Of course I crammed that story full of easter eggs. What’s the point of writing a story if you’re not going to do that? In fact, I’ve crammed so much in there that it could be a sequel to Ready Player One. And if this easter egg in a bit about easter eggs—an egg-ception, if you will— doesn’t do it for you then you are dead inside.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep proper track of the easter eggs I inserted and a good bunch of those were hidden so deep that I can’t find them anymore either. Basically, this entry is more for me than it is for you.
820100
The insurance number for the Vindicator. This is a contraction of two ‘famous’ license plates and both of them can be found in the original Gone In 60 Seconds. The Eleanor by the carwash has 820FUA on her plate, but it is replaced with a fake plate that reads RMH100.
As an extra little bit of trivia: the plate for our Vindicator wasn’t always 0RPH3U5. Back in the days this was still a videogame, it blatantly copied another Gone In 60 Seconds plate. Namely, 614HSO, which is the plate for the other Eleanor.
666-1318
How could the phone number for Hell be anything else than this?
Woe to you, o’er Earth and Sea
For the Devil sends the beast with wrath
Because he knows the time is short
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast
For it is a human number
Its number is six hundred and sixty six
Those of you familiar with the bible will recognize this as Revelation 13:18. Those of you who have read my story will recognize this as the introduction to Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast.
Initially, there was an extra step in the quest for Hell’s phone number. Lilith would have given him a wrong number. Not on purpose, it was just the last number she used before her father changed it. That number was 666-0204, which refers to the bible verse of Peter 2:4, which goes as follows: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;”
Eddie’s Numbers
Yeah, while we’re on the subject of numbers; the ones Eddie picks when Helen tells him she’s god aren’t random either.
In order of appearance:
42 – Because that’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
11 – Because it’s one louder.
316 – Nope, nothing biblical. It’s the birthday of Wolfgang Van Halen.
7 – Though it bears biblical significance, I’m referencing something more metal.
42 again – Still the answer.
And 666, because he’s a moron.
Lemme A Fiver
In chapter one Eddie needs five bucks for a lottery ticket to win the Vindicator. Obviously he doesn’t have five dollars, or this would have been a really shitty excuse for a book. So, one of his attempts to get the money is to ask Rooney for five dollars by saying, “Lend me a fiver.”
As the true metal souls amongst you will know, this is a persistent origin story for Ian Fraser Kilmister’s nickname: Lemmy. The amount varies per story, and Lemmy claims not to know the origin of his name at all, but apparently he had a habit of asking people to “lemme a fiver, wouldya?” to play the slot machines.
1946 Mercury Lane
This one shouldn’t be too hard, right? Freddie Mercury was born in 1946.
It also looks like I managed to get the whole of Queen into the story, but upon closer examination, this turns out to be untrue.
So, we have Mercury Lane, where Annika van Buren lives. Then there’s Domino’s reference to the Deacon hotel, obviously named after John Deacon, the bassist who gets entirely too little credit if you ask me.
But now we come to the broken easter eggs. The hardware store where Eddie acquires the roll of duct tape is named Taylor’s, but unfortunately I named the place almost randomly and before I went with a Queen theme. The hardware store was named after Tim ‘The Toolman’ Taylor and not even because I was a fan of Tool Time. It was just some free form association because the joint needed a name. But, for the sake of argument, I now officially retcon that to Roger ‘Queen-drummer’ Taylor.
Clearly, I’ve not mentioned one rather significant name, and I actually thought it had been lost to cuts in the second or third draft. A scene where Asphyxia compliments Scar’s new coat and he tells her he got it at Martha’s Thrift Store in May Valley. That would be Herringwood’s sister town and it’s obviously named after guitarist and astrophysicist, Brian May.
But when I went over the story yet again, it turned out there is a mention of May Valley when Eddie goes to the pay phone at the crossroads, so we can rest easy knowing the whole band is accounted for.
While we’re on the subject of towns and streets, every street mentioned is named after someone important. For the videogame version of this story, I had drawn up a map which I’ve sadly misplaced. Every significant street on that map had a name, though I’ve relocated some for the book.
The psychiatrist’s office can be found on Gilbert Street, named for Ron Gilbert, creator of The Secret Of Monkey Island and Thimbleweed Park, amongst other classics.
At one point, Eddie directs Domino down Shaffer Avenue, which is named after Tim Shaffer, also of Monkey Island fame, and the sublime Grim Fandango.
Each of those games a direct inspiration for the game I wanted to make, and subsequently the book you have read.
And a quick shout-out to Edward Street, where Rosalie lives. If I have to explain that one you can Jump into an Eruption for all I care.
Century Vindicator R/T
I’m actually not sure if this counts as an easter egg, or if I’m allowed to say what it’s an easter egg of.
The, uhm, easter egg manufacturer failed to return my call. But I suppose if you’re a proper gearhead it’ll be reasonably simple to identify which car stood model for the Vindicator.
Toby
The Devil is an easter egg, yes. Or more accurately, his name. Let me just point you to Rowan Atkinson for this one. It should answer any questions you have.
Dr. Fian & Agnes
Doc Fian and the cow are getting their own page, because I love that story too much to cram it into a quick paragraph here.
The Rising Wind Diner
What kind of an asshole am I? Well, the kind that has to go back to a published webpage to put in an easter egg so big you need a packed lunch to go around it.
When Domino and Eddie first meet, Domino asks him if he knows a good place to eat, and Eddie wastes no time to direct Domino to the Rising Wind Diner for some of Gina’s Famous Chicken Legs. He tells Domino to go past the tracks and then follow the road up around the bend. If I had managed to organically work in a way for him to say “Keep walking until the neon toins to wood” I would have, but there’s not a lot of neon in Herringwood, so I had to let that one go, sadly.
How awesome would it be to hear Eddie croon, “Yeeeeeah!”
I’ll have to talk to the director when I’ve sold the movie rights. That shit is going in.
Leftover eggs
And then there’s the pile of eggs that don’t get found. You know, the eggs that start to stink up your yard because you hid them too well for the kids to find them. And because you hid them at the crack of dawn, skipping coffee, so the kids could keep on believing a bunny hid them there, you don’t know where they are either anymore.
That’s why I’m opening an easter egg hunt. You can’t win anything. But what you can do is contact me regarding a suspected easter egg and if it turns out to be one I forgot about, I’ll put it here and stick your name on it. How about that, huh? Now go frolic in the hypothetical yard that is my book and let me have my coffee.