History WesternAnimation / StarVsTheForcesOfEvil

SelfDemonstrating/StarButterfly (Creator/EdenSher), a teenage MagicalGirl princess, receives the family MagicWand for [[TheHerosBirthday her fourteenth birthday]] and, due to her extreme enthusiasm and inexperience, almost destroys the Kingdom of Mewni with it. Rather than send her to [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses]] as punishment, her parents decide to send her to a safe environment where she can learn and practice her new abilities: the Earth "Dimension", specifically Echo Creek, California, where she'll be living with the Diaz family as a foreign exchange student and attending high school with their adventure-seeking yet safety-minded son Marco (Adam [=McArthur=]).

Of course, Star and Marco aren't exactly stuck on Earth, despite what her parents intended: thanks to a pair of [[DimensionCutter magic portal-creating scissors]], the newfound friends find themselves having adventures both on Earth and throughout various dimensions, getting into hijinks, and fighting off evildoers who want the power of the wand for themselves.

Of course, Star and Marco aren't exactly stuck on Earth, despite what her parents intended: thanks to a pair of magic portal-creating scissors, the newfound friends find themselves having adventures both on Earth and throughout various dimensions, getting into hijinks, and fighting off evildoers who want the power of the wand for themselves.

[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil You can vote for your favorite episode here.]]

''Star vs. the Forces of Evil'' is an animated series created by Daron Nefcy, former storyboard revisionist on ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder''. Premiering on March 30, 2015 on Creator/DisneyXD, though the first episode was previewed on Creator/DisneyChannel two months prior, it is the third animated show for Creator/{{Disney}} created by a woman.[[note]]The others are Sue Rose's ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'' and Chris Nee's ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins''.[[/note]]

!!This series features examples of:

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[[folder:A-D]]
* AbortedArc: In the Season 1 episode "Monster Arm", the titular entity swears to Marco that it will always be inside him, and will one day return. Despite callbacks to it throughout the series, it never does return.
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The Severing Stone is described to have such properties that it can sever both physical and spiritual things.
* AdultsAreUseless: Zigzagged. Star and Marco regularly fight off monsters and deal with other problems without adults around, and adults who are present have a tendency to be incompetent. However, Star also asks her mom and Glossaryck for advice from time to time, and in Season 2 we see cops and park rangers doing their job.
* AerithAndBob: "Star Butterfly" comes from a dimension where names can range from "Tom" and "Kelly" to "River" and "Toffee" to "Glossaryck" and "Yvgeny[[note]]which is a common Russian name, but an alternate spelling[[/note]] Bulgolyubov" (Buff Frog). Speaking of Tom, his parents consist of "Dave" and "Wrathmelior".
* AlienSky: Mewni's sky is pink and has three moons, the largest one of which has a ring system like UsefulNotes/{{Saturn}}.
* AnAesop: The series has several:
** "Mewnipendence Day": Don't have blind faith in your history and heroes, there are two sides to every story, and their actions may not have been as heroic when you take a better look at them.
** "Storm the Castle": Don't endanger the lives of others for your own thrills and adventures.
** "Blood Moon Ball": If you feel like you're being underestimated by your loved ones, you should at least try to understand the reasons behind their actions because they may have just wanted to protect you or keep you from harm.
** "Wand to Wand": When faced with a problem, trying to take the easy way out can often just make things more difficult.
** "Just Friends": While it's important to be a good friend, it's more important to be well-rounded in your priorities. It's healthier to put yourself first once in a while and prioritize your own happiness over someone else's.
** "Face the Music": It's OK to have feelings for someone. Nobody can control their feelings for another and sometimes it's best to confess them before any damage can be done. It's better to confess these feelings on your own terms, rather than have a third party do it for you.
** "Mr. Candle Cares": Life is full of difficulties, experiences, and situations you may not feel ready for. You might not ''ever'' feel "ready" for these experiences, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try them. If it doesn't work out, there's no shame in looking to others for help when you can't solve a problem. Nobody ever became good at something without trying it.
** "Demoncism": There is no such thing as a pure, good person. Everyone has their flaws but without them, we wouldn't be human and we wouldn't have any form of free will. If you are afraid of your bad traits or want to change, learn to control those traits or seek support from your family, friends or therapists rather than hurt yourself for someone else's view of purity.
** "Out of Business": The classic "Stuff doesn't equal happiness" lesson, but it's approached in a novel way. Janna, Marco and Star already know that. They don't need to be locked in cages and they're in no danger of their minds turning to goo. They just walk right out with no problem.
** "Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell": Anyone can say they can change, but you have to mean it. Redemption has to be earned through hard work and teamwork. You can't change by amputating the past and never acknowledging it again.
** "Cornball": To really make a better future, you have to influence the younger generation.
* AntiRegeneration: Queen Moon learns black magic [[spoiler:from Eclipsa]] to neutralize Toffee's healing factor, making him unable to regenerate.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Tom has a crush on Star, who has a crush on Oskar [[spoiler:and then unknowingly Marco]], Marco has a crush on Jackie, who has a crush on a guy from skate camp. [[spoiler:Mostly averted later on in that the crushes Marco/Jackie and Tom/Star develop into short-lived relationships, Jackie finds herself a girlfriend and Marco and Star end up together.]]
* AllThereInTheManual:
** The last names of most of the characters, including Ludo,[[note]]The episode "Face the Music" did already strongly imply Ludo's last name to be "Avarius", which is confirmed in the book.[[/note]] Tom and most of Star and Marco's classmates, are not mentioned in the series, but are found in ''Star and Marco's Guide to Mastering Every Dimension''. Other details are also revealed in that book, like the fact that the first two seasons take place during the 2014-15 school year and the fact that Tom is specifically from Mewni's underworld rather than a generic Hell-like dimension.
** ''The Book of Spells'' details the lives of previous queens in the Butterfly royal line, as well as the history of Mewni as a whole. This includes the backstory of Toffee, whose motivations were never fully explained in the series.
* TheAllegedCar: Oskar's car-slash-studio-slash-living space. It's old, it's busted, the brakes and steering are shot, and it's mostly full of garbage.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: Marco's "Space Unicorn" ringtone sounds like it was made up for the series. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17o1OlroNSE It wasn't.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Star strongly believes in the fundamental evil of the monsters she's fighting, [[spoiler:at least until "Mewnipendance Day" when she is forced to reevaluate the history between Mewmans and monsters]].
* AmusingInjuries:
** Marco's father gets a laser pulse to the eye thanks to Star's adorable laser puppies. He ends up winking it closed and continuing to coo over the cute puppy.
** Marco himself tends to get them at least OncePerEpisode, usually due to Star's magic.
* AnachronismStew: Although Mewni seems to be stuck in the DungAges, bits and pieces of the modern world are there; King Butterfly has a wristwatch, and Ludo's castle has a modern break room. Plus, Mewmans use cell phones that are powered by magic.
* AnimationBump: Inverted. Despite having its moments, the animation from Season 2 onward done by [[Creator/RoughDraftStudios Rough Draft Korea]] and Sugarcube is significantly less fluid and lively than Season 1's animation done by Creator/MercuryFilmworks and Creator/ToonCity.
* {{Animesque}}: Though the character designs are definitely more [[FourFingeredHands Western]], the series involves a [[MagicalGirl princess from another dimension]] with a [[ArtifactOfDoom magic wand]] that looks straight out of ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', there are {{Anime}} references and GratuitousJapanese strewn throughout (a picture taken in the photobooth with Star, Marco, and Pony Head reads "SUPER KAWAII!"), and the [[CreativeClosingCredits ending theme's animation]] may as well be taken from an anime in its format.
* AnotherDimension: Mewni, where Star is from, is one of several. It's right there in the ThemeSong. Magic scissors are used by the characters to move between them.
* ArcWords: "On the fritz" is used whenever magic stuff stops working properly, something that happens more and more often as the series continues. Eventually it's revealed that [[spoiler:"the fritz" is an actual phenomenon that's causing magic to slowly vanish from the universe, and it's steadily getting worse and worse -- until Star brings it all back in the finale to the Battle of Mewni]].
* ArtEvolution: Somewhere in mid/late-Season 1, the character outlines became slightly less thick. Season 2 made a few more changes, the most noticeable being Ms. Skullnick's character design looking a lot less grotesque.
* TheArtifact: Star's magic wand, the whole reason she was sent to Earth in the first place and [[MacGuffin the MacGuffin]] Ludo's forces are after, becomes less and less important as the show goes on. By the last season, Star doesn't even ''use'' it anymore, having since learned to tap into her own innate magical powers.
* ArtifactOfDoom: Star's wand could become this in the hands of evil. Star herself destroys an entire village not five minutes after receiving it, which leads to her being sent to Earth. Even without being used in evil hands, the wand is apparently so dangerous that simply someone unfamiliar with its powers trying to wield it make even [[NightmareFetishist Janna]] duck and cover. [[spoiler:At the time, all Marco was doing was touching the wand and Janna was still fairly sure it could kill him. Star later confirms, after a backlash from a non-combat spell from the wand destroys her room, that doing so was incredibly stupid.]]
* ArtifactTitle: Played with. While Star still fights villains as the series gets DarkerAndEdgier, [[spoiler:what "the Forces of Evil" actually entails becomes more complicated. In particular: whether monsters are aggressive antagonists or [[FantasticRacism innocent victims]].]]
* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: For all that he calls it karate, none of Marco's moves bear any resemblance to actual karate. This is justified in that his sensei is literally on the same level as him.
