This is a place where I can talk about the amazing show Steven Universe. It's probably best to assume this whole blog is one giant spoiler. If you enjoy talking or reading about Steven Universe then you may like it here.
Some extra food for thought: Perhaps the reason Stevonnie's dream of pink is so different from Steven's other sleepy time mental connections is because Stevonnie is a fusion. We know that fusions often have different iterations of abilities their components possess. For example, compare Garnet's future vision with Sapphire's.
that’s true, i remember rebecca or ian commented on the fact that being a fusion, stevonnie’s dream is also a fusion of their thoughts and experiences…
but the key question is a different one altogether: where is the diamond stuff coming from? we’ve all accepted that this is based on real events… but how is it “reaching” steven?
this dream operated outside the usual limit on his magic, which is as follows: he’s experiencing a connection with someone he knows / someone is experiencing a strong emotion and it “reaches” him.
with every other “mind connection” dream, in other words, there has to be a mind for him to latch on to. he’s not a sapphire, he can’t just “see” the future or past. in this case… that’s pink diamond. he wandered into the mind / memories of a “dead” person. right after questioning whether he’s been here before.
that should be enough to set off about a million red flags.
I think it’s more than just a combination of Steven and Connie’s thoughts: (also I would imagine Stevonnie’s thoughts also factor in, since Stevonnie is their own discrete entity) I think that Stevonnie’s power follows different rules from Steven’s. Based on what we understand of fusion it makes sense to me that Stevonnie’s powers have limitations. If Steven and Connie were unfused on the jungle moon, I don’t think he would have had that dream episode.
All that being said, you’re one hundred percent right that a more compelling question is “What did Stevonnie’s power latch on to to evoke that particular dream?”.
It could be a form of dream based psychometry, for example, but they weren’t yet upstairs in the command room where the dream took place. If it is some sort of tapping of past life memory stuff, that raises both a lot of interesting questions as well as a lot of interesting possibilities. I find the same to be true of Rose Diamond in general; it challenges a lot of what we understand to be true about gems which of course leads to questions and possibilities.
Everyone is posting their theories on who shattered Pink Diamond. I’ve seen it going every direction: Yellow Diamond did it; White Diamond did it; Pearl did it. And while I’m a big believer that Pearl was, at the VERY least, involved in her shattering, I also have an alternate theory.
Consistently, whenever Pink Diamond’s demise has been mentioned–in her presence–Pearl has always shown great distress. At first I assumed it was grief; if you subscribe the the theory that Pearl belonged to Pink Diamond, it might be caused by any residual feelings she might have about her Diamond. Perhaps it has been because the act has ruined Rose’s name or because of how Steven found out.
We don’t know why, but Pearl has always shown great duress whenever Pink Diamond’s shattering is brought up.
The Crystal Gem rebellion was only as successful as it was in great part due to Rose’s healing abilities. So long as they weren’t shattered, she could bring her comrades back from mortal injury with her tears. It’s very likely that, particularly during the early stages of the rebellion, that their chances were dismally low.
Lots of people have pointed out that only a diamond can break a diamond, which has been one of the big reasons why people believe Pink was shattered by another diamond. The only problem is why? We’ve seen that Yellow, though she manages her grief well, is still very torn up by the loss of Pink Diamond.
Though she was hasty in The Trial and most of her actions could easily be perceived as an attempt to cover up her own part in the shattering of Pink Diamond, Yellow has never been a patient gem. She is quick to anger and though she may keep a calm facade, she has always been quick to lash out.
In Message Received, even when Peridot is still obeying respectful protocols, when she tries to convince Yellow to abort the Cluster and preserve the Earth she lays into Peridot.
This is before Peridot outright disobeys her orders and calls her diamond a clod. She probably would have given Peridot the same treatment she gave the Zircons if she had been physically present. I really don’t believe Yellow had anything to do with what happened to Pink Diamond.
A lot of people have been concerned by White Diamond’s failure to appear at the trial of the gem who was believed to have killed Pink Diamond. It is very suspicious, especially since we know nothing of White Diamond. We only have the very barest of ideas of what she looks like because of the murals on the moon base.
We of course see something of her likeness on Homeworld.
Blue Zircon mentioned during The Trial that Rose Quartz had already been an established threat for a few hundred years. This means that Pink Diamond wasn’t shattered until a few hundred years after the start of the rebellion.
What if the Crystal Gems were losing the war? What if they needed something to turn the tide in their favor? What if they could get their hands on a bargaining chip? In the early stages of the rebellion, there likely weren’t many gems on Rose’s side. It seems possible that, even during the events of The Answer, that Rose and Pearl were the only rebel gems. After all, if they wanted to wage an assault against Blue Diamond and her court, wouldn’t they want to bring more than two gems?
What if they knew they didn’t stand a chance? So they wanted to level the playing field. If only a diamond can shatter a diamond, it’s unlikely that Rose or Pearl would have been able to deal the killing blow. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t destroy a diamond’s physical form.
What if Pearl and/or Rose managed to destroy Pink Diamond’s physical form and took her gem? What if they brought her gem to the diamonds and turned the war into a hostage negotiation? Pink Diamond could be safely returned but only if Homeworld abandoned the Earth. This doesn’t seem like too desperate a tactic, especially if there are only two gems standing against the might of their planet.
