Welcome back to Double Take! For those of you unfamiliar with this segment of my blog, Double Take involves examining an early episode of Star vs. the Forces of Evil and showing how the writers subtly introduce simple concepts in order to prepare the audience for increasingly complex ideas in later episodes. In doing this, I also intend to demonstrate that this hidden gem of a show often has some underappreciated writing.

This particular Double Take is, I feel, important to post just ahead of tomorrow’s movie, as the movie will undoubtedly have particular focus on Toffee. In addition to the above-stated goals of Double Take, I hope I can provide some context to the role that the elements of storytelling play in Star vs. the Forces of Evil – I’m trying to show you, in other words, that this series doesn’t simply tell a story: it tells a story which intentionally has multiple meanings.

As with all my analysis, it is my hope that, by the end of this post, you will have glimpsed the patterns of meaning in Star vs. the Forces of Evil as I see them.

Why This Episode?

“Monster Arm” is the earliest episode featured on Double Take so far. I emphasize its early place in the season – episode 3a, in fact – because that makes it all the more remarkable that it hints at something which would not come into play until season two (and the latter half of it, at that).

Simply put: “Monster Arm” is about Toffee. While, yes, ostensibly the episode is about Star misusing her magic and giving Marco a demonic tentacle arm – in actuality, the episode subtly foreshadows not only the appearance of Toffee but the entire arc with Ludo using Toffee’s arm as his wand. Toffee’s arm is the real “monster arm” of the episode’s title.

Not only does the episode foreshadow Toffee’s season two re-emergence, it also is explicitly linked together with a later episode in the same season – “The Hard Way” – which I will show by comparing each episode scene-by-scene. I want to be as clear as possible about what “Monster Arm” is doing: by telling one story – Star, Marco, and his tentacle arm – the episode is preparing the audience, through the use of narrative, tone, and structure, for a more complex story – that of Star, Ludo, and Toffee.

The Toffee Connection

It may sound implausible at first that “Monster Arm,” as silly as it is, could be about Toffee, but think about the title: is there any other monster’s arm in the entire series that has as much importance as does Toffee’s?

It’s only due to wielding Toffee’s arm as a wand that Ludo, channelling his negative emotions, is able to subdue the rats, take the corn, steal Star’s spellbook, and restore the ancient monster temple. In fact, I think there is some subtle wordplay going on – an arm is both a part of the body and something you use as a weapon.

Much of “Monster Arm” hints at a number of future events:

The brief glimpse of Glossaryck when Star opens the spellbook, for instance, foreshadowing his later significance.

Or the book being a source of demonic influence:

Or the combination of two differently-colored magics:

Or the presence of an evil intelligence inside someone’s arm:

Or the fact that the arm literally becomes part of someone else:

These are all things that presage later events. Indeed, to drive this point home, the series itself draws upon “Monster Arm” in the season one finale.

References to “Monster Arm” in “Storm the Castle”



In “Storm the Castle,” Star and Marco visit a dimension in order to get sandwiches – the danger of which triggers a memory for Marco of Monster Arm.

In fact, there’s a great deal of arm- or hand-related horror going on in “Storm the Castle” – all of which, I believe, is intended to reinforce the idea, revealed at the beginning of season two, that Toffee’s arm has become a wand:

Marco injures his hand punching the crystal cage



Marco injures his hand swatting at Toffee’s sandwich.



Beard Deer injures his hand punching the crystal cage.

Ludo has a disgusting castle-shaped mole on his hand.

Star blasts off Toffee’s left arm.

Marco’s arm nearly gets stuck in the crystal cage.

Glossaryck sticks his arm out of the magic mirror (interestingly enough, just as he’s saying the words “cleave something apart” – the missing piece of the wand is now embedded in Toffee’s hand).

Even the ominous tone of the ending of “Monster Arm,” at first only seeming to be a joke at Marco’s expense, is later echoed in the ominous ending of "Storm the Castle” – decidedly not a joke.

Indeed, the series has a habit of introducing concepts as jokes only to have them later return with serious consequences – nor is this, more specifically, the last time that we see an episode-ending joke with Marco later return in a serious light when in context of Toffee.

