List of real-world references

Nothing exists in a vacuum, and Bittersweet Candy Bowl is no exception. The comic draws on other media, real products, history, internet culture, and the pop culture surrounding its mid-2000s American setting. This page collects the references that appear throughout the comic.

Anime and manga

• Azumanga Daioh
  • Veronica said the wishing game in Tread Carefully was inspired by an Azumanga Daioh strip and her own childhood superstition about stepping on white lines.
  • Tess’s ears briefly resemble Chiyo Mihama’s pigtails in Arrival.
  • The thin rejection envelope and thick acceptance packages in Made Fresh echo a college-letter scene from the manga.

• Cardcaptor Sakura
  • A vision of Sue in Intervention is surrounded by flowers explicitly labelled as generic Cardcaptor Sakura effects.
  • Sandy’s main outfit in Model Girlfriend was inspired by Veronica’s own black-and-white dress. Veronica said its resemblance to a Cardcaptor Sakura costume style may have been subconscious.
  • Commentary for New Year’s Resolution compares David’s devoted partnership with Paulo to Tomoyo’s role.
  • In Magic Tricks, David invokes a “Clow Card” during a revival spell.

• Di Gi Charat
  • In Field Day, Mike and Lucy fire an “Ayu Beem” eye attack, which is Dejiko’s Me Kara Beam under a thin disguise.
  • In Farewell, Middle School, David’s lovestruck expression was drawn after Abarenbou, the bit-part character Veronica remembered as the “onion-headed guy”.

• FLCL
  • Veronica read Lucy’s “I don’t care anymore” line in High Expectations in the English-dub voice of Haruko Haruhara, with “the right kind of annoyed apathy.”

• Gurren Lagann
  • In Intervention, David casts Paulo as Kamina, complete with cape and pointed glasses.

• Hamtaro
  • In Unfit for Education, Yashy calls the class hamster Hamtaro.

• Lupin III
  • A member of the dub-protest crowd in Featured Attraction wears a replica of Lupin’s signature suit.

• Naruto
  • A theatergoer in Featured Attraction wears an orange shirt and a Hidden Leaf Village forehead protector.
  • David’s dash in Everyday Life is captioned with optional “Naruto arms” and compulsory toast.

• Neon Genesis Evangelion
  • Lucy’s beach sundress in Arrival was modeled on Asuka’s yellow sundress.

• The English theme song of Pokémon
  • In Unfulfilled Fantasy, David sings its “you teach me and I’ll teach you” line during a tutoring flashback.

• The Rose of Versailles
  • James’s rose-filled shōjo reaction to David in Date Night is captioned “bara wa bara wa,” echoing the anime’s theme song.

• Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (OVA)
  • Yashy’s jet-propelled bodyboard scene in Arrival is identified by readers as the “obvious reference” noted by Veronica.

Naoko in The Wind Rises. Veronica wanted a face like this one for the heroine of My Endless Sunshower.

• Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki
  • The fictional film My Endless Sunshower in Featured Attraction is a broad Studio Ghibli parody, though the title itself is built to sound like a Makoto Shinkai picture along the lines of The Garden of Words or Weathering with You. Veronica regretted not giving its heroine a proper “Miyazaki face.”

• Yu-Gi-Oh!
  • Veronica said Albert’s tearful “big brother” dialogue in Method Acting reads in the voice of Mokuba Kaiba.

• Anime nosebleeds
  • Paulo’s sudden nosebleed when Tess flirts with him in Wardrobe Malfunction deliberately uses the familiar anime shorthand for romantic excitement.

• Shōjo manga’s food-on-the-face routine
  • Paulo and Daisy wipe milkshake from each other’s faces in Guest of Honor. Veronica and Oliver described the scene as a deliberate riff on the romance-manga trope.

Film

• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
  • In Off to the Movies, Lucy complains that Yashy has spent months repeating lines from the film. Yashy promptly adds another.

• Casablanca
  • Paulo and Rachel watch the film at a drive-in during Back and Forth.

