#anne boonchuy has ptsd

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

I don't even know what to call this AU, but... the one in which Amphibia times passes different from Earth time, and when they come back it's been 10 years, and the Wus are gone and Marcy ends up being fostered the Boonchuys... some more thoughts on it (original post here).

As you would expect, Marcy is the one doing worst here. She has PTSD and is working through it in therapy, but it's not easy. Anne's constant presence helps, though. Being alone with her thoughts isn't easy. When they first came back, she stayed with Anne in her room for a few months until the Boonchuys finished building another room for her (they expect her to stay for a very long time, sadly), but while having her own space was nice, nights quickly became very rough. She slipped into Anne's bed most times. Anne always made a point to always use the softest sheets these days, the ones she knew Marcy liked because they had a soothing texture.

Since Marcy and Sasha are still in middle school and Anne in highschool (their new age gap was a little weird at first but they got used to it after a few months), those two become incredibly close. Sasha could have very easily become one of the popular kids, what with her charm and beauty and cool scar with a cool fake backstory, but she'd rather hang out with the weird little nerd that likes C&C way too much. She still doesn't understand half of what Marcy says and most of it is kinda boring to her, but she tries to give it a chance and find interests in common. Gonna steal the headcanon from awiw that Sasha secretly likes anime, so they bond over that. They both try to get Anne into it now.

Likewise, Anne is sometimes questioned by her highschool friends how come she always wants to hang out with these two middle schoolers. Honestly, Anne doesn't see it as "hanging out with middle schoolers" because she doesn't really perceive much of a gap in maturity. They've all grown so much in Amphibia, and they grew together. Those two are frankly more mature than most of Anne's new classmates. Plus, the age gap isn't even that big, it's only a year and a half.

When people at school learn the Boonchuys are fostering Marcy, some start refering to her as Anne's little sister. Anne doesn't want to think about why that feels so weird and gross. It's an unexpected feeling - she and Marcy pretty much grew up together and were closer than most siblings, surely she'd be happy that people gave their bond such a huge importance, but the idea of Marcy as a sister... eeew (don't think about why, Boonchuy, just don't think about it).

New fear unlocked! Anne doubles down on her efforts to locate Marcy's parents, scared that, if they don't find them, her parents will end up adopting Marcy.

Marcy has read way too much weird manga to be phased by the implication until Anne spells it out for her, and she blushed red as a tomato. She doesn't sleep in Anne's bed that night, rolling the implications inside her head like a kaleidoscope.

Anne and Sasha are pretty shaken by the knowledge that their parents are 10 whole years older. Marcy still hasn't processed that her parents will also be 10 years older when she finds them but... one thing at a time. They make a promise to always be there for each other.

Marcy helping Anne with her high school homework. Sasha standing up to high school bullies.

Anne is so happy when those two finally get to highschool like oh god she missed them sm.

Anne and Sasha are devastated to find out all the music and boy bands they used to be into are no longer popular. Marcy is elated with how far videogames have come. Skyrim 24 year anniversary Ultra Delux Exclusive 4000k Return of the Dragonborn Special Edition looks soooo good!

Sasha's parents, in a surprising twist of events, are now friends. They get along fairly well and even take Sasha on little outings together. It feels suuuuuper weird to her but she missed them, and they clearly missed her and want to make up for lost times. It feels childish to go to the movies with her parents, but she'll accept it. It's kind of nice.

Marcy struggles a lot with being underwater, after the rejuvenation tank. Showers are fine, but baths are no-no. One very hot day of summer, though, they all go to the beach, and she tries to convince herself that it's fine, that she can get in the water, but as soon as it reaches her chest she's already scrambling to get out. She didn't want to make Anne and Sasha worry, but she just can't. Not even allowing herself to be distracted by the sight of Anne in her swimsuit helped. She's worried that she ruined a perfectly good day, but her friends quickly reassure her that she didn't. They all get cleaned and go to the mall for some ice cream instead.

Sasha hits one hell of a growth spurt two years after their return, now she has two inches on Anne, and teases her over it. That leaves Marcy like half a head shorter than them, which seems hilarious to those two for some reasons Marcy doesn't understand. Makes cuddling comfy though.

If Marcy was clingy before, she's even clingier now. She's always holding either Anne or Sasha's hand. She also becomes surprisingly affectionate with Anne's mom, after she found her crying or panicking several times. She's not scared to go for a hug whenever she's happy or excited, and they're always welcome. She's earned the privilege of being called "family", with scoldings and all. Anne's mom is very strict on "no gaming in the kitchen", and if she ever catches Marcy with her console while cooking, she'll take it away for the rest of the day. It's annoying, but for Marcy, it's oddly heartwarming to have an adult pay so much attention to you.

After they all came back, Anne's parents told her that, as the "oldest one" (yikes. It still sounds so weird), she had to be responsible for Marcy "as if she were her younger sister" (yikes yikes yikes yikes) and look out for her. She has no problem with the "looking out" part. It's what she's always done. But, seeing how poorly Marcy is doing during their first year back on Earth, she might exaggerate a little with the "responsability" bit, choosing to deal with a lot of things alone rather than burdering Marcy with them (or Sasha, who's now supposedly "younger" too). She's doing pretty well for some time, until one day she caves, and knocks on Marcy's door, teary-eyed, asking if she'd like to have an improptu sleepover. They watch a few movies, eat some snacks, play board games, read cringy wattpad stories to each other, gaze lovingly into each other's eyes while listening to romantic music, in a very no homo way. Anne curls into Marcy's chest and falls asleep like that. Maybe it IS better that her parents think they're more like sisters. They wouldn't be allowed to have sleepovers like this if they didn't.

[aspynnwoofs]

gimme your sasharcy takes

oh man that’s lot to ask, plus I have so much to say but can never find the words

I think they have a unique ability to understand each other in many different ways that Anne wouldn't be able to, such as with their trauma, or even before amphibia. we can see neither of them have the best home life, and how much they desperately need their friends. in Sasha’s need to have some control over anything, even her best friends, and Marcy’s desperate attempt to stay with her friends through the Music Box. Anne has good parents who obviously love her and want the best for her. anyway back to sasharcy

Marcy really needs someone to pay attention to her, to care about her interests, and to love her as she is. Sasha needs someone that she can be herself around, and that she doesn’t feel the need to control. 

I've read a lot of fics where Marcy and Sasha just work together, they enjoy doing things together. Marcy is perfectly willing to go with whatever Sasha wants, and Sasha enjoys not having to force, say, Anne, to go along with it. honestly that was pretty toxic, cause Marcy never did anything for herself and Sasha never got pushback from her. man I'm bad at this putting thoughts into words thing

I think after amphibia those two would be the perfect people for each other in that they can help each other and understand. honestly my perception of sasharcy doesn't even have to be romantic, they can be amazing friends to each other as well. 

both of them inevitably have problems with guilt, with feeling terrible about how they treated people, or what they did, or how they did things. they can be there for each other as ‘neither of us are perfect, we can see that, and we know that in each other’s presence we don’t need to be’. it’s like they know they’re messed up, they did messed up things, but the other is okay with that. they can work through it. they’re better now.

where am I even going... uh

I also think Sasha would love the opportunity to give all her love to Marcy, to focus on her and being there for her. I think she’d call her lots of sweet nicknames and it’d make Marcy so happy every time...

I love the thought of them looking at Anne and going ‘she’s too good, I could never be worthy of her after everything I've done’ but looking at each other and knowing that ‘she’s just as broken as I am’

they’d be there for each others’ nightmares, PTSD, other trauma, and not judge at all because they do it for each other. if they live together Sasha would be able to keep Marcy from staying up too late and from not taking care of her health. Marcy would be a comfort to Sasha and be a comforting presence to her, as well as making her laugh and supporting her. they’d both be pretty bad at cooking tho, so they get Thai Go really often since they were always at the Boonchuys and now they love it

shit this got really long and I haven't even said all of it

when Sasha was on her way to save Marcy and was doubting whether they could even be friends again, and if she should forgive her, then she finds out what happened to her. it would take a bit to really accept that she wants to forgive her, and really it’s good that she would think about it first, to really understand. heh then she realizes that if she deserves forgiveness then Marcy definitely does. she sees her own mistakes as much worse than Marcy’s, and thinks she’d be a hypocrite if she wasn't willing to forgive her. Marcy is just grateful the other girls don’t hate her and of course she forgives Sasha, even tho she maybe should think about it more...?

plus, they even match! matching back scars, matching cheek scars, matching betrayals... and if you go with my headcanon then Sasha even has short hair at some point!

