Shout Outs found in A Crown of Stars:
- The title of the first chapter is a line from Paradise Lost: "Long is the way and hard,"
- Unintentional Shout-Out to Babylon 5 when Daniel says: "'Who are you?' and 'What do you want?' are the questions I want to ask you, actually."I didn't realize I'd accidentally recreated the Questions from B5 until a bit after I had written that part, though I said 'Sure, why not?' and ran with it.
- Avalon's Niven rings are inspired by Ringworld.
- In chapter 2 there is an unintended reference to Doctor Who: Daniel gives Asuka a pistol whose "magazine is a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside."
- In chapter 30 Asuka and Ching quote Macbeth: "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him who first cries 'Hold! enough!'"
- Once More with Feeling is one of the timelines of The Multiverse. Rayana mentions a timeline where Rei modeled her behaviour after Asuka's. Many lines are shout-outs to that fanfic.
- Nobody Dies has plenty, plenty shout-outs. Daniel's operation to free South America is named Nobody Dies. Asuka's father's name is Pieter Langley. Asuka sometimes uses "Flurgen" as a swearword.
- Walking in the Shadow of Dreams also has a line.
- Daniel mentions that in timelines where Yui did not die Gendo is an actually scarily overprotective father. Possibly another shout-out to Nobody Dies and Walking in the Shadow of Dreams.
- Asuka calls Shinji the Casanova shortly after their kiss.
- Daniel describes a timeline where Gendo erased Shinji from existence and Asuka opened a Sea of Dirac to reunite with him. It happened in Unreal
by Hotwire/T. L. Webb. - Rayana mentions a timeline where Shinji, Asuka and Rei were in a three-way relationship. It is a reference to the Violence Jack's smut fics.
- Daniel also talks about a reality where Shinji kissed Asuka back. That happened in NGE Deviance.
- In chapter 26 Daniel quotes a line of Through the Looking-Glass: "The time has come', the walrus said, to talk of many things."
- An alternate version of Rayana killed a krogan.
- In chapter 33 Ching compares Asuka with Galadriel by quoting The Lord of the Rings: "'All will love me, and despair', Asuka?"
- And right after Ching asked Asuka: "Or are you going for a more blood-soaked-barbarian-queen vibe?" Maybe a shout-out to Thousand Shinji or Shinji And Warhammer 40 K, since the author has referenced Warhammer 40,000.
- In chapter 42 Daniel asks Shinji if he has ever watched Dumbo.
- In the preface and chapter 43 Shinji quotes William Shakespeare's Sonnet 67: "O! Him she stores, to show what wealth she had… In days long since, before these last so bad".
- In chapter 44 Daniel quotes The Last Starfighter: "Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada! Are you ready to begin?"
- Chapter 46's title is a line of the Ranger Creed: "...Though I Be The Lone Survivor".
- Also in chapter 46: "And a hardboiled egg!"
- In chapter 47 –and others- we have a deliberate Warhammer 40,000 joke: "The Emperor protects, sir."
- In chapter 47 some random soldier asked for a copy of the Anabasis.
- In chapter 55 Asuka said that battle had been too easy, and Shinji stated that after Tempting Fate like that their next battle would be against Godzilla.
- In chapter 57 Carmina Burana by Carl Orff has a mention.
- In chapter 57 Asuka, Shinji, Bir and other characters talk about the Battle of Saragarhi
- Kensuke's Black Knight's name is "Yamato". Since he is a military otaku, it is hard to tell if it is named after the legendary Japanese battleship or the legendary Anime spaceship which is named after the aforementioned battleship. Although it's equipped with a Wave-Motion Gun...
- In chapter 63, 64 and 65 many songs of different styles (classic, rock…) are played during a concert.
- Misato's Powered Armor is named Heinlein Mk 161 infantry combat suit after Robert A. Heinlein who popularized the concept of powered military armour when he wrote Starship Troopers.
- In part 73 after taking down the UN fleet Touji tells it was not exactly the Battle of Okinawa.
- Hikari asks Touji if he would like to be called My Little Pony.
- Misato telling: "Look at me, I'm Darth Vader".
- Misato calls Jinnai "Katsuhiko", a nod to El-Hazard: The Magnificent World.
- During the Final Battle, Shinji and Asuka use two suits of Powered Armor called "MObility SuPport EscApe Defence Armor". Or MOSPEADA. As in Genesis Climber MOSPEADA.
