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Reading Through Ricky Raptor Adventures Episode Descriptions and Discussing Influences from Other Media

If you were to ask me what my main influences were behind my creation of Ricky Raptor Adventures, I would say every single movie, TV show, video game, book, and comic that I have ever watched, played or read beforehand. However, for this activity I'm doing, I want to take a close look at every 'episode' of Ricky Raptor Adventures, and identify each detail that may have had some kind of influence from other stories. (I will only lightly touch on common tropes and archetypes.)

(If you'd like to follow along, then just go here: https://www.deviantart.com/maxerikson/gallery/55396091/ricky-raptor-adventures :) )

S1E1: Enter Ricky Raptor

The episode opens with a narrator describing a legend related to the main story, and a lot of stories I've experienced start off like that. The first that comes to mind is the video game, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. There are other examples of this, but since we're on the topic of the Zeactpher Hero, what were my influences for that? The Hero of Time from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was probably the biggest, but there was also the Rave Master from the titular anime, and a few others I can't think of at this very moment.

We then get the first mention of shadow drones, which have two main sources of inspiration: one conscious, and one unconscious. For the former, it's the Shadow Kahn from the animated series, Jackie Chan Adventures. They are these ninja-like shadow monsters who could turn into shadows. That's the functional inspiration, but as for visuals, I think I may have been influenced by Sailor Moon. If you look at the opening for the first season of the original series, or at least for the English dub, you may briefly see these...shadow monsters, which look pretty similar to my shadow drones. I think this might have been an unconscious inspiration behind what the shadow drones look like, although with minor differences.

We also have the first mention of Hikari, the Dragon of Light. There are a lot of anime out there that have some kind of 'mascot' character who serves a utilitarian purpose to the main cast. You have Plue from Rave Master, Ryo-ohki from the Tenchi metaseries, and of course, Pikachu from Pokémon. Moving on to the first meeting of Ricky and Jenny. Quite a few anime start off with one ordinary person meeting an extraordinary person of the opposite sex in a chance encounter. There's Tenchi and Ryoko in Tenchi Universe, Haru and Elie in Rave Master, Goku and Bulma in Dragon Ball, and so-on. There are also various video games where the player character is accompanied by some sort of 'sidekick' for support, like the 3D Super Mario series and The Legend of Zelda series. 'Fred' from the novel, So You Want To Be a Wizard may have also been an influence.

So, Jenny Jackson. Why is she an archaeologist-in-training? Well, that's because I really like archaeologists, and even considered that as a career back when I was in elementary school. This is, however, an influence of popular media. Remember when I mentioned Jackie Chan Adventures earlier? Well, that show's version of Mr. Chan is an archaeologist. There's also Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, and the many shows and movies that had the lost city of Atlantis (Yu-Gi-Oh, TMNT, the Disney movie, etc.); all of these had plot elements that involved archaeology.

As long as we're talking about Jenny, I'd like to talk a bit about her design: I feel like there were a lot of shows from my childhood that featured strong gals with actually red hair and/or green eyes. The first two that come to mind are Jessie Bannon from The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, and Mary Jane Watson from Spider-Man. I'll talk about Ricky Raptor's design later.

Now let's talk about the Dark Bat Fang! The first major influence behind their conception would be the various evil teams from the Pokémon franchise (like Team Rocket), followed by the Shadow Guard from Rave Master. There are various other evil organizations from the media I've consumed, however, like the League of Shadows from Batman: The Animated Series, and...crud, I swear I just thought of two more examples, but I immediately forgot them. Oh, well. What about the name? I originally conceived of "Dark Bat Fang" as the name of a dark counterpart to the Light Hawk Wings from Tenchi Muyo! As for Ricky Raptor previously being under mind control.... I'm pretty sure I got that idea from something I watched, but I'm not sure what....

I think my main source of inspiration for Ricky's locket would be the locket worn by Helga in Hey, Arnold! Helga wears a heart-shaped locket containing a picture of her crush, Arnold. The contents of Ricky's locket are very different, however, so I feel like something else may have contributed to its conception.

