Is this truly the end?
The gang travels to Newtopia to say their goodbyes and finally send all three girls home, but when none other than Sasha overthrows King Andrias and takes over Newtopia, Anne and her friends must fight with the Toad army to thwart her now-former friend's plan. But when Sasha makes a game-changing discovery and her treachery makes it impossible to warn Anne, everything goes to hell...
Full Recap
In a flashback, Marcy is at the library studying when she gets a text from Sasha reminding her about Anne's birthday. Just as she is about to leave, a mysterious book falls off a cart next to her. Flipping through it, she finds a description of the Calamity Box and takes a picture for fun. She gets a text from her parents demanding that she come home immediately. The conversation is not shown, but she is upset and declares that her parents are ruining her life as she runs away. She comes to a stop in front of a thrift store and sees the Calamity Box through the window. Getting an idea, she texts Sasha declaring that she has found the perfect birthday gift for Anne.
Several Months Later, in the present day, the three girls, the Plantar family, Grime and Frobo all arrive at Newtopia. Sprig is saddened that their adventures are over, but Anne reminds them as long as they have the music box they can see each other any time they want. Just as they're about to hand over the box over to Andrias, Sasha and Grime steal it and begin their rebellion. Sasha threatens to destroy the music box to keep the others from fighting back; Andrias thinks it's a bluff, but it provides a distraction for Grime to disable him using Barrel's Warhammer. With Andrias at his mercy, Grime gives the signal for their hidden toad soldiers to cause riots all over the city, opening the gates for the rest of the toad army that will be soon be arriving. Sasha tries to act cordial towards Anne and Marcy, offering to either send them home or let them stay to help build the toad empire, but Anne angrily refuses, calling her a horrible person and ending their friendship. Marcy tries to end the hostilities peacefully, but to no avail. Sasha spitefully tries to send Anne back to Earth to separate her from her surrogate frog family forever, but can't make the box work and settles for sending them to the dungeon.
The group is rescued by General Yunan and takes refuge in Sal's old diner, hatching a plan to stop the rebellion: Hop Pop, Marcy and Olivia will break King Andrias out of the dungeon; Polly, Yunan and Frobo will engage in a frontal assault on the toads in the city; and Anne and Sprig will seal the gates to lock the toad army out.
Meanwhile, Sasha is dejected after Anne's harsh words, wondering if Anne was right about her and finding herself unsure of what she wants anymore. Grime suggests redecorating to take her mind off of it, so the two pull down a tapestry of Andrias being a benevolent king, revealing a much darker mural behind it showing him ruling as a tyrant with the power of the Calamity Box. Just then, they see that Anne and Sprig are sealing the gate. The pair rush off to stop them, with Sasha attempting to talk down Anne while Sprig intercepts Grime. Sasha tries to warn Anne about Andrias, but Anne refuses to believe her and the two come to blows. Anne emerges victorious and seals the gates, allowing King Andrias to rally his guard and retake the city.
With the toad invasion foiled, everyone returns to the throne room so Andrias can send the girls home. However, once he has the box, he decides to tell them about the history of Newtopia. A thousand years ago Newtopia was a prosperous and advanced city due to having amazing technology and machinery, sustained and powered by the Calamity Box, until those he thought to be his friends stole the box. With it gone, all of Newtopia's technology became unusable without its power source. The city fell from grace, all of Amphibia backslid into its current medieval state, and over a thousand years later the inhabitants forgot it ever existed at all. But now that the box is back, he reveals his intent to return Newtopia to glory....by conquering all other worlds as his ancestors tried to do before the box was stolen. Placing the box upon a pedestal that rises from the floor, Andrias activates the castle's technology, causing it to lift into the air through powerful jet engines. Meanwhile, long abandoned factories below boot up, producing an army of mecha-frogs under his command. As a demonstration of power, he blows up North Toad Tower with a laser fired from the castle's spire.
Horrified, everyone prepares to fight, only for Marcy to interject, telling King Andrias that this isn't what they planned. He bluntly tells her it was a lie, and when Anne and Sasha question what's going on, Andrias reveals the awful truth: Marcy sent her friends to Amphibia on purpose. Marcy explains that her family was going to move out of state, separating her from her friends, and in desperation she convinced them to steal the box so they could go on never-ending adventures together. Her justifications fall on deaf ears and she breaks down crying, admitting that she just didn't want to be alone.
Despite the revelation, Anne declares that King Andrias is the bigger threat, and she is going to stop him, joined by Sasha and Grime. A battle against the mecha-frogs ensues, which ends when King Andrias unleashes a blast from his energy blade. In the confusion, he tries to stomp on Polly. Frobo restrains him, but Andrias simply crushes him with a single fist. Polly narrowly avoids being next thanks to her legs emerging, which she uses to avoid the robots and grab the box. Not wanting his plans to be ruined, Andrias grabs Spring and threatens to drop him if the box isn't put back. After the group complies with his demand, Anne begs the king to release Sprig, but Andrias decides to drop him anyway. After a grief-stricken Anne witnesses her best friend falling to his doom, the blue gemstone on the Calamity Box starts to flicker and Anne starts to glow blue, making Andrias realize she is still connected to it. Marcy rides on Joe Sparrow to rescue Sprig, while everyone else is awestruck at Anne's extraordinary new power as she destroys several robots and beats the king down to the floor.
After Anne powers down, Sprig runs up to her and she is thrilled that he is still alive as her surrogate frog family embrace her. Seeing that she can't fully control her power, Andrias declares that since she's the only one left with the power to defeat him, he can't afford to let Anne live, but is interrupted when the castle suddenly shakes from the Calamity Box being moved. Marcy has taken it and opened a portal to Earth. Sasha and Grime offer to keep the king busy while, Anne and the Plantars jump in, along with Frobo's head. When Anne beckons Marcy to come through, Andrias stabs her through the chest with his laser sword, furious at her rebellion against him. Marcy apologizes for her actions just before succumbing to her injury and collapsing, dropping the Calamity Box. As it hits the ground, there's a flash of light.
Anne and the Plantars awaken on the hood of a car in the middle of Los Angeles traffic. When the Plantars ask where they are, Anne solemnly comments that she is finally home...
END OF PART 2
Several Months Later, in the present day, the three girls, the Plantar family, Grime and Frobo all arrive at Newtopia. Sprig is saddened that their adventures are over, but Anne reminds them as long as they have the music box they can see each other any time they want. Just as they're about to hand over the box over to Andrias, Sasha and Grime steal it and begin their rebellion. Sasha threatens to destroy the music box to keep the others from fighting back; Andrias thinks it's a bluff, but it provides a distraction for Grime to disable him using Barrel's Warhammer. With Andrias at his mercy, Grime gives the signal for their hidden toad soldiers to cause riots all over the city, opening the gates for the rest of the toad army that will be soon be arriving. Sasha tries to act cordial towards Anne and Marcy, offering to either send them home or let them stay to help build the toad empire, but Anne angrily refuses, calling her a horrible person and ending their friendship. Marcy tries to end the hostilities peacefully, but to no avail. Sasha spitefully tries to send Anne back to Earth to separate her from her surrogate frog family forever, but can't make the box work and settles for sending them to the dungeon.
The group is rescued by General Yunan and takes refuge in Sal's old diner, hatching a plan to stop the rebellion: Hop Pop, Marcy and Olivia will break King Andrias out of the dungeon; Polly, Yunan and Frobo will engage in a frontal assault on the toads in the city; and Anne and Sprig will seal the gates to lock the toad army out.
Meanwhile, Sasha is dejected after Anne's harsh words, wondering if Anne was right about her and finding herself unsure of what she wants anymore. Grime suggests redecorating to take her mind off of it, so the two pull down a tapestry of Andrias being a benevolent king, revealing a much darker mural behind it showing him ruling as a tyrant with the power of the Calamity Box. Just then, they see that Anne and Sprig are sealing the gate. The pair rush off to stop them, with Sasha attempting to talk down Anne while Sprig intercepts Grime. Sasha tries to warn Anne about Andrias, but Anne refuses to believe her and the two come to blows. Anne emerges victorious and seals the gates, allowing King Andrias to rally his guard and retake the city.
With the toad invasion foiled, everyone returns to the throne room so Andrias can send the girls home. However, once he has the box, he decides to tell them about the history of Newtopia. A thousand years ago Newtopia was a prosperous and advanced city due to having amazing technology and machinery, sustained and powered by the Calamity Box, until those he thought to be his friends stole the box. With it gone, all of Newtopia's technology became unusable without its power source. The city fell from grace, all of Amphibia backslid into its current medieval state, and over a thousand years later the inhabitants forgot it ever existed at all. But now that the box is back, he reveals his intent to return Newtopia to glory....by conquering all other worlds as his ancestors tried to do before the box was stolen. Placing the box upon a pedestal that rises from the floor, Andrias activates the castle's technology, causing it to lift into the air through powerful jet engines. Meanwhile, long abandoned factories below boot up, producing an army of mecha-frogs under his command. As a demonstration of power, he blows up North Toad Tower with a laser fired from the castle's spire.
Horrified, everyone prepares to fight, only for Marcy to interject, telling King Andrias that this isn't what they planned. He bluntly tells her it was a lie, and when Anne and Sasha question what's going on, Andrias reveals the awful truth: Marcy sent her friends to Amphibia on purpose. Marcy explains that her family was going to move out of state, separating her from her friends, and in desperation she convinced them to steal the box so they could go on never-ending adventures together. Her justifications fall on deaf ears and she breaks down crying, admitting that she just didn't want to be alone.
Despite the revelation, Anne declares that King Andrias is the bigger threat, and she is going to stop him, joined by Sasha and Grime. A battle against the mecha-frogs ensues, which ends when King Andrias unleashes a blast from his energy blade. In the confusion, he tries to stomp on Polly. Frobo restrains him, but Andrias simply crushes him with a single fist. Polly narrowly avoids being next thanks to her legs emerging, which she uses to avoid the robots and grab the box. Not wanting his plans to be ruined, Andrias grabs Spring and threatens to drop him if the box isn't put back. After the group complies with his demand, Anne begs the king to release Sprig, but Andrias decides to drop him anyway. After a grief-stricken Anne witnesses her best friend falling to his doom, the blue gemstone on the Calamity Box starts to flicker and Anne starts to glow blue, making Andrias realize she is still connected to it. Marcy rides on Joe Sparrow to rescue Sprig, while everyone else is awestruck at Anne's extraordinary new power as she destroys several robots and beats the king down to the floor.
