Shout Out / The Amazing World of Gumball

General

• The Wattersons' last name is a reference to Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson.
• According to Ben Bocquelet the shows use of photorealistic backgrounds was inspired by Roger Rabbit.
• In season one, Rocky's black T-shirt had the logo ABCD, done in the style of AC/DC's logo. From season two on, the logo was changed to "Bisou" done in the style of the KISS logo.
• Anytime we flashback to Richard in his earlier adulthood (including "The Treasure", "The Hero", "The Man", and "The Origins") he's wearing a shirt◊ with a slightly modified Nirvana logo.
• Several times, Gumball turns his eyes into mouths, apparently emulating the Corinthian from The Sandman (1989).
• Viewed from the exterior, Carrie's house looks a lot like the Amityville House. The same house was shown on "The Parking" when The Wattersons drive their car into a horror movie in order to find a space.
• When Bobert transforms into his Self Defense Mode he brandishes his dual rotary laser cannons and roars like a certain other killer mecha.
• The tune Banana Joe whistles is similar to the "Twisted Nerve" music in Kill Bill, especially in how it transitions into an instrumental.
• How to Ratatwang Your Panda is, to paraphrase Gumball, a bargain-bin mockbuster of Kung Fu Panda (which has a foreign mockbuster version of it called Little Panda Fighter), even though the title is a mix of Ratatouille (which has a foreign mockbuster version of it called Ratatoing), Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon.
• Several times the turtle makes a sort of tittering/wheezing sound extremely similar to the hissing Hannibal Lecter made after saying "I ate his liver with some fava beans, and a nice Chianti." The closed caption for that sound is literally "[imitating Hannibal Lecter]"
• Mr. Small talks a lot about how he misses Janice in "The Void", which turns out to be his van. Given Mr. Small is a hippie, this is probably a reference to Janis Joplin. In-universe, that's probably where his van's named came from.
• The Void is similar to DC Comics' Limbo, a dimension inhabited by old characters seemingly abandoned or forgotten by their publishers. And like this episode, any character that's returned to regular continuity forgets ever being in Limbo.
• "The Seven Pressure Point Heart Disintegrating Technique", is a reference to Kill Bill's Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. Tobias even takes a few steps away before collapsing the same way victims of it did. However, the way Clayton rapidly pokes a series of different points on their body in "The Move" looks a bit more like Fist of the North Star.
• The Cockroach Man's van has a logo similar to the one seen in the movie Ghostbusters (only it's a roach in the red circle with the line through it and not a ghost) and looks similar to the pest control vans seen on the first Men in Black movie and the animated sitcom King of the Hill.
• Most of Penny's transformations are references to the ones seen in Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli films. Ben Bocquelet himself referred to the episode as "Miyazaki-esque":
  • Her dragon form is similar to Haku's from Spirited Away
  • Her wolf form when she runs off after thinking Gumball insulted her (when really he was trying to save her from getting hit by a truck) is similar to the wolf creature in Princess Mononoke.
• Doctor Literature has "Baked Brunch" visible on her cover. It was originally planned to be "Naked Brunch◊". In her new design, it’s misspelled.

Season 1

The DVD

• The object being replaced is a copy of Alligators on a Train.
• Darwin quotes the famous Digital Piracy Is Evil line, "You wouldn't steal a car, you wouldn't steal a purse, you wouldn't steal a cell phone, piracy is stealing!"

The Responsible

• The slimey babysitter with round glasses bears a resemblance to the babysitter in The Cat in the Hat live-action movie.

The End

• The countdown is presented in a style reminiscent of 24.

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.
• When Gumball tells Darwin Tina's “vision is based on movement," that could be a slight nod to Michael Crichton's original Jurassic Park novel. Tina's response: "That only works in movies," could also be a reference to Crichton trying to debunk his own myth in his second Jurassic Park book, The Lost World (1995).

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.
• The Binge Montages are reminiscent of the music video for The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up".

The Mystery

• By the end of the episode, Miss Simian gets run over by a reversing ambulance, to everyone's shock. This calls back to how Yoshikage Kira ended up dead.

The Refund

• The game Gumball is trying to refund looks similar to a Super Famicom cartridge or a PAL SNES cartridge.
• The guitar riff that plays when Richard becomes badass is based on the famous (public domain) guitar riff featured in "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood.

The Goons

• Darwin and Richard toe-wrestle and they paint their big toes to look like Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan.

The Genius

• During the end, after Gumball's brain convinces the clipboard men that he's the genius, Gumball tells them he's insane in the membrane.

The Club

• While Richard and Felix roleplay a Wizard Duel, a spell is said to be deflected by "the shield of Zanthor". David Zanthor, hobo magician is a character in a series of online videos that was played by James Lamont, one of the show's writers.

The Wand

• Richard calls his wand "Wanda, the Wonderful Wand of Wonder".

The Car

• Mr. Robinson wrecks the Wattersons' car while shouting "This is what happens! This is what happens!"

The Helmet

• The episode contains quite a few references to The Lord of the Rings, such as them trying to throw the helmet into the garbage disposal which looks like a volcano, Gumball acting loopy with a distorted voice, and (less subtly) Darwin finding an actual ring.

The Curse

• The whole escape from bad luck scene is a homage to the Final Destination movies, with a particular nod to Final Destination 2 with the truck tires scene.

Season 2

The Colossus

• Several references to Shadow of the Colossus, including Gumball jumping onto Hector and climbing up his fur, searching for an important spot by his head, and Hector's falling animation.

The Knights

• There is a segment in the episode that parodies a scene from Family Guy, particularly the scene where Tobias frees his foot from a door and makes "sssss.....ahhhh" noises, which is exactly what Peter Griffin did when he hurt his knee.

The Fridge

• Richard asking Gumball to remove his paintball mask after being attacked by Nicole parodies Darth Vader's last request for Luke to remove his helmet in Return of the Jedi.

The Flower

• Jealous Gumball shouts "Hadouken!" while trying to attack Leslie, though the attack he attempts is more like a Shoryuken.
• Leslie tries to use a vacuum to suck up Envy but the vacuum sucks up Carrie instead, like the Poltergust 3000 in Luigi's Mansion.
• The scene where Penny sees the "distant Gumball" as he approaches is similar to a scene with Sir Lancelot and a farsighted guard in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The Phone

• Gumball and Darwin play a video game and are at the final boss. What are they saying while smashing the buttons? "Co-co-co-co-combo breaker!"
• The battle against Ocho references Space Invaders, particularly how Ocho moves.

