Steven Universe

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I liked that Peridot's reason for defecting was relevant to her character. She cares about The Homeworld. She looks up to The Diamonds. She wants the best for her race. She realises that Earth is a potential source of vital and unique resources. However, she gets pissed off that Yellow Diamond cannot see this. She disagrees with Yellow Diamond on grounds of logic. This in turn causes Yellow Diamond to be horrid to her, and it escalates. Peridot gets rejected by the Homeworld via Yellow Diamond. So, she becomes like the rest of the Crystal Gems.

I like that it happened this way because it feels very much in line with her character. I think if she had just became a Crystal Gem through Disney Whimsicalness it would have been quite jarring.

[Booster]

I liked that Peridot's reason for defecting was relevant to her character. She cares about The Homeworld. She looks up to The Diamonds. She wants the best for her race. She realises that Earth is a potential source of vital and unique resources. However, she gets pissed off that Yellow Diamond cannot see this. She disagrees with Yellow Diamond on grounds of logic. This in turn causes Yellow Diamond to be horrid to her, and it escalates. Peridot gets rejected by the Homeworld via Yellow Diamond. So, she becomes like the rest of the Crystal Gems.

I like that it happened this way because it feels very much in line with her character. I think if she had just became a Crystal Gem through Disney Whimsicalness it would have been quite jarring.

I agree completely, Steven Universe consistently impresses me with its realistic and believable character motivations. No one is a jerk for no reason, and no one changes for no reason.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

And the her still holding Homeworld to high esteem at the beginning helped with her joining of the CGs. It wasn't her "going soft". No, she has come to her own thoughts about Earth. She has not been indoctrinated at all. I think that makes her development more credible and also sustainable. She is a stubborn character, so I doubt she'll switch so easily now.

I like the contrasts between the Homeworld and CGs. Homeworld is about having a label and sticking to it. You have a job and you must do it. CGs are motivated by wanting to do things, instead of being ordered to. Each member is an individual.

Gems fuse on HW to do a task. Two different gems fusing is unheard of. Two different gems fusing is done out of mutual love.

So, there's a theme of Emotionless Vs. Emotions in Steven Universe.

[JustAName]

Yes! All of the above, plus a sidebar: There's been a fan theory going around that Rose was actually a diamond, but now that we've seen about the courts, and we've seen how huge Yellow Diamond is, I think that Rose was merely a high-ranking quartz in Rose Diamond's court after all. I'm so impatient for more!

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Maybe Rose Diamond was a secret Fusion?

[JustAName]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhsocuteitwassocutehelp

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

: )

[Tapir12]

This Steven Bomb was really great. Tons of plot development and world building, but the small character moments are always what make this show special. The last three episodes were the strongest and I thought they did a great job with Peridot. What a tsundere!

I also really liked how in Thursday's episode when Steven is frustrated with Peridot, Garnet says that sometimes people don't deserve your patience. Then with Friday's episode, that line suddenly has way more meaning when we see all that Garnet has been doing for Peridot as well.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Was hoping to see a Garnet - Peridot fusion. I guess we still have to wait. All are candidates except for Pearl so far for Peridot's first fusion

What I like about the show is that it's a quality 10/15 minutes long. After the first few episodes, it feels like you never have a filler episode. Each episode either pushes the plot, builds the world or develops the characters. Sometimes all, and you get it every 10 minutes. It makes it satisfying episodic viewing, because you never feel like you got fobbed off from this day's/week's viewing.

[Deedles]

I just caught up with the series so far and it's just... awesome.

[Ptangmatik]

I've seen this thread come up so often, I finally had the opportunity to have a look at series 1, I'm up to "Coach Steven" so far, and I love it. I would never have looked into this without this thread, thanks guys.

[Tapir12]

Awesome. It only gets better too!

[Ptangmatik]

Ok, just watched "Keep Beach City Weird" and the episode ends with the guy ranting about polymorphic sentient rocks being behind everything, which is absolutely the truth! This just keeps getting deeper.

[Amake]

Yeah Renaldo even names the Diamond Authority, correctly, as the masterminds behind the evil plan. I'm picturing his mind as a dart board entirely covered in arrows. . .

[Laserbeaks Fury]

So in hindsight, I guess my post might be a bit spoilery, so I've just covered the whole thing

[Laserbeaks Fury]

So in hindsight, I guess my post might be a bit spoilery, so I've just covered the whole thing

So something has been bothering me off and on since I started watching, and that was how did 4 Crystal Gems "win" a war against the Homeworld. I know Rose Quartz had a sizable force during the war, the Strawberry Field is a good indicator of that. But stuff Greg said during "The Return" made it sound like that what ever happened to reduce the rebellion from an army down to just 4 gems was done to them by the Homeworld. So that begs the question: Why would Homeworld wipe out the Gems and then just leave?

For awhile, I thought it was because of the Cluster. The forced fusion experiments have been presented as this very arch thing Homeworld is doing for whatever 'master plan' they have going. Using some sort of WMD and leaving the Earth to let the Cluster cook seemed like a reasonable explanation. And then "Message Received" aired and seriously changed by outlook on the whole deal.

Yellow Diamond's attitude towards the Cluster seemed to be, at best, mild amusement. She seemed more interested in just trashing Earth than in gaining anything from the experiments. Hell, she didn't even know Peridot was overdue till she looked up her assignment. It's a fair attitude if you look at Earth and Rose's rebellion as just a blemish on the success of your empire. But if something important was set in motion on Earth and left to develop, her reaction should have been different. And if you look back on the series, you'll notice that disinterest in the Cluster has actually always been there since the beginning.

