Steven Universe

[Flickerdart]

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It's kind of a shame about Lapis. I wanted her to join the cast on at least a semi-regular basis as a counterpoint to the "punch everything that glows" attitude of the team.

[Callos_DeTerran]

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It's kind of a shame about Lapis. I wanted her to join the cast on at least a semi-regular basis as a counterpoint to the "punch everything that glows" attitude of the team.

Don't worry.

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I imagine she'll be back when either Jasper's personality over-powers hers or the fusion is ended.

...C'mon, we all know its going to happen! Also, where'd Peridot go?

[Flickerdart]

Don't worry.

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I imagine she'll be back when either Jasper's personality over-powers hers or the fusion is ended.

Maybe, but I don't see them rehashing the plot point. I suppose it depends on the direction the show goes in season 2 (there will be a season 2, right?).

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Also, where'd Peridot go?

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Quebec, apparently.

[Tectonic Robot]

That was amazing. Completely and utterly fantastic. Especially

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Garnet's song.

Also, Dragony dude!

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I kinda disagree with everything you said, but y'know, whatever, right? I dunno why you were expecting repairbots or something, or a bunch of like, uniform super gems or whatever. What happened was pretty perfect, imo. There was a foreshadowed theory going on about Garnet being a fusion, but we hardly knew it, so to speak, and I found the reveal heartwarming.

[Jayngfet]

Well everybody is having a moment here so Il put my honest opinions in this box:

Spoiler: Its my opinion and your outright asking for it now

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That was a fart of a disappointment. Ocean gem was more impressive then his.

Thing is, after all that buildup and all those Glimpses of awesome, only to find out that it was all smoke and mirrors and any clever design was an accident on their part? Just such a letdown.

First we saw Lapis. And Lapis was a MONSTER. She defeated all the Gems Singlehandedly, and almost destroyed the earth with but a care.

Then we see Peridot: This new design, Inhumane and Robotic, and we see her powerful technology, that was years above the gems. And she was coming for earth, with such Technology that it Scared Lapis!

And how what do we see? FARTs. That was PATHETIC.

First off: Jasper was a disappointment from just a design standpoint. I expect more robotic Utilitarian looking Gems and its like "Psyche! That was just Peridots fashion choice!"

All this stress about their Technology and it was all horse****. We don't see any of it except a Lazer blasting hand.

A swarm of repairbots always harassing the Team and repairing the evil Gems? Not even that?

And what was Lapis doing there? PLOT CONVENIENCE! Why not just a reinforced door for the gems to be kept in? PLOT CONVENIENCE!

So yeah. That broke the whole ****ing backstory and mystery of the universe.

So don't worry Steven. Goof off and Eat candy all you like. You have lazy writing on your hand.

This is just sort of a Ramble, but I might make a more detailed explanation of how the show pissed me off later.

edit:

Also for Red and Blue Pah. We knew this all already. I didn't care for their relationship because they where flat. And they where flat because they could only be written flat. And they could only be written flat because they where half of a characters personality already.

So the only suprise for me was how **** that all was.

Maybe it's 'cause I've spent the last 48 hours alternating between work and Dragonball, but this is a direction I'm totally in support of. They're not a space empire, they're a magic space empire. Their spaceships may be cool but their fighting is always going to be in Melee and battle auras.

I mean I was only kind of joking about this basically just being the Saiyan Saga, but that's more or less how it went but with fewer casualties. Speaking of, the real fight is yet to come. They sent a report to totally-not-Frieza about this before the ship went down and it was previously only said that Season 1 would have no central villain. But Season 1 only has a few episodes left and the statement only ever specified that, and was made when they were greenlit for season 2.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Maybe, but I don't see them rehashing the plot point. I suppose it depends on the direction the show goes in season 2.

I don't know, Steven Universe has been remarkably good about calling back to previous events and directly involving past plots in new one. Did anyone think the centipede gem monster would come back as the central focus of another episode?

And Lapis is a much more important character! ...please bring Lapis back, Lapis is awesome and so very sad at the same time.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go looking for Garnet's song on YouTube.

