#and a few other marceline episodes

[fruity-phrog]

Okay, I saw someone say that Nimona, while being good representation, “didn’t take the big step forward in queer rep that everyone says it did”.

That is wrong. So wrong, my dude.

Yes, an explicit and open queer relationship in children’s cartoons is not new, per ce. Hell, just this year, two popular kids’ cartoons had the main character in an open, adorable, plot-based queer romance. But this is different for a few reasons.

Reason number one, it isn’t left in suspense. Yes, they had that split for three odd weeks, but they started the film as a couple. One of the very first scenes is them together as a couple, Ambrosius saying he loves Ballister, them holding hands, Ballister leaning on Ambrosius’ shoulder. Ambrosius says he loves Ballister three times during the film, and none of them are any more than halfway in. It’s very clear, from their very first interaction, that they are an established relationship, which isn’t something I’ve seen...at all in other animation.

Secondly, they are the plot. Ambrosius not believing Ballister, Ambrosius cutting off Ballister’s arm, Ballister trying to get the video to Ambrosius - this is what drives the plot. In any other children’s animation with queer relationships, the relationship is not the main focus. Even The Owl House, which is so amazing with its constant representation, would still make sense if Luz and Amity never happened. But Nimona’s plot wouldn’t make sense without Ballister and Ambrosius’ relationship. It, quite simply, can’t be erased. It could work as a friendship, yes, but that’s the point. They could have just been two close friends that fell on opposite sides of a fight, but they weren’t. They were two lovers that fell on opposite sides of a fight. 

Thirdly, they aren’t sanitized for “family viewing”. An emerging trend in children’s animation is to only have mlm relationships as fathers to make them seem more “family friendly”. With the exception of Kipo, there really isn’t many tv shows or films that places light upon an mlm relationship. And if it does, it'll be a teen relationship because teenagers being queer tends to come across as less “dirty” and more “innocent”. But Goldenheart is none of these things. They are adults without the mollifying aspect of having a family. And on top of that, they fight. They wield swords and they get bloody and they shoot at things and get angry and yell. They aren’t “clean” and “innocent”.

As well as this, they are in a film. Films are far more accessible than tv shows. You have to watch twenty seven episodes before Lumity in toh is canon. Troy kisses Benson on the eleventh episode of Kipo. And there are two hundred and eighty three episodes of Adventure Time before Marceline and Bonnie kiss. But with a film, the queerness is much more forward - especially in Nimona, where it’s literally the second scene. Animated films hardly ever display queer relationships, but Nimona did.

Finally - they aren’t perfect. I don’t know about you, but three weeks of thinking your boyfriend/maybe ex is a murderer? Doesn’t sound like a healthy few weeks to me. I have only seen big relationship arguments portrayed in straight relationships in cartoons - think Star Vs The Forces Of Evil - whereas queer relationships either have the massive fight prior to being canonically gay - She Ra - or have conflict, not arguments, that are dealt with quickly - Dead End/The Owl House. But Goldenheart? Goldenheart suffers. Their relationship is pushed to such extreme boundaries as for them to be pretty much exes throughout most of the movie. And yet, they are clearly healthy, happy and very much in love at the end. 

TL;DR - Nimona is amazing with the queer representation, and it is a milestone for LGBTQ+ cartoons. Not only is the relationship romantic for the entire movie, the plot is driven by Ambrosius and Ballister’s sort-of-break-up. In short, they are treated the same way straight people are. They have flaws, they have massive arguments, they have plot importance, they have backstory. They are in love. And that’s what matters more than anything else. 

#cedar crap #wow I didn't mean for this to be so long #nimona #nimona netflix #queer rep in media #queer rep in animation #goldenheart #ballister boldheart #ballister blackheart #ambrosius goldenloin #and I didn't even touch on the blatant queer flags in the background

[anthurak]

Something I’ve always found rather curious about the Adventure Time fandom, specifically Bubbline shippers, is that nobody seems to talk about how the show slipped in what might be the most angsty, hardcore and emotionally raw Bubbline stories disguised as a wacky Rashomon-style recap in the episode Ketchup.

Like it’s pretty clear that Marceline is doing the whole ‘Lollipop Girl and Rockstar Girl’ puppet-show because she doesn’t want to traumatize BMO with what happened while they, Finn and Jake were gone, and also because she herself doesn’t want to revisit those memories directly.

But when we start reading between the lines and recognize that Marceline’s embellishments are really more to tone DOWN events, I think we get a very stark and raw depiction of what Marceline was doing when Patience set off Ooo’s elemental apocalypse.

Just to kick things off, how much does anyone want to bet that this joke translates to ‘Marceline and Bubblegum had a fight and Marcy was giving Bonnie some space… and because of that, Marceline wasn’t there to protect Bonnie when she was kidnapped by Patience.’?

Kinda adds another layer to Marcy’s whole ‘I was so afraid something bad would happen to you’ breakdown in Come Along With Me, doesn’t it?

Next we have ‘Rockstar Girl smacking off the potato-heads growing on her’ which pretty easily translates to; ‘while everyone else was getting overrun by the elements, Marceline was able to fight off the elemental contamination for possibly entire days while she tried to find a way to help Bubblegum’. And given what we see with Finn and Jake only able to resist the contamination for maybe a few hours at a time, and how willpower was one of the only things that could hold it off, that says a LOT about just how DESPERATE Marcy was to help Bonnie. I mean, you want a really hardcore and messed up image? Imagine if Marceline was actively cutting or RIPPING off the contaminated parts of herself to keep it from spreading and regrowing those parts with her vampiric regeneration?

Then we have ‘Rockstar Girl went after the Blue Tranch’, which I can only imagine translates to ‘Marceline going on a GOLB-DAMMNED WARPATH to hunt down Patience St. Pim’. And let’s remember that A. Patience was currently a super-charged Elemental and B. Marceline would still be fighting off elemental contamination herself, whether the Candification from Bubblegum, the Ice-ification from Patience, or even both.

