#i need to see GolBetty NOW!!!!

[voided-selfships]

GUYS I CANT WAIT TWO DAYS TO SEE MY CRINGEFAIL FIANCES

[j4gm]

SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 10: CHEERS

The finale!

Pawn Swan! This was another character who first appeared in Steve Wolfhard's post-finale loredump about the 1000+ world. I never expected to actually see him in the show.

Nuts how this is like the third time we've seen Simon's ass. I love how Shermy is just chilling and playing video games while GOLB lets this random old man take a turn at the wheel.

This establishing shot of Fionnaworld shows that it's very small. By the time it is restored at the end of the episode, this ominous white border is gone and there are more buildings, implying that it became a complete world.

I can't believe Gary was thirsting after Scarab in this situation.

There is a shop called Evergree Flowers; likely a reference to the episode Evergreen.

This shop window advertises that you can learn to kick bugs. Appropriately enough, Cake kicks Scarab through this shop window while in her Godzilla form.

The Betty statue has become GOLBetty.

It should be clear by this point that Casper and Nova are a parallel to Simon and Betty, with all of their decisions being made by Casper with little consideration for Nova due to their unbalanced power dynamic. This is why Simon realises that he should have been more considerate of Betty's dreams, rather than single-mindedly chasing the Enchiridion and the crown.

The credits confirm that genderswapped Ash is named Ashley. I wonder what happened to her after she fell into the void. Probably nothing good.

Poor Marshall never gets to finish his songs. Truly he is the genderswapped Marceline.

The name "GOLBetty" is now canon; Simon uses it in this scene.

I'm not sure what's happening to GOLBetty here. A loose thread to pick up if this story ever gets a continuation, perhaps.

Simon steps through several different universes, including all the ones we saw during this miniseries. I'm not sure what this world full of tiny bears is meant to be.

Some kind of industrial capitalist hell universe.

This is the Water Park Prank artstyle, implying that Water Park Prank takes place in a separate but canon universe. So Water Park Prank is now canonically canonical! (what a ridiculous phrase)

Some kind of Jake universe.

A universe featuring Magwood and his volcano lair, from the episode Evergreen.

The snail! It's not dead after all. And it's a great way of symbolising a return to regular Ooo, as is the reappearance of the smiley butterfly.

This was a strange selection of characters. I hope Jay hasn't left his younger siblings on their own if their dad is dead. At least baby Finn won't have to grow up in Vampworld, though part of me liked imagining what that would have been like.

Fionna mentions that his is her top fantasy. The other two of her top three fantasies were Cake being able to talk and a kingdom made of candy.

She gets a hammer, like she had in the dream sequence at the very beginning of the miniseries.

Kheirosiphon goes back to working in a teashop, just like he did on The Drift before he was imprisoned by Scarab. Also Marshall's outfit here is incredibly gay, it's great.

There is an ad here for a daddy issues themed comedy night. Sounds like Marceline's kind of place.

Prismo's face glitches for a second. Ominous.

Simon definitely needs to move out. This is probably an even more important realisation than coming to understand his influence over Betty.

In the credits of this episode, Simon is finally at peace.

And with that, the miniseries is over! Back to the long wait. Will this be it for Adventure Time? Or is there yet more to come...

[sunrise-imagines]

I have a big fat crush on Simon and Finn would you please do some hcs for either of them

Since I’ve already done some for Finn, I think now is a good time to write a little for Simon! Watching him become the latest Tumblr Sexyman™️ has been a dream come true.

*Ending contains spoilers for the last two episodes of Fionna and Cake*

TW: Trauma (this is Simon “‘My fiancé turned into a cosmic deity’ ‘That’s rough buddy’” Petrikov we’re dealing with), mentions of Depression, hurt/comfort

Simon Petrikov x Reader General Relationship Headcanons

• Oh boy, this one’s a doozy.

• Please be patient with him. He is a mess of a person currently, still dealing with the grief of losing Betty and feeling like he doesn’t belong in Ooo no longer being magic. He gets so wrapped up in his sadness that he can neglect the relationships he has in the present. This gets much better after the ending though.

• Self care days are a must, please just pamper this man with a nice hot bath and a massage every once in a while.

• Really good cook, he loves making food for you and it makes him feel like he can actually take care of you.

• He worries about you a lot, especially if you’re someone that likes to take risks and do dangerous stuff.

• He’s a big nerd so he gets excited if you share interests in stuff like science and literature.

• Although he doesn’t like to go on life-threatening adventures (Finn), he still loves the exploring the outdoors and the two of you regularly go for hikes around the safer parts of Ooo.

• Will be very happy if you also have a good friendship with Marceline, seeing his partner and adoptive daughter interact touches his heart.

• Such a simp for you, like if you ask him for anything he will make it his mission to fulfill your request

• His love language is definitely words of affirmation. He needs you to tell him how much you care about him and he loves saying the same to you. He could go on for hours about every little thing he loves about you.

• Marcy and Bonnie will come over for dinner a few times a week, sometimes joined by Finn and HW as well.

• He hates celebrating his own birthday (he’s turning 60) but he loves yours and will definitely bake you a cake and throw small birthday party for you. The party only consists of a few close friends but if you don’t like parties he’s perfectly fine with it being just the two of you.

• At first he wasn’t sure if you would even want to date an old man like him, but as time went on he became more confident in himself and that he deserves love just as much as anyone else, and he’s more than happy to share that love with you.

Bonus!

• Despite her current state, GolBetty is immensely happy seeing Simon finally able to move on and be happy.

• Even if they never got their happy ending, the fact that you and him are able to live happily together brings her peace, and she trusts you to take care of him.