• Cinderella
  • A neighbor in Witch Hunt wears a Cinderella costume.

• The Dark Knight
  • Paulo dresses as Heath Ledger’s Joker in Witch Hunt, with David serving as his Batman.

• DreamWorks
  • A cinema poster in Back and Forth advertises the fictional Smug Animals by Dreamworks.

The wedding banquet in Freaks, where the guests chant “one of us”.

• Freaks
  • David welcomes Abbey with the film’s “one of us” chant in Invitation.
  • He repeats the chant in Witch Hunt.

• Godzilla and kaiju films
  • Yashy’s dinosaur costume and wish to see Lucy “destroy the city” in Rehearsal turn Lucy into a classic city-smashing giant monster.
  • David stomps a sculpture, roars, and invokes Tokyo while playing Godzilla in Critical Hit.

• Home Alone
  • Paulo shouts the Christmas greeting from the film’s fictional gangster movie while throwing snowballs in At Loose Ends.

• It’s a Wonderful Life
  • Merry Christmas, Roseville! casts David as Clarence, a guardian angel showing Mike a world in which he was never born.

• The James Bond franchise
  • David addresses Paulo as “Mr. Bond” during their spy game in Critical Hit.

• Kung Fu Panda
  • The smug-panda film watched by Mike and Chris in Second String parodies the DreamWorks franchise.

• Lady and the Tramp
  • Lucy and Paulo playfully recreate the shared-spaghetti-strand scene in Christmas Dinner.

• The Lord of the Rings
  • In Off to the Movies, Lucy recalls Yashy calling each new toy “my precious” in an imitation of Gollum.

• One Hundred and One Dalmatians
  • A Dalmatian neighbour answers the door dressed as Cruella de Vil in Witch Hunt.

• The Parent Trap
  • Daisy compares Paulo’s matchmaking plan in Take Heart to the film, minus the parents.

• The Rocky films
  • Tess’s tracksuit-clad jogging and study drill in Midterm Time mirror a Rocky training montage.

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  • After Lucy claims descent from Siamese royal cats in Show and Tell, Yashy asks for a poison apple.

• Super Size Me
  • The fictional documentary Big Fat Movie in Take Heart is a confirmed parody of the fast-food documentary.

• Toy Story
  • A cartoon playing in Unwanted Gift gives Woody’s snake-in-the-boot catchphrase to a blue rat.

• The Twilight Saga
  • Mike reminds Paulo of his old glittery Twilight-vampire costume in Witch Hunt. Paulo would prefer that history remain buried.

• Wayne’s World
  • James bows and declares himself unworthy in Link Play, echoing the film’s famous mock-worship routine.

Literature

The Cheshire Cat, illustrated by John Tenniel for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
  • Wonderland dresses Lucy in Alice’s familiar blue dress and white apron and gives her a rabbit companion.

• A Christmas Carol
  • Tess calls Abbey “Scrooge” for dampening her Christmas party in At Loose Ends.

• Cthulhu and the Cthulhu Mythos
  • Mike’s winged, tentacle-faced costume in Mischief Night is modeled on the familiar depiction of Cthulhu.

• Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
  • Mike mangles Willy Loman’s football speech during his audition in Casting Call.

• Frankenstein’s monster
  • A neighbor answers the door in a Frankenstein’s-monster costume in Witch Hunt.

• Harry Potter
  • Paulo tells Mike that his new striped scarf makes him look like Harry Potter in Left Behind.
  • Haley jokes in Just Beautiful that Mike’s old scarf made her friends wonder why he did not attend Hogwarts.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  • Brontë’s novel is Daisy’s assigned reading in Safe Boundaries. Paulo, grabbing at any subject other than the one they were on, reads the title off the cover as “Jane Ear”.

• King Lear by William Shakespeare
  • Daisy asks whether Mike’s improvised lunchtime “soliloquy” in Grave Concern comes from the play.

• The Last Supper
  • At the group’s final freshman-year lunch in Moving On, David calls it the Last Supper and volunteers to be Jesus.

• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
  • Mike dozes over his Honors English copy in Farewell, Middle School, while Daisy provides a more energetic discussion of Big Brother and the state’s language.

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  • Mike reads the novel on the flight in Arrival until Lucy throws it at David.

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Mike carries a copy up the hill in Table for One.

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  • Mike’s summer reading in Blurry Memories is identified as Achebe’s novel.

• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
  • Paulo’s ordinary-clothes-and-glitter vampire costume in Mischief Night parodies the series’ sparkling vampires.
  • A trivia question in Tickets Please asks what Charlie gives Bella when she arrives in Forks.

Music

Freddie Mercury performing at Live Aid in 1985.

• “Arroz con leche”
  • Lucy sings her pets to sleep with a verse of the traditional Spanish children’s song in Feline Festivities.

• The dance suggestions in Prom Preparation include “Weird Al” Yankovic, Justin Timberlake, Hikaru Utada, and BoA. The student requesting BoA specifically praises “Every Heart.”

• Boney M. — “Rasputin”
  • The Three Weird Girls sing its title hook while Yashy imagines Mike as Russian in Show and Tell.

• Cyndi Lauper — “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
  • David quotes its hook while begging Paulo to go surfing in Golden Hour.

• Gwen Stefani — “The Sweet Escape”
  • Janet sings along to the car radio in At Loose Ends.

• Katrina and the Waves — “Walking on Sunshine”
  • Paulo orders cocktails called “Walking on Sunshines” in Family Planning, apparently playing on the song title.

• Kelis — “Milkshake”
  • Yashy quotes its best-known line while Lucy faces an angry crowd in Out of the Frame.

• La Oreja de Van Gogh — “Historia de un sueño”
  • Lucy sings much of the Spanish-language song in Sweet Dreams.

• Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”
  • Jordan wears the music video’s red leather outfit in Witch Hunt.

• Queen — “Bicycle Race”
  • Paulo and David sing its chorus at the beginning of Arrival.

• Right Said Fred — “I’m Too Sexy”
  • Lucy adapts its hook into “Mike’s too sexy for his scarf” in Puppy Love.

Products

A Monopoly board game.

• AOL Instant Messenger
  • Lucy receives the malicious video link in Crash and Burn through an AIM-style message. Oliver described the interface as iChat or AIM nostalgia.

• Apple iPhone
  • Mike receives an iPhone in Call Waiting, while David already owns one.

• “Baby Think It Over” infant simulators
  • The mechanical-baby assignment in The Burden of Parenthood is a real school program, and “Baby Think It Over” was the name American schools knew it by when the comic is set. The doll is sold today as RealCare Baby. The comic never names a brand.

• Baskin-Robbins
  • Jessica’s ice-cream-themed outfit in Moments Apart made Veronica think of Baskin-Robbins.

• Bitcoin
  • A visitor from the future spends A Better You handing out advice, and one off-panel listener takes the tip a time traveller would obviously give somebody in the late 2000s: “ALL my money on ‘Bit Coin’? well okay!”

• Connect Four
  • Kevin and Molly play the game in Ten Seconds to Midnight.

• Digg and del.icio.us
  • Both services appear as period-appropriate sharing buttons in New Year’s Resolution.

• F.A.O. Schwarz
  • The enormous toy store in Hot Pursuit was modeled on F.A.O. Schwarz.

• Facebook
  • Mike uses Facebook to help Paulo search for his mother in New Year’s Resolution.
  • Abbey claims a dungeon crawler is a Facebook game about dressing a Hollywood star in Ships Ahoy, Season Four.

• For Dummies
  • Mike retrieves a Math Work Book for Dummies in Back and Forth.
  • Augustus reads Blending into the background for dummies in December.

• Girl Scout Cookies (official history)
  • Molly explicitly sells cookies for the Girl Scouts in Molly’s Adventure.
  • Door to Door builds its errand around Molly’s uniformed cookie drive.

