The Core is the overarching antagonist of Amphibia. It[note 1] was a biomechanical, artificially transplanted collective of minds and the true master over King Andrias. It was created long ago from an amalgamation of the smartest minds from across Amphibia's history. The Core lived under Newtopia Castle in a secret basement in wait until the day when the Calamity Box was returned to Amphibia, while acting as the hidden power behind the Newtopia crown during this time.[4][1]
After over a thousand years in dormancy, the Calamity Box finally presented itself when the prophesised warriors arrived in Amphibia, who were destined to end the Core.[5] Upon this discovery, the Core sought to reclaim the Box and undo the prophecy by having its conscience transported to Marcy's body through a helmet, leaving the deactivated mechanical body behind and creating a new identity, Darcy (short for Dark and Marcy).[4] With one of the warriors as a host, Darcy regained control of Newtopia, and launched an invasion campaign on Earth as she planned to a millennium ago.[1][2]
During the invasion, Marcy was freed from the Core's influence after Sasha used her sword to sever the cord connected to Darcy's helmet. However, the Core managed to survive inside Darcy's helmet and escaped.[2] After making its escape, the Core ended up initiating its final gambit by connecting to Amphibia's moon and setting a collision course with said planet. Though the Calamity Trio used their powers to destroy the Core's drones, it was not enough to stop it, with Anne ending up absorbing Sasha and Marcy's gems to shoot a powerful blast that destroyed the moon and the Core, ending its reign of terror for good.[3]
Appearance
As a pure consciousness, shown when communicating to Andrias right after he met Marcy Wu, was a large set of glowing orange eyes, the middle one being the largest, the eight around it being medium and the last six being the smallest, due to being formless it was capable of shapeshifting the way it wished, even turning into Aldrich himself.
The entity's first body was a multi-eyed spherical robot with robotic tentacles and 9 glowing orange eyes with lighter shaded pupils, in terms of size, it was at least four times larger than even King Andrias, who is considered to be giant himself. This form was seemingly connected to Newtopia's castle, given the various wires that were connected to the walls. It's eyes' presence can be seen in different locations of the castle, and even 3 in Andrias' crown for communication or mind control.
After possessing Marcy, as Darcy, the Core's consciousness was represented by a dark helmet with four branched gill-like horns, ten eyes and a (seemingly extremely) long wire connected to it. Darcy also wears a new dark suit/armor, including a long red cape, as well as an additional orange eye marking over her stab wound. In "The Core & The King" Darcy's helmet's eyes have been all changed into diamond shaped eyes while her three larger eyes gained small red pupils.
After Darcy's defeat, the Core was forced to control Darcy's helmet with now six spider-like legs to wander around. After possessing Amphibia's moon, the Core made the moon its new body, which gave the moon a massive orange eye surrounded by dozens of smaller eyes, exposed orange bright wires and a series of purple thrusters used for movement. In addition, the Core had a port that stored dozens of robotic soldiers for defense.
Personality
The Core was a combination of assimilated intelligence, memories and personalities comprising a centralized personality desiring only universal domination. It embraced its role as a conqueror, due to the long history of multidimensional conquest of Amphibia that allowed their civilization to grow and introduce novel advancements like itself. As such, the Core was highly arrogant and unhinged, to the point of calling itself a god. It held others in low opinion to the point it considered other races to be inferior and would wipe out entire species just to claim a world's resources. This, along with its single-minded ambition, rendered the Core dismissive of moral or emotional thoughts, as long as its empire's prosperity was assured. The Core was fully aware of its own megalomania and even took joy in it, straight up calling itself a "control freak". Its ambitious, determined nature was so great that, after its plans were thwarted, the Core was willing to take the extreme degree of destroying all of Amphibia to reclaim its power and ensure its own victory, even if this meant destroying the world it once presided over, causing Sasha Waybright to describe it as "a giant sore loser."
