LEMONGRAB: A Character Study 

Genuinely interesting character stuff aside, Lemongrab signing letters with "How dare you," instead of "Sincerely," is so fucking funny

I love how Princess Bubblegum tell Lemongrab that its creepy to watch people while they are sleeping but catches LemonGrab in the act by using cameras that were aleady installed in everyones rooms.

I always watched adventure time casually without thinking of the greater meanings, Never realized how insanely deep it could get for a kids show

Now I just remember one detail that may " explain " PB relationship with LG. PB herself has a brother, Ned, and he is " special " He cannot interact with other people at all and lives under the kingdom with the only thing that can calm him except her. When asked she says " People are born different, we just have to accept it ". Lemongrab was born that way, and knowing her she would try again and again to get it right. But Lemongrab stayed with the same traits, so she just acknowledged them as what he is and what does she do ? Puts him to live alone, maybe in her mind it was what he wanted, just like with Ned's This shows that PB didn't just view LG as a experiment but his own person, and with this in mind her actions take another turn. She never aims to destroy him but to help him, he is not only one of her creations but his own individual in her eyes

I've always found the most disturbing episodes of the show were the ones where Lemongrab is cannibalizing his lemon people and even his twin brother. His kingdom straight up looks like a prison, and there's that one scene where one dude hops the wall only to be spotted, captured and eaten. The way Lemongrab progressively gets larger throughout those episodes unsettles me everytime.

Lemongrab's "line" in the finale "Unmake me" must have been the best thing he has ever done

The lemon toilet at 15:29 being a juicer is hilarious 😂 adventure time creators were always so good at adding details like this

13:23 the fanart😭😭😭😭😭😭

Candy kid: “Calm down, Lemongrease!” Lemongrab: “I-I AM NOT GREASE!!” *years later* Lemongrab in the mountain: “I am grease.”

30:15 "Yo yo, it's grease" as a final line for Lemongrab truly emphasizes how he accepts himself and is now whole.

i love how lemongrab refers to himself as 'Fat Lemongrab' instead of just 'Lemongrab' "LOOKING FOR SOMETHING? WELL YOU HAVE FOUND ME! FAT LEMONGRAB!!!"

"If you are the head that floats atop the ziggurat, then the stairs to you must be infinite. Infinite stairs, ARE, *UNACCEPTABLE!* " I always thought that line went so hard but never really understood why it was so memorable to me. Now, after properly reflecting on it, it's definitely up there with my other favourite Adventure Time scenes. Y'know, because no action yells "i accept myself" louder than murdering a primordial, sentient cult-being with the physical reminder of one of your subject's selflessness.

If Lemonhope is so unempathetic, then why is the suffering of his people weighing on his mind, to the point where it's an active burden?

Honestly this is all PBs fault. She raised Lemongrab to be an unlovable sack of crap, she gave into his every wim and tantrum and then she saw Lemonhope and was like "wow thank god I don't actually have to do anything about my mess I'll just send this literal child to deal with my problems" I can't tell if PB is just a bad character, or if the writers really wanted to make her into a monster.

As a person on the autism spectrum, I see a lot of parallels between the lemon people and my peers on the spectrum, including the variety of ways that it can interpret itself, yet still being fundamentally what it is(lemonhope being “more normal” from the other lemon people, but still lacking empathy ), and also some common symptoms in lemongrab such as a desire for control, and a hard time expressing a range of emotions.

I love the philosophy and inner stories/self of these characters. I’ve always wondered if the creators of these franchises thought out the stories as deep as the people dig to find the lore, or it just comes naturally when building upon the characters.

Lemongrab was the single most interesting thing about adventure time to me and it blows my mind that nobody cared about his story and everyone just saw him as the dumb screamy guy that was in a few episodes

Fun fact the line "Nadie me quiere, todos me odian" is actually a nursery rhyme. So it was more used as an easter egg for laughs rather than lemon grab's true feeling.

Most of Lemongrabs problems pretty much started because of Princess Bubblegum, from making him, to abandoning, to straight up leaving blueprints to make more of himself in HIS KINGDOM!

