amphibiasideblog

[amphibiasideblog]

To put my complaints with Marcy's arc in particular into more coherent words now that I'm calmer.

It's absolutely true that from a meta perspective that Marcy did seem to end up happy in the end and that she is incredibly strong for it. However, with that being said, the fact that things turned out okay in universe doesn't change the fact that I disagree with the way the ending of her arc was portrayed narratively. Whether or not she ended up fine from a meta perspective isn't really up for debate here. She obviously did and I'm proud of her for that. But I've always had a problem with the idea that the morally correct or healthiest option for Marcy would be to go back to earth. And whether or not the writers intended to send that message (its absolutely very possible they were going for something more along the lines of marcy being strong enough to get through the undoubtedly hard time she'd have back on earth), that's kinda what they did.

Marcy spent a lot of the last episodes feeling guilty for everything she did and talking about how she started this whole mess trying to run away from reality, then she goes back to earth and she at least seems to end up happy there. It reads like your typical "Marcy was selfish and wrong for stealing the music box and needs to suck it up and go live in the real world >:(" take I've been arguing against since forever.

I probably wouldn't feel the way I do if there had been no possible way to stay in Amphibia and if they'd addressed that going back to earth isn't quite fair to Marcy but that she's strong enough to get through it. I probably wouldn't feel the way I do if they'd even just so much as cut back on that guilt Marcy really laid on thick over bringing them to Amphibia. Or if the other girls had stayed in contact with her after they went home since that'd give her a reason to want to go back at least.

But none of those things happened. And whatever the intention was, this ending for Marcy feels like a bad message to send. She was happy and accepted in Amphibia and she left because....why?

They didn't give any indication that there was something back on earth that she'd desperately miss. She spent six months in Amphibia the happiest she'd ever been and never once did she miss earth, and yet suddenly, now that she's started being obviously self critical for "hiding from reality" she's perfectly happy to go back?

Yeah, no, the message definitely reads as "Marcy was wrong when she tried to change her life circumstances and she needs to leave the place where she genuinely has the resources she needs that weren't available on earth and go back to earth so she can work twice as hard as everyone else to pull herself into a decent life. Because struggling through a world that wasn't built for her on earth is The Right Thing To Do and hiding from reality in Amphibia would be Wrong."

There were ways to write Marcy going back to earth permanently that would be fine, but this absolutely was not it in my opinion because I'll just never be able to agree with the idea that living in Amphibia is an immoral or unhealthy thing for Marcy to do when it's blatantly clear she thrived there so much easier than she ever did on earth.

#amphibia #marcy wu

[amphibiasideblog]

Tbh, though, I think if there's one criticism I have to give, it's that the show can't seem to let Marcy voice her own feelings about her relationship with Sasha or Anne for herself.

It's very obvious she's been taken for granted, ignored, and just generally treated as less important for a long time. It's very obvious that she's hurt by that. However, a large part of her arc has been her obvious fear of losing them and her largely critical view of herself, both things that probably contributed to her staying quiet about the ways she's been hurt. It absolutely should have been part of her arc to realize and vocalize these feelings in an assertive way. But it really hasn't been.

Sasha and Anne realized on some level that they've been taking Marcy for granted. The Core mentioned that they haven't been the greatest friends to her. But Marcy has been robbed of the opportunity to draw that conclusion and point it out on her own terms. I know Anne and Sasha have gone through a lot of growth as well, and it's not unreasonable that they would look back on their friendship with Marcy and see the problems there. But tbh, the show never should have let them go through that thought process before Marcy did. Because whether or not they stop doing those things that hurt Marcy, she still hasn't been allowed to process those things.

In fact, most of Marcy's growth seems to be centered around her being guilty over stranding them in Amphibia or learning to Accept Change or whatever. Which is fine, I guess, but really misses the underlying issue of her almost nonexistent self-esteem to focus on her beating herself up about various failings while never taking any sort of stand about the way other people have treated her.

They gave Anne character growth that involved her feeling guilty about things or learning valuable lessons, but they also let her process and vocalize her feelings about ways she's been hurt (like how sasha treated her for example). But it seems like they're only letting Marcy have the personal guilt while refusing to let her deal with the way she's been treated and instead letting her friends come to their own random out of nowhere realization about how they've hurt her. And honestly, it seems like they're just doubling down on her obvious self-worth issues with how much they're letting her feel guilty about what she's done (and even just guilt over her feelings in of themselves) and how little they're letting her be rightfully upset or even just assertive about what's been done to her.

#amphibia #marcy wu #she hasnt said shit about the horrible things andrias did to her either #like...she has vocalized guilt about her part in his plans #but she hasnt been allowed to process the ways he hurt and betrayed *her*

[amphibiasideblog]

All in was great but I’m wondering if you have any things you weren’t ok with or disappointed with I’m curious to know what you think! Also what were you’re favorite parts?

Overall, I did really like this episode. I liked the showcase of Anne and The Plantar's bond, I liked the showcase of Grime and Sasha's bond, Leif's letter honestly made me emotional (i really love leif, guys), Marcy's outfit when she was in The Core's fantasy was so cute, I cried when the girls hugged at the end, etc.

However, and this isn't a criticism of the episode itself so much as a concern about where it might lead, I am a bit worried about how they're going to close Marcy's arc.

Certain things in that episode concerned me. Marcy's "I started this whole mess because I wanted to escape that reality" speech, Anne's "things change" speech, and Marcy specifically requesting that their parents be notified about their safety, for example.

In my opinion, Marcy saying "boy i sure was selfish for running away, time to go move with my parents" is like, the worst way to end her arc. Anyone who's read like...any of my analysis on Marcy should understand my stance on that (if anyone doesn't feel free to ask, but i think my previous posts explain where i stand on the subject of marcy running away and her relationship with her parents). And this episode, through those three scenes in particular, created perfect setup for exactly that ending if they wanted to go down that route.

