"Fear Tech's mascot! MU rules!"
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- The Monsters Inc. Scarers' epic Team Power Walk. This isn't just a Call-Forward to the one from Monsters Inc.; it also shows the young Mike a glorious vision of greatness.
- "Frightening" Frank McCay (the monster who inspires Mike to become a scarer in the beginning) had a pretty darn impressive scare routine, involving clever tricks like scraping his nails on the kid's bedpost to misdirect them.
- Much later, Mike uses the same tactic when he sneaks into the human world to prove himself. Even if his actual "scare" was lacking, he performed everything else flawlessly.
- Little Mike sneaking past the scarer from MU and surprising him.
- When O.K. rehearse hide-and-seek for a competition, Don somehow manages to quietly climb a tree and evade Mike's sight, thus leading up to scenes where Don develops his newfound ability that results in a fine performance at the Scare Games.
- Maybe it was more rashness than anything, but Sulley bravely running in the library challenge to get the flag after he knew the risks of alerting the librarian...and, against all odds, also managing not to get caught by her at first, thanks to her poor eyesight. No matter what, he was determined to win.
- Oozma Kappa's cross of misdirection, bluff, and sheer Refuge in Audacity to get past the library challenge. It has to be seen to be believed.
Remember, the only rule was not to get caught. Every other tactic was perfectly legal.Mike: What are you doing?!
Terry: They said "don't let her catch you."
Terri: But they didn't say how!- Special mention to Art, who gets the librarian's attention by kicking lamps and books off a desk, throwing books and papers everywhere, and bouncing between desks. Then, he gets up close and personal with the librarian, repeatedly rolling near and avoiding her tentacles - all while laughing like a maniac!
- What's even more awesome is that they apparently came up with the whole thing on the fly.
- It also reveals that as much as they initially hinged on Mike's coaching, they are capable of holding off on their own. Notably after this scene, Mike starts to show more respect to Oozma Kappa's own abilities.
- What's not so awesome is when Roar Omega Roar invites them to a party ... only to humiliate them by making them look "cute".
- Squishy's scare technique during the final Scare Game challenge, which involves simply sneaking right to the child's bed and just staring at them with a hilariously creepy gaze.
- Randall getting his scare attempt sabotaged, if you don't feel sympathy for him or his choices.
- Oozma Kappa proving that they are confident scarers on the final event of the Scare Games. Even if Wazowski wasn't meant to be scary, Oozma Kappa got re-enrolled in the Elite Scaring School.
- Sullivan and Mike working their way up through Monsters Inc.
- This exchange:Worthington: Enjoy the attention while it lasts boys. After you lose... no one will remember you.
Mike: Maybe, but when you lose... no one will let you forget it.
*cue "Oh, Crap!" looks from Roar Omega Roar* - Don during the final scare event when he's paired against Reggie Jacobs and Don ends up with the higher score.
- Although we later found out that Sulley tampered with the simulator, indicating that Mike would not have the winning score, Mike's scare performance at the game counts. Mike has a fleeting moment of painful memories of monsters telling him he does not belong. He quickly cast aside the pain and immediately belts down his scare performance. To the point where the audience is truly fooled into believing in the OK's fair victory.
- It wasn't just that. You could almost feel like Mike gathering up all the pain, humiliation, frustration and anger he's accumulated all these years and finally let it all out in one roar. Overall the roar sounded pretty intimidating, even if it might not have been on par with Sulley's.
- The visuals certainly helped here too; the way that shot was framed and lit, combined with the roar, makes that one singular shot the only time in the movie that Mike actually comes across as scary. It's an impressive achievement both for Mike and the moviemakers.
- And this scare is so shocking to the viewers that it is actually the page image for the Nightmare Fuel page for this movie... which begs the question... If Sulley hadn't cheated, would Mike have won anyway, fair and square?
- If any solace, while the machine was put on "Easy" setting, Mike didn't just pass it, he aced it. It's small scale, but still an accomplishment for someone who was said to not be scary at all.
- It wasn't just that. You could almost feel like Mike gathering up all the pain, humiliation, frustration and anger he's accumulated all these years and finally let it all out in one roar. Overall the roar sounded pretty intimidating, even if it might not have been on par with Sulley's.
- Mike tells Sulley to "Stop being a Sullivan and start being you!".
- The ultimate scare. To elaborate, after learning that his victory scare in the Scare Games was actually achieved by Sulley cheating, Mike heads to the experimental door in the MU laboratory to scare the kid on the other side, proving his own merits. And he fails- and discovers that the door was actually to a whole summer camp full of kids. Panicking, he bolts, and the police are called. When Sulley comes through to get him and they head back after a talk revealing that they're not that different, they discover that the dean has shut down the door on the other side for safety reasons. Mike quickly theorises that if they can just create a big enough scream from this side, they can power the door and escape. Only one problem: they're facing adults – a team of armed police officers no less –, who are obviously incredibly hard to scare compared to children. And yet, between Sulley's natural raw gift and Mike's genius skill at crafting the perfect tailor-made scare worthy of a horror movie, they manage it. And that's not all. Oh no. The pure power of their scare is so great, the screams they elicit fills up every single last scream canister on the other side until they burst from the sheer pressure and thereby blow a gaping hole in a highly secured laboratory, explode the door into charred splinters of wood thanks to it being overloaded, get through said door just in the nick of time - and do what is thought to be impossible: actually shock, maybe even scare, the unflappable Dean Hardscrabble of Monsters University, holder of the all-time scare record, who was calm, cool and collected even when her only souvenir from a lifetime of work was destroyed.
THAT, dear viewers, IS HOW IT'S DONE.- There's no doubt that witnessing the door light up independently, hearing distant screams from behind it, seeing several rows of canisters fill to the brim and then overload, releasing those screams twofold in a cacophony of terror and seeing the door become unstable and begin to explode shook her to the core. After the dust settles, she is seen taking cover behind a pile of canisters, shivering and staring in unbridled shock and awe at Sulley and Mike, whom have just done something that, as far as she is aware through an entire career of unmatched scaring glory, has never EVER been done before.
- Hardscrabble remarking that she will look for more "surprises" in her Program, indicating that Mike's and Sulley's actions have changed the University standards for the better.
- On the note of Hardscrabble, there's her Tranquil Fury-laced, utter verbal beatdown towards Mike and Sulley during the Scare Exams. They had just destroyed a prized trophy of her scaring career on accident before their test, and she thoroughly tears them both down within the space of a minute. And she does it all while being completely accurate in her assessment of their flaws, and without raising her voice.
- Mike deciding to settle for "being ok." The film cleverly fools you into believing this is the overall message of the film, until Sulley rushes over and rebuffs it, declaring that Mike may have that unfortunate shortcoming, but by god, he is fearless and that's a greatness Mike shouldn't take for granted.
- Dean Hardscrabble's entrance on Scaring 101 should count. She flies in from a high up window, moving like a blur with a creepy sound as she swiftly closes all other blinds until there's only a spotlight left. She slowly steps out of the dark while retracting her wings and just leaves a powerful first impression. Worthy of someone who once broke the all time scare record.
- Sullivan's scare in the final Scare Game is worth a mention. Before entering, he checks the file on the hypothetical child he's scaring (itself an awesome sign of Character Development) and what does he see? The child's fear are lions and thunder. And the tingles begin as you realize they might as well just give this one to Sullivan. And he does not disappoint, roaring so loudly that he makes the other scare simulator rattle and shake, knocking Randall off the wall.
- Mike catching Fear Tech's scare pig by throwing a football into the side of a trash can, which rolls right into the pigs path.