The Job

• Richard's step by step lesson on how to steal slices of pizza is done in the style of Wii graphics, right down to the music.
• Nicole sees a foreboding warning about Richard's job through a photo, similar to The Omen and how the deaths of some of the characters were foreshadowed in the pictures taken of them. The music and Ominous Latin Chanting are also clear references.

The Treasure

• The jingle that plays when the kids find the secret entrance in the attic sounds a lot like the iconic "secret found" jingle from The Legend of Zelda games.

The Apology

• Richard's signature on Gumball and Darwin's report cards, which Ms. Simian assumes is fake, is styled like the logo for Metallica.

The Words

• Darwin and several classmates sing a song in the style referencing High School Musical.
• Gumball and Darwin's fight parodies Street Fighter II.

Christmas

• Gumball's winter attire in the episode bears a very close resemblance to that of Eric Cartman from South Park.

The Watch

• The opening scene of Richard explaining the history of the Watterson family's prized watch is reminiscent of a similar scene from Pulp Fiction, with Richard in place of Christopher Walken's role.

The Bumpkin

• The Binge Montage of Gumball and Idaho looks similar to the one seen during the end credits to The Hangover.

The Flakers

• The game that Darwin plays of the lizard creature stomping a small elf looks like The Legend of Zelda.
• The magical land of junk food in Richard's anesthetic-fueled hallucination of chasing The Jolly Hamburger looks similar to the Candy Kingdom from Adventure Time.

The Pony

• The movie Carrie is renting is called "The Nightmare On Elmore Street".
• Carrie asks Gumball, "Tell me, is it wrong for a punk-rock chick who lives in a haunted malevolent mansion to be touched by the magical friendship of a pony?"

The Hero

• During the flashback of Richard embarrassing the kids, he's doing the MC Hammer dance◊.

The Dream

• At the beginning, Gumball opens a locker, splashing him with water. What comes out of the locker after that is a pineapple.

The Photo

• Gumball produces a photo of Alan finishing a marathon, smiling charismatically at the camera while the other runners grimace with exhaustion, which is likely a reference to this meme.
• The scene of Gumball and Darwin running through the halls to avoid anyone screwing up Gumball's face for his school picture is shot and framed nearly identically to the original trailer for Alien, including the flickering lighting, quick cuts, and a high-pitched droning klaxon.

The Tag

• The "young people's music" that Gumball and Darwin set Mr. Robinson's alarm clock to is rather similar to "Baby" by Justin Bieber.
• The scene of Richard and Mr. Robinson being locked in the Dumpster and watching a video with Gumball's instructions on how to get out is reminiscent of the type of challenges given to the victims in the Saw movies.

The Lesson

• One of the tattoos covering Reaper is the word "HATE" spelled out across his knuckles.
• Darwin and Gumball try to draw tattoos and then hair on themselves with marker to look more intimidating, but just end up giving themselves Homer Simpson's hair.

The Game

• A piece of pizza under Gumball's bed grows spidery legs and crawls off like the decapitated head from The Thing (1982).
• The game itself is a parody off of both movies Jumanji and Zathura.

The Limit

• While Nicole is on her rampage chasing down her husband, Richard hides in a corner in front of a camera that broadcasts him on the displayed televisions on the walls. Once Nicole finds him, she starts running towards him as he screams in terror, but instead of getting him, she mistakes him for one of the televisions and crashes into it. Kind of like how the velociraptor crashes into a metal counter that's reflecting its prey.
• From the same episode:
  Richard: What kind of father am I? A fat man child! A chubby Peter Pan!

The Promise

• Another Zelda reference: when Gumball pulls the Tale of Zelmore CD out of the case in a manner similar to Link looting a chest in The Wind Waker.

The Castle

• At the end of the episode, Nicole gives Harold (Tobias' dad) the penance stare when he refuses to clean the house.

The Boombox

• Gumball whistles the first part of Zelda's Lullaby to the squirrel to try to get it to fall asleep.

The Tape

• The cheat code Ocho uses and Gumball attempts is the Konami Code. The first time Ocho uses it, he summons a Super Mario Bros.-style item block in the air that Gumball attempts to use, only to hurt his head. Additionally, Ocho uses the code again to give him a power-up similar to the Starman.

The Internet

• Gumball tries to enter the Internet in a way reminiscent of time-travel in The Terminator using a hi-def scanner, complete with the exact same pose and being naked.
• What video was Gumball watching at the beginning? This one, to be exact. Warning, it's a screamer.
• While it might just be a coincidence, the internet being named Timmy might be a reference to the The Fairly OddParents! episode "Father Time" where the internet accidentally ended up being officially called the Timmy.

The Voice

• At one point, Gumball wears Darwin's body like a boy and his dog.
• Before that, Darwin sports the hair of J.G. Quintel.
• William's voice sounds a lot like Snape. It is just Mic Graves doing an impression of him, though.

The Finale

• The bus's license plate reads "Otto 24", which may possibly be a reference to Otto Mann, the school bus driver from The Simpsons.
• This episode shares the same name as the Seinfeld episode. The lock-up scene is also similar.
• The way Gumball insults the goblin is similar to an insult used in The Sandlot.
• In the scene where Richard carjacks the bus from Gary, he throws him out in a way similar to the popular sandbox game Grand Theft Auto.

Season 3

The Kids

• The entire phone call scene (where Patrick thinks Gumball is a prank caller because of his voice changing) is one long Shout-Out to Taken.
• During the rap segment in his mind, Gumball briefly wears a doctor's attire (complete with surgical mask over mouth) while holding throwing stars.
• The lines from "Make the Most of It", "What time is it? It's time to chill!", might be a shoutout to the Beastie Boys song "Time To Get Ill", which opens with the lyrics "What's the time? It's time to get ill!".
• The fisheye lens view that starts the sequence could be a shoutout to Beastie Boys videos like "Shake Your Rump" and "Intergalactic".

The Fan

• Sarah watching Gumball take his shirt off in her video is lifted from There's Something About Mary.
• In another part of the video, when Gumball is asleep, Sarah watches him with night vision and moves her hand longingly toward him, referencing the night vision scene in The Silence of the Lambs with Buffalo Bill and Clarice.

