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Stock Shout-Outs
(aka: Stock Allusions)

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A Shout-Out that pops up in a lot of places. An oddly specific Shout Out.

Apparently multiple authors independently noticed the same detail and decided to reference it in their own story. The fact that so many authors possess such a thorough knowledge of the original story goes to show just how influential the subject of the Shout-Out is. It's a good example of Pop-Cultural Osmosis: everybody knows that one scene, even if that's all they know about it.

Stock Shout-Outs differ from Stock Parodies in two ways: They aren't played for laughs (beyond the inherent in-joke-esque nature of the common reference point) and they're usually blink-and-you'll-miss-it short.

Some are so famous that they've become tropes themselves.

See also Art Imitates Art for shout-outs to single non-narrative artworks or images.

The Other Wiki also has more information.

A Super-Trope to: If an example fits into one of these subtropes, it should be on that page, not here.


Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • AKIRA:
    • The giant sloped freight elevator.
    • Also, that badass motorcycle slide that Kaneda does in the movie's opening.
    • Tetsuo's transformation in the end.
    • Less often: firing of SOL and Tetsuo's Deface of the Moon.
  • The scene of the Colossal Titan looming over Wall Maria from Attack on Titan. The reference may also include people gliding through the air Dual Wielding blades emulating the Survey Corps.
  • The ending scene of End of Evangelion, depicting people on the beach of red ocean After the End, with a giant figure in the distance.
  • Expect a lot of art shifts to Fist of the North Star whenever a character wants to get serious in a comedic fashion. Any desert setting will also have the infamous mohawk-wearing riders there as well.
  • Glass Mask gave us the iconic open-mouthed Color Failure, complete with posh shock and absurdly melodramatic faces. If a Japanese series wants to show the haughty getting their serving of humble pie, expect to see them in this manga's style.
  • Gundam:
    • The Bright Slap and Amuro's reaction to it ("You hit me! Not even my own father hit me!") pops up a lot in Japanese media, usually in the same context (a Spoiled Brat acting shocked when someone actually smacks them for being a brat).
    • Recurring Universal Century Heel–Face Revolving Door Char Aznable has been parodied quite a lot not just within the franchise itself, but in all of anime. This usually seen in the form of a mysterious masked rival character, references to his signature red Ace Custom, or both.
    • For a set of minor antagonists, the Black Tri Stars and their Jet Stream Attack have also been parodied and referenced quite a lot in Japanese media.
  • If there's gonna be an Initial D shoutout somewhere, expect to see someone pulling off a gutter drop technique and expect the opponent to be driving a Mazda RX-7 FD3S (yellow color optional), probably rendered in CGI. There is the off chance that Eurobeat might be playing during this sequence, but it's not guaranteed.
  • Whenever you see "GOGOGOGOGO" sound effects, that will always be a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure reference. Other very common shout outs are quotes such as "Do you remember how many pieces of bread you've eaten in your life?" and "But I refuse!", Stands appearing behind characters, exaggerated poses that often reference specific characters, and anything from Stardust Crusaders, especially ORAORAORA for Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs or anything Dio Brando does.
  • Long-running Lupin III is a source of many stock shout outs. The two most commonly referenced are from his second theatrical film, The Castle of Cagliostro:
    • The car chase early in the film has been referenced by animes as far apart as Lucky Star and Girls und Panzer.
    • The single most referenced shot is at the end, when Lupin dives into the water cradling Clarise in his arms. Any time a character dives into water while holding someone else protectively in their arms, especially if it splashes down by an aqueduct or a bridge that resembles one, it's a reference to this shot.
    • For the franchise in general, the scene of Lupin running from gunfire with a spotlight shining on him. Starting with the pilot film, this scene gets loads of references both within the franchise itself and various pieces of Japanese media.
  • Ranka Lee's "Kira" pose from Macross Frontier has been referenced in quite a lot of different Japanese media. While it is common for the person doing the gesture to be an Idol Singer, the gesture has popped up in many works unrelated to idols, such as Akiba's Trip: The Animation, No-Rin, and The World God Only Knows.
  • Mazinger Z gave us the Super Alloy Z and the Rocket Punch. They pop up frequently, especially the second, which has quickly became THE most famous and most ubiquitous Super Robot weapon, showing up in all kind of works. Whenever a character screams "Roketto Panchi!" it is directly referencing the Trope Namer.
    • Since Spaniards Love Mazinger-Z, the Spanish Dub Name Change variant ("¡Puños Fuera!", meaning "Fists Out!") has become so omnipresent that it has been used in movie titles. And when a foreign work features a Rocket Punch, whatever attack name that the character screams is automatically replaced by "¡Puños Fuera!" more often than not.
  • The bus stop scene from My Neighbor Totoro has been parodied quite a lot in popular culture.
  • The image of God Warriors burning the world from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (which is, in fact, the first page of the manga and the second scene of the movie) is used to depict The End of the World as We Know It, sometimes parodically, sometimes not. God Warior firing its Breath Weapon often serves as a model for other Wave Motion Guns. The fate of Princess Kushana's mother is also referenced. Not to mention large flightless birds as mounts.
  • Iyami's "SHEEH!" pose from Osomatsu-kun is THE go-to standard shock/surprised pose in Japanese media.
  • If you see someone watching a pastiche of magical girl shows, you can rest easy knowing that it will be a Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure spoof.
  • The final shot in Tomorrow's Joe, after everyone realizes that Joe died of his injuries in the ring.

