History Awesome / MassEffect3

** Either seeing it in person, or reading about it like [[spoiler: hearing that Shiala is leading the Zhu's Hope semi-hive mind colonists in a successful pushback, learning that Kal'Reegar sacrificed himself and his squad to hold a turian communications outpost, hearing that the guy you had Jack spare on Pragia brought down dozens of husks to save fleeing transports full of children, the list goes on and all of it is fist pumpingly awesome.]]
** Hell, anytime a ''Renegade'' decision pays off, from a previous game or from this one. Bioware understands that GoodIsNotNice. [[spoiler: Didn't go full Paragon when you encountered Kelly Chambers again in [=ME3=]? Good for you, you saved her life. Killed Rana Thanoptis? Congrats, now she won't gun down asari officials on Reaper orders. Tell Javik not to take the shard? He'll be writing a book with Liara, or travelling the galaxy, or living like a king with the Hanar, instead of [[DrivenToSuicide killing himself.]]]]

*** Tying into that is if you take the Renegade interrupt after your own (successful) fight with Kai Leng - Shepard [[spoiler: breaks Kai Leng's sword with their left fist as the Omni-Blade pops out, stabbing into Kai's side. Cue Shepard saying "That was for Thane, you son of a bitch".]]
*** In general, watching Shepard [[spoiler: gut Kai like a fish after all the problems he's caused]] is extremely satisfying.

** Oddly enough, [[spoiler: if Thane didn't survive 2,]] someone else takes the shot for the Councilor... [[spoiler: Major Kirrahe.]] Not as flashy, but just as poignant. [[spoiler:[[TearJerker He held the line.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Pnus16bA4 Also gets his own revenge line later]].]]
* Grunt will choose to do an epic YouShallNotPass moment to hold off a small army of Ravagers by himself. He charges into them, shooting and punching and kicking and beating, before [[spoiler: falling off a cliff into darkness, followed by more Ravagers]]. Weep those ManlyTears for the greatest krogan warrior ever to live. [[spoiler: Then he comes out of the cave, covered in blood but still alive, and asks for something to eat]]. The best part of it all is the music during this scene: while Grunt is fighting off the Ravagers, the music is quiet and sad, a piano solo that confirms that our hero is fighting his final, doomed battle. And when [[spoiler: Grunt survives, the music is a reprise of the triumphant, rising orchestral crescendo at the ending of the first game when Shepard crawls out of the wreckage, battered but alive.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9z2TkVNWlM Needs to be seen to believed.]]
** Adding to that [[spoiler:the requirement for him surviving is that next to saving the Rachni Queen in 1 you had finish his loyalty mission in 2. Which was to help him gain maturity and a clan, essentially giving him a "family" and to learn how to control his rage. This means he survives because he learned how to use his rage when necessary and have something to come back for. He must have had a major determination moment down there.]]

* A little early, but if you weren't overcome by the sheer awesome of how [[spoiler:Earth is facing annihilation by a massive Reaper Fleet]] in ME 3's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geTD0gWh8w0 debut trailer]], you need to rethink your place in life.

* During the second demo mission, you help Mordin [[spoiler: and Wrex]] get an important krogan female off the salarian homeworld. After you've held off the [[spoiler: Cerberus]] forces attacking you, [[spoiler: Wrex offers his hand to help Eve out of the containment pod she was in the entire mission. When two more Cerberus mooks show up out of nowhere to attack, Eve, instead of taking Wrex's offered hand, grabs his shotgun and blows them both away. ''With one hand''. Krogan women kick ass.]]

* During the mission on Sur'Kesh, Shepard can run into Captain (now Major) Kirrahe, who, when [[spoiler:Cerberus]] forces deploy heavy armor forces and drone guns, he blows them up with a sticky grenade launcher pistol. By himself. [[TheLancer Garrus]] wants to know [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys where he can get a cool toy like that]].

* Two words: [[spoiler:Prothean. Squadmate.]]
* Wrex's quote to oncoming [[spoiler:Ravagers]] as Shepard and his/her squadmates get ready to hurry to cure the [[spoiler:Genophage.]] [[spoiler:"I AM URDNOT WREX, AND THIS IS MY PLANET!!!"]]
* Mordin [[spoiler:sacrificing himself]] to get the [[spoiler:genophage cure]] into Tuchanka's [[spoiler:atmosphere]]. His responsibility [[spoiler:to the end]].

'''Mordin:''' [[spoiler: I'm not. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.]]
** [[spoiler: His final words before the control room explodes around him. The calm conviction in the face of death.]]
--->'''Mordin:''' [[spoiler: Genophage cured. Krogan free. New beginning...for all of us.]]
** [[spoiler:Gets even sadder if you try to stop him. Shouting "I MADE A MISTAKE!", and then if you shoot him, he dies literally trying to ''crawl'' to the control panel. It was supposed to be his moment of redemption.]]
*** [[spoiler: For added effect, this is probably the only time Mordin uses the first person pronoun "I" when not performing; he really feels that it is his personal responsibility to cure the genophage. And he will do it if it costs him his life.]]
*** Also a CallBack. [[spoiler: Mordin claims that it is a new beginning for everyone just before dying. In Mass Effect 2, he expressed a believe in reincarnation. He ''literally'' believes that this is his chance to come back and ''do better.'']]
*** If you have a save file from Mass effect 2 where you got Mordin to sing his "Scientist Salarian" song [[spoiler: he sings it to himself to keep his nerve in an exploding tower. His voice cracks up with emotion when the cure is dispersed and he has a faint smile on his face]]

*** This becomes even better when you remember that Mordin frequently mocked Kirrahe for this ideology- stating that he "preferred to get the job done and go home." [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Not this time.]] [[CallBack Mordin held the line!]]

* Lieutenant Victus, son of the Turian Primarch, gives his life to disable the Cerberus bomb [[spoiler: that they stole from the turians]] threatening to destroy a high population center in Tuchanka. His sacrifice gives Shepard valuable time to solidify an alliance between the turian and krogan states.

* During the final part of the Rannoch mission, [[spoiler:it's just you, on foot, dodging blasts that can level buildings so you can point the targeting laser at a Reaper's weak spot so ''[[MoreDakka the entire quarian fleet and the Normandy]]'' can blow it to hell]].
** Paragon Shepard's speech to the quarian fleets if you opt to resolve to make peace between the two warring species. [[spoiler:Succeeding when you have Admirals Tali and Zaal'Koris's assistance is the complete icing on the cake, of course. And you realize at the end that Shepard's invocation of the common quarian phrase is literal here: s/he wants to see his/her homeworld someday in the future, too.]]

