Frogs and Toads

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    Frogs. They croak. They jump. They are cold-blooded. They are apt to lurk in the pond at a periscope depth and look at you, or sit perfectly still on the grass, melting into background and then catching an insect with one lightning-quick motion, like Cold Sniper. The pretty neon colored ones can kill you with a touch others will get you high when licked. Sometimes they just look like they know something funny, but won't tell you. Toad is a land-based variant with extra wart issues. All in all, they are rather cool animals.

    They also are one of most common choices as wizards' familiars and one of stock forms for Baleful Polymorph. (naturally undone by a kiss)

    Frog-based tropes:

    See also "batrachophobia" section on Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? page. Yes, some people are afraid of them.

    Examples of Frogs and Toads include:

    Advertising

    • The famous Budweiser Frog commercial.
    • Dig'em the frog from the Honey Smacks cereal boxes.

    Anime and Manga

    • In Mahou Sensei Negima the Class Trip arc had the current Big Bad summon a small army of frogs to the car they were on in the bullet train to Kyoto. Kaede is afraid of frogs, and Makie hates things that are slimy. Later, Makie and Ayaka fell into a Pit Trap full of frogs.
    • Kero Kero Keroppi is a character and series by Sanrio.
    • Keroro Gunsou features a whole horde of invading aliens who look like impossibly cute bipedal frogs.
    • In one chapter of Yotsuba&!, Yotsuba catches a really big frog and shows it off to Ena and Miura. This is when we learn Miura is scared of slimy things and Ena thinks bullfrogs are cute.
    • My Neighbor Totoro has a toad inexplicably appear and let out a huge croak after the scene where Satsuki and Mei meet Totoro at the bus stop.
    • In Naruto, toads are the summon used by the titular character and his mentor Jiraiya (see "Literature"), the latter of which also has several other toad-related abilities (like spitting toad oil). They're also the only summons shown to be able to perform ninjutsu not involving direct manipulation of their body, or to have their dwelling place shown.

    Art

    • Frogs, especially tropical ones, are some of Ursula Vernon's favorite subjects.

    Comic Books

    • Marvel Comics: At one point Thor was turned into a frog, in a story arc that lasted several issues.
      • Thor ended up discovering a tribe of talking frogs in Central Park, and saving them from a tribe of rats. Oh, and when he found his magic hammer, he was transformed into... The Frog Of Thunder!! !
    • Of course, the infamous X-Men villain and Brotherhood mainstay, Toad, whose Toad-like appearance was Turned Up to Eleven, in Ultimate X-Men.
    • In Hellboy, one of the potential effects of exposure to an Eldritch Abomination is transformation into monstrous frog-men. The BPRD spin-off series introduces an epidemic of these frogs.

    Film

    • Star Wars Part VI: Return of the Jedi. The toad-like alien outside Jabba the Hutt's palace, viewable on YouTube at about 7:40.
    • The horror movie Frogs.
    • The Princess and the Frog is Disney's first 2D animated film since 2004.
    • The villains of Flushed Away are all portrayed as anthropomorphic frogs.
    • At the end of Shrek 2, King Harold's true form is actually revealed to be a frog. He eventually croaks as a frog at the very beginning of the third film.
    • The infamous Marshmallow Hell scene from The Black Cauldron.
    • Just right before Thomas O'Malley appears, Duchess and her kittens, after being left for dead in the French countryside by their owner's evil butler, are all awakened by a frog near the bridge said butler accidentally dropped the basket containing them from his motorcycle after being chased by dogs.

    Berlioz: "He has the mouth of a hippopotamus!"

    Literature

    • Batrachomyomachia, attributed in ancient times to Homer, features frogs as people. Who actually composed it is up for debate.
    • In The Bible, one of the plagues God inflicts on Egypt was a plague of frogs.
    • Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad uses the frogs that live in the eponymous flower as a recurring metaphor. Near the end of the series, one of the characters, being excessively literal-minded (an occupational hazard for Pratchett characters), travels to the Amazon to see them for himself.
    • Con Sentiency: not only Gowachin themselves, but also such proverb as "Arm yourself when the Frog God smiles".
    • Dark Side of the Sun has phnobes, frog-like aliens. When provoked, they can be less funny than they look.
    • The childrens' book series Frog and Toad, by Arnold Lobel.
    • The Frog King
    • "The Frog Prince" and its many derivatives and references.
    • "Save The Giant Flying Vampire Toad" by Norman Spinrad, June 1980 Omni magazine.
    • Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows, who pumps too much air into himself and jump on anything he deems fashionable.
    • The Legend of Jiraiya, about a ninja who could transform into a frog, his wife Tsunade, who could turn into a snail, and his enemy Oorochimaru, who could turn into a snake. Sound familiar to anyone? It's Older Than You Think.
    • All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads.[1]
    • In Harry Potter, toads in of themselves have no special powers, but a chicken egg hatched under a toad will produce a Basilisk.
      • This is actually an older legend, which has been pared down. The exact pattern varies, but it generally goes that a rooster(yes, the male chicken) lays an egg which is then hatched in a dung pile by a toad. Nothing about a basilisk is natural.
    • The Toad in The Wee Free Men and its sequels. A lawyer who was turned into a toad. In the illustrated edition, his name is given as James Natter.
    • Green Wilma
    • Tuesday, which is about several frogs in a pond mysteriously gaining the ability to fly and wreaking havoc all over town.
    • The boatman who transports the heroes of Spellsinger upriver in The Hour Of The Gate is a frog.

