The Gi

"The Gi" is the fifteenth episode of Season 1 of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Synopsis
Gumball and Darwin are made fun of by their school mates for wearing martial arts costumes, so Nicole plans to take the costumes away.

Plot
In the beginning of this episode, Gumball and Darwin are clinging to Nicole's ankles begging for karate lessons. After Nicole reminds the two of numerous activities they've tried and given up, the boys promise not to quit martial arts after the first lesson and Nicole buys the two uniforms. They then talk about how powerful they look, thinking themselves as fierce as a "sharkbearagator." They then make a pact to never remove their gis.

Afterwards the two mimic karate moves, breaking objects around their house and at the bus stop. At their school, their classmates laugh at the two when they show off; the two remaining completely oblivious to the children's mockery. Nicole notices their classmates' ridicule and tell Gumball and Darwin to get in the car to go home, but Gumball talks to Penny first (she is visibly lost for words). In the car, Nicole tries to convince the boys that the students are bullying them, but they deny her claims and say that they are just laughing with them and even dubbed them "the Karate Wieners" unaware to what the name means and thinking of it as a mispronunciation of "Karate Winners."

When the boys arrive home, they watch Richard play Suburban Karate Master, and hear him wish that he could kick people like that in real life. He then compliments their gis and asks the two if they have a spare. The two say that they don't and note that Richard isn't responsible enough to do so, either. The boys go outside and lip-synch a motivational song called "The Inner Warrior," while doing an air guitar. Nicole tries to explain the risk of the boys wearing the costumes to school but Richard ignores Nicole and joins the boys in lip-synching. Nicole then worries about how the costumes will ruin their lives, never gaining girlfriends or jobs, and still living at the house realizing that they've wasted their lives, so she decides to take action.

Nicole walks into the boys' room and sees them on the computer. They explain that there is a video of Darwin practicing his scissor kick on a can. Nicole asks them if they posted it, but they deny it, saying some kids at school did. Nicole tells them the video's title is making fun of them with it saying "Tae-Kwon Dorks," but they deny its negativity, citing the fact that Korean is hard to spell. She then tells the boys about what happened to Richard in the past when he ran around in his superhero costume as the "Cottontail Cavalier," making himself look bad. The boys ask what happened to the cape and Nicole tells them that she took it from Richard and hid it from him. Richard, overhearing Nicole, becomes upset, claiming that she said the president needed it and runs out of the door crying. Nicole reassures the boys that Richard was lucky to have someone who loved him for who he was during that time and it is not wise to act immature and let students laugh at them like Richard did. The boys then tell Nicole that they will give up the costumes and will act more mature than Richard did in his childhood, if it makes her happy.

The boys then sing a piano-accompanied song that life is about abandoning dreams and expectations and to be mediocre. They then say how good they would feel to wear the gis one last time, since they are "cured" and can handle it. When they put them on, they find that they are addicted to wearing them and cannot handle it, but they do not care. The next morning they hide their costumes under other clothes and leave for school after being interrogated by Nicole, fibbing that the gis must be in the closet. Nicole then walks to the closet to get rid of the gis and realizes that they have lied to her. She sets off toward the school in the family car. At the school, Gumball takes off his cover and tell the students to watch them break twelve boards at lunch. During lunch, Gumball attempts to break eight boards and fails, injuring himself in the process. He then tells Darwin to lessen the amount to one and fails again, lying on the ground crying while the classmates continue to laugh at his pain and failure. Nicole arrives at that moment and notices Gumball upset with classmates laughing at him a fears that she is too late. Penny then runs to defend Gumball telling the students that he is brave for being himself. Nicole watches this and then notices that she was wrong to prevent the boys from being themselves. Nearing the end of the episode, she gives Richard back his cape and urges him to put it on. He runs around and then crashes into a wall, the same way that he did in his childhood, reminiscing about how fun that was. Nicole then kisses Richard on the cheek as the episode ends.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Nicole

Supporting Characters

 * Richard
 * Penny

Minor Characters

 * Jamie
 * Banana Joe
 * Carrie
 * Masami
 * Tobias
 * Leslie
 * Alan
 * Juke
 * Bobert
 * Clayton
 * Teri
 * Molly
 * Idaho
 * William
 * Anton
 * Sal Left Thumb (flashback)
 * Mr. Small (flashback)
 * Patrick (flashback)
 * Librarian (flashback)
 * Fingathing (flashback)
 * Hector

Trivia

 * A GI is a martial arts uniform, not to be confused with "Government Issue" as in GI Joe.
 * This is the first time Jamie speaks.
 * The user who uploaded the "Tae-Kwon Dorks" video was "SomeKidsAtSchool."
 * The author of a comment on the Tae-Kwon Dorks video is "Tobias1337."
 * In Nicole's flashback, you can see Patrick Fitzgerald, Sal Left Thumb, and Mr. Small as kids.
 * This is the first time in the entire series we see Darwin wearing pants. At the part where he and Gumball hates flipping horses they are seen with their uniform and Darwin is seen fully clothed.
 * The second time we see him wearing pants is in "The Castle."
 * This episode has the shortest name so far, with only 5 letters.
 * The video "AWESOME BRICK BREAK" is seen again at the end of "The Secret."
 * This is the first time Gumball and Darwin are shown older.

Cultural References

 * In the beginning, Gumball and Darwin say please to Nicole in five (technically six) different languages. They are (in order): English (please), French (s'il te plait), Spanish and Portuguese (por favor), German (bitte), and Hawaiian ('olu 'olu).
 * However, the French quote is inaccurate, as the proper translation when requesting from an adult is "S'il vous plait", as "S'il te plait" is used when requesting from a friend.
 * In Fusion Fall, one of Gumball's powers is Tae-Kwon Dork, with the description "Half bear, half shark, half alligator!", which is a reference to this episode.

Goofs/Errors

 * During the part where Gumball and Darwin are on the PC, Nicole unplugged the cord to the computer from the outlet, but after the flashback, it's back on, then off, then back on.
 * In Nicole's first slow motion flashback of Gumball, one can see that there was no karate costume under the coat sleeve Gumball was wearing.
 * When Richard Watterson wears the Cottontail Cape, his belt is brown.
 * When Gumball and Darwin start to sing "No More Gi," Gumball's whiskers disappear.
 * When Darwin states that the children at school call them 'The Karate Wieners' in the car, his eyebrows disappear.