Given that Star Butterfly is an Idiot Hero and a Parody Sue, she is bound to make a lot of mistakes. The rest of the cast also has its fair share of moments, however.
Spoilers are unmarked.
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General
- Star, who prides herself on independence, finds herself struggling to use a magical wand, especially in season two when it gets cleaved. Marco reminds her more than once that doing things "the old-fashioned way" is a good way to build up confidence.
You'd Expect: Star to teach herself how to be more self-sufficient. She spends several months on Earth, is a fast learner, and doesn't like to cause trouble for the Diazes.
Instead: Star learns slowly, but she eventually relies on her wand for a lot of confrontations. She also makes more than one mess by using her wand recklessly, instead of doing things "the old-fashioned way". - Star also considers Marco her bestie and takes him along for various adventures. Unfortunately, despite his karate skills Marco is still a normal human.
You'd Expect: Star to eventually realize that she can't risk Marco's life recklessly. It's not like he'll get up after someone beheads him.
Instead: Star doesn't learn. She keeps dragging Marco into dangerous escapades, even after he nearly dies in the first season finale. This carries on to season two. - The Magic High Commission has a member called Rhombulus, a Manchild whose superpower is encasing beings, human or otherwise, into crystals. He also has a bad temper and constantly spoils for a fight. Also he's arbitrary about who he imprisons in crystal, such as Eclipsa, the queen of Darkness.
You'd Expect: The Commission would oversee whom Rhombulus crystallizes, especially since he is an irresponsible Manchild.
Instead: They don't. At best Rhombulus gets time outs but no one really cares who ends up in the crystal. Star nearly gets crystallized in season two because Rhombulus blames her for the magic draining from the universe, and he does the same to Marco for no reason and Lekhmet to keep his mouth shut. The only reason Star doesn't tell the Magic High Commission about the lapse is because she was hiding her accidentally losing the book and Glossaryck to Ludo, which becomes null when the secret's out on Song Day. She does, however, call them out for how they treat Eclipsa in season three, who hasn't done anything bad other than give Moon a spell that Moon wanted and abandoned her royal duties to be with her monster lover. This means that Star negotiates for Eclipsa to get a fair trial for her "crimes", which means that while Eclipsa is nice to her and calm about the whole "my descendant Moon tried to go back on her deal with me," she has more freedom to potentially plot revenge.
Season One
Star Comes to Earth
- On her fourteenth birthday, Princess Star Butterfly is entrusted with the royal wand. Her parents are reluctant to entrust her with it but are forced to by royal decree. Star immediately makes a mess of things, due to not having control over magic. It turns out there is a book of spells, complete with a magical tutor named Glossaryck, who can train her.
You'd Expect: After entrusting Star with the wand, they would have Glossaryck start Star's training immediately. He has trained every wand user since Mewni's origins, and reveals he can handle Star's Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! tendencies.
Instead: The royals, Star included, don't mention Glossaryck at all or even acknowledge that he exists. Marco discovers him by accident while Star is undergoing mewberty, and concludes that Glossaryck is useless. It's not until season two that he begins to train her in earnest.
Party With A Pony
- Princess Pony Head comes to Earth to party with Star and to avoid the St. Olga's guards tracking her down. Star, who knows Pony Head is clingy, makes the mistake of referring to Marco as her "best bestie," and she tries to clarify, "best bestie on Earth". Marco, seeing the danger, tries to bow out of spending the night with the girls.
You'd Expect: That Star would leave Marco at home and go out with Pony Head. She knows for a fact that Pony Head has been possessive in the past, and isn't surprised when Marco tells her later that Pony Head threatened to kill him.
Instead: Star insists on bringing Marco along, in the hopes that he and Pony Head will becomes besties. Then when Marco tells her about Pony Head's death threat, she doesn't confront Pony Head about it but instead suggests they go to a dimension where he'll be happy.
The End Result: Pony Head ditches Marco in a video game dimension, possibly to stay lost forever, and the St. O guards catch him.
School Spirit
- The school holds a pep rally in preparation for a football game with the Warriors, an opposing school. Star freaks when Marco says that the Warriors are going to "slaughter" them, assuming this is an actual battle.
You'd Expect: Marco or someone to explain to Star that this is just a football game before the actual game night. Marco has ample opportunities to tell Star this isn't a literal battle, namely when she asks where the Diazes keep explosive lighter fluids.
Instead: No one tells Star. Marco prioritizes Ferguson's safety since his friend is the new mascot and dude in distress by default. Ms. Skullnick focuses on eating her chicken, and Brittney Wong bans Star from the Spirit Team for "challenging her authority" just for mentioning that the Royal Guards taught her how to fight.
As a Result: Star booby-traps the entire field, which Marco finds out just as the kickoff starts. While the Warriors forfeit, multiple students and spectators suffer serious injuries, Star uses magic on unwitting kittens and squirrels, and one random monster carts Marco off. To Marco's credit, he does lampshade this after the damage is done. - During the game, Ferguson gets kidnapped by the Warriors. Star's booby traps end up injuring the Warriors, freeing Ferguson. He's in the middle of the football field now, amidst the fireworks.
You'd Expect: Ferguson to hold still or to get off the field, as Marco tries to shout to him, until Star depowers all the booby traps.
Instead: Ferguson runs towards Marco and gets blasted by a random explosion. While he's okay, Too Dumb to Live doesn't begin to cover it.
Diaz Family Vacation
- It's the Diaz's anniversary, and Star wants to give them a gift. She decides to use her dimensional scissors to give them a proper vacation. Star's parents have just warned her that she's not to leave Earth at all.
You'd Expect: Given she was just warned not to leave Earth, and her mother is a stickler, that Star would take the Diaz family to another dimension, like the Bounce Lounge or the places shown in the opening.