After Anne powers down, Sprig runs up to her and she is thrilled that he is still alive as her surrogate frog family embrace her. Seeing that she can't fully control her power, Andrias declares that since she's the only one left with the power to defeat him, he can't afford to let Anne live, but is interrupted when the castle suddenly shakes from the Calamity Box being moved. Marcy has taken it and opened a portal to Earth. Sasha and Grime offer to keep the king busy while, Anne and the Plantars jump in, along with Frobo's head. When Anne beckons Marcy to come through, Andrias stabs her through the chest with his laser sword, furious at her rebellion against him. Marcy apologizes for her actions just before succumbing to her injury and collapsing, dropping the Calamity Box. As it hits the ground, there's a flash of light.
Anne and the Plantars awaken on the hood of a car in the middle of Los Angeles traffic. When the Plantars ask where they are, Anne solemnly comments that she is finally home...
END OF PART 2
Tropes:
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# - B
- 11th-Hour Superpower:
- Polly finally grows her legs, which she uses to escape from getting crushed by Andrias' fist and steal back the Calamity Box from him, her small size, enhanced speed and jumping capabilities letting her easily move close to the box whilst dodging the robots' blasters, even making them shoot each other in the process.
- When Andrias manages to counter this by threatening Sprig's life to force Polly's compliance, then drops him to his death anyway when the Calamity Box is put back, Anne's grief and rage over potentially losing her best friend causes her to achieve a Super Mode, thanks to her rash act of only charging her Calamity Stone half-way in order to save her friends preserving her connection to the stone.
- Accidental Hero: After staging a coup for purely selfish reasons, Sasha and Grime discover that Andrias was actually an insane conqueror planning to use the music box for some nefarious purpose.Sasha (Upon viewing a mural detailing Andrias' true plans): Woah… Is that the king? With the music box?Grime: If it is, it's a really good thing we stopped him.
- Actor Allusion: A character voiced by Keith David narrates events that took place a thousand years ago.
- Achilles' Heel: It's confirmed that Grime's right eye is blind during his and Sprig's brief face-off, when the young frog shoots him in his left with his slingshot, leaving Grime to wildly swing about with his sight blocked until Sprig trips him up and lets his warhammer fall on his head.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Just when it seems that Anne has won the day with Grime and his army defeated, King Andrias uses the Calamity Box to power up his palace to take over Amphibia as a much greater threat than Grime ever could have been. In a sense, he becomes this to every other threat in the show, with none able to match the sheer scope of his plans and atrocities.
- Ambiguous Situation: As of the end of the episode, it's unknown if Anne has gone with Easily Forgiven, Forgiveness or Forgiven, but Not Forgotten with either of her friends. She is understandably angry with both of them — Sasha for lying to stage a coup, Marcy for tricking them into being stranded in Amphibia — but in the heat of the moment chooses to free Sasha so she can help stop Andrias, and shouts at Marcy to come through the portal on seeing Andrias is right behind her. Yet if and when they reunite, it's unclear where their friendship will stand or if it will last. But, since Marcy died letting her get to safety as far as Anne knows, Anne surely has no intention of losing her for nothing.
- There's also a fair deal of ambiguity about the truth behind the original theft of the Calamity Box from Andrias, given that it's heavily implied that the theft was done for morally good reasons and to protect other world from Andrias' intentions to become a Multiversal Conqueror. While in the present he plans to continue the legacy of his ancestors, he either didn't have that ambition in the past before his friends' betrayal or something held him back from performing his conquests. Most notably is that Newtopia in his story is depicted as thriving with technology and robots, yet there is no sign that Andrias is performing mass conquest despite him ruling Newtopia for centuries which would be odd given how he had everything he needed for a long time to commit massive conquests yet showed no signs of doing so. It implies that there's a grain of truth to his statement that his friends 'betrayed' him somehow, which lead to Andrias becoming bitter and vengeful over the years and deciding to embrace his family's past in order to make up for his mistake in losing the music box, but it's unclear what would have prompted them to turn on him if he truly wasn't intending to use the Calamity Box for nefarious purposes in his youth.
- Ambiguous Start of Darkness: King Andrias claims his was when his friends betrayed him and stole the Calamity Box, leading to his civilizations collapse. But as Andrias revealed their civilization was a Multiversal Conqueror, it's likely his friends did this to stop him.
- Animation Bump: From the time Anne powers up to the time it fades, the animation is much smoother and rapid during the action scene.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Anne gives one to Sasha's We Can Rule Together offer after she and Grime send King Andrias to the dungeon.Anne: What do I say? After everything you've done?! I say you're clearly insane if you think I'm gonna let you bully me and everyone else just to get what you want!
Sasha: Anne, I know you're upset, but—
Anne: No! I'm done listening to you! I'm done trusting you! You're a horrible person, and I am done. Being. Friends with you! - Atop a Mountain of Corpses: The mural that Sasha and Grime find shows a pile of skeletons with a silhouette of Andrias in the background.
- Audible Gleam: This happens with Polly's new legs.
- Backing Away Slowly: Sprig does this when Marcy points to him as one of the good things that came of her stranding her friends in Amphibia.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The finale ends with a clear victory for Big Bad King Andrias. He still has the Calamity Box, which he wounded Marcy to get. Anne may have returned to her world, but it's only a temporary reprieve and only a matter of time until Andrias comes for her. The only upside is that Anne retains her connection to the blue gem, a fact Andrias considers a major threat.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Sasha takes over Newtopia with Grime's help, but in doing so burns bridges with Anne completely. After being called out by Anne, she realizes that she doesn't know what she actually wants now that she's gotten what she thought she wanted.
- Anne finally makes it back home, just like she wanted to back in the premiere of the series, but doing so costs her both Sasha and Marcy — the former left behind and the latter stabbed through the chest — and in the heat of the moment, the entire Plantar family and the severed head of Frobo have joined her. Now they're stranded in her world and the music box is still in Amphibia, as Andrias is about to begin his multi-dimensional conquest.
- All Marcy wanted was a way to be with her friends forever and to never be separated. But in doing so, she put her friends in mortal danger and got them separated anyway, indirectly caused Anne and Sasha to have a falling out, actually put multiple universes in danger of being invaded by a brutal tyrant, and nearly got killed.
- Berserker Tears:
- Marcy, still fresh off discovering that Andrias was manipulating her all along and realizing that she has deeply hurt and possibly permanently alienated her friends, can be seen crying when she's seen fighting Andrias' frobot army.
- Anne is crying throughout her Super Mode, as it's fueled by her grief over watching Sprig be dropped to his death.
- Berserk Button: Downplayed, as he doesn't fully lose his composure over it, but hearing Anne call Sprig her 'best friend' is what convinces Andrias to just kill the young frog rather than spare him when the heroes have surrendered to him, so as to force them to experience the same pain of losing friends that he himself went through. He also suffers a more obvious break in composure when Grime and the empowered Anne unexpectedly interfere with his plans for the Calamity Box, showing he doesn't take unplanned interference to his schemes well.
- Beyond Redemption: After Sasha shows her and Marcy that she hasn't changed when she helps put Grime's plan into motion, Anne now sees that she has been wasting her time in trying to fix their friendship and calls her out for her actions, which leaves Sasha questioning what she really wants. That said, she is still willing to team up with Sasha when the greater threat is revealed.
- BFS: Andrias' Laser Blade is almost as tall as he is in some shots, an impressive feat considering he's two stories tall.
- Big "NO!":
- Grime has one as he witnesses North Toad Tower getting blown up because of Andrias.
- Andrias shouts this when he sees Marcy defying his orders by using the Calamity Box to help Anne and the Plantars escape.
- The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: This happens with Andrias' crown when Super Mode Anne hits him with a surprise haymaker, a demonstration of just how strong she has to be to send his crown clear across the room and embed it in the wall when the tips are rounded.
- Bloodless Carnage: When Marcy literally gets stabbed in the back by King Andrias, there is no blood or even clothing damage present as she falls to the ground. The lack of blood could be justified as Andrias used a Laser Blade that would have cauterized the wounds, and her armor appears to be melting around the sword.
- Blood Knight: Andrias first shows incredulity, then amusement towards Anne and the others thinking they can actually take him on in a fight, his tone of voice showing he's looking forward to proving them wrong as he draws his Laser Blade.
- Bookends:
- Back in "Handy Anne", Anne witnessed a gigantic opponent destroying something she held dear to her heart, and her rage from its loss lead to her visibly manifesting her Calamity Box powers for the first time, proceeding to lay the hurt on the target of her wrath in a fit of rage. The exact same thing happens again this episode, only with higher stakes and Anne's powers reaching a whole new tier from her rage this time.
- The season began with Frobo's creation. Now it ends with his destruction.
- In the season 1 finale, Anne and Sasha parted ways as enemies. Now they are fighting alongside each other as allies.
- Breaking the Bonds: Grime snaps the ropes tying his hands when he declares that he will help Anne fight King Andrias.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Marcy truly saw King Andrias as a friend and mentor figure, so the revelation that he was using her all along to serve his own ends cuts deep.
- Lady Olivia and General Yunan are similarly horrified to find out King Andrias' true intentions.
- The Bully:
- Sprig calls King Andrias this when he's dangling him out the castle windows, and his behavior up to that point does seem to track with such a description. In particular, him revealing Marcy's Dark Secret — which she told him about in private in a moment of vulnerability and trust — comes across as a False Friend telling others an embarrassing truth about their victim in order to humiliate and isolate them from others. There's also the added bonus that he did this to an autistic girl, putting her in a position that a neurotypical person would struggle to handle, leading to a meltdown and a panicked Motive Rant. His decision to kill Sprig, motivated by Anne calling him her best friend, indicates he's upset by others espousing the virtues of friendship after his old friends somehow betrayed him, and desires to see any such genuine bonds destroyed to spite others with his own pain. And whilst he may have stated that he wanted to keep the girls in Amphibia to prevent them from warning anybody about his planned invasion, it's implied that he also wanted to use the fact that Marcy intentionally brought them all to Amphibia to tear the three girls apart, and further turn them all against each other.
- Anne similarly accuses Sasha of being this earlier in the episode, when she calls her out on not only manipulating and pushing Anne around her whole life, but lying and manipulating her multiple times in Amphibia. Anne outright calls Sasha a horrible person and declares their friendship is over. This shocks Sasha so much that she starts to question if she is a horrible person, and if being a ruthless conqueror is even what she wants.
- Bury Your Disabled: Subverted twice.
