Rewatching Adventure Time, I can't help but think so much Princess Bubblegum discourse would be non-existent if people actually watched the show to completion instead of randomly hyperfocusing on some of PB's bad deeds.
There's a very bizarre and commonly held belief that Princess Bubblegum did terrible things and got away with it, that nobody held her accountable. When the show makes a point, repeatedly, that Princess Bubblegum is well meaning but deeply flawed, and to some characters, straight up evil.
I see fans point to "The Cooler" a lot as proof that PB is an irredeemable character, and while it is her worst act in the entire show.... I think people forgot that that was the point. Near the end of the episode she stops spying on people in Ooo because it was an invasion of privacy. In another episode she's called out for exploiting some aliens and lets them go. She feels ashamed that her own people are terrified of her. She loses her entire kingdom, and realizes she needs to get her shit together.
I'm pretty critical of shows that are way too lenient on flawed female characters but Princess Bubblegum isn't one of them. She's awesome, and heavily misunderstood.
In "Too Young" when Princess Bubblegum talked about how she "never get to act like a kid" and how she wishes she "could stay like this with you, but..." I started crying. This poor girl grew up in the harsh world of early Ooo, she spawned from a living wad of gum and built a house for her brother, she tried to have a family but they betrayed her and she internalized that as "ignorance is bliss." Because shes intelligent, and she's sure not happy, and they were intelligent, and they weren't happy either, atleast Neddy is happy when he's just sucking on those roots and blissfully unaware of his surrondings. Homegirl didn't have any childhood at all, even Marceline had a more carefree childhood when she was with Simon, and she grew up in the literal apocalypse with three parental abandonments. Simon kept her entertained and cared for her, but PB was protecting Neddy and scavenging for resources, on her own, just to stay alive, her entire childhood. God. People dont talk enough about how tragic her childhood was, I feel freaking awful.
When you start getting really vivid and terrifying lemon dreams that have kept you from sleeping well for a week so a bunny girl who's been across the multiverse trys to help you out because she's also been having terrifying lemon dreams
I love all of your art but my favorites have always been the lemongrab/ice king doing things with Finn ones, ESPECIALLY the one with lemongrab hugging Finn/asking Finn if he wants him to wash his hair. Finn being tender with those two characters keeps me alive and going everyday, I adore it.
ANON I LEFT THIS SITTING IN MY INBOX FOR SO LONG,,,,, ily thank you
blease let lemongrab and finn be gentle with each other forever it's my life
on the one hand whomst is villainizing my beloved bonnibel bubblegum. on the other she did very much create a society of forever children genetically engineered to be emotionally and physically fragile so she could rule over them as mommy-goddess in a despotic utopia without fear of vulnerability or betrayal only to then realize that if anything happens to her they're all fucked and invent an evil superbeing that had to be locked in constant combat with a less evil superbeing rendering both superbeings is unavailable for governance. however she was allowed to do all that and worse. boo.