If you haven’t read Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, then there’s no way that you can be prepared for the magnitude of awesome that’s going to fly off the screen and hit you in the face when Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World explodes into theaters this Friday. Seriously, there’s a lot of stuff in the series, and it can be tough to keep track of. So we’re bringing you a glossary of all the strange things you can expect to find in Scott Pilgrim, from 1Ups to Wallace Wells, broken down into an easily digestible form. So even if you’ve already read the books and experienced O’Malley’s weird, pop-culture marinated version of Toronto first hand, it can’t hurt to restock your knowledge arsenal with some new educational shurikens. It pays to be prepared, because you can’t always count on a conveniently placed Save Point to save you.
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Dominique: Stephen and Scott’s boss at The Happy Avocado.
Envy (Natalie V.) Adams: Scott’s ex-girlfriend and lead singer of Clash At Demonhead. Dated Todd, her bandmate and Ramona’s Evil Ex #3, and kinda dated Gideon.
Gideon Gordon Graves: Ramona’s 7th evil ex. Owns the Chaos Theater, and developed “The Glow”, the ultimate weapon in emotional warfare, which locks people in their own heads using subspace.
Gideon (the cat): Ramona’s cat, which she names after her ex. He’s less important to the plot than the big Gideon, but he’s much cuter. Has a fondness for fishwiches.
Hollie Hawkes: Kim’s co-worker at No-Account Video. Joseph and Kim’s roommate. Sleeps with Kim’s boyfriend Jason.
Jason Kim: Kim’s temporary boyfriend and moving buddy.
Jimmy: Stacey’s friend, who Wallace makes out with. He is never heard from again.
Joseph: Hollie and Kim’s soft-spoken (or small-typefaced) roommate. “Helps” Sex Bob-omb record their album. Eventually dates Stephen Stills. It is adorable.
Julie Powers: Stephen’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Kind of a jerk. Throws a lot of parties.
Kim Pine: The drummer for sex Bob-omb, Scott’s best friend and high school girlfriend. Occasionally a gothic lolita, always awesome. Briefly dated Jason Kim and Simon Lee, who Scott beat up.
Knives Chau: High-school student who briefly dates Scott, then becomes madly obsessed with him. She occasionally tries to kill Ramona, but one of Sex Bob-omb’s only fans.
Knives’ Dad: Father of Knives Chau. Also a stealthy, awesome ninja.
Kyle and Ken Katayanagi: Evil exes 5 and 6. Award-winning Japanese roboticists and twins, who both dated Ramona.
Lawrence Pilgrim: Scott’s younger brother. Scott stole his bass and drop kicked him because he thought he was Gideon. Their relationship needs work.
Lisa Miller: Went to high school with Scott and Kim. Not the “L word”.
Luke Wilson: That guy from Bottle Rocket.
Luke Wilson: That guy Scott played a show with.
Lucas Lee: Action star and Evil Ex #2.
Lynette Guycott: Clash At Demonhead drummer. Has a bionic arm and is sleeping with Todd.
Matthew Patel: Evil Ex#1, dated Ramona in 7th grade for a week and a half. He should probably move on.
Michael Comeau: Knows everyone, including Ramona. And you. Has a skull ring he got from the future.
Mobile: Wallace’s psychic boyfriend.
Negascott: Scott’s nemesis, and manifestation of his forgotten mistakes. There’s a whole lot of them.
Peter The Landlord: Scott and Wallace’s landlord. He’s kind of a scary guy.
Ramona Flowers: American delivery girl with a multitude of evil exes and a mysterious past.
Roxanne Richter: Evil Ex#4. Half-ninja and artist, good with a sword. Dissolves into cute animals when defeated.
Sandra and Monique: Those two girls who always show up at parties.
Scott Pilgrim: Protagonist and all-around cool guy. He’s even a bass player in a band! Falls in love with Ramona, but first he must defeat her seven evil exes. Used to date Kim, Envy Adams, and Knives Chau. He’s named after a song from Canadian band Plumtree.