I mean, when we think about it; ‘Rockstar Girl played some really loud music that the Blue Tranch didn’t like’ quite possibly translates to the most insane battle of the entire show. Like on one side we’ve got Patience St. Pim, seasoned Elemental who could already make Ice King look like an amateur, super-charged with elemental energy making her probably the most powerful Ice Elemental in thousands if not millions of years. And on the other side, we’ve got Marceline, consumed and possibly more than half-crazed with rage, fear and desperation to help Bonnie, going ALL-OUT with her numerous vampire powers, possibly some of her demonic powers, all while fighting off the encroaching elemental contamination.

And if ‘The Blue Tranch begged Rockstar Girl to stop and go away’ is anything to go by, I think we can assume that Marcy utterly WRECKED Patience’s SHIT. As in, Patience may well have ended this fight with an axe in her gut, a claw choking the life out her and Marceline threatening to devour her very SOUL if she didn’t tell her how to help Bonnie.

(Here’s another fun thought: Something that notably separates Patience from the other current elementals of Ooo is that whereas Princess Bubblegum, Flame Princess and Slime Princess are all physical manifestations OF their elements (Gum, Fire and Slime, respectively), while Patience is human. Yet when we see her during the arc, she seems to have lost her human body and assumed fully elemental form as well. Now we could of course assume that this is simply due to the elemental overcharge just like the others. Buuuuttt… what if Patience was FORCED to assume this new form because her human body could no longer SURVIVE after the utter THRASHING she received from Marceline?)

Finally, we of course have the end. Something which seems all too easy to imagine even with Marceline’s toning down of events:

Marcy rushing back to the Candy Kingdom as fast as she can. Even though she’s exhausted from her fight with Patience and the days spent fighting off the elemental contamination. To the point where now she can only barely hold it off and maintain her sanity. Perhaps she wonders if this is what it was like for Simon during their time together…

Even though she knows speeding back this fast is only draining her strength faster, but that doesn’t matter to her. Because what matters right now is the trinket, potion, or something or other clutched in her hand that Patience gave her. Something that Marcy can’t be sure will even work. But she hopes it will. That’s the only thing keeping her going, the only thing holding her together at this point.

A blind, desperate HOPE that this will save Bonnie…

When she finally returns to what was once the Candy Kingdom, Marceline finds the massive tower of gum. Perhaps like Finn and Jake later on, Marceline at first isn’t sure what she’s looking at and thinks Bonnie is at the top. So she flies right to the top in a burst of speed that drains her already dwindling strength even further.

And there Marcy finds Bonnie. Or rather, what Bonnie has BECOME. Perhaps she doesn’t even remember Marcy.

Perhaps for Marcy, this is like losing Simon all over again. Except instead of the father who raised and cared for her over ten years, it’s a woman that Marcy has loved for the better part of a millennium. A woman she was only just able to start loving again after so long. But now, just like Simon… she’s gone.

And this realization does what all the elemental power of Ooo could not.

It breaks Marceline.

Just like that, Marceline doesn’t even try to use the ‘antidote’ Patience gave her. Instead, perhaps Marcy gives Bonnie one last kiss and just… accepts the madness.

Because now, at least they can be together.

#adventure time #adventure time rambling #adventure time ketchup #marceline #marceline abadeer #bonnibel bubblegum #princess bubblegum #bubbline #patience st pim #bubbline angst

[j4gm]

SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 2: SIMON PETRIKOV

Let me know if I missed anything!

First of all the title sequence is fucking cool. I don't want to speculate about the various things we see in it, like the apartment getting blown up or the Fern tree growing into its 1000+ version, because I'm sure the show will get round to all that!

The first scene was an awesome reintroduction to the post-apocalypse, showing us the dynamic between Simon and Marcy. The button popping off Marcy's dungarees was a reference to young Marcy's first appearance, Memory of a Memory, when she removed one of the buttons herself to fix Hambo's eye.

Simon was show playing a live set at Dirt Beer Guy's tavern in Obsidian. It seems they've gotten to know each other quite well over the past twelve years. Dirt Beer Guy asks Simon if he's read his new book draft, about a character called Joe Milkshake who was first mentioned in the episode Root Beer Guy.

Despite the fact we saw Jake in the trailers, Finn and T.V. pretty much confirm in this scene that Jake is dead, and has presumably been dead since before Obsidian. I guess Bronwyn wasn't the only Jake descendant who Finn took on as an apprentice, but T.V. doesn't seem all that into it. The Finn and Jake we saw in the trailer are likely from an alternate universe that we have yet to see.

Finn uses his weed whacker to cut through these bushes. A nice way of showing he's fully recovered from his Fern guilt. The focus here is very much on Simon's problems instead of Finn's.

Finn parts with Simon to go and visit Huntress Wizard. The nature of their relationship remains ambiguous and I expect it to stay that way.

Simon has the Island Lady from The Party's Over Isla de Señorita in his phone. I guess they reconnected after he became Simon again. He also has Abracadaniel. I always liked Ice King's friendship with Abracadaniel and the rest of the Order of Giuseppe so I hope they're still friends!

Cute Bubbline scene. Back in the episode Bonnibel Bubblegum, Mr. Creampuff suggested he and PB get matching tattoos. Now she's (trying to) do the same with the girl she's chosen rather than some guy who was chosen for her! Also Marceline is using the same phone she's been seen with in a few previous episodes, including Go With Me and Be Sweet.

I think the flying human city is called Up-Ton.

Choose Goose! He keeps coming back! And he's evil now! People were joking about him being the antagonist of Fionna and Cake after that weird post-credits scene in Wizard City and the fact he was in hell in Together Again. I wasn't expecting that to actually come true. Glob knows why he's hanging out in a cage in Simon's house.

The pattern of GOLB's eyes is reflected in Simon's glasses during the ritual. He is doing the same dance that Betty was doing to summon GOLB in the finale.

Among the objects in Simon's GOLB shrine are the Farmworld Enchiridion, the flying carpet that Simon stole from Ash and was later frequently used by Betty, the crocodile clips that Betty used for her magic rituals, two effigies of GOLB, and what looks to be the shell of the snail who was seen throughout the original series.

In this credits sequence, Fionna and cake are dreaming about the mask being worn by the bear than Finn slew, and a butterfly with a smiley face on it. Perhaps symbolising Finn?

Tune in next week for episodes 3 and 4!

