I'm likely not participating in the Writting Prompt contest, but I'm guessing that the running theme in the latest prompts is the first four Rocky movies? 1.Mickey trying to convince Rocky in the 1st movie to take him back as his trainer; 2. The kids following Rocky in his training montage in the 2nd movie; 3. Creed and Rocky training in the beach, after Rocky and Adrian's arguement (3rd movie); 4. The Soviet Union sending near-super soldier Ivan Dargo to fight in the 4th movie.

And we have a winner, folks!

1. A broke loser has suddenly lucked into fame and fortune, and suspects this is why an old friend turned enemy has shown up seeking to get a redemption arc

This is one of my favorite scenes in movies, generally. Just a great little mini-drama, and I love that the resolution of “Rocky realizing that as much as he hates Mickey, they need each other so there’s no use being mad about it” is entirely nonverbal.

2. Thousands of children spontaneously decide to chase after a jogger

As mentioned, this is the training montage for Rocky II, which is much cartoonier than the first film. I like to think about what happened immediately after this scene, when all these ten-year-olds with amazing cardio who’ve chased Rocky for literally miles suddenly realize they have no idea where the fuck they are or how to get home. There was probably a lot of crying.

3. An action hero is feeling down, and some romantic time alone on the beach with his love interest makes him realize what he needs to get his mojo back: Some romantic time alone on the beach with his nemesis

The training scene, as mentioned, takes place immediately after a romantic scene on the beach between Rocky and Adrian, which you can even see the fade-out of in this clip (incidentally, Adrian really got shafted by this franchise, didn’t she? She’s arguably the protagonist of the first film, and then immediately gets demoted to “hero’s wife” and never gets to do anything again).

4. A plan to defeat the Soviet Union runs into their most fearsome defense: Sexy robot maids

While the Soviet Union connection to Rocky IV is obvious, I did not invent the “sexy robot maid” subplot, which is a real plot point in the movie! Rocky buys Paulie, the villain of the first movie and Adrian’s abusive brother that her arc the first movie was all about escaping and then he just got to be part of Team Rocky after that with no explanation or acknowledgement of his evil (told you this franchise shafted Adrian) a robot maid for his birthday, and Paulie somehow reprograms it to have a sexy waifu vote and compliment him and everyone is kind of weirded out by it. This plot point is apparently being removed from the upcoming director’s cut, but is so stupid - even by the standards of the rest of Rocky IV - that a lot of fans are hoping it gets kept in