Every debating scene in the trilogy has Scobie speaking well enough to nearly carry the whole team on his own (even a time when Razz and Prindable spend the debate insulting each other’s beliefs about the subject rather than making persuasive arguments). Still, there are also rare moments when the others can shine, such as when the geeky Bill gets to rail on about why science-fiction and fantasy films are still relevant to modern society.
Don't Call Me Ishmael
Every moment where Ms. Tarango puts school bully Barry in his place, such as subtly calling him a dick to his face while pretending to be hypothetically discussing where names come from and using Exact Words to win a bet against him to provide a lesson about languages.
While Prue painting dozens of highly recognizable celebrity peg people figurines in a flashback to first grade does give Ishmael a case of Successful Sibling Syndrome, it is still an impressive effort.
Scobie uses Reverse Psychology to make the school bullies prank him with an insect collection when, really, he is used to being around creepy bugs and has no fear of them whatsoever. This is followed by Mr. Barker the vice-principal quickly finding the culprits during his investigation and making it clear to them how much trouble they are in while never losing a Tranquil Fury attitude.
Ishmael witnesses Barry and his friends picking on a younger boy from another school and has a perfect chance to slip away, but instead, he walks up to divert their malice and tries to cut the younger boy some slack.
Ishmael remains silent and takes heaps of abuse that are being thrown at him over an emotional poem Barry’s gang caught him with rather than reveal that it was someone else (who he doesn’t even like, but who would be far more embarrassed) who actually wrote it and he just happened to pick it up.
The triumphant music show at the end of the book features the teenaged Razz (an emergency substitute drummer) keeping up with the veteran adult rockstars.
Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel
Prindabel has an epic Rules Lawyer moment when manages to calculate how a tie for last place in a volleyball league will affect the overall school rankings by giving them one extra point to apply to the overall athletic competitor boards and will catapult their school to first place. He follows this up by managing to score the deciding point during that game, albeit with more than a little blind luck.
Class Clown Razz comes up with a cunning plan for two gay couples (one male, one female) to attend a Catholic school dance with an unofficial heterosexual-couples-only policy and have fun in plain view without anyone else being the wiser.
The eponymous talent show act, where Bill twirls several hula hoops from his chest and limbs to blaring rock-and-roll accompaniment from his friends.