If they don't decide to wrap up her arc that way, this complaint is void, lmao, but it's definitely possible given some of her scenes in this episode and I would be rather upset if that's the way they took things.

#amphibia #marcy wu #all in amphibia

[amphibiasideblog]

Anyone else feel like Andrias has kinda been...projecting his feelings about Leif onto Marcy?

I mean, Leif and Marcy are very similar people at the end of the day, aren't they? They're both creative, very excitable, and friendly people. Marcy even literally called him by Leif's old nickname for him the first time they met. Hell, an image of Marcy popped up while Andrias was listening to Leif's letter to him.

Which, honestly, would explain his second thoughts about hurting Marcy when the only other person he's ever cared about hurting was Leif. I mean, he mentioned that she was a child, but he never second guessed hurting Sasha, Anne, Sprig, or Polly. And yeah, she was a close ally, but he never had issues hurting Olivia or Yunan and they were his allies for much longer than Marcy was as well. I get the feeling Marcy was special because...well...she reminds him of the only person he ever really cared about.

And that would also explain why he was so shockingly cruel to her back in True Colors. I remarked that it seemed almost personal, the way he cornered her for her lie, tried to turn the other girls against her, stabbed her, and then blamed her for it. Which would make a lot of sense if she was being viewed as an extension of Leif and if her decision to stand against his plans and take the music box were seen as an extension of Leif's "betrayal" against him...

#amphibia #king andrias #marcy wu

[amphibiasideblog]

I saw someone on here say that "if Marcy felt like her friends weren't paying enough attention to her interests she could just choose new friends" and that moving to a place where she doesn't know any of her peers would actually make this easier.

I'm not sure that person even understands how FRIENDSHIP works because that is the complete opposite of every single experience I've ever had making friends. Also, kind of ignores the possibility of being emotionally attached to the friends you already have

That's absolutely ludicrous. "Just choose new friends"?

I mean, first off, Marcy seems to have some pretty obvious self worth issues. She works so hard for other people, asks for so little in return, and tries to hold in her own feelings because they're less important to her. Marcy didn't blame her friends for not paying attention to her interests. She was sad and hurt about it but she never let that reflect negatively on her view of them. Her emotions, in her mind, were her fault, not theirs. Even if she needed to "choose new friends", she wouldn't have, because she could never bring herself to hold any of this against them. She could never even bring herself to bring up how much it was hurting her because Marcy has a habit of feeling like she needs to keep her negative feelings to herself.

And even then, even if Marcy did ditch Anne and Sasha for their disregard of her interests and needs, it's completely unfair to suggest that she can so easily make new friends. Sure, some people are really good at making friends. Marcy can be very good at making friends in the right situation. But she's a very obviously neurodivergent teenage girl and it is notoriously hard to fit in even for neurotypical highschoolers, much less ones who will be read as overly "weird" or "annoying" by their peers. It's absolutely not as simple for Marcy to just make new friends as this person implied and I'm mildly annoyed by how heavily they're downplaying how difficult it can be to get people to like you socially.

Not to mention the idea that moving away would make things somehow easier. I mean, I guess being the new kid can open opportunities to meet new people (and therefore make new friends) if you're already a particularly socially apt person who'd be able to take advantage of those new introductions. But Marcy isn't? She's friendly, smart, and open, and anyone would be lucky to have her as a friend, of course. But I can guarantee- from experience- that the overly energetic bookworm with a loose hold on social norms who just moved here will not be on the top of most highschoolers list to pull into their friend group. In fact, I highly suspect that popular girls Sasha and Anne were the only reason she wasn't outright being bullied back home, and moving away without them opens the opportunity right up for her to be harassed by any peers who may find her weird or annoying.

It's just really kind of ridiculous all around to imply she even can just go find new friends at any time.

#amphibia #marcy wu

[amphibiasideblog]

There are fans out there that still think Marcy knew about(and was okay with) Andrias being a warmonger

Honestly I shouldn't be surprised at this point. But literally how do people come up with takes this off base from canon?

Marcy very clearly said in True Colors that Andrias told her noone was going to be hurt. And he responded by confirming he did in fact manipulate her and would have told her anything to get what he wants. "Hate to break it to you kiddo, but you've been duped" were his exact words, I believe. That's incredibly cut and dry. Andrias lied to Marcy and she was under the full impression that nobody was going to get hurt, that is canon.

Marcy even went on to describe exactly what he told her. That they were going to have adventures in other worlds "just like this one". There's no mention of war or of hurting anyone. Just fun adventures and more worlds where they can be happy like they've been in Amphibia. And Andrias doesn't argue with this description of things. Marcy insists that's what he told her and Andrias seems to be in agreement (which, if marcy was lying about what she knew to make herself look innocent, wouldn't andrias have called her on it? he was clearly trying to hurt her and drive the girls apart in that scene, letting them know if marcy was aware of his plan would have accomplished that).

The idea that Marcy knew Andrias was a warmonger or what he was planning before True Colors is absolutely ridiculous and not at all supported by the text, who on earth is saying this stuff?

#amphibia #marcy wu

[amphibiasideblog]

Why is everyone in the fandom okay with that one sashanne fan(@/onikostar) twt dehumanizing Marcy and //Marcy harm// also draws her getting beaten and saying sasha should beat her into a bloody pulp? Weird how the fandom made Marcy out to be supposedly the fan favorite and Sasha the hated one but it’s actually the opposite. I’m sorry if this ask made you uncomfortable I just wanted someone in the fandom to call them out

I hadn't heard of this person till now so I scrolled through their twitter.

