RJ Writing Ink

Monster Love Character Analysis, Part 1- A Tale of Moon and Monsters

Hey folks, Jay here with a very special post. Remember a few months back when I did that week about Star vs. fanfiction? I ended up doing another post for another writing, TheWanderingHippie, and his Monster Love series. At the time, I thought I did a good job. However, in hindsight, I don’t feel as satisfied with what I wrote. Hippie’s stories are simply too good to not talk about, like A Tale of Moon and Monsters.

Hippie’s Monster Love series is very well written, and I can tell how much he likes the show by his dedication to it. He goes all-our with his writing, from world-building to defining the characters. I’ve been rereading his stories a lot, and I’ve made a habit of analyzing how he portrays some key characters. I find it fun comparing and contrasting how he writes characters compared to their canon counterparts. As a result, I decided to share my thoughts on his take on the show’s cast.

After I started writing this, however, I realized that it’s too big for a single post. So, I’m splitting it up into separate posts for readability. In this first post, I talk about the two main characters from Hippie’s first story, A Tale of Moon and Monsters.

Main Characters

Moon Butterfly

Future Queen of Mewni and Star’s mother, Hippie introduces us to Moon when she’s at Star’s age. However, apart from the flashback episode and the few books on the series, we know little about what Moon’s like at her daughter’s age. As a result, Hippie builds her personality from the ground up, and it, ironically, has a lot in common with Star.

Like Star in the canon, Hippie’s version of Moon’s compassionate, quick to make friends, and has a very strong moral compass. Additionally, she can sometimes be as reckless as Star, but this gets downplayed thanks to her sense of responsiblity.

The main difference is that, unlike in the show, this Moon never develops her hatred of Monsters; she actually befriends not only them, but many of her countries races. It’s these friendships that lead her to recognize how wrong things are with Mewni. In turn, this leads her to rebel against the dark group that controls her country.

Rebel Leader

When Moon finally flees the Shadow Clause’s influence, she doesn’t do it just so she can be with Toffee. She understands that she has to help all of her people because no one else will. Hippie makes it clear that this isn’t naive idealism, though. Moon fully understands that she must be willing to fight and kill to change Mewni for the better. Her resolve’s strong enough to help her accept that she may have to fight and kill her own mother.

Moon ultimately embraces her role as a literal rebel princess, and becomes the leader that Mewni truly needs. The resulting civil war claims the lives of many of her friends and family, but she refuses to let loss darken her ideals. In other words, she lives up to her epithet of “Moon the Undaunted”.

Queen, Wife, and Mother

As an adult, Moon’s basically the same as Hippie wrote her as a teenager, only more mature. She’s proven to be a very capable ruler, introducing many reforms to help her people and the rights of Monsters. The big difference is that she’s nowhere near as uptight as she is in the show, and this makes her way more likable in my opinion. She keeps her free-spirited nature, and when she’s not ruling, she’s either cooking, hanging with friends, or having romantic time with Toffee. I like her better this way.

As a result, her relationship with her daughter is a lot closer than it can be in the show. Moon’s more than willing to be openly affectionate with Star, and does everything she can to keep her happy and safe. In fact, the whole reason she sends Star to Earth in this version is so she can train without fearing for the anti-Monster prejudice still found in Mewni. In other words, she’s a way better mother than in the show.

As a bonus, she also ships Star and Marco early on, as she sees how happy hanging out with Marco makes her.

Toffee of Septarsis

This is the character that I had the hardest coming to terms with being a good guy. Yet Hippie somehow manages to take the best villain on the show and make him into a likable guy for his Monster Love series. At the same time, he keeps what makes him Toffee visible and active.

It doesn’t start out that way, though. Having made a good impression on Moon’s father, Toffee gets himself assigned as her tutor with less than ideal intentions. In other words, he’s trying to use his position to make her pro-Monster for his own survival. We’re well aware that’s an underhanded move. He even openly admits later in life that what he did made him “a douche.”

Fortunately, he grows to genuinely care for Moon and becomes her friend. Her influence leads him to open up to others, and he slowly grows to embrace the new emotions that he’s feeling. Without meaning to, he falls in love with Moon and ends up confessing to her. This fateful decision leads to a war that changes Mewni forever.

Rebel Leader

Knowing that he’ll be killed for falling in love with the Princess, Toffee flees into exile. He never expected Moon to follow him, much less return his feelings, but he’s happy nonetheless. When Moon begins her rebellion, Toffee throws his full support behind his new girlfriend, fighting so for a Mewni where everyone can live in peace.

