< Adventure Time

Adventure Time/Tropes S to Z


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Tropes A-C HERE!

Tropes D-H HERE!

Tropes I-R HERE!

  • Sadistic Choice: The guardian of the wishes in "The Limit" tried to force Finn to make one of these and choose between saving Jake and the psychic tandem war elephant he and Jake went through the maze to get. Finn wished for the elephant, got control of it and then had it wish to save Jake and fly them out.
  • Sanity Slippage: Jake in "Gut Grinder".

Finn: You are crazy, dude! Like, actually crazy.

    • Also, Bubblegum towards the beginning of "The Duke".

Bubblegum: (insane laughter)

Jake: Ha ha, she's completely bonkers...

    • Jake again in "No One Can Hear You", to creepy levels.
    • Revealed to be why Ice King is the way he is. 
  • Sarcasm Mode:

Finn: I shall conquer my fear.
Fear Feaster: Yeah, right...
Finn: I will! I'll conquer my fear!
Fear Feaster: Of cooouuurse you will, and I live in a two bedroom apartment that doesn't smell like vomit. Hahahahaha, sarcasm...

Ice King: ZAP!!

  • The Scream: Lemongrab. Just... Lemongrab.
  • Scenery Porn/Scenery Gorn
  • Schizo-Tech: Up to Eleven, but Justified Trope with the After the End setting.
    • Also a Scavenger World so Finn can have videogames and videocameras and far too many Macs.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Finn in "Power Animal". Jake in "Evicted". Flambo in "Incendium".
  • Screw Destiny: Finn does everything in his power to prevent Jake's prophesied death. He succeeds.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Princess Bubblegum emerges from her operation as a thirteen year old in "Mortal Recoil" Ice King immediately loses all interest and flies out the nearest window.
    • Near the end of "Belly of the Beast", Jake decides that he's had it with Party Pat and goes off to watch TV. 
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The Lich was sealed away in amber by Billy, and it was for the good of everyone, as the Lich is the Ultimate Evil and an Omnicidal Maniac seeking to destroy all life. He mind controlled the easter egg snail and got free.
    • The Lord of Evil was sealed in the Nightosphere, possibly by his daughter Marceline. At the end of the episode, Finn banished him back.
  • Sealed Evil in a Duel: Stormo, a Candy Spinx created from Finn's DNA to combat the evil, power mad Goliad, traps Goliad in a psychic duel for all eternity.
  • Secret Diary: Or it is secret until Finn and Jake find it in his (the Ice King's) room. 
  • Secret Test of Character: Refusing to "Slay this unaligned ant!", and attacking the test-giver instead was the correct answer to Finn's last test before claiming the Heroes' Enchiridion.
    • "Dad's Dungeon" had elements of this until Jake, who know everything that is going on, tells Finn.
    • Inverted with the Magic Man. His test is about not helping others. Finn fails at first.
  • Security Cling: Finn and Princess Bubblegum, to each other, on pages 404 and 436 of this storyboard for "Slumber Party Panic". Left out of the actual episode, however.
  • See You in Hell: Finn says, "I'll see you in the Nightosphere, you sick freak!" very darkly right after he sends Marceline's soul sucking Dad back to the fiery pits of the Nightosphere.
  • Sequel Episode: "Crystals Have Power" for "Tree Trunks".
    • The episode "The Creeps" touches on events that occurred in "Mystery Train".
    • "From Bad to Worse" is this for "Slumber Party Panic".
    • "Beautopia" for "Susan Strong".
    • The season four episode "Hot to the Touch" for "Incendium".
    • The Nightosphere two-parter ("Return to the Nightosphere" and "Daddy's Little Monster") this for "It Came from the Nightosphere".
    • The upcoming "You Made Me!" for "Too Young".
  • Serial Escalation: In terms of creepiness. Name anything creepy about this show--the Mind Screw ending of "Tree Trunks" and "Evicted!", the Nightmare Faces Marceline, Peppermint Butler's desire for flesh--it doesn't matter. ALL of that was topped by this. Holy. Freaking. Crud. According to Adam Muto, this is just the beginning. [dead link]
    • They outdid themselves again with those creepy freaking clown nurses in "Another Way", which legitimately freaked out most people who watched the episode and undoubtedly scarred many children for years to come. Prepare to lose sleep.
    • They did it again with those three freaking scary fruit witches in "Dad's Dungeon", two of whom ate the third voraciously. Bonus points for getting GORE PAST THE CENSORS.
    • "Return to the Nightosphere" and "Daddy's Little Monster". Need more be said?
    • If this chart by storyboarder Cole Sanchez is any indication, season four will get more and more awesome as it progresses.
  • Serious Business: "2 + 2. SOLVE IT OR DIE."
  • Shifting Sand Land: The Desert... of Doom.
  • Ship Sinking:
    • Marceline dispels any implications of her getting with Finn any time soon in "Go with Me".
    • In "Too Young", PB turns 18 again. She says that Finn should just move on because "That was 5 years ago!" Which is even more spiteful than the above example, considering the episode up until that point was Ship Tease upon Ship Tease.
      • Of course, at the very end... there may still be hope. 
        • Finn now has a crush on Flame Princess at the end of the episode "Incendium". This could mean that he is now getting over Princess Bubblegum.
    • In "Fionna and Cake", Fionna sinks the Fionna/Gumball ship when she realizes that she's not interested in dating him.
  • Ship Tease: Basically the entire plot of "Go With Me", up until the Ship Sinking by Marceline mentioned above. Note that relationships with both Bubblegum and Marceline were teased throughout the episode, only to be put down... until "Mortal Folly" and "Mortal Recoil" in which the amount of teasing for Finn and Bubblegum's relationship skyrocketed.
    • The entirety of "Too Young" was one huge tease for Finn x Bubblegum, even the title card, until the ending.
    • "What Was Missing" had a lot of this for Bubblegum x Marceline.
      • And, at the same time, more for Finn x Bubblegum.