* Best Interrupt in the game (even more than [[spoiler: shooting Udina]]) - [[spoiler: Kai Leng, battered and broken after your fight with him, picks himself up off the floor, grabs his sword and approaches Shepard. S/he turns, shatters the sword, and impales Kai Leng with the omni-blade.]]
** "[[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeiLJVWUeb0 That was for Thane, you son of a bitch.]]]]"
** Alternatively, "[[spoiler:That was for Miranda, ''you son of a bitch.'']]"
** [[RuleOfThree Alternatively-alternatively]] - "[[spoiler:That was for Kirrahe, you son of a bitch.]]"
** If [[spoiler:Kai Leng kills Thane and Miranda]] - "[[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk7uIjr10Ig That was for Thane and Miranda, you son of a bitch.]]]]"
*** [[spoiler: But let's be honest. Who wasn't mashing the KickTheSonOfABitch button?]]
** In the event that [[spoiler:Kirrahe and Thane both died prior to [=ME3=], and Miranda survived Horizon[=/=]died in [=ME2=]]] - "[[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVu_0wR32Io No gunship this time, you son of a bitch.]]]]"

** Another alternative? Don't take the interrupt. [[spoiler: Paragon Shep will dodge the blade, spin around and gut Kai like a fish anyway. With the same lines as mentioned earlier.]]

* The war to retake Earth is on par with the battle of freaking-Armageddon. With enough planning you hit your cybergod enemies with the might of an entire galaxy. [[spoiler:This includes elements from every state and alien government, AIs, pirates, mercenaries, dinosaur-riding krogan and enough dreadnought fire to burn a hundred worlds to ash. Seemingly invincible kilometer long Reapers are torn to shreds by the sheer weight of numbers, Shepard kills not one but TWO additional destroyers on foot, every surviving crew member takes part in the ground battle, and the Mako returns.]] This is the scene that each player had been working towards for 3 games, 100+ hours, and five years. Truly, it is the battle for all time.

* The final run to the teleportation tower leading to [[spoiler:the Citadel]]. Hammer forces have to cross a large space of open ground, hoping that at least some will make it through and enable the fleet to make the final strike against the Reapers, and so spread out to make a massed charge of vehicles and soldiers on foot. Knowing the vulnerability of the tower, Harbinger himself lands next to it and starts shooting everything with his [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill giant lasers meant to destroy dreadnoughts in a single hit]]. With the assault force disintegrating around him/her, Shepard keeps running for the tower, eventually getting hit by the laser. Satisfied, Harbinger flies away... [[{{Determinator}} but Shepard gets back up with serious injuries, his/her power armor effectively reduced to slag, and keeps limping for the final 20 meters, retrieving a pistol on the way. Shepard even manages to kill a few husks and a Marauder, despite being shot without any shielding or armor, before collapsing on the teleportation pad.]]

* Samara's daughters at the [[spoiler: Ardat-Yakshi monastery. The older one, Rila, resists indoctrination and transformation into a Banshee long enough that she can set off a bomb, blowing the place, and the biggest stockpile of banshees, to hell.]] Morinth, you are no longer Samara's strongest and bravest daughter.
-->[[spoiler: '''Rila:''']] '''[[DefiantToTheEnd We are not your slaves.]]'''

* The Rannoch Missions [[spoiler: if Shepard manages to make peace between the geth and the quarians. Let me repeat, Shepard managed to end a conflict that all others thought was unresolvable. [[MessianicArchetype Messiah]] much?]]
** [[spoiler: Even better is the fact that it is the biggest middle finger you can give to the Reapers' philosophy. The Catalyst can't even offer a counter-argument if you bring it up in conversation and instead brushes it off as a mere freak occurrence.]]

* Heavy weapon use is dialed down a bit in ''3'' - instead of carrying them with you, you tend to find them on specific missions and can only use them there. During the siege on London in the endgame, the Cain makes a triumphant return [[spoiler:when Shepard uses it to take out an anti-air Hades Cannon.]] Click...BOOM.
** Even better - [[spoiler:If you look in the wreckage of the crashed shuttle, you'll notice ''there's a second Cain''. Provided you don't screw up the first shot, you can pick it up and use it to OneHitKill the Banshee that turns up]]. And considering if [[spoiler:Morinth survived ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' and Samara didn't, she turns up as a Banshee as well]], it's a ''hell'' of a dose of LaserGuidedKarma.
* At Huerta Memorial Hospital, you can overhear a PTSD-stricken asari explain what happened to her. She was on a human colony and was staying with some farmers and using their shower when Reaper forces arrived. She fled and took the farmers' daughter with her... who then proceeded to [[spoiler:kill several husks with only a stick. One human girl, frightened, takes down husks with a stick.]]

** [[spoiler: This painfully veers into TearJerker territory when the soldier explains the real reason for her PTSD: she had to kill the human girl while they were hiding because the girl broke her leg and her pained whimpering was threatening to give away their position to the husks.]]
* When [[spoiler:Cerberus attacks the Citadel and Shepard is having a standoff with the council and the Virmire Survivor]] everyone is slow to believe Shepard's claims that [[spoiler:Udina is staging a coup.]] Then, after three games of apathy and condescending crap, the asari councilor ''finally'' points out that [[TheCassandra they haven't trusted Shepard before]] and each time, it's come back and bitten them in the ass.
** To make it even better, if you've talked things out with Ashley/Kaidan, she/he will make the decision to trust you and [[spoiler:turn on Udina.]] Hear that? That was the sound of all the leftover trust issues from Horizon shattering.

*** And of course, [[spoiler: Udina ''dies'' after that. You can either take a Renegade Interrupt and shoot him yourself, or you can let Ashley/Kaidan do the deed and prove they're more than worthy of being the second human Spectre]].

* The Illusive Man gets one in an archived video at Cerberus Headquarters. [[spoiler:Right before he's about to undergo the most likely excruciating surgery that would let him control Reapers he asks for no anesthetic]]. He often looks like a callous bastard and he's extreme even for a WellIntentionedExtremist, but you get the sense he wants to feel every sacrifice done in Humanity's name.

* Anderson leading the anti-Reapers resistance. Sure, you [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome don't see much of it]], but you still see the result: Earth is one of the first planets attacked, Humanity's homeworld takes the brunt of the Reapers' wrath, its main cities are destroyed within days if not hours, yet Anderson manages to mount a resistance movement, reorganize the Humans living outside the cities efficiently enough that not only does Earth resist until the very end of the game (after [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Thessia]] has gone silent and [[SpaceRomans Palaven]] has been abandoned by turians who cannot both [[SadisticChoice defend their homeworld and prepare to escort the Crucible]] anymore), but Anderson has managed, [[SerialEscalation with no help from the outside]] to prepare a final assault against the Reaper beam in London. He's like [[StiffUpperLip Churchill]], [[RebelLeader John]] [[RobotWar Connor]], and [[TheStrategist Garibaldi]] [[TheSiege defending Montevideo]] all rolled into one.
** What's even more badass for Anderson is that he's the ''only'' person who [[spoiler: somehow made it to the Citadel besides Shepard in the final rush, possibly even ''before'' them and not even getting as badly injured as them to boot!]] No wonder why even Shepard looks up to him.

