Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Candy Streets/Wizards Only, Fool)

Lumpy Space Princess has been robbed! She tells Finn, Jake and Princess Bubblegum so while the three of them are hanging out together in the Candy Kingdom. Unfortunately they can’t understand much more than that because LSP is just kind of crying and babbling incoherently about how a thief stole something very important from her. Bubblegum injects LSP with something that’s supposed to calm her down but accidentally gives her too much, so that LSP goes unconscious. Finn tries to ask who robbed her, but all LSP can manage before going out is “Pete Sa-“. Finn and Jake take it upon themselves to find the culprit and search LSP for clues. They find a key to a hotel room, with the number 303 on it. They decide to check there first.

They get to the hotel room and check it out. The room is trashed, but they find many clues in it. Finn discovers what he thinks is blood on the floor and, since LSP’s injuries were “100% emotional”, he thinks it must be Pete’s blood. He tells BMO analyze it. Across the street is a drugstore, and Finn figures that the thief must have gone there to buy bandages after being injured. So they go to the drug store and talk to the clerk there.

• [The scene changes inside the drug store where Ann is talking to a customer.]
• Ann: And if the oozing persists, just come back [leans over] [in a slightly hushed tone] and I’ll give you something a little stronger.
• Finn: [Finn comes up from under the counter, pushing the customer out of the way.] I’m Finn. This is my partner, Jake. [Finn pulls up Jake who is in the form of a police badge.]
• Jake: Hello, citizen. Had anyone in here looking to buy some mini adhesive bandages today?
• Ann: A lot of people come through my store, gentlemen. You can’t seriously think I’d be able to remember any one particular customer among the countless others I see on a daily basis, now, can you?
• Finn: I guess not. Fair dues. C’mon, Jake.
• Ann: Wait! Now that you mention it, there was this one guy in here earlier. Real suspicious type. Had a nosebleed. Said it was the first one he’d had in years. Used to get them all the time as a kid, he said. Can never remember if he was supposed to pinch his nose and hold his head back, or pinch his nose and hold his head forward. Maybe it was a case of being boxed on the nose too many times. Made the blood vessels in his lower septum weak and vulnerable to hemorrhaging. Anyway, his mammy always said it was because he couldn’t keep all those picky little fingers out of his dirty little nose holes. He didn’t buy it though. He always thought it had-
• Finn: Ma’am, can you give us a name?
• Ann: Mmm, nope. No wait, yes I can. Pete Sassafras.
• [Finn and Jake look at each other with surprised looks. A transparent LSP flies across the screen from earlier saying, “Pete…sa…sass…as…”]
• Finn: Did you catch which way he was going?
• Ann: Of course! He said he was catching a train at 11:27, Candy Kingdom Station, Platform 5. Heh. Sorry, I wish I could remember more.

I’m sorry about quoting for so long, but I just thought this conversation was really funny. Oh no, I don’t remember anything about my customers. Except every single word they say to me and every personal detail about their lives that they decided to tell me.

Anyway, Finn and Jake finally catch the suspicious-looking Pete Sassafras and throw him in jail, though he protests that he did nothing wrong. Finn and Jake ask him a few questions about the theft, but Pete says he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Still, they’re convinced that Pete was the culprit, so they leave him in jail while they go get donuts to celebrate.

While they congratulate each other over donuts, BMO shows up with the results of the blood analysis. It wasn’t blood, it turns out. It was tomato sauce. Finn realizes that LSP wasn’t trying to say “Pete Sassafras”, she was trying to say “Pete Sassy’s”, which is the name of a pizza parlor. They head over there and ask for a delivery man named Pete, but he is apparently out on a delivery. Finn calls Bubblegum to make sure LSP is safe and he finds out that LSP has apparently gone back to the hotel. Finn and Jake rush over there and freak out when they see the delivery car outside the hotel. In LSP’s hotel room, they find her on top of Pete the delivery guy while he struggles to get free. It turns out what Pete stole… was LSP’s heart. Pete says he was just delivering pizzas and now LSP won’t let him leave. Finn and Jake help him get free and tell him to go. Poor Pete doesn’t even get a tip. That sucks. Always tip delivery people, okay? Always. Same goes for waiters and strippers (especially strippers, in fact, since they don’t get an hourly wage) and any type of work where tipping is an option. Don’t be the sort of person who doesn’t tip. I hate people who don’t tip.

Okay, to get back on topic, this episode is pretty enjoyable.

I really liked Jake’s shape-shifting in this episode. It was used pretty creatively and I like it when Jake gets really out-there with his power. They also got some decent jokes out of it. I particularly liked that sort of mean prank Jake pulled with Pete Sassafras in jail, where Jake shape-shifted into a lawyer.

Honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about this one. It’s entertaining enough, and I did like a lot of the jokes, but it also fades from memory pretty quickly.

By the way, did they ever let Pete Sassafras out of jail?

Rating: 6/10

This episode begins with Starchie in the hospital with a cold, while Bubblegum tries to give him a cure. Starchie refuses to be cured by anything other than magic, since it’s apparently the only cure he will trust. Bubblegum is exasperated and explains that magic is really just science “presented like mystical hoodoo”. Starchie and Nurse Pound Cake are both offended by Bubblegum making fun of magic, so she agrees to get Starchie a magical cure from the Wizard City. She asks Finn and Jake to meet her outside the walls of the Wizard City, but they must all be wearing disguises.

Later, Finn and Jake are waiting by the wall, which just looks like the side of a cliff. Then Bubblegum shows up.

• Princess Bubblegum: Guys, hold up! I got the password from the Ice King. Apparently, the barrier only responds to the voice of real wizards. [Princess Bubblegum brings out a tape recorder and plays it.]
• Ice King: [on tape recorder:] No way! I’m no rat! I am bound by the sacred trust of esoteric knowledge!
• Princess Bubblegum: Say the password, Ice King!
• Ice King: You think I’ll just hand you the keys to the city? I’d rather die.
• Princess Bubblegum: Say the password.
• Ice King: Ow! My pinky! [Princess bubblegum smiles nervously and shrugs] Ow. [sniffles] Thank you. [Finn blushes in embarrassment and Jake facepalms and shakes his head in disapproval] You know, no one has touched me in months. Could you touch me again?
• Princess Bubblegum: Password! Now!!’
• Ice King: Ow! Ohh! Ohh! “Wizards Rule!” THE PASSWORD IS WIZARDS RULE!” AAH–
• [Princess Bubblegum stops the tape.]

Jesus, Bubblegum, your twisted side is showing again. I find it interesting that Finn and Jake seem to disapprove of her methods, or at the very least they feel uncomfortable about it.

Anyway, at the sound of Ice King’s recorded voice, the walls open to let them through. Finn is amazed, but Bubblegum scoffs that it’s just “a vocal registry rigged to a vibration modulator. The wall’s still there. It’s just the density’s all wobbled.” Well, that still sounds pretty amazing, whether you want to call it magic or science. On their way to a shop to buy a cold spell, they see someone being arrested for pretending to be a wizard. This makes them nervous, so they hurry into a shop and order the spell they need. Bubblegum doesn’t want to buy it without any information, though, so she starts questioning the clerk.

• Princess Bubblegum: How’s it work?
• Ron James: [with aggression] It works by magic. It’s a spell.
• Jake: Dude…
• Princess Bubblegum: What? I’m curious. So, what’s in it?
• Ron James: It’s my secret brew, dawg.
• Princess Bubblegum: So you want to sell me a product with no information?
• Ron James: [scowling at Princess Bubblegum] It’s a cold spell.
• Princess Bubblegum: Made from what?
• Ron James: MAGIC.
• Princess Bubblegum: What’s the magic made out of, ding-dong?
• Ron James: Y’all is fakes!

