This article is about Princess Bubblegum from the main timeline. You may be looking for the Vampire World version. |
Princess Bonnibel "Bonnie" Bubblegum (often called PB and occasionally Peebles, Bub-Bubs, or P-Bubs)[5] is one of the main characters of the series Adventure Time and first appeared in the animated short.
Princess Bubblegum is the current incarnation of the Candy Elemental. Which is comparable to the inhabitants of the Candy Kingdom, who are all composed of types of desserts and candies. She rules over the Candy Kingdom, but in the Season 6 episode "Hot Diggity Doom" (the first part of the season's finale), an election was held and she lost to the King of Ooo by a landslide. As a result, she no longer ruled the Candy Kingdom and the King of Ooo replaced her as the new ruler until a rebellion against King of Ooo allowed her to reclaim the throne in "The Dark Cloud". As of the Series Finale, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline have resumed their romantic relationship, and she is currently Marceline’s girlfriend again.
Quick Answers
What is Princess Bubblegum's real name?
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What changes happened to Princess Bubblegum in the Season 6 episode 'Hot Diggity Doom'?
What is the relationship between Princess Bubblegum and Marceline?
History[]
Backstory[]

Bonnibel leaves the Mother Gum
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,[6] which spread out across the destroyed city and 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.

Young Bonnibel scavenging
As a child, roughly 800 years before the events of the series, Bonnibel was living in the post-apocalyptic wasteland that Ooo was. 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.[7]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, she made the next Candy People simple-minded in purpose, likely to prevent any future incidents similar to the one with her created family member. However, many of her subjects are surprisingly smart and defied her more questionable actions anyway, so she eventually came to regret trying to make them docile.
The Candy Kingdom[]
Princess Bubblegum eventually built her kingdom and created more Candy People, calling her kingdom the Candy Kingdom. At one point she befriended Shoko, one of Finn's past lives. Originally, Shoko was sent by the Bath Boy Gang's Bath Boy Gang leader to steal Princess Bubblegum's amulet and sneaks into her castle by knocking herself unconscious and saying it was by the Bath Boy Gang. Bubblegum "rescues" her and brings her inside the kingdom, and treats her wounds. Shoko opens up about her childhood and the two bond. Shoko considers staying with Princess Bubblegum and adopting a normal life, but a spy from the Bath Boy Gang threatens to tell the Bath Boy Gang leader that she abandoned the job, which would result in her death. Fearing for her life, Shoko "pretends" to beat up the spy, resulting in high praise of her combat ability from Princess Bubblegum. Bubblegum then requests Shoko's help on creating the first Gumball Guardians. Afterwards she tells Shoko she has a surprise for her, ordering young Peppermint Butler to bring out a wooden box where she reveals she has made a mechanical arm for Shoko to replace the one her parents sold. Shoko starts to tear up and makes the excuse that she has to go back to her room. Later, Shoko sneaks into Princess Bubblegum's room and reaches for her amulet. However, a Gumball Guardian catches her in the act, setting off an alarm and waking up Princess Bubblegum. Shoko panics and swipes the amulet off of Princess Bubblegum's neck and jumps onto a platform below. However, Shoko is blasted by the Gumball Guardians' laser eyes, causing her to fall into a river of green, toxic chemical waste below her. Princess Bubblegum orders the Gumball Guardians to rescue her, but when one of the Gumball Guardians places his hand into the toxic waste, it is burned off. Princess Bubblegum tells them to take a break for the night as she looks on in sorrow. Bubblegum watches on for a few more moments before turning her back on the toxic waste river.[8]

Bubblegum and Marceline break up
Meeting Marceline[]
Centuries before the beginning of the series and some time after the foundation of the Candy Kingdom, Princess Bubblegum met and befriended Marceline the Vampire Queen, eventually entering into a romantic relationship with her. This is also when she got her beloved Rock T-shirt from Marceline during a performance.[9] They would spend time exploring the Candy Kingdom's elaborate rock candy mining complex, where Bubblegum caught Marceline vandalizing her property, although, Marceline even got her to tag something down there. However, as the Candy Kingdom kept growing the responsibilities of ruling the Candy Kingdom became more and more demanding and Bubblegum started pushing Marceline away.[10] This came to a head when Bonnibel was called to Glass Kingdom in order to help defend it from the dragon Molto Larvo, as she put her attention towards saving the people over her troublemaking girlfriend. After Marceline put forth her true feelings in a scathing song, sealing the dragon in the process, the pair separated, hurting Bubblegum in her first genuine relationships and would not find common ground together for several hundred years.[9]

