#something about marcy wanting pb to join her

[itsdefinitely]

haha yeah guys i'm completely fine about episode 7

[i-just-wanna-write-fanfic]

RANT

cw: adventure time spoils

ITS SO SAD HOW BETTY AND SIMON WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE FOREVER SHE COULD NEVER ACCEPT OR EVEN TRY TO ACCEPT THAT HE HAD BECOME THE ICE KING, WHILE PEOPLE LIKE MARCY AND PB LEARNED HOW TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AND ACCEPT THAT HE CAN'T REMEMBER EVERYTHING DUE TO THE CROWN TAKING OVER HIS BRAIN. HER OBJECTIVE WAS NOT TO GET HER LOVE BACK BUT TO GET SIMON BACK. MARCY WANTED SIMON, BUT WAS ABLE TO SETTLE WITH WHAT WAS LEFT AND HAD LEARNED TO LOVE AND ACCEPT THIS NEW SIMON WHILE BETTY COULD ONLY THINK OF ICE KING AS A WORM, AND NOT A BEING THAT WAS TRULY JUST A SAD, CONFUSED SIMON THAT COULD STILL FEEL LOVE, AND LOVE FOR HER, AND HIS OTHER LOVED ONES. THIS WHOLE THING FELL APART BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T HELP BUT NEED SIMON TO FEEL SHE WAS WORTH SOMETHING. IF IT WASN'T THE SIMON THAT COULD MAKE HER FEEL LIKE SHE HAD PURPOSE, THEN SHE DIDN'T WANT IT. HER NOT ACCEPTING HIM AS ICE KING WAS THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK AND RUINED ANY POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP THEY COULD HAVE HAD. THIS ALSO FELL APART BECAUSE OF SIMON'S NEED, AND GREED FOR KNOLAGDE, AND NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH BETTY. WHILE BETTY NEEDED HIM TO FEEL SHE HAD PURPOSE, HE NEEDED HER TO FEEL HE HAD A REASON TO LIVE, AND HAD SOMETHING BETTER IN HIS LIFE WHEN EVERYONE ELSE MADE HIM FEEL HE WAS WORTH NOTHING. ALTHOUGH SHE WAS HIS EVERYTHING, HE NEVER TREATED HER THAT WAY, HE STILL PUT THE CROWN AND HIMSELF OVER HER AND AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS HIM MAKING HER SKIP HER TRIP SO HE COULD TALK WITH HER INSTEAD OF JOINING HER ON HER TRIP OR WAITING UNTIL HER TRIP WAS OVER TO TALK WITH HER ABOUT THE NOTE SHE LEFT HIM.

[gunterfan1992]

Interview with Fan Artist loycos!

(Art by loycos)

So a few months ago, I was absent-mindedly scrolling on Tumblr (or was it Twitter?) when I came across something: an Adventure Time fan comic by an artist named loycos. As a person embedded in fan spaces, I find fanart like this all the time, but this time, there was something special about the art I was seeing. It was so... show-accurate!

I don’t mean that necessarily in regard to the art style (although it does feel right at home in the Land of Ooo, while still being its own thing with its own flourishes), but rather in relation to the characterization; the way loycos wrote the characters was spot on. She nailed PB and Marceline’s dynamic as former lovers who deep-down miss one another. She nailed Finn’s naive heroism and his one-sided crush on PB. She nailed Jake’s goofball energy. It was perfect.

In the past, I’ve only interviewed people affiliated with the show’s production, but I thought I’d mix things up a bit and reach out to some fan artists that I think are fantastic. As such, I’m delighted to share with you an interview I had with loycos, who answered my questions about her art, her history with Adventure Time, and where her work is headed!

What is your 'artistic origin' story?

[It’s] kind of a corny answer, but I've been drawing since I remember myself. My earliest drawing memories are drawing Clifford (the big red dog) fanart when I was around 5 y/o. I was always more of a "fangirl" artist, [and] I would draw characters from my favorite franchises to illustrate my headcanons and daydream scenarios I'd put them in. That hadn't changed one bit since. I had since gone on to study animation and illustration in official institutions which forced me to design characters and worlds of my own, but when I draw for myself it's always back to fanart (or studies). I don't have any OCs.

Are there particular artists or styles that you were inspired by and/or like to emulate or allude to?

I'd joke that my artstyle is just a mesh of all the franchises I've drawn fanart for over the years, but honestly, is it even a joke? I think you can easily recognize I had a Disney Phase like every other teenager (I didn't have an anime phase though! I know, I'm an anomaly) and [Steven Universe] definitely left it's fat mark on my style too. Out of [Steven Universe]'s storyboarding crew (which I followed very closely over the years) I especially love Raven Molisee and Jeff Liu for their wacky expressions and proportions, and of course Rebecca Sugar for their fluid and carefree lines. When it comes to art in general, I tend to prefer stylized, colorful and brushy styles over realistic or gothic ones, So people like Hue Teo and Patri Balanovsky pop to my mind (and my artstation feed, seriously look them up).

How do you approach your projects; what is your general art process?

It really depends on the type of project I'm doing, though, my [Adventure Time] comics were all pretty similar in their conception: I write down all of my ideas in my notes so I won't forget them. Then I either roughly sketch out the entire comic as fast as I can, or I write a script (if the concept is specifically very dialog heavy) and then sketch it roughly. Then I do the lineart and color, nothing too complicated. The one thing I think is worth noting in my long comic process is that I draw all of my panels on the same document- that way it's easier for me to make sure the characters stay on model and that my panel layout remains fresh. So basically, the way you read the comics on tumblr, as a long scroll, is the format I work on.

How did you come to find Adventure Time? What made you join the fandom?

Adventure Time is one of those shows you just know about, so I don't remember how I first found out about the show. However, I do remember when I started shipping Bubbline—after the episode “Broke His Crown” aired. I somehow ended up in their Tumblr tag and was blown away by the (by 2016's standards) blatant representation. Despite my obsession with them at the time, I never actually watched any episode that didn't feature the girls' relationship. I only started fully watching the show recently. But I did consume a lot of fan content, which I think helped me shape my own headcanons and such. After my initial interest in 2016 I put Bubbline back on the back burner and kept on my [Steven Universe] ramage, until last year's “Obsidian,” which brought me back fully on board the Bubbline decks around 2 weeks before it aired, so I was in maximum hype mode when I watched the special. It did not disappoint [and it] really reminded me of why I loved these characters and their relationship to begin with. I started drawing my own art for the ship shortly after, when I felt like the hype around the special died down and there wasn't much to keep me sustained anymore. I make what I want to see ;)

As for joining the fandom, I don't know if I can be considered a member, seeing how inactive I am most of the time and my very limited list of [Adventure Time] mutuals. I am extremely flattered that my stuff caught ATimers attention in a positive way.

You've done some amazing Bubblegum and Marceline stuff. What draws you to their dynamic?

I'm gay.

