Awesome / Jack Rackam

• Teddy Roosevelt gets the title of "America's Manliest President" for good reason. While living in Dakota, a gunman in a saloon tried to intimidate Teddy into buying a round of drinks for the house. Teddy's response was to sock the guy in the jaw and beat him senseless.
  Jack: Teddy Roosevelt brought a fist to a gun fight, and won.
• While it's also Played for Laughs, Jack's recitation of Pedro I's Overly Long Name is quite impressive.^note For those curious, it's Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Braganca e Bourbon And according to native Portuguese speakers in the comments, his pronunciation is spot-on, too.
• Leo Major didn't let losing an eye stop him from being an incredibly effective sniper and soldier, and was able to successfully capture 90+ Nazi POW's on his own with little effort. And when he was offered a Distinguished Conduct Medal, he turned it down because he felt that the general giving it to him was incompetent.
  • Leo's one-liner when capturing the Nazi officer is also incredibly cool.
  Leo: Bon soir, monsieur. Let's not do anything hasty...
  • Leo's One-Man Army rampage against the Nazi-held city of Zwolle is nothing short of pure badassery. He ran around the city firing off machine guns like crazy and chucking grenades, to the point where the Nazis thought it was the entire Canadian artillery attacking them.
• Fritz Dusquense's various prison escapes are the stuff of action movies. From tunneling his way out of a prison cell to climbing barbed wire fences and swimming bloodied through shark-infested waters, it's not wonder this guy became so infamous.
• Napoleon was such a talented general that most of the coalitions raised against him were completely blindsided by how tactically brilliant he was, and Napoleon managed to defeat many of them with ease. At one point, the Austrians lost so hard that the entire Holy Roman Empire collapsed.
  • Jack makes sure to point out the absolute insane level of power Napoleon had over Europe during his time in power, being able to bend most of the Continent to his whims and bully the other half into doing what he wanted. No one in Europe had that kind of power since Charlemagne.
• Caliph Al-Mansur's monologue about Abd Al-Rahman's unlikely victory is dripping with awesome.
  Al-Mansur: Tell me, who is the Falcon of the Quraysh? The foremost of the Prophet's tribe?
  Attendant: You, O Commander of the Faithful!
  Al-Mansur: No, not I...
  Attendant: Then your great predecessor, Mu'awiya!
  Al-Mansur: FOOLS! Mu'awiya rose through the support of Umar and Uthman, myself through the struggle of my kin. But Abd Al-Rahman escaped by his cunning the spearheads of lances and the blades of our swords, had the boldness to seek his fortunes without an army in lands unknown to him beyond the sea, and founded under his sceptre a great empire in a land as good as divided.
• The Halloween special on Elizabeth Báthory is a major jump in creativity and quality for Jack, with several professional voice actors chipping in to give the performance of a lifetime in a dramatic "Rashomon"-Style court drama.
  • Aaron Veach's performance as Holy Roman Emperor Matthias is easily one of the video's highlights, particularly when he's giving testimony against Elizabeth, and his closing arguments are chilling.
  Matthias: Do you know the road to Hell? It's a pit deeper than a mountain, lined with the arms of all those you knew in life. And when one such as she is cast down, not one hand will reach out to save her.
  • Even when faced with unrelenting slander from enemies, Elizabeth remains stoic and unmoving throughout her trial, easily shutting down Matthias' claims and making it very clear that she blames the unfair attitudes towards women and Matthias' greed for her situation.
  Elizabeth: And then the rumors began. It was they who named me witch. Crone. Vampire. The strange widow who never left her keep. Perhaps I overstepped my station, but if it be a sin to serve my family, then God smite me down! Here and now!
• Despite the interference of his fiercely conservative grandmother, Wu of Han did his absolute best to provide for his subjects and implement policies that would benefit them, and being incredibly well-versed in economic strategy and diplomacy.
  Gran Gran: Who taught this boy federalist theory?
• When Yi Zong arrives at Warden Bing's prison with imperial orders to execute all the prisoners, Bing firmly refuses to comply and vows to keep his prisoners (including his surrogate son Xuan) safe no matter the threat to his own life.
  Bing: Now hold on! This people have made some mistakes, but nothing is going to happen to them as long as they're living under my roof!
  Yi Zong: Emperor's not gonna be happy...
  Bing: Then you put that thing down, until you come back here with my death warrant.
• When Constantine XI hastily tries to back out of the upcoming Ottoman seige, Mehmed II's response is basically to tell Constantine to either put up or shut up.
  Mehmed: Either I will take this city, or the city shall take me. Deny me peaceful entry, I shall force my way in and I shall slay you and all your nobles; and I shall slaughter your people and allow my troops to plunder at will. The city is all I want, even if it is empty.
• Robert Smalls' escape from slavery is a Batman Gambit for the ages. Knowing that the white soldiers of the Planter would be going ashore for the evening, he managed to convince them to allow the enslaved crew to bring their families aboard to visit. Once the soldiers were gone, Smalls took command of the vessel and successfully steered the ship through the tightly guarded Confederate checkpoints and towards the Union lines.
  • Upon arriving at the Union blockade, Smalls is greeted by an officer, and his response is smooth as butter.
  Smalls: Good morning, sir! I've brought you some of the old United States guns, sir.
  Officer: Well ain't this somethin'? Where's the captain of this here vessel?
  Smalls: Speaking.
  Officer: (mildly surprised) Oh.
  Smalls: Yeah. Here's a book of Confederate codes, signals for all the local forts, the location of every mine around the harbor, four pieces of artillery, and two hundred pounds of ammo. Go nuts.