Spoiler: Stevenbomb spoilers Wow I can barely talk but 1. Blue Diamond is a lot less formidable than I've been picturing her 2. All the zoo humans had the same cat-smile thing that Amethyst does, I wonder why that is? 3. GIANT QUARTZ FAMILY ADOPT THEM ALL 4. Yellow Diamond can sing, also, I ship her with Blue Diamond now for some reason 5. Can I just say that I love the amount of Rupphire that sneaks in pretty much every time Ruby and Sapphire are unfused they are so in love it's amazing 6. PWN THE BLUE ALIEN UMBRIDGE, PEARL! Okay, I guess I can talk.
I'm still downloading but it's worth noting that this isn't the first time they've done a stevenbomb with a plot across all five eps - the one that ended with Friend Ship was billed as the "week of Sardonyx" after all.
Spoiler: S4E13 Wow, so yes, there sure was a society of people in the zoo! And they're a creepy utopia-dystopia with everything ruled by an creepy cheerful headphone voice that speaks like an exercise tape except constantly. Fantastic. I did like the bit where they all tried to marry Greg, but I am very interested to see if/how they escape, and what the gems have been doing in the meantime! Where is Blue Diamond? Onto the next episode!
all right I'm in the second episode, and fair warning to anyone who hasn't watched--I can't check the times right now, but there is MAJOR color distortion/shape distortion shit that happens in the second episode. uhhhh, Adventures in Light Distortion. it gets kinda fucky, looks sorta like 3D stuff sans 3D glasses, but worse. it gave me a headache and some nausea, so. just a forewarning. and now, back to my post that will contain my reactions to all the episodes.
Spoiler: S4E14 Holy wow, what an ending! The other Gems from Earth being friends with Amethyst, not one but TWO diamonds (we've now seen Yellow and Blue in the flesh, I can't wait to see white!) and a musical number from Yellow Diamond, of all people! Incredible! The room full of bubbled Rose Quartz's was wild... and it's super cool to see some of the politics between the diamonds! It looks like Yellow has somewhat of an upper hand (no pun intended what with their big ships and all) over Blue, because of her more assertive nature. I wonder where White fits into the mix? It was super cool seeing the Crystal Gems get a one up on both of them, and on Holly Blue Agate as well! (Still really cool to have another gem class). Oh, and Yellow Diamond's song revealed some more stuff about the normal purposes of different gems (Lapis terraforms? Of course!). Ahh, and excellent, episode... and excellent five episodes. Fantastic plot building! I loved it. And we still have yet to find out about the mysteries of the Palanquin and Pink Diamond... I'm so excited for what's to come! Signing off because I have to sleep some now, but aaaaah! Awesome stuff. So happy to see all of this!!! Even if it wasn't meant to be out there quite yet... oh well. Hopefully folks will support the official releases as well. Had a great time! :D
me, upon download finishing: Oh, right, I'm not actually caught up, I did the thing where I didn't watch the last episode before hiatus again. also me: [watches anyway]
AW YE IT'S GO TIME reactions abound!!! Spoiler: Steven's Dream - season 4 episode 11 oooooooh wow Pink Diamond name drop a minute and thirty seconds in, okay, clearly this is going to be An Episode. awwwwww, Greg is so sweet when he talks about Rose, I love how he talks about her. all right, dream time, pink flowers, pretty pretty--WHAT THE FUCK THAT'S PINK DIAMOND'S. IT HAS TO BE. IT'S A PALANQUIN THING LIKE BLUE DIAMOND'S, BUT IT'S PINK, AND OH MY GOD. OKAY. OKAY. THIS MUST BE WHAT STEVEN WAS DREAMING ABOUT EARLIER. oh, man, what if he's crying because of like....hidden Rose memories?? CONNIE!!!!!!!!!!! YAY okay, so we're gonna show it to the Gems....Amethyst has no clue, unsurprising....wait, Pearl doesn't know what it is