Line #80 YMMV/ScottPilgrim


1	->For YMMV tropes that apply to the movie, go [[YMMV/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld here]].
2	->For YMMV tropes that apply to the video game, go [[YMMV/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorldTheGame here]].
3	->For YMMV tropes that apply to the anime, go [[Ymmv/ScottPilgrimTakesOff here]].
4	----
5	* AccidentalInnuendo:
6	** Many people have noticed that in [[https://i.imgur.com/BZezFhL.png the cover for Volume 6]], the Power of Love's handle tip is placed in a way that makes it look like Scott's testicles. Made funnier because, as the [[http://www.majorspoilers.com Major Spoilers]] review of Volume 6 pointed out, "Scott Pilgrim Grows a Pair" would be a pretty fitting alternate title. It's actually possible that this innuendo was not accidental at all...
7	** [[https://i1.wp.com/1.bp.blogspot.com/_bOiu6sFxxdY/TEVJ7ULshMI/AAAAAAAAGgI/pUV3WjhO7aw/s320/Book+4+Thirst+Versus+Cash.jpg?w=640 Scott Pilgrim is thirsty. And he needs money]].
8	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
9	** The League of Ramona's Evil-Exes could be just a group therapy comprising emotionally destroyed people who loved Ramona Flowers. She broke all their hearts in the worst ways possible, and she didn't care how messed up they became. Gideon could be half evil and half broken; the rest just want to keep Ramona from doing it all over again and are messed up in thinking that beating her new potential love interests (Scott, for example) will break the cycle.
10	** Scott may be the psychological and or emotional crutch for many if not all his friends. Kim has self-esteem issues masked behind her mildly misanthropic nature while Stephen has a lot of neurotic moments and has a knack for entering unhealthy relationships with abrasive individuals. This isn't counting for lesser-known characters like Neil, who we know little about. We see glimpses of them when they're not around Scott and they're usually not happy. In fact, many of the happy moments tend to be when they are together with Scott. Even those like Wallace Wells could be considered as Wallace seems to drink a lot and is occasionally seen as a hedonist. Knives has her friend, but was focused mainly on her studies and didn't know much of the outside world until meeting Scott. Even (or rather, especially) Ramona herself, as Scott proves to be the one for her and the one who ultimately gives her the confidence in moving forward. This could explain why they deal with Scott and his problems, because they really don't have any other friends (or even may not be capable of making friends with others, the exception being Wallace, who has done pretty well for himself). Scott is what holds the gang together since it was formed from everyone meeting him. Without him, the group would fall apart and would result in them being miserable lonely people.
11	** This one has been ''heavily'' implied: Are the exes ''really'' that distraught over Ramona, or did Gideon's glow infect them, leaving them unable to move on?? In volume 3, we see Gideon ''pushing'' Todd to use his powers, so it's clear that he infected him, at least.
12	* AluminumChristmasTrees:
13	** Scott and Wallace's "hole in concrete" apartment fosters much confusion in viewers/readers. Apartments of this kind really do exist.
14	** Honest Ed's, which is jokingly portrayed in the comics as a sort of EldritchLocation, was a real discount store in Toronto which was founded in 1948 and officially closed down in 2016.
15	** Think it's strange that a hardcore vegan like Todd would be so willing to secretly eat meat, magical powers notwithstanding? Google "recovering vegans" and you'll find many stories involving vegans who realized they lacked the resolve to sustain their diet, and to avoid backlash from the vegan community, started eating meat in secret. Whether or not O'Malley was aware of this though, is up for debate; Todd's hypocrisy fits a little too well into his personality for it to be a coincidence.
16	* AntiClimaxBoss: Lucas Lee. Scott asks Lucas to show off his skateboarding skills. Lucas wipes out and hits the curb. Scott wins by default. Scott even comments afterwards, "That was the worst fight ever!" (though it's mainly because he couldn't pick up the Mithril Skateboard Lucas leaves behind).
17	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
18	** Not that we can hear the music, but come on, the fight with Matthew culminating in a song battle is pretty damn awesome.
19	** Dare we mention "Invaders Must Die" by The Prodigy in the movie's trailer?
20	** In Volume 6, [[spoiler:the song Envy sings, and the lousy cover of "I'm a Believer" by Shatterband]] are very awesome moments.
21	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
22	** Comeau showing off his cool new ring.
23	--->'''Comeau:''' Hey, Scotty. Check out [[ArtifactOfDoom my ring]]!\
24	'''Comeau's Ring:''' Ssssscotttt...
