my turn next! Spoiler Trippy dream sequence/flashback, oh boy. Can't wait to see what the actual meaning behind it is! Amethyst teaching the Pebbles to make a couch, I love her so much. Amethyst wearing limb enhancers I'm screaming "White Diamond... has more important things to attend to, so I will be observing in her place." Okay. So either A, WD actually has something more important to do, which is somewhat unlikely considering this is the official marking of a new era in the empire, B, does not care, or C, cannot move, and is sending Pearl as an excuse. White Pearl is still doing that thing where she clips through space and warps around with her bubble without actually moving, too. I think the "white pearl actually is/is an extension of white diamond" theorists may be on to something. The Katamari Damacy Gems are clockwork Gems? What are they for? Or, were they for in the past? Their mechanical, cog and gear shaped lower bodies have to be significant. I wanna know more about them. Yellow Pearl doing the cat smile was adorable :3 And finally, Steven and Connie fusing was... well, probably not how they planned to change Homeworld, but it's sure gonna work. Once everyone learns that Pink Diamond fused someone who isn't even a Gem, all hell is going to break loose.
Spoiler: I also just watched Together Alone and want to talk about Together Alone Spoilers AAAAAAAAaaaaa!!!!! Ever since Steven returned to Homeworld as Pink, I've had this constant background anxious energy about "when's Steven gonna do something that isn't going to fly so easy just because the Diamonds are happy Pink's back". I guess now is when. I got so much secondhand fear the moment Stevonnie fused that I had to pause the episode for a bit. Also got intensely sad for that green fusion who came out and then immediately got zapped :C But I'm glad Blue Pearl got to share her art!!!! Pearls cute!!!!!!!!!!!! All Pearls cute.
Spoiler: together alone YD: ONE MILLLIION YEARS DUNGEON!!! (I can't be the only one who thought that, right? XD )
Here comes another thought... Spoiler It’s interesting how when Steven and the Crystal Gems begin going against Homeworld’s norms, there are Gems who immediately join them or embrace their ideas. Blue Pearl’s “I like to draw” and the Jade Fusion probably aren’t isolated cases, but a sign that there are more Gems out there who want things to change.
Spoiler: together alone if all those Gems are actually Jades--and based on the similar gemstones, and the fact that pink and purple and red and blue and green jades all exist, if we're calling the two who fused both Jades then I'm assuming all the others are (also I saw captions calling a blue and red one Jades and I'm not sure if that was intentional or a person guessing, but I think it's also worth noting that while someone was credited for Jades in the voice acting, there is no credit for the red and blue gems who speak to greet "Pink Diamond"--so either they were credited under Jades as well, meaning all the red and blue cog gems are red and blue Jades, or their voice actor was not credited at all, which feels less likely?)--why are there so MANY of them? and why do they have such different looks between them? I mean, some of the Jades look the same, but that's not, like, 'all blue Jades look like this or similar to this', so what gives? and why does it seem like half the entire dance floor was made up of Jades? what the heck do you need that many Jades for? and why are they wearing cog-shaped dresses? eta: or at least some of them are. interestingly, it doesn't seem like any of the green Gems have cog dresses. the two who fused definitely don't. also, I'm noticing some yellow-green Gems with gems shaped like Peridots--I wonder if maybe those ones ARE Peridots, but fancy Peridots somehow? meaning the whole place isn't Jades, but even so there just looks to be. a lot of Jades?? and if the non-green ones are also Jades, why do only some of the Jades have cog dresses? if those are blue and red Jades rather than green Jades, do the red and blue Jades have different jobs when they're not at balls than the green Jades? also, were all Gems invited to the ball, or just more important ones of varying classes? because I think the only Rubies we see are the ones who enter with the Sapphires, kind of implying that because they're common soldiers, they're just....a guard delegation for the super important five Sapphires. and if that's the case--where does that place Jades, that there are so many of them but they were also invited to this thing? are Jades soldiers? are Jades designed to fill a ballroom floor? are they involved in machines somehow? I just. I want to know. because we only saw five Sapphires, and while I'm sure there are plenty of Rubies (since it's been said before that's the case), we didn't see many of them there. we did see several Amethysts and Jaspers, but I'm assuming they're higher-ranked soldiers, and either not all of them were invited or there just aren't as many of them as there are Rubies. we saw like four Aquamarines, which makes sense given that original Aquamarine seemed to be a higher-ranked Gem, so there're probably fewer of her. but there were so. many. Jades. THEY FILLED THE FLOOR. WHY. why so many Jades. and what's the deal with the cog things. I just. I want to know. also, why didn't we see any of the like, Hessonites or Demantoids or anything? they were