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mdhwrites · 8 months

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Amphibia's Ending is SOOOO Much Better Than People Made Me Believe

So I remember back in S2 when I watched "A Day at the Aquarium" expecting to be upset about the finale like a lot of the people I'd followed were when the finale came out. After all, with them being so close, why would they choose to leave? Could they really justify them just dropping the stones and moving on from these bonds they made?

And... That's what the story wants right then. But it was an assumption built off of false impressions that I want to talk about because the ending is REALLY smart in making its points. But to talk about an ending, I feel like I should bring up its beginning. This isn't always necessary but Amphibia actually includes what is effectively a primordial sin. A first failing that causes everything to happen.

A scared girl who is told that change is coming and that she must give up those she is closest to finds out that with some magic, she can make it all go away.

NEVER is this portrayed as having been the right thing to do. NEVER is the show about justifying Marcy's decision. Instead, the show's entire purpose... Is about letting go. It's about how the experiences we keep from others are more important than keeping those people beside us. Otherwise, controlling people, forcing them to be like you, the goals of Sasha and the Core, would be painted as correct. Chances to be together forever, doing whatever they want and never having to change.

So it ending with the trio having to say goodbye to the connections they've made is kind of the only way it COULD have ended. First is the fact that neither Sasha or Marcy would have accepted Anne dying at the start of the series. Anne would never have been willing to take such responsibility or sacrifice. She wouldn't have been willing to embrace such a painful change, just like how early on in the series she rejected the frogs and their culture outright.

And here is where we get my first misconception. I thought Anne was straight up given her second life for her deeds or because she made a deal that she'd be willing to be god if allowed to live her life. This is as much on me as anyone else but can we talk about the brilliance of Anne's resurrection? She's only saved to become a god. Theoretically, turning down the position is choosing to die again. It doubles down on how Anne has accepted change, no matter how dire. She even has good reason because like the Core said "Full of heart but dumb as rocks." She's made PLENTY of mistakes in this season, even as we've gotten to enjoy what a resplendent person she's grown up as. The fact that she's willing to admit that is beautiful, especially for any coming of age story.

And it's a good argument. One full of the sort of wisdom a god needs. So this bored cat of a god likes it. Likes it enough that without giving Anne a choice decides to let her get some more training before coming back to work for him. It's keeping in line with the explanation that he gave for the stones. He was CURIOUS about what mortals would do with ultimate power and was disappointed for TEN. THOUSAND. YEARS.

And here we get misconception two which I think is much more on the fandom. No one DECIDES to put the stones away. No one decides to cut off the worlds from each other. Hell, on the human side of things, one could argue that it's not closed, they just need a better power source since the music box just uses, well, music. No, the stones are gone because someone more powerful than them is tired of their trouble and removed them.

And so we're right back where we began. Having to be told to say goodbye and that you don't have the time to do it how you might. Yes, they technically have a choice to stay but let's actually talk about if any of them actually have a reason to want to be there.

ALL of the newts have only ever used Marcy (even when Yunan and Olivia save her, it's explicitly because of her mind, not because it's the right thing to do) and it took until she was STABBED for any of them to actually care about her with even basic humanity. This is not her world. And yes, her parents will force her to leave things behind but A: At least they were honest with her! And B:... Running from that choice hurt so many people before. Why would she choose that now? Why would she choose to suddenly claim to have learned nothing and considered herself right to have stranded them all there by stranding herself now?

Sasha may have made great connections but the point for her character is to give up control and prestige. She could live in this land as a hero and general, leading how things will be shaped, potentially in her image even... And it doesn't even cross her mind. She probably knows she has a lot to set right back on Earth. Besides, you know, there's just the basic fact that being literally the only human here would be a bit of an existential problem. It would still would also mean running away from finishing the work she needs to put in to become a better friend and mend the rifts between her, Anne and Marcy (I'll get to the ten year gap, bear with me).

And finally Anne. She has her parents to go back to. She does still prefer life on Earth, even if she came to love Amphibia. Hell, the fact that she does clearly prefer Earth, as showcased in S3A, actually makes her sacrifice MORE impactful because she's not doing this just because it's her home. She's doing it because she cares and because of the connections she's made.

