References to Other Media Within Penguins: Defenders of Antarctica



Many of these are speculation, however, they have credence, given that the series was written to be a homage to children's media of the early 2010s. However, some references to anime outside of this demographic may exist as well.


 * Alpha Yu himself has cited many properties by the Lego Group as inspirations, such as Ninjago and Bionicle.
 * The battle cry heard in the trailer "Penguins! Go teamwork!" is similar in both wording and intonation to the battle cry "Ninja go!" from Ninjago.
 * The name of the first chapter, "Our Legend of the Human World" is a reference to the opening line of the Bionicle movies, "Listen again to Our Legend of the Bionicle" - similarly, both media begins with a narrated exposition sequence.
 * The chestplates worn by Eagle soldiers are very similar to Lego Part 19087, "Lego Bionicle Armor Cover (Toa Okoto)", which serves as either a shin guard or a shoulder pad for taller action figures and a chestplate for smaller ones.
 * The Overseer submarine used by the Eagle Tribe bears a striking resemblance to Bionicle's Toa Terrain Crawler.
 * The opening of the series resembles the opening to Ninjago's 8th season, where a villain steals an magical artifact and is pursued into a watery area by the heroes across rooftops.
 * Penguin City bears some resemblance to Makuhero City from Hero Factory.
 * The Penguin Agent's base resembles the Great Temple from Bionicle.
 * The Slicer Gang bears a distant resemblance to the Sons of Garmadon from Ninjago's 8th season.
 * Like in Hero Factory, the Penguin Agents are used as marketing tools on billboards.
 * The map of Antarctica was used as a key visual and bears a resemblance in style and usage to the map of Mata Nui from Bionicle.
 * Jo's spear resembles the one used by Nya in the 13th season of Ninjago.
 * Part of the subtitle of the series, 特殊部隊 (Special Forces), or "Tokushubutai" is written in Katakana on the side of the logo of Lego Exo Force and in a stylized Kanji font underneath it. Similarly, the Defenders of Antarctica logo has a similar style, although the Kanji underneath has been blurred and covered to the point of being unreadable.
 * While not cited to be an official inspiration, The Legend bears great similarity to The Great Story from the TV show "Legends of Chima". Given the fact that it has officially been stated that media produced by The Lego Group such as Ninjago and Bionicle were a direct inspiration for the series, it is safe to assume that The Great Story had at least a passing influence on the author.
 * Both stories involve animals gaining intelligence.
 * Both stories involve animals militarizing and going to war over an important object or set of objects.
 * Both stories involve "Animal Tribes".
 * The Eagles' headgear resembles that worn by Sakura Edo in One Neo Eon. In addition, their blades seem to resemble her knives.
 * The Eagle's Aircraft resembles very distantly the Stormtrooper Transports in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
 * The bridges of all large Eagle vehicles resemble those of the Venator -class Star Destroyers in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
 * The opening narration in the animations resembles that of the opening narration of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * The Penguins use JSDF rankings.
 * The interior of the Penguin's base bears a very vague resemblance to some interior decks of the Venator-class Star Destroyer.
 * Although unconfirmed, the armour worn by the Penguin Agents has something of a resemblance to some armour worn by mobile suits from the Gundam franchise.
 * Yo's seems to be based on Mobile Suit Gundam 00's Exia
 * Jo's seems to be based on Mobile Suit Gundam 0079's Zaku
 * Gou's seems to be based on Gundam Build Divers Try's Cherudim
 * Shu's seems to be based on Mobile Suit Gundam 0079's RX-78-2
 * The sword wielded by Yo seems to have a passing resemblance to the Hero Factory swords introduced in 2012 or the Attack on Titan military blade.
 * Based on currently known information, the Guardians seem to be a reference to HP Lovecraft's pantheon.
 * The "Eagle Attack" screen in the trailer resembles the "Angel Attack" screen from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * Penguin City's shape might be best described as a reference to Amestris from Fullmetal Alchemist. This is plausible given that Alpha Yu has stated the desire to draw inspiration from the worldbuilding of Fullmetal Alchemist.