Next, we have Hikari's ability to sense danger. The spider-sense used by Spider-Man might have been an influence, but there's also a character in the manga series, Hayate the Combat Butler who can sense people in trouble far away from them. Also, Hikari can sense and track anything, essentially making the Dragon of Light a video game mechanic. A lot of video games have some kind of feature that tells you where to go if you get lost.

The Zeactpher Spheres have been mentioned for the second time. What's the inspiration behind them? When I first conceived of them—which was before Ricky Raptor in 2003—there were six, and they were basically the same elements as the medallions from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. They are spheres because...I just really like spherical objects; like marbles.

Ricky has a speed-related ability because super speed was my favourite superpower as a kid, and it's one of my favourites to this day. Many of my favourite characters from my childhood have super speed—Sonic the Hedgehog, Freakazoid, Cheetarah from Thundercats, Roadrunner, the Flash.... Huh. All of those except Sonic belong to Warner Bros. today.

Before I go on to my final point, I want to discuss something that is not in the episode description, but is in the script that this first 'episode' is based off: Chase flirting with Amy. This element of Chase and Amy's relationship, where Chase regularly hits on Amy and she either ignores him or flat-out rejects him, is loosely based off the relationship of Brock and Maria from the first season-and-a-half from the animated series, Braceface. A smaller influence is, ironically, another character named Brock, this time from the Pokémon anime. Another thing left out from the script is the reveal of Hikari's access to a subspace pocket dimension. This is something that is used extensively in the book series, Young Wizards, and the way it works is similar to an ability used by the titular character of the video game, Nights: Journey of Dreams.

Oh, wait! I said I would discuss Ricky's character design. The origin of Ricky Raptor's design can be traced back to Mighty Max, an animated series I loved as a little kid (for obvious reasons), based off a series of toys. Because of this franchise, I almost always imagined myself with blonde hair when I pictured myself as a cartoon or anime character. When I first conceived of Ricky Raptor in 2003, his appearance was loosely based off of this self-caricature, with two major differences: really long hair, with 'spikes' that covered the right eye, and two red Rs on the white T-shirt instead of a red M. I would later re-imagine Ricky with shorter hair, and then later replaced his 'RR' shirt with a white T-shirt with red sleeves, as you can see in most of my coloured depictions of him. I then started imagining him wearing a series of different outfits instead of the same thing all the time, but the white shirt with red sleeves would be Ricky's favourite.

OK, so far, the influences I have identified are: The Legend of Zelda, Jackie Chan Adventures, Rave Master, Sailor Moon, Tenchi, Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Mario, Jonny Quest, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Yu-Gi-Oh, Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, Batman, Hey Arnold, Hayate the Combat Butler, Sonic the Hedgehog, Freakazoid, Thundercats, Looney Tunes, The Flash, Braceface, Young Wizards, Nights, and Mighty Max. That's twenty-five different sources of influence from different media; and that's not even including the Black Rock Shooter franchise, the inspiration behind my decision to turn this idea into a series of drawings.

But there are still more influences I can identify by reading the rest of the episode synopses. What will I find?

S1E2: Home Improvement

OK, here we have the first mention of warp rings! These were definitely inspired by the various forms of fast travel seen in video games, like the warp pipes in Super Mario Brothers, but also teleportation devices in general.

S1E3: A Rivalry is Born: Amy vs. Ricky!

When I first conceived of Master Ishiba, I think I imagined him looking somewhat like the grandpa from the original Beyblade anime. Looking him up, his name is Ryu and...yeah, that's kind of similar to the original Ishiba design. His updated design is more like a fusion between the grandpa from Tenchi Muyo, and...I guess Kurt from Pokémon. However, when it comes to characterization, the two grandpas are definitely bigger inspiration, along with The Master from Paper Mario.

S1E4: The Lightning Sphere

I seem to have forgotten another element that isn't explicitly mentioned in the Episode 1 synopsis, but (I'm pretty sure) was mentioned in the script it's based off. That would be the setting of this series: the Rosivian Coast. A lot of the video games I played at a kid and teenager took place in completely and almost-completely fictional settings, like the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, Dream Land (Kirby's Dream Land), and so-on. Those were probably the biggest influence over the Rosivian Coast, but I did also watch a few animated shows that took place in fictional lands.