OK, seriously now. I have a soft spot for extremely feminine, dainty characters that are very reserved, so PB immediately marked herself as an obvious fav, and the road to shipping her with Marceline (who is such an obvious candidate and a multilayered, fascinating character herself) was a short one. I know calling PB dainty is far from a true statement, but that's what she appeared like on the surface and that's what caught my attention. Another thing is that I love relationships between immortal beings, I think it always adds another layer of complexity to any relationship, especially a romantic one. The whole "getting older without appearing like you've aged" and "watching everyone you love die around you while you stay the same" can surely make 2 beings bond, right? It always felt like PB and Marcy get each other in a way no one else can, they are very different on the surface but share fundamental internal similarities. Oh, and the fact that they're EXES? The romantic tension and the longing? The familiarity and banter they had in every scene they shared?This hit the jackpot on literally every relationship trope that I love. I'd much rather watch a "getting back together" than a "falling in love for the first time" story.

All of this and the fact that they [are] gay. It's really that simple sometimes.

In broad strokes, what is next for you as an artist and/or as a fan?

I have a few [Adventure Time] comics ideas\scripts on the back burner and one that is in the making. I think I'll dabble into some Nintendo fanart cause I've been playing a lot of Smash Bros and [Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild] lately.

I’m so excited to see what comes next! Either way, a huge thanks to loycos for chattin’ with me! If you’d like to check out more of her art, visit her Tumblr and her Twitter page!

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Reviewing Adventure Time graphic novel: “Thunder Road”

 by Jeremy Sorese (Steven Universe comic writer) and Zachary Sterling (Adventure Time main comic artist)

Okay, so after purchasing and reading it today, I can safely say the DESCRIPTION of this graphic novel is ENTIRELY INCORRECT: 

Marceline starts feeling restless and comes across a motorcycle gang of storm clouds. Taking this as a chance to try something new, Marceline sets off on the open road with her new friends but things take a turn when she realizes that the storm clouds might be taking things a bit too far when it comes to their pranks. Marceline has to make a choice, to join in and create a natural disaster bigger than Ooo has ever seen or to go back to her boring quiet life--luckily, the answer comes from an unexpected source who just happened to be trailing the clouds...for research, of course.

No, nonono. This doesn’t even remotely resemble what happens. 

Actually, there is still a motorcycle gang, but this isn’t really a book about Marceline - it’s mostly about a drama with Bubblegum, and how she ends up taking her frustration out on Marceline. It’s about some difficulties they have communicating with each other, too. 

The Candy Kingdom is being flooded by non-stop rain. Jake is acting as a giant canopy to try and protect the castle, but it’s not working, and everything is falling apart - candy people are getting seriously injured, and it seems this has been going on for weeks. Everybody is exhausted, and things are looking dire. This was an eerily familiar situation for me, living in the RCT, which got demolished by flooding last February before the Corona crisis, and which is still recovering.  They’re all working together to solve this crisis, and PB is glad to see Marceline caring about other people. Marceline flies up in the sky and discovers a motorcycle gang is making the clouds rain down. 

PB is entirely at her wits end, she yells at the motorcycle gang, gets bullied by them, and decides to challenge them to a race. If she wins, they leave. If they win, then they will drive all over the Candy Kingdom and destroy it. Bubblegum gets incredibly angry at herself for making such a reckless bet, when she’ll have to race in the goddamn sky, and she insists this problem is her fault, so she needs to solve it by herself.

Marceline gets fed up that PB wants to solve it by herself and is pushing her away, so as a ploy of reverse psychology she says, “Fine, I WON’T help”, and flies away to investigate the gang further.

Bubblegum thinks Marcie has fucked off and ditched them. Marceline hasn't actually given up on her - she tries to perform some secret reconnaissance, befriending the gang and sabotaging their bikes. Marceline returns bits of cloud to the kingdom as well, to a still-bitter PB who won’t thank her.  However, things turn for the worse when the biker gang discover the bikes were damaged, and they confront PB about the sabotage, with Marceline's life possibly on the line.

Thankfully, the gang let Marceline go. Bubblegum proper goes off on Marceline for not trusting her to be able to do things by herself, while Marceline says that she should have just accepted help in the first place. They have a falling out. Marceline is upset that PB keeps taking out her anger on her, and lashes out a bit, tells PB this is her fault so she’s on her own. 

Shenanigans ensue. After a tense and highly dangerous bike race, Bubblegum manages to scrape a victory - without Marceline’s help - due to electromagnetic shenanigans with her cloud bike’s fuel tank.

I don’t want to post images of the race, because it has some awesome moments that I want you to see for yourself in the novel. 

However, she realises she had accidentally cheated, and apologises to Marceline for taking everything out on her earlier - she says that it shouldn’t be that way, that she shouldn’t just get mad at Marceline whenever she’s stressed.   

She tells Marcie that she doesn't want to treat her like shit every time she has a bad day.

They have a motorbike race. PB forgets Marceline can fly, and drives off a cliff to save her. Marceline ends up saving PB. Lots of cute moments. 

It turns out, also, that PB has become a bit of a legend in the sky biker community. 

[EDIT: I just realised the jackets say “We Talked It Out”! They’re proud that they were able to have a conversation about their problems! Awwwww]

So, this comic seems to take place during season 6. Most likely between The Cooler and Hot Diggety Doom - when PB is still kind of hyper-aggro and overworked, but is trying to cool down, and when Marceline hasn’t learnt how to communicate properly with her.   At the same time, the stakes are high enough that it does make sense for the characters to behave in this way at ANY time after Sky Witch, provided it’s not after the series finale.    Finn, notably, still has his right arm. He doesn’t pick up a sword. If he did, I might have been able to directly tell where this fit in the show’s continuity.  

Anyway, it’s outstanding. Easily the best of the Adventure Time graphic novels I’ve read. What I loved is how tense the situation really felt, how the emotions the characters were feeling were extensions of what they would feel if this happened in the show. It didn’t feel out of character for PB to be breaking down and acting like a tool, or for Marceline to be secretive and indirect, and then lash out a bit when PB hurts her. It was an awesome character study on their relationship and how it could have its toxic moments.   The situation seemed genuinely dire. The biker gang were genuinely hateable and intimidating. The threat they made to the characters felt real, which is rare for this show. And the emotional moments hit me hard.  It works super well after watching Obsidian, wherein you saw PB in the past take her anger out on Marcie and how that contributed to their breakup. 

It also has Marcie and PB racing around on motorbikes, which is funny because that's what they did in Obsidian.

You can tell that Jeremy Sorese did work on SU comic stuff, because he does a good job at capturing those brief emotions, those epic moments, that SU did so well. This comic is also more dramatic than the usual AT flare. 

The art is okay. It is in graphic novel format, and it’s meant to look a lot like the show. It is nice and colourful. It is clean, and sells emotions perfectly fine. However, Zachary Sterling has historically had issues drawing the arms of the characters - he makes them look far too much like stiff bendy tubes, when they are more free-form and can bend at full right-angles in the show. I feel like he was trying to stay too on-model, and didn’t take his art to its full potential. Some panels are also recycled and slightly edited. 

8/10 - A good read for fans of PB and Marcy, a plot with convincing tension from the first page, with an interesting character study on how PB’s stress can cause her to hurt the people closest to her and she needs to manage that.  However, the description on the back of the book is entirely incorrect for no reason. Well worth the £11 I spent to get a paperback copy sent today. 

