Mass Effect/Awesome

Mass Effect 1
"“You all know the mission, and what is at stake.
 * The Citadel first approach scene. When you at first only get a short glimpse through the clouds, and then you see the Citadel in its full glory while the soundtrack orchestra takes it to eleven. Rivals the "Thank you, Mr. Scott!" scene in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
 * The Spectre induction scene. Almost kind of an Awesome Moment of Crowning after the first few hours of gameplay...
 * At the end of the game,.
 * While under heavy artillery fire and running out of time to reach the relay, and only surviving the experience because.
 * And then the geth shut down the elevator to impede you. Instead of letting something trivial like that stop him/her, Shepard . Complete with . Then, when you reach the end,.
 * The very end,.
 * There's something extremely uplifting and heartwarming as Shepard climbs down from the rubble and smiles at his/her friends. With the biggest, cheesiest smile imaginable.
 * Let us not forget the moment where Shepard Falcon Punches a reporter on live galactic television.
 * And if you take the option in Mass Effect 2, twice. It's even awesomer.
 * Captain Kirrahe's epic "We will Hold the Line!" speech. Quoted here in all its glory:
 * Let us not forget the moment where Shepard Falcon Punches a reporter on live galactic television.
 * And if you take the option in Mass Effect 2, twice. It's even awesomer.
 * Captain Kirrahe's epic "We will Hold the Line!" speech. Quoted here in all its glory:

I have come to trust each of you with my life -- but I have also heard murmurs of discontent. I share your concerns.

We are trained for espionage; we would be legends, but the records are sealed. Glory in battle is not our way.

Think of our heroes; the Silent Step, who defeated a nation with a single shot. Or the Ever Alert, who kept armies at bay with hidden facts.

These giants do not seem to give us solace here, but they are not all that we are.

Before the network, there was the fleet. Before diplomacy, there were soldiers!

Our influence stopped the rachni, but before that we held the line!

Our influence stopped the krogan, but before that, we held the line!

Our influence will stop Saren; in the battle today, we will hold the line!”"

"Finch: When we're through telling our story, the aliens will all know what the first human Spectre really is!
 * And Still sends shivers up anyone's spine.
 * Anderson . If he goes for C-Sec, he headbutts a turian guard in the face without even slowing down. If he goes for Udina's office, he punches Ambassador Udina in the face. Either way, someone's face gets smashed, and either way, its awesome.
 * Joker gets one when he pilots the Normandy down to a planet to save the away party from a Collapsing Lair. A Collapsing Lair sinking into lava. Nice Job With The Mining Laser, Hero. He did some Lampshade Hanging when he asks if he's going to get a silver or a gold medal for that.
 * And again when, despite the rest of the crew's protestations that it's impossible, he maneuvers the Normandy close enough to ancient ruins to drop the Mako nearly right on top of The Dragon.
 * Bonus points for being the first time Joker understates his ability. His only comment is "I can do it".
 * It's worth highlighting the achievement here. Joker swoops from orbit to drop an APC through a gap in a collapsed roof into the middle of a street, without touching high walls either side, within spitting distance of The Dragon. It's like sniping...with a spaceship as the gun and a tank as the bullet, which passes though a hole roughly three metres across while both it and the ship are travelling a few times the speed of sound. A flinch off course in any direction would have destroyed the tank and killed everyone in it. The Mako is completely unharmed.
 * Liara gets her own moment of awesome in that scene - she is the only party member present with the balls to agree with Shepard.
 * When confronted on trying to develop a romantic relationship on two people at once by said two people, Shepard can offer a third option instead of choosing between them. But... Shepard still can't get into a threesome.
 * Each of the backgrounds has its own badass CMOA. War Hero has Shepard saving the entire colony of Elysium from an army of pirates and slavers by rallying the civilian population and then holding back an entire enemy platoon singlehandedly? While only being on the planet for shore leave in the first place? Bad. Ass. Ruthless has you and your unit hunt slavers to the last man, despite taking immense casualties, taking a long time. Sole Survivor has you evade thresher maws after they wipe out your unit. This doesn't sound like much until you meet a thresher maw, which the military recommends you take on with tanks, and they are damn hard to survive even then.
 * The cutscenes in the Grand Finale when and when.
 * In particular,
 * Also, in one of the first of the final cutscenes,
 * Don't forget the Renegade ending, where humanity gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome, presenting the fact that they saved the universe as a good reason to take it over.
 * Any of the after-mission conversations with the Council where you opt to blow them off and "lose the signal." Doesn't seem that impressive? Keep in mind, you are blowing off the three most powerful people in the entire galaxy. Especially if you choose to . The turian councilor demands to know if Shepard enjoys genocide, and one of the possible responses? "Depends on the species. Turian."
 * may be difficult (especially if you run out of grenades and have to resort to melee attacks), but seeing the "Paragon+ 32/Renegade+ 0" message at the end makes it all worth it.
 * Players who chose the Earthborn background get a visit from a member of their previous gang attempting to blackmail them, which presents the opportunity for a particularly awesome Renegade solution:

Shepard: No. They won't. BLAM."

"Shepard: To make people who do these things pay. It's not the severity of punishment that deters crime, it's the certainty."
 * One of the other backgrounds has Shepard try and talk a slave out of suicide, having almost been a slave him/herself, which is a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. Afterwards Shepard is asked by the officer concerned about the girl what the point is to fighting and we get this exchange.

"Talitha: Will I have bad dreams?
 * Jennifer Hale, who makes Female Shepard's voice waver with anger as she says this, makes this some of the best voice acting she has ever done, and the entry just below makes this scene all the more prophetic.
 * If you succeed in that mission, you get an equally crushing line.

Shepard: You'll dream of a warm place. And when you wake up, you'll be in it."

"Shepard: I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know. But you're strong enough to face it."
 * Renegade Shepard's option to that same question is equally crushing, especially if you've been following all the Renegade responses, telling Talitha to fight, to be strong, and that survival means she's tougher than she thinks she is.

"Balak: I gave you a chance to save them and you threw it away! Who's the real terrorist?"
 * The climax of the DLC campaign "Bring Down the Sky" as a Renegade - rather than let Balak escape to save the hostages, Shepard attacks his gang and he kills the hostages. After Shepard has defeated Balak's henchmen and has him cornered - unarmed, wounded, and with a gun pointed at his head - they have this exchange;

Shepard: You. But you're dead. BLAM."

"Shepard: With all due respect, she was going to twist my words no matter what I said.
 * Also worth mentioning is if you take the same option, but then decide to spare him... so that the people on the planet that Balak tried to destroy, and from which the hostages came from, can interrogate him and put him on trial.
 * After Shepard's interview with a TV reporter, a few of Shepard's possible dialogue options about the fallout of said interview is a worthy entry.

Shepard: The Council can kiss my ass. I'm entitled to my own opinions."

"Sovereign: I am Sovereign. And this station is MINE!"
 * The final act of the Prothean people. Those folks deserve a few Manly Tears.
 * Sovereign-Saren gets a villainous one as he prepares to attack you.

"Hackett: I didn't think it could be done, Commander. You managed to secure the base and neutralize the biotics without a single civilian casualty.
 * Finally, let us not forget the end speeches with "The End (Reprise) playing over them. ESPECIALLY the Paragon ending with the player choosing . It's rare to have someone who wasn't awe inspired by that scene.
 * Even Udina got his own moment with this. EVEN UDINA.
 * Though it is oft overlooked, Udina's speech to the council near the beginning may count as well. Shepard can even tag-team with him on calling the Council out on their bullshit with being so distrustful of humans.
 * Get enough Paragon points, and Admiral Hackett calls you up to neutralize a hostage situation involving biotic terrorists. Perform the mission the Paragon way, and when he calls you up again, there's this exchange.

Shepard: Just doing my job, Admiral. I couldn't let innocent lives be lost.

Hackett: I wish every soldier had your definition of "just doing your job." You're a credit to the uniform, Shepard."


 * After fighting Saren on Virmire, he knocks Shepard down with biotics, picks him/her up by the throat, and dangles him/her over a ledge. Just before he can drop Shepard, Saren gets distracted by an explosion. He glances to one side, and Shepard punches him in the face. To reiterate in its full awesomeness: while being held over a cliff by his/her throat, Shepard punches an elite soldier with far more training than him/her right in the face.
 * You know Ian Newstead -- that crazy, rambling colonist in the tunnels on Feros? Think about it after completing the game. That guy's got some serious guts.
 * Saren gets one. Despite being the Bad Guy for most of the story, Shepard can still get him to have a My God, What Have I Done? moment and shoot himself in the head. Considering the amount of Indoctination Saren must have undergone, Heroic Willpower doesn't even begin to describe it. Even an asari matriarch (Benezia) wasn't able to resist it for long.

