Fionna and Cake episode 7 Spoilers

ahem, Allow me to point out the obvious here

SIMON WAS RIGHT, WITHOUT HIM, MARCY GET FOUND BY SOMEONE ELSE. SHE DID GET TO LIVE IN A BIG CASTLE. SHE DID GET SERVANTS THAT FOLLOW HER EVERY COMMAND.

BUT WITHOUT HIM, MARCY DIDN'T GET THE LOVE AND SUPPORT OF A FATHER WHO TAUGHT HER HOW TO BE KIND AND LOVING.

WITHOUT HIM SHE INHERITED A WORLD THAT WAS EVENTUALLY DOOMED TO BE DESTROYED BECAUSE SHE NEVER BECAME A VAMPIRE HUNTER. ENEMIES WITH SOMEONE THAT SHE WOULD HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH, MAYBE ALREADY DID.

ALL BECAUSE SIMON WASNT THERE TO GUIDE HER

AND YET AS SEEN IN THE EPISODE HE CLEARLY DIDN'T PUT ON THE CROWN WHEN HE DIED, THEREFORE HE HAD TO WEAR THE CROWN FOR HIM TO DO ANY OF THIS, DOOMING HIMSELF TO INSANITY.

never love an anchor simon pmv

What some people miss when talking about the Fionna and Cake finale is the fact that if Simon's and Betty's arc didn't end how it ended, they had no "happier" option that would be coherent with the series at large

They are the doomed pairing at the center of it all, them realizing just how doomed they were, recognizing it and having their goodbyes was as good as they'd have it, because any other course of action either still dooms them or it dooms the whole world, and that's what all the parallel universes showed

If Simon and Betty never got to the crown, maybe if Simon had gone on with Betty to see the petroglyphs and their sacrifices were more evened out from the beginning, still not too long later the mushroom war would still have erupted, the bombs dropped and as normal humans it's almost certain they'd have died. Marceline would grow up without Simon, and now we're in the universe of the star

If Simon stayed in a half-transformed state, where he's neither fully Ice King nor fully Simon, we get the Winter King and someone has to be the recipient of the "crown madness" as was PB in that universe (plus, more importantly to not feel "insane" he didn't transfer the magic or the Gunther that comes with the crown, he mostly just transferred his sadness about Betty which manifested in him stealing princesses to be his brides. Thus the Winter King doesn't even remember her)

If he'd become Ice King again, he'd turn back to living not as himself, lost within the crown and depressed deep down because of it. Plus the messaging of succumbing back to an addiction he couldn't get out of because he was absolutely self destructive since without Betty his life didn't matter to him

If he'd put on the crown and stopped the bomb, Betty probably would've continued living, forever missing his memory just as he forever missed her in the main timeline. Plus eventually we get to farmworld reality

Truly the only alternative course of action that maybe could've worked somehow in terms of keeping them both alive and together for more than like 2 years would be if Betty didn't leave through the Hambo portal and maybe stayed to find Marcy along with Simon, making him less self-destructive and careless about his transformation and what it brings at the same since she'd be there too. But then there'd come a point where unassisted with magic, Betty would die anyway, and Simon would go down the Ice King path again

They're forever doomed

The events will happen, happening, happened, so on and so forth

And at least in their doom they were able to recognize it, have a moment of sincerity, Simon apologized for not seeing her sacrifices, and they both know that things could've been different, maybe better, maybe not, but regardless all their actions were taken and they have to live with them. So all in all, it's great that at last they recognize it as an experience they wouldn't trade for anything anyway, and life goes on. For Simon, with Betty's support through Golb he was able to go back and see worth in jeeping on living and going on new adventures instead of remaining stagnant for her who's never going to be back as he knew her. And Betty got to be a god, she got omnipotence, she got to protect Simon from the last obstacle to his safety: himself. And in the end it seems to imply she might've separated from Golb and become a catalyst comet herself, to be reborn

It's that signature bitter sweetness and acceptance that flawed people live flawed lives with shitty and great parts alike that's so signature adventure time. And it all will happen, happening happened and will happen again and again

You know what? I absolutely LOVE the way Fionna & Cake (the show) told us how important Simon Petrikov (the one we know) was. Let's check out the most important universes. As expected, there will be spoilers:

Farmworld is pretty obvious itself. Simon was able to prevent the bomb that would have brought the Lich, which is pretty impressive itself, but that didn't stop the Lich forever and Simon wasn't able to take care of Marceline or even contact Hunson Abadeer. Because of this, Marceline dedicated her whole life (literal centuries) to guard the crown knowing it was too dangerous. Eventually, she dies after Farmworld Finn accidentally activates the bomb. Simon's sacrifice was noble, but it only delayed something that was inevitable and Marceline didn't have the best life guarding her friend and father figure's corpse for centuries due to the crown

Simon doesn't have the purpose of sacrificing his own life in order to save Marceline and other people. Becoming Ice King again for Fionna and Cake was a way to abandon and sacrifice the life he regained thanks to Betty. No one has such purpose, it was just Farmworld Simon's choice and we can see the consequences of his absence even years after those events occurred and our boy Prismo had to fix things a bit

After that, the show presents us Winterworld and a version of Simon that managed to "conquer" the crown and seemed like the perfect outcome for everyone involved: Simon keeping his sanity without facing the consequences of not only using the crown but also being a magic user again to bring magic back to Fionna's world. Thing is MMS (Magic, Madness, and Sadness) applies to all magic users and it is unavoidable, all of them will show different degrees of those three characteristics. Winter King is no exception, he is still mad despite projecting most of his madness on PB. We can see this because he made an ice version of Marceline despite saying it would be unethical to do the same with Betty

