#and her primary crystal would apparently be amethyst!!!

[love-takes-work]

What do you think the personality and appearance of Smoky Quartz and Sunstone would look like, being fusions with Rose? I really wanted to see them in the series, just like we saw Rainbow Quartz with Rose and Steven.

I'm not really sure. Despite the fact that I enjoy analysis of characters, I don't usually feel that comfortable with speculation on characters I haven't met, and Rose!Smoky and Rose!Sunstone would definitely be very different people even if we apparently have precedent for expecting them to share some elements (including names). I very much would have wanted to see the original Rose Fusions of those characters, and would have very much wanted to spend time with more of the Steven Fusions (including with a longer build-up and reserved special time with each Fusion).

I don't develop a lot of convictions when it comes to speculating on stuff like this, so consider this pretty loosely held, but if you want to know what I think about this, I'll try!

Smoky 1.0

Appearance-wise: She'd keep the skin color and the freckles/flecks, keep the body type and same facial features, keep the arm arrangement and the weapon. I think her hair would be pink, straight, and longer--maybe in pigtails. She'd get some kind of cute ruffled jumper, I think--like overalls with a fluffy skirt--and have tights and bare feet. She'd kinda be the kid Rose never got to be, and enjoy the "childhood" she always wanted for Amethyst.

Personality-wise: She would have some inadequacy issues but they would be buried deeper and probably would not come out in self-deprecating jokes the way Smoky 2.0's did. She'd have a genuine version of Rose's calculated gregariousness. She'd give love freely in a sillier way than Rose did; she'd want to play around and be rambunctious, maybe a prank here and there. She'd enjoy binge TV with Greg and helping Pearl with tasks (if requested). She'd be good with eating and would probably laugh at burp-and-fart jokes. I think she'd enjoy building sandcastles and knocking them down.

Sunstone 1.0

Appearance-wise: She'd have the same weapon and color scheme and still have four arms, but I think her upper body would be less exaggerated and she'd have four arms all the same thickness, without the broad chest. I think her top section would be more like Garnet's except she'd be wearing something sleeveless. I think her flame hair would be big and curly OR maybe totally round like a perfect ball-shaped afro, with an overall effect of more hair/less head. She'd probably have some kind of flexible shoes with the toes showing. She might have one of those leotard-type outfits with a little ruffle depending on if the figure she's based on was maybe an exercise guru or fitness coach. Given that Sunstone 2.0 is influenced by Steven's conception of PSA-spewing mascot vibes, we would have to figure out what Rose's less childish contemporary-to-her equivalent of that is, and I think it would end up modeled after a motivational speaker or guru who was popular during whatever time period Rose and Garnet first formed her, so the clothing details would depend on that. The alternative to this is if Sunstone 1.0 first formed during the war and Sunstone could have been an extremely charismatic commander, but that would very much change the vibe. I could still see her charging into battle leading Crystal Gems with a flag, all hyped up on pep-talk juice, with Bismuth at her side.

Personality-wise: Rose and Steven are pretty different people but they were both given to "motivational" statements, and Garnet is good at boosting confident delivery of whatever primary elements her Fusions absorb, so Sunstone 1.0 would love hyping people up, dropping philosophical and exciting speeches whenever possible, and encouraging people to be their best selves. She'd be far more forward about it than Rose was. She'd use her fourth-wall-breaking/Future Vision type powers to give people reassurances that they would achieve their dreams if they followed their hearts (and maybe give them little prediction hints to give them hope). She'd be extremely outgoing but never say much about her own feelings, always focusing on others. She'd be loud and kinda give Pearl a headache, but Greg would enjoy the hype in small doses. She would not replicate the sometimes physical comedy Sunstone 2.0 does, but she'd be flexible and willing to do acrobatics, and I think she'd like to go surfing.

[honestlyhufflepuff]

Taking a closer look at “Why So Blue”

This episode was a lovely break from Steven’s “baggage,” instead focusing on the growth Lapis has had. It was visually beautiful, with a touching new song from Lapis, and an interesting contrast from gems that remind her of her old self.

However, I feel this episode has been a little neglected in the fandom as far as the things it tells us about Steven and the world around him. Remember, Future is primarily about Steven’s arc and anything revealed about another character is bound to reveal something about him as well. “Why So blue” has been overshadowed by more dramatic episodes that had Steven’s anger and negative feelings at the forefront. This is no surprise, as seeing Steven’s issues manifesting so intensely is still such a new thing for the fans to process. This episode has Steven acting closer to his lighthearted, optimistic “old self” than any other one in SUF, and I wanted to delve into the implications of that. Let’s break down some things the episode establishes…

1. Despite his “outbursts,” Steven is still a Pacifist at heart.

This look was all it took for Lapis to regain control of herself. In this episode- this moment- is when he really seemed the most like “Classic Steven.” He’s not shouting at her to stop, or joining in the fight. He is just believing in Lapis’s growth and giving her the space to come around on her own. I don’t think the Steven we saw in “Guidance” would have done that. Part of this shift is due to his personal growth, but it’s also probably because he is falling back into his old role of pacifying hostile gems, which is what he knows best and what he’s comfortable with. That isn’t healthy, especially considering how much we’ve seen him panic when he doesn’t have someone to fix in later eps. However, it’s still a relief to see that fighting is not his first recourse despite his new “pink” powers making an appearance almost every episode.

2. Our Lapis is far stronger than your average Lapis. It is unclear if she was designed to be this way or if it is a result of her trials. Regardless, the Crystal Gems should be very grateful she’s on their side. She has the potential to rival a Diamond in combat.

She fixin’ to mess y’all up.

3. Steven has had growth over the course of SUF.

I bring this up because I think even though Steven is facing a very real personal crisis regarding his growth, he’s still had positive changes since the original series, and since the start of Future.

Lapis: I wish I hadn’t done that. They just remind me so much of myself. It’s infuriating.

Steven: Give yourself a break. You’ve grown a lot. It’s not your fault they’re stuck in their ways.

Contrast Steven’s attitude in this scene with his attitude towards Jasper back in Little Homeschool, after agonizing about his inability to change her:

Are you just going to sit here��waiting for someone to give you a purpose? Because I’m TRYING to give you one!

There have been obvious parallels between Jasper and Steven in this series, as Jasper is possibly the only character almost as stuck in the past as Steven is. I don’t know if Steven is self aware enough to realize that Jasper set him off so easily because he saw himself in her, like Lapis did in the HW Lapises. What he has realized is that not all gems will change in the way he imagined they should, and that’s ok. Him and Jasper, as far as we know, are not exactly friends, but they have an understanding of each other. Jasper may always be stuck in her ways, and Steven has apparently made peace with the fact that her bitterness is not his burden. He even sees value in the fact that she sees the world differently from him, and wants to learn from her.

This was a huge point of growth for Steven. All he did through the main series was try to fix people, and it’s obviously taken a toll on him. The only problem is now that he’s let go of his need to fix others by leaving Little Homeschool, he doesn’t know how to do anything else.

Steven has moments of self awareness regarding his issues (in between all the repression, avoidance, and denial) throughout SUF. One is in this moment with with Lapis, where he articulates that you can’t blame yourself for someone else not wanting to change and grow. He admitted to the Rose Quartzes that he’s “not fine,” but vehemently says the opposite to anyone else. He admits to Pink Pearl that he has “baggage,” although he won’t elaborate. He admits to Amethyst that his need to control others is a problem. He admits to his friends- under extreme duress and prodding- that he is having a hard time coping with cange. He opens up to “Cactus Steven” more than anyone, but after how that turned out the next time he opens up won’t come very easily.

My point is, Steven is still growing as a person, but it is a slow process due to all the trauma he is processing, compounded with having powers just as volatile as his emotions are.

4. HW gems are having a hard time letting go of the old caste system.

He’s half Diamond. Maybe we should half listen.

If the Lapises were really listening to Steven in the first place, then their primary motivation for listening to him would not be him being “half diamond.” The whole point of him overthrowing the empire was to create an equal society where Diamonds wouldn’t dictate what everyone does anymore.

How can the thing we’ve always done just suddenly be wrong?

