It’s day six of my Star vs Fan Week, and it’s time for another amazing work for StarFans everywhere. I’ve used examples from MoringMark twice now, but this next one’s his latest work, and his best one so far. It’s the next-generation, fanmade sequel the show deserves. Instead of being about the kids of the cast, this is about Mariposa and Meteora. I give you Echo Creek: A Tale of Two Butterflies

Echo Creek: A Tale of Two Butterflies

First Released: May 20th, 2019

Author: MoringMark

Type of Fan Fic: webcomic/unofficial sequel

Status: Ongoing

Synopsis

Fourteen years have passed since the events of “Cleaved” and life in Echo Creek’s returned to a comfortable status quo. All the monsters and Mewmans have peacefully integrated into life on Earth. Star’s dream of co-existence between Monsters and Mewmans seems realized , and like she and Marco promised, Mariposa and Meteora got to grow up together. This fun little webcomic follows the next generation of the Butterfly and Diaz families as they try to make the most of their summer vacation. That includes going on as many adventures as Star and Marco did.

Review

This webcomic was likely inspired by the Season 4 episode “Gone Baby Gone”. The short version is that Meteora and Mariposa accidentally end up in Hekapoo’s dimension where they grow up as teenagers and sisters together. It was a really interesting premise that seemed to entertain the idea of a sequel/spin-off about Mariposa and Meteora. Sadly, that idea took a backseat since the next episode was the start of the eight-part series finale. Thankfully, MoringMark realized the potential this idea had and decided to act on it. Might I also say that this may be his best work yet.

I loved “Cleaved” as a series finale, but because it was so open-ended, it left a lot of unanswered questions about what happens next. Echo Creek tries answering these questions by giving us a good look at what the cast of Star vs. did with their lives after the Cleaving. The two cast-members that look set to play the biggest roles right now are, of course, Star and Marco. They’re the leaders of Echo Creek, with Marco serving as Sheriff and Star as Mayor of Echo Creek. They both try to serve as mentors and role models for Mari and Meteora in their own way. Marco’s the overprotective brother, while Star’s the cool big sister who know just what to say to make the duo listen.

Next-Gen Butterfly and Diaz

The main focus of Echo Creek, though, is on Mariposa and Meteora, and it’s established that their relationship is a mirror image of what Star and Marco had. They love getting into trouble, with Mari acting as the voice of reason to Meteora’s more reckless tendencies. At one point, the two even mirror Star and Marco’s fighting poses from the first intro!

The point that I’m trying to make is that, until we get an announcement that says otherwise, I’m considering Echo Creek to be the sequel to Star vs. The Forces of Evil. The comics still in its early stages, but it has the potential to be as fun and action-filled as the show. Plus, MoringMark likes making these little shorts in between chapters that are pretty fun to read. While I don’t want to spoil anything yet, I will say this: there’s a bigger mystery to solve involving the legacy of magic. Where it will lead, I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.

Echo Creek: A Tale of Two Butterflies is currently on hiatus, but it will be back later this month. Click the link up to go to MoringMark’s Tumblr and read it for yourself.

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

Star vs. Fan Week, Day 3

In the Season Two episode of Star vs., “Running With Scissors“, we saw Marco spend sixteen years in another dimension hunting down Hekapoo, the forger of dimensional scissors, all to prove himself worthy of his scissors. He got them in the end, but after learning from Star that he had only been gone from Earth for eight minutes, he returned home, and the show went back to its status quo. Today’s fanwork, Like Father, Like Daughter, asks two things: what if the status quo didn’t go back to normal, and what if Star came a few seconds later? That’s how we get Seraph.

Like Father, Like Daughter

First Released: Feb 17, 2017

Author: ADdude

Type of Fanwork: AU

Status: Ongoing

In this story, rather than quickly readjusting to life on Earth, Marco has a harder time doing so something everyone notices. Just when everyone tries to get Marco to open up to them, Hekapoo shows up with a teenage girl in tow. She then drops a massive bombshell on everyone:

Marco, this is my daughter. Our daughter.

Star took longer getting to Marco, and the flirting seen between him and Hekapoo became more than flirting. A few days after he left, she gave birth to their daughter, Seraph Diaz. Due to time moving faster in Hekapoo’s dimension, little Seraph aged into a teenager very quickly. So Hekapoo brought her to live with Marco and his parents. The series follows Marco and the cast as they help Seraph adjust to life on Earth and help Marco learn how to be a parent. All this on top of the adventures he has with Star, too; things get weirder than normal.

