History Awesome / MassEffect2

** He also has a dossier on the Illusive Man, of all people. You know, the guy who's supposed to be so untrackable that he's actually called the ''Illusive'' Man. The Shadow Broker monitors him so closely that he even knows what suit he's wearing and what food he eats.

** Even with just going full Charm option in the interrogation scene (again with enough Paragon points): the thug's defense attorney comes up after being held back by Bailey, and threatens both Shepard and Thane with illegal detention. Once Shep reveals his Spectre status, the attorney backs off and basically says "you're on your own on this one" to the thug.

** If you picked Anderson, he complains in the second game that he never wanted to be a politician. It would've been nice if we had more choices than "[[RetiredBadass tired old soldier]]" and "[[AssInAmbassador jackass]]."

** Very small, but he's even awesome as far as game mechanics go. The official guide for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' ''strongly recommends'' that if you're going to play on [[NintendoHard Insanity]], Garrus is one teammate you should ''always'' have with you.

* On Haestrom, during the Colosus fight, most players take the Paragon interrupt to force [[EnsembleDarkHorse Kal’Reegar]] to stand down and stay in cover, guaranteeing his survival. If you don’t take it, he assists you by firing missiles at the Colosus. You have a small window of time to get across the map and close to the Colosus, so it prioritizes you as a threat and ignores Reegar. Pull this off and you still save his life. And Kal is extremely impressed by that. Bonus points if you did this on Hardcore or Insanity to unlock the Pulse Rifle.

*** A Renegade response to The Illusive Man angry that Shepard destroyed the Collector Base is to tell him who's in charge: "Get on board, or ''get out of my way''."

** Also, there's one precious gem in the VIP lounge: You see how a tipsy and huge male Turian is harassing one of the exotic dancers and if you decide to call the Turian out for it, he [[MuggingTheMonster tries to pick a fight with Shepard]]. Cue Shepard [[CurbStompBattle handing the Turian his ass on a silver platter in seconds, culminating with the Turian ''flying backwards'' while yelling, "[=Wha-oOOoOOOOO=]!"]].

** Also, there's one precious gem in the VIP lounge: You see how a tipsy and huge male Turian is harassing one of the exotic dancers and if you decide to call the Turian out for it, he [[MuggingTheMonster tries to pick a fight with Shepard]]. Cue Shepard [[CurbStompBattle handing the Turian his ass on a silver platter in seconds]].

** If the interrupt is not taken, but a Paragon/Renegade dialogue option instead, Uvenk will make one last attempt to sway the Shaman by accusing him of corrupting traditions, leading to the enraged Shaman to put him in his place by delivering one of the best BadassBoasts of the game.
--> '''Shaman''': You...you '''dare'''! [[WhenYouWereInDiapers I was a warrior before your mother was born]]! I speak with the authority of ''centuries''. I decide who is worthy. That is the end of it!

** That said, Shepard’s ultimate victory over her is a CMOA for humanity. Vasir is an asari commando - said commandos are considered to be the finest soldiers in the entire galaxy, even earning the respect of the militaristic turians who are glad that there are only very few of them. But Shepard, by defeating her, proved once and for all that ''human N7 operatives'' [[HumanityIsSuperior are superior to asari commandos]].

** He invited a small, mildly weak (by Krogan standards), clan into his inner circle. Why? Because the clan has a direct lineage to a legendary krogan warrior and he can use the name to bolster his own ranks.

* Thane's wife-to-be, Irikah, gets one in his backstory; when he was about to assassinate a Salarian, she spotted him and deliberately placed herself in his scope of fire. That took guts.

* The ''entire'' suicide mission, ''[[CurbStompBattle especially]]'' [[CurbStompBattle if you made/make all the right decisions regarding the upgrades and team duties]]. [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits The team]] goes through the Omega-4 relay, which no one has gone through and survived. Joker not only navigates a [[AsteroidThicket debris field]] guarded by robotic drones, he does it well enough to make the drones crash. The ship that destroyed the original ''Normandy'' gets shot down with a weapon [[{{Irony}} reverse-engineered from Sovereign]]. A team works their way through heating vents, trusting Shepard to open gates before they fry to death. Shepard saves their crew from [[spoiler:being liquefied and made into raw material for a new Reaper]]. A team travels through an atmosphere literally ''filled'' with seeker swarms, with a biotic managing to keep the swarms away before blowing a mass of enemies. While Shepard leaves to blow the base, the rest of the team holds off waves of Collectors. [[spoiler:Shepard takes down a fetal Reaper, that thing that took just about every ship in the Alliance fleet to destroy, while ''on foot''.]] As it knocks down the platforms, they save a squadmate while both of them are sliding down the platform. Shepard's team runs out of the exploding Collector base, with just about every single Collector pursuing them, while Harbinger delivers an epic speech. As Shepard approaches the ''Normandy'', Joker, who had trouble just ''walking'' in the first game, stands in the airlock, holding off Collectors with an assault rifle. The platform between the ''Normandy'' and Shepard collapses, so they jump twenty feet in ''bulky assault armor'' to reach the door, are pulled up and saved by one of their squad members, followed by Joker and Shepard dashing for the cockpit to get away from the explosion, which ''[[UnflinchingWalk happens right behind the Normandy as it zooms out of there]]''. The ''Normandy'' returns from the Omega-4 relay, the galaxy saved (until ''Mass Effect 3''), with ''everyone'' safe and sound. Awesome.

