Cultural References & Understanding the Jokes of MSC

Being a game made by a Finn and set in Finland, My Summer Car has a plethora of cultural references and jokes that probably fly straight pass American, Russian etc. players. Here's a list to help you get all the things!

General setting of the game

- My Summer Car is set in a place called Alivieska, which does not exist in real life Finland. However, there does exist two similarly named towns: Ylivieska and Alavieska. Both are in Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia) region of Finland.

^Ylivieska in Pohjanmaa
As you will see later, Pohjanmaa is a recurring theme in My Summer Car which makes it all but certain that the game is set there.

- The music which plays in the opening cutscene (where your character is born) is an old marching song called Porilaisten marssi, or Björneborgarnas marsch in its original Swedish.

- Though there are multiple lakes by the name of Peräjärvi in Finland, none of them seem to be related to the game. Since Peräjärvi literally means "rear lake", it may be just coincidence that lakes of that name exist in real life. Neither Ylivieska nor Alavieska are near lakes, instead the river Kalajoki ("fish river") runs through both.

- Youth culture in My Summer Car revolves around the idea of "Amis", a stereotype of men who go to vocational school (becoming welders, mechanics etc.) as opposed to academic education. The stereotypical Amis is a young male who loves cars, beer and machismo. A modestly thin set of facial hair and a cap sporting the logo of a beer brand is recommended. Jani, the aggressive driver of the yellow car in Peräjärvi, is the ultimate example of Amis culture.

Your character and home

- Needless to say that the driver's licence you fill out bears close resemblance to a real Finnish licence. Real life licences, though, don't allow you to disable permadeath.

- The movie that plays on TV is an advertisement for a movie project that Mr. Rojola and others wished to gain funding for. The movie was meant to be a comedy about two air force pilots whose lunch hour turns into an adventure. Mr. Rojola plays one of the characters.

- Having a sauna in the home may seem like a luxury, but in fact most Finnish homes either have a sauna or access to one. Your home in general represents a fairly average middle class home in 90s Finland.

- The naughty thermometer in the sauna actually was a normal thing back then.

- The stove in the kitchen bears close resemblance to those manufactured by Strömberg in Finland. The stove in question has an 80s style to it, and would fit the 1995 setting.

- In the living room there is a wooden train on a shelf. This is a reference to the death song which starts with the words "When I was 12 years old, my father burnt my wooden train. Ashed behind the sauna, there was no time for tears. Dad said: "take it like a man!"

Peräjärvi

- The sign on the store Teimon Kauppa, has a tear on the letter a, making it Teimon Kuppa, or "Teimo's Syphilis", instead of store.

- The logo of Teimo's store bears close resemblance to now extinct Tuko brand of Finnish stores. Tuko was disbanded in 1992, which makes the reference anachronistic for the game (as it's set in 1995).


The actual shop is based on Seppo's Shop in Säkylä in Western Finland.Sadly, Seppo's Shop was closed in 2013.

Satsuma

- The Satsuma is based on Datsun 100-A.

- Your licence plate upon passing inspection is VBX-403. This is not random and is actually a reference to a somewhat obscure Finnish film Pohjanmaa (1988), where the main characters ride an orange-white Datsun 100-A with that licence plate.

Datsun 100-A from Pohjanmaa film.

- When the game first came out, the Satsuma was missing its fuel cap. This was most likely because the Datsun in Pohjanmaa movie was also missing it.

- The CD player bears resemblance to real life Alpine 7909.

Other vehicles

- The van, Hayosiko, gets its name from variants of a joke that involves the "Japanese" name "Hayosiko Toyotasi", which translates as "did your Toyota break?" The van's real life counterpart is 1977 Toyota Hiace.

- The Kekmet tractor's name is a variant of Valmet, a Finnish company that among other things has produced tractors. The "Kek" in the name probably refers to Internet slang meaning laughter ("top kek").

- Like Kekmet, Gifu the septic truck's name is a variant of the real-life manufacturer Sisu. Sisu is also a brand of candy whose logo is written in a font that makes the initial S look like a G and the latter s look like an f, hence Gifu.

^ A pack of Sisu candy, with the misleading font.

- Jonnez ES moped is named after a youth stereotype called "Jonne" about young boys born in late '90s. The small kind of model you have in MSC is specifically associated with Jonne culture. ES comes from the manufacturer (Euro Shopper) of a budget energy drink popular among that demographic.

Dialogue

- One of the cursing options (M key), "you are such a wart of a d*ck!" is probably a reference to a video that went viral in Finland in 2016. The video contains a middle aged man ranting to someone who wants him to pick up figs he had dumped somewhere he shouldn't have. The video can be found here, and the line in question can be heard at 1:41

Items

- The bottle of Kännikala booze found near the wood chopping area is a reference to Koskenkorva booze, an iconic brand in Finland. Relevant to the Pohjanmaa theme of the theme, the real life Koskenkorva bottle contains scenery from Pohjanmaa region. Kännikala itself means "drunkard", although literally it's "drunk fish".

- The ♥♥♥♥ brand of detergent is a reference to the real life Omo brand.

- The Suomi M/31 submachinegun coming to the game in the future was the most iconic WW2 era weapon in Finland, and was widely praised for its quality and influenced the design of the famous Soviet PPSh submachinegun. While the Suomi gun makes sense to have in the game in its own right, it's also relevant to the aforementioned Pohjanmaa film's plot.

- The tool box brand "KALUT" has a double meaning. It can both refer to actual tools, and also male genitalia.

Other characters

- Here is a list of translations for T-shirt texts seen in the game:
JOS EI TEE TÖITÄ, EI TUU VIRHEITÄ - "If you don't work, there won't be mistakes".
KOMIAT ENSIN - "The handsome ones first"

Radio

- The calmly speaking man with long pauses in the radio speaks about birds in Finland, making parody of those "nature moment" radio events spoken in radio broadcasts. Most of the animals the man lists are fictional with funny names and as the program goes the man becomes increasingly frustrated with how long he has to keep talking and starts asking his producer(?) if he can stop. However the producer appears to have fled and so the man concluds the program on his own, adding that "if you want a second episode - call someone, I'm sure he'll come and do it".

[Kaitsu]

Also on booze bottle on the cork says "kela"

[Nordixity]

Finnish guy here, he words KOMIAT ENSIN does translate to: handsome ones first, but actually it means alcohol so basically: otetaan komiat ensin ja sitten lähdetään = let's take alcohol first and then let's leave.

[LunaVTF.bsp]

if it wasnt closed people would have come and pissed and shitted and smashed the windows repeatedly

[Kirmukarmu]

@pricklycactus20008 I don't know if the link works outside Finland, but here's
one link for the movie: https://elonet.finna.fi/Record/kavi.elonet_elokuva_106869

It doesn't have subtitles so if you're not Finnish you'll have a hard time. It does seem to have a DVD release but I don't know if those have English subtitles, and how you would go around getting one outside Finland.

[TopHatBanana2008]

is there anywhere/ anyway to watch pohjanmaa or is it a case of knowing someone with a recording of it on vhs?

[kalnon]

Wonderful! Thank you for this, it makes me feel more connected to the game knowing all this stuff now.

[Kippen König]

The Curse that you meant can actualy be heard at 1:50 https://youtu.be/Nv3n34NIsy0?t=110

[tacobaguette]

bro did his research im north norwegian so just being in the game feels like home

[mau]

Näin on näkkileipä

[AMIS_TEPPO [FIN]]

No en mä sulta kysy lupaa