Sunday, July 27, 2008

Puns and In-Jokes: Necropolis Park

Guardians Puns and In-Jokes


Necropolis Park


Many of the references actually refer to Egyptian mythology (Sethos, Isis, Osirus, Horus, Imhotep, Djoser, etc.). And one of the Field Marshals or Supreme Leaders has an altered Nazi flag, but I don't know which one unless I find a copy.


4


40,000 Useless Warhammers -- Warhammer 40,000 is a miniatures game. And if you do an eBay search on "Guardians", you will get a lot of "Eldar Guardians" matches.

A


Ancient Tome of Dispansation -- A "dispensation" (note the correct spelling) is an exemption from a rule.

B



Barrow Downs -- Is this where the Barrow Wight lives? Downs are usually treeless, so they should not be considered Woods. Also, "Barrow Downs" is the name of a location in The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring.

D


Dead Cats -- There's an expression about "not enough room to swing a dead cat". Cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt, so as long as the game has a lot of dead Egyptians, it should have a bunch of dead cats. Also, the dog reminds me of one of the Disney cartoon dogs.

Djoser -- Djoser was King during Third Dynasty (c. 2800 BC).

Doogop the Greedy -- Bribable by babes and gold, but visually, he's supplied his own beer. I'm not sure how many (or which) deadly sins he's committing.

Dork Age -- A takeoff of FPG's own Dark Age card game, along with a picture of Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine fame.

Drizzle Bone the Hack -- search engines yield many recipes and "bone-chilling drizzles".

E


Eisnmir -- I call him "Eisner" after the guy who drew the Spirit. No reason, really.

F


Festus -- "Fester": form an ulcer, undergo decay, infect. Don't eat whatever it is that he's cooking.

H


Heliopolos, Temple of Re -- This is an ancient city of northern Egypt in the Nile River delta. It was the center of worship of the sun god Ra (c. 2100 B.C.).

Horus -- Horus was god of the sky, son of Osirus and Isis.

Humahuma -- Well, she's a "human human" who can make a lot of guys drools and say "huma huma huma . . . ".

I


Imhotep, Vizier of Djoser -- Imhotep was an architect as well as the subject of The Mummy series of movies.

Ishtar, Queen of the Heap -- Ishtar was a Babylonian goddess of love and war. Also, a really bad Dustin Hoffman/Warren Beatty film (they get lost in the desert at one point).

Isis Isis is an Egyptian goddess as well as the name of a cheesy Saturday morning show of my youth. She was the wife of Osirus.

J



Judge Dredge -- "Judge Dredd" is not even a Marvel character, let alone a memeber of the X-Men. He doesn't normally carry a plunger but otherwise it's a good likeness. (I'm suprised they weren't sued over that one.)

K


Kurgan, Blademaster of the Exiled -- There can be only one if you want the bonus. A possible reference to the movie Highlander.

L



Lotus Flower Water Garden -- Another veiled reference to the Black Lotus from Magic?

M


Mayor McEvil -- Mayor McCheese of McDonaldland fame.

Mayor McFood -- A pack of french fries with McDonald's arches for eyebrows.

Mayor McGreed -- Mayor McCheese meets Taco Bell.

McHooter's Distraction -- McDonald's meets the Hooters franchise?

Morb's Revenge -- "Morb" is "Brom" backwards. Ironically, this is the only spell in Necropolis Park which was painted by Brom, and thus the only one affected by its ability.

N


Necropolis Park -- Where dinosaurs mingle with dead Egyptians: Burial ground (Necropolis) meets "Jurassic Park".

Nubian Slave Girl -- I don't know about "nubian", but definitely "nubile", which actually means "young".

O


Osirus -- Osirus was the husband and brother of Isis, ruler of the kingdom of the dead, and father of Horus.

S


Saboteur -- Visual: Champs the Wonder dog is tied up.

Sebek, Queen of Magicians -- Egyptian crocodile god, associated with Re and Seth. But in mythology, Sebek was a guy.

Sethos Sethos was the god of thunder, storms and the desert as well as the brother of Isis and Osirus. He murdered Osirus.

Scamp Jones -- Is it just me, or is this Joe Camel in New Orleans?

Silver Server -- Silver Surfer, herald of Galactus. Flies through outer space (which could be considered terrainless). Not a member of the X-Men.

Squibby -- Squib: a small firecracker, one that burns but does not explode; a witty speech or lampoon, or a filler article. Harry Potter fans might know the term "squib" to mean the non-magical offspring of wizards.

T


The Minx -- A minx is a promiscuous woman, or a young woman who's flirtatious or impudent. Why is she considered an animal? Is it a possible pun on "mink" or "manx cat", perhaps?

1 comment:

Uakari said...

Great job! Like it!

Dead Cats: He's wearing same clothing, which the wonder dog is wearing, isnt' he?

regards,
Uakari