Easter eggs...

[Moridin]

you know, those things in DVDs or movies that are tip offs to those who are well read or saw the first one? This book has em. Of course, everyone may know this and I'm stating the obvious, but I thought I'd put two down that I've found so far. I know I've seen a few more, but I forget where they were, so Oh Well. If you find any, post them here.

(Brian may or may not have intended these to be in here. It's a law of writing to draw from other people, from what you find humorous, etc. And sometimes you do it without even realizing it)

On page 190, Atomik Lad says, "..Until it becomes so cross that it would make a mistake" A direct line from Monty Python, when one of Arthur's sidekicks (or knights, you picky picky person) is purposing how to defeat the bunny.

On page 268, Dr. Genius is explaining the laws of KI fields, and says they could find.."The answer to life, the universe. Everything."
This one is kind of a stretch, but not much. Douglas Adams (if you don't know this name stop. Go to a book store. Buy The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Enjoy) wrote a book called Life, the Universe, and Everything, which is a satiric novel based on the question and answer.

On page 331, Nuke says "Too old, Too old for the training" Yoda's line from The Star Wars Trilogy. (The good one)

424, Atomk Lad says: "Ask me your questions, old man, I'm not afraid" Monty Python again.

Of course, there are dozens of sarcastic quips about our culture throughout the book (Go nukeracer gooooo) and comics in general. I'm just looking for the direct pulls, something that really made you laugh because you're "in on it" with the writer.

That's all i've found (or care to write down) so far- what have you found?

[Artman317]

Somewhere near the very end of the book i remember vaguely a 'With great power comes, yatta yatta yatta, Look just don't bite the hand that feeds you.' (Obviously the spiderman saying "With great power come great responsibility." But changed it due to copyright or Nuke just couldn't remember it.)

Also, the popular drink in the book is Dr. Zap. (Dr.Pepper, Mr.Pibb) (from that personal comic brian did, We all know he loves Mr Pibb, err, well, the original version of Mr.pibb.)

[Kurosen]

Oh yeah, Nuklear Age is filled with stuff like this. There's several other Star Wars lines mostly around the Superion chapters.

The movie that Rachel and Atomik Lad see is obviously a dig at Titantic (hey, it was timely when I wrote it!). In fact, the whole ZMAX thing leading up to it is pretty much line for line what they tell you at IMAX theaters.

I'd better stop before I reveal them all. Here's a hint though: every video game played or mentioned is based on a real game or franchise.

[Artman317]

Any Easter eggs that only you'd know Brian?

Like having a character based entirely off of someone you know personally.
Or something like 'Lydia loves labeling stuff and i find it funny, So I put a labelmaker in the book for nuke label everything with.'

[rightwhatwasidoing?]

Here's an obvious one that I really liked. it's basically the only one i know, so its the one im saying!

The Resturant at the beginning of the Book. Clevinger, you are awesome, as soon as i saw that i started laughing. For those that dont know, The Resturant at the end of the Universe is a book written by Douglas Adams, part of the hitchhiker's trilogy. i guess it really isnt that funny, but i really like the hitchhiker's series

[Kurosen]

Oh yeah, several chapter titles are easter eggs if you look at them like that.

As for ones only I would know about -- the one that comes immediately to mind is the entire drive through scenario when Nuke and Atomik Lad are on their way to pick up Rachel to go to the beach. It is 100% true. It happened to me at a Taco Bell late one night.

[Yousabugger]

You mean there really is a game called Horseshoes & Handgrenades 3-D? (right title?)

[Ominous]

Oh yeah, several chapter titles are easter eggs if you look at them like that.

As for ones only I would know about -- the one that comes immediately to mind is the entire drive through scenario when Nuke and Atomik Lad are on their way to pick up Rachel to go to the beach. It is 100% true. It happened to me at a Taco Bell late one night.
At least they actually DO serve refried beans at Taco Bell...

[icythaco]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Nuklear Age is just one giant Easter egg (making fun of the golden age of superhero comics) filled with smaller easter eggs within easter eggs, each referencing to different aspects of pop culture...After all, isn't that what sattire, in essence, is about? I mean, if you pick up any piece of good sattire (Pratchett, Adams, etc.), you'll basically be reading joke upon joke about popular culture, with a great plotline thrown into the mix. Same things goes for Brian and Nuklear Age...

