| “ | As princess of Candy Kingdom, I'm in charge of a lot of candy people. They rely on me, I can't imagine what might happen to them when I was gone. And after my brush of death in the hands of the Lich, I realized something, I am not going to live forever Finn, I would if I could...But modern science just isn't there yet, so I engineered a replacement that could live forever. I call her Goliad. | „ |
| ~ Princess Bubblegum |
| “ | Finn, sometimes you want someone and you want to kiss them and be with them, but you can't because responsibility demands sacrifice. | „ |
| ~ Princess Bubblegum |
Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum is the tritagonist of Adventure Time, the deuteragonist of Adventure Time: Stakes, a supporting character in Adventure Time: Elements a single appearance character in the upcoming epilogue. She was Finn's crush until he episode, "Hot to the Touch".
The character makes her debut in the animated short overall and her official debut in Slumber Party Panic. She is a hero in her own right: in the episode "Lady & Peebles," she personally rescues Finn and Jake (after both went missing for three weeks), and defeats the antagonist Ricardio the Heart Guy. She frequently gets kidnapped by the Ice King (to be rescued by Finn and Jake) and is very similar to Princess Peach, because they are both princesses and they both get kidnapped. They both also have pink as their signature color.
She is voiced by Hynden Walch (who also voiced Penny Sanchez from ChalkZone and Starfire from Teen Titans), and Isabella Acres as her younger self in two episodes (during which, while temporarily Finn's age, she reciprocates his romantic feelings). In the Adventure Time episode "Incendium," she reverts to her usual dismissal of Finn's efforts, causing him to begin a relationship with the volatile Flame Princess. She is also Marceline's girlfriend. In the Japanese dub from the series, she is voiced by Rie Tanaka.
Contents
Biography
Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum was formed as a part of a massive, blob-like hive mind made of pink gum known as the Mother Gum in the years immediately following the Mushroom War, which spread out across the destroyed city which first appeared in "Simon & Marcy". In the aforementioned episode, the Mother Gum served as an ally for the titular characters by providing Simon with the soup he wanted for the young Marceline. In a flashback from "Bonnie and Neddy" taking place over 800 years before the events of the show, she and her brother Neddy drop from the ceiling of an abandoned building where the Mother Gum is now resting. As shown in the final cutscene of the game Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!, after she emerged from the gum, she learned to think, feel, and be independent. Her sentient "parents" remained far beneath the Candy Kingdom, as a massive blob of bubblegum. They were eventually released into Ooo after they were defeated.
In "Bonnibel Bubblegum," it is revealed that in her childhood, Bonnibel was lonely living in the post-apocalyptic wasteland that Ooo was centuries before the events of Adventure Time. Living in a hideout next to a radioactive river (which would later become the place the Candy Kingdom was built) with only her brother, she longed for more family members, thus creating Uncle Gumbald, along with Aunt Lolly and Cousin Chicle. She had planned for them to fit specific archetypes to create a family dynamic and make her life less lonely, however, Gumbald soon revealed to his niece that he had plans to build a candy city. Bonnie, disliking this plan, created Lake Butterscotch in place of the site where her uncle wanted to build apartments. Gumbald, infuriated by this, began to devise a plan to get rid of his niece and take control over the family. Sending Bonnibel away on a date with Mr. Cream Puff, whom Gumbald had created himself, he, along with Lolly and Chicle, discussed the plan to overthrow Bonnibel and build their candy city.
During this discussion, Gumbald showcased his new creation: "Dum-Dum Juice," a serum to turn Bubblegum into a docile and simple-minded candy subject like Mr. Cream Puff. Gumbald then tricked Lolly and Chicle into eating cupcakes laced with the serum, turning the two into a cheerful and simple-minded piñata and candy ball respectively. When Bonnibel returned from her date, Gumbald attempted to transform her as well, but this ultimately failed, as Bonnie managed to cause the serum to spill onto Gumbald's face, turning him into a punch bowl. Bonnie decided that the trio was best left as candy people, as she claimed they seemed happier in their simple-minded and obedient new forms, and declared herself as their "princess." Since then, the majority of the princess's subjects she created were loyal to her and simple-minded, likely to prevent any future incidents similar to the one with her created family members.
