Steven UnIVerse: 4shadowing

[theNater]

Spoiler: Geoweapon

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Given the size and scope of the resources poured into making the Geoweapon, I feel that Yellow is very invested in getting this monster operational. If all she wants to do is break Earth into small chunks, just bombard it from space with a huge asteroid or moon (our solar system has plenty to pick from). Nay, I believe Yellow wants her cake and eat it too by getting her Geoweapon activated. It'll destroy the Earth when it forms and she has a terror weapon on a planetary scale to do whatever with.

Spoiler: Geoweapon

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Any practical value the Cluster has is incidental. Its true purpose is to allow a gem who had a whole song about emotions being pointless to break something because she's angry and not feel like a hypocrite. The resource expenditure is an indicator of how badly Yellow Diamond wants to avoid feeling like a hypocrite, not how useful the Cluster can be expected to be.

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Zircon's argument wasn't that one of the Diamonds killed Pink. It was that for Rose Quartz to even get that close to Pink Diamond in the first place without being seen, she would have had to have had* help from someone with the social standing of a Diamond.

Slight nitpick:

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She would have needed help from someone who could plausibly present a claim that they are representing someone with authority approximating that of a Diamond. The Diamonds and their Pearls are the individuals for whom that would be easiest, but it is possible that even a sufficiently cunning Ruby* could pull it off. In terms of capability, the role of Rose's accomplice is wide open. I'm disinclined to suspect either of the Diamonds we've met, for reasons of temperament, but we still know nothing of White Diamond and nothing or next to it about any of the Diamond's Pearls.

*I don't believe this is the case, but if it turns out that Navy was the mastermind behind Pink Diamond's shattering, I'm going to claim I called it and point back at this post.

Spoiler: Geoweapon

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I think the real resource gems need are organics. If they only needed mineral resources then Homeworld shouldn't be having resource shortages to where the era 2 gems are lacking their full powers. I don't believe they already ate up every planet and asteroid in their galaxy. But given the scarcity of life, I could believe that they've gobbled up all those worlds with organic resources, and had to venture out to another galaxy for more.

Spoiler: Resources

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If the murals on the Moon base mean what we think they do, then we can conclude that proper conditions for a gem colony are rare in space. But the step to assuming it is organics is not supported as of yet.

See...the point was. Why have the trial? Why the confusion? Blue Diamond doesn't have a clue what happened so she couldn't have been on any government wide conspiracy to kill Pink Diamond.

Unless she's investigating to find out what others know, so she can hide any physical evidence that implicates her. I don't think that's what's happening, but we can't conclusively rule it out yet.

[Razade]

Unless she's investigating to find out what others know, so she can hide any physical evidence that implicates her. I don't think that's what's happening, but we can't conclusively rule it out yet.

Think we can. Her 6,000 year sorrow seems really out of place for someone who knew exactly why the person was killed. It just doesn't make sense if Blue Diamond knew why Pink was shattered. She obviously knows how it happened. What with the "it was a sword." line. But her being part of the group behind it? Yeah. That makes no narrative sense. Yellow being behind it? That makes sense. White, well who knows. We haven't met her. But not Blue. Not with the confusion, the sorrow, the longing, the rage.

[John Cribati]

Yes. My implication was that Yellow knew about the cinspiracy, or was a part of it, and Blue was not. It explains Yellow's suspicious behaavior answersZircon's point about how Rose could have been able to do it, AND doesn't change the fact that Rose Really Did It.

[Flickerdart]

I feel that an important bit hasn't been talked about:

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TOPAZ! Steven got her/them to turn traitor with just a heart-to-heart with Lars while she was listening in.

it's sort of obvious.

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Low-ranking gems on Homeworld are super-repressed, especially Quartzes. Follow your orders, don't get caught up in emotions. And along comes Steven singing the siren song of self-expression.

[Morty]

Regarding the conspiracy...