But just like she was with the core, she is brave enough to say goodbye. Just because someone isn't right next to you doesn't mean they've left you. Honestly, in an age of constant communication, I love that. A reminder that you can take your time. You don't have to talk every day, do things together constantly, etc. like that just because you can. You are still your own person with your own life but you can carry the support and love those people gave/give you even when you're not face to face.

And so rather than run from change, they admit it's painful, they cry, they celebrate, they joke... And then they're gone. There is literally no better ending for this story than that.

It even follows through with the epilogue. Marcy, Anne and Sasha were codependent. S3 actually reinforces a lot that their negative traits are still there, or have new ones related to each other, even as they've grown. Anne still can't say no to people she cares about like with Sprig's Birthday and Give a Frog a Cookie. She still can't entirely trust that Sasha isn't self serving like in Sasha's Angels. She has scars that will take time to heal and change, just like she pointed out to Marcy in New Wartwood.

Sasha though has a whole NEW heap of issues though. She's gone from being controlling to subservient. Anne says jump, she'd say off what. She is terrified of making the same mistakes twice. She is constantly trying to seek forgiveness. That is NOT a healthy place to be as a person and it's almost entirely wrapped up around Anne. Them deciding they were okay with just staying in touch, rather than being on top of each other... is actually great.

Marcy doesn't have as much to say but she moved... And she figured out how to handle the human realm like she did Amphibia: Alone. Who she was and how to be herself rather than relying on Sasha and Anne or needing them.

But was ten years necessary? I mean... Kind of actually. If Anne STARTS the series turning thirteen, she still has this school year and 5 more to finish for primary school. Then since at least two of them sought degrees, you have four more years where Sasha and Anne might not have even been in the same state, let alone the same town, and Marcy MOVED. She literally couldn't come back unless the fates decreed until she was 18 and she might have chosen to persue an artistic degree so there's another 4 years for her.

Then one year after college to settle in, get the money for trips, etc. like that and... Yeah, ten years sounds about right because life's a bitch. Almost like that's one of the lessons of Amphibia. But as it also says: Those bad times don't need to be only bad. You never know what will come back to find you and be better than it ever was.

So yeah, I'm definitely not just in the camp that the Amphibia ending is good but that it almost couldn't be improved. Small things, mostly pacing wise, maybe but thematically and how it does those beats? Not really. Not when this is so focused on one goal.

And I'll take dedication to your concept over giving the audience a simple, happily ever after ANY day.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#Amphibia #Amphibia Finale #sasha waybright #marcy wu #anne boonchuy

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waybrights · 2 years

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lol i had an idea <3 (also spoilers so be warned!!!)

"alright!" marcy claps, grinning up at her friends sitting on the bed. "i think we're finally ready!" she says excitedly, pushing herself up from the floor (where she's set up a pile of blankets, every stuffed animal she owns and a few bowls of snacks) and walking to anne's bed to gently tug at her sleeve.

"for what?" sasha asks with a bored tone, her eyes fixed on the bright screen of her phone.

"the movie, remember?" and marcy hates the way she lets her voice wobble - she isn't sad about them not being excited, they just haven't had the chance to experience cinematic history yet! but there's something tugging at her stomach and it only grows when neither anne nor sasha look up at her. "you guys promised we could watch it."

"oh!" anne nods (marcy knows it's fake. anne doesn't care, she never really does. but the smile on her face stays) and sits up, tucking her phone under her pillow. "yes! your movie!"

when sasha doesn't move, anne turns to her and hits her shoulder. "c'mon you, we're watching marcy's movie."

sasha groans, her head falling against the wooden headboard. "do we have to?" the tug in marcy's stomach grows stronger and something starts rising in her throat. "its three hours long and doesn't even look that good." when sasha realises what she's said she turns to frown at marcy. "no offence marmar, i just don't think it's my thing, yknow?" she shrugs, pushing any semblance of guilt off her face as she goes back to her phone.

