#amphibia critique

[ordinaryschmuck]

"Ooh, look! Another Amphibia critique from Schmuck!"

Yeah, yeah, blame Twitter. This one came to me last night because of a post and it's been stewing in my brain ever since.

I'm learning more and more that nothing causes an Amphibia fan to foam at the mouth more than when you tell them that the first season is mostly filler.

Cause here's the thing: I've seen that first season THREE times. And every time, it felt like a chore to get through as I'm forced to watch characters go on silly adventures as the show dangles this carrot on a stick in front of your face, promising something interesting with a grander story.

"Ooh, look! Something's going to happen with the music box!"

"Ooh, look! Sasha's here and she means business!"

"What will come of this? Tune in next time to find out!"

And when you tune in next time, you're met with Anne and Sprig pretending to be cops or the town having a literal shipping war. And sure, that can be funny, but when you promise a grander story and take too long to get to it, it leaves people WANTING that story feeling a little disappointed.

Or worse: Annoyed.

Even MORE worse: Angry.

And when you bring up that season one is mostly filler, you're given the usual three responses:

"It's to build the world and develop characters!"

"It's starting off fun to suck people in before getting darker like [Insert show here]"

"[Insert show here] had a first season that was mostly filler and people loved THAT. Y'all just hating."

And those are good arguments, but there's also good counters to all of them.

Infinity Train is a series that has a new cast of characters every season, each one having only thirteen episodes to grow and develop while showing off the world around them. The writers make each episode count though, not wasting time as every goofy adventure the characters go on it either reveals something about themselves or about the lore of the train. You can absolutely let characters go and do something silly for ten minutes AND have it feel like the plot and development of the world and characters are moving forward. You just gotta do more than something as inconsequential as Sprig learning to be more patient when watching a hog or Hop Pop learning how to be honest instead of selling literal garbage. The meat of those episodes (I.E. the LESSONS) can be brought up in smarter, better ways that leaves EVERYONE satisfied, especially when they learn these exact lessons later in the series anyway.

As for starting off by being fun defense, it's a fair one until you realize what show everyone's trying to copy.

You see, Adventure Time is a great show. One that nailed the "silly at first but serious later" mindset. It changed the landscape for serialized animation, and shows have been trying to do what IT did ever since. BUT they forget one essential factor that's the reason to Adventure Time's success: It had NO plan. It started off silly and fun only to get more serious over time, but in a similar vein to your favorite comic series. The writers just wanted to have goofy fun times and nothing else, but the longer the series went, it would get more and more serious as it started to evolve into serialized storytelling. There was never a singular arc in Adventure Time or even an endgame in mind for how the show would conclude. There were definitely arcs but they were treated as small webs of something the show COULD build upon if the writers wanted to and less as a part of this grand narrative to a complete story. Even the latest spin off, which has a singular story in mind, is something based on an idea that NEVER went further beyond being something silly upon its conception. The writers just wanted to do something fun and would LATER come up with a good and expansive story through it.

Basically, the reason why Adventure Time nailed the silly THEN serious style is because it improvised the whole thing. When a show like Amphibia tries to go through the same style, it does it WITH a plan in mind and forgets that Adventure Time succeeded because it didn't HAVE one. The writers know exactly where they want the show to go and plan out how to reach that finish line, leaving behind crumbs of the grander narrative every now and again. But in Season One, so much of the focus is about characters going on fun adventures and leaving behind those crumbs not as often as they should. The end result might just be one of the weakest examples of a show being silly THEN serious because of it tries to be one thing while also wanting to be another.

And as for the final defense, about how other shows tries to be silly THEN serious too, let's look ANOTHER series made by Disney: Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls' first season, let's be honest with ourselves, is a lot like Amphibia's. There's hints of a story there, but much more time is dedicated to Dipper and Mable going on goofy one-off adventures while the second season takes a much more serious direction towards the plot and characters. It still leaves crumbs as well, like what's going on with Gideon and the Journals, but the majority of the season is still stuff like Mabel freeing a merman trapped in a public pool or Dipper using a video game character to intimidate Robby. So while it's the same as Amphibia it terms of tone, there's ONE difference: Episode length. Within the first season, Gravity Falls has twenty episodes where Amphibia has thirty-nine. Amphibia has ten-minute episodes stitched together to meet the twenty-minute runtime that Gravity falls have, and the end result is making a series feel MUCH longer than it actually is. It drags out the silliness longer, making Gravity Falls more digestible because we're watching random nonsense ONCE per week and not TWICE. So when the bigger, more serious story stuff comes, it feels like less time was wasted to get to it.

