I've been thinking about Princess Bubblegum recently (shocking I know) and her giving up the rock shirt for hambo has really stuck out to me as being important for her character
Of course, it shows how much she loves Marceline, but it also does way more than that
Hambo was Marceline's most prized possession. It was a connection to Simon, to her more human self. It helped her get through the post-apocalypse. She took care of the best she could and freaked out when Ash took it away from her so much that it was the final straw that led to their break up
And still, the magic from all the emotions Marceline poured onto it was, in Maja's words, nothing compared to PB's shirt. And to me, that is very telling of how much PB cares about the people around her
Season 5 is when the show really started to give PB and her story more depth, and we began seeing a lot more of her more morally questionable actions, and things like this really help show that she doesn't do those things out of a hunger for power or control or at least that those aren't the main reasons
More than anything, she cares about and wants to help others. It's something she's been doing since the day she was born, and while her morals and worldview have been twisted by everything she's gone through before and during her reign, that core motive has kept her relatively kind through 800 years worth of betrayals, hardship and disasters
So much so that despite not understanding Marceline wanting one specific hambo doll, she still sacrifices the symbol of how much she cares just to get it back
Maybe I'm just rambling but I like to think that the shirt shows how much she cares not just about Marcy, but also about everyone close to her
I've got more thoughts to write about
In "Bonnibel Bubblegum", we learn that the candy people all being really dumb is because of Gumbald, Lolly and Chicle's betrayal when PB was a kid, using the dum dum juice so they'd never follow that path. But that's not the only reason
In "Seventeen", when Gumbald is talking about his return, PB says "you were happier as candy people", which shows that she didn't just do it because of her trust issues, but also because she genuinely thought being affected by the juice is what's best for them to have happy lives
She saw that Gumbald's intelligence was what fueled his jealousy and desire for revenge against a literal child, and that when dummified he was as happy as one could be and didn't have a single worry, and decided to make everyone like that so she could make any and every issue they could worry about her responsibility, making herself miserable just to keep them as what she thought was the ideal state for them
It's no wonder she switched on him so fast in the finale, realizing that the whole time Gumbald was dummified he was pretty much being tortured as a prisoner in his own body when she thought she'd just fixed his problems must have been really eye opening
At least since the candy people were made with the juice already in them they most likely don't feel like that and are actually happy, but I think PB questioning whether or not they do and considering changing them would be an interesting thing to see
I also wonder if the juice can have it's effects undone naturally, like we know Pep But is studying in wizard school but could an average candy person become smart like him?
I'm pinning this just so I can add more PB thoughts whenever I want
Wow this took longer than I expected
Okay so, I've been thinking about Bubblegum's relatives and what they represent for her character
Chicle is the least characterized of the trio but I think that's done on purpose. In the flashbacks, he seems like a pretty ok guy and has a good relationship with Bonnie, but after the betrayal he seems more mischievous and does some spy stuff for Gumbald, besides seeming to be generally uncaring towards others. All this resembles a surface reading of PB herself, someone kind who looks like they're faking it and is secretly very shady. He's purposefully underwritten to show how superficial this part of PB is
Next is Gumbald, an ambitious, petty, cruel genius who's willing to lie, manipulate and hurt people, even those close to him, to achieve his own goals, to the point of inventing a poison that traps someone within their own body while making them docile and dumb to use on his own family so he could control them. He represents the worst version of Bonnibel, who she'd become if she didn't truly care and love her people, if she let her selfish desires guide her. That's another reason why she avoids indulging them so much, she hates the thought of becoming like him, trying so hard to be selfless that she ignores her own wellbeing in favor of her people.
