BLOOD MOON BALL

When the poster came out everyone thought that Tom would have controlled Star in some way, be it magic or hypnotism or whatever. Turns out it wasn’t anything like that. They probably just wanted to overstate how controlling Tom is, ‘cause in the actual episode he’s not manipulative or anything like that, just really pushy.

Marco looks under Star’s dress a lot in these posters.

HUGE POST BELOW KEEP READING



- Despite being day, the blood moon can be seen in the very first scene, and then throughout the episode.

Don’t know if it’s just “We made backgrounds with the moon in it and we are goint to use them!” or “All the events of this episode happened under the ever watching eye of this magical eldritch moon”







- Tom came with flames from underground, and later in the episode the elevator-demon disappears in flames. Maybe “Underworld” is another dimension, and those flames are just like portal from dimensional scissors for demons, or “Underworld” is a special dimension connected to every other one. There is also the same blood moon as Earth in hell’s sky (?)







- We don’t know much about Oskar, but he seems like a nice guy, despite “having a record” and being so aloof.





- Tom is apparently attractive, in universe.

Or Echo Creek’s female student body is weak to the appeal of purplish skin (even after seeing Mewberty Star? Shouldn’t they be shell shocked by the color by now?)





- Janna and Jackie (and Hope?) are probably friends even outside being classmates







- Star and Marco don’t have all the classes together (so far we have seen Skullnick’s math lessons and art only)







- Maybe they just wanted to make a 666-667 joke, but the Blood Moon Ball is a pretty rare occurrence, so all the prophecy mumbo jumbo (I’m going to talk about it later) could make sense.

Also, while it’s not stated in the episode, in this interview Daron said “Tom is the devil prince, so I imagine he has this royal father who is this anger demon”. So he is royalty,





- Until we got some more infos on it I think that it’s safe to assume that Star broke with Tom due to his anger problems, and not exactly on the best of terms.







- According to Daron’s tweet Tom’s bunny is called Marshmallow





- I’m a little thrown off by this scene. Star’s voice says “Woa, 53 days anger free? This changes things, I’m… intrigued.”, while her face says “Woa, so this chump managed not to throw a tantrum for 53 days?”

Since later in the episode Star is interested in the ball, but clearly NOT in Tom, I don’t think this is Star reconsidering her choice, she was just a little -maybe pleasantly- surprised





- STRANGER DANGER!





- Is Marco really strong, or are demons really brittle?

And Marco was in another classroom, so he probably saw/heard about Star leaving school with a demon and he immediatly ran to help.





- Later in the episode Star easily freezes Tom, but right now she seems slightly concerned, so an angry Tom is probably pretty dangerous, even by Butterfly-family standards.





- Blink-and-you-miss-it: Tom’s stare (and head) remain focused on Marco despite him turning around.





- Star already looks pretty done. Regarding what I said earlier about his 53 days, maybe Star WAS a little impressed for a moment, but saw soon enough that he was still more or less the same old Tom.

And Marco knows about Tom despte having never seen him (in Matchmaker he didn’t see Star accidentally calling him?), so Star probably told him about. Being the outlet for rants about exes is a good thing, right? Sign of trust and closeness, right?





- Judging by her face she knows that Marco wouldn’t approve her going. So even though she later disregard his opinion at least she knows and values him enough to, in a first moment, actually feel guilt-ish about it?





- This is probably just Marco’s safe side showing. It’s a Disney show, guys, don’t go thinking that Tom did something horrible to Star to deserve getting dumped.





- This sounds like “therapy speech” (or at least what therapy speech is like in tv shows, I’m not an expert on the subject and I don’t want to assume), so Tom is really trying to improve himself.





- We don’t know yet the story behind Star’s horned headband. If it was Tom’s gift, then she obviously came to like it even outside her old relationship, since not much later she calls it “her thing”.

(short comic from one of the show’s characters designer on the matter. Completely not canon, just a fan art from an officialish source.)





- While my Starco heart hurts at every scene that ever so slightly alludes to Star’s feelings for Tom, she’s still a 14 years old whom driving force in life is “I WANT TO MAKE FRIENDS”, so even outside the realm of romantical implications it’s in character for her to feel conflicted and wanting to give Tom a second chance.

Or I’m just deluding myself. I’m extremely partial. People shouldn’t be reading these posts. I’m not a reliable source.