[Mydred]

There's the part near the beginning of the book when Atomik Lad is trying to think of a gift for Nuke. A suggestion to buy him a pet is made and Atomik Lad says something along the lines of "Nah, he'll probably make him wear a cape and call him 'Der Wunder Kat' "

As far as I know, when Brian first got his cat Kurt, he called him 'Kurt der Wunder Kat'

Or I could be crazy.

[Kurosen]

If I did, it was a reference to this book, not the other way around.

[Skyshot]

As for ones only I would know about -- the one that comes immediately to mind is the entire drive through scenario when Nuke and Atomik Lad are on their way to pick up Rachel to go to the beach. It is 100% true. It happened to me at a Taco Bell late one night.
Ya know, just the other day I was re-reading that part and thinking "Some things you just can't make up. Something like this has happened to Brian."

Anyways, "feint to the northeast" has got to be a reference to something. Any ideas on what?

[Kurosen]

I know, but I'm not telling!

[Freeq]

You evil jerk!

Anywho, what about Nuke's line at the end of the book? "We've been living in a dream world, you and I." Sounds like Morpheus.

[Kurosen]

Nope. It's just a reference to the fact that their world before Nihel had been fairly idyllic and unreal.

[houkama]

Anyways, "feint to the northeast" has got to be a reference to something. Any ideas on what?
Yeah, I know. I'll give you a hint. The movie or show or comic or song refrenced includes a short lesson on physics of a particular bird in its beginning.

Actually at least two more quotes are from that same work.

[Jaythe4th]

Yeah, I know. I'll give you a hint.

No, hang on. Nevermind that, just answer the questions




heh

[Skyshot]

Yeah, I know. I'll give you a hint. The movie or show or comic or song refrenced includes a short lesson on physics of a particular bird in its beginning.
Ah...Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Man, I need to go watch that movie again. I hear so many references to it these days that I don't remember from it.

OK, was the TPPS (you know, Bibbles? Beginning of the book? Irony in anal-retentive refusal to hand over a lousy birthday card without two pieces of ID?) in some way a reference to those Douglas Adams books? (That's another thing I need to read sometime.) I mean, from all the stuff I hear about those books, it's very likely, at least from my point of view.

And my point of view contains no leather pants.

[Kurosen]

Nope. But Bibbles is a combination of Easter Eggs. He is named after my friend Jon's oldest cat while I was living with him. The real Bibbles passed away some years ago, I'm sorry to say. His appearance is based on the common little goblin-ish looking enemies in Chrono Trigger, you fight a lot of them fairly early on and in the 600AD setting.

[Bailey]

You mean there really is a game called Horseshoes & Handgrenades 3-D? (right title?)

that could either be a reference to d&d or to the saying "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades"

might even be to both

[DFA]

It'd be nice to have an Easter Egg Guide. See which ones people got and which ones were missed by everyone.

[Majik]

How about nearing the end of the book when Nihel enters the mall? Reminds me of Episode 384, faced with a near invincable opponent he kills rachel and Atomik loses it, faced with a near invincable opponent he kills black mage and fighter loses it. Go through that set of episodes from 384 on and see if it isnt a little familiar.

[StacMaster-S]

Brian is an egomaniac. The entire book is just one big 8BT reference, and 8BT is one giant Nuklear Age reference.

Wrap your mind around that!

[sephiroth666]

remember that one part where the vigilante cop guys with the high tech weapons and armor? yea... he soooo reminds me of starsky. (starsky and hutch).

yeaup.. lets seee...umm the mall zombie thingy, and that guy that controls the mall. that reminds me of the south park episode where the southpark kids try and shut down wall mart. cuz wall mart is taking over their city with its low low prices.

thats all i can think of right now.

