#He is for all intents and purposes canon Steven but with the logic of this AU he eventually becomes a branch variant

[wtl-archive]

Did you invent the universes in the discontinuity interimisson?

[Aforementioned Intermission for convenience]

I did not! Those all belong to different people in the fandom, minus Sven (Mirror 'Steven') and Leo (Zoology Steven), who were made for Walk the Line, and Framed Steven, who is from my fic on AO3, Frame of Mind. There's links on that page to the other creators :3

If a Steven variant is on the cover, they're my boys, if they're nowhere on the cover, there's like a 90 percent chance they're someone else's. Prime is a wild card. It's a general rule of thumb for this cluster fuck of an AU lol

I like to keep opportunities open for crossovers and cameos so in the future you'll hopefully see more of other AUs

[lone-gem-half]

Common interpretations and misinterpretations of Pink Steven

Hello. I am Lynn, a fictive of Pink Steven. As this is my identity, I have come to feel quite strongly about the fandom's various interpretations of him. I am here to discuss why I believe some of them to be untrue.

Seeing as Steven Universe is a work of fiction (as real as it may be to me), kindly refer to the Reddit comment below.

[ID: A Reddit comment saying "no you are fucking alive do what you want". /End ID]

I do not wish to offend nor police anyone's enjoyment—in fact, I have enjoyed works containing many of these "misconceptions" myself.

Interpretation #1 – Steven is still himself without his Gem.

I understand why this may be a first assumption. Even the title of the soundtrack, "Steven meets Pink Steven", may lead one towards it. I am unsure if this is what was meant by the creators; the intent of the scene, however, is for Steven to realize that he is and always has been himself, and having Pink Steven be a separate person only bearing his appearance would be contradictory.

Additionally, Steven is half human, half Gem. Part of his conciousness and sense of self reside in the gemstone—it would only make sense, as it is the nature of every Gem. Pink Steven is not a separate entity from Steven. Pink Steven is part of Steven in all senses.

Interpretation #2 – Pink Steven is emotionless.

The "She is gone" scene in itself disproves this.

Steven's powers are led by his emotions. It would be nonsensical for the part of him that bears his powers to be incapable of emotion.

He would not have been able to laugh along with his human half if he were incapable of emotion.

Interpretation #3 – Pink Steven is raw power.

I apologize for the bluntness, as I am struggling to word it otherwise: Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond did not give up her form and self to make room for "raw power". Pink Steven could be intepreted as having raw power. Pink Steven himself should not be reduced to it.

Interpretation #4 – Pink Steven's purpose is to protect his human half.

Once again, I understand where this may come from. Pink Steven's priority is to protect his human half. Pink Steven's desire is to protect his human half. It is not a purpose, however. A purpose is what typical Gems emerge with. Steven—and, by extension, Pink Steven—is not a typical Gem. Otherwise, Rose's sacrifice would have been in vain.

Interpretation #5 – The halves have always existed as separate entities in Steven's head—AKA Steven is a fusion in the typical sense.

This is one I particularly enjoy reading about, despite not believing it to be what is meant in canon. Steven's halves are much like a Gem's shards. They did not exist separately before White Diamond did the deed. They never should have been separate in the first place.

My interpretation—or rather, me.

I am one half of Steven Universe. The human half might seem like Steven at first glance—that is because he is more overt. As a simplified explanation, the human brain deals with daily functioning and the processing of emotions. The Gem "brain" deals with logic, the subconscious, and our powers.

Without the human brain, processing emotion becomes difficult. I struggle with identifying what I am feeling. I do not express it in a typical manner, rather through actions and aura, if not through manifestations of my power itself.

This is tied to the "rawness" of my power. Unfiltered, unprocessed emotion comes out in destructive ways. Without the human half to aid in navigating (Accidental fanfiction reference.), Pink Steven's emotions may destroy him. Both halves need each other to live.

Protecting the human half, in addition to self preservation instincts, is a choice and an act of self love. Emphasis on the latter.

In canon, it is most likely that Steven went back to being his whole self. In my AU, we remained internally separate after reuniting. I enjoy thinking and reading about both possibilities.

Conclusion + fic recommendations

Most of these concepts are fun to explore in their own ways. While I believe myself to be correct (and may selfishly act as if I have authority on it), I am not the boss of anyone's fandom experience. Refer to the Reddit comment mentioned previously.

I would like to highlight some of my favorite works of fanfiction to end this post.

The Heart of a Star by Hastilt – This is my top 1, although all others are in no particular order. I agree with most of, if not the entirety of this author's interpretation of Pink Steven. The work itself is incredible. Mind the content warnings.

Aid to Navigation by Ppleater – It has interesting takes on hybrid biology.

Crack the Paragon by Novantinuum – While not fully accurate to my interpretation, it is excellent and remarkably well written. I am eager to see what will happen in chapter 15.

Threadbare Divinity by Ghostigos – Short and sweet. Vivid in its description of the experience. Contains remarkable wordplay with second person pronouns. A close contender for the first place.

What Went Untold by Andovia212 – Steven describes the experience in White's Head from both halves' perspectives. It is very good to see.

He's Gone by citrusella – A very interesting play on its concept. Mind the content warnings.

This should be all I have for today. Please feel free to comment.

[grandhotelabyss]

I've been thinking about your idiosyncratic and, I think, correct writeups on the irony in Plato's Republic and Nietzche's Genealogy. Even if the writers didn't put them there (and I agree they probably did), the ironic readings seem to me to be more true-to-reality than the straightforward one.

It got me wondering if you've read Wittgenstein's Tractatus, which could form a third entry in this canon of ironic philosophy. In this case you might read it less as a novel, more as a work of fragmented modernist poetry, which is a reading others have suggested (though Ted Gioia does mention it as an important work in his essay on the fragmented novel!). Wittgenstein, in implying there are things we can't talk about but then constantly gesturing towards them (an oversimplified summary of course), seems to me to be playing a similar ironic game to the other two. Thoughts?

Thanks! On the "intention" question, the least we can say is that Plato and Nietzsche chose literary forms with irony built into them: the dialogue in Plato's case and the essay in Nietzsche's. And as the latter recommends "rumination" as a reading strategy, in the literal sense of a process of animal digestion involving not only chewing but also regurgitation and rechewing, then he has no grounds to complain of being misinterpreted. As with his inheritor Harold Bloom, it's only a question of weak or strong misreadings.

I've read as much of the Tractatus as a person like me can read, if you know what I mean (i.e., not the parts like this: "If the values of ξ are the total values of a function fx for all values of x, then N(ξ) = ∼(∃x).") I'm more familiar with the Philosophical Investigations—I took a college class that consisted entirely of a page-by-page close reading of the Investigations, though we were only halfway through when it ended. Still, I think I got the idea. Your reading sounds plausible to me. We know Wittgenstein loved Tolstoy, for example. In seeming, therefore, to establish the bounds of what could be said intelligibly, in seeming to shore up logical positivism, he actually cleared an immense space for the ineffable and unspeakable, cordoning it off from the clutches of cold reason. "Thereof we must be silent" then comes to seem like a religious vow. And in connection to modernism, any discourse that would dare stain this silence must be not intelligible speech but an articulation of the silence itself, as in, for example, Beckett, Stevens, or Stein. From this point of view, the revision of his philosophy undertaken in the Investigations, his desire to overcome the "picture" of a correspondence between language and fact that had "held us captive," might seem redundant or even sentimental, placing language in all its multifariousness back into the warm human community for all possible human purposes. If the meaning of a word is its use, then whence the ineffable? Whence our vow of silence?

[faelapis]

what i mean when i say i like jasper’s ending a Lot in terms of “what the character needs”, rather than what the audience needs, is that the transition from “fragments”, to “homeworld bound”, to finally “the future” shows, albeit quickly, a pretty interesting commentary on “want vs need”.

“want vs need” is a pretty basic storytelling concept of, basically, writing flawed characters who have some growing to do as people. they “want” one thing, but they actually “need” another thing.

so let’s talk about jasper’s “want” vs “need”.

cont: but you are not my diamond. if you think you’re hard enough to tell me what to do, fight me and prove it.

she makes her “want” clear in every episode she’s in SU future - which is that she wants to subjugate herself to a diamond, because that’s the only worthwhile purpose in life she’s known.

but we, and steven, don’t actually want that to happen. we know it’s not good for her health. we’ve seen that it’s not, both because hierarchies like those are toxic and because we’ve been shown, specifically for jasper, that it causes her to self-destruct over and over again.

so when it does happen, it’s very fitting that it’s in the worst circumstances possible. she begged for steven to fight her with all his might, over and over again, so he could prove himself a worthy diamond - to the point where he ends up shattering her. and when she’s brought back to life, she’s not even mad at him. he’s proven himself a “worthy” superior.

so we’ve been shown very clearly that jasper’s want is pretty, well, unhealthy for her. she would literally die for it, and get nothing in return except unhealthy, oppressive structures around her. getting everything she wants, at long last, fills her with a kind of void and fragile happiness... which only lasts so long as steven embraces his role as diamond and stays with her. 

hence we, and steven, only see her act at peace with her circumstances without complaint for a couple minutes, and it always (both in fragments and homeworld bound) ends in her own heartbreak. that’s the fragility of her “want”.

basically, it’s bad because, albeit she would know what to do with these structures... it would be at the expense of her own agency, character growth and health. it would always end badly for her.

this is a good time to point out the parallels to steven in “mr universe”.

much like jasper, steven doesn’t care if the structures around greg were cruel or oppressive. he never looks closely enough to notice how much greg hated his life. he just wants things he sees as “normal”. he wants guidance, certainty and authority figures to tell him what he’s “supposed” to do in life.

so. how is jasper’s “want” inverted?

much like rose would eventually do with pearl, the unhealthy attachment is cut by giving your subject a very bitter pill - disappearing from their life. by leaving them behind, you’re essentially forcing them to grow.

that’s NOT the main / only reason rose has steven, or steven eventually leaving beach city... but both serve the purpose of making someone who idolized you “deal with” your absence. and that’s certainly at least a part of their intention - rose thought of herself as stuck and likely holding pearl back. steven is horrified by the diamond role and wants jasper to do “something better”.

and that leads us to jasper’s “need” - to be free from these oppressive authority structures and find her own path in life. this would both improve her health & happiness, as well as making her stop engaging in unhealthy behavior towards herself and others.

now. is she fully “there” yet? no. 

but i think that as much as her trying to persuade steven to take her with him into the great unknown mirrors pearl - ie “i should be fighting for you, because you’re too important”, her reaction to steven’s reassurance that he will be fine shows that she’s already done more growing than pearl had at that point.

she’s likely been taking classes at little homeworld (where she was confirmed to currently live, NOT just visit to say goodbye to steven) for the preceding months between “i am my monster” and “the future”. she’s somewhere near accepting that her diamond doesn’t need protection. it’s also likely something she started thinking after “fragments” - if your diamond is truly so wonderfully powerful... why would they need your protection? what is your “purpose”? steven defeating her + leaving without her in “homeworld bound” both lead her to the same conclusion - she can’t fail or succeed in protecting him, because he doesn’t need her to.

thus, her role isn’t warranted.

