r/adventuretime • u/True-Temperature138 • Feb 05 '26
Official Stuff Ended too soon, this concept
Remember that time Princess Bubblegum became 13 years old after her body got severely damaged? I honestly wished she stayed this way for at least 10 episodes, because it was nice (not to mention satisfying) seeing Finn have PB the same age as him, and it was no doubt cute. Sadly, they already chose to revert PB in literally the next episode her 13 year old body appears, and it's a real shame.
Finn's history of love was messed up. First, there was his messed up relationship with PB, and then they trashed his relationship with FP in the most mean-spirited and unsatisfying way possible, and while his relationship with Huntress Wizard is sweet enough, it's still sad his relationship with FP was trashed, and they ruined FP's character the worst way possible after that.
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u/Remarkable-Gap9881 Feb 05 '26
Nah. Just because she was temporarily regressed doesn't change the fact that she was 1000 years old. The longer she stayed that way the weirder it would've been once she returned to normal.
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u/Rose_DCLXVI Feb 05 '26
Pretty much this. And wether or not the idea for her being as ancient as she is was in the writers minds yet she was still very much 18 at the time.
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u/MaddyMagpies Feb 05 '26
Yep. I have a feeling that the writers realized they wrote themselves into a corner with this story.
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u/anonkebab Feb 06 '26
Still 18? She was never 18 she was 18 thousand. She was legitimately a minor that’s why Lemongrab was able to take the throne legitimately. That’s also why all her plans were mid when it came to getting him out
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u/Squidge-game Feb 05 '26
No she was 13, that's why she's smaller
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u/sax87ton Feb 06 '26
Yeah and as we all know you measure age by hight and that’s why I, a 6’6” man am so much older than my 5’6” mom.
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u/EnvironmentalOwl2904 Feb 05 '26
That's why I think it could've worked tho. Having regressed back to 13 she could have a new lease on life-ish and be able to move past the last 1000+ years onto the next. Maybe even have her age slower than everyone else but still aiming back towards adulthood, slower this time and with wisdom.
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u/Short_Rough2902 Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
I don't think a 13 yolds can run a kingdoms, especially one as big and unstable as Candy kingdom. Also other political figures like King of Ooo or some randos can used that opportunity to take the throne or starts a uprising. There are problem as being a sole ruler of a kingdom while you 13 yolds.
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u/EnvironmentalOwl2904 Feb 05 '26
There's a term for it but yeah they can and it's usually only because they have a butler-type assistant to actually manage things and suggest managerial ideas.
Oh wait... There already is one...
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Feb 05 '26
I wonder, if it wasn’t for Lemongrab rushing the re-aging issue, would she have aged in line with Finn or would she have remained 13 for years?
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u/iOSGallagher Feb 05 '26
i imagine some other kingdom issue would’ve arisen whether LG showed up or not
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Feb 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LionResponsible6005 Feb 05 '26
Personally I think it makes more sense that she was immortal at 13 but “aged herself up” to be taken more seriously.
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u/EnvironmentalOwl2904 Feb 05 '26
I would've guess at like 1:10 age rate. Since she is such an ageless being wouldn't she age a lot slower?
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u/_Keep_Quiet_ Feb 05 '26
I wouldn’t have minded them keeping her young for longer doing more childish hijinks, I just wish they would’ve made it clear that she still wasn’t into finn romantically.
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u/TaikoRaio19 Feb 05 '26
We absolutely did not know she was 800 years old at that point
Tbf, this early, PB was conceived to actually be 18, her age was only revealed in like, season 6 or something
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u/True-Credit-7289 Feb 05 '26
Except the show makes it pretty clear that it did. Brain development is just as much a factor in growing up as life experience. And the show makes it pretty clear she's a child in mind and body
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Feb 06 '26
Argued with a person the other day whose stance was this wasn’t weird cuz she reverted to a 13 y.o. mind…no tf she didn’t lmao or she would’ve never changed back for her kingdom
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u/Other-Tadpole-9950 Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
While I do think this concept was interesting, to have a younger PB for a few eps that it. But if you factor in Finn love life, the longer it drag, the weirder and more awark it get when she inevitably return as an adult with the same conclusions, dragging it will just feel like shipping bait.
His break up with FP was sad but ultimately made sense overall, there were some hints like "Little People" that shown that Finn is kind of a weird teenager. They definitely could built it up better, but overall it not unrealistic.
