Scars of the Past!: Adventure Time Obsidian ANALYSIS and REVIEW

oh my glob obsidian wow the new adventure time special blew me out of the water anything an adventure time fan could have wanted was in this special cool action sequences great humor incredible music michaela dietz barring that last one all of these are things that adventure time fans have always wanted to see more of myself included i mean come on we got to see how and why princess bubblegum and marceline split up obsidian went above and beyond my expectations and turned into more than i could

have ever hoped for so let's talk about it i'm crit nick with cartoon universe and today we're talking all things obsidian if you haven't seen the episode yet you probably should click off and do so then come back okay you watched it cool let's get started then oh real quick shout out to our patrons you guys make these videos possible that rules if you like our videos and want to see more please consider becoming a patron now on with the show the special opens on a quick shot of the wasteland wi

th marcy and her mom elise walking by the place that would eventually become the glass kingdom the writers waste no time acquainting us with this brand new setting an interesting group of people we catch them in the middle of their most sacred ritual the retelling where see-through princess the ruler of the glass kingdom recounts the tale of saint marceline and her glorious victory over the belligerent malto larvo a dragon dead set on destroying the glass kingdom through her tail she recounts ho

w the glass kingdom was formed which she states was from a magic bolt of lightning striking the wasteland i don't really have a rebuttal for this right now and there's no evidence to suggest it was anything else so magic lightning bolt it is after the tail ends with the dragon cast back into the ancient furnace glass boy a societal outcast and friend to see through princess brings up the idea that maybe larva was slain all that time ago glass boy has a wicked crack on his face and has been bulli

ed for it for years he wants to enter the ancient furnace which has been said to heal cracks he's laughed off as a total joke and let's face it his plan is unsafe and pretty selfish but you know if someone burned me this hard yeah you have a great personality i think i'd jeopardize mine in my kingdom's lives to fix my cracked face too and that's just what he does he enters the ancient place untouched for centuries and finds a rig that lowers him close to the magma proving that the info he gather

ed was true this was indeed a place to heal cracks but his assumption about larva was wrong that mans is all fine and good and much bigger than the last time the glass people faced him glass boy barely escapes with his life with the lava dragon reawoking and trying to bust out of the metal doors glass boy is locked up for almost releasing larvo but see-through princess frees him and he sets out through the treacherous wasteland to search for marceline to save them once again meanwhile we get to

catch up with marceline seeing her and princess bubblegum living together is so dang sweet it seems like pb has moved in with marcy something that i didn't quite expect i always thought it would be the other way around but it's still so sweet to see it makes me wonder and worry about the future of the candy kingdom especially seeing that pb hasn't rebuilt the gumball guardians yet but i'm sure everything will be fine right anyways pb and marcy are living their best gay lives together building ik

ea furniture baking apple pie and just generally hanging out and being sweet to each other these scenes are straight up good for the soul i could have watched 44 minutes of pb and marcy living in domestic bliss and i would have been completely satisfied i was always bummed we never got this in the original show so i'm really happy distant lands was able to deliver moving on we get to see chuskoos for the first time since elements a welcome return of a fan favorite and this might just be his best

performance yet the boy is none the wiser of my cart of illegal moisturizer glassboy arrives at the candy kingdom to find an open mic going on at dirtbear guys tavern we've actually seen this tavern host an open mic before and the banner used is the exact same one just with some stitching in places showing that some time has passed since come along with me this subtle background detail is actually the first hint that it may have been longer than a year or two since the gum war and gold's arriva

l on ooh but i'm getting ahead of myself simon is singing remember you with the same omnicord he used in that episode suggesting that he may have more memories of being the ice king than we originally thought he might just remember everything ah who knows glassboy interrupts the show by throwing a doll at simon then is approached by him after he's kicked out of the tavern and i have to mention simon still looks pretty young in this episode a certain someone has aged physically quite a bit since

the last time we saw him so i figured simon's face would at least show some wrinkles or something but he pretty much looks the same as he did at the end to come along with me it makes me wonder if the crown's immortality factor may have rubbed off on simon or if it slowed his aging process maybe or maybe he just has amazing skin drop that skin care routine simon we have to know what you're using simon brings glass boy to marceline's house where he geeks out hard over her he quickly explains his

predicament and how marceline is the only one who can save the glass kingdom again this part hits a huge nerve for pb setting her plot in motion for this episode marceline and bubblegum agree to go on this mission off screen leading to a tragically hilarious scene what this is how i cope these goop monsters are really strange and don't make a lot of sense to me and i'm not even sure what to call them so let's call them oh my the wiki has them listed as glass assassins that works the glass assass