either? ....no, wait, she's lying. she knows what it is. and cue Garnet freaking out. okay. clearly Pink Diamond's. EXPEDITION TIME! IGNORE WHAT PEARL AND GARNET SAY! EXPEDITION! EXPEDITION!! I NEED ANSWERS! AND SO DOES STEVEN. BUT MOSTLY I NEED THEM! ooooh, why is Pearl upset? and of course "Rose never wanted you to see it" but like. Steven makes a good point. LET HIM GO pffffft. being cryptic's totally gonna help here, Garnet. wait. GARNET IS SCARED?? her. her. OMG. IS PINK DIAMOND IN THE PALANQUIN OR SOMETHING??? supportive Greg, yay!!! GO GREG GO! GEEEEEEEEESP ANDY! ANDY IS BACK! AND HE'S HELPING STEVEN! I'M SO HAPPY ;u; awwww, fun montage! again with the crying...wait, could the crying be PD affecting him somehow? and the fence....huh. wait, that's not PD's palanquin. that's Blue Diamond's. STEVEN NO, STEVEN GET OUT OF THERE wait. WAIT. THAT'S BLUE DIAMOND AND HER PEARL. Blue Diamond....cared about Pink Diamond? a lot, it seems. that's the impression I'm getting, at least.... OH. OH MAN. OH. THAT'S WHY HE'S BEEN CRYING. okay, so....Blue Diamond really did care about Pink Diamond a lot. I get the feeling, maybe, more than the other Diamonds did. I wonder why.... ruh-roh. Greg's about to meet Blue Diamond..... so PD was broken for sure, and BD was close to her. very close. awww, Greg is sympathizing.... OSHIT. GREG IS GONE. OH NO. BUT THEY'RE GONNA GET HIM BACK. OKAY. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. NEXT EPISODE, NOW. Spoiler: Adventures in Light Distortion - season 4 episode 11 ooooooookay PD stole humans and kept them in a zoo. wow. all right. PD was uh. more hardcore than I expected, apparently. ....hardcore as in "creepy and terrifying and doing bad shit". Pearl....almost seems like she was going to say she served Pink Diamond. -insert eyes emoji- to the zoo! ....using the Ruby ship??? oh. right. Peridot would know how to use it. oh, and apparently the ship 'preferences' can be changed for different colors. huh. cool. short answer 'yes'....WHAT'S THE LONG ANSWER??? I sense bad things. oof. Lapis looks unenthused about protecting Beach City....I don't blame her. okay, so we're gonna pick up the Rubies on the way back. okay. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh how are we gonna get there faster we gotta get there faster okay, go Steven! and he blacked out annnnnnnd--OH. OKAY. "why doesn't she ever tell us anything? this is why we don't listen to her!" ....logical. totally logical. uuuuuuuugh. sometimes I'm still sorta pissed about how the CGs treat and interact with Peridot. ...what Gem type is THAT tiny? I want to meet them. Diamond size.... ohhhhhhhhh boy manual adjustments. oh no OH NO THAT WAS THE OFF SWITCH FOR SOMETHING, ALL RIGHT BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT they poofed..... oh shit. they're....somewhere. I'm not willing to trust that it's the zoo, not yet, but....they're somewhere, all right. okay, I gotta be real, this color shape shit happening right now is fucking with my eyes and giving me a headache. someone should post a warning about that. I guess I will, after I finish this episode. woooooould've been nice if I had known this was coming, but w/e. oh, sweet, the Gems are back. okay, nice heartwarming shit....OH SHIT IT'S THE ZOO Spoiler: Gem Heist - season 4 episode 12 okay. so those Amethysts obviously work for Blue Diamond....so she must've taken over the zoo after PD, uh. yeah. "no." WOW SAPPHIRE WAY TO BUILD CONFIDENCE. Holly Blue Agate....a new Gem. clearly higher-ranking than the Amethysts, but lower than a Sapphire, I'm guessing, based on her reaction....someone involved in running the zoo, maybe? an administrator-type Gem? I love her hair. hmmmm. "what have you been telling her that you shouldn't have" kind of reads like "what have you been saying that she might report to Blue Diamond and get us in trouble for"....and it sounds like maybe Earthmade Gems are viewed as