Created by Ben Bocquelet, the series is the first commission from Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe. Combining a mixture of several animation techniques with live-action backgrounds, the series follows the misadventures of a twelve year old cat named Gumball, who lives in the quaint little town of Elmore - where nearly everything has the power to come to life! Joining him is his best friend Darwin, the one-time pet fish who grew legs and joined the family. The two of them go to Elmore Junior High where all sorts of strange characters roam the halls.The series received a twenty-episode second season before the eighteen-episode first season even premiered, bringing its total to 19 hours worth of episodes. It premiered May 2nd in the United Kingdom and got a "sneak peek" (i.e., the first of two episodes) in the US on May 3. The official US premiere was May 9.You can check out the show's Recap page here.It also has its own wiki.
Adults Are Useless: Some episodes have it stronger than others. Nicole is pretty much the only consistently competent adult in the show, though she does have her wild moments.
Aerith and Bob: Most of the cast have normal given names, albeit Anais and Masami are French and Japanese ones respectively, except Darwin (which is normally a family name), Ocho, Juke, and Gumball.
Air Vent Passageway: Parodied in "The Prank" when Gumball tries to pull this trope off, but neglects to take the cover off, leaving an air vent-shaped imprint on his face.
Animate Inanimate Object: Anything in Elmore can come to life. Lampshaded in "The Spoon" when the giant, living fingerprint who's robbing a convenience store is able to hide from the police by dropping onto the floor and pretending he's just a regular giant fingerprint.
Animesque: The Wattersons' facial expressions seem to invoke this.
Art Evolution: The authors confirmed that the character design of the 2D characters will be streamlined in the 2nd season, an early look is visible on Elmore Stream.
Badass Boast: "If you throw that doll out the window then you'll unleash the full fury of my terrifying anger. Moutains will shake! Cities will crumble! The skies will be ripped apart and the meteor of my wrath will grind you to dust!" Didn't work.
Badass Family: In "The Club", the family uses their own odd traits to impressively take out some nerds. Nicole used her anger to take out a locked door, Richard managed to stall another nerd in a board game, Anais used static electricity to short circuit a robot and hacked a computer to intercept Gumball's embarrassing video, and Darwin's dance skills distracted the other nerd into dancing with him.
Badass Mustache: Richard instantly grows one in "The Refund" after offering help to Gumball and Darwin to get a refund. After the store alarm goes on, he instantly loses it.
Bad Bad Acting: Seen when Darwin and Gumball produce their own version of "Alligators on a Train" to try and fool the DVD store owner. It doesn't work, because not only are they bad actors, the "movie" only lasts about 5 seconds, they're filming it with one camera while fighting cardboard alligators, and only put their own names in the credits.
Darwin: I TOLD you we should have put some other people's names in there!
Be Yourself: The moral of "The Gi". Nicole becomes concerned when Gumball and Darwin want to wear their karate outfits to school, oblivious to the teasing of their peers, but she decides to let them do it after Penny sticks up for Gumball and praises him for being himself.
Bigger on the Inside: In "The Spoon" the gas station has the interior of a supermarket.
Darwin after Gumballoopseggwobbleunderpant from Gumballnowigbattle-axeninja's head pops.
When her doll is thrown off the bus, Anais gives a big no and several smaller 'no's.
Richard (again) in "The Painting", after being told to get a job. Doesn't even finish before the scene transition. You think he's going to stop after awhile because his voice starts to trail off, but then he just goes back into it.
Bland Name Product: Averted by the photographic backgrounds in "The Spoon". Though the logos on the brand name products are obscured, British viewers should recognise some of the brands.
Bond One-Liner: Richard gives three at the end of "The Ape", each time followed by a short laugh by the family and Nicole admonishing him because Ms. Simian could be seriously hurt.
Bros Before Hoes: "Pals Before Gals" is used in the episode "The Pressure."