[Guts]

Maybe it's 'cause I've spent the last 48 hours alternating between work and Dragonball, but this is a direction I'm totally in support of. They're not a space empire, they're a magic space empire. Their spaceships may be cool but their fighting is always going to be in Melee and battle auras.

Then they ought to have come up with something more impressive than Nappa with a mullet for her special weapon and with whom Garnet could still go toe to toe with. I agree with Scowling that the antagonists were disappointing and didn't live up to the hype Lapis' message built up.

This is in contrast with the mid season two-parter, where you had to be impressed with Lapis' water control and how she was way above the scale of everything seen before. It doesn't have to be a incremental power jump, but at least have them display creative uses of their tech/power and give Mullet some style and personality beyond " Grr me evil and like to hurt people".

Hopefully next season, we will see Steven being less scatterbrained and the CGs taking his education and training seriously.

[Scowling Dragon]

Guts Got Me Exactly.

Spoiler: Spoilers for how the villians could have been better

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Like if your going to go with the DBZ route Imagine this:

Peridot Arrives as the Only gem, but "Technobends" the spaceship.

Like she is surrounded by a Swirling vortex of shifting warping near indestructible machinery as lasers blast out and she easily blocks diverts and redirects the hits, as the machinery dissolves and forms into healing bots and support bots and just activates the Gems machinery and Turns it against them because its just so advanced and Powerful. It doesn't even have to be AS POWERFUL as Lapis, just more ruthless and clever. It has to feel impressive and NEW. UNEXPECTED. Nothing in this episode was unexpected in a good way. Only unexpected in how much of a let down it was.

She could maybe even form it back into a fist and just PUNCH people with it.

Point is the situation wasn't even nearly as dire as with Ocean Gem. Everybody Hyped up the fight about how dire the situation was, but when the ACTUAL fight came nobody was even CLOSE.

If **** was REAL dire they would have actually Formed Sugilite for example. And still have her beat.

When the heroes DON'T use every method at their disposal, then it just shows that the situation isn't all that dire.

**** was never this Dire in tone when Lapis was about to destroy the earth by stealing all of its Water. But when some joke shows up and is beat up by Garnet then its all just Rubbish, but everybody spends the entire day peeing their pants.

I knew the villains could only be beaten by dues ex machina, but I was hoping it would be at least CLEVER dues ex machine. Self destruct the spaceship, trap them midwarp. The like. Not "Oh Lapis was there, plus Steven happens to conveniently bypass the Force Field"

Frankly this episode broke me. Just crushed me on the inside. I just frankly don't care anymore. It feels like I invested so much into this show, and found so much good but only to realize that it was all smoke and mirrors. That I was the one betting more awesome then there actually was.

And in terms of staying for the characters, I already pointed out how stupid I feel they are. Plot induced stupid makes me unable to take them seriously as characters, and Plot dues ex machine makes me unable to take the plot seriously. So what else is there?

Im just done. This show has nothing left for me. Il watch it for a bit longer. Just to give myself a sense of closure. But frankly Im just done.

edit:

Also, Dragony dude!

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I kinda disagree with everything you said, but y'know, whatever, right? I dunno why you were expecting repairbots or something, or a bunch of like, uniform super gems or whatever. What happened was pretty perfect, imo. There was a foreshadowed theory going on about Garnet being a fusion, but we hardly knew it, so to speak, and I found the reveal heartwarming.

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OK. Feel free to disagree and find everything perfect. And I didn't care by that point. I already knew the 389 ways the gems could say "We Totes Love you steven and will defeat anything for your sake". Or is it the 3 minute love story your talking about? I prefer more then 3 minutes.

[Jayngfet]

Don't get me wrong, the actual fight was disappointing. I'm just too amused that they literally just copied dragonball more or less beat for beat for half an episode and got away with it.

Though honestly the problem was that the show set itself up in a way that made this a disappointing inevitability. The vast gulf between homeworld and crystal gems was made clear when a wounded Lapis nearly destroyed the earth, and again just before this episode when their ship shrugged off 4x laser light cannons. But there isn't really anything that can overcome it in their arsenal after that point. Fusions and superweapons just bounced right off.

