Adventure Time / Tropes I to R

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Tropes A-C HERE!

Tropes D-H HERE!

Tropes S-Z HERE!

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I

• I Am Legion: Up A Tree has a Shout-Out to Pirates of the Caribbean, woodland creatures living in a tree all in unison repeat this mantra: "In the tree, part of the tree."
• I Cannot Self-Terminate/Mercy Kill:
  • In "Trouble in Lumpy Space", there's a conversation where Finn thinks Jake (in the throes of the Lumps) is about to request this of Finn, should he go completely Lumpy. It's never actually stated, and it turns out that Jake just wanted Finn to still be friends with a Lumpy Jake. "What did you think I was saying?"
  • Parodied in "Holly Jolly Secrets", where BMO can't press the snooze button for his alarm function himself. It's against his programming.
• I Choose to Stay: In "The Comet" Finn politely declines an invitation to ascend from corporeal being because he "put a lot of work into this meat reality."
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The Badlands, the Scary Dark Forest, the Desert of Doom, the Sea of Sure Death...
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The overarching theme of the episode "Betty". After the Ice King is reverted back to Simon by a magic-negating entity known as Bellanoche, he uses Hambo as a catalyst to open a portal to the past to speak with Betty and let her go so she doesn't have to suffer from what he went through. She jumps through the portal to the present and immediately takes the initiative to save Simon's life, taking him to Bellanoche, knocking her out since she has no magical powers to take in the first place, and reverting Simon back to the Ice King. At the end of the episode, she silently watches the oblivious Ice King from a window before flying off on a magic flying carpet.
• I Just Want to Be Beautiful: The Tree Witch. She's still evil, though.
• I Just Want to Be Loved:
  • Snorlock.
  • Ice King.
  • This is the tragedy of AMO, an earlier version of BMO who was built to receive love instead of give it, and can only perceive love as everyone paying attention only to him all the time.
    ALLMO: Such is the cruel physics of love, that those who crave it most will repel it, and only the dang rich get richer.
• I Just Want to Have Friends:
  • Marceline. Though she's gotten better.
  • Even prior to Marceline was the Ice King, whose want for friendship was actually a secondary goal aside from princess capture. When Marceline and Ice King finally meet each other, let's just say their pasts play a vital part in the other's want for friends.
  • Banana man is clearly very lonely.
  "I FIXED THE CAR, ARE WE FRIENDS YET?"
• I Taste Delicious:
  • Almost said word-for-word when Jake eats a crayon drawing of himself in "The Jiggler":
  Jake: "I taste awesome."
  • Also in "Dungeon":
    Finn: "Everybody wants to eat me up. Probably because I'm so sweet."
  • Finn's reaction to soy-people.
• Ice-Cream Koan: The Royal Tart Toter's speech at the Royal Meeting. Justified, as he is very senile.
  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."
• Ice Palace: The Ice King's lair.
• An Ice Person: The Ice King.
  • Current ice elemental Patience St. Pim.
• Ice World: The Ice Kingdom, of course.
• If I Had a Nickel...: After he frees Tree Trunks from the power of a crystal apple, Jake tells Tree Trunks if he had a penny for every time someone has been driven mad with magic power... he'd be Abraham Lincoln.
• I'll Kill You!: Used in various episodes. Not always justified.
• I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!: Happens to Clarence after Ghost Princess dies. He does nothing but eat soft cheese... until he explodes.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Lemongrab's Angrish-filled rants usually condemn people to several contradicting punishments, such as clashing numbers of years in a dungeon.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Lady Rainicorn's parents try to eat Finn, and are later seen enjoying a soy-based human substitute. Which they share with Finn and Jake, who both find it delicious.
• Immortal Apathy: Invoked by Marceline the Vampire Queen in the episode she's introduced in, "Evicted!". She's not actually an example, though.
  Marceline: I'm not mean, I'm a thousand years old, and I just lost track of my moral code.
• Implacable Man: The eponymous character in "Hitman".
• Implausible Deniability: Happens with Jake and the Witch in "The Witch's Garden".
  Jake: I never ate your donuts.
  Witch: Well, you're eating one right now!
  Jake: (mouth stuffed and holding a donut) No, I'm not...
• Impossible Thief: In "City of Thieves", Penny steals the clothes off of Finn's back without him even noticing.
  Jake: Whoa, dude. Why are you naked?
  Finn: WHA!! PEEEEENNYYYYYYY!!!
• Impossibly Delicious Food: The tarts. So much that they require a special transport chamber to carry them through, or "tart burglars" will try to steal them.
• Improbable Weapon User: Finn, theoretically. "In a pinch, [...] [Finn] will use whatever is lying around." [1]
• In-Joke: Several to character designer Natasha Allegri's cat Pancake, both visual and spoken.
• Indirect Kiss: In "Burning Low", after Finn and Flame Princess direct kiss caused FP to burn through the Earth's crust, Finn decided to kiss a rock and give it to FP where she also kisses the rock.
• Info Dump: Oh boy, "The Lich" can pretty much take the cake. After finding The Enchiridion in the possession of Billy, Finn flips the sword on the cover, revealing pretty much everything about The Enchiridion and how the plot of Season 5 will move forward. Through the explanation of a Motor Mouth hologram named Booko, it is told that the Enchiridion has a secret power when combined with the Gems of Power in the crowns of all Ooo royalty. Needless to say, this explanation comes out of nowhere and floors everyone. Quote: " What you see here is a map of the Multiverse. It shows all known dimensions and the links between each of them. This is the dimension that currently contains the universe in which we currently reside...At the center of the Multiverse is a dimension called the Time Room, believed to be the quasi-corporeal dwelling place of the almighty Prismo! The Time Room is a single dimension that exists outside of time. The Time Room produces the Time Waves that are experienced by other dimensions. Some dimensions have permanent links that allow travel to and fro. Others become linked temporally by naturally forming wormholes, and others can become linked artificially by magical portals, torn open by objects of great power. Once the last gem is inserted into the Enchiridion, it will have the power to create a portal to any dimension in the Multiverse. An activated portal creates a time dilation in which either end of the portal experiences a temporal synchronization allowing for the same passage of particles through a non-local region of space-time!" All this was said in under a minute.
• Inherently Funny Words: Every frackin' episode.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Ricardio may well be the creepiest example ever. Basically, take George Takei's face, and paste it, in frightening detail, on an animated heart.
  • Prince Gumball looks surprisingly like NPH.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Peanut Princess.
• Innocent Innuendo: In "Fionna and Cake" shortly after Cake sends Fionna off alone with Prince Gumball to his room, she begins hearing strange noises that sound suspiciously like rape, but is actually Fionna fighting Ice Queen.
  (from far away) Urgh, URGH! GET IT OFF ME!
  Cake: FIONNA?!
• Innocuously Important Episode: "The Creeps" which has the first appearance of Shoko..
  • On a first viewing it seems like "Blade of Grass" is just another episode about Finn acquiring a cool, possibly cursed weapon. But the Grass Sword is one of the most important objects in the entire series, even before it evolves into Fern.
• Inside A Talking Video Game System: Finn and Jake are sucked into Beemo's video game Guardians of Sunshine in the episode... "Guardians of Sunshine".
• Instant Expert: Averted when Finn asks the robot swordsman if he can become a master swordsman after their brief duration of practice. The robot replies "Yes, if you keep this practice up for 10 years, and if you gain a robot body like mine." Finn still has a lot to learn.
• Inter Species Romance: Jake and Lady Rainicorn. Any romance with Finn is also this by default since he's the last human in Ooo. He later proves not to be, though he has yet to have anything more than Ship Tease with a full-blooded human.
• Invisible Wall: Beemo's video game Guardians of Sunshine has this feature; it represents the edge of the screen.
• Invisible Monsters: Forget that; Finn and Jake go through an entire invisible obstacle course in "Rainy Day Daydream" which only Jake could see because it was in his imagination. "A bowl of baby elephants, chainsaws, and doo-doos flying towards us! JUMP, DUDE!" Soon they come to a completely invisible monster, who can't be seen by either Finn or Jake.
• Ironic Echo: In the episode, "Simon and Marcy", Simon cheers up the young Marceline by singing the theme song to Cheers. Later, while defending Marcy from candy zombies, Simon sings the song again to keep control while using the magic crown.
• Irony: The fact that a post-apocalyptic world could be so bright, colorful, and happy (most of the time). Pen has pointed this out numerous times.
• Irrevocable Order: The basic plot of "Hitman".
• Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Played with in "In Your Footsteps", in which a bear starts imitating Finn. Finn doesn't have a problem with it until he believes the bear is trying to outright impersonate him. It turns out neither one was the bear's real goal.
• It Was Here, I Swear!: Repeatedly subverted in "In Your Footsteps". Each time the bear does something strange, someone acts like this trope is in effect, only for it to turn out everyone already believes them.
• It's All My Fault: Finn's exact words when his plan to carry the tarts through the Desert of Doom fails.
• It's Always Spring: Or summer. Unless you are in the Ice Kingdom, yes.
• It's Like I Always Say: A textbook example, since Jake has never actually said this in the show.
  Finn: And like you always say, "Work and fun don't mix..."
  Jake: "...Unless you're a clown." I do say that a lot.
• It's the Only Way: The driving point behind the episode "Another Way".
• I Will Tear Your Arms Off: In the season 6 opener, Martin, Finn's father, is responsible for detaching Finn's arm. In "The Tower," Finn resolves to tear off Martin's right arm and use it as his own.

