Mass Effect/Shout Out: Difference between revisions

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** His native atmosphere is "''65% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and 15% krypton''".

** And then you have the planet's name, DC1938.

** Another CDN shout-out: A news story references about an exclusionary zone around relays due to the difficulty of cleaning debris, including representative (Lisa) Tanabe referencing an incident where a single metal bolt breached the crew compartment of the starship Mihairokov, killing the passengers. [[Planetes]] is an anime about debris collection in space, including among the Debris Section's employees Ai Tanabe and Yuri Mihairokov. {{spoiler|Yuri was one of a few survivors of an incident when a bolt struck and depressurized the passenger compartment of the suborbital liner he was traveling on}}.

* The turians had a [[Firefly|Unification War]] in which the home world brought the colonies back under control. Asari commandos can "kill you with their brains" according to Wrex.

* Then there are the Blue Suns Mercenary Band, which is a reference to either the "Blue Suns" of ''Firefly'' or "Black Sun" of ''[[Star Wars]]''. Or both.

* The quarians with their rag-tag, fugitive fleet fleeing the geth genocide are very close analogues to ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''.

** The whole story of the geth uprising, coupled with {{spoiler|Legion's recordings}} draws several similarities to ''[[The Matrix|The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance]]''

* The Spectres' unlimited authority is very much like a [[Lensman]]'s.

* ''Mass Effect's'' story is ''very'' similar in many ways to Welsh astronomer/author [[Alastair Reynolds]]' ''Revelation Space'', which details a [[Jerkass]] archaeologist's study of a long-extinct alien species. Eventually it turns out that {{spoiler|they were suddenly and completely wiped out by a race of sentient machines called the Inhibitors, who appear to destroy any species which has become sufficiently advanced.}} Which is in and of itself a [[Shout-Out]] to the late [[Fred Saberhagen]]'s ''[[Berserker (Literature)|Berserker]]'' series.

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*** In fact, there's an entire ''cluster'' of such references - the ''Armstrong'' cluster which has stars named ''Gagarin'' and ''Tereshkova'', amongst other things.

* Lot of elements from the story are similar to the plot in [[Star Control|Star Control 3]].

** A ''huge'' proportion of the game seems to pay tribute to the [[Star Control]] series, except no longer [[Played for Laughs]]. The Krogan and the Thraddash are both races of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|warriors]] who cite nuking themselves back into the stone age as a step towards ''improving'' their species. The Reapers, and especially Sovereign, mix the motivation of the Eternal Ones with the personality of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah. The planet exploration and resource gathering of Mass Effect seems like an updated version of Star Control's planet exploration and resource gathering. And so on. If it weren't for both games being unapologetically Troperiffic in their homage to the [[Space Opera]], and therefore embracing the same Sci Fi tropes that were around long before either of them, you could keep citing examples all day.

* The entire origin of the rachni, as told by the scientist on Noveria: apparently, Binary Helix [[Alien (franchise)|found some eggs on a derelict ship.]]

** The Rachni (and their overall story) are a damn near perfect [[Expy]] {{spoiler|of the buggers from ''[[Ender's Game]]''.}}

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== Mass Effect 1 ==

* Gunnery Chief [[Evil Dead|Ashley Williams]] says...

{{quote|'''Ashley:''' Nothing like a nice, relaxing stroll on the beach... [[Evil Dead|blasting bad guys with my boomstick]]!}}

* One side world, Junthor, has references to [[Forbidden Planet|monsters from the id]] and Percy Bysshe Shelly's "Ozymandias".

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* The Feros mission is another big ''[[Aliens]]'' shoutout. Thankfully, you get to kill the Burke character yourself.

** Zhu's Hope is a reference to [[Alien|Hadley's Hope]].

* Then there's the rachni quest, which has very eerie similarities to [[Ender's Game]].

* There's also a sidequest where you help a bunch of stranded marines against hordes of rachni inspired by the battle at Whiskey Outpost in Starship Troopers. Their commanding officer is Lt. Elena Flores, a shout out to Lt. Isabel 'Dizzy' Flores from the movie.

* One of the last things you do on your way to defeating the [[Big Bad]] is take your vehicle through a [[Star Wars|"Trench Run"]]. (Yes, that's what the map screen calls it.)

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* Speaking of ''Firefly'', The Collectors totally attack (New) Canton.

** The Collector Cruiser's [[Leitmotif]] is an homage to the Reaver ship theme as well.

* On Pragia, there is a throwaway dialogue that says that they were planning on moving the facility to focus on kids in an Alliance program. Considering what [[Firefly|River]] went through, this could be a much darker shoutout.

* One of Male Shepard's default casual outfits is [[Knights of the Old Republic|Canderous Ordo's]] default outfit.

* When starting Grunt's loyalty quest, Wrex says, "Next thing you'll tell me is he's a quint and [[Futurama|craps dark matter]]."

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** Dual [[Shout-Out]] to the members of Pink Floyd, who actually pulled it off in the seventies, if [[The Other Wiki]] is to be believed.

*** In addition to the response to one character remarking about your death: "I was only [[The Princess Bride (film)|mostly dead]]."

