#SU Critical

[heritageposts]

hewwo all my sweeties!! 💖✨so i just started watching this really cute cartoon called steven universe, but i saw someone here say there's some really icky problematic stuff in it?? just hoping someone could help educate me thanks <3 uwu

[saiscribbles]

Lily Orchard STILL Doesn't Understand Steven Universe

I decided to round out the year by ending Lily Orchard's whole career.

Fair warning: I swear. Alot. Alot alot.

About a month ago I decided to react to Lily's two most recent Steven Universe videos from 2023 on my weekly art stream. The reacts ended up going so well I have now edited them down into one comprehensive video with visual aids and gags along the way.

So if you ever wanted to hear me clown on an SU hater for 2 hours while giggling incessantly, making gremlin noises, explaining SU and info dumping all of my own headcanons... well now you have that!

Here's to me becoming more of an unleashed gremlin in the new year.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

their crimes and problems with their redemption arcs under the cut!

catra:

crimes:

War crimes

Abuse of power

Corruption

Reckless endangerment

Psychological abuse

Assault

Terrorism

Attempted regicide

Attempted mass murder

Attempted world domination

Attempted cataclysm

Conspiracy

Mass destruction

Abduction & kidnapping

Unlawful imprisonment

Brainwashing

Theft

Torture

Treason

Usurpation

Coercion

Stalking

Mutilation

Aiding and abetting

Illegal use of weapons

Espionage

Crimes against peace

Crimes against Etheria

Altering reality

how was her redemption arc carried out?

she was only redeemed in the final season and her arc wasn't as drawn out as it should have been.

she never faces any consequences of her actions and is forgiven by her victims almost immediately, either after a vague apology or no apology at all.

she continues torturing and abusing people around her, especially her love interest, adora. her redemption arc doesn't mean anything since she never actually changes.

the diamonds:

crimes:

Multiple planetary conquests

Mass invasion

Mass terraformation

Attempted omnicide

Crimes against the universe

Cruel and unusual punishments

Unlawful executions

Slavery

Oppression

Propaganda

Abuse of power

Mass murder

Terrorism

Ecocide

Genocide

War crimes

Hate crimes

Corruption

Psychological abuse

Brainwashing

Unethical experimentation

Mass forced confinement

Mass destruction

Mass forced transmutations

how was their redemption arc carried out?

same as catra, their redemption was done during the final few episodes of steven universe, and it was way too sudden to be realistic.

they never face any consequences of their actions and still gets to retain their positions as cosmic rulers.

they do, however, seem to put in some effort to change, although it's not clear if this is helpful. steven also does not seem to forgive them.

lilith clawthorne:

crimes:

Malediction

Attempted murder

Child endangerment

Hostage-taking

Kidnapping

Coercion

Malefic

Treason

Cheating

Torture

Abuse

Assault

Aiding and abetting

how was her redemption arc carried out?

she only had to make one sacrifice and that was the extent of her redemption arc.

she is also forgiven too quickly by the people she had hurt.

she does change for the better, and proves to be an ally to the heroes (albeit being an underutilized character).

sasha waybright:

crimes:

Abuse of power

Psychological abuse

Attempted murder

Treason

Terrorism

Harassment

Vandalism

Theft

Usurpation

Animal cruelty

Conspiracy

Kidnapping

Incrimination

Sabotage

Child endangerment

how was her redemption arc carried out?

we only see the beginning of her redemption, the rest of it happens almost entirely off-screen. this was a lazy choice, as we never see an actual “arc”, only the beginning and the end of it.

she is almost immediately forgiven by her friends. there is some lingering suspicion in some episodes, but not enough for everything she had done prior to that season.

however, she also seems to have turned into a better person and doesn't repeat any of her past toxic behaviour.

[blackfilmmakers]

Imagine creating the Ghana flag in order to replace the UK flag and rid of it's colonization influence over your country, only for Ian Jones and Rebecca Sugar to be your grandchildren

I'd haunt them!!!

THEY WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO MAKE US FEEL BAD FOR THE COLONIZERS I CAN’T STAND IT-

[hoaxghost]

Which SU defense videos were you watching? I could use some positivity tbh

Two videos made by Hiding in Private break down notorious SU-criticism videos

First one is taking down the arguments of EzPz and E;R, two really bigoted content creators that gained WAAY too much traction considering they're just repackaging racism/homophobia/misogyny as 'funny memes'

Next is critiquing the SU analysis by Lily Orchid whose video was full of bad-faith interpretations, misunderstanding of how cartoon plots work and poisoned the discourse on the show for a good while.