"oh," marcy whispers, "right." she looks down, suddenly embarrassed by the stinging in her eyes and heat in her cheeks. stupid, you're so so stupid, of course they aren't going to watch a movie about warlocks, how stupid are y-

"no!" anne says, something akin to anger in her tone. marcy glances at her, expecting to have a look directed to her. but it's not. anne glares at sasha, her arms crossed over her chest. "no sash, we promised marcy we would watch it. so we will." once again marcy knows anne will zone out ten minutes in, but its the thought that counts.

"but-"

"no buts, sash, we promised." she narrows her eyes. "you promised."

sasha sighs, long and pained, but she turns her phone off and chucks it to the side, a smile plastered on her face. "alright. let's watch it."

silently, marcy nods and turns back to the tv showing the opening credits. she sits there for a moment, hand hovering over the play button, staring at the screen in front of her. it isn't often she feels like this around her friends, as though she should stop talking and let them continue doing whatever they wanted. it feels silly, sitting there with a blanket tied around her neck like a cape and staring at the screen for a film targeted to children.

"we don't have to," she says quietly after a few minutes of silence (even without looking marcy knows sasha's on her phone again, she'd started to hear the tap tap of her perfect nails two minutes ago). "you guys wouldn't like it anyways," her heart feels as though its being pulled straight out of her chest when she hears the quiet sighs behind her.

"marcy-" anne weakly argues.

"no," she shakes her head, shaky hands coming up to untie the pink blanket set around her shoulders, ignoring the tears welling up in her eyes and the way her voice wobbles. "seriously you guys don't want to so let's not watch it."

"are-" anne pauses and gently drops her hand onto marcy's shoulder. it's strange, how marcy's breath immediately catches at the warmth of her friend. "are you sure?"

"mhm!" marcy nods cheerily, refusing to look up from her fingernails. "i'm sure sasha has something better planned anyways."

"but you were really excited," and she sounds genuinely upset by the change of plans, but marcy doesn't buy it, not really.

"it's alright," she shrugs the blanket falling around her waist, clinging to her shoulder by anne's hand. "besides," marcy swallows the lump rising in her throat and smiles weakly at anne. "there's always next time, right?"

#heyyyy... this scene resonated w me too much :D #they make me so saaadddd #anyways i love marcy wu sm and im wrapping her up in the pink blanket and sitting w her to watch her favourite film <3 #marcy wu #anne boonchuy #sasha waybright #amphibia #amphibia spoilers #marie.txt #marie writes

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ilovetvtoons · 3 years

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Ever since True Colors officially aired, I've seen and read a lot of theories about Marcy's family and homelife. And I've been thinking a lot about all of them. A lot of them theorize that she was possibly abused by her parents, and the more I thought about them the more I believe that they might have been true. Though we don't really know enough about them to consider them this way. The way Marcy acts, her obsessive love for videos games and absorbing herself into fantasy worlds, and her desperation to stay with Anne and Sasha is enough to show us that the relationship she has with her family is very strained indeed.

Anne and Sasha are easily the most important people to Marcy. Her friendship with them was so important to her that they were the only things that for whatever reason made her home life bearable for Marcy. Unlike Marcy, Anne and Sasha seem to be content with their home lives and wouldn't want to leave it for anything. Anne doesn't have a perfect relationship with her parents, but her relationship with them is nonetheless healthy and she loved them very much and her primary goal in Amphibia is to find her way back to them. Sasha relationship with her family unknown right now. But we know enough that they could possibly be rich and wealthy. Though it has been hinted that she's not too close with her parents based on the way she talks about Anne's Parents. And her obsessive need to stay in control of her friendship with Anne and Marcy suggests that her parents suggests that her parents were controlling of her like Sasha is with Anne and Marcy. But unlike Marcy, Sasha doesn't seem to be discontent with her home life. After all, she had a pool big enough to fit her entire class in, was the Captain of the Cheerleaders, and was possibly the most popular girl at School.

But during nearly every earth flashback involving Marcy, she has shown constant discomfort with her home life. While the show takes these moments through Anne's point of view, and Anne just sees Marcy as a clumsy nerd who needs constant protection. Some can see that her obsession love for videos games is not a trait establishing her character, it's a sign of deep dissatisfaction with her home life. And it's obvious to me that she doesn't like to talk about it. So instead she just keeps on relying on escapism to cope with it, and neither Anne or Sasha realize that there could be something more serious is going on with their friend.

