List of pop culture references in Neopets

This page lists some of the references on Neopets to off-site media and popular culture.

Games

Pokémon

• The Red and White Toy Ball refers to the Poké Balls of the Pokémon franchise. The resemblance was more obvious in the original art.
• When you roll over the cover of the Gallery of Evil book, the demon face is devouring a Pikachu. This was a joke reference to Adam and Donna's kitten, who had destroyed its Pikachu toy.

Other

• Malkus Vile may be named from Clavicus Vile of The Elder Scrolls series of computer games.
• The title for the game Grand Theft Ummagine is a reference to the popular video game series Grand Theft Auto.
• Whack-A-Ghost, Whack-A-Beast and Whack-a-Staff-Member are all Neopian Versions of Whac-A-Mole.
• When the mutant Mortog was introduced on March 9, 2004, it was accompanied by the text: "Look behind you - a three headed Mortog!!!". This is a reference to the Monkey Island series in which "Look behind you - a three headed monkey" is an often heard phrase.
• When you cast a spell wrong in the Altador Plot, the phrase: "It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a Grue." is seen, a reference to the text-based adventure game Zork.
• Neggs were inspired by N'eggs, food items from the dungeon crawler game Bloodwych.

404 messages

• "All your page are belong to us!" — Variant of "All your base are belong to us," a mangled "engrish" phrase from the game Zero Wing.

Internet

• The Scordrax avatar with the words Burninate! across the bottom is taken from the popular web cartoon Homestar Runner and the dragon Trogdor, who burninates the countryside.
• The Advent Calendar animation for 25th December 2006 is a parody of a popular viral video.

Literature

Books

• There is an item called The Two Ring, a reference to the One Ring from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Its description reads: A slight upgrade.
• The description of the Garden Centre item Blumaroo Statue refers to Aslan, the character who restored statues to life in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

• The book Nune is an obvious reference to the 1965 epic science fiction novel DUNE by Frank Herbert. The inscription of the book reads "This epic tale of survival and victory in the blistering heat of the Lost Desert is a must for everyone."

• The book The Macho Kyrii is a parody of the 1984 movie The Karate Kid.

404 messages

• "Quoth the server, "404."" — A variant of 'Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore!"' from the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.

Movies

Aliens

• In the game Kiss the Mortog, a lost game sometimes results in the message "Game over man...game over", a reference to the movie Aliens.

404 messages

• "We'll just nuke this 404 from orbit. It's the only way to be sure..." — Reference to the movie Aliens.: "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
• "My mother said there are no such things as 404s, but there are, aren't there?" — Another line from Aliens: "My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are, aren't there?"

James Bond

• Near the end of the Ski Lodge Murder Mystery, Maverick was holding Number Six over a cliff, who said, "Do you expect me to talk?", to which Maverick said, "No, Number Six, I expect you to die!" - this is a parody of the film Goldfinger.
• One of the Cheat! players, secret agent 00 Hog, is named after James Bond's code name, 007.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

• The Quiggle that runs Neopian Adventure Generator will randomly say "Bring me a shrubbery", a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• The item "Half Coconut Shell" bears a description of, "When you bang two of these together they make a nice clip clopping sound," a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• A Shrubbery item exists on the site, and it's description reads, "For that layered effect, place beside another shrubbery, only slightly higher!" This refers to the scene where the Knights Who Say Ni are describing the kind of shrubbery that they want to King Arthur and his knights.

Star Wars

• In Caption Competition #5, a Gelert dressed up as Queen Amidala of Star Wars.
• In the Ski Lodge Murder Mystery, Bye-Gon Jinx and J. Boogie's deaths involve "light sabres".
• The Petpet Walking Carpet and its description "Rawwwroooorrrrghhhh!" refers to Chewbacca, who is called a 'walking carpet' by Princess Leia in Episode IV.