* BeeAfraid: Star's "Honeybee Tornado Swarm" spell.
* BeginWithAFinisher: Eclipsa opens her fight against a Solarian Warrior with Black Velvet Inferno, the same spell that instantly took down Meteora, the BigBad of the previous season. Unfortunately, it harmlessly pings off the Solarian's armor.
* {{BFS}}: Star has one of these in her room.
* BigBadEnsemble:
** Seasons 1 and 2 has [[BigBadWannabe Ludo]], [[DragonInChief Toffee]], and [[KnightTemplar Miss Heinous]] of St. Olga's Reform School of Wayward Princesses. Ludo is bent on stealing Star's wand to take over the universe, while Miss Heinous seeks to annihilate Marco for his uprising against her institute. Toffee overshadows them all, though, usurping and eventually possessing Ludo as part of [[spoiler:a grand revenge scheme against Moon Butterfly and Mewni, probably followed by Mewman genocide had Star not entered a SuperMode and vaporized him in the moment of his victory.]]
** Following [[spoiler:Toffee's death and Ludo taking himself out of the game]], Season 3 continues Miss Heinous' path, and introduces [[LadyOfBlackMagic Queen Eclipsa]]. Now free, Eclipsa is influencing Star and is implied to have big plans for the kingdom. Miss Heinous discovers [[spoiler:she is Meteora Butterfly, Eclipsa's long-lost half-monster daughter]], pushing her into new and far greater reaching aims and powers.
* BigWhat: This is practically Marco's catchphrase.
* BiggerOnTheInside: Tom's skeleton-horse-drawn-carriage looks like it would have room for maybe two people. It's actually enormous on the inside.
* BilingualBonus: In ''Star and Marco's Guide to Mastering Every Dimension'', Ingrid writes on Star's yearbook: "Das sieht aus wie Tinte, ist es aber Nicht, Hab einen schoenen Sommer!"[[labelnote:translation]]That looks like ink, [[CouldntFindAPen but it's not]]. Have a great summer![[/labelnote]]
* BirthdayEpisode: Subverted; Star doesn't celebrate on her actual birthday, because it falls on the same day as "Stump Day". Anything that detracts from Stump Day will make The Stump angry, even though most adults know that The Stump is [[RealAfterAll just a myth.]] In "Lava Lake Beach", Marco says it's his birthday in the final scene.
* BittersweetEnding: The series ends with [[spoiler:the Realm of Magic, where all magic comes from, being destroyed by Star with the help of her mother [[TheAtoner Moon]], her honorary aunt-figure [[DarkIsNotEvil Eclipsa]], and Eclipsa's baby daughter [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid Meteora]] to both [[DarkestHour prevent the destruction of her homeworld of Mewni]] by the magically-empowered, insane and genocidal Mewman supremacist [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Mina Loveberry]], and to break the cycle of power-hungry people using magic for evil. However, while Mina is stopped and depowered, the destruction of magic leads to the deaths of all magical beings in the multiverse (most notably [[TricksterMentor Glossaryck]], the [[CelestialBurocracy Magic High Commission]] and the Butterfly family Wand's living spells) and the merger of Earth and Mewni into a sole amalgam dimension with Star and Marco reuniting and living together in peace in the new world.]]
* BlackComedy: Plays with this territory sometimes, with several instances of sentient beings being implied to be killed in the chaos. However, characters have also [[UnexplainedRecovery been shown to be alive and okay after said implications]].
* BlandNameProduct: Quest Buy, where you can find almost anything, is a clear parody of Best Buy, right down to the style of the sloth employees' uniform.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses is made out to be more like an ''actual jail''. It's also infamous within the princess community, as both Star and Pony Head greatly fear the place. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed to be ''even worse'' than what they feared. After Marco led a rebellion within the school, it lost this status. It turns out that even its head mistress Miss Heinous wasn't safe and was as much a victim of it as any one, and the original leader was a heartless robot]].
* BodyHorror: In "Monster Arm", Marco breaks his arm and Star attempts to fix it via magic, only to instead turn his arm into a giant tentacle. Said giant tentacle proves to have a mind of its own and be quite malevolent and destructive.
* BrickBreak: Marco is training in karate and is seen trying to break boards in the opening. In "Monster Arm", he accidentally hits the part of the board over the cinderblock he was using to prop up the boards and breaks his arm.
* BrickJoke: There are several instances throughout the series where Marco, by sheer chance, finds himself owing someone exactly six hundred and fifty dollars. He strangely always has that exact amount on him. Early in the series, he claims it's his emergency cash stash, but it's never really explained or remarked upon beyond that. After all, it's not exactly "twenty bucks for sweets" amount, more like "leave the state quickly" amount. In a later episode in which this does ''not'' happen, Star learns that a line of dolls bearing Marco's likeness are being sold in other dimensions. When asked about this, Marco just says, "Oh, yeah. I get a six hundred fifty dollar royalty check every month."
* BrokenAesop:
** A recurring Aesop is that of letting go and moving on. A lot of episodes were made around this theme, including "Scent of a Hoodie", "Lava Lake Beach", "Rest in Pudding" and "Kelly's World". Despite this, however, characters would either go back to not wanting that thing to go away or get the thing they let go of anyway. [[spoiler:"Rest in Pudding" has Star accepting grief and accepting Glossaryck's passing before he suddenly returns, while the other three episodes are about Star and Marco letting go of each other, but they end up together anyway.]]
** Part of Star's arc has been that as the future queen of Mewni, she supposed be a SlaveToPR, and her decision to fight against that and be her own kind of Queen, one who does things not because Mewni wants her to do it, but because she thinks it's right. Season 4, however, has her constantly micromanaging Eclipsa as queen and forcing her to act in a way that makes the Mewmans more likely to accept her rather than let her be her own kind of queen.
** Star's arc has always been about creating her own destiny instead of following that which has been chosen and thrown upon her shoulders. The entirety of "Beach Day" is dedicated to the idea. [[spoiler:"Cleaved", however, leaves a sour spot in the Aesop because it's heavily implied that Glossaryck's endgame has been destroying the magic all along and, with him being an omniscient being, he always knew that Star and Marco would end up together one way or another. As such, Star ended up doing things BecauseDestinySaysSo.]]
** One of the final aesops of the series is that [[spoiler:magic is more trouble than what is worth, and you should get rid of it]]. Yet, throught the series, it's constantly shown that there is good magic and evil magic and that the latter corrupts the former.
* CallingYourAttacks:
** Star whenever she uses her wand. This is {{justified|Trope}} since the call-outs are technically incantations, even if they sound like mashups of random cutesy words.
** In "Conquer", [[spoiler:Eclipsa]] does this, albeit with a much calmer and subdued way, and [[spoiler:with more [[BlackMagic sinister names]] like "[[DeathRay Midnight Shriek]]"]].
* CastingGag:
** In the Japanese dub, Creator/KanaUeda (Star) already voiced a MagicalGirl who speaks in [[KansaiRegionalAccent Kansai-ben]] [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha before]]. [[Anime/SailorMoon The]] [[Manga/MahouShoujoOre same]] [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure goes]] with Creator/AyaHisakawa, who voices her mom Queen ''Moon''. In a more meta-example, there's Creator/KazuyukiOkitsu as Marco, since he voiced Jonathan Joe'''star''' in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
** In the Russian dub, Natalia Tereshkova (Star) voiced another {{Cloudcuckoolander}} [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls girl with similar appearance and personality traits]].
** Principal Skeeves is not the only school principal that Jeff Bennett [[WesternAnimation/TheReplacements voiced]].
** Queen Moon is voiced by Grey [=DeLisle=], which isn't the [[WesternAnimation/MilesFromTomorrowland first time]] that she's voiced one.
** One of Tress [=MacNeille=]'s current roles is [[WesternAnimation/TheJetsons Rosie the Robot]]. Here, one of the characters she voices is a robot caretaker who's similarly sarcastic.
* CentralTheme:
** Evil comes in many forms, sometimes bluntly and sometimes subtly. Whether it be monsters who attack Star or a system that oppressed them.
** Emotions are complicated and can only be resolved by acknowledging them. Ignoring them will be unhealthy and can make a situation worse when those emotions are mishandled.
** The {{Arc Villain}}s all represent the theme of racism and how it's created. Toffee was a monster freedom fighter whose motives were eventually corrupted by his own need for [[MotiveDecay revenge]]. Meteora was a [[MalignedMixedAncestry Mewman-monster hybrid]] who was [[HidingYourHeritage denied the throne and abandoned for the crime of being a child of miscegenation]]. Finally, there's Mina, a Solarian soldier who's devoted to eradicating all monsters so the Mewmans can return to their old way of life. Racism comes in many forms, it can be born from [[DoesntTrustThoseGuys revenge]], [[SinsOfTheFather historical inequity]] and a desire to have [[GoodOldWays everything return to the status quo]]. [[spoiler:Mina's final scene in "Cleaved" represents the sad reality of how prejudice will never die, no matter how much society changes. However, everyone's reaction to this shows how Mina's beliefs will eventually be shelved in the darkest parts of history. Racism will always be a problem, but it's a problem that can and should be handled appropriately and effectively. The villains tried to stop racism or deliver justice by using [[MyWayOrTheHighway their own violent methods]] but, in the end, the Mewmans overcame their racist views by listening to democracy and reason.]]
