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Inspired by reading fanfics about Adventure Time AU Reverseworld

Reverseworld Time with Finn and Jake by Steeldragondown

Reverseworld Stories by Shwoo

Because it’s kind of a shame that others haven’t explored this and I’d really like to read this AU.

But well, you know the saying, “If you want something done, you’ll have to do it yourself.”

My MBTI is INTP so I have more introvertive approach to adventures so it makes me gets excited or thrilled to see a character whose personality is similar to mine to go on Adventure Time esque adventures!

There’s a lot of back and forth questions forming in my mind and my mind forming a lot of theories on why things are what they are.

Like the questions about Gunther the penguin being Orgalorg, how Simon become the only human in the Land of Uuu, his origins, etc.

I don’t know if there’s a blog out there (Tumblr) discussing about this AU, I have limited access to the internet because of... difficulties. 

The most I have are links I found in others fanfics that the writers put there so I could have access to their Tumblr blogs with ideas about their fanfics.

And I only found two fanfics of this AU, so it’s a little frustrating for me since I want to read more about it.

I’m not sure if I’d like to write a fanfic about this AU, it’s why I’m writing this AO3 work, just writing down things I have in mind to express it.

(Although if anyone have any works or links about this AU, can you comment or send it to me? I’d love to read more!)

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Who else are we going to write first about but the protagonist of this AU!

There’s a lot of theories running around in my mind on how Simon becomes the hero here.

I know this AU comes to existence if in Finn’s (or the Canon) Perspective, the Ice King’s original identity replaces Finn’s role.

The topic of the multiverse, alternate universes and the creation of these worlds makes me think back about “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake”.

Now, I’m still confused on the order of events in Adventure Time:

1) Prismo create a genderbend universe and hides it in Ice King’s head, in turn making Ice King writes fanfiction

2) Ice King came up with the idea of Fionna and her world being of genderbend characters, the Ice King’s fanfiction inspired Prismo to create a universe

If it’s Option 2, The Land of Uuu might be  a universe where Ice King imagines or wish himself to be in Finn’s shoes if being the Human Hero of Ooo. Or someone (maybe still Ice King and not some other people) wishing for the character roles to be reversed.

Although I think I’m going with Option 1.

So my headcannon (and if I decide to write a fanfic about this) is that “The Land of Uuu” universe is already an authorized universe before Prismo got inspired to make a fanfiction universe.

With the head-cannon in mind, I (my mind) gotta ask, how the characters and the Land of Uuu came to be!?

Now world building is complex and breaking it apart is a grueling process as organizing hairs and making wigs are (in my perspective that is).

Good thing there’s the canon model to differentiate and spot the differences.

It’s why we start the process by tackling the basics, the protagonist of this AU, Simon.

Now we know Simon is supposed to be from the 20th century, not wandering the wastelands thousand of years in the future after the Mushroom War.

So how? Finn is supposed to be the wandering human.

My initial theories are time-travel.

I mean Simon’s field of interest is discovering and tackling about origins or history. Archeology, that is in canon.

Although in Steeldragondown‘s work, Simon’s expertise focuses on thief work.

Now I don’t dislike the idea of this expertise, although it’s somehow at odds on what I read in Wikipedia. In fact I really like it, me being a fan of phantom thieves/magician thieves/heist works myself. “Now You See Me” movies being my favorites.

Still, the thing about Simon as a professor in Archeology with focus on magical objects makes my mind comes up with a lot of fanfic ideas that I’m surprised I haven’t seen a lot of fanfics out there having ideas similar to mine, but I’ll discuss that in another work, focus on Reverseworld first!

I have to re-read the works of Steeldragondown  and Shwoo 

to ensure I got the origins right or rather the arrival of Human Heroes in their respective lands in their world. (Although if I got the information wrong, just tell me, I kind of skim read the stories.)

Simon was found by a family of penguins as a baby like Finn was found by a couple of dogs, Joshua and Margaret.