You can argue all you want about how Amphibia's first season doesn't have filler or, if it does, it's not a detriment. And if that's how you see things, that's fine. But not everyone is going to feel that way.

Look, filler can be fun. It can give you an enjoyable little adventure in between the meat of this grander narrative the writers are building. But filler isn't fun ALL THE TIME, and you need to find a right way to space it out between the story bits if a serialized story is what you want to make. As fun as it can be, it's not the necessity that people claim it is for a good show to exist. Some amazing series exist when they're all killer and no filler. Just because the characters don't randomly go to a casino for an episode, that doesn't mean it's a lesser form of storytelling.

And the same goes for shows WITH filler. If you like Amphibia's first season because of how silly and fun it is, I don't blame you. To me, it was a show that got my attention because there was a hint to a bigger narrative, but it's not what the show tried to do in it's first season. It took its time and the end result was a finale that legitimately brought me to tears, so SURELY it isn't all bad, even if most of those silly adventures weren't my cup of tea. It's DEFINITELY a season of filler, but whether or not that's a detriment to a show is depending on who you ask.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i feel like a lot of people don’t even know what the term “arc” means, let alone a redemption arc, because they’ll see a character being portrayed as sympathetic once and immediately label them as a redeemed character.

take pacifica from gravity falls, for example. i see so many people being like “she’s such a complex character” or “omg her redemption arc was the best!” folks. her redemption “arc” lasted ONE episode. ONE. that is not an “arc”, that’s just her doing one good thing. and sure, she has the potential to redeem herself but that doesn’t mean that one episode counts as a redemption arc.

pacifica isn’t that complex either, she’s more interesting than the typical mean girl stereotype but she’s really not that deep of a character. i still don’t understand all the love she gets. i don’t hate her and i think she could have been easily redeemed if there were a few more episodes focused on her, but i still find her a bit annoying ngl. especially since she went back to being the rich mean girl stereotype in the finale.

anyway, a villain/antagonist doing something good in ONE episode is not a “redemption arc”. people also said the same about sasha from amphibia when her entire arc happened offscreen. literally we just see her feeling guilty and then skip to when she’s a better person. and of course, people say that shadow weaver and hordak were redeemed when they clearly weren’t.

doing one good thing ≠ redemption.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

because you said Amphibia was a show you like. Lucifer being like Andrias, him being funny but is ass with sadistic nature. side note Andrias is one of the best twist villains because his goofball side wasn;t an act. because most twist villain lack zero personal after the reveal, but with andrias he know his personal he the same,

Yep

[wren-writes-things]

Last night my brain in an attempt at terrible puns provided me with the response, “One could say True Colors was well executed.”

And yes… but also no! Why on earth would anyone do that?

[hikaaa-bi]

can we take a moment to talk about how amazing it was that steven starts seeing a therapist in suf? like i've never seen this in children's media. traumatized characters almost never go to therapy. they get good friends and the evil villain is defeated, so their trauma is just kind of pushed aside. some characters get a good arc that allows us to believe that they healed from their trauma. others just brush it under the rug.

but it's so important to let kids know that therapy isn't taboo, it's not this thing that's only reserved for "crazy" people. that's why i hate it when people say that suf "solved everything with a hug" bc they clearly didn't. the hug was there to let steven know that he was not going through this alone, and that he had the support of his loved ones. which is important.

i just appreciate so much that they mention the fact that he's going to therapy in the last episode, and also have him move away from the place that caused him so much trauma, so that he can start anew and start healing. and it upsets me so much that people ignore this to bash on suf for being "unrealistic". this is as realistic and optimistic as you could get.

