Apothecary Gary

Apothecary Gary is a minor character in Amphibia, who serves as the main antagonist during the episode "Children of the Spore". In the episode, his character was revealed to be a rare species of mind-controlling mushroom, controlling an amphibian named Lloyd. He was defeated by Hop Pop, but survived thanks to Jeremy taking in his spores.

Appearance

Gary is a giant mushroom that usually sits on top of his hosts' heads. His stem is white colored and his head is vibrant violet colored with many blue spots around it and a few bubbles around on it.

While possessed Gary's hosts' eyes are glowing purple with pink pupils while Gary himself grows out of their heads.

Background

Apothecary Gary was a strain of rare fungus holding the ability to take over the minds of animals. He managed to arrive in Wartwood Swamp, and by possessing a resident named Lloyd, first meets Hop Pop at Leopold Loggle's as Hop Pop takes The Green Lady in for repairs. As Gary introduces himself to Hop Pop, he offers Hop Pop a potion that will put Anne, Sprig, and Polly on their best behavior. Later in the episode, as the potion takes effect on the kids, Gary reappears outside of the Plantar Farm to Hop Pop's surprise, who, after explaining that the potion he gave Hop Pop consisted of mind-controlling spores, reveals himself as a sentient mushroom with the ability to control a host, with his ultimate goal being complete control over all of Amphibia. As Hop Pop flees to Bessie's barn (with the battle-ship in hand) from the other inhabitants of Wartwood under the effects of the mind-controlling mushrooms, Gary reappears alongside the other infected citizens, as they start to corner him, with the goal of brainwashing Hop Pop. Left with no other option, Hop Pop then sacrifices The Green Lady by tossing it to unlock Bessie's stable. Bessie then starts to eat off all the other spores, while Hop pop engages in combat with Gary, which then results in Gary's spore being eaten by Bessie. Gary attempts to beg for mercy beforehand, as he's the last of his kind, but to no avail, seemingly destroying Gary for good. However, Jeremy begins to eat the last of the spilled potion, causing Gary to grow again and possess Jeremy.^[1]

Since then, Gary left Wartwood in search for a place to regrow his strength. He is eventually found by the citizens of Gardenton, a peaceful agrarian community, who accept and allow him to take over their minds. However, this formed a symbiotic relationship between his fungal spores and the amphibians, meaning that despite Gary's spores being on the townfolks' heads, he isn't controlling them, and instead is working with them. This, in turn, allowed the townsfolk to feel the empathetic needs of their plants, which increased their gardening capabilities.^[2]

One day, the Plantars and Loggle stumble upon Gardenton by accident, and when they go to meet the leader of Gardenton, Gary reveals himself and, to Hop Pop's disbelief, survived his previous encounter by possessing Jeremy, who has since then served as his host. Hop Pop uses the citizens' plant empathy to his advantage, as he stomps on a nearby flower, allowing a temporary diversion as the Plantars and Loggle go to find Bessie. As the gang discover that Bessie has been tied up by vines, Gary then ties the gang up by vines as well. However, before anything else can happen, the Dragonfly Drone from the back of the Fwagon starts beeping, mistaking the town as the Resistance camp, ordering in reinforcements. Despite Sprig destroying the Dragonfly Drone, Andrias' Fire Frobots are sent in to attack the village, allowing the gang to momentarily flee. However, the gang then decide to turn around (per Hop Pop's request) and help the townsfolk by destroying the Frobots, as Gary and the rest of the townsfolk decide to follow their example by using their psychic link to destroy the rest of the Frobots. However, despite the kind gesture, Gary still wants to kill the gang, but Hop Pop and Horace convince him to help with the Wartwood Resistance as Andrias knows the location of their village and will keep attacking them regardless. Anne then asks Gary if the collars Andrias is using are based on his spores, causing him to become excited at the prospect of another fungal creature like him somewhere in the world. Gary then agrees to come when needed.^[2]

During the battle against Andrias' forces, Gary briefly returns to aid the Resistance, where he uses his spores to override the spores used on the beasts imprisoned by Andrias, allowing them to turn against Andrias' forces.^[3] Months following Andrias's defeat and peace returns to Amphibia, Gary is living in Wartwood and has found another fungal creature to be with.^[4]

Personality

Apothecary Gary is originally shown to be an evil, somewhat mysterious, mind-controlling mushroom. Despite his horrific ways, he desperately wants to survive, begging Hop Pop not to let Bessie eat him. In "The Root of Evil", aside from Jeremy, he no longer hosts unwilling bodies, signifying a new compassion he now has toward his hosts.

Sightings

Behind the scenes

Name and basis

An apothecary is a person who prepared and sold medicine and drugs. This indicates that Apothecary Gary is not just a salesman, but perhaps also a kind of pharmacist.

Voice

Gary is voiced by Tony Hale.

Foreign voice actors

Language version	Actors	Notes
French	Mathieu Moreau
Dutch	Florus van Rooijen
Polish	Tomasz Borkowski

Gallery

Click here to view the gallery.

Trivia

• In the Latin America version, his name was changed to Apothecario Mario, so it could rhyme.
• In the Italian dub, his name was changed to Battista il Farmacista, so it could rhyme.
• It's possible Gary's species of mushroom was inspired on a species of fungus in the real life named Cordyceps, or the Zombie Spider.

References