Brutal Honesty: When Mr. Small convinces Gumball and Darwin "honesty is the best policy," they immediately start insulting or otherwise upsetting everyone they run into with brutally honest truths, including Tina Rex, their teacher, and their principal.
Calvinball: "Dodge or Dare", a board game that Gumball and Darwin created, which involves taking a card and doing whatever is says on it. The trope applies in that, while the concept is (very loosely) structured with a set of "rules", the "rules" themselves are only there to ensure that sheer chaos results from playing it.
In "The Car", Gumball is told to build a Rube Goldberg Device in order to launch a projectile into the air using anything found in the trash. The projectile in question is a bowling ball, and when it finally fires off, it malfunctions and launches right at Gumball's face. Right before it hits him, Darwin pauses the moment like a VCR to point out that the card says that Gumball can't use his hands to block, leading to him getting his face smashed in.
City of Weirdos: Elmore is basically a city where some completely useless thing like a paper hat, is alive and can have children with Mount Rushmore and everything will be okay. It's just Tuesday for Elmore.
Conspicuous CG: The CG itself isn't any more out of place than anything else, but occasionally it will be out of sync with the 2D objects or characters. For instance, in "The Poltergeist" Mrs. Robinson put something in the mailbox and while her hands moved and a sound was made the mailbox stayed closed.
Deranged Animation: Anything in Elmore can come to life and conventional wisdom has been thrown out the window.
Despair Event Horizon: Thoroughly crossed after Anais spends all weekend trying to get her grandmother's luggage up the stairs. When she finally shouts that she did it, Granny Jojo tells her to bring it back down since the bus is about to arrive soon. The look on her face shows that she has than
Digital Piracy Is Evil: Invoked in "The DVD", with Darwin giving the whole "You wouldn't steal a car/purse/cell phone" speech.
Dissonant Serenity: A momentary example combined with Stepford Smiler, being Played for Laughs when Gumball and Darwin are lost in a forest. Gumball suggests they watch the stars to find their way, pointing out that the sun is a star. They both stare at the sun for a moment, before turning around to reveal their eyes are on fire.
Darwin:*Still smiling* "There are no words to express the amount of pain I feel right now."
Gumball: "Sure there are." *Both start screaming in pain.*
Diving Save: Double Subverted in "The Debt": we get a Slow No of Gumball trying to push Mr. Robinson out of the way of a falling stage light but Gumball's jump falls short and the light is stopped just above Mr. Robinson by its own power chord, but after he refuses to get out of the way Gumball successfully pushes him out from under the light which does fall.
At the beginning of "The Third", Gumball and Darwin's discussion about having a 'third best friend' is strongly suggestive of the stereotypical conversation between partners about trying polyamory... a conversation at the end sounds like a couple's rejecting it.
Don't Go In The Woods: In "The Picnic", Ms. Simian warns the students not to go into the Forest of Doom. Which is exactly what Gumball and Darwin do.
Epic Fail: After twice demonstrating his inability to catch objects, Gumball fails to not catch one he's getting chased for carrying.
Everyone Went To School Together: In every flashback, even the year book, all the adults in Elmore no matter what age all seemed to have attended Middle School around the same time.
In "The Wand", Mr. Robinson is at Elmore Jr. High despite begin way older than Richard.
Even weirder is the old man that's purple and has antlers also was in the same year as Richard.
In "The Gi" Nicole went to the same school, revealing Mr. Small, Mr. Fitzgerald, and others went to the same school.
Explosive Instrumentation: When Gumball goes down a hill too fast he catches on fire, and the radar gun a police officer uses on him also catches on fire.
Foot Focus: In "The Laziest", when Gumball gets "pins and needles", there's a shot of his feet with his toes wiggling.
Also, Anais and Darwin "Toe-Wrestling" with Richard in "The Goons", which is so far the only time we've seen Darwin and Anais without shoes.