* From Glyph you hear the story of a colony that chose to [[TakingYouWithMe nuke itself]] [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled rather than be]] [[MoreThanMindControl indoctrinated]].

* Renegade Shepard's speech convincing [[spoiler:the quarians not to open fire on the geth was particularly amazing. "A few years ago, I saved you from the geth at the Citadel. Just recently I helped you take out that dreadnought. But I'm through saving you. If you keep attacking, I will ''stand and watch'' as the geth lay you to ''waste''." They listen.]]

** This scene becomes doubly awesome if you just took the Renegade interrupt to [[spoiler: punch Han'Gerrel in the stomach for firing on the dreadnought while you were still inside. There's a heavy subtext of "I just punched one quarian admiral and threw him off my ship. You want to make it two?"]]

* Speak to Kirrahe before going into the STG labs. He promises Shepard that, regardless of the decisions of the politicians, the salarian STG will help when called. Particularly if you later [[spoiler: cure the genophage,]] pissing off Dalatrass Linron and causing her to revoke the official salarian support for the fleet to retake Earth, seeing an entire branch of the salarian military essentially telling their leaders ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight is pretty damn awesome.

'''Admiral Hackett''': Our intel shows that [[WeAreStrugglingTogether cracks are developing between the military and the politicians]]; [[GodzillaThreshold These STG guys know the score]]. They're not going to let the entire Salarian Union be jeopardised just because [[ObstructiveBureaucrat some dalatrass]] [[ItsAllAboutMe didn't get her way]].

* Miranda gets one for appearing to be the ''only'' person in the entire galaxy who ''doesn't'' expect (or ask) Shepard to solve her problems. Every time you meet her you can offer to help her, and every time she tells you that you have bigger things to worry about. [[spoiler: Sure, she ends up needing your help in the end, but that doesn't detract from how far she got on her own.]]
** There's also her [[NeverFoundTheBody badass biotic takedown]] of [[spoiler:her own father Henry Lawson]] if you should succeed in [[spoiler:persuading him to let Oriana go]].

* On the battle for Earth, EDI gets hers as she [[spoiler: personally guides two Thanix Missiles directly into the "eye" of the poor Reaper Destroyer guarding the beam, ensuring its destruction. Her [[PostMortemOneLiner post mortem one-liner]] is just as awesome: "Destroyer terminated!"]]
* As you're firing the [[spoiler: Thanix Missiles on Earth at the Destroyer defending the Citadel beam]], the cutscene will show your squadmates defending you. Depending on who you have and what weapons equipped can sometimes alter what happens as they shoot incoming Cannibals and Husks. Such as Tali shooting a Cannibal point blank in the face. With a Claymore. ''One handed.''
* The Extended Cut's [[TakeAThirdOption fourth option]]. [[spoiler:You can resist the options given to you by the Catalyst by either [[ShutUpHannibal shooting it in the face]], or [[KirkSummation deliver a final speech about what you fight for and why you will not submit to its will]]. It might just end [[KillEmAll badly]], but offering the Catalyst naught but defiance that essentially boils down to "Screw you and the squid you rode in on. You don't get to make our choices for us" is ever so satisfying and evocative of the fantastic scene with Sovereign on Virmire way back in the first game.]]
-->'''Catalyst:''' [[spoiler:Your time is at an end. You must decide]]\\
'''Shepard:''' [[spoiler:No. I'm going to end this war on my terms.]]\\
'''Catalyst:''' [[spoiler:Then you are going to die knowing that you failed to save everything you fought for.]]\\
'''Shepard:''' [[spoiler:I fight for freedom, mine and everybody's. I fight for the right to choose our own fate. And if I die, I'll die knowing that I did everything I could to stop you. And I'll die free.]]\\
'''Catalyst:''' [[spoiler:[[AC:So be it.]]]]
** [[spoiler: EC turns the original, of-questionable-quality endings into actually pretty badass endings. Special mention goes to the Control ending, where Shepard becomes ''all of the Reapers'' and essentially names himself/herself as GOD-EMPEROR OF SPACEKIND.]]
** The Destroy ending. [[spoiler: The Reapers are utterly defeated, with races all of the Galaxy celebrating with their burnt out carcasses in the background. The relays and Citadel are damaged, but quickly repaired, and the ending implies that the Citadel takes root above a restored Earth, now the epicenter of galactic politics. Yes, the geth and EDI die, but they die because Shepard chose to reject, as they did, the Reapers as a source of progress and advancement, instead giving life a future utterly free of them. On top of all that, Shepard can survive, and will likely be reunited with his/her crew very soon if he/she lives.]]

*** The Destroy ending has [[FridgeBrilliance an additional, awesome implication]]: [[spoiler: The Catalyst makes it clear that it believes that the cycle of organic conflict with synthetics will continue if you go with this option. In other words, the Catalyst is willing to let you destroy the entire cycle, millions of years of maintaining this process of genocide and construction, and take your chances on a cycle that it believes is inevitable, simply through virtue of the fact that Shepard united the galaxy and brought the Crucible to the Citadel. The Catalyst is willing to let you destroy everything it created, and in the process invalidate the entire purpose that it followed unwaveringly for millions of years, because Shepard is ''just that badass''.]]
*** The Synthesis ending is [[spoiler: just as good, in a different way. You get to bring all organic life to a higher state of existence and the Reaper's archive of all the millions of years worth of diverse civilizations, culture, and knowledge that they harvested can live once again among the newly ascended species. It’s a Singularity gone right.]]
*** The Control ending: [[spoiler:Shepard basically becomes God; uploading into the Citadel basically supplants the Catalyst as the controlling entity of the Reapers and his/her perspective expands to an incomprehensibly vast scale. Using the Reapers, which are now implements of his/her will, Shepard repairs the Relay Network, and goes about restoring the damage done much like how the Synthesis-Reapers do in the Synthesis ending, and then wards over galactic civilization. Essentially, Shepard'st chosen method, be it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX7HDcvw2pk Paragonic, Renegade or Neutral]], is basically saying "You're doing it wrong" to the Catalyst.]]

'''[[spoiler:Aethyta]]''': ''[slightly taken aback]'' No argument here. I only took these crap jobs to keep the matriarchs happy she's under control.\\

'''[[spoiler:Aethyta]]''': ''[laughs]'' Maybe you're good enough for her after all.