[ranas-twisted-wonderland]

YURENA REDESIGN!!!!

because I can never just like the first design of a character I make—

[writesailingdreams]

realizing there's nothing in Marcy's story that sucker punches me to tears; there's nothing quite in Sasha's either, but her relationship with Grime gets a genuine sentimental sniffle

Marcy is a lot of "wow this girl should feel way more relatable, but doesn't; why??" + "please give this child a break"; it's a lot of sympathy but ultimately I think Marcy had to learn a lesson as much as the other two girls

[theastroghost]

I’ve never 2D animated before so this was a first for me!! (Referenced a scene in Amphibia!)

I’m going to see my professor soon to ask for critiques so dw about messaging me about any, please! 💙

[daystarvoyage]

💛💜💛💜This is for my Lunter fandom WE STAY WINNING💛💜💛💜

Keychain ART BY PHYANNY & GOLDENGLYPH ON TWITTER

My goodness, Momo con 2024 has been a trailblazing moment a beautiful one at that.

I would not trade for the whole wide world, so there will be a photo dumps on my page coming up, and yes Zeno Robinson cissy jones and Sarah Nicole Robles are cool people.

NOT TO MENTION MANAGE TO GET A AUTOGRAPH DOODLE OF MATT BRALY AMPHIBIA.

💙❤️💚UPDATE ON AMPHIBIA JOURNEY POST SOON

(SHOW HER SOME LOVE, DONT HATE APPRECIATE)

Now it’s time for the task at hand throughout three years the owl house fandom has a immense amazing following, however that doesn’t comes with its drawbacks negatives and toxicity.

Why I posted this because hardcore fans have become foaming at the mouth behind a keyboard to ostracized and come for people with vulgarity, because they don’t want anything canon in the show to be compromised yet the show has its flaws, which a minority of fans have address (I’m proud for seeing)

I know you kids and young adults can listen it doesn’t take y’all to see the writing on wall lol

Be it canon ships, characters, and even issues without them have become so popular to the point no one can’t see eye to eye.

it shows my two most favorite characters within the show besides (Gus and willow) that have become so one-sided and hateful towards each other of what to address on opinion and critiques to speak there minds, (when the show at times had its bumpy roads when to start out)

we do understand it was gotten the axe already, and I made a deep vulnerable and transparent post on my expierence ever since my last post, as a fan myself( which im devastated)

This photo and autograph is the show that you can stop the harassment and the toxicity if giving the chance, being ostracized and bully out fandoms circles, address things that have become very nasty and by opening up your mind of how you truly feel, not only that be reasonable,

Open your hearts speak how you feel what needed to be approved by the show and that we can make fandom spaces better if we open ourselves.

That’s all I have to say happy momocon month every have a great day, make sure to ask questions (nice reasonable ones & animations topics of any kind)

This is the brown sugar queen Kyoko cane hope you have a good one and peace for now.

SONG IS SNOH AALEGRA FEELS

💜💛💜💛💜

[flower-boi16]

Why separating Luz from the demon realm wouldn't work.

A few months ago, The Owl House released its series finale "Watching and Dreaming", the final episode of the third season, and it was probably the best episode to come out of the show and was a perfect send-off to the series. I could make a whole post on why I love Watching and Dreaming as a finale so much, but that's not what we're talking about. Instead, let's talk about a critique of the finale I've seen: that being, the fact that Luz gets to stay in the demon realm. To me, this criticism is pretty stupid and misses the core themes of the show, so let's talk about why separating Luz from the demon realm wouldn't work.

Well, there's a major reason as to why separating Luz from the demon realm wouldn't work; it would betray the themes of the show. The Owl House is about Luz finding a place where she belongs, she gets to find real friends and a family, making real connections with people, something she could never do in the human realm. From a writing and narrative perspective, ripping Luz away from all of her friends and her found family would completely spit in the face of the show's themes and invalidate it.

A bittersweet ending where Luz leaves the demon realm would not fit with the show's core themes. And this is something I feel a lot of people need to hear; Bittersweet =/= good. A bittersweet ending isn't automatically better than a traditionally happy one. A bittersweet ending only works if it fits with the core themes of the story, not all stories need to have a sad bittersweet ending.

