A - C | D - J | K - R | S - Z
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A
- Absurdly Long Stairway: Scott defeats Lucas Lee by convincing him to rail grind a huge stairway on his skateboard. After exceeding speeds of 309 kph, he wipes out and explodes on impact.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: At one point, Knives Chau's father cuts through a streetcar with his katana. Called back to in the 4th level of the game, with Roxy cutting through another streetcar, twice.
- Accidental Misnaming: Everyone calls Neil Nordegraf 'Young Neil'. He doesn't actually gripe about it, but when Scott introduces him as just 'Neil', it is the best day of his life.
- Achilles in His Tent: Scott in Volume 6.
- Action Girl: Ramona, Knives, and Roxanne to name a few. Ramona even battled and defeated Gideon alongside Scott.
- Adults Are Useless: There Are No Therapists. Or police, beyond the Vegan Police. Professors have long since faded into the background. Parents are useless, except for a vigilante ninja dad obsessed with "avenging" his daughter. Any sign of law, order, or stability is completely absent... which makes for a pretty entertaining World of Ham, until you consider its
nightmarish implications... which manifest themselves on-page, several times over.- Well, during the fight with Scott and Knives, one guy does say he's going to call the cops, so there is at least SOME branch of police force in this world. Though a remarkably absent one, nonetheless.
- An Aesop: The main lesson of the comic is that if you've made mistakes in the past, you shouldn't run away from them, but rather accept those flaws to become a better person and avoid making the same mistakes all over again. Scott learns this by admitting his mistakes in his relationship with his exes and Ramona does the same.
- Affably Evil:
- Lucas Lee (he caters his fight with Scott!), but not so in the movie. There he just offers to get coffee for his mooks while they beat up Scott, though not before telling Ramona that Scott 'seems nice'.
- Gideon Graves can come off as this as long as you ignore the fact that his invitation to Scott was mostly to gloat.
- Matthew Patel sent a nice email letting Scott know in advance that he was coming, and explaining the situation.
- Alcohol-Induced Bisexuality: In volume 4, Scott accidentally catches Knives and Kim drunkenly making out with each other. This is the only time in the comic either character explicitly shows any interest in the same sex. Their relationship is more consistently romantic in the video game, however.
- Alliterative Name: Gideon Gordon Graves, Stephen Stills, Wallace Wells, Neil Nordegraf, Lucas Lee, Roxanne Richter, Ken and Kyle Katayanagi. It helps that Scott seems to enjoy saying their full names.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Kim Pine feels this way about her parents.
- Amazing Technicolor Battlefield:
- Scott's face-off against Gideon within Ramona's mind in Volume 6 is a parody of this trope.
- Ramona's fight with Roxanne in Subspace in Volume 4 also has elements of this trope.
- Anachronism Stew: Minor example, likely a result of Comic-Book Time: For exactly one panel in the fifth volume, released in 2009, Scott wears a shirt with the bassist icon from Rock Band, which came out in 2007, despite the series taking place in 2004 and 2005.
- And That's Terrible: "Gideon stole the Power of Love! What a dick!"
- And the Adventure Continues: The end of the series is like this. What's next for Scott and Ramona? Where will they go and what will they do? What does "trying again" mean to them? Will they get married, like Wallace and Stacey hinted at? The ending is unconcerned with all these questions, and lets the couple drift off into Subspace, embracing.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: In Volume 6, Scott unlocks a new T-Shirt by leveling up. This actually works out pretty well, since he spilled booze all over the shirt he arrived in, and reluctantly put on a replacement shirt emblazoned with Gideon's logo right before his fight with Gideon. It was also covered in his own blood and had a hole in it from when Gideon stabbed him to death.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Knives gives one to Scott. His response is that he thinks they should break up.
- Animated Adaptation: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation
is a four-minute short adapting the opening of Volume 2, featuring Scott's relationship with Lisa Miller and Kim Pine in his high-school days. Michael Cera and Allison Pill reprise their roles as Scott and Kim, with Lisa Miller and Simon Lee (neither of whom appear in the film) being played by Mae Whitman and Jason Schwartzman (who play Roxy and Gideon in the film), respectively. - Animesque: The comic takes on a more anime-inspired look after a while thanks to Art Evolution.
- The Antichrist: Gideon's logo is an inverted, stylized triforce made out of G's. Yep.