As a collection of past scholars and rulers of Amphibia, the amphibians that formed the Core acted in unison within it. However, while the Core was created to assist Amphibia, it was manipulative of Newtopia's royalty, and influenced most of the decisions of Aldrich, and later Andrias, to further its own goals. It was also condescending to the kings who failed in their task, such as Andrias, whom it would entice or threaten by barring contact with his family, most often with Aldrich's image, as leverage to make him cooperate. The Core held wide intelligence from being a compilation of previous intellectual minds, a trait it seemed to take pride in, yet it also desired more intelligence. This gave it a preference for brilliant hosts, even when Andrias attempted to convince the entity to choose someone else. Also, while the parts of the Core were generally indistinct, these personalities were active to some degree. This was shown in "The Beginning of the End", where even though the Core is meant to be an all-knowing collection of Amphibia's greatest minds, if it is presented with a question it doesn't know the answer to, all the minds within the Core needed to reach a consensus before it can answer. Furthermore, while the Core served as a collective, the Core often displayed the traits of its constituents, and the person themselves was individually recognized from the rest of the Core. At one point, Aldrich's voice took over speaking from the Core to address Andrias directly as his son, and later, when Andrias refused to continue fighting, the Core demanded Aldrich specifically to make his son obey it.
Upon possessing Marcy's body, as "Darcy", the Core adopted an eerily polite and affable manner, as shown by saying "Why hello there," upon waking up inside Marcy. In "The Core & The King", it was revealed that while Marcy was "locked up" by the Core, Darcy retained some of Marcy's traits such as her clumsiness and love for ube-frosting cupcakes, and have seemed to adapt to her tendencies even though the Core was wiping her "redundant" memories. Despite her newly inherited childishness, Darcy also took on a condescending, cruel, and sinister identity. She was highly critical of non-Amphibian culture, such as when she mocked Earth technology as pathetic after getting a glimpse into Earth's technology in the form of Marcy's phone. Her derisive personality is also shown when she taunts Andrias after the Boonchuys and the Plantars defeated his Drone Soldier, or when she mused about the fact she may not be the only one who needs to let go of unwanted memories, and tells Andrias she is almost proud of him when he declares that invading Earth was the only thing he has been thinking about for the last thousand years, speaking in his father's voice to drive it deeper in.
In addition, Darcy possessed Marcy's key negative aspects, such as Marcy's bitterness over losing Anne and Sasha's friendship. After scanning Marcy's memories of Anne and Sasha, she proceeded to blame Anne and Sasha for treating Marcy poorly, commenting that if it weren't for them, then Marcy would not have planned about Amphibia behind their backs. As Darcy, Marcy's hyper-fixation on playing games and her indifferent sense of humor were twisted into calculating satisfaction and gleeful sadism, best displayed during the invasion of Earth, where Darcy attacked the human military like a video game and enjoyed the destruction she caused. During her fight with Sasha and Grime, Darcy laughed and even joked about the pain she inflicted on Grime after cutting off his arm when Grime took the scythe strike meant for Sasha.
In spite of the Core's power and experience, its pride made it overconfident and underestimated others' strengths. When she was faced with an unexpected situation, Darcy would drop her chipper attitude and become serious and composed. And when things did not go her way, she was quick to snap and lose focus of what she was doing prior, behaving more recklessly and try to regain any control she has of her situation.
The Core was unable to process the capacity for change, which was further supported by Mother Olm calling the Core an "unnatural thing", and Darcy believing Sasha could not change her old ways. Marcy would later explain that the Core was an unreasonable conqueror because it feared change. When presented with the idea of Amphibia changing its ways, it felt threatened and reacted in fear of becoming obsolete and fading away, thus fueling its attempts to live forever. Hence, it was relentless in its pursuit of the Calamity Gems, its key to immortality, thus motivating most of its actions in efforts to preserve the Core itself. Its ardent belief and pride would ultimately lead it on its path to downfall. Beginning with the loss of its host, the Core, in the brief moment of distraction, was caught off-guard by Sasha, and Darcy boasted, initially assuming she had missed, until realizing she had severed Marcy's connection with the Core itself. And later, when it attempted to manipulate Andrias with Aldrich one last time, expecting Andrias would listen to Aldrich, only to react in shock from Andrias rising against his father. In the Core's final moments, the Core refused to admit defeat and would initiate its superweapon in the moon itself, causing the very disaster Leif foresaw and becoming the enemy foretold in the olm prophecy.