"But Luz didn't have to make any sacrifices!!" Does she REALLY need to though? After everything these characters have been through, after all the character growth and relationships they built with each other, after the trauma the hexsquad faced in season 3 where they were all separated from their parents for MONTHS and where Luz and Hunter got traumatizing revelations to their face and they have to keep secrets from the others because they think they'll all hate them once the truth is revealed, after ALL OF THAT, does the show really need to make Luz sacrifice anything? The answer is no, because after everything Luz and her friends have been through, they've earned the happy ending they got.

The show doesn't need to make Luz sacrifice anything, she's been through enough to earn the ending she got. I feel like after Gravity Falls and Amphibia people expected TOH to have a bittersweet ending like those shows, but the reason why a bittersweet ending worked for those shows is because it fits within their themes. Gravity Falls is about growing up and Amphibia is about change (at least from what I've heard I don't know I haven't finished that show yet). TOH isn't about either of those things so a bittersweet ending where Luz is ripped away from her friends would not work and wouldn't fit with the show's core themes.

My point in this essay is this; not every show needs a bittersweet ending, and TOH is a good example of that.

[mdhwrites]

Do you think the show rewards Luz’s Selfishness too much?

So I normally frame Luz's decision to self martyr herself and stay in her own world as not wanting to bother with the effort to fix her mistake. Let's shift that a bit so we can talk about why the show couldn't have Luz tell ANYONE this deeply selfish choice. A choice that by all means, Camila seems to think is just a bad choice for Luz and for no one else.

But... Luz chooses that her pain and angst is so bad that she doesn't want to help Amity reunite with her siblings. Or to make sure they can live in a world where they're safe. Gus' dad, Willow's parents, Darius, etc. All of them can rot as far as Luz is concerned. She even explicitly states this in For the Future. "Once Eda and King are safe, I'm going home."

No one else matters. LITERALLY no one else matters to her but the people she has chosen to care about and there aren't many of those. This is framed even worse by the fact that by the end of this episode, Camila will effectively say that Luz has NEVER done anything wrong. That trying to critique her at all, to try and give her life skills and friends with the camp after she put people's lives potentially in danger (snakes and fireworks are not meant for school for a reason), was wrong. That Luz just needs to be 'understood'. Part of understanding Luz, especially in S3, means that unless someone attacks her about it, like the dream sequence, WHICH ISN'T HER OWN MIND BUT A FABRICATION AND LIE, she isn't going to think about others. Just her adopted family and herself. And even then, maybe not even her adopted family since they sure as shit didn't matter in Thanks to Them.

BUT. we are supposed to sympathize with her and believe she did nothing wrong, just like Camila. Do not question her motivations, or her efforts, just believe her words.

This is emblematic of the show as well. The first two episodes talk a big game about fantasy vs reality and like Luz's selfish motivations, warped way of looking at things and her learning to be a human being, not a walking, wanna be protagonist will be interrogated. But... Not really. She repeatedly does things that are mirrored in her favorite series. Her final battle line will be a reference to that series and her delusions with that series. People might get briefly upset about her actions but most of the time she either doesn't have to do anything, like Reaching Out or Adventure in the Elements (where she gets a glyph BEFORE making up the fuck up she did) or show how special she is like in Lost in Language and Covention. I can only really think of like one episode after the first two where Luz fucks up and genuinely has to take the brunt of punishment for it, Winging it Like Witches, and even in that one, she is saved before anything bad happens to her before winning with the same trick that hurt her friends, just... Now it's okay because they're all on the same page about it I guess. Couldn't have had Willow come up with something herself because Luz actually was willing to listen to Willow and not force something onto her. That'd be too much work.

It's part of why the more you interrogate Luz's intentions and motivations, it gets BAD. So much of what she does could be easily grafted onto a kid trying to play hero or not learning anything from past mistakes. Don't ever forget that Teenage Abomination says "Listen to your mentor about their specialty," then The Intruder says "Don't take shortcuts to magic" before then in Adventure in the Elements, Luz takes a shortcut for magic while also not listening to Eda and almost gets people killed for it. GREAT JOB LUZ! Much development, such depth.