“i can protect myself”. “i know... farewell, my diamond”.

it’s pretty significant to me that at the end of their little scene, steven doesn’t run away or give jasper any orders to stop following him. SHE leaves, albeit sadly, because she agrees with him. he can take care of himself.

jasper’s still framing steven as a diamond / superior, but... i think a big point here is that she’s someone who was so firmly stuck at the bottom of a pit of self-hatred, isolation and meaninglessness that she couldn’t unstuck herself - not without being pushed to do so. which ended up also being true for steven.

that’s the irony of the double-edged sword of her “want” - in a way, she’s right about one thing. she can’t just magically get better on her own.

i think the episode “guidance” illustrates an interesting balance between steven and amethyst’s philosophies - amethyst would rather gems do whatever, even if they end up slipping back into their old patterns. steven would rather guide them towards challenging themselves, even if that means dismissing their autonomy.

jasper... kinda gets both? her “want” and “need” play into each other in interesting ways. i’ve been framing her want as a negative a lot, but it does have an interesting silver lining - she had to get what she wanted (to be defeated, to be given a diamond), to be pushed to what she needed.

and in turn, steven needed to listen to and adapt to HER, in order to help her. only after doing that, after being pushed by jasper in turn and truly giving her what she wants, even if it tears you apart mentally... would she ever listen to you. as steven is probably used to by now.

and despite the tragedy of it, i think that’s... kind of an okay thing to show? because not everyone will seek help on their own. it’s not the uplifting message of “anyone who needs help will eventually realize it entirely on their own”, but it IS the hopeful message of “even people who refuse help, deserve help”. 

there’s horror in steven ultimately adapting to jasper’s desires, because it shows them both the fragility of their wants - for steven, being able to control jasper was a horrifying consequence. he got what he “wanted” in the worst way possible. for jasper, getting what she “wanted” meant being forced to let it (steven) go in favor of staying at little homeworld. 

but honestly... we already knew that jasper would never seek help on her own. she’s too “selfless”, in the toxic sense. purpose matters most.

and she’s not alone in that.

“pearl took pride in risking her destruction for your mother. she put rose quartz over everything; over logic, over consequence, over her own life.”

pearl taking rose down from that pedestal was a slow, elaborate, exhausting process that took years of actively working on herself. the majority of that work was only done after rose was gone.

jasper’s gonna have all the same tools - a genuine support network, people who are willing to both empathize and teach a better way, distance from her romanticized superior, and her own desire to get better. 

the latter point, at first, because she’s told to. but as we saw in “little homeschool”, leaving her to her own devices without any “worthwhile” path forward wasn’t ideal. her “want”, much like amethyst said... still deserves to be listened to, even if she still thinks like a homeworld gem. 

but the seriousness of such an effort is, as pearl taking care of steven “for rose” and then “for him” and finally growing to do things “for herself” shows, a good avenue for REAL growth. jasper may soon yet grow for her own sake.

and the results... again, pulling pearl as my example, can be remarkable.

as i’ve said before... i am pretty sad we won’t actually get to see more of that. that’s what “the audience” may have felt they needed from jasper. the same way i’m sure rose would find it bittersweet to know how much pearl has grown without her. the same way you’re sad whenever you don’t see a character you love find love and happiness onscreen, even if it’s implied...

but in a show told from steven’s perspective, i think there is some point to that.

i’ve come around to the following: she couldn’t go with him. any forgiving hugs steven & jasper could’ve given each other at this point would’ve been hollow. that power dynamic would’ve been in the way. what they “need” is not each other. they need people who really, truly understand them, and to figure out what they want in their lives when steven doesn’t have someone to save emotionally (jasper), and jasper doesn’t have someone to sacrifice herself for (steven). 

(...and it’s at this point you realize i made you read ALL OF THAT mainly to justify why pearl and jasper’s relationship is gonna be such a central thing in my post-canon fanfic. lol. anyway here’s the link again.)

[multicolouredbeanbag]

pt 3 sorting characters into hogwarts houses

Part 1    Part 2

Tl;dr: April Stevens is a Hufflepuff who projects Slytherin; at her core she is a loyalist and she values community, even though her definition of a community has become GREATLY limited due to… reasons.

so here’s the thing. April looks like a Slytherin. She talks like a Slytherin. She walks like a Slytherin. But I don’t think she actually IS a Slytherin.

Today I defend the idea that April Stevens is actually a Hufflepuff (primary, ie. her motivations/values) and a Ravenclaw secondary (methods/tactics). I absolutely love this character even tho she is a lil mean, and I think that viewing her through this framework does justice to her complexities/core of who she is.

I mention the primary/secondary sorting hats system in Part 1 so feel free to google that or read my other analyses first.

Spoilers below:

Let’s talk about April’s secondary first, which addresses the HOW of person. How they approach situations, how they problem solve.

HP canon often posits Ravenclaws as the “intelligent” character, and while April IS very smart, that’s not why I consider her a Ravenclaw.

April is a HUGE planner and collector of information. She likes to be prepared because it gives her control over a situation. She’s an excellent strategizer. She’s less comfortable with improvising without having some tools/contingency plans to draw from, so when she’s stressed, she has a tendency to fall back on the tools that she’s brought with her (in contrast to Sterling, who absolutely thrives in improvisation)

My first example is the debate tournament - as team captain, she’s in it to win it. Her strategy of choice is to prepare detailed dossiers on all the other team captains. This works well enough for her, until opponent debater Craig pulls a move she couldn’t anticipate (using his own research against her), and she falls to pieces. Still, she takes some time, gathers herself again, and pressures Sterling to use the dossier on Craig to take him down (contingency plan).

Other examples:

Asked Sterling to debate her when deciding whether to come out or not - girl RUNS on logic

April’s approach to school is very organized/planning based, she’s also kind of a major nerd OBVIOUSLY, so this is a more conventional representation of her Ravenclaw-ness

S1E1, she snatches the condom wrapper but retreats with the information probably for processing purposes. She makes a plan - use threat of exposure to blackmail Sterling into giving her the fellowship position, and doesn’t deviate from it, even when the plan fails. Sterling has to save her from that situation ultimately.

This is a little more vague, but I’m thinking about how April comes off as a rigid, somewhat inflexible character. She’s not very easily persuaded to change her behavior (this, of course, makes so much sense! When you think about being gay in the south like? Her reluctance to come out is completely understandable) which contrasts very severely against Sterling’s expressive fluidity. April is a lot more static, and part of that is because it’s difficult for her to thrive when it’s an area that she hasn’t had the opportunity to prepare/plan/study.

Now for the much more interesting and complicated part, April’s PRIMARY.

Again, the Primary is all about WHY someone does something. Their motivations and values. I argue that April Stevens is a true Hufflepuff because she places utmost importance on community.

The HP canon defining qualities of being Hufflepuff are patience and loyalty. It’s the fair and inclusive house. However, it would be reductive to suggest that all Hufflepuffs are friendly, warm individuals. They are bonded together not by their shared amity, but by their value of people and groups—community.

April’s “community” on the show is unfortunately tied to her family and the Christian community. She fears not belonging (bc homophobia) so she overcompensates by conforming aggressively (see, Straight-Straight alliance S1E1).

The episode that really sold this analysis for me was S1E7, when April and Sterling had a number of conversations about April’s dad.

April: “My dad used to call my family a team. And I worked so hard to be the very best version of myself because Team Stevens wins. Teams Stevens is perfect, except that it’s not.”

With these words, we get some insight into why she’s so intense and high-achieving and obsessive all the time. It’s not so much because she wants to win for herself, it’s more the fact that she’s part of a team. She does her part for the team by excelling everywhere she thinks it counts, and of course her underlying gayness contributes to her NEED to be perfect. In practice, it comes off as personal ambition, which is why April seems, at least on the surface, pretty slytherin-y. In reality, it must be more about compensating for something she feels she lacks. Team Stevens can’t be perfect if they’re ostracized by the community due to their (only?) child being gay, so of course she has to keep it to herself, and she has to be the best on all other counts so no one can ever touch them.

Another example, S1E6, at the tournament April says, “You know what’s going on with my family right now; we have become the black sheep of the entire community. I needed a win!” She projects her personal problems onto external academic goals.

This framework of achievement as a prerequisite of community, flawed as it is, seemed to be working for her, at least up until her dad was arrested for attacking a prostitute. In a conversation with Sterl, back when April was trying to steal the fellowship title:

S: Why are you doing this? Is it because of what’s going on with your family?

A: What John did is his problem.

S: He’s still your dad.

A: I don’t care. He beat up a prostitute! I’m not a fan of sex workers but they deserve to be safe!

She obviously feels confused and hurt that her dad lied to her and was violent to women, which is something she cannot stand. For a while, she drops her father like a hot potato, throwing away his letters from jail and ignoring his calls. Hufflepuffs value people—fair is fair.

But she kind of still supports him at the end anyway, when he comes home (s1E10). She must be feeling so conflicted when this happens. Dad is a part of family (established community) therefore she has to support him. Dad possibly hurt someone, but then he did get cleared of his charges. April is essentially making a choice between Dad and Sterling, established community vs. possible (in fact PROBABLE) community alienation.

Hufflepuff and Slytherins are both loyalists because they both care about people—Hufflepuff because they’re people, Slytherin because they’re THEIR people. For all intents and purposes, by S1E10, Sterling is one of April’s “people.” So how does April choose? She goes with the established community, which is really to say she chooses culture and tradition.

April has spent her entire life locking away a significant part of herself for the sake of her family and more generally, her religious community. In S1E8/S1E9, April is almost convinced to come out—FOR Sterling. She probably would have gone through with it were it not for her dad showing up the next episode. April obviously has (justified) reservations about coming out because it’s honestly pretty dangerous to be out in the south, and these circumstances haven’t changed just because she found a girl that she likes. But she is reluctantly on board because Sterling would have been there to take the leap with her… at this point, April had expanded her definition of community to include Sterling, and for a moment Sterling’s optimism had broken past April’s defenses. Then her dad comes back, and April realizes that she has to make a choice even though this choice hurts them both terribly—Sterling is after all, one person, and what is one person in the face of boundless historical tradition and family values?

Hufflepuff morality tends to be influenced by external inputs, while Slytherin morality tends to come from the internal, the gut. Hufflepuffs can and will ignore their internal feelings when they contradict with the needs of the community. Slytherins are less easily swayed by external influences if they are sure they are right.

April has shrunk down her loyalties to a more manageable level (truly, a very LIMITED circle), but still prioritizes fairness and loyalty and of course, second chances. It’s partly why she’s open to reconnecting with her father. Maintaining these loyalties comes at the cost of her relationship with Sterling, but this is something April is willing to do: self-sacrifice for (greater) community.

