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mugen-monogatari · 5 years

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5 Quality Yet Accessible Tragic Anime You Should Watch

Let’s talk about tragedy in anime. Ain’t nothin’ like watching some sad anime boys experiencing sad things while I sit there and cry. I love tragedy in anime, there’s just a certain satisfaction in ‘dissatisfaction’. Sometimes, it’s far more meaningful for someone to lose a fight, to make a hard decision or sacrifice something. Maybe the hero never saves the girl, or a loved one just doesn’t make it. Yes, in a perfect world everyone ends up happy, but this isn’t a perfect world. People suffer, and sometimes it ends on a good note, sometimes everything goes to hell and the world burns. That gritty realism and human error adds a level of empathy and depth to many shows that would otherwise lack it. I personally think it’s worth talking about that, since I don’t think tragic anime get enough love.

So I thought I’d make a quick list of 5 accessible yet Quality tragedy series, ranging from pretty popular and accessible, to slightly more niche. Many of you have seen these series I’m sure, but with the continuous stream of shows being released every single season, it can be hard to either go back and watch older shows, or stay on top of newer ones. These are just a few picks that I would urge anyone and everyone to go and at least try.

I should also preface this by saying, when I say tragedy, it doesn’t mean the show has a depressing ending. By tragedy I’m referring to tragic events happening in a show regularly, be it at the end, the beginning or throughout. Simply putting something on this list, doesn’t mean it has a tragic ending, so you can rest assured there are still surprises to come when watching these.

Also, these are all my opinions, everyone is entitled to them. You can disagree or agree, it’s up to you, we can even discuss my peeps. Just don’t brutalize me for shows you don’t like or if one of your favorites isn’t on this list.

All of that being said, Here are 5 tragic series I think everyone should at least try:

1. Code Geass

Starting off simple we have Code Geass. What a show this was back in the day. Death Note, mixed with Mechs and sci-fi and chess and a whole lot of edge. For many people, they have already seen it, it’s almost guaranteed if you watched anime in the early 2000s. However, as time goes on, this series slowly falls into obscurity, many people being less attracted by its flamboyant art style and the ever growing age. It seems like Code Geass is slowly fading away with time, people online aren’t forgetting about it, but moving on, and many new fans are understandably detracted from a show like this.

But they’re all wrong. This series is incredible. It’s a fundamental “must-watch” show. Sure, it shows it’s age now, but that doesn’t detract from it’s plot and characters. With a very likeable cast, a constantly expanding story, high stakes, insane powers and mind games, politics and action, all of these make an insanely good series, one that warrants repeated viewing to this day. What starts as a boy being in the wrong place at the wrong time, blows up into a worldwide conflict. This is one of those series that sticks with you, there are scenes and moments in this you just never forget moving forward.

Some of the things I love is Sunrise’s mech designs, Lancelot as well as many of the Knightmare frame designs in the movies and show are still fun and vibrant to this day. Many old Mecha shows become redundant years later as the designs don’t hold up. This one though, certainly does.

I also really love the voice acting. Yes the sub is good, but the dub (fight me) is just mwah. Johnny Yong Bosch as Lelouch is nut worthy. Just watch the first episode where he gives his first command. Insta nut. I’m telling you.

I also love the endings of both seasons. I think the first is a really good climax, while the second season closes about as well as this could, while still coming out of left field.

Some things that I think detract people, definitely start with the art style. Sunrise’s designs for the machines and backgrounds and such is fine, it looks good, however Clamp’s character designs are definitely an acquired taste. They’re not for everyone. Everyone looks super slender, almost cartoon like in their clothes and proportions. Yes you get used to it, but they still look very “different” to the standard, even back when it first came out.

Another is sometimes, the show just goes to very strange places, for example having an episode to do with drug addiction that just came out of left-field. In the same vein, some people have very mixed opinions on season two, not entirely liking the direction it goes and some of the character developments. However, a lot of these things are subjective and I’ll leave them up to you to decide.

Spanning two, 25 episode seasons (you can definitely just pretend the movie never happened) as well as several spin off OVAs and Shorts (Those you actually can watch though), the series is a pretty long watch by today’s standards, but it’s definitely worth it.

2. Zankyou No Terror

Next up, we have Terror in Resonance. This one for sure is worth the watch even without the tragedy. This is one of those shows, which is so visually appealing to watch. It’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing shows I’ve ever seen. I guarantee anyone who’s interested in aesthetic gifs and images of weeb stuff, has seen shots from this show without even realizing it. It’s not exactly a niche show, but it’s a little less accessible than something like “Angel Beats”, with a much more serious and gritty tone. It’s not criminally underrated, but I just really wish more people had seen this, since it genuinely is a beautiful series.

Some of the things I really love about this show, is (as I’ve mentioned a thousand times) the aesthetic sense. Every shot in this series is screenshot worthy, with plenty scenes making for ‘straight-out-the-box’ gifs and icons and whatever it is you kids use screenshots for. Even the food, just like papa Gigguk mentioned, is just mwah, spicy stuff. I attribute this to the very well considered color palette, realistic lighting and designs, as well as just overall good cinematography.

On the less visible side of things, the story hold ups really well too, with some very genuinely emotional moments and scenes. Just like Code Geass above, this series has a very well considered ending, with a “Wholesome”(?) message at the end.

The only negatives I can really give for the series, is some pacing issues if you’re an impatient brat like me, as well as almost a complete lack of lightheartedness. The series can be sweet and touching, but it’s almost always dark and serious at the same time, with no time to relax or breathe throughout.

I think there isn’t as much to say about ZnT as there is about Code geass, as it’s not as subjective. It is an objectively high quality show, your own enjoyment of it is what varies. Unlike Code Geass, there isn’t many flaws, but it doesn’t take as many risks. To me, this show is a very safe bet. It looks gorgeous, is only 11 episodes (you big boys and girls can binge that) and tells a satisfying, self-contained story. A little bonus is that it’s directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, famous for Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, so hey- It has that going for it too.

3. Parasyte: The Maxim

Following on, we have one of the series that introduced me to tragedy, Parasyte: The Maxim. Let me tell you, this series is dark. And violent. Very violent at times.

When it first aired in 2014, the response was pretty good, it didn’t reach critical Acclaim, but had its own cult following, with the manga having been published from the late 80s to the mid 90s. For me, this was one of my first truly “darker” and more violent anime, having really only watched shounen and some seinen before that. This to me isn’t one of the best stories ever, the characters are fine, and the show looks acceptable. But while it doesn’t excel in anything, it does everything really well. To me, it’s the perfect bridge from Casual fan, to serious- or even as a primer for more dark and violent stories, such as Berserk or dare I say it Tokyo Ghoul (Read the manga, please don’t support the anime adaptation).