What if they tried to bargain with White Diamond? A diamond’s life for a single planet seems like a fair trade. But what if White Diamond wasn’t willing to negotiate. What if White Diamond forsake Pink Diamond, shattering her when her gem was put up for ransom?
After all, we’ve seen a mural depicting a gem of a very great visual similarity to White once before. A mural illustrating Rose Quartz standing before White Diamond, holding something very pink and diamond-shaped between them. All while White Diamond lashes out.
Maybe the reason Pearl gets upset at the mention of Pink Diamond is because they never meant to shatter her; but it was because of their actions that she was shattered at all.
The amethysts and jaspers from the kindergartens were sympathetic to the CGs (or at least apathetic to HW). Do you think this will be important going forward or simply provide insight on the background of Amethyst?
Thanks for the ask Halide, and what an interesting one it is!I’m going to ramble a bit about some of my background thoughts before I get tothe question: So these guys are representative of gems from both the Primekindergarten (the Amethysts) and the Beta kindergarten (the Jaspers andCarnelian) and that means they had to have fought in the war. The Amethysts,potentially, had some time on Earth before the fighting started, but I can’timagine it was very much, and the Beta kids were literally born into the war.So their early lives would have been spent fighting the CGs and probably beingloaded up with anti-CG rhetoric, but if you think about it, that’s gotta beonly a small fraction of their lives, compared to the over 5000 years they’velived since the war, most of which was probably at the zoo. This means they’velived the majority of their lives exposed to the post war HW culture, whichdoesn’t seem very kindly disposed to Earth, and they’re looked down upon byassociation. How must that make them feel? They’re born to fight, they foughtin defense of HW against the rebels, but instead of being treated like honoredveterans, they’re crammed on to a space station and subjected to abuse andderision by Holly Blue. So what’s going to have a greater influence on theirpersonality do you think? The decades spent fighting the CGs, or the millennia ofneglect and derision at the hands of HW?
Coming around to your question, they were absolutely importantto the ‘finale’ of this leg of Amethyst’s character development arc and theirbehavior towards her isn’t surprising in the slightest. We know gems are supersocial, and even predisposed to forming social bonds with similar gems. This isextra important for gems that would be expected to work in teams, and ifsoldiering is anything, it’s a team activity. We see it in the Rubies, and thebehavior of the quartzes at the zoo only reinforces this notion.
Now will this they be important in the future? I think so!While I’m not sure how the finale of the show is going to look, I’m certainresolution of the conflict with HW is going to be a major part of it, and allsigns are pointing to that being a diplomatic one. That’s certainly Steven’sMO, but you even get hints of it from other places, such as Peridot’ssymbiotic, as opposed to parasitic, plan for how Earth and gems could coexist. Havingallies in a conflict is always a good thing. Having more evidence of HW gems willing to be non-confrontational, andeven supportive of the CGs, especially gems that were old enough to experiencethe war, is also a great thing. What makes the Zoo quartzes so special thoughis this: they’re the first example we’ve seen in the show of a diplomaticconnection between HW gems and CGs that wasn’t initiated by Steven. Peridot and Lapis are where they’re atbecause of the compassion and efforts of Steven, not the other gems. These guysthough, they were 100% courted by Amethyst and that’s huge. You know what else issignificant about these guys? They’re the only other gems in the universe whohave experience coexisting with humans. Sure it’s not the most equitablerelationship, and yeah, these humans are very far removed from the earth ones,but its still a connection that no other gems have. Even more telling, whendispatched to quell the ‘riot’ it’s not all punch now and ask questions later.They’re trying to calm and de-escalate the distraught humans, not pummel theminto submission, even the though latter technique is certainly the one HollyBlue would employ. So yeah, I’ll thinkthey’ll be important moving forward, because they’re important from the HWcultural angle, they’re important from the CG diplomacy angle, and they’reimportant from the coexist with humans angle.
An odd thing I've noticed is a lot of people suddenly claiming that the way Lapis is written is inconsistent and doesn't really have a defined character, and I was wondering, why do you think people feel this way? Is it just looking at the surface of her character, or could there be valid arguments from them?
I feel like my reaction to this has two sides here, and one of them is kinda bitter so bear with me
Side 1: the legitimate
Lapis is a multifaceted character and in some ways a misleading one. At her most bitter, hurt, and vindictive, she still spent the day making fart jokes with Steven. The thing about Lapis is that she’s both a very good actor, and in some ways, her emotions tend to surge and move very rapidly. If she’s in a good mood, that shows, and she comes across light and approachable and amiable for the most part.
If she’s in a bad mood, then she comes across a bit like a fairytale witch who has arrived to curse your newborn and burn your castle down.
This is part of why I see a parallel between Lapis and Ruby- it’s that sense of very fast-moving emotions that tend to vent without too much in the way of a filter. If Lapis is trying to play subterfuge, her response is to more or less package off and try to avoid the entire feeling- better yet, just don’t bring the thing up at all, or acknowledge it even when it’s what everyone around you is talking about.
So yeah, it can be hard to get a single decisive read on Lapis because she’s someone who has a lot of feelings and they can shift very suddenly (see, Lapis in Mirror Gem, where she goes from “you actually talked to me! You helped me! :D” to practically chanting about ancient sins and ready to personally destroy the Crystal Gems in less than five seconds)
Side 2: buckle your pants, kids, because Clockie’s here and I’ve been bitter about this about as long as I’ve been in this fandom
In regards to comments about Lapis being inconsistent, some food for thought:
There are a lot of people who write and board for the show and for characters who don’t get a lot of screen time different hands being at the wheel, so to speak, might become more apparent than for characters who get more screen time.