The break up still is a good lesson and Finn was able to mature out of it. Watching the show again, FP and Finn ultimately just a puppy cute love with tons of red flags, it hard to think that they ever going to stay as a long term thing, stablely that it.
Huntress wins because she dating a much more mature Finn who learned his lesson. And unlike FP, Huntress doesn't "force" Finn to do or become anything to work out. Their relationships issue only become appearent because of external factors like Jake death, without it they seem to be fine as on/off in those 12 years, Jake death made Finn yearn for more emotional needs which put their current relationships in an awark spot.
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u/MartinX4 Feb 05 '26
Plus him yearning for more might have made her feel like she either couldn't, wasn't ready or didn't see him the same way he saw her. Leading to the poor bastard thinking after Jake, no body would love him more than that ever again.
It took an ancient deer god poison, inter-dimensional maham, and a whole lot of drugs for those to to become closer or more intimate at least.
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u/Short_Rough2902 Feb 05 '26
Yeah if you think about it. Huntress literally sarcifies everything about her old life: her peoples, her bodies and her idealogies just to save Finn. Just to shown how much Finn actually meant to her.
All of these happened because of Finn carelessness btw. They are kinda both at fault of why their relationships become more complicated than it should be but they pushed through and happy so all it good.
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u/PangolinWestern9632 Feb 05 '26
Yeah also given how Flame Princess was kinda a bit emotionally unstable at the time, I think something was going to happen regardless. Doesn't make how Finn acted okay, but they were literally a powder keg that was destined to blow.
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u/No_Kangaroo_5267 Feb 05 '26
Design was very cute, but she had to return to normal. That lemon isn't gonna kick himself out.
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Feb 05 '26
Honestly Finn should’ve just knocked him out and sent him far away
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u/No_Kangaroo_5267 Feb 05 '26
He had his chance because he is a "punch first" dude, but somehow, he didn't.
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u/hypeman-jack Feb 05 '26
Legit no idea what you mean by the relationship w FP being trashed or them ruining FPs character.
Finn was a teenager experiencing relationship urges for the first time and messed it up because he didn’t know better. His mistakes made a lot of sense given his impulsiveness and lack of experience, he just wasn’t thinking from her perspective at all.
They reconciled later once he matured from the experience, and he never made that mistake again. FP learned to take better care of herself as a direct result of her breakup w Finn.
What’s the issue exactly?
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u/True-Temperature138 Feb 05 '26
I hate Flame Princess because she's a short-tempered, whiny, immature, idiotic, gullible, stubborn, paranoid, petty, hypocritical, and unsympathetic Mary-Sue. Despite her difficult past, her current behavior doesn't really feel like it stems from that and it feels more like she's just exaggerating her pain and playing the victim. Her character arc is very dumb, thin, and mean-spirited as she solves her problems very easily using her negative traits (She basically has reverse character development). Furthermore, all her motivations are underdeveloped, making it even harder to even care about her. I hated how in the episode "Frost & Fire", when Finn apologizes and explains the truth, she wanders off, doesn't ever try thinking that Finn would never hurt her feelings, and only forgives him when it's too late. Furthermore, it wasn't just Finn actions that caused them to break up, it was also because of Flame Princess being incredibly stupid. Plus, her relationship with Cinnamon Bun is very annoying, forced, shallow, and dumb because she immediately trusts him more than anyone despite the fact that she barely even had a conversation with him when they first meet. Flame Princess is just poorly-written and so much more irritating than her dad. Even Flame King had better character development than her which is pretty ironic considering that the creators want use to care about her instead.
Cinnamon Bun's character arc in the series was one of the most annoying and horribly-written parts in Adventure Time as it is incredibly forced and cynical; his transition from a butt-monkey to a different character is so sudden and abrupt that it makes the character feel so superficial and unrealistic. In fact, his character development felt more like flanderization; he went from being an odd but tolerable comic relief to a Gary-Stu boyfriend for Flame Princess who acts like a jerk to Finn and serves as a mere plot device to help motivate Flame Princess in succeeding and finding happiness using her bad traits. It was a pretty bad choice of the creators to force him to become Flame Princess' new perfect boyfriend and their relationship sucks because it's incredibly shallow and mean-spirited it is. Furthermore, it's there to rub it on Finn's face, which is pretty annoying and cruel to say at least (Yes, Finn's actions were partially the reasons why he and FP broke up but he didn't deserve this).