[Kurosen]

Wrote my books years before the Starsky and Hutch movie and never saw the show, also I don't watch South Park but I'm willing to bet that scene was written a year or more before that episode aired. Nice tries though :P

[Vivli]

Well, I remember "Where we're going, we don't need roads" when Nuke lifts the car into the air, which is from the end of Back to the Future/the beginning of Back to the Future Part II. As mentioned, there were loads of Star Wars refrences, like "If you will not turn, perhaps she will" from Superion and "It's an older code, but it checks out" from Nuke. (Alpha Niner is pretty much a refrence to how that's always the code, right? Not from something specifically? At least I can't think of anything).

Also, "like a fox!" that Nuke would add onto whatever he's called comes from the Simpsons quote "Yeah I'm stupid, stupid like a fox!" (At least it is in Simpsons, could just be coincidence that Brian thought up the same gag.)

There must be loads to spot, and it's good fun reading through trying to find them. I might be wrong with some of the above though, since you have to factor 'coincidence' into it.

[Kurosen]

Those are all correct except the "like a fox" thing. That's just an old joke/gag and the Simpsons used it and so did I. We're both stealing from a kind of common pool of easy jokes on that one :)

Oh, and Alpha Niner is just a random all-purpose code I used all the time with my friends back when I wrote that part. If it's from anything, I don't recall, so I'm inclined to think it's a reference to my own stupidity.

[Vivli]

Looks like watching too much Simpsons influenced me a little too much. That makes sense. I'm suprised nobody else caught the Back to the Future one though, it was the first easter egg I noticed as a definite.

[Moridin]

[unnecessary lesson]Yeah, Crazy Like a Fox is just an old one liner.

Jim: The killer's crazy, George.

George: Crazy like a fox Jim, look at the pattern he's made.

It just means that he's sly, not actually "crazy". Both Brian and the Simpsons are just applying the ending to everything. To make me giggle with glee and enjoyment. [/unnecessary lesson]

[userpie]

Unless Brian wrote the chapter names, as soon as he finished writign the chapter, Chapter 7, I think, is called "They, Robots." I, Robot, was a movie released in 2003. Also, the nukebot-movie concept is pretty much the same. Perfect do what they tell you to do robots, turned into rebelellious robots later in a book.
That, or it's a terribly, terribly, strange coincidence.

[Kurosen]

I, Robot is an old sci-fi story. I was basing the title on that. The movie coming out around the same time is a coinkydink. Much like the movie The Incredibles coming out about a month after my book and using the same city name and several other elements.

Not that I'm bitter.

[Vivli]

[unnecessary lesson]Yeah, Crazy Like a Fox is just an old one liner.

Jim: The killer's crazy, George.

George: Crazy like a fox Jim, look at the pattern he's made.

It just means that he's sly, not actually "crazy". Both Brian and the Simpsons are just applying the ending to everything. To make me giggle with glee and enjoyment. [/unnecessary lesson]

Oh, I'd heard the phrase "Crazy like a Fox" before, I just thought Brian's 'applying it to everything' was a homage to the Simpsons.

So that this isn't an entirely off topic attempt to make myself sound less stupid, is the idea of KI fields a refrence to the Japanese idea of Ki? (Might have originated in China actually, I honestly don't know). Since that was the theory of having a power focused throughout you that monks and such use, also a major part of Akido I think, (hence the "ki" in AKIdo). I was just wondering if that was a coincidence of "K" and "I" or that's the reason Brian picked those letters.

[Moridin]

I think he has actually mentioned that before, but I can't remember. I think you're right though.

[Kurosen]

Yup. Kopelson Intrinsity, or K.I. is a fairly transparent reference to the concept of ki or chi or qi or whatever. It is mixed with some sci-fi elements and quantum theory for flavor and fun.

[houkama]

Quantum theory for flavor and fun.
So that's why they spell Quantum with a 'q' because it's fun.

So ON TOPIC:
Kismet Crunchies= Lucky Charms

[Lost in Time]

I also saw that Brian made a referance to 8-Bit's Akbar, I don't know if Brian stole Akbar from somewhere else though...

[userpie]

Kismet Crunchies= Lucky Charms
Also the owner of Kismwt Crunchies is green, as is lucky Charms' wierd mascot dude.
EDIT: I, robot was a sci-fi story? I didn't know that. And reall,y I laughed at the city in the book, first time i saw it, but if i saw the incredibles I wouldn't laugh at the city.

