Princess Bubblegum

''"The answer was so simple, I was too smart to see it!" —PB''

Princess Bubblegum (full name Princess Bonnibelle Bubblegum, often called PB and, on occasion, Peebles) is a main character on the series Adventure Time that first appeared in the Animated Short. She is a human-bubblegum hybrid, the benevolent ruler of the Candy Kingdom, and is the past love interest of Finn. Her first name is Bonnibel, according to Marceline. At the end of "Mortal Recoil" she was transformed into a 13-year-old, but returned to her normal age of 18 years in "Too Young."

Appearance
Princess Bubblegum dresses as a traditional princess in a flowing, pink gown and a gold tiara with a blue stone at the top. Her skin is usually colored light pink. Her "Bubblegum Pink" hair is made of bubblegum. She has a large posterior according to Natasha Allegri. A scientist at heart, Princess Bubblegum is often seen wearing a white lab coat and goggles when she is performing experiments or solving equations. Princess Bubblegum has at least fifteen outfits. These outfits range in color and style from an orange T-shirt and white shorts to a fluffy, powder-blue dress and pink cardigan. However, her pajamas include a black t-shirt as seen in What Was Missing, given to her by Marceline.

As a thirteen-year-old, she wears a pink V-neck dotted with white, top with puffed sleeves and a ballgown bottom with a big, purple ribbon around her waist. While her hair is shorter and now curls at the bottom, her tiara stays the same. As shown in "Too Young," she doesn't wear any shoes. When she turns back to eighteen, her outfit also changes back to her original one.

Personality and traits
Princess Bubblegum is an amiable, compassionate and benevolent ruler. She loves (most of) her subjects unconditionally and has been known to defend them tirelessly when trouble brews. Even beyond her own domain, Princess Bubblegum possesses a strong sense of morality and participates in politics outside the Candy Kingdom. She is very noble. She also has a strong love for spaghetti as personally said by herself in To Cut a Woman's Hair. She is also shown eating spaghetti in several other episodes, such as Ricardio, the Heart Guy.

Princess Bubblegum is a highly cultured and educated ruler with an undying passion for science. In "Slumber Party Panic," she attempts to revive the dead Candy People, accidentally creating a horde of zombie Candy People instead.

Though ordinarily sweet and good-natured, Princess Bubblegum shows a malicious aspect of her personality whenever she is crossed, as toward the Duke of Nuts for eating all of the royal pudding and believing him to have ruined her appearance. Many darker things are briefly shown in several episodes such as skeletons cuffed to the walls in hidden chambers as shown in Ricardio, the Heart Guy. Also, in "What Have You Done?," she displays a cruel willingness to torture Ice King. In addition to these apparent lapses in morality, she also doesn't seem to have a problem with insulting or even physically hurting her son The Earl of Lemongrab if protecting her people is her first priority, as seen in Too Young, when she pushes him onto the floor and makes him cry, laces his food with exceedingly spicy serum, and calls him names.

When she was 13 years old, she exhibited a more playful attitude and a willingness to perform pranks with Finn. Princess Bubblegum mentions, before being transformed to her normal age, that she enjoyed temporarily being 13 because she was void of the responsibilities that come with being ruler of the Candy Kingdom and the fact that she could finally act like a kid again.

However, Princess Bubblegum acts noticeably more child-like when she is not in the role of the princess. She dresses and talks more casually when she isn't busy with her work, as seen in Video Makers and What Was Missing. As a princess, she is prim, poised, and straight-laced, but is quite capable of loosening up and dressing/acting like a regular teenager with her friends.

Abilities
Princess Bubblegum has a degree in Glycomics. And she is a polyglot, being proficient in multiple languages. She is heard speaking German, as seen in "What Have You Done?," "Go With Me," and "Slumber Party Panic." Her scientific skills are of use as shown in "Slumber Party Panic" where she concocts a potion to reanimate the dead, specifically Candy People.

