Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

'''Glurmo''' (''singing''): We ''resemble-but-are-legally-distinct-from'' [[The Wizard of Oz (film)|the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild]]...|''[[Futurama]]'', "Anthology of Interest II"}}

 

Sometimes fiction leans towards a rather lax interpretation of trademark issues. You may find characters who are not merely an imitation of a character from a popular show, film, or comic, but literally are that character. Somehow.

 

 

On the other hand, if said cameo character is famous enough, you're liable to get away with a more overt reference.

 

Often used as part of a [[Take That]], but just as often a [[Affectionate Parody|friendly]] [[Shout-Out]]. See also [[Writing Around Trademarks]]. Compare [[Captain Ersatz]] and [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'''s American character Kid is nearly identical to [[Brad Pitt]], for no good reason. Conan from ''[[Detective Conan]]'' also makes a thinly-veiled appearance.

* In ''[[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'', a chainsaw-wielding, hockey mask-wearing fellow named "Jason" is a member of the crew of the ''Soyokaze'' (mirroring the common Western misconception Jason ever used a chainsaw).

* In ''[[School Rumble]]'' Harima stays home and watches a movie that is pretty much a rip off of ''[[Star Wars]]'' that at first covers the opening of episode 4 with Lego like star ships, and what some lines that seems to be taken from episode 6. Needless to say this is quite funny to watch.

* Colonel Sanders shows up a lot as a figure of menace, thanks to the legend of the [[wikipedia:Curse of the Colonel|Curse of the Colonel]]. A few examples:

** At one point in ''[[Project A-ko]]'', the main characters watch a horror movie - itself a parody of Rin Taro's scifi/horror anime ''Harmagedon'' - wherein a victim, panicking, yells "The Colonel! The Colonel!" His pursuer is... Colonel Sanders.

**** He looks Asian even in a lot of the American designs for him. I actually thought he WAS Asian until I saw the documentary about his life on A&E.

**** Which is ironic, because as a kid he was often kidded for looking like an old woman.

** Directly referenced in a chapter of the ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' manga, where Hiruma uses a statue he "found in a ditch" as a stand in for Homer, the quarterback for the Nasa Aliens. Said statue has its face covered by a poorly-drawn copy of Homer's face, but it's obviously supposed to be a Colonel Sanders statue.

** The Colonel also appeared in ''[[Super Milk-chan|Super Milk Chan]]'' as a selfish, greedy, sexist man who hires assassins to kill a pair of pigs who escaped from one of his meat-packaging plants.

** The Colonel also appears briefly in ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'' at least once, where heavy rains flood most of Fukuoka, floating by as debris. Excel even comments on it in the English version.

** A ''lot'' of [[Hentai]] features ''rape by Colonel.'' So yeah....

** This later becomes a combo attack for the two characters in Jump Superstars.

** [http://bobobo.wikia.com/wiki/File:Bobobo_Yu-Gi-Oh.PNG "This guy is a duelist!!!"]

** However, ''[[Doctor Slump]]'' also makes [[Shout-Out|explicit references]] to ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]'', ''[[Gamera]]'', ''[[Godzilla]]'', and ''[[Ultraman]]''.

* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' episode 11 had a pixelated version of a [[Gundam]] launch, and referred to it as the "Gun3** ".

** They once made a reference to Pocky beyond obvious when they had Misao say the name twice, the first time having the last half blanked out (Po*** ) and the second time the first half blanked (** cky), alongside having chocolate milk or juice sucked up a straw to a certain point before being held in place to look like the snack.

** Konata's "fight" with [[Street Fighter|Guile]] actually has ''two'' separate ''[[Street Fighter]]'' references. The first is the obvious Guile clone, but the second shows up in the form of the "VS screen". The background is taken right out of ''[[Street Fighter III]]: 3rd Strike''.

** One episode has ''[[Code Geass]]'' and Lelouch's name censored out. Ironically, Bandai Entertainment would later pick up the rights to localize both that and ''Lucky Star''.