Simon cannot be a magic user because otherwise he won't be the Simon we know (Remember the Tiny Manticore mentioning how Betty changed as well after becoming a magic user?). He knew this every time he needed to use the crown in order to protect Marceline and survive. He acknowledged it was the only way to do it despite knowing the long-term effects and being aware he also hurt Marcy. Simon was no coward, he probably was scared and knew no one could save him from the crown's madness, and still tried to be himself when he could

Probably the reason why Winter King lost his Marceline was because he wanted to have the crown's power to survive without facing the consequences of using it, maybe he overused the crown itself until Simon was completely gone, making him unable or too dangerous to take care of Marcy. Winter king lived in a bubble in which he thought he was completely sane (which is not even possible if you are a magic user) and everything, including himself, was perfect. He wants to believe he's Simon but that's not the case, Simon is far gone and deep down he knows it when he took the name "Winter King" and decided to make his kingdom instead of using his own name and trying to live as Simon Petrikov, not some king

And, of course... Vampworld

The perfect answer to the question "How important is our Simon Petrikov?"

A world in which Marceline was never raised by Simon, and Hunson was absent or didn't mind that his daughter was raised by the Vampire King. Marcy didn't become a vampire hunter and didn't help humans survive. This is because she was educated in a different way since she was very little, and keep in mind that Marceline was already thinking she was a monster because she couldn't comprehend why her mother couldn't be with her anymore. Vampire King just encouraged her to behave like an actual monster

Simon cared about Marcy and her education, seeing her as a scared little girl living in the end of the world, not a monster despite knowing she was different. Again, he admitted he was Marceline's father figure and raised her as his own. This is why Simon is scared and maybe even a bit sad when he watches Marcy acting in such a cruel way, and that's why he loses his shit and calls the Vampire King a bad dad, he couldn't stand seeing someone else encourage that behavior on Marceline

Simon's education wasn't the best, he had his own struggles due to the crown, but he did his best and that made a difference on Marceline's life, he even bothered to contact Hunson so she wouldn't be all by herself. It was a pity he didn't know that Hunson himself wasn't that good as a father but leaving Marcy all by herself would have been cruel

And yet, Simon himself couldn't see this despite living it. He was still trying to save Fionna's universe by becoming Ice King again. Why? He thought his purpose was to help others by sacrificing himself, that's what he learned with Marceline when he took care of her, this made him think that Simon Petrikov didn't matter, only Ice King because he's able to make Fionna's world magic again and could stop Scarab, fueling his identity loss

Most people cannot realize how important they are, even if they didn't lose their identity. Sometimes it is too hard to know how important we actually are or we tend to forget and re-learn it, and this is something the show remarks despite Simon helped Fionna save her universe. He didn't need Ice King, but that doesn't mean it is over and he learnt his lesson

It is a longer process because there are ideas or thoughts about ourselves that are hard to abandon or not to pay attention to in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes

Maybe I'll find time to make a longer AT post, maybe even a detailed presentation, but for now I have to say:

The arc they put Simon on for the miniseries is just so, so wrong. It's incompatible and not what his character needs to grow at all.

Simon's problem was never that he couldn't see how important he was to the world or other people. In fact, that was one of the flaws Simon always had - valuing himself based on what he could do for other people, and not for what he values in himself.

Simon lived for Marceline because he needed to care for her and keep her alive. It was the right thing to do, and this sense of purpose slowed his descent into madness a lot more, but it wasn't enough.

When Simon is freed from the crown in the future, he doesn't worry himself about Marceline anymore because she's grown up and outgrown him. She's not a weak little girl anymore so Simon decides in his short time that she can live without him, now that she doesn't need him. Of course he knows that his death would be sad, but Marceline has friends and family now. In his mind, Marceline will be ok because she's not alone.

What else does Simon do with what little time he's given? He apologises to Betty.

Again, it's the right thing to do. Their "breakup" was very scary and confusing. So he makes it his duty to explain himself to her and he tries to set Betty free. "I went crazy. You don't have to feel bad about leaving me. I forgive you". Again, Simon is thinking about his life in relation to other people. He was a bad boyfriend to Betty in that moment, so he must rectify that.

And after that, what does Simon do? Does he fight to stay alive? Does he ask for help, does he try one last time to crack the crown and free himself before he dies?

No. Simon seeks and accepts death because he's tired, and he thinks he is empty. That there is no point to him staying alive.

Nobody needs Simon anymore.

Simon does not value or care about himself.

🐰🐈 So, how does this relate to the Fionna and Cake series?

Well, the issue is that putting Simon on this "Ghost of Christmas everything" style journey through the multiverse does not address Simon's problems at all. Simon isn't a selfish and arrogant character like Scrooge who needed to learn to care about and value other people. In fact, Simon was always very aware of how much people needed him. Simon liked feeling needed.

So this whole "Look Simon, Marceline is evil in the universe where you're dead!" and "in this universe, the crown ruined Finn Merten's life" isn't helpful for pushing or developing Simon's character. If anything, it's just enabling his tendency to value himself as a tool for other people.

And I know people are going to say "yeah, that's the point. In the end Simon learns to live for himself because Betty has moved on from him and wants him to be happy".

But it's like...no??? That's not really a cohesive story at all.