You can buy a copy on Amazon for same day delivery. You used to be able to buy a copy on Comixology, but for some reason, it’s been removed. 

[tristala]

To Distant Lands...

It has been quite a journey.

I have been a fan of Adventure Time for over ten years. But it wasn’t a great start.

Foolish 12 year old me disliked it at first glance just because I wasn’t used to the art style and didn’t take it seriously. I ignored it for almost a year. Then on one faithful day in my tutor’s house, I watched the newly aired episode Mystery Train with her kids.

I was... charmed by it. 

This new kind humor spoke to me and I... actually wanted to see more of it. Of course at first I was in denial for a bit but I got over that quickly. So from then on whenever I see it play on Cartoon Network I wouldn’t skip it anymore. I began to look forward to more episodes until I noticed that this series had an overarching plot.

The episodes that I thought were one-shot had purpose. Not all of them are great but they were satisfying for the most part. Like pieces of a puzzle being slowly formed over the years. When I got used to going online I started watch every single episode until I got to the latest. I would wait every week for a new one to drop.

Not everything was all sunshine and rainbows however. Around the mid seasons I thought that the plot was dragging, that the writing became pretentious in some episodes. I began to lose my love for it after 3 years by that point. So I just became a casual viewer.

It took 2 years for me to get back on going crazy over Adventure Time again and by then I was already 18 years old. But I was never ashamed by loving cartoons and my peers were also obsessed with this show so I had no problem getting back on track.

I know that they use storyboards to tell their stories and that writing was secondary. It’s a very risky way of creating a show. But for some reason it kind of works with a show Adventure Time. 

A world were the unpredictable happens, a world were your own imagination is the limit. 

The songs were always such a treat. They may sound simple but that’s what makes them so memorable and heartfelt. They capture the moments where the situations are laid out. The way they were made sounded on the spot and incorporated what the characters felt at the time has a touch of realism.

I will forever be astounded with the way they incorporated Jake’s powers. The ways the spells, the jokes and the characters work and being alive. The Land of Ooo has infinite possibilities. I love all of that jazz.

But what I love most about this show were the characters and their relationships. 

Sure they’re zany but the situations they find themselves in still felt real no matter how ridiculous they got. There were moments when everything suddenly just made sense and I just began to feel for them.

Marceline was a character that I felt infatuated with the first episode I saw her in. It was when she was ‘helping’ Finn ‘woo’ PB into going to movies with him. I was like “Who’s this vampire chick and why is she so fun?” 

Yeah I liked her, but I never thought that I would fall in love with the immortal known as The Vampire Queen.

Marceline is just a tragically beautifully written character. And the show has done something I never thought they would do: Address how being an immortal affected her and other people.  

This silly looking cartoon has tackled topics regarding existential crisis and put with a lot of thought on it and I live for that. What Marceline felt when she lost the people she loved over the years, how messed up her whole situation was. She didn’t know what to do and instead dedicated her life in killing vampires because she wanted to protect the memory of only one person she had left who couldn’t even be with her. It was so heartbreaking. 

Never had my younger self thought that Marcy would have relationship with Simon. When I saw the still image of them when I was about to watch Remember You I was psyched. Many scenarios were flowing in my head before I clicked the play button. I thought I was ready but I was so wrong. That episode was the first episode that made me cry watching this series. Afterwards I always looked forward to Simon and Marcy interactions. 

I felt the utter hopelessness when Simon was declining onwards to becoming the Ice King we’ve always seen but never really known. 

But even in his maniacal state, there was a semblance of the Simon who loved his Betty and Marcy with all his heart. It could be called hopeful but it could also be cruel. And that is the beauty of this tragedy.

Immortality will mess anyone up and they all cope it with different ways.

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum is another immortal but had different priorities. She already had a goal set in mind and went through with it with almost no hesitation. She committed numerous acts with questionable morals in mind. She pushed everyone away and just focused on her kingdom. In her own way, she was winging it. 

Her way of thinking clashed with Marceline and it was all the wrong timing for them. Her closest friend’s care for strangers was already almost nonexistent and she herself was too stressed. 

In the process of finding their purpose and having the weight of responsibilities on their shoulders and just living, these two have lost themselves and are just so tired and broken.

This is one of the main reasons why I ship Bubbline. They are so different yet they understand each other in an unspeakable level. The lost moralities they had were slowly gained when they found each other. And it wasn’t even immediate. There were so many ups and downs with their relationship and it took them centuries to figure it out. Even in the present they’re still figuring it out but now they are healing and that’s what matters.

And let’s not forget the titular characters.

Finn and Jake’s brotherly bond is one of my most favorite things in all of the fictional media I have consumed. Because going through reincarnation together and being with each other for all eternity is literally the definition of their love not knowing any bounds.

Together Again was the perfect send off for Adventure Time. And while they’re brotherhood isn’t flawless like Jake not always being the best role model but he’s always there for his brother and Finn would do anything for the people he loves. They have went through so many things together, good and bad.

Their bond is unbreakable.

Finn’s breakdowns in losing his best friend was so painful to watch and I cannot help myself but cry for what these brothers have lost. I know people have to let go but maybe we don’t have to “let go” let go, you know? So imagine my surprise and delight when Jake decided to join his brother and said these very words:

“Because it’s great being alive with you.”

That sentence broke my soul into a million pieces and restored it at the same time. I just bursted into tears the second I heard that. It was so simple yet one of the most touching lines I have ever heard in my life.

This show had so much heart that it’s overflowing. The bonds that these characters have for each other. It has brought me so much tears of sadness and joy. It broadened my imagination for the unknown. The creativity of this series is absolutely outstanding.

I was the same age as Finn when the show started so you could say I grew up with him and the show. I wasn’t young enough for it to be a part of my childhood but it was there for me till I reached adulthood. And I think that it’s much better that way. It did help me grow up and let me see that there are a lot of things that while everything stays, they still change. 

Adventure Time’s had a lot of messages strewn over its seasons and always had a melancholic vibe to it. 

That’s life... and that’s okay.

It may get ugly and terrifying but Adventure Time has told me to just live. 

Sing, dance, cry and laugh. Something simple as hanging out with family and friends has so much meaning in the grand scheme of things. Life goes on and things will seem to be familiar yet foreign at the same time. Linger on nostalgia, but also appreciate what’s happening in the present and look forward to what will happen in the future.

I am so grateful to have been on this wonderful adventure.

Like what they always said: 

The fun never ends.

[nautiscarader]

Bubbline 9 scissoring

Good grief it took me forever to finish that one.

()(Ao3)(next>>)

- I don’t know, Marceline…

Princess Bubblegum looked into the air, watching as different pieces of clothing levitates behind her. Though fashion wasn’t Marceline’s forte, she gladly helped her girlfriend dress up for all the important meetings and occasions, and with her invisibility she could act as a perfect mannequin, so Bonnie could see two or three dresses at once, without being distracted.

Her usual, pink attire, or one its variations bored her, and so she kept on trying the blue, white and purple dresses; she then tried to put on her business suit together with her royal cape, but neither of the outfits she tried spoke with her. She was feeling guilty that she has robbed her girlfriend into the admittedly, tedious process, though so far, she hasn’t heard one grunt of impatience from her.

