#while marcy probably does play the game to get sasha to do what she wants sometimes

[chiquite]

Calamity trio Agere Headcanons! 🐸

🍂 Anne Boonchuy

Flip.

More of an "older sister" caregiver.

Involuntary regressor (5-6 age range).

while adapting quickly to amphibia, all the new things and challenges she had to face were still hard to manage and often wore her out.

started regressing randomly in amphibia due to stress and her sudden change of environment.

hop-pop and the rest of the townsfolk acted as her caregiver/babysitters and were always keeping an eye on her, in case she were to suddenly regress and wander off alone.

Sprig was confused when Anne started more childish, but happy to be her playmate anyway.

Polly was just happy to take the older sister role for once (even though she still totally wasn't)

the first one to know about Marcy's regression and ended up being her caregiver/babysitter (and, eventually, Sasha's)

Was the last one to realize she's a regressor.

⚔️ Sasha Waybright

Vent/Trauma (Involuntary) Regression.

Was the first one to know about her regression.

Baby/Toddler age range (1-4)

Was regressing way before going to amphibia

She found it embarrassing and oftentimes repressed it (which gave her headaches and, in consequence, made her more snappy and short-tempered)

It wasn't until amphibia that she came to terms with her regression.

After a long difficult talk, Grime became her temporary caregiver.

He wasn't perfect of course (he had never taken care of a child, less of all this small)

But eventually he learned how to make her feel cared for and safe (which is exactly what Sasha needed).

Their cg+reg dynamic helped them form a strong bond full of trust.

Anne found out about her regression by accident.

Sasha was really scared but Anne reassured her that it was alright.

She even became her babysitter when Grime couldn't be there!

When Sasha eventually told Marcy she was so excited to have a playmate!

Anne watches over them while they're playing.

🎮 Marcy Wu

She's not much of a regressor as she's an age dreamer.

But sometimes she does voluntarily regress

Older kid (7-9 age range)

She Age-dre/age-re because it gives her comfort.

And to escape the growing expectations her parents (and the world) have about her.

When she first started regressing, she told Anne to watch her in case she'll get "too caught up in her own world" to notice what is going on in front of her.

She does it a lot (regressed or not) but Anne doesn't mind.

Loves playing videogames like animal crossing when she's on her headspace.

When she got to amphibia, she couldn't contain her excitement, there was so much to do and it was everything she ever wanted!

That's to say, she was semi-regressed the whole first day.

Lady Olivia took the role of her caregiver very quickly.

And she was so good at it too!

Well, kind of (Marcy still ended up with a broken leg after all)

Marcy really enjoyed to spend time playing simple board-games with Andrias while 'dreaming

And role-playing even when the game wasn't about that (something that big Marcy probably wouldn't do)

After reuniting with Anne, she ended up sleeping at her side, munching at the sleeves of her shirt (she will forever deny this)

And after reuniting with Sasha and talking about both of their regressions and how it had helped them, they agreed to be playmates from time to time and be there for each other more.

During playtime, Marcy, being the older kid, kinda acts as Sasha's older sister, doting and playing gently with her, while at the same time trying to do her own thing.

I like to think that, even after Marcy moved away, they were still in contact and occasionally facetime each other when one of them was regressing and needed a bit of extra comfort.

[heart-stomper]

Unspoken Trust, Unspoken Fears

Gathering my thoughts on Sasha and Marcy’s dynamic before S3 proves me wrong shows us what’s going on with these two.

It’s time to look at The Dinner and Battle of the Bands, and then use it as a guide to read the room in True Colors.

No worries! You just gotta speak their language. - Sasha, Reunion

Or in this case, know when to stay quiet. 

Sasha gets really really frustrated this episode. Like, so bad, that if that Volcakeno didn’t erupt, she might have been the one to end the friendship. Even Marcy and Grime couldn’t calm her down. But that’s the thing, before this point, they were the only ones to get through to Sasha without provoking her.

Grime keeps Sasha in line; she rolls her eyes and is clearly annoyed every time she has to hold herself back, but her willingness to keep it cool shows she ultimately agrees with Grime’s plan and sees it as the best path to success.  When Marcy chimes in, it’s with a helpful answer to Sasha’s question. She reminds Sasha of why they stopped Doing Thing by explaining how their plan failed. She avoids judging Sasha for it, and frames it as the repercussions of their actions, as a group. Marcy is on Sasha’s side, so Sasha doesn’t put up any defenses. When Sasha decides to avoid arguing with Anne however, it isn’t for Anne. It’s for the plan, for her and Grime.

Marcy has enough faith in Sasha to believe she’d never want to purposefully hurt Anne, but is careful about broaching the subject. Sasha feels attacked very easily, and will quickly trivialize or downplay things if she feels the other person is being unreasonable or doesn’t ‘get’ her.

And that is the only time Marcy speaks up besides The Big Argument. She only jumps into actual conflicts if things get too heated. Otherwise, she just lets Sasha do her thing, and lets Anne argue with Sasha... sort of.

This isn’t collaboration. It’s a hostile takeover. Why do things always have to be your way?

Now, for the bait and switch. Let’s talk about Marcy’s behavior in Day at the Aquarium and New Wartwood, and Sasha’s in Toadcatcher and Barrel’s Warhammer… while tying it all back to Battle of Bands!

You didn’t tell me you were writing a song! Let’s do it! I mean, if that’s okay with you, Sasha.

In A Day at the Aquarium, Marcy’s first instinct to Anne saying she’s going back with the Plantars is to make a plan. To show that it isn’t actually what will benefit Anne’s Goals. She doesn’t even consider opening up as an option, and avoids saying anything that could cause conflict. New Wartwood, Marcy tries to chat with the citizens of Wartwood and get to know them. But when that doesn’t work, she decides that impressing them with her knowledge and usefulness is bound to make them like her. It has to.

It does seem simpler.

Trying to win people over by claiming a plan is of mutual interest and necessary, carefully choosing which words to use, viewing relationships as a puzzle to be solved… this isn’t the sort of thing Marcy needs to do to get along with someone like Anne. It’s how Marcy copes with Sasha. Sasha lashes out and belittles bad ideas. Sasha has to be convinced the plan benefits her, suits her. Vulnerability and love aren’t enough to make her care, so Marcy does what she can to prove she’s worth being around. She might even sometimes wonder if Sasha actually likes her, or just likes what she can do for her. She rather not find out.

Whenever she’s afraid of people not liking her, or is worried that she’ll lose them, she dives right into those bad habits. She can give her opinions, but they aren’t supposed to get in the way of what Sasha wants. She’s supposed to say “That’s amazing! What do you think Sash’?” not “Let’s do it!”

Listen. There’s another reason why I’ve been training so hard. To protect the one person I know I can count on right now. You. You’re right, I already lost one friend. I’m not about to lose another. - Sasha, Toadcatcher

In Toadcatcher, there’s that scene, where Sasha looks at the BFF picture and the wind cuts off Anne for a second so it’s just her and Marcy. This is where Sasha is at. Anne might have rebelled, but when Sasha reunites with Marcy? Oh, she’ll show Anne, one way or another. They’ll get her back (like, joining the team or revenge wise, depending on Sasha’s mood.)

Listen here you buffoon! What’s it gonna take to prove that you should follow us? - Barrel’s Warhammer

Aaaand Sasha freaks out royally when she learns the two are alone together and doing just fine. On some level, she fears Anne and Marcy “getting along without her” because it means they might decide they don’t actually need her to make plans; that she isn’t necessary to have fun. In the The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers, we see that isn’t as big a catastrophe as Sasha seems to think it’d be. As time goes on, the girls do gain a healthier relationship to their feelings about Sasha, but that doesn’t mean they’d want her gone even if they don’t need her there. But Sasha doesn’t know that, she doesn’t even consider it till reuniting in The Third Temple. All she knows for now, is that she can be a bit... much... so if she isn’t in control, if her way isn’t “the best”, why would Marcy put up with her either? 

Listen. If things get too wild out here, just give me a signal and I’ll call the whole thing off. 

 For sure, teach it to us Anne. 

Every Sasha plan starts with an empty reassurance. So much of Sasha’s dialogue follows a pattern where she says stuff like “we’ll call it off” (she did not call it off) and “for sure, I don’t mind” (she did mind) that it could be it’s own game. Sasha talks the talk, until it gets in the way of what she wants.

Sorry guys, but we’re way to close to bail. I am not going back empty-handed.

It’s good. I just have a few tiny notes that I think could make it even better. ... Boom! Fiixed it! 

If they just follow her lead and let her fix it, everything will work out. They should believe in her and trust her. After all...

That’s not true! Besides, we did it. ... You’re not actually gonna throw this all away are you?

I just wanted all of us to succeed. I was just being a good friend. Why couldn’t they see that?

It all worked out, right? Percy and Braddock made it out okay even if she didn’t follow through on her promise. They won, she’s reliable. But of course, Sasha lost something more important than their belief in her abilities, she lost their trust. In Battle of the Bands however, Sasha recognizes that Anne and Marcy don’t want to follow her ambitions and will be pushed away by them just like Percy and Braddock were. So she takes it upon herself to end things, accepting that she’s lost.

Sorry it took so long.

Except this time, she manages to realize that maybe “what she wants” is to be there for her friends. Sasha’s finally had the space to relax and really think about what she wants, at least a little. This isn’t a real battle after all. Doing things her way all the time isn’t as important as she thought. Maybe she should trust in her friends more. A change of pace isn’t “wrong”, just different. It’s fun.

Sorry we lost, Sash’.

Just like Percy and Braddock, Marcy knows Sasha is capable. She understands that Sasha just wants the team to succeed. That’s why she apologizes when Grime beats them in the competition. She wants Sasha to know she appreciates what she did, but keeps it a bit indirect. She gets Sasha probably didn’t want to push them away. Marcy tried to catch herself and back Sasha up, but when Sasha had her argument with Anne, she stayed quiet. She couldn’t bring herself to go against Anne. 

That was ultimately for the best, as Sasha learned a valuable lesson. Except... She’s in too deep with the rebellion to back out now. This is the episode she’d spill the truth and give up on the whole thing, except... Grime. A part of her knows leaving would make Grime her enemy. She can’t risk that. So, she keeps going with the plan. She decides she’ll somehow win it all back. Because the thing she’s actually most afraid of, is losing another friend. 

Sorry things got a little crazy back there. You guys good? ... Sheesh, don’t be a sore loser. Look, I’m gonna stay here and get this toad regime off the ground, but I can totally send you two home if you want. Or, you can stick around and give me a hand! So what’d’ya say?