    Live Action TV

    Sing out for the swamp and sing out for the ooze
    The life of the frog is the life you should choose
    Sing out for the swamp and sing out for the booooooog
    Oh, it's ever so jolly

    Just being a frog
    —Kermit, The Muppet Frog Prince
    • The Outer Limits TOS episode "Cry of Silence had alien-possessed frogs attacking the human heroes.
    • One of Red Skelton's poems from "Red Skelton More Funny Faces" is about the effects of incessant frog croaking.
    • Dead Like Me, all over the place. Toads represent Death, particularly in the first season, and a Frog and Toad are the first (sort of) characters on-screen. At the beginning of time, god (the lower-case is deliberate) gives Toad is given a jar, which contains Death, and is told never to open it. Frog hops along a few moments later, and starts pestering Toad to let him hold the jar. Toad finally relents, and Frog is so happy, he starts juggling the jar. Two guesses as to what happened then.

    George: Frog... was an asshole.

    Mythology and Religion

    • In The Bible, one of the ten Plagues which God unleashes upon Egypt is a Plague of frogs.
    • In Egyptian Mythology, there's a minor god of primordial chaos known as Kek, who is depicted either with the head of a frog or a snake most often.
      • In 2016, 4Chan users (as well as handful of Trump-supporting Occultists), found comparisons between Kek and Pepe the Frog, and started a Parody Religion dedicated to the character known as The Cult of Kek.
    • In Russian Mythology and Tales, the Vodyanoy is a water spirit resembling an old man with a frog's face, webbed hands, and a long beard, his body being covered in muck, grime, and weeds. He's a pretty good example of the Fair Folk, dragging people underwater to be his slaves, and needs to be placated with animal sacrifices so he won't get angry and start ripping apart every dam and watermill in sight, or drown innocent people or animals.

