It's time to roll the die.
AHHHHHHH IT'S WOTFI 2023! And we did something VERY different this year. SMG4 & SMG3 have to infiltrate Marty’s casino but Mario is his bodyguard and has riddled the casino with traps! We got the fans to vote and help plan out what to do… and the choices they make affect the WOTFI and ending! LETS SEE HOW IT ALL PLAYS OUT!
Two weeks back, Mario swiped SMG3's notebook on Marty's orders, and it is now locked away at Casino Paisano, where the Italian duo are trying to unlock it. Now SMG3 and SMG4 have to get it back, for it contains some embarrassing secrets about them SMG3 doesn't want getting out (including a certain igloo incident). With a variety of gadgets, stylish outfits, and most importantly, our help, the meme guardian duo are all set to retrieve what's rightfully SMG3's.
But rigged casino games, their friends acting as guards for Marty's casino, merch at gunpoint, and especially the buffoonish yet dangerously persistent Mario stand in their way, all determined to kill the "spies" among them.
Can SMG4 and SMG3 defeat Mario and Marty and retrieve the notebook? And why do they want to see what's inside so badly?
- Ass Shove: Once again, SMG3's obsession with dynamite comes into play during the climax as he shoves a stick of it into the back of Mario and Marty's Humongous Mecha in a spot the arms cannot reach.
- Audience Participation: The week before the episode released, a livestream was put up where viewers could choose how SMG4 and SMG3 would get through the casino, each point having a good or bad choice. If the viewers chose too many bad choices, then Mario and Marty would get away with SMG3's Sussy Notebook, but if they made good choices, then the meme guardians would get the notebook back successfully. In the end, the audience's choices handed victory to the SMGs thanks to the last mission option putting them back in the green.
- Big Bad: Subverted with Marty, who ordered Mario to steal SMG3's Sussy Notebook to learn SMG3's Ultimate Pizza Recipe (which, as far as the viewers know, doesn't actually exist), and owns the very casino 3 and 4 try to sneak into. In the end, he's revealed to be an Unwitting Pawn to the Mr. Puzzles.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- For the first time since 2019, a WOTFI is not used to cap off an ongoing arc, though it is used to reveal that there's more to come in the overarching storyline surrounding Puzzlevision.
- While some previous WOTFIs had challenges suggested by the viewers in the form of fans' social media comments, 2023 marks the first time that the challenges faced by the characters are predetermined, and fans have to vote on the course of action they take via livestream.
- Butt-Monkey: Luigi, as always. Mario, guarding the entrance, asks what his brother is doing in the casino. Luigi replies that Mario had invited him. Mario reluctantly waves him through, but Luigi coughs a few seconds later and is immediately gunned down by security.
- Call-Back:
- The events of the 2016 episode "SnowTrapped" are brought into play twice: first when SMG3 confirms what he and SMG4 did in the igloo together to be one of the secrets written in his notebook; and again when Shroomy quizzes them on what specifically happened during that moment.
- To save SMG4 from a bungled hack attempt, SMG3 disguises himself as The Watermelon Man from the eponymous episode to scare Mario.
- Because their Spy Rizz finishes in the green by the end, the meme guardians combine their watches to produce the "Rizz Forklift" to catch up with Mario and Marty and deal the decisive blow. In the previous episode, SMG4 revealed he was forklift certified and was doing some work around the Showgrounds with it.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- When SMG4 attempts to hack the security cameras in mission 2, he accidentally uploads a video of his real life self dancing which gets the attention of everyone in the casino and almost blows their cover at the beginning if it wasn't for the quick thinking of SMG3.
- When the SMG's are attempting to enter the elevator to Marty's office guarded by Chris and Swag in Mission 4, they decided to play a game of cards with Steve to gain access, only to lose immediately with SMG4 accidentally blurting out that he had a card for them to cheat which causes them to be caught.
- After being captured by Swag and Chris, the meme guradians used tear gas to escape in Mission 5... inside an elevator with little ventilation. Though to be fair, the fans were the ones to pick the option, and they didn't know it was going to take place in an elevator, nor did they know that the guards have an immunity to the gas.
- After the elevator the group is in starts falling to the ground in Mission 6, SMG4 tries to perform the Backwards Long Jump glitch that Mario usually does to escape with Swag joining him shortly after. Unfortunately, it does nothing except make them look stupid with SMG3 and Chris looking at them with confusion before the elevator crashes to the ground.
- While Mission 7 was supposed to be about the SMGs torturing Mario and interrogating him for information about the notebook by using Cringe Memes, the actual episode has the roles reversed due to the last three mission options puting their spy rizz down in the red with Mario and Marty hijacking the mission. They end up torturing and interrogating the SMGs instead so they can get the notebook key location out of SMG3. Because of the option chosen, SMG3 is unable to keep quiet, and would've told them if it wasn't for SMG4 escaping his bonds by exposing himself to a Cringe Meme.
- When the SMGs finally reach Marty's office after taking Mario out and getting the keys to the office, SMG3's idea of trying to get past the security without tampering with the safe in Mission 13 is using Mario to take the damage from the security system. Once it happens however, the safe becomes triple locked and makes it harder for them to hack into it. The only good part is that Mario continues to take the damage and pain from the security system until the next mission.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Mario mentions that he was once popular in Club Penguin, but people then deserted him for "penguins with cooler clothes". He then reveals in the rap battle that one of the reasons for stealing SMG3's notebook is so that he can log into his account and steal his character skin. SMG3 can't believe his ears and tears into Mario for it.SMG3: Are you serious!? All this just for a hat!?
- Down to the Last Play: Due to a long string of incorrect choices resulting in the meme guardians' Spy Rizz ending up fully in the red at one point, it ends up back at the starting point by the time of the 14th mission. This means that the ending's outcome all hinges on the fans having made the correct choice for the 15th mission. Thankfully, they chose wisely.