Their most recent tweets are a strange mix of Sashanne fanart and Marcy hate, and like, the Anti Marcy takes are so ludicrous and/or undescriptive that it sounds more like mean girl teasing than actual coherent discourse points, though they do blindly reiterate some of the main Anti Marcy talking points that we all already know are baseless and lacking in critical thinking. This person really commented "I find it hilarious" on a sad tweet about Marcy being neglected lmao? Tbh though, the mean girl vibes I get from those tweets probably explains why they're so into Sasha and forgave her so easily.

It took me a little bit of searching to find the fanart you were referring to as well, but when I found it I absolutely did find it a bit disturbing tbh. All around this person has some pretty bad takes and kinda disturbing drawings when it comes to Marcy. It's (unfortunately) not the worst page I've seen, but I do agree with you that their content is uncomfortable to look through and I'll probably block the page tbh.

[amphibiasideblog]

after the latest ep, it would make no sense for sashanne to be canon. because once again, marcy would be left out. and that would contradict everything from the prev ep

sashannarcy canon superior ending

#amphibia #sasha waybright #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #sashannarcy

[amphibiasideblog]

Seriously, though, it is so painful to have people you care about show such blatant and unapologetic disinterest in your hyperfixations. Like. To have such intense passionate feelings about something, even something 'dumb', and to be told, even by the people who are supposed to care most about you, that it's boring and that they can't be bothered to even feign interest? That weighs on you. And you don't feel like you can speak up about it because it's such a small thing and you're the weird one for caring this much about whatever the hyperfixation is anyways. So the socially acceptable thing to do is to bite your tongue and bottle up those emotions until you stop feeling like you can talk to people about things that matter to you, even things that they would actually find important as well. So yeah. When Marcy's friends fell asleep while she was showing them a movie she was clearly hyperfixating on, I felt that. And when they said it wasn't just about the movie, that her feelings and needs were being ignored, I felt that. And when they said maybe that's why she felt the need to go behind their backs, I felt that too.

#amphibia #marcy wu #anne boonchuy #sasha waybright

[amphibiasideblog]

tbh i'm not sure if the story will ever do Marcy justice. at the end of s2 it kind of did feel like the story sided with how upset Anne was, then Marcy wasn't mentioned by her friends at all for half a season, even if these issues are kind of popping finally now (two eps from the end of the series) it does not feel like in s2 there was really intention or understanding of how poor Anne's behavior towards Marcy is beyond Marcys debut ep

I do agree that these issues need a lot more focus than they're getting, however I will say, whether or not they manage to pull off exploring how the other girls have hurt Marcy, the show does at least seem to be aware of this.

The intro from the most recent episode showing that their lack of interest in her feelings hurt Marcy, Anne's acknowledgement that "Maybe we're partially to blame. Remember that movie she used to make us watch and how we'd always fall asleep? It wasn't just that movie. We ignored all her interests. We might have ignored her needs too. Maybe that's why she went behind our backs with this crazy plan", and The Core asserting to Anne+Sasha that "You're not friends. Not anymore. And examining Marcy's memories, it's doubtful you ever were." all make me pretty certain they at least know how much Marcy's been taken for granted by her friends.

I can't say with certainty that this will be resolved in a satisfying way, of course (with this being two eps from the end of the series and i'm mildly sad they haven't given marcy much attention this season generally), however I do think they know what they did with the setup of Marcy's friendship with the other girls. And now that Sasha+Anne are face to face with Marcy/The Core, they have more opportunity to explore that side of things as well than they did earlier on. So I do have some faith in the direction of things.

#amphibia #marcy wu #anne boonchuy #sasha waybright

[amphibiasideblog]

Something something Marcy putting other people's feelings over her own, something something Marcy trying to minimize her emotions as to not cause issues, something something the other girls taking her selflessness for granted and hurting her because she tries so hard to be agreeable, something something Marcy being used to people not caring about her interests or feelings anyways and not realizing how unfair it is for her best friends to act like they don't matter.

This is exactly the pattern I've been pointing out like...since we met her. Cause y'know. The first episode we met her was spent babying her to an infuriating degree, then everyone kinda ignored her and left her to do work for them by herself, then everyone left the city because her best friend would rather spend this time with her new friends, then when we met back up with her she was once again doing all the work while her best friend was distracted with her new friends....like, Marcy's feelings and needs have never been a priority. Or like. Even really considered fully.

"You're not friends. Not anymore. And examining Marcy's memories, it's doubtful you ever were."

#amphibia #marcy wu #anne boonchuy #sasha waybright

[amphibiasideblog]

so now that i'm back from the dead, should i answer the piles of...like...year old asks in my ask box (at least as many as i feasibly can answer because some questions/opinions in those asks are kinda dated) or just pretend they don't exist and start back up with independent analysis

[amphibiasideblog]

Breaking out of my hibernation to say that I love Leif and would do anything for her <3

#amphibia #leif plantar

[amphibiasideblog]

You think the reason people think Marcy views amphibia as a game is do to result based thinking? I mean, they see Anne and Sasha suffering while Marcy was having fun in newtopia, and think ‘she did this cause she’s selfish’ ignoring that Marcy got extremely lucky by landing in newtopia(or unlucky depending on your perspective), or that her motivations were certainly not motivated by fun.

Honestly I think the majority of bad Marcy takes come from exaggerated extrapolations of things that happened primarily in the first temple. That's the first episode where we really saw Marcy do anything even remotely 'wrong' wheras throughout the Newtopia arc her whole thing was literally being consistently very helpful and sweet and selfless and all. Which means people who wanted to find ways she's Toxic™ picked their main catalogue mainly out of The First Temple.