** Season 4 has the theme of changes going on. All characters have their status quo changed and/or are facing the inevitability that it will change, and the main antagonist of the season, Mina, wants things to change back the way they used to be. [[spoiler:Even the other members of the BigBadDuumvirate also desire this. The Magic High Commission want to be back on power and Omnitraxus even mentions how they'll return to their old schedule, and Moon siding with them also hints that she wants everything to go back to before. The season's final conflict also moves a central change to everything as Star has decided she'll erase all the magic in the world.]]
* CerebusRollercoaster: Longer episodes such as "St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses" tend to have a more serious tone and darker elements than the largely comedic 11-minute episodes.
* ChariotPulledByCats:
** The Royal Stagecoach is [[https://starvstheforcesofevil.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_stagecoach?file=S1e1_royal_stagecoach.png pulled by Manticores]], which highlights Mewni's magical nature.
** Tom's carriage is pulled by a [[https://youtu.be/izoY6Gq8yzA?t=118 flaming skeletal horse]].
* TheChewToy: Sabrina, the brunette cheerleader with a ponytail who's always suffering AmusingInjuries. She ends up in ''a wheelchair'' in her first appearance.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
** Moon and River were childhood friends before they became King and Queen.
** Marco's parents were childhood friends.
** Jackie and Marco were friends since they were children.
* ClassPet: Star gets detention for freeing the class hamster.
* {{Cloudcuckooland}}: Mewni itself has shades of this. For example, dentists and construction workers can team up to combat the local geography, the blacksmith makes iron shells for turtles for no adequately explained reason and there are two weirdos that have been locked into a StaringContest for years now.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The series slowly becomes a coming-of-age story for both Star and Marco as they steadily mature. Marco has matured the most, developing more confidence in himself and being less cautious, successfully going into a relationship with his crush Jackie Lynn Thomas and progressing to a red belt in karate. Star has moved on from her prejudices towards monsters, started to take responsibility for her actions and starts to be more honest with herself.
* CommonTongue: The language spoken across Mewni is referred to as Mewnian as revealed in "Death Peck", but it happens to sounds like English. Additionally, Mewmans have a written language too, but they also use English writing.
* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:Releasing Globgor was supposedly all Rombulus' doing, which is why the Commission arrested him at the end of the episode. It wasn't. All the members of the High Commission, who have repeatedly shown themselves to be racists and bigots where monsters are concerned, were in on it. And when that didn't work, they set Mina loose on Mewni.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist:
** The first BigBad, Toffee, was a lizard monster with a smooth and suave personality with a particular skill to manipulating people and playing a long term game. He was extremely powerful, but hid behind the BigBadWannabe Ludo so Star wouldn't focus on him. He has an extremely sadistic and petty personality, but hides beneath his cool and stoic looks and is fully aware of the entire history of the Butterflies, the monster and the entire magic system, having influenced the past story from the get go and very mysterious plans, methods and goals. [[spoiler:He's killed by a powerful blast by Star and having a pillar dropped on him by Ludo.]]
** Ludo was introduced as the entire opposite of Toffee in Season 1: short, weak, ugly, unintelligent, frail and laughably incompetent where Toffee was tall, strong, smart, suave and frightfully competent to the point of having the upper hand on Star until the very end. Ludo, however, comes back as the BigBad of most of Season 2, and unlike Toffee, he goes through CharacterDevelopment and becomes very competent if still pretty laughable, and is revealed to be a pile of traumas due to an abusive childhood. [[spoiler:He goes through a HazyFeelTurn at the beginning of Season 3, after offing Toffee with Star, more because he's pissed at him than because he's trying to make things right, he goes off to another dimensions to try to find himself. It isn't until Season 4 he fully retires, deciding to go live with his siblings.]]
** Meteora Butterfly is a LongLostRelative of the Butterfly family, and is both much more powerful than Toffee and Ludo and has a much more messed up backstory. Unlike the two before her, she's constantly changing her form as she becomes more powerful and is capable of using magic and is someone who can't formulate very complex plans. Like Ludo and unlike Toffee, she's a tragic character at heart and a PsychopathicManchild to the end, and like Toffee and unlike Ludo, she's intrinsically connected to the past of the Mewni kingdom and works alone in the end. [[spoiler:She's also not offed by Star, but by Eclipsa, who turns her back into a baby, and she's being raised again now.]]
** Mina Loveberry is the first fully Mewman BigBad, and the first one to have once been a heroic character, taking this spot in Season 4. She's a FallenHero who refuses to accept the more monster-friendly motions that Star thought so hard to make work. Unlike previous villains, she has no interest in overtaking Mewni, just to change it back to its previous state. She's also, while not having any magic, extremely physically strong thanks to being a Solarian soldier. While Meteora and Ludo had traits of being their insanity played for drama, Mina's insanity is played for horror, used to showcase her BlackAndWhiteInsanity as she is going to kill anything or anyone in her way to do what she feels is right.
** [[spoiler:The Magic High Commission in Season 4 become the first BigBadDuumvirate when they join Mina to depose Eclipsa. Like Mina, they used to be somewhat heroic, but have their heroism shed little by little through their time. While all the other enemies were clear enemies from the start, the MHC pretended to be heroes all along and it's not until "Cornonation" that Rhombulus reveals he released Globgor in hope that he'd kill Mewmans and he'd be able to crystallize him and Eclipsa again while Hekapoo and Omnitraxus are revealed in "Ready, Aim, Fire" to be working with Mina, and are motivated to take back their power over Mewni and maintain the status quo where monsters are a stepped on minority.]]
* TheCorruption: [[spoiler:When Moon uses or tries to use the spell she got from her DealWithTheDevil with Eclipsa, dark jagged VolcanicVeins start running up her arms.]]
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Part of the series' DeconstructiveParody of the MagicalGirl genre is that Star's home world of Mewni is not the shining kingdom it appears to be. Star is a magical girl princess who's been given too much power and freedom at too young an age and more than once terrorized her own people by accident. Her family rules over a beautiful, pastel-color-schemed CrapsackWorld styled after Medieval Europe, in that all of the people outside of nobility and the royal family [[TheDungAges live in total squalor]] and the political structure is based heavily on MightMakesRight. To top it off, her family's history [[WrittenByTheWinners isn't exactly clean either]]--the hordes of monsters they keep out of the kingdom [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters have very legitimate reasons to resent them]].
* CreativeClosingCredits:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6atapgXmMzU The outro]] for the first two seasons is very reminiscent of anime outros.
** The end credits for "Starcrushed" is [[spoiler:a still image of the Diaz home without Star's tower. It features no music playing whatsoever... and suddenly, Oskar's guitar falls down to the ground out of nowhere]].
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Spider With a Top Hat seems to just be Star's dorky little comic relief spell. [[spoiler:In actuality, he is her most powerful spell.]]
* CultureChopSuey: Mewni itself is a mashup of different cultures. Mewni resembles Medieval Europe, while its royals have American/English accents. Monsters also have different accents, with Buff Frog speaking with a Russian accent. During the fight against Meteora, Tom wears Asian armor, while Marco wields a katana.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Many episodes in Season 2 have a much darker tone in comparison with the Season 1. Season 3 actually takes this even further.
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:In the past, Moon made a deal with Eclipsa to learn a spell capable of killing Toffee: Eclipsa would teach her the spell and in exchange Moon would free her as soon as Toffee was dead. She [[LoopholeAbuse took advantage]] of the ExactWords by using the spell to cripple Toffee instead of killing him, thereby avoiding freeing Eclipsa while still dealing with the monster army. [[OhCrap Except then Star and Ludo manage to kill him]], setting Eclipsa up as the BigBad from Season 3 onward.]]
* DeconstructiveParody: Of the MagicalGirl genre, as well as the associated MagicalGirlfriend and ActionGirlfriend tropes. With a wrecking ball... [[UpToEleven filled with dynamite and fiery rainbows]].
* DiscreetDiningDisposal: When offered Sean's donuts, Star opts to stuff them in her clothes rather than eat them.
* DistractedByTheSexy: When seeing [[spoiler:adult Marco]] in "Running With Scissors", Star barely listens to him, is entirely focused on his six pack and couldn't compose her sentences.
* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The first ending theme is performed by Star's voice actress, Eden Sher. Bonus points because it feels like an anime ending (both visually and song-wise). Neither Disney XD or Disney Channel have applied CreditsPushback on their airings.
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:After being manipulated by Toffee throughout Season 2, Ludo is the one who apparently finishes him off by pushing a pillar onto him after Star half-vaporized him]].
* DoomTroops: The guards of St. Olga's are designed with maximum intimidation; deathly cold voices, show no mercy, masked faces, and the like. Seriously, they look like they stepped out of ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}''.
* {{Doorstopper}}: The manual for Star's magic wand. This is justified as it's a giant collection of personal notes from centuries of past users, and has not been organized nor cared for that much. When Star pulls it out from under her bed, the pages are worn, dusty, and some of the notes appear to have been added with Mewni scotch tape.
* DrosteImage: The effect is achieved in "Raid the Cave", when Star is attempting to use her spying spell and eventually spies on Marco through the portal, who in turn is spying on Star and the portal right back.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-L]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** Season 1 is much more lighthearted and energetic than any of the subsequent seasons, and the characters are also prone to making more exaggerated facial expressions. This is in no small part due to the animation done by Creator/MercuryFilmworks.
** The series initially plays out like a ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' meets ''Manga/SailorMoon'' high school comedy before deciding to focus more on Mewni and lore-heavy plots.