Finn
Princess Bubblegum is Finn's love interest. Although Finn does have a crush on her, she seemed to find his crush cute, but does apparently not return it, often sighing or rolling her eyes at his advances. PB seems to notice Finn's crush in a way. Princess Bubblegum cites the hero as a great friend and will never hesitate to call on him for aid in royal matters. Finn and Princess Bubblegum share the same moralistic nature, and often work together to right any wrongs in the Land of Ooo.

The princess sees Finn as her "flawless champion," as said in The Duke, and also shown in The Duke, that there is a picture of Finn on her walls. She invests a lot of respect and faith in the young boy. In "To Cut a Woman's Hair," she said, without doubt, that she likes Finn, although it can just mean she likes him as a friend. Although he sometimes angers her, Princess Bubblegum never holds a grudge against Finn. In "The Real You," she gives Finn a kiss on the cheek for saving the Candy Kingdom from the black hole he created. In "Go With Me," though she exiles Finn from the Candy Kingdom after he releases a pack of wolves into her room, the resentment is only temporary because Princess Bubblegum appears to have forgiven Finn by her next appearance.

In "Mortal Folly," she said to Finn, "I care about you," and gives him a pink sweater with a white heart stitch to the left that she made with the power of "liking someone a lot" which ended up helping Finn defeat The Lich. In "Mortal Recoil," Princess Bubblegum ages down to 13. Finn comments that that's how old he is and blushes as the new younger Princess Bubblegum says, "Give me a hug, hero."

In "Too Young," Princess Bubblegum acts very loving and affectionate toward Finn during the time she is 13, even going on a "date" with him, leaning on his shoulder, holding his hand, etc. She expresses a bit of regret when she has to turn back to 18 because she never gets to "act like a kid." She also says to Finn that she would rather "stay here, with you." During the transformation of her being back to 18, they share a brief kiss. When she changes back to 18, she returns to her normal personality, without the same kind of affection for Finn. When Finn asks whether they could "hug some more," she replies with "That was like 5 years ago, you need to move on." Of course, she makes this remark with a smile and mutters something about him being a 'silly boy' as she walks back into the castle. However, in "Wizard Battle" she forgives Finn for cheating in the contest and kisses him, hinting they have regained some of their old relationship.

In "What Was Missing," it was revealed that Finn keeps a chunk of Princess Bubblegum's hair as a prized possession.

Finn has a few nicknames for her, such as PB, Princess, Bubblegum, and Peebles (Finn sometimes pronounces it as "Poibles" or Preebos").

In the season 3 finale, "Incendium," Finn tries to lay his head on PB's lap while they are watching her Liquid Pyrotechnics. This causes her to tell him, "Don't be weird, Finn." She then leaves the Tree Fort, leaving Finn rejected.

Lady Rainicorn
Lady Rainicorn is Princess Bubblegum's mighty helper and one of the creatures seen to have provided transportation when needed, alongside her swan that shoots lasers and a fast flying falcon. In "Video Makers," she is seen talking to her before Finn serves the drinks, meaning that Princess Bubblegum may be able to speak Korean or just understand her in a way similar to Jake.

The Earl of Lemongrab
Princess Bubblegum created The Earl of Lemongrab for the purpose of ruling the kingdom if she ever became unable to do so. However, being the first of her "experiments gone wrong," it is shown that her son is exceedingly temperamental, and a terribly inexperienced ruler; intent on sending everyone, including her, to the dungeon. Princess Bubblegum and The Earl of Lemongrab dislike each other, and Princess Bubblegum calls the Earl a "butt." However, when the Princess returns to the age of 18, the Earl recognizes her right to rule and willingly (but disgruntled) leaves. Jesse Moynihan claimed that, shortly after Lemongrab was born, Princess Bubblegum shipped him off to Castle Lemongrab to live an isolated, sheltered life.