*** When you use the Thanix cannon on [[spoiler:the Collector ship that destroyed the original Normandy]], Joker's exclamation of "How'd you like '''that''' you sons of bitches?!" was just pure awesome.

* The opening sequence is a work of art: [[spoiler:you control Shepard as the Normandy explodes around them, due to the damage sustained during the Collector attack]]. At one point, you must journey through a section of the ship that is exposed to space, and the game becomes eerily quiet as you look out into the void and pass several floating pieces of debris you can knock aside when you walk around.
** And at the end of that sequence, even as [[spoiler: the ship is literally being blown to pieces around them and Shepard is being bounced around like a rubber ball, they still manage to punch the button to close the life pod that Joker's in and eject it, saving his life.]]
* Let's take one of your recruitable squad members in the second game, Archangel. You learn that due to his [[VigilanteMan vigilante activities]] against the criminal element of Omega, the three biggest merc companies on the station have teamed up to take this guy down. He's holed up in a mansion and blown up all other options for them; the only access route they have is across the bridge, which means they're target practice for him. They tried flying a gunship over to attack him, but ''he shot it down''. When you infiltrate the merc companies, you'll find dozens, if not hundreds, of mercs and freelancers trading bullets with him, but no one's getting anywhere near him. Once the operation starts, you stab the mercs in the back and make your way to Archangel in order to extract him...[[spoiler: and find out it's none other than Shepard's old pal, Garrus.]] To sum it up: [[spoiler: Garrus]] has been holding off three entire merc companies, the freelancers they hired, and all their resources for days, holed up in a mansion, singlehandedly.
** Garrus's side-mission. It's longer than most of the other missions (Jacob's and Mordin's in particular) due to a mix of investigation, combat and dialogue, and even after you've already gotten the achievement for it, you get treated to a climax which involves an increasingly-deranged Garrus attempting to snipe Sidonis while you (in a Paragon game) talk with said target and keep your own head in Garrus' scope to save his life. Garrus listens to your conversation through a two-way radio, and when he finds out that Sidonis shows remorse for having wronged him, Garrus can't bring himself to pull the trigger. This entire scene also doubles as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

---> '''Shepard''': [[spoiler: The turians lost twenty cruisers, figure each had a crew of around 300. The Ascension, the asari dreadnought we saved, had a crew of nearly 10,000.]]
---> '''Khalisah''': [[spoiler: But surely the human cost--]]
---> '''Shepard''': [[spoiler:[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech The Alliance lost eight cruisers: Shen Yang, Emden, Jakarta, Cairo, Seoul, Cape Town, Warsaw, Madrid and yes, I remember them all. Everyone in the Fifth Fleet is a hero. The Alliance owes them all medals, the Council owes them a lot more than that. And so do you]].]]

---> '''Shepard''': [[spoiler: Saving everyone only happens in vids. There will be sacrifices. Being in charge means making sure they lead to the greater objective. That's a reality shared by all soldiers, in command and on the ground. Don't you dare suggest I made that call lightly.]]
---> '''Khalisah''': [[spoiler: I didn't mean to accuse--]]
---> '''Shepard''': [[spoiler: You're damn right you didn't. I won't let you disrespect anyone who gave their life that day. They're heroes -- all of them. They deserve better than you.]]

* [[ProfessionalKiller Thane]]'s EstablishingCharacterMoment. Shepard and company spend an action-packed level blowing stuff up and slaughtering their way to the penthouse floor of a business building to reach a CorruptCorporateExecutive who is said to be the assassin's next target and therefore the best way of contacting him. Once Shepard and [[spoiler:Nassana]] start talking, a few strange noises rattle the remaining security, who get ordered to watch the remaining entrances. Unfortunately, Thane doesn't use doors--he drops from an airduct on the ceiling mid-sentence, kills the security guards, grabs one of their guns, catches his target, shoots her in the stomach, gently lays her on a desk... and proceeds to pray without looking at Shepard or missing a beat. All in about six moves. Even Miranda and Jack are impressed by that.