Bubblegum holding an infant Flame Princess
In "Earth & Water", a flashback reveals that 15 years prior 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.
Adventure Time[]
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 the Lich's well of Power. 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. Angered, Princess Bubblegum then challenges 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 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 "The Vault" Finn calls Bubblegum over to the Tree House where he proceeds to knock over his oven and tear up a bunch of floorboards which eventually reveals a hollowed out hole where Shoko is buried. Shoko's ghost rises from the hole and hands Finn Bubblegum's long lost amulet before disappearing, showing her skeleton remains. This reveals that the Ghost Lady was only "haunting" Finn in hopes he would soon return Princess Bubblegum's amulet. Finn hands Princess Bubblegum the amulet where she exclaims in shock. She looks past Finn and sees Shoko's skeleton, realizing who the skeleton belongs to. Finn cuts her off from saying anything by stating that he is Shoko and states that Princess Bubblegum is not 19 but rather a "bazillion years old." Princess Bubblegum laughs nervously.
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 bio-engineered pumpkins, she and Marceline come across the old Candy Kingdom crystal mines, where Princess Bubblegum had caught Marceline graffiti 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 fireplace causing him to melt. Crunchy then took charge and ordered the candy ´people 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 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.
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 (although Colonel Candy Corn seems to be unaware of this fact in Nemesis).

Princess Bubblegum starts the Great Gum War
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. Finn at one point 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.
In "Obsidian", some years after the series finale, she and Marceline (now her girlfriend) returned to Glass Kingdom to once again stop Molto Larvo, though not without hesitation, as both recalled the unfortunate events which unfolded during their previous visit. Together, they managed to stop the dragon's rampage and affirmed their intentions to spend eternity together.
In "Together Again", Princess Bubblegum does not appear, but a statue of her sits in what was once her former castle. Peppermint Butler is shown wearing her crown; apparently having taken over her job as ruler. Her location and well-being during this time is left a mystery.
In "Simon Petrikov", it can be seen that she and Marceline are both alive and well and are at the tattoo parlor attempting to get matching tattoos, only the pen will not write into her arm, since it is made out of bubblegum.
Characteristics[]
Princess Bubblegum is a sentient, humanoid-construct of pink gum[11] and has been revealed to be the current incarnation of the Candy Elemental (the Elementals are the embodiments of the four main elements that make up the world: ice, fire, candy, and slime. They have existed since the beginning of life, living, dying and reincarnating for eons and millennia).[12] Although Princess Bubblegum appeared to be in her late teens, she is in fact much older than she looks.[13]
Personality[]
While Princess Bubblegum is typically kind, good-hearted and well-mannered, she can be very temperamental and has shown a malicious aspect of her personality whenever she is crossed. She was willing to break into and search the King of Ooo's blimp for evidence to support her suspicions against him, believing him to be a fraud, and went as far as to arrest him and several others in an effort to silence him; however she released them within an hour after seeing the love between Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig.[14] She also displays a non-hesitant willingness to torture Ice King after he unintentionally infects the Candy Kingdom with a Freezer Burn Flu 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.[15]