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I sort of hope Rose did have a hand in shattering Pink Diamond, even if someone helped her do it. After all the conflict caused by the revelation, discovering that she didn't actually do it would feel like a cop-out.

[Lord Raziere]

Spoiler: Wait a minute...

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If Yellow Diamond was so concerned about getting rid of evidence, why didn't she poof Yellow Pearl? She is literally there just to type down all the transcript of the trial. Her own Pearl is there to record all this for evidence that this trial happened while Blue Pearl is there to provide visual representation with her drawings. not only by doing this would she be raising Blue's ire, but would be leaving evidence that Yellow Pearl already written down for other Gems to examine later that would implicate her. If Yellow Diamond was the one who killed Pink, then she is REALLY bad at being a subtle mastermind about it. and the Pink's assassination just sounds too well-arranged to be handled by Yellow's sloppiness. So more reasons why I think its White Diamond.

[DigoDragon]

Regarding the conspiracy...

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I sort of hope Rose did have a hand in shattering Pink Diamond, even if someone helped her do it. After all the conflict caused by the revelation, discovering that she didn't actually do it would feel like a cop-out.

Spoiler: The Conspiracy

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I have to agree here. The build up of Rose being a 'killer' is pretty high. To throw it all away that she didn't shatter Pink but for whatever reason just took all the blame is going to just waste all the good drama built up for Steven as he's found out about her mom.

Spoiler: Wait a minute...

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If Yellow Diamond was so concerned about getting rid of evidence, why didn't she poof Yellow Pearl? She is literally there just to type down all the transcript of the trial. Her own Pearl is there to record all this for evidence that this trial happened while Blue Pearl is there to provide visual representation with her drawings. not only by doing this would she be raising Blue's ire, but would be leaving evidence that Yellow Pearl already written down for other Gems to examine later that would implicate her. If Yellow Diamond was the one who killed Pink, then she is REALLY bad at being a subtle mastermind about it. and the Pink's assassination just sounds too well-arranged to be handled by Yellow's sloppiness. So more reasons why I think its White Diamond.

Spoiler: Minute of Waiting

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Having watched the Trial episode again, I believe it is purposely muddled so that you might THINK Yellow is covering something up. Could still be she's innocent and is simply acting out in anger (over the loss of Pink) like others have pointed out. The Episode is done pretty well to open up the revelation that a diamond may have helped shatter Pink without giving away which one.
:3

I do hope we see White Diamond soon. Going this long without seeing her is pretty annoying in my opinion, because we haven't had any time to get to know her and what motivations she might have if White is the culprit... murder mysteries work better when the murderer turns out to be someone you've seen for a while on screen.

[The Fury]

Spoiler: The Conspiracy

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I have to agree here. The build up of Rose being a 'killer' is pretty high. To throw it all away that she didn't shatter Pink but for whatever reason just took all the blame is going to just waste all the good drama built up for Steven as he's found out about her mom.

Spoiler: The answer is ALWAYS sneeple

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Even if she didn't do the deed herself, Rose was apparently OK with allowing everyone, including her own followers believe that she had. On its own that's pretty sketchy too.

Spoiler: Minute of Waiting

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Having watched the Trial episode again, I believe it is purposely muddled so that you might THINK Yellow is covering something up. Could still be she's innocent and is simply acting out in anger (over the loss of Pink) like others have pointed out. The Episode is done pretty well to open up the revelation that a diamond may have helped shatter Pink without giving away which one.
:3

I do hope we see White Diamond soon. Going this long without seeing her is pretty annoying in my opinion, because we haven't had any time to get to know her and what motivations she might have if White is the culprit... murder mysteries work better when the murderer turns out to be someone you've seen for a while on screen.

Spoiler: I have waited for one minute exactly!