* [[spoiler:Legion's entrance.]] He's in a low-angle camera angle, with a mix of danger and awe-inspiring music, there's an absolutely ''awesome'' [[spoiler: [[StabTheScorpion Snipe The Husk]]]] moment, and then, his simple greeting: "[[WhamLine Shepard-Commander]]."
* Mordin gets one when you learn why the citizens of Omega are scared of him: [[spoiler:when one of the deadliest mercenary groups tried to shake down his clinic, he killed their thugs ''singlehandedly'' and put their corpses on display as a warning. He did it again when another merc group was dumb enough to try the same thing.]] Really, if BadassBookworm would be explained in dictionary, his picture would be included next to the definition.

-->'''Shepard''': Conrad, let me make this perfectly clear. [[spoiler:''(shoots Conrad in the foot)'' This is ''not'' acceptable.]]

** You discover that Wrex had one around the same time you perform the feat yourself: [[spoiler:He's the last krogan to kill a Thresher Maw on foot until you and Grunt come along.]] Keep in mind, that was ''one thousand years ago''.

* Finding out from an asari woman on Illium that, if you made the decision to save [[spoiler:the Rachni Queen]] in the first game, that she is repopulating her species, that you are revered as a legend by her race, and that when the time comes, ''she will bring her the entire [[spoiler:rachni]] race to help you stop the Reapers''. Oh, hell yes.
* Each class gets some sort of awesome combat power (InvisibilityCloak, BulletTime, etc), but the Vanguard's [[FlashStep Biotic Charge]] has to take the gold medal, simply for the RefugeInAudacity moments it can provoke. Biotic Charge a [[TheBerserker Krogan]]. Charge a Geth Prime. Charge [[spoiler: [[FearfulSymmetry Tela Vasir]].]] Charge [[BossInMooksClothing Harbinger]]. Charge a YMIR mech. Charge [[LargeAndInCharge The Shadow Broker]]. Charge ''the Colossus on Haestrom''. You can't knock the last one off its feet, but using that power to kill it will top just about any moment in the entire game for sheer amounts of awesome. Vanguard Shepard laughs at the concept of cover. Even better, most of the enemies will pause for a moment after your charge even if you didn't knock them flying, as if they're still wondering if you were ''insane enough to do what you just did.'' There's a reason why the Vanguard's FanNickname is '''Manguard'''.
* Far too much to say about [[spoiler:Tali's trial on the flotilla. You could get her off the hook by a Paragon action (if you talked to the Admirals and found out their ''real'' motivations for dragging her in on a treason charge), or you could "Rally the crowd," prompting both Kal'Reeger ''and'' the still-traumatized Veetor'Nara (if you saved them both after meeting them) to come up and brag to the Admiralty Board about how much Tali has done for the entire fleet.]]
** The Renegade solution to [[spoiler:Tali's trial]] manages to be just as awesome, [[spoiler:wherein Shepard probably shows more honest anger than they ever have up until that point in the series. Shepard gets '''pissed''', tells the Admiralty Board the entire trial is nothing more than "political bullshit" (yes, those are their exact words) to their face, tears them down for dragging a member of their crew into something like this for their own agenda, angrily exposes their real motives behind the trial, gets the whole crowd on their side, renders the whole board speechless and shames them into finding Tali not guilty. Made even more awesome by the capper to Shepard's whole rant against the Admirals:]]
---> '''Shepard''': [[spoiler:Do whatever you want with your toy ships. But leave my crew out of your political bullshit! We have no new evidence. You can accept Tali's word or you exile the woman who saved the galaxy from the geth.]]
---> '''Shepard''': [[spoiler:With all due respect Admiral, I didn't do it for one of "your people"; I did it for one of '''mine'''.]]

* The final boss of Mass Effect 2 deserves a mention. Three words: [[spoiler:Human-shaped Reaper Fetus.]]

* So Shepard, how does it feel to [[spoiler:piss off an entire armada of Reapers to the point where all of them know your name?]] The answer, of course, is that it feels ''awesome.''

