Moai in popular culture

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This article deals with references to Moai in popular culture. Moai are statues carved from compressed volcanic ash on Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

[edit] In video games

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast has a stage called "Giant Statues" which is actually Easter Island.
In the PlayStation game Tomb Raider III the introduction shows Moai in a sub-Antarctic island, which was the site of the extraterrestial meteorite. Also the Antarctic levels - near the end of RX-Tech Mines, Lost City of Tinnos, and Meteorite Cavern shows multiple Moai.
The Kabu enemy in the Kirby series resembles a Moai.
Some of the video games developed by Squaresoft contain moai statues hidden as easter eggs in various places.
Moai in Gradius.

Numerous games from Konami feature "Moai" heads. Many games in the Gradius series have a "Moai" stage, where the player flys in space and the only enemies are Moai heads that shoot rings at the player. Konami, the makers of Gradius, have used the Moai in many other games as well, though usually not to the degree seen in Gradius. A recent and high profile example would be Metal Gear Solid 2, which had a Moai statue hidden in a vent in the game. It's hard to tell if modern Konami staff like the actual Moai heads or are just paying homage to Gradius. The origins of this extensive interest in Moai heads on Konami's part remains unknown. Rumours are that moai in Konami games are an inside joke to an employee that looked like a moai (this was his nickname).
In the Nintendo Game boy game Super Mario Land, there is a world called Easton, where Moai can be seen in the background. Also, there are many enemies that are Moai heads and the boss of the world is a large Moai who flings rocks.
In Big Huge's Rise of Nations the rare resource "relics" is represented by two Moai heads.
In the Nintendo 64 game Blast Corps the J-Bomb on some levels is found by blowing up a large Moai statue.
The Moai have also made an appearance in several Final Fantasy games. In FFV the player could see one underwater. A cliff and Great Glacier in Final Fantasy VII was shaped like a moai and there were several moai heads floating around in the Chocobo Racing Arena. Their final appearance so far in Final Fantasy has been in Final Fantasy VIII when a WUF was seen carrying one in the PuPu sidequest.
In We ♥ Katamari, there is an island dotted with moai that can, naturally, be rolled up; there is, however, no reference in the in-game text to the King of All Cosmos' passing resemblance to them.
The menus in Radiata Stories feature a Moai like figurine as a motif.
In the Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 expansion Yuri's Revenge, Yuri utilises Moai in one mission as towers which fire beams from their eyes.
In the Dragon Quest series, there is a giant stone head monster named Moai.

[edit] On television

In the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, the character Squidward Tentacles lives in a submerged Moai.
On Disney's animated series Gargoyles, the Moai were modeled after a space alien called Nokkar that was stranded on Easter Island.
In The Critic, one of Marty Sherman's classmates is from Easter Island and has an oversized Moai head.
The Moa Loader mecha from Chouriki Sentai Ohranger, and in turn its counterpart in Power Rangers Zeo, the Zeo Zord I, are modeled after Moais.
In the episode "The Secret of the Moai" of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Jonny Quest and Co. go to Easter Island where they examine the structures and discover that at a certain harmonic, the statues can alter the process of evolution.
Dan Aykroyd has stated that the Moai were the inspiration for the Coneheads sketch on Saturday Night Live.
In the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark, Bender fetched a Moai to prove he could compare to Fry's fossilized dog.
In the Dodge Nitro commercial "Planet," a crane drops the SUV and it goes through various layers of the Earth, including the underground home of the Moai.
In episode 18 (entitled: "The Wettest Stories Ever Told") of season 17 of The Simpsons, Bart and Milhouse are observing Moai, when the scene pans to a native in the process of carving one, while being berated by King Uglyface (the king that the Moai are supposedly modelled after).

[edit] Other references

The comic Sherman's Lagoon features a Moai named Kahuna, who has the power to change the characters into different shapes.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game has cards titled Statue of Easter Island and Moai Interceptor Cannons, the latter of which is also a reference to their Gradius appearances. The former is almost never played because it has weak stats and no effects.
The Pokémon Nosepass and Dainose resemble a Moai.
The comic strip Red Meat includes a talking Moai head named Papa Moai. He claims to be an omnipotent deity but seldom displays any divine powers.
In a Histeria! song about Easter Island (sung to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme), the Moai appear to sing a verse about themselves and the mysteries of their origins. At the end of the song (and the episode), it is revealed (to the viewers) that the Moai are apparently extraterrestrials.
The a cappella singing group Throat Culture recorded a song "Easter Island Head" featuring the lyric "I want a head like the heads you see on Easter Island"
The back cover and inside pictures of the Styx album Pieces of Eight show moai; the front cover shows several women with earrings that depict moai.
In the movie Mars Attacks!, a Martian spaceship destroys a line of moai by hurling a large bowling ball at them