* And there's a [[Warhammer ~~40000~~|Dakka system.]] Fittingly, Jack takes you here to blow the shit out of a Cerberus facility.

* And there's a [[Warhammer 40,000|Dakka system.]] Fittingly, Jack takes you here to blow the shit out of a Cerberus facility.

** There's also a heavy pistol called the Carnifex [[Hand Cannon]].

*** ...you guys know the word means "butcher" in [[Gratuitous Latin|Latin]], right?<ref>Additionally, the term appears in a second place in 40K: it's also the name of the gauntlet-mounted surgery kit Space Marine Apothecaries wear. *Also you know,the giant bio-tank Tyranid....</ref>

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'''Legion:''' We are all geth. }}

** He also, at one point, answers an "A or B" question "[[Mathematician's Answer|yes]]", a trademark Kosh response.

** Legion at one point tells you that every race should have the right to self-determination, or put more plainly, that [[Transformers|freedom is the right of all sentient beings]].

** ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' tells us that Legion is an avid gamer; he plays ''[[World of Warcraft|Galaxy of Fantasy]]'' and ''Grim Terminus Alliance'' mentioned above, and has achievements for completing a playthrough without killing slaves as well as killing one hundred quarians. He also plays ''[[Modern Warfare|N7 Call of Honor]]: [[Medal of Honor|Medal Of Duty]]'' and has over 200,000 sniper-rifle kills, [[Player Preferred Pattern|but only three shotgun kills and no melee kills]].

* If you convince the asari on Illium to date the krogan, you'll see them later on Tuchanka. After the asari claims that the planet is too dusty, the krogan notes that it "[[Calvin and Hobbes|builds character]]."

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* Morinth is smuggled aboard the ''Demeter'', the name of the ship that ferried [[Dracula]] to England.

** An Ardat-Yakshi's power to seduce, entrance, and slowly drain the life out of their victims is further reference to Dracula and vampire legends.

** The entire idea for the Ardat-Yakshi is a shout out of sorts to ancient world myths. A female demon named "Ardat-Lili" was a Succubus, that is, a female demon who kills her victims by having sex with them.

** Also, Yakshi is a class of benevolent nature spirits in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain mythology. This troper doesn't really know where to go from here, but it sure as hell isn't just a coincidence.

* The star cluster in which you find the IFF is named Hawking Eta. It contains the star systems Chandrasekhar and Schwartzschild. That's right, an astrophysics Shout Out.

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** [[Critical Research Failure|Not books]]; they burn at 451 '''Celsius'''

* Convince Niftu Cal to leave and Thane may bid him [[The Princess Bride (film)|sleep well, and dream of bulbous women]].

* There is the M-3 Predator, a popular heavy pistol in the ME universe (and the first gun you get). Those who are familiar with [[Shadowrun]] probably know about ''their'' most popular heavy pistol...the Ares Predator.

* The planet where the Overlord DLC mission is set has skies full of [[Dragon Age|dragons]].

* Listening to Khalisah al-Jilani after punching her, she has a line quite similar to Bart Sibrel after Buzz Aldrin punched him for calling him a liar (and other things).

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* At the end of the game, you can see what the Collectors did with the captured humans. {{spoiler|Turn them into an orange liquid that is used to create a single giant lifeform.}} This is amazingly similar to the fate of humanity in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.

** There are also other hints throughout the games that would make {{spoiler|[[Assimilation Plot|Instrumentality]]}} one possible explanation for the creation of the first Reaper.

* Keiji's greybox seems to look almost identical to a "self sealing stem bolt", a [[Cow Tools|Cow Tool]] from ''[[Star Trek: ~~Deep Space Nine|Star Trek~~ Deep Space Nine]]''.

* Keiji's greybox seems to look almost identical to a "self sealing stem bolt", a [[Cow Tools|Cow Tool]] from ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.

* On Haestrom, if Grunt is brought along, he'll yell [[300|"Then we fight in the shade!"]]

* The <s>Cigarette-Smoking</s> Illusive Man is a [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|shadowy power-broker at the head of a mysterious organization whose exact agenda is cloaked in secrecy, his name is unknown]] and he [[The X-Files|chain-smokes all the time...]]

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*** And similar to [[Demolition Man|another futuristic prison we have seen.]]

**** A prison where a protagonist is forced into cryo-storage in the future? [[Minority Report|It'll never catch on.]]

** Her poetry of herself in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC is a reference to the future generation nuclear waste warning project.

** On her loyalty mission, you find a room with a chair that looks suspiciously like the one in Dollhouse, with Jack saying "This is a bad place"

** Not to mention that Jack from ''[[Pitch Black]]'' was assumed to be male for the majority of the movie, and until Shepard & Co. see Jack in her prison, they all assume her to be male as well.

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* Thane's loyalty mission is a big shout-out to [[Harry Chapin]]'s song "Cat's in The Cradle" including the father, Thane, [[When You Coming Home, Dad?|never being around for his son]], Kolyat, and Kolyat following in his father's footsteps. To make the shout-out even more blatant, the achievement for completing the mission is called "Cat's in The Cradle."