Even with her kind disposition, her moral code is not as strict as Finn's and there are also hints of a darker aspect of her personality. For example, she was 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.[16] Princess Bubblegum was also willing to resort to sabotage and forced sacrifice in order to survive.[17] Her humor is also morbid and inappropriate at times, such as when Finn picks up a paralysis poison and she says, "That's paralyzing potion, Finn! Don't touch it, or it'll paralyze you forever!" and then giggles.[18] There were also skeletons cuffed to the walls in a hidden chamber of her castle.[19]
Bubblegum also adores the people of her kingdom and puts their safety above all else. In her dedication, she sometimes drives herself to exhaustion with her tasks. She is also a rational thinker with skepticism towards magic, labeling it as "scientific principles presented like mystical hoodoo." She also claims that "all magic is science," and Wizards just don't know what they're doing so they call it magic.[20] She seems to regularly organize and attend events and showpieces such as scientific conferences, parties, and talent shows.
Noteworthy is one of Bubblegum’s coping mechanisms under extreme stress (like the Lich’s return) which seems to be stress-eating.
When she regressed to being 13-years-old, 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."
After the events surrounding her age regression, Bubblegum began to feel very vulnerable, and, as she considers the possibility of living forever not yet scientifically possible, she makes a clone-Sphinx of herself named Goliad.[21] She also begins exhibiting strong authoritarian behavior, as she starts spying on all her subjects, and begins taking more assertive actions from then onwards, with Tree Trunks even going so far as to label her "fascist."[22] 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; evident in her consistent surveillance on anything that could be a threat (e.g. Flame Princess). Despite the moral ambiguity of her actions, they are motivated by her desire to protect, if taken to potentially paranoid 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 hadn't intended to be malicious. Nevertheless, even if her morality often becomes misguided and her methods bordering on dictatorship, Bubblegum truly desires only to protect her people and friends, born from a passionate heart of a girl that needed to learn herself how to be an adult.
The ruler of the Candy Kingdom has to organize a thousand things at once, keeping a reliant and stable head at all times, lock down her own problems and struggles, whilst planning for the future protection of her people. Needless to say, none of this should be handled alone regardless of how mature or mentally strong the individual is. In addition to this, Bubblegum as a high-intellectual views things from a scientific or theoretical standpoint and structure things step by step. However, this often acts as a double-edged sword and complicates with the “perfection” role she has to fill already. If some unforeseen factor or miscalculation interrupts with her tightly detailed plans, she can be taken back for a moment and her insecurity reaches highest capacity. Certain examples are when she made an error at her attempt in opening the musical door in What Was Missing, failing in containing the Larvo threat twice or holding Varmints at bay. In Obsidian, the people she tried to help doubted her abilities and it was shown that even she falls subject to pressure from others. Juggling all of this simultaneously eventually manages to tear PB’s resilience. A famous example is the emotional breaking point Bubblegum reached in Varmints, where having lost the faith of her people, exiling from her home and losing her crown in an election boil up and overheat internally. PB finally starts to shed tears of sheer struggle, exhaustion and realisation that she cannot manage her dilemma and be OK. Fortunately, with the newly rekindled love and support from Marceline, Bubblegum can stop managing every disaster by herself and takes a break from the responsibility she's had since building the first Candy People.
Physical Appearance[]
- Main article: Princess Bubblegum/Outfits
Princess Bubblegum is tall and slender with light pink skin and magenta-pink hair, which is made up of actual bubblegum. Her primary outfit is a floor-length, puffy-sleeved, dark-pink gown with a purple scoop-neck collar and sash around her waist and purple ballet flat shoes. Whenever she does any science experiments, she wears a lab coat, sometimes with her hair tied back in either a bun or a ponytail. However, she still changes her outfits and hairstyle regularly from episode to episode:
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Relationships[]
- Main article: Princess Bubblegum's relationships

Bonnibel, Finn and Jake .
Bubblegum is close friends with Finn and Jake, with Jake occasionally being referred to as Bubblegum's "knight". Finn has a crush on Bubblegum in early episodes, often saving her from Ice King, though he eventually realizes she is too old for him and that she sees him like a little brother. Finn is implied to have some residual feelings for a time afterwards, over which his lack of closure causes some conflict as he starts a romantic relationship with Flame Princess. Bubblegum frequently tasks Finn and Jake with quests in service of the Candy Kingdom, and is often seen socializing with them in a more casual way. Finn refers to Bubblegum as one of his "best friends in the world".