J-L

• Jade-Colored Glasses: After years of fighting evil, Billy found it completely pointless. Also Finn during the early part of season 6, after losing his arm and having Princess Bubblegum trick him into realizing that wanting revenge on his dad isn't good. Instead of going back to his old, cheerful self, he spends several episodes in an emotionless haze until his real arm grows back.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Donny the Grass Ogre and Marceline.
  • While to a lesser extent, Jake and the Ice King work this trope. Jake embodied this trope in "Power Animal" and "City of Thieves" when despite good intentions he did a lot of harm. The Ice King is ultimately a lonely man looking for love who is Not Evil, Just Misunderstood and a Tragic Villain. His actions are extreme but his goals don't involve anything completely evil.
• Jerkass: The Magic Man (and self proclaimed, to boot!)
  • Donny, at the beginning of his episode of the same name.
  • Xergiok.
  • Marceline's ghost friends, Wendy, Booboo, and Georgy. They didn't care whether Finn and Jake died and actually intentionally attempted to suck out their guts as a joke.
  • Sir Slicer.
  • Marceline's ex-boyfriend Ash, from the episode, "Memory of a Memory", big time. He sold Marceline's prized possession, a teddy bear (the one Simon gave to her) she'd had since she was a little girl, to a witch for himself and wonders why she breaks up with him! Plus, he tricked Finn and Jake into making Marceline forget that he's a jerkass.
  • Finn's dad Martin, who gleefully manipulates everyone around him and pretty much ignores his son unless he needs something. "Min & Marty" adds some hints of Tragic Villain to this.
• Jig Saw Puzzle Plot: What happened during the apocalypse and extinction of humanity, and how the bright land of Ooo came to rise from the ashes has been left mostly a mystery. A few flashbacks,mentions, and circumstantial evidence paint a picture: Pre-fall mankind started the "Great Mushroom War"—at first thought to be a Deadly Euphemism for a nuclear holocaust, it turned out that the "Mushroom Bombs" were similar but distinct from nukes (possibly literally powered by evil energies). The specific effects of the Mushroom Bomb are unknown, but preventing one of them from falling would have allowed human life to continue in some fashion for another millenium. The fallout from the mushroom bombs created a Zombie Apocalypse of slimy oozing goo mutants, as well as the proto-Candy People (giant possibly alive globs of bubblegum) which outnumbered other living creatures within a few decades, with slime and bubblegum growing to cover most surfaces. While the present day Ooo doesn't have anything specifically like the goo monsters (at least until they show back up in "James"), the Candy People are alive and well.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: "Memory of a Memory".
• Journey to the Sky: In an episode after the introduction of Finn's father ("The Tower", from Season 6), Finn attempts to build a tower using whatever he can get his hands on so he can find his dad and take revenge on him. He starts to asphyxiate as he gets higher into the atmosphere, passing out once he hits space.
• Jump Scare: This promo for "The Lich" starts with the Lich's face zooming in directly at you, and it happens so quickly that it's gone before you even realize what just happened. Made even worse since the promo aired directly after "I Remember You".
• Jungle Princess: Jungle Princess.
• Just Eat Gilligan: Averted in "The Limit". Jake actually suggests stretching over the maze to skip the obstacles, but Finn points out the sign that says "NO CHEATING OR YOU DIE".
• Karma Houdini: LSP could be considered one in "Trouble in Lumpy Space"; she kept making things harder for Finn to help Jake by being a Jerkass and when Finn calls her out she says she was only trying to help and makes him feel bad.
  • The three Jerkass ghosts from "Heat Signature" who spend the whole episode beating up and humiliating F & J, and don't receive any sort of punishment for their actions.
  • Magic Man, who turned Finn and a bunch of other people into disfigured body parts to teach them that there are people out there who are just jerks. He gets away scot-free.
    • Though the Magic Man appears to be pulling one of these again in "Sons of Mars", what with turning Jake into himself so he dies instead of Magic Man, the episode ends with Finn punching him in the face, so he at least gets a SLIGHT punishment for his actions.
    • Subverted somewhat after Betty steals Magic Man's powers and madness and leaves him as Normal Man. In "Normal Man," he seeks Finn and Jake's help to rescue his brother, only to be immediately knocked out with a frying pan since the boys have learned not to give him any opening.
  • In the Elements miniseries, Patience St. Pim. Despite being the direct cause of all the damage to Ooo, she's largely forgotten by the end, and seems on track to try it all again in another 1,000 years.
  • Lemongrab gets away with torturing Finn, Jake, and the Pup Gang in "You Made Me!". He even gets a clone of himself. Somewhat justified in that he was insane earlier, and admittedly stops being an asshole and starts acting like a genuinely friendly, nice guy. But we never saw him apologize for anything he did after he snapped out of it.
• Karmic Transformation: When Finn becomes a thief. The irony is that he spent the entire episode chastizing and punishing thieves.
• Kid Amid the Chaos: How Simon and Marceline met. He found her crying in the ruins of a city during the aftermath of the Mushroom War.
• Kidnapped While Sleeping: One episode has Ice King sneaking into the Candy Kingdom and trying to do this to Princess Bubblegum. She wakes up while he is putting tape over her mouth and has him thrown out.
• Killed Offscreen: Root Beer Guy. Also, Sword Shark, though this is Played for Laughs.
• Killer Rabbit: The dimple plant. Ditto Gunter.
• Kissing Warm-Up: Referenced in the episode "The Enchiridion." Finn opens the eponymous book to examine it and finds a page titled "Chapter 5: How to Kiss Princesses." Pausing the scene quickly reveals that the author recommends practicing on a Lip Monster beforehand.
• Kiss of Death: Subverted. A kiss from Death restores your memories.
• Kiss of Life: Finn does this to revive Flame Princess in the episode "Burning Low."
• Knight Errant: This is essentially what Finn and Jake are, from a folklore standpoint.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Lich. He'll Body Surf into snails to avoid notice while making escapes, destroying things that have proven effective against him in the past, and even body surfed into Princess Bubblegum to manipulate Finn into restoring his powers. He is also involved in Princess Bubblegum coming close to dying twice.
  • He came back only this time in the body of Billy and with a plan to open up a portal to another universe. His actions were so well executed, he literally changed the entire show, from plot to color tones.
  • Any episode that involves the Lich is guaranteed to be a deadly watershed moment for the series, from killing Prismo in "Wake Up" to scattering himself across the multiverse in "Crossover." In his most recent appearance, "Whispers," he was the catalyst for Fern's Face–Heel Turn.
• Lab Pet: Princess Bubblegum has a lab rat named "Science" who she not only treats like a pet, despite being involved in some of her experiments, but is also trained to actually perform some complex experiments for her.
• Lady of War: Warrior Princess. Who later turns into Ghost Princess.
  • Bubblegum has moments of this, especially in the Finale trailer.
• Lame Pun Reaction: The ending of "Loyalty to the King", after Finn reveals the Nice King to be the Ice King by gluing his shaved beard back on.
  Finn: Now that's what I call a close shave.
  Jake: (Shakes his head while chuckling through Face Palm)
  • From "Beautopia":
    Jake: Hey, what kinda coffee do you want?
    Finn: Hazelnut! Hazelnut! ...What if your name was Zelnut? And then I would be like, "Hey, Zelnut!"
    Jake: That's terrible...
    Finn: Hey, Zelnut!
    Jake: Noooooo! STOP!
  • From "Reign of Gunters", while the Gunter clones are destroying the bottles:
  Jake: Breaking news: that mystery plan of yours is a smash hit. *Laughs stupidly* Because the�of the glass... I guess all they care about is bottles, huh.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre: Princess Bubblegum gives one in "No One Can Hear You":
  Princess Bubblegum: He wanted our sugar, but I didn't give him any... if you know what I mean. (clicks teeth twice)
  • Another from "Puhoy":
  Finn: Where I'm from, pillows and blankets are used for bedding.
  Roselinen: (raises eyebrow and giggles)Well they're used for that here too!
  Finn: (embarrassed laugh)
• Lampshade Hanging: As offbeat as the show is, they manage to do it without it being cynical.
• Large Ham: The Ice King certainly qualifies.
  • Also Finn:
    "WE GOTTA WAHN DA BEEEEARS!!"
    "You BEARS gotta get outta here! Or you're all gonna be MELTED BAH LAVAH!"
    "IS PB OKAY?!?!?!?!"
  • The Earl of Lemongrab.
    "This castle is in UNACCEPTAAABBBBLLLLLEEEEE CONDITIIIIOOOOOOONNNNNN! UNACCEPTAAAAAAABBBBLLLLLEEEEEEE!"
• Last of His Kind: Word of God has it that Finn thinks he's the last human. There are certainly plenty of humanoids, though.
  • Lady Rainicorn's parents thought humans were extinct before meeting him. They might have the right idea, but it's still ambiguous, since they live in the Crystal Dimension most of the time. On the other hand, since they wanted to eat Finn and they regularly dine on a human-flavored soy substitute, they might be in a position to know about this.
  • In "Beautopia", it's revealed that Susan Strong is most likely human. "The Islands" reveal that her name is Kara, and she is most definitely Human.
  • "Holly Jolly Secrets" reveals that the Ice King used to be human as well, and lived before the Mushroom War.
  • Definitively averted once Finn's Disappeared Dad reappears.
  • "The Islands" story arc reveals that there are plenty of Humans still alive and prospering, although they have no knowledge of the outside world, and the magic and ruins of the land of Ooo are completely unknown to them. Finn's own mother, Minerva, forces them to live in her own utopian society after a deadly virus nearly wiped out what remained of them.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The preview for "Too Young" shows Princess Bubblegum as a thirteen-year-old.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Jake cracks himself up so hard when he teaches a couple of nymphs how to carry a joke, he passes out. Though that last part happens after the scene cuts in the middle of his laughing.
• Lava Pit: Beemo's video game Guardians of Sunshine has one.
• Lawful Good: Finn according to Pendleton Ward. invoked
  Finn: I'll slay anything that's evil. That's my deal.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "I bet I'll get that crystal eye and be back within 11 minutes!"
  • And in "Paper Pete":
    Jake: Ugh, I was reading the same paragraph over and over for like 11 minutes.
  • From "Incendium":
    Jake: Uncle Jake's gotta find you a new love interest.
  • The Ice King has an entire monologue of this while staring into a blank TV in the tree house during "Beyond This Earthly Realm". All with a completely deadpan delivery while staring directly into the camera.
    Ice King: What do you think, Finn? Can we pull back the veil of static and reach in to the source of all being? Behind this curtain of patterns, this random pattern generator. So clever. Right here in every home, watching us from a one-sided mirror.
    Finn: (Beat, Finn stares blankly)
    Ice King: Oh! Sorry, just wizard-talkin' to myself!
  • Jake in the Pirates of the Enchiridion video game:

— Jake: We didn't solve the pirate thing, either! Most of the time, we're a lot better at solving stuff. Usually takes us, like, eleven minutes or so.

