Curator Ponds is a minor antagonistic character of Amphibia. He is the owner of the Curiosity Hut in the town of Stony Gulch.
Appearance
Body
The Curator is a light orange aged frog with large, yellow eyes and bushy-grey eyebrows.
Clothing
He wears a black suit over a white shirt with a red bow tie similar in color to his maroon fez with an amphibian symbol. He carries an eight-ball cane with him and wears an unnecessary black eye patch over one of his eyes.
Personality
Like the character he resembles, Stan Pines, the Curator is sneaky and greedy, as he possesses an affinity for money and an air for showmanship. Unlike his counterpart, the Curator has a wicked side and is willing to hurt and imprison others for his own gain.
Background
Curator of the Curiosity Hunt
Curator Ponds is the curator of the Curiosity Hunt in Stony Gulch, that at one point he was arrested and sent to frog prison, but was later released.[2] Then, when he saw all of Amphibia's rare and neat creatures, he decided to capture them and turn them into Wax Statues. During a trip to Newtopia, he found a Skip Man,[2] which came from Earth and belonged to a scientist known as Dr. Frakes.[3]
A strange creature
Ponds meets Anne Boonchuy and the Plantar family after they stop in Stony Gulch during their trip to Newtopia, and when they visit the Curiosity Hut, he gives them a tour around the place. When Anne sees the Skip Man and is interested in it, he offers to sell it to her for a million coppers, but seeing that Anne can't afford that, he proposes a deal with her in which he gives her the Skip Man if she gives him something rare to display. Anne seeing that she is something rare to Amphibia, reveals to Ponds that she is a human and proposes to be the main attraction for a day in exchange for the Skip Man, to which Ponds accepts. Ponds, however, has secretly other intentions for Anne, which he tells to Frog Soos, his employee. That same night, Anne sneaks off to the Curiosity Hut to see him and fulfill the agreement, only to discover that Ponds cheated her. The curator then confesses to her that all his attractions are of live creatures frozen in wax, and that he will do the same to her. When the Plantars go to rescue Anne, Ponds begins to fight Sprig and Hop Pop to prevent them from taking her away, and at that moment, Polly discovers that all the creatures are frozen in wax, and together with Sprig and Hop Pop begin to free all the creatures with torches. When they are released, the creatures chase after Ponds and when they catch him, they drag him into a room to take revenge, to which the curator tries to make a deal with the Plantars to avoid that, but fails in the attempt. As the door to the room closes, a red liquid begins to pour from under the door, but he confirms that it is only wax.[2] Subsequently, the creatures end up killing him.[4]
Sightings
Behind the scenes
Name and basis
Stan Pines
Mr. Ponds serves as an homage to the character Stan Pines from the Disney Channel series Gravity Falls.[1] He resembles Stan in appearance and attire, as well as sharing occupation and voice actor. Stan, in turn, is inspired by Alex Hirsch's eponymous grandfather.[5]
His last name "Ponds" is an allusion to Stan's surname "Pines".
Voice
Mr. Ponds is voiced by Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls and the voice of Stan, Soos, McGucket, and Bill Cipher in the same show. Hirsch also voiced King and Hooty from The Owl House, another Disney Television Animation produced series.
Debut
Mr. Ponds made his debut and only appearance in "Wax Museum".
Foreign voice actors
| Language version | Actors | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
Carlos Celestre | |
 Portugese (Brazil)
|
Nestor Chiesse | |
 Spanish (Castilian)
|
José María Gagino | |
 Indonesian
|
Muhammad Guritno | |
 Polish
|
Jarosław Boberek | |
 Thai
|
Rattanachai Lueangwongngam (รัตนชัย เหลืองวงศ์งาม) |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- He being confused with a wax statue in the episode was a reference to Stan that passed by the same thing with Dipper and Mabel.
- The Curator also has a fondness for cans of meat, which was a meal that Stan Pines also liked to eat.
- On Reddit, series creator Matt Braly stated "he's definitely dead" after the episode final.[4]
- His death from the Wax figures is a reference to Wax Stan Pines getting his head cut off by Wax Sherlock Holmes from Gravity Falls episode, "Headhunters".
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Schneider, Michael (July 6, 2020). "‘Gravity Falls’ Creator Alex Hirsch Brings Back the Mystery Shack, Sort of, via Disney Channel’s ‘Amphibia’ (EXCLUSIVE)".
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jenava Mie (writer) and Jenn Strickland (director) (August 8, 2020). "Wax Museum". Amphibia. Season 2. Episode 5B. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Todd McClintock (writer) and Joe Johnston (director) (November 20, 2021). "If You Give a Frog a Cookie". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 8B. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Braly, Matt (August 22, 2020). "I'm Matt Braly, creator and executive producer of Amphibia - Ask me anything!!!" (Reddit post). “He's definitely dead”
- ↑ Hirsch, Alex [@_alexhirsch] (July 28, 2012). My real Grandpa Stan (plus me and my sister, during our "chubby baby legs" stage) (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-06-16.