The alarm is sounded and Finn, Jake and Bubblegum are forced to run from the police (Bubblegum also steals the cold spell). They come to a dead end and they meet Abracadaniel. Yeah, he was the wizard from the episode Wizard Battle,the one who really didn’t want to kiss Bubblegum but then changed his mind after winning and Finn knocked him out for it because jealousy issues. Hey, come to think of it, if Bubblegum hates magic so much why did she agree to have her kiss be the prize for winning? Wouldn’t she want nothing to do with a wizard battle? I suppose it’s just a continuity error, but it seems like a really weird one, because if they’re including Abracadaniel in this episode then you’d think they would remember that, in his first episode, Bubblegum seemed fine with magic. Whatever, we’re off-topic now, back to the episode I’m supposed to be reviewing.

Finn, Jake and Bubblegum basically force Abracadaniel to help them escape, but they all end up being caught anyway. Bubblegum demands a parley with the Grand Master Wizard, and the scene changes to the Master’s palace. He tells Bubblegum that since she has always been a friend to the wizard community (haha, really?), he’ll allow her to leave as long as she says “Wizards rule.” She refuses because, “All magic is science! You just don’t know what you’re doing, so you call it magic! And, well.., it’s.. ridiculous.” So they all get sent to wizard prison, including Abracadaniel. Poor guy. He didn’t even do anything.

In prison, Abracadaniel is understandably pissed at Bubblegum, so he challenges her to an “honorable prison stabbing to the death”. Bubblegum has long since reached her breaking point with wizards, so she agrees readily. While they’re fighting, Finn and Jake are trying to figure out a way out of this. They still have the cold spell with them, and when they examine the bottle more closely they notice icy vapor coming from it.  Bubblegum has won her fight with Abracadaniel but refuses to kill him despite the rules. Finn throws her the cold spell and tells her to open it, as it’s really just a spell that releases cold air and snow, not a spell to cure a cold. Bubblegum opens it and is amazed at what it does, but she still seems reluctant to show any appreciation for magic. She, Finn and Jake escape the prison quickly and return to the Candy Kingdom, where Bubblegum just gives Starchie a scientific cure.

Bubblegum episodes are the best episodes. Actually, this is one of those episodes I wish was longer, because I really liked the conflict here. Plus, I feel like we haven’t been getting a lot of Bubblegum so far in this season.

I compare Bubblegum to Hermione Granger a lot, and I’m sure people are tired of it at this point, but it is really striking how similar they are. I’m not the only one who sees it, right?

If you’ve read the Harry Potter books (or at least seen the Prisoner of Azkaban movie), you know that Hermione considers Divination a worthless branch of magic, at least up until Book 5 and even then she’s not exactly fond of it. Hermione’s belief that Divination is unreliable and ridiculous may seem sort of, well, ridiculous. She lives in a world of magic but she’s drawing the line at fortune-telling? Her disdain for it makes sense to me, though. For one thing, Hermione may live in a world of magic, but she doesn’t live in a world of limitless possibilities. Magic can do a lot of thing, yes, but it does have limits, and Hermione understands these limits because she’s done her research. There are some things magic simply can’t do. Divination is a branch of magic that’s known for being rather unreliable, and it’s also not something that you can learn easily through research. It requires a more open mind and if you don’t have the ability naturally, there’s not a lot you can do. Hermione doesn’t do well with subjects like this. She’s very by-the-books and logical, not so much free-spirited and open-minded, so it’s no wonder she wasn’t good at and didn’t like Divination.

Just like Hermione and Divination, the idea of Bubblegum not believing in magic seems a bit ridiculous, because Ooo is such a strange place. There are all kinds of weird things that exist in this world, but Bubblegum can’t accept magic? Well, like Hermione, Bubblegum is very logical and straightforward. She loves science because it makes sense to her, there’s a method to it, it’s something that she can explain and understand. Magic is this thing that isn’t explained, it just exists. Bubblegum can’t understand that. She needs an explanation for how it would work and no one will give it to her, but when she comes up with a scientific explanation no one will listen.

All magic is science, she says, but because they don’t understand it they call it magic. That’s a really interesting idea to me. It’s kind of a funny and slightly sad image, a bunch of people doing amazing things they don’t know how to explain and calling it magic. Another image that’s kind of funny and slightly sad is a bunch of people seeing something extraordinary and rejecting it because it doesn’t fit into their narrow view of the world. So which one is actually happening here? Is it a bit of both? Can science and magic coexist?

Bubblegum’s steadfast belief in science is admirable, but her pride and stubbornness also caused a lot of problems. It would have been easy for her to just say “Wizards rule” and leave safely, but she wouldn’t. In a way that’s bad ass, but but she was also responsible for what happened to three other people who didn’t necessarily agree with her. Should she have swallowed her pride and said “Wizards rule” even if she didn’t mean it? It’s like Annabeth and the sphinx in Percy Jackson (sorry about comparing Bubblegum to another character from a YA book). Annabeth refused to take the sphinx’s quiz because the questions were too easy and she felt it was an insult to her intelligence. That was a bad ass move on her part, but it also meant she and her friends got attacked by a sphinx. (See, interesting conflicts like this are why I love pride as a character trait, because it can be both great and awful, and sometimes both.)

Bubblegum relies on facts and logic and that’s a good thing, but so are faith and open-mindedness. It’s best to be somewhere in the middle. Don’t believe in things blindly, but be open to different possibilities.

Rating: 10/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (One Last Job/Another Five More Short Graybles)

You know how Jake apparently used to be a criminal? Well, we find out a bit more about that in this episode. Jake receives a video from some unknown source, and it shows his daughter, Jake Jr., being held hostage somewhere. A mysterious figure in the video tells Jake that they know about his criminal past, and that he needs to get his old gang back together to steal something from the Candy Kingdom. What he needs to steal is something called the Baker’s Shard, the purest form of sugar.

So, Jake gathers up his old gang, all of whom still seem to be criminals. There’s Gareth, that creepy-looking one with the huge head and a face that sort of reminds me of Ricardio. He has the ability to hypnotize people. Next there are the Flying Lettuce Brothers, those two green ones. These guys are my favorite of Jake’s gang. They have the ability to perfectly imitate anyone’s voice after hearing a short sample of it. It’s pretty awesome. Last is Tiffany, the blond one, and he apparently doesn’t have any powers. He’s just very opinionated and has the voice of a four year-old. Anyway, when the group is together Jake lets them know what they’re going after and they think it’s impossible, but they agree to help him once they find out about Jake Jr.’s situation.

They head to the Candy Kingdom and put their plan into action. Gareth and the Flying Lettuce Brothers enter the control room. Gareth hypnotizes the two Banana Guards that are there and puts them to sleep, and then the FLB get on the intercom. Mimicking the Banana captain’s voice, they order the other Guards to go into the courtyard and scream as loud as they can. This way they won’t hear the explosion that Tiffany and Jake are setting off in the vault where the Shard is held. Once the vault is open, Tiffany, who knows the place well, tells Jake how to get to the Baker’s Shard. The vault is full of traps, but Jake makes it past all of them and reaches the Shard. He then hears the voice of Jake Jr.’s kidnapper inside the vault, telling Jake to throw the Shard to them. Jake does, but it’s then revealed that the voice was coming from the FLB. Jake’s old gang tricked him. The gang runs away, and Tiffany pulls the alarm so that Jake will be caught.

Jake chases after them, demanding to know where Jake Jr. is. He catches up to their van and discovers that Jake Jr. is the one driving it. That can’t be safe, she doesn’t have eyes. Jake wants to know why she tricked him, and she says that she had heard stories from Lady about Jake’s criminal past, and she wanted to impress him. Jake tells her that he’s realized his past crimes were wrong, and that he no longer does them. Jake Jr. apologizes and Jake forgives her, and the two walk off together while I wonder what happened to the gang and to the Baker’s Shard.

Well, this is an episode that I would just place in the “okay” category. It’s kind of too bad because I love the idea of meeting Jake’s old gang and of this show doing a heist episode, but I don’t know, it just felt really… blah.

I think there could have been a lot more creativity, in the heist itself and particularly with the gang. I found them and their designs really lackluster. Gareth at least had a cool power even if it’s not one that’s super original, but I just don’t like his design. The Flying Lettuce Brothers also had a great power and one that’s a bit more unique, and as I’ve said they were my favorite part of the episode. Even so, I wish their design had been more interesting. I wish they had all been more interesting, not just in design but in personality as well.

