History Awesome / MassEffect2

--> '''Harbinger''': [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Shepard,]] you have become an annoyance.//

--->'''Shepard''': You even ''think'' about coming after your brother, and this bullet will be waiting for you! THEN we'll see who's "too valuable!"

** At the end of the first mission, Shepard and their 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 their 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?

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRq95S_Nv80 "Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not."]]
** You discover that Wrex had one around the same time you perform the feat yourself: 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''.
** More awesome from a meta perspective, Uvenk is voiced by Michael Dorn, AKA Worf from Star Trek. Wrex is basically telling Worf to "Quit it with the stupid traditions, they aren't working, now get out of my way, I'm saving our race." Awesome.

* One for Harbinger, at the beginning no less. When we see how savvy Harbinger is with the obliteration of the Normandy and Shepard's death at the beginning, it's hard not to be impressed. [[WeCanRebuildHim Sure, it didn't work out exactly the way Harbinger wanted it]], [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority but it shows why the Reapers have been the top dogs for millions of years]].

--> '''Miranda''': [[PreAssKickingOneLiner You'll die for that,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch!]]

--> '''Harbinger''': [[AC:[[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Shepard,]] you have become an annoyance.]]

* 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.

** He gets his own actual moment of awesome if Paragon!Shep talks him down from his little crusade. He starts a charity to help the victims and orphans of Sovereign and the geth attacks called..."Shepards". Well done man.

-->[[AC:"Impressive, Shepard... / Neutralize Commander Shepard. / Stop Shepard."]]

--->'''Broker:''' It's pointless to challenge me, asari. I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark.

*** Especially the Paragon BadassBoast
---->"I sacrificed hundreds of human lives to save the ''Destiny Ascension''!"
---->"I unleashed the rachni on the galaxy!"
---->"So for your sake, hope your escape plan doesn't hinge on me ''hesitating to shoot a damn hostage!''"
*** The Intimidate option is just as cool: Shepard annoys said Spectre with ''faux'' FantasticRacism while signaling to Liara to [[CombatPragmatist telekinetically bean her with a table]]. Tela never saw it coming.

---->"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!

*** So, either Garrus [[NoKillLikeOverkill really had it in for this guy]], or the dude was a Krogan (as the term "primary organ" suggests), [[DeathByAThousandCuts so all that was absolutely necessary]].

->[[AC:"Impressive, Shepard... / Neutralize Commander Shepard. / Stop Shepard."]]

* 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 teammate works their way through heating vents, trusting Shepard to open gates before they fry to death. Shepard saves their crew from 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 away a mass of enemies. While Shepard leaves to destroy the base, the rest of the team holds off waves of Collectors. 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.

* 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 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 away a mass of enemies. While Shepard leaves to destroy the base, the rest of the team holds off waves of Collectors. 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.

** If you pay attention, Shepard actually looks up at the ceiling briefly before the bad guys realize Thane's there, and essentially says, "''I'm'' not your problem right now.".

** The Renegade option is just as powerful, as as she's starting her pitch to smear you either as a sellout willing to sacrifice human lives to maintain alien dominance or a callous butcher with no regard for diplomacy and interspecies relations[[note]]the Renegade speech is the same regardless of your decision to save or sacrifice the Council[[/note]], Shepard cuts her down with a tongue lashing about the harsh realities of command and turns it around on her by accusing her of shamelessly exploiting their deaths for her own gain:

** The Renegade option is just as powerful, as as she's starting her pitch to smear you as a sellout willing to sacrifice human lives to maintain alien dominance or a callous butcher with no regard for diplomacy and interspecies relations[[note]]the Renegade speech is the same regardless of your decision to save or sacrifice the Council[[/note]], Shepard cuts her down with a tongue lashing about the harsh realities of command and turns it around on her by accusing her of shamelessly exploiting their deaths for her own gain:

** 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]] 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.]]

->'''Harbinger:''' [[AC:"Impressive, Shepard... / Neutralize Commander Shepard. / Stop Shepard."]]

* During your final confrontations with Harbinger and his minions within the base, slaughter enough Collector drones at a decent enough speed and Harbinger will begin to have a subtle but unmistakeable VillianousBreakdown at such a kill streak as the Commander cannot. Be. Stopped!
[[AC:"Stop Shepard."]]

** Speaking of Samara's loyalty mission, when you manage to 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.

* Mordin gets one when you learn why the citizens of Omega are scared of him: 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.

* 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 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. 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.

* [[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 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.

** The Renegade option is just as powerful, as as she's starting her pitch to smear you as a sellout willing to sacrifice human lives for aliens or a callous butcher with no regard for diplomacy and interspecies relations[[note]]the Renegade speech is the same regardless of your decision to save or sacrifice the Council[[/note]], Shepard cuts her down with a tongue lashing about the harsh realities of command and turns it around on her by accusing her of shamelessly exploiting their deaths for her own gain:

* Khalisah al-Jilani returns in Mass Effect 2 for another round. If you punch her with the Renegade interrupt, Shepard says "I should have done that the first time we met!"

** The Renegade option is just as powerful, as as she's starting her pitch to smear you as a sellout willing to sacrifice human lives for aliens or a callous butcher with no regard for diplomacy and interspecies relations[[note]]the Renegade speech is the same regardless of your decision to save or sacrifice the Council[[/note]], Shepard cuts her down with a tongue lashing about the harsh realities of command and turns it around on her by accusing her of exploiting their sacrifices for her own gain:

** The Renegade option is just as powerful, as as she's starting her pitch to smear you as a sellout willing to sacrifice humans for aliens or a callous butcher with no regard for diplomacy and interspecies relations[[note]]the Renegade speech is the same regardless of your decision to save or sacrifice the Council[[/note]], Shepard cuts her down with a tongue lashing about the harsh realities of command and turning it around on her by accusing her of exploiting their sacrifices for her own gain:

** There's another variant of the speech which you can give if you choose the Renegade option, if the Council survives or is sacrificed:

** There's another variant of the speech which you can give if the council dies:

*** They will say the same thing if they sacrificed the Alliance ships and you choose the Renegade response. You still get Paragon points for it.
** The Renegade responses are just as awesome. Shep gives her a tongue lashing about the realities of command and disrespecting the dead that leaves Kalisah on the verge of weeping.