Background
Origins
Mural depicting the Core and one of Andrias' ancestors invading the world of the Shadowfish and Moss Men.
In the past, the ancestral rulers of Newtopia used the powerful Calamity Box to travel across the multiverse with the intent of conquering it. By studying otherworldly creatures that they imprisoned and their technology such as the Moss Man and Shadowfish, they improved their technology to the degree their consciousnesses could combine. Together, they transferred their minds and memories into a single digital amalgamation and assisted the royalty of Newtopia with their conquest. Every ruler thereafter would transfer themselves into the collective once their reign was over, proceeding the collective's evolution into a hivemind known as "The Core". 1,000 years ago, the Box was stolen by Leif and hidden on Earth, preventing the Core from advancing its conquest. Once King Aldrich joined the Core's hivemind, it laid dormant in the basement of Newtopia's castle, telepathically communicating with the current ruler, Andrias Leviathan, by way of the king's crown.
At some point, Mother Olm foresaw a prophecy arose that "three stars" would come from another world and possibly vanquish the Core. The prophecy referred to three human girls from Earth: Anne Boonchuy (representing Heart), Sasha Waybright (representing Strength), and Marcy Wu (representing Wit). Seeing the girls as a threat, the Core later decided to take the chance to undermine the prophecy so that it would not interfere in its plans for dimensional conquest.
New Plans
Andrias reporting to the Core about the girls' completion of the first temple.
1,000 years later, after the Calamity Box teleported Anne, Sasha, and Marcy to Amphibia, King Andrias befriended and first met Marcy and let her stay as his guest. However, the Core contacted Andrias and order him to kill her, but he didn't want to as she was only a child. When the Core asked what Andrias would propose, Andrias decided to trick the girls into giving up their powers and abilities at the Temples which would allow them to continue their plans. After Anne, Marcy and the Plantars were successful at their mission at the first temple, King Andrias informs the Core that things are going accordingly as planned, and they will have their revenge. At some point, it considered Marcy as the candidate for its host due to her intelligence and after being stabbed by Andrias, the former was placed in a rejuvenation tank in order for its new host body to heal from her injuries. Eventually, the tank was transported into its chamber so that it would oversee Marcy.
Possessing Marcy
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The Core downloads its consciousness into Marcy.
A week later, as Andrias' robotic forces started draining all of Amphibia's natural resources, the Core contacts Andrias through his crown. Andrias tries to reason that things are progressing as they speak, but the Core demanded a host, and even though Andrias knew it wanted Marcy as its host, he explains the device hasn't been tested, and they should try it on someone else first. Alas, the Core refused his demands and Andrias has to obey. When Lady Olivia and General Yunan enter the basement, the Core watches them from its hidden eyes the entire time they were trying to rescue Marcy. It then projects the trio's worst fears against them to keep them busy until Andrias arrives.
Darcy taunts Andrias' failure.
After Lady Olivia, General Yunan, and Marcy destroy the eyes projecting their fears, Andrias appears and stops them from escaping. The Core then reveals itself to the trio, and grabs Marcy with one of its tentacles and straps her to a chair. Andrias explains the Core desired a host, and it chose Marcy because of her intelligence. While Andrias admits he begged his master to reconsider someone else, he ultimately gives Marcy to the Core as it placed a helmet on her, allowing the Core to enter her body. The transference works, as the Core, now inside Marcy's body, ominously greets Olivia and Yunan.
Darcy completing her upgrade.
During this time, the Core gains full control of Marcy's body with her consciousness locked away from the rest of the hivemind though some of her traits still bled through, such as her clumsiness and love for red velvet cupcakes with ube frosting. Sometime later, after King Andrias failed to defeat Anne and the Plantars and destroys his probe remote in a rage, the Core, currently inhabiting Marcy, appears nearby and mocks him, calling him pathetic, only for him to reassure that nothing would stop his massive army, not even Anne and Earth. A while later, the Core-possessed Marcy, now going by Darcy (short for "Dark Marcy") has Andrias give her some maintenance on her systems and Darcy tells that she is close to invading Earth before revealing that some of her personality contains that of King Aldrich.
The Invasion
Darcy claims her victory.