- Sprig, who per
Word of God has ADHD, is dropped out of a window by King Andrias. Anne's response to this, however, gives Marcy, who is desperate to set things right since her own mistakes caused this to happen, an opening to save him, and she narrowly manages to catch him before he hits the ground. - Marcy herself, who is canonically autistic, is stabbed by King Andrias in the climax of the episode. However, a preview of the Season 3 intro reveals that she was placed into a People Jar before she could die.
- Sprig, who per
C - E
- Call-Back:
- When Andrias activates the Calamity Box, the same type of factory that the Plantars visited in "Fort in the Road" boots up. Then it's revealed there's a lot more of them.
- As in "Handy Anne", Anne losing something she cares about activates the Calamity Gem's powers, just a lot more intense this time.
- Back in "Marcy at the Gates", Sprig didn't trust Marcy at first because he thought she'd be like Sasha. Ironically, it turns out his suspicions were Right for the Wrong Reasons — Marcy kick-started the initial theft of the Calamity Box on Earth so she wouldn't have to move away from her friends. And worse, she was manipulated by Andrias in order for him to regain the Calamity Box and use it to conquer not just Amphibia, but all worlds.
- In the same episode, Sasha mumbles to herself that Marcy could get herself killed if she doesn't pay attention. Sure enough, she does (seemingly) get killed by Andrias because she's focused on sending Anne home.
- The Cameo: When Marcy is flipping through the book on the supernatural, she stops on a pair of pages. The one on the left features an illustration of Bill Cipher, while the page on the right shows a Vitruvian Man-styled illustration of Goliath.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Even though Andrias stabs Marcy to stop her from escaping with the Calamity Box, the Season 3 intro shown after the credits shows Marcy floating in a tube on life support, indicating that Andrias still has plans for her. Given that he intended to kill Anne for still possessing a connection to the Calamity Gem, it's left unclear for now as to why he would make an effort to keep the de-powered Marcy alive.
- Cassandra Truth: Sasha has just revealed that she has not actually turned over a new leaf and helps Grime take over Newtopia. But while they're doing so, they find a mural that reveals Andrias had far more malevolent intentions that anyone was aware of. Sasha tries to warn Anne, but her credibility is now shot thanks to all the previous betrayals. Naturally, Anne refuses to listen, foils the toad uprising (which at this point is clearly the Lesser of Two Evils), and puts Andrias back in charge. Once Andrias reveals his true nature as a would-be Multiversal Conqueror, Anne realizes that Sasha was telling the truth this time and kicks herself for not seeing the bigger threat right in front of her.
- Catchphrase Interruptus: When asked who she is, General Yunan tries to break into her Badass Boast, only for Lady Olivia to cut her off because they need to get moving before more toads show up.
- The Cavalry: General Yunan shows up to save the heroes when they are captured by the toad guards.
- Chekhov's Gun: Anne only charging her gem halfway in "The Second Temple" means her connection to the stone is still intact, allowing her to continue using its magic and achieve a Super Mode.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Joe Sparrow initially only shows up for the beginning of the episode, like all the previous ones, acting as the group's transportation and having little to do with the events that occur inside Newtopia, but his presence is what allows Marcy to save Sprig from his Disney Death at Andrias' hands.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Sasha and Grime betray everyone to conquer Newtopia. This makes Anne unwilling to listen to her when she learns that Andrias is planning something horrible.
- Cliffhanger: Marcy sends Anne and the Plantars back to the human world, but is stabbed by Andrias before she can join them or give them the Calamity Box, leaving Anne horrified before being teleported home. Andrias still has the means to carry out his dimensional conquest, while Anne, the only person with the power to stop him, is now trapped in her world.
- Cloth Fu: When Sasha manages to disarm her during their duel, Anne slides behind Sasha, then grabs her cape and wraps it over her head. As Sasha struggles to free herself, Anne punches her in the face and uses the distraction to close the gates, sealing her victory.
- Conflict Killer: After Andrias reveals Marcy's secret to drive a wedge between the girls, Anne declares that their mistakes aren't important in light of the evil he represents, freeing Sasha so they can focus on stopping him.
- Content Warning: The revised promo added a warning in midway to ensure younger viewers would not be surprised by the intensity of the episode, narrated by Sprig, clearly referring to Marcy's grievous injury. It also began the television version of the episode.This episode has some intense final scenes. It might be scary for younger viewers.
- Continuity Nod:
- Like the Season 1 finale, the episode begins with a flashback to the day the girls got teleported. This time, it takes place from Marcy's point-of-view, showing how she learned about the Calamity Box.
- In "Marcy at the Gates", Marcy predicted that Polly's legs would come out in two months. In this episode, she finally grows her legs.
- Andrias' mural features silhouettes of creatures similar to the Moss Man from "Wally and Anne" below him, and one was previously shown to be chained up in the castle basement in "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers".
- Hop Pop's acting skills from "A Caravan Named Desire" are used to distract the toads.
- Sasha tries to use the box to send the girls home, but it doesn't work; Anne did the exact same thing in "Anne or Beast?".
- During Hop Pop's distraction, he brings up the Plantars' previous pet, Charlie Bigbottom.
- After escaping the toad soldiers, the group hide out in Sal's old diner.
- While delivering a Rousing Speech, Anne mentions how she and the Plantars have faced cannibals ("A Night at the Inn"), giant moths ("The Domino Effect"), and combining vegetables ("Handy Anne").
- Contrived Coincidence: The librarian just happens to drop a book containing information on the Calamity Box in front of Marcy. When she runs off while upset with her parents, she just happens to run into the pawn shop where said box is being kept.
- Crossover: Promo art
made by Dana Terrace shows Luz and King in bed watching Anne and Sasha's confrontation on a crystal ball, King holding a plush of Sprig. - Crying Wolf: Sasha has manipulated Anne on a regular basis and lied to her twice in an attempt to keep Grime in power. This makes it all the more ironic for poor Sasha when she finds evidence that Andrias is a bigger threat than Grime ever was and tries to warn Anne in a case of Even Evil Has Standards. Unsurprisingly, Anne refuses to listen.
- Darker and Edgier: One of Amphibia's darkest and most heavy-hitting episodes to date, to the point where the lighthearted jokes and humor Amphibia is known for are dwindled down very significantly. Not only do the characters discover Andrias' true nature, but the king plots to use the Calamity Box to rule every dimension, which includes Earth. And it gets even worse when Anne and the Plantars escape to Earth without Sasha and Marcy, the latter stabbed through the chest by Andrias.
- Darkest Hour: Andrias' true nature has been revealed, Anne and the Plantars escape to the human world without Marcy or Sasha, Marcy is fatally wounded by Andrias, and Andrias' dimensional conquest is about to begin.
- Dark Reprise: A rather somber melancholic version of Marcy's Theme plays when Marcy tearfully tries to explain to Sasha and Anne why she got them stranded in Amphibia.
- David Versus Goliath: Sprig and Grime duke it out, with Grime being a huge toad with a warhammer and Sprig being a small frog with a slingshot. Sprig shoots a rock into Grime's "good eye", causing the latter to get disoriented, trip, and the warhammer to smash his face. Funnily enough, in the Bible story David actually did beat Goliath by shooting him with a rock (although not in the eye).
- Deconstruction: Of the concept of adventure. Not everyone will treat it with a sense of excitement and wonder. In Anne's case, having to be thrust into life-threatening danger isn't something she's welcoming of, and it's been very traumatic for her because she missed out on her 13th birthday, her family, and her quiet life. And she was almost eaten by monsters more times than anyone can count.
- Determinator: Despite Sasha and Marcy's betrayals, Anne points out to Andrias she won't stop until she defeats him, no matter how many times he tries to take them down.Anne: The three of us may have made some mistakes, but you? You're evil! And I'm going to stop you, right here, right now!
- Didn't See That Coming: Andrias sent the girls on the temple quest so they would drain their powers to recharge the stones. He never anticipated that one of them would only do so halfway, leaving him dumbfounded when Anne retains her connection to the blue gem.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Sasha takes the Calamity Box for herself after betraying the group and tries to use it on Anne, only to realize she has no idea how it works.
- Marcy encouraged Sasha and Anne to steal the Calamity Box, hoping it would whisk them away to another world where they wouldn't have to be separated, with no consideration as to what that world might be like or if they'd even end up there together. Furthermore, because of her desperation to not be separated from Anne and Sasha, Marcy selfishly tore her two best friends from their lives, put them into an unknown world filled with vicious predators and other dangers that could easily kill the unprepared, and did not even stop to think about how her friends would feel about all this.
- Didn't Want an Adventure: In the end, all Anne ever wanted was to just celebrate her 13th birthday with her friends and family, not get thrown into Marcy's fantasies especially now that they have come true. All because Marcy wasn't brave enough to tell Anne and Sasha she was moving away.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Sasha and Grime are stopped halfway through the episode, leaving Andrias to step up as the true villain.
- Disney Death: After Andrias throws Sprig off his floating castle, it at first seems that he fell to his death. However, once Anne starts to power up, Marcy dives out the window and calls Joe Sparrow so she can catch him.
- The Dog Bites Back: After a lifetime of putting up with Sasha's bullying, manipulations, and Control Freak tendencies, Anne finally reaches her Rage Breaking Point and lays into Sasha with both a scathing "Reason You Suck" Speech and Curb-Stomp Battle, showing that Anne is completely done being pushed around by Sasha, both emotionally and physically. The storyboard artist who worked on this scene has even mentioned that Anne intended to use lethal force during the fight.
- Don't Split Us Up: The reason why Marcy purposefully stranded herself and her friends in Amphibia. On Anne's birthday, Marcy learned her family were going to move away because her father had gotten a new job out of state. Out of desperation, she pointed them in the direction of the Calamity Box as a birthday present and joined Sasha in encouraging Anne to steal it. Marcy wasn't sure it would even work, but it did, taking them to a place she believed they would never be separated. She tries to excuse her actions by pointing out the good times they had in Amphibia, despite the fact that she essentially tore her two best friends from their lives, but neither Anne nor Sasha buy it. When she's stabbed by Andrias, Marcy uses the last of her strength to apologize for everything.
- Double-Meaning Title: The episode title not only refers to Sasha and Grime having faked their Heel–Face Turn to hide the existence of the toad rebellion, but also the true intentions of King Andrias and the reveal that Marcy knew about the nature of the Calamity Box from the beginning. It perhaps also relates to Anne unlocking her connection to the Calamity Box, which turns her hair blue and gives her a glowing blue battle aura.
