Marceline & Princess Bubblegum - The Perfect Pair (Adventure Time)

promise to wake me up in 15 minutes I promise romantic love has never been the focal point for Adventure Time yet when they do get around to displaying it they explore with plenty of nuance highlighting The Good the Bad and the Ugly and showing just how complicated difficult and beautiful the feeling the action the idea of Love Actually is through Marceline and bubblegum we see how so much of making relationships work is the work we must do on ourselves first no matter who might help you or who is in your corner at the end of the day the responsibility is on oneself to grow and change beginning with Marceline the Vampire Queen's most detrimental problem is her complicated relationship with their past in her words she was a messed up kid abandonment issues are at the Forefront of this character getting with her mother who raised her the demon child believed her mother ran away from her out of fear of her monster origin and left her alone in the post apocalyptic land of oo Simon who then found and raised her for a few years after that slowly turned into the Ice King and had to leave her for fear of hurting her hunson her biological father only assumed that role when Marceline was in her teenage years and up until the first season of the show she is unsure if her father actually loves her her or even cares about her as she Grew Older he rarely spent time with his daughter devoting most of his time to ruling the nusphere add in Ash Marceline's conniving ex-boyfriend and the whole vampire Saga and all of this creates and informs the Marceline we come to know in the early stages of Adventure Time this morally confused trickster has lost her way over all those years and is deeply afraid of letting good people into her life fearing that they will leave her because she is a monster at her core Marceline becomes someone who is easily influenced by those around them and when surrounded by more questionable figures like LSP Ash and her ghost friends she then tends to emulate the people she's around having no real moral anchor of her own this is why she comes across as somewhat cruel and cold and caring in her first few appearances but eventually growing out of that when she spends more time with Finn and Jake after believing that she scared her own mother off the young Marceline says that when people run away from her it's because she wants them to like a funny joke she says so Marceline Embraces this side of her and intentionally develops this Edge and this roughness about her creating this hard and tough barrier because love has constantly hurt her one of Marceline's most persistent traits is her inability to confront her own emotions while simultaneously being an emotional person and this is because her mother was was never able to be honest about her own health problems with her daughter it messed her up she says Marceline has this tendency to run away at the first sign of discomfort we see her do that in what was missing in Stakes obsidian even to people and I remember you she points out that ever since she met Ice King she's been avoiding him because of her memories of Simon Marcy's only outlet for her emotions is her songs it's easy to see how this emotional baggage comes to haunt Marceline's relationship with with bubblegum as their argument in obsidian was born from Marceline's lack of morality with the glass citizens in which she stated that she didn't care about their lives and proceeded to play with the other citizens like they were toys Marceline's emotional volatility is also displayed here when her need for attention isn't met she lashes out immaturely out of fear of being left behind once again now by her girlfriend again her inability to properly communicate how she feels leads her to these kinds of outbursts where she writes an incredibly hurtful song to The Princess and destroys her device Princess Bubblegum's philosophy can be articulated in a single line his responsibility demands Sacrifice from the moment she was born bondell Bubblegum has always taken care of others her sweet brother Netty would be the first to feel that care and the candy citizens follow but before the Candy Kingdom and The Crown it was just Bonnie for hundreds of years she scavenged the post-apocalyptic Wasteland that was ooh yearning for companionship for people like her so she created her own family her uncle gumbald would eventually threaten bonnell's sense of control when his individuality blossomed as he desired to create apartment complexes and sell apparel and to it she would say that this isn't what I made you to be though bubblegum wished for her family to be real to have agents that agency had to be within the realm of what she found acceptable though bubblegum was only a child this experience of her own family turning against her and conspiring to eliminate her was a memory that would be burned into her psyche this informed her future decisions it informed the type of person she would come to be it would inform her desire to have all the candy citizens to be quote happy and unburdened using her dumb Dum juice on her citizens she would create a group of people of family to protect and control as the only sentient intelligent entity around for much of her formative years bubblegum desires tremendous control over situations because she's so used to controlling everything for her and netti she needs control because she fears what could happen if she's not the one in charge she's so used to fixing everything it's one of the reasons why she has problems with Marcel PB is so logic based so scientifically wired that she rarely considers the desires or emotions of others only focusing on whether an action is good for them or not in addition she can be mean and particularly harsh with her words in that argument in obsidian Princess Bubblegum calls Marceline monster trash an emotionally unintelligent choice because for Marceline that word has defined so much of her life in this argument the vampire also asks bubblegum why she brought her along and bubblegum retorts that she never invited her and that she doesn't have time for her a line that the girl with abandonment issues takes personally at this stage in their lives these characters were clearly not ready to be together so when Adventure Time's main Story begins we meet these two characters during their separation as any relationship goes their issues were greater than this one argument my first thoughts upon rewatching it came from the night of spere were that Marceline's father hunson is a bit like bubblegum in a way PB is someone who is wholly committed and dedicated to her work hunson is the same the ruler of the night of spere barely has time to even visit his daughter if he's not summoned and much like bubblegum they two put their work over any of their personal relationships