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how to tell if sugilite is real - win
Vilgax vs [ALIEN]
Ok, so quick disclaimer: It has been a long, long time since I last watched the series all the way through, so i am likely to get stuff wrong. Correct me as much as you want, please just be nice about it. I'll put an asterisk beside every alien I don't know as much about, or lack full confidence in my assessment of. So, this is basically a list of every alien and whether or not they could beat Vilgax alone. No previous alien beat down or outside help. Only reffering to OG series through to Ultimate Alien. Ignoring Omniverse as i know nothing about the aliens there. Conditions: There is no holding back in any way, Ben is blood thirsty. This is sixteen year old ben with experience against OG series vilgax for the sake of it being a proper fair fight, so no equipment aside from the Omnitrix. Vilgax dies however have his enhancements, as we rarely saw him without them. No time limits apply. Location: Indoor arena made of stone, no objects around to use to one's advantage. No getting in or out. Let's go. (And reminder that Ben's aliens do get stronger as he gets older, so certain aliens who lost in og series may win here) Orginal series Aliens: Grey Matter - No chance. At best there will be a game of cat and mouse, and maybe GM could do some smart nerve stuff to slow Vilgax down but ultimately he is getting crushed without any way to build or rewire stuff or escape. Vilgax wins. Wildmutt - Nope. a beating so bad, PETA will fall in love, while actual animal lovers die of horror. The only possible exception is if he managed to catch vilgax off guard fast enough to bite into his throat though im not sure that would even work. Vilgax wins. Upgrade - Something of a more even fight. Due to upgrades flexible body and somewhat enhanced strength this fight will drag out a little with Upgrade getting some good shots in, by morphing weapons out of his body. However despite that i believe he wasn't invulnerable, so if vilgax ripped him apart then he would be defeated. I think this could end in a draw, but without anything to upgrade, it is more likely to end in Vilgax's favour. Ripjaws - Yeah....no. Even were they underwater i'd expect Vilgax to annihilate rip jaws. On land this is just going to be a murder. Vilgax wins. Ditto - I honestly don't know if this would end worse than Ripjaws. It would go from a murder to a massacre. Vilgax wins. Eye Guy* - If he is able to mantain his distance, then I do in fact believe Eye Guy could defeat Vilgax. Unfortunately all it would really take for Vilgax to win is to punch him in the eye once then not let up an assault as i don't believe Eye Guy had strength to even match half of Vilgax. Way Big - Ok lets be nice to ben a moment and give him a win. Way Big could probably outright eat Vilgax and not even notice. Way Big wins. Blitzwolfer* - While he could likely scream Vilgax into a stunned state, it would take everything blitzwolfer has, beating on the stunned Vilgax and making well timed strategic retreats before he can recover. If he's too slow to retreat though, Vilgax will likely rip him to shreds. So this was is more in Vilgax's favour but certainly possible for Blitzwolfer to win. Buzzshock - Without any conducive materials and with Vilgax primarily using his fists in this fight, it is going to more or less be the same situation as grey matter but perhaps faster as Buzzshock will likely run out of energy. With no slicing apart, there is no cloning for more damage. Vilgax wins. Stinkfly - This one was tricky to me, due to us knowing stinkfly is capable of flying while carrying Vilgax's body weight. However, i believe that, with ben's age making his aliens stronger the adhesive goop stinkfly creates will be much harder for Vilgax to escape from. Certainly he can manage but it will take him a moment or two, giving stinkfly opportunities to strike with his tail. If he keeps Vilgax away while doing this throughout the fight he can win, but if Vilgax gets close enough to tear off Stinkfly's wings, and uses the potential disorientation to make ben worse at aiming he could beat down Stinkfly. Either way this would be a long and surprisingly matched fight compared to what i expected. Possibly draw, with a slight advantage on Stinkfly's side. Upchuck* - So initially I was ready to laugh this one off, then a thought struck me, i don't know how "strong" his ability to eat is. When i say that, i mean the sucking things in or biting them, just how strong those tongue things are. If they were strong enough to get off parts of Vilgax's prothestics then it could actually end up being a win for Upchuck by way of at least completely disabling Vilgax. I don't know if he can do that though so until i do, i'm giving it to Vilgax as aside from that possibility Vilgax stomps upchuck, even if he is surprisingly durable. Vilgax wins. Snare-oh* - Unless Vilgax had scussors on him because he was going to an arts and crafts fair, which i doubt, i'd actually have to give this to Snare-oh due to two moments. The recovery from being shredded in the fan and holding back fourmungosaur at around the same age we have him here. It would be a long, long, long fight as Snare-oh's strength couldn't compare to Vilgax but without time limits, he could play it like an endurance match. Of course Vilgax could win by trapping the bandages under foot, so that could be a problem. Still, with the skill and practice ben should have, i say Snare-oh will take this one just barely. Snare-oh wins. Frakenstrike* - Unfortunately i really don't have much to work with here, as i did the others but from what i do know, i'd say this would be a long and violent battle that would hinge upon how much electricity Frakenstrike could generate for one ultimate attack. As i could find nothing suggesting an immunity to electricity from Vilgax nor a good feat to see the upper limits of Frakenstrike's strength, this is the only way i can think of that would result in a definite victory. Otherwise i'm forced to call it a draw for now. Heatblast - Now finally we're onto the aliens from the orginal series we all actually care about in this scenario. For heatblast, i find myself a little stuck as we know that Vilgax was seemingly immune to heatblasts most powerful heatwave, and gwen called a 4 years old HB's temper tantrum super nova hot. For the sake of argument, and the fact that i'm pretty sure earth would of suffered far worse if gwen was right, i'mma say ben didn't reach supernova hot but he COULD given time and some practice. Assuming that to be true, i'd imagine even Vilgax would struggle against the intensity of those attacks. In that scenario, heatblast could win. If however you don't want to acknowledge that, then Vilgax wins. Wildvine - I'd imagine this would be a similar scenario to Snare-oh except faster due to the seeds he could produce giving him more advantages, as well as his vines being more versatile and potentially lethal. Wildvine wins. Ghostfreak - As long as he can dodge Vilgax's eye lasers, which i believe are a natural ability capable of canceling out intangibilty, Ghostfreak wins without any real doubt. Ghostfreak wins. Cannonbolt - Enclosed room, so yes this is pretty ideal for Cannonbolt. It's essentially the same scenario as when Ben fought Kevin on the arena ship during their escape, except we do know Vilgax is strong enough to punch Cannonbolt to a stop if he times his attack right. Honestly this would be a bit of a gruelling match but as long as ben can remain concious to keep going at it, Cannonbolt would win eventually. Cannonbolt wins. XLR8 - The best alien of the entire series, don't @ me. So, to check this properly i did some quick maths. Assuming OG series at ten years old he was capable of moving 500MPH, and ben 10,000 at 30 was able to travel globally in let's say for sake of argument 4 hours, we then know at age 30 XLR8 could move at 1979.375MPH. Of course, this likely isn't exact but works for our purposes, using multiplication we can find out XLR8's speed increased by four times in those 20 years. Half of it is 1000 and we realise it increases by 50 to 75 every year, assuming i haven't messed up somewhere. Taking the lowest number, at age 16 XLR8 should have a top speed of 1500MPH more or less. While yes Vilgax was able to react to og series XLR8, he caught XLR8 off guard and it was when he was much slower, in this case i have to give it to XLR8. XLR8 wins. Diamondhead - Diamondhead wins, with little to no room for doubt. While a younger Diamondhead may have shattered their body attacking Vilgax, age likely will have improved the structural integrity of the crystals and as a result allowed for a proper one on one brawl that Diamondhead could assuredly win through combat ability, though possibly it would also end up in a potential draw or loss until the rest of Diamondheads powers come in. With his ability to create crystals to entrap Vilgax over and over, projectiles he could aim at the head and the ability to turn his hands into crystaline maces of destruction Vilgax is the loser here. Diamondhead wins. Four Arms - This one is the most likely to flip back in forth in my mind, however i more settle upon Four Arms winning when ben's more experienced. Not only is older ben stronger but i believe the real issue ben had with the orginal four arms is he was so focused on the pure strength of FA he failed to rely on his actual combat abilities. By that i mean, to compare to Humungousaur from AF, who was pure strength through and through, Four Arms actually possessed great agility and an actual fighters build. Of course, as we are talking older ben, who should realize this AND is even stronger, this may be the most WWE of the fights that will ultimately go to Four Arms. Four Arms wins. Skipping over Spitter and Articguana as their only ben 10,000 in og Alien Force Aliens: Alien X - Lets just get the obvious out the way. If they agree, Vilgax is going to burst into jam everywhere. Otherwise if they get stuck arguing, Vilgax wins by default. Rath - LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING RANDOM REDDITOR WHOSE PROBABLY READING THIS BECAUSE THEY'RE A BORED LONER WHO DOESN'T WANT TO INTERACT WITH PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE, IF RATH THINKS RATH CAN WIN AGAINST VILGAX THAN RATH HAS ANOTHER THING COMING! RATH MAY MAKE A MASSIVE FIGHT AND A GREAT STAND AGAINST VILGAX BUT VILGAX WILL ANNIHILATE RATH! RATH CAN HURT HIM A LOT BUT RATH WILL BE TOSSED LIKE A RAGDOLL. VILGAX WINS. AGGGHHHHHHH. Nanomech - Apologies, no idea what came over me there. Anyways, Nanomech does have a dodging advantage of being so tiny he could easily hide away from Vilgax and so long as he's fast enough to avoid being swatted, fly inside Vilgax and start messing with his heart. Nanomech wins. Lodestar* - This one is entirely dependent on whether or not Vilgax manages to knock Lodestars head off. If he does the body coukd be defeated easily, though i have no idea of the regeneration ability will work like this. If it does, or Vilgax doesn't manage to knock of his head, this will be one of those long endurance matches that ultimately end up in Ben's favour. Brainstorm* - This is another one dependant upon a specific action but this time it's ben who'd need to use the mnemokinesis he once displayed to erase Vilgax's memories specfically of how to fight then fry him alive with so many electric blasts. If he doesn't, Vilgax basically just has to stomp him down and have crab meat for dinner. Chromastone - With a lack of energy sources, and Vilgax's "battle" against sugilite as a reference, while it may be relatively even at the start with Ben having some blasts ready as soon as he rund out he'll be beaten down hard. It will probably last a long time but eventually end with his shattering. Vilgax