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I don't think Yellow's anger was from the loss of Pink, but rather out of being disrespected. Like "How dare you speak to me that way?" In any case she would have to know that removing evidence from the public record at this point wouldn't work-- Blue Diamond was right there in the room with her and pretty clearly finds these new developments intriguing, so getting rid of evidence at this point would likely just make Blue more suspicious. That said, I'm thinking that Yellow was mainly quick to jump to conclusions and execute mostly out of vindictiveness. I feel like we've seen that side to her personality with The Cluster. While it would destroy the Earth, it would take all the planet's resources with it, and there's little reason to think it would be all that useful afterward. At least Yellow would feel better afterward though, yeah?

Though after The Trial I've got some thoughts on what sort of powers White Diamond might have:

Spoiler: Who is White Diamond?

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It's been kicked around that Gem corruption is a result of Yellow, Blue and White Diamonds using their powers together. A corrupted Gem is altered physically, and seems to be damaged emotionally, and apparently can't even remember who or what it used to be. Yellow can disrupt a Gem's physical form with barely more than a thought, Blue can overwhelm a Gem emotionally without even trying, so I'm thinking White can alter a Gem's mind. I'm thinking that maybe this can account for the discrepancies in the eyewitness accounts of Pink's shattering. Why'd she do this though? I have no clue!

[Maryring]

So does anyone have any idea when I can get my next fix of Steven Universe? It's been so long.

[John Cribati]

If you want to trust Random Internet Screenshots, there's going to be a 22 minute special called "Reunited"... eventually.

[Chromascope3D]

Welp, it's back.

Eh. I just watched Lars of the Stars, but it didn't really do much for me, and I think I've finally lost interest in the show.

[endoperez]

Welp, it's back.

Eh. I just watched Lars of the Stars, but it didn't really do much for me, and I think I've finally lost interest in the show.

The episode was average, but the bigger problem in my opinion is that the focus is now on characters, side-plots and themes that never were the show's greatest strength.

At its best, the show presents a beautiful emotion, often from the perspective of a child that doesn't quite get it. These episodes had moments where it was a not like that, but the focus seemed to be on the other stuff - the action, the jokes, etc. And, well, Lars isn't a great character for that either.

The second of the two episodes was better than the first, but not enough to keep me intrigued for months that it will most likely take for another episode to appear.
It's a pity, but it looks like the best part if the show is in the past. It'd be great if it still managed to climb back up, so I'll likely see it through, but...

[Chromascope3D]

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I agree, but I don't think that Lars necessarily couldn't be that sort of character. They would just need to give him some screen time actually developing his character into a more confident, likable person. Not lock it off behind a soft time skip and just expect us to believe that he successfully observant more of his BS behavior in five episodes than he managed to accomplish in 4 seasons.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Back to the Kindergarten

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This was an interesting episode as it seems to lend weight to the theory that growing gems eats away at some kind of life energy instead of the theory that it is the minerals in the ground eaten. During the planting stage they replace the soil, which should have allowed the plants to grow if the old soil was mineral deficient.

Also, Peridot is still one tough gem to get squashed like she did and not pop. That part never gets old.

Spoiler: Lars of the Stars

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There wasn't much to Lars of the Stars (I suspect being a short 15 minutes is not enough to really do it justice), but he certainly pulls off the Captain Harlock look with that cape.
I feel we got robbed by not seeing how he and the off-colors managed to do all those things discussed; stealing a ship, getting off planet, getting chased around for over three sectors... that could have been a great multi-episode arc.

Spoiler: Jungle Moon

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The dream was a shocker. Now we know what Pink Diamond looks like, and she's... a lot shorter than in her mural. Perhaps this is the big reveal that Rose was Pink after all if the relative sizes are correct (seems that way when Stevonnie looks at the broken window before leaving)? Still leaves questions on how a Diamond becomes a Quartz if she faked her own death.

[Rater202]

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What I took away from these episodes that Pink Diamond desperately wanted Yellow Diamond's approval and affection and died trying to earn it, and thatthetravesty on earth mayor may not have been less Pink's own will and more her trying to please Yellow.

This puts a spin on the Gem's insistence that Pink wouldn't have let go of the Earth as well as Yellow's grief.