Sasha’s final offer; the last chance she’s giving the girls to stop acting weird and go back to being her obedient friends who do what she wants. Sasha lost at Toad Tower, but now she’s won. So Anne should go back to normal, she’s supposed to, like some unspoken “rule”.

And Marcy is supposed fall back in line too. The offer and apology are just as much a plea directed at her. Sasha’s trying to be generous, in her own awkward way. She has bit her tongue so far. She’s thrown a temper tantrum or two, but she hasn’t been this forward in asking Marcy for help till now. She wants Marcy to say that everything’s okay. Make it clear she doesn’t think she’s the bad guy, and that she forgives her and wants to be there for her. That they’re on the same page again. She wants Marcy to help make Anne look overly dramatic and silly for making such a big deal of all this. Sure, if Anne figures that out by herself, that’d be great, but if Marcy could just speak up.

But she doesn’t. Of course she doesn’t.

Marcy’s too busy worrying about Anne’s reaction. Knowing that she’ll be upset about this. She doesn’t dare side with Sasha, and is disappointed and betrayed that she actually did something like this. Marcy already has her own secret plans, so when she finally tries to calm things down, all she can give is a non-descript “we can still fix this”. And then, she’s once again shocked when she sees Sasha threaten Anne and the Plantars. Seeing Sasha act so willing to actually hurt people rather than just push them around... it finally hits her just how serious “tried to kill them” was. And of course, losing Anne or being sent home with her would completely mess up her own plans.

Sasha’s isn’t a vulnerable person. She’ll go on about loving her friends if it makes her look good, but she actively avoids doing anything that could be seen as “weak”. She wouldn’t dare ask Marcy to drop Anne and choose her. If Marcy isn’t speaking up, she can take the hint. She still isn’t on her side, and so she gets sent to the dungeon along with the rest of them.

Marcy accepts that Sasha has become an obstacle, but a part of her still hopes the three of them can work through all this. If they do things her way, nobody has to get hurt. She'll figure out a way hold everything together, fix everything, like always.

And then Andrias betrays her.

Yeah, what plan?

Sasha stops talking once she realizes what’s going on. Quietly fuming as Marcy explains herself. The music box, the suggestion to take it back to Andrias... that wasn’t Marcy being the sweet, supportive friend who Sasha thought she could always rely on, who believed in her... that was Marcy using her. It was never going to become their plan; Marcy never trusted her and was actively working against her. Sasha lost Anne, and she never had a chance at getting Marcy back, either. 

Sasha smacks Marcy away when she desperately tries to justify herself. She doesn’t want to hear it anymore. She’s furious that Marcy thinks they could be friends after something like this, after she’s manipulated them and claimed it was for their sakes. This whole time, her goal had been avoiding the move with her parents. And coming here has only torn them apart even worse.

Marcy reaches out to both girls. And when Sasha rejects her, she clings to Anne, hoping at least she’ll find it in her to forgive her. That she’ll understand she cares about them even if she messed up. Marcy knows they’d probably never pick her over their families or ambitions, so she told herself this place offered those things too. Made them all better people. But as she says her excuses out loud, she can’t find a single one that feels right. She was just afraid of losing them, and now, she’s managed to hurt them on top of that. 

But the thing is. After all that. Despite how betrayed and hurt and angry Sasha was, she looks like this:

Sasha realizes this must be exactly how Anne felt about her betrayal. It isn’t just an abstract “hurt” or “bad thing” anymore. She can also sympathize with how Marcy feels and why she did it, at least a little. She can’t imagine being able to forgive this, and yet... when she looks to Anne with that apologetic look, she isn’t just hoping Anne will forgive her. She’s also asking for permission to forgive Marcy. Pleading that they all still have a chance to move past this together.

[svgarpills]

Hey so I really like your work and I was wondering if you could do some fluff hcs for Marcy x reader from Amphibia?if not it’s completely ok✨

ofc! I've been meaning to attempt some stuff like this so i hope i do ok for u anon AJSDFH

Marcy HCS (fluff/gn!reader)

Also included some calamity trio friendship stuff. Probably best read as pre/non-amphibia au

__

*She plays video games with you! She's okay with any type as long as you're having fun. If you want to try something new she helps you learn the controls and find hidden secrets and easter eggs.

*If you like the same shows/animes as her, she's going to give you her entire list of personal headcanons and her favorite AUs and fanfiction tropes. She also likes analyzing characters that she relates to and finding ones that remind her of you. (probably has a kinlist /hj)

*I think she'd be nervous & flustered, but also very sweet. She rambles a lot and somehow becomes even more clumsy when she's around you. One time she tried to flirt with you and fell down an entire flight of stairs.

*You should probably carry bandages. Like...a lot. She likes the ones with cartoon characters on them.

*She rambles about you to Sasha and Anne, and talks about Sasha and Anne when she's with you. Its sort of weird when you meet for the first time and they already know so much about you, but all of you become decent friends (much to Marcy's relief. You're all very important to her)

*She's a bit awkward at first when it comes to physical contact, but she quickly warms up to the idea and gives you really good hugs. She also likes leaning against you when you're watching shows or playing games together.

*She has a hard time talking about things that are bothering her and tends to try to distract herself or go to extremes to fix the problem instead (like she did w/ the music box). It takes a while for her to fully be able to open up to you about her issues.

*She's good at remembering your favorite things as well. If you mention what your favorite flavor of something is, or say that you have something like a favorite band or Pokemon, then she tends to keep that in mind when she's buying something for you.

*She can be a bit forgetful otherwise, though. She tends to get distracted and not answer her phone, especially if she's playing a new game. Don't be too offended if she leads your messages unread, it's usually not on purpose.

*Her parents are somewhat distant, so she likes hanging out with you at other places. She often invites you to the park, or a boba place down the street, or a new ice cream shop that opened up. If you have good parents she also enjoys spending time at your house with them.

*Your dates are relaxed and usually casual, but she does try her best if it's a big event or she wants to do something special for you. She usually gets Sasha's help.

*If you're around when they have their band together, then she gets really excited if you stay to listen to them perform. She asks you how it was at least 10 times once they finish.

*She likes shirts with stupid puns on them. Don't be suprised if she ends up buying two shirts with nerdy jokes on them so you can both match.

__

Ok! I hope all of the research (put very loosely) i've been doing has resulted in halfway decent headcanons for u.

[sepublic]

I think Marcy always understood

           To give her some credit; I think it’s easier for Marcy to sometimes… Simplify and dumb things down in a sense, as part of her analytical thought process, so she can really hyper-focus. Because boiling things down to their basics can help Marcy sort of prioritize on what really needs attention and whatnot, and I think that plays into how she apparently treats Amphibia as more of an RPG than an actual, real world…

           But, I think she DOES know and acknowledge the people there as, well, people. Obviously Marcy had a bit of a learning curve and this sense of realization, but I don’t think she’s intentionally apathetic to others, nor necessarily low in empathy; 

          She still goes out of her way to save Sprig’s life, twice, the second time after she admits her own mistakes to Anne… She does try to navigate and learn around Maddie as a real person, as a stranger and potential friend who she values.

           I imagine it’s sometimes easier and tempting, even, for Marcy to just boil people down to simpler, easier things for her to understand and comprehend, because she’s not socially-versed the way Anne and Sasha are… But she’s a smart kid, and she DOES recognize that people are complex, it’s actually kind of why she tries to make sense of them in that way of hers, so she can process and analyze properly! 

          Stuff like games gives Marcy a good frame of reference to work off of, a sense of how interactions function to work from, and figure things out. Marcy probably uses media as a way to help her figure out interactions with people, and while she shouldn’t get completely mixed up with fiction and reality;

           Again, I think Marcy knows and recognizes there’s a distinction. And she uses that frame of reference of media and fiction to help her start out and begin to figure things out… Before her analytical, logical mind eventually figures out the rest. But sometimes it’s really hard to put in that effort, and scary, and there doesn’t seem to be that guarantee of benefits, so Marcy doesn’t want to take the risks and sticks with people like Anne and Sasha… I just think this is all Marcy’s way of trying to process, comprehend, and understand others in a way that makes sense to her, even if she acknowledges that this isn’t wholly accurate to real life, either.

           Which, if you take into account how Marcy is clearly autistic or ADHD, or at least undeniably neurodivergent, and how that plays into her tendency to hyper-focus and block things out, so she can concentrate… Again, I think it really is just a way for her to make sense of life and people. And unfortunately, when you put that kind of coping process and method into Marcy’s unique situation, with her desire for wish fulfillment and a fantasy where she can get away from it all, and a manipulator who takes advantage of all that, enabling it all; And it really is a situation designed to bring out the worst of someone who DOES try to do her best and learn.

           But even then, you have moments like The First Temple, where Marcy forfeits the game because her pride is meaningless compared to Anne and the Plantars, or how in New Wartwood she recognizes that she can’t just overwhelm strangers with big gestures of affection, and hope that wins them over; Which I think she actually learned from Sasha…! Marcy can and does respect people’s agency and boundaries, but I think she often finds herself in that horrible, isolating kind of situation and environment that convinces her to do otherwise, because she thinks it’s the only way she can survive. It’s enabling, all of it.

           And it sucks, because Marcy really, clearly was easily on the way of development; Her mistake in using the music box came beforeall of the growth we saw from her as a person, not afterwards, that was just when we learned about it! Obviously Marcy needed to admit about lying to Anne later on with Andrias… But again, her development after traveling to Wartwood, after the First Temple, it all occurred after that deal with Andrias. Marcy didn’t need to be emotionally broken and exposed like that, to have her trust torn apart… She was already on the way to learn, and we see with how when Andrias reveals HIS true colors, Marcy admits her fault and tries to make things up to Anne!

           It’s to the point where this girl has literally been MURDERED, and Marcy STILL feels the need to atone and be ‘mature’, which… I really hope Marcy can learn and recognize that she shouldn’t be so hard on herself, either. That she’s a kid who lacked a lot of agency, and that her efforts to do better ARE worthwhile and noted.

          She needs to be easy on herself too, I think; I don’t want to see her overcompensate to her own perceived delusions by trying to be TOO realistic and pessimistic. Marcy is allowed to keep having fun with media, she can and HAS made that distinction before, and it’s not entirely her fault that people like Andrias intentionally try to blur the lines to confuse and obfuscate her.