And yes, lots of shows will have characters yoyo and the like but these are within HALF A SEASON of each other. It usually takes a little longer for most animated shows to straight up start repeating lessons. Hell, yes, it is theoretically a problem for Amphibia too with stuff like Bessie and the hibernation episode both featuring Anne's impatience but also S1 is genuinely about how Anne is fighting between the lessons she's learning and her growing empathy versus how she used to be with her selfishness and laziness. Also, both episodes might be about her impatience but they genuinely tackle it in different ways, with one being about disregarding the rules because of overconfidence and the other one is out of boredom. For TOH... It's just that Luz wants the magic she thinks she should have, as easily and as fun as she thinks it should be instead of weird and actually taking work, and fucks it up because of that same motivation.

That same motivation that doesn't treat reality like reality. According to the show though, that's just the best way to be. Follow your own version, fuck everything else. That's what Luz gets to do in the end after all and she's the one literally blessed by God to be correct.

So yeah, I think her selfishness might be a touch rewarded.

======+++++======

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[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

the whole prophecy thing in Amphibia was so half-baked. it had the potential to be a really interesting plot points, but not only was it only revealed like two episodes before the finale, it was also so sloppily explained.

Mother Olm says that Anne, Sasha and Marcy were given the power of the calamity stones in order to save Amphibia from becoming its worst version. that's all fine and dandy, but why these three girls specifically?

what do three teenagers have that other people don't? especially considering how two of them were extremely selfish at first and wanted to use the stones for their own interest.

Sasha even tried to kill the frogs in s1 and take over Amphibia in s2. how is that a person worthy of the calamity powers? sure, she redeemed herself later but the prophecy couldn't predict that. for all they know, Sasha could have chosen to stay evil and hurt the people of Amphibia even more.

prophecies tend to be vague but usually there's some sort of explanation for why a person is chosen by that prophecy. maybe it's a hereditary thing, or perhaps they've proven themselves capable of being a hero, there's usually some line of logic.

not to mention, the part about Anne potentially dying was shoehorned into the second to last episode (if i remember correctly). it was clearly setting up for a temporary death that only served as shock value.

i can't believe people still actually bought Anne's death and didn't immediately realize how cheap of a plot point it was. instead of seeing Sasha and Marcy actually do something useful with their powers, we get like five seconds of them showing off their powers and then Anne taking over and doing the important stuff.

[moistvonlipwig]

would you mind elaborating on how amphibia referenced utena well?

sure! i mean there's lots of examples of amphibia echoing themes of rgu but the primary character amphibia uses to explore those themes is sasha. sasha in a lot of ways IS utena; some people may not make this connection because their demeanor and role in the story is very different but their mindset is extremely similar. sasha's primary role is as the "protector" (read: prince) of her friends, someone who sees the power that older kids & adults wield (particularly white older kids & adults) and wants to grab hold of that power and use it to "help" her friends. we see that consistently she has this idea that she has to be in control because she believes she knows what's best for anne (and marcy, but she's more obsessed w/ anne) -- in "reunion", "battle of the bands", "true colors", etc. (the flip side of this is that she fears they will abandon her if she can't perform this function -- see "barrel's warhammer.") in this respect, she very much is a toad -- which in amphibia is a societal role whose nominal purpose is to protect the frog villages (per "the core and the king") but whose actual reality mostly entails dominating said frog villages. but she also very much is utena tenjou.

rgu and amphibia are both highly skeptical of the "prince" archetype/the idea that you can "save" someone in any meaningful way while lacking respect for their own personhood. we see this demonstrated consistently throughout rgu in how it frames the "princely" characters -- dios/akio, ruka, touga, the boy who drowned trying to save juri's sister, and utena herself. all of these characters embody the prince archetype to some degree and it is destructive to themselves as well as to the object of their savior complex. utena is able to grow out of this by recognizing anthy's personhood and reaching out to her as a friend instead of a savior. (even then, though, utena cannot fully reach her. anthy's hand slips out of her grasp. it is anthy who must choose to walk out of her coffin herself.)