#adventure time #fionna and cake #easter egg posts

[inbarfink]

After all these years, ‘I Remember You’ is still one of the great highlights of Adventure Time Storytelling. And not just in the basic ‘what???? Silly children’s cartoon does something SAD??? HOLY SHIT MIND BLOWN’ way. But with the execution of that Something Sad. How it manages to pack so many Complex Emotions into just 11-minutes of television. And especially the way it utilizes the basic Adventure Time format for that purpose.

So Adventure Time is a Board-based show. Each episode has an outline pitched and written down by the writer’s room, and then this outline goes to a team of (usually) two Storyboard Artists who develop that simple outline into a full story. And with the show’s art-style deliberately eschewing staying perfectly ‘on-model’ in favor of having the animators take direct reference from how the different storyboarders draw the characters

And the show being generally extremely versatile in terms of themes and tone - AT has allowed a lot of their Storyboarders to really express themselves and their unique artistic vision as part of the Big Collaborative Narrative that is Adventure Time. 

Now, the Boarders who worked on ‘I Remember You’ are Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar. These two were a Storyboarding Duo from the start of S4 and until Sugar left the AT Crew during S5, and they always struck me as a curious combination. I think really from all of the individual boarders working on AT during that time, these two really are the closest to having like… Totally Opposite Artistic Sensibilities as boarders. 

With Sugar favoring a style that is very loose and sketchy and also very rounded. Focusing on expressions and subtle body language and lighting. And being famous for going deep in depth into Big Moments of Emotional Catharsis

And Sanchez having a very clear art style that emphasizes strong silhouettes and clear lines that suggest flatness. Focusing more on major poses and the character’s positions in the space. And having just a really great eye for AT’s brand of silly humor.

Like, I almost kinda suspect these two were paired together so they can each cover for the other’s “weakspots” in writing ‘Adventure Time’. 

And there were a few episodes that did some really interesting stuff with this very contrasting pair - ‘Jake the Dog’ is another example. Giving most of the Farmworld scenes to Sugar and most of the Time Room scenes to Sanchez both plays to their personal strengths as storyboarders and helps to emphasize the strong emotional contrast between these two scenarios. 

And ‘I Remember You’ is actually kinda unique among Adventure Time episodes cause… Most episodes will have the two boarders alternate between working on the episode throughout it. Like you’d have Boarder A draw a bit and then Boarder B and then Boarder A again… But “I Remember You” is divided between Sanchez and Sugar… basically perfectly in the middle.

So the entirety of the first half of the episode was boarded by Sanchez

Until Ice King pushes Marceline and then leaves the room in shame.

And then, Sugar takes over.

And, like, even if you don’t know anything about the Behind the Scenes of Adventure Time or who Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar even are - the Shift is noticeable. The shift in tone, in narrative focus, in the subtleties in which the characters are drawn. 

The entire first half of the episode has this thin veneer of just being a Silly Goofy Ice King Episode. Sanchez’s talent for Adventure Time’s brand of comedy is on full display… but there is also this underlying feeling that Something is Happening just under the surface. And these hints of the Big Emotions of ‘IRY’ expressed via Sanchez’s kinda goofy style really create this balance between putting the audience into a false sense of security that this is just a Very Normal Episode about two characters hanging out and the Tension constantly brewing in the subtext. 

And then it all comes to a blow.

And then the Shift happens. And now we are in Sugar’s court.

And this subtle shift in the artstyle and storytelling also coincide with Marceline finally openly expressing her feelings and the Reveal of Simon and Marcy's shared past. The episode changes focus from Ice King's silly antics to Marceline's feelings. Everything changes, everything in the first part of the episode gets recontextualized and... even on the most basic level, the episode is now Noticeably Different.

I would almost say that Sanchez’s half of the episode has Ice King define the tone, while Sugar’s half of the episode has Marceline define the tone. But more than anything it’s the catharsis. The reveal and release of those emotions that were building up so expertly through the Sanchez half of the episode. All of the Sugar-boarded scenes in this episode are really heartbreaking on their own, just through the tragedy of the story and Sugar’s expert knowledge of howto convey emotion in the visual medium - but it’s so enchanted by what came before it.

“I Remember You” is truly a great testament to how ‘Adventure Time’ could use every aspect of its medium to tell a great story in such a short time.

#adventure time #at #atimers #adventure time analysis #i remember you #rebecca sugar #Cole Sanchez #storyboard #ice king #simon petrikov #simon and marcy #the ice king #marceline #marceline the vampire queen #marceline abadeer #at ice king #at simon #adventure time ice king #adventure time simon #ice king adventure time #simon adventure time #simon at #marceline adventure time #at marceline #adventure time marceline #marceline at

[corruwuption]

finn asked simon if he's talked to marceline about his disconnection with futuristic humans, his grief about Betty, and his hopelessness. that makes sense. simon and marceline are incredibly close, and he beamed as soon as he heard her voice over the phone. i hope they do talk.

it's been a few days since the episodes premiered, and I've been thinking a lot about finn. i've seen a few posts about how martin-like he's acting, how he seems to be taking jake's optimism and instead insisting that everything is OK. he's violent and impulsive, beyond that even when he was 12. he willingly put simon in life-threatening danger, even though -- again, way back to the START of the show. we're talking, like, s1e24 "What Have You Done? -- finn's "hero code" would never have allowed for that. ...which made me think of "The Tower" (S6E4). if it's been a minute since you've seen it: finn is building a tower into space, a tower where he's going to see his dad (and rip off his arm). throughout the episode, pb and jake bicker whether it's healthy for finn to seek revenge. pb ultimately intervenes, and finn is forced to process his feelings.

finn asked if simon has talked to marcy, but has finn talked to bonnie?

they were always friendly with each other, but by the end of the series (S6E24 "The Pajama War" or even the finale), pb and finn were established to be close, very good friends.

i think pb would be genuinely upset when she realized how much finn was struggling underneath the surface however-long it's been since jake passed, and she'd probably know what to look for in finn. not only is finn acting like martin, but it's painfully minerva. he's so focused on his own version of helping others that he's neglecting himself and his needs, and it is. breaking my heart.

