#this was initially about simon/ice king

[venranae]

Huge fan of big hearted characters with good intentions getting corrupted by some cursed magical artifact

[allyallyorange]

Don’t talk to me 🤧

[redrobin-detective]

There's some inherent tragic horror in the fact that Simon canonically doesn't remember much of what he did as Ice King, just 'dreamlike impressions'. I imagine he remembers people, certain significant moments but otherwise it's kind of a blur. Simon is over a thousand years old but he barely remembers any of it. Not to mention the non-magical human brain isn't built to contain so much memory so any attempts to recall could be dangerous for him.

Imagine how terrible it is to be told a story of yourself acting strange and manic and pathetic and terrible and there's no internal context for it. It may as well have happened to someone else in a dream but its the personality and actions most people know you by. Simon hears an outrageous story of Ice King and who knows if it's real or not? He barely knows who the man was.

[sabertoothwalrus]

it’s kind of insane that we have snippets of what Marceline and Bubblegum’s life was like throughout the 1000 years between the mushroom war and the start of the series, but NOTHING of Ice King.

All we really have is that he was enslaved by Empress for a while until (presumably) Marceline killed her and saved him. And that was when she was still living with the human colony.

and I know. I KNOW we have to consider that a lot of this lore was written by lots of different people over the course of a decade so there are contradictions. And that a lot about Ice King was originally written as jokes. But I’m gonna try to come up with my own version the chronology. And also most Adventure Time lore started off as jokes anyway.

so like. How long was Simon able to hold on for?

enough to build a huge library…

Maybe, for a while, he tried to collect as much human memorabilia as he could.

he called Marceline “Gunther,” but did he ever sometimes call a penguin “Marceline”?

what if Simon first got into the ninja stuff (chamber of frozen blades) when he had built the ice castle but hadn’t completely lost it. what if he could tell he was using the crown too much, and he wanted to find an alternative way to defend himself.

maybe he even initially got his weights to keep himself strong as his body was degrading.

was it a complete transformation? or would he have phases of coherence? would he remember Marceline and try to find her, only to forget everything on the way there?

when did he start kidnapping princesses? how long had he been doing it for before Finn came along? What did they do about it?

when did he gain his reputation as Ice King?

when did he hang up his coat?

when did he stop feeling scared?

he was alone for so long. he was so lonely. (he’s still lonely)

[j4gm]

SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 8: JERRY

The last of four posts for today.

This episode has a very dark setting. This is the universe where The Lich wished for the extinction of all life. There is nothing here. This establishing shot features the Squirrel's apple cart, from a few episodes ago, but he is long dead and it is long abandoned.

We are introduced to a new cosmic entity, Orbo, who is Scarab's boss but is not to be mistaken for Prismo's boss, whose identity remains a mystery.

Simon name drops a whole bunch of magical items from the original Adventure Time series; the Armour of Zeldron from Blood Under the Skin, the Wand of Dispersement from Sons of Mars, the Porcelain Lamb from Beyond This Earthly Realm, and the magic beans from The Pods.

This episode suggests that the nature of Simon and Betty's relationship was initially quite unhealthy. He was one of her lecturers, and she had an infatuation with him from first sight.

This illustration features the ancient wizards who sealed Coconteppi beneath Wizard City in the Distant Lands episode of the same name.

Simon's expedition to find the Enchiridion was first mentioned in the newspaper clipping in I Remember You, and was mentioned again in Temple of Mars.

BMO apparently survived The Lich's wish because he isn't technically alive. I wonder where Neptr and the other MOs are. Cannibalised for batteries, perhaps. Also, that BRB note is very sad and is identical to the one Finn wrote in Blenanas.

There are various familiar items in the thawed out remains of the Ice Kingdom; ninja paraphernalia from The Chamber of Frozen Blades, Ice King's diary from The Empress Eyes, and of course the tape collection from Holly Jolly Secrets.

Here's a deep cut: That machine in the background to the right of Simon is the machine that held the lightning power that Finn went to steal in What is Life, so that he could power up Neptr. The Demonic Wishing Eye is also in this shot.

For a single frame, Ice King and Gunter can be seen reduced to skeletons. Presumably this was the exact moment that the Lich's wish took effect. Everyone died instantly, in less than a frame.

When I watched this episode for the first time I was confused about where Fionna got the working crown. But you can just about see it inside the drum in this shot, where Ice King mentioned he had put it in his tape.

This is the exact moment the photograph was taken for the newspaper clipping seen in I Remember You.

We first heard the story about how Simon met Betty after they tried to check out the same library book in Broke His Crown. It's cool to see it playing out for real.

Simon throws a pebble at the window and accidentally hits Babette in the face, exactly like Finn and Jake did to Kim Kil Whan in the episode Ocarina.

This is the second time Simon caused Betty to miss this research trip to Australia. She says in Temple of Mars that she never got the opportunity to go, and resolves that her life might not have been so messed up if she'd followed her own dreams instead of following Simon's.

The song in this scene, the motif of which has been heard throughout the series, is by Half Shy, who also wrote "Monster" for Obsidian.

BMO is buried with a paper flower because there are no real ones left alive. His death seemed pointlessly cruel.

THE LICH! He is in his half-disguised Billy form, confirming that this is his wish-altered reality. Like in his other appearances, the first line he speaks is a single word command. This time, the command is "Cease." But with nothing left to do he has become depressed, and he doesn't bother killing our protagonists.

And finally, we are left on this cliffhanger. Fionna and Cake have returned to their world. Scarab has convinced the boss that Simon must be destroyed. And GOLBetty is here to claim them both while the Lich watches on.

This episode's dream features a pair of Lich skulls either side an effigy of GOLB.

[petr1kov]

When I started watching Fiona and Cake I was absolutely convinced they were going to use these characters becoming real as a sort of metaphor for Simon to realize he can accept certain aspects of the Ice King and incorporate them into his life. Simon, as Ice King, "wrote" those stories, so Simon regards them poorly despite having a pretty incredible fondness for them. I don't hate the direction they went, but was a little disappointed they seemed to seperate F&C from Simon so strongly

(Sorry, saw your reblog and couldn't help myself)

i completely agree, that was where i thought they were going with this initially, too :/

frankly, i didn't like the explanation that prismo created their reality and only then stored it on ice king's brain, and that's where he got all those crazy ideas for his stories. it feels like they went about it backwards, especially considering how ice king's stories being popular (to the point it bothered simon on the present) was relevant to the show - it makes him seem less imaginative and the stories less personal when so much of what he's writing about is apparently just from observing what was happening in that world as a third party, imo, and that's very strange considering how fionna & cake was always his thing on the original show. and for what? what exactly does that add to the story, or even to prismo's character? maybe an attempt to make their world seem more legitimate and canon?

it would make more sense if prismo liked his stories and then decided to turn them into reality based on that. the link between simon's state of mind and the world inside him would be way stronger (and more interesting) that way. f&c being prismo's idea felt kinda cheap to me, and lessened the obvious connection that fionna and cake should have with simon in terms of mood and struggles down to just 'he's a walking hard drive who's malfunctioning'. that was kind of a letdown.