As for the heist itself, for something that they all thought would be impossible, they pulled it off really easily and with a very simplistic plan. I mean, I know the Banana Guards aren’t exactly known for being competent, but they made it sound like getting the Baker’s Shard was going to be a much bigger deal than it was.

There’s nothing bad about the episode per se, I just felt disappointed with it. I think it could have been more, but it seemed lazy. I did discover that Jake Jr. is voiced by Kristen Schaal, the same woman who voice Louise from Bob’s Burgers, though. So that’s a thing.

(As a side note that doesn’t really have to do with this episode, I’ve always wondered about the timeline concerning Jake’s “bad boy” past. Finn and Jake grew up together, right? So, was there just a period of a couple of years where Finn and Jake weren’t in contact, or was Finn just completely unaware that Jake was part of a gang of criminals?)

Rating: 4.5/10

More Graybles! This one is slightly different, since the theme is not told to us in the actual episode, but it appears to be about the stages of grief. Also, rather than going smoothly from one Grayble to another, they kind of just… keep interrupting each other. There’s one about Finn and Jake making a time machine for Jake Jr., who is nervous about the future. There’s another one about Princess Bubblegum forcing Cinnamon Bun to sleep without a nightlight so he can get over his fear of the dark. He gets hysterical with his nightlight taken away and destroys his own residence as well as multiple others trying to find “soft light”. Then there’s a Grayble with Ice King and the penguins voting on what they should watch on TV. There’s a really weird Grayble about the Lemongrabs where they’re playing with a doll and I guess they disagree on what that doll should be doing. They accidentally break the doll, which causes the original Lemongrab to scream, “ONLY ONE!” And then he eats Lemongrab 2. R.I.P, Lemongrab 2. I guess. I don’t even know what I just saw. The last Grayble is about Mr. Fox, alone is his house and seemingly depressed. Something weird happens, where Mr. Fox is able to see his sub-conscious and it draws him a treasure map, but it’s interrupted by Cinnamon Bun bursting through. We then go back to the first Grayble to see the conclusion of it. Jake Jr. is disinterested in the time machine, and BMO’s alarm is going off because of an intruder. It turns out to be Cinnamon Bun, and Jake Jr. gives him a new nightlight, so he leaves happily. And the time machine doesn’t actually work. The theme of each Grayble? Finn, Jake and Jr. are acceptance, Cinnamon Bun is denial, Ice King is bargaining, the Lemongrabs are anger, and Mr. Fox is depression. So the stages are in reverse order.

All right, another one these Graybles episodes. I’m starting to get a little tired of them, actually. Or at least, I’m starting to get tired of reviewing them. I’ve already said what I think about episodes like this, and there’s never a lot to say about each new one.

I guess I can talk a bit about each individual story. I really liked the overall theme of these Graybles, but I didn’t actually care for the stories themselves that much. Cinnamon Bun was incredibly annoying in this episode. Finn and Jake’s story didn’t do a whole lot for me, though I did enjoy Jake’s creative shape-shifting. Ice King’s story was pretty cute. And Lemongrab’s. Oh my God, Lemongrab’s.

When did Lemongrab become one of my favorite characters?! I hated him when he first showed up and now he cracks me up. I mean, I don’t think I’d want him in every episode but still, my feelings about this weirdo have done a complete one-eighty and I still don’t know how it happened.

Rating: 5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (The Suitor/The Party’s Over, Isle de Señorita)

This episode begins with Peppermint Butler performing dark magic on Cinnamon Bun, to use him as a vessel for the demon he’s summoning. I’m… not surprised by this at all, actually. A Gumball Guardian shows up and tells Peppermint Butler that he needs to get Bubblegum to pick a suitor. She’s been spending way too much time in her lab lately and she needs to socialize. Bubblegum’s suitors are all lined up in her castle and apparently they’ve been waiting a long time, because they’re all, as Peppermint Butler so nicely put it, old bags. He sends them all away, except for one young-looking suitor named Braco. He decides to let Braco take a shot at courting Bubblegum.

They enter her lab and, as expected, the princess is not at all interested in being courted.

• Peppermint Butler: This is Braco.
• Braco: [Sweating] Son of Loghan, who was begat by Hobus.
• Princess Bubblegum: [Writing notes] Okay, yeah?
• Braco: I want to take you… on a date.
• Princess Bubblegum: [Shocked] Thank you, Braco. That’s very sweet, but no.
• Peppermint Butler: Princess this lab reeks like brown mist; it’s unhealthy. You’ve got to get outside and do some research on boys [Points to Braco].
• Princess Bubblegum: That is way out of line, Peps, and you guys are donking up my research! [Begins knocking stuff off her table] Hello! Donk, donk!

I like that Bubblegum says straight-up that this is out of line. I mean, yeah, Bubblegum probably is over-working herself and she probably should give herself a break. However, whether or not taking a break should involve “research on boys” is entirely up to her. Bubblegum doesn’t want to date, research or no research, and that’s her choice. I’m glad that she stands up for herself here.

Then this happens:

• Braco: Princess, I love you! I-I love you so much it hurts. [PB stands and goes near him] The pain it—Huh?.
• Princess Bubblegum: [Points some kind of laser pointer on Braco’s eye] Hmmm, what you’re feeling is called “infatuation.” The pain is the product of you overvaluing a projected, imaginary relationship with me.

That sounds like what Bo Burnham once said about his fans that think they’re in love with him, as if making that intelligent observation was supposed to make us not think we’re in love with him. Seriously, though, this exchange is something I’m going to come back to later.

Anyway, Braco insists that his feelings for Bubblegum are totally real and she agrees to go on a date with him, but only for research purposes. While on their date, Bubblegum is scanning Braco with some sort of device. He gives her a rose and the device responds. Bubblegum tells Braco she has what she needs “for now” and then goes back to her lab, to Braco’s disappointment. He does take some comfort in the fact that she said “for now”, however, as he thinks that means she’ll go out with him again another day. The next day, he tries his grandfather’s art of “peacocking”, appearing before Bubblegum in an obnoxious suit and hat. Of course, it doesn’t work.

Later, we see Bubblegum in her lab again, as Peppermint Butler lets Finn and Jake in. Bubblegum had wanted to see them because she wants them to get her a Soul Stone, which she needs for something she’s working on. Finn and Jake agree to go but on their way out they’re intercepted by Braco (Finn reacts strangely to Braco being a suitor of Bubblegum’s… is he jealous?). Braco wants them to let him get the Soul Stone, because he thinks Bubblegum will love him if he brings it to her. Finn tells him, “That road you’re on leads to nowhere,” but he also doesn’t stop Braco from going.

Braco does manage to get the Soul Stone, but during the quest he gets badly burned and barely escapes from some monsters. Still, he’s pleased with himself for getting it, and when he goes to see Bubblegum…

• Braco: [Covers PB’s eyes] Guess who.
• Princess Bubblegum: [sighs] Braco. Ehhh, what happened to you?
• Braco: Oh, look, can it be? [Pretends to grab the soul stone from PB’s hair] It’s a Soul Stone!
• Princess Bubblegum: Oh, yeah, sorry, but I don’t need that anymore. I just finished programming a proper simulation of a soul. In fact, this is much easier to manipulate than a real one.

Ouch! Don’t get me wrong, I’m on Bubblegum’s side for this episode and most episodes and Braco really shouldn’t have gotten the Soul Stone himself. Finn and Jake are more suited to the task and Braco shouldn’t have assumed that this would win Bubblegum over. Still, this is pretty cold.

So now Braco is getting hysterical, and he’s brought back to Peppermint Butler by a Gumball Guardian. Braco desperately wants Bubblegum to love him, so Peppermint Butler offers to help with Shadow Demon magic. To be set free, the demon must turn Braco into a “love magnet”, but it instead turns him into a hideous monster (apparently Peppermint Butler is into it, though). Braco once again goes to see Bubblegum in her lab, where she is activating her latest invention: P-Bot, a robot that looks exactly like her but actually has interest in dating. When Braco shows up and asks Bubblegum if she loves him now, she says that she does, but not in the way he wants. She loves Braco the same way she loves all of her Candy citizens, and not in a way that’s romantic. However, she knows how much Braco has been suffering over his infatuation with her, so she built P-Bot for him. Braco is satisfied and leaves with P-Bot. Peppermint Butler shows up and asks where Braco went, so Bubblegum explains that she made Braco a robot wife. Peppermint Butler slaps her and says she should have given Braco to him. New OTP: Braco/Peppermint Butler.