** Tsukasa's ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' keychain is worth noting here.

*** Kadokawa-Bandai dub: "Bleepin'-D."

** Cousin Yui reading manga with [[Fate/stay night|Rider]] on the cover. Also, episode 10, when Tsukasa's gentle nature and Kagami's [[Tsundere]] nature become blatantly obvious to Soujirou.

** The Gundam discussion segment is meant to parody the ridiculousness of the censoring. Both Konata and Soujirou's eyes have a censor bar over them, and every third word is bleeped out with a different sound.

*** That said, the corresponding manga was published in an official Gundam magazine, so...

** In episode 19 Hiyori draws Apollo Justice and Klavier Gavin from the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series.

* In episode 21 of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', thinly-disguised versions of [[Lupin III]] and Jigen get run off the road by the Hinata family car in an obvious parody of a scene from ''The Castle Of Cagliostro''. In episode 48, there is an inexplicable appearance by a human-sized version of the giant floating [[Rei Ayanami]] from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|End of Evangelion]]''.

*** Actually, the cameo is of a real arcade game called "Cliff Hanger" that reused footage from the ''Lupin III'' movie, making it a TRIPLE Cameo.

** It's also highly likely that there is a Jigen sighting in an episode of ''[[Animaniacs]]'' (specifically the "Sir Yakksalot" episode) as a wagon driver bearing a very distinctive slouched fedora and pointed beard drives by the screen. Tokyo Movie Shinsha provided animation work for both the ''Lupin III'' franchise and ''Animaniacs.''

** He also dressed up as Devilman (apropos of ''nothing'', naturally) once, and made Tomoko wear a ''[[Cutey Honey]]'' outfit.

** The first chapter of ''Shonan 14 Days'' includes Onizuka painting [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] on the hood of Uchiyamada's car and threatening to write his name into a [[Death Note]].

** Also a couple of ''[[Death Note]]'' [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110801025759/deathnote/images/1/17/Death_note_in_full_metal_panic.jpg characters] happened to be at the same place at the same time when Sousuke was getting his haircut

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' often has characters in the background, while not outright named, Vash the Stampede (''[[Trigun]]''), Ino, Shikamaru, Choji (''[[Naruto]]'') and Ryoma Echizen (''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'') all have brief appearances (Vash is in the background of the characters walking down the street, the other four in the stands of a duel).

* Ken Akamatsu, being a video game fan, has dropped numerous character cameos into both ''[[Love Hina]]'' and ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'': the "Mahora Budokai" arc in ''Negima!'' featured crowd cameos from M. Bison, Sakura Kusanago, Akuma, Hugo, and Adon from the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' games as well as Athena, Terry Bogard, Ryo Sakazaki, Chris, Yashiro Nanakase, and the ''Maximum Impact'' version of Kyo Kusanagi, all from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' and related series, and several others.

** Later, when the robot army arrives, one of the characters makes an extraordinarily blatant Lawyer Friendly [[Shout-Out]]:

** Love Hina also has references to ''[[Star Wars]]'' quite often; in amongst Keitaro/Naru sniping Naru is stabbed with a lightsaber, Motoko wins Su a mini Death Star, and Seta's van has the license plate number R2-D2.

** One chapter of ''Negima'' had a number of people dressed up as different anime and toku heroes, such as ''[[JAKQ]]'', [[Kamen Rider X]], and the main heroines of ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]''

** This happens in the manga as well, although it's so inconsistent (as with the ''Negima'' example above), anyone who can put two-and-two together can figure it out.

** Honestly, the anime [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade on the trope]] and dances in circles around it, pointing at it as a [[Running Gag]] in its own right. And episode where Nagi ''doesn't'' make a reference is rarer than one where she does.

** And then there's [[Bruce Willis|Bunta Willis]], whom Sun is a die hard fan of.

* Reversed in ''[[Ray the Animation]]'': In the manga, Osamu Tezuka's Dr. Black Jack 'cameos', but his face is never shown and he is never referred to by his full name, due to copyright concerns. In the animation, Black Jack doesn't fall under these restrictions anymore, seeing as how it was produced by Tezuka's animation studio, which of course holds the copyright on the character.