- Everyone Has Standards: SMG4 makes it clear from the get-go that he trusts his fandom with providing them the right options to get the notebook, but when the winning option for Mission 14 is revealed to essentially a Heavy Weapons Guy doll, he's just as bewildered as his partner. Then again, the audience at the time had no idea it was a doll due to it only being labeled on the stream as a "Heavy Weapon" while the other option was just giving SMG3 a meatball. Funnily enough, the Heavy Weapons Guy doll was actually the right choice.
- Failure Is the Only Option: In order to have succeeded in Mission 9, SMGs 3 & 4 needed $12,000,000 to waste on the Marty-mobile. Despite fans spamming !BUY during the livestream for four hours straight, the final amount was $218,850. Turns out, the rate necessary to have reached the magic number, 832.18 votes per second, would have crashed the stream. Because of that, it's heavily implied that Mission 9 was literally (albeit accidentally) designed to be a failure for them.
- Faux Horrific: SMG3 is horrified when Mario tells him the reason Marty wanted the notebook: to learn his secret pizza sauce recipe. SMG3 declares this to be a felony.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Underneath the newspaper headline showing Mario and Marty getting their comeuppance, the article text is actually a synopsis for The Amazing Digital Circus.
- The Heavy: Marty doesn't need to move a muscle to fight the heroes, since he's... well, cardboard. Mario does most of the grunt work in his stead, and nearly succeeds in defeating the meme guardians multiple times, only truly losing at the end.
- Heist Episode: Rather than the traditional random user-submitted challenges, this episode is themed around a casino heist where SMG4 and SMG3 have to recover the latter's stolen notebook from Mario and Marty, with a two-day interactive livestream
held before the event where viewers voted on the outcome of each mission. - Hoist by His Own Petard: The fans picked the option that had the meme guardians use cringe memes to interrogate Mario for information. But due to the previous three missions resulting in the bad option, Mario hijacks the mission, turning it around on the meme guardians by showing SMG3 cringe memes to torture him into giving up his key to his notebook.
- The Immune: Swag and Chris are immune to tear gas thanks to World War II.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Mario and Marty end the episode locked away in jail for their actions, where Shroomy begins bugging them with his gameshow.
- Lighter and Softer: Mario and Marty's fate at the (chosen) end of the episode is rather tame compared to the consequences of Mr. Puzzles’ previous actions, which resulted in Peach's (original) castle being permanently lost in a demonic maw (along with Peach getting trapped as well and undergoing a Face–Monster Turn) and One-Shot Wren overexerting his simulation's powers, causing the building he was in to collapse and kill him.
- Musical Nod: The obligatory rap battle contains a couple very subtle nods to the "Magical Keyboard Jingle", hinting Mr. Puzzles' involvement in all this.
- Near-Villain Victory: 8 out of 15 choices were correct. Just as the meme guardians are about to escape, Mario catches up to them with a BLJ and snatches the notebook, landing in an escape vehicle with Marty and driving away. If the meme guardians' Spy Rizz had not been in the green at the end thanks to the audience picking the correct choice for the 15th (and final) mission, this WOTFI would have had Mario and Marty escape with the notebook, ending in defeat for the meme guardians.
- Oh, Crap!: The meme guardians respond to seeing the Humongous Mecha Mario is piloting in the vault with a simultaneous "SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP!!!!".
- Once More, with Clarity: The actions of Mario & Marty over the previous weeks seemed very out-of-character, even for ones as eratic as them. At the end of this episode, we are given the full context of why they were so obsessed with SMG3's Sussy Notebook.note
- Pineapple Ruins Pizza: During the rap battle, SMG4 distracts Mario with a pizza he found in the trash, with the latter reacting in disgust when it turns out that there's pineapple on it.
- Retcon:
- In the opening, SMG4 (initially) acts indifferent to SMG3's plight to help him get his notebook back, when he called out Mario for stealing in the the last episode. Not only that, but 3 has to reiterate to 4 that Mario stole it when 4 was a witness.
- In the trailer, SMG3 says Mario taking his notebook to Casino Paisano was "word on the street", whereas here, SMG4 gets the knowledge from his intel.
- The Reveal: While his existence was hinted at multiple times over the course of 2023, this episode finally shows Mr. Puzzles—then called the Mysterious TV Guy—in the flesh, along with his voice.
- Revisiting the Roots: While the setup is new, this War of the Fat Italians goes back to the root idea of it being a clash between Mario and SMG4, with SMG3 and Marty also themselves being "Fat Italians". This leaves the rest of the cast in supporting roles or not appearing at all.
- Shout-Out:
- Mario watches the security cameras by opening and closing a screen repeatedly like Five Nights at Freddy's.
- Marty moves when the lights switch off, much like the Weeping Angels of Doctor Who fame.
- SMG4 and SMG3 invoke the Power of Memes in the final showdown by performing the Fusion Dance, complete with a call of "Fu-sion... HA!!".
- During the rap battle, Mario calls out "Intruder Alert! Fat Spies in the base!" which is a nod to Team Fortress 2's Meet the Spy video.
- The Voice: During the rap battle, Meggy (via Elsie Lovelock) provides a good portion of the lyrics, even receiving voice credit. However, Meggy herself is nowhere to be seen. This marks the first time since her introduction she has not physically appeared in a WOTFI.note
- Wham Episode: The final shot of the episode reveals the mysterious TV entity who was behind selling SMG4 both the demonic keyboard and the Showgrounds earlier in the season, giving One-Shot Wren the facility to conduct his own simulation, and sparking the theft of SMG3's Notebook. His physical appearance and voice are also featured in full for the first time, though his Given Name Reveal wouldn't happen until later.