For me personally, I really Liked the main character, he drove the show on for me. Watching him develop into someone completely different from the beginning of the show, was a real draw to me. He’s likeable, relatable to an extent, and he had a complete character arc. Shinichi in the beginning is not the same character as in the end.

This character is also used to convey a deeper meaning about what humanity is and how we define the term. It’s a really interesting series about us as a race, with some genuine things to discuss and think about, which leaves a longer lasting impression than most shows. It’s the sort of series that makes you want to share it with other people just so you can talk to them about it. Ah- and it’ll hit you in the feels. This show is genuinely tragic through out, but still stays personal to the small cast, which to me, is the sign of a really good tragedy. Despite things going on in the entire world, they make you care about these few people specifically.

However, it has it’s own problems too. Art wise, it’s very faithful to the original source material, capturing the feel of it, the low key oppressive vibes. However, this also means, it can look a little… ‘Bland’? At times. The earthy colors can be a little drab, especially in an age were Studio Trigger, for example, can make an eye-gasm worthy scene using colours you didn’t even know existed.

The other problem, is some of the characters are very one dimensional. Take the love interest, she doesn’t really develop or change at all throughout the series, but I personally give this a pass as she’s not super relevant to the story anyway.

A fair warning though, this series has some strong violence, plenty of gore and mutilation, if that’s a problem for you, I suggest either giving this one a skip, or just trying to sit through it. It’ll be a good learning experience.

Spanning a fair 24 episodes, having aired in 2014, this series is both bingeable, and holds-up very well in the modern ecosystem of anime. To me, this is a pretty top tier show, a solid 8/10, it’s very good, a really well made show, It makes for the perfect bridge into far more serious and dark stories, such as maybe Berserk and Devilman, hence why I put it on this list.

4. Fate/Zero

For my second to last show, perhaps one of the most well known franchises, that is lowkey kinda niche. Fate is a series everyone knows the existence of, but not as many people have actually watched, especially not casual fans. To be frank, it’s intimidating. The series has no real easy entry point, and all the timelines are relatively interwoven, you can’t just bounce around. Everything spoils everything and it’s scary to even look at a list of fate entries.

That’s why I picked Fate Zero. To me, it’s the best entry point into the Type/Moon genre. For those of you who don’t know, it’s basically a battle royal between seven summoners who each have a servant of different classes. They all have to fight for the Holy Grail, an artifact that will grant them a single wish. Sounds simple right?

Well it’s not. The entire series is full of not only badass action, but plenty of mind games and ‘cat-and-mouse’ between the characters. It’s brutal, it’s tragic, violent and uplifting. Ufotable delivers some of the highest quality animation you’ll see in your life (they’re renowned for it), but it doesn’t just look good. The story is compelling, the characters are genuinely likeable and by the end, I wanted everyone to live and survive. Everyone has believable and compelling motivation, and even the objectively evil characters, like Caster, are still likeable, because you begin to love to hate them. The entire season honestly plays out more like a compressed microcosmic version of Game of Thrones, than a battle royal anime.

There are plenty of things I like about this series, the plot is really fun, the fights are pretty damn cool and it can be a very emotional show at times. I could talk about these aspects endlessly. However, the thing that really makes Fate for me, is the characters. Each individual characters gets some time and attention, and with the exception of a few, you really genuinely like and care about everyone. You want everyone to win, or at least survive, since all of them are either genuinely lovable, or have very compelling motivation.

The other part to it is, this is the best starting point for the rest of Fate, and I would actually argue that it enhances many scenes found in the subsequent (story wise) series, even if they aired prior to Zero. This series both introduced me to Fate, and got me attached and invested in the world, which is the sign of a good (technically) first series.

On the other hand, it has problems. First of all, it’s pretty interwoven with the later series. Those came before it and set up a lot of mysteries and ideas that Zero goes out of it’s way to explain, from character identities to events in the timeline, watching Zero will spoil a lot of those things, which may lessen the later experiences for some people.

The other flaw is despite being maybe the best starting point for Fate, it still isn’t entirely accessible. The show can be straight up confusing at times, at least for someone who hasn’t seen Fate. Many elements of the world aren’t explained and you’re just expected to go along with it, since it’s either just a part of this world, or explained in other series. Which is fine, but often lead to some rather “But wait… What just happened?” moments.

Ultimately, Fate/Zero is fantastic series for anyone looking for a really good character drama, full of magic and badass historical references. It’s not the best introduction but it’s the best you’ll get from Fate. Similarly to Code Geass and ZnT, the series has a really good conclusion in my opinion, with plenty of tragic moments sprinkled throughout.

For Fate, Zero specifically consists of two seasons of 12 episodes each, for a bingeable 24 episode series. For ideas where to go next from this, look for my upcoming Tumblr Post explaining the fate continuity.

5. Mobile Suit Gundam : Iron-Blooded Orphans

And Finally, we come to our last pick of the day. This is a series, I would urge anyone to watch. If I could make you watch one Single series from this list, this would be it. Throw away any views you have on the franchise or the genre, don’t be afraid of the name, just give this series a try.

Iron Blooded Orphans follows a small mercenary band of boys who just want to make a home for themselves in a galaxy strained by political unrest. The premise is simple, just people trying to survive and make a life for themselves.

Well what if I told you it was directed and written by the same Duo that made AnoHana, one of the most commonly acknowledged tragic shows out there. This duo write and direct stories about innocent children being put through immense hardship and this series is no different. This show is tragic, painful even. I sobbed as many times as I laughed and smiled in this show. We spend a season watching them come up in the world, only to watch everything get torn apart in the second season, and it is genuinely emotional and heart wrenching.

Something I love about this series, is the characters and how attached you become to them. Death is a genuine threat in this show, even if you don’t feel it in the beginning. When people die, it hurts, and that applies to IBO, where each death leaves resounding ripples on the people around them. It handles familial relationships really well, making you believe in these people and their emotions. When they suffer, you cry for them, and when they get brief moments of respite, you do too. I love how invested you become in this ragtag team of boys, making some of the later scenes all the more devastating when they happen.

Another thing I love is the stakes. Within the second season, the pressure to perform is on, the first season, while having threats and such, was never even close to season two. To be vague, one of my favorite moments is when a character has to land a decisive shot in the midst of a battle, and everyone’s lives are on the line. That entire confrontation is one of my favorite scenes in anime of all time. It is truly suspenseful and will take you on an emotional journey.

To top it all off, it’s made by Sunrise. If you like Mechs, well oh boy do they have you covered, and if you don’t- well oh boy, you will when you’re done. This show makes the mech Genre, and Gundam entirely accessible, you need no prior knowledge, you don’t need to be a fan to enjoy it. The fights are really fun and have genuinely cool moments, as cool as it can get for a mech anyway. The characters and story are well written and everything just comes together to make a very well produced show- Good job Sunrise.