S1E5: Across the Rosivian Coast

OK, so Ricky Raptor has used the Electric Thunder Breaker for the first time in this series! This attack has two sources of inspiration: the Super Saiyan transformation from Dragon Ball Z, and the finishing moves from Sailor Moon.

S1 Episodes 6 Through 8

Nothing to discuss for these episodes.

S1E9: The Water Sphere

Most of this episode's story takes place in the water-logged caverns of the Water Temple, the main inspiration for which was probably the water levels from Super Mario 64. The way Ricky gets the Water Sphere from Aqua Viper was partially inspired by the first season finale of Xiaolin Showdown, in which Omi won a challenge against...that legendary warrior whose name I forget, by simply asking him to hand Omi the object Omi was trying to get from him as part of the challenge.

S1E10: Ricky Raptor at the Beach

I noticed an apparent trend in anime, where it seemed like many shows had one episode per season dedicated to the characters hanging out at a beach or a pool, spending most of the episode in their swimsuits. I wrote the synopsis for this episode with the intention of it being the only beach episode for the entirety of both Rip, Rock, & Roll and The Pearl of Light, thinking that was a subversion of the trope.

Recently, however, it seems like the "beach episode" trope has become more of a once-in-the-entire series sort of thing than a once-per-season thing, making my subversion...no longer a subversion. I should have went in the opposite direction, and had multiple beach episodes taking place randomly throughout the series. It would make sense too, because it takes place the Rosivian Coast—one-third of the country is beach!

S1E11: A Hero’s Stage: The World-Faring Star Blazer!

Nothing to discuss here.

S1E12: Rogue Town, the City of Black Hearts

So I've already discussed the country this series takes place in, the Rosivian Coast, but I haven't talked much about the city that our heroes live in, Rose Town. I think now is a good time to realize that, because Rose Town and Rogue Town kind of share their inspirations. Rose Town is based off an idea I had for a town called Roseport, which I conceived as a happier counterpart to Rogueport, the hub location in the video game, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. So of course I had to go full circle and conceive Rogue Town as a dark counterpart to Rose Town. Ironically, I later learned that there's a town in Super Mario RPG called Rose Town, and after that, I had learned that, not far south of where I grew up, there's a town in real life called Roseville! That's quite a coincidence.

S1E13: Family Reunion, Part 1

The main villain of this episode's story, Caleb Krieg, I imagine looking similar to Pete Burns as he appeared in the music video for "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive. Specifically, the black outfit (he wore two outfits in that video).

Jessica was conceived as aMario character, sort of. It was a Paper Mario fanfic with Ricky Raptor as the main character. Jessica was basically created as damsel-in-distress for Ricky to rescue, like Princess Peach is for Mario, but instead of a love-interest, she's family.

S1 Episodes 14 Through 16

Nothing to discuss here.

S1E17: Attack on Rosan Palace

I think I first conceived of Princess Kara as a supporting character for Reyna Raptor (back when I was calling her Mighty Erin) instead of Ricky Raptor, in what was essentially a parody of Super Mario. If that's true, then Kara was definitely a tribute to Princess Peach. If that's not true, and she was originally conceived as a love interest for Ricky, then Peach was still at least a partial inspiration behind Princess Kara.

Meanwhile, Ogurach was conceived while I was listening to "Reverse Ideology" (or a remix of the theme) from a Touhou Project game. I forget the name though.... Double Dealing Character? Or is that different game? It's Seija's theme, that's all I can remember. It's weird, though, because the only thing that Ogurach has in common with Seija is the colour theme. Why did Seija's theme make me think of a giant spider with an oni mask for a face? Who knows.

S1E18: The Fire Sphere

In this episode, Team Raptor hear the voice of Manju threatening them as they enter the Fire Temple. I was definitely thinking about Tutankoopa from Paper Mario as I was writing this.

