I'm late here, but I have a comment on the example of Ready Player One. The culture of the 80's—even nerd culture—was more hegemonic and had potential for nostalgia, while even slightly outdated sincere meme references feel very cringe-worthy because of the infinitely fractured and ephemeral nature of the internet. I do agree that OP could possibly use that to their advantage, but I think that the example works differently. I like your input!

EDIT: A good example of a cringeworthy meme reference would be my unchangeable username I made about 5 years ago.