It doesn’t go without it’s own problems though. The first 20 ish episodes, until they get to earth, are not pointless, but have some pacing issues, as well as low stakes. There are threats and people die, but you never feel that scared or intense. Then towards the end of season one, the show kicks into high gear. To counteract this slow start, the series has a phenomenal season two that I genuinely believe everyone should watch, as it’s a perfect example of character drama done exceptionally well.

The series is comprised of two seasons of 25 episodes each, totaling a measly (if you’re a big boy or girl) 50 episodes. There is several related forms of media, nothing worth mentioning though, for more Gundam, you’re better off watching other series from the franchise.

If I can only force you to watch one, please go out and watch Iron Blooded Orphans. To me, it’s 9- pushing a 10/10 series, with a undeniably slow start, but a fantastic heart felt, emotional ending.

So that’s it from me guys. Thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of a mad man like me, but I hope this gives some people some ideas on where to go next or what they can watch now. If you enjoyed, make sure to follow me for more discussions and lists and whatever else anime related. If you have any advice, or want to discuss something with me, go ahead let me know, other than that- Leave, go outside, get some fresh air after reading all that.

#anime #discussion #Iron Blooded Orphans #Fate #code geass #Parasyte #terror in resonance #IBO #Gundam

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s4lticid · 6 years

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The Shady as all Hell Whistleblower: Or why we shouldn’t take Romelle at face value.

Some firsts:

First and foremost, my deep thanks to the wonderful family at the Lotura Discord Server. In the midst of dumping this stream of consciousness mess on you all, I may pull some ideas that were discussed there and are not original to me. Where possible I will try and credit individuals, but if I miss anyone my deepest apologies and know that everyone there has had a great deal of influence over my thought process. My love and thanks for all the great discussion and support – even the stuff I haven’t been present for!

Second, this and the stuff to come right after, was the work of lots of thought and research that started right after S6 dropped. That is a long time, and I wanted to get something out sooner but I have just been too swamped with RL, which has decided to become a giant, bloody, throbbing, pus-filled buboe blocking me from doing much of anything fun at all ever again. Thus you will be treated to a stream of as much shit as I can spit out at once in the time I have to get this down, and it may not be in the best format or particularly well written, but here goes… oh, and this is also another reason I may forget who said what in conversations exactly, because some of it happened nearly 2 months ago.

I am aware there have been a few metas written about Romelle. I haven’t actually read any of them at this point, except for Leaking Hate’s awesome meta here, because I didn’t want to get overly influenced by the ideas of others. As such I have been on reading and participating in fandom even less that RL gave me a chance to. So if you see something here that was said by someone outside of the Lotura Server and they are not credited, it is not me copying someone, I have just been holding on to it until I could post this.

That said, this builds off of some things LH posted in the above link, and I will do my best to credit those conversations I can remember reading and/or participating in within the Discord.

~oOo~

OKAY.

I’m going to come right out and say it:

Romelle is not who she says she is.

There are too many inconsistencies in her story. So, let’s start at the very beginning and begin poking the holes to prove my point:

1. Keith and Krolia find Romelle:

Keith and Krolia are in the Quantum Abyss riding a Space Whale and it brings them to a planet. Krolia takes a reading, and finds the same signal as the strange quintessence the Blade has been tracking on that planet.

Note: Krolia first sees the readings from space and tracks them to the planet. She doesn’t find any Quintessence signal anywhere else, she specifically states that it is strong and coming from exactly one place.

It is coming from here:

So, if there was a moon base absolutely full of Alteans being drained for their quintessence, as they were shown later, why ever did such a larger source not register first and foremost rather than that cute little dome Romelle is in?

Speaking of that Dome, it’s pretty small, isn’t it? It’s a bio-dome. Meant for a few inhabitants. Does this look like it could house a colony, or even a village realistically? No. It can handle a handful, maybe a dozen people. Probably, it was meant to house just one. But we’ll get to that later.

Keith and Krolia break in and find Romelle, alone and by a riverside. Washing clothes? Why do that in her only clean water source when she has technology all around her? And make no mistake here, she is alone and demands help.

~oOo~

Now I am going to digress here for a moment before I go on to point 2, so I can point out a parallel to the original show, Defender of the Universe (to be referred to from here on as DotU for brevity’s sake, and for my fingers).

There are a LOT of nods to the original shows, (GoLion too), throughout VLD. Some are flat out mirrors for the original, same plot ideas remade, lines taken and reused, Characters, Mechas, motives and situations, they’re all here, though sometimes reworked in very unexpected ways. It’s beautiful seeing them all.

Finding the pretty Damsel alone by a stream, helpless, perhaps even passed out, is one plot device DotU used a LOT.

For instance, when Allura’s Aunt Orla comes to visit, Haggar intercepts and captures her, and then takes her form and lies down to appear knocked out after an attack on her carriage. She is found lying by a stream. That was a plot to get to Allura:

Or how about the time Haggar herself was caught being pretty for a day – in apparently her original form – and cursed the person who saw her?

Again, found by a river.

Fine, you say. But this isn’t Haggar pretending to be Romelle. That didn’t happen, right?

Oh but it did. “It’ll Be a Cold Day”:

Ok, so she wasn’t found by a river this time. But two out of three combined with the VLD writers’ way of reworking things make this a nice little reference point for this original trope.

Something else to note here is there is always some part of Haggar that is a tell. Some part which she cannot disguise. I would posit that we have one with VLD Romelle too: Her clothes. As you go through this post, where you see images of other Alteans, please get a look at their garb. There are several styles that are re-used among each of the people shown. However not one of them wears the same cut we see Romelle wear. And yet someone does. Who? Haggar/Honerva.

No, I am not saying Romelle is actually Honerva/Haggar in disguise. But she could easily be in league with her, and at the very least she definitely is not the innocent she appears and claims to be. Not just because of these fun little references to the original, but they are nice signposts along the way.

~oOo~

2. Romelle’s Story: The Colony

Romelle starts her story to the Paladins by telling them she comes from a planet where there are thousands of Alteans.

This bears repeating: Thousands. Of living Alteans.

Not “were” thousands, but are.

Lotor apparently hunted down every Altean who had been off planet at the time Altea was destroyed, and their offspring, to bring them to the first Colony.

Here is an image of the beginnings of that colony:

Here’s another:

Green as far as the eye can see and a giant ship that, as Leaking Hate pointed out in her meta and on Discord, is easily the size of the dome we were shown above where Keith and Krolia first found Romelle.

That ship would never fit in the bio-dome. And as the upper picture of these two states in the subtitles, Lotor chose a remote planet beyond the Quantum Abyss, not in the Abyss. A planet with a sun such that plants could grow, not a pulsar.