Instead: Star takes the Diazes to Mewni. In her effort to avoid being caught, she takes them to the dangerous parts of her home, including the Forest of Certain Death. Rafael and Angie Diaz avoid the dangers by sheer luck, Marco's nerves are shot, and Star's dad catches her. She only gets off the hook because he's also skipping an important throne posture lesson, which as it turns out, he completely made up as to have a good excuse to leave the castle and secretly fight monsters, all without catching the suspicions of Star's mother.
Britney's Party
- Britney Wong is handing out invitations for her birthday party, only to those she deems socially acceptable. When Star asks for one, Britney snarks that it will happen "when pigs fly". Star, being Literal-Minded, summons up a pig with wings.
You'd Expect: Britney to clarify that she means Star is not invited.
Instead: Britney walks off in a huff, leaving Star to believe that she got invited.
As a Result: Cue Star and Marco arriving at the party, upstaging Britney, and having to fight Ludo's monsters.
Mewberty
- Women of Mewni go through a process called "mewberty" that is not fun: the women become irresistibly attracted to men or "boys", pupate into winged monsters, and kidnap boys to put them in sticky cells. Star confirms for Marco that this is "destroy the school" weird.
You'd Expect: The women to have developed a failsafe, or some methods of handling this Bizarre Alien Biology. A Mew woman could wear a blindfold, for example, until they successfully avoid boys.
Instead: There is no treatment or means of "stopping" Mewberty; according to Glossaryck, one has to wait it out.
As a Result: A lot of boys on the show suffer when Star targets them in her purple form, and Marco becomes scared that he won't see Star again.
Pixtopia
- Marco ends up causing problems when he uses Star's mirror to make prank calls. This leads to her service getting cut off, since she needs to pay the bill. Star is pleased that she and Marco are "mess up twins," while Marco tries to fix the problem by paying for the bill with an emergency cash stash.
You'd Expect: Star would have some knowledge of how her mirror bill is paid, and tell Marco, or have her parents cover the overdraft. You also expect Marco could ask her what currency the fairies accept, since alternative universe. In alternate dimensions one can't rely on American dollar bills.
Alternatively: Star could just do what she does in the end and switch providers.
Instead: None of this happens.
As a Result: Star, Marco, Alfonso and Ferguson end up in the Pixtopia mines because no one knows that the pixies only accept jewels and not paper currency, and they have to Work Off the Debt. Star at first is too excited at how badly Marco messed up to realize how dire the situation is since her magic is a No-Sell in the mine. They only escape due to finding a mining cart that's still working, as well as the Pixtopia queen falling for Ferguson.
Blood Moon Ball
- The plot of the episode involves Tom inviting Star to the blood moon ball which is a dance that takes place every 667 years but he doesn't tell her that the ritual binds two souls together for an eternity which makes them soul mates. Star, at first, refuses to go because of her history with Tom, and Marco is distrustful of Tom's intentions after the things Star's told about him.
You'd Expect: Star would be distrustful of Tom's intentions, would be more cautious around him and set some boundaries so that Tom doesn't get the wrong idea. she's shown to be uncomfortable with going to the dance with him due to his anger issues. She also could have ignored his attempts to charm her when he made the mistake of involving unicorn blood. The other demons also didn't like her while she was at the ball because they blamed her for toning down the dance and even mention Tom. They also make hand gestures of the binding which would have been a big hint towards Tom's intentions.
Better Yet: As soon as Star heard that the blood moon would bind two souls together for an eternity, she would quickly catch on to what Tom is trying to do since he's put a lot of effort into making her stay until the dance and the demons gave a hint towards the act with hand gestures. She'd privately tell Tom her thoughts about this in an attempt to convince him to move on from her.
Instead: Star goes to the dance with Tom and still allows him to sweet talk her into staying at the dance, despite the unicorn blood making her uncomfortable. When Marco steals the dance, Tom becomes enraged and nearly kills him. When they return to earth, Star gives Marco a What the Hell, Hero? speech and tells him that she could've handled it on her own, but Marco was Properly Paranoid. - Tom's put a lot of effort into making Star come and stay at the dance despite some demonic actions being repulsive to her, such as the unicorn blood. Just as the dance is about to start, he realises that the demons are playing the wrong track.
You'd Expect: Tom would ignore the music and take Star to the middle of the room to perform the dance, the dance will bind two souls together and Star would redevelop her feelings for him, regardless of how perfect the night was for her. He just had to be patient with her. Not only that but he knows for a fact that the ritual only happens every 667 years, so this is his one chance to make this work.
Instead: Tom leaves to correct the song and tells Star to wait for him, the next thing he sees is Star dancing with a masked stranger and only clenches his fists in anger, only interfering at the last possible second. Once he realises the ritual is over, he becomes enraged and tries to incinerate Marco, only for Star to freeze him.
Fortune Cookies
- After one too many humiliating defeats, Ludo decides to hire new henchmen. He eventually goes with a gentleman named Toffee, who enters and hires himself. Buff Frog becomes suspicious when Ludo actually listens to him and warns Ludo about trusting a stranger.
You'd Expect: Ludo would listen to Buff Frog and take Toffee's words with a grain of salt. Buff Frog is loyal to the end, and has never failed Ludo in terms of intuition.
Instead: Ludo ignores Buff Frog and decides to trust Toffee wholeheartedly.
Inevitably: This bites him in the butt when Toffee gets them both kicked out of the castle. - Marco takes Star to a Chinese restaurant where fortune cookies are offered as dessert. Marco explains to Star what fortune cookies are, in that they contain tiny fortunes on papers.
You'd Expect: He would immediately explain that they're just vague messages people read into for fun. Star is very Literal-Minded and comes from a magical dimension where fortune-telling food actually exists.
Instead: Marco teases Star by telling her the cookies are real.