• Hershey’s Kisses
  • David offers Mike “Kisses” in Aftermath, weaponizing chocolate-grade wordplay.
  • Amaya wears a Hershey’s Kiss costume in Witch Hunt.

• Hooked on Phonics
  • Paulo’s textbook in Back and Forth is titled Hooked on Learnin.

• Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh
  • Lucy throws both platforms’ panic buttons at one frozen computer in Crash and Burn, shouting “Force Quit! Force Quit! Ctrl-Alt-Delete!”

• Monopoly
  • The girls play Monopoly during the sleepover in Pillow Talk.

• Mountain Dew
  • A con artist ends his soda pitch in Hot Pursuit with the slogan “Do the Dew.”

• Nintendo Wii
  • James uses a Wii demo station in Link Play.

• Oreo
  • David calls Matt “milk’s favorite cookie” in Golden Hour, quoting Oreo’s advertising slogan.

• Ouija
  • A slumber-party séance in Candied Bacon uses a Ouija board.

• Pandemic
  • Stacy brings the cooperative board game to Sue in Popularity Contest.

• PlayStation 2
  • Lucy invites Sandy over to play her new PlayStation 2 in Pen Pals.

• PlayStation 4
  • Paulo receives a PlayStation 4 for his birthday in Another Boyfriend.

• Polaroid
  • Sue uses a Polaroid instant camera for photography class in Picture Perfect.

• Red Lobster
  • The lobster-costumed birthday serenade in Mike’s Birthday recreates a restaurant routine Veronica remembered from working there.

• Skittles
  • David deploys the slogan “Taste the rainbow” as a hallway jab in Pep Rally.

• Sprite
  • In December, Lucy originally offers Mike a Sprite. It became lemonade in the omnibus.

• Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Paulo offers Lucy his “awesome Super NES” in Another Shoulder.
  • Mike considers packing away his childhood Super Nintendo in Everyday Life.
  • Mike mentions playing his Super NES with James in Another Direction.
  • Paulo tells David that a camera is not a SNES cartridge when David blows into its film slot in Picture Perfect.

• Twitter
  • David suggests posting a Polaroid photograph on Twitter in Picture Perfect, which was a joke on the reader’s own device: the comic ran in the BCB iPhone app, and iOS 5 had just given the iPhone system-wide Twitter posting.

• Uber
  • Christi mentions waiting for an Uber in Family Planning.

• UNO
  • Blur, Yashy, and Lily play the card game in Hot Pursuit.
  • David uses “an Uno reverse card” in its familiar memetic sense in False Start.

• Wal-Mart
  • In Escape Route, Lucy originally contrasts a family-run store with Wal-Mart. The printed version calls it Giganto-Mart.

Television

A Kermit the Frog puppet.

• The 1970 Alka-Seltzer “Spicy Meatball” commercial
  • A television line in Another Path closely echoes the famous advertisement.

• America’s Funniest Home Videos
  • Lucy invokes the series after watching a boy get swarmed by geese in Picture Perfect.

• Captain Planet and the Planeteers
  • David’s incantation in Magic Tricks begins with a reference to the Planeteers’ “powers combined.”

• Degrassi
  • The instant-discovery music-producer opening of Breaking Up is a confirmed parody of Degrassi-style stardom plots.
  • Veronica described Disaster Dominoes as an exaggerated Degrassi parody devised for an April Fools’ joke.

• Friends
  • Paulo begins a fake seduction in Fair Game with Joey Tribbiani’s “How you doin’?” pickup line.

• Futurama
  • David recites the “I.C. Wiener” prank-delivery gag from the pilot in Carry Me.

• Kermit the Frog
  • Mike wears a Kermit costume in Witch Hunt.

• Looney Tunes
  • David signs off with Porky Pig’s stuttered “That’s all, folks!” in Critical Hit.

• Max & Ruby
  • The teacher’s partner list in The Burden of Parenthood includes “Max and Ruby,” likely as a name-pair joke about the children’s series.

• Mighty Mouse
  • David shouts the character’s famous rescue line while leaping into action in Troubled Waters.

• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
  • A card on Molly’s desk in At Loose Ends uses two blue balloons and one yellow balloon, possibly resembling Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark.

• The Office
  • The public teaser for Augustus, You Jerk #2 ends with Michael Scott’s “Boom, roasted!” line.

• Samurai Jack
  • A classroom poster in Candied Bacon echoes the theme’s promise to get back to the past.

• Seinfeld
  • Paulo follows an awkward remark in Total Recall with the disclaimer from “The Outing.”

• The Simpsons
  • The promotional teaser for First Dance compared its anonymous-letter setup to “Lisa’s Date with Density.”

• Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Yashy hums “too fast for the naked eye,” from the animated series’ theme, in Pep Rally.

• Teen Titans
  • Veronica used the Beast Boy and Terra carnival date as a visual reference for the montage in After You.

• Tom and Jerry
  • Lucy and Paulo find a cartoon cat hitting a mouse with a mallet while channel-surfing in Another December, likely a nod to the series.

• Wonder Pets!
  • The hamster in Unfit for Education sings a close paraphrase of the show’s teamwork theme.

Video games

Princess Daisy races on the Daisy Cruiser in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

• Ace Attorney
  • David points dramatically and shouts “Hold it!” in Onwards to Adventure.
  • Sue dresses as Ema Skye in Mischief Night.

• Blinx: The Time Sweeper
  • David tells Justin he looks “like if Justin and Blinx the Time Cat had a baby” in Onwards to Adventure, getting the game’s name wrong in the process.

• Carmen Sandiego
  • Sue wears the globe-trotting character’s red coat and hat in Witch Hunt.

• Final Fantasy and Grandia II
  • David compares Augustus to Sephiroth and Melfice in Onwards to Adventure, then names Justin after Grandia’s Spirit Stone.
  • David cites “Final Fantasy Cat” while lurking in bushes in Back and Forth.
  • In Witch Hunt, David calls Augustus both “Final Fantasy Cat” and “brother Melfice,” mixing the two series.
  • “Final Fantasy Cat” becomes David’s official epithet for Augustus in Line in the Sand.
  • David repeats the nickname in False Start.
  • David greets Augustus by the nickname in Ships Ahoy, Season Two.

North American cover art for Gallop Racer 2004.

• Gallop Racer 2004
  • Mike owns the North American PlayStation 2 release in Gaming Rivalry and suggests naming a horse after Lucy.

• Hotel Mario
  • David gives this name to the search party in Scenic Route.

• The Legend of Zelda
  • Mike’s green tunic and sword in Curtain Call form an author-confirmed Link costume.

• Metal Gear
  • Commentary calls Daisy’s nervous drugstore sneaking in Safe Boundaries “metal gear daisy.”

• PaRappa the Rapper
  • PJ Berri DJs the prom and Instructor Moosesha appears among the guests in Love My Way.
  • The school in It’s All in the Mind is “Master C.C. Onion’s Tae Kwon Do,” a parody of Chop Chop Master Onion.

• Pokémon
  • David greets Abbey and Daisy’s relationship with the battle text “Cute couple wants to battle!” in Return.
  • Lucy has a Jigglypuff poster in Pillow Talk.
  • A poster in Blind Date advertises “wonder trade,” the trading feature introduced in Pokémon X and Y.

• Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Yashy recites Knuckles’s Sonic Adventure theme “Unknown from M.E.” in Off to the Movies.
  • David’s “I’m not a rat, I’m a hedgehog” outburst in Under Pressure references Sonic and the Secret Rings.
  • A convention attendee mistakes Paulo for Tails in Guest of Honor.
  • Jordan announces “knock knock, it’s Knuckles” in Love Again.
  • David dons white gloves and modified shoes for a full Sonic routine in Fair Game.