ins unleashed by larvo are on the hunt for marceline marcy pb and glassboy ride off towards the glass kingdom which initiates the first flashback originally i didn't realize that it was marcy and her mom walking through the wasteland in the opening shot so to see her in this next scene caught me completely by surprise by the way marcy's mom's name is elise she finally got named in the end credits and also no rebecca sugar doesn't play her this time that was a little weird for me at first but eri

ka luttrell does a fantastic job with her voice we finally get a look at the outside of the rv that marcy grew up in it's unclear whether the world was totally wrecked when we first saw the inside but elise didn't seem sick in everything stays so i'm gonna guess that was right before the bombs detonated the episode wastes no time showing that elise is sick she's wrapped in a blanket and has dark eye bags signaling that she either stayed up late binging cartoons or that she's ill i'm gonna go wit

h the latter but i can't deny that i've been the former often every night i presume elise knows that her time is short at this point as she's playfully trying to get marceline acquainted with the surrounding area she has her draw a map although to marcy this is a fun request made by her mother i didn't realize it was a map at first i just thought her mom really wanted her to draw a panda i'm dense sometimes okay after a light chat about the surroundings marceline notes that she used to live arou

nd here she shuts down pretty quick leading pb to state this is all gonna go great the morrow trails behind them unbeknownst to marceline this is the first sign that pb has another plan for stopping larvo pb's plot in this episode is simply to be remembered none of the glass people remember her and her efforts to save them which makes her jealous of marceline they arrive in the glass kingdom and marceline immediately tries to barrel in and do her thing get in and get out but once she defeats the

glass assassins with her base the people remember her as saint marceline she gets back into her old character pretty quickly all the preys transforming her into the showboating overconfident vampire queen we knew in the early seasons by the way i considered cave hag a compliment [Music] we then get to hear the original song that marceline sang to defeat larvo i gotta say i love the version the glass people have come up with over the years here's a comparison of the lyrics side by side if you si

ng the coconut version's lyrics to the tune of woke up you can actually kind of see where the song got lost in translation anyways thanks to jagum for this awesome twitter thread it was really helpful in making this video and sorry if that's not how to pronounce your tag my bad after asking pb's permission marcy sings the song that originally drove back larvo woke up a song that doubled as pb and marcy's breakup song the decision to flash back here was brilliant showing the original defeat of la

rvo in all its edgy glory the sentiment is not real this time though and it proves to be ineffective against the lava dragon pb then summons the morrow who promptly drops new force field machines in front of the furnace entrance marceline is rightfully upset by this to her pb didn't have faith in her to be able to save the day again in turn marceline goes off to the place where she was hurt the most leaving pb to deal with larvo all by herself as marcy speeds off on her motorcycle we flash way b

ack to marcy and at least traversing the wasteland marcy's drawing from the last flashback is being used as a map to guide the two through the destroyed landscape at this point it becomes clear that elise didn't want marcy to know how bad things were she tried turning everything into a game for marcy to protect her from the terrible tragedy all around her the two are eventually confronted by a mutant wolf who tackles elise to the ground roaring with a mouth that literally comes out of nowhere th

is freaked me out dude oh my god marcy uses her demon soul sucking powers to turn the wolf into a soulless husk similar to the one seen and it came from the knight of sphere this whole thing terrifies elise it seems like she didn't know about her daughter's soul-sucking abilities this moment leaves a permanent scar on marceline seeing her mother stare at her like she was a monster damaged her self-image for most of her life we head back to the glass kingdom where pb is running experiments to fin

d a way to defeat larvo she draws his blood and subjects it to loud violent music which turns the blood into a mini glass assassin she blasts it with some root beer which seems to be a new power for her by the way the episode then flashes back to the first time pb and marcy took on larvo seeing these characters act like this proves just how far they've both come marceline has really grown out of her selfish face seeing how she's acting here which is more in line with her character when we first

meet her in the series we also get to see an angle of princess bubblegum that we don't get to see too often she's desperate to save the glass kingdom she really wants to gain the respect and notoriety that she didn't really have up until this point by successfully defeating larvo in the middle of a fight pb calls marceline monster trash this comparison is a soft spot for marcy so she responds with an edgy punk rock breakup song we then jump back even farther back to marcy and elise the two are i

n the dinosaur gas station from marcy's map elise is trying her hardest to get a motorcycle to start to help their travels but it's not going well marcy confronts elise asking her mom am i a scary monster elise is about to tell her something most likely some reassurance that she loves marcy when she's overtaken by a coughing fit that results in coughing up blood wow that's no good elise now knowing her time to live is short gives marcy the key card to get into the shelter they've been headed tow