• Left the Background Music On: How the "Guardian Angel" meets her end, while playing the xylophone.
• Leg Cling: The opening of the Title Sequence.
• Leitmotif: The angry red squirrel from "The Duke" has his own background music that plays whenever he shows up.
• Lethal Chef: NEPTR can make poison pies.
• Lethal Joke Character: The pig in Card Wars, as far as Jake is concerned. (In practice, it seems to exist as a highly specialized counter-balance to the largely-unstoppable Corn landtype, which Jake prefers.)
• Let's Meet the Meat:
  • Naturally, the candy people. You're only supposed to eat the nonliving candy, but still.
  • Meat Man, the man who supplies Finn and Jake with meat.
• Level Ate: At least a large portion of the Candy Kingdom is made of... well... candy. The sidewalks are made of peanut brittle and the foliages are made of cotton candy, for example.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Marceline is the Dark Feminine, while Bubblegum is the Light Feminine.
• Light Is Not Good: The Guardian Angel.
• Lighter and Softer:
  • Later episodes can be seen this way once the series begins regularly tackling more mature themes. For example, the goofy BreatherEpisode "James II" coming between Finn getting his arm torn off due to his own father's actions and spending the next episode climbing into space to tear said father's arm off for a replacement.
• Lightmare Fuel
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Lightning brings N.E.P.T.R. to life in "What Is Life?"
  • And later resurrects the deceased Root Beer Guy.
• Limited Wardrobe: Played straight and averted. Some characters like Finn and the Ice King always wear the same thing, while others are more varied. Princess Bubblegum especially almost always has a different outfit in every appearance, and Marceline and Flame Princess go through several each. Justified in Finn's case: he apparently only HAS one set of clothes. When he loses a sock, he is forced to go sockless on one foot until it is found.
  • "Bespoken For" grants the Ice King a fine suit, which becomes important later.
• Literal Genie: Subverted by Prismo in "Jake the Dog":
  Jake: I wish...for a sandwich.
  Prismo: Really? You'd waste your one wish on that?...Dude, I can just make you a sandwich.
  • Prismo flat out tells Jake that the wishes he grants always have an ironic twist which is beyond his control and even gives Jake a lecture on the effects of not making his wish as specific as he can
    • Heck, Prismo outright tells Jake the one wish he can make that will fix everything the way Jake wants it to be fixed.
• Literal Metaphor: From "His Hero":
  Billy: It's as if your words are filling a hole in my very being... Wanna watch? (shows hole in his stomach filling up with body mass)
• Little "No": Marceline's reaction when she sees the Ice King fly towards her house.
• Living Shadow: Prismo, an all-powerful being who grants any wish and resides in an alternate dimension.
• Logical Weakness: It is revealed in "The Limit" that Jake cannot stretch too much or his internal organs will be easily damaged from being too thin.
  • Water for Flame Princess.
  • "Mystery Dungeon" shows that the Ice King's magic doesn't work in hot environments.
• Longer-Than-Life Sentence: In the episode Too Young, The Earl of Lemongrab succeeds the throne from Princess Bubblegum after she was turned into a child. He's a tyrant who routinely gives these kinds of sentences to the candy citizens throughout the episode at the drop of a hat, and when Finn and Bubblegum pull a prank on him his line when sending them to the dungeon has become a meme by itself.
  Lemongrab: "ONE MILLION YEEEAAARS!! DUNGEON!" *jail door slams*
• Look Behind You: Zig-Zagged with Ice King and Scorcher in "Hitman".
  Ice King: Look, a supermodel! (Scorcher doesn't move) Look, a hover board! (Still doesn't move) Look, the APOCALYPSE! (No dice) (Beat) Someone got hit in the boing-loings. (Beat) Hit in the boing-loings. (Beat) Boing-loings. Boing-loings. Somebody got hit in them. (Scorcher finally looks away and gets frozen)
• Lotus-Eater Machine/Daydream Surprise: In "Power Animal", Finn is trapped in a machine that is powered by thoughts. He breaks out of the machine and finds that Jake has broken into the gnome kingdom where Finn is being held and they tearfully reunite. Turns out that the machine is actually working and is one of these.
• Love at First Sight: Finn is attracted to Flame Princess the instant he sees her in her normal form.
• Love at First Punch: FP angrily slapping Finn and warning him to "never mess with [her] again" only seemed to intensify his feelings.
  "Dude, I think I have a crush!"
  • They don't come to blows, but Finn's first meeting with Huntress Wizard involves her threatening to shoot him with a magical arrow. Finn definitely Has a Type.
• Love Confession: In "Mortal Recoil", Finn finally admits that he likes Princess Bubblegum "a lot". However, she probably didn't hear it because of being possessed by the Lich. Or maybe she did... In "Burning Low" in a moment of frustration and rage believing that Princess Bubblegum is trying to keep him away from Flame Princess out of jealousy Finn finally blurts out, "I was in love with you!" This shows Character Development, as Finn has never used the word "love" to refer to his affections for a girl, only "like" and "like-like".
  • From Finn to Flame Princess in "Hot to the Touch":
    Finn: "I think I... I think I like-like you. Listen, when I look at you, my brain goes all stupid. And I just wanna hug you, and sit on the couch and play BMO with you. I can't explain why, but, I never felt this way before and I think we should be together."
  • Finn's finally on the receiving end of one in "Breezy":
    Breezy: Yes, Finn. Can't you see? I've become a queen to save you because... I love your flower and—and I think... I love you!
  • And after seven seasons of angst, finally a mutual one in "Flute Spell":
    Finn: Um, I was playing my flute for you the whole time, but I knew you had a thing with this dude, and he seems cool, so I was just gonna keep playing this flute song about my secret feelings until my flute broke.
    Huntress Wizard: Finn...my flute spell was for you, too.
• Love Hurts: Finn in a literal sense with Flame Princess, as anything from touching to kissing causes him to get burned.
• Love Makes You Dumb: So far, Finn's love for the above mentioned Flame Princess really seems to mess up his sense of judgement, even to the point where Finn has troubles with his heroics versus his love, though he agonizes over this.
  • Finn's actions in "Frost & Fire" prove it: he just wants to watch Flame Princess fight, but lies and manipulates her to achieve this, leading her to dump him.
• Love Redeems: What Finn intends to do with Flame Princess, since her father convinced him she's "evil".
• Love Triangle: In "Burning Low", this is subverted for Princess Bubblegum towards Finn towards Flame Princess. It's revealed that PB wanted to get Finn away from Flame Princess for a different reason: Flame Princess is a highly unstable fire time bomb that will go off and destroy the earth from the inside out if she's romanced too passionately.
• Luminescent Blush: We dare you to count how many times Finn had this in "The Real You", and for that matter, "Blood Under the Skin".
  • Flame Princess literally glows brighter when she blushes.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Marceline's song about a fisherman.
  "You look so cute sitting in your boat, I wanna suck out your eyeballs and rip out your throat. I wanna suck out your eyeballs... and rip out your throat..."
  • The song she sings in "What Was Missing" also definitely counts:
    "Lada-da-da-da, I'm going to bury you in the ground. Lada-da-da-da, I'm going to bury you with my sound. I'm gonna drink the red from your pretty pink face..."