As the resistance battles Frobots below the castle, she captures Anne and the rebels. She then announces her victory causing the rebellion to retreat. However, Anne realizes that she and Andrias are just as clueless about the music box as they are and just as she is about to kill her, Anne suggests that doing so might destroy what is left of the box's power. Deciding that this might be true, Darcy decides to keep Anne alive, for now. With the box fully powered up, she orders Andrias open a portal back to Los Angeles. Everyone in the city looks up in horror as Andrias' castle and his robot army darken the skies as they begin the invasion.
Upon arriving on Earth, Andrias announces to the humans that they will eliminate them and strip Earth from its resources to invade other worlds. The invasion begins, with Darcy unleashing Frobots and even mind-controlled Giant Herons (the ones who killed Sprig's and Polly's parents), completely overwhelming the military. Due to her high intelligence, multiple minds, and Marcy's gaming expertise, she was able to efficiently lead the conquest. While Darcy sadistically enjoyed causing destruction, Aldrich's consciousness inside the Core's matrix kept Marcy's distracted with fantasies of her interests, and even obedient illusions of Anne and Sasha. However, Marcy soon realized she was in a fantasy, remembering her last encounter with the real Anne and Sasha. Angered, Aldrich activated a function of the Core that would make Marcy's personality degrade over time, leaving her alone in a black abyss. Darcy and Andrias would later discover that Anne had escaped where she, with help from her allies, both from Amphibia and Earth, fights the Frobot army and even turns the Herons against the enemy forces.
Darcy cuts off Grime's arm.
Angered and fed up, Darcy orders Andrias to bring Anne to her, crippled if necessary. Darcy then threatens that, if he fails, he will no longer join his ancestors as part of the Core. While Andrias battles Calamity-powered Anne in the Dyoplosaurus armor, Darcy battles Grime and Sasha inside the shield generator room using a laser scythe, enjoying every moment with crazy amusement. Darcy ultimately gains an upper hand and prepares to kill Sasha, only for Grime to shield her, resulting in his left arm being sliced off. After Darcy maniacally laughs at Grime being 'disarmed', an enraged Sasha fights her with all her anger and ferocity, managing to score a small cut on Darcy's chin. She then turned the tide by distracting Sasha with more of her virtual reality illusions, proceeding to injure her back.
Sasha defeats Darcy.
Before she could strike the final blow, however, Darcy became aware of a breakdown Andrias was having, making him lose the fight. Darcy then attempts to mind control Andrias via his crown, angrily stating that she is all he will ever need/have in life. While Anne is recharged and ready to take Andrias down, Sasha now has a sword once again and viciously attacks Darcy. She becomes visibly frightened, and frantically checks herself for any fatal wounds, only to find none and boast about it, telling the girl she missed. Except she didn't, she actually sliced the lone wire on her helmet that is connecting them together. Darcy screams in horror at realization, and berates Sasha for slicing her neural link as the Core begins to short circuit; freeing Marcy from the Core's control while the various eyes in the chamber begin to explode. With Marcy freed and Andrias later defeated by Anne, the invasion was finally ended and all the multiverse, including Earth, were saved.
The Final Gambit
The Core fighting off the Calamity Trio.
However, unknown to the heroes, the Core survives and escapes with its helmet growing mechanical spider legs and scuttling away unnoticed. Once the castle returns to Amphibia, the Core's helmet flies toward the orbit until it reaches Amphibia's moon, which it connects itself into. This activates the concealed technology it had built into the moon long ago, turning the moon into a massive superweapon under control of the Core. The Core then sends it on a collision course towards Amphibia in order to cause an extinction event, wiping out all life on Amphibia to ensure its survival, and reclaim the Calamity Box as its own.
The Core is overwhelmed by the combined calamity powers and is annihilated along with the red moon.