           Which again; It sucks that Marcy was on the obvious path to maturity and self-love, to responsibility… But she never really gets the chance to reap the benefits of that effort and growth, because her life is so brutally, suddenly, cut off by this completely outside event that blindsided her, that Marcy’s own wit couldn’t have anticipated, something she couldn’t have ever really anticipated or been prepared for. There’s stuff like the Music Box, Andrias manipulating and then killing her… And it really is unfair how the world pits itself against Marcy, who in a proper environment can and would thrive.

          And, Marcy’s whole issue is being supplanted from an environment where she feels happy and safe, that’s what led to her using the music box in the first place, so I suppose that only makes sense; Someone give her a real home for once, one that’ll last and will support her, dang it! Marcy’s circumstances keep unfairly challenging and frustrating her, messing and tearing apart her hard work, and she needs that fair chance she deserves and clearly does well with.

          Marcy was practically thrust into situations designed to ruin, tempt, and enable her worst flaws, forced into uncomfortable ultimatums that leave her desperate and alone, like her parents planning to move. It’s a situation meant to encourage Marcy to reverse her own character development, which for a kid who already has a lot of issues figuring out social cues in general, both as a literal child who’s pretty isolated and socially inexperienced, and also as someone blatantly ND-coded… And it really is overwhelmingly cruel and one-sided.

           It’s easy to do the right thing when you’re operating from a place of comfort, but in the end, a lot of what Marcy does is survival; It’s the only thing she can do to get by, it’s practically self-defense in a sense. Not to say Marcy never did anything wrong, she clearly admitted it herself… But again, the odds really are so unfairly stacked against her, with how she encounters Andrias while Anne has the Plantars, and Sasha has Grime. Marcy’s just been given a raw deal, the short end of the stick, and I want her to realize this, that it really isn’t her fault in a lot of ways, and that it’s okay in some regards that she did what she needed to, in order to survive… She did what made sense, and she has no blame nor fault for what went wrong.

[sidigtal-anim]

AMPHIBIA SEASON 2 FINALE: INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND SHIPPING

SPOILERS FOR ALL OF AMPHIBIA PRE-"TRUE COLORS" & SEASON 2B TRAILER

It's time.... I can't believe this is the final week of Amphibia before the hiatus for Season 3. We can cry about that in May, but for now we have some business to get to with Relationship drama!

DISCLAIMER: This is a shipping/platonic interpersonal relationship discussion post for the relationship between all three of the girls. All healthy ships are good ships, but I’m talking from my perspective. This is my own speculation for the show, and what I interpret may not be the crew’s intent. So I’m doing this with the knowledge that there’s a possibility that this is all speculation and not canon.

If no ships at all, or the ship you wanted did not happen in the Season 2 finale, do not blame the artists and creators for such. Many fandoms have done this and it’s possible that it will happen again. Just don’t be those people who ignore the hard work and beautiful storytelling the Amphibia crew have done and just complain to them about not doing the ship you/we desperately wanted. Harassing the crew for telling their story is a horrible thing to do. So please be mindful of that.

I will also talk about both monogamous ships and a potential polyamorous ship (which is WILD that a Disney frog isekai has one of the most potential for LGBT Poly representation). So if you're polyphobic or monophobic, this post isn't for you. (while you're at it block me.)

But let’s get started:

The Polaroid

A recurring prop used to showcase the happy memories of Anne, Sasha and Marcy. We’ve only seen two of the same Polaroid: one with Anne, and the other with Sasha. It's used to showcase the three girls' tight friendship and bond initially on Earth, and I think if Marcy shows hers, it might showcase the angst of her working for Andrias. (More on that theory in my plot speculation post.)

There is no one else to morally ship them with.

Pad Thai shippers, calm down. In a show like this, there would be a dude who came to Amphibia with the three girls and Anne or someone would fall in love with him. But like The Owl House, there is no hetero ship presented with Anne, Sasha or Marcy that aren't Amphibians. The only people we can ship the three girls with are each other, and even then Sasha and Anne's ANGST is too much for a healthy relationship at the moment. Marcy would be the only real potential option for a happy ship with Anne. (Don't attack me Sashanne shippers, just stating the facts on screen.)

"Well, romance isn't the focus of this show!" You're right. Romance isn't the focus, but the show does do romance. We've seen several times with Sprig and Ivy, and Hop Pop and Sylvia. They may not be the centre focus (which is one of the reasons I love this show) but it exists. The show has done romance several times, and if they culminate a romance with [two or all three of the] girls, it would make sense. The potential is there, but will it happen?

Romance Thread

Hop Pop and Sylvia, Joe Sparrow and Bessie, Sprig and Ivy, "Quarreler's Pass" where Hop Pop asks Anne if she has a boyfriend to fill the awkward silence: these are all romance threads/points throughout the season and it makes so much more sense to have them culminate in this finale or at least showcase an idea of further explicit queer relationship, and do the romance in Season 3.

An overarching story with these three girls has been their interpersonal relationships with one another as Sasha is controlling of both of them, and Anne and Marcy try to find their own path and reach their own autonomy. By having Marcy and Anne find themselves devoid of Sasha, they are free to be themselves.

Sasha as a Complex Character

Sasha at the current moment is not ready for any relationship with Anne or Marcy, especially with what we learn about her in “The Third Temple” in using Marcy, Anne and the Plantars to storm Newtopia. She is a major component of angst in the show, and the main conflict to Anne and Marcy's arcs. Especially with the Season “wrapping” up their angst by "Battle of the Bands", but touching on it in several episodes of the season: it seems like it's going to be thrown over to the next season. The Season 2 finale will be somehow more angsty than “Reunion” (which... how are they going to do??) and the Season 3 finale will introduce a sort of distrust arc and denouement of them realising their relationship and dynamics were not healthy. The biggest disconnect in the last episode was Sasha thinking that after she uses them to get into Newtopia safely, she can somehow control this relationship she has between Marcy and Anne.

[You might be wondering: "okay, but if their angst is doubling down this season, why do a big post on potential shipping and relationships?" Because I can and I want to. I'm just very into these adorable teenagers being in a happy relationship as soon as possible (especially if it's not hetero).]

Sasha and Marcy - Hold your horses, this isn’t a Sasharcy segment. I’m talking about the relationship and interactions between these characters themselves.

We haven’t yet seen how Sasha and Marcy interact without Anne there: similar to Season 1 where we knew who Anne and Sasha were in terms of their own characters, but in “Reunion” we saw how their dynamic was and how that played a great influence on the Battle of Toad Tower. I think “True Colors” will delve a little into that with perhaps a flashback.

Another similarity and difference between the two is that Marcy is willing to give up her hyper fixated goal for the people she cares about. We see it in "The First Temple" where Marcy is willingly forfeiting the game to save Anne and the Plantars from the harm of the Temple. While with Sasha, we see in "Barrel's Warhammer" that she is persistent in going through with obtaining the Warhammer, even at the cost of the people around her. In this instance, Percy and Braddock. I definitely think that Marcy and Sasha are two foils while still being similar overall. If Andrias' plan means risking Anne and Sasha, I think Marcy would very quickly try to undo it and help Anne.

One theory I saw floating around was in "Reunion", Sasha forgot it was Anne's birthday, and so she sent Marcy to find her a gift while she distracted Anne with all the "fun birthday" stuff. I think perhaps we'll see some more of that, to showcase their relationships as a second chapter to "Reunion" where we see their dynamics. Or it could just be a Season 3 thing.

Anne and Marcy

Something I really like is a post made by @pyroclastic727. They talk about how Marcy and Anne were other-ing each other when I’m their relationship with Sasha. As much as Anne and Marcy cared for each other pre-meet-up, Anne in Season 1 focuses on Sasha. And of course who wouldn’t? Sasha is a force to be reckoned with, and last such an impression that we were terrified of who Marcy was going to be before we met her. I recommend checking their post here for full context.

One thing I am interested in that will probably be a Season 3 flip is how Marcy and Anne met. They seemed to be friends since they were babies, there isn’t really an understanding of where their relationship started. It could be they were best friends, but they started othering each other once Sasha joined them. But now, they’re high tier solid friends again.

The major thing Sasha isn't accounting for is the fact that Anne has changed and grown over time. She's not the exact same girl from Earth, she has grown and changed. Become better and able to stand up for herself. Sasha and Anne's relationship seems to be more angst driven than it was in "Reunion". (HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???)

THE ARC OF WOMEN LOVING WOMEN

Now that the general stuff is out of the way, let's dig a little deeper into the arcs of the three girls these two seasons so far.

101B - “Best Fronds” - We see Anne’s relationship with Sasha, and how she manipulates Anne and Marcy to do as she says. I’ll talk about this a bit more in the “Barrel’s Warhammer” section from Sasha’s POV, but this is big stuff.

110 - “Toad Tax” + “Prison Break” - These two episodes tie in Sasha and Anne’s angst for the season. It directly ties in two plot threads that are very prominent in ”Reunion”: “Toad Tax” with Anne’s progression as a character and her connection to the people of Wartwood, while “Prison Break” shows Sasha willing to do what it takes to get back home and find the other girls. This is the main plot of the season 1 finale, where Sasha helps Grimes to get what he wants in order for her and Anne to find Marcy and get home, even if it means killing off Hop Pop since he’s a frog and according to her, he doesn’t matter.

119B & 120 - “Anne of the Year” + “Reunion”

There's so much to unpack here. But this is a major moment in Anne standing up for herself, Sasha's "sacrifice", and the future of their relationship hanging in the balance. This is the main trigger for the Sashanne dynamic, the toxic and angst driven story. The end of Act 1 of this 3 act story.

201A - “Handy Anne”

This is an essential episode. The premiere immediately starts off with mentions of Sasha in the events of the Battle for Toad Tower. In addition to Marcy being mentioned only a few moments later. Clearly Anne isn't over the events of Toad Tower, but she's pushing forward and trying her best to move on positively; especially with trying to find Marcy, her third and final friend sent to Amphibia.

204 - “Quarreler's Pass” + “Toadcatcher”

As I said, the Hop Pop/Anne B Plot in "Quarreler's Pass" where Hop Pop tries to fill the awkward silence by asking Anne if she has a boyfriend is very telling of their relationship. But what I find interesting is as soon as the episode ends with Hop Pop saying, "Now we can talk about Anne's boyfriend again." And he gets shoved off the cliff. We immediately go to Sasha. We could have had any other episode with Sasha, but why the one immediately after discussing Anne's romantic life? We know the show likes to tie in plot threads through A and B episodes, so it's a possibility!

