r/amphibia • u/Low-Amphibian8206 Anne Boonchuy • 2d ago
Discussion Do you think the show would have benefitted from having a more even split between the girls and their respective Amphibian friends and family?
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u/mildmichigan 1d ago
It would be a very different show. A very interesting show, for sure. But Amphibia is about Anne & the Plantars & found family units.
None of the Plantars stuff strikes me as filler. Its all basic Gravity Falls-esque hijinks, a cooky family doing misadventures while the bigger plot looms in the background? Thats Amphibia
A more serialized heavily plot focused series would've been sweet. But I don't think it wouldve been "beneficial" it would've just made the show a totally different beast
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u/SeventhSolar Newtopia Resident 1d ago
I'll have to disagree with you, I've never heard anyone before deny that several Plantar-focused episodes especially in season 3 were filler. I also wouldn't characterize the Plantars as "misadventures", that really downplays the personal growth Anne experienced through each of those episodes. Many of the episodes were important, some were not.
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u/mildmichigan 1d ago
I think you're reading more into my comment than I intended
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u/SeventhSolar Newtopia Resident 1d ago
You said none of the Plantar episodes are filler, I disagreed and said some of them are filler, can it get more complicated than that?
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u/YaBoiS0nic 2d ago edited 2d ago
Don't get me wrong, it's a fun show with fantastic world building, and Anne is a pretty damn good character from start to finish, but how the heck were there like three episodes dedicated on Sasha, while the only one Marcy gets is the one where she gets possessed by The Core
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u/mattiewice 1d ago
From what you have written it would have been a very interesting twist yet i must still say that having Anne as the major focus was the better choice
At the end of the day Amphibia was meant for a larger audience it is part of the reason why the show only little complication during airing.
Keeping Anne as the focus helps the audience recognize the show But also see Anne and the plantars growth easier. People often sideline the amphibian and a triple girl focus would have maybe worsened that.
Lastly, there's no guarantee we ,as in the audience, would have like an Sasha or Marcy focus what I mean by that is that now that the show is over and we yearn for more it's normal we want to restructured it yet when it was weekly maybe those change of focus would have not been well receive by the public and it's a chance Mr.Braly and his team might not want to take.
Especially since Sasha was a antagonist at first
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u/StuffedBunnyButton 1d ago
I think Sasha deserved another episode in seasons 2 and 3, especially 3, but otherwise the balance is pretty good. Marcy being a late introduction was important to the show I think so she already has appropriate screen time.
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u/whackjob_med_student 2d ago
i think it would have benefitted best from not being a children's show. it's a really interesting premise to have three close friends thrust into three separate sides of a war, any exploration of that story through plot had to be watered down
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u/Low-Amphibian8206 Anne Boonchuy 2d ago
One of the biggest criticisms of the series is that the focus of the series is that Marcy, Sasha, and their respective friends (Grime, Percy, Braddock, Olivia, Yunan, The Night Guard) have a disproportionately smaller amount of screentime compared to Anne and the Plantars, whose screentime is mostly spent on 'filler'.
While I believe Anne is an incredible protagonist, and no doubt the heart (literally and metaphorically) of the series, the other girls and their toad and newt friends are fan favorites.
I wonder if the series would have been received even more if each season focused more evenly on each girl, but with each season having a certain emphasis for one in particular.
I would also have each season focus on exploring each of facet of the girl's relationship.
If I wrote the series, I would have had it like this:
Season 1: The Introduction
- This would be a lot of worldbuilding and character introduction.
- We would focus on Sasha appealing to the Toads, who exacerbate her manipulative tendencies, with insights into her upbringing.
- Marcy we would see indulging her fantasy dream, befriending the Night Guard and doing missions for Andrias, unaware of him researching how to sabotage the prophecy.
- Anne would be the focus character of the season. She would develop her bond with the Plantars and learn what a healthy friendship looks like, culminating in her duel with Sasha.
- Focus Relationship: Anne and Sasha
- Anne and Sasha meet up a little earlier, and we see Anne slowly begin to resist Sasha.
Season 2: The Quest
- This would focus on the journey to Newtopia and Sasha’s coup.
- Sasha would be the focus, exploring her as deals with the aftermath of her and Anne’s duel, and focus on how her behavior affects those around her like Percy and Braddock.
- Focus Relationship: Anne and Marcy
- We see just how much the girls contrast with how Amphibia has changed them, and they later to reunite with Sasha to recharge the gems.
Season 3: The War
- This would honestly be the most different of the seasons.
- Anne would actually be the one to get stabbed in this AU, and possessed by the Core.
- While the Core values Marcy’s intelligence, they have never had someone with Calamity Powers.
- While possessed for a majority of the season, our focus on Anne would show her exploring the memories of the core, giving her and the audience lore on Andrias and Amphibia’s history.