As a Result: Star doesn't believe him when he tells her I Was Just Joking, which dogs them in the next fight with the monsters when the cookies (planted by Ludo and Toffee) tell her not to fight. - Following this, Toffee comes up with a plan to exploit Star's new obsession with fortune cookies. He tells Ludo to be patient while Star hugs the monsters rather than fight them.
You'd Expect: In this case for Ludo to follow the plan and let the monsters take the wand. So far it's working well.
Instead: Ludo charges forward and tries to snatch the wand. One of his monsters stops him, then spills the beans about the plan.
As a Result: When Star gets the gist of it, she immediately blasts everyone.
St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses
- Star and Marco decide to sneak into St. Olga's to bust Princess Pony Head out for her birthday. Star makes up a disguise spell on the spot, which she uses on her and Marco.
You'd Expect: Marco would remind Star that they're going to be sneaking around or that Star would remember that they are reenacting a Great Escape. Thus they need outfits that they can use for sneaking around or for combat.
Instead: Marco excitedly asks Star to transform him, without specifying. She gives him a poufy princess dress with layers, that turns out to be an Impractically Fancy Outfit. Marco also doesn't complain about this but says he wanted to dress up as one of the guards. Much later, Marco's dress makes him unable to fit down the laundry vent they're using to escape, and he gets caught. - Miss Heinous is a Dean Bitterman who brainwashes her students into being proper princesses. Marco does mention that she may have a point, but then she catches him when he starts a rebellion as a distraction.
You'd Expect: She'd look up "Princess Marco" in the school records so that she can rat "her" out to her parents, and realize that no such princess exists. Then she would give the princess the boot.
Instead: Miss Heinous doesn't do this. She sends Princess Marco to the Solitary Conformment Chamber, which Marco is able to resist for a good portion before Heinous increases the torture. His screams end up alerting Star and Pony Head to his location, and allows Star to rescue him. - After Star rescues Marco, she sets a huge butterfly on Miss Heinous. Heinous is shocked that her fear makes her cheek marks appear.
You'd Expect: Heinous would dab some makeup on them and run to stop the wayward princesses. She has a school to run, after all.
Instead: Heinous steps into the princess chair and forces herself to calm down.
As a Result: This gives Marco and Star enough time to incite a rebellion. Later on this rebellion ousts Miss Heinous and her butler from the school.
Mewnipendence Day
- After Ludo hires Toffee, Buff Frog finds that Toffee has used technology to replace him. Buff is also suspicious that the supercilious, well-mannered Toffee has taken over the castle and has ulterior motives.
You'd Expect: For Buff Frog to keep his mouth shut and observe Toffee. Or, if he worries about Toffee replacing the other monsters' duties, that he quietly warns them individually.
Instead: Buff Frog calls a meeting in the castle common room and loudly warns the monsters.
As a Result: This alerts Toffee, whose next scheme deliberately gets Buff Frog kicked out of the castle.
Marco Grows a Beard
- Marco's trying to grow a beard to impress Jackie. Star offers to speed up the process with magic, but Marco refuses. This is something he wants to try the old-fashioned way
You'd Expect: Star would comply with Marco's wishes. They respect each other as friends, and she shouldn't do magic on him without his consent
Instead: Star uses magic to help Marco grow a beard. When he finds out, he goes into a brief What the Hell, Hero? speech and immediately grabs a razor to shave it off. - After failing to steal the wand from Star Ludo yells at his soldiers and blaming them for failing to get the wand but Toffee quickly turns the table and starts telling the monsters that he would make a better leader than Ludo.
You'd Expect: Ludo would try to reason with the monsters and accept that it was his own fault that they failed to get the wand. He will also do better at respecting his monsters. Considering how he could lose his castle and personal army, he could at least try this in an attempt to steer the mutiny.
Instead: He basically tells them that they owe him because they'd be homeless without him and he ends his excuses by insulting them and demand that they should get rid of Toffee, who had been able to get them close to the wand with very little problems and shows them far more respect than Ludo.
As a Result: This makes their decision easier as they throw Ludo out of the castle in the very next scene.
Storm the Castle
- Toffee and his new monsters have kidnapped Marco. They specify that Star has to arrive to the castle alone with the wand. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz after learning this volunteer to help Star.
You'd Expect: Star to take Marco's parents along for reinforcement, or at least give them a means to communicate with her so that they know their son is okay. Mr. Diaz in season two is revealed to be a Papa Wolf if his family's threatened, and the Diazes are avid campers and survivalists, so they are resourceful. Also, Star owes them for hosting her throughout the first season.
Instead: Star follows the monsters' instructions and goes alone to the monster realm, without giving the Diazes a mean of keeping in contact with her. The Diazes then notify Star's parents and raise an army, only they arrive too late for the battle. Queen Moon then rightfully calls out Star for making the Diazes worry, and for misusing her magic. - Ludo, banished from his home and still craving the wand, knows that he can't take on Toffee and his former monsters alone. He thus seeks to buy back Buff Frog's friendship, and later Star's help so that he can get his castle back. He also still seeks her wand for the power.
You'd Expect: He would remember he is a tiny monster that can't even throw a decent punch. Also that Buff Frog and Star really have no reason to trust him, so he should keep his mouth shut and prove he can handle a temporary alliance.
Instead: Ludo squanders an opportunity to make peace with Buff Frog after giving him the tadpole babies, and doesn't win Star's trust at all by ogling the wand while offering to guide her through the castle. Buff Frog as a result refuses to help Ludo get the wand, in favor of aiding Star against the monsters to save Marco. When Star surrenders the wand, Ludo makes the mistake of charging for it. This leads to the chicken monster swallowing Ludo, though it doesn't kill him. When Ludo hatches from the egg and finds his castle gone, he makes the mistake of yelling at Star about it, and Star tosses him to another dimension. - After this whole mess, Moon and River consult Glossaryck while Star and Marco help Mrs. Diaz with her out-of-control horse. They fear that Star's wand is cleaved, and Glossaryck asks them if they found all the wand's pieces. Cue mutual Oh, Crap! expressions from the Butterfly royals.