It is implied that Finn has saved Princess Bubblegum more than a few times, though she winds up saving him in the episodes "Dungeon" and "Lady & Peebles." As the series continues, she learns to defend herself with science. It also seems that she has had previous run-ins with Marceline the Vampire Queen (who is one of only two known characters who call her by her real name Bonnibel or just Bonnie, the other being Flame Princess), but both of them are now close friends. In the past, she created Lemongrab (her first experiment gone wrong), then sent him away to live a sheltered life inside his own castle. Princess Bubblegum also performs other scientific experiments, which vary from highly successful to catastrophic.
In the second season's two-part finale, "Mortal Folly" and "Mortal Recoil," she sends Finn and Jake on a quest to stop the Lich from killing, possessing, and taking over everyone's souls in the Land of Ooo. She gives Finn the Gauntlet of the Hero Billy, as it is the only known weapon that can harm the Lich, and a sweater she made herself. The Ice King captures Princess Bubblegum and chases after Finn and Jake to get their blessing to marry her, but he accidentally drops the princess into a pit of green liquid. She is soon melted into a pile of pink-brown candy goo and is rushed to the hospital.
It is soon revealed that the spirit of the Lich has possessed the princess and eventually warps her into a giant monster that nearly tears apart the Candy Kingdom. Finn enlists the power of Ice King to immobilize her with his freezing ice powers. Unfortunately, the frozen princess topples over and shatters into bubblegum pieces. The doctors reassembled her, but lacking all the necessary pieces her apparent age decreased to 13 (the same age as Finn at the time). As a 13-year-old, Princess Bubblegum is technically younger than the Earl of Lemongrab and he claims his right to the throne until she turns 18 again. After failed attempts of pranking the Earl until he leaves, Princess Bubblegum is forced to restore herself to her 18-year-old form with the contribution of biomass (candy) from the Candy People and a hug (and kiss) from Finn. After reverting to her proper age and size in "Too Young," she acts as if the events that happened earlier that same day (while she was 13) actually happened five years ago. Oddly, in "The Vault," it is revealed that Princess Bubblegum, during the life of Finn's previous incarnation Shoko, had stated that she was 19 and not 18, and is now apparently not being totally honest about her age.
In "Burning Low," Princess Bubblegum reveals that Flame Princess is physically unstable, and she prevents Flame Princess's Elemental Matrix from causing the end of the world: she guides Jake to block the hole resulting from the kiss between Finn and Flame Princess, thus cutting off Flame Princess's oxygen supply and stopping the reaction (and nearly suffocating her along with Finn, who had jumped down after her). She also tells Jake that Flame Princess is unaware that Princess Bubblegum is the one who locked her away as a baby.
During the events of "Lady & Peebles," Princess Bubblegum and Lady Rainicorn track the missing Finn and Jake into an uncharted ice cave, believing that Ice King has captured them. After surviving dangerous encounters within the dungeon, it is revealed that Ricardio set up the situation to lure Bubblegum into the cave and force her to marry him. After having already poisoned Finn and Jake with Zanoits, Ricardio defeats Lady Rainicorn by tying her into a knot. Princess Bubblegum challenges than him to a fistfight, winning by ripping his newly attached limbs away at their exposed sinews. She then drags Finn, Jake, and Ice King back to the Candy Kingdom on Lady's back, creating a new heart for Ice King out of "Ricardio's sinews, toffee, and maracas." She is also the first person to learn of Lady Rainicorn's pregnancy (apart from Lady Rainicorn herself).
