In-jokes list part 3

(Chapters 8-11)
SPOILER WARNING.
Posted on Jan. 12, 2012.

Chapter 8: Into the trap

• Wheatley first appeared as a prototype (using the intelligence core shell from Portal) in CODE RED Aug 31 2010 as an acquaintance of Spy.
• " "Umm... I came to see your club!" she called. "Witch!" Francis shouted."
  -In CODE RED Oct 25 2010, Tsumugi pulled a Halloween prank on Mio by snarling like a Witch zombie from the Left 4 Dead games.
• "Admiral Ackbar quipped his famous line. "It's a trap!" he yelled. "A trap?!" Mio repeated. However, her voice wasn't really hers."
  -Inspired by a YouTube video named "Noel Vermillion meets The Heavy".
  -Again, Mio and Noel share the same voice actress.
  -This reference was later remade in inhibitor filler episode 24c: "Mio and Noel, extended".
• "[Mio] also felt her left arm raise, with Neru's dropped shotgun in hand. She then involuntarily spun the shotgun around her index finger and caught the grip with her fingers. Mio looked at her left arm in confusion as she pointed the gun outward and fired."
  -Payback influence: day 1. Upon finding a Noel cosplayer outside performing a spinning-gun trick with her Bolverk white gun props, Jack asked her to do it again as he filmed her. Another Noel cosplayer appears in season 2 day 2 part 1 (the final episode before the series' cancellation).
  -However, the only gun in the vicinity was Neru's shotgun (the satirical aimbot shotgun). Mio unwittingly used it to attack a cloaked Spy with its precise fire.
• "Tsumugi placed her arm against her chest and looked up in thought. "I... saw the end of the world." [...] Mugi took a quick breath. "I was so scared, I needed to be alone. [...] So I tried to run away from here." "
  -Tsumugi's voice actress also voices Serah Farron in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2. She even mimics the same motions Serah did from its respective cutscene. More info in chapter 9.
  -Tsumugi seemed to believe that the final mission's events would cause "the end of the world" to happen.
• " "SYMBOLISM!" a young British man shouted while raising his arms into the air."
  -This is a catchphrase of "Film Brain", host of Bad Movie Beatdown.
• "Konata gestured with an upward point and said something... in a cute voice that wasn't really hers. "At least one date a week," she offered."
  -Konata's Japanese voice actress also voiced Misa Amane in Death Note.
• "Suddenly, Konata let her notebook drop onto the floor and pushed Scout on his chest with her right hand."
  -Payback influence: day 1. Jack asked Misa and Light cosplayers to act out something random... then the Misa cosplayer pushed the Light cosplayer away with her hand.
• "Scout had no idea why a cute nerd like her would act like a hyperactive blonde-haired model"
  -Coincidentally, the brunt of Misa cosplayers' hyperactivity was felt in Payback: the Otafest vlogs season 2 day 1 part 3 in 2012, long after this CODE RED finale novel was completed.
• "[...] He gave out another cryptic clue in his synthetic voice. "As far as I know, that subject really likes saying her own name a lot." "
  -The song in the first #SK09 video is named "Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru". It, among other songs such as this one, contains several "Miku" occurrences in the lyrics.
• " "It also seems her lyrics include the words 'melody' and 'singing', too." "
  -"Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru" and some other songs contain such words in the lyrics.
• "Demoman slurred a bit and then turned to face Soldier. "I love ya, man," he said. Over a year ago, he was friends with Soldier before a seven-day war tore them apart."
  -This refers to the War of December 2009 in Team Fortress 2.
• "Soldier was not kind in return. "Except I hate you." His uncouth behaviour had gone to his head, even though he won a prize for winning the war."
  -Soldier's behaviour as a jerk had grown since CODE RED Apr 30 2010. He felt he hadn't gotten enough pleasure from winning the Gunboats in the aforementioned War.
• "Yutaka suddenly threw a double-handed punch and knocked Soldier over. She confidently spoke, "And that's for being so evil." "
  -Yutaka's voice actress voiced Jenny in the (Nostalgia Critic-reviewed) bad movie The Secret of NIHM 2: Timmy to the Rescue.
• " "You are a..." Yutaka threw her arms back and angrily glared at Soldier. "...a clorbag varblernilk!" "
  -Yutaka's voice actress also voiced Starfire in the Teen Titans animated series.
  -Note: The Tamaranean phrase Yutaka (with Starfire's voice) used on Soldier was originally transcribed by ear and did not match official descriptions. This has been corrected on Dec. 27, 2015.
  -Curiously, Yutaka and Starfire both have reddish hair and green eyes.
• " "I'm so worried," she told [Demoman], in a voice that seemed closer to her own, but still wasn't hers."
  -Yutaka's voice actress also played Emiri Kimidori in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
• "The hair-bunch, acting like an extra limb, pushed against one of the personality cores on her head, and then dropped back down naturally."
  -Because GLaDOS's other body is directly based on Miku, the latter's uncanny ability to use her ponytails as limbs was copied over. This is a factor in the first #SK09 video.