[somepsychopomp]

Vampire!Simon AU Timeline

I tried to keep this loose and simple but it ended up being a lot more detailed than I expected. This is a pretty comprehensive timeline of my AU's backstory for anyone who wants to know more or just wants a clear idea what wtf is happening. Enjoy!

Ok so pre-Mushroom War:

This remains largely unchanged- Simon finds the crown, loses Betty, etc.

Maybe due to Simon’s interest in ancient artifacts, he’s aware of vampire lore and has even found some ancient stakes with traces of an unknown species’ DNA on them on past expeditions

He’ll never have the chance to publish the results of his findings

After the War (aka post-apocalypse Simon and Marcy):

Simon finds Marcy and instantly knows he has to protect her, she learns about the crown’s influence, etc

They encounter the Vampire King and his court

VK is initially surprised to see a non-vampiric magic user, especially one as strong as Simon, until he realizes that it’s all from the crown (he witnesses Marcy plead with Simon to take off the crown bc he’s going too nuts)

VK also has an interest in Marceline, the little girl that keeps trying to suck out the Fool’s soul as he toys with her. She's clearly not human and that piques his interest

VK defeats Simon and takes the crown. He’s not interested in Simon himself but does think Marcy might one day become a powerful member of his court. But she’s fiercely loyal to Simon so VK strikes a bargain- Simon lives if Marcy comes with him. (Really, at this point he was willing to kill Simon and just take Marcy but VK saw the madness the crown inflicted and thinks Simon can advise him on how to resist it)

As part of the King’s court:

The Vampire King isn't interested in letting humans live in his hive unless they're soon to be butchered.

So Simon is bit and turned. He’s told to abandon his human name and accept the once given to him- Temperance, one of the three arcane virtues. It represents patience and moderation ordinarily, but represents discord and conflicting interests when inverted.

Marcy still calls him Simon in secret

Simon is stunned that the VK can resist the crown’s madness to a certain extent as he masters its control over snow and ice

The hardest part about being a vampire for him is no longer being able to enjoy sunlight, as on his expeditions and while taking care of Marcy, he fundamentally understood that daylight = visibility and safety and that night= danger

Marceline will be bitten when she turns 18. In the mean time, she’ll be tutored by Simon and treated like a princess by the minions.

Marceline gets her own room, all the food she can eat, a soft bed, etc. She wants for nothing not out of kindness, but bc the VK knows this is an easy way to win her over. Marcy isn't stupid, but she is just a kid. After the trauma surrounding being sent away by her mom, and believing she was unwanted, Marcy is terribly tempted to follow her less than human instincts in the face of a better life for herself

Simon worries for her and tries to keep her close to him. Which isn't easy, as the VK is cunning and ruthless

Marceline also begins training at a young age. She learns to hone her power of sucking souls and when its learned that she can gain the unique abilities of her victims, the VK brings in all sorts of prey for her- humans, wolves, birds of prey, snakes, etc. in the belief it will make her stronger.

The VK is only ever kind and patient to Marcy as she grows up, almost like Simon but with an unspoken air of absolute authority. Still, it convinces her that he's not all that bad despite the fact that he's wiping out all the humans. Since Simon isn't human anymore, Marcy doesn't really feel that protecting humans = protecting him.

But the problem is that Simon hates being a vampire. He hates the taste of blood despite his inability to consume human food. He begins looking for alternative solutions and find that vampires can merely consume the color red

He's ostracized by the court for his meek personality and his frequent pleads for them to stop killing humans. What little power he had with the court is threatened as the VK requires his aid less and less over time. The VK begins to consider manipulating the sky itself so his kind is safer in the day

When Marcy is 16-17, Simon ushers her into a secret chamber beneath the vampire hive. For years, he'd been slowly stockpiling supplies so they can escape. Things like weapons, sturdy clothes, food, etc. What's more, he'd managed to find and repair a car! They can escape together and get away before anyone even notices they're gone.

Marcy is stunned that Simon wants to go back to a life of constantly being on the run, hungry and afraid. Having no home or safe place to sleep in. And with his condition, he'd have to be extra careful of the sun. Simon says how much he hates being a vampire and that he doesn't want this for her, he did all this to save her!

But he never did ask if Marceline herself was opposed to becoming a vampire. However, her love for Simon still outweighs her loyalty to the VK. She agrees to run away.

One of the funniest parts of the Stakes miniseries is that the VK is confirmed to have telepathy but he only really used it to psychically give Peppermint Butler and autograph. So I'm going to use that- the VK has been reading Simon's mind for years without letting him know and has known for a long time that Simon's been trying to run away

Simon and Marcy don't get very far before 2 things happen: the VK himself goes after them, and they're stopped by a small army of survivors lead by a pink haired girl (idc if PB would still be a tiny wad of gum at this point in the OG Ooo timeline it's my AU)

The VK ignores the attempts to assassinate him as he takes Marcy back to the hive. Meanwhile, Simon is captured by the humans and left for dead.

Here's the fun part- Simon's unique vampire power is a remnant of the crown's influence on him. He can cover his body in dense ice that acts like armor. It can be chipped away or melted, but resists damage really well

after multiple failed attempts to kill him, Simon tries to strike a bargain with Bonnie. Let him go, and he'll help her kill the vampire king

meanwhile, Marcy is crying in her room bc she thinks Simon is dead and she blames herself bc she never should've gone with him (something that the VK tells her he agrees with)

but Simon manages to come back unharmed. The only way he'd be able to do that was if he killed the humans that captured him. The VK is begrudgingly impressed. He'll still have simon separated from marcy for a year as punishment, though.

Marcy hugs Simon and tells him that she's glad he's alright. And that it'll be okay. He spent so long protecting her, from now on she's going to protect him (after all, the last time she thought she'd ever see him, he was about to be killed by a human mob. That event cements Marcy's belief that following the VK is what's best for her and Simon)

It absolutely breaks Simon's heart

Marcy turns 18 and Simon cannot stop her from becoming The Star

(while Simon is in isolation/solitary confinement, the VK frequently taunts him over a telepathic link- telling him how hard Marceline is working to become strong. To become a killer. The VK finds that messing with Simon is so utterly delectable)

As Temperance and the Star:

Marceline and Simon go by their vampire names when they’re among others but still use their human names in private

The VK brings on the sunless sky that allows vampires even more freedom than before

he ignores Simon's pleas to return the world to its natural ways. After all this time, he finds Simon's ways not annoying, but oddly endearing. He is the contrary voice to the whole court, after all; and though he might not have much power, the bravery to speak out against the king is commendable to some extent

Marcy begins her unending feud/hate-crush on Bonnie, who Simon secretly aids

Simon is mostly left to himself since Marceline is her own person now.