I also think its worth mentioning he is shown to have a somewhat stable relationship with lsp in future episodes also showing his growth and ability to accept love from others. Especially someone like lsp whos equally weird and incompatible with others in her own way. When he starts getting stressed at thier picnic because something is off to him he as politely as he can basically says "thanks but i have to leave now" instead of immediately turning violent like lemongrab 1 probably would have . Also him smiling in the finale as hes having the picture above his bed painted to be something he enjoys and wearing a catchers mitt seems to further show hes content and comfortable with his life at that point

5:13 whoever drew PB like that did not have to draw her like that

I think Lemonhope going to the room made for him symbolizes his growth to be willing to accept kindness. He probably spent many years doing his best to not "get into debt" emotionally, not helping others on a wide scale and not accepting help on a wide scale. By coming back to the room given to him by those who cared about him, i think it shows he's matured and grown enough to be willing to accept kindness and possibly give kindness, regardless of the impact on his freedom

forgot how much certain episodes of AT scared me as a kid. It was mostly fun, but the lemongrab episodes made me feel weird in a way I couldn’t understand. Now I have a huge love of gothic horror and I think AT definitely influenced this!

You did not need to do that. 13:20

Adventure Time has such stellar writing. Criminally underrated. More people should watch the series.

the lemonjons being selfless is the perfect reason as to why they destroy mathew. i've been so confused about that until now. thank you

lemon grab is not the first candy person created by pb, we learn that she started out making her own family (uncle gumbald aunt lolly and cousin chicle) in the episode bonibel bubblegum. The reason why lemon grab gets the kingdom when pb is 13 is because she made him an Earl. Which is the highest title given to a candy person by her, he has his own land and everything. the candy kingdom is very well established before Pb makes Lemon grab so this disproves that he is the first candy person made.

Something that I think is overlooked here is how the new combined Lemongrab, along with his subjects, sports an outfit with gray and accents of both black and white, symbolizing the combination of the two Lemongrabs. I just thought that was a cool detail. Also combined lemongrab probably looks better after initial reconstruction because the lemon tissues learned to cooperate and blend together after some brief physical therapy.

This also puts his and LSP’s presumed relationship into perspective. Once he’d slightly normalized, in his own special lemony way, I guess it makes sense that he’d eventually attempt to make a special connection with somebody in the romantic sense. To mixed results of course, he IS still an oddball, but to results nonetheless.

Incredible video! I disagree on a few points, mainly surrounding places where I think PB was wrong. First, I think lemonwhite disproves PB's idea that lemongrab was a "mistake" or a "failed experiment." Lemonwhite is a good person, and so the only reason lemongrab wouldn't be is because of how PB treated him *after* creating him. Second, I never felt like it was tragic that lemonhope didn't change. He's a kid who's been through a lot, and now that he's finally free this immense responsibility is being heaped on his shoulders for unclear reasons. Where Finn and Jake would normally handle something like this, PB has for some reason decided it's Lemonhope's job. She gets into his head with this concept of destiny and he ends up unable to escape it. PB creates candy people ready made for a specific role and then they follow that role, and she sees nothing wrong with it. It makes sense that she would see this kid named lemonhope and decide that he has to live up to his namesake. He was created for this purpose and so he must fulfill it, and he doesn't get a say in it. When PB tries to complete the hero's narrative she's writing for him by making that bedroom for him, I find it cathartic that he says no. He's just a kid, he never deserved to be forced to be the hero he didn't want to be. He deserved the freedom to self-actualize, to make his own path, rather than follow the one PB was laying out for him at every turn. I think this is why he only goes back to sleep in that bed far in the future, once the candy kingdom has seemingly fallen to ruin and PB is presumably gone. He does want that bedroom, but only once it's finally his choice. He might have been happy to play the hero if only nobody had tried to make him do it

its overwhelming how this story of just one character in AT shows how the human conciousness works to some degree. simply genius

I love this so much. I love Adventure Time as a whole. I just love how, as a child, it just seemed like a really cool kid’s show, but when I get older I understand more of it and I’m able to appreciate and love so many more aspects of it… what a beautiful show.

One of my favorite overarching themes across multiple characters in adventure time is the malleability of a characters ethics by their environment. Many characters have a version of themselves that is immoral and moral. Lemongrey and lemon white, finn and fern, activated susan and deactivated susan, ice king and simon, magic woman and betty, to me the biggest theme of the show is showing how easily the very essence a person is, is no match for the environment. Even someone as pure hearted and righteous as finn becomes evil and corrupted in 2 of the 3 timelines we see(fern and farmworld finn)

Fun fact: When lemongrab says “Nadie me quiere, todos me odian”, it’s most likely a reference to a little “children’s” song we have that talks about how no one loves me and eating a worm… Don’t question it

not gonna lie but the Lemongrabs were my favorite characters. They were just so hilarious and creepy. (also the "MMMMN" in the letter is literally so funny)🤣 This was also A LOT of interesting backstory that I didn't know about! I LITERALLY watched ALL of it.