having less manners or being more unruly. "Your Clarity". so there's terms and stuff for higher-up Gems who aren't Diamonds, too. it seems like that is a Sapphire-specific term, maybe? "clarity" as in 'seeing clearly', a reference to their future vision.... Sapphire in with the "we'd like a tour". always works. Your Grand Clarity. so Sapphires are clearly pretty high-ranking, at least in comparison to Holly here. aaaaaaaaand Amethyst is stuck. oh no. and we get to see Holly being an asshole to Pearl, sigh.... "useless Quartzes". yeah, okay, they look down on Earthmade Gems a LOT. "trusted Agate" suggests there's only one Holly Blue Agate...and that despite being apparently lower-ranking than, say, Sapphire, she considers herself "trusted". might be true, might not be. "you are so patient with her!" so Holly's clearly assuming that Pearl's, uh....defective/subpar, shall we say, and that Sapphire....took her in, or something, and chooses to tolerate her differences--and given that Sapphires are high-ranking, them being a bit eccentric would probably be accepted. .....so what did they just see that we didn't? "Blue Diamond's merciful and giving nature" ....so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that at the very least, Holly doesn't know that BD kept it up because she was super close to PD, and thinks BD just did it as a showy thing. wow. it's....both great and telling that Holly assumed it was an Amethyst who did that stuff to the door. it's interesting that the Amethysts vary in color--like, the one that's really deep purple, for instance. there is some allowed difference where soldiers are concerned, maybe? or maybe it's just that, once again, they can't get rid of every single "defective" one like they used to. they simply can't afford it. Holly's really harsh on the Amethysts. I wonder if that's a product of them being Amethysts, or of them being Earthgrown Gems, or both? hey, that one has a chipped tooth. aw. that's kinda cute! Assimilation Bay sounds....bad. very bad. oh. it's....cataloguing him, checking his health, and....giving him an interesting new style of dress...I hope those aren't actual ear piercings. they'd need proper care to avoid infection and I doubt the Gems are prepared for that. wow. island place. looks nice, I guess. okay, Greg seems, uh.....settled in.....I am Suspicious. Spoiler: The Zoo - season 4 episode 13 the little voices tell them what to do. okay. the fruit is very. square. how do they grow it? what is it? wow. the voices tell them what to do, but what if they don't listen? I mean, these people are so....used to following they wouldn't think of it, but.... and they're so clueless about things. do they have real names? where does Y6 come from? is it why-6 of y-6? is it a designation number? .....okay, no offense to them, but I could NOT sleep on a bush. they don't know what doors are. well, I guess that's not surprising. so they know what Gems are, at least. but not 'hurt'. that....was not a cannonball, friend. no one's coming in.... UH. what's The Choosening? it. it sounds bad oooooooooookay. so The Choosening is....forcibly picking mates for people. that explains why it's only adults. and....the little voice somehow knows the names they use for themselves. OH MY GOD. they all choose Greg. pfft. WOW. overreaction much? buuuuuuut I guess if you've never been emotionally or physically hurt before.... they're like children, in some ways, even if they're all adults. cue Amethysts. what are they gonna do? no, seriously, how do you expect them to handle a bunch of crying humans. wait the Amethysts know how to emotionally comfort people what ....okay, and now Greg and Steven are in trouble. OH GOOD AND THERE IT ENDS. Spoiler: That Will Be All - season 4 episode 14 ....did I take my meds today? ANYWAY. okay, so there's Jaspers here too, looks like. huh, the Amethysts found out that Amethyst wasn't a "real" Amethyst