- Anti-Villain: The Evil Exes are mostly this (except for Gideon of course, and Todd), bordering between Type II and Type IV.
- Appropriated Title: The adaptations take their name from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the second book in the series.
- Arc Number:
- 7. It becomes a little more obvious in Volume 6 (ironically) when Gideon is revealed to have 7 exes of his own — six of them innocent victims sealed away in tubes (Ramona being the seventh), but anyway... And when Gideon is finally defeated he explodes into $7,777,777.00 CAD (that's seven sevens).
- Gideon's initials are also all Gs — G is the seventh letter of the alphabet. (Though co-incidentially all three of his names are six letters long.)
- Rotate Gideon's Triforce clockwise and it becomes three 7s instead of three Gs.
- Arc Words: Many variations of the phrase "precious little x". Starting from Volume 1, there are Precious Little Life, Precious Little Ho-Bag, Precious Little Wallace, Precious Little Nickname, and many more. It may be just a catchphrase between all the characters, but the phrase appears in at least one instance of every volume.
- Art Evolution: Over the course of the series, O'Malley's style became streamlined, much more rounded and even more Animesque. For instance, compare the cover for Volume 1 to the new art O'Malley did for the hardcover re-release of the book.
- Artificial Limbs: Lynette punches the highlights out of Knives' hair with her bionic arm. It's also the only thing left behind when she teleports away at the end of Vol. 3.
- Artist and the Band: Crash And The Boys.Crash: Good Evening. I am Crash, and these are The Boys.Wallace: Is that girl a boy too?Crash: Yes.The drummer flips him off.
- Artistic Licence – Chemistry: The series' Rule of Cool aside, constantly redyeing your hair like Ramona does will by all rights make you bald eventually due to the constant bleaching it would take to do that.
- Art Shift: The story of how Todd and Envy grew up with each other in volume 3 is shown with the characters being drawn normally but with everything else being drawn in crayon.
- Astral Checkerboard Decor: One room in subspace where Scott sees Ramona as Gideon's slave has this.
- Auto Erotica: It's revealed in Volume 2 that Scott lost his virginity to Kim in the back of a car.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Near the end of Volume 6, it's revealed that Ramona spent her time away from Scott the exact same way he did — by moping, slacking, and sleeping all day. Scott's friends declare them a perfect couple.
B
- Bag of Holding: Ramona's purse, elaborately lampshading the fact that it contains a hammer (+2 against girls), a titanium baseball bat (+1 against blondes), and even Scott himself. "Capacity: unknown." It also serves as a passage to Ramona's head in subspace, which contains a giant Gideon Graves, whom Scott Pilgrim battles.
- Banister Slide: Scott does it and knocks out his brother, mistaking him for Gideon.
- Basement-Dweller:
- Sort of. Scott and Wallace's apartment is actually the basement of some house O'Malley was using as a model. Truth In Comic Books in the real Toronto's college burbs.
- Scott begins playing this straight for a bit in Volume 6.
- Battle Couple:
- Scott and Ramona, particularly in Volume 6 with the defeat of Gideon.
- It's shown in a flashback that Ramona and Matthew Patel beat up all the jocks at their school together when they were dating.
- Battle Discretion Shot: When Scott battles the Katayanagi Twins' killer robots, nobody really seems to care for his well-being and just ignores it. He's later seen standing over one which he's just beheaded.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Part of the climax in Vol 6, with the fight moving to Ramona's head.
- Beach Episode: The intro of Volume 4, which is also the only event in the series that is illustrated in full color.
- BFS: The Power of Understanding.
- Big Bad: Gideon Graves, who is the leader of Ramona's exes that Scott must defeat in order to get her heart.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Boys and Crash show up to help out Scott in his fight with Todd Ingram using The Power of Rock.
- The Big Damn Kiss:
- The first between Scott and Ramona in Volume 4 after their Relationship Upgrade. Totally epic.
- Scott and Ramona's kiss after Scott gets killed by Gideon in Volume 6.
- Knives gives Scott one, but it's for naught in that he's already met Ramona and doesn't want to date her anymore. Awkward.
- Not to mention Scott and Knives' experimental kiss in Volume 6. It goes on for two pages. It may be horrible for everyone INCLUDING YOU, but it's the biggest kiss in the series.