Once the civil war begins, we see Toffee as we know him from the show: as a skilled strategist and tactician who’s able to help the rebellion fight against overwhelming odds. Thankfully, he’s doing it less for himself, and more to protect Moon and his new friends. By the end of Moon and Monsters, he’s essentially the logic and brains behind Moon’s heart, helping them to win the war.

Husband and Father

By the time of Star the Monster Princess, Toffee’s ruling Mewni alongside Moon as her husband, king, and equal. While he can still seem cold at times, Hippie makes it clear he’s merely being stern rather than cold-blooded. He’s learned to fully embrace the emotions his friends and family make him feel, and enjoys spending time with them.

As her father, Toffee thinks the world of Star, and their relationship is extremely close. He makes it clear that if anyone tries to hurt his little “MonStar”, he’ll kill them. At the same time, he knows he won’t always be there to protect her, and that she needs to make her own life choices. So, he averts the “overprotective dad” trope.

In addition, Toffee develops a unique relationship with Marco. Early on, he makes it clear that he’s putting a lot of faith in Marco’s ability to be Star’s friend, and can be very harsh on Marco when he messes up. However, Toffee only does it because he’s aware of how important Marco is to Star, and that he wants him to be the kind of person who can help her when she needs it. It’s clear they both have a mutual respect for each other, and the two have a mentor-student relationship going.

End of Part 1

With Moon and Monsters done, next we head on to the ongoing sequel, Star the Monster Princess. If you haven’t gotten the chance to do, I recommend you read Hippie’s stories. They’re really good, and he’s got some great taste in music.

And click here to go to Hippie’s Page on Fanfiction.net. From there, you can find all his stories in the Monster Love series.

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

I know I said that my Star vs. Fan Week thing would be for that one week. It has come to my attention, though, that I promised another author/new internet acquaintance, The Wandering Hippie, that I’d review his stories. I don’t even remember agreeing to such a thing, but since Hippie’s work is awesome, I’m going to do him a solid. Which is why I’m here now to write about his Monster Love AU series. It all starts with the rarest ship in the Star vs. fandom: MoonxToffee.

PUT. THE TORCHES AND PITCHFORKS. DOWN. Or in this case, STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD. Before you judge, let me explain. Yes, I’m well aware that in the show, Toffee’s the slimeball who killed Moon’s mother and ruined any chance of peace between mewmans and monsters. Yet for some reason, this ship started. Regardless of my personal feelings about Toffee, I am willing to put my prior opinions aside. In fact, I see the stories that Hippie wrote as an argument trying to convince me to accept the MoonxToffee thing.

Also, I happily accepted Eclipsa loving Globgor, and they make a great couple, so I refuse to be a hypocrite. This is A Tale of Moon and Monsters, and its sequel, Star the Monster Princess.

A Tale of Moon and Monsters

Author: The Wandering Hippie

Type of Fan Work: AU

First Published: June 27, 2017

Status: Complete

Synopsis

In this AU, Toffee’s a young advisor to the King and Queen of Mewni rather than an enemy. He’s also the lizard man stuck with being Moon’s tutor in Princess 101. While Moon can’t stand him at first, they start to warm up to each other and change themselves for the better. The closer they get, though, the more it seems like people are trying to split them apart.

Little do they know that there are dark forces at work. For centuries, a sinister group has controlled the Kingdom from the shadow, one that will stop at nothing to preserve the status quo. With Mewni no longer safe, the two flee for their lives, and vow to take down this shadow group. Gathering their friends under Moon’s banner, the young princess becomes a rebel leader to free all her people. This act of rebellion paves the way for a war that, for better or worse, will change Mewni forever.

Note on the Villains

I can’t progress further without telling you about the villains of this story. They’re the Shadow Clause. In Hippie’s headcanon, they’ve been the true rulers of Mewni for most of its history. I think they started as a group meant to protect Mewni from the shadows. However, went full-on Templar from Assassin’s Creed and started controlling it instead. They’ve helped encourage the persecution of Monsters and oppress the Mewman commoners to stay in power. They’re so powerful, even the Queens of Mewni are their unwitting puppets. Since the Magic High Commission exists in this story, the fact that the Shadow Clause is able to operate under their noses shows how powerful they are. So, Moon does what plenty of teens and young adults do when faced with tyranny: she rebels. What happens, I leave for you to find out. It’s awesome.

And that’s all I can tell you without spoiling the ending. On to the second part of the Monster Love AU, Star the Monster Princess.

Star the Monster Princess

Author: The Wandering Hippie

Type of Fan Work: AU

First Published: January 9, 2018

Status: Ongoing

It’s been twenty years since the Mewni Civil War ended with the defeat of the Shadow Clause. Under the guidance of Queen Moon and King Toffee, Mewni’s started to rebuild. Now the time has come for Star, their half-mewman, half-septarian daughter, to inherit the wand. Then everything goes down as it does in the show and Star gets sent to Earth. There, she meets Marco, Janna, Oskar, and everyone else.