* ElephantInTheLivingRoom: [[spoiler:For most of Season 3, the fact that Star has feelings for Marco and declared it. Neither of them ever bring it up amongst themselves and just continue with their lives as usual. Said elephant ended up being addressed in "Booth Buddies", and Marco even admitted that he never brought it up so that things wouldn't be different between them.]]
* EliteMooks: The guards of St. Olga's are just scarily competent and intimidating that fighting them is usually not recommended.
* ElvesVsDwarves: The Butterfly-Johansen families have this dynamic. The Johnsons are card carrying [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warriors]], who are rough, barbarous and [[BoisterousBruiser openly emotional]]. The Butterflies are elegant, regal, stuck up and highly reserved. The marriage of Moon Butterfly and River Johansen brought the two families together, creating Star who is a blend of both.
* EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt:
** What could happen if Star's wand fell into evil hands, although she also tends to be rather chaotic with it outside of combat situations.
** When Star first goes through mewberty, she describes it as "destroy the school" bad.
* EvilAllAlong: Hey, what do you know? The [[spoiler:Monster Arm]] isn't so bad after all- wait, no, it's actually worse.
* EvilerThanThou:
** Ludo and Toffee. [[spoiler:Toffee has bigger plans for Star and Queen Moon, while Ludo has ever barely managed to obtain Star's wand. His scheme is so good he possesses Ludo's body/half of Star's wand without Ludo knowing it.]]
** End of Season 1 [[spoiler:Toffee wins Ludo's castle and minions by simple persuasion.]] Marco later relates Toffee [[EvilLawyerJoke to a lawyer]].
* EvolvingCredits:
** Season 2's group shot near the end of the opening credits changes the characters present from Season 1.
** Season 3 changes the credits entirely since the series shifted to Mewni, showing the new roster of characters. After the Battle for Mewni story arc, [[spoiler:Star's wand regains its missing fragment]].
** The bouncy and cheerful ending theme for the first two seasons is replaced in the final two seasons with the also upbeat but more pop-like "Shining Star".
* ExpositoryThemeTune: The theme song explains Star's backstory and MO to a T.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The events of "Jannanigans" and the episodes between that and "Cleaved" all take place on the same day.
* EyeScream:
** One of said puppies fires a laser into Marco's dad's eye.
** In "Lobster Claws", Star fires a wave of crystal cupcakes at Ludo's minions, one of which gets lodged in Bearnicorn's eye.
** A running gag has Marco repeatedly get his sensei's clipped toenails, flies, and other objects launched into his eyes whilst training for his red belt.
* TheFairFolk: The pixies in "Pixtopia". They're beautiful, ethereal, and send Star and her friends to the mines for not being able to pay a bill. The pixie empress orders the gang killed when she can't marry Ferguson, and according to Star, she would have eaten him had the marriage gone through.
* FamilyThemeNaming: The Butterfly royal family seems to name their daughters after celestial bodies and phenomena: Star, her mother Moon, and Eclipsia are just a few examples.
* FantasticFightingStyle: "Wool-Hair-Do" is a fighting style practiced by Kelly's species, which involves two people fighting alongside each other through their hair.
* FantasticRacism: Mewman prejudice against Monsters and its consequences are a central theme of the series, to the point of it being the motive of [[spoiler:Mina Loveberry, the series' final BigBad]].
* FeudalFuture: If "Skooled" is of any indication, Mewni is a medieval-style setting with peasants, royalty and nobility, but they've had computers and robots, albeit outdated by today's standards, even 300 years prior to the present day.
* FighterMageThief:
** Marco is tough and a skilled martial artist (Fighter). Star casts powerful spells with a magic wand, though she is no slouch in hand to hand combat (Mage). Janna, who later joins the other two on their adventures, is stealthy, mischievous, and a skilled pickpocket and lock picker (Thief).
** [[spoiler: The three main villains of the series are this. Toffee relied on espionage, manipulation and infiltration (thief). Meteora relied more on magic than she did on her physical strength by using a soul absorption spell and draining the magic from its users (mage). Mina Loveberry relied more on warfare and destruction (fighter).]]
* ForWantOfANail: Pony Head is sent to St. Olga's and later sends Star an SOS video. Star and Marco go to St. Olga's to rescue her. Marco convinces the princesses to rebel against the school, resulting in Miss Heinous nursing a deep grudge against him. In her quest for revenge, Miss Heinous follows Marco to Star's party at the monster temple, where she learns the truth about who she is.
* ForbiddenLove: Queen Eclipsa abandons her kingdom to marry a monster. They are imprisoned for their treasonous romance, while their daughter, [[spoiler:who would grow up to become Miss Heinous]], is swapped with a peasant girl to be raised as heir to the throne.
* ForeignExchangeStudent: The Diazes have apparently played host to many of these in the past. One called Gustav visits in an early episode.
* ForegoneConclusion: As what we've learned in "Stump Day", it wasn't really Star's birthday in the first episode when she received the Royal Magic Wand from her mother, given she was born on Stump Day but she doesn't celebrate it that day because it would anger the Stump.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Toffee [[spoiler:being the voice inside Ludo's wand]] got quite a bit of this: Ludo used two phrases that [[spoiler:Toffee had previously used "Swallow it" and "Surprise!", Toffee's skeletal hand made up his wand, and his finger showed up inside the other half of the wand.]]
** Glossaryck's nature as a true neutral was hinted at in "Page Turner" when he talks about [[LadyOfBlackMagic Queen Eclipsa]] in positive terms for never questioning him.
** [[spoiler:Lekmet was the only one of the magic high council to not have ADayInTheLimelight episode and he dies in a HeroicSacrifice in "Starcrushed".]]
** In "Sweet Dreams", River jokingly says in response to Star's questions about unintentionally transforming into her butterfly form that if such a thing ever happened, the Magic High Commission would come and take her away and then they would adopt a new princess. [[spoiler:This is exactly what happened to Eclipsa's Mewman/monster hybrid daughter Meteora who was sent away to St. Olga's and replaced by the peasant girl Festivia as the heir to the throne. Though Meteora had been taken away because of her heritage, not because of any power she exhibited.]]
** Early in Season 4, Star and Glossaryck are talking about the things that Star has done thus far that have caused trouble, and they all can be traced back to the time she destroyed Toffee in order to save the magic in the world, and Glossaryck mentions that might be a mistake. [[spoiler:In "The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse", Star realizes this is true. In order to save Mewni, she must end all magic.]]
* FourFingeredHands: Both humans and Mewmans sport four digits on each hand, as do some other characters.
* GarrulousGrowth: In "Naysaya", Marco ends up with a miniature talking head growing out of his neck. The eponymous Naysaya is a curse placed on him by Star's ex Tom, which blurts out all of Marco's most embarrassing thoughts and secrets to anyone in earshot when Marco tries to talk to his crush Jackie Lynn.
* GenreShift: The first two seasons act as a SliceOfLife comedy about Star learning to adjust to Earth culture, and occasionally going on dimension hopping misadventures. Season 3, however, shifts this by returning Star to Mewni, with Marco following her soon after, with the plot being much more focused on Star learning to handle the responsibilities of royalty, uncovering her kingdom's {{Dark Secret}}s and mending some of Mewni's FantasticRacism. Essentially, it shifts from a magical sitcom to HighFantasy.
* GlobalCurrency: Almost every dimension seems to use the same currency. At the very least, nobody has any trouble accepting [[RunningGag $650]] from Marco. The only exception thus far is Pixtopia, which only accepts gold and jewels.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The fate of all those who try to decipher the labyrinthine Quest Buy mall's cryptic organization system. Marco [[BadassNormal cracks the system]].
* GoodPrincessEvilQueen:
** In flashbacks, Moon is depicted as a naïve but desperate princess who had just been crowned queen. She makes a contract with the Queen of Darkness, Eclipsa, in order to protect her homeland from Toffee.
** Eclipsa herself is surprisingly tolerant and caring towards monsters despite being the daughter of Solaria, who is best known as the genocidal and vicious Monster Carver.
** Later, Star's efforts to promote understanding between Mewman and Monsters are undercut by [[spoiler:her own mother, Moon, who creates an army of Solarian Warriors to depose Eclipsa.]]
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Star's casual fights against Ludo and his monsters does not compare with [[spoiler:the evil the cast faces in Season 3 "The Battle for Mewni"]].
* GrayingMorality: The series started off as a rather black and white "Mewmans good, monsters bad" story. Then we learn that [[spoiler:most of Mewni is stuck in the DungAges, most of the monsters are actually just fighting to take back their forcibly-stolen land, and King and Queen Butterfly are well aware of Star's dimension-hopping misadventures, using Glossaryck as TheMole]].
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: {{Subverted|Trope}} with the manual for Star's wand. While Star claims it is a comprehensive list of the spells mastered by the wand's previous owners, that valuable information is extremely disorganized and often barely legible. This isn't helped by the fact that its living glossary likes being a giant pain about it.
* GrossUpCloseUp: Very rare, but it happens on occasion. The episode "The Bogbeast of Boggabah", for example, treats us to a close-up of both River and Star's bulging, very bloodshot eyeballs.
* HardTruthAesop
** "Face the Music" has Star's attempt to use her [[IAmSong Princess Song]] to give an honest impression of herself to the people of Mewni rather than be portrayed as a [[PrincessClassic generic perfect Princess]] results in [[spoiler:the InternalReveal that the Royal Family lied to protect Star's reputation, inciting the peasantry to riot and damaging the Magic High Commission's trust in Queen Moon]]. The lesson, as plainly stated to Star by her mother after the fiasco, is that sometimes it's [[SlaveToPR better to lie]] and [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask pretend to be someone you're not]], especially when [[TheChainsOfCommanding you're in a position of authority]] where people depend on you.