I think at some point Sasha somehow became my favorite character after Marcy, (tho I do love Polly and Maddie...) because I think I draw him even more than Marcy at this point! also I love thinking about him and his stupid little silliness. love fics about him too. just as long as they aren't of marcanne or sashanne, because I actually find it hard to read those

I take back the ‘can’t ever find the words’ thing I said, that was obviously false

anyway I'm sure I've got more, but I should end this for now... (if you want more just ask, I love these two)

<3 thank you so insanely much for the ask dude, this was fun to think about and write hehe

[mogai-headcanons]

Sasha Waybright from Amphibia is an autistic transmasculine genderqueer shadowlesbian canon bisexual with PTSD, OCD, chronic pain, NPD, and BPD who uses he/she pronouns. He is dating her two best friends: Anne Boonchuy, an autistic ply lesbian froggender demigirl with PTSD, schizophrenia, and ADHD who uses she/her pronouns; and Marcy Wu, an abrosexual transneutral shadowlesbian caedogirl with chronic pain, PTSD, OSDD-1a, and OCPD, is canonically autistic, and uses they/it pronouns but is okay with she/her.

Sasha is close with Captain Grime, an autistic aromantic veldian trans man (toad) who is canonically visually impaired and canonically an amputee, has OCD, NPD, PTSD, and chronic pain, and uses he/it pronouns. Grime is in a queerplatonic relationship with Hopediah "Hop Pop" Plantar, an autistic bisexual frog PTSD and chronic pain who uses he/him pronouns. Hop Pop cares deeply for his grandchildren: Sprig, an autistic polyamorous pansexual nonbinary boy (frog) with PTSD and ADHD who uses he/they pronouns; and Polly, an autistic aroace frog with low/no empathy, PTSD, and a special interest in robotics who uses she/her pronouns. Hop Pop also views Anne as his granddaughter. Sprig is dating Ivy Sundew, an autistic butch nonbinary polyamorous omnisexual frog with ADHD and PTSD who uses they/she/he pronouns; and Maddie Flour, an autistic polyamorous gray-aromantic polysexual trans girl (frog) with difficulty emoting and a special interest in magic who uses she/her pronouns

Grime is also close friends with Lady Olivia, an autistic nonbinary transfeminine femme canon lesbian newt with generalized anxiety and PTSD who uses she/her pronouns; and Olivia's wife General Yunan, an autistic butch azurgirl canon lesbian newt with PTSD and ADHD who uses she/he pronouns. They keep an eye on former king Andrias Leviathan, an autistic canonically visually impaired amputee bisexual polyamorous newt with C-PTSD, chronic pain, and ADHD who uses he/him pronouns. Andrias was previously in love with his former close friends: Leif, an autistic bisexual trans woman (frog) with PTSD and psychosis who used she/her pronouns; and Barrel, an autistic omnisexual toad with anxiety and PTSD who used he/him pronouns

(Please use the rainbow infinity instead of the autistic flag, the aurora lesbian flag, the character designs from the epilogue of "The Hardest Thing" when applicable, and can I ask that Sasha, Anne, Marcy, Grime, Hop Pop, and Andrias have the disabled flag in addition to those listed?)

I had the long Amphibia request that started with transmasc Sasha, can I add that Sasha is also haenaica, hyperrealica, and waruhitoyokattica; Anne is tenshiomottica, unknowngoosica, and idsmilica; and Marcy is shoujoreica, nearsongica, and lowoneyesica? All can be found on @/vocaloid-musicagender either as original posts or by reblog

queued!

[huntertherapyeras]

all the things i don't talk about

anne voice: aster said it's my turn to have the breakdown.

but first, t4t4tsashannarcy's h/c tag club! (lmk if you want off the tag club, i'm mostly just tagging people who asked but also people i really want to see this!!! also feel free to ask to join the tag club also <3)

@mothicalspoken @useless-space-rock-lesbians @arcadiii @starryemeralds @oraclecoven @sweetstrangersearthquake @abyssalzones @insulationsun

title taken from "a pearl" by mitski!

Blurb: "Anne tosses and turns in bed that night. She can’t get comfortable. First, there are too many shadows in her room, so she plugs in her old night light. And then there’s the storm. Anne used to love the way rain sounded against her window, but ever since that first week in Amphibia, it’s only brought a sense of vague discomfort. Makes her feel like any moment she’ll be back in that cave, hiding from the predators outside alongside the worms.

And usually, she can ignore it. But tonight she feels raw, like the exposed nerves of a nail bitten to the quick. Like anything and everything can hurt her.

It’s a scary feeling."

AO3 Link

Word Count: 2,305 words

Content Warning: There is an explicit breakdown, implications of death, implications of harm to children, and an intense depiction of PTSD triggers!

It’s a normal night in the Boonchuy household. Or at least, as normal as a house hosting a family of extradimensional talking frogs can be. Anne is sitting on the couch, browsing through Tweeter, a Thai drama acting as background music to her scrolling. It’s Polly’s turn to use the TV, evidenced by the painstakingly organized schedule pinned to the wall next to it in plain view for the entire house to see – Anne had to write it out a couple of weeks into coming back home because the Plantars kept fighting over who got remote privileges. The quick murmur of Thai is a balm on Anne’s soul, soothing after months of not hearing the language at all.

That’s the thing about being home – Anne finds that things she used to take for granted are somehow more meaningful than before. As it turns out, absence does make the heart grow fonder.

“This is so boring!” complains Sprig. He wilts into the couch dramatically, sending a glare in Polly’s direction.

Polly gleefully ignores him, transfixed by her show. Anne is still surprised by how well she understands it – it took Anne herself years to get the level of fluency she has now. Which is to say, none whatsoever.

Anne’s neck prickles. She can feel Sprig’s eyes staring holes into her. She sighs.

“What’s up, dude?” Anne asks, giving him the side eye.

“I was wondering something…” he replies.

“Okay. Shoot.”

“So… are you going to tell your parents about Sasha and M–”

“No.” Anne interrupts before he can finish the thought.

“Why not? It seems like it’s bothering you a lot.” Sprig asks. Anne hates how his large eyes sparkle with concern. Even without looking at him, she knows the exact face he’s making right now.

“They don’t need to know. You saw how they reacted to finding out about the robots.”

“But isn’t it important? I mean, Marcy–”

The door opens with a bang. In strolls Anne’s mother, arms full of groceries.

“Anne,” she orders, “Go get the rest of the groceries from the car.”

After helping put the groceries away, Anne assists in preparing for dinner. She can’t help but smile fondly as her Mom sings a gushy love song under her breath while she chops the shallots. Tonight they are making ลาบ, or larb, which is one of her Dad’s favorite foods. Anne is excited to have it again – it’s the first time they’ve made it since she got back from Amphibia. She’d tried to make larb with maggots at Stumpy’s, but it just wasn’t the same as the real deal.

“Got it!” Anne says eagerly, hopping up off the couch. Now that Mom’s home, she can avoid talking about it for the remainder of the night. That’s good enough for now. With any luck, Sprig will forget about the conversation by tomorrow.

“Cut the spring onions, will you?” her Mom asks. Anne dutifully does so.

“Good girl. Now go ahead and sit down. You know I don’t like cooking with other people in the room, ที่รัก. (Dear.)”

Anne sits down on the couch with a sigh. Polly is still watching her show, but Sprig is nowhere to be found. That’s probably for the best anyway. She doesn’t particularly want to be questioned right now and Sprig is full of those.

And Anne isn’t sure why she feels this way, but it still puts her on edge.

