A list of the shout-outs and homages in The Spectral Chronicles.
The series overall
- One of the most feared demons, the Gigantoshambler, is a deadly combination of the Shambler from Quake and Giganotosaurus
. - Now and then, Demetrios expresses his exasperation to bad news with "Well that's just prime."
- One of the demons' favorite proclamations/taunts is "None can stand against the coming Darkness."
- Ghosts tend to have enormous appetites similar to those of the Saiyans. In their case, however, it mostly comes up after epic battles.
- William changes his name to Mephistopheles because, in his own words, Mephistopheles is the Lord of Hatred (referring to his hatred of Demetrios).
- When Demetrios and his fellow Ghost Wrestlers are fighting the rebellious ghosts, one of them disparagingly calls Moon Shadow "your little pony," which he doesn't take too kindly to.
- When Shandara confronts Shapetaker in Demetrios's possessed mind, the corrupting slime that makes up his body takes on the appearance of "a greedy Berkshire boar."
- Since Atrocitas is based on the fear William/Mephistopheles causes, many of his minions are based on the things that (in)famously scared us when we were kids. To name a few:
- Remember when Carol Channing turned into a super-scary sheep in the 1985 version of Alice in Wonderland? Now there's more of them.
- Remember the (in)famous pictures from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark? Now they're flesh and blood demons.
- Speaking of which, the demon based on the pale woman from “The Dream” (which are called “Dark Omens”) is actually the larval form of a much stronger demon, the Winged Nightmare.
- There is a funny reference to it as well, though:
“Relax, D, it was just a dream. When you wake up, everything will be all right,” he [Max] said.“I heard that before,” I replied. - Remember when Carol Channing turned into a super-scary sheep
- One of the paintings in Demetrios's new room is "Magdalen with the Smoking Flame," which, as he puts it, "I recognized from a movie I watched quite often in my younger years."
- When Aristotle points out the demonic Moon hovering above Atrocitas's base, Max says "That's no Moon," to which Anna humorously replies "I knew you were going to say that." Lily backs him since it is indeed not a Moon.
- William/Mephistopheles's second punishment for failing to take over the world is to spend eternity ice-skating with Hitler.
- Ira's throne room is guarded by a pair of mega demons, reminiscent of the "Bruiser Brothers" from the first Doom.
- In another nod to Beast Wars, Max and one of the demons fight each other like the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots.
- During the knighting ceremony, Demetrios pulls a fast one on Zasedis by acting like he accidentally cut his ear with the sword.
- For the masquerade party, Anne-Marie wears the silver dress Raquel Welch wore in Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult, just with a couple of modifications.
- Anturoc's curse that he casts on Luke. He cuts out his heart (or its ghostly counterpart), which takes on a crystalline form, and uses it to control him. It's like a combination of Once Upon a Time and Sailor Moon.
- When exploring Atlantis and seeing the dinosaurs, Ruby remarks that it reminds her of Jurassic Park. Demetrios later says he read it too.
- When the Stone Cutters are evacuating Kinardas City, they have a little trouble getting their African wild asses and burros to move at first.
- One of the pastimes Demetrios and Lily picked up in between volumes is playing chess while riding roller coasters.
- When encountering the Dark Stone Cutters for the first time, Demetrios tells them "So, we meet at last, my dark cousins." The Dark Stone Cutters, however, just laugh at him.
- While Michael and Kayla observe the bald eagles and the plesiosaurs in Part III, one of the reptiles snatches a bird right out of the air.
- Berith's first blundering of Demetrios's name refers to a similar scene in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne where Varimathras gets Garithos's name wrong. He also refers to him as "Minimal" and "Chrysler." At one point he even calls him "Ponerius."
- Ashur puts on a pair of glasses to complete his disguise for infiltrating the Illuminati's secret city. He acknowledges that "I know it's not much, but it worked for Superman."
- On the topic of his infiltration, the note he gives one of the guarding knights is a reference to the brainwashing chant from the Simpsons episode "The Joy of Sect."
- In a nod to Apocalypto, the Illuminati slavedrivers give Jason the cruel and demotivating name Dorpha, which in the Enochian language means "Almost."
- A heartwarming Shout Out: Remember the part in The Little Mermaid (1989) when Ariel got into a human-made bed for the first time and she fell asleep instantly with a big smile on her face? Leah does the same when she gets into Ashur's bed after all their years of being separated.
- Kurt's One-Winged Angel form is based on the unsettling bird-like monster from the title page of Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones.
- Astaroth using a spell to trap the losing contestants in magic mirrors and making them motionless is inspired by the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Mojovision."
- Astaroth's general Ioxoixohn has a lot in common with Ramiel; a living geometric shape that turns out to be quite deadly.
- As part of the fun for Demetrios and Lily’s romantic night out, Lily wears the black outfit Shania Twain famously wore in the music video of her song "Man! I Feel Like a Woman."
- One of the effects of Mhithl’ithoth taking over is large clusters of black thorny vines growing throughout the Dream World and eventually the real world and choking out all other life. It's like a combination of Sleeping Beauty, World of Warcraft, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- The inspiration for the heroes’ nightmares:
- Anne-Marie’s nightmare is based on Pinocchio, The Witches, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Willow.
- The patterns on Elizabeth’s wings in her demonic butterfly form resemble Stephen Gammell illustrations.
- The demonic bear in Maebh’s nightmare is based on and inspired by the one from The Fox and the Hound.
- In Caoimhe’s nightmare, she almost gets her voice stolen, and then she nearly gets killed by a demon based on Maleficent in her dragon form, which also has elements of Deathwing.
- Mhithl’ithoth keeping his horrifying true form hidden from view is similar to Pale Night.
- Heather makes a funny one when she mentions how much she likes her new sword more than the shoddy one Astaroth made her fight with in Battle for the Ages:That one was in such a sorry state, it made the cardboard prop sword look like Excalibur.
- One of the chapters is titled "The Shadow over Kingsport."
- Zephorius calls the mysterious man in the lion costume who's actually Mhithl'ithoth's Dragon Rhagosct a "musical reject."
- During his first nightmare, Demetrios tries to get the mysterious stranger's attention by saying "Womp-bomp-a-do-domp," which he remembers as the Inherently Funny Word from the Eerie, Indiana episode "Just Say No Fun."
- Just like in Star Fox 64, what starts out as a nasty taunt from the bad guy inadvertently turns into a heartwarming moment when it unexpectedly comes to pass; specifically the part where Star Wolf says "You'll be seeing your dad soon, Fox." Ruby goes through something quite similar.
