Western Animation / Adventure Time: Distant Lands

Spoilers for this show are marked as usual. However, since this is a sequel to Adventure Time, spoilers for that series are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

We'll go to very distant lands.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands is a sequel miniseries to the critically-acclaimed animated series Adventure Time. Produced by Cartoon Network Studios and Frederator Studios for HBO Max, the series consists of four, 44-minute Day in the Limelight episodes exploring various members of the show's cast of characters. It premiered on June 25th, 2020 and ended on September 2nd, 2021.

The miniseries began production after the airing of Adventure Time's Grand Finale "Come Along with Me", under the Working Title of Rumble Jaw to keep its existence secret from other teams at the studio. Showrunner Adam Muto returned to spearhead the project, alongside story editor Jack Pendarvis and storyboard artist Hanna K. Nyström. Other returning cast and crew members include composer Tim Kiefer, as well as the entire principal voice cast.

Episodes include:

• BMO: While traveling through space on a mission to terraform Mars, BMO suddenly finds themselves transported to a distant part of the galaxy. Crashing onto a decrepit space station known as the Drift, BMO encounters a young rabbit girl named Y5, and the duo must work together to save its inhabitants from certain doom. It premiered on June 25th, 2020. (TRAILER/SNEAK PEEK)
• Obsidian: When a dragon awakens and breaks free from its prison underneath the Glass Kingdom, Marceline is called upon to defeat it as she did centuries ago. But in the process of preventing the catastrophe the beast threatens to cause, she learns that fixing this dilemma means facing yet another part of her tumultuous past with Princess Bubblegum. It premiered on November 19th, 2020. (TRAILER/SNEAK PEEK)
• Together Again: After a break from adventuring, a series of mysterious events leads Finn and Jake farther from home than they have ever traveled before. When they find themselves face to face with a monstrous evil, Finn and Jake must unite for the adventure of their lifetimes! It premiered on May 20th, 2021. (TEASER/TRAILER/SNEAK PEEK)
• Wizard City: You may *think* you know Peppermint Butler (aka Pep-But, Peps, or even Dark One), the mild-mannered master occultist and loyal assistant to Princess Bubblegum... but do you *really* know him? There's more to this red-and-white bowtie clad candyman than meets the eye: discover his magical backstory and explore the lore of Wizard City. It premiered on September 2nd, 2021. (TEASER/SNEAK PEEK #1/SNEAK PEEK #2)

The miniseries was later followed by Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake in 2023.

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Adventure Time: Distant Lands provides examples of:

• Anachronic Order: While Distant Lands is treated as an Adventure Time sequel series, one of the episodes ("BMO", to be precise) ends on the reveal that its a Stealth Prequel. Meanwhile, the other episodes take place at various points in the decades after the original series' finale "Come Along With Me".
• Art Evolution: The animation got a massive improvement compared to the original series, as shown in the various trailers. It helps that the miniseries has a bigger budget and is exclusive to a streaming platform.
• A Day in the Limelight: While "Together Again" focuses on Finn and Jake, the other three episodes are focused on the supporting cast.
• Extremely Short Intro Sequence: Played with. The overall title sequence for the series is only about eight seconds long, but each episode also has its own, unique twenty second long sequence in addition to it.
• Out of Focus: Despite being part of the original series since the beginning, the Waving Snail is absent in the first two specials.

Tropes specific to certain episodes include:

BMO

Tropes that only apply to the BMO Special.