- A very out-of-nowhere one with Scott and Kim in Volume 6 that takes up two whole pages.
- Big "NO!":
- Scott gets one in after being informed by Wallace that his package will not be shipped until Monday.
- Also Todd Ingram right after being deveganized and right before Scott headbutts him to oblivion.
- Scott in Volume 4 after Ramona leaves him at a restaurant to drink with Kim.
- Big "YES!":
- Scott in Volume 4 after Dominique gives him a job at the Happy Avocado (a vegetarian restaurant where Stephen Stills works), although the job is being a dishwasher. In fact, Scott lets out two, and the second one is given something of a Distant Reaction Shot.
- Scott lets out another one when Dominique re-hires him after he got fired for some commotion he sparked when he saw Ramona and Roxy eating together.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: It's pretty obvious from day one that Scott is kind of an asshole, but you still root for him, seeing as how his enemies, with one or two possible exceptions, are way more unpleasant than he is, and because the the trials he faces make him gradually grow out of being an asshole.
- Black Bug Room: This is the true power of the Glow and how Gideon made his fortune (having mentioned as psychological warfare and working with the military). Anyone with the Glow have their memories tainted and distorted while their vices are amplified to self-destructive tendencies. In fact, it's described as being trapped inside one's own head, thus literally keeping people from connecting with one another and only able to obsess over their own actions and problems. Ramona has it and it's implied she learned to use Subspace from it while Scott himself ends up getting it. In fact, it's implied that this is how the Negascott came to be in the first place.
- Bland-Name Product: Mostly averted since real Canadian brands are frequently mentioned, but there are exceptions.
- The LG billboard in Dundas Square reads "LC".
- In Volume 5, Knives is seen picking up a soda from a "Choke" vending machine.
- Kim Pine's "Samsnug" cellphone.
- The "Time Critics" arcade Neil Nordegraf is seen playing in Volume 6.
- Blatant Lies: Ehhh possibly. Scott's often mentions he doesn't drink despite sometimes drinking. Granted, he is never seeing enjoying it and could be interpreting as only drinking become he's pressued. Granted, after some Character Development, he does admit that he does sometimes drink, but even the one time he does so willingly, he doesn't really enjoy it.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Oh boy, Volume 6.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Killing people is okay, but if you're a graduate of the Vegan Academy and consume gelato... well, you know the theme song to COPS. Then again, maybe Vegan Police lack juristication in that.
- Blunt "Yes": Crash and the Boys aren't having any of Wallace's heckling.
- Bondage Is Bad: Ramona's desire to get back together with Gideon is represented as an image of her kneeling next to him, wearing a leash and handcuffs.
- Boss Subtitles: For Ramona's Exes.
- But Not Too Bi: Despite the seemingly straight characters having same-sex relationships, all the characters are explicitly proclaimed to either be straight ("it was a phase") or gay, with no in-between.
- Brain Bleach:
- When Scott walks in on Wallace in bed with another guy, apparently he cannot unsee what he saw. It was his junk.
- Invoked with Scott and Knives' kiss in Volume 6. It was horrible for everyone involved. Including you.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- Whenever someone asks how he and Ramona met, Scott usually says some variation of "it's a long story, go read Volume 1." Whenever a Chekhov's Gun from a previous book gets used, someone will usually refer to that book by its number. Scott has also referred to certain friends as "secondary characters."
- During Scott's battle in book 3 when he's losing against Todd, Scott remarks that only a poorly set up Deus ex Machina plot can save him. It does.
- In the opening of one of the books, two background characters are making comments about the titles.
- After Todd psychically throws Envy into a wall in volume 3, Scott remarks, "I think it's time to end this volume."
- When Stephen Stills sees that Joseph has a home studio in volume 4, he immediately asks if he can help Sex Bob-omb record an album, stating that Joseph saw them play "in volume 3".
- After defeating Roxy in Volume 4, Scott notes to Ramona that Roxy had mentioned a pair of twins right before dying. After Ramona admits that she had dated twins at one point, Scott realizes that he will eventually have to fight them, and says this:"Aww, man...am I gonna have to fight two at once in volume 5? Can this just be the last book?
- At the end of Volume 4 at a Korean restaurant, Scott notes to Wallace that he can't believe Wallace has been secretly dating Mobile since volume 3.
