Shout Out / PostMU: Life's a Scream!

Character Related Examples

• Laura Scanlon Sharp's design is based off that of Toothless.
  • Her middle name Scanlon is a reference to Dan Scanlon, the director and storyboard artist at Pixar.
• Darla "Dot" Pressler's design is heavily based on Mina from the Spanish-animated series Jelly Jamm, except colored orange instead of blue.
  • Her nickname also refers to the character from A Bug's Life.
  • Her last name "Pressler" is a reference to Dave Pressler, the creator of Robot and Monster.
• Katrina "Katy" McCrea's design is heavily inspired by that of Eve. In addition, her hair is based on Helen Parr's.
  • Her last name "McCrea" is derived from another Wall-E character, Captain B. McCrea.
• Colette Creouture is named after the female chef Colette from Ratatouille.
  • Her last name 'Creouture' is a play on haute couture, which is French for 'high fashion'; a portmanteau of 'creature' and 'couture'.
• The Slug Student who is extremely slow in getting to class has the nickname of "Turbo", which is a reference to the Dreamworks film of the same name.
• Laura's pet monster dog, mentioned in a flashback, is named Doug.
• The Professor for the Drama Class is named Madame Foster.
• Terry's high school crush who broke his heart and is overall responsible for his inability to trust the PNK girls goes by the name Merida Malicestorm.
• The monster who owns an ice-cream truck that appears in a couple later chapters is named Guido.