Princess Bubblegum patches up her rocky relationship with Lemongrab in "You Made Me" by making him a Lemongrab 2, so he will have a friend who truly understands him. At the end of the episode, the princess bids them a fond farewell and they both invite her to visit anytime, indicating that the three of them are on good terms. In "All Your Fault," however, she sends Finn and Jake on a mission because the Lemongrab clones have run out of food. Finn and Jake, upon arriving, find out that the Lemongrabs have been using food to create candy people, because Princess Bubblegum accidentally left the recipe for making candy people there. Luckily, after Lemonjon turned himself into food after almost destroying the Candy Kingdom, Princess Bubblegum erases the Candy life formula from their minds.
In the Season 4 finale, she is the first person to realize that Billy is possessed by The Lich, and tries to warn Finn and Jake, but it is too late. In "The Suitor," Peppermint Butler tried to find her a suitor, settling on Braco. Despite of all of Braco's attempts to win her heart, she has no feelings for him and she claims that Braco will never be happy with her. Out of pity and kindness she created a robotic clone of herself to be Braco's partner. PB later admitted that she loved Braco in the same way she loves all Candy People, but she will not be forced into a relationship. Throughout the rest of season five she is seen focusing on all of her science projects and isolating herself in her lab. In "Earth & Water," a flashback reveals that 15 years ago when Flame Princess was born, a messenger of the Fire Kingdom gives Flame King word that his offspring will be more powerful than he could ever dream to be. The Flame King tells the messenger to leave the baby in the woods to perish. The messenger could not bear to let the baby perish, so he left her with a Crystal Lumberjack, whose house Flame Princess promptly burns. The lumberjack screams in shock, and Flame Princess runs into the forest, burning trees. Princess Bubblegum sees this, and, wearing a protective suit, returns Flame Princess to the Fire Kingdom. She tells Flame King that he should not let her wander in the woods because she is too dangerous. Princess Bubblegum tells Flame King to find a way to contain Flame Princess's power, and he proceeds to do so by locking Flame Princess up. The scene changes to Flame Princess in her lantern, and the flashback ends.
In "Hot Diggity Doom," the Candy Kingdom had its very first election. The election was between Princess Bubblegum and the King of Ooo. PB did not campaign, as she thought the Candy People knew she loved them and that they were smart enough to understand the King was a bad person (which he is). Unfortunately, the King convinced everyone to vote for him, causing her to lose the election. PB, unable to confront the candy people after seeing their innocent faces, turned in her crown and left (along with Peppermint Butler) to an old, dirty cabin built by her Uncle Gumbald, which they worked hard to fix and make it into a nice place to live until she got back in business as the princess of the Candy Kingdom.
In "Varmints," while chasing "varmints" that were messing with her bioengineered pumpkins, she and Marceline come across the old Candy Kingdom crystal mines, where Princess Bubblegum had caught Marceline graffitiing the walls back before they stopped being friends. Marceline had convinced her to leave her own mark on the wall, which reads "Marceline made me write this." It is also revealed that the two would tell jokes and stories for hours down there before Princess Bubblegum got too busy with Princess business.
In the final episode of Adventure Time Mini-Series: "Stakes", "The Dark Cloud," Crunchy (who had been mistreated by the King of Ooo) pushed the King of Ooo into the fire place causing him to melt. Crunchy then took charge and ordered the candy citizens to help PB (along with Marceline, Finn, and Jake) destroy The Dark Cloud. After that, Bubblegum usurped Crunchy and got her throne back so she could put Peppermint Butler back together after he had been smashed into pieces during the explosion at the cabin. Soon Princess Bubblegum was back as the princess of the Candy Kingdom and the King of Ooo was melted by Crunchy.
