i keep losing asks and then finding them again anyway here's rupphire
if i referred to lumity as the founding fathers these two are the founding grandfathers.. they're iconic or whatever! also i'm back reviewing a show i've seen before so i'm going to be a lot more confident on this one. steven universe was full of toxic yuri and the only guys who really had their stuff together was rupphire even with their separation arc. there is a LOT to cover here so let's get into the review!!
EVIDENCE 1 - DEFIED FATE??? (NOT CLICKBAIT)
they were crazy for this... ruby was ordered to protect sapphire.. sapphire had forseen her death and was willing to let it happen to stop the rebellion (WHICH IS ALSO CRAZY BTW. crystal gems would've been no more if they weren't gay for eachother) ruby couldn't accept her failure/ sapphire's death and rushed in to save her just as pearl was about to slaughter her!!! AND THEY FUSED which is frowned upon for two different types of gems to do btw. and they did it around some of the most close minded gems in space
and then blue diamond got on sapphire's case about it and ruby took the blame for it for a gem she barely knows. she does this also knowing she'd get a harsher punishment cause she's not a member of blue diamond's court and blue diamond orders her SHATTERING and sapphire grabs her and runs out of there. sapphire got the confidence to defy fate because of ruby and sapphire shows her that there's value in her life as an individual instead of as a soldier.. also they literally got fire and ice powers. rebecca sugar really ordered them to pull out all the stops for these two ig. they then both agree that fusion is actually really cool and they have a nice little bonding experience together
and they're still confused about eachother and everything and then they run into rose and pearl and say what you want about rose but she was a HUGE ally. just cause they were a fusion and rose was rocking with it, garnet joined the crystal gems!!
EVIDENCE 2 - Turn Around Kid, It'd Be a Crime
the next huge rupphire moment in chronological order (??? probably) is Jail Break and personally I think they're still going extremely strong.. could there be some codependent allegations .. maybe! but i think fusion may add a whole another layer of nuance on it that idk how to unpack cause im not a gem
anyway ruby is LOSING her mind being separated from sapphire. she's gotta get to her as quick as possible to make sure she's okay and no one else matters to her in this moment which IS sweet but one criticism i've seen before that i agree with in this scenario is that on their own ruby and sapphire gotta take it a little bit easier on steven... like ruby i know you're scared but that guy's probably scared out of his MIND! maybe explain a few things to him rn, the surprise is already ruined. she keeps running from him too! maybe watch the kid when he's wandering around the space ship of some very dangerous people!! but this review aint about steven now is it....
they reunite and it's very sweet!! their dynamic from when they first met is still very strong all these centuries later. sapphire sits in her cell singing, ACCEPTING whatever happens while ruby is reckless to do everything in her power to get back to her. when they reunite sapphire asks ruby if she's alright and ruby says "WHO CARES?" and sapphire responds "I DO!" which is very similar to the 'they were going to shatter you' 'who cares there's hundreds of me' conversation which is cool to see paralleled but i wish ruby had some more self love personally? idk if that makes sense. and then they refuse and garnet immediately locks in and comforts steven. garnet is the best of both worlds as she's grounded and can think more rationally.
and then stronger for you happens and garnet absolutely kicks jasper's ass. she outright says 'wow you're shit at fighting. maybe if you weren't such a SINGLE, LOSER, you'd be better!" garnet is here to stay and jasper can't do anything about it!
has anyone else seen the tweet implying that sans should've been cancelled for turning a song about being gay into a song about him killing a kid.. cause i agree with it and i think it needs to be said
EVIDENCE 3 - The First FIGHT.
the next episode is Keystone Motel where being in Pennsylvania almost ruins a centuries long relationship. no ACTUALLY they're arguing because pearl tricked them into fusing with her and I feel like they should both be able to react how they need to to the whole thing cause it was shitty of pearl to do! but they both feel as if they need to be on the same exact wavelength here in order to fuse again
(steven's just trying to enjoy his vacation bro. they really do not censor any of their problems around him)
ruby is upset that sapphire's trying to be 'above it all' which IS fair. ruby is a very emotional gem compared to sapphire and asking her to put it behind her is a BIT much!
sapphire is clearly upset too but she feels as if ruby won't hear her out or listen to reason so she feels as if she's not going to bother and she's just going to bide her time until ruby gets over it.
when they go to the diner for breakfast ruby gets so frustrated by everything she starts agressively shaking the table. she's acting out cause it seems as if Sapphire isn't really getting HOW this makes her feel and Sapphire tells steven and greg to just wait it out cause ruby will eventually burn out. then ruby flips the goddamned table and they keep arguing! steven straight up walks out of the restaurant and i can not blame him.
steven tells them that he feels like he's the reason that the gems can never get along and sapphire gets upset about this but the conversation quickly becomes about them expressing their feelings to one another. sapphire realizes that looking into the future to when times are better diminishes ruby's emotions in the present, and she cries about how horrible she must've made her feel. ruby says she didn't want a solution, she just wanted to be mad (still valid imo) and that she's STUPID and should've listened to sapphire. sapphire tells her that she doesn't think she's stupid! despite everything this episode it is sweet how sapphire is so quick to shut down ruby's negative self talk. ruby tells sapphire that she likes being able to look at her when they're split up and they start giggling and kissing and steven's vacation is still ruined and we haven't really spoke to him about this but then garnet re-fuses and immediately tries to turn it around for the kid by reminding him they can still get free ice!!!