Mass Effect 2
"Shepard:
 * The entire suicide mission, especially if you made/make all the right decisions regarding the upgrades and team duties. The team goes through the Omega-4 relay, which no one has gone through and survived. Joker not only navigates a debris field guarded by robotic drones, he does it well enough to make the drones crash. The ship that destroyed the original Normandy gets shot down with a weapon reverse-engineered from Sovereign. A team works their way through heating vents, trusting Shepard to open gates before they fry to death. Shepard saves his/her crew. A team travels through an atmosphere literally filled with seeker swarms, with a biotic managing to keep the swarms away before blowing a mass of enemies. While Shepard leaves to blow the base, the rest of the team holds off waves of Collectors. As it knocks down the platforms, s/he saves a squadmate while both of them are sliding down the platform. Shepard's team runs out of the exploding Collector base, with just about every single Collector pursuing them, while Harbinger delivers an epic speech. As Shepard approaches the Normandy, Joker, who couldn't even walk in the first game, stands in the airlock, holding off Collectors with an assault rifle. The platform between the Normandy and Shepard collapses, so s/he jumps twenty feet in bulky assault armor to reach the door. The Normandy returns from the Omega-4 relay, the galaxy saved (until Mass Effect 3), with everyone safe and sound. AWESOME.
 * Another stand-out moment: mid-way through the final segment, you radio back to see how well your team is holding against the Collectors. If your full team is loyal, whoever picks up will essentially reply that the full might of the Collector attack is doing absolutely negligible damage.
 * It gets lost in all the badass moments that follow, but the opening sequence is a work of art: . At one point, you must journey through a section of the ship that is exposed to space, and the game becomes eerily quiet as you look out into the void and pass several floating pieces of debris you can knock aside when you walk around.
 * Let's take one of your recruitable squad members in the second game, Archangel . You learn that due to his vigilante activities against the criminal element of Omega, the three biggest merc companies on the station have teamed up to take this guy down. He's holed up in a mansion and blown up all other options for them; the only access route they have is across the bridge, which means they're target practice for him. They tried flying a gunship over to attack him, but he shot it down. When you infiltrate the merc companies, you'll find dozens, if not hundreds, of mercs and freelancers trading bullets with him, but no one's getting anywhere near him. Once the operation starts, you stab the mercs in the back and make your way to Archangel in order to exfiltrate him.... Let me sum this up for you:, has been holding off three entire merc companies, the freelancers they hired, and all their resources for days, holed up in a mansion, BY HIMSELF. Holy shit -- !
 * 's side-mission. It's longer than most of the other missions (Jacob's and Mordin's in particular) due to a mix of investigation, combat and dialogue, and even after you've already gotten the achievement for it, you get treated to a climax which involves an increasingly-deranged attempting to snipe a target while you (in a Paragon game) talk with said target and keep your own head in 's scope to save his life.  listens to your conversation through a two-way radio, and when he finds out that the target shows remorse for having wronged him,  can't bring himself to pull the trigger. This entire scene also doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and cements him as one of the game's deepest personalities.
 * Very small, but he's even awesome as far as game mechanics go. The official guide for Mass Effect 2 strongly recommends that if you're going to play on Insanity, Garrus is one teammate you should always have with you.
 * The Cooper Lawrence wannabe returns in Mass Effect 2 for another round! If you punch her with the Renegade interrupt, Shepard says "I should have done that the first time we met!"
 * On the flip-side of that, you can also go the diplomatic route, and when she starts winding up to pitch the good ol' "aliens let humans die for their own skins" tripe, Shepard gets a particularly moving CMOA by cutting her off with a powerful, spine-chilling lecture:

Reporter:

Shepard:"

"Shepard: Conrad, let me make this perfectly clear."
 * After that little exchange is over as you walk away you hear the reporter mutter:
 * Or, if the Council died, Shepard states it was not a decision made lightly, and again makes the case that those who died deserve a lot more than the reporter's bias cheapening their deaths. No matter what, Shepard PWNS her, and if they're alive takes the Council to task as well.
 * S/he will say the same thing if s/he sacrificed the Alliance ships and you choose the Renegade response. You still get Paragon points for it.
 * The Renegade responses are just as awesome. Shep gives her a tongue lashing about the realities of command and disrespecting the dead that leaves Kalisah on the verge of weeping.
 * Thane's entrance. Shepard and company spend an action-packed level blowing stuff up and slaughtering their way to the penthouse floor of a business building to reach a Corrupt Corporate Executive who is said to be the assassin's next target and therefore the best way of contacting him. Once Shepard and start talking, a few strange noises rattle the remaining security, who get ordered to watch the remaining entrances. Unfortunately, Thane doesn't use doors - he drops from an airduct on the ceiling mid-sentence, kills the security guards, grabs one of their guns, catches his target, shoots her in the stomach, gently lays her on a desk... and proceeds to pray without looking at Shepard or missing a beat. All in about six moves. Even Miranda and Jack are impressed by that.
 * If you pay attention, Shepard actually looks up at the ceiling briefly before the bad guys realize Thane's there.
 * He's in a low-angle camera angle, with a mix of danger and awe-inspiring music, there's an absolutely awesome  moment, and then, his simple greeting: "Shepard-Commander."
 * Mordin gets one when you learn why the citizens of Omega are scared of him: Really, if Badass Bookworm would be explained in dictionary, his picture would be included next to the definition.
 * In the Afterlife club, Renegade Shepard can talk the Patriarch into one of these by appealing to his nature as a krogan. Instead of hiding from the mercenaries, he chooses to die like a true krogan warrior, and charges an entire squad of heavily-armed mercenaries, and thus goes out in a blaze of (sadly offscreen) glory.
 * Remember Conrad Verner? In the second game, he shows up as an "extreme" mercenary. You can try to talk some sense into him, or, if you're a Renegade....

"Shepard:"
 * He gets his own actual moment of awesome if Paragon!Shep talks him down from his little crusade. He starts a charity to help the victims and orphans of Sovereign and the geth attacks called..."Shepards". Well done man.
 * Everyone who took a certain Renegade interrupt action in the Urdnot camp said these exact words: "Did...Did I just headbutt a krogan? Not to mention, the shocked look on said krogan's face eloquently says "Did... Did a Human just headbutt me?"
 * A scene just a few minutes prior shows this to be a krogan dominance gesture, so if one is observant, they will immediately understand what the Renegade interrupt prompt is, and it is so right in context.
 * "Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not."
 * You discover that Wrex had one around the same time you perform the feat yourself:
 * Finding out from an asari woman on Illium that, if you made the decision to save in the first game, that she is repopulating her species, that you are revered as a legend by her race, and that when the time comes, she will bring her the entire  race to help you stop the Reapers. Oh, hell yes.
 * Far too much to say about There's a reason This Troper kept a save file just before that portion of the game.
 * The Renegade solution to manages to be just as awesome,

"Tali: It's fun watching you shout."
 * And Tali's reaction afterward.

"Councilor Anderson (in the tone of a parent scolding a child): I don't answer to you anymore, Udina. Why don't you go to your office and think about that?"
 * The final boss of Mass Effect 2 deserves a mention. Four words:
 * During Mordin's mission, while on the krogan homeworld, a krogan gangster with delusions of grandeur starts ranting and raving about how his clan will destroy the forces of the galaxy when they get enough numbers. A Renegade quick time shows up and you give him a very satisfying version of Shut UP, Hannibal using a fortuitously-placed gas main and two pistol shots.
 * When you get to the Citadel, if you nominated Anderson for Councilor, he puts Udina, the Obstructive Bureaucrat from the first game, in his place.

"Shepard: "I won't let fear compromise who I am.""
 * So Shepard, how does it feel to The answer, of course, is that it feels awesome.
 * If Shepard opts to play "bad cop" during Thane's loyalty quest, s/he'll try to intimidate the thug they're interrogating by threatening to cut off his balls and sell them to a krogan.
 * At the end of the game, if you decide to, Shepard will say a completely character-defining line for Paragons:


 * If Miranda is with you, this is where you

"Shepard: "You really trust the Illusive Man?"
 * This moment is made even better if you've been playing the whole game as a Renegade, due to how it makes Shepard look like s/he was playing the Illusive Man all along, coming off as a true Magnificent Bastard when s/he finally gets the upper hand and uses that moment to seize control of Cerberus.
 * Joker's return in Mass Effect 2, and the reveal of.

Joker: "I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly - and there's this. They only told me last night.""