- Downer Ending: Anne has escaped to Earth with the Plantars, but Sasha and Marcy are left behind, Marcy is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice, and Andrias still has the Calamity Box to carry out his plans of multi-universal conquest, which means no one is safe. Things for Anne have never looked darker.
- Dramatic Irony:
- The first half of the episode is rife with this, as previous episodes have made it clear to the viewer that there's something going on with Andrias, which is potentially much worse than Sasha and Grime's planned Toad Rebellion, but Anne and the Plantars are totally unaware of that, and work to put him back in power before the rebellion fully succeeds. Anne and Sasha's fight, in particular, underscores this, because Sasha is genuinely trying to warm Anne not to trust Andrias, but her previous actions have shot her credibility, leaving her unable to get Anne to listen until it's too late.
- On a similar note, absolutely none of the heroes are aware that there's an even bigger threat behind Andrias, with the closest they get to acknowledging his master's presence is his eyes visible in the mural of Andrias that Sasha finds. However, she clearly doesn't understand what they are in favor of the more immediate evidence of Andrias' duplicitous nature.
- A minor case, but due to being chucked out of the castle and following after him to save him, both Sprig and Marcy are clueless as to Anne's Super Mode and what she was capable of against Andrias and his Mecha-Mooks.
- The Dreaded: Once he realizes Anne still possesses the power of the Calamity Gem, Andrias tries to kill her on the spot, only being distracted by Marcy taking the Calamity Box to open a portal to Earth.
- Dual Wielding: Grime gives Sasha a second silver sword as a present, which she uses against Anne in their battle.
- Enemy Mine: After learning of King Andrias' true plans for the Calamity Box, Sasha and Grime decide to help Anne and the Plantars stop him and hold him off while they escape via portal.
- Entitled Bitch: After she and Grime betray everyone, Sasha fully expects Anne and Marcy to be "cool" about it, and tells Anne not to be a Sore Loser.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Anne towards Sasha and Marcy after their respective plans come to light.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Grime is positively horrified when he sees the mural of Andrias lording over a pile of skeletons, as well as when King Andrias casually drops Sprig off the tower.
- Likewise, when Sasha learns that Marcy intentionally trapped her and Anne in Amphibia, she is visibly disgusted by her actions. All Sasha wanted to do was get Anne to have more fun and live a little by shoplifting, but she wouldn't have indulged Marcy if it involved life-threatening danger, or abandoning their families unwittingly. She's also outright horrified when she sees just how evil Andrias is to the point that her primary focus becomes trying to warn Anne.
- Everyone Has Standards: An unhinged Blood Knight she may be, but General Yunan is visibly taken aback by King Andrias' plan to ruthlessly conquer and destroy whole worlds. She doesn't outright turn on her former king immediately, though, restricting herself to protecting Lady Olivia from collateral damage in the ensuing fight scene and notably not being including in the Team Shot of the former factions united against Andrias, suggesting she's uncertain about what to do in light of Andrias' true intentions.
- Evil All Along: King Andrias, who secretly plots to use the Calamity Box to not just rule Amphibia but every single dimension, including Earth.
- Evil vs. Evil: Turns out the Toad Rebellion inadvertently clashed with King Andrias's own evil plans.
- Eviler than Thou: King Andrias to Captain Grime.
- Exposition Already Covered: After she sneaks up on and knocks out the remaining guards who have Anne and everyone captured, Yunan is about to introduce herself, but Lady Olivia immediately covers her mouth and gives a quick version of her introduction so they can escape before more toads arrive.
- Extradimensional Emergency Exit: At the climax, Marcy opens a portal to Earth for herself, Anne, and the Plantars to flee through, while Sasha and Grime fight Andrias to cover their escape. Unfortunately, Marcy is stabbed before she can enter the portal, but Anne and the Plantars are already in and are zapped to Earth as she drops the Calamity Box.
- Eye Color Change: The logical conclusion of the glowing eyes each girl has demonstrated is shown here, with Anne's eyes turning completely blue as her Super Mode activates.
F - J
- Fatal Flaw: Marcy's Genre Savvy nature of all things ends up becoming this. She had believed that, after reading about the Calamity Box, that her knowledge of fantasy stories and RPGs would allow her, Sasha and Anne to travel the multiverse and explore to their liking, while never staying apart and living in denial that her parents were moving. Anne described how on Earth this dedication to fiction made her oblivious to the dangers of reality. It also made her oblivious to the fact that Anne and Sasha wouldn't thrive in such a setting as she would, and they wouldn't just abandon their families like that.
- Faux Affably Evil: After revealing that Marcy intended to get her, Anne and Sasha transported to Amphibia, Andrias cheerfully declares that he's "spilled the tea, as you kids say."
- Finale Credits: Much like at the end of Book 1, the end credits are over still shots of significant moments from the season in book illustration format.
- Finding Judas: Because Marcy reuniting with her parents would mean moving away from her friends, she planned to use the Calamity Box's power to drag Anne and Sasha into travelling to more dimensions indefinitely. Unfortunately, her co-conspirator King Andrias concealed far more sinister plans even from her.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Sprig returns to the Plantars in the aftermath of Anne suffering her Power-Strain Blackout after beating the tar out of Andrias, Marcy isn't with him, despite her and Joe Sparrow being the only way he could have survived his fall and gotten back up to the Ominous Floating Castle. It turns out she's using the chaos caused by Anne's Super Mode to sneak her way to the Calamity Box so she can use it to open the portal home.
- Flashback: The episode starts with one showing Marcy learning about the Calamity Box from an old book, running away from home after her parents give her some bad news, and then finding the actual Calamity Box in a pawn shop and texting her friends about it, showing she knew what it would do when she convinced her friends to steal it.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- The uncovered mural of King Andrias is only on-screen for a few seconds, but foreshadows what's coming later in the episode. Aside from the obvious of Andrias being a genocidal tyrant, the floating palace can be seen, there are three humanoid figures above the Calamity Box, and the blue figure has a blue flame above its head.
- The book Marcy flips through where she discovers the Calamity Box has an image of Bill Cipher in it.
- Furry Reminder: When King Andrias drops down on all fours, he adopts a lizard-like sprawling stance like a regular salamander.
- The Gloves Come Off: Anne to Sasha in their fight. While Sasha has been established to be the "strong one" of the group, has spent months training in with Grime, and fought Anne to a standstill in the Season 1 finale, Anne completely shocks Sasha by channeling her rage against Sasha's betrayal to not only hold her own in their swordfight, but use Combat Pragmatism to gain a swift and decisive victory.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Anne and the Plantars (good), and Sasha and the toads (bad) vs. King Andrias (evil).
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Hop Pop putting on an impromptu drama show in the dungeon attracts the attention of every toad therein, making freeing Andrias a breeze.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the episode focuses on Grime and Sasha's rebellion against Newtopia and the efforts from Anne and the rest of the gang to stop them. Once the toads and Sasha are beaten, Anne gives the music box back to King Andrias, and the rest of the episode pertains to him revealing his Evil Plan to conquer many worlds with the box's teleportation power, and that Marcy knew about said powers from the beginning.
- Hard Head: When Anne's frustration at being tricked and manipulated by Sasha for a second time reaches a boiling point, she lets loose a wicked headbutt on the nearest target to vent— a helmet-wearing toad guard. Not only is the guard knocked out and Anne suffers no negative consequences, two other guards Anne's target is knocked back into are also knocked out as well from the impact. It could be somewhat justified, as it's later established that Anne's Calamity Box abilities tend to flare up when she's feeling intense emotions, and gift her superhuman abilities, meaning Anne could have been tapping in her powers unconsciously like in "Handy Anne".
- Hates Being Alone: Marcy sent herself and her friends to Amphibia because she had just learned that her parents were moving to another state because of her father's new job, and she hoped that they could go on adventures together forever and never be separated. When this is revealed, she tearfully admits that she just didn't want to be alone.
- Heel–Face Turn: After taking Anne's words about being a horrible person to heart and discovering King Andrias' true nature, Sasha decides to fix her mistakes by fighting alongside Anne as a true friend and helping her escape back to Earth by holding Andrias at bay.
- He Knows Too Much: Andrias reveals he and his ancestors were conquerors, and reveals his intention to use the Calamity Box to conquer other worlds. But, he's not going to let anyone in his presence leave with this knowledge alive, not even his own dragon and royal advisor.
- Heroic BSoD: When Sprig is mercilessly thrown out the window by the King, Anne completely loses it, tears falling down her face as she has memories of Sprig flash through her head.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Sasha stays behind with Grime to hold Andrias off and buy Anne and Marcy some time so they can escape. The pair ultimately aren't strong enough to stop him, and he manages to impale Marcy before she can join Anne, leaving Anne, the Plantars and Frobo's remains the only ones to make it to Earth.
- High-Pressure Emotion: While Sasha is nonchalantly explaining to Anne why she is taking over the kingdom, the latter is glaring at the former with her face turning red and a low whistling sound being heard.
- Hit Flash: Anne headbutting a toad guard is punctuated by a cut to a "BLAM!!!" panel showing his helmet, axe, and Teeth Flying.
- Hobbling the Giant: Grime brings down King Andrias by striking his ankle with Barrel's Warhammer. He tries it again near the climax, but Andrias handles it better and sends him flying.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Both Anne and Sprig use this trope against their opponents while foiling the toad rebellion.
- Sprig defeats Grime by tripping him up so that Barrel's Warhammer falls on Grime's head.
- Anne defeats Sasha by blinding her with her own cloak before punching her in the face.
- Hope Spot:
- Polly grows her legs, allowing her to dodge past all of Andrias' robots and retrieve the Calamity Box. However, Andrias takes Sprig hostage, forcing her to return it.
- Grief-stricken by Sprig's apparent death, Anne manages to draw power from her Calamity Gem and lands a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on King Andrias. However, she cannot control the power and falls into a Power-Strain Blackout before Andrias can be incapacitated.
- Horrifying the Horror: Grime may be quite a ruthless tyrant, but when he sees a hidden mural showing King Andrias ruling the whole world of Amphibia with a mighty fist, he is quite taken aback and considers it a lucky break that they deposed him when they did. When the invasion is foiled and Andrias is put back in charge, Grime doesn't hesitate to help stop him.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Andrias threatens to drop Sprig to his death unless Polly puts the Calamity Box back. She complies, but Andrias drops him anyway to spite Anne for calling Sprig her best friend.
