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stravacious · 7 months

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i was thinking about fionna and cake’s version of jermaine, and drew her this morning!! i posted her to r/adventuretime and she didn’t do too bad there, so i started writing stuff for fionna and cake world lol more headcanons below the cut :)

i originally posted her under the name “jasmeen” but i think corrine would be better suited for the sibling alliteration with cake :) huge thanks to some of the users in the reddit comments who helped brainstorm some of this!! lemme know what u think lol

fionna was adopted at birth by a (human) couple, cynthia and marlowe. cynthia works in the city’s forensics department and they both own a funeral home/cemetery. they have big hearts, and have a hard time charging folks for caskets and burials. they owned two cats, corrine and cake, and fionna took cake with her when she moved out, leaving corrine at her (now elderly and retired) parents place. if corrine could walk and talk like cake in this world, she’d be running the funeral home and going after people for the money they owe her elderly parents. it’s shitty work and they aren’t hurting for money, but things in this life aren’t free, right? her true passion is sculpture, and eventually she learns to let the debts go and focus on her work.

fionna’s biological parents, milton campbell and mallory mertins, had a nice relationship in the beginning. but when mallory gave birth to fionna, she disappeared from the city with her. having always struggled with her mental health, mallory’s post-partum depression became post-partum psychosis and she left fionna at a safe surrender site in her daze. her psychosis spiraled and she was sent to prison before escaping into homelessness. milton died not long after their disappearance, after serving as a nurse for his entire career and saving thousands of lives. he even had a newly built hospital named after him after his death.

gary prince was on his own at a very early age, leaving the abusive home of his aunt georgia, uncle larry, and cousin chantal. georgia goes on and on about all the wonderful things she was meant to accomplish if she didn’t have to take in gary and his sister, and chantal goes along with it all. larry at least is sympathetic and sends money to them when he can. as a result, most of the money gary makes goes towards taking care of his special needs sister, nadine.

marshall lee was extremely close with his father, elijah, before he died. elijah wanted nothing to do with hana’s money or work, and raised their son in a small home in the forest. marshall grew up knowing how to rough it in the outdoors, before his mother took him away from that life and into a stuffy, proper one. she sold the house he grew up in and he never forgave her.

flora never knew where she came from. her favorite activity is catfishing dudes online. she hates her appearance, and feels like she’ll never truly know who she really is. after the events of the show fionna and cake, she learns all she can about fionna by stalking her online. she adopts fionna’s backstory as her own, and even commits a few instances of identity theft against her. this torments her and she hates doing it, but feels like she has no other choice. her and fionna look strikingly similar, and it has made her actually start to appreciate her own appearance and feel whole for once.

phoenix fleming hates his mother, she’s a big preacher in the local church and raised him as strictly as possible. he was barely allowed to leave the house until he moved out as soon as possible, and discovered his love for raves and DJing. he now devotes all his time to being dj flame, and his mother refuses to let him be. his next door neighbor, miss bundy, is kinder to him than his own mother ever was, and brings him treats every day.

jermaine > corrine

joshua > cynthia

margaret > marlowe

minerva > milton

martin > mallory

gumbald > georgia

lolly > larry

chicle > chantel

neddy > nadine

elise > elijah

fern > flora

phoebe/flame princess > phoenix

cinnamon bun > miss bundy

#stravacious #adventure time #fionna and cake #headcanons #jermaine #gary prince #marshall lee #margaret and joshua #fern #flame princess #minerva and martin #uncle gumbald #don’t ask me how cake and monichromicorn could date in this world bc i genuinely have no idea LMAO

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queen-drawing · 3 months

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#warhammer 40k #warhammer #wh40k #wh40000 #wh40k art #wh40krt #warhammer 40000 #warhammercommunity #princess bubblegum #bonnibel bubblegum #uncle gumbald #horus heresy #horus lupercal #emperor of mankind #sanguinius #adventure time fanart #adventure time au #adventure time #adventure

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inbarfink · 8 months

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fomee-c · 1 year

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Adventure Time has the best redemption arcs

I love deep-diving into my favourite shows, which makes me lucky that Adventure Time has been analyzed to death.