wins. Echo Echo - If Ditto wasn't terrible this is the result. Vilgax could stomp many of them but as more and more keep coming he's essentially facing a never ending army, who are capable of shattering steel with their ultrasonic screams. Pushed to the limit they might legit make Vilgax's head explode. Echo Echo wins. Jetray - I think this would be a long and frustrating fight on both sides, with Jetray moving to fast to catch and his eyebeams being fairly ineffective against Vilgax. It would either end in a draw or Vilgax eventually grabbing him and whaling on him. So tie with slight advantage to Vilgax. Goop - Endurance match that Goop was never going to lose. It's honestly unfair in a lot of ways. If want to end it even faster, goop could slime his way inside Vilgax and....yeah....Goop wins. Spider-monkey - The only way to win eith Spider-monkey is a battle of wits and skillful movement, amazing dodges and carefully executed and well timed strikes. I don't think it's impossible for Spider-Monkey to put up a good fight, even win if the stars align but i think it's very very unlikely for him to pull ut off as well as he'd need to. So i'm giving this one to Vilgax for now. Vilgax wins. Swampfire - For the most part this is the same as wildvine except he can physically brawl with Vilgax. His fire will likely do nothing though so debatably he's worse off. He could still win though. Swampfire wins. Big Chill - One of the faster fights, so long as he doesn't allow his intangibilty to be counteracted he could freeze vilgax, which he'd likely escape but he could freeze him from the inside, including the heart and outright shattering it. Or eat it, i suppose. Big Chill wins. Humongousaur - Remember what i said Before about Four Arms being more about combat ability and Humongousaur being about being strong? Yeah well in this fight Humungousaur stomps as hard, if not harder than Way Big. For one he could just grew to full size, which is about a third or halfway to way big size in of itself and even increases strength to fight or stay normal size where i believe he was still strong enough to lift a To'kustar. What im saying is, secret of chromastone really flaked us with that one fight. Humungousaur wins. Ultimate alien aliens: Any of the ultimates, sans Wildmutt - Yes, easily. Kind of the whole point really. Ultimates win. Ultimate wildmutt - maybe lasts longer than regular wildmutt but still gets a major beatdown in the end. Vilgax wins. Water Hazard - Water Hazard wins but only after a long, long fight. As both are are near invulnerable, and Waterhazard should be safe from energy and heat in this scenario, it comes down to going at it until Vilgax is beaten down. Water Hazard wins, barely. Terraspin - As long as Ben retreats into his shell at the right times, this should be a somewhat similar scenario to diamond head except purely brawling and thus taking much longer. Terraspin wins. Jury Rigg - I give him ten seconds before he becomes paste. Vilgax wins. Eatle* - I don't imagine he'd do very well, except under the same conditions i specified for Upchuck above. However i have never actually seen an episode with Eatle so i really am not qualified with this one. Based off what i do know, im going to say Vilgax wins for now. Chamalien - While he might do better than wildmutt, with Vilgax's hearing and knowing to look out for him his camouflage is worthless and his enhanced strength means nothing without the durability to last against Vilgax. Vilgax wins. AmpFibian - This ultimately ends up the same as Big Chill except with electrocuting the heart instead of freezing it. AmpFibian wins. Fasttrack - He will ultimately be torn apart, like he deserves as worst alien. He will however hold his own for a while i will admit. Vilgax wins. NRG - Another one i almost feel bad for Vilgax ending up against. Even with his durability taking punches from the material of that suit is going to hurt like hell and we know thats only to contain NRG's full power. Vilgax may be incredibly resistant to heat but i doubt even he can withstand direct continuous contact with what is essentially a living star. NRG just has to grab hold of Vilgax's head with his uncontained hands and it'll be over in moments. Shocksquatch* - I have no idea what this one's really capable of but from what I am aware of, i doubt he can generate enough electricity to ultimately stop Vilgax reaching him and when Vilgax does its over. Vilgax wins. Armodrillo* - If Ben can knock Vilgax over and place his drill hands over his head i might see him winning, otherwise it's finally an endurance match in Vilgax's favour. Clockwork* - Age Vilgax's body and armor to near death/destruction and just punch him full force with your heavy metal fist. Or erase him from time. Clockwork wins. Tl:dr: Vilgax wins: Grey Matter, Wildmutt, Upgrade, Ripjaws, Ditto, Eye Guy, Blitzwolfer, Buzzshock, Upchuck, Heatblast, Alien X, Rath, Chromastone, Jetray, Spider-monkey, Ultimate Wildmutt, Jurry Rigg, Eatle, Chamalien, Fasttrack, Shocksquatch, Armodrillo. Tie: Frakenstrike, Alien X, Lodestar, Brainstorm, Ben wins: Way Big, Stinkfly, Heatblast, Snare-oh, Wildvine, Ghostfreak, Cannonbolt, XLR8, Diamondhead, Four arms, Alien X, Nanomech, Echo Echo, Goop, Swampfire, Big Chill, Humungousaur, Ultimate Transformations, Water Hazard, Terraspin, AmpFibian, NRG, Clockwork.
Episodes 1-2Episodes 3-4Episodes 5-6Episodes 7-8Episodes 9-10Episodes 11-12Episodes 13-14Episodes 15-16Episodes 17-18Episodes 19-20Episodes 21-22Episodes 23-24Episodes 25-26Episodes 27-28Episodes 29-30Episodes 31-32Episodes 33-34Episodes 35-36Episodes 37-38Episodes 39-40Episodes 41-42Episodes 43-44Episodes 45-46Episodes 47-48Episodes 49-50Episodes 51-52Episodes 53-54Episodes 55-56Episodes 57+miscEpisodes 58-59Episodes 60-61Episodes 62-63 Alright, guys, we’re back with another reaction. Now, I know that a lot of people disagreed with my opinions on Sardonyx, and I feel like there might have been some miscommunication, so I’m going to spell out my current opinion on her and then move on. Sardonyx is a bully. She used emotional manipulation to hurt Amethyst and make herself seem better. That said, Pearl and Garnet are not bullies. They’re both unaware of how they’re hurting Amethyst. Pearl is blinded by the sheer joy she felt being Sardonyx, and Garnet most likely didn’t realize that the words she directed towards Sugilite were hurting Amethyst instead. Sardonyx is just like any other person in that she can change, so if something happens that I think will change her character, or if we see her again and she’s different, my opinion on her will change. I’m really surprised at how many people seemed upset by this interpretation. I don’t think I’ve had this negative a backlash on anything I’ve said, well…ever. I’ve responded to literally hundreds of comments about Sardonyx, which seems so strange to me because it was such a small part of my post, and I kind of feel like it took away the sense of friendly discussion in the comments. A lot of it was my fault, though. I think I just got tired of talking about Sardonyx, and started to get irritable, so I’m sorry if I came off strong on the subject. I think I’m about done talking about Sardonyx for now, so I’m sorry to tell you that I won’t be talking about her unless something new comes up. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into the episodes. You guys know the deal; keep spoiler free and keep the hype low.
Episode 64- Keystone Motel
Steven, Greg, and Garnet go on a road trip. [Editor’s note from the future: These episode descriptions get more and more vague every time. What the hell is this crap?] Written and Storyboarded by Raven M. Molisee, Paul Villeco andRebecca Sugar
“Pearl!” Pearl turns around in fear
Okay, so things must still be very tense with Pearl and Garnet. I wonder how Steven’s dealing with his parents fighting in the house? This is the first time they’ve brought their arguments home, that I can remember.
“Looking for Peridot!...For a few days straight.” Man, she’s really trying to make it up to Garnet, huh? Something tells me it’s not going to work.
Wow, have you guys noticed how applicable ‘Tower of Mistakes’ is to Pearl?
Maybe you're better off with her I think she's better for you I forgot how great it felt to be us Guess I got carried away I had to use you to make me feel strong But I don't care about that now I see a tower built out of my mistakes And it all comes crashing down Is there something I can do Is there something I can do Is there something I can do Can I make it up to you? How I feel so far with this Stevenbomb.
“I’m going to prove to her that she can trust me again.” It’s not that easy, Pearl. That’s something that Garnet and Garnet alone can decide.
Garnet’s not even talking to Pearl? Interesting. While none of this is Garnet’s fault, it’s interesting that she’s not ready to talk to Pearl yet.
“Who wants to go on a roadtrip?!” Yes, please, get me out of this house!
“Well, I gotta drive over to the next state, Keystone.” “You mean the Keystone state?” “Right, the state named Keystone.” Okay, this dialogue is pretty fucking hilarious. But also, Pennsylvania’s just called Keystone, then? And also, they’re taking a roadtrip to Pennsylvania? How radical is that!
“I don’t like those brushes. They feel weird on your fur.” ???
Oh, he’s talking about when he turned into an Akira cat monster. Gotcha.
Okay. “Keystone Motel.” They’re going to a motel in Keystone.
“I can’t wait to get room service!” “You’re thinking of a hotel. We’re going to a motel. It’ll have a pool, and free ice, and it’s right next to the best diner in the world.”
Garnet’s coming? So, the second Pearl gets to the house, she leaves, huh? I guess she can’t even be near Pearl right now.
Man, Garnet isn’t even acknowledging Pearl. That’s rough.
“You’re choosing to take it personally.” “It’s fusion, Sapphire! What’s more personal to us than fusion?!”
This is really interesting. I guess that explains why Garnet can’t talk to Pearl right now. She has two conflicting ideologies that are probably extremely confusing for her.
Hm...Ruby has a fair point, I suppose. It’s okay not to be the better person and let your emotions rule when something this traumatic happens. Besides, not forgiving Pearl is probably the responsible thing, to be fair. She doesn’t deserve to be let off the hook yet, even if it’s terrible to see Pearl so heartbroken.
“The channels are all the wrong numbers.” This is just one of many hundreds of reasons why television is absolutely terrible. The internet is 100 times better.
“Can you use your future powers to predict what channel I’d love the most?” What a wonderfully mundane use of her powers.
Wait a second, that’s something that Sapphire just has? I thought it was something that Garnet got from being a fusion. Huh.
Hm. Sapphire seems to be ignoring Ruby’s need for emotional catharsis here. She’s looking into the future, but she’s ignoring how Ruby feels in the present.
“She’s just letting her emotions get out of hand.” “Not you, though?” “No.”
“Sapphire? The toilet’s frozen.” “Such is fate.” Holy shit that’s funny.
“How’d it go?” “Well, he wasn’t an ax murderer, so that’s good.”
Oh my god, I just realized that Sapphire was talking about the pizza.
Man, this is a complicated episode. I think I’d probably give Ruby and Sapphire space, but I’m not sure that it would be the right decision. They clearly need to talk it out between them, but Sapphire’s too stubborn in her assuredness to consider Ruby’s feelings here, and Ruby’s too hotheaded to have a civil conversation, so I’m not really sure how they’d be able to talk at the moment.
Also, I guess that’s Ruby’s weapon. It seems remarkably similar to Garnet’s. It’s possible, I suppose, that Sapphire’s weapon is future vision, maybe? I don’t know what else could be added to Ruby’s, besides another gauntlet, of course.