Ideally it'd be Steven who beats her, since it's Rose that she had a beef with and not Garnet. He'd use Roses weapons or Lion or something and actually succeed. Or at least fuse with someone in the supporting cast and kick ass that way. That is after all how it typically goes in fighting cartoons.

But they totally screwed themselves over by wanting to keep the cast they built out of the action and leaving Connie out for another episode. Likewise they wasted valuable airtime on a 15 minute show by having Steven be shocked at information he was already told and the audience already knew, and even more time dealing with Sapphire and Ruby which could have been done at half length. That was airtime that should have gone into the fight that was supposed to be so prominent and establishing who the hell their big strong antagonist was. Likewise Steven could never have actually contributed outside of having plot powers, because the show is so strongly against him being able to contribute at all. He's been progressing so achingly slowly and there's never more than token acknowledgement that he could stand to be better than he is.

But yeah, in hindsight it's kind of really freaking dumb for this thing they've been hyping for so long to just be ...nothing. Like just base form Garnet with a style change shouldn't have been able to solo this. But they kinda wanted this to be a Garnet focused episode for some reason so she's just randomly strong enough and a character who's all about rose and the reaction to Steven is now obsessed with fusions out of the blue.

[endoperez]

Likewise they wasted [...]more time dealing with Sapphire and Ruby which could have been done at half length. That was airtime that should have gone into the fight that

Dude.

If you think that, then this show is not for you.

The creators and, clearly, most of the grown-up fanbase are thrilled and overjoyed by the all-too-short glimpse at Sapphire and Ruby and their conversation. I don't know about kids, but they probably didn't see this coming, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were thrilled by all this. If, that is, they weren't scared away by it beeing too dark and heavy all of a sudden.

But they kinda wanted this to be a Garnet focused episode for some reason so she's just randomly strong enough and a character who's all about rose and the reaction to Steven is now obsessed with fusions out of the blue.

The character is obsessed with Rose, yes, but this was totally Garnet's fight. She was the one who fought her the first time. Her obsession, instead of coming "out of the blue" like you claim, is just another sign of how she's a foil to Garnet. The setup from the previous episode, the setup in this episode, the fight, the song, the ending, it was all designed around Garnet.

You can disagree with the creators' decisions all you want, but I liked it the way it was. It wasn't perfect, but clearly the things you critisize it for are down to personal taste, in which case – it seems like this show isn't for you.

[Scowling Dragon]

Dude.

If you think that, then this show is not for you.

The classic reply. I guess all along I just NEW that it was totes for me, I was super hyped and loved the hell out of it:

But the SECOND we think that time was misplaced or a thing was done poorly: "YOU JUST DON'T LIKE THE SHOW GET OUT! ALSO LOTS OF PEOPLE LIKED IT SO YOU JUST DON'T GET IT!"

The creators and, clearly, most of the grown-up fanbase are thrilled and overjoyed by the all-too-short glimpse at Sapphire and Ruby and their conversation.

And I can say that if they where overjoyed they have low, loooow standards.

If they even WANTED to Focus on Ruby and sapphire it could have been done better:
Just have Steven Wake up in the Cell. So we don't even know what Happened but we know **** was massive or whatever.
Then it gives you more time to develop a romance between two characters we will never see again and will not matter in the VAUGESTLY slightest.

Why are you hyped? Like whats so hype? Enough clues where dropped that this wasn't a surprise, and in terms of who the sub-gems where it wasn't anything unexpected. It wasn't like one Sub-Gem was restraining another or some massive reveal.

Just one pissed off one and one timid one. To flat stock characters we get to see for 3 minutes.

If your saying that the whole point of this was about Garnet then this was also crap.

So first off establish that its about Garnet Better. The whole scenario has nothing to do with Garnet, or any of her as a concept. This had to do with Gem invasions, and Politics and hidden pasts that had more to do with Steven (Because of his Crystal) then anything.

Its not like the past episodes where setting up a Problem Garnet had where she was coming apart under pressure, and now she has to get herself together, and she gets herself together by remembering the feelings she has for herself or whatever.

It was just: Garnet Comes apart. And then comes together again. The villains are easily dispatched and thats the end of the story. And all that buildup.