In "The Thin Yellow Line," it is revealed by the Banana Guards that the first Candy People turned on PB and she turned them into monsters. It is also rumored that Neddy was imprisoned under the Palace Tree, not put there for his own safety (although this is likely just an urban legend as Neddy was not chained up or forced to stay) and they said she destroyed all the rattleballs, which gave the impression that she did it for no good reason. In "Gumbaldia", Princess Bubblegum planned for war against her Uncle Gumbald's new city-state Gumbaldia. Finn and Jake confronted Gumbald, hoping to call off the war. At one point, Finn got Gumbald to like him and supposedly called off all hostilities between the Candy Kingdom and Gumbaldia, while splashing Finn and Jake with a "victory juice." Finn and Jake went back the Bonnie with a signed peace treaty. Princess Bubblegum was initially excited and was about to hug Finn, but could not look past his odd smell. Peppermint Butler then walked over to Finn and Jake, wiping them off with a towel, and then became transformed into a dumber, naked, baby-like peppermint. Princess Bubblegum then realized that the victory juice was Gumbald's dumdum juice, and he had attempted to have her subjected to it. Furious, Princess Bubblegum formally declared war on Gumbaldia.
Personality
Princess Bubblegum has a very different personality from the other characters in Adventure Time. Princess Bubblegum loves most of her subjects and has been known to defend them tirelessly when trouble brews. In "Princess Cookie," her dedication to her Kingdom is shown when she visits a Candy Orphanage and spends some time cheering up the intents by asking them questions about stuff they're interested in like their future. She also loves the cuteness of puppies and such. Princess Bubblegum loves throwing parties and ceremonies in her kingdom such as the Mallow Tea Ceremony and her Science Barbecue. Princess Bubblegum has a strong sense of morality and participates in politics outside the Candy Kingdom. She is very noble, intelligently clever and undoubtedly the most intelligent person in the Land of Ooo. Princess Bubblegum is a highly cultured and educated ruler with an undying passion for science, though she often doesn't consider the ramifications of her experiments until the damage has been done.
In "Slumber Party Panic," she attempts to revive the dead Candy People, accidentally creating a horde of zombie Candy People instead. In her dedication, she sometimes drives herself to exhaustion with her experiments such as the perfect sandwich in "Five Short Graybles" and the eponymous character in "Goliad." Though ordinarily sweet and good-natured, Princess Bubblegum shows a malicious aspect of her personality whenever she is crossed, such as toward the Duke of Nuts for eating all of the royal pudding and supposedly ruining her appearance. In "Apple Wedding," she was willing to search the King of Ooo's blimp for evidence to support her (valid) suspicions against him, believing him to be a fraud. When the King of Ooo counters her proof, he accuses her of snooping. In her rush to silence him, she arrests him, and when the wedding guests unanimously dissent, she arrests all of them as well. However, she releases them within an hour after seeing the love between Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig. Even with her kind disposition, her moral code is not as strict as Finn's.
She sometimes says morbid or inappropriate things, such as when Finn picks up a paralysis poison in "The Other Tarts," she says, "That's paralyzing potion, Finn! Don't touch it, or it'll paralyze you forever!" and then giggles. Many darker things are briefly shown in several episodes such as skeletons cuffed to the walls in hidden chambers as shown in "Ricardio the Heart Guy." Another example of such behavior can be witnessed in "James," as Princess Bubblegum was willing to resort to sabotage and forced sacrifice in order to survive. Also, in "What Have You Done?," she displays a non-hesitant willingness to torture Ice King after he infects the Candy Kingdom with a Freezer Burn Flu (in an attempt to woo the Princess) and refuses to assist her in curing them by screaming voluntarily. However, in this case, she does understand what she was attempting to do was wrong, and cries in stress and guilt when Finn exposes this. In "The Lich," she is shown randomly cutting the limbs off of tiny round creatures with scissors and reattaching them in different places when Finn sneaks in, although the creatures show no pain and seem perfectly happy to be reconfigured. When she is 13-years-old in "Too Young," she exhibits a playful attitude and a willingness to perform pranks with Finn.