#adventure time #fionna and cake spoilers #fionna and cake #skye speaks #sooo normal abt this show folks. you have no idea

[gloomy-prince]

To celebrate RAINBOW!'s release today, I'm going to go over all the daydream references that have been made so far, since it's fun for me to sneak them in 💖 there's a lot of them though, so it's gonna be under the cut!

Episode 1-- Kiki's Delivery Service and E.T.! People focus on the Kiki reference so much that the other seemed to be missed.

Episode 2-- Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion, Sailor Moon. Another one obvious enough to be called out in some comments. It was referenced again in episode 54, where this panel was taken from.

Episode 5-- Marceline, Adventure time. One of the few reference that isn't an outfit specifically, but a character.

Episode 11-- Revolutionary Girl Utena. Not necessarily supposed to be the characters themselves, just the outfits.

Episode 11-- Minako Aino, Sailor Moon. In hindsight, I don't remember why I chose this specific dress to reference and not the maid outfits from Sailor Stars or the fruits maid outfits from the manga... especially since I think the fruits maid outfits are adorable.

Episode 11-- Catra, She-Ra reboot. I kind of regretted this one immediately just because like 80% of the comments on the episode were "CATRA SUIT!!!" as a result...

Episode 18-- Sailor Moon manga. I was always intrigued by the way characters would be dressed in dreamlike/ethereal sequences in the manga, so this reference was a must for me. I went with the version that is a full dress with straps rather than the dresses from other moments in the manga that have no discernible top half.

Episode 30 and 31-- Not a reference to any specific film or character, but just film noir in general. I do remember referencing a female character specifically for this but sadly I couldn't find it again.

Episode 40-- Pomeranian scene, IT Chapter Two. Surely you saw this coming (or maybe not?) I don't think I got the camera angle good enough to really sell this reference, but I couldn't resist it anyways.

Episode 43-- Adult Losers, IT Chapter Two. The only reference besides Marceline that references the characters themselves, since I normally use our other characters for background character purposes. Also one of the only references that isn't a daydream.

Episode 54-- Disney's Snow White and Cinderella. I couldn't decide which to reference, so I ended up leaning mostly into Cinderella, but referenced the Evil Queen's crown as well. Boo's dress is also somewhat referenced from the the live action Cinderella dress instead of the animated version, just because I liked it.

Episode 54-- Treasure Planet and Treasure Planet 2 concept art. Treasure planet is one of my favorite movies, so there was no way I was missing out on referencing it. A few people brought up some wlw pirate webcomic(s?) in the comments of this episode, but the actual reference seemed to be mostly missed. The sash around Boo's waist is also meant to be fabric from her princess dress in the previous panels.

Episode 54-- Revolutionary Girl Utena. Another one I was kind of surprised wasn't called out just because of how iconic the whole clothed shadow/silhouette thing is.

Episode 55-- Saint Tail. I couldn't reference this one as closely as I would have liked since it probably wouldn't have been very readable as a magician's costume to someone who didn't know it, so it mostly references the brooch from the anime and her hat.

Episode 61-- Jane Fonda in Spirits of the Dead. A super random and out there reference, especially to end on, but I liked the outfit so much that I couldn't help it. Maybe Boo used to fall asleep to old movie channels, lol.

That's it, at least for now! We'll have to see what shows up in future episodes~

#rainbow! #rainbow #webcoic #lgbt webcomic #queer webcomic #webtoon #tapas comic

[phantom-shell]

Hi! In episode seven Bonnie starts talking about how Marcy and the vampires are low on food, and I'm assuming it's around thirteen years later, how are the vampires still thriving?

I'm so glad you asked. They're only barely thriving. :)

Most of the vampires are disgusted by the idea of consuming red instead of blood- It's also important to mention that the humans are not the only ones with blood; Some vampires switched to animal blood, some swallowed their pride and started eating red (The VK does both and is content with it. Marceline is not.), but a lot of them starved themselves to death due to their own stubbornness and refusal to let go of "the old ways".

There are also some other living beings who AREN'T human, that are still around (proven by Billy's corpse in the episode), though they hide themselves well, as to not get captured and used as bloodbags for the vamps.

As for the humans... there are VERY few that are still alive- To the point where Bonnie is almost convinced that Finn is the last human left. Finn doesn't want to believe that.

With all that said and done, even with limited food sources and additional challenges, the vampires are still strong and on top of the food chain, ruling the world.

#sorry this was super long #vampworld Finn #from the inbox

[lilacslug]

The Crown As a Metaphor For Drug Use

THE PARALLELS

Ice King's Crown, which will be referred to as "the crown" in this post, has many potential interpretations. I've seen people view it as a metaphor for Alzheimer's and/or mental illness in general. I believe there is a strong case for it being a metaphor for drug use, especially with the the information Fionna and Cake give us.

There are a few parallels shown. Throughout Fionna and Cake, Simon's shame of his time wearing the crown is front of center. He tries to avoid thinking about it as much as possible. He threw a little girl's Fionna and Cake book away because confronting his time as Ice King was too much for him. He hates remembering his time as an "insane" man as he put it. We also see that Farm world Finn, despite only being in that state for a few years, is still haunted by his time wearing the crown. This shame is also present in those who have recovered from an addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. Many will feel ashamed of the out-of-character decisions they made when they were under the influence.

Sometimes, when people take large doses of certain kinds of drugs, they can develop "substance induced psychosis" which often involves (typically persecutory) delusions, memory problems, and can involve hallucinations. The crown made Simon insane, but it also made him feel happy all the time, kind of like a high. When he would get bouts of loneliness or other negative feelings, he would quickly forget what made him feel bad in the first place. His thinking was often detached from reality, and he had complete amnesia of who he was before the crown. He had "wizard eyes" that allowed him to see the spirit world, but made it more difficult to parse what was actually going on in his plane of existence. This could be thought of as a metaphor for hallucinations. While the crown isolated him from his loved ones, namely Betty and Marceline, he was able to make other new magical friends (near the end of the show). The same thing happens to addicts when they start using.