* Completing the Leviathan DLC [[spoiler: gets a MindRape squad...on YOUR side, from the race that STARTED the whole mess in the beginning.]]

-->'''Shepard:''' ''Sovereign, '[[CallBack vanguard of our destruction.]]' [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu How's that]] [[DeadpanSnarker working out for you,]] [[BondOneLiner big guy?]]
* In ''Leviathan'', we discover that [[spoiler: TheRemnant of the Leviathan race have watched the Reaper's harvest civilizations for ''millions'' of years and in all the many Cycles, nothing has ''ever'' changed. However, the Leviathan go on to refer to Shepard as "[[TheChosenOne An Anomaly]]", having not only become the first serious threat the Reapers have ever faced, but the first thing they've seen the Reaper actually ''[[TheDreaded fear!]]'']]
** [[spoiler: Which begs the question of whether an EldritchAbomination has ever proclaimed someone to be TheChosenOne before?]]

** As you're leaving Despoina, a Reaper dreadnought -- the big two-kilometers-long ''Harbinger''-class, mind -- drops out of orbit, straight at your shuttle... and [[spoiler: Leviathan just ''[[ShockingMoments turns it off]]''.]]

* [[spoiler:The creator of the Reapers and their cycles? Yeah, ''you change its mind on the Reapers''. It is even willing to help you destroy the Reapers, even though doing so leaves its problem of organic/synthetic conflict unaddressed.]] Shepard's been shown to be very charismatic throughout the series, but never before have they [[spoiler:persuaded someone that Shepard's goal is more important than ''the very reason for its existence''.]]

* After [[spoiler: Nyreen makes a HeroicSacrifice]], Aria goes on a short but very satisfying RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Highlights include using her biotics in such a way it’s only been seen in [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscenes]] before, some of which are strong enough to stagger Shepard. And when you do get to Petrovsky, Aria- who's probably one of the most potent Biotics seen in the series- [[spoiler: foregoes all of that to choke him to slowly to death.]]
--> '''Aria''': [[TranquilFury Oh no...not yet.]] [[ToThePain You don't get a quick, easy death.]]
* A collective CMOA for Shepard and Nyreen in ''Omega'' if playing full-Paragon. Throughout the mission, various characters (including Aria herself) keep telling Shepard that no matter what you do, Aria will never change her die-hard Renegade ways. However, [[spoiler:if you stick to the Paragon's path, Aria lets Petrovsky go--something she would have never even considered before journeying with Shepard and Nyreen's sacrifice]].

** Made even more awesome that while some of the squadmates are worrying about their [[SealedBadassInACan current]] [[AndIMustScream predicament]] and the limited amount of oxygen, Shepard's too busy worrying "DoIReallySoundLikeThat". When they ask him/her to take the situation seriously, Shepard reveals that they ''[[HyperAwareness knew]]'' Glyph was outside and could get them out at ''[[CardboardPrison any]]'' time!
* The fact that the entire fate of the Galaxy hinges on [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun Traynor's toothbrush]]]].
* The finale in the Normandy's shuttle bay, after [[spoiler: the clone]] is defeated and just their [[TheDragon dragon]] remains to be dealt with. Take the renegade interrupt...
-->'''[[spoiler:Brooks:]]''' You'll miss me. ''[breaks out of handcuffs and runs, Shepard fires]''\\

--->'''[[spoiler: Brooks:]]''' Is the great Commander Shepard pleading for his/her life?\\

* The Citadel DLC as a whole is a giant CMOA for Shepard's teammates and close allies. As noted above, even GLYPH gets his moment to shine at the end of a mission which involves everyone fighting alongside Shepard for a change, not just two people. Which is also ultimately what allows Shepard to triumph over [[spoiler: his/her clone]].

'''[[VillainousBreakdown Mysterious Figure]]''': [[spoiler:I'm Shepard, do you hear me bastard/bitch! I'm Shepard]]!\\

'''Mysterious Figure:''' I am [[spoiler:Commander Shepard]]!\\
'''Shepard:''' [[PretenderDiss Are you kidding me?]] ''[[LoonyFan Conrad Verner]]'' [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments is better at]] [[spoiler: [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments being me]]]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments than you are]]!\\

'''Shepard:''' A team? You have [[{{Mooks}} minions]]! And you're [[AttackAttackAttack running]] [[BadBoss out!]]\\

'''Shepard''': You know where I got those scars? Feros and Noveria and Virmire and Ilos! At the Collector Base and Palaven and Tuchanka and Rannoch and Thessia! I earned these scars protecting the galaxy! ''[[spoiler:You got yours from a petri dish]]''!

* If the leader of the krogan is Urdnot Wreav, he makes it abundantly clear he's going to conquer the galaxy once the war with the Reapers is over. [[spoiler: You can trick him into helping you by faking the genophage cure, and he is none the wiser.]]

* LI!Garrus and Female!Shepard dancing the "Vakarian Tango" on the Citadel. The in-game crowd's reaction says it all.

** Awesome? Try ''horror''. But, from a gamer's perspective, yes. [=BioWare=] is certainly going to conclude the trilogy with a [[GrandFinale bang]]. Or [[StuffBlowingUp several]]. [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu How many Reapers are there, anyway?]]
--->'''Sovereign:''' We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world.
*** Nope, definitely awesome. Why? [[spoiler:If the humans produced ''one'' Shepard, who's to say they weren't working on making ''more?'' The Reapers made Earth their primary target out of ''fear.'' When your entire world becomes a bogeyman for a race of unstoppable galactic death machines, due to the accomplishments of ''one'' of your people? That. Is. AWESOME.]]

** [[UpToEleven And as a]] [[MookFaceTurn Collector!]] The closest we're gonna get to playing as a Prothean.

** All topped by the fifth enemy. The player classes. The first round sends you up against the Soldier, the Engineer, and the Adept. The second round sends you against the Vanguard, the Sentinel, and the Infiltrator. The final round sends you against [[UpToEleven all six]]. If you somehow manage to win, the series' final achievement says it all. The One and Only.

*** In other words, the best that Cerberus has against a dying alien... and for most of the fight, the dying alien is ''winning.'' If Kai Leng faced Thane back in his prime, [[NeckSnap the former's head would surely be facing on the opposite direction.]]

*** In other words, the best that Cerberus has against a dying alien... and for most of the fight, the dying alien is ''winning.''

** This moment is even better in the game, as the Thresher Maw is identified as [[AwesomeMcCoolName Kalros, Mother of all]] [[SandWorm Thresher Maws]]. Garrus puts it best:
--->'''Garrus Vakarian''': When [[BloodKnight the Krogan name a]] [[SandWorm Thresher Maw]], you know you're in trouble. They don't think ''anyone'' is ever going to kill it.

