During the Christmas season, Anne teaches the Plantars about the holiday and attempts to surprise her mother by making a special Thai Go float for the town's holiday parade. Meanwhile, King Andrias finds out the Cloak-Bot failed its mission and plots a dangerous attack against them.
Full Recap
The episode starts with the Plantars wondering why Mrs. Boonchuy is putting up decorations so Anne explains that they are getting ready for Christmas, which is one of the most important human holidays. Just then, the phone rings, which Mrs. Boonchuy picks up and learns that there is an opening for a Thai Go float in the Christmas-Palooza Parade which she dreamed of for years, but she turns it down because she knows it would draw a lot of attention to the talking frogs and they need to keep a low profile, especially with King Andrias still after them and Anne which Mr. Boonchuy states. Sensing how disappointed her mother is, Anne secretly calls the parade people back and tell them that the Boonchuys have changed their mind because she decides to build her mother the parade float of her dreams and the Plantars are behind her.
Back in Amphibia at the Newtopia Castle that now has several smaller flying fortresses around it, Bartley, Branson, and Blair inform Andrias that the Frobot army is now compete on time and under budget. While the giant newt king is pleased by this news, he is confused by why the trio are dressed like elves and they explain that Marcy told them about Christmas, which the King doesn't seem to be familiar with, and the three newts then gives him a gift. The gift turns out be a moth-like drone prototype; Andrias decides that since Cloak-Bot failed to eliminate Anne and thus she is still alive, he decides to send the drone to Earth so he can destroy her himself virtually, but not before testing the drone out on Bartley, Branson and Blair.
Back on Earth, Anne knows she needs help to build the float, so by the sugestion of Polly recuits Ally and Jess for their tech expertise. The I.T. Gals then explain Chritmas to the Plantars and Sprig comes to the conclusion he needs to find Anne the perfect gift. The next stop is the Museum of Natural History where she asks Dr. Jan for some supplies with she happily agrees while giving the Planters an extensive history lesson on Christmas, Hop Pop comes to the conclusion that it is similar to an Amphibian holiday called "Swamp Hallows Eve" (but without ritual sacrifices) while Sprig now more stressed out to find Anne a gift. Meanwhile, the drone makes it to Earth and Andrias starts looking for Anne via the VR goggles linked to the drone.
After a montage, Anne presents the finished parade float to her parents, who are happy and delighted that they get to participate in the parade. Turns out, Anne's mom has held the parade as a symbolic representation of being welcomed to the community after they moved to the city from Bangkok and Anne understands how she feels after all the months she spent in Wartwood. As Andrias is realizing that the city is so big that it'd take him forever to find Anne, she appears in a parade directly in front of the drone with Sprig (Both yelling her name). Andrias, now remembering all about the holiday with all its decorations, decides to get a little festive with it, hijacking a nearby parade float's giant Santa Claus with his drone, using nano technology to turn it into a giant robot that attacks Anne.
What follows is a giant Santa terrorizing Anne and her family and their parade float in a high-speed chase throughout the city. Just as Santa Andrias gets Anne cornered, the group realizes they can fire the Christmas Tree on the float using the equipped fireworks directly into the giant Santa's torso. When they do, not only does it pierce the Santa, but impales the drone that Andrias took over with. Everything explodes, and they and the city think it is a miraculous snowfall before realizing that it's ash; ash from all the destruction is raining on the city.
In anger, Andrias demolishes the remote control with his laser sword while the three newts quietly walk out of the room. He stops after hearing Darcy taunting him about his failure as a king and calling him pathetic, but Andrias reassures his master that they will succeed, looking over his massive army of frobots saying that no one can stop them, especially not Anne or Earth.
The group goes home and laughs about all the danger, where Anne finally tells the Plantars that the true meaning of Christmas is spending time the ones that you love and all the gifts and traditions are just a way to express love. With all the pressure of about the perfect gift gone Sprig finally gives to Anne which she just loves, Mr. Boonchuy finally took the perfect photo (after several failed attempts throughout the episode) and everyone continues to celebrate the holiday inside.
Later, Anne is seen writing letters to the parents of Sasha and Marcy, promising that she will help to bring their daughters home, and signing it anonymously, leaving just "A friend" on the bottom of it.