For Doom the Bell Tolls: Invoked in "The Helmet". After Nicole, Richard, and Gumball first start arguing over the hat, Anais smells trouble brewing and bangs a pot like a gong saying it was "the sound of doom for the Wattersons".
Forgot About His Powers: In "The Pressure", Masami keeps chasing after Darwin, who decides to hide from her in the swimming pool... by holding his breath.
Gang Of Bullies: Anton and Jamie are members of Tina's gang, whether they want to be or not.
Gender Equals Breed: Inverted. Gumball's parents are a female cat and a male rabbit. He's a male cat, and his sister is a female rabbit.
The store manager has cheated the Waterson's out of a lot of money again, and they're ready to try to get that money back.
, "The Robot"*
Bobert failed to steal Gumball's identity, so he's just going to try and take Darwin's.
, and "The Picnic"*
Gumball and Darwin reach the picnic sight and get something (trash) to eat, but then get left behind by the rest of the class again and still don't know which way to follow.
Heroic BSOD: Gumball has one when Grandma Jojo kisses him on the lips by accident.
Not nearly as bad as Gumball's example, but in the same episode, Anais spends the whole episode (the entire weekend) trying to push Granny Jojo's heavy luggage up the stairs to her room. When she finally makes it, she proudly announces it to Granny Jojo, who tells her "That's nice dear, now bring it back down stairs. The bus will be here soon." The screen turns red and the camera slowly pans in on Anais' shocked face. You could just feel the despair in her eyes bleeding out.
Hypocritical Humor: In "The Responsible", Gumball and Darwin violently smash the TV (and somehow manage to set it on fire) so that Anais won't be subject to the violence on TV.
In "The DVD", Darwin keeps telling Gumball he should "tell the truth and face the consequences of [their] actions" when they accidentally break the DVD, but Gumball keeps saying no. However, later in the episode, Gumball tells Darwin the same thing, and Darwin punches him in the arm.
I Meant to Do That: At the end of "The Microwave" Gumball is knocked into the valve for the hose Kenneth swallowed, and when this saves everyone he pretends it was his idea.
I Owe You My Life: "The Debt", where Mr. Robinson "saves" Gumball (stops his slow-moving car when Gumball was too busy panicking to get out of its path) and Gumball decides he has to save Mr. Robinson in return, nearly killing him several times. Given Gumball had just shown to be a rather dedicated fan of Mr. Robinson, the whole thing may have just been an excuse to follow him around.
In "The Picnic" Gumball reasons that, because everything (including food) is made up "circles with circles around them" (atoms), a rock is the same as a chicken nugget.
In "The Meddler" Gumball reasons that by joining the cheerleading squad, he'll impress Penny with his masculinity and out preform her in the competition to make her love him.
The doughnut officer looks at something disturbing or a suspected crime scene, then at something else that looks dangerous, then at the only person conscious and treats them with unreasonable hostility. Despite having no knowledge of anything or no evidence.
In "The Spoon" he looks at a knocked out Darwin and Gumball, then Nicole, then a sausage and assumes she hurt them.
In "The Sock" he looks at Gumball and Darwin, then the filing cabinet, then a phone, and assumes they're responsible.
Interspecies Romance: Mr. and Mrs. Watterson, but considering in the same universe a cactus and a balloon can fall in love with each other, this isn't too unusual.
It Came from the Fridge: The monster from "The Microwave" originated when a bunch of gross stuff Gumball put in a jar was put in the microwave.
It's All My Fault: Subverted in "The Responsible". Gumball decides to take the rap for flooding the house, but when he sees the fire in his mom's eyes, he shifts the blame to Darwin. After they quarrel, Richard eventually decides to blame it on the Internet, to which everyone agrees.
Anais admits to filling in Darwin's aptitude test in "The Genius".
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Played with in "The Prank". Gumball and Darwin almost get their father killed in the severity of their pranks, who in turn almost kills them.
Lampshade Wearing: In "The Party", we see a couple of characters dancing to the music wearing lampshades.
Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded, as Gumball is especially distressed to find out his sweater came from a sewage pit because "I wear this all the time."
Line-of-Sight Name: Gumball tries this in "The Dress". What are the first things he sees? Someone chewing gum, and a ball. Which he quickly amends with "oops—egg—wobble—underpants." And then when he's asked where he's from, he sees gum and a bald head... and then "no, wig, battle-axe ninja!" His classmates ended up interpreting the whole thing as "Gumballoupseggwobbleunderpant from Gumballnowigbattle-axeninja".
Loads and Loads of Characters: The character page on the official site already lists 30 different named characters. And that's not even the entire cast — there are also a sauropod named Molly and a chin puppet named Sussie, the latter of whom even appears in the intro.
Major Injury Underreaction: At the end of "The Prank", Richard rather nonchalantly mentions that he broke five ribs pretending to go on a rampage.
Meaningful Name: Darwin, who started off as an ordinary fish but gained arms and legs. In other words, he evolved.
In "The Mystery", when seeking out whom to accuse of stuffing the principal in his locker, a spotlight shines on whoever is being accused. When he tries to accuse Rocky, the spotlight doesn't come on at first. Gumball then looks offscreen and says "I said him!"
Mr. Seahorse: While disguised in the dress in "The Dress", Gumball has an imagine spot about Darwin marrying him (because Darwin doesn't realize he's just Gumball in a dress). In the Imagine Spot, Gumball is surrounded by cat/fish babies as Darwin comes home and yells "I WANT MORE KIDS!"
Noble Shoplifter: Convinced that the impending solar eclipse will cause the end of the world, Gumball, Darwin, and Richard raid the local grocery store for supplies...with every intention of paying, of course, but the lines are obscene and the self-checkout refuses to behave. In the end, they charge out the door with a cart full of groceries and throw a fistful of money in the pursuing security guard's face.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Nicole does this to Tina's father at the end of "The Fight". She completely demolished his house in the process.
Noodle Incident: In "The Responsible" Gumball and Darwin are mentioned to have somehow set fire to a swimming pool.
Noodle Implements: In "The Party" Darwin ends his Overly-Long Name with "III", suggesting he wasn't the Watterson family's first goldfish.
Nonstandard Character Design: While most characters are drawn with a flat, stylized look, there are also quite a few that run the gamut from paper cutouts to photo-realistic dinosaurs.
Not A Date: Inverted in "The Date". Penny invites Gumball to her house and he thinks it's a date because he was too lovestruck to hear everything she said; it really wasn't one, it was a funeral for her pet tarantula.
Not Now, Kiddo: Anais spends most of "The Painting" trying to tell everyone that she doesn't think there's anything wrong with her family but Principal Brown and her mother won't let her talk.
Not Wearing Pants Dream: Referenced in "The Responsible". Richard had to go to the parent-teacher conference without pants (because he can't find a pair that fits) and says he feels like he's in "one of those dreams. The ones where you go to school naked."
Also in the same episode when Anais' toy goes off next to a sleeping Tina
Organ Autonomy: Gumball's brain leaves his head when he tries reading a book in "The Genius."
Orphaned Punchline: At the beginning of "The Date" Richard finishes telling the family a story referencing the urban legend of mixing Pop Rocks and soda. His appearance at that point suggests he attempted it and the mixture blew up in his face.
Overly-Long Gag: In "The Picnic", Gumball and Darwin spare a caterpillar only for it to be by a grabbed by a hawk-like monster... which are both eaten by a large monster... which is eaten by a larger monster... which is eaten by an even bigger monster than that.
Pac-Man Fever: Video games seen at various points all have very 8/16-bit looking graphics. This trope is possibly lampshaded by how "The Refund" has Gumball trying to put what looks like an SNES cartridge into the disc drive of a console that looks like an Xbox 360 before realizing there's something wrong.
Panty Shot: Anais shows her underwear briefly to her brothers to emphasize she wasn't wearing any diapers in "The Responsible."