The theme of this episode is pretty much laid out when Bubblegum tells Braco that what he’s feeling is infatuation, not love.

Infatuation can be a really powerful thing, but it’s important to remember that it’s not exactly real. It’s usually not about who that person actually is, but rather about what we think that person is. We build up an idea of this person in our mind and of what we think a relationship with that person would be like, and then we project it onto the person, but the truth is we don’t know them. Think about celebrity crushes you’ve had, or crushes on fictional characters, or even crushes on people you’ve met but never really spoke to. Often what we feel for them will seem a lot bigger than it actually is, but when we think about it, what do we really know about them?

Braco is a perfect example of what happens when someone can’t tell the difference between infatuation and love. He acts like a donkus. He insists that he’s in love with Bubblegum but he doesn’t know anything about her. He tries again and again to impress her despite the fact that she shows absolutely no interest and is in fact clearly exasperated with him. And everything he does try is stupid.

Like when he goes to get the Soul Stone? That was stupid. There’s a reason Bubblegum asked Finn and Jake to go. It’s because they’re bad ass adventurers who do dangerous shit like this all the time. They’re good at it. Getting the Soul Stone would have been nothing for them. Not the case with Braco. He has no idea what he’s doing and he could have been killed, it’s a miracle that he wasn’t. I mean, yeah, I guess it was brave of him to go in the first place, but there’s a very fine line between bravery and foolishness. Even Finn knew that what Braco was trying to do wouldn’t work.

Most importantly, though, is that Braco’s affections are not returned. Bubblegum doesn’t feel the same way. There seems to be this belief that if someone doesn’t like you back, all you need to do is try harder, and eventually they’ll change their mind. This is a pretty dangerous belief to perpetuate, because really, if someone doesn’t like you back, there’s nothing to be done about it. It sucks, but chasing them isn’t going to help, if anything it will just scare them away or lead to resentment. If they’re not interested, well, end of story.

Braco isn’t a malicious character, he’s just clueless. He doesn’t know any better. That can still be just as dangerous, both to himself and to the person he’s chasing, though. He’s giving himself false hope and tearing himself apart over Bubblegum, and he’s also not being fair to her. He’s not thinking about what she wants and respecting her wishes, he’s treating her like a prize to be won. Again, there’s no malice in the character like with Ricardio in Lady & Peebles, nor is he as creepy as Ice King, but Braco’s motivations are not really any different from either of them. He’s treating Bubblegum more like a trophy than a person.

And in the end, Braco gets what he wants. He gets a version of Bubblegum that doesn’t really exist, one that’s happy to be what’s essentially a doll. Braco gets to have his idealized relationship with Bubblegum, and Bubblegum doesn’t have to be in a relationship that she didn’t want. It’s a bit of a creepy conclusion, but I kind of get what Bubblegum was trying to do. She couldn’t and wouldn’t be what Braco wanted, but he wasn’t going to be happy without it. At least this way she can end his suffering.

Infatuation is not inherently a bad thing, but it can become dangerous if someone doesn’t know how to tell the difference between it and an actual crush. Falling for an idea isn’t the same thing as falling for a person, but as long as you can differentiate between the two, it should be harmless.

Rating: 8.5/10

This one begins in Princess Bubblegum’s bedroom, as Ice King comes out from his hiding place and who knows how long he’s been there. I’m going to go through this opening scene slowly because wow.

• Ice King: Oh, boy [struggles a bit, stands up and stares at the still sleeping princess.] Oh, you’re so pretty when you sleep, let’s go back to Ice King’s house, [rips duck tape piece and places it over her mouth, but she awakes.] Hi, baby….

… I really think this fandom underestimates what a creep Ice King is.

• Princess Bubblegum: [Muffled scream as she hits him with a pillow and rips the tape from her mouth.] Ice King, what are you doing in my bedroom?!
• Ice King: Baby, I was trying to surprise you by moving you to my place while you sleep, then have you wake up to breakfast in bed, but now you’ve ruined the surprise, way to go.

what

• Princess Bubblegum: Do you think I like being kidnapped?! Is that what you think I want?!

Four for you, Bubblegum! You go, Bubblegum!

• Ice King: Okay, here we go, you’re the victim right? You know what, since day one I’ve been doing everything to make this relationship work and for what?!

Yes, Ice King, she is the victim. You were going to kidnap her. She is absolutely the victim here. And what relationship? You two don’t have a relationship. She has never wanted one with you.

• Princess Bubblegum: Banana Guards! [Two of them enter the room]
• Ice King: Babe, come on, we promised we wouldn’t make our problems public [The guard approach the Ice King.]

No you didn’t.

• Princess Bubblegum: [Exasperated] Take him out. [They drag him away, as Ice King protests.]
• Ice King: No, baby! What are you doing?! [Still being dragged, he whines] Baby bear! [Pulling loose from the guards, he runs back to the princess’ side on bended knee.] This is just so crazy, if you can honestly look into your heart and tell me you want me to leave, I’ll go!
• Princess Bubblegum: [Serious] Okay, leave.

Okay I laughed at this.

• Ice King: [Taken aback] Uh-what? D-did you look in your heart, like all around it?
• Princess Bubblegum: [Sternly] Yes.
• Ice King: I see. Then obviously you have got some heavy emotions stirring in you and you have said some very rash things. [Standing up he walks backwards towards the awaiting guards.] Guards! Take me away! [Lifting up both arms he falls sideways in the arms of the guards and do as requested.]

Can we just all agree that Ice King is creepy as hell? I know he’s really interesting and tragic and a lot of people like him for that, and I like him for that too, he’s one of my favorite characters on this show. But even so, I stand by my conviction that Ice King is a total fucking creep. It’s not just that he has no understanding of boundaries or consent, it’s that he can not see himself as in the wrong for any of these things. He’s either unable or unwilling, and I don’t know which is worse. He believes that he has a relationship with Bubblegum, he believes that she wants everything he does to her, he believes that when she reacts negatively it’s a problem with her and not with him, he believes that he’s the one who’s being treated unfairly, he believes that he’s the victim. Like Ice King as much as you want but can we also acknowledge how creepy and terrible this behavior is? (By the way, none of this is a criticism toward the writing or the writers, as this seems to be intentional on their part.)

I did laugh at that exchange between Finn and Ice King when they run into each other as Ice King’s leaving, though. I like how Finn is immediately ready to warn him away but Ice King interrupts him with, “I’m leaving!”

Ice King returns to his castle and wonders if he said the right thing with Bubblegum, he says he “can never tell with that girl”. That’s… I don’t… whatever. He decides that he needs to get away for a while, so he flies away from the Ice Kingdom and ends up on an island. He soon discovers that the island itself is alive. And it’s a woman.

Ice King and Isla de Señorita, as I suppose we’ll be calling her, start spending time with each other and they hit it off. Mostly, they bond by talking about their crappy relationships. Isla de Señorita is dating Party God, and he’s not a very good boyfriend. He spends most of his time partying (as his name suggests) and neglects his girlfriend, and he gets jealous and possessive if she spends time with other guys. Ice King tells Isla de Señorita about his imagined relationship with Bubblegum and how emotionally repressed she is. The part about Bubblegum being emotionally repressed? That’s true. But, you know, she’s not Ice King’s girlfriend. Anyway, Ice King convinces her to break up with Party God because he’s no good for her, and he’s actually completely right. Isla de Señorita agrees that she should break up with him but falters when it’s time to do so. Ice King then decides that he’s going to break up with Party God for her, and he flies after him.