Just to take a step back, April and Sterling’s relationship back in 5th grade is just… fascinating. In S1E6, we find out that April’s whole grudge against Sterling comes from when Sterling “gave her away” to another group at recess. An odd event that they both remember differently, and who can say what really happened? All we know is that April’s animosity comes from this perceived slight— the abandonment by someone she once trusted and considered part of her community. It’s very telling that their rivalry stems from this particular moment, the fracturing of a loyalty, as opposed anything else.

April: “the past is the past, we’re all adults here” but alsooo April, >:’(

Another example: at the tournament, when April is trying to convince Sterling to use the dirt on Craig to secure their win.

S: I don’t know if I can stoop that low.

A: He did it to me!

April’s first instinct was a quid pro quo, you attack me, my group will attack you. Which is why she is so offended that Sterling refuses to take the shot, because in April’s mind, it’s only fair. This exchange supports the idea that April considers community first, ambition second.

I like to think that April hides her vulnerable side, her honest hopes and dreams, behind her external perfectionism and ambition. I like to think that she cares a lot, that she’s a prickly, distrustful, kind of Hufflepuff who craves validation because she thinks it’s a substitute for connection. And I would like to see her find that type of community, that she and EVERYBODY deserves: love that doesn’t contain (in her words) “a post condition that we follow their rules for love.”

[bouwrites]

OC Spotlight: The Cardinal Virtues

This isn’t so much a spotlight on each of these four individual characters so much as an elaboration on how they came about and why they’re so closely related in my mind despite no more than two of them appearing in a single universe at at time thus far. Honestly, I felt this elaboration is necessary just to save space for if/when I do individual spotlights for them.

The Cardinal Virtues are some of my very favorite OCs that I have, and I’ve been calling them that because each one roughly corresponds to one of the four cardinal virtues. In truth, all four are very similar in a lot of ways, for reasons I’ll explain soon, but to prevent this from getting too long...

Hunter Stone - Justice Valerian Isolde - Strength Arno Buenaventura - Temperance Carter Wroden - Prudence

The first thing to know about them, is that Hunter and Valerian (Vale) were originally meant to be the same character. Likewise, Arno, though not created with Vale in mind, was put into my personal cast of OCs with the intention of him “replacing” Vale for stories where Vale isn’t really appropriate. Likewise, Carter was created as a “replacement” of sorts for Arno.

All of them grew in their own ways and developed into distinct characters, but it’s important to note that the framework of their characters, esp. Hunter/Vale and Arno/Carter are essentially the same, and based around my original concept for Hunter, who is actually my very first OC.

Now, I didn’t design them to fit so nicely into the four cardinal virtues. In fact, the reference to the virtues is something that only arose very recently, as I was looking into adding Carter and Arno into my Persona daydream story and stumbled across references to the virtues by chance as I was trying to assign arcana to them.

But this isn’t a spotlight of the characters themselves, but rather how they’re related, and for that we’ll have to go all the way back to my very first OC ever, Hunter Stone.

Hunter is, for all intents and purposes, retired as a character. I haven’t seriously worked with him in many, many years, yet he’s almost constantly on my mind because Arno and Carter, both characters I work extensively with today, are so closely connected with him.

He was my favorite OC for a long time, and my primary best friend and sometimes love interest character in my daydream stories at the time (yes, I romance my OCs in those daydream stories and yes, I’m only admitting to that because that is one of the threads tying these characters together.) until the time I decided to make an original story.

That story was a fantasy novel, and ultimately a tragedy. It’s pretty much abandoned now, though I’d like to use that world for a story at some point, but the creation of that fantasy world is where things got... slightly out of hand.

Now, I should note that a large portion of the magic system used in that fantasy world actually comes directly from my development of how psychic powers work in the Pokemon world (where Hunter is from - kindly don’t remind me that middle-school me thought making an OC child of Steven Stone and Wallace for my cringy grimdark Pokemon story was a good idea. He’s keeping the name, though.) and thus a lot of the framework for how certain things work came from that world as well. Including some characters.

That said, there’s a bit more background we need before getting into that original story. And that, my friends, is Wizard101. I promise you I am completely honest when I say this, and you can trust me because if it wasn’t true there is no way in hell I’d ever admit to this, but “Valerian” is actually the name of my Wizard101 main. I once made a half-baked attempt at a Wizard101 fanfic, and my love for Hunter meant I wanted him in the story, but I decided to use “Valerian” as his name instead to nod to my actual in-game character. For both our sakes, I won’t elaborate any more than that and continue into the original story.

The original story started, at first, in media res with Hunter and some other OCs and their problem, and helping them out is this team of adventurers who were, in hindsight, basically there to babysit the main cast. I actually wrote a lot for that story - most of it, in fact - but eventually decided to change it entirely and set the story two years prior, focusing on that previously mentioned band of babysitters and how they came to be.

But I love Hunter, and couldn’t stand to let him go, so Valerian Isolde comes in to take his place. Vale is probably the single character of mine that has changed the most throughout his development - he actually was in the original script of the story as one of the babysitters, not to mention the other changes from when he was a copy of Hunter as a Wizard101 OC - and that would be much more appropriate for a spotlight of his own, but suffice it to say I ended up with a story with Vale and Hunter both, and them different enough that it honestly doesn’t feel weird even today.

(Needless to say, with my mind so much in that original universe, Vale occupied a lot of my daydreams. He was my primary companion character, often bringing him into fandom universes, though it always felt off to try to romance him, and to an extent even have him around, because of his canon romance and other ties in his native story.)

Enter Arno. Arno Malik Buenaventura is a character I created in tandem with one of my friends as we were traveling to and from university. Long car-rides and shared fandoms, two writers stuck in the car together, there’s only one logical conclusion.

He and his twin sister, Elizabeth, were created for a shared story we worked on. It never developed into anything, really, and to be honest I never really felt right for a while after that using either of them, as they aren’t technically “mine” so I used Arno as a background character for a while. If I needed a name in a fic, just some random schoolgoer who’s mentioned, that kind of thing, I’d use Arno.

I ended up getting more comfortable with him and using him more freely - he’s one of the featured OCs in my ML Twin AU, actually - though I still don’t use Elizabeth much if at all. That’s the reason she doesn’t appear in that story despite being mentioned several times, and being his literal twin - I just kind of feel like she’s more my friend’s OC than my own.

Anyway, I fell in love with Arno, and since, for a while, I was nervous to use him as a character proper due to his origin, he ended up becoming a character that appeared often in my daydream stories - the ones I don’t write, which are usually self-insert just for my own entertainment.

But I ran into another snag like with Vale. Arno didn’t have a love interest at the time, but I was getting older and it started to feel weird to me to play out imaginary romances with imaginary boyfriends in my daydream stories only to turn around and have him as a perfectly ordinary character in my actual written ones.

The solution was simple: make an OC cast reserved for self-insert daydream stories. “Their” stories, their native stories, would include me, or rather my self-insert character based on me. So, I did. Thus, Carter was born. To this day, Carter is my “imaginary boyfriend” and because of that is probably one of the most heavily featured OCs I have in terms of number of universes they appear in - he’s just in my daydream versions of those universes rather than the ones I use for actual stories.

The rest of his crew, some of which are mentioned in the one fic I’ve written that includes him, including his “love interest” Avery Graham who is, in truth, my self-insert character (though not, technically, meant to be me), are also part of my “Daydream Cast” which follow me around and appear as-needed in my daydream stories so I can avoid awkward situations with characters who are supposed to have very clearly defined stories not ruined by me running around in their backyards, so to speak. I don’t always care about that, but sometimes it doesn’t feel right.

Anyway, that’s  the summary of the four who were supposed to be one but somehow separated into four completely distinct characters. I know I didn’t really describe what makes them similar and different in this spotlight, but their character analyses are much more appropriate for individual spotlights and this one has already gone on long enough, I think.

Interestingly, though, despite the fact that you can roughly categorize them as old (Hunter/Valerian) and modern (Arno/Carter) they actually match up in personality more closely in the pairs of Hunter/Carter and Vale/Arno, though in the first case that’s somewhat by design and in the latter is because that’s one of my favorite archetypes of characters. Hunter/Carter are also the most similar in design of them all with Vale being a huge outlier design-wise.

That’s enough for now, though. I’ve leave this here before I add on another whole essay about these four.

[phenomenalcosmicpowers]

ENDING OF THE END + THE LAST PROBLEM + SERIES END THOUGHTS

Well here we are, the final episodes of the entire series before MLP heads off into uncharted waters of an entirely new 5th generation. The future of MLP is uncertain, there’s absolutely no guarantee and I’d even say it’s inevitable that G5 even if does turn out good. Does not quite hit the same lightning in a bottle G4 did. It’ll be a hard act to follow. Especially given how well the ending was executed. For I truly believe that the two-parter is the best one since Twilight’s Kingdom and the series finale itself is the best single episode since Perfect Pear in Season 7.

Let’s get started with the two-parter first though.

THE ENDING OF THE END

I think the real genius about this two-parter is how it ties just about everything from the past 9 seasons together. Just in the first scene you get Chrysalis placing distrust between types of ponies akin to the Hearth’s Warming tale as she did in the previous Summer Sun celebration episode from this season. It takes having seen most episodes to get everything and know all the cameos. Finales are of course supposed to have some sort of payoff for a lot of things. Throughout this thoughts I may take note of many instances.

The villain team-up while it was first established in the opener can be applied to having big mentions to the finales of Season 2 (Chrysalis), Season 4 (Tirek), and Season 8 (Cozy). The few remaining villains not to be reformed or in the case of Sombra… dead.

The first big twist showing up with Grogar being Discord all this time. It’s certainly strange to have them sort of hype up Grogar only for him to turn out to be an established character and in fact on the Heroes side all along. Though I believe the logic was Discord trying to reform the three by having them experience friendship together like they almost did at the end of Frenemies. And if it failed well it’s another of his “tests” for Twilight and the others to topple over that he’s been doing on occasion since Season 4, though he probably wasn’t expecting to lose his magic amidst all that. On Grogar though, it was a bit weird that we really weren’t getting a lot much about him and even if he was actually a threat they’d have to put some sort of focus on why he’s a bigger threat then the villain team-up (And it’d either playout that the Mane 6 work with the villains once they realize that Grogar’s worse for Equestria then the villains. Though nothing indicated what Grogar plans for Equestira were that destructive, since it was simply instructing the villain trio to use teamwork to defeat the Mane 6. When in reality he was Discord trying to make that teamwork reform them in all likelihood. Like Discord said later he had good intentions, but once again his actions almost resulted in the end of Equestria as we know it just like in Twilight’s Kingdom. Albeit to be fair in Twilight’s Kingdom there was enough reason to believe that Tirek gave him something the ponies still weren’t at that time.)

Finally getting back to our ponies proper, Twilight’s first action this episode is to give Spike the role of royal adviser. You know me regarding Twilight and Spike by now, you just know I love this for all sorts of reasons. ^^

The crazy, superpowered Chaos Cozy moment was pretty funny. It’s also a great setup for something later in the two-parter that’s just as if not better.

