Spinel is BPD-coded
And I am ecstatic that there’s an actual canon character with BPD. Needless to say, don’t read farther if you haven’t seen the Steven Universe movie. There’s spoilers. Her whole arc is compressed, of course, since it had to fit into the span of a single movie. But it’s really obvious…
A naive, friendly child who made friends easily…
Left behind/abandoned by one who she thought was her best friend…
Years alone trying to come to terms with the fact that her friend wasn’t coming back…
Wondering what she did wrong…
Learning that her best friend made other friends that she loves…
Realizing that her best friend could have made room for her, too, but either chose not to or completely forgot…
An almost crazed depression when you realize you weren’t good enough.
The desire to hurt those people to show them how much you care.
You’ve made friends? They’re going to abandon you, just like she did. Hurt them, too.
The realization that you’ve been hurting someone you deeply care about.
The realization that you can’t take it back.
“I’m just not good enough–not good enough for pink. But now!? NOW I’M NOT GOOD AT ALL!”
“You actually liked me. Didn’t you? What am I doing? Why do I want to hurt you so bad? I’m supposed to be your friend. I just want to be your friend.”
“Friendship isn’t going to be easy for me. I’m gonna have to work at it… I’ve already messed up bad with you. I wish I could just start from scratch with somebody.”
Her power is literally causing everyone to “start from scratch” as it were. An idealized version of the person you met. A strong desire to go back and start over. The embodiment of “I wish–” or “I should have–”
Because of how BPD works, I have a feeling she’ll be back. She started over with new people who “adore” her, as the song goes. But the problem with BPD is that it’s a cycle. People love you, or adore you, or give you the attention you’re craving, only for that love to fade to something comfortable or normal after a time. Which triggers the symptoms of BPD to return, causing the destructive phase all over again.
I feel bad for Spinel. She’s going to have a lot to overcome if she wants to learn to truly love again. Hopefully this isn’t her whole story arc, either, given the fact that BPD takes years to develop and isn’t cured in the span of a few days or because someone shows love to you.
It’s great to have a canon character with a severe mental disorder. I’m sure the crewniverse will treat her right.