When he catches up to Party God and tells him about how he’s been spending a lot of time with Isla de Señorita. Before he can continue, Party God becomes furious with the fact that Ice King has been with his girlfriend, despite Ice King explaining that it was all platonic. Party God attacks Ice King and the two fight for a while. Party God is much more powerful, since he’s a god and all, but Ice King eventually manages to outsmart him and… does he kill him? I mean at first I figured Ice King just knocked him out but considering how the rest of the episode goes I’m pretty sure Party God is actually dead. R.I.P?

Ice King, when he realizes Party God is dead “unconscious”, uses his body as a puppet to encourage Isla de Señorita to break up with her boyfriend. She does, and says that she wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of her friend Ice King. He doesn’t seem to like being called her friend, and he mentions that he plans on breaking up with his girlfriend as well, but Isla de Señorita doesn’t really react. So, Ice King leaves and throws Party God’s body into space (lol), and then he “breaks up” with Bubblegum.

• [Back at the Candy Kingdom, Princess Bubblegum is in her science room. The Ice King burst through the window shattering the glass.]
• Princess Bubblegum: Fun cakes! [She stands up]
• Ice King: I’ve come to a decision, you ready to hear it? I’m breaking up with ya! You party too much, you never want to spend time with me and you only care about having fun and other people’s stereos! I’m just a big island you can come and go from as you please!

… Wrong relationship, Ice King. At least this was a relationship that actually existed, even if he got the people involved wrong, so… it’s a start?

• Princess Bubblegum: BANANA GUARDS!!
• Ice King: Banana Guard yourself, Princess!! [Flies away.] Ah, we’ll work it out.

Probably not.

What’s interesting to me about this episode is that the relationship advice that Ice King give Isla de Señorita is actually good advice. She’s in a bad relationship and she needs to get out of it, she can’t let Party God intimidate her and she needs to stop making excuses for him. Ice King understands that, but he’s so awful when it comes to his own relationships… or lack there of… you know what I mean.

Part of it may have been that Ice King wasn’t actually wearing his crown for most of the episode. At this point Ice King’s mind has been way too warped and will never go back to what it once was completely, but maybe removing the crown can still clear his head a little. Or maybe he’s just better at helping people with their problems than he is at dealing with his own. Self-awareness isn’t Ice King’s strong suit, so if the problem actually involves him in any way he’s no good. But if it’s something where he’s a complete outsider? Then he can be of use.

What I also like is that I don’t think Ice King’s advice to Isla de Señorita was just a way of getting her for himself. At least, I don’t think that’s what it was at first. I think he genuinely wanted to help her in the beginning, because he knew she was unhappy and in a bad place, but then he actually ended up falling for her (as he does with almost every woman). I think he still helped her mainly for selfless reasons, even though it was clear that in the end he was disappointed that he wasn’t getting more out of it.

Rating: 6.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (James Baxter the Horse/Shh!)

This episode begins with BMO playing some game with an egg, and when the egg cracks xe starts crying. Finn and Jake try to cheer xir up, but nothing seems to work. Then James Baxter, a horse who travels around Ooo balancing on a beach ball, shows up. James Baxter is known for his incredible ability to cheer people up and spread joy… by balancing on a beach ball and continuously whinnying his own name. Huh. Okay then. James Baxter cheers BMO up immediately. Finn and Jake are impressed and decide that they’re going to follow in James Baxter’s footsteps. This means they’re going to whinny their names at people to cheer them up. And they do so, but it doesn’t work out because I guess that’s not as charming when it’s coming from someone other than James Baxter? So they spend most of the episode trying to figure out what they’re doing wrong and how they can improve, and they eventually do find something that seems to work. Until they accidentally awaken an angry ghost that attacks them, and this really sounds like I’m either making things up or I’ve gotten confused and started summarizing a different episode instead but I swear this happens in the same episode. James Baxter shows up and calms the ghost down, then he leaves and the episode just… ends.

The episode before this one, Princess Potluck, was fun because it was silly and weird. James Baxter the Horse is also silly and weird, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. So why is that?

I think it’s because as silly as Princess Potluck was, it was at least about something. Not something important in terms of character development or story, but still something. It’s about Ice King being upset that he wasn’t invited to a party and trying to ruin it. It’s simple, humorous and easy to make entertaining. This episode, though? I just don’t really get it. It’s about… Finn and Jake wanting to imitate James Baxter? Okay, but why? Because he helps people and Finn and Jake also like to help people?

I guess what we’re supposed to take away from this episode is that being inspired by your heroes is one thing but imitation is not always the way to go, sometimes we need to do things our own way. Except there already was an episode with that message, His Hero, where Finn and Jake try to imitate Billy’s ways because he’s their hero but they find that Billy’s approach doesn’t really work for them. Why wouldn’t I just watch that?

A couple of the jokes in the episode are funny, but I just didn’t enjoy it. Maybe it’s a bit too silly for me, or not silly in the right way. Whatever it is, it’s just not for me.

Rating: 3/10

Finn and Jake play a game where neither of them can speak, their only way of communicating is by using signs that they wrote at the start of their game but they are not allowed to make anymore. Unfortunately they both forget to make a sign that lets BMO know about their game, and when BMO finds that neither of them will speak at all xe gets scared that something has taken over Finn and Jake’s body. Xe hides in the wall, and Finn and Jake have to find some way to 1) convince BMO to come out and 2) explain their game to him without either of them losing. They a try a few different things but nothing seems to work.

Meanwhile, BMO has apparently invited some “Bikini Babes” (they’re literally humanoid women in bikinis) over for a dance party and they’re gathering outside the Tree Fort, wondering why no one is answering the door. BMO officially has more game than anyone on this show. They hear BMO playing xir favorite song and fly (somehow) onto the roof. Inside the Tree Fort, Finn and Jake are trying to break through the wall with axes, but they open a rift that extends to the ceiling, and the Bikini Babes fall inside. BMO tells them to attack Finn and Jake, and after fighting them for a while Jake finally begs them to stop, which means he loses the no-speaking game. BMO realizes that Finn and Jake were themselves all along and they all have a dance party.

Well, this episode was at least kind of fun.

I liked the game/bet that Finn and Jake were playing, mainly because I like how it’s all just for the bragging rights. They won’t lose anything by losing the bet, the stakes are that the loser will be disappointed that they lost. Yet they still take it so seriously, to the point that they won’t do the sensible thing and explain to BMO what’s happening, because that would mean admitting defeat.

I also liked how those signs that they made are really oddly specific, and yet they don’t have a lot of the ones that would be important. Part of the bet is that the only signs they can use are ones that they wrote up in thirty seconds before officially starting the bet, so they have to think of as many as they can and ones that would be useful. There’s a joke at the beginning about how Finn didn’t make enough signs and therefore has a hard time communicating with Jake, who apparently has more. One of Jake’s signs even comments on how Finn didn’t make enough, which I guess says a lot about how well Jake knows Finn. Neither of them made a sign explaining their bet to people who might need to know, which was a huge oversight, but they had signs for really specific situations or things that would only make sense if they knew what was going to happen. Though if they knew what could happen, they should have prevented it. Anyway, I got a kick out of a lot of the signs they made, and thinking about why they would possibly think to make those signs exactly.

About halfway through the episode I did start to lose interest, but overall I found it entertaining enough, and I did like the premise. It just seems like something we’ve all done with our friends as kids. The bet, I mean. Not hiding in the wall and fighting women in bikinis.

Rating: 6.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (BMO Lost/Princess Potluck)

In this episode, BMO gets lost. It happens when xe’s snatched up by an eagle and taken back to its nest, and when xe manages to escape the nest xe realizes that xe’s miles from the Tree Fort. BMO meets a Bubble who is also lost and BMO suggests they go to the Tree Fort together, so that afterwards Finn and Jake can help Bubble find its way home. That’s basically the episode. BMO and Bubble head to the Tree Fort, there’s a part where they find a baby and take it with them but then the baby’s mother find it again, then they reach the Tree Fort. Bubble proposes to BMO and BMO accepts, but then Jake shows up and pops Bubble. When BMO starts to cry, Finn and Jake think xe’s joking and laugh. That’s… kind of messed up? Then BMO hears Bubble’s voice, and Bubble says that it has simply become air, so it’s all around BMO all the time no matter where xe goes. That sounds creepy to me but it makes BMO happy. And that’s pretty much it.

