Blade Runner reference in "Heaven's not Enough, Part 3"

[MasterAbsinthe]

Towards the end of "Heaven's not Enough, Part 3", when King and the other pets refuse to play along with the celestial game, Pete the Gryphon experiences some deep existential sadness (relatable) as he realizes that he's doomed to live a mortal life. When Cerberus comforts him, something interesting is written on Pete's shirt:



The text is partially covered by his arm. Still, I recognized this as the iconic quote from the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner which is called "the tears in rain monologue". It is delivered by the antagonist after he spares the life of the protagonist, and moments before his own inevitable death:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

This is a very emotional moment because the antagonist finally accepts his fate, and decides not to kill the protagonist out of revenge. This applies to Pete as well: he accepts that he has lost the celestial game and stops fighting to keep his immortality.

So basically, Rick Griffin is a huge nerd.

[FireworkFox]

Once again, science confirms the obvious!

[NHWestoN]

Well, if you can't pump in a movie musical score … why not a T-Shirt? (Worked for the Yellow Kid comics in the 1880s)

[VeryAngryDeer]

I remember recognising the quote on my last read-through of the entire comic, but I didn't think about the implications at all.

Thanks for pointing it out.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm actually impressed you managed to read it all with his arm covering up part of it. I wasn't able to and just gave up.

[VeryAngryDeer]

I'm actually impressed you managed to read it all with his arm covering up part of it. I wasn't able to and just gave up.

Its a unique and recognisable enough quote that you only need fragments to know its the same.

[D-Rock]

That is, of course, you even know what Blade Runner is.

[MasterAbsinthe]

I'm actually impressed you managed to read it all with his arm covering up part of it. I wasn't able to and just gave up.

Yeah lol I kinda recognized it at first but wasn't sure until I searched for "like tears in the rain" which immediately gave me the right wikipedia link.
Also, to those who havent watched Blade Runner, what the **** have you been doing all this time!!

The middle part of the quote isn't really important because it's just specific to the movie. The start and the end though, express the antagonists sudden nihilistic perspective of how all his memories will disappear with his death, and the protagonist doesn't even care. The same way that Pete feels a sadness at the idea that King, Bailey, and the rest of the pets refuse to accept his promised prizes if they fight for him.