Steven Universe: here we are in the Future

Sailor Yue · Post by **Sailor Yue** (?) » Sat Mar 31, 2018 4:25 pm

So this just went up on cn's YouTube....

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Sat Mar 31, 2018 4:38 pm

The Crewniverse has a podcast where they talk about the show and some things. They talked about Jasper this one time and where she comes from in an emotional sense. It's some really good shit. It's nothing spoilery or that you couldn't piece together from the show, so I'll see if I can find the link.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Sat Mar 31, 2018 4:40 pm

http://podbay.fm/show/1261418557/e/1520 ... utostart=1

it's 21 minutes into this.

Sailor Yue · Post by **Sailor Yue** (?) » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:24 pm

So there's a new trailer out for Steven universe, in Spanish I think, that gives some massive implications on the gem war

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:41 pm

Episode synopses for the two parter in May. Spoilered in case people don't want to read.

1. "Can't Go Back" - Ronaldo spots something mysterious on the moon, and Steven goes to investigate..

We already know what this is about from the trailer earlier. Lapis put the barn on the moon.

2. "A Single Pale Rose" - Steven helps Pearl find her phone.

It's the second episode of a two parter and they've given it a bland, unassuming synopsis. I predict that shit is going to get real on this episode.

Sailor Yue · Post by **Sailor Yue** (?) » Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:42 am

That's how it goes doesn't it?

Daikatuna · Post by **Daikatuna** (?) » Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:50 pm

I will forever hate CN for what they did to this show.

(?) · Post by **Wayoshi** (?) » Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:21 pm

^ Clarify? You mean "forcing" Steven into it or the scheduling of episodes?

Daikatuna · Post by **Daikatuna** (?) » Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:50 pm

The terrible scheduling.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 8:50 pm

Watched the two parter today and

okay they're actually doing this.

I can't believe Rose Quartz is fucking dead.

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 9:36 pm

So, Pink Diamond is Steven.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 9:51 pm

Jasper's gonna freak out

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 10:12 pm

So, Steven's mom...

Ended up getting an entire race imprisoned.

Got all but 5 of her followers killed because she didn't think her sister's loved her.

This show is amazing.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 10:19 pm

Killed?

Oh no no, much worse.

The Ghost of Ember · Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:56 pm

Yeah, I didn't want it to be true but it was pretty obvious for a long time.

The Doctor wrote: ↑
Mon May 07, 2018 10:12 pm

Ended up getting an entire race imprisoned.

Got all but 5 of her followers killed because she didn't think her sister's loved her.

It's also cause her sisters were space feudalists who have no problem with space genocide, that whole plot arc about that abandoned colony wasn't just pink diamond foreshadowing, it was also showing that the diamonds were quite willing to commit space genocide when they could manage it (they failed in that instance) and earth wasn't unique.

I don't buy the line of criticism of this twist that Rose Diamond should've been able to do what she wanted with the colony as princess god emperor, so her radical ideas about not hollowing it out an to make more gem soldiers for the glorious gem war machine would be automatically be allowed and accepted. Space feudalism still has all of feudalism rules, and minor nobles only have a portion of power.

I do have some major concerns about how this plays out. Democratic revolution being a gift to the commoners by a better breed stinks of classism. Considering there's going to be some fallout from this I hope they'll circumvent that, but I'm concerned.

(?) · Post by **Void Chicken** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 11:08 pm

Explains why Pearl doesn't like to shape shift.

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** (?) » Mon May 07, 2018 11:15 pm

How the hell did she hide this from Sapphire?

The Ghost of Ember · Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:56 pm

The Doctor wrote: ↑
Mon May 07, 2018 11:15 pm
How the hell did she hide this from Sapphire?

Sapphire's power seems to borrow from the tradition of the Mentat and Psychohistory as far as tropes go, where the characters can determine probabilities but not determine their certainty. Sapphire can determine you're probably going to go to work on Friday, but she also knows there's a infinitesimally small chance you'll turn into a water buffalo on Friday. Which of these possibilities she thinks is most likely has also been demonstrated to be determined by her frame of mind and what she already knows. Garnet knows people don't turn into water buffalos too often, so she dismisses that possibility out of hand.