"Shepard: What the HELL were you thinking!? Are you trying to undermine this entire operation?! You can either fight by my side, or get crushed under my heel, but you will NOT stand in my way!"
 * During Miranda's loyalty mission, a group of mercs will attempt to get her and Shepard to back off. As the merc talks, Shepard notices a crane moving an explosive cargo container. There is a Renegade interrupt. If taken, Shepard will reach forward and break the one merc's neck with his/her bare hands. Miranda will then shoot another at point blank range as Shepard pulls out his/her handcannon and blasts the container to kill two more mercs. One merc remains, who can only look from the burning fire and back to Shepard in shock.
 * What makes it even better is this troper always got PARAGON points for that interrupt.
 * The Paragon ending to Zaeed's loyalty mission. After saving a factory full of slaves and costing Zaeed his revenge against his arch-nemesis of twenty years as a result, Shepard puts a gun to Zaeed's head, tells him he's damn well going to work as part of a team, pulls the man out from under the girder that's fallen across his legs - thus proving her point that no one can go it alone all the time - and through sheer force of will and badassery manages to gain Zaeed's admiration and loyalty anyway.
 * In fact, I can say without reservation that a female Paragon Shepard is a Crowning Character Of Awesome. This editor was so happy to see a franchise that does not present the "good" path as self-righteous, Lawful Stupid or less Badass in any way, and Jennifer Hale's voice acting is absolutely fantastic.
 * While Paragon Shepard is indeed awesome-tastic, one should mention the Renegade ending of that mission. It may follow a serious Moral Event Horizon, but Zaeed getting his vengeance with nothing but an ejected bullet is insanely cool.
 * More accurately it's an ejected heat sink, but that's not important.
 * is also a surprisingly awesome and fulfilling outcome of his mission. The guy is just too much of an asshole.
 * For some. For others, he's the perfect kind of asshole.
 * Its also worth noting that in the Paragon ending of that mission,
 * Both Paragon and Renegade solutions to Legion and Tali's argument over her Omni-tool. Renegade Shepard will squash both of them flat while backlit by the hall light.

"Thane: Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness."
 * Paragon Shepard will actually get Tali to say a few friendly words to Legion; probably the only ones ever uttered between the two species in 300 years.
 * If you bring a nonhuman party member into the plague zone on Omega, they get sick. When you reach Mordin's clinic, he looks up, notes they're sick, and casually makes the infection go away with a press of a button. Beforehand, you knew Mordin was a hell of a doctor, but the fact that he developed a cure specifically for each species that works that fast immediately proves his awesome scientist cred.
 * An option most people probably missed shows up during Samara's loyalty mission..
 * Not as... badass, but a Paragon can just talk them out of the mugging. In under a minute.
 * Speaking of Samara's loyalty mission, when you manage to
 * "Surprise." Female Shep even smirks a little as she says it, as though she's saying "Think you're such a badass? Oh, please." The connotations get even funnier depending on your choice of companionship.
 * Also, there's one precious gem in the VIP lounge if you are playing as a Fem!Shep: You see how a tipsy and huge male turian is harassing one of the exotic dancers and if you decide to call the turian out for it, he tries to make a move for Shepard too. The camera pans slightly so you can't see the two of them and clearly voices of violence are heard from off-screen. Then the turian flies across the screen and Shepard tells him to get out. The turian's facial expression is priceless: "Did I just get my ass handed on a plate by a human female?"
 * If you have the the Kasumi - Stolen Memory DLC pack installed, and your Femshep is wearing the black dress Kasumi gave her, you see the scene play out the same way, only this time Sheppard beats the turian up and launches him across the room while wearing a dress with a low cut cleavage, a short mini-skirt and high-heels, and when you see her again she doesn't have a hair out of place!
 * Another awesome renegade option to get Morinth's attention is to insult the Krogan at the bar. As they exchange a few harsh words, they trade their best intimidating gaze - Renegade Shepard's (especially female Shep!) looks downright predatory.
 * The mission itself. Samara gives Shepard bucketloads of motivation to help hunt down and kill a space vampire Complete Monster. Finding her latest victim however leaves both of them fighting to not just storm where she is.
 * If you saw that scene, you know:

":
 * Paragon Shepard at the end of the game.

Shepard:"


 * It's pretty awesome to hear Shepard rub his/her moral superiority in his face, showing that s/he knows damn well who the good guy is.

"Shepard: "My enemies threaten galaxies. Everyone on my ship has earned their place.""
 * During Thane's loyalty mission, you are tasked with tracking down Resolving the entire situation in four seconds without any complications and showing that good guys don't have to deal with nonsense.
 * The Renegade interrupt is no worse.
 * Firing the Cain. No matter when you use it, no matter who you use it on, and no matter for what reason, every single time you fire the Cain is a moment of pure winsauce.
 * Unless you miss. You're going to hate yourself if you do this when fighting the last boss, who doesn't really inhabit a confined space.
 * Or you blow yourself up.
 * Then it's awesome and hilarious.
 * Special mention to using it on the
 * That's nothing. Bring it along on the final mission. Did you just nuke a thirty-story-tall Mecha-Cthulhu-T-800? Why yes. Yes, I did. In less than a MINUTE.
 * Except on higher difficulty levels.
 * Technically, it takes two shots. Guess how many the fully upgraded Cain holds...
 * 1.9 shots. NOOOOOOO... or did I miss an upgrade?
 * Heavy ordinance packs with all upgrades bring it up to two... barely. Though you can get close if you do miss one, and both fights include at least one heavy ammo pack, which makes it still possible. Though you have to ration your ammunition very carefully in the preceding missions if you want to go by this method...
 * Harbinger drops heavy-weapons ammo during the final fight, and the Revenant machine gun, with accuracy and damage upgrades, is just as effective if not more so.
 * When trying to recruit the Justicar Shepard runs across a volus swindler who lets slip he has a copy of the passcard into a mercenary base. Shepard reacts by cracking knuckles, which is enough to get the swindler to hand it over.
 * The over-arcing CMOA for the Paragon Shepard over the course of two games: if you played as a Paragon in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, it means you have the all backing you up for Mass Effect 3 against the, which, ironically, allows you to tell the Council to fuck off even more than a Renegade Shepard could. Who needs them when I've got friends like these?
 * Not to mention the . Plus, a fully Paragon Shepard could probably convince the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and the Blood Pack to do some Pro Bono work and convince Aria to drag Omega into the war. The Reapers are going down.
 * Learning from Samara that she faced off against Nihlus, the Spectre in the first game who was offed by Saren. Nihlus had killed some civilians for some Spectre related mission, Samara's Justicar code demanded that she kill him. Nihlus not only managed to avoid her initial assault, but in the end actually managed to escape her by pulling a "Friend or Idol?" Decision on her by making her choose between saving an innocent or catching him, basically using her own rules against her. Keep in mind Nihlus was probably only a Spectre at that time for maybe a little long than Shepard was, and Samara is a centuries old warrior with massive biotic powers as well as extensive training. The galaxy lost a DAMN good Spectre on Eden Prime. (Also, I like to think as an added bonus Nihlus gave Shepard posthumous advice on 'What to do if you have to deal with a Justicar' as well...which might be VERY useful if you're playing a Renegade and Samara ends her oath with you.)
 * An understated one on Tuchanka, after completing Grunt's loyalty mission Grunt is inducted into Clan Urdnot. The shaman starts listing off the things Grunt can do now that he's an adult, the last of which is 'you may now serve under a battlemaster'. Grunt's reply: "Shepard is my battlemaster, (s)he has no match." The Shaman's response? A semi-grudging "Indeed." Think about it.
 * If is still alive, this is more meaningful, given Shepard's role in the rise of Clan Urdnot. Given that ...
 * Renegade Shepard staying calm and completely dominating Grunt after opening his tank, even while he has him/her pinned to the wall.

"Grunt: Nothing in the tank imprints indicated that humans could be so forceful. You talk as though you've earned command."
 * This is even more awesome when you realize that Grunt is actually shocked that a human would speak that way to him.

"Grun: Huh... you offer one hand while arming the other. Wise, Shepard."
 * Arguably the Paragon route is just as badass in that scene. Shepard calmly and pleasantly convinces Grunt to accept him as his leader while the latter holds him in a death grip to the wall. Than the camera pans out and shows that while this was happening, Shepard armed himself and had a gun pointing staight at Grunt's chest the whole time. And Grunt didn't even notice until Shepard mentioned it!

"Tali: "I am clan Zorah, crew of the starship Neema, and you, are an idiot.""
 * Tali gets two crowning moments if she's in the party for the "Crime In Progress" assignment. After the volus accusing another quarian of pickpocketing him refers to them as "clanless" one too many times, she'll say;

"Tali: My brain agrees with you. My gut says to jack his suits olfactory filters so that everything smells like refuse!"
 * Then, if Shepard says he's not worth it;

"Garrus: "Remind me never to get on your bad side.""
 * If Garrus is the third party member, he'll speak for us all;

"Shep: (shoving the volus) You falsely accused this girl of stealing from you! All you have to say now is that she COULD have stolen it?
 * Really, bring Tali along and the whole thing becomes one long, glorious Take That against some people's issues with immigrants, right down to the volus dragging out the tired old "And to think my taxes pay to support you!" argument.
 * Shepard isn't exactly a slouch in this scene either. The Paragon interrupt was absolutely perfect. To paraphrase:

Volus: Now just a minute ...