M

• MacGuffin: The crystal eye in "Dungeon".
• MacGuffin Escort Mission: Finn & Jake's job in "The Other Tarts."
• MacGuffin Title: "The Enchiridion!"
• Madness Mantra: More of a Madness Song. Finn in "The Tower" sings a disturbing little song while he builds:
  "Baby's building a tower into space
  Space is where he's gonna find his dad.
  Daddy's got an arm
  And baby's gonna harm his arm
  By tearing it off his dad."
• Magic Antidote: In "Trouble in Lumpy Space", antidote for lumpiness isn't in the orb; the orb is the antidote.
  • Invoked in "Wizards Only, Fools," where Starchy refuses to accept any antidote that isn't magic.
• Magic Is Evil: Zig-zagged in-story. Magic itself has been portrayed as an extremely powerful and corrupting force, and wizards, the prominent race of magic users in the verse, all apparently possess some concept of magic, madness, and sadness in them because of their use of magic. The fact magic users are also portrayed as power-hungry and prejudiced such as the case of wizards who demonstrate a competitive, elitist attitude and explicitly forbid non-wizards from intruding in their affairs and punishing those who do certainly does not help avert the trope. However, some magic users have been portrayed as helpful if somewhat insane.
• Magic Versus Science: "Wizards Only, Fools" centers around this trope, with Princess Bubblegum being against magic (or more correctly, the use of the term "Magic!" to explain away "mystical" things that one does not readily understand), and everyone else being for it, because...well... the characters live in Ooo.
• Magic Wand: Xergiok has one. According to Finn they are for wiiimps!
  • "Min and Marty" reveals that a Sufficiently Advanced Technology version of this kept baby Finn alive long enough to be adopted, by producing infinite breadsticks on command.
• Maintain the Lie: The plot for "Her Parents". Jake has to pretend to be a rainicorn to impress Lady's parents, because rainicorns and dogs are supposed to be enemies due to a war. It turns out that her parents don't care that Jake is a dog, because a dog saved Lady's father in the war.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Finn's reaction to getting both his legs broken in two places each "No One Can Hear You":
  Finn: (shrivels face) Whatever.
  • Subverted in that he clearly was in pain, but was just trying to hide it.
    • Subverted again as he breaks the cast off his legs after finding out that he was out cold for 6 months and runs for the rest of the episode. At the end however Jake asks how his legs are to which Finn casually responds "Still broken"
  • The series tends to show injuries as serious but draws comedy (and weirdness) from how the characters deal with the injuries
• Make-Out Point: There's one in Lumpy Space, and it looks suspiciously like a tongue.
• Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: "PIZZA!!!!!!"
• Make Them Rot: The Lich in his first appearance kills everything he passes over, even water.
• Mama Bear: Cake, when she mistakenly thinks Prince Gumball tried to rape Fionna.
• Manchild:
  • In "Loyalty to the King", Slime Princess is playing in a sandbox when she meets the "Nice King".
  • Some of Ice King's moments qualify him as this too.
• Mage Species: Played straight or Gender Flipped, as Word of God gives "Wizard" as the species for Ash and the Ice King (though the latter was born human). We also see "witches," but it's unclear if they and Wizards are the same species, two examples of this trope or what.
  • Huntress Wizard raises further questions, though she may be some sort of nymph.
• Many-Faced Divinity: Grob Gob Glob Grod was a guardian deity on Mars, with four faces on a floating head, each one a different entity. These four faces are later revealed to be individual sphere-shaped entities that simply control a shared body.
• Marionette Motion: Marceline's dad.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The show has two examples from season 4's "King Worm" and season 5's "Puhoy". The first one being from Finn imagining Peppermint Butler in his magic induced dream. Whether that was the real Pepbut telling Finn he was under the control of King Worm due to him having vast knowledge of dark magic or just Finn's dreaming. The second one is with the Pillow World of "Puhoy". It could simply be a dream of Finn due to his dread over relationship troubles with Flame Princess, or it could be that Finn went to another world, lived there for decades and died, with him somehow being reincarnated into his real world (due to the fact that the fourth season finale "The Lich" explained that wormholes can temporarily be opened and closed at random).
  • As far as Princess Bubblegum is concerned, magic is in itself mundane:
  Bubblegum: All magic is scientific principles presented like mystical hoodoo, which is fun, but it's sort of irresponsible.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Ricardio the living heart.
  • Sage Bufo lives in a toad.
• Medium Blending: Done in "Guardians of Sunshine" when CGI is used along with 2D animation.
• Memorial Statue: In the finale, it's revealed Finn and Jake will each get one, and very large ones at that.
• Memory Gambit: Finn uses one in "The Real You". In short, Finn was given superhuman intelligence through a pair of nerd glasses. During a science barbecue, he shows off a black hole that threatens to envelop the entire Candy Kingdom. Smart!Finn refuses to stop it, so PB removes them herself. The now-dumb Finn slays the black hole easily with no recollection of his plan, winning PB's heart.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Old Lady Princess gets these by the Ice King.
• Mind Screw: "Now I have a memory of your memory in my memory."
  • Describes the show in general, actually. The most common response after seeing one of the "weirder" episodes for the first time is:
    "What."
  • The title card for "Return to the Nightosphere".◊
  • Which has been topped by the title card for "King Worm". Warning: you may be in a state of confusion for the rest of the day. Or, heck, the entire episode, really.
  • As it turns out, it is even MORE so for the voice actors. John DiMaggio said at a SupaNova 2012 Brisbane (an Australian con) panel that when he is given his script, he is just given numbered lines, completely without context. Thus when he sees lines like "Be calmed by my saliva" and "Yes Finn, just put it in my butt!", he has even LESS idea what's going on than we do.
  • "A Glitch is a Glitch". Every second of it.
  • "Puhoy" from a subtle, philosophical level. In general, this episode is really hard to wrap your head around though the plot is simple. Let's face it; no child will even begin to understand this episode.
  • The three-parter, "The Lich"/"Finn the Human"/"Jake the Dog" is a big old bundle of this. Basically, Finn has a dream foreshadowing the fact that The Lich killed Billy and stole his skin. After tricking Finn into helping him, he wishes to destroy mankind, which Finn reverses by wishing that The Lich never even ever existed. They all get wishes in an alternate dimension, by the way. Makes sense? Okay. Because Finn's wish changes all of time, and he turns into a normal boy, with parents, and a normal dog - which is what "The Lich", the final episode of the 4th season, ends. It turns out that the mutagenic bomb never went off because Simon froze the bomb with his ice powers, died under it, and left Marceline (who was never bitten by a vampire, so now ages - though not as fast, since she's still half-demon). Finn steals the crown, uses it to take down a gang, accidentally detonates the bomb, gets Farmworld!Jake turned into The Lich, and is saved just in time by Jake, who wishes that the Lich's wish be that Finn and Jake go back to Ooo, safely. Insane, right? IT ALL TAKES PLACE IN THREE 10-MINUTE EPISODES.
  • Most of "Is That You?"
    Finn: So, are you actually talking to me right now, or are you pretending to in an empty room?
    Prismo: I was pretending, but now I can see you.
    Finn: What does "now" mean to you?
    Prismo: Uhh...hurry up, I need your help.
• Mind Screwdriver:
  • "Crystals Have Power", for the ending to "Tree Trunks"
  • "King Worm" for the ending of "Evicted!" ...Er, sort of.... It might be the first time anyone has ever invoked a Voodoo Shark.
  • "The Vault" for the ending of "The Creeps".
• Mini-Mecha: In "Hot to the Touch", NEPTR builds these for Finn and Jake.
• Miracle-Gro Monster: The Bucket Knight.
  Bucket Knight: Just add water and, EXPONENTIAL GROWTH!
• Mirror Routine: Parodied in "Marceline's Closet" with Finn and Jake.
  Finn: Come on, Jake, I know this isn't a mirror! You're doing it WRONG, even!
• Moe Anthropomorphism: The village of house people.
• Moment Killer:
  • Finn, for harpooning Marceline's touching reconciliation with her father, even though it was awesome.
  • Also, the Royal Tart Toter in "The Other Tarts", interrupting Finn and Princess Bubblegum's reconciliation hug.
• Moment of Lucidity: In the episode "Betty", Ice King is turned back into Simon Petrikov by Bella Noche, restoring his sanity. However, Simon is slowly dying without the crown's power keeping him alive and so they must get the crown's magic back to him before then, much to the dismay of Simon, who says wearing the crown again is like living with eternal diaper rash.
• Monster Clown: The clown nurses from "Another Way", who have some sort of foot fetish which they perform on Finn. It doesn't help that he faints and starts having clown nightmares.
• Monster-Shaped Mountain: The episode "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain", in which the titular mountain is living, has a face, and cries boulders. A female mountain, also with a living face at its peak, appears as well.
• Mood Whiplash: "Tree Trunks".
  • As mentioned, Finn slashing and banishing Marceline's dad in the middle of his reconciliation with his daughter.
  • Happens a little in "Mortal Folly" and "Mortal Recoil": the Lich, Knight of Cerebus that he is, did have a lot of scenes, but there was also a lot of scenes with the Ice King acting goofy and not knowing what's going on, jarring with the scenes of the relatively serious villain.
  • A good example is in "Morituri Te Salutamus", in which the scenes repeatedly change between Finn violently defeating the ghost-gladiators and Jake happily singing about raising morale. On top of this, the Fight King, like the Lich, is a completely serious villain.
  • "What Was Missing" starting as a super-silly "write a song" episode. But once Bubblegum calls Marceline's lyrics too distasteful, it becomes a completely serious song where Marceline confesses her feelings about Bubblegum and their past, over a droning electric bass. "I shouldn't have to be the one who makes up with you, so why do I want to?" She backs off once she realizes how confessional she's getting, but DAMN.
    • Same episode, with Finn's song, which starts out with Finn admitting that he's incredibly self-conscious of the fact that he's younger than all his friends and occasionally questions his friendship with them.
  • "Holly Jolly Secrets" has this in spades at the end. Silly Ice King antics for the entire episode and then suddenly the Apocalyptic Log of Simon Petrikov turning into the Ice King. Followed immediately by Jake making a joke.
  • In "Ghost Princess", there is a scene that shows Clarence and Ghost Princess on a date at a Spirit Waves show. When Clarence tells Ghost Princess how beautiful she is, the scene cuts to Finn wildly desecrating graves.
  • "In Your Footsteps" at the very end. After being followed and copied by a bear for the entirety of the episode, Finn proceeds to tell it off at Jake's behest, causing it to run off into the woods and cry. Luckily, Finn chases after it, and after giving it a heartwarming Be Yourself speech, he hands the bear the Enchiridion, and it merrily goes off on its way (which happens to be straight into the Lich's den, where he delivers the Enchiridion).
  • "I Remember You" has Ice King singing a love song to Bubblegum, which soon turns into senseless pleas for love directed at no one in particular.
    Ice King: Won't someone tell me what's wrong with meee... anybodyy... anybodyy... anybodyyy... (bawling) ANYBODYY!! GROD IN THE SKY, PLEASE TELL ME WHYYY!!
    • Near the end where it shows a young Marceline and Simon meeting for the first time and him giving her the toy monkey she cherishes which quickly switches to the face of The Lich that part of the next episode preview. For a moment there, you believe it was part of the same episode.
  • The Season 5 two-part opening "Finn The Human/Jake The Dog" switches frequently between Jake having funny conversations with Prismo in the Time Room and Finn's life being ruined, Finn going insane, Finn setting of the atom bomb in Farmworld, and generally all hell breaking loose in Finn's Alternate Universe.
  • In "Simon and Marcy", we go from laughing out loud at Simon's antics to amuse Marcy using a broken television to him, and the audience, being suddenly very concerned about Marceline's cough.
  • The episode "Play Date" raises this trope to an art form. It spends over 85% of the episode playing out a light sitcom-like plot, until the sudden Gut Punch.
  • "Gold Stars" is a low-stakes episode about Sweet P being cute and the King of Ooo being a jerk...until the Lich within Sweet P makes an appearance.
  • The Islands miniseries starts out as a lighthearted sea voyage. Later episodes skew hard toward some of the darkest territory the show has ever explored, including the totalitarian society on Founders Island, and Finn's backstory.
• Mountain of Food: Downplayed with Everything Burrito, which contains pretty much every common food you can imagine. Yum. Did we mention it also contains pans and cups?
  • Played literally with the Rock Candy Mountains in the Candy Kingdom.
  • Jake's perfect sandwich from "Time Sandwich," which is only edible because Jake's powers allow him to stretch his mouth and stomach. People who have tried to recreate the sandwich usually have to cut slices off and eat it with a knife and fork.
• Multiple Head Case: Princess Princess Princess has at least five heads.
• The Multiverse: As revealed in "The Lich"
• Mundane Made Awesome: The Battle cubes from "Business Time".
  • Some of the powers gained in "Wizard" get this treatment, including Dustomancy! Lampshaded by Jake at one point.
    Finn: THIS... IS... AWESOME!
    Jake: Yeah, dude! Force that enthusiasm!
  • The Whistling Choir Death Match Championship.
  • Finn and Jake's last two high-fives in "Five Short Graybles".
  • Also from "Five Short Graybles", Princess Bubblegum doing epic superscience... To make a sandwich.
• Mundane Utility: Word of God says that Jake often uses his stretching powers for everyday situations due to his lazy nature.
  • Gets deconstructed when Jake has his powers taken by a witch and is unable to do anything because he relies on his powers so much, even believing running to be magic and being unable to run properly without his powers.
• Mundane Wish: Oh, Hot Dog Knights, you sillies.
  Finn: Okay. So you guys should wish to get your buddies back right?
  Hot Dog Knight: I wish for a box! (box appears) Sweeeet!
• Murder the Hypotenuse: When Bubblegum finds out about Finn's attraction to the Flame Princess, she discovers that FP will become physically unstable if she's submitted to too much romance, which would end with her melting her way all the way down to the planet's core. That scenario does happen, and Finn ties Jake around himself like a rope and jumps in to rescue her. Jake himself ends up getting dragged along and eventually covers up the hole. PB realizes that if Jake stayed there just long enough, the problem would be solved because FP would have no more oxygen to live. It's not that PB was intentionally trying to kill off a potential love rival, but rather trying to prevent a catastrophic disaster from endangering the Land of Ooo.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg:
  Ice King: What have I done? I killed my only friend!!
  Jake: But what about m—?
  Ice King: WHY?! WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!
• My God, What Have I Done?: Happens to Finn when he realizes that he stole something.
  Finn: NOOOO! What Have I Done?! What Have I Become?!
  Penny: You've become a thief, stupid! Hahahahahaaa!!
• Mysterious Parent: We don't know who Finn's real parents were, all we know is that Jake's parents were his adopted ones. We also don't know PB's either. Until we meet Finn's father Martin in Escape from the Citadel, and his mother Minerva in "Hide and Seek."
  • Fanon has it that the apparently-sentient wad of pink bubblegum-like goo in "Simon and Marcy" was a proto-PB that eventually coagulated into humanoid form and became the PB we know, in which case she didn't have any parents. This is confirmed in season 7 episode 1, "Bonnie and Neddie".
    • However, she does mention an Uncle Gumbald in season 2 episode 18, "Susan Strong", making the above seem a Retcon. The season 9 episode "Bonnibel Bubblegum" reveals that she created her Uncle herself long after she had been "born".
  • We know who both of Marceline's parents are, but nothing about their relationship. How did a seemingly normal human woman conceive a child with the Lord of Evil?