• Art Shift: Hugo's origin is shown in an animated segment done by David Ferguson, the same man behind "Water Park Prank."
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Averted for the most part. Y5 even has a cool pair of high tech gravity boots, but accidentally looses them in a card game against Mr. M, and is then barefoot for a portion of the special. Stealing them back leads to Y5 learning Mr. M and Hugo are causing the Drift's pod failures.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Drift's inhabitants managed to stop Hugo from absorbing the remaining energy from the space station, but the damage he and Martin caused is done; the station is still falling apart, most of the pods are still dead, communications are offline, and everyone needs to manage the remaining resources if they want to survive. But on the bright side, Y5 managed get the praise and respect she wanted from her parents and the inhabitants are joining forces to find a way to leave the station. Also, BMO happens upon a young Finn and Jake.
• Call-Forward:
  • BMO's Dying Dream has him talking with his alternate-colored selves seen in "The More You Moe, the Moe You Know."
  • Hugo's backstory involves little grey aliens who look like the ones from "High Strangeness".
• Canon Character All Along: Mr. M is heavily implied (but never outright stated) to be Martin Mertens, Finn's father.
• Chekhov's Gun: Y5 uses the duck call BMO got from the lard rancher to summon a ride to the Jungle Pod.
• Creative Closing Credits: The credits shows some footage from the Astro BMO model that was launched into space on July 2019.
• Disney Death: BMO gets broken into pieces and he himself even seems to think he's dead. Luckily, it just takes putting him back together and letting him warm up to make him as good as new.
• Evil All Along: Zig-Zagged. At first, Hugo seems like an obviously evil Man Behind the Man, but then he seems reasonably to be trying to save the Drift. Then it turns out he really is evil and was planning to destroy the Drift. Then the ending as he floats alone in space seems to imply he's not all bad after all.
• Green Aesop: The troubles of the Drift are a metaphor for climate change, the station depicted as a world in the brink of collapse from a crisis directly caused by those in power (who are only concerned with their own survival). However, there's still hope. People can still choose the band together, minimize the damages, and take care of each other.
• Meaningful Rename: Parodied, when the shy rabbit-like alien Y4 decides to change her name... to Y5.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Mr. M helped Hugo steal the components from the Drift, yet Hugo leaves him behind with all the other citizens.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mr. M tries (and fails) to escape the failing space station with a jetpack.
• Stealth Prequel: The episode is revealed to take place years before the events of the original series, as the ending shows BMO meeting younger versions of Finn and Jake for the first time.
• The Un-Reveal: Earth's massive crater was indeed caused during the Mushroom War... by an unknown energy explosion that may or may not have been directly related to the conflict.
• Villain Has a Point: Hugo is a scumwad who openly admits that their plans will only benefit themselves and certain chosen followers, but he is right that the residents of the Drift were completely in favor of helping in said plans because they believed their survival was a guaranteed certainty if they did so.
• Wham Shot: The very end of the episode shows the Treehouse completely intact, alongside a young Finn playing with Jake, the latter of whom was clearly going through a punk phase at the time.

Obsidian

Tropes that only apply to the Obsidian Special.