Shep: (grabbing the cop) And you! She gets harassed and insulted by this guy, and you throw in a threat to run her in for vagrancy?

Cop: How about I run you in for obstruction of justice?

Shep: You think you're going to run in a Spectre? I think both of you should get out of here.

Cop: Son of a ...."

"Shepard: NOT ONE MORE!"
 * Able to be seen in all its glory starting at 3:00 and resuming to the end of it at 8:00. If you prefer Femshep, see here.
 * It's even better if you aren't expecting it. If you always picked the top-right dialog choice in the first game, Shepard almost seemed impossible to anger. The shock of seeing a Paragon Shepard just lay into those two is surprising and satisfying.
 * Shepard's speeches (s)he is able to give during the suicide mission are suitably epic, including some powerful music and dramatic finger pointing. Additionally the speech can focus on giving the Collectors some serious payback or focusing on saving lives, depending on if the player is going for Renegade or Paragon.
 * I gotta give it to the Paragon here:

"Shepard: No more running, and no more waiting. Let's hit them where they live."
 * Renegade is equally awesome:

"Shepard: The Council offered to reinstate me as a Spectre. I told them where they could stick it."
 * There are two or three segments to each speech, and you can independantly choose Paragon or Renegade segments of each speech. Starting with Paragon (i.e. Why We're Here) and crescendoing with Renegade (i.e. 'Now let's go kick some ass!') is immensely satisfying.
 * If you're a Renegade who saved the Council in the first game, during their little chat with you in Anderson's office (because, come on, who picked Udina for Councilor?) they dismiss everything you stirred up in the first game and then condescendingly offer to reinstate you as a Spectre, clearly meant to placate Shepard and remove her as an annoyance by sending her back into the Terminus Systems. You can say that you'd be honoured, or tell them to go fuck themselves. Political ramfications be damned, that was easily one of the most satisfying moments of the game, especially when you seem them sputter in outrage.

"Hock: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!
 * This Troper did. He looked at the horrific mess that galactic politics ought to be and thought, "I can't do that do good ol' Anderson!" That was before he learned of the sequel.
 * If you picked Anderson, he complains in the second game that he never wanted to be a politician. It would've been nice if we had more choices than "tired old soldier" and "jackass."
 * Anyone leading the distraction team got one during the suicide mission after the first segment. "Suppressing fire! Don't let anything through that door!"
 * Unless you picked the wrong guy, in which case they don't. Say goodbye to your techie.
 * A loyal Jack or Samara will get one at the end of the barrier sequence. Blowing away every Collector and seeker in the room.
 * The  is somewhat of a CMOA for EDI; before that point she's mostly there for exposition purposes, and then
 * If Jack survives the, as you walk by her as she helps with repairs to the Normandy, she gives you a respectful nod, and you realize she's gone from being an emotionally scarred, near-psychotic sociopath to someone who actually gives a shit about the rest of humanity. You've come a long way, baldy.
 * Kasumi gets one at the end of her loyalty mission.
 * In the same mission, Shepard shutting Hock up by

Shepard: Do I have your attention now?"

"Garrus: The Collectors and all it did was piss you off. I can't imagine that they'll stop you this time."
 * Hell, anytime Kasumi uses Shadow Strike is awesome. Watching this little Japanese girl punch a Humongous Mecha in the back never gets old.
 * In the suicide mission, if you choose Jacob to lead a distraction team, Miranda will say something about how he'll finally be able to prove he is able to command. Yes, his first command job comes in a battle to save all sentient life in the galaxy. Even considering the fact he's in charge of the B-team that fights off-screen, that is awesome.
 * What makes it better is that Jacob is one of the right choices. He succeeds in his first command job in a battle to save all sentient life in the galaxy!
 * I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this one. At one point during the game before the suicide mission, if you ask Garrus his opinion on the success of the mission, his response really drives home the fact that you are literally too important to be allowed to 

"Zaeed: And what's going to keep me from blowing you away in your sleep?
 * The end of Zaeed's loyalty mission. If, you get this:

Shepard: You know that's not gonna happen. You're a badass, Zaeed. But remember who you're talking to."

"I'll relinquish one bullet. [others draw their weapons] Where do you want it?"
 * Shepard knows and lampshades that s/he's the biggest badass of them all.
 * Okay not strictly from the game itself but... this and this are pretty CM for Mass Effect cosplay. Though it'd probably be better called special effect artists play dress up.
 * Shepard is asked to hand over whatever weapons s\he has when visiting Purgatory prison.

"Shepard: You even think about coming after, and this bullet will be waiting for you! THEN we'll see who's "too valuable!""
 * Observing Wrex's political savvy on Tuchanka. If you compare his actions to Urdnot Wreav's there's no question who the greater warlord is.
 * After Mordin's mission, Shepard had decimated Clan Weyrloc; Wreav used that to just wipe out the rest of the clan. Wrex took in the women and children and made them part of HIS tribe.
 * He turned down a possible cure for the genophage because the experiments on living krogan were too cruel. Keep in mind, a genophage cure would be the "I win" button for any krogan clan. Wrex turned it down on ETHICAL standards.
 * He invited a small, mildly weak (by Krogan standards), clan into his inner circle. Why? Because the clan has a direct lineage to a legendary krogan warrior and he can use the name to bolster his own ranks.
 * Clan Urdnot has a rather talent scientist who was very good at making things that went boom. What is Wrex having him work on now? Crops, irrigation, farming, and medicine.
 * Wreav just gives grudging permission for Grunt to take the rite and join Urdnot just to gain a new warrior. Wrex lets Grunt decide for himself if he wishes to join Urdnot, praises him when he says yes, and welcomes him into the clan after the rite with near fatherly pride. (More so if Grunt and Shep killed the Thresher Maw. He's actually amused that someone upset his record as the only one to do it.)
 * Wrex and a female established an actual neutral ground. On Tuchanka. They created, with his own hands and in two years, the equivalent of a snowman in the Sahara...and kept it from melting.
 * One for Harbinger, at the beginning no less. But when we see how Dangerously Genre Savvy Harbinger is with the obliteration of the Normandy and Shepard's death at the beginning, it's hard not to be impressed. Sure, it didn't work out exactly the way Harbinger wanted it, but it shows why the Reapers have been the top dogs for millions of years.
 * Grunt's defiance of Gatatog Uvenk near the end of his loyalty mission.
 * The entire Overlord DLC was a Crowning 5 missions of awesome. Easily the best DLC in franchise history (until "Lair of the Shadow Broker" see below).
 * Special mention goes to the Paragon interrupt at the very end...
 * The entire Paragon ending of Overlord is equal parts this and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, both due to the above, and because its one of the only instances in the series where Paragon Shepard is clearly enraged.

""I'll let you have him, but..." *WHACK* "You're a sick bastard. The only reason you're getting off this floor alive is because this project might prevent a war. You better make damn sure this nightmare was worth all the pain.""
 * Badass and Good Is Not Nice indeed.
 * Not many would have seen the renegade ending where Shepard gives up David, but it is no less awesome.

"Broker: It's pointless to challenge me, asari. I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark.
 * At the end of the first mission, Shepard and his/her team destroy the satellite dish to prevent the VI from uploading itself off-world by destroying its supports from the inside. This unbalances the entire dish and causes it to slowly start tipping over. To get out, Shepard and his/her squad run up the inside of the dish and leap from the edge onto a narrow walkway. Did I mention all this is taking place on a cliffside, very high above the ground?
 * Ahh, where to begin with 'Lair of the Shadow Broker.'
 * Liara T'Soni, formerly a meek, quiet asari scientist, taking about seven levels in badass. When you first meet her, she's threatening a recalcitrant client by channeling Matriarch Benezia. It only gets better from there on out, culminating in her Shut UP, Hannibal to the Shadow Broker himself, transitioning seamlessly into a Hannibal Lecture of her very own.

Liara: Is that right? You're a This base is older than your planet's discovery, so I'm guessing you killed the original Shadow Broker 60 years ago, then took his place. I'm guessing that you were taken from your homeworld by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave - *smirks* or a pet. How am I doing?

