Finding Family, or the Finding Series is an Amphibia series made by 77Xfire (taking a break from writing the Fourth Light Series). It takes place three years after the Distant Finale in the series finale, "The Hardest Thing".
After 13 years, Sprig had accepted that he would never see Anne again in spite of remembering Hop Pop's family saying "Family always finds each other." However, an exploration with Ivy leads to a confrontation that allows Sprig to travel to Earth and see his human sister again. Now they're planning to reunite their friends and families together with a few surprises along the way.
The series has three entries: Finding A Way
, a prequel focusing on Sprig and Ivy exploring the temple where the Calamity Gems were made and facing the Guardian; Finding Each Other, the main story focusing on everyone reuniting with the Calamity Trio; and Finding the Words, a Distant Prologue which details how Marcy moved in with Anne after returning to Los Angeles and the start of their relationship. The series can also be found here.
Finding Family has the following tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Sasha started calling Marcy "Mars" after the Calamity trio reunited.
- Amicable Exes: Anne and Sasha dated for three weeks in high school, but it ended when Sasha realized Anne (still) had feelings for Marcy.
- Babies Ever After: "Chapter 3: Returning Home" reveals that in addition to being married, Olivia and Yunan had a daughter named Lily.
- Big Damn Reunion: Finding Each Other is naturally chock-full of these;
- The first two chapters focus on Sprig and Ivy reuniting and catching up with the Calamity Trio.
- "Chapter 4: The Big Reveal" has Sasha and Marcy visit everyone in Wartwood and taking the time to catch up with Hop Pop, Polly, Grime, Percy, Braddock, Olivia and Yunan.
- "Chapter 5: Plantar Family Reunion" has Anne return to Amphibia and reunite with everyone previously mentioned above, specifically the whole Plantar family.
- Call-Back:
- As Anne did in "The New Normal", Sprig checks Anne's phone to see if he and Ivy are on Earth, the full cell service confirming it.
- Just like she did with Polly when they first met, Marcy examines Lily using sunlight and determines when her legs will grow out; she even mentions said moment.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The moment Anne learns Marcy told Sasha she like her back, Anne quickly deduces that Sasha messing with them never would've occurred had she told Anne about Marcy's feelings from the start.
- Cranial Eruption: As payback for intentionally getting Marcy to show off her body despite knowing she has mutual feelings for her, Anne hits Sasha on the head hard enough to leave a lump.
- Crush Blush: Given who the author is, Anne and Marcy get several moments of these. They also occur between Sprig and Ivy.
- Cuteness Proximity: Anne and Marcy demand to know more upon learning about Bessie and Joe Sparrow's "snird" babies and Marcy gushes over Lily when she sees her for the first time.
- Didn't See That Coming: Anne and Marcy always told Sasha no one from Amphibia would believe she became a therapist. Sure enough, everyone she tells is stunned by the revelation.
- Disney Death: Ivy takes the final attack from the Guardian so Sprig could win the battle, dying as a result. Sprig chooses to use the wish he earned to bring her back to life. The Guardian admits they would've brought her back no matter the choice Sprig made.
- Easily Forgiven: Percy and Braddock don't hold any hard feelings towards Sasha for how she treated them in the past.
- Everyone Can See It: Sprig had always known that Anne had feelings for Marcy, as she had dreamt about Marcy one night on the journey to Newtopia. Sasha always knew, not to mention she's known Marcy's had feelings for Anne ever since they returned from Amphibia and she still asked Anne out in high school. Sasha mentions Grime was quick to figure it out after three days of seeing how clingy Marcy was, and Chaper 6 of FEO shows that Maddie and Wally saw how they felt towards each other.
- Exact Words: The Guardian tells Sprig and Ivy they must defeat it in combat to acquire a means to travel to Earth. It never said that was the only part: it wanted to see if Sprig would accept losing Ivy forever to get his wish, letting him win.
- Fireworks of Love: In "Chapter 6: Anne's Proposal", Sprig and Polly set off rainbow-colored fireworks spelling out "She said yes!" after Marcy accepts Anne's marriage proposal.
- The Gadfly: During the first week after Marcy moved in with Anne, Sasha's attempts to get the two together doubles as a way to mess with Anne by getting Marcy to show off her body as a way to fluster Anne.