But not long before the battle begins.Cozy heading straight for Twilight and the others with Alicorn magic. Tirek easily beating the founders of Equestria, and while she puts up the best fight out of them. Starlight still falls to Chrysalis (Though not without some pretty nice one-liners)

Result is that the rest of the Mane 6, Discord, and a magicless Celestia and Luna hold up a barricade just long enough for Twilight to teleport out as the first half of the two-parter ends.

It’s quite nice that Tirek’s first concern is with Twilight still out there. He probably remembers after the events of Twilight’s Kingdom that there’s a danger of Twilight having some sort of secret trinket or something else that will save Equestria.

Even though the situation they’re in is kind of Discord’s fault. He at least seems to still have quite a bit of cleverness that we remember from his Season 2 debut by tricking Tirek to fire off a blast he can reflect to maybe help free a pony and just so happens to free a pretty powerful one in Starlight.

The Mane 6 get to escape and get to Twilight but amidst some angst about the situation things start looking even worse as the Windigoes sense the distrust that the villain trio has placed in Equestria. It takes some convincing, but Twilight heads the charge against some pretty big odds. And a pretty clever Pinky and the Brain reference (Almost wish Chancellor Neighsay was there for that, given he was Brain’s voice actor)

I like the different ideas Chrysalis and Tirek had about the windigoes which gives an insight on what kind of villains they are. Chrysalis wants to them to stick around to break ponies of Equestria spirits where once they’re defeated by Chrysalis the ponies will have no choice but to bow to her or else she may let the Windigoes come back or something else. While Tirek doesn’t underestimate how hard they might be to control and wants to take them out right away cause they may very well be an obstacle for even an all-powerful villain. A frozen wasteland may not be as ideal to rule over as a normal defeated Equestria after all. But before they can even think of challenging the windigoes the Mane 6 have arrived to challenge the trio for the final battle.

The battle itself is well-done and funnily enough has some resemblance to a part I did in Return to Saddle Arabia where most of the Mane 6 and Spike are about to be blasted to oblivion before some kind of magic shield protects them. Granted it’s not exactly the most original idea to go with a scene where the heroes bravely face potential death before some miracle came in. But I like that a few things I’ve done in Genie Twi had something like it happen in canon.

But anyway yes, the unicorns of Equestria have came together to provide a shield. You have Neighsay, Trixie, Moondance, Tempest, Twilight’s parents, Sunburst’s Mom, and Twilight’s old Canterlot friends (Heck even Flim and Flam are helping which may be a little surprising since you’d expect them to just try to profit. Though arguably maybe they’re just going to try to use the publicity of having helped save Equestria to boost their buisness). And back behind them. Are Yaks, Changelings, Dragons and Pegasi. It’s also very clever for the Changelings to become the Main 6 to help confuse the villain trio as to where the real ones are.

And the reason they’re all here to back up? It’s all thanks to the school of friendship from Season 8 along with the Student 6 there to keep everyone together despite the attempts to divide everyone. The ultimate lesson in education helping prevent people/ponies of different kinds of places and entire species in the case of Equestria to come together. While Season 8 wasn’t the most solid season of the show, the role it plays in this finale really gives it a solid purpose that is better way of saving Equestria then the majority of the two-parters where a miracle mcguffin is used to do it. I still love Twilight’s Kingdom a lot but while I’m still deciding whether I like this two-parter more or less then that one. Ending of the End for sure has the better ending, as Twilight’s Kingdom still kind of uses a mcguffin-esque ending with the Rainbow Power which never shows up again outside of a dream sequence. The thing that saves the day is set up over like two seasons, while the Rainbow Power was generally just keys throughout random parts of Season 4. Which is still great. But the school helping is the end after having been established a while ago is a much better setup.

This was the setup from the superpowered Cozy. Pinkie getting it briefly xD Hilariously burying the depowered villain trio with a giant cupcake. While most see the comic where Pinkie was a chaos princess, I also kind of see something similar when I was introducing Genie Pinkie for Ain’t Never Had Friends Like Us.

But yeah, instead of being reformed. Tirek, Cozy, and Chrysalis will remain in stone for probably a long time. Will they get another chance someday like Discord did who was in a similar situation? Who knows, that’s likely up to fanfic authors to decide that now. There is somewhat of a controversy about this. Though given people have had enough of villains being reformed. Wish granted I guess? Though I think most of it surrounds Cozy since she is just a little filly. Unless the “Season 10” MLP comics get around to it, we won’t know Cozy’s history though so we don’t exactly know how Cozy got this way. And perhaps it’s just easier to assume she’s a born psychopath, though the sad look on her face before she’s petrified probably doesn’t help said controversy. All we can really say is, hey they weren’t reformed after all. You happy now? :V If you want a show that literally reforms every villain, I guess there’s always Steven Universe. And arguably some of those villains did much worse then any Friendship is Magic villain ever. Not to be mean to Steven Universe since I do like that show, but you do kind of have to realize they’re even more lenient on the reformations then Friendship is Magic.

With the battle over, Twilight delays the coronation for some time until Canterlot’s castle is rebuilt. And decide to take a good long break at Donut Joe’s shop. The same place they went to after the first gala the Mane 6 went to. Which is certainly a nice touch.

Overall, just a really awesome two-parter of which we haven’t seen since Season 4. Most of the ending with a bang came from this. But coming just right after, is the closing single episode. 22 minutes entirely focused on closing out the series on a happy epilogue.

THE LAST PROBLEM

Whenever there was discussion about what a series finale for the show looked like. I don’t know if there were many diverse ideas. But there were always two ideas on my mind: A timeskip that shows what the world of Equestria is like years in the future especially after we know Twilight’s a princess where she’d be at the very least Cadence sized. Or a sort of final farewell, where all 6 have their own stuff to pursuit. Which the latter became slightly muddled on somehow they’re still able to teach when some of them already have full careers. But nonetheless the Finale did kind of hit both in a way. Where yes much of the episode is about a time skip but we also get a flashback where the Mane 6 are worried about Twilight having to be in Canterlot now. With less time to spend with her friends.

I must say first of all Twilight looks pretty great Celestia-sized. It would be nice to know just how an “Alicorn puberty” works but maybe that’s a job for the “Season 10” comics. Spike’s design on the other hand seems to received mixed responses for the most part. Nonetheless, he’s a muscly dragon friendship ambassador that says he’s been trying to bring peace between a dog species (Diamond Dogs) and a cat species (Abyssinians).

Gallus is now in the Royal Guard. A showing that Equestria has truly diversified.

But anyway, we meet Luster Dawn. Someone Twilight calls her top student who sort of repeats some of Twilight’s own thoughts on friendship during the pilot. It’s a sort of history repeats cycle here going on here.

Anyway, while I still love this episode. I do have to admit there’s something I don’t quite get about the moving part. The tree of harmony gave Twilight a whole castle that’s even themed on her. If she was just going to sit at Canterlot. Why was the castle made in the first place and what will Twilight’s ponyville castle be used for? Just for when she happens to be visiting there occasionally?  Do her friends use the castle? Just a little strange to leave a castle that’s perfectly fine and even still in Ponyville for just about everything to work out. Perhaps it’s just a little much to move the capital and a way to kind of keep Ponyville to it’s roots as a generally more outdoor town with less of the royal hubbub. (Then again, because of how the Mane 6 there. So much happens because of it). I guess it’s kind of similar to why have Twilight’s castle when they could of just refurbished the old Castle that was in the Everfree. These ponies sure know how to waste perfectly good castles don’t they heh.

Anyway, we’re getting to real bittersweet part of the flashback. Twilight’s going to be the new ruler of Equestria but being in Canterlot means it’s not going to be a simple walk to see her friends any more. She hopes to see them worried about it just like her. But they seem to be handling things just fine. Unbeknownst to Twilight, they’re just hoping to make Twilight feel better despite the fact that it’s their worries that would make Twilight feel better. The 6 have a good group cry together before they realize the talk has nearly made them late for the train. They even spin past poor Starlight who had a present for Twilight which would have to be opened later. The rush however will have consequences as all the things the rest set up are getting messed up now that they’re aren’t there to head things up. The coronation has lots of things go wrong, but I wonder if at this point the population is generally used to things going wrong with the canterlot events with these 6 like with the Gala. They screw up the formal event but when it comes to saving and leading, Twilight’s done good enough for Equestria.

And now we get to seeing where the rest of Twilight’s friends are in the timeskip!

To the surprise of many, the only one 100% confirmed to be married is Pinkie. Who went with Cheese Sandwich and even had a child (There seems to be a controversy regarding the gender given Big Jim said the script says Lil’ Cheese is male despite having a filly snout and eyelashes while Josh Haber has said no gender was specified. Perhaps we should just say Lil’ Cheese is trans.. if it weren’t for the fact that always gets even worse responses from transphobics). But yeah, while I was never one to heavily ship Pinkie with a character. If I had to see her with anyone. Cheese Sandwich was one that came to mind as a great choice. (Even if we would of thought if any of the 6 were happily married it would be Rarity.) Apparently between Pinkie and Maud, the Pie sisters want someone similar to them. We know anyone that’s just as grumpy as Limestone? Or just as shy as Marble? (That isn’t Big Mac for already married reasons)

Which speaking of which Rarity comes by with some grey streaks in her mane and Tail. Looks like all that stress making dresses late at night has caught up to her heh.

Then Rainbow Dash and Applejack come in at the same time. Some are saying they are a confirmed couple buuuuut it feels like the episode plays it a little too vaguely to say that for sure. They argue like an old married couple yeah, but in all fairness. They’ve done that all series long pretty much. I hope none of you fans of Appledash get mad at me by saying it’s not exactly confirmed here but you’re as free as I am in expressing the opinion on what’s going on here. I may have seen somewhere that Appledash was originally going to be more explicitly shown, but as is we can only take what we see from the final version of the episode. You’re free to suggest they are a couple, but I think I needed more then few dialogue and looks to say that. It’s shipping fuel at the very least, but not concrete like Pinkie and Cheese. But anyway, Rainbow Dash seems to be the new captain of the Wonderbolts after assuringly Spitfire retired and AJ’s still on the farm as always.

Same with regards to the Fluttershy and Discord ship too. Though it might have a slight bigger leg to stand on then the AppleDash thing given the hint from the Angel episode a while ago and the lunchbag with cute drawn faces is there. But otherwise hard to confirm or deny either way. If you think they’re together then they are, if you think they aren’t. That’s all fair.

Anyway, the present that Starlight had was a book of memories that seems to have like enchanted photos of moments throughout the series. Which is pretty cool. Though of course Twilight doesn’t want to leave it off on just the photo album.

