#saying this because i see people saying that the diamonds' (from su) redemption was worse than catra's

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

here's the thing. i think the reason why a lot of people let catra off the hook is because they think she wasn't in charge. like idk what show they were watching but they genuinely seem to think that catra only participated in the war because she was forced to, or because she wanted to live up to expectations. to which i want to say,

one, there were no expectations on catra. she wasn't very active during training and she wasn't particularly interested in participating in any of the horde's activities until adora left. if catra wanted, she could have easily left the horde and she wouldn't be missed.

it sounds harsh but it might have been a good thing for her. she didn't even have to go with adora and join the rebellion. she could just.. leave the horde and start a new life elsewhere. huntara did it, and no one ever tried to stop her.

two, did these people forget that halfway through the show, catra actively stepped up and took charge of everything? she beat the shit out of hordak and took away his life support. she basically took his place in the horde, people even praised her for it, for whatever reason.

hordak didn't have much say in the horde's activities after that. heck, catra didn't even listen to him when he tried to stop her from opening the portal. and she wasn't scared when he reprimanded her for it later.

catra was basically the leader of the horde from s4 onwards. she was the one making plans, she was the one carrying them out, she recruited double trouble, she planned the attack on salineas. and sure, hordak also played a part in it but catra was the boss at that point. i don't know how you watch all of that and still think that she was forced to take part in the war.

#spop critical #spop salt #spop criticism #spop discourse #spop #she ra #anti spop #anti catra #anticatra #anti stans #saying this because i see people saying that the diamonds' (from su) redemption was worse than catra's #because they were in a position of power #and while i agree that their redemption was shitty asf they're not that different from catra #she was in charge too she was in a position of power

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Rose Quartz Propaganda

"We saw her character arc in reverse!! We first saw all the good she did and then learned of her terrible actions in the past. If her story was told the other way around, it would have been a great redemption arc. Yes, she did some terrible things, but she had no choice. She did everything she could to stop the colonization of earth peacefully buy nothing worked. Blue and yellow diamond just didn't listen to her and when they did, THEY were the ones who made the zoo and shit. Rose wanted to free them but couldn't get to them after the war! And with the corruption, there's no way she could have known that'd happen. There's so many things she wanted to do but just couldn't. And with spinel, yes it was shitty to leave her alone for so long, but again, between running her court, running the rebellion, dealing with earth, she likely wasn't a very high priority and like with the zoo, there was no way to get to her after the war since the galaxy warp was destroyed. And don't forget, she was practically a child around this time. You're saying you didn't do any stupid, selfish, or harmful things as a kid? She learned from her experiences and grew, we just saw that growth in reverse, leaving us as viewers with a poor perception of her."

"Rose Quartz is Steven Universe’s dead mom. Initially, she’s set up as sort of an ethereal perfect figure who everyone misses and compares him to. Later we get to see more of her backstory and discover that she’s actually like, a person, with flaws, who has done some bad things, but she did those bad things largely in the course of trying to escape an abusive home life and save the people and planet that she fell in love with. It’s very clear that despite her flaws she was trying to do the right thing and that she deeply cared about others. Unfortunately, a woman who was not a Perfect Martyr was way too much for the Steven Universe fandom to handle. She pretty much set off the wave of SU crit blogs because these people were furious either that she had taken violent measures to solve her problems, that she hadn’t taken violent enough measures to solve her problems, or both somehow. Lots of “Why didn’t she just murder her abusive parental figures?” Lots of “She was evil for having a baby even though she knew she’d die in childbirth!” Lots of “She should’ve been able to protect everyone from a magic nuclear weapon with the power of love somehow.” Lots of “She shouldn’t have rebelled (even though not rebelling would’ve meant the destruction of Earth) because her abusers retaliated and that’s her fault.” LOTS of people drawing her as stick thin even though she was fat in the show. People treated her like she was on the same level or even worse than her abusive parental figures who were also the main villains of the show. It was unbearable to witness."

Mahiru Propaganda

"They got unfairly voted guilty in the first round and keeps getting blamed She never meant to hurt anyone and the only reason she did was cause she couldn’t read social ques"

"Mahiru Shiina is the most traditionally feminine character in Milgram, and she’s very in love with the idea of love. That makes her an easy fandom target. In Milgram, we are introduced to ten murderers. It quickly becomes apparent that not all of these murders are conventional. By the time we are introduced to Mahiru, we already know most of these unconventional murderers. Mahiru’s first music video depicts her going on various dates with her boyfriend, even though he is not shown in the frame. At the end of the video, Mahiru wakes up, turns to the camera, and has a horrified expression. Whatever happened, she didn’t want it to happen. And then a lot of the fandom accused her of being a stalker. Was that what got her a 55% guilty/unforgiven vote? I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But she heard what the fandom said. She heard these voices saying she couldn’t be forgiven. Saying that she was a stalker or that she didn’t really love her boyfriend, even though that wasn’t true. She was beaten to near-death by Kotoko, a vigilante who was forgiven by 67%. Fuuta, who also sustained serious injuries from Kotoko, calls out the audience surrogate, saying what we did with our verdicts would have made us the same as him if Mahiru had died. And yet Mahiru doesn’t blame either us or Kotoko. Mahiru’s second music video shows that she was indeed in a proper relationship with her boyfriend. She smothered him with her love. The video slowly revealed the toxicity in their relationship. She asked why she can’t do anything right. The fandom perception was better in that she was safely voted innocent/forgiven. Still, there are issues. Some infantilize her or say that she’s delusional. Yes, she had a sheltered upbringing and has difficulties reading social cues, but that doesn’t take away her agency. On the flip side, some have theorized that she kidnapped her boyfriend and wasn’t in a proper relationship with him. (Not sure what to say about that, but this is a series about sympathetic murderers.)"

#semi finals #females fucked over tournament #steven universe #milgram #rose quartz #mahiru shiina

[thekatebridgerton]

Eloise wasn't good friend for Penelope, but Pen was much worse , she BETRAYED El, she told it was for protection, but El wouldn't need a protection, if LW didn't piss off queen, Pen CHOSE to write about El, knowing that such information could totally destroy reputation. And i can't see how show give Pen a redemption arc, as I remember in book people applauded her, but in reality ton will be pissed off, Bridgerton will be pissed off. Pen was friend for their family, and i can't see how Anthony, Benedict or Violet can be ok with that. Pen is not feminist, she has a huge internalized misogyny, cause she CHOSE to put other women down in her gossip, two of them were destroyed because of her. Maybe Colin would leave his family for love, but I don't see how they will do that because that is not how this show works

Okay guys get ready for a mild dose of my tirades on why I like show Penelope and why I think she was right. And Eloise not so much. Right in the read more button

First of all lady Whistledown is totally okay with making men like Anthony and Nigel Berbroke miserable too. She's nothing if not consistent in her disdain for both genders. If feminism is to want equal rights for all, I think Lady Whistledown is a feminist because she does try to damage the reputation of people from both genders equally.

1) up until Lady Whistledown is revealed. The columnist could have been ANYONE, from Cressida Cowper to lady Danbury. And Eloise knew that.

And sorry if I can't agree with your take on the Peneloise feud anon. Because I don't think what Penelope did was as wrong as you painted it out out to be.

Simply on account that

Say we separate lady Whistledown from Penelope for a second. Just pretend Lady Whistledown is really Honoria Smythe-Smith and Penelope is exactly who she says she is. A wallflower and Eloise best friend.

2) Penelope lies to everyone, her keeping the LW secret, isn’t personal, or intended to be some sort of insult to her friendship to Eloise.

So, lets unpack this for a bit shall we?

Eloise didn't know who was watching her trapsize around the red light district of London wearing her family diamonds on her neck! And using the Bridgerton carriage. That's why the queen thought she was sus. I mean what kind of strange girl, leaves the queen's castle on the day of her brother's wedding…to go to the dirtiest part of London in her family's very richly decorated carriage and meet a printer assistant?

You know how many people in that venue saw Eloise pull that move? A LOT. One of them could have been Lady Whistledown. Heck all our fictional Honoria Smythe-Smith needed to do to get good gossip on Eloise was ask a well meaning servant why Eloise seemed so obsessed with Lady Whistledown and boom, there's gossip ripe for publishing.

So let's move on, in the scenario that Penelope ISN'T lady Whistledown, but rather she's just a concerned young lady who has just had her best friend trash her room, maybe Eloise finds Colin's letters in the process, or other things Penelope would rather just keep private. All in pursuit of a goal that is evidently damaging life choices. Eloise is still left with no lady Whistledown and one friendship ruined anyway.

How exactly could Penelope have protected Eloise from making obviously bad choices. Considering her friend has been telling her about her escapades that in Penelope's eyes have now escalated to the point Eloise has put her life and that of her family in danger, not just by going to a dangerous neighborhood alone and wearing clothes that flaunt her nobility. But also by attracting the attention of the Queen.

And #2

Honoria Smythe-Smith would feel sympathetic sure. But she'd have thrown Eloise under the bus with a worse scandal than just political radical talk to get properly recognized as a columnist of means.

If Eloise had been anybody else, Penelope wouldn't have bat an eyelash at insinuating she'd lost her virtue. Because that's what everyone else would have been saying behind Eloise back once the words 'used the family carriage to go to the commoner district ' and 'met up with a boy' escaped an indiscreet servant mouth.

I guess the reason I don't think Penelope was a bad friend is because her lie wasn't personal? Penelope as a rule is lying to everybody. Lady Whistledown identity is a universal commodity she keeps to herself. And it doesn't feel like a betrayal if she doesn't share this life changing secret with her best friend because like her crush on Colin, Penelope isn't planning on sharing it at all, with nobody period.

What she does and the danger she puts herself in, from all the people she's outed and treated badly. She takes metaphorical responsibility for it. Both the perks and the problems of her part time job as Lady Whistledown. Aren't for anybody else to poke at.

So maybe im biased in this, because while I do recognize that towards Marina and Daphne, Penelope's writing was terribly damaging and the plot did make her suffer through the death of her father and the leaving of Colin as karma. But When it comes to her fight with Eloise I'm team Penelope.

Penelope doesn't involve anyone else in the enemy making stuff she's doing. If the Queen catches her, she's going down on her own, maybe with the odd footmen or maid who helped her sneak out. But Eloise was putting her family crest out there. The Queen catching her would have spelled the death of the Viscounty.

On a scale of big. The consequences of Penelope's mistakes will come for her alone. But Eloise consequences would have come for her whole family. And that's something that Penelope very well knew!

Have you ever tried to stop a best friend from making a bad decision? You know how hard it is?. Short of publishing her version of cease and desist in Lady Whistledown, Eloise would have continued to be reckless.

But I’m not breaking down the reasons I think Penelope doesn't need a redemption arc, that’s a conversation for another day

And lastly I reserve my opinion on the subject of Penelope’s redeption arc, because I honestly don’t think she needs one.

Realistically, the consequences for her being LW wouldn’t be that big, I mean yes she did take a shot at the queen to her face, but when it comes to the Bridgertons and the subject of forgiveness, they all like Penelope enough to hear her reasons out before outright getting as furious as people seem to think they will be.

And that’s the tea

#my take on the peneloise feud #penelope featherington #eloise bridgerton #personal thoughts

[beevean]

@useful-crew-too said:

Yeah but its like a breath of fresh air from the constant redemption of animated villains (not saying every villain gets redeemed)

Serious question: how frequently do villains get redeemed in cartoons?

Steven Universe is of course the most famous example, because there are still people saying that SU is “fascism apology” for giving the Diamonds a chance, but other than that?

ATLA? Zuko is barely a villain and honestly treating him as the only good “redemption arc” feels disingenuous. He was an abused kid who had to learn to stop craving for his father’s approval, that’s character development, not redemption. Azula and Ozai were much more evil than him, and the former was driven insane without even considering that she was a broken 14 yo kid, and the latter was thrown in prison like garbage.

LoK doesn’t have any redeemed villains AFAIK. The one who tried to atone for his sins died in season 4.

She-Ra? Catra got her happy ending, but Shadow Weaver sacrificed herself (and according to Stevenson it was to make herself look good), Horde Prime was destroyed, and Hordak... well, Hordak was kinda neglected in season 5. They do make a joke about forgetting all the evil shit he pulled in season 1-4, as if him getting reunited with Entrapta was a parody of redeemed villains.

Gravity Falls doesn’t have any redeemed villain either, unless you count Pacifica going from a shallow bully to a victim of her own rotten family, which a rather lowkey definition of redeemed villain.

I have never watched SVTFOE but I do remember the discourse about Star genociding an entire planet, which seems to be the exact opposite of redeeming.

The closest thing to SU I can think of is MLP, who redeemed villains the likes of Discord, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer, but MLP was also not above turning the more heinous villains into stone, giving them a fate worse than death and negating them the chance of redemption (Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis, Cozy Glow)

I’m sure I’m missing some popular cartoon of the last decade (I don’t know a thing about Amphibia and The Owl House, for instance), but I genuinely don’t see this trend of “redeeming villains that don’t deserve it”. People are just salty about SU :\

#steven universe #spop #mlp #infinity train #i'm seriously confused

[aqours-remade-again]

So I mostly really loved SU Future but boy oh boy do I have some Opinions on Rose’s writing :))))))! (don’t we all though)

OK before I go on, full disclosure: for the most part I loved this premiere of Steven Universe Future. In particular, the episode with the Roses (and especially Chill Rose) and Pink Pearl in general is easily my favorite thing to come from SU in a very long time; far more so than the movie, actually. But oh my God; I’m so fucking sick and tired of this shit with Rose Quartz doing everything wrong.

Rose’s character arc, if... er... debatable, makes sense. Pink was born into the highest echelons of power within her society, with three elder sisters who were tyrannical and neglectful towards her. When given the opportunity Pink finally understood that their empire was built on genocide and destruction, and devoted herself to Earth’s freedom, and begged her sisters to not let this planet be destroyed. She faked her own death in a hopeful attempt this colony was just something to appease her and the Diamonds would lose interest afterwards; this resulted in a war with horrific consequences, and Pink/Rose spent the rest of her life, thousands of years atoning for this mistake. Even if it wasn’t a perfect narrative, its one that makes sense.

