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Greg's tan lines have always really bothered me. Even when he's working at his car wash which would be the most likely culprit for his sun burn he's just wearing the wife beater and shorts. Although I have to admit the theory that the tan lines come from Rose's light when she gave birth to Steven is really fucking metal.

Speaking of Rose: So, if we are going by the theory that larger gems are more powerful, this episode really puts into perspective how powerful Rose is. I mean, Garnet's a fusion and yet she is still dwarfed by Rose. Honestly, seeing such a sweet and loving character have this amazing power that we haven't even really seen yet is kinda terrifying. Beware the nice ones, as they say.

Eh, I'm wary of the "size = power" argument. There are too many counter-examples.

-Garnet is smaller than Jasper, yet Garnet beat Jasper in a straight fight.
-Lapis gave all of the Crystal Gems trouble, can suck up the freaking ocean, and was able to overpower the Jasper half of Malachite, yet she is very small.
-Steven has enough raw power in him to block the hand-ship's cannon, yet he is the smallest of the Crystal Gems.

Furthermore, it has been made clear that gem bodies are just projections. It isn't clear what aspects of the gem they correlate to. Heck, personality is probably as much a factor as anything else.

That being said, it is still implied that Rose was a powerhouse. Jasper's "why are you so weak" line after Steven stopped the cannon implies as much.

Not to mention that that Garnet, Pearl and especialy Amethyst were smaller then in the present.

I don;t think that "Power Levels" are even a Thing int his show, sure there are some powerful gems, but there doesn't seem to be a way to gauge the power to begin with, making subtle comparisons rather moot.

Also if you're gonna say "muh DBZ" I should point out that the way fusion works is different then in that show, the dances are actually dances, and there can be multiple components, in fact one of them can already be a fused gem (see: Sugilite and Alexandrite) regardless of relative power. In Draginball, fusion only works with a specific set of movements that barely qualify as a dance (they're more like Martial Arts poses, fittingly enough) and outside of certain earrings and a more biological case, the components must be of equal power (not to mention that only two people can fuse)

I'm pretty sure there are no such things as power levels in Steven Universe. Recalling the episode Garnet Universe, the crew of SU were basically making fun of power levels via Hopper and her power level meter. The people at DBZ already mentioned how meaningless power levels are in their work, but regardless there still seems to be a way you can gauge how strong characters are simply by keeping track of who beats who.

Back to Steven Universe and how power levels don't play a role, Sugilite is clearly much, much stronger than Pearl, but Pearl was able to beat her regardless. And then there's Steven against Holo-Pearl. Holo-Pearl may just be a shadow of the real Pearl, but I'm pretty sure its 'power levels' are higher than Steven's were at the time, but Steven was able to get lucky and obliterate it.

>I’m pretty sure there are no such things as power levels in Steven Universe.

That's what I meant when i said that Power Levels aren't a thing.

Yes MorningSTAR. I was agreeing with you there. I was just adding up stuff I've noticed in the show to further the claim.

AH sorry, I'm thought you thought I was posting something different

Anyway, place your bets: How long will it take for Jasper and Lapis's personalities to be replaced by Malachite's?

I only meant power level in a strictly physical sense, not necessarily that there's some sort of ranking for the gems encompassing all their ability and power. Obviously it's possible to beat somebody physically stronger than you with strategy and technique. Pearl beat Sugilite by making her own weapon fall on her, Garnet beat Jasper by dodging her hard hitting attacks and disorienting her so she could be thrown into the engine of the ship, etc. You could make the argument that size doesn't matter because the gems choose their physical forms, but we don't exactly know to what extent they have control over it. Could Garnet choose to be smaller than her current form? Could Pearly choose to be wider? There's still a lot we don't know.

Quick question:

Sour Cream – his pants have those two loopy things hanging off of him. What are they called and what do they do? I must know!

It's probably for just for designs.

But the starting clothes in Bloodborne have them too. Clearly they are a thing that exists, but I have no idea what they are. Every time I try to describe them to google, I get pages about belt loops.

I think they might be a type of hoop waring that is inserted into the lobe

Pants have lobes?

Or are you confusing Sour Cream with Lard Lars?

