Shout Out / Red Alert 3: Paradox

As a Reference Overdosed Game Mod, Paradox has a near uncountable list of Shout Outs both major and minor, obvious and subtle. Here are some:

• Allied Nations:
  • The head of the Allied Paranormal Research Division is Doctor Alden Tate.
  • Captain Rocket, the inspiration behind the modern Rocketeer Corps, is the in-universe Superman Substitute (even being DC's equivalent to Superman in this timeline), though his origin story is basically that of Iron Man. His modern successors resemble a cross between Flash Gordon, Zapp Branigan, and Buzz Lightyear (the last bit mainly in the design of their jetpacks).
  • The leader of the team behind the Ares Mobile Solar Cannon is noted to be Doctor Octavious, complete with his page quote being pulled straight from Spider-Man 2.
  • The Dolphin's Heroic upgrade is a Sonar Screwdriver.
  • The Subhunter Frigate's voice quotes a cleaned-up version of "I'm on a Boat" by The Lonely Island.
• Soviet Union:
  • The War Bear's new ability (a packet of honey powder that drives the bear into rage) is noted to have been inadvertently discovered by a Conscript named Kristofer Robinov.
  • The Gagarin X Battlesuit's page quote is "Don't you know who I am? I am the Cosmonaut, Capitalist pig!" There's also a few references to the Kool-Aid Man, given the unit's penchant for busting holes in walls.
  • There is an in-universe article about a proposal for a Soviet children's show that is effectively a My Little Phony (albeit with Soviet vehicles, mostly drones, instead of ponies), complete with Derpy Hooves as a Kirov.
• Empire of the Rising Sun:
  • The current Emperor has some of this. His given name is a reference to Shirow Masamune, his surname name to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and much of his characterization to Ender's Game.
  • The Izanagi Devastator Tank is apparently piloted by a young captain named Mokou, her Mission Control is named Keine, its most powerful weapon is the Fujiwara Cannon and the article has been published by Sukima Books. The unit itself is based on episode #2's super-tank in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
    • Similarly, the developers of the Isha Vector Jet Tank, Mishaguji Vectors, are effectively the Moriya Shrine, with Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae all being namedropped.
  • The Breathable Liquid employed by the Empire is described in a similar way to LCL in Neon Genesis Evangelion and was created by Professor Madaraki and her assistant Veronica. It also improved deep-sea diving, a famous sport in Japan.
  • Masamune Drones owe their name and design to Shirow Masamune and Tachikoma respectively.
  • Yuriko is a... hovering homage to Mai, the Psychic Girl, Tetsuo, and Lucy. The Battle Psychics that accompany her are Sailor Senshi Send-Ups.
  • The Hot-Blooded ability is pretty standard. Then you get to the third level, which is called Hands Burning Red. Perhaps they tell the pilot to Grasp Victory?.
  • The Imperial "Type-1 Carbine" is basically a Kinetic Burst XM 8 all the way down to being too complicated and being meant for every role an rifle-caliber weapon could possibly used in.
  • The Holotree Sniper's armor is modelled after Saiyan Armor, complete with a scouter. Naturally, the page has multiple references to the infamous "IT'S OVER 9000" meme.
  • Tsukumogami Proto-Suits are Protoman expies with a backstory as told by The Protomen. They wear Kamina shades. Their city of birth, so to say, is Roanapur.
  • The Auto Go is a dual reference to both Speed Racer and Initial D
  • The Wave-Force Artillery uses a concept based on actual neutrino behavior and uses Minofusuki particles to work.
  • The Masakari Drone Command has atactical descriptions like Attack of the Drones, Return of the Units, The Infantry Menace, and Revenge of the Carrier.
  • The page quote for Empire of the Rising Sun is lyrics from a fictional song called "Otokotachi no Nadesico", which is actually just a slightly modified version of lyrics from "You Get to Burning".
  • The Aerial Battleship Musashi is a obvious homage to Space Battleship Yamato, complete with the bow-mounted Wave-Motion Gun.
  • The Incredible Mobile Fortress Tatsu is a (non-transforming) homage to the SDF-1, as well as to the White Base. Meanwhile, the Hanzo Z is an obvious Gundam homage.
  • The Imperial Assassination Target is the Sentai Command Mecha, a Megazord formed from various Imperial vehicles.
• Confederate Revolutionaries:
  • The Delta Ranger has Metal Gear?!? right on his page, as well as a court case between Major Tom Zero and Iroquois Pliskin.
  • The Confederate Mechanics' Claymore mines are made from lunch boxes, bottlecaps, cherry bombs and sensor devices.
  • The Hawker Jumpjet's voice is modeled after films like Top Gun.
  • One of the Confederate technologies is noted to be Spiral Technology, which is attained by using spinning drills.
  • The Confederate Assassination Target is the Himmelhammer Van, which is essentially the Mystery Machine. To drive home the reference, the flavor quote in its article is a Mirage Tank commander going "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling vans!"
  • The voice of the Sidewinder Burrow Tank is modeled after Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West. The flavor quote in its article has an unfortunate Rocketeer yelling "We're blasting off again!"
  • Among the targets listed in the Confederate Deck of 52, an in-universe lore article about the Confederates' most wanted targets, are Mike Haggar, Mikasa Ackerman^note a play on the fact that the late Confederate President was named Howard T. Ackerman, and Jack D. Ripper.
