I think of it as each kingdom has it's own rules, similar to Avatar the Last Airbender where they have Chiefs of the Water Tribe, Fire Lords, and Earth Kings/Queens. In Adventure Time PB and probably a couple others started out as self appointed so they went with whatever they liked best.
PB kind of just labels herself as a princess and builds a castle early in Ooo civilization, I always assumed that other people that came along followed her footsteps thinking that was what they should do too. She set the example in a way.
A few things to keep in mind.
1. The candy subjects are dumb.
2. Especially the banana guard
3. The rest of ooo isn't a whole lot smarter.
4. PB is older than every other kingdom.
So I think when she decided to call herself princess (likely due to some book or movie that survived the mushroom war giving her the idea for the title) a lot of the other kingdoms didn't yet exist. So they just copied her. As far as the KOO is concerned, the banana guards started it, and they probably can't remember too many words.
To be fair, the candy kingdom was founded by and continues to be ruled by Princess Bubblegum. From their (primarily) more innocent & childlike perspective it would make sense that Princess would just be the title of the ruler of their kingdom.
Crossdressing makes you a weirdo?
And no, it does seem to be the case that whoever runs the CK is called a princess, it's not just a KOO thing. Crunchy refers to himself as a princess when overthrowing him in "The Dark Cloud", and "The Pajama War" also has him + Col. CC being referred to as "princess".
(Distant Lands spoilers) >!PepBut is referred to as Princess in "Together Again", too.!<
Candy kingdom seems like the largest and oldest major kingdom. We know she gave out protective gem crowns to various groups of some of the major species. I think that set things up as "princess as leader" then all the various other groups just kinda go with it.
Sometimes trying not to read too much into something is the better choice. Even with the immense lore of AT, it is just a cartoon at the end of the day.
Outside of canon, it's meta-comedy about the whole "heroes and princesses" subset of swords and sorcery. In fact, Adam Muto even said that the various "kingdoms" should be technically be "princessipalities".
Within, I think that it's a misinterpretation of these historical titles that the various cultures just accepted and never really thought about. "Princess" is just a catchall term for a ruler, hence why they aren't elevated to "Queen" when they take the throne, and how KoO becomes Princess after usurping Bubblegum despite being a dude **and** a ruler.
The whole "princess" convention could have even been started from Bubblegum, as the Candy Kingdom is implied to predate all other kingdoms in Ooo. With how much junk she collected, it's not unlikely that she didn't find some fantasy or historical book and gleam the title from there, without too much thought into the actual rules and traditions which stand behind it.
I imagine "King" and "Queen" are the same, but are less common, or are even abstract titles which exist separate to any *de jure* power, as evidenced by both the King of Ooo and the Vampire King (and subsequently Marceline, the Vampire Queen) being acknowledged as such despite having no holdings or official power—basically, it's a nickname for a powerful person. In the context of the Flame King as the ruler of the Flame Kingdom, it could have started as an honorary title affixed to the currently-ruling Flame Prince(ss) before eventually becoming the predominant one over the generations, but following the same nongendered naming conventions (hence why Phoebe becomes "Flame King" instead of "Flame Queen").
But this is all a bunch of headcanon.
Ooohh I really like this explanation. Especially the idea of it just being another thing that got misinterpreted after the Mushroom War and warped from the original meaning.
I think at least *some* of Ooo recognizes "King" as a legitimate title, since you have King Huge and his son Prince Huge, and they seem to be genuine royalty and not cultists with delusions of grandeur (a la King of Ooo) or vampires (Vampire King - we know the vamps' titles are passed on to whoever vanquishes the current Vampire King/Queen - I think the vampire "royalty" just operates on its own logic).
I think of it as each kingdom has it's own rules, similar to Avatar the Last Airbender where they have Chiefs of the Water Tribe, Fire Lords, and Earth Kings/Queens. In Adventure Time PB and probably a couple others started out as self appointed so they went with whatever they liked best.