But this franchise and its writers seem hellbent to just pile it on, like every single bad thing that’s ever happened was Rose’s fault; and its getting really frustrating. I fucking HATED that the SU Movie basically boiled down to “lol this was all Rose’s fault :))))” Rose understood she made mistakes. Rose made a lot of mistakes. But again; she spent thousands of years atoning for them, and its because of that the Earth still exists at all. Earth would have been destroyed thousands of years ago if she didn’t chose to own her mistakes and fight for Earth’s liberation. And now we have a narrative about Pink’s “destructive tantrums” that physically maimed Volleyball? What the fuck is that? We literally saw in one of Steven’s dreams White Diamond reaching for a non-damaged Volleyball. The whole reason the Diamonds had a redemption arc (one that was EXTREMELY rushed btw) was because they did really horrible things and they needed to become better people if this universe was going to change; that’s the whole point of a redemption arc! Villains did bad things that needed redeeming! They did bad things in the past! That’s what a redemption arc is for! Why is it so hard to say that White did SOMETHING bad to Volleyball? What’s with this show’s fucking obsession with piling every single bad thing onto Rose’s name? What’s next? Did Rose do Chernobyl?

Rose saved the world, just as her son would thousands of years later. No matter how you look at it, no matter her mistakes, Rose is the second most important character to this universe other than its titular character, her son; perhaps THE most important. All this shit we see with the school for gems on Earth, the theme of how liberating and beautiful and wonderful the planet Earth is and why everyone fought so hard to protect it? That is owed to Rose who rejected the power of her birthright and her right to monarchy to preserve it; none of this would be possible without Rose’s rebellion. But it really feels like the narrative has forgotten that. Ever since Bismuth this narrative has been on a really bad downwards slope with this and its getting worse, and although we haven’t finished this miniseries... does anyone have any real hope they can fix it after this? It honestly disappointed me that Rose’s portrait is just gathering dust somewhere now; I was really hoping in the episode with the Rose Quartzes they’d find some common ground and take pride in their mother’s legacy, only to be immediately bombarded with this. And no, that Pink USED to be destructive but became a healer as part of her redemption arc, which in the narrative was resolved nicely a very long time ago doesn’t make it better. I was already on my last straw with Spinel’s backstory, this shit just reaks of “Oh shit uhhh what do we do now...? OK! Pink did ANOTHER bad thing! OK that’s the conflict now.”

And everyone, I love Steven Universe. Its one of my favorite shows ever. That’s why I get so upset about this. This narrative that Pink changed doesn’t make it better. It was touching when the fusion said about how Pearl always tried to see how Pink was changing and how Volleyball never understood Pink could never change; but after seeing that episode, how is any viewer supposed to reasonably feel other than piling onto the idea Pink was the worst person to ever exist? This idea of a “reverse redemption arc” doesn’t work when all that is ever added to Pink’s character now is more reasons to hate her. By the end of this, Rose’s portrait is gone. We are not being given more reasons to cared about a flawed character; just more and more to dislike her.

“I can’t even deal with one more horrible thing she did!” yeah me too Steven the writing surrounding your mom is getting really fucking obnoxious and I’m sorry the story can’t assign literally one bad thing to her sisters at this point. I’m sorry your mom has to be responsible for Literally Every Bad Thing That Happens Now and the entire narrative of her saving the world is almost nonexistent at this point.

anyways to end this on a positive note: the Pearls gay. this is Good

#rose quartz #pink diamond #su #su future #su critical #su spoilers #suf spoilers #long post #sorry if i'm Going Off but this is like #really starting to annoy me #steven universe spoilers #steven universe future spoilers

[treacherous-dwarf-of-the-seas]

I had a lot of Thoughts about the Steven Universe Future finale

It’s exactly a month after its premiere, but I still have a lot of feelings and I wanna organize my thoughts a bit so I can have them somewhere, perhaps for any future ideas I may have. I think I’m just gonna list my thoughts on the 4 individual episodes, the finale (and season) as a whole, etc. Overall, I liked most of it, but I’m gonna get a bit su critical because although I absolutely loved many things about this finale, Oh boy. Some things I downright Did Not. Spoilers ahead I guess, this is a long one. 

This is my favorite part of the finale by far. To me, it did almost everything right.

I loved picking up right after Fractured, and Steven’s expression and body language, *chef’s kiss*

Poor Jasper gets killed *twice*

Homeworld looks so good! It’s all gardeny and disorganized in a good way.

Purple pearl?

SPINEL’S BACK!!!

Edgy theories that spinel and the diamonds were a disaster waiting to happen (I agreed with these) were wrong and this makes me happy. 

Steven’s reaction to Spinel kissing him? Was a tad strange//

SO GOOD to see Spinel being mentally healthy and happy and while still being herself.

The Diamonds! Actually working to better themselves!

I love the idea of diamond powers “working in reverse”. Like, Yellow diamond can change bodies and destabilize bodies, Blue can change emotions for better or worse, White can take over others or let others in. Honestly the idea that Pink/Rose could bring random plants to life and basically heal anything always struck me as so overpowered and random. The context that she was a goddess of destruction that changed into a goddess of creation makes the concept make a bit more sense to me, I appreciate that. 

I’m so ambivalent about Yellow’s scene. 

Like, its so satisfying to see. The thing that everybody (including me) was complaining about was that the diamonds’ redemption did not change the millennia of shattered, corrupted and amalgamated gems and suffering they had directly caused. Its very nice to see them putting their money with their mouths are. There’s acknowledgement that redemption isn’t just saying sorry and being less of a dick than you were before, it’s also correcting past wrongs and making it up to the people who were hurt.

However, I’m not totally sold on the idea of healing every shattered gem and the cluster. Like, I guess it makes sense considering a shatter is just a crack that’s been finished, and cracks in gems can be healed. But I don’t think it should be as easy as it is, and in any case, it just feels like it cheapens the impact of shattering, and even the forced fusions when they were so impactful in the original show. I wish the healing could still be done, but in a way that respects how awful and impactful the harm was.

I totally understand Steven in the Blue Diamond scene. I had had mental health problems where my mom had just offered drugs instead of talking to me or trying to help in a way that showed she cared about the issue, so this scene hit a bit hard.

Blue gets a song!

White, by far, my favorite scene in all of Future. 

Spinel White, no joke, gave me nightmares. 

The little moment of Steven yelling at himself for being a diamond is exactly what I wanted and I needed so much more of it. 

Triggered by everything White Diamond does. *chef’s kiss*. I especially love the little subtle moment of looking uncomfortable and pushing away white’s fingernails.  

Finally seeing similarities between Steven and White is canon, though I wish it was more explored. 

THE HALLUCINATION

Zach Callison is Intense(TM). This man always goes so hard and deserves mad respect.

TOO BAD.

Intrusive thoughts being represented in this way is amazing.

I still wonder if White knows what happened. Can she read thoughts in that state? 

He used White Diamond’s power to go into her body, and then while in her body, used her power of possession to take over his own body to puppet himself? I actually love the twistedness of this concept. It shows how twisted Steven himself has become. It’s so much about self-harm, while also not being self harm? vengeful thoughts, intrusive thoughts, anger, just everything. This moment could take all day to analyze, and I think it is way more thematically relevant to Steven’s internal struggle than the corruption.  

Love that the diamonds were still willing to help and only seemed concerned after how Steven was acting. They have changed!

Fairy tale imagery, noice.

This one is odd in the best way.

My favorite scenes in anything with supernatural beings is when they look at their own eyes in the mirror and realize that it’s not human or changed from what they should be. The way this scene played out was in a way I’ve only seen in fanfiction, and I am Here for it. The horror on Steven’s face when he’s looking at his own appearance is just wonderfully done. 

Very uncomfortable that there is an actual painting of Steven as an angel in his own room. I love how it ties into this episode, but I genuinely feel uncomfortable that he was thought of in that way at all. 

The flat out denial that he had just done the things he had done simply by virtue of who he is, I love the idea that “Steven Universe” has become more of a concept/symbol to him rather than being his own name. It reminds me of his concept of his mother and how her name is more of a symbol to Steven than a person. I just love the subtle parallel. 

I love the fact that “toxic positivity” is being explored in this show. I never really see it being discussed, and in a show so centered on being honest about emotions, no matter how painful they are, its so wonderful that the protagonist’s main character flaw is the exact opposite, to the point of being forcefully happy and smiling and actively ignoring things going wrong. It really strengthens the message by showing the opposite extreme.

I love the recontextualization that is present in suf. The criticisms of Steven being “too happy” during the cluster arc, being strangely positive after Lars’ death, etc. Although it was uncomfortable when those episodes came out and those events were all but ignored, I’m happy that it is being addressed as this culmination of madness in Steven, being so forcefully happy that its obvious that those episodes weren’t trying to ignore the problems, Steven was. 

I’m also happy to see a genuine “hero complex” in a protagonist. (usually the term is used incorrectly to mean “anyone who is a hero who works too hard.”

Steven talking to himself in typical protagonist fashion. 

The crystal gems staging an intervention, good shit.

“Steven’s here to help. Steven help. Help Steven.” Not subtle, but I’m always a slut for the glitchy messages. 

The confession of his crimes, love that we get to see the gems react to that. 

The whole monologue. Once again, Zach goes hard. I love the manic energy and still the ending is so raw and broken. 

“Oh, don't worry! I fixed that too! I can fix anything. I can just keep messing up and fixing things forever, and you'll never have to know or think about any of it! How messed up is that? That I've gotten away with this for so long. You have no idea how bad I am.”

 It honestly feels like some projection? (Idk something to do with that). It feels like hes a little put out by the things he learned in Homeworld Bound. Like, maybe he feels the same way I do? That the diamonds got off too easy? Maybe it’s simply that hes put out that they’re getting better and he seems to be getting worse. Maybe even, into the worst parts of his mom? I mean from his perspective, his mother had reverse character development and went, in his mind, from a goddess to a petty teenager, to an actual monster. How upsetting would it be to see the galactic dictators who got to live, do so many awful things, worse things than her, and just get to make everything better, to the point of total reversal of their crimes, while pink just ran away and left steven to deal with the mess.While he had to deal with the aftermath of EVERYTHING. Everyone seems to just be okay with the diamonds now, the monsters he feared for so long, so how come he has to be the bad one? How come he has to be like them now? Maybe it’s even coming back to his whole theory that he’s just a reincarnated version of his mom. (I know that he knows it isn’t true, but old fears and old habits can come back during a manic episode, and he spent a long time thinking that he was just there to clean up his mom’s mess and thinking that he was her in disguise.) If you look at what he’s saying, it’s a little strange that he’s talking about how bad he is and how he messes up and then fixes the stuff and no one has to know. It doesn’t even sound like he’s talking about himself, not really.

This sounds like a hysterical realization of what being a diamond means for steven. This is better explained in this post here :https://pennylogue.tumblr.com/post/613441610438590464/steven-is-a-diamond-and-thats-okay . Like, he is panicking that being a diamond means that he can just destroy everything and just fix it like the other diamonds. It’s terrifying that he can just destroy anything and hurt anybody, and people will still worship the ground he walks on just by virtue of who he is. (This isn’t true, obviously, but after what had just happened with jasper, a terrified mind would latch on to that.)  

 Dude, I could just go on all day this monologue is just fascinating. 

Love the parallel of Connie’s “backpack butterflies” and Steve’s back exploding. Its like a subtle way to show that the thoughts are “suddenly swarming.”

Oh god. I’ve gotta be honest. I hated this one. But I’ll start off with things I liked. 

The general concept is okay, but I feel like it is not thematically consistent, which I will get into later. 

The moment when the gems tell Greg to leave, and he stamps his foot down saying he needs to be with his son, I like that it is very apparent that his stomp makes almost no sound or impact, which really shows how different Steven is from him, aka, his separation from his own humanity that has been building up. 

Connie being amazing as always. 

“Yoo hoo! Steven! Is this a bad time?”

Spinel’s entire thing, from her reaction to seeing pink godzilla to her thinking that she is the main villain of steven’s story. It reminds me of Peridot’s “leader of the crystal gems, traitor to homeworld” thing and it makes me so happy. 

“WHy is something like this always happening when we show up for a visit?” 

The ending. Jesus. Zach always goes so hard I don’t doubt he was actually sobbing. I wish I could have cried during this moment. 

I respect the message, that it’s not about fixing it, it’s about being there for the person struggling, and Steven wasn’t cured, he finally hit a breaking point. I understand that the problem was not “solved with a hug” as so many say.

I love that before I saw the episode I saw pics of Garnet being as big as the kaiju and actually said to myself, “Wow the heights really ARE inconsistent.”

I don’t like that Connie included herself as one of the people that depend on Steven. They are the healthiest relationship in the entire show and Connie is always there for Steven? sometimes even more than he can be there for her? Where is this coming from? She has literally always been there. Her calling everyone out did clear my skin and water my crops though. 

Also, where is Connie’s emotional resolution? Didn’ she go through alot of the same trauma as Steven?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable that a diamond, Steven, could corrupt themselves. It’s not necessarily a bad ending to have Steven be corrupted into a giant monster. However, I don’t think it’s the ending that was really built up to. The only real build up was the presence of “Wyrm boi” in the theme song, and that’s about it. It’s not as prevalent as eye symbolism and foreshadowing of someone (Steven or Connie) losing a hand or an eye.

The episode itself was 11 minutes long, and the monster was very underwhelming and way too quick. I feel like the emotions were too rushed, and although everyone else seemed to put in their emotional 2 cents, I feel as though Steven did not get the emotional climax that he really needed. 