It's awesome because it feels like the show itself is growing up along with Finn. The older seasons are a lot more episodic and focused on the surreality of Ooo. Meanwhile, the later seasons really embrace the show's complicated lore and the idea that morality isn't black and white. The progression of maturity in this one show is INSANE. As the show becomes more mature, so does main character Finn, physically and emotionally.

Nowhere are the show's themes and Finn's personal growth better demonstrated through the show's use of redemption arcs. As the show progresses, classical villain-hero archetypes are subverted to show that Finn is learning that people aren't exclusively good or bad. As the show and Finna age, being a hero or doing the right thing evolves from the basic idea of "fighting evil" to being empathetic and seeking peace.

Heavy spoilers for the main series after the cut.

Some context

I just wanna mention some facts about the show's history.

If you watch the first AT episode followed by the last episode, you're gonna feel disoriented. They're clearly the same show, but it feels like they have very different goals. Early AT is more lighthearted and less serious. The episodes have morals, but they're pretty simple. The randomness of Ooo is played more for comedy than for lore purposes.

Around season 5, the show started taking on a different direction. It's still funny and weird, but the characters are more fleshed out and the messages the show is trying to convey require a lot of digestion. For example, Princess Bubblegum is always smart, but the way she's depicted in episodes like"Enchiridion" vs "Burning Low." Although I consider this a massive improvement, it's unclear how much was pre-planned. Was PB always destined to become a control-obsessed, unethical ruler-scientist? Or was her initial characterization just Finn's crush?

Yes.

Episodes as early as season 1 ep 24 ("What have you done?") show PB acting more like a tyrant than a princess and have the Ice King depicted in a less antagonistic matter. The reason for the tonal shift in the later season is that as Finn grows up, his experiences change the way he perceives reality.

Ooo through Finn's eyes

Adventure Time is about Finn the human and Jake the dog, but really it's mostly about Finn.

The other characters get character arcs and have plot-relevant conflicts, but the show's main focus is dedicated to Finn's coming-of-age story. Finn is Ooo's hero: he's social, caring, and brave, and he's motivated by a strong sense of justice and a desire for adventure. All he wants is to try new things and help others at any cost.

However, he's only 12, at least at the beginning. His idea of being a hero is rooted in black/white morality. If you do bad things, then you're bad. Stopping bad people makes you good. And as a 12-year-old, he believes the only way to stop bad people is through violence.

The show is immature in this respect, too. For the first few seasons, there are two main antagonists. There's the recurring Ice King and his plots to force princesses to marry him, playing off the "save the princess" trope (more on him later). And then there's the Lich, who's a genuinely powerful cosmic entity that seeks to destroy life in all its forms. Naturally, Finn fights them both off through righteous punching.

The show presents this basic understanding of evil, that evil is as evil does. In the beginning, there's almost no nuance to these characters. And this is true with good characters, too.

Billy is a huge catalyst for Finn's character development, but you can see the show's limited understanding of heroism in his debut episode. Billy is Finn's predecessor in a way, being the number one fighter against evil. In "His Hero," Billy realized the fighting evil through violence didn't treat the root problem, opting instead for community activism. However, the show makes this look like a bad thing, with the moral of the episode being that violence can solve problems. Ironically, Finn's character development mirrors Billy, as he realizes over time that he fighting evil might mean hurting people he cares about. Case in point: Simon Petrikov, the Ice King.

The power of redemption arcs

Redemption arcs are controversial because they're ideal but they feel forced if they go unearned. In Adventure Time, redemption arcs serve a two-fold purpose: to convey the message that "evil" people can be understood and rehabilitated and to show Finn's developing maturity as he realizes this.

Ice King

The first character to get a real redemption arc is the Ice King. Initially, he's portrayed as Jake and Finn's natural nemesis, especially when he targets Princess Bubblegum. However, as the show goes on, it becomes clear that the Ice King isn't really malicious; he's just lonely and he doesn't know how to socialize in an appropriate way. Over time, he becomes a sympathetic villain. However, this changes with the Christmas specials "Holly Jolly Secrets, parts 1 and 2." In this episode, Finn and Jake discover the Ice King used to be a man named Simon, whose personality and sanity were corrupted by magic. Simon's backstory is further developed in "I Remember You" and "Simon and Marcy." From this point on, Finn starts referring to the Ice King as Simon, acknowledging Simon's true self and stops treating him less harshly. This leads to a really heartwarming moment in "Don't Look," where Finn's perception literally warps reality, causing the IK to revert to Simon (in appearance but not in personality).

