Shout Out / AdventureQuest

The game has loads of references to other works, ranging in scale from a couple of random lines from Hamlet to an entire quest devoted to an Affectionate Parody of MythBusters. Artix Entertainment's forums have several threads dedicated to recording these references.

Advertising

• The description for the Hand Mirror item references The Man Your Man Could Smell Like with the first two lines being "Look in the mirror, now at me. Now look in the mirror, now back at me."

Anime & Manga

• A Mystic Iron Golem is a spirit trapped in a suit of iron armor. The description points out that it doesn't have a brother with a metal arm and leg.
• The Irt (Eye) of Osiris says that it has millennium-old power, but the player character doesn't have to replace his/her own eye. This is in reference to the Millennium Eye of Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• The description for the Drill Lance is written in the style of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
• A possible enemy in the Night of 100 Ninjas encounter is Kunoichi. If he spawns, he will heal his party and parody Kamina's "Believe in the me that believes in you" Catchphrase.
• The former VampireSlayer class leader was Vampire Slayer E, and he has a similar appearance to D. The player character can meet Vampire Slayers C, T, and V during "The Cure".
• The Gauntlet of the Western Horizon item plays on Fist of the North Star in its name and description. It allows the player to inflict a spiritual seed (delayed damage) and to daze the enemy. If the enemy has been dazed before by the item, a text bubble says that "You are already dazed!"
• The Shikyo Mask miscellaneous item says that it makes the wearer feel hollow inside. It looks almost exactly like Ichigo's Hollow mask from Bleach.
• The Mana Trap misc. item, when triggered, declares "You've activated my Trap Card!", a reference to the memetic line from Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• Two of the weapons released in the "Play the Harpie" quest are designed off of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s harpies—the Feather Buster is a magical feather duster that boosts magical damage, like how Harpie's Feather Duster is a spell card. The Harpy Dragon is a red dragon with gold-and-aqua metallic decorations, like Harpie's Pet Dragon.
• The Witch Hunter armor resembles Tasha Godspell's outfit from Witch Hunter. The reference is further reenforced in the description; "This armor doesn't let you have a cool pumpkin ally and use lots of cool guns while you nab witch hats," it says, the 'cool pumpkin ally' referring to the character Halloween.

Comic Books

• The Amazonian Ruler weapon comes with the title "Wonder Person", and the description says "Invisible jet not included." This title references, Wonder Woman, an amazon with an invisible jet.
• The Champion of Airenal/Tera'Suul sets have the title that says, "With great power comes... an awesome title!"
• The Ninja Flyrtle pets are, of course, Expies of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• The Revengers are of course based on Marvel's The Avengers. Invincible Hogg is a green, muscular boar in purple shorts that engages in Hulk Speak, Irony Man is a loudmouth in red-and-yellow armor, Logan is a literal wolverine with a yellow-and-dark-blue coat, and Lieutenant Lore is Lore's Captain Geographic. They fight Dr. Boom, an evil clone Technopath, Varnak, a villain with spider-themed powers, and Lead Skull, a robot with a very fitting moniker.
• The 2010 Frostval Gift Delivery armor is a stretchy suit, and the highest-level version of the armor is named Mr Funtastic.
• Lord Etherseid, god of Etherspace, is named after Darkseid. He is significantly less threatening than his namesake, however.
• The Flaming Skull item gives Fire- and Darkness-element resistance. The description makes it clear that it's a reference to Ghost Rider, saying that "Flaming motorcycle and chains sold separately."
• The Frostval 2013 giftbox set is called 'Frostval Mercenary'. The armor of the set, in particular, resembles a Japanese-style version of Deadpool's costume. The armor's description mentions that, while the player character may not be a Mouthy Merc, he or she will still be able to "really see the world around you". In-game, the armor has a skill that weaponizes the game's menus.
• The apparent Big Bad of the Devourer Saga destroys worlds, is called The Devourer, and has two names in The'Galin and Galian. Similarly, Galactus devours worlds and has the title "Devourer of Worlds", and his real name is Galan.
• The limited-edition Iron Knight face has a face plate that looks exactly like modern Iron Man's.
• The Dare Debil face looks like Daredevil's mask.
• The (Indominable) Bulk armor and Elven Sniper guest misc. item reference the The Incredible Hulk and Hawkeye of The Avengers.
• Avenger armor consists of a steel breastplate and limb guards, copper plateskirt, yellow details, and a long, red cape, matching Thor's classic costume—who of course, is a founding member of The Avengers.
• The introductory text for Serenia in the Harvest Festival quest parodies Superman's famous "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Supernan!"
• The Mastercraft set based off of Norse Mythology is named after Marvel Universe's Asgardians.
• In the promotional image for the Predatory Vampire Form armor, the armor has a helm highly reminiscent of Batman's. The in-game version of the armor lacks the helmet, however.

Fan Works

• The title for the Sacred Chicken pet is "High Cleric of the Chicken". Its description is "Arise, chicken, arise!", which has its origins from here (and popularized by Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series).
• The Tyrannochicken Rex is said to be the descendent of Mega-Ultra Chicken. The spell Invoke Tyrannochicken Rex is apparently written in a scroll in ancient Egyptian that translates to "Arise, Chicken, Arise!" These descriptions reference the jokes on Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series.