“Look, Anne!!! สมชาย (Somchai) is about to ask มาลัย (Malai) to marry him!” Anne looks up from her phone to watch. Despite her lack of fluency in the language, she quickly gets sucked into the proposal.

All is well until the smell wafts in from the kitchen. And it’s kind of weird, because normally the scent of cooked pork would make her mouth water. But here, right now, it’s making her feel… uncomfortable. Grossed out. Anxious, even.

“Dinner’s ready,” Calls Mom a few minutes later. Consumed by her discomfort, the yell makes Anne startle and drop her phone. When she picks it up, she notices that her hands are shaking. Weird.

The tremors continue as she sets the table. Anne has to work hard to not place the plates down too hard. The cutlery rattles in her hands loudly, but she tries her best to quiet it. It’s fine, everything is fine. Anne doesn’t even know why she’s feeling this way. It’s like there’s a ticking bomb in her chest, set to explode at a hair trigger.

It doesn’t matter, though. All that matters right now is getting through dinner.

Anne tries her best to act as Normal As Possible as they all sit down to eat. She moves on autopilot, smiling whenever someone looks at her and making casual conversation. And she thinks she’s doing okay, until –

“Anne, are you going to eat your ลาบ (larb)? It’s usually your favorite…”

She decidedly ignores the call of her name that follows.

Anne forces a smile. It feels as fake as plastic, pulling against her tense jaw, “It’s good! But I’m actually not very hungry right now, haha. Must’ve eaten too many snacks this afternoon, you know me,” she lets out a nervous laugh, energy like electricity dancing up her back as she runs a hand through her tangled curls, “Actually, I think I’m gonna go get started on that unit five book report and go to bed early. Goodnight!”

Anne tosses and turns in bed that night. She can’t get comfortable. First, there are too many shadows in her room, so she plugs in her old night light. And then there’s the storm. Anne used to love the way rain pounded against her window, but ever since that first week in Amphibia it’s only brought a sense of vague discomfort. Makes her feel like any moment she’ll be back in that cave, hiding from the predators outside alongside the worms.

And usually, she can ignore it. But tonight she feels raw, like the exposed nerves of a nail bitten to the quick. Like anything and everything can hurt her.

It’s a scary feeling.

Eventually, though, she does doze off. But even then, her dreams are anything but peaceful.

It starts with her running through a forest. There is Something coming, something big, and it’s after her. She runs and runs. Her lungs feel like they are going to burst. Black dots spot her vision. She accidentally stumbles into quicksand. It takes a second for her to get her foot out. She continues running, barely noticing her lost shoe until she gets her sock wet crossing a rocky stream. She keeps going anyway, terror traveling through her veins like the blood keeping her alive. She’s got to go, got to go, got to go, got to get away –

She’s on top of toad tower, shoulder aching as she holds onto Sasha for dear life. Her hand is sweaty. She can feel Sasha slipping. Her recently crushed forearm is filled with a searing pain. But it doesn’t matter. Without Anne’s hand, Sasha will fall to her death.

“Hey, Anne? Maybe you’re better off without me.” Sasha says before she lets go–

They’re in the throne room. Anne feels a mixture of exhaustion and adrenaline. They’re so close, so close to home, they’re going to escape, all three of them, they’re going to be okay…

Before she can breathe out a sigh of relief, though, Marcy looks up at her, “I just need to–” she’s cut off mid sentence, a flaming sword through her gut.

Anne startles awake with a barely muffled shout. Her heart beats a heavy staccato against her chest. This isn’t the first time she’s had this dream. Normally, she’d get up. Pace around a bit like her cat does when she’s feeling boxed in. But right now, the fear is too great for her to even move. It’s like there’s something coming, like someone’s gonna fall, like there’s a sword against her back. But there isn’t. She’s at home, in bed. Domino stares at Anne curiously from the foot of her bed.

She needs to calm down, Anne knows she does. But her heart is beating like she’s running for her life and her head is spinning and it feels like all the air’s been sucked out of the room and she is so, so afraid. So instead she begins to cry.

And she tries to stay quiet, she does. But frogs have very good hearing. And the guest room shares a wall with her own.

“Anne?” says a tentative voice. Anne looks up. She didn’t even notice the door open, lost in her own mind as she was. Sprig is looking at her with his big, innocent eyes. He looks worried.

“Anne, are you okay?”

Beside herself, Anne simply lets out a keening cry, burying her face in her hands as though that will somehow make the tears go away. She hates it when people see her cry, hasn’t showed weakness like this in front of someone since she was six years old, and yet–

And yet.

“Now see here, what’s going on?” Comes Hop Pop’s stern grumble.

“Anne’s upset.” murmurs Sprig, sounding small and scared, “I don’t know what to do.”

Anne wraps her arms around her legs, burying her face in her knees. She doesn’t deserve their kindness, doesn’t deserve a lick of it–not when Sasha is stuck in a terrifying world full of talking amphibians, not when Marcy is–

“Anne? Do you need me to get your parents?” Hop Pop asks in a soft tone, putting his webbed hand on her knee. She flinches at his touch, then shakes her head desperately. Nonono, they can’t see this. Can’t see her break down. What will they think of her, if they know how scared she is? Will they even let her go back if they find out? She is strong, she is brave, she can handle this and anything the world throws at her.

If only she could just breathe.

But the thing is, the moment Anne tries to focus on her breathing, she becomes all too aware of the rest of her body–the beating of her too-fast heart, the way her hair feels like spiderwebs on her neck, the way her lungs burn from all the running–the way that she’s breathing. It’s a never-ending cycle of try to breathe, realize you can’t, get scared because you can’t breathe and everything is uncomfortable and scary and you can’t feel your hands and the rain is going to drown you like a tidal wave. Rinse and repeat.

And of course, concerned as they are at her obvious and embarrassing breakdown, the Plantars get her parents anyway.

“Anne? Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

Anne curls up tighter. Even if she could begin to explain all the things wrong right now, she wouldn’t. There’s too much at stake. Maybe, in an ideal world, she would be a perfect person. Maybe, in an ideal world, Anne would be known as her parent’s responsible daughter. Maybe, in an ideal world, Marcy and Sasha would be home, and safe, and they would all be spending their days making mischief in the park and drinking their weight in boba.

But this isn’t an ideal world. And Anne is not an ideal person. Anne is not her parent’s responsible daughter.

She’s just a scared kid, and she is so tired.

“Oh, Annie,” Mom says softly, sitting down on Anne’s bed. She reaches out a smooth hand out, grabbing one of Anne’s callused ones and rubbing her fingers along the ridges soothingly. The action is so comforting, so familiar, that Anne has to bite back a wail. It’s like she’s three years old again and crying over a skinned knee. God, she would do anything for a small surface wound to be her biggest problem. Slowly, as though telegraphing her movements, Anne’s mom scoots in close to her daughter, enveloping her in a hug. Only then does Anne realize how cold she is, how her entire body feels like she’s soaked to the bone in ice water.

“Anne. Can you breathe for me?”

Anne tries again to breathe, but it just won’t come. She shakes her head.

“Mmm, let’s try something else,” Mom says, situating Anne so that her ear is placed directly against her heart, “Can you hear my heart beating?”

Anne nods. But she isn’t sure Mom can feel that, so she makes a little sound instead.

“Listen to my heartbeat, Annie. Do you hear it?”

Anne makes another sound to say yes.

“Good girl. Can you copy my breathing now? Listen.”

Anne tries. It takes a few minutes of concentration, but eventually her own heart begins to mimic the calmer thrum of Mom’s slow and steady one.

“Just like when you were a baby, hm? You used to love my hugs,” Mom says wistfully, “When did you grow up?”

Anne frowns, burying her face in her mother’s chest. As much as she tries to act like it nowadays, she feels as far from “grown up” as she can get. And she’s tired of trying, if she’s being honest.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” Mom continues, “You work so hard to help the Plantars. But you have to work hard to help yourself, too.”

Anne deflates. Mom’s right. But it’s just so hard to take care of yourself when all you can think about is someone else. It’s a heavy burden, but one she has to bear. Maybe though, just maybe, she doesn’t have to bear it on her own.