and we see an obsidian Marceline constantly vying for pb's attention she's always occupied with something else this reminder might have been extra painful for the vampire in the early series the Vampire Queen has her fair share of meanness as well in go with me Marceline pranks Finn by telling him that fun is the way to Princess Bubblegum's heart PB notoriously never has time for fun meanwhile marcley never had any of the responsibilities that PB had marcelin then insists that the princess is a brain Lord who was boring and she has Finn bring wolves to the princess's door what was missing only adds fuel to this fire Marceline Begins the episode by making off-color remarks to bubblegum alluding to her type a nature just keep it cool got that princess H where Marceline is crude and abrasive saying that she'll drink the red out of her pretty pink face bubblegum finds that distasteful their contrasting identities in this episode are apparent Marceline's lyrics and I'm not your problem reveals much more of her frustrations after hundreds of years apart Marceline highlights that shees not see PB in the way that her citizens do like subjects to a god marcelene chastises bubblegum for removing their intelligence this can also be linked to Marceline calling PB a dictator in her song woke up I'm not your problem is filled with tons of anger but it only buries genuine pain felt by the Vampire Queen Marceline mentions how she genuinely believes that bubblegum just doesn't like her and doesn't like being around her Marceline refuses to change who she she is pointing out her morality and her immaturity believing that she is not sweet enough for the princess of the vibrant and colorful Candy Kingdom and later in the episode she would go on to point out how bubblegum wanted her to be perfect in the second verse Marcelina is so hurt that she even apologizes for her very existence but despite it all for some reason the vampire still desires to be on good terms with the princess she doesn't feel like she should be the one apologizing but if that means being with bubblegum again she'll do it this is just another relationship that she's confused by similar to the one of her and her fathers however after this the two argue once again about Bubblegum's expectations of the vampire Marceline tearfully responds to their argument by spitting on princess bubbla again Marceline has a hard time conveying her feelings and she often resorts to harmful behaviors like shown here running away or or her music instead of communicating her issues at the end of the episode however Princess Bubblegum reveals that she sleeps in the shirt that Marceline gave her which also has sentimental value for her PB doesn't say it but that gesture alone indicates that she feels similar to Marceline the fact that Marceline hangs around the entire episode without having anything taken from her proves that she is ready to make amends ending the episode and their relationship on better terms than before [Music] the two end up growing from this episode and their relationship turns a bit more positive in the following episodes we see them together in the sky witch we see that very shirt that Princess Bubblegum wakes up in and takes a massive whiff of each morning coupled with a picture of her and Marceline taped to her closet door that she sees every single day the love and appreciation they have for each other has not falter and when the vampire asks for help she knows that it must be important and PB accepts to me this is a big deal considering how much significance Princess Bubblegum places on protecting and being there for the Candy Kingdom so her choosing to help Marceline over them says a lot and through this episode a small detail to note is how comfortable the two are together the subtle moments where Marceline holds on to Bubblegum's arm how she whisks her away and even the banter all feel familiar these are two characters who are despite their issues very comfortable with each other when bubblegum finds out that it was all for the Vampire Queen to retrieve hambo she's displeased bubblegum through all of their time spent together still doesn't understand nor value the attachment that Marceline has with hambo calling it a regular old teddy bear and calling the bear replaceable bringing Marceline to tears there is a lack of empathy from bubblegum on this subject in line with her logical scientific emotionally distant brain however she still decides to continue to help Marceline recognizing her friend's distressed State bonabelle redeems herself trading her favorite t-shirt for hambo sacrificing it for Marceline Maja says that the shirt had more affection in it than hamble throughout the series bubblegum makes tremendous strides as an individual and in pajama War she recognizes how much her work has prevented her from simply existing and she shows a desire to do more of that of course after this the candy people would end up voting for the king of oo over her to become leader of the Candy Kingdom following the loss of her kingdom Marcy and Bonnie take Center Stage once more in varment to continue on pb's growth brushing shoulders with death at the hands of the Lich in the second season heightened Princess Bubblegum's iron grip on her kingdom she would create golad as her future protector her surveillance of the kingdom was beefed up and her overall stress over her people increased her desire for control grew her fear grew but as it became detrimental to her PB expressed her need to be more quote chill as she rarely got the chance to step away from her people out of fear along with this babella expresses her desire to be less mean again efforts to grow as an individual but Desiring to be more chill never meant losing her entire Kingdom and so she has to come to terms with not being in control in varment in this episode bubblegum holds it all together until her unstable base comes crashing down beginning with Marceline jogging her memory about the type of person she used to be the type of fun they used to have she sees herself in her handwriting versus who she is now as Marceline calls her always prepared she snaps we can't all just wing it bonabelle sees how much she's changed and how that change was essentially for nothing her relationships her own personal identity everything was sacrificed to the Candy Kingdom and now it's all catching up to her the varmints are just another thing she cannot control the beginning of this episode she fears losing her pumpkin patch just like she lost her home her people her hat her family and Marceline and barabel finally breaks down she finally lets herself feel but while she did shut everything and everyone out for her work Marceline just being there is Bonnie's proof that not everything was lost and that despite her failures it doesn't fully reflect who she is as a person Marceline is