S1E19: The End of Team Raptor

The main conflict of this episode is everyone getting on each other's nerves, as a result of five practical strangers all living together for the past few months. There are definitely two or three episodes of the TV series Full House where this was an important plot point. There's also another sitcom called Step by Step where that is basically the main premise of the whole series.

S1 Episodes 20 Through 22

Nothing to discuss here.

S1E23: Doppelgangers

Here's an interesting one. Kreena is based off a character created by my former online friend, Creamy423. The character's name is Amy, and as a result, I at first imagined her looking similar to my character of the same name. Kreena is modelled after that initial headcanon, which was thrown out after Creamy described Amy as a redhead.

S1E24: Chaka Tunnels of Love

Oh, hey, look! We have a direct reference here. Yeah, Chase and Amy are canonically Pokémon fans.

S1 Episode 25 and 26

Nothing to discuss here.

S1E27: The Zeactpher Temple

The appearance of the titular Zeactpher temple may have been partially inspired by building described in one of the Young Wizards novels. I believe it was Wizard's Holiday.

S1E28: The Zeactpher Index

I had only conceived of the Zeactpher Index while I was writing these synopses, but as soon as I did, I had envisioned Jenny being able to summon the Index at will by the next season. In Tenchi Muyo and its spin-offs, the character of Washu is able to summon this holographic laptop wherever she is and interact with it. I imagined the Zeactpher Index looking similar to that.

S1E29: A Rogue's Welcome

I first conceived of Sarah as a basic femme fatale-style ally and love interest of Jacky Tyrone. I'm not sure if I came up with the ex-assassin backstory in 2014, or if I already had that in mind at some point between then and her conception in like, 2006, but it was definitely inspired by the anime Rurouni Kenshin. The star of that franchise is a veteran named Kenshin, who became known as Battosai the Man-Slayer during the war, because of how many people he killed. After the war, he swore to never kill again, and became a ronin who wields a reverse-blade sword, so he can use his sword skills to help people without killing. Sarah is basically a sassier, darker version of Kenshin.

S1E30: Enter Jacky Tyrone

So I have a secret about the Black Pyramid that most of this episode takes place in, but I'm not going to reveal it here. All I will say for now, is that the design for the Black Pyramid that I imagine in my head is like a fusion between Mumm-ra's pyramid from Thundercats, Ryo-ohki's spaceship form from the Tenchi metaseries. Some times with glints of green.

S1 Episodes 31 and 32

No notes.

S1E33: Mayhem in the Woods: Chase’s Mission of Love

Liliput is one of the few characters I actually conceived before Ricky Raptor, and I think she may have been inspired by the villain of what I think is the first Sailor Moon movie...uh...yes, looking it up, it is in fact, the first. It was also the only one I saw. As for the main plot of everyone becoming infatuated with each other due to magic, this was obviously inspired by the classic play A Midsummer Night's Dream...but not directly. I originally thought of a plot like this in an idea for a crossover story, where I re-imagined DC supervillains as part of the Ricky Raptor universe, and Wonder Woman villain Barbara Minerva (re-imagined as a cheetah anima) was the one who made the love potion. I liked the idea so much, I fleshed it out as an official Ricky Raptor story.

S1 Episodes 34 and 35

No media influences here.

S1E36: Dragons, Rhinos and Birds, Oh My!

That title is a reference to a musical number from The Wizard of Oz movie.

S1 Episodes 37 Through 43

Nothing to talk about for these episodes.

S1E44: A Day at the Park With Ricky Raptor

The name of the amusement park comes from an anime I was watching either while I was drafting the stories for this series, or shortly before. It's called A good shepherd, like a good librarian (with a weird lack of uppercase letters for a title), and one of the characters was leading something called "The Happy Project." I thought that would be a good name for an amusement park, so HapPro Park was born!

S1 Episodes 45 and 46

Nothin' new here.

S1E47: Ricky Raptor vs. Jacky Tyrone

So this scene where Kyo sort of tricks Ricky into revealing the location of the last three Zeactpher Spheres, is by some stretch of the imagination, inspired by a scene from the video game Sonic Adventure 2, where Sonic and Tails tried to trick Eggman with a fake Chaos Emerald, but he tricked them into revealing it's fake.