Man wants to die, metaphorically or literally. He can't admit it, because it's shameful to himself. Then someone needs his help, so he uses "helping people" as an excuse to sacrifice himself again, so that he can feel good about himself.

But this multiverse journey doesn't teach Simon to start doing things for himself again. The only new "friends" he makes are Fionna and Cake, and that was really forced. Simon isn't pushed to change anything in his life in the series, because he's not even inside his life anymore, he's hopping around in a multiverse adventure that is basically just a longer, more distracting version of the adventure Finn sent Simon on in episode 2.

Simon isn't shown the benefits of living for yourself. He's only told to keep on living "because he has to". Because the multiverse needs him. This is just Simon and Marcy 2 all over again, but worse, because we're supposed to believe that this experience showed Simon how to care about himself. This is the same reason he was living for Marceline. "Because he had to".

And what's the conclusion of this mismatched character arc? Does Simon finally find something new and exciting that sparks his will to live again? Does Simon make a new friend on his own volition, without the obligation of "saving them"?

No!!! XD We go on another tangent where Golbetty shows Simon he was being selfish because he wasn't paying enough attention to Betty's needs, puts him back in exactly the same shitty situation that pushed him to death to begin with -

Except now, for some reason, he feels happy, and doesn't want to die.

This is all completely wrong!!!!

You can't show a couple's entire relationship with 1 bus scene and then tell the audience it was unbalanced. It looks like Simon is being punished for one mistake (not getting on the bus) even though Betty is an adult woman who makes her own choices, and needs to communicate with Simon as well. It's lazy, it's rushed, and it's so half baked that the sentient dough is raw and asking not to be baked into bread 💀

Simon and Betty's problems are not given enough time to fit into the 'Simon your life impacts others arc' and it doesn't properly address Simon's inability to live for himself at all. We're shown he worships Betty and that his love makes him live for others, but we're never shown why he's like that. There's no new context about Simon, no new information.

We get a little hint that before meeting Betty, he actually was living for himself and doing his own things, but that's it.

And this whole miniseries, as well as reducing Betty to a sexist girlfriend prop again, does nothing to address or even validate Simon's misery.

All it does it tell a depressed, suicidal man that he's not allowed to die because it would make other people sad, and that he plays some stupid cosmic role in the multiverse.

Simon is being treated like a tool, again.

Betty doesn't have her own voice outside of Simon, again.

Anyway, yeah. I didn't like this miniseries obviously, hahaha 😅 and this isn't the only problem I have with it, not by a long shot.

This story was tone deaf and insensitive. Justice for Simon and Betty! They both deserve better writing.

"Grace" here is being used not in the Christian sense, but rather to broadly refer to the incredible power of human kindness, patience, and love. ❤

High-res closeups:

high-res full image (Google Drive link)

Flower language (or at least the flower language I am using):

Forget-me-nots: these little blue flowers are symbols of memory and remembrance, as well as true love, devotion, and, occasionally, senility

Baby's breath: these tiny white flowers symbolize new beginnings, everlasting love, freedom from corruption, happiness, and thankfulness

Dandelions: A cursory google search says these flowers represent "hope, healing, and resilience," which is apt. But I've included them here as a reference to their symbolism in Fionna & Cake. In this illustration, the field of dandelion puffs that Simon wakes up in at the end of the show has become a field of yellow dandelion flowers.

More analysis, if you're into that kind of thing:

1. I'm never going to get over the fact that Simon saved Marceline for no other reason than to save a child who needed his help, and in doing so - in showing up for his adopted daughter not just once but constantly and for YEARS - he basically saved the world. I think it was a brilliant move to use the narrative to further validate his actions in "The Star" episode of Fionna & Cake.

Marceline is the narrative opposite of Dean and Sam Supernatural.

2. Kindness has a way of spreading and coming back to us in ways we could never predict, which is one reason why I'm ALSO never going to get over how Simon saving Marceline eventually led to Marceline convincing Finn and Jake (and BMO and even Bubblegum) to be more empathetic to the Ice King, who becomes way safer and happier once he is not isolated in his madness.

Finn's kindness towards Simon, both before and after being cured, is a huge deal to me. It's a vital part of his character growth, and I like that Fionna had a parallel moment of growth with the Candy Queen.

Like, yes, it is big and important that Betty saved Simon. But what she couldn't do is love him in his madness. She was unable to love him if it didn't also cure him, and this destroyed her.

And so it is beautiful to me that because of Marcy and her friends, Simon was not left to suffer alone in the darkest depths of his senility. And I really love all the ways the show demonstrates how this deeply affected him even if it didn't make him remember who he was.

I believe this kindness shown to Ice King led to him having the confidence to stand up for himself and accidentally save the world AGAIN when Betty tries to kill everyone to "save" Simon in the Elementals finale because GOD FORBID WOMEN DO ANYTHING.

(Betty is our problematic Queen, and I absolutely love how she's written. The CW could NEVER. The MCU would sooner DIE. 90% of all prestige dramas can only DREAM of having such a complex and dynamic female character.)

3. And finally, there is that most recent and possibly most vital instance of grace of all in Simon's story: the kindness, patience, and forgiveness that he finally learns to start showing to himself.

Simon's is a tale of people being kinder than they have to be and the way that changes everything. I am extremely grateful that his story culminates in him learning that kindness and self-sacrifice are NOT the same thing, and that he deserves his own kindness as much as if not more than everyone else.