like them, and they were....chill with it? wow. apparently not every Gem is obsessed with perfection. I'm more convinced that our Jasper has issues now. she should come back and get healed and be happy. it would make me happy if that happened. awwww, Amethyst found her family!!! WAIT. there are Gems from the Beta Kindergarten here too?? Jasper's fellow Gems....they're not all dead!! and some of them are actually different-looking, like Amethyst! or at least, I'm guessing they are, based on the skinny Jasper. AWWWWWW, THE CARNELIAN IS SO CUTE! wow. Holly treats them all horribly. and it seems like it's definitely because they're from Earth. even the ones who came out "right" aren't right to her....this is really hard to watch, honestly. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BUBBLED GEMS HERE oh holy shit. these are....these are all Rose Quartzes. they're supposed to be shattered for a crime they had nothing to do with....this must be why they were never made again. wait....they were "hers"? was PD the one who was in charge of producing Rose Quartzes? I mean, for all of them to belong to PD...or maybe these were just the specific ones that belonged to PD, and the ones belonging to other Diamonds were already shattered? also, I'm starting to think that either YD expressed her grief in a very different way from BD, or that there wasn't much love lost between Yellow and Pink Diamond. also, pffft, that little smug smile on Yellow Pearl's face when she joins Blue Pearl. it's sounding more and more like Rose Quartzes were specific to Pink Diamond. "debacle"....Yellow Diamond doesn't feel much but embarrassment over what happened, I'm guessing. Blue Diamond deserves a right to grieve, though. it's been a while in human terms, yes, but for the Diamonds....I'm betting this isn't much time at all. ....I know Yellow says in her song they all love her and they're always thinking of her, but I feel like Blue was closest to Pink out of all of them for sure. maybe even romantic? I wonder if the implication that all Rose Quartzes helped to destroy Pink is just because the Diamonds think that since one Rose Quartz rebelled, all are guilty, or if all the Rose Quartzes really were involved. I feel like it's the first thing. ....okay, wait. Yellow says "a Lapis terraforms". does....does that mean Lapises are builders or something? wat. ....okay, Lapises apparently change what planets look like. huh. that would imply they're integral in making planets "efficient" or whatever. so why was our Lapis only supposed to visit for a short time? what was she even doing there? Yellow Pearl is. very theatrical. isn't she. Blue Pearl seems....more subdued. hmmm. I rescind my earlier assessment: while Blue Diamond might have been closest with Pink, Yellow clearly misses her as well--she's just afraid of feeling things, it seems like. man, Sapphire just barely managed that one. "I don't think anything could spoil this for me!" UHHHHHHHHHHHH WELL THAT'S NICE WE'LL JUST BE GOING THEN! oh, damn, Holly's got a cool weapon. even if I mostly hate her, I have to admit that. GARNET!!! :D OOOOOOOOOH NICE ONE PEARL famethyst is best family. and we're done, but damn, those were some EPISODES.
@chaoticArbiter Spoiler: that will be all specific re: yellow diamond's grief: I think it's telling that when she's actually bending over and looking like she's hurting, the line is "what's the use of feeling" with the blue cut off. YD clearly values being efficient and together; she simply doesn't let herself indulge in the grief the same way BD does. After all, what's the use of feeling? It doesn't bring PD back.
Spoiler: I feel like.... they're opposite extremes. BD clearly wants to wallow in her grief and spend a LOT of her time doing that; YD wants to deal with things quickly and efficiently and sort of....bury her feelings instead of feeling them at all, because in her view, they don't help.
