Fight Fighters

"Fight Fighters" is the 10th episode in Season 1 of Gravity Falls. It premiered on September 14, 2012.

Overview
After being challenged to a fight by Wendy's boyfriend Robbie, Dipper is shocked when his favorite Fight Fighters fighter, Rumble McSkirmish, comes to life to defend him, but Dipper soon loses control of Rumble and has to find a way to stop him from seriously injuring Robbie.

Synopsis
The episode begins with Soos showing Stan Pines and Mabel the Arcade and its games. He explains that he learned his daily life skills from them, and walks over to Old Man McGucket, who is seen playing a dance arcade game that is out of order. Stan inserts a token to a machine and wins immediately, but realizes the game is a scam when it then tells him to insert another token. Dipper and Wendy are then seen playing a game called Fight Fighters; Dipper wins the round, and Wendy playfully insists that he cheated. They start another round, Wendy saying that she is going to punch the ref and Dipper saying he would help. Dipper gets annoyed when Robbie enters the room, showing Wendy a flier for his band. Then he pushes Dipper out of the way, and plays against Wendy himself. As the two are competing against each other in Fight Fighters, Wendy tells Robbie that she is going camping with her father, but Robbie doesn't listen due to the fact that he is too busy focusing on the game. He then puts his arm around Wendy and glares at Dipper with suspicion and contempt.

Back at the Mystery Shack, Mabel, Dipper, Soos, and Grunkle Stan are playing a card game. Mabel wins, and Stan complains that Mabel doesn't even know what they're playing, and Mabel's guess is Go Fish. They soon hear an electric guitar being played outside, which Soos thinks is a radio station inside his head but is actually Robbie. Stan asks if Robbie is the twerp who is always making 'goo-goo eyes' at Wendy, and Soos adds that Robbie called him "Big Dude" once, which hurt his feelings. Mabel then asks if Dipper wants her to send Waddles on him but Dipper tells her he'll handle it. Once outside, Dipper informs Robbie that Wendy is out camping with her family that day, which surprises Robbie although she told him the day before. Dipper then says Robbie doesn't pay attention to her under his breath. But Robbie hears it and gets angry. He tells him that he knows that Dipper likes Wendy, and pulls out his phone, threatening to call her to tell her. Panicking, Dipper slaps the phone out of Robbie's hands, accidentally breaking it. He hurriedly says he would buy Robbie a new one, but Robbie picks up Dipper and tells him that he's "not gonna get off that easily". Stan then opens the window to tell them to stay right there and that he knows a fight when he sees one. Robbie then throws Dipper on the ground telling him to meet him at Circle Park at 3:00 before walking off, upsetting Grunkle Stan. Dipper gets scared and says he needs to hide but Stan says he can face him like a man or hide like a wimp, to which Dipper chooses to hide like a wimp at the Arcade.

Meanwhile at home, Mabel and Waddles are watching a TV show called Why You Ackin' So Cray-Cray? Stan is fixing a jackalope and goes to get glue for it from a shelf but can't reach it. Mabel asks if she could get a ladder, but Stan gets worried and tells her that ladders are more dangerous than a loaded gun, above that he tell her he owns ten guns. Mabel thinks that he has a fear of heights and tries to test him.

At the Arcade, Soos is playing a game call Nort, a parody of Tron. He then wonders what it's like to go inside a real video game, so he unscrews a side panel and climbs inside. Dipper is then seen playing, and then losing, a game of Fight Fighters. His next quarter falls out of his hands and rolls next to the game. When goes to pick it up he notices a code "to unleash ultimate power." Dipper enters the code because "he likes things that are ultimate". The game shuts off, which he thought meant that it didn't work, but then a beam of light fires out of them machine. The game asks Dipper to "select a character", Dipper picks Rumble McSkirmish, and Rumble then leaps from the video game, surprising Dipper. Rumble smashes a change machine and tells Dipper he needs power-ups.

At home, Mabel tries to figure out if Stan has a fear of heights by giving him high-heels. Stan tells her he doesn't have a fear but when he sees a sky diving show he realizes he does. In the kitchen, Dipper gives Rumble a half-eaten taco for a power-up. Rumble declares he must defeat the world's greatest Fight Fighters, then asks Dipper to take him to the Soviet Union. Dipper says that going to the Soviet Union would be tough for a number of reasons, and instead suggests that he could fight Robbie, and lies when Rumble asks if Robbie killed his father.