He starts growing a small garden of red food, assembling a library, etc. But most importantly, he tries to save any human child he finds

The VK got Marceline as his ward, why can't Simon have his own? He promises the court that the child will be his full responsibility and the king, mostly out of amusement and curiosity, lets Simon adopt his precious human children

however, Marcy can't help but feel like Simon is doing the exact same thing her mom did- he's scared of her or doesn't love her anymore, so he's trying to go away. Except this time, he's replacing her in front of her very eyes with some tiny, fearful brat that can't appreciate just how kind and loving Simon is

over the next few centuries, every member of the king's court except for the Star dies off. In every instance, Marceline takes advantage of their death to suck up their essence. The VK admires her for this.

at the same time, no ward of Simon's has managed to survive to about 11-12. Sometimes it was a hungry vampire that killed them, most of the time it was Marceline sneaking behind his back to kill off her replacement, and sometimes it was mere disease that ended them. He lost poor Shoko to infection after Marceline took her arm in a jealous rage and that put off Simon from taking on another ward for a hundred years

HOWEVER, Marceline still really loves Simon and wants to be close with him again. She's... just not sure how anymore. Simon still smiles at her and tells her stories and lets her crash in his library when she wants to avoid boring meetings or whatnot, he cares for her yes- but he never seems proud of her for accomplishing great feats like killing 100 human rebels in one night or taking Bonnie's eye

Simon still holds out hope that there's good in Marcy and that she can be persuaded to help him and Bonnie kill the king/her other dad

And then Finn comes along.

(For anyone wondering, I haven't really touched upon how the VK ends up infatuated with Simon bc I'm still figuring that out. But also, I don't think it needs to be clearly defined, it'd be a lot more fun to just see Simon winding up in essentially an arranged marriage

HOWEVER I will say this- the vampire king once asked Simon for a special gift in an attempt for them to become closer. He asked Simon to give him a mortal name, as all he knows is a life as an undying king.

Simon obliged and after much thought, he chose the name Leonidas. They are the only two beings who know the king’s secret name and use it, it’s something not even Marceline knows.)

[loudlyhappycupcake]

Chely's profound sacrifice involved using a wishing apple to swap places with Betty Grof, freeing Betty and Simon Petrikov from the chaotic entity GOLB. This selfless act transformed Betty, who had merged with GOLB to protect Simon (becoming **Golbetty**), back into her human form. In doing so, Chely herself became fused with GOLB, turning into **Golbhely**.

---

### The Sacrifice and Transformation

Betty Grof, in a desperate attempt to save Simon Petrikov from the mind-altering effects of the Ice King's crown, merged with GOLB, becoming the powerful and chaotic **Golbetty**. Chely, witnessing Betty's predicament, made the ultimate sacrifice. She utilized a wishing apple to essentially take Betty's place, absorbing GOLB's essence herself.

The transformation was visually striking:

* Initially, GOLB's energy was often depicted as a **bright, ethereal blue light**. This likely represents the state of Golbetty before Chely's intervention.

* As Chely absorbed GOLB, the energy shifted dramatically to an **intense pink, almost magenta, amorphous shape**. This color change symbolized Chely's integration and the ongoing transformation.

* The final result was the fearsome and monstrous **Golbhely**, an entity primarily in shades of pink and red, with glowing eyes, sharp teeth, and spiky armor. This new form, while embodying GOLB's immense, destructive power, also retained elements that could be linked back to Chely, such as a crown-like structure, suggesting her regal influence despite the chaotic fusion.

---

### Consequences of Chely's Sacrifice

Chely's selflessness had significant repercussions:

* **Betty Grof is Freed**: Betty was successfully separated from GOLB, allowing her to escape the cosmic entity's influence and potentially return to a more normal existence.

* **Simon Petrikov's Safety**: With Betty freed from GOLB, Simon was also implicitly safe from the entity's direct impact, as Betty's initial merger was to protect him.

* **The Rise of Golbhely**: Chely, by taking Betty's place, became the new embodiment of GOLB's power. This new entity, **Golbhely**, represents a formidable and chaotic force, a direct consequence of Chely's heroic and ultimately tragic act.

---

### A Metaphorical Connection: "Defying Gravity" from *Wicked* (2024)

The song "Defying Gravity" from the musical *Wicked* (2024) resonates metaphorically with Chely's sacrifice. The song, a powerful anthem about breaking free from constraints and embracing one's destiny despite the cost, mirrors Chely's actions. Just as Elphaba chooses a path that sets her against the world for her beliefs, Chely chose to defy her own fate and physical boundaries to save Betty and Simon. She embraced a transformative destiny, becoming the new vessel for GOLB's power, an act of "defying gravity" in its purest form—altering the course of events through an immense personal sacrifice. @shironezuninja @untitled14360 @bloodmoon24 @princess-paige-place-of-fun @moonlighteclipse17 @samantha80ssuperstar @twiliartsdreams2017 @aria-blue-donut-muffin @wolfie245 @cartoonfan21 @bitter-yet-civilized @pianodogdodge @in--dna @bossbabyfan2 @roselyn-writing @ohmarjorie @ellie67 @jedimemories @jeffreybrosseau @princessfandom812 @princesshillaryellaworld25 @iagomorales @saltysoulballoon @ajaxus166 @roxxywolf-multiversa @leo-x-u-raptor-fan @punk-63 @marouillat

[grapehyasynth]

AU where Wille and Simon don't meet at Hillerska, and Wille tries so hard to grow into the crown prince role, pushes his own self deep down if he has to, but then he's 30 and he and his parents are deep in the country for a winter retreat and his mother tells him she plans to step down and let him become King and he breaks. In a panic, he runs off on cross country skis, pursued by frantic security guards who are not paid enough for this. He panic-skis until he becomes aware of the fierce snowstorm that has set in. He struggles through it until he sees light, which belongs to a cabin. A cabin that singer-songwriter Simon Eriksson has rented to nurse his disappointment at the reception of his first album, which was well-received in various corners of the Internet but largely ignored in Sweden. It is possibly the worst time for them to meet, or possibly the time they need it the most, with Wille caving under the pressures of his position and Simon doubting himself more than he ever has, and though Simon is hospitable enough in offering Wille shelter in the storm, they are both distantly cordial, polite but formal. But as snow accumulates outside the cabin, ice melts within. Over steaming beverages, both wrapped in Simon's sweaters, they tentatively get to know each other, first through questions about Simon's guitar laying on the bed and Wille's new glasses, then into the territory of Wille's flight through the countryside and Simon's self-imposed isolation. Initial prickliness quickly gives way to hesitant respect and then to a deepening understanding, a kinship, a yearning....

[eyesteeth]

my thoughts and theories on fionna and cake

so from the trailer alone i’m pretty sure this is going to be very Simon-centric. as established in the main series, Fionna and Cake is genderbend fanfiction written by Ice King. however, it seems likely that the Fionna and Cake focused on in this series will not be the one within Simon’s mind - not fully, anyway.

i initially believed that the Fionna and Cake we see in this series would be entirely figments of Simon's imagination - fanfiction used as a coping mechanism. Fionna's world is realistic and bland and mundane because Simon's "lost the magic in his life", and Fionna's world gaining magic would be a sign of changes in his mental state.

i no longer believe this because i took too many screenshots of the trailer. however, i do think that the Fionna and Cake of Simon's mind will be relevant, and Fionna's world mirroring Simon's is an intentional comparison.

my take is this - Fionna and Cake is going to have an overarching a-plot of Fionna figuring out what's gone wrong with her world and defeating the threat, and a b-plot of Simon facing his mortality and his trauma and coming to terms with both.

that's my tl;dr. long post below.

