Cake is recruited by a band of skilled vampire hunters after entering a universe where vampires have taken over, and later meets "The Star". Meanwhile, Gary and Marshall Lee attend a black-tie party hosted by Marshall Lee's mother, Hana Abadeer.
Tropes Include:
- Abusive Mom: Hana Abadeer, Marshall Lee’s mother, is always seen putting her own son down with her passive-aggressive comments throughout the black-tie party. Gary has none of it, and finally snaps at her calling her a bad parent.
- Adaptational Upbringing Change: The vampire world is an Alternate Universe in which Marceline wasn't raised by Simon. Instead, Simon ends up dead before he meets Marceline who instead gets turned into a vampire by the Vampire King who raises her. The result is The Star, a Marceline who lacks the original's kind heart and who enjoys sucking humans' blood and killing.
- Antagonist Title: "The Star" refers to the alternate version of Marceline shown in the episode who is the most prominent antagonist besides the Vampire King as the episode shows how she would have turned out if the Vampire King had raised her instead of Simon.
- The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Martin in this universe is not a con artist nor a criminal, willing to fight alongside Bonnibel to take the world back from the vampires. He is also fond of Baby Finn.
- The Big Damn Kiss: The episode ends with Gary and Marshall kissing as the elevator closes.
- Bolivian Army Ending: For the Vampire World. The last we see of it is Bubblegum raising a stake as Marceline prepares to suck out her soul, while swarms of vampires descend on them. We never learn what happens next.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: Gary gets sick of listening to Marshall's mom passive aggressively insulting him, and calls her out on being a terrible parent in the middle of a big social gathering, effectively killing all the investors interest he had garnered. Similarly, Simon says the exact same thing to the Vampire King about how he raised Marceline in that universe. Unfortunately, it just results in the Vampire King hurling him around.
- Distant Prologue: The episode begins with a flashback to a young Marceline a thousand years before the present, same as the episode "Simon Petrikov". Only this time, Marceline is alone and discovers the corpse of Simon, drained of blood from a vampire bite.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When they discover Babyworld-Finn had snuck into Fiona's backpack, Bonnie angrily demands why she would "bring a child into this world," only for Fionna to deflect that it was "an accident" and that he must have "crawled in" during nap-time. Out of context, it sounds like Bonnie is judging Fionna getting pregnant despite the dangerous state of the world.
- Downer Ending: The resistance's attack on the vampires fails, with the Vampire King still in power and possessing the crown. Simon, Fionna, and Cake use the last of the remote's power to escape. Bonnibel also says that the human population has crashed and the vampires will be without food, meaning that the whole world is soon doomed to collapse.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While the Vampire King raised her to be his psychotic minion, he seems genuinely fond of Marceline. Much of his dialogue comes across as a father trying to provide guidance to their child, and when Marceline seems to be in genuine danger he marshals the rest of his vampire minions to help her. And the sentiment seems to be largely returned by Marceline, with her speaking of VK as her father.
- Eye Scream: At some point in the past, Bonnie lost her eye to the vampires, implied to be Marceline when she taunts her about taking her other eye.
- Foe Romantic Subtext: Vampire World Marceline and Bonnibel have a lot of this. Marcy often flipflops between threatening Bonnie and flirting with her. She gets annoyed when some of her underlings insult Bonnie and snaps the neck of the one who asks why she doesn't just kill Bonnie. Bonnibel for her end is more hard core and no non-sense but for some reason even when talking about how easy it would be never actually stakes Marcy. She also seems to be the only one who knows Marceline’s real name. When the two are in a no win situation where they will both die Bonnie states she is fine, they will die together.
- Irony: Scarab ends up getting in trouble for doing the very thing Prismo did to put him in Scarab's radar: ignoring his obligations. Prismo himself is quick to point this out.
- Killed Offscreen: The other vampires from "Stakes" are offhandly stated to have died over time, presumably at the hands of Bubblegum and her team.
- Misspelling Out Loud: A variant occurs when Cake shapeshifts her arm to spell her name for Bonnie. She spells it "CAEK."
- More Predators Than Prey: Princess Bubblegum of the vampire dominated universe points out to the Vampire King that the vampires are devouring humans to extinction, which will inevitably backfire on them.
- Mythology Gag: Marshall and Gary's outfits are the same as they had in an special Halloween comic book focused on the two of them, down to the fact that Gary's outfit is a reference to Viktor Nikiforov's "Stammi Vicino" outfit.
- No Body Left Behind: When vampires are killed they poof into sparkling dust.
- Noodle Incident: Scarab gets another alert on his device, listing the Cosmic Owl as guilty of Profiteering. No other details are given because he dismisses it.
- Off with His Head!: Marceline responds to a vampire underling annoying her by ripping their head off. When she glares at another present underling, they rip their own head off for her out of fear.
- Point of Divergence: Vampire World diverged from the original timeline with Simon seemingly never putting on the crown, meaning he was defenseless against the vampires and died before he found Marceline.
- Plot Parallel: While the heroes make their way through a vampire overrun universe, Gary and Marshall attend a party hosted by the latter's mom Hana. Both situations involve confronting intimidating leaders at a gathering focused on gaining more blood, a blood drive for Hana and a vampire horde for the Vampire King. Both Marceline and Marshall have someone who cares for them call out their bad parents, and there is uncertainty in the conclusion of these storylines as the vampire and candy monarch analogs descend together with romantic undertones.
- Red Filter of Doom: The perpetual clouds blocking out the sun have a constant wine-red tone, giving a feeling of dread to a world where blood-lusting vampires dominate the land.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Played for Laughs when after Fionna discovers Baby Finn had snuck into her backpack, Bonnie is appalled that Fionna would bring a baby into Vampire World, and Fionna defends herself by saying it was an accident. At this point Bonnie doesn't know Fionna is from another world and to her it sounds like Fionna is saying it was an accidental pregnancy.
- Tarot Motifs: Following the rest of the vampires from the Stakes arc having explicit or subtextual connections to tarot, Marceline raised by the Vampire King is known as The Star. The Star card can represent new hopes and revelations, but inverted can mean loss and despair, much like the situation of the vampire overrun universe.
- Took a Level in Badass: Cake has full control over her shifting power now, and has become much more formidable as a result.
- Uncertain Doom: The fate of Vampire World Bonnibel and Marceline is left ambiguous as the episode cuts from them falling to their seeming demise to Gary and Marshall kissing. Similarly, Baby World Finn was left behind in the tank in a world where Vampires now rule while Fionna, Cake and Simon leave for another world.
- Upbringing Makes the Hero: Because she was raised by the kind-hearted Simon, mainworld Marceline became a vampire hunter and managed to save the humans. By contrast, Vampire World Marceline was never raised by Simon (as this version of him died before he met her), resulting in her being raised as the Vampire King's top minion.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The Star is still capable of sucking out souls and uses it to neutralize her prey before draining them dry.
