#htsbd

First off, in chapter 13, you have Mitch pulling out a picture of Miko from “5 Years ago”. That picture is a reference to Miko from the 2015 trailer.

Sure 2015 Miko is 13-ish, but it’s close enough. Plus with how Glitch Techs came out in 2020 and the Trailer was made in 2015, from a meta perspective it really IS Miko from 5 years ago.

One chapter later in Chapter 14, you have a whole bunch more.

Firstly, this little line from Bergy when mentioning rumours about Agents:

That detail about Agents having all of their memories wiped in order to fully commit to the role isn’t canon to HTSBD, or at least it doesn’t seem to be, but it IS a plot point of the original Pitch Bible. And probably died along with most of the other plot points and details from this time.

Also originating from the Pitch bible are all of the names Nix gives for previous techs that have since transferred to other locations, got fired or just stopped working at the Bailley store.

The only exceptions are Toby and Edmund, also called Chum, who are references to Fanboy and Chum Chum, aka the other show made by Eric Robles. Fun fact, Fanboy and Chum Chum’s real names are somewhat implied in the show to be Tobias and Edmund.

Also also, Carl’s conspiracy theories:

“Hinobi’s new phone app will mind control its users”, “Glitches are actually aliens from other dimensions”, “Agents are infused with glitch energy”, all of that stuff is non-canon nonsense in both canon glitch techs and HTSBD, but WERE crucial plot points for the version of Glitch Techs depicted in the original pitch bible where glitches were more intelligent, eldritch beings and Hinobi was explicitly evil.

Speaking of things “infused with glitch energy”, the TESTER program.

In canon, it doesn’t exist. In HTSBD, it was an early research project from Hinobi’s early days that experimented on how plixels interacted with stuff, only to get shut down after a few months when it turned out the guy in charge was going behind the company’s back to do dangerous experiments on other employees.

But the tester program as a whole is one big reference to a character from the Pitch Bible named Tester, real name Alex. His whole deal is that he used to beta-test a bunch of Hinobi’s games until either a freak accident or corporate experimentation ended up giving him “glitch-like abilities”, with him now spending his time going against Hinobi (who again, are explicitly evil in this timeline).

I have a conspiracy theory that he was eventually turned into Ridley at some point in development, likely once glitches were fundamentally changed and Hinobi was reduced from “Evil Incorporated” to “Shady But Ultimately Trying To Do Good”, but it’s just a hunch with no evidence.

Of course, Agent 68 is one big reference to the Pitch Bible. It’s literally where he comes from. I’m pretty sure his original concept went on to eventually become Inspector 7. But I want to point out something specific from Chapter 22.

In that chapter, you get to briefly see the man back before he became an Agent, back when he was just a facility director. And he’s described as having a black combover and wearing a brown suit and ugly yellowish-green tie.

Aka: What he looks like in the Pitch Bible.

He’s also mentioned to be wearing an early prototype for the Tech Gauntlet, which is mentioned to be missing the screen that modern gauntlets have. Another reference to the Pitch Bible, as the Tech Gauntlets of this era didn’t have them.

And then you have chapter 22. The beta referencing chapter.

First off, that deactivated robot the group walks past in the storage room.

That robot, mainly the detail of the glass-domed head, is one big reference to the original BITT. Miko was technically right to call it “The First BITT”.

Even Phil’s explanation as to what it really is is actually another reference to the show, this time to the 2017 Pitch Bible where BITT’s old lore was that he was an old combat unit Hinobi originally wanted to use to fight glitches instead of sending out teenagers, only for it to turn out that glitches had a habit of easily taking control of these things and Hinobi scrapping the idea.

And then the retro armour itself is a reference to the 2015 armour. Miko and Five pick the armours they wear in the Pilot and Trailer, while Mitch actually picks armour that originates from a bit of concept art from 2015 that depicts Miko wearing a future version of her armour. Or maybe it depicts Miko in the future.

Sure, 2015 Miko’s “Antennae” is actually her hair sticking out of her visor and the same goes for the entire top of Five’s helmet, but it’s close enough.

Hinobi-Motes aren’t directly seen in the Pitch Bible, but they’re mentioned offhandedly as the precursor to Tech Gauntlets and I ran with it.

Also, one last reference that only I know about.

The three Dryads that are left unaccounted for and presumably escaped from the collapse of their hideout are Bunny Blue, a hacker only mentioned by her gamertag of Min_Max, and a third hacker only referred to as “Something Something SNM”.

Bunny Blue and MinMax are canon characters from an animatic of season 3. So are the dryads as a whole. And i don’t think it’s spoilers to say they’ll appear again in the fanfic. They escaped for a reason.

Bunny Blue and MinMax have canon designs. They’re just animatics so colours are hard to say, but i at least know Bunny has Heterochromia and I know what they generally look like. But that third guy. Besides SNM being a deep cut reference to something that would take me at least an hour to dig up, since he doesn’t come from that animatic, I have a detailed description for him pretty much ready to be used in the future.

Short, dyed reddish-purple Hair, very pale, significantly lanky proportions, usually seen wearing a hooded sweater of some kind, maybe around 18…. To…. …19……