Meme: Favorite Canon Moments

[brat_inslayage]

Because people were demanding a meme, we've got a bunch of new characters and new canons, and I don't think we've done this one since last November:

Text originally stolen from just_add_starch:

Since yesterday some of us got our rage on talking about the worst canon moments, I figured maybe we'd want to go ahead and do favorite canon moments. I thought it'd make us all feel better. Also I'm going to be bored again today and we haven't done this since 2008. Don't ask me how we managed that, but we did.

Go go go!

Comments

[trigons_child]

Totes cheating and C&Ping, la.

The original Trigon saga: because I totally don't have a thing about making good characters go evil against their will. Ahem. It's what made me fall in love with Raven.

Raven versus Brother Blood, Round 1: I sorta skipped over this since I squished Brother Blood VIII and Brother Blood IX into one because redundant canon is redundant (seriously, both of them kidnap Raven and want to knock her up, like father like son I guess). In canon after she gets killed in the battle with Trigon, Raven returns to life...somehow. It's never really explained. She ends up getting captured by the Church of Blood and mind whammied to do whatever Brother Blood wants, calling him "Master," blah blah blah. Her mother, Arella, goes looking for her and gets captured as well before the Titans go investigating. Arella gets horribly injured, and at first Raven is all "Well, that's too bad, Mom, let me heal you" until Jason Todd gets up in her face about "Hi, this is your MOTHER and this guy you're serving did this." So Raven snaps out of it. She then get summoned to Brother Blood's side, and he's totally expecting her to be all subservient to him still, but she unleashes hell on his ass and basically makes him feel all the suffering she's ever absorbed. "I am the daughter of Trigon, darkest of man's nightmare gods, and you have used me. I am the daughter of Arella, who protected mankind from him, and you have tried to slay her. I am Raven, and I am myself once more. Feel my anger."

Raven versus Brother Blood, Round 2: This one I did do in FH. Sebastian (BB IX) bites off Raven's chakra and swallows it to keep her under control, then marries her. But instead of Karla stuffing her hand into his stomach to get it back, Beast Boy transforms himself into a parasite, and Cyborg tosses him down Sebastian's throat. He makes him throw up, finds the chakra (ew), and sticks it back on Raven's head. And boy, is she pissed. She yanks Sebastian and the demons he made her summon and all his followers into the lowest plane of hell, where he's stuck until he walks out of her some time later.

Raven versus her brothers: OK, the fact they horribly retconned things so that Raven suddenly had siblings annoyed me, but the sin thing is kind of fun. So her brothers manage to wake up Raven's demon side again so she'll join with them, only she decides they're totally dorks and blows them all up. (And, well, tries to stuff the essence of the other sins into her friends because she thinks they'll make much better sins than her stupid brothers, but that's beside the point.)

Raven's first love: so she confuses Dick's friendship with love, and accidentally uses her powers to make him love her. The best thing about that whole situation was how Kory (not that "Kori" travesty in RH&tO now) (a) first pretty much offered Dick a threesome option, and (b) went to Raven to sit down with her and work out her feelings. It was really a lovely issue. [And then her second love turned out to be a robot who tried to coerce her into sex so he could eat her soul. SIGH. God, Raven.]

[selfhelphero]

BRB, wibbling over Jason. :) OH RAVEN.

[godscrankshaft.livejournal.com]

Septimus' speech here is my absolute favorite passage written in any play ever written. Ever. The lead-in is provided for some degree of context.


Thomasina: Is it Cleopatra?—I hate Cleopatra!
Septimus: You hate her? Why?
Thomasina: Everything is turned to love with her. New love, absent love, lost love—I never knew a heroine that makes such noodles of our sex. It only needs a Roman general to drop anchor outside the window and away goes the empire like a christening mug into a pawn shop. If Queen Elizabeth had been a Ptolemy history would have been quite different—we would be admiring the pyramids of Rome and the great Sphinx of Verona.
Septimus: God save us.
Thomasina: But instead, the Egyptian noodle made carnal embrace with the enemy who burned the great library of Alexandria without so much as a fine for all that is overdue. Oh, Septimus!—can you bear it? All the lost plays of the Athenians! Two hundred at least by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides—thousands of poems—Aristotle’s own library brought to Egypt by the noodle’s ancestors! How can we sleep for grief?
Septimus: By counting our stock. Seven plays from Aeschylus, seven from Sopocles, nineteen from Euripides, my lady! You should no more grieve for the rest than for a buckle lost from your first shoe, or for your lesson book which will be lost when you are old. We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is
very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time gain. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew? I have no doubt that the improved steam-driven heat-engine which puts Mr Noakes into an ecstasy that he and it and the modern age should all coincide, was described on papyrus. Steam and brass were not invented in Glasgow.

[godscrankshaft.livejournal.com]

Alternately, can I just submit 'the entire damned play' as my favorite canon moment?

[suitably_heroic]

My number #1 favorite Knights of the Old Republic 2 moment (... yeah, I have more. Be afraid) actually has absolutely nothing to do with my boy at all, and everything with the pieces of asskicking that are Kreia and the Jedi Exile.

So basically the Exile has spent the entire game going from planet to planet, finding the Lost Jedi, the last remaining Jedi Masters. The plan is to gather them all up and bring them to another Jedi Master called Atris, and together they'll take on the two remaining masters of the Sith Triumvirate.

But when all the Jedi Masters are found, they immediately turn on the Exile. They're afraid: of the way she survived after she cut herself off from the Force, of the event that caused so much pain, damned so many people to the Dark Side, that she walked away from, of the fact she was the only person to come back from the Mandalorian Wars (and thus the only person they could punish), of the gaping hole in the Force left behind after said event (the Battle of Malachor V) and how it connects to the Exile.

So they try to strip the Force from her again. But Kreia, as it turns out, is listening in...

Master Kavar: You cut yourself off [from the Force], because you had to if you were to survive. You had hints of it in the war on Dxun. Malachor was simply the final blow.
Master Vrook: You were deafened.
Kreia: At last, you could hear.
Master Kavar: You were broken.
Kreia: You were whole.
Master Zez-kai Ell: You were blinded.
Kreia: And at last, you saw.

