In the faraway world of Toronto, Canada... Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler.

Welcome to my Scott Pilgrim shrine! Scott Pilgrim is a character created by Canadian artist Bryan Lee O'Malley whose story has taken many forms, including a comic series, a movie, an Adult Swim short, an xbox 360 game, an anime, and an upcoming PC game! I've loved the Scott Pilgrim comics since middle school, but the 2023 Netflix anime sparked a more intense special interest that's persisted to this day.

What is Scott Pilgrim about?

Each version of Scott Pilgrim media offers a slightly different take on the characters and storyline, but at its core, the story follows Scott Pilgrim, a 23-year old loser, winning the heart of Ramona Flowers, the girl of his dreams, by defeating her seven evil exes. Meanwhile, Scott must also confront his past mistakes, such as breaking the heart of 17-year old Knives Chau. The setting is a blend of realism and scifi, with supernatural video game inspired elements being casually incorporated into the universe as a whole. It's a fun, heartwarming story about less than perfect people working to improve themselves and find love! Spoilers ahead!

Characters

Why do I love it so much?

I'm not really sure! I mean, there's the obvious answer that it's an incredibly well written comic with amazing art by a cartoonist that I really admire. I first read the comics out of order from the library when I was in middle school, and while that was definitely not a good way to accurately understand the story, it was enough to get me to fall in love with the characters, and soon I commited to reading them properly. The combination of sci-fi and realism is perfect, and the complex, real story it told hit me at the exact right time for me to get obsessed. The obsession lay pretty dormant for a while, until the 2023 release of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which reigniting my love for the series. Now, Scott Pilgrim as a universe/media in general is my special interest (though my favorite format is the original comics), and it genuinely brings me so much joy! Please don't hesitate to talk to me about Scott Pilgrim, because I always want to, and I'm pretty much always thinking about it.

Comics

The original form that Scott Pilgrim took, and my personal favorite! The story is told over 6 volumes, with each volume loosely centering around the ex (or exes, in the case of the twins) that Scott must fight next. The comics can be considered grind fiction.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

The first book of the series. Mainly serves as the setup for the story, introducing Scott, Knives, Ramona, and their friends. We learn that Scott is dating a high schooler (Knives) that he's in a band (Sex Bob-Omb), and the way that subspace (and other sci-fi elements) work in the story's universe. He meets Ramona, the girl of his literal dreams, and cheats on Knives with her. It ends with Scott fighting and defeating Matthew Patel, and learning what he has to do in order to date Ramona.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

This book focuses a lot on Knives as a character, with the end of her relationship with Scott and the beginning of her obsession with getting him back. The ex that Scott defeats is Lucas Lee, and we are also introduced to Scott's ex, Envy Adams. The book ends with the main characters going to see a Clash at Demonhead show, a band made up of Envy, as well as Ramona's third evil ex, Todd Ingram.

Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness

Envy and Todd act as the main obstacles for this book. Both Ramona and Scott have to confront the pasts that their respective exes represent. The book ends with Envy finding out that Todd's cheating on her, and Scott defeating him.

Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

The big catalyst of this book is Lisa Miller, a high school friend of Kim and Scott's. This ends up creating tension between Ramona and Scott, since it seems like he's cheating on her. Both Knives' dad and Roxie Richter, Ramona's fourth evil ex, act as the antags of this book. It ends with Scott defeating Roxie, earning the respect of Mr Chau, and confessing his love to Ramona.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe

This book shows the cracks begin to form in Scott and Ramona's relationship. Things with the band begin to stagnate and Ramona starts acting weird, growing more distant. Kim is kidnapped by Ken and Kyle Katayanagi, who are the fifth and sixth exes, but after Scott defeats them, Ramona is gone. The book ends with Scott getting a threatening phone call from Gideon, the final ex.

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour

The beginning of the book starts with Scott in a depressive state. With the help of Kim, he self-actualizes and vows to defeat Gideon, who we learn isn't actually with Ramona. After she comes back for closure, the two of them defeat Gideon and promise to keep going, despite their mistakes.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

The most popular and well-known version of Scott Pilgrim: the movie! It was directed by Edgar Wright, and starred Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Personally, I think it's a pretty terrible adaptation that was doomed from the start. There's just too much in the comics to be properly adapted into a tight 2 hour feature film. I think it misses the point of the comics and makes for a pretty bad story from an objective standpoint. However, I do have a soft spot for this movie. It's a fun time, even if I am bitter about it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation

This was an animated short released on Adult Swim to promote the movie. It covered the high school flashbacks that weren't shown in the movie, including Scott and Kim's relationship as well as Lisa Miller.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game

A beat-em-up game that was also released alongside the movie! It's a set of levels where the players defeat NPC enemies, with the final boss of each level being one of Ramona's exes. (Minibosses include Envy, Lynette, Mr Chau, and Robot-01) You can play as Scott, Ramona, Kim, or Stephen, with DLC letting you play as Knives or Wallace, and Nega Scott being an unlockable character. I haven't finished this game, but I've played some of it and it's really really hard! At least in my opinion. I'm not very good at video games. The pixel art is beautiful, though, and for something released as a promo, it's pretty impressive.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is an anime from 2023 made by Science Saru and hosted on Netflix. It follows the "what-if" scenario of "what if Scott had lost the first fight with Matthew?" It puts mroe emphasis on Ramona as a character, and explores some of the more neglected characters, like Matthew or Lucas. It's a departure from the original story beats, which is why I personally think it works so well. The release of this series reignited my love for Scott Pilgrim media as a whole!