Films — Animation

• The description for the Snow Angel pet starts off as "Do you want to build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman," mimicking the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from Frozen.
• The Doray is a monster that was released the same week that Finding Dory premiered that has several shout-outs to the blue tang fish Dory. The monster is a blue Ray with yellow bands and mentions having short-term memory, and the shield it drops quotes Dory's "Just keep swimming."
• The "How to Train Your Zard" quest uses the same name and logo style as the How to Train Your Dragon film.
• The new events feed for Mogloween 2015 uses "This is Mogloween" as a distinct statement, in reference to the song "This is Halloween" in The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Films — Live-Action

• The White Knight armor's title's description claims that the player character will leave more than "but a scratch" on the opponent, in reference to the Black Knight of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• In the 2009 April Fools quest, Loco brainwashes Radagast and Khold, and the next time the player character sees them, they are in clown makeup. Radagast asks the player, "Why so serious?"
• The description for the Lilliputian Sorcerer Army loosely parallels Lt. James Gordon's last line from The Dark Knight.
• The Necrochaun enemy's special attack inflicts a status debuff that lowers the player character's Luck and increases its own. The description for the Unlucky debuff says, "Target feels unlucky, punk."
• After the quest rewards were updated, one of the Nerfbat tier names is "The Dark Nerfbat".
• The Predecessor enemy is a green-skinned, reptilian alien with long braid-like hair, not unlike a Predator alien.
• The GO-LD Walker is named after the Star Wars's AT-AT walker, though they share few similarities beyond name.
• The (Mystic) Star Sabre, Star Spear, Star Sabre Strike, and Star Sabre of _____ pieces of equipment reference Star Wars's lightsabers. The colors used to represent their types are appropriately blue and red. The Star Sabre of Hatred from the January 2016 Golden Giftbox has plasma crossguards, the same as Kylo Ren's lightsaber.
• The Kallus Knight face was released along side The Force Awakens, and it greatly resembles Kylo Ren's mask.
• The StarSlayer and StarSaviour armors are again homages to Star Wars, being Jedi robe variants.
• Dark Madder, a Canon Immigrant from WarpForce, is a Spear Counterpart to Darth Vader of Star Wars. She even parodies the famous Luke, I Am Your Father dialogue.
• The description of the Gumn Suit in AQ says that Gumn "gets everywhere"— not unlike sand, as Anakin Skywalker infamously said.
• The Star Journey Laser weapon has two settings: "kill" and "stun", which allows it to toggle between full damage and a chance at paralysis. This references how the blasters in Star Wars can be set to stun.
• In "Wolf Riders", Ravil tries to convince the player character that he "isn't the wolf you're looking for" and that it's "no mind trick", a clear reference to the original Jedi Mind Trick.
• A Boomstick is a rare weapon in the game. It's actually more of a gunblade than either the trope namer or trope of the same name.
• The Sneak on a Plain enemy references Snakes on a Plane in both name in description.
• The Helslinger weapon references Van Helsing, as it is a gun whose description suggests that it helps against fighting vampires.
• The 2012 Mogloween quest is named "Zombielands", and the One-Shot Character for that quest is named Harryl Woodson who has a cool hat and fights with a banjo. He's looking for Taladosian tarts, a.k.a., Twinkies.
• Two zombies in an early Zorbak War were named Bill & Ted.
• The Gong of the Wind! pet is a clear reference to Gone with the Wind.
• The title of the "Germinator: Plantation!" quest is an obvious pun of Terminator Salvation, and the enemies in the quest have plant-themed versions of the Terminator codenames.
• The Hayu is an animated scarecrow whose description forlornly muses "If he only had a brain...", a reference to The Wizard of Oz film.
• The most powerful Eel weapon is the 1.21 Giga-Eel, a reference to Back to the Future and its DeLorean requiring 1.21 gigawatts of power.
• The 2009 Frostval quest copies certain memorable lines from The Polar Express in one of its outtakes.
• The Man-Ant pet was released around the same time as the Ant-Man film.
• The entire "Cat-Astrophe" quest makes allusions to 300. The freeze-frame bonus upon entering the quest says "This—is—Gatta!" rather than Sparta, and an adversary the player character must fight is Lionidas, rather than Leonidas.