Also why didn’t we have a sweet little moment of connection with Nephrite Jade/Centipeetle? Wouldn’t that have been such a bittersweet parallel? The whole “being there for Steven like he was there for us?” So where is she? 

There was so much imagery and thematic elements in both Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future, that did not build up to the kaiju monster in the way that it was.

The imagery with one eye, the eye patches, cat steven, the heterochromatic eyes with Onion’s doll, Cookie cat, split Steven, etc etc, most people have many many more examples. I feel like someone could have lost an eye, or maybe Steven could have had a corruption scar that left his eyes permanently heterochromatic. It also would have been thematically relevant to have Steven come out of this with more of a balance of his gem half and human half. This never really becomes relevant in “I Am My Monster.” His gem half turns him into a monster, his gem half helps him turn back. It’s nice that his gem and human family were there as support, but there was never a sense of balancing both sides of himself in the fact that they are there, as there are only two humans and mostly gems there, and this lack of balance and security with both parts of himself was one of the major themes throughout the series and one of the sources of Steven’s identity crisis. 

Connie is always a parallel to Pearls. Our Pearl and Pink Pearl. I wish something had come of that. (There are amazing comics that show her losing an eye like Pink Pearl, as it seemed to be foreshadowed in Open Book and Sworn to the Sword.)

This idea isn’t mine, but I’ve seen it done really well and I feel like it would have been a better ending than 10 minute godzilla monster. I wish I could have seen Steven split up again. I am personally fascinated with the otherworldly enigma that are Steven’s two halves, but I feel that that would have tied into the themes better and tied up more loose ends. By the end of the series, we don’t know Steven’s opinion on his mother, and last time we heard him mention her it was in a negative light. This is connected to Steven’s conflict within himself, his desire to understand his human side better, his fear of his power as a diamond, his insecurity and loneliness as a totally unique being. Homeworld Bound was the closest we got to seeing Steven talk to himself, and confront the two sides of himself. This was also the closest we’ve seen Steven come to being honest with the diamonds about how he really sees them. However, this ended with Steven hurting himself, (wanting to hurt White was a response to trauma as well as symbolically confronting his own diamond self), and running away. We never get to see the resolution to that conversation. We never see Steven accept that he is a diamond and that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Furthermore, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is not resolved. The negative character development took a huge toll on her character. Not only does the audience think of her as a terrible person, but the characters also forget her positive character development after hearing about all the mistakes of the past. Rose/Pink’s redemption arc still happened. I think it would have been fitting to remind us here, like all the other diamonds get their moment in this special. I feel like having Steven split up would tie up these loose ends. It would be a dramatic ending while also being a way for Steven to confront these issues within himself in a grounded way, while also making genuine peace with Pink Diamond. We could have Steven talking to himself, maybe starting out the way he did with White in Homeworld Bound, then steadily coming to terms with the sides of himself that he is afraid of, maybe how both sides help each other, how Pink Diamond is not a symbol of all that is wrong in his life, but just a person with flaws who was able to be better, like he can be better, too. This was touched on a little in Change Your Mind, but I would love to see Steven’s thoughts on Pink after the events of Fractured and Homeworld Bound, as there has to be some difference in perspective there. I feel that if Steven split into his components, these themes and ideas could be explored more and we could have a better climatic resolution for Steven’s character arc.  Even if Steven came out with no scars, even with both his eyes, the imagery and thematic elements would still be satisfactorily resolved if we got to see the two halves of Steven actually talk to each other. This also explains it better. https://scatterpatter.tumblr.com/post/615024679798915072/hmmmm-okay-so-i-just-watched-one-of-those-rose

Btw, if anybody has fanfiction recs with this concept, please hmu. 

I think I hate the kaiju ending because it seemed like such a waste of potential and didn’t really resolve any conflict besides functioning as a sort of breakdown.

The Future. aka: Welcome to another episode of Crying Breakfast Friends!

Boogle

The cookie cat rap. Pearl obviously kills it because she’s awesome and I was dying the entire time. 

Steven/Therapy is canon!

I like that Steven puts up a poster of Kerry Moonbeam in his room that he’s giving to his dad. It’s like he’s made peace with the whole “mr. universe thing” and it makes me happy to see that he’s not holding it against his dad or even avoiding the subject. 

I appreciate alot of little moments with the family while it still lasts.

It is genuinely like watching Crying Breakfast Friends. 

Steven gets to be “petty” with his emotions! He is finally honest with his family. I do appreciate the subtle resolution to his character arc (despite my opinions of the climax).

My favorite thing about Steven and Connie is that the fact that they are “canon” has basically always been true. Like, they’ve always loved eachother as best friends and they still do, it’s just that they get to kiss now. I absolutely love that its not a huge dramatic thing, its just Steven and Connie and they are otp for life. 

The fanfic potential is strong with this one. 

I wish I could have seen a therapy session or at least meeting the therapist. Maybe Steven walking into the office with his family behind him and its a moment of doing the first steps toward getting better.

But as is, this one is fine. 

Love the idea of a road trip with our little weirdo interacting with normies. 

Time to hit up Gravity Falls, lmao. 

TLDR:, the finale was good, but I did not particularly care for the climax. I am genuinely sad to see this show go. I was not a fan until I was already 18, but even after 5 years this show has taught me so much about self love, acceptance, tolerance, emotional honesty, etc. (I’ll probably do another post about it because holy shit this is long.) But this season, or epilogue series, has gotten me through such a difficult time in my life that is still happening, and has given me the tools to get through it. I sympathize with Steven so much, and I know alot of other people did too. It was so nice to be part of a community that just adopted this feral child. Some of future was rushed and of course it wasn’t perfect, but I greatly respect what it was doing. Bringing up PTSD and mental illness in this way in something like this was not something I was prepared for, even in this show, and I certainly couldn’t have imagined it even 5 years ago. Even with its missteps, this show took so many risks and was so incredibly detailed and it was obvious that it was made with alot of love and the fans in mind. I criticize because I love this show and while I feel it is necessary to acknowledge its flaws, I have so much love for the possibilities that this little world makes me dream of. These four episodes in particular was an emotional roller coaster and I am so sad to see it go, but I enjoyed the ride. Thank you, Crewniverse!

#steven universe #steven universe meta #steven universe finale #su #homeworld bound #everythings fine #corrupted steven #i am my monster #the future #steven universe future #pink diamond #connie maheswaran #long post #su critical i guess? if you squint

[diloph]

Diloph, I don't mean to bring SU discourse to your blog, and I haven't actually watched in a long time, but I was wondering what you think of how the Diamonds have been handled. I'm not against evil people being redeemed, but everyone just being a-ok with them feels off. They're the reason Pink was such a horrible person, they mutilated their own people into forced fusions, and implied genocide. Meanwhile Jasper had to go through hell, even though she was just following the diamonds orders.

It's... a difficult question to answer, really.

I don't think they're irredeemable, though before Pink's “death” (and her subsequent, literal death), it might have proven impossible to find a chink in their self-absorbed way of thinking. I've seen far worse villains being offered redemption with angst and sympathy about them not taking it or what they could be if they did, as well as worse villains actually taking the redemption and making it stick.

Part of me thinks that people struggle to reconcile the idea of the Diamonds being redeemed because of who they are. The Diamonds are the absolute highest authority when it comes to Gem society and all the things that Homeworld has done. Every move they've made that's hurt somebody, unless it was based in individual biases, accidents or coincidence and so on, has come from orders from the Diamonds, or Gems looking to please the Diamonds by fulfilling a function.

They aren't soldiers, or henchmen or superweapons given sentience, they're the top dogs. So far as we're aware, there's nobody above them. They are accountable for everything.

I kinda look back at what Pearl said in an earlier episode, that humans like to rationalise that all the evils of the worlds can be taken to some higher place, some ne'er do-well who can be confronted and defeated, allowing us to live in a place where everything is good forever, or at least until the next one chances their arm.

The Diamonds, particularly White, are those figureheads.

While the specifics are blurry (how many worlds and lifeforms, let alone sentient lifeforms for example) and we don't know how far reaching the consequences are in full, it's clear to me that the Diamonds have done some pretty terrible things. Just their treatment of Pink and their own subjects alone is plenty evidence for them to be marked as evil. In turn, their evil acts inspired or instructed others to do evil acts, with all the consequences that followed.

Enter Steven.

Steven Universe is a show based in optimism and hope; acknowledging that everybody makes mistakes and can be a good person, if they're willing to put the effort in. However, I don't think it pulls any punches when it comes to the fact that it acknowledges that evil and cruelty etcetera are things to be confronted and fought against.

In that sense, the Diamonds are certainly given a lot of leeway. They've perpetuated a system that has caused rampant destruction and suffering, even amongst their own subjects, even amongst themselves and the show believes that they can be redeemed. How? How can they possibly ever account for all the suffering they've caused?

I think the answer to that lies in the fact that Steven, as Pink's son, has the leverage over the Diamonds that Pink never had. He has given them hope after they spent millennia in mourning, hatred and stagnation. Even the mighty White Diamond, arguably the most powerful being in the universe, will bend over backwards to please Steven, even in the slightest way, just if it keeps him around, just if he can fill the void that Pink left behind.

That in mind, we're faced with another question. What happens when Steven dies? 100 years after that? 1000? 10000? Even longer than that? What's to stop them from shrugging their shoulders and just starting up the colonies again?

The answer, is of course, we don't know. We don't know if the Diamonds are simply biding their time, smiling through their teeth, until Steven carks it and then it's back to razing civilisations they go, but given the general tone of the series, I doubt that Steven Universe is as cynical as that.

It's certainly not realistic. People do that all the time. But equally people do monstrous things, realise that they have done monstrous things and then try to account for them. Whether they can or not is subjective, but equally it's just as unrealistic to believe that absolutely nobody would ever do the right thing because they've done the wrong thing, or have remorse and regret over their actions.

Steven Universe is an escapist fantasy series about a magical boy and his magical rock mothers and their cool adventures. It's not to say that the issues can't be addressed ever, but people are far, far too cynical about it; I think that we're meant to it, to believe that such a world could come to pass if we tried hard enough. Wouldn't it be great if we could get through to everybody with a smile, a song and a speech? That people who have done great misdeeds can make up for them?

Ultimately, the Diamonds have made the first step. They want to interact with Steven and as a result, they are capable of feeling empathy (though whether they lacked it before or had simply repressed it or were even simply ignorant to the suffering of “lesser” beings because of how they were made) and the test will come as life goes on. We may never see that effort in full, hell, Steven may never see that in his lifetime, but he hopes that they can change.

It's not without evidence. Blue speaks at length about it before White Diamond assumes direct control of her. White gives up when Pink Steven knocks her down and unites with Flesh Steven to make good ol' Regular Steven, beyond throwing a tantrum for a bit. They go to Earth and help to uncorrupt some of the many Gems that they're responsible for harming. By the movie, even their Pearls, who are meant to be sycophantic slaves, programmed for that even, have enough freedom of speech to snort and sneer at their former god-empress.

A lot of willpower has went into them making changes, prompted by Steven or not and things are looking bright so far. If they really wanted to, the Diamonds could answer to absolutely nobody. For the longest time, they believed that they were all-powerful, immortal and invulnerable. Prior to the war on Earth, it was believed that Diamonds couldn't be shattered. Now that we know the circumstances behind it, for all we know, they can't be shattered at all.

Even making them retreat into their Gem is hard enough; Yellow couldn't poof Blue (though, again, whether she was trying to and not capable remains to be seen) and Pink needed to be “shattered” with a specialised weapon to poof her.

Oh, sure, people are quick to rally around the Breaking Point, but they forget that it was never used against anybody, let alone the Diamonds. We don't even know how practical it would've been to use in battle, after all, the only person using it and knew how it worked intimately was defeated by a child with a sword while he was trying to run away.

Whether the Breaking Point or indeed anything could kill a Diamond, so far, the only weapon that has even came close to inhibiting a Diamond's Gem was Spinel's Rejuvenator, but I'd argue that's a moot point. Even if the Diamonds could be fought, defeated and contained through struggle or the efforts of some Super Fusion, it might not be possible for them to account for their crimes in a way that deprives them of their lives.

Incarceration or bubbling might work, but they could always be freed. How long do bubbles last, how long would it be until a mistake frees one of them or loyalists free these immortal and unkillable beings?

Conventional methods of “dealing” with the Diamonds are entirely speculative and until Rebecca introduces something like “Diamond Smasher” missile platforms, invented by Peridot and Bismuth collaborating, I would hazard that Steven's method of influencing these Gem matriarchs is probably the best in the long run.

The effort he's going to isn't to destroy the Diamonds, it's to save them and in turn, the people they could hurt if they were allowed to continue on. The people that they have hurt, to allow them to recover. To make them into better people that will feel guilt and remorse for their actions, try to account for them by protecting all life they come across for the rest of time, to the fullest of their abilities. If they are immortal then they require an immortal solution.

It doesn't mean that those they hurt (and are alive and are still capable of thought, because man the things that people can do to others in real life are fucked up enough, let alone in magic sci-fi land) are going to forgive them. Why should they? They are the victims, they have been hurt. Turning the Diamonds into better people is to stymie more people getting hurt, to account for that damage they caused. It may never be enough, it can never be enough, but it's better than nothing and it's certainly better than the opposite.

Who knows how the Diamond's saga will end? Actually, no, stupid question; Rebecca Sugar, probably, but as for the rest of us, we're in the dark. Will the Diamonds step down as leaders, even as figureheads, of Homeworld? Will they leave their species in order to make a fresh start in some new quadrant of the universe where they can help others and those that they've hurt don't have to look at them? Will they depart unannounced one day and sit on a ship, gathering dust, for all eternity? Would they even try to kill themselves if the guilt got too strong?

To sum it up, I don't know. I want to believe the best in people, that everybody can account for their actions to some degree because I'm a bit of an optimist, but I realise that there are some things that can't be forgiven or absolved or made up for or whatever. But, maybe, in that universe, they can. Maybe they can heal the Cluster? Maybe they can help every single shard? Rebuild every ruined life? Its nature as a lighter shade of a complicated universe means that there is potential and there is hope to do so.