Consequently, the Ice King becomes less antagonistic in general and we even get IK-centric episodes where he takes on a heroic role. For all intents and purposes, post-season 3 Ice King is Finn's friend. The show went from using a cliché villain-type to dedicating a significant amount of time and plot to Ice King's eventual return as Simon. From this, Finn learns that treating people with kindness is imperative to stopping evil. Not only did finding out that IK's personal life was tragic but by treating him as a friend he diminished IK's evil inclinations.

Magic Man

Magic Man is one of the more disturbing characters on the show. He always shows up to do something gross or psychologically messed up. Unlike the Ice King, who was shown to be evil because he wanted companionship, Magic Man wants people to suffer out of pure contempt for the world. His "pranks" include simple stuff like turning Finn into a foot, to more deranged acts like forcing Jake to escape a dream world where doing so would mean destroying all his new friends.

What's interesting about Magic Man's redemption arc is that Finn and Jake have little to do with it. Magic Man redeems himself practically by accident.

We gradually learn that Magic Man's wife was destroyed by GOLB, a powerful entity that can erase things from all realities. So Magic Man's cruelty is best described as frustration or vengeance to an extent. He is constantly suffering, which he tries to mitigate by deriving pleasure from others' suffering.

However, he eventually loses his magic powers (and with it, his anger and sadness) in"You Forgot Your Floaties", grounding him back in reality. From then on, his journey is one of atonement. He tries to reconcile with his family and seeks forgiveness from the people he has tortured.

This arc says more about the show's maturity than it does about Finn's. Although Finn shows no hatred towards a magic-less Normal Man, he seems pretty indifferent. The show, on the other hand, takes the time to make him a tragic figure and offers him a chance at redemption. It wants the audience to know that experiencing loss is not an excuse for being a jerk, but it can explain someone's actions.

King Man's (his title after rejoining the Martian community) redemption arc also demonstrates AT's advancing writing skills. Instead of giving King Man a clear-cut redemption arc, the show depicts him as genuinely sorry without changing his personality. King Man is still obsessed with Margles and is harsh with Martian prisoners, but he's no longer angry with the world. He hasn't moved, as is difficult to do with grief, but he wants to contribute to society instead of rage against it.

Betty Grof

Betty marks a milestone in the show and Finn's personal growth. She is the first antagonist who is shown to be sympathetic from the start. It helps that we know Betty before she goes crazy with magic, but despite that, Finn nor the show ever thinks of Betty as an "evil" character. She's misguided and unethical but well-intentioned.

Betty's whole deal is that she wants to be with Simon, which requires curing him of the Ice King Crown's effects. However, after she absorbs Magic Man's madness and sadness, she starts undertaking strategies that cause Ice King more stress than good.

She becomes a true antagonist in the Elemental mini-series when she prioritizes Simon's recovery over the lives of Ooo's inhabitants, despite the Ice King begging her to save his friends. Even after she betrays Finn, he doesn't seem to see her as a villain specifically. The real source of conflict in the Elemental series was more so the unchecked emotions of Finn's friends; Betty was just an obstacle.

Betty's redemption arc is completed in the show's finale. Betty summons GOLB, risking the entire universe's destruction to save Simon. Except her goal is not only to save Simon but to save their relationship. In an act of self-sacrifice, Betty manages to banish/merge with GOLB to save Ooo, despite knowing she could never be with Simon.

However, it's not as clear as I make it out to seem. While Betty does sacrifice her relationship with Simon, she still manages to save him, begging the question: if Betty couldn't save Simon, would she have made that decision? (I'm inclined to think no, but let me know what you think!)