Marceline
In the original pitch documents, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline are shown to be friendly rivals. Though having been in the same place at the same time in several occasions, nothing of their relationship with one was known until "Go With Me" where we see Marceline trying to be civil towards Bubblegum while the princess shows rather displeasure in being around her. Bubblegum's perspective makes her see Marceline as wild to the point of corrupting Finn into being exiled out of her kingdom; showing that she tries to minimize contact with her as best as possible. Marceline is the first and only character to call princess Bubblegum by her first name, Bonnibel.

Marceline sees Bubblegum as boring and stiff. Bubblegum is generally a woman of grace and poise but, in Marceline's presence, she begins talking in a sarcastic tone. In "What Was Missing" when Bubblegum miscalculates the music needed to open the Door, Marceline says, "You're not as perfect as you thought, guess you can't judge me anymore", to which Bubblegum replies angrily and emotionally, "I never said you had to be perfect," hinting that whatever previous relationship the two had ended on bad terms. However, in the same episode, it is revealed that the item stolen from her was a t-shirt Marceline had given her, and it really means a lot to her (she uses it as pajamas). This admission causes Marceline to blush for the second time in the series. This episode resulted in much fan speculation about the nature of their relationship and Marceline's feelings for Princess Bubblegum.

Jake
PB and Jake have a rather strange relationship, with Jake being well aware of Finn's crush on her, possibly making Jake uncomfortable. Despite this, they seem to maintain a healthy friendship, with PB even calling Jake "puppy" and allowing him to rest his head on her lap in "Incendium".

Lumpy Space Princess
Lumpy Space Princess is mostly Princess Bubblegum's best friend. Despite their drastically different personalities, the two are often together and L.S.P. is a frequent visitor to the Candy Kingdom during many of its parties and ceremonies. In "Video Makers," PB takes L.S.P's seat and she gets mad at her, but that's probably L.S.P being herself.

Duke of Nuts
Princess Bubblegum is shown to have an outright hatred for the Duke of Nuts. Though this is all explained to be a relationship between the two in "The Duke", Princess Bubblegum still loathes the Duke and distrusts him because he eats all the royal pudding. However, Andy Ristaino has stated on his Formspring, in regards to PB possibly lessening her hatred towards the Duke, "Hatred dwindles over time."

Ice King
One of the main characters in the series, the Ice King spends the great majority of his time obsessing over capturing and marrying princesses. His most targeted princess is Bubblegum, who is greatly annoyed with the Ice King's actions but generally seems to put up with them, mostly due to having Finn around to rescue her whenever the Ice King comes around. One of the few times that Bubblegum showed particular anger towards Ice King was in the episode "What Have You Done?", mostly due to the fact that Ice King's attempt at a kind gesture (making it snow) ends up making nearly the entire kingdom sick, forcing Bubblegum to order Finn and Jake to capture him at all costs without telling them why she wants him imprisoned.

In "Mortal Folly," Ice King's obsession with Bubblegum nearly leads to the destruction of Ooo. As Finn is fighting The Lich, a powerful and evil sorcerer, the Ice King captures her, then clumsily drops her into the Lich's evil power source, corrupting her. However, he is still loyal enough towards her to help save her life after her broken body was possessed by The Lich to destroy Ooo. It is likely Bubblegum's temporary age change in "Mortal Recoil" had changed his interest towards her; once she becomes thirteen, he leaves through the window saying "Ah, dang it! Well, I'm out of here. Goodbye everybody". However, since her return to the age of 18, he is once again interested, as seen quite clearly in Wizard Battle.

Quotes
​See Princess Bubblegum/Quotes

Biography
Princess Bubblegum is the beloved ruler of the Candy Kingdom. Though not much is said about her past, it is known that many of her relatives are famous (suggested in the episode "Susan Strong"). It is implied that Finn has saved Princess Bubblegum many times (and vice versa as seen in the episode "Dungeon"). It also seems that she has had previous run-ins with Marceline, the Vampire Queen. At the approximate age of eighteen, she creates Lemongrab, then sends him away to live a sheltered life inside of a castle. Princess Bubblegum also performs other science experiments which varied greatly in their success- ranging from very successful to catastrophic.