25	** The vegan shepherd's pie recipe. Comes out of nowhere and doesn't really have anything to do with the plot other than what the main characters are eating for that scene's meal. And there aren't any other scenes similar to it for the rest of the story.
26	** For all the attention it gets by the fandom Knives and Kim KissingUnderTheInfluence is this, neither ever showed any interest in each other at any point before that, they were mostly friends of friends, afterwards its never spoken of again with neither Knives or Kim indicating they even remember the night, only Scott alludes to it once or twice but Kim never noticed. So far in the three adaptations only the game acknowledges this scene.
27	* CantUnHearIt: Due to virtually the entire cast of ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' reprising their roles in the English dub of ''Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff'', each actor's voice has been largely soldered together with their character in the eyes of many fans. In particular, Creator/ChrisEvans' portrayal of Lucas Lee is so iconic and distinctive it's impossible not to hear his voice when re-reading Volume 2 of the comic.
28	* CatharsisFactor: Seeing Scott kicking the asses of Ramona's two worse exes in both the comic and the movie counts (especially if you've personally have had an ex who treated you poorly):
29	** In both the comic and the movie, Todd Ingram is the most unlikeable of the first six ex (being a narcissistic, smug, selfish, hypocritical, women beating asshole). After he hits Envy (or Knives in the movie), it is so satisfying watching Scott trick him into getting depowered and then effortlessly beating him.
30	** Gideon Graves is even worst, as he is an abusive monster who literally implants Ramona with a chip to control her. Scott gaining the literal power of self-respect and kick his teeth in feels so good to see.
31	* CreatorWorship: Bryan Lee O'Malley, the series author, is absolutely ''adored'' by the fanbase for making the series and his writing, especially since he had influence on writing the film adaptation. To say that fans were overjoyed to learn he was the one spearheading the anime adaptation is an understatement.
32	* CreepyAwesome:
33	** Gideon Graves is a HateSink and a demonstration of what the other evil exes could be if they upped their game. Which, for many, is why he's so cool. You can hate him without having to care, but his abusive tendencies and [[spoiler: HeroKiller]] skills give him an odd aura of nightmares the rest of the series doesn't have.
34	** Nega Scott, of course, being Scott's EnemyWithin.
35	* DieForOurShip: Ramona has ended up becoming this in retrospect, due to sects of the fans preferring Scott to end up with Wallace, Knives, or Kim. This can mostly be tied to the movie, where Knives is shown to be a much more compatible girlfriend for Scott than she is in the comics and even ended up with him in the scrapped original ending.
36	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
37	** If the IMDB message board is any indication, Joseph is one too. O'Malley really knows hows to write gay characters apparently.
38	** Scott's sister, likely due to her expanded role in the movie and the actress who played her.
39	** Lucas Lee seems to be this amongst the evil exes, likely to due being AffablyEvil and not a bad guy.
40	* EvilIsCool: The Evil Exes have a varied set of skills and personalities, ranging from overdramatic actors with mystical powers, to psychics, to a ''half-ninja''. Even [[HateSink Gideon]] has some undeniable swagger with his badass appearance and excellent swordsmanship. No wonder the Exes and their fights are often cited as highlights of the comic.
41	* FanNickname: The G-Man, for Gideon. Something of an AscendedMeme in [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld the movie]], [[VideoGame/HalfLife although considering the video game connection...]]
42	* FanPreferredCouple: Scott/Wallace is arguably the most popular pairing in the entire franchise despite Scott having canonical relationships with four different women and Wallace having a canonical relationship with Mobile (and with Todd in [[Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff the anime]]). It probably helps that Scott is already living with Wallace and sleeping in his bed at the start of the story and Wallace is generally the most supportive of all Scott's friends.
43	* FashionVictimVillain: All the Evil exes are dressed like normal(ish) people, except for Ken Katayanagi, who is wearing a ''headband and Japanese rising sun undershirt'' in his introduction. He somehow manages to look out of place at a Mexican Day of the Dead-themed party.
44	* HarsherInHindsight:
45	** In Volume 3, Envy suggests Scott and Todd do a competition fight through Honest Ed's, which ends up blown by Todd's psychic powers. Honest Ed's was an actual real-life business and tourist spot in Canada, but eventually went bankrupt and torn down in 2016 (a decade after the volume came out).
46	** In the fourth volume, Lisa mentions living off of credit cards and derides herself for doing so. Not long after the volume was released in 2007, the real-life credit crunch of 2008 hit.
47	** A rather meta example: You know that cool shirt Edgar Wright is wearing in the fourth trailer? After the release of Volume 6, turns out that's an official Chaos Theater shirt.
