True Colors

"True Colors" is the thirty-sixth and final episode of the second season of Amphibia, and the seventy-fifth overall.

It premiered on May 22, 2021.

Synopsis
''The gang travels to Newtopia to say their goodbyes and finally send all three girls home. However, someone has other plans.''

Plot
In a flashback, Marcy is at the library studying intently when she gets a text from Sasha reminding her about Anne's birthday and just as she is about to leave, a mysterious book falls by her from the librarian's cart. She reads the contents and after randomly flipping through pages, learns about the Calamity Box and finds its ability to transport people to other worlds. Ridiculing the nature of such magical objects, she suddenly receives a text from her parents demanding that she come home immediately as they have something important to discuss. Marcy arrives at her home, however, the conversation is not shown but she appears visibly upset and declares that her parents are ruining her life as she runs away to the sounds of crashing furniture. Distressed and very upset, Marcy runs through town only to come across the thrift store and recognize the box from the book she was reading earlier at the library. She then receives another text from Sasha asking where she is, with Marcy declaring that she has found the perfect gift for Anne for her birthday. Several Months Later, the three girls, the Plantar family, Grime and Frobo all arrive at the gates of Newtopia on Joe Sparrow. Marcy asks Sasha and Grime to keep their hoods up until they give the music box to King Andrias so she can put in a good word for them and clear them of any crimes they had committed such as military failure at Toad Tower and refusing to surrender to General Yunan. Sprig is saddened that their adventures are over, but Anne reminds them as long as they have the music box, they can see each other any time they want. As they enter the throne room, Andrias greets them and is delighted they were successful in their mission, but just as Anne is about to hand the box over to Andrias, Sasha and Grime make their move by using Grime's tongue to steal the music box from Anne's hand. Sasha reveals her true intentions to the astonished Anne as Grime pulls out Barrel's Warhammer and smashes the ground, creating a crater and stunning the group after effortlessly defeating the royal guards. Andrias, who bellows at the duo and charges at Grime and smashes against him, throwing him into a stone pillar only to find Sasha threatening to destroy the music box by dangling it from her place at the balcony; Andrias reminds her that the music box is her only way home, but Sasha explains that she's not sure she wants to go home, especially when she can rule an entire kingdom instead of some middle school.

With Andrias distracted with Sasha, Grime is able to incapacitate him with Barrel's Warhammer by slamming it into the newt's leg. Grime announces that if any guard were to resist then he would finish off their leader, resulting in the guards giving up their weapons to the disguised toads throughout the city who establish control. The toads pull open the gates which are now accessible for the rest of the toad army that will soon be arriving. Grime orders his toad companions to tie up Andrias and take him to a large cell while Sasha continues to act cordial and affectionate towards Anne and Marcy and even offers them to join her, but Anne refuses, calling her a horrible person and that she's done being friends with her. Marcy tries to end the hostilities peacefully by asking them to come to an agreement, but to no avail. With that, Sasha tries to send Anne back to Earth to separate her from her surrogate frog family forever, but can't figure out how to get the box to work as she repeatedly opens and closes the lid unsuccessfully. Instead, she orders the guards to send Anne to the dungeons, along with Marcy, the Plantars, Lady Olivia and Frobo, until she can figure out the box. While being escorted down the hall, Anne condemns herself for believing Sasha had truly changed for the better and angrily headbutts the toad in front of her as the rest of the toad soldiers point their weapons at them threateningly. A dark shadow is then seen crawling along the roof before plunging down and knocking out the toads in one swipe. It is revealed to be General Yunan who tries to introduce herself, but is interrupted by Olivia stating they don't have time and opens a secret passage located along the hallway, as they head over to hide in Sal's old sandwich shop as the riot continues around them. When Marcy informs them that the rest of the toad army will reach the city in less than an hour, the group becomes dejected and saddened by their failure, but Anne motivates them to fight back and comes up with a plan to stop Sasha and Grime. Hop Pop, Marcy and Olivia will break King Andrias out of the dungeon while Polly, Yunan and Frobo engage in a frontal assault on the toads in the city. Meanwhile, Anne herself and Sprig will close the gate to prevent the toad army from entering. King Andrias, who had been placed in his cell and is surrounded by toad guards suddenly finds an intruder in the dungeons, revealed to be Hop Pop, who begins to put his acting skills to use and distracts the guards long enough to allow Marcy and Olivia to assist Andrias in his escape. Meanwhile, Polly, Yunan and Frobo attack the toad guards giving Anne and Sprig time to cross over to the tower containing the winch.