Even if the "redemption" part of her arc feels rushed, it's Betty's journey that highlights the show's maturity. Just because she does bad things doesn't mean she's a bad person. Finn gets this; he doesn't blame Betty for almost destroying the world. He's more focused on aligning with her desire to save Simon and the rest of Ooo.

Through Betty, Adventure Time explains that it's impossible to judge people as good or evil. To do the right thing doesn't mean to help people who you think are "good" or oppose people you think are "evil" but to find common ground and a common goal.

Uncle Gumbald

He's basically the last antagonist of the show. I don't think there's a lot to say about him that hasn't already been said, so this section will be short.

He's a lot like PB in that he's a visionary. Their conflict stems from their competing ideas and the fact that they both want to subjugate each other.

They almost reach an understanding in the finale when they experience each other's lives, with PB realizing that Gumbald deserved to be treated as an equal. However, he isn't redeemed because he attempts to subjugate PB anyways by faking a truce. I feel like this was supposed to highlight PB's character growth as early PB definitely wouldn't have been willing to share authority.

Fern

I would say this is probably the most important redemption arc for Finn's character. It's weird to say that because Fern is introduced so late into the show and his arc is completed when he dies in the last minutes of the finale. Furthermore, he's a strange character to begin with. He's a grass clone of Finn made from two magic swords, and he's hardly antagonistic toward Finn except in the last two seasons.

But let's look at what we're dealing with here.

Fern's internal conflict is an identity crisis. At one point in the series, Finn comes into contact with a past self (merging timelines situation, dw about it), turning one of his selves into a sword. It's intentionally ambiguous at first, but it's eventually revealed that there is a miniature Finn inside the sword who is cognisant of the world around him. Because of Real Finn's carelessness, Sword Finn ends up getting busted, and eventually infected with a grass parasite, creating Fern.

Up until now, Finn has been acing his new pacifist approach to conflict resolution. He now prioritizes understanding someone's actions and reasoning with them, saving fighting as a last resort.

Fern represents Finn's greatest empathy challenge: trying to understand someone he thinks he already understands. To do this, Finn has to accept that his preconceived notions of Fern are wrong and take the time to get to know the real Fern. He thinks that because they share some sort of biology and memories, they are the same people. He fails to acknowledge the different life experiences that have forged him and Fern into distinct people.

When Fern heel-turns into an antagonist, it's not a surprise. We have seen repeatedly the jealousy that he feels outcasted by the real Finn. We also know he's frustrated with the dissonance between his past "life" and his current circumstances. Like Betty, Finn doesn't see Fern as a villain. However, he doesn't try to understand where Fern is coming from. He assumes that because they are similar, Fern will be willing to talk things out. In other words, Finn wants to reconcile with Fern but doesn't get how devastating Fern's identity crisis is.

In the finale's dream-dimension fight sequence, we see Finn finally hear out Fern's concerns and the two explore Fern's past together.

Fern does die because of plot reasons, but not before re-establishing his and Finn's friendship. I don't really like it when stories sacrifice one character for another's development, but it makes sense given Finn's narrative is about realizing that doing the right thing isn't always a feel-good experience. Finn wants the people he cares about to be safe, and he knows that Fern is in danger by siding with malicious characters like Gumbald. Fern also decides to align with people who care about him rather than someone who wants to use him. If Fern's villain arc is caused by feelings of inadequacies, then it's resolved through self-acceptance. Redeeming Fern requires Finn to truly understand Fern, but this means Finn loses someone who gets him.

I think it's implied Fern could never be at peace alive, since the grass demon was keeping him alive while corrupting his heart. It's a unique take on a heroic sacrifice: setting Fern free means letting Fern go.

Misc. thoughts

Not all redemption arcs are equal. I wanted to touch on a few mini-redemption arcs that either didn't fit the post or had a lesser impact on the story. These aren't relevant to the text, so feel free to skip to the conclusion.

Irredeemable villains

Some AT antagonists never get redemption arcs. These are usually one-off villains who don't get much characterization apart from just being evil. I don't think that AT wants to imply these people are beyond help (see Magic Man for proof), but maybe becoming a good person means that someone has to understand you first, which is harder to do in some cases. Examples include:

Ricardio the heart man

Thief Princess

Wyatt

Redemption arcs?