[elasticitymudflap]

you know, i do find it kind of interesting that betty literally said 'goodbye' to him in all versions of the bus scene/the car scene, at the time fully intending that it was goodbye, except for here...

just thinking aloud here that, symbolically, she's getting on the bus for that 6 month trip. an experience, though long, she was always meant to come back from.

in the perspective of an omnipresent being like golbetty, she would probably have the insight to know if something really was 'goodbye forever', and yet this specific "goodbye" is done through the story of letting someone "go do their own things" for awhile. i think that a "goodbye forever" would have been more appropriate to have in a setting like golb's guts, mirroring the cosmic gate scene with casper and nova. instead, they're back to a point in their lives where their fates were still changeable, although now able to see it through the lens of lived experience.

she may not be going to australia (australians feel free to weigh in on that), but the point is that she's going somewhere he can't reasonably follow her right now, and he has to make peace with it.

and maybe this is the equivalent to them of doing their own things for awhile; being a human, being a god, living, dying, reincarnating, being whatever and whenever, learning and growing until cosmically they can find each other again on equal footing, both the better for having experienced these things as individuals.

i have to believe she isn't golb-bound forever, because what meaning and power does her wish have once simon is no longer in need of saving?

i think betty is now, for all intents and purposes, "free" to go do her own things for awhile. and like a dandelion seed, she's sent him off into the breeze to go find a place in this world to plant himself and grow. and sometimes we need to be apart in order to grow, but that doesn't mean it's "goodbye" forever, just for now.

[lilycat23]

I get why people felt like this when we didn't know better, but I think people are holding on very tightly to Simon and Betty and this perfect couple and I think they just aren't that. If your up to date on Fionna and cake I feel it's quite clear that this was not a healthy relationship. Betty threw herself into this relationship and gave up everything for Simon. She gave up her own dreams for a man she has a big celebrity crush on and think that if Simon didn't put on the crown, they may not have lasted and if they did Betty may not have ended up happy. Simon is a good person but he is also self centred and in response to Fionna saying "oh so you went with her" about Betty's trip he starts to say "No why would I..". He doesn't consider that maybe this wasn't healthy for Betty he was focused on the romance of the moment and there's the whole weird college student teacher power dynamic.

I was uncomfortable learning that Betty abandoned her plans for Simon in the season 10 adventure time episode when we see her past self and I think this series is going to end with Simon accepting that what they had was a short exciting romance that was special but it was probably wasn't going to work out long term. Simon needs to live for himself now and for Marcy. I want Simon and golbetty to be happy and I think to do that they need to both let each other go.

[petrikovphd]

My cohesive thoughts on the finale (petrigrof), very long, please read and feel free to leave comments! Full breakdown of what I think happened (everything is nuanced)

I want to begin with a thought. GOLBetty cannot speak to Simon out loud. One good blow was enough to send Simon all of the way to Ooo. When he went to put on that crown, after talking to her, she needed to do something rash to stop him. I think that's why she made Simon take control of Shermy's body.

We could all see how focused he was on finding the crown. He thought it was the right thing to do. He wasn't going to stop, and she couldn't yell to get his attention. His eyes were closed. He was ignoring what she sacrificed for him, her mortal life, in favor of the crown. He wasn't prioritizing his own life, either, now. He said it himself. Once he was in Shermy's body, he was still so desperate to find that crown.

In the game, we see Casper show that same drive to find the crown. Time and time again, Simon sides with Casper because Casper is a direct parallel to Simon's desires both now and, I'd imagine, during his expedition to find the crown in the first place with Betty originally.

I'm theorizing that the book game, altogether, was placed into that universe by GOLBetty herself. It was written by and created to directly communicate with Simon.

She can't talk, after all.

She's baited him with the information about the crown to make him consider all of the sacrifice she's made for him to get this far. She's made her point.

I don't think that the point was that Simon made her do all of those things, just as Casper didn't ask Nova to jump into that doorway. Those were just the only two options they knew of. They either did do it, or they didn't. As Simon said, he wished that there was another third option. A better option.

I think that comment, and Nova throwing herself in the doorway, is a direct callback to Betty becoming GOLB in the first place. Simon didn't ask her to stay there with the crown and make her wish. Betty chose that. Nova chose to grab the door to help Casper.

They both considered their lives unworthy in the face of someone else's.

Simon didn't want Betty to die. Betty didn't want Simon to forget her forever. There was no better third option. That was just where their choices led them.

He realizes that Betty was always making those sacrifices for him, and, as soon as he can speak to her, Simon is desperate to apologize. He's desperate to tell her that he's sorry, that he didn't want any of this, that he should've known better and not stood by and let her let him call the shots.

That wasn't his fault, though.

He thought back on that memory of the bus stop, and GOLBetty took that as another chance to communicate with him. She used that as an opportunity to speak to him again. To let him talk to her again, to agree to go on the trip-... but it didn't make him feel better.

Simon didn't get on that bus. That wasn't realistic. That wasn't an option. He didn't have a ticket, he wasn't registered- It was either she got to go alone, or he made her stay behind.

Simon's showing Betty that he's going to be more thoughtful going forward.

He's letting her go on her trip, this time. He's letting her discover herself, and he's taking the time to discover himself too.

GOLBetty being shown on that bus, and the destination changing, shows that she's going to do what she wants now to.

She's a god now. She made that decision on her own, and she has no regrets- she doesn't want Simon to keep killing himself inside out of guilt and trying to fix him for the rest of his life. She wants him to live his life while she's away. To, metaphorically, go on that expedition on his own while she's on her research trip.

They'll meet again someday.

Until then,

The dandelion metaphor extends to Simon being blown away as well. GOLBetty is wishing for him to keep going. She's sending him home with the knowledge that they're equals now. They've communicated now. They've said everything that's unsaid. They both might've been able to do better, but things happened the way that they did, and they're both going to keep going.

Their love was a great experience, but they're on different planes of existence now. They're still living on. Until they meet again. This might look like a goodbye, sure, but GOLB is everywhere that chaos lurks. Betty is everywhere in the universe.

I think she'll still keep him safe.

He's GOLB's favorite, now, and he'll get butterfly kisses and happy coincidences from the universe for sure.

Where is Betty going? Who knows. Maybe he'll see her again.

