The Moai

Moai are statues carved from compressed volcanic ash on Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

Moai in popular culture

• The video game OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast has a stage called "Giant Statues" which is actually Easter Island.
• In the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, the character Squidward Tentacles lives in a submerged Moai.
• Some of the video games developed by Squaresoft contain moai statues hidden as easter eggs in various places.
• The comic Sherman's Lagoon features a Moai named Kahuna, who has the power to change the characters into different shapes.
• Numerous games in the Gradius series of video games have a "Moai" stage, where you fly in space and the only enemies are Moai heads that shoot rings at you. 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.
• 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.
• In the Nintendo Game boy game Super Mario land, there is a world called Easton, were Moai can be seen in the background. Also, numerous of the enemies are Moai heads and the boss of the world is a large Moai who flings rocks .
• The Pokemon Nosepass vaguely resembles a Moai
• In the television show, The Critic, one of Marty Sherman's classmates is from Easter Island and has an oversized Moai head.
• In Big Huge's Rise of Nations the rare resouce "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.
• 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 moai have also made an appearance several Final Fantasy games. One was found on the moon in FFIV. In FFV the player could see one underwater. A cliff and Great Glacier in Final Fantasy VII was shaped like a moai andthere 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 thePuPu sidequest.
• In Power Rangers Zeo the pink ranger's zord is a moai 
• The Emotion Music Co. Ltd. which is owned by Bandai Visual has a logo with two moai statues on it.
• In Rhythm Tengoku, there is a stage where two moai statues sing to each other.
• In Wai Wai World for the Famicom, you get to use the moai from Gradius as a playable character after rescuing him.