Oh, Steven’s mad now. It’s been a long time since he’s been really mad.
“I was so happy when Garnet said she’d come on this trip with me and dad. Home’s been awful. Here’s been awful. I thought you wanted to have a fun time, but everyone’s been acting awful, too. It just came with us! I don’t understand, is it, is it me?” Steven’s clearly confused about what’s going on to think it’s his fault. From the outside, it’s pretty clearly a fight between Pearl and Garnet, but I can see how it might be more confusing from the inside, especially for Steven.
“But we made him feel like it was his fault.” Hrm… I don’t know if I buy this. It seems a little too unrelated to what actually happened. Maybe it’s the catalyst for their emotional change, but it feels a little weak to me.
“I keep looking into the future, when all of this has already been solved, as if it doesn’t matter how you feel in the present.” Okay, they’re addressing the actual issues now.
“Garnet, how are you?” “Not now.” Well, at least she told Pearl that she wasn’t ready to make up with her yet.
Closing Thoughts-
This was a good episode. It was really nice to see Ruby and Sapphire again. It’s nice to see these characters, although I really don’t think we’ll be seeing much of them. I’d say that we’ll get to see them as a treat, but I can’t imagine many scenarios where we’d see Garnet unfused in a happy situation. Still, they’ve both got wonderful energy, and seeing them fight on their second appearance certainly wasn’t expected. Seeing Pearl try to make Garnet appreciate her was pretty sad. Actually, most of this episode was. There was just this growing sense of disappointment in the characters throughout this entire episode that really made me feel terrible. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. The music was really lovely in this episode, and I enjoyed it a ton. Hopefully, we start to get some closure into this situation in the next few episodes. Onto the next one!
Episode 65- Onion Friend
Steven and Amethyst visit the strange world of Onion's house; Amethyst catches up with her old friend Vidalia. Written and Storyboarded by Lamar Abrams and Katie Mitroff
I have no idea who this episode could possibly be about. I wish there was some sign in the title, or something.
Hey, that’s clever. Steven couldn’t do that in Together Breakfast, so Garnet had to do it for him. How far we’ve grown, huh?
Also, ‘Chaaaps’ seems like a Rick and Morty thing.
“It’s a special flavor that’s only in stores for a limited time!” I don’t mess with that kind of stuff for this exact reason. Well, not this exact reason, but whatever.
“Vidalia?!” Oh, okay. This is Onion’s mom, then. This pretty much confirms my theories. Onion and Sourcream are stepbrothers, and I’m pretty sure Marty’s Sourcream’s father.
It’s really nice seeing Amethyst interact with someone positively for once. Everything’s been so awful, and it’s fantastic to see Amethyst feel comfortable again.
“You don’t know what I’ve done in these shows!” :^)
“You’re Onion’s mom?!” I mean, the hair and the name kind of give it away, Steven.
“Steven, he loves talking about you!” :^|
A dinner scene, eh? Perhaps we can make up for the…lackluster one in Fusion Cuisine. Lamar’s even a writer on this episode!
“Oh, it’s just a little dish I like to all Nooodles And Butter.” How has Amethyst never had buttered noodles before?
“Check this guy out! I used to be bigger than him.” This is a really sweet episode. It’s nice to just have a little interpersonal scene without enormous emotional stakes on the line.
This is really sad. They have a schedule for when Onion’s dad gets home, and it looks like he’s only home a couple weeks in the year.
Okay, so Marty is now confirmed to be Sourcream’s father.
“It’s just been me and Yellowtail for a while now.” Okay, we’ve got it all spelled out now. Vidalia had a kid with Marty, left him, got married to Yellowtail, and had another kid with him.
It’s interesting, though. I can’t think of many kids’ shows that have step siblings. Drake and Josh is the only one that comes to mind. I think it comes from this presentation that romance has to last forever, and showing that people can be happy after splitting up kind of damages that.
Something similar actually happened to me last night! The power on the entire block went out for a couple hours. It’s why I didn’t get a post up yesterday.
“What can you do? Kids gotta express themselves.” That’s a really nice attitude to have.
He’s got a snake? That’s a pretty radical pet. I assume that the mouse is food for the snake. That seems pretty expensive to keep up, though. Any snake owners out there? Got anything to add to this?
Everything’s gotta eat, Steven.
Wait, why the hell does Onion have a video of him being born?! What parent gave that to him?
Also, is this Steven’s first time seeing a vagoogoo? Or has he felt…the urge?
“It’s awful at home. I feel trapped.” I like how the Garnet-Pearl situation is affecting everyone. There’s no real escape from tension in that tiny house, so everyone has to deal with each other. I feel like they all need some space right now.
Come on, there has to be some good fanfic of these two, right? Perhaps suggesting some a little more...intimate?
“Okay, Onion. Let’s do this.” Aw, he’s playing with Onion to give Amethyst more time to be out of the house.
“You have Gals, too?!” I wonder what that acronym stands for.
Oh god, thinking about acronyms is just making me want to watch KND again. Fuck me, that was an amazing show.
“Karen!” That kind of looks a little like Rebecca Sugar.
Aw, Onion gave him one of his Gals. I wonder what his rationale is. It’s a shame we don’t know more about what makes him tick, because he’s one of the most interesting townspeople we have.
“I can stop by anytime if you need…inspiration.” They banged. I refuse to believe otherwise.
This was an interesting little episode. It seemed like we were going to learn more about Onion, but he remains an engima to us. No, we spent this episode exploring an old relationship Amethyst has with Vidalia, which is quite interesting. Of ourse Amethyst would be the one to make friends with a human! Hearing her talk about Garnet and Pearl was quite interesting, though. I really enjoy how much they’re impacting everyone around them. It gives the situation a lot of weight. I’m also glad that we’ve 3 episodes now without a resolution. This is a real issues that’s going to take time to solve, and so letting us experience that alongside the cast is a great choice. There wasn’t much going on in terms of animation or music, but the episode didn’t really need anything special to do its job, and it did it quite well. My current episode standings are-
Top Ten Episodes
Alone Together
Rose’s Scabbard
We Need to Talk
Keeping it Together
Sworn to the Sword
On the Run
Lion 3: Straight to Video
Winter Forecast
Cry For Help
Coach Steven
10. Laser Light Cannon Next up, my vocal tracks-
Top Five Vocal Tracks-
Do it for her
Stronger Than You
On the Run
Strong in the real way
Let yourself be wherever you are
Finally, my BGM’s-
Top Ten BGM's
I’m Still Here
Theme from an Endless Romance
Glitch City
Be Cool at the Nightclub
Lapis' Tower
Night Drive
Twilight Run
Alone Together
The Cave
The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
I'm planning on going back and listening to all of the BGM's again, since I've been a little lax here, so you'll probably see some changes in this list over the next few posts. Thanks for reading, guys! As usual, keep spoiler free and keep the hype low. Finally, a question-
Keeping in mind the news about Samurai Jack, what show do you think should get one last season?
Also, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t on before, and I didn’t hear any cues that suggested that it was being turned on, so it was a little jarring to just have it be there.
“It feels like we’ve been searching for lightyears!” “Uh, lightyears measures light, not years.” Uh...that doesn’t really make any sense. That’s like saying ‘Mph’s measure cars”. It doesn’t measure the object that travels, it measures the distance the object travels.
Something interesting that I just noticed. Before, Lapis’ hair went forwards, but here it’s actually going out to the sides, like ArmsLegs’ hair.
Okay, this is really creepy stuff. I like that Steven immediately realizes that this isn’t normal, too. I feel like a lot of shows would have ran with Steven thinking that it was a dream for some time, but it feels like he knows right away that something’s up.
Pearl interrupts the dream? Unlucky.
Oh, I just realized, Pearl was actually just watching Steven sleep, wasn’t she?
I quite like the idea that Pearl’s never slept before in her life. It’s always wonderful, watching Steven introduce her to aspects of human life.
I wish I could remember my dreams like Steven. I forget almost all of my dreams when I wake up, and even the ones I remember are more bits of visuals or emotions than anything solid.
“I hope the rumors about Dogcopter in the tabloids aren’t true.” I just avoid learning anything about celebrities for this very reason. It’s one of the reasons I don’t look up any musicians that I like. Also, I don’t like knowing what a musician looks like. Does anyone else feel that way?
By the ways, I am looking very intently for any subtle hints or metaphors we might get in this dream, but I don’t think I’ve found anything really substantial yet.
I like how this looks. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a single color dominating most of the screen, but it just looks fantastic. It’s very clean looking, I think.
By the ways, have yinz seen the behind the scenes video for Samurai Jack? I’m very excited for it now.
Lapis! Like, the actual Lapis? It seems like it, but what does that mean? How is Steven able to communicate with her?
I like that Pearl immediately realizes that Steven’s serious and stops to listen to him. We’re seeing Steven mature, and the people around him are starting to respect him in a more adult way.
“Steven, you could be using your dreams to connect with her mentally.” How, though? What allows him to do this?
“Maybe Lapis can just tell you where they are.” Hm… I don’t think she will. Remember that whole ‘You’re going to be my prisoner forever’ thing?
“Oh! I know this is a dream, now.” Okay, so we’re lucid dreaming now. Will this impact how Steven can interact with Lapis?
“I can imagine anything I want, like...a mashed potato.” Is not potato but is actually in fact fish “Hrm…”
This is very interesting, visualy. Lapis said that Jasper would be her prisoner, but it looks more like she’s being held here than anything else.
Woah, that’s cool. She’s holding them down with the weight of the entire ocean? How strong is ArmsLegs then? Jesus!
Woah, this is absolutely awesome looking! So they’re each fighting to be in control, and only one of them can be on top at any one time? What a fascinating relationship they have with each other.
I’m not going to lie, I leaned away from my monitor when she said that.
Man, this whole scene is really well done. This music is pretty fantastic, too. It actually kind of reminds me a little of Cell’s Theme, but with less of an emphasis on being badass and more on creepy horror.
Man, what a beautiful shot. Seriously, show someone Gem Glow and then show them this image, and I doubt that they’d even realize it’s the same show.
“Don’t look for me. I don’t want your help!” Yikes. Lapis clearly needs help, but she’s so stuck in this weird power struggle mentality that she doesn’t want it at all.
“Just let me do this for you!” Seriously, what is it with the Lapis-Pearl similarities? We keep seeing them share lines and delivery over and over again. There’s got to be a reason for it.
“We’re Malachite now.” Malachite? What a cool fucking name! It’s just got a great ring to it.
Oh, I see, they modeled their...mindscape place...after the actual gemstone.
Wow, what a terrifying shot. Something about the emotions on Malachite’s face really interest me, though. There’s confusion, surprise, and some subdued anger.