And now that we're in Steven Universe Future, it's clear that the Diamonds aren't being absolved of all sin. Pearl assumes that White Diamond was the one behind Volleyball's (no, sorry, can't do it) Pink Pearl's damage and she's furious. When she realises it was Pink, she's shocked and disturbed, but is still supportive of her older counterpart. She doesn't hesitate to comfort her or when Steven snaps, defend Pink Pearl against her own son. She recognises that the person she'd loved did a terribly fucked up thing, intentional or not and moves to comfort the victim.

Steven finds their attentions exhaustive in the movie, though that is probably down to spending so much time with them and investing so much effort in getting them to change, leading him to leave them abruptly despite their pleas to stay (and resume his post so to speak, but probably just as much for the company). When they appear at the end, Steven, who has had a rough day, doesn't particularly sweet-talk them into going so much as flat out telling White that he wasn't crazy about them living on Earth, even as White tries the dramatic grandma act.

It's probably why I'm a lot more kind on the ending of the film having Spinel leave with the Diamonds. They both need somebody to help them with their problems and they sort of fill the niche that they each want from the other, while acknowledging that it isn't going to be as it was before and that they aren't the person who they are replacing. They will try.

(And for the record, if things go to hell, Spinel can take care of herself. In fact, I'd worry more about the Diamonds pissing off her than the other way around, she's a smart cookie.)

Honestly, it's the layers of complexity that Steven Universe has that makes a simple question like the one posited kinda difficult to answer. Referring back to that, Jasper for example, why does it seem like she's having to work super hard for a redemption? The answer is that she's pretty complex too.

From what I've read and seen about Jasper, her biggest failing is that she's Gem Vegeta meant to be this perfect super soldier, indestructible and unbeatable. She was built to fight and relishes battle, loves any opportunity to prove that. She takes pride in her abilities because she was literally the best type of gem to do them and was born as a flawless being in Gem eyes. She fulfils her function and she's equipped to do so with maximum efficiency.

Naturally, to quote the saying, pride goeth before the fall. Jasper's hangup is that she does not cope with failure well; she acknowledges that it happens, but constantly rails against it. New strategies, new tactics... new excuses for her failure. New people to blame.

Jasper's biggest failing is that she believes that, despite being the perfect Quartz soldier, she was also born a failure. The colony failed and their leader, a Diamond, was destroyed by the rebels that she went toe-to-toe with and could not beat. She failed in protecting the being that she was most loyal to... and that failure haunts her.

When it came time to bail and nuke Earth from orbit, Jasper was left without a chance to avenge Pink, settle the score and find closure. No matter what she did and was that she failed Pink Diamond and everything else from thereon in was a failure as a result.

But failure was something that imperfect, flawed Gems did. Failure was something that you'd expect from some know-it-all Peridot, getting too big for her boots. Not her. Not the perfect Quartz. The perfect Quartz won any and every battle it was deployed in, shattered every enemy it faced. And, wasn't she the perfect Quartz? Didn't Homeworld call her a war hero? Didn't Yellow Diamond herself take her into her court while all the others of her Kindergarten get relegated to some dusty relic in space?

In a way, Jasper fell into her own legend. She had an idealised version of herself that she knew, subconsciously, that she could never truly be. This self-hatred drove out all of her positive traits, save for determination and reinforced her negative ones. It overshadowed her when Steven tried to help her, because accepting the help would make her weak and she despised being weak.

It's also the character niche that she fills too. Jasper was the first enemy that the Crystal Gems faced that didn't appear sympathetic on the surface. She was more directly involved in the plot than the Diamonds were for a long time, they were distant figures who had orchestrated the war. Now, here was an antagonist that worked on a more personal level by targeting “Rose” and “her” fellows directly.

Jasper despised weakness and when faced with the Crystal Gems in person, all she saw was weakness. A random Pearl that got it into her head that she was free to do whatever she liked while Jasper and everybody else followed orders. Some fusion between two Gems of completely different classes, outright heretical. This... malformed, tiny Quartz that came from the same place as her, could have been a functioning soldier like Jasper or worse, Jasper like her.

Even then she could shrug that off. They were clearly some rag-tag band of survivors from Homeworld's attack, they just got lucky. Have Peridot annihilate them with the ship and be done with it. But hey, at least Rose Quartz is dead, even if she didn't get the satisfaction of shattering her. Killing the last of the rebels was still closure, of a sort.

But as events unfolded, to Jasper, it seemed like Rose Quartz wasn't dead at all. Her greatest enemy, Homeworld's Most Wanted, Rose Quartz... was hiding behind her soldiers, in the body of and mimicking the simpering attitude of a human child.

Rose who she respected the tactics of. Rose who found a way to kill a perfect being. Now a weakling. These were the people that defeated Homeworld. Shattered a Diamond, her Diamond. These were the people that defeated her. But if they were so weak, wouldn't that make her even weaker?

No. That was impossible. She would prove it by taking them down, making them account for their crimes.

So, Jasper became obsessed with taking down the Crystal Gems by any means necessary. Anything she could justify to prove that she was the strongest, that she could think on her feet, that she was successful and everything that she was made to be.

Had you told the Jasper in “The Return” that she would be out in the Earth wilderness, trying to put together a motley crew of corrupted Gems in “Earthlings”, she'd have laughed you out of the room or killed you for even implying she could fall so low, fail so hard. But she could reason with herself that if her enemy was going to “cheat”, why shouldn't she?

Fusion went from a “Cheap tactic” to a viable weapon; Malachite gave her all the power in the world, if she could only use it. Rose Quartz had her misfit army, so Jasper forged her own, giving these lost individuals purpose again, just like she did. If it were her in the same situation, she would be grateful... except she wouldn't be in that situation because she was perfect.

Except she wasn't perfect. Jasper kept failing. In fact, that's all she ever seemed to do on the planet of her birth: fail. So, her loathing grew. She couldn't fail, so she would just try something else. Whatever it took.

And all those failings kept coming. Starting off by going against the orders to check on the Cluster in favour of carting Rose back to civilisation despite protests only got her ship destroyed and both her and Peridot marooned on a hostile planet. Garnet matched her and defeated her. Lapis trapped her in a fusion. Alexandrite defeated Malachite, Lapis refused her, she lost against Stevonnie despite having “backup” and trouncing Amethyst. Then, against Smoky Quartz, she met her downfall by fusing with one of the corrupted Gems, infecting her as well.

Jasper's hell was that most of it was a result of her failure to back down. She might not have deserved to be held by Lapis in Malachite, but she didn't exactly have many other people to blame for forming the massive Fusion when her sole objective was to murder the Crystal Gems. When she got control of Malachite, she went straight to murder. When they were separated, she went to Lapis so that she could get the power back that eliminated her weakness so that she could murder. She built an army to lead against the Crystal Gems because she wanted to murder them. She poofed Amethyst with the intent to shatter her. She fused with a corrupted monster because she wanted to murder Smoky Quartz.

Jasper had a spectacular talent of getting herself into messes because she can't let go of hatred and the need to cause harm. Granted, that is as a result of her attempt to heal her own wounds, prove to herself that she isn't a failure, but she's still trying to kill our protagonists and a lot of the time, laughing as she does it.

When, finally, Jasper is at her lowest, corrupting and abandoned by her feral army of monsters, she rejects Steven's help. Why should she accept it when she sees the truth of it all; that Rose Quartz manipulates the weak and abandoned Gems, giving them purpose again. Makes them all into bodies to put between her and the forces of Homeworld under the guise of love and caring.

To accept help is weak. She refuses to believe that she is weak, but at the same time, knows that she is. Jasper has struggled with that dichotomy for all of her existence and it kills her. She's trapped in her own logic. If she accepts help, then she proves herself to be a weakling. But if she fights against it, then that proves that she is strong. Strong enough not to break down or corrupt.

Ultimately, this attitude gets the character put on hiatus, poofed and bubbled. When we see her cured in Rose's Fountain at the end of the original series' run, she still hasn't learned the lesson. She has a moment of confusion at where she is, then she sees Steven. Crash Helmet activated, Jasper moves in to fight... then spots Yellow Diamond glancing at her out of the side of her eye. Sees Blue and even the mighty White Diamond sitting there in the water.

All around them, Gems she knew, Gems she didn't, Homeworld and Crystal Gems all talking and laughing and hugging and healing from this corruption. Even the Crystal Gem that she'd went out of her way to rile up the most, Amethyst, gently reassures her as the truth hits her.

Jasper was made for fighting and the fighting is over. It shakes her a lot. Suddenly, everything she's hated herself for is moot. She's left without a purpose.

When we see her in Future, time has passed and it's clear she's still struggling with the hatred, because all she has known through most of her existence was that hatred. It is a part of her. She's beginning to recover slowly, make a change, but she's not there yet.

In the time that's passed, we know things have changed a lot. Given how dismissive Amethyst is towards the concept of Jasper joining Little Homeschool, any attempt to connect with her fellow Quartz has been unsuccessful at best. Jasper is still turning down help.

When Steven wanders over, she begrudgingly explains that she's listless. The fighting is over, so all she has is to prepare for the next war, if there even is one. She still sees herself as something to be proud of, something to be held above others, so she removes herself from the other Gems and lives in solitude. Any organic life on her territory is eradicated with no mercy, even if it's a frustrating inconvenience.

And as Steven isn't Pink, she doesn't have to treat him like a Diamond, even if the others do (out of misunderstanding or genuine gratitude for saving them or simply making him synonymous with a Diamond). I get the view that she finds him insufferable or at the very least annoying, because now she's getting the “peace and love” speech in person every so often and can't really do anything about it.

After she bemoans that nobody is willing to fight her anymore, Steven calls her out on the fact that she has done this to herself. She keeps refusing help because she's too mired in her ways, too proud to let herself be “weak” again. Hence why she's living in a cave in the woods, only marginally better than when she was trying to recruit corrupted Gems to take down Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl.

Of course, Jasper blows this off and ignores him until Steven agrees to do the one thing she wants, just so he can get through to her. He'll fight her. It's like switch is flicked. Jasper expresses genuine happiness and anticipation. She can do what she's good at again! She can relive the glory days for this one moment! Prove to herself that she wasn't weak for losing in a fair fight for once!

And she loses. The fight is fair, it's really one on one as she'd requested, but she loses. That's because she slips into her old habits of dissecting what she sees as weakness and once again, it costs her the battle.

To her, Steven always had backup to take her down, so even now, with all his powers, he's still no match for the orange Gem. However, when Steven gets mad and goes pink he completely flattens her.

But the biggest difference in all of this is that even though she doesn't win the fight, like she believed she might have, Jasper succeeds in getting what she wanted and getting something else out of Steven. She wanted a good fight and got one. Even though he beats her, he's showing physical strength now, anger and annoyance... he's just as flawed as everybody else is. He challenged her to a fair fight and she lost that fair fight because he was the stronger opponent. No “tricks”, just brawling. How it was meant to work.

She even scolds him for apologising for knocking her around because she got to live again. When Steven asks Jasper to tutor him, to show him how to harness his aggressive feelings, good... gooooood, young Skywalker new powers, she does what the earlier Jasper would never do. She gets on his level and gently lets him down.

That's a huge step. She recognises that she can respect Steven, even slightly. Sure, she might not be into what he's selling most of the time, but she realised that there is some common ground for the two, just enough to engage with him for a moment. She's progressing.

So, in conclusion, what's the difference between their arcs? The Diamonds committed terrible crimes, but unlike Jasper, they seem to be taking steps to change and become better people by recognising that they've done wrong. When called out on how they treated Pink and the other Gems, they turned within the (admittedly hour long) episode. Blue Diamond tried to reason with Yellow, then both of them with White and finally, White. They had the will to change because they realised their actions had consequences and will, hopefully, be able to account in some way for the things they have done.

Jasper, on the other hand, doesn't have such grave crimes to account for, but for her, everything was much more personal, much more cerebral. She refused to give in because not only was she determined, but she was actively trying to thwart her own self-hatred by succeeding. Jasper didn't see what she did was wrong, I'm still unsure if she does now, but she's finally started on the path to healing now because she's finally found something of worth from a Crystal Gem, even if said Crystal Gem isn't in the healthiest place right now.

Speaking of, her remarks about Steven were pretty on point as we see later in Future. Steven is worried about everybody not needing him any more and he lashes out as a result. Maybe part or indeed a large chunk of Jasper's redemption will be seeing the same self-loathing she experienced grow in Steven and empathising with him and trying to help him, given that the seeds of respect were beginning to form between them. And hey, given her ability to diagnose psychological issues in a heartbeat, she might have a career in that later on, as unlikely as it sounds. Little Homeschool is always recruiting.

The fact is that while I believe that both the Diamonds and Jasper have a long way to go when it comes to redemption, either to account for the magnitude of their crimes for the former or to finally accept help from others, putting one's own demons to rest in the case of the latter, they've started off the whole process with Steven's help. It may be slow and difficult for them, but they have a chance to make themselves and by extension, their whole world, better.

And isn't that what Steven Universe is about?

#Steven Universe #this took a lot longer than I thought it would #surprisingly Jasper's part took longer to articulate than the Diamonds' #probably because I've had a chance to speak about them before with friends

[mellowfilmmaker]

Steven Universe “Change Your Mind” Review

A few days ago “Change Your Mind”, the big Season 5 finale of Steven Universe came out. My thoughts on the episode can be neatly summed up by Tyra Banks in this following gif. 

 Yeah, my followers might already know this, but I’m not that big of a fan of the episode. Not only did I think it was bad, but it pretty much deflated my interest in the series. A commenter on one my posts compared it to someone deflating a balloon, but I personally see it more as someone slowly deflating the air out of all of your tires of your car. 

