Shout Out / AdventureQuest Worlds

Like most Artix Entertainment Games, AdventureQuest Worlds is full of Shout Outs, to the point where it warranted its own page.

Anime

• The game is chock full of Dragon Ball references. Adam Bohn (real life Artix) is a huge Dragon Ball fan and has stated Goku is his favorite character of all-time.
  • At Akiba, there is a tournament known as Dragonkoi Z.
  • As mentioned below, Ryoku is an Expy of both Goku and Ryu from Street Fighter, with a hairstyle similar to Goku as a Super Saiyan, and his gi in Ryu's color scheme. The announcer guy also mentions he has a collection of Dragon-Dodecahedrons. He also has a finishing move called the "Soul Nuke", that is a Kamehame Hadoken, which pokes fun at Dragon Ball Z characters taking a long time to charge their attacks while screaming. In fact the Hero waits so long s/he decides to get a drink first, before waiting another week later where Ryoku still hasn't finished charging his attack. In fact the tournament gets interrupted and the Hero has to complete the Yokai Saga questchains, which by the time they finish Ryoku still isn't done.. Finally out of patience, the Hero knocks Ryoku over with a punch.
  • There is a members only map called "Dragon Road", which is based off the Snake Way. The boss is Super Dragon Twig, which is basically Twig as a Super Saiyan.
  • Available from the above "Dragon Road" map, is an armor called Cloud Rider, which essentially has the Hero wearing Goku's gi riding on the Nimbus. There's also a Cloud Rider hair that is Goku's hairstyle as a Super Saiyan.
  • One of the hairstyles available in Swordhaven is called "Goku" and is a similar spiky style to that of the Saiyan's.
  • The moglin pets Super Slayin Twig and Super Slayin Battle Twig, that can also be obtained from "Dragon Road", also feature Twig as a Super Saiyan.
  • During the "Mad Scientist's Lab", the Hero mentions amping up Vordred's power to "Over 900,000"
  • During DoomWood Saga Part 2, when the Hero discovers Sally had rebuilt Vordred, she says she "built him over 9001% stronger."
  • At BattleCon when the Hero is talking to Artix, s/he says "We'll be watching anime on the big screen before you can finish saying Kameha-"
• All your opponents are knockoffs of anime characters in the Dragon Koi Tournament in Akiba. There's The Pokey Moglin Trainer Bash Ketchup and Pockey Chew, Nurse Jenny (who mentions a Nurse Bliss), NOTruto, Neko Yasha, Spork-ion, Absolute Zero, and Ryoku.
  • There's even a character called "Generic Announcer Guy who is in like EVERY anime".
  • In addition, Ryoku mentions training in the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, a possible reference to the martial arts school from Ranma ½.

Comicbooks

• The moglin pet, Weapon M, is a parody of Wolverine, complete with sideburns, Wolverine Claws, and a description saying the moglin is genetically modified.
• Gatecrashers at Adam Bohn's wedding include Iron Hero and Nightwvern.
  • In fact, Adam Bohn's real life wedding included Iron Man and Batman showing up as special guests.