You'd Expect: They would go back to the monster realm and try to find the wand pieces. Also that they would warn Star that her wand is cleaved, thus to be more careful with her magic.
Instead: The royals don't do this, not onscreen anyway. Glossaryck, Moon and River don't bother telling Star that her wand is cleaved.
As a Result: Star's wand acts up more in the second season, makes spells go awry, and at times endangers her friends.
Season Two
My New Wand
- Due to Star's cleaved wand malfunctioning, Marco ends up locked in her closet of secrets with the wand. He wants to get out, but the door only opens with magic. Glossaryck comes out of the book for the first time ever to officially help Star. He decides to teach her how to "dip down" and use magic without her wand. It's revealed that an emotional trigger can do this.
You'd Expect: He would straight up tell Marco this, to find something in the closet that would emotionally trigger Star. This is important since Star's not completely understanding what it means to dip down.
Instead: Glossaryck tells Marco to find Star's secret, in a closet full of secrets. Marco spends hours organizing her secrets and finding nothing; in the meantime Star's attempts to dip down lead to Marco suffering Amusing Injuries from a catapult of her things hitting him to strange wasps eating his flesh. He finally pins down Glossaryck for a straight answer, which leads him to Star's diary, but the episode could have been avoided if the little guy were less ambiguous. - "Chapter 1: Mom's A Poophead!"
You'd Expect: Marco to realize that he is reading her diary.
Instead: He doesn't, even when Star clearly panics and issues a Suspiciously Specific Denial about it not being her big secret. Though this is necessary for Star to learn to "dip down", it requires Marco to miss obvious hints until she gets the closet open and gives him a whack on the head for going through the diary.
Mr. Candle Cares
- During career counseling, Mr. Candle upsets both Star and Marco by outlining their best futures: Star is going to be queen of Mewni no matter what she wants to do, and Marco should head to Garbage Island to work as a janitor despite his 4.0 GPA and high honor scores. Marco then finds out, when he goes to confront Mr. Candle, that the guidance counselor is working for Tom. Tom's scheme involves finding out if "Starco" is a romantic relationship, and ensuring that Star will come back to him. He also reveals he's eavesdropping in the office.
You'd Expect: That Marco on hearing this would tell Star what he overheard, and that Mr. Candle lied to them. Tom is a demon prince who nearly burned him alive the last time they met. Star also has no qualms about stopping Tom when he goes overboard.
Instead: Marco doesn't tell Star. With Tranquil Fury he sneaks into Mr. Candle's office and loudly announces that he and Star are "smooch buddies" and have tried all sorts of kissing.
As a Result: Tom blows his cover in anger, kidnaps Marco and tortures him until he admits the smooch buddies story was a lie. Star in the meantime nearly mauls an innocent mermaid to get out of being queen.
Star on Wheels
- Tired of giving Star a ride on the bike, Marco decides to teach Star how to ride the bicycle herself.
You'd Expect: That before Star rides off on the bike, he teach her all the safety instructions regarding bike riding most notably on applying brakes to stop the bike.
Instead: Marco does not teach her any safety instructions and caused the Star and the bike to ride off uncontrollably. Because of Marco's actions earlier where he apparently "lied" to her, Star does not believe her when it comes to stopping the bike by pedaling it back.
You'd Then Expect: That if Star couldn't believe him when it comes to braking by pedalling back, he tells her other methods of stopping the bike, like either use the handbrake or just tell her she could simply jump off the bike.
Instead: Marco spends around ten minutes explaining her how she could use the backpedal without telling her any other alternatives to stopping the bike, and telling Star to trust him.
As a Result: By the time Star finally succeeds in doing so, an untold amount of collateral damage has been done to Echo Creek.
Fetch
- Star is helping Marco walk the laser puppies to a nearby park. She and Marco are discussing if she's responsible for them or not.
You'd Expect: Star would try to not prove Marco's point. Also you'd expect that she would be careful with her wand.
Instead: She tosses her wand in an attempt to play fetch with the puppies. This obviously backfires, and Star nearly loses her wand in the park bushes. When she finds it, a hostile dog is holding it. - Meanwhile the dog in question is actually sapient, and wants to use the wand to become an ordinary dog.
You'd Expect: That the dog would ask Star on realizing that she's the owner. When she talks with Star at the end of the episode, Star convinces her to go with a human who wants her, and gives the dog the name Willoughby.
Unfortunately: Willoughby only do this when Star catches her using the wand. Until then, she....
Instead:....spends the whole episode clenching the wand in her jaws, growling at Star, and sneaking off to the bathroom to attempt to magic herself.
Star vs Echo Creek
- Star destroys a cop car with Marco nearby.
You'd Expect: Marco to tell Star to fix the car and the sign using her magic wand, so that there is no harm done. Or she could have her dad pay for the damage, the way he did in Camping Trip, as she suggests.
Alternatively: They could both pretend to be innocent bystanders.
Instead: Both characters get selective amnesia, using magic to fix the damage isn't even suggested and Marco makes things worse by launching into a rant about prisons on earth and that Star can't just buy her way out of trouble.
As a Result: Star runs away on an impulse to avoid the law. This makes the Diazes fret about her, and much of the episode is Star learning to not run from her problems.
Sleepover
- Marco finds out that the girls want to play an intense game with him, after he impresses them with a jazz riff. He tries to duck out, especially since Star invited her friend, including Marco's crush Jackie.
You'd Expect: Star would respect Marco's wishes.
