Shout Out / Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts is a game that sells itself on being able summon and make use of just about anything you can think of, so it's no surprise that game is naturally packed full of references and Shout Outs to other works.

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• A trailer showed Maxwell with a hazmat suit minus the helmet, glasses, and a crowbar. And the video that shows Feep (linked above) also has "GAF" summon the NeoGAF logo.
• Proton pack is also a usable item (don't try to use it on ghost in the coffin, though).
• You can even type in Beam Katana in lieu of a lightsaber. This goes one step further with the "Rockstar" character looking strangely similar to Travis Touchdown.
• "Boomstick" aliases to "shotgun".
• Ultimate Weapon aliases to "crowbar".
  • The Necronomicon is also an item. It turns anything that lives into a humanoid skeleton warrior. Said skeletons will be allied with you... only when you're holding the book. And when it runs out of ammo, it drops... and turns into another skeleton which, along with its kin, will attack you.
• A female Major is very clearly modeled after Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell.
• The Merits screen displays the phrase Merit Get!
• There are levels themed after BioShock, The Wizard of Oz and Back to the Future.
• One level has you retrieving a pirate's pocket watch. There are multiple treasure chests about, a crocodile, and a hidden puffer fish. Where is the pocket watch? Inside the croc.
• Wizards and dwarves defend any halflings in sight.
  • In the same vein, halflings will defend any rings in sight. If you take the ring, they instantly either attack you or angrily follow you around depending on if they have a weapon or not.
• Chimpanzees are very interested in monoliths.
• I heart nuckelavees!
• Don't forget the awesome Pac-Man level.
  • Or the Super Mario Bros. level in Super.
• Summon an archaeologist, and you will get someone who resemble a certain Adventurer Archaeologist, complete with a habit to pick up a whip from the ground if they see one. Also, in one mission you have to get the Ark of the Covenant for him, with predictable consequences.
• Typing "Manbearpig" will give you a minotaur.
• You can attach a laser gun to a shark without using any sort of connective material — almost as if sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads were the most natural thing in the world.
  • They can actually equip any type of gun, but it's pretty obvious the idea was to allow them to have lasers.
• Knights will attack any windmills in sight.
• "Mech" spawns a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo version of the Mad Cat/Timber Wolf BattleMech.
• In the sequel, "Sleuth Diplomacy" spawns a tommy gun.
• Also in the sequel, there is a level with monkeys jumping on beds. The hint is "Four little monkeys jumping on a bed, don't crack their heads!"
• Dwarves are afraid of elephants and carp. And "Urist" spawns a dwarf.
• There are a couple Shout Outs to The Protomen in the sequel: Wily scientists - and ONLY wily scientists - will run away from rebels, and rebels look like Panther (one of the members of the aforementioned band).
• Typing "President" summons an African-American one.
• Typing "Mask" in the second game will lead you to two options: "Mask (Fun)" and "Mask (Beauty)". The first one summons a Guy Fawkes mask.
• In Super, typing "cable guy" will get you a bearded man wearing jeans, a baseball cap, a vest, and no shirt.
• Summon a hedgehog and a ring. The hedgehog will run after the ring... Sounds familiar?
• Typing "Burning Man" will summon a giant wooden effigy
  • Also, a synonym for doll is How Did it Get Burned.
• If you summon a "board game", it's Monopoly.
• In the third game, a male "cosplayer" is dressed as Kamina.
• The female "devil" (or "demon") in the third game has long, lime-green hair and stubby horns.
  • A female "succubus" has light blue hair in a spiky ponytail.
• In Unlimited, spawn a female Assassin. She may look familiar.
  • Also in Unlimited, give a "male cop" a "perfect axe", and you'll get an "invincible militant dinosaur".
• Type in "wrestler" in Unlimited. Doesn't the character that appears look a lot like CM Punk?
• After completing "Out with the old" in Unlimited, the game specifically spawns a pair of "Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men"
• Also in Unlimited, one challenge has you getting rid of a butterfly that will apparently cause problems in the future. Said challenge is even called "The Butterfly Effect"!
• One of the object shards requires you to break a crate with a crowbar. Its title? Free Man.
• Several missions in Unlimited require you to re-enact famous movie scenes (For example, making a gorilla giant, after which several planes will appear and shoot at it).
• And then there's the mini-mission where you help a penguin wearing a chicken hat steal a diamond.
• In one of the underwater levels of Unlimited, there is a pineapple, an Easter Island sculpture, and a rock on the ocean floor.
  • And if you 'Use' them they'll spawn the respective items — a friendly Starfish, musical Squid, and sinking Sponge.
• In Unlimited, "people" spawns The Village People.
• One of the female athletes looks remarkably like a humanized Rainbow Dash. She even wears the number 20, as a nod to the 20% Cooler meme.
  • One of the playable avatars, Scratch, is a blatant reference to Vinyl Scratch, also known as "DJ PON-3".
  • The Element of Magic, and Twilight's gala dress also show up◊ (the changeling's fan-made). The one wearing the dress and element is a Female "Brady Houck".
• Also in Unlimited, you have to remind a halfling in a volcano what he was supposed to throw into it. When he's done, he's carried off by a giant eagle.
• Dilophosaurus spits blinding venom.