404 messages

• "That's no page. That's a 404." — Reference to a quote in Star Wars. Said by Obi-Wan Kenobi, upon seeing the Death Star: "That's no moon. That's a space station."
• "I find your lack of page disturbing..." — Said by Dr. Frank Sloth, in reference to Darth Vader in Star Wars: "I find your lack of faith disturbing..."
• "Sir, the possibility of this page being broken is 3,720 to 1!" — Spoken by a Robot Chomby, reference to a quote from Star Wars (regarding the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field).

Other

• When completing Defenders of Neopia Series 1, Mission 2, the Ghost Lupe is trapped inside a device similar to the Ghostbusters' trap.
• The item Apple Apple is described as Its like an apple within an apple! *BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHM*, referring to the conceit (a dream within a dream) and the soundtrack of the 2010 film Inception.
• The 'Punch Club' in the Altador plot is a reference to the film "Fight Club", as is the Grarrl's dialogue when he states "the first rule of Punch Club is that you don't talk about Punch Club" and the description that follows his speech: "He nods, agreeing with himself. You get the impression that this Grarrl is not entirely stable." is a further reference.
• The Battle Duck's description is, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water..." - the tagline from the film Jaws 2.

404 messages

• "Of all the broken links on all the websites in all the world, you had to walk into this one..." — Reference to Casablanca.
• "No more pages, Dr. Jones! No more pages!" Refers to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Short Round says, "Dr Jones! No more parachutes!"
• "Sarah, go back to your room. Play with your toys. Forget about the 404." — References a line from the movie Labyrinth: "Sarah, go back to your room. Play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby."
• "But why is the page gone?" — References quote from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Captain Jack Sparrow ("But why is the rum gone?"). It appears on a 404 page with a Pirate Meerca.
• "I see dead pages!" — From the line "I see dead people" in The Sixth Sense.
• "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you view this..." — Reference to HAL 9000's iconic line in 2001: A Space Odyssey, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

Music

• A secret level in the game Meerca Chase II is called "Super Extra Hyper Gravity", which is the title of an album released by the Swedish band The Cardigans.
• The Usul in Caption Competition #756 seems to be modelled after Britney Spears' appearence in the music video of ...Baby One More Time.
• The TCG card for the Nova reads, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder who you'll char." This is a parody of the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
• Sometimes in battle with the Tiki Tack Man, he will say, "Daylight come and we wanna go home!" which is a reference to the song "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)".
• Both the Blue Pop Slushie and the Sour Blue Slushie refer to the lyrics of Eiffel 65's Blue.
• The Pirate Lutari Morphing Potion and Pirate Viola refer in their descriptions to the song Yo Ho, written for Disney and based on a sea shanty in Treasure Island.
• The Carma Petpet, which resembles a chameleon, may refer to the Culture Club's 1983 hit, Karma Chameleon.
• The Book of Love, description reading "Who wrote The Book of Love? I would like to have a word with him." refers to the 1958 song, (Who Wrote) The Book of Love by The Monotones.
• The book Robot Rock refers to the 2005 Daft Punk song of the same name.
• Leeroy of the Coconut Shy quotes the 1994 song I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.
• The Plate of Lime Biscuits' description refers to Harry Nilsson's 1972 song, Coconut.
• The Snow Pepper' description refers to Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• The Tyrannian Concert Hall bands are inspired by several real world musicians:
  • The Blue Kacheek Group are a parody of the Blue Man Group;
  • M*YNCI are a parody of *NSYNC;
  • Sticks N' Stones are a parody of Guns N' Roses;
  • Wock Til You Drop are named for Status Quo's album, Rock 'til You Drop.

Beastie Boys

• The food Intergalactic Planet Dairy refers to the lyrics of the Beastie Boys' 1998 hit, Intergalactic.
• The book No Sleep Til Brightvale refers to the Beastie Boy's 1987 single, No Sleep till Brooklyn.

