Conquest of Cuteness

"Conquest of Cuteness" is the season premiere of season 3 of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
Finn and Jake must defend their home from the Cuties, a tiny race who believe themselves to be evil, destructive invaders.

Plot
Jake is seen cooking breakfast when Finn walks into their kitchen. After a quick beat-boxing session, Jake makes an Everything Burrito. Finn and Jake then hear a noise in the Tree Fort's yard, where they encounter a group of small creatures called the Cuties, led by their king, whom Finn and Jake find very cute. However, their king says they aren't really cute and plan on defeating Finn and Jake. Jake becomes slightly disturbed after the creature's threat. But then Finn and Jake get BMO to take pictures of the Cuties and Snail is seen waving but glaring at Finn and Jake. After playing with the creatures and taking pictures of them, the Cute King becomes enraged, and vows to kill Finn and Jake, also insinuating that they sabotaged Jake's Everything Burrito.

Jake cries out in horror as he looks upon his burrito, but Finn says there's nothing wrong with it. However, Jake believes the Cuties poisoned it somehow, put off by the fact that they knew his name and about the burrito, and decides to bury it behind the Tree Fort and marks it with a grave. As Finn prepares to go to sleep, Jake climbs into Finn's bed, as he is still worried about the Cuties' threats, but Finn reassures Jake that the creatures are harmless, and Jake remarks that Finn "sounds like Mom" before falling asleep. Finn is suddenly woken up by Jake, who says fearfully that he heard noises in the fort. Finn listens for a moment before spotting two Cuties handling Jake's sword before they flee.

As Jake's fear intensifies, they both hear a strange noise downstairs. Upon coming across nothing but a broken window, the two hear a voice claiming to be their mother, stating that she is disappointed in them both, and that they are stupid. However, they soon discover it is one of the creatures playing a joke on them. They chase the creature into a hole in the tree trunk where Finn grabs it.

Before escaping, it warns Finn and Jake of an attack on the fort by their army arriving at sunrise. The next morning Finn and Jake blockade the Tree Fort with furniture, and seeing the army arriving they become afraid. However, after seeing the cute creatures fall apart and injure themselves (one even explodes), they discover the creatures are very weak and harmless, except to themselves. Their king tries to help them but fails, and orders a retreat. Finn and Jake follow the Cute King to a well with the remaining injured small creatures, who start planning another attack, despite the fact that they can't take two steps without exploding.

Finn and Jake decide to fake their deaths so the creatures can feel good about themselves and declare their first victory. In order to make it seem like a battle between armies, they gather Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, Cinnamon Bun and a duck. The creatures attack, and Finn, Jake, and their friends fake their deaths and pretend to bleed with ketchup, but at the end of the attack, the Cute King performs a victory dance on Jake's stomach, which causes Jake to laugh, revealing he is alive. Everyone else, realizing that Jake is caught, reveal themselves.

The Cute King is saddened by this, claiming he just wanted he and his people to cause fear and gain control. Finn tells the Cute King that his people's strength is not in their power, but in their cuteness. The Cute King agrees and asks Finn how to use their power, and Finn decides to send the Cute King to the Ice King. The Cute King demands the Ice King makes him a sandwich, and when the Ice King refuses, the Cute King strikes a cute pose, with which the Ice King is awestruck and promptly makes a sandwich.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Cuties
 * Cute King
 * Bliblob
 * Two Headed Cutie

Minor characters

 * Lumpy Space Princess
 * Cinnamon Bun
 * BMO
 * Duck
 * Ice King
 * Gunter
 * Snail
 * Margaret (Mentioned)

Trivia

 * This is the second episode with a title card that is not ripped. The first is "Guardians of Sunshine."
 * During the scene where Lumpy Space Princess is faking being in love with one of the Cuties, the viola music that Jake was playing for Finn in the episode, "When Wedding Bells Thaw," was playing in the background.
 * Some episode summaries released by Cartoon Network used the old version of the Cuties' name, "Snuggadoodle and the Huggaboopies."
 * Even though BMO is genderless Finn still calls it "ma lady"

Cultural references

 * Cute King yelled out "BRAVEST WARRIORS!" This refers to Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward's earlier cartoon Bravest Warriors about four kids saving planets and the leader having a crush on one of the warriors named Beth.

Storyline analysis

 * BMO reveals that he is already had a camera built into his body, negating the need for the video camera used in "Video Makers." It could be possible that while BMO has a Polaroid camera, he does not have a video camera.
 * It is revealed that Jake has a sword of his own. He was seen using the sword in the beginning of "Tree Trunks", but it was never confirmed that it was his. Jake's sword looks like a mini version of Billy's Sword, Nothung, from "His Hero." It also bears a resemblance to a Japanese Naginata, excluding the color and decorations on it.
 * This is the first episode that Finn and Jake talk about Margaret, calling her "Mom."

Censorship

 * This episode was censored on Cartoon Network Australia. See Censorship of Adventure Time in Australia for more information.

Videos
Video:Adventure Time - "Conquest of Cuteness" Animatic|Animatic