• The Box of Chocolates shield the player receives when playing Galanoth in a Snugglefest quest has a description that starts off with "This shield is a lot like life." It subverts the expected quote, though, instead saying that they're both "Full of nuts and harder than it looks."
• In "MogBusters! - Twig's Dilemma!", among the other shout-outs, Adamog asks the player character about skills. The player character responds in reference to Napoleon Dynamite, asking whether he means nunchuk skills, bo fighting skills, or computer hacking skills.
• The 2007 Frostval giftbox set is entirely in reference to A Christmas Story:
  • The Frozen (Magic) Flagpole references the Tongue on the Flagpole
  • The Bee Bee Gun references the Red Ryder BB Gun Ralphie so desperately wants.
  • Bunny Jammies references Ralphie's bunny pyjamas.
  • The Blowout Shield references the scene where Ralphie's father knocks out a hubcap while fixing a flat tire.
  • The Major Award spell is named after and looks like the "major award" Ralphie's father wins. The description even says the box says "Fra-Geee-Lay".
  • The Ebil Toys pet are not part of this set, being instead a prize from the storyline.
  • The Bar of Soap miscellaneous item can give the enemy monster soap poisoning (lowering their accuracy), like how Ralphie frequently gets his mouth scrubbed. The description even mentions how it's Life Buoy [sic] brand soap.
• A Gween is a brown-and-white fuzzball that appeared one day on Mogloween. If it is fed candy, it transforms into a freaky, black Hallow that leaves eggs to spread more Hallows. Their appearance and behavior is very reminiscent of the mogwai in Gremlins.
• The Lonely Ranger face is patterned after The Lone Ranger.
• Beast King Jammies are a pair of white pajamas with a golden crown. It was released the same year as the film of Where the Wild Things Are, so the similarity is no coincidence.
• The Soul Drinker weapon does not drink... wine as the description claims, but instead drinks the blood of the player character's enemies. This references the famous line from Dracula (1931).
• The message Zombie Tested Axe Master Armor gives when switching away from an axe weapon mimicks the famous "You call that a knife?" quote from "Crocodile" Dundee, except with the word 'knife' replaced by 'axe'.
• The Unicorn Bowie weapon says that the 'bowie' of the weapon is of the cutting kind, not the Goblin King kind, referencing David Bowie and the Goblin King in Labyrinth.
• The Labyrinth Bow weapon mentions that it won't help David Bowie against the Goblin King, referring to the film Labyrinth.
• The description from the Tartan Shield mentions that it's not a Spartan shield to protect against being kicked into a pit, an obvious reference to the memetic scene from 300.
• The Bee Arthur Katana pretty explicitly alludes to the then-upcoming Deadpool (2016) movie.
• The Bat-tle Axe of Steel was released alongside the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice film. It gains solar energy in the day and becomes dark and brooding at night, reflecting Superman's and Batman's traits.
• For the release of Captain America: Civil War, the game released the Lt. Lore Cannon and Irony Man Shield. As mentioned above, Lt. Lore and Irony Man are parodies of Captain America and Iron Man.
• The Arm-Ageddon spell was released at the time of X-Men: Apocalypse.
• The Monstercide Squad summon spell was released around the time of the Suicide Squad film.
• Moglinator enemies have tiers named in the same manner as Terminators from Terminator.
• Void Dragons are designed after Xenomorphs, what with their slick, black skin, large foreheads, emaciated bodies, and multiple jaws. The'Galin's Head from the 10th anniversary quest is another void dragon, which also has a dark color scheme and Nested Mouths.
• For AdventureQuest's 13th anniversary, the game added two items, 13th Mask—which looks like a hockey mask—and 13th Machete—a weapon that can switch between Water and Darkness damage. Both items were once wielded by a warrior named Jay Son. These items are, of course, in reference to the Friday the 13th franchise and Jason Voorhees.
• Bundorable Form is a literal Killer Rabbit armor, so of course, it mentions Only a Flesh Wound in its description.
• Svadilfari's Oath is an Electric-locked armor with a paralyzing attack that looks like an expanding hemisphere. Should the paralysis roll succeed, the game states that the enemy "can't get beyond the thunder dome".