Well. That was a thing.

I really like BMO, xe’s adorable, but episodes about BMO just don’t do anything for me. I guess because I don’t feel like BMO has enough of a character, or the one xe does have isn’t one that can carry an episode. BMO is like Lumpy Space Princess, best in small doses or as part of a group of characters we already know.

There wasn’t a whole lot that I enjoyed about the episode, but there wasn’t anything I hated either. I just don’t have a lot to say about it. Not a whole lot happens, the ending is… something. I can’t decide if it’s more sad or funny, but either way it was the most memorable part of the episode for me. Um…

Yeah, I don’t know what to tell ya, BMO is cute, but that’s not enough to make an episode for me. I’m sorry this review is so short and I haven’t really said much, but all I can say about this one is… that was a thing.

Rating: 5/10

The episode begins with Finn and Jake heading over to Princess Bubblegum’s potluck (Jake is wearing makeup, which I love – Jake gives no fucks about gender roles and it’s glorious… though Finn was right to say he looks like a target). For some reason Bubblegum’s potluck is nearby the Ice Kingdom, and Finn and Jake seem to be the only people there who aren’t princesses. Meanwhile, Ice King is in his castle, doing weird stuff because he’s Ice King. When he realizes that Bubblegum is throwing some kind of party that he wasn’t invited to, he’s upset and decides he’ll do whatever he can to ruin it. Bubblegum thinks she’s going to throw a party and not invite him?! He, like, invented her, you know what I mean?

Anyway, the first thing he does is catch a bunch of rabbits and cats. He ties lemons to the cats and feeds lasagna to the rabbits. I don’t get it. Then he releases the cats into the party, saying that the “sour pusses” will ruin the party. Sour pusses… because they’re cats… and they have lemons tied to them… I get it now. That doesn’t work, because the cats don’t actually do anything except walk around looking cute, and the party was missing lemons to put in drinks anyway. So then Ice King tries to release his “party poopers”, which are the rabbits. They’re party poopers because.. you know. That doesn’t work either because, well, the rabbits did what they were supposed to before Ice King had a chance to let them go. Let’s give Ice King some credit, though, this was pretty creative. Stupid, but creative.

The next thing he tries is to dress Gunter up like a princess and send him to the party undercover, where he can throw punch on the guests and ruin everything. There’s a bit where Ice King thinks Gunter looks attractive as a princess and fantasizes about marrying her, so Gunter has to pull out a taser in defense. So I guess if we need a reminder that Ice King is a creep, there’s that. Gunter goes to the party and he doesn’t throw punch on anyone. Instead he dances with the princesses. Ice King falls to the floor and cries. Maybe they should call him Drama King, amirite? (I’m sorry I know that was terrible.)

Then Ice King tries calling the Banana Guards with a noise complaint. The Banana Guards hang up on him. So Ice King tries throwing his own party to make the princesses jealous but they don’t even notice him. Finally, Ice King decides to just attack the party and hurl ice bolts at the guests. The princesses take refuge while Finn fights Ice King. Once Ice King is held down, they question why he’s attacking the party. He says it’s because he wasn’t invited, but Bubblegum tells him she did invite him (???? why would she do that?), she sent his invite in the mail, which Ice King didn’t check. So the party resumes, this time with Ice King.

This one I enjoyed more than BMO Lost. It sort of feels more like something that would be in Season 1, somehow. It’s really energized and weird and it feels like so much happens yet when you look back on it, not much actually happened. And, of course, it’s primarily driven by comedy.

Ice King’s comedy is usually this weird mix between funny and uncomfortable so I end up kind of laughing but also kind of squirming (which seems to be the intention but sometimes it’s hard to tell), like that joke with Gunter pulling out the taser on him. That was funny, but it’s also a bit uncomfortable. Other jokes in the episode were kind of hit or miss. Some just fell flat, some were funny at first but suffered from being dragged out a bit too long (the joke with Ice King calling the Banana Guards). Still, for the most part I did enjoy the comedy in this episode. It’s not a hilarious episode, but it was funny enough for me, and either way I really enjoyed watching it.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (A Glitch is a Glitch/Puhoy)

Watching this episode on my laptop was weird. At first I wasn’t sure if there was a problem with the video or with my laptop or if that was just the episode. I’m still not entirely sure.

So, apparently this episode doesn’t actually fit into the show’s canon, and it’s also 3D-animated. Even the opening is 3D.

This episode is about Ice King creating a virus that will delete everything and everyone in the entire universe except for himself and Princess Bubblegum. Apparently Bubblegum once told Ice King she’d date him if he were the last person on Ooo and he decided to take that literally. Finn and Jake find their way into the the universal source code and try to fix things from in there while Bubblegum tries to get the anti-virus out of Ice King. Unfortunately Ice King never created one. He insists on Bubblegum keeping her “promise” about dating him, but she tells him that even if she did make that promise Ice King is not the last person on Ooo as long as she’s still there. Then she starts making out with her own hand. God, I love her.

Meanwhile, Finn and Jake find the Glitch but have no way of defeating it because their own bodies are starting to glitch up. Jake figures out a way to gross out the Glitch by eating Finn’s hair (in imitation of a video Finn and Jake watched earlier where a woman ate her own hair), which makes the Glitch puke up all of the pixels it ate and returns the universe back to normal.

This is a very strange episode. Even by Adventure Time standards.

This apparently aired on April 1st, so it’s basically an April Fools joke, hence the weird style and the fact that it’s all non-canon. I did enjoy the 3D animation, I thought it was decent-looking, but is it me or are the colors in this episode really bright? I actually had a hard time making some things out, particularly facial expressions, because everything was so bright. Was that just my computer/the video, or did everyone have that problem with the episode?

I guess the story is kind of interesting. Adventure Time often borrows from and parodies video game logic, so why not have an episode that goes all out with it? Some of the jokes are pretty funny too. What makes this episode difficult to watch is the animation, though. The brightness of it and the constant glitching (even if that did serve a purpose) isn’t exactly easy on the eyes. The episode itself is fine, but it was brought down a bit by that, at least for me.

Rating: 7/10

This episode starts off with Finn, Jake and BMO making a pillow fort inside the Tree Fort because it’s raining knives outside. Finn is depressed because Flame Princess didn’t laugh at some joke he made and he thinks that means their relationship is over. God, Finn is so dramatic. Jake tries to tell Finn not to get so caught up in imaginary problems but Finn ignores that advice and retreats deep into the pillow fort to let his thoughts fester. The pillow fort is huge and Finn eventually finds a hidden door that he thinks Jake must have added. However, when he opens it, he’s transported to a new world where everything is made of pillows. The door disappears after he goes through it.

Finn is attacked by a Blanket Dragon, which he kills. The Pillow People are pleased and throw a celebration in his honor. At the celebration, Finn meets Roselinen, the Pillow mayor’s daughter. They dance together and seem to hit it off, though Finn is slightly uncomfortable because of his relationship with Flame Princess and the fact that he doesn’t plan on staying long.

The episode then switches back to the Tree Fort for a short time, where Jake and BMO are wondering if Finn is okay. When the episode switches back to Pillow World, Finn and Roselinen are adults. They’re also married and have two children. Quilton, the mayor, visits Finn to let him know that they found a door back to Ooo but that it will only appear for a short time. Finn begins his journey to look for the door along with his family. A few years later (in Pillow World time – it’s only a few seconds in Ooo), Finn changes his mind about finding the door. He decides he would rather stay in Pillow World with his family. More years pass and suddenly Finn is an old man on the verge of death. When he dies in Pillow World, his spirit flies through space and time and suddenly he emerges from the Pillow Fort in Ooo, once again a fourteen year-old boy. He tries to tell Jake about the weird dream he had when suddenly Flame Princess calls to tell him that she finally got his joke and though it was funny. When Finn hangs up the phone, he no longer remembers the dream.

This was another really strange episode, but it’s also a pretty good one.

