Not much to say about these episodes, aside from a couple of vague theories and ideas. Sorry for the lackluster post.



CHEER UP STAR

Blond Oskar in the poster, these were problably done before the show aired, as there are some others inconsistencies compared to the actual colors/designs

HUGE POST BELOW KEEP READING

- Both in this and in the next segment Marco is the one messing up.

Actually, while “messing up” is more closesly related to Star, the show does a good job in making both of them occasionally screw things up, one of the many strong point in their relationship.

Star Come to Earth - Star messes up

Matchmaker - Star

Schoolspirit - mostly Star, but it’s also Marco’s fault for not paying attention

Monster Arm - mostly Marco

The other exchange Student - Star

Cheer Up Star - Marco

Quest Buy - Marco (still, Star is at fault for being so messy)

Pixtopia - Marco (and Star for not telling Marco how things worked in Pixtopia)

Fortune Cookies - both again

Freeze Day - Star, but it’s not really her fault

The Banagic Incident - Star (could have been avoided if Marco had helped her, but this time he explicitly told her not to do since he was busy)

Interdimensional Field Trip - Star, but once again could have been avoided if Marco had been more alert

Marco Grows a Beard - Star

And they often are both at fault (in these cases Marco is mostly guilty of not paying enough attention to Star, even though she’s basically a stranger to Earth and needs guidance). Balanced frienship, bitches.





- Marco had the tickets for Karate Kon in his room in Schoolspirit. The shirt says “2012″. Is the show set in 2012, is this an old shirt or the artist didn’t even think about it? As usual, no one can say for sure. We can only waste our time noticing and over reading small details, waiting for season 2.





- The newspaper that Marco uses to cover his shirt is “Las Cebollas Times” (cebollas meaning onions in spanish. Probably alluding to the satirical news’ site theonion.com?)

The articles are about a “jewel theft at high noon” and a hot dog stand burning.

The picutre cut by the trashbin says “Dear -ssabel”, maybe an advice column?







- The girl taking the picture is voiced by Daron Nefcy.

In the backgrounds a couple of twins(?) can be seen. They’re also among the students in School Spirit. I don’t know why I’m pointing it out, there are many un named tertiary characters often used in the backgrounds, but these two are… odd.





- Is Jeremy strong enough to beat up Marco even outside of a match? Did he intend to take him by surprise? Is Jeremy really strong despite being eight? Then why was he so scared by Angry!Marco in The Banagic Incident? WHAT’S HIS SECRET?





- We know next to nothing about Jackie, but her defining trait so fa seems to be “very chill”.





- Comfirmed by Daron on Twitter, but also by all the art supplies in the shack and the sculptures in the backyard, Marco’s dad (Raphael Diaz) is an artist (could be a hobby or, since in Storm the Castle Mrs. Diaz talks about “[…]Raphael’s old book of medical illustrations”, a job)





- Mexican flag in the shack





- The power of friendship allows Star to perform wandless magic!







- I wonder if Star even knows what “a record” means in this context. Then again she dated Tom and she had a “leather phase”, so it’s plausible for her to be attracted to “bad boys” ( coughcoughMarco introduced himself as a bad boy in episode 1coughcoughforeshadowingcough )





- “Oskar and the magic everchanging license plate”. That’s his car, as said (sang?) in Mewberty, so he’s 16 (confirmed by Daron on Twitter)







- Detailed irises = Love-O-Vision™





- …did… did Star just lick the wand while daydreaming about Oskar?







- It was pretty obvious, but in case someone missed it, Star uses Marco’s phone, apparently she doesn’t have one heself







- Cute ringtone, cute phone case…

You like krabby pa cute things, don’t you Marco?





- Star’s “I’m friendly with everyone” door





- In my opinion this is one of the cutest moments in the season. As we are about to see in the episode, Marco has been unsuccesfully trying to cheer up Star in overcomplicated ways for hours, and then he manages to make her smile with an absent minded (so according to Cartoon Laws that’s not something said to make Star feel better, but something that he really believes in) comment made while building a makeshift armor.

It’s easy to miss since it last only for a couple of frame, but before smiling Star looks surprised, as if she didn’t expect such a comment. Another point in favour to “even though Star is a kickass (recently) magical wielding princess she’s not used to be appreciated”







- “Why Marco does that? Why should it cheer Star up?” probably ‘cause Star likes dangerous things, so the Safe Kid goes out of his way to show her something dangerous.