* At the end of the game, if you decide to [[spoiler:blow up the Collector base]], Shepard will say a completely character-defining line for Paragons:

** If Miranda is with you, this is where you [[spoiler:finally get to give Cerberus the big middle finger: ''she'' will tell him that she's officially ''resigned'', in a tone of voice essentially telling him to screw off.]]
---> [[spoiler:'''Illusive Man''': Miranda, do not let Shepard destroy the base!]]
---> [[spoiler:'''Miranda''': Or what? You'll replace me next?]]
---> [[spoiler:'''Illusive Man''': I gave you an order, Miranda!]]
---> [[spoiler:'''Miranda''': I noticed. Consider this my resignation.]]

* Joker's return and the reveal of [[spoiler:the ''Normandy'' [=SR2=]]].

** Bonus points to Paragon Shepard for how quickly and succinctly they defuse both Tali and Legion's arguments: first telling Tali that [[NotSoDifferent Legion isn't doing anything that they wouldn't do if]] [[spoiler: Tali's father was experimenting on humans instead of geth]], and then using Tali's response as a retort to Legion, who if they got their way [[NiceJobBreakingItHero might have accidentally started the same war they wanted to avoid.]]

* An option most people probably missed shows up during Samara's loyalty mission. [[spoiler:When hunting for Morinth in Afterlife's VIP lounge, Shepard comes across two would-be turian muggers. With a bit of Intimidation, Shepard provokes both of them into attacking (as actually throwing the first blow would get the Commander thrown out too early to lure the target) and promptly crushes each of them with two blows in a total of five seconds.]]
** Speaking of Samara's loyalty mission, when you manage to [[spoiler:convince Morinth to take the bait and start seducing you, she will gaze into your eyes and tell you to tell her that she owns you, and can do whatever she wants with you--clearly about to do with you what she did with her previous victims. Iftheir score is high enough, both Paragon ''and'' Renegade Shepard can essentially tell her, "Nope. Sucks to be you." The dawning moment of "OhCrap..." on her face as Samara walks in the door and blasts her is ''priceless'', and the idea that Shepard has so much HeroicWillpower that they are able to resist the brainwashing of an ''Ardat-Yakshi'' is yet another checkmark for their awesomeness.]]

* Paragon Shepard at the end of the game. [[spoiler:With the Illusive Man nearly frothing at the mouth about the destruction of the Collector base and accusing Shepard of biting the hand that fed them, Shepard will, in a very calm voice, "pleasantly" inform him that they're doing things their way now, and the Illusive Man, one of the most powerful humans in the galaxy, had better suck it up and fall in line. Then they'll tell Joker to cut the connection in a manner reminiscent of the Council from the first game, or alternatively...]]
-->'''[[spoiler:The Illusive Man]]''': [[spoiler:I made you, Shepard! I brought you back from the dead!]]
-->'''Shepard''': [[spoiler:And I'm going to do what you brought me back to do. I'll fight and win this war without compromising the soul of our species.]]

* During Thane's loyalty mission, you are tasked with tracking down [[spoiler:his son and stopping him from killing a corrupt politician (you can get him arrested later) and following in his father's footsteps. Once you finish tracking him down, you end up in a standoff with him holding the gun to his target's head. Rather than the typical tense negotiations, a Paragon interrupt has the Commander shoot a lamp to distract Kolyat, then punch some sense into the kid.]] Resolving the entire situation in four seconds without any complications ''and'' showing that good guys don't ''have'' to deal with nonsense.
** The Renegade interrupt is no worse. [[spoiler:You show Kolyat he's in no position to negotiate by shooting the scumbag of a hostage yourself.]]

** Special mention to using it on the [[spoiler: Geth Colossus. Remember that hard slog of a fight to kill the thing? You can end it ''five seconds'' after it reveals itself by blowing up the Colossus with the Cain, along with every geth in the vicinity.]]

* The over-arching [=CMOA=] for the Paragon Shepard over the course of two games: if you played as a Paragon in ''Mass Effect'' and ''Mass Effect 2'', it means you have the [[spoiler:rachni, geth, krogans, and quarians]] all backing you up for ''Mass Effect 3'' against the [[spoiler:Reaper invasion]], which, ironically, allows you to tell the Council to screw off even more than a Renegade Shepard could.
** Not to mention the [[spoiler:Shadow Broker]]. Plus, a fully Paragon Shepard could probably convince the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and the Blood Pack to do some Pro Bono work and convince Aria to drag Omega into the war. The Reapers are going down. HilariousInHindsight because that's a distinct possibility regardless of Shepard's alignment in VideoGame/MassEffect3, depending on the outcome of certain missions.