~What am I to you? / Am I a joke, your knight, or your brother? / What am I to you? / Do you look down on me 'cause I'm younger?~

    • "Incendium" provides the possibility of a new ship: Finn/FlamePrincess
  • Shotacon: Finn and Tree Trunks.
  • Shout-Out: Has its own page.
  • Show Within a Show: Heat Signature.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Brief one given by Finn to the Lich, which snaps Finn out of the Lich's mind control.

Lich: Aren't you cold, Finn?
Finn: ...NO, I'M NOT! I'VE GOT A SWEATER ON!!

  • Similar Squad: Billy, when compared to Finn. His main adversary was the Fire Count, from whom he rescued a Cotton Candy Princess, and he had a magical dog. To top it off, both got hair as a gift from their respective princesses and both fought the Lich.
  • Single Tear: The Ice King has one at the end of "What is Life?"
  • Sinister Geometry: Subverted in the Soft People, the Cube People, and Spiky People. They're actually pretty nice, but the Spikey People love group hugs.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: Jake, in the episode, "Ocean of Fear".
  • Sitting Sexy on a Piano: Tree Trunks in the title card for "Tree Trunks".
  • Slasher Smile: Princess Bubblegum gets this when considering the idea of bringing the Duke of Nuts to justice.
  • Sleep Cute: Finn and Jake, at the end of "The Eyes". Honorable mention to the Ice King. Finn mentions in "Gut Grinder" that he watches Jake when he sleeps, no doubt due to this.
  • Slow Motion Drop: There's one for Finn's tear at the beginning of "Crystals Have Power".
    • There's also one for Lumpy Space Princess's beans in "Heat Signature".

Lumpy Space Princess: MY BEEEEAAANS!!!

Finn: (after a scene transition) Ah... everything's back to normal.

Princess Bubblegum: I hope you grasp the full consequences of breaking promises.
Finn: Heck yeah! If I break a Royal Promise, I get to fight zombies, throw slumber parties, awake Gumball Guardians, and -- and --
Princess Bubblegum: All right, all right!
Finn: -- and REVERSE DEATH ITSELF!