This means it cannot same planet as Romelle was found on, because she states the colony planet is beyond the Abyss, so the Abyss and the Pulsar within it already existed back then. Neither could that ship ever hope to fit inside that dome, as is shown in her memory.

And that colony that was built, shown in the lower picture? Is easily twice as big, or more, as the one Romelle is found in.

3. Romelle’s Story: The Second Colony

Generations ago, once the Colony was very successful, Lotor began testing Alteans for special characteristics such that they could survive the journey to and live on a “Second Colony”. “To better our chances for survival”.

Let’s start with who was chosen.

Around Nine Thousand Five Hundred to Nine Thousand years ago – assuming time for Lotor to mature enough to do all this, knowing that he ages slowly thanks to the writers – Lotor would have started the first Colony. The last people brought might have been found within a couple of hundred years of that range, but probably less.

Think about how long a time that is.

Now, get a look at the faces that came in with some of the survivors found way back then:

Now look at who is being tested:

(Note: I circled a few faces, but if you really look you will see many of the same ones from the above pic)

And note two of the faces I circled.

We know Alteans have a long life span. Far longer than Humans. But we also know from Allura’s reaction that they shouldn’t be anything like at least Nine Thousand Years or more.

So how are First-comer Refugee Alteans alive and young at the same time – ‘Generations Later’ – as both Romelle and Bandor?

Let’s argue that they could be. Bandor and Romelle were just younger then and not chosen. So then Why have neither of them aged at all by the time Romelle related that eventually Bandor was old enough to be tested and passed?

And look, here are some of the first people chosen. Recognize at least one face and clothing? (Not including Petrulius who is a contemporary of Romelle’s as she identifies him on the Moon Facility)

Sure they could be chosen much later, but then why have they not aged at all?

So were Romelle and Bandor refugees? If so then why did Romelle say she was born onto that planet?

Were they born on the planet as she claims?

Did Lotor start testing for special Alteans earlier than she says? Or was it really later? If the latter then how are these original refugees still so young?

However you look at it, her timeline does not add up,

4. Romelle’s Story: The Monument

Thanks in advance to Trisha, Giobana, Crystal Rebellion, Leaking Hate and anyone else who contributed to the conversation that led to this one.

Romelle shows us in her memory that there was a memorial wall to those who went to the Second Colony. Whether she mentions it to the Paladins, I don’t know, but what is shown in the episode looks very much like a memorial to the Fallen.

The base of the Lotor’s statue is covered in names, and we see it cracked with age. People go there to pay respects and leave flowers – and not just any flowers, but pink flowers.

This kind of memorial is what you do for Fallen Soldiers and Fighters in a struggle, not people who are alive off somewhere on another colony and whom you hope to see again once the struggle is over. We even see this is a cross-cultural, cross-species, and intergalactic practice when we see the monument planet Pidge first traced Matt to.

And what do we know about Pink to Alteans? From Allura:

Fallen Warriors. Not people who have gone to a second colony in the hopes of keeping their people alive.

Actually, let’s look at that little tale there. Any colony, in order to be successful, requires a genetically diverse population, a breeding population. A handful of people at a time, because they test as special is not going to provide that. Particularly not in what has been portrayed as a potentially dangerous and harsh journey and place – that alone would be safer in numbers.

Add to that we clearly see that Lotor has separated breeding pairs – Couples – in the few images we see of those chosen. If he is trying to establish a new colony why would he logically do that? The Alteans are intelligent and have some technological expertise, at least some of them, how did no one question that?

I call Shenanigans.

Whatever was going on, it was not another colony and the Alteans all knew it.

This wall? Is a War Memorial honoring warriors who the Alteans think are probably dead.

5. Romelle’s Story: The Communicator

When Bandor is chosen, he is portrayed as giving Romelle a communicator to try and stay in touch with her.

This, despite his being portrayed by her as someone who deeply believed in the importance of not compromising the location of each colony through stray communications that could be picked up and tracked. He is portrayed as explaining to Romelle, in such a ways that impies he has explained it to her time and again, why it was so very important that there be no communication. He seems to understand and believe that it could be life and death. But he creates one anyway?

And then, he doesn’t think to give it to her until he is about to board the ship, in front of the guards:

Look at this picture above. If you zoom in, everyone is looking at them and watching.

This whole part of the story is flat out ridiculous, and makes zero sense. There is no logic to this chain of events or his giving her the thing only at that very moment and not before testing just in case or something.

It is a lie on the level a six year old might tell. It shouldn’t even be considered as more than that. And it is here, I think, that we fly into the realm of pure fantasy. Everything up till now was probably half-truths and misdirection. From here on out though, her story really starts to fall apart and it is very likely we are seeing total and full fabrication.

6. Romelle’s Story: The Dome

We know Romelle never gets chosen for the second Colony, or at least she never states that she does. Her never being chosen for the second colony wouldn’t be something to hide, it could totally benefit her story. It would also help to explain why they didn’t try to warn anyone or stop the testing once they found the moon base – a fact that no one questioned, which itself is suspicious. But she implies by her story that she remains at home, among her people, all alone and depressed because now she has no family.

So she is supposedly still at the original colony when Bandor finally does contact her. He has crashed by the woods. She goes to him and what does she see?

The roof of the Dome. Which we have already established does not exist on the First Colony. So, where is she? Why is she now in this Dome?

What happened in the intervening time that she is not telling us, and is this story about Bandor crashing and the communicator even true? Or are we now in fully manipulative fantasy?

There appear to be no other people in the Dome at all. At least neither Keith nor Krolia relate having seen even one single person to corroborate her story. No other Alteans on this original Colony she is supposed to still be on, which is where Keith and Krolia supposedly find her, and where she states very clearly in the beginning of her story that there are thousands of living, healthy Alteans.Why did Keith and Krolia not see one other person?

Why does Romelle know about a flight bay on the outside of the Dome such that she can take Keith and Krolia to it, but they are supposed to be on an open planet?

When Romelle shows them to said pod, she actually says that “No one else here would know how to fly them if they wanted to”. She represents in this line, once again, that this is the First Colony and there are other people here. So where are they?

7. The Moon Base

Let’s begin with a question I asked at the beginning.

Why, when they were coming in to the planet, did Krolia see

no quintessence signal at all

from that moon base?

These supposed people are supposedly being harvested – and Keith uses the active verb.

These people

Are. Not. Dead

The signal of Quintessence from a place so full of so many people, and the energy being harvested from them, not to mention the pods of Quintessence being harvested off in a storage room somewhere, being collected and stored for pickup, would have logically dwarfed the signal coming from Romelle and her little Dome. They would have ended up here first, not at the Dome.

Even when they finally get there, at first Krolia only says she sees something down on the moon, not that she is getting any kind of Quintessence signal there.

Why? Because there isn’t any.