While Sasha is lounging out in the throne room, Grime announces he had got her a gift and decided this would be the right time to offer it to her; a second sword so she can dual wield. Sasha is overjoyed, but when she looks at her reflection in the blade, she is saddened as she begins to wonder if Anne was right about her and is not sure what she wants anymore. Grime tries to cheer her up by letting her redecorate the castle, but when they tear down a tapestry, they find a mural under it showing the king using the box to cause destruction by invading other worlds, making Sasha and Grime realize that Andrias may not be the benevolent and kind monarch he makes himself out to be. Just then they notice through a window that Anne and the others have escaped and have attempted to close off the gates. Sasha tries to warn Anne about her new discovery relating to Andrias, but Anne is understandably still furious with her and prepares to duel once again with her lifelong friend. Anne rushes at Sasha and the two engage in combat with enhanced skill compared to their previous fight at Toad Tower. As Sasha dodges Anne's swings, she manages to grab her arm and attempts to talk some sense into her before being pushed away. Grime, who continues to climb the tower to reach Sasha, collides with Sprig who had thrown himself off the tower to occupy Grime. Anne manages to defeat her opponent by pulling her own cape over her face and sweeping Sasha off her feet. Meanwhile Sprig is assaulted by Grime who swings his Warhammer which is precariously dodged by Sprig, before pulling out his slingshot and shooting a stone at Grime's one good eye resulting in him dropping the Warhammer upon himself. Anne manages to close the gate just in time and as King Andrias emerges from the sewer gates accompanied by Hop Pop, Marcy, and Olivia, he orders the royal newt guards to break free and arrest the toad rebels. With the toad invasion failed, Sasha and Grime are brought before the king with their hands bound in rope. Sasha once again tries to inform Anne of the king's true intentions, only for Yunan to cover her mouth with her tail. When Anne gives Andrias the box, he begins to announce an ancient tale to everyone present about a time when Newtopia was a technologically advanced and superior society, powered by the Calamity Box. However he was betrayed by those who he thought of as friends, and the music box was stolen from him resulting in the fall of a once great kingdom. Andrias claims no one remembered what Amphibia was like 1,000 years ago, but now that he got the box back he will use its power to restore Newtopia to glory, revealing that his ancestors were not explorers (Like he previously said in "A Day at the Aquarium") but instead they were "glorious" conquerors as he puts the music box on a pedestal which powers up his castle as the three gems' energy flows throughout the structure, activating thrusters enabling the castle to fly and reactivating ancient factories all over Amphibia that create a frobot army which arrive at the castle within moments.

Andrias informs the human girls that he can't send them home just yet because he does not want them to warn the people of Earth of the coming invasion; to everyone's horror he reveals that he plans to finish his ancestors' work by conquering and ruling over all other worlds. When Anne and Sasha claim to the king that they'll stop him, he determines that a demonstration of his power is in order and uses the beacon-like structure located atop the castle to destroy the North Toad Tower. After witnessing such a devastating atrocity, Sasha appeals to Anne by telling her that they have to stop him together while Anne admits that Sasha had indeed been right, and regrets the fact that she and her companions couldn't see what was right in front of them all this time. The group establish that if they can recover the music box, they will have a fighting chance, but Marcy interrupts them and protests to the king by declaring this was not part of the plan he had told her, only for him to admit he had been deceiving her all this time. When the bewildered Anne and Sasha are so puzzled and they ask what they're talking about, Marcy explains to them that Andrias promised to take them to other worlds so they could have even more adventures like the ones they had in Amphibia forever. When asked why she made such a deal, Andrias decides to reveal Marcy's dark secret; she got the human girls stranded in Amphibia on purpose, leaving both Anne and Sasha in shock.

Marcy admits that she knew of the music box's power beforehand, then explains that on Anne's birthday, her father got a new job out of state and her family was moving away, which resulted in her wanting to utilize the box so the three could stay together and not be separated. Anne asks how Marcy could do such a thing, because of how much she missed her family and her life back on Earth, so Marcy tries to justify her actions by reminding them of the unique experiences they had, how Anne and Sasha have grown as people in Amphibia and Anne's friendship with Sprig were all because of her, only for a distraught Anne to back away as she shakes her head in disbelief. Marcy drops on her knees crying and whispering that she just didn't want to be alone and Andrias mocks her for her naivety. Anne looks around and realizes that while she and her two human friends had made a lot of mistakes, what Andrias was doing was evil and vows to stop him.

