Filia also sometimes says, "HENSHIIIIN!" when using Gregor Samson.
Her aerial heavy punch, Salon Treatment, involves tossing her hair forward in an array of sharp instruments like forks, knives and spikes. One of these sharp instruments is the Lance of Longinus.
Her Updo special and Fenrir Drive super, in which Samson turns into a giant hair maw, happens to be a shout out to one of the Dustloop forum members, who suggested no game with any hair-fighters would be complete without at least one reference to the Pokémon Mawile.
The combination of her eating habits and Samson's appearance on her head bears a similarity to the futakuchi-onna, who in Japanese mythology is a woman with a mouth on the back of her head that's driven to eat and eat.
The bar in the opening of her story mode is a parody of the famous Nighthawks painting, and is named after Madman's Cafe.
Mike Z has described Filia as the game's Ryu-clone. She has Hadoken-motion projectile, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku-motion spinning extended attack that works in air, and Shoryuken-motion uppercut.
One of her attacks involves Samson turning into a donkey and pushing Filia as if he's bucking the opponent, causing a wall bounce in the corner. This may or may not be a reference to Ryu's Jodan Sokuto Geri, commonly known as the Donkey Kick, which also causes a wall bounce.
Samson's name comes from the story of Samson from the Bible, who was known for being incredibly powerful as long as he let his hair grow out.
Cerebella's gameplay is said to be based off of Juggernaut and Potemkin.
One of her moves has her shouting "EXCELLENT!" while Vice-Versa throws up the heavy-metal "horns" gesture. During said move, Vice-Versa's eyes briefly turn into Kamina'sshades while Cerebella herself does the "Pierce the Heavens" pose.
The move Tumbling Run followed by pressing medium kick will result in a cross up identical to Kakashi's Taijutsu Ougi:Sennin Goroshi (1000 Years of Pain) from the Naruto anime/manga.
This is actually a reference to a type of Japanese prank known as kancho.
One move has her shouting "Diamonds are FOREVER!" or "A girl's best friend!" while she punches a giant diamond at the enemy.
She has a close range move (that also reflects projectiles!) where Vice-Versa performs a Finger Gun point. While doing this, the poses of the duo are reminiscent of Jotaro Kujo and Star Platinum.
Cerebella's second alt color is a reference to R. Mika
She also has a Potemkin color palette.
She also has an emerald green outfit similar to one of Tager's alternates — the same palette that lead designer Mike Z uses when playing Tager in BlazBlue.
Another of her palettes has her referencing NiGHTS from Journey of Dreams.
She also has a palette swap with red-and-black clothing, making her look somewhat like Harley Quinn.
Peacock's techniques are Shout Outs to many things.
Her Argus System is a reference to the Argus of Greek Mythology. That Argus had a hundred eyes (some of those eyes in his arms). When that Argus died, Hera placed his eyes in the peacock's tail as tribute.
Occasionally, when she fires her gun, she'll shout "Garbage day!" With the exact same weird enunciation as the film, just in case you had any doubts about whether it was a reference.
One of her crouching attacks kicks the opponent with the Kuribo's Shoe from Super Mario Bros. 3, complete with the good ol' "HERE-A WE GO!". Its name, Curb Your Shoe, is another part of the allusion.
Her block techniques often have her holding up an actual block of something — from a cinderblock to an L-block.
More Bonus Points - Upon gaining the Skull Heart in her story mode, she says "Who needs wishes? I'm already the strongest there is!" "I'm the strongest!" being one of Cirno's memetic catchphrases....
Another attack is her kicking and missing a football, yelling "Good grief!" when she trips. The alternate line for that technique is "Laces out!"
One attack turns her arm-eyes into blades, the classic visual pun on "looking daggers" at someone. The chances of her also shouting "Like THIIIIIIIIS!" are about one in five.
Keeping with the WFRR theme, one of her win quotes (when defeating Parasoul) is "You're not bad, you're just drawn badly" — riffing on Parasoul's undeniable resemblance to Jessica Rabbit.
Her jumping Medium Kick, which involves her beartrap mouth, is called "Nice Booby Trap", a line from Eddie Valiant about the bear trap that Jessica Rabbit keeps in a very punny place.
Her line upon encountering Filia is "Maybe she's born with it." It's part of the slogan for Maybelline hair care products.
Her line upon encountering Ms. Fortune is "A puddy tat!" — to which Ms. Fortune replies "Thufferin' thuccotash!"
Two of her win quotes are "I never forget a face, but for you, I'll make an exception" and "Either you're dead or my watch has stopped," all while smoking a cigar.
Groucho's not the only Thirties/Forties comedy icon Peacock pays homage to, either. She also quotes at least two of Moe Howard'scatchphrases ("Why, I oughta—" and "Spread out!"), which isn't surprising given her devotion to violent slapstick.
Her time-out animations seems to be a reference to Daffy Duck being shot by Elmer Fudd.
And, of course, Peacock herself is a blatant homage to the cartoons of the '30s and '40s, what with the Cartoon Bombs, Portable Holes, Fudd-esque shotgun, and so on.
