Marceline the Vampire Queen is a character in the American animated television series Adventure Time created by Pendleton Ward. She is voiced by Olivia Olson in most appearances, by Ava Acres as a child and by Cloris Leachman as an old woman. Marceline is a fun-loving 1,000-year-old vampire queen. The artistic design for Marceline was created by Ward, with small changes and additions added by Phil Rynda, former lead-character designer and prop designer for Adventure Time. Unlike a traditional vampire, Marceline does not need to drink blood to survive; rather, she eats the color red. Marceline is a musician who plays an electric bass that she made from her family's heirloom battle-axe.
The character makes her debut in the first season episode "Evicted!" and initially functions as a trickster antagonist, forcing Finn and Jake from their home. However, as the series progresses, Marceline becomes a close friend to Finn and Jake. Several backstory episodes have established that she was born to an unnamed human mother (voiced by Rebecca Sugar) and the demon Hunson Abadeer (voiced by Olivia's real-life father, Martin Olson). Furthermore, when she was a child, the cataclysmic Mushroom War occurred, and soon after she developed a father-daughter-like bond with Simon Petrikov (voiced by Tom Kenny), who would one day turn into the Ice King.
Marceline has been critically acclaimed and is popular with fans of Adventure Time. The character was also the focus of a miniseries entitled Stakes (2015), which aired during the show's seventh season. Early in the show's history, Ward himself has stated that Marceline is his favorite character in the series because he does not know everything about her history and backstory, which he noted adds a mysterious element to her character. Despite the positivity, the episodes "What Was Missing" and "Sky Witch" became somewhat controversial because of an implied past relationship between Princess Bubblegum and Marceline.
Video Marceline the Vampire Queen
Creation and design
Marceline is one of the major characters in Adventure Time. Although she did not appear in the series' pilot, the groundwork for her design and character were present in the series pitch book, penned by series creator Pendleton Ward. Ward purposely set out to make Marceline's character complex, as he explained that "with the female characters it's easy to either write them as clichés or write them as the extreme opposite of those clichés [...] I just try to make them have faults and strengths just like Finn and Jake have."
Marceline is voiced by Olivia Olson. Olivia's father Martin Olson was an acquaintance of Ward, and Olivia was encouraged to audition for Adventure Time after Ward told her father that he wanted "her as a voice" on his show. She had originally auditioned for the role of Princess Bubblegum. After her initial audition, she was asked to read for the role of Marceline, and was "definitely impressed by the character" after seeing design drawings. Martin Olson later noted that Olivia's audition was a "sham" to please the network executives because Ward had already wanted her to be a voice on the show. In order to get into character, Olson often dresses in a manner similar to Marceline when she records her lines; she explained, "I always find ... that on the days that I go in to record Marceline, I'll dress like her, in a weird way ... I'll throw on some rock n' roll boots, maybe some red lipstick, and just go in there." Olson also is the character's singing voice. According to storyboard artist Cole Sanchez, composers Casey James Basichis and Tim Kiefer produce the bass music that the character performs in the series. Many of the songs written for Marceline were uploaded onto the internet by the writers as well as the production company. For instance, Rob Sugar--the father of former storyboard artist Rebecca Sugar--often uploaded demos of songs written for Marceline by Rebecca. Furthermore, Frederator also posted demos, as well as a full version of the popular "Fry Song", sung by Marceline in the episode "It Came from the Nightosphere", on its official blog. In flashback sequences, younger Marceline is voiced by Ava Acres. In the fifth season episodes "Finn the Human" / "Jake the Dog", an older, alternate universe version of the character is voiced by Cloris Leachman. Martin Olson also provides the voice for Marceline's demonic father Hunson Abadeer. Olivia Olson later noted that the opportunity to voice act with her father was "pretty cool".
The design for Marceline was created by Ward, with small changes and additions added by Phil Rynda, former lead character and prop designer for Adventure Time. Visually, Marceline has long, dark hair. She rarely walks on the ground, generally preferring to float when she travels, moves, and sleeps. Marceline, unlike many of the other characters, wears varying outfits in most of her appearances. According to Ward, her clothing changes from episode to episode because "girls own more than one outfit". Olson was impressed by her character's fashion design stating, "she has really cool style [...] I love what they come up with [in] every episode." Olson explained that when she goes in to record the voices for each episode, she is "totally surprised" by the costuming for Marceline. While she says her lines, she is able to view the animatics for the episode and sometimes has to stop to admire the unique designs. Marceline's physical size and shape slightly changes depending on who is drawing her. Rynda later called this "one of the coolest parts" about the character's animation due to the fact that "every artist leaves a little bit of their own taste and sensibilities in what they draw."
