foreign Adventure Time is an animated series that aired
from 2010 to 2018. In the world of western animation, it's often considered a pioneer of the
"overarching plot"-focused narrative that's almost become the default of present day cartoons.
It has a fascinating and creative setting, endearing humor that has almost aged into the
surreal, lovable and multifaceted characters, and a unique and engaging storytelling method that
follows its protagonist and the world around him through the enti
rety of his adolescence. I
experienced the entirety of the show shortly after the finale aired (exactly four years ago
now) and one of my friends begged me to watch it with them. Looking back, I'm very glad I did. I've
always been an avid cartoon fan, but since then, to me Adventure Time has been something special;
possible to recreate. But as much as I'd love to, I'm not here to talk about why Adventure Time
is so great. I want to talk about season 10. To be perfectly clear, I actually don
't hate
the final season, not by a long shot. In particular I quite enjoy the plot point of
PB's relatives coming back to haunt her as a final hurrah to her character arc, in typical
Adventure Time random plot development fashion. However, the season suffers primarily from
serious pacing issues—which are not helped by the season's ridiculously short episode
count. Pacing issues then beget underdeveloped characters—villain and hero alike—and a feeling
of disinterest in the story's progressi
on, especially because this season's conflict has
by far the largest scale in the show's run. As an example what do we know about Gumbaldia?
We know Gumbald rules it, but how does it operate differently from the Candy Kingdom? Why is
it—or is it not—a threat or inconvenience to anyone besides Princess Bubblegum? Do we
know its structure and government like how we know the Candy Kingdom's apartment district
and the inner workings of its police force? Do we know how Gumball treats his subject
s?
What do they think about the conflict, and in what way are they different from the Candy
Kingdom citizens, considering Gumbald's opinion of his niece's ruling methods? Expecting to be
given the answers to every single one of these questions—even in one regularly sized season—is
a little absurd, but when introducing an entirely new faction to your narrative, I think it's
alarming to not know even a single one. Obviously this is a result of an absolutely
pitiful episode count. This might
not seem like a huge issue at first, because many
Adventure Time plots are contained within just a couple episodes. So why would Season 10 be
any different? Except... it is a little different. I think many of these previous major plot
events are given greater leeway because they are much smaller in narrative scale. Like, Finn
learning his biological father is still alive is a huge deal—but it's also one that's confined
primarily to Finn and his future behavior. The addition of three new ant
agonistic forces
(who bring to the table an entirely new faction) involves the reaction and involvement of an entire
region that is just not possible to properly explore without more runtime. In fact, many of
these worldbuilding related unknowns don't even require direct confrontation—they're organically
woven into existing episodes. Like, how did we find out that the Candy Kingdom had a broken down
night district? Finn and the Gang visited during their search for Tree Trunks' apples. Adven
ture
Time's bit-by-bit method of worldbuilding is probably its single greatest attribute in my
opinion, which is why it's so disappointing to see it neutered in the midst of such a drastic
development in the world's setting. Aside from satisfying worldbuilding and overall investment in
the plot, another victim of Season 10's horrendous pacing is the three main villains that barely even
get to exist, before they're reconciled with and shut down in the finale. Unlike the King of Ooo,
who obv
iously exists as primarily comic relief and a temporary roadblock to the status quo, Gumbald
is clearly meant to be seen as a legitimate threat and foil in the road of Bonnie's character. In
the finale, the show tries to frame Gumbald and Bonnie as equals. If you try to look at each
of their actions objectively, that's more or less true. However, I always felt that the fact
was never quite *believable* to the audience. Gumbald is never seen in the show as having any
real passions aside from
ruining Bubblegum's life. He and her other estranged family members
are consistently painted as an antagonistic force with barely any attributes helping
dehumanize them—and so the insistence that Gumbald and Bubblegum are equally as awful
has time and time again fallen flat for me, even within the harrowing dream
sequence juxtaposing their experiences. Finn even has the realization that Gumbald is
awful in the episode leading up to the finale, so his sudden shift to being gung-ho peaceful
mode again in the very next episode is a little bit of a strange decision to me. Because the
audience knows absolutely nothing about Uncle Gumbald except the many occasions he tries to
screw over Bonnie—a character the audience has been allowed to extensively see both the good and
bad parts of—it becomes very difficult to connect with an empathetic stance of his character,
no matter how much logic can support it. This criticism regarding underdevelopment applies
to his entire faction, of c
ourse, but Gumbald is perhaps the greatest offense, second only to the
Green Knight. But we'll get to that soon enough. It's honestly a shame how underutilized they
