#adventure time meta

[localcoffeeshop]

the fact that everything princess bubblegum does is contextualized by the fact that she started out as part of a hive mind before being thrust into a very cold lonely and dangerous world but also one that she chose to be optimistic about… that she continued to have a trust and optimism and a desire for connection when she made a family who could understand her only for them to betray her, and when she invited shoko with open arms only to be betrayed and for shoko to immediately die… and the sense that in the show’s present, she’s far from being That trusting and That optimistic. she goes out of her way to prevent situations where people can take advantage of her trust, where people can catch her off guard with a threat, to the point that she’s essentially cutting off her nose to spite her face but everything has given her reason to be apprehensive and anticipate an omnipresent danger. she became accustomed to a world where opening up and seeking friendship means getting hurt, so she closed herself off and repressed the part of her that was yearning for belonging. the way of trying to unlearn that came with knowing finn (and jake), marcy, Flame princess… being forced to rethink what she thought and open herself up to having friends and falling in love and trying to be good to people even if it means getting hurt.

[abhorsenkatiel]

Just finished watching the new Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake and I really want to say how much I appreciated the way they handled the Simon and Betty relationship.

I legitimately cringed when they when went into depth about the beginning of their relationship. It was established back at the end of the original series that Betty had made a big sacrifice by giving up her expedition in order to stay with Simon, but now we also learn that she was a student and he was an established professor who she deeply admired when they met. The love between them was genuine, but there was also a very clear power imbalance. I cringed because I believed this would just go unacknowledged, as it does in so many stories, as if the authors are not even aware that such a power dynamic would have an impact on a relationship regardless of how real the love is. Or worse, that such (gendered) power imbalances are a natural thing to be expected in romantic relationships and are therefore not worth commenting on.

But then we get to episode 9, literally titled "Casper and Nova" after the hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer obvious metaphor, and it becomes clear that it was absolutely the writers' intention to highlight and critique the power dynamic of Simon and Betty's relationship. Betty had already realized her part in the tragedy back in the original series, that she had given up her own life too readily and that she regretted it. But now we finally get acknowledgment of Simon's part, that he was irresponsible with Betty's love and devotion. That he didn't see how much he was taking and took for granted how much she was giving up. His tragedy is not that he passively lost Betty to some outside force, but that he made active choices which eroded her autonomy and didn't notice until it was too late. That their relationship, despite being genuinely and passionately loving, was unbalanced from the start, and he used that to his advantage and her detriment even if it was unintentional.

The gendered dynamic of this story is important too. I've met so many women throughout my life, even some who are my age now, who when you ask them about their lives come to a point where they shrug and say some variation of, "and then I met the man who I altered the course of my life for" and that's the end of their story. I remember hearing those stories when I was a child and something about the expression those women made or their phrasing, or their tone of voice gave me a visceral negative reaction. Some of them were openly bitter about it, and told me to never make sacrifices for a man, but even the ones who weren't bitter, who seemed to be happy in genuinely loving relationships, would still give some sense of longing or regret when it came to that part, like they were still thinking about what their life could have been.

It's a common story for women. Even now it's still an expectation that we give up everything for love. It's romantic sure, but I appreciate that we have a story that really makes you look at the tragic side of it as well.

[azuremist]

I think it’s interesting that, in Fionna and Cake, Marshall Lee’s monster form in Fionna’s nightmare is shown crying; presumably perpetually. That, plus, the guitar strum that he plays before he reveals himself reads as somewhat sad, or somber.

It makes me wonder if Fionna worries for Marshall Lee.

We know, based off of this scene, she doesn’t know about Marshall Lee’s strained relationship with his mother. While she seems apologetic when asking him to contact her (which could just be for asking him for a favor), she expresses shock when she finds out the two are no-contact, and continues to beg him to talk to her.

It is true that Fionna can be self-centered as one of her character flaws, but I really can’t see her acting this way if she knew about his mom being abusive. I imagine she’d at least give a verbal ‘I’m sorry’ if she did. And while it is true that Finn forced Marceline to contact her father in vanilla Adventure Time, he expressed regret the second Marceline said that she didn’t want to see him, which Marshall Lee also said to Fionna.

(That, plus Marceline’s relationship with her parent isn’t as bad as Marshall Lee’s is.)

In vanilla Adventure Time, as well, we see that Marceline’s strained relationship with her dad is something that she gets embarrassed being vulnerable about.

