Smiles For Steven!!!

Looking into the future, and it’s bright~

[its-a-gemfact]

I sure don’t mind a change

Fell On Black Days by Soundgarden (requested by @moldy-junk)

[willosword]

things that never fail to bring me unbridled joy: when characters in su spontaneously do a goofy ass walk cycle

[peachdoxie]

What I really like about this is that the characters who spoke to Steven were able to connect their experiences to Steven’s to show that they understand, to some extent, what he’s going through and that they’re there to help him:

Garnet literally fell apart and Steven supported her, and now Steven is falling apart emotionally and physically and Garnet will be there for him.

Greg says that he’ll give Steven whatever he needs, which really is significant after what we learned about Greg’s parents in Mr. Universe and Steven’s resent at not getting what he needed from Greg growing up.

Peridot connects Steven not giving up on her to encourage Steven not to give up on himself. Even though Peridot doesn’t understand why Steven never gave up on her, she’s telling him that even if he doesn’t understand it himself, he shouldn’t give up either.

Amethyst talks about feeling bad and not liking yourself and tells Steven that it‘s possible to come to like yourself even after all the bad things you’ve done and been through.

Pearl tells Steven that she understands what it’s like to keep a side of you a secret and that, because of that, he shouldn’t be ashamed to talk to her.

And Connie knows that Steven was afraid to show this side of himself (out of fear of rejection) because that’s the same thing that she went through with her parents and their approval of her Gem-related activities, even though she doesn’t make that explicit.

This is how you take empathy (feeling the same thing someone else is) and combine it with compassion (showing that you want to help alleviate their suffering).

[musashi]

you guys dont understand though the ice cream was SYMBOLISM. steven’s cookie cat meltdown in episode one was a microcosm, a stand-in for all the problems he’d face as the series progressed… cookie cat’s backstory is intentionally rose’s backstory & its design is split white and pink down the middle to represent steven himself……….. the real conflict of that episode is him trying to understand how his powers work and what triggers them and the ice cream is a catalyst……cookie cat being discontinued represents the General Hardship of steven’s life. it represents all his problems, big and small, all the things that challenge him.

but in the final episode, he’s reclaimed those problems. he makes his own cookie cats. he does the work and dirties his hands and finds a solution and shares it with his friends………. steven overcame. despite everything, he overcame. despite the world, the universe if u will, on his shoulders, all the horrible shit he went through, all the trauma and tears and pain… he overcame. steven got up, cried a lot, leaned on his friends, and went to therapy. steven persisted.

steven got up and made himself some ice cream.

[pinksdiamonds]

We will always be your family.

[oak23]

Visit Original Link

Just a little time. Just a little something else instead. Just a little time. Just a little something up ahead. I’m dreaming of being… being… being… Being human… Just a little time. Just a little something that I need. Just a little time. Just a little feeling gaining speed I’m dreaming of going… going… going… Going somewhere else… Being… being… being… Being human…

[aanau]

connie has always had the only brain cell in this show

[timideaus]

 Future Vision (S1E39) / Steven Universe Future Finale

[babybeetlebongos]

It's Over, Isn't It?: Rebecca Sugar on the End of Steven Universe

Series creator Rebecca Sugar graciously gave CBR her time to discuss the ending of Steven Universe Future.

CBR: Steven Universe Future has a very different feel that the original five season arc. Future recontextualizes a lot about the first five seasons, both things that were heavily argued about (Steven’s seeming forgiveness of White Diamond, which “Homeworld Bound” shows was a lot more complicated) and things most people weren’t even thinking (I’m still amazed how all those wacky season 1 adventures came up in discussing Steven’s PTSD in “Growing Pains” a few weeks ago). How much of Future’s darker recontextualization was planned out from the beginning of the series versus how much was discovered through developing this season?

RS: I could absolutely never understand where this idea of Steven being a “forgiving” character was coming from, because internally we all understood Steven’s self-sacrificing nature as his biggest flaw, one that related directly to his identity issues. This is all over the show: in “The Test,” even though he’s disappointed in the Gems and feels disrespected by them, he lies to them to make them feel better – a huge turning point for his character, one of the first times he decides that their comfort matters more than his own feelings. Even though Steven will not allow Connie to sacrifice herself for him in “Sworn to the Sword,” he does exactly what he tells her not to: puts himself in harm’s way countless times and ultimately turns himself in to Aquamarine and Topaz. Connie even calls him out on this in “Dewey Wins.”

