Signature Scene Cleanup

Signature Scene is defined as the one scene/moment everyone remembers from a certain work. The trope is supposed to cover moments that are cemented in the minds of the general public, to the point even people who've never seen the work likely recognize it. However, it's commonly used to gush about certain scenes, regardless of their notoriety.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss whether a given example is valid and clean up pages accordingly.

Continuing from this ATT:

Live-Action Films has nothing but Zero-Context Examples. There are also multiple entries per movie, even though, by definition, there shouldn't be more than one or two. I proposed sending the article to the cutlist, but I would like to hear other tropers' opinions.

The entries on Revenge of the Sith are ones I thought had too many scenes listed. I don't mind more than one scene being listed, but if it's over three than I think it's too much. And ROTS has twelve listed:

If I really had to pick, I think either the "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan duel" or the scene where Anakin dons the Darth Vader suit really count as signature scenes. Those are the ones that were heavily featured in advertising, they're the scenes most referenced in popular culture, and the ones everyone brings up when talking about ROTS.

100% agreed. The two scenes you described are well known even by non-fans. The other examples are just ZCEs, gushing, shoehorned Memetic Mutation entries or not famous at all.

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

I can agree that there might be more than one signature scene, but when you have more than three that's too much.

When it comes to the Star Wars ones the two I think would count are the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan and Order 66.

Agreed.

• Spider-Man: No Way Home:
  • Matt Murdock showing up as Peter's lawyer.
  • Peter accidentally tampering Doctor Strange's memory erasing spell.
  • Doc Ock making his Big Entrance on a highway and his subsequent fight with Peter.
  • Spider-Man vs. Doctor Strange in the Mirror Dimension.
  • The Green Goblin's Split-Personality Takeover and subsequent battle with Peter, resulting on the destruction of Happy's condo.
  • Aunt May's death scene.
  • Ned summoning Peter Parkers from two different universes. Their appearance is one of the (if not the) most anticipated by fans heading into the film, and seeing that come to fruition was such a good payoff.
  • The three cinematic Spider-Men's first encounter and heartfelt conversation.
  • The three Spider-Men having a banter on the Statue of Liberty right before the Final Battle.
  • The three Spider-Men swinging towards Sandman, Lizard, and Electro as well as their banter beforehand.
  • Electro and Doc Ock's heartfelt reunion with their respective Spider-Men.
  • TASM Peter diving in to save Michelle from falling to her death, finally redeeming himself from failing to save Gwen all those years ago.
  • MCU Peter vs. Green Goblin's emotional Final Battle.
  • The three Spider-Men's heartfelt Group Hug.
  • Peter's final swing wearing his new (and comic-accurate) costume.
  • Eddie Brock and Venom's appearance in The Stinger.

Do we want to just cut these as there's too many to say any stand out? Thoughts about giving it a waiting period in order to say which stands out most after the test of time? And should it be spoilers off if by definition it's well known? (If it's needed to be spoiled out it might be too obscure/too soon to say.)

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jan 10th 2022 at 4:08:10 AM

Yes, a spoiler and a Signature Scene are contradictory terms by definition. And since those examples were all added by the same troper, they are also breaking one of the rules from the trope page: "While the trope is sometimes a matter of opinion, you shouldn't generally feel the urge to add more than one for a particular work yourself". How long would a waiting period for this trope be? Six months, like Broken Base?

The Red Vs Blue entries dominate the SignatureScene.Web Animation page. I've included the RWBY ones as well (there are only two) because one is misuse, so I think that one is more straight-forward.

Just to get the RWBY ones out of the way. I do think the Episode 8 fight may count because that's the scene that tends to get used as the "if you don't know if you want to bother with this show, watch that fight first!" scene. So, I think it counts. However, the other bullet point is just listing some shocking plot twists that are massive spoilers, and the work was declared to not be a Cerebus work a long time ago, so it's misusing Cerebus Syndrome, too.

Regarding the Red vs. Blue entries. Most of them are either beloved scenes within the fandom, or reveals/plot twists (some are big ones), and therefore a lot of them are spoilerific. I think the one definite candidate from that list is the bullet point that mentions Tex's beatdown of the Reds and Blues, which went viral for two reasons (the way portals are used as part of the fight, and the fact that one of the characters gets hit in the groin constantly as a running gag). Even I had seen this scene — I didn't even know what work it was from, so when I started watching this show a few years later, I recognised the scene as soon as it started unfolding (and finally realised what work it was from).

However, it would need rewriting because it's just glossed over here.

It is possible that the Warthog crashing through the stone wall to confront Wash may be a signature scene as well. I do remember that scene being talked about outside the RT fandom because it was Monty Oum's "I'm animating this show!" scene — and while I had never heard of Monty Oum prior to watching RWBY, he did have a name and reputation prior to working for Rooster Teeth.

Beyond those two scenes, however, I don't think anything else counts.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Jan 17th 2022 at 5:29:28 AM

I found these on YMMV.Mad Max Fury Road:

• Signature Scene:
  • The deliriously hectic opening of Max trying and failing to escape from the War Boys.
  • Morsov ramming into a car with grenade tipped spears.
  • The explosive drive through the sand storm.
  • A newly blinded and deliriously screaming Bullet Farmer unleashing a flurry of ammunition.
  • Furiosa's Skyward Scream upon learning about The Green Place.
  • Max rising up on a pole as a massive explosion occurs behind him.
  • Furiosa delivering Immortan Joe his much deserved, gruesome death.
  • Nux finally getting to make his Heroic Sacrifice, now for something meaningful.

Is the allowed to be this many Signature Scenes for one film?