Let’s talk about the first major issue with this episode. The redemption of the diamonds was way too easy. All it took was a short speech from The Great Prophet Steven for Blue and Yellow Diamond to completely change their tunes. I’ll admit that I wasn’t a supporter of the idea of them redeeming the Diamonds, but I might have been ok with it if it was decently executed. I personally believe that having the redemption come off as rushed as it was is probably the worst mistake they could’ve made in their redemption. People usually don’t just completely change if you just talk to them. At least not abusers and facists which the diamonds are meant to represent. In real life, anything you have to say to a facist in order to change them, they’ve probably heard a 1,000 times before. Try to tell Donald Trump that he’s really hurting migrant children, and he’ll probably just blame the Democrats or get angry at you or ignore you. Hell a person doesn't even have to be abusive in order to not listen. It’s human nature to sometimes push back against changes that someone else is pushing on them. I forgot what it was called, but I read about that in a book about depression. That makes sense, if you want to change you want to feel like you’re doing it for you and you’re not being controlled by someone else. I’m just saying that the diamonds changing way too quickly is unrealistic, insulting, and I think potentially dangerous.

Now let’s go ahead and kill the most common and awful defense of this kind of bullshit. “It’s a kid show!” Ok let’s pretend that isn't an awful argument. Let’s pretend that kid shows are just immune from criticism. That argument doesn’t apply to Steven Universe. If this was a TV-Y show called The Adventures of Pretty Pink Princess & the Power of Love where the protagonist defeats the villain Mr. Meanie by hugging him and being his friend, then I could give this a pass. Steven Universe however is rated TV-PG (the same rating as Downton Abbey, The Office, The Good Place, and many other shows that aren’t called Kid shows) and tries to tackle real world topics. Just look at the dialogue between Steven and Blue Diamond. The dialogue is clearly meant to mirror dialogue spoken by an LGBT youth (specifically trans) and their bigoted parent. If you’re going to bring real world topics into your show, then you will be called out if you portray them badly. This episode actually made me realize that Steven Universe is actually kind of a confused show. It both wants to a fantasy show that takes place in its own little world detached from the baggage of our reality and it wants to also tackle real world topics. Maybe a writer can pull that off, but SU sure as hell can’t. 

Now here’s my other major problem with this episode, there’s so much shit being thrown in this episode. Here’s the major stuff shown in this episode: Blue Diamond redeemed, Yellow Diamond redeemed, Lapis new outfit, Peridot new outfit, Garnet new outfit, Amethyst new outfit, Pearl new outfit, Rainbow Quartz 2.0 revealed, Sunstone revealed, Obsidian revealed, Steven’s gems get popped, Steven accepts himself, White Diamond redeemed, Pink Pearl gets her memories back, Lars comes back with the off colors, Lars and Sadie reconcile, the corrupted gems are healed, Jasper and Amethyst reconcile, end. That’s too much stuff. The problem with having so much stuff in this episode is that many of these moments lose their impact because they don’t have time to breathe or be given much attention. Smoky Quartz’s reveal had way more impact than both Rainbow Quartz’s and Sunstone’s reveal, because there was an episode dedicated to it. This special somehow made the reveal of the temple fusion A.K.A. Obsidian seem mundane. This is impressive since the Temple Fusion has been silently built up since the pilot. The reveal of Obsidian should have felt a lot bigger than it did. The gravity of the moment was partly diminished by the fact that the episode revealed two fusions right before her. Then they had the healing of the corrupted gems. It should have felt like one of the biggest moments of the show, but it was instead played in the background while a reprisal of the theme song was playing, greatly diminishing its impact. This episode just was filled with moments that were disappointing in its execution. It was a carousal of disappointment. 

The other problem with all of these events losing their impact in this episode is that many of these events could’ve gotten their own episode and have been better for it. Revealing Obsidian in this episode makes sense, but Rainbow Quartz and Sunstone could’ve been revealed sometime during season 4 or 5. Think of all the awful filler episodes we got in those seasons that could have easily been cut out in favor of an episode about Rainbow Quartz or Sunstone or Lars coming home. Hell, Jasper being healed could have been a really interesting arc. This episode really is like a college student procrastinating till the last minute to doing their homework. 

Now those were my two biggest problems with the episode, but there were a lot of other smaller problems too. A lot of the dialogue in the episode was pretty bad. It was clunky at times and there were many times characters explained the obvious. Everyone just seems to know exactly what to do with little to no explanation. Peridot is only slightly better in this episode than she was in Reunited. The designs of Rainbow Quartz and Sunstone were fine, but their personalities were way too gimmicky. They screamed “Not going to receive further character development”. The episode earns my personal ire that the reconciliation of Jasper and Amethyst, the epilogue to one of my favorite arcs of the show, is shown in a musical montage where we don’t even hear what they say. Meanwhile, we do get to see and hear Lars and Sadie reconcile, something that immediately earns my apathy. It’s the most out of touch moment in SU since the ending of Your Mother and Mine. 

Now is there stuff I like about this episode, well yes. The scene where Steven connects to his Pink Diamond half was really well animated and emotionally satisfying. I also really liked the ending. It was nice and atmospheric. I just wish those moments got a better episode. 

Overall this episode is pretty bad. I do eventually want to make a list of my least favorite episodes of Steven Universe ( also might make a favorite episode list), and this is destined for the top ( or bottom) three. This is not only bad, but it might be show killing bad. I lost most of my excitement for the show because of this episode. Like for the first time in a long time I’m happy for the show to go on hiatus. That Steven Universe movie better be damn good. It better set up some interesting new arcs and be completely satisfying. I overall give this an “Awful, Don’t Watch It” on my recommendation meter. 

Maybe that’s a bit too harsh, but I’ve had the habit of going too easy on this show (like in hindsight, Familiar should’ve gotten a lower rating from me). Also just based on the impact the episode had on me personally, I cannot rate it any higher. There’s definitely worse stuff out there, but as far as SU is concerned, this is almost as bad as it gets. 

#steven universe #su critical #change your mind #review

[kittyprincessofcats]

Thoughts on SU - Change Your Mind (4/4)

- That entire part with the screen being split in two because we’re seeing things from the perspective of both Stevens is amazing.

- “SHE’S GONE!” This was the best part of the episode, hands down. This entire scene and its message were absolute perfection. Steven is not his mother, he’s truly his own person, his gem belongs him and no one else, he needs both his gem-side and his human-side to survive, and Rose/Pink is not secretly alive inside his gem - she’s dead and gone and never coming back. 10/10.

- Connie carrying Human!Steven, White yelling “I only want you to be yourself!” (did someone call for a trans metaphor?), Gem!Steven being able to withstand White’s power beam because no power in the world can stop someone from being themselves (at least that’s how I understood it), the two Stevens hugging and reuiniting, Steven saying “I’ve always been me”, White throwing a temper tantrum and Steven and Connie just laughing about it... GOD, this whole scene is PERFECT. This really is the only part of the episode that I can wholeheartedly say I loved.

- “I am a child. What’s your excuse?” Okay, on the one hand that was a savage burn and I love it. But how does White Diamond even know what a child is? Gems don’t age, so why would “acting like a child” be the first insult she goes to?

- Did you see Peridot climbing on top of Amethyst right away? Because I sure did. #AmedotLives. And Pearl jumping into Bismuth’s arms? Yeah, that was nice.

- “Welcome back.” I mean, this line in itself is sweet, but I hate how we never see Pink Pearl again after this. I mean, what happened to her after this? Does she even remember anything? Does she know who Steven is? And why didn’t Steven and the Crystal Gems take her to Earth with them? She’s not in the ending scenes, so I’m assuming they didn’t. Did they just leave her there with White, who mind-controlled and abused her for thousands of years? Did they just leave her there as White’s property, as a slave to her abuser? This is my main problem with this episode: In “Together Alone” Steven promised his friends he’d fix everything about homeworld, but now he’s not fixing anything! It looks like he’s just saying “Welcome back, now have fun being a slave again, bye.” Which is probably not how the writers intended it, but by not giving us any resolution on what happens to Pink Pearl after this, it’s the impression we’re left with. It wouldn’t have been hard to give Steven a line where he tells White she won’t get to hurt Pink Pearl anymore and that he’s taking her to Earth with him. They could have included her in the healing fountain montage, with the fountain healing her eye. Instead we got no resolution and are left with the impression that she’s traumatised and alone on homeworld, while still being White Diamond’s slave. But hey, at least the Diamonds are a happy family now, yay.

- Wait, so blusing counts as being “off-color”? In that case, wouldn’t every gem we’ve ever met be considered off-color? Every single one?

- “I’m supposed to be flawless.” SAYS WHO? WHO TOLD YOU THAT? WHO CREATED YOU? First Yellow and Blue say they’re under so much pressure from White and they’re only killing people for White. Now White’s saying she’s “supposed to be flawless”... but WHO told her that? I feel like this show’s trying so hard to shift the blame away from everyone that we’re left with a void of “but who did that?”. A message about how everyone is good and no one is truly evil doesn’t work in a universe that has introduced so many evil concepts to us. It makes it look like evil things just happen for no reason. But the Pearls didn’t enslave themselves. The Cluster didn’t create itself. The Off-Colors didn’t start persecuting themselves. Thousands of plantets didn’t conquer themselves. The Diamonds did those things and they should be held accountable. And no, this is not about me wanting Steven to “solve things with violence”. I just want him to actually address these injustices. It’s possible to be a pacifist without turning a blind eye to things that are morally wrong.

- Needless to say, White’s redemption makes even less sense that Blue’s or Yellow’s. She was set up as the big bad of this show, this very episode did such a good job at portaying her as evil and twisted, only to backpeddal into “She just wanted everything to be perfect” at the last minute. Are people really not seeing why I’m unhappy with this? It’s like taking Voldemort from Harry Potter and redeeming him in the last book because “He only wanted the wizarding world to be perfect”. It’s a disservice to White as a villain, and considering all the themes of oppression in this show it sends a really disturbing message.

- Steven and Greg’s reunion was sweet.

- Lars’ and his crew showing up in the end feels lame. I wish they’d served more of a purpose in this story than just “showing up in the end”.

- “We finally made it! No more running, no more hiding, no more Diamond Authority!” ... “Well, we’re cracked.” This line was played for laughs, but I just really didn’t find it funny, I found it awful. These gems have been hiding from the Diamonds their entire lives. They don’t know any other life than running and living in fear. They don’t know homeworld as anything but caves underground where you have to hide because you’re wrong and will be killed for exisiting if you’re discovered. The Diamonds are the reason their lives were like that and the reason they felt so much shame and self-hatred that they didn’t even know what a compliment was. And then they finally get away from that life, finally manage to make the long and hard journey to a planet where they’re promised a life in safety and freedom, Lars sweetly says “Welcome home” when they arrive... only for them to suddenly be face to face with three Diamonds. There’s nothing even remotely funny about that. And if he didn’t still need the Diamonds to heal the corrupted gems, I would have wanted Steven to turn to the Diamonds right then and there, and tell them to leave and never come back to this planet again. Because the Off-Colors deserve a safe home where they’ll never have to face the Diamonds or be scared ever again. And I still wish he’d have told them just that after they healed the corrupted gems.

- “Off-Colors, meet the Diamonds. Diamonds, meet the Off-Colors.” Steven honey, I know you’re trying, but NO. Believe me, the Off-Colors know who the Diamonds are and they shouldn’t have to get to know them or give them a chance. They ran away from them for a reason and it’s not your place to tell them otherwise. And the Diamonds know who the Off-Colors are, too. Well, not this specific group, but you know. And I strongly disagree with the idea that the Diamonds “just need time to get to know the Off-Colors”. They’ve had time. They’ve had 5750 years (and 8 months) since Garnet first formed. And they spent that time murdering off-color gems. The idea that bigoted people just need to get to know someone from an oppressed minority and they’ll change their mind isn’t bad, but it doesn’t work when these characters are the reason that minority is oppressed in the first place. These aren’t some random homeworld gems who’ve never had to question their beliefs before. These are the Diamonds - they’ve been shattering these gems for thousands of years. (And now they actually have the nerve to look offended when Padparadscha is scared of them? REALLY?)

- “Padparadscha, it’s okay.” SHUT UP LARS, YOU DON’T KNOW THAT! You’ve only been on homeworld for a few hours! Who are you to know if it’s okay?

- I like the new version of “We are the Crystal Gems”, but I hate how during the line “Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and Steven” it’s showing the Diamonds with Steven instead. That’s kind of the theme for the whole episode. I wanted Steven and the Crystal Gems, and got “Steven and the Diamonds” instead.

- That moment of Pearl and Garnet crying as the corrupted gems are being healed and then hugging each other? #blessed

- How’s Jasper the only one that almost starts to fight after being uncorrupted? These gems were all on opposite sides of a war? I mean, okay, maybe at first they’re just happy about being healed, but isn’t this going to lead to conflicts later? And since many of the were former Crystal Gems, why aren’t they a bit freaked out about the Diamonds being there?

- So the Diamonds leave, but what does that mean? This leaves so many questions unanswered! 1) Are they just going back to conquering worlds and commiting genocides? 2) Are they going to change homeworld society now? Will they set their Pearls free? Will they stop shattering gems? (I kinda doubt it, since Steven never told them to do any of that. Also, I don’t want change to come from the Diamonds. In real life, change never comes from the oppressor. It comes from the oppressed fighting for their rights. I don’t want the Diamonds to just see the error of their ways and let gems be themselves. I wanted to see the gems of homeworld standing up for their rights and fighting for them. And the only homeworld gem we’ve seen do that was Jade. What happened to her, by the way? Another question this episode just leaves unanswered.) 3) Are the Diamonds going to be regular visitors on earth now? Should the Off-Colors look for another planet to live peacefully on? Does Steven care more about his new happy dictator-family coming to visit than the trauma of the gems they’ve hurt? 4) Are the Diamonds ever going to face any consequences for what they’ve done? Are they at least going to spend time in prison for every gem they shattered and tortured or nah?