* ''[[Amaenaideyo!!]]'' had the [[Show Within a Show]] ''[[Kamen Rider|Kamen Ranger]]'', and continued to reference it throughout the show's run. The featured Kamen Ranger, Hayabusa 20, could've easily passed for [[Kamen Rider Faiz|Faiz]].

* ''[[The Legend of Black Heaven]]'' features a scene where Mulder and Scully from ''[[The X-Files]]'' are investigating a mysterious event at a cemetery in the U.S., where a grave has been dug up in an incredibly precise manner. {{spoiler|Former band member Watanabe's body had been stolen by the enemy in order to create a clone to defeat the remaining member of the band.}} The two agents are unceremoniously pushed into the hole by Layla's sidekicks.

** There's also a ripoff of the power rangers in it called the Flying 5.

* ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' featured Ogami Ito and Daigoro from Lone Wolf and Cub at the end of the episode "Cosmic Collisions".

* Volume 7 of ''[[Faeries Landing]]'' has a brief one panel cameo of Luffy D. Monkey from ''[[One Piece]]''.

** And of course, earlier the heroes had to fight the corpse of a world famous Chinese martial artist from Hollywood movies, who developed his own fighting style, whose favorite weapons were a pair of nunchuks, and who died mysteriously at the peak of his popularity. So, totally not Bruce Lee, then.

* ''[[My Balls]]'' has [[Angelina Jolie|Angel*** Jolie]] in Chapter 28.

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]: Season 8'' gives us an utterly pointless panel that has exactly one purpose: A lawyer friendly cameo of [[Doctor Who|The Tenth Doctor and Rose]]. [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/besstofthebest/Picture2-4.png See what I mean?] On the bright side, you get to go insane trying to put the conflicting universe together.

* In the ''[[Asterix]]'' story ''Asterix in Belgium'', the two Belgians who announce Caesar's arrival are dead ringers for Thomson and Thompson, the pseudo-twin detectives from the Belgian comic ''[[Tintin]]''.

** Right down to the [[Art Shift]], the font in their [[Speech Bubbles]], and the use of their [[Catch Phrase]] "To be precise..."

** He also had [[Supergirl]] appear in a ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' issue's group of discontinued universes.

* [[Tintin]] had a number as well. [[War for Fun and Profit|War profiteer]] Basil Zaharoff is portrayed in ''The Broken Ear'' [[Paper-Thin Disguise|transparently]] as "Basil Bazarov", right down to his distinctive appearance. In the earliest edition of ''Tintin in America'', a Mary Pickford-looking movie star named "Mary Pikefort" attends a dinner where Tintin is honored. Professor Calculus is also loosely based on scientist Auguste Picard.

** No, just a generic scarred villain called ''Fantom'' - a name which has been used with various spellings by a large number of pulp villains and heroes. And incidentally, Moriarty appears in the comicbook, as well, as the (still-villainous) adversary of Fu Manchu. Then again, he's also described as "operatic" for no reason at all in the movie... And might be equally based on Fantomas, the French archvillain.

** And the ''Black Dossier'' includes British secret agents named "Jimmy", who is obviously [[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]] (He won't stop talking about "some business in Jamaica" and all that, and he's also the grandson of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' original character Campion Bond), Miss Night, who is clearly [[The Avengers (TV series)|Emma Peel]], and Uncle Hugo, who is [[Bulldog Drummond]].

** And then there's Paint it Black in which Mina meets a tall dark haired gentleman who claims [[Harry Potter|his first name is Tom, his middle name is a marvel and his last name is a conundrum.]]

* [[Alan Moore]]'s ''[[Swamp Thing]]'' had a story "Pog", whose title character was ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'' in a spacesuit. Amusingly, Pog had a brief cameo in a later issue by another writer who didn't seem to recognize the reference.