She is also noticeably a different person when she's around both Anne and Sasha. Considering her troubles with making connections with people on her own, and her own strained relationship with her parents. She wants Anne and Sasha to be around her all of the time. It doesn't seem to matter to Marcy what she is doing with them or what they want to do. She will just easily agree to do whatever they want to do, and never disagree with either of them. While she will sometimes serves as the mediator to Anne and Sasha whenever they have a fight. Other times she will just standby and observe them without voicing her opinions to them. She's afraid of choosing to side with one friend and losing another friend in the process. But they were the only people who actually wanted to be around her despite her quirky personality and she doesn't want that to change. But she also has an unhealthy attachment and reliance to them to the point of taking them to Amphibia with her not considering that she's taking them away from their lives and families. And Anne and Sasha didn't exactly see Marcy as a person on Earth. Anne only saw her as a loveable geek who needs protecting, and Sasha only sees Marcy as someone she could manipulate and push around as she does with Anne all of the time.

There is nothing wrong with Marcy wanting to stay in Amphibia. Amphibia was a place that has allowed Marcy to grow and flourish in ways she never could have back on Earth. While she's still clumsy and absent minded at times, she became more independent and much happier than she ever was back on earth. She fights giant dangerous insects and birds, wields a wicked crossbow with a badass getup to boot, and she's finally free to be whoever she wants to be without the influence of others around her. She was living the fantasy world of her dreams and the life she always wanted at long last.

Here's something I noticed in @borkthemork post that I reblogged a few days ago. And I made the comparison between Marcy's Neighborhood at her Earth life and her life at Newtopia. Notice how gray and trashy her Californian Neighborhood compared to how colorful and clean Newtopia is. It may be symbolic to her life in these respective places. At her home life she was a nobody living an unhappy and unhealthy life, but at Newtopia she is seen as a somebody. Even Anne finally sees that Marcy's her own person here. Marcy was a strang creature from another world, but the Newts listened to her suggestions to improve their city. She had a voice there, and the Newts accepted her as one of them. She got more love and acceptance there than she ever did from her own parents. She even has her own statue in her honor. Marcy has basically found herself a real home and made a life in Amphibia filled with people who respect her as an equal. Her future looked so glistening for her that she sees no reason to go back to a life that she never liked.

But then of course there's King Andrias, who easily manipulated Marcy and played on her desperation to be with Anne and Sasha forever by making her promises he never planned to keep and giving her a false sense of friendship. Getting her to reveal her darkest secrets to him and then using them against Marcy and her friends later. Marcy thought of Andrias as a parental figure. He gives her a bunch of fun puzzles, let her to beat him on game of Flipwart, and "allows" her to discover his secret library. And when she gives Andrias what he wanted, he literally and metaphorically backstabs her.

While she was selfish by taking her friends away from their lives and families. All she wanted was to be with her friends forever and never be alone. Amphibia gave Marcy so much. She was finally in a place where she was happy and where people accepted her, and King Andrias cruelly took that away from her. To Marcy, living life without Anne and Sasha and going back to living with her parents was a scary senerio. And though she's not a malicious person, her actions eventually caused her worst nightmare to come true. She is the tragic hero in this story. She wanted to be together forever with Anne and Sasha, but instead she ended up dividing them apart and causing a rift between Anne and Sasha. Though to me that wasn't something that was entirely her fault. Anne and Sasha are not blameless. Marcy's actions doesn't excuse them from any of the mistakes they made. Marcy shouldn't be accountable for all of their bad decisions they made before and after they ended up in Amphibia. I just don't see it that way.

While I still can't say for sure that Marcy's Parents were abusive to her. We still don't know enough about her parents to fully consider them this way. But her behavior and actions speaks for itself. Think about it. Marcy ran away from her parents, traps herself in a another world, and has had six months to think about what she did. And during all of that time, she decided that she has no reason to go back to her parents and life on earth. Marcy had time to decide for herself for what she wants for herself, and she's decided that she never wants to see or hear from them again. In fact, she feel revulsion at the very idea. Even for someone at her age, and finding out that she would have to move away with her parents and leave her friends behind. Running away from home like that and deciding that she never wants to go back is not a normal response even to this situation. It was not a mere impulse. Her home life was not okay. This says that she might have already been forced to endure some kind of unknown trauma during her home life.