That episode is where you can see the base for ideas such as;

- Marcy thinks too highly of herself/is condescending/feels like she's above others

- Marcy doesn't care about other people and willfully ignores/disregards the feelings of those around her

- Marcy views Amphibia as a game to be played/won rather than a real world with real people who matter

And I mean, nothing in that episode actually makes Marcy look bad tbh, or at least not to the extreme people immediately latched onto, but most of these takes seem to have sprouted from there.

Tbh I think one of the big reasons for this is because people really expected/wanted Marcy to be Bad or Toxic™ and were looking for excuses to point her out as such (most of us expected her to be...not great...for a long time before she actually appeared in the show and that means a lot of people were waiting for the other shoe to drop and insisting whole heartedly she'd prove herself to be an awful person/friend even before they found anything to latch onto as proof of such) so I honestly think this was all more confirmation bias than anything. The amount of fun Marcy's had here and how much she thrived in Amphibia definitely contributed to the pushing of the specific exaggerated flaws people picked out of practically nothing solid, because people do use the very result based argument you pointed out regarding how much 'better off' Marcy's placement was compared to the others, but honestly I think people would find something either way because from her debut people were just itching to find something that would implicate her.

So yeah, there's definitely some outcome/result-based bias in a lot of arguments against her, though I think even moreso these things come from people applying heavy confirmation bias to any blood in the water when it comes to implicating her for...like...anything.

#amphibia

[amphibiasideblog]

Y'know, I kinda hope the narrative acknowledges how unfair it is that Marcy functionally just died for Anne.

I mean, don't get me wrong, that was incredibly good of her, and I highly suspect that no matter what someone wasn't getting out of there, (hell, i suspect, even, that no matter what, marcy wasn't getting out of there, cause andrias really seems to have it in for her)

But in the long run that really changes very little about how unfair it is that Marcy would have to do that. And it kinda always has to be Marcy, doesn't it?

I know a lot of people like to say she's selfish, but she really isn't? I mean, her big claim to fame in the selfishness department was....basically an accident. Taking the box, stranding them in Amphibia? It wasn't even really supposed to work, it's functionally equivalent to if your wish upon a star or birthday-candle wish came true? Perhaps it was self indulgent, of course, to entertain the idea, even for what she assumed would be just a few hours, that she could be whisked away to another world where she could be happy. Stealing as an act in of itself is widely considered immoral, that can't be dismissed. But still, with her most selfish act being a desperate wish and a stolen trinket I can't help but think....that it really isn't much? The closest thing I can come up with outside of the incident with the box would be her behaviour in New Wartwood, but by all means her crime is moreso shortsightedness and insecurity than selfishness considering she'd been suckered into believing she was helping and while, yeah, she primarily did it out of a desire to be liked, she didn't realize she would be hurting anybody in the process and was pretty horrified when it hit her. By all means it wasn't much worse than like ninety percent of what Anne pulled in season one and honestly was probably objectively less selfish considering she...actually didn't think there would be consequences and was trying to help unlike season one Anne who's motive was often "have fun even if it may be against some rules lol"? Especially since Marcy so immediately jumped to take responsibility and fix it even when Anne seemed willing to defend her and she may not have had to? So even that is kinda on the rocks as far as selfish acts. One could argue that getting the music box back to Andrias was as well? But I mean, she had literally no reason not to trust the dude and it's not like she was planning to force the others to stay in Amphibia so while her hoping the others would go on all these adventures with her and Andrias was a bit too optimistic it really wasn't like she was doing anything wrong by hoping and planning to suggest it? Lying about trapping them is one I can probably concede on, but even then, as much as it was a crappy thing to do, she was being egged on by the abusive prick that is Andrias and, well, her fear makes sense, so even when i'm 100% willing to say she was wrong to cover what she did and it was probably selfish to do so, it wasn't even completely her idea and by all means despite the severity of the situation...lying just isn't that unforgivably big to push her into the range of being a selfish person. There's really nothing I can think of to back Marcy being selfish as a concept. She's not flawless, but selfishness isn't a crime I can attribute to her with much certainty.

And in fact, quite the opposite. When someone needs to do some good or make a sacrifice or take a leap or something...it's always Marcy.

I mean really look through pretty much everything Marcy's done throughout the series?