- Hourglass Plot: The Plantars took in Anne and gave her shelter and safety when she was trapped in an unfamiliar and hostile world, without any concrete idea of how to get home. The Season 3 intro shown after the credits makes it clear that the roles will be reversed going forward, especially since the Plantars lack the Calamity Box needed for dimensional travel this time.
- Hypocrite: Sasha singles out Marcy for betraying her and Anne by taking them to Amphibia against their will so she could spend more time with them. While Sasha isn't wrong, it still doesn't change the fact that, moments earlier, she betrayed Anne and Marcy with far more malicious intent.
- Hypocrite Has a Point: Sasha rightfully calls out Marcy on betraying her and Anne, not only separating them from their families and livelihoods but also endangering their lives in the process, even if Sasha was just as guilty of this herself. Even Marcy herself agrees with her on it, calling her own actions "super dumb" later on.
- I Choose to Stay:
- When Sasha threatens to destroy the Calamity Box unless Andrias backs down, he points out she'd be destroying her only way home. Her response is that she'd rather rule a kingdom than a school. Grime pulling a sneak attack on Andrias keeps him from calling her potential bluff.
- Marcy never wanted to return home; her deal with Andrias was to explore other worlds with her friends because at home, she'd be separated from them thanks to her family moving out of state. She does try to flee with Anne at the end, but Andrias stabs her through the chest before she can follow through the portal.
- I Lied:
- King Andrias told Marcy about his plans to visit other worlds with the Calamity Box, but claimed that he only wanted to peacefully explore them, knowing Marcy was desperate not to be separated from her friends and would jump at the chance to extend her adventures. She's horrified when she realizes he lied to her about his intentions.Andrias: I would have said anything if it meant you delivered the box fully charged. Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but you've been duped.
- Likewise, Sasha casually reveals to Anne and Marcy that she lied about being reformed and intends to rule Amphibia, expecting them to be fine with this. This is the last straw for Anne, who breaks off their friendship and calls her a horrible person.
- King Andrias told Marcy about his plans to visit other worlds with the Calamity Box, but claimed that he only wanted to peacefully explore them, knowing Marcy was desperate not to be separated from her friends and would jump at the chance to extend her adventures. She's horrified when she realizes he lied to her about his intentions.
- Immediate Sequel: This episode takes place the day after "Battle of the Bands".
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Marcy is stabbed through the chest by Andrias' Laser Blade, the blade almost as large as her torso.
- Innocently Insensitive: Marcy, when Andrias reveals she's responsible for getting her friends stranded in Amphibia, doesn't seem to understand why Anne would be upset upon learning that Marcy meant to transport her and Sasha away from their families without telling them, and on Anne's thirteenth birthday no less.
- Instant Expert: Save for some slight balance issues, Polly gets the hang of her new legs pretty quickly.
- In the Hood: Sasha and Grime conceal their identities with hoods when the group first enter Newtopia. When the two make their move, it is revealed that several other toads are already in the city, having concealed themselves the same way.
- Irony:
- Despite Marcy's attempts to try and stay with her best friends due to circumstances that would have torn them apart, i.e. Marcy being forced to part from her friends because her father had gotten a new job out of state, they all ended up separated when they first got to Amphibia and ended up so again after the fight with King Andrias, anyway. Sasha was left behind because she was too far away from the box and Marcy was impaled before she had the chance to flee with Anne.
- Anne has spent most of her time in Amphibia being an Action Survivor, relying on her wits mostly to survive various hazards and having to pick up skills like sword fighting as she went along to better defend herself. In this episode, Anne and the others discover she had a Super Mode all along that would have made the various threats she and the Plantars have faced throughout Amphibia an absolute cakewalk to handle... and she discovers this scant minutes before getting transported home, where her new abilities prevent her being able to return to being just a 'normal girl' like she wanted all this time.
- Throughout the season, Hop Pop has shown parental instincts towards Anne as well as Sprig and Polly, outright referring to her as his 'adopted granddaughter' and also offering the same to Marcy when she demonstrates a shared interest in history, tradition and agricultural farming, plus basically adopting Frobo into the family as well. "After the Rain" demonstrated Hop Pop's guilt over the deaths of Sprig and Polly's parents, believing that if he'd been present, he'd have been able to help keep his family safe from the danger, leading to his overprotective attitude towards the kids in the earlier seasons. In this episode, Hop Pop is present throughout all of Andrias' attempts to maim or kill his family and is utterly powerless to protect any of them from him, effectively being Forced to Watch history repeat right in front of him and unable to do anything about it
- Once again, Sasha and Anne clash atop a tower, but with the roles reversed. This time Sasha finds herself in the role of reluctant hero, trying to stop Anne from making a horrible mistake.
K - S
- Kick the Dog:
- When Anne refuses to go along with Sasha's plans and declares that they're done being friends, Sasha tries to spitefully send her home and away from the Plantars by using the Calamity Box. Fortunately, Sasha has no idea how the box works.
- King Andrias commits several of these during the second half of the episode.
- First, he tells Anne and Sasha that Marcy has a secret, which he'll share if she doesn't. When she protests, he spills the beans and mocks her for "pouring her heart out over Flipwart".
- Then, he mockingly dismisses Frobo as a "defective machine" and crushes him to bits for trying to protect Polly.
- Lastly, he threatens to drop Sprig to his death unless Polly puts the Calamity Box back, then does it anyway because Anne called Sprig her best friend and he wants her to feel the pain of that loss.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Back during "Barrell's Warhammer", Percy drew a one-eyed symbol on Sasha's cloak to mark her and the toads as a team. Given Sasha broke their friendship through her selfish actions, it's fitting that Anne, the other friend she used and betrayed through her selfishness, ultimately defeats her in their rematch by using the self-same symbol of their broken friendship to blind Sasha and knock her down. What's more, Anne used the same cloak in the face technique that Sasha used to cheat in their last fight in the Season 1 finale.
- Laser Blade: Andrias has one, which he eventually uses to stab Marcy.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Once she realises the threat Andrias represents, Sasha gets herself launched up to the top of the gateway into Newtopia by Grime whilst the latter ascends more slowly via climbing the walls, trying to convince Anne and Sprig peacefully that Andrias can't be trusted. Noticing Grime ascending, Sprig leaves Anne to deal with Sasha, whilst he tackles Grime down to the rooftops of the city for a one-on-one fight to prevent him interfering with Anne and Sasha's face-off. Anne, meanwhile, refuses to listen to Sasha, assuming it to be more lies and manipulations from her, and the two come to blows, ultimately resulting in Anne winning.
- Liar Revealed: Marcy knew what the Calamity Box could do and convinced Sasha and Anne to steal it, hoping what she read about it was true, so they wouldn't have to be separated. Andrias reveals this to the other girls, and while they are upset at Marcy's deception, they realize that Andrias is clearly the bigger threat.
- Life Saving Misfortune: Anne failing to charge her stone completely because she thought her friends were in danger means she retains her connection to it, allowing her to draw power from the stone and achieve a Super Mode that makes her a threat to Andrias.
- Little "No": Sasha says this when the Toad Rebellion is thwarted and Andrias regains command, knowing what's about to happen.
- Lonely at the Top: After overthrowing Andrias and spending the first two seasons conquering Amphibia, Sasha got herself a whole kingdom. But, the more she climbed up the ranks, the more she's lost her soul and her sense of self. Having driven away the few people who genuinely care about her, and having finally lost Anne and Marcy. She later admits she's miserable in the end.
- Love Cannot Overcome: Platonic version. Anne, Marcy and Sasha have been friends since kindergarten (though much longer with Marcy), but the unresolved issues they always glossed over (Sasha being a Control Freak, Marcy being Innocently Insensitive to her friends' feelings, and Anne being a Love Hungry Extreme Doormat to her friends) finally bubble to the surface and end their friendship. Anne is done being pushed around by Sasha, Sasha attempting to bully her friends into line again just drives Anne away, and Marcy's willingness to trap her friends in another world so they won't be separated ironically drives them both away from her. Anne is at least willing to team up with them against Andrias, but it's clear the three have some issues they need to work out.
- Madness Mantra: Anne repeats "Give him back", over and over in her Super Mode, driven by her despair over Sprig's supposed death.
- Malaproper: Invoked by Andrias after he reveals the truth about Marcy.King Andrias: Whoops! Looks like I've spilled the tea, as you kids say.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Newtopia's castle flying into the air can be seen all the way to Wartwood, and they're all shocked by the sight.Toadie: What in frog's name is it, sir?
Mayor Toadstool: I don't know, Toadie, but it ain't good. - Mighty Roar: King Andrias lets out two of these, one when Sasha and Grime initiate their invasion of Newtopia and another while fighting Anne in her Super Mode. Both times he's angered that an unforeseen obstacle is throwing his plan off the rails, but he's quick to regain his cool once the situation turns in his favor once more.
- Misfit Mobilization Moment: After Anne's Rousing Speech, the Plantars and their allies quickly put together a plan to free King Andrias and stop the toad rebellion, which works out almost perfectly. Unfortunately for them, Andrias then reveals himself to be a bigger threat than the toads ever were...
- Mood Whiplash: Just after the solemn Cliffhanger, it cuts right to a Triumphant Reprise of Anne's theme from the first season finale.
- Moral Luck: Played straight with Sasha, discussed with Marcy.
- Sasha betrays Anne and the Plantar family by helping Grime conquer Newtopia for no other reason than she wants to be in control again. After Sasha and Grime discover that King Andrias is a ruthless conqueror, they remark that perhaps it's a good thing they stopped him. However, Anne is still furious with Sasha over her lies and manipulations and isn't interested in hearing what she has to say about King Andrias. However, after realizing Sasha was right about King Andrias, she is at least willing to team up to deal with him and is implied to be at least open to rekindling their friendship later. Despite Sasha betraying Anne and conquering Newtopia for purely selfish reasons, she's morally absolved just because King Andrias turned out to be worse, even though Sasha believed he was The Good King when she staged the coup.
- When King Andrias reveals that Marcy stranded them all in Amphibia on purpose so they could stay together, Marcy tries to argue that Sasha and Anne have had so many wonderful adventures, have grown so much, and Anne got to meet and bond with the Plantar family because of her. While Anne concedes that some good came out of it, she firmly rejects Marcy's assertion that deliberately trapping her friends in an alternate world, away from their families and lives, with dubious hope of ever getting back home, just so she could keep them all to herself was in any way okay.
- Morton's Fork: Even if Marcy made it back home with Anne, she’d still end up having to part with her by moving away with her family.