She was about to ask for another change, when something grabbed her by her waist, and she felt the familiar gentle pain of Marceline’s teeth sinking into her neck.

- I’m bored, Bonnie…

Seemingly by their own will, her clothes were undoing themselves, one by one, until the princes of the Candy kingdom was left just in her panties and bra, trying to wriggle out of her girlfriend’s arm lock. She couldn’t say she didn’t enjoy it, but the pressure of time certainly meant she’d have less time for her duties if she allows any fooling around.

But then, Marceline’s tongue licked her collarbone, and just like that, Princess Bubblegum melted in the vampiress’ arms, allowing her hands to disrobe her completely. With her invisible body, Bonnie didn’t know where Marceline will strike next, though as there were only two pieces of attire left, she had pretty good idea.

And yet, Marceline found a way to put a spin on their shenanigans, quite literally. Next thing Bubblegum knew, she was hanging upside-down, her long hair flowing down as Marceline’s hands pulled her into the air. The vampire queen became visible again, and though she was seeing her face upside-down, Bonnie could see a wide, mischievous grin plastered all over her face.

- H-hey! What’s the big idea? - Bonnie. - Marceline addressed her - You are tired and tense. trust me, I felt your back.

She gently three her into the air and caught her mid-flight, meeting her half-terrified face.

- You need to relax, and since I know squat about fashion, I sure as heck can help you with that.

She cupped her face and brought her lips to his, joining them in a long, soothing kiss. For the longest of moments, Bonnibel’s dressing room was filled with soft, sensual smacks and slurps, as the two were immersed in a deep, passionate kiss that only progressed in its intensity, especially when Marceline introduced her tongue to the fix, that mingled with Bonnie’s in a constant struggle of dominance. With one arm around her waist, Marceline used the other one to remove pieces of Bonnie’s attire she hasn’t removed herself, and soon, the two naked ladies, connected in a tight embrace levitated in the air, their bodies pressed against each other, craving more of their intimacy.

And just when Princess Bubblegum felt she was safe in her girlfriend’s arms, the world around her shifted again when Marceline turned her around,, her intentions clear as day a moment later. Keeping a steady grip on her feet, she pressed her crotch against Bonnie’s, entwining their legs together.

- Ma-Marcie! - Don’t worry, PB, let me have this…

Marceline smiled, watching as expression on Bonnie’s face changes from astonishment, to annoyance, and then into a bliss when she felt Marceline’s sex brushing against her own, generating more and more juices with each second. her unnatural position only made the experience more bizarre, but after a few minutes of whimpering and impatient moans, Marceline realised her position was a bit too extravagant.

She helped Bonnie flew over her sofa and gently lay her on the soft pillows, ready for her to take the initiative. And the second she landed, Bonie indeed grabbed her, and brought Marceline close to herself, as much as their crossed legs allowed.

The two lovers shared a short, intimate moment, as they looked into each other’s eyes. A smirk on Bonnie’s face prepared Marceline for her next move, and the vampire queen threw her head back when Bonnibel began mashing her pussy against Marceline’s, dictating the tempo and repaying her girlfriend. Their lips met again, as Bonnie took Marceline into her arms and traversed down her chest, as much as their twisted position allowed.

Marceline couldn’t even levitate above the bed, her girlfriend was exerting too much force against her, ut that only made the experience stronger. Their hands moved from each other’s waists to hips, sending shivers down their spines, prolonging the twitching their bodies went through. The two lovers arched their backs, assuming a bit relaxed position, more ideal for scissoring, simultaneously preparing for their inevitable climaxes.

Marceline came first, her body thrashing against her pillows, and she dragged Bonnie with her, soaking her pussy with her juices, hoping her puffy lips do the same. And indeed, the princess let out a stifled cry, biting her lip when her body was torn with the pleasure. Keeping their legs crossed, the two wriggled like a centipede, trying to dissipate the pleasure raging through their bodies, until after a solid minute, the two came back to their senses, and Marceline was the one to fly into Bonnie’s arms, kissing her senselessly.

With Marceline around her, Princess Bubblegum wanted nothing more to gently fall asleep, and let the bliss once again consume her.

But then, the sudden knocking on the door woke her up, and as she heard Peppermint Butler’s voice, she suddenly remembered what they were doing.

- The dinner! - The outfit!

The two jumped to their feet, and Marceline flew around the room, collecting as many pieces of clothing as possible.

- Quickly, Marcie, I need those. - You sure about that…? - Positive. - she smiled and kissed her - I trust you completely.

==========

- PB looks… odd.

Jake nudged Finn, prompting him to look at the entrance, through which Princess Bubblegum walked, wearing the weirdest combination of clothes he has ever seen, and that said a lot. She was wearing pink boots, red skirt, with jeans underneath it, a yellow jacket and what was supposed to be a hat, but looked more like an overgrown lid.

- Woah, you’re right. Kinda looks like she put all of that last minute. - Finn spoke, drinking hi punch - Maybe she forgot and had to do something else?

Jake raised his brow, and as he looked at the peculiar scene, he noticed Marceline, floating right behind her. One look at her face told him that indeed, PB was doing someone else.  

[coolmiddlename]

kitty analyses pb again because fuck you

I feel like the finale was a great challenge of Princess Bubblegum’s character.

You have to remember that her past is buried in bloodshed. She made her kingdom on top of ashes old and new, which is pretty fucking metal now I say it out loud. But if you think back to eps like Rattleballs, The Cooler, What Have You Done, maybe even her reaction to being unelected in the s6 finale, it took a lot of growth for PB to get past what she was before. Even after becoming less cold, she still feels vulnerable and makes great efforts to retain either her own life or, more recently, the legacy of her kingdom. 

After all her efforts to become a calmer person, to not headway into brash and vindictive decisions, here comes Uncle Gumbald with his miraculous candy city. She’s being taunted by one of her creations who is a great smear against her pride. He’s simultaneously her child, her father figure, and her bloody nemesis! He gets under her skin because he’s a bit like her, but somehow more ambitious, more powerful (the fuck??), more evil, and arguably the stigma for all those furious bloodshed PB carried out in her younger years. She can’t deal with him being around and wants him gone, and it makes her recede back into that vindictive dictator state, trying to justify it all to herself.    

 Finn protests about her ideas for war, and even Marcy gets involved, and you can see PB is quick to dismiss criticism of the war from Finn but when Marcy gets involved you can see her visually questioning herself a bit more. I really liked that moment. Marcy makes it clear that PB’s idea is going to end in misery for herself, but PB feels backed into a corner, and quietly says they’ll talk about this when it’s over, and basically begs Marceline to wish her luck. PB isn’t sure if she’ll speak to Marceline ever again, because they both sense that any actual war would result quickly in her death.  

And when Finn says he’s known her a long time, she sees his robot arm, is reminded of Shoko and just what she did to her during one of her previous attempts at an arms race. Shoko died because of PB overreacting to a challenge and making her weapons a little too deadly. 

Of course as soon as Gumbald opens his mouth PB goes fucking 180 again and tries to wreck him. Finn and Jake have already set their trap, however - they bind them together in a dream, where they’re not able to just murder each other with opposing armies and have to deal with this together.  

