With the S3 movie a little over a month away, I figured I might as well post this. Star Versus the Forces of Evil does a good job of building up the relationship (platonic and non-requited romantic) between Star and Marco, and it also shows how Star and Marco can suck at dealing with (romantic) emotions. They suppress and lie about them, or are just plain old clueless about them, which is pretty standard for 14 year old kids (speaking from personal experience here too). So this makes for some darn good writing material. Originally I posted the bare-bones framework of this on /co/ and it was received well, so I beefed it up proper and decided to share it with others. Here, I’ll try and give a timeline for at least some of the big hints or events that happen which show the kind of romantic feelings that exist-or don’t exist (YET)-between the two.

Season 1: There’s a decent amount to unpack here. Already, great posts have detailed how Star may have started falling for Marco in Sleep Spells, etc. I’m lazy, so I’m gonna focus on the most prominent episode in S1 that deals with romance. To nobody’s surprise, that’s Blood Moon Ball. In Season 1, I think that Marco develops some small unconscious degree of feelings for Star. She’s attractive, the coolest girl he knows, etc. But they’re not conscious and he still has the pedestal for Jackie, so Marco isn’t exactly making moves on Star. The events of Blood Moon Ball hint that Marco has some degree of attraction to Star, which Marco himself doesn’t actually realize until the episode itself. Marco’s initially defensive of Star around Tom because he genuinely doesn’t trust the guy, and when Marco first proposes going with Star to the Blood Moon Ball, there’s no hint of romantic intent (in the voice acting or music), just genuine platonic concern. But that changes when Star reveals her outfit to Marco.

Dude’s verbal and physical reaction to Star’s dress are pretty clearly not just a “AH YES, MY TOTALLY PLATONIC FRIEND I HAVE NO FEELINGS FOR LOOKS SO GOOD I WAS JUST AWESTRUCK, PLATONICALLY” and the background music certainly lends to that feeling. After this, Marco attempts to ride down with Star (sounding a little more than just a concerned friend), but gets kicked out. When Marco hears the voice of the Old Sea Captain say “The Moon of Lovers,” that gets Marco to get up and eventually ring the bell for transport himself. The fact that the Sea Captain said “The Moon of Lovers” is relevant simply because from a writing perspective, the juxtaposition of that statement and Marco going after Star hints at Marco having some degree of feelings (probably not too consciously) for Star.



Let’s skip to the end of the episode for a bit. Marco thinks he’s done Star a favor by rescuing her from Tom, and that he was in the right to help her, but Star’s reaction clearly wasn’t expected (side note: the really healthy and awesome dynamic between the two in this scene, with the understanding and actual apologizing, is fantastic). Star ends up saying the (in)famous words, “I don’t need a hero, I need a friend.” I think it’s pretty heavily hinted (through later actions) that Marco and Star see this statement in two different ways. Marco, who at this point likely has some unconscious degree of attraction to Star, (mis)interprets Star’s words as “I’m only interested as you in a friend, not romantically.” Star’s words shut down that small flame-Marco may still find Star attractive but any attraction to her at this point would be well and truly unconscious and comparatively minor. We see this change reflected physically in Marco’s look, which changes between the above and below pictures.

Marco definitely looks a bit more downtrodden in the second picture, and I don’t think it’s solely because he feels like he didn’t believe in Star enough. This change in Marco’s feelings is also reflected in the fact that it is only after Blood Moon Ball that Marco seriously attempts to act on his long-standing crush on Jackie (I’m not counting “Marco looks/makes an awkward noise at Jackie” as a serious attempt because they’re really not). Yes, the events of Freeze Day also played a big role in it, but the positioning of that episode immediately after Blood Moon Ball is not coincidental.

Star on the other hand likely interpreted her words literally: she didn’t need (or more importantly, want) some person/dude to just save the day for her because they think she’s not capable of saving or handling herself. This is a recurring theme with Star (Banagic Incident, etc.). She didn’t necessarily mean “Marco I am only interested in you as a friend” but intent and perception are two different things, and neither Star nor Marco can really be blamed for their interpretations (because they’re non-malicious interpretations and I feel blame is a bit of a loaded word in this context).

But what Star says and what (part of her) feels are not necessarily the same thing. So let’s break down Star’s feelings towards Marco in Blood Moon Ball a little bit more. Specifically, her initial reaction to him when the dance starts. Now, the actual effect of the Blood Moon (or at least the light of it) is completely unknown, but I’m gonna assume it doesn’t actually mind control or influence the characters because (a) no evidence of that has been shown (the Blood Moon is also shining at the end of the episode yet Star and Marco’s interactions during that sequence are entirely in character and there’s no hint of manipulation by the blood moon) (b) it’d be more than a bit creepy if there wasn’t free will in all of this, and © her reaction is consistent with later ones.