- Motive Rant:
- Andrias goes on one as he explains how he lost the Calamity Box and how he plans to use it now that he has it once more.
- Marcy goes on a sadder one after she is revealed to have intentionally sent her friends to Amphibia, desperately explaining why she did it and how everything turned out for the best, before sorrowfully admitting that she just didn't want to be alone when her friends don't buy her reasoning.
- Multiversal Conqueror: King Andrias' ancestors are confirmed to be conquerors, and he plans on ruling all dimensions with the Calamity Box — including Anne's.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Sasha had a guilty look on her face when she sees that Anne doesn't believe her warning about King Andrias being evil as she realizes that her actions really ended her friendship with her and Marcy.
- Anne has this reaction when she realizes that she has given the Calamity Box to a madman and not only feels guilty for not believing Sasha when she attempted to warn her about him but also regrets breaking off her friendship. She then frees her and they team up against Andrias.
- Marcy is shocked when King Andrias tells her that he lied about taking her, Sasha and Anne with him.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Anne and her friends stopping Sasha and Grime's coup while Anne gives Sasha the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown she's had a long time coming should be awesome, but considering that Sasha was trying to tell Anne something important about Andrias and that they ended up clearing the way for the true Big Bad of the series, it becomes the exact opposite.
- Never My Fault: The only thing King Andrias coldly says after fatally stabbing Marcy is "Now look what you've made me do".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Anne and her friends manage to stop Sasha and Grime, free King Andrias and give him the Calamity Box. They, all of Amphibia and every other world would have been much safer if they failed.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Andrias spitefully dropping Sprig just to hurt Anne allows her to unlock her Calamity Gem Super Mode, providing enough of a distraction for Marcy to call Joe Sparrow, save Sprig, grab the box and send Anne home.
- Marcy has Joe Sparrow to save Sprig with in the first place because of Andrias, if not directly then as a consequence of the position he gave her.
- Nightmare Face: Before Anne hands over the Calamity Box, the background is taken up by King Andrias holding out his hand with an eerie smile on his face, giving us a Five-Second Foreshadowing of his true nature.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: Sasha threatens to destroy the Calamity Box unless Andrias surrenders the kingdom, knowing her friends at least care enough about getting home that they'll comply. Andrias almost calls her bluff, but Grime attacks him from behind and then threatens to bash his head in unless the city guard stands down.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Say what you will about him, but Andrias does not mess around with his enemies. He firstly demonstrates the capabilities of his palace with the charged Calamity Box by blasting North Toad Tower to rubble with a Wave-Motion Gun, when beforehand all creatures of Amphibia have been restricted to medieval weapons. He immediately knocks his enemies down with a Sword Beam when they seem to be making headway against his robot army and tries to squash the weakest and most vulnerable one of them when they're still disorientated. He instantly crushes Frobo when he gets in his way and resumes trying to kill Polly without missing a beat. When Polly makes a beeline for the Calamity Box to shut down his castle, he instead grabs the nearby Sprig to use as a hostage to force her to surrender, rather than pursue her himself. When Anne suffers a Power-Strain Blackout, he tries to stab her before she can recover and to prevent her from being a threat in the future. Finally, when it looks like Anne and the Plantars are going to escape with the Calamity Box, he stabs Marcy straight through the chest to stop the box being lost again without a word. Andrias doesn't pull any punches with trying to take out those who stand against him.
- Ominous Floating Castle: The palace has rockets which allow it to fly once the Calamity Box gives it power. Everyone is appropriately freaked out when they see Newtopia's palace suddenly flying under its own power.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Sasha and Grime when they unveil the mural of Andrias' true nature.
- Anne and the Plantars when Andrias reveals his true nature before them.
- Andrias when he realizes Anne still has her powers.
- Marcy has two; first when Andrias reveals her secret, then when she gets stabbed by Andrias' sword.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- Sasha learns that Andrias is not as benevolent as he portrays himself based on a mural in the castle, but her attempts to convey this information to Anne are so vague as to be meaningless. She only tells Anne that there's "something wrong" with Andrias, to which Anne rightfully points out that Sasha has no credibility left. Anne continues closing the gate until Sasha decides she has to stop Anne by force, which makes it look like Sasha only cares about stopping Anne from foiling the invasion. All further attempts fall on deaf ears because Sasha hasn't given any reason why she should be believed.
- It's likely that if Marcy had outright confessed to Anne earlier about the truth of what happened back on Earth and why she got them stranded in Amphibia, Anne would have been upset but willing to talk things out with her. After all, Anne knows what it's like for an impulsive decision to have major consequences. They could also surely find a compromise to Anne and Sasha wanting to go home, as well as Marcy not wanting to leave her friends. As it is, Anne and the Plantars find out at the worst time that Marcy deliberately got her friends stranded and has delivered an Artifact of Doom to the real Big Bad of the series. The end result is no one ends up getting what they want, except for Anne, and she knows that Andrias is coming for her and the Plantars, meaning Earth isn't safe.
- Power Echoes: When in her Super Mode, Anne's voice gains an echoic effect that highlights how powerful she is.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: A variation: the full power of the Calamity stone causes the twigs in Anne's hair to grow and her bushy hair to stand on end, akin to a Super Saiyan's.
- Power-Strain Blackout: After smacking around Andrias in her Super Mode for a bit, Anne passes out because she can't control the power and was just running on pure rage and grief.
- Pyrrhic Victory: At the end of the episode, Anne finally manages to get to go home... at the cost of inadvertently dragging the Plantars along with her back to the human world, leaving Marcy and Sasha behind in Newtopia, and King Andrias on the loose for his dimensional conquest, and clearly intends to go after Anne first.
- Rage Breaking Point:
- After telling off Sasha and being sent to the dungeon, Anne's rage continues to build until she finally snaps and headbutts the nearest toad guard in anger. This provides a crucial distraction for General Yunan to sneak up on and knock out the remaining guards.
- After being Forced to Watch Sprig fall to his apparent death, Anne drops to her knees in tears. Then her gaze hardens, her eyes go completely blue, and she enters into a Super Mode and lays a vicious beatdown on King Andrias.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Anne characterizes herself and her allies as this in her Rousing Speech... then acknowledges how Lady Olivia and General Yunan don't quite qualify, as they are highly respected in Amphibia society. Yunan affirms this, but Olivia waves it off and simply tells Anne to continue her speech.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": The toad on lookout at the North Toad Tower rapidly says "Nope" and gets the hell out of dodge when he sees the incoming Wave-Motion Gun.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Anne may have returned to her world with no means of stopping Andrias, but the Toad Army Grime attempted to invade Newtopia with is still intact, and the Season 3 opening does more or less confirm Sasha and Grime will have survived their encounter with King Andrias. Looks like Anne's hope really does lie in Grime and Sasha at this point, as they're the only ones who can make the window to put a dent in Andrias' plans.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Anne gives one to Sasha, furious that she pulled a Fake Defector just so the toads could invade Newtopia.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Mecha-Mooks produced when Andrias starts up the factories have red eyes, near-black plating, and a hybrid frog/insectoid appearance that contrasts with Frobo's lighter brown plating, yellow eyes, and more frog-like proportions.
- Redemption Equals Death: Downplayed. Marcy makes up for deliberately stranding her friends in Amphibia by saving Sprig and opening the portal so the others can leave, and gets literally stabbed in the back by Andrias for it. Though the Season 3 opening teaser that aired shortly after the episode revealed that she had survived but is comatosed inside a healing tank while recovering from her injuries.Marcy: I… I'm sorry… for everything… (falls to the ground)
Anne: MARCY! - Red Eyes, Take Warning: The robot frogs produced by the factory after the Calamity Box is activated have red eyes, contrasting Frobo's yellow, showing how they're under Andrias' control.
- Red Herring: Sprig is thrown out of the palace window to fall to his death, making the audience believe that he will be the main character in the show who shockingly gets killed off. But no, Marcy quickly saves him with Joe Sparrow, and she ends up being the one who appears to have died.
- The Reveal:
- Just when we thought Sasha peer-pressuring Anne into stealing the Calamity Box, not caring if she ends up ruining Anne's birthday, was bad enough, it turns out that Marcy is the one who really kickstarted the chain of events that would bring her and her friends to Amphibia in the first place. Marcy knew what the Calamity Box was when she texted a picture of it to Sasha. She explains that on Anne's birthday, she learned that her dad got a new job in another state, meaning she was going to have to move away. She read about the Calamity Box in an old book and then saw it in the pawn shop. Unsure if it would even work but desperate enough to try, she wasn’t brave enough to take it herself, so she convinced Sasha and Anne to take it, hoping it would send them to a new world where they could go on adventures forever and never be separated. Sasha is furious and Anne is heartbroken at her confession.Marcy: (in tears) I just... didn't want to be alone.
- The deal Andrias offered Marcy at the end of "A Day at the Aquarium" was the chance for her and her friends to join him in exploring other worlds, in exchange for returning the Calamity Box to him instead of sending her friends home; as demonstrated at the end of the episode, Marcy could have done so immediately once the box was fully charged.
- King Andrias wants the Calamity Box because it is the power source for Amphibia's Lost Technology. With its power in his control, he plans to conquer all worlds.
- Just when we thought Sasha peer-pressuring Anne into stealing the Calamity Box, not caring if she ends up ruining Anne's birthday, was bad enough, it turns out that Marcy is the one who really kickstarted the chain of events that would bring her and her friends to Amphibia in the first place. Marcy knew what the Calamity Box was when she texted a picture of it to Sasha. She explains that on Anne's birthday, she learned that her dad got a new job in another state, meaning she was going to have to move away. She read about the Calamity Box in an old book and then saw it in the pawn shop. Unsure if it would even work but desperate enough to try, she wasn’t brave enough to take it herself, so she convinced Sasha and Anne to take it, hoping it would send them to a new world where they could go on adventures forever and never be separated. Sasha is furious and Anne is heartbroken at her confession.
- Rewatch Bonus: Marcy's behavior throughout the series takes on a different context when it's revealed that she's ultimately the reason for the girls all being Trapped in Another World, out of a desire not to be separated from her friends. This even extends to the opening— whereas Anne and Sasha are outright shocked and apprehensive towards the strange phenomenon occurring with the box, Marcy instead shows surprise towards it—as it turns out, she knew the box had the possibility of travelling to other worlds, but didn't know if it would actually work or not, hence her more subdued reaction to them being transported.
- Riddle for the Ages: Why would Andrias even include a cell or two that's his size when all his subjects (and thus potential foes) are much smaller than him?