The Beatles

• The Strawberry Fields Forever Paint Brush refers to the Beatles' 1967 single, Strawberry Fields Forever.
• The description for the item Jelly Tambourine, "We all live in a jelly tambourine, a jelly tambourine, a jelly tambourine", is a play on the Beatles' 1966 single, Yellow Submarine.

Television

Monty Python

• One of the random phrases uttered by the shopkeeper in Cheeseroller is "I think it's a bit runnier than you'll like it, sir" — a line from the Monty Python cheese shop sketch.

404 messages

• "This is an ex-page, it has shuffled off its mortal coil..." A reference to the Monty Python skit, "Dead Parrot": "This is an ex-parrot, it has shuffled off its mortal coil."
• "My brain hurts!" — a Monty Python quote.

Firefly

• The character Hoban the Navigator is a direct reference to Joss Whedon's show, Firefly. The quote "a leaf on the wind" comes from the movie Serenity, based on the TV series. The line is spoken by the character Hoban "Wash" Washburne, the pilot on the show.
• In Neoquest II, NPC Bledynn in the Lost Desert near Akhten-Ka refers to his large sword as "Vera". The same name is given to describe Jayne Cobb's "very favourite gun" in the episode Our Mrs. Reynolds.
• The Engineer Grundo outfit looks to be based on one of the outfits worn by Firefly engineer, Kaylee

Blackadder

• The regular Attack Pea's item description ("As dissimilar to other Battledome weapons as two extremely dissimilar things in a pod") is a reference to a line from the episode "Sense and Senility" of the third season. Another item containing a similar line is "Chocolate peanuts with peas."
• The item descriptions of both the "Elixir of Marrow" and the very rare "Green Knight Shield" are references to the 2nd season episode "Beer" in which Percy successfully, with the use of alchemy, forges a substance he refers to as "green."
• TNT has an obsession with turnips, much like the 3rd season Baldrick.
• They also have an obsession with dung, one of the interests of a 1st and 2nd season Baldrick.

Doctor Who

• The inventory's description as "not a huge bag, but it seems to have more room on the inside" is a reference to the TARDIS.
• The item Grim Faerie Statue (which, when worn on a pet, will at one point spring to life) resembles a Weeping Angel.

The Simpsons

• The Pink Doughnut mentions The Simpsons character Homer by name, while the Snowager Doughnut refers to his catchphrase, "Mmm... doughnut."
• The description for Glowing Hanging Lanterns refers to their "warmly glowing warming glow", a description used by Homer Simpson to refer to television.

Other

• Adam Powell's character is called Number Six, sharing his name with the main character of The Prisoner, a surreal psychological spy drama.
• On October 13, 2007, The following phrase was shown under two Bori displaying new clothes in the New Features...

  Step 1: Make frilly Dresses
  Step 2: ?
  Step 3: Profit

  This is a reference to the South Park episode "Gnomes", the source of the popular joke.
• The Bloyru avatar, a contraction of bless you and Shoyru, is a reference to a sketch in Look Around You, a comedy television series that parodies educational shows - "Bless you, ants. Blants."

404 messages

• "You're Fired!" — One of the characters in Whack-A-Staff-Member says this in reference to The Apprentice.

Radio

• The Pan Galactic Gargle Slushie and its description, The wisest saying in the galaxy is apparently, "Never drink more than two Pan Galactic Gargle Slushies unless you are a twenty ton mega-elephant with pneumonial bronchitis" refer to the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster cocktail from Douglas Adams' radio show The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, also adapted as a series of novels, a television series, and a film.

Real life

• The name of the aquatic Petpet Ghoti, pronounced 'fish', is commonly used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling.

404 messages

• "Neopia...we have a problem..." — a reference to the Apollo 13 manned mission to the Moon.

Other

• The Neopets Team celebrates International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and on 2007, a new random picture of them dressing as pirates, with the tag line "Some pirates aren't very fierce..." was added.