#He’s so rose quartz pilled lowkey

[gracebethartacc]

twirls hair. Guess who figured out how they wanted Wishing Star aging system to function in their au

[mindareadsoots]

Okay, let’s break down our villain shot one by one.

Well, this is not at all surprising. I’ve been saying literally for years (much to the chagrin of any Jasper stans out there) that I suspected Jasper would continue to be an antagonist even after she got uncorrupted. For a show that ostensibly doesn’t have “villains,” Jasper is arguably the single most villainous character Steven ever had to face, until Spinel came to Earth with the sole intention of hurting people. Even the Diamonds’ villainous behavior was more a product of Orange and Blue Morality and a woeful lack of parenting skills than outright malice. 

Jasper on the other hand has always been little more than a bully, and her complicated history with fusion goes to show how her worldview stands in stark opposition to Steven’s. Remember, fusion is a physical manifestation of the relationships that form between the characters on the show, and the two worst things to happen to Jasper were a direct result of Jasper abusing fusion to achieve her own goals. This is not a coincidence. 

As for what kind of trouble I expect her to be, she still has her pre-existing set of issues to deal with, but first and foremost, I expect her to struggle with the new direction Steven has taken the gem empire. Jasper was a true believer in the Diamond Authority, and the fact that the Crystal Gem ideology has apparently won out is going to be a tough pill for her to swallow. We also have yet to see how she’s taken the news that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond are the same person, and my hunch is, “Not well.” I think Jasper’s hatred of Rose outweighs her love for Pink Diamond, and so Steven is going to have to struggle to get on her good side.

Now this is interesting.

That’s definitely our old friend Aquamarine - you can see her distinctive teardrop gem - but she’s found a Ruby to fuse with. I know a lot of people shipped Aqua with Navy as the pair of queen bitches of the universe, or with Leggy for a moirailship, but seeing as how I don’t see any other gems on her, I can only assume she’s fusing with Eyeball. 

Like Jasper, that’s a pair of characters who I’d expect to be disappointed that Rose Quartz “won” the war, after a fashion. What’ll be really fun is seeing what specifically brought those two characters together. We’ve had Malachite, sure, and the Ruby Squad to a degree, but this could be the first antagonistic fusion who actually has a healthy relationship. We’ve never really had a villainous Garnet before, and villain couples who genuinely love each other are totally my jam.

I’m just going through the series mentally trying to think of any time Steven might have sweated on a cactus while he was in the desert, because that’s clearly what this thing is.

I don’t expect a high amount of drama out of this creature, but I hope we do see Steven grappling with the ethical ramifications of him spontaneously creating sentient life. I lowkey think that the development of Watermelon Island may very well mirror how the Diamonds created their civilization. White Diamond cries on a rock one day, and a few millennia later, she’s out conquering the galaxy along with her newly formed race. Something Steven should consider when he lets that particular power of his spin out of control.

There’s not much to go on with this thing. My best guess is that it’s a lost corrupted gem who missed out on the bubble bath. If that’s the case, we could get a funny episode where Steven has to teach the Diamonds how to hunt for a corrupted gem so they can cure her. But it could be a random alien, or a planet eating terror that the Cluster has to fight, or darn near anything else.

The fact that it’s the only character on this splash page that moves suggests that it’ll be particularly important to the season, but in what way is anyone’s guess.

Ah, we got ourselves a couple more Lapises! Lapi? It’s always fun to see gems interacting with other like-gems, so I imagine these two are going to be a thorn in the side of our Lapis.

Alternatively, they could be connected to Jasper in some way. It would be like her to repeat her same mistakes and try to form a new Malachite again. That’d be a pretty grim story line about the cyclical nature of toxic relationships. For their sake, I hope they haven’t fallen in with Jasper though.

And finally the big one.

What’s interesting to me is that White Diamond is the only character who is both here and in the opening group shot. That makes me think she’s not really going to be an antagonist in the usual sense. What I think is more likely is she’ll have some kind of personal breakdown that puts her in danger of hurting herself or others. She never really gave herself the chance to cry over losing Pink the way Blue or Yellow did, and I doubt she’s entirely stopped repressing her feelings just because Steven’s been nice to have around. Either way, despite working her way towards reformation, White Diamond still has a lot of stuff bottled up, and when a being as powerful as her lets that cork out, the explosion is going to have some massive collateral damage.

Bonus Prediction: Whatever White Diamond is going through to put her in the villain shot, Spinel is going to be the one to help her through it.