I always felt bad for Lemongrab. He didn't ask to be the way he was and honestly wanted to understand what everyone else saw in others that he was incapable of seeing. As a neuro-divergent person, I could relate to some of his struggles and you did a great job exploring the depth of the character. 👍

I don't remember adventure time being disturbing, but then again I watched this show when I was pretty young. Watching your video made me realize this show is really well done and wasn't your average kids cartoon

I love the extremely helpful content warning on cannibalism with the timestamp that just fast tracks you into seeing him eaten 14:11 for anyone actually looking to skip it

13:14 bottom right. Best part of the video

I never realized all that about Phlannel! So cool. I always assumed Lemonhope was a reincarnation or reformation of Lemonjon. Because he has a functioning heart, and they both have curly hair.

We do not know for a fact that Lemongrab is the first candy citizen created by P.Bubs. In fact, after Neddy drops from the mother gum, we know she creates her aunt, uncle, and cousin. What she says, and the distinction is important here; is that Lemongrab was the first of her creations (experiments,) to go horribly wrong. It could be that the Candy Kingdom was beginning to fill up, and a _truly_ young Bubblegum creates an Earl, to relieve some of the stress from her shoulders. He could be something she creates, "just in case" she should need the support. So yeah - just remember: LG is the first MISTAKE. Not the first CREATURE CREATION. Prove me wrong!

I love lemongrab as a character, and the way his story ends is nice. He winds up denying enlightenment, instead looking into the eyes of greater forces and refusing to take part in them. That’s beautiful, in doing so he realizes he doesn’t need a greater destiny and becomes content.

Over 1 million people wanted to see a character study on this Lemon candy. Which is ridiculous. Also, great video lol.

Rewatching the show after growing up brings a whole new and deeper perspective to which your content analysis fits like a glove. Thank you!

I have always thought the episode where lemon grab is eating his twin and his people was a really good depiction of what being in a abusive relationship looks and feels like.

10:28 I disagree. Lemongrabs isn’t a “ tortured being” by default, as lemongrabs himself explains multiple times, his “ lemon way” is different from the norm. Just because lemongrabs can’t live the life you want him to live and be happy doesn’t mean that lemons can’t live a life.

Great analysis and explanation of his character and why he and others acted the way they did! I wouldn’t have understood this much on my own watching Adventure Time, thanks for making this!

You made Lemongrab my favorite character, through this video alone. The connection I feel to him is deep and it's because of how well edited and written this is

i absolutely love how you put a disclaimer about cannibalism and put the skip timestamp at 13:45, a still image of Lemongrab eating Lemonwhite lol

Lemongrab was ALWAYS my favorite character….I couldn’t put my finger on why…..but I could always feel the sadness within him as he hides it behind anger and exaggerated emotions. Such an interesting character! Thanks for this video!

I LOVE this show and your analysis was fantastic and thought provoking. I was hooked through the entire video start to finish. Thank you!

This video was so comprehensive and incredible. I have no other words. Well done

I'm going to be completely honest with you, Lavaman. You gave me a better understanding of Lemongrab, but not only that, you have helped me understand myself a bit more. Your deconstruction and careful choice of words hits hard. As somebody who is autistic and always struggled with my emotions, on top of other things, I've always kind of closed myself off and lashed out when shit happens. While I've worked to become a better human being, I cannot truly separate myself from the mistakes of my makers. My family always just kind of tossed me aside or looked down upon me, treating me as lesser while never caring to learn about me. Everybody kind of knew I was autistic but denied it through the years. I've struggled to form connections in my life, and I've always kind of felt alone, no matter how many people surrounded me. I felt like if I could create something acceptable, I'd find peace. Over the nearly 23 years of my life, I've felt this strong resentment toward those who brought me into this world, seeing my faults in my mind as a product if their failings, their choice to bring a life into this world, only to totally neglect me and focus in on my sibling. I've always felt shunned and looked down upon, my hate in my youth drove me to self-destructive tendencies, watching as everything around me crumbles with no form of support. I spent much of my life being loud and hateful, never afraid to push away those who I've only seen do harm. I've watched things die around me while I try to put a band-aid on a bullet wound, thinking that if I put a bridge over the ocean in my life, I'd find peace. I never connected the dots until now. I never really thought about how others would see me when I was a young teenager, giving up and becoming fat, consuming all that I could in a half-baked effort to feel whole. I watched as my life turned to hate me, everything around me hated me. I was deeply unpleasant back then, and I feel like a large, cancerous portion of who I am now was cut away, and I've learned that not everything I do has to be out of raw disagreement toward others. I no longer lash out and I look for simple solutions to simple problems. I don't let the small things break me down anymore, I just patch them up with what I have on hand. I'm not perfect, but I think I'm doing okay now. I'd love to consider myself a lemon.