Review

When I first heard about this story, I didn’t think I’d like it that much. I like Hekapoo and the dynamic she had with Marco in the show, but I never saw them as an item. That, and I always liked Star and Marco as a couple more.

Once I got into reading it, though, I was hooked on it. I’ve always thought that Marco’s Neverzone adventures were a missed opportunity for the show. The fact that he so easily readjusted to life on Earth was necessary for the show, but in real life, that doesn’t happen. So, Like Father, Like Daughter puts him in a situation where he can’t go back to the way he was before his scissors quest. Thankfully, having Seraph in his life turns out to be the best thing this version of Marco could need.

Speaking of Seraph, let’s talk about her and how she ends up changing everyone’s lives.

Seraph Diaz

Half-human, half-magical being, this little spitfire’s Seraph Celiosa Diaz. Despite being the same age as Marco and Star, she’s only a month old when the Story first starts. The reason behind her accelerated age is confusing, but here’s the bottom line. One day in the Neverzone ages her 6 months, meaning she would die within a year. So Seraph was sent to Earth for her own safety.

Appearance-wise, people have noted how she looks like a cross between Hekapoo and her grandmother, Angie Diaz. The coolest thing, though, is she inherited Hekapoo’s superhuman strength and ability to wield fire.

Seraph and the Cast

Seraph reminds me a lot of Star when she first came to Earth. She’s extremely friendly and tries making friends with everyone she meets. Each of the show’s cast warms up to her, albeit some sooner than others. There are three characters in particular, though, whose reactions to Seraph I found most interesting: Star, Jackie, and Hekapoo herself.

This fan fix starts at crucial moments in Star and Jackie’s lives. Star was starting to realize she had feelings for Marco, and Jackie was already dating him. Needless to say, the revelation that Marco has a daughter makes things awkward. Star’s initial reaction was really bad:

Star’s usual heart marks on her cheeks had changed into two spinning rainbow balls, and Star herself just remained motionless, only staring off into the space before her with what appeared to be a death grip on her wand. Her right eye appeared to be twitching, a contrast to the rest of the blank expression on her face.

Like Father, Like Daughter Chapter 2

It’s even harder for Jackie, considering how Marco cheated on her, and the two break up, though agree to remain friends. Despite befriending Seraph, later chapters reveal that, deep down, they still feel a bit resentful and jealous of how she symbolizes Marco’s relationship with Hekapoo.

As for Hekapoo, having a daughter serves as a catalyst for the magical entity to mature significantly and become a lot more responsible. She’s still mischievous and likes teasing others, but having Seraph changes her for the better. I also like the fact that some of the more recent chapters have Hekapoo coming to terms with the consequences of her actions. I.E., not telling Marco of the time difference in the Neverzone and then sleeping with him when he has a girlfriend is a bit of a dick move.

Good Story Structure

One of the best parts of this fic is how ADdude structures the story. It has arcs that can span across several chapters, like a n actual show, or a Light Novel series. The writing’s top notch, engaging, and captures the show’s cast very well. One of the first arcs is a tournament arc, and if you know what to look for, you’ll see plenty of cameos and shout outs to great fighters in pop culture. The whole story’s a blast, and I love it

Read This Story.

ADdude took a potentially obscure pairing and made into a compelling story that has a sizable fan base. I’m not a Markapoo supporter, but this story does a good job of showing what could happen. The best part is that ADdude shows no signs of stopping the story, either. From what I can guess, it comes out every month, so it comes at a decent pace. If you like Star vs., then this would be a fun story for you to read.

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

Star vs. Fan Week, Day 2

What would happen if your future kids came back from the future to make sure your parents get together and preserve their existence? It sounds like a version of “Back to the Future” or other time travel stories, but this one has a twist. In this case, the kids are from two separate futures… and have two different moms. This scenario is precisely the dilemma that Marco Diaz faces in this next fan work, Ship War AU by MoringMark.

Ship War AU

Written by: MoringMark

Type of Fanwork: AU Comic/Shipping

Status: Uncertain/Incomplete

Synopsis:

The comic starts in the middle of Season Two episode “Bon Bon the Birthday Clown.” Only in Ship War AU, Marco and Jackie’s date gets interrupted by two unexpected visitors. One’s Elizabeth Butterfly, Star and Marco’s future daughter, and the other’s Jam Diaz, Jackie and Marco’s future son. Both came back in time with different motives, but they’re each determined to ensure their existences.