Right off the bat, this is mainly offscreen, but we know she's done a lot for Newtopia and Amphibia as a whole. She improved architecture, defenses, sanitation, most likely contributed to scientific research, did all the researching, planning, resource gathering, and actual field work on multiple missions to defend public wellbeing to the point where she got a reputation for it, seemingly landed herself in the position of being the only Newtopian official who cares at all what's going on with the people. It just kinda seems like she did everything around here. And really, for what? She never walked around in fancy clothes except possibly for formal events, she doesn't have guards following her everywhere, she doesn't use a formal title pretty much ever even if she does have one, she just doesn't seem to reap the benefits of being so important to the biggest city in the world? She has a statue and clout, but neither seemed to be her idea by any means either, those just naturally resulted from how much she does? I mean, i'm pretty sure she had access to the royal credit card as well on account of being functionally Andrias' ward and how much effort he was generally putting into getting her attached/dependent? But from what we can tell the most she used that on was....books? Classes? Maybe materials for her missions? A nice dress or two for special events and dinner at a pretty casual burger place sometimes? She does so much, probably has a lot of royal privileges because of it, and uses those to....walk around in a roughly sewn together skirt and a hood she's particularly fond of and take some classes that she then uses to improve the city more. She reads as your typical One Riot, One Ranger trope + Modest Royalty trope rolled into one. And, well...why? Why do so much for seemingly so little? I guarantee she does not need to singlehandedly carry the defenses and government of this city (nation, even, quite possibly) just to fund her classes. I guarantee it. And, well...cause she wants to? And I mean, not just on the layer that she enjoys what she does, on the layer that she wants to do what's best for the people? We know Marcy does enjoy what she does, don't get me wrong. She's a very passionate and inquisitive young girl. She knows a lot and likes to show off what she knows. She dresses how she does because she finds it cool. She takes the classes she does because they interest her. I'm sure a large part of the reason she's become so invaluable and has risen above her station like this is because she enjoys it. She enjoys learning, she enjoys coming up with solutions, she enjoys the interactions and scenarios that arise from what she does. I get the feeling, though, that it's not just about passion for the work? Marcy clearly loves her city. Newtopia. She loves it. She loves the city, she loves the history, she loves the culture, she loves the people. She's always gushing about it, she wore a very distinctly Newtopian dress to dinner with Anne and the others, she's incredibly proud to be associated with Newtopia. And I think that's a large part of why she does what she does. Because i'm sure, even with Marcy being...well...Marcy, her job is really difficult. I'm sure there have been moments where her life is in danger, moments where she's frustrated and feels like the rest of the government isn't doing enough, moments where she feels like her team isn't doing enough, moments where she feels like she isn't appreciated enough, or like she needs a break, or like she's in over her head. That's just how people work, and even a job you love can get really awful when you're the only one who seems invested in it getting done. I mean, we never see Andrias do anything. In fact, we see him literally brush off important reports so he can go conspire with Frogthulu in the basement and it kinda seems like Amphibia's been crumbling for years without him doing anything? Yunan and Olivia probably do....things...but the work Yunan seems to be assigned is mostly offensive work outside of Newtopia and, well, the city seems to be in

desperate need of better protection within its walls, hell Amphibia generally needs better protection, running off the kill a fugitive or two who aren't even actually traitors in anything but name doesn't help (not yunan's fault, she didn't seem any happier to be there than the rest of us were happy to see her back in toad catcher, but that doesn't change how kinda unnecessary the work she's been doing seems in comparison to the work that needs to get done) and Olivia's job seems to mostly be babysitting Andrias and making sure he doesn't disgrace the crown or anything. Marcy has a team and like a bunch of guards but she seems way overqualified compared to the people she works with and we see more guards delegated to following royals around whenever they step foot outside the castle than to actually helping defend the city. I absolutely refuse to believe Marcy isn't on the verge of Losing It at least some of the time because she just doesn't get paid enough for this (you could not pay someone enough for this, this is ludicrous) and yeah a statue or two in her honour is nice but it'd be a lot fuckin' nicer if she didn't have to dedicate so much time and effort to keeping this place running all by herself, which is saying nothing for the state of the rest of Amphibia which i'm sure she's caught on to not being great. It's relatively thankless work, really, despite the apparent perks she hardly takes advantage of. The fact that she enjoys it doesn't negate that (i mean, hell, i love drawing, but if i was tasked with animating five different two hour long movies with functionally no help from the people who are supposed to be helping or hell, doing this themselves..? oh, plus i might die actually on the job, like, there's a really big chance of me getting hurt or worse, actually, which is something i have to prepare for. it wouldn't matter how much i like drawing or even how much they wanna pay me, it could be a million dollars, they could not pay me to do that). I refuse to believe that the extent of the work Marcy seemed to be doing was done entirely happily because she liked it and wanted to be there all the time. Marcy was doing a very stressful job and it really seems like a large reason she kept doing it, way beyond the "she liked the work, really" aspect, is because she does care deeply about Newtopia, Amphibia, and the people she's helping through her work, even if that means doing...well...everything, pretty much? Cause I know it wasn't for the perks that she hardly used or because she just magically had the stamina and patience of a literal robot and just had so much fun with this bullshit all of the time even when her life was in danger. And again, it's not even just what we've heard about. Her improvements to the sewer system, to architecture, her multiple missions, etc, are all things we see/hear about, but god I seriously doubt that's even the extent of what she did and what she was planning to do. She absolutely put herself through a lot of stress and probably pain to make life better in Amphibia.

Going beyond the work she did mainly offscreen and is relayed to us from before we met up with her/offscreen away from us, though, lets talk about her actual on screen appearances that we see and don't just hear about. I'll start with Marcy At The Gates. Oh Boy does Marcy have the patience of a saint in this episode. I mean first off I wanna take a moment to appreciate how much of an absolute sweetheart she is generally. Marcy may lament having troubles socializing and I don't doubt that she does, but she sells herself short when it comes to her ability to connect with people, honestly. I mean, she can be a bit out there, sure, but right off the bat upon meeting the Plantars she's endeared herself to them fully with her bubbly complimentary energetic demeanour. But putting that aside....oh boy if Anyone tried to treat me the way Anne was treating her all episode i'd fuckin' slap em'. If my mom tried to treat me the way Anne was treating her all episode i'd fuckin' slap her (not really but like i'd be very upset). I know Anne meant well, and she's very valid. Marcy was kinda a mess back home and I do get why Anne would end up being overprotective like she was. But dear god, just look at her all episode? She keeps trying to do Marcy's job for her, keeps assuming she's more qualified, trying to push Marcy behind her, insisting Marcy just sit back and look pretty or whatever while Anne does the work. And I know I just talked about how Marcy's probably pretty stressed with her work actually and could probably use some help, but this isn't help, this is a candy coated hostile takeover. And Marcy probably being overworked just adds to how pissed she should probably be about Anne coming in and babying her and acting like she can totally handle this job Marcy's objectively more qualified for. I mean, honestly, lets all be real here, how would you respond if you were handling a dangerous and stressful job that you'd been studying and preparing and planning for and that was part of your job that you are qualified for and have been doing for months basically without help.....and your friend pops in for a visit from her rundown little farm town where she's been growing turnips or whatever and immediately decides you're so untrustworthy and incapable that she should be handling this mission instead? I'm not saying actually slap her, but I feel like most people would have some choice words for her at least and given, again, how overworked i'm sure Marcy is in this job, Anne probably would have gotten off lightly with 'some choice words'. But...well....Marcy was....remarkably cool about all of it? She gave Anne some passively annoyed glances and raised her voice a tiny bit when Anne was literally preventing her from saving someone's life? But I don't even think she was particularly harsh about...any of it. "Anne what are you doing? >:(" and "Why won't you just let me go?!?" are like...the Worst of it and these are both from scenes where Anne is actively putting someone's life at risk. Marcy was the bigger person in this episode to like. A shocking degree. Most of the episode is spent gently reassuring Anne or just kinda tolerating her while she hangs around unnecessarily close to Marcy. She tries to get Anne to cut it out a few times but literally most of the episode she brushes it off and tries not to make an issue out of it. She finally does get a tiny bit upset with Anne when she shoves Marcy in the middle of planting stink shrooms and puts them in danger with the noise she made, but even then it was kinda just mild frustration as she informed Anne that she didn't have to do that. Honestly that frustration seems to melt more into concern as the conversation goes on, even. And she's pretty over it by the time Sprig's in danger and completely drops the conversation to go help him. Anne doesn't, though, and when she grabs Marcy and insists she do it instead, she is honestly putting Sprig's life in jeopardy. That's the closest Marcy comes to getting upset when she literally grabs Anne and tries to get it through her head that she has