Before we get to the very ending, it’s probably something to cover up another slight controversy about this ep: The implication that Twilight will probably outlive her friends. Since Twilight is indeed Celestia sized now and the rest are obviously older with grey hair in the case of Rarity and bags under their eyes. It’s true that this can be saddening to think about, but it’s kind of only bad if they had like shown Twilight see their gravestones after they’ve passed to leave us all sad before the end. Where as it ends here it’s just that they’re older. I know it doesn’t exactly help to know such a future will eventually happen to Twilight. But we must remember that Faust has mentioned that Twilight taking over Celestia’s role was the way she wanted to end the series. And the staff made sure they follow a lot of what Faust wanted. There’s only 3 ways they could of adhered to “Twilight won’t outlive her friends” as said in the Meghan McCarthy tweet. Where either Twilight sacrifices herself to save Equestria from the final threat, the rest of the 6 also become Alicorns, or Twilight somehow vouches to give up her Alicornhood to become a Unicorn again. All of which have their own problems.

Twilight sacrificing herself wouldn’t be unprecedented since it’d be similar to if DBZ had ended with the Cell Saga when Goku’s sacrifice nearly defeated Cell. While Goku’s sacrifice wasn’t what defeated Cell for good, it’d still playout that the main character of the show we’ve seen grow died in a noble sacrifice. Which offers a touching ending but may be a bit of a very sour note to end on for the little girls who look up to Twilight. They’d at least have to make sure Twilight has some sort of Force Ghost type thing, but nonetheless kind of hard to really go for.

If the rest became Alicorns it sort of cheapens Twilight’s own ascension moment. Not to mention it sort of goes to “Every girl wants to be a princess!” which isn’t exactly the case. Maybe arguably things like Flurry Heart being born already kind of cheapened it. But I don’t know it’d just be weird to have like Rainbow be big while still on the wonder bolts. Or a princess Applejack doing the stuff on the farm.

And as for Twilight demoting herself, that sort of makes everything from the Magical Mystery Cure to near the end of Season 9 entirely pointless. Which for people still salty about Twilight becoming an Alicorn might enjoy, it wouldn’t for those who were just fine with Twilight being a princess. There are many areas of the show that some believe the show jumped the shark. Even I’d say the way they executed Starlight’s rise to a recurring character kind of boggled down the show for a good while. But for those who hung on after MMC, there was still plenty of fun we got from the series.

I guess besides these three options maybe you could bring up if Twilight had never become a Princess. Though before she became a Princess we never really knew for sure what Twilight was being groomed for by Celestia. Before Season 3 happened all we could see is maybe she becomes some sort of Grand Wizard ala Starswirl the Bearded after having helped Celestia bring her sister back. But advertisements for Season 3 mentioned a “true destiny” for Twilight And that’s what this was. Some of the stuff people were worried about back when MMC happened have come into fruition here. But even with the fact that there will be a flood of sadfics about when the time comes when all of Twi’s friends pass. It feels like it’s something that was coming anyway. I might be a bit biased on this front though given my own blog has Twilight become a genie before she even became an Alicorn where she had to choose between staying a genie and eventually seeing her friends pass or staying a genie for Spike as well as the massive reserves of magic she’ll have over the years. I can understand everyone’s concern about the implication of Twilight outliving her friends. But whole those still bitter about MMC will shake their fist, we must remember again we see no gravestones. We simply see aging friends at the end of the series. Even with the fact Twilight will outlive them. Twilight still has plenty of time left with them before it all happens. The whole thing gives it a whole bittersweet feeling admittedly, but I wouldn’t say the ending’s ruined by this implication.

Now it’s time though for the final song of the series. And what a note to end on. It’s absolutely one of the most beautiful songs of the series. The chorus always seems to somewhat well up tears in my eyes even beyond just knowing this was the final scene of the episode. The song’s just emotionally powerful in that way. In the midst of the song we also see many older versions of the characters. An older version of the kids from the CMC to Diamond Tiara, and Twist. Pound and Pumpkin Cake older. the older Student six along withe said CMC who seem to be the new teachers at the school. Big Mac and Sugar Belle have their own child (On a sad note you can see Granny Smith’s neck accessory around Applejack as well as Goldie Delicious who’s around Apple Bloom. Both seem to have passed away from old age by this time)

Now what’s really cool is the screen where the 6 come across the screen where the ponies their associated with throughout the series are shown. All the characters that were particularly touched in one way or another by the 6 ponies we’ve come to know over these long 9 years of the show. We see pinkie’s family along with Cheese Sandwich, Gilda, and Cranky. In Fluttershy’s we see Discord, Tree Hugger, the Parasprites, and Iron Will. In Rainbow’s we see the Wonderbolts, Daring Do, Quibble Pants and his family, Derpy, and Tank. In Applejack’s we even see her deceased parents, Autumn Blaze, and Coloratura. In Rarity’s we see Fancy Pants, Saffron, Capper, Ember, and Coco. And of course for Twilight we see the princesses, Moondancer, and heck for the first and only time in the series we see Sunset Shimmer (Albeit it’s kind of sad that this is the only main show appearance for her. I thought I heard somewhere that at some point they were going to show her too and reveal she’s the new principal of Canterlot High. In which I feel could of been a funny dialogue thing where she could say “When I was young, I was sure one day I would succeed Celestia. I just didn’t think it’d be like this!”.

And as Luster Dawn goes to her friends, the sun sets on the day as the Mane 6 all look on. And the book from the very first episode closes. And thus, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was over.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was just a great ending of the series. As I’ve said before iI’m glad it got to end on this sort of note rather then being cancelled out of nowhere with an ending not quite as satisfying as this. Magical Mystery Cure could of been our series finale had the fans not supported the show so much. Some of the stuff we got would of been implicated of happening anyway if indeed the series ended with *BOOM!* Twilight’s a princess but I think it really helped to see quite a bit of aftermath of Twilight struggling with the promotion until she’s finally ready to step into Celestia’s shoes as the new ruler. We should remind ourselves time and again that’s how Faust wanted the series to end and while this show isn’t perfect and there are times in the shows where stuff dropped and episodes that missed the mark. There are usually amazing episodes throughout that has made following the series worthwhile.

And while G4 as a show is over there is still some comics to look forward to. We’ll also hopefullly see how G5 turns out. Though even if it fails, perhaps one day Hasbro will throw us a bone and do a nostalgic special with the G4 cast again. They’ve sometimes done it for Transformers. Hasbro should have the message sent on what made G4 so successful and they’ll try to somewhat replicate it’s success. Though they’ll certainly have an uphill battle with an all new staff and a hard act to follow.

I’m really glad I found this show all the way back in early 2011. It’s been so much fun following the characters as well as meeting new friends online who shared love for the show and even going to conventions related to all this. There’s still some fandom stuff to be done on my part even extending to next year as I’m not quite done with Genie Twilight yet. It is heavy thanks to this show being great for me that I’m gladly working on a little hobby blog for about 7 years or so. Thank you DHX, Hasbro, and everyone else involved with the show’s run for a fantastic show. We’ll never forget as the magic of friendship grows within all of us.

[dewmie-in]

So, you hear lot about the Cool Kids as analogs of the Crystal Gems. I have many theories now about Dewey and Jamie being analogs for Ruby and Sapphire (and becoming a ship as a result) since Reunited aired, snapping and crackling in my brain like the small twigs of an eastern European pine forest. Here are six points I've been thinking about for an unhealthy amount of time:

Point 1: Color palettes

Bill's color palette is kind of hard to ignore - it's about as close as you could get to making one of the human characters bright ruby red - pretty much a coral color. Jamie’s default mailman outfit is blue, kind of like Sapphire - simple enough.

You'd think Bill’s suit is just grey, but that's a weird color theory thing going on - it's actually shades of purple! Ruby has a little dark purple in her outfit - Garnet has even more. Also, Bill and Jamie also have one bit of blue and red each - Jamie with his chucks and Bill with his tie.

Their appearance in the rupphire wedding is a rubber mallet to the skull as color palettes are concerned:

Bill has ditched the tie, so he has a bit of blue around his shirt collar. Jamie’s belt is dark red. That’s two instances now of hinting at each other’s colors somewhere in their outfits!

This is also the only time I think we see Jamie in a blue shirt that isn’t his work uniform - why blue? Dude wears blue all the time at his day job and his one dressy shirt happens to be blue, too? This feels SO INTENTIONAL.

Point 2: Watery stuff and firey stuff

Jamie ends up in or around water a lot!

In Love Letters alone there’s a ton of stuff - being a total moon calf out in the rain; throwing the mail he was supposed to deliver into the ocean. Then there’s Garnet’s line that first gets Jamie sweet on her in the first place: “I’m a really good swimmer.” Swimming! Water!

He throws a bucket of water on Steven in Historical Friction

He ends up *in the ocean* with the others in I Am My Mom.

You might make a parallel with him and Lapis here because it’s water instead of ice, but water in some form is a common theme with the gems of Blue Diamond's court, so to me it points to a Sapphire thing. Water here = ice. I’d even predict something happening in a future episode with Jamie being cold or dealing with ice - we’ll see!

There’s also the whole theme of Blue Diamond's gems being more emotionally-focused, too. An analogous human would wear his heart on his sleeve a bit - falling in love at the drop of a hat, being overly dramatic and so on.

Warmth or fire tends to be a running theme for Bill, some of the most obvious things:

Melting ice cream in Joking Victim *and* Political Power.

The fireworks show he arranged.

Steven’s bit in Political Power about how, "Mayor Dewey was hiding things from you ... because he loves you," and then you see a shot of a nice fire in the fireplace.

His skin color is basically a perpetual sunburn.

In Political Power, Bill has the line, “you can't control what happens in the world but you can control how people feel about it - that's the real weight I carry - making the good people of Beach City feel better...” Now, he isn’t very successful at keeping people calm ultimately, but he tries, and even references Ocean Town being destroyed because of people rioting/panicking! Water = emotions Fire = composure.

There's weird bits of crossover here, too: Bill gets sprayed in his first appearance, and Jamie accidentally sets his quill on fire while writing his letter to Garnet. They don't do well using each other's elements, do they!

There is only one big counterexample to this I can find, yet even THAT is telling. To be fair, Bill is very much The Boss in Historical Friction and even a bit of a jerk, but then you see this bit at the end?

Jamie gets a fire in his eyes when he gets the position as director of the community theater. Who really started that fire, though? Who gave Jamie all that power? Bill did.

Point 3: Bill has a type

Bill has a crush on Pearl! And hats off to Pewey shippers - ship what you want and live your best life! But I'm afraid I have to bring this ship up from the depths just to sink it, because for my purposes it's a red herring:

Out of the main three Crystal Gems, who does Jamie portray best? Pearl!

Bill is into slender types with big noses, basically. There’s some fun headcanoning to be done about WHY Bill is so ridiculously transparent with Pearl and this hasn't been the case around Jamie. Perhaps he's over-compensating for a crush on Jamie? Perhaps he never thought of Jamie like that before and that will lead to a bit of development for them both? Now that Bill isn't mayor anymore, maybe he feels he can be a little more open about himself. Who knows?

Point 4: SU Tap Together

This post on the SU Tap Together game. tl;dr - they give Dewey and Jamie VERY SIMILAR abilities to Ruby and Sapphire as starters. I doubt it's coincidental.