And then she marches in, lectures the Jedi Masters to their faces, and reveals herself as the third member of the Sith Triumvirate, Darth Traya, who has left that position some time ago, much as she left the Jedi.

Kreia: Enough! Step away from her!

Step away!

She has brought truth, and you condemn it? The arrogance!

Do you wish to hear the teachings of the Mandalorian Wars, of all wars, of all tragedies that scream across the galaxy? Let me show you - you, who have always seen the galaxy through The Force.

See it through the eyes of the exile.

She rips the Force from them. Unlike the Exile, however, they can't survive it. And then she leaves.

Epic.

[alreadyisbeyond.livejournal.com]

That's such a great moment that it even survives the anti-climax of Kreia is one of the Sith Lords. I love you, Exile, but you should have figured that one out 12 hours of gameplay ago.

Ahem. Excuse my issues.

[ultron_junior]

1. I can't find a scan for this one, but Victor and Molly go shopping just after he joins the team. She tells him she trusts him and promises not to treat him like a baby even though he's younger than she is in an absolute sense, both because it's true and because she's trying to get him to buy some ridiculous chocolatey cereal they can't really afford. And it works.

2. "Yes. I'm Batman." Context almost doesn't matter. How can I fail to love a subplot that has Victor, Gertrude, and Spider-Man chowing down on sushi?

3. Victor/Lillie. I should hate this ship. She's a little too perfect, he's cheating on Nico about a nanosecond after she finally agreed to be his girlfriend, and on top of that they are ultimately doomed like any good Joss-written couple. But somehow, when they dance on air, I hear the music too.

And a bonus Victor/Nico scene for the hell of it. It's not a surprise they weren't built to last -- she wanted a friend with occasional benefits, he wanted A Girlfriend. But when they worked, they were golden.

4. Victor & Chase dance at "prom." There was a lot of justified distrust between them earlier in the series, to the point where each has seriously discussed plans to kill the other. But they're the boys of the team, they're bros, and sometimes they remember this by being total teenage jerks together.

5. Avengers Academy. Maybe I was just a sucker for a new story with the characters that wasn't Daken. But -- between VIctor finally getting to meet Hank Pym, Karolina flirting with Julie Power, and them GETTING OLD LACE BACK -- there was enough awesome in this story to make it worth the wait. (Now, about bringing the series back from hiatus for real... and preferably with less ridiculous hair on Vic, tyvm).

Also, Victor's entire origin story, from dorky Rick Jones ringtone to his breakdown when he realizes his mom is dead to the way he shakes off Ultron's control. But that's likely a given.

[likes_scoundrels]

I'm sticking to the movies here since I'm not as familiar with the EU, though I get gleeful whenever someone tells me what a bad-ass she's being there. ;)

"Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board." Leia doesn't cower from Tarkin or Vader. And she manages to keep silent while she's tortured.

"Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly boy." She did, in fact, save Han and Luke's skins.

Fearlessly walking into Jabba's palace as the bounty hunter Boushh to save Han.

And then strangling Jabba with her chains, of course.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke holds up the sky Granted it was to trick Annabeth and Artemis to hold up in the sky as well but still, he did it and earned his gray hair. And at the end of that book Poseidon is congratulating Percy on holding up the sky because only a true hero could do it and Percy's like "Uh, Luke did it too" and Poseidon tries to backtrack. Nah, bitch, he's a hero deal with it.


There was no showdown in the book I just like this gif.

The Lightning Thief The whole thing. Stole from Zeus and Hades, framed a 12 year old for it and nobody figures it out until he gives Percy an evil guy monologue at the end of the book.

Luke's fight with Thalia Okay, he loses, but he takes on a daughter of Zeus and the fight is so badass that everybody ends up stopping whatever else they're doing and stares at them going at it. Not dirty. Unless you're one of the million Luke/Thalia shippers that exist.

Luke's love for Annabeth Not one specific moment but whatever. I'm not saying in like a shippy way, but in like the brotherly way that he constantly shows throughout the series. She's literally the one person who doesn't give up on him, ever, and he does everything in his power to keep her safe. It's very sweet and I will never forgive the movies for making them act like complete strangers to each other. It kills my Luke that he can never see her again :(

The Hero of the Great Prophecy Finding out that he's the one that gets to save the world and sacrificing himself to save everyone makes me heart hurt.

The Battle of Manhattan which doesn't really count 'cause that was Kronos in a Luke suit. And there's other moments that don't have to do with Luke but why would I be interested in those, I ask you?

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

Okay, I love this show to pieces, but I'll try to pick a reasonable amount of things. These are all songs that I worked my ass off to find with the video attached, fyi.

1. ''Live In Living Color''/''Don't Break The Rules'' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McQ8a-7Ml-0). This isn't how it actually goes in the show -- it was abridged for last year's Tonys performance -- but it's a good example of what the show's like with a bunch of exposition that was jammed in there for Tony audiences. "Don't Break the Rules" is awesome -- hotass Norbert Leo Butz dressed up as old and kind of stuffy FBI Agent Carl Hanratty singing about good-guy morality. Total win.

2. ''Someone Else's Skin'' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4SnvefMv70). Frank finds out that his mother's been cheating on his father and they're getting a divorce, and he's crushed. So he spends a few minutes wishing he had superpowers like a comic book hero... and then he gets up and realizes that he has to bail. It really sums up Frank as a character -- he's a total dreamer, has a massive imagination and a huge soft spot where his family's concerned, but he cannot deal with conflict and would sooner take off than address it. And he figures this all out in his mind, reasoning, "So I just don't feel at home in mine, so I slip now / Into someone else's skin."

And then he "misdirects" a train ticket stand guy into letting him board, justifying it all to the audience the whole way, and asdhgasdkghaspoisadhgpasohg Frank you're such a badass.