Literature

• There is a locked door upstairs in Yulgar's inn that is marked with the number 42. Upon interacting with the door, a message pops up that alternates between "Beware of the LeopardZard" and "This room contains the answers to the Universe. The door is locked, bolted, and duct taped shut." All of this references lines from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
• Before the player character fights the Nerf Wraith, it will declare "You shall not pass!" All throughout the fight itself, the Nerf Wraith will chant a Nerf version of The Fellowship of the Ring's One Ring inscription.
• Kaley Obsidia's pet raven is named—what else—Eapoe. It doesn't say "nevermore", but Kaley seems to be able to communicate with it.
• The quests involving Barry Jotter are blatant parodies of Harry Potter titles.
• Another Harry Potter parody comes up in the first half of "Wizard Games" as a Bun-Bit mage named Harey Potter.
• A Mogloween quest has the player fighting Zirkon, a sparkly vampire.
• From Frostval 2009 is Bergos, an ice bear in golden armor, not unlike Iorek Byrnison of His Dark Materials.
• The "Mostly Harmful" quest derives its name from Mostly Harmless but is otherwise only tangentially related, what with its sci-fi introduction leading back to Lore.
• The NPC Eldron borrows its name from Elrond of The Lord of the Rings.
• The Eye of Sacracon miscellaneous item parodies the eponymous artifact of The Eye of Argon. The item's description mentions a "multi-fauceted crimson saphire [sic]" and that the old narrator had to see a doctor.
• The Solar Boy enemy from the Legendary Warriors event in Fairwind Spring mentions The Most Dangerous Game. Rather than the most dangerous game being Man, it's Boy.
• The Ice Nine spell is named after the ice-nine substance of Cat's Cradle. It was once one of the deadliest Ice-element spells, much like how deadly the source substance is.
• In the Frostval 2009 outtakes, the Abode mentions a tale of e(v/b)il along the same lines as the demon X(A/N)th from Xanth. Falerin remarks that this similarity in syntax is "very non accidental".
• The Void boss Smittens is designed as a twisted version of Alice in Wonderland's Cheshire Cat. The flavor text says that it was found in "mimsy borogoves", and whenever it inflicts a status condition on the player character, the interface spouts an Alice in Wonderland quote.
• Geldar is a gold dragon, much like Glaedr, another golden dragon from Eldest.
• Initially, Mr. Banjo Stiltsocks is a Canis Major and has a history with Blackhawke. When Aelthai shrinks him down to pet size, the description mentions that he's not as big as a certain red dog.
• The description for the Dogzilla pet mentions that while it's a giant dog, it's not "a big red dog loyal to you".
• The Glamdung and Lesser Glamdung are Nerf Arm swords given to cheaters, and their names reference Glamdring, a Legendary Weapon from Tolkien's Legendarium.
• The Necromoron and Nekonomicon miscellaneous items are punny variations of H. P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon.
• "Jypley's Believe it... or Rot!" is named after Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and the quest features Mr. Jypley's Museum of the Strange and Bizarre.
• Gandolphin is a spell that summons a dolphin dressed like Gandalf, who says, "Your foe shall not pass!" upon being cast.
• The Cthulion enemy is a lion hybridized with an "otherworldly monster's form". The name of the encounter and the fact that the creature has tentacles makes it a clear reference to Cthulhu of Cthulhu Mythos.
• Among the Kaiju in "War of the Giants!" is the boss Kathool'Achoo. It takes the form of a giant squid whose description states that can't quite inflict the insanity Status Effects—hearkening to H. P. Lovecraft's Eldritch Abominations—but instead blind.

Live-Action TV

• The Chronomancer armor comes with the "Time Lord" title, and its description says that "You're the master of wibbly-wibbly [sic], timey-wimey stuff!", in reference to Doctor Who.
• Ardendor in "Mostly Harmless" departs with Erebus with an "Allons-y!"
• Airenal's Lance comes with the title "Essence of the Wind", which calls Airenal a big bird (but doesn't allow the Chosen to call Elmo or the Cookie Monster).
• St. Elmo's Fire is a real thing, but AdventureQuest's version of it shows Elmo's head from Sesame Street in a mitre with blue Hitodama Lights around him.
• The Greenguard set has a title that mentions that it may be hard being green, in the same lieu of The Muppet Show's "It's Not Easy Being Green".
• The Burning Passion set's title mentions that the only cure for burning passion is more cowbell—in reference to the memetic line from Saturday Night Live.
• The Centerprise crew of "The Bizarre Flecks Saga - Part III: Star Blecch!" are all Expies of Star Trek: The Original Series characters in name.
• There is an entire series of enemies found in "Mogbusters! - Twig's Dilemma!" whose names are aquatic puns of American Idol winners.
• "Transmorphers: Beast Hostilities" has a standoff between four different Funny Animal creatures done in the narration style of Iron Chef/Iron Chef America, of all things.
• The Salek Sprayer from the Void and "Fading Warlic!" is a photo of a salt shaker (somehow) holding a water gun. It yells "EXTINGUISH! EXTINGUISH!". The monster references Doctor Who's Daleks which are vaguely similar in shape and have a parodied catchphrase.
• Queen Raychael the Sunray references Rachael Ray's $40 a Day by claiming to be able to feed her sunray followers for 40 gold per day.
• King Raymooned the Moonray references Everybody Loves Raymond by stating that "Everybody loves him and his wacky family."
• The player character says "Helloooo--- Newman." toward the end of the Eclipsus quest chain, additionally lampshading the pop-culture reference.
• There is a Duke of HaZard enemy with the same color and pattern as the The Dukes of Hazzard car, and the description is a modified version of the show's theme.
• The weapon reward to "The Journey Home" is a copy of Falerin's cane, which mentions that it's not the "jerkface genius doctor" kind of cane, in reference to the cane Dr. House in House uses.
• The Greencoats are the opposing mooks of the 2009 Blarney War. They parody the Browncoats of Firefly. The line one says in the opening cutscene of the war parodies the lyrics in Firefly's theme.
• There is an enemy werewolf named Xander, and his flavor text says that "Many years ago, he helped form a popular vampire slayers group!", much like Xander Harris of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• The Crystal Lance and its Guardian counterpart, Jade Lance, mention a fictional show called One Afterlife to Live, and treat Crystal/Lance and Jade/Lance as Shipping names.
• The Frostval 2016 Giftbox set is an allusion to Game of Thrones, but instead, it's called "Game of Murderkill"—as in George R. R. Martin's Anyone Can Die storytelling.
  • The spell is called "Dracarys", which summons a dragon to deal Wind-element damage. Of course, the name refers to Dracarys in the series, a word which encourages a dragon to breathe fire.
• A pair of zombies fought in the epilogue of the "Thursday the 12th" war are named Moulder and Skully, Punny Names of the protagonists Mulder and Scully of The X-Files. The description even says that the zombies were looking for "if the truth was out there".

