Skullgirls/Shout-Out

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Skullgirls has a ton of shout-outs as both Mike Z and Alex Ahad are fanboys of a lot of things.

  • Filia's Hairball move is a shout-out to Felicia's Rolling Buckler, which may in itself be a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog.
    • Phonetically, the name Filia sounds very similar to Millia, another hair-based fighter.
    • She has palettes based on Hatsune Miku, Saki, Scanty, and even Millia herself.
    • The super in which Samson turns them into a flying cockroach is announced by him as "Metamorphosis!"
    • One of her attacks involves tossing her hair forward in an array of sharp instruments like forks, knives and spikes. One of these sharp instruments is the Lance of Longinus.
    • Her Updo special and Wolf Chomp super in which Samson turns into a giant hair maw happens to be a shout out to one of the Dustloop forum members who suggested no game with any hair-fighters would be complete without at least one reference to the Pokémon Mawile.
    • The win pose where Samson stands fierce with arms folded is most likely a reference to Ryu's early-yet-iconic win pose in Street Fighter II. He just has Filia substitute for Ryu's headband blowing in the wind.
    • The combination of her eating habits and Samson's appearance on her head bears a similarity to the futakuchi-onna, who in Japanese mythology is a woman with a mouth on the back of her head that's driven to eat and eat.
    • The bar in the opening of her story mode is a parody of the famous Nighthawks painting, and is named after Madman's Cafe.
    • Mike Z has described Filia as the game's ryu-clone. She has Hadoken-motion projectile, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku-motion spinning extended attack that works in air, and Shoryuken-motion uppercut.
  • Cerebella's gameplay is said to be based off of Juggernaut and Potemkin.
    • One of her moves has her shouting "EXCELLENT!" while Vice-Versa throws up the heavy-metal "horns" gesture. During said move, Vice-Versa's eyes briefly turn into Kamina's shades while Cerebella herself does the "Pierce the Heavens" pose.
    • One of her command throws sometimes has her saying "I'M GONNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE!"
    • There's a running attack in which Vice-Versa sprouts ram's horns on its "head" and attacks face-first. You even get the standard 2000-point bonus if you manage to kill someone with it.
    • The move Track Run followed by medium kick will result in a cross up identical to Kakashi's Taijutsu Ougi:Sennin Goroshi (1000 Years of Pain) from the Naruto anime/manga.
      • This is actually a reference to a type of Japanese prank known as kancho.
    • One move has her shouting "Diamonds are FOREVER!" or "A girl's best friend!" while she punches a giant diamond at the enemy.
    • She has a close range move where Vice-Versa performs a Finger Gun point. While doing this, the poses of the duo are reminiscent of Jotaro Kujo and Star Platinum.
    • Cerebella's second alt color is a reference to R. Mika
    • She also has a Potemkin color palette.
    • She also has an emerald green outfit similar to one of Tager's alternates—the same palette that lead designer Mike Z uses when playing Tager in BlazBlue.
    • Another of her palettes has her referencing NiGHTS from Journey of Dreams.
    • She also has a palette swap with red-and-black clothing, making her look somewhat like Harley Quinn.
  • Peacock's techniques are Shout Outs to many things.
    • The little bird in her hat is named Avery. Her bomb friends are named Lenny and George (formerly Little Boy and Fat Man, but you can understand why it was changed).
    • Her Argus System is a reference to the Argus of Greek Mythology. That Argus had a hundred eyes (some of those eyes in his arms). When that Argus died, Hera placed his eyes in the peacock's tail as tribute.
    • She can shoot swords out of her gun (Roll with it). These swords go from the Fireseal and Blodia Fist to the Buster Sword, the Gunblade and a Chainsword.
    • Occasionally, when she fires her gun, she'll shout "Garbage day!" With the exact same weird enunciation as the film, just in case you had any doubts about whether it was a reference.
