#but I'm tired and at that point we're getting into American literature and like

[segadores-y-soldados]

Reaper: References

Alright so that “The game’s in the refrigerator” full audio came back around on my dash and I realized that not everyone probably recognizes Reaper’s references, so I figured I’d make this post to help pool sources and quotes, and also as a potential resource guide in the future.

Lots more under the cut!

A little bit of context

So as most Reaper/Gabriel Reyes fans know, Gabriel is from Los Angeles, California.  Los Angeles is the second-most-populated city in the United States (second only to New York City).  When the Spanish came, they founded a mission in the region named “Mission San Gabriel Arcángel” (wink wink) for the Archangel Gabriel, messenger of God.  For those of you unaware, the original route connecting for the 21 Californian Missions is called “El Camino Real,” or “The Way of Kings”/ “The Royal Way” - whether intentional or not, Gabriel’s last name of “Reyes” means “Kings” in Spanish.  The route is now historic and marked with bells that denote the way.

There are two major “valleys” in California - the Great Valley or Central Valley which spans the majority of the state, and is where the majority of California’s agriculture is grown, and the San Fernando Valley, which is the smaller valley where Los Angeles is located.  Californians can refer to either as simply “The Valley,” but more often than not when someone says they “went to the Valley,” or are “heading to the Valley,” they are referring to the San Fernando Valley.  Among American pop culture, “going to the Valley” is often a reference to someone heading to Los Angeles or Hollywood to try and become famous.  

Lastly, Blizzard’s headquarters are located in Irvine, California, which is one smaller cities that make up the “Los Angeles metropolitan area.”  This is cheekily referenced in the Numbani map, where a flight from “Irvine, CA” is listed as “delayed” on the Airport’s board.  Meanwhile, the Los Angeles flight is still “on time” on the map’s flight board.

Gabriel’s first reference to his ties to L.A. is on the Hollywood map, where he will say the line “Home sweet home” occasionally.

The Los Angeles Lakers

It’s not surprising then that Gabriel is a fan of the Lakers, one of Los Angeles’ two professional NBA basketball teams.  The Lakers have been known to be a strong team for some time (although we can nitpicks over fluctuations in their status), and regardless of how someone might feel about them (...like me), the team has produced some of the greatest players and basketball games in the sport’s history.

Second Reference: “The game’s in the refrigerator.”

The full line is: “The game's in the refrigerator: the door’s closed, the lights out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's jigglin'!” (note that this is Reaper’s exact line).  This is a nearly dead-on word-for-word quote from a LA Lakers’ commentator, Chick Hearn, who was known for his unique phrases.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_Hearn

You can watch the original quote here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVi98BZ2OwA (against the Sacramento Kings!)

The meaning of the phrase is basically that “the game is pretty much over, we pretty much know who won.”

What’s fucking HILARIOUS about this is that by the time the “game” of Overwatch takes place (roughly 2076-2078) the line is almost NINETY YEARS OLD.  Reaper is making a fucking sports reference that, for him, occurred almost a century ago.  

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.

Third reference (that may not be finalized): “Kobe, eat your heart out.”

https://clyp.it/y34uzzv0?token=d18fc817b96d0f98c6fd8b1e461a28a7

About 7 months ago, a user on reddit pulled a bunch of then-unused audio lines from the game ( https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/4sz7o8/i_extracted_some_of_the_audio_files_from_the/ ).  Some of them have been used (the Halloween and CNY lines).  Reaper, Lúcio, and Reinhardt have basketball reference audio lines that may or may not make to the game (March Madness event, maybe?).  Reaper’s line is a reference to one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Kobe Bryant, who just retired in 2016.  Kobe spent all 20 years of his professional basketball career on the Lakers and among most Americans is simply referred to as “Kobe.”  A fairly popular “slang term” among Californians (and other Americans) is to say the phrase “Kobe!” when taking a shot - at the hoop, at the trashcan, at...anything really.  The slang version was first popularized by Dave Chapelle, an American comedian.

http://full-lifeconsequences.tumblr.com/post/152446878702

Here, the McElroy Brothers demonstrate how the term is supposed to be used.

...It does not guarantee skill.

Sports, sports, sports!

And this is the one that got me thinkin’ about writing this, because I have yet to see ANYONE talk about this:

Fourth reference: “Welcome to the black hole.” / “Welcome to the Black Hole.”

I’ve offered an alternate version where the words “black hole” are capitalized because the phrase is almost certainly another sports reference.

Another Californian sports reference.

https://youtu.be/X_2hsVvBPS8?t=391 (time 6:30 - I haven’t actually heard him say this in-game tbh)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8rdZ8wBsr4

The most diehard, intense fans of the Oakland Raiders have been called “The Black Hole” for sometime now, due to the fact that they dress in the team’s dominant color of black, accented with silver and/or grey.  These are the primary colors Reaper dresses in as well.  The phrase “Welcome to the Black Hole” is used by these fans as, well, a greeting or a statement.