The Red Eye from "Laser Light Cannon" is sent to Earth. Peridot says it didn't report any gem activity, to which Pearl explains is because it was destroyed. But wouldn't a Red Eye lost while scouting Earth have also raised some concern? Even if we chalk that up to incorporating early show elements into a later plot arc, we still have Peridot and Lapis both telling Homeworld that gems are active on Earth. What does Homeworld send in response? Peridot, Jasper, and a single ship. Again, a very metered response, but clearly not one you take if the Cluster or the forced fusion experiments are vital assets that need securing.

So if the Cluster isn't that important (to Homeworld at any rate), why wipe out the rebel gems, and then just leave Earth after you've won?

[korvys]

I think the crystal gems are hiding. They survived the war, and smashed the the homeworld warp pad. I'm guessing the diamonds don't really rate Earth as very interesting, and probably just assumed earth had been destroyed or something, and had written it, and the nursery, and the cluster experiments, off. They seems to have a big empire to take care of.

Topaz and Peridot turned up with Lapis. Maybe they were nearby patrolling or something and found Lapis, came to earth to check out what was up, and got trapped.

Until Peridot called Yellow Diamond, all the Diamonds would have known was that they lost contact with some planet off in the middle of nowhere years ago, after a rebel uprising, and one of their (presumably many) patrols hadn't reported in in a while.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Would why The CGs are keen to not let Homeworld know if their existence. At the moment, Earth is "here be nothing important", until HW discovers that The Rebellion is still alive/

Interesting how stuff seems to happen now that Steven exists. You get the impression that until his birth and post Civil War that all the CGs did was fight monsters.

[Laserbeaks Fury]

I agree that the Crystal Gems are absolutely hiding, or at the very least trying to downplay their importance. But thinking more on the subject since my last post, I think that ultimately, Homeworld may not actually care at all about Earth, the Crystal Gems, the Cluster, or the forced fusion experiments.

I have to keep reminding myself that Steven Universe is foremost a kids show. And while it's themes may run deep, emotionally; they have never been overly complex. For example: Pearl's behaviour regarding Rose shows Pearl has some deep-seated issues with that relationship. It's a powerfully emotional story, but it's not all ambiguous. It's rare for us to see these concepts tackled in a kids show, so maybe we tend to see them as 'over' children's heads, and in turn tend to overthink them.

I think as the show continues, we're going to find that the Diamond's motivations will also end up being pretty basic. The forced fusions and the Cluster might be exactly what Garnet said they were in "Keeping it Together": a vindictive punishment against the Gems who dared to stand up and challenge the established order. For Homeworld, the whole war might have been less about conquering the Earth and more simply stomping down a rebellion. And when it became clear to Homeworld they weren't going to win (or winning would have been way too costly) they just took off and nuked the entire site from orbit. You know, just to be sure.

Nothing more basic than kicking down a sandcastle and walking away when you don't get your way.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I like Pearl's story because it has happened to me. Nothing really prepares you for the experience of falling in love with someone who you believe feels mutual. But really, they were being nice, and are very affectionate to everyone, but they lack that ability to connect to anyone deeply. So you're misled. So when someone comes to challenges you to someone you believe loves you, you feel very horrid inside.
With this issue never resolved, I shudder to think what happens when the person you loves, stops existing.
Throw in this is a relationship that has existed for millennia.

[Laserbeaks Fury]

Yeah, easy to forget that these characters have lived together for at least 5000 years, and Rose has only been gone for 14. That's why I cut all the gems a lot of slack when it comes to their emotional attachment to Rose.

Maybe that's another reason Homeworld is so lukewarm to everything involving Earth. It's clearly a sore spot, but one that's had time to heal. So as long as nothing directly provokes the Diamonds, they are content to be indifferent to a few Gems. Until they find out about Steven, then all shit is going to hit the fan.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I wonder if the rebellion could spread.

[Defenestar]

I love this show. Persistent continuity, believable characters, emotional impact.

All in a story about a kid being raised by his carwash-owning musician dad, and his mother's old ancient alien spec ops team.

Anyone else think of Steven as both the reincarnation of his mother and a clone of his father? That's a weird position to be in, but he seems to be handling it well.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I usually dislike main characters in shows, especially child characters. And Steven annoyed me a lot on the first few episodes.

But he grew on me. I like him now, and I don't know when I started liking him.

[Laserbeaks Fury]

Okay, been working on a fuller version of the Desert Bus themed lyrics set to the extended Steven Universe Theme. Hope to hear your thoughts and suggestions:

If you travel and you need a ride,
You can count on the Desert Bus taking you there.
Costs so good that people never beg us.
We'll dim the lights and then roll out for Vegas!

We are the Desert Bus.
We drive for Child's Play.
And if you think you can,
Please donate funds today!

That's why the people on this crew will work hard:
Zeta, Alpha Flight, Night-watch, and Dawnguard!


{music instrumental}


As you enjoy this slow,
One-week marathon,
When we all ride our bus
Far out beyond Tucson,

Over the days, you'll find,
As you speed onward west,
That we will exhaust our minds...
And we will accept requests...
And we will attempt your jests...
And we will delight you!


{music instrumental}


I will Bus till we break Randomly
To groove together in a Dance Party!

I will Bus in the name of those QWOPs
And every meme that we'll be streamin'!

I will Bus for the music we play when
The group is all off-key and monotone!

I will Bus to feel every sting
That every bad pun wants me to feel when I GROAN.

The roads are against us, but we've got DAISy, so we're not going to do it alone!

We are the Desert Bus.
We drive for Child's Play.
And if you like this song,
Please donate funds today!

That's why the people on this crew will work hard:
Zeta, Alpha Flight, Night-watch, and Dawnguard!