Believe in Steven (Steven Universe)

[Bard The 5th LW]

Steven Universe just went on Hiatus, so now would be a nice time to catch up on it if you're curious about it!

The show has a bit of a rocky start - a lot of the early episodes seem a bit dumb or pointless (and a couple actually are) but it all builds up to a surprisingly interesting show. Later episodes have a level of emotional maturity that really surprised me, with 'On the Run' in particular hitting close to home. It has a fairly broad appeal while still being safely in the realm of a children's cartoon. Its a really cute show that has enough deep/important moments to make it feel worth watching. The hints of continuity also make rewatches fairly rewarding. The fandom is rather annoying/alienating but that's really something that applies to every fandom ever I think.

Also (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKNTqqA5vvk) the (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJxhmYtesZ4) soundtrack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akk40fqmLKs) is amazing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiM_FlHnU3o&index=1&). I could listen to the end credits alone non-stop. The show has a great sense of character design too - you can read a lot about a character really quickly just by their appearance.

Overall it's a really good cartoon that I could recommend to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Some of the early episodes might seem a bit off-putting, but there are still some good ones. For someone who hasn't watched the show at all but is curious, I'd recommend watching "Laser Light Cannon", "Bubble Buddies", and "Steven's Lion". They're all early ones that are relevant to continuity and can offer the viewer a chance to see if they'd like the series or not.

[mauve]

Yeah, I saw one or two of the more random episodes some time ago, figured it was just another non-sequitur-filled random fantasy cartoon and dismissed it. Then later I saw "Steven's Lion" and a few of the later ones, and they changed my mind. It's actually a very charming, interesting, and surprisingly emotional cartoon when it wants to be.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I believe its on Hulu+ now if anyone wants a legit way to watch it. It can be found elsewhere online of course, just like any other cartoon/show, but I don't think it'd be in good form to link those sites since they're only questionably legal.

[shiney]

Jail Break. 'Nuff said. Damn, that song.

[Bard The 5th LW]

The voice acting choices ARE pretty interesting - there are a lot of musical talents. Estelle is a recurring cast member but they took 52 episodes to have her sing. Not to mention they had Nikki Minaj for an episode and she never sang at all.

[Aerozord]

It seems to take the Adventure Time approach to world building (not surprising considering the creator worked on the show). It avoids outright stating information about the series and just has it come up relatively naturally. Which creates alot of mystery as you speculate about things and of course makes it easier to retcon and alter information for plots.

[Bard The 5th LW]

http://41.media.tumblr.com/c42d34c51967b382345ddb37bbbb56ec/tumblr_nozcn7Fo1C1smn4pqo1_1280.jpg

STEVEN BOMB PART 2: THE SECOND ONE HITS JUNE 15 SO HOLD ON TO YOUR PANTS

[shiney]

oooOOOooo

[Bard The 5th LW]

http://40.media.tumblr.com/5134f89228b164ad765d04fef14a7477/tumblr_nq8l4dX2C71smn4pqo1_1280.jpg

The creators of this show seem a bit too attached to this format for my liking!

Nevertheless, those were 5 solid episodes.

[Aerozord]

still kicking myself for missing the fifth one.

Though the one about forcing gems to fuse made me realize that is incredibly dark if you consider what its analogous to for gems. Its meant to invoke a deep intimacy between people, a deep personal bonding. So its kind of the gem equivalent of shoving people into a hole, mutilating them, and forcing them to rape each other

[Bard The 5th LW]

I don't really buy 'fusion=sex'. Individual fusions just seem to represent individual relationships, and there's more than one type of relationship two people can have. GARNET is obviously romantic, but Pearl and Amethyst aren't and they fuse. Not to mention Steven and Connie are only like, twelve.

[Aerozord]

Not a direct analogy but most fitting one I can think of. Its a physical act that represent deep trust and care for the other person. In another one of the new episodes its even brought up that the inability to fuse is like lacking the ability to consummate your love for another. I have seen very similar scenes played out other times incompatible biology is brought up regarding romantic partners.