After watching The Owl House episode "Yesterday's Lie" got me thinking. When Luz revealed that she decided to stay in the Boiling Isles to her mother Camila. Camila was so upset by the impression that she made her daughter hate her and she made Luz's home life uncomfortable and that she didn't like living with her at all. While Marcy and Luz are alike in many ways. They both absorb themselves in their fantasies, and they both jumped to the opportunity to stay in the world of their dreams and become what they want to be. However their response to wanting to stay permanently or leave and go back home couldn't be more different. While Luz and Camila's relationship is a bit rocky, and despite forcing Luz to do things she doesn't feel comfortable with, Luz still wants to find a way back to her mother. She knows that her mother ultimately loves her unconditionally. Marcy's case is completely different than Luz's. While Marcy's Parents might say that they love her. But it's not to an extent where she could feel or connect with them on an emotional level. Their influence was suffocating Marcy to the extent of staying in Amphibia for about half a year and showing no desire to return to them after all of that time shows how hazardous Marcy's home life must have been for her. It shows that Marcy has had it worse than Luz, and she wants to put the past behind her and look to the future. Unfortunately her past doesn't completely dissappear, and while Luz made many friends and positively affected the lives of those around her, Marcy had trouble making many connections with people around her aside from Maddie and by extent the Plantars. And the first Adult Parental figure she thought she made a real connection with turned out to be using her for his own evil ambitions. And he takes everything away from her including Anne and Sasha's trust in Marcy. It makes me wonder if Marcy's Parents caused her so much discomfort that it made her want to leave them and hate the idea of returning home again. Did Marcy really come to hate her own parents that much?! I don't know for sure. But she obviously never had a real connection with them, and they probably didn't give her the love she wanted and needed from them. It's a sad story really.

With that being said, I really hope that things will get better for Marcy in Season 3. I want her to get the happiness she truly deserves (cause she doesn't deserve to be in a healing tank attached to a mechanical monster). The physical and emotional healing and comfort she needs. I want to know what her parents are like, and how they find out whatever it is they've been doing to her drove her away from them. And how they intend to deal with Marcy's friendship with Anne and Sasha during the finale.

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mira-blue · 3 years

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Long Post Containing Amphibia Spoilers Ahead!

*cracks knuckles* alright i've been debating whether or not i should post this but seeing as i've already got it all planned out in my head - why not, you know?

anyways i've seen lots of people debate what will happen in The Dinner/Battle of The Bands and they've all been awesome theories, so i've been thinking about how True Colors - a.k.a. the season finale - will go down.

friendly reminder that this 'theory' is for fun and speculation only and is probably completely wrong :]

alright, so as others have said, the two episodes before this one will most likely be about the girls slowly beginning to fix their friendship and realizing how much they missed each other - probably a mixture of fluff and a bit of angst because sasha and marcy are hiding things from anne.

moving on to True Colors, we'll start off back in newtopia, maybe in the castle. goodbyes are being said, preparations are being made, no one can actually believe that the trio is actually going home after so long.

the king insists that only the three girls stay in the throne room when the box is about to be opened, claiming something like'We don't want anyone accidently being sent back with them'. this forces the plantars (and possibly grime if he'd accompanied them to this point) to leave. grime - of course - would be glad to be out of his sight and immediately heads off to help the toad army enter newtopia.

once the girls are alone, the king begins to talk about the music box a little, revealing some key things, but nothing too major (yet). this eventually leads to him bringing up his propostion to marcy.

now, that's the one thing i can't make a solid guess on. because it doesn't seem likely at all that marcy would intentionally do something to hurt her friends. however, she has unintentionally done so before, so it wouldn't be surprising if it happens again. i doubt it's anything that will prevent sasha and anne from going home - the most likely theory i've seen floating around is the one where she admits that she doesn't want to go home.

whatever marcy's plans are, they throw anne and sasha in for a loop. especially anne, who at this point is sick of people hiding things from her.

an arguement ensues, sasha's more conflicted than ever, the king is omniously standing in the background with the music box - basically, the vibes are completely off.

and sasha realizes that. she doesn't trust the king (she is literally bringing an army to his doorstep) and she knows he's manipulating marcy (*cough* because she's an expert at it *cough*). so she confronts him, demanding he reveal his plans.

does he? i don't know. on one hand, we need a common enemy for the girls to unite against. on the other, there's still an entire season left and too much is happening.

either ways, before things escalate even more, BOOM

a guard bursts in, yelling about how there's a frogging toad army invading the city right now and they were let in from the inside!!

