History Characters / AmphibiaMainCharacters

* CatchPhrase: He often shouts "Dang it, boy!" whenever Sprig screws up.

[[caption-width-right:294:[[labelnote:Click here to see her in her younger years]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leif___profile.png[[/labelnote]]]]

* ABoyAGirlAndABabyFamily: Anne fills the role of eldest "sister" (age 13), and Sprig has a smaller age gap with her than with Polly (ages 10 and ~5 respectively), meaning this dynamic is in play.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leif___profile.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''"In the end, my only remaining wish is that somehow, someday, my love reaches [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias you]]. So I'm begging you, my dearest friend, don't close yourself off. Open your heart, and follow it."'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"In the end, my only remaining wish is that somehow, someday, my love reaches [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias you]]. So I'm begging you, my dearest friend, don't close yourself off. Open your heart, and follow it."'']]

%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

Fearing the consequences of her betrayal, Leif hid in the small settlement of Wartwood, starting a family under the assumed name of Lily Plantar.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leif___profile.png]]

* {{Foil}}: Meta-wise, In comparison to {{Creator/Bill Farmer}}'s last animated main voice role, [[WesternAnimation/The7D Doc]], both are {{The Leader}}s to their respective groups and both feel guilty over [[spoiler: losing a loved one (Hop Pop felt like it was his fault for the death of Sprig and Polly's parents when he went a business trip while Wartwood was attacked by herons; Doc felt guilty over losing the supposed death of Stinky, the 8th D.]] But while Doc is an eccentric GadgeteerGenius, Hop Pop was the Plantar family's OnlySaneMan who always stuck with the GoodOldWays.

* WeaponOfChoice: Sprig's main weapon is a slingshot. In fact, "Handy Anne" shows he has a number of different slingshots.

* WeaponOfChoice: Polly's preferred and most loved choice of weapon is a [[EpicFlail flail]].

* SaiGuy: Downplayed. In "Combat Camp", he picks up a pair of sai from Tritonio's armory, but doesn't use them beyond that episode.

* BadassFamily: A knowledgeable and spry DotingGrandparent, a WiseBeyondTheirYears baby, a FearlessFool who can take on any challenge, and a resourceful 13-year-old [[HumanityIsAdvanced human]] from another world.

* SecretIdentity: When on Earth, the Plantars have to keep their identities as frog people a secret from most other humans to avoid being taken away and being experimented on, with only Anne's parents and Domino in on their true nature.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Sprig shows a lot of signs of being on the autistic spectrum, such as impulsiveness and stimming. This is most obvious in the episode "Hop 'Til You Drop", where he directly states that he enjoys touching new textures, which is something a lot of autistic people find comforting. In "Mr. X", he explicitly suffers sensory overload from his first trip in a cinema.

