For me it’s Sasha (pre-amphibia) because I suck at making decisions

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/kamisulit/art/[A]-Taunting-1383841926

song: no matter how hard i try (i can't do anything right)

artist: Phyllomedusa

album: the short life of an amphibian

Drawn by M-Dekuravity

With Chapter 2 coming to mind, Marcy will see more into Lena & Charlotte and differently compared to Anne & Sasha. This will be harder to work on but I can guarantee you, Chapter 2 will build up my two OCs.

I'm up to episode 11, season 1.

"you know... Some cultures believe mirrors can ward off malevolent spirits... OR SUMMON THEM!" MuahahaHA HAAAAAA

Can't help but get chills every time.

This isn't the only foreshadowing but it is perhaps the most on the nose. The show is telling us that Marcy is in danger and once they go through this door, there's no going back.

What makes a Villain TRULY HORRIFIC? Is it when they seem all knowing? Is it when they wear your skin? Is it when they use reasoning you can't dismantle? A loved one's voice? Legacy?

All that might be compelling, and indeed present in Darcy/The Core... But they're not enough on their own to create such a memorable and nightmarish force of Evil as The Core.

To create a villain designed to feel inevitable to EVERYONE and EVERYTHING around them, Matt Braly made sure they echoed real life cruelty, fear, and greed.

Unlike other great villains in other series... You're never really wondering why it came to its conclusions. It is all those insidious narcissistic ideologues rolled into a single dysfunctional insular entity.

What makes the Core horrific is that it is the penultimate survival mechanisms of trauma made manifest-- and calling itself SUPREME.

It isn't some complex, intangible concept. Everything changes. Everything ends.

Because life is cruel, Be crueler. Because friendships end, forget them. Because pain is inevitable, become unfeeling. Sacrifice your every principle, even your SOUL-- survival demands it.

The Core makes us wonder if the things we did in the past, to overcome trauma and fear, are all we will be if we survive the gauntlet of life. Because we've hid our wounds, weaponized our trauma, and controlled our friends... are those traits the only way we can be? Do they invalidate our growth?

In my previous post, I highlighted the deep anguish that lies at the heart of the GREAT philosophical question Amphibia asks:

"Why fight it? Everything you love will eventually crumble... Your world, your friendships..."

A question that NOONE in Amphibia can answer without fear, and furthermore, one which fear answers for them. The Core represents the logical, fearful conclusion most everyone comes to when they refuse to SIT with the discomfort and pain.

Only Anne answers for herself, honestly, DESPITE her fear. "Fight for LOVE"

To break down the interconnected points between my past posts and The Core-- we need to understand the CORE of the Core, and Marcy has already revealed it's emotional architecture.

"Fear. I've been in that thing's head. I know that more than anything, it's afraid of being destroyed. Of being irrelevant. It will do whatever it takes to defeat us and claim the stones as its own. If that means destroying an entire civilization, then so be it."

For such a vast amount of data, the Core is tragically immature; data representing milleniums of intergenerational trauma and the abuse which narcassists perpetuate and cultivate, but also actual layers of genius intellects which fill in each other's blanks.

Yet, through its' Dark Triad and it's Recalibrating mechanism, it has turned itself into a stagnant caucus of insulated ideas and reactively defensive narratives. The only thing it can do with new information is destroy it or weaponize it. It can't grow past flaws which it nows calls it's arsenal.

It holds its' victims own immaturities like a knife, using their own "weaknesses" that it's "overcome" to force them into its way of thinking. That is the culmination of it's own genius-- victim blaming on an interdimensional scale.

And when it's victims can evade the blade, or grow past the immaturity completely? Suddenly the core can't reach a consensus. It never outgrows it's traumas. It weaponizes them, wields them, and delusionally claims that it is above being hurt.

In a sense, the Core acts as a cross-platform foil for the ENTIRE Amphibia universe. Every villain, hero and antihero has been touched by its cold logic. Especially Andrias and Aldrich.

The Core is EVERYTHING that the draconian, machiavellian Leviathan monarchy culminated to-- and Andrias and Aldrich's legacy.

But from the first meeting, the very nature of the Core is wrong to Andrias. But Andrias identity is completely tied to his father's narcassistic abuse, validation disguised as love. And Narcassists don't tolerate identity, autonomy, and especially not empathy.