Everyone is having trouble adjusting to this new equality in practice, including Steven. This is a massive, ancient, complex dictatorship that is now adjusting to a new government created by a human teenager. A Diamond is the one teaching and leading the new way things work, so of course it’s a mixed message for HW gems who have him telling them everyone is equal, but also that they no longer can do what they want to if it impedes his vision. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in Steven’s position. It would make most people uncomfortable to tell someone that the thing they were created for- that they also take joy and pride in- is now not only obsolete but morally wrong. Hooray for minors dealing with the nuances of cultural sensitivity in their galactic imperialism!

“He’s smaller than I thought.

Funny that this was the same thing said by the Rose Quartzes. It’s probably hard for any gem to imagine a Diamond that is not massive and imposing, but Steven is still pretty small even for a human (and still shorter than Connie). I can imagine this is why Jasper was so quick to reject him as her Diamond. Steven does not project the towering picture of immortal and flawless power as the other Diamonds have, and this is inevitably disappointing to gems that have long valued that image.

You really expect us to dance and sing like Pearls?

Gem society was not lacking in the arts, but they were strictly reserved for the elite and those who served to perform for them.

It’s interesting that Peridot had no idea what music was, and I presume this is because she was in a lower status than Lapis. The problem is not that the HW Lapises were unaware of artistic expression, but that they found it beneath them. The Lapises take pride in being instruments of power and destruction, the opposite of how everyone perceives Pearls. It’s no surprise they perceived such a heartfelt song from a fellow Lapis as “pitiful.”

Despite the fact that Pearls were very close to those in power, they had none of their own, and even Peridot considered herself above them when she first arrived from Homeworld. Pearls were created to be objects. Status symbols. Pretty little ornaments. Music boxes. And gems created for more “practical” purposes than entertaining the elite and opening doors would see anything associated with Pearls as beneath them.

5. Hot take: Lapis’s approach wasn’t totally in the wrong.

Lapis: We’ve just got to force them to stop. They’re not nice like me.

Steven: Ummm *avoids eye contact*

Lapis: Exactly.

The HW Lapises- much like Jasper- valued physical power over other virtues. Lapis beat herself up a lot for her loss of restraint, but communicating a bit with a show of the type of power the Lapises valued was enough to get them to listen. Steven’s approach alone clearly wasn’t working.

Sometimes people think so differently from you that you have to meet them halfway to have any hope of getting through to them. Steven did this when he agreed to fight Jasper.

I think the main reason he feared Lapis taking this approach was because he knew her past. He knew how hard she was to reign in once she got started, and how drastic she could be in confrontation. I mean, that’s why we have the entire Malachite story arc.

Restraint takes strength! Patience takes strength! Ugh, I don’t have the strength to deal with you.

However, Lapis has grown past that stage of her life, where her trauma ruled all her interactions with others. She has friends- like Steven and Peridot- who keep her grounded. She has developed healthy coping skills and outlets for her processing her emotions. This is why is so concerning to see Steven doing the opposite. The more fragile his mental state becomes, the more he distances himself from his closest friends and interests.

Lapis had the self awareness to realize she was slipping into old habits and losing control, and removed herself from the situation to cool down. That is huge for her.

Not every gem is going to want to go to Little Homeschool, and there’s probably a lot of them that still like fighting and destruction- especially if that’s what they were made for. Era 3 is so bent on avoiding violence that there isn’t really an outlet for pent up aggression (which Steven could use as well, btw). I think starting up some kind of gem dojo would be a great alternative instead of just expecting every gem to like the “softer” things like dancing and making meep morp.

Also, just imagine Jasper as a dojo master. Hell yeah.

6. Most people probably do not realize that Steven is struggling.

Wow, Steven. It took you a whole 5 seconds to make a new friend. You’re getting rusty.

I found this quote from Lapis telling. She still sees Steven as being able to make and keep friends effortlessly. In “Room for Ruby,” she was actually relieved to hear Ruby’s immediate love for earth was all an act, laughing and saying “No one could be that well adjusted.” The only exception to this rule for her seems to be Steven. She looks to him for stability, just like she did in the fight with the other Lapises.

In reality, Steven is terrified of his friends moving on and changing, while also being resentful if they don’t recognize he has changed. He has unresolved trauma that is eating away at him and causing him to have emotions he doesn’t know how to handle. However, most people probably see Steven as he presented in “Why So Blue-” gentle, charismatic, and carefree. It is not uncommon with mental illness to be “high functioning” in public and then come undone the moment you are home around your immediate family.

Even after the very public display of his stress in “Little Graduation,” none of his friends were like “dude, you’re scaring me, please go to therapy.” They saw one incident, but not the whole picture, so none of them seemed to really grasp how bad things are going for him. This is because Steven is still pretty adept at putting up a positive front most of the time.

***

Anyways, I just wanted to revisit this episode and give it some love. Feel free to RB and tell me things you noticed about it that I may have missed!

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (Peridot-specific: B)

Reference:

Primary Peri Post ▼ Primary General Post ▼ Full Article

The Baby of the Bunch: Greatly emphasized more so than in canon, to the point where it’s outright said on multiple occasions. While Peridot’s chronological age isn’t revealed until Act II, it’s no mystery she’s by far the youngest full gem of the cast, being the only Era 2 of the Crystal Gems. Her overall ignorance of what her friends lived and suffered through in Era 1 alone is more than enough for Peridot to be treated like a child. She’s notably the only full gem who absolutely isn’t a Fish out of Temporal Water in any sense of the word. Her detachment and neutrality toward figures like Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond compels Steven to not only value Peridot as an unbiased party, but see her as an equal rather than a gem to look up to as a Parental Substitute (as literally everyone else is seen by him as a surrogate mother, aunt, or big sister). Unsurprisingly, Peridot ends up becoming closer to Steven and (relatively) young gems like Amethyst than anyone else. When her actual age is revealed, it turns out Peridot is younger than Steven (by a year); fitting, as there are canon moments where even he regards her as a child below his age group. The only character in the main cast Peridot is older than is Connie – whose mental maturity is greater than hers and Steven’s combined. Despite being born a gem, Peridot (whether she likes it or not) wholly embraces this trope in all aspects of her maturity.

Badass Bookworm: Per canon; Up to Eleven in GA. She actually bonds with Connie through sharing this trope.

Badass Normal: Later becomes an Empowered Badass Normal.

Bad Liar: Peridot is so godawful at lying, even fellow bad liar Steven can’t help but facepalm at how badly she sucks at it. There’s one time she averts this, and it’s in Chapter 4 of Act I when she fools Yellow Pearl into believing she’s legitimately come back to work, when in actuality Peridot was plotting to Logic Bomb everyone’s consoles to overload and shock them hard enough to get poofed. Granted, at that time, she was heavily medicated, and it was strongly insinuated that Peridot’s Heroic Safe Mode briefly took over in this moment. As a tyrannical Homeworld gem, Peridot was very adept in deception. Since her reformation, Peridot has lost her ability to keep a straight face and tends to run her mouth in an attempt to cover her tracks when she’s really just making it more obvious that she’s either hiding something or isn’t being honest.

Bare-Handed Blade Block: Literally does this in Chapter 2 of Act III, though her fingers nearly get severed for her troubles, to prevent an energy blade of White Diamond’s from slicing her neck. She surprisingly holds out well, until White Diamond employs dirty tactics to distract Peridot long enough to overpower her.

Battle Couple: With Steven.

Be All My Sins Remembered: Deep down, Peridot is afflicted with this. Most notably in Chapter 5 of Act I when Steven calls her “great and lovable” not long after Peridot regained memories of what a Manipulative Bastard she used to be to her Homeworld colleagues. She very rarely makes it apparent to her friends, but when Peridot remembers who she was as a Homeworld gem, she’s very shell-shocked by it. Yet, at the same time, realizes she had to be as horrible as she was to get where she is today.

Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Brains to Lapis’ Beauty and Bismuth’s Brawn.

Became Her Own Antithesis: When Peridot concedes to ascension and becomes Chartreuse Diamond in Act III, it isn’t long before she sees herself like this.

Becoming the Boast: Peridot has claimed to be the leader of the Crystal Gems on more than one occasion in canon. In GA, Peridot not only leads her fellow remaining Crystal Gems to rescue their teammates, she ends up keeping her “promotion” and co-leads the team with Garnet after the end of the main series.

Berserk Button: Messing with Steven and/or Pumpkin is a quick way to set her off. She even snaps at anyone who refers to Steven as Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz, being one of the few to never see Steven that way and knowing how much it bothers Steven personally makes her all the more insistent on this, even when she’s hardly able to do anything on her own as Celadon Diamond.