[Kurosen]

I don't know if Brian stole Akbar from somewhere else though

Akbar is a random name I've used for quite some time. I stole it from Akbar & Jeff from the ____ is Hell series of books by Matt Groening of The Simpsons fame.

[houkama]

I, robot was a sci-fi story? I didn't know that.
It's written by Issac Asimov. He's good.

ON Topic: Ima Genius was a character in an Atari 2600 game, unfortunately the label was removed so I do not know which one.

[liam_yates]

I'm around page 500, but I've only noticed the Star Wars reference (Well, the only one I can remember), when Nuke says "Take off my mask"

[brat-sampson]

It looks like I'm the first to spy the spot-on 'Pi' reference when Dr Genius is considering the KI fields.

'9.15 Restate my assumptions...'

Very nice!! :D

[sephiroth666]

i forgot if anyone has said this yet,
the part with the mask its like man in the iron mask, i know that someone has mentioned the monty python bridge scene at that part too.
but i remember that the man in the iron mask part.

[Thought]

Kismet Crunchies is also related to Soylent Green, which is made of people.
The Iron Scottsman seems very similar to Iron Man in form, if not particularly personallity (I never kept up with the series, but I think Tony Stark was a raging alcoholic for a while, like Angus).
The entire Superion bit is a great deal like SuperMan IV: The Quest for Peace.

[MFD]

KISMET CRUNCHIES IS ROCKET FUEL! ROCKET FUEL!

A-HEM! Sorry.

Mort D. Kainen? Mordekainen?

[Jarlax]

424, Atomk Lad says: "Ask me your questions, old man, I'm not afraid" Monty Python again.

Also right after that the same first 2 questions are asked: "What is your name? What is your Quest?" And the 3rd question in Monty Python was some difficult and obscure question and so was the 3rd in Nuklear Age.

[Kurosen]

Mort D. Kainen? Mordekainen?
I'm glad someone got that one. It's probably the most awkward Easter Egg in the book.

[DFA]

Ya know a neat idea would be to make an Nuklear Age Easter Egg Wiki. It'd be a neat way to have people re-examine the book and have them post eggs they found where other people can either learn some Culture reference or smack themselves in the head for not finding it.

[Lost in Time]

I think I caught another easter egg, or just plain coincidence, that in one of my classrooms, there is a textbook company named 'McDougal Littell (http://www.mcdougallittell.com).' Any relation to 'Little [Angus] McDougal?'

[Kurosen]

That's a coinkydink.

[Jhonka]

I'm glad someone got that one. It's probably the most awkward Easter Egg in the book.
I got that one the moment I saw it.. one of my favorites, actually. :)

[Kahkau]

I probably just don't know the refrence, but whats the Mordekainen thing? I just don't know what it is ;;

[kenshin987]

I probably just don't know the refrence, but whats the Mordekainen thing? I just don't know what it is ;;
The "Mordenkainen thing" is a reference to the namesake of several spells from Dungeons and Dragons, my favorite tabletop RPG. Among these spells is Mordenkainen's Magical Blade, my favorite spell named after him.

[Kahkau]

The "Mordenkainen thing" is a reference to the namesake of several spells from Dungeons and Dragons, my favorite tabletop RPG. Among these spells is Mordenkainen's Magical Blade, my favorite spell named after him.

Holy crap, I did know that. I'm just dumb.

[Gary Thunder]

And Nuke's mask. He says "This mask. It has its own face. Its own name, K'thulu..." Which is a reference to the Elder God Cthulhu. Or a blatant ripoff of said deity.

[sephiroth666]

and in the second episode it said "anderson circle garden" apparently its named from madison square garden

[Vivli]

As for other references, I recently started reading The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (I know! I know! I'm sorry it's taken this long! Honest!) and noticed alot of similarities or moments that reminded me of Nuklear Age. The one that sticks out (other than homages like 'The Restuarant At The Beginning of the Book' as pointed out earlier) I was heavily reminded of the wormhole that 'hadn't been there a second before or a second after' which seemed to be a refrence to Hitchhiker's coincidence when Arthur and Ford are picked up by the Heart of Gold, I think it says something similar.