  • Spank the Cutie: Xergiok is oddly fond of this.
  • Special Guest: Neil Patrick Harris... yes, Neil Patrick freaking Harris... voiced Prince Gumball in "Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake".
    • Multiple guest stars have actually appeared on Adventure Time but it seems only NPH's appearance was publicized. Other people that appeared on the show were Grey De Lisle as the Ice Queen, Lou Ferrigno as Billy, Mark Hamill as The Manifestation of Fear/Fear Feaster and the Dark Magician in "The Enchiridion!", Andy Milonakis as NEPTR, Martin Olson as the father to her daughter's role of Marceline, Ron Perlman as The Lich, Henry Rollins as Bob Rainicorn, Andy Samberg as Party Pat, Laura Silverman as Ethel Rainicorn, and George Takei as Ricardio.
    • Weird Al Yankovic as the Banana Man in "New Frontier".
  • Special Person, Normal Name: Billy and Jake mostly.
  • Species Surname: Both Finn and Jake have these. Also Mr. Fox, Mr. Goose, and Mrs. Cow from "Storytelling".
    • It seems all Rainicorns share this trait.
  • Spider Sense: Jake has the ability to sense when Finn is about to cry. "It's kind of a mother/daughter thing", apparently.
    • His Gender Flip counterpart Cake also has a spider sense. When her tail frizzes, she senses trouble.
  • Spiteful Spit: Marceline does this to PB in "What Was Missing". Needless to say, she gasped. ...A lot.
  • Split-Screen Phone Call: In "Go With Me" between Finn and Princess Bubblegum then between Jake and Marceline.
  • Spoiled Sweet: Lumpy Space Princess.
  • Spoiler: Though the spoilers don't actually happen "in-show". A lot of the season one storyboards could be viewed online before their episodes even aired. But hey, it would be fun to watch the episodes to see if anything got changed.
    • Pen Ward blatantly mentioned at Comic-con that Flame Princess would be Finn's new love interest before "Incendium" aired. However, he didn't spoil her destructive personality and only called her "intense" (a word that a member of the audience laughed at).
    • TV Guide spoiled the fact that the short stories in "Five Short Graybles" are centered around the five senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing). It wasn't supposed to be revealed until the end of the episode. It really makes "Huh? You still haven't figured it out?" less funny.
  • Spoiler Title: There is a season four episode called... "The Lich". Do you think it has something to do with the Lich?
  • Spoof Aesop: Taken pretty much any Aesop the show presents, a more blatant example is a wizard turning people into body parts and not turning them back until they realized how much of a jerk he was. The message here ("some people are jerks and not worth your time") isn't necessarily a joke, but it's pretty pointless considering you can't tell if someone's going to screw you over until you try to help them out.
  • Squeaky Eyes: Finn has fun with this in "The Real You".
  • Stalking is Friendship: At the end of "New Frontier".
  • Standard Hero Reward: Slime Princess tries to do this with Finn, to his dismay. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Finn and Flame Princess. Especially since she seems to think that he's a water elemental.
  • Status Quo Is God: In "When Wedding Bells Thaw", Ice King almost gets married to Old Lady Princess, but it turns out he had cursed her so she would marry him. Finn and Jake foil the marriage, and it's back to capturing princesses for the Ice King.
    • Also occurred in "Too Young", when Princess Bubblegum, who was transformed into a 13 year-old at the end of the last season, had to be transformed back into an 18 year-old in order to reclaim the kingdom from the Earl.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: One of the many reasons why Marceline's ex, Ash is a dick.
  • Stealth Pun: 
    • Death in, "Death In Bloom", does a Death Metal drum solo in a music duel with Finn.
    • Also, Finn wanted to throw never-ending pies at Jake's face. Think about it.
  • Stop Helping Me!: In the episode "Hot to the Touch" Jake and NEPTR constantly thwart Finn's attempts at convincing Flame Princess to stop burning down the goblin kingdom by extinguishing her flames, which is shown to be quite painful and serves only to fuel her rampage.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The episode "Slumber Party Panic" reveals that candy people explode when they're scared. Thankfully, the effect appears to be reversible since poor Starchy is just fine at the end.
    • When the Lich reaches his power well in "Mortal Folly", a particularly impressive green explosion occurs.
    • When Clarence finds out he killed Warrior Princess, he binges on spray cheese. So much so he explodes.
      • No wonder Jake didn't like spray cheese.
  • Stylistic Self Parody: How Jake Lampshades the fact that Finn doesn't appear to have a nose.

