Edit: Contest is closed. Thank you everyone for participating!
I am so excited, you guys! My first contest on this blog!!!
Here’s what’s going on: the super-awesome t-shirt company Mighty Fine has given me the chance to give you some of their awesome Scott Pilgrim tees to three lucky people!
Here’s the catch: You must defeat my seven evil exes! I mean, tell me your absolute favorite scene out of all six, super-awesome volumes of Scott Pilgrim and why that scene rocks your world. That’s going to be a tough decision, huh? The other catch is that Mighty Fine’s going to be keeping the prize tees a surprise, although all their Scott Pilgrim tees are fantastic and I want ALL OF THEM, so I think you guys should be just fine.
Here’s the rules: You have one week (until: 8/6) to leave a comment with your favorite scene below. After the week is over, I’ll pick my three favorites out of your answers and contact you so that Mighty Fine can send you prize! Be as passionate and descriptive as you can be when telling me about your fav!
As an example, let me describe my personal favorite: I am inexplicably in love with a scene from volume 2, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, just before The Clash at Demonhead plays and various characters are talking to each other. Kim Pine starts talking to her co-worker Hollie, who introduces her roommate Joseph. Hollie tells Kim that they’re only there because Joseph has a huge crush on The Clash’s bass player, Kim asks if he’s hot and Joseph responds with “He is as hot as the flames of the hell you bitches are going to.” WHAT AN EXCELLENT COMEBACK. I love it. It makes me laugh every time and I really want a chance for someone to ask me if some guy is hot so I can say that exact line. It’s definitely one of the most memorable lines for me and I feel it touches upon what makes Scott Pilgrim so great: these little moments of sheer genius character-related humor.
So leave me your favorite scene and win yourself a t-shirt! Go Go Gooooo!!! And thank you Mighty Fine for providing the prizes!
Once scene I recently fell in love with was on my re-read just before the last book came out. In Volume 3, in a flash-back Scott tells Envy he wrote a song for her and then starts to play it. This part wasn’t special at all to me until I read Brian Lee O’Malley’s song choices in the back. One song he recommended was by the Rolling Stones, and mentioned how Scott borrowed a tune from them in the book. After looking at the page, it’s very obvious that it’s their famous single “Angie” but all he did was change the name to Envy. I’ve heard that song about 1000 times in my life and I didn’t even get the reference until it was pointed out to me. Which is a testament to how rich and full of depth these books are, and proof of how brilliantly they’re written. I’m a Scottaholic for life.
The most accurate response to this would be, “every panel of every volume” (Seriously, the whole thing is pure gold), but lately I’ve been in love with the Gilded Palace Of Flying Burritos sequence. It has O’Malley’s trademark: brilliantly hilarious mastery over music and phrasing (“We all got to wear swank-ass nudie suits…”). At the same time, it perfectly captures my image of Scott–desperately running away from everything wrong with himself and his life, pathetically obsessed with the trivial while Life soars over his head unnoticed. (This post-breakup funk is a nice parallel to his OTHER post-breakup funk in the beginning of vol. 6). But, as in the rest of the series, Scott remains sympathetic even as we want to hold him in contempt (As Ramona does). I’d be lying if I said I’ve never checked out of life as Scott does, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t sad for the poor bastard–for his loss of Envy, his band, his innocence…and that Excellent Nouveau Mexican Cuisine.
Runner-ups: Anything with Crash and The Boys (Our group’s cosplay for the midnight opening, btw), any of the times in vol. 4 and 5 when it became glaringly obvious Stephen Stills and Joseph were boning (We’re making magic, buddy!), and Wallace Wallace WALLACE (I have dipping sauce for you! I’LL BE YOUR DIPPING SAUCE BITCH!).
I’m having a really hard time picking one! So many scenes make me laugh so hard.
I’m going to go with one that hit close to home and made me laugh because I experience something similar all the time: the scene in…volume 2? (I just reread the whole series back to back, so I’m having trouble remembering exactly when things happen)…when Scott’s at Ramona’s and she’s offering him a choice of teas, and he’s completely boggled (and suspicious) because there’re so many options.
(True fact: if I go to a restaurant and ask what kind of tea they have, and the waiter says “just normal tea”, I won’t order any on principle.)
Hard one! Especially with the gay-revelation scene in book six and Scott freaking out a little coming in close second, but I have to go with a scene from the Infite Sadness, where everyone is backstage with Envy + band and Knives Chau just can’t help being the most awkward obsessive fangirl ever. And the she blurts out “I’VE KISSED THE LIPS THAT KISSED YOU!!!” which would have been epically awesome in any situation, but all the more so here. 😀 *freaking out a lot* I just adore how completely, sadly realistic this is. And I mean, punching the highlights out of her hair as punishment? Win.
the Gideon fight coz it was just too good!