were, because from what little we saw of them, they had very real potential both as a hilariously
dysfunctional family dynamic, and as a genuinely compelling depiction of toxic familial
relationships (particularly in regard to the Green Knight). I could think of lots of ways that
these villains and the threat that comes with the
m could be integrated more firmly in the narrative
of Season 10, but I suppose we'll have to save that for another section—because for right now, I
have a very personal bone to pick. So here goes. So. First of all, I have a confession to make. This little essay of mine isn't only about
Season 10 of Adventure Time—to be exact, one particular facet of the final season
that bugs me probably the most is absolutely impossible to talk about without bringing up
issues that begin with this characte
r's first introduction in Season 8. Obviously I mean to
reference our very own volatile plant boy, Fern. As a bit of a disclaimer, I'm admitting now
to more than a little bias on my part because I do love Fern, a lot—both as a character to
analyze, and to simply enjoy on a personal level. I also have a particular way I believe he is
best interpreted and a specific vision of how his character could have been improved on. I
am very passionate about that belief, but by no means am I going to p
retend it's the only way
he can—or has been—read by others. I try to be as objective as possible when it's necessary, but
there are also a few times I just want to offer my own personal thoughts because... it's just
fun to discuss! Okay, now we can get into it. To start us off, I'll outline the main beats of
Fern's character arc and then I'll give my brief opinion of it as a whole. Fern is composed of the
combined spirits of the Grass Sword and the Finn Sword when they physically collided,
and later
manifested into a humanoid form. The Grass Sword has a spirit that seems to be at least somewhat
predispositioned to violence or other types of risky behavior—a trait that Fern shares—but seems
ultimately harmless. An interesting tidbit I read about in the officially licensed Enchiridian
book was that the Grass Sword also forms a long-lasting attachment to the person who wields
it, which explains why it continuously seeks out Finn in the episode it debuted in, and continues
to he
lp him as part of his arm in future episodes. The Finn Sword, on the flip side, is
literally another Finn as he manifests in the face of a time paradox in "Is
That You?". It's unclear whether this Finn continues to gain the same memories
as our Finn after turning into a sword, but Fern later seems to suggest that some of
his memories as Finn are fuzzy to begin with. After discovering and allying with the Grass
Sword, Finn loses his arm, and then regains it—an event during which he also gain
s his thorn,
which may manifest as a sword, a grass arm, and so on as it sees fit. It continues to help
when needed, though it seems to do this of its own will, rather than Finn's. This aligns
with the sword's trait of lifelong bondage, as stated in the Enchiridian. Eventually, the
Grass Sword breaks the Finn Sword in a struggle, and the demon inside the Grass Sword restrains
the consciousness of Finn that lives inside the Finn Sword. The being that results
then escapes when given the oppo
rtunity, and takes on the memories of Finn,
becoming who we know as Fern. After a brief and confusing confrontation, he
retreats to what he remembers as his house. Finn and Jake later reasoned that Fern should be
treated the same as Finn is, since he manifested from the Finn Sword. However, after an eventful
trip to confront the Grass Sword's creator, the Grassy Wizard, Fern comes to the conclusion
that they must be different people entirely. Fern then names himself, and begins living in th
e
tree house with Finn and Jake. However, when Finn takes a trip to the human colony, he asks for
him to be a substitute for him while he's unable to protect Ooo.Uunfortunately, during that time,
Patience St. Pim warps the continent elementally. Fern later reveals that his failure to stop
her is a major source of insecurity for him. During his interactions with Finn
trying to protect Sweet P from the Lich, Fern observes that imitating Finn leads him
to success—except, of course, for the ti
mes when he falls short of the original. He
formulates a plan to eliminate Finn in order to become "the only Finn", but It ultimately
backfires, and Finn ends up killing him instead. Uncle Gumball finds Fern's remains and modifies
him to become the Green Knight—with a strong body and an even stronger vendetta against Finn. After
a brief confrontation at Finn's birthday party, they meet again in the group's shared nightmare
during the Gum War. After a hostile exchange, Fern is reminded that
they share... fears? And
they come to an understanding. Finn learns about the Grass Demon's involvement in Fern's existence,
they slay it, and Fern dies, continuing to exist in a seed that will eventually become a large
willow tree. In my opinion, Fern has a very solid and compelling character arc when you look
at the primary points of it—especially looking at him in the lens of an anti-hero. He comes into
being, rejects an identity that he was given, experiences a failure because of that,
doubts
himself and tries to conform, meets a tragic end, returns with a misplaced vengeance, and then, just
after he reconciles, he's finally laid to rest. Overall, I believe two things ultimately
led to Fern's potential being squandered, despite this promising outline of character arc.