While Marshall Lee is his own character, I think this trait of hers being consistent with him would explain why Fionna doesn’t know about Marshall Lee’s troubled relationship with his mother; he’s too embarrassed to be vulnerable with her.

We all have friendships that are pretty surface-level; where we hang out and like each other, sure, but never talk about anything deeper. That’s where I’m reading Marshall Lee and Fionna’s friendship as at.

But I also think that maybe Fionna notices when things are off with Marshall Lee, and worries for him. Unable to put forth the effort because of her depression, but wishing she could do something.

… Or maybe his monster version was just perpetually crying because it’s creepier that way and I’m once again being autistic and overanalyzing. Who’s to say

[rmbunnie]

Watched through adventure time start to finish for the first time and of course it was great and of course I'm going to be drawing fanart at some point in the not-distant future (can't say near tho lmao school is keeping me busy) but my god the finale. I already knew the plot points tbh because i Am Online and Like Cartoons and if both of those things are things you are, you see the bubbline kiss and Finn saying "I always thought i'd go out a hero" and that's pretty much unavoidable, but what really got me was Time Adventure.

I saw someone on Twitter or something, maybe on here, say that the antagonist of Adventure Time is personal stagnation, and it was a comeback to someone else, but it really is true that from season 7 on the show starts leaning Realllllly hard into Growth as the topic the show's about (and season 7 is like. a pretty noticeable line for this switch tbh, NOT that the first 6 seasons are unimportant to the final end point, but the change is visible.) This is especially clear seeing as Gumbald and Fern, who refuse to accept growth and change to a unique extent, and are incapable of personal growth due to being an outgrown past version of the mc held that way indefinitely by a grass curse, respectively, are the main antagonistic forces of the final season. (Betty also counts as both an antagonistic force in the finale and unable to accept growth to me seeing as she was the reason Golb was summoned and, I mean, Temple of Mars is ABOUT her being unable to grow on an internal-beliefs level despite accepting the magic of the future as an external tool, so that checks both boxes, but i'm not sure of the overall Betty opinion and also she isn't the main point.) What I'm getting at is, with the major emphasis on changing as an individual, Time Adventure is especially poignant to me, because outside of being a (still very good) meta song about the show ending, in the context of the show it reads as a song about how sad growing as a person is when you're the person who's changing, and how it would be great if you could just. always be a 12 year old kid in the first season who doesn't understand that there are problems that can't be solved and fights you can't win, who can always go back to his treehouse at the end of the day. And how with the passage of time, it's inevitable to change, but at least that kid is and will forever be in season 1, even as the only physical version of himself from the past blows away in the wind as he asks to go back to a place that's now rubble. This isn't exactly breaking news but still, in a show that leans so hard into the way maturing means changing as a person the final message being "it's hard to be a new person and lots of things ARE lost forever but all past versions of you that you can no longer be exist in the past and aren't going anywhere" instead of like, "woohoo! Maturing is neat! Look at how much everything has improved!" is really good. Idk it just kinda means more really knowing that they're sad about the change.

[articroses]

I felt very underwhelmed by the Fionna and Cake Ending. Idk, after how episode 7 and 8 were so great and left us on an exciting cliffhanger and there were so many expectations for it to be an incredibly emotional experience and it was so hyped up—and then it just … fell flat for me.

I somewhat predicted what would happen in the finale and I was kinda fine with it (the unhealthy dynamics with Petrigrof, Fionna having to accept her unmagical world) but the execution really sucked in my opinion.

But putting my thoughts and how I would have executed it under a read more~

I liked their final goodbye in Simon’s memories but I think everything that led up to it could have been done better. Simon and (Gol)Betty’s reunion was one of the biggest things fans were looking forward to in the series. I felt that while seeing Shermy and Beth was interesting, it wasn’t a good move to bring them into the plot at this point of the conflict. Plus, the Casper and Nova’s metaphor, while necessary for someone as dense as Simon, was pretty much spoon feeding information the audience could already tell, so it felt like it was pulling more time away from that confrontation.

I felt like they could have pushed Simon’s self-sacrificial (suicidal) tendencies and emotions. We’re coming in from the heels of an episode that had Ice King dying sobbing in his last moments. Simon, when confronting Golbetty was very somber, so to speak. As a viewer, I wanted an explosion between them. With Simon finally getting out all the misery he felt in a world that he doesn’t understand / doesn’t understand him, living in the shadow of your crazed self that was embroiled in sadness and madness and magic for a 1000 years, and having no self-worth and when he (thinks) can finally escape this misery by becoming the Ice King, being useful and saving Fiona’s world too, she—the woman that he loved and who left him—won’t let him die. We see this frustration when Simon's mind is projected in Shermy but it isn’t as fulfilling since it presented as more comedic.

