In-jokes list part 2

(Chapters 4-7)
SPOILER WARNING.
Posted on Jan. 11, 2012.

Chapter 4: Misplaced hatred and influence

• "The Poopsmith shrugged. It had been over two years since he had ever spoken."
  -Depicted in Strong Bad Email 200: "email thunder", released on Sept. 23, 2008.
• "[Kagami] spoke in a slightly angry manner... but it wasn't really her voice that came out of her mouth. "And they try to pick me up? Eww! I'm really hard to get." "
  -Kagami's voice actress appeared as a "mud girl" in a Swiffer Wetjet commercial.
• "Kagami then looked in front of her and winked."
  -Kagami did so because she also has a connection with Miku, which has been hinted at and finally revealed in a manifestation in chapter 17.
• "An imitation of Strong Bad's voice mimicked, "P-p-pew-p-pew-p-pew pew pew!" as he let loose a volley of bullets that destroyed each of the scanners and manhacks one by one."
  -This was originally meant to be a GMod variation of a scene in the Strong Bad Email "strong badathlon".
• "The infamous song, known to superslinger2007 as "Sunny Day Disruption" but known to others as "Hare Hare Yukai", played. However, dubbed over were the Critic's angry calls of "This is the most annoying song in the world!" "
  -"Hare Hare Yukai", the ending theme to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that eventually was officially made with a dance sequence, was one of the factors in superslinger2007's disdain for Haruhi in WTPF? 6: The Final Minutes (2007).
  -The angry chant appeared in Ask That Guy episode 56, and could be remixed.
  -Part of the dance was performed by a Haruhi cosplayer in part 2 of Payback: the Otafest vlogs - day 2.
• "Medic assumed the song behind the angry phrase belonged to this young girl, but could not understand why she was so hated. She looked innocent and cute enough, and couldn't be... murderous, could she?"
  -Rena Ryugu is hated by superslinger2007 (persona) for being an alleged psychopath. This is because of a grudge he had against her when he traveled to 2028 coexistent 1983 to destroy Earth because he suspected psychopaths.
• " "Dude, just calm down, alright?" Scout pleaded to the missile, which was now circling quickly above him. "It's just a friendly neighbourhood game!" "
  Scout's voice actor is part of a YouTube channel, unkemptpubes, where he has a series of short funny sketches. One of them, "Clams", is where these lines are from.
• "Scout then took out his baseball and, in a move that no other person like him could do, used his aluminum bat to hit the ball."
  -A skin on GameBanana for the Sandman, a wooden baseball bat, makes it "possible" to use the aluminum bat to hit a baseball in Team Fortress 2.
• "Engineer was on the stage, performing a hoedown to an upbeat electronic dance song featuring his voice."
  -Retroactive Payback influence: day 1. Engineer dances (Shotgun taunt) to "Erectin' a River" by Wazgul. This scene was initially scripted and created before Payback: the Otafest vlogs (season 1) were filmed in May 2011 and matched with "Erectin' a River" as the leitmotif instead of "More Gun" like in an unreleased Payback season 2 episode.

Chapter 5: +involvement rescue

• Tsukasa Hiiragi, Yuki Nagato, Yoko Littner, Minami Iwasaki, and Cream the Rabbit* all share the same voice actress.
  -Jack had gotten autographs from this voice actress in May 2010 after his identity was COMPROMISED, for which she was a witness. Since then, in episodes from CODE RED Jun 8 2010, +involvement has occurred.
  
  *As of Sonic Free Riders (2010) and Sonic Generations (2011)

Chapter 6: Closer to corruption

• "However, again, it was not really her voice [Kagami] spoke in. "At least I didn't sprout a robot out of my head like some people." "
  -Kagami's voice actress also voiced Haruko Haruhara in FLCL.
  -A Haruko cosplayer appeared in Payback: the Otafest vlogs - day 1.
• "She glared and sighed, "You want me to eat eggshells or something?" "
  -Kagami's voice actress also voiced Celty Sturluson in Durarara.
  -A Celty cosplayer appeared in Payback: the Otafest vlogs in day 2 part 2, day 3 part 2, and season 2 day 2 part 1, the final episode before the series' cancellation.
• " "Heh ha ha! Let us dance!" the girl spoke. She placed her arm up past her head in a fighting stance... or at least her best imitation of one."
  -Miyuki's voice actress voiced Mileena in Mortal Kombat (2011).
  -Miyuki performs Mileena's stance from Mortal Kombat II.
• " "So," the girl asked, "do you think that after tonight, you can say you're a part of Hinamizawa?" "
  -Miyuki's voice actress also played Miyo Takano in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
  -The latter was already found out by superslinger2007 (persona) by the time of CODE RED. Sure enough, the Death Star II does appear at that point.
• "It seemed like [Spy] was about to make a taunt gesture, now that he had uncloaked, but he only glared at the area in front of him."
  -Payback influence: day 3 part 2. Unable to convince two BLU Spy cosplayers to do a random pose, Jack tells them to wave at the camera, which they luckily do.
  -Further Spy cosplayers appear in both the released and unreleased parts of Payback season 2 day 2. One of them saluted to the camera at Jack's request, but this was after this CODE RED finale novel was completed in January 2012.