[flying-bear-tv]

Some stuff i noticed in the fionna and cake finale + betty theroy

# 1 Prismo's face glitch

This one is pretty self explanatory. for a frame prismos face glitches for no reason. I cant think of something we have seen that would explain this.

#2 After credits apple

After the credits there is a short animation of two shapes morphing into an apple. I thought this was a logo or something unrelated at first so I reversed image searched the apple but I couldn't find anything. So if its not related to a company it should be related to the show right? The shapes and bow for sure remind me of golbetty and apples have appeared multiple times (mostly use to shrink in size) This probably is important.

#3 Season One

The image on the left is a promotional poster for the show. On the bottom it gives the date episodes will start airing. Notice the lack of "Season One" near the top. The image on the right Is for the show's soundtrack which was released yesterday. All im gonna say is if I were producing a 10 episode miniseries I wouldn't want to specifically label it as season one if there was only one season.. And I definitely wouldn't only put that on promotional materials AFTER the season was done airing. I bet $72 there will be a season 2.

OKEY GUYS IT TIME TO TALK ABOUT BETTY1!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!! :]

Adventure time season 6 episode 43. The Comet. yea im bringing this up.

I saw a post saying this means "comet". It has the same number of characters as the bus sign but I no idea where they found how to read this. I think it makes sense though and I'll tell you why

As Simon is flying away from golbetty he sees her do this .. Notice the color of the light (electricity?? fire?) I also think she changes shape a bit. the image on the left is her when she first electricitys herself and the image one the right is a few seconds later. I'm not gonna draw any conclusions on why this is right now.

Now back to Adventure Time ;]

In The Comet finn witnesses several of his reincarnations. The two shown are a comet and a butterfly.

Now IF the bus is saying golbettys destination is "comet" this HEAVILY implies reincarnation as comets are directly tied to this in adventure time. Also notice how the electricity golbetty is using is THE EXACT SAME FUCKING COLOR AS THE COMET. And what does simon wake up to after seeing golbetty do that.

A FUCKING BUTTERFLY I AM GOING TO LOSE IT. she is kissing him

I think what happened is by Simon and Betty both moving on from their toxic yuri relationship Betty's wish to keep simon safe was realized. Because tbh the thing that was mostly likely to hurt Simon was his own indifference to life and tendency to self sacrifice. I mean, he was completely ready to say goodbye to his sanity multiple times JUST that episode.

This allowed Betty to separate from golb because she no longer needed its power. She gave simon and kiss, and then fucked off to do butterfly shit.

Even if im wrong this show was so beautiful TvT I really needed it. I totally understand if yall are disappointed because simon and betty didn't get a happy ending together but. They really needed to move on. And who knows.. maybe we'll get a season two ;) bye

Oh and the scarab fight scene was way too long and bringing jay and little destiny back was weird and forced.

[redrobin-detective]

Simon and Betty Roles and Relationships

So I watched the F&C finale and I, personally, loved it to bits but I can see some early rumblings of dissatisfaction. I can't say I got everything I wanted more Simon and Marcy dammit but I felt everyone's arcs resolved well. Especially Simon and Betty's. Allow me to ramble at length.

What really became clear to me in episode 9 is how much F&C Simon and Betty's relationship is a complete role reversal of their AT selves/relationship.

In both cases, you had one who was - through their own conscious actions - cursed to a non-human existence where they didn't have complete control of their thoughts or actions. They are separated from all their loved ones, including their True Love, and given relatively little agency in their own story.

And then you had the other, who watched their love become this non-human entity where they couldn't meaningfully interact. They become obsessed, consumed with saving their True Love, going as far as to ignore having a potential future in Ooo along with kidnapping and doing sketchy magic.

They got trapped in this tragic cycle of loss and insanity trying to save each other and all it did was cost their own happiness. What GOLBetty was trying to tell Simon was that they both made mistakes as humans in the past (her wrapping her entire life around Simon's to the detriment of her own desires and him for being oblivious to it and not considering her) but this cycle had to stop. They'd both made choices they regretted and the outcome wasn't what either wanted but it was the one they landed at. In e9, Simon admitted to "being sorry" for "wasting the second chance Betty gave him" because he was! He was still clinging to their doomed narrative. It was his final selfish act, to throw away the chance she gave up everything for and then force her to watch him scramble after her despite it being impossible. GOLBetty told him to break the cycle and he did.

I said earlier they made choices they regret, both as individuals and a couple but the love was real, it was true and it was now over. They will both carry that love but they cannot be together. Too many things got in the way and they would tear apart the universe trying to exist together. So Simon moved on properly, embraced this new world and life in Ooo. He devoted himself to his loved ones and made a life for himself that wasn't revolving around Betty. It was the healthiest things he could do for both of them.

As for Betty, Simon spent a thousand years as Ice King before he was freed. Some of those moments were good even if a lot of them were bad. She is a whole new type of being able to see and maybe somewhat control the chaotic forces of the universe. I imagine there are some aspects she did like. For example, how appropriate is for a woman who always made herself smaller and bent to the desires of others to be venerated as a Goddess with incredible power? There is no cure now but I like to imagine some day in the future - someone comes along and helps frees Betty from her self inflicted curse. Simon will be long gone I imagine having lived his own full life and died in peace. But now it will be Betty's turn for self discovery and a new chance at happiness.

Their story together was tragic and they both suffered greatly but a running theme of Adventure Time is that happiness is possible, you just need to find it. And for them, finding it meant letting go. I found it beautiful and sad and poignant and awful. I have other nitpicks with the finale but the resolution of their story -at least Simon's side of it - makes me feel settled. I would love to see a future installment giving Betty back her agency just like this series did for Simon.

[masadd]

all my simon AUs [half are shower thoughts]

vampire simon multiverse world AU

• pretty self-explanatory!! simon is a vampire. it played out pretty similarly as our simon at first; he got the crown, betty left, mushroom bomb went off, and he met marceline.