* A recent ''[[Invincible]]'' storyline had the title character being bounced around alternate universes. While he had a full issue experience with [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] in ''Marvel Team-Up'', he also encountered [[Batman]] (though only his arm is seen and his name is implied without having to say it outright thanks to a running joke from the MTU issue), a world similar to ''[[Y: The Last Man|Y the Last Man]]'' and possibly the world of ''[[The Walking Dead (comics)|The Walking Dead]]'', one of Robert Kirkman's other books.

* ''[[Wanted (Comic Book)|Wanted]]'' by [[Mark Millar]] features lawyer-friendly versions of every supervillain (and some heroes) ever. ''Ever''. In addition, it's implicit that the characters in the story are the real versions, and the comics are a [[Memetic Mutation|half-baked attempt by the world to tell their exploits]]. But [[This Loser Is You|who reads comics anymore anyway]]?

* Throughout ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', Jesse Custer has a spirit advisor called The Duke, who is clearly meant to be John Wayne but never explicitly referred to as such and always drawn with face in shadow. However, his father, John Custer, is shown and referred to as meeting the flesh-and-blood John Wayne while serving in Vietnam. Also, in issue #53, Jesse gives a lift to a fat, aging Elvis (this one's a lot harder to identify, but it's definitely him). Plus there's the sequence where Herr Starr meets (and insults) a number of unnamed world leaders - we only see Starr's face, but can identify who he's addressing by the insult (e.g. "You've got a girl's haircut, Colonel.")

* In ''[[Action Comics]]'' #579, [[Superman]] is sent back in time to 253 AD, where he finds himself in a Gaulish village that has been fighting off the Romans thanks to a magic potion - so successfully, in fact, that they're unaware the Empire has fallen. [[Jimmy Olsen]] puts on the outfit of their unnamed "[[Asterix|greatest warrior]]", while a mind-controlled Superman fights "Columnix", an overweight Gaul with a white dog, who fell in the potion as a baby.

** That's a beautiful [[Did Not Do the Research]]. The roman empire didn't fall for about 200 years more than that.

* In a [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Man]] issue, there's cameos of [[Street Fighter|Ken, Chun-Li and Guile]] on the background, watching X-Man's power demonstration. [[Capcom vs. Whatever|How appropriate.]]

** In a backup story in an issue of ''X-Men Classics'' (earlier issues has a secondary story featuring "before they were X-Men" or "between the issues" tales), a story is recounted of an inadvertent meeting between Logan (while he was a roughneck on the run from Weapon X) and Banshee (while he was just a humble Interpol agent). Banshee is hot on the trail of three jewel thieves, one of whom is named [[Lupin III|Arsene]], and who look like the Lupin Gang with a few cosmetic alterations. Guess who that makes Banshee, of course...

* The ''Howard and Nester'' comic strip in issue #9 of ''[[Nintendo Power]]'' has Howard accompanying a duck on an expedition to the moon (with Nester stowing away). The duck in question is never addressed by name and doesn't look like it, but the reader can probably guess, judging from the fact that this particular installment was based on the ''[[DuckTales (video game)|Duck Tales]]'' [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] game, that he is supposed to be Scrooge McDuck.

* One Marvel comics from the 80's involved many of the Marvel speedsters, who were getting some help from an amnesiac speedster from another dimension... [[The Flash|Wearing a torn red suit (with a few yellow elements), saying his name was "Buried Alien, or something like that", and who quickly disappeared in some Speed Dimension afterwards as all he could remember was that he had to keep running]]. Oh, and he was much, MUCH faster than all the other Marvel speedsters. As this story took place not so long after [[Crisis on Infinite Earths|an important cross-over from the Distinguished Competition]], this can be seen as a [[Homage]] to a certain character who died during this event.

** You mean [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/fastforw.htm this guy]? Nah, never heard of him.

* In ''[[Superman]]/[[Batman]] Annual #1'', as a reference to [[Deadpool]]'s origins as a Deathstroke [[Captain Ersatz]], had an [[Alternate Universe]] Deathstroke who looked like Deadpool, acted like Deadpool, and had powers like Deadpool, but was always interrupted whenever he attempted to reveal his name (including one panel where he screams "DEADPOOOOooooo~") since Deadpool is the property of [[Marvel Comics]].

