#that loves the ice king because IK is simon and simon was kind

[thecrimsonjaguar]

forever mourning the lack of betty + marceline interactions

[pokimoko]

The fact that Main-verse Ooo is as good and as kind as it is (relative to the other universes shown so far, at least, it's obviously not perfect) all because of the same character that starts off as the OG series' antagonist, the person we were made to see as the bad guy (albeit an often ineffectual one) for several seasons, is making me lose my mind.

Imagine finding out the guy you spent your childhood beating up and saving princesses from is in fact a driving catalyst behind you being able to exist, and not only exist but also live in a world that knows what kindness is. All because that man, the same man who you've witnessed do terrible things, once met a little girl and taught her how to be good.

Simon's story really shows us that even if you lose your way and forget how it is to be good yourself, the world keeps the memory for you. That act of love Simon showed Marcy by protecting her and seeing her as more than the monster she thought herself to be created ripples upon ripples, small at first but eventually enough to help give their wreckage of a world—a world that easily could have been forsaken, its goodness overlooked because of its inhospitable remains—a chance to grow into something beautiful. Because of those very same ripples Simon created, the people of Ooo grew up in a world where they know enough about kindness that they were able and willing to spare the 'bad guy' some, to see beyond the wreckage and allow him to grow too.

In saving Marceline, Simon helped to not only to save the world, but also himself.

[inbarfink]

I mean, I (and others) did predict Fionna coming to the realization that ‘Simon being Ice King again is very very bad actually’ via watching IK’s old tapes - in a thematic reversal of Holly Jolly Secrets…. You know, Finn learned to like Ice King more after learning about Simon Petrikov and who he used to be, Fionna learned to like Simon Petrikov more after really learning about Ice King and who he used to be. 

But the thing that really stuck with me about how the show pulled it off is how… tame that video was. Compared to what the audience knows about how terrible Ice King could get. 

Most of the video Fionna saw was Ice King goofing off, with just the last clip giving her a tiny little taste of how prone he was to fits of anger and extreme misery

She didn’t get to see the videos of Ice King crying for literal hours on end, she didn’t get to see him throw tantrums that make him a legitimate danger for those around him, I don’t think she actually knows he used to kidnap and stalk women on a regular basis - but that’s okay, because she didn’t need to. That tiny little taste of Ice King’s misery and pain was really all she actually needed.

Because it really speaks to how little she actually understood of the Ice King’s situation before. How much seeing that one little clip of him back in “Prismo the Wishmaster'' gave her such a totally wrong impression of what Ice King was like

that just seeing him yell at Gunter and cry once is enough to make her totally reexamine all of her preconceived notions about him.

And it really speaks how despite her sometimes-childish attitude, Fionna really possesses a lot of emotional intelligence. Both in how quickly she correctly gauged that Ice King’s behavior in the last clip was a regular thing for him and probably not even his worst moment and that his anger was yet another expression of his being 'super-sad'

And how clearly her Second Thoughts about the Crown Plan didn’t start when she saw Ice King yell - they started when she saw how despite working so hard on getting himself Cursed again, Simon still couldn’t bear the idea of watching videos of Ice King’s ‘Good Times’.

Because as much as it was important for Fionna to really know Ice King in order to fathom just how terrible the Crown Plan was, it was also equally important for her to really know Simon as well.

When she was so dismissive toward Simon’s plight in the Prismo episode, and when she so eagerly and thoughtlessly jumped on the Crown Plan - she really knew nothing about either facets of his identity. She only got such a quick clip of Ice King actually in a good mood, and all she’s seen of Simon was him at his lowest point - rude, dismissive, screaming at her face, literally considering letting her whole world burn in his own depressive spiral. 

It’s only after they reached Farmworld and officially started to work towards the Crown Plan that Fionna really started to know who Simon Petrikov is when he’s not at rock bottom. That’s when she learned how intelligent

And dorky

And kind

And comforting 

And fatherly 

And a silly little hopeless romantic for his GF

he is. 

And they became real friends and she really grew fond of all of these things about him. So now, watching clips of Ice King… it takes her some time to process it, clearly, but it also bothers her how little of these traits that she likes about her friend and he likes about himself she can see in the crazy old Ice Wizard.

Seeing also how mad and sad he could be was just what clinched the deal for her, the last excuse she could find for why it was okay (“Maybe he really was happier like that?”) gone.

And that also relates to her more general anxieties about the Crown Plan from farther in the same episode.

Now that she’s seen how much being infused Magic changed Simon… It's no wonder she’s so worried about how Magic will change her and Cake and all of her loved ones.

And it’s not a totally unfounded fear. We’re still not exactly sure how bringing Magic back into Simon��s brain will affect Fionnaworld - but it will most likely work the same as it did the other way around? When Fionnaworld first lost its magic? So that will mean not only the people and the world will change physically, but their memories and minds will also be altered as if they always lived in the Magical World and never in the Mundane world Fionna remembers.

And that will kinda make them into different people. Gary Prince and Prince Gumball feel like the most obvious comparison. One is a literal god-king who seems to have at least a bit of the old Bubblegum Hubris problem

The other is just a humble little put-on Barista trying to make it big

Becoming Prince Gumball again would be in some way the ultimate fulfilment of Gary's dream - not just a Pastry Mansion but a whole Candy Kingdom! But... it would also mean giving up on all of the memories and experiences of ever having been Gary Prince. And... it's at least worth considering if it's worth it.

We know that Change doesn't have to be all bad, Cake the Cat will testify to that

I'm sure that from her perspective, having every bit of her memories wiped and replaced is worth it if she can keep her mind and ability to speak.

But Fionna's little Storytime with Simon, I think, really gave Fionna a look to how much his reminiscing is important to him

and really gave her a glimpse to how much people's history and memories effect who they are, and seeing this and seeing what ‘turning into a different and more magical person without your original memories’ did to Simon Petrikov

It’s really no wonder it makes Fionna worried.

[anthurak]

So as a follow-up to my post about Marceline's super tragic and angsty prequel to the Elements Arc hidden in the episode ‘Ketchup’ yesterday, here’s a fun little ‘What-If?’ idea I’ve been thinking about for a while that could branch off from it:

If Marceline really did go all ‘feral, angry vampire girlfriend warpath’ on Patience both for what she did to Bonnie and also to find a way to help Bonnie, what if Marcy went a little… further?

So that when Finn, Jake and BMO later return to what was once the Candy Kingdom in Skyhooks, we see that Marceline, even ‘Marshmaline the Campfire Queen’, is conspicuously absent.