• that's where things change. simon had to wear the crown to protect marcy, again. marcy panicked when simon wouldn't take it off and bit him without malicious intent, instead turning him into a vampire.

• since this technically killed simon, he broke out of the crown's grasp, now undead. marceline thought she killed him, panicked, and ran away. simon lived on his own ever since for like 1,000 years and kind of lost it being alone!!

HMS simon au

• this one is kind of like a crossover ?? with another one of my favorite things. it's based off chonny jash's characters, heart, mind, and soul. the whole plot of CCCC [chonny's charming chaos compendium] is that this guy's consciousness split into three [heart mind and soul], and they needed to reconcile.

• so . this goes basically the exact same as our simon. our simon, now like 1,059 [or however old he is], is in his little exhibit [same as the start of fionna and cake!!] he's chilling but keeps getting pressed closer to the edge each day.

• the main difference is that simon never actually ends up trying to make a portal to golbetty, and reaches his limit after like a series of unfortunate events.

• simon splits off into his own HMS. that's . essentially it . i dont wanna spoil much....

winter king worldswap AU

• i don't have it all planned out on how exactly it happened, but basically, winter king ends up in our ooo [aka just where our simon is from]. obviously this one is incredibly confusing for most residents of ooo, specifically marceline, finn, pb, and others .

• eventually, they figure out [pretty quickly] that this is NOT their simon . they try to ask where their simon is [who is out traveling with fionna and cake], but winter king has no clue !! he likely tries to pretend he does know though .

• ultimately . marceline ends up hating winter king

simon / F&C world interception AU

• is it obvious i don't have names for them

• ok so . basically, somehow simon ends up in the F&C modern au. which . technically should be impossible since it's inside his brain,,, but i have thought of a solution

• simon somehow [accidentally] projects his consciousness into the F&C world, leaving his real body just kinda There [probably unconscious]. think of it like that one adventure time episode where magic man makes jake go inside himself, and he explores his own little city and stuff . it's kind of like that!!

• his deal is similar to fionna and cake concerning his effects on their world . like for example how fionna touched winter king's crown and the magic went away, or when cake turned that one dude into a literal hotdog. basically, simon is doing the same on the F&C world, except he's doing the opposite!! he's magic-ifying it.

• shit starts to go down once people actually notice him. since he blends in so well, it takes a bit,,, just starts to get obvious once that one cookie turns alive or smth 😭

• simon is eventually overcrowded by a ton of curious [and terrified] people, and runs off to just the first inconspicuous place he sees. this leads him to running into marshall lee, who's chillin with gary. simon, gary, and marshall lee kinda chill for a while !! marshall and gary probably talk abt how fionna's gone, which prompts simon to feel guilty and he reveals where he's actually from, and what happened to fionna.

• gary and marshall lee don't believe him at first, until simon turns something [idk what!!] into magic again. they then try to get to our ooo

• marshall lee and gary make it, but simon's still kinda trapped in his own consciousness . likely in the candy kingdom hospital with marceline bc he just passed out unexpectedly 😭

•Wooooo his fate is unknown [dont worry its a happy ending]

* i also won't be very surprised if these have been done before just know i do NOT mean to steal any ideas . if that happened it was purely unintentional cos i just made these up based on my minds silly desires

[anoonimthepoorchad]

I just finished binge watching Adventure Time, Distant Lands and Fionna and Cake, and I feel like I understand everything so much.

And one thing is, Fionna and Cake really helped me understand Lich's character, and what it symbolizes, because before he was just cool evil creepy character who only wants to kill ppl for some reason. I liked him but I didn't understand him. And now I know that he's the embodiment not only of death, but of cosmic despair. You know, the type you feel when you see dead bodies, illnesses, injustice, and lifeless gigantic planets, just moving through space with no purpose or reason. It's the fear you feel in the back of your mind at any good happy moment, the fear of the eternal emptiness being the only right way. Because life is so fragile and short, you can't help but feel like it's illogical to exist among something so grand and unchanging. He was also a comet, moving for nothing in the end, but death. He was dead like a planet long before he lost his body, or before his wish came true. When Golbetty rearranged his corpse, it was scary like witnessing someone alive making fun of a dead body.

Finn on the other hand, in all of his reincarnations and forms of existence, is the embodiment of hope about life. Anything he does makes life feel worthwhile. He makes you feel calm, like there is always a reason to go on, even when he himself was lost in the darkness for a long time. Despite all the mistakes and troubles, he's moving, living, changing. He's also a comet, moving towards something, but the ending doesn't matter when everyday feels like it was worth it. While you're alive, there's hope for the better and enjoyment from everything alive and not alive around you. Life makes so much sense, it creates sense in this world, a purpose of joy and pain and the complete experience of everything here. No art exists without an audience and the world needs someone to appreciate it, feel it fully, so here we are, a world ourselves perceiving outside. There is no sense without someone who would make one, so the sense of life is just living. It's just this and it's everything of everything.

[scholar-of-golbetty]

maybe i should explain my au a little bit. rambling under cut, hopefully its coherent<3

basically, this au is just a rabbit hole of "what if Fionna & Cake(show) didn't happen?"

so, what would happen? well, here, simon would continue to spiral in his attempts to get to betty, contact her, anything. he begins to subject himself to more isolation, not noticed much by the people in his life, given theyre busy with their own lives, and see him as much more reserved. and, well, what reason would they have to worry? everyone needs time to themselves. it's not like marceline never hears from him, it's not like finn never sees him around, so no worries, right?

after so many failed attempts to get to the chaos goddess, simon's getting desperate. it's getting to where nothing else holds any merit to him, he has to get to betty. he HAS to. that's all there is to it.....

soon enough, his whole life is dedicated to this cause. not just finding her, talking to her, but understanding GOLB and GOLB's philosophies. maybe this could help him, seeing how betty's fused with the god. but GOLB's philosophies, what the Scholars of GOLB would follow, that's pretty different from the betty he'd known. of course, she's different now, but she couldnt be exactly like this merciless deity. so he mixes his knowledge, or what he could remember, of betty, with what he studies of GOLB. follows a sort of mixed belief of the two. hence, he is now Simon Petrikov, first scholar of GOLBetty

and here's where it gets weird. i couldn't, personally, decide on one or another trail for this au to follow, so it splits off into two different subsections. Devotion and Obsession .