!! Others
[[folder:The Calamity Box]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cropped_music_box_version.png]]
An ancient music box created by King Andrias' ancestors, which is used for dimensional travel. It was found by Anne, Sasha and Marcy in the human world as a birthday present for Anne, and when opened it teleported the three girls to Amphibia while simultaneously imbuing its gems' powers into each of them. Andrias wants to use it for his plan to take over all dimensions, starting with the human world.
----
* BaitAndSwitch: The series as a whole gradually builds up to the idea that the Calamity Box's presence in Amphibia is a ''bad'' thing, as per the vague warnings relating to it in the Plantar family book and [[spoiler:Andrias and the Core needing it to enact their eventual plans to continue their MultiversalConqueror legacy. "The Core & The King" reveals that said warnings were because Leif, the one who wrote the book, received a vague vision of the red moon falling down on Amphibia after coming into contact with all three gems at once, fearing that their PlanetLooters ways had upset 'the ecosystem of the multiverse' and that they would eventually be punished for it. However, "The Hardest Thing" reveals that the moon is falling because [[ThatsNoMoon it's actually a massive machine]] the Core is controlling in its VillainousBreakdown after the invasion of Earth is thwarted, attempting to [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum destroy all of Amphibia to deny the heroes victory]], and has no direct connection to the weaponization of the Calamity Gems at all -- in fact, said powers are the only thing that can ''prevent'' that outcome]].
* BroughtDownToNormal: Charging the gems also causes the girls to lose their connections with them, as evidenced by the glow draining out of their eyes as the gems get charged...which is part of Andrias' plan to render them useless so they can't fulfil the prophecy and defeat him.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler:The blue gem only getting charged halfway at the Second Temple becomes a plot point in "True Colors", as it means Anne still has her connection with it and absorbs its power to obtain a SuperMode.]]
** [[spoiler:Mother Olm revealing that the music box is an artificial addition to the gems, and that they had a purpose separate from Andrias' ancestor's weaponization of them for their PlanetLooters ambitions, becomes relevant when Darcy [[SayingTooMuch accidentally lets slip]] that they're ignorant of the [[BlackBox full capabilities of the gems and their powers]], being worried about the effect using the music box at less than full power could have on their plans, which Anne then exploits to point out that they [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou can't risk killing her immediately]] in case doing so also causes the gem's energy to [[CessationOfExistence dissipate]] rather than return to the Calamity Gem. Despite their vast intelligence and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld age]], the MindHive can't argue with her point, and decides to safely extract the energy first to be certain.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The three gems on the cover each represent a different trait corresponding with the girl who inherits its respective power:
** Green -- Wit (Marcy)
** Blue -- Heart (Anne)
** Pink -- Strength (Sasha)
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot:
** Anne spends much of the first two seasons trying to understand how the box works to open a portal home, coming to the conclusion that the box will only work if the gems inserted into it are 'charged' at the various temples around Amphibia, [[spoiler:only for "Escape to Amphibia" to reveal that the SuperMode the gems bestow upon her is capable of providing the energy necessary for inter-dimensional travel even with only a partial connection. "All In" reveals that the temples' mechanisms are a ritual to allow the chosen heroes to 'forfeit' their powers and the associated destiny that comes with them, and Anne [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong actually had the key to return home inside her all along]]. Andrias and the Core specifically tricked the girls into believing the opposite in order to undo the olm prophecy and de-power their enemies before they were aware of the true stakes of their presence in Amphibia, specifically to avert this outcome]].
** Once they successfully recharge the gems on the music box, the girls decide to head back to Newtopia in order to have Andrias, who has studied the box extensively with Newtopia's historical archives, figure out how to activate it to send them home. [[spoiler:Except Marcy already knew how to use the box to do so the whole time, meaning they could have gone home once they'd completed the third temple. Andrias used her desperate desire to keep her friends together and go on fantastical adventures with them across the multiverse into helping him deceive them into handing the fully-charged box over to him so it wouldn't be lost the minute its full powers were restored.]]
** [[spoiler:Leif stole the music box and sent it to Earth in order to avert the mysterious visions of impending calamity she foresaw from coming into contact with the gems, of their red moon falling to Amphibia and destroying everything. She did this despite the personal cost of her friendship with Barrel and Andrias and being forced away from her home to re-invent herself under a new name, but "The Hardest Thing" reveals that the visions were a SelfFulfillingProphecy. The moon falls because the Core takes control of it to smash into Amphibia in a spiteful denial of its loss and the thwarting of the Earth invasion, which happens only because the box was stolen and sent to Earth to choose its champions to stand against the Core on the fateful day. If Leif had understood the visions better and the reasons behind the moon falling, none of this would have come to pass.]]
* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: When opened, it allows the wielder to traverse dimensions. [[spoiler:The reason why said device is something as impractical as a music box of all things is that music notes can be used as coordinates to open portals between different realms, meaning Andrias' ancestors had to make their portal device into an instrument in order to enable their PlanetLooters lifestyle.]]
* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler: Marcy is the one who discovered the box and learned of its powers in the first place, and she used it as a birthday gift to keep the girls together so she could escape moving away from them.]]