    • Another of her gun quotes is |"Reach for the sky!"
    • One of her crouching attacks kicks the opponent with the Kuribo's Shoe from Super Mario Bros. 3, complete with the good ol' "HERE-A WE GO!".
    • Her block techniques often have her holding up an actual block of something—from a cinderblock to an L-block.
    • Peacock's reference palettes include Cable, The Grinch, Cirno, Blossom, Dorothy, Carl, and Relius. Bonus Points - the Cirno palette is number 9.
      • More Bonus Points - Upon gaining the Skull Heart in her story mode, she says "Who needs wishes? I'm already the strongest there is!" "I'm the strongest!" being one of Cirno's memetic catchphrases....
    • She can summon random piano drops on her opponent, from an actual piano, to a barrel with a turkey inside. Other drops include: A Yukkuri with Ms. Fortune's face Hsien-Ko's Tenrai-ha super A television with the Nico Nico Douga face or with Filia dressed as Sadako coming out of it. A steamroller, complete with her partner Avery standing on top and shouting WRYYYYYYY! when it hits. On top of that, rarely, when it hits time will stop while the palette shifts. A moai head The Refrigerator from Requiem for a Dream.
    • Another attack is her kicking and missing a football, yelling "Good grief!" when she trips. The alternate line for that technique is "Laces out!"
    • One attack turns her arm-eyes into blades, the classic visual pun on "looking daggers" at someone. The chances of her also shouting "Like THIIIIIIIIS!" are about one in five.
    • Keeping with the WFRR theme, one of her win quotes (when defeating Parasoul) is "You're not bad, you're just drawn badly"—riffing on Parasoul's undeniable resemblance to Jessica Rabbit.
      • Her jumping Medium Kick, which involves her beartrap mouth, is called "Nice Booby Trap", a line from Eddie Valiant about the bear trap that Jessica Rabbit keeps in a very punny place.
    • Her line upon encountering Filia is "Maybe she's born with it." It's part of the slogan for Maybelline hair care products.
    • Her line upon encountering Ms. Fortune is "A puddy tat!"—to which Ms. Fortune replies "Thufferin' thuccotash!"
    • Her line upon encountering Valentine is "HELLOOOOOO NURSE!"
    • Two of her win quotes are "I never forget a face, but for you, I'll make an exception" and "Either you're dead or my watch has stopped," all while smoking a cigar.
    • Groucho's not the only Thirties/Forties comedy icon Peacock pays homage to, either. She also quotes at least two of Moe Howard's catchphrases ("Why, I oughta--" and "Spread out!"), which isn't surprising given her devotion to violent slapstick.
    • Her time-out animations seems to be a reference to Daffy Duck being shot by Elmer Fudd.
    • One of Peacock's lines on being KO-ed is "I smell bread"—a reference to M*A*S*H by way of Veronica Mars.
    • Before getting pulled away by a Vaudeville Hook, she'll mutter "Hello my baby-".
    • Her jumping fierce punch, which involves her firing a shotgun and being blown backwards by the force, is called Robo With A Shotgun.
    • Her skills would state that Peacock must have learned from Noroko.
    • And, of course, Peacock herself is a blatant homage to the cartoons of the '30s and '40s, what with the Cartoon Bombs, Portable Holes, Fudd-esque shotgun, and so on.
    • In her Story Mode, she's awoken from bed by Avery saying "Hey! Listen!"
    • Among her many other intro lines are gems such as "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday, for a knuckle sandwich today."
    • Unsurprisingly, she can also say "Of course, you know, this means war!" as an intro line, "Ain't I a stinka?" and "What a maroon!" when she wins, and "This ain't Albuquerque!" when tagged in.
  • Parasoul has a Level 3 super that's similar to one of BB Hood's.
  • Ms. Fortune's original outfit seems to be a reference to Makoto (the general appearance) and Lara Croft (the color and the pouches she has on her belt). Since then, her color scheme and hairstyle have changed to stand out from the other characters and be more fitting with the 30's era.

Cerebella: You can has cheezburger?
Ms. Fortune: That's RACIST!

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  1. ↑ i.e. Grand Corss and Hydro Storm )
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