In the tradition of "Magical Troubleshooting Crossover Scramble Team ALPHA!" we hereby present you with a list of references, obscure and otherwise, to Special Ops Team 1/2. Not that there are many, at least not as many as MTCST ALPHA does. Beware, there are spoilers in here. Go and read the story before checking this out. You'll probably want to read this side by side with the story. Here we go... 1. The KUNO Foundation is a name taken from Chris Willmore's fanfic universe "Ranma 2096." The two aren't related at all, it's just that the name sounds about right. Check it out, you won't regret it. 2. 3.14159265 is pi, accurate to eight decimal places. 3. Special Ops Team 1/2 was actually conceived after months of small things falling in place, starting with Brett Handy's teaser for "007 & 1/2." There were several other things that started coming together, including Twoflower's "Magical Troubleshooting Crossover Scramble Team ALPHA!" The final piece to fall in did after watching an episode of "Once a Thief," the Canadian TV series based on a John Woo film (where the pilot episode, directed by Woo himself, sucked worse than the actual TV series--and that's not a good thing). I was walking my dog right afterwards, and then I came up with a mental image of Tsubasa doing reconnaisance, and it all came together at that moment. Everything up to the first appearance of Gosunkugi (except for the scene right before the titles) was done in the span of two hours. I'm actually spending more time on this reference file than I did with the first portion of the first draft of the first casefile. 4. The newspaper thing is from the Mel Gibson movie _Conspiracy Theory_. 5. The server interface is mostly my own imagination, though there are elements of some of the commands my ISP included in the UNIX prompt. The idea is that you're looking at the Terminal screen. Kind of like "Ill Met by Starlight," a really, really great darkfic by Mike Loader and Susan Doenime. 6-15. The majority of people on the "on-line" list are references to other people (none of which permitted their use. Sorry!). They are as follows: <5dai> Yuusaku Godai, _Maison Ikkoku_ ("Go" being the japanese word for 5). Originally, I was going to have <1nose> (the Ichinose family) but it would have been confused with "one nose." Besides, <5dai> works nicely, ne? Hideaki Anno, creator of _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ Chow Yun-Fat. 'Nuff said. Brett Handy's online persona. "Oh My God?" was the first fanfic I ever read. Kosuke Fujishima, creator of _Aa! Megami-sama!_ Keiichi Morisato's (of _Aa! Megami-sama!_) preferred signature Lum is from _Urusei Yatsura_. Kyoko Muhoshin, from RpM's "The More Things Change" universe. She's a 12-year-old kid genius with a passion for all things kawaii. Misato's penguin from _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ Takahashi-sama. Need I say more? 16. You'll know who and are talking about if you've ever read _Aa! Megami-sama!_ (or _Oh My Goddess!_ in the Dark Horse interpretation). 17. I'm quite sure I picked up the HAVE A NICE DAY thing from somewhere. Probably influenced by _Spaceballs_. 18. "I sense a disturbance in the Force." Do I really have to tell you where this quote comes from? If I do, quit this thing and start watching _Star Wars_. Keep watching it until your mind goes numb, and then watch it for another three hours. Then do the same for the other two parts, and the prequels when they come out. I know I'm going to do that with the prequels. 19. "Chijin" is another word for "idiot" in Japanese. I didn't use "Baka" because everyone knows that one already. 20. "The Dirty Pair" is a series created by someone I don't know and then handed over to Adam Warren and Toren Smith. It's about two manga babes who basically run around on missions and accidentally cause a whole lot of destruction in the process. It's a cool series. Check it out. Anyway, you can probably figure out which pair this refers to. 21. Ken Masters is from the Street Fighter games. NOW try picturing the guy...helluva lot harder now that you understand, right? 22. Ever notice how many people use xxx-space to describe the limbo where someone gets their stuff from? I figured Tsubasa has one of those things too. You think he has enough room in his house for all of those disguises? 23. "See to it, number one" is a reference to Star Trek:TNG. 24. "Gosunkugi Hikaru" translates to "Light five-inch nail," or something of the like. 25. "Big Bad Voodoo Mallet" is a joke on the name "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy," a swing group that isn't really popular in Europe but I keep hearing from my friends stateside. At least I have my Squirrel Nut Zippers CD. 26. Don't get me started on Ranma and Akane's relationship. Just accept it as it is. 27. The first part of the Tsubasa interrogation scene is patterned after RpM's "The [sur]Real World," where Kyosuke Kasuga is busy using his ESPer powers to keep him and a photographer concealed during a photo shoot of a yakuza deal. Great mega-crossover, that (SUBTLE HINT TOWARDS PLEADING FOR THE NEXT PART). 28. Nerima Martial Artists aren't very stealthy. I think the Douglas Adams- izing (you know, the capitalizing thing!) of the words "Nerima martial artists" is RpM's doing. 29. Anyone who's seen the dubbed version of Ranma 1/2 knows what I'm talking about. I hope. 30. The entire thing with the pencil is derived from a Dilbert cartoon. 31. "Alack! I smell a sound! If my tongue does not decieve..." is a spinoff of "I see a voice!...What's that? Why, I hear my Thisby's face!" in Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, being that the senses, organs, and things being observed (in this case, smell, tongue, and sound) don't match up, causing a mild cough when stand-up comedians use it. It was a roar in Shakespeare's time, I'm sure. Nobody ever uses "Alack!" when Kuno speaks. I think I'm the first one. Just like RpM (or maybe Nigel M) was the first person to have Kuno yell out "Zounds!" 