to do this (because someone might die if she doesn't and she can't exactly afford to try other options rn even if they do have some time). But even then she like, barely raises her voice, and Anne's talking a lot louder than she is. It's more firm than anything, probably because of the more dire nature of this situation. Hell, Marcy even immediately pauses and takes the moment to understand where Anne is coming from and once again reassure her very gently that she can handle this and she'll be alright. She doesn't even get an apology from Anne? Like, she turns to thank Anne for having her back? Anne was so lucky here. Like, dear god, you walk into most stressed professionals work and try to take over their job and they'll Literally Kill You. Especially in such a high stakes job where you're putting people's lives in danger by trying to take over? And that's not even mentioning the other side of things with Sprig. I mean, Marcy spent all episode being nothing but kind and bubbly and open to Sprig. And he spent the whole time glaring at her and acting standoffish. There's no way she didn't notice. Most people would be...understandably upset? I mean, she didn't even know about his past experience with Sasha either at this point, from her perspective Sprig was just being really mean to her all day for no reason despite her best efforts. She'd never even met the kid before that day, this was her only impression of him? You'd really expect someone to get a little snippy back or even tell the kid to wait back at the main base during the mission if he's really not capable of playing nice, but she....didn't? She refused to even accept his apology, and not as in "no i don't forgive you", as in "don't apologize <3". She didn't even try to regard him differently from the others and brushed him off entirely when he did apologize because "i'm just glad you're okay", then she went on to continue to be nothing but nice to him and show no ill will whatsoever. This is a kid she met today. Part of me wanted to suggest her tolerance of Anne was because they were lifelong best friends and all, but no, she extends the exact same tolerance to Sprig. She doesn't even ask for an explanation out of Sprig or let him feel back about being a jerk to her all day when he realizes his behaviour was unfounded? This episode is literally just Marcy trying to do a dangerous stressful mission she did all the research/planning/resource-gathering for while also babysitting four people who keep putting the mission at risk, all the while two of these people are treating her unfairly and trying to take over her mission or just being generally rude to her. And she's just completely sweet and gentle and understanding like the whole time except for some mild firmness with Anne when Anne's behaviour put people's lives in danger? Which Marcy then proceeded to get over immediately? She never lost her temper, she never said anything rude or even kinda snarky back to them, she thanked Anne at the end of it and didn't expect an apology at all, she literally waved off Sprig's apology entirely with a comment about how she's glad he's okay? Dear god, the extent to which Marcy is the bigger person in this episode is just wild man.