MAGIC, MADNESS, SADNESS, AND DRUGS

In season 6 episode 38 You Forgot Your Floaties the concept of "Magic, Madness, and Sadness" is discussed. Essentially, Betty states that she believes each magic user has varying degrees of Magic, Madness, and Sadness. It seems that if a precious magic user loses their Madness or Sadness, they are no longer magical. Magic Man in the same episode could no longer perform Magic after losing his madness and sadness. Those who pursue magic may become mad and sad due to it.

Notably, in episode 6 of Fionna and Cake, The Winter King, we are at first lead to believe that an alternate Simon was able to cast his Madness onto Princess Bubblegum, but still was able to retain the powers of the crown. This seems to contradict Betty's MMS theory, however, background details suggest otherwise.

We see that Winter King Simon has an ice version of Marceline as a child living with him. This suggests that sadness, a great sadness even, still exists within him. He is just in the bargaining stage of grief (whether he is grieving her death or her no longer being in his life due to another reason is unclear). When our Simon states that he misses Betty, Winter King Simon states that he "hasn't thought about her in a long time". Suggesting he is in denial about the loss of Betty or no longer cared about her. He also suggests that Simon should create an ice version of Betty when he gets the new crown. After seeing Simon's reaction, he then backtracks and states that would be "unethical". These are examples showing that he clearly retained the lack of empathy that Ice King had gained when he had the crown, and this same lack of empathy is seen throughout many other "mad" magical users (Magic Man and Betty come to mind). I believe that this lack of empathy is very intentional, and that this apathy is meant to be a manifestation of madness (and sadness). It would explain how Princess Bubblegum, a candy elemental, is somehow still a magic user (despite not believing in it). Her apathy, along with her neurosis are forms of madness. Her being separated from the mother gum caused her sadness. She still follows this rule. Marceline, a half demon half vampire, had an incredibly traumatic childhood. Her angst and lack of empathy she is introduced with at the beginning of the show are her manifestations of sadness and madness. This understanding of MMS is valid for most characters in the show. The magical characters that we see that aren't outright mad or sad have this general apathy (Jake even has this apathy at times). The only exception I can think of off the top of my head is Lady Rainicorn, who we get very little screen time of.

THE REAL WORLD

But why is this relevant? Well, Madness and Sadness is a beautiful summary as to why someone would start to use drugs, and/or how someone would end up as a result of using drugs. Someone who is depressed or neurotic could turn to drugs to cope. Someone who was otherwise fine, when high out of their minds, can not care about the safety and wellbeing anyone around them. My mother was a user. I found out recently. She was incredibly depressed before I was born. She turned to weed, alcohol, and eventually crack and meth. Weed especially triggered paranoia in her. Long story short, she was put in rehab, and I'm proud to say she is more than 15 years clean. But, when she was using and I was a toddler, she neglected me to the point that I got taken away. Sadness and Madness: apathy is a manifestation of these two states. And these are all symptoms of drug use. And these are all symptoms of magic use. It's the same thing, a metaphor.

SIMON'S RELAPSE

There are a few common triggers that can lead to relapse. Some return to drugs due to outside pressure, or the isolation being clean brings. Just as ex alcoholics can feel isolated in a culture where alcohol is so prevalent, Simon feels isolated from this new magical world as a non-magic user. And now, just as a recovering alcoholic might fall into a binge after accepting one drink from their best friend at a party "they HAD to go to", Simon is longing for the crown so he can fit in again.

Sometimes people get addicted to drugs for a specific purpose. Maybe to help them be better at their job, or do better at school, or to help them relax. It is common, even years after someone stops using, to get the urge to relapse. If they were doing drugs for a specific reason, when that trigger comes up post drug use, they could get an urge to relapse. I believe we are witnessing Simon's urge to relapse in real time. Simon originally used the crown on a whim, but after that first time he would only use it to protect Marceline. Now, he has a problem: how is he going to help Fionna and Cake. This is similar to when he first started using regularly, then he needed to save Marceline from danger. So, his solution is to use the crown again. However, if we actually analyze the issue at hand, this is somewhat illogical. Fionna and Cake need to escape from the Scarab, and they need to somehow save their universe from being destroyed. This pursuit of the crown is actually not only unhelpful, but a waste of time. The crown WOULD solve the smaller problems of Fionna wanting a magical world, and Simon's feelings of isolation, but I do not believe it is the solution. And I believe that is the conclusion the show will come to as well. That seems to be the direction The Winter King seems to be pointing in.

Thanks once again to everyone for reading!!

#adventure time #fionna and cake #fionna and cake spoilers #adventure time Fionna and cake #adventure time: fionna and cake #the winter king #atimers #adventure time theory #fionna and cake theory #adventure time analysis #fionna and cake analysis #simon petrikov #ice king #long post

[sadboytournament]

ROUND TWO

Propaganda

Read more added due to the length

Anthony Lockwood: (via @its-your-mind)

Simon Petrikov: (via @transgendersimonpetrikov) "...

Simon. Simon is not initially introduced as Simon, rather is introduced as Ice King, an insane and Really out of it "villain". Throughout almost all of the first 3 seasons, you ONLY see him being weird and getting beat up a lot but under all of it is incredibly sad for reasons he can't distinguish aside from crushing loneliness. Until the Christmas special, they pull a COMPLETE 180 on ice kings character and reveal his backstory - and just to shine some light on this, up until this point in the show, Finn is the only CONFIRMED human in the show. All others are assumed to be extinct. Simon's/Ice King's backstory reveals a few things to the main characters and the audience that makes the characters see him in a new, sympathetic light - he was a human antiquarian with a fiancee (named betty) who just so happened to put a cursed crown on his head as a joke to amuse betty. And then boom! He's cursed. Unlike some other, admittedly limited amount of characters, however, after putting on the crown, he does not immediately go insane. It happens over the course of a few years (which in itself implies he has insane amounts of willpower, even still coming through with Ice King given that the crown tells its users to freeze the whole world with themself inside) .