- Brick Joke:
- Scott is walking somewhere at night in Volume 2, and in one panel we see the moon. But it doesn't look right; there seem to be two big holes in it. It just seems weird on the first read, and nobody in the book says anything about it at the time. Near the end of Volume 3, however, we find out why it looks like that and what it has to do with the story.
- In the last volume, Scott asks Knives if she likes Stephen Stills, and she bursts out laughing for no real apparent reason. At the end of that book it is revealed that he came out as gay offscreen in Vol. 5.
- In Vol. 5, Ramona asks for Scott to charge her phone. Later in the volume, she checks her phone to see that it's still at low battery.
- Brown Note: "Last Song Kills Audience.""Actually, it only knocks most people unconscious for, like, twenty to thirty minutes..."
- "BABY, I WAS BORN TO DESTROY YOU!!"
C
- Call-Back:
- Volume 5 has a dream that puts Scott in the same desert he found himself in back in the Volume 1, once again lamenting that he is "so alone".
- When Wallace is first telling Scott about Lucas Lee, Scott confuses him first with Luke Wilson (the actor), and then with a guy who was in a band that Sex Bob-Omb played with (also named Luke Wilson). Some time later, Scott runs into the latter Luke Wilson, and asks if he is Lucas (mind you, this is after Scott had met, fought, and defeated Lucas).
- Captain Obvious: Wallace is actually helpful most of the time, but once a fight actually starts..."Scott, watch out! I think that guy might be Gideon!"
- Cast Full of Gay: Wallace Wells (and his various friends and sexual conquests), his boyfriend Mobile, Roxanne Richter, "Other Scott," Joseph, Stephen Stills...
- Cast Herd: The numerous characters are more or less divided into two camps: Sex Bob-omb and the League of Evil Exes, and their assorted hangers-on.
- Catapult Nightmare: Scott wakes up from one in Volume 2.
- Cat Fight:
- When Scott hears about Ramona's fight with Knives in the library, he's in his bed and gets so excited he spills his cocoa everywhere. Uhh.
- In Vol. 3, Ramona and Envy get into this kind of fight when their conversation goes south.
- Cerebus Retcon: Scott's quirky high-school flashbacks turn quite glum with the revelation Kim gives Scott in the final book. Turns out the boy that kidnapped her was just someone she was friends with that Scott beat up when he saw the two together. There was no major confrontation or epic fight that was earlier described. It's later revealed Gideon "spruced up" the memory when he went inside Scott's mind.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The fifth book starts dipping into some pretty heavy territory (such as fidelity), compared to the lightheartedness of the earlier volumes. This is around the same time that Scott realizes he has to grow the hell up and stop being such a manchild in order to save his relationships with Ramona and the rest of his friends. Even more so in the sixth book, especially with scenes like Scott being killed with his own sword halfway through the book.
- Character Development:
- Kind of the crux and the main point of the entire series. The biggest takeaway is accepting your past mistakes and working to do and be better while not letting them define you. Scott is slowly — very slowly — growing from a complete slacker to a quasi-functional person. By the end of the series, he comes to accept the fact that he's been a narcissistic jerk throughout much of his life, and now strives to change for the better.
- Also applies to Ramona Flowers and Knives Chau (especially in the last volume), and the secondary characters: Wallace is noticeably more care-free after he starts dating Mobile, Stephen Stills is somewhat more neurotic and self-conscious, and Kim is becoming less cold towards Scott.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: The Boys and Crash's constant rehearsing finally pays off in the form of an advanced technique:We now have the ability to manipulate pure sound waves through hard work and willpower alone!!
- Scott has superhuman speed and strength and insane martial arts skills without any justification other than he's the main character of a video game.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The extra life Scott gained in book 3 brings him back to life after Gideon runs him through. Lampshaded by Scott's mom, pointing out the extra life after Stacey notes that Scott just came back.
- It always seemed odd how the Lucas Lee movie Scott and Ramona watch in Volume 2 was curiously similar to Scott's rescuing of Kim back in high school... until Vol. 6.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Nega-Scott, Scott's mysterious doppleganger from Volume 4, reappears in Volume 6, turning out to be a personification of all the problems Scott wants to get away from.
- The Boys and Crash in Volume 3, along with their Chekhov's Skill (manipulating sound waves), which is lampshaded by Kim.
