Fionna and Cake (the
gender-swapped versions of Finn and Jake) fight the evil Ice Queen and attend Prince Gumball's royal ball.
Tropes
- Action Dress Rip: Fionna does this before taking on the Ice Queen.
- Action Girl: Fionna and Cake, being as badass as Finn and Jake.
- Age Lift: Fionna is clearly significantly older than the 13-year-old Finn and roughly appears to be Prince Gumball's age, probably to make the romantic subtext between her and the 18-year-old Prince Gumball way less squicky. Justified in-universe by the fact that it's all a story, and that the Ice King seems to be into the concept of an older female Finn.
- Alternate Universe: Albeit one created through an in-universe fanfic.
- Amazon Chaser: Gumball is attracted to Fionna both for her strength and beauty. However this was actually Ice Queen in disguise and simply flattering Fionna into a trap, but the real deal also thinks she is 'incredible' when fighting.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The Gender Bender main cast of show.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: The Ice Queen is probably the best example out of all the genderbent characters, as she appears taller and much younger than the actual Ice King and wears a beautiful blue gown. Justified, as she exists in a fanfiction of his creation. It's also because
Natasha Allegri, who designed her, has said that she finds attractive villains far more unsettling than ugly ones. - Author Avatar: Ice King has two, Ice Queen and himself as an overly, perfect vision of himself.
- Big Sister Mentor: Cake's usually the one giving Fionna advice like how to get Gumball's attention.
- Bowdlerise: The original ending:
Ice King: And then the Ice King married them all! THE END! - The Cameo: Marshall and Lumpy Space Prince make minor appearances in this episode.
- Chekhov's Gun: Fionna's crystal sword, given to her by the Ice Queen as Prince Gumball in disguise, is one of these. Then subverted, when it's revealed to be a trap that encases her hands in ice. Then zig-zagged when she uses the ice to free Prince Gumball.
- Dark Action Girl: Ice Queen, being a more competent ice user than Ice King.
- Distaff Counterpart: Fionna for Finn, Cake for Jake and Ice Queen for Ice King.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Ice Queen has ice magic and uses it for destructive purposes when battling Fionna or trying to kidnap Prince Gumball.
- Flat "What": Prince Gumball delivers this when Fionna reveals herself to be in love with Ice King.
- For the Evulz: Unlike Ice King, Ice Queen doesn't seem to have any redeeming values and doesn't care who has to get hurt to get what she wants.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Cake tries on the Ice Queen's tiara and her ice powers, Fionna knocks it off shouting "You'll catch her crazy!". Since the Ice King wrote this in-universe, this is foreshadowing for the revelations later in the season about the Ice King's past and the origins of his power.
- The Ice Queen is far more competent and threatening than her male counterpart, foreshadowing that the opposite-gender versions of the characters are part of a story the Ice King made up.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: A Gender Bender episode for the main cast.
- Gender Bender: The entire cast gets this, boy characters becoming girls and girls becoming boys. It's a rare example of gender flips, which are usually strictly fan-based, being promoted in the show proper.
- An Ice Person: Ice Queen has the ability to control ice much like her male counterpart, but her powers are much more offensive.
- Interspecies Romance: Gumball has this with Fionna, though she rejects him for Ice King.
- Latex Perfection: Ice Queen's disguise as Prince Gumball was pretty much spot-on, unlike the Ice King's Bubblegum disguise.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Ice Queen is much more competent than the Ice King. Justified, as it's a fanfiction of Ice King, so he probably made her competent regardless of her gender.
- Narrator All Along: Ice King turns out to have created "Fionna and Cake" as a fan fiction and narrated events as he saw it.
- Nested Story Reveal: At first the episode seems like a gender-flipped episode done for laughs, but then the end reveals it's Ice King's fanfic he's reading to Finn and Jake.
- Not What It Looks Like: After the fight near the end, Cake stumbles in on Fionna (worn out, and with her dress torn) and Gumball, and interprets the scene in a completely different way.
- Sassy Black Woman: Cake, despite being a cat.
- Ship Tease: Fionna with Gumball and Cake with Lord Monochromicorn.
- Shout-Out: Fionna's ball gown is very similar to Princess Serenity's dress.
- Spear Counterpart: Gumball for Bubblegum and Lord Monochromicorn for Lady Rainicorn.
- Special Edition Title: "Fionna and Cake" had every character who appears in the opening replaced by their gender-swapped counterpart. Even the singer of the theme song was changed from a male one to a female.