There are a few minor gripes I have with how HidinginPrivate handles some critiques in the latter video but they overall summarize a lot of my issues with SU-discourse. It's a good show!! I'm tired of pretending that it's cringe!!!

[lily-orchard]

Never let it be said that Steven Universe doesn't have the most psychotically evil fanbase in the universe

"I FUCKING LOVE HARASSMENT!" - The fanbase of the show that wants you to forgive everyone lol

"I'm gonna call her a pedophile because she hated my show. But I'm not a transmisogynist!"

"Lily wasn't harassed! There was no harassment! But I definitely was for having an SU pfp! Honest! No really! Stop laughing!"

Things you can hurt according SU's fanbase

Trans women [ ]

Inanimate Objects [X]

Steven Universe is a fucking cult I swear

[gartenofbanny]

Helluva Boss and Steven Universe honestly share the problem (more specifically Steven Universe after Season 1), that being both shows set up plot points but don't even mention those plot points for a long time until certain episodes are released.

Both series waste the audience's time with pointless filler episodes without even mentioning or hinting at what happened beforehand. Though Helluva Boss is a bit worse because not only does Helluva Boss ignore the antagonists within the show, the writers instead add more antagonists within the show only for those antagonists to be ignored for pointless filler episodes.

While Steven Universe managed to actually conclude (with a pretty rushed conclusion) and only had one major threat The Diamonds, Helluva Boss just keeps adding major threats and doesn't even have a clear end goal.

What's gonna happen after every single one of Helluva Boss's antagonist gets defeated? Are all of the characters just gonna have a fucking orgy? Actually..this is Helluva Boss we're talking about I'm pretty sure Vivziepop will make that into a joke since she liked fucking Sausage Party.

But will this show even end? Less and less people are viewing the episodes (Unhappy Campers doesn't even have 10 mil views as of posting this), less and less people are buying the merch, and more and more people are leaving Spindlehorse entirely. Not to mention the new anonymous reviews about Spindlehorse that have been shared to the public.

The strike that's going on is possibly affecting the release of both Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss and considering that people are starting to become more and more critical of Helluva Boss imagine what the overall public will think of Hazbin Hotel once that show releases.

A24 has done fuck all to actually advertise it and for possibly good reason, I mean they were working with Vivziepop of all people.

So at worst Helluva Boss will be cancelled or will still go on with albeit very long episode releases which doesn't go well especially with poorly written shows. Since the audience will just lose interest overtime and watch the next big thing (most likely Lackadaisy).

How did I go from comparing two poorly written shows to predicting how Helluva Boss would fall off even deeper? I don't know, it's 11 pm in Texas and I just had a thought that turned into like 4.

Anyway, goodnight everyone ❤️

[nine-leafclover]

And this my friends is a wonderfully example of fandom brained losers coping and seething about there being people who don’t like their favorite thing in spite of the fact that we made separate tags that they can filter out anytime.

But keep in mind, we’re so “exhausted and exhausting” because we’re inconveniencing this jackass personally by living rent free in their head.

[bigschlongus345weed]

This is very stupid, years late, misremembered and not at all researched but I’ve always been confused the reading that Lapis was the abuser in Malachite relationship.

Because like imagine you’re a guy who was imprisoned by an evil regime for some stuff that wasn’t really wrong. You spend thousands of years imprisoned alone on alien planet until some random 12 year old frees you. Dope. You’re just chilling trying to find out what the fucks happened since you’ve been gone when some super amped up cop arrests you. Again.

While you’re chilling in space prison, the same 12 year old shows up to break you out. The space cop arrested him and punched out all four of his gay mums. You say I can’t fight a jacked up space cop, he leaves and you feel guilty.

Then two of his gay moms punch out the space cop with the power of lesbianism and do so with so much lesbianism they crash the space ship you’re all on. You survive the crash- sweet- and are about to flee the scene. When space cop grabs you and asks for the power of gay love to beat the lesbians pulling out teammate handcuffs. Fuck it. You say yes. The minute she cuffs you to her, you fling the both of you off a cliff into a hole. Every time the cop tries to get out of the hole you pull her back in. It is a vicious ugly cycle that is unhealthy for both of you.