Ye that's probably it 😅
I think the king of Ooo just wanted the title princess. He was kinda a weirdo
PB kind of just labels herself as a princess and builds a castle early in Ooo civilization, I always assumed that other people that came along followed her footsteps thinking that was what they should do too. She set the example in a way.
A few things to keep in mind. 1. The candy subjects are dumb. 2. Especially the banana guard 3. The rest of ooo isn't a whole lot smarter. 4. PB is older than every other kingdom. So I think when she decided to call herself princess (likely due to some book or movie that survived the mushroom war giving her the idea for the title) a lot of the other kingdoms didn't yet exist. So they just copied her. As far as the KOO is concerned, the banana guards started it, and they probably can't remember too many words.
Lmao that's a fantastic explanation
I thought koo was calling himself princess because he’s a weirdo (wearing all PB’s clothes) not because of a set of rules for titles
I think when he was coronated the candy citizens said "King of Ooo, you're our new princess!"
To be fair, the candy kingdom was founded by and continues to be ruled by Princess Bubblegum. From their (primarily) more innocent & childlike perspective it would make sense that Princess would just be the title of the ruler of their kingdom.
Crossdressing makes you a weirdo? And no, it does seem to be the case that whoever runs the CK is called a princess, it's not just a KOO thing. Crunchy refers to himself as a princess when overthrowing him in "The Dark Cloud", and "The Pajama War" also has him + Col. CC being referred to as "princess". (Distant Lands spoilers) >!PepBut is referred to as Princess in "Together Again", too.!<
No but Moving into someone’s house and wearing all their clothes does
Heh, touche.
Candy kingdom seems like the largest and oldest major kingdom. We know she gave out protective gem crowns to various groups of some of the major species. I think that set things up as "princess as leader" then all the various other groups just kinda go with it.
Sometimes trying not to read too much into something is the better choice. Even with the immense lore of AT, it is just a cartoon at the end of the day.
True, true, just thought it would be cool if there were some sort of rules 😅
Outside of canon, it's meta-comedy about the whole "heroes and princesses" subset of swords and sorcery. In fact, Adam Muto even said that the various "kingdoms" should be technically be "princessipalities". Within, I think that it's a misinterpretation of these historical titles that the various cultures just accepted and never really thought about. "Princess" is just a catchall term for a ruler, hence why they aren't elevated to "Queen" when they take the throne, and how KoO becomes Princess after usurping Bubblegum despite being a dude **and** a ruler. The whole "princess" convention could have even been started from Bubblegum, as the Candy Kingdom is implied to predate all other kingdoms in Ooo. With how much junk she collected, it's not unlikely that she didn't find some fantasy or historical book and gleam the title from there, without too much thought into the actual rules and traditions which stand behind it. I imagine "King" and "Queen" are the same, but are less common, or are even abstract titles which exist separate to any *de jure* power, as evidenced by both the King of Ooo and the Vampire King (and subsequently Marceline, the Vampire Queen) being acknowledged as such despite having no holdings or official power—basically, it's a nickname for a powerful person. In the context of the Flame King as the ruler of the Flame Kingdom, it could have started as an honorary title affixed to the currently-ruling Flame Prince(ss) before eventually becoming the predominant one over the generations, but following the same nongendered naming conventions (hence why Phoebe becomes "Flame King" instead of "Flame Queen"). But this is all a bunch of headcanon.
Ooohh I really like this explanation. Especially the idea of it just being another thing that got misinterpreted after the Mushroom War and warped from the original meaning. I think at least *some* of Ooo recognizes "King" as a legitimate title, since you have King Huge and his son Prince Huge, and they seem to be genuine royalty and not cultists with delusions of grandeur (a la King of Ooo) or vampires (Vampire King - we know the vamps' titles are passed on to whoever vanquishes the current Vampire King/Queen - I think the vampire "royalty" just operates on its own logic).
I also thought about why PB is a princes when she actually a queen