Sour Cream:

I don't know what those loopy things are supposed to be called other than straps and/or suspenders, but his pants look like tripp pants to me, especially with the sections at the bottom that zip off

Ah, they remind me of high school…

Why is it that KYM has introduced me to so many good shows? First it was FiM, then Avatar series, then Gravity Falls, and now Steven Universe.

Dunno why the show makes me wanna do some League crossover fanart with SU. Steven as Taric, Garnet as Vi, and Pearl as Diana. As for Amethyst, I really can't think of a champ to represent her..

I reeeally want to draw the Pearl and Diana crossover sometime though, and have already done some scetches, but nothing solid to build on just yet. I need to refine the idea further, and think if a simple cosplay pic with flat colors would be better than something more delicate and artsy.

Also, I wonder how long it'll take that we'll see some weird ship pic of Ocarina of Time Ganondorf and Pearl. In case it hasn't been done already, lol. I'm not gonna draw that myself though.

I really dunno what else I could add to the conversation but to state that Pearl is best gem, and go about my business.

Alright, I just finished steamrolling the first season and oh my God what a show. There's so many things I could talk about from the weird piecemeal way the tiny slice of life episodes have to add up to a larger plot from the absurdly effective blending of tragedy and comedy in the show to the bold challenge of social and gender norms, but I'm not going to talk about any of that right now. Right now, I want to talk about this

Has anyone else gotten a craving for donuts after seeing Steven drop in on this place time and again? I really want some donuts.

Yay, Fifths has joined the thread! I can't wait to find myself disagreeing with and arguing about everything with him.

But he is right in this instance, literally every single time Steven walks into that shop I'm like "Shit now I need to go out and buy a dozen donuts for myself"

Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts? :P

Bitch, please. I'm from Boston, of course it's Dunkin Donuts. Actually I've never had a donut from Starbucks. I like their baked goods in general, but I'm seriously not even sure if the locations around me even sell donuts.

Tim Hortons, mothafucka.

So I've got a quandary that's really been bugging me since I saw the season 1 finale.

My problem is that I like this

but I don't like this

and I really don't like this

I think Garnet is such a cool character. I love her character design, her voice, her powers, and her stoic personality. I really like the general idea of her being a gem fusion and deriving her power from the synergy between two gem lesbian-BFFs and their dynamic relationship. Where I think they've made a massive blunder is in the way they've depicted that relationship on screen.

I didn't like how obsessed Ruby was with finding Sapphire to the point that she could barely function and how she had zero regard for Steven save for his utility in finding Sapphire. Except for Sapphire, What's even worse to my mind is that this attraction bordering on obsession was not reciprocated by Sapphire. Sapphire was quite satisfied to sit in her cell and sing so as to lure Ruby and Steven through the ship of death back to her. You can just say she was being cool and logical trying to work towards the best solution of all parties involved, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she was some kind of sociopath coldly utilizing Ruby's obsession with her for her own advantage. Garnet's personality seems to support this given that it much more resembles Sapphire's calm to Ruby's erratic behavior, suggesting that Sapphire is the dominant part of the fusion. It would explain why Garnet is so comfortable using presents such a unified personality while most gem fusions exhibit some clash of their component personalities. It's because Garnet is basically just Sapphire.

So to summarize, I don't like that Ruby is such a tool, I don't like that Sapphire enjoys using her like a tool, and I especially dislike the implication that Garnet existence is not the dialogue of two equal partners, but the master's command received by the faithful slave.

@ Ruby/Sapphire

I think the thing to remember here, first, is that long-term fusions seem to have permanent effects on the gems fused – which we saw start to happen with Garnet and Amethyst when they turned into Sugillate. After spending so much time as basically the same person, I am not at all surprised that Ruby and Sapphire have become highly co-dependent: they have grown together to the point that one is literally incomplete without the other. As such, when they split and are kept locked away from each other, they become needy and distressed, as I expect anyone would when split in half.

Also, neither Ruby nor Sapphire knew at the time that Steven could break them out. Ruby was just sitting in her cell, being depressed, before Steven showed up, probably after trying and failing to get through the force field. Sapphire likewise probably learned quickly that she couldn't get through. But, thankfully, she could sing really well, and she proceeded to do so on the off chance that someone would come looking for her (and persisted even after Jasper told her to stop). She had no reason to expect Ruby to get out, but since there was literally nothing else she could do, she went for broke and it worked.