“Amethyst was on a skateboard, and then Dogcopter meowed at, and then was just not interested in what I had to say at all, and I might have some issues I need to work out, but Lapis! She’s out there and she’s still-” “Sh...I know you’re worried, but there’s nothing we can do right now, so let’s take it easy.
This was a really great episode. First off, learning Malachite’s name was really cool, and the way we learned it was even better. Everything in that scene was pretty amazing. The animation was especially fantastic there, I think. The way Lapis and Jasper looked absolutely exhausted and defeated was really great, and their expressive emotions were really well animated. Most of the early stuff was really fun, especially anything with Pearl, and so hitting the dark stuff with Lapis was really unexpected and carried a lot of weight. I thought this would be a lighter episode, but it turns out that there’s no such thing in Steven Universe! I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes, so let’s get into the next episode.
Episode 63- Cry For Help
Steven's favorite TV show gets interrupted by a magical disturbance. Written and Storyboarded by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu
“You guys should form Sugilite!” Maybe not the best idea, considering what happened last time. Still, Amethyst and Garnet are pretty different now, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
Nevermind, I guess they’re not going with Sugilite. I don’t think Opal would be equipped to handle this, and the gems on their own wouldn’t, so either the tower doesn’t get destroyed right away, or we finally get to see Garnet and Pearl fuse.
This is so interesting. Why did Amethyst and Pearl both react so strongly to fusing with Garnet? Is there something special about it? Maybe it’s because Garnet’s already a fusion. You’d think they would have a similar reaction when they formed Alexandrite, though, if that was the case.
Wow, that’s really sensual. I don’t think I could imagine seeing something like this in a children’s cartoon 5 years ago.
Then again, five years ago I was a snotty little brat who probably thought that I was too cool for cartoons. I don’t think there was much good on at the time, though.
Man, I am loving this fusion dance a ton. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen one, and this one is really enjoyable to watch. I’m also very excited to see what exactly comes out of this fusion, though, so there might be a little bias there.
Wait, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed this before, but their gems glow when they do fusion dances!
“This is the lovely Sardonyx coming to you live from the soon to be former communication hub. How are y’all doing tonight?” Interesting! She’s got a performance theme. I really was not expecting something like this. It’s really creative, and I don’t think I could have guessed anything like it at all.
Also, I’ve noticed that I’ve slowly gotten used to the enormous amounts of hype this show gives me for fusions. Just so you know, I’m crazy excited, but I don’t think it would be very interesting to hear me say the same thing every time we saw a new fusion or character, so I try to tone it down a bit and keep to a discussionary tone.
I’ve been narrowing down exactly what I’m getting from Sardonyx, and it feels like she’s a performer or magican from Las Vegas. I could see her cohosting Penn and Teller easily.
Interesting that Amethyst feels so down about this whole situation. I can really understand it, though. Garnet basically told Amethyst that she was the reason Sugilite failed, since Sardonyx is so ‘perfect’. I’m thinking that Cry For Help is going to have a second meaning, and we’re going to spend most of this episode dealing with the emotional baggage that Amethyst has.
Okay, that’s awesome. Actually, Sardonyx is giving me a real “Fairly Odd Parents” vibe, too! Man, that show was so good before it was Spongebob’d.
“Are you gonna smash stuff with your warhammer?” “Hm...Smash is the word one would use to describe what someone else might do.” Ah, I see we still have Pearl’s saltiness in there.
“The proper words to describe yours truly are...Specific! Intelligent! Accurate! Faultless! Elegant… “ Man, I love the delivery on this line. It’s making it clear to me that Sardonyx has as many issues as Sugilite does, even if they’re not as apparent or outwardly destructive. She seems to enjoy making Amethyst feel absolutely awful. She’s a bully who seeks attention and hurts people in all the little, subtle ways that you can’t call her out on. The exact kind of person I hate the most. I’ve known a couple Sardonyx’s.
Sardonyx also has amazing delivery. I wonder who her voice actress is…
Alexia Khamide, huh? She really nailed it here. Good Jorb, Alexia!
Well, that was a lovely scene! I quite enjoyed that. I think I hate Sardonyx as a person, but she’s a really interesting character and I hope we get to see more of her.
Well, now we’ve seen all of the Crystal Gem fusions. I think that, of the four of them, my favorite is probably Opal, even though we’ve seen so little of her.
Garnet’s “We were awesome” is kind of adorable. It’s a shame that all of these happy feelings are going to be twice as painful as they were adorable when we get to Amethyst.
“Why, Pear? Why did you lie to me?” “I didn’t mean to…” Poor Pear. We might be getting a little metaphor here for Pearl and Garnet, I think. They hurt Amethyst without meaning too.
Huh. The signal came back? I guess Peridot went and fixed the place again. Why didn’t Sardonyx fully destroy the place? Just absolutely ruin it?
Oh, I see. Sardonx, consciously or unconsciously, left the place unbroken so that she could be in the limelight again.
Yeah, I really do not like Sardonyx. She’s putting people at risk and humiliating Amethyst. Clearly Garnet and Pearl are too caught up in themselves to notice what’s happening, but I hope Steven does soon, because I really feel absolutely awful for Amethyst. Nobody should have to go through something like that.
Man, this song is already starting off with some heavy emotions.
“I had to use you to make me feel strong, but I don’t care about that now.” I’m already crying and we’re maybe 10 seconds into the song. Shit. I’m going to die here.
“Can I make it up to you?” Jesus, that’s some tough stuff right there. Amethyst thinks that she’s to blame because Garnet, Pearl, and Sardonyx are all telling her. The worst part, though, is that there’s some truth to what they’re saying. Amethyst and Garnet messed up, and that’s partially Amethyst’s fault. She needs to realize, though, that it’s Garnet’s, too, and they need to find somewhere to meet in the middle here.
They’re doing a stakeout for Peridot? I don’t think that’s going to magically solve all of their relationship issues.
“It’s Peridot’s escape pod. She...fixed it somehow?” “But I thought we had it!” Oh...OH…
So, which one is it going to be? Garnet or Pearl? Maybe both? But I don’t think Garnet would actually be on board with this one. What was it Amethyst said again? I had to use you to make me feel strong? Seems to me like Pearl is our lucky contender.
Yeah, this is super shitty. Pearl’s lying to Garnet for emotional enjoyment. It’s basically sex under false pretenses. This is almost as shitty as what Sadie did to Lars.
“Garnet! It’s the hub again.” What, like this one?
“Stop!” I have no idea why, but I swear that Amethyst sounds exactly like Ash Ketchum here. Also, it’s good that Amethyst is stopping this before it can get any further. A relationship built on something as negative as this is bound to fail horribly.
I love this shot. Being able to see both of them in real time is absolutely great for an emotional scene like this one. I could also pretty reasonably construct a metaphor about how we’re looking through Pearl’s perspective and she’s only seeing herself and what she did, although I don’t know if this will stand up at all to what’s about to happen.
And Amethyst comes to Pearl’s defense here? That’s really interesting. I notice that we haven’t dealt with the emotional impact of Sardonyx hurting Amethyst yet, so I’m wondering if we’re going to hold onto that one for awhile. If there’s one thing characters in Steven Universe are good at, it’s holding onto negative emotions.
Oh my god, I had my metaphor so close. I thought this episode’s focus would be about Pearl hurting Amethyst when it was actually about Pearl hurting Garnet.
“Man, it sure would be nice if things worked out the way they do in cartoons…” “Yeah, it would.” So we’re holding this for later, then? What a way to end an episode.
Oh shit, there’s a totally different ending theme! I really like it’s drifting ambient tones. It reminds me a lot of something you might find on the Transistor soundtrack. Maybe like a more relaxed Coasting? It’s good, though. I like it a lot.
Closing Thoughts-
This was a powerful episode. We met Sardonyx, who’s a manipulative, attention-seeking bully, and we learned that Pearl’s willing to lie to people to feel better. We also learned that Amethyst blames herself for Sugilite’s behavior exclusively, and we got some really tense drama between all of the characters. This is probably the worst we’ve seen the gems be to one another and themselves. This episode was really interesting to watch because it does a complete 180 on where it seems to be going about two thirds of the way through the episode. There’s so much to talk about with this episode, but I want to hold onto it for awhile until I have a better sense of what’s going to happen. Still, this was a great episode, and I really enjoyed it. On to my episode list-
Top Ten Episodes
Alone Together
Rose’s Scabbard.
We Need to Talk
Keeping it Together
Sworn to the Sword
On the Run
Lion 3: Straight to Video
Winter Forecast
Cry For Help
Coach Steven
10. Laser Light Cannon I rearranged a couple episodes after rewatching some of the older stuff, so this might not be exactly the same as it was before. Next up, my vocal tracks-
Top Five Vocal Tracks-
Do it for her
Stronger Than You
On the Run
Strong in the real way
Let yourself be wherever you are
After the next song, I plan on extending vocal tracks to top ten so look out for that. Finally, my BGM’s-
Top Ten BGM's
I’m Still Here
Theme from an Endless Romance
Glitch City
Lapis' Tower
Night Drive
Twilight Run
Alone Together
The Cave
The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
Love like you(The Ocean Returns)
Thanks so much for reading, guys! As usual, keep your comments spoiler free and keep the hype low. Finally, a question-
Who’s your favorite animated character that you love to hate? Can be from any source, anime included.
When Lion will not stop lying on Steven's face while he sleeps, Steven awakens to discover himself in a different world. Written and Storyboarded by Joe Johnston, Jeff Liu, and Rebecca Sugar
R-Rebecca Sugar? Oh, no. You guys warned me about episodes with her name on them…
The sound that they played over the title card was different. It was extended a little. I didn’t notice until I went back to grab a screenshot, but it’s different sounding.
Oh, dear. This episode is starting with Steven explaining how he doesn’t want to get the same thing that he always does. This episode is going to be different, isn’t it?
I like how chill Sadie is with Steven’s lion. I assume that this is the first time that she’s ever seen Lion.
Why is Lion specifically pushing Steven into his chest? Does it have something to do with that pink location we just saw? It seems probably, considering that we already know that Lion can store things in his body. I would take a guess that he has some kind of mini-dimension inside of his body.
Pearl watches Steven sleep? I guess that makes sense, if she doesn’t sleep. That’s 12 hours of not much going on.
I’m pretty sure that Steven just said “I’m a growing boy and I need some arrest” instead of rest. I don’t know how that one slipped through.
OH MY GOD PEARL’S FACE! Holy shit that is incredibly adorable and I now instantly love Pearl 12x more!
“Making art is all about communication. A piece of art is a conversation.” Not sure I really agree with this. Art is interpretive, and can and should be deconstructed for multiple perspectives. If art was really just about portraying your feelings as simply as possible, then we wouldn’t have abstract art, for instance.
Also, this dog kind of sounds like Markiplier. I’ve watched some of his videos.
