Spoiler Pearl and Peridot need to do the kiss I really enjoyed the really casual confirmation of gem multiples and variations and such! Steven's expression when he was imagining hundreds of pearls was really great, hah. And I legit cheered when the tree earned a point - for some reason when they hit the tree I just really wanted that gag to take place. Re: Pearls are for looking pretty, holding your bags for you, ect: Pearls are essentially..... trophy girlfriends? The description reminds me of joking descriptions I'd hear girls use for their boyfriends in high school.
Spoiler: Back to the Barn Yesss forehead gems butting heads haha @IvyLB I don't think they kept anything from Steven intentionally. It's more likely that Steven just assumed and they never corrected him because it never came up.
Spoiler @autopsyblue okay but the way Pearl reacted, with the obvious embarrassement, i think at least Pearl wasn't opposed to it never ever coming up. But that might be related to her deriving a lot of validation from how much Steven thinks of her as special and maybe she was afraid because if he knew there were other pearls, maybe he wouldn't think of her as quite so special anymore. Pearl has self-confidence problems after all and with the implications of how pearls in general are treated her being replaceable was probably a very accute reality in her youth.
Spoiler: annoyed jewellery nerdery The Pearls being made-to-order does kind of mollify my grumpitude about how on earth the writers of this show can have not realised that pearls (real ones) are of organic origin and do not have a crystalline structure. Perhaps they are not grown the way gems are. I also vote for an army of pretty people with pretty weapons.
something that occurs to me: Spoiler: pearl spoipers How much is Pearl's obsession with tidiness, symmetry, and aesthetic part of her personality, and how much of it is "programmed" into her? Since Pearls are made to be beautiful slaves... also my birthday is in june so my birthstones are Pearl and Alexandrite. I was going to make a gemsona of Alexandrite but my plans were dashed. I now have an EXTREMELY STRONG URGE to make a Pearlsona.
Spoiler And how much of it is her choice, the opportunity to have control over herself and her environment?
You know, this raises some New And Troubling Questions about... Spoiler: pearl spoipers Rose Quartz. Rose, in Pearl's hologram thing in Rose's Scabbard, refers to Pearl as "my Pearl." It's been assumed, fairly understandably, that this was a combination of literalism (with Pearl being Rose's servant in some capacity) and endearment (as in "my love," for instance), and up until now the general fanon seemed to be that Pearl was assigned to Rose more or less at random. But now we know that Pearls are "made-to-order." So unless Rose got her secondhand (which, while possible, seems unlikely), it's quite likely that at least some of Pearl's traits were picked out by Rose herself. And given the fact that Pearl loved Rose deeply and madly, viewing her as her entire universe (as Garnet said in Sworn To The Sword, "(Pearl) put Rose Quartz over everything--over logic, over consequence, over her own life")...well, the implications are definitely concerning. It could just be a common trait among Pearls, but...well, it's hard to say.
@Acey Spoiler: pearl indeed it does though pearl did indicate that rose didn't want pearl to sacrifice for her in battle like that ("why won't you let me do this for you, rose?"), which i reckon means either: a) rose wasn't the one that chose that trait for pearl b) rose did originally but eventually regretted doing it - but couldn't change it but yeah... concerning implications for sure... fascinating
Spoiler: yes yes yes YES YEEEES Pearl as Rose's made to order trinket is exactly the kinda content I'm looking for. I'd fucking adore if that's what went down and Rose learned to regret it later. Holy shit would I love that. Especially given how I've seen some people making noise about how people shouldn't like Peridot in any capacity, given the things that she's done and the "racist undertones" of her beliefs about Pearl. (I have so much trouble figuring out what fictional stuff is supposed to relate to real life stuff. "Jasper's homophobic, because she thinks two people melding together into something with a sharp upgrade in military strength is a bit cheap, which is exactly like not wanting two consenting adults to touch butts for arbitrary reasons" "Peridot is racist because she was made in a society entirely consisting of mass produced holographic robots of specific types and roles, and has ideas about how certain gems are supposed to be, because they are literally designed to be that way")
Spoiler: HELL FUCKING YES I fucking LOVE the idea of Rose having done Seriously Fucked-Up Shit in the past okay. And I'm like 99% sure that much will end up being canon, which is wonderful. And I think this episode kind of backs it up! Regardless of whether or not the whole "Rose was Pink Diamond" theory is correct (I personally think it is, but I can see it going either way), Rose was likely high-ranking on Homeworld, just going off of what we've seen. So it makes sense that someone who was born (produced?) into a high caste and didn't know anything else would have some pretty fucked worldviews, even if they were a fundamentally good person. (See also: Feferi Peixes and her ideas on culling as instituted on Beforus.) And hell, Rose's views on humanity were initially condescending as hell too! Not malicious exactly, but still bigoted, if that makes sense? So it makes perfect sense to me that she might've wanted a shiny toy and learned to regret it after actually spending time with the Pearl she ordered.
I... don't. I definitely saw all those implications you discussed. But I still love the heck out of Peridot, despite her pride in her position Homeworld, because she's exactly the kind of villain I love for being passionate and hate for being ignorant and bigoted. Peridot is fun and I refuse to apologize for thinking that. Also I don't blame people for not understanding what I understand. That's counterproductive at best. An explanation paired with a lack of judgement is a lot more helpful. Spoiler: More Pearl And that's what makes privileged people good!
Spoiler: moar pearl wouldn't it be great if at some point if they actually end up going to homeworld there would be mirrors of Rose Quartz and Pearl in the beginning, characters who function in their society as expected and Pearl sees it and sings a sad song about it and!!!!! (I want so much production value put into Pearl centric episodes and I don't care I come across as a spoiled brat it would be awesome and up until now every song Pearl sang was absolutely beautiful.) I do wonder, a bit, how the show is going to handle the whole 'Rose Quartz did some very sketchy things in her past' thing with writing. That's... a difficult thing to address in a kids show and I'm curious. I'm sure they will address it and I'm certain they will handle it nicely, but I definitly don't think I'd have the writing chops to make this as nuanced yet easy and relateable as SU usually is.
I saw a long ass post about how Steven Universe making the villains somewhat sympathetic was a good and realistic thing to do, buuuuut why do people actually like the villains? It was one of the most confusing things I've ever read, honestly. "Like, I know Peridot is sympathetic and all, and that's great! But actually sympathizing with her?? Come on guys, that's fucking ridiculous." Goddamn, all I want to do is like people for being horrible without having some rando write a weird contradictory screed about how I'm not supposed to like the characters who I'm supposed to like because the writers wrote them that way but they're also bad so the writers must have known we couldn't actually like them and, GAH. i have no idea if i'm exaggerating or not, i was and remain completely incapable of parsing most of that post
Be careful on tumblr you guys, the new episode was leaked. I watched the leaked episode because I can't watch it on TV anyways with my current schedule, but there are probably spoilers all over the tags on tumblr. my only thing I have to say about that episode that is vaguely spoilery is: Spoiler autistic!Peridot headcanon INTENSIFIES. Granted a lot of the gems strike me as being spergy because they are literal aliens that process the world differently than humans but holy shit, Peridot! Feels/communicates better with a recording device comes up with neogloisms doesn't understand humor very well fidgets with her hands when she's uncomfortable. there is a lot of other really great stuff in that episode, but it feels like it would be more suited to a discussion when the episode actually airs