3. ''Seven Wonders'' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=V1WutTJd9sQ#t=115s). Another one being performed somewhere other than the actual show -- this was part of a panel, I think? -- but it's an awesome song and this was the only version of it I can find with video, even if that means it's missing some lines. This is Frank's big love song to Brenda, the girl he falls for in the show. She doesn't believe she deserves to be loved, especially since Frank was a big hot shot pilot for years and has surely seen way cooler stuff than her, so he breaks down just how much he cares for her, even compared to all that. It's really sweet. And I ripped off it in Romeo and Dojima's class on love poems last week shh.

4. ''Butter Outta Cream'' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=csyhr-dck84#t=119s). From that same panel. This is Frank rattling off his life's philosophy, imparted unto him by his dad, which is basically a con man's version of "lemons into lemonade." This was originally gonna be his username, too, but then it was pointed out to me that it sounded super dirty, so.

5. ''Fly, Fly Away'' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-9IpjzzbYg&feature=related). Not a Frank number, but still awesome. So Frank's on the verge of being caught by the FBI, so he ducks out of his engagement party early. And here you've got Brenda, the shy girl that Frank fell in love with and was about to marry, just belting out this amazing number about what he brought to her life and the courage he gave her. And it's fucking fantastic. Oh my god, Kerry Butler, make out with me already.

6. ''Goodbye'' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdmFcrXYATo). So this is the very end of the show -- Frank's gone a few years of conning people and forging checks, and finally he gets caught by the FBI. Instead of going quietly, though, he turns it into this whole dramatic thing, singing about how "It's a happy ending to the greatest show on earth / yeah the curtain's descending and I hope you got your money's worth." The whole time, he's being interrupted by Hanratty, who's going on about how his father's dead and Frank's going to jail, but he won't hear it, and just keeps insisting that this is how he wanted things and it's his graceful exit from the stage. Kind of heartbreaking.

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

Peeta gets chosen as a Tribute Sounds horrible, I know, but his open reaction is what made me love him initially. He doesn't try to hide his emotions at all which was so damn refreshing when you have Katniss as a narrator. She, of course, doesn't get it.

Peeta Mellark, on the other hand, has obviously been crying and interestingly enough does not seem to be trying to cover it up. I immediately wonder if this will be his strategy in the Games. To appear weak and frightened, to reassure the other tributes that he is no competition at all, and then come out fighting.

And Josh's reaction to getting chosen in the movie was ON POINT. From this look (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lur4w0qjB31qzgc80o1_500.gif) to crying in the car, it was beautiful.



Peeta gets the Capitol citizens to swoon over him This takes place over all three books but getting to see Peeta totally con the Capitol into falling in love with this nobody from District 12 is great. He convinces them that he's in love with Katniss (which he is), that she's in love with him (she has no idea what she's feeling most of the time) that she's pregnant (which she isn't), etc. In the arena he is useless but he totally knows how to win over a crowd.

Peeta joins the Careers to help Katniss Again, showing off how convincing Peeta can be, he manages to join the most bloodthirsty group of people in the Games and convinces them that he wants Katniss dead when really he's throwing them off her trail. He almost dies for that move but he's a hopeless romantic so I guess he would think it's worth it.

Peeta helps the Morphling die Catching Fire is my favorite of all the books so it's hard to choose a favorite moment from it that involves Peeta (him telling Katniss and Haymitch to straighten the fuck up for the Quell and his painting for the Gamemakers are up there) but I think my favorite in the whole book is when a drug addicted Victor takes a mortal hit for him during the Quell and he whispers sweet things to her to make her death more comfortable. I'm such a sucker for the power of words and to have a character whose main deal is being talented at speaking is awesome.

Real or Not Real? Mockingjay is a soul crushing book, man. You don't see Peeta for a good chunk of it but when he comes back he's completely brainwashed and unsure of what is reality and what has been put in his head by the Capitol. So Katniss and company make up the "Real or Not Real?" game to help him distinguish, well, what is real and what isn't. It really showcases how broken and confused he is and how he'll never be the guy he was in the first two books ever again.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Doing a bunch of these for Gabrielle off the top of my head; no YouTube access for me at work, and it's hard to find plain old episode clips anyway, so you just get links to Whoosh episode summaries. This is tough because basically every second Gabrielle is onscreen in this show is my favorite. I WILL TRY TO NARROW IT DOWN TO 2 OR THREE PER SEASON.

1) Sins of the Past (http://whoosh.org/epguide/sins.html) - Gabrielle's very first adventure, in which she talks her way out of getting trapped by a Cyclops:

Gabrielle: "Immortal father Zeus in Heaven, curse this brute if he eats me! Torture him with the slain serpent's blood and the crow's droppings!"
Cyclops: "Shut up! I hate chatty food."
Gabrielle: "I know Xena, the Warrior Princess."
Cyclops: "I hate Xena, the Warrior Princess! She blinded me! It'll give me great pleasure to rip one of her friends apart with my teeth."
Gabrielle: "Friends? Who said anything about friends? I've been tracking her to kill her."
Cyclops: "How is a young thing like you gonna kill Xena?"
Gabrielle: "That's the point-- She'd never let a man get close enough to do her-- At least, not that kind of `do her.' But, a young, innocent-looking girl like me-- I'll catch her totally off guard, cut her evil throat, and hack off her Cyclops-blinding hands."

This is where her username comes from.

2) Hooves and Harlots (http://whoosh.org/epguide/hooves.html) - In which Gabrielle becomes an Amazon princess by accident, throwing herself bodily over a wounded Terreis in the middle of a hail of arrows. According to Terreis, this is something "only an Amazon would do for another Amazon," so just before she dies she grants Gabrielle her Rite of Caste, meaning Gabrielle gets all her possessions as well as her rank. This is early enough on that Gabrielle is still excitable and naive, and doesn't fully understand what exactly war is; I love the scene where Ephiny gives her her first staff lesson, and Gabrielle's reaction once Ephiny jumps from showing her the moves to detailing specifically how to use a staff to kill a Centaur.