Going into it, I didn’t think this episode was going to be anything that great. I thought it was going to be one of the more forgettable ones, and in some ways it sort of is. I mean, I don’t see myself wanting to rewatch this one too many times, but I did enjoy it.

The way this episode plays out, with Finn living an entire lifetime in a different world while time barely passes in his own world, is very reminiscent to the Narnia books, particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Pevensie children enter Narnia as children and live there until they’re adults, then find their way back to our world where they’re suddenly children again, and it seems like barely a second has passed, like they were never gone at all. I’ve always loved that idea, that you could spend hours or days or even years in a separate world and then go back to your old one like no time passed there at all. There’s something kind of beautiful yet also eerie about it. It’s especially eerie the way it happens to Finn. He literally lives the rest of his life in Pillow World and dies there, and it’s only then that he comes back to Ooo. He had a loving family and a good life and a peaceful death surrounded by loved ones, and then suddenly he’s back in Ooo, and he quickly forgets everything that happened. It’s kind of tragic.

Rating: 8/10

10 Favorite Monty Oum Action Scenes

It’s been a hard week for me and the Rooster Teeth fandom, and of course for Rooster Teeth themselves.

The news about Monty Oum hit a lot of us really hard. Most of the week I’ve been alternating between feeling numb and trying (usually in vain) not to cry. I listened to the podcast they had about Monty the night they announced the news and cried, read all of the sad posts about it on Tumblr and cried, listened to nothing but the RWBY soundtrack (which, by the way, is fantastic) on my iPod all week and cried, looked at all of the beautiful fan art people made for him and cried some more. I wondered what would happen to RWBY now, if they’ll continue it or not and if they’ll get a new voice actor for Ren, the character Monty himself voiced. I’m still not sure what I want them to do. I’m still not sure how I feel.

What’s special about Rooster Teeth is that they’re not just a bunch of faceless writers, animators and actors behind their content. We know them. We know their personalities and lives and even though I’ve never met them in person, they really do feel like friends sometimes. We’ve all made jokes about Rooster Teeth continuing to post content in their eighties, but somehow we never thought about what it would be like if one of them actually died. First of all, when we made those jokes, we made the assumption that they would live to be old men and women. Monty was thirty-three, that is way too young. Second of all, I don’t think anyone ever really thinks about celebrities or idols dying. They always feel like they’re on another level, like they’re invulnerable. Then comes a nasty reminder that they’re not. It’s a shock, it hits hard, and it’s difficult to come to terms with.

But life goes on, and while it still hurts it’s better to try and remember all of the good things they’ve done and how they’ve changed your life for the better. Monty was an incredible talent and a big inspiration. I’m not going to pretend that RWBY was some kind of masterpiece, it was problematic and a bit of a mess, but it’s also fun and creative, has a unique look and female leads, and you can tell how passionate Monty was about it. He loved that so many people were into it, he loved seeing fan art and cosplays for RWBY, and he clearly appreciated his fans.

So I’m trying to remember how much good Monty has done. How much he’s inspired people, how he’s created things that a lot of us really enjoy, how passionate and hard-working he was. That’s why before going back to my usual posts, I wanted to make one more for Monty, a more positive one. And since the thing Monty was most known for was his amazing action and fight sequences, I decided to make a list of some of my personal favorites. For some of these I may not have anything to say except “that was awesome did you see how hard that guy got punched”, but for others I actually do have slightly more interesting reason.

10. Ruby vs Beowolves (Red Trailer)

This one is on the list not so much because it’s one I really enjoy watching but because of what it represents to me (though I do also enjoy watching it). This was the first thing we saw and heard about RWBY, and I’ll never forget the awe and excitement I felt while watching this for the first time. The art style looked beautiful and unique, the music was chilling and pretty, a nameless girl who looks like a goth Little Red Riding Hood visiting a grave in the woods and then running into a pack of monstrous wolves, she pulls out a weird-looking gun and looks eerily calm the entire time. Then the gun turns into a scythe and we all go wild.

After having watched the show, this trailer doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. When is Ruby ever that calm and quiet, for one thing? Granted she was just visiting a grave and that tends to put a damper on your mood, but that’s another thing. Why is her mother’s grave (it’s presumably her mother’s) in the woods, so far away from any sign of civilization? I don’t think this trailer was going by what would actually make sense in the show (even though all of the events in the trailers are canon to the show), but rather by what looked good and intriguing. And it does look good and intriguing, so whatever. As for the actual fight choreography, I really like how Monty has Ruby handle that scythe. A girl as small as Ruby swinging around a giant weapon should look ridiculous, but the way she uses it is cool. She shoots the gun and then uses the recoil of the shot to swing the scythe with more power and speed than she would be able to otherwise. It’s pretty clever.

I watched this trailer over and over when it was first released. I was so excited about this upcoming show that Monty Oum had created, I was already completely sold on RWBY for better or worse. As the other trailers came out, I watched them over and over again too, but none of them felt quite as exciting as watching the Red Trailer for the first time. The Red Trailer was the beginning of something, and even if other trailers might be more impressive in some ways the Red Trailer holds a special place for me.

9. Tex vs Wash and the Meta (Season 8, Episode 19)

Unfortunately I can’t really post this one without posting the whole episode and I don’t want to do that because the fight only takes up a small portion of it, so I’ll have to assume anyone reading this already knows which fight I’m talking or that if they care to look it up they can because the season and episode it’s from is here. For this fight, I don’t really have a lot to say except holy crap that was bad ass. It’s one of the first big fight scenes in Red vs Blue, and it felt pretty epic the first time I saw it. The animation is a bit wonky, especially when compared to what the animation looks like in 9 and 10. Still, it’s great. Even if seeing Tex get killed is painful for me.

8. Reds and Blues vs the Meta (Season 8, Episode 20)

Same problem, can’t post this without posting the whole video. This fight is bad ass in a different way. The Reds and Blues obviously don’t have nearly as much skill as Tex, Wash or the Meta, which makes it a pretty hopeless fight. But they fight anyway, because what choice do they have? And they win, partially due to luck and partially because, surprisingly, the Reds and Blues work well together. Considering Monty is more used to doing these grand, over-the-top action scenes, it is kind of nice to see that he can make a pretty decent fight even with characters that aren’t supposed to be that skilled.

And oh my God, that part where Grif nearly falls off the cliff and Simmons grabs his hands. I am Grimmons-shipping trash and I will never be over that scene.

7. Pyrrha vs CRDL and Mercury (Volume 2, Episode 5)

A common criticism of Monty’s action scenes is that they’re often too one-sided, with one character being almost untouchable while their opponents can maybe get in one hit at best and fight like clumsy oafs at worst. That does bother me too, but it also does work sometimes. Like with this fight between Pyrrha and Team CRDL. At this point, we’ve seen RWBY characters pull off some ridiculous stunts. Pyrrha is supposed to be know as one of the best fighters, if not the best, and in order for that to be believable she has to be better than everything we’ve seen so far. And in this fight, she is. She demolishes CRDL.

To be fair, CRDL isn’t completely useless in a fight. In fact, they seem to be capable fighters, they’re just very outclassed against Pyrrha. Plus they’re not great at working as a team (note the part where Cardin hits one of his teammates with his mace). Also, I like that it doesn’t look entirely effortless for Pyrrha. You can see her thinking about each move and paying attention to where each of her opponents are. She reacts fast and there’s never really any doubt that she’ll win the fight, but she is trying.

The fight with Mercury is a bit different. It’s not as aggressive, for one thing. Pyrrha spends most of the fight on the defensive while Mercury presses her, but he’s also holding back. The thing is, Mercury isn’t looking to win, he’s not even looking to finish the fight. All he’s trying to do is figure out what Pyrrha’s Semblance is. He just needs to give her enough of a challenge to force her to act, and once he finds what he wanted he forfeits. He’s smarter than anyone on CRDL was and seems like a better fighter too, maybe he could give Pyrrha a run for her money in an all-out fight, maybe he could even beat her, but that’s not what he’s trying to do.

So, yeah. Good fight.