At least, that's how I read that sequence.

I didn’t like how obsessed Ruby was with finding Sapphire to the point that she could barely function and how she had zero regard for Steven save for his utility in finding Sapphire.

Ruby is the awkward hot-headed anti-social clutz, that is also the source of Garnet's strength and aggressiveness, from what I'm seeing. She's not really obsessed per se (well kinda,) but she sounds like that stressed awkward kid in a party who has trouble socializing with other people she's not familiar with (i.e. everybody but Sapphire, I assume) more than anything. Also, I'm going ahead to assume she feels antsy around Steven and prefers to walk than talk because she doesn't really know what to say. Regarding Ruby's regard for Steven, with how it seems Ruby (and Sapphire) have the memories and feelings of Garnet for Steven and all the time the fusion spent with the young boy, I'm absolutely positive that Ruby would come running back to Steven in a heartbeat to defend him if ever something happens to the poor boy.

Sapphire was quite satisfied to sit in her cell and sing so as to lure Ruby and Steven through the ship of death back to her. You can just say she was being cool and logical trying to work towards the best solution of all parties involved, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was some kind of sociopath coldly utilizing Ruby’s obsession with her for her own advantage.

I don't think we can absolutely pinpoint as to why Sapphire was singing, but the next best thing we could do is assume. Personally, when I saw Sapphire singing, I simply saw her finding solace in her hobby. (Maybe Ruby knows Sapphire sings when she's scared?) There was no way she could have known Steven and Ruby escaped (Ruby herself didn't even fathom that Steven can pass through the force field, and I'm also assuming Sapphire doesn't know based on how Sapphire exclaimed 'you escaped … Of course.' to Steven.) Also do note how the first thing Sapphire does when she gets out of her cell is to use her super speed to find Ruby.

Garnet’s personality seems to support this given that it much more resembles Sapphire’s calm to Ruby’s erratic behavior, suggesting that Sapphire is the dominant part of the fusion. It would explain why Garnet is so comfortable using presents such a unified personality while most gem fusions exhibit some clash of their component personalities. It’s because Garnet is basically just Sapphire.

I disagree. Garnet is stoic and calm, similar to Sapphire, but deep down, she's an awkward clutz like Ruby. Recall how Garnet resorted to violence in Too Many Birthdays when things got scary. Also recall how in Arcade Mania Garnet's first instinct is to punch things. And then there's Fusion Cuisine where Garnet had trouble holding up the conversation with Connie's mom. I wouldn't be surprised if between the two Ruby would rather have Sapphire do all the talking.

EDIT: Ninja'd by Platus

@Onion Syrup

I like that klutz interpretation of Ruby a lot. I think it does give her some presence in Garnet's personality if we use her to account for some of Garnet's more…interesting moments.

Yeah, I'm just going to go with that until we see more of them to go on.

You guys want to hear someone I just realized? Well, you remember how Steven was so excited to see a "giant woman" back when he learned about Opal? I think I figured out why:

Ever so subconsciously, he misses his mother.

@Platus

The shade of Rose which hangs over everyone is really fascinating.

Incidentally, one thing I admire about the show are the visual designs of the characters and how much personality they're able to subtly convey. Just look at the gem placement.

Pearl has her gem on her forehead. The head, of course, is associated with intellect which makes sense given that Pearl is the brainy one.

Amethyst has her gem between her breasts. Bare breasts are associated with girls gone wild, mardi gras beads, and sexual energy which is used to convey Amethyst's own wild energy and her willingness to put a bit of stank on it.

Garnet has her gems on her hands. Hands are associated with getting shit done and punching things. Garnet does a lot of both

And finally there's Steven with his gem where his bellybutton is supposed to be. Now the immediate effect of this is humorous: Steven is a little fat kid with a gut, so we laugh when see this relic of immense power lodged between his rolls. There's another association that you start to make as you get into the show though: The bellybutton is the place where the child connected to its mother. It's a connection preceding language and thought, and we get reminded of that deep unconscious connection Steven has with Rose every time he pulls up his shirt.

On top of that Garnet has two Gems, ergo she has two components.