The toll his adventures take on him mentally is a huge theme. His self-depreciation is evident throughout the show, even in first season episodes like “Cheeseburger Backpack.” He internalizes everything as his fault. In “What’s Your Problem,” Steven is shown to be aggressively repressing his feelings. In “Reunited,” Steven sings that he essentially needs the wedding as a distraction, because he can’t stand thinking about who he is or the situation he’s in. In “Chille Tid,” he explicitly states that he has issues to work out, but then shifts the conversation immediately to Lapis, who he feels needs help more.

At no point does he forgive White Diamond, or any of the Diamonds. He thinks how he feels about what’s going on matters less than the greater good, because throughout the show, he’s not sure if he even really exists. Ultimately, in “Change Your Mind,” you see the moment he realizes he is himself and he loves himself. Steven’s existence proves White wrong and crumbles her entire reality, and with it her authority. And knowing that he is himself, and he does exist, is what he needs in order to respect himself enough to leave those self-destructive patterns behind.

In an animated series with a kid protagonist, it’s easy to take for granted that a child hero is being tasked with saving the world, being antagonized by adults and having multiple near-death experiences. As we wrote the original series we always approached this as if it was real for Steven, and really taking a toll on him. We explored this in episodes like “Mindful Education.” Future was a chance to further clarify that, by having an older version of Steven reflect on those experiences and their toll. I also wanted Future to be a chance to show that his relationship with himself requires maintenance, and that his old habits die hard. Once the story for Future clicked, it felt like a very natural progression.

[peridotite]

[digi-056]

Avatars for you and your sad ass friends

[awogga]

“we will always be your family.”

★ thank you, steven universe! ★ 11/4/2013 - 3/27/2020

[timideaus]

[stevenuneckverse]

[stevenuneckverse]

(Sketch below the cut)

[bluediamonder]

it was a lot more than a hug: an (unintentional) short essay on mental health & steven worm

I LOVED THE HUG OKAY.

I’ve seen a lot of people saying things like “uGh thE eNdiNG sUcKEd geTtiNg a hUG doEsN’T sOLvE aLL yOuR pRoBLeMs”. but in my opinion, that’s exactly the point. 

All throughout the second half of SUF, they’re trying to show us that there is no one way to feel immediately better and have all of your problems solved. He goes to pretty much every source he can. The gems aren’t necessarily seeing what he’s going through, Connie isn’t going to solve this for him, his Dad is helping in an unhelpful way, so he goes to Jasper and that went haywire, so he goes to the diamonds and they just make it worse. And then what is he supposed to do?

Every single time Steven goes to a person to “help” him, he’s going to them seeking help in order to fix it. and there’s a big difference between the two. 

I have anxiety, depression, and OCD, and often when I’m panicking or having moments of high anxiety, I do what Steven did: I seek out people not to help me, but to fix it for me. I then react the same way Steven did - with anger - when people try to help instead of just fixing it.

Anxiety, depression, panic, none of those things can be completely and magically cured and rid of in the snap of a finger. But in the moment, for people like me, for a person like Steven, the thought of that feeling not being entirely solveable is petrifying.

 It’s like if someone is drowning and splashing around: you can’t get the life ring around them because of how much movement and commotion they’re creating. But they’re drowning, so you can’t just tell them “Hey, stop moving so I can help you!” From your perspective, you’re trying to help them by encouraging them to do something that will in turn allow you to help them. But to that person, if they stop flailing, they’re going to sink even further, and that is terrifying, so much so that they can’t even consider that you might be wanting to help them. All they can process is that you told them to stop doing the one thing that they don’t want to do: sink. Even if they’re sinking just for a moment, before you save them, that doesn’t matter. That feeling of sinking is terrifying, so they end up splashing around more. 