N

• Naked People Are Funny: Naked Wizard. Frequently Lemongrab. Sometimes Finn.
  Finn: I'm especially agile when I'm nude, so, good luck.
  • See the page image for Censor Decoy.
• Name McAdjective: Wormy McSquirmy.
• Negative Continuity: "Ocean of Fear" establishes that Finn is terrified of the ocean, but he had no problem jumping into it four episodes earlier in "Business Time".
• Nerd Glasses: The Glasses of Nerdicon. Avert Purely Aesthetic Glasses because they actually do make the wearer smart.
• Nested Story Reveal: In "Fionna and Cake" it's revealed the entire episode was the Ice King reading some of his Fan Fiction to Finn and Jake.
  • "Five Short Tables" takes the nesting further, revealing that Ice Queen writes her own Fan Fiction about Fionna and Cake genderswapped as "Flynn and Jacques," who listen to the "Ice President" read about "Janet the Fox" and "Lynn the Person"...yeah.
• Never Say "Die": Averted six ways to Sunday. Pretty much a Once an Episode thing.
  Princess Bubblegum: If you fail... he'll kill everyone.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The previews for "The Other Tarts" as well as the title card imply that the Royal Tart Toter would have an important role. He didn't. He showed up only at the end of the episode for the sole purpose of being creepy and delivering an Ice-Cream Koan.
  • Happened even worse with "Holly Jolly Secrets". The trailer implied several characters would show up throughout the episode. In reality, only Finn, Jake, and the Ice King had prominent roles, and the characters make cameos at the very end.
  • In addition, the previews for season four episode "Burning Low" all seemed to indicate that it would play out as a sordid love triangle between Peebles, Finn, and Flame Princess. It wasn't.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • When Finn releases the Lord of Evil from the Nightosphere.
  • Finn and Jake being tricked by Ash to steal the memory of his and Marceline breaking up. Finn is reasonably ticked off when he finds this out.
  • When Finn and Jake are trying to teach Goliad how to be a good ruler, they inadvertently lead her to use her powers for evil.
  • Let's face it, they're pretty prone to this despite their efforts. Jake having Flame Princess released to cheer Finn up only to find she was evil. Not only that but it was later revealed there was a reason she was in her prison in the first place as her unstable emotions could potentially destroy the whole world. Then there's Finn attacking prematurely during the trial with Abe Lincoln who was starting to believe that Magic Man (really Jake in his body. MM had switched them around to avoid capture) wasn't who he said he was. Resulting in Jake getting accidentally vaporized and Lincoln having to sacrifice himself to revive him. Oh yeah and giving The Enchiridion to a bear who was under The Lich's control.
  • The episode "The Lich" has this in spades, with Finn spending the entire episode breaking things due to being tricked by the Lich into helping him use the Enchiridion to open a portal to the multiverse, where he escapes into and pulls Finn and Jake with him.
    • The follow-up episodes "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" carries this on as well. To prevent all the pain and death the Lich had caused, Finn wished for the Lich to have never existed. The end result is an AU!Earth which by all accounts is even worse off than Ooo!Earth. Two beloved characters are killed, one becomes the new Eldritch Abomination and AU!Earth enters a new nuclear fallout. Or at least the area Finn resides in.
  • In "Frost & Fire", Finn instigates a feud between Ice King and Flame Princess in order to relive an erotic dream, resulting in the destruction of the ice land, displacing the snowmen and penguins, and Flame Princess breaking up with Finn when she realizes the entire feud was his doing.
  • Marceline is not immune, as Stakes has her accidentally resurrect five dangerous vampires (well, four dangerous vampires and The Fool by seeking to cure her own vampirism.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
  • Lady Rainicorn, who's half-unicorn, half-rainbow.
  • The Gauntlet Dock. It's a dock AND a gauntlet!
  • Princess Bubblegum is a bubblegum Mad Scientist princess.
  • The Snake-armed Ruby Brainbeast from "Tree Trunks".
  • The Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant from "The Limit."
• Nobody Can Die: In the first season, no one is killed. Averted after "It Came From the Nightosphere," the second season premier. By seasons five and six death is a regular occurrence in the show, even for named recurring characters, though it frequently doesn't stick.
• No Endor Holocaust: Subverted in "The Tower" twice: (1) Finn builds the eponymous tower by gathering thousands of blocks of earth, trees, the Candy Kingdom, the Fire Kingdom, the Ice Kingdom (including some Gunters), etc. from all across Ooo, but Princess Bubblegum primarily wants to stop him to preserve his well-being and doesn't talk about the damage when she's succeeded; (2) When Jake knocks the tower down, it decimates nearly half of the Candy Kingdom, and yet the first thing Bubblegum complains about is losing her arm.
• No Indoor Voice: Lemongrab; Abe Lincoln, the King of Mars in "Sons of Mars" (who is in the middle of an amphitheatre with a dome over it, which might not really be indoors...but the prosecutors at the trial don't seem to need to shout to be heard).
• No Infantile Amnesia: Finn remembers an incident that happened during infancy where he boom-boomed (read: pooped) on a leaf and fell backwards into it and no one would help him.
  • Averted by Islands when we learn that Finn has no recollection of living with his parents or the events that tore him away from them.
• No One Could Survive That!: In "The Real You", Finn risks his life by jumping into a black hole. Thankfully, he used his fourth-dimensional sword to make it explode. ...So yeah.
  • Constantly happens to Tiffany, to the point of it being a Running Gag.
• Noir Episode: The season four episode "BMO Noire" is this, complete with black and white and dramatic narration.
• Non-Indicative Name: There's a character named Gary the Mermaid Queen in "Witch's Garden". She is an animated human skeleton and acts rather bird-like.
  • Doctor Princess is neither a princess, nor a doctor. "Doctor" is her first name, and "Princess" is her family name.
  • There are many kingdoms in the Land of Ooo, but many of them are ruled by princesses, which would actually make them principalities. We have seen kings and queens of Lumpy Space and the Fire Kingdom.
• Noodle Incident:
  • At the start of "The Jiggler", Finn and Jake have just finished an adventure where they saved a "family" composed of a pair of watermelons, sausages, marshmallows and such (not even anthropomorphic, either), which apparently involved rescuing them from an evil citadel, a lot of fire, and Finn swallowing a little computer at some point that now makes him sing in autotune.
  • In "Prisoners of Love", Jake tries to throw a flute at Ice King that immediately breaks. Jake mentions that he broke it when they "tried picking the lock to that Sad Ogre's heart", an adventure we have not seen and are not told any further details about.
  • "Morituri Te Salutamus" begins with the last seconds of an incident that somehow involves a giant burger monster, a pile of cute little hedgehog-like critters, and Jake not sticking to the plan.
  • Played for Drama in "Holly Jolly Secrets," the first time the Ice King wore his magical crown, he was lost in the resulting visions it made him see, and when he took it off, he only knew that he had done something unforgivable that caused his fiancee to leave him forever.
    • This noodle was later sauced in "Betty" when it was shown that she had left him for... him.
  • In "Ghost Princess", some ne'er-do-well ghosts were about to fight Finn and Jake, until Clarence showed up; at which point, this exchange takes place:
    Clarence: Hold up! These guys are with me.
    Ghost: A'ight, Clarence, but only because of that one time when I did that thing by accident, and you were cool about it.
  • In "Hot to the Touch", Finn calls Flame Princess innocent, like the steam on a puppy's nose looking for ham in the snow. Jake responds:
    Jake: A guy drops one piece of ham in the snow and he never hears the end of it!!
  • Magic Man's incident with Margles on Olympus Mons, which is apparently the origin point of his jerkish nature.
  • What exactly happened to Lemongrab when Princess Bubblegum fed him asparagus?