There’s a post on Lauren Zuke’s tumblr where she talks about the bias she brings to the characters when she writes them, and where other writes may not do the same. I’m suggesting that detection of this bias by the audience can be a factor in how consistently a character is written.
Lapis has only appeared in 14 episodes out of the 119 that have aired as of this posting, that’s only 11%. I went through and checked who wrote/boarded her episodes and here’s what I’ve discovered:
Combat heavy episodes are all W/B by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu (Ocean Gem, Jailbreak [with Rebecca Sugar], Super Watermelon Island).
Silly/lighthearted episodes are all W/B by Raven Molisee, Paul Villeco (Mirror Gem, New Crystal Gems), Lauren Zuke and Hillary Florido (Barn Mates) and all four for Gem Harvest.
Our serious/exposition episodes are split: Same Old World is W/B Lamar Abrams and Katie Mitroff. Alone at Sea is Hillary Florido (one of the ‘silly’ writes) Katie Mitroff (one of the “serious” writers) and Rebecca Sugar. Chille Tid, though light on Lapis does reflect on more serious aspects of her character, is written by Lamar Abrams (serious) and Lauren Zuke(silly).
That leaves us with four episodes left: The Message; low on Lapis but we do have Lamar Abrams again (along with Hellen Jo, who hasn’t worked on any other Lapis episodes). The Return; also low on Lapis, but interestingly, for this data, written by Raven Molisee and Paul Vlilleco. Back to the Moon, low on Lapis, is Lamar and Katie. And finally, Hit the Diamond, again, low on Lapis, and written by the combat duo of Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu.
Now doe this mean she isn’t the complicated, multifaceted character that Clockie is suggesting? Absolutely not, I one hundred percent agree with Clockie here. All I’m saying is that it appears as if certain types of lapis episodes are written by the same story teams, and the bias and style of those teams could be easier to detect because we see so little of Lapis comparatively.
I’ve been mulling this song over since I’d first heard it. For one, it confirms a lot of things about Homeworld and the Diamonds that I’ve been harping on for a while now. But this post isn’t a sermon about how to sympathise with the Diamonds better. I’m not too big a fan of that perspective. Rather, it’s the power that we receive when we empathise with them.
The thing about the Diamonds is that they’re all powerful, huge, and “human.” They err and have feelings, not necessarily in that order. So when they irrationally do something that hurts a lot of individuals and even entire planets, the answer isn’t to excuse them because “they’re sad.” The answer is to reach out to them in a way they understand so that they don’t do it again, and more appropriate to our context, make amends.
Because the two very polar sides of “forgive” and “punish” aren’t constructive. To side with either doesn’t do justice to the people and gems who’ve already been lost or still are losing. It doesn’t make things better for anyone.
This post will analyse the perspective Homeworld has of Earth and human beings. At the same time, the song reveals a lot about how gems view themselves and one another. I’ll round it up with how PD’s death impacted both Blue and Yellow Diamond and how their respective coping strategies led to the way things are now. And I’ll speculate on the immediate future of Earth in that regard.
So let’s get to it!
1. The song implies a falling-out among the Diamonds before PD’s shattering
Why would you want to be here? What do you ever see here
That doesn’t make you feel worse than you do? And tell me, what’s the use of feeling, Blue?
When the Steven Bomb opens in Steven’s Dream, we get a rare moment of hearing Blue’s thoughts. Bent over PD’s palanquin, she expresses deep regret. She says, “If only I had done more.”
We know that Blue is sad over PD’s death. And we know from the first verse that visiting anything related to PD makes both surviving Diamonds uncomfortable. But we can find, within the lyrics, something specific about why instead of just sad, regret is interspersed in their mourning of PD.
In sharp contrast to Blue’s lament of wanting to do more, later on in the song, YD says, “Now there’s nothing we can do.” That implies at one point in time, the Diamonds were in a position to do something that could have prevented PD’s shattering. And they didn’t do it.
I want to bring back one of my older posts regarding the circumstances of PD’s shattering. In it, I mention that there’s been some sort of historical scrubbing of PD’s memory from Homeworld, such that only older gems are aware of her or feel any affinity for her. The Great Diamond Authority Logo, colour schemes, and even gem factions show no sign of PD’s ever existing, when this wasn’t the case for older structures on Earth.
But in a slightly contradictory manner, we know the truth to be the opposite. The Diamonds didn’t take PD out of Homeworld’s memory because of the fight. Rather, they erased her because it hurt them personally to be reminded of her existence.
When we look at the circumstances of their argument, there are a few theories I can posit. The main one being this: PD had an unconventional relationship with her Earth gems. I say this because now we have two Homeworld “subordinates” as examples in contrast.
I brought up before that Jasper felt a deep personal affinity for PD. And this may be even without having met her personally, even with the possibility of her being created after PD was shattered. On the other hand, Peridot and Holly Blue talk about their Diamonds with a sense of detachment. There is a great divide that Peridot puts between herself and YD. YD is perfect; she is not. YD is the most objective; that is what she aims to be. YD is a great decider; she was there to reaffirm the logic of the former’s decisions.
It’s much the same for Holly Blue. BD decides to maintain the zoo; she is grateful for the opportunity to serve. BD is arriving; she wants to assure a pleasant visit for her.
