The Tape

"The Tape" is the thirty-fifth episode of the Season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the seventy-first episode overall.

Synopsis
Gumball and Darwin fail to make some instant homemade movie classics.

Plot
The episode begins with Darwin trying to perform an intro for the home movie. He constantly messes up his line by saying his name wrong, such as saying flim instead of film and forgetting his line altogether. Gumball insists it's not hard and tries to do it in his place, but ends up pulling several muscles while trying to spin the chair around. Darwin finally says his line correctly, but unfortunately Gumball fails to record it, much to their despair. Gumball introduces his family and friends, and welcomes the audience to "The Amazing World of-" before giving up and leaving when he believes nobody would watch it.

In the first segment, at The Watterson household, we see the "Moobus Gelatinous" (Richard) in his natural habitat, the sofa, sheltering himself from responsibility. Just then, the "Kickbuttus Hystericus" (Nicole) comes home from the supermarket (or as Gumball puts it, a successful hunt). The Moobus sneaks up on the Kickbuttus to scavenge for food, and when a chicken is pulled out he goes for it. The two fight and the Moobus wins by using its "defense mechanism", farting. As the fight carries on upstairs, the groceries are ransacked by the "Runtus Decepticus" (Anais).

Next, Carrie talks directly to the audience and tells us to focus carefully in order for a "3D without glasses" effect to work. Carrie then jump scares the audience and happily laughs about it.

Gumball and Darwin spend the day following Ocho around. They notice he is able to use the Konami Code to summon a block above him, when he hits the block with his head a dollar comes out, which he then uses to buy a candy bar. Gumball tries to hit the block with his head but only passes out as the block falls on him. Next, Ocho uses the cheat code to cheat on a test in Miss Simian's class. He then uses the cheat to outrun everybody out on the running track. Gumball believes he's figured out the code and uses it on the basketball court, but the attempt fails as Gumball literally glitches out while trying to summon a tank, pleading Darwin to "call an ambulance".

Tobias then gives lessons on how to be cool. The first lesson is lifting weights to get dates. Tobias himself struggles to do this as the camera jump cuts to Tobias lifting a single miniscule weight. The next lesson is that girls love cash, and Tobias makes it rain (by literally throwing money at Carmen, Sarah and Masami). Now Tobias has the looks and the "fliff" and gives us an example of his lady charming skills. He demonstrates by trying a pick up line on Masami, telling her that he'd call his mom when he "fell in love". Masami takes this literally and hands him her cellphone. Tobias then awkwardly calls his mom to pick him up because of the embarrassment and Tobias walks away in shame.

Gumball and Darwin make some commercials, the first one for "Crème de Hurgh", a pimple inducing formula with fridge mold and ham sweat. The next is for "Baby Anais", the living baby doll. When Anais begins to attack, they change the product to "The Anai-hilator" with "realistic kung-fu karate chop action".

Darwin refuses to hurt himself for the sake of entertainment, so Gumball just asks him to act cute. When Gumball thinks he can do better, Darwin breaks out a "cute combo attack", the cuteness is so strong it causes Gumball to pass out and spew rainbows. Darwin takes control of the next segment, pondering the mystery of "spheres orbiting spheres" with his conspiracy theory that involves infinity and peanuts. Unfortunately, he is unable to make any sort of point as Gumball sabotages everything with the return of "The Anai-hilator".

In "Ninja George II", the final segment, Ninja George (played by Gumball) is convinced by The Colonel (played by Darwin) to defeat evil, even though Ninja George promised he would never raise his fists again. But when his sister, Ninja Georgina, is in trouble, he must come out of retirement one last time. After training, Ninja George goes on an adventure, where he defeats a giant, a dragon, and falls in love with a beautiful woman, whom he has to defeat because he's not emotionally ready. Ninja George arrives at the temple of Doctor Downer only to shockingly discover that The Colonel was Doctor Downer all this time. The two battle it out, but Darwin accidentally hits Gumball in the face and he starts to cry, causing Darwin to do so also. The two come up with a better ending where Ninja George and Doctor Downer put their differences aside and apologize. While trying to eject the tape, Gumball accidentally deletes the entire thing and the episode ends.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin

Supporting Characters

 * Anais (Non-Speaking)
 * Tobias

Minor characters

 * Richard
 * Nicole
 * Ocho
 * Hector
 * Penny
 * Banana Joe
 * Carrie
 * Principal Brown
 * William
 * Sarah
 * Tina
 * Carmen
 * Bobert
 * Leslie
 * Clayton
 * Teri
 * Marvin
 * Pantsbully
 * Gary
 * Exercise Bacon
 * Teal Tow Truck Driver
 * Crocodile Woman
 * Neck Beard
 * Siciliana
 * Mr. Poop
 * Mr. Pepperoni
 * Miss Simian (voice only)
 * Jackie Wilson (mentioned)
 * Mr. Robinson (poster)
 * The Sun (poster)

Trivia

 * This is the first time Tobias and Carrie have had their last names revealed in the show, which are Wilson and Krueger respectively.
 * This episode bizarrely recycles the "No Glasses 3D" video from Elmore Stream-It.
 * Gumball hitting the money block with his head may be a reference to how many people used to think that Mario, a character from the Super Mario Bros. series, hits coin blocks with his head when he actually uses his fist.
 * Gumball nearly brakes the fourth wall by saying The Amazing World of...

Continuity

 * The video camera from "The DVD,""The Refund" and "The Tag" appears in this episode.
 * This episode uses elements from the original trailer for the show.
 * Darwin repeats one of his lines from "The Robot" and "The Watch" during one of the segments ("But when you cry...I cry...")
 * The sunset backdrop from "The End" can be seen during the "Crème de Hurgh" commercial.
 * The music that plays when Tobias tries to lift some weights is from "The Ghost."
 * The music that plays when he "makes it rain" is from "The Skull."
 * The poster of Mr. Robinson from "The Debt" can be seen when Tobias is talking to Masami.
 * When Darwin shows the solar system chart, Uranus can be seen in a alien head like form. While filming the cuteness challenge, this image can be seen on one of the lockers.
 * This is the eighth time Richard seen in his underwear.
 * This is the second time Darwin wears a girls' wig.
 * In the scene where Tobias tries to "get the girl", the word "bumpkin" can be seen on the graffiti on the wall, a reference to "The Bumpkin."

Cultural References

 * Ocho's cheat code is "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A", which is a direct reference to the famous Konami Code.
 * Two of Ocho's cheat codes are references to the Mario game franchise. In one, he makes a block appear over his head, which ejects money upon being hit, much like the coin blocks in Super Mario games. In the other, the code makes him flash random colors and run faster, just like what would happen upon picking up a Super Star in the Mario games.
 * The "Baby Anais" commercial and product are based off of Baby Alive commercials and products.
 * During the "Ninja George II" segment, Gumball is dressed similarly to John Rambo.
 * Carrie's last name, Krueger, is a reference to Freddy Krueger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series.
 * The tank used when Gumball tries to do the Konami code bears a resemblance to the Type 74 Tank.
 * The wigs Darwin and Gumball wear during the "Baby Anais" commercial are a reference to actresses Jennette McCurdy and Miranda Cosgrove from the Nickelodeon show iCarly, respectively.
 * The characters that Gumball and Darwin play as in the "Ninja George II" segment might possibly be a reference to the two Street Fighter characters, Ryu and M. Bison.
 * Gumball hitting the money block with his head may be a reference to how many people used to think that Mario, a character from the Super Mario Bros. series, hits coin blocks with his head when he actually uses his fist.

Goofs/Errors

 * The opening of this episode shows that Carrie cannot show up on camera. However, she appears in both her own and Tobias' segment.
 * Part of Ocho's cheat code "left, right, left, right" is performed with respect to the viewer instead of Ocho himself (i.e. He moves right first). However, Gumball does it correctly. This difference may be the reason why Gumball's code causes him to glitch, since videogame codes are always performed from the point of view of the person in front of the TV screen.
 * Darwin's hat symbol changes from a face with ears to a bird in the last scenes of the episode.
 * In Darwin's "LIFE" video, (the second to last segment or their video), when he fast forwards normal people walking down the street, their movement and directions are inconsistent. For example, when Exercise Bacon walks down the left side of the street and the Gary passes in front of him, he disappears behind. Plus, when multiple people pass by in one direction, they reappear walking in the same direction.