Just before Princess Bubblegum is returned to her normal age, she mentions that she enjoyed temporarily being 13 because she was free from the responsibilities that came with being ruler of the Candy Kingdom and that she could act like a kid again. In Princess Bubblegum's own words, being thirteen was "bloobalooby," while being 18 was "plop-dumps and waggle-sags." Princess Bubblegum acts noticeably more childlike when she is not in her role as the princess. She dresses and talks more casually when she is not busy with her work, as seen in "Video Makers" and "What Was Missing." As a princess, she is prim, poised, and straight-laced, but is quite capable of loosening up and dressing/acting like a regular teenager with her friends. In the episode "Wizard Battle," Princess Bubblegum's kiss (on the mouth) is the prize of winning the Wizard Battle. When she is being displayed on a blimp as a prize, she appears to be rather cooperative with the idea and even shows off a bit. She regularly organizes and attends events and showpieces such as scientific conferences, parties, and talent shows such as musical concerts.
After the events in "Mortal Recoil," Princess Bubblegum is afraid of her own mortality, and since then, she has been more of a "mysterious" character. She worries what would become of the Candy Kingdom if she dies, as pointed out in the episode "Goliad." She considers the possibility of living forever as not scientifically possible yet, so she creates a heir in the form of Goliad. Furthermore, her worry about the fate of the Candy Kingdom in the event of her demise has led her to perform questionable acts and become more of a pragmatic character such as consistent surveillance on anything that could be a threat. Despite the morally grey actions, they are motivated by her desire to protect, if taken to potentially paranoia levels. This could be best seen when Flame Princess called her a 'bad person' for her actions and Princess Bubblegum was visibly hurt, showing that she had intended no malicious action.
Princess Bubblegum is also very confident in herself and science, as shown in the episode "Lady & Peebles" when Lady Rainicorn is discussing the dangers. Princess Bubblegum believes that she cannot lose as long as she has science on her side.
In "Wizards Only, Fools," she also shows disbelief towards magic, labeling it as "scientific principles presented like mystical hoodoo." She also claims that "All magic is science," and people just do not know what are they doing so they call it magic despite frequent instances of magic actually existing in the land of Ooo. But even so, she is also shown to use magic frequently like when she made the bread to make the perfect sandwich in "Five Short Graybles." She also seems to respect the wizards, knowing that she has close relations to the Grand Master Wizard. She even participated in the Wizard Battle and slapped Finn for ruining the "sanctity of Wizard Battle." She is shown to be a rational thinker in "Burning Low" where it is revealed she had Flame King lock Flame Princess away so her elemental matrix would not cause the world to be destroyed. In the episode "Earth & Water," Princess Bubblegum's history with Flame Princess is examined and it is shown that 15 years before she found an infant Flame Princess wandering through the forest towards the Candy Kingdom and returned her to Flame King (who had ordered for Flame Princess be abandoned in the wilderness), demanding that he find a way to contain his daughter's power or she will do so herself.
Abilities
Knowledge
Aside from her scientific prowess, she has many abilities and talents. She has spoken German in "Frost & Fire," "What Have You Done?," "Go With Me," "The Vault," "James," and "Checkmate"; and in the German dub, she speaks Turkish instead. She is also capable of understanding Lady Rainicorn, who speaks Korean, suggesting she knows the language.
In "What Was Missing," she manages to successfully play BMO as a high-tech instrument (possibly in the style of a chiptune setup) and was part of her Blueprint track. In "Dream of Love," she combined her scientific abilities with her musical talents at her concert. There is a possibility she may be a good whistler as she was shown practicing for a Whistling Choir Death Match Championship, even though in the scene where you saw and heard her practicing her whistling was no more than unimpressive and off-tune.
She is also an ambidextrous writer, as she wrote with her left hand in "Slumber Party Panic," "Goliad," and "What Was Missing," and with her right hand in "Five Short Graybles," "Burning Low," "The Lich," and "Hot Diggity Doom." Princess Bubblegum's scientific aptitude is shown in "Slumber Party Panic," when she concocts a potion to reanimate dead Candy People and "Five Short Graybles" when she creates the "most perfect sandwich" that has ever existed. She also created Lemongrab, Goliad, Stormo, and Lemongrab 2. In "Jelly Beans Have Power," she applies her scientific knowledge in creating soda and mints, with her newly realized candy elemental powers.