I also feel the intention was to invoke more than physical mutilation but also of taking what should be a beautiful and pure thing and having it be turned into tool of violation and punishment. By stripping away that emotional aspect and having it forced onto someone

[edit]and if you look at most of the dances, they borrow heavily form forms of dance with clear evocative undertones.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Steven and Connie and Ruby and Sapphire literally just spin around a bunch of times.

[Krylo]

Steven and Connie

They're young and inexperienced and just not into the weird stuff yet.

[Arhra]

Wheee, I've been binging on it. Thank you everyone.

I feel it's a little hit and miss sometimes but the emotional bits are really sweet. Everyone is secretly in love with Steve's mother.

I'm glad some of Greg's backstory is coming out. I got the feeling early on that he fell apart after Rose was gone, but it was a bit hard to see what she saw in him.

[Aerozord]

Wheee, I've been binging on it. Thank you everyone.

I feel it's a little hit and miss sometimes but the emotional bits are really sweet. Everyone is secretly in love with Steve's mother.

I'm glad some of Greg's backstory is coming out. I got the feeling early on that he fell apart after Rose was gone, but it was a bit hard to see what she saw in him.

I loved that one moment when she suddenly gets serious with him and you can just feel her own confusion and worry.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I feel like, from what we see of Rose and Greg, that Steven's ability to love and see beauty in everyone/everything comes from HIM more than Rose, but I think we need to see more of Rose in order to make that conclusion.

I think a major strength of this show is that most of the main cast could be the protagonist. Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Rose, Connie, and Young Greg could all function as the main character of their own story.

[Arhra]

I feel like, from what we see of Rose and Greg, that Steven's ability to love and see beauty in everyone/everything comes from HIM more than Rose, but I think we need to see more of Rose in order to make that conclusion.
Ooooh that's a really neat point.

They do a really good job of leaving things unstated too. Show, don't tell and all that.

I do find it a little weird Amethyst acts so kiddy in the Greg flashbacks though. I mean she's a little younger than the others but she's still five thousand or so years old, right? Unless interacting with Greg and losing Rose made her grow up a bit.

[shiney]

I personally wonder how old Greg actually is. He's suggested to be probably what Steven's age + ~ten years since he got with Rose? That doesn't explain a whole lot of how Amethyst, Pearl, Garnet seemingly matured so much in that time. They look decidedly younger and far more immature in the flashbacks. Nikose and I wonder if they bubbled him for a while, could be a fun theory. We never get to see any of the townsfolk in the flashbacks to when Greg's manager was still around.

I love that Steven plays Gamecube.

I want more Jasper backstory since she clearly had a massive battle with Rose. I want to know more about Lapis and Peridot, too.

[Nikose Tyris]

Spoilers are up and about for the new stevenbomb stuff, and Sardonyx got spoiled at Comic-con- it's all over the place right now. If you have a blacklister of any sort, you might want to throw Steven Universe into it until Monday night!

[Nikose Tyris]

Update: Well that was a lot of crying but I hope this leads to some heavy Pearl development. Twitter accounts promise Pearl gets some positive development this Bomb though.

[Aerozord]

Spoilers to be safe
I think this shows even more development for Amethyst. Before she'd have been petty and just delighted at seeing Pearl in a bad spot. Instead she simply saw what Pearl was doing was wrong, understood why, and tried to smooth things over.

[Bard The 5th LW]

It always seemed to me that Pearl and Amethyst share a lot of the same problems, just expressed differently, and it shows good development that Amethyst herself is realizing this.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Hurrah for friendship! Maybe Steven will successfully talk down Lapis and Jasper too? Granted, he already befriended Lapis, but she's still pretty antagonistic as far as her actions go (choosing to stay in her cell, fusing with Jasper in a sorta murder-suicide rather than helping defeat her right there, and deliberately withholding her locaton).

[Aerozord]

episodes like this are why I think making this 15 minutes long is a bad idea.

Oh while I was browsing info I found that quartz is among the most common gemstones on earth. I wonder if thats relevant.

[Intern Nin]

Anybody catch the Aim For The Top! reference in tonight's episode? Peridot certainly did!

