I guess she had to have seen fusion during the more, which makes it all the sadder how she had to be denying her feelings (until the point they we right in front of her face.) And I actually like your idea that jasper couldn’t give garnet a fair fight. But now that I think about it, I think losing to Garnet was actually the starting point to something greater. And that her metaphorical “corruption” was actually a slow burning process. And that Jasper really was broken from the start of this all.
(also for this post I will mostly refer to Steven as Rose, because it is about Jasper’s perspective)
(also also be prepared for a wall of text!!!!)
Jasper didn’t “come at [garnet] without any of [her] fancy tools” because she didn’t want to lose. It is the same reason why she asked Lapis to fuse. Jasper can’t lose because she is perfect, and she is perfect because she doesn’t lose. Not that she can’t lose, it is just that she doesn’t.
When Jasper and Garnet fought during the song stronger than you, it was after Garnet had escaped after JASPER had poofed her. Jasper saw her and said that Garnet was using a “cheap tactic” but she didn’t care about that when she poofed her. When she first saw Garnet she had only called her (and by extension fusion) a “shameless display” now fusion is a cheap tactic? what gives?
Well simple, Jasper had been caught off guard. Where as before she had the upper hand, now Garnet has it. She got angry because now she had to win, at all cost. Jasper doesn’t lost, because if she loses she isn’t perfect anymore.
But after she starts to lose to Garnet, this is where it all starts to fall apart for Jasper, because this is where Jasper shows an emotion other than anger, this is where she starts to become desperate.
She tries to use her destabilizer on Garnet, when Garnet asked for a fair fight.
Then she DOES lose to Garnet, so she tries to win back control, by fusing with Lapis,
But then she loses control of malachite TO Lapis.
So she takes back control of malachite and then to redeem her loss against garnet, tries to fight all of the crystal gems at once.
But because that doesn’t work, and she loses to all of them.
So here we have Lapis losing a fight against garnet, losing control of malachite to Lapis, then losing a fight against Alexandrite. Now she has lost three times, so what does she do?
She tries to take fix her situation by trying to fuse again with Lapis, because at least when she was with Lapis she was stronger than she was alone, and it would be a good start.
But after she begs Lapis ON HER KNEES! She gets REJECTED! Add that to the loss counter. Nows she is up to four losses. Which makes her have to come up with a new plan if she wants to get revenge.
Now tries to take back control by raising an army of corrupted gems, remember she has lost pretty definitively like 4 times by now, all either TO a fusion, or because she tried to fuse with someone. Either way, Fusion has been the reason she lost.
Fusion has failed her again, so she decides to win without it. She needs help but because can’t ask for it, she goes to the only group where she can just take it. Corrupted monsters and so far this new plan seems pretty solid.
She starts collecting monsters, and even manages to steal TWO right in front of ROSE! (aka Steven) and Rose was too afraid to even stop her! At this point she starts to feel like her old self again, she feels strong again, and everyone in the crystal gems are just weak rejects right? Their leader was the only strong one on their team, and now she is just some human(ish) child!
So just to get back at them for her early loss, and to reclaim her ego by proving just how strong she is, Jasper then takes one of those two corrupted monsters she just took from the crystal gems right to their door! She’s gonna beat the crystal gems and take her pride back once and for all, she isn’t gonna let a child beat her after all.
But She ends up having to fight amethyst, then she says this: “I came here to fight Rose, not some runt!... Fighting is my life, it is what I was made for, it’s what you were made for too, runt!“
Here she tells amethyst right to her face that, you are literally just a weak version of me and I consider you only a small (pardon the pun!!) obstacle in the way of me fighting my REAL problems.
She even points out how much weaker Amethyst is, saying stuff like “you’re not even trying!" and “you’re just a joke” Then stops referring to her directly all together! And just starts to address Rose (again through Steven) asking “are you so desperate for troops Rose? that’d you keep a defect like this?”
This (like my pun from earlier) has two meanings, First is to point out: yeah Amethyst is technically a small Jasper, and so Amethyst get’s pretty demoralized by losing to Jasper the way she did which is the setup for Amethyst’s arc.
The other thing is we see how insecure Jasper is, she didn’t HAVE to point out how Amethyst is not just weak, but that the reason she is so weak is because Amethyst didn’t turn out like her. No she didn’t have to, she wanted to, she needed to; because Jasper is insecure, and Amethyst was weaker than her.
But there is actually a third thing too that is much bigger thing which this sets up. What is it you ask? I’ll let you know this soon, hold on and let’s get back to the story and I’ll tell you soon.
For now, though Jasper is right, she was just here to fight Rose, and amethyst ended up being a small (again sorry for the pun) obstacle in Jasper’s path, so she didn’t have any problems poofing her, and she was even about to shatter her... but then Rose shows up and she’s fused... with a human.
But now Jasper is riding high from that small victory (more quick/short puns!) so she challenges Rose “head to head just like [jasper] likes it!” But it is worth noting that she considers fusing with a human to be less than fusing with a gem (we can tell because she call Steven “desperate” for doing it), so this also adds to her confidence.
They then go into a good old-fashion game of chicken, and Jasper loses. And But then she starts yelling about how “it’s always fusion” and suddenly fusion is back to being a cheap trick again. And then she says this was like TOTALLY a warm up, I’m still super tough. And considering she only brought one gem monster when we know that she has two (and possibly more at this point) she might not have been lying.