Scott’s Parents: Parents of Scott, Lawrence and Stacey. They mostly galavant around Europe, but they do buy Scott an apartment.
Other Scott: Wallace’s gay friend, and the other guy named Scott.
Stacey Pilgrim: Scott’s younger sister. Rated T for teen.
Steph Nordegraf: Young Neil’s sister, and member of Kid Chameleon.
Tamara: Knives’ exasperated best friend. She puts up with a lot.
Todd Ingram: Clash At Demonhead bass player, vegan, and Ramona’s ex #3. Dating Envy but cheating on her with Lynette. Also cheating on veganism with gelato. Moved the moon twice.
Wallace Wells: Scott’s gay roommate, who actually has money and taste.
Young Neil Nordegraf: Sex Bob-omb’s biggest (and only) fan. Briefly dates Knives. People eventually stop calling him “young”; it is the best day of his life.
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Casa Loma: Canada’s foremost castle and site of Scott’s fight with Luke Wilson, Lucas Lee.
The Gilded Palace Of Flying Burritos: Scott’s favorite restaurant, before it gets shut down for selling drugs or money laundering or hiring Scott. Reference to The Flying Burrito Bros album, The Gilded Palace Of Sin.
Honest Ed’s: Bargain store and mindsucking vortex of madness which no man can escape. Destroyed by Todd and his vegan powers.
No-Account Video: The video store where Kim Pine works, and Scott owes over $1000 in late fines.
Pizza Pizza: A pizza pizza place place.
Rockit: Concert venue where Sex Bob-om plays, and Scott meets his first evil ex.
Second Cup: Coffee shop where Stacey Pilgrim and Knives Chau work. Actual Canadian coffee chain.
Sneaky Dee’s: bar where the gang eats a lot, has a performance space upstairs. Actual place in Toronto.
St. Joel’s: The HS Scott and Kim go to.
Subspace: Spaces in people’s minds that can be used as a convenient shortcut, storage space, or in Gideon’s hands, a weapon.
Toronto Reference Library: Toronto’s reference library. Site of Knives/Ramona smackdown.
University Of Carolina In The Sky: A.K.A. “Big Sky”. Floating university where Ramona went to college with Roxanne.
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Astro Boy: Iconic anime robot shows up on Scott’s t-shirt.
Dragon Ball Z: Characters’ hair tends to get all vertical when they have intense fights, a tendency borrowed from DBZ.
Fargo: Coen Bros classic starring Frances McDormand and Steve Buscemi. Ramona has a Fargo poster in her room.
Grosse Pointe Blank: Action rom-com starring John Cusack. Stephen has the poster in his room.
Jurassic Park: Kyle calls Kim Pine a “clever girl” before he kidnaps her, even though she is not a velociraptor.
The Land Before Time IV: Scott Pilgrim returns it to No-Account Video 36 weeks late. It’s not his fault, mice hid it somewhere in his apartment.
Star Wars: Gideon offers to let Scott join the League of Evil Exes so that together they can rule Ramona’s love life. Scott, of course, responds with “I’ll never join you!” Seriously, did you think a book this unabashedly nerdy wouldn’t have Star Wars references?
Trainspotting: Scott’s relationship with Knives is kind of like Renton and Diane’s in Trainspotting. Except a less creepy. And with way less drug use. Scott didn’t watch this movie very closely.
Rear Window: Classic Jimmy Stewart/Hitchcock film. Ramona has a poster in her room.
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Clash At Demonhead: Envy Adams’ band, named after a 1989 platform video game. It’s the first game Bryan Lee O’Malley ever owned.
Crash And The Boys: Toronto-based band, later The Boys!! And Crash!! Their song “Last Song Kills Audience” puts the audience into a coma. They learn to manipulate pure sound without their instruments.
Gordon Downie: The guy from the Tragically Hip. His solo album is the soundtrack to vegan dinner at Stephen’s house.
Imperial Otter: Other band playing at Lunchapalooza, an actual Toronto band that Bryan Lee O’Malley used to be in.