Point 5: Buck’s dad

Pretty much the whole fandom agrees that Buck is an analog for Garnet. In some way, Garnet is the product of Ruby and Sapphire. Would it not make sense that Buck would have two dads to parallel Garnet's two 'moms'?

I am calling it now - Buck is going to get a second dad - a dad that can ultimately help foster his interest in art in a healthy, supportive way that his other dad hasn't been able to do up to now; a dad who is a creator and artist in his own way - as an actor! Jamie's gonna become Buck's second dad!

Point 6: It's time!

This is more meta, but we have several canon/near-canon fem ships. Would this show really have SO many sapphic and het ships and then have little-to-no men together? It just feels like next logical step to ALL THE inclusiveness that makes this show what it is! Dewmie is endgame! Soylent Green is people!

That's pretty much it. I’m kicking myself because way back, with all the hints at Garnet being a fusion so early, we all might have missed one of the most obvious ones - that the analogs for the gems that made her up as a fusion were there from the beginning and no one noticed! 

So, that's it. Grab a brochure and a stale cookie on your way out. Thanks for reading!

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (Peridot-specific: P - Q)

Reference:

Primary Peri Post ▼ Primary General Post ▼ Full Article

Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Justified, as Peridot and Steven are 13 and 14 respectively (until It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is; then they’re 14 and 15) and haven’t been an Official Couple for very long. However, Steven’s hormones (fully in effect since his Plot-Relevant Age-Up) and Peridot’s devotion to him make them both self-aware that they’re moving along faster than they should and really can’t help themselves. This is addressed as early on as Chapter 5 of Act III, but that brings up another factor that the Dawn of a New Era brought about by the events of GA are forcing them both to grow up too fast with crushing levels of responsibility hanging over them both. Just under a week removed from GA confirms the pair have gone as far as second base and are eager to go past that in This is Who I Am. Then it completely goes off the rails in It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is (3-4 months removed from GA) where they’re not only well into third base, but are desperate to go all the way. They ultimately succumb to that in Chapter 2… sort of.

Pensieve Flashback: Chapter 1 of Act III features three flashbacks of Peridot’s Homeworld days – all of which she is forced to watch by White Diamond, who surrounds all sides of her with screens of these memories that were ripped directly from her mind. Present-day Peridot has to discuss her past with White Diamond as she watches these moments against her will.

Photographic Memory: An ability Peridot gains post-ascension. Often paired with her Mental Picture Projector power to provide exposition.

Phrase Catcher: Although it’s technically not a catchphrase (and technically Lapis is the one who came up with the term originally), Peridot often refers to Steven as her “center of gravity” as a Term of Endearment across the GA continuity. Once Peridot adopts the term, she’s the only one who uses it… until Chapter 5 of Act III, when Steven refers to her as this for him. This moves Peridot so much that she actually needs alone time with him despite already having some not that long ago. Much later, in Plans Change, Garnet also uses the term to reference the importance of Steven in Peridot’s life even in regards to her leadership abilities, though this only serves to embarrass both Steven and Peridot. The latter insists that the term just sounds awful coming out of anyone other than Steven or herself.

Physical, Mystical, Technological: The Technological to Lapis’ Mystical and Bismuth’s Physical.

Platonic Life-Partners: With Amethyst, and formerly Lapis.

Please Wake Up: The moments leading up to, and the actual moment Pumpkin dies in Chapter 8 of Act III have Peridot invoking this trope, though she almost entirely loses her ability to speak coherently once Pumpkin dies. She speaks incomplete and fragmented statements while she’s internally processing the reality of what just happened. Following that is an Angst Nuke.

Plucky Comic Relief: Per canon, she’s still this. Granted, it’s notably downplayed given the circumstances, as Peridot pretty much has to become more serious and professional as an authoritative figure (the central theme of this story is Peridot starting as this trope and transitioning to Hero Protagonist, after all). However, she still has a good number of moments, and her pluckiness serves to get her team motivated and optimistic in a mission they can very easily screw up and fail.

Poisonous Friend: After her actions in Chapter 6 of Act III that ended up getting Steven willingly involved in a very violent, sadistic method of In-Universe Catharsis (aka hack at White Diamond’s neck in hopes of snapping it clean off her body), Peridot not only sees herself as this to Steven after coming to her senses, but White Diamond blatantly accuses her of being this as well. This plays into White’s goal of crushing Peridot’s ego to make her submissive again so she can be more easily coerced into fusion. Later in Chapter 8, Steven (as Pink Diamond 2.0) adamantly tells Peridot (as Chartreuse Diamond) that she isn’t a toxic influence on him at all, and that his actions are his own.

Power Crystal: Emerged with the components of one that was made whole by White Diamond’s manipulation. A broken splinter of Yellow Diamond combined with White Diamond’s diamond dust embedded in Peridot’s gemstone forms a brand new diamond. In full bloom, it merges with said gemstone and rests directly in the middle of it; this is a permanent change and marks Peridot’s ascension from a low-caste worker gem to a Diamond. Peridot effectively becomes two gems simultaneously and gains a great deal of power (though capped unless she shifts into Chartreuse Diamond) while doubling as being her lifeline just as much as her mundane gemstone.

Power Floats: Can do this post-ascension, though Peridot still prefers to use a metal platform when she takes to the sky.

Power Incontinence: By far the biggest case of this for Peridot was her inability to fuse, even with Steven. It’s heavily implied that despite her ascension, Peridot wouldn’t be able to fuse with anyone else due to being an Era 2 gem – as well as a kind of gem that logically should never have any reason to fuse, given that Peridots are not meant for combat of any kind (and fusion on Homeworld was solely done for combat purposes). While she was finally able to fuse as Chartreuse Diamond in Chapter 8 of Act III, there was a lingering concern she would only be able to fuse in that form. However, Steven’s Epiphany Therapy proved to work on Peridot just as it did for Chartreuse; once Peridot was able to forgive herself for her many past crimes and accept that she did deserve to experience fusion, she and Steven finally fused successfully and became Sphalerite in the final scene of Act III.

Power Limiter: A natural variant in Peridot’s limitations of her base form. While she is vastly more powerful and versatile compared to her abilities pre-ascension, and Peridot might be able to share most of the same abilities as Chartreuse, the range of effectiveness is greatly limited while performing as Peridot… simply because she’s in a form that can’t channel the kind of power a Diamond can. If Peridot pushes herself too hard, she can risk harming herself in the process.

The Power of Love: This is what kept Peridot from falling apart on Day 1 of the rescue mission. Her boundless love for Steven kept pushing her to follow through on her vows, even when she wanted to give up and go home. It’s pointed out several times In-Universe how Peridot made something that’s usually a point of vulnerability into a power source. That is, until White Diamond finds a way to make it a weakness in Act III. Still, Peridot’s love for Steven shines through and helps way more often than it hurts. Somewhat subverted as Peridot and Steven have trouble fusing – love alone isn’t enough to make them compatible. Steven had to dig deeper to get to the root of Peridot’s problems to make Iridescent Diamond a reality, but love is still in play as Steven’s efforts just further prove to Peridot how he’s a beacon of light in her life and can only make sense of things she doesn’t understand with him around. When Steven helps Peridot finally move on from the guilt of the past weighing her down, she can’t help but fall even further in love with him.

The second point happens early in Chapter 8 after Pumpkin dies. It’s mixed in with the Heroic BSoD, but this trope is largely what fuels the Angst Nuke.

Power Perversion Potential: Peridot has an idea to use just a small bit of willpower to make Steven unable to ejaculate for a while with the intent of building towards a stronger orgasm in the long run, which Steven consents to. And… it definitely had the intended result when Peridot dispelled him.

Pragmatic Hero: Contrasts with Steven’s All-Loving Hero; while Peridot has changed so much to the point that who she is now is a vast departure from her Pre-Earth Manipulative Bastard persona, she still remains an objectivist who knows better than to love everything and everyone unconditionally. Most times she attempts to adopt this attitude ends up blowing up in her face (see also: Lapis). Since she is fiercely protective of the ones she loves, Peridot has no qualms whatsoever about doing immoral things if it’s literally the only way she can assure the safety of others. She has more than once butted heads with Steven over this, and while those were ultimately minor spats, This is Who I Am Chapter 5 proves there is a part of Peridot that has more than some lingering contempt for Steven for making light of not only her embodiment of this trope, but others who share her ideology… 

5XG: “You hate murderers. Anyone who takes the life of another, you hate on principle. The cause or circumstance is of no concern to you and never has been.

The Bismuth told me how events played out when you first met her. After knowing by this point how the Diamond Authority were responsible for committing multiple acts of global genocide, how this very planet was on that list, and were prone to shattering members of their own court on a misdemeanor or even on a whim. You were aware of all of this.

Yet you admonished the Bismuth for daring to create weapons made for wiping out an enemy with lethal force; legitimate ways to justifiably defend yourself against an enemy you know would not hesitate to take your life if they had an opening. You stood there, and you actually labeled her as one who is completely indistinguishable from White, Blue, or Yellow Diamond. A loyal ally of your maternal unit whose focus was always on doing her best to defend her friends and loved ones, who only fought when forced to by the Homeworld gems… to her face, you belittled her convictions and you said there was no difference between her and the maniacal, genocidal dictators that you yourself were defending against along with your loved ones – just as the Bismuth herself.

I honestly don’t blame her for trying to kill you that day. You should have died.”

Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Shown in Chapter 1 of It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is when Peridot’s exhaustion (both mentally and physically) makes her unable to concentrate her willpower, even for a simple task like cleaning a minor mess. To a lesser extent, it was also present in This is Who I Am Chapter 2 when she Forgot About Her Powers from the shock of getting ambushed by an alligator. During the previous chapter of the aforementioned story, Steven heavily implies this trope was why Peridot was unable to fuse with him during the main GA series until she learned to forgive herself towards the end of Act III.

Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The slew of derogatory words Peridot has for Steven after first reuniting with him are delivered like this, with a weak punch to his shoulder after every name she calls him.

Punctuated Pounding: The moment Steven and Peridot reunite in Chapter 5 of Act I, Peridot unleashes this on Steven while crying into his chest; punctuating every name she calls him with a punch. However, being that she’s severely injured at this point, Peridot’s blows don’t hurt Steven in the least, and he just takes it in stride. 

Quiet Cry for Help: The narrative in Chapter 4 of Act I notes there is a brief, vulnerable look in Peridot’s eyes as she turns to face Bismuth and Lapis, who just screamed at her to not shatter the helpless poofed gems in her workstation, which Peridot was “teasing” and looked ready to follow through with it until her friends intervened. She’s described as looking lost, confused, on the verge of breaking down, and silently crying for help. That expression only lasts a moment before Peridot slips back into Heroic Safe Mode and mocks her friends for thinking she was really going to do it.