3) Altared States (http://whoosh.org/epguide/altar.html) - There's a point in this episode where Gabrielle accidentally eats some drugged nutbread and gets totally high. Being in a cave at the time, she attempts to arrange the stalactites and stalagmites into a four-part choir:

"Now I want everyone this side of the cave. We’re gonna keep working till we get it right! And I’ve got all day. So, let’s start with the top! Are you ready? You! You’re a tenor. Get away from the sopranos! Hey, hey! You’re standing like a stone! Relax!"

This whole scene is delightfully cracky.

4) Return of Callisto (http://whoosh.org/epguide/return.html) - Gabrielle goes through the emotional wringer in this episode, wow. My favorite moment is when a grieving and furious Gabrielle demands that Xena teach her how to use a sword, so she can "cut [Callisto] open and watch her bleed." Why it's my favorite, I don't know, because it's painful, but I love it for her character development and the interaction between her and Xena.

5) The Quest (http://whoosh.org/epguide/quest.html) - The entire sequence in the Amazon village, when Gabrielle challenges Velasca's claim to the Queen's Mask (Velasca challenged and killed Queen Melosa). It's the first time in the series you genuinely see glimpses of how crafty and badass she can be, and -- now that she has to step up and be Queen, in the middle of grieving for (temporarily dead) Xena -- yet another moment of growth for her.

. . . I'm so adding more later, because I haven't even gotten to third season yet.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

And in season 3 we're skipping past the whole Rift arc, because while I really like it story-wise, I can't, dude. I just can't. Ow.

6) The Quill Is Mightier (http://whoosh.org/epguide/quill.html) - When Aphrodite gets mad that Xena seems to be more popular than her these days, and she decides that this is because of a certain pesky bard who spreads stories about her, she enchants Gabrielle's scroll so everything she writes will come true. Literally. Given Gabrielle's penchant for flowery wording everything goes downhill fast, and watching her get increasingly frustrated because she doesn't understand why everything keeps going wrong is hilarious.

7) Forget Me Not (http://whoosh.org/epguide/forget.html) - OMG, Gabrielle's confrontation with vision!Ares at the end of this one.

8) Fins, Femmes, and Gems (http://whoosh.org/epguide/fins.html) - The sophomoric humor runs rampant in this episode, but Gabrielle's narcissistic self-obsession (courtesy of yet another Aphrodite spell) is ludicrously amusing.

9) A Good Day (http://whoosh.org/epguide/good.html) - This episode totally rips my heart out. In the last battle scene, Gabrielle has the perfect opportunity to throw a spear at an attacking soldier but hesitates because she can't bring herself to kill. That moment of hesitation costs one man his life and another boy his blood innocence: throughout the episode, Gabrielle had been determined to protect both. It's just such a painful, pivotal moment for her.

10) Ides of March (http://whoosh.org/epguide/ides.html) - Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah the GabSnap. *flails everywhere* Watching Gabrielle absolutely lose her shit, throw her entire pacifist philosophy out the window, and go postal on a courtyard full of Roman soldiers in order to protect Xena? *FLAILS EVERYWHERE*

11) Chakram (http://whoosh.org/epguide/chakram.html) - Gabrielle's successful and kind of badass plan to infiltrate a heavily guarded fortress? Awesome. I particularly love the smug grin she gives the soldiers when she suddenly pops up behind them holding a lit explosive.

12) Punch Lines (http://whoosh.org/epguide/punch.html) - Gabrielle and Aphrodite having a totally random girly slumber party complete with pajamas and bubble baths. 'nuff said.

13) Antony and Cleopatra (http://whoosh.org/epguide/antony.html) - I love Gabrielle's confrontation with Brutus on the boat. Actually I just love Gabrielle's interaction with Brutus all through this episode, because it's such an awesome contrast to her earlier encounters with him, and really highlights how much she's grown.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

Some random one-liners of April being awesome: Days that exist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRKgEy6Okg). Raising money creatively (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QstJ2GUlnU0). Art (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjjSwPyjp8). Alcohol (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHswALadda0). And a nice little "best of" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3juSVOnmMJ4) video with a bunch more.

April sees the Grand Canyon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV4OPUAdcPE&feature=related). Because I love April caring about things.

And Andy and April's wedding is another awesome one, technical difficulties (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9joH83FYo) and charming speeches (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob20mp8xMsQ) and all.

[alreadyisbeyond.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of moments I love from Batman Beyond, almost all of them having to do with the simply inspired interactions between Terry as Batman and Bruce as an Oracle (Barbara Gordon) type figure. That said, some of the best:

*Batman versus the Starro-controlled Justice League Unlimited at the Fortress of Solitude in "The Call." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKpGn1pyQyo&feature=youtube_gdata_player)After managing to escape the Fortress, Terry gets to the flying Batmobile and Superman gives chase. "What's the top speed in this thing?" "Mach 3." "Is that faster than a speeding bullet?"

*The entire "Out of the Past" episode. Seriously, this thing is amazing. Talia al Ghul - looking as young as ever due to treatments in the Lazurus Pit - comes to the Batcave to offer Bruce his youth back. Bruce actually accepts the offer and we get a lot of greatness between the younger Bruce and Terry, leading to the revelation that not all is as it seems. Also, it starts with Batman: The Musical (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebI8H5nq5L4&feature=youtube_gdata_player), the greatest comedic moment ever in the DCAU. 

*The final battle between the Joker and the original Batman in "Return of the Joker" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JEa71aS3oU&feature=youtube_gdata_player). After the Joker returns from decades of being dead, Commissioner Barbara Gordon tells Terry about the last fight between the arch-enemies in which the stakes are raised so far, it has to end in death. Featuring kidnapping, child torture, secrets revealed, sheer brutality, and murder! Probably not something to watch at work. But it's absolutely gripping and lives up to the billing. 

I'd come up with a few more, but finding videos and doing HTML is a pain on the iPod.