The Joy

• Being a parody of the Zombie Apocalypse genre, several shout outs to zombie movies and games.
  • Miss Simian's depressing music is Moonlight Sonata, the same music from the first Resident Evil that is used in a puzzle.
  • Miss Simian getting past a horde of happy zombies by acting like one is reminiscent of a scene from Shaun of the Dead.
  • The use of a handheld camera perspective is from Found Footage Films such as Quarantine (2008) and Diary of the Dead.
  • Miss Simian finds Anais crying in a corner, who soon reveals herself to be a happy zombie and lunges at her. Anais' behavior in this scene is similar to that of the Witch from Left 4 Dead. The idea of seeing a depressed looking little girl from behind only to be revealed as zombie is also reminiscent of the moment Rick sees his first walker in The Walking Dead pilot.
• Principal Brown secretly video taping himself swinging around a broom is a reference to the "Star Wars Kid" viral video.

The Recipe

• When Ant-One turns on the fire sprinklers and destroys the other Anton clones, Richard declares "I feel a great disturbance in the food chain, as if a thousand sandwiches suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."
• The climax is a reference to the climax of Die Hard, complete with the antagonist staring wide-eyed at the camera as he falls to his death in slow motion. This also counts as a reference to the climax of the movie The Good Son.

The Name

• Zach's destruction resembles Tom Riddle's destruction in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The Vacation

• The second half of the episode is a sendup of just about every "lost motorists in the desert get slaughtered" movie, most particularly the old gas station attendant being identical to the villain from The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

The Fraud

• The briefcase of confiscated items is similar to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, with a bright light shining out of the case and the inside never being shown.
• Mr. Small's failed attempt at stopping Principal Brown from blowing up the school (standing in front of him with plastic grocery bags) is a reference to Tank Man and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

The Void

• In the void where the world has rid of all its mistakes, they find Crazy Frog. Gumball then orders Mr. Small to run him over.

The Boss

• The Secretary's true form looks like the creature faced at the end of Resident Evil (2002), with a brain bulging out of the head.
• The titular boss is one to Professor Quirrell, in that a seemingly normal guy is voluntarily possessed by a demonic entity, with its face hidden in the back of his head. Even the final confrontation of him against Gumball is simialr to the confrontation between Harry and Quirrell.

The Move

• "Darkwin" greatly resembles the Hood from Thunderbirds, while flames surround him Super Saiyan-style.
• The plan of dragging an unconscious Tobias around and making it look like he's alive is from Weekend at Bernie's.
• The titular "move" is more or less the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

The Law

• Darwin and Gumball sing while Donut Cop rhythmically turns his siren on and off, with the lyrics and tune clearly sounding like KRS-One's "The Sound of da Police"
• The song playing in the background when they're chasing the rampaging Felicity sounds very much like NWA's "Straight Outta Compton".
• The car gets on a speed camera while riding 88mph.

The Allergy

• Gumball's analysis on how to attack Darwin in a pillow fight is very reminiscent of the simulated thought process of Sherlock Holmes (2009) from the Robert Downey Jr. movies, even using the word "discombobulate".
• When Teri is in Ms. Markham's office having another one of her hypochondriac moments, she describes her feelings of hunger as possibly being caused by the "G-Virus," one of the major viruses in the Resident Evil series. She even says the only possible "cures" (separating the brain from the body and decapitation) are methods usually used for destroying zombies.

The Password

• Darwin's tearful speech after Gumball gets the computer password wrong (which include the words, "This moment is so much bigger than me") is similar to the one Halle Berry gave when she won the Academy Award for her performance in Monster's Ball (which marked the first time in Oscar history that an African-American actress ever won the award).
• At the end of the episode, Gumball realizes everything was a decoy Anais planned, which causes him to respond "Clever girl".
• Richard and Anais finish each other's sandwiches.
• The beginning of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir plays over Anais' triumphant walk at the end of the episode.

The Shell

• The school play at the beginning (along with the entire episode plot) is based on Beauty and the Beast, mostly the Broadway and the Disney movie version. It's just Gender-Swapped. At one point in the episode, Richard also calls Gumball "Gum-Belle" in a nod to the aforementioned movie.
• Gumball kissing Penny's wolf form to turn her back to her original form is similar to Sophie kissing Howl in Howl's Moving Castle.
  • In fact Word of God states that the whole episode is Studio Ghibli based.

The Burden

• The time fast-forwarding scene to Gumball waking up is similar to the one from Breaking Bad.
• The hairdo Gumball uses for his date with Penny resembles Leon S. Kennedy's from Resident Evil.
• After Gumball tells Chris Morris to drop the mop he was brandishing (which the handle was positioned in front of an "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass"-style fire alarm, Chris Morris "responds"^note his squeaks are translated via captions thusly:
  Chris Morris: Poor choice of words.
• The music that plays at the end of the episode is a remix of the song that plays at the end of Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Lonely Shepherd" by Gheorghe Zamfir.

The Man

• After Louie calls him "son", Richard says the line "Call me son one more time! I dare you! I DOUBLE DARE YOU! You mother robber!

The Pizza

• Jackie (Tobias' mother) clacks two bottles with her hands like Luther did in The Warriors.
• A lot of the apocalyptic clothing the townspeople wear is from the Mad Max movies:
  • Darwin is dressed as the boomerang-wielding child in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior known simply as the Feral Kid. Gumball's Mohawk and shoulderpads echo Wez's.
  • Anais, Richard, and Nicole dress as Master, Blaster, and Auntie Entity from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
• Donut Cop hurling a trashcan through a storefront window is from Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing
• The locusts that attack the Wattersons is one of the ten plagues mentioned in The Bible.
• Gumball, Anais, and Darwin blow the endings for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Planet of the Apes (1968) while waiting in line at the video store.
• Gumball's mouth expanding with fangs on the side of it is a reference to the Reaper in Blade II or the titular alien in Predator.
• Nicole shaking Leslie and howling is a reference to the Tusken Raiders from Star Wars.
• Richard's moaning after the family hears Larry's tearful goodbye over the phone sounds exactly like the siren from The Purge.

The Lie

• Richard's transformation sequence when creating the stuffed sausage looks exactly like Usagi's/Serena's from the first season of Sailor Moon^note The music playing sounds similar to the one from the original Japanese dub, not the DiC dub from the 1990s. His "By the power of..." is from the 1980s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
• Miss Simian's devious smile and plot to ruin Sluzzle Tag is similar to The Grinch's in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
• The Sluzzle Tag special that gets cut off due to animation being a lengthy process looks similar to The Nightmare Before Christmas.
• One of the presents Gumball puts out when trying to deliver Sluzzle Tag presents (and is referred to as "trash" by the narrator) is a DVD called Daybreak, which is a reference to Twilight.