** "Monster Bash" teaches the lesson that you can't and shouldn't expect centuries of prejudice and bigotry to disappear overnight. It is possible for both sides to try to overcome their biases, but it is also too easy to fall back on them. Also, no matter how logical a change to the status quo may be, some will still viciously oppose it.
* HiddenVillain: Season 3 hints that someone with a lot of power has been acting behind the scenes of the Butterfly family. [[spoiler:Eclipsa never had a daughter named Festivia. Her only daughter was Meteora, who was erased from all registers and even from the Magic High Commission's Archive, a secret archive that keeps the story of the royal family in check, someone positioned Mina in an abandoned monster temple to end Meteora were she to ever come back and erased Meteora's memory, turning her into Ms. Heinous, while simultaneously giving Festivia the throne. At the end of "Total Eclipsa of the Moon", Moon says she thinks she knows who did it. As it turns out, it ''was'' the Magic High Commission all along, just as Moon suspected.]]
* HighSchoolSweethearts: Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, according to the "#[=MarcoLIVE=] Animated Live Chat" by Marco in response to a fan.
* HowDoIShootWeb: Implied to be a problem for wielders of the magic wand in general. No one ever explains what words are necessary to cast the desired spell. A slight change the spell's incantation can have dangerous and possibly fatal consequences. Even Star's Book of Spells is just a catalog of notes from previous users who awkwardly scrawled down incantations without any regard to organization or legibility.
* HumanAllAlong: Of a sort. [[spoiler:Although Mewmans always looked identical to humans, it's strongly suggested in "Mama Star" that Mewmans were just humans who fell into the magic well and somehow ended up in Mewni. Since that realm messes with memories, none of the Mewmans remember that's how they got there.]]
* HumansAreWarriors: Marco is a shining example of this. Marco is 14 years old, and learned karate from a strip mall dojo. He's only a green belt, which is only about halfway through the ranking system. Yet he is capable of defeating fully grown, adult monsters time after time, just as well as an alien princess with extremely destructive magic. He's not even fully grown yet, but he's more than a match in a fight than most of what he and Star go up against.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Season 3 addresses the audience's concerns about how Mewman prejudice against monsters has been accompanied by a slew of hypocritical behaviors. To begin with, there are certain creatures that look unnatural, by Mewman standards, and yet they're not subject to the same treatment by Mewmans. Demons, in this case, add more insult to the injury--they look ''and'' act like monsters, people fear them, but they're treated with respect due to them having been allies of the royal family since Mewni's founding. Second, the Magic High Commission [[spoiler:crystallized Eclipsa for falling in love with a monster as one of her offenses]], but it's later shown Hekapoo, one of its members, hangs in a tavern where she regularly interacts with monsters.
* TheILoveYouStigma: [[spoiler:In "Face the Music", Star's crush on Marco is publicly revealed to him in the final stanza of the song and in "Starcrushed". The two couldn't maintain a conversation long enough without becoming awkward with each other. Due to the fact that Marco was struggling to comprehend her feelings for him and Star was too embarrassed to admit the accuracy of the song.]]
* ImagineSpot: Both Star and Pony Head have identical nightmarish imaginings of going to [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses]].
* ImmortalsFearDeath: Back when Moon the Undaunted became Queen of Mewni, an army led by Toffee was trying to conquer the kingdom and they took victory for granted because [[HealingFactor they can regrow any body parts they lose]]. With a spell she learned from Eclipsa, Moon made Toffee lose a finger and he couldn't regrow it. Seeing it [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere scared his followers into fleeing]].
* InnocentlyInsensitive: [[spoiler:Several characters were like this to Star since "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown". For example, Jackie wasn't aware of Star's crush on Marco and didn't realize how it affected her. Marco didn't realize how uncomfortable Star was during the concert in "Just Friends".]]
* InsistentTerminology: In the episode "Divide", Star refuses to be called [[spoiler:Queen and insists that she is only ''acting'' queen]].
* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: Characters, both good and evil, use magic "Dimensional Scissors" [[DimensionalCutter to cut open portals to other dimensions]]. One even used a dimensional ''chainsaw''.
* KillerRabbit: It's almost a running gag that Star will turn normally harmless creatures into voracious, man-eating creatures.
* {{Knighting}}: [[spoiler:After saving Mewni from Ludo and Toffee, Marco is made an honorary Knight of Mewni and given an official knight's cape by King River. Of course, River tells him he can make it official if Marco is ready to commit. It's later subverted because River did it just to humor Marco, and he didn't think Marco was going to be serious about it. Later on, Star gives him the equivalent of a knighting ceremony, to make him ''her'' squire]]. Even later, [[spoiler:Eclipsa officially promotes Marco to knight, but he ultimately declines the position because it turns out that a knight's post is [[InItForLife for life]]. Marco decided that the only thing on Mewni he was willing put ''that'' much of a commitment to was [[ShipTease being with Star]]]].
* KneelBeforeZod: The incantation for the Spell with No Name, which Eclipsa uses, demands this before unleashing a butterfly-shaped projectile of pure destruction.
-->''I call the spell which has no name.''\\
''My mother's gift with which she reigned.''\\
''Eclipse my heart with rightful power.''\\
''Stand before the queen and cower!''
* LateArrivalSpoiler: Not even less than a week after the airing of "Monster Bash", Disney XD did not hesitate to air a promo for the Disney NOW! app, showcasing [[spoiler:each of the identities of the holders of the card symbols, spoiling that Heinous is Eclipsa's daughter.]]
* LoveTriangle: After "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown", one has started between Jackie, Marco, and Star. [[spoiler:Star didn't want to admit it since Marco is already with Jackie. She eventually does confess to Marco at the end of "Starcrushed", just before she has to leave Earth and possibly never return. This was later put to rest in Season 3 by having Jackie break up with Marco but a love triangle instead formed between Marco, Tom and Star. This lead to a CockFight between Marco and Tom on "Stump Day".]]
* LuddWasRight: Season 4 veers towards this with regards to magic, showing that the Mewman peasantry are so dependent on the Queen's magic that they can hardly care for themselves. [[spoiler:By the end of the series, Star decides that everyone who uses magic (including herself) is an idiot that only ever abuses it, and so wipes it from the multiverse entirely.]]
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Miss Heinous from St. Olga's is strongly implied to be related to the Butterflies through the club marks that occasionally appear on her cheeks. This is confirmed in "Monster Bash", when she is revealed to be the daughter of Queen Eclipsa.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-P]]
* MagiTek: PlayedForLaughs as the wand requires a charger, not unlike a cell phone. The charger itself is also magic and can enchant any device.
* MagicIsEvil: PlayedWith. Magic as a concept was deemed evil by Star, who feels that using magic to solve problems only causes more problems, and the ones using it are all idiots who don't deserve the power they have, her own family included, and the cause of all problems by the end of the series. It's seen as a good thing when Star decides to destroy magic because it cannot be used responsibly, and it causes more problems than it solves. However, despite what Star thought, magic was not the main cause of the series' problems, it was the racism between the Mewmans and Monsters and battle over the lands, and her family abusing magic, that was the problem. Even then, magic was not show to corrupt people or cause their bad actions like Moon siding with Mina, it was rather Moon's stupidity, and unfair grudge against Eclipsa that caused her actions. It's implied that Star is just ignoring the complexity of the situation because she wants a quick solution to stop Mina, so she decided to destroy magic.
* MagicMirror:
** Star's mirror allows her to contact anyone from Mewni and across dimensions. The user usually chants "[[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Mirror, mirror, on the wall, call...]]" and the name of whoever they are calling. It even features a randomization feature where it simply connects with "anyone".
** Many characters are also shown to have magic compact mirrors which are essentially interdimensional mobile phones.
* MagicWand:
** Star's wand is incredibly powerful and could potentially destroy everything in the wrong hands. [[EmpathicWeapon It also seems to change its form depending on who uses it]]. It looks more like a royal scepter at first, but when the Moon gives it to Star, it changes to look like something Franchise/SailorMoon or [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Sakura Kinomoto]] would use. When Lobster Claws gets it for a moment, it turns into a dark scepter with an eye, not unlike the Eye of Truth from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''.
** [[spoiler:After the wand is cleaved in "Storm the Castle", Ludo discovers the other half, consisting of the left side of the severed wand crystal and a handle made out of [[RedRightHand a skeletal right hand and forearm with the middle finger missing]], taking it for his own.]]
* MagicalIncantation: Played with. Most of Star's spells aren't poetic lines of incantations, but not as simple as an "Abracadabra" either. Star tends to shout her intent with whatever words pop into her head. She doesn't always think ahead (or at ''all''), which causes problems. In "Storm the Castle", [[spoiler:a straighter example is the Whispering Spell, in which Star whispers an incantation. However, it isn't discernible exactly what is whispered, or in what language.]]
** [[spoiler:revealed when Eclipsa, Star, Moon, and Meteora incant it in the realm of magic to [[TheMagicGoesAway remove all magic from the universe]].]]
--->[[spoiler:"Break the bond, tear the fabric, cleave the stone, [[MeaningfulWords stop the magic]]."]]
* TheMall: Quest Buy is a transdimensional example.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: The series is essentially a deconstruction of this; it starts out with Star indeed making Marco's life more interesting but also more chaotic, as if it's saying "be careful what you wish for" to viewers who dream of meeting such a character, but over time, the it becomes more about Marco aiding the character development of Star by helping her tone down and control her uber-impulsive behavior.
