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So many sweet references. You'd almost think it was simultaneously your birthday, AND Christmas or something.


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    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Film (includes Actors) 

    Literature 
  • This page is a clear Shout-Out to The Postman. (The letter in question is addressed to "Dr. David Brinner", and The Postman was written by David Brin, who does in fact have a doctorate.)
  • When Rose fells the Lime Ogre and surfs it into the ocean:
    TG: i dont know beach the thing first i guess
    TG: unless you were planning on sailing that ogre down the mississippi with a runaway slave
  • There's a pretty clear reference to Moby-Dick upon Meenah's third meeting with John:
    MEENAH: (you are my obsession lil bluefish)
    MEENAH: (my shrimpiest of whales)
    MEENAH: (my mobiest of dicks)
    MEENAH: (call me)
    MEENAH: (fishmael)
    MEENAH: 3B|
  • Some of the trolls embark on a quest to destroy a ring of great power in a volcano. After a long series of events, the Wayward Vagabond heads off to do this.
    • Not to mention someone named Strider who wields a broken sword.
    • And the best broken sword in the game being the Royal Deringer.
    • The way Jack uses said sword to slay the Black Queen — specifically the way she explodes after her ring finger is cut off — is also in direct reference to Sauron's initial destruction.
    • And of course, John finds a ring in the sand, and an ornery member of a species he hardly (visually) recognizes demands it back. When John makes off with the ring and Tavros can't find it, he outright starts calling it his Precious.
    • Aranea steals this same ring, and her aspirations of godhood compare well to those of Galadriel.
  • Cthulhu Mythos references can be found in the form of Jade's island (matches one of Lovecraft's descriptions) and in the beasties from Rose's grimoire. The word "dreamself" also seems to be derived from his works.
  • Vriska writing I 8n't dead is an intentional reference to Granny Weatherwax, as confirmed on Andrew's Formspring.
    • With that in mind, WV?'s actions are probably a shout out to Vimes's idea of the pawns establishing their own democracy in Night Watch Discworld.
    • And a troll who can't use a bow because he keeps breaking them. Someone should have told Equius that bows aren't troll weapons.
    • And Sopor Slime fits neatly into the likes of Slab, Scrape, Slice and Slunkie, being a psychoactive troll drug that starts with 'S'
  • When Colonol Sassacre is killed, it says "People would think reports of the man's death were greatly exaggerated. But they weren't." This is based on a famous Mark Twain quote, whom Sassacre is very loosely modeled after.
  • Not only does Cronus' backstory reveal that he's a failed Harry Potter imitation (with magical scars, no less) who eventually rejects magic altogether, but presumably, Lord English is his version of Voldemort, and the Jujus are his horcruxes.
  • Vriska and Tavros's tumultuous relationship involves frequent references to Peter Pan, with Tavros as Peter and Vriska using tropes from both Tinkerbell and Hook. The shoutouts cover the entire expanded universe, including the filmed theatre adaptation and Hook, but also use references that go back to the original stage play, such as Vriska's weapon being a collection of eight stone dice called the Fluorite Octet (a pun on Captain Hook's last words in the play, "floreat etona").
    • As of the end of the Midnight Crew intermission, Vriska, Spades Slick, and the harlequin doll all bear the same set of injuries: An injured eye and a missing arm. These are the same as the injuries borne by Hook.
  • Jane becomes Hercule Poirot.
  • The resemblance of Crockerdark Jane's costume design to that of Little Red Riding Hood would be coincidental due to the Crocker colors... were it not for the fact that the one that makes her transform is Grimbark Jade, who has been turned by the Condesce into Jane Riding Hood's Big, Bad, Badass Wolf. Not to mention that both have alternate incarnations that were surrogate grandmothers...
  • Given how she wears red and is a slave with no way out (except someone else killing her and taking over her job) to Lord English, the Handmaid's name might be a shoutout to The Handmaid's Tale. If it is so, it paints an even more squicky picture of her situation with Doc Scratch and Lord English.
  • The song "Three in the Morning", which plays during Snowman's introduction, is taken from the quote, "The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." This is the opening line to the very first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

    Live-Action TV 

    Music 

    Theatre 
  • While Mituna's introduction in Openbound included at least one misspelling of the word "helmet" as "H4ML37", it is only in [S] [A6I3] Ministrife!!! that Kurloz plays on the reference by showing up to the Meenah-Vriska battle/costume party dressed as a prince at the same time Mituna shows up asking for his helmet.
  • The name "Caliborn" is similar to "Caliban", and Caliborn hates people similar way.

