Attack of the Nurfs

## Media

  Rooster Teeth

Ending theme"Clone Wars"

**"Attack of the Nurfs"** is the 2nd episode of the fourth season of *Camp Camp*, and is the 42nd episode overall. It premiered June 8th 2019 on the RT FIRST site, and June 15th, 2019 on the Rooster Teeth website.

## Plot

The episode begins with the kids making arts and crafts projects in the mess hall. David walks by to let everyone know they're doing great an excellent job, adding that Max, who appears to be dumping paint into a spinning pottery wheel, reminds him of the famous painter Vincent van Gogh. Max's response is, "I definitely wanna kill myself like van Gogh." Nikki eats a popsicle and gives the stick to Nurf, declaring that arts and crafts give her a sugar rush. Nurf isn't into the activity at all and asks if they can do something else, to which David happily offers to let him have a go at some
wind chimes. Nurf replies that David really doesn't get him at all. Cameron Campbell enters abruptly, wheeling in a white cubic device labeled Print-O-Magic X-Thousand. Neil is immediately excited, and Nikki mistakes the device for a creepy-crawlers oven, however Campbell informs her that it is in fact a brand-new used 3D-printer. He believes it will help with various "camp things, such as baseballs, tether balls, and canoeing... balls." He also assures them that it wasn't a 2am impulse buy for printing untraceable firearms. David holds up a pinecone and says that he prefers the original 3D-printer; mother nature. Nobody dignifies this with a response and Campbell shoves the printer into the "business center" (ie: the food serving area at the back of the mess hall) and says it is strictly off-limits. He locks the door and puts the key under a fake rock, so that the kids don't get into any "dimensional trouble" in the meantime, then salutes Campe Diem before slamming the door behind him. Approximately 3 seconds later, Max gets a devious glint in his eye and arches an eyebrow.

Some time later, the activities field is all aflutter with excitable kids and their newly-acquired 3D-printed objects. Nerris made a staff, Preston made a little gold statuette, Dolph made a model of the Eiffel Tower, Ered made a wingsuit flying outfit, and Harrison made a straitjacket. He asks Nikki what she made, who says she couldn't decide, so she just printed a list of ideas for things that she could print later. Over at the science table, Neil is in the process of setting up a massive machine that is later revealed to be a Hadron Collider. Off to the side, Max steps out of a pristine white pod, and when Space Kid asks what it is Max informs him that it's a sensory deprivation tank. "If you can't beat 'em, isolate yourself and listen to whale sounds." David appears next to Gwen, holding a broken badminton racket, with the intention of starting a game. She hadn't seen him coming due to the fact that she was wearing a VR headset, and David is shocked to see this. Gwen tries to justify the headset as being able to allow her to, "immerse myself in entirely new worlds full of mysterious and amazing life. Also porn." David is disappointed and says he often wonders if Gwen is truly happy in her work (spoiler alert: she isn't).

Nurf announces to everyone that there's someone he'd like them to meet, and out steps Nurf 2, who says the sun feels great on his "deep-seated father issues." Neil is extremely shocked that Nurf managed to clone himself, as it is "literally physically impossible", but Nurf corrects him, saying that he didn't make a clone, he made a copy. Max says that the only thing worse than one Nurf is another Nurf, and promptly locks himself inside the sensory deprivation tank. Nurf disagrees with this, saying that the only way to understand himself is to talk to himself, and now he can physically do that with a companion. Nerris declares the copy to be an act of necromancy, and the two Nurfs punch her into the air while simultaneously shouting, "shut up nerd!" They then decide to go into the woods to "shave their names into the fur of a defenseless woodland creature." They perform a secret handshake/dance before running off.

Nurf asks Nurf 2 if he's ever felt like no one understands him, and the two start talking and joking around. From the bushes emerges Nurf 3 in the midst of their discussion. Nurf 2 explains he was made to talk to Nurf about his psychological issues, but that has no-one to vent to in return, and hopes it's okay that he made another copy. Nurf is more than okay with this, and the trio have a musical montage filled with fun activities such as playing frisbee, dropping a bucket of water on Quartermaster's head, piercing their bellybuttons, and eating ice cream while watching the sunset. Nurf asks if it's weird that the thought of purple nurples hadn't crossed his mind at all today, and Nurf 2 says that the art of bullying makes no sense when you have friends. Nurf says, "it's almost like my lack of companionship forced me to fall back on the only learned behavior I have from childhood," and Nurf 3 concludes, "violence against others." Nurf stands up and announces a pledge, "no more stealing lunch money, no more pantsing, no more turkey tiddlywinking! I RENOUNCE BULLYING!" and that last sentence echoes over the lake. Nurf says that being understood is so cathartic, and that none of the other "turd sacks" at camp understand him. He wishes it could just be the three of them at camp forever, and the two copies look at each other with a devious smirk.