EVIDENCE 4 - THEY FUMBLED THE BIG GAME!
in hit the diamond ruby and sapphire gotta unfuse so ruby can infiltrate the homeworld rubies that have came to earth looking for peridot so she can get them off her trail. this leads to a baseball game between the rubies and the crystal gems - the rubies are only allowed to search the barn IF they can beat them at baseball. this is very important so they can't fuck it up!
they spend the majority of the game flirting with eachother and sapphire's majorly fumbling. she hasn't hit a single ball cause she's so focused on ruby. the team is really stressed out about this and they have to be pulled aside to tell them to get their head in the game and they do try with all their might to do so! they're like drawn to eachother so much that they can't focus on ANYTHING else when they're not garnet.
when sapphire does get a homerun she runs to ruby and they fuse and accidentally ruin ruby's cover. garnet almost immediately realizes that she screwed up. the rubies would've gotten peridot IF they were looking for her but it turns out they wanted jasper so alls well that ends well.
EVIDENCE 5 - Ruby Rider is Ruby Riding Alone (DIVORCE ARC)
the next time garnet splits up is due to finding out that ROSE QUARTZ is PINK DIAMOND. and the tables are turned because ruby is the calmer one about this while sapphire feels as if her world was turned upside down. she is upset that she would listen to rose lie to her face and believe her and when ruby tells her she couldn't have known sapphire says "NO! YOU couldn't have known. You never know what is going on! I should've though! ruby wants to talk it out but sapphire says that their relationship was based on a lie?? i'm not exactly getting her reasoning here but emotions are high. all rose did was give them the thumbs up - their relationship was built upon them seeing eachother as actual people and being willing to defy fate for one another.
in reality it's less about her doubting garnet and ruby and more her being furious and thinking that rose would've listened to her and told her anything she wanted to hear just so she had more numbers for her army. it's also about the friends she lost in the war and being involved in something that she feels pink had the power to stop on her own. but pearl fills her in on everything, how rose adored the two of them and was so amazed by their fusion and how they inspired her to build a home on earth since she viewed it as a place where anything could happen and where gems could be anything they wanted to. sapphire feels better about the whole thing and then remembers what she had done to ruby and rushes to go talk to her but ruby's gone.
ruby left a note telling sapphire that she was right and she decided to run away. she drew a heart next to her signature but scribbled it out. not because she doesn't love sapphire anymore but because she probably feels like sapphire doesn't want to be with her anymore. sapphire tries to use her future vision to see if she'll come back but she can't get a good prediction because ruby's such a spontaneous person that she could've done many, MANY things and sapphire calls that wonderful. she's someone sapphire has never been able to predict.
(i'm rewatching some of these episodes and i can't remember if there's a story related reason why amethyst just doesn't gaf about ruby being missing or pink diamond?? is it just avoidant coping?)
amethyst and steven find ruby and she says she kind of likes being on her own and she understood what sapphire was saying about them only being together because rose said they were 'the answer' (they were kinda together before that???) ruby says her future is going to be about her and not what sapphire wants. which is a little extreme and is for sure just her trying to come to terms with things quicker BUT i have been saying that ruby views herself very poorly and that i'd like to see her build some confidence so maybe this isn't half bad. even greg is saying that this could be good for her.
when ruby is thinking up what she wants to do/go first steven hands her a wild west comic as inspiration and there's a cowboy on the cover walking away from a woman in a blue dress with hair deliberately drawn to cover one of her eyes so only one is visible as she reaches for him. no way is this woman not supposed to be sapphire, i just don't know how to interpret this? ruby seems pumped about this idea. is it just her relating to the guy on the cover? romanticizing her independence so MUCH that she doesn't have time to miss sapphire?? her liking that the guy IS able to be content away from the woman who loves him? who knows?
ruby rider is thriving! her confidence IS growing because she can take risks and still end up okay. she sings a whole song and everyone is saying "as long as she's happy" but then she says "yeah, i'd be happier if i was with sapphire" and she feels bad about it. steven kind of tells her she could be happy being her own person but also be happy with sapphire at the same time then brings up the comic again and shows her that the cowboy still misses the girl he loves too.
ruby wants things to start over completely on her and sapphire's terms so she asks her to marry her which is very sweet!! i like how this arc ended up.
EVIDENCE 5 - MARRIAGE. (+ MORE)
then they get married! it's very sweet. ruby tells her she used to feel like she wasn't good on her own but now she knows it's okay to just be her and that she wants to be herself with sapphire. sapphire confirms that when ruby saved her all those years ago she gave her the ability to see multiple possibilities and not just one future. they changed each others' lives!
very iconic scene. doesn't tell us a whole lot of new things about the couple which is why i'm keeping it brief. they purposefully made ruby wear the dress because some countries made her into a man so they didn't show lesbians on a cartoon which forced those countries to either not air the episode (which had a lot of important plot moments) or to keep it as it is which is a cool fact. also some blame this episode for getting the show cancelled early? i don't think that's 100% true but it truly does show how much of a predecessor it was to the owl house.
the movie doesn't really do anything ground breaking for the two of them either since spinel just turned back time and they pretty much just recreate the time they first met with sapphire predicting ruby will die to protect her but instead they fuse and it's just them redoing the same development stuff. the only thing is that ruby is really impressed by sapphire's future vision and sapphire likes that.
in steven universe future they do unfuse and got their own things going on and are supportive of eachother's interests and everything. there's no more conflict between the two. the only problem is that the whole 'you need to wait for them to become garnet to get a good response from them' thing is still prevalent cause they tell steven it's a good idea to propose to connie and garnet gotta be there to help him after her rejection.
they grew as people together and are the most famous cartoon lesbians ever so there's no world in which they're getting a BAD score. they work best together but are still capable on their own (just not on raising a kid.. they need some work on that. garnet's awesome at it though) . i love the characters from steven universe. they're so complex and none of them are perfect ANYWAY
another tough one to beat