ards marcy protests saying she doesn't want to go without her mom but elise snaps it marcy saying i don't have time for you right now a line that princess bubblegum also used on marceline right before their breakup i don't have time for you right now man pb hit too many soft spots in that fight anyways marcy leaves to go to the shelter unaware that she'll never see her mom again although elise meant no ill will this moment will prove to be a formative one for marceline she feels abandoned by her

mother and she will for an incredibly long time thinking that she didn't want her around anymore i'm a little surprised that marcy never went back to the gas station to check on her mom but maybe that map isn't the scale and the area is much larger than it looks it's also a possibility that marcy knew her mom might have died and didn't want to go and confirm it kids aren't stupid they pick up on things like that pretty easily marcy arrives at the shelter to see that it's been compromised the do

ors cracked way open we get yet another tragically funny moment here where marcy turns on the lights like it's a surprise party sees all the skeletons then turns the lights back off let me just play that for you [Music] whatever made its way into the shelter made quick work of these people most of them looking like they had no idea what was coming until it was too late we get to see young marcy living in the bunker for a little while she hasn't sealed the door which is a little concerning but i'

m pretty sure she makes it out okay she sings a song about the red light that won't stop blinking over her head we get some shots of how she's made this space her own complete with some drawings hung over old monitors her little blanket fort and even a get well card she made for a skeleton it's just as adorable as it is morbid she asks what her cardboard friends think of her song one of them drops a huge question why is her mom scared of you where is she marcy using toys here to counsel herself

is a pretty common thing for kids to do through them she convinces herself that she scared her mother off on purpose when people get scared and run away it's because i want them to she also mentioned scaring away her dad which is peculiar because i figured that she hadn't met hunson at this point it's still possible that she hadn't yet and she's just basing this on her insecurities but there's no way for us to be certain yet present time marceline shows up to the bunker and what proceeds might b

e one of the saddest moments in adventure time history since she can fly now she can finally reach the red light and she hits the play button on the machine she finally gets the message from her mom that she was supposed to get all those years ago indicated by the red light going off after the message was played the fact that this message was here for marceline all this time and she just couldn't reach it that broke my heart into a million billion pieces she was supposed to get that message so l

ong ago better late than never though right and then glass boy bursts in and ruins the moment i understand why they had him follow marceline and why he's annoying cause it helped marceline to see how ridiculous her edgy attitude was however it really shifted the mood for me in a way i didn't appreciate it's one of the very few things that bothered me during the episode but it's a pretty minor issue after the two leave they have a run-in with the glass assassins who have already destroyed marceli

ne's motorcycle they quickly steal marcy's base and smash it into pieces the first time we've seen it fully destroyed most people including marceline from the past would have stopped to mess up anyone who broke their most prized possession but marcy realizes it's just a distraction she flies away with glass boy in tow completely ignoring the glass assassins for now meanwhile pb and see-through princess enact their plan to encase larvo and rootbeer which crystallizes on contact with larvo's skin

encasing him in a hard sugary shell before we go on though i have to talk about something take a good look at this [Music] that is stretching it has to be right marvel's arms have been continually stretching out to try and break that barrier throughout the episode and here his mouth stretches to an incredible size along with his eyes being a similar shape it wouldn't be hard to convince me that larvo is one of warren ampersand's offspring sure it's very possible that other species can stretch th

at aren't warren's children but when we see stretching at adventure time it's most often related to jake who got this power from warren ampersand it doesn't seem like larvo's the most intelligent being so he can't really use his stretching in a conscious way but he is almost definitely using it if you have another idea leave a comment because i like that's all it reminds me of like i literally i saw it the first time i saw that mouth get huge and i was like is he is he stretchy then i saw the ey

es i remember the eyes i was like oh oh my goodness warren you will freak dude anyways back on track this plan to encase him in crystal rootbeer backfires pretty hard instead modding larvo to have crystal claws and some crystal armor whoops i got a good chuckle when pb referenced my favorite episode and i laughed even harder at this a wave of acceptance has washed over me larvo chases glassboy back into the furnace with pb and marcy right behind through the ignorant actions of the advisors the h

eroes are trapped in the furnace with larvo the chamber collapses trapping larvo under the rubble while pb and marcy lament about their situation pb admits to wanting marcy's song to not work so she could be respected by the glass people this leads to a wonderful heart to heart where marceline finally opens up not just to pb but to the audience as well my mom and i didn't talk about bad stuff when she got really sick she didn't even tell me after this marcy agrees to sing pb the song she's been

