Last week, the tireless lawyer corps dispatched by the estate of Michael Jackson forced developer PopCap to remove the "dancing zombie" in its much-loved tower defense game Plants Vs. Zombies, complaining that it bore too strong a likeness to the deceased pop legend. Well, boo hoo. But PopCap was cool about it, replacing the character with a "disco-themed" zombie that is hilarious because looks like Disco Stu and an undead Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords produced a lovechild. We don't mind the change, but we also know that it's common practice for video game characters to "draw inspiration from" or "coincidentally resemble" real-life personalities or well-known movie characters. Believe us, it didn't start with Dancing Zombie, and it won't end there either. So take a look back at 10 of our favorites...
SOLID SNAKE/BIG BOSS, METAL GEAR SOLID
Who They're Based On: Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell's character in Escape From New York
Evidence: Eyepatch, beard, special forces background, reptilian name. Oh, and there's the fact that in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Solid Snake goes undercover as "Iroquois Pliskin." Remind us again what "Iriquois" means? Oh, right: "rattlesnake."
Complex Says: HIS NAME IS SOLID SNAKE HAHAHAHAHAHA AYOOOOOO.
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Choi Bounge, King of Fighters
Who They're Based On: Freddy Krueger
Evidence: Claws, hat, aquiline nose, preternatural (or supernatural) haggardness.
Complex Says: Okay, so maybe Freddy wasn't Korean. But we doubt Choi Bounge ever merked someone while dressed as a sexy naked lady!
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Maria, Silent Hill 2
Who They're Based On: Christina Aguilera
Evidence: The exact same outfit Xtina wore to the, uh, 1999 Teen Choice Awards. Not that we were there taking pictures or anything.
Complex Says: Men want her to "find the white liquid,", and she can't decide whether she's a sexpot or just depressed. Wait, which one of them were we talking about?
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Python, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Who They're Based On: Pinhead from the Hellraiser horror series.
Evidence: If you look very very closely, you may notice that both of them have PINS IN THEIR HEADS.
Complex Says: We know, we know: who doesn't have pins in his head these days? That shit is like boat shoes and G-Shocks at this point.
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Cyrax, Mortal Kombat 3
Who They're Based On: The Predator from, uh, Predator
Evidence: Well-maintained natty dreads, cybernetically enhanced abilities, unfeeling lethality.
Complex Says: Some people think the Predator thing is just a coincidence. To them, we say: fine, then Cyrax is based on Whoopi Goldberg.
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Red Harlow, Red Dead Revolver
Who They're Based On: Spaghetti Western-era Clint Eastwood
Evidence: Love for serapes, insouciant eyebrows.
Complex Says: Just be glad it's Spaghetti Western-era Clint and not Every Which Way But Loose-era Clint.
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Rick, Splatterhouse
Who They're Based On: Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise.
Evidence: Hockey mask, bloodlust.
Complex Says: Okay, so maybe he's based on Martin Brodeur. MAYBE. But our money's still on the Crystal Lake madman.
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Fei Long, Super Street Fighter II
Who They're Based On: Bruce Lee
Evidence: Nickname (Fei Long is Mandarin for "Little Dragon"), shirtlessness, tousled moptop OF DOOM. Also, he developed his own style of Kung Fu, just like Bruce! Which probably only matters if you're the type of person who carries around issues of Black Belt and talks about ordering nunchakus.
Complex Says: People like to say he's not the first Bruce Lee ripoff, but we say that Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat started out Japanese and Kim Dragon from World of Heroes is Korean. We also say "why did we bother learning all that?"
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King, Tekken series
Who They're Based On: Japanese manga series and professional wrestler Satoru Sayama
Evidence: Pectorals, tights, head of African carnivore who is not Idi Amin.
Complex Says: The thing that always creeped us out about King (both the original and the orphan who assumed his identity upon his death) is that his mask made it look like he had an actual jaguar head. Which would be awesome if if also didn't make us wonder about where his mama met her gentleman callers.
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Dancing Zombie, Plants Vs. Zombies
Who They're Based On: Michael Jackson in "Thriller" video—or, to be truly tasteless, Michael Jackson RIGHT NOW.
Evidence: Zippered leather jacket, single glove, creepy eyes, Soul Glow.
Complex Says: We never found this zombie that creepy in PvZ. That old-man zombie who drops his walker and chews through rocks, though? *SHUDDER*
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