The pods and the people are a mirage, created by them and for them; woven out of their own pre-existing prejudice and hate, and so very easy for them to believe.

Lotor never was portrayed as taking so very many people at once. For that many people to still be alive and being drained on that station, almost every single Altean would have to still be alive and being used.

A key thing Lotor has been portrayed as is not wasteful. Realistically, and if this were true, Alteans would have died of age. Some even may have died from the process itself.

Why would you keep a dead body in a pod like that for generations, and just build another?

You wouldn’t. You would dispose of the corpse and reuse the pod.

There wouldn’t be so very many of them if what Keith and Krolia saw was real, and was what they thought.

Let’s get a look at the pods, btw. They are very reminiscent of Earth Batteries or Quintessence Capsules themselves, aren’t they? Why do you think that is? Perhaps because they are being manufactured from the thoughts and imaginings of Keith and Krolia?

Here is what real Galra Pod Tech looks like – this is the most recent example, but we HAVE seen it before in earlier seasons. I am just too lazy to go and find it.

Lotor is a Prince, with access to resources and a scientist who designs and creates his own tech advances, ships and fleets. To top that he has access to all of the best and latest technology in the empire.

Does this really look anything like real, known and hi-tech Galra technology, except in a passing, functional way?

And why, after they have seen this and come to the conclusions they have, if the colony is right there and they have not only the proof but are themselves outsiders, giving them credibility…. WHY do Keith and Krolia – both Altruistic heroic do-gooders – not go and try to warn the rest of the Colony? Get them to stop participating or submitting to the tests?

Again, that makes no sense at all according to their personalities. Instead, they run headlong back to Allura to blow the whistle on evil, evil Lotor. No stops, no questions, no thought about the others still at risk.

Also, no proof aside from this one little girl and her story, which without other evidence amounts to nothing more than Heresay. No pictures, no video and no attempt to grab a jar of Quintessence to prove their case.

We find out in S7, that Keith at least sent a message to Kolivan and asked him to send a squad out there. But what did Kolivan’s team find?

Nothing. The place was empty. “Cleaned out”. And judging by the lighting when they got there, it was already probably empty and shut down. They just imagined the pods. How else would it be empty? It’s not like Lotor had any time to clear it. Neither did Honerva, if Kolivan acted right away – and honestly, Kolivan would have acted as fast as he could.

Speaking of Honerva:

8. On the Castle of Lions

Honerva is watching through Mommy Cam Kuron. Nowhere in this episode is she at all surprised or disturbed to see another living Altean.

We find out later when she speaks to Lotor that she is aware that he has continued her work and succeeded where she could not. That work was partly involving Alteans, but I will get to what that means later and probably in a different post.

So she is aware that Alteans exist, but she is still not at all surprised to see Romelle there in the castle. At all. As if it is part of her plan. Could Romelle be in league with Honerva? A part of a plan?

OR, thanks to the Blade being compromised by the alliance with Lotor – which Keith points out in S7 – Honerva found out about the investigation into the Quintessence early on into the new Alliance and traced the path herself. She has access to all databases and resources in the Empire, after all, and we do not know what she was doing for a looong time while a lot of other things were going down in S5 and S6.

Kolivan and the blade, despite their own resources, were having trouble tracing the source and route of the quintessence. Perhaps what they did find was carefully fed to them when Honerva was ready for them. When both she and Romelle were prepared.

And let’s talk a moment about how not one of the members of the team, including both Hunk and Kuron – both great voices of calm and reason for the team – questioned any of the discrepancies of the story I mentioned above, or Keith and Krolia’s actions, lack of corroboration and lack of trying to help the surviving colonists.

They have started to build a relationship with the Galra, learn their culture and working hard for peace for months and months. They were all starting to get to know and like Lotor even. They know the careful balance going on right now in the empire. And then one girl shows up with an MIA team member and has an uncorroborated story, and starts ordering people to shoot Lotor down, not caring that Allura is there too. Even after she is told that Allura is there she doesn’t care.

Her story starts preying on emotion and projecting her own obvious desire to see him dead. And the team members all get very emotional and ready for violence as well, as if the last several months never happened. Their reasoning starts to slip, they don’t question or think out what they’re being told, not even the ones that normally do that no matter what.

And then we have this foreshadowing from waaaay near the beginning of the show:

Keith is still a hothead in many ways. And he was too impatient to get Lotor to be focused against mind control.

He shows up on the Castle ready to rush into the rift and attack. Even after hearing that Allura would be caught in the crossfire he presses to try and do just that and has to be bitchslapped by Lance.

The sheer venom and anger in all of the Paladins’ responses once Romelle is done with her story is off the scale. Especially Hunk and Shiro. Shiro’s tone when he says once Lotor and Allura land they will separate them and “Take Lotor down!” is a tone I have never once heard from him in the entire series. It’s sheer rage fueled bloodlust. This is not any of them. This is them being manipulated.

A brief thought about S7… Never mind that Romelle’s Altean frankly sucks, and she seems able to read Hunk’s mind – convenient that. How about Romelle identifying Lotor’s fleet by sight? When did she ever see enough of that, while living isolated on the colony, to know his ships by sight?

SO. Who or what is Romelle?

Well, we have seen how characters are reworked from the original. And there is one major character from the original we still haven’t seen.

Merla.

It makes no sense to bring in a new character now. But merging her with another character already brought in, one who disliked and enjoyed thwarting Lotor as much as the original Romelle did? That is not only possible, it is plausible, considering many of the character merges and re-works the VLD Team has already done throughout the series.

Merla is telepathic, but more, she can control people. Partly via telepathy, but most often she uses the trope known as Emotion Bomb:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EmotionBomb

It is so much easier to control people through emotions and insecurities they already have. And by the behavior of the Paladins that day? That is exactly what was happening. Not one of them acted rationally or completely within the current development of their character to Romelle and her appearance/story. Not even Keith and Krolia did when they found her, as pointed out earlier.

They are all being manipulated and at least mostly, lied to. They are pawns and Romelle a tool to get Lotor out of their Alliance and out of his safe space with Voltron. This is why Honerva was not surprised about Romelle being there on the ship. This is how Honerva knew about the Alteans and the research when she finally got Lotor back onto her ship to try and talk to him.

Honerva is back to herself and she wants to get back to her people, probably to lead them. She wants her son back now that she has herself again too. To get even a chance at that she needs to get him away from his safe and stabilizing place with the Voltron Coalition. She wants his Sincline ship, so she wouldn’t need Voltron anymore. She certainly wouldn’t want him cozying up to Alfor’s Daughter.

Honerva has put a nice chess game onto the table, getting Romelle on her side, manipulating the Paladins, and forcing the breach in the budding New Empire and Alliance.

