I guess it’s about time I penned my own thoughts on Bubbline. After Sky Witch, this is probably the ideal time to take in new information and see what conclusions I can draw from it.

THIS IS GOING TO BE MY OPINIONS ON THE SHIP, ITS STATUS, AND THEIR PAST. It’s by no means anti-bubbline (I’m the biggest shipper for reals) but I think my opinion differs significantly from others. I’m not trying to say I’m fo sho right; it’s not the only viewpoint, but it’s the one I’ve come to after watching everything at least a bazillion times, and trying to craft headcanon around what we know instead of the other way around. Making inferences and judgments on their actions and dialogue. Etc.

Here we go!

First off, let me talk about what I see most of on tumblr.

After What Was Missing: “They used to date!”

After Sky Witch: “They’re dating!”

That’s not necessarily what it means to ship. And I don’t think PB and Marceline ARE in a relationship. I don’t think they’ve ever been in one, either; not with each other, anyway. BAM revelation done, thesis statement given, now let’s skip the hatemail and get into the meat of this thing.

Princess Bubblegum? Yeah, she’s in love with Marceline. You can’t honestly look at Sky Witch and say differently. But take a look at the way she shows it. When she’s alone in her room, away from any prying eyes, she starts her day off by sniffing the shirt Marceline gave her. Lesbian? Totes. But she does that in her alone time. The picture she keeps of Marceline? It’s in her closet. Why is it in there? The symbolism is obvious, and the actual reasons mirror the symbolism. It’s some place only she can look at it, and it’s where nobody’s going to ask any uncomfortable questions about her relationship with Marcy. Now watch how she ACTS around Marceline. Are those the actions of a girl in love? ….The answer is no.

Princess Bubblegum is in love with Marceline. She accepts that, to herself – that’s why she has the shirt, that’s why she has the picture – but she refuses to ACT on it. She doesn’t tell Marceline, she doesn’t tell her friends, and she actually goes through lengths to keep it hidden. She tries to avoid the relationship she actually wants. She refuses to tell Marceline what she went through to get Hambo; because telling Marceline that she gave up her most precious object – and even what that object is – would be giving Marceline ammunition to figure out the truth.

She IS in the closet. Not because homophobia is a thing, since I think Ooo’s pretty progressive in that regards (probably because everybody’s a freak anyway, so what’s gender matter.) It’s because of the same reason Peebs told Finn; responsibility demands sacrifice. But she wasn’t referring to a breakup with Marceline, she was referring to the fact that she made up her own mind, to close herself off from any relationships. That’s the exact same thing she wanted Finn to do, really. Look at what’s best, and close yourself off from a relationship. Deny it to yourself.

That’s almost what she told Broco as well. She’s a ruler; relationships could jeopardize so many things. It could be seen as a ruler giving favoritism over her subjects, it could split her attention from the kingdom and its subjects. So even though she’s accepted she’s in love, she refuses to act on it, refuses to even show it.

These aren’t the actions of somebody in a relationship. Honestly, these aren’t the actions of somebody who’s been in a relationship and called it off, either. It’s the actions of somebody with something to hide, somebody who has their own reasons for not trying to go for it. Especially sniffing the shirt; I mean come on. These are the actions of somebody secretly in love, with what they believe every reason not to show it.

There are other little hints suggesting that they weren’t in a relationship at any point, too: PB doesn’t really know who Hambo is, that’s the biggest one. “But,” I hear you cry, “she knew who Hambo was! She called his name, and she recognized it!” Except that Marceline said his name first, and with the Crowbat… crowrabbit…. whatever transforming into Hambo’s form, it’s pretty easy for anybody to connect the dots. No previous knowledge of Hambo required.

If PB is in love with Marceline, and she is, she would never diss Hambo like she did. Not if she knew how much Hambo meant to Marcy. If she knew his story. She belittles Hambo and Marceline’s devotion to him because, as far as PB knows, it really is just Marcy’s “childhood toy.” Look at PB’s face – no real remorse, no hesitation. PB is logical, scientific – a childhood toy is not worth assaulting a heavily guarded lair of a powerful witch. She can be (and even is right there) needlessly blunt and lacking empathy, but she’s not cruel. She understands that something given to you by somebody you love IS worth it. She doesn’t know that’s what Hambo is to Marceline. She doesn’t know who Hambo is, and that right there says a lot.

So, in short, PB is definitely and totes in love with Marceline, but has always held herself back. Always.

Now Marceline… oooh Marceline. Marceline is a different case from PB. Marceline has feelings for PB, yes, totes and definitely. The problem is, in her case, she hasn’t realized them. Or, more accurately, she’s realized them, but hasn’t realized what they mean. She doesn’t think of Peebs in the context of dating, and she doesn’t realize that, well, that she’s in love.

In What Was Missing, she sings a song about Peebs. They were definitely friends, yes, we can guage this. But Marceline’s lines, especially “Why do I want to?” and “drink the red from your pretty pink face” suggest that she’s confused. She’s confused by her feelings, and doesn’t understand why she has them. They obviously had a fight, and Marceline’s probably had plenty of friends she got into fights with… so why does she want to make up with PB? She’s singing about her confusing thoughts. Why does she want PB’s pink? She often puts down her very personal thoughts into song (we see this in the closet episode, in the Fry Song, and really like every time she sings.) What’s more personal than the things that she can’t understand herself?

More than that, Marceline is shown time and time and time again to be EXTREMELY underdeveloped emotionally. She doesn’t GET them. She is, in short, immature. I’ve seen a lot of people go “she’s over a thousand years old, she’s obviously actually the most mature person there!” Pffft to that. Just look at how she actively avoids the Ice King, or her relationship with her father. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t know what her own emotions mean and actively avoids them if at all possible.

Feeling the inner turmoil of being in love and… not figuring out that’s the reason? That’s something Marceline would do.

And let’s be real, Marceline is crap at hiding her emotions, too. She tries to hide that she really loves her dad and wants his acceptance, but anybody can see through that. If she knew she were in love with Bubblegum, you wouldn’t need shipping goggles to see it. Even Finn would figure it out.

In short, she’s in love with Peebs, but would need some push or catalyst to finally get it. And at that point, all bets are off.

So they’re both in love. They definitely have the potential to be a real, working relationship – once they admit their feelings and overcome their personal hurdles. And Marceline’s working on her own hurdles as the series goes on – she’s mended the relationships with Ice King and her father, showing that she’s now, for perhaps the first time in centuries, experiencing emotional growth. Perhaps next she’ll figure out just what PB means to her and go for it.

And everybody on tumblr will go batshit. Again. Because let’s face it, Bubbline is the best ship.