#AND SERIOUSLY WAS THAT ECLIPSA SEALED IN CRYSTAL

[fordarkisthesuede]

Star Watch - Crystal Clear & The Hard Way

If you’re wondering why I’m late to the party with these, there’s an easy answer:  being an adult really sucks sometimes. I have to juggle a job, every-day things like hygiene/food intake/chores, and all my fandoms with what my brain has the energy or mood for, while knowing I only have so much time in the day to do these things. Do I feel like continuing my Yu Yu Hakusho marathon today, or do I want to watch something new? Do I want to browse the web after watching a 10-minute Star Vs episode, or do I want to plop down and not have to move for the entire time it takes me to watch an episode or two of Buffy before I have to go to bed so I can get up for work? 

Also, I don’t have cable, so I depend on people uploading new episodes. Usually I don’t have the opportunity to see them until a whole day later. To put it simply, it sucks.

Crystal Clear:

I have no idea what happens in this one because I managed to avoid every single spoiler for it! Horray!

[one episode-viewing later]

Uh. Ok. I see why a lot of people didn’t like this very much. And why people didn’t bother unleashing spoilers.

This episode was sort of slow, especially considering the Big Reveal was that “oh hey the big magic problem we’ve been having is getting worse, here’s the giant swirling green mass of magic to prove it”. Like we didn't already know it was going to be a continuing problem from earlier this season. It did have its humorous moments, though, so it’s worth re-watching again later on, maybe post-season. Still, here’s the highlight reel of the important bits:

1) I love Old Goat-Demon Man, aka Chancellor Lekmet. Yes, of course that’s important! He’s precious! 

I mean look at that face!! He’s adorable!!!

And he has GREAT reaction faces!!!

Ha ha, that’s one for the scrapbook!

2) Crystal Guy is entertaining, especially his relationship with Old Goat-Demon Man. I’m sort of glad they fleshed out his character more, even if it does show off a terrible flaw. I mean, really, man??? You just go with your GUT for who’s evil?! 

He really takes care of the Chancellor, though. :)

3) WAS THAT ECLIPSA??? UP THERE??? IN THE CORNER OF THE SHOT OF CRYSTALLIZED PEOPLE?????? 

IT IS. THAT’S HER. OR A REALLY REALLY GOOD COSPLAYER. 

#FreeEclipsa2017

4) Now we know where Glossaryk got his head-crystal from! And he still wears it! 

5) Glossaryk is apparently the most powerful magic being in the universe. 

6) Star got a crystal of her own! That….houses a potentially evil person inside… 

That’ll probably come back later. I’m looking forward to that.

Overall - 6/10. Slow moving, but it had some good moments and a bit of character reveals. (And…Eclipsa…encased in crystal…?!) Also, it was just plain charming to see Star and Crystal Man Rhombulus have tea and chit-chat together:

That’s just darling.

The Hard Way:

This is a Ludo episode! I’ve grown really attached to the little guy over the course of the season, if you couldn’t tell. He’s grown a lot, and I LOVED “Ludo In The Wild”, so I’m hoping for more character development, humor, and insightful talk of the Queen of my heart Darkness, Eclipsa! We don’t even know what Eclipsa’s voice is like, let alone seen her in any other way but a badass portrait with her handsome monster!husband, but I consider her a favorite character already. Y’know, if you didn’t already guess that from my other Star Watch posts.

Either way, our little birb Ludo is going to learn some magic today! Try hard, Ludo! (･ω´-ゞ)^☆

Sweet castle, bro. I wonder how old it is...?

I really like how Ludo actively wants to work hard to get what he wants (even if he does say he doesn’t really know what he wants later). That’s serious character development! :3c (I saw someone mention that he’s definitely  a masochist now due to this scene; yeah i could buy that tbh but let’s not delve into that corner when clearly he just wants to earn his power here ok)

Tell me you could say no to that face. Go on.

Also, we learn that Ludo’s one out of fifty kids and had no attention from individual parents. In his words, everything he’s learned “[he’s] learned dirty” and he wants guidance. That explains partly why he listens to the wand’s every direction, rather than doing things his own way like Star. Of course, his lack of imagination also explains it, but there you go.

I like how Glossaryk just goes ahead and starts teaching him from the top. He does truly act as Ludo’s guide to magic, rather than rejecting him outright or getting him to make a fool of himself instead. Glossaryk works the definition of True Neutral.