    Lemongrab: Mommy, don't make me more asparagus. It will be the end of me, if you know what I mean.

  • What exactly led to Princess Bubblegum sticking Lemongrab in Castle Lemongrab? More importantly... what in the name of God was in that vial of fluid she poured on his face!?
• Noodle People
• Not Drawn to Scale: Finn looks noticeably taller in "The Creeps". He's not any older though.
  • Word of God says he was wearing lifts.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: In "Ignition Point", Finn and Jake foil an assassination attempt on Flame King. Their feeling of triumph is diminished when they learn that the assassins were just trying to avenge their father and that Flame King and his entire court are evil.
• Not Me This Time: One episode has Princess Bubblegum order Finn and Jake to capture the Ice King, even though he objects, claiming to have done "no recent crime." Played With because he did do something, but accidentally.
  • In "Princess Monster Wife" when Finn and Jake confront the Ice King over the princesses' stolen body parts he says he's not the culprit and he's just as concerned as they are, as the thief might come after his own princess. It turns out this princess is made from the body parts of different princess, he was the culprit, and he thought they were talking about another body part thief.
• Not Quite Dead: Happens twice with the Lich. The first time, he is defeated by Finn and his sweater, but he body surfs into Princess Bubblegum, who is accidentally dropped into the well of toxins by the Ice King. The second time, while taking control of Princess Bubblegum's body, he is frozen and shattered. No dice. He body surfs again into the waving snail.
  • We see Me-Mow fall off a cliff after Wildberry Princess' body explodes. Me-Mow somehow hitches a ride on a bluebird, thus preventing a messy end.
• Not What It Looks Like: Happens in "Fionna and Cake" when Cake finds Fionna with Prince Gumball in his room in front of his bed with her dress torn.
  Cake: RAAAH!! (attacks Gumball) DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!!
• Now or Never Kiss: Two in "Come Along With Me"—Bubblegum and Marceline, and LSP and Lemongrab.
• No, You
  • From the original pilot:
    Pen: That's stupid!
    Ice King: Your hat is stupid!
  • From "Death in Bloom":
    Death: You can't kick me because your brain is stupid!
    Finn: Your brain is stupid!!
• Nuclear Mutant: "Simon and Marcy" shows us just how bad things were during the early days after the Mushroom War devastated everything, including mutations that were leaking glowing green goop from orifices in their body where eyes, ears, noses, and others should have been.

O

• Oculothorax: Gork.
• Odd Friendship: The Snow Golem and the Fire Wolf pup in "Thank You".
  Finn: I thought Snow Golems and Fire Wolves hated each other...
  Jake: Oh yeah, bigtime.
  Finn: But they learned to get along...
  Jake: Yep...
  • Flame Princess and Cinnamon Bun bond over their mistrust of Princess Bubblegum. She's nicer to him than Bubblegum and he's completely honest with her, unlike Bubblegum or anyone else for that matter.
    • In "The Music Hole," she forms a hip-hop duo with NEPTR of all people.
  • Finn and Marceline: an idealistic teenage hero and a 1,000-year-old cynical demon/vampire have jam sessions, play basketball, and go swimming.
• Odd Organ Up Top: The Earclops/Earclopes/Earclopses are large, humanoid beings with ears as heads. Due to their giant ears, they are very sensitive to loud noises.
• Off with His Head!: Finn does this a lot in "Morituri Te Salutamus" to the gladiator ghosts.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: In "To Cut a Woman's Hair", a tree witch threatens to kill Jake if Finn doesn't get her princess hair.
• Official Couple: While Lady Rainicorn and Jake were just flirting cutely in the pilot, in the series, they're officially dating.
  • Finn and Flame Princess appear to be this as of "Burning Low." Not anymore after Frost and Fire.
  • Finn and Huntress Wizard after "The Wild Hunt."
  • As of the finale, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The epic battle between the Lich and Billy for the fate of the world. All we saw was the brief snippet in Billy's Song, which consisted of Billy kicking the Lich into his castle. Considering the Lich ultimately ended up in the Candy Kingdom being pummeled into a tree so hard he was sealed in amber (which we don't see either), it's clear the rest of the battle was likely extremely awesome.
  • Finn, Jake and the Ice King's ninja fight in "The Chamber of Frozen Blades".
  • The Ice King's wizard fight in "Reign of Gunters":
    Ice King: I wish I could tell you more about it, but wizards only, fools. Keep it tight.
  • In "Earth and Water", Flame Princess and Cinnamon Bun overthrew the Flame King and locked him up.
• Oh, Cisco!: To BMO at the end of "Slow Love".
• Oh, Crap!: Marceline in the Season Two Premier.
  • Finn gets one in "Mortal Folly" when the gauntlet he was given to kill the Lich is caught and crushed to pieces by him.
  • In "Mortal Recoil" Finn and Jake both make "Oh, Crap!" faces when Princess Bubblegum gets shattered after being frozen.
  • In "Incendium" Jake gets one when he realizes that Flame Princess is evil and dangerous.
  • In "King Worm", Finn has to unleash his greatest fears upon himself in order to weaken his enemy. Cue:
    Finn: The Ocean.
  • In "Billy's Bucket List" when he again realizes he's going to have to brave the ocean.
• Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: In "Fionna and Cake", Finn and Jake are forced to listen to the fanfiction that Ice King wrote about them.
  Ice King: So, what did you think of the fanfiction I wrote about you guys?
  Finn: (beat) Uuuuuhhhh...
• Older Than They Look: Princess Bubblegum, through a combination of Word of God, Fridge Logic, and an off-side hint in one specific episode, despite the fact that "Too Young" could lead one to think she has a normal aging process. Pendleton Ward once said of Peebles that "the question is how long she's been 18," and the episode "Princess Cookies" shows PB showing up at a candy orphanage in a flashback by an adult candy citizen, looking the same as she does in-series.
  • She is eventually confirmed to be 827 years old, having been formed a few hundred years after the Great Mushroom War.
• Old Soldier: Colonel Candy Corn has his moment in the episode "Something Big," where he uses himself as ammo, landing right in front of the enemy. He then proceeds to kick major evil ass.
• Ominous Owl: The Cosmic Owl at the end of the Croak Dream. This refers to the fact that many religions see the owl as an omen of death to come.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: The CGI episode "A Glitch is a Glitch" has Ice King installing a virus on the universe's motherboard, causing everything to glitch uncontrollably.
• Once an Episode: In every episode, there will be a snail that is waving to the audience. Or at least his shell.
• One Cast Member per Cover: The DVD release of each season has a different character on the cover.
• One-Shot Character: Jungle Princess. Huntress Wizard used to be one, but by season 10 she becomes a semi-regular character and Finn's third love interest.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Marceline, when she goes full bat.
  • A Lich-possessed Princess Bubblegum does this once the Lich regains his true power. He's powerful enough that he beats the tar out of Finn, Jake, and the Gumball Guardians of the Candy Kingdom with no effort, requiring an Enemy Mine with Ice King.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Finn crying.
  • Lady speaks a full line in English, only to say that she is pregnant.
  • Everyone in the Candy Kingdom acting terrifyingly cute and wholesome during Elements.
• Operation: Jealousy:
  • Jake attempts one in "My Two Favorite People". It works better on Finn than it does on Lady Rainicorn.
  • Finn also attempts one in "Go With Me". It fails miserably.
• Orange/Blue Contrast:
  • The title card for "The Real You".
  • Basically, Finn and Jake.
• Oscar Bait: The season three episode "Thank You" was deemed "Oscar-worthy" by Cartoon Network, so they put a preview of the episode in a movie theater so that it could qualify.
• Our Demons Are Different: Their blood can be used to make swords.
• Our Dragons Are Different:
  • Very much so.◊
  • Puhoy introduces a new species called Blanket Dragons
• Our Ghosts Are Different: They have the ability to suck out your guts, through your brain.
• Our Goblins Are Different: They're born from mud, apparently.
• Our Gods Are Different: There is a four-headed deity from Mars called Grob/Gob/Glob/Grod.
• Our Liches Are Different: They're not at all funny.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: But then again, so is the show in general.
• Our Gnomes Are Weirder: Oh, yes. They actually make Finn pole-dance in one episode.
• Our Vampires Are Different: They only drink blood because it's red; Marceline actually sucked the color out of a strawberry in her debut episode. When starving in the episode "Red Starved", she drained Princess Bubblegum , calling it 'low-grade red', but sufficient to get her out of starvation. This left Peebs looking like chewed up gum; pale, wrinkly and thin, but unharmed and quickly restored with the Spoon of Prosperity.
• Our Werewolves Are Different:
  • Finn mentions werewolves, but they have not yet been seen. But there are whywolves, werewolf-like creatures born out of inquiry... and bloodlust. They eat house people, and are in turn eaten by the Cosmic Owl. Obnoxygen, a gas given off by incredibly rude people, is toxic to them.
  • Then you get into Hug Wolves, who don't eat people, but rather, hug them.
• Out Giving Birth, Back in Two Minutes: Averted in "Web Weirdos".
• Out-of-Character Moment: In the episode "In Your Footsteps", Princess Bubblegum seems to be very happy with the bear posing as Finn giving her the "Heimlich maneuver". She even knew that it was a bear. She should have backhanded him to next Tuesday. Every episode prior to this shows PB shrugging off Finn's romantic advances, saying the age difference is the main problem. Then a bear grabs her from behind and she's okay with that.
• Outlaw Town:
  • "City of Thieves"
  • Candy City in the episode "The Apple Thief"
• Out-of-Clothes Experience: The Ice King has one when he's knocked unconscious. Mercifully, his beard inexplicably becomes longer to cover him.
• Overly Long Gag: We'll never run from the fun because we're bears bears bears bears bears bears bears bears bears bears bears bears beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!
• Overnight Age-Up: Rainicorns age faster than dogs. Over the course of two days, Jake's children are biologically older than he is.