Devotion: simon, in this au, is fueled by faith in the thought that he'll be able to, at least find, GOLBetty. that he'll once again be able to talk to betty, as different as she is now. that's still his fiance, he's still devoted to her, he thinks. still, he isolates himself, spirals down a dark path, but he doesn't lose himself. people worry, but ultimately, he's still Simon. simon, with a red geometric ring, digging into his hand and leaving small, but stinging, scratches and scars. simon, with an endless drive for a hopeless endeavor. he's still simon petrikov

Obsession: here, he spirals bad. nothing matters but GOLBetty. not a moment of his life is meaningful if it isn't spent looking for her, studying how he could find her, contact her. hell, even how he could appease her as a goddess. worship her, give offerings, pray, whatever might grab her attention, or get him closer to her. his life doesn't matter if it isn't for her. the rituals he attempts delve into darker magic, blood rituals(to which he loses a finger), things he shouldn't be doing lest he anger some other god, or lose too much blood, or get himself possessed, etc etc..... he becomes a bit manipulative to people around him, to try furthering his goal. convinces prismo that he hadn't actually gotten a wish, and deserves a redo. uses the fact that prismo might relate to losing a loved one, like jake, to guilt him into bending the rules a bit... simon wishes for the crown, from some other universe. who it was taken from, it doesn't matter, so long as he can use it. it's different, of course, from a different world.... he still becomes cursed, his memory only minorly affected, but the ice is all the same. his tolerance for magic is much greater now, given what he's been putting himself through for the sake of GOLBetty, not to mention talismans he'd been carrying. it keeps the crown from completely overtaking, but he is still cursed. everything he does is for GOLBetty

now that that's out of the way, im not entirely sure if the Obsession sub-AU simon's twisted, freezer simon look should be from this alternate dimension crown, or a result of another ritual gone awry. open to suggestions!

[blessedshortcake]

My opinion on the finale episodes below the cut. Obviously spoiler warning lol

First of all. I see people say it was really underwhelming and i kinda have to agree? It wasnt a Bad ending or a lazy one or whatever words have been thrown around tho imo. I feel like with all the hype about how "painful" and emotional itll be from the VA and from everyone, we all just expected more tragic outcomes or something.

I am dissappointed because of that as well. I liked how Simon finally reflected a bit and had some self awareness about their situation with Betty. I loved that he didnt become Ice King again or that they didnt do some actual time travel to "fix" stuff. I also liked that they didnt necessarily made him a bad husband (?/boyfriend?) he kinda just never realised that Betty has been putting more into their duo than he was.

That doesnt make him innocent tho b4 someone comes at me. He was a bit too self absorbed but i dont think he was entirely selfish either. He was a person who made mistakes and didnt realise them. The line where he said smt like "i wish we could have talked like this before" also makes it pretty clear to me that Betty never really spoke up about these things either. Golbetty had to make him aware and tbh? I think that was more Golb than Betty.

The whole Scarab ordeal felt a bit. Ehhhhhh I dont know. His anger reaction to things suddenly becoming "canon" (lmao) was very nice to see but him being allowed to wreck havoc like that for a good while felt more like an excuse to bring the others into this world. I dont have a problem with it btw i just dont see the point why we need Farmwold Jay and Little... I forgot her name damn. Also whys Babyworld Finn here 😭 (i get it, he was in the tank, i dont mean literally i mean Why)

As much as i was soooo mad when LSP freed the scarabs it was very in character. I like how it was a thing that he likes animals from the start so it wasnt senseless stupidity, it was something he would do even tho it was the wrong thing to do. Made me pause and lay down to stare at the ceiling in frustration for a solid minute i cant lie, still in chacter tho.

But alas. I like how in the end it all didnt turn magical (completely since ig its partially magical with Cake and everything else) and how Cake finally cooled down about the crown. IM ALSO SO HAPPY THEY KEEP IN TOUCH WITH SIMON OVER THE PHONEEE!! But yea him wanting to move was so real and I hope he does lmao he deserves it.

I only kinda wish they made him reconnect with Marcy a bit more. I am actually pretty dissappointed that we dont know if he ended up reaching out to her more or not. I understand his situation with not wanting to spook her, i actually feel that bit in a soul connecting level good god, but idk. Im at least happy he is Literally in therapy now

(Kinda makes me wonder tho if he spent the time between the end of AT and the start of FC with no like therapist or psychologist. Just rawdogging his mental illness about everything. Mood tbh but like did he? Did he??)

Anyway despite my slight dissappointment i am actually pretty happy with the outcome. I really liked the theories and the ideas of how Simon may make FC magical or what he will become but tbh this is probably the best outcome. Everyone got a happy/hopeful ending (minus Farmwold Finn ig who im atp assuming is dead. Also Star Marceline and PB) which i am really REALLY happy about.

I gotta say I already wanna write fanfic about these guys so inspirational effect granted. Woooo.

Tldr

I was kinda dissappointed because it was overhyped about how emotional it will be when it really wasnt but other than that I am really happy about how the ending turned out save for the alternatives staying in FC

Edit: I SEE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE SHOW DONT TELL THING AND TBHHH??? TTTTBBBHHHH??? YEAH. IT WAS ALL JUST TALKED ABOUT LIKE WHAT ABOUT SYMBOLISM? MY GOD.

Also Simon had like 10 minutes to get closure with Betty which was horrifically rushed but again, when your wife turns into Basically God you kinda dont really have a choice to chit chat. Still not happy about it but again, could have been worse. Could have been much worse.