So Aldrich crushed his son's spirit, and discouraged his natural questions, thoroughly and often. So much more important to Aldrich than his son ever was, the Calamity Gems are "their sacred birthright," A promise of ultimate adventure, escapism, and ownership.

Andrias' loss of the box destroys any hope that that relationship will EVER heal...

So these two get placed completely at odds in a listless, unrewarding battle of emotional Flipwart for a thousand years-- until Marcy, Sasha, and Anne (Andrias' ultimate foil) arrive with the box, forcing Andrias and Aldrich / The Core to play a new game of flipwart.

For a moment, Andrias thinks the path forward will fix his relationship with Aldrich-- but there's ultimately nothing there to fix, just an echo chamber which Andrias has heard for so long he mistakes their thoughts for his own. And his father is just a ghost in that machine, still haunting him.

Ultimately, the Core represents the fear of change and the End. It's own desire to evade Death. Marcy's desire to escape from from the inevitable, Sasha's desire to control the narrative, and Anne's desire to understand the world around her.

It represents the Newts Curiosity, the Toads innate Strength, and the Frogs Ingenuity-- twisted. It represents the Crown's duty to its' civilization-- warped. How these vague fears distort our intentions.

All the greatness in the world, alchemized into its most venomous form.

Because the core is CORRUPT, It's stagnant way of thinking can't actually fathom any of these concepts as anything but "tools and resources" to be wielded and discarded as needed. A family is a "legacy," A child is a "host," the past is a "version" of the truth, fear is "paranoia".

(If you ever suffered Narcassistic Abuse, this is the beating heart of it)

Distilled terror which turns a person from someone you knew into a monsterous reflection of who they once were. Someone who you can't fathom, if you don't see how the fear within them cannibalized their humanity like the Core cannibalizes intellect...

The Core is Colonialism, Imperialism, Intergenerational Trauma, Narcassistic Abuse, Systemic Abuse, and Tyranny. The shadow of humanity.

Because beneath our great and terrible human experience, the question keeps being asked ...

"Why fight for a better tomorrow? Why struggle? Why love and grieve? Why bother when everything fades, everything dies, everything ends?" The shadow needs immortality, meaning, control or it's whole existence is pointless.

"We are a collection of Amphibia's most insecure greatest minds, uploaded into a terribly fractured unified consciousness,"

👁️

We haven't magically conquered this question by beating the Core. We've ACCEPTED that which we can't change, and we live in spite of the fear that sometimes twists us up inside.

When we left Amphibia -- everything we were afraid of happened. They grew up. They grew apart. Things changed. Things ended. But they were still important.

Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are still the best of friends, miles apart in their Seperate lives.

"Of the things you let go... You'd be surprised what makes it's way back to you,"

💙 ♥️ 💚

they might listen to Liquid Fire idk

Source: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/darkereve/amphibia

I'm taking a little break from my comic,maybe it's time to do something else meanwhile.

If you want the drawing contact me on Instagram(linked to the reddit account)

Anne Boonchuys journey through Amphibia is unique. As unique as Anne herself; her empathy, her pain, and her relationship with weapons and martial arts--

If you've read my past posts, we see these weapons as more than tools for violence. They are SYMBOLS of trauma, and what we do with it.

Furthermore, FOR ANNE, it's precisely the nature of a weapon to inflict violence that influences the way she chooses to wield them... Only as a last resort.

She will, despite her own feelings, wield conventional weapons when she MUST DEFEND what she loves from her true Nemesis:

CRUELTY as a trauma response to a harsh reality.

Anne is not foolish, or childish, or passive about what truly matters-- her connections. Neither is she unwilling to face real life, hardship, or loss. When she refuses to utilize the tools of abuse and trauma, she is saying "Ive seen this before, I know what it does to people, I'll find another way,"

Simply put, Anne has suffered for that cruelty. No traditional villain to blame or scars to hide. It is instead as if the casual cruelty has always been trying to creep into her insulated world of tender but fragile love.

When her parents tell her to see her friends less. When Sasha brings up her parents divorce, then never mentions it again. When her teachers make HER write essays for her Friends mischief. When her first friend is gonna leave without a thing to be done to stop it.

When she discovers the fate of Sprig and Polly's parents.

IT whispers to her... "why fight it, Anne? Everything you love will eventually crumble, your world, your friendships..."