Instead: She locks him in, so that he's forced to play. This means he has to reveal his crush to Jackie, while admitting that it may just be Loving a Shadow. Also, it means that Marco at the end of the episode is too tired to make breakfast for Star, since he spent the whole night helping her with the sleepover shenanigans. - Princess Pony Head brings out a game called "Truth Or Punishment," a more severe form of Truth or Dare. The girls and Marco soon found out the game's title is Not Hyperbole. If they lie, they face horrific punishments. Then the game asks what the girls thought of Star's brownies, which none of them liked.
You'd Expect: The girls would tell the truth. Janna lying about her favorite color is one thing since the participants didn't know the consequences, but Star won't take it personally.
Instead: They lie about the brownies being good.
Predictably: The game tortures them until they all admit the truth.
Friendenemies
- Brian is Tom's anger management coach and wants to test his temper control. He decides to set a test of Tom spending time with someone he doesn't like to see if Tom can maintain his composure.
You'd Expect: Brian would pick someone Tom is moderately annoyed by, given how Tom's temper can be on a hair trigger and Tom's powers make him legitimately dangerous when angry.
Instead: Brian tells Tom to spend the day with someone he hates, and on top of that is perfectly fine with Tom lying to said person (Marco, who Tom has attacked multiple times in the past) in order to get him to come along on the trip.
As a Result: Not only does Tom fail the test because Marco loses it on him when the truth gets out and Tom gets upset in return, but Brian encouraged his client to manipulate and lie to someone all day without taking the likely fallout into question.
Is Mystery
- At the end of the episode, Buff Frog learns that Ludo has an army of rats and enslaved monsters, and plans to destroy the Mewni castle from the inside out. He decides that he has to warn Star before Ludo can carry out his plan.
You'd Expect: That Buff Frog would cut a hole to Star's world using his dimensional scissors, and tell Star quickly before returning to his babies.
Alternatively: Buff Frog could tell Star while asking her to babysit the tadpoles again.
Instead: Buff Frog sends notes that are hardly legible to Star and Marco, so that neither realizes the urgency of the situation. By the time they do, after Ludo has stolen Star's book of spells and Glossaryck, Buff Frog's intel is outdated, and Ludo has moved on from his previous spot.
Page Turner
- Queen Moon and the Magic Council are concerned about draining magic in the universe. They want Glossaryck to train Star more intensely.
You'd Expect: They would call Glossaryck and tell him this over the phone. It's a simple one-sentence message: "The magic in the universe is disappearing; increase Star's training." If they want him to come in person, they can schedule the meeting for later after delivering the message.
Instead: They act like an Obstructive Bureaucrat group about it. They order Glossaryck to come in while he's training Star, and make him jump through a lot of hoops before he can even make it to the meeting room.
As a Result: Glossaryck hits his Rage Breaking Point and delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Moon about how she doesn't trust him or Star to do what's right, and that all the Butterflies have tried to tell him how to do his job. Meanwhile, Star and Marco have been left alone with a chapter of the book containing dark magic, with Star invoking Loophole Abuse to have Marco turn the page since Glossaryck asked her not to. Marco then becomes Drunk on the Dark Side before Glossaryck can return and check on Star.
Bon Bon the Birthday Clown
- Star and Janna arrive at the graveyard and set up the ritual. Janna tells Star that they have a while (during the episode a while may have turned into an hour or two). Star is obviously distracted because of Marco going to dance with Jackie rather than her even though she was the one who insisted that he goes with Jackie.
You'd Expect: Janna would allow Star to quickly check up on Marco by letting her go to the school and check if he is there and then she can return to the ritual before it starts. Janna could try to talk to Star about Marco, it might not be a comfortable conversation but her friend was obviously distressed and maybe Janna could connect the dots as to why she is distressed.
Instead: After Star makes an irrational comment about Jackie's freckles, Janna deletes the photo of Marco and Jackie so that it is out of Star's mind and then resumes the ritual.
As a Result: Star is still on edge and tries to call Marco fifty seven times and uses magic to spy on him which causes problems later.
Crystal Clear
- Rhombulus is the only person who understands what Lekmet says. Given that nice little tidbit of information...
You'd Expect: Rhombulus would let Lekmet call the Magical High Commission and give a false interpretation of what was said.
Alternatively: He could unfreeze Star in seconds, open a portal and shove her back through or just crystalize whoever came over to help.
Instead: He panics and traps Lekmet despite being the sole person who can understand him. He even tops it off by telling Star not to worry about what Lekmet would say for that very reason.
Face the Music
- Moon has known since "Raid the Cave" that the book of spells and Glossaryck were stolen by Ludo, at which point she told Star to sit tight and let her take care of it.
You'd Expect: Moon would tell the rest of the Magic High Council about this extremely important development, and they'd pool their considerable resources to find Ludo and retrieve the book as soon as possible.
Instead: Not only doesn't Moon bother to tell the High Council (which Hekapoo is quite rightly indignant about), it takes her some time before she even makes a serious effort to find Ludo. - Star and Ruberiot both want the Princess Day song, which will be performed in front of the whole kingdom, to show off the "real Star".
You'd Expect: Star and Ruberiot would have stopped at the Bragging Theme Tune half of the song, which breaks the mold of previous songs and describes Star more in line with who she actually is.
Instead: They decide to go Warts and All and add a second verse on how she lost the spellbook to Ludo and her parents hid this from the kingdom, even though Star knows full well this will upset her parents.
As a Result: This incites the kingdom to riot and puts Moon at odds with the rest of the Magic High Commission. - The Princess Song Day is apparently serious enough that Ruberiot thinks he'll be killed if he fails in his duty.
You'd Expect: Ruberiot might consider his own safety when composing the song, since even though Star is approving his work, she isn't the Queen.
Instead: He has no problem revealing royal secrets and even goes the extra mile by outing Star's crush on Marco without even running it by her, so even she isn't going to be happy with him.