So, he's cursed, and betty supposedly left him, as that's to what he's known. He assumed he scared her and she ran away and doesn't love him anymore, and spends years grieving over that. But in the few years after putting on the crown and before fully losing his mind, he has to take care of a girl after a goddamn war (where the climax is a detonated mutagenic bomb that makes radioactive zombies and shit) that he found crying in the middle of the street. So, if his mental state was already declining BEFORE, it sure as hell is now because he has to wear the cursed crown more and more to protect himself and this girl and the effects of it clearly show every time he puts it on in flashbacks with himself in Clear distress over the effects of it . So after a while he is scared for himself, and, to quote him, "I fear my thoughts are no longer my own". So then he begrudgingly leaves the girl he cared for over the course of several years before he goes fully mad and loses himself. So then aside from some mentioned stuff that happens before his insanity fully sets in (like being hypnotized which surely did not help his already deteriorating mind) and then for a thousand years he's just pretty much Gone.

In season 4 episode 25, "I remember you", he goes to marceline (the girl he cared for, though he doesn't remember that) and asks her to help him write a song to draw in the ladies. I won't go through the whole episode, but the song they end up making is not anything like that - he took over notes and pages from a scrapbook and Marceline found some he wrote before he fully went mad while desperately trying to get him to remember who he was, and they turned the notes into a song. There is a lot of crying from marceline, meanwhile Ice King has zero fucking clue what's going on there and just thinks they're having fun. The entire episode is up on YouTube, and I would recommend watching just to get the idea.

Near the end of season 5, he gets a brief moment of lucidity and return to his former self, and he makes a time portal to say sorry and goodbye to betty, and she jumps through only to discover that without the crown Simon is dying. He says later in the episode that he'd rather Die than go back to being Ice king. She wants to find a way to help him so she gets him turned back into ice king so she can find a way to cure him, with her going insane by gaining magic in the process (by proxy of mms, which is a whole thing itself).

Series finale rolls around, he's finally back, but in a chaos deitys "stomach", which reverted him and betty back to their sane, non magic selves. Their moment is short lived by the "stomach" closing in on them, about to crush them to death. They've seemingly accepted their fates, and embrace before their impending deaths, but they're given a way out, betty staying behind despite his pleas and using the original wish state of the crown to wish Simon safe and thereby fusing with the chaos deity and leaving. The next scene is Simon breaking down and crying where she previously was.

So, 12 years pass between the finale and the spin off, and he's just absolutely tired with everything. Hes a 20th century man frozen in time and thrown into into new world after living 1000 years insane and sad without the love of his life with him and he has to deal with that. He is constantly barraged with people talking about a story he wrote when he was insane, saying that it was great, wishing he'd write more, etc etc. Even saying he was cooler when he was insane. Still grieving betty, he tries to Actually Perform A Ritual That Could Destroy The World just to see her again. It goes wrong and the 2 main characters from the story he wrote while insane pop out of his head. After a bit, he finds out that they're not fiction and instead a universe planted in his head . Their magic was stripped from their world when he was reverted back to himself and since he's wallowing in so much misery he decides to find a way to go Back to being insane and commit the equivalent of suicide and perform ego death once again for people he just met because he felt his life was worth so little that serving any purpose even if detrimental to himself would give himself a meaning to live. Just as he's about to finish this, he finally gets to talk to now-chaos-deity betty, and she gets it in his head that his life is worth living and then sends him off to live his life after an emotional scene of them finally ready to let go of their losses..."

#tumble tournaments #the sadboy tourney #anthony lockwood #lockwood and co #simon petrikov #Adventure Time

[misteria247]

Rewatching a few Marceline and Simon moments and in one of those moments when Marcy was a child Simon would sing songs for her and she'd said-

"I love your songs Simon. They're so good."

And it got me thinking that maybe because of this Marceline began to dapple in music more. Like take an interest in it, like singing because of her adoptive dad. Especially when he had to leave for her own good when Simon was losing himself to the crown. I can see her using music to help cope as well as keep a piece of Simon with her and alive. Cuz he's her beloved father and she misses him ya know? Also saw another moment in the Stakes episodes where Simon was being played with emotionally. And the vampire woman basically said he was stupid and pathetic. Which of course hurt his feelings and he started to get emotional and cried.

Was given the sweet moment of Finn stepping in and leading Simon away like a good boy/son and as soon as they were gone Marceline just looks at this woman deadass and says-

"That's the last time you're gonna break his heart."

Like she was fully ready to rip this other vampire a new asshole because she messed with Simon.

Look I just love Marceline and Simon's relationship and added with a little bit of Finn and I'm literally gone for them and their dynamic. God I need more content involving them and them alone please and thank you-

#oli talks #ooc #muns ramblings #mindless ramblings of a madman #adventure time #adventure time distant lands #adventure time fionna and cake #at #finn mertens #finn the human #marceline #marceline abadeer #marceline the vampire queen #simon petrikov #simon #ice king #at spoilers #adventure time spoilers #I love them okay shut up-

[ripley-dean]

LSP AND MARCELINE'S RELATIONSHIP

I feel as if this is something that Isn't really talked about too much among AT fans is LSP and Marceline's relationship and after the end(?) of fionna and Cake (which i loved and I'll be talking about it later) I started thinking about it alot

Their first real time interaction in "Princess Day", at first glance, feels a lot more like the writers threw names at a dartboard and got them. But the interactions they have are a lot more genuine than one would expect.

I'm not going to do the complete play by play of princess day because you can just watch episode lol. But, you can see from the first few minutes that marceline knows of lsp and vice versa and have a moment to more genuinely interact with one another. Throughout the episode they do a lot of random shenanigans that end in KIDNAPPING

But throughout, they grow closer to each other to where they can reassure and calm one another down. They feed off of the idea that the other is 'bad" at first making one another a worse influence but they begin to have this quiet understanding that they both just feel somewhat rejected.

And a few cute things are in the episode "Be Sweet" LSP calls her to tell her about her "new life" where she is completely supportive of LSP even though she doesn't really believe her and says "did you break into someone's house again?" Implying they've called in several occasions.

And at the "Come along with me" they can be seen closest to one another

THEY'RE BEST FRIENDS JUST FROM THESE INTERACTIONS ALONE

But let's go another step and talk about fionna and Cake.

When Fionna needs to get a cheaper Vet appointment, Marshall lee recommends this guy Ellis P (obviously LSP) and after getting scammed by him they're seen together by the Betty statue drinking and chuckling in dumb and dumber fashion

And in the "The Star" THEY'RE BOTH HANGING OUT IN FIONNA'S APARTMENT.