Spoiler: i havent seen it but re: yellow diamond i mean i'm not surprised yellow diamond had a song given that she's Patty Lupone? Anyway i'm gonna stop reading peoples reactions because i still havent seen the episodes lol
Spoiler: re: that That would explain Lapis' hydrokinesis--she could use it to cause erosion! Although that'd realistically take a very long time, so it might be less "general erosion" and more "blasting the shit out of things with water," which would also make sense. (Admittedly a bit sad that my "lapises are a caste of dancers" theory is wrong, but oh well.) Spoiler: general thoughts! Hooooooooly SHIT that was all VERY GOOD and VERY FUCKED UP. The Zoo in particular was disturbing as hell and that was very much by design, I can tell. And the poor humans who have spent their lives there...they don't know anything different. Just...fuck. Also GODDAMN that song was good. And Blue Diamond seems a lot...softer, for lack of a better word, than I'd expected from The Answer. Maybe Pink was shattered sometime after that and it kind of broke Blue? I definitely got some they-were-Involved vibes there... Also, Greg insisting on taking Steven sightseeing when they went to Korea was adorable. Gotta treat the kid to some fun! (And the animation studio gag killed me.) By the way, do y'all think it might be worth me making a Tumblr post about the potential headache-inducing effects in Adventures In Light Distortion? It didn't bother me personally but while I was watching it I was like, "yeah some people are definitely gonna get headaches here."
Spoiler: hmmm that would make sense!! although it's interesting to me that Lapises were never considered as potential soldiers--I mean, blasting the shit out of things with water works for shaping earth, sure, but it's also a pretty effective battle tactic, imo....but that probably ties into Homeworld's "a place for every Gem and every Gem in its place" thing. I still have to wonder why Lapis, our Lapis, was only supposed to visit for a short time? and why did she end up stuck there longer? if she was surveying the planet to begin plans for terraforming, it would make sense that she was only going to be there for a short time, but it would also make sense for her to be there prior to the war getting serious--did she arrive, and then the war just immediately got so bad that she couldn't leave, and she got caught on the battlefield? PLEASE DO. I could've used warning about that....
well, Spoiler lapis was able to move the entire ocean overnight. So maybe her duties would have only needed her to be there for a few days? But either the war broke out very quickly or it did while she was en route. It doesn't seem like the Gems back then had FTL, or at least it still took a while. ...though, lapis was able to make the flight to homeworld HERSLF. Do we have any estimates on how long that took? Because she's going really fast, especially depending on where the human zoo is in proximity to homeworld.
HOLY SHIT Spoiler: Steven's Dream - That Will Be All Gods, I know Garnet hates her for good reason, but man, Blue D seems... idk, at least less harsh and rude than Yellow. She might not be any more forgiving, but at least she has more grace... also YELLOW'S SONG WAS SO GOOD THOUGH. Like, just perfectly slightly off kilter, but you could see she genuinely cares about Blue in her own hard, militant way, you know? I WANT TO MEET WHITE DIAMOND SO BAD NOW well that explains the lack of other Rose Quartzes I WANT THE EARTH QUARTZ KNOCKOFFS TO JOIN IN I LOVE THEM ahhhhh my Citrine is so happy to see non-asshole Quartzes who aren't already on earth <3 <3 Skinny Jasper and a runt Carnelian!!!!!!! (Why do I want to headcanon the last as that one who came out sideways XDDD) Lastly, Hollyblue Agate!!!! WE'VE NEVER SEEN AN AGATE BEFORE also holy shit I'm impressed with her gem weapon it's a shame she had no real training with it XDD
Spoiler I wonder if Blue's personality shift is because she and Pink were THAT close, that when she died Blue basically broke down and still hasn't properly grieved. and YES FAMETHYST. i want the entire complement of Earth Quartzes to come back home. are those ARE the Earth quartzes, that survived the war?actually it doesn't seem like they went THROUGH the war, so who knows. But if this is the one part of the Gempire about preserving the remnants of the Earth colony - the Earth gems, the Earth humans, the Earth Roses that were Pink's special project - that's. Really interesting. I also want the Roses to be freed. And also come to Earth. Or SOMEWHERE, at least.
Does anyone know if the leaked episodes are available anywhere else? The files linked to in the thread seem to have taken down
yes please! (i mean, it probably is illegal in the copyright infringement sense, so if that bothers you and you don't want to upload them that's ok too)