Chapter 7: Prejudicial bully attack

• "[Engineer] planned the bugle-accordion-and-keytar-music session as an act of deliberate poorness. But it seemed that a cyberbully would outright refuse to stand seeing a performance of an old Serbian music piece, often referred to as "Remove Pootis" by Heavy, done badly."
  -"Remove Pootis" is an Internet meme/fad. However, it is constantly contested, and most wish to see variations presented in heavily degraded quality with a video height of 240 pixels. However, the original creator released a clear 1080p HD version of the video in Jan. 2, 2012, coincidentally on the CODE RED finale setting's anniversary and this novel's release date.
  -In the finale/written adaptation, Engineer, Heavy, and Scout did "Remove Pootis" wrong on purpose to lure out cyberbully leader Neru Akita, as they were confident they could defeat her once and for all.
• "Suddenly, the four of them heard rapid musical beeps from the top of the hill where the main street was. [...] A girl had a white cell phone out and thumbed the keypad rapidly."
  -The beeps form the intro of a song which is named "Triple Baka". It has since associated with Neru's use of her phone(s).
  -Previously featured in: CODE RED Jul 24 2010
• "She quickly put the phone away, and grabbed a shotgun with one hand and aimed it at the group. The shotgun was gray and had a sight attached at the top and a futuristic-modern look."
  -Previously featured in: CODE RED Jul 24 2010
  -Until that moment, Neru did not actually fire her shotgun.
• "Despite being fired from a far distance, the girl's shotgun's spread fire had precisely hit Engineer, causing some blood to spurt out behind him."
  -This chapter contains a satirical tongue-in-cheek poke at aimbots. Neru seemed to have outfitted her shotgun with such a program. because she wanted to show off as an elitist.
• "[Sniper] pulled a lever on the rifle. Then, in one swift motion, he quickly put the rifle down and took out a jar of yellow liquid. "Bombs away!" he yelled as he threw the jar high into the air, right at the girl's position."
  -The script called for Sniper to groan, "Ah, p-ss!". On a whim, Jack decided to have Sniper also use his Jarate. Thankfully, it doesn't hit Neru one bit.
• "[Scout] sent his baseball flying again with his aluminum bat. "That's f***ing cheating," the girl retorted."
  -Neru was in disbelief at the Scout's capability in CODE RED Jul 24 2010 when he knocked her across the room with the "Home Run" taunt... with the aforementioned aluminum bat weapon-skin.
  -Neru is not a fan of anything done wrong, and she hates the fact that Scout could use that taunt with his regular bat and not the Sandman. Then again, she herself is using an aimbot shotgun, so she could be hypocritical.
• " "We got something planned four months from now." "
  -An increase in bullying behaviour happened during filming of Payback: the Otafest vlogs season 1 in May 2011, four months after CODE RED's setting. Not cool.
• "Remembering a witty remake he made just over five months ago, [Heavy] called out, "Baby guns!" "
  -Implicit joke about Neru's chest, as it were. In CODE RED Jul 24 2010, Heavy called out, "Look at your little baby guns!" while Neru replied, "Hah. Thanks, but I didn't need to hear that from you."
• "She also wore [...] a yellow visor on her head."
  -The cyberbully grunts of the 99.97% faction are depicted with black caps on their heads. Neru wears a visor to make it seem like she's one of them, as she is their leader.
  
• "GLaDOS shook her head as she realized that the synthetic voice that Neru "spoke" in wasn't hers at all. No wonder Neru couldn't speak while she's on the inhibitor viewscreens."
  -A satirical poke at the perceived paranoid belief that mean people never use their real voice nor act like themselves online. Said mean people are generally believed to avoid appearing onscreen of their own volition, preferring to use "troll-face" facial infections as avatars and likewise, which are highly disapproved and looked down on with contempt by superslinger2007 (Jack).
• "She then crossed her arms and stared angrily to her left. It was anyone's guess as to why she chose to cross her arms and look angry. [...] Neru brushed her right hand down her hair as her expression softened. Suddenly, she looked back over to her right, and she began to smile and wave."
  -Payback influence: day 3 part 1. After a concert/performance (that superslinger2007 (persona) ordered a cover-up on), Jack told a Neru cosplayer to "cross [her] arms and look angry, then look happy and wave at the camera", to show Neru's "tsundere" personality. This fit perfectly, as Neru would soon resign as cyberbully leader.
• "The boy looked at Neru and waved to her. He nodded and turned around as Neru stumbled forward and put her right hand onto his shoulder."
  -One possible contested friendship pairing consists of putting Neru with Len.
• Neru winked because she has a connection with Miku: they were believed to be bitter rivals (and, of course, complete opposites). Neru even wears an outfit that is very similar to Miku's.
  -Previously featured in: CODE RED Jul 24 2010