Maps Marceline the Vampire Queen
Appearances
Roughly a thousand years prior to the events of the series, Marceline was born to a demon lord named Hunson Abadeer (voiced by Martin Olson) and a human woman (voiced by Rebecca Sugar). Abadeer is the ruler of the Nightosphere--a Hell-like demon dimension--and subsists on the souls of sentient beings. For some reason, Marceline was left abandoned on Earth in events immediately following the Mushroom War, a mysterious war that ravaged the earth one thousand years prior to events of the series. During this time, Simon Petrikov--the name of the Ice King before he was overcome by the evil power of his crown--found Marceline in the ruins of a city and gave her a stuffed animal named Hambo to cheer her up. The two developed a caring relationship, although the crown took a toll on Simon's mental health, forcing him to leave Marceline alone. During this period in her life, she was reunited with her father, only to be disgusted by his cold and heartless ways. Although she attempted to tolerate his evil and selfish antics, she eventually severed all ties with Abadeer after she discovered him eating fries that she had made for herself. In the following years, Marceline roamed the land of Ooo and eventually befriended a tribe of humans. She became their guardian and ally, and she helped them kill vampires, who had taken over much of the land. Marceline soon discovered that, upon killing a vampire, she was able to acquire their unique abilities thanks to her demonic power to absorb souls. However, when she tried to fight the Vampire King himself, she was bitten. Although she eventually managed to slay him, she was turned in the process. At some point, she began a romantic relationship with a magician named Ash. The two would move into the Tree Fort, but their relationship would come to an end. Presumably, around this time, Marceline befriended Princess Bubblegum, the sovereign of the Candy Kingdom; the two would often avoid official royal meetings and explore the Candy Kingdom's elaborate rock candy mining complex. Eventually, due largely to the mounting stress of running her kingdom, Bubblegum pushed Marceline away, leaving an animosity between the two that lasted for a while.
In the series' present, Marceline eventually comes into contact with Finn and Jake in the first season episode "Evicted!", when she forces them from their home. In the episode "Henchman", Marceline tricks Finn into becoming her accomplice, but Finn soon discovers that she is not evil, but rather fond of mischief and pranks, and the two develop a friendship. In the second season premiere "It Came From the Nightosphere", Abadeer is accidentally summoned to Ooo by Finn. While Abadeer ravages the land, Finn discovers that there is animosity between Marceline and her father. Finn manages to distract Abadeer by playing a recording of Marceline's "Fry Song", which leads to a brief moment of reconciliation between the two before Finn sends him back to the Nightosphere. In the third season episode "Memory of a Memory", Ash attempts to rekindle his former relationship with Marceline via trickery. Disguised as Marceline's "spirit animal", he tricks Finn and Jake into believing that Marceline has fallen asleep due to a sleep spell that has been self-inflicted. Following Ash's advice, the two enter into Marceline's mind to retrieve the "memory core" in an attempt to wake her up. Along the way, they encounter various memories of her as a child in the aftermath of the Mushroom War. However, the duo soon learn that it was an elaborate trick by Ash; Finn and Jake actually removed Marceline's memory of their break-up. In the end, Finn is able to convince Marceline, and she promptly attacks her chauvinistic ex-boyfriend. In "What Was Missing", past animosity between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum is explored when Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, BMO, and Marceline form a band in order to defeat the Door Lord and recover what was stolen from them.