For instance: Garnet didn't know the cluster was planted on earth. Garnet might have had a prediction where the earth suddenly was destroyed by a giant gem geoweapon, but since she didn't know of that geoweapon she dismissed it as a water buffalo scenario.

The same could not be said of Padparadscha though, she'd pick out Rose Diamond in a second since she appears to have perfect past-vision, but Padparadscha's are probably rare and Homeworld is dogmatic about purpose and so cannot understand her power.

(?) · Post by **Void Chicken** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 12:06 am

It's also possible that Sapphire saw the cover story: Rose shanking Pink Diamond and then there's a bunch of shards. Whether or not she approved of it or mentioned it beforehand can be debated, but she'd see it happen the same way everyone else did.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 12:20 am

How long did she have this planned? Is this why she asked Bismuth to make the sword the way it is?

Either way, Bismuth got a real bad deal out of this whole turn of events huh

Adiwan · Post by **Adiwan** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 10:24 am

Steven seeing Pink Diamond's perspective in his dreams makes suddenly a lot of more sense now.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 10:35 am

Pearl's story gets sadder and gayer every time.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 10:37 am

One little detail I noticed which is easily forgotten in the grand scheme of things.

Just how many womens phone numbers has Pearl got now?

Screenshot

Wow nice.

Highbrow Dash · Post by **Highbrow Dash** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 6:59 pm

Huh, you'd think this would've been an obvious twist (it sure seemed like it a couple seasons ago) but they managed to make it really surprising. I'm impressed.

(?) · Post by **Wayoshi** (?) » Tue May 08, 2018 7:07 pm

I'm not sure where they're going to go from here after this season is over (and I am aware of the dumb omegaspoilers from last week when saying this).

Then again, this show has gone at a snail's pace, so what will change exactly if it does go to a Season 6?

The Ghost of Ember · Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:56 pm

Highbrow Dash wrote: ↑
Tue May 08, 2018 6:59 pm
Huh, you'd think this would've been an obvious twist (it sure seemed like it a couple seasons ago) but they managed to make it really surprising. I'm impressed.

Eh, I was on board with R=PD since the get go and never really lost faith. They tried their best to obfuscate, to the point that I think they pulled some things that are nonsensical, but it remained a pretty logical conclusion from the get go.

They used a cheat in never actually setting explicit rules. They left the audience to conclude that while gems could shapeshift, they couldn't move the position of their gem. This was never made explicit, but the audience is always going to assume what is demonstrated is the status quo. That some people are upset with PD shifting the position of her gem during shapeshifting/reformation is somewhat legitimate.

The 'PEARL IS EVIL' jumpscare at the end of Can't Go Back also serves no purpose and makes no sense outside of fake foreshadowing. They should've just kept it to Pearl clutching her mouth when PD came up.

There's probably other instances, but those were the two things where I said 'well, that's a little suspect in the service of preserving your twist'

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 2:31 am

This episode aired a few days ago I'm now going to stop using spoiler tags, here's your warning.

I always saw Rose = PD as the most likely scenario, but also the one I liked the least. Having Rose be Pink undermines what Rose was fighting for, makes the whole long arc about forgiving Rose's war crime a complete fart, and hands too much power to Steven without Steven doing anything for it. For these reasons I fought against the theory.

I do like that they played it as a fun thing Pink and Pearl did together. My thoughts now are "okay you did it in a cool way even if I still have reservations"

Adiwan · Post by **Adiwan** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 7:22 am

Never forget the Cookie Cat betrayal.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 9:20 am

She left her family behind.

(?) · Post by **Void Chicken** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 1:43 pm

The foreshadowing

Also I noticed a while ago that throughout all of her history, Rose's appearance never changed, suggesting she'd never been poofed.

The Ghost of Ember · Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:56 pm

Strangething · Post by **Strangething** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 4:33 pm

Highbrow Dash wrote: ↑
Tue May 08, 2018 6:59 pm
Huh, you'd think this would've been an obvious twist (it sure seemed like it a couple seasons ago) but they managed to make it really surprising. I'm impressed.

For a while I thought it might have been Yellow Diamond.