Chapter 9: Cult interests

• Chapter 9's title alludes to Cul's name.
• " "I'm... such an idiot," the girl mumbled in a surprisingly mature voice which only seemed to fit her."
  -Cul's voice provider also voiced Sayaka Miki in Puella Magi Madoka Magica and "Cloud Girl" Claudia Madobe in Windows Azure promos in Japan.
• "She was supposed to "make a revolution" the next day, but she was trapped in this city."
  -Cul was once the mascot of a program named Vocalo Revolution, and was given a song, in VY1's voice, named "Cul Makes Revolution". The video was released on Jan. 3, 2011.
• "Cul winked, begrudgingly."
  -As such, Cul has a connection to Miku.
• "Mugi then suddenly dropped her hands to her sides, leaned forward, and looked to her right. "Well..." she began in her close, other, voice, "Maybe they'll grant my wish, too." [...] "So I can tell kshzzzt... that I'm a kshzzzt." "
  -More Tsumugi-as-Serah madness. However, her speech had been partially censored, as Tsumugi does not have a sister, nor is she a l'Cie; both things only applied to Serah. More info in chapter 14.
• ""But then," a man wearing a Santa hat spoke, "this year, you had to go... and make this!" He took out a copy of a certain infamous 13th installment of a video game series in anger."
  -Spoony makes an appearance here.
• "California girls, we're unforgettable..."
  -"Daisy dukes, bikinis on top" were what Black Rock Shooter (and Yoko) wore.
  -Previously featured in: CODE RED Aug 31 2010
• "The girl [...] began to speak, but her voice seemed too mature for a quiet girl like her. "Are you refusing me?" she whispered, seemingly to herself."
  -BRS's voice actress in a PSP game also voices Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2.
• "Suddenly, a zombie-witch's snarl was heard. The girl became alert and aimed her gun to her right. Mugi, who had let out the witch's snarl, ran to the girl [...] "I told you we didn't need that!!!" Mugi shouted in a panic while keeping her voice well-mannered."
  -Previously featured in: CODE RED Oct 25 2010 (Mugi snarling like a Witch)
  -By the aforementioned voice associations, BRS and Tsumugi could be interpreted as sisters Lightning and Serah respectively.
• "Gesundheit!" Medic called. Even for a doctor who lost his medical licence and got team-switched, he still had to be polite.
  -Anachronistic reference to "Meet the Medic", released in June 2011.
• "[BRS] slowly aimed her giant gun toward the sky with her left arm outstretched and her right arm underneath the gun."
  -Payback influence: day 2 part 2. Jack asked a BRS cosplayer to point her giant gun (named Rock Cannon) at the camera. However, the cosplayer was right-handed, and BRS held the gun in her left hand.
  -Another BRS cosplayer was asked to point her Rock Cannon at the camera as well in Payback season 2 day 2 part 1 (the final episode before the series' cancellation), but did so with her left hand only.
• "As for how [BRS] had recognized the electric shot, she had met Yoko nearly four months ago, likely because of the song that played on her boombox."
  -Again, depicted in CODE RED Aug 31 2010.
• "[BRS] slowly aimed her gun outward once again with both hands, and winked."
  -Payback influence again.
  -BRS winked due to her connection with Miku; a song associated with BRS, simply titled "Black Rock Shooter", was first performed by Miku.
• "[Yoko] smiled as she performed a peek-a-boo gesture with her hands, and then raised her left foot backwards and placed her right hand back up to her forehead. How Yoko even came up with these poses, as if someone had told her to do random poses, was anyone's guess."
  -Payback influence: day 2 part 1. Jack asked a group of Gurren Lagann cosplayers to do random poses. Only the Yoko cosplayer seemed eager. Jack met up with that cosplayer again in Payback: the 4th split day - part 3; this time, the cosplayer went as Nia, and was still as eager.
  -That cosplayer appeared again in released and unreleased Payback season 2 episodes, but on August 8, 2012, Jack was convinced the cosplayer is now against him, as hinted in inhibitor filler ep18.
• "Her name was Rin Kagamine. A week earlier, she toppled Sniper with a "Poof poof!" using a finger gun gesture, but how she came up with that was anyone's guess."
  -Depicted in CODE RED Dec 25 2010 - extended retcon ending.
  -In the Bum Reviews episode for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (the video intelligence Pyro found in CR Dec 25), a cosplayer who went as Rin was called to point-poof two other cosplayers: Xemnas and bent-Len. When Chester A. Bum called the bent-Len cosplayer up, he noted that "You look very alike!", which was marked as a decisive clue due to Rin and Len being counterparts.
• "Despite being too young to drive, she has been known to operate a road roller and was once defeated in a bizarre incident that is too weird and disgusting to reiterate."
  -Said incident was covered in Sean Fausz's series Epic Fail and is known as "WTF Human Muscle Car" (18+) despite Rin being erroneously referred to as a baby driving the road roller.
  -This was also why "SECTOR DECONTAMINATED" appeared on the inhibitor screen upon Rin's arrival.
• "At that moment, Rin decided to blare a song on her road roller's audio system."
  -"Countdown to Insanity" is Epic Fail's theme song.

