Princess Bubblegum

Princess Bubblegum
Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum (also called Bonnie or PB, occasionally P-bubs) is a fictional character in the American animated television series Adventure Time, created by Pendleton Ward. She is voiced by Hynden Walch.
Princess Bubblegum rules the Candy Kingdom, which other "Candy People" inhabit. She is good friends with the series' protagonists Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, first appearing with them in Ward's 2008 pilot. Bonnie's sexuality has not been officially confirmed. Reviewers have argued that she is either bisexual, queer, lesbian, or a combination of some of the latter, as both live in a world where "sexuality is somewhat fluid". In the series finale of Adventure Time, "Come Along with Me", Bonnie and Marcy shared an on-screen kiss, confirming their relationship.
Character
Personality
Bubblegum is typically very kind and compassionate, having a strong sense of justice, though she shows a dark side when provoked. She is brilliant, responsible for creating the Candy People and various devices, including a miniature time machine. She is fluent in German and Korean, using the latter language to communicate with her friend Lady Rainicorn. Bubblegum is skeptical of magic, refusing to acknowledge it as anything other than “scientific principles presented like mystical hoodoo.”
Bubblegum's leadership is autocratic due to her subjects being extremely naive and childlike and without a guiding hand they'd quickly destroy themselves. Bubblegum is highly protective of the Candy People and cares deeply for their safety, but is secretly strained by the pressures of ruling and expresses a desire for freedom. Following a near-death experience at the end of the second season, she starts to isolate herself and becomes overprotective of the Candy People, even exhibiting authoritarian tendencies temporarily in the fifth season such as installing multiple cameras in the kingdom and implanting tracking chips in every citizen. At the end of the sixth season, Bubblegum is deposed as ruler following an election, where she realizes she has made the Candy People too unintelligent. Following the miniseries Stakes, Bubblegum is reinstated as ruler and becomes less overprotective.
Characteristics
Bubblegum has light pink skin and long magenta "hair," which is bubblegum. Her usual outfit is a puffy-sleeved pink gown with purple trim. Among many other outfits, she often wears a lab coat and glasses during science experiments.
Being made of candy, Bubblegum can deform and reform her biomass, through which she can regain lost body parts and fluctuate her biological age. She usually appears bodily to be eighteen years old, though her actual age is given as 827; she was born hundreds of years before the events of the series from a gum-like ooze, the "Mother Gum." Bubblegum temporarily becomes thirteen years old in the second season due to losing too much biomass after being attacked by the Lich.
In the seventh season, Bubblegum discovers that she is an incarnation of the "Candy Elemental," the living embodiment of candy as one of the Adventure Time universe's four classical elements (fire, ice, candy, and slime). Like the Elemental, she can materialize various quantities of candy through her hands and communicate with past incarnations of the Elemental. When Bubblegum's elemental powers consume her in the miniseries Elements, she becomes psychically connected to all candy in the universe. She can transform others into candy, upon which they lose the memory of their life before their transformation.
Relationships
Bubblegum is close friends with Finn and Jake, with Jake occasionally being referred to as Bubblegum's "knight". Finn has a crush on Bubblegum in early episodes, often saving her from Ice King, though he eventually realizes she is too old for him and that she sees him like a little brother. Finn is implied to have some residual feelings for a time afterwards, over which his lack of closure causes some conflict as he starts a romantic relationship with Flame Princess. Bubblegum frequently tasks Finn and Jake with quests in service of the Candy Kingdom, and is often seen socializing with them in a more casual way. Finn refers to Bubblegum as one of his "best friends in the world".
Bubblegum has a strong bond and complicated history with Marceline. Though they are initially shown as hostile toward each other, they are implied to have a past romantic relationship in the third season. This history was later confirmed off-screen by Olivia Olson, Marceline's voice actress. In the episode "What Was Missing", Bubblegum's most prized possession is revealed to be a t-shirt given to her by Marceline, a fact of which Marceline had been unaware. Bubblegum eventually trades the shirt for Marceline's beloved childhood toy, Hambo, in the episode "Sky Witch". In the season seven episode "Varmints", Bubblegum and Marceline reminisce about a past in which they would hang out and go on adventures together with more freedom, which they had eventually stopped doing. Bubblegum opens up to Marceline about the stress of her building responsibilities and laments that her obsession with work had previously caused her to push Marceline away. They are shown as close and amicable throughout most of the series, despite their personalities often being at odds. By the time of the season seven miniseries Stakes, Bubblegum refers to Marceline as her "best friend", and expresses happiness when Marceline says that they will get to "hang out forever". In the final episode, they share a kiss after Marceline saves Bubblegum from GOLB, and are shown in a relationship in the epilogue. In Adventure Time: Distant Lands, the episode "Obsidian" focuses on the two's romantic relationship. It is confirmed that they were previously exes during the time of the main series, and several years after they are still together and live in Marceline's cave. The episode contains a love song titled "Monster" from Marceline to Bubblegum.