Jake: Bet you wish you had one, right?

  • Stylistic Suck: Usually averted: since the show takes place After the End, it would make sense for no one to really know how to properly play instruments, but some characters are decent musicians (Ice King, Jake, Marceline...)
    • Parts of "Adventure Time With Fionna and Cake" are written like a Fanfic. Because it is.
    • The show as a whole, actually! Pen's artistic style calls for everyone to look extremely simplistic and lazily designed (almost a laid-back style) with no joints for characters' noodley limbs and faces that could be summed up as "two dots and a line". The storyboarders just roll with it and still manage to make everything look pretty damn impressive.
  • Subtext: A lot in the first season, before the post-apocalyptic setting was fully obvious. The episode "Tree Trunks" may have had some concerning death, senility, and aging (it certainly spawned multiple theories about how the show was a dream playing out Finn's psychoses and subconscious fears, so there's something there). "The Jiggler" also had a lot about parental abandonment. In general, the show's love of Does This Remind You of Anything? combined with Finn's status as a young, traumatized orphan leads to a lot of unsettling imagery.
    • It's very apparent in the season 4 premier, "Hot To The Touch." The entire episode consists of Finn running doggedly after Flame Princess because he "like" likes her while Flame Princess is trying her damnedest to make Finn pay for "hurting" her and toying with her emotions (which was Jake's doing, no less). In what has to be one of the show's sadder moments, Finn defeatedly asks himself why he can't just like a normal girl while breaking down into tears. This seems to grab Flame Princess's attention, who (mistakenly) believes Finn to be a water elemental; hence why even if the two did care for each other, they could never be together because they'd only hurt one another. Anybody who's ever loved someone that either just wasn't good for them or hurt them badly can understand this very adult problem and will probably shed a tear or two when they see it for the first time.
  • Subverted Catchphrase: In "Slumber Party Panic". Finn says "What time is it?" to Jake, who questioningly replies "Adventure Time?" Finn replies, "No, it's time for Seven Minutes in Heaven."
  • Suckiness Is Painful: In "Storytelling" Finn's sucky story-telling only makes Jake even more sick.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality: Flame Princess.
  • Sugar Bowl: Parodied, but not to the point where it's overly sweet.
  • Summoning Ritual: To summon Marceline's father from the Nightosphere, Finn draws a circle with a happy face (as mentioned above in Geometric Magic), poors bug milk on it, and gets Marceline to say a Latin incantation.
  • Super Strength: Jake seems to have this as a Required Secondary Powers to his stretchy powers.
  • Surreal Humor
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: After Jake beats Finn in a tough guy contest.

Finn: Ha! You didn't mash my potatoes! You didn't even make me cry silently into my pillow last night for thirty minutes...

Jake: The bazooka goblin has you in its sights!

Finn: HEY! Don't shoot us with that bazooka!

Bazooka goblin: (giggling)

Finn: Don't you do it...

Bazooka goblin: (still giggling)

Finn: DON'T DO IT, MAN!

Bazooka goblin: Hehehehe... (beat) Okay.

Finn and Jake: Haha, YEAH! (fist pound)

  • Symbolic Blood: The Jiggler's juice in the title card for "The Jiggler".
  • Take a Third Option: In "Another Way", Finn comes to a fork in the road, and is given the choice to go down a path that will make him lose his hair forever, and a path that will make him smelly forever. What does he choose? His way: going through the thorn bushes in the middle.
    • In fact that episode is entirely about that in that Finn sets out on his quest 'because' he'd rather take the third option, further the episode both subverts this trope briefly and than plays it straight towards the end.
  • Take Our Word for It: A short instance of it in "It Came from the Nightosphere" when the Lord of Evil leaves Marceline's house, and another when he shows Ice King his Nightmare Face, causing Ice King to soil his tunic.
  • Take Over the World: Ice King's goal in "Loyalty to the King".
  • Talking Animal: "Storytelling" shows that most if not all animals are capable of speech.
  • The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Played with in Joshua's pre-recorded messages.