Broker: *Beat* *Villainous Breakdown*"

""I sacrificed hundreds of human lives to save the Destiny Ascension!"
 * It becomes even more awesome when, after the fight
 * A high speed chase in the middle of Illium rush hour traffic.
 * Hunting down
 * The fight with said Spectre is ridiculously awesome if your Shep is also a Vanguard...
 * Hell it's awesome even if s/he isn't a Vanguard.
 * Shepard tackling and wrestling.
 * gets her own moment of awesome. After Shepard tackles her out the window, she manages to biotic kick him/her into the ground, stunning him/her. You heard me.
 * Not to mention how Shepard handles that hostage situation that comes up.
 * Especially the Paragon Badass Boast

""

"So for your sake, hope your escape plan doesn't hinge on me hesitating to shoot a damn hostage!""


 * The Intimidate option is just as cool: Shepard annoys said Spectre with faux Fantastic Racism
 * Walking across the hull of a spaceship in the middle of a planetary wide lightning storm.
 * One of the videos you can watch on the Shadow Broker's ship shows Kalisah al-Jilani getting an uppercut from a krogan. Another video shows her kicked by a volus. Other videos show the asari bartender on Illium headbutting a krogan, and attacking a volus with biotics. Anderson shoots a krogan and punches Udina. Gavorn on Omega kills a couple of vorcha with a grenade.
 * Admiral Hackett gets one in his dossier. Some Alliance officer sent him a proposal to take Shepard into custody and interrogate him/her about Cerberus. The proposal is a page long. Hackett's response? Two words: "Request denied."
 * He also gets one of these off camera
 * Admiral Hackett gets one in his dossier. Some Alliance officer sent him a proposal to take Shepard into custody and interrogate him/her about Cerberus. The proposal is a page long. Hackett's response? Two words: "Request denied."
 * He also gets one of these off camera

"Shepard: I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you. I'm getting a lot of bullshit on this line."
 * gets one if you bring her along. The Shadow Broker will comment that he finds it odd that Liara brought "the Justicar" along, given her "". This implies that even he doesn't know that . That's right -  is so goddamn convincing she even fooled the goddamn Shadow Broker.
 * You also learn how Mordin killed with farming equipment: He stabbed a krogan through the eye with a pitchfork.
 * Garrus' dossier lists an assortment of awesomely ironic deaths for various criminals on Omega, i.e. sabotoging a sabotuer's environment suit so he suffocated, killing a weapons smuggler with a smuggled weapon, etc. but the very best? Garrus confronting a quarian serial killer whose weapon of choice was viruses...and killing him by coughing at him.
 * And let's not forget the batarian drug dealer who died of red sand overdose due to direct contact with all four eyes, implying that Garrus pressed his face into the stuff.
 * The Shadow Broker himself gets one. He's a member of a very violent, aggressive species, even more so than the krogan. And he managed to kill the original Shadow Broker and manage his network for who knew how long!
 * It's stated to be 60 years - still impressive!
 * He also has a dossier on the Illusive Man, of all people. You know, the guy who's supposed to be so untrackable that he's actually called the Illusive Man. The Shadow Broker monitors him so closely that he even knows what suit he's wearing and what food he eats.
 * During the final mission I was fighting through the Collectors and used Morinth's Dominate on a random Collector, at the exact same time I heard "Assuming Direct Control," shortly after Harbinger said "If I must tear you apart Shepard I will" then he turned around and destroyed half the Collectors I was fighting. That's right, Morinth is so powerful she can outwill a Reaper.
 * The golden ending of Mass Effect 2. Basically Shepard does what is said to be a total suicide mission and completes it without losing ANY of his/her people. S/he effectively wiped out an entire slave race in an utter Curb Stomp Battle and gave a giant middle finger to the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Again. Badass!!
 * Paragon Shepard's Renegade response to The Illusive Man's angry, "You're making a habit of costing me more than time and money" after destroying the Collector Base.

"TIM: I should have known you'd choke at the harsh decisions, too idealistic from the start!
 * Better yet, that ending's final Renegade remark:

Shepard: I know what you are, and the price of working with you! Harbinger is coming, humanity needs a leader who's looking out for them! You can either fall in line or step aside, but don't get in my way!"

"Shepard: You get the help you deserve."
 * Even the initial Paragon response is subtly awesome;

"Ronald: You can't do this, you don't know what they'll do to me.
 * There's one in the background information of a planet you go near while heading towards the derelict Reaper. The people that fired that mass accelerator weapon managed to KILL A REAPER. Sure, they were probably wiped out either when the weapon fired or after the Reapers figured out what had happened, but still. Hell of a way to go.
 * This is a game play moment rather than a cut scene. But when you manage to beat down a krogan with your. Bare. Hands! Double points if you do it on Insanity.
 * This troper did it to Blood Pack leader Garm before he could reach Archangel/ . Granted he wasn't really firing back much but my jaw dropped the moment he fell.
 * Shepard's punches do more damage than bullets. Let that sink in for a moment. Firing away with a pistol is the harder method, (biotically) charging in and beating them to death is easier.
 * When Joker makes his way to the A.I. Core to flush the airlocks & clear the Normandy of the Reapers. If you talk to Zaeed afterwards, he not only says that he's impressed with Joker for managing to do that, but that if he had Joker's "glass bones" & had to do that, he'd literally be in pieces right now. That's right, the badass mercenary says that Joker is more of a badass than he is.
 * Jacob's loyalty mission has a particularly awesome and powerful moment if you choose to go with the Renegade approach to bringing  to justice. After spending several minutes chewing him out for his crimes, Jacob hands him a pistol, at half-charge. At his incredulous response, Jacob simply says " " Nothing else needs to be said.
 * Given what Ronald Taylor did (as pointed out straight out of a Richard Laymon novel) the neutral option; leaving him to be torn apart by the people he'd had poisoned and hunted down, works a treat as well. As do the replies from the third squadmate at his protests.

Jack: We can guess.

Mordin: Untrue. Just do not care.

Zaeed: We just don't give a shit.

Legion: Anger increases. Creativity of organics. It will be interesting to observe their efforts."

""Must be a glitch, says the sedatives are wearing off...oh, shit, it's not a glitch!""
 * "Arrival." Good job,, you're Dangerously Genre Savvy, what with.
 * What's that? You've ? Good idea, except  . Best summed up with the doctor's statement:

"Enemy Soldier on Intercom: Shepard's tearing us apart."
 * Well, at least you've got several heavily armed and armored guards in the room to deal with - oh, wait,
 * Thankfully, you've got a small army of soldiers ready to...defend...the Project....Nevermind.

": Shepard, you have become an annoyance."
 * Finally, Shepard's awesome conversation with where s/he admits that the galaxy probably can't beat them, but that they will fight and make them work to wipe them out.
 * Another part of that conversation this troper liked is that  who has refused to acknowledge to Shepard that s/he's made any kind of difference says this.

"Miranda: "You'll die for that, bitch!""
 * Taking out all five waves in the battle by Object Rho. This nets an achievement/trophy, and is a testament to how fucking BADASS Shepard is if the player pulls it off. The Indoctrinated Project members realize that they aren't capable of taking Shepard down and call in a Heavy Mech...which Shepard, despite bad cover and dwindling ammo supplies, promptly destroys. The only reason Shepard loses is that Object Rho knocks him/her out.
 * The entirety of Jack's escape from Purgatory. You see this little, tattooed girl come out of the cryo pod, then she rips off her metal restraints, kills three Humongous Mecha robots by ripping them to shreds, and smashes through the nearest wall. Yes, Shepard started it, but Jack was the real star of that show.
 * Begging your pardon, but there where four Ymir Mechs in that room (granted, one of them was beneath the observation deck, so you don't see that one until you enter her room.
 * The backstory of a planet gets one. What did they do in a Reaper invasion? Give the Reapers a great big "UP YOURS!" by firing a cannon so big that it not only tore a giant crack in a nearby planet, but actually managed to kill a Reaper!
 * If you didn't hit it off with any of the love interests by the time you hit the Omega 4 Relay, Miranda confirms with you if you're ready or not to head to the Collectors. Regardless of your choice of dialogue, she assures you she believes you're up to the task and gives you a salute for the very first time, signifying her level of trust and respect for you. Considering this is the resident Cerberus loyalist and ice queen of the team we're talking about, this is a HUGE awesome moment for Miranda and Shepard.
 * "I'll relinquish one bullet. Where do you want it?"
 * On my playthrough of the suicide mission, I entered the Omega 4 relay immediately after the crew was captured so I had time to save them. After seeing that one colonist get...pulped my Shepard started yelling for the team to get the crew out of the pods. While most of my team looked for the controls to open up the pods, Mordin didn't waste any time and immediately began to smash the glass on the pods with the butt of his gun. Badass Bookworm indeed.
 * Grunt, being Grunt, simply grabs the nearest pod and rips it out of its socket by main strength. But it gets better -- if Grunt is dead or otherwise missing, Jacob gets this move instead.
 * During Miranda's loyalty mission, if you interrupt and spare Niket, he will immediately get killed by Captain Enyala, then Miranda picks her up with biotics and throws away. Awesome. Much more awesome when you realise it's a HUMAN biotically slamming one of famous ASARI COMMANDOS.