In the fourth season episodes, "Return to the Nightosphere" / "Daddy's Little Monster", Marceline's dad returns and gives her an amulet that causes her to become the demonic and evil overlord of the Nightosphere. After an ordeal, Finn saves Marceline from the amulet. Marceline admits that all she wants is for her father to understand her. When Finn wishes for an alternate reality in which the Lich never existed during the events of the fifth season premiere "Finn the Human", a universe is created in which the Mushroom War was prevented by Simon Petrikov and Marceline never became a vampire. She appears in the episode as an extremely frail and aged half-demon, who was killed when a "mutagenic bomb" that was frozen in ice by Simon Petrikov detonates. Jake manages to undo this reality with his wish and sets everything back to the way it was. In "Sky Witch", Marceline enlists the help of Princess Bubblegum, and the two are able to track down Maja, the titular Sky Witch. It is revealed that Ash sold Hambo to Maja. Only when Bubblegum trades her beloved rock shirt--which was given to her by Marceline--is Hambo able to be reunited with Marceline. After the events of "Sky Witch", Bubblegum and Marceline are on much friendlier ground, and their friendship is completely reaffirmed in the episodes "Varmints" and "Broke His Crown", from the seventh and eighth season respectively. In "Betty", Marceline sacrifices Hambo so that Ice King--who lost his powers and became Simon Petrikov again--can open a portal into time so that Simon can reconcile with his estranged fiancee Betty. Although the two are reunited in "Betty", due to the rush of events, Marceline and Simon are unable to fully catch up before Simon reverts back to the Ice King. With that being said, in the eighth season episode "Broke His Crown", the two manage to more fully reunite, and as such, manage to affirm how much they care for one another.
The miniseries Stakes, which aired during the show's seventh season, documents the reemergence of five of Marceline's most powerful vampiric foes: the Fool (voiced by Ron Funches), the Empress Eyes (voiced by Rebecca Romijn), the Hierophant (voiced by Paul Williams), the Moon (voiced by Beau Billingslea), and the Vampire King himself (voiced by Billy Brown). The quintet remerge after Bubblegum tries to extract Marceline's vampiric essence, in an attempt to return Marceline to her normal half-demon state. The reappearance of these vampires forces Marceline, Bubblegum, Finn, Jake, and Peppermint Butler (voiced by Steve Little) to stake them one-by-one, although the Vampire King is neutralized through a scientific process that removes the vampiric essence from his body. Later, in the ninth-season miniseries Elements, Marceline is temporarily transformed by elemental magic into "Marhsmaline the Campfire Queen"--a sentient marshmallow creature. In her candy form, Marceline is gregarious and playful, but a bit naive about the nature of the new world around her; for instance, when an enraged Flame Princess attacks her, Marceline mistakes the assault for "wrasslin'". At the end of the miniseries, Marceline is returned to her usual self. (Marceline details her highly allegorical recollection of these events to BMO in the ninth-season episode "Ketchup".) In the tenth-season episode "Marcy & Hunson", Marceline's father returns to Ooo and attends one of her concerts. While he initially embarrasses his daughter and eventually causes a ghost fight to break out, by the end of the episode, Marceline is touched that her father was willing to support her.
Other
The gender-swapped version of Marceline--named Marshall Lee--appeared in the third season episode "Fionna and Cake". This version of the character only had a small cameo and no lines. It was later revealed that another Fionna and Cake episode was in the works for season five, and that the plot would largely revolve around Marshall Lee. The episode--titled "Bad Little Boy"--aired on February 18, 2013. In the episode, the princesses that are captured by the Ice King are tired of his poorly written Fionna and Cake fan fiction stories, so Marceline stops by the Ice Kingdom to show him how to do it properly; she tells a tale involving her gender-swapped character, Marshall Lee. The character was voiced by comedian and musician Donald Glover. Additionally, Marshall Lee makes a cameo appearance in the third Fionna and Cake episode entitled "The Prince Who Wanted Everything", and has a speaking role in the fourth entitled "Five Short Tables".
A six issue spin-off comic miniseries titled Marceline and the Scream Queens, written by Meredith Gran of Octopus Pie, debuted in July 2012. The series featured Marceline and Princess Bubblegum forming a band and touring around Ooo. The series is published by Boom! Studios under its kid-oriented imprint KaBoom, which also publishes the rest of the Adventure Time series. Other contributors to the series include Faith Erin Hicks, and Liz Prince. KaBoom has also published Seeing Red by Kate Leth, and Marceline Gone Adrift by Gran.
Marceline is also featured in the iOS game Adventure Time: Rock Bandits. In the context of the game, the Ice King kidnaps Marceline's fans at a concert so that they will be his fans instead. Finn and Jake must then free the captured citizens. Marceline appears as a playable character in the toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions, distributed via a "fun pack" containing a Marceline Lego minifigure and a constructable "Lunatic Amp" accessory.
Characteristics
Personality and traits
In the context of the series, Marceline is a half-demon and half-human vampire, and the eponymous Vampire Queen, after having killed the previous Vampire King. Although she is over 1,000 years old, she was designed to appear in the form of an 18- to 21-year-old. In her first role, Marceline functions as the antagonist of the story, forcing Finn and Jake from their home. However, as the series progressed, she became a close friend to the two. Ward has stated that she is not a villain. Marceline's wandering of the Land of Ooo has made her into a fearless daredevil. Her fondness for mischief and fun has turned her into a trickster. Although appearing hostile at first, Finn soon realizes that she is "a radical dame who likes to play games".