Anne pulls out her sword and cuts Sasha free as the group draw their weapons against Andrias, who is amused by their resistance. He then draws out a giant laser sword and orders his mechanical minions to attack. Anne and Sasha engage in combat with the frobot soldiers and manage to defeat a handful of them before Marcy pulls herself together and joins the fight as well. Hop Pop and Grime team up to take out some frobots. Sprig uses his slingshot to block the frobots' lasers with mud causing them to overload and explode. Yunan protects Oliva as she slices through an incoming frobot. Frobo is destroyed while protecting Polly from the king, leaving only his head, while Polly manages to finally grow a pair of legs (the reason for her constantly scratching herself this entire episode). She runs and manages to grab the box, but Andrias grabs Sprig and threatens to drop him if the box isn't put back. After the group complies with his demand, Anne begs him to release Sprig, but Andrias claims that the closer one was to their friends, the more it hurt to see them go before releasing Sprig from his grasp as he plummets to his imminent death. After a grief-stricken Anne witnesses her best friend falling to his doom, she revisits her adventures and interactions with her first friend in a series of flashbacks and falls to the floor tearing up. The second gemstone on the Calamity Box starts to flicker and Anne is surrounded by blue light, making Andrias realize she is still connected to the box and retained the powers. With the king distracted by Anne, Marcy escapes through a window and summons Joe Sparrow to rescue Sprig, while everyone else is awestruck at Anne's extraordinary new power. She punches Andrias with sheer force, knocking his crown off his head, easily dodges all of her enemies' attacks, destroys the remaining frobots, breaks though Andrias' energy shield and beats the king down to the floor. After Anne is worn down, she loses her aura and collapses to the floor, Sprig runs up to her and she is thrilled that he is still alive as her frog family embrace her in a hug. Seeing that she can't fully control her power, an amused and relieved Andrias manages to pull himself up and then decides since she's the only one left with the power to stop him, he can't afford to let Anne live, but before he can do anything, Marcy manages to take the Calamity Box and open a portal to Earth while Sasha and Grime keep the king busy to allow Anne to enter the portal. Anne and the Plantars jump through, along with Frobo's head, but when Anne beckons Marcy to come through, Andrias impales her through the chest with his sword, while Anne and the Plantars watch in horror. Marcy manages to apologize to a heartbroken Anne for her actions before collapsing, dropping the Box and closing the portal.

Anne and the Plantars awaken on the hood of a green sedan car in the middle of Los Angeles traffic. When the Plantars ask where they are, Anne solemnly comments that she is finally home.

Cast

 * Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
 * Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
 * Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar & Toad Soldiers (credited as additional voices)
 * Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
 * Haley Tju as Marcy Wu
 * Anna Akana as Sasha Waybright
 * Troy Baker as Captain Grime, Balcony Singer (credited as additional voices), & Toad Soldiers (credited as additional voices)
 * Keith David as King Andrias
 * Michelle Dockery as Lady Olivia
 * Zehra Fazal as General Yunan
 * Matt Braly as Frobo (credited as additional voices)
 * Stephen Root as Mayor Toadstool
 * Jack McBrayer as Toadie

Additional voices

 * Sumalee Montano as Mrs. Wu
 * Eric Bauza as Mr. Wu

Non-speaking cameo

 * Wally Ribbiton
 * Ivy Sundew
 * Sadie Croaker
 * Rosemary, Lavender & Ginger Flour
 * Gertie
 * Captain Bufo

Other characters

 * Toad Army
 * Joe Sparrow
 * Frobots

Songs

 * "Anne's Power"