Berserker Tears: A byproduct of Peridot’s Unstoppable Rage late in Act III.

Big Heroic Run: All of the Crystal Gems technically apply for this, but it’s by far most prevalent with Peridot since she’s the one furthest behind, not only with White Diamond in pursuit, but also racing against time regarding a series of gates triggered to fall every passing minute that would trap Peridot if she isn’t running fast enough. Though she comes close to reaching the finish line, one trip leaves her trapped and stranded.

Big Little Sister: Since her post-ascension growth spurt in Act III, Peridot is now taller than 5XF, who she is 6 seconds younger than.

Big, Thin, Short Trio: The Short to Lapis’ Thin and Bismuth’s Big.

Blinded by Rage: Falls victim to this in Chapter 6 of Act III in a Moment of Weakness when she’s triggered upon catching sight of the (presumed) White Diamond’s neck. Once she sees it, she can’t stop thinking about it. Understandable, as it was her own neck on the line when White Diamond tried to force her to ascend earlier in the act. So, feeling a major surge of Revenge Before Reason makes her obsessed with giving White Diamond’s neck the exact same treatment. You know, even though targeting that part of her won’t really make a difference in the fight, and it gets downright disturbing for her friends to watch Peridot go through with this. Made doubly worse when Peridot realizes she’s not strong enough to actually inflict damage as herself and has to shift into Chartreuse Diamond in order to get the revenge she needs. On top of that, she inadvertently entices Steven of all people to join her, and he’s willing to break the Stevonnie fusion to do so.

Blood Knight: Very atypical for her kind; Peridot tends to be notably aggressive in more ways than one, and it seemingly gets worse after her canon Heel-Face Turn. Most likely due in part to her Rebellious Spirit being awakened after Peridot finds out who she truly is on Earth.

Boisterous Weakling: Still retains this trait per canon, though it’s mostly contained in Act I. Now that Peridot’s in a position of authority, she’s all the more driven to prove her worth and refuses to show any sign of weakness to her teammates. Even if she really sucks at hiding it.

Born as an Adult: Per canon like with all full gems, though Peridot is only “adult” in the sense that her body and capabilities are fully developed so that she can do the work she was literally created to do. However, since she is by far the youngest gem of the main cast and the only one who lived in Era 2 Homeworld (where propaganda was rampant and she was ignorant of several key moments in Era 1 history that the other Crystal Gems practically know by heart) and was primarily locked to a small, contained environment prior to her promotion due to how low her kind is in Homeworld’s caste system, Peridot has very few life experiences accrued compared to her teammates. Consequently, she had a childlike naivete (that she presently still has to some degree), as well as overall ignorance and curiosity to elements beyond what she was meant to know about. Her specific work environment encouraged Peridot to develop into a sinister individual, but still one who was way in over her head and nearly fell apart when she met Jasper and was faced with the reality of her position in life. This left her very uncertain, shaken, and confused about life and her own identity, which persisted when she met the Crystal Gems in person. Steven frequently points out that Peridot is much more receptive to change than most gems he’s known; she adapts to Earth life very quickly – and in most ways, does so better than her fellow Crystal Gems who’ve lived on Earth for thousands of years while Peridot herself hasn’t even lived a full year on Earth yet. This is strikingly similar to how the human brain is most receptive to learning during the first five years of life. Her affinity for modern technology and adaptive skills (while complaining about Era 1’s outdated tech) makes Peridot come off more like a kid of the current generation than a true adult. Peridot’s general attitude since finding her true identity is visibly even more childlike than Amethyst’s. Her fellow Crystal Gems often treat her like a child (and do so more openly in the GA continuity), but most of the time is regarded as an equal similar to Connie by Steven (in more uncommon circumstances, Steven sees her as a child even below his age group… of course, in GA, it turns out Peridot is in fact junior to Steven by a year). Her post-ascension growth was induced by her willpower and was a very subtle change – but said growth was influenced by Peridot’s desire not to be seen as a child by her peers. Therefore, this trope is downplayed with her far more so than any other gem; as Steven has often said in GA, Peridot may be a full grown gem, but she has a growing human’s spirit.

Boss’s Unfavorite Employee: Peridot was this to Yellow Pearl. Explored in Chapter 3 of This is Who I Am.

Break the Haughty: Played with mostly in Act III, but not nearly as prevalent as this trope is with White and Yellow Diamond. However, this trope is greatly in effect during a flashback segment in Chapter 3 of This is Who I Am when Peridot exposits on a heavily repressed memory to Steven that involves how her first meeting with Jasper went down. Peridot is very clear that much of her vile Homeworld persona was snuffed out even before her canon Heel-Face Turn courtesy of Jasper.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Peridot is this trope in so many ways in GA. She’s the first known Era 2 Peridot to climb up the ranks as quickly and efficiently as she did during her Homeworld days, largely due to being such a Manipulative Bastard and a cunning Blood Knight – traits that no Peridot should ever have. After the reveal of Peridot’s Mismatched Eyes and her true identity as an Unwitting Test Subject, she becomes the first (and only) of her kind to become an ascended gem: simultaneously a Peridot and a Diamond. Additionally, after awakening her benign Diamond abilities, Peridot becomes the only Era 2 gem who can bypass most limitations inherent to Era 2 gems in general, such as shapeshifting. Peridot has also made the greatest leap in terms of gem evolution, as her kind is at the rock-bottom level of the caste system; she managed to ascend to the very top as a Diamond. And it turns out she’s even 50% of the legendary Diamond of Miracles on top of that. There honestly aren’t any more glass ceilings Peridot can break at this point.

Broken Hero: Starting with Act III, when the truth behind Peridot’s creation and her identity as an Unwitting Test Subject are not only hard to comprehend, accept, and live down in their own right, but cause a load of problems and personal struggles for Peridot throughout the act. Many of these life-altering revelations lead to permanent consequential changes to Peridot herself that are reflected/acknowledged in every post-GA story released. Despite that, Peridot manages to endure her hardships and come out better for it on the other end. She’s never quite the same after this, but Peridot at her core remains a Plucky Comic Relief/Hero Protagonist hybrid… just a little wiser and hardened coming out of those experiences now.

Broken Tears: Peridot is reduced to this when Pumpkin dies before her very eyes in Chapter 8 of Act III (this moment with said trope is even illustrated!). However, following Peridot’s Heroic BSoD that starts with a Death Wail and triggers an Angst Nuke, this trope transitions to Berserker Tears.

Brutal Honesty: Generally downplayed since her canon Character Development, although becoming a team leader has forced Peridot to resort to this to get her point across many times across GA (and even post-GA) while asserting her authority. The ones on the receiving end of this tend to be the ones closest to Peridot; she did not hold back on Lapis when recording her Video Will and made sure she knew exactly how badly her past actions screwed her up. Steven’s propensity for breaking down or throwing a fit at the sight of someone’s death is also met with some harsh demands to get over it by Peridot – though to be fair, this always happens during a time when they’re on the run while being actively pursued by the enemy. Most times Peridot utilizes this trope needlessly is around 5XF, though the final chapter of This is Who I Am somewhat justifies that behavior, given what happened.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Portrayed as this often once she actively takes on The Leader position, especially in the earlier half of Act I. Similar to Pearl (who also shares this trope), Peridot’s talented in areas outside of what she’s literally made to be good at, and said extra talents are not ones one would expect from the likes of her. Peridot often has unorthodox approaches to her plans, and most of the time, they actually work out.

But I Read a Book About It: How Peridot knows about the brittle nature of diamonds in Act I, hence how she was able to incapacitate Yellow Diamond with a single blow with a hammer. It can be inferred that Peridot learned about many things through this if she wasn’t directly taught through Steven or Amethyst.

Bystander Syndrome: When Peridot’s full backstory on how she first met Jasper and Lapis was revealed in This is Who I Am Chapter 3, it’s also confirmed that Peridot stood firmly in this trope when it came to witnessing how often and badly Lapis was abused by Jasper. Despite Lapis inadvertently saving Peridot from suffering more than just a Near-Rape Experience, the latter never once showed an ounce of gratitude for it. Nor did Peridot show any degree of pity for Lapis during that time, and she didn’t hesitate submitting Lapis to more of Jasper’s torture whenever Lapis wouldn’t cooperate as an informant. Sadly, it’s justified in that Peridot literally couldn’t have prevented Jasper from doing anything to Lapis (or even lessen the abuse) since she held no real authority in the team – and being the low-caste gem she is, Peridot also had no right to do anything about it. This trope is the primary reason why Peridot later became an Extreme Doormat to Lapis in canon, despite Peridot making herself forget many of these details in order to cope with her own trauma related to Jasper.

