List of pop culture references in Warcraft/Cata

==World of Warcraft: Cataclysm==
===Comic and manga===
* — The description of the Archaeology item Skull Drinking Cup, especially the line "So thirsty...." is a reference to Skulls!, one rare SFW strips of the mostly NSFW webcomic Oglaf.
===Gaming===
* — Alone in the Darkness - Guild Edition is a reference to the Alone in the Dark computer game series, which is mostly based on Lovecraft's works, just like Yogg-Saron.
* — The quest name Assassinate Creed is a reference to the series.
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**The quests Mr. D's Wild Ride and Mr. P's Wild Ride reference Big Papa and Big Daddy--you must control the shredders to kill a variety of enemies. As you complete the quests, Clarissa and Alice follow and cheer you on. The shredders don't look like normal shredders as well--they are wearing helmets and have a drill for one arm and a huge claw for the other, just like the Big Daddies.
**Clarissa and Alice are references to the Little Sisters, who are accompanied by shredders representing the Big Daddies. Their dialogue echoes the Little Sisters dialogue where they would cheer on the Big Daddies to kill their enemies:
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**Mr. Bubble's Shockingly Delicious Ice Cream: Nickname for the Big Daddies that protect the Little Sisters.
**Anderov Ryon shouts out modified quotes from Andrew Ryan, Rapture's founder.
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* — The quests in the Firelands Hatchery play like a 3D version of the arcade game Joust, including similar enemies and controls.
* — The achievement Parasite Evening is a reference to the Parasite Eve series.
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**There's a quest chain in Hillsbrad Foothills started by Brazie the Botanist that is a homage to the game. The name of the last quest in the chain, Lawn of the Dead, was also the original name for Plants vs. Zombies.
**The Singing Sunflower non-combat pet received for completing the quest chain is a reference to Plants vs. Zombies music composer Laura Shigihara, who was represented as a singing sunflower in the Plants vs. Zombies theme song's music video. At Blizzard's request, Shigihara also voiced the Singing Sunflower non-combat pet.
* — The achievement Do a Barrel Roll! is a reference to Star Fox 64. The line, which was delivered by Peppy Hare as advice to the player, became an internet meme.
* — in Azshara fights with the abilities and .
* — The quest Segmentation Fault: Core Dumped located in a Secret Lab in Azshara is a reference to the Payload game mode from Team Fortress 2. In addition, upon initiating the quest, Hulking Labgoblin will say "We must push little cart!", a reference to the Heavy, one of the playable characters in the game.
* — While on the quest The Protectors of Hyjal, Linken will sometimes say either "Oh, boy! I'm so hungry, I could eat a fire elemental!", which is a play off of a line said by Link in the infamous Legend of Zelda CD-i games, or "Excuuuuse me, princess!", which is Link's catchphrase in the Legend of Zelda cartoon.
* — The quest A Tiny, Clever Commander to kill "Commander" Nazrim references both the name of a character from the Touhou game Unidentified Fantastic Object as well as her stage song (Nazrin and The Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander respectively)
* — in The Protectors of Hyjal says "I am... a tauren... of the SEA!", which is a reference to a line said several times by the Captain of the Thames.
===Literature===
* — The Maximillian of Northshire questline in Un'Goro Crater caricatures medieval knights fables in a way very similar to the adventures of Don Quixote, especially as Maximillian mistakes e.g. dinosaurs for dragons. Also, one of the quest rewards is Toy Windmill, a direct reference to the novel.
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**The quest Four Heads are Better than None tasks you to collect the four heads of two ogre mages, named Za'brox and Beeble'phod, alluding to , who has two heads as well. In the quest objectives, the head items are even ordered to form the original name.
** During The Protectors of Hyjal, one of the quotes of Nat Pagle, the famous fisherman, is "So long, and thanks for all the fights!".
* — During the Horde introduction quest to the Twilight Highlands both Assistant Greely and Hobart Grapplehammer say "Have fun storming the Highlands!" which is a reference to Carol Kane and Billy Crystal's lines in The Princess Bride.
* — One could argue that the whole Vashj'ir storyline is one huge reference.
===Movies and television===
* — During the Twilight Investigation quest line in Stormwind, a quest The Old Barracks (quest) will have you meet with Jack Bauden (Jack Bauer) who says "I'm Jack Bauden, this is the longest day of my life."
* — Near the end of the Vashj'ir questline when the Naga assault Neptulon, Lady Naz'jar cries out "Release the Kraken!" to call upon the aid of the Leviathan Ozumat in defeating Neptulon.