Jake: But dad, Finn's already figured that out. He's a good kid with a kind heart.
Joshua: Remember, Jake, this is a pre-recorded holo-message. I can't hear you if you're talking to me right now.
(Moments later...)
Jake: But--
Joshua: BUTTS ARE FOR POOPING!

Ricardio: The plasmordial layer is completely independent of the Babylons.
Princess Bubblegum: Wow! That would mean that the Babylons would fluctuate with the piranhananosphere!
Ricardio: Correct.
Finn: They're talkin' about science, man. I can't compete with that!

Jake: Seriously, the only foreseeable threat might be all these trees being swallowed, but they're not hurtin' nothin'.
Finn: Yeah... Good thing [the monster's] not swallowing some deadly volcano lava. That would kill them for sure!
(The monster considers this and heads for a volcano.)

  • Theme Tune Roll Call: "...With Jake the Dog and Finn the Human..."
  • They Just Don't Get It: The bears in "Belly of the Beast" simply don't understand that they will be digested if they stay in the giant's belly.
  • They Wasted A Perfectly Good Burrito: Dang it, Jake!
  • Thinking Up Portals: The Door Lord from "What Was Missing".
  • Third Person Person: Starchie.
  • This Loser Is You: Arguably, the Ice King at the ending of "Fionna and Cake" is supposed to resemble shippers and fan fic writers in general. All done in good fun, of course.
  • Those Two Girls: The two gumdrop girls. They're frequently seen in the background, almost always seen together, and have had absolutely no impact whatsoever on the plot.
  • Throw the Book At Them: Finn throws the Enchiridion at a worm in "Evicted!".
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl:
    • Lady Rainicorn's parents
    • Jake and Lady are typically this, but Jake has used his stretching powers on 1 or 2 occasions to be the bigger one.
  • Title Drop: The term "Adventure Time" serves as the eponymous duo's catch phrase, lead into by Finn saying "What time is it?".
    • There are also permutations of it in a few episodes. "Slow Love" saw "Lady Time", "The Dungeon" featured Jake joyously proclaiming it to be "Lunch Time," and "Susan Strong" has Finn help Susan using "Incremental Time."
    • There are a few "episode" title drops like in "Loyalty to the King", "What Have You Done?", "The Real You", and "Go With Me".
      • From "Too Young":

Lemongrab: TOO YOUNG! TOO YOUNG TO RULE THE KINGDOM! 

    • Parodied in-universe in "Heat Signature" for the movie Heat Signature. Try to figure that out.

"AAAH, MY HEAT SIGNATURE!!"

  • Together in Death: Ghost Princess and Clarence fall in love while they are ghosts in "Ghost Princess". Eventually, though, the trope is played straight when it is revealed Clarence killed Warrior Princess in a war.
  • Toilet Humor: The penalty for stealing boots in "Ocean Of Fear" is poots on the newts. 
    • Boom boom.
      • "He still cries when he poops."
    • Two episodes end with a character farting - "Slumber Party Panic!" has a character yell "Don't squeeze me, I'll fart!" and then Jake does, and in "It Came from the Nightosphere", it's revealed that Jake has been sleeping in Finn's pocket the whole time - Jake turns over and farts, and the episode ends.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The Hotdog Knights. When given a chance at being granted two wishes, they wished for a box and to be blown up, respectively. Hotdog Princess is aware of this and it's why she sent Finn and Jake to help rescue them.
    • Finn and Jake in "Heat Signature". When Marceline clearly tells them that the ghosts will suck their guts out when they (Finn and Jake) go to the their (the ghosts') house, Finn and Jake go anyway because the ghosts say they want to "throw a party in honor of [their] new vampire skills." Meaning that Finn and Jake trust ghosts over someone they've known longer.
    • Cinnamon Bun is shaping up to be this.
  • Too Long; Didn't Dub: Done for joke purposes in "My Two Favorite People." Lady Rainicorn tells Jake a joke in Korean. Jake finds it hilarious, but when Finn asks what it is, Jake says sheepishly that it "doesn't translate very well." According to the storyboards for that episode, it actually wasn't much of a joke.