Parental Bonus: An entire episode is dedicated to Darwin and Gumball finding a third best friend. The conversation is funny to children, but absolutely side splitting to adults.
Gumball: It's only awkward if you MAKE it awkward.
Passing Notes In Class: In "The Party", the kids at school are about to attend Rachel's party, but they all have to bring a date. Gumball gets a mysterious note flown to him while in the cafeteria, saying "Will you be the jelly in my peanut butter sandwich?". It eventually turns out to be from Penny, who is literally a peanut.
Subverted in "The Mustache", when Gumball and Darwin are passing a drawing of themselves as adults and Miss Simian catches them, but decides since she's talking about puberty they're actually on-topic and continues her lecture.
Planet Eris: The town of Elmore, where anything can (and will) come to life or spontaneously evolve from pet to family member. Not to mention the wackiness that happens from day to day.
Quarter Hour Short/Two Shorts: A somewhat odd case, as while several of the first episodes were aired as Two Shorts, both new, it's since changed to a new Quarter Hour Short and a rerun played subsequently with one opening and ending between them, then close to the end of the the first season they switched the new and old episode around. Or two different quarter-hours rerun. Which now confuses the heck out of most DVRs since it thinks that it's a new episode every time just because those two episodes haven't been paired before.
Quote Mine: Seen in one of the show's trailers, where Gumball stitches together quotes from several of his friends and family members:
Ms. Simian: GUMBALL!! Carrie: ...is the most... Anais: Amazing! Darwin: DUDE! Nicole: I don't have time... Richard: ...to say all the good things... Mr. Small: ...abooooout... Banana Joe: ...this! Anais: Amazing! Darwin: DUDE!
Rags to Riches: In "The DVD", a hobo becomes a millionaire after using Gumball and Darwin's money to buy a scratch-off card.
Retro Universe: Most of the appliances have a very 70's/80's aesthetic but they're still DVD-players, a Youtube equivalent, and in "The Refund," Darwin says this:
Darwin: Why is it called [the Ripley] 2000 anyway? It's not like it's the future anymore!
Roger Rabbit Effect: The majority of the show's scenery starts as live-action photograph, but with filters and some objects drawn to make them clash with the characters less.
Saw Star Wars 27 Times: According to "The DVD", Gumball has seen Alligators on a Train 72 times.
Gumball: Relax, sis, it's only a toy! Anais:(demonic voice)NO. IT'S. NOT.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: In "The Pressure", Masami decides that Darwin is her boyfriend to impress her own friends. Darwin's attitude throughout the episode is pretty much this, even down to saying the trope name word for word.
Short Run In Peru: Several episodes have aired first in Brazil (Portuguese dub), France, Central and South America (still in English), and Australia.
Darwin quotes the famous Digital Piracy Is Evil line, "You wouldn't steal a car, you wouldn't steal a purse, digital piracy is stealing!"
The first-person montage when Carrie possesses Gumball is reminiscent to the music video of "Smack My Bitch Up".
Also in "The Ghost", when Gumball is possessed by Carrie, he crawls along the ceiling and then rotates his head 180 degrees, just like the baby in the detox-hallucination scene in Trainspotting
In "The Quest," the scene when Gumball accidentally wakes up Tina Rex when he finally retrieves Anais's doll Daisy bears a slight resemblance to the scene from the first The Land Before Time movie when Sharptooth wakes up as Cera charges, scaring her away.
In "The Refund," the game Gumball is trying to refund looks similar to a Super Famicom cartridge.
Anais ends up smacking into the ground with Darwin and Gumball in "The Responsible" and run over by an old man's cart in "The Goons".
Slow No: Gumball in "The Debt" when he finds Mr. Robinson is about to get crushed.
Soft Water: Inverted: When Gumball jumps off a diving board into the school swimming pool, he belly-flops so hard against the surface of the water that it takes a couple seconds before the surface gives way and he finally sinks.