Originally, I wanted to write a section on Princess Bubblegum and how she gradually releases her iron grip on her kingdom. However, I decided against it because Finn never really sees her as a bad person. However, understanding that she's not perfect is definitely part of her arc. If I were to write about PB, it'd have to be a separate article, probably incorporating how Marceline plays into her character development and how her relationship with evolves over time.

Another character I omitted from this analysis was Lemongrab. I wouldn't describe his arc as a redemption arc because I feel it was more focused on self-discovery than making up for his past actions.

Finally, I thought about writing about the Lich's transformation into Sweet Pea, but I almost don't count it since they are essentially two different characters. A redemption arc to me means that a character undergoes a change of heart. I feel like Sweet Pea is more like the Lich reborn, and while you can argue that the events in "Whispers" are the good Lich fighting against his dormant persona, I feel like it's clear that Sweet Pea and the Lich are not one and the same. Either way, Sweet Pea being the Lich's redemption is to muddy to discuss in this context.

Becoming good

One thing I like about Adventure Time is that no one tries to make the bad guys turn good. Redemption arcs are mostly self-initiated. With characters like Ice King, Finn doesn't try to turn him into a hero, he just stops treating Simon like a villain. Unlike in other media, heroes and villains are not real roles in AT. They are more like social constructs that are easily altered once you start to empathize with supposed villains.

But while "villains" is a flexible term in AT, evil-doing is not. AT puts forward the standard that people should seek forgiveness and atone for the ways they've caused harm. It's a pretty grown-up idea that we should own up to our actions but also forgive people who want to be forgiven.

Conclusion

In Adventure Time, Finn wants to be a hero, but in trying to do so, he needs to answer this question: "What makes a hero?" Originally, the show asserts that a hero is someone who beats up bad guys and obeys people in authority. But as Finn and the audience get older, the show's ideas evolve, too. Through the use of its extensive rogue gallery, Adventure Time affirms that "bad people" are usually just normal people with personal issues. Heroism becomes less associated with righteous violence and more geared towards empathy and reconciliation. Eventually, Finn and the show give up on the hero-villain dichotomy, acknowledging that these categorizations prevent people from helping those who need it most.

Note: this is the first analysis I've posted on Tumblr and I'm planning on writing more with the goal of getting better at writing and media literacy. Additionally, I really love this franchise and I'm always down to discuss it further. Please let me know what you all think?

#adventure time #adventure time analysis #tv analysis #cartoon network #finn mertens #finn and jake #princess bubblegum #ice king #magic man #betty grof #fern #uncle gumbald #golb #the lich

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smokestarrules · 8 months

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something about how the first creatures Bonnie created were at the same level of intelligence as herself and how the first truly dumb creation was made by Gumbald. something about how he introduces the concept of safe stupidity to her and threatens her with it. something about how Bonnie starts calling herself a Princess after she's been betrayed; it's not safe to make people like her, she's learned that now, and it's much better for everyone for them all to be dumb. after all, they're happier this way. Bonnie is safer this way. her vision is protected, this way.

and surely, she's strong enough to protect them all. right?

#this isnt anything im just talking rly #I just love her a lot. thats MY war criminal overlord #adventure time #princess bubblegum #bonnibel bubblegum #uncle gumbald #smokey speaks #also if any of this is wrong let me live ok I’ve watched nearly ten seasons in like 3 weeks #shhhhhhhhh

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anthurak · 7 months

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Funny thing I’ve recently realized: With just two minor changes in events, you could negate basically ALL of the major arcs/conflicts in Adventure Time post-Islands.

First, Finn doesn’t accidentally stab the Finn Sword with the Grass Sword during his fight with Bandit Princess in I Am a Sword.

Second, Patience St. Pim doesn’t walk in on Ice King and Betty while they’re hanging that we see in the flashbacks of Bespoken For.

The first point is pretty easily to explain. No Finn stabbing the Finn Sword means no grass demon corrupting and merging with the Finn Sword to create Fern. So everything with Fern just goes ‘poof’.