With the help of Valeriana, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy tap into the gems' powers and assume their full calamity forms. The girls fly up to confront the Core, who releases an army of lunar robots as defense, but they manage to destroy the Core's forces. However, this does not deter the Core from forcing the moon onto Amphibia. Although Aldrich tries to manipulate his son via the crown to save it allowing him to finally join them in the Core. Andrias, finally standing up against his father refuses by crushing the crown and ordering his remaining Frobots to engage the Core. The Core still proves too powerful for the Calamity Trio and the Frobots. Sasha and Marcy's powers begin to wear out and Anne volunteers to absorb Marcy and Sasha's calamity powers to send the duo back. This act shocks the Core, demanding to know why she would use Amphibia's greatest treasure against it, but Anne fires back that the stones are not Amphibia's greatest treasure, but rather its people. Anne then absorbs the gems' power, shattering the gems in the process, before unleashing the full power of the Calamity Gems on the Core. The resulting blast overwhelms and destroys the Core, alongside the moon, as it explodes, ending the Core's reign of terror forever.
After the Core's defeat, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy return to Earth, using shards of the Calamity Gems provided to them by the Guardian and the inhabitants of Amphibia restore their home and continue on their lives, thus allowing the Core's legacy to be put behind them at long last and continue to a bright future.
Relationships
King Aldrich
Aldrich with the Core.
While not much is known about their relationship, Aldrich seems to be very loyal to the Core, as it is implied that he himself was groomed by his predecessors, the same way he is doing so for Andrias. Aldrich seemingly based all of his decisions by the Core's standards, shown when he was initially considering the cataclysmic warning of Leif, he immediately dismisses her concerns once the Core spoke against it through the crown. Because of this loyal dedication, he was rewarded by becoming a member of the collective. Thus, allowing him to continue guiding his son without a normal body. In fact, the other components rely on Aldrich greatly as he is the only one who can get Andrias to listen to it. Despite this, the other members berate him for allowing his son to humiliate it. And during their final gambit, it allowed him to become its spokesperson and speak for the rest of it, which like before is used to help it control Andrias.
King Andrias
The Core meeting Andrias face to face for the first time.
The ruler of Amphibia defers to the creature as his master, referring to the Core as "My Lord", and serves the Core first and foremost. Most of Andrias' actions are brought upon for the Core's benefit, such as when he heals Marcy Wu from her injuries inflicted by Andrias himself as the Core required a host who possessed high intelligence. Andrias' loyalty has its limits, such as when Andrias did not agree with the Core on using Marcy as a host, but followed his master's orders anyhow after recapturing Marcy and allowing the Core to possess her body. The Core also has some personality traits of King Andrias' late father King Aldrich, as such, it manifested Aldrich's coldness and manipulativeness toward Andrias when it uses his insecurities against him, while at the same time, acknowledging and recognizing Andrias as the flesh and blood of its previous identity.
As Darcy, the Core was initially pleasant and friendly toward Andrias in the same way Marcy was. But aside from this, her treatment of Andrias was abusive: she gave Andrias little to no respect, made snide comments about his status as king, harangue Andrias for incompetence, and silenced Andrias when he wishes to speak. She has also made verbal threats to enforce Andrias' cooperation, such as not joining his father and family in the hive mind should he fail. When Andrias had a mental breakdown about Leif, Darcy forcibly tried to control him and make him forget about friends, asserting that she was all he would ever need or have.
Once Andrias decided to assist the girls, the Core tried to force Andrias to comply once again, begging him with Aldrich's voice to think of his family, offering Andrias to join it at last. However, it was met with unexpected rebellion from Andrias when he crushed his crown and permanently severed their connection.
Marcy Wu
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The Core painfully downloading itself into Marcy's body.
The Core sought Marcy Wu as its host due to her possessing high intelligence and being capable of beating Andrias at the game Flipwart, as well as being one of the girls from the olm prophecy. After Marcy had been healed from the injuries she sustained from Andrias, she was restrained and possessed by the Core. Upon taking over Marcy, the Core repressed Marcy's consciousness, effectively keeping Marcy as prisoner of her own mind. The Core intended to have Marcy join the hive mind eventually, thus it gave her a fantasy world where her deepest dreams were granted to ensure her compliance. However, Marcy rejected the false reality and called the Core a coward for hiding away, prompting the Core to trap her in a black void as punishment. Marcy was eventually freed by the Core's control by Sasha chopping off the cable on Darcy's helmet.