(?) · Post by **Wayoshi** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 4:41 pm

West Filly wrote: ↑
Wed May 09, 2018 2:31 am
Having Rose be Pink undermines what Rose was fighting for, makes the whole long arc about forgiving Rose's war crime a complete fart, and hands too much power to Steven without Steven doing anything for it. For these reasons I fought against the theory.

I don't understand this argument. Of course the show is about to address the underlying irony in all of this, it doesn't make it a waste of storytelling.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 4:54 pm

Addressing this is a way to redeem this. Specifically that the idea of a Rose Quartz rebelling against the diamonds was an inspiration, it supports the idea that any gem can be anything they desire. Now that Rose Quartz is a lie, there's little to be inspired about. The idea that the rebellion outsmarted or outperformed homeworld "against all odds" falls flat when you realise that Rose Quartz played both generals. Also, out of pure privilege, the idea that any gem can be anything rings less true from the mouth of a diamond.

If the show addresses this I'll be more satisfied with the outcome. Until that point, I'm pissed off that they ruined a good underdog story in favour of Pink Diamond wanting to live like the common people.

I'm not 100% dunking on the story though. It has the advantage of opening up new unknowns, and I like the way it's a secret that Pearl and Rose shared. Also, you can maybe spin it that the moral is "you can change" or something along the other themes which have been mentioned. There's potential for a good story to come of this it just needs to be actualized. Until then, we're left sat in the crater where all the story we once had was stood.

Maybe I'm coming from the wrong angle, though. This might not be a story with a conclusive theme, it might be a "some things happen" kind of story.

(?) · Post by **Wayoshi** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 5:05 pm

It's clear that PD thought she was unloved by her sisters and was quite immature. She did the right thing (start a war against the class system of the gems) for selfish reasons, a common trope. She mismanaged everything, kinda ran away from her problems, and especially with Bismuth's Breaking Point weapon, it got out of control fast, and that's where all her regret came from.

The deconstruction of Rose is still ongoing, but this was the biggest step in that so far.

(?) · Post by **Void Chicken** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 5:08 pm

It's been clear for a while that Rose did a lot of shitty things. This doesn't change that. It amplifies them, really.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 5:36 pm

The tension was much clearer when Steven was just inheriting a rebellion that opposed the authority. Not just the Crystal Gems of old but the many new gems he's brought in to this movement since.

Now he's inheriting this whole mess and trying to understand what you're saying makes me thing I'm actually too dumb to understand where the story is going. It just seems to me that making Steven a recognised figure of the diamond authority takes all the present day tension out of Rose's rebellion and tries to wind up something in a family reunion with the diamonds.

Why build the tension to begin with?

(?) · Post by **Void Chicken** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 5:42 pm

It's not clear why exactly Pink started the rebellion (or if it started on its own and Pink chose to help it). We know that she didn't like having the colony, either from the pressure of managing it, or her falling in love with Earth's native life and humanity. Might have been a combination of the two. What is clear is that she seriously screwed up, getting her entire rebellion all but destroyed and the Earth nearly Clustered.

An anti-authority rebellion being led by the authority itself does seriously undermine the purpose, and from the looks of the preview, Amethyst and especially Garnet do not take it very well. How things settle out from the revelation remains to be seen.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 5:44 pm

Wait that's a completely unrelated point I'm making let's get back on track.

West Filly · Post by **West Filly** (?) » Wed May 09, 2018 5:46 pm

Void Chicken wrote: ↑
Wed May 09, 2018 5:42 pm
It's not clear why exactly Pink started the rebellion (or if it started on its own and Pink chose to help it). We know that she didn't like having the colony, either from the pressure of managing it, or her falling in love with Earth's native life and humanity. Might have been a combination of the two. What is clear is that she seriously screwed up, getting her entire rebellion all but destroyed and the Earth nearly Clustered.

An anti-authority rebellion being led by the authority itself does seriously undermine the purpose, and from the looks of the preview, Amethyst and especially Garnet do not take it very well. How things settle out from the revelation remains to be seen.

If they're addressing it then I'll stick to what I said. It'll be interesting to see it addressed.