• The Super Mario series
  • Lucy imitates Princess Daisy’s Mario Kart: Double Dash introduction in Merry Snow Day.
  • Daisy accidentally uses the same introduction in Enter High School.
  • Daisy receives a Princess Daisy dress in Daisy’s Birthday.
  • An Ask BCB response gives Abbey a green cap and moustache, prompting another unhappy reaction from Daisy.
  • David casts Daisy in a Princess Daisy-style gown in Intervention.
  • A convention attendee wears Mario’s red shirt and overalls in Guest of Honor.
  • David’s wide-eyed expression in A New Leaf was deliberately retained after Oliver said it looked like a Goomba.
  • Mike compares Yashy to Yoshi in Unfit for Education, citing apple-eating and back-riding among the charges.
  • Early Yashy’s behavior in Flying Lessons was inspired by “a certain copyrighted dinosaur,” especially during the egg-rescue scene.

Western comics

• Aquaman and Superman
  • Two fans in Guest of Honor argue over whether an unnamed water-controlling hero could match “Supes” or survive heat vision. The exchange resembles the perennial Aquaman debate.

• Comic costumes in Guest of Honor
  • Kim Pine from Scott Pilgrim appears in the convention crowd.
  • Claire Augustus from Questionable Content appears in another panel.
  • A Batman cosplayer waits at the bus stop.

• Condorito
  • Yashy’s final-panel collapse in Prom Preparation resembles the strip’s characteristic “plop.” Veronica said she was inspired by it, although she did not consciously intend the reference.

• Garfield
  • Veronica’s childhood reading of the newspaper strip influenced the decision to make the cast cats and dogs.

• Gunnerkrigg Court
  • A panel of Mike beginning his snowy walk in Just Beautiful was drawn with young Tony Carver in mind.

• The Hulk
  • Augustus warns Abbey not to go “all Hulk” in Love My Way.

• Wonder Woman
  • David invokes Wonder Woman while teasing Mike about Sandy in Unrequited.

World events

Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

• Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign
  • David asks Sue whether she is “running for Obama” in Feline Filibuster.

• Philip Nitschke’s euthanasia device and the Museum of Old and New Art installation based on it
  • The interactive lethal-injection exhibit in Critical Hit was inspired by an installation Veronica and Oliver saw at MONA.

Other

Smokey Bear poster, “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires,” 1953.

• Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth
  • Abbey’s full name prompts David to call him “Mr. Lincoln” in Humble Approach. David later plays Booth with imaginary laser guns.

• The Anime Hot Dog stand at Anime Boston
  • The overpriced Anime Burger truck in Guest of Honor was inspired by a real vendor Veronica and Oliver encountered at the convention.

• Broken windows theory (original Atlantic essay)
  • Abbey’s debate speech in Feline Filibuster closely paraphrases the theory’s familiar illustration of unrepaired disorder escalating into further crime.

• TV Tropes’ “Disaster Dominoes”
  • The title Disaster Dominoes uses the site’s term for a chain reaction of compounding mishaps.

• Girly by Jackie Lesnick
  • A tribute to the webcomic is hidden among the toy-store shelves in Hot Pursuit.

• Latter-day Saint missionary visits
  • Paulo assumes a knock in Falling Back comes from “those damn Mormons again,” invoking the familiar image of Latter-day Saint missionaries visiting door to door.

• Lebensraum
  • Daisy quizzes Tess on the Nazi-era concept of “living space” in Midterm Time.

• Smokey Bear (USDA archive)
  • Yashy insists that “Smokey the Bear” will save the day during the fire in Blurry Memories.

• Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
  • Essential Worker is framed around the real workplace-visit observance, using the looser name “Take Your Child to Work Day.”

• Tarzan
  • Mike swings on a vine in a Tarzan outfit during Hot Pursuit.

• The “checkmate, atheists” meme
  • David quotes the phrase verbatim after catching Abbey’s dodgeball in Model Girlfriend.

• The “cosplay is not consent” convention slogan
  • A poster in Blind Date adapts it as “class is not consent.”

• “Mary Sue” fandom terminology
  • Jessica begins invoking Mary Sues while discussing putting friends into stories in Method Acting.

• Vampire arithmomania
  • Lucy uses the folklore that vampires must count scattered objects in Blood Lust.