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"Winner Take All" is the ninth episode of season two and the overall 22nd episode of the Teen Titans series.

Synopsis[]

Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy are transported to an alternate dimension where they along with four other heroes, and Gizmo, are invited to compete in "The Tournament of Heroes" to see who is the best hero. But is the tournament really what it sounds like, or is it hiding a more sinister agenda orchestrated by the tournament's host, the Master of Games?

Plot[]

In the Titans Tower living room, the Titans are playing a card game where a winner is declared by placing down a card that triumphs over a different element or force of nature. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven lose to Robin when he plays the Thunderstorm card. Robin gloats and declares himself "invincible", but Cyborg challenges him to a winner-take-all round, as he still holds one last card. Robin carefully plays a Tornado card, which is indeed powerful enough to declare a winner, but Cyborg defeats him easy when he throws down the Meteor card, a legendary one-in-a-million wildcard that dominates over all the others. Robin is upset from losing to Cyborg and Raven and Starfire reassure him that winning is not everything considering how well he competed. Robin almost agrees with the girls by telling them that winning is, by definition, the only thing that matters and demands a rematch. Before Robin can take on Cyborg again, the two of them, along with Beast Boy, get transported to an alternate dimension, leaving Starfire and Raven confused.

Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and five other guys find themselves mysteriously transported to an elegant rotunda in some unknown dimensional plain. The one responsible welcomes the eight champions and announces himself as the Master of Games, inviting them all to compete in something he refers to as "The Tournament of Heroes."

The Master explains the nature of the tournament; a friendly competition for some of the world's greatest young champions, consisting of...

  • "Robin: The combat-equipped Kung-Fu-trained one-man-army"
  • "Hot Spot: A human flamethrower with a fiery temper to match"
  • "Cyborg: The high-tech teen fighting machine"
  • "Aqualad: A water-breathing telepath with mastery over surf and sea"
  • "Wildebeest: Four-hundred pounds of primal heroic fury"
  • "Gizmo: The nasty little boy with a really big brain"
  • "Beast Boy: A quick-witted changeling who can turn into any animal"
  • "Speedy: The agile archer with an unstoppable arsenal of energy arrows"

When introductions are finished, Beast Boy asks the Master if the Winner walks away with some sort of grand prize (which he immediately hopes to be a moped). The Master explains that the grand prizes for the victor do not include a moped, they are indeed magnificent, along with worldwide glory of being the greatest young champion on Earth. All the warriors talk it over and quickly agree to the tournament and the Master allows them time to prepare. During this time, the warriors exchange meet-and-greets, like Beast Boy and Aqualad. However, Cyborg is confused at the presence of Gizmo, since he thought it was a tournament of only heroes, which Gizmo is not. Robin and Speedy, seeming doppelgangers to each other, exchange pleasantries and the Master reappears and declares the initiation of Round One, beaming the warriors to their respective arenas.

WinnerTakeAll24

The contenders

Cyborg is dueling Gizmo in an endless field of floating platforms, Beast Boy is dueling Wildebeest in a literal cage match suspended in a black void, Speedy is dueling Aqualad in a circle of platforms surfaced above an endless ocean, and Robin is dueling Hot Spot in an endless tunnel. The battles start and Robin dodges a nasty firebomb from Hotspot while Gizmo has Cyborg on the run with his inventions.

Speedy's battle in Aqualad's turf proves difficult until the platforms, his only source of solid ground, rise out of the ocean and reveal themselves as towering columns. With the higher ground, Speedy now has Aqualad on the run with a barrage of arrows and manages to nail him with an electroshock arrow. Just when he believes victory is his, Aqualad recovers and creates his own literal water tower with his hydrokinesis, leaving Speedy defenseless against a sucker punch.

Beast Boy and Wildebeest's cage match is a stalemate due to both warriors being adept when it comes to brute strength until Beast Boy nails Wildebeest square in the nostrils with a skunk spray attack and Hotspot has Robin on the run. However, columns rise from the ground which are useful in Robin's favor as cover, and he manages to gain the upper hand upon temporarily neutralizing Hotspot with an ice disk.

Cyborg finally manages to get the better of Gizmo's glider before Gizmo quickly recovers with his spider suit. Just when he thinks he has Cyborg at his mercy with the spider legs, Cyborg conquers him with a surprise attack from the sonic cannon in his left foot which sends him flying straight up. When he falls back down into Cyborg's grip, he tears off his tech pack and the Master of Games announces Cyborg the winner. Just before Aqualad can claim victory, Speedy is declared the winner by flash-freezing his water column with an ice arrow and him along with it. Robin ends up getting the best of Hot Spot with his martial arts while his pyrokinesis remains disrupted, but Beast Boy loses to Wildebeest after shifting to every animal he can before eventually landing on a tyrannosaurus rex, the cage's integrity gives out under the unsustainable weight and he is zapped away when he falls into the void.