Romelle is pissed, perhaps understandably, and has a bone to pick. She may have been exiled to that planetoid by her people and Lotor, for starting shit on the Colony, and found there by Honerva, or she may have been set up there by Honerva. In the end the result is the same. Perfect tool.

Because Lotor had not been harvesting Alteans all this time. Romelle, as he said in the episode, was not telling the truth and did not know what she spoke of. What would be the point of that, there is no research in that, only death. No, he has been developing fighters like the one we saw in the end of S7. Fighters that fuse Altean Alchemic Magic and fighting skill from the pilot, allowing the pilot to see and experience straight through the ship’s sensors, and powering the ship through their own Quintessence – very like the Lions only more. (My thanks to Crystal Rebellion who helped me develop this base idea with this meta. There will be more to come on this.)

The special Alteans who went with him from the colony were test pilots, heroes to their people, to help ensure their survival. A new protective military force. .

Test pilots have a dangerous job, one that is known to lead to death. And who knows, maybe some Galra had snooped around at times. Regardless, that memorial to fallen warriors was just exactly that, and all the Altean people knew exactly what they were volunteering for.

Even Lotor said a few were martyred for an important cause to save the future for thousands. One cannot become a martyr unless everyone knows what they did and why.

Lotor is their greatest Hero and Savior. And now his Mother is likely there – having forsaken the Druids – and has given the Colony a story of betrayal, and the Komar to perfect their fighters. Perhaps a wounded and/or Comatose Lotor is with her if she managed to pull him out of the rift first. But regardless, the Alteans are not friends to Allura, Voltron or the Coalition. They are going to see Allura and the Paladins as enemies, who betrayed and hurt their leader and protector.

That fighter was not a part of Sendak’s fleet, she was a forward thrust. A shot across the Paladin’s bow. The Alteans will be hunting Voltron.

I’ll leave you with a parting thought.

The writers also said in the end, we would look back and see that Lotor was never lying. And that he came from a genuine place, though he never had the tools and choices the rest of the Paladins were given in their upbringings and lives. And lastly, that his feelings for Allura were indeed genuine.

I am working on a meta for Lotor. I’ll get there soon.

My thanks again to everyone on the Lotura Discord. You are all amazing, wonderful people and I am lucky to have met you and to be able to discuss ideas with you.

Thanks to Crystal Rebellion for helping me last minute find links at 2 AM so I can get a bit of sleep before work

And thanks to the love of my life for putting up with me being tied up so late tonight.

Without your support I can do so little.

#lotura #@VLD #meta #Romelle is Shady #don't trust the bitch #Romerla

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frattocri9724 · 6 years

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Steven Universe: Obsidian The Crystal Temple Fusion - Possible Powers and Abilities