Unlike traditional Western vampires, Marceline subsists off shades of the color red, including "low-grade" shades such as pink. Since she is only sated by the color itself, blood is appealing to her simply because it is red. However, Ward has noted that she "drinks blood sometimes". When Marceline is deprived of red, she enters into a "feral" state, and will instinctively try to kill others and drink their blood. Like traditional Western vampires, she is vulnerable to sunlight and is capable of turning into a bat of varying size. Marceline also possesses several powers, such as levitation, invisibility, the ability to shape-shift, and self-healing; she gained each of these powers after absorbing the essence of several powerful vampires, as documented in Stakes. Marceline is also a survivor of the Mushroom War. Hints of her past are sprinkled through the series; in "Memory of a Memory" a trip into Marceline's mind shows her as a child wandering around the outskirts of a destroyed city, and "I Remember You" features her meeting Simon Petrikov in a ruined city.
She was very emotionally attached to her teddy bear Hambo, which was given to her by a still-human Simon Petrikov, as revealed in the episode "I Remember You". In "Memory of a Memory", after Ash sold the teddy bear to a witch, Marceline was furious and broke up with him. In the episode "Sky Witch", Marceline enlists Princess Bubblegum's help, and they retrieve the bear, but in "Betty", she sacrifices the bear in order to allow Simon the chance to communicate with his fiancée. Although she is very independent, her detachment often makes her feel alone, as seen in "Marceline's Closet"; while Jake and Finn are hiding in her closet, she expresses most of her feeling via the writings of her 500-year-old diary. Throughout the series, Marceline is seen playing music; in several official sources, she is described as "a wild rocker girl". Several times throughout the series, she jams with Finn and Jake, and various others depending on the circumstances. She is usually shown playing her axe bass, which was formerly her family's heirloom battle axe. According to Ward, she is ambidextrous, which explains her ability to play bass with both hands. She often finds it easier to express her feelings through music, as seen with songs like the "Fry Song", about her father, and "I'm Just Your Problem", about her relationship with Princess Bubblegum.
Relationships
Marceline has a close relationship with Finn and Jake. Marceline and Finn have many things in common with one another; in the episodes "Evicted" and "Henchman" it is stated that the reason Marceline befriended Finn is because he simply enjoys being himself. Although she has kissed Finn platonically on the cheek twice, Ward has noted that there is no romantic subtext between the two. On the other hand, Marceline and Jake share a more complex relationship. In her initial appearances, she derived pleasure from scaring Jake, who was terrified "of her vampire bite". Jake, in turn, felt that she was evil and had managed to take over Finn's mind. Due to this, Jake attempted to kill her several times, to no avail. However, after the events of "Henchman", Jake seems to have forgotten his fear of her; in "Memory of a Memory", he even refers to her as a "friend" in one of her memories.
Marceline shares a rocky relationship with Princess Bubblegum. Initially, in the series bible, the two were described as "friendly rivals" competing for Finn's attention. However, as the show has gone on, their relationship has been fleshed out and changed. Marceline was the first person to address Bubblegum by her first name--Bonnibel--which occurred in the episode "Go with Me". Their connections are explored further in the season three episode "What Was Missing". In the episode, Marceline's song "I'm Just Your Problem" and the dialogue between her and Bubblegum implied that there may have had some sort of relationship in the past, although the exact details surrounding the nature of the relationship were not explained. This later caused an internet controversy over Marceline's sexual orientation. However, after the events of "What Was Missing", Marceline and Bubblegum's relationship seems to have gotten better, as the two spend quality time together in "Sky Witch", "Varmints", Stakes, and "Broke His Crown".
Marceline and her father, Hunson Abadeer, have trouble accepting one another. Initially, Marceline feels that her father does not care for her, and expresses her feelings through the before-mentioned "Fry Song". Although they admit to loving each other, Abadeer constantly pressures Marceline to follow in the family business and take over ruling the Nightosphere, a prospective job Marceline does not want. Marceline and the Ice King also have a complicated relationship. In the episode "I Remember You", it is revealed that the Ice King--then, the human man named Simon Petrikov--discovered her crying in the ruins of a city destroyed by the Mushroom Wars. It was Simon who gave little Marceline Hambo and attempted to watch over her. This kind gesture made the Ice King a long-time close friend and father figure to Marceline. However, as the crown's power increased, Simon began to forget more and more about his relationship with Marceline, until he had all but forgotten their friendship. Former storyboard artist and current supervising director for the series Adam Muto explained that Marceline and the Ice King's history was not part of the series' initial plan, but something that "evolved from [the show's] original course and it will likely continue to evolve in the future."
