Gumbald spared no expense at building his
Kingdom – and the speed at which he managed to achieve so much construction is a worthy feat. The Great Uncle must have hired some really
great contractors, because back in “Always BMO Closing,” the ziggurat that Gumbald
would co-opt into his primary castle still looked like this. Now… behold! A new glazed look (in the shape of a cake),
with a newly minted city around it. We don’t know the exact amount of time that
passed since “Always BMO Closing,” but I doubt it was more than half a year. It was probably far less than that; the gap
of time between Jake being abducted and retrieved was 5 weeks, and that was likely the largest
singular gap of time that elapsed between events. Anyhow, Gumbald is racing along to challenge
Princess Bubblegum’s establishment, and she’s not having any of it. Likely not comfortable with entrusting anybody
else to handle the recon mission, she goes on it herself, though choosing Starchy as
a partner may have been somewhat questionable, but he managed to put in good work. The photos turned out well. It was an amusing gag to have PB choose to
go retro for her recon and use film when she definitely has access to a variety of digital
surveillance equipment. The follow-up of seeing her developing the
photos in a darkroom was a great extension to the joke, but perhaps there was more to
it than PB simply being quirky and sometimes doing things the non-optimal way. Maybe Gumbald actually has some sort of barrier
around his Kingdom that disables incoming digital technology, forcing Bonnie to go oldschool
for her recon. But that’s just random hypothesizing on
my part, it honestly could have simply been done for fun and laughs. While everyone in the Candy Kingdom prepares
for war, and the morally questionable Kernel Candy Corn is nearly ecstatic that he gets
to participate in another war before he kicks the bucket, Finn is adopting a pacifistic
outlook and tries his hand at diplomacy by going to Gumbald directly to plead for an
alternative to war. Finn does not merely break away from his usual
sword-slinging ways, he’s also able to consciously recognize that he’s acting in a different
manner compared to his younger self. [Finn: “I used to be all about violence. Now it’s, like, I’m different.” Jake: “You’re a beautiful flower, and
I love to watch you grow.”] Don’t we all, Jake? Don’t we all. Finn’s transition to being more thoughtful
and contemplative on the reason for violence is a relatively recent shift in his personality. One obvious (and likely most prominent) reason
for the shift is Fern. Not only did Finn have a period of time where
he was trying to help Fern overcome problems without simply resorting to violence, [Finn: “Okay Fern, what do you think we
should do next?” Fern: “Hmm. Sever his tendons?”] Finn of course also had to deal with the trauma
of (presumably, at the time) killing Fern. Finn witnessed that even somebody like himself,
heck, literally himself, could through circumstances beyond their control become corrupted and
carry out evil actions. I think a large reason as to why Finn had
a period of time when he couldn’t deal killing blows was because he realized that people
trying to be good can still become bad, but therefore the opposite also applies. Beings of pure evil excluded, there’s potential
for individuals to change. Hell, even a being of pure evil through certain
circumstances was able to change into somebody who chooses to reject and fight the evil. Besides the experience with Fern and Sweet
Pea, Finn also witnessed the Candy Kingdom in a state of war during the Elements miniseries,
when the Fire Nation attacked. No, no, the other fire nation. But yeah, that probably wasn’t that great
of an experience for him. During that war, Finn himself was burning
with white hot rage for bloodshed and combat, and experiencing an anger-fueled elemental
overdrive like that may have also made Finn more hesitant to mindlessly hack and slash
away at his problems in the future. And going back even further to the Islands
miniseries, Finn managed to persuade his mother and get her to change her mind without resorting
to any sort of violence. I wonder, if Finn’s mother had turned out
to be another parental figure that disappointed to the point where Finn ended up having to
rely on violence to stop her, would we still end up with a Finn who contemplates on the
pacifist approach in the here and now? I feel like it’s quite possible we wouldn’t;
Finn’s mother was a good person with arguably misguided views, and meeting her allowed Finn
to learn from the experience. At the end of my Islands megareview, I raised
the question of whether Finn changed due to the events in Islands, as I was somewhat unsure
at the time. But looking back now, I can unequivocally
say that the events in Islands were among many things that helped broaden Finn’s perspective
and allowed him to see the world with more nuance than before. I think this is all pretty cool. Finn’s development over the past few seasons
can’t be traced to just one singular event, but rather a large amount of events that cumulatively