[DigoDragon]

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What I took away from these episodes that Pink Diamond desperately wanted Yellow Diamond's approval and affection and died trying to earn it, and thatthetravesty on earth mayor may not have been less Pink's own will and more her trying to please Yellow.

This puts a spin on the Gem's insistence that Pink wouldn't have let go of the Earth as well as Yellow's grief.

Spoiler: Jungle Moon

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Yeah, I see it that way as well. Earth was her first and so she would be very clinging to it even when faced with a gem rebellion.

Hmm. Thinking back to The Trial, when the one gem suggested that Pink's death was orchestrated by another diamond, this dream sure would fuel the idea that it was Yellow.

[Rater202]

Spoiler: Jungle Moon

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Yeah, I see it that way as well. Earth was her first and so she would be very clinging to it even when faced with a gem rebellion.

Hmm. Thinking back to The Trial, when the one gem suggested that Pink's death was orchestrated by another diamond, this dream sure would fuel the idea that it was Yellow.

Spoiler: Speculation

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I'vebeen talking with a mutual friend.

Yellow was a bit rough and uncaring--like a parent who is too busy to deal with their child...

If Yellow accidentally shattered pink(who is itty bitty compared to the other diamonds) and framed Rose to cover it up... Wel, it would exoplain why she's trying to get rid of everything that reminds her of Pink.

Though honestly, if Pink died trying to prove herself to yellow, that would explain why Yellow is grieving the way she is.

Theory: Pink acts like a child, is the size of a human teenager, and based on her Zoo and the fact that the gems she created are specked for defense, healing, and creation of organic life... She's differant from the other diamonds.

What if she's off-color?

Something I want: Pink's death to be faked. She was actually bubbled and hidden somewhere on Earth.
Becuase from what littl we've seen, Pink seems to be the Diamond that Steven could most easily connect to(In just this one episode I see a bit of Connie and a bit of Early series Steven in her) and SU is a show about making friends with your enemies so Steven will have to befriend a Diamond eventually.

[Chromascope3D]

Spoiler: Lars of the Stars

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There wasn't much to Lars of the Stars (I suspect being a short 15 minutes is not enough to really do it justice), but he certainly pulls off the Captain Harlock look with that cape.
I feel we got robbed by not seeing how he and the off-colors managed to do all those things discussed; stealing a ship, getting off planet, getting chased around for over three sectors... that could have been a great multi-episode arc.

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My exact sentiments. One of my biggest pet peeves is when we're told about a bunch of cool adventures that characters had, while what we as an audience have experienced is nothing like that. If Lars had already been a smooth badass, it would've been fun hearing about how he excelled in a new environment by just being himself. But when you have a character, who over the course of his run has been portrayed as either angry and hormonal, or just cowardly, immediately heel-turn and become a suave, confident macho man between two appearances, it feels cheap. It's all of the pay-off with none of the build up that makes that payoff so satisfying.

Especially when after we see his newfound self-esteem in action, just mentioning Sadie's name is enough to undo all of that machismo he's built up. I mean, I have no problem with characters faltering and falling prey to their old behaviors that they've worked so hard to overcome. It can be a powerful narrative turn when used properly (See: Zuko in Book 2 of AtLA). But without proper buildup, without us seeing the work they've put into bettering themselves, how am I supposed to care when they just start acting the way I've always known them to act? ESPECIALLY when I've only seen the new and improved Lars for all of two minutes? I just... felt nothing...

This really could have been a great chance to actually finally redeem Lars. They could have given him a few episodes with just him and the off-colors learning to trust each other and to work as a unit. We could have seen actual character development. Plus, we could've finally had the planet-hopping space action that (many of us) have always wanted from the show! But, no, god forbid we not have Steven in a single episode, god forbid we actually look at the world from someone else's perspective for once. Ugh.

