Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director's Cut).note
Original air date: April 1st, 2024
Pim and Allan try to help washed-up video game mascot Gwimbly by getting his parent company to make him a new game. Meanwhile, Charlie is forced to appease James, a violent, sadistic man.
In Memoriam Gag: Sick Little Freak (1988 - 2023)
Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director's Cut) contains examples of...
- Accidental Hero: James kills the Video Game CEO when he barges into the Smiling Friends Headquarters trying to kill Pim, Allan, and Gwimbly. However, he did not care about defending them, he just wanted to kill somebody.
- Art Shift: Gwimbly's Cameo video has a photorealistic rendering of the alley to the left of Smiling Friends' HQ as a background. Gwimbly's shading is also changed in it.
- Asshole Victim: James thought murdering somebody would make him happy. He couldn't have picked a nicer target in the Video Game CEO.
- Ax-Crazy: James is an incredibly violent man who rips off Charlie's nose and then threatens to chop him in pieces if that is what would make him happy. It's only when the Video Game CEO shows up and James plants a knife through his forehead that he manages to smile.
- Breaking Old Trends: This is not only the first episode where both plots have entirely different Clients, but also the first episode where the Once per Episode Client Smile is the conclusion to the B Plot rather than the A Plot.
- Brick Joke: At the start of the episode, Pim describes a disturbing encounter with Mr. Boss cornering him in the office while mumbling and screaming gibberish at him and Charlie points out that Mr. Boss hasn't been seen in a week. At the end of the episode, he returns and the episode ends with him freaking out on his employees the way Pim described.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Charlie is put through the wringer in this episode trying to put a smile on James. He suffers humiliation, unreasonable demands, getting his nose ripped off, and almost getting his head sawed off by James until the Video Game CEO showed up.
- Call-Back:
- The streaming platform Charlie looks through has documentaries such as The Death of Salty's and Destruction of the Forest, with the TV Alien from "Desmond's Big Day Out" having a listing simply but cryptically titled ?.
- One of the screens in Insane Groundbreaking Games' lobby shows that the Mouse Quest franchise is among the studio's intellectual properties.
- One of the fighters in the Platform Fighter is a yellow recolor of the featureless Claymation figures Glep and Allen played in the Street Fighter-esque game from "Enchanted Forest".
- Character Catchphrase: Gwimbly's iconic "Ooh ooh ooh!"
- Character Death: The CEO, who is killed by James (which makes him smile).
- Comically Missing the Point: The Video Game CEO lectures his new mascot Troglor about firing his cannon inside their building because they are sharing office space with other companies. Later, The CEO orders Troglor to kill James only for him to be confused after being told he is not supposed to fire indoors.
- Day in the Limelight: Allan himself gets some spotlight in the A Plot where he helps Pim in getting Gwimbly a new game just so that he would get out of their hair.
- Expy:
- Gwimbly is an homage to the multitude of video game mascots that emerged from the 80s and 90s, such as Crash, Spyro, and Banjo.
- The fighting game Gwimbly and Troglor appear in is an obvious parody of Super Smash Bros..
- Face of a Thug: Troglor may be a muscular brute in intimidating armor. But he is not as bad as he looks, only doing what his master demands of him. It takes little for him to bury the hatchet with Gwimbly and star in a new game together.
- Fictional Counterpart: The game company Insane Groundbreaking Games has a name that might remind some viewers of the real-world game studio Epic MegaGames (the original company name of Epic Games).
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Some of the screens in Insane Groundbreaking Games' lobby display gameplay of a First-Person Shooter that — indicated by the Arm Cannon — is from Troglor's game, whose character is introduced in the next scene with introduction from the CEO.
- Foreshadowing: One of the stream shows listed is UFO Sightings, pictured with the silhouettes of Filmore and Duncan, who will be seen UFO hunting in an upcoming episode.
- French Maid Outfit: Charlie wears this at one point because James asked him to. James then questions why he's dressed like that.
- Funny Background Event: When Mr. Boss starts freaking out at the end, the Player Characters on the tiny overhead TV notice what's going on and promptly hightail it out.
- Gainax Ending: The episode ends with Gwimbly becoming a character in a Smash Bros-like game, where the crew discover that Mr. Boss has had his likeness sold to be used in the game (explaining his week-long absence from the episode). He then promptly freaks out after Pim mentioned that he thought that Mr. Boss went crazy due to a disturbing interaction he had with Pim.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: After leaving his company, Gwimbly went from being an iconic video game mascot to a homeless has-been yearning for the Glory Days.
- Hysterical Woman: Count Groxia has retired and is married to a nervous Cartoon Creature woman who asks her husband to make Gwimbly leave because he's scaring her. When Pim tries to interject, the wife starts screeching in response bringing the visit to an end.
- Ironic Echo: Charlie refuses to aid Gwimbly on the grounds the Smiling Friends cannot force anyone to accept their aid (they need to ask first), pointing at the company plaque (the one that says that the Smiling Friends must do whatever their clients want until they smile) and saying, "Them's the rules, man." Shortly afterwards, James forces Charlie to do whatever he wants to get him to smile by pointing at the same plaque and saying, "Them's the rules, right?" Charlie is none too happy of having his own words turned against him.