[eyesteeth]

fionna and cake e6 spoilers + thoughts on the endgame for this series

firstly, on ice prince: i think it's good for simon's development that he got to see this. but it could also be very bad if he doesn't allow himself to ruminate on it. ice prince spends most of the episode making simon feel like shit, because ice prince apparently conquered the madness of the crown out of sheer force of will, will that simon apparently lacked. and ice prince is living the life, having everything simon wishes he could have - the benefits of the crown with none of the downsides.

except, that's a lie. it's only until the very end of the episode is it revealed that he was actually broadcasting the madness of the crown into bubblegum, showing that this ideal cannot exist. the fun magical simon everyone claims to want is a falsehood. you cannot have the magic without the sadness and the madness.

what i find very curious about this universe is that it seems to run very similar to ooo. all the candy subjects are present, albeit mutilated by bubblegum's crown-influenced mind, and we even see a young ice marcy with the same axe bass ooo marcy has. so the simon of this universe had to have gone down nearly the exact same path as ooo simon, with a few exceptions:

he somehow had the thought to beam the madness away from him, implying he had help or some level of cognition or malice ooo ice king never had.

he and marcy are no longer on speaking terms (why recreate a person if you can just talk to them).

he's not obsessed with betty.

the last one of these is the one that stands out the most. the (outwardly) most functional simon we've seen so far does not care about betty. she died and he got over it. which leads me to my main thought about the ending of this series:

i don't think simon and betty should end up together.

their story is very much one of cycles, a loop of loss and finding and being lost again. simon has been grieving betty for decades, given how much finn's aged, yet simon never seemed to get out of the third and fourth stages of grief - he's cycling between depression and bargaining and seems to have been for a while. this is definitely not helped by being a normal man in a world full of magic when that magic can't even bring back the person he wants.

and if he does find her in the other multiverses, it wouldn't last. either she wouldn't be "his betty", or he'd become an anomaly just like fionna and cake, and would end up wreaking havoc anyway. he needs to accept that the woman he loves is gone. even if he somehow made his way to golbetty, betty's wish in the AT finale was to keep simon safe. golbetty is NOT safe, that's why she left so quickly during that battle. if he approaches her, there is no guarantee that she'll stay put. she could even boot him back to ooo.

much like his desire to get the crown and be magical again, his desire to find betty is founded on the falsehood that everything will be fine if he just has this one thing.

now, granted, this doesn't mean i wouldn't like to see him try. he is so dedicated to this line of thought that it's very likely he could end up regressing into ice king if they do manage to find a crown. that's the point of this kind of narrative, seeing the protagonist struggle and fail before eventually coming to the final realization. it's a story of grief and addiction, and those are never linear things. we still have four episodes left, and a lot could happen.

which, to that point, i think the marceline episode is going to be in the next batch, either e7 or e8. i am fairly confident this will be a world where either a) simon did not find the crown and died in the bombing, b) simon briefly spent time with marcy but died in an attack, or c) simon left marcy earlier and she ended up falling in with the vampires. her manner of dress in the trailer and promo image seems to suggest that this is a marcy who was either raised by her father and proudly wears the crown of vampire queen, or was raised by the vampires who were killing humans after the bombs. i believe this could only happen under those three circumstances.

this is going to be especially important for simon's development on two fronts. firstly, it shows that simon's time as himself was worth something. marceline is much better off having had his help during the years right after the bombing. even though he left in the end, what he did to help her prevented her from becoming whatever she is in this upcoming episode. and, secondly, it's a reminder that the marcy back at ooo is still someone he can talk to. just because she has a girlfriend/wife now doesn't mean that he's unwelcome in her life. it's the classic depression isolation, and maybe this realization will get him to break out of it somewhat.

also for future episodes, betty shows up in the trailer, and i'm willing to bet(ty) that this is going to be either e9 or e8, depending on how long simon's going to sit on this interaction and process it. i can see it being in the next batch if e9 and e10 are going to be the climax and resolution, but i can also see this betty scene happening in e9 and pushing him into regression and a mental spiral in e10, which is mostly him having a horrible time and the world of fionna and cake shaking up as a whole.

it's snowing over there now. maybe they get some earthquakes as foreshadowing to the breakdown simon's about to have. truly, who knows? we just gotta wait. but it will be interesting either way, i think.

[fishynets]

is it bad that i never wanted simon and betty to have real physical closure (although we didnt really get that..?)

i always saw betty becoming golbetty not really as a punishment but as a consequence (after all she focused so much on him that she ceased to exist) yes simon got his inhibitions and sanity back but she will never be able to see him or interact with him.

the writers filled simons story with so many metaphors and parallels that its kind of hard to write a satisfying conclusion to his story in general (ignoring the lore) but the continuation seemed more focused on the mental gymnastics going on in simons head and i liked that a lot

i really think the ending suffered because of the lack of any emotional consequences to simons disappearance/self destructive quest(or just hints at it) also didnt he electrocute that thing to death seriously do i even need to mention marceline shes so important it hurts

im glad that simons character arc doesnt really end with him perfectly fine but come on i saw that scene he was absolutely okay with being digested by golbetty right after his revelation and to be honest i do like that scene and how it shows that hes not completely back on track even when he says that he 'gets it' now but it goes by so fast (simons attitude flip flops) that it loses some if its impact... what was my point

fionna stuff was cool i liked the fionna world ending but i think they needed more time for the simon stuff

i dunno what to think about the book explanation it was a bit of an oversimplification

[elasticitymudflap]

This is apparently hot take but I don't agree that Simon and Betty were bad for each other, or that their relationship was unhealthy in any way.