The first is a lack of screentime. Fern only has major appearances in six episodes despite being
arguably a pretty major character in all three of the latter seasons. While the episode count
of these season
s *is* significantly shorter, I still think the amount of screentime Fern was
allowed was disproportionate to his narrative weight as a character. For one, he's clearly a
character that the audience is supposed to care for, yet he rarely had any scenes (much less
episodes) outside of his arc that integrated his existence more organically into the world,
and characterized him in a more casual context. In other words, we barely had the time to get
to know him before he was getting hurled into
the next phase of his character arc. A great
opportunity for this would have been following either of the miniseries in Seasons 8 and 9,
since Fern was completely absent from both of them and (in the case of the Element miniseries)
was a catalyst for the events within. But that's probably a discussion for our Fix-it section.
On the other hand, in terms of screentime, Fern's arc could have also benefited from having
more pure emotional buildup at certain points. Whispers is a fantastic exam
ple of this. It's
really great at getting the audience to understand why Fern takes the turn he does in his arc (which
I'll also discuss a little later). However in several portions of his story, it's a little
difficult to empathize with what Fern is feeling, because—due in part to his brief screen time—we're
simply told what he feels, or the matter isn't really explored to begin with. I think the
worst offender of this is the Green Knight, who I think could have been a fascinating and
imp
osing villain if he was allowed to actually act like one for more than like, one or two scenes
in the show's final episodes. For example, in the finale, Fern seemed genuinely hurt and shocked
that Gumball would ditch him in the nightmare dimension. But... we never really witnessed any
indication that Fern and Gumbald had any sort of personal relationship outside of a business kind
of, "I'll help you fight the princess if you help me get revenge against the guy who gave me a
crippling inferi
ority complex and killed me". Though omitting it gave us that great reveal in
"Seventeen", we never really get to see how Fern rose to his mental state in that episode. Showing
the audience how Fern's desire for acceptance can be taken advantage of would have also been a great
opportunity to build Gumball up as a more menacing villain, if that's what they were going for.
But again I'm getting it to fix-it territory, which I'm trying to save for later... Anyway, as
I said, aside from those d
isappointments regarding missed potential, my gripes with Fern's actual
progression as a character are rather small. Something minor I could think of is a lack of
real follow-up on his supposed redemption in the finale before he died—like, he didn't have a
speech, or a fight scene or anything—but honestly he only ever personally wronged Finn anyway,
so it's not a huge deal. Moving on, my other issue I take with Fern is what I deem an unclear
direction in regard to his role as a character. F
irst and foremost, we can observe Fern as a
plot device. Now, this isn't a negative term—plot devices are absolutely necessary for literally any
story, and this is objectively how Fern is used, regardless of how you read him on a more narrative
level. A whole bunch of other characters and events are plot devices on some level, too.
