The Test

"The Test" is the eighth episode of Season 5 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 164th episode overall.

Synopsis
When he is labeled a "loser" in an online test, Gumball believes he must do the opposite of everything he would normally do.

Plot
The episode begins with Gumball acknowledging the greatness of the internet; he continues to speak highly of the internet's potential until he states that the resources are being wasted on llama photos. It turns out that Gumball, Darwin, and Sarah are browsing the internet, and Gumball finds it to be nothing more than an advertising scam. Gumball continues to express his pessimistic view of the internet until Sarah suggests he takes a What Sitcom Character Are You? quiz. Intrigued by the tagline, Gumball proceeds to answer the questions.

As Gumball delves deeper into the quiz, he notices how arbitrary the questions and answers are, and he returns to his former cynical stance on the internet. Gumball's cynical state is short-lived, however, when the quiz reveals that Gumball's character archetype is a loser. Shocked, Gumball decides to ask his two friends what character archetype they are according to the quiz; unsurprisingly, Darwin (the lovable sidekick) and Sarah (the creepy anime fangirl stalker) got accurate results from the quiz. Sarah tries to comfort Gumball by explaining that the "loser" has an important role to play in the sitcom of life; of course, Gumball does not buy that, and he is still convinced that his results were a fluke. He attempts to prove this point by mashing random buttons on the keyboard with his butt. Once again, he gets the "loser" label.

Gumball is obviously disappointed in the results, so Darwin tries to comfort him. It is at this moment Gumball reveals that he wants to be more popular. Sarah tries to sketch out Gumball's vision for a more popular version vision of himself; when that fails miserably, Gumball concludes that he must do the exact opposite of everything he normally does.

The next day Gumball takes his own advice too literally, and ends up making a fool of himself. Eventually, his brother stops him before his actions get out of hand; still determined to reach a higher status in his popularity, Gumball decides to try the more reasonable (but still fairly absurd) approach of bottling up his natural urges. Darwin tells Gumball that this will require him to stop spouting his sarcastic quips.

Ironically enough, Tobias just happens to walk by the two brothers with his new ridiculous hair cut. As expected, Gumball has a catalog of "venom" (his sarcastic quips) that he is ready to spew toward Tobias; however, Gumball remembers his promise to himself, so against his instincts, he forces himself to compliment Tobias' hairstyle.

Later in class, some of Gumball's classmates take a liking to how approachable he has become. Although Gumball is enjoying his newfound popularity, he finds it very difficult to contain his snarky comebacks. Tobias takes notice of Gumball's internal struggle and makes a lame joke about it. Suddenly, the screen resolution and the audio take a drop in quality, and both Darwin and Sarah note this change.

After a short sitcom-styled introductory sequence, Tobias (without his haircut) is seen again on the school playground trying to ask out Masami in a very corny manner; Darwin and Sarah watching the occasion from a distance. As usual, Masami rejects Tobias' attempts to pursue her; shortly after, however, Tobias tries to make another move, this time on Clare, and to his surprise, Clare actually agrees to go out with him. Tobias is excited for his new date, but Masami returns, apologizing for her initial rudeness as well as accepting Tobias' invitation for a date. Throughout the whole charade, Sarah has been taking notes, and she concludes that Gumball stepping down as "the loser" is somehow throwing off the balance of the universe, and the imbalance has allowed Tobias to take the role of "loser" and slowly turn everyone's lives into a cliched sitcom.

A static effect cues, and after this, Tobias is in the hallways and he just happens to run into Alan. Tobias begins to spark conversation with Alan, but the topic of discussion is nothing more than a callback to the events of "The Move." Unsurprisingly, Alan does not recall any of these events because he was not there; Tobias proceeds to tell Alan about how he has night booked for not one, but two girls. Alan is not only appalled by his plans, but he is also confused on how that is even possible. The rainbow lad takes not of this and calls in his "sister" Anais (who is now donning glasses and has a lisp) for help. Horrified, Darwin and Sarah come to the conclusion that all these things are happening because Tobias' dream sitcom is gaining more and more power over the universe; the two quickly realize that they need to get Gumball to accept the role of the "loser" again before things can get any worse.

In the library, Sarah and Darwin find Gumball, who has suffered serious physical damage from resisting his sarcastic urges. The two try to explain to him that he needs to become the loser again, but Gumball declines the offer, using an analogy of a Roman emperor to make his point. Darwin quickly points out the flaws of his analogy, so Gumball has no choice but to be dragged home by Darwin and Sarah.