After being freed, Marcy retained her memory of her time inside the Core, able to explain the Core's malicious intent since she gained insight to its mind. Marcy later took part with Anne and Sasha in the final battle against the Core, but was eventually forced to retreat after losing much of her power, leaving Anne to face the Core alone.
Anne Boonchuy
Darcy decides to spare Anne for now. But informs her she will be probed alive.
Due to Anne being one of the girls from the olm prophecy, the Core saw Anne as a threat, and more so when Anne retained her powers from the Calamity Box's blue gemstone. The Core sought to kill Anne, viewing her as a threat to its plans and re-obtain the powers of the blue gemstone. Once Anne and Sasha gathered enough allies to finally attack Newtopia, they went inside the castle to steal the box. However, they ended up being captured by Darcy, who realized the Resistance's strategy, because it was from Marcy's favorite movie. Darcy then taunted Anne for failing to retrieve the Calamity Box and proceeded to kill her. However, Anne exploited the fact that she doesn't know much about the box's nature, hopefully as a way to buy time to break free, so Darcy decided to keep her alive for now, before dissecting and killing her later, while also wanting to make her watch her home planet's downfall.
When Darcy learned that Anne and her allies escaped, Darcy grew furious and even more when Anne and her allies had managed to gain an upper hand in the battle to protect Earth. As a result, Darcy angrily ordered Andrias to capture Anne through any means necessary. When Andrias had a mental breakdown about Leif, Darcy forcibly tried to control and order him to kill Anne as her powers got fully recharged, but Darcy was defeated by Sasha, leaving Anne to defeat Andrias.
Anne later took part with Marcy and Sasha in the final battle against the Core, but soon had to face the Core alone after much of the other girls' power was drained. Having been given Marcy and Sasha's gems in addition to her own, The Core was furious that the human would dare use Amphibia's "greatest treasures" against it, to which Anne retorted that Amphibia's greatest treasures are not the Calamity Gems but the people living in it. Anne then proceeded to absorb the gems' full powers into herself and make her final sole stand against the Core, who became horrified as she overpowered and erased it once and for all.
Sasha Waybright
Darcy halts Sasha and Grime.
Despite being part of the olm prophecy, the Core was confident that Sasha was no real threat after examining Marcy's memories believing it knew everything about her, however, it did not count on how much Sasha had changed after the events of "True Colors", which caused it to underestimate her in their final battle. During the invasion of Earth, Darcy and Sasha battled each other; Darcy earned Sasha's wrath by slashing off Grime's arm off, but Darcy got the upper hand using illusions and mind games. Darcy considered Sasha as a fellow control freak, still believing Sasha was a manipulative bully, and while she reasserted control of Andrias, Sasha claimed she was "not that person anymore" and with all her might, destroyed her neural link while Darcy was distracted, angering the Core before it lost control. Sasha later took part with Anne and Marcy in the final battle against the Core, but was eventually forced to retreat after losing much of her power, leaving Anne to face the Core alone.
Powers and abilities
- Collective Intelligence: Being a collection of Amphibia's greatest minds, the Core possessed its combined intelligence. Given that it had centuries worth of knowledge from Amphibia's scholars and rulers, it was arguably the smartest entity in the world. It possessed an extensive knowledge on advanced technology as well as battle strategies which served the rulers of Amphibia well in its invasions over the centuries. It appears to be limited though, as Darcy, some of Marcy's forgetfulness adapting into the Core, this was shown when Anne outsmarted Darcy, saying she couldn't kill her because if she did, it may become impossible to use the box.
- Virtual Reality Manifestation: As shown in "Olivia & Yunan," the Core could project digital imagery from its eyes to create virtual realities within the castle, allowing it to distract its enemies. As Darcy, it is still able to use this ability.
- Technokinesis: While it was in the castle, Darcy could control mechanical tentacles to easily overwhelm her opponents in battle either by attacking or ensnaring them.
- Scythe Proficiency: When she felt the need to get her hands dirty, Darcy was shown to be a terrifying combatant with her laser scythe. She could spin and swing her scythe to easily push back her opponents and slash them with lethal attacks.
- Mind Control: Perhaps the Core's most venomous and vicious ability. Through King Andrias' crown, the Core was able to control him, forcing him to fight in spite of his emotional breakdown.