Reception
Marceline has attracted positive critical attention. Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club praised that the fact that she is one "of this show's most tragic characters". He later wrote that her addition "was a major turning point for the series, introducing a hip, adventure-loving female to the cast who can hold her own against Finn and Jake and also has a strong connection to Ooo's past." Furthermore, he noted that "she's been at the center of some of the show's most emotional episodes", and "beyond her dramatic value, Marceline tends to just make every episode better" because "her writers clearly enjoy writing scenes for her". Susana Polo of The Mary Sue referred to the character as "one of the radder characters" in the series. Cam Shea of IGN named Marceline's introduction in "Evicted!" as the fourth best moment in the series' first season. He wrote that "sure, in this episode she evicts Finn and Jake from their home ... but hey, this is the first time we meet her and she's awesome."
io9 writer Charlies Jane Anders wrote that Marceline's--as well as the Ice King's--appearance in "I Remember You" was "one of the most intense things I've seen in ages." She praised Marceline's development from a "pretty one-note villain" to a type of person that "we sort of knew". CartoonNetwork.co.uk named her "Character of the Week" on January 24, 2012. The Guardian called Marceline the best character in Adventure Time in a DVD review of the series, noting in particular that "she's ... responsible for some of the show's best songs." In 2016, WhatCulture ranked her the fourth best character on the show, writing that she is a "bad ass" and "the coolest character in the series", and that--after the anti-vampire backlash in pop culture caused largely by the book and film series Twilight and the television show The Vampire Diaries in the mid-to-late 2000s--"Marceline [...] prove[s] that vampires can still be awesome."
The production crew of Adventure Time are also pleased with the character. Near the start of the series, Ward stated that Marceline was his favorite character because he does not "know everything about her character yet", which he finds "mysterious [and] cool". Rynda claimed that Marceline was probably his favorite character in the series because "she's just really fun to draw." Marceline is also particularly popular with the Adventure Time fan base, and after the release of "Evicted!" her popularity grew enormously. Ward later noted that he felt "good about that. It's nice". Marceline is also popular with cosplayers, or performance artists who wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent characters from the Adventure Time universe. The character's popularity has been recognized by the company that owns Adventure Time. In fact, the official press release for the Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens companion comic book referred to the character as a "fan-favorite".
Marceline's popularity has transcended into other mediums of popular culture. For instance, American singer Willow dedicated two tracks of her debut album Ardipithecus to the character, which were eponymously named after her.
Relationship controversy
The episode "What Was Missing" became controversial because of an allegedly implied past relationship between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum. The controversy largely began after an accompanying "Mathematical" recap--a studio-endorsed behind the scenes video series implied that there were lesbian relations between Princess Bubblegum and Marceline and that the writing staff actively seeks input from fans. This incident was addressed by the show's producer, Fred Seibert, who said that "in trying to get the show's audience involved we got wrapped up by both fan conjecture and spicy fanart and went a little too far." Soon after, the video recap and the entire channel was pulled off of YouTube, although "What Was Missing" still airs during reruns. Seibert's decision to remove the video also proved controversial; Bitch magazine later wrote an article about how the episode "handled female desire--female queer desire at that--in a subtle but complex way", and that the removal of the recap and the studio's perceived treatment of the controversy was detrimental towards the acceptance of queer romance in children's television. Ward later addressed the issue and gave a more neutral view; he said that, because there were "so many extreme positions taken on it all over the Internet", he did not "really want to comment on it [because] it was a big hullaballoo." In August 2014, Olson commented on the controversy, telling a crowd of fans gathered at a Barnes & Noble book signing from The Adventure Time Encyclopedia, that, according to Ward, Marceline and Princess Bubblegum had dated in the past, but that because the series airs in some areas where homosexual relationships are illegal, the show has not been able to officially make clear the relationship in the series itself.
References
External links
- Marceline Bio at CartoonNetwork.com
- Media related to Cartoon Network at Wikimedia Commons
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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