• Order of the Talon:
  • The Order of the Talon are a cross between the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40,000 and the Vinci from Rise of Legends. Overlapping with Mythology Gag, they are essentially the Global Defense Initiative but as a Steampunk order of knights (their heraldry even reuses the GDI eagle). Several of their units are also lifted from GDI, such as the Cataphract Land Ironclad (the Mammoth Mk.II) and Eden Superheavy Track (the MARV).
    • Templar Lords owe their existence to Zone Troopers and Assault Space Marines and Melta Guns.
    • The Talon Craftsman's page quote is "Ah... a challenge worthy of my skills!". On a related note, one story mentions a Talon Inquisitor named Mordecai Toth.
  • The Inquisitors of the Talon are made up of the Iscariot Organization, with the Priests of Judas (their basic unit) being a cross between Alucard and Alexander Anderson. The Crimson Cardinals, the elite of the Iscariot, are instead modeled after the Spanish Inquisition, complete with their page quote being "Nobody expects the Talon Inquisition!"
  • One of the members of the Talon's Chamber Auxiliary is Sister Miriam Godwinson.
• Atomic Kingdom of China:
  • The entire faction is basically Star Trek but set in Cold War China.
  • Mingxia's character artwork has at least 8 subtle ones hidden and takes a lot of inspiration from Katara while Firework Mistresses take some from Toph.
  • The Chinese Jiang Shi is more or less The Hulk. Indeed, the origin of the Jiang Shi is an Whole-Plot Reference to The Incredible Hulk (2008) minus the family part. This is even lampshaded in-universe as the inspiration behind the Behemoth, Marvel Comics's equivalent of the Hulk in this timeline. It also doubles as a Mythology Gag to the Yuri Brute, which was also a Hulk Mashup.
  • The Mantis War-Walker is an obvious nod to The War of the Worlds, specifically the musical adaptation by Jeff Wayne.
• Mediterranean Syndicate:
  • The Syndicate has RTS studios recast as weapons manufacturers, with such lovely names as such as Westwood Systems, Blizzard Microsystems, and Relic Aerospace.
    • The Pegasus Combat Helicopter, a product of Blizzard Microsystems, has its key features named after various Blizzard franchises. Of particular note is its "Overwatch" Battle and Tactical Computer, which is notable as Overwatch was only revealed after the mod's discontinuation.
  • One of the TA points of the Railgun Turret is Nine Inch Nails while another is Accelerator. It's made by Mako Ballistics, Seattle.
  • Somewhere in the ranks of the Mediterranean Syndicate is Irish "businessman" Apollo Fowl and his assistant, Butler. And on a related note, the Helios Security are noted to be inspired by the Paralegal from another Eoin Colfer novel, The Supernaturalist (with some additional inspiration from Ace Attorney as one of their tactical descriptions is "OBJECTION!").
  • One of the Syndicate Sprawls is Roanapur from Black Lagoon. Not only that, but the Black Lagoon Company itself (complete with Dutch being namedropped) is one of the Syndicate's subsidiaries, being responsible for the Scylla Speedboat.
  • The Praetorian Battlesuit is essentially RoboCop.
  • The cut Brutus Gladiator Armor is reference to Bioshock.
  • Minerva is a cross between Molly Millions from the Sprawl Trilogy and Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell.
• Electrical Protectorate:
  • The Protectorate are essentially a robotic Expy of the Zerg from Starcraft. Both factions are non-human, rely on mass numbers, build on corrupted terrain, and are color-coded purple. They also draw heavy inspiration from The Terminator.
  • The resource the Electrical Protectorate use to build things is called Grist.
  • The 7 A.I.s known so far are based on the Trolls.
  • Aggressors are modeled after the B-1 Battle Droid, complete with replying "Roger Roger" to any command (though they also draw some inspiration from the Geth of Mass Effect). Meanwhile, Extinctors are based on HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic, as both are robotic snipers that Call a Human a "Meatbag".
  • Exterminators are noted to be Daleks.
  • According to Venus' profile, it was seen collecting data from "Thucydides" arcade cabinets, which were known to cause all kinds of symptoms for their players.
  • The Chandana Research Facility, which analyzed both the Aggravator Leaping Sub and Eradicator Battlesub, is staffed by the faction leaders from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
  • The lore section for the cut Nanocolony unit takes the form of an episode of "Science Today" hosted by the Elric Brothers and Winry.
• Minor Factions:
  • The one leader the Blue Chinese have alive is kept alive by a machine, and whenever he dies, the machine pumps electricity through him. He also leads Blue China against Red China, and made a direct quote from one of the comics by saying "I have seen the other side. There is nothing there. Nothing."
  • The warring factions of Red and Blue China use hordes of clones and Diesel Punk Zombies.
    • They also take a bit from the Death Korps of Krieg of Warhammer 40000, as both factions blasted their homes with Nuclear weapons and both prefer defensive warfare.
  • Underneath the infobox at the top of the Red Guard page is a quote that reads "6 miles of ground has been won. Half a million men are gone. What's the price of a mile?".
  • One of International Inc's shareholders is a British/Japanese man named Zero who always wears a mask and another is a man named Adam who goes by Ocelot and wields two revolvers. They are said to dislike each other. As well, one of them is David Xanatos.
  • The Cobra Gun Truck article uses the word "technical" a lot.
• Other:
  • There is an in-universe article covering how DC Comics and Marvel Comics have turned out in this Alternate History. Aside from the aforementioned Captain Rocket as Superman and the Behemoth as the Hulk, many of the superheroes and supervillains are modeled after various factions. For instance, the resident Batman Parody is a Talon Knight, with the Joker analogue being from the Syndicate, and the Bane and Ra's al Ghul analogues being from the Cult.