48	** After reading Volume 6 and finding out at the end that [[spoiler:Stephen is gay]], going back and reading Volume 5 has a moment like this when Young Neil [[spoiler:refers to Stephen as "Captain Homo"]], and it hits you that there was a whole other layer to Neil's face-punchingly dickish comment.
49	* HollywoodPudgy:
50	** Roxie is made fun of being overweight, despite looking only very slightly chubbier than the rest of the already generally fairly curvaceous female cast.
51	** Though never emphasized by anyone (besides a very biased Knives), Ramona is noticeably "fuller" than the rest of the women Scott has dated throughout the series, especially apparent when she's in her underwear.
52	* HypeBacklash: What some people thought of it, particularly around the time the movie was coming up. For the most part before then it was a quirky little title, but most found it was hyped up a bit too much since, at it's core, it's a romance story which some of the demographic weren't really keen on. Other were likewise put off by the game references, especially to most who never or don't play them.
53	* JerkassWoobie:
54	** Ramona, and all of her Evil Exes except for Gideon.
55	*** Roxie gets a special mention, as the narrative largely paints her lesbian identity as little more than [[GirlOnGirlIsHot a fetish.]] Sure, she spends most of her respective book trying to kill Scott, but it’s hard not to feel at least a little bad over the way Ramona dismisses their relationship as “just a phase” (the movie takes it even further, with Ramona going on to state it meant nothing to her and she didn’t think it would count, while Roxie is visibly shocked and upset). Her and Ramona supposedly hooking up is largely PlayedForLaughs, but Roxie is heavily implied to still have feelings for her while Ramona clearly only views it as a casual fling; she doesn’t see it as cheating because she may never have seen it as a real relationship to begin with, almost mirroring the way Scott viewed his own relationship with Knives (downplaying in public, not taking it seriously, etc). The only differences are that Ramona’s behavior can be explained (but not excused) by internalized biphobia, while Scott has no such defense and even has a creepy age gap on top of it (which Roxie and Ramona thankfully do not have). Still, the plotline may resonate with sapphic readers who have (knowingly or unknowingly) been on the receiving end of a “college experiment.”
56	** Also, Envy Adams, especially in Volume 6 after she reveals [[spoiler:that her and Scott's break-up was a mutual occurrence and Scott simply white-washed his role in it out of the flashbacks seen by the reader in Volume 3]]. However, she is still pretty unsympathetic in the present day, hence the "jerkass" part.
57	* LesYay:
58	** Knives' fangirlism has been interpreted as a crush on Envy Adams.
59	** Ramona constantly thinks about Kim in the comic, often responding with, "I like Kim". When they were both drunk in Volume 5, and while having issues with Scott, Ramona actually asked Kim to come sleep in their bed.
60	** Some of Ramona and Envy's interactions cross from mutual jealousy into FoeYayShipping territory. It's enough that during the start of their fight, [[ShipperOnDeck some guy in the crowd actually yells "MAKE OUT!"]]
61	* MemeticMutation:
62	** The classic description "TWILIGHT FOR BOYS".
63	** You'd be hard pressed to not find fanart of Knives with a [[ScarfOfAsskicking scarf]], highlights, and sai.
64	** Also replacing the word "love" with "lesbian" in reference to Scott whenever he's asked about "the L-word". This whole thing started after [[spoiler:he discovered Kim and Knives were making out drunk]].
65	--->'''Wallace''': Have you said the L-word yet?\
66	'''Scott''': The L-word?\
67	'''Scott''': You mean... ''lesbian''?\
68	'''Wallace''': Uh... No. The other L-word.\
69	'''Scott''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Lesbians?]]
70	** Scott Pilgrim, [[MemeticMolester Sketchy-ass 24-year old.]]
71	** In later years, people began noticing the series has a ''lot'' of similarities to ''Manga/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' in regards to the structure and plot. It's reached a point where you're likely to find ''Utena'' fans referring to ''Scott Pilgrim'' as "Utena for Canadians," or "The straight white guy version of Utena," or some variant of such comparing Utena to Scott.
