[8.0/10] Hooray for the adventures of Marceline and Princess Bubblegum! There’s a lot of gap-filling in here. We get to see the origin of PB’s precious shirt from Marcy. We get to see the couple’s original break-up. We get glimpses of Marceline’s time with her mom and clearer indications of how it ended. We even just get to see the two of them hanging out, Bubbleine style, which is its own kind of fanservice for devotees who’d been rooting for them to get back together.
But as much as the show is serving up what fans want to see, this isn’t a hollow revival, which I appreciate. There’s an emotional throughline here, one centered on notions of how everyone has damage, how Marceline’s still recovering from what happened with her mom, and most importantly, how she’s OK not being an angry young punk anymore.
That last one is the most interesting. I’m a fan of the notion that Marceline can’t find the hurt that fueled her angry rock when she was younger and drove away the dragon terrorizing glass kingdom, and so goes off in search of it. Instead, she finds acceptance and peace and the sense that she’s okay being a little “soft” as she discovered something closer to happiness.
It’s telling that her angry, breakup-fueled tunes could only temporarily stall the dragon, but it’s her song of vulnerability and self-acceptance despite her own “cracks” that frees it and keeps it from attacking the locals anymore. (Instead, both it and its minion become...cat angels? It’s goofy, but I like it, and the dragon’s quick hit story of hiding his own “crack” gives it some extra resonance.)
The episode does particularly well to show the pitfalls of Glass Boy, a young wannabe punk who feels himself similarly damaged and idolizes Marceline for her in-your-face style. The way he writes his own breakup song after some flustered treatment from See-Through Princess, who’s otherwise his best friend, provokes laughter from Marcy, not because it’s bad, but because she recognizes the silliness of her own teenage angst.
The episode delves into Marceline’s psychology like that nicely. There’s a bit more signposting than I might like, but the exploration is still worthwhile. She admits that she has trouble with honesty, emotional and otherwise, because her mom never even revealed her terminal illness to Marceline. She still bears the psychological scars of the misapprehension that her mom ran away from her because she was a monster, becoming prickly with people because it’s easier to drive people away than to watch them leave you.
She’s also sensitive to being brushed off, which is why it stings so much when PB says, “I don’t have time for you right now” in the midst of some sensitive equipment-tinkering, just as Marceline’s mom once did. There’s an interesting thread here, one that goes comparatively unremarked upon, that Marcy sees a lot of her mom in PB, and that may be part of why Marcy both feels drawn to PB but had issues with her. By the same token, when in the past, PB calls Marceline “monster trash” it sets off those insecurities again and prompts her to drive Bonnie away.
The episode even takes some time to delve into Princess Bubblegum’s psychology. She admits that she doesn’t like being seen as a nobody, and wants the other kingdom to know and respect her. Just that self-awareness and admission feels good.
Of course, some of this gets resolved with a now-grown Marceline returning to the site where her mom sent her and hearing her mom’s last message, confirming that Marcy’s mom left because she didn’t want Marcy to see her deteriorate and knew that even as a child, and that far from seeing her daughter as a monster, her mom knew that Marceline had the strength and good heart to go on without her. It’s a touching, heartstring-pulling moment on the show.
Beyond the fan service and well done psychological exploration and character work, this is just a well-made hour of TV. The designs here are tons of fun, with the glass people having a unique look to them and the dragon looking like a crazy pokemon. The flashes back and forth are well-paced and have enough visual distinctions to give us the flavor of each locale and time period. And most of all, the songs here rock. I didn’t see Rebecca Sugar credited, but the tunes were still hummable, jammable songs that felt right for Marceline.
While a little on the nose, I also liked the reveal that despite everyone ragging on Glass Boy for his crack, pretty much everyone in the See Through Kingdom had cracks, and the ones who were the most judgmental had the most of them. The metaphor is a little simplistic, but it’s a nice way to illustrate the idea that everyone has damage, and that we’d feel better (if not completely better) if we worked to accept it rather than just raged over it.
Apart from everything in the episode proper, we also get our first glimpse of Ooo’s denizens after Adventure Time’s proper finale! Ice King is definitely Simon again! The Banana Guards are still useless! Finn is grown up enough to have a beard! He’s back to missing an arm! He’s running around with a Rainicorn Pup (Jake’s kid or a grandkid?) He has a tattoo of Jake on his chest! (Is Jake dead?!?!) It’s all wild and provokes tons of questions, in the best Adventure Time style.
But it’s also a sweet story about how Marceline still carries the hardships of the path that lead her here, but that she’s a happier, more centered person thanks to having Princess Bubblegum in her life, and she’s glad for that, even if it makes her a softer grown-up rather than a tempestuous young rebel. There’s something relatable and warm about that, and their little dance together at the end is an appropriately endearing finish for a character and a couple who had a rocky road to make it to this point.