Mass Effect 3
"Grunt:I. AM. KROGAN!!"
 * The entire turian species gets one if you read the Codex page for the Battle of Palaven. With only fifteen minutes warning the turian admiral in charge came up with a plan to defend his homeworld. They used the Reapers' size against them by using a precision FTL jump to land behind the Reaper fleet. The codex says that they managed to destroy several of the Reaper capital ships, the kind of dreadnoughts that took the combined Alliance 5th fleet and Citadel Defence Fleet to bring down even after Sovereign had lost much of his power when you killed robot-Saren.
 * Gets even bigger when you read the section about the ground war. The Reapers arrive at Palaven in full force, destroy cities with their capital ships and land hordes of husks. All the codex has to say is that "Much of the turian fleet is still operable, and the citizenry is heavily armed. The turians refuse to be intimidated."
 * Every time one of your Paragon decisions from the earlier games pays off.
 * Either seeing it in person, or reading about it like
 * Hell, anytime a Renegade decision pays off, from a previous game or from this one. Bioware understands that Good Is Not Nice.
 * Thane vs Kai Leng. Kai Leng and Shepard's squad are circling each other with the Salarian councilor trapped in the middle...and then Thane appears out of nowhere with his gun pointed at Leng's head. He proceeds to hold his own against Cerberus's cyborg poster boy despite being a Dead Man Walking (three months to live nine months ago), at one point launching him across the room with a biotic punch. One has to wonder how badly that would have gone for Leng if Thane had been at his peak. Thane even has a moment to laugh at the moment, "The assassin should be embarrassed, he lost his mark because of a terminally ill Drell."
 * Making this even more impressive is that, with the exception of Thane's modest biotic abilities, everything he pulls off is through skill, experience, and physical fitness, against an opponent who is both incredibly skilled and augmented with the best cybernetics Cerberus can afford.
 * Tying into that is if you take the Renegade interrupt after your own (successful) fight with Kai Leng - Shepard  
 * This scene is all the more satisfying if you romanced Thane. The killer of Shep's lover has been brought to justice at last.
 * If you play as a biotic or vanguard Shepard, the same scene follows... which means that
 * The Codex states that everyone always had Omni-Blades, it was just considered a rather useless weapon, and never used by anyone until the Reapers invaded (with their melee-oriented Husks).
 * Oddly enough,  someone else takes the shot for the Councilor...   Not as flashy, but just as poignant. He held the line.
 * Grunt, if you choose to save the, will choose to do an epic You Shall Not Pass moment to hold off a small army of Ravagers by himself. He charges into them, shooting and punching and kicking and beating, before  . Weep those Manly Tears for the greatest krogan warrior ever to live.  . The best part of it all is the music during this scene: while Grunt is fighting off the Ravagers, the music is quiet and sad, a piano solo that confirms that our hero is fighting his final, doomed battle. And when   Needs to be seen to believed.
 * Adding to that
 * From the same mission, you can see Grunt's squad pinned down by a group of Husk's. Grunt proceeds to grab a Ravenger, lift it completely over his head, and fling it into a chasm. What does he saw while doing this?

"Sovereign: We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world."
 * A little early (at the time of this Troper's entry), but if you weren't overcome by the sheer awesome of how in ME 3's debut trailer, you need to rethink your place in life.
 * Awesome? Try horror. But, from a gamer's perspective, yes. BioWare is certainly going to conclude the trilogy with a bang. Or several. How many Reapers are there, anyway?

"Shepard: "Wrex! Do we have mawsign?"
 * The last few seconds of the trailer are pure win. Shepard looks out over Earth under siege, he turns towards the screen and as he walks towards it and the N7 logo lights up, his theme kicks in, and you know that asses are about to be kicked. Pure, Epic, Win.
 * Reaper vs. Thresher Maw. They are riding out to complete another mission but have to contend with a Reaper tank, all hope seems lost. Shepard is forced to go on foot when the Krogan convoy is taken out, travelling through an ancient Krogan city talking about the Thresher Maw to end all THRESHER MAW's on Tuchanka. When conversing with Wrex about it, they realize that Tuchanka is its' home too and won't like a Reaper stomping around. So, as shown during Grunt's rite of passage, they decide to summon the Thresher Maw and point it at the Reaper. The end result is insane. Shepard is literally running underfoor of the giant sentient spaceship trying to hit him with a beam of molten metal fired approaching the speed of light. He dodges and weaves through the incoming fire, avoids things that pop out of the ground too fast for you to even get a good look at them, and then narrowly avoids being stepped on by the Reaper. Then the drums are sounded, and you know the Maw is angry. The Maw lunges out of the ground and tackles the Reaper, wrestling for a minute before the Reaper gets an angle to shoot at it, only to miss because it went under ground again. Then it resurfaces and wraps itself around the Reaper, crushing it and dragging the thing underground. James Vega gets it right pretty early in the video: "Holy shit!"
 * ...Shai-Hulud.

Wrex: "Shepard, we have mawsign the likes of which even Reapers have never seen!""

"Thresher Maw: WELCOME TO TUCHANKA MOTHERFUCKER!"
 * An extra layer of awesome is added if Shepherd has the Sole Survivor origin. This scene is basically his/her two biggest enemies fighting each other.
 * As one comment on Youtube put it:

"Garrus Vakarian: "When the Krogan name a Thresher Maw, you know you're in trouble. They don't think anyone is ever going to kill it.""
 * This moment is even better in the game, as the Thresher Maw is identified as Kalros, Mother of all Thresher Maws. Garrus puts it best:

"Committee Member: What can we do?
 * It Gets Better,
 * The brief dialogue at the end of the E3 trailer, between Shepard and the Defense Committee:

Shepard: The only thing we can do: We fight or we die!"

"Shepard: "Tell your friends we're coming for them." [Another orbital strike finishes the Reaper off] "Never mind. I'll tell them myself.""
 * Shepard is basically saying, "I went through all nine levels of hell to give you three years to come up with a plan! You wasted it debating whether or not there was even a threat! All we have time for now is not go down without a fight! Now get off your useless asses and fight, Obstructive Bureaucrats!"
 * While several of the fans lament the unfitting ending, My one biggest disappointment with Mass Effect 3 was that there was no way to actually utter a line like the above to the council, or call them out in any way for their obstructive and collective stupidity over 3 games, and how many lives have been lost due to their shortsightedness.
 * Par for the trope, the Normandy's Gunship Rescue as Shepard escapes Earth with Anderson.
 * Anderson actually volunteers to stay behind on Earth and help the surviving humans. This alone is pure awesome for that man.
 * Shepard now has an up-close melee weapon capable of one-hit kills. And those kills are probably all going to be bad-ass.
 * In regards to the Omni-Blade: Every class has it, the Sentinel class dual wields Omni-Blades, and the Engineer has one coated with burning hot plasma. Bad-ass!
 * And if you're a Vanguard or Adept, you swap out the Omni-Blade for a Biotic Punch!
 * Said one-hit kills are called Grabs. If you and an enemy are on opposite sides of cover you can pull him over it, lay him out and end him with an omni-blade through the face. Now, krogan characters are a walking Awesome Moment in multiplayer, but they get Crazy Awesome when you realize they don't have omni-blades. That's right - you're executing people with a single punch.
 * A video at E3 shows Shepard at a geth base. You call in the Normandy to blow up a base, but then discover it's actually a Reaper. A Reaper who's now a little annoyed at you. You run onto a small ship piloted by Legion, and start running away with the Reaper running after you, as you fire at it from a turret on the top of the ship. You stay away long enough for the quarian fleet in orbit to fire on the Reaper, apparently hurting it. Then it gets back up. Holy crap, this will not be easy.
 * In the actual game, the orbital strike hits the firing chamber and does put it down, but the jamming signal means the fleet can't target precisely enough to hit the weak spot on purpose. Shepard's solution? Sync the target painter to the entire flotilla and face the Reaper on foot. Repeat: you aim a laser at it for the quarian fleet to fire at from orbit. You need to do this four times. The last time, the thing is right on top of you.
 * Take the Renegade option when Shepard talks to the dying Reaper afterward and take the Renegade Interrupt. Shepard pulls out the laser again and aims at the Reaper's eye.

