Draft:The Copycats

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"The Copycats" (Official Clip) on YouTube

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While grocery shopping, Gumball and Darwin encounter Chi Chi and Ribbit, two children who mimic their every word and action.^[2] The situation escalates when the rest of the Watterson family discovers their own doppelgängers. Gumball realizes that the copycats are the stars of a Chinese animated series, The Incredible World of Chi Chi, which is profiting by imitating the Wattersons' lives.

​After a confrontation results in a stalemate, the Wattersons attempt to encourage the copycats to be original through a musical number, "Copycats," but the imitators simply perform a mirrored version of the song. Anais concludes that the copycats are physically and narratively bound to follow their lead. To force them to stop, the Wattersons engage in increasingly life-threatening stunts, betting that the copycats' lack of "plot armor" will eventually catch up to them.

​The conflict culminates in a high-speed truck chase toward an unfinished bridge. While the Wattersons narrowly escape the resulting explosion thanks to Anais's quick thinking, the copycats—who lack an Anais counterpart—plunge into the gorge. The following day, all traces of the Chinese series have vanished. The episode ends on a meta-note: while celebrating their uniqueness, the Wattersons "glitch" and suddenly speak with new voices, a reference to the real-life transition of the show's voice actors.^[3]

The episode marked the final performance of Jacob Hopkins and Terrell Ransom Jr., who were replaced by Nicolas Cantu and Donielle T. Hansley Jr. due to the original actors' voices changing as they aged.^[4][5]

​The episode was specifically designed as a parody of Miracle Star (三元奶粉), a Chinese advertisement campaign and animated series that had been accused of plagiarizing the show's character designs and animation style. During the production of the episode, the creative team sought legal counsel to ensure that their designs for the "Chi Chi" family—while clearly satirizing Miracle Star—remained distinct enough to avoid copyright infringement claims from the creators of the parody's subject. This created a "meta" legal layer, where the show had to legally protect its right to parody its own imitators.^[6]

In a 2025 retrospective, creator Ben Bocquelet reflected on how episodes like 'The Copycats' allowed the team to address industry challenges through metafiction.^[7]

"The Copycats" received critical acclaim and is frequently cited by critics and fans as one of the series' most inventive episodes. It was praised for its bold meta-commentary on intellectual property theft and its direct response to the Miracle Star plagiarism controversy.

​Reviewing the episode for Mattalahmode, critics noted that the premise was "brilliant" and exceeded high expectations, particularly praising the "Copycats" musical number for its clever mirrored animation. The episode’s climax—a high-stakes truck chase—was highlighted as one of the darkest and most effective action sequences in the series.^[9]

In a 2025 interview regarding the series' revival, the production team noted that the narrative techniques used to transition lead actors—first perfected in episodes like "The Copycats"—remained a core part of the show's creative philosophy.^[10]