Trivia

 * This is the final episode of the four 22-minute specials in Season 2.
 * However, the episode is actually two minutes longer, making this the first 24-minute episode and longest episode of the series thus far.
 * Originally, the episode was supposed to air on May 1, 2021, but was delayed due to a scheduling shift and was replaced with a re-airing of "Night Drivers" and "Return to Wartwood".
 * On May 2, 2021, the episode was accidentally released on iTunes, but it was deleted from the site hours later.
 * 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 show runners and viewers alike.
 * In the time 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 along the message. It started with Grime (Troy Baker), then was succeeded by Maddie (Jill Bartlett), Loggle (Brian Maillard), General Yunan (Zehra Fazal), Felicia (Kaitlyn Robrock), Hop Pop (Bill Farmer), and finally Curator Ponds (Alex Hirsch).
 * Curator Ponds' message references the Gravity Falls scene where Stan Pines says a line, "Oh this...this is beautiful", that achieved memetic status.
 * Alex Hirsch responded to the Twitter post of the Curator Ponds video with one of Frog Soos.
 * In the original airing, a disclaimer warning was added in at the beginning of the intense final scenes, and a post-credits scene that featured the new opening theme of the third season was shown.
 * The opening theme song is only played at the end, except it's the new version for the third season.
 * Like in "Reunion", instead of the animation from the credits of the second season, where Anne and the Plantars are on the road in the Fwagon, the episode shows scrolling images of scenes from the entire second season.
 * Anne and the Plantars leaving the ruins from "Fort in the Road".
 * Anne reuniting with Marcy in "Marcy at the Gates".
 * The group photo from the end of the previous episode.
 * However, when it aired on Disney Asia, the credits were pushed back in favor of the season 3 intro, displaying the credits on both Marcy's final moments and the Plantars' first on Earth.
 * Sprig and Grime fighting is a reference to the series' pilot, where Sprig's prototype, Weed, fights Grime.
 * This is the first episode to get a TV-Y7-FV rating due to Marcy getting injured by King Andrias' sword, which was hinted by the warning that displayed before the episode, showing the card "This episode has some intense final scenes. It might be scary for younger viewers". This warning was also used for the second promo for this episode.
 * This is one of the reasons the episode's delayed, as the executives wanted to ensure to the audience that Marcy was alright.
 * The title could be a possible reference to a few things:
 * The idiom "true colors" describes a person's real personality and motives, and it is usually used negatively. This is fitting because the episode reveals Andrias' evil and greedy nature, which he has hidden under a façade of peace and goodness.
 * The title could also be a reference to Sasha's betrayal and, more shockingly, Marcy's betrayal.
 * The title could also be a reference to Anne's transformation and the revelation of the powers given to her from the Calamity Box. These powers change the color of her hair and eyes to the blue of the heart gem.
 * In the Polish version, the background lines in Los Angeles appear, which are not in the original version.
 * Sasha trying to send Anne and Marcy home with the Calamity Box, but nothing happens, is a call-back to when Anne did the same thing at the end of "Anne or Beast?".

Revelations and significant events

 * It is revealed that Marcy had knowledge of the Calamity Box and its powers, thanks to a book she read in the library. Discovering this book is why, when she found the box in the Thrift Stop, she sent a text message to Sasha saying that it was the perfect gift for Anne's birthday. This makes Marcy responsible for sending the three girls to Amphibia in the first place.
 * Marcy claims that the only reason she did it was because her father got a new job out of state, and her family would have to move. She wanted to use the box, so she could stay with Anne and Sasha forever, despite separating them from their lives and families, including herself from hers. However, her desire for friends with the methods she used made Anne, Sasha, and the Plantars feel disgusted and very upset by Marcy's secret.
 * Grime's green eye is his good eye, which means his blue eye is his bad eye. This was rather apparent as it was the one with a scar.
 * King Andrias reveals that he wanted the box to bring back the "old glory" to Newtopia and to be able to rule all worlds (possibly other planets and dimensions), and that his intention was never to send the three girls back home but instead to rule over Earth.
 * He explains that the box was stolen from him years before, and this caused Newtopia's greatness to fall.
 * His flashback also showed how the box actually served as a source for Newtopia to be capable of multiple technological advances.
 * King Andrias destroys Frobo by smashing the robot to pieces with his right fist.
 * Anne siphons power from the Calamity Box and gains unique, new, and inhuman powers due to the fury she feels over King Andrias dropping Sprig out of the castle.
 * Marcy is severely wounded by King Andrias. This puts her in stasis from within a rejuvenation tank, as seen in the third season opening theme and following episode.
 * Anne returns to Earth, with the Plantars (along with Frobo's remains) getting transported with her.