* MacGuffin: In addition to Anne needing it to get home, numerous villains and antagonists alike all opt to use the box for their own purposes. King Andrias in particular wants to use it to take over all worlds, even and especially Anne's, and he won't let anyone or anything stop him.
* ManaDrain: Charging the gems also causes the girls to lose their associated powers, allowing Andrias to steal the gems and begin his conquest.
* MeaningfulName: It's referred to as the 'Calamity Box' in the old book Hop Pop found, and almost exclusively as 'the music box' by everybody else. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the title was apparently coined by Leif, the Plantars' distant ancestor, after she came into contact with all three gems and suffered a vague prophetic vision of Amphibia getting destroyed via ColonyDrop from its moon, apparently as a result of their continued abuse of the gems as an InterdimensionalTravelDevice to fuel their PlanetLooters lifestyle. Leif feared that continuing to use the Box would eventually bring calamity upon them, but couldn't interpret exactly ''how'' it would do so, choosing to hide it away on Earth to prevent it being used any further while leaving [[VaguenessIsComing vague warnings]] about the danger it presented in the book.]]
* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: [[spoiler:When Terri tries building a working portal device to reach Amphibia on Earth, she's eventually able to deduce the 'music notes are coordinates' aspect of the box's power to correctly create a miniaturised portal to Amphibia, but can only generate enough power to make one large enough to fit an arm through. When she hooks up a cutting-edge, hi-tech generator stolen from a secret FBI base, implicitly more advanced than anything else on the continent, it can ''barely'' get the portal slightly larger than it was before, even after the new one generates over twice the power Terri thought the portal would need. When Anne discovers her SuperMode can provide the necessary power, Terri's scientific instruments are shown going haywire from she sheer amount of energy she's generating, showing how '''much''' energy the Calamity Gems contain, even with Anne's partial connection meaning she doesn't have full access to all her powers.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:"Mother of Olms" reveals that the Calamity Box is an artificial creation of Andrias' ancestors and ''not'' an original part of the gems' intended purpose, being designed to utilize music notes as coordinates to enable inter-dimensional travel using the gems' immense powers. Andrias' ancestors had long been criticized by the olms for misusing the gems for their own purposes as tools of conquest, corrupting Amphibian society by turning to unethical means of sustaining themselves in the process. This is further showcased in a mural in Mother Olm's chamber showing the three gems on their own, separate from the Box, showing it isn't actually part of their true historical purpose, though what said purpose is left unsaid, merely that the gems should be 'left alone'. The gems' purpose is much different, and was created 10,000 years prior to the series by a being who protects and oversees the universe.]]
* SecretTestOfCharacter: To charge each gem, each of the three girls has to pass a secret test congruent to their personality, and thus what gem they're linked to.
** [[spoiler:The gems themselves are this, as they were made by a cosmic guardian to test the people who found it and see if they would use the gems' power for good or evil. Anne, Sasha and Marcy were the only people to use the gems for good, with the Guardian promptly giving Anne the opportunity to take their place after her HeroicSacrifice.]]
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: [[spoiler:The vision the Calamity Gems imparted onto Leif when she touched all three of them at once is revealed to be this, as by sending the box to Earth, she unintentionally kickstarted a chain of events that leads to the invasion of Earth being thwarted, and the Core attempting to [[ColonyDrop smash the red moon into Amphibia]] [[RageQuit in a spiteful denial of its loss]] -- the very outcome she hoped to avoid by stealing the box in the first place.]]
* TouchedByVorlons: Teleporting Anne and her friends also causes them to inherit the gems' powers, evidenced by their eyes flashing their associated gems' colours prior to unleashing them. This usually occurs fairly subtly -- fans debated whether or not the first example in "Anne or Beast?" was an animation error for a while -- but season 2 makes the EyeColorChange more apparent. When the gems get charged, the glow in the girls' eyes drain out, as a symbol of them losing their connection with their respective stones. [[spoiler:Then, in "True Colors", Anne's grief at apparently witnessing Sprig die causes her to unlock an empowered version of the Box's power in a SuperMode, letting her utterly thrash [[TheJuggernaut Andrias]] in direct combat. The season 3 updated intro indicates this will become a regular ability of Anne's going forward.]]
* VaguenessIsComing:
** The book Hop Pop finds that states what it is simply gives unclear warnings of danger should it appear again, and not specifically ''how'' it's dangerous. At first, it appears to be warning about [[spoiler:Andrias and the Core's plans to use the box to resume their [[PlanetLooters strip-mining of other worlds' resources]] and become a MultiversalConqueror, but it turns out Leif, the one who wrote the warning, didn't actually ''know'' what danger was coming either. She was ignorant of the Core's existence and had spent a lifetime of indoctrination seeing the invasions as [[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies a good thing for their society]], but coming into contact with all three gems on the Calamity Box caused her to receive a vague prophetic vision of [[ColonyDrop their moon apparently crashing down into their world]] and destroying Amphibia. She became greatly concerned that continuing to use the box would eventually destroy Amphibia, leading to her stealing it and hiding it away on Earth to prevent that, trying to warn others to the best of her ability of the threat it posed even when she wasn't exactly sure what danger would come with the box's reappearance]].
** "The Hardest Thing" reveals that [[spoiler:the reason the warnings were so vague was because the vision was actually a SelfFulfillingProphecy, and by sending the box to Earth in the hopes of averting the catastrophe she saw, Leif accidentally set in motion the events that would ''cause'' said catastrophe in the first place, which wouldn't have happened if she'd properly understood the visions the gems were giving her, as is implied to be the intent behind them]].
[[/folder]]