In both these cases the gems don’t feel like they’re coerced into serving their Diamonds. They openly acknowledge that because their Diamonds are superior in different (and at times all) aspects, they’re worth following. It’s very similar to idolising someone and hoping they’d mentor you, or even that you could contribute to their cause in some way. This cause being the betterment of Homeworld.
Hello readers. Now that the first two eps of the bomb have aired, I can finally talk about the thing that’s been on my mind the most since watching these episodes: Palanquins. There’s a pretty big incongruity that’s been gnawing at my mind and I’d like to share it with you all: Buddy drew a picture of Blue’s Palanquin in his journal, and Steven found Pink’s, instead of Blue’s, using that same journal. We’ll explore this more in depth after the cut!
So let’s talk facts: In Buddy’s Book we see a drawing of a broken palanquin on a hill with hibiscus flowers. Having seen The Answer we are able to identify it as BD’s palanquin. Steven has a dream where he sees a broken palanquin on a hill with hibiscus blowers, but wait, this one is pink! Well, Buddy’s book isn’t in color, so maybe what he saw was Pink’s palanquin.
I contend that this is not the case. If we look at the piercework designs on the sides of the palanquin, the decoration on top of the palanquin, and the draperies, Buddy clearly drew BD’s palanquin. Yet when Steven uses Buddy’s journal to find the palanquin that Buddy drew, he finds Pink’s, not Blue’s. Steven and Greg do not travel via warp, they fly to Korea and travel over land using Buddy’s journal as a guide. So why did they find a Pink one instead of a Blue one? Further complicating the matter, of course, is that Blue is seen with a fully functional palanquin, though it’s not too much of a stretch to think that she could have had a new one made sometime in the past 5000 years or so.
The plot thickens further: When they get to the site, they find a chain link fence with a keep out sign and a smaller sign that says “please.” Just like the one that used to be around the Temple. Greg even comments that this feels familiar, so we’re meant to assume that the CGs have been to this site and fenced it off to keep humans away. Now it’s a chain link fence and a modern sign. Buddy’s time, based on his clothes, was likely sometime in the 1500-1800s. That means the CGs went to the site after Buddy had been there to put up that fence.
So let’s talk about the CGs knowledge of the palanquins:
Amethyst: Clearly knows nothing. We have no reason to believe she’d lie to Steven about it. This also means she didn’t go with the CGs when they put up the fence.
Garnet: My guess is that she does know what is there, but it’s possible she might not have. She claims the reason she doesn’t want Steven to go is because she knows Blue will be there, and that her future vision shows that if she goes, Blue will get the rest of the gems. She’s also terrified of Blue. I have no reason to think she’s lying. I think she’s less concerned about Steven learning about the palanquins and more concerned about Steven running into Blue. She is worried enough that she’s willing to try to leverage Pearl’s distress in an attempt to manipulate Steven into dropping the issue.
Pearl: As always, Pearl is the most mysterious one. Steven shows her the picture of Blue’s palanquin, she obviously recognizes it and then immediately lies to Steven about it. Steven pushes the issue, Pearl becomes visibly upset, and then Garnet intervenes. But why doesn’t Pearl want Steven to go? Why is Pearl upset? She doesn’t know Blue is going to be there, she’s just as surprised as everyone else when Garnet and Steven get back and reveal what happened. So there has to be something at the site she’s not comfortable with Steven seeing.
So let’s summarize the weirdness: We’ve been led to believe that Buddy is thorough and meticulous. It seems strange that he’d go to the site in Korea and only document one palanquin if both Blue and Pink’s were there. Yet, Steven, using Buddy’s notes, find Pink’s and not Blue’s, despite Buddy clearly documenting the latter. This begs the question: Where is the broken Blue Palanquin?
Pearl has been to the site in relatively recent history, the past hundred years or so. She knows what’s there. She doesn’t want Steven to go. Steven does not describe the palanquin he sees in his dreams to any of the gems. Pearl is able to identify the site from Buddy’s picture/notes alone, which, as I noted before is a picture of Blue’s, not Pink’s. What is she expecting Steven to find that is so distressing? Why erect a fence to keep humans away?
I’m not sure what all of this means, but it has to be more than a continuity error, right? Am I crazy or is there more going on here than we’re aware of?
So Clockie over @radioactivesupersonic, a phenomenal individual whose thoughts are well worth your time, has issued a challenge that I felt intrigued enough to attempt: To paraphrase: “Can you conceive of a plausible ending for Steven Universe that involves the murder of the Diamonds and is supported by precedence in the show?” This interests me, not because I think resolution by death is the direction I think this show is going, but rather as a narrative exercise to see if it might even be reasonably conceivable. After spending the better part of two days thinking about it, my main conclusion is “As it stands, no not really.” I haven’t written it off, though, because I don’t think we have enough data yet, but that, in and of itself, I think, is a topic worth elaborating on, so please indulge me while I continue. It’s gonna be a long one, so you can find the rest after the cut:
I don’t think you need black and white or irredeemable/unequivocal evil for a conflict to resolve with the death of some of its participants, and frankly, we’re never going to get black and white or i/e evil on this show. Rebecca’s sentiments on the matter are quite clear and it’s not that sort of show. What that doesn’t preclude however, is stubbornness in the sense of a party who is unwilling to compromise their position or a party who, unlike Steven, is willing to kill for what they believe in. Conflict with such parties in this show is extremely rare, though. I can only think of three circumstances where Steven has encountered such an individual and was unable to resolve the conflict with compassion and/or reason: Bismuth, Eyeball, and Jasper. Now none of these conflicts are finished and that’s what I meant earlier when I said we lacked data. In all of these situations, Steven’s usual tactics have thus far been ineffective and he’s needed to resort to violence, and that really bothers him, as evidenced in Mindful Education. As of now, that violence has only delayed the resolution and thus far he hasn’t had an opportunity to have another attempt at non-violence to sort things out.