She spends most of her time in Ooo sending Finn and Jake on different quests that generally vary in difficulty. In the first part of season two's two-part finale, "Mortal Folly," she sends Finn and Jake on a quest to stop the evil Lich from killing everyone in Ooo. She gives Finn "The Gauntlet of the Hero Billy" as the weapon necessary to destroy him once and for all. The first part ends with Ice King, who decides to capture her until Finn and Jake give him their blessing to marry her, accidentally dropping the Princess into a fiery, green pit. She is soon melted into a pile of pink-brown goo.

The second part of the two-part finale, "Mortal Recoil," opens with Finn, Jake, Ice King, the Candy People, and other princesses going with her as she is rushed to the hospital. It is soon revealed that the spirit of The Lich possessed the princess earlier and eventually warps her into an eldritch abomination that nearly tears apart the Candy Kingdom. Finn realizes that his 'like like' of the Princess might not be enough to save her and the Kingdom, so he enlists the power of Ice King to immobilize her. Unfortunately, the frozen princess topples over and smashes to pieces. The doctors reassemble her, but lack all the necessary pieces, reducing her age to 13, the same age as Finn. According to Adam Muto, her body believed the amount of biomass to be that of an adolescent, and therefore turned into one. When Ice King realizes she is now underage, he loses his interest in Princess Bubblegum.

However, when the Earl of Lemongrab comes to usurp her throne, she 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 18 in "Too Young," she jokingly acts as if the events of being 13 were "five years ago."

Apparently, she fully rejected Finn's affections in the Season 3 finale, dismissing the boy as "weird" before leaving him with Jake.

Major appearances

 * Animated Short
 * Slumber Party Panic
 * The Enchiridion!
 * Ricardio the Heart Guy
 * The Duke
 * What Have You Done?
 * The Other Tarts
 * The Real You
 * Go With Me
 * Mortal Folly
 * Mortal Recoil
 * Too Young
 * Wizard Battle
 * What Was Missing
 * The Creeps
 * From Bad to Worse

Minor appearances

 * Trouble in Lumpy Space
 * Dungeon
 * Power Animal
 * To Cut a Woman's Hair
 * Death in Bloom
 * Susan Strong
 * Video Makers
 * No One Can Hear You
 * Holly Jolly Secrets Part One
 * Holly Jolly Secrets Part Two
 * Incendium

Mentioned

 * Still
 * Apple Thief
 * Marceline's Closet

Trivia

 * Princess Bubblegum's birthday is June 18, the same as Natasha Allegri.
 * 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," it is revealed that she loves spaghetti.
 * Princess Bubblegum's telephone looks as if it's made out of peppermint.
 * As seen in "Mortal Folly" and "The Creeps" Princess Bubblegum wears earrings, but does not appear to have ears.
 * Princess Bubblegum has a gender-swapped variant: Prince Gumball.
 * Princess Bubblegum has a bio suit in Project Exonaut.


 * In the Animated Short, the gem in her crown is red, but in the series, it is turquoise. In "Mortal Folly," it is revealed that the turquoise stone in Princess Bubblegum's crown protects her and whoever wears it from The Lich's powers.
 * The length of Princess Bubblegum's rule is questionable, since one year ago she wouldn't have been able to rule the Candy Kingdom. Andy Ristaino suggests she may not be as young as she appears.
 * In "Video Makers" and "Mortal Folly," she is seen consuming other Candy People. According to Adam Muto, this is to replace lost candy biomass.
 * In the episode "Susan Strong," when Finn and Jake are talking to Princess Bubblegum about chasing the Hyoomans away, a portrait of Princess Bubblegum and an old lady, possibly her grandmother, is in the top left corner of her room. In the same episode she mentions a great uncle named Uncle Gumbald, though it is not known if they are blood relatives.
 * She has parental issues that are completely different from those of Finn or Marceline.
 * All though candy people generally explode when scared, she has been scared and even terrified many times during the series and never blown up.