Then later, when Finn, Jake and Ice King are traveling through the new, desolate Ice Kingdom, they start hearing a soulful, sorrowful tune echoing through the otherwise silent wastes. A song sung by a very familiar voice…

And when the trio finally get inside the new Ice Palace, they find not Patience St. Pim, but rather Marceline the Ice Queen.

Basically, what if in her rage at Patience and desperation to find some way of helping Bonnie, Marcy actually devoured Patience’s soul, and thus inadvertently became the NEW Ice Elemental herself?

Now funny enough, I feel like this change wouldn’t actually have much of an effect on the Elements Arc itself. For one, I highly doubt that Marceline would be in any condition/willingness to actually help Finn and Jake. Remember that the effects of Ice Elemental contamination induce overwhelming ennui and depression.

So if that got dumped onto Marceline of all people? In the midst of her losing Bonnie to her own elemental corruption? Yeah, at this point I think our girl isn’t going to have the will to do more than stay cooped up in her new ice tower singing angsty, gay love songs for her lost candy girlfriend/soulmate with her new ice-fox backup choir. Now of course they would certainly be THE ANGSTIEST and GAYEST love songs you ever did hear, but still.

Like the big danger for Finn and Jake isn’t that Marceline tries to keep them there or is otherwise antagonistic, it’s that her music is so sorrowful/angsty it actually carries the depression-inducing elemental contamination that threatens to sap people’s will to go on and making them think of lost loves. Which could lead to some interesting character-moments for Finn: Like Marceline’s song first dredge up his old feelings for Bubblegum and Flame Princess, but Finn is actually able to push through the depression and yearnings because he’s moved on from those feelings and can recognize that the relationships they represented have either ended (Flame Princess) or never existed in the first place (Bubblegum). And when the songs make him think of Huntress Wizard, Finn is able to push through because he has a far more casual relationship with HW and doesn’t have the kind of deep yearnings for her that would easily paralyze him with depression.

Of course the most interesting part of this new version of Winter Light would be the potential meeting and conversation between this new Ice Marceline and Ice King/Simon. From Marceline potentially musing on how she now knows how Simon feels, to Ice King possibly having a weird, distorted heart-to-heart with Marceline where we see just a glimpse of Simon.

Following this, I don’t see this change having much of an effect on the rest of the arc, with perhaps one small but still noteworthy addition: When Finn, Jake and IK flee the new Ice Kingdom, Finn calls out to Marceline something to the effect of if she does miss PB so much, she should go see her. Then later during Hero Heart when Princess Bubblegum candifies Phoebe and the rest of her flame army, Marceline actually DOES show up in a dramatic and very impressive display of power, possibly with her own ice army. Finn at first thinks she’s here to help, but it turns out Marcy isn’t here to fight, but simply to see Bonnie. And when her followers also start getting transformed by PB, Marceline simply accepts the candification herself to become Marshmaline. Simply because now she CAN be with Bonnie.

You know, all to really dial up the ‘All is Lost’ vibe of that episode.

Now this means that Skyhooks II and the end of the arc play out the same as they did originally, with Finn and Ice King managing to hit the LSP-shaped elemental-reset button and undo everyone’s elemental corruption. I mean, maybe Bonnie and Marcy have a Big Damn Kiss a season early after they get de-candied, but I think it’s easy to imagine they probably already had a BDK off-screen in the original XD

Of course I think we can all agree that the real interesting angle to this change is the potential of Marceline being the new Ice Elemental on rest of the series. Admittedly, it is a bit hard to imagine the existing plot-points for the rest of the series being affected much by Marceline now having some ice powers. Aside from her Dark Cloud kaiju form she breaks out in Come Along With Me now likely being a Dark BLIZZARD form.

Instead, the really interesting potential of this change comes in how this might affect Marcy’s dynamic with Simon and how she might go about adapting to her new abilities. I think we can all agree it would be fun to see Marcy and Bonnie trying to figure out their new elemental powers together. Though consider this: If Bonnie was visited by the spirit/past-incarnation-memories of Chatsberry, what if Marceline ends up being visited by the spirt of Urgance Evergreen? You know, the being who made the Ice Crown?

Really makes you think where something like that could lead…

[bonni]

thinking once again about how the fionna and cake series writing simon and betty's relationship as overtly codependent was a brilliant way to recontextualize ice king's entire character. there's always been a lot of attention paid to how simon Respects Women while ice king Doesn't and having simon's most important relationship (the one that defined his obsession with princesses as IK) be codependent, with betty having been obsessed with him, really bridges that gap. simon grows insane under the influence of the crown, but betty was NEVER mentally stable, even as a human, and under the crown's influence simon (as IK) desperately attempts to recreate that dynamic, one that he only found fulfilling due to his own ignorance of its unhealthiness. bc what man doesn't want a woman who is obsessed with them!

betty being an unstable person is also really making me think about her similarities to bonnibel/why bonnibel is IK's "favorite" princess. because that discussion generally seems to start and end at "well bonnibel is also an intellectual and she bears a passing physical resemblance" but I think there's way more to it than that. think about how simon perceives betty: as selfless, benevolent, and always in control. this is the same veneer that bonnibel presents to the world. pretty much every character in the series who meets bonnibel realizes at some point that she is not the sweet, benevolent ruler she claims to be; they react to this realization with feelings of shock, betrayal, and even repulsion. contrast this with IK's perception of bonnibel: regardless of how cruelly she treats him, IK always romanticizes her behavior. she's just feisty, she doesn't know how to express her feelings, she's playing hard to get, etc. he's the only major character who remains in complete denial that bonnibel is hiding something more sinister behind her sugary-sweet surface, just like simon always remained in denial that betty was an unhealthy and depressed person. of course, the way betty treats simon couldn't be more different than the way bonnibel treats the ice king, both because they're different people with different personalities, but also because, obviously, IK's advances are unwanted. but the fact that IK projects simon's perception of the kind of person betty was onto bonnibel results in that perception being reinforced. one of the ways in which betty and bonnibel are most similar is in how dysfunctional they are, how lonely they are, how desperate they are for love, and the masks they wear to hide this fact; ironically, this is an trait that simon/IK is unable to recognize in either of them, but it may have played a role in what subconsciously attracted him to bonnibel in the first place.

[alaksandus]

Just finished watching the Fiona and Cake by some VERY legal means, and I am reminded again and again how much I love the character of Simon Petrikov

Obviously spoilers I guess! if you haven’t watch it or even haven’t watched Adventure Time, I deeply suggest that you do.

I think the new spin-off really allows us to understand just how human he is because I know we were very familiarized with the Ice King.