“Mom?” she says. Her voice is hoarse. Her throat feels dry and scratchy like sandpaper.

“Yes, ที่รัก (dear)?”

“I need to talk to you about something. Dad too. But I’m… I’m not sure how to.”

“Take your time. We’ll be here when you are ready.”

“Promise?” Anne asks.

“I promise.”

[historyhermann]

Reviewing Queer Animated Characters With Trauma

Amity fights Hunter in a season 2 episode of The Owl House

Recently, there has been a growing number of queer fictional animated characters with trauma. I decided to examine this trend and offer my thoughts.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog (it will be published there on Dec. 24) and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-first article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on June 13, 2022.

Trauma is a common theme in fiction. This makes sense especially for conflict-prone series, either in live-action or animation. Recent years have made this even more pronounced as animation holds an "exceptional potential" to portray trauma, an emotional response to a distressing experience of some kind, unlike other mediums.

I'll examine over 20 characters, who are either confirmed as part of the LGBTQ community or implied as such. The characters described in this article are only a small sample of a larger list of characters. I've only chosen characters in Western animated shows that I have watched to date, as a similar post on anime characters would be as long as this one.

This post contains spoilers for the series that I'm writing about. With that, let me get started!

The Owl House

Luz and Amity dance together as their magic causes the grom monster to explode behind them

This fantasy and horror comedy animated series has trauma at its core. It emphasizes the importance of chosen family and discovering who you are as a person.

The show's protagonist, Luz Noceda (Sarah Nicole-Robles) ends up into a magical world called the Boiling Isles. It is far away from her home and she soon has no way of returning. While she makes friends along the way, what happens to her is, at times, traumatic. In fact, one reviewer even stated that nearly every resident of the Owl House, including Eda Clawthorne (Wendie Malick), King (Alex Hirsch), and Luz, have post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD.

By the second season of the series, Luz has begun a romantic relationship with Amity Blight (Mae Whitman). Luz is confirmed as bisexual by the show's creator, Dana Terrace, while Amity is a lesbian. Her voice actor is pansexual. Additionally, Eda is queer as she was in a relationship with Raine Whispers, a non-binary head witch of the Bard Covern. The voice actor of Raine, Avi Roque, is non-binary as well.

There's also Eda's sister, Lilith, who was recently implied as being asexual by her voice actor, Cissy Jones, the dads of Willow Park (Tati Gabrielle), Gilbert and Harvey, and the mysterious god-like creature named The Collector. The show's creator may have implied the character is non-binary in a recent tweet. Lilith was later confirmed as an aromantic asexual character.

All these characters, and every other character in the series, have trauma on some level. Even the series villain, Emperor Belos (Matthew Rhys), has a mind filled with decades of "triumph, trauma, and loss."

Amphibia

Anne (left) and Sasha (right) fight in the season two finale

This recently-concluded series may seem harmless at first, but there is more below the surface. The three protagonists, Anne Boonchuy (Brenda Song), Marcy Wu (Haley Tju), and Sasha Waybright (Anna Akana) open a magic box. They end up in a wild tropical land known as Amphibia. Their friendship faces strains and hardships, including betrayals, pain, and death.

One of these characters is prominently part of the LGBTQ community: Sasha. Voiced by Akana, a talented voice actress, the show’s creator, Matt Braly confirmed her as bisexual after the show’s finale. This built upon a bisexual sticker on her car's mirror in a final sequence. As it turns out, during an acceptance speech for the Streamy Awards she came out as bisexual, even though she was drunk when she made the speech since she didn’t expect to win the award.

Her character begins the series as a jerk, bully, and almost a villain of sorts. Sasha even fights the show’s protagonist, Anne, her high school friend, and butts heads with Marcy. She later works to make amends and fights King Andrias who has evil plans to take over the world.

Sasha joins other recurring LGBTQ characters, mostly in the show's last season. This includes Frodrick Toadstool and Toadie who have a gay romance, confirmed by the show's creator. Also, Yunan and Lady Olivia become a romantic lesbian couple, while Ally and Jess who run an Internet video channel together. It's also implied that Mr. X, voiced by RuPaul, is gay.

All these characters have some level of trauma in one way or another. At the same time, the series serves as a "form of solace" and can ameliorate trauma often associated with media like The Owl House.

Disenchantment

Bean fights with Gretel, a cannibalistic serial killer, in the season one episode "Faster, Princess! Kill! Kill!"

Although her father, Zog, works through his trauma in the most recent part of this mature animated series, Bean suffers from trauma as well. This is because events which involve a "serious threat to life...and feel beyond a person’s control" fill her life. Examples include loss of a parent, physical violence, sexual assault, military combat, or death of a loved one.

Through her role as princess, and then queen, these events include her father's live burial, an elevator chopping off the head of her friend, and kidnapping of her friend Elfo. She isn't alone with trauma, as her friends also have it as well, as do many other characters within this series. It shows that series is not afraid to tackle mental health as a theme.

In the most recent episodes of this series, she kisses a mermaid named Mora (Meredith Hagner). This romance and others with male characters, including Elfo, indicated she is bisexual or pansexual. She was directly confirmed as bisexual by an official Netflix account. Furthermore, Bean's voice actress, Abbi Jacobson, is also bisexual.

There are other LGBTQ characters in this series, like Odval and Sorcerio. They are a gay couple who live in the Dreamland castle. It is further implied that Big Jo and Porky may have been in a toxic relationship with one another.

All of them experience physical violence, loss, and serious threats to their lives in more ways than one.

High Guardian Spice

Olive and Rose fight in the 9th episode of this series

This series has major themes such as acceptance, togetherness, and discovering one's identity. Rosemary (Briana Leon), has a recurring nightmare where her mother disappeared and left a magical sword behind. Unsurprisingly, she gets nervous when her locket, which has an important family memory, gets lost.

Rosemary isn't alone. Sage (Lauren White) gets nervous when everything doesn't go according to plan. She ends up questioning if she should be at the magic academy and what "right things" she should say to people. The latter is emblematic of her social awkwardness.

Both are implied as being in love with each other, in what some shippers call Sagemary. Since Rosemary shows an attraction to a male student in one episode, she could be bisexual. One of the show's writers and voice actor of Amaryllis, Katie McVay, seemed to imply some the show's characters are bisexual. Parsley (Amber Romero) and Thyme (Michelle Deco) might be lesbian characters. The latter has a crush on a mermaid named Coral in one episode.

Anise and Aloe are a lesbian couple. Haviland Stillwell, a lesbian actress, voices Anise. Then there's Professor Caraway who reveals to Rosemary he is a trans man. The show's creator, Raye Rodriguez, who is a Cuban trans man, voices him. Finally, the snarky student Snapdragon appears to be on the road to transitioning toward a trans woman. Julia Kaye, a comics writer and trans woman, voices her.

Traumatic events shape all these characters and many others. This includes queer-coded characters like the catgirl Olive (Stephanie Sheh), Slime Boy (Julian Koster), and professor Wyverna Dretch (Stillwell).

Legend of Korra

Korra at a low place at beginning of the show's fourth season

Trauma fills this classic, but divisive, anime-inspired series. Trauma affects two of the protagonists, Korra and Asami Sato.

Throughout the series, Korra becomes poisoned, physically traumatized, and emotionally scarred. This manifests itself in her losing her bending abilities and having her friends captured or maimed. Through it all she has to continue fighting as the Avatar, with a duty to keep the peace. One reviewer said that her PTSD storyline is sad, but also "so good", as she survives through her drama which continues to inspire.

This contrasts with Asami. She loses almost everything in the series, from her imprisoned backstabbing father and almost losing her family company. One person argued that Asami's trauma inspires her to "save others from feeling how she felt." This includes Korra, who confides in Asami as she works through her trauma.

In the show's final episode, and subsequently confirmed by show's creators, Korra and Asami become a romantic couple. This was further shown in the graphic novel The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars. The same novel confirmed that Kya, daughter of Katara, is a lesbian. The novel also explores Kyoshi's bisexual romantic feelings.