The last three seasons of the show needed a new villain. Our protagonist Finn needs to have a
personal stake in the finale, and the conflict as a whole. These ki
nds of objective concepts provide
context as to why Fern's character progressed the way it did on a metatextual level. However,
because Fern is a well-developed and well-utilized plot device, there's a bit more to him than that.
Which brings me to how... It's honestly a little difficult to discern how the writers wanted
his character to be interpreted and perceived. To be more exact, it seems to me that there's
a bit of a blurred line about whether Fern was meant to be his own character, or
simply a representation of something. As a result of this lack of clarity (or even
a lack of commitment), I think our overall impression of Fern's character suffers. Neither
of the interpretations presented to us get fully explored, leaving both parties unsatisfied. Fern
is established as his own character several times— —but he has also implied to be
a metaphor in relation to Finn. This is also reflected in the
manner Fern's character arc ends. The result is a more shallow, underdevelope
d
character as a whole. For the record, because these readings are sometimes contradictory
to each other, I do subscribe to and personally favor one of these readings more than the
other. However, I also think both of them had the potential to be equally compelling if they'd
received the exclusive focus that they deserved. The most common—and honestly most
realistic—reading I've seen of Fern as a metaphor, is that he's supposed to represent a younger,
more immature version of Finn that mus
t be faced and overcome as he grows out of adolescence toward
the end of the show. Fern is more violent and very emotionally charged—much like Finn used to be—and
it makes sense to think of Fern's end also as a poetic end to Finn's character arc in the show. If
you haven't guessed already, I prefer to think of Fern as his own person, but I actually really
enjoy drawing this parallel separate from the text. However, the point isn't really how well
this interpretation holds up, but rather how
implementing it literally in the show affects
the writing of Fern's character as a whole. As an aside, on a personal level, I disagree
with the message that in order to come to terms with who we used to be, we have to get rid
of that aspect and pretend it doesn't exist. I feel like this reading could have been more
sensible if Fern was vilified more, but he's really not. It's hard for me to agree with that
message when Fern was ultimately just grappling with the human emotions of self-hatr
ed and
insecurity. I believe the solution to those kinds of feelings isn't to demonize and forcibly purge
them—it's to accept them, grow stronger, and carry on. It's just too bad that the writers wanted
to have their cake with Fern and eat it too. I'm also not saying that trying to incorporate
secondary symbolism in your story is a bad thing, but to me it certainly seems like there was
a decision to disregard Fern's personhood in favor of this more abstract interpretation
of his purpose in
the story. Quite frankly, for many of the plot points critical to Fern's
character arc, the crux of the matter relies on the realization that Fern and Finn are distinctly
different—for better or for worse. Fern takes this realization pretty seriously at the end of "Do
No Harm", and he seems to maintain conviction in the belief until he's forced into a situation
that shakes that conviction. Prior to the finale, I think he's pretty clearly painted as a victim of
outside expectation and circu
mstance in terms of his inferiority complex—which is another reason
I think it's a little bit of a strange decision for him to turn into Finn and die at the end
of the show. So—let's discuss how Fern is an independent character, and how the show goes out
of its way to convey this fact to the audience. Not only do I think this way of approaching
Fern's character is more interesting, but I also believe that this was the original
direction his character was intended to proceed. Firstly, the Gr
ass Demon is an important part
of Fern, too. It's a gut reaction to think that the grass demon is this super evil villain
or something, but first of all—I honestly think that's a little bit beside the point. Fern
doesn't seem to share the same concrete memories or motivations as the Grass Demon, despite it
saying it would do the talking for them when he was created. After reconciling his memories from
when he was Finn, Fern appears to operate on an entirely clean slate. He does, however, se
em
to share some more subtle traits—including his murderous and snarky tendencies. On that note,
I now present to you: the Grass Arm Sass Reel. Secondly, in regard to the Grass Demon being
evil, given that Fern does not house the sameconsciousness as the Grass Demon, I don't
think that directly blaming it for Fern's distress is entirely appropriate. Fern isn't
emotionally unstable because the grass demon cursed him that way—he's emotionally unstable
because of the burden of his very existe
nce (which is another reason I think his fate clashes
with the show thematically. In that context, it kind of feels like a mercy kill). But
again, I digress. I'd like to point out again how Fern was fully convinced he was his
own person up until a very, very specific point: when Finn asked him to be his replacement for the
duration of the Islands and Element miniseries. —the implication being that Fern did not
intend to pursue being like Finn anymore. He didn't particularly want to be a her
o. But
because that responsibility was placed on him, and he *failed* at it, he began comparing
himself to Finn again—which, as we know, spiraled into an intense inferiority complex.