The show has gone to great lengths to show us that Steven is not Rose, so I don’t believe for a minute that he’s going to adopt her strategy of ignoring things you can’t handle and sweeping them under the rug. It’s not an acceptable solution, because nothing is resolved, and frankly, as far as gems are concerned, the only practical difference between being poofed and bubbled and being shattered is that the former is reversible. While that is a significant objective difference, from the perspective of the bubbled gem, it really only matters if they get out. It would appear that time, and very likely consciousness, ceases for a bubbled gem. In Steven the Sword Fighter, Pearl has no idea what’s happened while she was regenerating or how much time has passed. In Catch and Release, Peridot regenerates mid-sentence as if poofing her literally put her on pause. In Bismuth, Bismuth reforms in a fighting stance because the last thing she remembers is fighting Rose. If a gem is never given a chance to regenerate, if they’re locked in a bubble forever, then, as far as we’ve been shown, from the perspective of that gem, they’ve ceased to exist. It’s a way to “kill” someone that you can change your mind about after the fact, and, for the purposes of the show, that’s really quite clever as it allows for violent resolutions without permanent consequences.
As I said before, I don’t think Steven is the type to bubble and forget, we’re going to be seeing all of these gems again. Honestly I’m very excited to see what Steven will do (again, I’m not suggesting he’s going to murder anyone) if the other participants of these conflicts remain uncompromising and intractable. The reason for my excitement is that there is something else we really haven’t seen Steven do yet in this show, and that is fail. Generally speaking, Steven is always right, and in the rare circumstance that he makes a mistake, the consequences are minor or it’s something he learns a lesson from and can easily remedy. I very much would like to see what Steven would do in a circumstance where compassion and reason will not work. How will he proceed? How will he overcome a failure like that?
Each of the gems I’ve mentioned represent a different type of situation where Steven was at a loss and was unable to progress in a way that he found satisfactory, and to further complicate things, in all of these situations he’s dealing with the fallout of Rose’s transgressions, so its a problem he inherited, not one he started. I think how these conflicts are resolved is going to hugely inform the ultimate resolution of the narrative of the show, because, though a gross oversimplification, at the end of the day, the main conflict between Earth and HW is Rose’s fault, and its Steven’s role to fix that. Dealing with Bismuth, Jasper, and Eyeball is just a small scale version of dealing with HW and the Diamonds.
From what I currently know about the show, there is no way that the premeditated deaths of the Diamonds is going to be an acceptable resolution. If Steven kills Bismuth, Jasper, or Eyeball, maybe I’ll change my tune but right now I’ve got nothing to support it. Now, you will notice that I say “premeditated”. I think are two circumstances where death could happen, but we’d need the framework put in place for it not come off as ham-fisted or crappy storytelling:
The first is an accidental death. In the heat of the moment, in order to save his life, Steven cast Eyeball out into the vastness of space. Not a death sentence for a gem, but in Eyeball’s case I’d argue that’s a fate worse than death. Rubies are gregarious, communal gems. For Eyeball to be left floating around by herself for all eternity, that sounds particularly traumatic for a gem like her. And Steven absolutely regrets doing it, but at the time, it had to be done. It certainly wasn’t an accident or coincidence that Steven and Garnet had this conversation at the end of the episode:
Garnet We all did what we had to during the war. Everything's different now.
Steven But did mom really do it? Did she really shatter her?
Garnet She had to. The Earth belonged to Pink Diamond. Destroying her was the only way to save the planet. For Amethyst to be herself, for Pearl to be free, for me to be together. For you to exist.
Steven But I thought... A-at least she'd never...
Garnet She didn't always do what was best for her. But she always did what was best for Earth.
Steven Even if it meant shattering someone...
Garnet Yes.
Steven (Sighs) Thanks for telling me.
In the heat of the moment, under pressure, could Steven kill? I don’t know. With the Steven we have now, it doesn’t seem likely, and that’s why I said it would require careful storytelling and foundation building to make such a thing even plausible.
The other circumstance would be suicide/sacrifice. Now we don’t know enough about the Diamonds to know if “I’d rather die than live in this world.” or “In order for us to proceed, I need to give my life.” are even appropriate motivations for their characters, nor can I think of a reasonable scenario that would even bring us to that point, because there’s still too much in flux, and too much unknown to really say. There is more value here than in an accidental death story, but really only if the show wants to tackle the theme of “not everyone can be saved/not everyone wants to be saved.” It would be just as traumatic for Steven to fail to save a life as it would be for him to take one, but again, unless we have the narrative framework in place, then all it is a cheap shock; the infliction of pain to get a rise out of the audience.
