***SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t see the last episode of ‘Adventure Time’, “The Ultimate Adventure” or “Come Away With Me”… well too late now.***
‘Adventure Time’ went to a place that almost no series dares– into the land of the shippers. At least that’s one way to take one of the biggest moments from the series’ epic finale in which Princess Bubblegum and Marceline kissed. Congrats, Bubbline shippers! Your thing is real now!
Shipping is just a part of fandom nowadays. While some pairings make sense and are even fed into by the creators of different shows and movies, in other cases, they are little more than wishful thinking. That is especially true of same-sex ships, since most shows are too afraid to explore those themes, especially a cartoon that is ostensibly aimed at children. But ‘Adventure Time’ has always appealed well beyond that demographic, drawing viewers of all ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual identities and sexualities. It was natural for some fans to ship Marceline and Bubblegum, as their friendship has grown over the course of the series. But it was initially hinted that eventually the show’s lead male protagonist, Finn would end up with one of the two. Instead, ‘Adventure Time’ broke new ground and threw the two female characters together.
After she believed that Bubblegum had been killed in the big battle with GOLB, Marceline unleashed hell on her enemies. Upon discovering that Bubblegum was alive, the two were reunited and finally sealed their relationship with a kiss. Then the pair were shown close together at various points during the show’s ending montage.
Executive producer Adam Muto discussed the decision to pair the two up and just how far they would go in depicting it.
“There was some conversation about [logistics], but it was really up to [Hanna K. Nyströmthe], the storyboard artist who got that scene, to decide what her take on it was going to be. It actually wasn’t in the outline when it was submitted. It didn’t say that they kiss. It just said they ‘have a moment.’ When Hanna boarded that, there was a little note in the margin that said ‘Come on!’ with a big exclamation point. That was the only note. I can’t argue with that.”
“There’s enough to draw a conclusion. I don’t want to lay out their entire future — what their relationship will be like after this, and all that — but there are enough pieces there that you can kind of construct what their life will be like going forward. We knew that if we put this in, it would get some attention. But would it be too much attention? … Or would we be downplaying it too much? We knew we wanted to incorporate it, and in the end, you just have no control over how people will remember things.”
The first ‘Adventure Time’ short was released in 2007 and was popular enough to be picked up as an ongoing series, which launched in 2010. The show became a smash, appealing to a wide variety of people across various demographics and a merchandising powerhouse. It also won eight Primetime Emmys and many other accolades. But all good things must come to an end, and fans are left to wonder what will become of their favorite citizens of Ooo.
Are you happy with how the series ended?
Source: TV Line