The next day, Neil has finished building his Hadron Collider, and explains to Nikki its purpose of smushing particles together to create The God Particle, which he intends to rename "The Neil Particle." Nikki suggests he workshop the name, but also that it looks pretty dangerous. Neil admits, "there's a small chance that it could create an event horizon that turns everyone's bones into noodles and dumps them into an alternate universe, but that's a risk worth taking to advance modern science." Nikki fondly remembers Noodle Bones being the name of her first cat. Due to everyone being off playing with their new toys, there's no mischief around camp and Nikki is so bored. Neil offers to let her be his lab assistant and says the first step is to build up his self-esteem because it helps him think better. She tells him his rosacea is especially rosy and emasculating today. Of course, that isn't exactly what Neil had in mind.

Nurf walks over to Space Kid's tent to wish him good morning, but find he's missing. In searching for him, he comes across a large crowd of Nurfs gathered near the mess hall, and says that this event is "so many conflicting emotions." Nurf 2 explains that he turned on "the best friend making-machine", and shows off that many of them are in the process of bullying some of the other campers. There are a few trying to shove Space Kid's circular globe head into a square trash can, a line of them repeatedly shoving Preston into a locker, and another lineup of Nurfs intending to give Nerris a noogie through increasingly violent methods, such as brass knuckles and a belt sander. Nurf 2 says, "isn't this great?" and Nurf isn't so sure, as some of the clones are quite dumb; two of them are repeatedly punching a tree for fun. Nurf 2 says that with them being a copy of a copy, there'll be some degradation in intelligence, but who cares because isn't this what Nurf wanted? One of them runs up and flicks Gwen on the nose before running off. Upon being told that this isn't good, David's only response is the fear of Campbell yelling at him as "his voice gets really loud". Gwen calls out to Nurf and the entire crowd responds. She says they're not gonna do "that thing where all the clones think they're the real Nurf," as it's played-out and she's not in the mood. One of the copies says he doesn't think it's played out, and the group begins babbling in agreement. David looks at this and says they're doomed. Meanwhile, Max is watching the "campocalypse" unfold from his front row-seat in the sensory deprivation tank, sipping a glass of cucumber water, when one of the Nurf copies suddenly opens the door and drains all the water. Max floats out with it, and is left laying on the ground saying, "so this is the feeling that drivers murderers over the edge."

Meanwhile, Nurf 2 has organized a rally for the Nurf clones, saying that "for too long we've had to share this world with freaks, share it with spazzoids, and share it with turd sacks!" as the crowd jeers and boo's. He declares that, "today is the day we make the camp atmosphere so miserable, so not conducive to fun or friendship for anyone but ourselves that everyone will be forced to leave! The camp will be ours and ours alone! Nurfs, today is our independence day!" The crowd erupts into cheers and Nurf 2 orders them to march. Nurf quickly runs off to get to the rest of the campers, who are all strung up by their underwear (except for Nerris and Space Kid who are hung by their capes) along the row of lockers that Preston had been repeatedly shoved into earlier. Upon informing them that the copies are coming, they tell Nurf he has to be the one to stop them, and ask how he would go about defeating himself. Nurf says he hates it when someone prods at his insecurities, and while he could try doing that he says that he's also renounced bullying. Max yells, "Fuck that! Times to unleash the best burns you've got!" Neil says that he could then unleash his Hadron Collider to really "fuck shit up" (in layman's terms) to get rid of the copies, and they jump into action.