* An understated one on Tuchanka, after completing Grunt's loyalty mission [[spoiler:and killing the Thresher Maw on foot]] Grunt is inducted into Clan Urdnot. The shaman starts listing off the things Grunt can do now that he's an adult, the last of which is 'you may now serve under a battlemaster'. Grunt's reply: "Shepard is my battlemaster, (s)he has no match." The Shaman's response? A semi-grudging "Indeed." Think about it.
** If [[spoiler:Wrex]] is still alive, this is more meaningful, given Shepard's role in the rise of Clan Urdnot. Given that [[spoiler:Wrex is a krogan battlemaster himself, who was the last to destroy a Maw and served under Shepard]]...

* The [[spoiler: Collector ship raid]] is somewhat of a CMOA for EDI; before that point she's mostly there for exposition purposes, and then [[spoiler: she hijacks the Collector ship to save you, very quickly deduces important information on the Collectors and both works out and reveals the fact the raid was set-up by her creators. Considering that it was Harbinger who was behind the attack, EDI defeated him in cyberwarfare.]]
* If Jack survives the [[spoiler:suicide mission]], as you walk by her as she helps with repairs to the ''Normandy'', she gives you a respectful nod, and you realize she's gone from being an emotionally scarred, near-psychotic sociopath to someone who actually ''gives a damn'' about the rest of humanity.
* Kasumi gets one at the end of her loyalty mission. [[spoiler:She and Shepard are fighting Donovan Hock, who's using a gunship that regenerates shields too fast for the two of them to destroy it. Once Shepard clears a path through Hock's Eclipse {{Mooks}}, Kasumi jumps onto the gunship, disables its shields, smiles at Hock and flips off to resume the fight.]]
** In the same mission, Shepard [[ShutUpHannibal shutting Hock up]] by [[spoiler:[[FelonyMisdemeanor destroying one of his priceless sculptures]].]]

*** The best thing about Shadow Strike is she uses it as a finisher. Basically, if you've got Kasumi in your party and you're hurting from almost whittling away the most recent wave of attackers, "Going dark!" becomes one hell of a [[MostWonderfulSound great thing to hear.]]

* At one point during the game before the suicide mission, if you ask Garrus his opinion on the success of the mission, his response really drives home the fact that you are literally ''too important to be allowed to [[spoiler:die.]]''
--> '''Garrus:''' The Collectors [[spoiler:killed you once,]] and all it did was piss you off. I can't imagine that they'll stop you this time.
* The end of Zaeed's loyalty mission. If [[spoiler:Vido gets away and you still ask Zaeed to join you]], you get this:

** Special mention goes to the [[GoodIsNotSoft Paragon interrupt]] at the very end... [[spoiler:when ''[[PistolWhipping pistol-whipping]]'' Gavin Archer for what he did to David is considered "Paragon."]]
** The entire Paragon ending of Overlord is equal parts this and CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming, both due to the above, and because it’s one of the only instances in the series where Paragon Shepard is clearly ''enraged''.
--->'''Shepard''': You even ''think'' about coming after [[spoiler:your brother]], and this bullet will be waiting for you! THEN we'll see who's "too valuable!"

--->'''Liara:''' Is that right? You're a [[spoiler:yahg, a pre-spaceflight species that was quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council's first contact teams.]] This base is older than your planet's discovery, so I'm guessing you killed the original Shadow Broker 60 years ago, then took his place. I'm guessing that you were taken from your homeworld by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave - ''[smirks]'' or a pet. How am I doing?

** It becomes even more awesome when, after the fight [[spoiler: Liara reveals she actually didn't know most of that, only knowing the basics of yahg history and psychology and using it against him.]]

** Hunting down [[spoiler:Vasir, a Spectre with the Biotic Charge ability!]]
*** The fight with [[spoiler:Vasir]] is ridiculously awesome if your Shep is also a Vanguard...and even if they aren't a Vanguard.
*** Shepard tackling and wrestling [[spoiler:Vasir]] [[FreefallFight out of a two story window]].
*** [[spoiler:Vasir]] gets her own moment of awesome. After Shepard tackles her out the window, she manages to biotic kick them into the ground, stunning them.

---->"[[spoiler:I unleashed the rachni on the galaxy!]]"

*** The Intimidate option is just as cool: Shepard annoys said Spectre with ''faux'' FantasticRacism [[spoiler:while signaling to Liara to [[CombatPragmatist telekinetically bean her with a table]]. Tela never saw it coming.]]

---->"[[spoiler:Smart move, hiding behind a hostage. A Spectre would do whatever it takes to get the job done. But you're forgetting something... I'm a Spectre too." BANG!]]

