True Colors (Amphibia)

"True Colors"
Amphibia episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 40
Directed by	Kyler Spears and Jenn Strickland
Story by	Danny Ducker, Joe Johnston, Silver Paul, Eddie West, and Inbal Breda
Teleplay by	Michele Cavin and Jenava Mie
Production code	220
Original air date	May 22, 2021
Running time	24 minutes

"True Colors" is the 40 episode and the season finale of the American animated television series Amphibia, created by Matt Braly. The episode was written by Michael Cavin and Jenava Mie from a story by Danny Ducker, Jow Johnston, Silver Paul, Eddie West, and Inbal Breda and directed by Kyler Spears and Jenn Strickland.

"True Colors was originally supposed to be realized May 1, 2021, but was delayed due to a scheduling shift. On May 2, 2021, the episode was accidentally leaked on iTunes but was quickly taken down. The episode premiered on May 22, 2021, after an Amphibia marathon.

Plot

In a flashback, Marcy Wu is reading at the Library when she stumbles upon a book about the Calamity Box. She receives a text message from Sasha about Anne's birthday then gets another text from her parents who need to talk with her about something important. At Marcy's house, her parents tell her some bad news which makes Marcy run away in tears. After she leaves she sees the Calamity Box in the thrift store and texts Sasha about it being the perfect birthday present for Anne.

Six Months later, Anne along with Marcy, Sasha, Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop, Grime, and Frobo arrive at NEwtopia to give King Andrias the Calamity Box to send them all back home. When they arrive Polly starts feeling itchy on her butt while Anne, Sprig, and Marcy talk about how their adventures are almost over. Marcy asks if she wishes that the adventures could last forever but Anne denies it. When everyone meets King Andrias in the throne room Anne prepares to give him the Calamity Box but suddenly Grime steals the box, gives it to Sasha, and they attack the King and his guard. Sasha threatens the King to stand down or she'll destroy the box. Andrias tries to reason with her if she destroys the box she can't get home, however, Sasha claims she doesn't want to go home but stay and rule over Amphibia. Just then Grime initiates the Toad rebellion across Newtopia and states and a whole army is on their way here then sends Andrias to the dungeons.

As Sasha tries to play nice with Anne and Marcy, Anne calls her horrible person and declares them no longer friends. Sasha tries to send Anne back home with the music box but it doesn't work so she sends everyone to the dungeons. general Yunan then arrives and saves everyone then they all leave through a secret passage by Lasy Olivia. In a hiding place, Anne rallies up everyone to fight back against the Toad Rebellion and comes up with a plan. Marcy, Lady Olivia, and Hop Pop will free King Andrias, while Polly, Frobo, and General Yunan fight off against the Toad Soldiers and Anne and Sprig will try to close the gate before the whole army arrives. Meanwhile, Sasha is sitting on the throne when Grime arrives and givers her a present and new sword. Sasha then starts to wonder if Anne was right about her being a horrible person and claims she doesn't know what she wants. Grime tries to cheer her up by pulling down a tapestry of King Andrias which reveals a mural of Andrias using the Calamity Box to cause destruction and mayhem. Realizing that Andrias is not what he seems and noticing Anne and Sprig trying to close the gates Sasha and Grime try to stop them.

While Sprig deals with Grime Sasha try to warn Anne about Andrias but Anne is understandably furious with her and continues to close the gate. Sasha tries to fight off Anne but gets Beaten, Sprig easily defeats Grime, Polly, Yunan, and Frobo defeat the Toad Soldiers, and Marcy, Olivia, and Hop Pop free the kind who calls in his guard to arrest the Toad Soldiers. In the throne room, Grime and Sasha are tied up and Frobo holds their weapons, while continues to scratch her butt. The King arrives with Marcy, Olivia, and Hop Pop and declares that he's ready to send the girls home. Sasha tries again to warn Anne but General Yunan covers her mouth with her tail. Anne gives Andrias the Calamity Box who then reveals how long ago his kingdom was glorious until he was betrayed by his friends who stole the box from him causing his kingdom to lose its glory and become forgotten. He states that with the Calamity Box he will bring his kingdom back to glory and reveals that his ancestors were not explorers but conquerors. He then puts the box on a pedestal which powers up his castle causing it to fly off the ground and into the sky he then reactivates the robot factories making his robot army.

Andrias reveals he plans to conquer not just Amphibia but all worlds including the girls' world. Anne and Sasha say that they'll stop him but Andrias decides to demonstrate his power by using his laser cannon to destroy a Toa Towers, much to Grime and Sasha's horror. Marcy then speaks to Andrias saying that it wasn't part of the plan but Andrias states he had to say what he had to in order for her to bring back the box fully charged. Andrias then reveals to Anne and Sasha that Marcy purposely stranded them in Amphibia on purpose. Marcy confesses that Andrias was going to take them all with him to explore the new worlds together and that on the day of Anne's birthday Marcy's dad got transferred at work was going to move out of state. So Marcy no wanting to be apart from her friends decided to use the Calamity Box to keep them together in Amphibia. Anne is shocked by Marcy's action but Marcy tries to defend herself by how their adventure had changed Anne and Sasha and how it gave Anne her friendship with Sprig. But disgusted by Marcy's action Anne just walks away.

Anne declares that even though the three of them have made mistakes Andrias is a bad guy who needs to be stopped. Anne then frees Sasha and Grime who fight by her side along with Marcy, Yunan, and Olivia. Just then Andrias is about to squish Polly when Frobo stops him so Andrias destroys Frobo much to Polly's sadness. He then tries to squish Polly but she escapes after growing her new legs. Polly then heads for the Calamity Box when Andrias threaten to throw Sprig off the window. Anne makes Polly put the box back but Andrias throws Sprig of anyway. Shocked and saddened by the loss and Sprig Anne regains connection to the blue gem on the Calamity Box which gives her magical powers and turns her hair blue. She fights off Andrias then faints. Sprig then comes to Anne after being rescued by Marcy, as Sasha and Grime fight off Andrias, Marcy uses the box to send Anne home with the Plantars but gets stabbed in the back by Andrias' sword and faints.

The box then drops and transports Anne, Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop and Frobo's remains to Anne's home in Los Angeles.

Reception

When the episode was initially leaked, a group shot during the climax showed a generic green-skinned newt with a beret instead of Lady Olivia. This was corrected when the episode was officially aired, but was delayed due to a scheduling shift.

Release

Originally, the episode was supposed to air on May 1, 2021, but was delayed due to a scheduling shift.

On May 2, 2021, the episode was accidentally released on iTunes, hours later it was deleted from the site. Shortly after the delay and leak on iTunes, a surge of fans took to social media to express their resentment towards Disney's treatment of the show with support being displayed from other showrunners and viewers alike.

In the duration between the iTunes leak and the episode's premiere, Matt Braly uploaded several videos on Twitter of characters telling fans to not watch the leak, with their voice actors in character passing the message. It started with Grime, then was succeeded by Maddie, Loggle, Felicia, Hop Pop, and finally Curator Ponds. Curator Ponds' message references the Gravity Falls scene where Stan Pines says “Oh this...this is beautiful” that achieved memetic status.