* Cue holiday-themed credits music*
Back in Amphibia at the Newtopia Castle that now has several smaller flying fortresses around it, Bartley, Branson, and Blair inform Andrias that the Frobot army is now compete on time and under budget. While the giant newt king is pleased by this news, he is confused by why the trio are dressed like elves and they explain that Marcy told them about Christmas, which the King doesn't seem to be familiar with, and the three newts then gives him a gift. The gift turns out be a moth-like drone prototype; Andrias decides that since Cloak-Bot failed to eliminate Anne and thus she is still alive, he decides to send the drone to Earth so he can destroy her himself virtually, but not before testing the drone out on Bartley, Branson and Blair.
Back on Earth, Anne knows she needs help to build the float, so by the sugestion of Polly recuits Ally and Jess for their tech expertise. The I.T. Gals then explain Chritmas to the Plantars and Sprig comes to the conclusion he needs to find Anne the perfect gift. The next stop is the Museum of Natural History where she asks Dr. Jan for some supplies with she happily agrees while giving the Planters an extensive history lesson on Christmas, Hop Pop comes to the conclusion that it is similar to an Amphibian holiday called "Swamp Hallows Eve" (but without ritual sacrifices) while Sprig now more stressed out to find Anne a gift. Meanwhile, the drone makes it to Earth and Andrias starts looking for Anne via the VR goggles linked to the drone.
After a montage, Anne presents the finished parade float to her parents, who are happy and delighted that they get to participate in the parade. Turns out, Anne's mom has held the parade as a symbolic representation of being welcomed to the community after they moved to the city from Bangkok and Anne understands how she feels after all the months she spent in Wartwood. As Andrias is realizing that the city is so big that it'd take him forever to find Anne, she appears in a parade directly in front of the drone with Sprig (Both yelling her name). Andrias, now remembering all about the holiday with all its decorations, decides to get a little festive with it, hijacking a nearby parade float's giant Santa Claus with his drone, using nano technology to turn it into a giant robot that attacks Anne.
What follows is a giant Santa terrorizing Anne and her family and their parade float in a high-speed chase throughout the city. Just as Santa Andrias gets Anne cornered, the group realizes they can fire the Christmas Tree on the float using the equipped fireworks directly into the giant Santa's torso. When they do, not only does it pierce the Santa, but impales the drone that Andrias took over with. Everything explodes, and they and the city think it is a miraculous snowfall before realizing that it's ash; ash from all the destruction is raining on the city.
In anger, Andrias demolishes the remote control with his laser sword while the three newts quietly walk out of the room. He stops after hearing Darcy taunting him about his failure as a king and calling him pathetic, but Andrias reassures his master that they will succeed, looking over his massive army of frobots saying that no one can stop them, especially not Anne or Earth.
The group goes home and laughs about all the danger, where Anne finally tells the Plantars that the true meaning of Christmas is spending time the ones that you love and all the gifts and traditions are just a way to express love. With all the pressure of about the perfect gift gone Sprig finally gives to Anne which she just loves, Mr. Boonchuy finally took the perfect photo (after several failed attempts throughout the episode) and everyone continues to celebrate the holiday inside.
Later, Anne is seen writing letters to the parents of Sasha and Marcy, promising that she will help to bring their daughters home, and signing it anonymously, leaving just "A friend" on the bottom of it.
* Cue holiday-themed credits music*
Tropes:
- Achilles' Heel: The prototype drone becomes this for the Santa float after it remodels it, as accidentally hitting it at the same time they impale the float with their Christmas tree is how the family beats it. It's implied that had it missed, the float could have continued moving or the drone could have chosen another float to try again.
- All There in the Manual: According to Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia, the lady playing the guitar is named Becka Salt.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's left unclear if the IT Gals are aware of the Plantars' Secret Identity, unlike Dr. Jan and the Thai Community, who were shown their true forms during their debut episodes. They made an off-hand comment about noticing Polly had a tail the last time they showed up, but otherwise, the Plantars remain in disguise around them, and it's implied they don't really care one way or another thanks to their shared love of technology overriding any curiosity they have.
- Attack Its Weak Point: An accidental example. Anne and the Plantars jury-rig an Improvised Weapon out of their Christmas tree and some fireworks, impaling the Santa float through it's chest and hitting the prototype drone on the other side as well. Since they never noticed the drone, they didn't realize how Andrias was controlling the float, and it's implied that if it hadn't been hit, he could have tried again with another float or used the drone to directly attack them once more.
- Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Ever since Marcy explained Christmas to them, the newt scientists love the holiday so much they decide to get in the holiday spirit and give their latest creation as a Christmas gift to the king. Of course, Andrias decides he likes the holiday, but he's become a Christmas scrooge for not getting what he wanted — destroying Anne.
- All Part of the Show: The parade-goers initially assume the mecha-Santa is part of the festivities. When it starts throwing things and posing a danger, however, it's treated as a threat and everyone flees. Its destruction does get turned into some impromptu fireworks and light show at the episode's climax, however.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Anne and the Plantars' efforts to make Mrs. Boonchuy's dream of joining in the Christmas day float parade come true get waylaid by another of King Andrias' assassination attempts on Anne, forcing the family to fight off a hijacked Santa float.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Andrias, either out of a desire to disguise his assassination attempt on Anne or just out of a twisted amusement of pandering to the holiday spirit, has his drone assimilate and manipulate a Santa parade float and weaponize it against the Boonchuys.
- Bad Boss: Andrias sits on his throne and doesn't move a finger to help one of his newt minions as he clearly struggles to move the Andrias-sized present to him, even having to hoist it up the stairs to his throne, despite his physical exhaustion when doing so. When they point out that the prototype drone still needs field testing, he chases his minions around with its weapons to test it out and get the hang of the controls enough to send it to Earth after Anne.Andrias: For such tiny legs, you three sure move fast!
- Bad Santa: Andrias uses the drone to animate a giant Santa float and weaponize it against Anne, extending his drone's legs to wrap around the float's limbs for movement and flooding the interior of it with nanobots that chain up to form complex circuitry and weapons. The float demonstrates the ability to create holiday-themed weapons and defenses, from rocket launchers shaped like present boxes, to energy shields shaped like Christmas trees, not to mention creating laser guns that fire from its eyes and mouth.
- Bittersweet Ending: Anne defeats Andrias once again, the Plantars learn the True Meaning of Christmas, and everyone has a happy holiday. However, Anne is still worried for Sasha and Marcy (who are still in Amphibia), and Andrias is not done with Anne and will stop at nothing to keep her, or anyone else, from ruining his plans.
- Body Horror: Played for Laughs. Listening to one of Dr. Jan's historical lectures on Christmas to understand the concept of it better starts making Sprig's head hurt, with him being portrayed as having a massively swollen cranium from his brain getting stuffed full of information.Sprig: My brain hurts! It has too much knowledge!!!
- Brutal Honesty: After the Santa robot is defeated, causing it to shoot lasers out of its face and wind up with distorted, hollow eye sockets, a boy asks his father if Santa will be ok. The dad bluntly says he probably won't be.
- The Bus Came Back: Bartley, Branson, and Blair, the newt scientists from "Marcy at the Gates", return in this episode.
- Calling the Young Man Out: After Andrias' tantrum over Anne and the Plantars besting him again, Darcy mocks him for his failure.Darcy: That was pathetic. And you call yourself a king…
- The Cameo: An animated version of Rebecca Sugar appears singing the song she wrote for the episode.
- Character Check: Downplayed, but in "Olivia & Yunan", Andrias seemed to still have a soft spot for Marcy, pleading with the Core not to take her body, and looking away sadly as it happened. Here, Andrias responds to Triple B asking him if he remembers what Marcy taught them about Christmas with a cold, callous "no", his expression making it clear he could care less. Though it's implied that his sour mood was also partly due to the same incident and him being unhappy when reminded of Marcy prior to her conversion. He does cheer up somewhat when he finally remembers the context behind Christmas upon finding the Boonchuy's float in the parade, but that's also because he just had a wonderful, awful idea to weaponise the Santa float against Anne in a twisted pandering to the holiday spirit.
- Chekhov's Gag: Subverted with the deer prop Anne turns into a reindeer for her family float. Twice it falls off the float and almost hits someone, but when Andrias hijacks the Santa float and weaponizes it against the family, they're forced to retaliate by throwing whatever props are on the float as makeshift projectiles — and this time the deer doesn't break off.Sprig: Really? Now you're unbreakable?!