It gave him a distinct flaw-fulness that I don’t think the original series was able to get across or even given the time to get across. All we were able to see was the kind natures fatherly figure who made his necessary sacrifices and the hopeless romantic whose madness drove his love away. In the main series, it seemed like all the flaws were exclusively from the crown itself and it’s madness ( of course, this is not a fault of Adventure Time, it merely needed to focus on the tragic element of Ice King and had to create an easy foil to understand the caring nature of Simon and the “cold” nature of IK)

Yet, I’m Fiona and Cat, Simon is allowed to be human, separate from being the “monster” of Ice King. And in this, we get to see his flaws. In particular, that he was an extremely selfish lover who never made the same level of sacrifice for his love and because of that in combination with the crown, his love was destined to fail ( I particularly like the parallels told in the story of Casper and Nova, that through Casper’s case for the crown, and Casper’s (Simon’s) choice to ignore Nova’s (Betty’s) solution, he is ultimately forced to lose her in someway, either by her death and him remembering her (Golb solution) or her life and him forgetting her (Ice King solution); another point I like was Simon wondering if his selfishness ultimately led him to find the crown and become the Ice King)

But within all that, Simon learns from his mistake and rather than relapse for the sake of Fiona snd Cake and lose himself to the crown, he lets himself live, just as Betty wanted.

But continuing on the idea of selfish love and it’s connection to the crown, I wonder if it was specifically this type of love that imbued itself into the mad psyche of Ice King. I have seen people talk about how the Ice King searches for princesses because he (Simon) lost his princess, so I wonder if the selfish, you should sacrifice yourself for me, expectation of that former love is the reason Ice King is so willing to kidnap the princesses themselves. Burrowed into the psyche of the crown is now the idea that there is a princess who needs no other life than a life with the wearer.

On one last note, I will prematurely clarify that I don’t think Simon was intentional in his selfishness. It is made abundantly clear that he is not and didn’t even consider to think of it. Now, I am not going to make the case that that is better. What I will say is that despite his selfishness, Betty was still willing to sacrifice herself which I think is another interesting element of her character. Throughout the previous series, she was either that mysterious princess or characterized as an insane obsessive freak who wanted someone back who wasn’t there (until digested by Golb). But here, we get to see what that obsession was before. Self-sacrificial love and devotion, even if you did not receive equal parts back (Simon still loved her very much, just not to her own extant). I think it helps to finish the painting of the love between Betty and Simon. It was messy. There was unequal distribution of love. But they loved each other, and fought for each other until it was beyond evident that they could not win. And for that, I will always love their story and their characters.

Sorry for the little actual analysis in this post. I wasn’t trying to be too critical or analytical. I just wanted to spew my mind!

[zombardzomramble]

i love betty and simon because... they've both been incredibly changed by their experiences in life, after a period of separation. they both miss an old version of each other, striving for and repeatedly try to recreate those people will not accepting that they've changed. by th end of f&c i think they've come to that acception but it's still sad to see... like repeatedly in the series, betty can't accept simon as ice king (and if you're looking for symbolism, we have many parallels for him, like memory loss, aging, certain mental illnesses) and tries to change him. even changing him though, he has 1000 years of new experiences now that can't just disappear.

iunno.

i also get him being stuck on being IK. IK might have been unstable but he had goals and happiness. now simon's just simon. hence him seeking to change himself again for fionna & fionna's world. i think the parallel of fionna wanting everyone to "die as themselves" kind of plays into that. betty's "herself" is now GolBetty, she can't be separated from that experience;; Simon's "himself" is Simon-who-became-IK-who-became-Simon, he can't be separated from that.

[spacioussmuthut]

I fuckin love thinking about meta that's really funny at first but becomes increasingly more depressing the longer you think about its implications

The "Ik is Simon without a filter" thing, for instance. Ice King was just Simon with all social instincts and inhibitions gone. Like the only thing that was stopping Simon from being a petty, violent, easily angered whiner who constantly ran around doing bizzare shit and talking about his crushes and kinks with no filter was because he knew that it wasn't appropriate and had, like, restraint.

Simon sees an attractive woman and doesn't stare or say anything crude, because he's polite, shy, and doesn't want to make people uncomfortable. He just has his erotic thoughts that he keeps to himself. Ice King immediately calls her a hottie and insinuates he wants her to tie him up in bed, because he's overly confident, his concept of what's polite is very skewed and what will or won't make people uncomfortable isn't even something he remembers to think about before speaking anymore. It's not like he has a lot of conversation partners all alone up in the mountains of the Ice Kingdom.

Simon is offered a snack that ends up tasting awful, but he thanks the other and keeps his opinion of the food to himself, because he doesn't want to offend them, especially after a gesture of kindness. Ice King would spit it out, ask if they're trying to kill him, and demand something edible, because EWW it's yucky! Why don't they already know what he likes? Are they mocking him? Are they only pretending to like him? He can't tell the difference between a genuine act of kindness or an insult or manipulation tactic anymore. His post-crown experiences weren't exactly filled with positive interactions, and he's gotten taken advantage of after letting his guard down far more than he's gotten comfort for showing vulnerability.

I'd imagine every time Simon hears a new story about Ice King he dies a little inside from the embarrassment of knowing that he actually did that shit in front of people and said those things out loud. Hearing people talk about how much of an awful freak Ice King was hits really hard for him, because to him that means that his much more mild true self and the exaggerated caricature of him are just as bad. If anyone found out his oddities and quirks and kinks are technically the same as Ice King's, surely they'd be disgusted with him and want nothing to do with him anymore. All they'd ever see him as is the Ice King. So he has to be perfectly, 100% normal in every single way. Or else.

Whether or not he's correct in that assessment I haven't yet considered. Both are tragic.

[mayday-jd]

yeah I mentioned a second wave soo..

"Simon, what would I do without you?"

"Oh, you'd be just fine, I promise. Better than fine. You're so great, Marceline. Someone else would definitely find you and take care of you. Maybe even someone rich. Yeah, you'd be living in a castle with food and medicine and– and trained squirrels to tend to your every need."

so yeah that happened sadly there are no squirrels

let's ignore the fact that this episode came out like two weeks ago AND WOO LET'S TALK ABOUT THE STAR