That leaves the question of where baby Simon came from:

1) From a gathered civilization of human, descendants of those who survived the Mushroom War a thousand years ago, like Finn

2) Time Travel Theory. Simon’s parents or baby Simon got in contact with something, a time machine or an artifact that cause baby Simon to be transported to the future. 

 2.a - Simon’s parents wanting to keep baby Simon safe, deciding to sent the baby first before sending theirselves.

2.b - Accidental Time Travel 

3) Cryogenic State

3.a - Military or something secret intelligence service experiment to preserve humanity (like Mei from Overwatch)  

3.b - Got into an Iceberg like the Business Man from Adventure Time S1E8, episode “Business Time”  

4) Mushroom War happened much more earlier in this AU (connected to Section 3 and 4 from the sentences or sections above in this list)  

4.a - Military is more focused in the last years of the age of humanity, more obvious militarism and dictatorship like Japan in early 20th century and having a lot of unethical and nebulous experiments like in World War 2, you know, Science Fiction most commonly seen and explored in SuperHero Comics  

Inspiration for Section 4: 

King of a Thousand Years byMercuryHomophony

”Chapter 4: What if. . . Warren landed in Founder's Island?” in Tales of Prismo byJabbhira2001

4.b - Simon the Human/Hero in this AU faces challenges that are much more militaristic or consists of mind games or politics unlike Finn’s interactions with other humans

In summary, I’m still on the go for Simon to be originally from or born in 20th century.

And in the perspective of Fates, his interest in Magical Artifacts already cemented his destiny to be involve in “Adventure Time” adventures or events.

Simon is like the OG adventurer, y’know. He’s the one who goes and find the Enchiridion and Evergreen’s crown.

He’s already fated to be involve even if others see him as this ordinary average human in the fantastical world of Adventure Time.

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But which Finn am I talking about?

(Canon) Finn the Human from the Land of Ooo?

Or FinnIce, the Ice Prince and wearer of Evergreen’s crown in this Reverseworld AU.

How about both of them?

Initially, this chapter after Simon, should be about Gunther the Penguin, or Orgalorg.

Though I’m sure we could be more patient before tackling the topic about him (especially as a primordial entity).

So Finn the Human. How did he become the FinnIce in this AU?

Is he a thousand years old like Ice King (Simon) in canon? 

Or he has the same origins like Finn the Human Hero of Ooo? Y’know, being the only son of Minerva Campbell and Martin Mertens, descendants of humans who survived the Mushroom War and living in islands away from Ooo.

(I don’t know about you guys, but there’s an ironic charm or twist of Simon being skilled in thieving ways while Finn’s father has history of being a con-artist. I’m rather a fan of literature with Robin Hood esque or stories about crimes and criminals... now I’m thinking of writing a fanfic where Finn grew up with his father and his father’s con arts.)

Before writing this work, I actually have no theories to fit on how Finn become the wearer of Evergreen’s crown in this AU.

And if Shwoo written about FinnIce’s origins or something similar like Ice King’s Secret Tapes like in the Episodes “Holly Jolly Secrets” in Season 3, I wouldn’t know since I sort of skim reading the whole work.

And if FinnIce has a similar origins with Ice King (that is existing in the 20th century, living life pre-Mushroom War, and finding the crown in some dock in Scandivania) I’ll be mad, or just plain annoyed that the (fictional) universe just reverse the people or timeline displacement.

It’s not just an exciting as a concept if Finn and Simon has too much similarities and origins in this AU. It’s too plain and something not worth to look for me when I already know the origin storyline (from canon media) anyway.

Plus, Finn and Simon are two different characters, Finn being an extrovert and not one to read books in his free time and Simon being an introvert and having reading as a hobby (I consider myself an omnivert, since I do enjoy extravertive activities, although I mostly do introvertive activities, another reason why I enjoy the Reverseworld AU, to see a nerdy character go on Adventures like Finn, being a hero and all.)

I read in Wiki:

Strauss said that "If the Ice King is Ward's dark side, then Finn, the show’s 16-year-old protagonist, is his light side."

(Neil) Strauss is an American journalist, he comments this about Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time.