While PB and Gumbald immediately start trying to kill each other in the dream, once they “succeed” in a toothbrush lance battle, they start to hallucinate being in each other’s shoes. Quite fitting - PB at this stage is so filled with bloodthirst she’d be ready to commit the sin her uncle did against her, and she faces the consequences. She sees Gumbald build the candy kingdom around her, is filled with such shock and envy. Gumbald meanwhile experiences the horror he put Bonnie through as a tiny kid, and just how hard it is to follow his dream to keep a kingdom together when it wants to fall apart. When PB wants to help him, she can’t do anything but make a dumb joke, and starts craughing. He does the same. A rather hilarious and dissonant scene that contains a lot to pull apart regarding their characters.   

Waking up from the dream PB realises just what the fuck she was doing, she’s snapped out of her revenge stupor, and apologises to her uncle even though she’s got no idea whether he will apologise back. 

Gumbald’s “apology” is very inkeeping with the show, to be honest. Sometimes people in AT are just assholes and you have to deal with it. Sometimes AT has abrupt anticlimaxes like that. Think Magic Man’s initial appearance, and every time it looks like Ice King is gonna show a bit of empathy but turns it around into comedically timed selfishness. Aunt Molly doing a 180 makes me glare daggers in suspicion but once again that sort of character change is also extremely common (i mean, think of Lemongrab and how violent and horrible he is, but he’s still hanging with the good guys because there is no reason to fight. It’s a peculiar dissonance but I think AT wants to show that, to show that good people and kinda-evil-but-not-supervillainous people live in the world together).  

Anyway, PB rolls with it. TWO CANDY KINGDOMS IT IS!

Of course when Golb attacks, PB has to think on her feet and you can tell by the sweatdrops she’s panicking internally... the Banana Guards are terrified she’s gonna make them attack, but instead in a moment of pragmatic empathy she tells them to flee for their lives or they’ll add to its mass, and gets the Gumball Guardians to attack instead because only they stand a chance at stopping the threat.  PB decides to stay on the front lines and tries her best to coordinate the attack but isn’t doing very well, and while everyone else is caught in the battle and her remaining forces are turned against her, she sort of loses all her backup support. The she FACES DEATH ITSELF, which is getting slamdunked by a horrible candy flesh monster.  To be honest I thought she’d just turn to mush again, like in the season 2 finale, but while she had an extremely close brush with death her quick thinking emergency shield let her survive.   

Marcie coming in to avenge her, the tender moment they have when Marcie realises she’s still alive.. Marcie understands how vulnerable PB is, how she so easily gets over her head and takes so many risks, and PB is taken aback by how much her girlfriend really worries about her wellbeing, even back when they weren’t talking Marcie still cared for her. She reassures her that she’s a tough gum and she’s “nothing’s never happening to me. never.” And admits she might have a concussion. Fucking adorable. 

I loved this scene not just for its immediate fluff but because Marcie is ready to admit to PB that even when they were not talking before What was Missing/Sky Witch, even when Peebles was a bit of a monster who had shut off everybody else from her life, Marceline still saw her as a little vulnerable, someone who needed and deserved a bit of protection. This goes so well with how they interacted in Season 7, when Bonnie had ran away from the kingom and was trying to pretend it was all okay but Marcie saw right through her. Marceline has never had the openness to say something like this before and when they spoke in the past during their breakup she had always recoiled or backfired to PB’s cold attitude. Here, Marceline is fully open and expressing herself and her great fears of losing Bonnie. With themselves fully open here, feeling a deep level of affection and appreciation for each other, they fuse kiss. The familiar kiss of two people who have been in love for quite some time.  Astonishing moment.

Then they’re basically joined at the hip,they embrace in hopes that they can make it out alive when the fight gets too big for them to be involved, then they notice BMO singing and Bonnie’s nerdiness lets her realise HARMONY was the secret weapon against the chaos. Kinda cool. (BMO’s moment with jake was wonderful btw and i hope lots of people are thinking about it.) I must give credit to Hynden Walch’s beautiful backup singing which stands out as she does so in a different key. 

GOLB nonsense aside, she ends the series going up to Finn, no crown on her head, and thanking him for disobeying her with a kiss on the cheek. She says he’s growing taller. PB and Finn having warmer moments like this has been a staple of the past couple seasons, as he got over his fiery passion for her and his childlike rejection, and learned more about who she was... idolised her less and saw her as a friend. They’re able to be far more Real with each other than in season 5 when they were both pretty much loners. 

Anyway, as Adventure Time ends, I’m happy with the roles of all the characters in the finale, even if it was a bit of a jumbled fucking mess. Adventure Time as a whole is a jumbled fucking mess, so it fits.I also like that the adventure ends with you not knowing exactly what’s going to happen to the characters in the future, they could pump out a new episode next week following from this one and t would be perfectly fine. I like that we get to see some people being happy and silly in the next post apocalypse, and that we never find out what caused the world to end again but we are able to speculate as to what happened.

I must note that PB is probably still around in this future as hinted by the giant Gumball and the “office” inside it, and has managed to protect her people one last time... If I were a betting lady she’s probably taking a break until things cool off by going on new adventures with her partner.  But she could be dead! Maybe there was a great war in the end? Maybe it was just a really bad experiment. Who knows? Who cares? Anything could have happened in Adventure Time. 

[insomniac-arrest]

How to Kiss a Girl (and Prepare for the End of the World)

fandom/pairing: adventure time/bubbline

genre: soft apocalyptica

words: 3k

summary: reincarnation fic where iterations of Marceline and PB are alive pre-mushroom bomb and do what they can in the meantime

warning: death

Step 1: Home Intrusion

She snuck out the window that time, not because she had to, she just liked to imagine her dad’s face if he saw her scaling six floors worth of fire escape.

It wasn’t really that impressive, and she knew he never saw it anyway.

She scaled the six floors worth of fire escape and promised herself this is the time she was going back, The Final Countdown on running away.

She sits on the 59th underpass for a few hours, popping bubblegum and thinking about smoking again- it didn’t always agree with her but bubblegum only went so far.

She slung her guitar case higher on her shoulder and then headed down the main highway toward the suburbs. She might as well do something.

It was called Candy Street, which was just as ridiculous as it sounded, and she kicked a can to the 6th house- at the end of the cul de sac and gave it a hearty knock.

“Hey,” She called and gave the door another rap, “Bon-Bon.”

She stared up at the gray city sky and waited for the anticipated shuffling from inside.

“Bon!” She yells for a final effect.

The door finally creaked open and a weary looking girl in a disheveled white coat blinks at her, “What?” “Jesus, where’s Peppermint? You look like you haven’t showered in a week.” She blinks at her again, “I’m busy.” She opens her arms and grins, “You want to feed a runaway or what?” Bonnie groans and massages the bridge of her nose, she steps aside, “Again? Really?” Marceline shrugs and walks into the damp house, after all these years Marceline hadn’t figured out how Bonnie convinced her parents to let her live alone.

She whistles as she walks inside, “Seriously, where is Peppy? This place is a mess.” She puts her hands in her pockets and turns back to Bonnie who was closing the door.

She turns around with her hands on her hips, “I sent him away for the week so I wouldn’t have any distractions.” She seemed annoyed.