And I guess that Jungle Planet was much better, but tbh I was just so sour at that point that I didn't even care all that much about the PD revelation. But these were the kinds of fun space adventures that I wanted from the show two seasons ago. Not to mention that the tension of being marooned was absolutely hamstrung by the 11-minute limit, as with most of the actual serious episodes, I find. Why don't they do more full half-hour blocks? Is it the crew's decision, or is it a Cartoon Network's mandate so as to make the show more stream-friendly?

EDIT: And I totally forgot to mention that, once again, the Crystal Gems have gotten shafted despite this being the exact sort of thing you'd want them around for. They're basically the Z-Fighters at this point, only more superfluous.

[Keltest]

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I could be misremembering, but isn't this like the second or third time we've seen Lars act like this? Its been a while, but I thought he acted kind of like this when they were trapped on the Island as well. It seems to me like this is the "real" Lars, and the way he normally behaves is an act brought on by teenage-ness and social discomfort.

[LaZodiac]

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I could be misremembering, but isn't this like the second or third time we've seen Lars act like this? Its been a while, but I thought he acted kind of like this when they were trapped on the Island as well. It seems to me like this is the "real" Lars, and the way he normally behaves is an act brought on by teenage-ness and social discomfort.

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Well yes that's kind of his entire character. Lars acts like a character from a show Lars would watch, basically. I had kind of hoped his time in space would of beat him from this. I can understand his concern about Sadie moving on from him, but dude...you're Captain ****ing Harlock now, you should be better than this.

Anyway the two new episodes where good enough. Seconding/thirding the feeling that Lars in Space was...eh. Jungle Moon was interesting but overall I'm just really tired. The 11 minute format plus the fact that the show just isn't Coming Out means it's just dead until a lot of it is out at once, to me.

[Rater202]

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So... when do Steven and Lars fuseto become Stars?

[Maryring]

Wow. The show's still going on? I thought CN had successfully killed it off by now.

*Watches*

... yeah it's okay but... I'm just left annoyed because I'll have to wait a whole 'nother year for more episodes and that's just exhausting.

[theNater]

Wow, it's been a while. Got some thoughts brought on both by rewatches and the new stuff. I'll organize it by character, I think. To be clear, though, any spoiler box may have stuff up to and including Jungle Moon.

Spoiler: Lars

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I'm really happy with where Lars is. My big worry was that he'd be completely self-assured, and his jealousy-based meltdown cleared that worry right up. He's still insecure and self-centered, he's just handling it better now that he knows he's not alone.

I'm a little confused by people saying we've missed some character development on him. He's not doing anything here he wasn't psychologically prepared to do by the end of Off Colors.

Spoiler: Jasper

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I grow increasingly convinced that if Jasper had emerged before the rebellion, she'd have been a Crystal Gem. Her big problem is that she's lonely, but since Homeworld culture discourages talking about feelings, she doesn't know she's lonely and assumes she feels bad because of Pink Diamond's absence. But if she still had those feelings in Pink Diamond's service, she'd probably have been open to other ideas. And Pink Diamond's childishness suggests the best Jasper could have hoped for in her court was a position of "favorite toy", which I doubt would have been satisfactory.

Spoiler: Stevonnie

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It occurs to me that we almost never see Stevonnie unfuse intentionally. And with their extended period together in Jungle Moon, I'm starting to wonder if the show is working up to them becoming a permafusion.

Spoiler: Pink Diamond

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She definitely felt like she had a lot to prove, which would have made it very hard for her to compromise when objections to the colonization of Earth popped up, or to back down if the rebellion started to do well. I could definitely see her pushing things hard enough and obsessively enough to make people think she could only be stopped by shattering.

[Friv]

Spoiler: Jasper

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I grow increasingly convinced that if Jasper had emerged before the rebellion, she'd have been a Crystal Gem. Her big problem is that she's lonely, but since Homeworld culture discourages talking about feelings, she doesn't know she's lonely and assumes she feels bad because of Pink Diamond's absence. But if she still had those feelings in Pink Diamond's service, she'd probably have been open to other ideas. And Pink Diamond's childishness suggests the best Jasper could have hoped for in her court was a position of "favorite toy", which I doubt would have been satisfactory.