[suitably_heroic]

Other moments I love, in no particular order:

Atton takes on the Twin Suns. "Perhaps you are looking for someone-- perhaps us?" "No, actually I'm here protecting someone. Keeping them out of trouble by acting like a distraction for people trying to harm her." He goes out on his own to have the Exile's back and it's awww. Hush.

Atton's conversion to the Jedi-- he finally coughs up the story of the Jedi he killed who basically convinced him to get up and run, and then finally gives in and asks to be inducted into the same Order he's been spewing bile about since day one. "I've killed Jedi before, but I was never there to feel it. And after that, I couldn't stop feeling things. Before, guilt, lust, impatience, it had been orchestrated to get close - now, it all just kept tumbling out - and I just couldn't keep doing what I've been doing."

I love his arc kind of a lot.

Any scene with HK-47 in it ever. The best droid in all of Star Wars, I'm telling you. "Once upon a time, organic meatbags bred out of control and filled the galaxy. There are different meatbags across different planets, all bumping into each other. They talk a great deal and threaten each other for various reasons, mostly involving mating, survival, and resources. It is really quite tiresome."

Or, for that matter:

"Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope... Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds."

More probably in reply to this comment. OH WELL.

[suitably_heroic]

"Just so you Jedi know, the whole cryptic routine isn't mysterious. It's just irritating. If you really can see the future, you should be at the pazaak table." What? Someone had to point this out eventually.

Atton takes on Darth Sion. Not originally in the game, but patched in from unused content, so I'm comfortable calling it canon. After the rest of the Exile's team of misfit Jedi have been beaten down by Kreia, Atton makes a run for it. Kreia sics Darth Sion on him. They fight.

"And I get the fool..." "Funny. That's just what I was thinking."

And following that... Atton's death scene. Also only in the restored content mod, if Atton loses the battle against Sion, he winds up tortured to the brink of death. The Exile finds him. His monologue to her (if she's a girl) is ;.; "Loved you from the moment I first saw you, thought you were a dream...meant every word... tried to play it off as a joke... wasn't funny..."

Apathy Is Death Or as I like to call it, 'freaking creepy'. The Exile enters a cave where s/he gets lots of Force visions. If you choose to refuse to act on them, at one point, everyone in the room attacks you chanting 'Apathy is death'. It's genuinely creepy as all hell and I kind of love it a lot.

"So you will do nothing? Apathy is death. Worse than death, because at least a rotting corpse feeds the beasts and insects." Oh Kreia. So badass.

[fates_jaye]

"I told her you couldn't come to the phone because you were servicing me sexually. Was that inappropriate?"- This totally happened. Bartender Eric's cheating new wife called when he was away and that's the reason Jaye gave when she picked up his phone and then she TOLD HIM. It's the moment he fell in love with Jaye and if you don't fall a little in love with her too, there's something wrong with you.

Gretchen Speck- She's only in two episodes but I love her. A mean girl in high school, she moves up the high school reunion three and a half years to show off her own accomplishments, including converting to Judaism to get married. ("I'm more of a Christmas and Easter Jew.")

Crime Dog- The whole episode. In it, Jaye and Aaron try to save their illegal immigrant maid Yvette from being deported (to Canada, btw) and basically try to cause an international incident. Also it's where my icon here comes from.

Jaye's whole insanity arc- The latter half of the season Jaye starts to go all doubting Thomas, thinking she's crazy, totally losing it when Eric's wife shows up, and has a crisis leading to her even melting down the lion. And the resulting leap of faith she has to take (...licking a light switch and electrocuting herself) to get an answer as to why the muses talk to her is great.

[godscrankshaft.livejournal.com]

Crime Dog- The whole episode. In it, Jaye and Aaron try to save their illegal immigrant maid Yvette from being deported (to Canada, btw) and basically try to cause an international incident. Also it's where my icon here comes from.

My absolute favorite part of the episode is Yvette's horrendous French accent contrasted to Caroline Dhavernas' flawless Anglophone accent. I love it so, so much.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

And I'm (mostly) copy-pasting from the last time we did this for Steph, because otherwise I'll never stop looking at Tumblr. Which is a shame, because I'd like to add some stuff from the last Batman, Inc. issue.

All right, so a lot of these might be from Steph's tenures as Batgirl and Spoiler rather than as Robin, but in my defense she was both of those a lot longer than she got to be Robin.

This one's from Batgirl 14, in which Kara Zor-El comes over to hang out with Steph, and what starts out as a harmless night of touring Steph's college campus turns into Batgirl and Supergirl chasing down vampires all over Gotham. It's one of my favorite issues, partly because all the banter is like this (http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltxyhjzLRj1r4p4wco1_500.jpg).

From somewhere back in the mid-90s Robin run, Steph as Spoiler makes Barbara Gordon (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltnw8pUVF71qibb61o1_500.jpg) facepalm. She's good at that.

The origin of Batman, as told by Stephanie Brown. (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltn3umhbnC1qcicbto1_500.jpg)

Stephanie Brown (http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/11916884193/2/tumblr_ltn0u3FVz81r0np08), Harry Potter fan (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltn0u3FVz81r0np08o3_500.png) -- Okay so. In the DC-verse, at least pre-reboot, there is this place called Limbo Town, which is like this inverted Puritan village where everyone does magic and you can get burned at the stake for not being magical. In Batgirl 18, Steph ends up having to go undercover with Klarion the Witch Boy, and gets challenged to a spell duel, and, well . . . this is what she does.

Any moment of Steph's relationship with Barbara Gordon is a favorite of mine, but this rooftop conversation from Batgirl 24 (http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsi4dvrqRp1qmavteo1_500.png) is -- *CLINGS DESPERATELY TO COMIC* OH GOD I MISS YOU.