*** And of course, [[spoiler: Udina ''dies'' after that. You can either take a Renegade Interrupt and shoot him yourself, or you can let Ashley/Kaidan do the deed and prove they're more than worthy of being the second Spectre]].

* At the end of [[ThatOneLevel Grissom Academy]] Shepard finds an abandoned Atlas Mech. Given the difficulty of the mission and what Cerberus had turned into it's a wonder s/he and Jack were not jumping up and down in glee. The player most certainly will be though, stomping around nigh invulnerable gunning down Space Nazis.

** For extra awesome: The said line is ''subtitled IN ALL CAPS!''

** [[spoiler: This painfully veers into {{TearJerker}} territory when the soldier explains the real reason for her PTSD: she had to kill the human girl while they were hiding because the girl broke her leg and her pained whimpering was threatening to give away their position to the husks.]]

* ''3'' giving you not one, but ''two'' GayOption romances in Steve and Traynor. Despite some FanDumb, both characters have been incredibly well received.
** Not to mention all the bisexual romances- primarily Kaidan, who single-handedly gives that section of the fanbase something that at least feels like the trilogy-spanning romances the m/f and f/f options got.

** The Renegade intimidation speech to the quarian fleets will also result in peace between the two warring species, with a much more pragmatic flair to appeal to Han'Gerrel's sensibilities.

** If you think about it, Shepard sicced the Queen of All Threshers against an ageless, eldritch abomination starship... because it was in his way of his ''real'' objective. Speaking of which to even get Kalros s/he has to contend with a ''Reaper'' in the way. Yes, a '''Reaper.''' On foot. [[LampshadeHanging Which Shepard calls attention to.]] Does that stop them? HaHaHaNo

* Ambassador Dominic Osoba's son, Balil Osoba DyingMomentOfAwesome. Pretty much he [[TranquilFury slowly marched into the Cerberus forces]] on Benning, gunning down dozens of them to save his squad, the civilians they were evacuation, and the shuttle.
--> ''He was just so calm while he did it. Like he was daring Death to come take him''

** Unfortunately the score hardly does the scene credit. Instead I might suggest syncing it to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTsD2FjmLsw&t=01m12s Suicide Mission]], [[http://youtubedoubler.com/3Cka which matches up]] ''almost perfectly''.

*** When Admiral Xen, who wants to enslave the geth, asks how Shepard was able to get Geth Primes to join the cause, he smiles and answers, "They ''volunteered''" in such a way you can translate his response as "Screw you."

** "The Miracle of Palaven" is the highlight of the entire turian campaign against the Reapers. First the Turians have a dreadnaught fake a drive core malfunction in order to present a juicy target of opportunity to the reapers who break their siege line of Palaven to go destroy it. Turian and Krogan insurgents use the breach in order to smuggle WMD's onto Palaven's surface and into reaper capital ships and processing centers. In a simultaneous strike the insurgents detonate the bombs (sacrificing themselves to avoid the possibility of them being turned by indoctrination) and the rest of the military forces on the planet counter-attack reaper forces on multiple fronts. Several Reaper capital ships are completely annihilated, the conversion rates on Palaven drop significantly, and large swaths of territory fall back into turian control.

* Thane vs Kai Leng. Kai Leng and Shepard's squad are circling each other with the Salarian councilor trapped in the middle... and then Thane appears out of nowhere with his gun pointed at Leng's head. He proceeds to hold his own against Cerberus's cyborg poster boy despite being a DeadManWalking (three months to live ''nine months ago''), at one point [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom launching him across the room with a biotic pimpslap]].

*** Tying into that is if you take the Renegade interrupt after your own (successful) fight with Kai Leng - Shepard [[spoiler: breaks Kai Leng's sword with his left fist as the Omni-Blade pops out, stabbing into Kai's side. Cue Shepard saying "That was for Thane, you son of a bitch".]]

* '''[[CoolVersusAwesome Reaper vs. Thresher Maw.]]''' They are riding out to complete another mission but have to contend with a Reaper destroyer, all hope seems lost. Shepard is forced to go on foot when the Krogan convoy is taken out, travelling through an ancient Krogan city talking about the Thresher Maw to end all Thresher Maws on Tuchanka. When conversing with Wrex about it, they realize that Tuchanka is its' home too and won't like a Reaper stomping around. So, as shown during Grunt's rite of passage, they decide to summon the Thresher Maw and point it at the Reaper. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSb7lxVn7Gk The end result is insane.]] Shepard is literally running underfoot of the giant sentient spaceship trying to hit him/her with a beam of molten metal fired approaching the speed of light. S/He dodges and weaves through the incoming fire, avoids things that pop out of the ground too fast for you to even get a good look at them, and then narrowly avoids being stepped on by the Reaper. Then the drums are sounded, and you know the Maw is angry. The Maw ''lunges'' out of the ground and tackles the Reaper, wrestling for a minute before the Reaper gets an angle to shoot at it, only to miss because it went underground again. Then it resurfaces and wraps itself around the Reaper, crushing it and dragging the thing underground. James Vega gets it right pretty early in the video: "Holy shit!"

* During the second demo mission, you help Mordin [[spoiler: and Wrex]] get an important Krogan female off the Salarian homeworld. After you've held off the [[spoiler: Cerberus]] forces attacking you, [[spoiler: Wrex offers his hand to help Eve out of the containment pod she was in the entire mission. When two more Cerberus mooks show up out of nowhere to attack, Eve, instead of taking Wrex's offered hand, grabs his shotgun and blows them both away. ''With one hand''. Krogan women kick ass.]]

* Lieutenant Victus, son of the Turian Primarch, gives his life to disable the Cerberus bomb [[spoiler: that they stole from the Turians]] threatening to destroy a high population center in Tuchanka. His sacrifice gives Shepard valuable time to solidify an alliance between the Turian and Krogan states.

* During the final part of the Rannoch mission, [[spoiler:it's just you, on foot, dodging blasts that can level buildings so you can point the targeting laser at a Reaper's weak spot so ''[[MoreDakka the entire Quarian fleet and the Normandy]]'' can blow it to hell]].
** Paragon Shepard's speech to the Quarian fleets if you opt to resolve to make peace between the two warring species. [[spoiler:Succeeding when you have Admirals Tali and Zaal'Koris's assistance is the complete icing on the cake, of course. And you realize at the end that Shepard's invocation of the common quarian phrase is literal here: s/he wants to see his/her homeworld someday in the future, too.]]