[faelapis]

so. while this was confirmed a year ago, new tweets by ian jq have reawakened the discourse about humans being the first intelligent life gems encountered. note intelligent life, not organic life. alien animals still died from previous invasions, but humans are the first intelligent creatures gems encountered. 

apparently, the party line on twitter (where nuance goes to die) is that it’s too “convenient” that humans are the first other intelligent species gems met.

i take a few issues with that assessment: 

a) “it was pink’s first colony, isn’t it convenient the diamond concerned with organic life owns the first planet populated by intelligent organics? wouldn’t they have died if any other diamond got them? isn’t that super lucky?”

no. we know rose/pink was very interested in organic life from before earth. she always thought aliens were cool, interesting, fun, and liked learning about them and keeping some as pets - such as the rainbow worms. we know she visited the others’ colonies, even if she doesn’t own them. she’s the only diamond who is simultaneously “selfish” enough to visit colonies up-close on a whim because it’s fun AND doesn’t see herself as too good to play with local organics.

so, then, why on earth (hah) wouldn’t she care if there had been intelligent life on any of the other planets? she didn’t fight for earth just because she “owned” it. she cared because she was able to form connections to humans... which she would have done regardless of which diamond’s colony it was. if anything, ownership is a hindrance to her usual romps, because blue & yellow expected her to stay put in her moon base. smile and wave. be a “leader”. 

b) “how is it realistic that humans are the first intelligent life gems have met?”

the SU universe as a whole is not a universe filled with life. it has been framed as cold, animalistic, overall lifeless, purposeless, and one in which you gaze at an empty sky and beg for an authority figure to give your life meaning. this works much, much better if life, especially intelligent life, is incredibly sparse. they are small flickers in a cold void. it adds to the feeling that both humans and gems feel of loneliness and pointlessness, where you create these intricate structures of organized almost-religion to feel devoted to a purpose. this existentialism, which we will explore further below, is a huge part of SU’s themes.

c) another theme - and this one is important - is that gems and humans have been treated as this mirror parallel of life, people, and society (tm) for the entire runtime of the show. hence, steven as the bridge. a bridge, usually, connects two sides, not five. they are more similar than they are different - to the point where you can use gemkind to comment on how humans are like, and see some of the horrors and tragedy of what humanity looks like “from the outside”. not once has there ever been implied to be any other intelligent species to disrupt this elegant, thematic dichotomy. ever. 

d) unlike fanon speculation, the show has always been very careful about never implying there were any previous rebellions. SU is not a star wars-esque universe populated with a million different intelligent species and cyclical rebellions + alliances between them. it is a big, cold, empty void, with tiny pockets of fragile life. which is part of why the connection between two alien species is so remarkable. it is the exception, not the rule.

e) many of us who looked at homeworld in a not-badfaith light already came to the conclusion that humans are probably the only intelligent life they’ve met. (based on what we know about the universe, its logic, the themes, the implications of other colonies, pink diamond’s personality, no other species ever bonded with enough to fight for, etc etc,)... and those of us who did, including myself, have (lovingly!!) compared the crystal gems to hippies or eco-terrorists. this 100% holds up to how homeworld gems generally, and the diamonds specifically, see them. 

this is why blue thinks a “solution” to pink being sad about the invasion is to create the zoo. it’s a petty conflict, from her perspective, of environmentalism vs conservationism. like how, if a capitalist is kinda sad about a rainforest being bulldozed, you might as well just take some pretty toucans and panthers and stick them in a zoo. they’re preserved for humans to enjoy. problem “solved”. it worked with the kyanite colony & rainbow worms, why not here?

this is part of why lapis accuses the CGs of not caring about gemkind. they put this silly little dirtball above gemkind, starting a war that hurt (”real”) people? 

this is also why pink, mocking the other diamonds, says “you wish to save these life-forms at the expense of our own? ha! don't be absurd!”. gemkind needs resources to create more gems. so, to the diamonds, of course that’s more important than Making The Bees and Monkeys Sad. they’re not even directly killing them, they’re just taking resources. it’s not “””their fault””” they need ‘em too, gems are more important. the same way, to us, humans are always the most important. many of us don’t give a damn about how we hurt animals.

f) it galls me that anything but the darkest possible interpretation, even when it makes perfect sense with what we know, is always seen as “convenient” by people who watched nostalgia critic once and think they’re now great media critics. i saw similar comments to jasper being brought back to life, even though it made perfect sense with what’s implied about the powers of the diamonds. most of that, too, was woven together by paying close attention to implication, not outright stated in a lore dump - but that doesn’t make it “convenient” in the bad way. it makes it the logical outcome of this world, if you paid attention.

like jasper coming back to life, it also told us something thematic about the diamonds’ absolute power over life & death. steven is kinda horrified, even if it’s a good thing, that things can ever be fixed. he still feels like he needs to be “punished”. he holds this toxic mindset that punishment is more important than healing, because of the pit of self-harm he’s fallen into... which is kind of how some people see the diamonds, and the world as a whole. 

even if things can get better, it doesn’t matter. at least not as much as punishing and distancing ourselves from the “bad people”. even though, actually, things CAN get better, and that’s more dependent on systemic change than it is on punishing “bad” individuals... that doesn’t fascinate them. it’s a fucked-up idea of “consequences” that is sadly prevalent in fandoms: they’d rather the world be doomed if they get to kill the bad people for it, than the world being slowly healed in this bittersweet way that includes everyone.

and i’m tired of that. on the whole, fiction is a reflection of this very dour, justice-oriented view of the world where we can only gain satisfaction from punishing the bad guys responsible. SU’s response to that is, that actually, just this once... no! the world gets better, and the “how” doesn’t revolve around individual punishment. it’s trying to heal everyone. 

g) it seems to me that for a substantial amount of people, “convenience” has less to do with the themes and logic of the world than it does with wanting canon to live up to their fanon image of homeworld and the diamonds. even if that means a ton of offscreen intelligent life dying Just for the sake of a 1-v-1 earth-vs-gems conflict, with no agency in the story. i don’t understand how that would make it better. all other life we’ve seen have been animals. pink was around for other colonies - even if she didn’t personally “own” them - yet didn’t care deeply enough to fight for them. because she couldn’t bond with worms the same way as humans. (yknow, unfortunately, for the worms :’<)

also, you don’t NEED other species of intelligent life to have been made extinct to still have a somewhat cynical interpretation of the diamonds’ intentions here. even if it makes the world less grimdark in praxis. it’s not enough to be aware of humans in the abstract, blue and yellow still won’t listen. you need to actually interact with humans in order to learn about / care for organics that don’t serve a purpose in your system. this was just the first chance gemkind had to do so. it makes sense that some would be curious, while others more jaded and dismissive, after encountering a universe mostly made of the lifeless & animals.

to give the other diamonds some credit, they’ve probably encountered plenty organic life, and thus have built up a bias that everyone but gemkind are aimless, animalistic life forms, and its up to them to give themselves purpose. why should humans be any different? oh wow, they live in groups? big whoop. so do ants. they build nests? so do birds. they babble? so do parrots and rainbow worms. they still serve no purpose. they still die if you breathe on them.

it’s only when blue meets greg - thousands of years later - that we see even the tiniest of cracks, in which blue is made aware of some level of emotional intelligence, but is still firmly entrenched in the view that he’s just a Slightly more advanced organic than others. like... puppies comforting you. she was surprised he could even do that much. this was a slow process for rose as well! 

but anyway, at the point of the war, to many gems, they are concerned first and foremost with gemkind. life matters because of your singular, gem-oriented “purpose”... but some gems, like pink, who never saw herself as a justified goddess, take the opposite approach. they don’t see themselves as “above” other life out of either lack of awareness of the capabilities of intelligent life forms or a self-appointed Higher Purpose. they’re curious, and then, willing to fight for life they can bond with, once they learn to love. 

which brings me to...

h) how a big theme of the show as a whole is selflessness vs selfishness. 

here, the crystal gems as a whole have actually been on the side of selfishness, from homeworld’s perspective. the end of gathering resources would mean they would no longer create more gems. which, to HW, is selfish. which... of course it is, if you think you’re the only intelligent life out there. 

the way homeworld gems express themselves is through an elaborate system of self-perpetuation and creation, in which the emergence of more gems is a higher purpose for the collective. the individual doesn’t matter. to them, the random creatures they find on other planets do not matter. they’re just organics.

humans matter to pink because she’s, like i said, curious about alien life, and less convinced about her own purpose... but also more personal, relationship-driven, and cares about what happens the specific individuals she subjectively bonds with, rather than prioritizing the overall “needs” of her species, like a good queen bee is “supposed” to do. 

homeworld thinks that no individual feelings - even a diamond’s - is more important than perpetuating of the system that gives their species meaning. most gems are happy to be shattered for that cause, because they’ve never formed those “selfish” relationships that makes life worth living without purpose. so actually, yes, this works with pink’s motivation, and blue and yellow not being as easily swayed works with theirs.

(all of this is extremely relevant to the arc steven has in “future”, btw. he needs a reason to be needed, purpose. and pearl’s arc, white diamond’s arc, jasper’s arc, etc etc - living for purpose vs living for relationships and selfish exploration of the self is a massive theme of the whole show!! at leaast if you pay attention to anything more subtle than merely “here’s a lore dump!”, which the show has always avoided. it’s more sublime than that. you, too, are supposed to only have a small, subjective understanding of the world, like steven does, which teaches you to value subjective perspectives. your purpose is not higher than the agency of others, and you shouldn’t control the world.)

i) it makes dramatic sense, actually, to center the conflict around the first time gems have met another species that stand a chance of understanding them! hence steven is a bridge. that’s a good basis for mirroring two species, a conflict that raises interesting questions about how we, too, see non-human life, the premium we place on emotional connection vs “purpose”, and how even when we learn to value humans that are different from us, we might still fuck around and bulldoze a rainforest, if it’s convenient and we can justify it internally. 

and again, it’s more logical. as we know it, the story went “long ago, gems took resources all over the universe, until pink found a species intelligent enough some of them learned to bond with on a deeper level than Cool Pet Worm”, NOT “long ago, gems zapped a bunch of intelligent species - which we will not mention ever, or give any agency in the story - and pink just ignored that, until she randomly decided humans were more important than all those, for no reason, even though she’d met countless intelligent species before”. 

the former makes more sense in ~every reading of canon, be it thematic, logical, personal, character-driven, etc~... except the one most favored by SU’s most badfaith of critics, which is that the only “logical” way for the story to go is one in which we can safely label the diamonds as inhumanly, unchangably bad, rather than having base assumptions, motivations and logics that aren’t so different from many non-dictator humans.

i think for some, they protest not because that makes more sense on a thematic, logical or character level, but simply because they want to. they’re USED to being fed that narrative satisfaction has to do with seeing the bad guys face comeuppance, in place of inclusive, welfare-oriented healing. faced with storytelling that rejects their view of justice while also openly being subjective, sublime, and loving of all of its characters, not just the “nice” ones, they see it as a “failure” to be what they’re used to. 

if the world CAN systemically heal in a way that includes people you personally don’t forgive, that must be a “flaw”. if those “bad guys” haven’t actually killed hundreds of intelligent species offscreen who have no chance to heal, that doesn’t fuel your justification for the most cynical interpretation of justice possible, so that, too, “must” be a “flaw”. if it’s framed as possible for them to work towards undoing their harm, that deprives you of the satisfaction of edgy punishment for unhealable hurt, so that, too, is of course a “flaw”. any world where healing is possible for everyone, and the perpetrators can contribute, must be a “flaw”, to a mind only concerned with the validity of vengeance. 

even when the story is perfectly candid that you’re personally allowed to be hurt and traumatized (like steven - and most characters, really), you’re still allowed to feel... you just can’t expect society as a whole to abandon its “inclusive healing” model and function on your logic; that your pain is solved by vengeance. it isn’t.

in short, cry about it. 