The second point on the other hand is a bit more complicated: To start, Patience not meeting Betty means she doesn’t get the idea to use her as a magic super-battery for her Element Awakening spell. Which in turn almost certainly means NO Elemental Apocalypse. Of course, the Elements Mini-series probably still happens in some form. Patience seems quite adept at making problems for everyone else. But it most likely ends up being not nearly as bad as what we see in the show.

So no Elemental Apocalypse likely means our heroes don’t have to hit the LSP-powered elemental-reset button. And that means Punchbowl, Crunchie and Manfred AREN’T reverted to their original forms. Meaning NO Uncle Gumbald and no Gumbaldia arc.

And then we have BETTY to consider. Because looking back at Bespoken For it seems that Betty was just about ready to actually try LETTING GO of her obsession with ‘fixing’ Simon. To finally ‘take him as he is’ as Tiny Manticore suggested. Instead however, Betty ends up getting frozen by Patience and used as an Elemental super-battery, which leads to her getting access to the Enchiridion thanks to Finn, which in turn gives her the idea to try and rewrite history. The failure of which sends her to Mars and puts her in contact with Normal/King Man, which in turn led to her getting the idea to summon GOLB.

Meaning that no Betty getting frozen by Patience means no GOLB, no GOLBetty, and no Ice King being reverted back to Simon. Also, no Gunter becoming Ice Thing either. Instead, we could very well see a Betty who tries to accept Simon as he is now, much like what we see with Marceline.

To really break this down, looking at episodes following a version of I Am a Sword where Finn avoids stabbing the Finn Sword and retrieves it from Bandit Princess, leading up to the Islands arc; most everything plays out basically the same, save for events directly dealing with the fallout of the original I Am a Sword, ie; the episodes The Music Hole and Two Swords which simply have no reason to exist. Though speaking of Two Swords, I do think the events of its preceding and succeeding episodes Reboot and Do No Harm NOT related to Fern play out mostly the same. As in, Finn’s grass-prosthetic still lashes out at a berserking Susan to protect him, though without the Grass Demon seizing remote control over the prosthetic, perhaps Finn is able to avoid hurting Susan quite as bad. Regardless, I imagine Finn’s grass arm does go somewhat out of his control and Susan still gets hurt, which means Finn’s time in Do No Harm can play out unchanged.

As for the Islands arc itself, I can’t imagine Finn having the Finn Sword and Grass arm changes things too much. Save maybe Finn having to convince his mom to not immediately remove his weird magic arm when they reunite. Though considering that part of the big resolution of the arc was Finn convincing Minerva and the rest of the humans that the weird magic/mutant shit of the outside world WASN’T something to be afraid of, I imagine this doesn’t change anything in the long run. It might lead to an interesting situation where Minerva tries to forcefully remove the Grass arm, leading it to lash out at her, which in turn leads to Finn making his mom see that his arm is not inherently aggressive but simply trying to protect him, again trying into the original resolution of the arc.

Now trying to envision a full version of the Elements arc where Patience doesn’t use Betty as her magic super-battery is WAY more than I’m prepared to do for this post. Like at that point I’m just writing a full blown fanfic. So for the sake of argument, I’m just going to be assuming three main points: No Elemental Apocalypse, no Betty trying to hijack the Enchiridion to try and change the past, and no need for the LSP-powered elemental reset-button. Heck, maybe whatever shit Patience stirs up in this version gets resolved before Finn, Jake and BMO even get back to Ooo.

Now one wildcard in all this regards Jake getting reverted to his ‘true’ half-alien form in the aftermath of the Elements arc. On the one hand, this may not happen at all in this version of events, especially if they play out before Finn, Jake and BMO return from the Islands. On the other hand if Finn and Jake are around to participate in this version of Elements, even if there isn’t a full-blown Elemental Apocalypse perhaps Jake still winds up afflicted with some form of elemental contamination. And when said contamination is reverted, this brings out his alien nature just like what happened in the series proper.

So in the latter scenario, the events of Abstract play out unchanged. In the former, they don’t play out at all.