The horde of Nurfs arrive on the scene, and Nurf starts unleashing insults, such as "congratulations for having achieved the nobel prize in excellence of man-boob growth", "you're like a cautionary tale for birth control was given sentience, and also fat!" and "the daddy issues store called - NOT! They'll never call, just like dad!" Nurf 2 asks what he's doing, because they're brothers, and Nurf says he's not a brother, only a copy, and bellows so loud that his hair stands on end and he gets a glowing aura around him. He then yells, "NOW!" at Neil, signalling to turn on the Hadron Collider. Neil delegated this task to Nikki, and she flips the switch. The copies are quickly swept up into a portal created by the collider, but the original Nurf also starts lifting off the ground, so he tells them to shut it off before he gets sucked in. The switch Nikki's using doesn't respond, and Neil says they're at critical mass so it can't be shut off. In the nick of time the campers create a human lifeline in a desperate bid to save Nurf, all strung together by holding the person in front of them by their ankles. Nerris grabs Nurf's hand at one end, and Nikki is at the base of the chain sinking her teeth into a tree. Fortunately for them, Campbell disrupts the collider's power source by turning on a blender, thus shutting it off and saving them from being sucked into another dimension. David nervously tells Campbell that he can explain, and Campbell says, "explain what? How you got innocent pre-pubescent fingerprints all over my 3D-printer, making it impossible to trace anything back to a single perpetrator? Thanks, camparinos!" he then walks off while chugging his smoothie.

Nurf 2, now missing everything from his hips down, sadly asks, "but what about the revolution?" David says he thinks the group has learned a valuable lesson today, but Nurf takes over explaining it. He says that all his life he's had no friends, and had to resort to name-calling and knuckle sandwiches to pad his own self-worth, but that he should have been building bridges with others instead of breaking them down, and that it took an epic barrage of insults directed at himself to realize that. "Right, new friends?" he asks, but finds that everyone has completely deserted him, aside from Nurf 2 who can't even walk. Nurf is sad in the realization that he was ditched, and Nurf 2 grumpily folds his arms and says, "oh cry me a fucking river."

## Features

### **Main Characters**

* Nurf
* Nurf 2 (first appearance)

### **Supporting Characters**

* Max
* Neil
* Nikki

### **Minor Characters**

* Gwen
* David
* Cameron Campbell
* Space Kid
* Harrison
* Nerris
* Dolph
* Ered
* Preston Goodplay
* Quartermaster

### Music

* "Camp Camp Song Song" (Opening Theme)
* "Clone Wars" (Ending Theme)

## Gallery

*Main article: Attack of the Nurfs/Gallery*
## Trivia

* According to Miles Luna from the "Camp Camp Waffle Watch-Along" live stream for the season 4 finale, this was the first script that Kirk Johnson turned in, as he was being tested to see if he would be a good fit for the writing team (previous to this, his only role was providing the voice of Pikeman). Miles loved it so much that they immediately decided to make it an episode with very few changes.

### **Cultural References**

* Nikki mistakes the 3D-printer for a creepy crawlers oven, a real-life toy that existed in the 1990's.
* Nurf, Nurf 2, and Nurf 3 have a fun montage to a parody tune of Randy Newman's "You've Got A Friend In Me", popularized by its use in the Disney-Pixar film Toy Story.
* The "turkey tiddlywinking" that Nurf denounces isn't a real thing, at least not according to Google. It could potentially have something to do with the real-life game of Tiddlywinks, though that is pure speculation.
* When Nurf bellows at his clones so hard he develops a bright aura, it is most likely a reference to the technique from Dragon Ball Z called going Super Saiyan.
* Gwen and the campers 3D print things for their own personal interests:
	+ Nurf makes a copy of himself with the purpose of being a companion.
	+ Nerris makes a staff presumably from *"Dungeons and Dragons"*.
	+ Preston makes a award that resembles Shakesphere, Queen Elizabeth I, or an Oscar Statuette.
	+ Ered makes a flying wingsuit
	+ Dolph makes a model of the Eiffel Tower. referencing Hitler's invasion of Paris.
	+ Harrison makes a straitjacket resembling one worn by Harry Houdini.
	+ Nikki prints a piece of paper with ideas on what to print later since she was unsure of what to make.
	+ Max builds a sensory deprivation tank.
	+ Neil builds a miniature but still semi large Hadron Collider.
	+ Gwen builds a VR headset equipped with pornography.
	+ It's unknown what Space Kid built but it's likely he didn't know how the machine worked or built something space related off-screen.

### **Continuity**

* This episode marks the second time Max references suicide: his response of, "I definitely wanna kill myself like van Gogh," at the beginning of the episode. van Gogh died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the ripe old age of 37.
	+ His first reference to suicide was in "Journey to Spooky Island", in which he says "What's scary is how much I want to kill myself right now" in response to David's not-so-spooky story about the dog that got caught in his laundry.
* Nurf pierced his bellybutton in this episode, though by the very next episode ("Who Peed the Lake") it is clearly shown that he no longer has the piercing.