"Toadcatcher" is all about the Sashanne angst from Sasha's perspective. She tries to distract herself with training, but Grimes points to her that she's afraid their relationship will never be the same again. Sasha also reveals that she has been training to protect Grimes, the one person she can count on right now. After the fight with Yunan and making plans for storming Newtopia with a Toad Army, Sasha says, "It's not over between us. Not even close." Which just highlights their angst arc for the Season. We'll touch more on it in the B segments of 217 and 218.

206 - “Marcy at the Gates”

Here's the thing about this episode. We touch on Sasha and Marcy in the F-Wagon, and then we speak more on Marcy than Sasha. Something Anne says in the beginning with Sprig: "Look, Sasha and I might be going through a rough patch, but that doesn't mean I don't care about her." It shows Anne still cares about Sasha, and she wants to continue their relationship in a healthy way moving forward if possible. If not, then it's something she's willing to let go.

The rest of the episode is a Marcanne fancam people. So much love for Marcy, some suspicion of her from Sprig. But in the end, she's loved by all. If you don't love Marcy, you're a monster. A key reaction in this episode is wariness in the fandom: after Sasha, everyone was terrified and unsure who Marcy is and if she had a similar trait. But she’s amazing and a wonderful nerd.

Something I did find interesting in the Rebecca Rose interview that Matt Braly (and creator of The Owl House Dana Terrace) is that Braly said Marcy was the most important key to the whole show: if the audience don't love her in the first few minutes of her introduction, the entire show would collapse. What is so vital about Marcy that would cause the entire story to collapse? Is it the romance or the plot? Is it the overall arc or what?

207 - “Scavenger Hunt” + “The Plantars Check In”

Marcy and Anne episodes, with Anne feeling insecure about Marcy and Marcy feeling envious of Anne's social skills and befriending the people around her. It solidifies their dynamic and doubles down on Marcy being the cutest and greatest character of all time.

210A - “The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers”

This is a heavy episode for Sashannarcy. Although not seeing Sasha since "Toadcatcher" and we wouldn't be seeing her until "Barrel's Warhammer", this episode does good to remind the audience of Sasha's presences and lasting effect on the girls. Anne talks about Sasha as though she still wants them to be friends if possible to continue their relationship in a healthy way.

The episode does more so focus on Anne and Marcy in the sleepover, but Sasha's presence is still very strong, enough that you feel her presence looming over them. It's not healthy, but it's part of the healing process.

210B - “A Day at the Aquarium”

This is where alarms were set off about Andrias. His proposition for Marcy directly after she tells Anne to go with the Plantars back to Wartwood really does create a new dynamic. So far, it seemed as though Marcy really wanted to have her friend around her. She had no one from Earth until Anne came, and it seems as though she can't reveal informal secrets and insecurities to King Andrias or Lady Olivia. It is a real victory to have Anne go with the Plantars to Wartwood, but Marcy is left without her friend and Andrias takes advantage of that. It's still very unclear what his plans with her are, but that's just the other shoe waiting to drop.

214 - “The First Temple”

Marcy is wonderful. We see flashbacks through Anne's perspective as we see Marcy's issue of extreme hyper fixation not allowing her to pay attention to her surroundings. This was in "Marcy at the Gates", but it doubles down here. It even shows in the Temple where Marcy seems to be so into all the trials that she is unable to see the Plantars being squished, burned or smashed to pieces as a result.

I mentioned this as a comparison, but Marcy really does give up all her chances of recharging the Green gem just to save Anne and the Plantars. She gives up her hyper fixated goal just for them. Her extreme presence of empathy and care of Anne and the people who she may not have incredible emotional attachment to is what separates her from Sasha.

215A - “New Wartwood”

Directly after "The First Temple" with Marcanne development, absolutely no one saw this segment coming in hot as one of the gayest ones yet. It is an Anne and Marcy episode with a slight emphasis on Mayor Toadstool. I think I would have seen this episode as solidifying Anne and Marcy's friendship if not for that blush in the beginning of the episode. Marcy geeks out about the swamp Wartwood is built on top of, and Anne blushes at her asking for more info she learned in the town. If Anne and Marcy were "just friends" I don't think Anne would have blushed at Marcy geeking out about frog stuff. The only other times we've seen her blush is when she's embarrassed, and it doesn't seem like that's her emotional state at that moment. You could just brush it off and say its an error, but there's no way that's an error. It went through production and post-production and was locked in! There's no way that's an error!!

216 - “Toad to Redemption” + “Maddie & Marcy”

Not a lot to say here, but this is important. These two episodes are directly after "Return to Wartwood" and a while after "The First Temple". Each segment features Anne and Marcy having their own adventures, and their stories can be separate from one another. In "Toad to Redemption", Anne is helping Mayor Toadstool remain the Mayor of Wartwood and not become the head of the Southern Toad Tower. In "Maddie and Marcy", Marcy is helping Maddie with reviving a pet to life. Both Anne and Marcy are key players this season, but they each play a supporting role to people they didn't really talk to or meet previously in these segments. This shows their independence from one another, and that my friends is the sign of a healthy relationship!

217 - “The Second Temple” + “Barrel’s Warhammer”

Buckle up folks, the Sashannarcy segment we've been waiting for.

"The Second Temple" has a focus of Marcy and Anne, but more specifically Anne since this Temple was her trial. Still not sure of the exact location of the temple, but it's fine. The trials show Anne and how she cares about the people around her, how she is the "heart" of the group, and her growth from Season 1 up until that point. The deep love she has, especially at the end where she gives up charging the gem midway to save her friends who are screaming.

"Barrel's Warhammer"... yikes. This segment is perhaps the biggest insight into Sasha's psyche we've seen. In comparison to Marcy who gives up what she hyper fixates upon for the people around her, Sasha is persistent and attaches her worth to her goal. She does not like failure or losing, and I think that shows in this segment. This shows her absolute fear of abandonment and desire for complete control (which we'll talk more about in "Battle of the Bands") over the situations around her, which causes for unsympathetic actions and negative repercussions of the people around her. This episode (very late into the season) just highlights Sasha's journey further and what she needs to work on. It's not Anne and Marcy for leaving her: it's her. Her tunnel vision is shoving them away.

218B - “The Third Temple” - This episode made me feel so down on shipping. Like it’s a great episode over all, but what it means for the Season 2 finale is... angsty. Sasha fake apologises to Anne in order for her and Grimes to enter Newtopia safely for the invasion. Just as much as she understands she is doing it, her slight look of conflicted feelings at the end of this segment really does showcase how even she is unsure if she should go on with this. Sasha really does not deserve Anne and Marcy, and I think she knows it too.

219 - “The Dinner” + “Battle of the Bands”

The biggest disconnect Sasha provides is that she believes after they get the Toads to invade Newtopia, she can get her friendship with Anne and Marcy back "under control". Which I believe is the friendship they had back when they were on Earth. Sasha didn't realise how much Marcy and, more specifically, Anne had changed in their time in Amphibia. Sasha is really the only person who hasn't changed nor made solid emotional attachments to anyone other than Grimes. Anne and Marcy grew, while Sasha didn't. "The Dinner" just proves that where she is unable to have her feelings of being other-ed in their relationship. I think Sasha's fear of missing out, and not being the centre of their relationship just plays into her "Barrel's Warhammer" insecurities and problems.

While "Battle of the Bands" shows her need to be in control of everything and everyone around her, even with her realising it's very tiring. She doesn't like mindless people (like Toadie) who obey her every command, she likes the challenge of controlling people into submission. Which is very bad, but I think by the end when she plays the song she realises it's okay to let loose with help from Toadie. Even at the end when the three of them lose to Grimes, she realises that it was more fun to play with Anne and Marcy with a silly, heartfelt song instead of making it perfect and winning with a controlled performance. By the end, Sasha is controlling them because she does have the plan to invade Newtopia with Grimes. But this is just the calm before the storm.

TL;DR - I don’t think a relationship can healthily start in the finale, especially with the Sasha betrays Anne and Marcy betrays Anne plots both coming to a head. There’s no way that Sasha is going to be an immediate better person and get into a relationship with Anne and/or Marcy. There is a logic to them starting the relationship, but I don’t think it’s gonna be this season. Instead, I could see perhaps a declaration of love or some kind of coming out scene happening where someone confesses their love to the other. I don’t come to this show for shipping, but there is a logical through line as a connection to the overall story which could culminate in romance.

Either way, lemme know your thoughts and ideas! No shipping wars in the comments please, but do tell what you think? Is it happening? Is it not? Are we going to be explicit in canonising (by that I mean a confession of love or something) or saving it for Season 3? As always, let me know your thoughts!

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The First Temple or Bessie and Joe: The New OTP

Hello all you happy people! Amphibia season 2 moves right a long and it’s time for some video game shenanigans as we enter The First Temple! Family drama, snail on bird action, and outhouses await you under the cut with a recap/review with full spoilers. 

So we open with the Plantars having chocopillbug pancakes. Ironically my mom offered me chocolate chip pancakes after this and thank god for that. This is a rare treat to the point Anne didn’t even know they had choclate, and is suprisingly not strangling Hop Pop over this. Unsuprisingly he broke out the good stuff to try and make up for hiding the box and things are still VERY awkward between the two, with Hop Pop walking on Egghshells around Anne and Anne doing the same when he brings it up with both desperatley trying to avoid the subject and Sprig not helping by bringing it up a bunch. 

I like this a lot and didn’t really think about the series continuting any tension over his decision.. but should have. Partly because this is a modern animated show and most of this wonderful new wave of shows have a LOT of emotional nuance. ANd partly because this show dosen’t forget things even most nuanced shows forget: the fact the characters cause chaos and learn life lesons is outright RECOGNZIED by the show as a pattern and brought up quite often, as are the patterns that lead to it, like mostly being sprig and anne, anne’s impulsivness that sort of thing. It’s the kind of thing you just gloss over in most shows but this one lampshades to hell and back for funsies so when something THIS important happens, you’d better belivie it’s not just going to disappear. 

The tensions thankfully broken by a new arrival, as a massive sparrow shows up in the yard. “It’s a giant bird with.. books on it’s back.. what. “ Great delivery from bill there. Naturally it’s Marcy! 

I missed this little goober. Such a joy to be around, and she of course marvels over the Plantar’s house before getting back on track: She’s found the first temple.. even though she sent a letter saying that and it’s not commented on that she did. It set off the whole previous episode Marcy... you okay Mar-Mar?

That aside though it’s time for the first temple and Marcy asks for the Box, with Sprig trying to make a joke about how good thing she didn’t ask for it a week ago. 