The Butterfly

• Hank accidentally pops both of the gray construction man's arms free from their sockets. The gray construction man assures him that it's "just a flesh wound".

The Question

• The lemonade stand that gets wrecked by the bullies (Julius and Mowdown) when Alan is telling Gumball and Darwin what the meaning of life means to him is called "Alan's Lemonade Stand," based on an actual charity called Alex's Lemonade Stand, which helps raise money for children with cancer.
• Nicole is asked the meaning of life and responds with a slightly paraphrasing of the Conan the Barbarian (1982) quote "Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.", which itself was based on a line attributed to Genghis Khan.
• The "feel-good" song the planets sing is lyrically similar to "The Galaxy Song" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

The Saint

• Both Gumball and Alan are featured in this episode with faces similar to the Internet meme "Yaranaika".

The Friend

• The final act of the episode is very reminiscent of The Iron Giant. Anais's misunderstood friend is tracked down by the authorities, and the conflict ends with him exploding. Later that night, we see his various body parts all convening in one place to reassemble.

The Oracle

• Gumball finds an album called The Velour Overground, whose cover has Banana Bob on a white background, parodying the Minimalistic Cover Art of The Velvet Underground & Nico. The records at the back of the boxes Gumball and Darwin look through can be recognized as Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures and Pink Floyd's The Wall.
• Gumball's energetic and unnatural walk and the music that accompanies it are a reference to this video.
• As Nicole drives off the family car Gumball accidentally super-charged, the license plate falls off and spins around on the ground as happened to the DeLorean's license plate in Back to the Future the first time it was used.

The Safety

• The fuzzy image in the safety video is a shot of the Overlook Hotel from the movie adaptation of The Shining.
• The cartoon Gumball is watching, Coyote and Ostrich, is an Expy of Chuck Jones's Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote series. Darwin calling the show to ask them to tone it down is a reference to how the Looney Tunes shorts have been shown on television with parts edited for violence and actions considered dangerous and imitable.
• Throughout the episode characters are seen declaring in unison that it is for "their own good" in an eerie monotone that echoes the "for the greater good" chant from Hot Fuzz.

The Society

• During Gumball's audition, he reenacts scenes from Indiana Jones, Star Wars, The Avengers (2012), Street Fighter, Harry Potter and Mortal Kombat.
• Banana Joe's mask as the leader of the secret society reminds of the mask that Friend, from 20th Century Boys, wears.

The Countdown

• Gumball changes clothes by replicating the spinning Transformation Sequence from Wonder Woman (he didn't manage to get on any pants).

The Nobody

• Gumball combines a bunch of entertainment device into one in and the music it plays it clearly Guile's Theme from Street Fighter.
• Darwin references Inception, The Sixth Sense, The Matrix and Fight Club while coming up with possible explanations for the mysterious happenings in the Watterson's house.
• Darwin and Gumball try to look more friendly while they run, but end up adopting the bizarre facial expression and gait of the eponymous monsters of Attack on Titan.

The Downer

• The song that Gumball sings midway through the episode resembles the Pharrell Williams song "Happy", though it's not so happy at the end...

The Triangle

• The Elmore Ducks mascot bears a resemblance to Dolan.
• Leslie's flute solo is a tribute to Ron Burgundy's jazz flute performance in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

The Egg

• Billy claims his favourite TV show is Fireman Pete, a play on the Welsh children's program Fireman Sam.

Season 4

The Nemesis

• Dr. Wrecker dons his "armor" in a transformation sequence similar to Saint Seiya, with each piece attaching itself while he's spinning around —he even wears a pteruges (armored skirt) identical to the original forms of the anime's Bronze Cloths, and he wears the Dragon Shield on his left arm.

The Others

• The episode opens with Gumball trying to go Super Saiyan. He even actually says "Super Saiyan".
• When Darwin and Gumball notice students outside of their class for the first time, we're briefly shown Gumball dressed as Zed from Zardoz (complete with the outfit, rope ponytail, and Porn Stache) while Darwin's head/body looks like the eponymous floating rock head.
• When the episode suddenly starts focusing on Clare Cooper, a title card reads The So-Called World of Clare, a mashup of the show's own title and that of the 1990s teen drama My So-Called Life. Even some of the new characters' names (Clare Cooper, Jared Dawson, and Wilson Bilson) are a direct homage to the actors on the original show (Claire Danes, Jared Leto, and Wilson Cruz, respectively).

The Pest

• Anais beats down one of her stuffed animals with a barrage of punches◊ à la Ip Man.
• Gumball actually does go Super Saiyan, though Darwin notes he's just posturing. He's even suddenly dressed like Gohan.

The Sale

• Richard breaks down the shed door with a shovel just like in The Shining, complete with a variant of "HERE'S JOHNNY!!!"
• While pretending to be a police officer who's arresting Gumball, Darwin angrily shouts "I AM THE LAW!"
• The magazine Margaret reads is called Your House Will Never Be Good Enough, a scathing spoof of home and garden magazines, specifically Better Homes and Gardens.
• The scene where Darwin appears standing in the doorway while the lights are off is a reference to the short film Lights Out by David F. Sandberg.
• The scene where Gumball keeps trying to push in a swollen spot on his forehead that keeps popping out might be a reference to the scene where Naota does the same thing with his "horn" in FLCL.
• Jeff remarks that "the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone," not too dissimiliar to one of Egon Spengler's initial reasons for not wanting to choose the firehouse.

The Parking

• Anais Sherlock Scans three people who were about to leave the parking lot, with Sherlock-style visual aids.
• When Nicole tells the kids to turn their smiles upside down, they begin to look like Abobo from Double Dragon.

The Routine

• The episode's narration is a direct parody of Mako's narration in Conan the Barbarian (1982).
• Richard calls the car "Cartax", a parody of Atreyu's horse Artax in The Never Ending Story. Cartax even sinks in the asphalt like Artax sank in a swamp.

The Upgrade

• When Gumball is knocked off of the new Bobert by the plane's luggage, the way the scene is framed and the way in which he grabs on to the dishwasher seems to reference the plane sequence from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception where Nathan Drake falls off a cargo plane in a similar fashion and grabs on to nearby debris for support.
• Most of the episode is a Take That! to Apple, specifically the strategy of rolling out iPhones one after another with only slightly new features while not trying all that hard with the support of old models. The "pop music no one likes installed" was a real event where Apple pre-loaded U2's new album on two million devices which made quite a few users livid as they couldn't uninstall or opt out of.