In summation, if there’s any chance at violent resolution in the show’s arc, we haven’t seen evidence of it yet, but keep your eyes peeled for how things settle with Jasper, Bismuth, and Eyeball, cause if it’s going to show signs of it anywhere, I think that’s where it’s going to start.
so we know that Jasper popped out of her hole perfect. she is the Perfect Gem™. the biggest. the strongest. the toughest. the quartziest. even her hole is perfect.
and i realized, i know what that feels like.
i was a Smart Kid™. sure, i didn’t pop out of my hole perfect; i was also a Weird Kid™. but i was constantly told that i was smarter than other kids. that i was even a little bit better than other kids. i always heard “you’re too smart for the public schools!” “you’ve got the vocabulary of a kid twice your age!” “other kids don’t know as much as you.” “you shouldn’t correct people (but you are right).”
and i’d bet dollars to dolomite that that’s what Jasper heard too.
because Jasper, as we see her after Alone At Sea, is obsessed with strength. she’ll do anything to feel strong again.
beg back the gem who imprisoned her and tortured her? yup.
assemble an army of insane monsters? yup.
fuse with an insane monster just for more power? yup.
and that reminds me of things i’ve done. to me, this doesn’t look like a Jasper Is Obsessive thing. to me, this looks like someone who was constantly told they were good at something being confronted with a problem that they can’t solve.
Jasper couldn’t defeat the Crystal Gems, despite being the Perfect Gem™ (because her strength wasn’t the right kind of strength necessary to defeat them). i struggled since i hit my sophomore year of high school, despite being a Smart Kid™ (because my intelligence wasn’t the right kind of intelligence necessary to solve these problems). like hell i turned to external aids and used every underhanded trick i could in order to maintain my status as Smart. Jasper reminds me of myself, in that she is doing everything she can to maintain her status as Perfect.
i don’t think it’s just the Rubies who were so impressed with Jasper. i think all Homeworld was impressed with Jasper. “The Facet 9 Kindergarten Quartz That Could.” “popped out of the ground with her helmet on.” “took out eighty Crystal Gems before the sun went down.” that’s what she heard her entire life.
so Jasper couldn’t let anybody down. she had to be Perfect. and that’s why she did the things she did.
C’mon Crewniverse. Did you think we wouldn’t notice?
Right in the middle’s of Stevonnnie’s chest is a yellow diamond? And we handily get Jasper and Eyeball in the episode who have yellow diamonds in a similar location?
There’s no way they didn’t realize it when they drew and colored her. I mean, I do realize it’s just the top of Steven’s star peeking out over the top of Connie’s shirt. I don’t think it’s some sort of Homeworld spy or clue about true loyalty or anything like that. Still though, somebody deliberately added that detail and that logo is important in this show. I wonder what we’re supposed to make of it?
What would happen if you sang the full version of Rebecca Sugar’s “We are the Crystal Gems” into a voice to text program… and then sang the translated lyrics?
I’ve got a short, random thought for you today, dear readers: Something that gets brought up a lot in the Rose/Pink Diamond theorycraft is “How come Rose is so powerful? She’s way stronger than any other quartz we’ve seen.”
What do we definitely know about how gems are made? In “Too Short to Ride” we learn from Peridot that due to a resource crisis, Homeworld is making Era 2 gems weaker than the Era 1 gems (interesting aside, “Could Homeworld be lying about that? What if the real reason they’re making Era 2 gems weaker is because they fear another rebellion?”). So we know that a gem’s power level and capabilities can be dictated at manufacture.
We also know that if left to their own devices, gems that break free of their ‘role’ can develop new powers. Peridot’s metal powers are a perfect example. But we also have Pearl’s ability to summon a weapon and shoot lasers, Garnet’s ability to be a permanent Fusion, and possibly even Amethyst’s shapeshifting mastery. I mean, being able to live and grow is one of the major hallmark’s of the rebellion and a central theme of the show.
Knowing these things, it’s totally plausible that Rose was designed to be a cut (ha, pun intended and I do not apologize) above the rest or that she developed new abilities once she decided to break free of Homeworld. Or both. Just a thought. Thanks for reading!
Hello readers. I think in light of the season finale, it’s a good idea to talk some more about Pink Diamond. Garnet’s confirmation at the end of the episode was a tough pill for a lot of the fan base to swallow. Many of us were hurt. Many of us don’t want to believe it. Many of us are picking through the details we have, trying to figure out why it can’t be true (It’s out of character for Rose, How do you explain Rose’s power? Rose wasn’t really made on Earth, Why would the Diamonds take Pink out of the logo?, etc). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again right now, the Crewniverse has taught us to look deeper, to not take everything at face value, and it’s hard to trust something like this at first. But that got me wondering, at what point will we as a community be satisfied? If next episode Yellow Diamond herself shows up and says “I hate Rose Quartz and I hate the Earth because she killed my sister Pink Diamond.” Would we accept that? We know Rose is bad at confrontations and will often take the path of least resistance and not say anything instead of risking friction with those she’s closest to. If Rose was actually Pink, and she didn’t have it in her to confront her sisters, it’s totally within reason that she might fake her own death so she wouldn’t have to. Or maybe Yellow is speaking figuratively, the Pink Diamond she knew would never turn against Homeworld, this new identity, this Rose Quartz, that’s not the sister she knew, that sister is basically dead. Why not sell a story to make it true? I mean, those are both rational explanations that would cast doubt on the face value of hypothetical YD’s words. What if Pearl were to corroborate Garnet’s words? We could say, “Well, Rose lied to her closest friends about Bismuth, she never told them about Lion, she kept all sorts of secrets, is it so far fetched she’d lie about this too?”