During the series, Korra and Asami date Mako, a male character, and are good friends with one another. With Korrisami confirmed, both are canonically bisexual.

Final Space

Ash, imbued with the power of Invictus, prepares to strike Little Cato in the show's final episode

One of the protagonists of this cancelled mature animated series manifests trauma more than any other character. Ash Graven (Ashly Burch) is a complex character with a troubled past. Like other protagonists, the destruction of the Earth by the Lord Commander, and near-death experiences, traumatizes her.

Invictus, the show's primary villain, exploits her trauma triggers to great effect. Similar to how triggers for people with PTSD manifest themselves, she lashes out, blames others unfairly, retreats, and her emotions flair.

Before this happens, she bonds with a genderless lifeform trapped in Final Space, named Evra (Jasmin Savoy Brown). Their growing relationship makes clear Ash's romantic orientation as a lesbian. Since the show was not renewed, her relationship with Evra did not progress beyond one episode sequence.

Trauma and tragedy scar the memories and lives of every character in this series. This includes a recurring character named Clarence, confirmed by show creator Olan Rogers as bisexual, and Tribore Menendez, who may be genderfluid.

Just as literature can be a "valid resource" to learn about complex issues like trauma and mental health, with books even playing a role in recovering from mental illness, animated series can tackle the same topics. Final Space is one of those series.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Fight between Jamack (left) and Wolf (right) in the first episode of this series

This young adult animated series is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland known as Las Vistas, set in what is now Los Angeles. Animals have morphed into anthropomorphic characters and humans fled underground to burrows. The show's protagonist, Kipo (Karen Fukuhara) is the series' narrative center and a foil for the "world’s trauma and alienation."

Kipo was never confirmed as part of the LGBTQ community. She is traumatized as much as any other character and with her troubled past. Some have headcanoned her as queer, but that is pure speculation.

The show's creator, Radford "Rad" Sechrist said he never thought of Kipo as LGBTQ. She was recently confirmed as a Blasian character. It wasn't directly stated in the series due to a worry by Sehcrist of "whitewashing and lightening black characters". This led to a bit of a hullabaloo online after his clunky response.

She is not the only character who afflicted by trauma. For instance, there's Benson Mekler (Coy Stewart) and Troy Sandoval (Giullian Yao Gioiello). Both later begin a romantic relationship. Sechrist hinted Troy as pansexual at one point. There's additionally Asher Berdacs who is non-binary and voiced by River Butcher, a non-binary actor. Each of them has their own childhood traumas, as does Kipo's friend, Wolf (Sydney Mikayla) and many other characters.

Even a mandrill named Scarlemagne (Dan Stevens), who wants to subjugate humanity, has deep-seated trauma. Any of his cruel acts are not justified by this, but they serve as a reason for what he did. While some object with his redemption of sorts, another villain is his abuser: Dr. Emilia (Amy Landecker), a manipulative and power-hungry scientist. Others have stated that her role as an abuser emphasizes the "potency of early trauma."

Tangled

Cass, using her moonstone powers, stands in front of her throne and speaks to Raps

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, called Tangled: The Series in the show's first season, focuses on trauma. The 2010 animated film Tangled, which preceded the series, also explores trauma, toxic parentage, and emotional abuse. Others even employed the terrible tower where Rapunzel "Raps" lives, by force, as a metaphor for stages of abuse.

The series introduces Cassandra "Cass" (by Eden Espinosa), a complex character with trauma and PTSD. She sings about it, declaring she has nothing left to lose as she goes down a "path paved in black." As acknowledged by storyboarder Amber Vanich, lesbian vibes were imbued in her drawings of Cass.

She has a troubled past like Raps. She has the same "mother", causing the show to declare they were "sisters". This couldn't be further from the truth. Gothel, the birth mother of Cass, was Raps' kidnapper, leading to irreparable trauma.

The evil Zhan Tri manipulates her, exploiting her trauma and plays on her triggers. As a result, she lashes out, blames Raps, and her emotions flair, especially when using moonstone powers to fight Raps, with sundrop powers. Often, Cass processes her thoughts and feelings about Raps, sometimes feeling that Raps is holding her back.

In the series finale, she helps Raps to defeat Zhan Tri and both reconcile. While Raps marries Eugene, her boyfriend since the series' beginning, Cass and Raps declare their love for one other. This is presumably platonic as Disney wouldn't allow it otherwise.

There is potential for a series spinoff of Cass, who departs on a journey at the series end, possibly to come to terms with her trauma and atone for her past misdeeds. Some fans have theorized a romantic ending for both characters, shipped as "Cassunzel," say Raps is pansexual or bisexual, or otherwise embrace this ship.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Adora and Catra clashing with one another in the season five opening

Trauma interlaces this now iconic series, a reboot of the 1980s Filmation animated series She-Ra: Princess of Power.

The series centers on Adora and Catra, voiced by Aimee Carrero and AJ Michalka. They begin as friends but continue to have complicated feelings as they are on different sides of the conflict. At the series' end, their romantic relationship begins. They kiss and it saves the world from destruction, canonizing what fans dub "Catradora."

Adora has a specific type of trauma. One reviewer described it as eco-trauma, saying that Adora suffers from treating ecological harm as a form of trauma, something which someone tries to repress to avoid its "painful effects." This repression for Adora is external, as the First Ones impose it on her and attempt to turn the entire planet into a Death Star-like weapon.

Even so, it is through this planet she can access the memories of her predecessor. Light Hope (Morla Gorrondona), Adora's AI guide of sorts, imposed a memory wipe to forget the previous She-Ra, Mara (Zehra Fazal). In the end, Adora doesn't sacrifice her life, but Catra saves her, with both confessing their love for one another.

Trauma continues to follow Adora throughout the series, as she feels unworthy of doing "anything good." In contrast, Catra appears self-assured on the surface, but she becomes plagued by her own doubt and guilt. This causes her to become controlling and aggressive, almost destroying the entire world at one point. More to the point, she spends a majority of the show as a broken and battered woman "defined by her trauma." She makes decisions dictated by her experience with loss rather than from a place of love.

Adventure Time

Marcy in monster form, and Bonnie, fighting together in the episode "Varmints"

Marceline "Marcy" Abadeer is a fan-favorite vampire queen in this animated series. Marcy is more than a wacky character voiced by Olivia Olson. Instead she is a bisexual badass. Her character informed how then-storyboarder Rebecca Sugar told LGBTQ storylines in the future.

Marcy has a long and painful life, with her past trauma defining her. In fact, she becomes a vampire, or more exactly a half-demon, half-vampire multiracial woman in a traumatic way, becoming a source of her misery. She becomes stunted as an 18-year-old and never grows beyond that. Even so, she goes through an emotional journey of sorts, feeling like a monster.

This doesn't happen on her own. She begins a romantic relationship with Princess Bonnibel "Bonnie" Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) in the series finale. The Adventure Time: Distant Lands episode "Obsidian" explores the relationship further. The episode was all the rage in fall 2020. Queer fans who love Bubbline (Bonnie and Marcy) were glad to see more of a focus on their relationship.

In that episode, Marcy grapples with her outer and inner demons, singing to Bonnie that she "always felt like a monster". Bonnie comforts her while she has her own insecurities. They work through her struggles together while Bonnie has her own traumas born from her position as ruler of the Candy Kingdom.

This is not unique to her. Protagonists Finn and Jake, voiced by Jeremy Shada and John DiMaggio, are often thrown into conflict, either with the Lich, or other enemies. Even BMO (Niki Yang), who is a computer/video game console unit, who has no definite gender, becomes traumatized through the series. The Ice King (Tom Kenny), Huntress Wizard (Maria Bumford), Flame Princess (Jessica DiCicco), and many others have trauma, too.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Mariner fights with her digital self in the episode "Crisis Point"

Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is a character in this mature sci-fi comedy series. She is a human and an ensign aboard a ship known as the USS Cerritos who likes to buck rules. This is in part because she is the daughter of the ship's captain, Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), even though she is very good at "all things Starfleet."