- The water comes from the aquarium on the second floor





- They accurately avoided showing us Marco directly touching the wand. I wonder if it did change form. One could argue that the wielder needs to will it for the change to happen, but in Lobster Claw the wand transformed as soon as the monster took it, and he didn’t look willing. Then again it could be different for monsters.



Also: not Marco’s finest moment, as far as plans go.







- Bee pollination spell + Flower Monster + That face = LEWD





- Stupid plan, but at least it worked.





- There are many recurrent jokes about technology levels being inconsistent on Mewni (like the King not knowing what a toilet is while owning a digital wristwatch, or Star not knowing what electricity is despite having been in the past in dimensions like the Bounce Lounge), but so far Ludo and his monsters seems to be more “advanced” (knowing what a ringtone is, milkshakes, vending machine in the break room, boomboxes…).







- The ghost octopus on the dress gets angry as well.







- Second hug after the one in Star Comes to Earth. Not actually a feely one, but hey, we Starco trash already got the “coolest girl” scene.







QUEST BUY

A general comment about the episode: is this a “canon” episode? Do the wand really needs a mass-produced charger to work? And if the answer is “yes”, then how come is it considered such a powerful weapon on an universal scale?

As always, I can only have theories, since we know next to nothing yet:

- The whole charger thing was only a joke/a plot point for this episode, and it’s never going to be mentioned again while talking about the wand.

Then again both queen Moon’s and Star’s new wand have a crystal like thing at the bottom

- There are probably other wands in the universe. Setting aside how there is a whole wand charger department, Star says that “You have to recharge wands with magical energy”, and in St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses Miss Heinous says “Where did she get that wand”, as if it was a generic magical item

The mewnian wand is just the strongest one in the universe, magnifying (with the crystal, probably, since now it’s broken?) the magical energy given by a standard charger.

And I have no idea how the tiny unicorn would fit in this theory. The charger is generic fuel, the unicorn the engine, and the crystal a… super… turbo?





- Not much to say here, but I like looking at all the details in the background. Several weapons and slices of pizza, a cupcake, a huge shoe, razors, lipstick, a bottle that looks like a vodka one but that’s probably just shampoo/conditioner (in the next scene it falls making a plastic-y sound), the doll from the childhood flashback in Schoolspirit, the same camera from The Other Exchange Student, a Pony Head picture, a cracked skull, a star bracelet/necklace, “Tuffs” (extra-tough cotton pads?)



And, under the sink, a incredibly creepy doll, another duck (?) plushie, a wig, an umbrella… we get it, Star is messy.







- Marco actually vacuums up the charger





- WHAT IS THIS UNICORN. What does it do. Judging by Storm the Castle the wand-unicorn is important, obviously not just a cute joke…







- The fact that the heart-charger is, usually, always connected to the wand, as if it was actually a battery, makes me think that the whole thing is a throwaway joke never to be mentioned again…





- The Magic Instruction Book, the Whispering Spell, being this worried about getting the wand charged… Star probably got wand-trained before being 14 (or in the days/weeks before being sent to Earth). I crave lore-heavy flashbacks.





- A “Mewberty & You” book





- The bunny pirates from the intro. They can be seen again in Royal Pain as party’s guests.





- Bill Cipher’s cameo?







- The wand gets used as a blunt weapon a lot in these episodes, and every time it neighs. Poor unicorn. Dying and shaken.





- Lobster Claws is back again in a couple of episodes, they got Marco’s room back… Sucking holes on the voidness of oblivion are surprisingly not fatal in this world. Maybe the Warriors in School Spirit survived as well.





- The wand doesn’t change in Ludo’s hand, probably due to it being out of power





- Being a storyboard driven show it’s rather unlikely, but in my fan-heart I want to believe that this line foreshadows Marco telling Star not to rely so much on magic in Marco Grows a Beard. Maybe they wanted it to be a recurring theme, but later chose to keep it in one episode.







- The episode theme was Messy vs Tidy, but it was Marco’s very fixation on being organized that actually caused the problem and, later, saved the day.



This is definitely not the best show ever (yet), but they payed an obscene amount of attention in making Star and Marco “deep” and counterbalancing character without being complete opposites (as I said at the top of the post they mess up things pretty evenly). They share a lot in common, while still having distinct personalities and rubbing off on eachother in a good way.





Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3