** It should be noted that the comic was written by Joe Kelly, who had written Deadpool in the 1990s. And drawn by Ed McGuinness, who drew Deadpool under Kelly.

** [[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC|And for T-Shirts of this Trope, you can call 1-300-DEADPOO]].

* Also in ''[[Superman]]/[[Batman]]'' the story arc, ''With A Vengeance'' features the "Maximums" who are thinly veiled analogues of [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] from the [[Marvel Comics|other guys]]..

* The [[Batman]] [[Elseworld]] ''Detective #27'' features Bruce Wayne being inducted into the Secret Society of Detectives. Apart from Alfred and the Crimson Avenger, none of the other members are named, but from the way they're drawn, they're clearly intended to include [[Sam Spade]] (or maybe [[Philip Marlowe]]), [[Hercule Poirot]], [[The Thin Man (film)|Nick and Nora Charles]], and [[Nero Wolfe]], amongst others.

* [[The Rocketeer (comics)|The Rocketeer]] has appearances by several unnamed pulp characters including [[The Shadow]] and [[Doc Savage]].

 

* Action movie parody ''[[Loaded Weapon 1]]'' includes a cameo by [[Bruce Willis]]. The funniest part is that he is still in costume from ''[[Die Hard]]''.

* ''[[Coming to America]]'' has McDowell's, which not only is an obvious ripoff of McDonalds, but is treated as such in the movie. It even has a scene where the owner has to describe the subtle differences between his store and the McDonalds that is right next door. When they actually made the building for filming, the owner of the adjacent McDonalds actually threatened to sue.

** Sidney Wang = Charlie Chan

** Sam Diamond = Sam Spade

** Miss Marbles = Miss Marples

** M'sieu Perrier = Hercule Poirot

*** The film originally ended with a cameo from two characters who looked and acted very much like [[Sherlock Holmes]] and Dr. Watson. In fact, the resemblance was close enough that Arthur Conan Doyle's estate eventually got [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5oBeFUDllM this scene] excised from all home video releases.

* In [[The Teaser]] of ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'', [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] kills off a bald man in a wheelchair who looks a lot like Ernst Blofeld. Blofeld and SPECTRE had been [[Exiled From Continuity]] when the film was made.

* ''[[Austin Powers|Goldmember]]'' had this exchange after the protagonists crash into a parade float:

'''[[Heroes (TV series)|Man #2]]''': ''Though it isn't!'' }}

 

 

== Literature ==

* Western example that is not a cameo and features a [[Real Life]] individual. Ben Elton's novel ''Chart Throb'' features Prince Charles as a major character but he is never named, just called "The Prince of Wales", "The Prince", "Wales", "Sir", and humourously, by himself, "Muggins" and "Buggerlugs". Camilla also appears, referred to solely as "His Wife".

** Similarly, Prince Harry appears (by name) in John Birmingham's ''Axis of Time'' cycle. His character is from [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] and has become a [[Badass]] military officer - Harry himself (who is pursuing a military career in [[Real Life]]) would probably approve of the portrayal.

<!-- %% Please, don't add anything further about Bush; this is skirting fairly close to the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment as it is. %% -->

* In ''Night Probe'' (part of the [[NUMA Series]]), the British bring one of their old spies out of retirement, who had changed his name to Brian Shaw to avoid assassination attempts. It is strongly implied that Shaw is actually James Bond.

* [[Michael Chabon]]'s novella ''The Final Solution'' is about a retired detective who, while never named, is clearly [[Sherlock Holmes]].

* A major element of [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story ''The Problem of Susan'' is that the character of "Professor Hastings" could be a much older [[The Chronicles of Narnia|Susan Pevensie]] (Hastings also being just along the coast from Pevensey, Sussex), although the narrative never outright confirms it.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In the 1983 reunion TV-movie ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.|The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'', Robert Vaughn is helped by a British agent driving a heavily-modified Aston-Martin played by George Lazenby. His license plates have only two letters: "JB". [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WIXI4AfbwA Who could it possibly be]?