Films

• References to Star Wars.
  • As part of "May the 4th", the game released weapons called "Star Swords", based off lightsabers.
  • In the "Choping Maul", the Zomboda cutscene is a massive Shout-Out to Yoda during The Empire Strikes Back. It features Zorbak wearing a Yoda mask, mentioning he is the "great, powerful necromancer" that the Hero seeks. He also calls the Hero a "Paddle-wan" and that he's training to be a "Dead-eye". Finally he paraphrases Yoda's "There Is No Try" line by saying "There is only Do-oom." The Hero also adds that it was more like "the Dork Side of the Force."
  • As of the start of the Shadowfall vs. Doomwood war, Noxus dresses up Gravelyn in a slave outfit similar to the one Leia wore in Return of the Jedi.
  • There are several moglin pets referencing Star Wars characters.
    • Ahsoglin is a parody of Ahsoka Tano, having the Togruta head-tails.
    • Dark Twigder is a parody of Darth Vader, complete with mask, cape, and robotic panel.
    • Darth Maulglin is a parody of Darth Maul, who is a moglin with Maul's color scheme and horns.
    • Darth Mogder is also a parody of Darth Maul, but has his robotic spider legs during the Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His name is also a reference to Darth Vader.
    • Master Twang also parodies Darth Maul, having his double bladed red light saber.
    • Dathomoglin is a parody of Asajj Ventress, also from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, having her facial features and attire.
    • Kylo Twig is a parody of Kylo Ren, wearing the hood and mask.
    • Leia Mogana is a parody of Princess Leia, with her description saying "Help me Mogi-Wan, you're my only hope!"
    • Mawa is a parody of Jawas.
    • Mog3POMG +5 parodies C-3PO, being a robotic moglin with a shiny golden exterior.
    • Moggo Fett is a parody of Boba Fett, with the Bounty Hunter's helmet and blaster.
    • Mog Trooper is a parody of the Storm Trooper, even accompanied by the description "Aren't you a little short for a MogTrooper?"
    • Moogiee +5, is a parody of Chewbacca, being a furry Wookie moglin.
    • Yodak, is a parody of Yoda, once again Zorbak dressed up, but only this time his entire self is green rather then simply a mask.
    • TT8, is a parody of BB-8 from The Force Awakens, featuring a robotic Twilly head on a robotic ball.
• Star Trek Shout Outs:
  • In "4th Dimensional Pyramid", there is a quest titled "Beam Me Up, Scotty!".
  • Friday the 13th 2016 has several references to Star Wars and Star Trek.
    • Monsters include Storm Slashers and Swarm Troopers, parodying the Storm Troopers, as well as Deadshirts which parody Red Shirts.
    • Dropped items include Lore Trek Tokens.
    • Voltaire's Expendable song plays in the background, which invokes the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.
• References to The Lord of the Rings.
  • Artix's Wedding is one giant Shout-Out to the film series, being titled "Lord of the Wedding Ring". It even features a characters called Yodo Braggins, as well as Artix and the Hero finding a mystical ring. A villain also mentions he had originally planned to have the ring be cursed and make everyone invisible to the wearer, but his minion put the wrong ring by accident.
  • In the "Doomwood Saga" during the "Stop Artix" cutscene, the Hero says to Artix "You may NOT pass into DoomWood."
  • During the "Shadowfall Wars" quest, Cysero says "one does not simply walk into Shadowfall."
  • In "Beleen's Dream" quest, there is a red velvet rope on the giant cake. If the Hero tries to cross it a message appears saying "One does not simply cross the red velvet cake rope..."
• For the Librarium entry for the Seedspitters, it mentions one Seedspitter named Audrey who ate its master who was trying to tame it.
• There is a fish that can be caught called the "Ripley Fish", and has the head of a Xenomorph.
• The miniboss of the "Hunt for the Lost Queen" event, Ivoliss, looks strikingly like a Xenomorph.
• During the first Friday the 13th event "Brains", when it's revealed the slimes were Aria's pets, George Lowe refers to Aria's store as her "Little Petshop of Horrors."
• The second Friday the 13th event, "Ebil Dread" is a Shout-Out to Evil Dead.
  • Artix loses his hand and replaces it with a chainsaw, as well as carrying a shotgun on his back, referencing Ash Williams the protagonist of the series. This is also a purchasable armor called "Ebil Dread Paladin".
  • Artix refers to the monsters as "Pink-ites", a reference to Deadites.
• There is a reoccurring monster for Mogloween and Friday the 13th events called Jay Sun who wears a leather mask and wields a chainsaw.
  • During a cutscene of the above quest, while Artix is trying to remember the name of a movie, he says "the Day the Earth... Um... did not move or something..."
• The Mogloween event "Children of Chaos" is a huge Shout-Out to Children of the Corn (1984), featuring Creepy Children who worship and obey "She Who Walks Behind The Stalks", while plotting to overthrow the grownups of the world. Two notable kids are called EYE-saac and Malik-EYE, parodies of Isaac and Malachi from the film.
• Edvard is a parody of Edward Cullen from The Twilight Saga, where he is even referred to as a "shiny vampire" and that his girlfriend Belluah left him for a werewolf.
• During "Adventure Quest Worlds Zombies", one cutscene is titled "This is Battleon", and involves Gravelyn, the Hero, and Artix defending the town from Sepulchure.
• One of the Friday the 13th events is titled "Nightmare on Twig's Street", featuring the Hero going into Twig's nightmare and fighting an enemy called Twiggy Krueger, a Twig version of Freddy Krueger.
• Vath's General of Dark Elves is called the Scorpion King. His name? Dwain Jonsen.
• Twiginator is a parody of Terminator, featuring Twig with Terminator's jacket and a red LED eye, and gives the "come with me if you want to live" speech. He also states he is a Model-800 who was reprogrammed, and sent back in time to stop the M-1000 liquid metal moglin, who was sent back by a super computer called Sky-NET that plans on killing the Hero when they were young.
• Seeing as how she's referred to as She Who Walks Behind The Stalks, the Stalkwalker is a Shout-Out to Children of the Corn's He Who Walks Behind The Rows. The fact that she feeds on the psychic energy of parents and Chaorrupts the kids into serving as her army to do away with all the grown-ups makes her both based on AND as much of a monster as He Who Walks Behind The Rows himself.
  • Then again, the Children of the Candycorn part of the Mogloween events is pretty much based on Children of the Corn.
• The Hunger Games:
  • The "Extinction Games" event is a parody of the film, with an NPC called Katnip Sneevilgreen, a Sneevil with the hairstyle of Katniss Everdeen.
  • In the "Death Pit Arena" sidequest, there is an event called "The Hun'Gar Games".
• In the Time-Travel event "Hunt for Greased Lightning", features monsters called Unlucky Explorers, who basically look like zombie versions of Indiana Jones. There is even a quest where you have slay them called "Indiana Bones".
• In "Cathedral of Time" Twilly says "We're all just part of some program? Gosh! Twilly knew he should have taken the red pill."
• Count Maxius' minion is named Barnabas.