    Comic Books 
  • "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry," from the Hulk.
  • "It's a bird! It's a plane!" from Superman. Also, "This looks like a job for..."
    • Various Superman pastiches; changing costumes in a phone booth, working as a reporter, disguising yourself with only glasses...
    • The cover of Action Comics #1 with Superman holding a car over his head and smashing it into a rock. Particulary detailed homages will also copy the poses of the bystanders.
    • The cover of Adventure Comics #247 with the Legion of Super-Heroes voting not to admit Superboy is very frequently homaged in comics.
  • For Batman, the Bat-Signal, Batcave, and the addition of the "Bat-" prefix are all referenced and parodied constantly.
    • The TV version also gives us the theme song, "Bam!" and "Pow!" showing up in fight scenes, "Holy something, Batman," and the transition between scenes with the bat logo.
  • Spider-Man's "My Spider-Senses are tingling" line, sometimes with the "Spider-" part replaced with a more appropriate prefix, sometimes not.
    • "With great power comes great responsibility."
  • If Throwing Your Shield Always Works, there is a good chance it is a nod to Captain America.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • Catch-22, from the novel of the same name.
  • "He who controls the Spice controls the universe!" from Dune
    • Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear may show up once in a while.
  • "Yer a wizard, Harry", from Harry Potter. (Although it's worth noting that that wording is particular to the films. In the books, the line is, "Harry — yer a wizard".)
  • 42: Most famous as the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, though it occurs over and over again in Lewis Carroll's works.
  • "Nevermore." Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". Expect it wherever or whenever anything corvid-related appears.
  • Room 101 from Nineteen Eighty-Four
  • Sherlock Holmes in general, but in particular lines like "elementary, my dear Watson", "the game's afoot", and "when you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, [however improbable,] must be the truth".
  • Jean Valjean's prisoner number, #24601, pops up frequently when a series visits a prison.
  • The "Gimlet" joke that is re-used throughout many of the Discworld novels: it related to a Dwarf with the capacity to really hold your gaze.
    • J. R. R. Tolkien's wise words on dwarfs in The Lord of the Rings also take a repeated hammering. The original Gimli's assertion that there such things as female Dwarfs, only "they are in look and garb so alike to the males that the eyes of Man cannot tell them apart" spawns several books' worth of Shout-Out-s to dwarfs who favour chain-mail lingerie and take more care with grooming their beards. A Dwarf schoolgirl is allowed into a prestigious boarding school, but must plait her beard with ribbons in the school colours. Then there is Dwarf feminist Cheery Littlebottom, who rebels against all that but cannot bring herself to shave her beard off.
  • References to the various Tomes of Eldritch Lore of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Necronomicon and Chambers's The King in Yellow (pre-Lovecraft but later absorbed into the mythos) are the standards, but it's not unheard of for De Vermis Mysteriis or Die Unsprechliche Kulten to make appearances.
  • Many works have featured single-episode or single-issue plots involving islands infested with human-parasitising Festering Fungi, which are Shout Outs to either William Hope Hodgson's short horror story "The Voice in the Night", or its much-expanded Japanese film adaptation Matango/Attack of the Mushroom People.

    Live-Action TV 
  • 4 8 15 16 23 42: The Lost numbers, which notably include two numbers listed separately above.
  • "Beam me up, Scotty", of course, is a misquote, but it serves as one of these nonetheless. The actual beaming up sequence is also an example, as are phasers with the settings "stun" and "kill".
  • The Prisoner (1967):
    • The entire opening conversation between Number Six and Number Two.
    • The black jacket with white piping worn by the title character.
    • The monstrous weather balloon Rover.
    • The phrase "Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for the self."
    • The farewell "Be seeing you."
  • Twin Peaks
  • Kamen Rider: The Rider Kick, with obligatory "(insert name here) KIIIIICK!!", at least in Japanese media.
  • A team of multicolored masked superheroes in spandex is a clear reference to Super Sentai/Power Rangers.
  • Ultra Series: Having a character perform a "rise sequence", where they shoot their fist out and fly towards the camera as if to "grow" in size in front of a colorful background.

    Music 

    Theatre 

    Video Games 

    Western Animation 

    Uncategorized 
  • A113: A reference to the California Institute for the Arts, specifically the classroom for first-year graphic design. This one is common in Pixar films (witness "special order A113" in WALL•E), but Cal Arts grad and Pixar stalwart Brad Bird also included references in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.
  • Someone sticking out both hands and making the V-sign with them will immediately bring up images of Richard Nixon.
    • Often accompanied by rapidly shaking the head, allowing the jowls to flap.
  • Fiction about boxing will almost always contain some sort of variation on "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". In a similar vein, expect the protagonist to do the Ali Shuffle at some point too. The phrase is so popular that it and variations thereof shows up in contexts unrelated to boxing, especially when combat in general is involved.
  • "It's a man's life in...", from the traditional recruiting slogan "It's a man's life in the British Army". For extra humour, the organisation or occupation used will often be very lacking in apparent manliness.
  • The famous photo (link slightly NSFW) of 1960s model/courtesan Christine Keeler (best known for her role in the Profumo Scandal) sitting naked on a backwards chair, with the chair back acting as Hand-or-Object Underwear, has become a stock Fanservice pose in many media.


 
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Alternative Title(s): Stock Shoutout, Stock Allusions

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"I'll never be fooled again!"

Even though Billy Yank is dead after the final battle, he finally managed to get Johnny Reb to give up being a Lost Causer.

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