They had their own individual issues going on (who doesn't?) but it was nothing that couldn't be overcome. People are being way too judgemental

honestly me too... but then again my perception of them is more autism spectrum informed, so maybe im just being sensitive and stupid about it?

i also... kind of dont agree that leaving betty in the situation she is—as we currently know it to be—is all that fair to her. i see people saying things like 'they just need to get over each other/leave each other' and that simon just needs to accept things as they are now. and im like... idk man, i honestly don't think that's the tidy answer to all of this. because all of that has already happened in a way.

he's obviously exhausted every option of trying to bring her back, and much like the situation with margles, even prismo couldn't help her. from what we see in 'obsidian' and the end of 'come along with me', he obviously did try to live with the sacrifices she made for him and move on with his life. of course he would still try to save her, but i think it's pretty obvious that at some point he finally accepted that there is no way of saving her, and that this is just the way things are forever. his golb shrine/ritual items are an act of ultimate desparation; in the end he wasn't trying to summon golb to fix her or something, he was trying to portal himself to the golb dimension. i think he was completely aware that if he made it to the golb dimension that there was no hope of ever returning from there, and that doing this probably would kill him... but that would be fine with him, because at least he could see her one last time.

betty, and golbetty, could have made the choice to stay with him in ooo. either to escape golb's guts with him and endure the end of the world together, or to remain fused with golb and just let the world end with only he and her left alive... but she didn't. for all intents and purposes, she did let him go. she, and later whatever of her was left, made the choice to leave him, to banish herself from this realm and give him the opportunity to live his life. you can see it so clearly inside golb's guts that she's tormented by the situation she put them in, and that she feels extremely guilty for how her actions had led to their, and ooo's, downfall.

i know it still reinforces her cycle of self sacrificing behaviour... but to be fair, this is a much different situation than, like, conciously deciding not to go to australia to explore a new and exciting relationship. i think in that moment she realized, as she apologizes to him for "messing everything up", that there was no way of them both getting out of this alive, and that it was her descisions that ultimately doomed them to this fate. so she literally let him go, shoved him out of her life, content with him to live his however he chooses now that he's freed from the curse in a world which she didn't destroy. remember that her wish to "banish golb" wouldn't have saved her, she would have been digested in the golb dimension had she been successful.

i'd even go so far as to say that maybe betty's wish came in clutch even earlier than episode 8; if she can actually control golb and portals to the golb dimension, there's no way she would have granted him passage, as it would basically be suicide. so maybe that flash of golb's face during the initial ritual was her using her influence to redirect the spell to open the portal to the universe in his head? she doesn't want to see him because of what "seeing her" means, she doesn't want him to kill himself for her, and i think that's pretty fucking reasonable. now, however, it's the only way to save him, so she has finally, begrudgingly, granted him passage.

i have no idea how this whole thing is going to wrap up, but in the end i dont entirely agree with the sentiment that they need to 'let each other go', because they already did that to an extent. i think they need to talk to each other, work their existing issues out, and see where things unfold from there. but again, im probably just being sensitive and stupid about it.

[myddle]

"Casper & Nova" And "Cheers": The Beginning Of My Anime Villain Arc

After ruminating on it for a long time (this is the second draft of this goddamn post), I've come to understand what my issues were with the Fionna & Cake finale, and I'm ready to discuss it.

Big thanks to @bettycrockerscookbook and his post, "Fionna and Cake is a narrative about loss of agency, and I don't know if that was on purpose", it really helped me get my thoughts in order. There is some overlap between that post and mine, but my views predate reading it, although they are reworded for clarity.

Warning: Big Post, Spoilers, Opinions

I get what they were going for. I have full respect for everyone who loved the finale, and I give them all hugs and kisses.

But... it just didn't click for me. I still love the rest of the show, but I couldn't believe it's conclusion, and it left me feeling all hollow and rotten afterwards. I don't know it there's going to be a second season, but the ending felt very "happily ever after", so lets just presume not for now, and get into some things.

That Glitch Glitched Right Out Of The Plot

I probably should have seen this coming after BMO's corpse glitched in front of everyone and they didn't react, but it still sucks we didn't get an answer to this mystery, or at least some commentary on it. Heck, even back in "Winter King", Simon's tone describing the normalised Ice crown is more of dissapointment than confusion. It just feels like a waste, after all the set-up; I was excited to learn what was really going on there, or see how it would affect our protagonists.

Credit Where It's Due: The Lich/GOLB Scene Is Kinda Perfect

I don't wanna be too negative, so I must say I LOVED THIS SCENE. The Lich has been an insurmountable force of destruction for the whole series, both physically and morally, so seeing the one thing that could finally break him - his success - is fascinating to me. And then, without a word, GOLBetty dissassembles him in a horrifying display and turns him into one of those Tetris Blocks... I guess they must be GOLB's literal building blocks for crafting it's machinations. A terrifying glimpse into the Chaos God's methods.

Do We Have Time For A Choose Your Own Adventure Right Now, We Only Have Two Episodes Left

The Casper & Nova segment was super neat, and it was cool to see 1000+ Ooo again, but... I don't know. This framing device within a framing device is an awful lot of setup to do in the second to last episode. This is honestly more of a time-constraint issue though; I'd probably be more forgiving of it if I was on board with the rest of the finale.

Petrigrof Did Nothing Wrong (Except For The Things They Did That Were Wrong)

Simon and Betty's final goodbye was beautifully made. A heartfelt message of recognising and accepting the mistakes of your past. I just don't think I agree on what those mistakes are.

The concept of someone going along with everything their partner wanted, and the partner not realising because they were still happy, is an amazingly nuanced arc, but I don't think it fits Simon and Betty's relationship. Betty had agency, and wasn't afraid to disagree with Simon; just look at the way she dealt with the snakes, or how she kept Simon alive as Ice King against his wishes in hopes of curing him. And speaking of which, I don't think Betty was wrong for wanting to cure Simon - he DID NOT WANT to be Ice King - she just became too reckless and self-destructive. Summoning and merging with motherfucking GOLB was unambiguously a mistake, there were other things she could have done (I reckon Simon being vampirised by Marceline, then destroying the Crown would've worked, but that's not as good of a story).

I think a message on stopping the cycle of sacrifice would've been stronger, more coherent, but this sequence is still incredible.