SPOILERS!!

Oh my god???(Golb) there’s so much going on in these two episodes I don’t know where to start.

Okay episodic, without Simon, Marcy gets raised by her dad and turns vicious and pretentious, which contrasts with how Marshall is down to earth and doesn’t get along with his mom.

That whole episode seemed to focus on the father-daughter relationship between multiple characters: Marcy and Simon, Marshall and his mom, Fionna and Martin, and baby Finn and Martin.

Side note but really sad how Martin loved baby Finn and protected Fionna and didn’t even know they were related. Don’t even know if Fionna knows that’s her dad(mom). We also now know why Fionna has his jacket in the intro!

Of course there’s also the parallels between apocalypse Bonnie and Marcy and Marshall and Gary. Marshall and Gary are in the start of their relationship, while Bonnie and Marcy are literally at the end, as it implies they both die. While Marshall and Gary stand together and Gary sticks up for Marshall, making the sacrifice to throw his opportunity at becoming big in the baking industry away, Marcy and Bonnie make a sacrifice together by dying together.

And that leads to the second episode, the one about sacrifice. In this one we have our side plot being Simon and Betty’s love story that Simon tells Fionna to distract her. (Clearly none of them have healthy coping mechanisms.) We can see that, while Simon does love Betty, Betty made the sacrifices for Simon while Simon did nothing. Fionna even asks if Simon got on the bus with Betty while Simon seems shocked and confused as to why he would do that.

Simon has not had to make any sacrifices when it came to Betty. Another form of sacrifice we see is when BMO sacrifices himself in order to help them. And really the whole plot of this episode involves the previous one where Cake basically sacrificed her safety to try to nab the crown from the vampire king.

These episodes really focus on sacrifices and the consequences for loved ones those sacrifices make, which I find VERY interesting.

Maybe that’s why, at the end, Simon is able to FINALLY see Betty again, because he sacrificed his sanity for Fionna and Cake, even though at this point Fionna doesn’t want him to because she didn’t realize until this episode how crazy and miserable Ice King actually was.

He even says “goodbye brain” while flashback Betty says “goodbye Simon.” Maybe this symbolizes the sacrifices they made that were the hardest for them and that’s what brought them together. Or maybe Betty’s wish of keeping Simon safe stopped him from losing his mind again.

From what we’ve gathered so far, everyone in this series is miserable. Even the Lich. It seems, no matter if they get their wish, they still end up sad and alone.

Really interested in how they’ll top off this series next week!!

I have a question about your vampire au. Does Simon ever feel anything other than pure hate towards VK?

I guess I'll add a warning right now for mild discussions of domestic violence

But yeah, Simon is very much in an abusive and manipulative relationship. The crux of it is that if he behaves well, he gets to see Marceline. If he doesn't, he'll be taken away from her.

He's also aware the VK could just kill him and apologize to Marceline afterward

It's not so much that he hates the VK (though he does), but it's more so that he's afraid of the VK and very aware of their power imbalance. After all, this isn't our Ooo where the vampire king had a change of heart and wanted to be free of his vampirism. This is a world where he won and his rule is absolute.

It doesn't help that Marcy sees the vampire king as another father and views him in a much more favorable way than Simon does. But that's the insidious part- both Simon and the VK don't want her to ever find out the true complications behind their relationship.

The VK wants to keep it private because it makes his life easier, and Simon doesn't want her to know bc he's 100% confident that if she did find out, she'd rush to do something terribly reckless. And she might get hurt as a result.

And Simon, the poster boy for self-sacrifice, can't really bring himself to put Marcy in a position that'll endanger her. (Despite Marceline being an immortal, nearly-all-powerful vampire.)

Simon might do things like try to teach Marcy to eat just the color red, or secretly help Bonnie with her plans, or raise human children, but that's about the extent of his rebellion. He's spent 1,000 years in this situation and still believes that all he can really do is go along with it

I keep turning over a sad little thought in which if all of Simon's memories from the time he put on the crown were stored in it. So when he is magically separated from the crown in CAWM, he retains no memory of any of the events while he was controlled by it. One minute he was teasing Betty in the 20th century and the next he's surrounded by candy people, vampires and talking dogs. How absolutely devastating would that be to everyone involved?

Simon is in a state of shock and it probably takes him months if not years for his brain to mentally catch up with the fact that his civilization died and a new magical one sprang up in what was to him the blink of an eye. Not to mention he knows he lived and experienced in that thousand year interval but when he pokes that spot, it's all a blank. People keep talking to him like he's familiar, bringing up stories and it's like they're talking about a different person. And they ARE in a way, Simon Petrikov PhD student was a very different person after the War and the force of the crown's madness.

Can you imagine Marcy's devastation, that she gets her father figure back and he once again can't remember her? He's normal and sane but he looks at her like she's a stranger. They're back at the same point when he was Ice King. They both work at the relationship and Simon cares for her, but this man didn't raise her, didn't give up his sanity to keep her safe and keep coming back to her even when his mind was gone. They make it work but it's different than what it had been. Marcy looks at him and sees a friend and a mentor but not a father.

Finn too had slowly, despite himself, become fond of Ice King. Especially when he learned of his tragic story. They had developed a relationship and Finn was eager to meet the human behind the magic. Much of his life is defined by loss and here he experiences another one. A man he had beat up, then pitied then against all odds befriended looks at him like a lost kid. This Simon doesn't understand Ooo and Finn's status. He's a man in his 30's to 40's, it will be hard for him to see a teenager as an equal without having developed the relationship over time. He would probably try to fill in the mentor/father role like he did Marcy but Finn would feel cheated. This man was, but also wasn't, the friend Finn knew.

