Rattleballs (episode)

Airdate:

January 27th, 2014

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"Rattleballs (episode)" is the forty-sixth episode in the fifth season of Adventure Time. It's the one hundred and fiftieth episode overall.

Synopsis

Finn wants to be trained in sword fighting by an old gumball robot named Rattleballs, who lives in the junkyard.

Plot

Princess Bubblegum gets scared by Finn who has decided to be her protector. She mentions she need to get more milk and Finn runs off to get it. Three weeks later he returns with some milk, exhausted, and is ordered by Princess Bubblegum to take some time off and rest.

Finn goes to a junkyard singing a song and playing with his grass sword. When he kicks a mannequin, he encounters a hooded guy. They have a sword fight but Finn is easily outmatched. His opponent, an old gumball robot named Rattleballs, introduces himself and Finn tries to convince Rattleballs to train him, but is told he still has much to learn. Though after helping Rattleballs remove a lodged gumball in his insides, the robot decides to teach Finn his sword stuff.

After training and hard work, he shows Finn his secret technique, and tells him he could perfect his sword training after ten years of training and becoming a robot. Rattleballs then tells Finn about his past. He was created by Princess Bubblegum because the Banana Guards were ineffectual at stopping crime. But while he and the other gumball robots excelled at protecting the Candy Kingdom, the Princess was disturbed at their ruthlessness and love of violence.

She had the robots come to a factory where Rattleballs learned they were going to be destroyed. Forcing himself to act independently, he escaped to the junkyard where he has stayed ever since. He asks Finn not to tell Bubblegum because she would have him destroyed, too. But Finn feels bound to his word to serve the Princess and immediately tells her everything. She, Finn and the Banana Guards go to the junkyard and surround Rattleballs.

Finn tells him to surrender and Bubblegum will hear him out, but Bubblegum orders the guards to destroy Rattleballs. He easily defeats them, but does not kill them, claiming he has found peace. He then surrenders to the Princess, saying he still serves her "one hundred percent" even if that means his destruction.

Princess Bubblegum later gives the guards a cube which is the crushed form of the dead Rattleballs. But it is revealed that the cube was a fake and the Princess had spared the robot in secret. She knights him and sends him out into kingdom to protect it from the shadows. Rattleballs accepts this duty, stating that was "marginally better than hiding in a dump."

Characters

Main Characters

Minor Characters

Trivia

Jake never appears in this episode, although he is mentioned.

Cultural references

Inside the Ooo Junkyard, many of the dilapitated and destroyed cars were from the 1960's and the 1970's. Two of the notable cars shown briefly was a 1971 Nissan Skyline KPGC10 2000 GT-X seen at the top of the pile of junk. Another was a Yellow 1966 Nissan Cedric Wagon toppled over the top of the pile at the next scene.

Episode connections

This episode features Finn's new Grass Sword, which he got in the previous episode, "Blade of Grass." Finn uses the grass sword to dislodge a gumball from Rattleballs' body.
Finn cites "getting out of his last relationship" as his reason for rededicating his life to defending princesses. This is a reference to his break-up with Flame Princess in the episode "Frost & Fire."
Here Princess Bubblegum addresses Root Beer Guy as "Captain Root Beer Guy", a connection to the episode "Root Beer Guy".
After Finn sits on the mini-barbecue, he appears unharmed. This may have been because of him getting used to firey temperatures when dating Flame Princess.
In Rattleballs' flashback, the Candy Kingdom isn't completely constructed and the banana guards are still green, showing these events to have occurred sometime after "The Vault."
At the start of the episode, Princess Bubblegum is seen wearing the same sleeping gown as in "The Vault."
Princess Bubblegum has the same hair style as in the episode "You Made Me."