#markelly

Now, this setup may not seem too different, but that's mostly cuz we haven't gotten into the romance, which is a big part as to why I believe the show could have been nicer with a slightly older cast. At around 18, romance could have been done in a more mature(?), serious(?) way. I feel like I have to explain, IF romantic relationships weren't such a BIG part of the plot I don't think I would have cared about the characters ages at all, but the show does have an abundance of romance, and it explores the topic in a way that feels somehow more mature than the characters should be. For example, I think The Owl House tackles young teen relationships better, they're awkward as hell, inexperienced, embarrassed, and again, romance is quite prevalent but it's very much fitting for the characters' age. In Star vs. if you moved everything into a college freshmen setting, said the characters are 19 and gave them the same romantic beats, oh, toxic ex with anger issues, oh, the cool girl next door crush, a lot of their actions would have still been believable. In TOH placing the cast's romances onto adults would have made you think that the whole cast suffers from anxiety or is immature, or just behaving in a weird, pathologically awkward way, which is PERFECT since romance is one thing that doesn't look the same at all ages.

Want more examples of things that would translate better with older characters? Marco moves to a different dimension after a year(eh) of knowing Star. If they were seniors in high school that would have been so perfect, instead of chasing a degree, a job, overall prestige on Earth, he goes to grow himself as a knight/diplomat(eh) on Mewni instead of applying to college, something that the Marco-before-Star probably wouldn't have done. Now that's CHARACTER GROWTH combined with sense (since he'd now be free after high school). Confessing to your best friend-crush at a house party? Becoming a nation's leader? Firmly positioning yourself against your own mother, the ex-queen, therefore having a very solid political stand as a key supporter of the new queen's (Eclipsa's) regime, same Eclipsa who is seen as a usurper, a criminal and against mewman kind? Having a break-up buddy (totally not a friend with benefits)? Yeah, I think these could've been done better with even slightly older leads, like 16. When you're a teen even a year makes a huge difference, trust.

Regardless, I like the show as is, I promise, I'm just having a field day imagining how it would've felt not watching the characters be at an age where their moms could very well be packing them lunchables for school. I find it just a little jarring that Star (a literal princess) was first dating Tom in what would be 7th grade (at 13 yo) if not when she was younger. I find it odd that later in the series these 14-15 year old kids are full on diplomats, holding pro-monster lobbying events. Okay, Moon's mom died when Moon was a kid, why did her daughter coincidentally also become queen for a while at 14? What's wrong with your bloodline? Mostly, the characters act weirdly mature sometimes and painfully childish other times, but not in a realistic way for a teenager who would be smart enough to do well here but dumb/anxious enough to take ages to fix their problems there. The keyword is inconsistency. I believe that's due to the writers wanting more mature themes and storylines, but being unable to fully make the 14 year olds to behave solely in a grown-up way (because that would have made everything even more unrealistic), so now they all seem... off.

I mostly really like the idea of them being at the end of highschool in season 1 because it feels like a natural progression that ties reality with fantasy really well. Kids could watch the show and see how life moves on from getting an education (aka maturing) to putting stuff in practice (existing as a grown person in the world). Going to school is part of growing up, and seeing the characters finish that phase and transition to the the next one would have been so awesome, what comes after highschool? College? No! Fulfilling your destiny!

Instead, it seems like these teenagers aren't getting a formal education, and especially for Marco and Tom it seems like their parents are kind of just letting their 14-15 year old kids do whatever, fight wars, hang out with possible dictators/genocidal magical leaders, usurping leaders etc.

Again, there's shows that do what Star vs tries to do, and do it well, like Avatar the last air bender and Steven Universe. They make it believable that the 12-13-16 year olds actually behave the way we see on screen, meanwhile SOME, not all, but some, of the things in svtfoe look more plausible in a different context.