Just a Simon who has to crash course adjust to the literal entire forces of the world changing under his feet with no prior knowledge. He has to cope with the joy and the grief of people who loved him (this other him) dealing with his existence. He has to learn about Betty's sacrifice all over again and not really comprehend just what she went through for him to return. Simon will lie awake at night and try his hardest to remember being scared and starving in the apocalypse, losing himself to madness and becoming a joke, a pointless nuisance, for the people of this world for centuries.

He suffered under the crown but he would give anything to have those bad memories back if it meant he could actually feel connected to the new world he was trapped in.

Wow these recent episodes are really making me realize that fionna, cake, and simon are really leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. In the first world they went to Finn died. In the second, Simon died. In the third, Bonnie and Marcie are implied to have killed each other. In the last, BMO died. In each of these cases, a diverging moment around simon in the past created these fucked up apocalypse worlds and in each of them the current crew caused our favs to die. It also seems to show the worst versions of each of the characters in their respective worlds which leads to the fucked worlds too.

World by world analysis below:

Ice finn world - Simon sacrifices himself to stop the nuclear bomb which kills him and Marcie is stuck guarding his body. Finn goes to desperate lengths to protect his family (his flaw of self sacrificial heroism at any cost) and wears the crown. When current crew visits the world, Finn has moved on (due to Prismo/Finn/Jake using the Maid to get rid of the crown). However because of their search for the crown, they cause him and the Destiny gang to go head to head and for the scarab to kill him.

Snow King world - Simon/Ice King decides to put his madness onto Bonnie. This is ice king at his worst, losing all of the old simon and prioritizing himself above anyone else. When the current crew visits the world and tries to get the crown, they literally kill simon and all of the ice people and candy citizens.

Vampire world - Simon never finds Marcy or the crown. Marcy is fully seemingly apathetic to others and never really makes deeper bonds, refusing to get close. Bonnie becomes hardened and treats anyone on her team as disposable for her end goal. Both of them have their flaws to their extremes. When the current crew visits, they cause Bonnie to finally storm the castle which forces Bonnie and Marcy to stop solely homoerotic back and forth fighting and rather go all out, seemingly to kill each other.

Jerry/Litch world - Simon/Ice King left his crown in the drum. Purely hypothesis but its possible that because of this no one had the power to put a stop to the Litch, as they didn’t have all the gems. BMO is all alone, with everyone dead. He says he hasn’t seen football, which is incredibly tragic, showing that he’s also lost part of himself. The crew showing up and searching for the crown causes BMO to sacrifice himself to jump start the remote (completely unnecessarily I might add! Damn Fionna you did him dirty by not owning up to having it). This is BMO’s flaw in action as he goes to sacrificial lengths to make the others around him happy, a bit of a Hero complex as well, but mostly just wanting everyone to be okay. As the heart of the show, he usually always stays positive, but here he gives in.

This is wonderfully done by the writers of the show. I feel like this shows a number of points - the impact of an unsanctioned world and the damage Fionna/Cake can cause unintentionally, how with all of his regrets our current Simon still needed to follow this path for everything to be alright in the main world, how even though Fionna and Simon believe they’ve been dealt a bad hand and want to escape there’s actually still a lot of value in their world and its still worth trying, and what all of our favorite main characters could be at their worst but have worked on together to be better versions of themselves. It’s super interesting to see all these dynamics explored!! And very tragic honestly.

Fionna & Cake (unpopular) opinions

The series had finally ended!! It was so well written. I loved it. I loved all the easter eggs they included. But the fandom gotta fandom so a lot of opinions are around, and here are mine,

1- Marshall Lee and Gary shouldn't have dated so quickly.

It was super obvious they were a fan service (suddenly throwing away everything even though they've just met)

I HATED HOW MONOTONE MARSHALL'S VOICE WAS..... like everyone loves Donald Glover's voice acting already, but the way they kept Marshall's voice so low unlike the og made him purely a fan service imo :(

Not to even mention (i will anyways) how unlike PB Gary was. Marshall, despite being monotone, was at least as Marceline as possible. While Gary was just sweet as a candy and selfless, both which are not PB at all 😭

I honestly think like the og series they're gonna break up and date again after a while. Because in the og, they dated purely because of their admiration of each other and it ended badly because all they admired all they turned out to hate about each other until they realized what they love about each other is simply loving each other, caring a lot. I wish they didn't rush but i hope they at least get to build a romance again?? Not be a fanfiction

2- The ending was AMAZING

I don't generally like endings of series because i place too high of hopes, but this one showed me that's exactly what i was doing wrong. They wanted to live on their own, by their own, and they decided to do so. It showed to the audience that you should get to enjoy what you have instead of whining for more. Fionna spent every second of first episodes whining how her world sucked, only for her to reject any changes that could happen into it. Because she doesn't get to dictate people's lives. She may be a main character, but her world is as alive and conscious as she is.

3- Betty&Simon's closure was perfect.