6. Freeway Fight (Season 9, Episode 17)

The fight I’m talking about happens at around 1:30 onward.

Holy shit, this fight has everything. It’s got hand-to-hand combat, it’s got guns, it’s got a car chase, it’s got a chase on foot, it’s got jetpacks, it’s got Tex on a motorcycle nonchalantly blowing things up with a rocket launcher. And it’s all incredibly chaotic yet perfectly choreographed.

Like, seriously, what is even happening is this scene? Maine gets shot like ten times and then hit by a truck and then he falls off the bridge and he lives. What is that guy even made of? Bullets and bodies and equipment are flying around all over the place. Tex takes out 2 planes. Carolina’s desperation is palpable and she’s still incredible.

As I’ve mentioned, a lot of Carolina’s characterization, for me at least, comes from the way she moves and fights. Truth be told, I’ve never found Carolina to be a very well-written character, she certainly could have been much better, but damn do I love watching her fight. It’s not about how powerful she is or how fast she is or how many people she can beat up at once, it’s something about the way that she moves. She has one of the most recognizable fighting styles in Red vs Blue and it makes up a big part of her character. And we have Monty to thank for that.

5. Weiss vs … um, Giant Knight? Idk. (White Trailer)

The White trailer is the best trailer. I may have a slight bias since Weiss is my favorite RWBY character, but this is also just a really good trailer. It’s visually interesting, the music is beautiful (Mirror Mirror is my favorite track in RWBY), the trailer tells us a lot about Weiss’ character, and of course the fight itself is nice to look at. I just love Weiss’ fighting style, it’s graceful and beautiful, almost more like she’s dancing rather than fighting. The White trailer is simply stunning.

4. The Dakota Twins’ Only Major Fight Scene (Season 9, Episode 2)

I freaking love the Dakota twins, y’all. Like, I could write a ten thousand-page novel about why I love them and all of my headcanons about them. Admittedly my main reason for liking this scene so much is that it’s the only major fight scene the twins have in the series. I so wish they had more. They’re amazing together.

By the way, look closely at the soldiers South is shooting. A lot of them get decapitated. What the hell, man?

3. Tex vs York, Maine and Wyoming

You know who else I love? Tex. Unfortunately she probably gets the worst treatment of any female character in the show. Why am I so drawn to poorly treated female characters? Well, either way, she’s definitely a bad ass.

So, just like Pyrrha had to be better than every RWBY character we’d seen so far (or at least better than all of the students), it was a similar situation for Red vs Blue. The Dakota Twins were awesome, so when we saw Carolina, the number one agent at the time, for the first time, she had to better than both of them. Then when Tex showed up, she had to be even better than Carolina.

I like the choreography of this fight, and how quickly it goes from being fairly light-hearted to kind of dark once Maine and Wyoming start using actual bullets. I wonder, though, if York realizes that Maine was the one who gave him the eye injury and not Wyoming. For some reason York has some major hang-ups about Wyoming in episodes after this. Honestly, it’s kind of weird. Wyoming is a dick but what did he do to York specifically? Anyway, I’m on a tangent now. I like this fight, it’s a fun one.

2. Food Fight (Volume 2, Episode 1)

I’ve mentioned how this was my favorite fight in RWBY before so obviously this one was going to be on the list. This fight is completely over-the-top but it’s also comedic because, well, they’re fighting with food. It’s a food fight taken to an extreme. They try to match up the foods the characters use with what their usual weapons are, like Yang using Turkey the way she would use her gauntlets and Pyrrha and Blake using the bread like their swords. It’s pretty obvious that they picked the foods based on what matched their weapons best rather than what would actually make sense for them to have in a lunch room. I don’t know a lot of lunchrooms that have entire, multiple turkeys or entire leeks. Not to mention that the food does not look like it’s safe to eat at all. How hard is that stuff? And there’s also the usual wouldn’t-the-kill-them stuff that are often present in RWBY fights. Weiss hits that pillar hard enough to break it. Yang goes flying through the roof and takes a long time to come back down. It’s completely stupid and over-the-top and nonsensical. But it’s also incredibly fun and creative and bad ass. Classic Monty.

1. Tex vs Reds and Blues (Season 8, Episode 10)

This isn’t so much a fight as it is a beat-down. The Reds and Blues are way out of their league with Tex and they know it.

As silly as this episode is, it actually does mean a lot to me. It pretty much is the first major fight scene we have in Red vs Blue, and it also marks Tex’s return after she’d been gone for two and a half seasons and I had missed her horribly. I was so glad to see her back, and to see her come back in this way. I mean, since Season 1 this show has built up Tex as the ultimate bad ass but we’d never gotten that many opportunities to really see it. Most of it had to come from her attitude and from what other characters told us, and it worked fine, but this was the first time where it felt like we really got to see her the way we were always meant to. Add in the fact that the dialogue from the Reds and Blues are particularly funny in this episode, and it’s no wonder that this is such a fan favorite. This isn’t really Monty’s best but, I don’t know, this one is just special to me.

 

So, there we have it. It might not be a great list and I’ll probably end up changing my mind or regretting something later (see this is why I don’t often make lists like these), but this is the best I could come up with for now and I really wanted to do this as a sort of tribute to Monty.

Thank you for everything you’ve done for us, Monty, we’ll miss you!

Farewell to Monty Oum

Monty Oum, beloved Rooster Teeth employee and creator of RWBY, has passed away.

I just… I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I can’t imagine what his close friends and family must be going through. I was just a fan, I’ve never even met the guy in person, and the news hit me like a truck.

When I found out he was hospitalized a few days ago, I was of course as worried as any other RT fan, but I think I also took what it meant for granted. Monty would be fine, I told myself. He’ll recover. He’ll be right back to making kick-ass animation in no time. The possibility of him dying wasn’t one I thought about. It didn’t even occur to me. Of course he’s going to be okay. When I found out the news of his passing, I was too shocked to even cry, but watching Meg Turney’s video made me lose it. It all happened so fast, there was no time to even tell him “get well soon”, let alone to say good bye.

Monty was always one of my favorite people at Rooster Teeth. He was hugely talented, of course, and worked unbelievably hard. He was surprisingly philosophical and wise, yet he still had that goofy RT charm.

And while I did have my issues with some of his action sequences, there was also so much I appreciated about them, and the guy was obviously exceptionally talented. Monty’s action scenes are creative and fun, they’re chaotic and fast-paced, and they’re intricate, man. I often need to watch them more than once just to make sure I caught everything that happened, and every time I have more appreciation for them.

Of course we also can’t forget that he created RWBY. And yes RWBY is problematic, but let’s forget about that for now, because whatever complicated feelings I may have for that show, it’s also entertaining and interesting and it’s brought joy to so many people, myself included. He created the map of Remnant from smears of ketchup on a napkin, for crying out loud. He created an entire world from a ketchup-stained napkin. Who else but Monty could do something like that?

I have watched Season 8 Episode 10 of Red vs Blue more times than I can count. It’s often one of the few things that can cheer me up a little when I’m feeling down. I watched the Freelancer bits of Seasons 9 and 10 so many times I probably have the movements and lines of these characters memorized, but I still love watching them. Agent Carolina was first introduced to us in Season 9’s Freelancer arc, and much of her characterization has come from the way she moves and fights, I may even argue that it came from that more than it came from her writing. I have watched both volumes of RWBY numerous times already and I’m sure I’ll be watching them many more times to come.

Yet everything I’ve written here feels empty. Just generic stuff people say when they’re in mourning. I wanted to say so much more, I wanted to write something deep and heartfelt and unforgettable, something that would be worthy of Monty Oum. But how can I? How can I really put into words how I feel, how any RT fans must feel, how can I put into words what Monty meant to all of us whether we realized it or not?

Well, maybe I can’t. Maybe all I can do is sit here trying to wrap my mind around what happened, trying to decide if I want to watch RWBY or the Freelancer arcs as a way of honoring him in my own tiny way or if it’s too difficult for me to even think about doing so right now. But I had to say good bye somehow.

So good bye, Monty. You will always be remembered, you will always be an inspiration and a hero to all of us.

We’ll miss you.