And then there's the Home World Gems

Lapis Lazuli has her gem on her back. She is very aloof at her appearance and also very homesick

Peridot's gem is similarly placed to Pearl's and with simialr symbolism (the placement, not the gem)

Jasper's Gem is where her nose should be. As opposed to the placement being used to symbolize genius like Peridot and Pearl, Jasper's could instead symbolize hardheadedness.

i would like to also add that since Rose's gem is also on her belly. It might be representing the womb, which symbolizes a motherly figure. Rose being the original and beloved leader of the crystal gems and her love for all things pretty much shows it.

And just for fun, have some Swedish Pearl and Steven:

That was very fitting. Who was singing along with Pearl and Steven at the end? (Forgot).

Finished watching "Story for Steven" last night, goddamn I love this show.

Just saw Story For Steven. The gems were adorable! But that means…

So I finished watching Story for Steven and the really burning question that I want to see discussed is this: Do you think that Greg is a reliable narrator?

I started to get really suspicious of his story when I saw the depiction of his manager

I mean really? Did he really have his teeth filed to points like that?

The character of Marty doesn't make sense when you think about it. He gets painted as this soulless big city music producer trying to leech off Greg's fame and talent, but Greg doesn't really have any fame or talent to leech off of. From his own purely selfish interest, why would Marty be wasting his time on this little twerp when he could find better prospects at any open mic night down at the local coffee shop? The fact that he gets painted as a disgusting womanizing pig also seems just a little too convenient in a story where a man is explaining to his son his choice to give up his music career to pursue a monogamous relationship.

I think it's very important that we also examine the character of Rose more closely. The closest thing we have to a direct, objective appearance of her was in the videotape she made for Steven. Everything else we've heard about her comes secondhand from people who are very much biased in Rose's favor. She keeps getting painted as this gentle, pacifist soul who only heals and defends the ones she loves, but remember that this gem fomented a rebellion and led a military campaign against homeworld. She was a leader, a captain, someone with an incredible ability to make others fight and die for her. The fact that she has the ability to magically manipulate desire as is evidenced by her room makes me very suspicious as to whether this charisma was born entirely from the justice of her cause. I think that Rose is still a good character with a genuine love for Earth, but people who fight and win wars are usually the kinds willing to believe that the ends justify the means.

What purpose did Rose have for making Steven? Remember that Steven wasn't just an accident, that Rose had to take very active steps to alter her body and give herself reproductive capacity. Why would she go through all that? It doesn't make sense to think that she would sacrifice herself and rob the whole earth of its greatest champion just so she could have a human baby. I think Rose foresaw that as a gem/human hybrid, Steven would have unique abilities that would make him a very powerful asset in the defense of earth, and she actively sought a human consort to make him with. Greg was just some dopey young guy with a loyal disposition and really not much of a life ahead of him to speak of, a perfect candidate to father and watch out for the new hybrid.

What if this is what really happened: Greg was some wannabe rockstar and Marty was a friend of his who genuinely cared about him and tried to help him make it big. When Rose started seducing Greg, Marty tried to warn him away from this chick whom he sensed was trying to rob him of his dreams for some ulterior motive. Head over heels in love, Greg was disgusted that Marty would even suggest such a thing and accuses him of being a greedy, soulless bastard. The two fight and have a schism, and Greg goes on to help Rose make her super weapon

What do you think?

The gems probably shapeshifted after Steven's birth and Rose's death because they all needed to be inspirations and responsible guardians/caretakers/mothers to Steven. After all, he had only a former rockstar for a dad, and a lot of power that he had no control over.
One thing that I think is unclear is, how did Greg and/or the gems raise Steven? I'd like to see an episode with the gems being completely clueless on everything about raising a human child and Greg looking through books on the subject and so on.

I think we just found a character arc for Peridot.

Soon she will stumble upon Marty and demand he explain his connection to the gems (it could be as simple as him mentioning Rose) and from there we get his side of the story.

Then Peridot, seeking an opportunity for revenge, investigates further and researches Rose and the war (it wouden't be that difficult for her to pull up some records form the Homeworld unless her tablet fingers got damaged upon reentry). After she gets enough evidence she goes back to Beach City and goes on a Pedistal smashing spree

So what does everyone think of this week's episode?