Literature

• Greenguard is full of Shout Outs to fairytale characters.
  • Red Hunting Hood, who got saved from a wolf by a woodcutter and trained herself ever since.
  • The Three Little Wolves, who construct houses, and feel as though wolves have been given a bad name by a few of their kind.
  • Insomniac Beauty, who is a blonde girl wearing a pink dress who has sleeping problems.
• In the Dwarf Tavern, the seven adorable sisters who helped out a dwarf called Snowbeard, are an obvious reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snowbeard even mentions publishing his journal and calling it "Snowbeard and the Seven Sisters".
• In Hero's Heart's Day 2012 event has a number of titles that reference various literature. The first title is J6 and the Argonauts, the second is Journey to the Underworld, before the final one is Romeo and Juliet 2.
• In the 2016 New Years event, one of Gravelyn's quests is titled "The Empresses' New Robes", and has Gravelyn seeking a new cape.
• The "Sleuthhound Inn" has various references to several mystery authors and the game Clue.
  • Agatha Peacock is a reference to Agatha Christie and Mrs Peacock.
  • Alfred Hitchgreen is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and Reverend Green.
  • Edgar Ellen Plum is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe and Professor Plum.
  • Sir Arthur Mustard is a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle and Colonel Mustard.
  • Scarlet Drew is a reference to Nancy Drew and Miss Scarlett.
  • Angela Whiteberry is a reference to Angela Lansbury and Mrs White, she even mentions writing a novel called "Murder Furnishings, She Wrote".
  • The quest also has the Hero looking for Skull Keys to unlock certain rooms.
• In "Greed" when the Hero tries their hand at detective work, they get compared to Hemlock Bones, a great fictional detective in-universe.