I actually really like this episode it's like my fav along with the winter king one so yeah I'm gonna talk about it it's getting the same treatment

as a whole I really liked how the episode was directed?? executed?? idk what word I'm looking for exactly but I could rewatch it a thousand times and still adore it in its entirety the a-plot and the b-plot are fucking awesome it's a marceline/marshall lee episode dude like c'mon (kind of a gumlee/bubbline episode too)

anyways to really get into it it's basically a vampireworld with toxic yuri bubbline

also shame on the ppl who clowned bonnie's design I love it she rocks and marceline is a star ofc I adore her

bonnie sees cake killing vamps like the absolute badass that she is and decides to recruit her so ofc fionna and simon tag along

cake is literally fantastic in this episode I mean I've come to like her genuinely she's hilarious but she kicks ass, she's got her powers in check and everything man and while cake is thriving fionna's morale is pretty low like damn

girl just discovered murder and isn't quite too happy about slaughtering innocent ppl because a hot ice wizard convinced her it was the right thing to do

the whole episode she's worried, scared and generally not as excited as before to go on another adventure because she now realizes that this isn't some rpg this is real and her actions do have consequences on the ppl she meets, the worlds she travels to

like look at my girl she's not having a good time this is terrifying to her (tbf she sees martin get his life sucked out of him soo)

speaking of martin ik he's like an awful dad in the og series but he's pretty nice in this episode I was kind of upset when he died like aww not the nice cool guy :(

but womp womp what can you do about it

[mattprivettwrites]

The best songs of the 1970s

“What started out as a joke has turned into a disaster!” - Stu Nahan, Rocky IV

So my employment has me in my car a lot, which means I’m listening to the radio a lot. If I’m not listening to a podcast or baseball game through my phone I also have SiriusXM, which of course has a plethora of musical options. I gravitate to the 70s and 80s channels because, well, of course I do.

Something else about me you may or may not know is that I love ranking things. I have a Note on my phone I’m regularly accessing that is nothing but different types of rankings. 

Thus, you can imagine my excitement when the 70s on 7 station announced a listener-voted Top 700 Songs of the 70s countdown over Labor Day weekend. It was a fun listen. They went through it twice over the four day weekend, and I was laboring much so I heard much.

It prompted me to think: What are my top seventy songs of the 70s? Surely I wasn’t going to come up with a top 700. After all, some in that list were real stinkers. But seventy? No problem. And indeed, it wasn’t hard to come up with that many songs. The hard part was narrowing it down. And once I did, there were still so many songs on my list I had enough for more lists, so I expanded it to 140, then 210, and... well...

I’m about to give you the authoritative list of the 350 best songs of the 1970s. I originally put out a Top 70 list on Facebook a few weeks ago. Much that of that list remains the same, with a few changes. But now there is much more. I’ve divided these into five “volumes” of seventy songs. They are my picks, but I welcome your feedback, because what’s a good set of rankings without debate and discussion.

Vol. 1 (1–70)

Chicago - “25 or 6 to 4”

Billy Joel - “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”

The Doobie Brothers - “What a Fool Believes”

Queen - “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Boston - “More Than a Feeling”

Elton John & Kiki Dee - “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”

Gerry Rafferty - “Baker Street”

ABBA - “Waterloo”

Don McLean - “American Pie”

The Eagles - “Take It to the Limit”

Fleetwood Mac - “The Chain”

Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Free Bird”

Billy Joel - “Until the Night”

Looking Glass - “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”

Stevie Wonder - “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours”

Elton John - “Philadelphia Freedom”

The Bee Gees - “Stayin’ Alive”

The Knack - “My Sharona”

Derek & The Dominos - “Layla”

Chicago - “Just You ’N’ Me”

The Emotions - “Best of My Love”

Jefferson Starship - “Miracles”

Aerosmith - “Dream On”

Joe Cocker - “You Are So Beautiful”

The Who - “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

Carly Simon - “You’re So Vain”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Livin’ Thing”

The Rolling Stones - “Beast of Burden”

Queen - “We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions”

Billy Joel - “My Life”

Journey - “Lights”

Toto - “Hold the Line”

Michael Jackson - “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”

Pilot - “Magic”

Bruce Springsteen - “Born to Run”

Led Zeppelin - “Stairway to Heaven”

Styx - “Babe”

Stevie Wonder - “Sir Duke”

Orleans - “Still the One”

Samantha Sang - “Emotion”

Foreigner - “Feels Like the First Time”

ABBA - “Dancing Queen”

The Four Seasons - “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)”

Marvin Gaye - “Trouble Man”

The Spinners - “Rubberband Man”

Kansas - “Carry On Wayward Son”

The Jackson 5 - “I Want You Back”

Chicago - “If You Leave Me Now”

Bill Withers - “Ain’t No Sunshine”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “Shining Star”

Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta - “You’re the One That I Want”

Yvonne Ellman - “If I Can’t Have You”

Fleetwood Mac - “Don’t Stop”

Billy Joel - “Just the Way You Are”

The Eagles - “I Can’t Tell You Why”

Free - “All Right Now”

Kenny Rogers - “The Gambler”

The Bee Gees - “Night Fever”

Player - “Baby Come Back”

The Ides of March - “Vehicle”

David Bowie - “Starman”

The Five Stairsteps - “O-O-H Child”

Carole King - “I Feel the Earth Move”

Elton John - “My Father’s Gun”

Jefferson Starship - “Jane”

Stevie Wonder - “Higher Ground”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Mr. Blue Sky”

Seals & Croft - “Summer Breeze”

The Temptations - “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”

Chicago - “Old Days”

——

Vol. 2 (71–140)

The Who - “Baba O’Riley”

The Eagles - “Hotel California”

Billy Joel - “Prelude/Angry Young Man”

Aerosmith - “Walk This Way”

The Four Seasons - “Who Loves You”

Gerry Rafferty - “Right Down the Line”

Chicago - “Make Me Smile”

The Bee Gees - “Too Much Heaven”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Old Time Rock and Roll”

Elton John - “Your Song”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “September”

Queen - “Somebody to Love”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “Live and Let Die”

The Village People - “Y.M.C.A.”

James Taylor - “Fire and Rain”

Led Zeppelin - “Whole Lotta Love”

The Spinners - “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”

Three Dog Night - “Joy to the World”

Jim Croce - “I Got a Name”

Billy Joel - “Stiletto”

The Jackson 5 - “ABC”

Styx - “Come Sail Away”

Dobie Gray - “Drift Away”

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - “Jackie Blue”

Stevie Wonder - “I Wish”

Credence Clearwater Revival - “Up Around the Bend”

The Hollies - “Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Rich Girl”

Elton John - “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”

KISS - “Rock and Roll All Nite”

Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”

Carl Douglas - “Kung Fu Fighting”

Steve Miller Band - “Jet Airliner”

Chicago - “Saturday in the Park”

Led Zeppelin - “Immigrant Song”

The Beatles - “Let It Be”

Three Dog Night - “An Old Fashioned Love Song”

Bad Company - “Can’t Get Enough”

Grand Funk Railroad - “We’re an American Band”

The Bee Gees - “More Than a Woman”

The Charlie Daniels Band - “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”

The Doobie Brothers - “Listen to the Music” 

Black Sabbath - “Iron Man”

Chic - “Good Times”

Billy Joel - “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”

Harry Chapin - “Cat’s in the Cradle”

The Bay City Rollers - “Saturday Night”

Elton John - Bennie and the Jets”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “That’s the Way (I Like It)”

Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Sweet Home Alabama”

Carole King - “It’s Too Late”

The O’Jays - “Love Train”

Billy Joel - “Piano Man”

Foreigner - “Double Vision”

Chicago - “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”

Peaches & Herb - “Reunited”

Deep Purple - “Smoke on the Water”

Wild Cherry - “Play That Funky Music”

Marvin Gaye - “I Want You”

Orleans - “Dance With Me”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “After the Love Has Gone”

Van Halen - “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “My Love”

Little River Band - “Lonesome Loser”

Stevie Wonder - “Isn’t She Lovely?”