Story-related Examples

• Prologue:
  • Laura's parents (Atta and Fillmore Sharp) are both named after characters from other Pixar movies: Princess Atta from A Bugs Life, and Fillmore from Cars respectively.
  • In the Prologue, the scene where Laura is born is reminiscent of the scene between Flik and Atta from A Bugs Life, as well as the scene from the same film where Francis is in the medical room after the bird incident.
• Chapter One: A Day for the History Books
  • The title for this chapter is a tribute to another Monsters University fanfiction which also details the wedding of Don Carlton and Mrs. Squibbles named A Day for the History Books.
  • Art asks Celia if she is interested in dating "Mr. Frozone" (referring to Mike, who froze out of nervousness).
• Chapter Two: New Arrivals
  • Mike assured Squishy that he can add more Captain Slugger posters to his room. Captain Slugger being this universe's equivalent to Captain America.
  • Don Carlton talks about being unable to get "Mr. Sandman" to sprinkle the Oozmas with his powder, which has been said to be a shout-out to The Powerpuff Girls (which has a character named Mr. Sandman) but also functions as an accidental reference to the Chordettes song by that name.
  • Sla$ha is an obvious parody of Kesha, and her song "We R Who We R" is sung by Katy in this chapter.
  • When Johnny Worthington introduces himself to Laura, Terry sarcastically claims that she'll be seeing "the dark side of the moon" on her first night. This is a reference to both the the Pink Floyd album of the same name and the song "Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan (which contained the lyrics "the dark side of the moon").
• Chapter Three: A Brand New Sorority
  • Seya Sephira's last name and cobalt blue-scaled character design was based off and a reference to the blue female dragon Sephira from Inheritance Cycle.
  • The whole scene of the newly formed Exceeda Zeta Sorority girls making wishes and tossing coins into the fountain is based off a similar scene from the Lizzie McGuire Big Damn Movie.
• Chapter Four: Explosive Difficulties
  • Laura Sharp's panic attack in the store alludes to Jessie's in Toy Story 2, as well as Lily from the lesser-known live action series Johnny and the Sprites.
  • The Perry Twins' way of driving away Naomi is heavily based on this scene from Despicable Me 2.
  • Katy's CD collection is comprised of such creatively named parodies as Cassie Underbed, Spiked Girls and Chemi Crowbite-o.
  • Terry and Terri's chat after the latter was shut out by Naomi is quite similar to Dusty and El Chupacabra's conversation in Planes, with Katy interrupting the same way as Ishani in the film.
  • Professor Heimlich, the lecturer in charge of Katy's Glee Club, is both modeled and named after a certain Pixar caterpillar.
• Chapter Five: Heart Pains
  • Big Red mentioned "Pizza Planet" (where the JOX Fraternity normally get their food from) when talking with the OK Fraternity and EZ Sorority members. You know, as in the Pizza Planet Truck...
• Chapter Six: Old Sufferings
  • The Child Detection Agency's Headquarters design was based off S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, right down to the classified location and the insignia of the CDA being emblazoned on the largest wall within the Headquarters itself.
  • Art is unable to pronounce the word "fotografizophobia" (the fear of having your picture taken), and ends up shortening it to "Foto...finish...thingy".
• Chapter Seven: Recollections and Infiltration
  • Art brings up a Noodle Incident in which he hot-wired a car in the past. Given his rather... questionable background, it's possible that he had been playing a bit too much Grand Theft Auto (or whatever the Monsters, Inc. equivalent to it is).
  • During the scene where the OK Fraternity members chat about what to have for their own Fraternity house, their discussion is modeled after a similar scene in the beginning of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
  • Randall Boggs mentioned Slimey Stars, Ko-Co Crunch and Honey Claws when searching for Captain Slugger Cereal, which were creatively named parodies of real life cereal products.
  • The students of the Drama Club perform from a script under the name "Entangled". The script's dialog is based on the alluded film.
  • During their High School Sophomore year, Terri Perry wears a Cars red T-shirt with the words "Ka-Chow!" written across it in bright orange lettering.
• Chapter Eight: Causes and Consequences
  • The CDA agent is named "Phily Coalson", after a certain Phil Coulson.
  • The professor who oversees Colette's fashion design class is named Professor Coco Chamel. Take a wild guess at who she's named for...
  • During the Art Class, Dot and Art talked about a movie where everything was made of "Mego bricks". In addition, Dot briefly compared Art's personality to that of a character from that movie who floats out of place with everyone and everything - a slight Actor Allusion as Charlie Day did the voices for both Art and Benny.
  • Art brings up "Cotton Candy Clouds" while finger-painting on his and Dot's artwork piece.
  • Art calls his fellow Art student Dot "Dottie", which references the forklift which was Dusty's best friend and mechanic from the non-Pixar Cars Spin-Off film Planes.
  • Art apparently also hoards a lot of ketchup and mustard cream packets. This might be a reference to Howard Wolowitz from the TV series The Big Bang Theory, who also shared the same behavior due to the fact his mother encouraged him to do so, as mentioned in The Leftover Thermalization.
  • Monsters University’s library is called "Bohol Hall", named after Filipino-American Pixar artist Nelson Bohol.
  • Katy mentions to Colette that Laura's solitary behavior in her own dorm room resembles a "Queen" with a serious "conceal, don't feel" issue. She later quips that she and Colette should bring Laura out and see if she "wants to build a snowman".
  • Skipper, the Head Coach of the MU Football Team, is named and modeled after the VF-17 fought F-4U Corsair from the Cars Spin-Off film Planes.
  • Marbus Dagon's parents are named Bob and Helen.
  • At one point Chet says "Zing!", which is supposed to be a reference to the Love at First Sight Unusual Euphemism from Hotel Transylvania.
  • After her encounter with Johnny Worthington, Laura's behavior during the aftermath is based on Young!Elsa's after accidentally freezing some royal items in her room.
  • Laura mentions Monstroland in her personal journal when writing about her somewhat conflicted thoughts.
  • Mike, Celia and Sulley dining at The Flynn Rider Buffet. In the same scene, Sulley says "This must be an off-day for me..." which is a line said by Flynn in the film.
  • Violet Steslicki briefly mentions the auction website "Eekbay". No prizes for guessing what that's based on.
    • She also discusses her fondness for MC and Scarvel comics.
  • At the end of the chapter, Nadya Petrov asks Carrie what she knows about the subject of "trolls". While trolls are nothing new in fiction, these trolls are supposed to be another Frozen reference.
• Chapter Eight and a half: The Egg Games
  • During the "Egg Games" event, the EEK Sorority managed to collect 113 eggs. You know, as in A113...