Music

• The title for Cysero's Teleport Booth is "Operator, Operator", in reference to the song of the same name.
• The description for the Cryomancer Staff's title says, "You can turn your foes into whining ice, ice babies!"
• The description for the Gambler's Blade title is "Take a Chance on Me", with the description "That's all I ask of you, honey", in reference to the ABBA song of the same name.
• The title's description for the Akiroth's Hatred weapon claims that the player character can call on great balls of fire—goodness gracious! Waxing Lyrical from The Misfits's "Great Balls of Fire".
• The Amethyst set's title and description references Prince's "Purple Rain"—or, rather, "Purple Reign".
• The Rosethorn Lance has prefixes that go from 'Wilting' to 'Field' to 'Wild' to 'Bluestar' to 'Prickly' to 'Hip' to 'Blood' and then Axl. The description for the Axl Rosethorn Lance also changes to incorporate the song and album titles "Sweet Child o' Mine", "Appetite for Destruction", "Welcome to the Jungle", and "Paradise City".
• The Amphibious Oyster enemy is gigantic and blue, and the description mentions a cult that worships it. "They set cities on flame with rock and roll."
• The Beach Boy and Beach Boy Imitators are a quartet of enemies that, of course, derive their name and description from The Beach Boys.
• The Alpha Dracoglin house item references Sarah McLachlan's song "Angel", but with "Brilhado" in place of "Angel".
• The armor reward to "The Journey Home" is a copy of Falerin's fancy suit and uses an altered version of the lyrics to ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" in its description.
• The Eyes of Chillax weapons copy the lyrics of Music/Survivor's famous song "Eye of the Tiger".
• The 2015 Frostval giftbox set plays many references to "Weird Al" Yankovic. The message for an item's successful attempt at Control is "Your opponent doesn't get the reference."
  • The melee weapon, Your Bologna, parodies "My Balogna"
  • The ranged weapon, Aluminum Foil, takes its lyrics from "Foil".
  • The magic weapon, Big Dictionary, appears to reference "Word Crimes".
  • The armor, Fat & Tacky Santa, stems from "Fat" and "Tacky". The lyrics, in particular, parody "Tacky". Its skill, Laundry Day, references, well, "Laundry Day".
  • The shield is an accordion, Weird Al's signature instrument.
  • The spell, "No Lemons, no Melon" mimicks "Bob" and all of its palindromes. The description incorporates some palindromic sentences—"Not a banana baton" and "Oh no, Don Ho!"
  • The pet, Psychedelic Dinosaur, is a T.rex with scales of a garish shade of purple. "Jurassic Park" is what this pet references, with the purple dinosaur parodying the referenced Barney & Friends. The description actually references "Camptown Races", but it mentions that it's the wrong song.
  • The Amish Hat miscellaneous item references "Amish Paradise".
• The Deren Memorial Shop has a fan that, when clicked on, gives the description, "Scaramouche, scaramouche, why can't I buy this fandango?", in reference to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
• The Deren Art Gallery has a painting with the description "A lady shielding her face with an umbrella in hopes she doesn't give away her p-p-p-poker face!", in reference to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face".
• A clickable in the 2015 Frostval Gift Delivery war, hidden behind the quest scroll, says, "Red, red gift. Go to my head, make me forget that I still need her so." The line originates from Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine".
• The Ziggy's Stardust spell was released shortly after David Bowie's death, as a homage.
• There is a Large and in Charge boss enemy called Tubthumper, named after Chumbawamba's hit "Tubthumping".
• The End of Graves is a play on Bullet for My Valentine's "End of Days". Its description parodies the lyrics: "It's the perfect thing to give you the power when you're beholding adversity and you need the strength to carry on."
• The Purple Rain spell is a tribute to Prince, released shortly after his death.
• The spell "Moonwalker's Grace" includes in its description, "[T]he finishing touches were done by the cult of Moonwalkers, who used it to help them jam with their king." It bestows a status effect called "Smooth", which boosts Dexterity. The spell references Michael Jackson's Moonwalk Dance.
• The spell "Sisters of Mercy" was released as a tribute to Leonard Cohen after his death, in reference to the song of the same name. The description are an exact copy of the first three lines of the song's lyrics.
• The description of the Hammer of Unity are the lyrics of "If I Had a Hammer".
• Warlic creates Love Potion #729 in the 2008 Snugglefest quest. He claims it's named because it's the cube of Love Potion #9.

Tabletop Games

• The Blood Orb item has the line "Blood for the Blood Orb!", referencing Warhammer 40,000.
• Berserkers have a skill called "Ticking Clock", and the berserker Val Kyrie has a description says that her love for Galanoth is like a ticking clock. Both instances are references to the song "Love Among Freaks".
• The Powerword Die special attack from the Weapons of Awe copy the Powerword Kill spell from Dungeons & Dragons. Like the original, it can instantly kill any monster, so long as it is within a power range.
• The Darksteel Guard enemy appears to be wearing a Darksteel Plate from Magic: The Gathering. It has a huge HP stat, too, perhaps to emulate it as Armor of Invincibility.