Hello, everybody. Today, as I explained in my previous post, I’m going to talk to you about my personal deduction about the possible power and strength of Obsidian, the name given to the Crystal Temple Fusion by the creator Rebecca Sugar. This giant Fusion is depicted as the giant rock sculpture covering the entrance of the Crystal Temple. It’s never been estimated if it had ever existed, what abilities or powers she could have shown or anything else. There’s a current rumor which suggests that the fusion Obsidian was mentioned during Pearl’s own retelling of Captain Dewey’s story in “Mindful Education”, which, don’t get me wrong, is very possible, but that’s another story that we are not gonna discuss about in this article. What I’m gonna do is trying to find out how possibly powerful this Fusion is and, trust me, the implications of the conclusion I managed to reach are both terrifying and awesome at the same time. Obsidian, the Crystal Temple Fusion, isn’t just overpowered - she’s probably THE most overpowered Fusion in the entire series. Fusions like Malachite, Alexandrite, or even Blue and Yellow Diamond wouldn’t even stand a chance against this monstrosity. Now, obviously, it’s important to enlist which criterias I will cover over the course of the article in order to estimate Obsidian’s possible strength and special abilities and powers. For istance, I will try to perform power scaling of the “Steven Universe” franchise as much as I can and, in order to better develop the scaling, I will partially rely on some external sources, like the VS Battle Wiki, the OBD Wiki’s feats calculations and the SpaceBattles.com forum about the “Steven Universe respect/feats” post. Now, hear me out: I personally aknowledge that all of these sites do have their fair share amount of faults and errors. These sites aren’t full reliable sources (especially the VS Battle Wikia) but, at least, these sites would still help me to construct the basis for my analysis of Obsidian because I still need to start from somewhere and, if someone knows a better place on the internet to find more reliable informations about Steven Universe’s characters’s capabilities, please write to me in the comments. Also, I will obviously scale down or high the Fusion Obsidian to other better known characters in the series. So, with that said, let’s begin. For starters, let’s briefly recap what is a Fusion. In the “Steven Universe” franchise, a Fusion is an amalgamation of two or multiple Gems which combine their physical essences into one powerful being that’s noticebly stronger than the single parts. Furthermore, the Fusion is achieved through a synchronized dance between the Gems which also must perfectly synchronize their emotions and minds at best in order to maintain the Fusion. Fusions in “Steven Universe”, more or less, follow a simple rule for power scaling: the strength of the Fusion depends on both the number of the Gems involved in the ritual and, most importantly, it depends on the power of the singular Gems. Think about “Gurren Lagann” mechas’s combinations, but with space rock warriors. For example, a lot of people would agree to think that Smoky Quartz, the Fusion between Steven and Amethyst, is far weaker than Sugilite, the Fusion between Amethyst and Garnet. Finally, as Sarsonyx stated while talking to Smoky Quartz, a Fusion always develops something new, like a new power or a new weapon, and it’s been shown during the series that Fusions always manage to create or develop abilities, weapons and powers which are a combination of the Gems’s individual powers and weapons or, even more impressively, they might even develop further enhanced versions of the Gems’s powers. For istance, Garnet’s Electrokinesis is a combination of Ruby’s Thermokinesis and Sapphire’s Cryokinesis, while Alexandrite’s giant flame stream that she shot at Malachite is probably an ultimately powered-up verison of Ruby’s heat-based powers which gets an upgrade due to the fact that Alexandrite is a quadruple Fusion. Speaking of which, Alexandrite is gonna be mentioned quite often in this analysis because it’s a key factor in order to estimate Obsidian’s power. From the few pieces of informations we got from the creators, Obsidian is presumably a Fusion between the original Crystal Gems, so Amethyst, Pearl, Garnet and Rose Quartz- ops, sorry, should I have said, Pink Diamond?! That’s right, folks! The Fusion Obsidian is starting to become more interesting. First off, let’s take Alexandrite. Alexandrite is the quadruple Fusion between Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and is described as “an incredible force on the battlefield”, it’s the Crystal Gems’s ace in the sleeves and the strongest weapon they have at their disposal against unchallengable odds. This Fusion is strong enough to challenge Malachite, the Fusion between Lapis Lazuli and Jasper, and managing to held her own against her. Being a Fusion of the present Crystal Gems, Alexandrite can be considered stronger, faster and tougher than the previous Fusions like Opal, Sardonyx and Sugilite. Among them, Opal’s Light Arrows fairly exceed the power output of one Laser Light Cannon, which was capable of one-shoting the Red Eye, which is probably larger than the Crystal Temple itself; Sardonyx has been statd of being able to attack at sub-relativistic speeds since she managed to launch the Rubies into space from the Moon Base for several hundreds of chilometers; Sugilite was considered the Fusion with the highest raw destructive power among the previous Fusions and she was capable of destroying a Communication Hub with a single twisted punch. With these comparisons in mind, you can get an idea of just how stronger Alexandrite is. She’s also bigger than Sugilite and her estimated height is around 25”. Most importantly, being a Fusion of the Crystal Gems, Alexandrite does have access to each one of the Gems’s special powers and skills. Since now, Alexandrite showed the ability to summon nearly each one of the Gems’s and Fusions’s weapons, like Opal’s bow, Sugilite’s flail, Amethyst’s whip, Pearl's spear and Sardonyx's war hammer. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to further watch more of Alexandrite’s abilities and powers; however, since she summoned the Gems’s weapons, we can assume that she’s also capable of utilizing their special powers too. Last, but not least, Alexandrite has one major known weakness: due to the fact that multiple Gems combine their energies to create such war machine, they require an extremely high level of concentration and effort to keep themselves together. This is the reason why, should the Gems not collaborate, the Fusion can be easely broken. This is also the reason why Alexandrite may look weaker than she truly is, not because of her durability, but due to the effort needed to maintain the synchronization. Think about this Fusion like the Super Saiyan 3 form for Goku. Now, with that said, you take Alexnadrite, then you add Pink Diamond into the mix and there you have the special recipe for an unstoppable Gem juggernaut. Being a Diamond, Pink should be considered one of the most powerful Gems in her universe and, even though she’s considered the weakest of the Diamonds, she would still be superior than the majority of other top tier characters in the series, like Garnet, Topaz, Jasper and Lapis Lazuli. As shown in the series, the Diamonds are arguably capable to witstand the combined assault of the Crystal Gems, Lapis, Lion and Bismuth all at the same time without getting injured. Blue Diamond, in particular, witstood so much punishment from all directions and even freeing herself from Lapis’s chains that were strong enough to restrain Malachite and getting crushed by her own spaceship thrown by the Cluster, resulting only with her being more pissed of than hurt. After all, Pink was still Rose Quartz, the leader of the rebellion back at the Gem War. From what we saw Pink doing, we say that she’s strong enough to easely defeat a triple Rubies Fusion, stopping a spinning Ferris wheel with her bare hands and even generating so much pressure in her hands she managed to turn dirt into shards of diamonds and, most notably, she has probably shown the highest amounts of powers in the series than any other character. Such powers include the Bubble and the Shield. Not only the Bubble is a fairly effective defensive power but Pink’s son, Steven, showed also the ability to protrude sharp spikes out of the bubble, allowing the user to transform defense into offense. The Shield, in particular, is Pink’s trademark defensive tool and it’s been shown to be nearly indestructible. Even once summoned by the far less experienced Steven Universe, the Shield protected him and the Crystal Gems from an energy blast shor by Peridot’s warship that was gonna destroy both the Crystal Temple and, arguably, even Beach City. The Shield seems also to be able to deflect energy-based attacks pretty easely, regardless of their actual destructivness, like the Diamond’s Corruption Attack. As for other powers, Pink shows the ability to float in midair, granting her improved aerial mobility, including the ability to freelt control the speed of the fall and, most important than anything, are Pink’s healing powers. As shown even by her son Steven, Pink’s healing power allow the user to heal and repair both organic and inorganic matter. It’s only thanks to this power that Pink’s rebellion managed to survive and kept fighting during the Gem War. Also, as demonstrated by Steven, the healing powers can be utilized to create sentient plant life forms which solely obey to their creator’s will, protecting him at all costs, and as well reviving the deads. So, after enlisting all of Pink Diamonds’s powers and briefly trying to estimate her strength compared to other major characters in the series, let’s get to the main question of the article: what kind of abilities, powers and skills could Obsidian develop now knowing that it contains the powers of a Diamond? Firstly, let’s just say that just the implication of adding a Diamond into a Fusion would undoubtedly increase the power of such Fusion to unimaginable levels. I mean, look from this perspective: as said before, Alexandrite’s approximate height ranges between 25 feet tall, and I also read somewhere that the Diamond’s actual height should not be below 30 feet, so, with that said, by adding Pink Diamond to Alexandrite’s Fusion, her overal height should easely surpass 35 feet. Imagine a Fusion even bigger than a Diamonds. It’s just terryfingl to think about. Heck, if we want to further exagerate, we can fairly assume that the possible