• Accidental Hero: The glass kingdom sees Marceline as their divine protector, but her saving them was just an inconsequential result of her angry break up with Bubblegum. In truth she hardly cared about them at all.
• All the Other Reindeer: Everyone in the Glass Kingdom except See-Thru Princess belittles and dismisses Glass Boy for having a crack across his face, even though they all have cracks themselves.
• All There in the Manual: Marceline's mom has her name, Elise, revealed in the subtitles and credits.
  • The black monsters that Larvo creates are called Glassassins, which is only seen in the subtitles.
• Attack Backfire: Bubblegum attempts to defeat Larvo by dousing it in root beer, but it ends up just making it angry and covered in sharp red shards.
• Back to Front: How the flashbacks to Marcy and Bonnie's break up are done. We see the break up first, followed later by Marceline's "Reason You Suck" Speech Song that caused the official split, then the argument that led to said song, and finally at the very end we see how the two first met at one of Marceline's concerts.
• Big Damn Kiss: Bubblegum gives Marceline a big kiss after the latter sings "Monster" for the first time and reveals how happy she is being with Bubblegum.
• Break-Up Song: "Woke Up". Marceline unloads on Bubblegum in the past with this song which ends their relationship.
• The Bus Came Back: Bronwyn makes a return after her small cameo in "Elements" as Finn's new adventure partner.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: Simon, the banana guards, Bronwyn and Finn only show up to help PB and Marcy after the danger has long since past.
• Character Development: The episode shows off how much Marceline and Bubblegum have changed since they first came to the Glass Kingdom. In the past both were more self centered, Bonnie wanted to prove her scientific genius and of course solve all the problems herself while Marceline just wanted to play and really couldn't care less about the Glass People. PB ends up lashing out at Marcy when her plans started to fail, and Marcy retaliates by listing, in music form, every little petty grievance she has with PB. In the present time, Bonnie is more accepting she doesn't always know the answer and willing to take help from others, and Marceline is more invested in saving the Glass Kingdom and not letting her feelings of anger and sadness cloud her judgement.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Simon is seen performing his song from "I Remember You" at Open Mic Night in the Candy Kingdom.
  • Princess Bubblegum summons the Morrow with the "SKREEE!" call used in "Death in Bloom".
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even though PB was the one who designed the force fields that kept Larvo at bay for Marceline's song to even work last time, she's completely forgotten by the present in their stories of that day. Peebs is more than a little saddened by the fact that she's nothing to the glass people, even though she's incredibly excited to prove herself to them.
• Fantastic Racism: Most of the Glass People are fairly xenophobic towards any non-glass beings. They also look down on anyone with a crack, despite everyone having a hidden one.
• Genre Shift: In-universe, since she's in such a good place thanks to her healthy relationship with Princess Bubblegum, Marceline no longer has the inspiration for angry punk music and instead starts writing Silly Love Songs.
  Marceline: Reeeeeeal sappy ones.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: During his song at the denouement Glassboy hits a note that shatters all the heads of See-Thru Princess's advisors. They're quickly swept up for reconstruction.
• Hate Sink: See-Thru Princess' Advisors are all incompetent, xenophobic jerks who try to control the princess through intimidation, and constantly tell her she should give up the crown and put them in charge. When the dragon attacks they run away and hide, then try to kill Glassboy, Marceline and Bubblegum, by locking them in the furnace with the Dragon.
• Hypocrite: The glass people (sans the princess) always bully Glassboy for having a crack on his head, despite the fact they all have at least one hidden on their bodies.
• I Am a Monster: After she used her demon powers to save her mother from a wolf Marceline is left believing that she scared her mother away after she told her to leave. Her imaginary friends even tell her that she scares everyone away. Her Silly Love Song to Bonnie at the end is even titled "Monster" where she admits her insecurities about this aspect of herself.