[modestmondays]

Timeline thoughts

I’ve posted about timelines for the gem war before, so I’ll try to avoid repeating myself too much.

One key location when we’re dating the events of the war is the Strawberry Battlefield. Pearl says there was a battle there “over 5,000 years ago” where they “made their stand against Homeworld”.

When they take Bismuth there, she says “We were just here! How long was I out?” and Pearl is slightly more specific: “about 5,300 years”.

Meanwhile, Zircon reveals that Rose Quartz were a known threat for “hundreds of years” by the time Pink Diamond was attacked at her Palanquin.

And Blue Diamond visited Earth almost exactly 5,750 years ago.

Here’s the sequence of events I find most plausible:

~6,000 years ago: Rose and Pearl begin their rebellion

~5,800 years ago: Pink Diamond’s palanquin is attacked. Witnesses report Rose Quartz shattering Pink Diamond. Rose allegedly has her sword by this point, so presumably Bismuth is already a Crystal Gem?

~5,750 years ago: Blue Diamond is sent to Earth to investigate what happened to Pink, and to lure out the rebels (by acting as bait?). But instead, Garnet forms, and joins the Crystal Gems--though we only see her with Pearl and Rose, who, curiously, does not have her sword.

~5,500 years ago: Lapis Lazuli creates the Beta Kindergarten, Jasper is made, the CGs attack Beta

~5,300 years ago: Bismuth and Rose fight together at the “battle for the ziggurat” (presumably, the Strawberry Battlefield?). Then Bismuth shows Rose the breaking point, and Rose bubbles her.

~5,000 years ago: the thousand year gem war draws to a close with a final battle at the Strawberry Battlefield. Homeworld troops retreat and the Diamonds unleash the Corruption Song on Earth, leaving the Cluster behind as they write off the planet.

A note: I’ve been saying for a while that the Mystical Mural inside the upside down pyramid in the Strawberry Battlefield is important, and I still think that’s true. The floor of the pyramid shows the three-color diamond authority symbol, so it post-dates Pink. And the art apparently shows Rose confronting White Diamond, with Pink’s gemstone in between them.

Some of the timing feels a little off, though. I can’t believe that Rose would turn down the Breaking Point after shattering Pink, without Bismuth calling her out on it--so presumably the actual shattering happened no more than 5,300 years ago.

But I also can’t believe that Blue Diamond would come to Earth before Pink Diamond was attacked. That would make no sense.

Which is why I think Pink was attacked and poofed early in the war, under circumstances that are still not totally clear (why does the Rose witnesses describe not match the one we see in The Answer? What’s Up With Pearl? etc). And then, much later in the war, Pink Diamond’s gemstone was shattered, basically still by Rose, but in a confrontation with White Diamond (and that shattering could have been the catalyst or even the direct cause of the Corruption Song).

If Pink was attacked at her Palanquin and poofed there, it’s easy to imagine how Pearl could have been involved.

[Also, Ronaldo’s comment about how he’d have a crushed up gem in his bloodstream? He has a track record of being exactly right with his outlandish theories about the Diamonds, so I wonder about that line. 

The Crystal Gem’s Temple post-dates the war, because it includes Amethyst in both the door and the Temple Fusion statue’s design. The Crystal Heart at the center of the temple (that has arteries and veins running through all the other rooms) seems to be its source of power. The heart that’s considerably more pink than red. Food for thought.]

Anyway, Pearl knows more than she’s letting on about what went down when Pink Diamond went down. And it seems that both she and her shapeshifting were involved.

If the Revolutionary Girl Utena parallels continue to hold, we’d expect our Revolutionary Pearl to win the fight that frees her Rose Bride. That’s honestly the main reason why I have always thought she had a primary role in the attack on Pink.

But we wouldn’t have spent so much time focusing on how Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond for it not to be fundamentally true. The gems wouldn’t leave Steven with that burden if it was a lie or a fabrication, and more importantly, the show itself wouldn’t be that cruel to him (nor would it so easily redeem Rose--an explanation that leaves her blameless is not consistent with the morality of the show).

We’ll see what the final truth ends up being. This season is meant to be a Murder Mystery of sorts, so I imagine our theories will only get more complicated until we find the truth.

[chocolateheal]

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Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One is arranged with Easter Eggs and references to pop ability — abounding of which you ability accept spotted. But here’s a few secrets, facts and awfully well-buried references you ability not accept spotted. Let’s go.

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Kaneda’s bike from Akira is a favourite Easter Egg from Ready Player One. But did you apperceive there are additionally a agglomeration of Easter Eggs aural that Easter Egg? The aboriginal bike actualization stickers of aggregation logos, like Canon and Citizen, which acutely couldn’t be acclimated in the Ready Player One film. So they were switched out for stickers featuring Hello Kitty, Miss Pac-Man, and the Atari, Sega and JFA Skateboards logos. There’s additionally a ThunderCats badge.

There are several abhorrence references throughout Ready Player One, some of which we wrote about here. But A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and The Shining aren’t the alone abhorrence abstract to aces up nods in Ready Player One. Abhorrence admirers might recognise a accustomed face in aboriginal scenes – and afresh after on. A assertive Mrs Gilmore – who lives in the Stacks below Wade – is none added than Hellraiser amount Claire Higgins. British extra Higgins played Julia in both the aboriginal Hellraiser from 1987 and 1988’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and qualifies as abhorrence royalty.

A Billy Idol 7” can be apparent on Halliday’s board in one of the memories Parzival visits in the Halliday Journals. But did you amount out which almanac it is? It’s Idol’s Don’t Stop EP featuring the song “Mony Mony”. The EP was appear in 1981 on Chrysalis Records. And if you’re apprehensive what added songs featured alongside Billy’s awning adaptation of “Mony Mony” — originally a hit for Tommy James and the Shondells in 1968 — they are: “Baby Talk”, “Untouchables” and “Dancing With Myself”.

If you attending carefully during the bistro scene, you ability glimpse three characters in the accomplishments that were absolutely advised by a assertive Mikaela George Spielberg. One is a woman with a cat face cutting a corset, who you can see during the bombinate selfie moment. Addition is an acrobat cutting a metal affectation and big, billowy blooming trousers. The third is an underwater princess. Interestingly, while best Street Fighter characters accomplish an actualization in the film, Vega is missing. Why? Because he looked too abundant like the masked acrobat Spielberg’s babe designed.

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On the advanced of the IOI cars in the hunt sequences, you ability atom QR codes appropriate there on the bonnet. Alike acknowledgment is the actuality that these codes are scannable and absolutely advance somewhere! They booty you to the Warner Bros. website.

A absolute of about 570 characters were created for the film. Of which up to 100 are aboriginal designs. And that’s not including cartage and any added agenda creations anchored in the flick.

Among the abounding cine and gaming references from the 1980s, you’ll apprehension a scattering of adolescence toys from the era. There’s a adaptation of the Rubik’s Cube, and a Madball actualization prominently. They’re there because architect of the OASIS, James Halliday, put them in his basic world. But Mark Rylance’s appearance seems particularly bedeviled with 1980s toys, with beneath accessible nods broadcast throughout. Did you apprehension an Etch-a-Sketch lying about in his basic bedchamber at the end of the film, and the Simple Simon brand on his lapel?

It’s appealing air-conditioned that Marty McFly’s Delorean from Back to the Future is Parzival’s car of best in the OASIS. But did you atom that he’d pimped it? The advanced of the car has a accurate advertence to Michael Knight’s artificially able Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, KITT, from 1980s TV alternation Knight Rider. The nice little customised blow featured is KITT’s aflame red light.

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Canadian bedrock bandage Rush affection heavily in the book. Their anthology 2112 is the base for a test. This reference, however, didn’t accomplish the alteration to the screen, except for a casual nod via a affiche in Halliday’s bedroom. While the film’s bigwigs may accept struggled to defended the rights to use Rush assets, there’s a arch admiration to addition of their albums. Involving Bubo the automated owl from Clash of the Titans. In one scene, Bubo spreads his wings as a appearance walks by in a aphotic amethyst anorak – et voilà – a super-cool account of that archetypal anthology cover.