It’s interesting that Lion is actively trying to show this place to Steven now, though. What could have happened that made Lion decide to share this with Steven? It’s similar to the room that he showed Steven in Lion 2, where for some reason he decided that Steven was ready for it? Maybe something along those lines?
“It’s a trap!” I was going to link this, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have to. You all know the reference.
He brought out claws? He really, really wants Steven to see this place.
Also, I find it interesting that, wherever this place is, Steven can’t breathe, especially considering that there is wind here. Whatever the atmosphere it comprised of, it’s not particularly human-oriented.
I really like the idea that he has to come out to breathe a lot, although it would be kind of awesome to have Steven chill in this alternate dimension for awhile while Lion takes him places.
I like how the music is handled here. The music never pauses. We just miss parts of it when Steven leaves Lion’s pocket dimension. It creates this sense that this is a place that has existed on its own for some time.
Oh no. What is this? I see a chest, what looks like a t-shirt, something in a bubble, and maybe a flag? Oh! And the sword from Lion 2! I guess this is definitely the same place, then!
I have no idea what the fuck this is. I’m guessing that we’ll get a better idea later on in the series. We’ll probably have no idea what most of this means until much later.
So we finally get to see Rose’s eyes. This is the perfect moment to reveal them to us. This is the most personal moment we’ve ever experienced with Rose.
“You’re going to be something extraordinary. You’re going to be a human being.”
“What in the world did you guys watch?!” Basically my mom right now.
“Hey, mom? You know how I said you didn’t have to make me those lunches anymore?” I’m fucking devastated.
Closing thoughts-
What an incredible and powerful episode. I’m kind of quiet right now. This was absolutely stunning. This was a perfect, quiet episode with a lot to say. The part that hit me the hardest was in Lion’s dimension, when we see all of the things that Rose left there. We have her war memorabilia, her sword, and then, right there, is a Mr. Universe t-shirt. That was absolutely devastating. I feel like I just let this episode wash over me when I watched it. The raw emotion of this episode just carried such a heavy weight to it that it felt like I was drowning in it. I don’t know how to describe it except by saying that I loved every second of it. Let’s watch the second episode. Poor second episode, it’s got to be rough to follow this one up.
Episode 36-Alone Together
The Gems try to teach Steven how to successfully use his fusion powers and it leads to a very surprising result. Written and Storyboarded by Hilary Florido, Katie Mitroff andRebecca Sugar
Why must you kick a downed man, Rebecca Sugar?! I’m barely alive after that last episode!
Oh, my. The overt sensuality of this scene is fascinating to me. I’m guessing that they’re teaching Steven how to fuse, right? So this may as well be “The Talk”. They’re telling him about adult, mature aspects of his body.
He’s awkward because he’s never had to interact with the gems like this before. This is interesting stuff. Still, though. It seems like the wrong way to go about this. When the characters fused, it wasn’t about specific details and form. It was about letting your emotions move you. I guess the gems don’t really know how to teach that, though, so dance itself might not be the worst thing to be teaching.
I love this shot so much! If I wanted to explain Steven Universe to someone with 1 image, I think I’d use this one.
“It’s really hard, even for us!” “Not for me.” Hrm… I guess that makes sense, considering that Garnet ha-
Garnet has two gems. Why had I never even considered this? Garnet has two gems! What if Garnet is a fucking fusion?! She’s way stronger than the other gems, and of course fusion would come easily to her if she was a fusion! Holy shit! I don’t know if this is anywhere close to enough evidence, but it’s totally possible!
“I wonder, though, if Steven’s body is capable of fusion.” I mean, why not? He shapeshifted before, right? Isn’t it a similar premise?
“It’s Steven! Who knows what’s gonna happen.” This is an interesting thought, actually. The gems don’t really know what they’re doing with Steven, but neither does Greg. No one really knows how to raise this kid, which is true of all parenting, but especially with Steven’s case. I like that a lot.
This entire scene is very interesting. We’re watching two children slowly becoming comfortable with exploring their own sexuality. This lighting really drives home this point. It’s new, and exciting, and different. I’m already in love with this episode.
First off, this shot is beautiful. Second off, I love the defiance of stereotypical gender roles here. Almost always, it’ll be the cute, bubbly girl that gets caught by the more serious guy. Third off, this is a very fuse-y pose…
This voice actor is really fucking good! Whoever they got to do this, they’re really impressively striking a good balance between Connie and Steven’s voice and mannerisms!
I love the pronoun confusion here! This character really seems really confused about what they are. I’ll go with they until we’re given a gender pronoun.
Wow. If there was any doubt in my mind that these two are maturing and beginning to explore themselves, it is now gone.
I love the Super Saiyan 3 vibe I’m getting from the hair. Also, though, this character really does a great job of blending different aspects of Steven and Connie here. Sugilite, for instance, visually seemed very different from her components, and more used their general scheme to make something new. This character is very much based on the specifics of their components, though.
This is precious. They’ve probably never seen anything like this before.
“You two look great together! How does it feel, Steven? Connie? ...Stevonnie?!” I guess that’s the name we have for this character now. I like it a lot.
OOOOH! That’s why some of you use this for the ship name!
“It feels amazing!” The parallels between this episode and adolescence are undeniable. Fusion is very definitely being used as a metaphor for budding sensuality.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves, but you two should unfuse this instant.” Let them explore themselves, Pearl! This is their first time! They’ll never have an experience like this again!
“Stevonnie. Listen to me. You are not two people, and you are not one person. You are an experience! Make sure you’re a good experience. Now, go have fun!” This is really powerful. I think this is the first time that I’ve cried because a show carries such a beautiful message, as opposed to an emotional moment. This is the kind of thing that I wish I had seen when I was a younger kid, exploring my own sexuality for the first time. This episode is absolutely incredible. I’m going to take a couple of minutes to go cry in my room, and then I’ll get back into this episode.
Okay, I’m back and ready to get back into this episode.
This shot is absolutely perfect in every way. They’re happy just being together. This is such a positive reinforcement for young queer teenagers exploring their own sexuality. It’s the little things that keep you going, and seeing something like this that reminds you that it’s okay to be can be such a powerful thing for young teens. I love this episode.
“ A bunch of my friends from the internet are gonna be there. There’s gonna be free...glowsticks?” “Yes, I’ll definitely be there!”
This guy kinda looks like Stevonnie. I’m guessing, based on how he’s acting, that he’ll be some kind of counterpart to Stevonnie? I’m not sure how, though.
Stevonnie is so effortlessly confident! Also, were they doing the thing that Amethyst taught Steven? Are we going to see all of their moves incorporated in here?
“I thought this was a dance party. Why isn’t anyone else dancing?” Oh my god, Stevonnie. You are literally murdering this crowd. They’re all watching your badass dancing!
Oh my god, is Stevonnie having a panic attack? Wow. The amount of...just...I can’t describe how good this episode is. I’m not knowledgeable enough to come up with concise commentary on this episode. I’m sorry, guys, this episode kind of transcends me.
This is interesting. Stevonnie clearly isn’t comfortable with this...Kevin… and feels uncomfortable with him invading her personal space. Still, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now. From his perspective, he just walked up to someone at the club and asked to dance, albeit in a gross way.
He’s a pretty good dancer, too!
“I wish you were here. If we were together, it would be okay.” “But...we are together, and it’s not.” Wow. Just wow. The depth of complexity in this character is astonishing. They enjoy being together, but in this new form, they’ve lost their individuality. They’re together, in a new sense, but at the same time they can never be together like this. This is incredibly interesting and complex material!
“I don’t want to dance anymore.” “What are you talking about?” Okay. That’s the moment where Kevin overstepped his boundaries. When someone tells you exactly what they want, and then you deny it, you are overstepping your boundaries and denying their rights as an individual.
“We’re angels walking among garbage people!” Hey, I take offense to that! Some of those people are the crewniverse, too! Rood dood!
I like how this episode is progressing. There’s no big monster, there’s no “what if they never separate” plot. This episode denies all standard tropes of animation and has created an episode entirely based on the emotions of two people. Even Lion 3 had something that the character emotions were based around! This episode is incredible. Literally. I cannot believe that I’m watching something like this right now.
“And it’s Stevonnie. I am not your baby.” Fuck yeah! You tell that fucking jagoff!
“That’s two kids! I’m out.” Okay, that one got a laugh out of me. I really needed a good laugh after these last two episodes. Whoo…
I love how this episode ends. It’s strange, and complex, and I don’t quite understand it, and I’m almost certain that it’s intentional. Relationships and adolescence aren’t things that you can understand immediately when they happen. Another thing that I like is that Steven and Connie are drawn with a little bit of Stevonnie in them here. They’ve made a step towards adolescence, and they’ve changed as a result. They share a bond with each other that will always be some part of them.
Closing Thoughts-
About 2 hours ago, I remarked that it would be difficult for any episode to follow Lion 3. I was right, because an episode like this takes more passion and love than I think I even have to receive it. As a queer teen, this is one of the most overtly positive reinforcements of sexuality and identity that I have ever seen in my entire life. This episode goes beyond my ability to describe. I won’t even try. Watch it yourself; it does a better job than I could ever do. My new episode list goes as such-
Alone Together
Lion 3: Straight to Video
Ocean Gem
Coach Steven
An Indirect Kiss
Mirror Gem
Laser Light Cannon
Space Race
Giant Woman
So Many Birthdays
As for my music, it stands at-
Strong in the real way
Let yourself be wherever you are
Steven and the Stevens/Crystal Gems
Giant Woman
Let me drive my van into your heart
Finally, my BGM-
Glitch City
Lapis' Tower
Night Drive
The Cave
The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
These two episodes were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Please, please, please avoid spoilers in the comments, and please be respectful of anything anyone says. Remember, your words can be hurtful, even if you don’t mean them to be. Finally, a question-
How has Steven Universe’s inclusivity of racial casts, diverse characters and unique worldbuilding affected you? Please don’t discuss specifics of episodes that I haven’t seen yet, but feel free to discuss their impact.
Hey, guys. We’re here for real. Before we get into the finale, I wanted to take a moment to discuss something that’s important to me, personally. Yes, I’m dead. I’ve been dead since Alone Together, actually. Making the transition into being dead has been incredibly painful and difficult for me. I feel awkward walking in public with my bones exposed, and even little things, like going to the store, are made uncomfortable by the stares of everyone around me. I’m experiencing new and different pains, especially around where my eyes used to be. As a skeleton, I’ve had to change my life enormously, and I’m really happy that you guys have been here to support me. This community has kept me going, replacing my complex musculature with sheer will and love. Thank you all so much... q:^) For real, though, I wanted to thank all of you for being a part of this community, for reading my long, poorly-made reaction posts, and for being one of the most positive groups of people I’ve ever encountered. You’re all wonderful, and I’m so glad to have been able to have this experience with you guys so far. You’re all incredible. Moving into the finale, and into season 2, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to grow this incredible community, and I can’t wait until I finally join the rest of you in the community. I’m absolutely astonished by how incredible this community is. Thank you all for being here. This next post is only for beautiful people; That means all of you.