- Chekhov's Gun: When the Plantars ask the IT gals about what Christmas is in an effort to better understand the holiday, one of the pieces of advice they give to them is not to to overload the voltage on the Christmas lights throughout their Christmas tree, or it could catch aflame, with Jess noting a Noodle Incident that nothing ruins Christmas like a tree on fire. When it seems the Boonchuys and Plantars have nothing left on them when Andrias' creation has them cornered, Anne sees the tree atop their float is the only item left and realizes they need to make an Improvised Weapon out of it and the fireworks on their float, firing the tree right through the giant Santa into the drone, destroying it and saving the day.Sprig: (Seeing Andreas' robot charge its laser) What do we have left to throw? Something? Anything?!
Anne: The tree! We gotta-
Polly: Light it on fire? Finally! - Christmas Episode: As usual for any animated series, this episode is set during Christmas.
- Continuity Cavalcade:
- Bartley, Branson, and Blair, Marcy's allies from "Marcy at the Gates" return, having apparently been prompted to an advisory position after Olivia and Yunan turned against Andrias last time.
- To get help making the Thai Go float, Anne and the Plantars enlist help from their various earth allies they've made in their adventures, from the IT girls to Dr.Jan and the Thai community.
- Polly still has Mr. Boonchuy's old phone he gave her in "Adventures in Catsitting".
- The hijacked Santa robot is impaled, just like what happened to Marcy and Cloak-Bot in "True Colors" and "Anne-sterminator", respectively (though in this case it was through the chest, not through the back).
- During the end credits, Anne is shown giving her mom the butterfly she got back in "Hopping Mall". Mr. Boonchuy is also shown giving Sprig a Tarantu-Lad doll as seen in "Spider Sprig," and Hop Pop a book on how to be a director, which he stated was his new dream in "Hollywood Hop Pop".
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: When desperately looking for weapons to use against the Santa float, Sprig asks Anne if Santa has any weaknesses, with Mr. Boonchuy suggesting using milk and cookies against it. Anne says that that won't work, only for Sprig and Polly to seize a cookie prop from the float and throw it at the Santa float discus-style, which actually does get through its defenses and hit it.Anne: Well, I'll be danged.
- Distinction Without a Difference: When Andrias is testing out the prototype drone, he realizes he can remote-control it to assassinate Anne on Earth directly, cursing that he should never have relied on a robot to do a newt's job. One of his newt scientists notes that he's still technically relying on a robot to get the job done, only to be quickly shushed by the other two, as they know better than to question their king even if what he says is completely stupid.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: King Andrias embodies a lot of characteristics of a toxic gamer when using his drone.
- When he is first flying it through Earth and accidentally crashes it, he grumbles over how he has got to get better at the controls, before showing his eyes are bloodshot and quickly drinking an energy drink, similar to someone spending hours staring at a screen and using snacks and drinks to stay awake.
- After the drone is destroyed, Andrias throws a temper tantrum, throwing his controller to the floor while blaming it for what happened and destroys it while screaming he was so close, like someone Rage Quitting after losing.
- Dreaming of a White Christmas:
- Averted and parodied twice in the scenes on Earth: Since it's Los Angeles, there's no sign of snow and the episode's song even points out plenty of places are warm during Christmas, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. One single snowflake slowly falls down and is incinerated when it touches something. After destroying Andrias' Santa robot, Anne is surprised that it seems to be snowing, but Sprig discovers what's floating to the ground is actually ash. If it actually had snowed, the Plantars would have been incapacitated by the colder climate, like the last couple of times they were exposed to freezing temperatures.
- In whatever region of Amphibia that King Andrias happens to be flying over, it actually is snowing right as his advisors decide to bring up the Christmas traditions Marcy taught them.
- Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: The Boonchuys avidly celebrate Christmas, but it's all but stated they aren't Christian. For the parents it's an expression of Immigrant Patriotism they adopted after moving to the US. The float they make is even a combination of secular Christmas and Theravada Buddhist imagery.
- Extra-Long Episode: This is the second episode of Season 3 to be 22 minutes long after "The New Normal".
- Failed a Spot Check: When Anne and the Plantars are fighting the hijacked Santa float, they don't even notice the prototype drone controlling it nor the wires used to make it move, and the only reason they defeat Andrias is the Christmas tree fires through the float into the drone, piercing into it. It's unknown if they found the drone's remains afterwards.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the start of the Christmapalooza parade, you can briefly see a billboard advertising a film called "A Hunky Lumberjack for Christmas", presumably a parody of Hallmark Channel's famous annual Christmas specials.