The rest of Season Two unfolds as Jam and Elizabeth try to blend in and make sure Marco ends up with their respective moms. Meanwhile, Marco’s just trying to keep his relationship with Jackie intact while dealing with the fact he has two teenage kids to handle, plus Star.

Review

I don’t know where the author, MoringMark, learned to draw, but man he’s good. Looking at Ship War AU, it almost perfectly captures the art style of the show, right down to the backgrounds. You can almost mistake it for the show itself, at times. The resemblance is more than just skin-deep though, as MoringMark nails the characters personalities, or even expands on them. Since the whole premise behind the fan comic’s a shipping war, it focuses less on the events of the show at first and more on the shipping. The events of season two eventually play a significant role, but that comes closer to the end.

In terms of the shipping dynamic, one thing the comic succeeds in doing while the show fails is demonstrating the effect that Star’s feelings for Marco have on Jackie. In the show, Jackie eventually broke up with Marco because she knew he liked Star but moved on. Here, though, we see how that could have affected Jackie in the show. We see her openly admit to feeling jealous of Star for her looks, personality, and popularity. Then just when she thinks she has Marco, his future daughter with Star shows up, and that jealousy gets a lot worse.

Speaking of the future children, it’s time for some character analysis regarding Elizabeth and Jam. This will get a little long since I want to cover both their backstories and personalities. I can’t help it.

Elizabeth Butterfly

This is Princess Elizabeth Butterfly, Star and Marco’s future daughter in Ship War AU. In her timeline, Star and Marco are happily married as the rulers of a futuristic Mewni. Glossaryck tasked her with traveling back to the events of the show to deal with a space-time anomaly, only to run into Jam, who has his own goals. Now she has to ensure her existence while keeping Star from figuring out her identity.

Appearance-wise, Elizabeth’s practically the spitting image of Star, inheriting her eyes, cheek marks, and physical appearance, while getting Marco’s hair color. As far as personality goes, Elizabeth takes mostly after her mother, albeit more subdued. She’s got a giant sweet tooth, capable of being as reckless as Star, and loves fighting bad guys and bullies. Fortunately, she got Star’s magic and wand and Marco’s skill in martial arts.

While her personality reminds a little too much of Star to call her wholly original, I like Elizabeth because she has some of the best aspects of Star and Marco. She can be snarky and sarcastic at times, but she’s every bit as selfless as her parents and quick to make friends. After some time passes, she even tries to reach out to Jam, despite their initial attempts to ensure their existence. Underneath her confident exterior, though, is someone whose worried that they won’t be able to live up to Star’s legacy. It’s learning how to stop comparing herself to her mom and the rest of the family that drives her character near the end of the series.

Jam Diaz

This is Jam Diaz, Marco and Jackie’s son from the future. His name comes from the acronym “Jackie And Marco.” Unlike Elizabeth’s happy childhood, though, Jam’s was hell on Earth. In his timeline, Star disappeared a few months after the events of Bon Bon the Birthday Clown, and then a phenomenon known as the “Stapocalpyse” saw Earth overrun by monsters. With both Jackie and Marco dead, Jam came back in time not to ensure his existence, but to stop the Stapocalpyse. Then he has to deal with Elizabeth.

Appearance-wise, he got Jackie’s eyes and the blue streak in the otherwise brown-hair he got from Marco. He also wears his late mother’s seashell necklace as a memento, and always carries a skateboard and helmet on him at all time. Ironically, his severe and stoic personality resembles the “bad boy” image that we saw Marco trying so hard to create before he met Star. Also ironically, his good looks and personality lead him to become as big a chick magnet as Marco was in the show: just look.

I like Jam because he reminds me of Future Trunks, and Future Trunks is my favorite character in DBZ. Both are time-traveling warriors trying to stop an apocalyptic future and are super awesome. Unlike Trunks, though, Jam’s slower to trust others since he’s been on his own since he was a kid. He also serves a good foil for Elizabeth. While Liz is more emotional, Jam’s stoic. More importantly, though, Jam’s goal is to stop the apocalypse that kills his parents; he’s okay with sacrificing his existence if necessary.