Simon’s a character with a lot of depth to him, but none of the Distant Lands specials focused on him, so it’s his turn to hold the Trauma Ball. we know that he isn’t immortal anymore with the crown gone. he’s visibly aged in the trailer, growing some white hair, and is wrinklier.

(Tom Kenny also said in an interview that this is the most emotional thing he’s worked on, and Tom Kenny’s been in fucking everything, so you know it’s gonna be big. i cannot for the life of me find the source for this so you're gonna have to trust me on this one.)

aging is clearly gonna fuck Simon up for multiple reasons - beyond the normal stuff, aging means he's going to look like Ice King, making himself a visual reminder of the worst time of his life. he also spent a very long time as an immortal, and adjusting to the idea of death after centuries of being the same age is probably gonna fuck with him.

he’ll also be dwelling on his past - there’s shots in the trailer of him and Marcy together right after the Mushroom War, likely filling in some gaps from that time. we already got a whole episode dedicated to their time together in the main series, so there's no need to tread that ground again - this will likely show new moments with them or recontextualize things with the state Simon's in now.

(there's also a shot of both of their feet but i couldn't fit both sets of shoes on one frame)

then there’s a shot of what’s very obviously a musical number from the in-between state of Simon and Ice King. this could be the first time he puts on the crown (or an early time), resulting a darkly upbeat moment of juxtaposition, or it could be an equally dark current-day moment along the lines of “wasn’t it so nice when you had the crown on and you didn’t have to think about anything? when you were immortal and too out of it to realize how bad of a spot you were in?”

or it could be a secret third thing. keep this image in mind, it'll be relevant later.

as for some miscellaneous screenshots, takes these two:

Simon's coat is missing in the first but he still has it in the second, so either he goes on two separate adventures in Ooo, or the first image takes place after the second. i stand by this being Ooo in the first image because of the trees in the background. as for the second image, that's Finn in the top right, and the treehouse on the left. because of how old Finn looks in the big promo image, i assume this takes place between Obsidian and Together Forever - Jake is dead but Finn is not. Finn and Simon might have a talk about death and dying if the mortality thing gets brought up, or Finn might just be here to help Simon get where he needs to go.

to where they are going, one can only speculate. it might be Prismo's cube, but i'm a little iffy on that. the cube is massively relevant by the way and is likely how Fionna and Cake end up crossing paths with Simon.

because Prismo's whole deal is alternate universes (gestures at Farmworld Finn) i believe that this is how Fionna and Cake come to Ooo. Prismo's cube is even in the logo for this show, it's that important.

(Simon is no stranger to Prismo, we got the above moment in the Adventure Time finale, so him traveling to Prismo with Finn's help is a possibility.)

anyway, time for the people the show is actually named about!

for their side of the plotline, the description of the trailer is quite enlightening:

"Based on characters from the beloved “Adventure Time” franchise, this brand-new 10-episode series set in the land of Ooo follows the alternate universe versions of Finn & Jake on a multiverse-hopping journey towards self-discovery. When Fionna and her sidekick Cake find themselves in the crosshairs of a powerful new foe, they have no choice but to seek the help of former Ice King Simon Petrikov." (emphasis mine)

notably, they are referred to explicitly as alternate universe versions, so they are indeed their own people. i also find it curious that Fionna's life is somehow mundane enough to lack magic, yet wacky enough to have a "powerful new foe". unless that something is actively sucking the magic out of their universe, this particular foe is a mystery to me.

however, because multiverse hopping is mentioned, i believe that the big foe is gonna have ~some weirdness~ about it, possibly attacking universe after universe for its intended goal ala [insert your preferred bagel-based multiverse movie here]. i'd also like to present the following screencaps to the court:

the use of line color, color choice, and shading in between the two on the left and the two on the right are like night and day. so, given the multiverse theme, i propose that these are two different Fionnas - the Fionna and Cake as presented by Simon on the left, and the real magicless Fionna from her universe on the right. alternatively, the one on the left could be Fionna after she comes to Ooo, and she just gets a costume change.

(also, the musical number shot has coloring similar to the set on the right, potentially indicating that scene takes place in the same location/episode/universe/etc as those shots. this is the third secret thing.)

(also also, this is probably way too off the wall to be true, but the ones on the right look incredibly similar to Bee and Puppycat in terms of color, and given that Natasha Allegri is responsible for both Bee and Puppycat and the creation of Fionna, this series could get into ideas of creation, using Simon's Fionna vs the real Fionna as an allegory somehow. i will be shocked if this happens, i think it's just visual flair tbh, i just wanted to get this thought out of my brain)

if this wasn't a spotty post before here's where it gets Real Spotty:

i believe this is Fionna in Ooo, she's in a bunny hat and she's with a kid in Finn's clothes. i believe this is Ooo because of the fire people at the bottom. Fionna is also still wearing the outfit she had on in the bus in the beginning of the trailer, leading me to believe that she gets to Ooo after that set of scenes.

i further believe this is Ooo, because we see the same kid in this shot. that's Simon's leg on the right, muddied up, so this could be after his adventure with Finn. on the left is the Fionna and Cake script in the bin, this being the Fionna and Cake Simon came up with. my guess is that this kid is a fan of the Fionna and Cake Simon came up with and this outfit is a cosplay. maybe he published his fanfiction. good for him.

as for the city behind the closing door...

... maybe it could be this? i'm not sure if this city is on Ooo, frankly. the trees are different. maybe Fionna, Simon, and this kid all went to an alt universe together by accident? and that's why the kid looks so distraught in the shot with the bin?

for my last image-based comment, simon's sleeve has been torn off here (bottom of his-right-our-left arm) so it's possible that whatever muddied his pants in the bin shot also got his coat messed up, possibly his adventure with Finn.

to recap this meandering post

here's an extremely weak guess of plot points from the previously proposed concepts

Fionna lives a normal, bland life, realizes something is wrong, and ends up in Ooo over the course of a day. within this day, she does her job on the bus, sees something's up with Cake, experiences some dimension weirdness, chases Cake at some point, her and Cake end up falling, and then it's Ooo time.

in Ooo, she meets a kid that's a fan of Fionna and Cake - from the stories Simon wrote and published.

Fionna decides she needs Simon's help, possibly because he's apparently written books about her, so they go to get him

meanwhile, Simon's had a bad mental health day and is spiraling.

he ends up in the woods with Finn for some reason, possibly to death talk, and they have an adventure that takes the length of the day. by the end of it, Simon's clothes are torn up and he just wants to go home.

he goes home and sits down for like A Minute before Fionna and the kid show up at his place.