THIS SCENE OMFG. (http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls9py7Zn6H1qcnmfpo1_500.jpg) From Red Robin, issue I can't be bothered to remember. Steph's ex-boyfriend Tim Drake, who just came back from a trip around the world to try and find Bruce because he refuses to believe Bruce is dead, was none too pleased to return home and discover Steph "playing dressup," as he put it, because Tim can be a smug superior prick when it comes to Steph. This assassin he was working with (WTF getting into the League of Assassins, Timothy) comes after them and pulls a gun on Steph, and Tim has this whole EMO ANGSTY INNER MONOLOGUE OF MANPAIN about how Steph's going to die now, and it's HIS FAULT and OH GOD WHAT HAS HE DONE -- and then this happens. It's one of my favorites ever.

I can't do this without including Stephanie Brown slapping Bruce Wayne in the face (http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrhyafQsaY1qa0gybo1_500.jpg) from the Batgirl issue of Bruce Wayne: The Road Home. That's just necessary. I love the rant she gives him afterward, too, about how she hit him because she was afraid he'd tell her to stop being Batgirl (like he fired her as Robin, and kept telling her to stop being Spoiler), and then getting really mad about that "because you don't get to take that away from me." It's a big moment for Steph, when she realizes she doesn't need or even want his approval to validate her self-worth any more.

[locointhecoco]

Season two of MLP was epic, you guys. EP. IC. I could totally go with just about the whole thing. But if I have to pick and choose (things that I didn't pick last time):

1. "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" -- I can't find a good clip of the reveal scene (what with having to just scan through links rather than watch vids on YouTube just now), but suffice it to say, the ponies are totally superheroes. Styled after Darkwing Duck.

2. "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" -- The Flim Flam Brothers introduce their amazing contraption. Warning: may cause flashbacks to amateur musical theater experiences.

3. "The Last Round-Up" -- Complete with an I Love Lucy send-up, Pinkie Pie as the ponies' "big guns", the consequences of breaking a Pinkie Pie promise, and this

4. "Baby Cakes" -- There's the whole horror movie send up where Pinkie's being stalked through the hallways BY THE PONY SHE'S BABYSITTING, but mostly, there's Pinkie's stand up routine

5. "Read It and Weep" -- My Little Pony does Indiana Jones. Seriously, just watch it.

6. "Hearts and Hooves Day" -- The Cutie Mark Crusaders try to set their teacher up for the pony version of Valentine's Day, resulting in this moment. This show, you guys.

7. "It's About Time" -- including Pinkie Pie as a fortune teller working out of a tent. But mostly, Twilight Sparkle is Snake.

8. "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" -- I can't find a clip that isn't a remix, but let's just say it involves Pinkie Pie trying to solve mysteries with a deerstalker hat and a bubble pipe. Also, riffs on several different movie genres. (NINJA MULE, YOU GUYS. NINJA. MULE.)

Aaaaand 9. "A Canterlot Wedding" (parts 1 & 2) -- CHANGELING PONIES. And a fight scene involving Pinkie weaponizing the party cannon AND TWILIGHT SPARKLE.

Like I said: Ep. Ic.

[endsthegame]

After four years I don't have an awful amount of undocumented favorite moments left, but by jove, I'll find a couple.

1. The side-novella 'War of Gifts', besides being based around Saint Nicholas Day and Dink and ergo made of DUTCHLY AWESOME, features one of my favorite exchanges with Ender:

"Aren't we up here to save the human race?" asked Dink. "Humans have religions and nationalities. And customs. Why can't we be humans too?"
Wiggin didn't answer.
"Makes no sense for us to live like Buggers," said Dink. "They don't celebrate Sinterklaas Day, either."
"Part of being human," said Wiggin, "is to massacre each other from time to time. So maybe till we beat the Formics we should try not to be so very very human."

2) From the short story 'Investment Counselor', a tax collector attempts to blackmail Ender after finding out he's that Ender Wiggin. Jane jumps in for the first time and basically threatens to do Really Bad Things to the tax collector if he keeps this up. Sadly, the guy doesn't listen, winds up in jail and gets killed, leading to this little moment of Ender-in-a-nutshell:

Andrew Wiggin felt sick at heart over the death of this tax collector. But Valentine assured him that it was nothing but coincidence that the man was arrested and died so soon after trying to blackmail him. "You can't blame yourself for everything that happens to people around you," she said. "Not everything is your fault."

3) From 'Ender in Exile', Ender plays dumb on board the colony ship for two years before suddenly springing his trap on the ship's captain, who had been hoping to shunt him aside and take over the colony for himself. I can't share too much since it's 1) long and 2) in the near future for FH!Ender, but still...

Morgan turned to give a welcoming gesture to the boy, and was shocked to see that Wiggin was in full dress uniform. His decorations were almost obscenely vast—dwarfing anything on Morgan's chest. It was so ridiculous—Wiggin had been playing videogames, for all he knew, and here he was wearing decorations for every battle in the war, along with all the other medals he was given after his victory.

And the little bastard had deliberately deceived him. Wearing civilian clothes, and then changing in the bathroom, just so he could upstage him. Was the nausea all faked, too, so that he could make this grand entrance? Well, Morgan would wear a phony smile and then he'd make the kid pay for this later. Maybe he wouldn't keep Wiggin as a figurehead after all.

But Wiggin didn't go to the place that Morgan was gesturing him to take at his side, behind the lectern. Instead, Wiggin handed a folded piece of paper to Morgan and then jogged on down the ramp to the ground—where he was immediately surrounded by the crowd, their shouts of "Ender Wiggin!" now giving way to chatter and laughter.

Morgan looked at the paper. On the outside, in pencil, Wiggin had written: "Your supremacy ended when this shuttle touched ground. Your authority ends at the bottom of this ramp." And he signed it, "Admiral Wiggin"—reminding him that in port, Wiggin was senior to him.

[endsthegame]

And, okay, fine. We didn't do this scene in the Fandom version of Ender's 'let's go get myself killed!' plot because I didn't want to over-NPC or over-preplay and figured these same issues would be hashed out in conversation with active PCs at the time. But the canon version is awesome.

Admittedly, I might think that because I always think Ender being visibly a messed up kid is awesome.

Then, a little later: "Val, you know something? I thought for a minute there that he was really going to kill me."