- Hidden Depths: Marcy took to working out to deal with the stress from moving away per Sasha's advice, going on a run every once in a while. When the girls reunite 10 years later, Anne and Sasha learn Marcy's been hitting the gym for some time, giving her a well-toned physique.
- High-School Sweethearts: Anne and Sasha for a few weeks, then they became Amicable Exes.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: After passing the Guardian's test, it gives Sprig a bracelet with a fraction of its power (the same as the energy of the Calamity Gems) so he can travel between Amphibia and Earth, plus an extra one for Anne "to mark a special occasion".
- Internal Reveal: FEO Chapter 1 has Sprig and Ivy learn about Anne's job and that she's still friends with Sasha and Marcy.
- Chapter 5 has every one of the girls' Amphibian companions learn that Anne and Marcy are in a relationship.
- Interquel: The events of Finding the Words are told by Anne in Chapter 5 of FEO.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Seeing how fit Marcy is after she moved in with her causes Anne to "gay panic" and leads to her realizing that she fell for her best friend a long time ago.
- Mythology Gag: Chapter 1 of Finding Each Other features a three-legged toad with one eye at the Aquarium of the Pacific which Anne named Grime. Two months prior, the Chibi Tiny Tales short "Selfie Safari" featured such a toad at the Los Angeles Zoo.
- The Reveal:
- "Chapter 1: Spranne Reunited" has Anne reveal to Sprig and Ivy that when the Calamity trio reunited 3 years prior, Marcy got a webcomic job in town and moved in with Anne. The next chapter reveals they've been dating that entire time.
- "Chapter 3: Returning Home" shows that Olivia and Yunan had a daughter named Lily with the next chapter revealing she's five years old.
- Finding the Words reveals that Marcy and her family moved to Gravesfield, Connecticut, where she befriended Luz Noceda.
- Running Gag: A few short-lived ones;
- Each member of the Calamity trio being stunned by how much Polly had grown.
- Amphibians getting surprised that Sasha became a child therapist instead of joining the army like they expected.
- Sanity Slippage: The outtake of Chapter 6 shows that Mrs. Croaker has developed slight dementia.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Anne and Sprig discover that they both plan on proposing to Marcy and Ivy respectively and agree to help each other accomplish their goals while keeping it between them.
- Grime immediately figures out Sprig found a way to travel to Earth when he and Ivy report to him and he stays quiet so it'll be a surprise to everyone who attends the meeting in Wartwood.
- Sasha's known for years that Anne had feelings for Marcy, but kept it to herself despite Marcy confiding that she felt the same way towards Anne long ago, believing Anne had to confess herself.
- Secret Test of Character: The Guardian tested Sprig during their battle, watching to see if Sprig was willing to sacrifice Ivy's life so he could have the chance to reunite with Anne. When he succeeds, Sprig uses his wish to revive Ivy; the Guardian declares him pure of heart for his actions and gifts him with the portal bracelets.
- Side Bet: During the war for Amphibia 10 years ago, Sprig and Polly bet 20 coppers on who Anne would end up dating, Sprig going with Marcy and Polly Sasha. Hop Pop technically wins since he bet that Anne would date both of them.
- Time Skip: The series begins 3 years after the 10-year Distant Finale set on Earth.
- Finding the Words begins a month after Marcy moved away, then skips ahead two weeks later, then jumps to the girls' reunion 10 years later, then three weeks later to the day after Marcy moves in to Anne's apartment, and finally a week passes after that.
- Unknowingly in Love: Anne had gone the entirety of her time in Amphibia plus the 10 year gap since Marcy left and came back to LA without ever realizing she had feelings for her. When she does discover them, she surprises Sasha with how long she went without figuring it out.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Implied and potentially subverted. In Chapter 6, everyone put together a plan to help Anne propose to Marcy, Sprig remembering how Anne loves big spectacles. At the end of it all, Anne foregoes her plan and outright pops the question after they share a dance; Sprig at least uses the Fireworks of Love they had prepared for when Marcy said yes.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Along with the pink South American tree frog Anne named after Sprig in her exhibit of Amphibia at the Aquarium of the Pacific, there's also a toad with one eye and a missing leg named after Grime.