Ricky saves his 'evil' twin, because that's what happened back when I imagined myself as the star of my own show (MAX Adventures), before creating Ricky Raptor. This might be another stretch of the imagination, but I like to think that Pokémon: The First Movie inspired that original plot decision. Mew and Mewtwo are the reason I saved Feran, and that's the reason Ricky saved Jacky. :)

S1E48: A Day Out with Chase Chang

The plot for this episode's story was loosely inspired by a couple episodes from season...three of the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon, which were loosely based off of issue #248 of The Amazing Spider-Man comic book. In those stories, Spider-Man befriended a kid who, at the end, was revealed to the audience to be terminally ill. Seeing no need to get that bittersweet, I decided Sasha would just be an orphan instead.

S1E49: Ricky Raptor, Heart-Breaker

Let's skip this one.

S1E50: Kyo's Flying Castle, Part 1

The titular castle is another plot element carried-over from the prototype version of Ricky Raptor Adventures and MAX Adventures. For the latter, I originally imagined the castle looking exactly like the flying castle used in this one duel from the first season of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. From there it just...evolved.

S1E51: Kyo's Flying Castle, Part 1

Ricky using the Spheres to destroy the Spheres is similar to how, in season 2 of the TV series American Dragon: Jake Long, Jake used the power of these Magic Skulls to destroy the Magic Skulls.

S1E52: The Adventure Ends

OK, we got an odd one here, because the inspiration behind this plot point is a plot point that I was never a big fan of. After half a season without explaining what happened to Kreena after her fight with, it's finally confirmed that she is alive. This was loosely inspired by the season 2 finale of the 4Kids version of One Piece, where a character who apparently sacrificed himself to stop a bomb, was revealed to have survived and treated by a doctor. The difference between Kreena and Pell/Chaka (can't remember which character was named what), is that Kreena's fate was always completely obscure. It's not like she was right next to an explosion with a mile-wide radius.

Then there's the reveal that Reyna, the narrator, is Reyna Raptor, implied to be the daughter of Ricky Raptor and Jenny Jackson. This another element inspired by Rave Master, but this time by the manga version (I didn't like the manga, but the anime was cancelled before it adapted everything, and ended on a cliffhanger, so I pretty much had to read it). At the end of each volume is a one-page story (I think called an 'omaké'), featuring a kid interacting with the sunflower guy attached to the side of Haru's family's house. In the final volume, it's revealed that this kid is actually the son of Haru and Elie, several years in the future. That is what gave me the idea to shoehorn my favourite character into the series.

S2E0: First Love

I first conceived the character of Shion while planning a fanfic that was loosely based off of the Viewtiful Joe anime, with Shion as a stand-in for Sprocket. A year or two later, I re-imagined her as a Ricky Raptor character, and then a year or two after that, I started reading the manga series Hayate the Combat Butler, and Hayate's relationship with the character of Athena definitely had an influence on Shion.

S2E1: The Cat Thief and the Shard of Light

Kyushi was created for the same Paper Mario fanfic that Jessica and Roseport were created for. So of course, the bad guys from that series (specifically the first two games) had an influence on Kyushi's personality, but also the Team Rocket trio from the Pokémon anime, as well as other 'joke' villains from other media. I also think of Batman and bad guys from Power Rangers as an influence for his character. Kyushi is also sort of a spiritual successor for a character from MAX Adventures, a furry imp-like creature named Ryo-zuki.

S2E2: Romantic Misfortune

I already discuss Tenchi Muyo's influence on Jenny being able to summon the Zeactpher Index at will, so let's move on!

S2E3: Destryo Destruction

The gang's new ability to create force fields was inspired by the shields in the video game series, Super Smash Bros.

S2E4

Nothing new here, either.

S2E5: The Death and Return of Ricky Raptor

The name of this episode was inspired by a trilogy of story arcs from Superman comics that, together, are called The Death and Return of Superman. I decided to do something like that with Ricky Raptor, but make it no secret that Ricky wasn't going to stay dead.