Going into the final four episodes of season 8, the events of Ketchup, Fionna and Cake and Fionna and Whispers play out basically unchanged, save for some of Marceline’s recapping in Ketchup. Whispers is notable here because despite Fern featuring heavily in that episode, it’s worth remembering that he wasn’t able to actually DO much of anything against the Lich Hand. Finn was the one to chase the hand to its lair, while Sweet Pea was the one to battle and defeat it. Fern basically being useless was the point, as it led him further into turning on Finn. So Fern’s absence doesn’t really change the events of that episode.

Now however, things start getting really interesting. As with the setup we’ve made so far of ‘Finn not stabbing the Finn Sword’, ‘No Mass-Elemental Reset by LSP’ and ‘Betty not obsessively chasing a way to fix Simon’, we potentially have only TWO of the remaining fourteen episodes able to play out unchanged. With just two or three others potentially having at least minor changes, a further three or four having MAJOR changes, and a potential SIX episode simply not happening at all.

Because with these three simple changes, we have No Fern, No Uncle Gumbald (and friends) and No Betty trying to summon GOLB. Plus potentially one other thing…

Without Fern or Uncle Gumbald being a thing, Three Buckets and Wild Hunt straight up DON’T happen. No Gumbald also means the second half of Always BMO Closing just can’t happen.

Son of Rap Bear plays out unchanged, and ironically Bonnibel Bubblegum can potentially play out mostly unchanged, with Bonnie still having a reason to explain her backstory to Finn and Jake (I personally like to think Marcy already knew :D). The only change being that Bonnie doesn’t get some dramatic realization that her Uncle has returned at the end.

Speaking of which, no Fern and no Gumbald means the major conflict of Seventeen just doesn’t happen and Finn’s seventeenth birthday party goes off without a hitch. Or at least, without a Green-Knight-and-Gumbald-and-co. hitch. You never know what other shenanigans might happen XD

Ring of Fire is the other episode that can play out completely unchanged by our alterations. Meanwhile, no Gumbald means no Chicle/Crunchy to cause trouble at Marcy’s concert at the end of Marcy and Hunson.

Now The First Investigation can play out MOSTLY unchanged, but this is also where that ‘one other thing’ I alluded to earlier comes into play. Because if Jake doesn’t get afflicted with elemental contamination and in turn draws out his alien physiology, that could potentially lead to Warran Ampersand NOT seeking him out and taking Jake to space at the end of TFI.

Now Jake potentially not being off-planet means Blenanas can potentially play out unchanged (Jake is simply off doing something else leading to Finn hanging out with Ice King), with major changes (Jake goes with Finn and Ice King), or just no happen at all (Finn and Jake are just doing something else).

Of course Jake not being taken off-planet by his evil alien dad means Jake the Starchild and Temple of Mars simply DON’T happen at all. If he is, then the former episode likely plays out unchanged while the latter still undergoes major changes, simply because in this version of events, Betty isn’t on Mars with King Man.

Now we come to the last two episodes of the series, which in this version of events simply CAN’T HAPPEN. No Uncle Gumbald means no Gumbaldia.

And with no Fern, no Gumbald and no Betty obsessed with ‘fixing’ Simon, literally ALL of the conflicts of Come Along With Me simply do not exist. No war with Gumbaldia, no big conflict between Finn and Finn-that-got-possessed-by-a-grass-demon, and no Betty summoning GOLB, no GOLBetty and no Simon being fully separated from the crown.

Now of course, all this isn’t to say everything would be all fine/dandy/boring for our characters and there won’t be anything of interest or conflict in this time. Just that it would be something completely different than what we see in the series proper. In particular, this series of events has Betty not only actually hanging out with Simon/IK, but even gradually integrating herself into the main cast of characters, which certainly would create all kinds of interesting situations (Betty having an actual conversation with Marceline anyone?).

Rather, I thought this would be a fun little thought experiment on how just a couple changes could have massive effects on late-series Adventure Time.

#adventure time #adventure time ramblings #adventure time au #rambling about the butterfly effect in adventure time #finn mertens #finn the human #fern the human #jake the dog #betty grof #patience st pim #uncle gumbald #how to make almost all of adventure time season 9 not happen with two simple changes

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