(cue sasha thinking 'oh no, i forgot about that')

anne connects the dots together. toads? let in from the inside? sasha not seeming too surprised?

oh would you look at that, another betrayal!

this is a lot for anne. i feel like if marcy and sasha turn out to be lying to her, it'll be a breaking point for her.

she doesn't even know what to say, just sort of glares at sasha and goes 'Seriously?' sasha tries to explain (the king is up to no good anyways, anne!) but anne doesn't want to hear it. she leaves the throne room, running to find her frog family and the one friend who hasn't hurt her yet - sprig.

so now, marcy and sasha are left behind with the king (and honestly, who can blame anne for having enough?)

now throughout all of this, king andrias has been strangely calm. he doesn't seem to be worried at all about the toads invading his city.

and you know why that is? because he's prepared.

i mean, that sort of proves that he's been aware of an incoming invasion this whole time, right? and we know that he's got some pretty messed up stuff in his basement, too. so what if, when the toads attack, he releases Something to fight them?

i doubt it'll be the Night (or whatever that 13 eyed creature is), but something horrifying enough. this further cements sasha's belief that he Cannot Be Trusted and she turns to marcy, exclaiming 'You've been working for THIS GUY?'

but, of course, she can't blame marcy - the king's facade would've had us completely convinced if we didn't get to see what went on behind the scenes.

the king decides he's had enough of sasha and orders the guards to capture her. she fights back, but slowly gets overwhelmed.

so marcy throws the game.

she rushes in to help sasha, but before that, she grabs the music box. this could go two ways - one, she throws it on the floor and shatters it, allowing its powers to return to the girls or two, she gives it to sasha and yells at her to run.

and sasha - for the first time in her life - realizes that she has no other choice but to run.

she does look back, though, just in time to see the guards arresting marcy.

outside, it's complete chaos. the toads were bad enough on their own, but whatever the king released to oppose them made matters worse. the city is - literally and figuratively - on fire.

i like to think that anne finds the plantars and is about to escape with them, when sasha stumbles into them.

she tries to talk to anne, but anne in no way trusts her - might never trust her again. she tries surrendering, tries to explain that the king's got marcy and they're all in danger, but she can't get through to anne.

nowwww i know a lot of fans want sasha to join anne and the plantars by the end of this season - and maybe she will, and it'd be dope! - but in my version of things...

they get seperated again.

i don't know how that'll happen, if it'll be done willingly or not, but having the girls end up seperated again (therefore back into square one) would be a pretty cool scenario.

anyways, they get seperated, anne heads off with the plantars, and sasha runs into grime. they fight side by side but grime knows there's no way they'll make it, so he puts sasha out of harm's way by forcing her out of newtopia - another friend telling her to run.

then he dies /JJJJJ

nah, but i think it's more likely he surrenders and gets arrested. he could still die, though...

cut back to marcy. she's been arrested and is currently in the throne room. the king is there, and he says something about how disappointing her actions were, then tells the guards to take her away.

of course, there's a lot more in the background. will we find out what the ruins of despair (the place frobo came from) were? will we learn more about The Portrait? will the prophecy be revealed?

don't really have an answer to any of those ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but this all sets the stage for season three - anne & the plantars in hiding (maybe in the very same cave she used when she first arrived in amphibia), sasha on the run (Sasha Alone episode, anyone?), and marcy imprisoned in the castle (possibly alongside grime).

it all really depends on how next week's episodes go, and i can't wait to see that! if you've stuck around this far, thanks for reading!

#amphibia #amphibia spoilers #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #sasha waybright #amphibia season 2 #true colors #amphibia theory #analysis #hop pop plantar #sprig plantar #polly plantar #repost because of some technical issues

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