    Tabletop RPG

    Toys

    Video Games

    • Battletoads
    • Frogger
    • Blaster Master has Fred, Jason's pet, who later becomes a boss.
    • In Cave Story, during one of the fights against Balrog, he briefly gets turned into a giant frog for little reason.
    • Chrono Trigger has Glenn... or as he goes by most of the time, Frog. He got hit with a Baleful Polymorph that turned him into a frog-man. He kind of likes it. His final Tech lets him summon a giant frog, which was one of the "Holy crap!" moments in the Attract Mode.
    • In Donkey Kong Country, Winky the frog is one of the Kongs' animal allies. He can jump and is immune to bees.
    • Final Fantasy series usualy have a Baleful Polymorph spell that can turn its targets into frogs. Sometimes frogs are even enemies.
      • Heh, speaking of the Baleful Polymorph version, you have to turn into a frog to overcome one obstacle in Final Fantasy III. Refia complains when you're faced with having to do it again.
    • Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu has frogs that give Jackie items.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had a group of multicolored frogs that pay Link to play music for them.
      • Twilight Princess has a large, froggy miniboss.
      • A frog in Phantom Hourglass gives Link an item that lets him warp, and some frogs out on the ocean teach him how to get back to the spot where you found them using it.
      • Also in Wind Waker, the gods of the wind are a couple of Frogs that teach Link new abilities.
    • The enemy Wollywogs in Pikmin.
    • Slippy and his father from the Star Fox series.
    • Super Mario RPG had Tadpole Pond.
    • In Super Mario Bros. 3 Mario can get a Frog suit in World 3. It lets him jump higher and swim freely in all directions.
    • The World Ends With You has nine, count 'em, nine kinds of Frog Noise. They're the first kind that Neku encounters.
    • There's a Sim in My Sims Kingdom who... I'm not sure if he's supposed to be some guy in a frog costume, or actually a frog but with a human face. In either case, when you first encounter him, he's going around scaring the two other sims.
    • One kind of Herra Tick in The Bible Game for the Game Boy Advance is a frog. Not that there's a significant difference between the forms...
    • Jenny from Chibi-Robo! spends the game wearing a frog outfit. She also speaks in ribbits for the most part.
    • In the Pokémon series, the Poliwag (particularly Politoed) and Croagunk evolution lines are based on frogs, though Croagunk and Toxicroak are poisonous and appropriately Nightmare Fuel inducing. Poor Brock...
      • The Tympole line joins in on this, too. Just keep them away from Grass attacks.
    • Jean in Breath of Fire II is introduced to Ryu's party as a giant frog in a lake, and he mentions a curse that needs to be undone. When this is accomplished, he proved to be... an anthropomorphic frog prince.
    • While not quite a frog herself, the goddess Suwako Moriya of the Touhou series is associated with frogs; even her Nice Hat looks like a frog.
      • Meanwhile, ditzy ice fairy Cirno has a hobby of encasing frogs in ice, because they can usually survive this. "Usually", because she drops one in three.
    • The old (and shit) PC fighting game Battle Beast had a villainous "Toadman" and you got bonus points for squishing toads.
    • I have a frog. His name's Frog.
    • The Lizardmen race of Age of Wonders use giant frogs as combat mounts - the Lizardmen deploy amphibious Frog Rider cavalry units, the equally amphibious leaders of the race ride frogs, and they bring out a slightly mutated frog called the Lurker as a Glass Cannon and aquatic spy. Giant frogs sans riders can also be summoned, but as one might expect, aren't very useful in combat.
    • World of Warcraft shamans have the spell Hex which turns enemies into frogs. They're also used in some troll divinations as a type of oracle and are available as pets.
      • Gorlocs resemble nothing so much as sapient frogs; they have hop attacks and even have an idle animation where they use their tongue to catch flying bugs.
    • The Hekett of Guild Wars are large, sapient toads. A small portion of their race has a more humanoid shape but remains decidedly toad-like.
    • Yousuke from Persona 4 has Jiraiya, a mythological ninja who can shape-shift into frogs, as his persona.
    • Mega Man 4 had Toad Man, and later his Alternate Continuity counterpart, ToadMan.EXE. Also, since most NetNavis have human operators, ToadMan.EXE has the unsubtly frog-based reporter Ribitta.
    • Splot, the swamp level in Bug!!, features loads of frog enemies. They will usually try to attack Bug with a flyswatter attached to their tongue.
      • The sequel, Bug Too! has the same frogs in, of all levels, Cicada Night Fever. Probably because of licking the toad?
    • One of the boss battles in Yoshi's Island revolves around the fact that Kamek shrinks Yoshi and feeds him to a frog. The object of the battle is to batter the frog's uvula with eggs to get back out. It's also the only boss battle in the game that inverts the Make My Monster Grow trope; you can even see the surprise in Yoshi's face as he realises that he is the one being affected by Kamek's spell.
    • There are two flavours of frog in Spelunky, both of which are highly dangerous due to their erratic jumping patterns. The blue ones instantly die when attacked, but the red ones start spasming for a few seconds before subsequently exploding (though, if they jump into a pool of water, they turn blue).
    • King Wart.
    • Giant anthromorphic frog is one of the many enemies in Suikoden IV. Disturbingly, it gives you S/M gear armour when defeated.
    • Pocket Frogs for the iPad.
    • "*hop* Save your game?"
    • Pogo Stick-riding frogs are among the many enemies in the Something series. They're immune to fire and their leader is Von Toad II.

    Web Comics

    • Fea from Yamara summoned a Familiar, Ralph Poopsie—the cutest, sweetest, cuddliest toad in the whole wide world. Whether this or Baleful Polymorph is worse—you decide.
    • Frogs feature rather prominently in Homestuck, and a player in each SBURB session is in charge of breeding them. This is an important task, because the player will end up creating the Genesis Frog, which becomes a new universe.
    • Irregular Webcomic features giant frogs fairly often; usually, various Deaths are responsible for collecting the souls of people who died from some kind of hilariously improbable incident involving a giant frog.

    Western Animation

    • Hoodwinked has a frog as a detective.
    • Singing frogs in Meet the Robinsons. It's better than it sounds, but not much.
    • One Froggy Evening (Trope Namer cartoon itself)
    • Family Guy and The Simpsons have done stories wherein the characters get high from licking toads.
      • One episode of the latter had Bart Simpson be forced to go to Australia to get his butt kicked as punishment for prank-calling them on the phone. As soon as the Simpson family arrive at Sydney airport, Bart leaves a frog he brought there behind, and is immediately taken in by a kangaroo. At the end of the episode, just right after Bart is proven guilty and hence kicked in the rear, thousands of frogs immediately rush into the courtroom and start attacking everyone there. When the Simpsons are on the airplane heading back to the US, a koala can be seen grabbing onto the plane's landing gear.
    • Flip the Frog
    • Futurama has-ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
    • Will's favourite animal in WITCH is the frog.
      • Which doesn't prevent her from offering to dissect one of her friends' frogs in biology class, meaning she does not plan to Free the Frogs or they were already dead. It's stressed in the original comic book/magazine that she only likes stuffed frogs.
    • Michigan J. Frog
    • In an episode of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, the Eds visit a pond to look for frogs for a scam. At one point Ed dresses up like one.

    Eddy: Give 'em some more leg, Ed!

    1. ↑ Technically "toad" is not a taxonomic or biological term, it just refers to frogs which have dry skin.
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