make him a more rounded character. Despite Finn’s newfound diplomatic ways,
he still does get his jimmies rustled at the sight of Fern. [Finn: “Fern!” Jake: “Cuteness offensive.”] By Fern pompously having to claim his superiority
to Finn, he’s actually still very much demonstrating that he does still has a deeply ingrained
inferiority complex that’s very much active. Making Finn’s 17th birthday his worst ever
was still not enough to make Fern feel genuinely happy, no surprise there. I love how despite the beef and all the issues
Fern has, he’s still able to acknowledge that Finn’s new sword is cool. [Fern: “Cool sword.”] What was even better though was Jake putting
the cuteness offensive temporarily on hold to non-verbally prove a point. [Fern: “There’s nothing you have that
I don’t.”] That’s such a wonderful moment. Jake illustrating with great comedic timing
that Fern lacks somebody close to him who loves him and will protect him. Fern does not have a Jake equivalent. Moreso, Finn is surrounded with many friends
who care deeply for him, while it doesn’t seem like the Gumbald crew cares that much
for Fern beyond how they can use him. And Aunt Lolly soon demonstrates, PB’s created
relatives are very much into using people to achieve their goals. Manipulation seems to be a trait they all
share; we obviously know Gumbald does it, we saw Chicle do it in “Marcy and Hunson,”
and in this episode, Aunt Lolly connives a scheme under the guise of being a good-hearted
person. Which of course, these traits all do stem
from Princess Bubblegum herself, whose done many questionable things throughout the series,
but are on hyperdrive in the Gumbald crew. The plan Aunt Lolly came up with starts with
Gumbald having a fake change of heart that’s sincere enough to fool Finn, and this was
enacted by having Finn save Gumbald’s life. I’m really curious what the contingency
plan was if Finn chose not to save Gumbald or failed to – because unless Gumbald has
rocket shoes or something, it really seems like he was just going to splat onto the floor
below (though granted, given that this is a cartoon and Gumbald is made of gum, that
might be a recoverable injury). The shot of Fern sulking back into the shadows
as Finn and Gumbald laugh it up seemed foreboding at the time, but maybe Fern was supposed to
be the backup plan to save Gumbald from falling to death? When first watching this episode, at this
point I was wondering whether Fern was made aware that Finn was being taken for a spin,
or did Fern genuinely think the that rulers of the Kingdom he now serves were warming
up to the person he already feels inferior to? But since Fern is at the meeting at the end
when Gumbald declares gum war, I doubt he’s out-of-the-know, so perhaps he was indeed
simply lurking around to make sure Gumbald doesn’t splat into the floor. Regardless of what the backup plan was or
wasn’t, it appears that Aunt Lolly and Uncle Gumbald both have a very accurate read on
Finn’s kind-hearted nature and the exact sort of person he is. They had a lot of faith in Finn coming to
the rescue and “doing the right thing,” which enabled them to manipulate him so easily. Although Lolly, Chicle, and Gumbald were having
such a grand old time at dinner that I wasn’t even sure if they were acting at this point,
they may have just been legitimately enjoying Finn’s company while still planning to use
him. After Finn tells a story that references the
events in the episode “Jake Suit,” [Finn: “This is my first ever girlfriend,
I really wanted her to like me.” Jake: “So then I made him do a diaper baby
dance!”] The Gumblad crew finally puts their plan into
action; they douse Finn with a so-called celebration bucket that is actually full of Dumdum Juice. [Gumbald: “Make sure to give Bonnie a big
hug from me when you tell her.”] The plan was to dispose of Princess Bubblegum
in the same manner Gumbald tried like 800 years ago, by turning her docile and simple-minded. The plan almost slips up when Jake gets some
of the solution onto Chicle though, who turns back into Crunchy, and now we have our answer
as to why the Land of Ooo 1000 years in the future as we saw in the episode “Graybles
1000+” had Crunchy within a capsule inside a gigantic Toy Vending Machine Guardian. By the way, if your memory is hazy in regards
to “Grables 1000+,” you should really watch that episode again before the Adventure
Time finale airs. That episode contains Ooo’s future, and
in the finale we’ll likely witness the events that led to such a future. So yeah, rewatch “Graybles 1000+” if you
haven’t done so in a while. The dumdum juice plan version 2.0 does end
up failing because PB notices Finn and Jake are glistening, which halts her hug, and Peppermint
Butler ends up being exposed to the solution instead. Which, like, ohmyglob, did we just lose Peppermint
Butler? Chicle apparently does not revert back again
and remains as Crunchy, so is the amazing awesome character that is PepBut doomed to
stay baby-esque? Perhaps not, as some promo material Cartoon
Network released on twitter for the series finale had a non-dumdum Peppermint Butler