  Marceline: I've always felt like a monster, long before I was bit.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Marceline's mom is obviously sick with a bad cough and bags under her eyes. When she starts coughing up blood she sends young Marcy away with a lie.
• Interrupted Bath: It is clear that Simon got Finn to help Marcy and PB while he was bathing since he showed up with a towel over his head and waist.
• It Can Think: Larvo is intelligent enough to eavesdrop and understand the glass people's discussion that Marceline is the main threat to it, so it creates and sends out obsidian minions to hunt her down. It's also shown to be able to empathize with the emotional pain of both songs it hears from Marceline.
• Killed Off for Real: Despite being rebuilt time and time again, the Candy Kingdom's Gumball Guardians are dead for good since the finale.
• Laser-Guided Karma: See-Through Princess's advisors not only get their badly-cracked bodies revealed in front of everyone, but their bodies get completely shattered by Glassboy's song.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: According to their legends the Glass Kingdom and its people were birthed by a bolt of magical lightning.
• Literally Shattered Lives: The people of the Glass Kingdom are exactly as vulnerable as you'd think, but fortunately their shards and pieces can still move remotely and all they need is a ribbon to hold them back in place to be whole.
• Living Lava: Larvo the dragon is by all appearances made of molten glass, burning hot enough to completely melt a glass citizen by touch.
• Magic Music: Subverted; Everyone in the Glass Kingdom has come to believe that Marceline's song was a magic incantation that repelled the dragon Larvo long enough to be sealed. In truth the dragon was just intimidated into backing up by the raw emotional intensity of Marceline's song.
• Mondegreen Gag: After a couple hundred years the Glass people have completely forgotten the lyrics to Marceline's original song. In their version it's about hating a coconut, but the original is a nasty and angry Break-Up Song.
  Glass Choir: So Mad at the Coconut
  Marceline: So Glad I Woke Up
• Never Be Hurt Again:
  • After her mother seemingly abandoned her at a young age (when in truth she just didn't want her daughter to see her die) after she used her demon powers to save her from a mutated wolf Marceline convinced herself that she did it on purpose and that whenever people run away from her it's because she wants them to. This unfortunately had long reaching consequences as instead of dealing with her problems in a constructive way she just lashed out at people which is what led to her making her Break-Up Song against Bubblegum after they had a fight.
  • As it turns out Larvos also has similar issues to Marcy. After it's siblings were eaten by a sea monster when it was young and it only just escaped with a scar Larvos buried itself into a volcanic crevice rather then be hurt again where it turned into the dragon it became by the present day. After hearing Marcy's Silly Love Song to Bubblegum it takes off the mask it used to hide its scar and transforms into a soft butterfly-cat creature.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Glassboy goes into the mountain Larvos is trapped in so he can fix the crack in his head. This inadvertently wakes up the dragon and he in turn loses the key keeping the magic door sealed thus giving the dragon the opportunity to escape.
  • Marcy's mom meant well but her sending Marcy away at a young age without telling her why ended up giving her daughter long term psychological damage and made it hard for her to be honest with her feelings. It doesn't help that she send her away after Marcy used her demon powers to save her making Marcy believe she scared her off.
• No-Sell: Bubblegum tries to use her candy-summoning powers on the Glassassins, but the candy just melts against their scalding-hot skin.
• Not Quite Back to Normal: Simon is no longer the Ice King, but he still has a habit of dressing up like him and standing in front of Marceline's freezer.
  Simon: What?! This is how I cope!
• Parents as People: Marcy's mom tried her best but hid a lot from her daughter, including the fact that she was dying. This ended up causing Marcy herself to have abandonment issues and trouble expressing her emotions.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: Two in song form, first is "Woke Up" in which Marceline sings a diss track to Bubblegum in front of the Glass Kingdom, Twice. The second is "See Through" were Glassboy sings about his frustation with See-Thru Princess after she treated him badly.