Although some have argued that her trauma is sometimes played for laughs, the series still explains her motivations. Others have argued that the whole Starfleet crew needs therapy and better mental health care for everything they have gone through. One character, Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore), even dies at the end of one season to save Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero).

Mariner breaks protocol as a character, with the most recent season indicating she is bisexual or pansexual. At one point, the show's creator, Mike McMahan, stated that Mariner's former lover was Captain Amina Ramsey. He added that that "every Starfleet officer is probably at the baseline bisexual" in a sense.

She was also shown to have dated a man named Steve Levy. In one Season 2 episode she even declared that she had dated "bad boys, bad girls, bad gender non-binary babes, [and] ruthless alien masterminds" in the past. McMahan confirmed that Mariner will be dating a woman named Jennifer Sh'reyan (Lauren Lapkus) in the show's next season.

Mariner is not the only character with traumatic experiences. The same is the case for the ship's chief engineer, Andy Billups. He may be asexual, as he has no interest in having sex with male or female guards. Other characters are in thrown into conflict-prone situations as well, which are the breeding ground for trauma.

Arcane

Cait and Vi look in horror at Jinx's missile heading toward the Piltover council

Trauma and tragedy fill this mature series. This is balanced with a tone not "too dour" and a plot that doesn't drag the story down. This is a series with themes of class oppression taking place in a world with "no sexism, racism, or homophobia." Human experimentation, acceptance, struggle, and family separation are important themes. There's also depiction of attempted suicide, death, and kidnapping.

The adopted brother of Jinx (Ella Purnell), first known as Powder, taunts her, undermining her self-confidence. This combines with her fear of abandonment and guilt after some of her adopted family dies, causing her to become traumatized. She is still haunted by what happened in the past. Silco taps into these feelings, raising Jinx as her own. He doesn't fault her for lashing when when triggered, even when it threatens his own operations.

She isn't the only one affected by trauma. For Violet "Vi" (Hailee Steinfeld), this comes from her rough childhood living in the undercity, and separation from her sister, Jinx. For Caitlyn "Cait" Kiramman (Katie Leung), she has to deal with the pressure of working as an enforcer for the upper city of Piltover and new pressures of the undercity. This includes tense, stressful, and violent situations, especially with Vi.

Although some criticized its depiction, there is no doubt that in this series, Cait and Vi have romantic feelings for one another. It is what fans call "CaitVi," "Violyn" or the official moniker, "Piltover's Finest", with over 10,000 subscribers to subreddits for the pairing. In the aftermath of the end of the last season, Vi and Cait will likely have to pick up the pieces after Jinx assassinated the council members of Piltover.

gen:LOCK

Fight between Madrani (left) and "Sinclair" (right)

Like Arcane, this sci-fi mecha action series is mature and filled with sorrow. Due to a generally negative audience response and a subreddit which has turned against the show, renewal is unlikely. HBO Max and Rooster Teeth threw the show to the wolves. For all its faults, the series depicts trauma unlike any other, so it deserves a mention in this article.

Val/entina 'Val' Romanyszyn, who is a genderfluid and pansexual woman voiced by Asia Kate Dillon, goes through a lot in the series. The man she loves, Kazu Iida (Kōichi Yamadera), dies in front of her, and she watches countless others get injured or killed.

She is not alone in this. A demon named Nemesis, in the head of the show’s protagonist, Julian Chase (Michael B. Jordan) torments him throughout the series. It turns out that he is only a copy of his original self and the "demon" is another copy. Even so, he comes to terms with Nemesis and sees it as another part of himself.

Trauma and the subconscious are major themes in this series. Other members of Chase’s team, Cameron 'Cammie' MacCloud (Maisie Williams) and Yasamin 'Yaz' Madrani (Golshifteh Farahani) are also traumatized. Fighting the purportedly "evil" Union deeply affects Cammie, Yaz, Kazu, and Val, as does stresses from their lives before the war. The same is the case for Robert Sinclair, a fighter for the Polity and later a guerrilla. The show's second season reveals that he has a boyfriend.

Some reviewers have stated that the series has "mental illness, trauma recovery, technological intimacy and identity" at its center. Others said that the series has characters with distinct personalities who have to tackle their own trauma.

Closing thoughts

There are many other examples of characters with trauma who are part of the LGBTQ community, such as Daisy in Magical Girl Friendship Squad, and Fry and Hamburg in Kid Cosmic to give two examples.

There are other characters who struggle with trauma, although it is harder to pin them into the LGBTQ community apart from headcanons. Take, for example, Beck in Tron:Uprising, Reagan Ridley in Inside Job, and Ron Stoppable in Kim Possible.

I would be remiss to not mention Steven Universe in the series of the same name. Due to his fighting against corrupted Gems and Gem warriors, he develops trauma. This is further explored in the limited 2019-2020 series, Steven Universe Future, which brings trauma to the forefront. He attempts to come to terms with and address the traumatic incidents which plague his mind.

In the end, more series with mature themes and LGBTQ characters suggests that characters racked with trauma are in the cards.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[kiitzuna]

ahehwhewhaohewohehahe

anyways. behold

Sasha Waybright(-Boonchuy-Wu)

"𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑡, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛? 𝐼 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑜𝑡~"

22 | Bi Transfem | ASD/BPD/C-PTSD/♿︎

The punk of the three. Really into metal, dressing alternatively, and girls. Incredibly headstrong yet painfully hesitant. Tends to be a little coy and playful, but very thoughtful and sincere when she needs to be. Strives to help make sure others never have to go through the hardships she endured.

Sasha fun facts

Punk/Goth inspired aesthetic

Tattoos all over her upper body

Horrible sleep schedule

Dated a guy once in her entire life

Musician

Bassist, guitarist, vocalist, drummer- she can play any instrument after holding it for about three minutes. Can and will listen to anything and everything and will give a genuinely insightful review of what you showed her. Found an appreciation for music during battle of the bands after she realized it was a passion of Anne and Marcy's. Constantly making playlists for Anne and Marcy specifically to express their relationship, memories, and trauma. Can be found frequently lying in bed on her back playing her bass/guitar quietly.

Frequent nightmares/relapses

Went through a lot of abuse and trauma as a kid which led her behaviour to lean to the worse side. This would result in most of her friendships and relationships being toxic and fueling her mental conditions and disorders. Learned the behaviours of those around her and continued to fall down that path. During the events of Amphibia, she had her big What If Its Me moment and began to be control-averse (pushing decisions onto others, refusing to take the lead when she's needed, doubting her actions morals). After "All In" and the present day portion of "The Hardest Thing", she puts a lot of her want to be a good person and want to help others not share her fate and becomes a child psychologist. The job doesn't come without its drawbacks though, seeing her frequently stressed and sad about the experiences her clients have gone through. This added onto reflection of her own traumas, guilt, and fear give her nightmares and sometimes cause her to relapse. During a break/meltdown, she goes nonverbal and struggles to move/communicate. Anne and Marcy both continuously work on helping her process through her thoughts and feelings and keeping her grounded during bad moments. She sleeps in the middle between Anne on the right and Marcy on the left as it makes her feel calmer.

Started dating Marcy long distance a few years before they both reconnected with Anne

Long scar down her back with 2 crossed swords tattooed over it

Blind in one eye, has a scar over it (she mirrors grime's scar and blue eye)

[opin88]

What are your opinions on the Amphibia fandom’s S3 criticisms, especially S3A?

S3a was my favourite part of the series, tbh. I really wish that the Earth arc would have gone on far longer 'cause it was so much fun to see the Plantars interacting with Earth and other humans! I also really loved S1 as a whole.

My main reason for loving those parts is the fact that the girls were separated and focusing on relationships outside of each other. In S1, Anne was bonding with Wartwood and Sasha had her episode at the tower. In S3a, Anne was focusing on her relationship with her parents and the Plantars. Meanwhile Sasha and Marcy had their respective episodes where they made the necessary changes for the rest of the show to take place.

My only real complaint with S3a is that it didn't go on for long enough. I genuinely think that S3a and S3b should have been completely different seasons from each other because neither one had enough room to stretch out and breathe.