Steely Dan - “Reelin’ in the Years”

Cheap Trick - “Surrender”

The Sugarhill Gang - “Rapper’s Delight”

Maxine Nightingale - “Right Back Where We Started From”

The Who - “Who Are You”

——

Vol. 3 (141–210)

Gloria Gaynor - “I Will Survive”

Led Zeppelin - “Kashmir”

Chicago - “Baby, What a Big Surprise”

Sister Sledge - “We Are Family”

Jackson Browne - “Running on Empty”

Olivia Newton John - “Hopelessly Devoted to You”

Vicki Sue Robinson - “Turn the Beat Around”

Billy Joel - “Big Shot”

Starland Vocal Band - “Afternoon Delight”

Rupert Holmes - “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”

Queen - “Don’t Stop Me Now”

Andrea True Connection - “More More More”

The Guess Who - “American Woman”

The Doobie Brothers - “Black Water”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “Band on the Run”

Stevie Wonder - “Superstition”

Elton John - “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”

James Taylor - “Your Smiling Face”

The Rolling Stones - “Miss You”

Chicago - “Beginnings”

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - “Let It Ride”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “We’ve Got Tonight”

Styx - “Lady”

Three Dog Night - “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”

Journey - “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”

Foreigner - “Cold As Ice”

10cc - “I’m Not in Love”

Credence Clearwater Revival - “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “Get Down Tonight”

Billy Joel - “Summer Highland Falls”

The Delfonics - “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Don’t Bring Me Down”

The Bee Gees - “How Deep Is Your Love”

Ike & Tina Turner - “Proud Mary”

Elton John - “Levon”

The Doobie Brothers - “Long Train Runnin’”

Seals & Croft - “Diamond Girl”

Redbone - “Come and Get Your Love”

Kenny Loggins - “This Is It”

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - “Blinded By the Light”

Roberta Flack - “Killing Me Softly With His Song”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “With a Little Luck”

The Bellamy Brothers - “Let Your Love Flow”

The Carpenters - “Superstar”

Blue Oyster Cult - “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

Stevie Wonder - “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

Eddie Money - “Baby Hold On”

Ted Nugent - “Cat Scratch Fever”

The Eagles - “Best of My Love”

The Four Tops - “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)”

Chicago - “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Chairmen of the Board - “Give Me Just a Little More Time”

The Cars - “Just What I Needed”

Queen - “You’re My Best Friend”

Thelma Houston - “Don’t Leave Me This Way”

Heart - “Barracuda”

Isaac Hayes - “Theme from Shaft”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “She’s Gone”

Rod Stewart - “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)”

Billy Joel - “She’s Got a Way”

The Hues Corporation - “Rock the Boat”

Steve Miller Band - “Fly Like an Eagle”

Thin Lizzy - “Jailbreak”

Supertramp - “Give a Little Bit”

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”

America - “Sister Golden Hair”

Pure Prairie League - “Amie”

The Temptations - “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

Prince - “I Wanna Be Your Lover”

Van Halen - “Eruption / You Really Got Me”

——

Vol. 4 (211–280)

Led Zeppelin - “When the Levee Breaks”

The Clash - “London Calling”

Chicago - “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”

KISS - “Detroit Rock City”

Bobby Womack - “Across 110th Street”

Bad Company - “Feel Like Makin’ Love”

Billy Joel - “I’ve Loved These Days”

Jim Croce - “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”

Aerosmith - “Sweet Emotion”

Ace - “How Long”

James Taylor - “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”

The Chi-Lites - “Oh Girl”

Frank Mills - “Music Box Dancer”

Amii Stewart - “Knock on Wood”

ABBA - “Take a Chance on Me”

Grand Funk Railroad - “Some Kind of Wonderful”

Elton John - “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”

Fleetwood Mac - “Dreams”

The Sweet - “Fox on the Run”

Herb Alpert - “Rise”

The Eagles - “The Long Run”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “Boogie Shoes”

Marvin Gaye - “What’s Going On”

Todd Rundgren - “Hello, It’s Me”

Black Sabbath - “Paranoid”

Paul McCartney - “Maybe I’m Amazed”

The Rolling Stones - “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)”

Boston - “Don’t Look Back”

Billy Joel - “Streetlife Serenader”

Journey - “Wheel in the Sky”

Poco - “Crazy Love”

Blondie - “Heart of Glass”

James Gang - “Funk #49”

Kansas - “Dust in the Wind”

Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks - “Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’”

Steely Dan - “Do It Again”

Natalie Cole “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”

Billy Preston - “Outa-Space”

Boz Skaggs - “Lido Shuffle”

Leo Sayer - “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”

Alicia Bridges - “I Love the Nightlife (Disco ‘Round)”

10cc - “The Things We Do For Love”

America - “Ventura Highway”

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - “Tears of a Clown”

Donna Summer - “Hot Stuff”

Edgar Winter Group - “Free Ride”

Chicago - “Wishing You Were Here”

The Jackson 5 - “The Love You Save”

Carly Simon - “Nobody Does It Better”

Parliament - “Flashlight”

T. Rex - “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”

Ohio Players - “Love Rollercoaster”

Chuck Mangione - “Feels So Good”

Jackson Browne - “Doctor My Eyes”

The Eagles - “Take It Easy”

The Ramones - “Blitzkrieg Bop”

Seals & Croft - “Get Closer”

Queen - “Killer Queen”

Carol Douglas - “Doctor’s Orders”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Her Strut”

Billy Joel - “Vienna”

Average White Band - “Pick Up the Pieces”

James Taylor - “Handy Man”

Thin Lizzy - “The Boys Are Back in Town”

Walter Murphy - “A Fifth of Beethoven”

Three Dog Night - “Shambala”

The Three Degrees - “When Will I See You Again”

Jim Croce - “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”

The Commodores - “Machine Gun”

Led Zeppelin - “The Song Remains the Same”

——

Vol. 5 (281–350)

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”

Billy Joel - “Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Still the Same”

Al Green - “Let’s Stay Together”

ABBA - “S.O.S.”