Starcrushed
- Star is told that she has to leave earth because Toffee has returned and that he plans to attack Star. Star tells her mother that she needs two minutes before they go.
You'd Expect: Star would tell Marco that Toffee has come back. Toffee kidnapped him last time to get at Star, and there's no reason to believe he wouldn't try that again.
Alternatively: Take Marco and his parents with her for that entirely valid reason. She could of also told Marco about Toffee as well as tell Marco about her crush on him.
Instead: Star uses this opportunity to confess her feelings for Marco because she wanted to get it off of her chest. She doesn't explain why she's leaving, only that she may never return. She tearfully runs to her room and goes through the portal, taking her room with her.
In Addition: She chooses to tell Marco this in a crowded room with his current girlfriend present rather than taking him aside for a private chat, which is sure to be awkward once the three have to be in the same room again.
Season Three
Book Be Gone
- By now Toffee by possessing Ludo has claimed ownership of the Book of Spells. This means Ludo can't write of his "victory" over the Magic High Counsel. Ludo tries to wrestle with the book.
You'd Expect: Glossaryck would cut the enigmatic act and tell Ludo that Toffee is possessing him.
Instead: Glossaryck refuses to answer and pranks Ludo by telling him to talk to the book. Then Glossaryck laughs after Ludo bares his soul.
As a Result: Ludo gets mad and burns the book, which kills Glossaryck. Toffee appears and is gleeful that his most potential threat is gone.
Bonus Idiocy: Glossaryck admits that he saw this coming but did this anyway.
Lint Catcher
- When last we saw Star and Marco, they were having a tearful, heartfelt goodbye, because neither of them wanted to be separated but Marco needed to go back home and Star needed to stay on Mewni to help her kingdom rebuild after all the damage Ludo and Toffee had inflicted. There interactions in the season to date implied that they were if anything even closer than they'd been before Star's jealousy of Jackie and eventual confession had made things awkward.
You'd Expect: They would be using the magic mirror to talk to each other constantly, and use the dimensional scissors to make frequent visits, maintaining the close friendship they obviously both want regardless of no longer being roommates. They both wanted this and there was nothing stopping them from doing it.
Instead: Star and Marco each spent the weeks between his departure from Mewni and his return acting as if they're been removed from each other's lives forever, even though Star remains in contact with her other Earth friends who she isn't a tenth as close to as Marco.
As a Result: When Marco decides to move to Mewni, Star has no idea he's coming and is actually angry that he dropped in unannounced.
Princess Turdina
- Miss Heinous finds out that "Princess Marco Turdina" is a boy and the whole point of exposing him was to discredit his rebel movement.
You'd Expect: Her to have found out even sooner, because it was so blatantly obvious in her previous appearance that Marco was a boy.
Instead: She finds out just about recently and attempts to expose him in the worst possible time. This very fact severely cheapens the dramatic tension of the Internal Reveal, garners as much as a Face Palm from the audience.
You'd also expect: Miss Heinous to find something that discredits the symbol of the rebel princess. A good idea would be to pick on Marco being a Smug Straight Edge in real life.
Instead: She picks on Marco being a boy right in the middle of his speech mentioning a big reveal is coming up. How did she expect that a boy deciding he can be a princess contradicts a symbol of being whoever you want?
As a Result: The Turdina movement mutates into a LGBT+ movement out of spite. The princesses rationalize that Miss Heinous is a transphobe and therefore still in the wrong. Afterwards they dub Marco an honorary princess.
Butterfly Trap - Hundreds of years ago, Queen Eclipsa ran away with a monster lover and had a child with him. There's just one problem: she was already married, and her husband is the Mewman king Shastacon. He colluded with the Magic Council to ensure that the child in question, Meteora would never inherit the throne.
You'd Expect: The Council would negotiate with Eclipsa to annul her Mewman marriage, on the grounds of adultery, and select one of her relatives to inherit the throne. Say an aunt, a cousin, or SOMEONE with a legitimate claim. Then she and her monster lover could be left in peace to raise Meteora, since Eclipsa isn't all that concerned with ruling, and the king doesn't have to fight dirty.
Alternatively: They would assassinate Eclipsa and Meteora, before installing an heir of royal blood. As in, make sure that the Queen of Darkness and her heir is dead.
Instead: The Council encases Eclipsa in crystal, which unintentionally lengthens her lifespan, and sends Meteora to St. Olga's when she is still a baby to become Miss Heinous, who also miraculously lives to the present day. Eclipsa's husband Shastacan chooses a random orphan peasant baby and claims that the adopted Festivia is his daughter.
The Result: Eventually, some of Eclipsa's "descendants," the queen and heir to the throne respectively, start questioning if Eclipsa is evil, with Princess Star Butterfly insisting on giving her "great-great-great-something-grandmother" a fair trial, and her mother Moon investigates the royal archives when she realizes Meteora isn't there. Eclipsa uses the trial method — The Truth and Punishment Box — to find out what happened to her daughter, and the truth makes her furious. Miss Heinous on learning her true identity suffers a minor breakdown, and it's unclear if she can rule. The truth also sends Star into a Heroic BSoD because she learns that she and Eclipsa aren't related, that her life was all a lie, and based on a deceptive legacy. It also breeds grounds for a new civil war on Mewni, if Meteora wishes to reclaim the throne. - It's implied that when she realized that Meteora was stricken from the records, that Moon suspected Festivia, her and Star's ancestor, was an impostor heir on the throne. She still goes through with the trial, because doing the right thing for Moon was more important than maintaining her claim to the throne. What's more, there are legal grounds to assert that Moon and Star are still royalty, just royalty by appointment and not by blood.
You'd Expect: She would have talked to Star about the worse-case scenario before the trial. Star would have been upset by the possibility but not as blindsided.