Throughout the series, even the characters in it claimed what Betty&Simon had was perfect. And it was not. Just like in real life, they're not stereotypical. Betty sacrificed a lot for Simon (her life THREE times[going to find the book, travelling into the future without hesitation to find him a cure&turning into a chaos entity just to make sure he is okay] to begin with) . We have seen Simon hopelessly in love with Betty, but that was it. Simon loved Betty(even when he is about to confront her to say his thoughts, he doesn't say "thank you" or anything, he starts with the "I have been searching for a cure for you, but I couldn't find it.") That is sweet and wonderful and i am not blaming him for anything. Neither did she. Betty, after all the sacrifices, just wanted to be acknowledged. That's it. She had no regrets as she had said, which was a beautiful altogether. I loved them. Simon acknowledging Betty was not Betty being a bitch, but rather Betty getting the closure she deserves as well(honestly, a GREAT written character.). Simon got his closure as well, because he thought he had dedicated himself to Betty, but it was just him destroying his own life. I think they were perfect. Right people, right time.

4- This is Fionna&Cake's series. Not anybody else's.

People were super upset by the lack of cameo's. Even though we got a lot. Finn was in the series because Simon talked to him, and other easter egg's were because Fionna, Cake or Simon interacted with them. Not to mention Simon was there just to help Fionna&Cake, and realizing he should help himself instead of sitting and whining. This is THEIR series. Yes, would love to see more Adult Finn, PB&Marcy, FarmWorld, other worlds etc etc.. but it's not their time. It's not their issue. There were already so many many cameos and easter eggs in the show, and i'm honestly satisfied they bothered to even put so much into it.

The series was done with love&attention. I love Adventure Time. Seriously. But just like the series had showed, the decisions have been made and instead of hating what you have, you should enjoy it. We will most most likely have many more short series regarding the show in the near future, maybe with less Fionna&Cake's world but we, as the audience, got our closure. They're alive, they're happy and they are learning how to enjoy themselves.

The characters are so well written, that i cannot even imagine the writers heads through writing. The work is done with so much love that they basically wrote themselves.

A great, heartwarming and cozy series. Hope to see more in that universe in near future :)

More of my fav characters

Webby: I'm a clone of a rich guy I thought was nowhere near related to me because the woman I thought was my Grandma lied to me my whole life. Marcy: A guy I thought was my best friend betrayed me and then I betrayed other friends of mine. Leo: I died while killing the woman who killed my mother whose made of dirt and came back to life to my best friend being dead. Gus: The Emperor whose been ruling my world lied to everyone about basically everything and almost succeeded in killing all of them in a plan that took hundreds of years to make because he hates witches. Mono: My only friend betrayed me and abandoned me and left me alone for decades to rot in a TV realm that I had no way of escaping from because I keep traveling through time through the TVs to warn myself but I only end up basically killing myself because I took her and hurt her and my younger self doesn't know it's him. 12!Mikey: My Uncle, whose the Shredder, tried to kill me and my brothers a million times until we had to kill him after he killed our Dad. 18!Donnie: My Leo tried to sacrifice himself to the Kraang, which is an alien race that tried to destroy the world and almost succeeded. Actually someone had to travel through time to warn us because they... already... won... once. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh: Used to be bad. Good guy now. Lunella: I watched my entire world disappear. Frida: *In complete shock*

i've been operating on the assumption that Marceline from Winter King's world is most likely dead (the existence of Ice Marcy and WK dismissing Betty as 'the dead one' implies that Ice Marcy is probably a figment for him to play father with when he feels like it) but I have a story idea that Farmworld Finn wound up in Vampire World to help Bonnie fight the good fight and it occurred to me; what if WK Marceline WAS still alive in WK world and wound up in vampire world alongside Farmworld Finn?

it feels incredibly narratively appropriate; each of them is in their own way from a broken life and a world that isn't for them after the things they've seen or had to do; Farmworld Finn with a lifetime of loss despite not being that old, Bonnie having lost all her friends and comrades in her against the vampires, and WK Marceline would almost likely have spent all this time struggling to save her father from the monster he made himself into, and its too late. He's gone. he's never coming back. All her sacrifices were for nothing, and there's nothing left in that world for her

so here they are, in this world together, three iterations of three people bound by fate, friendship and love in different lifetimes and different worlds, come together by chance to save at least one world together.

currently working on the idea that WK Marceline is essentially her world's version of Magic Woman Betty, combing her innate demonic abilities with stolen magic she's cobbled together in an attempt to gain enough power to directly modify the crown and minds; she might not necessarily be a vampire here, though her wizard abilities grant her similar capabilities to what Our Marceline can already do

Oh my golb I am screaming and frothing in the mouth over Fionna and Cake. I am so afraid yet excited for the next episodes like

AUGH

PLEASE

IT HAS EVERYTHING I AM SOBBING

Long incomprehensible ramble ahead

Soft Petrikov, more Betty, Toxic ass hell tear each other apart Bubbline, Gumlee getting together. Fionna seeing just how fucked Simon was actually as Ice King. Seeing Simon and Betty before their relationship, absolute awkward as hell dorks, especially Simon. It HURT seeing how oblivious and dense he was, as if I needed more reasons to relate to him. And holy crab apples the call backs, the references, the continuation of stuff that was left behind before like going back to the previous universe after The Lich won?!?! THE JUMP CUT TO SUDDENLY DEAD ICE KING AND GUNTHER I DIDNT EXPECT THAT AT ALL THAT WAS INSANE.