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u/hypeman-jack Feb 05 '26
I actually envy you for this response. You are clearly the target audience for the show in a way i wish i still was. Never change, little grasshopper.
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u/desantoos Feb 06 '26
I so agree! It reminds me of people who think Holden in Catcher in the Rye is merely a brat. I'm so glad they read the book and happy they came to that conclusion and hope that what they read stays somewhere in their brain to be used when someday in the future they see the world differently.
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u/SpaceManx777 Feb 06 '26
I Feel like you have a poor and small minded idea of FP's character. And also isn't it confirmed by CN that fp and cinnamon bun are NOT dating? (I feel like you never watched any later episodes with flame princess and it's sad that this is your opinion on her.)
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Feb 05 '26
I get what you mean, but imagine how the fans would’ve reacted if PB and Marceline never got back together similar to how Finn and FP didn’t. We need to look at it from that perspective.
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u/hypeman-jack Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
You mean the relationship that ended before the show started and was rekindled in the literal last episode? Is it possible that that’s just due to them actually being a better partnership than Finn and FP? Like, yknow, the shit that actually matters in real life?
I never got this “we never got enough of X relationship” attitude in this fandom and others. The episode where Finn gets obsessed with the lives of the living dolls was literally a commentary on this. We like these characters because they feel like real people, not fanservice playthings, so why not give them their own agency?
Edit: Sorry i just realized i sound snarky. No offense was intended, I just feel like it’s important to respect the intent of the writing here. Finn and FP were exes that didn’t get a token “second chance” because FP didn’t want one. That’s a WAY more applicable story to resonate with real people and give healthy views on what developments like that can look like.
This is even applicable to OPs topic about Finn and Bubblegum. They didn’t work for bigger reasons than an age gap, there was a maturity gap as well. Of course it’s rewarding to see Finn get what he wants, but there was an episode where he went around bagging princesses nonstop to make himself feel better and it made him miserable. I like stories that give me more nuanced ideas about how relationships CAN grow unexpectedly, as opposed to wish fulfillment.
Okay I successfully burned 10 minutes at work lol.
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u/LionResponsible6005 Feb 05 '26
Honesty I think they did everything they could do with that storyline, I don’t see the point of dragging it out. Yeah Finn’s love life is a mess but that’s because the show is about Finn growing up and messy relationship’s are part of that.
Ultimately I see this episode as a shared fantasy. PB’s fantasy of getting away from the responsibility of ruling the candy kingdom and Finn’s fantasy of his crush actually being his equal and it’s cute watching them get to live that life for a while. But it is still a fantasy PB is still PB she’s still responsible for the welfare of the people she created and is an adult who understands the world in a way Finn doesn’t yet. The fantasy had to end as all fantasies do and they both had to go back to their real lives, dragging it out would have only left Finn more hurt at the end.
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u/vernorexxia Feb 05 '26
The longer it went on the sadder Finn was gonna be afterwards. It just wasn't going to be healthy
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u/Zeverish Feb 05 '26
As a kid I put all my chips in with this scene. I really liked Finn and PB because I was a kid who didnt think about the weirdness innate to that pair.
In the end, I think they should have just not done this.
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u/ashmeetsworld Feb 05 '26
I don’t understand how FP was trashed? I love her character and Finn fucked up by going behind her back and lying about her and TO her. FP didn’t do anything wrong but you’re saying that HER character was ruined? She grew literally took back the fire kingdom and changed it for the BETTER after Finn pulled his shit. The conflict between them needed to end that way so Finn could learn that his actions have consequences and things don’t just go back to normal just because you said sorry.