Original Content vs Canon

I’m still new to the whole fan works thing, so my opinion on what makes a good fan work is yet being formulated. One thing I do know that I like, though, is fan works that try to remain faithful to the source’s canon, but also tell their own story. It’s hard to explain. In the case of Ship War AU, we have a fan comic that, while telling a new story, more or less follows the plot of the show from Season Two onwards. Most of the significant events from the episodes still take place: some happen as they did in the show, and others end up having different outcomes entirely. It’s enough, though, to keep me interested in the end. Sadly, we may never know what happens, as the series was never finished.

Stuck in Hiatus

The comics end around the start of Season Three of the show, just as we get to the big fight against Toffee. Unfortunately, we never see what happens, as MoringMark seems to have moved on to other projects. It is a shame, because with SvTFOE over, I’d love to see how he’d end the comic. There’s always hope, though. In the meantime, Elizabeth and Jam have made appearances in other fanworks done by MoringMark and fans of the show, so they’ll be around.

Conclusion

If you’re one of those people who’s into Star vs. for the shipping, then this should be right up your alley. If you’re not into the shipping, then this story will at least entertain you. It captures the essence of the show in a very reliable manner, both stylistically and in terms of tone and characters. We may never know how it ends, but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying Ship War AU. Full disclosure, this won’t be the last time we see MoringMark or his work this week. What can I say? He’s just good. You should go check out his Tumblr page, right now. Click the link here

Here’s a hint about tomorrow’s fan work choice: it involves another fan-made child character.

Click here to see my review of yesterday’s fan work, Starfall

Star vs. Fan Week, Day 4

One of the big things that I’ve learned about the fan community for Star vs. The Forces of Evil is that there’s a lot of shipping. When there’s a lot of shipping, that leads to the concept of next gen original characters, and there are kids from almost every pairing in SvTFOE. Kids from Star and Marco, Star and Tom, Marco and Jackie, even a few for Marco and Janna. Basically, if anyone thought they’d make a good pair, the fans made kids for them. So MoringMark and a bunch of other fan creators had the idea of banding them together in one place. That leads us to today’s Star vs. Fan Work, SvTFOE Metaverse.

Fan Work: SvTFOE Metaverse

Created by: MoringMark (Originally)

Type of Fan Work: Webcomic/Anthology

Status: No Idea

This doesn’t really have a synopsis to it, so I’m skipping that in favor of giving an explanation.

The whole concept’s based on the Citadel of Ricks from Rick and Morty. Which, in turn, was based on the Council of Reeds from Marvel Comics. Existing in a dimension separate from the rest of the Multiverse are bases for every next-gen fankid where they can hangout with their inter-dimensional siblings. The focus is mainly on the largest base, the Citadel of Starco, home to all the fankids of Star and Marco.

Since MoringMark originally created the idea of the Metaverse, his Starco kid, Elizabeth Butterfly, plays a major role as head of security. Unfortunately for her, she ends up getting into a lot of trouble dealing with threats and fankids from other bases. Her biggest headache seems to be dealing with the kids from the TomStar base. They keep trying to sneak in or just mess with her all the time. I think it’s a funny meta reference to the rivalry fans have over who Star should have ended up with.

As far as a plot, there really is none, and while that would normally bother me, there doesn’t need to be one. The SvTFOE Metaverse was created to give fans of the show a means to collaborate and work on. It does a pretty job of it, too. Most of the comics are funny, slice of life stories that will make a fan chuckle, and anyone can add onto it. I don’t think anyone’s posting about it lately, but it can’t hurt to at least look it up.

Also, check this out:

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

Hey, guys! Jay here! I just wanted to let everyone know that I now have my own Tumblr account: animeniacfan. As to why, there’s a simple reason: fanboy urges.

In the week leading up to the series finale for Star vs The Forces of Evil, I got into reading and looking at fan art online. The show’s got a sizable fan art community, and I couldn’t help myself, so I decided to set up shop on Tumblr to help expand my blog. I’ll be sharing my posts on Tumblr along with other social media sites, and also sharing some of the cool stuff that I find on there. Things like artwork, stories, that sort of thing.

To start us off, I wanted to share the work of this awesome artist, MoringMark. He makes SvTFOE comics so well done that you could mistake them for being from the show itself. Right now he’s working on his fan sequel to the show, Echo Creek: A Tale of Two Butterflies. Taking place fourteen years after the finale, it follows the adventures of the now teenaged Meteora and Mariposa as they spend their summer vacation fighting bad guys. It’s only a few chapters in, but it’s really good! Here’s a link to it:

Enjoy!