When Steven seems to be babbling on, almost comedically, in “Everything is Fine”, trying to convince himself he’s fine, he’s gotten to a stage that I was in for a while, a sort of mania, where he is not only attempting to convince everyone around him that he’s fine, he has convinced himself that he is fine. This is a huge red flag for people with bipolar disorder or manic depression (NOT diagnosing Steven, I am not a professional, I’ve just experienced many of these things and been surrounded by people experiencing these things and professionals explaining them to me. Like I said, I was in the hospital for this, so). Everyone around him starts to see that he is, in fact, not fine, as they’ve already surmised. But the physical consequences of them not doing anything, not doing enough, are starting to manifest.

When he morphs into the Steven Worm, he has lost his sense of self. He doesn’t know what to do with himself, he can’t exist within himself with the world he’s created. He didn’t tell the Gems about the hospital, he didn’t tell his dad he was angry, he didn’t actually tell Connie he needed her he just proposed. He doesn’t know what to DO with all of this. So it explodes around him.

He can’t control his feelings, himself anymore. He feels he’s lost control. For me, a human, this morphs into a panic attack. But for him, he’s a gem, he turns into Steven Worm.

Not even the diamonds, the most powerful beings in the entire Gem universe, are incapable of changing him. His emotions bring White Diamond to her knees. But what they’re doing wrong here is they’re trying to fix him!

When Connie bolts in on Lion and is making her (iconic) rallying cry, she never says they need to fix Steven or heal him; she says they need to help him. Because that’s the only way he can get better.

When you go to the psychiatric hospital, you don’t go to get fixed. You’re in an environment where you’re made so you’re not a physical danger to yourself, and then you do a shit ton of work. You have therapy multiple times a day, every day, all week. You do work, they don’t just fix it for you. And this is the solution that we need to see portrayed. This is the solution they did portray in SUF.

Mental health disorders can’t be fixed. And Steven’s problems weren’t solved with a hug. 

But we needed to see the hug. Because Steven needed to see the hug.

The hug wasn’t just about hugging him. It was about literally forcing him to come face-to-face with the love and support he had been inadvertenly, and then intentionally, pushing away. It forced him to say, “Okay, this is who I am right now. And these people love me.”

I had to have the people in my life tell me over and over that they loved me when I went to the hospital. I had to have my doctors tell me that they cared for me, my therapist tell me that I wasn’t talking too much, because I didn’t believe them. I had convinced myself I wasn’t worthy, I was a fraud, just like Steven. Sometimes you need that love in your face, surrounding you so that it is the only thing you can see, for you to be able to let it in. 

The hug didn’t fix everything! That’s the big thing. The hug was a pure, beautiful moment, but I don’t believe it was meant to be a plot device to try to fix everything. Everyone was still emotional, he still destroyed things, he scared people, he scared himself. That wasn’t all magically fixed because of the hug. But his resolve to do the work, get help, and accept what happened to him - that is what made him go from Worm Steven to Boy Steven.

And afterward, we seen Steven has grown. He hasn’t morphed, his hair hasn’t changed, he’s not pink. But he’s grown mentally. He’s communicating more making plans, his disposition has changed. I don’t like that they called what he had a meltdown (again, I vouch that it was a gem version of a panic attack), but YALL STEVEN HAS A THERAPIST NOW! He’s is not only getting the help that he needs, he is showing that he is going to continue needing this help, and that’s okay! He’s making plans to visit people, to go see the world, on his own terms! 

 He’s scared and sad of leaving the gems, and it’s also time to leave the gems. It’s time to move on, and be a new Steven.

We’ve seen a lot of Stevens the past few weeks. But Steven driving off past the Big Donut into the night was my favorite Steven. That was vulnerable Steven. That was Steven doing the work to be himself, to exist with his feelings and the ways he had acted, and the things he had gone through. That was my boy. Steven Universe.

When I saw my mom for the first time while I was in the hospital, the first thing she did was give me a big hug (I was a blubbering mess, of course). But it wasn’t just that my mom was giving me a hug. She was telling me she was there for me, she loved me, she was telling me she would stay up on the phone with me as long as the doctors would let me, she would drive 3 ½ hours from our home in Michigan to the hospital in Ohio at a moments notice (I went to school in Ohio and went to the hospital there too before coming home). That hug was her forcing me to see that she was there for me, even if I didn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it.

So yeah, Steven got a hug. But it was a lot more than a hug, okay? Take my word for it

[timideaus]

Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth... I love you!