To All Adventure Time Fans

I KINDA LOVE PB'S MORAL AMBIGUITY but even without it I'm sure I'll love the character

oh god now I'm thinking about PB I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH

 

Me too, I shouldn't but I do. Same with FP. Maybe it's the fact that girls are actually allowed to be powerful enough to have a dangerous side in this show /brick'd

 

No it's true! Adventure Time handles gender representation so well, and even Princess Cookie is taken by some to be trans representation (or at least, some play with the gender binary).

PB's moral ambiguity is interesting to me because I feel like I should be disturbed by her but I'm not. She's essentially a dictator, not just of the Candy Kingdom but to an extent, all of Ooo. However, she rules relatively lawfully (though she does let personal emotions get in the way, like when she locks up everyone in Apple Wedding) and with good intentions (though even that leads her to questionable behavior).

She does acknowledge that she needs to respect the authority of the other royalties and doesn't always interfere, but I think she also feels that, as the most established, stable, and powerful person in all of Ooo (arguably), she also feels a responsibility to face and fight injustice. But even that's complicated! Lemonhope is the obvious example here because she could easily end Lemongrab's reign by invading, but she knows that would be overstepping a boundary and imposing her foreign ways (much like how the US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and attempted to set up Westernized democracies). She knows that a Lemonperson has to be the one to liberate the people, that it has to come from one of their own, and thus gives that responsibility to Lemonhope. She's still not leaving them be of course, as she's attempting to condition Lemonhope with her own values and ideals, but she realizes later in the arc (in becoming Phlannel Boxingday) that she needs to give Lemonhope, and by extension the Lemonpeople, the right to assert and control their own destinies.

It's a bit disturbing as well when you consider that she created all the Candy People and thus could easily have (and likely did) made them obedient / subservient. It's no secret that none of the Candy People are geniuses (Cinnamon Bun lol), especially when compared to PB, and you really have to question whether she made that choice so her morally questionable behavior could go unchallenged. But you also can't deny that she's incredibly dedicated and loving towards her people ("Candy People are mad special! They need constant stroking, and snuggling"), even if that dedication often leads her to make some very crazy choices (GOLIAD MAN. GOLIAD). She has so much responsibility and the best intentions that I'm inclined to go virtue ethics on the whole deal and give her a free pass, even when it's something as shocking as James. So even if I'm uncomfortable with the idea of dictators (and we see both sides, as Lemongrab is a drop-in for Stalin & North Korea), the idea of a benevolent dictator doesn't disturb me as much as it maybe should... especially in a post-apocalyptic setting, when oftentimes you need the power and efficiency of one person in total control

BUT YOU ALSO REALLY HAVE TO THINK ABOUT HER CONNECTION TO MARCELINE (aww yeah you thought I wasn't going to take about bubbline BUT HERE WE ARE)
First of all, Marceline plays an arguably essential role in challenging PB's control freak god complex. Marceline isn't afraid to challenge PB and doesn't fall at her feet

Sorry I don't treat you like a goddess
is that what you want me to do?
sorry I don't treat you like you're perfect
like all your little loyal subjects do
sorry I'm not made of sugar
am I not sweat enough for you?
is that why you always avoid me?
I must be such an inconvenience to you​

This is important not just for sexual tension reasons but also because Marceline puts PB in her place, checks her in a way -- Marceline is really the only one (arguably Finn and Jake do as well, but they also blindly follow PB a lot of the time) who can really comment upon PB's actions, provides a different perspective on them, which would ideally help stop PB from going too far. Even this is complicated too because Marceline also has a questionable morality (HOUSE HUNTING SONG!!!), and may in fact suggest more extreme actions than PB would select (as PB is rather benevolent). We see this in What Was Missing, when PB explains what the Door Lords are and Marceline says "they broke out because you let them live" and PB makes a face, suggesting that maybe Marceline had suggested the genocide of the Door Lords, while PB wasn't willing to go that far

PB's morality can also be connected to Marceline's line in the House Hunting Song ("I'm not mean I'm a thousand years old & I just lost track of my moral code") in that, as of Season Five, we know that PB is far older than she lets on (pretty sure estimates are that she's 827 years old, not quite at Marceline's level but still "like a billion years old"). It stands to reason that, as time has gone on, PB has too lost track of some of her morals (though perhaps not to the extent of Marceline) -- as evidenced by her increasingly strange scientific experiments. The immortality of many of Adventure Time's characters is so interesting to me.

tl;dr PB is an incredibly complex character, morally, and I hate it when people suggest things like OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS PB IS THE NEW VILLAIN because to me that's just fundamentally misunderstanding the complexities of her character.

OKAY I'M DONE NOW TAGGING YOU SO YOU KNOW
@Ars Nova

 

ugh, i really need to catch up with it. i havent watched it in months. but su and at are basically like my favorite shows.

 

My man.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T SEE THE WHOLE FINN'S ARM THING COMING! THERE WAS SO MUCH FORESHADOWING AND I'M USUALLY REALLY GOOD WITH THAT KIND OF THING.