Maybe, even with Simon realizing how much Betty sacrificed for him and gave herself up, he’ll ask why, why she would do any of that in the first place for him (maybe digging more into Betty’s obsessive nature in the first place because it’s obvious she was obsessed with him from the start).

Also, having more of Betty’s voice! While we can tell Betty made the choices she made and that she has agency, I wish there was more showing of how Betty feels being a cosmic deity. Based on the posts on Tumblr, I feel like there’s some confusion on whether Betty is Golb, if they’re fused, or if she’s piloting him(?) like some messed up mech. It doesn’t even have to be a long scene. Maybe, a simple scene of Simon wondering if he had doomed Betty and Betty showing him like a slight sliver of the universe and she experiences it, and of course Simon can’t comprehend it , but she can and she wouldn’t trade it for anything. Immortality already seems so lonely, so I wish it was more explicit that Betty was going off on an adventure that she would very much enjoy.

Having to bring in a simple metaphor (Casper and Nova) to explain the unhealthy dynamics of Petrigrof’s relationship (which the audience could already tell) but not explaining enough the ultimately positive experience Betty will have makes me think the writers swung towards one extreme in a pendulum.

I also think Fionna could have been fleshed out a lot more. While I understand she’s a regular human, in comparison to how Finn was fighting in the original show, She’s not really as active (though I understand they are different). It seemed more like plot things just happened to her and all she could do was react instead of acting. I understand they were going for an emotional character development with her with how the fantasy world isn’t as fun as it looks, but I would have liked more actiony scenes of her kicking butt that wasn’t innocent civilians and maybe villains yet still realizing this isn’t the life / fantasy that she wanted. Idk I felt Fiona’s development could have been handled better.

I don’t like scarab as a villain but I understand his necessity. However, dropping off Lil Destiny, Jay and all the others into Fionna’s verse was completely unnecessary. Especially, since they really didn’t contribute that much to the final fight. I would have rather they stayed in their respective universes but have been included in the final montage with showing how their worlds became better due to Fiona’s showing up.

Really, this is my idea with the final montage:

Simon coming back from his adventures and going into his weird room garage museum or whatever, just to see Finn, Marcy and PB worried and waiting there. Simon says something about almost becoming Ice King again. Everyone flips out before embracing him in a tearful hug

More gumlee, they were amazing

I think everything going on in Fionna’s world was pretty good in the original montage

For the whole world that was created with the Lich’s wish, maybe show scenes of the other Mos roaming around. Maybe they become more advanced somehow. Either way, life begins again.

For the vampire world, maybe a group of humans running away from another group of vampires. Suddenly, all the vampires are ran over by the peppermint tank and out pops Baby Finn. The humans surround the tank and see all the weapons to fight off the vamps. Someone picks up baby Finn—it’s Minerva (I can dream)

With the whole world with the Winter King, the ice starts to thaw out from that winter kingdom. There’s more grasslands and forests. We see PB fixing and giving prosthetics to candy citizens. Life keeps going.

With farm world, we see Jay introducing Lil Destiny to Finn over dinner. Finn, with bandages over his head and bear hat still in place drops a bowl of hunter’s stew on the dinner table and stares menancingly at Lil Destiny. All of his kids stare too. The mood is tense as Lil Destiny holds her spoon to take a sip of her stew, only to really like it and grab the bowl and gulp it down. Finn ends up cracking a smile and all the kids laugh now that she’s officially been approved.

In Ooo, more montage of Simon hanging out with loved ones. Since everyone has gotten a tattoo (or at least tried to), it’s Simon’s time to go with the whole crew, except he’s so indecisive with what he wants and nervous about the pain that he keeps jumping off and coming back to the tattoo table, only to end up irritating the spider tattoo artist anyways. Everyone laughs about it

We see that glowing blue being that GolBetty turned into looking over the cosmos, looking excited about what’s to come Also, having all the finns interact would have been very math...

[hamletisabitch]

Time Adventure is so wonderful to me, it pulls together the humanity so beautifully. Because there have always been teen heroes and women mad with grief. There has always been an ache, and brotherhood, and first love. And as long as there are living beings, there always will be. These characters matter to us, yes, and also they are archetypes with a legacy. They are always, always-will happen, happening, happened.