About Star, Marco and Tom’s behavior in this episode (I’m going to make comments scene-by-scene later, but it’s easier for me to make a general point by point commentary now):

THEY ALL ACT A-HOLEISH IN THIS EPISODE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. And yet they are all more or less excusable.

(I wanted to say “just like real 14 years old dealing with these kind of feelings and situations but I felt incredibly old while writing it.)

- MARCO, in a way, is the biggest offender. He should know that Star has ‘complexes’ about not being trusted, and she’s the one who knows Tom, not him, and yet he acts pushy, trying to stop Star, going as far as sneaking into the party JUST to tell her “Let’s get out of here, this place is the worst”, and then acting all “I told ya” about it.

But he probably did it more out of sincere concern than jealousy (there was a bit of jealousy too, though. Just look at him partyin alone in Star’s room), not trusting Tom from the first moment, even before hearing about the ball, and after being confronted by Star he immediatly saw his mistake and was quick to apologize without trying to justify himself.

- STAR agrees to go to the ball with Tom, even looking interested and pensive in some scenes, just to then disregard whatever Tom wanted to do with her, dismissing him as soon he got irritated, and refusing to partake in the ball’s traditions (she dated a demon, she probably knows how the Underworld is). And she’s smiling, but brusque in basically telling Marco “Don’t care about what you are saying, I’m going to the party”, she could and should have explained herself better, since her friend was so worried.

But she later explains herself with Marco, instead of just getting angry with him. And while she agreed to go to the ball she never said that she was going FOR Tom (nor did he mention anything about being her date or things like that), and she quickly saw that, while he was indeed trying to hold back his anger, he still was controlling and pushy (I say “still” even though we don’t actually know anything about pre-BMB Tom, but I guess that it’s safe to assume that he has always been like that)

- TOM says “no pressure” to Star, but is clearly invested in the whole thing. Getting irritated by every little thing not going according to his plans (Star refusing to partake in creepy traditions. He should have known, after dating her, that she’d have never bathed in unicorn’s blood), and, overall, hoping/wanting (I’ll say more on it later) for him and Star to be chosen by the Blood Moon, ultimately getting angry enough to try to straight up incinerate someone.



But he is genuinely trying to change himself (from Daron’s interview “his royal father who is this anger demon. So Tom has inherited that but he also wants to get over it. He doesn’t want that to be his identity.”), going against his nature. He’s probably just doing it for the wrong reason, if the objective was “getting Star back” and not “trying to do something for me and everyone”





- “Maybe”. So she doesn’t completely trust Tom, but she trust herself enough to know that she can handle things should they get ugly (or she’s reeeeally reckless), and she mostly wants to have fun.

Once again I’m being partial and this is just my opinion, but I think that, if at the school Star had some faint lingering feelings for Tom, by the time she got home and, later, at the ball, she just wanted to have fun.





- “Different kind of fun” as in…?

Star sees the ball as some kind of prom and she doesn’t want Marco to tag along with her ‘cause that’s something fit for a date, and not a friend?

She knows that Marco wouldn’t fit in literal Hell?

Was she trying to justify her wanting to go?

I don’t know, but the line strikes me a little bit like a “You don’t go to these kind of balls for (with) friends, you go for boys” in Star’s mind. Then again the rest of the episode makes it clear that she just wanted to have fun, no Tom, dates or things like that involved.







- "Woa, changing in the same room? Behing a skimpy screen? That’s being way too comfortable!”

all the fandom said.

Then the promo for season 2 came, with Star literally barging on a showering Marco.





- ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Boots without socks? Enjoy your blisters, Star.





- Difference between both similar scenes as subtle as a derailing train.

Marco - spontaneous and sincere compliment - Star smiles

Tom - “Wow Star so even you can look good if you apply yourself” - Star “thanks” him with eleven air quotes







- Marco’s mistake basically boils down to not having trusted Star enough, feeling like “She’s too irresponsible she doesn’t know what’s best for her”, but he probably was genuinely concerned for her safety. I guess that’s understandable when demons are involved, even when monsters are daily routine.





- Tom apparently tried his best to “tone down” the demonic-themed ball to help Star fit in (while never stated in the show Tom IS a/the demon prince, as said by Daron Nefcy in the same interview as before).

In a way that’s a nice gesture, going hand in hand with his objective of changing, going against his “demonic” nature. But that’s also a pretty egoistic one, ruining the night for a lot of demons & overall inviting Star to something that he should have known she wouldn’t have enjoyed that much. One thing is not being put out by hanging with demons, showering in blood is another.