It was funny and heartwarming at the same time(especially at the end). It teaches a good lesson about respect for others around you.

I didn't see the new Shirt Club episode, but I have to say the soundtrack for every episode blows me away. They just put so much effort into every piece.

Did Steven Universe have a whole episode about memes and copyright without mentioning the internet once?

I think it did.

Damn this show is good.

Memes, maybe (they did mention controversy once). Copyright? I haven't heard mention of it.

When Steven is complaining to the gems, doesn't he say that Buck is "using [his] art in a way he doesn't like" or something like that? I mean, he doesn't use the word "copyright," but what he described is pretty much what copyright law is supposed to prevent people from doing.

I have a lot of things to say about this episode, but for now I just want everyone to note that Garnet was in her old design. Is season 2 handling things NOT in chronological order? Or does Garnet only turn purple when she gets serious?

Shit was moved around because of the Steven Bomb special airings. According to the episode list on Wikipedia, that included this episode and the previous one, but not next week's.

That explains my earlier concern!
The gems are just sitting around because the episode originally chronologically took place before the continuity stuff.
That's why they aren't waiting for Peridot to show up at either Galaxy Warp or Kindergarten.

@Fifths:
At first when watching Story for Steven I was really bothered by how heavy-handed they were with making Marty come across as the "bad guy", but then we do realize this is Greg telling the story. I think the episode in general has a lot of hints to how much Greg exaggerates. Right from the beginning Greg is performing this amazing song with instrumentals he isn't even playing while these crazy visual effects are going on (which isn't normal for SU musical numbers) and Marty in the photo does not look nearly as evil as he does in the story. It's definitely interesting to think about how the actual events would compare to Greg's story. My headcanon is that Marty isn't really evil or even that douchey, but he was more into it for the money and women while Greg was in it for the passion. I'm not sure I would agree that Rose was planning on using and manipulating Greg to create Steven from the get-go. She did urge him to leave and pursue his dream and I honestly can't think of a reason why Greg would make that part up. There's no doubt Rose would plan on making Steven because she could foresee a gem/human being an advantage for protecting Earth, but it's hard to say when she made this plan. She could have had this plan before Greg, or it could have come to her later (it does seem like Greg and Rose were together a while before they had Steven). Who knows?

Moving on to the Shirt Club episode: it was ok. I think it suffered a bit from the 11 minute time slot, because it seemed like the episode wanted to do a lot but it ended up not doing much at all. Did it want to be a sentimental episode about Buck and his relationship with his dad? Did it want to be about Steven helping his dad's guitar lessons? Did it want to be about art theft and copyright? Did it want to be about meme culture/viral media? We ended up with little bits of everything that, while nice, didn't amount to a very complete story when it all came together. The episode did have some good humor though, particularly Pearl freaking out about mutant shirts.

I decided to record myself singing the theme song for the hell of it.

@Above

And this is why I really, reaaaally want them to drop the 10-minute format as soon as possible, or at least start airing the half episodes more chronologically to facilitate two-parters more easily. I get that the way episode syndication is probably set up, this would be tricky to do without some variety of shenanigans, but the fact is that Steven Universe is far too good a show to be pointlessly hampered by this restriction. (Though I suppose I'm preaching to the choir here.)

Eh, I have a hard time believing that Steven being able to pass through the forcefields and being almost immune to the tasers is "coincidental".

That's why I think Rose saw this coming and decided to create Steven. I never said she didn't have a plan, I just said I didn't think she manipulated Greg into staying in Beach City to use him.

Yeah, but if she created Steven because of a plan after Greg came, wouldn't that just make Steven a tool? Or an experiment? I don't think it'd be weird to have the key for defending a planet being a part of the species originating from said planet, but if all of this was a 5000 year plan, how would he react? How would the gems react?

Or maybe she wanted a half – human child because then she knew that her successor would have the true ability and potential to actually care about Earth and the humans? Because the other Crystal Gems don't seem to care about humans as much as Steven does. Maybe I'm just looking too deep, but I'd like the latter to be true, rather than the former.
But both could work.

I still think that Peridot would the one to get Marty's side of the story and use it in a bid for revenge to smash the Crystal Gems' faith in Rose