i'm so glad all the episodes from this latest bomb have been released officially so i can come here & scream w/ y'all about it!!!! i have no coherent thoughts just lots of screaming also Spoiler: okay maybe 2 coherent thoughts MY POOR STEVEN!!!! SOMEONE FUCKIN HELP THIS KID!!! adventures in light distortion fucked me up, man. and garnet and steven fighting!!!!! y'all!!! also earlier upthread people were mentioning that "what's the use of feeling blue" is a very uncomfortable song, and the first time i heard it i didn't like it either, but i listened to it again and it's grown on me. someone pointed out to me that it's the first song written in a minor key, which i think is a big part of what's hitting that nope button- and the way patti lupone is practically screaming some of those high notes, her voice all raw-edged with pain. and then i got to thinking- homeworld gems don't sing. it's been shown before that crystal gems are the ones who sing- that music is part of becoming a crystal gem, that it's a very human & emotional thing to do. and so maybe part of why yellow diamond's song doesn't sound "right" is because she's not naturally a singer (i mean in character, obvs patti lupone is an amazing vocalist)- she's just feeling So Much the only thing she can do is let it out through ~song~ even if it doesn't come naturally to her?? idk. anyway, all in all 10/10 A+ steven bomb
I have Feelings about this as a musician :D Spoiler It's definitely a kind of uncomfortable song to listen to! It's kinda dissonant too, in a way that most of the music hasn't been. The first time I watched it both of the people I watched it with were like "...that was kinda bad?" and I was so confused because I loved it but then I remembered a) I have a crush on Patti LuPone and b) I am a jazz musician XD They also play with the time signature a bit, I think! I'll need to listen to it again to figure that out for sure.
Spoiler: About the song Theres also the theme of the song, theres no emotion in the beginning - except possibly disdain - and it feels very uncomfortable. Singing is something that relies on emphasis and emotion and yellow tries her best not to emphasize anything, to stay detached and unfeeling when shes obviously not, and it sounds painful. Its thematically a complete opposite to mindful education, a song that feels freeing. Yellow's way of dealing with things may SOUND freeing but in the end (where shes curled into herself reduced to pained noises) we see she's actually carrying a heavy burden, just as trapped by her station as any other gem. Yellow as well is a very offputting character, all the way from her design right down to her smallest mannerisms and speech patterns. Right from her first introduction people were noticing that missing spark we see with other gems, even homeworld ones! The diamonds we met have all been very otherworldly and unrelateable until now, and its very interesting to me that we only see emotion when they think they are alone.
So I'm catching up! Reactions (having not read the rest of the thread): Spoiler: Steven's Dream every single thing about blue diamond freaks me the fuck out, her voice, her face, the way she moves, aaAAAaughhh. She reminds me of the Total Wrongness of some of the stuff in Princess Mononoke or, for something completely different, Adventure Time. ... also i'm worried about Greg. Yes. And his attempt at conversation with Blue about grief was sweet. Yes. But AAAAaaAUGH.
Spoiler: rxns to Adventures In etc. GOD I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE THE MOVIE WAS ABOUT ALIEN ABDUCTION. The "and they're watching a thing about the plot!" signs are always so unsubtle in this show but i miss them half the time anyway. Guys, I think you really should have waited for the long answer. the mood whiplash in that episode has flattened me into a pancake also
This is pretty close to my headcanon, where Pearl was made as White's (although not as her personal Pearl because her gem is slightly misshapen and she's not entirely monochrome, and a Diamond's personal Pearl must be perfect), was then given to Pink because a Diamond needs a retinue that's not completely Quartzes and growing your own Pearls takes time, and then was eventually given to Rose Quartz for exceptional service.
Spoiler: Recent episodes, theory nonsense Am I the only one who kinda likes Blue Diamond? I'm sure she's responsible for no end of atrocities, but we only get Yellow 'Let's Blow Up Earth' Diamond to compare her to. I get the distinct impression that her grieving process for Pink is the only reason Earth hasn't been blown up, and her kidnapping Greg was a misguided attempt to rescue him. Her attempt to execute Ruby back in the day is the worst thing we see out of her, and it ties in with another theory I have: heterogeneous fusion has a much stronger effect, I think, than the homogeneous kind. Multiplicative, instead of additive. Just look at Alexandrite: it only takes 4 gems to make her, and she's huge on a scale that we only see out of the Diamonds. Allowing heterogeneous fusion is legitimately dangerous to their reign, if any part of their rule is based on being Great and Powerful. It's the only thing that makes an assassination attempt practical, unless Rose did it some heretofore-unseen way. I bet (considering it happened by accident with Garnet, the first time) that they weren't the first to do it, and that a lot of Gem Society is centered around keeping Gems of different castes separate enough to keep it from happening, or from knowing it can happen. Harsh penalties, like Ruby's planned execution, could be the sign that the Diamonds fear that type of fusion becoming accepted. It's also a plausible reason why they'd nuke all the gems on the planet and corrupt them, instead of a softer method. Everyone on both sides of that war knew how powerful het-fusions are. Even their own army would have been an information hazard, back on homeworld, if they talked about what they saw. Anyway, even if Blue Diamond is definitely complicit in lots of shitty homeworld stuff, she's at least a lot more humanized.
I like the idea that Pearl's rainbow colour scheme is a deliberate choice on her part, to underscore that nobody owns her. If she belonged to someone she'd match their colours, so by displaying a mix of colours that no other gem would be capable of, she's signalling and celebrating her own freedom.
I like this theory! I didn't think gems could shift their personal colour schemes at all - but Garnet did after jailbreak, and if any Gem could work out how to do it it would Pearl and her "I make my weapon out of maths"
My personal guess is that she either belonged to White or Pink (either of which would explain her base coloration well enough), but deliberately produces clothing in a variety of colors--including blue and yellow quite prominently--as an act of will and rebellion.
Pearl changes coloration when she is in the vicinity of a Diamond to match that Diamond I don't think she can control it I think she controls her normal appearance but Diamonds override that somehow
I dont know that its all that conscious, they can make new outfits at will for special occasions, but their permanent outfits are probably part of who they feel they are when they reform. The wide range of colors probably come from pearl's mindset as a free gem with no one above or below her, like a subconscious thing. Like what i got from that one episode where she was poofed by the training dummy she wasnt hanging around in her gem deciding what her clothes should look like now, she was taking stock of the situation, processing what happened, and reforming as a person. her light projection then adapted to show new developments, thoughts, and feelings.
Ooh I'll have to rewatch for that but was she ever in the same room as one? I heard a hc that it's like, pearls are reflective in nature. So Pearl is reflective. So she would have to be close enough to reflect it
Long term exposure and short term are different things to consider. Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl didn't seem to change for being in the presence of two diamonds.
I assume that Yellow and Blue Pearl would view themselves as, if not belonging to their diamond, then at least Definitely affiliated with her? So theyre very monochrome and match their superiors
i have proofs but i no longer know quite what to make of them Pearl in The Answer, confronting Blue Diamond Pearl in The Answer, meeting Garnet for a second time with Rose also in Message Received she turns kinda yellow just from Peridot calling Yellow Diamond on the phone