The winners are beamed back to the great hall and Robin congratulates Speedy's victory while Cyborg expresses concern about Beast Boy's defeat. Worried about their friend, Cyborg and Robin ask about the fate of the losers and the Master of Games tells them that he and the rest of the losers have been escorted home safely. He advises everyone to remain at ease and beams them to their own quarters where they can rest up and prepare the second round. Once alone in his sanctum, the Master expresses personal glee in his tournament, cryptically claiming that whoever is victorious, he wins all the prizes and then turns to the octagon-shaped ruby around his neck, which seems to be emanating distressing voices.

In the dead of night, Cyborg wakes up Robin to tell him that he cannot get a signal through to the tower to see if Beast Boy is alright. Robin explains it's because they're in an another dimension and tries to tell him everything seems to be fine since the Master specifically said all the losers were returned exactly wherever they were plucked from safe and sound. However, Cyborg's real concern is that he is not sure this thing is safe and feels that there is something weird about the game. Just before Robin can go with him to do some poking around, he immediately assumes Cyborg is trying to trick him the same way he did in the card game earlier. He believes that by staying up all night "investigating", Robin would have gotten no sleep while Cyborg can rejuvenate his own energy by recharging his batteries in fifteen minutes, tiring him out so he can win the tournament easier. Robin ignores further explanation from Cyborg and closes his door on him, leaving Cyborg to investigate by himself. He wanders the corridors until he apparently spots Gizmo pass by on his spider walker. To get a better look, Cyborg deploys his hand as a remote-control spy drone and, much to his shock, discovers that it is the Master of Games somehow equipped with Gizmo's spider legs. The Master then personally debuts his newfound powers and equipment, the very powers obtained from the vanished champions.

WinnerTakeAll88

Cyborg discovers the Master's true nature

Cyborg confronts the Master, but is quickly defeated and drawn into his gem, revealing that this was the Master's plan all along; the Tournament of Heroes was never about prizes or obtaining worldwide fame as the Champion of Champions. But rather, an alibi for him to steal everyone's powers and weapons by imprisoning the losers one by one in the amulet he wears around his neck. With the tournament halfway done, he has gained the gadgets to Gizmo's battlesuit, Hotspot's pyrokinesis, Aqualad's hydrokinesis, Beast Boy's animal shapeshifting, and now, with Cyborg as his latest addition, his sonic cannon.

The next day, while Robin, Speedy, and Wildebeest ready themselves for Round two, Robin wonders why Cyborg is not there, and the Master tells them that Cyborg was disqualified for attempting to sabotage his fellow competitors, to which Robin believes since he accused Cyborg of attempting to cheat him last night. With this new development, the Master of Games tells the remaining heroes that they must now engage in a final three-way battle, with Robin completely unaware of the Master's evil plan.

Robin and Speedy team up to overpower Wildebeest in a planetoid-like arena since neither of them have the kind of power to defeat him one-on-one. Eventually, the time comes for them to face off and they do all they can, with all their weapons, and Robin ends up prevailing. However, Robin's unsportsman-like hunger to win forces Speedy to ask him if his victory was really worth it, since this was, after all, supposed to be a friendly competition. Speedy is then beamed away and the Master of Games claims his arsenal as his own when he is imprisoned in the ruby (along with Wildebeest).

After Robin wins, The Master of Games returns him to the great hall and names him the Champion of Champions for his triumph. Robin then asks the Master if this means he is supposed to receive the prize now, to which the Master reveals there would be prizes. However, he did not say they were for Robin, and explains that he may be the winner, but losers are his to keep. That's when Robin finally realizes the Master's grand plan and he reveals it all to be true when he reveals himself as the most powerful being in the world now that he has the powers and weapons of seven different warriors at his command. Determined to rescue the losers from his greedy clutches, Robin manipulates the Master of Games into accepting him to a one-on-one battle for all the marbles, to which he accepts. Robin finds himself on the run against such a powerful foe, but manages to outmaneuver the Master long enough to deal a critical strike to the amulet, which upon impact releases Cyborg and Speedy (the former admonishes Robin for not believing him, but the latter is grateful). With the three warriors reunited, Cyborg uses his sonic cannon to keep him distracted long enough for Speedy to get a clear shot into his jewel. Robin claims victory for everybody by shoving the arrow all the way into the jewel, releasing all the fallen warriors and rendering him powerless. The Master of Games honorably concedes defeat and vanishes, leaving only his jewel behind.

WinnerTakeAll165

The Master of Games defeated

With the "contest" over, Robin makes the other heroes all Honorary Titans, except for Gizmo, who is not a good guy. Robin apologizes to Speedy for his unsportsman-like behavior upon learning that winning is not everything. However, Speedy responds right back that it was that same drive to win that ultimately saved the say. Robin admits his secret to success was that it was always his drive to win the motivated him. But when he faced the Master, he fought to rescue his friends instead of just fighting for himself. Now that the warriors all have a way to reach each other whenever they need help, they bid farewell and use the Master's jewel to return home.