That, and the general writing style of the tiny coincidence in the universe that actually has a profound effect later in the story.

[AndyBloodredMage]

This isn't exactly an easter egg, but the document of human civilization that was transported thousands of years into the past to the war-torn planet of savages (sorry I can't seem to remember any specific names,) that seemed like a tremendous douglas moment. A wormhole opening for a fraction of a second, and flinging it onto a society, and that creates the domino effect of essentially saving all of metroville many times over (nihel born into fated world, creates Arel, Arel stops Dragon and others from creating utter destruction.)

But a question I have is the cat in the box theory. I read about this in this humorous book about time travel, essentially a collaberation of short stories, and I wasn't sure if it was born there or if this is an actual theory. (The theory summarized is that if you place a cat in a box, and set a 50% chance that the box will be filled with gas and kill the cat, that until the box is opened then the cat both exists and doesn't exists at the same time.) If the theory was born from the book, a found easter egg! If not, then darn.

[Kairamek]

That thing you mentioned about the cat, the gas, and being both alive and dead is an explination of quantum mechanics, or at least as our limited understanding explains it. I believe it's called Shrodenburg's Cat, but I could be way off. I thought of it when I read that as well.

Speaking of H2G2 referances, Dr. Genius mentions testing animals to make sure they are animals and not advanced beings using humans as slave labor. That made me think of the Mice.

[MFD]

Nihel... nihil... nothingness...

[Mashirosen]

It's Schrodinger's Cat.

[Skyshot]

Ima Genius was a character in an Atari 2600 game, unfortunately the label was removed so I do not know which one.

Err...Ima Genius..."I'm a Genius." Probably nothing to do with Atari 2600.


It looks like I'm the first to spy the spot-on 'Pi' reference when Dr Genius is considering the KI fields.

'9.15 Restate my assumptions...'

Very nice!!

Pi's on the what now?

Is it just me, or is Seconds later, Nuklear Man was tossed onto the Danger: Couch. He was encased in chains, rope, decorative wrapping paper with a large festive bow, and a note saying "Do Not Open Until X-Mas." a reference to an old Garfield joke? Nuklear Age isn't the first place I've seen it.

[Inev]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/quotes

Heh, I saw that movie, but I never got the reference. A little obscure for stupid old me...

[PraetorZorak]

If there ever was an underappreciated movie, it is "Pi."

[Myst]

That thing you mentioned about the cat, the gas, and being both alive and dead is an explination of quantum mechanics, or at least as our limited understanding explains it. I believe it's called Shrodenburg's Cat, but I could be way off. I thought of it when I read that as well.

Speaking of H2G2 referances, Dr. Genius mentions testing animals to make sure they are animals and not advanced beings using humans as slave labor. That made me think of the Mice.
Also, Douglas Adams did a very understandable explanation of S(random squiggles)'s cat in Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency, so further Douglas Adams referencing.

[Codemonkey85]

If there ever was an underappreciated movie, it is "Pi."

Well, one Thanksgiving, my friends and I were trying to decide what movie to rent, and decided to get one with food in the title (as per the Thanksgiving idiom). Pi was one I picked out, but it didn't take.

I know some jokes used in Nuklear Age were also jokes used in 8-Bit Theater... like some of Nuke's ramblings being similar to some of BM's ramblings. Particularly odd statements like "the three veils of negative existence", which is one I've been curious about for some time.

Also, the Silo of Solitude is of course a reference to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. And Wayne Hall? As in Bruce Wayne? I think that's a coincidence, but I'm just throwin' thoughts out there.

[Lost in Time]

Actually it would be 'Some of the jokes in 8-Bit were used in Nuklear Age.' Keep in mind that Nuklear Age was made before 8-Bit.

[Codemonkey85]

Oh, I wasn't suggesting any order or precedence with my comment... just that there were similarities in the jokes used between the book and the comic. Of course I know the site was started in the first place because of the book.

