Current Events > Steven Universe Complete, more than a week later. *SERIES SPOILERS*

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Steven Universe has stuck with me so well and I feel like I have so much more to say on the series since the last topic made it to 500. It is the sign of an excellent television show that it sticks with me and I have new thoughts I want to share about it. So here I go with some slightly indepth discussion of each major character!

Amethyst - I love that her character arc represents a deep seated insecurity about being not only different, but less than those she is surrounded by. She never really views herself as powerful, since her only real Gem friends were all more powerful than she is. This is amplified by the fact that Steven throughout the series quickly surpasses her abilities, and she comes face to face with the realization that even as an Amethyst she is somewhat weaker and malformed in comparison to her brethren.

These insecurities are shown off exceptionally well when she "runs away" with Steven and eventually comes to the Prime Kindergarten. She is immediately reprimanded by Pearl and scolded for even thinking of showing Steven something so... awful. Amethyst attacks Pearl knowing she cannot win in a fight, but just needs something to justify her existence. This is in stark contrast to her kinda goofy antics and her "who gives a fuck" mentality about a great many things.

She grows a tremendous amount through the series, to a point in Future where Steven is even jealous of her growth compared to his (perceived) lack of growth. She becomes a teacher and prime example of being able to just live with whatever your circumstances are. The circumstances of your birth and how they impact your abilities are not as important as trying every day to improve and finding courage and a sense of belonging with others. Excellent story telling and a lesson needed for a lot of people.

Garnet - I like that the majority of her character arc has to do with the balance of what a relationship should be. I felt like for awhile she was used primarily as a trump card for the Gems, giving them a chance against the overwhelming forces that were coming for them. This is echoed in her ability to see the future. She was the most level headed of the three, the most powerful, and also the most supportive of Steven in regards to who he is and could be. Not as a reflection of Rose, but as himself. Seeing as how Steven is something of a Fusion himself, in a way, this makes great narrative sense. It also opens the door to the complexities of relationships given that she is a fusion of Sapphire and Ruby. They did not often focus on this aspect, but when they did it was done exceptionally well. Each had their own insecurities and their own problems, and for a long time they were seemingly only truly content being together. The importance of each character learning to be apart from one another is a strong lesson to learn, as a relationship relies on the fact that each person is capable on their own, but greater together for the pairing. She also appreciated Greg more than the other Gems, and I feel that she most accurately reflected the type of leader and person that Rose wanted to be.

Pearl - Oh Pearl. How you were so close to being... well, a weak link in the series. Until the revelations of the final season of the original series, she was honestly really unlikable in a lot of ways. She was petty and jealous, holding it against Greg and Steven to some extent the fact that Rose did not choose to be with her for eternity. It is important to show to viewers how devastating this can be, and how damaging it can be; obsession. Pearl was obsessed with Rose. Not just in terms of her mission, but also a passionate love for Rose that was crippling when she was not "chosen" in the end. Remember, when she ran away with Rose's scabbard, Steven nearly died trying to simply catch up to her and talk to her. When Steven was about to plummet to his death, Pearl did nothing. She was so mentally damaged from her obsession she was not willing to help Steven just because of what Steven represented to her: the greatest failure of her life. It is a slow burn and transformation to the point where we see WHY Pearl was like this. She is programmed to feel like this. Pearls are made to be loyal servants to those they serve, and Pearl served Rose. I appreciate the lesson being told with Pearl, and it makes a lot more sense in retrospect, but boy she was exceptionally unlikable without that context. Arguably you could see her as the victim of an almost emotionally abusive relationship, as Rose was not ignorant to Pearl's desires, but she took human lover after human lover. My wife viewed it in these terms, though I think of it in far more complex terms in regards to Rose. But it is also part of the lesson. It was freeing to see her embrace life, and finally "move on" as her song so eloquently asked, loving her time WITH Rose rather than fearing what life is like without her.

Lapis - My god, such a deep and fundamental characterization. She is the very embodiment of the consequences of PTSD, and how it lingers in every step you take after the event in question has ended. The great thing, IMO, is we don't really get to know what she was like before her PTSD. It doesn't matter, because that experience is now a part of who she is forever. She is untrusting, pessimistic, and generally feels incapable of caring about herself or anyone/anything else. She doesn't want responsibility, she at times doesn't even seem like she wants to live (though not in a suicidal way). She has a hard time forgiving anyone for their transgressions. Beyond Steven, who literally freed her from a 5000+ year prison, she doesn't care for anyone besides herself. Her "relationship" with Jasper is incredibly interesting, as she almost fed on the horribly toxic relationship. She has so much anger, hatred, and trauma, it was GOOD to have to use it against someone else. She enjoyed being able to release that against someone else who could "take it". It was a counter-balance to Steven, who wants to help people to heal. Also, her eventual friendship with Peridot, another former captor of hers, is incredibly wonderful and shows a legitimate growth and ability for her to move beyond her past experiences and form a meaningful friendship with someone who legitimately had hurt her before.