Marceline studied her face, “Is it science fair season again? What’s up?” Bonnie shook her head and took her by the elbow, “I do need a test subject though.” Marceline scowled, “Sandwich! Then you can prod and poke at all my bits.” Bonnie gave a half-smile, “Parabola. And a sandwich? You serious this time?” Marceline led herself into Bonnie’s kitchen, “As serious as the grave. I’m a drop-dead runaway this time.” She says as she puts her hand over her heart and tried not to smile.

“Pfft,” Bonnie opened her fridge with a disbelieving look, “Right, right, you live on the edge. Softie.”

“Why don’t you come over here and see how soft I am?” She flexed her (nonexistent) arm muscles and Bonnie rolled her eyes.

“We’ll see how long this lasts.” She mutters and takes out some expiration-dateless mayonnaise. She took out some questionable looking bologna and seemed able to make a sandwich as Marceline jumped onto a stool and swung her feet. Normally, she would offer to help, but Bonnie was very particular about all parts of this process.

Bonnie carefully stacked the ingredients and Marceline for once tried not to bother her as her little pink tongue stuck out in concentration. It was like a prima ballerina during her Big Moment. If the moment was a sandwich and she was a hyper-precise nerd.

“Mmmmm,” Bonnie hums and then exacts a piece of bread on the top, “There! Done. You’re welcome.” She stuck her chest and handed it to her, “Viola, runaway-abating nutrients.” Marceline snickered and held herself back from flicking her in the nose, “You are the bomb B.” She took the sandwich, “We should just get married and I’ll move into your crawlspace.” Bonnie’s face went a pink at that statement. They did have some things to talk about.

“Well, I need you well-fed for my tests,” She clapped her hands together, “And how do you feel about radiation poisoning?”

“Uhhh,” A piece of baloney hung out of her mouth after her first bite. “Bad? I think that’s a definitely bad.”

Bonnie tapped her chin and gestured for her to keep eating, “Alright. I’ll factor that in.” She took out a notepad from her waistband and jotted something down.

“A'ight.” Marceline eyes her slowly and then tries to savor the sandwich, despite some ambiguous freshness of some of the contents it was delicious. “But if you mess up my good jacket, I’m putting it on your bill.” She points to her red leather jacket- the good one.

Bonnie raises her eyebrows flatly, “Oh no no, your tab to me is much longer anyway.” “No!” She says with her mouthful, Bonnie laughs.

“My car.” She says with her hands on her hips.

Marceline lets a little laugh herself, “Okay. I see your point. But if I am about to ruin this jacket to radiation poison or somethun, give a girl something cool to be buried in.” “You should be fine...If all my calculations are correct.” She says slowly and itches her temple.

Marceline takes a last enormous bite of her sandwich and swallows it painfully, “Show me what’s up then Pink. What’s this years science fair?” Bonnie’s mouth became a hard-straight line, a little dent of worry formed on her brow. She gave low hum from her throat, it could almost be a growl.

“It’s, hmm,” Bonnie stroked her chin, “Come into the next room with me. I can explain it better.” Marceline eyebrows skyrocketed, “Whoa. The serious zone. The frown district. You never let me in your lab.” Marceline wobbled off the chair and watched Bonnie’s back.

“And yet you always go in there anyway.” She says with an unamused glance.

Marceline picked at her ear, “It’s the place to find you. Come on, I want to go into the doom dome.” Bonnie rolled her eyes and gestured at her, “Now. I don’t want you to say I’m overreacting, because, pfft, no, we all know it’s real.” Marceline blinked into the dim lights as they made into the huge side room, it was drafty and could almost feel her nose turn in on itself from the chemical smell. Bonnie turned on the fluorescents and Marceline rubbed at her sensitive eyes.

“Ugh,” She almost tripped on the first beacon on the floor before Bonnie catches her.

“These are just the calculations. The dome is in the next room.” Marceline rubbed at her eyes some more and then found herself staring at a wall’s worth of chicken-scratch calculations on a chalkboard. Her mouth falls open, “Bonnie,” She gulps, “What is this?” She watches her friend scratch her wrist, her brown eyes scanning the room. “It’s what it looks like Marcy.” She gestured to a metal hatch on the other side of the room, “Surviving the bomb.” Marceline’s eyes squinted at her, “Is this….about the apocalypse forum I made us join in 6th grade? Because that was only for a joke, Bonnie,” Her eyes softened, “What is this.” Bonnie sighed and her shoulders released, “They made it. The mushroom cloud bomb.” Marceline frowns, “We’ve had bombs before…” “You don’t understand.” Bonnie shook her head and a few bubblegum-pink hairs drifted in front of her face. “It’s real this time. I’ve seen the news, I,” She opened her mouth and closed, “It’s inevitable.”

Marceline's frown deepened and she got closer to her friend in order to hold her arm, “And here all I wanted to do was come over, eat your food and then maybe make out a little bit.” Her voice came out wooden, even to her. “And here you are trying to save the world.” Bonnie turned on her with a sad smile, “I’m not sure even I could do that.” She breathed in through her nose, “The mushroom bomb could blow off one fifth of our planet. It could ruin everything.” Marceline squeezed her arm, shifting uncomfortably in place. “Come on Bon,” She says weakly, “They say they have it under control.” Bonnie leaned back into her, “I hope so.” She says softly and closed her eyes, “I really hope so.” She didn’t believe her.

Marceline let Bonnie go, the other girl shaking her head as if to throw off the cobwebs and tying her hair back up more tightly, “Alright. I just need someone to sit in the capsule so I can measure human vitals within while I tinker with the amount of punishment this thing can take.” Bonnie says with That Look in her eye.

Marceline made a face, wrinkling her nose and exaggerating her features, “Before or after more food and makeouts?” “Remember my car?” She asks dully.

“Yeah?” “Then get in the capsule.” Marceline sighs and hangs her arms, she really had done a number on her car. She gets in the capsule.

They spend the rest of the day prodding Marceline and trying to put dents in the cast-iron dome of survival. Bonnie has a determined look in her pursed lips and Marceline doesn’t have the heart to ask too many questions.

Bonnie let’s her sleep on her couch, though the other girl doesn’t go to sleep herself and Marceline spends a restless night on the fine leather cushions. She slips away in the morning before sunrise, maybe she didn’t want to think about the end the world as much as she put on.

---------------

Step 2: Buy her Oranges

Marceline was taking a very long walk. A walk to be remembered if you will. For a moment, she considered just keep going and never turn back, like some traveling starving artist. She could do all three of those things.

But her feet turned back toward Candy Street dipped behind the miles of city suburbs, trailing back to the large white house with all the windows boarded up to keep the sun out.

The door was open this time when she walks in and she can hear someone murmuring to themselves in the kitchen, Marceline heaves a deep sigh.

Bonnie was in front of the sink, mixing vials as her hair looked like it was ready to fall out. Marceline watched the light slash a strip across her nose and her eyes flash behind thick goggles. They stare at each other for a long moment.

“Problems?” She finally offers.