- And that’s my main problem with this episode. It painted the Diamonds as nothing more than an abusive family, and ignored all the other WAY WORSE things they’ve done. It’s a good message about families, but it feels out of place in this setting. If this was where they were going to go with the Diamonds, they should never have made them this evil in the first place.

#SU #Steven Universe #su spoilers #Change Your Mind #Diamond Days #vicky watches SU #Connie Maheswaran #Pink Diamond #Rose Quartz #White Diamond #Peridot #Amethyst #Amedot #Bispearl #Bismuth #Pearl #Pink Pearl #Off-Colors #Rhodonite #Padparadscha #Lars Barriga #Greg Universe #Garnet #Jasper #Jade #long post #like really long I'm sorry

[squandereduniverse]

Sorry for this sort of mini-rant thing in your inbox, I was thinking about the Diamonds as a metaphor for family that doesn´t except you and the wish fulfillment aspect of their redemption and I realized something that I might have had a lot less problems with the show if it weren´t aimed at older children and teens. There´d be different problems, but I don´t think my distaste would be as intense. 1/?

I think you or a different Crit mentioned this before but the recent episodes make it worse. Steven is a kid. He´s 14. But the burden is placed on him to constantly fix the problems of adults. Whether it be talking down the Diamonds or helping Pearl through her grief, it´s always up to him. Of course, he´s the protagonist. He´s supposed to save the day, but it´s seems almost insidious when his problem is a broken family. ´Yes kids, if your family is abusive towards you, you have to fix it.¨ 2/?And the pressure to talk and talk and talk to your abusers until they change should never be placed on a child. Steven´s fictional, but the kids watching this show aren´t. The idea of some kid who´s parents beat them or harm them watching this show and blaming themselves for not trying hard enough to fix things, or who watches Bismuth or hears the lines¨We shouldn´t fight, we´re family¨ and decides to placate to their abusers will instead of fighting. That disturbs and disgusts me Thoughts? 3/3

It’s a reoccurring problem in su that they addressed that he shouldn’t be handling the burden of fixing everything on his own. Amethyst said that Steven should just deal with his own problems and let the adults carry their share. This was just episodes before Diamond Days started, then the crew proceeded to make Steven fix his mother (an adult)’s problem.

Since it’s a kids show, it does make sense for the protagonist to be a kid, because it’s someone who the audience can relate to better. But it’s the execution that doesn’t quite work. He’s not on a team of other kids his age and they all work together to save the world and the burden is shared. He’s a kid where almost everyone is older than him and almost everyone is unloading their problems onto him for him to sort out. The broken family he fixes isn’t even his own. It’s like going from your family to see your biological family, only to find it in shambles and having to shoulder the duty of fixing it while they call you the wrong name and disrespect you.

The season finale is written with the message that it’s not okay to be treated like garbage for who you are, and that no one can make you be someone you’re not. The wish fulfillment comes in the form of standing up to your abusers and making them see it your way. I can kinda feel for it, because I’m not open about being bi, and I don’t even bring up asexuality. It’d be so nice to just make them see it my way. But I know better than to do that. 

But I think the thing to see, is that the ending wasn’t Steven placating them. Steven was giving them no illusion of being Pink. This was him at the end of his rope and demanding respect. He stood up to them, and didn’t back down. It’s kinda like the fantasy of talking circles around your opponent and them being absolutely decimated and being embarrassed from their lack of preparedness into stunned silence and shame and everyone high fiveing you as you pass them because of how ruthless it was.  

But I do agree, there could be kids out there that see this and try it, and bad things will happen to them. There’s no shame in hiding money until you have enough to run away and live with either someone that does support you, or rent a small place with a roommate and never look back. But I think that for most people, it’s probably going to be wistful looks to the screen and wishing how that could be you.

It didn’t tie up as many loose ends as it’d like to claim and it feels like it went back on a promise that Amethyst and the show made to us, but I think as far as messages go, this one wasn’t the worst. It was rushed and probably unrealistic, because I don’t think that any of those characters would’ve caved that fast, but other than that I’d say it was pretty good.

#su critical #Anonymous

[tumblunni]

Ehh i think i finally summed up why all of this steven universe diamonds stuff has been so underwhelming.

YES you can redeem a villain

but you have to

actually

TRY

Yes you can write a story about the world’s most fuckin horrible person being really actually sad at heart

Yes you can write a story about an abusive parent actually being able to change

Yes you can write a story about some wild genocidal alien civilization of asshole space rocks actually only doing it because something something societal pressure DESPITE BEING THE ONES IN CHARGE WHO SET THE DAMN RULES I GUESS

But fucking hell its not gonna be EASY and you shouldn’t treat it that way.

All of this shit was SO fucking quick?? And everything else WASNT!

You spent SO long hyping up these guys you spent SO long convincing us that they WERE evil and that they had entirey different motives for what they were doing and EVEN WITHIN THIS FUCKING EPISODE you spent more time showing us White Diamond being absolutely ridiculously existentially horrifyingly awful and refusing every offer everyone gave her to help and refusing every chance and fucking fucking goddamn violating people’s entire minds and just.. fuck.

After all that you cant just fuckin have steven walk up to blue and yellow and say “hey everything you did was bad” and them go “GEE WE NEVER KNEW!” for some reason this time they’re convinced in a single sentence despite it being the same sentence steven said before in every damn episode and pink said to them years before and every person they abused and enslaved and mutilated and KILLED said while they were DYING

And you can’t fucking have white diamond never redeem herself and never change and never admit she’s wrong and steven SOLVE IT WITH FUCKING FIGHTING WHILE SAYING HE DOESNT WANT TO, WHILE THE ENTIRE SHOW TRIES TO CLAIM THE REASON THEY ARE DOING IT THIS WAY IS BECAUSE OF PACIFISM

because seriously he?? just defeated her?? and this made her?? change???

redeeming a villain shouldn’t be easy. redeeming a villain has to have the villain TRY. white diamond has done nothing to prove she really has a heart, prove that she really did all this for sympathetic reasons, prove that she’s able to change, AND ESPECIALLY NOTHING TO MAKE IT UP TO ANY OF THE PEOPLE SHE’S HURT

she just got defeated and basically admitted she’s wrong cos she has no other choice. and i guess her blushing because steven issued a SICK BURN to her is meant to be enough proof that her entire motivation so far has been because of self confidence issues forcing her to put up a false front aka her entire personality we saw so far. If you wanna tell me she’s entirely different to what we saw so far then please could you please give it more screentime than twelve goddamn seconds.

This is like how yellow and blue just suddenly were accepted as part of the family and steven agreed to go with them to homeworld literally just because they realized he “is really pink diamond”. Like they never fucking repented or actually learned to empathise with humans or ever explained why they dont empathise with humans no nope the only answer we got is that they were sad about their sister/daughter/friend dying even though they were already doing all the same evil stuff before that and its what caused her to leave in the first place. no we’re gonna just completely trust them instantly and not even continue making an effort to convince them? we’re gonna trust them so much we’re gonna trust that white diamond will also change just cos we beat her up? COS SERIOUSLY STEVEN FUCKIN DEFEATED BLUE AND YELLOW IN A FIGHT AND THATS THE END OF THEIR ARC, HOW IS THIS PROVING THE POWER OF PACIFISM!! beating everyone up and then saying the same singular sentence again and somehow now it works!! or saying “my mum was pink diamond” and it doesnt convince them but hey if we say it again with magical proof its true then i guess it works now. wow that sure does argue the power of words i guess

everything EVERYTHING they did was just a fuckin misunderstanding cos they dont UNDERSTAND they were doing bad and thus they dont have to face any form of consequences beyond being mildly embarassed i suppose.

if you wanna make that the ending then you need to work to disprove all the hours you spent implying that.. yknow.. they were doing things because they were evil

and even if theyre sympathetic they still did evil things and they still need to work to prove that theyve changed

and ESPECIALLY if you’re making a show very heavy on subjects like LGBT discrimination it shouldnt be FUCKIN WOW UNEXPECTED that the audience would see this plot as a metaphor for stuff like homophobia and abusive parents and.. yknow.. societal oppression in a law system that forces you to live in the closet in constant fear of being discovered and killed. and all the other apparantly accidental undertones of racism and extermination of indigenous people in stolen land which YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED PEOPLE TO SEE WHEN THE PLOT IS LITERALLY EXTERMINATING PEOPLE TO STEAL THEIR LAND

all of that means you need to do MORE work to prove that that isnt actually what the plot is supposed to be, and more work to redeem villains who are very heavily goddamn triggering to a large part of the vunerable audience YOU SPECIFICALLY MARKETED YOURSELF TOWARDS

this was just so fucking overwhelming and somehow rushed despite being an hour long episode, and i hate it because the show spent so much effort on so much other stuff yet decided to half ass it at the really important part that NEEDED to have thought and time put into it if it was gonna nail the landing

especially after ALL THAT FUCKIN TIME AND EFFORT INTO THINGS THAT ONLY AMPED UP THE VILLAINY AND TENSION OF THESE GUYS AND MADE IT SO MUCH WORSE

like fucking hell how can you be so tone deaf??? this has been in the planning for so damn long and theyve been working on it forever and THIS is what they chose to rush over? this is the priorities they thought were important? even just within this episode if youre struggling to fit it all in then like seriously cut out some of the stuff like the montage of unseen fusion forms that did basiclaly nothing but a few jokes, and the equally as rushed bad lars and sadie romance resolution. Which is another thing that needed a lot of work to fix when the introduction we got to these two was a really unhealthy relationship and a dude who refuses to change despite being given twelve chances but suddenly changes COMPLETELY on the thirteenth one and i guess cos he died that proves he’s all good now. Except he acts all weird and creepy in the very next episode and endangers his new friends by acting all possessive over sadie again and getting angry that she has other friends????

i hate it because ive had to deal with the fandom telling all the people who were rightfully uncomfortable with how these subjects were handled that oh we’re just overreacting and oh wait and see cos they totally have a big plan for the ending or something that’ll make it all make sense. And comparing people being triggered by child abuse and racism to “huhu those dumb su criticals who hate the art style” or whatever...

god, man, its just a deflection of what the issue really is

“oh youre saying NO VILLAINS can EVER be redeemed and NOBODY can EVER talk about dark stuff in shows without being SECRETLY BAD AND SUPPORTING IT IN REAL LIFE?”

no im not saying that im just saying the subjects are fucking depressing to people who’ve suffered from the real life stuff and the villain redemption should be GOOD and should THINK ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE if it wants to make up for it

like fucking hell look at how much zuko from avatar went through before his redemption. look at how long he struggled with his morality and how long it took him to realise he was wrong. look at how much detail they showed us on all the people who negatively influenced him into making the bad choices he did. look at how much he went through to make up for what he did and apologise to everyone he hurt. look at how everyone he hurt didnt believe him at first and it took a while for everything to work out. look at how sometimes he messed up and took steps backward before getting to where he needed to be. and look at how he actually changed as a person and continued learning and growing and trying to be a good person even far into the future after the story ended.

hell, fuckin look at PERIDOT! peridot had a full goddamn zuko arc! peridot had more screentime than all of the diamonds combined, and it was way better utilized! she had a full process from being introduced as a scary villain BECAUSE OF MISUNDERSTANDING WHO SHE REALLY WAS, then being revealed as having a fully rounded personality, flaws and redeemable traits while still being a villain. and moments of her proving that she did indeed only become a villain because she didnt understand what she was doing was wrong, and a personality that matched with that reveal rather than having NO INDICATION she was like that until it suddenly happened only after she was defeated. and her redemption came slowly through friendship with steven and it had moments of the other characters not instantly trusting her and also of her making mistakes and struggling with believing steven’s philosophy when it went against everything she knew about life. and speaking of which it was established that she had a very different life which had negative influences pushing these ideas upon her, and tough stuff that made her scared and pressured. Not just being in a high position of ruling over a planet in the lap of luxury and ONLY AFTER BEING DEFEATED do we learn that they feel pressured by the societal expectation to be perfect and they actually would have agreed all along with dismantling the system but they were just too afraid to be honest. Or whatever the fuck that rushed ending was trying to go for! And man even after peridot joins the team she’s NOT redeemed yet, she’s initially only halfway doubting herself and only teaming up with steven because they’re both afraid of the cluster. And she messes up and says horrible shit to her new friends and feels the consequences of her actions and chooses to change. And her ultimate choice to switch sides is REALLY hard, she gets so close to going back to the diamonds and its a great personal sacrifice on her part when she chooses to give it all up and make an enemy of the person she was so scared of!

and GAHHH that good redemption is one in a million episodes that really set up the diamonds Being Bad and should have been a goddamn tally in the “effort required in the fuckin ending” chart!

could we not have even just had one ten minute episode of blue and yellow going around earth and experiencing human life and realizing there’s things worth protecting? or a few damn scenes foreshadowing white being actually insecure and lying to protect herself, rather than GENUINELY ABUSIVE BECAUSE SHE’S BAD?

and seriously even if you hurt people because you hate yourself YOU STILL HURT THEM

a sympathetic backstory should be a reason why they COULD be redeemed, not proof that they already are redeemed just because the backstory was stated in words and nothing else has fuckin changed.

imagine if zuko just lost one fight to aang and said “yes but my dad abused me” and aang was like “oh no now lets team up with zuko to beat up his dad” and none of the bad things zuko did were ever mentioned again and also he keeps his season 1 personality throughout the entire series

imagine if peridot fuckin.. just changed sides cos she’s funny and we like her. people wantedher to change sides as soon as she acted funny and likeable but they still made the effort to actually prove she had changed! the diamonds didnt act remotely harmless or remotely good until they just suddenly are in the very last episode.