- Funny Background Event: As Sprig is trying to make the perfect gift for Anne, behind him is a scale recreation of the Chick-a-lisk.
- Hypocrite: Andrias tasked Cloak-Bot with assassinating Anne quietly, without alerting other humans to his invasion plans, which ended up thwarting at least one of its numerous attempts on her life, yet he has no problem causing a massive public disturbance himself when attempting to kill Anne this time. He does weaponize a nearby Santa parade float against Anne, presumably in an attempt to disguise his machine amongst the holiday decorations, but he also creates a lot of public chaos in his attack on the Boonchuys' parade float, with the radio announcement at the episode's end making it clear that the police are involved in cleaning up the aftermath. It's implied that he's less caring of giving advance warning of his invasion because his army is nearly fully assembled and ready to invade, so it won't matter much either way.
- If You Won't, I Will: Andrias has since learned that the Cloak-Bot has failed and Anne is still alive, and rather than send out another, he tries to kill her himself. On Christmas Eve.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Trapped in a dead-end alleyway and with the Santa mech baring down on them without any further float decorations to use as makeshift weapons, Anne gets the idea to combine the tree on the float with the holiday fireworks they had as an improvised missile against Andrias. It spins straight through the robot Santa's chest and into the prototype drone on the back of its neck, destroying them both.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Rebecca Sugar's character looks exactly like her.
- Instant Expert: Averted. It takes Andrias time to start handling the prototype drone, and even once he'd mastered it enough to transport it to Earth, it still takes him about 2 days more to iron out the kinks in controlling it before he's ready to find Anne. When the family succeeds in destroying the drone, he's quick to blame the tricky controls for his loss.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Andrias gripes that it would take a miracle for him to locate Anne in the city through his shaky control over the prototype drone, only to immediately come across the Boonchuys' Thai Go parade float and see her shouting her name to the crowd.
- Irony: The model reindeer that Anne attaches to the Thai-Go float keeps falling off, almost crushing people all episode, only to be held fast when Sprig needs to pull it off to throw at the giant Santa robot controlled by King Andrias.Sprig: Oh, NOW you're unbreakable!
- Jesus Taboo: Dr. Jan's gives the Plantars a lengthy lecture on the history of Christmas, but we never hear her mention any kind of contemporary religion, just things like winter solstices, Sinterklaas, and soda companies. It's hard to tell whether those were things something she discussed off-screen between cuts, or was so rambling and exhaustive she never even got that far. It's also a Running Gag that every time the Plantars ask what this Christmas holiday is about, they get every answer but that part.
- Kick the Dog:
- You know the Big Bad is heartless when he doesn’t give you Christmas off from being eviscerated.
- Andrias also fires missiles at his newt minions out of sadism and comments on how they are fast for their small legs.
- The Juggernaut: Between its size, weaponry and the fact that the family doesn't have any actual weapons on their float, the Santa float Andrias remodels to attack them shrugs off almost any attack they throw at it and has them desperately fleeing from it the whole time. Even when they impale it through the chest with their Christmas tree, it's implied the float could have kept going after them if said tree hadn't also hit the drone controlling it on its back by accident.
- Let There Be Snow: After defeating Andrias' Santa mech, it appears to start snowing in San Francisco. Subverted when Sprig tastes a flake and states it's actually ash.
- Lyrical Dissonance: The Wandering Minstrel's song is a syrupy-sweet acoustic number about how special Christmas is, which makes it quite jarring when the second verse suddenly mentions "a demon who will stuff you in a sack if you've been bad" and "an old man confront[ing] his fear of karma and mortality".
- Mammoths Mean Ice Age: Anne uses a woolly mammoth model for the float because "wooly mammoths are winter-y".
- Nanotechnology: The new butterfly drone developed by Andrias' scientists can also release nanobots that can transform into a deadly weapon.
- Never My Fault: Andrias blames the controller for failing to kill Anne this time.
- Never Trust a Trailer:
- In one scene of the Season 3 trailer, we see Anne and the Plantars on the Thai Go float backed by a leg that seems like King Andrias somehow showing up on Earth. In the actual episode, he is still in Amphibia, and the foot is that of the animatronic being controlled by the prototype drone.