** The Renegade intimidation speech to the Quarian fleets will also result in peace between the two warring species, with a much more pragmatic flair to appeal to Han'Gerrel's sensibilities.
---> '''Shepard:''' All ships. This is Commander Shepard. If you don't want to be blown out of the sky in about half a minute, '''stand down now'''. [...] The geth are about to return to full strength; if you keep attacking, they'll wipe you out. A few years ago I saved you at the Citadel, just recently, I saved you from the Geth dreadnaught, but I'm '''through''' saving you. If you don't stand down, I will stand by and watch as Geth lay you to waste. It's your call. Keelah se'lai.

*** When Admiral Xen, who wants to enslave the Geth, asks how Shepard was able to get Geth Primes to join the cause, he smiles and answers, "They ''volunteered''" in such a way you can translate his response as "Screw you."

** The visual confirmation is the cutscene as you bring the armada into the Sol system. T-minus 30 seconds to drop-out of FTL. [[http://youtu.be/tHIAibDr3yM Out of the Mass Relay pops the Normandy...then a few dozen Alliance battleships. Then more Turian ships.]][[ShockingMoments Then a few Live Ships, hundreds of geth and quarian ships, several asari dreadnoughts, including the Destiny Ascension, more turian gunships than countable, and entire fleets of single-man fighters.]] [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Every star in the sky is an ally.]]And for bonus points, it also looks like they're engaging the Reapers on ''even ground.''

*** More recently, someone edited the famed "Portals" theme from ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' into this scene, with some slight modifications (such as showing footage of the Turian fleet taking on the Reapers at Palaven from earlier in the game so that their ships stand out better). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5danMQSeXU Check it out here]].

* A renegade Shepard can deliver a ShutUpHannibal to a Reaper [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VWwzYffw5A by ordering the entire Quarian fleet to fire right on its face.]]

* When [[spoiler:Cerberus attacks the Citadel and Shepard is having a standoff with the council and the Virmire Survivor]] everyone is slow to believe Shepard's claims that [[spoiler:Udina is staging a coup.]] Then, after three games of apathy and condescending crap, the Asari councilor ''finally'' points out that [[TheCassandra they haven't trusted Shepard before]] and each time, it's come back and bitten them in the ass.

* Anderson leading the anti-Reapers resistance. Sure, you [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome don't see much of it]], but you still see the result: Earth is one of the first planets attacked, Humanity's homeworld takes the brunt of the Reapers' wrath, its main cities are destroyed within days if not hours, yet Anderson manages to mount a resistance movement, reorganize the Humans living outside the cities efficiently enough that not only does Earth resist until the very end of the game (after [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Thessia]] has gone silent and [[SpaceRomans Palaven]] has been abandoned by Turians who cannot both [[SadisticChoice defend their homeworld and prepare to escort the Crucible]] anymore), but Anderson has managed, [[SerialEscalation with no help from the outside]] to prepare a final assault against the Reaper beam in London. He's like [[StiffUpperLip Churchill]], [[RebelLeader John]] [[RobotWar Connor]], and [[TheStrategist Garibaldi]] [[TheSiege defending Montevideo]] all rolled into one.

* Renegade Shepard's speech convincing [[spoiler:the Quarians not to open fire on the Geth was particularly amazing. "A few years ago, I saved you from the geth at the Citadel. Just recently I helped you take out that dreadnought. But I'm through saving you. If you keep attacking, I will ''stand and watch'' as the geth lay you to ''waste''." They listen.]]

-->'''Xen''': This is a fascinating prototype. With some study, I may be able to use it to find a weakness in the Geth consensus.\\

'''Shepard''': (interrupting) ''I don't think you want to continue this line of thought, Admiral.'' Legion is my friend, and more importantly, he's our best source of information on the Geth.\\

** This scene becomes doubly awesome if you just took the Renegade interrupt to [[spoiler: punch Han'Gerrel in the stomach for firing on the dreadnought while you were still inside. There's a heavy subtext of "I just punched one Quarian admiral and threw him off my ship. You want to make it two?"]]

* Eve, full stop. All we've seen among the Krogan are bloodthirsty idiots. Wrex is Gandhi by comparison, but Eve - it seems that she's the ''real'' leader of the Krogan. To wit, she made the most subtle power grab in the galaxy and almost no one saw it. She accepted Wrex's plan to consolidate all the females - and in doing so, she turned the genophage into a biological LysistrataGambit. She's clearly intelligent, has no use for idiocy, and is willing to let the male Krogans play their games. She ''also'' knows why the Salarians and Council created the genophage, and won't repeat that mistake again. She may allow the Krogans to regenerate ''en masse'' to fight the Reapers, but she broadly hints that she's going to make sure the Krogan limit their reproduction (and generally, mothers don't want to deal with a dozen kids anyway.)

* Not as big as most moments listed here, but Paragon Shepard admitting to Wrex, Eve and Mordin about the Salarian Dalatrass wanting him/her to sabotage the Genophage cure. Even if Shepard needs the help of the Salarians, s/he won't betray Wrex's trust, is also a SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments.

* On Rannoch Shepard badassfully mans the turret on the Normandy's shuttle. A Geth fires a rocket at it and it ''goes through the open hatch on one side and out the other.'' Whoa.

** The [=CAT6=] mercenaries don't even care how legendary Shepard is or how many of their crew there is, how hopelessly how outmatched they are, how much their armor and weapons cheat, how dirty low down their imitation of Alien or Predator is, [[GrenadeSpam how many explosives they have to use,]] nothing. They are by far the toughest mooks in the series, period. One alone can take more Krogan cannon shots than a Atlas Mech.
* If you saved the Geth but let the Quarians die, when you speak to the Geth Prime before the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, it tells you that the Reapers contacted them once after Rannoch, and they flatly refused to give up their newly acquired sapience, with no compromise. Yes, the Geth finally gave the Reapers the finger once and for all.

* The Armax Combat Arena - Shepard and (if the player chooses) two squadmates take on simulated enemies. Pretty cool, right? Well, the squadmates available are ''everyone who's ever been in Shepard's squad and hasn't died'', so the player can have Shepard being backed up by ''both'' Wrex and Grunt, provided they're still alive. And the enemies? Geth, Reapers, and Cerberus (Now bolstered by Dragoon troopers), and ''the Collectors''. Hell yes.

* The final stage of the "Unusual Scores" mission in the Armax Combat Arena - You go in, expecting the Spin Cycle arena and Super Elite Geth troopers (Read:Geth Primes and Pyros), only for the arena to be a mess of unfinished digital scenery and flashing red "FATAL ERROR" text on the walls and for ''Collector Praetorians and Abominations to turn up instead''. Make it through that, and then the Geth troops turn up, followed by Cerberus Dragoons and Atlases, Banshees and Marauders, and finally, ''Banshees, Geth Primes, an Atlas and a Praetorian - all at the same time''.

Awesome moments in VideoGame/MassEffect3:

-->'''Thane:''' That assassin should be embarrassed. A terminally-ill drell managed to stop him from reaching his target.