The Romantic

• The flash mob dances to the similar sounding National Aerobics Championship theme, complete with aerobic dances.
• Penny's attempt to transform without relying on her emotions uses the same background and original dub music as Usagi's transformation on Sailor Moon. Her attack, which involved punching up into the air, is reminiscent of Cygnus Hyoga's Aurora Thunder Attack.

The Wicked

• Mrs. Robinson's Villain Song is a send-up of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
• Mr. Robinson's comment about his wife when he explains to Gumball and Darwin that Margaret has no rhyme or reason behind her evil ways ("Some men just want to watch the world burn,") echoes Michael Caine's line about why Gotham's villains are who they are as heard in the 2008 film, The Dark Knight.
• The episode ends with Mrs. Robinson getting ran over by a slowly backing up ambulance the same way Kira died in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.

The Traitor

• Gumball preparing the sandwich for his lunch date with Alan is a send-up of YouTube's "HowToBasic" videos.
• The Melted Cheese Guy does the one-liner Gumball wasn't able to do in the exact style of CSI: Miami.
• An obvious pastiche of the Surgeon Simulator 2013 theme, complete with heart-monitor backing track, plays over the ending scene of Gumball and Darwin making their sandwich after the successful surgery.
• The ending where Gumball breaks a jar of mayo and rants angrily about Alan in the hospital while happy music plays over the scene resembles stylistic choices used in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The Origins

• The episode seems to have been inspired by Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, since both are about a boy getting a pet fish who they lose, which then leads to the fish developing arms, legs, etc., and then finding their way back to their owner. Bonus points for the episode including a scene where Gumball reacts in surprise to Darwin speaking for the first time, which is similar to the scene in Ponyo where Sosuke reacts in much the same way to Ponyo speaking for the first time.

The Girlfriend

• After Jamie mauls Sarah off-camera, Gumball points to the yellow ice cream splattered on Jamie's body and tells her "you got a bit of yellow on you", very similar to the "you got red on you" Running Gag from Shaun of the Dead.

The Parasite

• Gumball tries to explain to Anais that Jodie is a (social) parasite, but ends up describing (and impersonating) the mutant Cordyceps from The Last of Us, turning Darwin into a Clicker. He then admits he "stole that part from a zombie video game".

The Love

• When Bobert opens his head up for maintenance, his Cranial Processing Unit looks like the Cyberbrains in Ghost in the Shell.
• During the skit about the science and chemistry behind love, the music is near-identical to that of the Nintendo Wii's Mii Plaza.
• The skit depicting the married lives of the Robinsons is a parody of the beginning of Pixar's Up, except they're playing mean-spirited pranks on each other.
• The judge that sends Richard to jail is nearly identical to the one from "The Trial" segment of The Wall.

The Nest

• While threatening the baby turtle with a tennis racket, Gumball says "Say hello to my little friend!... Darwin."
• The music playing during the turtle attack (and the title card for this episode) spoofs the theme to Gremlins.
• Nicole finding the trapped residents and the unhatched eggs under the house looks similar to a scene from Aliens.
• Harold jogging through the chaos before he gets attacked mimics the 2014 trailer for Dead Island 2.

The Points

• Some of the imaginary weapons used and mentioned in Tobias' Chase Fight with Gumball and Darwin are a portal gun, a shock rifle, a flak cannon and a Plasma Grenade.

The Bus

• When the kids and Rocky decide to go to the beach instead of drive to school, Principal Brown, Richard, Harold, and Dexter disguise themselves as hijackers to take over the bus. They introduce themselves as Mr. Brown, Mr. Pink, Mr. Rainbow, and Mr. White. Mr. White even looks like Walter White's alias, Heisenberg.

The Night

• The end of Juke's dream mirrors the ending of the classic Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last".

The Blame

• The video games shown in Billy's hallucination share resemblance with Star Fox, Bubble Bobble, Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, with audio snippets from the latter and Tetris.
• Banana Joe plays a game called Brick Land, where he "can make anything out of little bricks".
• Gumball's "Game Over" screen resembles those from Metal Gear Solid.
• The entire "Books Are Violent" song is full of shout-outs:
  • The first part has shout-outs to Lord of the Flies, Titus Andronicus, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Red Riding Hood, the tale of Medusa, The Tortoise and the Hare and Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.
  • In the rap part, the gang drops homages to Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
  • In the final part, the gang reenact scenes from Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Alice in Wonderland, Moby-Dick and the tale of Icarus.

The Misunderstandings

• When Gumball makes an unusual offensive gesture to the trio of construction workers, the gray one asks him if it's a Vulcan gang sign.

The Fury

• A flashback shows Yuki destroying the Watterson's car like the car smashing challenge from Street Fighter.
• The art style of the training segment is very reminiscent of early chapters of Dragon Ball.
• One of the opponents in the manga flashback looks a lot like Bowser, or rather, his Rookie persona. Another opponent highly resembles the Peckish Aristocrab.
• Yuki wonders if Nicole trained at Hokuto, Konoha, or under Mr. Miyagi.
• The red catsuit Yuki wears in the final fight is a reference to O-Ren Ishii's outfit in the anime sequence from Kill Bill, Vol. 1.

Season 5

The Stories

• When Bobert gets buried in an avalanche of dodgeballs during gym class, he gives the thumbs-up just before disappearing from view in a shot that pays homage to the ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The Guy

• Darwin and Gumball imagine themselves transforming Super Sentai-style, with the outfits specifically parodying Choudenshi Bioman.

The Boredom

• The end where Gumball and Darwin foolishly pass up a chance to go on an adventure with the elven bus driver from "The Kids" is similar to the end of the 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber, in which Lloyd (Jim Carrey) foolishly passes up a chance to ride with bikini-clad supermodels on a bus.
• The whole plot of the episode appears to be a reference to an episode of The Young Ones, which is similarly called "Boring".

The Vision

• One of the evil faces Alan tries out looks exactly like Dr. Eggman.
  • Another one he tries out is based on multibillionaire businessman and former United States President, Donald Trump.
  • The other faces shown resemble Emperor Palpatine, Bane, and Ming the Merciless.
• Evil!Alan monologuing to the audience about politics in a Southern accent is an extended homage to House of Cards (US).
• "Your mission, should you choose to accept it" was the iconic line from Mission: Impossible. After it's said, the opening music is even riffed.

