This motivational poster is dedicated to all of my Bubbles and Princess Morbucks-loving friends, fellow artists, fans, and brethren. Sit back, relax, and soak in how surprisingly close Bubbles and Princess are as frenemies. Furthermore, do not expect any love triangles to happen between these girls, as I am sure you already know how impossibly high Princess’s standards are when it comes to boys for reasons that will also be explained.
Bubbles and Princess Morbucks may have a rivalry going on between them from the start, but more often than not, they would have probably the most civil relationship as frenemies. Why would I believe that? This is because Bubbles is the pacifist of the six-person superhero team Team Xtreme, thus she would attempt to see the best in everyone from her teammates consisting of her big brother from another mother and long-time admirer Brick, the apple of her eye Butch, her best friend Boomer, and her two “older” sisters Blossom and Buttercup to even her enemies as long as they deserve a bit of clemency. Princess, in spite of all the atrocious things she did, would not be far off from Bubbles’ list of people she can show clemency to because everyone deserves a second chance in life.
Part of their rivalry would mainly stem from Princess’s utter jealousy of Bubbles being extremely well-loved by her peers. Despite being influential and having contacts with big businesses via her extensive family wealth, the one good Princess could never acquire was a sense of belonging and community, which Bubbles had in spades thanks to the love she had for her family, her teammates, and her friends.
Princess would instigate a lot of name-calling, cattiness, and bad blood to be thrown at Bubbles on a constant occasion by insulting her euphoric nature, her tastes in overly girly stuff, and would even stoop so low into calling her a total geek because of Bubbles’ love of shojo anime and art. However, Bubbles would be unfazed at best from Princess’s taunts because they all came from an utterly petty source and that she knew fully well who her true friends are. Ergo, Bubbles would never stoop to Princess’s level of sheer cattiness and would never wish ill will to be set on Princess in any shape or form.
Sure, there were times that Princess did make Bubbles cry in terms of breaking her favorite crayons because she believed they were worthless. However, it would take the brave Team Xtreme leader Brick to call Princess off on her meanness, thus standing up to Bubbles and serve as a reminder that Bubbles was never ever alone. At least after those scenarios, Princess ended up stopping her harassment on Bubbles and decided not to mess with her when she thrashed her favorite artwork, which resulted in Princess receiving a hard blow from Bubbles’ hardcore side. Therefore, Bubbles’ undying allegiance as part of the Team Xtreme family and her tendency to let her hardcore side show with flying colors were what made Princess realize that she was more than a sum of her parts and stopped her bullying towards her.
Now we get to the point of why I believe there will be no love triangle happening between Bubbles, Princess, and a certain forest green-clad Rowdyruff Boy who has become Bubbles’ one and only man let alone the red-clad Rowdyruff Boy she looks up to as an older brother from another mother and who she had a huge crush on before realizing that his younger brother was her forever man as well as the cobalt blue-clad Rowdyruff Boy who ended up establishing a close friendship with her. The reason is simple.
Brick may have caught Princess’s eye because of his courage, determination, and large-and-in-charge personality but he found her too snooty and too pretentious to start anything with him, thus making Buttercup his ultimate soulmate, as Brick and Buttercup had a lot of things in common to the point where they ended up fully treasuring each other so much.
As for Butch, Princess may have found him really strong, tough, and the big muscle of the group, but his crude manners, brutish nature, and his impulsiveness made her absolutely disgusted and did not want to think about starting anything with this tough Ruff, which led Princess to shriek that Bubbles can have her “pit bull” of a boyfriend and Bubbles happily obliged to be with her darling Butchie because he is always there to protect her from all harm and can inspire to use her hardcore side a whole lot more, while she ensures that Butch learns how to control his anger and find more creative ways to express himself. At least Princess loved the idea of Butch and Bubbles being together to the point where she was so supportive of their endeavors as a couple.
In Boomer’s case, sure he was athletic, very talented in music, humorous, exceedingly charming, and was the lovable dumb muscle but Princess thought that he was too “cute” and too “safe” in her eyes to want anything with him. At best, he was just a harmless looker in her standards and he was much too happy attending to his darling Blossom’s every whim. Ergo, one little betrayal from him directed towards his true lady love would be akin to an automatic death sentence.
The frenemy/somewhat willing friends dynamic would come into play after their Kindergarten years, as Bubbles would still demonstrate tolerance towards Princess and understand that her world of luxury, prestige, and materialism were just defense mechanisms for wanting more power and meaning in her life. Moreover, they would really supportive in the one topic they both have in common, and that is relationships. From Bubbles’ loving relationship with Butch to Princess’s euphoria of having Jack in her life, they would go out of their way to make each others’ love lives more exciting and more thrilling than ever in the forms of formal get-togethers and fancy cultural venues. Therefore, Princess would act as a benefactress to Butch’s and Bubbles’ love life in order to ensure they lead a life of stability and Bubbles would use her creativity to design the best-looking clothes for Jack’s and Princess’s fashion line, thus having an allegiance not only based on professionalism but also on finding something in common, oodles of gratitude, and breaking each others’ walls down for good and for all.
In conclusion, Bubbles and Princess demonstrate that their brand of friendship started from petty taunts from Princess’s side which developed into finding something in common. Their friendship may be super far from perfect, but what they can have in common makes them realize how gratitude can permeate in their lives.
I hope you all enjoyed my endeavor of delving in to Bubbles’ and Princess’s frenemy relationship and I will see you in the next submission. Take care and stay safe, everybody.
Bubbles, Princess Morbucks, and the screenshot from “Stuck Up, Up, and Away” from The Rowdyruff Boys and The Powerpuff Girls belong to Craig McCracken and Cartoon Network.