- In the official episode promo, we get a scene of Andrias testing out the prototype drone and using it to destroy the throne room, followed by a scene of the Plantars gasping and Polly saying "Plot twist!"; the latter aforementioned scene has them actually responding to Anne, when she calls the parade committee and tells them the Boonchuys are going to be in the parade when Mrs. Boonchuy denied it earlier.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Anne gives her mom the perfect Thai-Go Christmas float like she always wanted, which just draws King Andrias' attention.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Andrias again, but downplayed this time around. His Laughably Evil aspects are given greater focus, and his issues with accurately controlling the drone are played for comedy, but his direct attack on Anne this time involved creating a massive robot out of the Santa float and going on a destructive rampage against her, one that endangers several civilians watching the parade, with the family's only option being to flee, and the robot shrugging off every Improvised Weapon they used against it until Anne uses a last-ditch gamble to impale it with their Christmas tree. Unlike Cloak-Bot, they cannot even hope to fight that robot directly and can barely keep ahead of it with their own float going full speed, and its Spontaneous Weapon Creation meant it had them dead to rights at the end when their float gets caught in a dead end.
- Overly Long Gag: Andrias watching his newt minion slowly push his huge gift across the floor and up the stairs while not lifting a finger to help.
- Pet Dress-Up: The episode opens with Mrs. Boonchuy pulling out all the stops to flood the house with Christmas decorations, including an ostentatious little Santa outfit and hat for Domino the cat.
- Pre-Explosion Glow: When the float tree pierces right into the Santa bot and destroys the drone, its lasers are misfired upwards into the sky like Hollywood spotlights.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Anne calls out, "Hey, Andrias! Merry Christmas!" just before using the float tree to destroy the drone.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Anne and her team when they see the Santa hijacked by Andrias attack the parade.
- Andrias when he realizes too late when Anne is about to destroy the drone.
- Running Gag:
- Mr. Boonchuy keeps trying (and failing) to take the perfect holiday photo, and it keeps getting blurry.
- The Plantars keep asking what this weird Christmas holiday is about, only to not get a clear answer.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bartley, Branson, and Blair quietly leave the throne room as King Andrias begins throwing a tantrum and smashing the drone's controller over his latest failure to kill Anne.
- Sequel Hook: Andrias observing a humongous array of Frobots, showing he's not done with Anne and the invasion will be carried out soon, vowing absolutely no one alike will stand in his way.
- Shout-Out:
- King Andrias destroys the controller with his sword in a Kylo Ren fashion.
- The Wandering Minstrel's song talks about a reindeer getting promoted and an old man confronting his fear of karma and mortality.
- The song also makes reference to The Krampus - "a demon who will stuff you in a sack if you've been bad".
- Skewed Priorities: The IT Gals are so mesmerized by the Santa float brought to life by Andrias' drone, that they don't even realize it's about to attack until Polly snaps them out of it.
- Source Music: The song played throughout the episode is sung by a musician wandering the streets, though some of it plays in scenes she isn't in.
- Special Edition Title: The opening and ending credits get a holiday rework.
- For the opening credits, Christmas lights surround the border, Santa hats and decorations are visible throughout, Anne's Super Mode hair is redone to resemble a glowing Christmas tree, and the show title is likewise decorated.
- For the ending credits, the style switches back to Season 1 and 2's variations, but with scenes of the Boonchuys and the Plantars enjoying the holiday.
- Both feature a Christmas twist on the usual music.
- Special Guest: Rebecca Sugar as a Wandering Minstrel who sings about Christmas at various points in the episode.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: The prototype drone comes equipped with Nanotech that allows it to renovate the Santa float from the inside out and apparently create holiday-themed weapons based on its needs, from rocket launchers looking like Christmas present boxes, to energy shields shaped like Christmas trees, not to mention growing laser guns in its eyes and mouth.
- Tantrum Throwing: Andrias takes out his frustration for failing to kill Anne on the controller, using his sword to slash it to pieces. Darcy chastises him for behavior unbefitting of a king.
- Tempting Fate:
- Mr. Boonchuy promises to get the perfect holiday photo even if it kills him. The reindeer on the float then falls off, nearly crushing him.Mr. Boonchuy: I'm sorry, Santa!
- Andrias, still searching for Anne through his drone, bemoans that it would take a miracle to find Anne in the city, only to immediately come across the Holiday Float parade, featuring the Boonchuys' float with their name outlined in flashing neon and Anne herself shouting her name to the crowd.Andrias: Well, that was easy.
