The very idea of beloved cartoon characters being consumed by a multiverse crossing Eldritch Abomination is tragic within itself. Regardless of the show's genre, age rating, or established stakes, no one can fight it on its own, with beloved characters like Finn and Jake, Fred Flintstone, and Mystery Inc. (among countless others) being consumed and turned into grotesque parodies of themselves.
Pibby's gradual loss of innocence is tragic in and of itself. She begins as the sweet, innocent host of a cartoon for small children, only for an Eldritch Abomination to invade, ruin her world, and force her to mature quickly as she grapples with the horror of the scenario. The trailer strings together several scenes to show her progression: she goes from innocently wondering what "red water" is after receiving an eye injury that causes her to bleed to leading an army of cartoon characters against the antagonist, sword in hand, with a following scene showing her wiping blood off her mouth without a second thought. Her change in looks resembles an Innocence Lost variation of Sanity Slippage: First, her hair starts unraveling a little but she still acts like a child her age, she loses her eye and her childhood purity starts slowly falling apart and by the time she lets her hair down she isn't a child anymore, not at heart, she's a Shell-Shocked Veteran who wants this war over yesterday. It's heartwrenching when you think about it.
The announcement in October 2023 that this show hasn't been greenlit yet, nor will it ever be released anytime soon, can count as this, as many fans were devastated that they wouldn't see what would've been an amazing series.
Trailer:
After escaping from The Darkness, Pibby comforts BunBun and reassures him that she'll always protect him... Smash Cut to The Darkness consuming BunBun, Pibby unable to do anything as BunBun cries out for her.
For one second, we see Pibby tearing up as she sleeps with Melira. This shows how much Pibby has been through so far, and it is clear that she's overwhelmed by everything, especially since she lost her home and her friends.
Adult Swim's 2022 April Fools:
Throughout the night, Pibby, BunBun, and the Darkness make brief appearances in the programming and idents. The last show of the night, Joe Pera Talks With You, had nothing happen until the ending credits, however. As the episode in question was "Joe Pera Reads You The Church Announcements", the scene was just an empty snow-covered roadside outside the church. As for appearances, there were no corruptions and BunBun appears to be missing, leaving just Pibby walking through the snow alone, whimpering and shivering. After all the havoc that occurred with each cameo up until then, this is quite a tragic and low-key sight to end on, even if it's juxtaposed against the upbeat "Baba O'Riley".
The worst thing about it is that Joe Pera would probably be the most suited for Pibby and BunBun to be since it was by far the least hostile of the shows they ventured through (that particular episode's subject is also ridiculously common in children's series). Unfortunately, by this time BunBun had already been corrupted and Pibby had lost too much of her innocence.
During a bumper, Pibby suddenly appears and shakes the camera begging for the viewer to help and frantically wondering why they aren't saying anything. Pibby is from a preschool cartoon; the kind that always addresses the kids at home ala Dora the Explorer. She still expects the kids watching to talk back to her here, but this is Adult Swim; all the kids who would watch her show are fast asleep. The only ones who would be watching are teenagers and adults who've long grown out of her type of cartoon which adds an extra meta-layer of sadness on top of it all. Not only is she lost in this very child-unfriendly world and BunBun is being corrupted by the glitch wave, but she's now staring down an entirely alien audience to her that's as confused as she is at best, or gleefully watching the madness unfold at worst. She's truly all on her own out there.
The network signoff for Adult Swim that evening featured a goodbye song from Pibby herself which is most likely the ending song of her own show. While it plays, the signoff is glitching out to a terrifying degree. The song takes on a somewhat melancholy edge when you consider the last we see of her before this is her wandering through Joe Pera Talks With You all alone, having lost BunBun entirely. The song is meant to be a farewell to the kids, but it comes across as a hauntingly lonely song that needs to truly be heard.
