< Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim/Shout-Out


Listing all of the references in the Scott Pilgrim series/game and movie are starting to eat up their pages, so let's list them all here! Although considering the sheer number of references, it's gonna be one hell of a chore to keep track of them - which is why we really need three pages for all of these shout-outs.

Subpages

Scott Pilgrim — Graphic Novels

  • Volume 1, at the Rockit, 2nd panel features the drum set of The Archies.
  • Gideon the Cat's name is a blatant shout out to Gideon the cat from Pinocchio.
  • The high school flashback was one big River City Ransom ref.
    • At least one person has said "Barf" when getting beaten up.
    • Also, when Scott is trying to remember the name of the Katayanagi Twins, he suggests "Randy and Andy Katamari". Randy and Andy are bosses in River City High.
    • The rumors that Simon would be Gideon (given their identical appearance) is likely a reference to RCR. The final boss, Slick, is a nobody from the main character's past who was previously named Simon.
  • Scott was also wearing MOTHER 2 and Astro Boy t-shirts at some points.
  • The name of the third book, Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness", is a reference to the similarly-named album by The Smashing Pumpkins.
    • Chapter 16 is titled "Frail and Bedazzled" after a The Smashing Pumpkins song. Scott can also be seen wearing a Zero shirt at one point as well as his classic SP tee shirt.
  • Book 4's title is a reference the song Get It Together by The Go! Team.
  • Chapter 27 is entitled "Can't Face Up", after a Sloan song. In addition, one of Gideon's ex's is named Sloane.
  • Book 4 contains a shot-for-shot parody of the iconic battle from the introduction to Ninja Gaiden.
  • Book 3 has a flashback sequence called They Were Eleven
  • Ramona's nickname is Rammy
    • O'Malley says this is an unconscious homage
  • "I grazed you!" How appropriate, You Fight Like a Cow."
  • In Book 3, Scott has the internal dialogue, "Yeah! I know! I gotta believe!!" before leaping to Ramona's aid against Envy.
  • Several of the books' first page title logos are shout outs to videogame title screens. The logo to Book 2 was done in the style of Bonk's Adventure [dead link] , Book 4 had a full-color take on the title screen of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Book 5's spoofed [dead link] the cover of Double Dragon III.
  • If you think about it, Kyle and Ken Katayanagi are twin brothers with a dragon motif.
  • Knives' dad has hair like Vegeta, and Tamara looks like Osaka in volume 5.
  • One to Akira with Todd's defacing of the moon.
    • There are actually several Akira references relating Todd to Tetsuo. In the Honest Ed's sequence he shouts "It's my brain!!! What have you done!?!" Ramona also recalls Todd's "origin" in which he was taken to a lab for testing, and is shown returning with bandages wrapped around his head.
    • another one in the title of chapter 14: about to e-x-p-l-o-d-e
    • The illustration of Ramona Flowers on the back of Volume 1 looks very similar to some art on the back of the Akira volumes.
  • Scott's avatar in his video-game dream world looks remarkably like Link
  • In a bonus page of volume 4 Comeau shouts "It's time to kick out the Jams, motherfuckers!" in reference to "Kick Out the Jams" by MC5.
  • The back of the books features a parody of the "STOP! You're reading the wrong way" page that publishers such as Tokyo Pop and Viz often put at the back end of American manga translations.
  • A bus in volume 1 displays the Trapnest logo from Nana.
  • Acccording to O'Malley, Wallace's super-sad eyes in the "dipping sauce bitch" panel is a shout-out to Clone High.
  • In volume four when Roxanne and Scott first meet, Roxanne teleports the way of Naruto every japanese depiction of ninjas, ever, which is having her fingers locked in a certain way like the series' usual Ninjutsu abilities.* Roxy's defeat involves her splitting apart much like Mecha Frieza, and then a much of small animals pop out like a Prison Egg capsule from the Sonic the Hedgehog games.
  • In Volume 6, Ramona and Scott use the X Slash move from Chrono Trigger against Gideon.
  • When Envy walks into Sarah's party in volume 6, there is a painting on the wall depicting a certain pirate ship.
  • There are Utena and Porco Rosso posters on Envy's college dorm room walls. And Chapter 37 is titled 'Not the End of the World', possibly another Utena reference.
  • Near the beginning of Volume 6, Scott can be seen playing a game similar to Monster Hunter on a PSP Go.
  • Once again in volume 6, the shirts that are being given away in Chaos Theater Toronto are suspiciously similar to an inverted Triforce from The Legend of Zelda, and the pyramid-shaped stage might be a reference to the one used by Daft Punk, and although it's hard to see, one of the background characters is wearing a Team Fortress 2 shirt when Scott gets stabbed by Gideon. Also, Chapter 34 is titled A Link to The Past.
    • The stage could also be the pyramid at the center of the dark world in A Link To The Past that the final battle takes place on/in.
    • Also, three Gs...
  • And yet again, in Volume 6, Scott is shown sporting a shirt with a Slime from Dragon Quest for a good portion of the book.
  • Was I the only one that thought Envy might light everyone on fire during her show at the Chaos Theater in Volume 6?
  • Travis Touchdown can be seen in the audience when Envy resumes her show in volume 6, after Scott and Ramona defeat Gideon.
  • For a change of pace, in volume 6, there's a short shout out to the internet in the "Memory Cam" of Ramona and Gideon, with Ramona saying "Babby" in place of "baby."
  • The climactic chapter of Volume 6 is entitled Music Sounds Better With You, a dance song by Stardust. It's very fitting, given the contents of said chapter.
  • Gideon's Girlfriend plot is basically a cross between A Link to The Past and Revolutionary Girl Utena
    • Not to mention the People Jars resemblance to the Castle Where Eternity Dwells...
    • And let's not forget in Volume 4, when Scott pulls a sword out of himself, much like in Revolutionary Girl Utena with the sword of Dios.
  • A particularly obscure one: a magazine article in Volume 2 and 6 called "Bam! Kapow! Comics aren't just for kids anymore!".
    • And on the same magazine cover: "Are video games art? Source says no."
    • A similar magazine cover from vol. 1 says, "Make Headlines Believe Them Come Back," the chorus of The New Pornographers' "The Fake Headlines."
  • The Power of Understanding take the form of what appears to be Zangetsu.
  • "Scott... Scott! Good morning, Scott!"
  • In volume 5, Scott quotes the chorus to the Backstreet Boys' "As long as you love me" word for word.
  • In volume 1, when Scott tries to draw Ramona's shoes Wallace points out they look like the shoes from Mr.Men.
    • Similarly, in volume 4, Scott wears a shirt with Mr. Happy on it.
  • The last chapter of volume 5 is called World of Ruin
  • The official color for the scarf Knives wears (shown in the sprite of her on book six's back cover) are blue and silver. Similar to the house colors for Ravenclaw. The house of an asian girl who kisses the main character but is emotionally troubled and doesn't turn out to be the ending romantic lead. That doesn't sound familiar at all. Word of God confirmed all this.
  • In Volume 4, Young Neil has a shirt with the Deathly Hallows symbol.
  • Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim is coming home... and this time, it's personal!
  • Also in Volume 6, at one point someone's playing Hokuto no Ken in an arcade. The machine next to that one has the characters for Touhou (東方) on it.
  • The Chaos Theatre Toronto's basement level features a big, shiny pyramid.
  • The final scene of the series is highly reminiscent of scenes from the Future and Resurrection chapters of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix.
  • In Chapter37, when Ramona breaks free of her cuffs and confronts Gideon, there's a visual reference to the final fight between Tron and giant Sark in Tron (though the roles are reversed)
  • The deer's head in Volume 3.
  • In the first chapter of Volume 2, Kim asks Scott to "Draw me a sheep!" Scott's rescue of Kim in that same chapter is a straight-up parody of River City Ransom.
  • On page 34 of volume 2, Scott and Kim's sex in the car is identical to a scene in Say Anything.
  • On page 117 of volume 2, the name of Lucas Lee's movie, You Just Don't Exist, is also the name of a Plumtree song.
  • Two chapters in Volume 5 are named "The Glow" and "The Glow, Pt. 2" in reference, respectively, to the song and album by The Microphones.
  • The Gilded Palace of Flying Burritos is named after the album The Gilded Palace of Sin by the Flying Burrito Brothers.
  • In the final battle when Scott enters Ramona's mind, it is vary reminiscent of the scene in Final Fantasy 7 where Cloud enters the life stream to finish off Sephiroth. Compare this to this.
  • In Volume 1, Scott references Metroid: "I wish I could turn into a morphing ball and roll to the bathroom".
  • In Volume 6, there is an arcade machine called the "Murder Simulator". This could be referencing Doom as this is what it was accused of being by haters. Then again, it could just be a joke about the FPS genre...
  • The band known as The Clash At Demonhead apparently gets its name from an NES game known as Clash at Demonhead. At least, according the the Happy Video Game Nerd.
  • Probably the least likely shoutout possible here: The fancy shoes that Ramona wears in volume 1.