However, after they all disappear, several heroines appear, among them Starfire, Raven, and Terra. As the Master of Games somehow appears before them, his jewel mysteriously repaired, welcoming them to the Tournament of Heroines, Starfire states to Raven, "I have a bad feeling about this".

Characters[]

Main Characters[]

Supporting Characters[]

Villains[]

Other[]

Credits[]

Trivia[]

  • This was the final episode of the series to air in the United States during Cartoon Network's "Powerhouse" era and therefore the final episode with the original 1992-2004 Cartoon Network logo on the bottom right corner. 3 months later (June 14, 2004), the era was replaced with the Cartoon Network "City" era with a newly updated Cartoon Network logo which would be seen on the bottom right corner on the remaining episodes of Season 2 as well as the remaining seasons of the series.
  • It is unknown why Gizmo is in this competition since he is not a hero, which is mentioned by Cyborg in the episode. Also, it is unknown why Robin gave Gizmo a communicator if they were enemies.
  • In this episode, it is apparent that Gizmo would probably want to become an honorary Titan, or at least get his hands on a Titan communicator in order to obtain some information from them.
  • It is possible for Argent, Kole, Bumblebee, Jinx, Pantha, Wonder Girl, or Ravager to be amongst the unseen heroines: However, Starfire and Raven actually first met Argent, Kole, Bumblebee (in person) Pantha in later episodes; Jinx was not a Titan in Season 2 (although Speedy, Hot Spot and Wildebeest were not Titans until the end of this episode and Gizmo was never a Titan at all), and Wonder Girl and Ravager were only seen in the comics.
  • Even though the Master of Games captured Gizmo and used his powers, he and Gizmo were both joined with the Brotherhood of Evil, rather than fighting each other, likely due to their equal hatred of the Titans.
  • Terra joined the Teen Titans in the episode before this one, yet she is not seen during the card game at the beginning (perhaps a reference that she was sending information to Slade like she was in the episode "Betrayal"). At the end though, she appears behind Starfire and Raven and is in the next episode "Betrayal".
  • This was the last episode of the show to premiere on the Saturday Video Entertainment System block before it was cancelled 5 weeks later (April 10, 2004).
  • This episode's title song is sung in Japanese.
  • Jim Cummings, the voice of Disney's Peg-leg Pete and Winnie the Pooh, guest stars as the voice of Master of Games.
  • When Robin is accusing Cyborg of attempting to cheat his way to victory, he believes Cyborg can recharge his batteries while Robin gets no sleep. While Robin does have the right idea about Cyborg recharging his hardware, he forgets that only half of Cyborg's brain is electronic, which means the human half would still need as much sleep as Robin's in order to recharge his hippocampus.

Continuity[]

  • This is the only episode in the series Terra appears in that does not focus on her prominently.
  • This is also the only episode in the series to feature Terra without the presence of Slade.

Cultural references[]

  • The Master of Games' absorption power was used as inspiration for Kevin 11 in Ben 10.
  • Aqualad became an honorary Titan at the end of "Deep Six", but after Speedy beats him, Robin and Cyborg are not worried about him.
  • The VS character screenshots contain elements from the online game Battle Blitz.
    • The VS character portraits of the eight male heroes are similar to the VS character sprites in the online game.
    • Robin's VS character portrait also resembles his sprite in the game.
    • The text font in the screenshots are loaned from the game.
  • It should be noted that this episode bared a resemblance to Mortal Kombat, as the champions were put to fight the competitors that rivaled them or the Master of Games could have possibly handpicked them to combat each other, much like how Shang Tsung decided who was going to battle next.
  • The explosion scene from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker has been used when Hot Spot threw a fireball at Robin, missed, and exploded.
  • At the end of the episode, Starfire makes a reference to a common Star Wars gag by saying "I have a bad feeling about this" when teleported to the Tournament of Heroines.

Goofs[]

  • Robin gave Aqualad a Titans Communicator even though Robin already gave Aqualad one in "Deep Six".
  • When the "champions" are discussing whether or not to participate in the games, Robin's voice is heard, but his mouth is not moving.
  • When the Master of Games is discussing with Robin about the final match between them, the color of the skin on Cyborg's arm changes from Cyborg's skin color to Master of Games'.
  • Despite Speedy's bow being broken by Robin during their fight in the finals, it is fixed after he is freed from the gemstone. This may be a result of the gem's powers.
  • While the Master of Games presents Gizmo, Gizmo's gloves were missing when it shows his bare hands.
  • Before Gizmo, Aqualad, Wildebeest, and Hot Spot get transported to their battle arenas, we can quickly see that Gizmo had pupils on his eyes.
  • When Cyborg faces Gizmo, we can see that his left ear looked like a real human ear.
  • Everybody said that the meteor card was a "one-in-a-million wildcard". However, when Cyborg was gloating on his victory, another can clearly be seen buried under the grand pile.

Gallery[]

Titans GO
Click here to view the gallery.

Transcript[]

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Click here to view the episode transcript.

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