And then going on to Scavenger Hunt you see it again. This entire episode is literally Anne avoiding her and trying to one-up her when she is around. Like, again, this is for sure an episode where I see where Anne's coming from and do sympathize with her a lot. Like, I for sure see Anne's perspective, having a friend who you think is Better Than You can be really tough, and I see the desire to prove herself (especially with the rest of her family's bs at the beginning of the episode, lol, like, i love them, and i don't know what i expected, really given how they are, but holy shit guys). But at the same time, she didn't really act great in this episode. I mean, she didn't bother talking to Marcy, or, like, assessing her own sense of self worth with some healthy personal reflection. She literally just spent all day trying to avoid Marcy and prove she's better than her. Which normally would be a little disheartening. Your best friend literally spends the whole day running away from you and acting shady and trying to show off and failing at it and almost gets y'all killed?? And it's because she couldn't be bothered to get over her ego or talk to you about the fact that she's feeling insecure??? I'm not saying Marcy should've blown up and never talked to Anne again, that would be an exaggeration, and I mean, if Marcy can handle the bs the others put her through during Marcy At The Gates she can handle this, but I think most people would get kinda frustrated?? Idk, maybe i'm just reactionary, but that would be stressful and frustrating to me. And there's no way Marcy didn't notice either, like, she for sure was aware that Anne was avoiding her and trying to show her up and all that. Like even if she didn't know exactly what was going on there's no way she didn't clock that something was up, and this all accumulated in them almost dying as well. And yet? Marcy's...completely understanding and reasonable and supportive throughout the episode. She lets Anne try her luck at the puzzles despite not being very good at them, she compliments and encourages Anne's ideas even when they're wrong, she humored Sprig whenever Anne ran off and never pushed too hard on where she was going. And Marcy's response upon actually hearing about Anne's concerns was to give an absolutely lovely speech about how wonderful Anne is. She doesn't humor the idea like Sprig did, she isn't upset Anne put them in danger like Hopadiah is, she literally jumps right into telling Anne how completely wrong she is about being less than Marcy in any way. She seems completely baffled that Anne would even consider the idea, as if it had never even crossed Marcy's mind, and immediately gushed about how good Anne is at making connections and how people love her and she's absolutely incredible and how could she ever think otherwise when really Marcy envies her (though, y'know, not in an "i'm going to avoid you and try to one-up you and put our lives in danger when i can't" way, in an "i'm going to gush about how wonderful you are and you can't stop me" way which is...a different kind of 'envy' for sure). She's so gentle yet firm in her complimentary speech, she leaves no room for doubts, she makes her point very clear, Anne's incredible. And she's quick to point out that Anne is so impressive that despite how highly Marcy already thinks of her she can still surprise her as well. Marcy is thrilled when Anne solves the puzzle-gram and is so quick to point it out with so much excitement. Once again Marcy has the patience of a fuckin' saint and is remarkably quick to forgive bs. No, not even quick to forgive, did not need to forgive. She simply did not even consider being upset for a single second about how poorly Anne handled the situation and jumped right into her speech and was just instantly riddled with excitement for Anne when she solved the puzzle. Again Marcy is just, the bigger person without hesitation or question? As if acting any other way is just unimaginable. As if not being the bigger person is just out of the question and even laughable.

And then we...don't really see Marcy much for most of the rest of the Newtopia Arc. But even in her absence Marcy's making a statement with her selflessness, because of course she is. I mean, first off, tell me, refresh my memory. What was Marcy doing the entire time we were gallivanting around Newtopia blowing the royal credit card? Well, that one's easy. She was working. She was reading piles upon piles of books for days straight trying to figure out what's up with the box. Now here's a harder one. Why? Like, actually, why? So they could get home? Marcy wasn't exactly planning on heading home anytime soon. She loves Amphibia, she loves Newtopia, she loves her life, she loves her people, she loves her makeshift family, and she had absolutely zero plans to go back to earth. For the fun multiverse adventures? Andrias didn't even approach her with any sort of info on his plans until after Anne left, so that's a no go for sure. Because she just really likes tedious research into something she's got no stake in? Look, Marcy's a curious and inquisitive person, she has a lot of interests, she likes to look into and research these interests, a week straight reading piles of useless books and downing a few gallons of the strongest coffee you can find isn't the same as researching your interests though or even normal studying. That's stressful, tedious, mind numbing work. Marcy herself was very obviously exhausted and frustrated with the whole thing. This wasn't fun research. The reason she did it was because Anne asked her to. Marcy didn't have a stake in this. If she wanted to learn about the box whether to use it or just for fun she would have spent the last six months looking into it. But Anne does? Anne's whole goal is to figure out what's up with the box and get home. Marcy did all this research while Anne was off having fun specifically to help Anne. And like, I don't expect a miracle out of Anne, I don't expect her to magically be able to read Amphibian runes, if she can't do that she can't do that then she can't do that, obviously. But...it never once occurred to her to maybe drop by? Say hello to her best friend she hasn't seen much in half a year? Maybe encourage Marcy to take a teeny tiny little break from the hours upon hours of work? At least like offer to get her some water or something? Not that Marcy complained, of course. That's something she just doesn't do. But still? I mean, Marcy at least expected Anne to help with actually preparing for her journey even if she couldn't have helped with the research. And Marcy voiced as much. But Anne didn't want to leave her family, and Marcy didn't have the heart to ask her to in any way that mattered. Marcy told Anne to follow her heart. She didn't bring up how much she genuinely could use the help, she didn't even bring up how crushing it was to send her best friend off. Marcy smiled at Anne and told her that this was the most logical thing to do, even, so there would be no room for hesitance when Marcy told her to go follow her heart. And then Marcy just watched her best friend run away from her...and got back to work. What else was there to do?

Going into The First Temple Marcy finally had her own stake in this quest she'd single handedly made happen. Marcy finally had personal reason to want this to happen. And then she immediately threw it away to protect the rest of her party. For real, though, even ignoring her own plans for if she could get the box working, Marcy had a lot of reasons to desperately want to succeed. She didn't want to fail Andrias, she didn't want to fail Anne, she didn't want to fail herself. Everyone was counting on her intellect to get them through the temple. She'd always put so much stock into that part of herself as well. And yet. The second she realized that the others were in genuine danger, she gave up. There wasn't even a question in her mind. "No! Who cares about the stupid game?!? I forfeit!". It was immediate, seconds after her realization that someone might actually get hurt. And the real kicker? Nobody blamed her for it. Nobody was upset. The Plantars all immediately rushed to her. Anne immediately, in this concerned confused voice, questioned her, "Marcy I don't understand?". Hopadiah asked outright why she threw the game as if there was no reason for her to. Sprig defiantly proclaimed the game a cheat, and Polly declared that she still thought Marcy was pretty smart. Nobody blamed her. Nobody was upset. They wouldn't have been, even if she had continued the game, in fact, they were confused about why she didn't. Marcy gave up something that was important to her for the sake of people who wouldn't have held it against her even if she kept going. And she stood by the decision. She asserted that it wasn't worth continuing when they were at risk, even if they were willing to. She didn't blame the temple, or the test, she didn't even comment on the cheating, she didn't even talk about how disappointing it must have been to lose. She held herself accountable to an extent nobody else even thought to and then she picked herself back up despite her pretty clear distress without asking for (or even really accepting) any further concern from the others.