Somehow you get out of the hole. (I literally don’t remember how this happens and I think this post is funnier if I don’t google it. Something to do with sending dream telegrams to the 12 year old?). The 12 year old who is literally your only friend tries to set you up with an abandoned barn or something. You still aren’t doing great obviously. Then the space cop crawls out of the ocean on her hands and knees begging to go back into the pit with you.

[whereserpentswalk]

It would be funny if Steven Universe and Finn the Human met. Like, Steven probably couldn't convince anyone in Ooo to stop hurting people, but Finn could probably convince Steven of the necessity of violence in certain situations.

[ilikekidsshows]

I noticed that disliking Steven Universe is now considered "cringe culture" and the fault of "long hiatuses between episodes" and "buying into facism conspiracy theories"

Nah, Rose Quartz was a slave owner and the show never acknowledges this and that's what I hate about it. It has nothing to do with "You can't handle a morally gray character" THE SHOW IS DENYING THE PART WHERE SHE'S NOT JUST MORALLY GRAY BUT MORALLY MURKY LIKE THE MARIANA'S TRENCH

I don't care that she got called out for running away from her problems when her slaves are just treated as lovers who weren't good enough, and the writers and fandom think it's so sad and romantic

I don't care that she was made into an abuser when her abuse victims decide she improved enough as a person to forgive WHEN SHE NEVER IMPROVED. SHE STOPPED HITTING HER SLAVES BUT SHE DIDN'T STOP HAVING THEM

Her enforcing Pearl's geas happened after the supposed redemption into a freedom fighter, and she didn't undo this command, since it's still in effect after her death. Rose died a slaveowner.

What Rose did to Pearl was horrifying and inexcusable. And yet, she never regretted it, she never took it back. And the show never condemned her for this

That's why I hate Steven Universe. It has my least favorite trope: slavery that's depicted as romantic

[heritageposts]

It's a shame you've fallen for authoritarian propaganda.

i already said i was sorry for watching steven universe i didn't know about steven's knife :(

[autisticsupervillain]

"Steven Universe is Nazi propaganda because characters who destroyed planets got a redemption arc!"

You guys act like two of the most popular redemption arcs in fiction didn't also happen to characters who destroy planets.

Hell, the Galactic Empire Vader works for is supposed to be a direct analogue to the Nazis for fucks sake. No one is calling Stars Wars or Dragon Ball Nazi propaganda just because these two got character development. That'd be fucking absurd.

Like, complain about how the Redemption Arc got rushed all you want (even if that's on the producers for canceling the show early and not the writers), but please just acknowledge the calling the Jewish woman a Nazi sympathizer because you didn't like her kids cartoon is fucking vile.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

if you watched steven universe, i'd like to know your thoughts on lapis? ive seen some people say catra is written better than her

i have watched steven universe and i didn't like lapis tbh. i think both lapis and catra are not very different when it comes to character development. however, as far as i remember, apart from trying to drown steven and connie that one time, lapis didn't do anything too heinous. her relationships with jasper and peridot were pretty messed up, which is why i'm glad they didn't make either of those ships canon.

jasper's and lapis's relationship/fusion was supposed to be toxic so it's not really a problematic thing, although i do think they could have addressed the fact that lapis also contributed to the toxicity, rather than painting her as the victim. i do think she owed peridot an apology, she didn't deserve that instant forgiveness from peridot.

anyway, i think the main difference here is that lapis wasn't the main villain like catra was (because, let's be real, catra was the main villain of s1-4, not hordak). she was pretty bad but she wasn't as coddled by the writers as catra was. steven universe was generally bad at redeeming antagonists (with the exception of peridot) so lapis just feels like another example of that. she was not a war criminal and didn't commit atrocity after atrocity like catra did, and she didn't get a happily ever after with her victims. she stayed friends with peridot and didn't seem to repeat any of her toxic habits afterwards, so i'm glad they left it at that. i feel like her redemption was just 1% better than catra's.

[blackfilmmakers]

“Slavery and colonization isn’t a thing in Steven Universe because the gems prevented it”

Oh so then where are all the Native American groups then? Why do people bother leaving their country to go to the US? “To get a better stable future” nah cuz colonization never happened on Earth so none of its bullshit effects are going to remain here. US wouldn’t be a superpower since it didn’t profit it off of colonization. None of these countries would be superpowers.

[disgustedorite]

huh, I just found my notes from when I infiltrated a 4chan raid in-progress several years back and I completely forgot about the. the part where they straight up had a planning channel for orchestrating the fucking su critical movement and falsifying evidence of nazi apologism