""Women.""
 * The Special Forces trailer. Its like Commander Shepard has an army of the most well trained soldiers in the galaxy, second only to his elite team, ready to clean up the remnants of the Reaper forces after he's done.
 * During the second demo mission, you help Mordin  get an important Krogan female off the Salarian homeworld. After you've held off the   forces attacking you,

"Garrus: How do I not have one of those?!"
 * During the mission on Sur'Kesh, Shepard can run into Captain (now Major) Kirrahe, who, when forces deploy heavy armor forces and drone guns, he blows them up with a sticky grenade launcher. By himself. Garrus wants to know where he can get a cool toy like that.

"Go on. Make your noise. Try to scare us.
 * You can get one a little bit later in the mission. It is just as awesome as it looks in that cutscene.
 * Mass Effect 3's launch trailer sells it for us just like Mass Effect 2 yet again, with an incredible soundtrack, amazing visuals and fantastic directing all around. It all feels like the ending of a saga, but makes you prepared to make the final march to save the galaxy. Be careful, Shepards.
 * The incredible soundtrack? Titled Protectors of the Earth
 * Heartbreaking as the ending is, these tweets from Emily Wong as she comes to the end of her livetweeting the Reaper invasion:

You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed."

"Shepard: I'm sorry.
 * Another, more subtle one for Emily. Her live reporting provided a treasure trove of intel on how the Reapers operate. There's no telling how many lives she might save.
 * Even if it is at the expense of Shepard,
 * Two words:
 * Wrex's quote to oncoming as Shepard and his squadmates get ready to hurry to cure the
 * Mordin to get the  into Tuchanka's . His responsibility.

Mordin:"

"Victus: Victory... at any cost."
 * Conrad saving the life of Shepard, could wind up as a Heroic Sacrifice or a subtle Big Damn Heroes moment when the Cerberus contact tries to kill Shepard (who no longer travels across the citadel in armor but rather casual outfits).
 * Lieutenant Victus, son of the Turian Primarch, gives his life to disable the Cerberus bomb  threatening to destroy a high population center in Tuchanka. His sacrifice gives Shepard valuable time to solidify an alliance between the Turian and Krogan states.
 * Lieutenant Victus, son of the Turian Primarch, gives his life to disable the Cerberus bomb  threatening to destroy a high population center in Tuchanka. His sacrifice gives Shepard valuable time to solidify an alliance between the Turian and Krogan states.

"Reapers: Shepard will fail, they have no cha- OH SHIT! HOW DO WE STOP HIM/HER?!"
 * A seemingly random minor sidequest on the Citadel to track down someone using batarian diplomatic codes can end with Balak, villain of Bring Down The Sky having a gun pointed at the back of Shepard's head, blaming Shepard for the destruction of the batarian civilization. Shepard can then convince Balak to not only put the gun away but to add his fleet to Shepard's cause. Let me repeat that: Shepard entered a situation with a gun to the back of his/her head by an enemy s/he personally defeated and who blames Shepard for the death of his society, and Shepard turns him to his/her side.
 * Or, if you don't have the Reputation chops (or just hate the murdering SOB that much), you can casually knock the gun out of his hand and blow him away. Pay Evil Unto Evil, indeed.
 * During the final part of the Rannoch mission, . If your heart isn't pounding at that point you're not alive.
 * Since when does Shepard care about danger close?
 * A Renegade Interrupt involves Shepard approaching Han'Gerrel, the quarian admiral who was gung ho about starting a war with the geth in Mass Effect 2, was one of the ones who pushed for the war with the geth to start now, in the middle of the Reaper invasion, and then opened fire on the geth ship where Shepard was on a mission to and destroying it just before Shepard could escape, and punching him in the gut for his reckless endangerment of Shepard, demanding he get the hell off the ship.
 * Even a Paragon Shepard would be tempted to take that option. Recklessly endangering civilians and/or Shepard's squad are two things you should definitely never do when s/he's around. Combined with the Paragon interrupt you get with Xen a few minutes later, it gives the impression that Jesus Shep has finally had enough of this crap.
 * Best Interrupt in the game (even more than  -
 * Alternatively,
 * Alternatively-alternatively -
 * And for all the flak that Mark Meer gets for not being as good as Jennifer Hale, his delivery of that line was spot-on.
 * Speaking of Hale, she does the first line particularly ruthlessly, perfect for.
 * Another alternative? Don't take the interrupt.
 * But let's be honest here - this Renegade Interrupt was on par with the "Hug Tali" interrupt in Mass Effect 2 - there wasn't a single person that wasn't mashing the "Kick the Son of a Bitch" button at that point.
 * The war to retake Earth is on par with the battle of freaking-Armageddon. With enough planning you hit your cybergod enemies with the might of an entire galaxy. This is the scene that each player had been working towards for 3 games, 100+ hours, and five years. Truly, it is the battle for all time.
 * The visual confirmation is the cutscene as you bring the armada into the Sol system. T-minus 30 seconds to drop-out of FTL. Out of the Mass Relay pops the Normandy...then a few dozen Alliance battleships. Then more Turian ships.Then a few Live Ships, hundreds of geth and quarian ships, several asari dreadnoughts, including the Destiny Ascension, more turian gunships than countable, and entire fleets of single-man fighters. Every star in the sky is an ally.
 * Unfortunately the score hardly does the scene credit. Instead I might suggest syncing it to Suicide Mission, which matches up almost perfectly.
 * Someone actually did this and edited out the dialogue. It makes a fantastic scene even better. Check it out.
 * Particularly that the way the Reapers literally double-take, almost seems to suggest that the following is crossing their mind;
 * Particularly that the way the Reapers literally double-take, almost seems to suggest that the following is crossing their mind;

""Stand fast, stand strong, stand together. Hackett out.""
 * The final run to the teleportation tower leading to . Hammer forces have to cross a large space of open ground, hoping that at least some will make it through and enable the fleet to make the final strike against the Reapers, and so spread out to make a massed charge of vehicles and soldiers on foot. Knowing the vulnerability of the tower, Harbinger himself lands next to it and starts shooting everything with his giant lasers meant to destroy dreadnoughts in a single hit. With the assault force disintegrating around him/her, Shepard keeps running for the tower, eventually getting hit by the laser. Satisfied, Harbinger flies away... but Shepard gets back up with serious injuries, his/her power armor effectively reduced to slag, and keeps limping for the final 20 meters, retrieving a pistol on the way. Shepard even manages to kill a few husks and a Marauder, despite being shot without any shielding or armor, before collapsing on the teleportation pad.
 * Hackett's Rousing Speech at the beginning of the final battle.

"We are not your slaves."
 * Samara's daughters at the  Morinth, you are no longer Samara's strongest and greatest daughter.

"Dying Reaper: Shepard?!
 * A renegade Shepard can deliver a Shut UP, Hannibal to a Reaper by ordering the entire Quarian fleet to fire right on it's face.
 * During the mission to save the Cerberus Scientist defectors, Shepard gets taken down by mech while trying to get to the escape shuttle. Cue Jacob jumping out the shuttle to save Shepard, taking out several Cerberus Soldiers and the same mech with just an Assault Rifle, all the while suffering from a bullet in the gut.
 * The Rannoch Missions
 * Shepard taking down the Reaper on Rannoch and their subsequent conversation firmly cements Shepard's status as The Dreaded.
 * Shepard taking down the Reaper on Rannoch and their subsequent conversation firmly cements Shepard's status as The Dreaded.

Shepard: You know who I am?

Dying Reaper: Harbinger speaks of you."

"Shepard: Tell your friends we're coming for them.
 * Depending on your choices in the conversation, Shepard can take a Paragon or Renegade interrupt. Paragon involves giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, during which Shepard shoots down the Reaper's claim that the Reapers are preserving the long since harvested races by pointing out that those races supposedly preserved are still dead. Renegade has Shepard pull out the targetting laser once again.

[The Normandy & Quarian Fleet fire another artillary strike & kill the Reaper]

Shepard: Never mind, I'll tell them myself."

"Shepard: You've always stood true to what you believe in. I admire that most about you. Trust your gut, Kaidan."
 * Heavy weapon use is dialed down a bit in 3 - instead of carrying them with you, you tend to find them on specific missions and can only use them there. During the siege on London in the endgame, the Cain makes a triumphant return Click...BOOM.
 * Even better - . And considering if, it's a hell of a dose of Laser-Guided Karma.
 * At Huerta Memorial Hospital, you can overhear a PTSD-stricken asari explain what happened to her. She was on a human colony and was staying with some farmers and using their shower when Reaper forces arrived. She fled and took the farmers' daughter with her... who then proceeded to
 * What do you expect? It was Joker's sister.
 * Is there such a thing as Fridge Awesome? Because... if she was Joker's sister, she might have had Vrolik syndrome just like he does. She does end up breaking her leg... And nobody ever says she doesn't have it. Just makes her accomplishment this much more badass. Though Vrolik's syndrome is supposed to be extremely rare, so it's not likely.
 * When everyone is slow to believe Shepard's claims that  Then, after three games of apathy and condescending bullshit, the Asari councilor finally points out that they haven't trusted Shepard before and each time it has come back and bitten them in the ass. I don't care how small the moment was, I fucking earned it.
 * To make it even better, if you've talked things out with Ashley/Kaidan, she/he will make the decision to trust you and Hear that? That was the sound of all the leftover trust issues from Horizon shattering.
 * Even if you have not spoken to them, you can still pull out the charm, provided you still have some clout with them. A Renegade choice will have you tell them you would regret shooting them for the rest of your life, but you would do it if you had to, and that the ball is in their court. Paragon, however, will have Shepard tell Ashley/Kaidan that they know in their heart Shepard is right, that they always do the right thing, no matter what, and they need to trust their own instincts. And either way, they put the gun down.