Spoiler: Jasper

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Jasper did emerge before the rebellion - she fought in it. Presumably, her exceptional deeds there are why she's working for Yellow Diamond instead of being relegated to Zoo duty the way the rest of the Earth quartzes were.

[theNater]

Spoiler: Jasper

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Jasper did emerge before the rebellion - she fought in it. Presumably, her exceptional deeds there are why she's working for Yellow Diamond instead of being relegated to Zoo duty the way the rest of the Earth quartzes were.

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Jasper emerged during the rebellion. In Beta, Peridot tells us the beta kindergarten was a rush job, hastily assembled halfway through the rebellion as Homeworld scrambled to get more troops on the ground. Jasper confirms this in Earthlings, saying "I've been fighting from the second I broke free of the Earth's crust...because of what [Rose] did to my Diamond!"

That last bit suggests that Jasper's emergence occurred even after Pink Diamond's shattering, which Zircon tells us was "several hundred years" into the rebellion. Of course, with a thousand years of war,
that still leaves plenty of time for Jasper to fight.

[theNater]

So, a thought occurred to me today. Where was Rose keeping Bismuth before Lion? It'd have to be somewhere safe, but also somewhere the other Crystal Gems wouldn't look. Would her junk pile or her armory have worked, or is there somewhere else I'm forgetting?

Relatedly, how did Bismuth avoid becoming corrupted? I've been assuming Rose, Garnet, and Pearl were safe behind Rose's shield, Lapis was immune by virtue of being trapped in the mirror, and Amethyst by technically not existing at the time, but Bismuth has me stumped. I'd expect, given the scale of the conflict that other gems would have been poofed and bubbled at the time, but there's no indication that anybody else even might be unscathed, which makes me think that's not enough. Anybody got ideas?

[LaZodiac]

So, a thought occurred to me today. Where was Rose keeping Bismuth before Lion? It'd have to be somewhere safe, but also somewhere the other Crystal Gems wouldn't look. Would her junk pile or her armory have worked, or is there somewhere else I'm forgetting?

Relatedly, how did Bismuth avoid becoming corrupted? I've been assuming Rose, Garnet, and Pearl were safe behind Rose's shield, Lapis was immune by virtue of being trapped in the mirror, and Amethyst by technically not existing at the time, but Bismuth has me stumped. I'd expect, given the scale of the conflict that other gems would have been poofed and bubbled at the time, but there's no indication that anybody else even might be unscathed, which makes me think that's not enough. Anybody got ideas?

Bismuth was already bubbled by Rose at the time of the Light corruption, I'm pretty sure?

[theNater]

Bismuth was already bubbled by Rose at the time of the Light corruption, I'm pretty sure?

Right, but any prisoners of war the Crystal Gems had would presumably also have been bubbled at the time. If just being bubbled is enough, does that mean there's a small army of uncorrupted Homeworld loyalists floating around the temple?

[Lord Raziere]

Right, but any prisoners of war the Crystal Gems had would presumably also have been bubbled at the time. If just being bubbled is enough, does that mean there's a small army of uncorrupted Homeworld loyalists floating around the temple?

worse: ones that haven't woken since the end of a war so long ago that to humans its ancient to prehistory, and would probably not show any mercy to the people around them? they would probably still think they're at war and not be too clear on whats changed and not too keen on asking the Crystal Gems why. and of course, be completely unaware of the changes to Homeworld.

[Aquillion]

Right, but any prisoners of war the Crystal Gems had would presumably also have been bubbled at the time. If just being bubbled is enough, does that mean there's a small army of uncorrupted Homeworld loyalists floating around the temple?

Bismuth probably wasn't just bubbled, she was inside Lion's mane, which is sort of its own pocket dimension and wouldn't be affected.

It's also likely that Lapis was inside of Pearl's gem, since that's where she seems to have stored the mirror (and, therefore, Lapis was incidentally protected by Rose's shield.)