WHY DOES NOBODY TALK ABOUT THIS

Just like in every universe gumlee is meant to happen, LSP and Marceline are bound together like PLATONIC SOULMATES

This is one of the minor, unspoken things that make me love adventure time so freaking much!!!

I haven't looked into their interactions in the comics yet but this is all for now.🫡

#adventure time #fionna and cake #fionna and cake spoilers #marceline #finn mertens #LSP #lumpy space princess #marceline the vampire queen #marshell lee

[gameshamus]

(SPOILERS) Steve Wolfhard Confirmed PB and Marcelene in Adventure Time's Finale Intro

@gunterfan1992 and I were talking last night about our favorite show Adventure Time. I broke the news to him about Marcelene and PB's survival 1000+ following the events of "Come Along With Me."

A few years ago, I attended a twitch stream with Steve Wolfhard. I can recall the event very vividly. This was during the time of Distant Lands, quite a while before the episode Together Again aired. Steve was streaming his wife Leslie pickling vegetables. Leslie was on the right side of the screen at a counter with the pickling jars, one of which seemed to contain a carrot. The jars were of decent height but not dummy thicc. Steve was off camera some of the time especially when reading comments, but I got to see him enough to identify it was actually him and he answered the comments verbally.

I will spare the suspense and tell you that Marceline was confirmed to be the character in the intro in the brown parka and boots in the Ice Kingdom at that the pink hands gripping the ice bars were those of Princess Bubblegum's. Marcelene was in the Ice Kingdom to rescue PB. He also confirmed Patience St. Pim being in the egg and that Flame Princess and Slime Princess were both dead and had reincarnated into X and O who had been put into the intro to give closure to what happened to the fire and slime elementals. He said so basically Game Shamus, everyone is dead and then he laughed. He said everyone is dead except for Princess Bubblegum, Patience St. Pim, Sweet Pea, Gunter, and BMO. and maybe he mentioned the King of Ooo but I don't remember anymore, probably because I don't care about the king of Ooo. I primarily came because I wanted to know about Flame Princess.

Congratulations to the community on Bubbeline's relationship surviving well over 1000+ years!

I have quite a bit more information about other adventure time related stuff so just follow my blog if you want to keep updated.

#adventure time #come along with me #bubbeline

[j4gm]

SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 7: THE STAR

Let's see what this episode has in store.

This is an alternate universe where Simon was killed by vampires before he found Marceline. Even the scientific parasite in his breast pocket looks like it has been drained of blood.

Our Simon demonstrating his survival skills. We never got to see him dealing with vampires in his own universe, but presumably he ran into them a few times and is familiar with their weaknesses.

These kinds of vampire minions last appeared in the Stakes miniseries. They are a lot more varied in design now. Also, the architecture of this world is interesting. It looks like gothic palaces have been built into the roots of decaying skyscrapers.

Bonnie's crew has several of the familiar vampire hunting tools from Stakes, including stake launchers and garlic bombs. They also douse some of the vampires in holy water, which was previously shown to harm demons in the episode Dad's Dungeon. This is the first time it's been seen working on vampires.

Marshall Lee has a Hambo mirror decoration. In the prime universe Hambo was Marceline's toy teddy bear, given to her by Simon.

Martin is an interesting choice for Bonnie's crew. In this universe it seems like he never had a son, since the humans presumably never left Ooo for the Islands. It also seems like he's a better person here, willing to risk his life to follow Fionna's noble lead. He has the same jacket as he had in The Visitor, which several people identified when we first saw Fionna wearing it in the trailer.

The cat on Bonnie's mug is Timmy from the episode The Pajama War. The fact she broke it is surely the most heartbreaking loss of this episode :(

The other member of the team is Huntress Wizard, who looks to be a human in this universe for some reason. I don't think Huntress Wizard was originally human in the prime universe.

Baby Finn snuck into this universe, and by the end of the episode was left to be raised by self-repairing battletank single gay dad PepButt. I'm sure he'll turn out fine.

The Cosmic Owl has been flagged up on Scarab's arrest list for "profiteering". Perhaps his neglect of his duties during Hoots has been discovered, or perhaps this is a new crime.

There are loads of new genderswapped characters in this scene. I've already reblogged a post listing all the ones we've spotted so far, so refer to that for details. The most significant is Ms. Abadeer. According to the credits, her first name is Hana.

Even Billy has been slain by vampires.

Princess Bubblegum calls Fionna a dillweed, her go-to insult from the episode Hot Diggity Doom. It's good to hear some Adventure Time swearing from time to time despite the liberties they're taking with the TV-14 rating.

Enter the titular character! Like the other members of the Vampire Court from Stakes, Marceline has taken a new name from the ranks of the Major Arcana of a tarot deck: The Star. Huntress mentions that she is the last member of the court, having outlived everyone beside the Vampire King himself. The fact she can fly suggests she killed and sucked The Fool's soul despite him being a fellow member of the court.

She is seen using her soul-sucking demon powers, inherited from Hunson, on Martin. She also demonstrates that she has no problem drinking blood in this universe, despite the fact vampires can eat the colour red.

Bonnie and The Star have such an interesting dynamic in this episode. It seems like fate is seeking to entwine them, but this has been twisted into a relationship of mutual hatred. Yet The Star is furious when a minion suggests she kill Bonnie, and Bonnie fails to take an opportunity to kill The Star later on. Something is keeping these two immortals in an eternal dance, even in a universe where they are arch nemeses.

A lot of this series has centred around Simon's relationship to fatherhood, and realising that he is a better dad than some of the others he's met will likely end up being a key moment in his recovery.

I believe this section was boarded by Hannah K. You've probably all seen her famous Bubbline stakeplay drawing. This scene must have been fun to draw.

I really enjoyed the parallel of Gary and Marshall getting their climactic kiss while Bonnie and The Star fell together to their deaths, demonstrating that the girls' fall was just as gay as the boys kissing, but in a very different way. We also know from interviews that Gary and Marshall's relationship is supposed to parallel that of early Bubbline in the prime universe. Perhaps Princess Bubblegum got Marceline out of a bad deal with Hunson Abadeer, shortly after their first meeting at Marceline's concert, and that's when they first hit it off.