- In the movie, Roxie attacks Scott for the first time before he meets Todd.
- Gideon Graves at the end of Volume 3.
- Chekhov's Skill:
- In book 2, it's shown that Scott is an exceedingly good cook. When he gets a job at a restaurant in book four, he's relegated to a dishwasher.
- Played straight at the end of Volume 6. Scott Pilgrim, greatest prep chef in the world. And he still botches the order.Stephen Stills: Whatever, they ordered dinner at 10:55. They're getting a salad.
- Played straight with Stephen Stills, who had his cooking moment with the vegan shepherd's pie scene in book 2, and is seen later working at the same restaurant as Scott and being complimented by customers for his cooking.
- After Scott earns the Power of Love and goes up to fight Roxy, he says, "Now I'm glad I picked that longsword proficiency in grade five!"
- This was actually foreshadowed in Vol 2, when Scott said that he didn't take the skateboard proficiency.
- Headbutting. Scott uses it to kill Todd in Volume 3, and then uses it in Volume 6 with the Glow to break Gideon out of his giant, twisted, godly form.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Scott has shades of this from time to time.Wallace: Can you be serious for one second?
Scott (drooling): I like elevators. - Combination Attack: How Scott and Ramona finish off Gideon. It's a slash in the shape of an "X". An X-Slash if you will. The twins Kyle and Ken also do this with techniques like the Double Hurricane Kick, and Simul-Punch. Also known as the "Ex-slash" if it's possible not to notice.
- Comically Missing the Point: The Vegan Police rush in to remove Todd Ingram's vegan superpowers for eating gelato. Envy notes that Todd also ate chicken parmesan, but the police aren't sure whether parmesan is an animal or not, so they don't punish him for that one.
- Comic-Book Time: Lampshaded and mocked in the fifth volume, as the Real world and the Scott Pilgrim world take on the last Sex Bob-Omb show collide with hilarious results.Sandra: A whole generation of bands have come and gone since you guys opened for the Demonheads in '05!
Scott: That was this May! - Continuity Nod: Scott's love of the X-Men, shown in Volume 1, is shown again in Volume 5 in full force. He tells Ramona the storylines of the demon Belasco kidnapping Colossus' sister Illyana and the time the X-Men set up base in Australia.
- Continuity Porn: The series is loaded with little details, some of which speak to each other over separate books.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Knives leaps and attacks Envy right before she's about to finish Ramona. Subverted in that it doesn't accomplish much and Knives ends up hitting the wall.
- Cosmetic Award:
- Scott unlocks an achievement for defeating the Katayanagi twins at the same time.
- They also give a $2.00 "twin bonus"... no, wait, that's likely independent of the achievement.
- Gets a Shout-Out in the video game, where defeating both of them at once earns you the 'Twin Dragons' Achievement/Trophy.
- Cranky Landlord: Scott and Wallace's landlord is a jerkass of the highest order. Considering the boys don't seem to actually pay him rent and he still lets them stay until their contract lapses, at which point he offers a per month deal...
- Crapsaccharine World: The entire World of Ham looks playful and fun at first, until you realize just how selfish, violent, and lawless most of the main cast actually is. Even the heroes. Lampshaded several times. For example in Volume 2, when Ramona rips a metal pole off the ground to fight Knives, Stacey exclaims, "Are you crazy? You can't just tear up giant metal art objects like that!"
- Crazy-Prepared: Gideon: "Yes! I had a sword built into Envy's dress in case of emergency! THAT'S JUST THE KIND OF GUY I AM!"
- Critical Existence Failure: Scott gets thrown through brick walls, beaten up by a giant robot, etc. and manages to come out relatively unscathed.
- Crossover: Scott makes a one-panel cameo in another Oni Press graphic novel entitled PENG (which is NOT by Bryan Lee O'Malley, but rather by Corey Lewis, who also did the graphic novel series Sharknife, which takes place in the same continuity as PENG).
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Scott Pilgrim may be an idiot, but he's also the "best fighter in the province".
- Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: Ramona's "three or five evil exes".note
- Cue the Sun: At the end of Volume 3.
- Cutaway Gag: In Volume 5.Scott: Well, we've got something like 48 hours, dude [Stephen Stills]...what's our plan?
SOMETHING LIKE 48 HOURS LATER AT SNEAKY DEE'S