Now she has to master the power of the wand while protecting it from falling into the wrong hands. In this case, those wrong hands are mewmans who refuse to bow to Moon’s new order and want to return it to the old ways. On top of everything, Star has to deal with the stigma of being half-monster in a kingdom that struggles to accept it. Thankfully, she has plenty of friends, both new and old, to stand by her side.

Little does anyone realize, but there’s great danger in the horizon. An ancient evil, even greater than the Shadow Clause, is at work, one that Star will need all her strength to face.

Review

I was skeptical about this series when I started it, considering who Toffee is in the context of the show. Then I decided to roll with it and see where it went. Thankfully, Hippie did a good job of making sure Toffee’s not a jerk. He can still be cold and distant, but his friendship with Moon helps him to open up and make friends.

Speaking of friends, the cast of this story is going to be a mixed bag. As in, it’s a mixture of the show’s characters, Hippie’s own creations, and expy’s from shows and books that Hippie likes. Its a good balance in my eyes, and while some may think it unoriginal, I enjoy the references to other works. It doesn’t help that I’m a fan of many of the shows and books he pulls characters from, though.

One of the more creative aspects of Hippie’s writing extends beyond literature, though. He likes to put links to clips of music on YouTube at points in the story. When you listen to them while you read, it helps to set the mood for what’s happening. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know of many writers who do this outside of audiobooks. Hippie, you’re a genius.

Enough praise, though. Let’s get to the meat of this review.

Heart of the Story

At its heart, A Tale of Moon and Monsters is about the youth rebelling. I’ve seen a few stories like this in the past. Tales where teens or young adults realize that their world’s very unfair and the adults running it are making things worse. So, they decide to take matters into their own hands and fix the mistakes of their elders. It’s a bit cliché, and the author even lampshades this in a later chapter through Toffee. Yet, I can’t help up but love this kind of story. I have a thing for standing up to jerks in power, and that’s not going away.

Star the Monster Princess picks up where its predecessor left off, with a new theme. Moon’s generation may have won Mewni’s freedom, but it’s Star’s generation that has to deal with the after-effects. As history has shown us, though, getting rid of centuries-old prejudices and racism is hard. As we see in the story, not even being a Princess is enough to protect Star from the worst of people’s behavior.

Hippie doesn’t hold back on what Star’s gone through. All her life, mewmans have bullied or outright tried to kill her because she’s half-monster; because she’s different. While still as kind and energetic as her canon counterpart, the things this version of Star have gone through left her with deep mental scars. Thankfully, Hippie goes out of his way to remind us in his story that there can be more good people in the world than there bad.

Every version of Star Butterfly places a lot of value on their friends. Fortunately for her, this version has plenty of people who can help her. Her friends and family are always there for Star when she needs it, reminding her that she’s not a freak. It leads to some really sweet moments, especially between Star and Marco.

Go Read This

As far as fan fictions go, I have to say that Monster Love AU is one of the most creative and original series I’ve read for Star vs. The Forces of Evil. A Tale of Moon and Monsters gives us a very imaginative look at a different version of Moon and Toffee while giving us an epic war of good and evil. Star the Monster Princess gives us a new spin on the show. It captures much of the spirit that made Star so much fun to watch. At the same time, its willing to take the “monster-racism” theme to its logical endpoint. Plus, thanks to Hippie’s excellent taste in pop culture, there’s plenty of references to other shows and movies scattered throughout the Monster Love AU series. If you’re looking for an alternative look at Star vs., then this is for you.

Now for a message to Hippie, because I know you’re reading this. First, thanks for mentioning me in your latest chapter and for recommending me. Anything to help keep the fandom alive. At least until Disney or Daron give us the closure we desire. Second, don’t disparage your own stories. You are a good writer, and your work is just as good as Light of the Sun and Stars. If it wasn’t, then no one would read it. Third, and I need you to pay attention to this one, I want you to keep at it with the Monster Love AU series until you feel it’s finished. I hate seeing a good story go unfinished. It’s like Invader Zim all over again.

Quick Announcement

Oh, and one last thing. In case you guys didn’t know, tomorrow Daron Nefcy and Adam McArthur are going to be on the Star vs. subreddit doing an AMA from 11 AM-12 PM PST. They’ll be answering all sorts of fan-related questions. This may be the best chance in the foreseeable future to learn if there is a future for SvTFOE, so be there. Here’s the link, don’t be late!

Click here to see my other animation stuff.