So then I started thinking about in universe reasons about different ways this could play out. But to read about that, and more of my thoughts on this topic as it interacts with the story, you’ll have to check in after the cut. It’s a long post and I don’t want to monopolize your dahses.
Garnet believes it, as did, I suspect, all of the other CGs. Homeworld gems believe it. So in order for it to not be true, either Rose faked it, or the Diamonds faked it. If Rose and Pink are separate, then we have to consider whose side Pink was on, and that leaves us with three possibilities: if she was on Homeworld’s side, the CGs would certainly benefit from faking it, but there’s no way the Diamonds wouldn’t immediately disprove it, so that one can’t be true. If she was on the CGs side, what possible reason could they have for faking her death? Having a Diamond switch sides and fight with you would be a huugge boon to the Rebellion on a bunch of different levels, so that doesn’t make sense either. So that leaves us with Homeworld killing Pink and blaming the CGs for it because having a Diamond on the side of the CGs is too much of a detriment to Homeworld, both because of the power she possesses and the social influence PD could exert on the common gem. It’s a nightmare no matter how you slice it and it makes sense that removing her is the first thing Homeworld would do once it became established they couldn’t convince her to come back to the fold.
The other side of the coin, of course, is that Rose is Pink Diamond. Homeworld stands to benefit from fake her death for the reasons I mentioned above, but without actually killing her, it’d be very easy for Pink to expose the hoax, and as I suggested before, the advantages for having Pink on the side of the CGs is so strong, I don’t know why they wouldn’t. The alternative is that Rose chose to fake it despite the obvious advantages of having a Diamond on the side of the CGs. And while I’ve certainly considered a few possibilities to support why Rose would make that choice despite the obvious advantages of having a Diamond on the side of the CGs, that’s a rabbit hole I don’t think I’m prepared to jump down at this time.
Anyway, with all of this whirling around in my head, it occurred to me: we’re meant to see the show from Steven’s perspective. We’re meant to grow with him, learn things as he learns them, to take his journey with him. We don’t really get to see things he doesn’t personally experience. Every flashback, or alternate perspective, is another character recounting an experience or story to Steven. When the gems go on a mission and Steven stays home, we don’t get to see that. The only information we get is what they tell him when they get back. We’re learning about Homeworld, and Gemkind, and their collective history at the same pace as Steven.
Let’s look at the episode in question: At the end of “Back to the Moon” we see Steven and the Rubies sucked into space, and we open on “Bubbled” with Steven already in a bubble rapidly accelerating away from the moon. The whole episode is him in space with Eyeball, we don’t see anything going on from the Gem’s perspective. And when he’s rescued, we see that in first person to start. We’re literally experiencing it as Steven does. Steven was shocked when he heard his mother shattered PD. Steven couldn’t believe it, not after everything he knew about her, not after the conversation he had with Bismuth, not based on the values he holds dear. Does that sound familiar? That’s how a lot of us feel. We’re meant to feel the same shock and hurt as Steven does… in that regard it’s masterful storytelling. During “Back to the Moon” we all asked “Is it true? Was Eyeball mistaken or deceived? We wanted to ask someone. In “Bubbled” Steven asks the question we all wanted to “But did mom really do it? Did she really shatter her?” At this point, I’m wondering if we should take our cues from Steven on this one. If Steven continues to push the issue, to pull at the threads, to continue to doubt, then there could very well be more to this. But if Steven accepts it… does that mean we should to? From a storytelling perspective, what’s the value with a twist? What’s the value in surprising Steven, surprising us, with the revelation that Rose is Pink Diamond, or Rose never killed her. These sorts of meta, storytelling evaluations fascinate me, but I don’t know the answer to that question yet, and it’s something I’m going to be thinking about more. If you feel like it, let me know what you think, and as always, thanks for taking the time out of your day to read my words.
Hello readers. In light of recent episodes, I think it’s time to talk about Pink Diamond again. I’ve posted before about why, at the time, I did not think Rose was Pink Diamond. Has new information changed my view? No, I’m still in the Rose and PD are separate gems camp, but let’s talk about the new stuff:
Did Rose in fact shatter PD? By my reckoning, here are the versions of that conflict that I can rationalize based on what we know:
1. Rose and PD are not the same, are on opposite sides, and Rose killed PD just as Eyball and Jasper believe.
2. Rose and PD are not the same, are on the same side, and Homeworld killed PD and framed Rose.
3. Rose and PD are the same and Homeworld stages the whole thing.
4. Rose and PD are the same and the Crystal Gems stage the whole thing.
Option 1 is unsavory to a lot of folks because they don’t want Rose to be a killer, plus the evidence presented to us in Bismuth conflicts this reading (though I don’t by the CG rebellion to a be a pacifist one at all, so I’ve got my own questions about the CGS and lethal force that I won’t get into here). Additionally, the Crewniverse has sort of trained us to doubt the first thing we’re told and assume there is another layer, so I can see why a lot of the community is skeptical about this. Tactically and strategically, though, killing an adversarial PD does a lot of good for the CGs; they remove colonial leadership, they show they the Diamonds can be defeated, and they remove ¼ of the Diamond Authority.
Option 2 can work. If PD was on the CG’s side and could not be swayed with words to rejoin Homeworld (Blue was sent to earth to engage in a ‘diplomatic’ mission) I wouldn’t put it past Homeworld to kill her to both deny the CGs the power of a Diamond as well as maintaining the solidarity of the Diamond Authority to the common gem. Naturally, PD turning would demonstrate fallibility in the Diamonds, so better to frame Rose and vilify her further.