Live Action TV

• Artix Entertainment is notorious for making Doctor Who references. Especially the phrase "timey-wimey", which will pop up whenever time travel is involved. To be expected, considering Adam Bohn is a self-proclaimed Whovian.
  • To commemorate the Doctor Who 50th Anniversay there's a store called "Doctor Whoooo" full of weapons, armors, helms, that are Punny Names of tributes to Doctor Who. Many of them are accompanied with the tagline "... are cool" as part of the Eleventh Doctor's Catchphrase.
  • There's a pet called Dagek, which is basically a Dalek with Dage's head.
  • At Artix's Wedding, one of the gifts the Hero presents is the ZARDIS Key, which looks exactly like the Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver. A textbox also appears saying: "Zardis: Time traveling green call box of borderline copyright infringement +5. "Thank you fair use parody law!"" The Hero then uses the ZARDIS (a green TARDIS) to bring all the Artix Entertainment characters together to attend the wedding, including King Alteon from 5 years ago (before his fate befell him).
  • The Thief of Hours armor has a few abilities referencing Doctor Who, such as the "Sonic Piledriver", "EXTERMINATE", and "Regenerative Rebirth".
  • In the "Time Library", during the cutscene "Far from Home", when the Warlic Golem instructs the Hero to learn what s/he needs to do in the library, the Hero says "I don't foresee much silence in THIS library."
  • In the 2015 New Years event, "Frostmane", in the Nightmare Realm there is a literal Weeping Angel. If you get close to it, pop up text will appear saying "You blinked."
  • In the 2016 New Years event there is a quest titled "Vash Nerada" and has the Hero killing Living Shadow creatures.
  • In the Time-Travel event "Hunt for Greased Lightning", there are two quests titled "Wibbly Wobbly" and "Timey Wimey". The same quest also has Valencia blasting a locked door open with a sonic blast.
  • In Battleon 2015-2016, there was a temporary NPC called Experiment #672, who promoted the BioBeasts mobile game. When asked "How'd You Get Here?", his answer is "I found a tall blue box piloted by some weird guy back on Delta V. I don't normally care for British food, but he was delicious! *urp*"
  • The "Portal War" and "Paradox Portal" questchain has a number of Doctor Who Shout Outs.
    • The ChronoLords are an obvious parody of the Time Lords.
    • The whole questchain centers around a "Time War".
    • During the "Portal War" one of the quest completion descriptions is "Fantastic", the Ninth Doctor's Catchphrase.
    • The description for the Blade of the Neverborn says "So what kind of stuff does it cut? Oh, you know, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...stuff."
    • Kairos mentions in the predictions section that we have come to a "fixed point in time", which is a reoccurring theme in Doctor Who.
  • In "Shifting Pyramid", during the "Infinity Shield" cutscene, after the Hero acquires the Infinity Shield s/he says "So you knew — but then I didn't have to — Timey-wimey twist are EVERYWHEN here."
• In the Dwarf Prison, there is a Dwarf called Mick Guyver.
• Goredon Rampage from the 2014 Feast of Souls event is a parody of Gordon Ramsay.
• The "Bone Castle" questchain contains several Shout Outs to Game of Thrones.
  • It's mentioned that Vaden's toilet is a replica of the chair from Game of Thrones. The quest where the Hero follows Vaden down the secret passage way hidden by the toilet is titled "Game of Porcelain Thrones".
  • Vaden also states in his narration that he is an avid lover of "Game of Bones", and in his library he made his undead minions dress up as characters from the book. They are as follows: Jon Bones (Jon Snow), Oberon Marrowtell (Oberyn Martell), Baskerville, and Knight of Lichens (possible Knight of the Laughing Tree).
• During the "Paradox Portal" questchain, one of the historical locations is Battleon with a The Walking Dead theme, where the town has come fallen to a Zombie Apocalypse and a Rick Grimes lookalike, called "Grick Rhymes", appears as the Quest Giver.
• In "Coldwind Valley", one of the NPCs is named Jim Snow.

Music

• In the Mogloween Grave, there is a boss called Thriller, who is a Captain Ersatz of zombie Michael Jackson from the music video of the same name. The quest where you fight him is titled "Killer, Chiller, Thriller Here Tonight" and the quest description has word-by-word lyrics taken from the song.
• The moglin pets, Twiggy Moglin Style and Twigman Style, features Twig dressed as Psy doing the Gangnam Style dance.
• In Mythsong, the Stairway to Heaven has a lot of music Shout Outs.
  • There's a moglin called Mozzy Mogbourne, who is the leader of a band called the Lead Zeppelin.
  • There are monsters called Grateful Undead, and Rock Lobsters.
  • The bosses are two orcs called the Bruise Brothers.
  • The Great Godfather of Souls appears as a Quest Giver at the Hive who has a rivalry with an orc called Lord Ovthedance.
• During "Doomwood Saga Part 2", when the Hero finds Sally rebuilding Vordred, she says "We Can Rebuild Him... BIGGER... FASTER... BETTER... MORE SKULLS!" which is a reference to Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, an album by 4 Non Blondes.

Myths and Religion

• The legend behind the Dragon Koi tournament references the Legendary Carp that swims upstream and becomes a dragon.
• The Yokai Saga makes numerous Shout Outs to Japanese folklore and features numerous Japanese Youkai including Kitsunes, Nopperabo, Jinmenju, Tanuki, Wanyudo, Kappas, Funa-Yurei, Nure Onna, Nekomata, and others.

Tabletop Games

• Also, the Sleuthhound Inn and its NPCs, which is one humongous shout out to the famous classic boardgame Clue, including a custodian named Curry.
• At the end of the 2017 Black Friday War, Twilly mentions that next year they should stay in and play "Cards Against Moglinity".