(there is no evidence for this but i feel like seeing the character you made up in your genderbend fanfic irl would be freaky so Simon's like "wow i've fucking lost it i'm hallucinating my oc")

situation gets explained to a very non-receptive Simon

the three/four of them head off onto a multiversal quest with widely varying levels of enthusiasm

over the course of the quest shenanigans ensue and Simon has many moments of contemplation on his past and future

Fionna gets the situation with her home universe figured out

You Will Cry Your Eyes Out

the end

that's all i got. feel free to go crazy in the notes.

[helicidal]

i just realised that the ice crown seems to grant its host immortality in the form of not physically aging, and ice king only visually reads as an "old man" to the viewer for reasons unrelated to age (long white hair and beard due to evergreen having white hair, receding hairline coming from wearing the crown too much) this is further proven by ice king not having any visible wrinkles (compare this to simon in fnc) and also winter king being... a thing in general. winter king is as old as ice king (if not older) but he has a pretty young appearance and when ice king's magic got taken away by bella noche in that one episode, simon initially looked like his young self before he ever put on the crown, and then during the episode he begins to age rapidly

so BASICALLY, this means that technically ice king is physically about 40-something, he just happens to have a long white beard and a receding hairline. that's very funny to think about

[writingbylee]

hi hello i think it’s time that i actually introduce all of my OCs? because i truly have so many and i never actually talk about half of them. so below you will find all my OCs! along with short bullet point explanations of their characters. if they have an OC sheet, that’ll be linked— as well as any fic i have posted about them. i’ve also included links to my vibes page (@vibesforlee) where i’ve got tags for each of my OCs.

Fandoms Below Include: Star Wars, A Song of Ice and Fire, Percy Jackson, Marvel, Chronicles of Narnia, Critical Role, Avatar The Last Airbender, and Top Gun: Maverick

so uhhhh yeah i hope this is helpful for at least my own brain but also anyone else who is interested!

dividers by: @saradika-graphics

banners by: me

Lyra Amidala Naberrie

General Knowledge

Younger sister of Padme Amidala

Jedi Healer during the Clone Wars

Served as Medic General of the 104th Legion, Chief Medical Officer of the 104th Company known as the “Wolfpack”, and as Medic General of the 501st Legion

Fic: @abandoned-by-destiny

Vibes

House of the Dragon

Aemma Velaryon Targaryen

General Knowledge

Firstborn child to Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon, before Laenor’s premature death three years after the marriage

Older sister to Jacaerys Targaryen Strong, Lucerys Targaryen Strong, Joffrey Targaryen Strong, Viserys Targaryen Strong, and Visenya Targaryen Strong

Bonded to the dragon Vermithor

Vibes

Game of Thrones

Lyanna Stark

General Knowledge

Eldest child of Catelyn and Ned Stark (by approximately seven minutes)

Twin sister to Robb Stark; believed half-sister of Jon Snow; older sister to Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, and Rickon Stark

bonded to a red and brown direwolf called Scarlet Shadow

Fic: screaming from a crypt

oc blog: @princess-lyanna-stark

Vibes

Ceara Murphy

General Knowledge

daughter of Neptune and Emma Murphy, a legacy of Fortuna and daughter of Irish immigrants living in Portland, Oregon

inherited the power from her father to start earthquakes, and eventually manipulate seismic waves into concentrated blasts

brought down Mount Othrys after helping Jason Grace kill the Titan Krios

one of the demigods of the prophecy of Nine

Vibes

Emmalee Miller

General Knowledge

inherits the spirit and powers of the mythical Scarlet Witch when Wanda Maximoff is killed during her torture and experimentation at The Raft prison

is brought in by SHIELD after her powers emerge, and is initially assumed to be an Inhuman— and is therefore recruited by Daisy Johnson to join her Secret Warriors

Vibes

Edme Pevensie (female!Edmund Pevensie)

General Knowledge

Younger sister to Peter and Simon Pevensie, older sister to Lucy Pevensie

gains the power to manipulate ice and water after being stabbed with the shattered wand of The White Witch during The First Battle of Beruna

is crowned as High Queen Edme the Just, alongside her siblings; High King Peter the Magnificent, King Simon the Gentle, and Queen Lucy the Valiant

returns to Narnia twice after The Golden Age, both times to assist Prince, later King, Caspian the Tenth

Fic: A Reminder

Vibes

Campaign 1: Vox Machina

Alythea Vance

General Knowledge

Level 1 Druid/Level 11 Cleric (Death Domain) when hired by Vox Machina

is hired by Vox Machina to be their temporary healer/cleric during their mission to Whitestone, after Pike Trickfoot leaves on her vision quest

helps liberate the town of people of Whitestone, and returns to Vox Machina after the arrival of the Chroma Conclave in Emon

Vibes

Campaign 2: Mighty Nein

Kara Dean

General Knowledge

Level 7 Bard (College of Valor) when she meets the Mighty Nein

is Captain Avantika’s first mate/navigator when the Mighty Nein meet up with Avantika after stealing The Mist in Nicodranus

betrays Avantika and helps the Mighty Nein steal her journal

leaves The Revelry and Darktow with the Mighty Nein after The Plank King kills Avantika

Vibes

Xia Beifong

General Knowledge

Older sister to Toph Beifong, and heir apparent to the Beifong fortune

a nonbender who has trained extensively in swordplay

assists her younger sister in escaping, both to the fighting ring and to leave with the Avatar

in retaliation, is essentially sold by her father into marriage to the much older Earth King in Ba Sing Se

Vibes

Major Taylor Gardner

General Knowledge

28 year old Marine pilot

first Marine to ever be allowed to attend Top Gun, and the youngest female aviator to ever win Top Gun

callsign “Wasp”; due to the fifth generation fighter, colloquially called a Stinger, that she stole while escaping the uranium enrichment plant after being undercover there for several weeks obtaining vital intel

fic: Hangman and The Wasp

Vibes

[mackgray2023]

Success Through Finding Peace

Now that she has successfully dealt with the hurdle of reconnecting with both Hudson and Simon, Marceline is able to finally find the peace she has been searching for. Marcy had so much pent-up aggression and anger throughout the early episodes of Adventure Time. But after successfully reconnecting with her father figures, she has finally found peace. This is her version of success. Finding success displays ethos because Marcy has the credibility to give advice and talk about the issues she has gone through. By becoming successful and regaining agency over her life, we see that Marceline is a strong character who is credible and trustworthy. She ends up giving advice and helping her friends find success and peace later in the show. Having peace is so important and it was difficult for Marceline to believe she would ever be able to achieve it. But with her strategies of coping with trauma and learning to forgive Hudson and Simon, her character becomes much less aggressive throughout the show. The World Peace Initiative says that finding inner peace builds self-confidence, resolves phobias and fears, improves relationships, purifies your character, increases emotional stability, and much more. All of these traits are present in Marcy’s character after reconnecting with her father figures.