Great analysis, it was really captivating

The Lemongrab episodes all gave me an existential crisis and this is exactly the kind of analysis I've been wanting to try to work through what this show did to me.

This was amazing, I don’t know how else to describe it. You dove into lemon grab with so much detail, this is just so cool.

Lemongrab... He made me sad, caused laughter, even scared me at times. Probably my favorite character, just for how weird and interesting he is.

i think the scene where lemongrab dances to lemonhopes poor flute playing really shows part of his mind how inverted his idea of right and wrong are how he is at a point where he hears objectively bad music and thinks its great enough he cant help but seek it out and dance to it and when hearing good music he finds it so horrible he explodes

Really well done! Lemongrab is one of my favorite characters from any piece of media and you really did him justice

What the holy schnubs boy!!! Great video!!! Incredible explanation of all the spiritual and philosophical concepts of the show, across various chapters

For some reason, I never saw the parallels between Lemongrab and Frankenstein's monster before. Parallels that I did notice were between LG and PB. They both have it in their instinct and primal desires to rule something. They are both authoritarian, with LG being more obvious, having the catchphrase "unacceptable" and immediately punishing people when things don't go his way. PB also has a strong reaction when someone suggests something that doesn't align with what she wants, immediately denying other possibilities. Because their whole lives they both learned they can only depend on themselves and no one else. They both have a strong desire to create. While LG is apathetic, PB isn't without her faults. She treats some of her sentient creations badly and throughout the show she acknoladges that she is sometimes cruel (I remember an episode in the later seasons when she told Marceline "haha sorry, that was mean. I'm trying to be less mean". And that time LG was spying on PB's citizens? Dawg, she spies on her citizens for no reason all the time! Why does she have all those cameras for, then?? AND YET, THROUGH ALL OF THIS, PB is very much "othering" the lemonpeople and keeps repeating the phrase "I don't understand you". After disregarding LG as a failed experiment, that's all she could see him as. She has so many way in which to relate to him, but instead of acknowledging them, she refuses to look at those "broken" parts of herself and puts herself above him. And that's fucked up, but I don't think she's necessarily a bad person for doing this. The theme of a creator abandoning and forgetting about their creations is not something new. Think of an artist abandoning a sketch, or a writer believing what they wrote isn't good enough. It's a normal human trait and who's to say if we were in PB's place we would have done any different? And as PB rules as god among the candy people (if you think I'm reaching, turn to the banana guards episode) so does LG think he has the same right. At the end of the day, they are two sides of the same coin

This character is so deep. I did not realize that he represented a being programmed without the ability to change learning how to accept himself and others. I honestly just thought it was a yellow guy screaming at everything because he’s a lunatic. Thanks for the analyzation.

it always suprises me how much thought series like adventure time has put into its characters, even side characters for me lemongrab was always just a funny side character that was just very selfish and couldn't understand the emotions of others

literally rewatching this masterpiece again

Not to nitpick, but he's not the first candy person, just the first one to go wrong (although maybe not even that since we know about Gumbald, Lolli, and Cousin Chicle now). And considering he's one of the very few intelligent candy people, I think that's probably where things went wrong. The only other smart candy person is Peppermint Butler who we know is very deep into the Dark Arts, so I think PB making most of her citizens dumb probably has more to do with her not wanting to repeat the mistakes she made with Lemongrab. It didn't take long for Goliad to turn either, even if that was due to Finn and Jake's teaching methods. Although if she wasn't blinded by her own hubris, she could have fully baked Cinnamon Bun who may have stayed loyal to her, although its hard to say, because by the time he met Flame Princess, he really had caught on to PB's methods.

13:39 In my country, adventure time is heavily censored in cable airings, growing up and rewatching the series, and finding these scenes really changed my perception to the series.

“i think now is a good time to talk about princess bubblegum’s neglect of lemongrab” GYAAAAATTT

Such an in-depth analysis of a tragically underrated character. Bro is way more than intense yelling for joke purposes. Thanks bruv. Subbed. On my to the jake episode!

always thought they did original/fat lemongrab a lot of disservice in his writing but when compared and contrasted with lemonwhite i guess it does reveal a lot more nuance, still think the writers didn't have to be quite so harsh on him before he became a tyrant but appreciate the perspective

I always wondered why I oddly related to OG lemongrab. I was isolated and bullied and grew up with little to no friends. It’s strange how Adventure time is such a silly cartoon on the surface but its message is profound and uncovers the subconscious is ways we don’t realize. Good analysis. I had tears in my eyes

What an amazing video, well said, I loved Lemongrabs character arc so much, he is such a complex and unique character!