Bonnie and Marcy.
Bubblegum has a strong bond and complicated history with Marceline. Though they are initially shown as hostile toward each other, they are implied to have a past romantic relationship in the third season. This history was later confirmed off-screen by Olivia Olson, Marceline's voice actress. In the episode "What Was Missing", Bubblegum's most prized possession is revealed to be a t-shirt given to her by Marceline, a fact of which Marceline had been unaware. Bubblegum eventually trades the shirt for Marceline's beloved childhood toy, Hambo, in the episode "Sky Witch". In the season seven episode "Varmints", Bubblegum and Marceline reminisce about a past in which they would hang out and go on adventures together with more freedom, which they had eventually stopped doing. Bubblegum opens up to Marceline about the stress of her building responsibilities and laments that her obsession with work had previously caused her to push Marceline away. They are shown as close and amicable throughout most of the series, despite their personalities often being at odds. By the time of the season seven miniseries Stakes, Bubblegum refers to Marceline as her "best friend", and expresses happiness when Marceline says that they will get to "hang out forever". In the final episode, they share a kiss after Marceline saves Bubblegum from GOLB, and are shown in a relationship in the epilogue. In Adventure Time: Distant Lands, the episode "Obsidian" focuses on the two's romantic relationship. It is confirmed that they were previously exes during the time of the main series, and several years after they are still together and live in Marceline's cave. The episode contains a love song titled "Monster" from Marceline to Bubblegum.
While Bubblegum seems to have dated a male character named Mr. Cream Puff, her exact sexuality, unlike Marceline's, has not been confirmed. As such, reviewers have argued she is either bisexual, non-binary, queer, lesbian, or a combination of the previously mentioned, as both live in a world where "sexuality is somewhat fluid."
Princess Bubblegum making out with her hand
Ice King has a strange fascination with Bubblegum and she is often the target of his kidnapping schemes and romantic advances; it is revealed that she reminds him of his fiancée Betty, whom he often referred to as his "princess." Bubblegum is frequently seen in the company of her close companion, Lady Rainicorn. Bubblegum is frequently depicted riding on Lady Rainicorn's back, and the two have a strong trust in each other. Bubblegum has a younger brother named Neddy, a "candy dragon" spawned alongside her from the Mother Gum. Neddy lives underneath the Candy Kingdom, where Bubblegum keeps him isolated, as he is very easily frightened. Bubblegum is highly protective of Neddy as she is with the other Candy People, claiming that Neddy is merely "built different... we just need to respect it". Most if not all citizens of the Candy Kingdom were created by Bubblegum. In "Bonny and Neddy", Bubblegum states that creating the Candy People was one of the first things she did after ensuring Neddy's safety, and that she had missed the experience of being surrounded by others as she had been before leaving the Mother Gum. Due to their easily scared and childlike nature, Bubblegum's relationship with her citizens is equal parts ruler and caretaker, something which occasionally leads to exasperation on the monarch's part. Bubblegum's first creation was her "Uncle" Gumbald, whom she created after feeling lonely and desiring a companion. Gumbald originated the idea of a Candy Kingdom but became tyrannical and attempted to turn her into a simple-minded candy person using "dum-dum juice." Bubblegum shatters the bottle in his hand out of self-defense, and he turns into a punch bowl. Bubblegum also created an "Aunt" Lolly and a "Cousin" Chicle, who were also turned into Candy People by Gumbald. Bubblegum decides to become Princess of the Candy Kingdom and uses the "dum-dum juice" to bring the candy people to life. Near the end of the series, Gumbald, Lolly, and Chicle are returned to their prior forms and seek revenge on Bubblegum, though Gumbald and Chicle are turned back into Candy People. Lolly repents and reconciles with Bubblegum, helping her look after Neddy as seen in the epilogue. Bubblegum's other creations include the Earl of Lemongrab and two "candy sphinxes" named Goliad and Stormo.

Prince Gumball
A male counterpart of Bubblegum, Prince Gumball, exists in Ice King's "Fionna and Cake" stories. Princess Bubblegum enjoys science and talks to Lady Rainicorn in Korean. Prince Gumball is fond of baking. He has a friend named Lord Monochromicorn with whom he communicates using Morse code. Prince Gumball is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. In the spin-off series Fionna & Cake, it's revealed that Prince Gumball (along with Fionna, Cake and everyone who is gender-swapped) is real but they exist in an alternate reality created by Prismo, who hid this reality in Ice King's mind. When Ice King turned back into Simon, Fionna-world lost its magic and everyone became "normal". Prince Gumball is living as Gary Prince, a baker who hopes to open his own bakery.
Powers and Abilities[]

- Princess Bubblegum has a high-level of intellect, apparent in her scientific aptitude and inventing skills. Notable examples of her intelligence are when she built her own lab,[23] fashioned a formula to revive/reanimate dead Candy People, and when she created the candy people, Lemongrab, Goliad, Stormo, and Lemongrab 2.[24]
- Princess Bubblegum is bilingual, speaking German[25] and English. As she can apparently understand Lady Rainicorn, who speaks in Korean, it is implied she knows the Korean language.