- Sasha would focus on training the resistance, and learning about Valeriana and her order.
- Marcy would be the one to get sent back to Earth, and she will be the primary focus character of the season, with her arc being about learning to let go and embrace change.
- Focus Relationship: Sasha and Marcy
- Sasha and Marcy had the least explored dynamic in the show, and after Marcy returns to Amphibia, the show would actually focus on the two girls realizing how outside of Anne, they never really connected on a deeper level.
- Anne would actually be the one to get stabbed in this AU, and possessed by the Core.
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u/Ok-Spread-9989 2d ago
I feel like more screentime for Sasha would benefit, so more people would not really see her as a villain in season one or two so that way she would be even more fleshed out as a character like Zuko.
Again, I don’t see her as a villain, and Matt doesn’t either (at least in season two from what I know) but I do think that she really could benefit more from screentime so more people could appreciate her character. But yes, I do agree with your comment.
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u/Gettin_Bi 2d ago
I was already on board, then you made season 3 a Shuffle AU so now I love it even more
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u/FrostyFrenchToast Sasha Waybright 1d ago
Nope, the town is the soul of the entire series, the show is first and foremost a comedy and they provide that necessary laid back element. Sasha and Marcy are fan favorites but objectively speaking they’re not even “main” characters, being absent for entire seasons at a time.
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u/SadLaser 1d ago
Not at all. I love Sasha. She's my favorite character. But she would have been a lot less interesting had she been around every episode or at least many more. Doubly true with Marcy. Part of what works for good side characters is not having over exposure.
Also, ultimately, it's a story about the Plantars and their found family member. It would have to be such a different, likely worse story without them as the focus.
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u/hypersonicspeedster Frog Soos 1d ago
No, they get relegated to side content that explains after the fact. If we werent watching Anne’s story and instead the trio’s story then moments wouldnt hit as hard mainly Anne learning how to separate her friend’s actual behaviors vs the glorified versions she knows in the start.
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u/Witchy_Theatre_kid "I grow tulips." 1d ago
I personally love the focus on Anne and the Plantars, but I just want to see Marcy's journey, just because
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u/another_dudeman 1d ago
To me it's all about Anne and the Plantars. I do feel the show could have used a little more of Marcy and Sasha though.
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u/sammi-blue 1d ago
I think it being Anne focused works really well for the show (saying this as somebody who likes the other two more). I love how Marcy sorta haunts the narrative a bit in the first season and a half before Anne reunites with her. I love how Sasha haunts the narrative after the Toad Tower incident. Sometimes less is more, and it's fun to have that ambiguity in what's happening to the other two!
That said, I do wish there were a couple more episodes focused on the other two... Would be nice to get a little bit more of Sasha, especially in season three when she's gaining the trust of Wartwood. And having a flashback episode or two about Marcy's time in Newtopia, to show off the bonds she made with Olivia and Andrias.
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u/Gingermuffin426 1d ago
In short no, the show is organized very deliberately to slowly introduce and grow your understanding of the worlds over the course of the show. The three seasons function as three acts to the overall plot and each season has its own three act structure. Anne being the primary protagonist is slowly learning about amphibia through the Planters, then the village, then by the end of season one the rest of the valley. Her friends help expand our understanding of the world as they are introduced into the plot. If you cut between them it would risk being confusing and be a mess in terms of pacing.
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u/InfiniteWonder1123 1d ago
I would've liked to see a tad more of Marcy's adventures in Newtopia; I feel like we saw her experiences in Amphibia the least.
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u/ZeldaExpert74 1d ago
No. Anne is the main character and the entire story is told through her perspective
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u/Thylacine131 15h ago
Maybe more of Sasha could have worked, but it wasn’t exactly necessary. Meanwhile, our complicit trust of Andrias and the impact of his betrayal is pretty well reliant on NOT getting to see the dynamic he and Marcy formed without the other two around, what with the scheming and all that.
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u/WorldWeave 13h ago
Possibly, but not by much……actually, thinking about it a little more? No, not really…I think if something like that were to happen it’d be better as Sasha and Marcy getting their own mini series…and even that might be pushing it, idk
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u/ShakanLP Basement Creature 1d ago
Most certainly. When I and the boys watched the show, we cheered whenever Marcy was on screen because by god she has less screentime than Gary.
The show is still mostly about Anne, it's a coming-of-age/fish-out-of-water story afterall. But just knowing that they could fill an entire book just with Marcy stuff that was left out stings. The first season would I think greatly benefit from having a split perspective between Anne, Marcy and Sasha, because their 3 experiences shape how they act in future seasons.
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u/hikingmargothedstryr Wally 2d ago
No. The plantars are some of the funniest written characters of modern day and this sub seriously undervalues them.