Anyways, Star’s pretty darn entranced by Marco, and this is really obvious to the viewers, although perhaps maybe not to Marco because the dude can be an idiot when it comes to emotions. However, once Marco reveals himself to Star, she’s shocked and the overt attraction disappears, a shift that’s reflected in her eyes, which go from glassy back to normal. This is interesting to note, because it indicates that Star does find Marco attractive and/or romantic, when she doesn’t know it’s Marco (i.e. this scene conclusively establishes that Star can find Marco attractive in a non-platonic manner, period). This is likely because Star has consciously only thought of Marco as a friend, and any attraction to him prior to this scene she could pass off as “I think he’s cute, but I think a lot of things are cute!” which is a line that should sound familiar. Star’s reaction here is also semi-repeated later on in Running with Scissors, when Star goes goo-goo over Marco (although by that point the audience knows for sure that Star has a crush on Marco, and Star herself is starting to become aware of that).

Season 2 (Episodes 1 and 2): Star likely found Marco cute and funny but may have actually developed a small crush on him by the time of S2. My New Wand features Star’s diary, which contains an interesting tidbit. Since we don’t actually see much of the diary’s contents, there’s only so much we can infer, but that’s not to say there’s nothing to be gleaned. I think that in the “My thoughts on Marco” section, Star wrote something along the lines of “I think Marco is kinda cute,” probably post-Blood Moon Ball (which is when Star first really gets swept off her feet by Marco). I say that Star wrote something along those lines (i.e. something that would make a 3rd party go “huh Star has/had a small crush on Marco?”) because of her reaction to Marco finding that chapter. Specifically, Star dipping down. Previously, Star dipped down in Storm the Castle when Marco’s life was in danger. Later on, Star dips down during her attempt to rescue Glossaryck. Dipping down for Star (at the beginning of S2) is not something Star can do easily (or even voluntarily). The previous time she dipped down was during a situation of high emotional stress. Keeping that in mind, note how Star doesn’t dip down when Marco is reading the other parts of her diary. Yes, she’s frantic and yelling at Marco to put the book down, but she’s not sufficiently emotionally stressed (or worried or motivated) enough to dip down. But the second Marco finishes reading the title of “My Thoughts on Marco” Star involuntarily dips down again. This signifies that whatever Marco was about to read, Star REALLY did not want Marco to read (at that point in time). Given that Star has had 0 qualms about expressing how much she values Marco as a friend (verbally, through physical intimacy, and through saving his life), the implication is pretty heavy that Star’s writings had some degree (likely minor) of non-platonic thoughts/interests in Marco (mind you, I’m not saying Star wrote “STAR BUTTERFLY IS IN LOVE WITH HER BEST FRIEND AND HIS NAME IS MARCO DIAZ”). It’s also entirely possible, and in fact likely, that whatever non-platonic thoughts Star wrote about Marco were in the past tense (I’ll elaborate on this shortly).

Also, the above magic key that Star unlocks the secrets closet with is pretty telling. Yea, the heart is technically just the same heart that’s on Star’s cheek but I think the color (pink-ish) and the fact that it’s unlocking a door behind which Marco is reading Star’s diary that has her thoughts on Marco…I mean the symbolism is there.

In Mr. Candle Cares, when the guidance counselor asks Star if she has a secret crush on Marco, Star’s response is interesting: she says “He’s my roommate. We’re just friends.” Technically, that’s not “no” but I think it’s more of a hint that Star isn’t consciously aware of her feelings for Marco as opposed to “HAHA STAR IS LYING.” This ties back into the contents of Star’s diaries, and the Season 2 finale, Starcrushed. I’m gonna lay out a rough timeline of Star’s feelings towards Marco by this point in Season 2. Through the course of Season 1, Star started developing some very minor romantic feelings towards Marco, mostly consisting of “I think he’s cute/funny/nice/etc.” and these feelings became obvious to Star and us, the viewers, in Blood Moon Ball. She writes these…uh, observations, down in her diary. However, Star ignored those feelings for the most part because they were about Marco, her best friend, and no way could she ever have a crush on her best friend/roommate, that’s just crazy (hint, she can). Fast-forward to Starcrushed, when Star says she had a crush on Marco once and then says that she doesn’t anymore. I’ll go into more detail in Part 2, but basically, I think Star is referring to roughly this point in her life when she says that bit in Starcrushed: thus, it’s not technically a lie she’s telling everyone either.

Anyways, I’m tired and I think this a decent enough (or at least not god-awful) ending point for Part 1 of this timeline/analysis. Next time, Sleepover, Bon Bon the Birthday Clown, Just Friends, and Starcrushed!