The Scam

• Sarah's Halloween makeup is a perfect copy of the falling moon in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
  • And Gumball's is one for Beetlejuice (particularly the animated Beetlejuice)
  • Leslie is dressed as Audrey II from the musical/movie Little Shop of Horrors.
• The way that Carrie stacks the chairs to convince the others the class is haunted is a direct reference to Poltergeist, when the ghosts did the same thing to the kitchen chairs.

The Test

• When Tobias wakes up, a nurse says that he was passed out from a boating accident involving trying to jump a shark. This is a reference to a Happy Days opening where a character does the same.
• Gumball almost kills Tobias by melting his face off after unleashing all his bottled-up venomous emotions at the end of the episode like a Mortal Kombat fatality.

The Slide

• The first selfie Rocky shows is an overexposed close-up with a realistic Slasher Smile resembling Jeff the Killer.

The Copycats

• The entire episode is a direct Take That! towards Miracle Star, the infamous Chinese bootleg of The Amazing World of Gumball.
• The way Richard drools to everything Gumball says is very reminiscent of Homer Simpson's Mmm mannerism from The Simpsons.

The Matchmaker

• Near the beginning of the episode, Gumball does an impression of Joey Wheeler.

The Box

• The family makes the laser saber sounds of Star Wars.
• Gumball pictures that what's inside the box is the Portal Gun from Portal.
  • His desire to use the portal gun to fuse himself with other species is reminiscent of The Fly (1958).
• Nicole's segment of what she pictures is inside the box is the plot of No Country for Old Men. The hitman even resembles Anton Chigurh, the assassin of the story.
• When Anais lists boxes of unknown content and what they can cause, she mentions The Lost Ark.
• Richard's segment has scene references to The Matrix and Total Recall (1990).

The Console

• The entire episode is a giant homage to JRPGs, especially Final Fantasy VII and VIII. For more specific examples:
  • Gumball finds items hidden inside pots like The Legend of Zelda.
  • Anais at one point dresses in a hat similar to Luso's from Final Fantasy Tactics A2, and holds a rounded BFS similar to the infamous "pizza cutter" in his character artwork. According to her the sword also doubles as a gun, similar to Squall's Gunblade in Final Fantasy VIII.
  • The trio decide to enter a random battle, just to sing along with the "epic battle theme". It is the same music as random encounters from Final Fantasy VII.
  • The Game Child's true form resembles Final Fantasy VIII's Big Bad, Ultimecia, with Sephiroth's hair and halo.
  • When Gumball starts summoning friends, the attack greatly resembles the Final Fantasy VII summon "Knights of the Round". Richard's portion resembles "Bahamut Zero". Banana Joe's part, Thousand Blows, is an almost shot for shot recreation of the Cacture 1,000 Needles summon attack from Final Fantasy VIII.
  • At one point, Gumball and Darwin get Cloud and Sephiroth's hair.
• When Gumball returns to Alison for the fetch quest, he looks like the Butthurt Dweller aka the Neckbeard Guy.
• Darwin's victory pose, leaping with his arms and legs stretched out and knees bent inwards, is identical to Chun Li's Win pose in Street Fighter II.
• Gumball, Anais, and Darwin attack Billy with a Chrono Trigger-style Combination Attack while Level Grinding.
• While possessed by a smartphone bought at the Awesome Store, Penny resembles Locutus of Borg.
• During the final battle against the console itself, Gumball uses a smartphone to summon various friends from across the world to help him damage the boss. This is the exact same strategy (albeit using prayer/psychic powers rather than a phone) that Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo utilize to defeat Giygas in EarthBound.

The Menu

• In a sequence where Gumball and Darwin "double production" of a fast food chain by using genetically modified cows, the cows in question look eerily like the Cyriak video "cows & cows & cows".

The Vase

• When Nicole realizes that the kids have free reign to break the impossibly tacky vase given to them by Granny JoJo, her face twists up the Grinch's.
• Shortly afterwards, Nicole makes a few strange faces that Donald Trump had made before.
• When Gumball, Darwin, and Anais try to smash the vase, they leave it in the road for a truck to smash it. The truck flips forward like in The Dark Knight along with the smoke beneath the trailer.
• The scene where Nicole is jumping from cranes to save the vase is a reference to the opening chase scene in Casino Royale (2006) where James Bond is chasing a bomb maker on a crane. The music is also a close match to "African Rundown", the song that plays during said chase.

The Ex

• Gumball raises a boombox to play a song to Rob in a way that mimics the Signature Scene of Say Anything...
• At one point, Gumball says that everyone has a nemesis, like the wizard kid and the red haired kid. When Darwin points out Ron isn't Harry's nemesis, Gumball says that he never helped.
• When Rob decides to hate Gumball again, the song that plays is a parody of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".
• Gumball uses the phrase "Ay caramba!," Bart Simpson's famous catchphrase from The Simpsons.

The Uncle

• After Ocho decides Gumball is his friend, he makes Gumball puts up posters denouncing Darwin that directly parodies the "Friendship Ended With Mudasir" meme.
• The premise of the episode is Gumball trying to befriend Ocho so he can meet his uncle Mario, who has a plumbing business and likes dinosaurs and princesses. Gumball learns in the end that Ocho is also related to a blue hedgehog that runs really fast. You can't really blame Gumball for being excited.
• When Gumball gets off the school bus, he whistles the Kanto Route 1 theme from Pokémon Red and Blue.

The Weirdo

• Banana Joe holding a frog coated in glitter.

The Singing

• Teri's song is in the style of the music video for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's "PONPONPON".
• Pluto's song is in the style of Adele's "Hello".
• Richard's song is a parody of Willie Nelson's "You were Always on my Mind".
• "The Small Hours by Mr. Small" album includes an experimental track called "Mother", which consists of Mr. Small screaming into Alison's face in the style of - of all things - the "Come to Daddy" video by Aphex Twin. Another track titled "This Boy Is Not My Son", has him singing in Machine Monotone and dressed like a member of Kraftwerk, and the song is eerily similar to their hit "The Robots".

The Worst

• When Nicole gets rejected by her employers it cuts to Mr. Yoshida and other male employees in a meeting room thumping their chests while humming a tune mirroring a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street.