I love seeing Fionna grapple with the effects of her actions too, from killing all those candy people, her reckless and rash behavior resulting to Martin dying and the tank crashing. She used to be so excited to be in a magical world and she started to realize it isn't like she thought it up to be. Becoming afraid to take risks because she's afraid she'll lose Cake too and holding Cake back multiple times in fear of her safety. Cake hasn't changed at all yet throughout the whole series and it ends up being a stark contrast to Fionna in the end. Cake is still being reckless and while not outwardly malicious, just wants to save their world and return it back to how it was meant to be. Not grasping the consequences that'll bring for Simon. Cake wasn't there to hear Simon's story, or be comforted by Simon the way Fionna was, She doesn't even really seem to be as hung up about how their actions has affected others. For the first time in a long time she has agency of her own. She doesn't see Simon the way Fionna does now and it doesn't help she's easily the most worst off when things aren't magical in her own universe, stuck as a mundane cat that can't talk and dependent on her owner Fionna.

I love that both Simon and Fionna hasn't realized the actions they're doing may be harming people in ways they didn't think about before and is slowly realizing it. Simon realizing how much he meant to Marcy slowly, and how he hasn't realized that his obliviousness of Betty's downright toxic tendency to throw away everything for him has doomed her to continue on acting upon it or that he's unintentionally feeding into it himself. He only saw the impulsiveness, the confident and assertive and fun Betty. He didn't even think about just how big it was to actually throw away that trip to Australia really was for her, or ever got the chance to recognize that she's sacrificing too much of herself for him. And like now, he hasn't truly grasped just how much it'll affect Betty when she learns that he's working to reverse the wish entirely to keep him safe by trying to put on the crown again. And the same for Betty too, Betty didn't consider that Simon would be in so much despair when she's gone and he's sane and alone. And how desperate Simon was for her. It sucks, they love and care about each other so much that they're willing to sacrifice everything for each other, not even thinking about how that's exactly what they DON'T want for them to do, or realize that maybe oh idk, Taking care of yourself is in itself can be an act of love for them too. Betty was so fixated on going along with whatever Simon is doing, Simon none the wiser not realizing how much she's actually sacrificing in hindsight, If he knew he would've definitely stop her, if they had the chance to grow as a couple, I could imagine that they would've worked it out, Maybe Simon could've learn to be more assertive and push for Betty to do what SHE wants, and reassuring her that HE'LL be there for HER. That it doesn't have to always be her giving everything, and just her being herself is enough. But no, that never happened because shit basically went down so hard and fast they never got the chance to grow, and learn to be more functional together. They're stuck in that infatuated love that twisted into a self destructive spiral of self sacrifice for one another, too immature to really think about how bad this is of an idea for them. But are so desperate for each other all the same. They keep getting ripped apart before coming to terms with their situation fully and learning from it.

God I hope that Fionna helps Simon realize how his own actions may have been affecting his loved ones he currently has and that he was too absorbed over his sadness and madness and self loathing that he was blinded over the fact that there's many people who still care and love him. There's people that worked so hard to save him, to get him the second chance of living after it was cut short by the madness of the crown. How that maybe trying to turn back into Ice King could be so heart breaking for not just Betty, but everyone back home to his own reality, Bonnie, Finn, Marceline especially. Betty gave him another chance at living a full life, with people he love yet he's throwing it away again and making her sacrifice null, and abandoning Marceline again too. Sure it's in service of wanting to see her again, but she was content with just him being safe.

(insert Marceline saying "He needs to take care of himself for me because I still need him." By Chili Heeler from Bluey)

And how Fionna asked if there could've been another way to save Marcy instead of putting on the crown. It kinda weirdly matches with how Simon is trying to save them by putting on the crown. And maybe there may have been a better way. And maybe with the case of Marcy there may have not been, but what about with Fionna and Cake's situation? We know that before they met Simon was just depressed and lonely, even longing to be Ice King again because things were simple and easier that way. He's not concerned about his own well being in any way at this point, The only thing that probably kept him from being outright drastic and obvious is that he knows enough that the people he cares about would worry about him if they see him trying to summon Golb/Trying to genuinely become Ice King again. So when presented with a "Good" reason to be Ice King as it'll save Fionna and Cake and return their world back to normal, He takes it immediately, doesn't even question whether there may have been another way, And maybe he thought that his loved ones wouldn't be as sad because he's totally not doing it out of despair guys it's to save Fionna and Cake!

Ok in their defense it probably is hard to try and think about an alternative way to do do while being chased but still. Simon hasn't even thought about how the others would feel about him just, Straight up missing since he believes everyone's up in their own lives and he's just forgotten sad old man.

Anyway, Petrigrof is beloved, everyone deserves a hug, I hope Baby Finn is ok, I hope I see Marceline and PB and the others back where Simon was from react. And I'm glad that Fionna recognizes atleast some of the pain Simon is going through and why he's working so hard to get back to Betty. Ngl It hurt me so much to see how Simon has been treated over how depressed he is about Betty and how everyone keeps going on and on about Ice King.

Anyway that's all for now, I shall retreat into consuming fan art of the show now.

No one asked for this but I really feel like I should go into a deep dive of why Simon Petrikov is a very personal character to me, and why I care so much about him and his themes.

This is going to probably be long, so I’m going to put a cut here. But this stuff is why you’ll likely see certain recurring themes in my writing.

First we have to talk about Simon and Marceline during the Great Mushroom War and its aftermath. Simon took Marceline on during this time, and it was just the two of them against the world. Simon did everything to protect her; even sacrificing himself and his own sanity.

He would have died of radiation poisoning without the crown, I believe. So that put even another layer of pain in there. He literally kept himself alive, and destroyed his body and mind for this little girl. All to keep safe and taken care of. That really resonated with me.