* {{Matriarchy}}: Mewni's royal family is revealed to be this. In "Mewnipendence Day", it is revealed that the land was conquered through the power of the Queen's wand. In addition, it is revealed in "Game of Flags" that husbands take their wives' names when they marry and apparently the Queen has the right of repudiate her marriage if she desired it. Despite Star being an only child, there is never any hint of a succession crisis. In "Divide" [[spoiler:Star becomes acting queen and ruler of Mewni when her mother goes missing, despite her father, the king, being still alive.]]
* MergedReality: [[spoiler:In the series finale, "Cleaved", Star and Marco bring the worlds of Earth and Mewni together]].
* MisterBig: Ludo. All his mooks are several times bigger than he is, yet he intimidates them just the same.
* MixAndMatchCritters: The peasant village in Mewni boasts stables full of part-pig, part-goat creatures.
* ModestyTowel: One scene shows Marco wears one wrapped around the chest, in the traditionally feminine way, including a towel wrapped around his (short) hair.
* MoodWhiplash: Anytime an episode ends on an ominous or grim note, immediately followed by the cheery ending credits. This is averted in "Starcrushed".
* MomentOfLucidity: The Realm of Magic causes anyone who enters to rapidly lose their mind and memories, with the affected becoming nonsensical and forgetting who they are. After finding her mother in the Realm of Magic, Star succumbs to the magic's effects and forgets everything until she finds a note she left for herself to remind her of who she is. Star is able to open a portal to save herself and her mother, though unfortunately forgets once more and the portal closes.
* MorphWeapon: The wand zigzags on this. First of all, the wand [[EmpathicWeapon changes to match the personality of the wielder]]. In "School Spirit", we see Star had turned it into a mace. She can extend the handle making it a BoomStick to use it like a bazooka or just pull a construct of the barrel out the back as a rocket appears out the front. She once grew a cone on it [[MundaneUtility to use it as a megaphone]].
* {{Muggles}}: To Mewmans, regular humans [[spoiler:whom they are actually descended from]], are this compared to them.
* MundaneUtility: Star can use her wand to give her ponytails or pigtails at the blink of an eye.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Ludo's minions are mostly big, muscular brutes... who routinely get beaten up by a pair of average-sized fourteen year olds:
-->'''Ludo''': How are you losing? You guys have like 200 pounds on her!
* MushroomSamba:
** Star's "Jellybean Hallucination Mist" spell.
** The famed Goblin Dogs taste no different from any ordinary hot dogs, but they cause one of these to incur after being consumed, which apparently makes them completely {{worth|It}} the [[SecretTestOfCharacter absurdly convoluted and frustrating method of obtaining them]].
* NeverSayDie: Sometimes averted, but occasionally played straight:
** In "Match Maker", an incredibly destructive spell Star casts incapacitates Ludo's monster army, and while she's gloating over her victory to Ludo, she briefly worries that she just killed one of his monsters. Ludo insists that the guy she thinks she might've killed is "just bleeding internally and being a total baby about it!"
** In "The Other Exchange Student", Star assumes that fellow exchange student Gustav actually plans to eat the Diaz family. After strapping herself to the hood of the car, she tries in vain to warn them, "YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIIEEE!"
** Brittney Wong tells Ludo, "I hope you destroy her," when he ambushes Star after she crashed Brittney's birthday party and overshadowed her.
** Toffee mentions that the "Mewnipendence Day" holiday celebrated by Mewmans is better known to the monsters as the "Great Monster Massacre", and the context of the holiday makes it clear that it was indeed a literal massacre.
** The first question of the Truth or Punishment game played at Star's sleepover is the surprisingly mundane and unimpressive "What is your favorite color?" Pony Head figures that subsequent questions will be much heavier, like "have you ever killed a man?" [[BlackComedyBurst Pony Head then dismisses that as actually being a really easy question for her too.]]
** "Gift of the Card":
*** Miss Heinous tells Rasticore at the beginning of the episode to destroy Star.
*** The terms of the titular gift card include a provision that the owner of the card and the friend who purchased it for them will "expire" along with the card's expiration date. Subverted when Marco's reaction to learning this makes it clear in no uncertain terms what that means:
--->'''Marco''': Wha-ha-hat?! Like, we DIE?!
*** Marco saying that he almost got killed the last time he went to Quest Buy, which is why he didn't want to use the card.
** When a "songstrel" comes to write Star's Princess Song, she skips out of the house for hours. While he waits, he sings a song to pass the time:
--->'''Ruberiot''': ''Where is Princess Star?\\
Has she traveled far?\\
I am very musically skilled\\
But if I don't write this, I'll surely be kil—'' HEY!
** Completely averted in the "Battle for Mewni" special, to the point that it seems Disney just doesn't care anymore about censoring any word related to "death". Examples go from [[spoiler:Moon confessing to Star that Toffee killed her mother, Star saying "let's go kill him" about Toffee, Katrina commenting that Star's lack of planning will get her killed, Star fearing that she has died after getting trapped in the wand's corrupted magic, to Ludo finishing off Toffee and mockingly telling him that he "turned out to be dead".]]
* NoOSHACompliance:
** The "Bounce Lounge" has no railings, yet is situated directly over a ''lot'' of spikes.
** Quest Buy is poorly managed by sloth workers, people tend to get lost and go insane trying to navigate in the store, and it has working death traps on its booby trap department. However, they ''do'' apparently have worker's comp.
* NoodleIncident: There are several incidents that are mentioned but never elaborated on:
** Marco wore a helmet in the gym shower at one point.
** It's implied that Ludo and Star fought each other before the series started, and they've certainly met previously.
** Star briefly mentions that Pony Head has gotten "[[GreenEyedMonster possessive]]" before.
** Star's demonic ex-boyfriend has tried to get back with her more than once.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore:
* NowWhichOneWasThatVoice: Many voice actors for minor characters are often credited under "additional voices", meaning you need good ears to guess who's voicing who. This even applies to some major characters at times.
* NumberOfTheBeast: Joked about in "Blood Moon Ball" but not mentioned directly; Tom states that the ball takes place every 66'''7''' years, with Rider Strong's delivery of the line drawing attention toward the subversion. The same joke comes up again in "Running With Scissors", as [[spoiler:Marco's dragon-bike]] has a collar with the tag "667" on it.
* OddNameOut: Ludo's family all end their names with "-do", except for Dennis.
* OdeToFood: In "Lint Catcher", Star sings to a burrito. She swears not to let go of it, until she throws it on Marco when he accidentally startles her. Moments later, Tom comes out of the toilet, doing the exact same thing.
* OneSteveLimit:
** Averted with the student Justin Armberg and the singer Justin Tower.
** There are two people named "Larry" in the show: Hungry Larry (a BedsheetGhost) and Larry Kelpbottom (prince of the FishPeople).
** Downplayed in regards to "Thomas", which is Tom's full first name and Jackie's surname.
* OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding: [[spoiler:As Earth and Mewni are merged in the SeriesFinale, Star and Marco get to stay together and live happily ever after... while Echo Creek's residents run screaming from Mewni's more hostile wildlife which now runs rampant, and the destruction of magic means characters not from either world (e.g. Kelly) are stuck in their own dimensions forever, while anyone that needed magic to stay alive is now dead.]]
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Star is sent to Earth in order to be this. Marco actually ''is'' one, but wishes his life was more exciting. He gets his wish and then some when Star shows up.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: Ludo and his goons get pretty ridiculous:
-->'''Ludo''': You mean you've never met Man Arm?\\
'''Man Arm''': *extends a tiny human arm from monstrous alligator body* Hey.
* OutOfFocus:
** Starting in Season 3, Marco doesn't feature in many of the episodes. Even a few episodes focus on Queen Moon with almost no involvement of Star.
** Star is absent or relegated to a minor role for much of Season 4, as the focus is more on other characters such as Marco, Kelly, Ludo, and also on the repercussions of [[spoiler:Eclipsa being made queen]].
* PhotoBoothMontage:
** Star, Marco, and Pony Head go into a photo booth because Star wants them to be friends. As soon as Star leaves, Pony Head threatens Marco [[MoodDissonance while still taking friendly pictures]].
** "Booth Buddies" is primarily centered around Star wanting to do one with Marco, but never being happy with the end result. They take so many photos, the picture strips jam the slot. The final strip ends with Star and Marco [[spoiler:kissing]].
* PlaceWorseThanDeath: [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses]], initially.
* PlotTumor:
** Glossaryck is introduced in Season 1 as a quirky little man who lives in Star's spellbook, making only a few appearances. In Season 2, he becomes more prominent as a mentor character, teaching Star [[spoiler:and later Ludo]] magic. By the final season, he's set up as ''the'' PhysicalGod of the setting and responsible for much of Mewni's history both directly and indirectly.
** Season 1's "Mewnipendence Day" was the first episode to establish the idea that monsters weren't necessarily evil, but forced into a bad situation because of the first Mewmans. By Seasons 3 and 4, this becomes the central focus of the show, with antagonistic monsters becoming scarce and multiple plot threads and characters (Eclipsa, Miss Heinous, Mina Loveberry) tying back to it one way or another.
* PoliceAreUseless: Pretty much any time Marco or Star call the police, they get told there's nothing they can do, and sometimes get mocked as well. Granted, they're not equipped to deal with, or sometimes even understand, the kind of trouble that Star gets into.
* PowerIncontinence: Star's wand is most dangerous when she tries to use it for non-combat related purposes.