hoo

fucking

ray

also why are we constantly just ignoring all these dark things about homeworld? like the episode with holly blue agate and the famethyst slave caste and all the creepy ways the entire place operated. i totally thought thatd.. yknow.. EVER BE REFERENCED AGAIN?? its never even mentioned that anyone even WANTS to go back and save them?? and the human zoo were outright stated to be like.. unsaveable. “oh theyve never known real human life and theyre happy in their slavery so itd be cruel to take them away from it” One off episode, forgotten about. And the creepy as fuck scenes of gems being BUILT INTO THE WALLS AND DOORS AS SECURITY SYSTEMS and the confirmation that more lapis situations are constantly going on yet somehow that singing hairbrush person doesnt get all the sympathy that she did. And steven going daww at the pebbles instead of being horrified that theyre born to work as servants and forced to live in the walls because the noblewomen dont want to look at them? and he asks them to make him a new outfit?? and theres no plot anything involving them except them puttering around in the background outfitting?? like was none of this meant to be seen as PROOF THAT THE DIAMONDS WERE EVIL and PEOPLE WHO NEEDED TO BE SAVED????

goddddd

please say they were rushed or something please say this is all the faultof being given less time than they expected please say there were other plans for other episodes we didnt see that would have given at least slightly more substance to any of this

also why wasnt this even advertised as the last episode if its the last fuckin episode

hhhh well at least obsidian was a great character design and so were the other fusions and new outfits even if they only appeared for twelve seconds. and white’s whole scary evil mind invasion stuff was really good even if it actually hurt the episode by being good, kinda

man im not even mad or anything i just feel mehh and bored and like im actually glad its over. i never wanted to feel that way about a show that used to be so good. i kinda wish the earliest episodes werent so good if the answers to all those well set up mysteries were gonna have so much less effort than the setup itself

...man i should make a whole post about all the mistaken ways i THOUGHT the show was gonna go that actually would have been way more interesting than the real answer.

i’m just super glad that my last theory was wrong cos wow that would have been the only thing worse than this ending! when white pearl first appeared before we’d actually seen white diamond, and it had all this thing that white diamond hadnt been seen in ages.. well i was worried it was setting up some sort of reverse twist where actually white pearl is bodysnatching white diamond instead of vice versa. So the whole evil empire would actually be run by a member of the slave class that its oppressing, and the diamonds/representative of the upper class would actually be poor victims all along. dear god i am so glad i got that wrong! tho im weirded out by how evil white/pink pearl looked in that first hint that she was originally pink pearl??

anyway basicallly im just so fuckin tired

#su spoilers #su critical #more like su dissappointed from someone who started off so damn su positive #su bored su rushed su i just wanted you to care as much about making this redemption good as you cared about other things #it really felt like in general the crewniverse just lost interest in the story around the third hiatus or so #whyyyy did they take so long to reveal anything if all the reveals were gonna be so fast and so bad #you gotta learn that if you hype up a thing you actually have to deliver #like fuckin hell it took a whole season to even introduce a single other gem at all #and so long to introduce homeworld and so long to introduce the diamonds and then whoops blink and its over i guess #also why was jasper hyped up so much and then shitcanned for practically a decade #and her only narrative purpose in the end was just a brief hint at the pink diamond arc

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Rose Quartz Propaganda

"We saw her character arc in reverse!! We first saw all the good she did and then learned of her terrible actions in the past. If her story was told the other way around, it would have been a great redemption arc. Yes, she did some terrible things, but she had no choice. She did everything she could to stop the colonization of earth peacefully buy nothing worked. Blue and yellow diamond just didn't listen to her and when they did, THEY were the ones who made the zoo and shit. Rose wanted to free them but couldn't get to them after the war! And with the corruption, there's no way she could have known that'd happen. There's so many things she wanted to do but just couldn't. And with spinel, yes it was shitty to leave her alone for so long, but again, between running her court, running the rebellion, dealing with earth, she likely wasn't a very high priority and like with the zoo, there was no way to get to her after the war since the galaxy warp was destroyed. And don't forget, she was practically a child around this time. You're saying you didn't do any stupid, selfish, or harmful things as a kid? She learned from her experiences and grew, we just saw that growth in reverse, leaving us as viewers with a poor perception of her."

"Rose Quartz is Steven Universe’s dead mom. Initially, she’s set up as sort of an ethereal perfect figure who everyone misses and compares him to. Later we get to see more of her backstory and discover that she’s actually like, a person, with flaws, who has done some bad things, but she did those bad things largely in the course of trying to escape an abusive home life and save the people and planet that she fell in love with. It’s very clear that despite her flaws she was trying to do the right thing and that she deeply cared about others. Unfortunately, a woman who was not a Perfect Martyr was way too much for the Steven Universe fandom to handle. She pretty much set off the wave of SU crit blogs because these people were furious either that she had taken violent measures to solve her problems, that she hadn’t taken violent enough measures to solve her problems, or both somehow. Lots of “Why didn’t she just murder her abusive parental figures?” Lots of “She was evil for having a baby even though she knew she’d die in childbirth!” Lots of “She should’ve been able to protect everyone from a magic nuclear weapon with the power of love somehow.” Lots of “She shouldn’t have rebelled (even though not rebelling would’ve meant the destruction of Earth) because her abusers retaliated and that’s her fault.” LOTS of people drawing her as stick thin even though she was fat in the show. People treated her like she was on the same level or even worse than her abusive parental figures who were also the main villains of the show. It was unbearable to witness."

Katara Propaganda

"She's smart. She's powerful. She an eco-terrorist. She's got the ability to grow as a person. She's a victim of misogynistic fans who codify her as an annoying bitch (sadly not affectionate) cause she's the "mom character." And that's all she will ever be is "The mom character." She bested Azula and could blood bend your ass but won't cause she's chosen not to be a monster! But she's the annoying mom instead."

"if i have to hear ONE MORE *touches necklace* joke i’m gonna mcfreaking lose it"

"despite being one of the most well-written feminist characters of children’s TV, the fandom decides to define her based on her very realistic 14-year-old girl flaws. Ignoring her complex independent arcs and motivations, people love justifying their hatred towards her based on her one line directed at Sokka that he didn’t love his mother as much as she did. Which, if we’re being nitpicky, isn’t so harsh given that it was Katara who shouldered most of the burden of her death, as well as Sokka’s admittance that he doesn’t even remember his mother. Not to mention that ALL the characters make selfish mistakes given the fact that they’re all aged 12-15??? (Aang hiding Katara and Sokka’s father’s letter, anyone???) She really is an elegant breakthrough of the typical female character molds of “girl who is badass” and “girl with a crush on the mc who sits on the sidelines” and it’s so frustrating to see her get the most hate out of the Gaang"

Mabel Pines Propaganda

"[insert "i am 12 years old" comic]"

"You probably already know about this but back when the series was airing people were really pissed at Mabel because she was supposedly selfish. Yeah ok guys asking for a fucking megaphone to help a merman find his family was TOTALLY unreasonable. Dipper giving up one (1) "date" with a girl way older than him to save Mabel's pet was SO not worth it. (This is sarcasm btw. Side note a lot of these have to do with Dipper's crush on Wendy which is a whole other discussion.) And then there's the big one. Mabel causing Weirdmageddon. What people fail to realize with this is that 1) she was extremely stressed when she handed Bill the rift 2) she was tricked by Bill, a being that is A MASTER AT TRICKING PEOPLE, into thinking that she was being handed a magic solution to what felt like the end of the world to her, and 3) she was TWELVE. Not to pull out the "she is literally neurodivergent and a minor" card but do you really expect a 12 year old who's just been told that she's gonna have to face a big and difficult transition WITHOUT her brother who's been there for her all her life to make a rational decision? Y'all seriously fell for Bill's empty words in Sock Opera. Absolute bufoons. You would not survive Weirdmageddon."

"Oh wow, a preteen girl under extreme distress acts like a preteen girl under extreme distress. Whoda thunk?"

#finals #females fucked over tournament #steven universe #avatar the last airbender #gravity falls #rose quartz #katara #mabel pines #raise of hands whos actually surprised that this is the finals

[starberry-cupcake]

your tags make me worry. did lapidot become canon behind my back?

I also received a reply about this so I’m answering both things under read more because the su fandom scares me a lot lol 

count-di-luna replied to your post “Reblog and put in the tags something seemingly everyone in your fandom…”

this! Peridot has way better chemistry with Amethyst anyway and Lapis just needs her space

First, I don’t know if they’re “canon” but it’s very heavily implied in the show that there’s something going on between them that’s more romantic than not, for what it seems like to me. The way in which their relationship is shown isn’t in the same way as the relationships of other characters that don’t have romantic relationships, so I don’t know what to tell you. 

I’ve been told about some “behind the scenes” reasons why this was, I don’t wanna delve into any of that because I care about what the story depicts in this instance, so I’m leaving all “behind the scenes” reasons the crewniverse may have aside. As for the “behind my back” part, probably, since we haven’t seen the development of their relationship kind of at all, aside from when there’s some conflict Steven needs to get in between, so if it’s happening, it’s going on behind all of our backs. 

When it comes to the comparative aspects with other ships, I don’t really have much opinion on the majority of fanon SU ships, it’s not something I’ve ever been much involved in, so I can’t really say what ship is better or not. 

What I wanted to focus on for my tags, what really makes me a bit uncomfortable when it comes to Lapis and the way the fandom sees her, is that a lot of the things that are criticized about her come from writing problems, which is not to diss the crewniverse because SU is fantastic and I love it, but I do feel Lapis hasn’t been handled well as of late.

I feel like her whole reaction when she left and took the barn would have been taken less harshly by fandom had it not been at the expense of a relationship that had little to no development in-show and that was with a fan favorite character that everyone loves. It wasn’t so much Lapis’s reaction and her choice of leaving what made fandom react like they did but the way in which she left Peridot, which represented a state in a relationship we never saw them arrive at because they were always off-camera.

Lapis has had too much trauma related to other people exercising choices for her for me to be comfortable with her having a relationship so soon with someone who had her as a prisoner before, someone who was Jasper’s second in command in the ship she was kept in. Which hey, I’m totally cool with redemption arcs and I feel Peridot evolved and learned maybe more than most characters on the show, I’m not saying Peridot is the same she was or that she doesn’t deserve to be trusted, she absolutely does, but making it romantic in such a short period of time and WITHOUT SHOWING IT ON SCREEN is too much believability to ask for me tbh.

I wish Lapis’s arc had centered on her recovery and her healing without having to compromise her decisions to romantic relationships. I wish we had taken more time to develop her trauma in a way that makes more sense to the plot, because I hate when people say they’re tired of her whining or they hate her for not fighting.

Lapis represents a very important part of war, she is, from the group of Gems, the one who was most affected by BOTH SIDES of the fight. She was a war prisoner and considered an enemy by BOTH the Diamonds and the Crystal Gems and, as such, was imprisoned for so long, until Steven listened to her.

She then decided to imprison herself AGAIN to save the one person who had shown her kindness, because it was the only way she felt she could. And when confronted with that, she was manipulated into thinking that it was only with someone toxic, with someone who wanted to use her at the time, how she could have any value.

Lapis deciding not to fight is a valid, important and realistic part of war. She is a victim who was once and again mistreated by EVERY SIDE of it. It’s understandable that she’d want to flee and it’s powerful that she not only came back but used her sadness and her scars as a way of facing a major enemy. She had felt worse. 

She was a prisoner of war, a survivor of abuse and was banished from every place she knew. She had no home, not in Homeworld, not on Earth, and it’s understandable and valid that someone who was faced with this past would choose to not stand for people who let her down. 

It is, however, understandable that she would come back and fight for Steven, because he is the character Lapis was shown to have a trusting friendship with. Steven was the one who listened, cared and healed her, he is the one who offered her a home and, most importantly, the one who, no questions asked, respected her decision to leave without pressuring her into staying to fight a war that had destroyed her. This is a friendship the show took time to show me and develop, Lapis caring for Steven like an older sister, more so than a mother figure, as most of the other gems are (there’s a parallel dissertation here between Steven’s mother figures when he has never had a present mother, but that’s another subject matter entirely). I didn’t need from Lapis more than this pure friendship, a sibling sort of bond. 

So, when it comes to this friendship, the conflict of Lapis leaving and then coming back makes narrative sense. The strain of the decision and of Steven’s understanding of her leaving have implications that are easy to understand because we’ve seen the friendship develop. 

When it comes to Peridot, I was lost. I didn’t understand where this strong emotional bond had formed and how, when the episodes they had together didn’t quite showcase a development aside from “they’re getting along better”. Added to that, their personalities don’t really fit in a way in which you could fill in the blanks easily, because Lapis is a complicated character that tends to be unpredictable with others, because of her long isolation. 

It isn’t that a romantic relationship wouldn’t be possible or that it takes away from her character, it’s that it gives a layer on her decisions that makes her choices questionable in the audience’s standpoint, because you don’t know what’s going on between them but you’re gonna root for Peridot because she’s the easily likeable one of the two and because she’s staying to fight. 

It stops being about trauma, war and fear and starts being about the betrayal of someone’s trust. It undermines the importance of a character like Lapis, imo, when the conflict of her choices is transformed into a romantic issue where clearly Peridot will be the favorite to be on the “right”, because as a viewer with nothing to lose it’s easier to understand that fighting is the “right thing to do”. It’s easy to have an opinion on war and political strife when it’s about fictional characters in a fictional world, it’s easy to say “the right thing is to be brave and fight the authority”, but within that situation, it wouldn’t be that easy. 

So, basically, my problem, all shipping preferences aside, is that, for a show that is otherwise amazingly written and planned out to the t, this whole situation seems shoehorned and strained and causes fans to turn on a character whose representation of trauma, ptsd and past abuse should be something to understand more. 

Again, this is not to hate on the crewniverse (past or present) at all, it’s their story to tell and I’m grateful to be able to hear it, this is just my opinion as an adult with access to the internet and nothing better to do at the time, so my opinion isn’t worth a damn. They did their best and chose to tell this story and that’s ok. I heard that some people have been rather aggressive to some of the crew for this before and I wouldn’t dream on doing that at all, so please let’s not do any of that. 