S2E6: Skoomren on the Horizon

Another direct reference! Chase and Mei Lu play a Virtua Fighter game in this episode. Gosh, I feel like I haven't heard about Virtua Fighter at all in the past ten years. When was the last game released? Um...excluding spin-offs, ports and remakes, the last game was released in 2006; but a sixth one was announced last year, and the latest remake was released in 2021. So the series isn't totally retired.

S2E7: The Mother's Flower and the Doctor's Monster

Kari, Zhu-Zhu and Lovisa, a bunch of relatives who look exactly alike, is an idea that may have been influenced by Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny from the Pokémon anime. I feel like I saw at least two other shows that did something similar, but I can't think of them right now....

S2 Episode 8 and 9

Nothing to discuss here.

S2E10: The Things We Do...

The name of the book that Chase is trying to get for Amy, Trust and Tolerance, is definitely inspired by the classic novel, Pride and Prejudice. I probably could have made another direct reference to real-life media here, but since it's supposed to be a new novel that's being released, I felt like it was best to make something up.

S2 Episodes 11 and 12

Nothing.

S2E13: Troubled Waters

Veronica is a character I conceived before Ricky Raptor, and the main inspiration behind her—at least in design—is probably a character from the fourth Digimon anime, whose name is...what again? Ranamon! Ranamon's evolution, Calamaramon, was also a loose inspiration behind the storm spirit Trisha, which I did not mention before, because I felt like it would be difficult to explain without first explaining Veronica's influences. Actually, I still don't know how to explain that. It was a long time ago, OK?

S2 Episode 14 and 15

No influences from other media detected.

S2E16: Sharing Memories

OK, so that story Chase shared with Amy about Ricky getting bullied for being too popular with the girls? I'm pretty certain the inspiration behind that came from a live action sitcom or two, but I can't think of which. Maybe Boy Meets World? Wizards of Waverly Place (I'm pretty sure I only saw a handful of episodes, though)? The biggest problem is I just can't think of the character. Maybe Shaun Hunter?

As for Ricky refusing to fight back, despite his martial arts skills, was at least partially inspired by Nita from So You Want to be a Wizard? Her parents had her take self-defence classes, but she was too afraid to use what she learned against her bully. I'm not sure if it's for the same reason I gave Ricky, but it's not the only inspiration. Another source would be the real life actor and martial artist Jackie Chan. According to Wikipedia, his father made him take up kung-fu because we being bullied as a kid, but after he got good, he pretty much turned into a bully as a teenager. Actually, wasn't there an episode of Hey, Arnold that was like that?

S2 Episode 17 Through 19

I got nothin'.

S2E20: The Hard Truth

The idea that Roy gives Jenny about taking a break from Ricky to see if it's true love or whatever, came from an episode of the TV show 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. That was apparently something the mother and father did when they were in college.

S2E21: The Dual Spirit: Dawn and Dusk

So Dusk and Dawn are based off another character I conceived, who served a similar role, but wasn't two characters in one. I came up with Dusk and Dawn after seeing two fanmade videos on YouTube featuring a pair of Miku-like OCs with a yin-yang theme. So, Crypton Vocal fan labour was one of the inspirations behind Dusk and Dawn. Their true identity is unrelated to their conception, though.

S2E22: The Ruins of Lost Love

Nothing to discuss here.

S2E23: Desert Casino Night with Surf and Sun

Garude's name is a portmanteau of Gerudo (from The Legend of Zelda series) and Darude (a famous DJ who created a song called "Sandstorm").

S2 Episodes 24 Through 26

No notes.

S2E27: The Hot-Blooded and the Cold-Hearted

I may have conceived Del Coca while listening to a remix of "Para Los Rumberos" by Tito Puente, if I had conceived him after Ricky Raptor. I cannot remember of Del Coca came before or after Ricky Raptor. If before, then I guess Del Coca just came from nothing.

Sir Philippe may have been inspired by Steve Irwin, although probably only slightly.

S2E28: Winds of Change

In this episode, we meet Bolby, the Wind Sage. There's a good chance that the Wind Gods from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker were the unconscious inspiration for this character.

S2 Episode 29 Through 31

I don't see any new influences here.