We first get a solid glimpse of this in the episode "Whispers", where the two of them
team up to help Sweet P and stop the Lich. Throughout the episode, Fern observes
Finn solving issues and seeing more success than his own methods, which also
continuously backfire throughout the episode. This creates somethin
g of a feedback loop:
Fern fails, he sees what Finn does (which notably doesn't fail), he imitates Finn's way
of doing things, and he succeeds—or, he fails to imitate it closely enough and fails again. You
can even spot some of the more subtle instances he very consciously mirrors Finn's mannerisms
in the background of some of the scenes. Fern's inferiority complex—which later blooms
into a desire to get rid of Finn entirely—is entirely facilitated by continuous conditioning
he receives th
at encourages his toxic mindset. This wasn't the grass demon being evil and telling
him to do evil things like trying to take over Finn's life—it's a natural conclusion that Fern
*himself* came to because of events in his life. Finn isn't aware, but by asking Fern
to fill in for him, he sets Fern up to compare himself to him—and when he tries to
guide him by suggesting he follow his lead, he sets Fern up to believe the only way
to be successful is to imitate Finn. This is what I mean when I
describe Fern's descent
into inferiority as a tragedy: no one was really at fault—everyone was only pursuing what they
thought was best—but misfortune fell Fern anyway. So I just talked about Fern for a really long
time. But, in a more general sense, for the last bit of the video, I think it would be fun to craft
a little Fix-It segment for Season 10 and some of the details surrounding it. A good chunk of this
is honestly based on my personal taste and ideas, so I would love to see how oth
er people would
tweak things if they had the opportunity. If you want to drop a comment, I'd love to throw
different ideas around with other fans. Anyway, one thing I think we can all agree on is
changing the total episode count for both seasons 9 and 10—and personally, I think returning to
the tried and true 26 episode season is the best option (maybe even a few more). Adventure
Time has always told its plot in short spurts, so I think allotting an extra 10 episodes or so
is reasonable—es
pecially if the majority of them focus on building the setting of the conflict,
like I discussed in the first part of this video. Season 10 episodes as they are now almost entirely
consist of tying up certain plot threads before the finale—which is fine, and great, but because
the season had very few episodes to begin with, it left the current plot even more bare when its
scale really deserves even more attention than a typical Adventure Time plot event. Along with
developing this plot more
, a larger episode count would also help with the overall pacing of the
season. Also following up on my criticism at the beginning of the video, I would love to see more
presence from all the main villains in Season 10. A great example we should have gotten more of
was Chicle's participation in "Hunson & Marcy", where he was a catalyst for a concrete
conflict, while there was growth happening with the characters we were already familiar
with. I think this is a fantastic way to make the less
complex villains like Chicle and Lolly
feel like a more natural part of the story without having to flesh them out a ton. It also gives
them a bit more of that fun personality, and provides an opportunity to explore the opposing
faction as a whole more deeply. Of course, I would also want Fern to have a more significant
role as a villain in this section of the plot, but I'll start with my ideas for fixing his
role in the story from the very beginning first. Of course, how you decide to fix
Fern's character
also depends on how you interpret his role as a character. As I mentioned before, I find the
reading of Fern as his own independent person more interesting, so I'm following that vision
in how I decide to continue with his character. Despite all my ranting about how Fern's
writing felt confused, I still think his number one biggest issue is as simple as a lack
of screentime. There are a few critical moments in his character's progression that feel
entirely skimmed over, a
nd he's absent for such a huge chunk of the show it's hard to even
say much about him outside his character arc. For the first point, I think an episode about