[artbyblastweave]

One moment from Adventure time that stuck with me big-time when I was a kid was the episode where the Lich first showed up, because in the climax Finn is pursuing him and he chases him down into what are clearly the ruins of a contemporary subway station. And that blew my little mind, because up till that point I'd been parsing it as one of those impossible gonzo mishmash anything-goes constructed worlds, and then abruptly without fanfare here's strong evidence that there's some kinda throughline between the world you recognize and the inexplicable fantasy setting on screen. Here's some strong recontextualization of what Finn the human means, in the singular like that, now that we've got a subway recognizably built by modern humans. I mean this was my statue-of-liberty-on-a-beach moment, except it wasn't even the salient twist of the episode- it was just there, a background setpiece which didn't have especial attention called to it beyond being where the bad guy of that week's episode had been chased off to. Love shit like that, clear but understated signifiers that you're actually been looking at a post-apocalypse this whole time.

[metalatias5]

AU Summary for my Memory Restoration AU (MR AU)

This is MRSimon (Memory Restoration) aka SantaSimon

His head is inhabited by all the wearers of the crown: Simon, Santa, Sveinn and Gunther.

How did this happen, you wonder?

While trying to find a way to fix her Simon, this world's Magic Betty came upon a spell that supposedly restored any locked away memories.

When she cast the spell on him while he wore his crown though she didn't just unlock Simon's memories, she unknowingly tore down the labyrinth inside the crown, releasing all the past wearers into Ice King's head.

The sudden influx of memories of not only the past 1000 years, but also four separate lifetimes and personalities was overwhelming and incredibly difficult to adjust to, both for MRSimon and for his Magic Betty.

But with time and lots of patience, they eventually managed to find some semblance of normalcy and happiness.

Sure, MRSimon's new condition's still far from perfect and he totally needs therapy, but he finally remembers Betty and can be with her.

And thanks to Santa and Sveinn he's found new distractions in knitting, baking and woodworking.

They're pretty much the happiest a couple suffering from Magic, Madness and Sadness can be.

[sorrelpaws]

more requests!!!!!

[sunshine-zenith]

So I was rewatching some older AT clips and

Which reminded me of

Intentional on the parts of the writers? Definitely not (the episode “Broke His Crown” was written by Hanna K. Nyström and Ako Castura, while the comic “Gumball’s Masquerade” was writtten by Alyssa Wong, with no overlap between teams it seems), but I’m choosing to believe Ice King was totally the type of fanfiction writer who included moments from his real life (or “past life” as Simon) as fic fodder, changing enough details (or maybe misremembering them/not even realizing he was doing it) that it’s not one-to-one but keeping enough details that if you were there, you’d know

[pokimoko]

The fact that Main-verse Ooo is as good and as kind as it is (relative to the other universes shown so far, at least, it's obviously not perfect) all because of the same character that starts off as the OG series' antagonist, the person we were made to see as the bad guy (albeit an often ineffectual one) for several seasons, is making me lose my mind.

Imagine finding out the guy you spent your childhood beating up and saving princesses from is in fact a driving catalyst behind you being able to exist, and not only exist but also live in a world that knows what kindness is. All because that man, the same man who you've witnessed do terrible things, once met a little girl and taught her how to be good.

Simon's story really shows us that even if you lose your way and forget how it is to be good yourself, the world keeps the memory for you. That act of love Simon showed Marcy by protecting her and seeing her as more than the monster she thought herself to be created ripples upon ripples, small at first but eventually enough to help give their wreckage of a world—a world that easily could have been forsaken, its goodness overlooked because of its inhospitable remains—a chance to grow into something beautiful. Because of those very same ripples Simon created, the people of Ooo grew up in a world where they know enough about kindness that they were able and willing to spare the 'bad guy' some, to see beyond the wreckage and allow him to grow too.

In saving Marceline, Simon helped to not only to save the world, but also himself.

[missholloween]

The Stakes arc was very influenced by tarot, more specifically the major arcana. The Vampire King minions take their name after different cards, such as the Empress, the Hierophant, the Fool and the Moon. If you're interested in this lecture I recommend you this video essay on yt that goes in depth on the topic.

In episode 7 of Fionna and Cake we see a new Marceline, a Marcy that has been raised by the VK instead of Simon. And in this universe, she's the Star.

In tarot, the Star is related to renewal, to hope after hardship.