S2E32: Cold Shoulder

This might be a stretch, but there's a slight possibility that Emma Frost from the X-Men franchise may have been an unconscious inspiration for Starx.

S2 Episodes 33 to 37

I have absolutely nothing to say about this entire stretch of episodes.

S2E38: Unfair Ferocious Obstacles

I thought of Ricky Raptor fighting a flying saucer while listening to Nue's theme from the Touhou Project game, Undefined Fantastic Object. The Pokémon Celebi may have been an inspiration behind the design for Kxt, but there's also this alien character from a few chapters in the manga Hayate the Combat Butler, who doesn't really look anything like Kxt, but she just feels like a partial inspiration to me. I never played Black Rock Shooter: The Game, but I'm pretty sure the aliens in that game have a similar naming scheme to 'Kxt' and 'Rstntz'.

S2E39: Game Over

Nothing to discuss here.

S2E40: The Painting

Edreesh's name comes loosely from a character in the novel Deep Wizardy, a shark named Ed'Rashtekaresket (Ed for short).

S2E41: Free Tickets to Horror

I decided to give Vance gravity-manipulation powers while listening to one of Bowser's themes from Super Mario Galaxy 2. Maybe. It's also possible that imagining his fight just made me think of that theme, and it wasn't an inspiration at all.

S2 Episodes 42 Through 46

Can't think of any new influences behind these.

S2 Episodes 47 Through 49

These episodes are all very video game-influenced, generally speaking. Fighting doppelgangers of past enemies, going through multiple trials to unlock a single door, a door blocked by a magic eyeball, characters getting split up and using amped up versions of their unique abilities.... You'll probably find at least one of these in the final level of any single-player video game.

S2E50: The End of All Things

Finally, we have the reveal of Twilight, a character that was conceived before Ricky Raptor. The inspiration for her design comes from two sources: a Yu-Gi-Oh card that I cannot remember the name to, and the final boss of the TV show Digimon Frontier, Lucemon.

S2EF: The Second Adventure Ends

We have reached the final episode and...I have nothing else to add.

Well...that's everything. From the first episode alone, I identified twenty-six different sources of media that had an influence on what I wrote. What's our total now that I've gone through all 104 'episodes'?

We have 5 Nintendo video games and franchises: The Legend of Zelda, Mario/Donkey Kong, Pokémon, Kirby's Dream Land, and Super Smash Bros.

11 franchises with shows that aired on Toonami: Rave Master, Sailor Moon, Tenchi, Dragon Ball, Jonny Quest, Superman, Batman, Justice League, Thundercats, Rurouni Kenshin, and One Piece.

6 other video games and franchises: Sonic the Hedgehog, Nights, Virtua Fighter, Touhou Project, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd (I just found out that anime is based off a video game {and it's an erotic video game?! But the anime was so tame! It only got a TV-14 rating!}), and Viewtiful Joe.

7 other animated TV shows and franchises: Jackie Chan Adventures, Hey Arnold, Freakazoid, Looney Tunes, Braceface, Xiaolin Showdown, and American Dragon: Jake Long.

5 live action TV shows and franchises: Full House, Step by Step, Boy Meets World (maybe), Wizards of Waverly Place (maybe), and 8 Simple rules.

5 other comics and franchises: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, X-Men, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Yu-Gi-Oh.

3 toy franchises: Beyblade, Mighty Max, and Digimon.

And 10 others: Atlantis the Lost Empire, The Wizard of Oz, Dead or Alive, Tito Puente, Young Wizards, Pride and Prejudice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Black Rock Shooter, Creamy423, and Crypton Vocal.

In total, that is 52 pieces of original media that inspired, influenced, or is referenced by Ricky Raptor Adventures. That's a lot, but only twice as many as what I identified from from the first 'episode' alone. However, I don't believe that was everything! There were definitely others that had a more generalized influence, as well as influences that were less direct, like all the tropes and archetypes that I glossed or skipped over. Of course, not everything was inspired by other media—there is also a lot in Ricky Raptor Adventures that was inspired by my personal experiences and my interests.

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