And then we have Simon in Fionna and Cake. Depressed Simon who lost the love of his life, is very sad about it, and just feels like he’s drifting through life without purpose. But even though he’s miserable and sad, he doesn’t take it out on anyone. When he gets hurt on Finn’s impromptu adventure, he doesn’t lash out at him. No, he thanks him.

He doesn’t lash out or get mean when Fionna and Cake are kind of unfair to him in the beginning, not seeing Simon as much of a person or caring for him right away. Simon had literally just met these people, and he was already on board and ready to save them, even if it meant destroying himself. Even if it meant becoming Ice King again. Just because honestly? He’s a good person, his issues aside.

He’s that person who was empathetic in every way, shape, form, and he always wanted to know if the people around him were okay, even if he himself personally wasn’t okay at all.

This all hurts me super bad and makes me want to write about Simon because it all reminds me of some parallels with my own father. Growing up, we didn’t have the easiest life- dad had his heart broke and felt like a zombie for years over it. But even so, he was always my rock. Always on my side. I never had to question if or when he would be there for me; I knew it was always permanent. He is the reason that after all these years, and all the things I’ve been through, I have not lost my mind.

In my younger years, when I was really little, it really did feel like we were stuck going through a post-apocalyptic war, just wading through the wreckage, trying to find small moments to be happy about. It wasn’t easy, but the experience, regardless of how hard it was sometimes, was beautiful. Especially now that I’m almost 26, and able to really see how much dad shaped me. And all the sacrifices that were made for me, even though he was hurting so terribly.

So that’s why Simon, and Simon and Marcy’s relationship really makes me feel things from a very deep and profound level. We need more single dads in media taking care of their young girls, because boy, did I feel heard watching those scenes years ago.

Now that I have a bit of a hyper fixation though, I plan on writing some fanfiction if I can, and a lot of the themes will be heavily found family/paternal stuff. It’s sort of my way to vent and express some of those feelings I’ve had over the years. That’s what writing is for, right?

The other thing too is that I’ll eventually be finishing and publishing a book that I’ve been working on for ages about a single father (who happens to be a monster) and his newfound little daughter, and how they face the world together. But unfortunately? I can’t really share much of that with you guys yet because I need to get it published. But I’ll tell you what- my character and Simon are very, very similar in a lot of ways. So if you end up liking my Simon/Fionna and Cake writing, you may be into what I have in store later on, when I can get around to finishing and publishing my work.

So for now! I get to vicariously share my feelings through depressed, stressed, empathetic antiquarian man. And I’m pumped for you all to be on board with me.

If you made it this far, wow, you’re cool. Thanks for reading and listening to be blab about why a little cartoon man on a show touched my soul lmao. 💕

So I finished Fionna and Cake and I've just been trying to unscramble my thoughts about the theme of Love in this 10 ep series because it's very interesting. It could be better, but what can you do with 10 eps. For what was given, it wasn't that bad. Under the cut will be rambles and vague spoilers so like read it at your own risk, it's a lot.

Anyway, Love in some of it's forms (platonic and romantic) - can be a fortune as much as it is a tragedy. Love can be a blessing or a curse. It can spiral you into madness, into sadness, into a cycle of always finding your soul mate in every universe, etc. Of course the main duo is Simon and Betty - where love becomes an obsession. Betty endured all of Simon's obliviousness, all of his decisions, all of his choices because to her, he was the best experience she could have. Love changed her and she let it. Love made her sacrifice everything and she was more than willing, regardless of if it was what Simon wanted. But with Simon, Betty was his everything and her sacrifice meant losing himself too and falling into madness and sadness because even as Ice King he was powerless to get her back. And based on every universe he went through, he was never meant to get her back which sure can drive a man further into depression when he feels like his only purpose is to get the love of his life back. Everything Betty did was for Simon and he realized that despite them both being equally obsessed, they were never on equal footing. What do you do when you love someone so much but in every reality your love ends in tragedy? You learn that you can't make one person your whole world. Loving one person can't be your everything but it can be a wonderful experience that you hold in your heart and your memory. Love is letting go so you can heal.

And then of course there's the smaller plot of Bonnie/Marcy + Gary/Marshall - They're two sides of the same coin where (queer) obsession can lead to destruction and (queer) love being the guiding light away from the abuse they started from. What is love if not taking a loved one away from their abusive home and telling them that you would love them despite it all, no matter what form they took and who they became. What is love if not mutually assured destruction, deciding that if the world will end, they will die together because they refuse to let the other die by anyone else's hand. If you are fated to find each other in every universe, wouldn't you want to make the best of it (whether that's toxic or not)?

But then there's the smaller moments that aren't highlighted as much - Fionna and Cake's relationship and how much they love each other. Multiple times Cake was willing to risk it all to save Fionna or keep them moving forward and every time Fionna would reprimand or stop her - not because the ideas were bad (more or less) but because Fionna didn't want to lose her best friend. Yes Fionna had been depressed for majority of the series (especially after the Winter King ep) but it's not until Cake lashes out does she actually just start bawling. There's so much loss and having the one constant at your side can have one mistaking love for control and not the desperation it really was for Fionna.

ANYWAY there are a lot of interesting moments in this series that I do wish were fleshed out more but again, what can you do about it. I've also typed myself in a circle and don't know if this makes sense but that doesn't matter. I know the vibe I'm getting at.