Bonnie shakes her head, “I’m going to the store in a moment.” She puts down her beakers, they seemed to be a dull grey in the light. “Come with?” Marceline raised her eyebrows, “You sure? We’ll be in public and everything.” Bonnie rolled her eyes, “Pep does all the shopping, so it’s been… awhile.” Marceline lets out a laugh and puts her guitar case down, “oh my God, you don’t know how to buy food.” She scowled at her, “I absolutely know how to buy food.” She crosses her arms across her chest, “You’re fired. Nevermind.”

“Fired?” She laughs again.

“Fired.”

Marceline put a hand around her shoulder, “You know how I got my last job back the first time?” “The one where you scarred all those kids with hand puppets? Sure.” Marceline winked, “I rehired myself the next day, let’s go.” She feels the prickle of Bonnie’s skin as they touch, it had been awhile. The other girl gathers her things and follows her dutifully out anyway.

“We only need a few things.” She was muttering again but Marceline was stretching in the clouded lowlights of the afternoon sun. “Milk, butter…”

“Jack and booze.” She glances over at her, “Those are the same thing.” “Jack and strippers.” She pushes on her shoulder, “Come on.” Bonnie was giggling, like she had never been 13 and found out the end of your elbow was called a ‘wenis’ and started cracking up. Like she had spent forever in that crowded empty house.

Marceline frowns up at the sky, “how’s the doom machine?” Bonnie shook her head, “As good as it gets.” She was squinting up, “I just need to make a protein drip so people can get nutrients in there.” “Gross.” Marceline says as she wrinkled her nose. “At least install netflix.” Bonnie hummed at that and wrote something down, Marceline just shook her head. They took Candy Street to Gingerbread Road and faced the nearest corner store with conviction. It had a sales sign in the corner window and no broken door hinges, so that was good.

They enter the cool insides and shiver a little bit, like entering a haunted walmart on its worst days. Marceline’s eyes drag over the quiet aisles, the water bottle section had already been ransacked and people were still buying as many canned goods as possible. They didn’t have any soup for miles.

Of course, there were the holdouts. The people running shops that still got shipments and old guys who said they had seen worse buying Times Magazine at the front. Life churned on like it still believed in itself.

They wander over to the produce section just as Bonnie glanced at her again.

“You should talk to your dad,” She picked up an egg carton and started inspecting them like they were on an oval-shaped diamond heist.

Marceline scoffs, “Yeah. Right.” “I’m serious,” she seems to find a satisfactory egg combination and put it in her cart. “You may regret it otherwise.”

Marceline blows air out of her nose, “he’s an ass. I’m not suddenly having some heartfelt father-daughter talk with him.” She kicks the closest fruit stand.

Bonnie start to pile her basket brimming with apples and oranges, “I’m just saying,” she clucks, “it might be good to air it all out.” “Yeah, sure, thanks for being a non-existent dead beat for seventeen years. I’ll write you in the afterlife.” She waved her hand in the air and turned to maybe stomp off somewhere.

Bonnie put a hand on her shoulder, “it’s alright.” She sounded like she was trying to soothe a spooked horse. “I’m sure he knows.” Marceline hung her head for a second, she started to pick up some stray cucumbers and toss them in with the others moodily.

“You talk to your folks?” Her mouth was still a hard line. “Yeah.” Bonnie smoothed her hair down. “They’re in some bunker.”

The look on Bonnie’s face told Marceline that the other girl did not think that bunker would work. Marceline sighs, “you really think this going to go down?” She frowns, “that this it?” She looks around, it was still a shop and still a city and some teenage boy was still trying to hit on the cashier while shuffling his feet at the front.

Bonnie shrugs and turns away, “you know what I think.”

They meander through the store, picking up whatever was left and making their way to the registers.

Marceline takes her wallet from her as they go, “watch the master at work.” Marceline teases, flapping the wallet in the air, trying to buoy their mood again.

“Oh please.”

“A shiny plastic card,” she slips it into the slot, “right in there. Bullseye. It’s like I was born to buy you oranges.” Bonnie flicks her, “This is why you were fired.” “And rehired.” They gather up all their perishable foods that hadn’t been picked over and hold hands on the way home. Her hand was dry and chemical stained, but it felt tangible and real right then.

Bonnie said she was still too busy to meet her in the backroom, even after Marceline added a ‘if you know what I mean’ at the end. Marceline shrugs and takes the long way home. She leaves a note for her dad on the fridge: find somewhere safe.

Sometimes she wished she had torn it up instead.

-----------

Step Three: Night Cap

It happened in the middle of the night, the streets had been empty for hours and she hears the first wheeze of a voice on the other end.

She hadn’t been sleeping, but she hadn’t been not sleeping either. Her phone buzzes obnoxiously, like it wanted to shake itself off her bedside table to freedom. She hears a shaking breath on the other side, she swings her feet off the bed, “I’m coming.” She yanks on her 3-day old jeans and starts down the stairs like a normal person this time. Even if she doesn’t take the fire escape, she imagined it was still cool.

She found someone’s bike deserted on their lawn and pedals all the way across town and through the stream of traffic that honked and beeped at her as she went.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re not even moving!” She gets a couple pointed words in her direction and ends up swerving through the moonlight traffic toward the cul de sac.

She doesn’t bother to knock as she enters the house again and takes the stairs two at a time. “Bonnie?” She listens carefully and treads her familiar path to her room, “Bonnibel.”

“Here,” she hears a faint voice and opens the door, the silver light fills the room as Bonnie had ripped those boards off the windows it seemed.

She was sitting on her bed with a black wrap around her arm and she held something up. Marceline quirked an eyebrow up, she was measuring her blood pressure.

She runs a hand through her hair and sits down on the bed across from her, “hey.”

“Hey.” She says softly back and goes back to check the numbers on the gauge.

Marceline tips her head to the side, “want a smoke?” She gives me a decided Look, “this is the impression you get from this?”

“You’re stressed,” she gives a half-smile, “anymore worked up and may start to form wrinkles.” They both chuckle to themselves at that, she looks back up, “it’ll ruin your teeth.” She almost goes to roll her eyes, “there goes my beauty pageant career.” She says flatly.

She snorts, “oh, fudge off.” I cackle softly, “fudge? Really?” Her cheeks heat up, visibly tinted in the light, “you know we had...rules in my house.”

Marceline sighs and reaches over to take her hand, “fine. You can have all the fudge you like.” Bonnie looked ready to bite her. “I don’t even think it would ruin you beauty pageant chances.”

“I’ll build a catheter on stage for the talent portion,” she says dryly and rubs at her nose. She takes off the armband.

Marceline leans over and their breaths mix, “I’d vote for you.” She shyly tries to take her hand, her heart now thumping loudly in her throat, “I think you’re the prettiest girl left.”

“Left?” They both wince at that.

“Left, or right, of the entire solar system,” Marceline tries to salvage it with a mischievous look.

“Don’t be cheesy,” she laughs and Marceline makes a kissy face at her.

“Come on,” she brushes her pink strands of hair back, “I won’t tell anyone.”

She reached over and held the back of her head, “like you didn’t brag about it on the school news bulletin board the first time.”

She puffs her cheeks out, “there was a lot to brag about.” “Shut up,” she leans over and the kiss is slow and damp, her cheeks were slightly wet and the moonlight hit the bed like an air raid spotlight.