- Rousing Speech: Anne gives one to her friends when they're feeling pessimistic about their chances of stopping the toad rebellion.
- The Runaway: After finding out that she had to move away from Anne and Sasha, Marcy stumbled upon the Calamity Box and decided to run away by using it, taking her friends with her to a new world where they wouldn't have to be separated.
- Running on All Fours: When Grime uses his warhammer to knock everyone off their feet, Andrias responds by running at him on all four limbs, connecting with a powerful headbutt that sends Grime flying into a pillar.
- Sadistic Choice:
- The Plantars face one at the end of the episode. They're trapped in a castle hundreds of feet off the ground, with a murderous tyrant shown he will kill any of them to keep his plans going. Marcy then opens a portal to Earth, shouting at everyone to get inside it. While Anne goes without hesitation as Sasha and Grime distract Andrias, the frogs have a split-second to decide if they want to stay in their familiar world and face Andrias' wrath, or handle the unknown of Anne's terrain. Hop-Pop leads the kids and they all go to the portal and joining Anne, knowing that they're risking everything for a chance to live.
- Andrias threatens the assembled heroes with this once Polly successfully grabs the Calamity Box, threatening to toss Sprig out the window unless it's returned. Despite complying, Andrias reneges on his end of the 'deal' when Anne begs him to return "her best friend" to them, dropping Sprig out the window to his death just to spite Anne with his loss— which backfires magnificently on him.
- Second Chapter Cliffhanger: The first season ends a bit triumphantly as Anne finally stands up to Sasha and Wartwood gains a decisive victory over the toads. At the end of the second season, King Andrias reveals that he's Evil All Along and is planning an invasion of Earth, Anne is shown to have a powerful Super Mode, Marcy is gravely stabbed by Andrias, and Anne and the Plantars end up on Earth.
- Season Finale: This is the final episode of Season 2.
- Secretly Selfish: It is revealed that Marcy had no intention of using the recharged Calamity Box to go back to Earth, instead hoping for her and her friends to travel the multiverse.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Marcy wanted to run away from home and not be separated from her friends. She does lose them... with Anne being seemingly sent back, and by almost paying the price with her life, thinking she died alone and hated by them.
- Sequel Hook:
- The episode, and the season, ends with Anne returning to the human world with the Plantars, while Sasha and Marcy are left behind, the latter fatally wounded by Andrias. Furthermore, the Calamity Box is still in Amphibia, and the king is ready to carry out his plans to take over all worlds.
- During Andrias' flashback, two friends supposedly betrayed him, but we have no idea who these people are or why they turned on him. One of those friends was a female frog who resembled Sprig, possibly an ancestor of the Plantars. This might be the reason why Hop Pop had a book about the Calamity Box warning of danger should it appear again.
- The television airing does this in the form of a stinger, that being Season 3's intro, which among other things depicts Andrias mounting an invasion of Earth and Marcy being kept alive in a tube.
- Andrias' mysterious master is almost totally absent from the episode, despite the connection he has to Andrias' motivations of 'revenge' for some unspecified purpose, with the closest he comes to making an appearance being his eyes appearing in the mural Sasha finds. The Season 3 intro mentioned above, however, has him making a more prominent appearance, indicating that he'll having a greater role in the coming season.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Mayor Toadstool and Toadie are the only Wartwood inhabitants to speak, while a few select visitors make very brief non-speaking cameos. Frobo is also destroyed by Andrias in the third half of the episode. We also get no appearance of Bessie for the second season finale in a row since "Reunion". MicroAngelo is also absent.
- Shout-Out:
- The promo art depicted above is one for the box-art of Kingdom Hearts II.
- The book Marcy is reading in the flashback at the beginning of the episode has images of Bill Cipher and Goliath.
- Anne essentially goes Super Saiyan Blue for her Super Mode. The circumstances of it being triggered by feelings of intense rage brought on by loss also bring to mind Goku first going Super Saiyan against Frieza after Krillin's death as well as Gohan going Super Saiyan 2 against Cell after Android 16's death.
- Sasha and Grime ripping off the tapestry portraying Andrias as The Good King, only to reveal a more menacing mural of his past as a cruel, bloodthirsty conqueror of worlds seems to originate from Thor: Ragnarok, which had Hela destroy a mural revealing another mural showing that Odin was once the same as her. Unlike Andrias, Odin had mellowed out of it, becoming a genuinely benign monarch.
- King Andrias at one point creates an energy shield while trying to stop Anne in their fight, which resembles an Absolute Terror Field.
- As revealed by Matt Braly, the closing scenes were inspired by the opening scenes in the first episode of Sonic X.
- The way Andrias stabs Marcy looks rather similar to Sephiroth stabbing Aerith, albeit with the circumstances being different (Andrias does still have quite the height advantage over Marcy though). It’s also reminiscent of Darth Maul stabbing Qui-Gon Jinn, particularly in that Anne gets a front-row seat but is helpless to intervene.
- The overall design of the ancient tech is quite reminiscent of the Laputa - from droves of long-armed robots that can fly and possess fearsome weaponry, to a floating castle that has the ability to nuke targets with a Wave-Motion Gun. And a villain that wants to use it to conquer the world(s) to bring glory back to an ancient empire.
- The conical spiral design of the castle itself when it's flying and not surrounded by the rest of Newtopia looks a lot like "The Tower of Babel" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
- While Newtopia from the ground didn't look like anywhere specific, when Sprig and Grime are fighting on a rooftop next to Newtopia's defensive wall the entire place looks like the Shiganshina District from Attack on Titan.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: After being manipulated by Sasha, Anne angrily explodes at her, calling her a "horrible person" and telling her she's done being her friend.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: King Andrias is nowhere to be seen nor mentioned in the Season 2B trailer (aside from being in the scenes from the already released "A Day at the Aquarium") for this episode. He does show up in the TV promo for the episode though.
- Sickeningly Sweet: While redecorating the throne room, Grime sees a sugary tapestry of Andrias' benevolent rule, declaring "Yecch, this thing has to go". This ends up being a plot point as when Grime and Sasha tear it down, they see a mural behind it depicting Andrias using the Calamity Box as a tyrannical ruler.
- Slasher Smile: Andrias has one following his flashback, serving as the build-up to his true nature.
- Smug Snake: Once he reveals his true nature, this is Andrias' attitude in general towards the girls and their allies, mocking them for helping his rise to power, using Marcy's Dark Secret to further turn them all against each other and clearly enjoying every moment of that, and acting like he's totally untouchable. To be fair, it's mostly justified, as by that point, Andrias had access to the full scope of his Lost Technology through the music box, and with his own speed, strength and advanced armaments, there was little the heroes could do to slow him down or inconvenience him in a straight fight, and he made certain not to let the girls know of his true intentions until they'd handed the Calamity Box to him, fully charged, meaning they'd willingly de-powered themselves without fully being aware of what they were giving up. However, this goes out the window once he realizes Anne is still connected to her stone, Andrias not having considered the possibility that Anne had only partially charged the item she needed to return home to Earth. As the fight with Anne goes on, Andrias quickly slides straight into a Villainous Breakdown, literally roaring in anger at Anne, only regaining his composure when Anne falls unconscious.
- Soiled City on a Hill: Contemporary Newtopia has been portrayed throughout the series as a far-from-perfect cradle of Amphibian society, but in this episode, Andrias reveals a secret that even the other Newtopians themselves didn't know about: that Newtopia was once a technologically-advanced empire bent on multiversal conquest, and Andrias intends to restore it to those glory days. When Andrias reactivates Amphibia's buried but far-reaching magitek, the Ominous Floating Castle tearing free of Newtopia's foundations causes widespread structural damage to the rest of the city, symbolizing how Andrias' ambitions are destroying the very city he seeks to elevate.
- Spanner in the Works: Sasha and Grime's Toad Rebellion ended up interferring with King Andrias's plans to become a Multiversal Conqueror. Lampshaded by Grime who commented that it was actually a good thing that they stopped him.
- The Stinger: The Season 3 opening was revealed as the post-credit scene for the finale.
- Subverted Suspicion Aesop: Zigzagged and a season-wide one. Sprig was worried that Marcy was another Sasha who manipulated Anne and hurt her. He befriended her and said I Owe You My Life, and over the course of the episodes he came to understand why Anne liked her. Then he finds out that Marcy deliberately stranded her best friends in Amphibia, separating them from their families, much to his disturbance and disappointment because of the way she did so.
- Sudden Soundtrack Stop: When King Andrias stabs Marcy in the back with his Laser Blade, the music score just stops, and it doesn't even play until the credits roll.
- Super Mode: After watching Sprig get dropped from King Andrias' castle, Anne unlocks one that is connected to the blue gem in the Calamity Box. She gains a blue Battle Aura, Not Quite Flight, Super-Speed, partial Shock and Awe abilities and Super-Strength. She immediately uses it to really lay the hurt on Andrias.
- Sword Beam: When Andrias loses his patience with the heroes after they tear through his Mecha-Mooks, he stabs the ground with his Laser Blade and unleashes a wave that knocks them all down.
T - Z
- Terms of Endangerment: While threatening to reveal Marcy's secret if she doesn't do it herself, Andrias calls her by the Affectionate Nickname "Mar-mar".
- This Cannot Be!:
- All Anne can say once it's revealed that Marcy deliberately got all three of them Trapped in Another World is a soft, "No, it can't be..."
- When Anne unlocks the full power of her Calamity Gem, Andrias is in disbelief that she still has a connection to it after charging it in the temple, unaware that she didn't finish the job.
Andrias: No, it can't be! She's still connected to the stone! But that's impossible! - Time Abyss: Andrias has lived for over a millennium, long enough that everyone else has forgotten about the advanced technology Amphibia once possessed.
- Time to Move: Marcy reveals that on Anne's birthday, her dad got a new job out of state and her whole family is moving away; the reason she used the Calamity Box to teleport the girls to Amphibia was so they'd never have to be apart.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title shares its name with a hit single by Cyndi Lauper.
- Title-Only Opening: Just like "Toad Tax"/"Prison Break", "Reunion" and "The First Temple", this episode does not feature the theme song and instead shows five seconds of the show title accompanied by an abridged version of "Anne's Theme".
- Took a Level in Badass: While Sprig often held his own in adventures throughout the series, he never stood out as an especially strong fighter among Anne's allies. Here he defeats Grime (a former gladiator and the Big Bad of the previous season) by himself and also destroys one of Andrias' robots singlehandedly. Unfortunately, this doesn't save him from being taken hostage by King Andriasnote .
