“What Was Missing” to “Obsidian”- 10 years of LGBT representation in cartoons
Guys, it’s been 10 years since What Was Missing aired.
Any Adventure Time fan knows what this is, but any cartoon fan needs to understand what Was Missing is the reason there was a big push for LGBT characters in kid’s cartoons. I’m not sure just how far its influence goes, but it possibly had a strong impact on the western LGBT movement as a whole - how gay people were seen in online spaces, at least, before and after this dropped in 2011 is very different.
Back when Rebecca Sugar was a young storyboarder on Adventure Time, they were very keyed in to internet fandom culture. It was late enough that LGBT shipping and activism was becoming increasingly dominant, but early enough that LGBT characters in media were almost nonexistent, with children’s media in particular avoiding even the most background of gays. Even adult’s media tended to reserve LGBT characters as sexualisation or comic relief. Rebecca thought it would be interesting to try something on AT:
Sugar: Okay, well looking back on everything, I’m really proud of what we were able to do with the characters of Garnet and Ruby and Sapphire. It really goes all the way back to the time I spent on Adventure Time and when I got a chance to do some of the earlier episodes with Marceline and Bubblegum. This was 2010 so Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was still a national policy. It would be half a decade before same-sex marriage was legal in The United States and I wanted to do something with the characters of Marceline and Bubblegum but figure out how to get it on TV. The strategy at the time that I pitched was that because they’re both centuries-old, millenniums-old, had a relationship sometime in the past and they’re unpacking that in a way that would be apparent. That was the only way to be able to do something with these characters and their relationship on screen. As I was entering my show, I really wanted to find a way to be able to show characters actively in a relationship happening in real-time
When “What WAs Missing” aired, it was a week after “Fionna and Cake”, one of the most hyped up episodes of the series. Everyone found out about the names Natasha Allegri and Rebecca Sugar, and it seemed like AT was a series with a strong passion for fandom, very modern.
When the preview above aired, a few days before the episode, there were SO MANY EYES on it left over from Fionna and Cake. People IMMEDIATELY caught onto the romantic subtext in Marceline’s song. It strongly implies Marceline and Bubblegum had a bit more going on between them than a simple friendship gone sour. Marceline’s feelings of resentment towards her ex girlfriend not seeing her as good enough were utterly transparent. At least to anyone keyed into the character.
Unfortunately, it was not direct. And because of what happened next, it wasn’t going to be, for the next 7 years.
The “Mathematical!” Controversy
So have you ever heard of Frederator’s “Mathematical!” Podcast, where they posted Adventure Time animatics and modelsheets and discussed episodes? No? That’s because Fred Seibert had it wiped off the internet after they dropped their “What Was Missing” video.
For context, Frederator is the production studio that is responsible for helping Pen develop his show and pitch it to Cartoon Network. They partnered up with Cartoon Network to produce Adventure Time, and had the right to share any non-classified documents. Frederator used to post storyboards for every episode, until season 5, when they studdenly stopped. I’m not sure if this is due to a change in their terms with Cartoon Network, or if Fred just stopped, but there are no storyboards uploaded for anything between “Finn the Human” and “Apple Wedding”, which is when Adam and Steve opened up @kingofooo.
Anyway, “Mathematical!” aired for the first 10 episodes of Season 3. It was fan oriented, like the videos about “Bravest Warriors” and “Bee and Puppycat” that Frederator used to share. It was directed by a gentleman called Dan Rickmers, and spoken more from the perspective of fans rather than anyone “in the know” about what the writers were intended. This part is important.
When “What Was Missing” dropped, Dan decided to have the presenter talk about the romantic subtext in the episode. The podcast points it out clear for everyone to see:
So, they drop this podcast, suggest Marcy has feelings for PB, show off the now-famous Natasha Allegri’s crew art of the pairing, and ask everyone to ring in what their thoughts are about them getting together. And SWEET JESUS, this caused an explosion.
Word got around fast, specifically here on Tumblr back when it was the most active fansite on the internet. Frederator recieved MOUNTAINS of phone calls. Mostly? Overwhelming support. But also, unfortunately, a lot of strongly worded complaints. Some from the AT crew themselves.