My favorite scene is very simple, but after scouring the books once more, I’m sure it is my favorite scene. My favorite scene is after Scott stays at Ramona’s in book one. It goes like this:
Wallace: Did you sleep with her?
Scott: I… Yes. I slept with her. In her bed.
Wallace: You should break up with your fake high school girlfriend, Scott.
Scott: Well, I didn’t have sex with her, Wallace.
Wallace: You should break up with your fake high school girlfriend, Scott.
It just gets me every time! I don’t know why. Well, actually, it’s probably because I love Wallace Wells and the facial expressions O’Malley puts on him are priceless in this scene. It also shows that Scott really is the salt of the earth, as Kim says at some point. I love these books to death and I’m not trying to suck up or anything, but volume 2 is definitely my favorite as well!
I believe my favorite moment will always be in “Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness” where Scott and Todd discover the existential horror of Honest Ed’s. Just thinking about it now gives me the giggles.
Upon defeating Ramona’s second “evil” ex, Luke Wils… *ahem* Lucas Lee, Scott is magically rewarded with a box’o’loot. Excited as only a childish soul would be, Scott doesn’t hesitate to open said box. Inside he finds a super shiny ultra skateboard of awesomeness (probably). It’s a darn shame that Scott both: (a)sucks at skateboarding due to “not having allocated points into that skill when younger”, and (b) has the skateboard simply phase out of reality, post (a)’s announcement. Afterward, Scott proclaims the events that transpired to include the “worst fight ever”.
Now, while I find the actual meeting and subsequent battle (more like a beating with our protagonist on the receiving end) between Scott and Lucas to have been hilariously fun to read, the particular scene mentioned above has undoubtedly become my overall favorite.
Why? It parallels 2 events, one real-world, one cyber, that most people who have had the pleasure of reading the Scott Pilgrim series would easily relate to. The first? Holidays (more specifically, Christmas) as a child; I assume that most people can easily identify themselves as, at one time or another, being in the same shoes as Scott. Many of us have grown up receiving gifts from family and friends that, oftentimes, was the opposite of what we had hoped to get. Thereafter, deeming the holiday itself a “failure”, not even considering the concept behind it as being more important. The second? RPGs of the variety where people “farm” for better equipment, among many different classes. Surely you’ve played an MMORPG where, upon killing a difficult boss, they drop a really great, rare item… which you can’t even equip because you’re the wrong class type or you allocated points incorrectly! GAAAAAAAH!!! Are you as frustrated as Scott? I know I was.
The whole vegan police sequence in _Infinite Sadness_ is just a masterstroke. I remember being thrown off by the gelato-eating early on and shrieking “Wait, they’re vegans, and holier-than-thou ones at that!” I should have known that O’Malley was just setting me up for the brilliant punchline. (As someone who was forced to eat rubbery, unfrosted vegan cake on her birthday one year, I couldn’t help but feel vindicated. Sorry, vegans.) I also love the panel (gah, blanking on the particular volume) where Knives proclaims her hatred of Scott Pilgrim as the disclaimer “Note: she totally loves him” appears at the bottom. It is tragically relevant to so many episodes of my life.
In ten years, even if I’ve forgotten every scene and every punch from every page of Scott Pilgrim (as if!), the Honest Ed’s sequence will always stay close to my heart.
If you have ever been in a situation where you have access to any product you’ve ever wanted – and a hundred others you never knew you wanted – you know that this is not necessarily a happy feeling. The sheer POSSIBILITY of what you can do, and the impact of what you do, can be overwhelming; do you really, truly want that hat, or do you want that shirt? even if it was made in a sweatshop on behalf of an evil corporation? or are you better off just giving up your wealth to those who need it? Would you want to win the lottery?
“Stephen… You know how when a baby is first born, it just cries at the sheer horror of being alive?”
Being a consumer is such a scary responsibility; it’s no wonder it gives the childlike Scott and Todd such a migraine. In Honest Ed’s, EVERYTHING is available to them, since they live in a videogame and no one pays for vacuum cleaners in a videogame. Yet the other shoppers, who live in reality, seem totally unaffected by their environment. These are the adults; they’ve accepted their role in society, and can fulfill their responsibilities without throwing hissy-fits. It’s very possible that when Scott thinks he’s “going blind” he is actually going through an important epiphany, but his body is physically rejecting it. (In the end, he learns nothing anyway.) It’s equally significant that in this scene, Todd has a vision reminding him of his responsibilities, and of the immature decisions he has made.