Theater

• Paxian Defender's description starts off with "Do you hear the people sing," and the rest of the description is metered and rhymed like the original song.
• A ghost in the "Canyon of Lost Souls" quest states that "Something wicked this way comes!" before fleeing from the Spectre approaching them.
• The Scizzard is designed after Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, what with its skunk stripe hair, scissors, and description that says it's 'part demon' and 'part barber'.
• The "Phantom of the Opera" quest is a literal interpretation of the referenced work's name.
• The Nepencreep pet and monster is obviously Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, as both are carnivorous, sentient plants with distinctive red lips.
• Unusually enough, the Mogloween 2007 "Witch Hunt!" quest explcitly mentions in a footnote that a character is quoting William Shakespeare's Hamlet. It's likely it's parodying Don't Explain the Joke.

Pro Wrestling

• During the fifth quest in the Assassin class chain, the player character meets with Zweiger at the Zard Pit—and right before starting the fight, an announcer uses Michael Buffer's trademark phrases.
• The Stone Cold Slayer and Stone Cold Spear weapons reference "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The Stone Cold Slayer in particular mentions one of his Catch Phrases in its description.

Video Games

• The Ruby Golem says that its rubies are unrelated to a mythical monstrosity that could raise continents, but they are still precious.
• The Emerald Golem says its emeralds weren't guarded by some dragon that lives in the clouds, but they're still extremely valuable.
• The Goldyfish pet and Fishguts enemy is a small goldfish that Turns Red, turning into a large, serpent-like creature stuck inside its glass bowl, not unlike Magikarp and Gyarados of Pokémon.
• The 2016 Blarney War introduces PikaZards, which are quite explicitly Pikachu-Frogzard fusions, having They have long ears with black tips, red cheeks, a lightning bolt tail, deal Energy-element damage, and is one of the ZardMaster's 'mascots'.
• The PikaZard pet was released when Pokémon GO was, and BulbaZard was released shortly after.
• Aloha PikaZard was relased a few weeks before Pokémon Sun and Moon was, in reference to the game's Alola forms and Z-Moves. It is a PikaZard with a grass skirt, and it has a once-per-battle "Zard move" that deals 50% - 100% additional damage depending on the enemy monster's strength.
• The 2015 Harvest Festival quest is one big reference to the Pokémon franchise. A Nepencreep evolves into a Saladmandr after eating Fire Orb fragments. While fighting the Saladmandr, the monster's description mimicks the style of writing used in the Pokedex. The Drakonnan II boss says "Prepare for trouble!" and has a Pokemon-style Fight Woosh, and Drakonnan II himself is a Flunky Boss with six Fire-element pets: a Phoenix, Drakel Warrior, Saladmander, Firezard, Fire Golem, and Vampragon. Defeating him causes him to go out with A Twinkle in the Sky, and the rewards are a Funny Spoon where the description suggests to collect all 151 and a pack of seeds that has a red top and white bottom, much like a Pokeball.
• BioHaZard's description says that the player isn't Lone Wanderer but has to deal with radiation nonetheless.
• The Tinkerer's title has the description, "Show off that you're one of the 23 weapons and gadgets not fit for this world!", directly quoting Ratchet & Clank.
• The Cyber Assassin's title has the description "Nothing is true, everything is stunnable", parodying eponymous creed of Assassin's Creed.
• Cara Loft is a obvious play on Lara Croft. The player meets her when searching through the Ruins of Rundlecrum.
• Alricon the UnDeadeye's description says that he died from an arrow to the knee before backtracking and saying 'head' instead.
• In "Zorbak and Safiria's Challenge", the player is tasked to conquer four fortresses. It seems the quest was made just so Zorbak could claim All Your Base Are Belong to Us.
• The Pixel set of items is based off of Minecraft's aesthetic. The Pixel Stalker pet from the set is a pig that acts like a Creeper.
• The Snowglobe miscellaneous item damages the enemy with ice particles—or, according to the description, "Hail for your enemy, baby!"
• The revamped "Into the Darkness" quest has a Baldur's Gate reference.
• The description for the Scurvy Blade weapon mentions that Cap'n Rhubarb uses this weapon instead of combustible anti-limes to get Vitamin C when life didn't give it to him, in reference to Cave Johnson's famous rant about combustible lemons from Portal 2.
• The Pit Protector armor mentions that it does not protect the player character from a toga-clad cherub archer of the same name. It is more useful for protecting the player character against undead horrors that exist in The Pit beneath Battleon.
• In the quest "Emerge from the Shadow", the line the Pied Burper says upon entering mimicks Star Wolf's entrance from Star Fox 64.
• In the second quest in the Assassin quest chain, a thug may call the player character a Spoony Bard when he or she fights him, hearkening to its source.
• The Toy Bomb spell claims to allow the player character to have Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb, in reference to the original, memetic line from Zero Wing.
• The Gatling Gun weapon fires enough "boolets" to satisfy a "burly Russian man that loves hats", which alludes to the Heavy of Team Fortress 2, which uses a gatling gun as his weapon.
• The name of the 2015 Mogloween quest is "Ghosts 'n Moglins" rather than Ghosts 'n Goblins.
• Lord Arrgthas, a ice-elemental knight, is a possible random encounter. Defeating him opens the shop for the Permafrost Scimitar. His description says that he isn't a lich king yet. He is a shout-out to Lord Arthas of World of Warcraft, who is the icy lich king of Northrend with the Frostmourne weapon.
• The cutscene at the end of the 2015 Frostval Gift Delivery war didn't get finished before the war ended, and hence had one line of placeholder dialogue from "I AM ERROR", in reference to the infamous line from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
• The Castle Crusher weapon mentions that it can't "let you team up with three friends in a side scrolling beat'em up", referring to the similarly named game Castle Crashers.
• When Loco possess the player character in the 2012 April Fools quest, he says that he is "Assuming direct control", Harbinger's memetically famous line from Mass Effect.
• Frankenspine Jr. says that he would rather be playing SimLab on his MonsterBox 64.
• The Drop the MOAP spell uses all of the player character's SP for a Fire-element bomb attack. It is named after Call of Duty's MOAB; MOAP stands for 'Mother Of All Pellets'.
• In "Burning Questions", Kamui gives the player character the OPTIC, a set of glasses that allows him/her to see and unlock a person's secrets, represented as a safe. The quest plays out the same way as Ace Attorney's Psyche-Locks. The title for completing the quest, "Ace Detective", supports this reference.
• The Keyblade of Passion is named for and modeled after Kingdom Hearts's signature weapon. Its description says it's from a video game based on the Mackey Moglin cartoon franchise.