* The krogan call their huge, gun-laden trucks "Tomkahs". Probably a lawyer-friendly reference to [[Tonka Tough|Tonka toy trucks]].

* A bit of a stretch, but Jacob is an African-American by-the-books former soldier whose favorite film is [[Old Yeller]], just like [[Justice League (animation)|John Stewart]]. He even has the ability to manipulate things with his mind.

* A soldier is killed when his ship is ambushed and destroyed by an enemy cruiser, and is brought back to life by a disavowed black ops organization as a hard-to-kill cyborg via a project named for Lazarus. Just like in the early ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode ''A Spider In The Web.''

* Samara's loyalty quest on Omega, with Nef. Including the little video diary, seems to be an almost direct shout out to Lost In Space, given the similarity to Penny.

* Jacob's loyalty mission involves you investigating the wreckage of the ship the Hugo Gernsback. Hugo Gernsback was a magazine publisher widely regarded as the father of science fiction.

== Mass Effect 3 ==

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* Between the flame throwers, the need for flashlights to navigate dark corridors and the creepy eggs that unleash insectoid horrors on anyone who gets too close, the mission on Utukku is one big tribute to [[Alien]]. (If you kill them both times, Joker even starts to comment that maybe they should nuke the planet, because it's the only way to be sure.)

** Also, right before opening [[You Shall Not Pass|a HUGE can of whoopass on some Rachni]], Grunt simply remarks, "[[Serenity|My turn!]]"

*** It goes much deeper than the quote. Observe the use of the pipe, an the fact the music theme playing is very, very similar as well.. and then cuts away to a [[Black Screen of Death]].

* Brutes, the krogan/turian husks, behave almost exactly like ogres in the [[Dragon Age]] games.

** And Banshees have more than a passing similarity in behaviour to the Witch in [[Left 4 Dead]]

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* As anyone familiar with [[Logan's Run]] will know, {{spoiler|there is no sanctuary.}}

* When you invite Traynor up to your cabin for chess and she challenges you, the Paragon response on the conversation wheel is, "[[Star Wars|I have a bad feeling...]]" The line Shepard actually says is, "[[Memetic Mutation|This is a trap, isn't it?]]"

** On the mission on Arrae to rescue defecting defecting Cerberus scientists there is a scene as they're evacuating the base of anti-air batteries firing away as a shuttle flies off. Inside the base the announcement "[[The Empire Strikes Back|Shuttle One is away]]!" is made as everyone cheers.

* The Turian leader is called [[Warhammer ~~40000~~|Primarch]], as you all know.

* The Turian leader is called [[Warhammer 40,000|Primarch]], as you all know.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvaQDxhm_0U&feature=g-u-u&context=G204fe7eFUAAAAAAAAAA Fight like a Krogan!] by [[Miracle of Sound]].

* While trying to sneak past some Geth using their stealth system, Joker comments the only way the Geth could detect them was if they started [[The Hunt for Red October|singing the Russian national anthem]].

* The slow building romance between Joker and EDI is a shout out to Lester del Rey's short story "Helen O'Loy", a story about a human and a robot that had achieved true sentience falling in love.

* During the mission to rescue the ex-Cerberus scientists led by Dr. Brynn Cole, the evacuation scenes resemble the opening of the [[The Empire Strikes Back|Battle of Hoth]], where surface-to-air guns clear a path for transports. Some of the lines are exactly the same, too.

* One of the reasons the endings [[Broken Base|broke the base so wide open]] was that {{spoiler|they match up almost exactly with the three choices at the end of [[Deus Ex]].}}

* Some of the music that plays during the quarian-geth arc sounds remarkably similar to some of the music from ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]''. Given how similar the quarian-geth conflict already is to that series, this can't be just coincidence.

** Spoken of in the geth memories, is a "Mistress Hal'''a'Dama'''", which is also referencing [[2001: A Space Odyssey]].

* Dr Eva's [[Robotic Reveal]] when she emerges from burning wreckage with her skin burned off looks like a Terminator homage.

* Near the end of the game, the discussion of cybernetic bodies comes up. Shepard has a moment of doubt in which s/he wonders about possibly just being a VI that ''thinks'' it's Commander Shepard; while not a direct quote, this is very similar to Major Kusanagi's philosophical moment in ''[[Ghost in ~~The~~ Shell (film)|Ghost in the Shell]]''.

* Near the end of the game, the discussion of cybernetic bodies comes up. Shepard has a moment of doubt in which s/he wonders about possibly just being a VI that ''thinks'' it's Commander Shepard; while not a direct quote, this is very similar to Major Kusanagi's philosophical moment in ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)||Ghost in the Shell]]''.

* After the raid on the Citadel [[Seth Green|Joker]] will comment how he used to like Cerberus, when they were vigilantes and [[Angel|helping the helpless.]]

* The Collector's Edition robot dog is named [[Doctor Who|Kei 9.]]

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[[Category:~~Mass Effect~~]]

[[Category:Shout-Out]]

[[Category:Shout-Out/Video Games]]

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