Introduction

Ever since the first airing of the episode "Fionna and Cake," the genderbent counterparts of the Adventure Time characters have become extremely popular with fans everywhere. Some believe that the genderbent characters should have their own series, but that rouses a question with me. Is that really necessary? Do we really need to give Fionna and Cake their own series? Now don't get me wrong; I would love to see more genderbent episodes as do many of you. But it seems to me that the big concern is that Fionna and Cake cannot exist in the same world as Finn and Jake because they live in a parallel universe where all of the genders are different. I, however, have a different theory.

Do Fionna and Cake really live in a different world? Were they real characters that existed at one point in the Adventure Time legacy, or were they just the strange fantasies of the Ice King that he came up with in fanfiction? In this article, I would like to touch upon some points that suggest the genderbent characters may have had a place in Adventure Time after all. With the evidence portrayed later in this article, I believe that the genderbent characters were the past generation, that they existed before the regular characters in the series.

Before I begin, however, I would like to make clear that this is all opinion and that I am not suggesting that this is or should be real. I just happened to notice a few things that drove me into contemplation about where Fionna and Cake are, and I am willing to accept input from others that counter what I say and suggest that I may be thinking about it too hard. With that said, I will display my findings.

Fionna + Cake = Susan Strong?

Something that I happened to notice upon watching "Fionna and Cake" was that Fionna had a striking resemblance to Susan Strong, who made her debut appearance in the previous season. I also remembered that Susan wore a hat that appeared to be made out of a cat. My theory is that Susan Strong is Fionna and her hat is Cake. How did this happen? Here is what I think:

Fionna was fighting off an evil force or creature of some kind with Cake at her side. It was too strong, however, and the duo was unable to defeat it. The evil occult lunged for Fionna with the intent of killing her, but Cake leapt in front of her and took the fatal blow. She died instantly. Before the evil creature could kill Fionna as well, several onlookers joined the fight and took down the monster. It did, however, manage to give Fionna one last blow to the head. She lost all memory of her past life due to her injuries, but she was found by a group of Hyoomens who were willing to take her in as one of their own. She was taken along with Cake's body into their city of Beautopia. Fionna made Cake into a hat to match the animal hats of the Hyoomens and made it her primary goal in life to protect the Hyoomen tribe. It proved to be a tiring job, but she worked hard to keep here people safe from any outside force. She built up a great deal of muscle, earning her the name Susan Strong. At the end of the episode "Beautopia," it is greatly suggested that she is a pure human like Finn, which adds to my belief.

PB and PG are related?

At the very beginning of the episode "Susan Strong," Princess Bubblegum mentions that she had an uncle named Gumball. It's very implausible that the niece of the prince is next in line for the crown, and I don't know that much about hierarchy so this section may or may not be valid. My theory, however, is that Prince Gumball never married or had children of his own, and Bubblegum's parents may have passed away somehow. This would mean that she was one of Gumball's only family members around and made her next in line for the crown by great default. I know this is kind of a stretch, but again I don't know that much about priorities when it comes to who gets the crown. Feel free to correct me.

Vampire King and Queen

Marceline holds the obscure title of "Vampire Queen." I am unfamiliar with any benefits that she gets from this title, but it is revealed that there was once a vampire king before she killed him. The evidence surrounding this unnamed Vampire King is still in the shadows, but my belief is that the title was given to Marshall Lee. Possibly what happened was that Marceline was betrothed to Marshall by her well-meaning father, but she was in love with Ash at the time. Her options for escaping marriage to Marshall were to either kill him or resign her position as Vampire Queen. Not wanting to sacrifice her title, she killed Marshall and ran away to live with Ash.

The Rulers of Ice

It is revealed in the two-part series of "Holly Jolly Secrets" that the Ice King is a survivor of the Mushroom War. While he was still human, he found a crown that slowly transformed him and cursed him with irrational thoughts. It is possible that a second crown was found by the Ice Queen, and they both slowly morphed into the evil rulers as we know them. The Ice Queen was the first to live in the Ice Kingdom and search for a prince before the Ice King happened upon the land and tried to overtake her. The Ice Queen fought as hard as she could, but at this point many of the princes have disappeared in one way or another and there were now more princesses in Ooo. Finally, the Ice Queen left the Ice Kingdom in pursuit of more princes and allowed the Ice King to take over.

Closing

Well, I think I covered the basics. I would like to end with a reminder that this is all opinion and I am not trying to tell the creators of the show how it should or shouldn't have gone. I'm just giving my own views and input and am willing to hear the thoughts of others if there's something I missed. Until next time, keep adventuring!