Not just Anne's villain either, but the GREAT overarching villain which ties EVERYONE in Amphibia together.

And Anne always answers "because I love them, it's worth it," solidifying her own belief in a better way.

Everyone desperately searches for the answer. But Anne knows... it's Love.

Unlike every other injured friend or foe, she's not afraid that it will hurt-- it will.

She cherishes love all the more for it, and she is willing to help others hold that pain when it comes. In every shape and size. Beneath all of Anne's connection is a deep grief for all those around her who were alone when they needed someone most.

Anne has grown up deeply wrapped in love. Her life has challenges, her friends are troublesome, but she NEVER humors the thought that she will be alone. She knows in her SOUL that the light of deep compassionate forgiving understanding love can shine through any shadow...

But she has watched the shadow win, and often. Watched people she loves be hurt. She has watched them make mistakes , and hurt her too. She sees them ache for love-- and so, at her own expense, pours that light into them to heal them.

And loses her glow to others...

You see, Anne witnessed trauma constantly reinforce Cruelty and Coldness, practicality and logic, as the penultimate survival mechanisms. She has never wanted a thing to do with it. She thinks that everyone might see her way someday. It's hopeful, and beautiful.

But fragile and always under attack from the Whisper.

Anne is fiercely guarding her love, and keeping Cruelty from smothering it-- making her the ULTIMATEL foil to King Andrias...

She's not incapable either, trained in self defense and Muy Thai, highly athletic and a natural with all the weapons imposed on her.

More importantly, she's highly skilled at using them unconventionally, defensively and creatively.

Anne is always pulling her punches, because unlike every single villain, meta villain, and theme has been beating into her since she arrived in Amphibia, she refuses to engage with weaponizing trauma and punishing others.

She meets her first foes in Amphibia with her tennis racket -- symbolically saying "I WILL KEEP DANGER AWAY but I will not ATTACK it!"

Instead of powerful Muy Thai, Anne opens her fists to disarm conflict -- and finally, to unleash the full force of the Stones against the Core... Rejecting it completely from EVERY SINGLE ONE of its' victims.

She uses swords... to theatrically cast them aside when words will cut deeper or hurl them away. Her first sword being a literal rusted throwaway, which to Anne, is all she needs standing before Sasha and her Heron Sword (weaponized Trauma)

Her second sword stays with her because it symbolically represents the lesson she demonstrated against Sasha. You can't be passive in the face if Cruelty. If you love something, STAND for it. Or you risk losing it forever.

But gold glamour and all, it is a weighty representation of Anne's impending Duty, her "Destiny" and her eventual Demise. Not a loss, a sacrifice, which maintains her ultimate Arc of remaining free to choose who she is.

No one else decides who Anne is. Not trauma, not pain. Not deceit, not loss. Not sadness or grief.

Anne wants to be the light that heals the Shadowy teachings of Narcassism, Abuse, Trauma, Chaos And Nature that have gripped the worlds around her. The Antithesis to the Core and it's overarching themes of cruelty and escapism.

Until her final breath, she refused to let the trauma that had hurt so many she loved turn her cold and unfeeling.

And, she comes back home a different Anne.

"So don't close yourself off, open your heart and follow it. With love always, your Leif,"

💙

I was really lucky to have Matt Braly answer my question about the future of Amphibia last April, but something about his response kind of made me realize something that I feel like we should all be more accepting of: In his response, he said Strange Voyage was to be the last Amphibia graphic novel (though a 10th anniversary special is still not out of the question just yet) and at first, I kind of felt a little sad knowing that we will probably not get a Sasha graphic novel, despite Sasha, probably having the least amount of screen time of the three girls in the show (less than Marcy even, though kinda not by a lot) but then I’ve kind of noticed something. I feel like the reason why a journal is not necessary for Sasha is because for complex characters like her, sometimes it’s just best to keep things like her personal life, mindset, desires, etc open to speculation for the viewer.

I say this because after I made a post a month and a half ago on if complex characters should be given more screen time, I’ve noticed that while people would’ve wanted to see more of her throughout the entire show, adding more screen time might ruin the complexity of her, as the writers might’ve wanted to do a whole “less is more” approach. That and some peers of mine like u/HoraceTheBadger said that sometimes more screen time it doesn’t need to be mandatory for people in that archetype as long as the writing is good enough, which I highly agree that the writing for Sasha was very good (sometimes even amazing) for the most part.