Even if she doesn’t see Hudson often, she no longer has to worry about him pressuring her into ruling the Nightosphere, so she feels comfortable visiting him occasionally and just hanging out. With Simon, she makes efforts to see him often and is very protective of him. Even if he is still Ice King and not mentally well, she still feels a responsibility for him and cares for him more than anyone in Ooo. She sees him frequently and encourages her friends to give him a second chance, she knows all he wants is to be loved. By fixing these formerly negative relationships, Marceline proves that she still has agency over her life, regardless of the hardships she has faced. Having agency is crucial and it is easy to think that your past experiences and current situations are what defines you. But what defines you is how you choose to live your life and set yourself up for success. By empowering herself through agency, Marceline has found inner peace, which is her form of success.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

So, do you think all the universes we see come fr a wish, or some just happen to exist? Farmworld and Lichworld are wishes we've already seen, but it's hard to imagine who's wish could have caused Vampworld.

Maybe Winter King's nice about "manifesting your own reality" implies that world was born out of an Ice King's wish, who maybe just wanted to stop being so sad all the time.

Well, we know some universes aren't born from Wishes because Prismo explicitly said that about Flapjackworld!

But I also think, with the thematic focus being given to Wishes in this series, it's very likely that all of the universes we've seen were probably born from Wishes... or at least it's fun to speculate about lol

However, I personally find it unlikely that Winterworld was born from a Wish made by the Ice King/Simon, and it's actually for the same reason I don't think it's 'unlikely' that someone wished for Vampireworld - a Wish granted by Prismo always backfires on the wisher.

The only way Jake got around it is by changing the Lich's Wish, so "I wish for Finn and Jake to go back home to Ooo" would turn out badly for the Lich, which would mean it would go right for... basically everyone else.

We've seen it with Farmworld, which went very very badly for Finn, AND ALSO hit him with the pedantic ironic twist of the difference between asking that the Lich never existed and asking that he won't exist in the future

And like, the only reason Farmworld Lich was stopped was because he and Ice Finn/the Snowman were threatening every reality and that forced Prismo to initiate that Crossover. And the only reason why Finn was freed from the Magic Crown's curse was because Mainworld Finn begged for it. If the Farmworld Lich hadn't started poking around the Multiverse, Farmworld Finn's fate would've been to be the Lich's Mad and Sad right-hand goon... forever.

And even now, that world is a pretty lousy place in general, and not exactly super-great for Finn in specific

Extinctworld went badly for the Lich by just... giving him what he wants but showing him the futility and lack of satisfaction in his ultimate goal. Leaving him basically extremely depressed.

According to Word of God, Babyworld was a Wish made by BMO and it backfired by making them into an inanimate (...or at least seemingly inanimate) Baby Monitor.

So when I'm thinking who is likely to have Wished up a World, I'm thinking what sort of Wish could've lead to that timeline... but also who got fucked over the most by the changes. As such I have a hard time believing Ice King/Simon created Winterworld, since, like, the Winter King is basically the only actually happy person in that whole world?

I mean, I guess turning into a huge asshole that your former self would find morally repugnant would be a kind of Ironic Twists. Or the fact the Candy Queen might've killed him eventually, but I dunno... compared to the other Worlds we've seen, it doesn't feel Ironic enough to me.

Ever since that episode aired, my personal bet has always been that this world was Wished up by Marceline. She has all the Motivation to Wish, like, "I wish Simon could remember who he is". And look how terribly all of this went from her perspective! Simon is 'himself' again but is utterly unrecognizable as the loving surrogate father she remembers. The love of her life is now tormented by that same Curse she tried to free Simon from. And, well, while it's unclear what exactly happened when she and Simon had their falling out...

But doesn't look good for her.

For Vampireworld... I know some people would say that's the Marceline Wish Timeline since there's so much focus on her - but I kinda doubt it for the same reason I doubt the Ice King Winterworld thing. The Star is one of the only two people having an Actual Good Time in that universe and, even if things would've gotten bad eventually, with the dwindling food supply and all, that still feels like kind of a serious slow burn of an Ironic Twist compared to others we've seen.

I think it's most likely that Vampireworld is a Wish from one of the Vampire King's Court we saw back in 'Stakes'.

Between the Star being said to have 'outlived' the rest of the Court, her having seemingly the same powerset as Mainworld Marceline (which she gained by sucking the souls of these Vampires as she slayed them) and her clearly having no qualms about killing her fellow Vampires

I think the implication here is that the Star still killed the Fool, the Empress, the Hierophant, the Moon - but exclusively to become more powerful and gain more approval from her 'dad' in the process.

So I think the Ironic Twist narrative is, like, the Hierophant or someone Wishes for a world where Vampires rule... and that's exactly what they got, but their most hated enemy is still around. And now they get to watch her upstage them, take their rightful spot by the Vampire King's side and then kill and consume them alongside their closest brethren. Then their civilization collapses in on itself due to the lack of food, I think that's plenty Ironic to me.

I've also heard a suggestion that it could've been Peebles' Wish. Like, she tried to Wish Simon never put the Crown on just for Marceline's sake (and to try rid herself of her annoying stalker but still mostly for Marceline's sake)... and she ended up in a grim and dying world without her beloved kingdom, and also without the love that made her give her one Wish for Marcy's happiness instead.

I still think I prefer the Vampire Wish theory, but that one also has pretty solid foundation.

[panicked-herb]

Critique of Fionna and Cake’s Season Finale

It’s been a good couple months since the Fionna and Cake series finale came out. At first it felt lackluster to me, then it felt extremely disappointing, then gradually I felt more and more meh about it. I could see what they were trying to do, but it kept bothering me how bad the finale was in comparison to the earlier episodes.

Now I finally have time to write out my thoughts about it and make it everyone else's problem.

Important note before I start: All of this is just my opinions on a TV-14 show. If you disagree, that’s great and I’d be interested to hear why. Just please be respectful. 

What I Liked

The animation and visual storytelling was great. I liked that at the bus stop, they initially had Simon place Betty on the step below him, but later had him place her next to him. Too bad the writing doesn’t back this up (more on that later). 

The voice acting was good. This isn’t my forte, so no comments besides that. 

Most of the jokes landed for me. Especially Pawn Swan. He was easily the best part of Cheers for me. 

I loved the Lich speech to Glob

Blue Shift is such a feel good song it almost made me like the ending.

What I Didn't Like

Catharsis

My second biggest issue with these episodes is how little catharsis there was. We got to see Fionna get upset and cry, but that was mostly because the Scarab was kicking everybody's ass. I wished we got to see Cake get upset about how people don’t see her for who she is. Or potentially exploring her fears of going back to being a normal cat. 

I especially wished we got to see Simon ugly cry. This man has been through an apocalypse, lost his sanity, lost the love of his life, been depressed for years, and is now trying to curse himself. Dude literally said he missed being the Ice King because he was so out of it most of the time he didn’t realize how messed up his life was. He felt like almost everybody preferred him when he was cursed. Then he finally sees GolBetty after years of searching for a way to cure her, only to fail. There should have been some waterworks going on. 

Pacing

Generally, the pacing felt too slow for me. It made the episodes feel more like a second or third draft vs a finale result. The biggest offender to me was all the fights against the Scarab. Each individual battle was fine, but there were too many of them. We know the Scarab isn’t going to destroy their world in the end, so all the fights don’t do much besides look cool. Which would be fine, if they weren’t trying to make it emotionally impactful. 