  • When "Woke Up" fails to repel Larvo in the present day, Marceline tries to create a new one on the fly, but the only grievance against Bonnie she can come up with is that she borrowed Marcy's brush... which she didn't mind at all.
• Rule of Symbolism: The episode is about a race of glass people, who are naturally very fragile, that relentlessly mock anyone who has a crack even though they all secretly have one. There is no one that goes through life without accruing some kind of damage, and rather than tearing each other down for it we should be open, honest and supportive of each other because we've all been there.
  • Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the Break-Up Song); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again. And she makes a mistake or two in the process, but at the end she defeats it/them for real when she realizes that she has to open herself up (the Silly Love Song), which makes the healing (Larvos' metamorphosis) possible.
• Scars Are Forever: The theme of the episode is about scars, emotional and physical, and how there is no magical fix for them. That the only way to address them is to look at them honestly and openly and work out healthier attitudes towards them.
• Shrouded in Myth: The Glass Kingdom's legend of how Marceline saved them all has undergone some serious decay over the centuries. Even ignoring that what Marcy did wasn't even meant to drive the dragon away, Princess Bubblegum is completely absent from the story despite her forcefield having played a really big part, the lyrics of "Woke Up" have become a massive mondegreen, and Marceline's bass-axe has become a shovel.
• Silicon-Based Life: The episode introduces both a dragon and a race of people who are made of living glass. Their kingdom is located by a volcanic area, immediately identifiable before the active lava pit by volcanic rock formations similar to the Giant's Causeway.
• Silly Love Song: After the two get trapped in the dragons lair Marceline sings a new song she composed for Bonnie titled "Monster" where she lays down how being with Bubblegum scares her because it makes her vulnerable but it also makes her feel happy and she wants to be "soft" for her.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: The glass people believed that Marceline's song was magical in nature due to its repelling effect on Larvo. In actuality it was Marceline's fearless approach to him combined with the emotional rawness of her song, which it understood, that drove it back.
• Time Skip: The episode takes place after the original series ended, as evidenced by the Candy Kingdom no longer being protected by the already dead Gumball Guardians and Simon's appearance in the episode. A blink and you'll miss it shot has a precursor to the advanced Banana Guard, last seen in the distant future of Ooo, already present in the Candy Kingdom. Then the ending reveals that the episode takes place a few years after "Come Along With Me", with Finn, now in his 20s, arriving at the Glass Kingdom with Bronwyn and Simon.
• Together in Death: Discussed. When Marceline and Bubblegum think they're about to get buried in the cave-in, Marcy says that at least they'll find their skeletons entwined forever. Bonnie agrees that it's romantic, but points out she doesn't have a skeleton. Luckily averted, as they get out safely.
• Visual Pun: One of the glass people has a literal “butt crack.”
• Wham Shot: To help out Marceline and Bubblegum, Simon recruits PB's Banana Guards, Bronwyn, and a grown-up Finn with a beard, battle scars and a tattoo of Jake on his chest.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite some characters making a comeback, Jake is nowhere to be seen. It's unclear what happened to him between "Come Along With Me" and the miniseries, now that Bronwyn is Finn's adventure partner. Either he retired from adventures or died.
• Wrecked Weapon: Marceline's axe-bass gets smashed by Larvo's obsidian minions. Fortunately Character Development leads her to ignore them for it and focus on the real problem of helping fight Larvo.
• Writer's Block: At the start of the special Marceline is trying to compose a new song but admits to Bonnie that she is having trouble getting the words down. Later on she tries to come up with an angry song on the fly to subdue the dragon but finds she can't draw up the same negative energy she used to. At the end she realizes it's because she is so happy with Bonnie now that she doesn't have the same anger she used to derive her songs from and thus resolves that issue by singing a Silly Love Song instead.