It's no exaggeration to say Adventure Time ushered in a new generation of cartoons. From animation styles to senses of humor to there being a renaissance of cartoons on its network at all (remember CN Real?), its influence can be felt everywhere. And another area its hand can be felt is the slow but steady rise in gay romance. Benson and Troy of Kipo. Adora and Catra. Ruby and Sapphire. Korra and Asami. And more and more others. I can't resist a shout out to Red Action and Enid, and Boxman and Venomous of OK KO, and Luz and Amity of Owl House, but there are some I don't have time to mention, and that alone is a promising sign. Korra and Asami are often pointed to as the turning point. If not them, Steven Universe. And ignoring the fact that there's no single moment and it's actually a collective effort of marginalized creators fighting for representation and their voices... before any of them, there was Marceline and Bubblegum.
Marceline and Bubblegum have been there through every step of this evolution. First just as the two female characters who of course can't get along. Then the two who are oddly close, with a history and loads of subtext, but it could never be text; even Olivia Olson said at a con that while they would love to make it canon, network restrictions with the excuse of 'we'd be censored in other countries' held them back. And then, as the years went by, with the Korras and the She-Ras, the two joined the ranks of the Gay Finale Kiss. We have nothing left to lose, the show's over anyway, let's go for it. This isn't to begrudge those two shows; with Korra it was literally all they could get, and with She-Ra the love story was built into the premise. But shows like Kipo and Steven Universe presented a new possibility; gay love not as ending, but a beginning, a constant. And with this special, Bubblegum and Marceline enter that latest stage, still a microcosm of this hard earned progress even now.
That's a lot of prelude before I even get into the special itself, but there's a point to it. The process of time and evolution is central to this story. Marceline is no longer the angry young punk, fighting against the world and hiding every hint of vulnerability. Bubblegum is no longer the cold ruler holding her cards to her chest and placing everything else above her own heart. They aren't the young lovers wildly passionate and ready to blow at any moment, or the bitter exes still drawn to each other despite it all- two premises for romance more often central than what they are now. Domestic. Happy. Soft. And good for each other. Marceline in particular is so resonant here. I know so many gays who can relate to her here; I know I did. Lashing out and angry, so sure we'd be all alone and wouldn't it be better if it was our choice? And then we found our people, and our loves, and we grew.
That's the thing. Marceline and Bubblegum didn't only grow with the rise of gay romance in cartoons. They grew with us. And like Marceline, we might worry about being soft, if being happy is somehow wrong. But when you're with the right person, sometimes you feel invincible. Like you'll take your licks, get knocked down, and get back up. Like you have all of eternity together. And this special so encapsulates that feeling of becoming more, of becoming a better version of yourself. Walch and Olson sound so much like a couple in love, the love and joy radiating off the screen, and the rest of the voice cast, Michael Dietz as Glassboy especially, are as endearing and hilarious as ever. And even the antagonist has a hard hitting resolution of healing and growing from pain into something beautiful.
You can grow old. More seasoned, more sentimental, more soft. But that doesn't mean you have to grow old to each other. And both Adventure Time, and the pairing of Bubblegum and Marceline, have gotten better with age, feeling fresher than ever. They've lived long enough to know exactly what they want to say. I know that everything ends, but I can't help but be selfish and hope just a little there's more Adventure Time after these specials. I especially hope there's more of Marcy and PB, a couple that's influenced and grown with the medium in equal measures, and grew with us even more.
Still probably my favorite Adventure Time thing
Old Man Finn! . Can't believe it's been 11years since I started watching this show. So many emotions !
Holy shit, that was amazing!
Marceline has been one of my favourite characters for a while now (though it did take a few episodes), and I'd always wondered what exactly made her and Princess Bubblegum stop talking - and this episode answers that.
It's got a great story, 2 more great songs (but all of Marceline's songs are great tbh), and answers questions you probably had but didn't expect an answer too (like how Bubblegum got that shirt, why she kept it for so long after they stopped talking, and why they've got a history that the main series doesn't really explore until near the end (but even then it's vague at best)).
It's also got a good message about being yourself and acknowledging that people grow & change over time.
I'm definitely gonna rewatch this in the future, but I do wonder why Bubblegum didn't make a new arm for Finn (although it was pretty cool to see him again, and I'm pretty sure one of Jake's kids is with him - but I don't really remember any of them lmao).
I doubt the other 2 episodes will top this (although I'm biased since I like Marceline & Bubblegum and their dynamic quite a bit lol), but it'd be a pleasant surprise if so.
I do wonder why older Finn doesn't have an arm though. I figured Princess Bubblegum would've made him a new one.
And why's he got a tattoo of Jake?
