As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Ethan Mars
- Any of his trials is an awesome:
- The Bear has him picking up a car and using it in an absolutely nail-biting chase sequence, dodging oncoming traffic, construction workers, and even cops near the end.
- The Butterfly requires him to crawl through a narrow tunnel lined with broken glass and then navigate a maze of electrical condensers while they're still live. Depending on how well you do, Ethan can show himself to be surprisingly nimble, and it's possible for him to make it though the entire maze without touching a single wire. And even if you do poorly and fail the trial, he's still able to drive himself back to the motel while possibly nursing severe burn wounds.
- Special shoutout goes to the Lizard, which has him cutting off part of his finger, SCREAMING. This does not stop him.
- In the Shark trial, he's forced to kill a drug dealer. Said drug dealer brandishes a shotgun when Ethan holds him up. What follows is a tense chase sequence through the apartment, which ends when Ethan is cornered in a bedroom belonging to the dealer's daughters. From here, Ethan can choose to complete the trial and kill the man, or refuse. If he chooses the latter, he pistol whips him.
- In the final trial, the Rat, Ethan is subjected to the ultimate test: drink a vial of poison that will kill him in one hour, giving him enough time to find his son and say goodbye, or be left without the last clues he needs to find Shaun. If he chooses to drink it, he doesn't waste a second before rushing out of the room to find his son. What's more awesome? He survives after the hour is up. Either the poison was a fake, didn't work as intended on Ethan due to outside factorsnote or he's just that awesome.
- When the police are raiding the motel, Ethan is trapped in his room. What does he do? He escapes to the balcony, jumps across to the next room, then makes a mad dash to the motel's roof. Provided the player doesn't fail too many quick-time events, he easily outruns the officers sent to arrest him, culminating in him either giving up once cornered on the roof... or jumping three floors to the street below and carjacking a cab not a minute later, all to Blake's shocked "Holy fuck!" One wonders if Ethan used to do parkour in his youth.
- If Ethan misses one of the inputs while climbing onto the roof, he kicks an officer in the face.
- If the player doesn't complete all of the trials, Ethan is given an incomplete address for the warehouse. However, he can still make it by using what letters he does have to narrow down the possibilities, leaving the player to decide which address to go to. He can also use the recorded videos of Shaun on the phone from the shoebox.
- "The Old Warehouse" and its variations give him a few awesome moments:
- If he's alone, he's presented with the choice to kill the Origami Killer or spare him after a brief confrontation. If he kills him, Ethan watches him die with a bitter, solemn expression. If he spares him, he gives him a Badass Boast and the killer leaves.
- The fact Ethan is able to pull off an effective Break Them by Talking in so few words and with no knowledge of the killer's past is nothing short of impressive. Compare this to Madison, who can attempt the same thing in her own scenario but is forced to fight the killer anyway.
- It's also worth noting that Ethan is the only protagonist that can kill the Origami Killer in their "alone" scenario without having to fight him first.
- If he reaches the warehouse with Madison, Ethan gets shot in a brief struggle with the killer, forcing Madison to fight the killer on her own. Provided she survives for a certain amount of time, a wounded Ethan appears just as she's cornered and shoots the killer to save her. Despite having no marksmanship training (unlike Jayden, who saves Madison instead if he is the one with her) he's a pretty good shot, able to shoot the killer twice from a distance without missing.
- Both of the above scenarios show Ethan using the same gun he was given for the Shark trial. He forcefully takes the handle apart if he completes the trial, but it's intact when he brings it with him to the warehouse. This means that he repaired the handle by himself offscreen, even though he admits to having no experience with guns.
Madison Paige
- Hitting Paco Mendez with a lamp and holding him at gunpoint.
- Also in the chapter with Paco Mendez, when she has the option to vocalize an orgasm to throw off his bodyguard and keep him from entering the private room. Crosses over into a Funny Moment.
- In the outcome where she, Ethan and Norman all make it, she gets to the warehouse and passes the police blockade via her motorcycle. She almost runs over several cops, including Blake.
- If she is the only one in the final chapter, she can hit the Origami Killer upside the head with a metal pipe while they're talking.
- In the same outcome, she can push the killer backwards and impale him on the same metal pipe he was trying to kill her with while they fought.
- There is something particularly epic about Madison and/or Norman taking the Origami Killer down. While it does involve Ethan having to fail his trials horribly and/or get locked up, it's so satisfying to deny the Origami Killer the satisfaction of seeing Ethan arrive.
- In the Taxidermist DLC, one of the options for Madison to escape from the taxidermist is to kill him. She does this by castrating him. WITH A CHAINSAW.
- When Madison fights off 'The Doc' despite being tied down to an operating table. She even kills him by jabbing a drill into his heart.
Norman Jayden
- Getting Mad Jack to surrender by threatening to blow up the garage using some nearby gasoline barrels.
- Punching Blake in the face and giving him a nosebleed during Ethan’s interrogation, if Ethan is arrested once.
- "Blake, you are an unbalanced, psychopathic asshole!"
- Pretty much every time he calls out Lieutenant Blake is a CMOA. If Blake gives him a hard time for not shooting Nathaniel, Norman just calls Blake a sissy. Alternatively, he tells him with an impatient and annoyed tone that things ended up going well, adding a firm "don't bust my balls with your post-mortems, alright?" Blake doesn't even say anything in response.
- Has a CMOA from beyond the grave when he gives Blake a scare by putting on the ARI sunglasses.
- Having Blake and Perry suspended for Ethan's death if he survives.
- When Paco’s bodyguard smugly tells him he doesn't "speak cop", Norman grabs him by the neck and yells "Watch my lips, asshole, because I've got no time to translate."
- Jayden may just be a profiler, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to throw down! His fight scenes are some of the longest, action packed, and most intense fights in the game.
Scott Shelby
- His first scene, if the player chooses to intervene, involves beating the crap out of a scumbag who threatens Lauren, the Hooker with a Heart of Gold.
- Calming down a robber and telling him to leave. Alternatively, knocking the robber out cold with one solid punch to the face.
- His fight with Gordi Kramer's bodyguards.
- His Roaring Rampage of Revenge in "Face to Face" where he guns down Kramer's men before getting to Kramer himself. In particular, near the beginning he pauses, rubs his neck, and proceeds to shoot a guard without even looking at him.
Others
- Lauren has one when she guns down Scott after finding out that he's the Origami Killer.
- Even Carter Blake has one when in a Big Damn Heroes moment he puts Miroslav Korda down right after Jayden is down, if the player fails the quick-time events during the fight with Jayden and Korda.
- Assuming you managed to keep Norman Jayden alive and got him to find the warehouse, the climax has Scott Shelby and Norman Jayden duking it out on a conveyer belt filled with junk and leading to a giant shredder, in the middle of a thunderstorm.