Note: we can’t know if Star was aware of Blood Moon Ball and demon/s traditions. In that case she was inconsiderate as well, going to an event knowing that she wouldn’t have approved most of it. As I said, in this episode everyone acts bretty bad.





- I’ve read many theories, likely fueled by the episode’s poster, about this spider hair thing possibly acting as a mind controlling device.

Personally I think it was just a creepy accessory, to further drive home the point “Tom is extremely controlling and wanted to change something in Star’s attire as soon as she got there completely disregarding what he should know about her character and tastes”





- Why is Marco dressed like this, with an audio tape for the “Día de Muertos” playing? Maybe it’s actually, in the show, the day of the dead, and that gives the episode an excuse for dressing Marco like that, with a skull/calavera mask conveniently near.

In this post the finest spanishologists of the fandom tried to decypher the song playing in the background, “La Calaca Feliz” (The happy skeleton), to no avail. After all it’s Brian Kim, the show’s composer, singing it, and he admits being rusty with his spanish.

And “In Star’s bedroom, where it’s always fun.” sounds like…

a little…

nevermind. I’ll go sit in a corner, rethinking my life’s choices.







- One of the most confusing scenes in the season. Who talked to Marco? According to Daron it was the sea captain’s picture. And the audio does indeed come only form that side, and the voice fits the character.

But it’d be weird for a show’s creator to reveal something like this on Twitter, if it were to be important. So…



1. This is just a random, clumsy “ex machina” to make the episode’s plot progress, and there is nothing else to it.



2. It was indeed the picture speaking, but it was a random object possessed by something else (the Moon itself? Marco hear the voice after looking at the sky)



3. Daron is practicing the candidest trolling ever.



4. Something completely different

What we can know is that Marco jumped from his chair, with a frowning face, and looked at the demon-calling bell, deciding to crash the ball, immediatly after hearing that this moon was the “Moon of lovers”.

In-world it’s probably just ‘cause after the second time he was sure that he wasn’t hearing things, and maybe he feared for Star’s safety, immediatly making a lover->Tom connection. And I’d be frowning too if a portrait talked to me about current astronomical events.

Out-world, as in the world of shows’ tropes and foreshadowing, it’s hard not taking the thing as a bout of jealousy.

And, regarding a fan tweet about the captain, Volpe (season 2 director and storyboarder) tweeted this, and now I don’t know what’s trolling what’s reality what’s foreshadowing…





- I see a connection here.





- Again a thin line between “Star agreeing to go to a party just to diss everything” and “Tom being inconsiderate and forgetting everything she should know about Star (unless she was WILDLY different when they were a couple, but that sounds unlikely)”







- Not exactly a supportive attitude toward someone “in therapy”, but I guess that she’s seeing him act exactly like he did in the past?







- Looks like Star never really considered herself to be “Tom’s date”, so despite the half lidded smiles at school she likely went just to have fun.





- Personal Theory Time: I think that the Blood Moon doesn’t bind whoever happens to be under its light, but chooses by its on will. If Star and Marco didn’t happen to be together at the right time it would have probably choosen another couple, and if Tom managed to dance with Star they probably wouldn’t have been choosen. I say this ‘cause



• The batlike eared demon says “I bet you think that like your soul and her soul…”



• The master of cerimonies demon (or whoever he is) says “The light of the blood moon drupples down, and selects two lucky souls…”

so I’m still for the idea that Tom “tricked” Star by not telling her about the Blood Moon tradition, but just because HOPED for the to be selected, and not because he wanted to forcefully be under the light with her to bind their souls together in a demonic wedding contract or something like that. When the demon wanting to dance with Star says too much Tom’s face looks like a “Shut up it’s a secret god that’s embarassing”, not “YOU FOILED MY PLAN HER SOUL WAS ALMOST MINE!”

tl;dr - The Blood Moon selects souls that are already close, it doesn’t forcefully binds whoever it shines upon. Tom just hoped for it to choose them, so that he could have said “See, Star? Even the stars think that we should be a couple!”

Misguided and pushy teen, not demon with a dreadful plan.

Note: The red demon DOES say “hypnotic,” though, while referring to the Moon’s light. Probably just a way to describe its captivating beauty, but I havo no way to be sure. Maybe it does have some magical “mind altering” proprieties.