Episode 51- The Return
A threat to the Crystal Gems arrives in Beach City. Written and Storyboarded by Raven M. Molisee and Paul Villeco
“Are you closing up by yourself?” Aw, man. This whole town has really grown.
Wow, I’ve got this deep sense of, like...like we’ve been on a journey, y’know? And now everyone’s changed, and I feel like I have too, a little.
“Don’t patronize me, sir.”
I’ve noticed a lot of similarities between the opening of this episode and the opening of Laser Light Cannon. The shots are very similar, and the scenario is pretty close, too. If this holds true, we’re about to see something in the sky…
“Do you ever feel like this gem stuff is too much for you?” Poor Greg. He’s probably worried out of his mind since Ocean Gem. Hell, he was probably worried before!
“What the hay was that?” Oh, shit, are we already getting into this?! I’m not ready!
I don’t know if this was intentional, and I’m pretty sure it’s not, but I just considered that the acronym for Laser Light Cannon, LLC, is one letter away from being an anagram for FLCL. There’s no way it’s intentional, but it’s just odd, considering how much that episode reminded me of FLCL.
“Lapis told us she’d be coming.” For a second, I thought this line meant that Lapis said that she herself would be coming. I hope we see her, but I don’t see any reason for her to come to Earth.
All four light cannons, huh? I guess this is going to be used as a power confirmation. We’ve seen one light cannon absolutely destroy the Red Eye, so now we’ll see 4 light cannons probably do very little against this here Green Hand, and then become scared. I highly doubt that these would actually work, because where would the episode go from there?
Oh my god, Steven sounded like he was initiating a nuclear calldown from Command and Conquer or something.
This is quite pretty. How do the cannons know how to do that, though? Are they aware of each other's’ presence? I guess that could make sense, if we’re assuming that Rose and Steven have empathic powers.
Yeah, basically. Now we have a direct power comparison for everything from this hand down to Steven. Hand is significantly stronger than 4 light cannons, which are 4x stronger than 1 light cannon, which is stronger than a Red Eye, which is stronger than Garnet and Amethyst (I still don’t know why they didn’t try to fuse), who are stronger than Steven individually.
Okay, so while I do agree that Steven should help the townspeople, he really does belong with the gems here, facing whatever is coming. Do the townspeople really need help from Steven, considering that anything that would reach them would have had to have gone through the gems first?
“Maybe, when Peridot gets to Earth, she’ll see how nice all the people are, and she won’t want to hurt anyone.” “You’re just like your mother.” Starts to break down
“They’re not gonna start caring about people now. They didn’t the first time they-...”
“The gems should be telling you all this stuff. I mean, I get it. They don’t want you thinking of them like that.” “Like what?...Dad, like what?” “Like, aliens, Steven! Aliens who invaded Earth!” Oh. Is that all this is about? I honestly forget, sometimes, that Steven knows a lot less than us.
Yeah, we kind of figured a lot of this out, huh. Still, it’s really, really nice to finally get some confirmation on these goddamn things!
“No such thing as a good war, kiddo.” I like you, Greg. You’re a good guy.
Oh. Greg just talked about how Rose left her people to defend the humans. Steven’s going to take this whole thing to heart, and leave his people to defend the gems, isn’t he?
So, almost all of the gems died? There’s one line in particular that interests me. “If it weren’t for her shield, man, I dunno…” This doesn’t seem like a ‘Rose helped the gems barely win the fight’ kind of dealio. This sounds more like ‘enormous weapon of mass destruction nearly killed everyone, but Rose’s shield saved a few’. Otherwise, Greg would have just said, “If it weren’t for Rose”.
I love the conflict between his human nature and his gem nature. I picked up on a lot of these themes in the earlier episodes, just like how season 1a had a lot of themes of maturity throughout its early episodes, and I’m glad that we’re getting to finally see more of this conflict.
Aw, man, the town really does care about everyone. This shot really reminds me of how huge the supporting cast of Steven Universe is. I’m a little surprised not to see at least a few of the background characters, though.
“Yeah...okay. Just be careful, or I’m gonna run fresh outta family.” was not ready to feel sad today
God, something about this is heartbreaking. It’s a wonderful shot, and there’s something a little awful about this. This is clearly an important, seminal moment for Steven, and not having Connie to support his is a little saddening.
Oh, shit, it’s Opal! Why not try Alexandrite? I guess they wanted a long range weapon. What would Alexandrite’s weapon be, actually?
Of course, it has no effect. Clearly, this isn’t something that the gems will be able to deal with on their own. We still don’t have any motivation from the homeworld gems, though! I want to know what they want! Do they just want to scope things out? Are they planning on killing the last of the rebellion? Do they want to restart what they began on Earth thousands of years ago?
“Stay here! If something happens, dad’ll need a new son!” Oh, god, Steven is fully aware of the consequences of his actions now. This is sad.
Okay, here’s a closer look at her! She seems to have some wonderfully massive shoulders. It seems kind of based on DBZ’s Battle Armor, which would make a lot of sense, considering what is currently happening. Let’s get back into that. I need to know more.
“Jasper, they keep interfering with my work!” Jasper? That’s a pretty cool fucking gem name.
Wait a second, someone mentioned a Jasper to me. Oh, shit, that was a smooth coverup, whoever you are! (They told me that Jasper was a fanmade JoJo clone character.)
“Looks like another waste of my time.” Okay, I am getting some serious Vegeta vibes. This whole scene feels like something out of the Super Saiyan Saga, actually.
OH FUCK IT’S LAPIS! And she’s clearly not here by choice. Did they drag her here because she’s been to Earth?
Man, I just realized, Lapis’ whole life has essentially been imprisonment, huh? Well, at least for as long as she’s been in the mirror.
“Neither of you saw Rose Quartz?” I guess they wouldn’t know, would they?
“What a shame. I’d hoped to meet her. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground!” Man, I think I was pretty accurate on the whole Vegeta thing.
“Some lost, defective Pearl, a puny, overcooked runt, and this shameless display?” Hrm… There seems to be a lot going on here, but I’m not sure I want to dive into it yet. This could go a lot of ways right now.
“What is…that?” Oh, boyo. Here we go…
“I know what a human is.” You do? Considering that Peridot had no idea, that would suggest that Jasper’s been to Earth before.
I love the shot of Jasper turning around in disbelief.
It’s wonderful looking. We get to see it so rarely, but it’s really wonderfully animated. Let’s take a minute to discuss the differences and similarities between this incarnation and the one from Ocean Gem.
In Ocean Gem, Steven activated his shield because he wanted to talk to Lapis, and was sick of fighting her, We’re seeing the first step of maturity here. Steven wants to be a pacifist, and he wants to talk with Lapis. He believes that he can convince her to give back the ocean. Here, we’re seeing an entirely different scenario. Steven decided that his love for his family was worth fighting, and potentially dying, for. This is an act of altruism here. Steven knows that the homeworld gems aren’t going to give up on Earth, but he wants to protect it, and the people that he loves. It’s subtle, but there’s a definite difference in how these scenes play out.
“You! You have the power of Rose Quartz!” Yeah, Jasper is definitely pretty familiar with Rose. I’d guess that she was involved in the battles on Earth in some manner.
“Rose! Why do you look like that?” I suppose that she wouldn’t even consider the possibility of Steven being Rose’s child. I highly doubt that homeworld studied the anatomy of humans enough to discover whether or not human-gem hybrids could be born.
“Forget about the mission!” “What?” “Yellow Diamond needs to see this…thing.” Y-Yellow Diamond?! Does this have anything to do with the Diamond Authorities that Ronaldo was talking about?
Hrm… This seems to disprove a little that Garnet could be a fusion. After all, even when Sugilite defused due to heavy damage, we still saw Garnet and Amethyst. This is more like when Pearl died. Well, not died. Is there a term for it?
Okay, so Jasper was definitely involved in Earth’s war. Good to know.
Digamma-F-Wau sent me the solo ending track for this episode, so I’ll go listen to it.
Oh. Static. How lovely.
Wait, there are a few little bits of human voice in there. How interesting…
Closing Thoughts-
Wow, this episode was a big one! This is definitely the most plot we’ve gotten in a while. I don’t think I want to talk too much about this episode, since it really feels like a part of a bigger story, but the animation was lovely, the music was good, and our new gem, Jasper, is fantastic! Let’s get right into the next one!
Episode 52- Jailbreak
Steven teams up with a new ally to rescue the Crystal Gems. Written and Storyboarded by Joe Johnson, Jeff Liu andRebecca Sugar
What a powerhouse team. Also, no title card or intro theme for this. Well, a different title card, I suppose.
I guess this is taking place in space? Maybe not?
Oh, that is some lovely singing. I wonder who it is, though. I don’t think we’ve heard Lapis sing? That’s the closest sounding voice that I can think of, at the moment. It could also be a new character.
Okay. We’ve just seen that Garnet’s body was destroyed. We also know that one of her gems is apparently red-orange. Now, we’ve got this new, previously unseen character, who just happens to be red-orange, and who just happens to have hair very similar to Garnet’s. I am very heavily leaning towards this potentially being one of Garnet’s unfused gems.
“How did you get past the field?” Oh, I think I get it. Is it because he’s half human? This new gem wasn’t able to touch it without getting shocked, but Steven’s half biological. A full human walking through this would probably not even feel anything. It’s like the field disrupts the wavelength in the gems’ bodies, but Steven’s biological body prevents him from being affected.
“Somebody’s singing.” “Sapphire.” A BLUE GEM, YOU SAY? HOW INTERESTING!
“She’s all alone, I need to find her!” Man, the desperation in this gem’s voice is pretty intense. I like her voice actress.
Also, the face here is pretty funny. Can we get a name for this gem, though?
Lapis. She looks so horribly exhausted and tired here. What happened to her? I can’t imagine that the homeworld gems are happy that she didn’t tell them about Steven.
“I don’t want your help. Things are bad enough as it is.” Okay, so Lapis really has no faith whatsoever in any force defeating homeworld. She’s decided that the best option is to hang low and hope to avoid trouble.
“If we do everything they say, they might go easy on us.” Lapis, I know that’s not true, and I haven’t even seen any of homeworld. You’re smarter than that. You’re just in denial about your situation.
“They hurt my friends, they hurt my face, they’ve got you here in prison!” “That’s why we can’t fight them!” “That’s why we have to fight them!” I like these differing ideologies. These characters come from such different backgrounds, so it’s fascinating to see them interact. Lapis has been enslaved against her will for probably thousands of years, and she’s developed a defeatist attitude. Steven’s never had to see his family or friends seriously suffer, so he’s developed a positive attitude. I wouldn’t blame Lapis for making her choice, though. You shouldn’t be obligated to fight against an oppressive system if you’re afraid of the consequences.