** Taken UpToEleven in "Cursed", where Sprig's curse causes his hair to grow so much that towards the episode's end, he basically resembles an orange mop head.

* NiceHat: A green cap.

** Said hair also [[spoiler:increases his StrongFamilyResemblance to Leif, his distant ancestor and King Andrias' former friend who stole the Calamity Box and sent it to Earth. Her own [[InTheHood choice of wardrobe]] exposed her hair, so with Sprig's covered up by his NiceHat, it's implied to be the main reason that Andrias hasn't fully realised their familial connection yet, though his [[DisneyDeath attempted murder of the young frog]] implies that he may be subconsciously reminded of her when looking at him]].

* WeCanRebuildHim: After he gets destroyed by Andrias in True Colours, Polly is able to rebuild him in All In.

* ComicallySmallBribe: It's easy to sway her in your favor, as long as you have candy to barter. Justified, since she is a small child.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:In "True Colors", her legs finally come in, allowing her to not only dodge King Andrias' attempt to kill her, but to evade his robots and snatch the Calamity Box.]]

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: {{Inverted}}. They have chronic ''being''-backstabbed disorder, with several episodes and major plot points revolving around the Plantars and Anne being used and having their trust violated by others, which contrasts against the tightly-growing bond the FamilyOfChoice forge with each other as they grow closer together over Anne's time in Amphibia. [[spoiler: Accordingly, Hop Pop burying the music box and lying about it, even with good intentions, is seen as a gross violation of trust by Anne, and it takes a while for things to become okay between them after Anne chooses to remain with the Plantars regardless]]. Anne {{Lampshades}} this once [[spoiler: she makes it back to earth with the Plantars and considers how to explain her time TrappedInAnotherWorld to her parents.]]
--->'''Anne''': Oh, and I'm not gonna tell them [[spoiler: I plan to go back and stop Andrias...or that Andrias betrayed us...or that Marcy did, or that Sasha did...]]

* PlugAndPlayTechnology: Even when reduced to a head, he's modular enough to be repaired with Earth technology. Afterwards, he's set up on a toy car to move around, and can easily read a DVD or Anne's phone to project desired information from them through his eyes.

* TouchedByVorlons: Teleporting Anne and her friends also causes them to inherit the gems' powers, evidenced by their eyes flashing their associated gems' colours prior to unleashing them. This usually occurs fairly subtly -- fans debated whether or not the first example in "Anne or Beast?" was an animation error for a while -- but season 2 makes the EyeColorChange more apparent. When the gems get charged, the glow in the girls' eyes drain out, as a symbol of them losing their connection with their respective stones. [[spoiler: Then, in "True Colors", Anne's grief at apparently witnessing Sprig die causes her to unlock an empowered version of the Box's power in a SuperMode, letting her utterly thrash [[TheJuggernaut Andrias]] in direct combat. The season 3 updated intro indicates this will become a regular ability of Anne's going forward.]]