Stealth Pun: The solar eclipse in "The End". As the moon passes by the sun, he says, "You just got mooned!"
Sun: What is wrong with that guy?
Penny is a female peanut with antlers. You know, a doe-nut.
Sudden Anatomy: A particularly over-the-top example in "The Robot" has Gumball's regular cat-like ear being replaced by a gigantic human-like ear when trying to listen to something across the room.
Suspiciously Similar Song: In "The Refund", Gumball and Darwin sing a song that sounds a lot like "We Are The World".
"The Ghost": Everytime Carrie possesses Gumball she forces him to overeat, and he wakes up the next morning with a Balloon Belly. He is back to normal by the time he's at school.
"The Laziest": When Lawrence turns back into Lazy Larry, he suddenly balloons to become as big as his couch.
"The Mustache:" Gumball, Darwin and Anais become hairy and muscular after eating a muscle-building supplement bought by Richard instead of their morning cereal.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Generally inverted. Lots of male characters have feminine features (particularly Darwin, who also has a very feminine voice), while lots of female characters don't have any (Nicole is a full-grown woman and has a completely flat chest).
Timmy in a Well: When Mr. Small is stuck in his file cabinet, Gumball and Darwin have to get help even though he told them not to speak anymore. They try to non-verbally get help from Principal Brown, who thinks they're saying Ms. Simian is trapped in a well, and jumps out a window to try and rescue her. When they try again with Ms. Simian she ALSO thinks they mean she's trapped in a well and likewise jumps out a window to save herself. When they try to tell Rocky he understands exactly what they mean, gives them some crowbars to help, and then jumps out the window anyway.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Carmen and Alan; she's easily twice his size. To a lesser degree, Gumball and Penny, who's about one and a half times as tall as him.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In "The Mystery" Miss Simian makes the transition from simple Sadist Teacher to Tyrant Takes The Helm when she destroys evidence that implicates her and tries to have Gumball unjustly expelled. Another episode reveals that she was a complete Jerkass to Nicole for no reason and she pretends to be friends to Gumball and Darwin just to get an award.
Training Montage: Gumball gives one to his brain, complete with upbeat training music.
Translation: Yes: Gumball, when inquiring about Darwin's job skills, asks if Darwin can speak Chinese. He responds in a long Chinese sentence which is subtitled "No."
Two-Teacher School: Elmore Junior High only has a principal, one teacher, one guidance councilor, and one guy who does everything else.
Turn Out Like His Father: The entire thought process with Nicole in the "The Gi" was the possibilities of Gumball and Darwin turning out like Richard. Presumably fat and lazy, without a job and being laughed at by children.
Unnamed Parent: Oddly, Gumball's parents aren't this in the actual show (they're referred to as Nicole and Richard), but both the credits and website only call them Mom/Mum and Dad.
Visual Pun: "Everybody's bending over backwards for me!" Cue Mr. Small walking by, literally bent over backwards.
Vocal Tag Team: Gumball and Darwin do this when singing about growing up and impersonating a rap video.
Voice Of Dramatic: Parodied in one of the show's commercials, where Darwin adopts a deep, dramatic voice to narrate the commercial in the style of a movie trailer.
What Do You Mean, It\'s Not Heinous?: The robber in "The Spoon" holding up the convenience store with… you guessed it… a spoon. Until the end of the cartoon, everyone reacts as though it's a deadly weapon.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Most of the jobs around Elmore done by one of four people: Larry (cashier or clerk), Rocky (stuff at school), a blue thing named Pantsbully (construction), or a elderly, pink muffin lady (interviews for jobs and product testing).
Wingding Eyes: Lampshaded. When Darwin asks Gumball why his eyes just turned into hearts, he says it's allergies.
Wrong Genre Savvy: In "The Quest", Gumball and Darwin are being chased by an enraged Tina who then plan to stay perfectly still so she doesn't see them. "That only works in movies"
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