Together Again

Tropes that only apply to the Together Again Special.

• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The 50th dead world acts like this, its a place you can only reach after fully letting go of all worldly desires and being at peace with yourself. Naturally for the easy going and spiritual person that he is, Jake had no problem reaching this level.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • How exactly Finn and Jake died, who, if anyone, Finn ended up with, or any other specific details about his life are never revealed. The only details that can be discerned is that Finn died old, as that is the form he is in when he arrives in the Dead Worlds, and he considers himself an old man even after he takes the form of his younger self.
  • Peppermint Butler is the new ruler of the Candy Kingdom, which begs the question of what happened to Princess Bubblegum. Pep is tending to a statue of her in his private room, which could be anything from a dedication, a shine, a memorial, or Bubblegum herself.
• Big "WHAT?!": Life has this reaction when she learns that New Death, her own son, is cutting off the reincarnation cycle altogether, basically taking her entire purpose away from her.
• Bilingual Bonus: After Life finds out that New Death has stopped the cycle of reincarnation, she furiously mutters in French as she assembles the Kiss of Life, the artifact meant to stop him.
  Life: HE DID WHAT?! He's willing to snatch my entire purpose from ME?! Après tout ce que j'ai fais pour ce garçon, après tout ce que j'ai fais pour lui. Non mais c'est pas possible, ce n'est pas possible. Non ça me... ça m'infurie complètement! Mais c'est pas possible! ^Translation "After all I did for that boy! After everything I did for him! No, but it's not possible! That's not possible! No, I'm... I'm completely infuriated! But that's not possible!"
• Bus Crash: The Waving Snail makes a return... as a skeleton alongside the remains of Me-Mow, Mr. Pig and Lemongrab. Of course since this is decades after the end of the series, a lot of people have passed away.
• Disney Death: New Death's goons destroy Joshua and Margaret's home, leaving Finn to believe they and Jermaine have died (again). However, they were just captured by New Death.
• Face Death with Dignity: Finn has absolutely no qualms with being dead, and is in fact ecstatic since this means he can see Jake again.
• Fake-Out Opening: The episode starts off seemingly showing Finn and Jake back on another adventure sometime earlier in the series, complete with the original intro, but as things progress it becomes clear that something is very off. It’s then shown that this was just an elderly Finn trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine and that Jake died long ago, something which is very quickly followed by the reveal that Finn himself has recently died.
• Foregone Conclusion:
  • Peppermint Butler will recover his dark powers and rule over the Candy Kingdom, but Charlie's son Gibbon will take over the kingdom one day in the future.
  • Finn and Jake will reincarnate once more, just like their other previous lives.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Inverted. Finn is told that since he's legitimately in the underworld now having died at an old age. He's allowed to shift his form to his liking within the realm. He ends up picking his younger form... with the prosthetic metal arm. When asked why when he could shift it to a normal limb, he says he just feels better with it. He later takes on the appearance of Shoko in order to infiltrate New Death's castle, and takes on a variety of previous forms during his fight with Jake.
• Grand Finale: Despite being advertised as the third special, "Together Again" is considered the finale of the miniseries by the show's staff. And rightfully so, as this is Finn and Jake's final adventure before their next reincarnation.
• Hijacked by Ganon: New Death is actually working for The Lich, who orchestrated the former's rise into power as a puppet, seeking to destroy the Dead Worlds and end reincarnation, thus making the end of all life an inevitability.
• I Will Wait for You: Jake and Finn promised to wait for each other in the afterlife so they could be reincarnated together, and even came up with a special clap to find one another, but Jake being Jake he ended up going to the 50th dead world instead of keeping the promise. In the end, though, Jake decides to keep his promise and the episode ends with the two heading off to Life to get reincarnated.
• Kill and Replace: In order to stop the Lich again, Finn and Jake must use the Kiss of Life on New Death. However, the wielder who uses the staff on him will take New Death's place as the new ruler of the Dead Worlds. This results in Finn and Jake fighting one another to stop the Lich and become the next Death, only for Mr. Fox to arrive and use the Kiss of Life on New Death by accident, becoming the next Death in the process.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Finn learns he can turn himself into any past version of himself in eternity, he flips through a bunch of his past lives before stopping at his most current state when the original show ended, musing that it's "recognizable."
• The Load: Tree Trunks's ex Wyatt the manatee is even more annoying and unhelpful than before, which is why he ends up stuck in the First Dead World by himself while everyone else moves on.
• The Mourning After: Finn reveals that despite living a full life and even enjoying it, deep down he never really got over Jake's death and a small part of him longed to join him.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When it’s revealed just how New Death "inherited" his title, we see he briefly has this reaction when he realizes that he just killed his father.
  New Death: …What did I do? Mom’s gonna kill me!
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: After Mr. Fox becomes the next Death, the Lich tries to tempt him. Jake smashes him and throws him into the void.
• Stealth Sequel/Stealth Prequel: Not only the episode takes place several years after Finn and Jake's death, but it also ends with the duo reincarnating once more, setting the events for Shermy and Beth's adventures in the future.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: In this case, for ignoring someone else's epiphany. Finn was finally able to accept Jake's death and the possibility of being separated forever and decides to reincarnate without him. At the last second, Jake decides to give up his chance at eternal paradise and follow him.
• The Journey Through Death: The episode takes place years after both Finn and Jake have died, and deals with Finn searching for Jake so they can be reborn together.
• Time Skip: A massive one took place after the finale and "Obsidian", as the episode confirms that Finn, Jake and most of the secondary cast have passed away.
• Title Drop: The final title card:
  Finn & Jake Are Together Again.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Subverted hard. Unlike the three specials, everything regarding "Together Again" has been left vague on purpose: the official synopsis doesn't tell much about the plot and its placement in the timeline, the majority of the scenes from the teaser are taken out of context and the official poster doesn't show much other than Finn and Jake. And instead of releasing the first four minutes of the special, HBO Max released a one minute sneak peek showing a flashback sequence instead.
• Wham Line:
  • Through the episode's title card, no less. The title card simply says "Adventure Time Presents Finn & Jake" before cutting to an adventure with the two. Then it's revealed that the adventure was just a Lotus-Eater Machine memory of an elderly Finn, who has long outlived Jake, and is trapped in a strange dungeon. But the Wham Line comes into play when he realizes where he really is. The title card is updated:
    Finn & Jake Are Dead
  • Another one happens later on, revealing who the true antagonist is, though the Wham comes from who says it rather than what is said.
    The Lich: Burn.
    • Arguably, it came a moment earlier when it’s revealed how New Death killed and replaced Old Death.
      New Death: Think I can’t take you, Dad?!
      (Death simply tosses aside his broom and hugs his son. New Death struggles against the embrace)
      The Lich: Strike.
      New Death: Eh?
      The Lich: Strike now.
      New Death: Huh?!
      The Lich: STRIKE NOW!
      