Bonnie remaking her muffined arm.
- She has some proficiency in hand-to-hand combat.[26]
- She is an ambidextrous writer.[27]
- Princess Bubblegum has some caliber of longevity.[28]
- Her biological age can be fluctuated by adding or removing candy biomass.[29]

Bubblegum's most conventional use of her powers.
- After her right hand and forearm were turned into muffins by her nanobots, Bubblegum was able to stretch her stumped arm out to how it was originally; this is most likely how she increases and decreases the length of her hair.[30]
- Princess Bubblegum was observed to glow when she was calming her brother down with a series of clicking noises.[31][7]

Bubblegum shooting scotch mints at Patience St. Pim.
- Princess Bubblegum can project in various forms quantities of candy (e.g. jellybeans, scotch mints, and soda pop) through her hands. She normally shoots torrents of jelly beans at high-speed from the palms of her hand, and this seemed enough to demolish some of the structures in her kingdom. Based on her knowledge of chemistry, she was able to create an explosion using soda pop and scotch mints, and the result was capable of destroying the huge ice construct made by Patience.

Bubblegum shooting Root Beer in “Obsidian”
- She was able to communicate with Chatsberry through her dreams.[33]

Bonnie in her pure elemental form.
- After being overrun by her elemental powers, Princess Bubblegum became connected to all candy throughout all the galaxies. She could also transform other people and objects into candy, affecting a fellow Elemental and even further altering the already candy-like denizens of her kingdom; Finn described this as the "candy curse." Those affected were uncharacteristically joyful and sweet in terms of personality.[34]
- Her crown and matching earrings are capable of protecting the wearer's mind from the Lich's influence.[35] The gem of power is also used for the Enchiridion.
Weaknesses[]
- Princess Bubblegum's own hubris sometimes acted as her Achilles heel. Her excessive pride or self-confidence occasionally blinded her to the possible consequences of her actions.
- As with the other Elementals, Lumps acted as a stabilizer to Bubblegum's Elemental magic and could evidently negate its effects.[36]
Quotes[]
Reception[]
Bubblegum's relationship with Marceline has generated some controversy. Olivia Olson, who provides the voice of Marceline, once Tweeted that Ward told her the two "dated", though she later Tweeted that "I like to make things up at panels. Y'all take my stories way too seriously". A video produced by Frederator Studios to offer a "recap" of Adventure Time further implied that Bubblegum and Marceline were in a relationship; the video was removed from YouTube, inciting further controversy. Bitch magazine saw Frederator's action as detrimental toward the acceptance of homosexuality in children's television. Executive producer Fred Seibert later admitted that "we got wrapped up by both fan conjecture and spicy fanart and went a little too far" in making the video, which was meant to provide an outlet for input from fans. Ward admitted he did not "really want to comment on it [because] it was a big hullabaloo.
Episode Appearances[]
Major Appearances[]
Minor Appearances[]
Mentioned[]
Songs[]
- "My Best Friends in the World"
- "Young Lemonhope"
- "Lost in the Darkness/Love"
- "Food Chain"
- "It's Spring Again"
- "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"
- "Bonbon Ballad"
- "Time Adventure"
Trivia[]
- On the Cartoon Network official website in 2010, Jake referred to her as "a horrible mutant mix of bubblegum and human DNA." When he brought up Finn's crush on her, Finn replied, "It's just 'cause of the radiation."
- Princess Bubblegum is an avid trumpet player, as seen in "Bad Timing."
- Her original name was Bettie, but Pendleton Ward changed it to Bonnibel because Bettie is his mother's name.
- Princess Bubblegum loves pink, as stated in "The Real You".
- In "To Cut a Woman's Hair", she reveals that she loves spaghetti. In the same episode she was upset when her spaghetti got knocked on the ground. She has since been seen eating it in multiple episodes.
- As seen in "Mortal Folly", "The Creeps", "Sky Witch", and "Reign of Gunters", Princess Bubblegum wears earrings but does not appear to have ears. However, in "All the Little People", little Princess Bubblegum is shown with ears.
- Princess Bubblegum's gender-swapped character is Prince Gumball.
- Marceline was at one point the only person known to call her by her first name, Bonnibel, or Bonnie for short, until she revealed her real name to Flame Princess in "The Cooler" in an attempt to ease tensions with the ruler of the Fire Kingdom. However, in "Bonnie and Neddy", Finn calls her by her first name.
- Princess Bubblegum has had more outfits than any other character in the show.
- Princess Bubblegum seems to be the most active in dealing with royal affairs, as she is seen managing the potluck for princesses in "Princess Potluck".