Web Original

• The mouseover text the 2012 Mogloween quest says that you can do anything at ZomboCo—rather, ZombieLand.

Western Animation

• The description for a Gargoyle says that it won't be found on a clock tower in New York.
• The pet for the Griffin shop refers to the Griffin family of Family Guy, especially with an "annoying talking dog" (Brian) and "baby [that] is some kind of mad genius" (Stewie).
• When having Radagast as a guest, if the player runs out of SP to keep him fighting, he'll suddenly disappear while commenting about Jack Candle.
• In "Absol-ution Part I", the spaceship to travel through Etherspace is named after Danny Phantom, and the landmarks in space are named after The Fairly OddParents!.
• The Bun-Rangers are half parodies of Captain Planet and the Planeteers with their elements of Fire, Earth, Fire, Water, and Snuggles and half of Power Rangers with their ability to summon a MegaZard. The quest "Bun Rangers Nitro!" introduces a Sixth Ranger uses an ocarina to summon a DragonZard, parodying Tommy, the Green Ranger. He uses it to fight Goldenrod, a lion-Hybee hybrid, an Expy of Goldar. In addition, the Green Bun Ranger tries using the Konami Code when trying to figure out how to summon the DragonZard.
• The Mighty Morphin' Golem Stranger pets named after the Power Rangers
• One of the cats from Thunder Mountain the player character can purchase is called a Znarf.
• The final enemies of the "Transfarmers" quest are 'zard and dragon Transformers.
• Transformer armor is "more than meets the eye", obviously referring to the franchise.
• "Shadows Are Magic!" is essentially takes My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and shadow-ifies it, as ElBhe Waxes Lyrical about making a shadowcupcake out of shadowingredients to catch shadowponies.
• Lord Barrius revisits My Little Pony in the "Elements of D'awww!" quest, where ElBhe meets a shadowpony named Inky Sky who gives a detailed description of the history of shadowponies, which involve defeating Queen Fillymeana using the Elements of Daw. Inky Sky also mentions how the veil is always fifty shades of black, and finding an Element of Daw will have the game triumphantly proclaim "DA DA DA DAAAAA!"
• In "Fern Bully" (whose name is derived from Fern Gully), the boss is a rat parody of Mr. T that speaks with Antiquated Linguistics.
• The LOCOmotive is a train that's been infused with Loco's chaotic energies. The description says its name is Thomas.
• The Abominable Snowman enemy mentions And Call Him "George" in its description—essentially likening Elmyra Duff of Tiny Toon Adventures a brute.
• For Mogloween 2015, Twilly was drawn with yellow fur, white eyes with a black rim, and a dog-like muzzle, hearkening to Jake from Adventure Time.
• When a Spectre induces a Fear effect on the player character, a text bubble with the word "G-g-ghost!" appears, like how Shaggy responds to ghosts in Scooby-Doo.
• The latter half of the "Ep-pig!" quest is played like a Scooby-Doo episode, and the player character hangs many lampshades on the work's tropes.
• The description for the Head of Chillax enemy says that it will use its brain and not pinky for the fight—alluding to Pinky and the Brain.
• The 2016 Mogloween quest features the player character on the hunt for the "Grand Pumpkin", like the Great Pumpkin from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
• The Sword of 1000 Truths is named after the weapon from South Park's parody of World of Warcraft.
• The description for Sugar Rush Armor quite literally says, "By the power of CAAANNNDDDYYYY, you have the POOWWWEERRR!".
• The Despair Bear, the boss of the 2016 Snugglefest event, is a twisted version of a Care Bear. It has a ghastly face on its belly, and its special attack is called Despair Bear Stare, where it shoots out skull beams from its belly.