Fern's failure in Element (or at least some kind of prequel or follow-up to Element that followed
him) would have really sold his newly developing inferiority complex—and it also would have been
a great opportunity to see Fern exploring his new identity, yet still weighed down by the outside
expectation that he had to be a hero like F
inn. I also would have liked a bit more time with him
before that responsibility was thrust on him, so we could spend time to know him before
he was super tortured by inferiority. An episode working out his identity and aspirations
would have been nice, but nothing concrete would be decided so as not to take away from the
"gone-too-soon" tragedy later down the line. It also would have been nice to see
Fern interacting with other characters outside of Finn more. I think Fern's snarky
person
ality would make for some fun dynamics. Simply making him a recurring character in
this kind of passive part of his arc honestly would have done wonders for making the audience
sympathize with him more later down the line. I wouldn't change anything about how Fern's arc
was handled from "Whispers" to "Three Buckets"—I genuinely believe "Whispers" sufficiently conveyed
Fern's worsening inferiority complex despite its short run time. If I had to change anything, it
would probably be to have j
ust one more episode with Fern between those two episodes I mentioned
before—even if he just had a small role—just to feel like the time between the realization and
the execution wasn't so sudden. And because seeing Fern stewing with hatred that he's trying to hide
for an entire episode would be pretty funny. But Adventure Time's plot progression is always pretty
tight, so that's more of a personal wish of mine. More realistic would just be putting any old
filler episode between "Whispers"
and "Three Buckets". My biggest beef in terms of screentime
is the Green Knight, which I also think most people will agree with me on. Like I talked about
earlier, I would have loved more details regarding Fern's relationship with Gumbald, and I honestly
think a lot of this would come naturally once we started developing the setting of Gumbaldia
and the other Season 10 villains more. I also talked earlier about painting Gumball as a more
villainous and intelligent character through the angl
e of how he has more or less took advantage
of Fern's insecurities to further his own goals. It would have been so interesting to see how much
exactly Fern had been warped being under Gumball's command, because it's clear his feelings of
resentment toward Finn had only worsened and his inferiority complex had twisted into some pretty
heavy arrogance once he was modified by Gumbald. Showcasing Fern's loyalty to Gumbald, despite
how evil he was supposed to be, would also be a great way to mak
e Gumbald seem morally gray,
too, even if he turns out not to be. Furthermore, as a recurring villain, I think the Green
Knight himself would be a great plot device in order to learn more about Gumbaldia. Though
the Green Knight is pretty hostile towards Finn, we see in the episode "Gumbaldia" that there's
also a side of him that can be swayed towards sympathy—and Finn is certainly adamant
about not wanting the two of them to fight. If there was room for a temporary truce between
them, it
would open up opportunities for both Finn and the audience to learn more about both
Gumbald and Gumbaldia, either by directly visiting or hearing about it offhand. This kind
of dynamic also allows for Fern to be painted in a more sympathetic light prior to his redemption
in the finale, and I personally just kind of enjoy the trope of the villain letting the hero go free
because of a fleeting loss of resolve. It's fun, it's dramatic, and I think this kind of
villainy would be quite fitting f
or Fern. One direct change I would make to Fern's actual
character arc is how it ends in the finale. As much as I'd like to embrace a kind of
"accept your past self and don't feel ashamed of it" theme that I think Fern *living* would
exemplify, I do think the act of Fern dying is an important part of Finn's character arc:
facing the fact that he can't save everyone, and losing someone important to him. But I think
certain circumstances about it should have been different so that his progres
sion up until that
point didn't feel so pointless and disrespected. If you remember how much I talked earlier about
the theming of Fern's death, you might have an idea about how I would change those circumstances.
