' names are related to bulls and bullfighting.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has little references tucked away everywhere, ranging from [[Literature/CiaphasCain science fiction]] to [[Literature/GauntsGhosts military history]] to history in general to Scandinavian and ''Ancient Babylonian'' myth (Nergal/Nurgle).

** The double-headed eagle, the primary symbol of the Imperium, is a triple-whammy. It has been a symbol of many empires throughout the ages, such as Byzantine, Russian, Austrian and so on. It's also eerily similar to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reichsadler_der_Deutsches_Reich_(1933–1945).svg Reichsadler]], symbol of Nazi Germany. Lastly, for thousands of years it has been a very popular symbol in the Anatolia region -- the very same one the Emperor is said to originate from.

* For ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'', the character designs of the soldiers of the town militia are based on the styles of several famous Spanish painters, the most surreal-looking characters being based on Picasso and Dali.

** A subtle and brilliant case of {{Foreshadowing}} can be found in the calligraphy on the cake Coraline is first given when she comes into the Other World. In calligraphy, an "o" with one loop shows the writer is telling the truth, whereas an "o" with a ''double'' loop through it shows the writer is telling a lie. The cake says “Welcome Home.” However, the loops on the cake show that while Coraline is "welcome" (there is one loop in the "o") in the Other World, she is not "home" (there is a double loop in the "o") and the place is actually far more dangerous than it may appear at first glance.

** [[CausticCritic Anton]]'s food-induced {{flashback}} hails from Marcel Proust's concept of "involuntary memory". Quoth ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Lost_Time#Themes In Search of Lost Time]]'':

** In one scene, Ego stops himself from doing a SpitTake while drinking wine. Close inspection of the bottle reveals it's a real-life rare wine, [[https://www.decanter.com/learn/wine-legend-chateau-cheval-blanc-1947-369917/ Cheval Blanc 1947]], and far too expensive to waste on a spit-take.

** In Western magical traditions, the number 3 has a great deal of occult/magical potency. Tzeentch's sacred number is 9, being three squared (three times three, or three plus three plus three) and the only number more inherently powerful than three. Perfect symbology for a god of magic.

* The Amazing Bobinsky from ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' wears a Liquidator's Medal on his chest, which was given to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidator_%28Chernobyl%29 clean-up crew]] of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster Chernobyl Disaster]]. This turns his baldness and odd color scheme from a funny quirk to a DarkAndTroubledPast, when you think about it.

** The film's SignatureSong "Colors of the Wind" is basically the religion 'Animism' put to song form. Animism is the belief that all natural phenomena has a soul, and was practiced by most indigenous people. Pocahontas has to learn to listen to the spirits around her, which ties into traditional Animist beliefs. The lyrics of "Steady as the Beating Drum" and "Listen With Your Heart" reference this too.

---> No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory â this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has such bonuses in spades, ranging from mythology to sf to history. Some examples:
** Nurgle, Chaos god of plague sounds interestingly similar to Nergal, ancient Sumerian god of plague.
** Tzeentch, god of magic and knowledge, has an avian motif going. Another well-known deity associated with birds is Toth, Egyptian god of... knowledge and magic. Tying into this, the legion that serves Tzeentch, the Thousand Sons, have an Egyptian motif.
** Western magic tradition has it that 3 is especially potent. Tzeentch's sacred number is 9, or 3 times 3.
** One of the first worlds in the path of Tyranid, the Great Devourer, was Prandium, which is Latin for "lunch".
** The double-headed eagle, symbol of the Imperium, is a triple-whammy. It has been a symbol of many empires throughout the ages, such as Byzantine, Russian, Austrian and so on. It's also eerily similar to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reichsadler_der_Deutsches_Reich_(1933–1945).svg Reichsadler]], symbol of Nazi Germany. Lastly, for thousands of years it has been a very popular symbol in the Anatolia region -- the very same one the Emperor is said to originate from.

* People invested in snails who watch ''WebAnimation/DrCrafty'' will quickly notice the extent of Messibelle's snail motif throughout her design and personality. In addition to wearing a snail shell bonnet and a slime dress evocative of a gastropod's foot, Messi's occupation as a maid coincides with snails' roles in providing natural sanitation for their environments. What's more, her bottomless sex drive echoes snails' extremely sexually active lives and the common belief that snail caviar is an aphrodisiac.