- Trailers Always Spoil:
- The final shot of the trailer for Season 2B showed Anne and Sasha about to face off in Newtopia and then the trailer for the actual episode showed the next scene of the two fighting.
- The Season 3 opening revealed at the end of the episode shows that Marcy did live, and that the Plantars will be living with Anne and her parents. Also it shows Anne still retains the Blue Gem's power.
- Trash the Set: As part of this season finale, the North Toad Tower ends up getting obliterated by a giant ray gun from King Andrias. Newtopia itself is also partially wrecked when Andrias uses the Calamity Box to raise the palace up into the sky, the throne room's windows shattering and rubble falling down into the city below, crushing several houses in the process.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Anne awakens her Super Mode mere moments after Andrias drops Sprig, gaining power from the blue gem when her own grief and rage pushes over the edge.
- Triumphant Reprise: When Anne is unleashing her Super Mode, the background score is playing dramatic excerpts of her band song, "No Big Deal", in the previous episode.
- Tron Lines: Glowing lines decorate the palace once it's been charged by the Calamity Box.
- Uncertain Doom:
- Marcy is stabbed through the chest by Andrias and collapses, but we don't see what happens to her after that. The intro for Season 3 suggests Andrias saved her, though for what purpose remains to be seen. Looks like Andrias doesn't want her dead just yet.
- On a slightly less brutal note, Grime and Sasha are both swatted aside by Andrias just before that happens, leaving them alone in the castle with him after Anne is sent home. The Season 3 intro suggests they'll end up in Wartwood somehow.
- On a similar note, General Yunan and Lady Olivia are last seen in the floating castle's throne room defending themselves from the Mecha-Mooks, then disappear without explanation.
- Frobo is destroyed by Andrias, but his head and an arm are brought through the portal to Earth by Polly in Anne's backpack, meaning he can still be rebuilt.
- Andrias first demonstrates his capabilities with the charged Calamity Box by firing a Wave-Motion Gun at the North Toad Tower — which is where the incredibly aged Captain Aldo rules over, and has been sitting still in his hair long enough for vegetation to start growing over him. It's highly unlikely he made it out, to say nothing of the various other toad forces that were present in the building at the time.
- Unstoppable Rage: After Andrias drops Sprig out of the window, Anne goes completely berserk, unlocks a Super Mode, and unleashes a brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the wicked king, clearly intent on killing him. Had she been able to keep it up, it's likely she would have managed.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Anne refuses to listen to Sasha's sincere warnings about Andrias, helping him regain control and giving him the Calamity Box. This leads to North Toad Tower getting blown up, Frobo's destruction, and Marcy getting stabbed.
- Use Your Head:
- Andrias scampers and lunges at Grime while using his head as a battering ram, knocking Grime into a stone pillar.
- While still raging over Sasha's betrayal, Anne headbutts a toad soldier, knocking him out.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Sasha thought having power was what she had wanted, but she isn't any happier than before, especially after losing Anne.
- Villains Never Lie: Played with. Andrias admits that he did lie to Anne and the others about his true plans and intentions once he actually has the Calamity Box in his hands. However, he's incredibly frank with everybody about the truth of his plans from that point onwards in part because he wants them to believe him when he tells them Marcy's Dark Secret so as to further tear the girls apart and prevent them from uniting against him.
- Voice of the Legion: Anne's voice gains a deep echo when she enters her Super Mode.
- Wave-Motion Gun: The palace spire can fire an energy beam which blows up North Toad Tower in one shot.
- Wham Episode: Sasha and Grime lead the invasion of Newtopia, King Andrias' true intentions are revealed and he becomes the show's main villain, it's revealed that the girls are in Amphibia because of Marcy, Polly gets her legs, Frobo is destroyed (though Polly manages to drag his head and an arm with her through the portal), Andrias stabs Marcy, and Anne and the Plantars are now in the human world with Andrias still in possession of the still-working Calamity Box with which to start his plan of conquering all dimensions and with Sasha and Grime at his mercy.
- Wham Line:
- Andrias reveals his true nature:Andrias: For you see, my ancestors weren't frail explorers, they were glorious conquerors!
- An even more gut-wrenching one occurs when Andrias reveals Marcy is the reason why they're in Amphibia in the first place:Andrias: Did it ever occur to you — Anne, Sasha — that one of you knew more than she was letting on? That one of you might've gotten you stranded in Amphibia... on purpose?
- Andrias realizes his plans will fall apart when he sees the flashing blue gem on the Calamity Box which grants Anne her Super Mode:Andrias: She's still connected to the stone! But that's impossible!
- Following Anne's fight with Andrias, he gives quite the reason toward the last major threat to his conquest:Andrias: I have to admit, even I'm surprised. Somehow you still got the gift, kid. Which means... I can't let you live.
- Andrias reveals his true nature:
- Wham Shot:
- Marcy reading about the Calamity Box in her flashback at the beginning of the episode.
- Sasha and Grime seeing the mural of what Andrias is plotting.
- Polly finally getting her legs.
- Anne's Calamity Gem flashing and granting her a Super Mode.
- King Andrias running Marcy through with his sword.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: General Yunan and Lady Olivia disappear after most of the robots are destroyed. It's implied that rather than outright defy their king, they're trying to extradite themselves from the conflict entirely whilst they make up their minds regarding Andrias' revelations about the full scope of his plans. Accordingly, the most they do in the fight against Andrias is limited to Yunan protecting Olivia from collateral debris, and they're implied to have left the room at the first opportunity.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: When Andrias stabs Marcy, he coldly says, "Now look what you've made me do."
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Played with. Andrias does blow up North Toad Tower with a Wave-Motion Gun as his first move upon revealing his true nature and brings laser-toting robots to fight against the heroes, whom are mainly armed with swords save Frobo and Grime's Magitech Warhammer. Upon recovering from the surprise of Anne unlocking the full power of her Super Mode and realizing she can't control it, Andrias intends to just end Anne immediately before she has a chance to upset his plans further. However, his own armaments consist only of a sword and shield, and such, he needs to rely on the robots to actually shoot anything at a distance, which comes into play at the climax, wherein he immediately skewers Marcy before she can escape through the portal with the Box, being the only one he could reach in time due to lacking ranged weaponry himself. Nonetheless, he displays a clear intent to efficiently kill his enemies without succumbing to normal villainous pitfalls throughout his fight with the heroes.
- The Worf Effect: After being built up as a nearly unstoppable force in "Friend or Frobo?", Frobo is destroyed here with a single punch from Andrias when he tries to protect Polly from him. To a certain extent, this also applies to the Evil Counterpart robots Andrias has the factories mass produce, whom are destroyed in swathes by the heroes, with Anne, Sasha and Yunan's blades cleaving them into pieces like butter. It could be somewhat justified, since Frobo was never actually attacked by any actual weapons during his brief conflict with Wartwood, mainly just Anne's racket and Sprig's slingshot, so his defenses could be less sturdy than they seemed.
- Worf Had the Flu: Despite all the effort she'd put into training and improving herself in combat since their last duel, as shown in "Toadcatcher", as well as the addition of a second sword alongside her original, Sasha still loses the rematch against Anne. This is justified, though, as it's clear that Sasha, now aware that Andrias is the bigger threat, is holding back and trying to talk Anne down. At one point, she grabs Anne's arms in a hold mid-swing to try and talk to her, showing her combat skills are still the better ones between them, and limits herself to disarming Anne of her sword to finish the fight, notably not following up after she's kicked the blade out of her hands and Anne's defenseless before her — which just gives Anne the opportunity to blind Sasha with her own cloak and knock her down with a punch. Anne, meanwhile, is so fed up with Sasha's manipulations that she's lacking even the hesitation she had towards fighting her last time at Toad Tower, being mostly offensive throughout the fight and instantly adapting to whatever non-lethal incapacitation methods Sasha's using against her.
- Worthy Opponent: Played with. Andrias doesn't mind a fight, and compliments Anne and the assembled allies in the throne room for their performance against his robots, but it's made clear that he's totally confident nobody in the room can actually beat him, thanks to the girls having unwittingly de-powered themselves by recharging the Calamity Box and breaking their connection to the stones. When he realizes Anne does still have a connection to her stone, he shows visible dread and is left totally on the back foot in the ensuing fight, taking the first opportunity he can after Anne suffers from a Power-Strain Blackout to eliminate her before she better masters the box's powers, being so concerned with the threat she poses that he leaves the Calamity Box exposed for Marcy to open a portal to Earth with. Andrias demonstrably does respect the might of those empowered with the Calamity Box, but he's not interested in beating them in a fight, apparently aware he couldn't win, and so sets up events such that he gets the girls to willingly weaken themselves and return the power source of his Lost Technology to him before he reveals the full truth, once they've cast away the only trump cards that could beat him.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Grime attempts to flatten Sprig with Barrel's Warhammer. That said, he does admit he nearly feels bad about having to kill Sprig, and is later showing to be shocked at Andrias callously dropping Sprig off the castle in a Meaningful Background Event.
- King Andrias has no qualms trying to crush Polly, dropping Sprig out of the palace window and fatally stabbing Marcy if it means getting the Calamity Box to enact his plan of inter-dimensional conquest.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One:
- The girls and Plantars are unable to stop Andrias from his dimensional conquest, and even though Anne escapes to Earth with the Plantars to safety, Sasha and Marcy are still left behind and Andrias' plans are about to roll out.
- This is averted with Sasha and Grime's Toad Rebellion though — they planned to take the city with a small covert force already in position and using Andrias' life as a bargaining chip to force the Newt solders to stand down, leaving the gates open for the main force to arrive and fully conquer the city. Despite some initial success, Anne, the Plantars and their allies are able to free Andrias and close the gates before the city is taken, unwittingly allowing Andrias' more sinister designs to proceed.
- You Have Failed Me: King Andrias stabs Marcy through the chest for saving Sprig and taking the box to send Anne home.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is Sasha's exact reaction to the revelation that Marcy intentionally stranded her and Anne in Amphibia.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Sasha tries to convince Anne that Andrias is not what he seems, but Anne won't hear it because Sasha has proven she can't be trusted.
- You Monster!: Polly says this word-for-word to Andrias when he destroys Frobo.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Sasha and Grime offer to hold off Andrias while the others escape through the portal. They do buy enough time for Anne and the Plantars to get through, but it's not enough to stop Andrias from impaling Marcy.
- The adventure is far from over... In fact, it is only just beginning.
