| Dueling Buttons | Transcript | Gallery |
| Dueling Buttons | |
|---|---|
| Season 2, Episode 24 | |
| Production Code: 212b | |
| |
| Written by Kyle Hart | |
| First Aired In: April 2015 (Canada), May 2015 (America on Boomerang) | |
| Diary Mode: Anger Diary Mode | |
| Next/Previous Episode | |
| Previous Curse of the Metrognome |
Next Hear Us Rock Part 1 |
Dueling Buttons is the twenty-fourth episode of season two of Grojband. It is the fiftieth episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Corey competes in a video game contest for a game called Solo Shredder. Trina enters it too, in order to impress Nick, but turns out to be much better at it than Corey is.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Kin and Kon about to play a game of checkers, where Laney puts down a piece and starts the game. However Kin and Kon both take out game controllers and start mashing buttons to try to control the pieces. Laney gets annoyed at this and tries to tell them board games don't use controllers, but the brothers are too preoccupied to hear her. Corey then calls out that he's going to win the new Solo Shredder competition. Kin and Kon gasp out in shock, but Laney asks what Solo Shredder is. Kin and Kon go into another Rock Lore and explain how Solo Shredder is the hardest guitar video game of all time, and the top player was Savage Fred who had a score deemed scientifically unbeatable. However, Corey declares that "science isn't very good at math", as he vowed to beat Savage Fred's high score.
At the game stadium, Savage Fred appears on a monitor and begins yet another competition. Corey arrives and tells Fred that he challenges his score, to which Fred bluntly states that he was yet another person who would fail to beat his score and leave him stuck in the job. Nonetheless, he begins the contest and awaits someone to be Corey's challenger. Meanwhile, Trina and Mina are on the other side of the street having finished a shopping spree, with Mina carrying all of Trina's shopping. Trina disgustingly looks at all the gamer nerds, before Mina notices that Nick Mallory is there. Trina approaches Nick and commences her usual gushing over him, as well as insulting all of the gamers. But to her surprise, Nick shows a fondness for gamers, including gamer girls. Hearing this Trina is determined to become a gamer girl and win over Nick. She steps onto the stage to challenge Corey, who is amused that Trina is attempting to face off with him at playing the guitar. Before starting the gamers choose a game icon to use during the game, Corey chooses a skull, while Trina finds an icon that looks like Nick and is eager to go with that. However, as the tournament begins, Corey runs into trouble as he realizes it is a new version of Solo Shredder and he's unfamiliar with the controller. Trina begins to dominate in the contest while Corey repeatedly hits the wrong buttons. In the end, Trina comes out victorious, while Corey is despaired at having lost to his older sister and arch-nemesis.
A while later back in the garage, a red-eyed Corey is seen obsessively playing the game while repeatedly chanting "got to beat Trina". The others watch with concern, where Laney asks what was wrong with him. Kin explains how Corey has gone into game withdrawal, and that his mind is completely bent on playing Solo Shredder. They also notice a pungent odor coming from Corey, which Kin states is a "stink shield" which gamers create to ward off distractions. Kin then speculates that maybe they could bend his obsessed mind elsewhere. Kin gets Corey to look at him, and holds up a hypnotic spiral while repeating "You don't need to beat Trina, you don't like this game". However, this is ruined when Kon joins in Corey's chants, leading Kin to hit him on the head in disbelief. Kin then puts attention on Corey's hand, calling it a "gamer's claw", which has been disfigured due to the prolonged gaming. He explains that soon it will be rendered useless for anything except playing Solo Shredder, to which Kon adds "and maybe scaring babies". Laney reasons that if they put a real guitar in his hand he'd snap out of it, however, Kin is still keen on Kon's idea and suggests driving down to the preschool, but a hard stare from Laney makes him comply. They take away the game controller, and put his guitar back in his hands, and then remind him of how much fun he had playing it before. However they discover that Corey has once again forgotten how to play the guitar, and he picks up the game controller again. Kin becomes despaired at the results, but a furious Laney kicks the controller out of Corey's hands. The controller flies towards the TV, turning it on. Buzz Newsworthy appears on the screen and explains after Trina shamed her brother, she now had a hit single called Nick Nicky Nick which is "the hottest thing ever". Corey is enraged by this, and he cannot stand how Trina is living his dream and has made the hottest song ever. Laney tries to calm him and tells him to breathe, only for Corey to snap at her saying "I've been breathing all my life, and it's got me nowhere!" Corey then asks for some quiet time, however, Kon begins humming Nick Nicky Nick, which infuriates Corey and he states it didn't even have real lyrics. However this gives Corey an idea, and he realizes the reason he lost to Trina was that he was playing and not performing. He declares that he's a "frontman" and he performs, so if he had lyrics he would own a rematch. Laney points out that once again he doesn't have lyrics, but Corey devises a plan, realizing that Trina was winning because she liked touching Nick's face, so if she could touch Corey's face it would send her into Diary Mode. He instructs Kin to take photos of his face and he poses as Kin takes a few shots.
Back at the stage, Trina upstages yet another challenger and has finally won over Nick's approval. Corey then returns and declares a rematch, which Trina does not wish for at first. However, upon hearing Nick approves of rematches, she eagerly agrees to it. Before the match begins, Corey signals to Kin (who is above the monitors) and he puts in a memory stick to hack the game and change Nick's face to Corey's. As Trina starts playing she sees Corey's face appear, and refuses to touch it. Mina tells Trina that she has stopped dominating and Nick walks off, looking disappointed. This enrages Trina and she snaps her controller in half. Savage Fred announces that Trina has forfeited and Corey is the winner. This angers Trina enough to send her into Diary Mode. Corey then catches the diary and they perform the new song Sick Tricky Lick and a Pick Flick, which uses the same tune as Nick Nicky Nick, but with actual lyrics and being longer. Grojband performs so well that they manage to beat Savage Fred's score. Savage Fred is relieved that someone finally managed to beat his score, and asks Corey if he's ready to be the new face of the game. However, Corey turns down the offer, and explains in his moral that there was more to music than just being a face, and expresses his regret at going through his game withdrawal, to which Laney once tells him he could've used those as lyrics. However Savage Fred states he really wanted to be let out and reveals he was literally stuck in the monitor, but Grojband just laugh it off and Corey closes the garage door, ending the episode.
Characters[]
Major Roles[]
Minor Roles[]
- Savage Fred
- Mina Beff
- Buzz Newsworthy
- Donkey (non-speaking cameo)
- 3D Dave
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- This is the only episode where Trina sings.
- This is the first episode to feature a Wicked Cool Transition which isn't accompanied by words. As the transition when Kin takes Corey's photograph only features the sound of cameras snapping.
- This episode reveals that Corey has a middle name.
- Kon breaks the fourth wall by saying "I wonder what Trina's gonna do this episode."
- Running Gag: Corey losing to Trina
Episode Connections[]
- This is the fifth time Corey loses the ability to play the guitar. It previously occurred in Pox N Roll, Wish Upon a Jug, Who Are You, and Curse of the Metrognome.
- This is one of the rare instances where Corey displays immense aggression towards Trina, contrasting his usual approach. He also did this in Wish Upon a Jug, when they engaged in their "wish war".
- Interestingly when Grojband is performing Sick Tricky Lick and a Pick Flick, Corey is referred to as "The Front Man" which is the name of the Super Hero Identity he made in Super Zeroes.
Cultural References[]
- Solo Shredder is a parody of Guitar Hero.
- Savage Fred is a parody of Fred Savage.
- The name of this episode may be a pun on the song "Duelling Banjos."
Gallery[]
For more information about this section, visit: Dueling Buttons/Gallery