Wizard City

Tropes that only apply to the Wizard City Special.

• Bag of Spilling: As a result of being dowsed with Gumbald's dumdum juice in "Gumbaldia", Peppermint Butler not only became a child again, but lost all of his spells in the process.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Both Bufo and Abracadaniel returns in the episode after them not having a major role in the original series since Season 5.
  • Huntress Wizard returns three years after her last appearance during the finale, but Demoted to Extra once more as a background character.
  • A lot of the teachers are returning characters from the season one episode "Wizard Battle" and now they are all Suddenly Voiced.
• Call-Back: Dr. Caledonius references a hypothetical "Second Age of Terror", something once mentioned by Matthew in Adventure Time S6E28 "The Mountain" as something he would have to "restore the world" from. It's still not clear what exactly it would even entail, though.
• Darker and Edgier: Not only the darkest episode of the miniseries, but the darkest animated entry in the Adventure Time franchise by far. Peppermint Butler's antics from the original show are not Played for Laughs this time. And for the first time in the series, we actually see an actual on-screen murder and death, with this episode having the highest body count in the franchise. Lastly, Death of a Child is played completely straight this time, a rarity for a kid's show. It's no wonder why the Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake spin-off series is targeted towards young adults.
• Dénouement Episode: Wizard City is the last episode of the Distant Lands miniseries, but was only ordered after the first three episodes were well into production. Together Again is written as the true Grand Finale while Wizard City serves as an epilogue.
• Foregone Conclusion: As stated under the entry in "Together Again", Peppermint Butler will recover his dark powers and rule over the Candy Kingdom, but Charlie's son Gibbon will take over the kingdom one day in the future.
• Heel–Face Turn: It seems Bufo turned over a new leaf after the events of "Betty", having becoming a teacher and severing ties with Grass Wizard and Laser Wizard after their plan to summon Bella Noche backfired. However, this turns out to simply be a cover for his latest scheme alongside the cult planning to resurrect Coconteppi, making him a Falsely Reformed Villain.
• Time Skip: Just like the previous episodes, this one is set to take place years after the finale. But unlike "Obsidian" and "Together Again", which takes place after an unspecified amount of time, this one takes place 10 years after "Come Along With Me", as Peppermint Butler is now a 10-year old child.

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