Polly rightly punches him in the ribs... do frogs have ribs? Hold on.. okay here we go

Huh.. so they do not You learn something new every day. Well lack of ribs or no our heroes are ready.. while Marcy’s sparrow Joe is also ready TO GET IT ON. Yes really, he does a mating dance for Bessie, complete with an intersumental version of “Sylvia” from last season. God damn that bird’s got game. The only time i’ve seen more game is THIS. 

 Marcy tells him to knock it off. Look marcy your a pet owner now and as a pet owner, it’s your responsiblity.. to let your giant bird do horrifying things with a slightly smaller but still giant snail. it’s what nature intended. Nature was doing a lot of cocaine that day but we still honor her wishes. 

But anyways Marcy’s figure out something intresting about the box.. by winding it just right the gems pop out, which allows her to take one, we later find out it’s the green one, to use in the temple. So off we go with Marcy and the rest of the kids up top and Hop Pop.. screaming in Joe Sparrows claws. He’s fine. 

So while they get ready, Anne worries about the amount of puzzles and hazzards Marcy’s hyping for this but Marcy shurgs it off and gives her own big boast about how may RTS she’s beaten.. suspciously like Yuaan as one post on here pointed out. Not a huge suprise though, to Marcy she’d just be the grand hero out of one of her rpg’s and not think of how many people she probably killed or who she’s working for.. though you’d THNK given all the RPG’s both tapetop and on her switch she’s played, that Marcy would see that “the benevolent king turns out to be the big bad” trope coming. 

But Anne’s worry is not on the big bad of the show but on Marcy who has a tendency to get so in the zone she ignores the world around her, which goes from focusing on her game while helping anne get softserve leading to a mess, not letting Anne down in a play and.. Anne catching Marcy on tv as all the snakes escape from the zoo. 

Regardless our heroes arrive and while the awkwardness between anne and hop pop continues, they find a majestic temple.. and what appears to be an outhouse. Hey we all gotta poop sometimes, even people making a majestic temple.  If you don’t it comes out like this. 

So they head in and we get our first puzzle, a mysterious cube that lifts you into the air and allows you to tilt the thing around. 

Those of you wondering why I have such a strong reaction have ever never played breath of the wild or played it with a pro controller, i.e. NOT having to tilt the very thing your screen is on because Nintendo has failed to grasp that MAYBE people don’t like that, that it takes you out of the experince and that it’s really hard to focus on your screen while having to move the fucking system about. And the plantar’s getting horribly jostled around as she moves it is EXACTLY how it feels to play a puzzle requring that shit. 

Next is a color based tile dungeon leftover from Link’s Awakening DX. As marcy figures out the reds do fire and the blues do crushing... but she reads the language (And as she put earlier “Guess who learned an entire dead language?” God she’s precious. ) and finds a green with envy pun (Which Hop Pop takes offense to.. several of his friends are green.). Which is curious as given several citzens of amphibia are green.. why would they make a green pun? So she gets on one tile and Hop Pop plans to take the risk of getting on the other green tile, but Anne does it instead.. and things get heated between the two as Anne reveals she no longe feels like family since he did what he did for polly and sprig and hop pop takes offense as she IS. Even if he screwed up with her. But Anne’s near death experince activates the tile. 

The final challnge switches us from Zelda.. to Harry Freaking Potter. 

Now I used to love Harry Potter, with all of my heart. Then JK Rowling turned out to be a transphobic piece of shit who thinks she’s an ally, but is really a bigot who wants to “accept” trans people without giving them any rights. So yeah while I still love the starkid musicals, ore more accuratley the music from them, and own a copy of lego harry potter I got as a gift recently as both parties had no idea she was a monster when this stuff was made. Still a sore subject though, but if I didn’t bring up the similiarties I wouldn’t be doing my job as a critic and this was likely thought up long before JK outed herself as well...

No no the great mighty poo respects all peoples.. and wants to take their heads and ram it up his butt. He’s an equal opportunity butt rammer. 

Anyways this is the frog equivlent of chess flipfrog, and just like with Wizard chess, our heroes end up as the pieces minus marcy.. and in a nice twist on that scene, Anne ends up on the other side. Marcy is a grandmaster at it though so after an hour or so of play she almost wins.. only for the king equilvent to refuse to be taken and the automatic board she’s up against to send Anne against hop pop, and with our heroes magically restrained and given stone weapons, this can’t end well. Eventually though Anne’s forced to hit HOp Pop multiple times and while he says “well isn’t this what you wanted”, she says no.. she didn’t want to phsyically hurt him it’s just complicated. So we get one heck of an emotioinal scene as Hop Pop just wants to help and wants this to stop and dosen’t knoow how to fix this which as someone who desperatlyt ries to fix most emotional situations right away this hit very hard.. and her response of needing time hit harder. The two while not reconciled, ar ecloser to it and Marcy realizes what she’s done getting so obessed with winning and forfits for thier benifit. Our heroes leave, seemingly having lost.. only to find glowing arrows to the crap hole, which turns out to be the pedistal. The temple wasn’t just an intellegence test but empathy.. and the temples are clearly built to specifically test each of the chosen three, our heroines, specifically. Marcy’s tested her intellegence.. but also her willingness to let go of cold clyincal thought to do the right thing. That earns her her gem recharged and a flash in her eyes and her gem starts pointing to the next. She needs time to triangulate and hop pop and anne are back on workable footing... though our heroes offer to take a break instead of going to the next temple. 

Back in Newtopia, Yuaan reports on the toads gathering.. but dosen’t get to mentioning sasha before Marcy’s letter interrupts and Andridas oddly and aburbly dimisses her.. and goes to talk to a watcher with a thousand eyes, his “master” who has plans to undo the prophcey and get their revenge. 

Final Thoughts: This was a damn fine episode that gave Marcy some much needed character development, and gave the reveals of last episode some more emotiional fallout.  It also had some really great jokes as always. Top notch stuf. 

Next Time: Marcy tries to win everyone over through science and we FINALLY get an episode with the Frog Robot apparently. Horay

Next on this Blog: We go into final space yo! It’s unexpected births, ho yay, and horrifying zombie gary’s galore! 

Until then if you liked this review, follow me for more, join my patreon, comission a review if you please and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. Play us out jeff... and I haven’t done THAT bit in a while but eh. This song was too perfect. 

[maydaygirl-save-our-ships]

Two Truths and a Lie (Amphibia Fanfic)

I’m in love with Amphibia and I knew it would only be a matter of time before I wrote a fanfiction for it. It took me a while to figure out what to write, but Anne and Sprig playing “Would You Rather” reminded me of this game.

Two Truths and a Lie

“Hey Sprig, do you know how to play two truths and a lie?”

It was a nice, calm evening in the Plantar household. After a day full of playing, chores, and Hop Pop’s lectures, Anne and Sprig sat together in Anne’s basement-bedroom. Anne was propped up on her bed reading one of Sprig’s dusty adventure books, and Sprig was on the floor leaning his back against her bed as he read curiously through one of Anne’s magazines she happened to bring with her.

Sprig lowered the magazine he had been staring at in transfixed wonder and turned around so he could look up at her.

“I don't think so. How do you play?”

Anne put the book down, crossed her legs beneath her, and scooted forward until she was at the edge of her bed.

“It’s really easy. One person starts and they have to say three statements about themselves. Two of them have to be truths and one has to be a lie. If the other person guesses which one is the lie, they win. Make sense?”

Sprig nodded slowly. “I think so.”

“Okay, I’ll go first. Let’s see… I was on my varsity tennis team…. I have an older sister who is in college… and umm… oh, I’m vice president of the Asian American club at my school.” She looked over at Sprig expectantly. “Now you have to guess which one is the lie.”

Sprig’s mouth was agape as he stared at her, but then his expression broke out into a grin as he threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t even know what half that stuff means!” he said with a laugh.

Anne started laughing as well, although her laugh sounded a bit more devious, like she knew this would happen. “Just make your best guess. And don’t feel too bad when you lose. I’m really good at this game.”

Sprig grinned up at her, the look in his eyes clearly accepting her challenge. “Let’s see…” He pressed his lips together in thought. “I’m pretty sure you said something about varsity- whatever that is- before, so I don’t think that’s the lie. Hmm, you’ve never mentioned a sister, so I bet that’s the lie!”

“I could just not like my sister,” Anne suggested. “There are plenty of reasons why I might not have mentioned her.”

Sprig shook his head. “Nope, I’m going with that one!”

Anne grinned. “Not bad, frog boy, not bad. You win this round.”

“Alright!” Sprig put his hand to his chin in thought. “Now it’s my turn....” There was a moment of silence before he began to speak. “I was hatched on a full moon, my favorite food is wax- worms… and… my best friend is a creature we found in the woods.”

“Aww, best friend?” Anne said as she placed her hand over her heart. “That’s so sweet.” She paused. “Wait, that last one isn’t the lie, is it?”

Sprig gave her a mischievous look. “Is that your guess?”

“No, no. Give me a second.” Anne bit her lip. “Let’s see, I’m pretty sure you’ve talked about how much you like wax-worms before, so I’m going to say the hatched on a full moon is the lie.”

“Yeah,” Sprig admitted. “That would have been cool though.”

“Okay, my turn! Let’s see…. my parents almost named me Lily, I didn’t have any friends until I was nine, and hmm… oh, my friends Sasha and Marcie taught me how to be popular.”

Sprig cocked his head to one side. “Popular? How?”

Anne blinked at his question. This wasn’t how you played the game but she let it slide in favor of being able to talk about her friends.

“Oh you know, who’s cool to talk to and who's not, how to ditch class, what to wear and what not to wear.”

To her surprise, Sprig frowned. “There are people you’re not allowed to talk to? And you can’t wear whatever you want? Being popular doesn’t sound like very much fun.”

“What? Being popular is the best!” Anne defended. “No one wants to be friends with losers who aren’t popular. Sasha and Marcie taught me how to be cool. Like… I used to really like reading comic books, but my friends told me that wasn’t cool, so I switched to reading beauty magazines instead.” Anne indicated to the magazine in Sprig’s lap.

“But… you liked reading comic books... whatever those are. Don’t you think it’s kind of mean for your friends to make you stop doing what you liked?”

Anne scowled down at him. “It’s not mean, they were just helping me out! And what would you know about being popular anyway? It’s not like you had any friends before I came along!”

Anne crossed her arms and turned away from Sprig, her heart pounding in her head as her blood boiled. Sprig had no right to judge her friends! He didn’t even know them!

Seconds past as Anne continue to stare at the basement wall, trying to best to ignore the suddenly very quiet frog child on the floor next to her.