** [[spoiler: Shepard squared off with the Shadow Broker in single hand-to-hand combat not once, not twice, but ''thrice''. The Shadow Broker is a yahg who happens to be at least two times bigger than Shepard in every way, has a maw with three rows of gnashing jagged teeth, and would give the krogan a run for their money in terms of strength, ferocity, and brutality.]]
** [[spoiler: Liara becoming the new Shadow Broker. Thus giving Shepard ''another'' force in their corner.]]

*** He also gets one of these off camera [[spoiler:as Liara reveals that he's the one who gave her Shepard's dogtags to return to the Commander, after the mission's over.]]
----> [[spoiler: '''Liara''': "Do you remember Admiral Hackett? He gave them to me, so I could return them to you. He sends his best, and hopes you're okay."]]
** [[spoiler: Morinth]] gets one if you bring her along. The Shadow Broker will comment that he finds it odd that Liara brought "the Justicar" along, given her "[[spoiler:changed agenda]]". This implies that even ''he'' doesn't know that [[spoiler:Morinth killed Samara and took her place]]. That's right - [[spoiler: Morinth]] is so convincing she even fooled the Shadow Broker.

* Jacob's loyalty mission has a particularly awesome and powerful moment if you choose to go with the Renegade approach to bringing [[spoiler: Ronald Taylor]] to justice. After spending several minutes chewing him out for his crimes, Jacob hands him a pistol, at half-charge. At his incredulous response, Jacob simply says "[[spoiler:My father owned his mistakes.]]" Nothing else needs to be said.

* "Arrival." Good job, [[spoiler: Harbinger]], what with [[spoiler: finally capturing Shepard]].
** What's that? You've [[spoiler: heavily sedated Shepard]]? Good idea, except [[spoiler: Shepard doesn't stay sedated for long, thanks to those nasty Cerberus cybernetics]]. Best summed up with the doctor's statement:

** Well, at least you've got several heavily armed and armored guards in the room to deal with - oh, wait, [[spoiler: Shepard just punched your guards out with their bare hands before helping themself to their weapons!]]

** Finally, Shepard's awesome conversation with [[spoiler:Harbinger]] where they admit that the galaxy probably can't beat them, but that they will fight and make them work to wipe them out.
*** Another nice part of that conversation is that [[spoiler: Harbinger]], who has refused to acknowledge to Shepard that they've made any kind of difference, says this.
--> '''[[spoiler:Harbinger]]''': [[AC:[[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Shepard,]] you have become an annoyance.]]

* The ''entire'' suicide mission, ''[[CurbStompBattle especially]]'' [[CurbStompBattle if you made/make all the right decisions regarding the upgrades and team duties]]. [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits The team]] goes through the Omega-4 relay, which no one has gone through and survived. Joker not only navigates a [[AsteroidThicket debris field]] guarded by robotic drones, he does it well enough to make the drones crash. The ship that destroyed the original ''Normandy'' gets shot down with a weapon [[{{Irony}} reverse-engineered from Sovereign]]. A team works their way through heating vents, trusting Shepard to open gates before they fry to death. Shepard saves his/her crew from [[spoiler:being liquefied and made into raw material for a new Reaper]]. A team travels through an atmosphere literally ''filled'' with seeker swarms, with a biotic managing to keep the swarms away before blowing a mass of enemies. While Shepard leaves to blow the base, the rest of the team holds off waves of Collectors. [[spoiler:Shepard takes down a fetal Reaper, that thing that took just about every ship in the Alliance fleet to destroy, while ''on foot''.]] As it knocks down the platforms, s/he saves a squadmate while both of them are sliding down the platform. Shepard's team runs out of the exploding Collector base, with just about every single Collector pursuing them, while Harbinger delivers an epic speech. As Shepard approaches the ''Normandy'', Joker, who had trouble just ''walking'' in the first game, stands in the airlock, holding off Collectors with an assault rifle. The platform between the ''Normandy'' and Shepard collapses, so s/he jumps twenty feet in ''bulky assault armor'' to reach the door, is pulled up and saved by one of his/her squad members, followed by Joker and Shepard dashing for the cockpit to get away from the explosion, which ''[[UnflinchingWalk happens right behind the Normandy as it zooms out of there]]''. The ''Normandy'' returns from the Omega-4 relay, the galaxy saved (until ''Mass Effect 3''), with ''everyone'' safe and sound. Awesome.

* The opening sequence is a work of art: [[spoiler:you control Shepard as the Normandy explodes around him/her, due to the damage sustained during the Collector attack]]. At one point, you must journey through a section of the ship that is exposed to space, and the game becomes eerily quiet as you look out into the void and pass several floating pieces of debris you can knock aside when you walk around.