mentioned, so I assumed they were invited--are we supposed to assume they were there and we just didn't see them? because if they invited Amethysts and Jaspers, knowing what we know about Hessonites from the SU game, it seems odd to me that they wouldn't be invited--they seem like they were like, high-ranking commanding soldiers, while Amethysts and Jaspers are probably more like high-ranked foot soldiers. I mostly mention this because I was looking forward to seeing the new Hessonites and all. but oh well. also, no Lapises or Bismuths as far as I could tell, and they're both sort of builder gems, I think (Bismuths build, Lapises terraform which could be considered building?), so while I was expecting this, there's probably a certain rank level required to get in, and below that rank, you probably need a specific job reason to be there--like the Rubies entering with the Sapphires. oh, also, is that all the Sapphires on Homeworld, do you think? because it seems strange to me that they'd only invite a few of the Sapphires they have--but that means there'd only be five Sapphires. I know they're rare aristocratic Gems, but....that's so small a number! also, no Emeralds....I wonder if maybe some of the green Gems were actually Emeralds but we just didn't get any close looks at them. because the Emerald we know seemed pretty high-ranking, so you'd think some of them would've been invited. maybe they just couldn't make it because they're pilots and they're all out conquering? idk. I just wanted to see more versions of Gems we already knew. oh, also, the divisions of Garnets--Hessonites, Demantoids--has me wondering if maybe garnets on Homeworld exist, but only in particular, like...types. like, there's no GARNET Garnet on Homeworld. which would mean that the only way to get a Garnet, rather than a Demantoid Garnet, or Hessonite Garnet, is to make one through fusion. which would imply that you can't grow them? and got me wondering if like--we know that there are non-fusion versions of Gems on Homeworld. but what if they're all the same way as Garnet is? what if there's no Opal, but rather only like, Black Opals and Boulder Opals or something? what if the only way to get the....for lack of a better word, 'basic' type of certain gems on Homeworld is through fusion? that would add to the confusion about where to place them, imho--if there are no natural Garnets, then where DO you put a Garnet that's not a Hessonite or Demantoid or whatever specifically? on top of the fact that Garnet probably has abilities the other Garnets don't, which would also fuck with the status quo, having gems that fit the general category but aren't that exact thing would add to why the Diamonds don't like cross-Gem fusion for screwing up the status quo. not only are they more powerful, but their gem type just...flat-out doesn't exist in quite the same fashion on Homeworld, not without fusion. which also kind of begs the question, can you make a Hessonite through fusion of different Gems? I wonder. and god. "at least the Sapphire in there has some sense" YOU DON'T KNOW THAT WAS SAPPHIRE. I'LL FIGHT YOU. also the moment she called Connie a pet. ugh. I mean. it's not surprising. but u g h.
Spoiler: together alone ...I actually really like this. Maybe they're basically Homeworld socialites, designed to be socialites and to Dance and to Mingle and to Attend Balls? Because I really dig that idea. I think that's actually quite possible, given that we do have other Gems that are subtypes of more general gem types but very few instances of broader gem types for a single Gem (ugh what are words)--for instance, we have Quartzes as a class, but we haven't seen, say, a Gem whose type is just Quartz. I think you're really onto something here!
Spoiler I didn’t realize Hessonites or Demantoids were subtypes of Garnets. Do we have any idea if this is what the crewniverse meant by “there are single-Gem garnets”? Does this mean my Carbuncle idea can still work? Also, I wanna see a Demantoid. I bet they’re all dark and intimidating. Demantoids...
Spoiler I'm not entirely sure if this is what the crewniverse meant by 'single-gem Garnets'--but Hessonites, Demantoids, and Pyropes were all mentioned in succession as "do you expect your Garnet to enter with one of THESE", and I looked it up and they are all types of garnet. and given that we never heard mention of like, any group of actual, typical Garnets, which I think would've been the logical first suggestion for our Garnet to enter with (though I'm sure Blue Diamond still would have said "but we can't do that because she's WRONG and not a REAL GARNET"), I'm assuming that they're what was meant as Homeworld's garnets, even though my thoughts are presently unconfirmed. but like, if I'm right and the reason there's Hessonites and Demantoids and Pyropes as the garnets and no actual plain Garnets is because Garnets only result from fusion, then yeah, I think your Carbuncle idea would still work! I think it stands to reason that if there are non-fusion types of fusion Gems, they're probably slightly different from the fusion versions, and beyond that, maybe some fusion Gems are the only ones of their kind. Rhodonite, for instance; Rhodonites stand alone in their group unless you want to get really broad, so maybe there aren't any other Rhodonites naturally occurring, but other manganese-based gems exist normally, just not Rhodonites.