Video Games

• Shout Outs to Pokémon:
  • There's the Ash and Pikachu parody in the Dragon Koi Tournament in Akiba mentioned above.
  • There's are pets which are Derp-faced versions of Kalos starters and Pikachu. Derpin (Chespin), Derpkie (Froakie), Derpekin (Fennekin), and Derpachu (Pikachu).
  • The pet Charlin is a moglin version of Charizard.
  • The pets Luglin and Shadow Luglin are parodies of Lugia and Shadow Lugia respectively.
  • As part of the release of Pokémon GO, an event called "Pokey-Mogs" was done where Lim and Cysero accidentally create mutated Moglins which run rampant across Lore, where the Hero must catch 'em all. Pokey Chew is also featured and travels with Ash (the AQW one) and Aria, while a Troll and Horc bond over a Pokey-Mog to form [[Team Wreckit. Various adventurers are featured with caps in the same fashion as Pokemon trainers. A Pokey-Mog tournament is also held, but to Aria's shock the Pokey-Mogs are fighting each other, so the Hero is tasked with stopping this.
• Portal Shout Outs:
  • In a cutscene for underground lab, when the Hero asks if there really is cake, Galanoth says: "DragonSlayer's Honor, <character>. The cake is NOT a lie."
  • During the "Paradox Portal" questchain, there is an NPC called "Cake In-between Time" and there's a note pinned to it saying: "It wasn't a lie. I stole it. Now come get your just desserts… Hero :D - Xeven".
    • There is also a house item called "Paradox Portal Cake" which comes with the description "The Cake Is a Lie!"
• The Cactus Creepers in the Sandsea are based off the creepers from Minecraft.
• Baron Luca from the 2011 Mogloween Event is based on Dracula from Castlevania, as he turns into a second, demonic form at half of his health.
• The Brutal Annihilator armor looks similar to Hades from God of War.
• The female version of the Jack Rabbit armor and helm bear quite the resemblance to Jack's look from Mass Effect 3.
• Ziri's "Bacon Cat Castle" has one section containing numerous parodies of arcade games.
  • "King Strong" is a parody of Donkey Kong, involving a Gorillaphant that kidnapped Princess Mogline, and the Hero climbing up girders and ladders, with the barrels replaced by boxes.
  • "Snackman" is a parody of Pac-Man, where the Hero collects powerups, which makes the ghosts change color and becoming fightable. The quest is also titled "Ghost Busting".
  • "Super Ziri: Brothers" is a parody of Super Mario Bros., where enemies include Evil Turtles with red shells (Koopa Troopas), and Snapper Shrubs (Piranha Plants), and the boss is Horcio (an orc dressed like Wario). In addition, the Snapper Shrubs will drop "Power Flower" (the same name as the powerup in the games), and the boss is accompanied by text saying "Be honest, you were expecting a bigger turtle, weren't you?"

Western Animation

• The first ever Friday the 13th event, has the citizens of Battleon get taken over by Brain Slurper slimes. This seems very similar to the Brain Slugs from Futurama.
• During the cutscene where the Hero faces Vath and sees him release the second beast of chaos, the Hero declares s/he has to find a way to stop the creature, and shouts "IT'S HERO-ING TIME!"
• In the Light Temple, there is a monster called the Cryptkeeper Lich.
• When the suspect is apprehended at the Sleuthhound Inn, they will say "I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"
• In the Rivensyth part of the Brightoak Saga, if you choose to be the Evil Fox, there is a quest called "Swiper Yes Swiping".
• During the "Castle of Bone" questchain, the Hero chases Vaden through the sewers where he encounters "Teenage Mutant Sewer Turtles", though later the Hero realizes they are not ordinary sewer turtles but the legendary "Adolescent Inhuman Samurai Reptiles".

Other

• There's a Mogloween seasonal armor called "Banana Suit" based off the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" Dancing Banana meme.
• One quest involves Don Giovanni, who sold his soul to a demon named Faust. This is a reference to an opera where a certain man named Faust sold his soul to the Devil.
• References to Slenderman.
  • The Thin Guy armor, helm, hands, and tentacles are a Captain Ersatz of Slendy.
  • The moglin pets, Slendermog and Slender Battlemoglin, complete with no face, a suit, and tentacles.
• In the Yokai Graveyard, Skello Kitties is a reference to Hello Kitty.
• Chaos Lord Discordia is modeled after The Phantom of the Opera.
• On a meta-level, it appears the "Cathedral of Time" event was a Shout-Out to how terrible the year 2016 was, featuring the Incarnation of 2016 as the villain, and allows players to fight and kill it.

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