Instead: Moon never brings up the possibility to Star during their plans for the trial. It means Star is shocked when she realizes that she and Eclipsa aren't related.
The Result: Star frees Eclipsa from her handcuffs and runs from the courtroom, ignoring Moon's concerned pleas.
Skooled
- When Meteora took a detour in order to find St. Olga's, the princesses were surprised about it, however they decided to enter and watch how Meteora destroys St. Olga.
You'd Expect: They would just escape from her wrath to a safer place.
Alternatively: They would just be hidden hearing all the conversation and making sure Meteora won't find them. They would get all the information about her and warn Star later.
Instead: Pony Head appears and shouts to Meteora why she destroyed St. Olga.
As A Result: Meteora proceeds to attack her and the princesses with a Slasher Smile on her face. The next scene we see is the ripped horn of Pony Head in Meteora's hands. - After seeing Meteora brutally destroy St. Olga's and assault the princesses. Rasticore decides to call it quits and makes a run for it after making sheepish excuses to Meteora, who shows a creepy form of infatuation towards him. He makes it a point to tell her he's not worthy enough of her because she's a princess and he's just a bounty hunter, and implies that he's too old for her.
You'd Expect: Rasticore would use dimensional scissors or his chainsaw to open a portal to escape from her without having to worry about being pursued. Alternatively he would pretend to be on her side so he'd be safe from her wrath.
Instead: Rasticore slowly walks for the hills, believing that his words are enough to placate Meteora.
As A Result: Enraged by this (probably not helped by Gemini repeating Meteora's words she spoke to Rasticore earlier), Meteora promptly rips out Gemini's mechanical heart and throws it as a grenade. The heart explodes and reduces Rasticore to an arm and deactivates Gemini. Meteora callously and creepily takes the severed arm and walks off into the distance.
Divide and Conquer
- Ponyhead shows off her weapon to Marco before they create a plan to delay Meteora. Keep in mind that Ponyhead is shown to cast spells from her horn and her helmet covers her eyes.
You'd Expect: Ponyhead would wear a more practical helmet and cast spells from a distance. If things get too hot for the Marc-nificent Seven then she could use suppressing fire to distract Meteora so the team can escape and regroup.
Instead: Ponyhead chooses to use melee attacks by blindly stabbing/impaling Meteora in the shoulder/upper arm. This barely hinders Meteora and she promptly incapacitates Ponyhead by absorbing her soul, at point blank range no less. - Star uses a bunch of her pocket phones remind her who she was, to not get distracted in the Realm of Magic's stupor.
You'd Expect: She would also get them to say "You are Queen Butterfly" for her mother, so she could free her mother from hypnosis in the Realm of Magic.
Instead: She goes to the Realm of Magic without any idea to what to do to get her mother free from the hypnosis.
The Result: Both Star and Moon are in the Realm of Magic, until they forget what they were there for, causing them to slowly lose their memories in the place. - After Meteora deflects one of Tom's fireballs at Kelly, Tad is knocked away by the blast, and believes himself to be dying from his wounds. He didn't.
You'd Expect: For Kelly to tell Tad to run away from the battle.
Or: If they really want to talk, then hide from Meteora to resolve their issues elsewhere.
Instead: They both communicate to one another. Right in the middle of a dangerous battle. With a very dangerous monster that could suck their souls at any minute.
Result: They both get their souls sucked by Meteora. Good going, Kelly and Tad. - When the Marc-nificent Seven are down to just Marco and Tom, Marco decides to tell Tom about the kiss between Star and himself.
You'd Expect: Marco to quickly explain the circumstances of the kiss. He and Star were trapped in a photo booth and forced to kiss when the goblin told them the booth was magical.
Instead: He doesn't say this. Which makes Tom believe they've had an affair with each other. Clearly hurting him and leaving him questioning their friendship.
Fortunately: Tom forgives them though he makes Star and Marco's hug awkward by butting in, and seems to understand why Marco told him.
Season Four
Lake House Fever
- Tom has known for several episodes that Star and Marco kissed. Marco has been genuinely apologetic and Tom knows the situation was unusual and that the kiss wasn't on purpose.
You'd Expect: He and Star would have had an honest talk about it, and what exactly happened. They are still a couple, and Tom isn't the Control Freak rage monster he was before. As he admits, Star breaking up with him the first time was the best thing for his Character Development.
Instead: He tells his mother, who is a My Beloved Smother who holds it against Star, and keeps his feelings to himself, waiting for Star to bring it up.
The Result: When a lava storm strands Star at Tom's family lake house, she notices that Tom's mother is hostile towards her because she's worried about Star breaking her son's heart again. Star gets upset when Tom admits that he knows about the kiss, and Star is upset because he knew and didn't say anything, but Tom points out that she shouldn't be angry since she hadn't told him about it. When she tries to leave the house despite the lava, Tom nearly gets washed away telling her to come back, and she has to save them both from getting drowned and burned. Only then do they (possibly) talk about what happened, off-screen.
Curse of the Blood Moon
- We find out why Tom was forgiving of Star and Marco for the kiss; the Blood Moon's soul bond does more than bind souls together. It also removes their ability to give consent, which means that Star's infatuation for Marco and his, in turn, were magic-generated and under duress. Tom admits when confronted that he was an "idiot" for trying to bind Star's soul to his and remove her ability to refuse him, especially when it backfired horribly. He does say that he thought Star and Marco knew about the soulbond.
You'd Expect: During all the times he's hung out with Star or Marco for the past three seasons that he would have brought this up, say when he cursed Marco with the Naysaya when Marco tried to ask out Jackie-Lynn Thomas. Or tell Star that he club-snubbed her by accident because he assumed the Blood Moon forced her and Marco together.
Instead: Tom doesn't say anything, assuming that Star and Marco knew about the curse. Or, more likely, he didn't want to admit that he treated Star badly.
