>>100043499>>100043683I say this as someone who doesn't mind the newer episodes. There was a decline during season 5 but there's still some good episodes and salvageable story elements.
But Flame Princess incenses me in a capacity that no other cartoon ever has. Did the boarders not have a strategy? At all? They spend two episodes setting her up and introducing her formally, but her appearance are sparse and her actual, genuine interactions with Finn as a girlfriend are tossed into the sidelines, in exchange for shipping bait (Burning Low) or soporific drama (Ignition Point) that is collectively saturated with bullshit. Come Frost & Fire, and we get an entire half-season dedicated to Finn's depression over a relationship that was barely on screen to begin with, almost as some flimsy pretext to turn the series into the writers' soapbox (looking at you, Jesse Moynihan), and a handful of episodes dedicated to having Finn make an ass of himself. So we have this character who was hyped up, but now shelved indefinitely save for a few episodes in the forthcoming seasons. What the fuck. I mean holy shit, say what you want about Finn's dad but at least they had him play an instrumental role in Finn's Bildungsroman. Flame Princess could have been some random hoe and the plot would have been almost identical, AND spared from the aforementioned episodes.
And now Flame Princess is some cringeworthy rap persona. that's what this shit boiled down over time, literally the only unique impact of significance which can be attributed to her name. Son of Rap Bear might be THE worst episode because it feels like the writers shat all over my face. Even with Breezy and The Comet you could argue there's some meaningful symbolism or whatever. They couldn't be bothered to do ANYTHING interesting with the character. But season 9 has been a dumpster fire anyways so whatever