Thank you! I'll be here all week, watching you when you think you're alone.

[Arhra]

Someone on the team's doing a fantastic job of giving Pearl crazy expressions. I love it.

[Bard The 5th LW]

That was a surprisingly lighthearted episode considering the apocalypse is on its way and we learned Pearl was apparently a former slave of some sort.

[Tev]

That was a surprisingly lighthearted episode considering the apocalypse is on its way and we learned Pearl was apparently a former slave of some sort.That second part isn't really new information. Hints about what the homeworld uses pearls for have been popping up often throughout the series.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Well yeah but you'd think there'd be a bit more gravitas to the episode that decided to confirm it.

[Arhra]

But Bard, GIANT ROBOTS.

[shiney]

As an aside I am absolutely loving Peridot.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Apparently they added to the song "Love like you" starting in Nightmare Hospital and when put together, its awesome (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6nvQc8So0s&index=1). I really want to know more about Rose to get the full picture behind those lyrics.

Peridot talking about Quartz gems makes me pretty sure that Rose was some sort of Brigadier General or something. When she came to Earth though, she embraced a sort of Hippy Free Love lifestyle and thus the war ensued, but in the back of her mind she always realized there was a sort of irony to the fact that she fought a war in order to stop being a warrior. I think that - along with the lines from the extended ending - put it into a better context why she was willing to have Steven. She COULD have been Pink Diamond I guess, but I'm not fond of that theory - just smells to much of "Chosen One" type stuff.

[Aerozord]

That theory honestly doesn't work at all. We have learned their society is a very rigid caste system. You ARE what you are, there is a clear hierarchy and you were literally made to fulfill that role.

Something I've been thinking of though, all those quartz gems, whose side were they on during the war?

[Bard The 5th LW]

That theory honestly doesn't work at all. We have learned their society is a very rigid caste system. You ARE what you are, there is a clear hierarchy and you were literally made to fulfill that role.

Something I've been thinking of though, all those quartz gems, whose side were they on during the war?

Yeah that's why I'm saying she fought the damn war. She said as much to Steven in "Lion 2" that what she admired about humanity was that they were free to be who they wanted. Rose rebelled against homeworld so that people like her and Pearl and Garnet could be who they wanted rather than what society had made them to be.

But Rose probably REALIZED there was something fucked up about fighting to free yourself from being a solder, which is why she felt it was the right choice to have Steven, who was a Gem who could really be his own person and provide a better example to the other gems. The revelation about Quartz gems being made as soldiers just helps to put that in a better context to me.

e: some people theorize that the quartz gems all got thrown into the cluster

[Aerozord]

Possible, but we know rose and the others weren't the only ones to rebel. They said something along the lines of "Rose's shield could only protect us". Which I am guessing is literal.

I could accept the theory, but if so it would lead me to believe they joined Rose. For two reasons.

1) when Garnet's two halves were arguing upon seeing the fusion creatures "Rose couldn't have known this would happen". Which I thought was because those shards were her fallen comrades.

2) The only way to kill a gem is to break the gem itself. With so many destroyed gems they thought to put them to use in an experiment.

[shiney]

My suspicion is that Rose is some measure of Royalty from the homeworld and she fled with her servant Pearl and co-conspirators Ruby and Sapphire to Earth. Upon her stay she found gem tech didn't work on humans like it did on gems and decided to have Steven.

As for Aero, Steven showed he could heal cracked gems so it stands to reason Rose could probably heal broken ones.

I'm interested in the bubble room, with so many intact gems that for whatever reason are monsters. Look back to the early episode where Steven befriends the green centipede monster. Before it forms a monster there's a clear and obvious humanoid figure. Why can't they manifest anymore? Very interesting.

[Aerozord]

My suspicion is that Rose is some measure of Royalty from the homeworld and she fled with her servant Pearl and co-conspirators Ruby and Sapphire to Earth. Upon her stay she found gem tech didn't work on humans like it did on gems and decided to have Steven.

I'm guessing it was something simpler, she was just a soldier/general. Which would further push the idea of "you are who you choose to be" angle thats kind of lost if you are born into distinguished privilege.


