RJ Writing Ink

Monster Love Character Analysis Part 2- Star the Monster Princess

Welcome to part two of my character analysis The Wandering Hippie’s Monster Love fan fiction. Based on the show Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Hippie has some of the best fan writing that I’ve seen. I wanted to take a look at how he portrays the characters, but my initial post was too long. So I chose to split it into smaller posts about the main characters from each story and the supporting. In this portion, I analyze the heroes of his sequel, Star the Monster Princess.

Whereas his previous story was more or less his own creation, here Hippie follows the show as much as possible. At least, he does at first. As time passes, he plans on diverging from the show and make his own story.

Star Butterfly

The one and only heroine of Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Princess Star Butterfly. Born the daughter of Moon and Toffee six years after the defeat of the Shadow Clause, she got her name from her parents hopes that she would become the star of hope for Mewni. However, the road to becoming that shining star hasn’t been easy. Star’s had to face great hardship due to being half-monster, and that’s deeply impacted her personality. So when her wand inheritance ceremony goes awry, she takes it poorly. As a result, her parents send her to Earth where she can make friends and master the wand away from Mewni’s prying eyes. Thus begins her adventures with Marco and her friends as she works to master the Wand and become the Princess that Mewni needs.

Unique Mix of Characters

From the outset, I was impressed at how Hippie strove to make his version of Star so unique. On the surface, Star retains many of the positive and endearing traits she has in the show. While not as hyper, Star retains her friendly attitude and tries making friends with everyone she meets. Steadfast and loyal, Star already has plenty of friends even before she came to Earth and won’t hesitate to help them. Even if her attempts sometimes backfire.

Ironically, though, Hippie’s version of Star can be less a social butterfly and more a wallflower at times. To put it bluntly, she’s got a lot in common with Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Star can be incredibly shy and socially awkward at times, and she even has anxiety issues that she deals with. However, this isn’t an inherent personality trait. Rather, it’s the product of a lifetime of stigma for being a Mewman-Monster hybrid.

A Lifetime of Stigma

To say Star got bullied a lot growing up is an understatement. She’s been the subject of everything from cruel pranks by other kids, been called an abomination, to even multiple attempts on her life. It also doesn’t help that most boys who try to court her do so only for the throne. In other words, Star’s been put through hell because of what she was born as.

All these horrible events took a toll on Star’s personality. As a result, she can suffer from low self-esteem and anxiety attacks, and is very insecure about her appearance. This is in spite of the fact that nearly everyone on Earth considers her to be very pretty and charming.

I can tell that Hippie put a lot of thought into Star’s personality, and that he didn’t pull his punches regarding her past trauma. He even admits in the author’s notes that he cried while writing some of the things about Star’s past. I almost cried when I read them. If Hippie’s reading this, then he should know that he deserves the highest praise for what he did with Star.

Marco Diaz

Still the resident safe kid of Echo Creek, Marco gets tapped to be Star’s guide to Earth. It goes as well as it did in the show, but once they get past the rough start, they develop the strong friendship that fans know and love. In this story, though, Marco’s role as Star’s best friend becomes magnified. Having learned of her past trauma early on, Marco takes it upon himself to help Star heal. As a result, he becomes the emotional rock that Star never knew she needed in her life, moreso than in the show.

A More Confident Marco

Early in the story, it became apparent that Marco already had some of the self-confidence he would display as the show progressed. According to Marco himself, about a year before meeting Star, he was assigned to look after Janna and Oskar. As a result of interacting with them, Marco became more willing to stand up for himself and try new experiences. Case in point, when Ponyhead tries to intimidate him during their first meeting, he doesn’t take it lying down. Instead, he pushes back.

From a reader’s perspective, it felt like Hippie took some of Star’s confidence from the show and injected it into Marco. Besides being pleasantly surprised, I thought that this was a smart move. It helps to offset how shy and insecure Star can be in this story, so their dynamic remains balanced as a whole.

The downside to this newfound confidence, though, is that this can lead to Marco being somewhat reckless. Firstly, in Monster Princess, it’s Marco who proposes that they break Ponyhead out of St. Olga’s rather than Star. Moreover, this can even lead to him inadvertently hurting Star. Fortunately, his concern for Star’s well being, plus some criticism from Toffee, helps him to grow out of this.

Star’s Protector

While Marco more or less took his role as Star’s guide and friend in the show seriously, it gets magnified in Monster Princess due to her past. While most of her friends from Earth know she’s been through awful experiences, Marco’s the only one who knows the full extent of what she’s gone through. As a result, Marco becomes fiercely protective of the princess, vowing to never let anyone else hurt her again. His concern’s so great, that when that brat Jeremy called Star “a lizard freak”, he went berserk with rage. In other words, don’t mess with Star around him.

Star & Marco’s Relationship

Whether you’re a fan of the ship or not, there’s no denying that Star and Marco’s relationship is an integral part of the show. As it just so happens, Hippie’s a big Starco shipper, and makes no attempts to try to hide it. In fact, around the time he gets to “Brittney’s Party”, he flat out admits he has plans for Starco. Why did I spoil it for you? Because Hippie does so in the author’s notes. His exact words were:

Well I’M AT MY WITS END WITH THE WAY THE SHOW IS DANCING AROUND STARCO LIKE THIS AND YOU DESERVE SOME STRAIGHT ANSWERS FOR ONCE! *pants for a few seconds to compose myself*

Brittney’s Party, part 1, Star the Monster Princess

Hippie’s very passionate about his work, and I respect him for that.

Angry fan rants aside, Hippie does his best to develop Starco without compromising what makes it one of the best couples I’ve ever seen in fiction. I honestly think that he succeeds in doing so, and in less time than the show takes. Props to you, Hippie!

Like in the show, in Monster Princess, Star and Marco’s relationship is incredibly strong. The two become the most important people in each other’s lives, and try to support each other as best as possible. As I said before, Marco becomes the emotional support Star needed; meanwhile, Star becomes Marco’s motivation to improve himself. The two are so close that almost everyone realizes they’ve fallen for each other before they do.

Laying the Foundations

In the story, Hippie drops hints early on that Star’s fallen for Marco earlier than in the show. The biggest hint has to be during the whole “Mewberty” thing. The last thing she thinks of before sucumbing to her Mewberty form was the thought of a shirtless, toned Marco offering to protect her. Also, she eventually goes after Marco and him alone, something she doesn’t do in the show. Star does eventually realize that she’s fallen for Marco, which worries her even more than it does in the show.

Like in the show, Star tries to keep her crush a secret at first. However, it’s not just because Marco likes Jackie, but something more troubling. The combination of a lack of confidence in her appearance, cruel rejection by past crushes, and the few relationships she has had ending poorly, took their toll on Star. Simply put, she doesn’t see herself as someone people would find attractive. Again, this is despite most guys her age on Earth considering her pretty cute.

Star and Marco’s relationship is as complicated in Monster Princess as it was for them in the show. However, I think that helps makes the hurdles they face even sweeter to look at in the end. While I won’t say how Hippie resolves this, I will say that the payoff is more than worth it, and as sweet as it is in the show. Also, he does resolve it sooner than the show did, so I have to give Hippie points for that.

That’s All for Now

I think I’ve bent people’s ears enough, already. Next up I will looking at all the secondary characters in the Monster Love series, both from the show and original characters.

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.

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.