32. Espion is French for "spy." Or is it Spanish? 33. The heroes never come out harmed when there are large explosions are involved. Derived from the Anime Law of Inverse Accuracy, First Corrallary. 34. It's true. No matter how pathetic they are, the henchmen of the Bad Guy are always better than everybody but the Good Guy(s). Even Stormtroopers. 35. "Simultaneously all three went for the ball, and the coconut-like sound of their heads colliding secretly delighted the bird." Caption from a Far Side cartoon. 36. Does the behavior of the guards towards Akane remind you of any other group behavior towards Akane? 37. The entire John Biles/Ukyou thing comes from the Daigakusei no Ranma round-robin thing from a couple of years back. Apologies to Bailesu for not asking him if I could use his name in this thing. 38. See? You can even tell what somebody's getting out from xxx-space, even if they don't tell you. 39. I think the light applause after a big battle thing has been done to death. It always requires a "Welcome to my lair, Mr. Bond" or "Good show!" or a variation of that either in the middle of or after the applause. 40. Commander Riker is "number one" from ST:TNG. He's the first officer with a penchant for striking dramatic poses. 41. Teletubbies are evil. Especially when you're stuck on a school bus with about thirty people singing the theme song, off-key, for fifteen minutes in a row. 42. What do you get when you multiply six by nine? 43. Cajun Blackened Catfish is good, as long as you have it in Louisiana. While you're there, go have a beignet or two at the local Coffee Call, or the Cafe du Monde if you're in New Orleans. 44. Poor Gosunkugi. Why do these things always search for him? 45. I think Kuno would be a lot funnier with a pirate accent. 46. The entire "Ack" thing is derived from "The More Things Change" by RpM. Great series, and probably the best comedy/continuation series ever. You DEFINITELY won't regret reading this. 47. Like it says, everybody pauses for dramatic effect before announcing a secret weapon or a new plan. Actually, maybe we should start Adams-izing the phrase "Dramatic Pause." See? It works perfectly. We should do the same thing for "Dramatic Effect." 48. Read "Lemon Sherbet." It's Bailesu's OTHER great epic. 49. I don't know where the whipped cream and the dairy goats come from. And don't ask me what she did with them, because I don't know myself. d^_^b 50. The final evil laugh from Kodachi in the second part of the interrogation scene is meant to have a large amount of echo in it, as if she were doing it in a cathedral, with Bach's Toccata (you know, the cheesy organ music they always play in horror movies on dark and stormy nights) playing in the background and thunder and lightning crashing in the background as if Kuno just shouted out "THE BLUE THUNDER OF FURINKAN HIGH!" or something. 51. When deciding Kuno's skill level, I decided several things: firstly, Kuno IS a good swordsman. It's just that he's not good when competing against people who don't use swords. This was derived from the fact that he was actually strong in the opening of the manga and that, as far as I know, he's still the captain of the kendo club, all the way through the end of the series. Secondly, he has to be of some strength or else there couldn't be a Dramatic Confrontation between the two. 52. When something embarrassing happens, Akane will always hit Ranma and accuse him of being either a pervert or a jerk (or, if you're turning Japanese, either a hentai or a baka). It's not so much being part of Takahashi/fanfic canon as it is a natural law. 52. I get the idea that the xxx-space is going to become a running gag, no matter how I try to control it. 53. "Tenbatsu DA! DA! DADADADADA..." means "THIS is the vengeance of Heaven! And THIS! And THIS! And THIS..." Got off of the Ranma 1/2 Super Hard Battle FAQ. It's the move he acquired through the watermelon training. "Da Da Da" is also the name of that song by Trio. You remember it from that Volkswagen commercial with the chair. 54. Kodachi just seems like that kind of girl. You should've seen it coming from a mile off. I mean, she has that whip with her the entire time, her leisurely activities include poisoning food, and her favorite pet is a turtle. And you should've definitely seen it after that entire thing with the dairy goats. No, I still don't know what she did with them. I prefer to keep it like that. Really. 55. What, you expected her to get stabbed? And not have a horribly long fight sequence, or a potential future enemy? 56. Face it, Ukyou just can't fight without spatulas. 57. Actually, I've only heard a couple of my friends call it an "It's that time of the month" expression. It gets the point across, though. 58. Bet you didn't think I'd phrase club-space that way, huh? 59. Don't ask me how these martial artists stay in the air for so long. It's the thing that RpM likes to call a Martial Artist Super Jump(tm). 60. I _think_ that the word "thou" is something Kuno only says as part of fanfic canon. I might be wrong, but I don't remember it from any of the manga I've read. 61. The lei around Ryouga's neck can mean one of three things, any of which are entirely possible: one, he found himself in Hawaii; two, he ran into Kuno Kouchou (though his head would have been shaved); and three, one of Kodachi's plants produces leis and throws them onto people's necks. Probably the first suggestion. 62. Don't ask me how Kodachi knew Ranma. I think I'll save that one for a future episode or something. 63. DON'T ask what Kodachi needed from Ranma, either. Knowing her, it could've been a variety of things, of which any members of the Church of the Black Rose would probably enjoy. (I'm NOT a member, by the way.) 64. The last section, everything from about "Harlot!" on was written in a half-trance early in the morning. Sleep deprivation always ends up producing either real interesting stuff or real boring stuff. Your call. chu_bear@hotmail.com