Pop Culture References of Wizard101: Khrysalis – Ozzric

Ozzric – Ozric Tentacles, Smashing Pumpkins, Butternut Squash
https://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Ozzric
https://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Rat_in_a_Cage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozric_Tentacles
https://youtu.be/1EJRPrzfNcU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smashing_Pumpkins
https://youtu.be/8-r-V0uK4u0
https://www.facebook.com/butternutsquashband/

Ozzric is a Bee lieutenant who is trying to capture a cornered Burrower saboteur. Ozzric was expecting the arrival of some friendly reinforcements.

“Drones? What are you doing here? We called for support from real fighters!”

Ozzric

Monstrology Tome Description
The dread overseer of the nightmarish prison tower known only as Butternut.

This is a tough one. The name Ozzric seems to refer to the Ozric Tentacles, an English instrumental rock band active from 1983 through the present. However the dialogue within the quest “Rat in a Cage” clearly is a call out to The Smashing Pumpkins and their song “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” The Butternut Tower may refer to Butternut Squash, a Smashing Pumpkins tribute band.

Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambient music. Formed in Somerset in 1983, the band has released over 30 albums selling over a million copies worldwide despite never having signed to a major recording label.

Ozric Tentacles formed at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983, where the brothers Ed and Roly Wynne, along with drummer Nick “Tig” Van Gelder, bassist Eddie Myer and keyboardist Joie Hinton, performed as a group originally known as Bolshem People. After playing a six-hour jam session, the group was asked the name of their band, to which Ed Wynne replied, “Ozric Tentacles”. This name was one of the ideas, alongside “Malcolm Segments,” that had come up in a humorous conversation the band had about possible names for weird or alien breakfast cereals, hence the references to breakfast cereal in several album titles and covers. According to Wynne, “‘Ozric’ is an old Viking name meaning ‘divine energy’, and ‘tentacles’ is a silly word to put on the end.”

The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) is an American alternative rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D’arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the band has undergone several line-up changes since their reunion in 2006, with Corgan being the sole constant member since its inception. The current lineup features Corgan, Chamberlin, Iha and guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

During 1995, Corgan wrote about 56 songs, following which the band went into the studio with producers Flood and Alan Moulder to work on what Corgan described as “The Wall for Generation X”, and which became Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a double album of twenty-eight songs, lasting over two hours (the vinyl version of the album contained three records, two extra songs, and an alternate track listing). The songs were intended to hang together conceptually as a symbol of the cycle of life and death. Praised by Time as “the group’s most ambitious and accomplished work yet”, Mellon Collie debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in October 1995. It was certified ten times platinum in the United States and became the best-selling double album of the decade. It also garnered seven 1997 Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year. The band won only the Best Hard Rock Performance award, for the album’s lead single “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”. The album spawned five singles—”Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, “1979”, “Zero”, “Tonight, Tonight” and “Thirty-Three”—of which the first three were certified gold and all but “Zero” entered the Top 40.

The current list of all the (known) Khrysalis references can be found here.

Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.

Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages

Ozzric image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.

Ozric Tentacles live in Zagreb, 2004 is borrowed from Wikipedia. It was uploaded by user ZecG. It is shared under the Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 2.5.

Smashing Pumpkins live on stage is borrowed from Wikipedia. It was uploaded by user Gyang333. It is shared under the Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 3.0

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.