The Deal

• During Nicole's celebratory fireworks display, one of the fireworks get lodged in the moon's eye.
• Nicole refers to Richard as "Nanny McFail".
• Without Richard to look after them, the Watterson kids turn into Gremlins. Gumball, in particular, resembles the first movie's Big Bad, Stripe.
• When Richard is trying to get the kids back to normal, he says "Clever girl" when he sees Anais hiding in a bush and faces off against them like Owen Grady and the raptors.

The Petals

• There are a few to RuPaul's Drag Race:
  • Leslie's speech during his hallucination is a reference to a quote by one of the contestants.
  • The montage of Leslie's high fashion phase seems to be inspired by the show. One of them is based on Lady Gaga, though.

The Nuisance

• The Mayor bears a resemblance to Donald Trump.
• Though the Transformation Sequence affects all the Wattersons, Darwin's shapeshifting into a dog closely resembles the iconic scene from An American Werewolf in London.
  • Actually, the transformations as whole with their Body Horror, screaming, and bone cracking, could parody the scene as well, complete with the Soundtrack Dissonance.

The News

• The Channel 6 Elmore News intro is a spot-on tribute to The Day Today, complete with the insanely over-the-top computer graphics and even boasts a suspiciously similar theme tune!

The Puppets

• One of the puppets, Grady, looks a lot like the Jigsaw puppet from Saw.
• The toys Darwin picks up at the start of the episode include parodies of the Tamagotchi, Bop It, and Dragon Flyz.
• The entire last act of the episode is done in the style of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, which is fitting since the episode was co-written by Rebecca Sloan and Joseph Pelling.
• At one point, Gumball points out to Grady one of the characters they made up, Sammy Sunscreen, The Screaming Sun.
• The puppet Grady may be a reference to the former caretaker of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, who was also named Grady. Both Gradys spoke in polite, calm, voices while secretly manipulating the characters and planning malevolence.

The Line

• The entire episode is built around references to Star Wars, to the point that it's impossible to actually enjoy the episode if you don't know the franchise enough.
  • Both Masami and Siciliana use a wig that mimics Princess Leia's signature hair.
  • To stop Hector, Masami uses a hose to roll around his feet and force him to fall down, much like what happened to the AT-AT walker in The Empire Strikes Back.
  • A lot of the episode revolves around people trying to watch the new episode in the franchise, which is supposed to mimic how the world felt at the time that The Force Awakens was being released to the world. It is even called "The Force Rehash", though it's a remake rather than a sequel.
  • Colin, Felix, and Darwin make reference about a hated comic relief character in the movies, that is clearly supposed to be Jar Jar Binks.
  • At one point, Felicity mimics Darth Vader in A New Hope, saying that she "will take these [herself]" while asking for cover.
  • Nicole and Richard creating a fake line to give the kids a chance to get to the real line first is played in a similar fashion to what happened to Han Solo, full on with Richard and Nicole recreating the iconic dialogue of the scene (with Richard as Leia and Nicole as Han Solo) and Darwin makes sounds like Chewbacca.
  • Richard tries to use the "Jedi Mind Trick" on Larry to get to the front of the line.
  • When Anais talks about the power they'll have by watching the movie before everyone else, she slowly turns into Emperor Palpatine.
  • At one point, Marvin breathes like Darth Vader.
  • Gumball making people angry by revealing that many characters were made female in the new movie is a Take That! to people angry at the fact that the protagonist of the new trilogy, Rey, is female.
  • Richard and Tea Pot Guy star talking about a holiday special. There was, indeed, a musical holiday special for Star Wars.
  • The battle between Richard and the fan club president is played out and almost a remake of the battle between Luke and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. During the battle, there is a mention of a golden bikini like Leia used in Return of the Jedi.
  • Nicole says that they'll make the jump to lightspeed.
  • The score of the show was meant to emulate the score of the movies, even down to their special effects.
  • Darwin whispers to Richard for him to "use the forks" when running from Felicity.
  • Anton's search for a faster route to the movies leads him straight into a bar that simulates the Cantina Scene. The music playing at the moment and the band playing even look similar to the movie's.
  • Tobias uses the force to strangle his mother saying he "finds her lack of faith disturbing", which is something Darth Vader was known to do.
  • Carmen is dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi and even has wrinkles to imitate his age.
  • Nicole mentions on how, in the first movie, a character named Ben Kenoli sacrifices himself at the end. This is the fate of Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of the first movie of the franchise.
  • When the kids realize the con, Darwin screams that "it's a trap!".
• Unlike most of the references, Colin and Felix mention whether dragons and superheroes will reach mainstream popularity. They quickly realize those things already did, which is a nod to things such as Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The List

The News

Season 6

The Rival

• One of the funny faces Darwin and Gumball make while playing with their sister looks a lot like Eneru's Wild Take in One Piece.
• The entire climax of this episode, which takes place at the dump ^note Gumball and the box on the conveyor belt, and Darwin using the crane to rescue Gumball from the incinerator is a clear nod to Toy Story 3.

The Lady

• The characters of Maria, Samantha, Angela, and Violet from "The Lady" are based on Sophia, Blanche Dorothy, and Rose from The Golden Girls.
  • Even better - during some of the scenes the screen deliberately goes retro with tracking bars as you'd see in old VHS recordings.

The Vegging

• At one point when Gumball and Darwin watch TV, a creature with long, black bangs covering his face crawls out of it.

The One

• The entire episode is one long shout-out to Highlander, including a pseudo-Queen soundtrack.

The Father

• Louie's reaction to the effigy in "The Vermin Man" song mirrors a scene from the original Wicker Man. The song itself is a spoof of "The Maypole Song" from the same movie.

The Candidate

• The entire episode is a Take That! to 2016. Baby Boomers telling their children they're too entitled; Millennial children telling their parents they've ruined the world; the rise of the Alt-Right and "alternative news sources"; the presidential election; and the crisis the children face is global, er, school warming.
• The "32 Donkeys Playing on a Sled" song is a Take That! to "Elsagate" kids YouTube videos.

The Anybody

• Gumball screams in a very exaggerated manner: HEEEAAALP!

The Neighbor

• Gumball's Nightmare Face while staging a rapid-fire wedding in an attempt to learn their neighbor's name is extremely close to the face a behelit makes when activated.
• When the mobsters show up on the scene, Gary/Harry states "They found me! I don't know how, but they found me!"
• The music during the scene where Gary/Harry and the boys are running from the Russian doberman agents is a pastiche of "Canto at Gabelmeister's Peak" from The Grand Budapest Hotel. The scene where they switch cable cars is a more direct reference.