For one, the idea that the Grass Demon needs to be removed in order for Fern to be at peace doesn't
really add up thematically in a couple different ways, if you think of Fern as his own person,
as I discussed earlier. On a personal note, I also think it's kind of silly and shoeho
rned
in that the actions in a dream sequence actually have the power to change Fern's physicality in
the real world—but I'm willing to chalk that up to plot convenience and wave it off. Since the
Grass Demon being defeated is critical to the manner in which Fern dies, I think that itself
should remain. What's important is that it's not framed in a way that implies it's the morally
correct thing to do, like it was originally. For example, there could be an ultimatum that
requires it be kill
ed, they could be tricked into killing it, it could be a simple accident—any
number of ways. Maybe these particular examples wouldn't be as climactic as Finn deciding to
kill the Grass Demon by his own hands, but I think any of them would be more consistent with
how Fern had been framed in the show thus far. By the way, like I said: you're free to
interpret Fern's character differently, I just think that ending his arc in the manner the
show originally did disrespected his integrity as an i
ndependent person, which, in my opinion,
is inconsistent with how his character had progressed up until that point. I think there
definitely is a way to keep the original scene, but you'd have to change a bunch of
other stuff about how his character is framed earlier in the show, and, like I said,
I think the other way is much more interesting. ...Wow. To be completely honest, I think I
could probably go on for a good while longer, but I think I've sufficiently summed up most of
my thought
s regarding Adventure Time Season 10, and *especially* regarding Fern. This is the
first video essay I've seen all the way through, even though I rant all the time on Twitter about
media analysis... I don't even know if this video is going to reach anyone, since I originally
posted lyric videos to Enstars songs on this channel... but I've been way too passionate about
this topic, and I wanted a way to put all of my thoughts into words. It would be really cool
to make more videos discussing
Adventure Time, as well as other stuff I'm into, so if that's
something you're interested in, please please let me know. If enough people would want to see it,
then maybe my executive dysfunction will subside enough for me to finish more things like this. I
also have a Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram that are linked in the description if you also feel
alone in how abnormally much you think about Fern Adventure Time. Maybe we can be friends!
Anyway, that's all for this video. Thank you so muc
h for watching, and if you enjoyed it, make
sure to like the video so hopefully more people can see it and I'll feel less like I'm talking
at a wall. My name is Mexi and goodbye for now!
Comments
Great video I really hope you keep making more, since Adventure Time is one of my favorite cartoons of all time and the way you put it and explained it was very interesting
Great analysis! really captured a lot of the issues with the ending, even tho i loved it!
This is really well done! I completely agree with all of this, especially the Fern stuff which I talk to friends abt a lot LOL. I’m surprised honestly GOLB wasn’t brought up tho, GOLB, while cool and I loved the Simon and Betty flashback about it and some previous foreshadowing, I felt like it really needed more time for us to just learn about it, while already an amazing finale, I think it would’ve made this “final battle” even more awesome and threatening if it was built up a bit more and we learned more about GOLB. Anyway, really good work! U deserve more views!!
I know this video is pretty old, but I think it’s really interesting and I’d love to see more of your thoughts!
This is a great video! You’ve pretty much captured my feelings about Fern almost exactly! I love him as a character, his personal conflict and how it leads to him turning on Finn, but it just didn’t get the focus it needed. We should’ve had episodes before Islands where he joins Finn and Jake on an adventure, an episode about what he was up to right before getting elementified (sorta like Marceline got in Ketcup), and episodes about his new dynamic with the Gumbald family. We never really got to see how his character changed through being a part of this family which is a real bummer. It could’ve made his redemption in CAWM feel less rushed. He was a character with a lot of potential but was never fully realized
This is such a cool video. I hope you make more whether or not its about adventure time or something else
Thanks this was a nice watch.
I 100% agree! However with distant lands (basically season 11) and season 12 (Fiona and Cake) on the horizon, I have felt better about 10 technically not being the final season anymore. The arc itself is incredibly rushed but with good elements. The true finale for our heroes; Together Again! Is my personal favorite in terms of wrapping everything up in a tiny pretty bow. But who knows if the new series will be even better with the new 45 min format!