Lady Rainicorn: I can't think of one... but remember that time we ran naked through that farmer's cabbage patch? He was so offended.
Jake: Let's not talk about that.

  • Tomboy: Fionna
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Marceline and Princess Bubblegum 
  • Trailers Always Spoil: In the week before "Ricardio the Heart Guy" aired, teasers for the episode on Cartoon Network all but completely spoiled that he was evil, despite how ambiguous the first half of the episode tried to make it, and also showed the part near the ending in which Ricardio had tied up Princess Bubblegum and was holding a broken bottle to her, and Jake punched him.
    • The commercial for "In Your Footsteps" spoiled the fact that the bear steals the Enchiridion at the end. It did NOT, however, spoil the fact that the bear gives the Enchiridion to the Lich at the end.
  • Translator Microbes: Jake dropped a neck-worn translator device on the bottom of the lake in "My Two Favorite People." The reason he dropped it was because it only had three output voices: Nightmare, Old Man, and Alien Nerd.
  • Treehouse of Fun: Finn and Jake's house. Not only is it awesome, but it's downright practical, with a generator and a telescope.
  • Tricked-Out Shoes: The funeral lady's shoe (complete with multiple blades and a lasso) when it was fixed with a magic nail by Finn in "His Hero".
  • Triumphant Reprise: All Warmed Up Inside, which is Jake's far more heartwarming take on Finn's song at the beginning of the episode, All Gummed Up Inside.
  • Troperiffic
  • Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Penny from "City of Thieves" is just a cute little girl... and... SHE'S A THIEF! Also, she attempted to stab Finn.
  • True Companions: Finn and Jake, who frequently refer to one another as "brother". Though that may be because Finn was adopted by Jake's parents.
  • True Art Is Incomprehensible: In-Universe; the Ice King's collection of black and white photos in "Still", all of which are extreme close-ups of his penguin, Gunter.
  • True Neutral: The unaligned ant.
  • True Love's Hug: In "Too Young", a "love-hug" from Finn is needed as a catalyst to mix the candy people's biomass with Princess Bubblegum's (to turn her eighteen again)... They still kiss just for the hell of it.
  • Tsundere: Flame Princess, definitely.
  • Turtle Power: Turtle Princess
  • Two Girls and a Guy: Finn, Princess Bubblegum, and Marceline.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: "Too Young".
  • Ultimate Evil: Marceline's father is supposed to be this, but the Lich edges him out due to being not at all funny.
  • Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: In-Universe. 'Theoretical fightonomics' is taught in a worm college Finn and Jake visit.
    • Werewolf Queen always wins, apparently.
    • A season four episode will again feature this in-universe. It is titled "Who Would Win?" and it features Lumpy Space Princess writing a book telling who would win in a fight between Finn and Jake. Holy crap.
  • Uncanny Valley Makeup: Tree Trunks when she tries to seduce an enemy. At the end of the episode, Finn and Jake try it, and Finn looks straight-up scary.
  • The Un-Reveal: Is Susan Strong human or hyooman?
    • In "Beautopia", it's revealed that she's most likely human, though it's still technically ambiguous.
  • Unsettling Gender Reveal: Finn and Lady Rainicorn thought Tiffany was a girl. 
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Finn invokes this against the Fight King not even letting Jake know about his plan to trick the Fight King into giving him his sword/Soul Jar.
  • Unusual Euphemism: "MATHEMATICAL!" and other math-related exclamations are used often.
    • Also, Princess Bubblegum says "What the cabbage?"
    • "Lump" and various conjugations of such seems to be a sort of all-purpose euphemism in Lumpy Space.
    • There's also "shmowzow", "hamacow", "slamacow"...
      • ..."shmow", "spa-mow", "ski-dow", "wow-cow-chow"...
    • A little something from "City of Thieves" with Penny: "It's ri-doo-doo-diculous!" 
    • "Tck tck" *wink + "okay" gesture*
    • This.

Finn: I'm gonna man-handle those guys' banandles!
Jake: (Beat) What?

    • And this:

Princess Bubblegum: Being thirteen is... BLOO-BA-LOOBIE!
Finn: ...Hmm? 