The advertence to Kira isn’t the alone Aphotic Crystal Easter Egg in the film. In Ready Player One, Kira is the adopted name of Ogden Morrow’s wife, taken from the name of the Gelfling from the 1982 fantasy film. Admirers of the blur should attending carefully back Sho fires a backlash weapon at TJ Miller’s I-R0k during the final battle, slicing off his arm and causing bill to discharge out. It’s a Haakskeekah blade, the four-point artful acclimated by the Skesis in Jim Henson’s animatronic classic.

One extra-cool affair to apperceive about the blur apropos the Tyrannosaurus Rex that turns up in the hunt scene. Not alone is it a nod to Jurassic Park, but it was absolutely created application advertence photos from the aboriginal T-Rex acclimated in Jurassic Park. Consequently, the film’s designers initially created a T-Rex maquette brought to activity for the film, instead of a ‘real’ dinosaur. In added words, the gamers in the OASIS were actuality chased not by the Jurassic Park dinosaur, but by the archetypal that played the aboriginal T-Rex in Jurassic Park. They alike digitally recreated the holes in the plaster. Woah.

We’re told that Halliday’s favourite song is “Video Killed the Radio Star”, by The Buggles. The bulletin of the blur is that, as civil as it is appear games, movies and pop culture, a basic cosmos is no acting for the absolute world. The song draws absorption to the advance of advance and abstruse advances, and serves as a admonishing almost. Halliday feared his conception falling into the amiss easily and actuality acclimated for abominable reasons, so it’s apt that this would be his favourite song.

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His favourite music video is additionally significant: A-Ha’s “Take On Me.” This featured a babe account a banana who ends up entering the activated apple on the folio and sees her complex in an chance with the sketched hero. It mirrors the contest of Ready Player One, and the attributes of basic absoluteness as a whole.

Ready Player One is in cinemas now.

Kim Taylor-Foster is Entertainment Editor for Fandom in the UK. She was aloft on an capricious diet of video nasties and agitated activity flicks.

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[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (5XF-specific: L - Q)

Primary General Post ✦ Full Article ✦  Primary Peri Post ✦ Primary 5XF Post 

Leave Me Alone!: In Chapter 4 of This is Who I Am, 5XF decides she wants nothing to do with Steven and Peridot and would rather face the dangers of Earth by herself rather than go back to them. She has no plan for where to go or what to do, but 5XF is resolved to be the only one who has a say in where life takes her and who she really is. She isn’t of sound mind at this point, and when Steven and Peridot are very close to reclaiming her (after putting the pair through hell trying to find her), 5XF is desperate enough to let the spirit of a disembodied voice possess her so that she’ll have the power to truly ward them away and make them pay for making her so mentally unhinged. By the end of Chapter 5, she gets over this thanks to Sphalerite coming into her life.

Literal-Minded: Shares this trope with her sister, though currently downplayed.

Little Big Sister: Originally, 5XF and Peridot were the same height. However, by the time the two formally met, Peridot (junior to 5XF by 6 seconds) underwent her post-ascension growth spurt. This leaves 5XF as the shorter of the pair by a few inches.

Locked Out of the Loop: After the events of Act I, White Diamond goes out of her way to keep 5XF and all other Homeworld gems oblivious to the causes of the drastic changes occurring in Homeworld, including the fates of Yellow and Blue. By Act III, she and her fellow Peridots are rounded up and held in various pocket dimensions for the sole purpose of stalling the Crystal Gems, but the most even 5XF knows by that point is that she’s being mandated to pretend she’s 5XG.

Loner-Turned-Friend: Thanks to Sphalerite, 5XF has learned to open up to others and dare to trust someone other than herself. While she still has a very low opinion of Steven and Peridot specifically, 5XF is open and willing to get to know the other Crystal Gems and hopes to befriend them.

Love Redeems: Even Garnet believes by the end of This is Who I Am that 5XF wouldn’t have progressed as much as she had if Sphalerite hadn’t been there to pick up the pieces after 5XF’s little meltdown in Chapter 5. She can see that Steven and Peridot wouldn’t have been able to help 5XF understand Earth or her new life any better. Even more, Sphalerite’s support has helped 5XF find the courage to own up to her mistakes and wrongdoings and is willing to face the consequences. Additionally, 5XF is driven to atone for what she put Steven and Peridot through and is consequently very cooperative with the other Crystal Gems. Without a doubt, Sphalerite and their abrupt love affair helped 5XF make great leaps in her Character Development.

Loves My Alter Ego: Both exaggerated and (somewhat) justified: 5XF at best is just very unimpressed with Steven and Peridot, both as individuals and collectively… usually she holds a great deal of contempt for them, though. Their fusion, Sphalerite, on the other hand… 5XF is completely obsessed with her. Her love is absolute for this fusion, and the feeling is mutual on Sphalerite’s end. Steven and Peridot, of course… they’re not fans of this at all (especially when their affair started by taking advantage of their comatose states within their fusion).

Loving Details: While waiting for Sphalerite to wake up from her Deep Sleep (which goes on for more than half a day), 5XF is compelled to write up a preliminary profile for Sphalerite to add to the Crystal Gem database on Peridot’s tablet at a later date (when the fusion is properly introduced to everyone). Despite only knowing Sphalerite for a few hours at this point, 5XF manages to write about her for twelve pages. It’s heavily implied that 5XF has fallen for Sphalerite by this point, as the narrative points out how often she’s thinking of the fusion and is inexplicably overjoyed to see her not defuse despite so much time having passed since Steven and Peridot formed her.

Moment Killer: One of the reasons 5XF is being released from her bubble at the start of This is Who I Am. Steven and Peridot have had a good number of days alone together, but now they’re getting a little too eager for each other and moving a bit too fast. Both are aware of this, and know that with 5XF around, her presence will prevent them from going too far. Chapter 3 has her become this without actually being there, but rather through Steven mentioning that they haven’t checked on her in a while, just as he and Peridot were about to indulge in each other. Peridot’s pretty peeved but concedes without complaint.

Mood-Swinger: Evident in This is Who I Am when you compare 5XF’s behavior in Chapter 3 to how she acts in Chapter 4: she’s basically on opposite ends of the spectrum in more ways than one. Sphalerite even lampshades this in Chapter 6.

5XF: “Sphalerite, I don’t know why I’m feeling this way! I swear I don’t! It feels ridiculous that I could feel like this at all, let alone so quickly!”

Sphalerite: “You’ve, uh… nearly gone through the entire emotional spectrum at this point.”

Ms. Exposition: Similar to Peridot, 5XF offers quite a lot of insight on Homeworld life in This is Who I Am. In many ways, she trumps her little sister in this role due to her abnormally sharp perceptive skills and insatiable curiosity. In Chapter 2, she explains to Steven in detail what it meant to be a Peridot on Homeworld, revealing they have next to no personal rights; not even to defend themselves when assaulted. She reveals details that strongly suggest Peridot is still holding a major secret from Steven, which turns out to be true in the next chapter (though 5XF’s overall suspicions were only partially accurate, ultimately). As a character, she represents how badly Peridot affected her fellow kind during her Manipulative Bastard days, even indirectly (as they never crossed paths back then). In Chapter 7, she backs up Peridot when talking about a gem’s capability for reproduction and even supplies information her sister lacks, such as why gems can reproduce naturally despite it always being illegal on Homeworld.

Must Make Amends: It is 5XF’s fault that Gypsum has become a threat to Earth, and being bonded to her crystal is a clear sign that she’ll unwittingly put the Crystal Gems through hell when they do directly confront the corrupted gem. However, 5XF is not only needed to accomplish this mission of neutralizing Gypsum as a threat, but would be coming along regardless because she does feel driven to make up for the potential catastrophe her poor decision-making caused.

My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed, but evident in 5XF’s expression when she watches Steven and Peridot sob in each other’s arms after barely surviving being forced to fight each other to the death… which was her doing. When 5XF realizes she’s not feeling the least bit good about seeing the couple suffer what she previously claimed was a just punishment, the guilt quickly seeps in. It isn’t long before 5XF is resolved to do whatever she can to make up for what she did.

Narrating the Obvious: Attempts to defy this many times throughout This is Who I Am starting with Chapter 2. More often than not, she lampshades it.