In the Grand Scheme of things Ruby and Sapphire are utterly UTTERLY irrelevant, both to the Plot AND, to the characters. They do not matter at all. It doesn't change anything in any meaningful way. But what was utterly wasted, was the whole buildup of the secret plot that was being developed for years, and the potential for the villains to feel unique or threatening.

If this Plot was Built around 2 commanders in the War, and how they won with some secret Majestic Technique but now nobody knows what happened to them: Then TADA! GARNET! But its not even that.

Just such a massive waste of everything. All of it blows. EVERY SINGLE SUB ASPECT BLOOOOWS.

[Flickerdart]

The show gave you something to complain about. Clearly, you love to complain. Everything is as it should be.

[Shadowy]

Well, I quite enjoyed it. Bonus points for musicals improving everything.

[Starbuck_II]

Well, I quite enjoyed it. Bonus points for musicals improving everything.

You must admit the musical part was out of no where. She has never sung before.
Was she hiding her singing because Steven didn't know she was fused?

So how long can fusion be maintained? No one else seems top be able to maintain it so long.

[Callos_DeTerran]

You must admit the musical part was out of no where. She has never sung before.
Was she hiding her singing because Steven didn't know she was fused?

So how long can fusion be maintained? No one else seems top be able to maintain it so long.

It would seem that, if the two gems are compatible than the fusion can be maintained nigh indefinitely, unless Garnet spends most of her time in the Temple unfused which...uh...we don't know. Never have seen Garnet's room in the temple to my recollection.

@Scowling_Dragon: Not going to address this in full cause you went from voicing your dissatisfaction to insulting the people who liked these episodes.

Ruby and Sapphire: How do you know they won't ever show up again? Can...can you see the future? You can say, indisputably, those two will never show up again or will be completely irrevelant? That is just plain bull. Especially considering they were relevant in this very episode since moments after it is established that Garnet is Garnet, they also have Jasper give Garnet the most difficult fight that she's had to date and Garnet is the most cohesive fusion seen so far. Didn't make the enemies threatening...a One Hit-KO gem weapon that seems common place enough that even what aeems to be a technician like Peridot has one and an unfused Gem capable of fighting on equal terms with a fusion. Yeah, no threat there. *sarcasm*

[Flickerdart]

You must admit the musical part was out of no where. She has never sung before.

It seems that she was stronger when singing. Maybe she's never had a fight where she needed to bust a mad rhyme before.

So how long can fusion be maintained? No one else seems top be able to maintain it so long.

From my impressions, fusion can be maintained indefinitely as long as the two Gems are in concert with one another. Because Ruby and Sapphire's relationship is a lot closer than for instance Pearl and Amethyst's, they seem to be able to retain that state no matter what. We saw how long Steven and Connie's fusion lasted - much longer than just the length of a fight. It only broke up when they ran into a situation that disrupted their mental state, and it's possible that Garnet is just so damn composed that nothing can shake her like that.

Speaking of which, I wonder if Steven can fuse with any of the gems, or if his fusion is limited to humans. Also, since we've seen that a multi-gem fusion is possible, could Steven fuse with like a hundred people to become incredibly amazing?

[Jayngfet]

The show gave you something to complain about. Clearly, you love to complain. Everything is as it should be.

When multiple people take issue with the same thing, it's kind of hard to write this off as just being a one off complainer.

[Merellis]

I'm more interested in the fact that the Homeworld Gems came up with an interesting bit of technology to handle their own kind. Weapons that instantly revert their forms to just a Gem, jail cells that a Gem can't even touch, let along break through.

All this technology to disrupt and knock out a Gem without killing them.

Makes you think they came up with it after the battles that happened thousands of years ago. Course, doesn't help when the ones handling the rogue Gems on Earth are just as quick to blast them to death too. Unless that beam was the same technology as the swords and the cells. Could be with all those pipes in the top flowing with whatever it is.

I like how the one that came with Peridot is an old warrior that enjoys combat, but also thinks highly of herself. To her, the Crystal Gems are literally nothing worth the effort, she even manages to get good hits on Garnet.