The dream in this episode's credits features Marceline's house; a home that neither The Star nor this Marshall Lee have ever known.

#adventure time #fionna and cake #easter egg posts

[spacepancakes-cosmicsyrup]

oh god i just remembered

i was just internally summarizing all the different worlds we see in Fionna and Cake, and how prominent Simon's/Ice King's relationship with Marceline was in them (IE, Winter King and his Ice Marcy, Farmworld Simon and Old Lady Marceline, Vampire World Marceline and her general lack of a Simon).

And then I got to the Jerry world.

Jerry world, we can assume, was identical to the Prime World in every way, until the Lich wished to end all life. That happened in "The Lich" and "Finn the Human" (because 2 parters be 2 parting).

Tell me, dear random Adventure Time fan on tumblr, what episode came out right before "The Lich?"

It was "I Remember You."

I don't think it's ever stated how much time passes between episodes, but one coming right after the other, it can't be much. A few weeks? Days? A month?

My point is, in that world Ice King/Simon and Marceline have that tearful reunion after so many years/centuries, and not long after it's ripped away (either they both die, or Marceline is spared cause she's undead, and is left alone).

The heartbreaking angst potential is outta this world.

I'm reminded, back when "I Remember You" first aired, the final shot cut abruptly to the Lich cackling in the promo for the next episode (this memory is confirmed by Adventure Time's "Nightmare Fuel" page on TV Tropes).

I doubt this was planned, but I can't help but feel a grim connection between that and this revelation.

Now please excuse me as I go shovel dirt in my mouth to cope with this.

#adventure time #at spoilers #fionna and cake #fiona and cake #Ice King #simon petrikov #marceline #marceline abadeer #the lich #Jerry #I Remember You #fionna and cake spoilers

[sarcastic--metaphor]

Imagine a scene similar to the Jerry episode where Simon’s giving his presentation.

He’s talking to the vampire hive and court his research on how the frequent feeding on humans has crashed their population, threatening their food supply and starving the vampires to death.

Even suggesting substitutes and cooperating with humans that don’t involve fatally eating straight from a living person, such as shades of red from produce.

And as an optional thing or bonus, allowing the sun back, but still keeping the magic crown.

Simon even offers free samples he’s grown in his garden for the court.

Cue the boos and laughter, as well as Simon being pelted with his free samples.

I wonder how marceline would react.

I imagine this presentation would sow discord among the few, such as heirophant doubling down on vampire traditions and considering treason.

Empress considering maybe changing up the hierarchy system to create a human farm promised neverland style. She’s immortal and she wants good wagyu blood forever.

Vampire Kings probably kicking his feet up and not regretting making Simon a vampire. The old man with the glasses spices things up in the stagnant vampire race. But that dude should really enjoy himself when the wheel of fortune swings in his favor.

I wonder if Simon eventually tries to summon hunson abedeer to create an even fighting ground between bubblegum and vampire king. Dad vs dad.

Lol you must really like the vampire court

I’m personally a little less invested in Simon’s dynamic with them bc the fic I’m trying to write is more focused on his relationship with Marcy and Finn. But u do u I’m not stopping u

But I’d say that Marcy/the Star would definitely sit in on Simon’s talks even if she herself would never really consider a life completely w/out human blood like he would. She still loves Simon though and wants to at least hear him out. As the king’s ward, she has a lot of sway in the court/hive and could probably get a lot more vamps to adhere to Simon’s proposals than Simon himself, if not through her status then through the threat of violence. But she doesn’t really try bc she knows the KV would oppose the idea

In front of the king, Marcy is more inclined to consume blood from live prey but in private with Simon she’s a lot more willing to “go vegetarian” and consume just the color red. It’s honestly just as filling as blood but she’s a little unwilling to admit it bc it means the way of life she’s enjoyed so far, and the world ushered in by the Vampire King, are both horribly wrong.

((Lastly- In front of other vampires, Simon and Marcy only refer to each other as Temperance/The Star but in private they use their original names w/ each other. Marcy feels like it helps keep them close))

#fionna and cake #simon petrikov #marceline #the vampire king #vampire au

[paragonrobits]

important fact for people new to Adventure Time who were unaware of all the trauma and horror around Simon Petrikov in particular; that trauma and horror is around everyone.

Adventure Time takes place in Earth after a nuclear war ended human civilization but brought back magic, creating all kinds of mutants and intelligent animals and monsters. Throughout the early seasons we see hints of this; bombed out buildings, human skeletons forever stuck in the middle of their day when they were killed, and references to a mysterious event in the distant past called the Great Mushroom War. It is EXACTLY what it sounds like.

This isn't a case where some fans theorized or speculated it might be a war; this is explicit backstory stuff and a few times we're shown the aftermath. It was a nuclear war.

Adventure Time's setting exists because people can't stop fighting, and WON'T stop fighting, and humanity destroyed itself. Finn is called Finn the Human because him being human sticks out; he initially assumed he was the last of their kind, and while we ultimately do see a small community of humans much later in the series, we DON'T see any humans (to my knowledge) in episodes that take place in the distant future. Humanity destroyed itself, and sooner or later it will just fade away.

Pretty much everyone has something fucked up going on in their lives; Marceline (whom newer fans might mainly know as 'the cool vampire queen that's dating the candy princess') is a half-demon that became a vampire by eating the souls of the other vampires in an attempt to protect the remaining humans, and Simon Petrikov was her father figure after her biological dad (who admittedly does seem to care, but its not enough), and part of the reason he hit rock bottom as the Ice King so badly is that he deliberately exacerbated the curse of the ice crown driving him mad, using its powers to protect her at the cost of losing himself.

Princess Bubblegum, the candy princess in question, is a very morally ambiguous figure who does all kinds of demented mad science stuff and it just... happens. More seriously she is driven by a need to control things for their own good; she can't let things up to chance, so she does morally iffy things for the greater good. She lives in a world where people left it to chance, and those people destroyed themselves.

#adventure time #apologies for people who already know this #but apparently some people are now getting into AT and are surprised by this! #SO #BEHOLD THE HORORR #appreciate it plz #queued