(After Steven mends Peridot’s gemstone with his Super Spit)

5XF: “I-I would say you healed her, but that’s blatantly obvious!”

Nervous Wreck: Justified in the first half of This is Who I Am; 5XF has every reason to fear and doubt everyone and everything she sees now that she’s suddenly been permanently immigrated from Homeworld to Earth. Pretty much everything about her old life has vanished in an instant, and now she’s understandably overwhelmed after learning what exactly happened after Ruby poofed and bubbled her in Act III and what to do from here on out.

Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: While 5XF did dreadful things to Steven and Peridot in This is Who I Am, there are a myriad of outside influences that forcibly drove her off the deep end. She not only struggled with a great power influencing and exaggerating her mental and physical woes that she only accepted when it became apparent 5XF had no choice than to “be captured” by Steven and Peridot, but Steven and especially Peridot in their own right did a subpar job adjusting her to Earth and helping 5XF adjust to her new life. Their inability to foster a long-term trusting relationship with 5XF led to the chain of events that resulted in 5XF getting possessed by a corrupt gem’s spirit, as 5XF legitimately only wanted to take control of her life back and adhere to no one’s terms but her own. She wanted nothing to do with Peridot and Steven and only attacked them when they pursued her. After regaining her senses and having time to relax and recover with Sphalerite, 5XF legitimately regretted what she put Steven and Peridot through; it wasn’t just because she fell in love with their fusion. In Chapter 7, 5XF makes it clear that the last thing she wants to be is “another 5XG” – in other words, she wanted to repent for her crimes rather than get away with them. 5XF is rough around the edges, but there’s nothing inherently evil about her.

Not So Different: Steven silently takes note of this between her and Peridot in Chapter 2 of This is Who I Am. 5XF often comes off as a Tsundere when Steven points out her being sentimental and concerned for Peridot and himself. Coincidentally, much like Peridot during the early phases of her redemption arc, 5XF always refers to others with a “the” preceding their name. The Amethyst, The Steven, The Jasper, and so on. Peridot’s the only exception; she is always addressed as 5XG. Her general manner of speaking is also fairly similar to Peridot’s, though notably toned down. As 5XF further develops, she continues to acquire traits or make decisions eerily similar to her sister’s without meaning to – Steven’s comments of certain tropes “running in the family” might be more on the nose than he realizes.

Ocean Awe: When Sphalerite tours her through Millennium Island, 5XF is awestruck when she sees the ocean for the first time in her life. Considering she lived in a world that had virtually no water whatsoever, seeing this much at once leaves a major impression on her. The sight of the ocean quickly becomes a visual 5XF associates with her own comfort, and she was absolutely thrilled to learn her new home would also be on a beach with a full view of an ocean.

Official Couple: With Sphalerite, as of This is Who I Am Chapter 6.

Only Sane Gem: When Steven and Peridot are her only company, 5XF believes herself to be this wholeheartedly. Played fairly straight for the first half of This is Who I Am. Even after her major breakdown, 5XF refuses to acknowledge either of her caretakers’ competence and still thinks they’re both crazy.

Overcome with Desire: 5XF falls in love with Sphalerite within a day of meeting her. While she has enough of an understanding of relationships to be self-aware of how absurd it is for her to fall for someone this quickly and want to act on it, 5XF lacks the experience to do anything more than hold back on her urges… until she finds out that Sphalerite reciprocates her feelings. Within mere minutes, the pair instantly teleport to their vacation home (only doing so because both don’t feel like dealing with the consequences of doing this in sand), and a marathon of Coitus Ensues.

Power Incontinence: At first 5XF seems to adapt well to the mysterious power that is naturally attracted to her, as she makes good use of them eluding Steven and Peridot and incapacitating the pair in This is Who I Am Chapter 4. With Gypsum’s help, 5XF even manages to fragment the couple’s very identities and set up two deathmatches where they’re forced to fight each other’s dark counterpart – even keeping the two battles isolated in different dimensions to prevent the light combatants from helping each other – creating an elaborate and sadistic game where only one of them would ultimately survive. Once Light Peridot finds a loophole to make both matches end in a No Contest, 5XF finds she can’t do anything about it and has no way of reliably controlling her own powers. It’s worth noting 5XF never really knows or understands what these powers truly are; the last thing she manages to do is put Steven and Peridot back together (after being intimidated into it via 5XG/Dark Peridot). By that point, 5XF finds herself regretting ever becoming Gypsum’s power vessel, and said powers are completely dormant once she and Sphalerite leave Gypsum’s domain. They’re guaranteed to make a comeback when the Crystal Gems properly confront Gypsum, but everyone is aware 5XF is going to be a major liability in the power department, as she still has no concept of the nature of the power she wields.

Powers via Possession: 5XF’s powers are not her own; they are merely on loan from Gypsum, and she can’t use them to their full potential until she agrees to a binding contract with the corrupted gem. While she was able to utilize these powers for minor feats before the contract, that was largely due to her fragile emotional state being receptive to Gypsum’s influence.

Quest for Identity: Her new life on Earth revolves around this goal and is greatly emphasized in This is Who I Am.

The Quiet One: In contrast to Peridot, 5XF survived her hellish work environment on Homeworld by simply doing her work, minding her own business, and refusing to socialize with any other gems. While she remains much more reserved than Peridot after being relocated to Earth, this trait of 5XF’s becomes massively downplayed to the point where it’s barely in effect after the changes she experienced with her new life.

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (Steven-specific: C - H)

Primary General Post ★ Full Article ★  Primary Peri Post ★ Primary Steven Post

Cannot Tell a Lie: Subverted; he manages to pull off a lie on a single occasion in Chapter 8 of Act II when he convinces Greg to let him into the ship (that he intends to steal to take off immediately to Homeworld) because wants to appreciate the interior that Peridot designed. Played straight otherwise.

Character Development: In the GA continuity, Steven’s habit of clinging to his pacifistic ways, stubbornly believing he can redeem anybody and prevent anyone from dying really impairs his ability to look at situations realistically. While ultimately, the Crystal Gems came out of the main series only directly killing one foe (White Pearl courtesy of Bismuth; a necessary evil in order to escape certain death while being trapped by White Diamond in a precarious pincer formation), the fact remains that Peridot’s words to Steven in Chapter 6 of Act I rang true in the end: Steven couldn’t save everybody. Despite Steven successfully getting Blue Diamond to see the light, she and the rest of the Diamonds ultimately perish by the end of Act III – each of them die due to circumstances beyond Steven’s control. Objectively, going out of his way to save Yellow or Blue would have only resulted in Crystal Gem casualties. Despite his efforts, White Diamond proved to be completely unreachable – Steven’s final peace offering to her backfired so hard, it easily would have killed everyone (himself included) if Peridot hadn’t neutralized the back-attack just in time. While the vast majority of Homeworld’s gems have been saved prior to their planet’s destruction, many are in limbo as a result of White’s pallification and are functionally dead until a cure is found. The gems that were forcibly fused together to create White Diamond proxies absolutely could not be saved no matter what, as even poofing them resulted in instant death. By Act III, it’s shown that Steven has at least accepted that there are times when sacrifices must be made in order to survive: in Chapter 7, he is helping Garnet and Moonstone dispatch the proxies. There is no other way to take them out without shattering them, but Steven doesn’t throw a fit over this; he knows they’re all on borrowed time as long as they’re still on Homeworld, and the fact that the proxies weren’t sent to Earth alongside the non-fused infected gem tells him they truly are beyond saving, and the best he really can do for these poor gems is to let his friends give them a mercy killing. Steven still doesn’t like it on principle, but over time he’s become more tolerant when a situation calls for drastic measures of this magnitude. Steven has also become more self-aware of the risks being a consummate pacifist carries, such as the high likelihood of his mercy (or hesitation) being “rewarded” by having one or more of his own friends killed. While he still goes out of his way to only forego his philosophy when it’s made clear that death or extreme violence is the only option to resolve a conflict (or if his pacifism truly would get one or more of his friends killed), Steven has gradually learned to be more realistic in his approach and expectations. He is by no means jaded from his many pacifism backfires, but incidents like being forced to abandon Peridot at the end of Act I – and especially Celadon Diamond nearly killing his father (while successfully killing Pumpkin) late in Act III to teach Steven that his actions have consequences – have really opened his eyes on how much harm his relentless desire for peace and befriending every enemy can inadvertently bring. 