The Cars - “Let’s Go”

Ted Nugent - “Stranglehold”

Elton John - “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time)”

Styx - “Renegade”

Eddie Rabbitt - “Every Which Way But Loose”

Alice Cooper - “No More Mr. Nice Guy”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Sara Smile”

Chicago - “Lowdown”

Love Unlimited Orchestra - “Love’s Theme”

Rod Stewart - “Maggie May”

Paul Simon - “Slip, Slidin’ Away”

Robert Palmer - “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)”

MFSB - “The Sound of Philadelphia”

Ambrosia - “How Much I Feel”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Evil Woman”

Bruce Springsteen - “Thunder Road”

ZZ Top - “La Grange”

Gino Vannelli - “I Just Wanna Stop”

Gilbert O’Sullivan - “Alone Again (Naturally)”

Fleetwood Mac - “Say You Love Me”

The Doobie Brothers - “Rockin’ Down the Highway”

Golden Earring - “Radar Love”

Ram Jam - “Black Betty”

The Eagles - “One of These Nights”

Meco - “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band”

Billy Joel - “Honesty”

The Bee Gees - “Tragedy”

Queen - “Stone Cold Crazy”

Chic - “Everybody Dance”

Bread - “Everything I Own”

Olivia Newton John - “A Little More Love”

The Trammps - “Disco Inferno”

Neil Sedaka - “Laughter in the Rain”

Marvin Gaye - “Got to Give It Up”

B.J. Thomas - “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”

The Village People - “In the Navy”

King Harvest - “Dancing in the Moonlight”

Ohio Players - “Fire”

Nicolette Larson - “Lotta Love”

Main Ingredient - “Everybody Plays the Fool”

Barry White - “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”

The Kinks - “Everybody’s A Star”

Michael Jackson - “Ben”

Elton John - “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”

Dionne Warwick & The Spinners - “Then Came You”

Nazareth - “Love Hurts”

Eric Carmen - “All By Myself”

Foreigner - “Hot Blooded”

Bobby Caldwell - “What You Won’t Do For Love”

Foghat - “Slow Ride”

Andy Kim - “Rock Me Gently”

Cheryl Lynn - “Got to Be Real��

Captain & Tennille - “Love Will Keep Us Together”

The Miracles - “Love Machine”

Blondie - “One Way or Another”

Elvin Bishop - “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”

Leo Sayer - “When I Need You”

Little River Band - “Reminiscing”

Hudson Brothers - “So You Are A Star”

Exile - “Kiss You All Over”

Mountain - “Mississippi Queen”

Heat Wave - “Groove Line”

Sugarloaf - “Don’t Call Us (We’ll Call You)”

Hot Butter - “Popcorn”

ABBA - “Mamma Mia”

[nerdwithabirb]

what your ssbu main says about you (not including dlc)

01. mario: you’re either a basic bitch or really old.

02. donkey kong: you like cheap movesets like grabs because then you don’t have to put in actual effort.

03. link: you’re a basic bitch with a love of elven/fantasy type characters.

04. samus: you either really like metroid, or you just think the mech suit looks neat.

04e. dark samus: see above. possibly going through a divorce.

05. yoshi: you might eat a lot.

06. kirby: see above.

07. fox: you’re either a fox main because of his laser gun, or you’re a furry.

08. pikachu: pikachu is the only pokémon you actually recognise.

09. luigi: you were the underdog growing up. probably a younger sibling.

10. ness: from the bottom of my heart, fuck you. i will never be able to unhear “PK FIRE!!” in that FUCKING voice.

11. captain falcon: i’ve never seen a captain falcon main who was familiar with f-zero, they just thought the falcon! punch! thing is cool.

12. jigglypuff: jjiggly is broken like genuinely broken (especially in ssb4), so you must REALLY like the character.

13. peach: you are probably someone’s non-gamer gf and only picked peach because she’s cute.

13e. daisy: you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the mario series, but you also probably think that being a daisy main makes you “quirky” somehow.

14. bowser: see entry for donkey kong. spamming grab attacks is cheap as fuck. stop it.

15. ice climbers: another game that most of the mains are completely unfamiliar with. also, having to fight two characters at once is annoying as hell. you like to watch the world suffer.

16. sheik: you probably think maining sheik makes you “mysterious” even though she’s been in the series forever and anyone familiar with legend of zelda knows she’s just zelda in disguise. however, she has decent melee attacks, so credit where credit is due i suppose.

17. zelda: you like the ~magical girl~ aesthetic but think wicca is demonic.

18. dr. mario: if you actually know dr. mario, great. if not, you probably wanted a “quirky” version of mario.

19. pichu: pichu is literally just a more asshole version of pikachu. so you either know that and use it to your advantage, or you just think pichu is cute.

20. falco: you got bored of using fox.

21. marth: you have a thing for slightly androgynous swordfighters.

21e. lucina: androgynous wasn’t doing it for you.

22. young link: you miss link’s old moveset.

23. ganondorf: your tabletop game of choice is d&d and you’re probably the dungeon master most of the time.

24. mewtwo: you think mewtwo is as close to goku as smash can ever get.

25. roy: you have a thing for redheads.

25e. chrom: you have a thing for emo kids.

26. mr. game & watch: you probably don’t know what a game & watch is and just like the huge assortment of attacks.

27. meta knight: edgelord supreme. you were probably a goth kid at one point and might still be.

28. pit: you main pit because his flight ability gives you plenty of mercy when you inevitably get knocked off the stage.

28e. dark pit: you think dark pit is somehow better because he is wearing black.

29. zero suit samus: you pause the game to masturbate to her when you’re playing alone. we all know this.

30. wario: you laugh at fart jokes a lot.

31. snake: you probably own one or more of the following: gadsden flag, something with a punisher skull, one or more guns.

32. ike: see entry for marth.

33-35. pokémon trainer: you like to think you’re unpredictable, but end up doing one of the same few things.

36. diddy kong: you’re one of the rare few who actually knows how the fuck to use diddy. please show me your ways.

37. lucas: like ness, but worse. fuck you but even more.

38. sonic: you’re a hardcore sonic fan and probably fall off the stage a lot. you might be one of the weirdos who lewd him.

39. king dedede: you’re annoying as hell and like to get in people’s way.

40. olimar/alph: you like to piss off as many people at once as you possibly can and just slowly sap away their will to live.

41. lucario: you’re either a hardcore pokémon fan, or you think the idea of a ninja fox dog looking thing is sensual.

42. r.o.b.: lol does anyone main r.o.b.? if you do, you probably have a massive retro game collection and i salute you for that.