the only person to whom PB could have exposed her feelings to this is the first and only time in the series when we've see bonabelle so honest and emotional the princess probably hates that she broke down but the fact that she felt comfortable enough to do so so in front of Marceline is so telling bubblegum is always taking care of others she's always doing the caring the protecting the codling it reminded me of the finale when Marceline mentions how she was so worried every single day about bubblegum whenever they were apart because she wasn't there to protect the princess the very princess who wants to protect everyone else needs someone too she too needs to feel protected but the fact that she can finally be honest with herself the fact that she can admit that she's cra crazy tired and that she needs rest that she needs someone is Monumental growth bubblegum finally let Marcy in and the vampire queen is now someone she can rely on forever Stakes plays a similar role but this time for Marceline as bubble gum becomes crucial for Marceline's journey of growth and acceptance she is the one who performs and helps her with the procedure of removing her vampirism and ultimately takes care of her every step of the way p calls Marceline her best friend in this series and we even see her cry when Marceline is affected by her poison injury Marceline ultimately accepts her fate as the vampire queen and her 8 episode Journey helps her realize that although everything returns to its natural state in the grand scheme of things that does not mean that things do not change this idea of everything stays a song and a story about change to me describes Marceline and Bubblegum's relationship quite well Bubblegum losing her kingdom or Marceline becoming mortal those were two aspects of their lives that have been reverted back to their natural state just like the two of them are meant to be together even though they were apart for a while but with minor changes to who they are as people and a dedication to each other they're now able to make their relationship work as bonabelle returns to her post she becomes a much more relaxed leader treating her citizens as individuality not with punishment but with praise like she does with banana guard 16 in ketchup in obsidian and in the finale marcelene is much more willing to confront her complicated past and open up about her emotions she's able to make these difficult choices for the people she loves to me this relationship makes the most sense in the little moments in this post-apocalyptic world where nothing really makes sense they are all trying every day to def find their bearings and come to terms with this changing world and come to terms with everything and everyone they've lost in the midst of all that chaos Marceline and PB just want somebody to be by their side they want someone who wears their favorite t-shirt someone who carries strawberry lip balm they want a shoulder to sleep on for just 15 minutes and it's those moments of familiarity that I love the most it's all the different nicknames marcelene comes up with for Pb it's the Fun Band her the constant physical touch Marceline's love language of touch is so clear she's always holding on to bonabelle in some way and bubblegums his acts of service embodied by how she will do anything for Marceline even hang out with the man she despises and she'll even call him by the name Marcy wants her to she'll go out and rescue a teddy bear for her at the end of it all these two characters have chosen Love In An isolating land and they have opened their hearts to all the Poss possibilities the land of O for both of them has been a lonely lonely place it has plagued both of their stories for so long centuries they've spent apart because of their differences Marceline spent so much time searching for companionship whether it was with humans with Ash because without her mother without Simon she had no one bubblegum of course grew up without anyone like her for such an extended period of her life they've both been through their fair share of betrayal by people they thought loved them so for them to choose love again and again even after hurting each other and having been hurt by others says a lot about these characters so staying in a cabin together for a few days is extra meaningful even if it feels like mere seconds in the grand scheme of things because those are the moments that they will never forget as their story closes in obsidian we get a sneak peek of what life looks like we get a look at the tiny sacrifices they've made for each other Princess Bubblegum in this special is never seen interacting with the Candy Kingdom she's dedicated a lot more time to Simply being with Marceline and Marceline while of course not equal she usually sleeps floating but now she's committed to sleeping in a bed so she may sleep alongside princess bubblo in the actual episode the two learn acceptance for bubblegum it's in accepting Marceline's past and her traumas recognizing that that yes Marceline ran away from her but she never got angry or upset with Marceline instead giving her space to grow to come back to explain herself and also accepting that she doesn't always need to be the smartest person in the room or to fix everything Marceline definitely makes it known to her that she doesn't need to be perfect nor does she want her to and for Marcy in classic Marceline fashion she writes a song to make sense of everything that she's been feeling in Monster she writes that she initially feared becoming vulnerable she feared committing herself to a future with PB because she still always feels like a monster she is afraid that she will lose her edge she fears the pain that love has burned her with time and again but Princess Bubblegum has helped her accept that she is deserving of love that she can be loved in the way that she needs and in the song's final chorus she loves the fact that bonabelle is the pink in her cheeks she she loves that she makes her soft and she accepts her Newfound vulnerability and tenderness in exchange for the rage and the fear that she once had I think it's so cool to see characters who are in theory so old who've lived thousands of years but who are still actively searching for ways to grow to evolve to heal they are actively trying to be better to each other they have forever to improve but they choose the present to do so growth and healing is a lifelong journey also the way they met Marceline throwing PB that sweaty ass t-shirt and PB absolutely fangirling over it what an insane origin story of course in the best way possible Happy Valentine's Day for

Channel: Sage's Rain

Views: 37,886

Keywords: tv, cartoon, adventure time, marceline, princess bubblegum, marceline the vampire queen

Id: 0Ex7Mf1d4QM

Length: 22min 11sec (1331 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 15 2024