Peridot’s speech to Steven in Chapter 6 of Act I also leaves a lasting mark on him and how he perceives the world when these harsh lessons are verbally bashed into his head:

Shit happens. Sometimes you can prevent it, but more often than not, you just can’t.

Bad things happen to good people for no reason. It’s a leading cause in how good people can eventually turn bad. There’s no fate or destiny to situations like this, and they certainly can’t be directly controlled or prevented.

You can’t always have things your way all the time. Even when you selflessly want nothing but the best for everyone, there’s no guarantee it will ever happen the way you want it to.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it’s important to know when to stop when said good intentions end up bringing more harm than good. Your solution will not always be the right solution.

Is it worth your friends’ lives to maintain your pacifistic approach to everything? Your moments of mercy could easily be exploited by a still-hostile enemy to kill a friend or yourself while your guard is down. What is more important: redeeming a villain and keeping your hands clean, or keeping your friend(s) alive? Sometimes, these are mutually exclusive results.

One day you will be forced to make a very hard choice that will upset at least one teammate. But you have to stand firmly by your decision, even if you are personally uncomfortable with it.

No matter what you do, you can’t save everybody every time. Believing you can is nothing short of delusional, and there are countless ways a relentless pursuit of this goal can backfire and end more lives than you’re ultimately saving.

Chekhov’s Skill: Late in Act II, Steven passively emits pink energy when he finally wakes up from his Angst Coma in Chapter 7. When Steven watches Peridot’s Video Will in the following chapter, he begins to notice details that aren’t apparent to the naked eye and can read a person’s true feelings by looking at them and listening to their words, even through a prerecording. Steven’s enhanced perceptivity makes the Crystal Gems realize there’s something odd about Peridot (which eventually leads to the discovery of her being an Unwitting Test Subject – knowledge they all benefit from having ahead of time before Act III). Towards the end of Act II, Steven has been honing his evolving powers with Garnet’s aid over the span of six days; Act III reveals Steven can now detect people from great distances with his aura abilities. This particular ability makes Steven aware that Chartreuse Diamond and Peridot are one and the same, allows him to heal Peridot’s fractured mental state, kickstarts his awakened form (Pink Diamond 2.0), helps Peridot evacuate all of Homeworld’s remaining gems before the planet’s destruction, and locate White Diamond’s proxies so that she can no longer hide and be directly confronted. And it can be safely assumed this skill played a role in Steven’s (as Pink 2.0) Epiphany Therapy with Peridot that not only fulfilled an ancient prophecy in Iridescent Diamond, but finally made Peridot able to fuse, as well as save all of the Crystal Gems from falling with the rapidly-decaying Homeworld.

The Conscience: Is this for the majority of the cast, most heavily emphasized with Peridot.

Damsel out of Distress: He and Connie were already in the process of escaping their prison thanks to Blue Diamond’s help by the time Lapis came across them to unite the team.

Death Glare: Gives Amethyst one after she complains about still having to wait for Peridot when he comes on board the ship at the end of Act I. She has no idea they’re about to leave Peridot behind at the time, but Steven’s too upset to give her any more of an explanation than this.

Deuteragonist: He is what largely drives the plot before properly appearing in the story in Chapter 5 of Act I, being Peridot’s primary motivation. After being rescued, Peridot’s Heroic Sacrifice is meant to save him from White Diamond, although that ends up making her a Hostage MacGuffin meant to lure Steven back to Homeworld. That, in turn, just makes Steven’s role from that point onward all the more significant – now in a more direct way. He basically co-stars with Peridot in every post-GA story to date, as well.

Didn’t Think This Through: While Steven’s snap decision to return to Homeworld by himself in Chapter 8 of Act II was overall an idiotic thing to do and impulsive as hell, the biggest aspect of his overall stupidity with this trope is Steven completely forgetting that he doesn’t know how to operate a spaceship.

Discontinuity Nod: In the final chapter of Act III, Steven tells White Diamond he can imagine a scenario where everyone came to a peaceful agreement, Yellow and Blue Diamond never had to die, and all of the Diamonds could visit Beach City to experience what Pink Diamond had with Earth. This is in reference to the events of Change Your Mind, where this literally happens.

Do You Trust Me?: Asks Chartreuse Diamond this near verbatim as she despairs over the mistakes she’s made. Much to Steven’s relief, she assures him she does so more than anyone else – that much hadn’t changed since her early redemption arc as Peridot.

The Empath: Per canon, and his powers continue to evolve as of Act II.

Empathetic Healer: Somewhat. While learning how to heal a mentally-fractured Peridot, he reads her memories and becomes traumatized and Blinded by Rage from the Gory Discretion Shot he witnesses – said scene happens to be the cause of Peridot’s condition.

Emotional Maturity is Physical Maturity: Per canon, and plays into his Plot-Relevant Age-Up that happens in Chapter 4 of Act III. Inner turmoil stemming from being Forced to Watch his Love Interest getting a gruesome Slashed Throat in an endless loop induces so much Sanity Slippage that Steven himself is mentally fractured (ironically, right after healing Peridot from a very similar condition). It triggers a Battle in the Center of the Mind, which is what ultimately matures Steven emotionally to such a level that it permanently changes his form. 

Energy Donation: Grants this at the request of a defeated White Diamond towards the end of Act III.

First Kiss: Has his with Peridot in Chapter 5 of Act I.

Forced to Watch: The gruesome (albeit fake, which he was informed of ahead of time) scene of Peridot’s neck getting lacerated by a giant energy blade, leaving A Bloody Mess (albeit with fake Alien Blood) and a dead-eyed Love Interest – while short in length – is so traumatizing for Steven to watch, it begins to loop endlessly in his head; not even closing his eyes will shield his vision from the horrific scene. After enduring this for quite some time, this leads to Sanity Slippage.

Funbag Airbag: In Act III, he has a bit of a habit of burying his face into Peridot’s chest. This is a gag that carries on through the post-GA stories.

Functional Genre-Savvy: Proves to be this in This is Who I Am Chapter 5 after the “Dark” Peridot (aka 5XG) explains how their full selves have been split into light and dark halves and are pitted against each other.

Steven: “5XG, the whole… splitting a person to make a dark half and a light half thing… it’s been done so many times. That’s basically what’s going on here, according to you. But the way this is supposed to go is that the dark and light halves fight, and whoever wins gets to dominate the whole person’s body. So… why are we paired off like this? I don’t get it. You should be facing off Peri, right?”

Humble Hero: Per canon. Somewhat subverted, as he says he’s never comfortable with anyone giving him overt praise as Steven feels every time he’s being given more than he deserves… except when Peridot praises him. Knowing how she always speaks from the heart, Steven will accept her praise without complaint.

Half-Human Hybrid

Healing Hands: Per canon, Steven’s Super Spit has healing properties and his tears can revive the dead (provided they aren’t Deader than Dead).

The Heart: Per canon. Best represented in Act II when all of the Crystal Gems, who spend most of a day apart doing their own thing, all come together by the end of it and overcome their own reservations about watching their designated Video Wills by Peridot so they can collaborate on a project to snap Steven out of his funk induced from the events near the end of Act I.

Honor Before Reason: Per canon, Steven is all about doing the right thing. Even if it’s a detriment or even a threat to his loved ones. And yes, several of his teammates take issue with his embodiment of this trope, including Peridot.

Hormone-Addled Teenager: More prevalent in the post-GA stories, but this is an ongoing struggle Steven has to endure after his Plot-Relevant Age-Up in Act III. Still very downplayed even after GA, and Peridot’s honestly no better than Steven in this regard (and she can’t even use this trope to justify her behavior).

[modestmondays]

Calling Out Lapis Lazuli

Last week, I wrote about how Steven finally called out Ronaldo at the end of Rocknaldo, after making excuses for him and putting up with his behavior. And at the end, I wrote that I hope this presages him calling out Lapis Lazuli. Some people understood why I said that, but a few were confused. So I’ll elaborate on the concept here.

First of all, though, I would like to direct your attention to this post: Lapis, Jasper, Malachite, and Abusive Relationships. I know it’s a long post, but it’s the shortest I could make it. It’s by no means perfect, but I think it adequately explains my thoughts on Malachite, and why I think Lapis was the abuser in that relationship. I won’t be repeating it here, although I’m happy to answer follow up questions on either of these posts.