The Parents

• The judge of the courtroom where Nicole and Richard land in during a flashback very closely resembles the judge from Pink Floyd's The Wall.

The Schooling

• Gumball mixes up Isaac Newton with Mewtwo.

The Spinoffs

• Larry's segment "Barcode Cowboy" parodies the opening of Cowboy Bebop.
• The Internet's algorithm to figure out the perfect show results in "some kids in bellbottoms and a dog solve mysteries, and it's on another station", which is Scooby-Doo. The show has indeed been popular with children for decades and routinely receives a reboot.
• The setup of a restaurant with a bassline in the background is a nod to Seinfeld, which often had its characters eating in a famous New York diner.

The Ad

• Bernie and Ethel's character designs and facial expressions look remarkably similar to the style of Crayon Shin-chan.
• The second half of the episode (along with Bernie's name itself) is a nod to Weekend at Bernie's. The only difference is that Bernie and Ethel are merely unconscious, not dead.

The Stink

• During the beginning, Gumball is dressed as Doctor Strange and Darwin has a costume reminiscent of Wonder Woman.
• The Stink Ape seems to be a reference to the American cryptid Skunk Ape (which is also known as Stink Ape). The appearance of the Stink Ape (and the way mushrooms sprout up then instantly wither around its feet) is a nod to the forest spirit in Princess Mononoke.
• The inside of Gumball's mind is depicted as five Gumballs in Star Trek crew uniforms, including a Russian-accented officer.

The Ghouls

• The characters' costumes include Richard as Kratos, Anton and Idaho as members of KISS, Tobias as Captain Planet, Banana Joe as Pikachu, Yuki as Catwoman, Miss Simian as Ming the Merciless, and Mr. Small as Sailor Moon.
• The creature showing a videotape to Alan and Leslie resembles Samara. Parodies of Freddy, Jason, Thing, and Candyman also appear, and the shadow creature chasing Rocky may be a nod to It Follows.

The Slip

• This episode has a nod to Die Hard and many to Die Hard with a Vengeance.
  • The Delivery Bird is whistling "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" when Richard first meets him.
  • The tune which is prominent in Die Hard with a Vengeance is played again on the ice cream truck.
  • "Gruber's Ices" is painted on the ice cream truck the Delivery Bird borrowed from his brother Hans, a reference to Hans Gruber, the villain in the first Die Hard.
  • The Delivery Bird leads Richard on a wild goose chase into the desert and subsequently stumps him with riddles and false leads as Simon Peter Gruber (Hans' brother) did with John McClane in Die Hard with a Vengeance, only the setting was New York City and the intent wasn't pranks but bomb scares to distract McClane from sabotaging a robbery of the Federal Reserve plus getting revenge on McClane for killing Hans in the first film.
  • The bird has a German accent like Hans and Simon Peter Gruber and "Ode to Joy/Beethoven's 9th Symphony", a favorite tune of Hans Gruber in Die Hard, plays at the end of the episode.
• The sequence where Richard rushes to the hospital looking for Nicole is a reference to the "Loss" meme.

The Buddy

• When trying to show Jaime she can be bad Anais tells her "I'm gonna go medieval on your butt".

The Master

• When Richard takes on the role of GM for the family RPG session he literally dresses up as The Dungeon Master, complete with the red robe and white hair.

The Silence

• "Tweetr" is clearly a parody of Twitter.
• When Darwin roleplays as a spambot, his username is "Sleve McDichael", one of the many infamously nonsensical made up American names from the Super Famicom game Fighting Baseball.

The Agent

• This episode serves as a Whole-Plot Reference to the James Bond franchise and contain nods to the franchise, both subtle and overt:
  • The episode opens with a pastiche of the famous Bond Gun Barrel, with the delivery of Gumball's opening lines mimicking the opening horn blasts of the James Bond theme.
  • Darwin's dress bears a resemblance to Anya Amasova's.
  • Rocky's electrocution plays similarly to Oddjob's, to the point where Gumball points out that "they did give him some odd jobs" in an accent similar to Sean Connery's.
  • The lead-in to the flashback explaining how Gumball and Darwin lost their clothes is a pastiche of Thunderball's opening credits.
  • Principal Brown fills in the role of M, while Boebert subs in for Q.
  • Gumball expects to find the villain "Overseeing his plans in a secret lair, stroking a cat...", and Darwin is later found doing just this — an obvious reference to Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
  • The first "gadget" that Bobert presents to Gumball and Darwin is an "ordinary fountain pen" (which is an ordinary fountain pen), and Boebert later instructs Gumball to twist a black belt "like so" to turn it into a brown belt.
  • After Darwin falls through the grate, Gumball picks up the wig he was wearing and murmurs "It's alright. 'S quite alright, really. We have all the time in the--" before Darwin reveals that he is, in fact, still alive.
  • The scene in which the stretcher (almost) jumps the bridge mimics the (in)famous corkscrew jump from The Man with the Golden Gun. Complete with slide whistle!
  • Boebert's transformation into a submarine is an obvious riff on the Lotus's transformation in The Spy Who Loved Me.
  • Right before being carried off by the wind thanks to Boebert's open parachute, Darwin declares Boebert invincible.
  • Gumball declares that he has "a license to spill, the beans! On you, just to be clear."
  • When returning the tux at the end of the episode, Gumball gives his name as "Watterson. Gumball Watterson."

The Revolt

• Darwin's song near the beginning of the episode parodies "Colors of the Wind".
• The scene with Tobias being chased by a tricycle through the school is based on the iconic hallway scene from The Shining.
• Among the objects revolting is a Luxo lamp repeatedly stomping someone's face in. He's holding a DVD cover of a flying house on balloons.

The BFFs

• Fuzzy is based on a Furby.
• Gumball sarcastically tells Darwin he's off to a Liechtenstein Brony Convention.

The Inquisition

• After Gumball succeeds in turning a human Banana Joe back into a banana, the two dance the floss.
• Superintendent Evil is secretly a cartoon who disguised himself as a human. Now where have we seen that before?

Comics

• One variant of Issue 1's cover features Gumball playing a pinball machine with striking similarities to Black Knight 2000.
• In Issue 2, the local dojo karate master is an onion.
• In Issue 5, a poster advertises "Fight Club Tryouts: Bone-Breaking Fun! Friendship with Yourself!"

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