Mixed

• Kamui's security system is named P.O.T.A.D.O.S. and quotes lines from Portal. When it stuns the player character (or an enemy, once the player gets it as a pet) with its hammers, a text bubble appears and says, "Stop! Hammertime!"
• The Firing Toupée bears resemblance to Donald Trump's hairstyle, and of course, the 'Firing' part means it both boosts Fire-element damage and is recommended for firing people from the office. The description additionally references The Fellowship of the Ring as a parody of the One Ring engraving.
• The "Fading Warlic!" quest is full of references to Doctor Who. The player character and NPCs are trying to find why Warlic is fading from the current timeline. Warlic looks for a Doctor (in particular, Dr. Voltabolt) for answers. Dr. Voltabolt has two children, Gallie and Frey, and a device called the Z.A.R.D.I.S., a time-traveling Zard partially stuck in the form of a police box. Dr. Voltabolt has the last of the time cords, which the rest were destroyed in some Great Offscreen War, which he uses to send the other NPCs into the past to find the answer to Warlic's dilemma. Along the way, they encounter Salek Sprayers, a salt shaker in place of a Dalek, and a Cyberhen for a Cyberman (which doubles as a reference to Robot Chicken). Along the way, the NPCs quote Doctor Who frequently. Besides Doctor Who, the quest also sprinkles other time-traveling references. Gallie looks like Leela and Frey looks like Fry, characters from Futurama, and at the end of the quest, the characters start quoting Back to the Future.
• A trio of Badger Berserkers is called BadgerBadgerBadger, and their description states that "We don't need no stinking badgers!"
• The Emerald Wizard Staff summons a Flying Monkey as a guest, a reference to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz's wizard of the Emerald City and the Wicked Witch's flying monkeys. The description additionally mentions that all the player needs now is a tiny china doll.
• Dinozard Island is essentially Jurassic Park, since it is a secluded island filled with prehistoric reptilles. The SmartZard wants to call it Cretaceous Park, even. There's a CaveZard that babbles "Bibbity bobbity boo!" as a primeval language.
• A clown from the 2015 April Fools quest is named Nickelwise, and he claims to be the rock-star leader of the band Loco's Clowns. His name is a mash-up of Pennywise and Nickelback, and his backstory plays the part.
• The "Lupin II" quest is confirmed to be a reference to Lupin III. Within the quest itself, the passwords are four of the Doctor's Catchphrases.
• The description for the Werehog enemy does not reference Sonic, but it instead says that it's glad there wasn't bear involved in the hybrid—otherwise, it would be a Man-Bear-Pig, as mentioned in South Park.
• The armor from the 2011 Frostval armor giftbox is Full Metal Santa. According to the developers:

  In Media Res:
  Kam and I tend to throw in a bunch of stuff, 'cause we're big nerds.
  
  Full Metal Santa is actually Hollow's idea - it's supposed to be a reference to Full Metal Jacket. Kam then threw in some FMA references too.

• The boss of the "Save the Red Betty!" quest is a Giant Squid, so naturally, its name is Squidworth and its description references the Cthulhu Mythos to the tune of the Spongebob theme song.
• Two of the subtitles to quests in the "War of the Giants" quest chain reference Kaiju-centric works:
  • The subtitle to Part 1 is "Cancel the Apocalypse!", named after Pentecost's Badass Boast from Pacific Rim.
  • The subtitle to Part 3 is "Attack on Titan!", of course referencing Attack on Titan.
• The description for the "Cozy Zombie ReignDragon" boss of the Frostval 2016 "Gift Delivery!" quest says, "Looks like Blastem chose... poorly. He probably won't be competing in the ReinDragon games this year."

Other

• One of Tydlee Wynx's mooks is called a G.I. Gnome, and the description mentions how they fight cobras.
• The Babby pet has its description reference the How Is Babby Formed? meme.
• The Am-Boss's description states that it has ambushed the player—like a boss!
• One of the rewards from "Germinator: Plantation!" is the ToxiCleen spell, which does Water-elemental damage and can poison the enemy.
• The Legion boss references 4chan's credo and LOLCats.
• The Cabbit is a Ridiculously Cute Critter that vomits rainbows for its attacks, made by the daughter of one of the developers. Naturally, the description invites monsters to taste the rainbow, a la the Skittles slogan.
• The Pere No Flesh enemy derives its name from Pere Noel, one of the variations of Father Christmas. Its description is a twisted version of "The First Noel".
• Captain Munch's name is a parody of Captain Crunch cereal.
• ZardAde is a pun on Gatorade.
• The Nerflord Shield the player receives as a quest reward simply has the description "Nerf THIS!", likely referencing actual Nerf toys.