The rest of this got pretty long (also a bit disorganized, and I probably forgot some important parts, since I wrote it while baking), so I’ll put it under a cut:

Second, let’s make a short list of people Lapis Lazuli could consider apologizing to:

1) Jasper, obviously

2) Steven and Connie, for nearly drowning them

3) Greg, for breaking his leg

4) pretty much everyone on earth, for the stunt she pulled in Ocean Gem

5) ...and possibly for whatever terraforming she was here to do during the war

6) did I mention Jasper?

7) Peridot, for how she treated her in Barn Mates (more on this later)

8) arguably the Crystal Gems, but both sides are in the wrong here, and it’s not like Peridot has ever apologized for her attacks on the CGs (or vice-versa)

9) oh, and Jasper

Now, a list of apologies that Lapis has actually made:

1) “Don't put me in charge! Oh, sorry. I mean, y-you shouldn't trust me with the boat.” (Alone at Sea)

2) “We're very sorry for your marriage.” (Gem Harvest)

...and that’s it.

Not only has she had the chance to apologize (she’s had speaking appearances in just over a dozen episodes now), but she’s specifically been called out for her actions, multiple times, and chose not to acknowledge or apologize for the things she did to hurt others.

The first time she was called out, admittedly, was not to her face. Remember Greg singing “she was a riptide queen and she was super mean!”? But then Steven responded, “Hold the phone! I’m 13, and it’s impossible for someone to be my friend and a bad person.” Then he sings the “she was trapped in a mirror” song to remind us why Lapis was sad.

Okay, great. But being sad and wanting to go home doesn’t make hurting people acceptable. Even if you’ve experience trauma, you’re still responsible for your own actions. You still need to own your own mistakes. People will (hopefully) understand, and not hold it against you, especially if you take steps to change your behavior, but you shouldn’t expect your friends to make excuses for you. That’s not fair, and it’s not okay.

Lapis got called out again by Greg, in Alone at Sea:

LL: “Steven, who is this?” G: “Uh, Greg Universe. You broke my leg trying to use the ocean to fly back to your homeworld?" LL: “Lapis Lazuli. Nice to meet you.“

Really, Lapis? You won’t even acknowledge breaking his leg? Classy.

But again, we find out that she’s upset and stressed out about Malachite! So apparently it’s okay that she doesn’t apologize, or that she lashes out at people who don’t deserve it. Again, this is Steven’s fault, too, for enabling her behavior here.

Lapis literally calls herself out later in the episode, when Steven calls Jasper terrible: "I'm terrible! I did horrible things! I-I broke your dad's leg. I stole Earth's ocean! Go on! Tell me I'm wrong!”

Steven has no answer for this, because he can’t reconcile those things with their friendship. He’ll need to, eventually.

And Lapis got called out again in The New Crystal Gems, this time by Connie. We’ll switch to images for this one. Connie comes over to Steven’s house, expecting it to be empty, but finds Peridot and Lapis in the bathroom. Lapis asks Peridot who Connie is:

“I almost drowned a lot of people” says Lapis, while breaking eye contact to stare directly into a mirror. Subtle, they ain’t.

But anyway, even if Lapis has started to acknowledge some of the hurts she’s caused, she’s done nothing to apologize or change.

Now, that may be a controversial assertion. The Lapis we’ve seen in Barn Mates, Beta, and Back to the Moon doesn’t seem a whole lot like the Lapis from Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem, The Return/Jailbreak, Chille Tid, or even Same Old World.

For this part, I need to speculate a little bit. I do think Lapis is in “retirement” as Connie put it, and as Rebecca Sugar explained in this interview:

“There is a part of [Lapis] that’s afraid of her own power, she’ll sit and read magazines, laying around like she’s retired. But that strength she exerts […] she can take it very far to get control over her own situation again and she’s aware of that,” Sugar said.

I think that they’re essentially putting Lapis “on hold” while they move other character and plot arcs forward, and I speculate that this is because her arc won’t make sense without more context (in particular, we know very little about pre-war Homeworld, or what it was like for Lapis, Sapphire, and Ruby. I suspect/hope we’ll see some Lapis and Garnet development once we finish the Jasper/Pearl/Pink Diamond narrative).

But part of the reason this works for Lapis is because she’s good at playing along--until she doesn’t want to anymore. We saw this in Mirror Gem, when she was “beach summer fun buddies” with Steven until he hesitated at her offer to return to Homeworld. She repeats what others want to hear (at first very literally) and shows them, not her true self, but a mirror of what they expect to see. We’ve only seen the occasional glimpse of the real Lapis under that mask.

We’ve seen Lapis just going along with whatever others suggest in Hit the Diamond (Steven’s baseball plan) and Beta (Peridot’s meep morps, Camp Pining Hearts marathons, remodeling, etc). Not once does she take the lead and offer her own ideas or suggest her own preference for activities. Even in Gem Harvest, it was Peridot’s plan to grow vegetables. Lapis will only concede that the barn can get “a little lonely”.

But it wasn’t clear that she was just playing along until we saw what happened in The New Crystal Gems. That, I think, supports this reading. Because when Peridot takes charge and makes herself “the Garnet” Lapis literally plays along by pretending to be Amethyst. But when she gets fed up with Peridot bossing her around, she finally asserts herself, and tries to take control of their little game (and Yellowtail’s truck).

Connie snaps them out of it, with a Steven-style speech, and later takes them to task with a Connie-style one--but by then Lapis has her mask back up. Still, with Steven gone, she was able to let some of her frustrations show, and flirt with the idea of really being in control.

The reason she’s been playing along, of course, is that she’s stuck on Earth. Lapis does genuinely care about Steven, and she wants to protect him and spend time with him, but she already knows that if she asks him to choose between her and the Crystal Gems, he’ll pick Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Again. So she doesn’t ask. She pretends that everything is fine, and so do they. Everyone involved has a lot of practice pretending everything is fine, as we know all too well.

But everything isn’t fine. We’ve seen the cracks--obviously in Jail Break (both in her cell and as Malachite), but also in Gem Harvest (”[the corn] would really hate the table”) and The New Crystal Gems (”There is no Lapis. Only Garnet.”). And even in Barn Mates.

So let’s talk a bit about Barn Mates. Because this is another episode where Steven pushes people her cares about into reconciling, except this time there’s no musical number, and no actual reconciliation.

Lapis blames Peridot for dragging her back to Earth, and for interrogating her (which we never see on screen, but do see Peridot write an apology card for, so we have to assume it was not something Lapis volunteered for).

Meanwhile, Peridot’s primary defense is a pragmatic one: she needed an informant, and Lapis Lazuli was the only gem on Homeworld who had set foot on earth in the last 5,000 years. Hence, taking her along and interrogating her. But necessity is no defense, and, by the same token, Lapis’s hurt is no defense for how she treats Peridot here.

Lapis demands the barn, though she has wings and can fly and could literally live anywhere. But since she wants the one place Peridot has made her home, Peridot needs to leave? Nice. And while Peridot’s attempts to win Lapis over re-awaken Lapis’s various traumas (Malachite was a bad time for her even though she was the abuser, and so was being trapped in a tape recorder the mirror.) that’s no excuse for her behavior. Not that she ever apologizes, of course.

In the end, only the sudden appearance of the Rubies (and a possible threat to Steven) forces the two of them to paper over their differences. Lapis starts to play along, again, because she sees that Steven won’t give up on this. So she gives in, for now.

We’ll see how Lapis Lazuli’s development proceeds in future episodes. Like Garnet, she’s trapped on Earth because of a fusion she made here, rather than by virtue of having joined the Crystal Gems. I hope that both of them will get a chance to resolve some of their fusion-related issues (cough Sugilite cough), and that we’ll hear from them what Era 1 Homeworld was like and why they both miss it.

We need to understand Era 2, the war, and Era 1, before Steven can bridge the gap between the Crystal Gems and Homeworld. We’ve had Amethyst and Peridot as our Era 2 gems, Pearl and Jasper as our war gems, and I hope we’ll have Lapis Lazuli and Garnet as our Era 1 gems.

Because this story isn’t going to end with the two sides fighting out a 5,000 year old war. We saw how poorly that went, for everyone, the last time around. This time, there has to be a new approach. We’ll see it in miniature, I think, between the Crystal Gems and the Homeworld Trio, and perhaps we’ll see a larger version with Steven, the Cluster, and the Diamonds. I remain hopeful that the ending will be worth the wait.