height of this Fusion is almost comparable to the actual sculpture of the Crystal Temple. I know it sounds so off but, considering how much big the Diamonds are, it’s not that impossible to imagine it. But, now let’s have some fun with her possible powers, shall we? So, for Alexandrite we have all of Pearl’s, Garnet’s and Amethyst’s powers and weapons all combined into one. For Pearl we have amazing acrobatic skills and combat capabilities, her Spear can both shot fast light projectiles and concentrated explosive light blasts, summoning as many Holo-Pearls as she wishes, which combat settings and patterns can be modified to Pearl’s choice; for Amerhyst we have two whips that can slice through Injectors’s metal drills with ease, she can curl herself into a ball and quickly spin, ramming into her opponents, her whips can eventually discharge a sort of explosive purple fire and she can even combine the spin dash with the explosive fire, creating a devastating explosive charged attack; for Garnet we have an already numerous set of abilites, such as superhuman physical capabilities superior to the last Gems, her Gauntlets can level down mountains, create shockwaves and can be shot like Rockets, she can manipulate, absorb and redirect electricity, she’s heatproof and can see the possible futures outcomes, granting her a significant advantage in nearly every possible battle scenario. For Obsidian’s possible powers displays, I imagine her as being capable to manipulate each one of the Gems’s elemental powers to massive scales. For instance, Ruby’s Thermokinesis? Obsidian could just shot a continuos blast of flames from her inferior mouth like Alexandrite but with much greater impact force. Sapphire’s Cryokinesis? Obsidian could be capable to lower her own temperature so much she would be capable to freeze down to the absolute zero whatever thing she touches or even generating a freezing ray that would permanently incapacitate her opponent. Garnet’s Electrokinesis? Obsidian could be capable to launch lightnings from her hands or mouth like Yellow Diamond does and electrocute her opponents. Amethyst’s explosive fire? Obsidian may be capable of combining such power with Ruby’s Thermokinesis, creating an explosive fire beam that annhilates everything in its path. Having the Crystal Gems’s complete arsenal at her disposal, I imagine Obsidian being able to wield each one of these weapons all at once with her eight arms. Obsidian would walk throughout the battlefield with Pearl’s spear, Garnet’s gauntlets, Amethyst’s whips and Pink’s shield, all of which’s power would have been increased tremendously due to the Fusion. Obsidian would also be capable to channel all of her elemental powers into her weapons, granting herself so much long ranged combat options her opponents wouldn’t be capable to respond to all of them at the same time. Adding Pink’s shield to the Fusion’s arsenal, the Crystal Gems’s weapons could be combined with the shield, granting access to many new fusion weapons, including a final combination of each weapon into one final devastating tool of destruction, but more about that last one later. As I searched throughout the internet, a popular combination between Rose’s shield and Pearl’s spear would be something like a parasol or an umbrella: this seemingly bizarre weapon would combine the shield’s unpenetrable defenses with the spear’s maneuverability and extended range of attack, both at short and long ranges, including the ability to shot energy projectiles from the center of the shield, making this weapon looke very similar to the modified umbrellas of DC Comics’s Penguin. A combination between Pink’s shield and Amethyst’s whip would more than likely resemble a slingshot, similar to One Piece’s Usop’s own weapon, the Kabuto. The shield would create the pouch and the whips would create the strings. This weapon would grant the Fusion a higher piercing power compared to Opal’s arrow and probably a faster firing rate. Addictionally, Garnet’s gauntlets could be used as devastating projectiles. A combination between Pink’s shield and Garnet”s gauntlets could be a pair of cestus. In fact, theoretically, despite their destructivness, Garnet’s gauntlets act more like boxing gloves, serving as a protection, while cestis serve more like offensive tools so, in this case, Rose’s shield would become the thick plate and might manifest spikes in the form of rose thorns. The other weapons’s combinations could be even more or even different than what I showed you but, now, let’s get to the powers. This is the part that gets tricky because, while imagining new weapons combinations is much more intuitive, trying to combine Alexandrite’s arsenal of special powers with Pink’s own mostly defensive and supportive-oriented powes is no easy task, but I will still try to do my best. For example, Pink’s spiked shield could be combined with Amethyst’s explosive fire to create a detonating trap for her opponents; upon the adversary makes contact with the spikes, whether it’s with a weapon or their bodies, the spikes would trigger an explosion in the targeted area of the bubble. I also imagine Obsidian infusing the thorns of the bubble with Pearl’s light enegy, creating dangerous projectiles capable of easley piercing through a Diamond warship. Once used by Obsidian, Garnet’s future vision would start to become cleared and less unfocused, allowing Obsidian to more accurately predict the new outcome of the battle or even the single moves and attack patterns of the adversary, nullifying their strategies altogether. There’s also the remote possibility for Obsidian to transform her healing powers into an offensive tool: for example, she couls combine her healing tears with Sapphire’s cryokinesis which, once put upon an adversary, it could instantly freeze that part of the body covered by the power, and so on and on The combinations of Obsidian’s collection of powers and weapons are so diversified that we could stay here the whole day and we will only end up guessing which kind of combination is the best so, to end this article which I already am proud of finally bringing it to life after a long time, I’m going to imagine Obsidian’s most likely ultimate weapon, which is a broadsword. The reason for this quite simple yet efficient idea comes from the fact that, in the episode “Ocean Gem”, once Lapis steals the oceans, we can watch Beach City’s seabed and notice a huge sculpture of a sword. If we looke even more accurately, we will see that the material of this giant sword is the same used for the Crystal Temple. Once the battle gets serious, Obsidian would summon all of her weapons and the she will combine all of them into one huge tool of destruction. This weapon would be substantially a colossal version of Rose’s Sword, with the difference of being completely indestructible for Gems’s standards. Obsidian, thanks to this sword, would be capable to poof even a Diamond, something that has been thought as being impossible and just the movement of the weapon would cause wide shockwaves across the battlefield, leveling city blocks and buildings with just a wide swing. Also, as for the other weapons, Obsidian would also be able to channel her elemental powers into the broadsword, granting herself a major boost in attacking power and speed, as well the ability to unleash the energy through the blade as waves of fire, ice or thunder. Last, but not least, despite all of the fun I had today with the research, Obsidian would have one major weakness: its time limit, which would be extremely and laughably short compared to other Fusions. Speaking in Dragon Ball terms, if Alexandrite is the Super Saiyan 3, then Obsidian would be the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Kaioken ×10. Obsidian would only be capable of displaying a small portion of her capabilities during a fight because, the longer the Crystal Gems stay fused, the higher the risk is for them of losing their energies so tremendously they would poof themselves due to the strain upon their gemstones. A Fusion with such a potential magnitude of power would be the one of the greatest “glass cannons” in fiction, should she exist: great, nearly unstoppable destructive power but a disappointing and low defense and endurance compared to the energy output. As a final deduction about this Fusion, I will definitively place Obsidian well above the likes of both Alexandrite and Malachite as well. Yes, while Malachite does have Lapis’s ability to manipulate the oceans lf an entire planet to her will, I’m pretty sure that Obsidian’s own physicality would allow her to witstand Malachite’s offense and then obliterate her with just a hypothetical swing of her broadsword. I would also place Obsidian above the likes of Yellow and Blue Diamond due to the fact that, despite Pink is considered the weakest of the Diamonds, it’s only so when she’s alone but, thanks to the Fusion’s enhancing potential, even Yellow and Blue would experience a good amount of troubles with a Fusion that’s potentially bigger, stronger, faster, thougher and with a massively superior array of powers and weapons at her disposal. However, to be totally fair, I’m not sure to place Obsidian higher or equally to White Diamond because: 1) We don’t have enough information about White’s powers, skills or anything like these informations to prove that she’s weaker than Obsidian, and 2) White Diamond ia probably even stronger than Obsidian due to the fact that it’s been suggested that Homeworld’s destruction may have been caused by White herself, making her probably a Planet level in terms of destructive capability, while I’d rank Obsidian more like a Multi-Continent level or something slightly higher than this, but not too much. Most importantly, this Fusion would still not be a match for the Cluster, the only officially planet buster in the series, just like any other character in the series. So, finally, there you have it, my personal analysis of the Crystal Temple Fusion Obsidian. Keep in mind that all of these assumtpions belong to the analysis of an hypothetical Fusion which might never become canon or appearing in any Steven Universe sources. All of the assumptions about Obsidian’s possible powers and skills are all a product of my immagination so, if you don’t like it, please try to not be too rude about it; this is all just for fun. On the contrary, write me down into the comments what do you think about Obsidian’s possible powers. I’m very curious about your opinion. Have a nice day and goodbye!

#steven universe #obsidian #su alexandrite #su malachite

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