Though, only able to beat her the first time due to the fact she had a weapon that Garnet was not prepared for. Second time had Garnet working first to get that away, then going back to a fist fight which is her strength.

Hmm. The fact that Steven is the first of his kind, and that Lapis Lazuli kept what he was a secret really saved their behinds there, but you also have to wonder if the Homeworld knows of his existence now. I mean, they were setting a course for the place, did they have time to report a human with Gem powers? Gem powers that belonged to the enemy leader at that!

I think they built it up well and showed that the Homeworld Gems have advanced a good deal, they have the tech to deal with their own kind when they get out of line, and have grown past the Light Cannons that were shown to be the strongest weapon the Crystal Gems had.

All in all, a great two parter that had the correct amount of foreshadowing with veterans of a war that ended in tons of deaths. They worried about it due to the fact that they only barely won the first time, not realizing that a lot of the advancements also included ways to subdue and handle rogue gems without destroying them.

Woo. Can't wait till tonight. :D

[Guts]

Yeah the DEHR stunbatons and force fields were kinda nifty, though they don't make up for the writers making the S1 mid boss harder than the S1 end boss, among the other writing issues.

I'd wished they dropped more hints as to what is it like back at the home world and why Lapis laid emphasis as to how it has changed. Has gem society become more militarized? Less 'liberal'. Machines running things in the background? More caste based? Has an evil council of doom?

[Jayngfet]

Yeah the DEHR stunbatons and force fields were kinda nifty, though they don't make up for the writers making the S1 mid boss harder than the S1 end boss, among the other writing issues.

I'd wished they dropped more hints as to what is it like back at the home world and why Lapis laid emphasis as to how it has changed. Has gem society become more militarized? Less 'liberal'. Machines running things in the background? More caste based? Has an evil council of doom?

I get the feeling it hasn't changed that much. The symbols in ruins and on ship correlate to the leadership Jasper mentioned with no real alteration and older homeworld gems are still in active duty. The actual power structure doesn't seem to have any real shifts in six millennia, though the leaders themselves might have.

[Merellis]

Probably didn't help that Lapis showed up out of nowhere after being missing for thousands of years.

[Flickerdart]

Yeah the DEHR stunbatons and force fields were kinda nifty, though they don't make up for the writers making the S1 mid boss harder than the S1 end boss, among the other writing issues.

Lapis was more powerful combat-wise, but it's not like Jasper could be talked down like she was.

[Pokonic]

While this is apparently a controversial statement, I liked it.

Spoiler: Just going to leave this here.

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[eggynack]

Well they are, but the framing never portrays them this way. They all have moments of Weakness, but the story never frames itself to portray them as people with major flaws.

Yes it does. Constantly. The only reason the show seems to frame the gems as hyper competent is because the show is from Steven's perspective, and Steven views them as hyper competent. The gems screw up, all the time, constantly. They screw up at the little things, like taking on a given monster of the week or teaching Steven in a school-like manner, and they screw up at the medium things, like not trying to take Steven into space for 50 years, and they screw up at the big things, like their somewhat misguided pursuit of their quest, given episodes like monster buddy and mirror/ocean gem.

A big part of the show, maybe the biggest part of the show, is Steven starting to learn that the gems are fallible, that the adults in his life can be wrong, and that he has to rely on himself, even as he continues to rely on them, because such is family. He's been starting to push back more and more against the lines set in front of him, both because he's getting older, and because he's a bit of a savior figure for the team.

As for jailbreak, I can somewhat agree that the villain's design wasn't exactly inspiring, but that song was basically just perfection. I think I've watched it ten or fifteen times at this point, and I don't really have any other words that are sufficient. The whole thing was simultaneously a thesis statement for Garnet, who's been awesome recently but really came into her own in this episode, and for the show as a whole. There are so many things in this show where I feel like they should be cliche, where if I were to explain them they would sound boring and awful, and in the reality of it there's so much inner beauty to it, and here, with this three minute song on the power of love, it is so very much that.