Episode 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

This episode basically follows the same format of the first book, but with less emphasis on Scott and Knives' relationship. It also ends with Matthew defeating Scott instead.

Episode 2: A League of Their Own

The episode opens with Scott's funeral, where Envy Adams performs a huge musical number. Matthew also gathers the exes, and challenges Gideon for control of the League, since he defeated Scott. He wins, and Gideon is left destitute.

Episode 3: Ramona Rents a Video

Ramona becomes convinced that Scott's alive, due to security footage of a portal taking him when Matthew attacked, and starts interviewing people about him. During this, she's attacked by Roxie, and the two work out their baggage through battle. Gideon goes to Julie, who takes him in, as they actually used to go to high school together.

Episode 4: Whatever

Neil has written a screenplay about what would have happened if Scott had won the fight, and it's being made into a feature film, starring Lucas Lee as Scott. Ramona questions him after the two reconcile, and he points towards Todd, because of his vegan powers, then quits the movie due to him dating his costar.

Episode 5: Lights, Camera, Sparks?!

The role of Scott is recast to be Todd Ingram, who has an on-set fling with Wallace, who is playing himself. After Wallace doesn't reciprocate his romantic feelings, he falls into a depression, breaking vegan. Envy points out that the portal that took Scott was too big to be made by Todd. Matthew, the owner of the movie production company, cancels it.

Episode 6: Whodidit

Now that Lucas doesn't have a job, he befriends Gideon, who's become a total loser. The two have fun and wreck Julie's house. Stephen and Knives pitch a musical to Matthew, based on Neil's screenplay in which he will star as Scott Pilgrim, which is greenlit. Ramona gathers everyone together to solve Scott's disappearance, and concludes that it must have been the twin's robot who took him. The meeting is interrupted when Scott shows up at her door and says that he did it.

Episode 7: 2 Scott 2 Pilgrim

It's revealed that Scott's future self teleported him to the future with the help of the twin's robot (who can travel through time) because he doesn't want Scott getting with Ramona (due to them getting divorced in the future). Young Scott then enlists Ramona's future self to help get him back, and explains everything. After apologizing to Knives, it's revealed that a forcefield is preventing him from kissing Ramona. They decide to confront the League at the premiere of Matthew's play.

Episode 8: The World vs. Scott Pilgrim

At the premiere, all the exes deny having anything to do with the forcefield, since they've all moved on. At the climax of the play, everyone is teleported to the future by an Even Older Scott, who they all fight, as it turns out he's behind the forcefield. Future Ramona shows up to tell him off, and merges with Present Ramona, forming Super Ramona in an act of self-love. She teleports them all back after experiencing closure, and the play is lauded. Matthew returns Gideon's company, and everyone basically lives happily ever after!

Scott Pilgrim EX

This game hasn't come out yet, it's set to release in 2026! It looks like another beat-em-up, but this time with the premise that three rival gangs (Demons, Vegans, and Robots) are feuding in Toronto, and have kidnapped Scott's bandmates. This page will be updated after the game's release!

Other Stuff

Scott Pilgrim Miniatures the World

A board game based on Scott Pilgrim, released in 2021! It came with miniature figures of the characters, and is incredibly hard to find nowadays. But one day, I'll get my hands on one...

Livestream Drawings

Starting after the release of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off in 2023, Bryan Lee O'Malley started going live on Twitch, taking drawing requests. Some of these drawings would make their way into official merch or prints.

Scott Pilgrim by Plumtree

A song that actually preceded the comics! Plumtree was a Canadian band, formed in 1993, that O'Malley was a fan of, and the song itself (a B-side) was released in 1997. The name came about after band member Lynette (who the drummer in the Clash at Demonhead was named after) mixed up the names of Scott Ingram (the band's accountant) and Phillip Pilgrim (a producer in the area). O'Malley took a liking to the name, and decided to both name his upcoming protagonist after it, and incorporate Plumtree in the comic; One of Scott's most iconic outfits is a yellow and red Plumtree shirt. I think it's really cool that a small, fairly unknown indie band was able to gain incredible cultural relevancy just because a budding cartoonist happened to be a fan of the East coast scene in Canada. :)