72	** "I can't believe Scott Pilgrim's actually a bad person!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]Often said ironically, to parody the large MisaimedFandom of new fans Scott tends to pull in, as well as their sudden turnaround every time the work gets adapted into a new medium.[[/labelnote]]
73	* MemeticMolester: Enforced ''and'' played for laughs. During Scott Pilgrims mini-mental breakdown following Ramona dumping him, he goes up to Knives and hits on her in what can only be described as the funniest AND the creepiest way. The book even refers to him as "Sketchy-ass 24-year old". He even has this to say;
74	-->'''Scott Pilgrim:''' Do you want to have '''sex'''? I think we should have '''sex'''. '''CASUAL SEX.'''[[note]]It is worth noting that he asked upon learning Knives was 18 ([[FourthWall the book refers to her as 18 years old, which is how Scott knew]]).[[/note]]
75	* MisaimedFandom: O'Malley has been fairly clear on the fact that he sees Scott (at least, for much of the story) as a NominalHero. Besides his status as a LoserProtagonist, Scott is clearly written to be an unpleasant jerk in a lot of scenes--in particular, his relationship with Knives, which is how we're introduced to him, is meant to come off as him taking advantage of a much younger girl because he's too socially inept for anyone else. He's superficially friendly and endearing, but underneath that, he's self-centered, unable to commit, and lazy with his morals. However, because Scott is an awkward nerd whose books are largely read by awkward nerds, a lot of people just view him as a relatable EscapistCharacter rather than an example of how awkward nerds can sometimes be kind of terrible as people.
76	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: When the first volume came out in 2004, ''Scott Pilgrim'' was praised for being inventive and very different from what people normally expect of comic book stories. At the end of a very long time when most comic books in North America were about superheroes and related genres, audiences loved a comic book about romance and teenagers that referenced video games and other pop culture media associated with them at the time, being credited with making it possible for comics to have other genres without being fringe. Nowadays however, it can be hard to see the comic as unique, due to the rise of reference humor, webcomics and fan works that focus on a much larger variety of topics.
77	* OneSceneWonder:
78	** Matthew Patel and Micheal Comeau only appear in one scene each in Volume 1.
79	** Lucas Lee actually has even ''less'' pages dedicated to his [[AntiClimaxBoss "fight"]] (and sole appearance in person) than Patel. His only appearance prior to his fight is a single panel while Scott is watching one of his movies.
80	* ParanoiaFuel: Subspace. People can get in your head and see your dreams. That's enough of a privacy nightmare when your girlfriend is doing it, and worse still [[spoiler:your nemesis can spy on you and mess with your memories]]. Or, from Ramona's perspective (which is never really explicitly addressed), [[spoiler:a LivingDollCollector ex who is stalking and trying to kill your boyfriend so he can have you all to himself. And is implied to have done the ''exact same thing'' to others. ''Creepy''.]]
81	** Taken up to eleven when we see how Gideon weaponized it.
82	* {{Squick}}:
83	** Todd and Lynette's kiss in Volume 3.
84	** Scott and Knives' kiss in Volume 6 is an InUniverse example, with the text outright saying that the audience should feel as disgusted as Scott and Knives are.
85	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The series is firmly defined by being in the "Aughts", with its first book coming out in 2004 and ending in 2010. Best seen with how the cast use flip phones then smart phones and a few real life Canadian business, like Honest Ed's, were still standing at that point when they would be gone in the later part of the decade.
86	** However, the bigger element is seen retroactively examined in the context of the wider socioeconomic culture. Scott was written to be portrayed as this sort of hapless loser for not having much of a career or life despite going to college and his friends are presented as this to a lesser degree, something that would have been pretty understandable in the early 2000s. However, fast forward a decade later after the release of the final book on 2010, Scott's situation is much more widespread and noted regarding young adults having difficulty establishing a "proper" life, especially given the audience would be approaching Scott's age in a few years. The series was near completion when the Great Recession hit and cause economic concerns and instability for many up and coming young adults, along with the oversaturation of white collar jobs and has led to a greater sense of economic anxiety among adults who would be Scott's age at the time. This makes Scott and his friends more relatable and sympathetic than perhaps O'Malley intended at the time.
87	** Other aspects would be that certain elements of the story would play different if taken place just a few years later because of culture shifts. The rise of Internet musicians would mean Sex Bob-Omb could earn fame there while Gideon would've been outed sooner for his manipulative tendencies. Scott's attitude on him playing games would be viewed differently if he was a streamer and so on.
88	* TheWoobie: Knives, before and after her {{Yandere}} phase (hell, probably even during it).
89	* {{Woolseyism}}: In the English text, Knives Chau hurls her knives at Ramona while yelling "Chau down!" Since the original pun is LostInTranslation, the Brazilian adaptation opts to poke fun at how Knives' surname has a similar spelling to the Portuguese word for "goodbye".
90	--> '''Knives:''' Tchau da Chau! (Goodbye from Chau!)

Context YMMV / ScottPilgrim