Wallace: "These are Mr. Silly's shoes, Scott."

All of the Above

  • Note that this article claims to list every video game reference in the series, which is at least 58.
  • Gideon's theater is called the Chaos Theater
    • Fun fact: the building actually exists, though it's currently a homeless shelter.
  • Every band name is a video game reference of some sort.
  • Scott himself was named for (and the series inspired by) a Plumtree song of the same name. Then there's also Stephen Stills and Young Neil.
    • The Plumtree song even appears in the soundtrack of the film.
    • It gets better, according to one of the Omakes, the song is based on a guy who's real name was Scott Ingram, who became the basis for Todd's name.
    • Young Neil
  • Don't forget, the SP on Scott's shirt in Vol. 4 is all Pumpkins.
    • In an interview that was on an older version of SP's site (now sadly gone), O'Malley stated that Scott had bought it not because of an affection for the band, but simply because it had his initials on it.
  • Did we mention how much Ramona looks like Tank Girl sometimes? Especially when she's shown in roller skates and goggles wielding a baseball bat?
  • Lucas Lee is at least partially inspired by Jason Lee (a pro-skateboarder turned actor with the last name Lee)
  • Lynette Guycott is probably a reference to Tom Guycot from the game. Her arm is a reference to Bionic Commando.
  • Nega-Scott is a shout out to Shadow Link from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
    • In the game, he has Double Dragon II's Hyper Knee.
    • Super Dodge Ball, a game which was related to the River City Ransom universe, also has you play against the evil version of your team after you've beaten the final team without losing a match. They have a similar palette to Nega-Scott.
    • In the game, he also pays homage to the Double Illusion boss from Double Dragon II (i.e., He's the same as Scott, but purple and with the added ability to throw fireballs).
      • Nega-Scott not only throw fireballs in the same stance as Ryu, as his fireballs are purple, just like Akuma and Evil Ryu from Street Fighter.
  • When people die, they turn into coins.
  • "Okay, let's start with Launchpad McQuack."
  • The drawing of swords from the chest and Ramona's subservience in the final fight is very reminiscent of Revolutionary Girl Utena.
  • Thirst bars, pee bars, and money bars, á la Sims
  • In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, in the original cut of the Roxy vs. Ramona fight, we get this exchange:

Roxy: You unbelievable bitch!
Ramona: Believe it.

  • Shout-Out to the series: Rapper Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi has a song called Scott Mescudi Versus The World
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