Once home, Gumball begins to point out some of the illogical consistencies, but before he can do so, Darwin is teleported away from the two children to his family; at the table, Darwin notices the damage that Tobias' "sitcom" has had on his family. Tobias has successfully managed to take Gumball's place and integrate into the family.

Gumball tries to question this, but before he can do so, the house is suddenly covered in Christmas decorations; Sarah explains to him that Tobias is doing a Christmas special and introducing Gworp to the family in an attempt to "boost ratings."

Gumball and Sarah are suddenly transported to the park, and despite seeing all the damage that Tobias has done, Gumball still insists that he stays "popular." Gumball is finally sent over the edge, however, once he sees Tobias trying to make moves on Penny, and he is ready to let Tobias have it. Before Gumball can get Tobias, Sarah points out that the entire event was all a dream.

Tobias is then seen in the hospital trying to wake up; apparently, he suffered from a boating accident by trying to jump over a shark with water skis, but his "friends" (Gumball, Darwin, and Sarah) cared for him. At her peak of annoyance, Sarah throws the guitar that was playing the sentimental music towards the "audience" in an attempt to stop the "laugh track." Shortly after, Gumball lets all his "venom" out; the venom has now manifested into literal venom, and because of this, Tobias' face is burned off. With the sitcom nightmare over, the Watterson brothers and Sarah awkwardly laugh off the events that just occurred, while Tobias squirms in confusion and agony, ending the episode.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Sarah
 * Tobias

Minor Characters

 * Carmen
 * Penny
 * Carrie
 * Alan
 * Leslie
 * Masami
 * Rocky
 * Gworp
 * Anais
 * Clare
 * Sussie
 * Juke
 * Gorilla
 * Mole
 * Frank
 * Richard
 * Nicole
 * Hot Dog Guy
 * Melted Cheese Guy
 * Nurse
 * Miss Simian
 * Banana Joe

Trivia

 * The fourth wall is broken numerous times:
 * The results of the online test do actually reflect Gumball, Sarah and Darwin's roles in the show.
 * Sarah notices continuity mistakes, for instance Tobias' haircut changing between scenes.
 * Sarah and Darwin are able to hear the laugh track and notice the format change.
 * Whenever Tobias looks at the camera and reacts to it.
 * When Gumball notices it is nighttime, but school is not over yet.
 * In the Christmas Special scene, Gumball notices the whole family is in the living room and suddenly switches to the bedroom when the background changes.
 * The Wattersons' house is also seen in the background outside from the house's window.
 * In the hospital, a guitar cue plays after Tobias' pun. Sarah takes the guitar and throws it at the screen, breaking it.
 * This episode was intended to air on October 13, 2016 as evident by promos being shown around that time.

Continuity

 * This is Sarah's fourth major role. The first three being "The Sweaters," "The Fan," and "The Comic."
 * This is Tobias' sixth major role. The first five were "The Third," "The Knights," "The Mothers," "The Points," and "The Slap."
 * Gumball can be seen playing "Butt Puppets" again. The first time was in "The Goons."
 * Tobias is seen with one of the same hairstyles Gumball had in "The Burden."
 * Clips from "The Move" are seen in Tobias' flashbacks.
 * This is the eighteenth time that Gumball's underpants are revealed. But it is the second episode where Gumball takes off his clothes. The first was in "The Oracle."

Cultural References

 * Gumball compares himself to Roman king Mithridates VI, who was known to self-administer non-lethal amounts of poison in order to develop immunity.
 * ElmoreBuzz, the website that Sarah found the personality test on, is a parody of BuzzFeed.
 * Tobias' use of clip gags after he recalls a past event could be a reference to Family Guy's cutaway gags.
 * One of the ironic music cues Darwin and Sarah are humming is reminiscent to that of Seinfeld.
 * At the end when Tobias is in the hospital, a nurse tells him he had a boating accident when trying to jump over a shark with water skis. This is a reference to the famous scene in the show Happy Days where the character "Fonzie" jumps over a shark with water skis. And after that is when the show began to dip in quality.
 * The term jumping the shark means that at a certain point in a show, it began to dip in quality and the writers would do ridiculous things to try to boost ratings.

Goofs/Errors

 * When Gumball grabs Sarah's arm in the hospital scene, the position of his hand is slightly off.