Pearl=Best Gem

Stop it. Your tastes are supposed to be way different from mine.

The switch from Monday to Wednesday really messed with me. Why can't they just pick one day to show all their premieres in a huge block? Why do they need so many premieres in one part of the year anyway?

 

"I GOT EXCITED, IT'S MINE, AND I LIKE IT!"

But enough of my favorite Steven Universe quote, yes I do include that. I actually think they'll be resolved around the same time. I really just want Finm to confront him. Maybe because the episodes made me reminicicent of my own father issues, or maybe because they're good. Either way.... Uh... Baby's building, a tower into space

 

My favorite Gem is actually Opal

ALL I WANNA DO, IS SEE YOU TURN INTO...

 

I don't think they're anything alike. I feel Pearl is just a prissy mom type from a different generation

 

I don't think we're quite done with Martin. Obviously we need Finn to let go of the animosity he has towards his dad for abandoning him (which we saw a little bit in The Tower but it needs more development), but I'd really just love for this whole thing to culminate in the realization that the "family" he needs has been there all along -- Jake, BMO, PB, Marceline, even Ice King to an extent. That would be a cheesy conclusion but the idealistic one I'd really like haaaa. but I do think a confrontation is definitely still needed

 

So I just watched all the recent episodes to preempt spoilers
Gotta say, Finn's dad was pretty underwhelming
Like, not just within the context of the show, but in terms of the narrative, I just expected more from the writers, this was something I've seen before, and honestly would have seen coming in any other show
Also is Finn's arm just always destined to fall off or what? I liked the grass sword, it didn't get enough screen time

 

I think that's kind of the point! Finn's parentage/family has been really built up through the series, as early as Susan Strong I'd argue. Even if you don't like the "Susan is Finn's mom!!!" theory, it's really the first episode where we're told to wonder where all the humans are at. Finn was so excited when Billy mentioned his dad, he was expecting to have this great hero father from whom he got his adventurin' spirit. To his great dismay, his dad was a huge disappointment. He's the skidmarks on the universe's panties basically. And this is really what's quite tragic about Finn losing his arm. It's not just because it's Finn and we love Finn, but it's because he lost it in this intense hope that his dad was a decent guy. I don't know what your parental situation is like, but I personally do not have a good relationship with my father and this arc just really spoke to that. At points in my life I've really built up hope that my dad will come through, even let myself expect it, only to be crushed when he proved to be a disappointment. Obviously my struggle is more emotional than losing your fucking arm but that's really what Finn is dealing with. He's got to accept it, just like he has to accept his future as possibly armless.

It's another great thing about Adventure Time, that it portrays really diverse and complicated parent/child relationships. Marceline is the most obvious (if only because at least two songs have been dedicated to it), but LSP, Jake & Lady Rainicorn, and others are also great.

 

I get that that was the point in universe, it's jsut that in OUR universe that' basically what I would have expected from a lesser series than AT. Any other show where they built it up like this I'd know that it was going to be a disappointment, but with AT I expected more of a subversion. The easy answers are to make him a hero, villain, or disappointment, I'm used to Adventure Time taking option D, or at least doing A B or C in a unique or cool way.
The fact that he completely dodged the subject when talking about abandoning Finn tells me there's more to it, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out he just wasn't his dad. There's literally nothing that proves it besides them having similar face shapes. So him not going into specific about abandoning him could be because he never actually did

On the subject related to this though, Finn's dad in this universe has to be the same one as in the Lich-less universe, right? I don't know what sort of timeline theory AT subscribes to, but the general rule is you have to be born to the same people otherwise you're not the same person

 

But Opal is just Amethyst and Pearl fused together into

A GIANT WOOOOOMAAAAAAANNNNN.

 

I'm marathoning Adventure Time starting next week as part of my "SUMMER O' TELEVISION and a paying job hopefully". Already preparing for the essay exchanges Misty & I will have after I get deeper into things.

Also Regular Show is great for a nice laugh and generally just unwinding; you can turn on just about any episode and be in for a nice time. I tried to unwind to Adventure Time before while I still thought it was a goofy show, but the episode that happened to be on was one of the Simon & Marcy ones, and that was how I learned Adventure Time can crush my soul.

I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO WATCH THIS, but admittedly way back when it was still in production and Tumblr was hyping the shit out of it, I was a little turned off because it seemed like Adventure Time (this also happened with Regular Show a couple years back). And it's like, I know they are different things; Regular Show and Adventure Time are pretty far from each other, lol, and I'm sure Steven Universe is much the same, but I just get this feeling of similarity (idk if it's the art style, the silly humor, or what) that has consistently turned me off initially towards these types of shows. This has been happening with me and Clarence pretty recently, and I'm still trying to let that go. ;~;

/my irrational feelings on good tv

 

Did they actually name it after the most painful arcana

Goddamnit why are the Adventure Time writers so strong

 

I think it really sucks

 

season 2 is almost over. there's 3 episodes left

 

It's basically a less charming, less witty, better animated Adventure Time with a less cohesive world and awkward 'mature' humour stuffed awkwardly in