"Oh, you poor thing. It must have been devastating to realize you had bet wrong on the outcome."

"I had thought that if it came to that moment, if I really knew that I was going to die, it would come as a relief. None of this would be my problem anymore. Someone else could clean up the mess."

"Yes, me, I'm so grateful that you were going to dump it all on me."

"But when he was coming back to finish me off—I knew he planned a kick or two in the head, and my head was already so foggy from concussion that I knew it would finish me—when he came walking up to me, I wasn't relieved at all. I wanted to get up. Would have if I could."

"And run away, if you had any brains."

"No, Val," said Ender sadly. "I wanted to get up and kill him first. I didn't want to die. It didn't matter what I thought I deserved, or how I thought it would bring me peace, or at least oblivion. None of that was in my head by then. It was just: Live. Live, whatever it takes. Even if you have to kill to do it."

"Wow," said Valentine. "You've just discovered the survival instinct. Everybody else has known about it for years."

"There are people who don't have that instinct, not the same way," said Ender, "and we give them medals for throwing themselves on grenades or running into a burning house to save a baby. Posthumously, mind you. But all sorts of honors."

"They have the instinct," said Valentine. "They just care about something else more."

"I don't," said Ender. "Care about anything more."

"You let him beat you until you couldn't fight him," said Valentine. "Only when you knew you couldn't hurt him did you let yourself feel that survival instinct. So don't give me any more of this crap about how you're still the same evil person who killed those other boys. You proved that you could win by deliberately losing. Done. Enough. Please don't pick a fight with anybody again unless you intend to win it. All right? Promise?"

"No promises," said Ender. "But I'll try not to get killed. I still have things to do."

[annieadderall.livejournal.com]

In addition to the ones from last time (http://fandomhigh-ooc.livejournal.com/873878.html?thread=38016150#t38016150)...

Regional Holiday Music- Wherein the study group gets recruited into the glee club and there is so much singing. My favorites have to be Annie's wrongbad sexy baby act (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebuYMnY289Q) and Troy's Jehovah's Witness rap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO0oS3bnAVA&feature=related).

Digital Estate Planning- THERE WAS A VIDEO GAME EP. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFFxTGV-Tdg)

The Heart of Darkness Episode- The name of which I can't remember but Abed films the filming of the Dean's filming of a commercial for the school. With Annie developing some form of Stockholm Syndrome, Troy and Britta getting PTSD all over them, Jeff becoming the Dean and also, Luis Guzman.

Also a Law and Order episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocNcUNRmvFI&feature=related). CHUNG CHUNG BITCHES.

Did I really never link the Somewhere Out There montage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGN_LAt86A8) before? Because Troy and Abed totally sang it to a rat.

In related news, Kiss from a Rose karaoke! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DTtMA5xbYs&feature=related) Also, Jesus loves marijuana.

OKAY LOOK I WILL TOTALLY LINK TO A BILLION MORE THINGS AFTER WORK.

[locointhecoco]

Also, Jesus loves marijuana.

And drinking human blood!

. . . I'm totally going to go home and rewatch Community again tonight, aren't I.

[selfhelphero]

To prevent myself from being here all day, I'm going to limit myself to like, one canon moment per character.

So, for Billy, it's got to be The Avengers: Children's Crusade, because as much as it made me flail and throw things and wish you people had never gotten me into comics, I loved every issue of it and poor Billy's desperation to find his mother, even if she was responsible for mass mutant genocide, was so, so good.

AND THEN. AND THEN. AT THE END. BILLY WAS ALL SAD BECAUSE PEOPLE DIED AND THE YOUNG AVENGERS MIGHT BE NO MORE AND IT WAS TOTALLY OMG HIS FAULT EXCEPT FOR HOW IT WASN'T BUT HE REFUSED TO BELIEVE IT WASN'T (NOT THAT I ENJOY THAT THEME IN MY CHARACTERS OR ANYTHING *COUGH*CLINT*COUGH*) AND THEN TEDDY WAS ALL "YOU'RE STUCK WITH ME FOREVER NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED SO THERE" AND THEN THEY FINALLY GOT TO KISS WITH LIKE FULL-ON BODY TOUCHING AND HOLDING ONE ANOTHER AND THERE WAS MUCH SQUEE THROUGHOUT THE LAND.

Ahem.

ALSO, THERE'S A POTENTIAL FUTURE WHERE BILLY IS THE SORCERER SUPREME, AND THAT KIND OF DELIGHTS ME A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Wow, I don't know why I have the weirdest feeling you're all excited about this one. >.>

[new-it-girl.livejournal.com]

A lot of my favorite moments changed since the last time because there are so many more moments I can add from the second half of season two.

The Perfect Storm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GdaLnIKKxo) - When Emily is harassed by an over-zealous cop, her friends defend her. Hanna even threatens to rip his head off! It's amazing.

For Whom The Bell Tolls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mqJYe94AMs) - Ian (aka wee!Anakin) confronts Spencer in a bell tower, and it doesn't go exactly how he planned. So horror movie cliche, but it works for this show.

Blind Dates (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQK8MoyXpuA) - Hanna tells off Alison. It was something she needed to do and it was awesome. Creepy, too. But mostly awesome.

Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV_DbBmAM1Q) - The girls outsmart 'A' for once. And Hanna gets some revenge.

CTRL: A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiFISaQ4Eqk) - Hanna and Spencer work together to save Caleb from going to jail. Hanna's confusion over the ctrl-a action is hilarious.

If These Dolls Could Talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TieZyh88Ks) - The girls are attacked by dolls. It is as creepy as it sounds! Warning: some of the video clips on the side have very spoilery titles...

Unmasked (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srVbwqLXO18&feature) - 'A' is revealed. Or an 'A.' I'm still convinced there's more than one.

The score really enhances the whole creepy atmosphere of a lot of these scenes. I love it.

[likethegun]

Okay, I have to be a dork and say that overall, my favorite Supernatural moments are the openings to every season's finale. It's like a little vid made every year! And seriously, I will never be able to listen to "Carry on My Wayward Son" without wibbling when this show is over.