    • "Bazoobs", in one episode.
    • "THAT'S BIZONKERS!!" Frankly, this show is in love with this trope.
    • In "Ghost Princess", the boys use every word they can to avoid using the words "murder" and "die". Pretty silly since they've mentioned death in practically every episode up to this point.
  • Up to Eleven: Marceline's bass amp goes all the way up to XII.
  • Vagina Dentata: The Lord of Evil's Eldritch Abomination form as well as the dimple plant's dangerous form have mouths that seem to resemble this.
    • The slime monster in "Dad's Dungeon".
  • Valentine's Day Episodes: "Incendium". The trappings of the holiday aren't present, but romance is the main theme and the fact that it was airing on "Valentine's Eve" was pointed out in advertisements.
  • Valley Girl: The denizens of Lumpy Space.
  • Vampire Monarch: Marceline the Vampire Queen.
  • Verb This:

Magic Man: Yes, my children! You are so close to the answer!
Finn: Answer THIS!

    • There's this from "Dungeon":

Demon Cat: I'm going to unzip your skin and wear it like a little coat.
Finn: Unzip THIS! (armpit fart)

    • Finn is fond of this. Here's one from "Rainy Day Daydream":

Finn: How'd you get into my imagination land?
Bellamy Bug: I don't know, my young fellow! You tell me. Perhaps I represent your secret desire to be civilized!
Finn: Represent THIS! (smacks bug)

Jake: It's hard to think on an empty stomach... I wish I wasn't so hungry. (sub sandwich appears and Jake takes a tiny bite)
Finn: You wasted your wish, man!

  • Watching the Sunset: Ice King and NEPTR (in Ice King's mind) at the end of "What Is Life?"
  • We Want Our Jerk Back: Donny has to go back to being a jerk so he can repel the whywolves with obnoxygen, thus saving the house people. Oddly, no one directly involved wants him back. The house people, whom he inadvertently protects, don't like him, and the whywolves seem very enthusiastic to hunt the house people to extinction even knowing that they'll die afterwards.
  • We Will Meet Again: The Ice King in the pilot has an oddly verbose example.

Ice King: Foul, noisome whelp! You've not seen the last of my wintery fangs! I'll cleave the warmth from your bones, and stop stiff your beating heart with my claws!

  • Weakened by the Light: The Lubglubs' weakness.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Finn's fear of the ocean.
  • Wedding Day: The Ice King has one to a suitor who appears to willingly love him. He actually Brainwashed her with his engagement ring.
  • Wham! Episode: "Mortal Recoil", hands down. Princess Bubblegum reverts to 13 by bubblegum shortage.
    • Subverted in "Too Young" when she turns back to normal permanently.
    • Turns out the ending of "Jake vs Me-Mow" will play a huge role in Season 4.
    • "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II". After 20 minutes of Finn and Jake watching the Ice King's awkward and goofy video diary, we're suddenly thrown into an Apocalyptic Log chronicling the creation of the Ice King: He was an actual human professor alive during/before the Great Mushroom War who slowly fell into insanity after buying a strange crown from a Scandanavian merchant, causing him to lose his fiancée Betty in the process. The crown gradually turns him into a blue freak with magic abilities, thus he survives the Great Mushroom War and ends up the thing he is today. He doesn't want to hurt anyone; he just wants Betty.
    • "Incendium", of course, ruined the whole FinnxBubblegum idea with the introduction of Flame Princess.
    • "In Your Footsteps". The Lich gains the Enchiridion.
  • Wham! Line: "The Ice Wizard is a weak fool..."--Said by Princess Bubblegum, and is the first evidence of her mind-control under the Lich. Complete with creepy background music!
    • "Well, I've been waiting for six months!" ("No One Can Hear You")
    • "Hello. My name is Simon Petrikov." ("Holly Jolly Secrets")
    • "Dude... I think I have a crush." ("Incendium")
      • Also from that episode:

Flame King: Any prince who is ruthless enough to kill his own bafoon would make an excellent boyfriend... for my evil daughter!

    • "I understand now... You're a water elemental." ("Hot to the Touch")
    • At the very end of "In Your Footsteps":

The Lich: Did you bring the book?

