Parzival running at the mouth to try and impress Art3mis in Aech's workshop is just the start of Adorkable moments in this film.
A minor one - Daito honorably kneels before Halliday's avatar after getting the Copper Key.
Same goes to Parzival, whose first instinct is to kneel before Halliday's avatar and address him as "Anorak", as though he were speaking to a king.
Even though he's wearing a mask, you can still see Sho's big smile underneath.
Even though they were horrible to him, Wade still runs to warn his aunt Alice and her boyfriend about the bombs that are about to destroy their stack. Also, had her jerk boyfriend not intervened, it seemed as though Alice really did want to talk to Wade.
Parzival telling Art3mis that he does not care how she looks like in real life, because what he knows of her is enough.
Samantha (Art3mis) has Freakiness Shame because of the port-wine stain over her right eye. When they meet in person, Wade (Parzival) tells her he is not disappointed at all.
When her avatar is seen during the Final Battle, it has a similar stain. Seems that Wade made an impact there.
She actually tweaks her avatar just in front of Sorrento's to taunt him and embrace her real self.
It's a mark of what kind of person Wade is that he so easily forgives Samantha for resorting to kidnapping him to protect him from IOI's gaze. Of course, it also has a lot to do with his being in love with her, but still, such treatment for their first official real-world meeting might be a deal-breaker to some.
Although a bit funny, Art3mis asking Karen to dance leads to the latter's response "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to ask?" It fulfills Halliday's wish that he had found the courage to take that leap and take her dancing like she wanted.
Even more heartwarming when you hear interviews with Spielberg of where he first met Kubrick, which was on the soundstages where The Shining was filmed, namely the Colorado Lounge where Jack is seen writing his novel. When the High Five enter the challenge, they enter into the Colorado Lounge, you realize that Spielberg recreated the meeting place where he met his friend in addition to paying tribute to his film.
The hideout where Samantha and the "rebellion" live. It may seem a little rough around the edges, but it's essentially a sanctuary for those trying to hide from IOI in the real world. What's more, the hideout has a green house/garden where food is naturally grown. Unlike the book, it acts as a beautiful testament that the world can fix their reality once they stop trying to escape from it.
As soon as they learn Wade was in trouble, Aech, Daito, and Sho, in the real world, rush to save their friend.
Daito is one of the first to lose his avatar. Disconnected, he still keeps guard to Wade, fending off anyone wishing to harm him in the real world while Wade is connected to OASIS and unable to defend himself.
When Samantha first meets Aech in reality, as in the book, there's an awkward moment followed by Samantha allaying Aech's fears of rejection for keeping her gender a secret by answering her question of "not what you were expecting, right?" with an entirely different answer than Aech was expecting. It's a beautiful message of acceptance at a pivotal moment.
Parzival calls the gamer population of OASIS to help him stop IOI from taking over the game. Thousands of people answer.
Samantha smiles when Parzival tells everyone he found love in the OASIS.
Even better, as Parzival puts it, those who answer his call are willing to put everything their avatars have on the line fighting for the cause. The IOI mooks who get zeroed out can just run to another device and get back into the fight, while ordinary players would lose everything they have if they got killed, which eventually does happen when Sorrento uses the Cataclyst artifact to wipe out everyone on Planet Doom in one final spiteful move. Seeing as how zeroing out is such Serious Business for many players as shown in the beginning of the film, it shows that these players value their freedom from IOI’s tyranny more than their own virtual lives.
And, at least twice during the fight, other players give Parzival and Art3mis their weapons as the latter run out of ammo. That's commitment to a cause!
Parzival's speech as he plays Adventure to find the Easter Egg. Because, after all, the goal of playing videogames is not just to win but also play and enjoy them.
What's more, it's meant to let the whole world know the true joy of playing video games so they all understand the true meaning of the Egg Hunt.
Need proof that Parzival's speech came from the heart? Even knowing it might mean forfeiting the last key, he stops Sho from attacking the lone Sixer who's still engaged with the Atari game. Because he can't bear to interrupt another player's game that way.
The IOI Oology researchers cheering when Parzival manages to open the last gate. They may have been working for the Big Bad, but in the end they cheered for a fellow nerd.
It's also really sweet to see the aloof and cucumber-cool Samantha geek out over Parzival finding the Crystal Key. You can hear the geek elation in her voice when she says "PARZIVAL JUST FOUND THE CRYSTAL KEY!"
The look on Anorak's face when Parzival refuses to sign the contract. He's so happy he's almost crying.
The conversation between Parzival and James Halliday.
The movie faithfully keeps Halliday's speech about how he feared reality, but came to learn (if too late) that as scary as it is, reality is real.
Even better while giving this speech, you can see he's clumsily stumbling around looking for the Egg to give to Parzival while the latter patiently stands by. It can be interpreted as Halliday trusting Parzival enough to let him see him in all his social awkwardness.
To top it all off, there's the mysterious nature of Halliday's avatar that leaves it up to the audience just what he is. When Parzival wonders this, Halliday just warmly thanks him for playing his game before he leaves.
Mrs. Gilmore standing up to Sorrento, and wordlessly rallying the other citizens of the Stacks to stand in his way. This may be a dystopia world where everyone is oblivious to everyone else in the real world, but once Wade makes it public how Sorrento tried to kill him, they all stand together, just as neighbors are supposed to.
In a small, but charming indication of Halliday's deathbed foresight and persistent sense of wonder, the palms of Wade's actual gloves light up with a golden glow at the moment his avatar accepts the Egg from Anorak/Halliday. Does every set of VR gloves have such a lighting-effect built in, or was it something that was incorporated on the sly into gear ordered by every Gunter who made it far enough to have a chance?
Sorrento, of all people, gets a small but poignant moment of humanity in his final scene. Up until this point, he has been portrayed as nothing but a smug, ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Golden Egg, but when he sees Wade win at the egg hunt, he is so touched that he decides against killing him and even gives him a sincere smile of appreciation.
When Wade and Morrow converse about the future, and how he knew to come, there's a touching moment where Wade realizes that Morrow was watching out for him every step of the way, and upon recognizing what Morrow lost with Halliday, there's a moment where you can see Simon Pegg really show his acting chops, looking touched, sad and proud at the same time as Wade acknowledges what was lost.
Given everyone zeroed out, the High Five begin their reign by making the admission cost of the OASIS twenty-five cents, a quarter. Not only does the world get to start over on their avatars equally, but at a cheap price, as opposed to how IOI would've made it insanely expensive.
After winning the Easter Egg Search, one of the decisions Wade makes is to close OASIS two days a week. Why? Because he wants people to live in the real world - and because he wants to be with Samantha in real life.