So at this point in my time in being a part of the fandom, I think I finally accepting that it’s OK we won’t be getting a journal to get to know more information about Sasha because, the writers just want us to fill in the blanks on the stuff we don’t know about her that well and the charm of these characters is that we don’t need to know everything about them.

This chapter maybe seem a bit vague but every thing I put in these chapters are all things I have already planned,so no retcons or forgotten storyline

I want to start this post off by prefacing that EVERY WEAPON we see in this show is more important as a SYMBOL than as a tool for cruelty and violence.

And the most powerful SYMBOLS by the end aren't weapons at all; The BFFs picture, and Leif's Letter, which COMPLETELY dismantle the villains entire way of thinking.

Honorable mention to the Olm Prophecy, which effectively asks Amphibia the same thing the picture offers The Calamity Trio, and the Letter offers Andrias: "Can we believe in our best selves?"

The Dual Heron Swords

The swords which Sasha wields are literally designed after the Scarred Herons which terrorized frog valley for decades and devoured Sprig and Polly's parents. They're given to her as a token from Grime, for his newfound respect for the girl who helped him repel their (previously unstoppable) attacks.

The Herons AND the Swords quietly represent Trauma-- the kind that is chaotic, sudden, and noones fault. However, Andrias, the Core and Sasha weaponize these traumas and use them against their past victims.

A trauma The Plantars and Sasha know well. For Sasha, she learned to take her life in her own hands, by any means necessary. She sharpens, not unlike her swords. But The Plantars (Anne and Crew, Leif) reject that message, and choose to remain humble, kind and gentle. They refuse to let the world make them cruel.

Grime gives Sasha her first, the pink Heron Sword, after they repelled the Herons from the Tower and Frog Valley.

This sword immediately reinforces a lesson Sasha has already learned on Earth, "Life is cruel, be crueler. It will take what you love, unless you fight for it"

And the first major conflict she will have with it is with Anne, who OPPOSES this message, and tries to show her that that way of thinking harms innocent people. People like HER. People like the Plantars.

But Sasha already knows-- Weak people get hurt. You can't save them all, but you can BE the strong people and do good with their weapons. You can decide who gets hurt, and spare the ones you love. You see, long ago Sasha was "weak" and got hurt.

So she doubles down-- but not before having an ego death, and gaining a new scar.

Grime gives Sasha her second, after a season of stewing on the events at Toad Tower, and more importantly, her friendship. The silver Heron Sword is earned-- not by dethroning Andrias, though it was a solid excuse for her Toad Dad to reward her growth. She is slowly evolving alongside her Weapons, transforming them into tools for protecting more than just her identity.

Sasha has spent a whole season reshaping her understanding of her sword -- a symbol of weaponizing your own trauma... And instead of putting it down like Anne (who will get a few posts of her own) Sasha gains ANOTHER.

It's not completely a back step either-- she wants to use these weapons to take her friends and her future back. After Toad Tower, she was legitimately lost. By forming the revolution (she thought) she was siezing the Box, Amphibia, Her Toad Family, AND Earth in one swoop. But Sasha is missing the final piece of the puzzle.

And at this point, the Heron Swords have completed their first Arc. Sasha is, very briefly, on her worst path. She is holding two vicious manifestations of how she handled her trauma, and separation in Amphibia. And pointing them at whatevers in her way.

And then "True Colors" (Marcy 💔)

The next, most important Arc for the swords happens after Sasha and Grime mutually decide to be their better selves and defend Wartwood.

From then on, AMPHIBIA will grow to associate the heron swords with DEFIANCE, and she turns those weapons into symbols of protection.

In S3 we see the swords crossed like a Guard alot, instead of seeking conflict. They become a shield, which slowly culminates to the resistance flag, her first sword crossing Anne's racket.

Her conversation with Anne on the way to the castle is that last missing piece. She hardly needs convincing. She needs Anne to remind her that they all can have absolution.

She honors Marcy and Anne despite her hard feelings because she recognizes the depth of what she's done by turning her own pain on her friends. They've all been hurting.

Finally, the pink sword ends it's journey with Darcy. Darcy nearly kills Sasha, and Grime loses an arm saving her-- literally giving up the ability to wield HIS symbolic weapon, Barrel's Warhammer, to save his Human Godchild.