- Thrusters: On the moon's back side, The Core has a set of thrusters that pushes it into Amphibia's directions through the use of purple flames.
Sightings
Quotes
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| Click here to see the The Core's quotes. |
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Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
Symbol
- The name "Darcy" first appeared in the credits for "Olivia & Yunan", where Haley Tju, Marcy's voice actress, is credited for voicing "Darcy" as the presumed alias for the Core-possessed Marcy. This was confirmed in the credits for "Froggy Little Christmas", and it was used within the show for the first time in "The Core & The King", which is when The Core came up with the name itself.
- The number of eyes it had on its original body was inconsistent throughout the appearances they made in the show. In "The First Temple" it had thirteen eyes, later had eleven in the third season main theme, and finally nine in "Olivia & Yunan".
- It is hinted in "Olivia & Yunan" that when it was created, the Core was formed by eight newts' minds, since the room where it was in had the image of eight newts with one orange eye each connecting to a larger eye in the center, like the Core, which has eight and a larger one in the center.
- Darcy's helmet has a total of 10 eyes, implying Marcy was going to be added to the Core's hivemind once she accepted its offer.
- In the castle and on the banner of King Andrias are several eye symbols that match the appearance of those on the Core, representing the entity's influence.
- Initially, the Core referred to itself in plural first-person pronouns such as "we" to highlight its identity as an amalgamation. However, upon defeat in "All In", Darcy referred to herself with the singular "my", possibly because of the influence of Marcy's mind. This is reverted in "The Hardest Thing" where the Core again referred to itself with plural pronouns.
- In "The Core & The King", the Core's gigantic former body is still in its old room after its mind has been transferred to Marcy's.
- The Core resembles the giant robot, "The Beast", from Episode XXV of the Samurai Jack series. Apart from physical appearance, the two are also identical in their antagonistic roles.
- Darcy has her eyes design changed sometimes during her appearances while most time her eyes have diamond shapes with red pupils on the three bigger ones and sometimes all her eyes turn round with no more pupils before changing back to the main design.
- Darcy appeared to have green blood, shown when Sasha scratched her face with her sword.
- According to Matt Braly, the blood was green because the show could not show red blood in accordance with Disney's Television Standards and Practices, although his in universe explanation for the green blood is the nanobot fluid from Marcy's rejuvenation tank was still circulating in her bloodstream, staining it green.[6]
The Core in The Book of Bill.
- The Core's only voice lines are said through someone else's voices, Aldrich's when in a robot and helmet, and Marcy's when in her body.
- However, Darcy could switch to Aldrich's voice at the end of "The Core & The King".
- The "horns" on the Darcy helmet are based on the gills of the infantile/tadpole state of salamanders, which newts are a part of.
- Despite being an antagonist, Anne interacted with it in two episodes and the Plantars never interacted with it at all.
- In the Gravity Falls book, The Book of Bill, the Core in its helmet form can be briefly seen in mandatory therapy with Bill Cipher and other freaks in Theraprism.
Notes
- ↑ The Core is addressed with neutral pronouns (it/its), except while possessing Marcy Wu and used Marcy's feminine pronouns (she/her). For consistency, this article uses it/its pronouns for the Core, and she/her for Darcy.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Todd McClintock (writer) and Roxann Cole (director) (April 16, 2022). "The Core & The King". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 14B. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gloria Shen, Jenava Mie, Michele Cavin (writers) and Roxann Cole, Joe Johnston, Jenn Strickland (directors) (May 7, 2022). "All In". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 17. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Adam Colás, Todd McClintock (writers) and Roxann Cole, Joe Johnston (directors) (May 14, 2022). "The Hardest Thing". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 18. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jenava Mie (writer) and Jenn Strickland (director) (November 13, 2021). "Olivia & Yunan". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 7B. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Michele Cavin (writer) and Joe Johnston (director) (April 9, 2022). "Mother of Olms". Amphibia. Season 3. Episode 13A. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Fury, Rob (May 27, 2022). "Live Autograph Signing with Matt Braly, Creator of Amphibia (1:02:29)" (Video) (English). YouTube. Streamily YouTube channel. Retrieved on 06-26-2022.