  • What Do You Mean, It's Not Heinous?: Daddy, why did you eat my fries? While this may have been kind of a last straw thing, it's still silly to get so upset over it. On the other hand, it may not have been a last straw thing, but more of a personal hurtful situation she remembers. Sure, the Lord of Evil could go around stealing souls and Marceline couldn't care less, but doing something like that is just personal to her. Plus, it never stated when she wrote the song. It could have been a while before he was banished to the Nightosphere.Then a later episode reveals that the fries were stolen when they were desperate scavengers in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, so maybe it was pretty heinous after all.
  • Whatever: Lumpy Space Princess says this a lot. Even her password for getting into Lumpy Space is Whatevers2009.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: The cat in "Dungeon" has the power to be almost right about everything.
    • It's a Shout-Out to the classic D&D monster, the Displacer Beast. Except this is a "Displaced Beast" GROAN.
  • What the Hell, Hero?/Hannibal Lecture: In "What Have You Done?", the Ice King actually convinces Finn that he's doing the wrong thing by imprisoning him for seemingly no reason.
  • What You Are in the Dark?: Parodied. After becoming king of a small nation, Finn learns that he is not allowed to chew his own food, among other things.

Finn: Oh, come on, give me this.
Servant: I would know, my liege.

Finn: I love zanoits! They're the best!
Princess Bubblegum: Zanoits kill hundreds of thousands of plantoids a year.
Finn: Oh, no, not the plantoids!
Princess Bubblegum: Plantoids produce mellotoxin.
Finn: (beat)
Princess Bubblegum: MELLOTOXIN KILLS ZANOITS!

Finn: This stinkups mega bamm-bamm to the J-stop.

    • The speech at the end of "The Other Tarts" seems to be complete nonsense:

Royal Tart Toter: This cosmic dance of bursting decadence and withheld permissions twists all our arms collectively, but if sweetness can win—and it can—then I'll still be here tomorrow to high-five you yesterday, my friend. Peace.

Jake: Do you know any princesses Finn's age?
Flambo: Oh, yeah, I know just the skirt. And she's way hot.
(cut to the Fire Kingdom)

Ice King: I'm... still not happy.

    • Also Princess Bubblegum being aged back to 18 in "Too Young," right when it seemed that her and Finn would finally become more than friends.
    • Her pushing Finn further away in "Incendium".
    • Just when Finn starts to finally quell Flame Princess's emotions for good so that they can be together, she realizes that Finn secretes water through tears when they hug, so they can't be a couple.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Jake has this mentality in "The New Frontier".
  • You!: Delivered to Finn by Flame Princess in "Incendium".
  • You Need to Get Laid: Ice King, but not for lack of trying. It might be one of the reasons why he's a big nerd. Word of God admits it being true.
  • You No Take Candle: The businessmen's weird grammar in "Business Time".

"We love work for you!"

    • Susan Strong's English in general.

"Finn... help Susan!"

  • Your Cheating Heart: Parodied in "The Monster" when Lumpy Space Princess thinks that a wolf is cheating on another wolf with yet another wolf.

Lumpy Space Princess: TONY!! JESSICA'S CHEATING ON YOU!!

Princess Bubblegum: Finn,... you've gone insane!

Marceline's dad: What wears a dark suit, is completely evil, and is about to suck out all your souls?
Marauder: Your mama.
Marceline's dad: That's right. I'm your mama.

  • Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: Gunter lays an egg in one episode. The characters even lampshade it. That said, the exact details are fairly ambiguous. After all, a magic cat creature hatched from the egg.
    • Also: The Ice King apparently lacks the capacity to differentiate between one penguin and the next, so they're all Gunter, further complicating the issue. When attempting to determine the gender of this particular Gunter, he tries looking at the penguin's general crotchular area, which doesn't do him much good (look up "cloaca" sometime).
  • Your Soul Is Mine: Marceline's dad (Type One).
    • The Drop-ball ghost.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Gender-bent Finn, Fionna has B-grade.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: An experiment gone wrong in the episode "Slumber Party Panic" nearly results in this.
    • "From Bad to Worse" also has this plot. Lampshaded by Bubblegum for once again being responsible for it happening.

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