[Lost in Time]

Ok, yeah sorry, very tired, now I understand what you mean. Arel and BM does have somethings in common, most commonly, killing things, which is what your getting at. Arels and BM's plans are slightly identical.

[sephiroth666]

hmm...

issue 9: Dorm Daze

i believe dorm daze is a movie. i think a national lampoon's one.

[Skyshot]

Also, in the Hebrew language, "El" means god. Arel? Nihel? Variel? Et cetera? May be more of a name gimmick than an actual Easter egg, but it's worth bringing up.

[Codemonkey85]

Ooh, they did the same thing in Superman... Kal-El, Jor-El, and so forth.

I didn't even think about it in this book, though.

[Kairamek]

I don't know if it's really an easter egg, but Dr. Never's rant about hero quips now verses his day seem to be a commentary on the different dialog styles of the Golden Age and current writters. Also, each of those literary tools Never mentions are used in the book, some of them as titles. Puns (any of the crab episodes *shutters*), plays on words (College Daze even tagged it), a juxtaposition of the current situation at hand and modern world events (The thing about FCC regulations to say Terrorism every 2 minutes comes to mind. Ya know, like how the media was feeding people BS so they would see Nuke as an impending threat. Clever Clevinger, clever.), and a mythological reference to boot (do I even have to say it?).

[sephiroth666]

like how benny's (that one diner at the beginning of the book) happens to be related to denny's somehow?

[Napoleon98]

or bennys could be bennigans... and most likely its just a brain fart... but please do metnion the boot...

[Mydred]

I'm at work right now, so I don't really have time to check, but I believe there is a point towards the end of the book where Nihel states something along the lines of

"Here we are, born to the Kings. We're the princes of the Universe" etc etc. Damn myself for not being able to remember the whole thing.

Anyway, that's a rip from Queen's song "Princes of the Universe" which was the theme to the Highlander television Series.

[Kurosen]

Actually I think it's Mort who says that line.

[Aerozord]

I didn't pick up on too many. Only Titanic parody, Turbo Fighter: Street Edition (if you didn't get that you need slapped) and the Family Guy referance where Nuke talkes to the college kids.

[Kairamek]

Page 175. "Atomik Lad took .04 seconds to remind himself of cheesy movies where the male lead avoids certain death about a dozen times only to (re)unite with the love interest. Of course, even in the movies fate can't be avoided forever and one of the young lovers has to die in order to kep the Karma balanced. Foreshadow much?

[Kurosen]

Actualy, Aero, I'm pretty sure I wrote that whole scene before Family Guy aired.

[Aerozord]

Well coinsidences happen. Not like I haven't made things that appear on TV a few weeks later.

[Ranarion]

When Nuklear Man says "Time to drop the hammer," is that a reference to the Siege Tank in Starcraft? And I'm pretty sure he said something about "dispensing some indiscriminate justice."

[Kurosen]

Tis indeed. The Siege Tanks are my favorite Terran unit.

[Lord Tim]

Theres a part later on when Norman, Angus and Shiro are getting the food at the Mall, another Monty Python reference. Love that movie ^.^

[Skyshot]

But what was the easter Egg, Lord Tim? It's kinda nice to be...ya know, specific. (Also, unless I'm mistaken, he had more than one movie.)

[Lord Tim]

When Norman is asking for a party Plater from the manager, it was similar to the part in the movie when they talk to the sorcerer Tim.. heh

[explosive_donut]

In the book, when there are zombies in the mall, that is a definate refrence to the cult classic T.V. show Invader Zim. In one episode, the mall is taken over by a crazy secutiry guard and zombies are used to defend the mall. The zombies are very stupid, just like the book.

[Kurosen]

Uh, no. I wrote this book about 3 years before Invader Zim. The mall zombie sequence is a reference to the Resident Evil series of games. If you'll note, the ATM Rachel goes to talks like a PSX whenever you save your game.

[explosive_donut]

Curses!!!!!! I thought i had it. Is the book really that old?? Wow. However, it did seem like it was the episode of Invader Zim, and I never played the Resident Evil games, survival horror is not my thing. Sorry everyone!