After a minute, her heart rate began to slow and she felt the tightness in her chest fade away. She chanced a glance at Sprig who was staring sadly at the floor, lost in his own thoughts. At the sight of his expression, Anne felt a heavy pit settle in her stomach.

Anne let out a long breath. “Sorry…” she said at last. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

For a moment, Sprig was silent and Anne was worried she had really hurt him.

“You didn’t have any friends until you were nine,” Sprig said suddenly. “That’s not the lie, is it?”

Anne swallowed and glanced down at her hands. “No, that wasn’t a lie. Sasha and Marcie were my first friends, but I didn’t meet them until I was going into fourth grade. I guess that’s why I get a little defensive over them.” She hesitated a moment before pressing on. “And maybe they did tell me to do stuff I didn't want to do, but they were only trying to help me, and it’s not like I could say no. I couldn’t lose my only friends, you know?”

“Yeah…I guess,” Sprig said quietly. “So, if your name almost being Lily is the lie, then does that mean it’s my turn?”

Anne picked up the book she was reading and scooted back until she was propped up against the headrest again. “I’m getting tired of this game,” Anne said, pointedly looking down at her book instead of Sprig.

“Aww, come on!” Sprig begged as he climbed up on Anne’s bed. He was in front of her, his eyes wide and pleading. “Let me go one more time!”

Anne sighed and closed the book. “Fine… one more time.”

“Okay… Let’s see…” Sprig sat cross legged as he thought. “Everything got a lot more fun since you got here, I want to help you get home but I also wish you didn’t have to leave, and I think you’re cool even though you aren’t popular here and the whole town hates you,” he said brightly.

Anne looked at her friend skeptically. “I give up, which one’s the lie?” she asked, her tone guarded.

“You don’t know?” Sprig asked as he tried unsuccessfully to keep the grin off his face.

Anne sighed in annoyance. “I’m pretty sure I’ve made your life more exciting so…you don’t want to help me get home? Or you don’t think I’m cool?” Anne crossed her arms. She didn’t like where this game was going.

“Wrong!” Sprig shouted. “They’re all the truth!”

Stunned, Anne’s brain tried to process what Sprig had said.

Then, without warning, her shoulders began to shake. Anne couldn’t help herself as she doubled over in laughter. It felt good to laugh, and she could feel the heaviness of her bad mood float away.

“Sprig!” she said between giggles when she could finally breathe again. “That’s not how you play!”

Sprig was grinning widely. “Well I changed the rules! Besides, I’m not very good at lying.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Anne said, her cheeks still hurting from how wide she was grinning.

Sprig always had a way of making her feel better, and it was in this moment that Anne abruptly  realized she never felt like she had to act cool in front of him. She had even told him about not having friends until she was nine, and she never told anyone about that. Not even Sasha and Marcie knew how lonely she had been. Somehow, she had known Sprig would understand, and even if he didn’t always understand everything she said, he never judged her.

He probably would like comic books too, if he knew what they were. Sprig was the type of person that didn’t care if something was cool or not, he just liked the things that he liked no matter what other people thought.  It was a good thing too, Anne realized, because if Sprig cared about what everyone else thought, he would have never tried to befriend the strange monster in the woods. If it wasn’t for him, Anne would be alone.

Maybe giving up things she liked because they weren’t cool wasn’t always worth it. After all, she doubted that a hyperactive frog child with the fashion sense of a 1930s aviator would seem cool to her friends, but his friendship was one thing Anne was never willing to give up.

I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought!

[sidigtal-anim]

AN IMPROMPTU SPECULATION POST

SPOILERS FOR AMPHIBIA SEASON 2B (“THE SECOND TEMPLE/BARREL’S WARHAMMER”)

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THESE EPISODES, DO NOT READ FURTHER! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, DO NOT READ FURTHER!

I typically give a heads up and prepare a lot for a speculation post, but this episode had too much to just not talk about what could happen.

So in the before this episode, Anne, Marcy and the Plantars were in Wartwood having fun. While Sasha and Grimes were Toad-tally (sorry, I couldn’t resist haha) incognito since 204 (“Toadcatcher”) Which is absolutely WILD to say the least, that it took us like 13 episodes for a check in with them this late in the game. We have seen bits of Sasha here and there since “Toadcatcher”: “Marcy at the Gates”, “The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers”, and “The First Temple” with Anne’s flashbacks and General Yunnan’s report of the Toad Lords gathering. It’s just wild it took us nearly an entire season to check up on her again.

I’m gonna be talking about some specific moments from the episodes and speculate upon them. If you have NOT seen these episodes, this is your last chance to leave.

Season 2, Episode 17A - “The Second Temple”

So we begin with Anne, Marcy and the Plantars riding into the Amphibian Artic. Hop Pop in his “Hop Pocket” on Joe Sparrow’s chest was a really good episode gag.

We meet Valariana, the same lady from the Bizarre Bazaar. There’s a lot of vague talk in the episode about the box being gone for a vary long time. Valariana begins testing Anne in many ways: risking warmth or her friends, saving a stranger from an avalanche or minding her own business, and even saving Valariana with her “turn to evil” or leave her to die.

Anne passes the tests with flying colours. Not only being heartfilled and saving the people around her, but also taking responsibility for the consequences of her attempts and unsuccessful attempts of doing so. This is a good payoff since the First Temple tested Marcy on both her wit, and humility.

The stone begins to recharge: taking a very long time as part of an Amphibia anti-climactic payoff to a gag. It was pretty funny, but turns out... it has plot ramifications.

Anne hears Marcy and the Plantars screaming, and she runs back to them before the Blue Gem is fully recharged. It seems to be 3/4 filled before Anne takes it just by eyeballing it. And it turns out they were just watching something on Marcy’s phone. They all head home while Hop Pop says that Frobo can make them all some Hot Chocolate (which I want a Frobo for my own please).

The screen shows a black screen with the two charged gems on the music box, and the blue gem... glitches.

Honestly, this is the biggest sigh of relief for me. I thought it wouldn’t make sense for why all the gems on the Music Box would be fully restored while we still have a third season coming. If the gem is kinda not recharged properly, then that means there’s potential for things going wrong.

But what does it mean? The Blue Gem is partially restored, and since we know that the energy comes from the person who is the Heart (aka Anne) and if the gem isn’t fully restored, that also means that Anne has some of her Calamity Energy stored inside her still.

This actually puts a very neat unintentional wrench in Andrias’ plans. He wants them to restore the gems on the Music Box, for them to undo the Prophecy for him and “his Lord” to have their revenge. With three episodes left in the season, we still have no idea what that means.

If the second gem is not fully restored, that must mean the Music Box won't be able to take Anne, Sasha and Marcy home: whether that's them being stuck in Amphibia for another season, or travelling to one of the other worlds we see in the King's book in "A Day at the Aquarium". I think we're probably going to see more episodes in Season 3 of them staying in Amphibia, but I'm just not sure if we're going to end up seeing the other worlds in Season 3.

Either way, things have gone wrong and they're about to get a lot worse. I can see Sasha and Marcy leaving, but not Anne. (WHICH I DO NOT WANT PLEASE LET THEM BE TOGETHER) With that done, let's move on to the next segment.

Season 2, Episode 17B - “Barrel’s Warhammer”

Sasha and Grimes are always fun when we check in on them. It seems like they've gathered the Toads from the other Toad Towers (North, East, and West) at the Northern Toad Tower to convince them to join their plan to overthrow Andrias in the Kingdom. This also tells us that Grimes was in charge of the Southern Toad Tower. I like the touch of Grimes' sister being the Western Toad Tower lord, it was pretty fun.

The Toads are convinced until Grimes suggests that he and Sasha are to lead the rebellion. In the same sequence, Sasha learns that Anne and Marcy are working together (without her) under King Andrias. This is very important for later.

The toads try to imprison Sasha and the gang, but Sasha pulls a Sasha and Sasha's them unconcious. (That made more sense in my head, but okay) And the Northern Toad Lord says that if they can find the warhammer of Barrel the Brave, they will receive the help they need.

After this episode, we still don’t know who exactly Barrel the Brave was. My theory is that he’s the Toad in King Andrias’ painting in the Castle’s Basement with the Shadowfish. The Hammer seemed to respond to Sasha’s Calamity powers, so maybe it did work for him as presumably the Green Calamity Champion.

In this episode what I find interesting (besides the Kawaii poses which were spectacular) is that Sasha needs to be needed by Anne and Marcy. We see from her lines of betrayal that Anne and Marcy are doing fine without her. In my opinion it seems to be as a result of them following her every will like a scared pack of puppies, and she is betrayed that their immediate response isn’t to look for her.

Perhaps Sasha thinks that the events of “Reunion” have caused Anne to disown her as a friend, and making plans with Marcy to leave without Sasha. But Sasha doesn’t know that they’re trying to restore the music box, or even that they have it.

Percy and Braddick are just as interesting oppositions to Sasha’s psyche. When the two want to abandon the plan and do so by trusting Sasha, Sasha pulls a Sasha and Sasha’s them into a Sasha. (Again with the word play what’s up with me) They feel just as betrayed if not more so: they trusted Sasha and she just used them to get what she wanted without caring for them. Perhaps that’s also what Sasha thinks about Anne and Marcy working under King Andrias. (Ironic since she has done the same thing to them)

Sasha is so intriguing and I’m curious to see what they’ll do in “The Third Temple”. Perhaps Sasha will try to seek them out to give them the old one-two, and end up battling the Golem inside the Temple.

Obviously I’m gonna mention shipping. Two episodes where it’s fluff with Marcanne and angst with Sashannarcy. I feel in my soul that the OT3 is plausible where we are, if we just put a lot of work onto Sasha becoming better and repairing her relationship with the other two. But after that blush Anne gave Marcy in “New Wartwood”, there is no hetero answer for that: and yes I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

That’s the end of my post. I doubt I’ll have another big post like this until the week of Finale Speculation, unless something big plot-wise happens in the next three weeks, or something queer happens. (LGBTQIA+ Representation) Either way, I’m really excited.

Three weeks left. My next post will be on Finale speculation. Unless something else comes up. See you then!

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers/A Day at the Aquarium

Last full episode before hiatus! The Kids have a sleepover in the castle that starts like the Princess Diaries 2 and ends in unspeakable horror, while the Plantars try to spend one final day together without getting sad. Sort of like everyone these days without the final part. One last ride under the cut. 