Option 3 is tough for me to swallow, because, based on other evidence I’ll get to in a moment, I don’t really see what Homeworld gains from this.
Option 4 provides a lot of the same advantages as option 1 while also allowing Rose to divest herself completely of her PD identity.
Sadly, we still don’t have enough data to determine which of these is true. We can’t infer much from Garnet and Pearl’s reactions in “Back to the Moon.” One Eyeball begins her narrative, Garnet looks concerned and the concern appears to be focused on Steven. Pearl is clearly upset, but we don’t know if she’s upset because of what Eyeball is saying or because of what Steven is saying.
Then there’s the big discrepancy that makes me question everything: The new Diamond Authority logo. Regardless of which option is correct, or if there’s another option I didn’t think of, we know for a fact that the story Homeworld wanted the common gem to know is that Rose killed PD and it was a tragedy. Whether it was real, or staged, Jasper and Eyeball both believe it to be true and I suspect that that view is held by most War era Homeworld gems. But if that’s the case, if Homeworld is telling everyone that Rose is a monster who killer her own diamond and how tragic that is; if they’re going to make a martyr of PD, why remove her from the logo? When Japser talks about how great the Diamond Authority is, the 4 diamond logo is shown. When Centipeedle shows Steven who used the weapon, only 3 diamonds are shown. We see the the 3 diamond logo on the floor of the ziggurat in “Serious Steven”. They didn’t wait until after the Rebellion was over to remove Pink, it clearly happened during the fighting. But why? It doesn’t add up and I don’t know what pieces we’re missing.
Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve raised more questions than I’ve answered. Hopefully, tonight’s episode will provide us with some more insight. Thanks for reading.
Wow! Another stellar set of episodes. While I may have been a bit underwhelmed by "Bismuth" (in short, Bismuth was a great episode, but I'm most excited to learn about Gem qualities and Homeworld history, so episodes that cover those things are more engaging to me. Bismuth was a great character defining, but didn't hit upon the topics I like most.)"Beta+Earthlings" was much more my cup of tea.
Once again, this will be a first impressions episode covering my reactions to the stuff we've learned.
1. I actually jumped out of my seat when Steven fused with Amethyst. That he can fuse with gems didn't really surprise me, but it was a great moment.
2. Jasper's corruption: I'm not sure what to make of this. My current belief is that all of the corrupted gems on earth are the result of the Diamond Authority's weapon. I used to think corruption could occur naturally, but gave up on that idea after Monster Reunion. But now we have Jasper corrupting. I want to say it's because she fused with a corrupted gem. If Fusion was an important weapon of the Rebellion, it seems reasonable that the DA's attack, in addition to rendering gems 'useless' by corrupting them, would make them dangerous to fuse with. So I'm thinking she started to corrupt as a result of the fusion and not necessarily as a result of her mental state. It seems reasonable if you consider that corruption is mental damage and gems in a fusion share a 'mental' space.
3. Pink Diamond. I think it was significant that when Jasper was asserting what was good about Homeworld and the Diamond Authority, they showed the 4 diamond logo, not the current 3 diamond logo. This makes sense when we later learned that one of the reasons she holds a grudge against Rose is, to quote Jasper "I've been fighting from the moment I broke free from the Earth's crust. Because of what you did to my colony. Because of what you did to my planet. Because of what you did to my Diamond." Steven asks "Yellow Diamond?" Jasper looks shocked and then says "My Diamond! Your Diamond! Pink Diamond!" To me, this is another point in favor of the argument that Rose is not Pink Diamond, but I don't think this seals the deal definitively. So you Rose as Pink Diamond theorists, don't give up hope! More importantly though, what can we infer about the Rebellion timeline from all of this? Peridot says "It was obviously a total rush job. Halfway through the Rebellion, Homeworld scrambled to generate extra soldiers on the ground." What we can infer from this is that Jasper was 'born' somewhere in the middle of the Rebellion. She still considered Pink to be her Diamond, as well as Rose's Diamond, and when she thinks of the Diamond Authority, she thinks of the 4 Diamond Logo. Does this mean Pink was still around during the middle of the Rebellion? In Monser Reunion, Centipeedle draws the 3 Diamond Logo to represent the Diamond Authority. So it changed during the Rebellion. Jasper is at first infuriated at 'Rose' for what she did, and then looks crushed when Steven doesn't realize Pink Diamond was even a thing. How would Jasper have developed such an attachment to Pink Diamond if she was already gone when Jasper was born? To me that means one of two things: Either Pink was still around in the middle of the War, or Homeworld was using "What Rose did to Pink Diamond" as a method of indoctrinated newly forged gems and turning them against Rose. This still doesn't address why the Diamond Authority logo changed, or whose side of the Rebellion Pink was on. Someday we will learn!
4. We discovered a new type of Quartz, Carnelian. Nothing more than a name, but now we have Rose, Jasper, Amethyst and Carnelian as quartz types.
5. How crazy adorable are Peridot and Lapis? I mean seriously, I could watch that all day.
There is a post going around the SU fandom that looks like a super cute video called “Love Like You (The Ocean Returns)- Rebecca Sugar” and it is actually a very cute video, but the end of it has a jump scare. Please spread this around incase someone gets fooled into watching it with heart problems.
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