Which is really interesting to take note of. Here’s the rest of the paragraph I copied from Wiki:

Neil Strauss of Rolling Stone noted that the character bore some similarities to Ward, including his "Trotsky glasses", his large beard and his strong desire for social interaction.

I don’t know much about the creator of the show, since I just became a (newly-addicted) fan just last month.

Still following the headcannon idea I have for the AU, Simon originally from 20th century and Finn in 30th or 31st century (a thousands years difference).

Finn was with his father, Martin Mertens, living in some islands away from the Hub Island and found the crown...

That just leaves the question of how he knows Jake and has obsession with dogs.

While writing the last chapter (Chapter 1 where I talk about Simon and some origins), a theory slowly formed in my mind.. time travel, time displacement... so on and so forth.

What if... Reverseworld AU was created because of something similar that happen in Season 4 Episode 24 “The Lich” or the first two episodes of Season 5 “Finn the Human” and “Jake the Dog” where we explore the Farm-world AU due to Finn’s wish for the Lich to not exist.

I got this idea of “What if... Finn goes to the past pre-Mushroom War?” 

There’s a lot of things he could do in pre-Mushroom War like learning more about Human, the life before the War, meeting Patience St. Pim, and also, meeting Simon and maybe prevent him from wearing Evergreen’s crown.

Heck, he could go and live his “Davey” life here. That fanfic The True King of Ooo byWriter_of_the_Future gives me a lot of ideas.

... This idea gives me vertigo. No linear point and a lot of hows and whys, it’s the reason coming up with theories is such an exercise though. 

At the time the idea appeared in my mind, I was thinking along the lines of Finn intentionally or accidentally hoping Simon as a Hero would do better and replacing their original roles because a lot of stuff happen (Jake dying, Time Displacement, no hope of returning the world back to the world canon Finn known his whole life... etc.). Seeing the new future (the Reverseworld AU) looking more like a dystopia (what with Monster Kingdom and Junk Towns and more of realistic post-apocalyptic world if lovecraftian and fairy tale creatures came true, with Humans out of the picture, Mermaids or Ocean Sentient Creatures are thriving and having civilizations), he might think Simon is a better fit in this world than him... I don’t know, like I said coming up with this time displacement theory makes my mind swirl like motion sickness.

Though, if you guys have any theories of how the Reverseworld AU came to be (especially with the Reverse Roles Simon and Finn had going on), that’ll be awesome! 

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In canon, Gunther is the name of the dinosaur that serve Evergreen. 
When he wears the crown, its magic grants the first user their deepest wish.
Gunther the Dinosaur’s deepest wish turned him into into his own, twisted perception of Evergreen.
A mad man with large beard, the abilities of ice elementals, and a temperamental nature.

Later, the primordial being Orgalorg, who turned into a penguin in Earth was found and kept by the latest host of the crown, Simon Petrikov or known as Ice King. 

Steeldragondown and stitchedmoon (in Tumblr) are the creator of this Adventure Time AU back in 2013.

In 2013, half of the Season 4 episodes are already aired and the truth about Orgalorg was only revealed in Season 6.

It’s obvious what the creators had in mind for the AU is for Simon and Finn to have reverse roles.

And what I had in mind here by creating this work is to make this AU work by still basing on Adventure Time canon facts, and that is the story of how Orgalorg become a magical talking penguin and adoptive brother of Simon.

I mean sure, I could have it in mind that Jake is Orgalorg in this AU since this is just fan fiction anyway, but still!

This starts when I read “Chapter 4: Simon the Human/Gunter the Penguin” from Reverseworld Stories by Shwoo

When I read the part where Gunther got confused on why when Simon wear the crown, he (Simon) calls Betty “Gunther”.

So I got to thinking (‘cause Shwoo seems to be trying to stick to canon facts too like me here trying to come up with theories by sticking to canon facts like the fact gravity is reality in Earth), Gunther the Penguin here might also be adopted like Simon.

The only question here is, how Gunther got the name “Gunther” as a penguin when he only got that name because of Ice King (the curse of the crown turning the host into a twisted version of Evergreen who always shouts at his dinosaur assistant named Gunther)?