* ''[[Goodness Gracious Me]]'' did a parody of ''[[The Sooty Show]]'' with Sweep's face pixelated to hide his resemblance to the original puppet.

 

== Tabletop RPG ==

* A ''Pyramid Magazine'' article about the possibilities of giving superheroes a connection to the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] had several examples, all Lawyer-Friendly Cameos of [[Marvel Comics]] and [[DC Comics]] characters. For instance there was a [[Batman|millionaire vigilante]] who had been possessed by the Great Race of Yith, and was reluctantly considering asking "[[Martian Manhunter|the Martian]]" to scan his mind; a note from industrialist "[[Lex Luthor|L.L.]]" to his research teams about how the alien fungus samples seem to have the ability to take human form, possibly with [[Superman|powers and abilities far beyond mortal men]]; a powerful telepath unable to prevent his mutant-detecting machine from broadcasting the chant of "[[At the Mountains of Madness|Tekeli-li]]!" to [[X-Men (Comic Book)|his students]]; and a chant to Nyarlathotep which reveals his [[I Have Many Names|many names]] include [[Silver Surfer|the Surfer in Silver]] and [[New Gods|the Blackened Racer]].

 

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' features the [[Star Wars|Death Egg]] as Eggman's ultimate weapon to destroy Sonic.

* ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Pokémon Platinum]]'' features a detective [[Doctor Who|who talks weird, shows up in a lot of places, wears a long, brown coat and gives the player futuristic equipment]].

* In ''[[Romancing SaGa 3|Romancing Sa ga 3]]'', there is a Zorro-esque character called Robin, and in the credits, said character pulls off Zorro's infamous Z cut (Strongest Foil technique)

* The first print versions of ''[[Shinobi|The Revenge of Shinobi]]'' for the [[Sega Genesis]] featured [[Spider-Man]], [[Batman]], The [[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]], and [[Godzilla]] as some of Joe Musashi's adversaries. To avoid any potential lawsuits, Sega released a revision of the game which replaces Godzilla with a metal skeletal dinosaur and Batman with a winged bat-like creature. Spider-Man was kept as an official cameo (with a new copyrights screen acknowledging Marvel Comics' ownership of the character), since Sega had the Spider-Man license for a couple of other games (namely the ''Spider-Man'' arcade game and the Genesis game ''Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin''). In the Virtual Console rerelease, Spider-Man is now colored pink (Due to Sega losing the rights to use Spider-Man to Activision). Ironically, The Terminator has appeared in all versions of ''The Revenge of Shinobi''.

* In the VGA remake of ''[[Space Quest]] I'', the Droids-B-Us shop (which itself features an android Geoffrey the Giraffe as its logo!) has a "Dalick" for sale, which bears a striking resemblance to a certain creature from ''[[Doctor Who]]''. There's also the robot from ''[[Lost in Space]]'', as well as another droid, HA-Y-AO, which clearly was inspired by [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s ''[[Laputa: Castle in the Sky|Castle in The Sky]]''. The Blues Brothers also have a cameo as bar singers.

** ZZ Top had a cameo in the original, but this wasn't so lawyer-friendly, as Sierra got slapped with a lawsuit and had to remove them in the remake. The robot shop was originally called Droids-R-Us, which also attracted a lawsuit; apparently changing the R to a B was enough to satisfy them.

*** It wasn't in ''[[Quest for Glory]] 2'', though. That was the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|USS Exitprise]].

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]] 2'' featured lawyer-friendly cameos from Mr. Thriller, Audrey Jr. and Betelgeuse. Yes, '''''that''''' [[Beetlejuice|Betelgeuse]].