* — The main quest chain in Westfall has players interacting with wisecracking Lieutenant Horatio Laine, assisting him while investigating several crimes in the area. Horatio Laine is based off of Horatio Caine, a character from CSI:Miami. In episode teasers, Caine would begin to speak a particularly ominous (or humorous) line, pause for a moment to put on his sunglasses, and then finish the sentence.
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**When entering Nespirah during Nespirah (quest), Earthmender Duarn says "Her body appears even larger from the inside." (you can hardly grasp Nespirah's size from the outside while being rather close to it) which is a reference to the TARDIS actually being larger on the inside, which is often stated by characters in the show. Also, the shape and color scheme of Nespirah's inside seem similar to that of the TARDIS in series 1-4 of the .
**No'Kaled, the Elements of Death, a weapon dropped by Madness of Deathwing, seems to refer to the Daleks, the original name of which was "Kaled"
* — in the level 85 heroic version of Zul'Gurub is a reference to the title character of the series.
* — The John J. Keeshan questline in Redridge Mountains is a reference to the Rambo series. John J. Keeshan is modeled after John Rambo, and Colonel Troteman is based off of Colonel Samuel Trautman.
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**The Jewelcrafting Cataclysm dailies in Orgrimmar/Stormwind reference characters and events from the series heavily:
***A Present for Lila - Lila has purple hair, is a ship captain and apparently only has one eye (left) but is still attractive, which are attributes of as well. Bonder (Curver in the Alliance version) is apparently a thief, which his friends are oblivious about, and likes drinking, which describes . "Bonder" was also how a fraud psychic called him in a séance.
***Elemental Goo (quest) and The Latest Fashion! mention (A) Professor Barnsworth and (H) Dr. Vernstrom, which stand for and , rival scientists and mortal enemies. While The Latest Fashion! mentions disregard for the dangers of science/magic, as well as finding "other" uses for inventions that have proven to be dangerous, a trait of Farnsworth, the "hand stuck in jar" joke in Elemental Goo's completion text might refer to the series' "heads in jars".
***Nibbler! No! - Nibbler is a direct reference to Leela's pet of the same name, which can (and will) devour and digest anything, while its droppings are too heavy to lift.
***Both the quest name and description text of Ogrezonians in the Mood reference the title and plot of the episode , and also mentions "Azeroth Express", a play on Planet Express, the delivery company of the series' protagonists.
* — In Southern Feralas, near the Steam Pools, you can find a Goblin resort. This is where you can find Gordon Tramsay, <Head Chef>, which is a clear reference to , the host of the American cooking competition show.
* — In the Horde camp of Dragonmaw Port in the Twilight Highlands there is an NPC named Gregor that is a Dragonmaw Medicine man, named after Dr. Gregory House.
* — The entire Uldum questline revolving around Harrison Jones, Belloc Brightblade, Commander Schnottz and concluding with finding the Coffer of Promise in Harrison Jones and the Temple of Uldum is based loosely on , (though the final quest's name is a tribute to another Indiana Jones movie, ). The Coffer of Promise is similar to the , both in appearance and powers in the movie, as well as the secret it holds.
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**In Uldum, Commander Schnottz has you run a series of quests and asks for 8 Idols. When you bring them to him, he cries out that he needed not 8 but "Nine, Nine, Nine, Nine, Nine!" (sounding like "nein", German for "no")
**In Azshara, Blood Guard Aldo Rockrain delivers a speech to eight Horde soldiers that very closely resembles the recruitment speech given by Lt. in the movie, including the line "We're gonna march in there and do one thing, and one thing only: KILLING ALLIANCE!" (a reference to the line in the film "We're gonna be doing one thing and one thing only: Killing Nazis!"). Two of his recruits, Sergeant Dontrag and Scout Utvoch, are references to the movie's characters Sergeant Donny Donowitz and PFC Utivich.
* — A questline presented by Budd at Budd's Dig in Kelp'thar Forest revolves around a huge shark called Gnaws, a play on the movie title. The names of two quests, Dah, Nunt... Dah, Nunt... and DUN-dun-DUN-dun-DUN-dun reference the movie's musical theme, imitated with a human voice. An albeit unsuccessful attempt to kill Gnaws is to lure it into eating grubs loaded with gunpowder, which explodes when he bites it, a reference to the end of the movie, where the shark is killed by an oxygen tank exploding in its maw. Another obscure reference might be the fact that Gnaws' Boneyard is filled with orca remains. The boat in the movie was named after the , considered the only natural enemy of the great white shark.