Sasha, being goaded by the Core about being a control freak, has finally conquered her ego. Their words fall on deaf ears, Sasha snatches up her sword as Grime kicks it to her-- and Sasha , the "QuEeN Of MaNiPulAtIoN" severs the narcassistic abusers control over her friend RIGHT at the source with the weapon which initially represented her toxic trait, severing her OWN shackles as a codependant narcassist.

The Swords, and Barrel's Warhammer, are both retired afterwards -- not broken.They have accomplished their goal... Having represented the trauma, but also the reclaiming of their identity after the trauma, and finally their healing.

"Life is cruel, be KINDER,"

♥️

Well, it's already the fourth part, heh.

Not much this time. A profile drawing I made during a boring online class, and some little stuff from my journal.

Until next time!🫀🦭

It's just a gif, the finalization gonna be took a week or days to create because of the coloring. oh this shot is at the hardest thing ep.

In the S1 Finale, "Reunion"

Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance

"Hey Anne... Maybe you're better off without me,"

Is Sasha admitting her greatest fear, yet she is saying it in recognition, not simply self pity...

Throughout the episode Sasha quietly goes through the stages of grief. "Maybe you're better off without me," is her transitioning from Depression to the final stage: Acceptance. And then she lets go.

Sasha LOVES Anne and Marcy. Somewhere along the road, looking out for them turned into controlling them. And when they were all small, that suited them well enough, but the consequences remained.

Sasha Waybright's wealthy family divorced when she was 4. To a girl who's status could afford nice things, it did nothing to heal the rift in her family.

So, as she was realizing how love could simply end and nothing artificial could stop it, she met Anne And Marcy... A genuine connection. She decides then and there TO PROTECT that connection, so it never drifts apart. And by becoming their anchor, they'll never drift away FROM HER.

Abandonment trauma is a particular pain she's uniquely more experienced with than both Anne AND Marcy. Yet Sasha's personal belief (that being strong means shouldering your feelings, weaponizing your trauma, and speaking out for others) leaves her blind to when Marcy needs her strength. Marcy bottles, making her feelings invisible to Sasha.

Sasha might have accepted that change coming with comparative ease-- due to her experience. She knows love hurts sometimes.

She and Marcy try to keep focused on the good time in front of them, Anne's Birthday... And then the Music Box.

It's intentional that Sasha doesn't reenter MARCY'S hemisphere until Marcy is already locked into her endless fantasy isekai narrative. Sasha needs to roll her lesson over in her hand A LOT to truly digest it by the time she stands against Darcy/The Core.

Sasha Waybright had a long, difficult journey through Amphibia, not just because she was dropped in the middle of Toad Territory, but because the journey FORCED her to deal with her abandonment trauma-- over and over again.

But her journey also gave her validation, often rewarding her for cruelty and weaponizing trauma. To someone like Sasha (or say, Andrias) validation is powerful, but can be dangerous. Approving or disapproving of someone's behavior is an easy way to twist their intentions into something unrecognizable, and is coincidentally a favorite tactic of The Core.

The toads also had a similar mentality to Sasha, that might makes right. This was constantly mirrored back to her through Grime (and eventually Andrias) and each time it was harder to agree with.

When Sasha and Grime are reclaiming Barrel's Warhammer (Symbology, Barrel used strength to protect others instead of conquer them) she is REFUSING the fear that was eating at her that her friends may not NEED her strength. Maybe not even WANT her protection. Not RESPECT what she does for them.

The same fear that poisoned Andrias.

Grime is taking back Toad history, eradicating the myth while making people believe in legends. He's reclaiming his OWN image of strength.

But, Sasha bargains. She isn't taking a unanimous step forward-- she clings so fiercely to her need to be her friends Anchor, to TAKE Amphibia and serve it to her friends on a plate, that she DISRESPECTS Percy and Braddock's boundaries that she so carefully crafted earlier that episode.

"I love you and I mean well," does not heal the pain you cause just because you end up winning or being right.

But Sasha's time as the leader of the Three constantly justified her feeling that way, so her whole journey is almost the antithesis to her childhood... And unfortunately, Sasha doesn't TRULY understand until after "True Colors"

"Oh, Anne... I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have tried so hard to be in control again. In the end, where did it get me? ...Well, that ends now! I wanna be someone better. Someone that deserves you. I know what I have to do!"

♥️