- In the animated short, the gem in her crown is magenta, but in the series it is turquoise.
- In "Video Makers" and "Mortal Folly", she consumes other Candy People. According to Adam Muto, this is to replace lost candy biomass.
- In the episode "Susan Strong", there is a portrait of Princess Bubblegum and an old woman in the top left corner of her room.
- She makes a cameo in "Hug Wolf" in the background of the Candy Kingdom chasing after a black or dark gray cat. She was wearing the same clothes as in "The Real You".
- In the episode "Puhoy", Finn named his and Roselinen's daughter after her (Bonnie).
- In the German dub of Adventure Time, Princess Bubblegum speaks Turkish.
- Princess Bubblegum has a very fast bird called Morrow, which she often uses as a form of transportation, as seen in "Death in Bloom", "Burning Low", and "The Suitor".
- Her NPC in the game, FusionFall, appears to be more "human-like."
- In "Sky Witch", Princess Bubblegum quotes the title of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's poem "Do not go gentle into that good night".
- In "Bonnie and Neddy", when Princess Bubblegum dropped from the Mother Gum, she waves and speaks to them in click noises indicating that they may have some sort of unique communication method.
- Princess Bubblegum has a go-kart in the Cartoon Network app "Formula C Cartoon."
- Princess Bubblegum states in "Earth & Water" that she likes the taste of envelopes. However, this may have just been to distract the guards.
- In the video game Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!, Princess Bubblegum said she was 827 years old.
- In the game, which was co-written by Pendleton Ward, Princess Bubblegum explains that she was part of the sentient pink goo that was formed about one thousand years ago, and achieved sentience upon being spat out, with her current form being 827 years old. It is unclear how much of this story is canon to the cartoon show. The remainder of the pink goo (Princess Bubblegum's "parents") is locked in the lowest level of the Candy Kingdom's dungeon until it is destroyed as a final boss and floats out in various sentient bubble forms during the closing credits.
- This is supported by the fact that in the Art of Ooo book, it is stated that Marceline is older than Princess Bubblegum. However, it is unknown if this is canon.[37]
- The flashback in Bonnibel Bubblegum that detailed Bubblegum's early childhood also took place "like 800 years ago."
- According to Cartoon Network Latin America, PB has the wish to win the Nobel Chemistry Prize and she gets mad when someone does not follow her orders.
- When asked why she acts different from Neddy, she says they were built differently and they didn't need to understand it but to accept it.
- Her crown from when she was younger is a tiny amount smaller than her present one whereas the crown on Morrow is a much larger version altogether.
- There is a running subplot that her rule can seem uncomfortably tyrannical, but she feels she is doing what she must to shepherd and protect the kingdom. When she was briefly ousted as princess, the kingdom was nearly destroyed, and only restored to stability when she basically seized power as an anti-democratic monarch again.
- In "High Strangeness", it is revealed that there is a resistance movement called the Veritas Brigade who oppose and criticize Princess Bubblegum's rule as being fascist.
- She has created a majority of her family, with only Mother Gum and Neddy being her only direct relatives.
- Also, a majority of her created family have tried to overthrow her throughout the series.
- Her fate as of "Come Along With Me" is left ambiguous. She may or may not have survived 1000 years into the future.
- In "Obsidian," it is revealed that Princess Bubblegum is boneless.
- According to Jeremy Shada, she was originally going to be voiced by Jackie Buscarino, the voice of Susan Strong[38].
- Her Brazilian Portuguese name is Princess Jelly Bean (Princesa Jujuba) and ironically enough, later in season 8, her first Elemental powers was to shoot jelly beans out of her hands.
- In "Simon Petrikov", it is revealed that she is ticklish.
Voice Actors[]
Language | Voice Actors |
---|---|
English | Hynden Walch |
Paige Moss (pilot) | |
Isabella Acres (young) | |
Livvy Stubenrauch (young; Bonnibel Bubblegum only) | |
Laura Bailey (video game only) | |
Spanish (Latin America) | Karla Falcón |
Claudia Urbán (Season 3-4) | |
Marina Urbán (Season 4 only) | |
Polish | Agnieszka Fajlhauer |
Joanna Pach-Żbikowska (young; Bonnie and Neddy only) | |
Natalia Jankiewicz (young; Bonnibel Bubblegum only) |
Gallery[]
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The full image gallery for Princess Bubblegum may be viewed at Princess Bubblegum/Gallery. |
2021 Who Would Win Tournament Nomination | |
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This article was nominated in the 2021 Who Would Win Tournament. They didn't make it past the first round, and the tournament is now concluded. |
References[]
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