Popculture references in Arcanum

Okay, so we've got some references that I think are pretty much spot on/intended, and others that are questionable. Any that I think are intentional are included here. Many of these are from the Easter Egg article.
References Mentioned So Far:
1. Gilbert Bates/Appleby - Bill Gates/Apple Computers
2. Virgil, your "guide" - guide in Dante's Divine Comedy.
3. Doc Roberts - Doc Holiday
4. Vorpal Bunny - guards cave in Monty Python's holy grail.
5. Madame Toussade's - Wax museum in London
6. Small Village of mushrooms/blue people with dad guy/cat - Smurfs
7. Tollo Underhill the halfling - Frodo's alias in Lord of the Rings
8. Edward Teach - is Blackbeard's real name.
9. Hieronymous Maxim invents machine gun - Hiram Maxim invents machine gun
10. Zapruder - filmed Kennedy's assassination
11. H.T. Parnell - P.T. Barnum
12. Hunley Submersible(read the newspapers) - Fist submersible from Civil War
13. Whytechurch murders - Jack the Ripper(Whitechapel murders)
14. The Boil is referred to as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" - Star Wars.
15. Old Blind Master/Aerial Decapitator - Old Kung Fu Movie

Fallout References:
1. two-headed cow in Parnell's - Brahmin
2. Dog - maybe not a reference, rather a carryover from fallout and the canine companion(s)
3. The Tulla student water gem - Fallout 1 main quest.

Questionable:
1. Cattan - Settlers of Cattan
2. Insulting Gnome says "go away or I shall taunt you a second time" - Monty Python(I cannot find to whom they are referring)
3. the siamese twin's skulls - named after real people, I can't confirm this.(Jin and Xin, or Ren'ar)
4. Ginka Root/Kadura Stem - I can't remember these from fallout, and googling produced nothing.
5. Dante - the poet, he was also exiled in his later years.

 

In Dusty Dunes, Franklin Payne is acting like Elmer Fludd.

Franklin Payne: 'That is what I gonna do'

 

There's a Madame Toussades in Tarant.

 

Wolfsbane, if you're going to mention something, explain it.

 

As Darkfool implied, please include what the reference is to, I'm curious about Madame Toussade.
I remembered a couple others.
-The smurf village, complete with Gargamel.-The blue kites and mushroom village on the north end of the continent.
-Tollo Underhill-Frodo's alias in the Fellowship of the Ring.

 

I don't think it's so much them never hearing of her as them not having the faintest idea what he means. I have to admit, I'm just wondering why you'd name a psychic after the most famous waxworks museum ever.

Fun (weird) side comment: Waaaaaayyyyy back in the day, I used to buy Doctor Who Monthly. They once had a competition where they had an early 80's picture of all seven doctors to date, some of them the actual actors and some of them Tussauds' models. Apart from William Hartnell, who was very dead at the time, it was nigh impossible to work out who was real and who wasn't in the picture. According to the issue immediately after, only four people out of several thousand entrants actually worked it out. If I find the issue again, I'll scan the picture and post it somewhere. It's freaky.

 

There are two articles on this theme.

1) about a vorpal phenomenon, including Arcanum's vorpal rabbit: "Vorpal - appearances in popular culture"
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Vor ... id/5598072

2) and "Arcanum Easter Egg - Various in Game Character References"
http://www.eeggs.com/items/46338.html

 

Although Vorpal Bunnies and various games are mentioned, Arcanum is not.

 

papa_dog, really you are quite right. It is strange, that Vorpal Rabbit of Arcanum has not got in sight of the article's authors.
Probably, that Banny it is very imperceptible and mysterious character.

I have learned about it only a week ago though I play the game many years.
One of participants of Russian Arkanum-forum wrote that he has met the rabbit, has entered in fight with it, and was brutally killed by that monster (see pictures)

When I searched for the information about the Vorpal Rabbit, Google have given the reference to the article described an incidentwith the president of the USA Jimmi Carter in April, 20th, 1979.

Carter who fished on lake, was attacked by an aggressive nutria similar to the wet rabbit.

There is an assumption, that developers of Arcanum knew about this case and have connected in the Vorpal Rabbit
two references: 1) the killer rabbit from "Monty Python's Holy Grail" and 2) the incident on the lake.
I do not know, how much I am right.

 

Oh my God! Everything is in Cyrillic!


The Vorpal Bunny is a CLEAR Monty Python reference. PERIOD. I really don't understand the whole debate about it.

Oh yeah, it was quite ironic that Arcanum wasn't mentioned in that article.

 

Dirtman, I think, that with Google it is not so big problem now. For example, I have easily translated from Chinese this phrase:

"Arcanum - 是一款有著豐富的故事情節和非線性、開放式角色扮演系統等許多特點的傳統幻想類角色扮演遊戲". (Arcanum is a rich story and non-linear, open-ended role-playing system and many other features of traditional fantasy role-playing game categories).

Not so correct but understandable

The main topic about Vorpal Rabbit is here.

If we'll continue the vorpal theme in correlation with Arcanum's cultural references, - it is a magic vorpal sword in nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.

There are some more assumptions about references in Arcanum at Russian forum:

1. Pollock, ogr from Boyle - Paul Jackson Pollock; — the American artist,
The ideologist and the leader of abstract expressionism.

2. Dante, the magician from the Black Root - the Italian poet, the author of the Divine comedy.

3. Ginka Root and Kadura Stem - the reference to Fallout-2.

P.S. And the off-top droplet
Did you see that? Video (not of mine): My favorite Vorpal bunnies kill Kerghan.

 

Okay.
That was just sweet.
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, "Vorpal Bunnies Rock!!" :bunny:

bobby-arc, for this video you're are entitled to one "not get buried" freebie from me.
Remind me of this if I ever try to kill you and bury you in Xiao's yard.

 

XD *evil laughter* That clip was pure awesome. bobby-arc, please accept this one-time-only 'Escape Xiao's Wrath' card.

 

H.T. Parnell is an obvious reference to P.T. Barnum and his freakshows/sideshows of the 19th century.

 

Xiao_Caity, papa_dog, thanks.

I am glad, that you like the clip, and that my start on The House Of Lords appears more or less successful.

Many guys from Russian Arcanum community look at your site and forum with great respect.

To a topic's theme.
What about Laura, a servant in Moorelands house?

Real Laura was the lady of Heart of Italian poet Francesco Petrarca (1304 – 1374), known in English as Petrarch.



Though it seems to be a rather non-pop culture reference.

 

Edward Teach was an actual pirate in the 18th Century. Here's his flag.

Look familiar?
Edward Teach, or Thatch, became known as the fearsome Blackbeard.

 

Linux

One of the participants of the Russian Arcanum forum (Snorke) come out with the assumption, that except for the Gilbert Bates/Bill Gates, Appleby (Sedric Appleby) refrence there is Linus Benedict Torvalds founder of the OS Linux - Thorvald Two Stones at the Isle of Despair

 

Why Two Stones?