Excellent video, very well put together. It’s great to hear someone passionate about adventure go into detail about the show. Would love to hear more adventure time related videos. Subbed! Keep it up 👍
Nice video very cool discussion🙂
5:53 I honestly agree, I think that it would be interesting to see an episode strictly in Gumbaldia and its inhabitants. To establish Gumbaldia more as a place. and thinking about it, I would want it to be kinda like the one episode from Rick and Morty 'The Ricklantis Mix-up'. And another episode that explores more on how Gumbald treated the green knight and his family. I'm always been a sucker for the villain side, in stories. Anyways I’m a fan now, loved the video and I would definitely love to see more like this in the future. Keep it up 🫶🏽
Sorry to be the annoying guy. I'll start by saying: great video. Grass Finn was definitely my favorite part about the latter seasons and I'm so upset we didn't get more of him. Good to watch a video not only talking about some of the missed opportunities but also from someone who clearly just loves the character in general lol but anyway, I really wanna know the music at 22:47, it's so rad sounding.
Fantastic video! I agree with pretty much everything you said, the thing I disagree on is the way the Grass Demon was handled and I know I’m almost a year late but I just wanted to give my two cents on this: something else very interesting about Fern is that his story (probably unintentionally.) parallels the Ice King’s. And I know that sounds weird but Hear me out. Both of them are technically mentally defaced amalgamations of other people. Fern is the Finn Sword merged with the Grass Sword curse and Ice King is Simon with Gunther’s perception of Evergreen injected in. And a major part of both of their arcs is despite the less then happy ways these characters came to be they are both still valuable individuals that deserve a chance to be their own people and not have to live in the shadow of their past selves. “I think I’m a special person and I am worthy of respect!” However something the show always took the time to separate from that is the cause of their respected tragedy’s: The Grass Demon is never portrayed in a positive light whenever it’s directly on screen it’s depicted as ominous and foreboding. The only thing it does when it takes control of Fern is try to kill Finn. And it’s consistently used as a metaphor for Fern giving in to evil. And as for Ice King while not nearly demonized as much mostly because it’s at least perceived as an inanimate object, the Ice Crown is revered and despised by pretty much everyone who has a relationship with Ice King. It’s shown to have caused two different apocalypses in Farmworld. And pretty much everyone who has ever crossed it’s path has lost their sanity. My personal interpretation of this distinct separation between cause and effect is to show one doesn’t have to be defined by their tragedy’s or misfortunes, they can overcome and grow beyond them and maybe even make they best of a seemingly bad situation. I don’t think Grass Demon was meant to be a symbol of Fern’s individuality but rather the representations of his inner demons that he had to overcome to finally be at peace with himself. Even without it’s presence he still refers to himself as Fern after the dream sequence. “I’ll cut down this beast, Ferns way!” Now of course I have to bring up the elephant in the room with my argument and my personal least favorite part of season 10. Ice king’s effective death in the finale undermanning all his character development and the theming I’ve rambled about. And I do find that and the whole Ice Thing…thing incredibly frustrating, but I think that was done because the writers put themselves in a catch 22 with Simon’s arc rather then them intentionally backing out of their own messaging. Gosh this started out as a comment about Fern and Grass demon and now I’m ranting about Ice King. If there’s one thing to say about Adventure Time it’s that there’s definitely a LOT to talk about with it.
Why don't you have more videos T_T. This was great👍.
Haven’t seen it for a long time ago
To continue on to my point I think a lot of the details you wanted to know about at the end of the story you realize all of that doesn't matter. In 5 years from now would you even remember the tiny details on how the bubble gum kingdom is run or will you remember how finn growth affected you emotionally? Sometimes to much details flood a story and aren't necessary if you can fill in the gaps with your own imagination. In a lot of ways this is a great technique and allows viewers to be more invested in it. Wanting the creator to spoon feed you every detail can be bad and if done so can make the series worse.
I hate Prismo's become he came back alive out of nowhere i now it's a episode about Prismo's but still it come out of nowhere
I hate the ending and PBG become she Evil and bad
Adventures time isn't a show like Steven universe or infinity train. It wasn't meant to have this deep over arching plot. It is more like regular show. It has plot but it is mostly supposed to be fun and forgettable but important lessons along the way you can pick up on and details which make the show great. I think trying to make this show more than what it was supposed to be just takes away from the experience of it.