The reason, I think, that the message comes across where it could just seem superficial or pointless, is that it's sent out in earnest, and with real weight. When Garnet says she's love, I believe it utterly, because it was shown, and shown in a way that's so heartfelt. As with so many relationships on this show, I'm just fully invested within about a single onscreen minute. I don't think most of the rest of the episode quite lived up to that five or so minute period, so I'd probably still put alone together above it as an episode, but as I said, that song was just perfection.

Edit: Also, Jesus, "I'm a conversation". I don't even know what to do with that line.

[Fawkes]

Edit: Also, Jesus, "I'm a conversation". I don't even know what to do with that line.

I love that line.

Also this line.

Garnet is so cool.

[eggynack]

I love that line.

Also this line.

Garnet is so cool.

Yeah, that line is pretty wonderful, for entirely different reasons.

[Jayngfet]

Right, so since my last joke prediction was uncomfortably accurate I'm just gonna go ahead and call this now:

Somehow Earth isn't the only rebelling planet and not the only place something like this happened on. Only they have to go off into space to protect aliens from the gem empire and need to fight Yellow Diamond, who is crazy strong and has a bunch of super strong gems under her. But then Steven will have to become a super gem to fight her and the planet blows up in the process.

Because god damn it, if you're gonna do the Saiyan Saga, you're gonna take it all the way to the end.

[eggynack]

Y'know, watching it again, I think the reason I'm so sold on Ruby/Sapphire is the way they fuse. Unlike even one of the lower resistance fusions, like Garnet and Amethyst, Ruby and Sapphire coming together feels almost like breathing. They don't have to think, or prepare, or do anything all that important at all, and they come together to be Garnet, and she's showing more genuine happiness than even in Alone Together. So much of the brilliance of the show comes down to simple design stuff like that, I've found.

[bue52]

I'd like question Lapis' clear superiority in strength. For one, given the space travelling planet hopping nature of the Gems, I would argue that Lapis may not be that useful a fighter. Yes, her powers were incredibly strong in the Ocean Gem, but everything the show has presented seems to suggest that it may be because a planet like Earth has so much water. So while Jasper may appear weaker than Lapis in terms of scale, Jasper may be the gem that has actual combat prowess and is therefore intimidating to Lapis. It is possible that many other planets that the Gems visit do not have that much water as compared to earth, so the power that Lapis has shown is merely conditional.

Another point I would like to cite is in what Lapis' gem manifests, wings. Now it is possible that she has a weapon, but has never gotten the opportunity to show it, but for now I stick by the theory that her wings are essentially the "weapon" that manifests from her gem. Just like Garnet's gauntlets or Amethyst's whip. If this is true, then perhaps she was meant to be a non-combatant, an explorer or a scout, able to run away or travel far by herself. It is only here on earth where there is such a huge body of water does she have such destructive powers. Maybe in other planets she can at most create a water whip, a useful utility weapon, but nothing as menacing as Jasper's headsmashing helmet thing.

In that sense, Jasper represents a much bigger threat than Lapis. Hence, while the execution of the finale may have underwhelmed some, I think the writers did sincerely, believe that the stakes were higher in this finale than the mid season one. As for the hype towards the finale and the payoff? I personally was fine with it, I thought the scale was alright for me.

Another thing, I think someone mentioned before that Steven's escape was a deus ex machina, I don't really agree though, coz it plays into the background of his half organic half gem physiology. I thought it was subtle enough that there wasn't a need to spell it out in the episode, nor a need to foreshadow of the anti gem cell earlier in the season.

[Jayngfet]

In that sense, Jasper represents a much bigger threat than Lapis. Hence, while the execution of the finale may have underwhelmed some, I think the writers did sincerely, believe that the stakes were higher in this finale than the mid season one. As for the hype towards the finale and the payoff? I personally was fine with it, I thought the scale was alright for me.

Here's the thing. In that fight itself, the only damage and danger was to the gems. Humans may have been hurt later but in the fight itself it was pure gem on gem.

In Ocean and Mirror gem, the collateral damage is the entire world. Global scale power affecting everyone and all of the gems are pushed to their absolute limit and can't overcome this.

It doesn't matter if Jasper is bigger and stronger if she takes less power to overcome and the immediate stakes are lower.