TV Show review
Review basis: 2 seasons, 20 episodes · through December 25, 2025
August 31, 2023 · TV-14 · Returning Series
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake is a spin-off series following Fionna, a late-20s woman version of Finn the Human, and her magical cat Cake as they travel the multiverse with Simon Petrikov, the former Ice King. Across season 1 (2023) and season 2 (premiered 2025), they face a rule-enforcing antagonist while handling self-discovery, adulthood problems like jobs and emotions, relationships, and saving worlds. The show centers gender-swapped characters in prominent queer romances, including a gay male couple, and adds a transmasc character with visible top surgery scars who has romantic tension with Fionna in season 2.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.
Woke representation / casting
Prominent gender-swapped characters serve as leads and key supporting roles, with Fionna as an adult woman in a non-magical world. An openly gay male couple (Marshall Lee and Gary) and season 2's transmasc Hunter (with confirmed top surgery scars and romantic tension with Fionna) receive visible emphasis and media attention.
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue stays mostly personal, humorous, and emotional around relationships, loss, self-worth, and daily adult struggles. No extended activist lectures or direct modern political messaging appear in summaries or reviews.
Identity-driven story themes
The entire series premise rests on gender-swapped alternate versions and their identities. Self-discovery arcs, queer romances, and personal fulfillment drive the narrative, especially in season 2's focus on Hunter and Fionna's relationships and growth.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Fionna's ordinary non-magical world comes across as dull, stressful, and less fulfilling than magical adventure. Reviews note minor job and money pressures in season 2, but these support personal stories rather than ideological attacks on capitalism, patriarchy, or Western institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
The show is built on gender-swapped versions as an alternate-universe concept that began as Ice King fanfic and fan art within the original series lore. Season 2 adds Hunter as an explicit transmasc counterpart to Huntress Wizard with identity markers, though it does not rewrite main canon characters.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Online fans criticize heavy queer content, "forced LGBT," and a perceived shift to identity-focused or "gay" personal drama over adventure. Comments on Reddit, YouTube, and X call out agenda elements or appeal limited to certain audiences, especially around season 2.
Creator track record context
Rebecca Sugar's career explicitly centers LGBTQ visibility and identity themes. The broader team draws from later Adventure Time seasons that expanded queer elements like Bubbline. Pendleton Ward and Adam Muto show lighter or professional patterns without the same identity focus.
Production