Kid Chameleon: Stephen, Scott and Envy’s band that actually got kind of well known. Named after platformer game for the Sega Genesis.
Madonna: Ramona has a cassette of Madonna’s True Blue in her drawer.
Shatter Band: Scott and Kim’s replacement band for Sex Bob-omb. Last seen butchering a cover of I’m A Believer.
The Shins: Knives Chau has a Shins poster on her wall, which proves that she actually does have decent taste in music. At least when Scott isn’t involved.
Sonic and Knuckles: Scott, Kim and Lisa’s band that performs at Lunchapalooza. A reference to video game characters Sonic the hedgehog and Knuckles (the echidna, but no one calls him that.)
Sex Bob-omb: Scott, Kim and Stephen’s band. Only has two fans, Knives and Young Neil, until they develop taste. Name is a reference to an enemy from Super Mario Bros.[PAGEBREAK]
1Up: Scott gets an extra life after defeating Todd, evil ex #3. Comes in handy in the battle against Gideon.
Double Dragon: Twin exes Kyle and Ken Katayanagi are a play on Jimmy and Billy Lee from Double Dragon.
Escape From Monkey Island: Ramona tells Knives “How appropriate. You fight like a cow.”
Final Fantasy II: Scott plays the bass line after breaking up with Knives and being the worst person ever.
Legend Of Zelda: Scott has a Zelda-themed dream in vol. 4., and Gideon’s bar uses 3 “G’s” in the shape of a Triforce as its logo.
Metroid: Ramona has a friend to can turn into a Samus-like morphing ball and roll across the room. Unfortunately, it’s not as great as you would think.
Role Playing Games: Scott faces Ramona as a random encounter in his video-game dream.
Save Point: It’s important to save before big battles, if you don’t want to start over from the start of the level. Scott gets one in vol. 3, before his conversation with Envy.
Super Mario: When Scott imagines him and Ramona as an “item”, he sees Mario stars, mushrooms and fire flowers. Also, when Wallace has an umbrella that looks like a mario power-up mushroom.
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De-Veganizing Ray: A ray that takes away vegan-based powers. Hard to dodge.
Large Hammer: +2 against girls. Ramona’s hammer she keeps in her purse. Uses it against Envy.
Mithril Skateboard: +4 Speed, +3 Kick, +1 Will
The Power Of Love: In the Pilgrim-verse, when you tell someone you love them, a magic flaming sword pops out of your chest. No, that’s not a metaphor. That would be a really weird metaphor, anyway. Guts +2, Heart +3, Smarts +1, Will +1.
The Power Of Understanding: Similar thing, except with “understanding” instead of “love.”
Scott unlocks his in the fight against Gideon. +1 Guts, +3 Heart, +2 Balls.
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Amazon.ca: Like Amazon.com, but in Canada. Ramona works for them as a delivery girl.
Garlic Bread: Scott’s favorite food. Unfortunately, it makes you fat.
The League Of Evil Ex-Boyfriends: Conglomeration of Ramona’s ex-boyfriends, who Scott must defeat before he is allowed to date her. Formed by Gideon, after he posts a drunken craigslist rant. Technically, should just be “exes”, since Roxanne’s a girl.
Lesbian: The L word.
Love: The other L word.
Onomatopoeia: The verbal representation of sounds, like KROWW, GLOM and KBWONGG. Or, in O’Malley books, WHIP, PAUSE and UNPAUSE.
The Queen: Queen of England, and also kind of Canada. Canadians totally worship her.
September 27th: Scott’s birthday.
August 27th: Not Scott’s birthday.
Theme Parties: Julie likes to throw theme parties, like Underwater Pimp, Dia de los Muertos, and Canadian Politics But You’re Secretly Batman.
Wanderer Bread: Scott and Wallace are too poor for Wonder Bread, so they eat this stuff.
Mr. Silly: Character from Roger Hargreaves’ Mr. Men series. Ramona has his shoes.