Chapter 10: Exploiting a disrepair

• "Yuki Nagato was reading the hardcover novel she had during Neru's attack. It was the novelization of a video game also called The Force Unleashed II, although why Yuki was even reading this novel was anyone's guess."
  -Payback influence: day 3 part 1. Jack let a Yuki cosplayer borrow his Force Unleashed II book for the cosplay session. He did not have her wave at the camera because this was not something Yuki would do. (Maybe the alternate Yuki in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya would, though.)
• "But Scout believed he knew the concept. After all, just a week ago he saw a cosplayer dressed up just like him...."
  -Depicted in CODE RED Dec 25 2010 
• " "Uguu~..." Konata moaned cutely. The angel wings on her back seemed to be a hint."
  -This reference to a series named Kanon was made in an episode of Lucky Star.
• "The three bright flashes of a time screw flung a silver ovoid turret, along with Ritsu, onto the stage floor."
  -The turrets were originally stated to be spherical, based solely on one of GLaDOS's lines from Portal 2.
  
• "The wall portion to the left of the shutter door had a roughly star-shaped scorch mark. It was left there over four months ago by a black-haired girl with a big rocket-launcher-like gun"
  -Depicted in CODE RED Aug 31 2010
  -Black Rock Shooter is officially named with a star symbol between the words 'Black' and 'Rock'.
• "The guitar hit the floor beside The Cheat, but remained intact. It had also survived a guitar-smashing dare by Engineer over four months ago."
  -Also depicted in CODE RED Aug 31 2010.
• "The dog, whose name was Sam, gestured toward the Dispenser and spoke to his lagomorph partner, who had managed to stop bouncing in place."
  -The Max model was ported to Garry's Mod. It is prone to making Max seem to hop in place unless his limbs are frozen with the Physics Gun.
• "[Azusa] could surely go for a cupcake right about now. She faced the Dispenser and placed her right hand onto it."
  -In Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse, Sam finds a BLU Dispenser. He claims that it contains "free health, ammo, cupcakes, clues, and enlightenment".
  -Sam states this again in the finale/written adaptation, piquing Azusa's appetite for sweet treats like in the Light Music Club she was a part of.
• " "Aw geez, guys!" Scout called. "We need that dispenser here!" "
  -Reference to the common call for "Need a dispenser here".
  -However, Scout felt the Dispenser was supposed to be for mercenary use, not for providing girls cupcakes.
• "Homestar Runner let out a long sigh as the Poopsmith walked away from the "Jumping Jack Contest" stage carrying a large jar of yellow liquid."
  -A reference to a since-removed Homestar Runner toon (HRWiki mirror), where a Jarate reference was inevitable despite the fact that the toon was made years before Team Fortress 2 or the Sniper vs. Spy Update.