This is relatively minor, but it bothers me that Casper and Nova are mostly in the episode Cheers when in basically all of the other episodes, the titular character(s) are the main focus for that episode. I think this could have been fixed, if they just cut back on the number of times they fight the Scarab. 

Pay Off

There were a lot of Chekov’s guns that either didn’t get fired or turned out to have only blanks (basically you could remove them from the story and it wouldn’t affect the plot much).

No Pay Off

Simon and Marceline’s phone call/ relationship: I know I wasn’t the only one hoping to see these two reunite after Simon tried to curse himself again. 

Dirt beet guys manuscript: This is minor, but I just feel like it would have been easy to fix. 

The time core: This is a classic case of Adventure Time world building, where they introduce a cool concept, but don’t do much with it. I don’t know what I wished they did with it. But I would have liked for them to do something.

Disappointing Pay Off

Cosmic entities that the Scarab imprisoned: Cake lets them go and they fight the Scarab. But that fight lasts for like a minute. We also see Kheirosiphon in the ending credits. But besides that, we don’t see much else. 

Everything in You song: The song is only used as a segway into the final flash back of Simon’s and Betty’s relationship. I’ll give it credit, the song is good and the scene is cute. However, you could remove it and there would be almost no effect. Considering Glob’s weakness is harmony (music), I really thought they were going to do something with it. 

Fionna’s top fantasy: Throughout the series, Fionna makes references to her dream fantasies (EX: castle made out of candy). We learn what her top fantasy is after their universe already becomes canon and they’re in their final (unnecessary) fight against the Scarab. Her top fantasy turns out to be turning into a giant woman. Ignoring the Totally Spies vibes that scene gives me, I think they really missed an opportunity to make this really sweet. In the final scene, instead of Fionna saying “Just a normal world.” She could have said something along the lines of, “This is my top fantasy”

Fionna and Cake turning things normal in other universes: Ignoring the Winter King, this plot point does almost nothing. Sure, Cake accidentally turns BMO into an alarm clock, but BMO was already dead. There’s also the Scarab’s speech, “All the worlds you've visited, all the people you've infected. Your little trip must have shown you the truth. It would be better for everyone if you were just gone.” But they themselves don’t ruin that many worlds. The only reason for them seriously thinking that is the Winter King. But he was a grade A asshole and removing his magic freed Princess Bubblegum from the madness he imposed on her. 

Casper and Nova

Before I start this section, there are two important things for me to mention

I should note that I've had over ten years to theorize about Simon and Betty. Naturally, I’ve probably forgotten some of my head cannons and character interpretations aren’t actually canon. Especially since we never really got much screen time for the two before Fionna and Cake. It also doesn’t help that Simon/ Ice King’s character arc hits close to home for personal reasons I’m not sharing in a tumblr post. But, it does mean that I’ve probably projected some of my feelings onto those characters at some point. 

I’ve never particularly liked how Betty’s been written. I wished she got more screen time in the original show and I STRONGLY dislike that they introduced the fact that she didn’t go on an expectation she was really excited about for a man she’s known for one day in one of the final episodes of the show. To me, it turned her character from an impulsive, headstrong woman who for all intents and purposes is stuck on an alien planet and the only person she knows who is still alive has magical dementia to a fucking manic pixie dream girl. She doesn’t need to have always been completely obsessed with Simon to explain why she’s going to desperate measures to save him. Once again, he’s the only person she knows in Ooo, but as the Ice King he’s basically a stranger. She also convinced him to give up his only chance to die as himself with the hope that she could save him. Finally, she loves him and doesn’t want him to suffer. 

Casper and Nova are pretty explicitly supposed to be narrative parallels to Simon and Betty and help show Simon the issues in their relationship. A lot of defense I’ve seen against criticism about this part of the story comes from a place of assuming the fandom is owo-ing the male character and doesn’t want to admit he has flaws. To be fair, it is a reasonable knee jerk reaction to have. Fandom has a LONG history of doing shit like this and villainizing women. But, at least in my case, this isn’t what's happening. 

Casper and Nova aren’t on equal footing because Nova keeps making unseen sacrifices for Casper and they always do things Caspers way. The moral that Simon is supposed to take from them is that he/ Casper should have realized how much Betty/ Nova was sacrificing for him all the time, stopped, and supported her. However, this isn’t the main issue Simon and Betty have. 

There are a total of two times where Simon does kind of stand to the side while Betty sacrifices herself:

The first trip planned to study petroglyphs in Australia: Simon jokingly offers Betty to go on his expedition with him. She accepts, which surprises him, and mentions offhandedly that she had another trip planned. Maybe he could have told her she could always go on another trip with him sometime else. But he could have just as easily assumed she wasn’t really interested in her original plan and if he asked if she was sure, it could come off as him telling her not to go.

The second trip planned to study petroglyphs in Australia: Simon stops Betty before she leaves for the bus and in the heat of the moment he says he always wants her by his side always. Betty still could have easily just given him his number and still go on her trip or they just agree to meet up later. Also, the show makes a point that Simon should have gone on the trip with her. I would like to note that Betty was planning to leave the day Simon realizes she has feelings for him. I don’t know how archeological expeditions exactly work, but joining so last second seems really rude to me. Also, he would have either needed to pack really quickly or bring nothing with him for a six month long trip. To add on, he won’t know what type of funding that trip was. For all he knew, it only had funds to send Betty over.

More often than not, we actually see Simon recognizing the sacrifices Betty is making and actively trying to stop her:

Betty time traveling into the future and away from basically everything she knows: Simon originally time travel calls her to apologize and tell her that he forgives her for leaving him as a way to allow her to move on. Betty chooses to jump through the portal. 

Dedicating herself to save him: Simon literally begged Betty to let him die rather than turning back into the Ice King. He only changes his mind after she begs him to give her a chance to save him. Everything she does afterwards, he’s either basically passed out or is cursed.

Merging with Glob: Simon begged Betty to forget the crown and escape Golb with him and Finn. Betty pushed him out of there and merged with Golb. Simon spent years trying to find a way to unfuse her with Golb. 

Not getting any acknowledgement for helping to find the Enchiridion: Simon wanted both of them to get credit. Betty told him that she wanted him to get all the credit. He awkwardly, but professionally, told her that she deserves the credit just as much as he does. She still turns down any acknowledgement. (I really don’t like this story beat because it could have been such a good chance to comment on how academia often discredits or ignores women)

We also have moments where they do things Betty’s way (or at the very least Betty does things her way) on their expedition together.

When crossing the river: Simon carefully walks across the rocks. Betty takes her shoes off and just walks through the river. Simon follows suit then slips and falls. I would just like to add that crossing a river without shoes on isn’t safe. It decreases trackson and increases your risk of cutting yourself in an open body of water. They should have just either dealt with the wet socks, brought a spare pair, or use water proof shoes.

When crossing an area full of snakes: Simon advises Betty to stick with the tried and true method for dealing with snakes. Betty decides to do the trick her mom taught her and runs through the area screaming. Simon doesn’t stop her. Instead once he sees that it’s working, he smiles.