- This demon mumbles. Some words are almost unintelligible (ladiesngenblbrlbren, drupples…). I think that “brodum” was supposed to be something like “brightness”, and not, as I’ve sometimes read, “bro-dhoom”, something concerning the sphere of being bros. It’s the moon of lovers, at a fancy, prom-like ball, with couples dancing, with reference to “dates” and such.

Also, that would be a Urbandictionary tier term, not exactly something used by a fancy demon in a kid’s show.



And I checked the latin-american, french and italian dub, and that “brodum” becomes “light” or “brightness”





- Everytime Tom gets angry or annoyed for some minor inconvenience he gets left behind by Star. He probably misses his chance to dance with Star for this very reason, since he went to ask for the music to be changed (sure, it’s also Star’s fault for wandering away despite Tom telling her to wait for him)





- Let’s get it out of the way: at first Star obviously didn’t know who the mysterious dancer was, and yes, she was thus swept off her feet by a “stranger”, and her attitude immediatly changed when she realized he was Marco.

Don’t care. The foreshadowing is still strong, and Blood Moon Ball is not a romantic episode anyway, it’s an episode about Marco and Star strenghtening their bond. While talking on Star’s balcony and, possibly, with an eldritch magic cast from the heavens.





- Marco obviously had no sudden romantic realization during the dance, but he kept grinning like an idiot under the mask all the time, probably that happy to be with Star again after, what, three hours of being alone?





- Yep. It hurts to say it, but he definitely just wanted to make sure that Star was safe and get her home. Stupid Diaz.





- It’s likely due to scene-timing necessities, but Tom apparently reaches the dance floor when the Moon already started shining. Maybe he would have missed the dance with Star even without Marco butting in ‘cause he was too busy asking for the music to be changed.

That’s harsh. And a not that subtle way to say “The kid has anger AND control issues.”





- There are eightyseven hundreds theories and ideas about the Blood Moon, the weird room in St. Olga’s and the Star / Sun / Moon symbolism. What we know is that:



• Star is… well. Star.

• In the first drafts for the show Marco was going to be called “Sol”, “sun” in spanish and latin

• There is the Blood Moon, and the scepter of the King has a crescent moon decoration

• Star’s mom, the queen, is called Moon

The floor in the ballroom has an eye inside a star decoration, very similar to the eye found in the sun shape in the eerie St. Olga’s room. And the Blood Moon is a crescent one, just like the floor in St. Olga.

So the symbols found in St. Olga, when joined together (by the moon?), make the symbol found on the floor of the Blood Moon ballroom? It has to mean something, right? We are going to get DEEPEST LORE?



Better pictures and an interesting theory about this here, by starcotherapy







- The Blood Moon Ball is, basically, demons’ prom (in a non canon but official storyboard test it was literally called Demon Prom). Does this make the whole “binding souls together” thing less serious and literal ancient magic, and more of a sweet legend for young couples? Sounds unlikely, with all the symbolism involved, but that would be a great (horrible) way to red-herring the fans.







- “Yep, he hasn’t changed a bit. Still same ol’ angry Tom” face.





- Even the other demons look scared, so Tom is probably powerful even by Underworld’s standards. Star easily freezes him (so despite having a charger the wand IS overpowered, another reason for which Marco should been less worried and more trusting), but I wonder how she managed to handle his outbursts before getting the wand.





- Star calls Marco by name, but Tom is frozen, and all the demons are “far away” (according to cartoons’ laws of acoustics) and focused on their prince becoming a popsicle. Maybe doesn’t know who the masked man was (well, now we have seen the promo for season 2, and that angry Tom might mean that he discovered it, or that’s something completely different and unrelated.)





- I already said a lot of about the whole “trusting” issue, so I’m going to make long story short:

this is the main scene of the episode, more than the incredibly-ship-teasing-yet-completely-platonic dance.

Star outright said more than once to Marco that he should have trusted her, both in knowing how to protect herself and how to handle an ex boyfriend.

Marco, as a friend who is also overprotective by nature, is worried for the well being of her bestie, whom is going to literal hell with her anger-prone ex (Marco probably heard stories about Tom)

Marco had good intentions, but became overbearing and let the role of “responsible friend” get to his head (he doesn’t even notice Star being annoyed until she explains it).