43. toon link: you either like wind waker, or you just enjoy the cutesy aesthetic.

44. wolf: like the fox mains, but edgier. probably kind of a dick in real life.

45. villager: you were the kid who chased everyone around and perpetuated the cheese touch/cooties/etc. on the playground.

46. mega man: you are either insanely cool, or you like little boys. no in between.

47. wii fit trainer: you started to main him/her (depending on alt costume) as a joke, but it just grew on you. you’re probably a health nut.

48. rosalina and luma: you totally bought into the galaxy hair trend.

49. little mac: you like to convince people to play punchies.

50. greninja: you make up a lot of bullshit excuses to get out of things.

51-53. mii fighters: you either started using them for shits and giggles and have several miis of celebs and characters, or you’re so self-centred that you jumped on the opportunity to be in a game that wasn’t called “wii _____.”

54. palutena: you’re horny for witchy girls. that, or you started as a zelda main and then graduated, so to speak.

55. pac-man: you like minimalist interior design and probably have an oral fixation.

56. robin: you are, or were, a potterhead.

57. shulk: you probably just think his weapon is neat, admit it.

58. bowser jr.: you’re a HUGE nintendo fan, and can probably name all of the koopalings by heart. (so basically me in fourth grade, lol)

59. duck hunt: you like to fight dirty and then laugh in the face of your opponent after you use cheap tactics, both in and out of smash.

60. ryu: if you ever played street fighter, he was always your main. you’re probably a real ride or die type of person.

60e. ken: you think ryu is too mainstream.

61. cloud: you really like jrpgs.

62. corrin: again with the being horny for the same sort of character.

63. bayonetta: you either are a big tiddy goth gf, or you’re a slobby neckbeard with no hope of getting a big tiddy goth gf.

64. inkling: you probably took up painting as a hobby at least once.

65. ridley: you think dragons are awesome. sadly, ridley kinda sucks in smash.

66. simon: you’re either a deus vult sort of racist, or you have a bdsm kink.

66e. richter: you most probably have a bdsm kink and are very likely to be ex-religious. you probably still reference god in everyday speech because it’s hard to stop doing that (“oh my god,” “i swear to god,” etc.).

67. king k. rool: you laugh at “expand dong” in 2020.

68. isabelle: you enjoy cheap fighting tactics, but also the kawaii aesthetic.

69 (nice). incineroar: you’re a hardcore pokémon fan. shame that incineroar kinda sucks as a fighter.

[thecrimsonjaguar]

its fucking time baybee

Alright. Alright. FUck. Oh my fuck. I have time now to sit down and process fionna and cake. god fuck. holy shit.whta the fuck , ive been so busy and ive finally caught up and. god what the shit

FUCK

DAMN IT ALL GOD FUCKIGN FGUIGT5BFEWIGTRFTHY

god fucking damnit i KNEW it was going to tear my HEART out we're not even FINISHED YET THE SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

uuuguhuhuhuhuhuhuh i need to be coherent. ok. ok.

I planned initially to talk about the episodes individually but fuck that,

So Simon is very suicidal. like. oh god I know we saw it in the original series but here it's on another level. He doesn't *just* want to die. He wants to put himself through an experience he considers WORSE than death for the rest of eternity. like. hell man. hes not ok

and like. i've mentioned it before but simon's just so. nice, yknow? He's kind. he's good. You can see he wants to be a good person and that part of him is like, slowly being drawn out again. He's so damaged and stuck in the past that he ends up hurting people around him. he made a little girl cry. He tried to talk about it with marcy, we know he's not okay with his behavior. and then with the candy queen, he's sees that she's nuts and he is immediately talking about helping her. He's trying to give her the kindness and help that he was denied for so long.

(and it makes me think about Ice King, right? Like, remind me, has anyone, and I mean ANYONE, ever approached IK and genuinely, earnestly asked IK for real help? If a little kid asked IK to please save them, would simon's kindness shine through? would Ice King help?)

And i'm genuinely nervous about what's to come. I imagine at some point it's going to hit F+C that the crown and Simon do NOT mix. And it's going to probably be a rude wakeup call. but what about after that?

Like. we didn't see Simon in the afterlife. We've all been theorizing about that for a bit but since we know for a FACT that simon is aging, then I imagine something is going to happen to him that keeps him from the deadworlds. and i'm putting a lot of trust into the show because it's really good so far so if something strange and cosmic DOES happen to simon, i have faith it will be good.

but like!!!! i kinda don't........ want that?? I want him to live in his OWN reality and make peace there, so he doesn't get separated from marcy. (The Simon and Marcy relationship is pretty much one of my favorite, if not the favorite, thing i love about AT. If something does happen to simon, I want him to have some way to stay connected to marceline.) And I want him to still be friends with Finn and I want him to make it up to that little girl he hurt. Im nervous he'll end up leaving and while we might get some of that, will everything get resolved in a satisfying way???

probably (hopefully) i'm being paranoid. This show is great so far. I think it can handle simon for a while longer. and i think if something weird does happen to simon, i can enjoy it.

i got more thoughts, but this post will do for now

[jakesuit0]

Loyalty to the King Review

Finn and Jake save Engagement Ring Princess, who has been imprisoned by the Ice King. Engagement Ring Princess is not one of the princesses we see on her own often. The series’ goto minor princesses are Turtle Princess, Slime Princess, Wildberry Princess, Breakfast Princess, Hot Dog Princess, Raggedy Princess, and Muscle Princess. As those princesses have appeared more often, most of them develop unique personalities and quirks over the seasons. The rest of the minor princesses in this episode do not ever get the chance to be more defined. That’s unfortunate as their designs are all so cute and unique! I’m glad Engagement Ring Princess at least got one scene to shine. A lot of the minor princesses end up sounding a bit too samesy, especially since Maria Bamford voices so many of them. It’s really striking in this episode because so many appear together. They all look so different so it's not like with the Banana Guards where you expect them all to sound alike. It is still a delight seeing so many varied, cool character designs. 

We see more of Ice King’s delusional side when he thinks Engagement Ring Princess broke up with him. Ice King’s delusions make for some of the funniest jokes in Adventure Time. I love Ice King saying he left “so many cool things in her little prison” and him using a banana as a phone. Ice King actually, for a minute, deals with his issues in a healthier way. He starts focusing on himself! He gives himself a makeover and goes out to exercise. He looks surprisingly different after shaving off his beard. Although, I have noticed in real life how different someone can look after growing or shaving a beard. Slime Princess does not recognize Ice King and starts flirting with him. He says the same pathetic kind of remarks he always does, but Slime Princess thinks he’s just joking. I do think there is a kernel of truth to more attractive looking people sometimes being able to say things that would otherwise come off as creepy or desperate. Ice King introduces himself as the Nice King.