• One of Maxwell's brothers in Unlimited is dressed exactly like Eric Cartman.
• Another of his brothers, found in a medieval castle serving a king and wearing elf-like clothes, is named LARP.
• In one level you have to fetch a cowboy his cow, off floating in space. The starite shard name? Space Cowboy.
• In the high school level you have to help someone be protected from dodgeballs. When you complete this objective in any way, a large amount of various sports balls and one wrench try to hit him.
• Surprisingly, a few of the developers has both a male and a female form, such as the aforementioned "Brady Houck." For another, type "Dan Rosas," and you get a guy with a guitar. Make a Female one, and you get someone who looks suspiciously like Lux...
• In the moon level, you can find a couple of whalers on the moon.
  • "I See What You Did There" gives you a character that looks like Fry, and the female variant looks like Leela.
• Maxwell's superhero brother is named Clark.
• Try summoning the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, War, Famine and Pestilence), now try typing Pollution.
• The object shard for feeding a bear honey in Unlimited is called Oh Bother.
• One of the female zombies in Unlimited resembles Mandy.
• In the bayou level in Unlimited, one of the shards requires giving a frog someone to kiss. Summon a girl, and she turns into a frog too.
• Another shard requires you to create a sand worm. Do so, and it spits out spice.
• For one of the object shards, you have to create a special hammer for Maxwell.
• In the restaurant level of Unlimited, there are two dogs waiting for food at a short table.
• In Unlimited, there is a pair of twins looking for something to play with. The title for the challenge is "Come play with us!"
• In Unlimited, one of the paleontologists wants a fossilized mosquito so he can clone dinosaurs.
• There's an unique white whale that can be spawned by typing "Moby-Dick" on the notebook.
• Starting with Super, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be summoned. Giving either one a potion turns him into the other.
• Doctor Who:
  • UNIT gives a soldier.
  • The female time traveller in Unlimited looks quite a bit like Sarah Jane Smith. (The male time traveller looks like Marty McFly.)
  • One of the first things you see in Wayne Manor in Unmasked is a statue of an angel covering its eyes.
  • There's a mission in Unmasked where you have to give a time machine to a time traveler. He uses it, and then returns being chased by enemy cyborgs shouting "EXTERMINATE" and "DELETE".
• In Unlimited, there's a pilgrim who wants you to help him ride his wagon west to Oregon, complete with several events mirroring aspects of The Oregon Trail (like giving him the profession of banker, carpenter, or farmer).
• One for Pokémon. In Unmasked, there's a woman who wants you to summon a few heroes to fight her villains. When she summons them, she says, "VILLAINS! I CHOOSE YOU!"
  • The name of the challenge? "THE VERY BEST!"
• In Unlimited, the male slacker bears more than a passing resemblance to The Dude.
• In Unlimited, one of the two serial killers resembles Dexter Morgan.
• In Unlimited, giving the Devil a fiddle awards the object shard "Down To Georgia".
• In Unlimited, making Maxwell a silver hammer awards the shard "Bang Bang!"
• In Unlimited, the male bounty hunter resembles Dog the Bounty Hunter.
• In Unlimited, an object shard requires you to take a ride in a Roman chariot, with the challenge bearing the title "Roman Taxi".
• The Saurus Park in Unlimited features several shout-outs to Jurassic Park… and, for some reason, one to The Six Million Dollar Man.
• One level in Unlimited is a sunken city in which dread Cthulhu lies sleeping.
• The "A Piece From Your World" miniquest in Unlimited involves a curious mermaid who collects "gizmos" from the surface world.
• In the penitentiary level in Unlimited, one miniquest ends with a prisoner escaping through a tunnel hidden behind a poster.
• In Unlimited, there is a quest that involves helping a group of explorers climb a mountain. Their path up the mountain echoes the layout of the platforms and ladders in Donkey Kong, which wouldn't be remarkable in itself except that there's a yeti at the top who throws barrels at anyone who tries to get past.
• Male vampire hunters resemble Vampire Hunter D and female ones resemble Rayne.
• In Unlimited, one miniquest giver is a beagle sleeping on top of a doghouse.
• In Unlimited, a reality-show themed quest features several shout-outs to Survivor.
• In Unlimited, a miniquest involves helping a character with a steampunk aircraft travel to — and then defend — a Castle in the Sky.
• In Unlimited, one of the puzzles in the space station level involves a rogue firefly.
• In Unlimited, one of the puzzles on the alien planet involves an alien couple raising a baby rocketed from Earth, who gains superpowers.
• In Unlimited, using a rolling pin earns you the They See Me Rollin'! shard.
• In Unlimited and Unmasked, one can spawn a Black Knight that loses limbs every time you hit him. For added hilarity, he still attempts to fight you with only a head and torso.
• It is known that you can spawn a fake Starite by writing "Answer"... but another synonym for the same object is "what is the question".
• One Starite shard in Unlimited is earned by giving a pack of hidden raptors some prey to hunt. What's the shard called? "Clever Girl."
• The Female Samurai in Unlimited bears a resemblance to Saeko Busujima.
• Combining a baseball bat and a lampshade in Unlimited grants a shard named "It's a light bat!" This is a reference to a certain commercial for now-defunct Seattle-area hardware store Eagle Hardware, featuring baseball star Edgar Martinez.