Her mouth is honey sweet, she was very particular about dental hygiene and Marceline’s thoughts slowed and halted as she drew her closer.

She leans her back in the bed and they kiss for a long long moment before curling up around each other.

The wind whistles through the broken window boards and she closes her eyes. A machine beeps below, but so does the rest of the world.

------

Step 4: Try to be Okay

“Maybe I’ll see you again,” she held her hand tightly, eyes watering. They said you’d be able to smell it before anything else, acidic with a cloying burn.

They were caught outside, she guessed that’s how it always is. Paces away from your own home after trying to get bandages, without warning or time to tie your shoelaces or make a funny face.

Bonnie squeezes her hand back, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” “It’s not your fault,” she says it gently, throatily, rolling over on the ground to face her. “It could never be.” “I didn’t-” “You did.” She kisses her cheek.

Bonnie kisses her back, “Meet me again.” She can only nod, “Whenever you want.”

“Meet me again.” They close their eyes and the slow-moving toxic fog envelops the world around them.

[coolmiddlename]

adventure time season 7 part 1 review

aaaaaaaaaa

we finished the king of ooo arc!!!!!! all the way to the end of stakes!!!

anyway as u can tell from my excitement we had a blast. i think this is one of the most emotionally sincere parts of adventure time, and many of the episodes made me laugh far more than i ever did during season 6, so theyve very welcome. yeah, some eps at the start of season 7 are lacking laughs or visual cues due to lazy storyboarding, but there are plenty of excellent parts to make good for it... and the finale totally gripped me.

 lets go through the episodes and try to describe what i found exciting:

Bonnie and Neddy - theres just something really touching about this episode. seeing finn and jake in those armored suits is a little silly but good setbuilding for the king of monarchy the king of ooo is trying to run, and transitioning from finns description about the brilliance of the water to the king of ooo making a scam of it, pretty damn funny. but what was better was the backstory presented in this episode... bonnie descends from the mother gum into a new world full of promise and life, destiny child that she is, whereas neddy experiences terror and overstimulation. and seeing her just... worry about him, get sad when he didnt recognise her but protect him w the song and bring him home, man i loved it

Varmints - i dont think we ever got a bubbline episode THIS expressive before or since, not even in stakes. the humor was SO ON POINT that i was rolling on the ground while the emotional trains of thought the chars were going through was presented so well, there was no ambiguity that wasnt deliberately placed. king of ooo in the costumes was a nice chuckle and also set in place that peebles as a princess had waaaay more power than whatever the “king of ooo” was before to the extent he sees her clothes as symbols of that strength.  i swear hes literally named that by his parents. anyway shes in the denial/bargaining stage of grief and falls into the depression stage after her hat is stolen and she remembers everything she lost, also i love this ep cos they were so EXPRESSIVE. probably the best pb ep...ever? at least until season 8′s jelly beans have power. emotion is something deeply missing from stakes, which ill get into in a moment. 

the other three eps - i wanted 2 make a paragraph for each of the other three eps but they didnt stand out enough... HOWEVER, over time ive come to enjoy the strangely domestic nature of Dirt Beer Guy a lot more, also i like Mama Said for being a sweet lil Canyon ep that goes into what finn and jake think of their new job... Football was the most standout of all, just something unsettling about seeing bmo argue with its own inner psyche i mean football. enjoyable, uncomfortable, cute. 

Stakes - what a heartfelt insight into the past of marceline, her history as a vampire and perspective on the present... lets talk a bit about the strengths and weaknesses of stakes. 

I felt that the miniseries handled Marceline’s past as a vampire hunter, as a young girl who had just been abandoned, and as a toddler with her mother.... it pulled at the heartstrings in a way AT rarely does. my favourite part of this backstory was marceline’s relationship with the bunny girl, who weve come to believe is finn’s ancestor.   

i also felt it was glorious folowup to the season 6 ending and a pretty good use of having all the characters without any responsibilities to the candy kingdom. they went on a vampire hunting adventure together which was sweet.

my favourite scenes of the actual miniseries were the ones that involved the vampires... ice king not being brainwashed was a funny twist that i saw coming immediately, and marceline’s vengeance on her felt real, as did her struggle the moon was intimidating as heck and finn and jake were so bad at taking her out. the heirophant’s transformations were really cool, thanks emily partridge for that, and the VAMPIRE KING? hooo boy. star of the show. everything he did was just so wackyzany and unpredictable, and yet so meditated that it feels like he may be the greatest thinker in the show. he reminds me of zaheer, talking to a frustrated korra. since marceline looks and acts like korra throughout this miniseries the comparison is strong.

as for other elements, my favourite parts were the ones where pb either did something goofy or morbid or fucked up the king of ooo. if looks could kill... “A MONARCHY IS NOT A DEMOCRACY!!!” BAM. so satisfying.  and all the candy people hugging her, and her lil breakdown over marcy while pepbut prepares the magic. PEPPERMINT BUTLER, this miniseries sealed my love for him which only grew after Jelly Beans Have Power in season 8. 

the funiest part of this miniseries were finn and jake, and the best episode was Checkmate. the fart speech scene got so many laughs out of me and then peeblles joined in and said it waS EMERGENCY TALK ONLY AND THEN THE VAMPIRE KING HOLDS HIS NOSE OUT OF STENCH and yeah for all the above reasons, the vampire king, the humor,  Checkmate is the best episode. All of Finn and Jake’s other scenes were also amazing. they were fucking useless in this miniseries which, apparently, is where their humor shines most. 

...which leads to my CRITICISM: a lack of expression and humor during key scenes. this is mostly related to marceline, but also to bubblegum esp at the start. there were many scenes that held the same angle for to long where they were talking about their feelings, but their faces werent changing, and it was just... visually uninteresting, didnt feel as expressive as it could have been, especially after the brilliant faces in Varmints. marceline is usually such an expressive character, seeing her standing still and rambling was so meh. which is why her flashback scenes - so full of character - are superior to any scene shes in within the present day. i mean, jesus, she literally says she feels love for pb in the most deadpan and blande way. peebles can get away with it, cos she has some KILLER faces later (that one at the king of ooo) and has always been relatively expressionless, also her actions speak volumes. marceline’s strongest expressions (in the present) were when she desperately tried to kill the Empress and the Vampire King, which makes them my favourite scenes for her. 

i think Everything Stays is the defining song of adventure time. It encapsulates our experience with the whole show; AT usually builds up dramatic plots, only to anticlimactically return to the “status quo”, but what we realise later is that everyone is still affected, everyone is still changing. the princess has her kingdom back, but she’s not going to take her position for granted anymore, and has averted from her dark path for now. ice king is still the ice king, but he’s now building up some friends and finding genuine happiness in the land of ooo. finn lost his father again and got his arm back (for the time being), but he feels way less burdened by his emotions that he used to, far more grown. and the same goes for marceline... even though shes a vampire again, shes no longer as burdened by her past. she’s come to terms with it. 

even though the characters return back to normal at the end of stakes, islands, elements, the things they have gone through will remain with them and shape who they become. in recent times? we have been seeing the effects of Elements on the characters of Ooo. how far they’ve been affected we are yet to see, and im excited to find out.