#destapé una olla que no sé si debería haber destapado #ask #anon #anonymous #count-di-luna #reply #long post when expanded #Anonymous #please take all my opinions with a bucket of salt #and please don't hate on the crew past or present at all #if this in any way gets me angry mobs again #i'm gonna delete it #so read it while you can to those who messaged me

[criticallyalexandrite]

Idc the Diamonds should be shattered

For real though I’ve never seen an SU stan give a good legit reason for why the Diamonds shouldn’t be shattered. All the reasons I’ve seen amount to “I refuse to understand that the Diamonds are slaveowners because X reason.” I personally think on the Homeworld gems who are only doing what they’re told out of fear should be given a chance. But not the Diamonds, because there is nothing forcing them to be slaveowners. I also don’t give a shit about posts where people say that a character being an alien makes them not abusive. By that logic Bill Cipher isn’t abusive cuz he’s a demon. Do you see how dumb and semantics focused that reasoning is now? Besides, the gems have a very similar mindset to humans. Their emotions function similarly to humans. The only thing stopping the Diamonds from caring about other organic life forms is their pride. Pride is the only motivation they have for enslaving and destroying other planets. Also there is the fact that they are slaveowners. Being a slaveowner HISTORICALLY isn’t something a person should be allowed to come back from. Another thing I’ve noticed with Diamond stans is they tend to not understand how serious and unforgivable slavery abuse actually is. Everytime you ask them to explain how they think the Diamonds aren’t slaveowners they’ll be like “the Homeworld gems are just servants uwu.” Like y’all do know that servant is another word for slave yes? And even if it wasn’t you prove that you have a fundamentally flawed understanding of what abusive work ethic is by comparing the Homeworld gems to regular workers. Regular workers are allowed to quite and get a different job if they want to. Disabled workers are welcomed not accommodated or discriminated against in a healthy work environment. The Homeworld gems are not allowed to do either thing. The Diamonds are now established to normally kill off colors AKA disabled gems on the spot if they are “too off color.” Peridot most likely only got a break cuz despite her  not being able to shapeshift she was useful enough that the Diamonds tolerated her. But tolerating someone who’’s a minority cuz they’re useful is not proof someone is good. So, Diamond stans who use the Diamonds sparing Peridot or Pink as proof they’re good can fuck right off. Tolerance is not the same as genuine kindness and it never will be. Plus if we’re gonna go with some dumbass “all the Diamonds secretly hate colonizing” narrative then that makes the Diamonds worse morally. Cuz if they want to secretly stop colonizing but continue to colonize any way to save face that proves even more so that their motive is pride. Plus my other problem with people who say the Diamonds SOMETIMES being merciful towards their slaves? it sounds like gaslighting. That special kind of gaslighting that toxic people do where they do “Well your abuser is sometimes merciful so that means they’re not actually abusive.” But I 100% disagree with that black and white thinking. It is not morally grey to have an abusive character that sometimes treats their abuse victim decently. That is actually a form of manipulation that abusers use. It’s their way of making you question yourself for thinking they’re abusive. Even if they’re not consciously doing it, they’re subconsciously doing it. Which is still just as serious and should not be treated as proof that they’re secretly good. Stop diminishing the harm abusers do just cuz they pretend to be nice sometimes. And last but not least my most hated reason Diamond stans use for wanting the Diamonds redeemed SU stan: But I like them so I want them redeemed. To that I have to say, and? Believe it or not I like Yellow Diamond. I like her cuz she’s the only Diamond that the show isn’t forcing you to pity 24/7. Yes unfortunately she got redeemed which I’m still pissed about. I was really hoping she would turn down Steven’s offer of mercy. But gotta ignore character agency to have that aesop handled with kindergarten morals level execution amirite. So yeah, you liking the Diamonds still isn’t a justifiable reason for wanting the crewniverse to redeem the Diamonds. You can like a horrible tabusive character and recognize they need to be held fully accountable for their actions. That means no going ”But the abusive character is depressed/has some other mental illness and or neurodivergency!!” ”But the abusive character is an abuse victim!” ”But the abusive character had a tragic backstory!” ”But the abusive character mistreated their victim out of love!” ”But the abusive character is inhuman so you can’t judge them via using human morals!” ”But the abusive character is probably only abusive out of ignorance!” ”But the abusive character doesn’t understand empathy!” ”But the abusive character is attractive!” (Yes I’ve actually seen people use that last one not just for the Diamonds but for many other abusive characters that shouldn’t be redeemed,.) But my problem with Diamond stans is…none of you do that. You SAY that you liking the Diamonds doesn’t mean you excuse their actions but your actions show the opposite. Everytime you demonize an SU crit for wanting the Diamonds shattered you prove that you don’t want the Diamonds held accountable. Everytime you tell SU crits that it’s a kiddie show so of course the Diamonds can’t be shattered on screen you don’t hold the Diamonds accountable. (Besides that second one really doesn’t work considering the show has shown very disturbing imagery to the kid viewers in the fandom multiple times. Disturbing imagery far worse than the implication of shattering a sentient gem.) Honestly the Diamonds have committed so many atrocities that the only way they can redeem themselves is self sacrifice via shattering. That is honestly the only kind of Diamond redemption arc I could be ok with. But it would have to not involve the author of that redemption arc forcing me to feel bad for the Diamonds. As soon as that happens it’s garbage. If your villain characters is truly sympathetic you shouldn’t have to use the Freudian Excuse trope to make people sympathize with them. But PREFERABLY the Diamonds don’t get a redemption arc at all. PREFERABLY the Diamonds get killed as a true realistic consequence for the atrocities they’ve committed. PREFERABLY the Diamonds’ abusive behavior doesn’t get excused by the literal protagonist of the show. Tbh just like what I said a few days about how the show lazily addresses racism, the crewniverse could VERY easily have the Diamonds be shattered. They just chose not to because Becky got too attached to her abusive OC’s while developing them. Tl;dr: SU stans still have a flawed understanding of what makes a villain character worthy of redemption. Also don’t even bother getting into a roundabout debate with me where you condescendingly act like I’m wrong for wanting the Diamonds shattered. I’m not interested in a debate of that topic. Because they always end the same way. I’d rather spend my time doing something more productive. If you try to sneak and do it anyways I’ll just spam memes at you until you leave.

#think of the you part of the post only applying to people who think the Diamonds being redeemed should be endgame and canon #because they refuse to see that the diamonds are in fact abusive #this ESPECIALLY applies to assholes who thinks that SU fans who want the diamonds shattered are actually morally corrupt people #yes there are SU stans out there who do that #it's a tragedy i know #anti abuse apologism #anti racism #fandom problems

[monkey-network]

‘Change Your Mind’ was a fun, messy anime hoot ‘n holler, I reckon. Is it my favorite episode of the season? Nah, that’s a different episode that I don’t wanna spoil. Is it the best episode of the arc? Nah, that’s still Escapism. But nevertheless, there is quite a lot to unpack that I wanted to express and if I did a play by play of this 44 minute special, we’d be here for several hours and nobody got time for that. And if I continuously jabber on about this in spaced out posts, I’d feel more like a SU Critical blog than I typically am and that’s pretty depressing. So, I’ve packed all my stray thoughts into one package to get it out the way. Spoilers ahead.

Small headscratch, but I question why it’s notably four episodes on the wikis but it’s essentially one episode and should count as one episode. Can’t really see one part without understanding everything else so I’m a bit confused. Then again, I’m not that encyclopedic on media production so it’s no big deal.

I liked Blue Diamond in the first part and this arc as a whole. In spite of who she generally is, Blue was a consistently good character in that her regret and more motherly nature never felt out of place compared what we’ve seen of her initially because her devastation over Pink’s “death” never felt superficial and the times when she got serious were eyebrow raising to me. And her turnaround in this felt reasonable compared to the others for she thought more of Pink/Steven beforehand and looked like she was more aware of how times have truly changed, even when the allusion to abusive families fall flat.... you know, if we were thinking realistic. Eh, Blue best Diamond, if that means anything.

I question why Yellow had what appears to be forced fusions or genuine crystal amalgamates if Diamonds were against fusion. I understand the ones on Earth, but why was she keeping them, probably for some time now, if she has no use of them? Again, maybe they’re born crystal amalgamates. It’s unclear.

I would say deep down I felt cheated that Lapis and Peridot are apparently cool now even when Lapis took everything in the divorce and did the reentering parallel to an Irish goodbye. But I guess dropping the barn counted as an act of apology, and maybe we’ll see them interact more in the future, so plbbt. At least they got to be badass and anime together while looking the part too.

In the back of mind, I forgot that Bismuth was in the episode sometimes. Beyond giving Connie her sword and raking up that star punch, I can’t say she added much to the story.

Speaking of which, wish the Diamond’s Pearls got to partake in kickassery of the sort. Homeworld was surprisingly empty in hindsight.

Loved Rainbow Quartz the 2nd. He’s beautiful and I would gladly get strong for him.

Only one thing bothered me about Sunstone, aside from the sunction cup summon. and it’s with their small arms. I thought those big arms were more for her shapeshifting since Garnet’s known to shapeshift her limbs to be enormous, but they’re always big so... what  value do Sunny’s little arms serve? Least with say, Smokey Quartz or Malachite, their multiple limbs added to their ability but Sunny’s two beefy arms carry most of the way. It’s like adding two dormant legs to the side of a grasshopper. And seriously, what was the point of the suction cups.

Though I love Monty Python reference they added in. That got a huge laugh outta me.

Obsidian was a spectacle, being the first genuinely naked human gem of the series, and the design reminded me a lot of Asura’s Wrath. Though one small detail I wish they had was where Obsidian’s fingers dug into the mech, leaving large dents on the ship, which would’ve hit home the struggle of getting to White as opposed to somehow being able to grip onto the mech’s more or less smooth surface.

Overall I’d say the part between the Diamonds reconciling and finally reaching White was hit or miss if we’re talking writing. Like sacrificing logical flow more for providing the fan service isn’t nothing new, but time could’ve been utilized more for more to go on.

I couldn’t take White as a serious threat anymore, she was just too cheeky and Ebersole sounded like she was really enjoying herself with voiced. I just hope somebody dubbed Glados over her sometime.

Couldn’t take the moment where Steven got his gem ripped out either cuz as hardcore as that was, adding a sound effect sort of killed the tension for me and I laughed my ass off. I’m sorry.

But as much as I loved the scene that was well animated by veteran 2D animator James Baxter, I especially loved the scene where after Pink Steven forms, he turns to White and says, “You should’ve gone for the head.” Snapped his fingers and destroys Homeworld to finally end everyone’s suffering. Like holy shit, that was the best scene in the entire series, hands down.

Plus I like the idea that Pink’s gem... actually fused with Greg’s sperm. *wheezes* I’m the worst

As much I like the idea of White Diamond, having been told off by a child, reforming her viewpoint, being a less coerce being and making the family whole again, the fact that she’s still a mass murdering, mass torturing, mass colonizing, authoritarian Orwellian style villain rubs me the wrong way with how much of a 180 things turned out to be. It’s like if the Beaudelaire siblings immediately forgave and thought Count Olaf was a great person all along after he did that one good thing and then died. But I guess if Steven held White under a small lens of contempt, then it wouldn’t be Steven Universe. What also makes this feel hallow is that.... when you think about it, all this amounted to was the Diamonds doing Steven a solid. They don’t really quit being dictators, they never really claim that Homeworld should change its way, or think White should step down as leader thanks to her perfectionism affecting HW harshly. They’re just nice rulers now... like Kuzco except not as cool. This plot honestly could’ve fallen apart if White Diamond was more reasonable while still maintaining her villainous perfectionism. She was kinda stupid in a way but eh, whatever. Like yeah, she’s shiny... but she’s not

Then again, imagine White Diamond’s current position.

Imagine the sense of losing your entire worldview, ideology, and sense of self to a being the size of your big toe. Imagine everything you’ve built up, potentially taking centuries or millenniums to uphold to sheer excellence, all crumble before you in a instant. How would it feel? To lose your purpose and have nothing to show for yourself beyond your now shrill existence and status regardless of your stature, because you feel that if you were to try again, history could repeat itself but 10x worse. That small being that conquered you, could do it again if tempted and what would you do? What else would you do if you have some semblance that it won’t work out perfectly as before? What else would you do if you’re now capable of fearing something with which you don’t and potentially will never understand? You honestly don’t have anything now, you’re nothing now. So what could work out for you besides smile, wave off your loss with integrity, and feel comfortable knowing that you live another day while understanding now that any day could potentially be your last, given what you know.

You feel me? It’s like that.

And I’ll say that while the Diamonds suddenly having a change of heart can seem off putting, the fact that Steven went through all that shit with his real family just to do so is reasonably sound. Can’t say a redemption arc in the making ain’t all bad if the protagonist didn’t put in work as well. And if Naruto can forgive Sasuke after they beated each other’s ass, I feel that this ain’t too different.

“Change Your Mind“ was a good song, better than the new Crystal Gem extension. A nice cap on the sprite cranberry of an episode.

So it seems like this episode marks the end of Steven Universe. Now it’s time for Steven Universe 2. Because if this wasn’t anime enough... we’re gonna be time skipping, babey. Reasonable enough, this episode messy here and there but I have one counterargument to this, given that this show is five fucking years old.....

I’d be a bitter asshole if I said I didn’t genuinely enjoy this, both initially and on the rewatch. It is an all around entertaining finale and I’m glad it embraced the weeb trashiness in itself like I always knew it would. Funny thing about all this is that we’re going into hiatus and I’m willing to bet that excluding the movie, we’re gonna have the same amount of premieres as last year. But I believe the hiatus won’t matter as much since they certainly gave people quite the show and I can’t help but applaud along.

Now if ya excuse me, I’m off to marathon Kirby Right Back at Ya, an anime I believe is better than SU all things considered. Have a wonderful day.

#su critical #change your mind