But actually, it’s interesting that it took Ludo a couple of tries to get a basic spell correct when he easily zaps the apple into smithereens just by getting mad. He’s clearly got power in there, he just doesn’t know how to control it all. I’m not surprised Ludo managed to learn a spell that Star couldn’t follow the directions for, though. Star’s amazing at inventing her own stuff, and she’s clearly powerful, but she’s terrible at following orders and thinking in any other way but her own.

Look at that boy’s self esteem rise!!! ;w; Yes, I am proud of you!!!

Good lord, all Ludo wants is validation and affection. He treats Glossaryk as a mentor/parental figure, wanting to genuinely make him proud and receive affection for doing a good job. Ugh, what’s this horrible pain in my heart looking at this little twerp being so happy about it owwwww sendhelp

Uh, anyway, I also like how Glossaryk just continues to work the affectionate-mentor role. Even if he’s reluctant about the “affection” part, he still does it. Whether it’s for his own gain or if he’s compelled to follow the book-holder’s instructions is up in the air for the moment.

Someone please give the affection-starved scaly bird boy a hug!! (;_;)

Aaand now I gotta address what everybody and their grandmother’s talking about: Toffee’s in the wand and has been giving Ludo instructions all along.

I’m honestly not surprised about that part. It was either going to be Toffee or Eclipsa (even if she’s stuck in crystal, she can potentially astro-project ok). Admittedly, I preferred thinking it was Eclipsa, because with her sympathy and love for monsters it would make sense to have her guide Ludo. Toffee makes sense too, but we know his end goal is pretty much improving the world for monsters by collapsing Mewni’s social barriers, by either violent or non-violent means, and as we’ve seen him use simple care and gentle instruction to get people to do what he wants and side with him, he comes off as the more manipulative one. Despite having the same end goal and methods, the big difference between them is that Eclipsa would be more likely to not want to put Ludo in complete mortal danger; Toffee is the sort of person that doesn’t mind sacrificing things, be it his body or someone else’s, whether it’s for the greater good or not.

On that note: TOFFEE GET THE FUCK OUT OF LUDO’S BODY THIS INSTANT YOU RIDICULOUS BIPEDAL LIZARD! DON’T MAKE ME PUNCH IT OUT YOU MANIPULATIVE PIECE OF SHIT!!!

What’s so sad about all of it is that Ludo treats the wand’s voice (Toffee) like a friend. He follows it’s advice to the tee, sure, but he takes care of it and talks to it like it’s a person. He doesn’t even know it’s really Toffee in there. Toffee is literally just using him as a means to an end...again.

But on another note, there was definitely something SUPER fascinating about Toffee instantly being able to possess Ludo. Considering Toffee’s immortality, I think he really is Eclipsa’s son. (Or grandson!) To be able to channel her kind of “tainted” magic so quickly might mean that they’re blood-related.

Though admittedly, even Marco, a non-magical person, was able to channel it after a while. I suppose the best way I can explain it is that the more weak-willed you are, the easier you are to taint. Star’s pretty independent, so of course it didn’t affect her; Marco’s less so, so eventually he succumbed (we don’t know the exact time-frame); and we now know Ludo legitimately wants and needs guidance through things, so he’s a much easier target. It doesn’t exactly explain how Toffee possessed Ludo, considering Marco didn’t get possessed by Star’s wand, but there are some mysteries that take time to solve, of course.

And naturally, the exchange between Toffee and Glossaryk is VERY interesting:

Toffee:  “Time to give it up old man. You’ll never get him on your side.”

Glossaryk:  “But I don’t have a side.”

Again, Glossaryk is showing his True Neutral colors. Considering he taught Queen Eclipsa, it’s no surprise he’s okay with monsters, and through this simple expression he seems okay with the idea of monsters living side-by-side with Mewni rather than being very repressed social outcasts. He’s not for the absolute rule by Mewni folk, and he’s not for the absolute rule by Monsters. He seems to really just want to teach his magical skills to whoever gets the book. Of course, considering he’s the most powerful magic-user in the whole universe, if he really didn’t like something he could put a stop to it.

Verdict - easy 10/10. Definite one for a rewatch in terms of humor and character development (despite the lack of Eclipsa talk), so I rank it high! I doubt the possession is permanent, so this probably isn’t the last time we see Ludo, let alone Toffee-possessed!Ludo. I REALLY hope we get more Ludo-Glossaryk interactions. Ludo might not have Star’s powerful imaginative magic, but he’s still got skills and an eagerness to learn (even if he does get one-tracked).