In her Story Mode, she's awoken from bed by Avery saying "Hey! Listen!"
Unsurprisingly, she can also say "Of course, you know, this means war!" as an intro line, "Ain't I a stinka?" and "What a maroon!" when she wins, and "This ain't Albuquerque!" when tagged in.
One that might be an Artist Allusion, as well — another palette is based off of Alruna the succubus, one of Alex Ahad's characters from Gaia Online.
There's a small chance (1 in 20) that one of her assist soldiers will say "Well, ex-CUSE me, Princess!" when called.
There is a small chance that one of the Egrets yells "NOOOOOO!" when diving to protect her. It sounds remarkably similar to Darth Vader's infamous lament at the end of Star Wars Episode III.
One of the Black Egrets, Molly, has a talking pose where she salutes, closes her eyes and has an open zigzagged mouth, which may remind some people of Wobbuffet.
Ms. Fortune's original outfit seems to be a reference to Makoto (the general appearance) and Lara Croft (the color and the pouches she has on her belt). Since then, her color scheme and hairstyle have changed to stand out from the other characters and be more fitting with the 30's era.
Her air dash, and a lot of her blood splattering moves resemble Jedah's moves.
Her anti-air special, Fiber Upper, is named similarly to an anti-air used by Sagat.
During her level 1 super, she might end up saying "Fur-serkerPurr-age!" which is where the move drew its inspiration from. Alternatively, she might say "Cat Scratch Fever!"
One of her special attacks is done with three repetitions of the same button combination (Quarter-circle forward + Punch), similar to characters like Fei-Long, Karin Kanzuki or Iron Fist. That's not the Shout Out part, however - these types of characters are known as "Rekka-style" characters. What does Ms. Fortune say if you finish the three-hit special with one of two alternate enders? Either "Wreck-a your face!" or "Wreck-a your shins!"
She announces one of her low attacks by saying, "Tail spin!"
Sometimes when she bowls her head at the opponent, she'll say "Rolling start!"
Painwheel's Super Mode, "Hatred Install", is probably inspired by Sol Badguy's Dragon Install.
Her "Death Crawl" super move may be inspired by The Exorcist.
Valentine's Level 3 Super features the opponent getting seven different kinds of messed up, but said messing up is concealed behind medical screens and red flashes. Very similar to Akuma's Raging Demon attack.
If she loses by timeout, she explodes into a mass of bones as if hit by a Mortal Kombat 3 fatality, down to the multiple skulls and ribcages.
Double's "Cilia Slide" special is explicitly stated to emulate Sub-Zero's, right down to the input.
Her jump animation is extremely similar to Arakune's.
One of her intro quotes has her ask "What is a man?", and one of her winquotes answers "A miserable little pile of secrets", which also doubles as a Shout Out to the game's composer.
She also will sometimes say "Have at you!" when using her Peacock super.
One of her attacks is called Item Crash. note i.e. Grand Corss and Hydro Storm ).
Another achievement is obtained for KOing two characters in the same combo. Its name, of course, is Happy Birthday.
The psychic director of Lab Zero is called Brain Drain.
Early on in Parasoul's story mode, Umbrella had apparently expected to see: "Sonic boobs, pool balls, and KFC Combos" when she came along to see her at work. It helps when you know Parasoul plays like a charge character, which is what Guile and Venom are considered to be as well. Parasoul's playstyle is somewhat reminiscent of Venom, as well.
One of the background characters is a sleeping man in a familiar outfit leaning against a wall next to a sand bag. Said sandbag looks an awful lot like Bonus-Kun from Waku Waku 7.
In Peacock's story mode we meet Hive, a resident of the Anti-Skullgirl Labs, who we can see in the background of the stage as well. Other than her name, her outfit and lavender hair bear a resemblance to Q Bee.
In the tutorial screen there is a drawing of Ms. Fortune's head forming the bottom slime in a slime tower from the Dragon Quest series.
Killing off 2 characters at the same time or dealing a very large amount of damage in one combo will result in legendary 3rd Strike commentator John Dangerous Rockefeller laughing. This itself is also supposedly a shout out to Dan Forden shouting "Toasty!" in Mortal Kombat.
The song "Canopy Kingdom News - In Rapid Succession" starts out with a melody similar to the Hyrule Castle theme.
One of the members of Cirque des Cartes, Hubrecht "Hertz" Adelhardt, has an appearance similar to Alex Louis Armstrong. His design is heavily influenced by Arcana Heart's Heart Aino, with pink hair in a heart shape, a red ribbon tied in a bow around the wrist, red suspenders (in place of a red tie), orange pants (in place of an orange skirt), and blue boots (in place of blue shoes). He's likely also a reference to Mr. Heart.
It's worth noting that as far as his color palette relations to Heart go, an in-game image in Cerebella's story shows him with very different colors (as well as different colors for various other troupe members than what is shown in most character art), so it is currently unclear whether or not this will remain as his color palette if he is added into the game. The hair and ribbon remain key to his design.
Visible on the right side of the New Meridian stage is The Kid's hammer, along with a Squirt. They're placed on both sides of a female NPC based on the art director of the very same game, seen here◊.