P

• Paper-Thin Disguise: Finn, Jake, and Tree Trunks' disguises in "Apple Thief" (if they can even be called that). They just cover themselves in dirt, and the bartender that they met not 30 seconds ago doesn't even recognize them.
  • Somewhat literal in "Daddy's Little Monster" when Finn disguises himself as a demon using a mask made out of a paper plate.
• Parental Bonus:
  Finn: What the— Jake! You never turn into a monster when I want you to! It's always, "Not now, Finn. I have a headache."
  • From "The Monster":
    Jake: This is gonna be as easy as... umm... mmm...
    Finn: Easy as childbirth!
    Jake: Yeah, okay.
  • All the Shout Outs to Cheers in "Simon and Marcy".
• Pass the Popcorn: Parodied with Jake eating a single piece of popcorn (while in his tiny form) throughout the entirety of "Love Games"; needless to say, all the amusing events in the episode warrant it.
  Jake: This popcorn's not gonna last all day! (shrinks) Okay, now it might.
• Penguins Are Ducks: The penguins are often heard making quacking sounds.
• Percussive Maintenance: Used on a gauntlet, only for it to then turn out to be a living thing that feels pain.
• The Performer King: Marceline is often referenced as "Marceline the Vampire Queen" and usually found writing songs and performing them publicly on her bass. While she is no queen to vampires (having exterminated all of the other vampires centuries prior), her father is the Ruler of the Nightosphere, so the trope still technically applies.
  • Flame Princess takes up rapping, jamming with Finn in "Bun Bun", with Neptr in the talent show in "The Music Hole" and rapping for the right to rule her kingdom in "Son of Rap Bear."
• The Pig-Pen: Penny is pretty dirty. That is until she gets literally cleansed and becomes a non-thief. ...For a short time, anyway.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Finn and Princess Bubblegum. The "blue boy" part of the trope is lampshaded by Finn in "The Silent King".
  Finn: Look at that huge mirror! And it's painted baby blue! Boy style!
• Plague Doctor: Princess Bubblegum wears this in the episode "What Have You Done?". She was spraying a green gas that covered the candy kingdom in fog. Unsurprisingly, Finn and Jake got scared.
• Plain Palate: Lemongrab prefers his meals "boiled of all flavour" until they're "as mild as kitten milk".
• Planet of Hats: Every kingdom in Ooo seems to have a gimmick after which it is named. For example, there's the Candy Kingdom, the Ice Kingdom, Lumpy Space, and many others.
• Planet of Steves: All The Ice King's penguins are named Günther or at least something similar. Turns out to be the name of the Crown's first owner; the Ice King gives that name to anyone he cares about, applying it to Marceline at one point during an early bout of madness.
• Playing Sick: In the original storyboard for "Storytelling" Jake is not really sick. He only does says so in order to make Finn leave so that he could stay at home doing weird things while no one was looking.
• Playing with Fire:
  • The aptly-named Scorcher.
  • This also includes the aptly-named Flame Princess, who embodies this trope with a touch of evil.
• Plug 'n' Play Technology: The mechanical arm in "The Vault". Princess Bubblegum even refers to it as such
• Poke the Poodle: The Giant Worm King hypnotises Finn and Jake just to make them hug him.... Well, before the episode "King Worm" came along, at least.
• Pokémon Speak: James Baxter.
• Polar Bears and Penguins:
  Ice King: No one sucks the life from my penguins except ME! And maybe polar bears. Because that's just nature, Gunter.
• Police Are Useless: In "Root Beer Guy", Princess Bubblegum tests the Banana guards' efficiency by staging her own kidnapping. The guards are completely clueless (and easily fooled by Jake's Paper-Thin Disguise), while the only one who even tries to follow the clues she left, is the Average Joe who's the episode's title character.
• Pooping Food: In one episode, Finn and Jake wake up in a cage in the Nightosphere with a pile of bananas. They are at first confounded when demons find the bananas repulsive, until they see one of the demons poop out a banana out its ear.
• Poor Communication Kills: In "What Have You Done?" because Bubblegum doesn't adequately explain what the Ice King did and just says he "didn't do anything" Finn thinks he's going to be punished for no reason and sets him free.
  • In "Burning Low", Jake falls asleep while Princess Bubblegum tries to tell him why Finn shouldn't go out with Flame Princess. He assumes that PB is just jealous, and learns almost too late that PB was really trying to tell him that Flame Princess' elemental instability would cause her to destroy the planet if she is kissed.
  • In "The Lich", if Finn actually bothered trying to ask PB for the magical gem in her crown rather than just try and outright steal it, the ending of that episode could have been avoided. Justified as Finn wants to ask the princesses but Billy tells him that they don't have the time that and the princesses might suss out what's going on which Finn goes along with because of his hero worship.
• The Power of Friendship: How the gang opens the door in "What Was Missing", along with the power of honesty.
• The Power of Love:
  • Not even the Lich can withstand it. At least not until he's at full power.
  • Also seems to be how Finn got his arm back in "Breezy".
• The Power of Rock: How the heroes rescue Finn and Simon from GOLB.
• Powers That Be: The Cosmic Owl, whom the Ice King comes face to face with after falling unconscious.
• Power Up Scream: "RRRRAAAAAWWWWWRRRR!!"
• Prefers the Illusion: In "Imaginary Resources", Finn and Jake discover an island whose inhabitants have spent their whole lives hooked up to virtual reality devices. When Jake "frees" them by disconnecting the mainframe, the people find themselves unable to cope in the real world. Seeing this, Finn decides that they're better off living in their virtual realities.
• Pregnant Badass: Lady Rainicorn. She went with PB to save Finn and Jake from Ricardio in "Lady & Peebles". During the hospital scene, Lady Rainicorn reveals to Jake that she is pregnant.
  • Also don't forget Margaret.
    "So what if my belly's big? That just means more bullets for my ammo belt!"
• Pre-Insanity Reveal: The Ice King was a historian named Simon Petrikov until he put on the Ice Crown, which gave him ice powers and immortality but made him slowly lose his mind. This has been a real Tear Jerker throughout the series.
• Princesses Rule: Each princess (except LSP) seems to rule a domain of her own, however humble.
• Private Eye Monologue: BMO delivers one in "BMO Noire".
• Professional Killer:
  • Scorcher.
  • Me-Mow.
    "Me-Mow, Assassin Second-class. But once I take out a princess, I graduate to full membership."
• Promotion to Parent: Jake for Finn, Simon for Marceline.
• Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Frequently in "Rainy Day Daydream".
• Psychic Block Defense: The crystal headbands used to block the Lich's mind control.
• Psycho Serum: The Ice King's magic crown is sort of like this. Gives you tremendous magical powers of ice & snow, makes you immortal at least in the sense that you don't age normally... also it turns you blue, makes your nose and beard grow, and slowly drives you insane.
• "Psycho" Strings:
  • Happens in "Mortal Recoil" for the Lich-possessed Princess Bubblegum when Finn leaves the room.
  • Used in "Another Way" for the clown nurses.
• Pun
  • Finn drops some puns in the first couple of minutes of "Slumber Party Panic".
  • This from "Incendium":
    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)
• Pun-Based Title: Averted with "What Was Missing", which was originally called "Door Jam". (The episode is about opening a locked door using music.) The crew actually prefers not to use puns as titles.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • Literally with the Business Men. They even have a main mook with a different colored tie to tell who's the King Mook and who are regular Mooks.
  • The Crystal Men in "Crystals Have Power," who are somewhat awkward about the whole thing, say they're just following orders, and have to keep themselves from getting distracted and texting.
  • Scorcher seems to qualify as well, the moment his business is done, he just leaves without any further fighting.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  Ice King: Your hat is stupid!
  Finn: MY HAT! IS! AWESOME!
  • From "Death in Bloom":
    Jake: I. AM. NOT. A... BANANA!
• Punny Name:
  • Ricardio, a living heart. (Specifically the Ice King's.)
  • Keyper from "The Enchiridion!"
  • Marshall Lee, the male counterpart of Marceline.
• Puppy Love:
  • Finn and 13 years old Princess Bubblegum.
  • Finn and Flame Princess.
• Purple Prose: Tiffany writes elaborate lines on his arm to use when applicable. They don't usually make sense.

Q

• Quiet Cry for Help: In "When Wedding Bells Thaw", a princess who has been brainwashed into marrying the Ice King does this through her eyes.
• The Quiet One: Scorcher, a hitman Ice King hires in "Hitman".
  (Scorcher appears behind Ice King)
  Ice King: Whoa, you are fast.
  (beat)
  Ice King: And quiet.
  (beat)
  Ice King: And very good at dramatic silence, I like it...
• Quieting the Unquiet Dead: Ghosts tied to the mortal realm are capable of moving on to the afterlife if they are able to remember how they died.