** And Mech pilot [[The Vision of Escaflowne|Allen Shezar]].

*** Wraith fighter ace pilot Tom [[Top Gun|Kazansky]], anyone?

** Who also cameo in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]''.

*** ''Chrono Trigger'' even did one better; ''Star Wars'' also contains an Admiral Piett, who cameos alongside "Vicks" and Wedge.

** Don't forget the [[Super Sentai|Centurion]] [[Power Rangers|Rangers]].

* Every ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' game features a cameo by at least one famous comedian. The list includes [[The Three Stooges]] in the first game, the [[Marx Brothers]] in the second, Redd Foxx as [[Sanford and Son|Fred Sanford]] ''and'' [[Abbott and Costello]] in the third, and a sound-alike of Rodney Dangerfield in the fourth.

** In ''[[Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness|Quest for Glory IV]]'', one of the farmers at the inn is a Lawyer-Friendly [[All in The Family|Archie Bunker]].

** And how could you forget '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!'''

** The second game also features a conversation with a member of monster-type demon race that's usually considered [[One-Gender Race|female]] for pretty much the rest of the game. At the end of the conversation the monster reveals that it is, in fact, [[Dropped a Bridget On Him|a boy]]. At this point, you realize/remember that the monster in question is named ''[[Guilty Gear|Bridget]].''

* Classic H-game ''Season of the Sakura'' features characters from ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi Muyo]]'', ''[[Saint Tail]]'', and ''[[Pia Carrot]]'', but given how blatant the references were, this may simply be a [[Shout-Out]] (or an excuse to let fanboys pursue anime girls popular in the mid-90s, when the game was made).

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'', a fellow who looks suspiciously like Chinese superstar Andy Lau is one of the random civilians. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVK2YRqfah4 For reals].

* The Masters in ''[[MadWorld]]'' are explicitly said to [[Star Wars|use the For]]---- Magnets! (With that exact wording.) And other reminiscent things.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' isn't exempt from this either. In Un'Goro Crater, a gnome [[The Legend of Zelda|wearing a green tunic and cap, named Linken]], sets you on a long quest line that references everything from "Eastern peninsula is the secret", to tossing a sword into a spring and receiving it tempered, to receiving a magical boomerang that deals ranged damage and stuns or disarms. And not too far away you'll find Dadanga, and the hammer-wielding dwarves [[Super Mario Bros.|Larion and Muigin]]. The list goes on. The zone is basically one long shoutout to Nintendo, but there are plenty of other examples of this trope in the rest of the game.

* ''[[3D Dot Game Heroes|Three D Dot Game Heroes]]'' has direct appearances by Minwu, Josef, Guy, Firion, and Maria from ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'', "Pizarro," Rosy, Alena, Brey, Cristo, Mina, Mary, and Healie the slime from ''[[Dragon Quest IV]], and the Hero, Bianca, and Flora (and their kids) from ''[[Dragon Quest V]]'', among others.

* ''[[Transport Tycoon]]'' featured real-life vehicles in the original British release. Just to give a few examples, there were aircraft from Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas, and Airbus; road vehicles from British Leyland, Ford, and Volvo; train locomotives designed by Stanier and Gresley, and later in the game the Eurostar and TGV. For the American release, these were changed to fake companies to avoid litigation. These were carried forward into ''[[Transport Tycoon Deluxe]]'' and ''OpenTTD''.

* And of course we have ''[[Champions Online]]'', with player created wonders such as ''[[Incredible Hulk|The Incredible Haulk]]'', ''[[Iron Man|Iron Dude]]'', and ''[[Deadpool|Deadsea]]''. These characters of course look almost the same with maybe a slight color change.

== Web Original ==

* Pretty much the entire premise of the first batch of episodes of ''[[Press Start]]''.

 

 

* One of the episodes of ''[[Ben 10]]'' has [[Naruto|Konohamaru's team]] appear in the background. In another, an orange-haired girl dressed like Sakura is on screen briefly.

* In an interesting case, one episode of ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' had Arthur and friends writing pilot scripts for a contest. These were all obvious parodies of other popular cartoons. The thing is, most of these parodies were of shows aimed at a- to put it lightly- [[Parental Bonus|more mature audience]], like ''[[South Park]]'', ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', and ''[[Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist]]''.