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (White Diamond-specific: K - P)

Primary General Post ♦ Full Article ♦  Primary Peri Post ♦  Primary WD Post 

Karma Houdini: Pretty much everyone except Steven is fully aware she is this no matter how decisively she’s been defeated. When Steven spares her with an Energy Donation, she proves this when she retaliates with that very energy.

Killed Off For Real: White shattered into a ring of dust moments before Homeworld followed suit. She ain’t coming back from that.

Know-Nothing Know-It-All: For being the Diamond of Omniscience, White has one hell of a selective memory and for the most part all but disregards Steven and Peridot’s identities and lives on Earth. She is solely focused on who they are as Diamonds; White speaks as if they never had lives or a purpose elsewhere. This behavior works to the Crystal Gems’ benefit on more than one occasion throughout Act III. Literally, the only time White seems to have any kind of awareness of Steven and Peridot’s Earth lives is when she’s part of the Celadon Diamond fusion.

Lack of Empathy: A bit of a given when one considers the countless amounts of lives she’s ruined at best (outright ended at worst) even before the events of GA. Not to mention the fact that White makes it very clear that she doesn’t see herself at fault for anything that ever went wrong with Homeworld and isn’t sorry for a single crime she commits. Losing Pink Diamond is probably the closest White ever came to averting this trope, but that was also largely her fault (that she, shockingly, refuses to own up to). Pink’s spirit outright admits she’s the only soft spot White has that the Crystal Gems could exploit to appeal to her alleged “better nature” … but given the lives she’d shatter before reality finally makes her face the music, it really isn’t worth the effort.

Last-Second Chance: After Steven grants White an Energy Donation at her request before leaving, she’s extremely offended by how neutral he’s behaving around her. She’s also not taking Peridot’s mellowed down stance on her well, either, given everything she put these two through, and by extension, all their friends and everyone she ruled over. To be treated like she’s irrelevant is far worse than being reviled, as it makes her feel insignificant despite being who she is. Despite Steven’s good intentions, White sees this as a Cruel Mercy. So, against all rational thought, she attempts to throw a last fatal parting shot In the Back at the Crystal Gems before Peridot nearly turns it into a Backstab Backfire (which she only defies at the last second after the sheer satisfaction of terrifying White is far more rewarding than simply taking her life).

Let’s See YOU Do Better!: Literally the only somewhat-valid ammunition White Diamond has against the Crystal Gems towards the end of Act III is her speculation on whether or not they can do a better job at handling an entire empire than her. The Crystal Gems maintain their positive outlook on how life will play out from here on out, but every single one of them has at least some degree of concern on how they’re going to handle adapting millions of confused and terrified Homeworld gems to Earth, as well as how to handle the issue of the colonies inevitably falling apart unless they get involved. The only thing that’s certain at this point is that the Crystal Gems won’t be following White Diamond’s example.

Light/Bright is Not Good: She is a Complete Monster, and also the lightest, whitest, and brightest of the entire cast by far.

Logical Weakness: Since White Diamond’s powers of omniscience largely rely on her ability to Body Surf through the bodies of gems she hijacks with her pallification, it stands to reason that White is screwed and practically blind if she is in a situation where there are no gems for her to use as puppets. In Act III, Pearl manages to create a vaccine that grants gems immunity to her influence (though it can’t cure gems that are already infected). By Chapter 5, all of the living Homeworld gems – regardless of their health – were migrated to Earth courtesy of Steven and Peridot. By Chapter 7, Garnet and Moonstone dispatch all of White Diamond’s proxies after the real White fused to become Celadon Diamond. This left White with no means of observing the world through her subjects’ eyes, and the Crystal Gems were immune to her influence. White also could no longer hide behind a mass of clones; she had to confront the Crystal Gems directly from that point onward.

Mad Scientist: She, Yellow, and Blue were behind the development of all Unwitting Test Subjects prior to Peridot. The reason, at least as far as White is concerned, is little more than For Science (and whether or not diamond dust is a viable component to add to injector fluid to better a gem’s inherent skill). This trope’s more of a thing for Peridot’s case specifically, since she’s the only test subject who got an extra element in Yellow Diamond’s shard thrown into what made her; White’s rationale for this was to see not only if she could grow a new Diamond from another gem, but to see if a gem from the bottom of the caste system can rise all the way to the top through this experiment. Surprisingly, White ended up being successful on both points.

Manipulative Bastard: Might as well be White’s middle name. She pulls a very long and elaborate game with Peridot to wear down her defenses, then at the right moment, targets Peridot’s weakness for Steven to overcome the Determinator. From that point onwards, Peridot becomes very easy to manipulate over to her side. Although it isn’t long before Peridot (as Chartreuse Diamond) pulls a Heel-Face Turn, all White Diamond has to do is trap her again along with her friends and then make Peridot’s resolve crumble with a single Armor-Piercing Question about her inability to fuse (with some heavy implication that her very influence is hazardous to Steven’s health). With that, White is able to force Peridot into a fusion to form Celadon Diamond, and as a bonus, has Peridot as a permanent hostage.

Master of Illusion: Conjures an illusion of Steven that even bears his voice with the sole purpose of distracting Peridot long enough for her to lose in the ongoing struggle to keep her neck from getting lacerated. She ripped it straight from Peridot’s own mind, as a bonus.

Meaningful Title: The Diamond of Omniscience; as a serial Body Snatcher, she can oversee everything going on in Homeworld without ever having to leave her palace.

The Mentor: Makes herself out to be one for Peridot in Act III when she ascends and becomes Chartreuse Diamond, but it’s all an act to keep Peridot Properly Paranoid about using her new powers too much.

Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: White really didn’t think through her rebooting-Homeworld plan very well. She obviously had no plans for precautions on how to protect her own subjects from the planet’s inevitable destruction, let alone the infrastructure of the metropolis or even herself. Arguably, White might have survived such an event in peak condition, but there was no evidence whatsoever that she had any plans for damage control or any form of a Plan B if this process didn’t work the way she intended it to. Ironically, Homeworld did end up getting reborn, albeit through natural means – in other words, it’ll be millions of years before the new Homeworld would even be inhabitable. It also happened without any input from White whatsoever, and frankly couldn’t have worked out with her as an element even if she did live to see it.

Mind Hive: Utilizes proxies to resemble identical copies of herself via Clone by Conversion of several pallified gems fusing together.

Mind Rape: Resorts to this after accepting that she can’t break Determinator Peridot any other way.

Moral Event Horizon: Objectively, White crossed this a loooong time ago; she’s every bit as responsible (if not more so) for countless acts of global genocide and everything else inherent with being the ruler of a densely-populated planet where Individuality is Illegal and life can be forfeit merely on a whim. In terms of Gem Ascension, well… the easy answer would be the moment she (as Celadon Diamond) blew up the Crystal Gems’ spaceship, resulting in the attempted murder of Greg and actual murder of Pumpkin in Chapter 7 of Act III. But honestly, her very first heinous action of killing Blue Diamond in Chapter 6 of Act I could count, too. Then there’s the slew of atrocities White’s committed between these two moments…

Narcissist: No matter how often she screws up, White Diamond will never admit to being anything less than perfect. Even when it’s painfully obvious how ignorant and delusional she is late in Act III, at no point does White even show the slightest hint of self-awareness of her own insanity and ineptitude. She blames Homeworld’s crapsack state on everyone else, which is why she wants to form the Diamond of Miracles to reboot the planet back to its previously-perceived “perfect” form it once was thousands of years ago.

Never My Fault: Homeworld is dying because of her by Act III. It was already merely a shell of its former self prior to GA, but that was also largely due to White Diamond’s carelessness. Still, despite being shown all the evidence that points to her as the cause, she will point fingers at literally everyone else to blame for the state of Homeworld before ever considering her own responsibility.

No One Sees the Boss: Downplayed in that White Diamond has clearly been seen in canon by several of the main characters before GA even starts, but it’s made clear in Chapter 6 of Act I that this is actually a very big deal. Historically, White Diamond almost never shows herself, and Peridot confirms that it’s actually taboo to even talk about White, or even namedrop her. This has been the case not only in modern times, but even Lapis and Bismuth can’t recollect anything about White Diamond when they lived on Homeworld many thousands of years ago as well. As GA progresses, the trope becomes averted, as White is pretty much forced to step out from the shadows to address her subjects in order to fill in for Yellow and Blue Diamond after killing them both in Act I.

No Sympathy: Surprising, isn’t it? The self-centered, morally-bankrupt, and single-minded main villain of the main story doesn’t give two hoots how much others around her suffer as a consequence of her actions. Most of the time, White is shown not acknowledging someone’s turmoil at all, even when it’s shoved right in front of her face. 

Not So Omniscient After All: With Steven and Peridot sending away all remaining gems on Homeworld to Earth, then later Garnet and Moonstone destroying all of her remaining proxies, White Diamond no longer has the means to be anywhere and everywhere. She can’t exactly be a Body Snatcher (nor a Body Surfer) if there are no bodies left for her to hijack. She can’t even use the Crystal Gems for that purpose, as by that point they’ve all been immunized to her pallification.

The Omniscient: Official title is the Diamond of Omniscience. 

The Perfectionist: Per canon, but subverted and deconstructed in the GA continuity. Much as White strives for perfection, even within Act I it’s apparent how unhinged and imperfect White truly is through her actions and judgment. She honestly does more damage to herself and her plans than the Crystal Gems do. At no point does she consider herself responsible for driving Homeworld so far into the ground that it can no longer sustain itself; all White cares about is creating a miracle to reboot the planet to its former “perfect” glory, so that she can continue pretending she runs a flawless empire.

Possessing a Dead Body: While pallification technically doesn’t fully kill a gem, they’re little more than a vegetable after the fact, whether they’re directly being controlled by White or not. Played a little more straight with the White Diamond proxies, which are made up of several pallified gems forcibly fused together to take on her appearance and likeness; White directly controls those more so than the standard pallified gem, and Chapter 7 of Act III proves the gems who make up these proxies are impossible to save; even poofing a proxy will automatically shatter every gem in that “fusion”. The fact that they weren’t transported to Earth with the other Homeworld gems by Steven and Peridot (who even rescued standard pallified gems) is also indicative that they are well beyond saving, and therefore the proxies are little more than several dead gems melded together.