"Xen: This is a fascinating prototype. With some study, I may be able to use it to find a weakness in the Geth consensus.
 * Not just that, but the memetic jerkass Councilor Sparatus (Ah, yes. "Reapers") personally thanking Shepard. His tone just sounds so sincere.
 * The Illusive Man gets one in an archived video at Cerberus Headquarters. . He often looks like a callous bastard and he's extreme even for a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but you get the sense he wants to feel every sacrifice done in Humanity's name.
 * Talking TIM into killing himself at the ending. Another indoctrinated pawn of the Reapers falls at the Citadel, much like Saren.
 * Shooting him yourself is just as satisfying.
 * Anderson leading the anti-Reapers resistance. Sure, you don't see much of it, but you still see the result: Earth is one of the first planets attacked, Humanity's homeworld takes the brunt of the Reapers' wrath, its main cities are destroyed within days if not hours, yet Anderson manages to mount a resistance movement, reorganize the Humans living outside the cities efficiently enough that not only does Earth resist until the very end of the game (after Thessia has gone silent and Palaven has been abandonned by Turians who cannot both defend their homeworld and prepare to escort the Crucible anymore), but Anderson has managed, with no help from the outside to prepare a final assault agains the Reaper beam in London. He's like Churchill, John Connor, and Garibaldi defending Montevideo all rolled into one.
 * Bilal's last stand.
 * From Glyph you hear the story of a colony that chose to nuke itself rather than be indoctrinated.
 * The "Eye of the Hurricane" achievement; or rather, killing a Brute as it charges at Shepard? Badass. Try killing a Brute as it charges at Shepard, by using the Biotic Charge.
 * You want even more awesome? Do that in multiplayer with you squishy level 20 character and no Bullet Time.
 * According to Xbox World: Shepard gets to pilot a fifteen-foot tall Cerberus mech. I repeat, Shepard gets to pilot a fifteen-foot tall Cerberus mech!
 * Even better... it's called the Atlas mech!
 * How about the final fight? Shepard's team completely alone defending their last missiles, while the rest of hammer is falling, and any victorious reaper forces going against you, the only things you can hear are the banshee's screams, and the sound of the reaper's beam and scream. And then, if you hadn't enough with too many banshees for your own good, the reaper destroyers starts targeting you. And only then the music starts.
 * Renegade Shepherd's speech convincing
 * Paragon Shepard's interrupt when Admiral Xen starts talking about how she wants to run tests on Legion:

Shepard: Legion helped me in the fight against the Collectors.

Xen: So did your pistol. Should we show concern for it's feelings as well?

Shepard: (interrupting) I don't think you want to continue this line of thought, Admiral. Legion is my friend, and more importantly, he's our best source of information on the Geth.

Xen: The scientific benefits-

Shepard: Are off the table."

"Eve: I can handle myself Wrex.
 * This scene becomes doubly awesome if you just took the Renegade interrupt to  It seems, especially with Jennifer Hale's truly pissed-off sounding voice acting, that Shepard is practically saying "You want some too, bitch?!"
 * Eve, full stop. All we've seen among the Krogan are bloodthirsty idiots. Wrex is Gandhi by comparison, but Eve - it seems that she is the real leader of the Krogan. To wit, she made the most subtle power grab in the galaxy and almost no one saw it. She accepted Wrex's plan to consolidate all the females - and in doing so, she turned the genophage into a biological Lysistrata Gambit. She's clearly intelligent, has no use for bullshit, and is willing to let the male Krogans play their games. She also knows why the Salarians and Council created the genophage, and won't repeat that mistake again. She may allow the Krogans to regenerate en masse to fight the Reapers, but she broadly hints that she's going to make sure the Krogan limit their reproduction (and generally, mothers don't want to deal with a dozen kids anyway.)
 * To say nothing of Eve snatching away Wrex's shotgun during the rescue, uses it to mow down two Cerberus shock troopers, and then tosses the shotgun back at Wrex and mocking his overly polite chivalry at the same time. Also doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.

Wrex: Women."

"Eve: We can stay here and let old wounds fester, as krogan have always done. Or we can fight the enemy we were born to destroy, and forge a new future for our children! I choose to fight. Who will join me?!"
 * With just one word she stopped a bloodbath between the male Urdnots. Then she united them against the Reapers.

"Boy: Did all that really happen?
 * Say what you will about the endings, but The Stinger, where the trilogy is implied to have been a story an old man identified as "Stargazer" is telling his grandson, blew my mind when I realized the old man is voiced by Buzz Aldrin!

Stargazer: Yes, but some of the details have been lost in time. It all happened so very long ago.

Boy: When can I go to the stars?

Stargazer: One day, my sweet.

Boy: What will be there?

Stargazer: Anything you can imagine. Our galaxy has billions of stars. Each of those stars could have many worlds. Every world could be home to a different form of life. And every life is a special story of its own.

Boy: Tell me another story about the Shepard.

Stargazer: It's getting late but, okay… one more story."

"Cerberus Trooper: HOLY SHIT! IT'S SHEPARD!"
 * Speak to Kirrahe before going into the STG labs. He promises Shepard that, regardless of the decisions of the politicians, the salarian STG will help when called. Particularly if you later  pissing off Dalatrass Linron and causing her to revoke the official salarian support for the fleet to retake Earth, seeing an entire branch of the salarian military essentially telling their leaders Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right is pretty damn awesome.
 * Cerberus are revealed to be semi-huskified and heavily indoctrinated. Check out their reaction to Shepard showing up on Mars;


 * Now realise that Shepard is actually scaring the hell out of people who can no longer think or feel anything for themselves.
 * There's another, even more badass possibility. There is a theory that indoctrination sometimes causes the victims to express the Reaper's feelings as their own (many fans think that Saren's uncharacteristic fury on finding out that Shepard had found the beacon on Eden Prime was actually Sovereign's rage rather than his own,) which makes you wonder whether HOLY SHIT! IT'S SHEPARD is actually the Reapers' reaction to seeing him/her! The dying Reaper Shepard talks to on Rannoch explicitly states that "Harbinger speaks of you", which is probably the closest thing to an open admission that they're scared of Shepard we'll ever get from the Reapers, so maybe the reaction of the indoctrinated victims is what the Reapers really feel.
 * The appropriately named "Miracle of Palaven." Once Shepard resolves the Krogan/Turian dispute, the Krogan hold up their part of the bargain and dedicate their infantry for the cause, letting the Turian fleets be redeployed elsewhere. For awhile, reports state that even with Korgan support, they're losing ground...until the Miracle appears in your Codex. Krogan and Turian commandos smuggle in several ship-busting bombs and volunteer refugees agree to sneak them into the Reaper ships to detonate them inside. Cue a lot of Reaper ships on Palaven suddenly exploding.
 * Miranda gets one for appearing to be the only person in the entire galaxy who doesn't expect (or ask) Shepard to solve her problems. Every time you meet her you can offer to help her, and every time she tells you that you have bigger things to worry about.
 * There's also her badass biotic takedown of if you should succeed in.
 * The Shanghai pulls off an insane off-screen rescue mission; evacuating a colony in the span of an hour.
 * As you're firing the, the cutscene will show your squadmates defending you. Depending on who you have and what weapons equipped can sometimes alter what happens as they shoot incoming Cannibals and Husks. Such as Tali shooting a Cannibal point blank in the face. With a Claymore. One handed.

Expanded Universe

 * From Retribution, Kai Leng may be an incredibly xenophobic and sociopathic asshole, but there is no denying that he is a Badass. Before the story, the man killed a krogan with a knife in a Bar Brawl and during the story's events, he kills six turians, by himself, and again with only a knife.
 * In the second game Kasumi will mention she got Shepard into Badass Weekly. The writer for the real life Badass of the Week thought this was the crowning moment of his career and was so flattered he had to write an entry for the site. Guess who.