In Escape to Amphibia, the fact that Molly Jo and Humphrey were there to help felt kinda weird. They interacted with the Plantars once each! If there were more episodes dedicated to them, then their respective calls to action in that episode would have felt much more deserved!

Meanwhile, Cloak-bot was a great extension of Andrias as an antagonist, but the only thing he tried after that was the X-mas drone! That was it! Like, why not send another cloak-bot? Send two at once so that they can team up! We know that he has more because they appear in All In.

And Mr. X? Good god, he was the PERFECT antagonist for that season!... And he was only an antagonist in three episodes! (not counting All In 'cause he's helping in that one) As an FBI agent, he should have been hot on their heels so fast! I mean, after Hollywood Hop Pop, he could have gotten Anne's phone number ('cause Hop Pop listed that as his contact number when he did the audition) and tracked them down from there!

The best part was that his motivation was not to experiment and/or dissect them like it was for Dr. Frakes. Instead, it was just to make sure they weren't going to hurt/abduct somebody! I feel like, if they just talked it out, he would have been an ally. But it's 100% understandable why they didn't. After all, fear is a POWERFUL motivator!

I was kind of expecting that Escape to Amphibia would see Andrias send in another drone, but have that one get caught by Mr. X and let Andrias lie his way to an alliance with Mr. X. Have Andrias say that the Plantars are escaped criminals, or something that would get them to work together. And when they escaped, he's say something like "Oh, they're back in our world now. Okay, I'll take care of it from here. You don't need to worry anymore and you're not going to see or hear anything from us ever again! Thank you for your help and goodbye." And that would make Mr. X think that everything was okay after all of that. Now THAT would be raising the stakes!

Either way, I know why the majority of the fandom's complaints hit. It's because we never saw Anne have a PTSD breakdown about seeing what happened to Marcy. We didn't get to meet Sasha's and Marcy's parents. The show didn't go as dark as True Colours did! The thing is... IT'S A DISNEY SHOW!!

Of COURSE we didn't see Anne having a mental breakdown! The Disney execs wouldn't have allowed something like that because after they got away with the impalement in True Colours, the team was walking on eggshells with how dark they could get.

We didn't get to meet Sasha's and Marcy's parents because Matt said that he didn't want people to blame the girls' toxic traits on the parents. But also there's the fact that the majority of Disney shows where the MC is a child doesn't have the parents factor in at all. Like, they can be present, but I was genuinely (pleasantly) surprised that the Disney execs allowed the Boonchuys to actually be a significant part of the story!

And finally, True Colours was dark af! We all know that! But it brought in so many new fans that those people thought the whole show would be like that. And then those people were offended that it wasn't! S3a was too lighthearted? You mean like all of S1 and S2?! That's what the show had always been, so get used to it!

In summary, I think that the hateful backlash against S3a is undeserved and it would have done well for the Earth arc to last much longer! It was my personal favourite part of the series because of all of the new and interesting dynamics that it presented.

(Also why is the fandom so obsessed with polyamorous lesbians?! I get that people like shipping, but jfc people! The show is about family, not romance! And there are more characters than just the calamity trio!)

[friendofflowersandfrogs]

Hello again! I know you just came out with a Sashannarcy wedding fic of your own (loved it, by the way), but I have my own head canons I wanted to share with you because I'd like to hear your thoughts on them. (Part 1 of 2.) (Also, fair warning: several walls of text incoming. XD)

In the immediate aftermath of Amphibia, the girls all stayed at Anne's for a good month or so, trying to process everything that happened and everything they'd said and done. During this time, the first symptoms of trauma and PTSD/CPTSD began to manifest themselves among the girls, especially poor Marcy. Such trauma usually manifested itself in horrible nightmares for the girls of all their death, near-death, and murder-attempt experiences and their worst possible outcomes, which quickly resulted in their collective sleep schedules going to shit in record time, as well as big-time, short-term struggles with St. James schoolwork. At the same time, it gave the three of them an opportunity to unload their collective emotional baggage with each other (Anne and Sasha in particular) and not only finally begin to get a grasp on their deeply confused feelings for each other, but also a very quick education on how to handle everybody's traumas, triggers, and newly-established boundaries. The three remain quite physically close to each other during this period, and all three share Anne's bed for comfort and refuge from their psychological and emotional pain.

Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy, meanwhile, are more than understanding of everything that's happened, and do all they can to give the girls the space they need while also providing nourishment and advice whenever they can; they're the ones who actively encourage each of them to seek out therapists, and--thanks to how much of a help they were during Frogvasion--are able to enlist Mr. X's help in both finding the right ones and managing any confidential information that they may need for their sessions. The girls are, understandably, skittish about the process at first (especially Sasha), but each of them warm up to the idea over time and are able to begin getting the help they need to walk through their thoughts and feelings about everything that's happened. This has results both positive and negative.

After a brief deeper dive underwater as far as her grades go, Anne finds the motivation to get back in the academic saddle once she realizes that she doesn't have to leave Amphibia and the Plantars completely behind, but can instead use it as inspiration to care for and preserve Earth frogs once she learns about the existence of herpetology. As a result, she's able not just to improve her grades enough to graduate St. James in the nick of time, but to become a model straight-A student in high school and college afterward.

Sasha, meanwhile, becomes fascinated with the subject of psychology thanks to the long and winding journey into her own psyche that her own therapist guided her on and her subsequent desire to better understand herself and what she was going through; combined with the realization of both her own innate protective nature and her desire to help prevent people from becoming like she'd been pre-Amphibia, she decides to also work to improve her grades and becomes a hard-working student in her own right, oftentimes working with Anne well into the night to relearn things both had either not paid attention to or skipped out on altogether.

By contrast, Marcy's grades took a considerable dip from her previous straight-A status not just from all the time missed in Amphibia, but her wrecked state of mind as well; unlike Anne and Sasha, she wasn't quite able to get back to the level she'd once been at, though she still did well enough to pass all her classes. In fact, because of how screwed-up her attendance record and grades were from the whole affair, it was agreed by all concerned that it would be best for Marcy to move back in with her parents and move to her new school as originally planned as soon as the school year was over, though Anne and Sasha did have one last opportunity for a tearful, heartfelt goodbye before she left, with the promise that she could ALWAYS reach out to them if she needed comfort or advice about anything.

Meanwhile, the girls tried as best they could to iron out all the differences they had with each other as a result of the hurt each of them had put the others through. Though each of them swore never to lay a finger on each other again (a promise they more than made good on, even after they married later in life), many arguments and angry tears were still had between all three, to the point where even sweet, bubbly Marcy lost her temper and screamed at the others on multiple occasions (an enormous shock to Anne and Sasha, as you might imagine), all of which led to a considerable loss of life for Anne's bedroom possessions and furniture. By the time Marcy decided to move back in with her folks, the three had come to the stone-cold realization that, while all of them deeply cared about each other and wanted nothing more than to help each others' recoveries, they also needed time and space away from each other to sort themselves, and their issues, out before establishing any kind of firmer hold on their collective relationship and continuing their healing together.

Thus it was that, though they still talked, kept tabs, and thought about each other as often as they could, the three found much less time for each other as school (and later work) took up more and more of their lives. Though Anne wound up quitting the tennis team and Sasha the cheer squad while each worked to make up for years of lost academic time at St. James, both still remained quite physically active in high school and college, with Anne often jogging and making good use of a membership at a nearby gym and Sasha discovering her new passion/hobby for weightlifting as a result of her time being the Holder Of Strength in Amphibia. The two of them also found new, healthier friend groups thanks to their respective newfound interests in herpetology and psychology, especially as college rolled around. Marcy, meanwhile, coasted throughout the rest of middle school and much of high school with no real clue of what she wanted to do for the rest of her life--until she ran into a couple of people in her new chess club (she dropped out of the one she was in at St. James, but picked it up again in high school at her parents' insistence) who noticed her doodling, complimented it, and encouraged her to do it more. This, combined with her passions for gaming, anime, and fantasy that had continued unabated (though she did become very withdrawn from each of them for a long while after what the Core had tried to do to her), resulted in her getting to know several members of the school's artist and gamer cliques, which in turn got her connected to a wide variety of online communities that helped her improve both her craft and her confidence, especially when she realized just how much comfort and happiness she got out of sketching out her characters, worlds, and stories. Her subsequent decision to enroll in art school riled up her parents a fair bit--until she made a point of showing them the potential for industry contacts she could make in the animation and comic industries that could, if not make her and the family rich, at least give her a steady enough income to live on her own, at which point they left her alone on the subject aside from the occasional well-intentioned, good-natured snark at the dinner table (something that gets under her skin for years afterward, even with continued counsel from her own therapist about how to fix her complicated relationship with her parents).