The theory I come up here is that Simon and Gunther’s penguin parents got the Gunther name from somewhere.

Which brings me back to the origins of the crown... that “What if, Gunther the Dinosaur didn’t wish to be like Urgence Evergreen, but the power and  knowledge to command the ice, frost, and cold?”

”What if in this AU, Gunther becomes an immortal wearing the crown until stole it from him, so there’s only two wearers of the crown in this AU?”

Remember the time-displacement theory I have in the previous chapter, on how Finn goes back to the past and changes the events?

So the Land of Uuu becomes a copycat version of the Land of Ooo that Finn remembers and know his whole life!

So it’s still similar to the “Finn the Human” and “Jake the Dog” episodes, Finn sought to solve problems (in canon, wishes for the Lich to never exist, and my theory in this AU, for him to go to the past and change the course of events) and ends with him being the victim of the crown.

Or lets just go with the theory where he just found the crown, got the idea to wear it, and got cursed.

This should’ve been an Orgalorg/Gunther theories chapter, but I got sidetracked.

But frankly, I got no more idea on how Orgalorg got the name “Gunther” in this AU.

Comment on what you think about the theories I have or any theories you come up with.

Thank you for reading!

Hit Kudos ❤️ if you like it!

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I’m still rather confused on some things about Jake’s biological shapeshifting father.

Here’s a wiki about him:

https://adventuretime.fandom.com/wiki/Warren_Ampersand 

But I got the gist of it. Warren arrives in Ooo in order to find a compatible creature to bear an offspring of his, I guess.

Then he infected Warren with his “venom” and from that bite, Jake was born.

I rather like the interesting parallels between Orgalorg and Jake’s origins to be from outer space, out of Earth.

I don’t have a concrete or solid theory for Jake this time, no matter how I try to use my brain juices again since I last updated here for days.

I mean, in the Reverseworld AU Fanfics from Steeldragondown  and Shwoo 

Jake is a normal dog, like in the Farmworld Dog Normal.

Maybe like Gunther, he’s actually a not normal dog but amnesiac normal looking Earth creature.

Then later shown that the cute pet of the super villain is actually evil. I mean, look at Warren Ampersand, he’s all cackling and manipulating Jake in the episode “Jake the Starchild”.

Maybe Warren will show up and infect one of FinnIce’s Jake-lookalikes and make one of those Jakes looking like the Jake the Dog in canon.

(Maybe a month later after relaxing my brain uses, rewatching the episodes again and slow reading the fanfic from Shwoo will get me going.)

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June 9, 2025

I just got from rereading one of the available Reverseworld AU fanfics out there, and I guess waving the white flag of defeat or giving up might be better.

I mean I know Reverseworld means what it means, Reverse, of roles. 

Finn and Simon exchange roles.

Simon become the only Human Hero in the future post-apocalyptic world.

Finn become the cursed ice wizard, and was a normal guy from 20th or 21st century pre-Mushroom War. 

Bonnibel and Marceline exchanged roles too.

Marceline became a regent and looking over her kingdom and its citizens.

Bonnibel, still a scientist, got free reign of her time, living like a hermit, freelance hobby experiments.

But could you fault me?

I’d like to stick by facts. Canon Adventure Time facts.

Bonnie and Marcy’s exchanged roles is easy to comprehend.

But Finn and Simon, are two people who came from two completely different timeline. 

Im canon, they have their own stories and origins that is their lives. These lives of theirs shape their characters. 

It’s rather bitter for me to swallow it, like to completely disregard the characters I’ve known and the facts that details their characteristics.

Maybe I’m like Bubblegum here, liking science because of facts and disregarding  the magic people around believed as, and me trying to ground that “magic” into what I know as facts.

I mean look at Betty here in Reverseworld AU. She’s a mermaid princess here!

Although, now that I write this, my brain is cooking up another theory of why an ordinary human lady is born as another species in another world.

But even then, I’ll still write my so called theories here.

It keeps me entertained and my brain running (and ignoring life problems).