As we see, with the exception of two instances (which could easily be changed without impacting the plot too much), Simon doesn’t need to learn the lesson that he should have supported Betty more and stopped her from sacrificing herself so much.

I think the bigger issue in Simon and Betty’s relationship is just how obsessed they are with each other. When the crown drives Simon insane and takes all his memories, the last thing Simon can remember is that he wants to marry his Princess. This leads him to literally kidnapping princesses. Betty time traveled 1000 years into the future after hearing Simon say he never saw her again after wearing the crown. In the process of trying to save him, she went mad herself. They’ve both spent years trying to save the other from and were willing to sacrifice themselves to do so (I’m fully convinced Simon didn’t have a plan for how to leave Golb’s dimension. I think the dude was just going to apologize to Betty then die).

Not Part of the Finale, But Still Bothers Me

Having Prismo be the one to actually write Fionna and Cake removes depth from Simon/ Ice King’s character. I liked how surprisingly good Fionna and Cake was and interpreted that as parts of Simon shining through. But they needed to have Fionna and Cake actually be real for the show, so they had Prismo make them. Instead of Prismo making them out of boredom, I think it would have been cool if he made them as a way to grieve Jake. Maybe after Jake died, Prismo turned to reading Fionna and Cake since his favorite person liked it and Cake’s basically a genderbent Jake. But, after reading everything the Ice King wrote he wanted more. Since he lives in the TIME ROOM, I don’t think it would be a stretch to allow him to interact with the timeline in weird ways (in fact I think we already saw this in the episode Is That You?). So, as a temporary solution Prismo made Fionna and Cake real and stores their universe in the Ice King’s head so he could get more stories out of them. Prismo meant to delete their world before the Ice King turned back into Simon, but he didn’t have the heart to. Also, they could have totally had Simon keep writing Fionna and Cake fanfiction like how he sometimes dresses up as Ice King. Except, this time, he writes them in his own modern day AU as a way to cope with how out of place he feels. 

Not part of this spin off, but it’s always irked me that Simon got to time travel to the past, but Betty didn’t. I get that Betty wanted to intentionally create a time paradox. But it still feels really hypocritical. Honestly, I think they should have just made Simon accidentally freeze her when he first puts on the crown. After Frost and Fire, when the Ice Kingdom got melted, have her thaw out and start researching ways to cure Simon. Then, during the episode she’s supposed to debut in, have her be the cause of Bella Noche. 

Conclusion

The finale had cool concepts, but it doesn't fully match up with everything that came before it.

[paragonrobits]

today's hot take: i don't read Fionna and Simon's relationship as parental at ALL, because while their initial foreshadowing is heavily romantic in nature (Ice Prince being depicted as a Tuxedo Mask-esque handsome icon being Fionna's essential establishing character moment for Simon before she is initially annoyed by his sour attitude and then comes to know him better and then care about him), there's a few other points for them explicitly not having a father/daughter dynamic at all, but the biggest one is that they are fundamentally peers.

This might not be readily apparent because of their ages, but at the ages they're at and that inform their world view and relationships to others like them, they're pretty much in the same bracket. Fionna is in her 30s, while Simon was originally 47 when he got the crown, and nearly in his 60s at this point; while you may assume that her being almost literally half his age works against the interpretation of them having similar experiences, they ARE at the age where age differences honestly don't really mean that much and gradually become irrelevant in terms of lived experiences.

The bigger thing, though, is that their status as complementary story foils are the most relevant bit for their characters.

Fionna and Simon are foils to each other, with a nearly identical start to their character arcs: they BOTH long for a different sort of world than the one they got, but from opposite directions. Fionna lives in a mundane 9-to-5 world and wants a magical world of adventure. Simon is in that world (after living through the gradual process to make a mundane world into a magical one) but he wants the more mundane experience he remembers once, and he just can't feel that he belongs in Ooo, just as Fionna can't help but feel all wrong for her mundane world. While Simon doesn't have any interest in making Ooo boring and normal, he DOES latch on fast towards the idea of becoming Ice King again even as he clearly hates it, because he desperately fixates on the idea of being needed by others, even (no, ESPECIALLY) if it hurts him in the process.

They both want to be heroes, in their way, and resent being part of worlds that they feel they don't belong in anymore, and clearly ignore multiple opportunities to find magic or meaning in the world right around them, and SPECIFICALLY ignoring them in pretty much the same ways, to the point that the episodes Fionna Campbelll and Simon Petrikov parallel each other, not just in titles but in general progression; they go through a lot of similar circumstances, to the point of encountering the same sort of circumstances that they ignore or swat away. It's not the magic or normal they WANT... or perhaps wanting isn't even the right word. Their experiences or vague memories of the world they used to know keeps demanding to have something more like that; they ignore friends and family, or explicitly go out of their way to not tell them anything; Simon shuts down his feelings and won't tell Finn or Marceline anything (almost certainly because he feels like he would be bothering them) and while Fionna goes to her friends for help, she doesn't really confide in them.

This extends even to their songs, Not Myself and Part of The Madness; they both have very similar overtones of depression, feeling out of place, and fundamental loneliness. Its different in the particulars; Fionna is weighed down by the mundanity and changelessness of her world, feeling alone even with her friends. Simon glumly wants to help people but he CAN'T do anything without magic; no one needs anything from him, and people (he thinks) aren't happy to see him.

Fionna longs for an inexpressible time of magic and without it, she feels lost and empty. Simon wants to be needed and feels empty inside BECAUSE he thinks he's supposed to be better now, but all it does is make him feel upset and bad about being upset. Fionna's primary issue is that she's... lost, in a similar way. She remembers her world being magical but not clearly, much as the vague impressions Simon recalls his experience as Ice King; we don't even know WHAT her life has been like, and its entirely possible that everyone's life is a blurry hazy mess in the mundane world she's gotten, but she and Cake are the only ones with the awareness to work it out and be unhappy. Both Simon and Fionna can't help but remember how things used to be, or that they COULD be another way, and be endlessly lost in their own gloom and dissatisfaction.

Past the point where they actually meet and are starting to like each other's company (to the point that they remain in contact across the gulf of worlds post-minseries), these factors and their generall dynamic (Simon as a wet cat in a perpetual state of OH SHIT while Fionna tries her best to be a bruiser but unfortunately finds that in her life she doesn't have the skills or power to pull it off, leading to them BOTH feeling useless) make them both feel like peers; people with similar problems in the same boat. A lot of Fionna's character development comes from her slowly realizing what she's actually asking from Simon and her growing fear of making her world as dangerous or frightening as some of the places she's seen, while Simon has to come to terms with the fact that he really DOESN'T want to be Ice King again and that he needs to come to terms with it.

As a result of all that, they have a strong vibe of feeling like peers, not like a student and teacher or a similar dynamic.

(Also Fionna DID smooch Winter King with zero hesitation and while that didn't end well for anyone involved except PB, no one found this unusual in-universe. Except possibly Simon and HIS primary issue feels more like he thought of Winter King as a better version of himself in general and he got resentful about that.)