Lifespan
Curiously, Princess Bubblegum seems to age differently than other candy people seen in the show. In "Princess Cookie," she is seen in a flashback visiting an orphanage for candy children. She appears to be the same age as she is now, while Baby Snaps (one of the orphans) had physically aged since then. Also, in the promo art for "Burning Low," Flame Princess appears to be very young, possibly 5 years old, while Princess Bubblegum is standing next to her lamp but still has the same appearance of being 18. It seems that more candy biomass given or taken away can change her age as seen in "Too Young." She is depicted as being in her late-teens form 15 years ago in "Earth & Water." This might be why the suitors in "The Suitor" had all aged considerably while waiting to court her. She remarks to Ricardio in "Lady & Peebles" that she knows about building a body from biomass, and a pink, gum-like substance with a face is seen 1,000 years in the past in "Simon & Marcy." This substance was later revealed in Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! to be her parents: "About a thousand years ago. She also has a great Uncle Gumbald, who did a lot with her such as when they built a cabin.
Growth
In "The Vault," Finn grasps that Princess Bubblegum is "like a bajillion years old" after experiencing a flashback to a past life in the early days of the Candy Kingdom, where Princess Bubblegum is the same age she is now. In Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!, she says that her current age, as of the middle of season 5, is 827.
In "Bonnie and Neddy," it is revealed that she came from a mother gum, and was born as a mere blob of pink bubblegum. She appears to have been relatively mature even in her infancy, and is capable of taking care of her brother Neddy. How she evolved into her current form, however, is still unknown.
Combat Skills
In "Lady & Peebles," she shows her capabilities in fighting when she fought in hand-to-hand combat with Ricardo and defeated him.
Furthermore, she was able to defeat Abracadaniel by outsmarting him in "Wizards Only, Fools." She also demonstrated her strength when she carried an injured Lady Rainicorn, as well as healing and rescuing Finn, Jake, and the Ice King when she brought them to the Candy Kingdom. It was shown again in "James," when she carried Finn and Jake far away.
Power of Elementals
During "Elemental" she learns to create jelly beans out of her palm, but wasn't capable of making more than one, and even that takes lot of straining from her. In "Jelly Beans Have Power", she was able to communicate with Chatsberry through her dreams, who freed the limits that allowed him to use her elemental powers to their full potential, being able to throw torrents of jelly beans at great speed. However, she could not release her true powers until she understood that she should do so in her own way. Based on her knowledge of science, she was able to create an explosion of soda and mints capable of destroying a huge ice creation of Patience. In "Skyhooks" she is shown in her elemental form. While in her elemental state she can turn others into candy elemental people. She can also create candy with just her hands unlike before. She also sings happily and makes the other candy elemental people joyful (yet strange). In her elemental form she seems to have little to no memory of her life beforehand. In "Skyhooks II" she is changed back into her normal form due to Lumpy Space Princess' anti-elemental powers.
Others
She is observant, as seen in "Sky Witch" when she looked for clues in her environment to figure out where to go and where Maja most likely hid Hambo.
Her crown and matching earrings are capable of blocking the wearer's mind from the Lich's influence, as she reveals in "Mortal Folly." The gem of power is also used for the Enchiridion in "The Lich."
In "Have You Seen the Muffin Mess," it is shown that after her arm was turned into muffins by her nanobots, she is able to stretch it out to how it was which must be how she increases and decreases the length of her hair.
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Trivia
- Her first name is revealed to be Bonnibel.
- Princess Bubblegum's gender-swapped character is Prince Gumball, as seen in Fionna and Cake.
- It is confirmed that she had a homosexual relationship with her ex-girlfriend, Marceline Abadeer, until they get back together in the series finale.