Chapter 11: Free your mind

• "Miyuki replied, "I'll be right there." However, the voice she just spoke in wasn't really hers."
  -Miyuki's voice actress also voices teacher Sawako Yamanaka in K-On!.
• " "I'm afraid not," Spy claimed. He was not going to perform his spycrab taunt in front of people like Strong Bad."
  -Payback influence: See chapter 6.
• "A boxing bell rang twice and an 8-bit soundtrack played as Heavy performed four uppercuts into the air."
  -This is a reference that Team Fortress 2 makes to Mr. Sandman in Punch-Out!! (NES).
• "She seemed to enjoy Scout's impromptu performance, and happily called out, "Yes! You totally understand, don't you?! Yeah! That's it!" "
  -In YTP ss07 6: Random Mix of OMGWTF?, Haruhi is seen doing random gestures from the episode "The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya" to "Opblaaskrokodil", the song that Scout performed a taunt along with.
• "[...] after an evil clone of superslinger2007 the persona was defeated nearly two and a half years ago."
  -Depicted in YTP ss07 5: The T-Clone's Last Stand.
• "Konata munched on a sandwich that looked almost like Heavy's. She then skipped off happily as Heavy sung, "Sandvich and me going to beat your a**!" "
  -In YTP ss07 10: Konata skips along the sidewalk while being overdubbed with Heavy's voice.
• "[Engineer] had a mining light attached to his construction helmet. He chuckled and then turned it on. Ritsu, who was sitting at her drums, gasped and threw her hands in front of her face."
  "Engineer was now shown standing in front of an increasingly annoyed Mio. He turned his light on again, causing Mio to whack his head with both hands."
  -In K-On!! (season 2), Yui had a construction helmet with a bright light. This was inspired by a since-removed YouTube video where Mio critically defeats Engineer.
• "[Yui] bobbed her head to the rather quick beat, but found herself tiring out her head and neck with a moan."
  -A meme consists of characters bobbing their head quickly to "What Is Love". The characters' heads are often superimposed over a scene from a sketch known as "A Night At The Roxbury".
• "Yui then picked up "Gitah" from the floor into a guitar-playing position and swung her body back and forth, along with "Gitah", to alternating beats at a pace she was more comfortable with."
  -The opening to K-On!! (season 2) contained a brief clip of Yui bobbing her head with Gitah. The "What Is Love" reference was inevitable.
  -Previously featured in: CODE RED Aug 31 2010
  -Both headbobbing variants are featured in part 3 of Payback: the Otafest vlogs - the 4th split day.
• "Akira got the chance to step into the limelight once more. The strange circumstance? She was beside a young guitarist who sounded almost like her."
  -Yui and Akira share the same voice actress.
• This voice actress performed in a flash mob in the show Modern Family, to the song "Free Your Mind". The song is about prejudice, and almost closely fits CODE RED's impending #SK09 situation.
• "With a twirl of her own, Akira leaned over beside Yui and waved her floppy-sleeved arms quickly. At the same time, Yui concluded their performance by raising both her arms with peace-sign gestures on her hands."
  -Akira commonly flops her arms up and down with (usually) her long sleeves in the Lucky Star segment, "Lucky Channel". However, she is more cheerful in CODE RED: the written adaptation than in that segment.
  -In K-On! (season 1), the video segment that plays during the band's first performance of "Fuwa Fuwa Time" (in the infamous season 1 episode 6) has Yui show that she was on the side of "Love & Peace" by spinning around and throwing peace-signs with her fingers.