Adam Muto, storyboarder on the ep and future showrunner of AT when the ship was finally canonized, was particularly bitter. He said the following when asked about the podcast:
If it was just a fan video there would be no problem at all.
The problem was that it was made by a production company actively involved with the show.
The video took something that was a possible subtext and declared it, in effect, text and made it seem like the production was actively seeking out input on plot development.
……To be clear, besides Falling under the Frederator umbrella, the people who put together those recaps have no connection with our production. The last “Mathematical!” recap was unnecessarily sensationalistic. “Thumbs up for subtext” was a gaudy touch too.
Adam has never had any love for non-crew input on the show being mistaken as canon, but I have to be honest, considering he allegedly knew the truth of the pairing and was directly responsible for the subtext, his words here seem…. deeply confusing. Sensationalistic? How??? For pointing out a canon plot thread in your show??? Seems like Adam was salty that suddenly everyone had this much attention on AT for its gay characters.
Dan, the podcast director, responded to everything with this post on tumblr. He defended his video, clarified it’s a fan podcast
Let’s talk about this whole Bubbleine thing. I direct the Adventure Time fan videos and episode recaps at Mathematical, and there’s some stuff going on about Cartoon Network and censorship. I think fanfics and shipping and LGBT relationships are AWESOME. Seriously. Personally, I also think Bubbleine is adorable and definitely my OTP for the series so far.
Mathematical can at most be considered a reaction to you guys, the fans. It’s a place for us to talk about what we like, and geek out about Adventure Time, and the production staff has nothing to do with it. So yeah, I think we all were thinking about Marceline and Bubblegum possibly crushing on each other after that episode, so I wanted us all to talk about it, but getting upset at anyone isn’t going to solve anything.
If you still want to talk about it, I think it would be a really cool development in the show, and between you and me, I’d be excited to see an american cartoon that is able to casually discuss LGBT relationships. I’m open, Mathematical is open, and we’re still going to put up a fan video tomorrow about…something. And if anyone else isn’t open, then that’s too bad for them, because I still love ALL OF YOU.
I also just wanted to say sorry to Adam Muto (Because it seems like I offended him, I guess?) and Rebecca Sugar for possibly distracting anyone from the excellent episode they wrote with two of the BEST songs in the series! Nothing but love for you two.
Fred Seibert, well….. He fired Dan Rickmers. Not just that - he told Dan not to go back into the animation industry. He threatened the guy, destroyed his career, and had him blacklisted from animation.
Here’s FRED’S post on Bubbline (taken from Autostraddle):
There’s been chatter on the internet recently about our latest Adventure Time “Mathematical!” video recap that we created, posted, and removed here at Federator. I figure it’s time to clear up the matter.
In trying to get the show’s audience involved we got wrapped up by both fan conjecture and spicy fanart and went a little too far. Neither Cartoon Network nor the Adventure Time crew had anything to do with putting up or taking down our latest re-cap. The episode ”What was Missing” remains a terrific short and will be shown again and again just like any other Adventure Time episode.
Once again, calling it “spicy fanart”, saying it went “too far”. What exactly was too far about Dan’s podcast???? It was no different to any of the other Mathematical! podcasts talking about shipping. Why is it suddenly a problem now????
Pen Ward himself? He just said that it was all a “big hullabaloo” and people had strong stances both sides so he didn’t want to say his thoughts.
…..Now, imagine being Rebecca Sugar during this time period. You put in a little bit of gay subtext into an episode of a cartoon, and suddenly the WORLD explodes. The internet loves it, but everyone at Cartoon Network and Frederator condemn such a thing, with poor Dan being the sacrificial lamb at the altar. It’s absolutely unjust!
As it turns out, Rebecca was starting to develop Steven Universe, and decided that the best way to respond to the backlash was to work in some gay subtext of her own. Adventure Time had a hard “No”, from WAY high up. Sugar has cited that the ceilings put up by Cartoon Network and friends around Bubbline were a challenge she became determined to overcome with Steven Universe.
….And, it turns out, Sugar wasn’t the only one with the idea.
The quiet road to gay representation in cartoons