Who Needs Stakes: Just Barf Up A Fuckin' Dandelion For The Class

Most of the stuff before this was nitpicks, and I wouldn't need to make this post if that was it. This is where we get into the things that I actually take issue with.

So the chain of events is Simon doesn't want the responsibility of the City of Um in his head, so GOLBetty (I think) compells the world out of him in the form of a dandelion. He gives the dandelion to Fionna, who blows on it to give it to everyone in the City, and then the world... becomes authorised? Huh? What? Like, I get the sentiment, but this feels like an asspull. And such a waste of plot, too! The idea of an entire universe being descriminated against by a celestial corporatocracy is so cool! I wanted to hear about the ideology behind that, and I wanted to see that injustice fought. But instead, they just... made it okay now, in a way that wasn't established as an option at all.

Doctor Petrikov: Multiverse Of Messed Up Implications

Most of my bigger points are really just differences of opinion: me not being happy with what the show turned out to be. But this? This is actually a plot hole.

To assist our heroes, Prismo decides to send in Jay and Little Destiny from Farmworld, Baby Finn from Baby World, and the Peppermint Tank from Vampire World. And after the dust settles, they just... stay there. Worse, the other characters from those worlds are never touched on again, despite the huge opportunity to do so in the ending montage. Are we just not supposed to care about those worlds? Is Farmworld Finn alive? What about Jay's siblings? Did Vampire World Bonnibel and Marceline kill eachother? Is the Vampire King just free to rule unopposed? WHAT ABOUT JAY'S SIBLINGS!?

Also, why didn't Prismo just teleport Scarab out of there? The tank didn't even do anything.

While I'm on the topic, check out OSP's Detail Diatribe on "The Multiverse Problem", it was very informative for my perspective here.

Alright, I Get It, Fionna Is A Bad Person For Wanting More Out Of Life

The series ends with Fionna learning to be happy in a mostly unchanged City of Um, and I just... I don't buy it. I cannot believe that Fionna is happy there after the song we opened this series on.

I'm not really feeling like my self today Hated every job I've had, what's wrong with me Every day's the same; Painfully mundane 'Cuz I'm running from my feelings and my fear of sudden change Everytime I leave my room, I wanna die Even when I'm with my friends, I'm alone inside 'Cuz nothing really matters, and I don't know what's sadder The fact I even try or that my hopes and dreams are shattered I'm not really feeling like my self today

It's probably not supposed to be one to one, but this paints a very dark picture of Fionna's psyche at the start of the series. This isn't boredom, this is a young woman being crushed by her environment.

Fionna struggled in the other universes because she didn't have her memories of Ooo, her experience of dealing with this kind of stuff. Throwing her in the multiversal deep end with none of her old life experiences didn't teach her she was wrong to want Ooo back, it just traumatised her, to the point she was arguing it was better for her universe to die than risk changing the people inside. Yes, her outlook at the beginning was childish and needed to change, but her mind overcorrected, giving her a nightmare of her desires hurting her loved ones.

And I was waiting for Fionna to realise that; that she doesn't just crave excitement, but autonomy, and heroism. That she wasn't wrong for wanting something else for herself. For being unhappy in the City of Um.

But... she doesn't. She just gives in, ready to die fighting when things looked bleak, and resigned to her fate when they recovered. Her world has functioning toilets. It's not so bad, right?

Easy to regret wanting to change your world when it's getting ripped apart in front of you.

This wasn't an either/or situation; after Scarab was dealt with, Fionna and Cake could have just pulled a Lemonhope and fucked off (Prismo would have done them the favour), but noooooo, being responsible means surrendering yourself to your own bleak existence, I guess. SPEAKING OF WHICH,

"I am myself. Like this."

When I heard Cake say this line, I was convinced that leaving the City of Um as it is would not be a happy ending. Setting aside the fact that Genderswap Ooo is technically the original version, Cake doesn't even need her memories to know that her stretchy Ooo form is her authentic self. She likes having options.

Condemning Cake to her City of Um form would be unethical, and the show knows this, because it doesn't. But what about the rest of Um's residents? Which side of the coin would they choose? They don't get that choice, because they don't even know. Gary and Marshall worry about losing their new relationship, not knowing about the potentially hundreds of years of history they've already lost. And how many more Cakes are there? Animal residents of Ooo that lost their autonomy and personhood in the shift? Lord Monochromicorn made it out alright, but I doubt Cake was the only one to suffer.

Of course, the situation isn't black and white. Some residents of Um, like Female Fern (should've been called Flora, but whatev), the Lemoncarbs and maybe Human Ice Queen (I like to call her Ice Creem) might be better off in the City of Um than Genderswap Ooo, presuming their stories resolved the same as their Ooo Prime counterparts (Considering only one Lemongrab was alive during "Come Along With Me", when the shift happened, but Um has two Lemoncarbs, I'm not convinced on that).

But ultimately, this lack of knowledge denies the people of Um the agency to choose what world they want to live in, and what form is their authentic self. Which makes Fionna's gesture of giving the world's fate to them ring pretty hollow. And as someone who is fighting very hard in hopes of living as my authentic self, this ending kinda hurts.

Disclaimer and Conclusion (unrelated pic, I just love this shot)

I'm not mad at the team behind Fionna and Cake for this ending. I definitely don't blame them for my problems with it, I don't think these dissonances were intended (unless they are gunning for a second season to resolve some of them, in which case globspeed) I respect their creative vision, and everyone who took home the good message they intended wasn't wrong to do so. From what I've seen, most people did, but some, like me, did find this ending unsatisfying.

Thing is, I'm still thankful. I loved the first eight episodes of this show, and my reaction to this finale has stirred within me the desire to make my own fan ending, as a creative excercise of sorts. Certainly fitting for a series about an in-universe fan-fic. I lost my creative drive some years ago, and I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get it back. I'm not sure how I'll go about making this fan ending, but if i manage it, I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.

So... thank you, Fionna & Cake. You got me to care about your story, and that's half the battle.