in it, so maybe Princess Bubblegum found a way to revert him before the war got into
full swing. We’ll have to find out when the finale airs,
but personally, I hope the promo material is erroneous and that Peps remains as a victim
in the crossfire of the family feud. Peps being the trigger that sends Princess
Bubblegum beyond the point of no return just works too well, as he’s been not just her
loyal servant and faithful companion, but also one of her closest friends. As much as I love PepBut, I think he shouldn’t
revert back, because it ruins the severity of the situation. Finn is of course pretty devastated, as not
only did his carelessness lead to PepBut’s transformation, but he also moved the war
even further ahead of schedule. Finn’s particular actions may have even
been the ones to render the war entirely inevitable. [Finn: “I donked up.”] And it was only mere moments beforehand that
Finn was excited and jubilant over being able to handle conflicts in what he saw as a more
mature way. [Finn: “As I get older, I see the most important
thing is to empathize with my friends and enemies. Like, co-exist instead of cutting off people’s
heads and stuff.”] While this is indeed a very important trait
to have, this is of course not always viable depending on context, and I’m curious to
see what mental hoops Finn will be jumping through as the war continues to initiate. This made me think all the way back to the
season 1 episode “His Hero,” where Finn learned the moral that violence done to protect
somebody is good actually, well maybe, according to old ladies at least, which themselves tell
you that they shouldn’t be listened to. This episode purposefully tripped over its
own points because, again, things are rarely black and white and context and nuance matter,
but back then Finn was a young and impressionable 12 year old and simply needed reassurance
that slaying evil was acceptable. Back then, things seemed clear to a simple-minded
and idealistic young Finn, although the episode itself made it abundantly clear to the audience
that reality tends to be much more complicated. And in “Gumbaldia,” Finn is now facing
that complexity. The 17 year old Finn of the present of course
is still very aware that violence can save people, but he’s having a hard time of figuring
out when violence should be applied. His ideology of empathy first obviously has
an expiration point, and Finn is unsure when the line has to be crossed into violence. Princess Bubblegum has already crossed the
line and does not intend to ever look back, and now Finn will have to make the personal
decision of where to draw the line for himself. Finn appears steadfast in his empathy first
ideology, but he also nearly led to the downfall of the Candy Kingdom when he tried to do a
solo diplomacy mission, and the only reason Bonnie didn’t take the blow is because Peppermint
Butler took it in her place. So the eagerness to apply a freshly realized
ideology is at war with the guilt Finn should be feeling over donking things up this bad. Suffice to say, there’s a lot going on here,
and I hope Finn’s development in the finale remains interesting, and I’m looking forward
to what choices he ends up making. So, the squirrel that hates Jake and often
serves a spy to events occurring in the Candy Kingdom returns to Gumbaldia to give the update
that the “peaceful” attempt to get rid of Bonnibel Bubblegum had failed. This scene may have been a bit of a small
storyboarding snafu as Fern commands the squirrel to enter the castle, only then for us to see
Fern already in a chair before the squirrel arrives in the room. Alternatively, Fern told the squirrel to move
on ahead, and then afterward ran through the castle at a faster pace and arrived in the
meeting room before the squirrel. Which is rather comical to think about, I guess, but it was probably a simple storyboarding snafu. “Gumbaldia” ends with Gumbald announcing
the VIPs on his side of the gum war. [Gumbald: “My formidable legion of Candy
Kingdom haters!”] So I guess let’s just give a brief reminder
on these chumps before this review comes to a close. [“Ricardio.”] We haven’t seen him in-person since all
the way back in “Lady and Peebles.” He was in the end credits of the guest-directed
episode “Water Park Prank” - he was on the wall of people banned from the water park
in that episode, so I guess he’s just been causing minor trouble in Ooo this whole time? Him being a Candy Kingdom hater makes absolute
sense and he would love to get revenge. He’s probably the most obvious choice for
Gumbald’s army. [“Bandit Princess.”] I’m surprised Bandit Princess would be willing
to play with others, but I guess for enough coin she’s willing to cooperate. I doubt she’s specifically a Candy Kingdom
hater, but is simply willing to hate any kingdom for the right circumstances or at the right
prince. I wonder how Fern feels about BP joining Gumbald’s
forces. She’s the reason he’s green after all,
although without her actions, he would still be Finn trapped as a sword. I’d imagine Fern would have some conflicted
feelings about working alongside this character. [“Samantha the warrior dog.”] So she’s from the episode “The Pit”