The Result: By the time Tom fesses up, Star accidentally ruined Marco's perfectly healthy relationship with Jackie by confessing her feelings in the season two finale. She also dealt with her unrequited feelings by getting back together with Tom despite not being fully committed to the relationship. Meanwhile Marco moved to Mewni semi-permanently to help out Star, at the cost of a lot of dignity and his stable home life. They are obviously furious with Tom for not clarifying the situation and decide to undo the bond in order to see what parts of their relationship are real, which... okay, that isn't a bad thing, but could have been gotten out of the way a lot earlier if Tom had said anything.
Ghost of Butterfly Castle
- When Moon visits the ruins of the castle, she encounters Mina, who is planning to dethrone Eclipsa, most likely by killing her.
You'd Expect: Even though Moon doesn't fully trust Eclipsa, she does still care about her wellbeing, and should at least warn Eclipsa that Mina is after her. Or at least warn Star, who's living with Eclipsa at this time.
Instead: Moon decides not to do anything at all, deciding that Eclipsa should deal with any oncoming problems herself.
The Result: Moon seems to have forgotten that her own daughter is staying at Eclipsa's home, and by deciding to not even warn anyone about Mina, she has put Star in danger.
To Make Matters Worse: It's revealed in the finale that Moon was using Mina to get Eclipsa and Globgor to surrender the throne with a show of force, except the army Moon raises turns on her due to Exact Words of the spell she used when Moon refuses to slaughter innocent monsters. Mina then prepares to execute the monsters and "rebels" en masse, only waiting for Globgor's capture. Heckapoo, who was helping stage the coup with Mina, decides to spare Marco, Star, Moon, and their human friends by spiriting them off to an interdimensional tavern to wait out the massacre. Even River, who adores Moon, thinks she went too far and decides to take an injured Globgor to the Magic Realm to heal him. When Star finds what Moon did, she tells her mother a combined What Were You Thinking? This Is Unforgivable! Calling the Old Man Out and decides the only way to save the monsters is to destroy the Realm of Magic. Which means she and Marco will be separated, and Glossaryck will die again, permanently.
Cornonation
- Globgor is out of his crystal prison and Eclipsa is suspected to have freed him.
You'd Expect: Star to notice the rooster with the ribbon around its beak. In the previous episode, removing the ribbon from its beak and allowing it to crow was the final step in the spell to break the crystal Globgor was in. Since the rooster still has the ribbon around its beak, it proves that Eclipsa did not complete the spell and therefore, was not the one who freed Globgor.
Instead: Star's faith in Eclipsa is shaken and she refuses to hear what she has to say, instead focusing on finding Globgor to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone.
The Result: It turns out that Rhombulus was the one who freed Globgor and tried to frame Eclipsa for it so he could have an excuse to put her back in a crystal. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain ensues; Globgor surrenders for his daughter and wife's sake, only to fight when Rhombulus starts crystallizing Eclipsa. Globgor ends up fighting the Magic High Commission to protect his wife then stops when the concerned citizens see a baby Meteora crawling among the flames of the fight and want her out of danger. Star figures out that Eclipsa is innocent because she wouldn't release her husband on her coronation day. She then realizes that only Rhombulus could have freed Globgor because he's the only one with the power to do so. The Magical High Commission turn on Rhombulus for endangering the crowd by freeing a monster under the assumption that he would harm people. Meanwhile, the Mewmans accept that Globgor is not evil after seeing how devoted he is to his family.
Here To Help
- So it turns out that Moon didn't just ignore Mina's scheme, but instead has a brilliant plan to prevent her from doing too much damage to the kingdom in her attempts to attack Eclipsa.
You'd Expect: That this plan wouldn't involve helping Mina at all. Even if she doesn't care for Eclipsa and doesn't want to help her, assisting a powerful being whose only goal is the genocide of an entire race of people in any way would just spell disaster for everything she does care about.
Instead: It turns out that Moon is the very reason why Mina has a superpowered army of Solarian soldiers, believing that she could curtail such a force to simply convince Eclipsa and her family to enter self-imposed exile.
The Result: Mina and her army naturally still wants to kill Eclipsa, her family, and all of the monsters in their dimension. And Moon can't do a thing about it, discovering the very next episode that the only person who ever had the ability to depower a Solarian warrior was Queen Solaria herself. Mewni is now in flames because Moon thought it would be safer if a super-powered genocidal maniac who alone is a force to be reckoned with was given an army of like-minded individuals with the same power set. No one can blame Star for being enraged by Moon's poor attempts to justify her actions.
Cleaved
- Previously: It was established that Moon cannot revoke the power of the Solarian Warriors; Mina says that they are sworn to follow Solaria, not Moon, and further heavily implies that only Solaria can command or depower them.
Currently: Solaria appears, Mina encounters her, and Solaria is very clearly not supportive of Mina's current efforts.
You'd Expect: That, since some part of Solaria is still around and possibly capable of ordering Mina's forces to stop, the plot would at least explore the option, whether it would work or not—maybe even playing the issue between Solaria and Eclipsa off the conflict between Moon and Star to give satisfying conclusion to both mother-daughter pairs.
Instead: In order to depower the Solarian Warriors, the living four Butterflies continue proceeding with the first and most drastic option they jumped to: destroying all magic. They never consider any other option besides this.
The Result: The show ends not only on the implication that the four protagonist Butterflies have committed a multidimensional genocide and destabilized if not outright collapsed many societies solely for the benefit of what appears to be a couple hundred of their own citizens, but also on the horrifyingly tragic possibility that, by the show's own logic, there might have been a far better and less murderous solution available the whole time, and all of the horrifying implied consequences of Star's choice may have been completely unnecessary for Star to achieve her goal if only they had actually thought things through before jumping to destroying arguably the most important resource in the multiverse.
