Star the Monster Princess vs. The Forces of Evil

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.