But then WHY DID SHE SAY SHE WAS AFTER ROSE? well because she was, she just underestimated her opponent, again. She was on a hot streak at this point so she got cocky. Back during her fight with Garnet she cared more about winning than playing strictly fair. But she hadn’t lost at all at that point, now she's lost a TON, so she can’t just win, she has to win fair and square and win by a LOT! And her hot streak made her think she could do it.
So she realizes when she is giving her speech, that this doesn’t matter. She doesn’t care how many times she has to fight them, she will win no matter what. “Because Jasper’s always get what they want.”
This is her new philosophy, now. Where as before we knew Jasper was fighting with only one of the corrupted Gem’s we knew she had, she just starts getting more, she starts planning more.
She doesn’t even go to fight the crystal gems! They came to her! And this time they caught her off guard AGAIN!
But don’t worry, it is just the one runt, and she only wants to fight one on one again. Well considering the kirb stomp I gave her last time we fought, this is no big deal. And it wasn’t.
Jasper was too tough for amethyst, even when Jasper was on defense. After Jasper took a bunch of hits from Amethyst. (who was giving it her all I might add)
Jasper only says a few words this time she fought Amethyst, then kicks her once, right in the stomach. Here Jasper seems calm, she isn’t even getting enjoyment out of this, because she already knew she could beat Amethyst.
Then Rose showed up and it is still okay, the human (aka Connie) isn’t with her and in this form, Rose isn’t really a threat without being able to fuse. But then she does... with the same gem that Jasper just had beaten.
Then Smokey quartz appears. Not only does smokey quartz beat the PULP out of Jasper, but she actively MOCKS Jasper while doing it!
This is tough on Jasper who all her life, was told she was one of the best quartz homeworld ever had. She was the best, because she was perfect, because she didn’t lose.
But we know that Jasper considered Rose an equal based on how she talks about her, she was best the crystal gems had to offer, while Jasper might consider herself the best (quartz) homeworld had to offer.
But now Rose is fused with some runt, who Jasper was beating. And not just that, fusion let’s that same runt, win.
...She is understandably angry.
Then Smokey quartz uses that VERY same anger, and tricks Jasper into breaking most of the monster’s cages by sidestepping one of Jasper’s spin dashes.
Jasper doesn’t even notice the corrupted Gems are even free until one of them LANDS ON HER HEAD FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
All the while Smokey is mocking her, Peridot is laughing at her, and now all those monsters painstakingly collected, for a final battle that will never come. All because Jasper was caught off guard by another fusion.
This is Jasper at her most desperate, this is Jasper at her most angry.
Jasper see’s the monster that she fought with on the beach, and gets an idea. She tries running over to it, but Smokey doesn’t even let her get close at first. So Jasper has to keep running tword it, all the while Smokey still makes fun of her.
She gets over to the monster though, and she fuses with it. At least now it can be a fair fight right? WRONG! Smoky smokes fused Jasper (oops more puns) and still makes jokes and laughs about it. Then the corrupted gem she was fused with runs off..
...and Jasper says saddest line in the show: “no one I fused with, ever wants to stay.”
Remember before? When i said that losing against Garnet was the start of this? Or that beating Amethyst (the first time) was setting something up?
This is what it was setting up! Because now Jasper has come full circle.
She started out getting caught off guard by a fusion, trying to fuse herself, fighting with her fusion partner and then the fusion not being enough to stop who she was fighting in the first place.
But this time, there was another layer. Before it was just two gems that were equals in terms of fighting. Ruby was strong, and Sapphire was powerful, together they’re both.
This time, it was someone who was like her, but weaker. Against someone who was her equal. And Steven might not be like anybody else, but Jasper doesn’t see Steven here, he see’s Rose, someone who fought under pink diamond and betrayed her.
Then Jasper starts to turn into corrupted, and it just starts to sink in that Jasper is operating under a semblance of honor. Here all of that desperation, gets reframed from not just being about Jasper and a personal vendetta. That Jasper started all of this from a good place.
Fighting in the war is probably what got Jasper’s talents recognised at all, and And Pink diamond was technically the reason for that. Regardless of if Jasper knew Pink diamond at all, fighting for her was her purpose in life since birth.
She doesn’t lose because she is perfect, and she is perfect because she has to be if she wants to avenge her diamond.
Jasper is a lot like Amethyst, she never had to try very hard to win her fights. She feels alone, and isn’t like anyone else. But unlike Amethyst, Jasper wasn’t alone because just because she was made on earth. Jasper was alone because she was strong, and because the only purpose she ever had was robbed of her.
Amethyst isn’t the nicest person, but finding out she was meant to be as strong as Jasper grounded her, grounded her more, and made her more humble She even had a similar experience when Rose left to become Steven, Rose gave her a home after all.
And Amethyst has people who care about her and who she cares about, the crystal gems, but also the shorty squad. And that second thing might seem like a joke, but peridot and Steven are probably the only ones who get what Amethyst is going through, and who made her feel even less alone.
But Jasper is still alone, and she was strong enough during the war where that didn’t matter. She was on top, she was the best gem in her kindergarten, a legend during the war, and a hero on homeworld.
But on earth, she is just alone.
And I think Amethyst knew that on some level when she said: “Come here sis.”
...Sorry if this post went on for WAY too long, now that I’m finished writing it I am pretty sure Jasper just became one my favorite anti-hero/villain. I love the rival turned hero trope and I know that it doesn’t look like it, I think it is pretty clear our favorite big buff puff cheetah puff has a lot in store for her!
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