Continuity

 * Polly finally gets her legs, which Marcy predicted would happen during the episode "Marcy at the Gates".
 * This episode takes place six months after the episode "Anne or Beast?", and two months after the events of the episode "Marcy at the Gates".
 * Conveniently, Marcy mentions that Polly will get her legs in two months, as mentioned during the episode "Marcy at the Gates".
 * Anne mentions the events of "A Night at the Inn", "The Domino Effect", and "Handy Anne". During her emotional remembrance, clips from "Anne or Beast?", and "Reunion" are shown, along with a reenactment of the end credits from the first season, where Anne and Sprig are reading at night.
 * The unknown frog and toad that were seen in a torn portrait in "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers" are seen in Andrias' flashback and are revealed to be former friends of his.
 * Marcy reveals that the deal King Andrias proposed to her at the end of the episode "A Day at the Aquarium" was to bring him the box with the three loaded gems to carry out his plan, and in exchange, he would take the three girls alongside him to the new worlds the box would enable him to travel to.
 * Gertie, the restaurant waiter and the newt singing at the beginning of "Scavenger Hunt", can be seen in this episode.
 * Sal's abandoned restaurant is visited again as a temporary hideout.
 * Hop Pop's acting skills from "A Caravan Named Desire" are put to good use to distract the toad soldiers guarding King Andrias.
 * Hop Pop's monologue used to distract the toad soldiers was about Charlie Bigbottom, the Plantar's pet that Hop Pop misses dearly; this is his second mention since his first in "The Domino Effect".
 * The Ruins of Despair, from the episode "Fort in the Road", can be seen producing more frog robots.
 * An instrumental remix version of the song "No Big Deal" from "Battle of the Bands" can be heard while Anne fights King Andrias.
 * The track was later released by Matt Braly on his Twitter account, which was titled as "Anne's Power". It was also released by TJ Hill on his Soundcloud.
 * Anne's powers coming from the Calamity Box are due to the Calamity Box being only partially recharged thus retaining her connection with it, as shown in "The Second Temple", to which no one knew about, due to Anne blowing off the gem's charging in favor of rescuing the Planters and Marcy.

Production notes

 * Similar to "After the Rain", when the synopsis for this episode was revealed on Twitter, it was noticeably kept hidden.
 * There was more to the fight between Anne and Sasha, shown in a Twitter post by storyboard artist Inbal Breda.
 * The shot where Sasha confronts Anne atop the gates of Newtopia in the Season 2B trailer is noticeably different from how it is shown in the final episode: it has improvements in the background, lighting, and overall cinematography.

Allusions

 * ' and ' - The characters Bill Cipher and Goliath appear in the book in which Marcy discovers the Calamity Box. Both characters were respectively voiced in their shows by Alex Hirsch and Keith David.
 * - The page on which Goliath appears is a reference to Leonardo da Vinci's drawing, Vitruvian Man.
 *  - The powers Anne gains from the Calamity Box are a reference to the Super Saiyans.
 * Donald Duck - The back of Marcy's phone has an image of a duck wearing a blue hat, similar to Donald.
 *  - On the table Marcy is sitting at in the library, there's a carving of a Chao. Also, Anne used the power of the Calamity Box to transform, which is similar to Sonic using the Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic.
 *  - The ending sequence in which Anne and the Plantars are transported to Earth was inspired by the opening scenes in the first episode of Sonic X.
 * - One of the promos for the episode references the famous artist Bob Ross.
 *  - Another one of the promos is a reference to Kingdom Hearts II.
 *  - King Andrias' flying palace and his robot army reference the flying fortress and its robot sentinels from the Ghibli film, which were also going to be used for world conquest.
 *  - King Andrias' flying palace and his robot army could also reference the flying section of land taken from the city of Sokovia and Ultron Sentries from the Marvel film, which were also going to be used for world conquest.
 *  - King Andrias has a lightsaber-like sword as his primary weapon.
 *  - During Anne's powered-up attack, King Andrias protects himself with a pentagonal shield that references the Absolute Terror Field (A.T. Field) used as a barrier by both Angels and Evangelions.
 *  - Sasha and Grime tearing off a tapestry showing King Andrias as a benevolent ruler only to find a mural showing him as a bloodthirsty conqueror is a parallel to the scene of Hela destroying a mural portraying Odin as a benevolent ruler that covers one showing his past as a conqueror.
 *  - King Andrias impaling Marcy with his sword is identical to the iconic scene where Sephiroth did the same to Aerith.

Errors

 * When the episode was initially leaked on iTunes, a group shot during the climax showed a generic green-skinned male newt with a beret instead of Lady Olivia. This was corrected when the episode was officially aired.
 * When King Andrias threatens to tell everyone Marcy's secret the top of his head is colored dark purple instead of the usual white.
 * When King Andrias is about to explain about Amphibia's former greatness, the x slash on his armor is on the left side of his body, not the right.
 * When the toads invade the city, the 2 newts that controlled the gate were replaced with generic orange guards.
 * After Anne destroyed the orange force field, her left sock is missing, but comes back when she got exhausted.