R

• Ragnarök Proofing: A lot of ancient junk from the pre-Mushroom War era has survived just fine for a thousand years, often like it had been wrecked only yesterday.
• Raised by Humans:
  • At one point, Finn The Human tries to raise a baby Jiggler. His heart's in the right place, but he doesn't know how to take care of the Jiggler and nearly kills it. He ends up bringing the baby back to its mother.
• Raised by Wolves: "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain" reveals Finn was abandoned as a baby and adopted by Jake's parents.
  • Half of the plot for "The Monster".
• Rapid-Fire "No!":
  • Finn delivers one in "The Chamber of Frozen Blades".
  • Finn also does one in "Hot to the Touch" after Flame Princess accuses Finn of having crying as a power.
• Rapid Hair Growth:
  • Averted and played straight. In "To Cut A Woman's Hair", after Finn learns that he doesn't specifically need princess hair to save Jake from a witch, he cuts off his hair (which, incidentally, was revealed for the first time in the series). From then on, whenever his hair is depicted, it shown being slightly longer than the last time it was last seen. Then in "Davey" (which was three seasons later), he cuts it again to adopt a disguise. By "A Glitch is a Glitch" (which was only a few episodes later), his hair's back to the sheer length it was when it was first revealed.^note However, this episode is noncanon.
  • Princess Bubblegum and Marceline both change their hairstyles a lot, and they can either be long or short. They don't seem to need much time to grow it back. Peebs in particular has a plant that will immediately change her hairstyle when she eats one of the flowers, from ankle length to piled on top of her head.
  • In addition, the Ice King has lost his beard three times: shaved off in "Loyalty to the King" (Finn did glue it back on, but presumably he didn't keep it like that), blasted off in "Mystery Dungeon," and a Hair Reboot in "Betty." In each instance he was back to full beardiness in his next appearance (the third instance being in seconds, no less). The Ice King's beard growth is justified because it is a result of his crown which causes his beard to grow and skin to turn pale blue and cold as he loses himself in its powers (as shown in "Simon and Marcy")
• Read the Fine Print: The Pledge of Ultimate Responsibility, which Finn undertakes, not realizing it involves holding an asteroid at bay for the rest of his life
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Since Finn's teenage voice actor is developing a deeper voice, the writers decided to age up Finn from 12 to 13. They have also slowly introduced more mature themes like romance.
  • By the final season, Finn has aged to 17, and celebrated two onscreen birthdays.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Princess Bubblegum's male counterpart, Prince Gumball.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: Lady Rainicorn speaks untranslated Korean. Often used to allow for some more adult jokes or references about her relationship with Jake
• Reality Warper: Anything Jake imagines becomes real, for some reason. Finn eventually repeats the effect.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • A very blunt one given by Finn to the Tree Witch in "To Cut a Woman's Hair", with Jake continuously and angrily shouting, "DUUUDE!"
  Finn: If there's anything I've learned today, it's that I am awesome at talking to ladies. And lady, you are CRAZY UGLY! Having beautiful hair isn't gonna get you anywhere because you're ugly inside and out. So ugly, I want to throw up. No one will ever find you beautiful. EVEEERRR. And it has nothing to do with the old chrome-dome. (touches his heart) It has to do with what's in here.
  • Subverted with Jake to Bubblegum in "Burning Low", as his yelling at her turns out to be completely unjustified and based on his own wrong assumptions about her feelings. (To his credit when she yells at him right back he accepts it.)
    Jake: You heartless monster! Do you have any idea how much he's CRIED OVER YOU?! Finn DESERVES to be HAPPY! Even if his BLOOPIN' face gets BURNED OFF! You should be ASHAMED!!! (throws pancake mix at PB) YOU'RE SICK!!!
  • Flame Princess gives a pretty good one in "The Cooler", directed at Princess Bubblegum. Unlike Jake's, it's completely justified:
    Flame Princess: You're cold, PB. And it's not because you're a scientist or a leader. It's because you are a bad person. Something inside you is messed up, girl.
• Really 700 Years Old:
  • In "The Vault," it is revealed that Princess Bubblegum is not only the ruler of the Candy Kingdom, but helped build it. She has been alive for at least a few hundred years and created everything in her kingdom with SCIENCE, including the Gumball Guardians. Finn discovers this in a past-life regression session, and calls her out on it: "PB, you're like a bazillion years old. You're not freaking nineteen! What the heck?!"
  • In Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! she is given a final age of 827.
• Reflective Eye: Jake has this in the title card for "Gut Grinder".
• Regal Ringlets: Princess Bubblegum in her "glamour outfit"
• Regional Redecoration: After the Great Mushroom War, the land of Ooo was left with a large piece missing.
• Relationship Upgrade: Though the exact moment they start dating is never shown, Finn and Flame Princess are shown to be dating starting with "Burning Low."
  • Princess Bubblegum and Marceline's Big Damn Kiss in the finale.
• Reincarnation Friendship: In "The Vault" we get to see one of Finn's past lives, a girl named Shoko. It's implied in the show (and eventually confirmed via invoked Word of God and Adventure Time: Distant Lands) that her tiger companion was one of Jake's past lives. In "Come Along With Me", friends Shermy and Beth are implied to be Finn and Jake's reincarnations 1,000 years in the future.
• Replacement Goldfish: PB can recreate anyone with a candy sample of them. Like James, after he sacrifices himself so everyone else can escape the toxic waste monsters.
• Retcon:
  • "Crystals Have Power".
  • Grob, Gob, Grod, and Glob are actual deities.
• Ret-Gone: Finn tries to invoke this on the Lich in "Finn The Human" but it ends up backfiring...
• Retired Badass: Billy. How badass was he? He killed an evil ocean... by PUNCHING IT! Still not sure? Princess Bubblegum says Billy didn't just imprison the Lich in amber, he did so by pummeling him into the tree.
• Retractable Weapon:
  • Fionna's crystal sword even though it turns out to be a trap.
  • Finn's Grass Sword which spends most of the time on his wrist in the shape of a bracelet
• Retraux: The DS video game Ice King, Why Did You Steal Our Garbage features gameplay primarily inspired by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
• Reset Button: Princess Bubblegum becoming 18 again in "Too Young."
• Revolting Rescue: In "The Enchiridion!", an ogre swallows Jake whole. The enraged Finn kicks the ogre in the crotch, causing him to puke Jake out.
• Rhymes on a Dime:
  • Jake.
  "Solvin' crimes and makin' up rhymes."
  • Also, the punishment for stealing boots is poots on newts.
  • Choose Goose:
    "No money for me? How about a poem for free!"
  • In "Ocean of Fear", Jake convinces Finn to take an oath to speak in rhyme. Finn actually does an admirable job of it for most of the episode.
  • From "Paper Pete"
    Finn: Kitties, zitties, witties mitties, knitties, fitties, hitties, jitties, pities, cities.
  • Later episodes develop Flame Princess's freestyle rap skills, and even have her form a hip-hop duo with NEPTR.
• Ridiculously Alive Undead: Marceline the Vampire Queen voraciously feasts on the food that Jake brings along in "Checkmate". Additionally, in "Marceline's Closet", she uses the bathroom while Finn and Jake are hiding in her closet.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Jiggler, and arguably, the candy villagers.
  • The Dimple Plant, for a short time, anyway.
  • The pigs, even though they turn out to be evil.
  • The Firewolf pup from "Thank You".
  • Jake and Lady's pups.
• Right on Queue: The lines in the Nightosphere. Finn and Jake wait 13 days to see Hunson Abadeer, only to go to another line.
• Ring of Power: The power rings, of course! Also, Ice King's mind-control engagement ring.
• The Rival: Played with. Princess Bubblegum and Marceline are essentially rivals but they are implied to have once had a much different relationship and are also implied to both want that old relationship back.
• Robot Buddy: NEPTR.

• Rogues Gallery: The series main heroes Finn the Human, Jake the Dog and Co. have faced several villains who appear over multiple episodes and pose a threat in them. These are Ice King, Gunter/ Orgalorg, Ricardio, Magic Man, The Earl of Lemongrab, Hunson Abadeer, Me-Mow, Kee-Oth, the Oozers, Maja, the King of Ooo, Martin Mertens, Betty Grof (after Sanity Slippage), the Flame King, Dr. Gross, Tiffany Oiler, Uncle Gumbald, Fern, Warren Ampersand and the series' Big Bad and Finn's Arch-Enemy The Lich as well as the Greater-Scope Villain GOLB. Though keeping with the A World Half Full nature of the series, several of these former rogues with the exception of the most vile either reform (Ice King and Magic Man) or mellow out over time.
• Rousseau Was Right
• Royal "We": Employed by the Flame King.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something:
  • In one episode, Finn becomes king of a goblin city. He tries to be this, but the rules of the city force him to essentially be a figurehead.
  • Princess Bubblegum actively works to fix the plague the Ice King accidentally causes and betters her kingdom through her scientific research.
• RPG Mechanics 'Verse:
  • Levels, cursed objects you can't take off etc. More DnD-style than video games, and tends to only be minor elements that are only important for the episode.
    Finn: So let me ask you a question only the real Jake could answer. Who is always next to me in my recurring elevator dreams?
    Jake: (immediately) A half-orc shaman.
    Finn: Okay, you're Jake.
  • Another example would be when Finn and the Flame King discuss his daughter, and Finn suggests she might be 'Chaotic Neutral' rather than evil. Flame King responds that she might take a penalty to experience if she acted out of alignment, but could be changed to good.
  • In "Conquest of Cuteness", Finn suggests faking a loss against the Cute King and his army of Cuties. Jake doesn't like the plan, because a loss would "mess up [his] stats".
• Rubber-Hose Limbs:
  • Every character has this, unless they're a skeleton.
  • The one exception is Fionna, who has completely human proportions.
• Rube Goldberg Device:
  • How Finn fulfills his vow to make everyone happy in "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain".
  • Finn and Princess Bubblegum use one to prank Lemongrab in "Too Young".
• Ruins of the Modern Age
• Rule of Symbolism: Pretty much the only way it makes sense that Finn's drive to get revenge on Martin results in a fully-functional arm appearing.
• Rule of Three: In 'Princess Potluck', the squirrel from 'The Duke' shoots (and misses) Jake twice before getting a hit.
• Rule 63: Character designer Natasha Allegri came up with the idea of what it would be like if Finn and Jake were girls, named Fionna and Cake. Other bent characters include the Ice Queen, Prince Gumball, Marshall Lee, Doctor Prince, and Lord Monochromicorn. And it all started off from her occasional visits to /co/'s Adventure Time drawthreads. Later canonized in the episode "Fionna and Cake."
• Runaway Train: At the end of "Mystery Train", Finn accidentally smashes the controls of the locomotive, resulting in the train running out of control towards a broken bridge.
• Running Gag: At least once per season, there will generally be a title card inserted into an episode that is modeled after the opening title, but with a different word replacing "Adventure". In the Season 1 episode "Dungeon", there is a "LUNCH TIME" title card with a spork piercing the word "Time" instead of a sword; in the Season 2 episode "Susan Strong", there is an "INCREMENTAL TIME" card (referring to how Finn planned to introduce Cowardly Lion Susan to the surface world in gradual stages to avoid terrifying her).
• Running on All Fours: Finn in "Go With Me".

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