As for Aero, Steven showed he could heal cracked gems so it stands to reason Rose could probably heal broken ones.
But like with most fiction there is a difference between injured and dead. A cracked gem is hurt, a shattered one is dead. The fusion creatures were more like frankenstein monsters stitched together


I'm interested in the bubble room, with so many intact gems that for whatever reason are monsters. Look back to the early episode where Steven befriends the green centipede monster. Before it forms a monster there's a clear and obvious humanoid figure. Why can't they manifest anymore? Very interesting.They said Rose tried to help them, I think its something more like failed/discarded war machines. The Crystal Gems seem to be doing the sci-fi equivalent of mine disposal.

However when peridot saw it she referred to it as some kind of energy matrix, I mean all that power has to come from somewhere and we've seen with the mirror they aren't inherently against the idea I just doubt the show would go that far into moral grey. Even if they don't its clear that is a thing thats done on the homeworld

[Bard The 5th LW]

My suspicion is that Rose is some measure of Royalty from the homeworld and she fled with her servant Pearl and co-conspirators Ruby and Sapphire to Earth. Upon her stay she found gem tech didn't work on humans like it did on gems and decided to have Steven.

I don't care too much on that take of things because I feel it just makes Rose come across as purely utilitarian/heartless. I don't think Steven exists for purely pragmatic purposes.

[Tev]

So....necromancing this year-old SU thread (mostly because I couldn't find the other one). I found something interesting on Tumblr and wish to know people's thoughts on it.


https://68.media.tumblr.com/096846dbd94918b1aaa8ddc9c93255b6/tumblr_odx8k6OMcs1vc5pw0o1_500.png
https://66.media.tumblr.com/ac0fffd453ca1e8b9e2fc542ce351327/tumblr_odx8k6OMcs1vc5pw0o2_500.png
snapbacksteven: IS EYEBALL GONNA KIDNAP GREG?!
leeshajoy:Y’know, in the first opening sequence for Steven Universe, Connie is holding a copy of Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/4e8566313fb38155350a9e8269eaaf8a/tumblr_inline_odzkn9c33Z1s3dkih_540.png
So what is that novel about, again? Well, it’s about a shy, bookish teenage girl
https://67.media.tumblr.com/bf1927753db3e9601a647297db246997/tumblr_inline_odzkty3qE91s3dkih_540.png
who teams up with the boy she has a crush on
https://67.media.tumblr.com/2534c4aad2c75c5a214c982592ccfebe/tumblr_inline_odzkwzgpHK1s3dkih_540.jpg
and three ethereal cosmic beings (who have taken on the form of human women)
https://66.media.tumblr.com/3a2a38245d45dbdde3221ff7f9fa3bbc/tumblr_inline_odzkvllTmZ1s3dkih_540.png
in order to rescue the girl’s father, who is being held prisoner on an alien planet where conformity is valued above all else.
https://67.media.tumblr.com/36fb939b6b78cd955ab82149496203a5/tumblr_inline_odzkzzdB4P1s3dkih_540.png
Food for thought.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

My girlfriend and I love this show so much and I can see alot of similarities between us and Ruby and Sapphire. This came to a head a few weeks back with the episode Mindful Education, during the song, it showed the inner psyche of Garnet and how Ruby and Sapphire focussed on two different aspect. Sapphire gets swarmed by butterflies and gets overwhelmed while Ruby focuses on one butterfly. I saw that as a bit of symbolism between Teagan and I as I would focus on one detail while she would get swept up with other issues. Only when we are together are we able to conquer.

[Bobbey]

So, anyone excited for the upcoming bomb? Or have most people (including myself) watched the leaked bomb earlier this month?

[RickZarber]

I have been good! But the Spoiler Avoidance Dance has been lengthy and exhausting.

[Bobbey]

I simply can't help myself whenever I know the show was leaked. I'm in Canada and don't have cable, so the only way for me to really watch the show is to watch terrible clips of it on YT or torrent it. I have no clue why it's not available on Canadian Netflix, I definitely binge watch the series over and over again if that were the case.