Star craves to be trusted, to stop being seen as the reckless dumb princess everyone thought her to be for most of her life (see this old post). She trusted at least Marco to trust her, and his “betrayal” hurt her more than years of being underestimated.

The show, thank god, doesn’t go the way of easy drama. Star explains her point of view, and sees that Marco meant well. Marco understands it and apologizes without trying to justify himself.







- As @svtfoeheadcanons says, “Starco is central in the show and one of the driving elements of the series”. Not necessarily romantic Starco (yet), but the relationship between Star and Marco, and that’s the focus of the episode, with this “I need a friend” someone to fight along with line and all the (not yet comfirmed but likely) Star + Sun-Marco / Souls interwined for all eternity deal and symbolism.





- Random gag to ease the tension and show how close they are, or real magical consequence of dancing under the moon’s light?





- The Blood Moon shines on Star and Marco.

It did shine on the house even before this scene, when we see Marco eating nachos alone, BUT it may be an animation error (since it would make more sense for the light to be on them after the dance), since they used the same background, including Star’s silhouette on the balcony, despite her being at the ball.







FORTUNE COOKIES

Toffee’s design in the poster looks different from the actual on







- Marco is avoiding by inches a giant axe. Sure, things like this are common in cartoons when it’s a given that the heroes are going to come out unscathed, but would Ludo’s monsters go as far as straight up murder Marco and Star, or just beat ‘em up and steal the wand?







- There are many, many, many instancies of Star showing superhuman strength and endurance, and this one is probably more a joke to show of weak Ludo’s monsters are. Even though Buff Frog ripped a streetlight with his bare hands. And a stone fountain from the ground.





- Star didn’t believe the cookies being magical at first, so Marco kind of brought this on himself (and he admits it by the end of the episode)







- Ludo’s pencil holder (a clay Star impaled by pencils) says “2 Ludo Happy Birthday Frum Buff Frog”







- Toffee’s first shot in the show is focused on his missing finger





- No one noticed Toffee getting into Ludo’s caslte, and he does often move quickly and ‘sneakily’, without being seen. At the end of this episode he quickly moves on the roofs, outisde Star’s magic’s range, in Marco Grows a Beard he slithers away, and in Storm the Castle he moves behind Marco quickly enough to make him hit his reflection.





- This is mostly played for laughs, but Toffee manipulated Ludo right from the beginning





- Buff Frog was immediatly suspicious of Toffee (he outright says so later in the episode)





- “How can we reference accidental drug use in a Disney show?”





- Monsters look weirdly more technologically advanced than Mewni/the Royal Family…

Then again the King has a wristwatch but doesn’t know what a toilet is.

And Star was surprised by a school’s fountain and electricity, but her “favorite place to chill", the Bounce Lounge, has robots for DJs and techno music.







- This is a light-hearted episode, but it’s weird having Marco -playfully- deceive Star about cookies, and then Star not believing Marco, after Blood Moon Ball and all it’s “trust” theme





- Toffee obviously wants his plans to fail (while still getting close to succeeding), stalling them until the inevitable screwing-up by Ludo’s monster.







- Hugging Star has to be an addicting drug. And Marco lives right with the dealer.





- I have no idea why Ludo touches Toffee like that. To be sure that he’s real, since he can’t believe that the plan is working? Or to be reassured by feeling his professional presence?





- Ludo’s monsters may be stupid and in disarray, but Marco knows how to fight for sure. Why he’s still a green belt is a mistery (that’s hopefully going to be solved soon enough, season 2 second episode is titled “Red Belt”).





- WHO WROTE THIS SCENE AND HOW OLD IS THIS MONSTER.





- While there is character developemnt in the show Marco and Star often suffer from “relapses”, doing the same mistakes (what happens in this episode is, in a way, close to School Spirit: Marco underestimates how much Star is unfamiliar with Earth, Star screws things up). But that’s inevitable whyen you have an episodic show, perfect characters make boring plots, AND what matters is that they are always ready to admit their faults. And most shows do it only when there is a moral or ‘lesson to be learned’ involved, not just as a short post-messing up scene.





- This obviously isn’t meant to be taken literally, but I wonder if Toffee was just waiting to act, or if he was blocked, trapped, or something like that, having been “unleashed” just recently (realted to the Blood Moon?)





- More about this in Mewnipendence Day, but Toffee likely has history with the royal family (current one or past ones?).

And Ludo’s castle is quite near to Mewni.





Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