Whelp it’s the end for this batch of episodes which is sad, and i’ll genuinely miss covering these every week. Yeah I have other coverage incoming with Ducktales coming back, eeeee, and current Loud House coverage.. but it was still nice to have something to cover this summer and something to watch every week during this blighted year, as i’ve mentioned before there weren’t any BAD episodes just hard to cover ones and I think by the end I figured out how to do that.. mostly by stopping straight up recaps for more condensed ones. Point is I had fun, grew as a reviewer, and it was a good way to kill a few saturdays, sundays and one or two mondays, and that ain’t bad at all. So before we come back for halloween, let’s send off weekly amphibia coverage in style for now, unless it comes back in November and I look stupid, with this week. Let’s go. 

The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers

Well this one took a turn. It was also an excellent one as we got more insight into Marcy and Anne’s friendship with Sasha, and some truly excellent horror. Yes, horror.  The Plantar kids head to the castle for the evening for a Sleepover. Turns out the king finally did find something, as did Marcy who’s playing coy about what they found in the hidden library I forgot to mention last time because I was covering 4 episodes at once. Anyway King Keith David has a meeting with them tommorow. So the kids are staying with Marcie to have a fun night together while Hop Pop has a night without the kids to get something head to toe.. it’s better not to ask. They also annoy Olivia who goes off to drink.. juice. Yes the hard juice that comes with a lemon wedge and speedoed servant newt. 

It’s also our ambigously gay duo’s first sleepover without Sasha, but their confident they can do this themselves while Sprig is hoping i’tll be good as his first sleepover (And has a creepy closeup about formative memories) Cue a fun montage of everryone annoying olivia and getting into hyjinks round the castle from sillys tring, which is shot from critters, to painting moustaches. It’s fun stuff.  Then we go from fun stuff to...

As , in order to stay awake, as being the bastion of pleasantness she is Sasha refused to let them sleep till sunrise, Marcy and Anne initate a SCARE DARE! A SCARE DARE! is a scary dare where the person who dosen’t complete it goes in the book of losers. Which of course was Sasha’s idea, both in general concept and the dares done. What a well adjusted young lady!  So naturally our heroes go into the basment they were told to stay out of. They get pass Lady Olvia because she’s passed out drunk on hard lemonade, living the dream as it were. ,Anyway they.  find a bunch of tombstones, and then Marcy and Anne taking a selfie (Say desecration) wakes the dead... all because they were both playing chicken. One has to imagine how the kids talking with hop pop would go

So yeah the ghostly horror terrors chase the kids, who somehow end up in Marcy’s room. So she just has a passage from a floating graveyard contaning horrifying eldtirch ghosts to her room.. a room the king put in for her. Someone protect this child. 

So our heroes soon have to deal with the ghosts but luckily sprig’s mirror catching it reveals the mirrors, which were foreshadowed earlier by a hall of mirrors leading into the corpse room, making the ghosts solid and allowing our heroes to fight htem back. Our heroes are exausted, Marcy and Anne reveal that they also chickend out on the scare dare so it’s okay, and Oliva arrives. It’s go time.  Final Thoughts: A fun episode that quickly pivots into a great and nightmare inducing one perfect for spooky season coming up soon. I do generally wonder just WHAT those things are, and it’s great setup for whatever’s abotu to come. And while I didn’t mention it in the recap we also get sprig finding some sort of painting and it being of the king, a toad and a frog.. we don’t get to see it clearly so it could be someone else.. but.. it’s clear the king likely has ties to what happened before. But what DID happen before? what are those ghost things? what’s the king’s angle? 

Yeah I have no answers for now on what the king’s plan is, or how inocent he is or if that’s his dad, just that something’s clearly wrong. And the omonious chess metaphor told us that.. yeah I do think that bit was kind of a mistake as otherwise while we’d probably still question the king, we would be more conflicted as evidence piled up versus “yeah something’s clearly wrong. “ Then again we genuiely don’t know what his motives or plan is or how well intentioned he is or anything other than he SEEMS nice, and that said game could be a necessary evil for all we know. We just don’t have enough information, even with the ominus bits, to truly know what’s going on and what kind of villian the king is. If he is one at all the show could pull a massive swerve on us.. I mean I doubt it he probably is evil, but I wouldn’t put it past the show. For now let’s move on so I can do more wheel spinning and what not...

Day at the Aquarium

So it’s time for another audience with the king. Turns out he and Mar-mar found out a LOT. Or Marcy did at least, as the above makes clear the king may of known ALL OF THIS already, and just needed Marcy and Anne to think he didn’t long enough for his evil plans. But we do learn a LOT about the gems, the box, and what it does as well as how to fix it... 

So let’s not waste time since some of you probably don’t have episode acess this early and want to know: Turns out the calamity box is an interdimensional travel device, and, as far as the king tells us anyway, the king’s ancestors went around from world to world as explorers, possibly the group seen in the picture and just as likely the king himself hiding his role in things. Now how much of the explorer part is TRUE remains up in the air, especially since history also painted Columbus an explorer, including when I was in school, and not you know.. an idiot and a colonizing bastard. History is written by the winners after all so it’s hard to know what’s true, only that the book is likely real: While the king COULD’VE planted it to lead marcy, or had one made up, a fake would’ve been spotted immeditly as we’ve established Marcy is a master detective with batman level deductive skills. Or Elongated Man but I wanted most of you to get the refrence and his adaptation versoins so far haven’t been the kindest to ralph. Anyways, point is that con wouldn’t work on her so the book IS real, as is it’s info on the box.. i’ts just hard to tell what was left out or if this was written before utter diastaer and apocalypse insued. After all Gravity Falls Journal 3 is all fine and dandy about bill before the giant passage about bill not being trusted written in blood and Ford going into a paranoid tailspin after realizing his friend is actually a horrifing monster, literally and figuratively, so we don’t know WHAT could’ve been hidden in a nother book the king could’ve removed at any time before  Marcy got there or while she was away on a mission.  But yeah while we know there’s probably more to it this is sitll big information, the box connecting to 4 other worlds other than amphibia, which not only opens up the story possiblities but the fan fiction, and that each of the gems can be recharged at three temples, each one of the gems responding to a diffrent trait judging by the symbols, each representing our girls; Purple is strength, and thus sasha, Blue is Heart, Anne, and Green is Brains, Marcy. I do like thisd as it tells us more but only raises further questions, hooking the audience more. It’s great stuff. But our heroines now have a goal.. but unforutnately the Plantars need to go back and Anne can’t go with as Marcy wants her close. It’s harvest season soon and the Plantars have been away long enough. So they have one last day, though both marcy and the king are apologetic and the king offers them a large tissue and upon getting no response just gives it to them as next time we see them with it. it’s both a great gag, and a nice show of kindess from the king and possible diabolical mastermind. 

So the Plantars decide to spend their final day with Anne at the aquarium, as it always cheered her up. This goes south as eveyrhting from the eels to the giant kraken to the coral reminds them of their past and leaves the poor group sobbing. Even a water show goes sideways as Sprig sees an eel, but it does lead to the group fighting off the stingrays at the show in an utterly stunning fight sequence. Not the best i’ve seen this month.. but only because I binged what I missed of rise of the tmnt this month and that show’s final figh tis an utter showstopper, as are most of it’s fight, but this is easily on par with most of them. Fluid, well done and emotoinal. Our heroes get thrown out of course, but the thought counts and they decide one last throughly them memory is better than nothing.  The final scene is naturally an utter gut punch as we get tearfull goodbyes (sprig and anne forever). Their crying, i’m crying we’re all crying and Hop Pop promises they’ll see each other again. Because family always finds each other. My heart.. it’s too full. here have an apporiate song...

Let’s see how i’m doing. 

Yeah so two things: I’m not going to be able to stop sobbing thinking of this scene so let’s move on and how have I only NOW refrenced gilmore girls on this blog?

But yeah the scene is utterly moving as the Plantars leave and Marcy realises something. She likely was keeping Anne close because she just got her back... but realizes she’s being selfish. It’s not SAID on screen but it’s clear both in Hailey’s voice acting and from the animation what’s going through her head. It’s utterly captivating stuff. So she tells Anne to go with them.. offically because they should have someone they can trust keep an eye on the box, which is a good idea honestly given just giving it to a royal messenger is just asking for it to be stolen. So Marcy will stay behind and prepare, and since she mentioned it before likekly try to find Sasha as she earlier stated they HAVE to find her.. and given what we see with the recharging that’s both because she misses her friend no matter what she’s done, and because she’s vitally important, while Anne goes with the Plantars to get the box and have some more time before they say goodbye forever, with Marcy coming to wartwood to pick it and anne up for the first temple. Because nothing terrible’s ever happened when a plucky youth with a sword went to three seperate temples, especially involving a guy with a beard and full plate armor. 

Marcy stares off, sad her friend and possible crush is gone.. but unederstanding that this is what she needs, and that she can’t hold her here.. Anne needs to see her family off.. and we get a tearful reunion as Anne chases after them, passing her friends from “Scavenger Hunt”, and reunites with her family. But of course we can’t end on a happy moment, as we cut back to Marcy whose utterly sad.. and the King who says he has a proposition for her, one she’ll find most agreable. 

But yeah we end on that bit of ominus as we close till october. 

Final Thoughts: Yeah if it wasn’t obvious this was a great one. Great plot progression, great animation, great emotional hook, good jokes which I dind’t get into for time, and tons of stuff to leave fans wanting more just before the break, but without a HUGE cliffhanger. Sure we don’t know what the King’s planning, but that aside our heroes are still together outside of marcy, and we haave a lot to look forward to whenever the show gets back. I’m hyped. Your hyped. IT’s a good note to go out on, especially since last weeks eps were also excellent and it looks like things are about to pick up. When next we meet it’s an inconsequential, probably, anthology episode, though it should be fun, then whenever new episodes return, wether it be just in november or more likely in February, our heroes return to wartwood! And we’ll find out what everyone’s been up to. Hopefully Ivy didn’t leave sprig. We’ll see. Until then, you can check out this blog for more recaps, as I said i’m covering ducktales as it comes back monday and loud house whenever I can get my meat hooks on the new episodes, and until then say safe and go team venture!

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviews Stuff: Amphibia: Marcy at the Gates

Marcy arrives! The Plantars make it to Newtopia but first have to deal with a slight ant problem and a new addition to the family, as we finally meet the adorkable Marcy. Legs in two months under the cut. 

