X-Ray and Vav is in itself a shout-out to Ray and Gavin's "superhero alter egos" adopted from an achievement guide. As such, there are many references to both Achievement Hunter and Rooster Teeth in general:
- Achievement Hunter:
- Besides Gavin and Ray's alter-egos, other Achievement Hunter alter-egos are planned to enter the fray, starting with The Corpirate, Geoff's character from WWE'13 at the end of episode one - the Mad King also makes an appearance in episode 2.
- Continues in Season 2, with the arrival of Mogar.
- X-Ray's claim that he's "a parkour master" is another nod to Achievement Hunter.
- Shows up again in episode 4 when he shouts "Parkour!" jumping into Rusty's Helicopter.
- ORF telling Vav to speak English is a reference to how the other Hunters mock Gavin's use of British slang/made up onomatopoeia.
- Might also be a reference to Gavin's problems getting his Xbox to recognize his speech because of his accent, since it was set to American English.
- X-Ray appearing in Vav's teacup as a ghost is a reference to the infamous "Ghost Ray".
- The "heist" that X-Ray and Vav foiled was a convenience store robbery.
- The CEO of Monarch Labs was noted to do some strange things with... holes... which is (slightly) less creepy when you find out the CEO is The Mad King, and the holes comment is in reference to how Ryan would trap animals in holes in Minecraft.
- The Mad King asks ORF to whisper his name in Hilda's ear before she kills her. He asked Michael to do the same in Galacticraft.
- The title of Episode 4, "Storm the Tower," was also the name of Minecraft episodes 115-16.. The titular tower is also incredibly huge, just like Geoff's house in Achievement City.
- X-Ray saying he'll die not knowing his father is a nod to a running gag of the same thing for Ray.
- X-Ray "playing" with his utility pants in Episode 2 could be a reference to the Running Gag of Ray jerking off in the corner in the early episodes of the Minecraft Let's Play.
- The Season 2 trailer has a Villain who bears a striking resemblance to Waluigi, Ray's favorite Mario character.
- The villain is listed as "The Winer" and his dedication to all things grapes nods back to Gavin's "People Like Grapes, Too" quote.
- In a Freeze-Frame Bonus in episode one of Season Two, we find out that The Corpirate is still falling and the police are baffled as to what to do. Thus, this means that he's "Still in the air!"
- One of the newspaper clippings refers to Mogar as a "bear man" a nod to Michael's Minecraft skin.
- While the S2:E2 episode title of "Enter the Dragonfic"is a reference primarily to Enter the Dragon, the same reference was used in the first Let's Play GTA:V episode in which Kerry appeared, called Enter the Dragonface
. - The evil pairing that is Mogar and The Mad King is a shout out to Team Crazy Mad, Michael and Ryan's team nickname.
- Its mentioned in the title of S2:E6, "It's a Crazy Mad World".
- The Reveal in Episode 8 is a shout out to The first King Ryan episodes in Let's Play Minecraft as well as Ryan's infamous "Give me your milk!" flub.
- It's also a shout out to Edgar the Cow.
- The next shout out to aforementioned cow is the Mad King's plan, called the Energized Dairy Gathering Absorption Rig
- In S2:E10, when Mogar unleashes the power of his new laser sword upon The Mad King, he screams "Mogar is ready!"
- In the Posi-Choices video, Mogar tells Hilda that Pandas eat eucalyptus leaves instead of bamboo. This is a reference to the Let's Play Jeopardy! Part 1 video, where Ray legitimately thought pandas ate eucalyptus leaves instead of bamboo.
- Besides Gavin and Ray's alter-egos, other Achievement Hunter alter-egos are planned to enter the fray, starting with The Corpirate, Geoff's character from WWE'13 at the end of episode one - the Mad King also makes an appearance in episode 2.
- Rooster Teeth:
- Vav's first discovered power is "slow-mo hands".
- ORF's alarm is the Recovery Beacon.
- When Vav gets ready to throw the teacup, there's a poster advertising "Headlight Fluid", which is also a shout out to Gavin's infamous moment on The Rooster Teeth Podcast.
- When Hilda is trying to invoke the Power of Friendship on ORF, her voice slips up into Ruby mode.
- In season 2, her sarcastic comment that X-Ray drink more milk may be a reference to Ruby too.
- When X-Ray is attempting to burn a hole through a ceiling so they can climb through it, Vav tells X-Ray to "tease it," which is a phrase Gavin Free says, meaning "the act of doing something softly or gently."
- The new character, Dragonface, is voice by Kerry Shawcross. Dragonface is Kerry's nickname.
- Among the things mounted on Hilda's Wall of Weapons are Yang's dual ranged shot gauntlets, the Sonic Screwdriver, a Lightsaber, the Matrix of Leadership and the Power Glove.
- The Sword Beam Combination Attack at the end of Season 2 does a rev up similar to the Boarbatusk shown in RWBY.
- In General:
- The cat owner looked like she came out of The Powerpuff Girls and the Mayor seems to be an Expy of the Mayor from the same show.
- In Episode 3, X-Ray says "Oh yeah" after he busts through the Mayor's wall. He also says it like Randy Savage.
- The season 2 intro features a little girl who dresses a lot like Bunny.
- Mogar's BFS looks an awful lot like the Master Sword from Skyward Sword, although presumably, it's based on Minecraft's Diamond Sword.
- Mogar's design in general is based on Micheal's Banjo-Kazooie, Minecraft skin. He even has a bird he uses to fly that looks a lot like Kazooie.
- In S2:E2, the dup fight a giant lizard monster. X-Ray even calls it a "Godzilla ripoff".
- As well, the X-Ray/Vav pairings are obviously jabs towards fans who want to actually pair up the Rooster Teeth team.
- The tile for S2:E2, ''Enter the Dragonfic" is an obvious parody of Enter the Dragon.
- The Architects club in S2:E4 is an obvious nod to Eyes Wide Shut.
- In S2:E4, a red female bird saves Mogar from his burning treehouse.
Jordan: Mogar's winged friend is named Kablooie, so we don't, you know, get sued.- X-Ray has a pet rock named Dwayne.
- In the same episode, The Mad King summons his crown the same way Thor summons his hammer.
- The Mad King's scenes in the mental hospital are largely references to Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, right down to the jumpsuit.
- Die-Mond wears a skull on her costume similar to The Punisher.
- A close look at the text that appears when X-Ray is targetting Die-Mond reveals that it is the Wikipedia plot summery for Shrek 2 with the names replaced by X-Ray and Vav characters.
- Rounding out the Marvel references, Hilda's new Powered Armor is a major nod towards Iron Man.