It was a nice change of pace to watch the show through Ice King’s point of view for a section of the episode, until Finn and Jake come back in. Finn wants to become Nice King’s knight and pledge his loyalty without knowing anything about him. It shows how naive he is. Finn is a bit of a bootlicker! It is normal for young kids to give authority figures the benefit of the doubt before their teen years. Word of the Nice King has spread and has attracted many princesses. With so many princesses desperate to get with him, Ice King’s desperation has subsided and he is a lot more picky. IK has Finn and Jake turn down ladies for him. Finn feels bad breaking their hearts and starts questioning Nice King’s orders. Ice King lets all the attention he’s receiving go to his head. He has always treated women like property, but it really comes out here with him viewing attractive princesses as just disposable things. Finn’s objections really come from his traditional philosophy of being chivalrous to ladies, especially knights to princesses. Lumpy Space Princess does something she will never do again in the series. She goes against her lumps! Her wanting Finn to punch out her lumps to appear more attractive to Ice King shows how low her self esteem is. It is not often we see her be this desperate over a guy. I think all the other princesses wanting Nice King so badly is what made LSP so desperate for him.

Ice King’s beard starts growing back. We see in episodes like “Simon & Marcy” that the crown rapidly changes the wearer’s physical features, including growing a beard, to look like Evergreen’s. This lines up well in hindsight. Ice King was trying to go against the effects of the crown. 

The Nice King sends Finn and Jake to retrieve his razor, claiming the Ice King stole it. After they find Ice King’s shaved off beard hair, they finally realize the Nice King is the Ice King. Before they get to confront him, they have to fight through an army of lovestruck princesses. You’d think some of the heartbroken ones would have turned against him! It’s cool having an army of princesses as an antagonist for once. I don’t often mention the background music, but the track “Sand Castle Siege” that plays when Finn and Jake chase after Ice King is one of the best in the series. After Finn and Jake expose the Ice King, he gets beaten up by the princesses.

Grade: A-

[dreamerdagn]

Adventure Time: Come Along With Me reaction

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

OHHHHHHHHH BOY HERE WE GO

First, before individual plot points, my emotional reaction was so much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I started watching AT in 2013; I remember seeing people reacting to some of the early story line with Flame Princess, and people saying things like “I didn’t expect this show to get this good.” Also around this time I think was when What Was Missing aired, and there was a cover of Marceline’s song I’m Just Your Problem that was circulating, and I loved it.

But it took me a long time to get really into the story. I basically just liked it enough to keep catching up from time to time. Early on I didn’t like that each episode was pretty much self contained, and had a quality of the early 2000′s “random humor” to it. Going back over it now, it doesn’t feel nearly as grating as it did, and it seems like the early episodes were kind of a fun brainstorming period where they were not only figuring out the tone of the show, but doing worldbuilding creating an arsenal of plot elements, characters and props that could come back later. It might not have been the early intention to give the show as much continuity as it ended up having, but the team did a great job of weaving things that were established early on back into the story.

I don’t remember what the tipping point was for me to really start liking it, but I didn’t start getting very excited about it until the last big marathon I did to get ready for the finale, which started just before the Islands miniseries. It makes me sad that I got super excited about it right before it was supposed to end, but I’m glad I got to enjoy it at all for all that time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SO NOW, the finale reaction. Mega spoilers!!!

Fern: This was the biggest plot point I was invested in...naturally I got attached to a character that looked likely to have a tragic end :/ (I can’t say “the most tragic character” though bcs like...everyone had a lot of baggage) But that was about as good a wrap up for his story as there could’ve been. I admit, I think because of Steven Universe of all things, I was hoping there’d be some resolution other than slaying the grass demon (since SU has been pretty good about setting up big battles and resolving them with The Power Of Love), but...it was an okay resolution. SPEAKING of which, I definitely anticipated the destruction of the treehouse from before the finale, because I remember watching the intro with the big zoom in and thinking “oh, the treehouse is so iconic...something’s gonna happen to it.”

Simon: I’m kind of surprised there wasn’t a twist with Simon healing; I figured he’d have some sort of residual change, like, idk, he’d still be blue, or he’d still have some memory loss, or something. Having Betty be the one to make a sacrifice and having Simon be okay was pretty emotionally satisfying in that Simon is the one the watchers have the biggest connection to, but it also felt a bit, wrong, I guess? because they made a point that Betty had given up a bright future to start dating Simon in the first place, and then additionally ended up just...written with an absolute exit from the story. We don’t know if she retained any sense of self at the end. (I think. I missed a lot of stuff in the ending montage.) Now, I know that that was why they had the episode where she was shown...an alternate reality? or just a dream, where she deliberately gave up meeting Simon. But we didn’t follow that version of her, so this version feels much more...final. Also: I remember seeing the Gunther-Ice-King in the opening and thinking “I doubt that’s actually IK but idk how they’ll pull off having that visual without that being Simon, but I bet they will”

The candy war: I loved the resolution to it being in the nightmare world. All the time leading up to the finale, I was thinking the candy war seemed kind of an out-of-nowhere context for a climactic conflict, and having the resolution be in a surreal dreamspace was much more in the spirit of the show. Also I liked Chekov’s Nightmare Princess Gift.

Bubblegum & Marceline: :)

Marceline: :((((((((((((((((((((( I remember wondering after Ketchup if we’d ever see any more of Marceline’s mom...initially I felt like “well, we have to, right?” but then thinking maybe her past was going to be left intentionally vague...but now it seems all too obvious that her mom died in the mushroom war :( Also, I’m not clear on if Marceline was a human child that Hunson bit, or if he’s actually her biological father so she was born half vampire. I think this was addressed in Stakes (obv she tried to be just human), but I don’t remember.

Anything else?: Hm....oh I loved BMO’s song and I started crying when Bubblegum and Marceline joined in. um. Finn was a great main character, his story arc was so perfect and complete I didn’t really feel the need to comment on it...Jake already had his closure a while ago...idk. I’m still just overall pretty sad about it being over, but very relieved it didn’t go on too long and spiral out of control (cough cough Homestuck cough).

I was thinking back on when Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe were the “big 3″ modern cartoons (OTGW was often counted, but that was a miniseries so a different animal), and now of those only SU is still going. um. I want to end on a positive note.

Adventure Time was a great series, I have already started rewatching it and now that it’s over and I can watch it all without gaps I’ll really be able to appreciate its development, it ended on a high note and it will always exist so people will still be able to discover and enjoy it. Yay!

edit: OH YEAH other big emotional moment was when the music hole started singing and it turns out she’s the singer of Come Along With Me