Tropes found in this episode:
- Big Sister Instinct: Big Cousin Instinct from Gwen. When she sees Ben get energy-drained to unconsciousness by their unknown assailant, that's the catalyst for Gwen to summon up enough energy to knock back the attacker in order to escape, while before she was only able to just shield herself from the energy-draining ray.
- Blatant Lies: Kevin claims not to have met his real father, a fact that later episodes would contradict.
- The Determinator: Even though Darkstar is able to capture him, Ben, as Humungousaur, takes the longest (out of Kevin, Magister Gilhil, and the Highbreed officer) to go down due to just refusing to give up. Even when he's forced to transform back into a human, it still takes several more seconds for Ben to fall to his knees. Darkstar even compliments him on it.Darkstar: I had almost forgotten how strong you are. Ben.
- Enemy Mine: Gwen allies with the DNAliens to defeat Darkstar.
- "Eureka!" Moment: One that also doubles as an Oh, Crap! moment. Ben realizes who the unidentified energy-draining attacker is when he addresses him by his name.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: Ever since his supply of "food" was cut off, Mike's need to feed has rendered him a sickly, ugly version of himself he now calls "Darkstar".
- Foreshadowing: Ben spams the Omnitrix's quick-change feature to bring down Darkstar during the climax. Due to Ben's tired state, and the fact that he and his allies are able to bring Darkstar down quickly when working together, the only consequence that Ben experiences here is a Post-Victory Collapse. As Azmuth later reveals in "Good Copy, Bad Copy", spamming the Omnitrix's quick-change feature for a prolonged period of time can have dire consequences.
- Godzilla Threshold: Defied. When Darkstar is draining their energy, Kevin suggests that Ben use Alien X to fight back against him. Despite being in agony, Ben refuses, noting that Darkstar absorbing Alien X's powers would make him nigh unstoppable.
- I Lied: After betraying the Highbreed, Darkstar stated that he wasn't to be trusted.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Darkstar employing the Highbreed to attack the team sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the team becoming actual Plumbers and Gilhil taking the Highbreed threat more seriously.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gwen, Ben, Kevin, Magister Gilhil, and the DNAliens all give one to Darkstar at the climax.
- Oh, Crap!: Ben realizes that Morningstar (later revealed to be going by the name of Darkstar) is behind the attacks and intelligence leaks when Morningstar addresses Ben by his name in the midst of energy-draining him.
- Post-Victory Collapse: Ben experiences this after putting all his energy into defeating Darkstar.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The Magister, while dismissive of the Highbreed threat, allows Ben and co to try and present proof to the plumber he intends to assign in 6 months and allows them to go free as long as Kevin gives back his dad’s Plumber badge, which was stolen. And when evidence of the Highbreed is presented, he deputises the trio to deal with their invasion plan officially.
- Tactical Withdrawal: Before falling unconscious, Ben tells Gwen to flee from their attacker as she's the only one who can sufficiently defend herself from their opponent's energy-draining powers. Thus, she's their best hope of rescue and getting out alive — as long as she's not captured.
- Zerg Rush: Darkstar is able to handle the DNAliens pretty easily and can absorb their energy fast, but there's a lot of them and they all jump at him almost as fast as he drains them. They keep him busy long enough for Gwen to free Ben, Kevin, and Magister Gilhil.Darkstar: Too many to absorb!