While Bubblegum seems to have dated a male character named Mr. Cream Puff, her exact sexuality, unlike Marceline's, has not been confirmed. As such, reviewers have argued she is either bisexual, non-binary, queer, lesbian, or a combination of the previously mentioned, as both live in a world where "sexuality is somewhat fluid."
Ice King has a strange fascination with Bubblegum and she is often the target of his kidnapping schemes and romantic advances; it is revealed that she reminds him of his fiancée Betty, whom he often referred to as his "princess." Bubblegum is frequently seen in the company of her close companion, Lady Rainicorn. Bubblegum is frequently depicted riding on Lady Rainicorn's back, and the two have a strong trust in each other. Bubblegum has a younger brother named Neddy, a "candy dragon" spawned alongside her from the Mother Gum. Neddy lives underneath the Candy Kingdom, where Bubblegum keeps him isolated, as he is very easily frightened. Bubblegum is highly protective of Neddy as she is with the other Candy People, claiming that Neddy is merely "built different... we just need to respect it". Most if not all citizens of the Candy Kingdom were created by Bubblegum. In "Bonnie and Neddy", Bubblegum states that creating the Candy People was one of the first things she did after ensuring Neddy's safety, and that she had missed the experience of being surrounded by others as she had been before leaving the Mother Gum. Due to their easily scared and childlike nature, Bubblegum's relationship with her citizens is equal parts ruler and caretaker, something which occasionally leads to exasperation on the monarch's part. Bubblegum's first creation was her "Uncle" Gumbald, whom she created after feeling lonely and desiring a companion. Gumbald originated the idea of a Candy Kingdom but became tyrannical and attempted to turn her into a simple-minded candy person using "dum-dum juice." Bubblegum shatters the bottle in his hand out of self-defense, and he turns into a punch bowl. Bubblegum also created an "Aunt" Lolly and a "Cousin" Chicle, who were also turned into Candy People by Gumbald. Bubblegum decides to become Princess of the Candy Kingdom and uses the "dum-dum juice" to bring the candy people to life. Near the end of the series, Gumbald, Lolly, and Chicle are returned to their prior forms and seek revenge on Bubblegum, though Gumbald and Chicle are turned back into Candy People. Lolly repents and reconciles with Bubblegum, helping her look after Neddy as seen in the epilogue. Bubblegum's other creations include the Earl of Lemongrab and two "candy sphinxes" named Goliad and Stormo.
A male counterpart of Bubblegum, Prince Gumball, exists in Ice King's "Fionna and Cake" stories. Princess Bubblegum enjoys science and talks to Lady Rainicorn in Korean. Prince Gumball is fond of baking. He has a friend named Lord Monochromicorn with whom he communicates using Morse code. Prince Gumball is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris and Andrew Rannells in Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.
Reception
Bubblegum's relationship with Marceline has generated some controversy. At a panel in 2014, Olivia Olson, who provides the voice of Marceline, mentioned that Ward told her the two "dated", though she later Tweeted "I like to make things up at panels. Y'all take my stories way too seriously". A video produced by Frederator Studios to offer a "recap" of Adventure Time further implied that Bubblegum and Marceline were in a relationship; the video was removed from YouTube, inciting further controversy. Bitch magazine saw Frederator's action as detrimental toward the acceptance of homosexuality in children's television. Executive producer Fred Seibert later admitted that "we got wrapped up by both fan conjecture and spicy fanart and went a little too far" in making the video, which was meant to provide an outlet for input from fans. Ward admitted he did not "really want to comment on it [because] it was a big hullabaloo."
See also
List of Adventure Time characters
References
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Animation controversies in television
Female characters in animated series
Fictional bisexual women
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