* — At the Darkmoon Faire, there are four children that run around the premises: Jerrica (a draenei), Aja (a goblin), Kimber (a blood elf), and Shana (a human). These are the names of the original members of The Holograms.
* — When clicked upon, male Goblin NPCs sometimes say "G.T.L, friend...Gambling, Tinkering, Laundry!" This is a reference to the cast members of Jersey Shore, who use the acronym G.T.L to stand for "Gym, Tanning, Laundry."
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**A Bone to Pick mentions a cursed treasure that "makes everyone who touches it a skeleton" - a reference to the cursed Aztec gold in .
**At the beginning of the Vashj'ir questline the ship the player is riding on is attacked by the giant kraken-like Leviathan Ozumat. The manner in which the scene begins, as well as the player falling the water and seeing the creature are all reminiscent of a similar scene in .
**In Merchant Coast, there is a dog named Charlie holding keys to a jail cell. In the jail cell are 2 southsea pirates. This is a reference to the jail sceen in the first movie.
* — The Blackhorn encounter in Dragon Soul references this movie, with the skydiving motif. Also, there are two NPCs called Sky Captain Swayze and Ka'anu Reevs, which are references to two members of the cast: and .
* — The quest A Great Idea in Tanaris will have the player catch a silithid bug. Upon quest completion, the questgiver Zeke Bootscuff calls over Narain Soothfancy to commune with the bug. Narain states "It's afraid." then yells "It's afraid!", a direct quote from the end of the movie, following the capture of the 'brain bug'. The follow-up quest Just Trying to Kill Some Bugs, another direct quote, features a large explosion in a hive like the corresponding scene in the movie.
* — When you talk to the Horde Negotiator which you accompany for Madness (quest), he says "Hey, does this red shirt make me look expendable?", a reference to the , a term coined for stock characters in the series that die early on in the episode.
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**The faction-respective versions of The Hammer of Twilight (quest) state: "More important than that, the cultists have made a critical error: Cho'gall is personally overseeing its final construction. Many SI:7/Kor'kron died to bring us this information", an allusion to a similar line in .
**Don't Get Cocky Kid is a (paraphrased) reference to a remark Han Solo made to Luke Skywalker in Episode IV: A New Hope.
**During Surrender or Else! quest in Lost Isles Faceless of the Deep yells: "And now, young goblin, you will die!", which is similar to what Emperor Palpatine says to Luke Skywalker in "The Return of the Jedi".
**The Perfect Horns: In a reference to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Adventurer will awake suspended upside-down in the same cave that the Adventurer were just hunting yetis in, referencing the scene at the beginning of the movie where Luke is captured by the wampa on Hoth and suspended in a cave.
* — During quests in the Crucible of Flame the buff indicating you are accompanied by a Child of Tortolla is called "Turtle-Power!"
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**A Quest called Helm's Deep can be found in the Kelp'thar Forest.
**Gimli and Legolas made their way to Warcraft and are Gidwin Goldbraids & Tarenar Sunstrike. They count kills like in the film.
**The ring is present in game and can be looted from fishing, similar to how Smeagol found it in the movie.
**Zazzo Twinklefingers says "" during Assassinate Creed which is a reference to the "One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor" meme.
* — The quest A Bone to Pick (most likely) references the episode where Homer attempts to purchase cursed frozen yogurt. The episode features a dialogue repeating an alternating "that's good" followed by a "that's bad" set of statements. Both the episode and the quest refer to a cursed item.
* — The achievement Fire, Walk With Me is a reference to David Lynch's movie ().
===Music===
* — The names of the achievements To All The Squirrels I've Loved Before, To All The Squirrels Who Shared My Life and To All The Squirrels Who Cared for Me are based on lyrics from the song "".
* — The female goblin /flirt "If you liked it then you should have put a larger, more elaborate ring on it" is a reference to the song "". The female goblin /dance is also based on the choreography from the "Single Ladies" music video.
* — In Mount Hyjal, there are two NPCs named Rio Duran and Ian Duran, who are Gilnean worgen. Duran Duran was a British rock group, and two of their hits were "" and "". Rio Duran also quotes lyrics from "Hungry Like the Wolf" while the player is on a certain quest.
* — The quest Open Their Eyes is a reference to the song "" by Erasure, which in itself was popularized by its use in the Adult Swim online game , which is referenced as well by the "rainbow" theme of the quest.
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**The quest Magnets, How Do They Work? (quest) is a reference to the song "" by Insane Clown Posse. A line from the song in question, "Fuckin' magnets, how do they work?" became an internet meme.
