Quote 25
I now looked exactly like the hero of Black Tiger—a muscular, half-naked barbarian warrior dressed in an armored thong and a horned helmet. (26.52)
See? Avatars play dress up, too! Even though Wade is playing a character who is playing a character who looks like a Conan the Barbarian rip-off, it makes Wade feel more masculine and heroic, too.
Quote 26
The buildings looked identical to their headquarters in the OASIS on IOI-1, but here in the real world they seemed much more impressive. (29.4)
Wade is in awe of seeing IOI headquarters in real life. When something is constructed by human hands with physical material, it's a lot more impressive than computer code and polygons if we may say so.
Quote 27
Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest. (0.1)
The Hunt for Halliday's egg pretty much has the same cultural impact that John F. Kennedy's assassination did in the 1960s. The infamous Zapruder film is even referenced in the book (0.9).