*** S/he will say the same thing if s/he sacrificed the Alliance ships and you choose the Renegade response. You still get Paragon points for it.

** The Renegade solution to [[spoiler:Tali's trial]] manages to be just as awesome, [[spoiler:wherein Shepard probably shows more honest anger than s/he ever has up until that point in the series. Shepard gets '''pissed''', tells the Admiralty Board the entire trial is nothing more than "political bullshit" (yes, those are his/her exact words) to their face, tears them down for dragging a member of his/her crew into something like this for their own agenda, angrily exposes their real motives behind the trial, gets the whole crowd on his side, renders the whole board speechless and shames them into finding Tali not guilty. Made even more awesome by the capper to Shepard's whole rant against the Admirals:]]

* If Shepard opts to play [[GoodCopBadCop "bad cop"]] during Thane's loyalty quest, s/he'll try to intimidate the thug they're interrogating by threatening to [[DepopulationBomb cut off his balls and sell them to a krogan]].

** This moment is made even better if you've been playing the whole game as a Renegade, due to how it makes Shepard look like s/he was playing the Illusive Man all along, coming off as a true MagnificentBastard when s/he finally gets the upper hand and uses that moment to seize control of Cerberus.

* During Miranda's loyalty mission, a group of mercs will attempt to get her and Shepard to back off. As the merc talks, Shepard notices a crane moving an explosive cargo container. There's a Renegade interrupt. If taken, Shepard will reach forward and break the one merc's neck with his/her bare hands. Miranda will then shoot another at point-blank range as Shepard pulls out his/her handcannon and blasts the container to kill two more mercs. The only surviving mercenary is a shocked Salarian with a priceless "''holy shit!''" look on his face.
* The Paragon ending to Zaeed's loyalty mission. After saving a factory full of slaves and costing Zaeed his revenge against his arch-nemesis of twenty years as a result, Shepard puts a gun to Zaeed's head, tells him he's damn well going to work as part of a team, pulls the man out from under the girder that's fallen across his legs--thus proving his/her point that no one can go it alone all the time--and through sheer force of will and badassery manages to gain Zaeed's admiration and loyalty ''anyway''.

** Bonus points to Paragon Shepard for how quickly and succinctly s/he defuses both Tali and Legion's arguments: first telling Tali that [[NotSoDifferent Legion isn't doing anything that s/he wouldn't do if]] [[spoiler: Tali's father was experimenting on humans instead of geth]], and then using Tali's response as a retort to Legion, who if they got their way [[NiceJobBreakingItHero might have accidentally started the same war they wanted to avoid.]]

** Speaking of Samara's loyalty mission, when you manage to [[spoiler:convince Morinth to take the bait and start seducing you, she will gaze into your eyes and tell you to tell her that she owns you, and can do whatever she wants with you--clearly about to do with you what she did with her previous victims. If his/her scores are high enough, both Paragon ''and'' Renegade Shepard can essentially tell her, "Nope. Sucks to be you." The dawning moment of "OhCrap..." on her face as Samara walks in the door and blasts her is ''priceless'', and the idea that Shepard has so much HeroicWillpower that s/he is able to resist the brainwashing of an ''Ardat-Yakshi'' is yet another checkmark for his/her awesomeness.]]

* Paragon Shepard at the end of the game. [[spoiler:With the Illusive Man nearly frothing at the mouth about the destruction of the Collector base and accusing Shepard of biting the hand that fed him/her, Shepard will, in a very calm voice, "pleasantly" inform him that s/he's doing things his/her way now, and the Illusive Man, one of the most powerful humans in the galaxy, had better suck it up and fall in line. Then s/he'll tell Joker to cut the connection in a manner reminiscent of the Council from the first game, or alternatively...]]

** It's pretty awesome to hear Shepard rub his/her moral superiority in his face, showing that s/he knows ''damn'' well who the good guy is.

* During the mission to recruit Samara, Shepard runs across a volus swindler who lets slip he has a copy of the passcard into a mercenary base. Shepard reacts by cracking his/her knuckles, which is enough to get the swindler to hand it over.

* Renegade Shepard staying calm and completely dominating Grunt after opening his tank, even while he has him/her pinned to the wall.

** Arguably the Paragon route is just as badass in that scene. Shepard calmly and pleasantly convinces Grunt to accept him/her as his leader while the latter has him/her pinned to the wall. Than the camera pans out and shows that while this was happening, Shepard armed him/herself and had a gun pointing straight at Grunt's stomach the whole time. And Grunt didn't even notice until Shepard mentioned it!