* ThePowerOfCreation: Seems to be the main power of Star's wand, since she can make small creatures appear from nowhere and turn a butterfly into a monster. The problem stems from the fact that Star has trouble getting the incantations right to make what she wishes, which, therefore, doesn't always come out right.
* PragmaticAdaptation:
** Daron Nefcy's original conception of Star, who she had been drawing in comics for years, was that she was a deranged but otherwise ordinary girl who only ''believed'' she was a magical fairy princess. This concept was ultimately ditched for the series.
** [[Characters/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil Pony Head]] originally had entrails spilling from her neck instead of glitter.
* PrejudiceAesop: This is a major underlaying theme within the series. At first we're lead to believe the evil forces were monsters from Star's homeland, Mewni, trying to seize power for themselves. But as the series goes on, we start to see plotlines that showcase the monsters aren't as bad as Star was lead to think, some even just want better living conditions for their families due to actually being ''oppressed'' by the current regime. [[spoiler:The prejudice was so bad, that, during Eclipsa's rule, she fell in love with a monster and birthed a daughter, a half-breed. The Butterfly monarchy absolutely rejected the notion of having a partial monster for a ruler and went so far as to secretly switched her out for a normal Mewnian.]] Season 3 goes into this much more as the series moves into the other realms and we explore more of Mewni. Season 4 takes it full throttle and showcases how prejudice can have devastating consequences if left unchecked.
* PrincessesPreferPink: When Star disguises Marco as a princess he ends up getting the classic Princess Pink. He isn't amused when Star says pink is his color. He later seems to have changed his mind when he asks to keep the dress, albeit immediately after he [[spoiler:received forced princess brainwashing]].
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Inverted. The final shot of the Season 3 intro removed the multitude of characters that appeared in the previous seasons' intros (albeit only in minor cameos for the most part), leaving only Janna, Star, Marco, Pony Head, Kelly and Tom.
* PsychoactivePowers: [[spoiler:"Wand to Wand" shows that both Star and Ludo's wands operate this way; Ludo's wand needs [[ThePowerOfHate anger]] to charge it, while Star's spells won't work right if she's feeling angry or frustrated. It takes [[ThePowerOfFriendship seeing Marco in danger]] for Star to get her wand working correctly.]]
* PuttingOnTheReich: The guards of St. Olga's are designed in such a manner.
* PyrrhicVillainy: [[spoiler:Toffee spends all of Season 2 manipulating Ludo from inside his wand and causing the Fritz, all so that he can reclaim the finger Moon took from him. He gets it back at the end of "Battle for Mewni"... only for Star to manage to fix the wand from his corruption, enter a SuperMode, and all but vaporize him, and when ''that'' doesn't kill him, ''Ludo'' appears to do the job by dropping a pillar on him.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R-U]]
* RaiseHerRightThisTime: In "Conquer", after [[spoiler:Eclipsa defeats Meteora, the latter is turned into a baby]].
* RealityEnsues:
** In "Star vs. Echo Creek", while Star finds out that the officers were already going to decommission the police car that she demolished, she's still sentenced to community service for fleeing the scene of an accident.
** At the end of "Stranger Danger", Star finally convinces the Magical High Commission to give [[spoiler:Queen Eclipsa]] a fair trial. Star expects the trial to start immediately. Moon then reminds everyone that it's going to take quite a while to actually set it up. Indeed, [[spoiler:Eclipsa's]] trial doesn't occur until a little more than halfway through the season, with [[spoiler:Eclipsa]] under house arrest at the castle in the meantime.
** [[spoiler:Meteora has been BrainwashedAndCrazy her whole life to be Miss Heinous. In most series, the brainwashing being broken would turn her back into a sweet innocent person. Instead, she becomes even ''more'' dangerous due to her being a complete emotional and psychological mess.]]
** At the end of "Pizza Thing," we are treated to a GoodTimesMontage of Marco and Pony Head making a pizza together. When we see Star eating the finished product a minute later, it looks like crap, and she says it tastes terrible. This is unsurprising when you consider neither of them had ever made a pizza before. Pony Head had never even heard of pizza.
** When Star leaves Marco's life by Marco returning to Earth. He has trouble empathizing with others and feels limited and restricted by his home dimension. [[spoiler:This also causes Jackie to break up with him because she can't put herself between Star and Marco's friendship and he can't stop thinking about his adventures.]]
** When Marco decides to return to Mewni unannounced, nobody in the kingdom knows what to do with him and Star is upset with his sudden return since she wants to move on from him.
** When Star and Tom become a couple, Wrathmelior doesn't trust or approve of the relationship. She believes Star is toying with her son's emotions or the relationship is doomed to repeat itself. [[spoiler:When she discovers that Star kissed Marco, she believes Star is disloyal and will inevitably betray Tom and break his heart.]]
** Solaria was the worst of the Butterfly family and would have succeeded in committing monster genocide if she wasn't killed in a monster ambush. Does the war end there or at least deescalate? ''NO''. The mewmans and monsters have been at war for too long and it won't stop with Solaria's death. When Comet tried to create a long-term peace accord between the mewmans and monsters a century later, Toffee took the opportunity to kill comet to establish himself as a freedom fighter for the monsters to finally end the race war in their favour.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Star gives an absolutely brutal one to [[spoiler: Moon]] in The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse:
-->'''Star''': What is there to talk about exactly?! We can't go back to Mewni because we'll die from a situation you caused! So just star ''far'' away from me! Or better yet, stand over there! (pointing at the void of non-existance) Where you don't exist!
* TheRemnant: Queen Solaria's army was enchanted with a spell to make them stronger in order to fulfill her goal to destroy all monsters. However, this enchantment also suppressed any fear, foresight or conscience, which led to these super soldiers recklessly throwing themselves into deadly situations. [[spoiler:Mina]] is the last surviving member of the Solarian army, and she's determined to complete their mission.
* {{Retool}}: Season 3 ditches the school setting and shifts the action from Earth to Mewni.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Lots of them. Just watch the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJKqtEa6DU8 initial ending theme]].
* RunningGag:
** Whenever [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses]] is brought up, it's always followed by lightning, said character who doesn't want to be sent there screaming, and a shot of them being "sucked" into said school with the gate closing behind them.
** Star accidentally giving Marco a makeover.
** Flying creatures spawned by Star swooping down and taking people.
** People, or a puppy, being sucked into black holes.
** A few episodes have their own gag which often is revealed to be a ChekhovsGun or ChekhovsSkill, such as [[spoiler:Marco's disgust of wet socks]].
** Marco having $650 on him for no apparent reason and using it to pay some unexpected charge. [[spoiler:Early in the series, he claims it's his emergency cash stash, which would make sense for him to restore it back to the original amount when he has the use it. It also turns out that $650 is the exact amount that he makes in monthly royalties from Princess Marco merchandise.]]
** Janna knowing all of Marco's secrets and stealing stuff from him.
* TheScapegoat: {{Implied|Trope}}. [[spoiler:In the end of the series, Star deems magic as evil and the cause of all the problems in the series. She states that using magic to solve problems only causes more problems, and the ones using it are all idiots who don't deserve the power they have, her own family included. It's better to not have it than let it be abused by the corrupt and stupid anymore. However, even though it's true that abuse of magic is one of the cause of problems, it's not the main cause. Rather, it was the racism between the Mewmans and Monsters and battle over the lands. It's implied that Star is just ignoring the complexity of the situation because she wants a quick solution to stop Mina, so she decides to destroy magic]].
* SchizoTech: Mewni has electronic vending machines but no light bulbs, water fountains, or bicycles.
* SecretRoom: There are a number of secret passageways and rooms in Butterfly Castle. While Star and Moon are aware of some of them, only Eclipsa knows all of them.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: [[spoiler:The Magical High Commission discards Meteora and replaces her with Festivia because of the ''potential'' danger of a half-monster getting access to magic. That said, Meteora only becomes a serious threat because of the Commission's actions in the first place and it's unknown how dangerous she would've become had she been raised normally.]]
* ShipTease: [[ShipTease/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil Has its own page]].
* ShockinglyExpensiveBill: Star receives a bill from Reflectacorp regarding the equipment she destroyed in "''he Pony Head Show'', worth a thousand pounds of gold.
* SickeninglySweethearts: The Diazes are seen portrayed as an extremely lovey-dovey couple. In ''Star and Marco's Guide to Mastering Every Dimension'', Star says that they can be usually be found cuddling on the couch. In the "#[=MarcoLIVE=] Animated Live Chat", Marco said in response to a fan, his parents were high school sweethearts and loved each other for a long time. These episodes show how the Diazes are lovey dovey:
** "Diaz Family Vacation": Rafael and Angie give each other bedroom eyes on the couch and Angie plays with Rafael's chest hair. In the Forest of Certain Death, Rafael comments on his wife's beauty. And while they were in the hot spring, they make kissy faces to each other.
** "Raid the Cave": As Star uses the All-Seeing Eye to find Glossaryck, Star has spotted them by surprise as they pop their legs up and they lean in to kiss.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Star and Jackie developed feelings for Marco because of his kindness. Star was attracted to bad boys and Jackie had interest in a boy from skate camp.
* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: Sabrina the cheerleader ends up in the hospital a couple times.
* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: The series started out as Level 3, with the only things in Season 1 carrying over into later episodes being; Star getting interdimensional scissors, Ms. Skullnick turning into a troll, and Toffee joining Ludo's army. From the Season 1 finale onward, the series jumped to Level 4, with several plot threads opened in Season 1 continuing into Seasons 2 and 3.
%% * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Heavily idealistic.
* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: Was originally in the silly side, but as of the first half-hour episode, the series began going back and forth, with dramatic and lore-heavy episodes being mixed in with random misadventures.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: [[spoiler:In "Escape from the Pie Folk", Star starts to sing a song her mom always sang, and Moon, who seems to have lost her memory, recognizes it.]]
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Ludo was usurped by the far more competent and dangerous Toffee, but seemingly managed to come back more dangerous than him thanks to a wand of his own [[spoiler:only for him to be Toffee's pawn the entire time and Toffee to reveal himself and prove way more dangerous with the Wand than Ludo was]]. After his defeat, there's no real BigBad for awhile until [[spoiler:Meteora]] is revealed [[spoiler:and shows herself to be even more powerful and dangerous than even Toffee]].
* SpoilerOpening: At the end of the title sequence, Ms. Skullnick appears as a troll.
* StalkingIsFunnyIfItIsFemaleAfterMale: Janna stalks, spies on, steals from, blackmails, invades the privacy, teases and flirts with Marco in nearly every episode she appears. His horror and discomfort is always played for laughs.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The principal, for no reason, informs everyone at a pep rally that the head cheerleader did ''not'' get that position because her father donated a bunch of money to the school.
* TakeThat:
-->'''Rafael Diaz''': For how much money these doctors charge you would think they'd be much better at their jobs.
* TeensAreShort: Sort of. Star and Marco are both 14, and while most of the adults are taller, quite a few are around the same size or slightly shorter than them.[[note]]It's also made pretty obvious that Star and Marco both nowhere near done growing. One episode shows a FutureBadass 30-year-old Marco who's quite tall, and Star being a virtual PaletteSwap of her mother as a teenager will also almost certainly get a good deal taller over the next few years.[[/note]] This is subverted with a few of the background characters at their school, who are teenagers and very tall.
* TigerVersusDragon:
** Marco and Jeremy have this antagonistic relationship. Marco is the dragon because he is the most rational, patient and logical to win fights. Jeremy is the tiger because he fights because of his ego and SpoiledBrat behavior which results in him being an aggressive fighter.
** When Star and Marco argue then they represent this. Alternatively, they represent this when fighting enemies. Star is the tiger because her magic is affected by her emotions and she tends to allow her emotions to affect her decisions. Examples include refusing to help an enemy because she believed that monsters were naturally evil and irredeemable, angrily believed that Marco saw her as helpless and in need of rescue from Tom despite Marco being ProperlyParanoid and finally [[spoiler:she tried to bury her feelings for Marco because she feared that she would ruin their friendship or ruin his relationship with Jackie]]. Marco is the dragon because he is the most rational and logical when making decisions but it has gotten him in trouble due to other dimensions having different laws and traditions. This is best shown in two episodes, when Star and Marco tried to save the bounce lounge Marco tried to tell her that she should accept the change to preserve her nostalgia however Star refused to listen and valiantly tried to save it. This is also shown when Marco and Star became babysitters for Buff Frog's children, Star disregarded the rules so that the children can have fun but Marco insisted that they follow Buff Frog's instructions. This dichotomy is primarily shown when the pair fight enemies as Marco uses his martial arts to win whereas Star uses devastating magical attacks to quickly win fights.
* TransformationSequence: The Battle For Mewni Episode 7 [[spoiler:Star has a sequence before turning into a yellow butterfly with six arms (similar to her mother's magical form) and vanquishing Toffee. This drains Star but saves everyone.]]
* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: [[spoiler:Marco and Star, Star have been harboring a crush since mid-Season 2 finally getting over it after the Battle for Mewni to which Marco starts being attracted towards her, but the implications of such are not on lost on her]].
* UnusualEuphemism: Star sometimes uses the phrase "Pegasus feathers".
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: It's pretty rare for anyone in the series to react to the display of magic, particularly not Star's extremely liberal usage of it. Only the school principal in the first episode displays any skepticism, and it gets dropped as soon as Star's father gives him a box of gold. Marco's parents have no reaction to the strange girl who summons puppies that shoot lasers from their eyes and adds an entire wing/tower onto their house. A guy who trails fire, has three eyes and arrives in front of the school in a carriage drawn by a skeleton horse draws no further comment from anyone other than a few girls remarking on [[{{Pun}} how hot]] he is. And Oskar complaining that the demon [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking parked his carriage in the handicapped space]].
* TheUpperCrass: The Johansen family that Star's father River was born into is a group of small nobles who live out in the wilderness, engage in savage capture-the-flag games, and apologize to people by handing out hunks of meat with "I'm sorry" engraved in them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V-Z]]
* VersusTitle: ''Star vs. the Forces of Evil''.
* VolcanicVeins: [[spoiler:Eclipsa has dark ones running up her arm, and Moon gets them as well after her DealWithTheDevil with her]].
* VomitDiscretionShot: During "Brittney's Party", Marco has been constantly holding back his sick. Once the bus crashes, Marco and Ludo take turns throwing up into a garbage can.
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: Kind of.
* WeSellEverything: Quest Buy stocks pretty much every item any trans-dimensional citizen could ever want. Good luck finding exactly what it is you're looking for, though.
* WhamLine:
** Season one's "Storm the Castle" even lampshades the nature of Toffee's statement.
---> '''[[KnightOfCerebus Toffee]]''': Do you think I'm like [[HarmlessVillain Ludo]]? I don't want your wand... ''destroy it''.\\
'''Star and Marco''': [[BigWhat WHAAAAAAAT]]?\\
'''Toffee''': SURPRISE!
** From the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqG4sCjqH54 Battle for Mewni trailer]]:
---> '''Moon''': [[spoiler:Eclipsa's alive... and I made a deal with her.]]
** In "Return to Mewni", when Moon objects to Star leaving the sanctuary to fight Toffee:
--->'''Moon''': Star, Stop!\\
'''Star''': ''Why?'' What happened to cool, warrior queen mom?\\
'''Moon''': I was never a cool, warrior queen Star. (tearing up) I was a happy-go-lucky girl like you and then [[spoiler:Toffee and his monsters killed my mother.]]
** Ever since Glossaryck came BackFromTheDead in "Rest in Pudding", he could only say one word; "Globgor". In the Season 3 finale "Conquer", we finally find out what it means:
--->[[spoiler:'''Glossaryck''': Eclipsa's Monster Love, Globgor! She's going off to be with him. I've been trying to tell you for ''months!'']]
** When Marco catches up with Star in "The Right Thing", he warns her that Mina is coming. Star tells them about how they just defeated Mina, referring to the destroyed armor above them:
---> '''Marco''': [[spoiler:Uh... That's not Mina.]]
** "Here to Help":
*** When Marco and Star are herding the piggoats.
---->'''Star''': [[spoiler:You know, I'm glad we're alone, together, because there's something I wanted to talk to you about. [[LoveConfession I remember what you said to me in the magic.]]]]
*** [[spoiler:We find out who is really behind the Solarian soldiers]].
---->[[spoiler:'''Star''': What do you mean “intended”? Are you... are you working for Mina?\\
'''Moon''': No. ''[[TheManBehindTheMan Mina’s working for me]]''.]]
** From "The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse":
--->'''Star''': [[spoiler:[[DoesNotLikeMagic I hate magic.]]]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Although the series has a strong sense of continuity, there are a few elements that are seemingly neglected. Marco's magic Dust Buster, for instance, is never brought up after Star found her replacement charger.
** Lobster Claws, one of Ludo's minions, only appeared in two episodes (and was the [[ADayInTheLimelight focus]] of the second) before vanishing from the series completely.
** The bulk of Ludo's minions are unaccounted for after "Storm the Castle", with only Buff Frog and Boo Fly showing up in Season 2.
** Alfonso and Ferguson for the bulk of Season 2. This is later lampshaded when Star addresses them by name, but only their arms waving over a crowd could be seen.
** Marco's Monster Arm is seeded in Season 1 as something that will return later, but never appears after it's debut episode save for a FreezeFrameBonus in "Storm the Castle".
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: PlayedForLaughs in "Page Turner". At the end, Star has read the forbidden chapter of her spellbook and [[spoiler:decided it's not for her. ''Marco'', however]], has gone insane with power:
-->'''Glossaryck''': [[ResetButton Luckily, there's a spell to fix that]].
* WomenAreWiser:
** Subverted with the main couple: Star is a GenkiGirl to Marco's StraightMan.
** Played straight with the Royal Couple: Queen Moon is TheStoic while King River is a BoisterousBruiser.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: "Mewnipendence Day" reveals that the [[spoiler:founders of Mewni invaded the monsters' home and slaughtered them. This makes you see Ludo and his minions as well as the citizens of Mewni in a whole new light.]]
* WrittenByTheWinners:
** If the implications in "Mewnipendance Day" are correct, the current inhabitants of Mewni are descended from colonists who [[spoiler:forcibly removed the comparatively weaker original inhabitants from the land in a "massacre" using the wand that would later become Star's, then claimed it was a self-defense fight in their history books. That these original inhabitants were monsters may be why the monsters of current day are so eager to get Star's wand.]]
** As Season 3 progresses, many facts come to light which suggest that [[spoiler:Queen Eclipsa, despite dealing in dark magic, may not be the cut-and-dry villain that she's been made out to be]].
* YouAllLookFamiliar: Quest Buy is staffed entirely by anthropomorphic sloths with identical voices.
[[/folder]]