amphibia demonstrates this critique of the "prince" archetype primarily through sasha's character, although briefly through anne & marcy's dynamic as well in "marcy at the gates." a major part of sasha's growth is coming to understand and respect that anne & marcy can and should be allowed to make their own choices even if those choices are not ideal -- this part, which toadie imparts to her in "battle of the bands", is crucial -- and that she cannot keep defining herself as their protector. this growth is demonstrated in the finale when she lets anne sacrifice herself to defeat the core; s1 and s2 sasha would never have let anne make that choice. but sasha in "the hardest thing" understands that loving someone and being their friend does not always mean protecting them from the bad things in life, no matter how much you want to. first and foremost it means respecting them and trusting them. and by "the hardest thing" sasha does respect and trust anne. she has accepted that she is not anne's prince; she is not anne's savior; she is anne's friend, and just as in rgu, that is infinitely better and also much, much harder.

the other major amphibia-rgu throughline is with marcy and the black rose arc -- marcy, like the black rose duelists, fundamentally grapples with not feeling (as akio might put it) 'chosen'/'special' in contrast to anne & sasha. all the girls at various points feel like the third wheel in their friendship in some regard (anne because she's a follower not an instigator, sasha because she's white), but marcy is The third wheel in a way the other girls aren't, and not just because she inexplicably keeps making them watch three-hour-long movies at sleepovers (sorry girlie but i'd fall asleep too). amphibia is her opportunity to feel 'special'; as andrias's advisor, she is elevated above many of the citizens of amphibia. newtopia puts up a statue to her. etc. but this 'specialness', much like the specialness afforded to wakaba & the other black rose duelists by the black rose crest (or, indeed, the regular duelists of ohtori's student council), is not actually a good thing at all; rather, it is an illusory power she is manipulated into believing she has by an adult man in order to more easily enable his abuse of her. indeed, it is precisely her 'specialness', her value to the empire, her ability to beat andrias in flipwart, that dooms her to being chosen as the vessel for the core. to not be chosen is to die, and to be chosen is to be subsumed entirely into the system. such is life under patriarchy & under empire.

so yeah anyway sorry this was 5 months late but in conclusion watch amphibia ✌️🐸

[thefanficfae]

Hi! My name is thefanficfae! I am a a hobby writer and artist and want to share myself with you all. I adore writing and will absolutely take requests. I love interacting and receiving any and all critiques so long as they are respectful. Please keep in mind that this is all just for fun. 🩵

(Will add to this as I go on) Here are a list of fandoms I’m actively in:

-Supernatural

-Criminal Minds

-Marvel

-Good Omens

-BBC Sherlock

-Merlin

- ATLA

- TOH

-MLB

-Gravity Falls

-Amphibia

-ASOUE

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Honestly as much as I love to rewatch Amphibia, It’s Season 3A that always makes me laugh but also wished Marcy and Sasha’s families had gotten some more focus than just the letters

I mean yeah we got more info about Marcy’s house family life in her journal and even some about Sasha’s family and the (presumably) ugly divorce that might’ve shattered her to the core to become the person she was at the start of the series.

Honestly a critique that I am always going to have towards Matt and Disney to an extent for forcing the Writers to “tone it down” after True Colors, cause the show went hard in Season 2 finale and the tonal shift of Season 3.

Kinda disappointing, yeah. I don't want to dwell in the frustration too much because I don't see the point, but I do wish we'd learned more about the two other girls' families. It's kinda insane that they seriously NEVER show up, like... unexplainable. Unless they somehow had no idea Anne was in town, I can't imagine why they wouldn't come knocking on the Boonchuy's door one day to demand answers.

[satanwyn]

People like to compare The Owl House and Amphibia, and though I've seen critiques of that comparison based on how they are thematically dissimilar, I've always felt the two were fundamentally different to an even greater degree. And I think I get why now. The Owl House is a fantasy story. Amphibia is a story that wants you to think it is a fantasy, but is not.