Holopearls are kind of fragile, so maybe holopearlswords bend weird or buckle under pressure, and Pearl wanted Connie to have experience with very solid metal? Or maybe they're training swords, with dulled edges so that Connie has less chance of being bisected or gut stabbed?
Jasper and Peridot are definitely Feanorians. Pearl is enough of a hot mess to be one too, I think. I suspect that that is how gems are naturally produced. Like, you can't make more gems without trashing some inhabited planet. Also antsy pants update dance.
See, I thought maybe it was because they were fragile at first too, but in Steven the Sword Fighter holopearl chopped down a fucking tree with one swing. So yeah, I'm thinking training swords for safety. I really don't think that's the natural way of doing it, because Pearl said that it was a horrible thing, and calls the kindergarten a big mistake. Plus, Peridot calls the technology archaic, implying that they've moved far past what was used to create the kindergarten, though why they would want to reactivity it NOW is kind of beyond me. Anyway, how would the first gems have been created in that case?
That's why I decided she'd be a Noldor really. I was thinking of the Feanorians and how perfect this would be for Pearl. And then we meet Rose. And then we get attached. SCARILY SO. and then rose meets that human man TRAGIC UNREQUITED ELF ROMANCE. why can't i draw. But at least I can write. BY GOD I CAN WRITE.
based on how the title was written for tonight's episode i for some reason had it in my head that it was going to be a double episode and probably something that would destroy my heart a bit more. i'm glad for the cute/funny breather though tbh. ronaldo is.. something.
Yeah, in thinking they're giving us a breather before they hit us in the feelings. The next episode's in the kindergarten, isn't it?
This is a complete crack theory and I haven't thought much about it, but maybe Pearls were the original Gems--after all, unlike the rest of the gem types we've seen, real-life pearls are produced through organic processes rather than mineral ones (I think? I can't words but yeah). So it's possible that in the beginning there were just Pearls and all other Gems are, essentially, artificially produced in some way. That's a really shitty theory, I know, but I do think there's probably some significance to the fact that pearls are made differently from actual gems IRL. I shouldn't have even typed that out, fuck. Spoiler: better theory, probably some general spoilers Alternately, and MUCH more likely, the Diamonds are goddesses of sorts, and created Gemkind for...some reason. Since it's pretty much accepted fanon (as far as I've seen) that Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond, that would explain a lot about her--why she's drawn in a more detailed manner than anyone else, why she was so insanely powerful, stuff like that. It might also make Steven a Jesus parallel of sorts (which would also explain why Rose died solely to bring him into the world, with no apparent reasoning otherwise). Just as Christianity holds Jesus to be God made human, Steven is essentially Rose Quartz made human. (Which kind of makes Greg the SU equivalent of Mary, I think? Who the hell knows man.)
Might be that Kindergardens are a way amped up means of producing new gems. Like, maybe the usual way is lower key and takes more time/less resources from the home environment, and the planet-destroying power of the one on Earth had something to do with the sheer number of gems produced? Mass producing anything with a quickness can cause a lot of strain, I'm thinking. I mean, there were so many holes there, and they were all but for Amethyst's in these really close kinda grids if I recall correctly, and what in the hell would the homeworld need that kind of population boost for all at once, seeing how gems are functionally immortal and all. Maybe Kindergardens as we know them are sort of rare/uncommon, and they only get used when there's a need for a burst of cannon fodder. Sorry if this is incoherent.
I was thinking that maybe gems have the power to 'seed' the ground, and gems just take minerals and whatnot from where they're planted to form their cores, like how you can grow crystals, maybe? And the Kindergardens are that but fully automated and on an enormous scale.
I kind of headcanon that quite a few Kindergartens are set up on asteroids that are then basically tractor-beam-tied to spaceships en route to planets, so you can have an army growing and trained up by the time you arrive (space travel takes a while!)
Unrelated to the speculation, but "Mayor Dewey - Mayor Dewey" made me think of "Vriska (Vriska)" and now I can't stop giggling. Actually all of the titles have been great.
I'm thinking that gemkind probably stripped homeworld bare and turned to making Kindergartens on other planets to make more gems. I also think that the planet has to be inhabited (or maybe just have liquid water or something) because otherwise why not hit Venus instead of/in addition to Earth?
I would really like to know what's in those big drones that were used to make the kindergarten. There was some speculation that it might be crystal hearts like the one in the temple- maybe we'll get some answers tomorrow on that actually. Maybe the reason earth was chosen was that it was the most habitable/ the easiest planet to use. A lot of other planets have high winds and atmospheres with wildly different compositions, and those two things alone could be dangerous to gems due to weathering or possible corrosive qualities depending on the gem. That, and maybe the mineral composition of earth was ideal for the kindergarten, while the other planets weren't. Or, they could have hit other planets and we'd have no real way of knowing. Heck, in the SU universe maybe that's what happened to Mars, since wasn't there proof gathered that it used to have liquid water? And there are tons of pictures of rocks and stuff that look like bones or even the remains of statues, which I am pretty skeptical about real life-wise, but could be great backstory for the show.
found the episode. I love the windows movie maker affects and ironically Ronaldo is the weirdest guy in Beach city. He and his brother kind of worry me. They both strike me as brainweird and I want them to be okay. ... that's about all I got for commentary.
On the topic of gem reproduction, have any of you seen the fandom trend, gemlings? I get that the deal is cute smol gems and cute large gems dealing with cute smol gems, but something about it really skeeves me out? Prolly cause none of the gems I've seen it applied to (primarily homeworld gems, due to selection bias on my part) should be responsible for another living thing. I do admit, I really like the idea of surprise biological births on the part of species who have long since delegated the production of new peeps to machines or whatever. It's got a fascinating body horror aspect to it, and I always enjoy seeing people horrified by things I think of as mundane and vice versa. I just haven't seen that aspect so much as "oh wow, unexpected responsibility sure has softened me and made me a better, or at least more palpable character!"
ahhhhhh I kind of really love the gemlings, and am actually working on plush peri and Jasper gemlings that I was commissioned to make. But yeah as much as I adore the cute, fluffy stuff, I also love all the body horror things, and the tragic stuff(oh god there's this one jaspidot fic that just kills me inside). So I'm not really a fan of the cutesy alternative where the eggs come from the gem's actual gem. Also basically everyone ignores the op's post about it saying that gemlings are basically doomed and usually die within a few weeks, which disappoints me because I love all the sad fic and art, all of it.
I like to think Homeworld used to have organic life that created the gems via Magic, then they kinda Matrixed-out and gems took over as dominant species, stripped it bare, and started moving towards other planets.
Oooh I have never heard of that theory before now, but I really like it. It would explain the nice blend of magic and science gems have going on.
