Hopediah "Hop Pop" Plantar is one of the two tritagonists in the 2019 Disney Channel animated series Amphibia. He is the grandfather of Sprig and Polly Plantar, as well as the patriarch of the Plantar family. An elderly frog who values long-standing traditions, Hop Pop is greatly preservative of his family and community. While occasionally overbearing, he is also a wise and nurturing figure. He thusly adopted the human Anne Boonchuy after she found herself lost in Amphibia, becoming her guardian and protector. Through Hop Pop’s teachings did Anne learn the value of family, community and responsibility. In turn, Anne’s arrival challenged Hop Pop’s overreliance on conventions, allowing him to gradually become more open-minded towards the world.
Background[]
Personality[]
Hop Pop is described as traditional and over-protective towards his own grandchildren. He also tends to have a high sense of paranoia whenever feeling that if something is or bound to go chaotically wrong, as seen "Best Fronds", when after he wakes up from a nap in his study and feared that Sprig, Polly and practically the entire town got eaten by Anne Boonchuy.
Hop Pop also seems mistrust other amphibians by saying that they're small-minded and paranoid, an ironic, if not hypocritical, statement since he appears to be like that as well. He's even shown to be very dishonest and not willing to open up to anyone, even his family and Anne.
Over the course of the series Hop Pop, while still strict at times, has lightened up quite a bit due to the adventures he has shared with the kids; letting the kids be more independent, listening to other peoples suggestions, try new things and be less uptight.
Deep down, Hop Pop is a kind and caring frog and has learned the importance of helping others. Also, Hop Pop realized that he has to be more honest and open to those closest to him, especially his grandchildren and Anne.
Physical appearance[]
Hop Pop is an elderly reddish orange-skinned frog of a "crisp 68" years old ("Stakeout") with tufts of white coming out from each side of his head and normally wears gray-green waistcoat along with a buttoned yellow shirt underneath and brown trousers with spats slightly covering his feet.
Appearances[]
Amphibia[]
Before[]
Not much is known about Hop Pop's past except he took in his grandchildren Sprig and Polly after their parents passed away. He is also a failed actor.
Season 1[]
Hop Pop is the elder character of the cast. He spends much of the series acting as the paternal figure in the group. Much of his conflict comes from him fearing change and the world around him. He does everything he can to keep Anne, Sprig and Polly rooted with his wisdom and hopes that they can apply what he has taught them. Hop Pop appears to know more than he lets on as seen in "Anne Vs. Wild" where he picks up on information about the Calamity Box, but neglects to tell Anne and his grandkids about it to protect them and he buried it out of paranoia in "Bizarre Bazaar".
Hop Pop becomes something of an idol to the people of Wartwood due to him standing up for the citizens as seen in "Hop-Popular". He becomes so influential that he starts being viewed as a threat by the Toads outside of town. He does not realize that he has made a big deal out of it until the episode "Reunion", which actually frightens him somewhat.
Season 2[]
After it was finally safe to travel out of the valley, Hop Pop bought a caravan wagon that looks like a miniature version of the Plantar Farm that he calls the Fwagon so they can go to Newtopia in order to find Anne a way back home.
Upon meeting the king of Amphibia himself, Andrias Leviathan, the Plantars learn that in order to send Anne back to earth the 3 gems on the music box need to charged at 3 different temples.
Upon returning to Wartwood, Hop Pop actions of lying to Anne came back to haunt him when she overhead him freaking out that the music box was gone when he went to retrieve it. After Anne snapped at him and ran away, Hop Pop, who doesn't blame her for being mad at him, waited for her to come back. When Sprig and Polly found out what happen along with their encouragement, Hop Pop went looking for Anne in order to set things right and apologizes to her. After finding her, Hop Pop tried to explain an angry and confused Anne his actions but got interrupted when they heard his grandchildren, who went looking for the music box, were in trouble. Hop Pop convinced Anne to work together him in order to save Sprig and Polly, which she agreed. After saving Sprig and Polly along with getting the music box, Hop Pop explained to Anne, who decided to leave his family for good, that his actions were because of what happened to his grandchildren’s parents as he was out of town when they were killed by herons. Due to blaming himself for what happened to Sprig and Polly's parents, Hop Pop vowed to not let anything happen to his family again but realized that he made a mistake because she became part of his family too as he breaks down and apologized to Anne for his actions. Hop Pop was comfort by Anne, who changed her mind about leaving once she heard the truth and seeing that he's really sorry about lying, as she forgives him.
Despite this, Hop Pop notices that Anne is still angry and hurt with him as he wants to fix things with her but ends up pressuring her. After hearing Anne say that she doesn't know what he needs to do in order to fix things between them and needs time to do so, Hop Pop realized the pressure he put on her as he not only apologizes to her but also encourages her to take all the time she needs, which she accepts and appreciates.
Season 3[]
While they are stuck on Earth as we know it, Anne decides to take the Plantars on a special tour through Hollywood. Devotees will recall that Hop Pop has a passion for acting and is also surprised that humans give actors such respect, something that he didn’t experience while he was back in Amphibia.