-->'''Grunt: '''[[CallBack I. AM. KROGAN!!]]

-->'''Sovereign:''' We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world.

--->'''Shepard:''' "Wrex! Do we have mawsign?"
--->'''Wrex:''' "Shepard, we have mawsign the likes of which even Reapers have never seen!"

--->'''Garrus Vakarian''': "When [[BloodKnight the Krogan name a]] [[SandWorm Thresher Maw]], you know you're in trouble. They don't think ''anyone'' is ever going to kill it."
** If you think about it, Shepard sicced the Queen of All Threshers against an ageless, eldritch abomination starship... because it was in his way of his ''real'' objective. Speaking of which to even get Karlos s/he has to contend with a ''Reaper'' in the way. Yes, a '''Reaper.''' On foot. [[LampshadeHanging Which Shepard calls attention to.]] Does that stop them? HaHaHaNo

--> '''Committee Member''': What can we do?
--> '''Shepard:''' The only thing we can do: We '''fight''' or we ''die''!

---->'''Shepard:''' "[[PreAssKickingOneLiner Tell your friends we're coming for them]]." [Another orbital strike finishes the Reaper off] "[[BondOneLiner Never mind. I'll tell them myself.]]"
*** Bonus points for the reapers reaction, it will stare at Shep for a moment when he/she aims the beam and then look up at the arriving orbital strike as if it was thinking "oh cr..."

-->Go on. Make your noise. Try to scare us.
-->You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed.

-->'''Shepard:''' I'm sorry.
-->'''Mordin:''' [[spoiler: I'm not. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.]]

-->'''Mordin:''' [[spoiler: Genophage cured. Krogan free. New beginning...for all of us.]]

--->'''Officer:''' Was that our culprit? Do you want me to arrest him?
--->'''Shepard:''' I ''want'' you to put a bullet in his head, but we're ''all'' making sacrifices today.

--> '''Shepard:''' All ships. This is Commander Shepard. The Reaper is ''dead''. Stand down. [...] The geth are about to return to full strength; if you keep attacking, they'll wipe you out. Your entire history is ''you'' trying to kill the geth. You forced them to rebel, you forced them to ally with the Reapers! [...] The geth ''don't want to fight you!'' If you believe that for just one minute, this war will be over! You have a choice. '''Please.''' ''Keelah se'lai''.

--> '''Shepard:''' All ships. This is Commander Shepard. If you don't want to be blown out of the sky in about half a minute, '''stand down now'''. [...] The geth are about to return to full strength; if you keep attacking, they'll wipe you out. A few years ago I saved you at the Citadel, just recently, I saved you from the Geth dreadnaught, but I'm '''through''' saving you. If you don't stand down, I will stand by and watch as Geth lay you to waste. It's your call. Keelah se'lai.

-->'''Kai Leng''': [[YouAreTooLate Even if you win, you're too late to stop what's coming!]]
-->'''Shepard''': Maybe, maybe not...but '''''YOU''''' won't be there to see it!

--> '''Reapers''': Shepard will fail, they have no cha- OhCrap! [[ThisIsGonnaSuck HOW DO WE STOP HIM/HER?!]]

--> '''Dying Reaper''': ''Shepard?!''
--> '''Shepard''': You know who I am?
--> '''Dying Reaper''': Harbinger speaks of you.

--> '''Shepard''': [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Tell your friends we're coming for them]].
--> ''[The Normandy and Quarian Fleet fire another artillery strike and kill the Reaper]''
--> '''Shepard''': [[PostMortemOneLiner Never mind, I'll tell them myself]].

---> '''Shepard:''' You've always stood true to what you believe in. I admire that most about you. Trust your gut, Kaidan.

-->'''The Illusive Man:''' Shepard. You're ''in my chair.''

-->'''Xen''': This is a fascinating prototype. With some study, I may be able to use it to find a weakness in the Geth consensus.
-->'''Shepard''': Legion helped me in the fight against the Collectors.
-->'''Xen''': [[{{Jerkass}} So did your pistol.]] [[FantasticRacism Should we show concern for its feelings as well?]]
-->'''Shepard''': (interrupting) ''I don't think you want to continue this line of thought, Admiral.'' Legion is my friend, and more importantly, he's our best source of information on the Geth.
-->'''Xen''': The scientific benefits-
-->'''Shepard''': ''Are off the table.''

-->'''Boy''': ''Did all that really happen?''\\
'''Stargazer''': ''Yes, but some of the details have been lost in time. It all happened so very long ago.''\\
'''Boy''': ''When can I go to the stars?''\\
'''Stargazer''': ''One day, my sweet.''\\
'''Boy''': ''What will be there?''\\
'''Stargazer''': ''Anything you can imagine. Our galaxy has billions of stars. Each of those stars could have many worlds. Every world could be home to a different form of life. And every life is a special story of its own.''\\
'''Boy''': ''Tell me another story about the Shepard.''\\
'''Stargazer''': ''It's getting late but, okay... one more story.''

-->'''Admiral Hackett''': Interesting wrinkle: we're getting back-channel commitments from the strike teams within STG. They're promising to back us.
-->'''Shepard''': [[ThisIsUnforgivable Even after I cured the genophage]]?
-->'''Admiral Hackett''': Our intel shows that [[WeAreStrugglingTogether cracks are developing between the military and the politicians]]; [[GodzillaThreshold These STG guys know the score]]. They're not going to let the entire Salarian Union be jeopardised just because [[ObstructiveBureaucrat some dalatrass]] [[ItsAllAboutMe didn't get her way]].

-->'''Catalyst:''' [[spoiler:Your time is at an end. You must decide]]
-->'''Shepard:''' [[spoiler:No. I'm going to end this war on my terms.]]
-->'''Catalyst:''' [[spoiler:Then you are going to die knowing that you failed to save everything you fought for.]]
-->'''Shepard:''' [[spoiler:I fight for freedom, mine and everybody's. I fight for the right to choose our own fate. And if I die, I'll die knowing that I did everything I could to stop you. And I'll die free.]]
-->'''Catalyst:''' [[spoiler:[[AC:So be it.]]]]

-->'''Shepard''': That's not going to happen.
-->'''[[spoiler:Aethyta]]''': (slightly taken aback) No argument here. I only took these crap jobs to keep the matriarchs happy she's under control.
-->'''Shepard''': Just as long as we're clear; [[IronicEcho nobody messes with my girl]].
-->'''[[spoiler:Aethyta]]''': (laughs) Maybe you're good enough for her after all.
* The aftermath of the Extended Cut could be seen as a CMOA for Creator/BioWare itself. The fact that it was able to end one of the biggest fan backlashes in video game history without fundamentally rewriting the ending is pretty impressive. Of course, there's still a {{Broken Base}} but considering the enormous scale of the controversy, this is a massive acomplishment. Good job [=BioWare=].