Oakland is pretty damn far from Los Angeles, but the LA Rams are...not as notorious as the Oakland Raiders.  Oakland is far closer to San Francisco in Northern California (on the other side of the San Francisco Bay).  It has quite the reputation in the U.S. for being a “rough city,” but recently there’s been quite a bit of changes in the area (the gentrification of Oakland and SF Bay as a whole is really not the point of this post).  The Raiders’ entire aesthetic matches Reaper’s to a tee.

Which comes to the next one:

Fifth Reference: “Just win, baby!”

“Just win, baby!” was the catchphrase of one of the most well-known Raiders’ coach Al Davis, who led the team to a era of success in the 60’s and 70’s.  This makes the quote literally over a century old for Reaper (dude’s a nerd, I’m telling you).

“Under Davis' management, the Raiders became one of the most successful teams in professional sports. His motto for the team was "Just win, baby."[1] Davis was active in civil rights, refusing to allow the Raiders to play in any city where black and white players had to stay in separate hotels. He was the first NFL owner to hire an African American head coach and a female chief executive. He was also the second NFL owner to hire a Latino head coach. He remains the only executive in NFL history to be an assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner, and owner.” - Wikipedia on Al Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RAlrzcdfRY

The Raiders are unfortunately currently in the process of trying to move to Las Vegas, Nevada unless the city of Oakland can meet the team’s requirements for staying.

Lights, camera, action

And just to round out the group, I’m gonna cover all my bases and get the easier ones out of the way too.

Sixth Reference: “I’m back in black.”

I kinda assume most people are familiar with this one, but in case you are not, this is a reference to the song “Back in Black” by AC/DC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgnJDJN4VA

(God damn, what a fucking good song)

Another song titled “Hell’s Bells” also came from the same album (“Back in Black”) as the song “Back in Black”...yeah it gets a little confusing at times.  The album “art” is easily among the most iconic albums of all time for both its drama and its simplicity:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/ACDC_Back_in_Black.png

Seventh Reference: “If it lives, I can kill it.”

This one is a reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger's line “If it bleeds, we can kill it.” from the movie Predator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNr0WXQ3Ho4

Notably, Schwarzenegger is one of the more recent “Hollywood movie stars” to have become a prominent Californian politician.  (Also notably, the Soldier: 76 skin “Commando” is another reference to another Schwarzenegger film “Commando” - aka the original “Taken”.)

Eighth Reference: Death Blossom

This one was new to me too!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/5ufces/til_death_blossom_is_in_fact_an_actual_military/ddtjbzy/

“Death Blossom” is a reference from the movie “The Last Starfighter” as a “last-minute surprise attack” where all enemies are obliterated in a “guns-blazing” “death spin.”

https://youtu.be/nmPGuMGs8cg?t=125 (time: 2:05)

(Seriously, please watch the link, I’m begging you)

The term has been picked up by American military members as a reference to surprise attacks where someone goes in “guns-blazing” as a final-resort attack.

Ninth Reference: “I’m not a psychopath - I’m a high-functioning psychopath.”

Finally - a reference that isn’t already thirty to forty years old.  This one comes from the BBC series “Sherlock,” in which the modern version of Sherlock Holmes says as a retort to accusations that he’s a “crazy psychopath”: “I’m not a psychopath - I’m a high-functioning sociopath.”  (I believe modern psychology does not differentiate between the two anymore, although really, neither term is particularly medical or scholarly.)

Reaper’s turn-of-phrasing on this one is meant to be cheeky and sarcastic: he’s correcting people by pointing out that he’s not “not just a psychopath” but an “ultra, high-functioning psychopath.”  Interestingly, there’s a concept among the modern theories of psychopathy that there are “successful psychopaths” - people who have low empathy abilities, exhibit ruthless behaviors, and may manipulate others to get what they want, but typically have the social skills to stay out of jail for any crimes they may (or may not) commit.  The hypothesis argues that many CEOs, politicians, lawyers, etc. are possibly “successful psychopaths” who channel their behaviors into economic or social successes.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/were-only-human/psychopath-successful-psychopath.html

“They found that fearless dominance was significantly associated with overall presidential performance, leadership, public persuasiveness, communication ability and willingness to take risks. Scientists have examined the relation between fearless dominance and “everyday heroism”—that is, altruism entailing social or physical risk, like administering CPR to a stranger in need. Fearless dominance was associated with such everyday heroism, and it was also associated with early wartime heroism among U.S. presidents.

“So are psychopaths and heroes simply “twigs from the same branch”? Perhaps, although the successful psychopath remains something of a scientific enigma. This provisional evidence points to some tantalizing possibilities, but we still do not know for sure why one person with pronounced psychopathic traits ends up as a habitual and cold-blooded criminal, while another ends up as the prototype for Agent 007.”

(Please note that this is not an academic, scholarly, or medical piece - merely a conversation-starter)

And last but not least:

Keith Ferguson, Reaper’s American voice actor, was born and continues to live in Los Angeles.

http://thebageltron.tumblr.com/post/145037436303/i-still-cant-believe-reaper-and-bloo-share-the

So the real question we need to be asking Blizzard is:

WHEN WILL REAPER GET A “It’s hot in Topeka” LINE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_IlsPypwZs