Early on, we are reminded that Mr. X is after them so they must lay low as best they can, and despite Hop Pop’s interest in acting, Anne reminds him not to pursue it while here on Earth. However, he is already accidentally in line for an audition.
He happens to find himself with a real human doppelganger, almost The Prince and the Pauper style, an elderly actor named Humphrey Westwood (Guest Star Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Toy Story)). The pair have a discussion about acting, and Humphrey is getting called into the audition when he says most actors get a rough start in Hollywood and gives up his spot for Hop Pop. He goes in and gives a poor read, but inadvertently gives up a new catchphrase when saying “Say What?” in shock to the product whose commercial he is auditioning for.
The group all gets home and is stunned to immediately see Hop Pop hawking joint cream on the television. His catchphrase takes on a life of his own, and within hours it seems, he is already on a T-shirt and other merchandise.
But again, they need to lay low, and we see Mr. X catching up on some T.V. binging, when an ad pops up (he didn’t spring for the ad-free subscription) featuring Hop Pop.
The chase is now on as Mr. X discovers where it was filmed, and inconveniently for Hop Pop, he’s already on his way there to accept an offer from the hippest director in town, Mitch Harper, in his office in the studio water tower.
Channeling Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Hop Pop is making his escape on a golf cart with Mr. X in pursuit, and Anne with Sprig and Polly through the backlot of the studio.
Hop Pop gets enough of a lead, and runs into Humphrey at his day job, a janitor at the studio. Returning the favor, he suggests Humphrey goes to the meeting in lieu of himself. Again with a Prince and the Pauper style switch, Mr. X chases Humphrey into the meeting, only to be disappointed and fooled yet again while Hop Pop and everyone made their escape.
Anne, the Plantars, and Loggle are out recruiting more help and getting more to join the rebellion against the king. Hop Pop uses what he knows and tries to get people to join up by sharing the thrill of gardening. Realizing this method isn’t going to work, Anne emphasizes that joining will get them built like Loggle, who has a remarkable physique since joining up.
Sadly, Hop Pop is now well aware that gardening isn’t “cool and hip,” and the group set off for home. A tracker belonging to King Andrias appears and latches itself on their wagon while Hop Pop is lamenting for a place where people care about gardening as much as he does.
Suddenly, the group finds themselves plummeting down into a canyon where they awaken and find themselves in a cultish society where their primary focus is…gardening.
Apparently, whoever found them has dressed them in (quite comfortable) white robes and are welcomed to the peaceful, off the radar town of Gardenton. Hop Pop is blissfully unaware of what’s going on, happy to have found a place that is purely about gardening, but the others find the town and its residents quite unsettling.
When Hop Pop tries to speak to the town’s mayor, the residents are happy to oblige and take the group to a rotting corpse of a frog covered in mushrooms, where it’s revealed that Apothecary Gary (whom we’ve seen controlling brains in previous episode) is the one in charge here and surprise! The entire town and its residents have been brainwashed…maybe? To catch us up, we are treated to a monologue sharing that Gary found a new host and searched throughout Amphibia looking for a place to regrow and eventually found this small village of residents and transformed it into Gardenton, where his spores now cling to the residents but insists he is not brainwashing them and instead has a relationship where they help each other. However, they are still on edge given the tumultuous past between Hop Pop and Gary and try to make their escape, which Gary doesn’t allow to happen.
Just as all hope appears to be lost, a beeping noise is heard and the tracking drone calls for backup to destroy this resistance base.
As Andrias’ soldiers arrive, Anne sees the opportunity to make a break for it, which they take before they realize they can’t just let this town get destroyed and go back and help. Because of this act, even though Gary is still ready to take out Hop Pop and the gang, they end up recruiting Gary and the residents of Gardenton to become part of the rebellion.
Other appearances[]
An image of Hop Pop appears in the cover of Willow Park's book about "The Life Cycle of The Common Swamp Toad", in The Owl House episode "Escaping Expulsion".
Hop Pop appears in the Broken Karaoke short "Sideckicks", trying to put himself in the music video due to seeing himself as a sideckick, even though Polly and Remy Remington deem him more of an old figure-type of character. He also appears at the end of the short, asking Goofy if he heard him before, as he finds his voice familiar.
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His shoe's have a similar appearance to Scrooge McDuck's spats.
- His name is likely a nod to the Dr. Seuss book Hop on Pop.
- In "Reunion", a frog was shown in the dissection table that looks very much like Hop Pop.
- Hop Pop seems to have taken up some of Anne's mannerisms such as saying the word "obvi", short for "obviously", as seen in "A Night at the Inn".
- In "Family Fishing Trip", Hop Pop reveals that his favorite flowers are daffodils because according to him "they funny".
- In "A Caravan Named Desire", his eyes are revealed to be hazel.
- Following the rescheduling of "True Colors", a personal message from Hop Pop was released asking fans to wait just a little longer for the official release; comparing it to his obsession to Suspicion Island.[1]
- In "Stakeout", it is mentioned that Hop Pop is 68 years old.
References[]
- ↑ "Hop Pop Leak Post". Twitter (May 16, 2021).
External links[]
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