You put way to much work into this, it’s so overcomplicated on a simple character. Great job I absolutely love it

Lemonhope's story was deeply unsettling to me when I first watched it. I'm so excited to hear someone else talk about it lol.

30:23 Yeah, I watch the entire thing and tears of happiness began to flow. Thank you, this is *acceptable* 🍋💖

This entire video was beautifully well done. It was a masterpiece, outstanding job ❤️

Never know he's overlooked by a lot of people. It's literally my favourite character

i never realized how much i actually relate to lemongrab. he’s always been one of my favorite characters from AT but i didn’t realize how i actually relate to him especially now. my mom liked me until i started having mental problems and she doesn’t really treat me very nice anymore. it’s gotten to the point where my entire family is starting to dislike me. i’ve started to lose trust pretty much everyone and i lash out often which causes my family to push me away even more. although i do lash out i can help but feel like it’s her fault that i’m antisocial and depressed but with everyone else on her side, i’m left alone. pretty similar to lemongrab, finding friends really helped me

5:28 Lord have mercy. We must stay focused my brothers, we must.

I really enjoyed your content I think your deep dives into characters are great. My favorite styles are longform discussions like this. so glad to have ran across this video.

I really liked this, thank you for your in-depth analysis. It’ll help me write creatively for D&D tonight

The lemon grab, and magic man arcs are my two favorite stories told in adventure time.

The regular Spanish sounding like ancient Latin sent me 💀

I remember being fucking traumatized by these episodes as a kid LMFAOOO I couldn't look away, I was just in shock, no blinking, jaw dropped, just staring, LMAO

Havent heard that DK music in soo long. Thanks for using it

The line for "Nobody likes me, Everyone hates me" is more of a Latinamericanism played for humor than an accurate dialogue, it's based off of a child rhyme that goes "Nadie me quiere, todos me odian, ya mismo me como un gusanito", the later part translating to "I'm going to eat a little worm". It's similar to the episode when Gunther had the Ice King's medallion and while in english he says "Gunther! You took my stuff!" in latinamerican spanish he says "Gunther!! Te volviste reggaetonero!! Qué deshooonra!!!", which translates to "Gunther!! You became a reggaeton singer!! For shaaaaame!!" Regardless, great analysis, very interesting!

Lemonjon: One for all Matthew: All for one

I really enjoyed this. I’ve always really thought lemongrab was a hilarious character but I never thought this deep about him. Interesting video thanks!

So many ppl think PB is a monster(not out of place, all things considered lol), but if you remember what she said about neddy; we dont need to understand him, we just need to accept it. She may have the same mentality towards lemongrab

I can't say many shows or movies haven't made me feel. But the way you clearly researched and presented a character to people like me, that haven't finished Adventure Time even now 11 years later, genuinely touches the soul. It's clear that you care about what you do and that's very admirable in this day

Literally. This is the *only* documentary I needed. Lemongrab is my favorite character, ever. I love him so much.

I really like this video, you’ve really compiled the deep meanings of adventure time really well. please make more!

>puts a warning over (minor) cannibalism that was already on the show >proceeds to show selfcest fanart

I'm still amazed that, despite being dissolved for approximately long time, Lemonwhite lived long enough to do his one last selfless act. I am sure he knew he'd die from Lemongrabs' "music death", but not just he lived to that moment, he also made the move without hesitation. What a tortured way to be a hero.

I have always been curious about Lemongrab since he has been a complicated character that is hard to understand from his perspective So i am glad that i finally found a video that gives an in-depth analysis and full background of Lemongrab, while giving insight into his perspective and mentality

Wow what a great analisis dude, I really havent put enough thought to this show and specially to this character as it needed. Thank you for this, you made me want to re-watch it (for the third time) now paying attention to all the lessons and ideal it wants to pass

I’ve never had a video weigh on me as much as this one did. Like others I also viewed lemongrab as a one dimensional character that never grew from his flaws and never though to consider how all lemon people are connected in the overall story of him. Understanding the dynamic he had with PB is the first step to view lemongrab not only a villian but a victim too. This is the best video of character analysis/show analysis I’ve ever seen. I loved this video and I hope you continue to make more.

5:20 “this is a representat🦜n”

Been waiting for this video for 10 plus years ❤THANK YOU!!!!

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO ESSAY

15:10 I've never realised that their toilets are lemon juicers. Amazing