The Birthday Boy

## Paired With

###

The Hero

## Synopsis

Wander is determined to turn Lord Hater's Doom Arena into the ultimate party palace for his birthday party, but Lord Hater wants to see Wander cower in fear.

## Plot

It's Lord Hater's Birthday, so Peepers and the Watchdogs all chipped in to get him a doom arena as a gift. Hater doesn't seem to care at all, until a wrapped gift appears in the doom arena, revealing it to be Wander and Sylvia. The Watchdogs in the stands boo the duo as Wander calls out to Commander Peepers, thanking him for the invite to Hater's Birthday party. Sylvia facepalms, unable to believe that Wander didn't think the invite was a trap. Lord Hater suddenly jumps to life, excited at the chance to see his most hated enemy cower before him as well as witnessing his destruction.

Wander is busy happily waving to the crowd of Watchdogs while Hater yells at Peepers because Wander is having fun. Sylvia attempts to escape but is unable to open the gate, Wander comments that the party isn't bad enough to want to leave, but it is poorly decorated, and Lord Hater doesn't seem to be enjoying himself. Wander then makes it his duty to ensure that Hater has the best Birthday ever.

Peepers hits a few buttons on the control panel and five gladiator Watchdogs emerge from platforms under the ground. As Sylvia prepares to fight, Wander is thrilled to see more party guests but ponders what they are going to do for fun. He then gets an idea and tells Sylvia to make sure that the gladiators cannot see. Sylvia proceeds to throw sand in their eyes and punch them while Wander brings out some craft supplies and makes a pinata of Lord Hater's face. With the Watchdogs temporarily blinded, Sylvia leads them towards the pinata which they blindly hit with their clubs, enraging Hater. Upon noticing the candy, the Watchdogs swoop down to grab it, cheering.

Hater is furious that Wander is still enjoying himself "at the expense of Hater's face". So Peepers debates what weapon to use next, he ponders between a meat tenderizer, flamethrowers and flying tigers, but Hater impatiently shoves him out of the way and takes control, summoning a giant bottle shaped laser into the arena. Wander see's the laser as a game of spin the bottle and calls Hater "a sassy man". The "bottle" is too heavy for him to spin so Sylvia kicks it for him. While the bottle is spinning, Wander hops on top and gets ready to kiss the person it lands on. The bottle briefly stops on a popcorn vendor Watchdog in the stands so Sylvia smacks the laser with her tail so that it lands on Hater instead. Wander blows Hater a kiss as the laser blasts Hater.

Sylvia is laughing hysterically while Wander still worries that Hater isn't enjoying himself. Peepers climbs up onto Hater's throne and reattaches Hater's jaw, acknowledging that the party isn't going as planned, and so suggests that Hater should hit the big red button on the panel. Upon pressing it, a large purple monster merges from a gate. Sylvia pushes Wander aside and the two charge at each other, but the monster is too strong for her and knocks her flying into the stands. The monster then charges at Wander as Hater excited watches, eager to see Wander cower in fear. However, Wander produces some doggy treats in his hand, befriending the creature by feeding it and rubbing its belly as Hater looks on dumbfounded. The Watchdogs all laugh at the scene, but a sharp piercing glare from Hater has them immediately booing instead.

Seeing that Hater is losing his temper, Peepers tries to suggest quietly vaporising Wander out back then doing cake but Hater refuses, jumping down into the arena, intending to do it himself. Sylvia appears behind Peepers and knocks him out with one punch, causing Peepers to fall onto the control panel and slide to the floor, pushing all of the buttons on the way down. In the arena, all sorts of weapons emerge from the ground surrounding Wander and Hater. Scared, the pen monster runs away and climbs into the stands with the Watchdogs to hide. Hater screams in fear as the weapons emerge all around him but Wander mistakes them for party games. Seeing what was about to unfold, Sylvia seats herself in Hater's throne and orders a bag of popcorn from the Watchdog vendor.

Wander interacts with the weapons as if they were party games and Hater is forced to follow along. Wander successfully limbos under a laser beam but Hater touches the beam on his turn, gets zapped and explodes. Next, a bomb is launched from a canon which Wander catches. He gives a cry of "Hot potato!" then throws the bomb to Hater. They both run through the arena throwing the bomb back and forth between them but it eventually explodes while Hater has it. A pit of lava with floating spiked platforms appears and Wander and Hater play "musical chairs" hopping between the platforms to get to safety. Wander reaches safety first, causing the last platform to fall before Hater can reach it so he falls into the lava. They then have a race to a large X mark. Wander is in the lead but then decided to let the Birthday boy win, he stops just before the X as Hater stumbles onto it activating the meat tenderizer, flamethrowers and flying tigers.

After the mauling, Wander picks up Hater's jaw and reattaches it for him. Hater tells Wander that he should be scared and Wander admits that he is scared, scared that Hater isn't enjoying his Birthday party. Wander whips out his banjo and proceeds to play A Happy Birthday Song for Hater. Sylvia grabs Hater and returns him to his throne, then uses a party hat launcher to give all of the Watchdogs party hats. Peepers is shown to be tied up on a chair and gagged in the background while Wander performs his song. Wander manages to encourage the Watchdogs and the pen monster to sing along while Hater slowly goes insane from the madness and cheerful atmosphere and his face contorts into a tiny "smile". Upon seeing the smile, Wander deems his job done and he and Sylvia leave the arena in an orbble bubble, calling back "Happy Birthday Hater!" Hater's "smile" falls in response.

## Characters

Wander

Sylvia

Lord Hater

Commander Peepers

Watchdogs

## Songs

* Doom Arena
* Your Happy Birthday Song

## Gallery

The gallery for this episode may be viewed here.

## Credits

Story by

Lauren Faust , Ben Joseph , Alex Kirwan , Craig McCracken , Tim McKeon , Johanna Stein , Dave Thomas & Greg White.

Written by

Ben Joseph

Storyboard by

Eddie Trigueros

Directed by

Eddie Trigueros

With the voice talents of

Jack McBrayer as Wander

April Winchell as Sylvia

Keith Ferguson as Lord Hater

Tom Kenny as Commander Peepers

Fred Tatasciore as The Pit Monster

## Ending Animatic

Lord Hater remains in his seat as Commander Peepers cleans up the aftermath of the party while whistling the tune to "Your Happy Birthday Song". The pen monster comes to eat the cake, and then eat Hater.