** One episode had a Domo plush in the background, another referenced a show called "Judo Kittens" whose characters [[The Powerpuff Girls|looked pretty familiar]]...

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode where Lisa becomes the school president, which is a spoof of ''[[Evita]]'' and ends with a note from the directors that says, "[[Suspiciously Specific Denial|based on the advice of our lawyers, we must say that we have never heard of a musical based on the life of Eva Perón]]".

** Let's make this very clear: you do ''not'' have to write around any copyrights to use characters from the first book (and a few others, all the ones written before about 1923) of the ''Oz'' series (it's in the public domain now)...the ''movie'', on the other hand, is copyrighted. No ruby slippers for you.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has a lawyer friendly version of [[Street Fighter|Ryu]] seen losing to June at arm wrestling at a bar (he's still there the next time they visit and is part of [[Bar Brawl]]).

** One episode had Charlie Brown ([[Writing Around Trademarks|who had a tuft of brown hair in this cameo for some reason]]) falling for Lucy's football trick like he always does and Snoopy was sleeping on his dog house.

* Various ''[[Street Fighter]]'' characters make appearances as background characters in Leone Middle School in ''[[El Tigre]]''.

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' plays with this A LOT. Many of the characters on the show are parodies, which doesn't stop them from interacting, or existing alongside, the things they're making fun of. For instance, Dr. Rusty Venture is a parody of ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' - a boy adventurer with a genius scientist for a father - which doesn't stop his bodyguard/Race Bannon parody Brock Samson from being old friends with the actual Bannon, or Rusty from being in a therapy group with "Action Jonny" himself. Not to mention the time that the [[Fantastic Four|Impossible Family]] won a costume contest by dressing as the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]''.

* The ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' short "Attack of the Drones" was written by Eric Kaplan and directed by Rich Moore, both of whom worked regularly on ''[[Futurama]]''; thus, Zoidberg is clearly visible at the council early on.

** If you are going to mention ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'', you have to mention [[Samurai Jack|Samurai Quack]] and the evil wizard Achoo.

*** And the Cheshire Cat as the alarm clock.

* An early episode of ''[[The Boondocks]]'' contains a background character who, despite modern attire, is clearly modeled after Jin, from ''[[Samurai Champloo]]''. [[One of Us|Cowen's a fan. It shows]].

** In another episode, "Guess Ho's Coming To Dinner", there's a girl in the beginning who looks remarkably like ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'''s Will Vandom.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'''s Usagi Tsukino appears in the school lunch line in an episode of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]''.

* In ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' pilot "Big House Blues" dog versions of Fred Flintstone and George Jetson can be seen at the pound.

* Nearly every episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' has this with characters appearing in a [[Cutaway Gag]].

* Hilariously lampshaded in ''[[Yin Yang Yo!|Yin Yang Yo]]'' when referring to a [[Batman]] villain-like villain.

'''Yang''': No, that's a puffin! Can't get sued for a puffin. }}

* An episode of the 70s [[Spider-Man]] cartoon had Peter Parker out of good places to change into costume, so he tried ducking into a phone booth, only to find someone already in it: [[Superman|a mild-mannered gentleman with an unlikely build and glasses.]]

* After his fallout with [[Marvel Comics]], [[Steve Gerber]] wrote the [[Man-Thing]] character into an episode of the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' television series, for which he was a head writer.

* A slight subversion of this occurs in ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]''; Jetfire was based upon ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]''' VF-1 fighter. While this proved no issue for Hasbro (who licensed it from Bandai themselves), it did for Takara and the character wound up being redesigned (and renamed) so that he could be shown on the show. And even then, [[Bowdlerise|Takara did whatever they could to prevent him from appearing in the Japanese version of the show]]. Hasbro and [[Toei Animation]] on the other hand, were able to use a robot similar to the VF-1 in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEEncGeu8s Jetfire's first appearance.]

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Crossover Index]]