Rumble and Dipper then walk through town when Rumble asks Dipper his opponent's special moves. Dipper replies he doesn't need to worry about that, because after he sees Rumble he's gonna wet his pants. Rumble then says that his wet pants will be no match for a pipe that he got from punching an oil drum. Dipper tells him just to give Robbie a good scare. Rumble pulls out a sword and says "Yes! With this!" Dipper then says that the street they are walking down has dangerous litter.

Mabel then asks Stan if he wants to go for a walk while wearing a blindfold, he agrees and she takes him to the top of the water tower. In the meantime, Dipper and Rumble approach Circle Park and see Robbie. Dipper tries to call the fight off but Robbie disagrees. Dipper then sends Rumble out. Rumble tries to kill Robbie, but when Dipper tells him to stop, he says he won't stop until Robbie is dead. Dipper then goes to Barrels & Crates, Incorporated. Robbie escapes Rumble, who still won't stop. Soos, with bits of the Nort game still stuck on him, gives Dipper a ride.

At the water tower, Stan takes off his blind fold and immediately grabs the rail because he is scared. Robbie then climbs the water tower to get away from Rumble. Dipper tries to get Rumble to stop, but he doesn't listen and knocks Robbie of the water tower. He catches him and nearly kills him, but Dipper interrupts him and reveals he lied. Rumble believes Dipper is the bad guy he needs to fight. Dipper decides to be a man and enter the fight. Unfortunately, Rumble severely injures Dipper. Rumble gloats in victory, but is erased when the "Game Over" sign appears.

Stan finally gets over his fear of heights and confirms it with a cocky dance, however Mabel now has a fear of heights. Dipper allows Robbie to beat him up, but Robbie decides not to. Wendy, who has returned from camping, asks the two if they were fighting. Dipper tells her that they were trying to stop two other people from fighting, and Wendy affectionately calls them "her boys". Dipper and Robbie then agree to hate each other in secret.

In the credits scene, an 8-Bit version of Gravity Falls is shown, and the player can select Dipper ("I have short pants and determination!"), Mabel ("It's-a me, Mabel!"), Grunkle Stan ("I'm slower, but I jump higher"), or Wendy ("Pick me or whatever"). Soos's head, enlarged to the size of the others, then appears and eats all the characters. Soos then wakes up from dreaming, then goes back to sleep. In the credits there is a cryptogram.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Zach Paez
 * Alex Hirsch
 * Directed by:
 * John Aoshima
 * Storyboards by:
 * Erik Fountain
 * Mark Garcia


 * With the Voice Talents of:
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Alex Hirsch - Grunkle Stan and Soos
 * Brian Bloom - Rumble McSkirmish
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy
 * TJ Miller - Robbie


 * Additional Voices:
 * Dee Bradley Baker - Waddles and the announcer of "Why You Ackin' So Cray-Cray?"
 * Kimberly Brooks
 * Linda Cardellini
 * Matt Chapman
 * John DiMaggio
 * Alex Hirsch - Old Man McGucket
 * Daryl Sabara
 * Casting By:
 * Sara Goldberg

Production notes

 * See also: List of allusions and List of goofs.

Trivia

 * Viewership: This episode was watched by 2.943 million viewers on its premiere night.
 * The pixel sprites were animated by Paul Robertson, who also designed the sprites for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.
 * The code Dipper uses to unleash Rumble McSkirmish differs from the code written on the side of the arcade machine. Dipper's code goes as follows: back, back, hold, forward, back, forward, down, hold, quarter circle, forward, triple punch.
 * The Barbeque restaurant that Rumble attacks oddly contains pizza being cooked.
 * When Soos is showing Grunkle Stan and Mabel the arcade, the unnamed hillbilly is seen playing a game with Bill Cipher on it.
 * Soos says that his cousin Reggie had died because he fought a teenager. Later, he says that before the episode, he and Reggie were talking about it.

Series Continuity

 * Mabel mentions Waddles attacking Robbie again as he did in the previous episode.
 * Robbie and Wendy continue their relationship started in the previous episode.
 * Robbie's graffiti Dipper had mistaken for a muffin in "The Inconveniencing" appears once again.
 * The episode was foreshadowed in "The Time Traveler's Pig" when Blendin tries to escape Dipper and Mabel and his suit briefly flashes into an image of the Arcade.

Cryptogram

 * During the end credits of this episode, there was a cryptogram that read "HLIIB, WRKKVI, YFG BLFI DVMWB RH RM ZMLGSVI XZHGOV." Once decoded, it reads "SORRY, DIPPER, BUT YOUR WENDY IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE." This refers to Super Mario Bros. games, in which Toad says to Mario when defeating a fake Bowser, "Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!"