I finally watched the last two episodes! Spoiler I love the pebbles and I bet you anything they’re going to help Steven execute some scheme in the next few episodes, to get to White or find where the CGs are being kept or something. Adding in the fact that everything is made of people, home alone-style shenanigans are a strong possibility everything being made of people is creepy as fuck and exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for on Homeworld, I love it In the song Familiar, I’m pretty sure Steven’s voice did the same thing it did during Both Of You, where he started to sound like Rose while he was singing. It’s hard to tell but I think that’s what I heard PEARL TIME PEARL TIME WE GOT PEARL TIME YP and BP are the best, I instantly ship it, artist and model girlfriends!! I support BP’s artistic career!!! And it was also v interesting to see how they spoke to Steven in an informal situation, YP especially was downright bossy :D I wonder if that’s how they used to speak to Pink as well? I’m pretty sure the cogwheel gems were made specifically to dance at these balls to be decorative for the Diamonds, like one of those old elaborate automatons. Maybe they’ve been sitting in storage for the past several thousand years. I’m very concerned for everyone who got poofed at the end of the episode. Worried especially about the two green gems who as far as YD and BD know Steven doesn’t care about and especially about CG Pearl considering... what happened to Pink’s last pearl... I hope they’re all just bubbled or something, but I can’t think of a good reason the Diamonds would have not to just shatter them (except the fact that this is a kid’s show lol). I haven’t watched any trailers so idk who’s confirmed to appear later.
Been a time, SU thread. Good to see you again. Spoiler: Together Alone That was one that I really wish could have been longer... we barely saw this huge ball that could have been just filled with cool lore ;u; but that’s the name of the game with short episodes, not even mad. It’s so frustrating that just none of them will call him Steven... they have no concept of an identity changing and have no idea how to accommodate it. Cool motive, still invalidating, though. And Stevonnie looked FUCKING adorable in their Pink Diamond outfit so.... too bad that was the worst possible move for Steven to make if he wanted White Diamond’s approval. He miiiiiight have her attention now but I just can’t see anything good coming of it still...
Spoiler: Escapism Whatever I expected to happen, a watermelon Stevens episode wasn't it. I enjoyed it, though, because it's interesting to see Steven all GRR I need to do the mission! Need to save the people!!! and sorta missing out on the experience of these watermelon people's conflict defusing when a few of them work together to help him towards his goal I didn't think of it so explicitly, but someone else mentioned on another site that: and honestly i think the way the conflict's resolved, with steven working towards his goal and people from the opposing sides cooperating for the sake of helping him until they find they really can get along with each other, is a foreshadowing thing
Spoiler What does that mean for the fact that he just. Kind of ignores them and does his own thing, his goals aren't related to helping them at all, and he straight-up leaves immediately after they decide they can get along? Hmm.
Spoiler Hopefully, character development. Steven has a thing of always getting involved in others' problems, hearing their woes and trying to Fix Things For Them. Maybe with their help, probably just on the basis of what he thinks is best. Amethyst gave him a good reminder that he matters and doesn't need to fix others' problems for them, and maybe that's sticking? Or he's just that frustrated with accidentally winding up in the watermelon stevens, or just with their whole microcosm culture as a whole.
Spoiler Just to note, T posing figure was inspired by baby melon, who was killed by the other melons in one of the early melon episodes
Spoiler How awesome is it that Steven's strongest connection to Earth is Greg??? I was honestly relieved when that happened, because with everyone treating Steven like he IS Pink Diamond, it's easy to forget that he has Pink's gem, but he's NOT her. He's her *son* with Greg Universe, and just like any child that means he's a combination of traits from his father and his mother, brought together to create something entirely new and unique. And that's beautiful. The Diamonds are going to be PISSED if they ever figure that out.
Spoiler: More thoughts about Steven and his gem... So, as I was out walking today, I happened to remember the plot of a certain flashback episode. Namely, "Three Gems and a Baby," aka "The One Where Pearl Literally Tried to Rip the Gem Out of Baby Steven's Tummy, Only to Find Herself Unable to Go Through With It At The Last Minute." Yeah, cheerful thought. BUT, then I remembered that that episode actually ends on what's, in context, a REALLY REALLY HIGH NOTE! Both Pearl AND Rose had a lot of angst over the apparent inability of Gems to change and evolve like humans do; they don't think character development is something they're capable of. Greg and Rose even got an entire episode dedicated to how Greg felt Rose was maybe fetishizing his humanity, and how he felt about that. But the entire show is proof that that's not true! Gems CAN grow! They can learn new things, adapt to new situations, and grow as people just like any human. Sure, it doesn't always come easily to them, but does it always come easily to us, either? Three Gems and a Baby just codified it: Gems CAN change. They don't have to live in an eternal stasis. And then I thought: the Diamonds have been living in stasis for a very, very long time, haven't they?