Even though things are free in videogame land, the IMPORTANT things are not free (i.e. True Love, which must be fought for) and weapons made from consumer products are utterly ineffective. Since fighting is equated with Love in Scott Pilgrim, it might not be such a stretch to call the Honest Ed’s battle a commentary on the emptiness of Things; “Money can’t buy me love.” Which, you know, isn’t really that big a statement, but the fact that it (might be) there at all is more than enough.
(In the end, Honest Ed’s doesn’t even have the energy to blow up in a blaze of glory; just to collapse into itself.)
If I can share another bit I liked, there’s a scene where Scott and Ramona are heading towards Scott’s rematch, but decide just not to go. It makes so much sense. Why do those anime kids always set themselves up for these ultimate showdowns anyway? If they have the option of just staying home and having sex, why don’t they? There’s little I enjoy more than common sense applied to absurd situations, and it’s one of many reasons I enjoy Scott Pilgrim.
Can I answer “all of them”? No seriously.
Okay, so. I am a vegan yaoi fan, so of course my answers are COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE.
First and absolute fave is the kiss between Stephen Stills and Joseph in volume six. Joseph is one of my favorite characters in the series, as minor as he is, because he has the best lines. Ever. He even delivers a kicker as Scott is going into paralytic shock: “God, I hate your friends.” The scene, from casual opening of Scott and Stills meeting up with Joseph to Joseph’s final punch (“Seriously, get new ones”) is delivered in perfect stroke. I literally squealed with delight. It helped that I didn’t see it coming, at all (despite the months of Stills spending endless amounts of time in Joseph’s room, ho ho).
(And like you said in your post, all of the character-related humor is brilliant. Joseph just sticks with me for some reason. Maybe it’s the beard?)
My second favorite scene has to be the vegan police. It is true that us vegans have psychic powers; Bryan Lee O’Malley has obviously had dealings with the dark seedy underground of veganism, and I respect his bravery for revealing these secrets to the public.
OK, I was so determined not to comment on these entries lest I show some personal bias, BUT…
I was reading your entry to my boyfriend and he said “The first thing I thought when you said ‘vegan yaoi fan’ was: Either you like the beef or you don’t! You can’t have it both ways!”
Just had to share. My boyfriend is hilarious.
Haha! Well, to be fair, as a vegan I personally abstain from meat, but that doesn’t mean I can’t watch/enjoy the boys who like to shove it in their faces, or other places.
😀
Of course you can. ^_^ He was just being silly.
Oh honey, don’t take me seriously. I love joking back and forth about man-meat, it’s one of my favorite past-times. ;D
I wasn’t taking you seriously as much as saying you can do whatever you like with your time. If liking yaoi is the worst you can get up to, fine by me. XD
We’re not going to go into the worst that I get up to. XD
Oh hell no! We’ll stick with what you’re willing to publicly admit. 😀
Hahaha!
I’ve enjoyed this exchange. Thank you. XD
I’ll save the public confessions for when I am important or something. XD
Understandable. ^_^ Wouldn’t want anyone to dig up something scandalous as you’re getting famous.
Just one? That’s hard. After agonizing over the question like a parent who’s been asked to pick her favorite child I have arrived at the answer: the revelation of Roxanne as the fourth evil ex in Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together. What makes this scene truly spectacular is the slow buildup for its delivery. More than once in the previous volumes Scott has referred to Ramona’s exes as “evil ex-boyfriends” to which Ramona always subtly corrects him as “evil exes” a distinction Scott never notices. Then one night walking home Scott is attacked by a blonde ninja who is very contemptuous of Scott but escapes mortified after she is ‘punched in the boob’. Scott is more confused than upset, gets home, calls Ramona and leaves her a voicemail describing his assailant and promptly forgets about the incident.
Flash forward to the girl showing up one day in the diner where Scott works. Scott hides from view and asks Stephen to describe what she’s doing here and Stephen nonchalantly reports she is chatting with Ramona. Terror momentarily forgotten, Scott storms out of the kitchen and interrupts the ladies demanding an explanation. The two just laugh at Scott while he fumbles around trying to puzzle out ninja girl’s significance until Ramona says to Scott it should be obvious. We are then treated to an entire page consisting of close up panels of Scott’s brain as it breaks, cracking open in half to reveal a baby bird inside.