In a universe in which she never met Simon, where she was a lonely kid in a post-apocalyptic world, the VK took her under his wing and adopted her. He gave her the opportunity to not only have a life, but to have a family. They seemed really close, with Marcy talking lovingly about him and the VK running to help her when she was fighting Bonnie.

However, the Star reverse symbolizes lost of faith, giving up, disconnection.

In a world in which she had to be on her own on her childhood, Marceline has no connection to other's life. She kills as she pleases, and doesn't care about who lives or dies. She lacks empathy. The only person she seems to care about is Bonnie, but she seems to see her as something of a toy.

Her hairstyle, short, doesn't reach her shoulders, reminds us of her childhood. This Marcy doesn't seem to have grown up, not truly at least. She's capricious, childish, more bratty than what we're used to. She has not progressed, stagnant as the rest of the vampires.

[celluloidbroomcloset]

I know this has been mentioned many times before, but I'm gonna mention it again, because it just chokes me up: the smile of absolute joy on Stede's face when his crew proclaim him a real pirate.

This man who just wanted real friends and had never felt accepted or loved, and he's got an entire crew of people loudly declaring him to be a pirate, right in the face of one of his childhood bullies who tried to claim him for "my world."

And his crew are like, "No, he's ours!"

Like, that's not just the face of a man relieved that he's going to live. That's someone who really didn't think there was anyone who cared whether he lived or died being told that a whole crew of people love him.

And he immediately gets a bunch of bitchy confidence:

It's so important that it's not just Ed that stands up for him, but all of them.

I dunno, man, it really makes me tear up.

(Also Rhys Darby's ridiculously expressive face that he puts every emotion into so you can see Stede's joy and relief and pride.)

[frecklenog]

there’s something about how most new worlds were born of wishes (“i wish the lich never existed” resulting in farmworld and things like “i wish simon never put on the crown” or “i wish finn and jake would never get old and die” being possible wishes for babyworld and vampworld respectively) and simon and betty playing out a little what-if of what it might’ve been like to go to australia together and the futility of it. will happen. could happen. did happen. didn’t.

there’s something about fionna and cake’s world in turn being born of a wish just to be. to live and to see life through. something about the vast and insignificant miracle that is the human experience. (“you’re going to be something extraordinary — you’re going to be a human being.” “you are an experience. make sure it’s a good experience.” “you were a wonderful experience.” “i think i was born to hang out. and love a lot.”)

there’s something about shermy and beth technically still coming down the pike from miles away. (will happen.) about all these stories that started so long ago still being told, still being happy in the end, still being worth telling even if you already know how all the songs go. (happening.) about how at the end of the day the past is immutable. you can never cross the same river twice and you never go home. you’ll never grow past this pain if you don’t let go. (happened. “it seems unforgiving when a good thing ends,”) about how simon thought golbetty was going to swallow him and free him of his anguish over her but instead she sent him tumbling back into his own world, into a life rich with love and laughter that makes his agonies worth it. (will happen. “you and i will always be best friends.”)

[starflungwaddledee]

I'm just sayin', Starstruck and Kirby would be adorable. But also Starstruck and Meta-Knight might be the funniest thing you could possibly do. :)

hear me out: peter pan (2003) window scene

been staunchly avoiding typing too much on most of these but i have some thoughts about this one!

you know... i had actually never even considered kirby for the shipaganza. mostly because i think of him as holding such a strong and unique position in the hearts of everyone who knows him, in a way that is devout but also seems fairly romance-free. and i'm actually very interested in the complex relationships that he has with his friends! but i wonder if not considering him was maybe a disservice, because if anyone has an abundance of the capacity for love, it's him, right?

i think that kirby could eventually occupy a similar heart-space for starstruck as bandee, though it would take longer. i strongly suspect that bandee's love of kirby would rub off on her, if nothing else.

i'm not sure either of them... really understand the premise of romance or dating, so it might not be a typical sort of thing. but i think they could giggle and laugh together and shoot each other slightly smitten looks when the other one isn't paying attention, and be very invested in each others happiness.

he adds a pass by her window to his early morning flight, on the off chance she might be up to join him. she's always thinking of him when he's off saving the world, and distinguishes his star from all the others in the sky with ease. the irresistible allure of adventure vs someone who has never seen any of the wonders of your planet before. someone who finds as much unrestrained joy and delight in the mundane as you do. eating paper cups you find on the ground.

you know i could see it.