- Jerkass Ball: Allan is surlier than usual in this episode. He shows zero sympathy to Gwimbly's plight, not even after he finds out his best friend has died, just trying to pawn him off anywhere besides in front of the Smiling Friends building. He also attacks a receptionist for "startling" him.
- Kick the Dog: Allan kicks a secretary in the face, claiming she startled him.
- Libation for the Dead: After unsuccessfully trying to recruit Count Groxia for Gwimbly's comeback project, Pim asks Gwimbly if he has any other old colleagues they could persuade to come back. Gwimbly says they could try looking up his old sidekick and good friend Mr. Millipede. Smash Cut to Pim, Alan, and Gwimbly standing in a graveyard in front of Mr. Millipede's tombstone. Gwimbly laments that Mr. Millipede was like a brother to him, and proceeds to pour out a beer on his grave.
- Long Song, Short Scene: An entire theme was composed by Brendan Caulfield
for the seconds long scene where gameplay of Gwimbly fighting Count Groxia can be seen, directly inspired by Grant Kirkhope's work in the Nintendo 64 era. Justified by the fact that the song plays ambiently in the background during the scene in the IGBG Lobby, even if it's not very audible outside of the portion focusing on Gwimbly's gameplay. - Loophole Abuse: Charlie gets out of assisting Pim in helping Gwimbly because according to the Smiling Friends' plaque, they are only allowed to help people who asked. This gets turned on him when James takes advantage of the plaque to make Charlie do whatever he wants until he smiles.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Instead of threatening legal action if they attempt to make an independent Gwimbly game, the CEO just has Troglor try to kill Pim, Allan, and Gwimbly instead.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Subverted. Gwimbly, Pim, and Allan try to reunite Gwimbly's former co-stars for a new game, but his nemesis has retired and his sidekick has died.
- Rage Breaking Point: When the CEO openly mocks his attempt at a solo career, Gwimbly all but openly threatens his life:CEO: (overly sarcastic; while eating chicken nuggets) Ah, Gwimbly! Nice to see you after all these years! I see your ''solo career" is going successfully, hm!
Gwimbly: (pissed) Oh I swear to God, (rushes to the desk) if I had my Gwimbly GUN ON ME RIGHT NOW I'D- - Red Eyes, Take Warning: James has red eyes, and is an absolute jerk.
- Retraux: Gwimbly and his former costars are rendered like they're in a PlayStation game, with pixelated textures, warbled polygons, and compressed voices.
- Running Gag: Allan constantly trying to dump Gwimbly at wherever they brought him such as his Video Game company, his old nemesis' house, or even his best friend's grave.
- Short Title: Long, Elaborate Subtitle: The episode's name is comprised of "Gwimbly" followed by several generic terms for Updated Re-release titles, most of which became more common in The Eighth Generation of Console Video Games.
- Shout-Out:
- Charlie struggling in servitude to James while wearing a French Maid Outfit is ostensibly an homage to Spongebob in the Spongebob Squarepants episode "Can You Spare a Dime?".
- The video game Gwimbly ultimately makes a comeback on is a mock Super Smash Bros. game.
- The choice of a Smash parody specifically could also be a reference to Banjo-Kazooie, the iconic platformer mascot duo who appeared in Smash Ultimate after years of inactivity.Pim: I guess Gwimbly just needed to let go of the past and join a bunch of other cool characters in a fighting game!
- The choice of a Smash parody specifically could also be a reference to Banjo-Kazooie, the iconic platformer mascot duo who appeared in Smash Ultimate after years of inactivity.
- Skewed Priorities: Allan does not seem to care about helping Gwimbly get a new game, he just wants him to sleep somewhere else instead of in front of their building.
- Space Marine: Troglor is a parody of this archetype of videogame protagonists, being a massive brute with armor that looks like a combination of the Praetor and Varia suits.
- Stylistic Suck: The Smiling Friends' plaque has the rule that employees must follow crudely carved into it.
- The Stinger: James sits alone in his filthy, lonely apartment, sobbing that he pushed away another guy who actually cared about him, caressing a photo of Charlie.
- Take That!:
- The CEO of Insane Groundbreaking Games is an obvious jab to many of the video game industry's negative practices, from neglecting iconic IPs and striking down fan creations to forcing DLC and microtransactions.
- Gwimbly taking requests from Cameo is a jab at washed-up celebrities who have an account on the site.
- Trauma Button: Given how he immediately kicked a small Secretary in the face because she "startled" him, it seems Allan's nasty encounter with the Blibblies gave him a fear of tiny people.
- Villainous Glutton: The head of the video game company is a Fat Bastard who obsessively eats chicken nuggets and obsessively dipping them in sauces, even his own blood.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Gwimbly throws up polygonal vomit after Pim and Allan convince him to let them help him.Pim: Oh my gosh.
Gwimbly: Don't— don't look— don't look at that, don't look at that... - Wham Line: The Stinger reveals that the guy tormenting Charlie throughout the episode was James from Idaho, who Gwimbly recorded a Cameo for earlier."You did it again, James. You pushed away the one guy who actually gave a damn about you."