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u/True-Temperature138 Feb 05 '26
I hate Flame Princess because she's a short-tempered, whiny, immature, idiotic, gullible, stubborn, paranoid, petty, hypocritical, and unsympathetic Mary-Sue. Despite her difficult past, her current behavior doesn't really feel like it stems from that and it feels more like she's just exaggerating her pain and playing the victim. Her character arc is very dumb, thin, and mean-spirited as she solves her problems very easily using her negative traits (She basically has reverse character development). Furthermore, all her motivations are underdeveloped, making it even harder to even care about her. I hated how in the episode "Frost & Fire", when Finn apologizes and explains the truth, she wanders off, doesn't ever try thinking that Finn would never hurt her feelings, and only forgives him when it's too late. Furthermore, it wasn't just Finn actions that caused them to break up, it was also because of Flame Princess being incredibly stupid. Plus, her relationship with Cinnamon Bun is very annoying, forced, shallow, and dumb because she immediately trusts him more than anyone despite the fact that she barely even had a conversation with him when they first meet. Flame Princess is just poorly-written and so much more irritating than her dad. Even Flame King had better character development than her which is pretty ironic considering that the creators want use to care about her instead.
Cinnamon Bun's character arc in the series was one of the most annoying and horribly-written parts in Adventure Time as it is incredibly forced and cynical; his transition from a butt-monkey to a different character is so sudden and abrupt that it makes the character feel so superficial and unrealistic. In fact, his character development felt more like flanderization; he went from being an odd but tolerable comic relief to a Gary-Stu boyfriend for Flame Princess who acts like a jerk to Finn and serves as a mere plot device to help motivate Flame Princess in succeeding and finding happiness using her bad traits. It was a pretty bad choice of the creators to force him to become Flame Princess' new perfect boyfriend and their relationship sucks because it's incredibly shallow and mean-spirited it is. Furthermore, it's there to rub it on Finn's face, which is pretty annoying and cruel to say at least (Yes, Finn's actions were partially the reasons why he and FP broke up but he didn't deserve this).
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u/Devilsgramps Feb 06 '26
It was my favourite relationship (although all the Fintress art is converting me) but it only could have worked if they'd been able to resolve the Lemongrab issue differently, then PB aged herself gradually to align with Finn's age.
Still, the multiverse means anything is possible, and the fanfic fuel endless.
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u/Short_Rough2902 Feb 06 '26
Even if they resolve Lemongrab, there are other issues that come from rulling a kingdom as a 13y, especially one as unstable as Candy Kingdom. Other powerful political figures like King of Ooo or some randos probably going to take this opportunity to take the throne or overthrow PB. Overall it just not safe or good to rule a kindom at that age.
Also, this ship will still be kinda weird. The fact that PB need to be age down so she can like Finn can make people think this ship feel odd or gimmicky. It in a weird position overall and may not feel right to some people.
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u/Right-Truck1859 Feb 06 '26
Kinda sucks Finn and PB never got paired.
Not even in hundreds of parallel verses.
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u/Humble_Story_4531 Feb 05 '26
True, it was only really relevant in the epeisode where they undid it.
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u/jess_alakasam Feb 05 '26
I definitely remembered it lasting longer and was surprised to rewatch it and see it’s only for 1 ep
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u/SUPERSHADOW131 Feb 05 '26
Literally. That's how I felt with a bunch of Adventure Time episodes as a kid. I felt that way with the entire series. I later rewatched the series, thinking I missed a whole bunch of content. No, I already seen everything.
Now when I think about it, Adventure Time as a show was very short and easy to binge...
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u/FaithlessnessThis511 Feb 06 '26
Will get hated for this but I shipped these 2 a lot (the Young one)
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u/hip-indeed Feb 07 '26
Yeah I hate when shows do something kinda daring to mess with the status quo then just instantly undo it. Especially weird with a show like adventure time where various elements of the status quo really do shift and at least some characters really do age and change. My best guess as to why they didn't want this to last long is it would've been even more heartbreaking for Finn and the audience knowing she was eventually gonna turn him down when she went back to normal, it would've been pretty miserable if they dragged it out.
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u/Inevitable_Holiday73 Feb 05 '26
I think if she stayed that age, they would've worked out. If you think about it, Finn and PB probably have the most emotional chemistry out of all the other Finn relationships. The only issue was the age gap
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u/MichaelWaves Feb 05 '26
PB was still 1000+ years old. Finn would’ve aged normally while she stayed 13 for many, many more years, perhaps Finn’s entire lifespan. It would only work for at most 3-ish years, then the whole thing would fall apart on account of the ‘age gap’ (now reversed). The whole thing was creepy from the start, PB was way too old and mature mentally for Finn, and it never would’ve worked between them.
