Jaby Koay and Lorena React to Bully Maguire Bullying Andrew Garfield and Blowing Up the Death Star

I sat down with Lorena to watch two of the internet's favorite Bully Maguire meme clips from Matan Animation Studios, and my verdict is that both are impressively made, though for different reasons.

Before we got into the clips, I mentioned that Lorena has an actual Marvel Cinematic Universe credit of her own, having worked as a stunt double on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I didn't say exactly who she doubled on camera, but I pointed out it's listed on IMDB under her top stunt credit if anyone wants to look it up.

Bully Maguire Bullying Andrew Garfield Was Lorena's First Time Seeing the Meme

This was Lorena's first exposure to a Bully Maguire video, so I explained the whole premise to her on the spot: it's a meme built around Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man getting inserted into scenes to be mean to people, which undercuts whatever drama was originally happening. Once the Andrew Garfield clip started rolling, Lorena admitted, "oh no my brother's actually shown me some of these," so it turned out she wasn't a total newcomer to the format after all. Watching the actual insert of Tobey Maguire into the scene, my reaction was straightforward: "that was actually a really good insert of toby mcguire that was fantastic."

The Death Star Clip Impressed Me More on a Technical Level

We also watched the second clip, Bully Maguire Blows Up the Death Star, where Tobey Maguire is inserted in place of Luke Skywalker. I brought up that I've seen other Bully Maguire edits that looked "low rent and janky," but this one actually worked. I was especially struck by how well the tracking held up with the moving X-wing, even with the wind blowing in the shot, saying it felt like he was genuinely part of the scene rather than pasted in. I credited part of that to both films being shot on film, which let the color match in a way that other mashup clips often don't manage. At one point I just said, "why is this so good why how many people worked on this."

Lorena and I Disagreed on Which Clip Was Funnier

Where we split was on which edit actually landed better as a joke. I said the Garfield clip was funnier to me specifically because of the sheer disrespect of the moment being undercut. Lorena preferred the Death Star clip because Bully Maguire actually felt like he was interacting with and talking to the other characters, whereas in the Garfield clip he felt separate from the scene rather than part of it.

I also pointed out I was glad this came from an actual animation studio and not just one person working alone, and noted the views gap between the two, with the Garfield clip nearing a million views against 420,000 for the Death Star one, joking that the second one deserves more.

Which Bully Maguire clip do you think lands the better joke, the Andrew Garfield bullying or the Death Star Star Wars mashup?