**Psychopathic Hatchet might be a reference to the group's label which they run named "" featuring a man with a hatchet as their logo.
* — 's name is seemingly a reference to the song "" by Jonathan Coulton. One of the quest rewards for the associated quest, Skullcrusher the Mountain (quest) is Coulton's Crushers.
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**In Vashj'ir, there is a rare mob named Lady La-La, a sea witch model that sports crazy glasses and an unusual headpiece. The names of the special abilities she uses against the player are called Briny Romance ("Catches the enemy in a briny romance") and Siren's Song ("Cause all nearby enemies to just dance!").
**The worgen female's /dance is based off of the music video for "".
* — In the Swamp of Sorrows, their is an NPC called Rebecca Blackman.
* — The Vashj'ir quest What? What? In My Gut...? is a reference to the viral music video "" by Samwell.
* — In the quest Disrupting the Rituals the Twilight Inferno Lords sometimes say "I just want to set the world on fire" which is a homage to The Ink Spots' 1941 song "", which became famous due to it's usage the 2008 RPG .
* — The Deepholm quest All Our Friends Are Dead is a reference to Turbonegro's 2005 song "".
===People===
* — When completing the quest Crisis Management in Uldum, Schnottz's Bodyguard yells during an attack by several collosi to "Hide your vives! Hide your children! Zhey're killink everyone up in he'ah!". This is a reference to Antoine Dodson, who became an internet celebrity from a viral news video in which he was discussing an attempted rape on his sister. Said video included Dodson uttering the line "Hide your kids, hide your wives, and hide your husbands, because they're raping everybody out there."
**In Patch 4.2, a second reference was added to the daily quest Vigilance on Wings. After mounting up, it will say "Hyjal kids, Hyjal wives! They're lancing everyone in here!"
* and — The cooking trainer in Stormwind, Robby Flay, and cooking vendor Bario Matalli are both references to Chefs Bobby Flay and Mario Batali respectively.
* — A new Jewelcrafting recipe vendor added to Stormwind in Patch 4.3 is named Farrah Facet.
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**Ghostcrawler is a rare spectral crab and spirit beast located in the Abyssal Depths of Vashj'ir. He uses the ability Nerfbat.
**When doing the quest Forged Documents on the Alliance side, there is an option to turn the quest in to the horse trainer Darlene Stokx in Stormwind. Upon turning in the quest, one of the things she says is "I must have been tipsy the night I promised you a pony. Take your money and no hard feelings, okay?" This a possibly a reference to the "Ghostcrawler promised me a pony" meme that sprung up on the official forums.
***An achievement was added in patch 4.3 called I Was Promised a Pony, which requires the player to go on a pony ride at the Darkmoon Faire.
**To the Ground! is another Ghostcrawler reference, this time in reference to a joke on how hard he would be nerfing Paladins.
* — The NPC Captain "Jewels" Verne and his sub Verne are named after Jules Verne, the author of .
* — There's an NPC in Twilight Highlands called Mia the Rose, which is a reference to porn actress and WoW player Mia Rose. Rose plays a night elf female.
* — Master Craftsman Omarion, a quest giver and artisan leatherworking, blacksmithing, and tailoring trainer at Light's Hope Chapel, shares the same name as R&B artist Omarion.
* — A dwarf NPC at Kirthaven in the Twilight Highlands that shares the quest Words and Music By... who is a reference to his real life counter part of the same name: Russell Brower, who is the Director of Audio at Blizzard.
* — On Kezan, towards the end of the questlines on the island, there is a Goblin NPC named Vinny Slapchop, who is noted as an Entrepreneur. He can be seen yelling and peddling wares, which include a Slap Rock.
* — Liam Greymane's speech before The Battle for Gilneas is similar to Winston Churchill's speech to the House of Commons during the Battle of Britain.
===Other===
* — The achievement Double Rainbow is a reference to a viral video of a man commenting in awe while filming footage of a double rainbow. Also, the freaked out imps in the quest Open Their Eyes quote the same video.
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** In Deepholm, the quest Troggzor the Earthinator (quest) is an obvious reference to Trogdor. Both the quote "Stop him before he earthinates the countryside!" and the reward Earthinating Peasant Leggings further the pun.
** The Unstable Magma fire elementals found in the Firelands raid sometimes yell out "BURNINATE!" before attacking.
*Ragnar-O's — The achievement Ragnar-O's is a reference to a World of Warcraft meme that parodies both Ragnaros and the cereal brand Cheerios.