I did not expect old finn at all :rofl:
[8.0/10] Hooray for the adventures of Marceline and Princess Bubblegum! There’s a lot of gap-filling in here. We get to see the origin of PB’s precious shirt from Marcy. We get to see the couple’s original break-up. We get glimpses of Marceline’s time with her mom and clearer indications of how it ended. We even just get to see the two of them hanging out, Bubbleine style, which is its own kind of fanservice for devotees who’d been rooting for them to get back together.
But as much as the show is serving up what fans want to see, this isn’t a hollow revival, which I appreciate. There’s an emotional throughline here, one centered on notions of how everyone has damage, how Marceline’s still recovering from what happened with her mom, and most importantly, how she’s OK not being an angry young punk anymore.
That last one is the most interesting. I’m a fan of the notion that Marceline can’t find the hurt that fueled her angry rock when she was younger and drove away the dragon terrorizing glass kingdom, and so goes off in search of it. Instead, she finds acceptance and peace and the sense that she’s okay being a little “soft” as she discovered something closer to happiness.
It’s telling that her angry, breakup-fueled tunes could only temporarily stall the dragon, but it’s her song of vulnerability and self-acceptance despite her own “cracks” that frees it and keeps it from attacking the locals anymore. (Instead, both it and its minion become...cat angels? It’s goofy, but I like it, and the dragon’s quick hit story of hiding his own “crack” gives it some extra resonance.)
The episode does particularly well to show the pitfalls of Glass Boy, a young wannabe punk who feels himself similarly damaged and idolizes Marceline for her in-your-face style. The way he writes his own breakup song after some flustered treatment from See-Through Princess, who’s otherwise his best friend, provokes laughter from Marcy, not because it’s bad, but because she recognizes the silliness of her own teenage angst.
The episode delves into Marceline’s psychology like that nicely. There’s a bit more signposting than I might like, but the exploration is still worthwhile. She admits that she has trouble with honesty, emotional and otherwise, because her mom never even revealed her terminal illness to Marceline. She still bears the psychological scars of the misapprehension that her mom ran away from her because she was a monster, becoming prickly with people because it’s easier to drive people away than to watch them leave you.
She’s also sensitive to being brushed off, which is why it stings so much when PB says, “I don’t have time for you right now” in the midst of some sensitive equipment-tinkering, just as Marceline’s mom once did. There’s an interesting thread here, one that goes comparatively unremarked upon, that Marcy sees a lot of her mom in PB, and that may be part of why Marcy both feels drawn to PB but had issues with her. By the same token, when in the past, PB calls Marceline “monster trash” it sets off those insecurities again and prompts her to drive Bonnie away.
The episode even takes some time to delve into Princess Bubblegum’s psychology. She admits that she doesn’t like being seen as a nobody, and wants the other kingdom to know and respect her. Just that self-awareness and admission feels good.
Of course, some of this gets resolved with a now-grown Marceline returning to the site where her mom sent her and hearing her mom’s last message, confirming that Marcy’s mom left because she didn’t want Marcy to see her deteriorate and knew that even as a child, and that far from seeing her daughter as a monster, her mom knew that Marceline had the strength and good heart to go on without her. It’s a touching, heartstring-pulling moment on the show.
Beyond the fan service and well done psychological exploration and character work, this is just a well-made hour of TV. The designs here are tons of fun, with the glass people having a unique look to them and the dragon looking like a crazy pokemon. The flashes back and forth are well-paced and have enough visual distinctions to give us the flavor of each locale and time period. And most of all, the songs here rock. I didn’t see Rebecca Sugar credited, but the tunes were still hummable, jammable songs that felt right for Marceline.
While a little on the nose, I also liked the reveal that despite everyone ragging on Glass Boy for his crack, pretty much everyone in the See Through Kingdom had cracks, and the ones who were the most judgmental had the most of them. The metaphor is a little simplistic, but it’s a nice way to illustrate the idea that everyone has damage, and that we’d feel better (if not completely better) if we worked to accept it rather than just raged over it.
Apart from everything in the episode proper, we also get our first glimpse of Ooo’s denizens after Adventure Time’s proper finale! Ice King is definitely Simon again! The Banana Guards are still useless! Finn is grown up enough to have a beard! He’s back to missing an arm! He’s running around with a Rainicorn Pup (Jake’s kid or a grandkid?) He has a tattoo of Jake on his chest! (Is Jake dead?!?!) It’s all wild and provokes tons of questions, in the best Adventure Time style.
But it’s also a sweet story about how Marceline still carries the hardships of the path that lead her here, but that she’s a happier, more centered person thanks to having Princess Bubblegum in her life, and she’s glad for that, even if it makes her a softer grown-up rather than a tempestuous young rebel. There’s something relatable and warm about that, and their little dance together at the end is an appropriately endearing finish for a character and a couple who had a rocky road to make it to this point.
Shout by tinaBlockedParent2020-11-19T20:58:08Z
im not crying there's a tree in my eye