Recall the joke ending to “Page Turner,” with Marco being possessed by reading Eclipsa’s chapter:

If “Monster Arm” foreshadows the idea of a demonic force being released by the book, then “Page Turner” is what reveals the true extent of the danger the book presents – and, in fact, the ending of “Page Turner” later returns in a much, much more serious context with Ludo being possessed by Toffee at the end of “The Hard Way”:

Interestingly, “The Hard Way” has some unusual connections to “Monster Arm” – I’ve noted them before in another post but never fully explored or explained them. I will attempt to delineate those connections and make sense of them.

Echoes of “Monster Arm” in “The Hard Way”

If you’ve read my sonnet theory (or the Indiana Jones theory), then you know that I believe that season 2B’s episodes were intentionally structured so as to resemble a sonnet – and that each episode referred back to an older episode through dialogue, composition, and scene. I believe “The Hard Way” is an echo of “Monster Arm,” and that the purpose of this deliberate reference is to reinforce the idea that the only real monster arm of significance is Toffee’s.

Let’s run through some of the similarities.

Shared dialogue:

Janna: I want it to be my boyfriend!

Glossaryck: Uh… well, do you want it to be?

Ludo: Oh, yes! I so want it to be.

Shared scenes:

Ludo: Did you keep him up all night?

Ludo: You haven’t fed him, have you?

Ludo: Time to turn up the heat.

Shared jokes:

Marco’s arm hits him in the face with his own arm; Ludo hits himself in the face with his wand.



Shared concepts:

Both episodes involve a magical being who promises to unlock the host’s true potential – Monster Arm for Marco and Glossaryck for Ludo, respectively.

Both episodes involve a sinister entity with a bad influence on its wielder – Monster Arm on Marco and Toffee on Ludo, respectively.

The purpose behind “The Hard Way” drawing upon “Monster Arm” is, I think, to borrow a covert structure of pre-built meaning and context for what is happening. In other words, it is a subliminal reinforcement of the idea, established in “Monster Arm,” that someone‘s arm could not only be evil but take over someone else’s mind completely.



As you might have also noticed from this list of similarities between “Monster Arm” and “The Hard Way,” the show appears to be making some kind of comparison between Marco and Ludo, especially in the context of Glossaryck and the spellbook. Glossaryck introduces himself to both of them with the line, “At your service, milady” – and both Marco and Ludo fetch pudding for Glossaryck. They both read Eclipsa’s chapter and are influenced by the dark magic within, and both have their right arms transformed into something grotesque, malevolent, and powerful. Even their first names have similar sounds, both having two syllables, the first syllable stressed, and ending with a long -o sound.

I don’t know what, if anything this comparison could mean. Plenty of fans have speculated that Marco might eventually fall under Toffee’s influence, just as Ludo did – which would indeed bring “Monster Arm” full circle – but personally, I don’t have enough evidence to say one way or the other. It nevertheless remains a tantalizing possibility, of course.



Wrapping Up

Hopefully, I have given you a different perspective on “Monster Arm.” It’s an early episode which at first appears to be a silly side-story – but, like the other episodes featured on Double Take, it actually features some concepts that are repeated in later seasons with more complexity. Toffee’s arm was always the intended “monster arm” of the series.



Thematically speaking, pairings, partners, and repetitions of history all play big roles in the show, and I think it’s smart for the writers to reinforce those notions not only by drawing on previously-established story elements (which is overt) but also by structuring episodes to reflect previous ones (which is often hidden).

I’ve mentioned this many times over by now, but the staff behind Star vs. the Forces of Evil are masters of their craft. They have a concrete vision of what they want the story to say and how they want the story to say it. The heart of good storytelling – the heart of irony itself – is this: the ability to say something without saying it.

Writing fiction in this way, in what I call the poetical mode, is always a gamble, even for skilled writers – you risk muddling the message, losing the audience, or, worst of all, having a confused audience draw precisely the opposite meaning you intended. But, in my opinion, given the impressive success of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, it is a gamble that has so far paid off. I sincerely hope that trend continues.



I hope you enjoyed this post! Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have on your mind regarding previous or future topics or to suggest topics you’d like to see me write about.

“The Battle for Mewni” is tomorrow! You can rest assured that I will be watching – and no doubt writing some pretty lengthy analysis afterwards. See you all again soon.