Marcy keeps this same energy into future episodes. Imma go ahead and push her Wartwood episodes (New Wartwood + Maddie And Marcy + The Dinner + Battle Of The Bands) into one section here. Everyone was..pretty awful to her in New Wartwood. Like, I know that's how the town is, but it was shitty when they did it to Anne and it's shitty when they do it to Marcy. There was a whole mob with pitchforks and torches and shit, guys, like, the way outsiders are regarded is kinda like...Not Okay. I for sure agree with the general message of the episode that it takes time for new people to accept you sometimes, but dear god, that doesn't mean being awful to new people for no reason is alright, lol. Which makes it....kinda really sad that Marcy went so out of her way to appease everyone. I mean, she went around doing manual labour for like a day straight to improve the town so people stop glaring at/muttering about her and even when some people were assholes (/lh because i would die for sadie, wally, and mr. flour, but like, come on, they were being rude) Marcy couldn't bring herself to just get over them because...well...they're being assholes for no reason even after she went out of her way to help them and obviously they're not worth her time? She wasn't upset at them nor did she roll her eyes and move on, she literally decided she wasn't doing enough and needed to be better/do more for them because it's somehow her fault they're being stubborn pricks? And then in the end she still went out of her way to not only apologize for her mistakes but also go physically fix it, all while....being super not mad about the fact that these people were pretty awful and judgmental to her all day. And like, she still looked about ready to cry over them not liking her even after having it basically proved that they were just judgmental jerks and that nothing she could have done would've changed that. Like. And even the scrap of approval they threw at her at the end came with the caveat of; "After A Period Of Regarding You With A Period Of Borderline Paranoid Suspicion" which she deemed fair enough and thanked them for before happily running off to fix up the town? And then going into Maddie And Marcy. Maddie's sisters weren't exactly super nice to her. Like. They were jealous. They were jealous of their sister hanging out with "that stupid old lady". But Marcy still went so incredibly out of her way to encourage Maddie to spend more time with them and see things from their perspective. She really went "Yeah, new best friend, I like hanging out with you and doing potions, but you really should play with your sisters too <3" when Maddie was complaining about them. And then going into The Dinner and Battle Of The Bands, her role in those episodes was literally sitting in the background not having opinions and trying to get the other girls to get along/agree on stuff without ever really voicing her own opinions on anything going on at all.

And then finally leading into True Colors. As soon as the fight with Andrias started Marcy was very solidly positioned against him. Even after her breakdown she like immediately wiped off her tears and started firing. Marcy threw herself out the window to save Sprig while everyone else was panicking, Marcy grabbed the music box as soon as she was back, Marcy ushered the Plantars in before she even thought about running through herself. Marcy functionally died for Anne. And the last words on her lips were an apology. The last thought in her mind about how sorry she was, the last thing she ever tried to do was convey to Anne just how little she'd ever want to hurt her and just how much pain it causes Marcy that she did. She sacrificed everything to protect the others, down to her life, and she still felt the urge to apologize.

And someone has to be the bigger person in every conflict. Someone has to clean things up. Someone has to make sacrifice, even.

But why on earth does it always have to be Marcy?

I want it to be acknowledged how fucking unfair it was that Marcy would die protecting Anne and still go out with an apology. How unfair ALL of this was.

Marcy was never allowed to be angry or petulant or shirk her duties or say no to a request or be a little selfish. Marcy wasn't even allowed to live because shoving others out in front of her took priority!

I've called Marcy selfless before (despite the opinions of some) and I stand by that. It goes to the extent where it's literally harmful to her.

I mean, looking out for other people isn't bad. Having people you'd die for isn't even bad. Sasha or Sprig or Hopadiah would've died for Anne too. In a heartbeat. But they wouldn't have spent their last breaths apologizing to her without a single second of mourning to their own lives if they did. If Marcy had bled when she was stabbed I can bet you anything she would've apologized for getting Anne's shoes dirty with it.

Marcy's been consistently understanding and patient and tolerant and apologetic (overly apologetic even) and just generally selfless and it's to the extent where it's so unfair on her and is genuinely deeply concerning.

I mean, it's a testament to her big heart that she's like this, don't think for a second that my concern over it is meant to discredit how good of a person Marcy is and how proud I am of that fact because she is incredibly empathetic and kind and resilient. But I can't think of a time where she's let herself be mad when someone hurt her or even when she's let herself outwardly be sad for more than two seconds. It's always overwhelmed by a new task to complete or a new person to help or something thing needs to be done/said that doesn't leave room for Marcy to express anything besides gentle understanding compassion and passionate hard working helpfulness.

Like, this is why we have multiple severe hysterical sobbing breakdowns from her, guys??? Because she's everything everyone needs her to be and she never drops that cheerful grin of hers and she never slows down and she's always the one who has to be the bigger person or make the sacrifice in every situation, something that only falters when she literally breaks.

I'm just really worried about her and really want it addressed that none of this is anywhere near fair to her.

#amphibia #long post

[amphibiasideblog]

Do you have an account on TV Tropes?

Nope, although I have been considering making one out of sheer spite over some of the Amphibia pages lmao.

#amphibia

[amphibiasideblog]

sashas whole character arc is the least heterosexual thing ive ever seen actually

#YOURE USING IT TO KEEP THE MIND OFF THE REAL REASON YOURE UPSET #I DONT KNOW WHAT I WANT... #YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT! #ITS ABOUT THE EMOTIONAL REPRESSION #THE #*WALKS OFF A CLIFF* #THE. EMOTIONAL. REPRESSION. #MIGHT GO ON A WHOLE RANT ABOUT IT LATER NGL #amphibia