[so_hawkward]

Okay, movie first:

My favorite Hawkeye moment.
My favorite Avengers moment overall.

Both are obviously spoilery, and neither should be a surprise. :) ALSO, THAT THING IN MY ICON, GOOD GOD, CLINT. *fans self*

As for comics canon...okay, I'm still working my way through all the Avengers comics (I AM BLAMING YOU ALL, I USED TO PLAY TV CHARACTERS DAMN IT) so I'm going to keep this Hawkeye-centric and limit myself to two or we'll be here all night. Poor once_a_king can vouch for my flailing length.

1. Blindspot: a.k.a. the tragical backstory of Clint Barton, told in four issues. I can't lie, this hits every one of my bulletproof trope kinks. Tragic past? Check! Potentially permanent injury? Check! Determination to be a loner despite friends who love you? Check! Inability to handle having friends who love you because you have so many trust issues you need a spare storage unit? Check! Dead family members who aren't really dead? Check! Said previously dead family members trying to kill you and you refusing to kill them back because omg family? Check! Total unadulterated competency kink? Check!

Ahem, yes.

2. Avengers: Solo: a.k.a. The One Where Clint Does His Loner Thing For All The Right Reasons. So, this guy goes to Clint for help, because he feels like Clint is the only Avenger he can trust, and it turns out that the reason for that is that the people who are in trouble blame Captain America for what's happened to them, and despite the fact that it would be infinitely easier to have Steve and Tony as backup on this mission, Clint goes at it alone because he doesn't want Steve and Tony to know that there are people out there who are afraid of them. Like, that's actual text, not me extrapolating or anything. I just, god, Clint. *squishes him forever*

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

I've seen The Avengers twice. Hawkeye = BAMF.

I just finished reading Blindspot and Avengers: Solo. ... I could not put either down. MY HEARTSTRINGS.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

For favorite Batman moments in the DCAU, I simply refer you to Batman is Awesome: Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WXYhcuZ6Ag) and tell you to go on from there. They compile damn near every fantastic Batman moment over like 5 shows and 14 years.

But if I had to break down the DCAU to one absolute favorite moment, I have to go with Justice League Unlimited's "Destroyer" and Superman's "World of Cardboard" speech. Basically, Darkseid - the New God of Evil - has risen from the dead and has the power of Brainiac - a Kryptonian super-robot obsessed with collecting and exterminating all knowledge in the universe - backing him up, all because Lex Luthor's Secret Society/Legion of Doom made a mistake. Darkseid comes to Earth intent on destroying all with the forces of Apokolips, forcing the Secret Society to join forces with the Justice League.

The combined heroes and villains battle Darkseid's Parademons all across the world, but Superman, Batman, and Luthor end up facing down Darkseid himself and getting their asses straight up kicked, but Superman and Batman especially refuse to give up. And that leads to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl_5UwS57X8):

"That man won't quit so long as he can draw breath. None of my teammates will. Me? I've got a different problem. I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard. Always taking care not to break something, to break someone. Never allowing myself to lose control, even for a moment, or someone could die. But you can take it, can't you, big man? What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose, and show you just how powerful I really am."

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

Ahem.

COMPLAINT BOX (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QmSrYEaVb0).

[dollpocalypse]

NO. NO LIST OF YOUR CANON MOMENTS IS COMPLETE WITHOUT THE SECURITY DOOR SCENE. GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN.

[halfman-lion.livejournal.com]

Working from S2 of the TV series, because the books are spoilery and I talked about S1 before (http://fandomhigh-ooc.livejournal.com/873878.html?thread=38030998#t38030998):

1. Littlefinger and Margaery walk through the camp. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qtnvj-96IU) Starts about 2 minutes in. "You seem quite interested in our marriage."

2. Joffrey has his knights abuse Sansa. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsrXc3neQ6c) Uncle Tyrion to the rescue. "That was a threat. See the difference?"

3. Jaqen H'gar proposes a bargain to Arya Stark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7ta3hOUlug&feature=related). "A man pays his debts. A man owes three."

4. Yara Greyjoy visits her idiot brother at Winterfell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBBNJJvfqso) "Don't die so far from the sea."

5. Tyrion rallies the troops (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEVkm60TPKk). "This is your city Stannis means to sack!"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

So I never realised they renamed Asha to Yara in the series until I looked at your list and got confused.

That's just so wrong. *weeps*

[nottheshoes.livejournal.com]

1) “I’d like to be George from now on,” The moment when George gives up his herd. He'd been holding onto all his creatures for so long, he couldn't let them go. It takes a simulation of a little city showing what would happen if no one could die to push him to realise he couldn't hold on forever.

Now, as he sat next to her, he seemed older. Somber and almost grim. “It went wrong every time.” He wouldn’t look at her.
“The city looks fine now,” she said.
“That’s because I let them die. I set the dial back to fifty years. I had to. There was no other way.”

2) "Doode?" George and Jack try to be normal. They aren't that good at it.

“Doode,” George said.
He’d practiced all morning but still didn’t get it quite right. “Nope, more u, less oo. Duuude.”
“Dude.”
“Dude.”
“Okay, dude.” George nodded.
“How’s it hanging?” Jack asked.
“How am I supposed to answer that?” George looked at him.
“I don’t think Kaldar said anything about that. I guess ‘good’? I don’t get it. What’s hanging anyway?”
George shook his head. “Your stuff, you nimwit.”
His stuff . . . Oh. Ha! “In that case, it’s hanging long!” Jack dissolved into giggles. “Long, get it?”
“My brother, everyone.” George bowed to an invisible crowd with a martyred expression. “A refined and sensitive creature.”

3) George holds his shield, even if it might kill him. Because he is badass.

George’s eyes bled white lightning. It spilled from him in long, twisted ribbons and fed the semicircle. Ripples pounded the flash shield. The floor around them shuddered. George clenched his fists.
It’s possible to die from expending too much magic, George’s voice said from the recesses of Audrey's memory."