->"Why must you take everything that is honest, pure, sweet, and wholesome, and turn it into some vague Alan Arkin film reference? Why, why, '''why?!'''"\\
-- '''Joel''', [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]: ''It Conquered the World''

A shout out is something subtle (a name or line of dialogue) in a show that refers to fans or family members of the cast or crew, or to another source of inspiration. By nature, these can be obscure for casual fans.

You can even talk about them in English class if only you call them "allusions".

See also {{Homage}}, StockShoutOuts, OpeningShoutOut, ShoutOutThemeNaming. LiteraryAllusionTitle is a subtrope. Easily confused with a MythologyGag and ContinuityNod. Contrast TakeThat, which is a negative-spirited ShoutOut.

See StockShoutOuts for a list of Shout Outs and other references common enough to earn their own page.

See also ObligatoryTropeOverdosedReference for those Shout Outs that just can't be avoided.

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!!Examples

* [[ShoutOut/AnimeAndManga Anime & Manga]]
* ShoutOut/{{Comics}}
* ShoutOut/{{Films}}
* ShoutOut/{{Literature}}
* ShoutOut/LiveActionTV
* ShoutOut/{{Music}}
* ShoutOut/TabletopGames
* ShoutOut/{{Theater}}
** [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout Outs to Shakespeare]]
* ShoutOut/VideoGames
* ShoutOut/WebComics
* ShoutOut/WebOriginal
* ShoutOut/WesternAnimation
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[[foldercontrol]]

!!Other Examples

[[folder:General]]
* Be it novel, video game, comic or TV show, anything related to ''StarWars'' will do this without shame. We can only assume the makers of Prozac must be filthy rich in this universe, what with everyone having a bad feeling about this and that...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* A Filipino snack ad best described, as one comment put it, as "SACRILEGE TO [[LuckyStar LUCKY STAR]]." In terms of character designs, ''SailorMoon'' wasn't spared either.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* The CollectibleCardGame ''[=~Magic: The Gathering~=]'' likes to slip Shout Outs and in-jokes into the titles and art of its cards. Probably the most high-profile (that references something outside of ''M:tG'' itself anyway) is Nevinyrral's Disk. "Nevinyrral" is "LarryNiven" [[SdrawkcabName spelled backwards]]. Niven wrote a series of stories about magic as an exhaustible resource, the nature of which was proven in the story "The Magic Goes Away" by a wizard who enchanted a spinning disk in such a manner that it used up all the mana in its vicinity, exploding violently in the process.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Pro wrestler and Ring of Honor regular Jimmy Jacobs officially dubbed his FinishingMove the [[ClassicCheatCode "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start"]]. The commentators, more often than not, just call it the "Contra Code".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* In ''GIJoe'', the redheaded Shana O'Hara was born in the South (specifically, Atlanta, Georgia). She is, indeed, a fierce and attractive Southern belle. Her codename? [[GoneWithTheWind Scarlett]].
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Real Life]]
* A lot of scientific names end up being Shout Outs to things. Often it's to the scientist who discovered it or to the location it was discovered, but there are some more unusual ones:
** There's a dinosaur called [[{{Godzilla}} Gojira]]saurus.
** Interesting story behind ''Utahraptor spielbergi'' -- scientists felt the raptors in ''JurassicPark'' were too big, so when they ''did'' find ones at that size they named the species after the movie director.
** A group of "hedgehog" genes -- whatever that means -- are desert hedgehog, Indian hedgehog, and [[SonicTheHedgehog sonic hedgehog]].
*** In addition, one of the macrocycle inhibitors of the gene sonic hedgehog continues the reference. It is named '''[[BigBad Robotnik]]'''[[BigBad inin]]
** Likewise, a retinal protein was named [[{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]]rin.
** There are [[http://www.wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Sailor_Moon_flowers several flower varieties called Sailor Moon]]. Surprisingly, Naoko Takeuchi makes one of them as part of an artbook drawing, since she loves when fans homage her works, and compliments it back as she can.
** ''Strigiphilus garylarsoni'', a kind of louse, after the creator of ''TheFarSide'' and his frequently insect-related humour.
***Don't forget [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer the Thagomizer]]!
** ''Psephophorus [[TerryPratchett terrypratchetti]]'', a prehistoric turtle which is ''not'' [[{{Discworld}} large enough to appear on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram]]. Terry keeps a fossil of it on his desk.
*** And ''Gingoites nannyoggiae'', a Mesezoic plant.
*** The "Ogg" multimedia format is ''not'' a reference to Nanny Ogg; however once the coincidence was pointed out, the makers named their audio format after Vorbis from ''Discworld/SmallGods''.
** The trapdoor spider ''Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi'', and inevitably, ''Aptostichus [[StephenColbert stephencolberti]]''.
** ''Calponia [[HarrisonFord harrisonfordi]]''.
** The pachycephalosaur ''[[HarryPotter Dracorex hogwartsia]]'' is shouting out loud and clear.
** The lemur Avahi cleesei is named for lemur-lover John Cleese.
** A scientist named a rock in the Main Asteroid Belt 18610 [[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Arthurdent]]". Later, another asteroid was dedicated to the author: 25924 [[DouglasAdams Douglasadams]]
** Tanz Metal band Rammstein had a minor planet named after them.
** The asteroids ''12796 Kamenrider'' and ''12408 Fujioka'', named for the ''KamenRider'' franchise and its original star, HiroshiFujioka.
** Asteroids [[TheLittlePrince 46610 Besixdouze and 2578 Saint-Exupéry]].
* The dwarf planet now known as "Eris" was nicknamed "{{Xena}}" for 2 years while a final name and designation were decided. Its moon was officially named "Dysnomia" (Lawlessness) as a shoutout to actress Lucy Lawless.
* Google's Wave service was named such because that's what communications were called in ''{{Firefly}}''. The crash message is even Wash's infamous line "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
* Programmers love to do this. Examples include (feel free to add):
** [[ToServeMan Soylent]], a project to merge all contact info (e-mail addresses, IM screennames, etc.) for a person into a single account in GNOME (Linux-and-its-ilk desktop).
** [[Plan9FromOuterSpace Plan 9 From Bell Labs]], the successor to UNIX as Bell Labs' main research OS.
*** Along with Plan 9 From User Space, a port of the main Plan 9 programs to UNIX-like systems. (and yes, userspace actually means something in context)
[[/folder]]

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<<|AbridgedSeriesTropes|>>
<<|CreatorSpeak|>>
<<|IndexOverdosed|>>
<<|ShoutOutsIndex|>>
<<|WebcomicTropes|>>