• Chapter Nine: Problems and Solutions
  • Naomi Jackson was said to have been eating McGrowlnald's.
  • Katy watching a documentary in class on Real Life author Charlie Buttowski.
  • Roy "Big Red" O'Growlahan was eating the "sketti" from a show called Sweetie Chew Chew has Arrived, which is actually a real recipe made by Mama June.
• Chapter Nine and a half: Meetings and Visits
  • The Greek Council's Secretary is named "Bonnie Dolly", which is a sort-of portmanteau of two Toy Story 3 characters' names.
  • After the EZ girls are invited to the ROR Fraternity House, the other characters talk a bit about Johnny and the other ROR members, to which Katy replies, "Friendship ain't magic".
  • Katy McCrea called Colette "Sparkle Pumps", which referred to the Christmas episode of Phil of the Future.
  • Colette called Katy "Growl Rida" in return, which is a reference to famous rapper Flo Rida.
  • When Monnie was planking on the workout ball in the ROR gym, she commented that someone should take a picture of her doing so and put it on Grumblr.
  • Dot Pressler plays a video game called "Informative Duty", an Expy of Call of Duty.
  • When Chet is confronted by Johnny Worthington after allowing the EZ girls to mess up the Fraternity President's room, Chet (followed by the EZ girls) reacts in a similar manner like the Minions, after the girls messed up Gru's Home with toilet paper. (i.e. by saying, "wwwwhhhaaaatttt?")
• Special Occasion Chapter Nine: A monster Toy Story
  • Mike's fear that Lil' Mikey would be accidentally tossed into a furnace to be incinerated. This is supposed to be a reference to the infamous climax of Toy Story 3.
  • Rosie's stuffed Bat is named Hookfang, named for a How To Train Your Dragon character.
• Chapter Nine and three-fourth: Healing the Mind
  • Dot accidentally mis-pronounced Chet's name as "Chuy", a possibly unintentional reference to the film The Book of Life (Chuy is the name of Maria Posada's pig).
  • When Pyapi the troll was revealed, she mentioned how the monster civilization views their race mostly as "beings who live in boxes and steal things in the dead of the night".
  • Crystal mentions she watched Monstro films, which could be the equivalent of Disney in the Monsters Inc. world.
  • Grand Pabbie, the leader of the trolls from Frozen was name-dropped to be Pyapi's mentor and elderly ruler of the Trolls.
  • Two of Pyapi the troll-shaman's lines, "The mind can be persuaded, but the heart cannot be changed that easily..." and "Only an act of acceptance and mending the supposed bond by the one that is the result of her like this...", are almost lifted word for word from Frozen as well.
• Chapter Ten: Bittersweet Awakening
  • Johnny Worthington's dream sequence was based off Woody's nightmare towards the beginning of Toy Story 2.
  • When greeting the ROR's, Dot accidentally gave them the following names, which may or may not be intentional Shout Outs:
    • Javier Rios was mistakenly called "Joaquin", the town hero and friend of the male lead from The Book Of Life.
    • Chet Alexander was mistakenly called "Fred", seemingly named for the school mascot friend of Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6.
    • Chip Goff was mistakenly called "Pip", named for a South Park character.
    • Reggie Jacobs was mistakenly called "Arpeggio", a character name from the second Sly Cooper video game.
• Chapter Eleven: Return of the Twins Part I
  • The titles of the Chapter and the next one are (possibly intentional) references to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
  • Brynn Larson of the EEK Sorority has shown to keep checklists so that she can keep track of everything that needs to be done, not unlike Twilight Sparkle.
  • Percy Bolesaw of the JOX Fraternity has a hobby of Bot-fighting, just like Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6
• Chapter Eleven: Return of the Twins Part II
  • Terry's outburst at the beginning of the Chapter was inspired by Anna's behavior when she got angry at Elsa at the Coronation Ball scene in Frozen.
  • The scene when Johnny tried to ask Laura for a dance only to be intercepted by Dot instead was inspired and resembled the scene in Frozen which involved Anna, Elsa and The Duke of Weselton.
  • Dot's behavior in this Chapter, especially with the "Boop" pressing on the nose as well as over-reacting moments, resemble Web Animation/RWBY's Nora Valkyrie from Team JNPR.
  • Percy, when presenting a present to the Perry twins, mentioned the following lines:
  Percy: "But then I came up with something a little more useful. Something that will not let you down. Something that will always be there for you. Something that will be able to take care of your pain”.
  • Terri Perry mentioned the same thing as Fred from Big Hero 6 when he leaned on the white vinyl inflatable chair.
  Terri: “It’s like spooning a warm marshmallow...”
  • Dot Pressler just opened up a whole lot of animated movie references in this Chapter.
    • She called the white vinyl inflatable chair that Percy made for the Perry twins "Baymons", which possibly is the Monsters Inc. form of Baymax from Big Hero 6.
    • Apparently, the Big Hero 6 movie is known as Huge Saviours 6 in the Monster World.
    • She also made references to Wasabi, known in the Monster World as "Sashimi".
    • The names for the Big Hero 6 characters in the Monster World are: Heero (Hiro), Sashimi (Wasabi), Honey Mustard (Honey Lemon), Dashie (Gogo), Ted (Fred) and Baymons (Baymax).
  • Dot also mentioned she's going to watch The Tome of Being, which possibly is the Monster World's movie name of The Book of Life.
    • She also mentioned the following names: Monstolo (Manolo), Morgia (Maria), Jhonen (Joaquin), and Chew (Chuy).
    • The two gods from The Book of Life movie were also name-dropped: La Muerte and Xibalba.
• Chapter Twelve: Patching Up The Cracks
  • Terry Perry mentally mentioned his disdain for stairs like Po from Kung Fu Panda 2 due to his inability to climb up the stairs due to his new condition i.e. having a new body.
  Terry Perry: "Here comes our greatest enemy again...Stairs."
  • Jane Pratt's angry thoughts about what her brother Dirk Pratt did at the ROR party last semester with the rest of Frat Row were so bitter that she believed her brother was adopted resembles Thor and Loki's shaky relationship in both the Thor and the Avengers movies.
• Chapter Thirteen: An Unforeseen Revelation
  • The name of the intern reporter is named Trudy Blotts, which is a play on the name rabbit police officer Judy Hopps from Zootopia.
    • When Trudy Blotts mentioned Terry Perry being cuter than she thought he would be, which was the same line also spoken by Clawhauser from the aforementioned film.
  • Big Red reminded Percy of the dangers of bot-fighting, just like Tadashi did with Hiro in Big Hero 6.
  • During her infiltration into the hidden troll tunnels underneath Monsters University, Carrie Williams came across an elaborate drawing of a troll-shaman using his powers to take away nightmares from a sleeping human child in front of a King and Queen with their eldest daughter, which is a reference to the events of Frozen.

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