and had a thing for Jake, and as far as we know,had no relation to the Candy Kingdom
of any kind, and her reasons for joining Gumbald’s army are the most unclear, since her backstory
is also pretty much unknown. A really weird choice for a callback character
– I wonder what’s up with that. [“Peacemaster.”] He was the star of the episode “Nemesis,”
and back then already had a grudge against the Candy Kingdom due to the heavy-duty surveillance
on its citizens that it engaged in. Peppermint Butler turning Peacemaster’s
children into monsters at the end of that episode would only further fuel his rage. Peacemaster siding with Gumbald makes absolute
sense, and honestly, you can’t really blame the guy for it. Especially if perhaps Gumbald promised to
return Peacemaster’s children to normal as payment. [“Me-mow.”] An assassin who was stopped by Finn and Jake
when she tried to assassinate Wildberry Princess in the episode “Jake vs. Me-mow.” In “Angel Face,” Me-Mow was human-sized
and that appearance remained into the present, which suggests that perhaps her tiny form
in “Jake vs. Me-mow” was a temporary shrinking transformation of some kind. Maybe she got a wizard to shrink her for the
assassination attempt or something? Me-mow was seen candyfied during Elements,
implying all prisoners were released after the elementificaition took place in Ooo, and
she likely ran free when everything was fixed. Me-mow should have a big grudge against Finn
and Jake, plus she was kept in a Candy Kingdom prison facility, so joining Gumbald’s army
is quite on-point for her. [“Pete Sassafrass.”] Okay, wow, what a pull. He was in the episode “Candy Streets,”
where Finn and Jake threw him in the dungeon because they erroneously thought he was the
one who robbed LSP. Presumably they forgot about him and the justice
system in the Candy Kingdom completely failed him via sheer negligence, so now he’s on
Gumbald’s side for revenge. What a callback, I would assume most people
probably don’t even remember who he is. [“Ash the Warlock.”] He’s made a couple cameos over time so I’m
sure nobody forgot Marceline’s douchebag of an ex-boyfriend who first appeared in “Memory
of a Memory.” Last time we saw him, Simon had stolen his
flying carpet in the episode “Betty.” I don’t think he has a grudge against the
Candy Kingdom unless you undergo some mental gymnastics of the sapphic variety, but hey,
who knows. [“Sir Slicer.”] Yo, calling back a real oldie here, all the
way from season 2. In the episode “Blood Under the Skin,”
Sir Slicer relentlessly taunted Finn for his lack of armor and then was made a fool of
by the episode’s end, so I guess he has kind of a grudge on Finn and Jake, though
not necessarily the Candy Kingdom, so his presence kinda makes sense. Unless he got seriously buff and is able to
actually move in his armor, I don’t really see Sir Slicer putting up much of a fight. [“Scorcher.”] Another oldie, this time from season 3 episode
“Hitman.” Ice King hired “Scorcher” to hit Finn
and Jake, not realizing he was setting up their murder. He’s got some pretty cool fire skills so
I’m eager to see him in action again, and as far as his commitment to Gumbald goes,
well, he’s a contract hire; he simply works for the money as per contract. Pretty straight-forward; his presence makes
a lot of sense. [“The Green Knight.”] I realize I’ve been calling him Fern throughout
this entire review, but yeah, he’s going by the Green Knight now, and I should probably
have used that name instead. But anyway, whatever, I don’t think any
further comment is needed on the ‘ol Green Knight here – we all know who he is. [Gumbald: “And finally, the Iced King.” Ice King: “I think I might be here by mistake. What are we doing again?”] Oh, good ‘ol war-hungry Gunter. Yeah, this was an amusing final addition to
Gumbald’s army. I laughed quite hard. So get ready for gum war, everyone. Get ready for a 4-part finale that will conclude
Adventure Time forever. Well, hopefully. I know the series didn’t quite get its optimal
duration of being on air, but I’d rather go without a continuation or reboot in the
future. Just let Adventure Time end for good. [Finn: “No, you’re right, can’t be nostalgic!”] "Gumbaldia” sets up the gum war pretty damn
well, and I had fun with this episode. The finale has to tackle both Golb and the
gum war, and in my opinion, a whole lot rests on whether these two events can be intertwined
with each other in an interesting manner. Fingers crossed the finale of Adventure Time
will be a grand ‘ol time. As for what my plans for this channel are
after Adventure Time concludes, I’ll have a brief channel update video on that topic
pretty soon. But spoilers: I’ll still continue to do
videos about Adventure Time. Because there’s still an endless amount
of stuff to talk about. Alright, thanks for tuning in, everyone. If you’d like, follow me on twitter, if
you wanna hang with me while I stream video games, follow me on twitch, and if you really
love my content and want to support this channel, support me on Patreon. Thank you very much, and see ya next time.