working on and my god is it sweet seriously the team behind these songs did an incredible job through a small montage during this song we get larvo's backstory he was some sort of mutant sea creature and after a predator attack left him the sole survivor of his siblings with a nasty scar to boot he hid himself away instead of facing his trauma and reflecting on it he locked himself away from the world covering his scar with a seashell he grew up over time eventually becoming a lava dragon just l

ike the song marcy sings larva was just a kid who had to teach himself how to live just like pb and marcy his backstory comes and goes but establishes a message about larva both quickly and effectively although i felt like it was a little shoehorned in here we didn't really need a backstory for larvo especially with this song that was so centric to pb and marceline's relationship but i'm i don't hate it after that incredibly sweet song we finally get what we've all been waiting for a higher budg

et kiss let's go not to diss the one we got and come along with me cause it was great but this kiss was so much better it was perfect pb starts to speak but larvo freaks out eventually removing the seashell from his scar the scar glows gold and his body turns into a discarded shell with a cat butterfly thing emerging from it it was an odd choice with an even more odd design but it makes sense i guess once you face your trauma you can emerge into a happier being it's a little too straightforward

for me but overall i think it works okay pb still wanted to kill it was really funny and totally in line with her character against the will of her advisors see-through princess destroys the forcefield machine causing an explosion that blows her back hard as well as opens up the cave the awkward new larvo escapes immediately the sight of him turning the glass assassins into little kitty butterflies oh now those ones are cute but this explosion came with consequences stp's body is totally broken

her being almost in half now fighting through the negative comments from her advisors she ties herself back together and gets up she got pants now this act of pride from stp gives way to all the other glass people revealing that they have cracks too and were just making fun of glass boys so they wouldn't be made fun of themselves the whole thing is a strong metaphor for scars and trauma burdens that people carry that you might not always see nobody wants to carry these feelings nobody wants to b

e cracked but the glass kingdom becomes a much kinder more accepting place where everyone shows that they're a little damaged too it's a wonderful metaphor to tie back into pb and marcy's plot and a strong and simple way for an all ages cartoon to address trauma i was actually thinking about making a full video talking about how this episode handled trauma so leave a comment if you're interested in seeing that the advisors through their own fighting reveal that they too have cracks and way more

than anyone else go figure and instead of accepting themselves they run away like little babies ah maybe one day they'll figure it out then simon arrives with an entourage of heroes something i both didn't expect and was not ready for the banana guards slip out of the rv bronwyn jake's granddaughter sprints over them good to see her again and then uh oh oh my god when i tell you i screamed in the break room at work i screamed finn i was not expecting to see him again until together again but the

re he is and man he got older i wasn't sure how long after come along with me this was supposed to take place but after seeing finn i think a good guess would be about 10 years and of course we have to address that tattoo my first instinct tells me that jake has since passed on and this tattoo is a memorial to him that feels almost too obvious but it's possible that the crew wanted to be direct about it without actually having to say it and even though the last episode is set to star finn and ja

ke distantlands has been jumping around the timeline all willy-nilly so i wouldn't be surprised if the final episode takes place before this one if jake is actually dead here let's wrap this up before i start crackpot theorycrafting so after all this the glass kingdom throws a party to celebrate where glassboy sings the last song of the special you don't get to hear all of it here but i definitely recommend looking it up on spotify cause it's actually a really sweet song even if glassboy is a a

little shrill you know [Music] pb admits to always loving marceline's songs and we finally get to see how pb got marcy's band shirt she was at one of marceline's concerts and marceline threw that sweaty thing right off stage into pb's face and she loved it and she loved it i'm really glad bonnie and marceline finally got the story they deserved one where they could be their full selves with one another without too much censorship from a network watching these two come so far since what was missi

ng is a great reflection of the media's views and acceptance on lgbtq people throughout the years the crew was hardly even allowed to talk about it at first but now they're able to make an episode like this i absolutely adored obsidian if you couldn't tell this was a story we needed to see told and i'm eternally grateful to the distant lands team for making it happen every piece of lgbtq media is another step into a more accepting future one that i'm really looking forward to now it's time to ge

t this sappy sapphic stuff onto a daytime network we're so close lumity you're next to get your kiss i can feel it anyways what did you guys think of obsidian did you love it like it hate it let me know in the comments below special thanks to jagham for putting together this wonderful twitter thread about easter eggs and obsidian go give him a follow he's great if you love cartoons as much as i do subscribe to cartoon universe ring that bell to never miss an upload and if you liked hearing me ta

lk consider subscribing to my channel crit nick yo i talk over there too a lot some would say too much alright thanks so much for watching everybody i'll see you in the next one bye [Music] [Music]