“The whole point of coming here was to check on the cluster!” The, uh, what now? The cluster?
“Go to Earth, they said. It’ll be easy, they said.” I’m kind of starting to love this character? Maybe?
And right on schedule, hello, other new gem! Once again, this gem has a few small features that could easily make their way into Garnet. The covered eyes, for instance, could become a visor.
Okay, this is kind of an interesting look at stereotypical gender roles. Ruby is clearly the more ‘masculine’ of the two, and Sapphire is clearly the more ‘feminine’, but they’ve kind of had reversed roles in the ‘knight saves a princess’ trope. Ruby is clearly out of her league, and just seems to be kind of flailing about, but Sapphire is calm and collected, and immediately found Ruby the second she got out. Good jorb, Steven Solar System!
Oh, man, this is a wonderfully tender scene. These two characters identify a female, right? They definitely present it, at least. Holy fuck, Steven Universe, good fucking job. It turns out that same-sex relationships are pretty fucking cool!
Oh, man. The bottom of Sapphire’s dress looks...gem-y. I don’t know what to call that. Whatever it is, she has it!
AYYYYYYYYYYY! BUT LITERALLY FUCK ALL OF YOU THOUGH! BUT AYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Seriously, you keklords who were arguing with me over whether or not Garnet is a fusion are all fucking monsters and you should know it!
Okay. Garnet is a fusion. A fusion of two sexy ladies. I’m actually, totally, 100% fucking down for this. Let’s fucking go.
I’ve also never seen Garnet that absolutely happy before! Not even when she saw Stevonnie for the first time! I guess she’s just happy to be back together. What does this mean for her components, though? What even happens to them? We were told way back in Coach Steven that it’s possible for gems to lose themselves in the fusion, but that had a drastic and negative effect in that episode. Is it a similar situation for Garnet? Or are her gems more aware of their individuality? Why are there two gems who are fused all the time? I guess they love each other, and want to be together forever. Still, don’t they no longer exist now? What’s left of their consciousness? Do they remember being Garnet, or did they lose that part of themselves, and does Garnet remember being Ruby and Sapphire? What would that mean, if she had two separate memories of the same event? I have so many fucking questions!
Is she drawn differently? She just seems so vibrant and happy. I guess we just usually don’t see her this happy, without her visor.
“Are you going to be able to beat her on your own?” “It’s okay, Steven. I’m never alone.”
So. This floor. Considering that we’ve been given a character named Yellow Diamond, I’m going to go ahead and scrap my Moon Goddess/Sun Goddess/Other Goddess theory. We already have a yellow one, so I assume the other two will be Blue and White Diamond. I’ll go with these names for now, as they’re a lot easier, and currently make a lot more sense, than the other names, especially considering that we’ve already gotten some likely foreshadowing about a Diamond Authority.
“Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak gems stronger.” I like what little we’ve learned about this character. I’m going to go ahead and basically apply all of Vegeta’s character to her, because she’s definitely concerned less with winning and more with proving her strength.
“I can see you hate the way we intermingle, but I think you’re just mad ‘cuz you’re single.”
This fight is quite well animated, but the highlight is definitely Estelle’s work here. It’s wonderful sounding!
This is cute. So, whatever that technology is, it probably runs off of the same stuff as the fields, but by directly putting it into another gem, you distort their wavelength until it’s destroyed. Steven is, clearly, immune.
Actually, this is pretty interesting. The last episode was all about Steven accepting his role as a gem, but this episode seems to be about the opposite! He’s also having to accept his humanity here. They’re both equally important parts of him, and Steven is discovering what it means to be him in these episodes.
I actually quite like that the fight between Garnet and Jasper seems pretty even. I guess that Garnet just wasn’t prepared to deal with the new gem weaponry the first time. It’s probable that they’ve never seen this kind of technology, actually!
“I am even more than the two of them, everything they care about is what I am, I am their fury, I am their patience, I am a conversation, I am made of love.” Okay, I guess we know what Garnet is, then. She is the living embodiment of their love. That’s so fucking wonderfully gay.
Okay, so Peridot escaped to Earth. What does this mean for the gems?
“Lapis, listen. Fuse with me!” Yeah, I’m pretty sure that Lapis is going to agree to this. In her mind, the homeworld has absolute authority, and eventually they will find Earth again. Even in this situation, Lapis will probably agree to fuse with Jasper to keep on homeworld’s good side. Or, at least, she thinks that she’d be on their good side. They probably don’t have much of one, though.
“Just say yes…” Hey, I’ll give her this. Jasper is not forcing Lapis into this. Like I said, Saiyan Pride. She would never do anything to disgrace her honor, and that includes trying to force a fusion. (I don’t even know if that’s possible or not, though, so I could be totally wrong.)
I love that little look Jasper gives the gems, like, “what up, bitches! Guess who just got fused?”
We are also, of course, ignoring the fact that they should have attacked Jasper during any of this conversation. This is the DBZ episode, though, so it’s totally okay.
Okay. So fused with Jasper to betray her? For some reason? Even though the gems totally had it covered?
Uh, Lapis is still in the fusion, right?
“I’m done being everyone’s prisoner. Now you’re my prisoner, and I’m never letting you go!” Yikes…
“Let’s stay on this miserable planet…together!” Wait, but I’m confused. Why would Lapis do this? I get that she’s emotionally confused, but the gems totally had it.
Oh, I suppose it’s possible that she didn’t know that at all. In fact, there was no way for her to realize that. Not only did she not see any of the fight between Garnet and Jasper, but she saw Jasper trash Garnet in their first fight, and also is probably heavily biased. She probably saw this as the only way to save the gems, even though it seems more like she’s accidentally saving Jasper.
“Yikes.” That’s my thing, Garnet! My thing!
“They are really bad for each other.” Yeah, I love that this show gets into negative relationships as often as it gets into positive ones.
Aaaaaaaaand…….a ringtone. I guess it’s Connie.
WOAH! WHAT THE FUCK THERE’S SINGING?!
Okay, let me take these lyrics down real quick.
If I could, begin to be, half of what, you think of me, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love,
When I see, the way you act, wondering when I’m coming back,*
I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love...like you.*
Man, that was beautiful. These lyrics are horribly heartbreaking, though. It’s clearly a song between two lovers, both of whom believe that they aren’t as good as the other, and it’s genuinely sad when you look at it. The singer feels like they don’t know how to love, and aren’t anywhere near as good as the other lover, and yet the other lover also clearly believes that the singer is far greater than them. I’d go ahead and say that this is definitely about Rose and Greg, and I think that either one of them could be the singer, although the fact that it’s a female voice, and the lime “wondering when I’m coming back” suggest to me that it’s Rose. This is great stuff.
Closing Thoughts-
Holy shit, this was a big episode, huh? These two episodes were absolutely fantastic. Hell, the last 4 episodes had a lot of connections. The two before this were all about subtle buildup, and they really built suspense and tension that snapped near the end of The Return. After that, Jailbreak was an entire episode of climax! It was great fun, and absolutely wonderful to see. The animation was incredible in this episode, and I think it’s safe to say right now that Stronger Than You is going to be my top place vocal track. Discovering that Garnet was a fusion was a ton of fun, although I was fairly sure that she was the second that I saw Ruby. I loved their intimate moment. It was pure, unadulterated love, and it was incredible to watch. God fucking damnit, Steven Universe! I thought that you couldn’t get any gayer! Jasper was a fascinating little character, and Lapis was wonderful to see how horribly defeated she had become. It was a wild ride, to be honest, and I really enjoyed it. This reaction took a fair bit longer than I expected it to, mostly because of how much I had to talk about in these episodes! Seriously, these were great. My current top ten episodes are-
Rose’s Scabbard.
Alone Together
On the Run
Lion 3: Straight to Video
Ocean Gem
Coach Steven
Winter Forecast
Jailbreak.
An Indirect Kiss
Mirror Gem
10. Laser Light Cannon As for my vocal tracks, they stand at-
Stronger Than You
On the Run
Strong in the real way
Let yourself be wherever you are
I’m like a Comet
Finally, my backing tracks-
I’m Still Here
Glitch City
Lapis' Tower
Night Drive
Twilight Run
Alone Together
The Cave
The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
Love like you(The Ocean Returns)
Watermelon Steven
Thank you guys so much for following me up till this point, and thank you to any newcomers who came in, either when this was posted or far into the future! I appreciate this community and its incredible group of people so much. You guys really don’t know how much this means to me. Remember, guys, even though hype is totally fucking allowed, please avoid spoilers. Finally, a question-
I’m sure it exists, so what is your favorite hint at Garnet being a fusion?
When Steven learns that Garnet can see into the future, he wants to know about the possible dangers around him. Written and Storyboarded by Lamar Abrams and Hellen Jo
“Okay, everyone. I think we all know what’s going on here.” Uh, I have absolutely no clue, Steven. Please, do inform me.
“I understand your concern but that language was innapropriate! I’m a Crystal Gem, I’m a big boy now!” Aw, he’s using the language that Garnet used!
“I gotta stop saying stuff like ‘I’m a big boy now’!” pfffftt… That was pretty funny.
“I guess I can’t be in the ninja squad anymore…” Fuck that, Steven! Be in whatever god damn squad you want to be! Don’t let anyone tell you that the reboot sucked!
“I sure am lucky you showed up when you did!” “Luck’s got nothing to do with it.” Oh, hiya, Chekhov! It’s been a long time! How have you been?
“What do you mean by that?” “Don’t worry about that.” “No, seriously!” HE’S DONE IT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, STEVEN QUARTZ UNIVERSE HAS ASKED A FOLLOW-UP QUESTION!
“Are you gonna tell me something cool about yourself?” “Nope!” Oh, man. I forgot how cute Garnet and Steven are together.
“I’m a...large...man!” The phrase you are looking for is manchild, Steven.
“I guess you could say that I have a sort of...future vision.” Didn’t we already kind of know this? I mean, I don’t think we got any specifics, but we already knew that she had psychic premonitions.
“Danger is my middle name!” “That’s a lie. You’re middle name is cutie-pie.” dies
Fun fact. I’ve learned to do this with expert control and speed! I used to be really good at it, but I haven’t used it very much in the last year or two, so I’m out of practice.
“What would happen if I said hi to my bff Lars?” “I see a single potential future where Lars gives you a high-five.” le gasp “And two more potential futures where you suffer third-degree burns all over your body.” Oh my god, Garnet is hilarious this episode!
“That’ll kill you faster.” Garnet is so good this episode.