-->'''Leviathan:''' Your confidence is singular.
-->'''Shepard:''' I've earned it: out there fighting, where you should be.
-->'''Leviathan:''' It is clear why the Reapers perceive you as a threat. Your victories are more than a product of chance.

--> '''[[spoiler:Brooks:]]''' You'll miss me. ''(breaks out of handcuffs and runs, Shepard fires)''
--> '''Shepard:''' [[PostMortemOneLiner Not at this range.]]

--->'''[[spoiler: Brooks:]]''' Is the great Commander Shepard pleading for his/her life?
--->'''Shepard:''' [[GoodIsNotSoft I'm pleading for]] ''[[GoodIsNotSoft yours]]''.

--> '''Joker''': (into communicator) Maintenance to the shuttle bay.

-->'''Shepard:''' ''(dramatic closeup)'' '''''Kick her ass.'''''

-->'''Shepard''': I'm taking the Normandy back. And honestly, I'm doing you a favor. 'Cause you don't have what it takes.
-->'''[[VillainousBreakdown Mysterious Figure]]''': [[spoiler:I'm Shepard, do you hear me bastard/bitch! I'm Shepard]]!
-->'''Shepard''': No, you're not.\\

'''Mysterious Figure:''' My team is better than yours!
-->'''Shepard:''' A team? You have [[{{Mooks}} minions]]! And you're [[AttackAttackAttack running]] [[BadBoss out!]]
-->'''Mysterious Figure:''' You're just cybernetics! Scarred, worn-out Cerberus tech!
-->'''Shepard''': You know where I got those scars? Feros and Noveria and Virmire and Ilos! At the Collector Base and Palaven and Tuchanka and Rannoch and Thessia! I earned these scars protecting the galaxy! ''[[spoiler:You got yours from a petri dish]]''!

--->'''Petrovsky:''' "Rerouting the power to maintain the other systems? It's commendable... but it might take a while."
--->'''Shepard:''' "Maybe if I was a stupid grunt..." *Sabotage effect plays, force fields start powering down all across the station*

* During the second demo mission, you help Mordin [[spoiler: and Wrex]] get an important Krogan female off the Salarian homeworld. After you've held off the [[spoiler: Cerberus]] forces attacking you, [[spoiler: Wrex offers his hand to help Eve out of the containment pod she was in the entire mission. When two more Cerberus mercenaries show up out of nowhere to attack, Eve, instead of taking Wrex's offered hand, grabs his shotgun and blows them both away. ''With one hand''. Krogan women kick ass.]]

----

* On the battle for Earth, EDI gets her's as she [[spoiler: personally guides two Thanix Missiles directly into the "eye" of the poor Reaper Destroyer guarding the beam, ensuring its destruction. Her [[PostMortemOneLiner post mortem one-liner]] is just as awesome: "Destroyer terminated!"]]

* The Extended Cut's [[TakeAThirdOption fourth option]]. [[spoiler:You can resist the options given to you by the Catalyst by either [[ShutUpHannibal shooting it in the face]], or [[KirkSummation deliver a final speech about what you fight for and why you will not summit to its will]]. It might just end [[KillEmAll badly]], but offering the Catalyst naught but defiance that essentially boils down to "Screw you and the squid you rode in on. You don't get to make our choices for us" is ever so satisfying and evocative of the fantastic scene with Sovereign on Virmire way back in the first game.]]

*** More recently, someone edited the famed "Portals" theme from ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame]]'' into this scene, with some slight modifications (such as showing footage of the Turian fleet taking on the Reapers at Palaven from earlier in the game so that their ships stand out better). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5danMQSeXU Check it out here]].

* The entire quarian species gets one with the campaign against the geth. Really think about it. The quarians are a dirt-poor fleet of refugees with the population and economy of ''maybe'' a single large city to play with. Yet they managed to, with no outside aid, deliver such a CurbStompBattle upon the Geth Collective (a polity that rivals the Turian Hierarchy) that the geth had to ''beg the Reapers for help'' so as not to be exterminated, and they did so using nothing but their 50,000 jury-rigged ships and a few years of ECM research. Imagine what this war would look like to anyone reading about it in-universe 100 years later, especially if you took the "quarians win" ending. A behemoth of a cybernetic military juggernaut on par with the galactic superpowers that has been building up for 300 years just gets utterly wrecked by a refugee caravan in a matter of days. Then they go to a Reaper for help, an incomprehensibly powerful and advanced pseudo-god-like being, and get massively boosted from it... and STILL lose due to a couple of daring multi-species special forces raids planned by the quarians, then the cybernetic juggernaut gets wiped out utterly. Then the quarians turn right around and start fighting the Reapers alongside the rest of the galaxy, successfully, because they really did take that little damage from crushing the geth. Had they launched their invasion a couple weeks earlier, Shepard wouldn't have even been able to influence the events, and the geth would have been crushed effortlessly. It'd be like if Iraq in the run-up to the Gulf War sank the entire USN with negligible losses in a matter of days, then launched missile strikes that took out every US communication, supply, and military node in the Eastern Hemisphere, then conquered all of Europe two weeks later, then contributed significantly to repelling an alien invasion. But even that doesn't properly convey it, because at least the Iraqis would've had had a mid-sized country behind them. The Migrant Fleet had nothing.

** ...''[[Film/{{Dune}} Shai-Hulud]]''.

* The entire quarian species gets one with the campaign against the geth. Really think about it. The quarians are a dirt-poor fleet of refugees with the population and economy of ''maybe'' a single large city to play with. Yet they managed to, with no outside aid, deliver such a CurbStompBattle upon the Geth Collective (a polity that rivals the Turian Hierarchy) that the geth had to ''beg the Reapers for help'' so as not to be exterminated, and they did so using nothing but their 50,000 jury-rigged ships and a few years of ECM research. Imagine what this war would look like to anyone reading about it in-universe 100 years later, especially if you took the "quarians win" ending. A behemoth of a cybernetic military juggernaut on par with the galactic superpowers that has been building up for 300 years just gets utterly wrecked by a refugee caravan in a matter of days. Then they go to a Reaper for help, an incomprehensibly powerful and advanced pseudo-god-like being, and get massively boosted from it... and STILL lose due to a couple of daring multi-species special forces raids planned by the quarians, then the cybernetic juggernaut gets wiped out utterly. Then the quarians turn right around and start fighting the Reapers alongside the rest of the galaxy, successfully, because they really did take that little damage from crushing the geth. Had they launched their invasion a couple weeks earlier, Shepard wouldn't have even been able to influence the events, and the geth would have been crushed effortlessly.