Peridot - I found Peridot to be utterly delightful. Not exactly the most original of ideas, the brilliant scientist learning to appreciate art and just the subjective beauty of things that have no real "meaning". That being said, it is done exceptionally well with Peridot. She is one of the first people in the show that really encapsulates what the Homeworld is like. She kowtows to her superiors without question, looks down upon the Crystal Gems as beings who are inferior to her, and looks upon fusion as a perversion of everything Gem culture is based upon. For a long time she doesn't think twice about anything beyond the mission given to her by Yellow Diamond, and doesn't question it. She is the end result of what happens (especially now) to Gems who grow up in this caste system.

She also shows the ability for all Gems to grow beyond this, and that Homeworld is in essence "wrong" in how they do things. She grows so much throughout her time being stranded on Earth and then becoming a Crystal Gem. Even without powers of her own and her own small stature, she stands against the tyranny of her "queen" and creator, showing that it isn't just the powerful (like Garnet) who can stand for what they believe in. She also finds a meaningful relationship with Lapis, both having to learn to appreciate what Earth has and what it was about Earth that caused Rose to rebel.

I will add more thoughts later! Huzzah!

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That is a great write up tc. What do you think about jasper? Imo she is a more interesting antagonist compared to the diamonds.

The human characters are generally great too, especially lars and sadie (excluding connie because she is more than side character and semi regular crew)

But i also want to talk how great of friend connie is. If only i had a friend half as kind and supporting as her my life would be so much different. Imagine if steven never met connie. She done some amazing growing up too during her training arc.

Aside from that, i really never liked the the diamonds especially white. Their arcs is the least developed and most rushed in their conclusion. I dunno, they just never do anything interesting for them imo, these are ultra powerful being who enslaved and destroyed planets for lolz. I don't mind the conflict is resolved almost non-violently (this isn't a shonen battle series anyway) but their motivations are never really explained aside from being space rock nazis.

Incidentally almost everyone that are affected by them are infinitely more interesting characters than the diamonds, from the malformed gems, to volleyball or whoever that cracked pearl's name was.

I am glad they turned inward for future story that how steven was dealing with ptsd and was unable to move on whilst everyone around him grew up and moved on, but i do hoped the diamonds were more elaborated and the gem's societal structure and reason for their deadly expansion.

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Jasper is intriguing at times but I feel ultimately falls into the trope of wanting power for the sake of it. Jasper doesn't seem too concerned with being a product of Yellow Diamond (especially in comparison to Peridot) and once they understand the power of fusion, they become absolutely enthralled with it. This is in stark contrast to the caste system and general edicts of the Diamonds, showing that power and winning are even more important than knowing her place.

I do love the idea that Jasper only understands the power of fusion but not the reason behind its power. It shows a character who is a serial abuser and only sees others as how they benefit them. This of course comes in stark contrast later when she claims that individual power is what matters in SU Future. She has a deep seated hatred of herself for having been a product of the Beta Kindergarten, despite the fact she basically can fight Garnet on nearly equal terms.

Ultimately she believes so much in power and might makes right, she idolized and praised Steven for giving into his darker feelings and being shattered by it. She does show a BIT of growth, perhaps spurned on by seeing that Steven and the other Gems are growing being in Little Homeworld.

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Good read

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I think Yellow Diamond was always uncomfortable with shattering gems, and thats why she seems to have made multiple attempts to fix them by jamming gem shards together. She was also obsessed with earning White Diamonds approval and appreciation and was very disconnected from her feelings, so she invented an acceptable pretext for her work that both absolved her and the other diamonds of the full horror of their actions and framed it in more (to her) familiar terms of war. The object was to create useful gems to be weapons, culminating in the Cluster, something she hoped would be a great weapon. That it would annihilate Earth and further erase Pink Diamonds memory was probably a bonus she savored more than she would ever admit.
Ironically, the Cluster was successful, but only because Steven was able to connect with it and convince it that it didnt need to form or be anything: its countless shards could simply interact with one another, enabling the Cluster to actually become the powerful, reliable weapon Yellow Diamond had dreamed of, except for the part where it wrecked her ship in an arm wrestling contest. In the end, when confronted by Blue and Steven, she breaks down and cries, something she apparently has never done on her own.
Just imagine being so out of tune with yourself that you thought your little sister had been murdered for thousands of years and you wont admit to having shed a single autonomous tear for her for fear of your mom thinking youre weak or your sister finally snapping.

In the end, Yellow finally does get to fix shatttered gems, but for real! Now that shes learned to use her power over gem forms for healing, she can carefully piece shattered gems together and heal fractures, enabling her to resurrect gems. She even seems to have a system going: she makes them small, to prevent them from harming her or themselves (after all, the last thing they remember is being shattered at the behest of a diamond!) and has a companion gem on hand to help calm them. She is so happy doing this she even talks of working on the Cluster( though, by that point, the Cluster is probably happy as it is), which would be a monumental task ever for an immortal space goddess.