** Shepard knows and lampshades that s/he's the biggest badass of them all.

* Shepard is asked to relinquish whatever weapons s/he has when visiting Purgatory prison.

** Badass and GoodIsNotSoft indeed. Hell, the middle of the road option makes Para-Shep even angrier, as if s/he's going to execute Gavin Archer right there.

** At the end of the first mission, Shepard and his/her team destroy the satellite dish to prevent the VI from uploading itself off-world by destroying its supports from the ''inside''. This unbalances the entire dish and causes it to slowly start tipping over. To get out, Shepard and his/her squad ''run up the inside of the dish and leap from the edge onto a narrow walkway''. Did we mention all this is taking place on a cliffside, very high above the ground?

*** The fight with [[spoiler:Vasir]] is ridiculously awesome if your Shep is also a Vanguard...and even if s/he isn't a Vanguard.

*** [[spoiler:Vasir]] gets her own moment of awesome. After Shepard tackles her out the window, she manages to biotic kick him/her into the ground, stunning him/her.

** [[spoiler: Liara becoming the new Shadow Broker. Thus giving Shepard ''another'' force in his/her corner.]]

** Admiral Hackett gets one in his dossier. Some Alliance officer sent him a proposal to take Shepard into custody and interrogate him/her about Cerberus. The proposal is a page long. Hackett's response? Two words: "[[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Request denied]]."

* The golden ending of Mass Effect 2. Basically Shepard does what is said to be a total suicide mission and completes it without losing ''any'' of his/her people. S/he effectively wiped out an entire slave race in an utter CurbStompBattle and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu gave a giant middle finger to the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Again.]]

* Anytime Shepard beats down a krogan with his/her bare hands. Double points if you do it on Insanity.

** Well, at least you've got several heavily armed and armored guards in the room to deal with - oh, wait, [[spoiler: Shepard just punched your guards out with his/her bare hands before helping him/herself to their weapons!]]

** Finally, Shepard's awesome conversation with [[spoiler:Harbinger]] where s/he admits that the galaxy probably can't beat them, but that they will fight and make them work to wipe them out.
*** Another nice part of that conversation is that [[spoiler: Harbinger]], who has refused to acknowledge to Shepard that s/he's made any kind of difference, says this.

** Taking out all five waves in the battle by Object Rho. This nets an achievement/trophy, and is a testament to how badass Shepard is if the player pulls it off. The Indoctrinated Project members realize that they aren't capable of taking Shepard down and call in a Heavy Mech...which Shepard, despite bad cover and dwindling ammo supplies, promptly destroys. The only reason Shepard loses is that Object Rho knocks him/her out. It's especially awesome on Insanity. They can hit you with whatever they want. ''It won't stop Shepard''.

** There's one reason to bring Grunt with you on the mission, which is both a BadassBoast and a FunnyMoment combined:

** One of his {{Bond One Liner}}s during combat is "[[NotSoHarmless Thought I was harmless, did you?]]

** One of his {{Bond One Liner}}s during combat is "[[NotSoHarmless Though I was harmless, did you?]]

*** Overlaps with CMOH, but if everyone survives, Shepherd will walk past them all in the Normandy's cargo bay. Preparing weapons and kit, talking, healing wounds... and the ''look'' that they all give him. Or nod, or slight smile. As if all of them are saying, "We will follow you anywhere, sir. Hell, we just did..."

** When you ask the Illusive Man about Garrus, he will admit he disappeared a few months after Shepherd died and even Cerberus has not been able to find anything about him since then. Considering Cerberus intelligence networks are only outmatched by the Shadow Broker, that's quite the achievement.

** You discover that Wrex had one around the same time you perform the feat yourself: [[spoiler:He's the last krogan to kill a Thresher Maw on foot until you and Grunt come along.]] Keep in mind, that was '''one thousand years ago''.

** Or, if the Council died, Shepard states it was not a decision made lightly, and again makes the case that those who died deserve a lot more than the reporter's bias cheapening their deaths. No matter what, Shepard owns her, and if they're alive takes the Council to task as well.

* Shepard is asked to hand over whatever weapons s/he has when visiting Purgatory prison.
--> I'll relinquish one bullet. [''others draw their weapons''] Where do you want it?

** Well, at least you've got several heavily armed and armored guards in the room to deal with - oh, wait, [[spoiler: Shepard just punched your guards out with his/her bare hands!]]

* Thane's wife-to-be gets one in his backstory; when he was about to assassinate a Salarian, she spotted him and deliberately placed herself in his scope of fire. That took guts.

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