    Video Games 

EarthBound

The entire series is more or less an extended shout out to the Mother trilogy, most especially EarthBound.
  • The title "Homestuck" can be construed as a synonym of EarthBound. The first published volume of Homestuck confirms that John's pesterchum initials, "EB", are also an 'EarthBound reference.
  • "Rambunctious Crow" is reminiscent of "Spiteful Crow", an early-game Goomba with a penchant for stealing players' items (or Sburb beta).
  • This panel has an Instant Revitalizing Device in the corner; oddly, while it's clearly the EarthBound variant in that it's not stamped with a Pigmask logo, it otherwise has the color scheme of their Mother 3 incarnation.
    • And it's used as a Mundane Utility by Dave to make coffee. And there's this piece of dialog:
      DAVE: two hot revitalizing cups of shitty coffee
  • Word of God instance: Hussie has stated that, of her extensive gaming repertoire, Roxy's favorites are EarthBound and Pikmin, two titles he himself particularly enjoyed.
  • The interactive games, starting with AlterniaBound are meant to resemble... you guessed it.
  • The song "Plumbthroat Gives Chase" from the "Squiddles!" album begins with Skipper Plumbthroat saying "This might not fit my... rude outer ego, but I really love drinking tea and eating broccoli," which is a reference to a line one of The Sharks says in Onett's arcade. "To tell you the truth, I like drinking tea and eating fresh vegetables, but that doesn't fit my super cool image."
  • Lord English happens to be an Expy of Giygas, being an "almighty idiot" who is completely undefeatable by conventional means. Those means also make him an Expy of Porky Minch, namely trapping him in an inescapable prison of his own making wherein he contentedly toils in irrelevance

    Other 

    Western Animation 
  • The beginning of the Midnight Crew's introduction resembles the beginning of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' opening credits.
  • It's implied that Bro makes/is into saucy puppet shows.
  • From here:
    EB: it is bill cosby.
    EB: he's back.
  • A few Rainbow Dash pictures can be seen in Dirk Strider's room. While he purports to have a "strictly academic" interest in cartoon ponies, he soon admits that his affection for Rainbow Dash, at least, is totally unironic.
    • One of Meulin's gifs from her signing features Apple Bloom pressing an "Unsee" button.
    • In the Tricksterlog accompanying Dirk's "Engage" flash, Jake drunkenly misspells "everybody." No, the result is not "EVERYPONY," as you might expect; it's "EVERYBRONY."
  • Sollux's lusus is a Bicyclops, further cemented by his yellow blood color.
  • One of Meenah's hashtags in A6I3 is "#the goggles do nothing".
    • The Wayward Vagabond, while trying to switch monitors on his computer, he presses Tab. But he actually gets Tab.
    • Jane's mouth, in its A6A6 closeups, is disturbingly Simpsonesque.
  • Some of the gifs used to represent Meulin's sign language include clips of Adventure Time.
  • After ascension to his full potential, Jake bellows this when he hears Jane, rather than Jade, speaking to him:
  • Jasprosesprite^2 is basically one giant shoutout to Alice in Wonderland's Cheshire Cat, from her purple and pink striped color scheme to her fading out leaving nothing but an alarming smile.
  • During [S] Collide, when a bunch of Troll Ghosts are stampeding over Lord English, Shrek (for some reason) appears among them.
  • Terezi uses a smelloscope and starts the memo immediately afterwards with "B 4 D N 3 WS 3V3RYON3!", and one of Dave's comics has the line "time to fly up to the sun you fucknig piece of gargbage".

    Music Shout Outs (Limited to songs not featured in comic) 
  • There's also some Complete Darkness in there.


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