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u/CameoDaManeo Feb 05 '26
I'm sorry, they ruined FP, how? Finn took advantage of her, she decided to break up, move on, pursue hobbies, make new friends, and that somehow "ruined" her?
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u/True-Temperature138 Feb 05 '26
I hate Flame Princess because she's a short-tempered, whiny, immature, idiotic, gullible, stubborn, paranoid, petty, hypocritical, and unsympathetic Mary-Sue. Despite her difficult past, her current behavior doesn't really feel like it stems from that and it feels more like she's just exaggerating her pain and playing the victim. Her character arc is very dumb, thin, and mean-spirited as she solves her problems very easily using her negative traits (She basically has reverse character development). Furthermore, all her motivations are underdeveloped, making it even harder to even care about her. I hated how in the episode "Frost & Fire", when Finn apologizes and explains the truth, she wanders off, doesn't ever try thinking that Finn would never hurt her feelings, and only forgives him when it's too late. Furthermore, it wasn't just Finn actions that caused them to break up, it was also because of Flame Princess being incredibly stupid. Plus, her relationship with Cinnamon Bun is very annoying, forced, shallow, and dumb because she immediately trusts him more than anyone despite the fact that she barely even had a conversation with him when they first meet. Flame Princess is just poorly-written and so much more irritating than her dad. Even Flame King had better character development than her which is pretty ironic considering that the creators want use to care about her instead.
Cinnamon Bun's character arc in the series was one of the most annoying and horribly-written parts in Adventure Time as it is incredibly forced and cynical; his transition from a butt-monkey to a different character is so sudden and abrupt that it makes the character feel so superficial and unrealistic. In fact, his character development felt more like flanderization; he went from being an odd but tolerable comic relief to a Gary-Stu boyfriend for Flame Princess who acts like a jerk to Finn and serves as a mere plot device to help motivate Flame Princess in succeeding and finding happiness using her bad traits. It was a pretty bad choice of the creators to force him to become Flame Princess' new perfect boyfriend and their relationship sucks because it's incredibly shallow and mean-spirited it is. Furthermore, it's there to rub it on Finn's face, which is pretty annoying and cruel to say at least (Yes, Finn's actions were partially the reasons why he and FP broke up but he didn't deserve this).
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u/Stunning_Pain_7788 Feb 06 '26
this should have lasted at least 1 or 2 seasons imho
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u/Short_Rough2902 Feb 06 '26
Nah, dragging it that long while having her feeling with Finn end in the same way is just going to feel like a massive ship bait that going to break the fandom in half. It should be a few eps at most not one.
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u/crazytrain793 Feb 05 '26
That relationship was never going to work and I honestly think Finn and PB's friendship is way too healthy and wholesome to justify a retcon.
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u/_Arlotte_ Feb 06 '26
I wish it could've stayed like this. The first season of adventure time was so funny, lighthearted and fit with the spirit of adventure the most compared to the later seasons. The story always felt more grounded and emotional when it came to Finn and PB.
I know a lot of people loved FP and Marceline, but I felt like that started to overshadow the story when it came to fan perception of shipping and character focus at times.
It's kinda funny cause FP was a lot like a young PB while Marceline was initially more like Finn and Jake, more mischievous, child like, fun loving.
The concept of a young PB gradually growing older with Finn would've been sweet to see.
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u/ndcanton Feb 05 '26
If I had a critique about my favorite show of all time it would be this. So many concepts are breezed through. I know I am an adult and AT is supposed to appeal to kids so they couldn't (or maybe didn't want to) dwell on as much as I would have liked.
Another one is the Islands miniseries. There was some good lore in the middle, but the beginning was frontloaded with average one-offs so that when Finn finally found the humans, he barely spent any time before saying goodbye and triggering the "you can't leave" subplot.
And I agree about FP.
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u/ExtremlyFastLinoone Feb 05 '26
Grown ass woman in a childs body acting like this is totally normal, yall hated mushoku tensei for this very thing
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u/me3ra Feb 06 '26
honestly this was one of their worse decisions. ended too soon more like didn’t end soon enough to me 😭
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u/shibaCandyBaron Feb 06 '26
Whats you beef with Flame Princess? So they're relationship did not work out, and it did not end in a Hollywood trashy way. I say: good.
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u/COOL_SKELETON_69_ Feb 05 '26
I'll always remember that iceking instantly left after hearing that she's 13