- Mr. Boonchuy promises to get the perfect holiday photo even if it kills him. The reindeer on the float then falls off, nearly crushing him.
- Triumphant Reprise: When Anne and the Plantars are defeating the Santa-Bot, the background score is accompanied by a rendition of "Ode to Joy" which then transitions into a celebratorial holiday version of "Anne's Theme".
- True Meaning of Christmas: Downplayed. At the end of the episode, Anne and Mrs. Boonchuy more clearly explain to the Plantars that while Christmas has been around a long time and there are many different ways of celebrating it across many centuries and cultures, it's ultimately about loved ones coming together to express their love and appreciation for each other. The Plantars are impressed (and Sprig is relieved that the pressure to get Anne "The Perfect Gift" is off), but still admit that they'll probably never really understand it. But, when Sprig presents his gift, it looks so simple and mundane. Anne sums it all up by saying it’s the thought that counts, showing Sprig does understand the message more than he thinks. Contrast this with King Andrias, who completely misses the whole point of Christmas. He doesn’t savor it enough to give Anne a break.
- Twisted Christmas: Anne and her family's great time at the parade is nearly ruined when Andrias uses the prototype drone to hijack the Santa float ahead of them and attack; fortunately, they manage to defeat it.
- Uncertain Doom: Whilst Andrias and Darcy are shown in the throne room, Yunan and Olivia are completely absent and their fate left unresolved. Their advisory position has apparently been taken over by the three newts Marcy was working alongside in "Marcy at the Gates".
- Villains Out Shopping: Downplayed. The newt scientists get themselves in the holiday spirit and decide to celebrate Christmas by giving Andrias their butterfly drone prototype as a gift. However, King Andrias is so obsessed with killing Anne that he decides to “play” with his new toy by using it to kill her.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Anne destroys the drone he sent after her, Andrias destroys its controller in a rage, blaming it for his failure. Darcy immediately calls him out on this unregal behavior. Followed by a...
- Villainous Vow: After the Core calls Andrias out, Andrias shrugs it off, vowing to get Anne next time as he observes his Frobot army and promises absolutely no one will ruin his invasion, not even Anne or Earth.
- Wandering Minstrel: Rebecca Sugar's character wanders around LA singing with her ukulele.
- We Will Meet Again: After Andrias is livid when Anne destroys the drone prototype and escapes alive, he observes his army of Frobots and vows he will be ready to face her again soon.
- Wham Shot:
- The final scene in Amphibia shows that Andrias has built legions of his Frobot soldiers to invade Earth.
- The final scene on Earth shows Anne writing letters to Marcy's and Sasha's parents, letting them know that their daughters are trapped in another world but will be brought home. Anne doesn't go into much detail and only refers to herself as "a friend". Mr. and Mrs. Waybright have individually-addressed envelopes compared to a single one for the Wu family, suggesting the former pair are either divorced or separated.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out what happens to the prototype drone after Anne destroys it by piercing the float tree through the Santa-Bot. However, since the heroes never even saw the drone, then somebody else could've found it...
- What Measure Is a Mook?: In the mountains around Amphibia, covered in snow from the current climate, one of Andrias' Frobots is shown making a snowman shaped like itself, despite being unaware of any holiday traditions. It underlines the point brought up by both Frobo and Cloak-Bot that they may be machines, but they have the capacity for learning and self-actualization, and are not just easily-disposable Mooks for Andrias' ambitions, despite how he treats them.
- White-Tailed Reindeer: A literal one. Anne takes a model of a white-tailed deer from the museum to pass off as a reindeer.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Polly says this when Hop Pop forgets his lines as Santa. Specifically, he thinks there should only be two 'Ho's' in 'HoHoHo', and it just doesn't feel right to him otherwise. Polly calls him out for supposedly having experience in the dramatic arts, yet still needing to be prompted his lines.
- You Mean "Xmas": While still struggling to understand the concept of Christmas, Hop Pop eventually learns enough about the history of the holiday from Dr. Jan's lecture to compare it to a holiday back in Amphibia called "Swamp Hallows' Eve." But just as he claims that the main difference is that there's no ritual sacrifices involved with Christmas, Anne comes up to the Plantars with an entire cart's worth of humanoid dummies from the museum.Hop Pop: (whispering aside to Sprig and Polly) I think I spoke too soon about the ritual sacrifices.
