#how finn only survived the first fight with the lich because she gave him a sweater out of concern for his health

[idolomantises]

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.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Bubblegum’s redemption storyline

I wrote another big ol comment on Reddit, but this time it was about the shit I REALLY care about. still adventure time

it’s not as big as the last one don’t worry - it’s about PB’s dark side and growth!

Starting below: 

I felt like pb went through an incredible redemption arc for the rest of the show.

She was a character who had a combination of heroic traits, which Finn used as his guiding moral compass earlier on, and villainous traits, which turned the people of Ooo against her. Light and dark, mixed together!

PB was aware of the dark, but she'd become far too comfortable with it, telling herself that she needed to do what she was doing, she NEEDED to be in control all the time because a situation like the Lich could happen any moment, or the Fire Kingdom could nuke the candy people, or someone could die, or someone could betray her, and on and on and on. PB saw her self-appointed position as the justification to continue escalating what had originally been apocalyptic survival tactics into this entire Orwellian panopticon. She started hurting innocent people due to grudges, she didn't flinch when Flame King locked his daughter up for 15 years, she started committing war crimes against potential allies out of paranoia and this need for control!

It is this last action that made FP really challenge PB's character, and tell her straight to her face that she's a bad person. And it was at that moment PB began to realize what she'd been doing. She didn't want FP to think she was bad, because FP was a GOOD person, against the odds of her circumstances! If FP thinks PB is bad, it must be true! So when PB decided to stop spying on FP, she was awakened to how much spying she'd been doing on other, equally innocent people, like her best friends Finn and Jake. This was the turning point for her - she started to work on herself, having seen what she'd become.

She didn't get away with this consequence-free. PB still demonstrated some controlling behaviour (see Graybles 1000+). After the Orgalorg dream, she became fearful her people would betray her again. Her actions specifically in the episode Apple Wedding really came back to bite her, because the King of Ooo used her behaviour and increasingly sour reputation to successfully wage an election against her.

It's when she faced the consequences of her actions, the rejection from her people, that PB had to decide what she wanted to be. She broke down in Varmints and confessed to Marceline her true feelings about everything, how she felt like she'd done this to herself and pushed people away until she was all alone. And in Stakes she chose to look out for the Candy People, Marceline, and the other inhabitants of Ooo, not as a Princess but as Bonnibel Bubblegum.

When the people reselect her she spends the rest of season 7 trying to make reparations. She supports the banana guards, who were terrified of her. She even goes on a dinner date with Marcie and Ice King.

She encounters issues again in the intended "Season 8" (Two Swords to Three Buckets). PB at the start moves Susan Strong to her lab and hides her from Finn. She has just had to confront the idea of having elemental powers, and she is so conflicted about it because she hasn't given herself the time to process them. PB's frustration results in her acting brashly throughout the episode.One quote that stands out for me is when she was venting about how the kingdom is meant to be a reflection of her, but she doesn't understand herself. The alarm goes off to sound Patience's attack, and pepbut says "We were having a breakthrough here!", but PB says "I have no time for breakthroughs."It makes the end of this ep really sad, because PB gets too excited when she unlocks the powers, and she doesn't consider the impact her fight will have on the candy people. At the end, they're scared of her, and she feels absolutely terrible, and represses the abilities again.I kind of feel sad there was never a solid followup to this - in Elements, PB takes over the world basically, but there's nothing talking about how that impacted her relationship with her people or her thoughts on her own elemental powers. I must also note PB got overenthusiastic when making an arm for Finn and gave it a hidden FATALITY function, which resulted in Fern’s death. 

Anyway the final season is a test of character for her. PB has to decide whether to wage war against her uncle, who keeps threatening her, or whether to broker peace. PB sees herself as railroaded into war, but she goes into this too eagerly - she failed the first test. She kills Gumbald in the dream.When she's dreaming of BEING him, PB manages to emphasize with his position, and feels awful about calling a war. She immediately brokers peace and repents, but he's not able to let go of his own rage, and he receives karmic punishment in the form of being re-dummified. PB passed the SECOND test, after failing the first one.