So as you could probably tell by the tone the last few weeks, doing this has weighed on me a bit. While I do love talking about this show week after week, as well as having a recurring series here to bring in readers, the split quality of the Season thus far has been a challenge. Now when I say split I don’t mean like star vs season 3 where it was either really damn good and some of the show’s best writing or “oh god what have they done to marco’s character this time”, it’s more either really good standout episodes ore more forgetable average ones. See a good episode I can gush about, dive into big charcter stuff, motviations, that sort of thing. I defintley will with owl house at some point and have with other shows. A bad episode can be taken apart and taken to the cleaners, which I haven’t done much of but probably should and if you want any taken to task yourself, I do comissions. But self promotion aside, the point is a meh episode just dosen’t leave me with a lot tot alk about and hte recaps became really dry as a result as I just couldn’t find a lot of jokes, and having a busy few weeks on top of that didn’t really help, nor did the antipciation for this week and the intersting setting of newtopia. 

Thankfully a combination of a really good few days, a better sleep schedule, and a really good episode this week, and a pile of scary go round collections for a dollar have reinvgorated me, so hopefully I can get back to doing what I love: Overanalizing children’s cartoons. So with that we can dive right into the episode. The keithdavidpocalypse is upon us! Pitter Patter! We open with Spring and Anne in the cart. Their close to newtopia, but Anne is worried they never found Marcy, while Sprig isn’t because her last friend turned out to be “Evil”... which Anne harshly rebuffs. And both sides are understandable: To Anne, Sasha was her friend.. a manipualtive and bossy friend sure but one who genuinely cared for her, she just may not know how to deal with people. To Sprig, Sasha is some asshole who abused his friend, tried to murder his Pop Pop, and works for a guy who tried to murder his whole town. It’s really understandable he woudln’t have the same warm fuzzy feelings Anne has.. insert your own Sashanne joke here.  We also get our first actual look at Marcy who to my suprise, rather than be another form of manipulative.. is simply an awkward nerd, constnatly playing video games, reading books , cataloging shit, and trying to get her friends to play d and d. So me if I knew what d and d was in high school. 

Anyways, the family finally DOES make it to Newtopia, impressive as you’d expect when the guard won’t let them see the wizard no way no how. Antique references aside, the guard at the gate actually has good reason for not letting them in as they have a tiny barbari-ant problem. A species Hop Pop is, in a nice touch, unfamiliar with due to the Valley not having them. We quickly see them in action as one approaches the plantars, basically a giant ant with ant-lers. Yes I used a pun there sue me. Anyway, our heroes ward off the ant they do find with some really cool team manuvering, and Polly showing she has spiked teeth. It’s a cool sequence. However they quickly find themselves outgunned, outplanned, outnumbered and outmanned. They gotta make an all out stand. Their gonna need a right hand man. Also I finally saw the film version of hamilton, as you can tell. Utterly magic. 

Said Right Hand Man, er woman, er tween comes in the nick of time as a cloaked Marcy sprays some black goo and sets it ablaze, scaring the ants off, snatching a stalemate from the jaws of defeat,  then rappeling down on a rope shot from a crossbow, also making polly want one because of course. She then.. Faceplants. Still a solid 8/10 entrance Marcy.  Marcy is played by Haley Tju who you may remember from such shows as The Loud House. And that’s all I know her from but given Stella’s one of my faviorites and Haley’s performance is part of that, so it’s unsuprising she’s great here. Also fun fact I learned by looking at her trope page: She actually played a younger version of London, brenda song’s character, on the Suite Life I Pray for Death but Death Won’t Come.. or On Deck for those who’ve never watched it. But I like the fact two londons are now on the same show together.. and an actually good noe at that! Horay. But yeah Haley is a great VA and what little i’ve seen her in and a welcome addition.  Marcy and Anne happily reunite once htey both realize who the other is, and hug and etc, before Marcy decends on the plantars, talking on and on and on about geeky stuff and how she likes the found family trope. ... I may really relate to this  mediums sized child, as I too am a huge nerd with no filter and was probably a lot like her at that age. It’s also clear she very transparently sees this as a combinaton of a video game and a d and d session, but said skills have actually benifited her as rping a rogue allowed her to easily bluff her way into the kingdom’s good graces and now she’s a sworn agent of the king as we’ll find out.  She quickly wins over the Plantars, measuring hop pop’s head, gushing over him being a farmer (which he almost instantly adopts her over and asks to point blank later), and then noticing Polly’s legs are about to come in and giving her the note seen in the review image, my faviorite gag. Sprig however is more out and out hostile and has his reasons we’ll get to in a second.  Marcy escorts her new family and sorta girlfriend to the makeshift war room set up by three scholoary newts who quickly resolve their planning disagreements by beating the piss out of each other. Just like real politics.. and that’s not a cheeky jab between the actual caning in the sentate that happened once and the various duels in the revolutionary and early america eras.. yeah the only reason the preisdent hasn’t been shot for challening one of hte many people he hates for a duel without realizing he really can’t see through that squint too good is that it’s now illegal and not the kind of illegal he can hide like usual.  Anyways after the Newts scoff at our heroes, but Marcy vouches for them and reveals that the ants are getting closer because i’ts gotten warmer....

Marcy has a plan though: Spread scentshrroms around that will release a pheremone which will drive them off, having throughly studied Amphibia’s various flora and fauna and thus knowing how to deal with them. I’ts something I like about the character and how she adds to the other huamns group dynamics. Alll three deal with issues diffrent ways; Anne has plans, but rarely thinks them through, Sasha does think hers through and is a master manipulator while Marcy is a ballance between the two: She does throughly think things out and have well thought out clever plans.. she just also tens to rush into things or go forward with a nose in a book or without a thought to how dangerous soemthing is. She’s prepared, she’s just not very aware of her surrondings, which is amood. 

But Anne is nervous about her coming along as is sprig which sets up both’s conflicts with her for the episode: Anne wants to protect Marcy, since she just got her back and her only other remaning friend now clearly wants to stab her and she has a better option now love interest wise. However Marcy convinces Anne, 2nd capefire this episode nonwithstanding, she can handle herself. She also calsl her annabannna which is fucking adorable.  The other conflict is that Sprig dosen’t trust her.. he has no rational reason not to give she’s a sweetie, but is a bit gunshy about another human girl working for a dictator popping up in their life. And while he’s probably wrong, while I think Marcy isn’t working for the best people probably she’s likely too oblivious to genuinely relaize she’s doing crimes if they have her doing them or was given a fake justification. I could be wrong, and will gladly eat crow. Metphorically i’m not going to bake a real crow. I don’t have the right seasoning. And i’d also be cursed but eh I doubt I can get poorer. But it’s understandable he has reservations, especially since while he dosen’t say it he’s likely worried Anne will get hurt again. He’s a good boy, he’s just being paranoid over probably nothing.  Anyways onoto the plan: The plantars and new girl marcy are gonna:

Okay phermone them whatever, the point is they head into the Ant Hole, witht he conflicts continuing as the plantars progress; Sprig is naturally suspcious and Anne is worried about her precious gurl. The group fight some more ants, and Marcy seemingly wonders off.. only to instead BLOW THEM A FUCKING TUNNEL with some chemicals from some flowers she found, then instant sprout a plant cage.. and accidently trap polly. NOOOOO.> Thankfully she frees her and tosses some plants on the ants, which is fun to say.  We then get to our climax. OUr group find the queen who ihs horrifying.. a good mom as sprig points out but horrfing. Nice design though i’m just.. not an insect guy and sometimes this show leaves me in abject terror. this is one of those times. Our heroes plant the mushrooms, phrasing I know but this review is late as is and i’ve already used up my archer refrence for the day.  Anne dives to Save a seemingly oblovious Marcy.. whose mad at Anne over it.. while Anne is udnerstandable Marcy wants her , NEEDS her to understand...

No not that erik. That, much like Anne herself, Marcy’s grown and changed over these past three months. She can handle herself now and she needs her ot see that. Also sprig gets attacked by an ant baby, which not only wakes up the queen, who can hear but can’t see but now knows something’s arry, but causes said queen to unleash a hoarde of ants.  Marcy however naturally has a plan: She’ll dive into the queen’s belly and get sprig, the plantars will hold them off and Anne finally trusts her lady enough to fiht off. I don’t have a lot to say I just really like this character arc and Marcy’s character: She’s a bit oblivious, ab it obessed with nerdy things which again relate.. but when push comes to shove she’s also clever, a master planner and has clearly studied her ass off about this world and knows it well. She’s throughly likeable.  And that likeablity finally gets through to sprig when she gets him out and swings him. Trust earned, anne’s faith in her gained and the mushrooms go off and send the ants running. Misson Complete.  With the mission complete our heroes finally enter Newtopia and meet the mysterious Lady Olivia, whose been sending Marcy on her missions, and is likely her spymaster. Not that i think Marcy realizes that but Marcy’s love of midevil fantasy means she blends in well with thier courty apperance and introduces anne and co to her.. Olvia isn’t impressed but is cordial about it at least.. even with Sprig breaking shit. And yeah , Amphibia has a king over all of it, as Hop Pop puts it “We aren’t savages”. It does make sense it woudln’t come up every day though, it’s not as if the king really cares about the valley... but more on speculation about him in a minute. Hop Pop wisely gives the two “Friends’ some alone time, and the two talk things over: Anne explains how she found sasha.. and it didn’t go great, and Marcy vows that the two of them can go their own way now. Maybe iwth tounge. we dunno. The two then look over anne’s phone while anne recounts her anne-tics.. and we get to the king. And it’s KEITH DAVID BITCHES AS WAS PROHPISED A FEW WEEKS AGO. And he has myserious plans and wood carven figures of both our heroines and possible gaybies. “The game can finally begin. “

Final Thoughts: This was a really damn good episode. Whiel I summarized more than usual , both conflicts were great, all the plantars got to shine, there were gags a plenty, an intriguing new member of the main cast and a mysterious new antagonist. I mean given it was revealed the Newts were behind Toad tower a few episodes back, I figured Andidas wouldn’t be a good guy, even if he’s played by upstanding gentleman and god among men keith david, , but it’s a question of what his end goal is, how the girls got here, and what his plan ofr them is that i’m curious to see play out as the season goes on, as well as see if Marcy is a pawn or not. Newtopia also looks intresting and i’ts nice to have a new solid setting to build on now we’re here, as well as new mysteries to unlock> Ther’es also the honest possibliity marcy, who claims to have found bubkuss, might simply want to stay in a world where she gets to live out her dreams and isn’t picked on or bullied. Again we’ll see all speculation but this episode was damn good. For now this is the clear highlight of the season and i’tll be intresting to see where it goes from here. Until next time courage.