Girl Genius/Shout-Out

Girl Genius, being a long-running work that's old enough to drive, has an extensive list of allusions to other works and figures.

• The Girl Genius Wikia has a whole list of the references to other Web Comics, and another page just to list all the shout-outs at Princess Terebithia's masquerade party.

References to Phil's Other Works

• The very first page has The Winslow from Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire, who makes further appearances in later pages - here as a plushie, and again in the flesh.
• Poiled Slurgs^[who?] appear in this page from 2007.
• A Buck Godot T-shirt can be seen on this page.

Web Comic Shout-Outs

• In Mechanicsburg, there are signs advertising for "exotic Wapsi Square", an inn called Gunnerkrigg Court, Professor Milholland's "Something Positive" tonic, a certain Dominic Deegan ("Sees all, tells all") and "The Devil's Panties" lingerie, among others.
• If one looks closely, it appears that Doctor McNinja has an office in the hospital at Mechanicsburg. Which... explains a lot. Benjamin Rat appears in that same panel - and "Dr. Rothfuss" obviously goes by Patrick. (The Wise Man's Fear was published three days after that comic.)

Shout-Outs at the Masquerade

• Sam Starfall, or at least someone costumed as Sam, is at that party. Clinking glasses with Hellboy. And we seem to have found Carmen Sandiego. Also attending the party are Cyborg and the Pharoah.

Others

• Baba Yaga and "we need the eggs".
• Moxana is a shout out to both Moxon's Master and The Turk.
• Castle Heterodyne is equipped with Happy Fun Balls of Saturday Night Live fame.
• This strip has several soldiers are attacked by a toothed trunk on legs with the words "The Amazing Pratchett" written on it.
• Another Discworld shout out is in the commentary: "...kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat", hmm?
• "Don't drink the wine!"
• A fairly unsubtle reference to Gil rescuing Zola from "some overly dramatic maniac who lived in the Paris Opera House."
• A skeleton of a giant spiky beast inside Castle Heterodyne was apparently a pet named Towser.
• The Unstoppable Higgs' cap indicates he's a crewman on the ship Rozen Maiden.
• When posing as Agatha's parents, Punch and Judy went under the names Adam and Lilith Clay.
• Turning a dread castle into... a Dread Gazebo?
• Martian Tripods in the Baron's flashback and one of Heterodynes' "My Vacation" picture.
• One strip mentions an electric game with the little man and the gorilla. It also mentions a boat ride with singing dolls. What a small world it is.
• One scene shows a sign for both an X-ray and a Purple Ray.
• Crazy A.I. with SHODAN-like Dramatic Stutter.
• "You don't expect a knife to sing opera, y'know?"
• When Zola first shows up claiming to be the new Heterodyne daughter, Agatha complains about her being a terrible, cheesey actor. Zola's very next line? "Yonder lies the castle of my father!", allegedly a quote from The Black Shield of Falworth, which is generally considered one of the worst-delivered lines ever as the original actor had a very strong Bronx accent.^[1]
• In this strip, Phil Foglio is shown singing The Beatles' "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da" with modified lyrics talking about oubliettes. Then, when the Jäger comes up through the floor, he asks "Nov shmoz ka-pop?"
• "Ahoy there! Major Resetti, first subterranean mecha mole brigade!
• One of Gil's paper doll outfits has a triforce symbol on the gauntlet.
• Gil's valet shares a last name with the employer of the most famous gentleman's gentleman in fiction.
• Is that Teal'c?
• A poster at the Science Fair here: "Planet Earth: A Scary Go Round we live on."
• Klaus can kill you with the power of his mind.
• Sir Dan?
• Nod, the big-nosed caretaker.
• A very obscure one: "I'm a genius! Ha! Take that, Brillat-Savarin!"
• Inversion of "Soylent Green is made of people" - bug people promise to "Not eat manflesh" and report that Dr. Thimiz is "actually made from reconstituted soy products".[1]
• When Zeetha and Agatha check out armors, some of them look kind of familiar...

Zeetha: What about this? Agatha: No way - can't even tell you're a girl.

• In the novelization, when Rivet shows Agatha her collection of tools, Agatha finds a sonic screwdriver.
• "The Unseen Empire" - The Phantom Empire?
• The Corbettite train "Wyrm of Limerick" is "the engine that made the Konigsberg Run in less than twelve kilometers!"
• A briefly appearing character is Lady Margolotta Selnikov. If the name isn't enough, her rather pale skin may make one think of a vampire....
• Zeetha comes from the Lost City of Skifander. Remove one letter and shift another two spaces and you have "Iskander." One of Robert E. Howard's stories was first published under the title (not Howard's) "The Lost Valley of Iskander."
• T'Otheron, Dragon King of Mars may be the Void Dragon (on Mars) from Warhammer 40,000.
• X the destroyer - possibly to this? After all, Teen Titans seem to visit a large bullseye on the ground without any obvious reason to do so.
• The buck stopped here.
• "Who dares disturb the destiny of the Heterodynes?!" [2]
• This bear (first panel, on the right) reads Winnie the Pooh.
• "This bear" may be from Fur Fighters.

For the rest of this work's trivia, see Girl Genius/Trivia