The third and final test was when Golb appeared. PB had a choice of asking all her people to fight for her, and they even ANTICIPATED she would, but she told them to run for their lives, and decided to stand against Golb... uhh... entirely by herself, if necessary! That would have been a quick battle. I'm sure she's grateful most of the others stuck around to help.

That's where she's left off when you go into Obsidian.

As explained below, the negative traits PB displays in Obsidian are mostly inconsequential. She still acts controlling sometimes, but it's WAAAAAAAY less than most scenes in the main show.

The fact she's able to live with Marceline, and spend time away from work, is also indicative of tremendous growth. PB is very supportive of Marceline. Marcie expects her to throw disses from time to time, but PB immediately corrects herself. When Marceline needs somebody to listen, PB listens - she doesn't throw the shade or quippy remarks of the past.

She still messes up from time to time, but that's only human.

[shwoo]

I saw Elements, and I have thoughts about it that I want to get out. Huge spoilers, obviously.

I’m glad I was wrong about the Ice Kingdom conquering the Fire kingdom, and the ice-coloured fire was just from being really hot. As an added bonus, it looked really cool.

So candy is happiness, ice is sadness, fire is anger, and slime is... conformity, maybe? Oh, wait, fire is fighting, and slime is assimilation. That makes more sense.

There were so many returning characters in this miniseries. I’d never expected to see Party Pat again.

Had Betty not looked into negating the crowns magic again? She knows it works to change him back. It also kills him, unless my headcanon that his candy heart was magic and he was actually dying from heart failure is correct, but it’s the only lead they have so far.

The Ice Kingdom was really pretty. I'd go there, if it wasn’t for the depression-inducing thing.

I like how Betty only threw in stopping the Mushroom War as an afterthought. Like “I’m going back in time to prevent Simon from ever wearing the crown! And maybe I’ll also undo the apocalypse that destroyed my culture, most of my species, and everything I’ve ever known. If there’s time, idk.”

The jewel briefly falling out of the Ice King’s crown at the end was foreshadowing, wasn’t it.

I interpreted LSP as undoing all elemental changes at the end. So... the only reason Jake doesn’t take more after his mother is because of an element or two? I can’t wait to find out what’s actually going on there.

Is Normal Man going to take back his powers or something? Why is Betty on Mars now?

Flame Princess made a really awesome dragon.

So Jake got elementified in the Slime Kingdom, but he had a near miss in the Ice Kingdom first. Is it because he gave Finn his jumper, or because he’s secretly depressed? He seems like someone who’s depressed sometimes.

Bespoken For was a good Ice King episode. Although it was frustrating to see Betty give up on jogging his memory after talking to him for like, five minutes. Not unrealistic, but frustrating.

When did Finn learn Flame Princess’s name? They must have repaired their relationship really well. Or Princess Bubblegum just told him.

The flashbacks of Princess Bubblegum Finn had when he was turning back to normal were so sweet.

I think Marsheline kissed LSP.

Theory about LSP’s element: It’s radiation. I’m pretty sure she’s made of irradiated stardust, although I can’t find the source right now. The Lich is made of the same element, because the elementals didn’t affect Sweet P, and whatever LSP did actually healed him. And the Lich comet in Evergreen was capable of killing the elementals, which catalyst comets apparently usually don’t. The Great Mushroom War also killed some elementals and created the Lich, probably. The Lich’s power over the elements has been set up since the elements were introduced.

I thought the Ice King’s new outfit, and changing back into his normal clothes at the end, was a metaphor for Betty not accepting him as he is, but she didn’t do any of that. The suit was Life Giving Magus’s idea, and he hid the crown and put on glasses himself, as part of a disguise he never refers to again. Maybe just being around Betty was restoring his old personality? But Betty was too impatient to notice, and went straight to destroying time itself as a solution.

I wonder if Patience freezing herself at the end was her being written out. Maybe LSP undid the ice offscreen, but Patience already survived the Mushroom War that way, and there was probably a reason for that scene to be there.