Scott flips upon learning Ramona once dated a girl. Roxanne gets her Evil Ex Panel with her full name and Ex Number, strikes a pose and proceeds to attack Scott again.
What I loved about the scene was the little clues sprinkled throughout the story leading up to Scott figuring out Roxanne’s identity. Ramona would dodge the subject every time the “evil ex-boyfriends” were brought up in conversation by Scott. Roxanne’s dramatic first entrance and Scott’s inability to recognize her as one of the seven evil exes despite her arrogant speech and unprovoked attack that matched previous evil exes’ behaviors. Then when Scott finally puts two and two together the knowledge literally breaks his brain in two. I couldn’t stop laughing when Scott’s response to Ramona’s dismissal of her and Roxanne’s relationship as a phase was, “You had a sexy phase?!” Having it spelled out how dense Scott really was by depicting his brain as an empty eggshell with a bird living inside it was such a wonderful comedic image.
I’ll keep this brief, since it looks like you’ve got several text walls to conquer already.
My favorite moment(s) involve the “Memory Cam” panels. There are only 3 that I can remember, but all of them were strikingly similar in that they summed up each past relationship with two short Internet 1337-speak phrases. Scott’s (and Gideon’s) skewed memories of how their relationships functioned hilariously depicts the egotistical side of our main characters, but the delivery is jam-packed with subtle social commentary on modern day youths’ relationships. It’s short, it’s succinct, and the satisfied look on Scott’s face as he strolls nonchalantly beside his “swooning” partners is hysterical.
The 1337-speak is the icing on the cake.
My favourite part of the book is when Wallace begs Romona to. Take Scott for the night because they only have one bed and he wants to cuddle with Mobile so much. Begs and begs and even offers to be her ‘dipping sauce bitch’ which the line alone made me fall in love with Wallace even despite my hetero tendency.
“Let’s be friends based on our mutual hate.”
It took some thought, but I’ve decided my favorite moment has to be Kim lying about Ramona’s text to inspire Scott to beat the Katayanagi Twins near the end of “vs. the Universe.”
It’s illustrated brilliantly (lots of action lines around the close-up on the dying phone, great reactions from Scott and the Twins) and it also marks such a maturation point for Scott and the series. The Twins kidnap Kim and mock her for standing by Scott and she becomes essential to his beating them while essentially misleading them. Kim has to standby Scott and decide that his love for Ramona is more important than whatever crap has been in all of their pasts.
We also don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen between Ramona and Scott, but we want to believe Kim just as much as Scott does even as we start to realize that this volume might not have a happy ending! O’Malley foreshadows it really well with Ramona and Kim’s asides earlier on (like the camera phone scene outside the party).
The whole scene is such a dynamite moment for O’Malley as a storyteller to load what ends up being Scott’s penultimate victory with this ironic uncertainty. I’ve heard a lot of people call Book 5 the darkest in the series and this moment definitely qualifies it, but it also re-emphasizes the characters at the heart of the story and the lengths they go for each other.
I love the Scott/Todd fight and how Scott mentions that the only way he can win is by some wacky deus ex machina. And the vegan police show up in the nick of time.
That scene had me in tears. Also, this line, “What kind of idiot would knowingly date a girl named KNIVES!?”
Envy hugging Scott at the end and the big CLOSURE line also made me smile too. Scott’s expression was just funny.
Ah, one scene that always stuck out to me was a part of the Roxy Richter encounter in book 4 (Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together). If I recall correctly, Scott was working at his new job with Stephen Stills when he saw Roxy having a lunch with Ramona… Specifically, the scene was was the visual of Scott’s process of realizing Roxy and Ramona had a little thing going on. That three-paneled page of Scott’s little brain cracking open to reveal a newborn chick made me laugh out loud and man… It always will! I mean, how could anyone NOT love that scene? I’m actually wearing a huge grin on my face as I’m remembering the scene, haha.
Forgot to include, did anybody burst out laughing when Knives screamed “CHAU DOWN!!” at Ramona during their first encounter? Holy crap, I swear, that was the funniest line I’ve ever read in literature… Though maybe I was just in an incredibly giddy mood at the time.
Hi! I’m sorry to inform you that you missed the contest deadline by a day, so I can’t actually include your entry in the contest.
My apologies.
-Daniella
Pingback: This Week In Manga: 7/24-7/30/10 | Manga Xanadu
Pingback: My Life As a (Rookie) Editor: Playing Catchup « All About Manga
Pingback: Happy 1st Blogoversary, All About Manga! « All About Manga