I'd say three scenes, tops, and even that's pushing it. You can get situations like Revenge of the Sith where the lava fight and Anakin's Big "NO!" are competing to be remembered as the scene, but I suspect most people can't even picture the other scenes listed for it.

This is on Signature Scene.Animated Films:

• Hilda and the Mountain King:
  • Hilda and Johanna's Big Damn Reunion.
  • The opening credits.
  • The emotional breakdown montage, featuring "When I Can't Sleep" by Pascal Pinon.
  • Johanna grabbing the gun from Erik Ahlberg and aiming it at him.
  • Hilda running to the eye and Trylla helping her throwing it to Erik.
  • Hilda, Frida, David, and Johanna joining hands together and walking to Trolberg with the rest of the trolls.
  • Amma's story.
  • The trolls springing into bloom and Amma's message for them.
  • Hilda, Baba, Trylla, and Twig climbing up the mountain at the end of the film.
  • The film's big finish, featuring "Another Road" by Rachel Aggs.

I think ten scenes is too much for a not too well known movie that only came out recently.

Cut them. If there's so many so recent, too soon to say.

One of the problems with this is that so many examples are ZCE. TRS for It Was His Sled is proposing "Require examples to type up more than just the spoiler in question (e.g., Everyone/the community knows this because...)" We could similarly require examples type up why they are so much more remembered/defining than the other scenes.

Is there a point where we can start zapping ZCE as to how/why examples? Like if the work has other examples explaining how/why suggesting they are more signature?

Are people okay with me making the suggested Red v Blue and RWBY changes?

The two you described? Sure.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day has 11 listed Signature Scenes. Pretty sure a work can't have that many.

• Signature Scene: Many.
  • The nuclear annihilation sequence from the first few minutes of the movie.
  • The T-800 giving a thumbs-up as he sacrifices himself in the pool of molten steel.
  • The T-800 kneecapping the security guard after having just promised John that he wouldn't kill anyone ("He'll live.") is a prime example of the Exact Words trope.
  • Sarah's rant about Judgement Day, where she vividly describes her recurring nightmare of the event. It's never actually portrayed in an actual scene, but portrayed through a VHS replay of it.
  • Sarah's nightmare about Judgment Day, specifically the shot of her skeleton clinging to the wire fence in the inferno.
  • Several revolutionary special effects shots involving the T-1000, including walking through bars, being shot in the eye and healing, and being shattered and reforming, especially as the motorbike cop.
  • "Janelle, what's wrong with Wolfie?" and the T-1000 lethally silencing Todd mid-conversation.
  • "Hasta la vista, baby!", in addition to the freezing scene in general.
  • The T-800's one-handed shotgun flip.
  • The Down L.A. Drain scene. So much so that, as you can see, it's become a trope.
  • The entire "blowing up Cyberdyne Systems" sequence.

As someone who is aware of Terminator 2 but hasn't seen it, I'd say that the only one of those that's made it into general knowledge about the movie is the T-1000 special effects.

I split SignatureScene.Survivor off from SignatureScene.Live Action TV a few months ago due to length. There's dozens of examples on the page, and almost all of them are ZCEs.

Yeah, not a single example on that article seems valid. Other than the abundance of ZCEs, there is also:

• General examples: A signature scene cannot be "Every single scene involving the Casaya Tribe".
• Gushing: "Stephanie outlasts her entire tribe", "Sandra is the first ever two-time winner".
• Stealth complaining: "Russel Hantz finally being voted out"; all the examples that end with "albeit for very controversial reasons".

Sonic Adventure 2

• Signature Scene:
  • City Escape is the game's iconic level, setting the tone for the game, having an unforgettable song in the background, and that truck chase (itself a Signature Scene) capped it off very nicely. Not only did the level get a reprise in Sonic Generations but it's generally considered a high mark in game design overall.
  • For cutscenes, due to Memetic Mutation, Sonic and Shadow's faceoff before and after their respective forest stages. The whole thing is immensely quotable, for reasons under Narm.
  • The compressed version of Sonic's fight with the Egg Golem featured in the Dark Story, in which Sonic defeats the boss with a single kick to the head and a Kiai.
  • The final boss fight from both campaigns where Sonic and Shadow square off one final time. Everything about it from the setup to the initial sprint to the boss fight itself is remembered fondly and is cited as one of the most exceptional character battles in the series.
  • The entire hostage scene aboard the ARK. Not only does Eggman hold Amy hostage with a gun to her head, he tricks Sonic into a space pod and launches him into space, killing him... and then the subsequent reveal that Sonic survives regardless.
  • Gerald Robotnik's speech declaring his plan to drop the space colony ARK onto earth.
  • Shadow's fight with the Biolizard.
  • And of course, the final battle outside the space colony ARK where Super Sonic and Super Shadow make the final stand against the Finalhazard to prevent the space station from falling to earth, cued up to main theme of the game "Live and Learn". This scene was recreated in Sonic X, complete with "Live and Learn" (although only in the original Japanese cut).

I'd say City Escape, the final Sonic/Shadow fight (which was adapted into Generations) and Final Boss are the examples as they explain how they are stand out memorable to the point of being referenced in other works. Cut the rest?

Again, what should the limit for number of Signature Scenes be per work (if they're all memorable none are)? And should we have a wait (6 months at least)?

I am still thinking we should limit it two one as the word "Signature" implies a single unique thing.

Any opinions on these?

I'd cut all of them as too many (I believe that's more than half the movies major screens) and they're all ZCE as to how/why they're the most remembered.

Will cut to the City Escape and Final Boss examples then. Two per installment/season/story arc sounds right. My concern is that YMMV limited to most/least x per work (Parvum Opus, Magnum Opus, Jumped the Shark) are/had to be cut/restricted as too subjective even for YMMV and magnets for edit wars over competing examples. Thoughts?