Even as all this is happening, however, the three of them always shoot messages checking in with each other whenever any of them had a free moment with nothing else to do, the one "drop-everything-and-help" exception being if any of them were experiencing PTSD, CPTSD, and/or anxiety attacks, in which case they would ALWAYS prioritize each other's immediate health, 3 a.m. video calls or awkward excusals from presentations be damned. Sometimes (though it's more the case for Anne and Sasha as time goes on), if any of them can tell one of the others is having a rough time of things, they'll just go over and hug/cuddle them for as long as they need--something that goes a long way towards rebuilding everybody's trust and love for one another--or just ask them to talk about anything they've been into lately (this goes a long way towards helping Marcy in particular) before departing with quiet, grateful thank-yous to each other as they each go about their days again.

.

[princess-unipeg]

Anne is definitely suffering from PTSD if she hadn’t been sleeping much. Researching all that she can to find a way to return to Amphibia. Her mother however she’d spend her researching energy on all her missed school work so she takes her the Plantars to the local museum so Anne could write a report and she can clean the house of all its frog slime. Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly are pretty fascinated by what Earth has been offering while Anne is spiraling and not taking any breaks. The Plantars were able to enjoy some downtime the way Anne was able to back when she was stuck on Amphibia. But the stakes are much higher for her now then simply reuniting with her friends and getting home. King Andrias is gonna invade Earth and Anne knows all too well that her friends are in danger. Anne couldn’t just trust anyone at this point. As friendly as Dr. Jan was to her she felt she couldn’t just tell her anything and felt the best course of action was to just steal the vase with the mysterious frog person on it. I feel like Dr. Jan can be a trusted ally. She was the most prominent of the human characters scene in the intro and was actually willing to cover for her and the Plantars even though she barely knew them and she caught them in the destroyed remains of a major exhibit. Anne dealt with enough betrayal already. She deserves not to have her trust shattered in someone as kind and quirky as Dr. Jan

She’s clearly become important enough that Mrs. Boonchuy knows about her. Anne was anxious to meet up with her and wanted to blow off visiting the temple so she could learn what Dr. Jan found out. The Thai Temple episode came to be yet another favorite episode of mine. The Plantars were accepted so easily into the Thai community like with Anne and how she eventually intergrated into Wartwood society. Anne didn’t even want to spend an hour at the temple. Though after her mother revealed how much the Thai community helped the Boonchuy parents during her disappearance Anne started to feel bad about leaving the temple so soon. When the bug drones came to attack Anne and the Plantars they were willing to stand their ground to protect the temple. Even though everyone at the temple thought they were merely the work of some middle school reporters they were willing to take down the drones and they worked together to destroy them all. Even after the accidental reveal that they were frog people the Thai community still accepted them regardless of how ugly they see them as simply because they are Anne’s friends.

Anne’s been through a lot and is putting in so much at the expense of her physical and mental health. Anne needs to realize that she isn’t alone in her fight against Andrias. Her support network is bigger then she realizes. When the time comes and she becomes aware of her destiny, Anne will have plenty of people to stand with her in the battle for the multiverse.

Also there was a beautiful Thai cover of Anne’s theme. Would be something if they used it for the outro just once before the show ends.

[ao3feed-friendsofspiderman]

Aftermath

by Vik_t0rious

It has been a few months since Mj, Ned, and Peter came back, but none of them were the same. Especially Peter, and the two of them, and only the two knew.

Words: 1023, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Amphibia (Cartoon)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Gen

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man), Michelle Jones, Ned Leeds

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker

Additional Tags: Yep another crossover fic cuz I'm in a new fandom, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Peter Parker Has Issues, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker Has Trust Issues, HOW IS THAT NOT A REAL TAG, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, she also has ptsd, And so does Ned, Fuck it everyone has ptsd and trust issues, Did I project on this? Nahhhhhhh (cough), Peter Parker as Anne Boonchuy, Michelle Jones as Sasha Waybright, Ned Leeds as Marcy Wu, Suffer lok, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Ned Leeds Needs a Hug, They all need hugs, They all still have the calamity powers but it's a secret, Peter also has it but it's up in full power cuz he's enhanced and shit, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark knows about the power albeit vaguely and no idea how it works, So does Aunt May

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/38312257

[tharrb]

Okay then here goe

Sometime after she moves, Marcy’s parent force her to cut off contact from Anne and Sasha, not wanting them to “hold her back”

Anne and Sasha still remain very close right up until college

Marcys high school life, on the other hand, was absolutely horrible. She didn’t make any friends in high school and had increased pressure from her parents. During prom, she was subject to a particularly nasty prank

tw for self harm: marcy would take up cutting as a way to deal with the stress and trauma of her life

After high school, Sasha cut her parents out of her life. She did get closer with her half sisters, Terri and Molly jo

Marcy is still in contact with her parents, albeit their relationship hasn’t improved. Like at all

Marcy also develops bi-polar disorder, having days where she’s her usual chipper self, and days where she becomes incredibly somber and morose

Marcy began video chatting with Anne and Sasha during college. While the three would talk less and less as they got more serious in their careers, Marcy would still visit the boonchuys during Christmas, and Sasha would visit her whenever she was in town

The summer before Anne’s 23rd birthday, Anne’s mom would pass away because of a stroke. She called both Sasha and marcy to tell them this. It would be the last time the three would talk before the epilogue.

Some months after the epilogue, the trio move in together

Anne, Sasha and Marcy all dated each other in the past, but they only become a polycule after they move in

Anne has ptsd over her death, and her girls reassure her that’s she’s alive and safe

Marcy developed hydrophobia, and had to train herself over the years to become more comfortable in water

I’ve outlined my headcanons about the trios sleeping patterns here

In their adult lives, the trio develop ability’s as a lingering result of the calamity stones; anne has aura reading and precognition, Sasha has enhanced strength and reflex’s, and Marcy has photographic memory and extreme detail recognition

The three do find portals back to amphibia. Marcy believed they’re a result of the trios power working in tandem

Post canon Amphibia headcanons

[it didn't come off as demanding, don't worry! /gen]

ohhhhh frog so many uhhhhh. okay a few:

When the calamity trio share a bed, Marcy is always in the middle because she tended to wake up from nightmares the most often (and when it wasn't Marcy having the nightmare, the other two often had nightmares about Marcy getting hurt) also i hate that "share a bed" sometimes has sexual connotations because ew no Even when the nightmares come less frequently, they still keep the formation because it's the most comfortable for all three of them.

After everything she went through, Marcy has some anxiety when it comes to showering, (feeling trapped in small space filled with water) so her girls suggest putting a bunch of silly decals on the shower walls and blasting "google translate sings" whenever she needs a bath. It helps.

Marcy and Sasha struggle with chronic pain. On bad days, Anne will massage their scars with good scar cream and make them their comfort foods.

Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are all completely oblivious to the fact that the other two like them. They all know that the other two like each other, but don't realize it goes all three ways. Dumb queers (affectionate)

Marcy listens to KK Slider and Videogame Music Box while doing art for her web comics. I don't make the headcanons. (<- lie)

While Marcy had anxiety over her scars at first, they actually become grounding for her - they're memories of imperfection and pain that remind her that what she's feeling is real, and not a fantasy or dream.

The girls definitely find a way back to Amphibia. I don't know how. But they do. (I don't CARE if the entire point was "oh you gotta accept change and grow" shut UP i need my comfort characters FANON CAN HURT ME BUT PLEASE LET CANON BE KIND)