“Nice Noggin, Steven!” Now I’m getting flashbacks to Noggin. That thing was interesting. Remember the moose? I remember the moose.
“Hold on, don’t leave me!” I always feel like the gems could and should leave someone behind when Steven is having emotional issues.
“Do I choke on a pickle?” q;^ )
“You don’t choke on a pickle.” Garnet, just tell him that nothing happens! He’s clearly really worried about what’s going to happen to him.
“Just trust me when I say that you are in control.” Okay, that’s a pretty decent little thing to say. I think it’s a bit late, though.
“And do not go on the roof, no matter what.” So, clearly Steven is going to end up on the roof. This episode is a tad stale? It’s not as stale as Fusion Cuisine, but it’s a little predictable. I think the major difference is that the writing is funny and enjoyable in this episode.
Wow, I just noticed that I did not write much about this episode! Okay, someone asked for something like this, so I’m going to compile a list of all of the possible evidence for Garnet being a fusion that I’ve noticed-
She has two gems
Fusion apparently comes easily to her
She’s stronger than the other two gems
She’s taller than the other two gems
She’s got three eyes, and we’ve seen that fusions combine body parts
The lights on the door of the temple show a red and a blue light instead of a single one
Possible counterarguments for Garnet being a fusion-
She isn’t significantly taller than the gems, like we’ve seen Sugilite and Opal to be
When fusions use their fused weapons, they first summon them and then combine them. Garnet does not do this
Fusions have been shown to defuse when they undergo serious damage, but Garnet has never done this
Garnet has no additional body parts except for her eye.
I think that’s about it! I’m leaning a little towards the fusion theory, but I’m still pretty on the fence about it.
“What could possibly happen to me on the roof?” Who knows, Steven. Who cares?
“Maybe I should just get a snack?” But Steven! Wait! What if the Ghost of Christmas Future comes to take your soul?!
I don’t know what it is, but there are two splotches of yellow color on the temple statue that I don’t think I’ve noticed before.
“Steven! Get off the roof!” Hey, I’d be mad, even without future vision!
“If something is going to happen to me, just let it happen.” Once again, Steven is forgetting the most important thing that Garnet’s told him. Time changes in ebbs and flows, and Steven can and should take control of his life! Steven’s missed the entire point here.
“Why did you tell me about future vision?!” I’ll be honest, dude. You kind of overreacted to it, I think. But it was also Garnet’s fault for not explaining to Steven that he’s in control of his life from the getgo.
“What’s going to happen to me on the roof?” “This.” Huh.
“There was a chance that you’d understand this, and we’d be closer!” I think Garnet kind of chose wrong here. She was looking so far into the future that she forgot to consider how this might impact Steven in the present.
This episode was a little generic, but it was pulled through, I think, by Estelle’s delivery as Garnet. She really has a great sense of comedic timing, and the writing was absolutely hilarious! I think my favorite line was “I drink coffee for breakfast!” Steven was a little paranoid, which I guess he has a right to be right now, so this episode makes more sense when you consider its placement in the series. The relationship between Steven and the Gems is a little rocky right now, and Steven isn’t quite sure what to think about anything, so I actually like that we get an episode or two, like The Test, to deal with the fallout of the events of Warp Tour. Let’s move onto the next episode!
Episode 40-On the Run
When Steven and Amethyst try out life on the road, Amethyst takes him to the place she was created and tells him about her origins. Storyboarded by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu
This is a neat episode title! I dunno, I just like the name.
“We can’t have them reactivating and fixing the homeworld warp.” Couldn’t you just destroy the entire Galaxy Warp? Nah, they’re too horribly attached to that place to even consider it.
“We kept Amethyst.” What if Amethyst used to be a soldier for the homeworld?! I remember a time when Amethyst specifically referred to herself as “a gem warrior”, and it would make this line make a lot of sense! It could also help explain the general tension between Pearl and Amethyst! I’m not too sure, but it really does seem to fit.
“Some gems, like your mother, Garnet, and myself,” Amethyst stalks off “felt that this was unfair to the life that already existed here.We swore to never let the Earth be used for their...purposes… even if it meant-” Amethyst vents frustration physically “Even if it meant we could never go home.”
Yeah, this whole scene seems to settle it.
“Wait a sec! So that means...we’re just like the No Home Boys!” A-are you?!
“Steven! We are not like the No Home Boys. We are literally standing in your home right now!” has flashbacks to Space Race
“Yeah, sounds like fun. Let’s do it!” I’m all for this. I love aimlessly wandering the city! Ironic, considering I hate travelling with an adult, burning hate.
“I don’t care about what all the others say.” I’m getting some very Tiger Millionaire vibes from this episode. That episode ended in drama. This is a good sign.
“I wish that I could ‘there’s no better place than home’, but home’s a place that I have never known, that’s why we’re on the run.” Oh, boyo. How has Amethyst “never known” home, though? Even if she was a homeworld soldier, you’d think she would remember it, right?
“Why didn’t you bring your backpack?” Because people On The Run need to have bindles, Amethyst! Don’t you know anything?
“It wouldn’t fit in my bindle?” See, Steven has the right idea here, at least.
“Y’know, I feel like I’ve been misled about hay. It always looked so soft in those illustrations, but it’s actually really scratchy.”
“Amethyst I wanna go home now.” Yeah, that’s about what I expected.
I love this shot. It says a lot about what’s going through Amethyst’s mind. When was the last time Amethyst sat down and thought about herself? I don’t think we’ve ever seen her this contemplative.
“I’m done pretending to be a No Home Boy.”
“That’s not my home.” Yikes…
“Oh, that’s right! You’re from homeworld!” “That’s not my home either!” Oh...I, uh. Oh. I don’t know, then.
“Then, where are you from?” “I’ll show you.” Yes, please do. I am very curious.
“It’s kinda where I’m from.” Oh, shit! Was this a gem manufacturing plant?! Is that what the Bacteriophages are for? And I guess they planted the gems directly into the Earth? It seemed to have a horrible effect on everything in the area, too. This is really fucking interesting. No wonder Amethyst must feel angry with the gems! If she really came out of this place, then she probably sees herself as part of the problem. Yikes.
“Pearl and Garnet are, but I was made here on Earth!” Yeah, that just about confirms it. I guess she wasn’t a homeworld soldier, then. This might be more interesting, though.
So, she’s anthropomorphizing rocks, which I guess makes a little more sense considering that she’s also a rock. Still, that would be like a human anthropomorphizing plants. She must have been here for a long time! I guess maybe they kept gems here to raise them? But you’d think she would remember them more than random rocks.
“How long did you live here?” “For a while, I guess. At least until I met your mom and the others.” Interesting…
God, this image, along with the horribly eerie sound design…
Pearl’s arrived. Okay. Settling in for potential definite drama.
“Garnet said you’d be here but I didn’t want to believe it!” Why didn’t Garnet come along?
“Amethyst, what were you thinking bringing Steven to a...Kindergarten?” So, there are more than one of these things? Oh, god, everything about this just feels like bad news.
“How much did you tell him?” Oh, deary me. I didn’t want to learn about the lore like this! I’m so sorry!
“You mean about the bad thing? How this bad place is where bad gems came to grow more bad gems? Is that what you’re talking about?!” Jeez, talk about repressed issues. I guess it’s good that Amethyst is getting this out in the open, though. I really doubt that she’s talked to any of the gems about this, and especially not Pearl.
“They grew other gems here?” Wait, I’m confused. Did we not already learn that?
“It all worked out! We won! Then we shut this place down so the Earth would be safe from parasites like me!” God, this is incredibly heavy. Can we go back to the No Home Boys? No? Okay, worth a shot.
“Amethyst, stop this! You can’t beat me.” “I don’t care!” Yeah, she just needs to vent. She probably hasn’t been able to talk about these feelings that she has for thousands of years.
“I’m not gonna let you stand there and remind me of everything I hate about myself!” God, Amethyst’s voice actress really does a fantastic job of delivering these lines.
“I never asked to be made!” God, this is such a beautifully powerful moment. There’s so much that we never knew about Amethyst, and yet it all fits somehow. This is an incredible scene.
“Pearl. Get in here. You gotta help me.” “But-” “You have to talk to her.”
“Amethyst, I had no idea you’d been upset about this.” I honestly doubt that Amethyst would ever bring something like that up. Also, this whole scene really reminds me of when my mom would come into my room when I was incredibly upset about something. I would curl up in my bed, and then she would come in and sit on my bed, and she would stay there for hours, sometimes. This is a really powerful scene.
“This is like my entire existence!” No, no, no, Amethyst! You’ve spent thousands of years outside of this place! Wherever you’ve come from, you’re only what you do with what’s been given to you! I come from a homophobic conservative christian family, but that doesn’t mean that that’s who I am.
“You wanna pretend that none of this ever happened.” It doesn’t sound like this was your fault, though, Amethyst. You didn’t make this place happen! I have to acknowledge my family, but it’s not my fault that they are the way they are.
“I just never thought of this as you! None of this is your fault! You didn’t build this place!” Yeah, Pearl has the right mindset. Still, though, I think Amethyst has a right to be upset. She needs to get her emotions out in the open, so that she can start working on changing to a positive outlook.
“You’re the one good thing that came out of this mess…”
Oh, god! What a creepy fucking way to end an episode!
Closing Thoughts-
This episode was fantastic. It was just an absolute rollercoaster of raw emotions, beautiful imagery, and wonderful animation. Everything in the Kindergarten was so incredibly awful and eerie, too. I got this real sense of trepidation. I got this sense that, if you moved too fast or touched something in the slightest way, the inert Kindergarten could start...doing. I don’t really know the specifics of what it does, I guess, but there was this horrible sense of fear throughout the entire location. The music of the first half was so wonderful, with a sense of wanderlust, and a quiet but subtle sadness, and then the music of the second half was oppressively empty. The animation of the fight between Pearl and Amethyst was some of the best that we’ve seen in the entire show, too. The final scene, where Pearl and Amethyst just talk, is just stunning. It brought back so many memories of similar situations with my mom. My new episode listing is as follows-
Alone Together
On the Run
Lion 3: Straight to Video
Ocean Gem
Coach Steven
An Indirect Kiss
Mirror Gem
Laser Light Cannon
Space Race
The Test
As for my music, it stands at-
On the Run
Strong in the real way
Let yourself be wherever you are
Steven and the Stevens/Crystal Gems
Giant Woman
Finally, my BGM is-
Glitch City
Lapis' Tower
Night Drive
Twilight Run
Alone Together
The Cave
The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
Love like you(The Ocean Returns)
Watermelon Steven
The Heaven Beetle/Reprise
As always, thanks for reading! Please remember to keep all comments spoiler free! Finally, a question-
Were there any specific moments in the episodes that I’ve seen that really resonated with you, or that were similar to an experience that you’ve had in the past?
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