@tinyhydra, @Starcrossedsky - yeah, this is what I was thinking about. I thought it might be cute to have an episode where OMG EVERYTHING RONALDO THOUGHT WAS TRUE and then the reveal is like it's his YouTube channel with self-made movies à la Marble Hornets or something. Fun and ultimately harmless. Also, in more current news, I couldn't help but think all through Greg's song in the preview that "gee, this all fits in nicely with the 'Greg's been around a lot longer than everyone thinks' theory" ... like, it was a little too convenient ...
i just caught up with the series and i have to confess i thought the UG was really bland. OTOH, i keep randomly remembering rose's scabbard and tearing up in public. Oh, Pearl, my sweet angel child.
So, been searching through the Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis tags on tumblr, and I got to say, I'm not entirely sure I get how people in this fandom measure 'badness', or I suppose 'redeemability', cause that seems to be the hot topic when it comes to homeworld gems. I guess I'm just really confused about how so many people who are fans of a show that has been all about showing multifaceted people with both good and bad qualities can just immediately write characters off as having no positive traits whatsoever. Jasper especially, seeing as she's had the least amount of screentime of any of these characters. Like, there's this thing where people talk about how Lapis did nothing wrong, but she did hurt people. And I get that she herself is hurt, but I don't understand why people would decide that because she's hurt that it's unfair to talk about her as if she's anything other than a sweet, precious baby who never did anything wrong. Or anything at all, sometimes? People do tend to remove a lot of agency from her, and make it out like she's never had any choice in anything she does, and that rubs me the wrong way too. Also, the people who seem to equate Lapis being good with Lapis being aligned with the Crystal Gems, which is stupid because she hates them and doesn't care about Earth. And then there's all the kerfuffle about if Jasper is an abuser, and how much of an abuser she is, and whether or not she can be redeemed, and not a whole lot on what it means to be redeemed. There seems to be this general consensus that redemption means that she'll align herself with the Crystal Gems and become Grumpy Tiger Mom to Steven, but I really, really don't like this fandom trend of equating being a good person with being a Crystal Gem or supporting what the main characters support. I don't know where I'm going with this. I guess it's that I'm super weirded out by how simplistic people make out characters and their circumstances to be, and I was kinda wondering if anyone felt the same way, or maybe had some words on how I'm just being an idiot, or whatever.
People felt that way about Amethyst in On the Run until Maximum Capacity happened. Then everyone did a complete 180. Same with Pearl. Not so much with Garnet, even though she's screwed up before while raising Steven as well. People seem to forget a common motif with the show, something that Steven got from Greg: "If every porkchop were perfect we wouldn't have hotdogs" Interestingly enough, this is also one of the reasons for the aesthetic choices behind the show as well
Oh man, that's annoying, especially given the various implications that the Crystal Gems did some badwrongshit to protect Earth (Lapis and the mirror if they/Rose were the one/s who put her there, "no such thing as a good war, kiddo," Pearl's kinda desperately cheerful "but we won!," maybe even the gem monsters) (I think a lot of the show is going to be Steven trying to put said badwrongshit right, as well as trying to bring homeworld gems around) I mean, I'm fairly willing to have "not actively willing to destroy all life on Earth" as a prerequisite for considering a character a "good person," but beyond that they don't really need to be "aligned" with the Crystal Gems.
I just read a post on Peridot that claimed that she's redeemable because she's young(????) and doesn't understand the implications of what she was doing(???????) and doesn't see Steven as a person, so she didn't mean to be bad, she was just treating him like how she's treat an insect or something(????????????????????). That last bit was only barely paraphrased. The poster did frame Peridot's attempt to kill Steven as an attempt to rid herself of an annoying pest, in a post intended to highlight how Lapis and Peridot are both good people while Jasper is a garbage nonperson who will never change her ways. I'm kind of impressed. Honestly, I don't even care if the show tries to redeem Jasper/Peridot/Lapis/whoever else the fandom thinks is garbage. All I really want is some context. I think it's vitally important that this show lets the other side of this conflict have its reasons for doing things that go beyond 'well, we're just evil, yunno?'. Hell, even if the reasons for starting the Kindergarten aren't all that great, the individuals participating in it ought to at least be allowed to be people with hopes and dreams beyond 'evil, doing pointless destruction because lol'. And I desperately want Jasper's POV on Rose and the Gem War. No side of any war has never committed some sort of hideous human(oid) rights violation, and I want to know what Rose has done in the name of saving the Earth. Jasper respected Rose's tactics, and what does that say about Rose? Rose is such a pristine figure in this show. Everyone adores her, everyone has had nothing but good things to say about her kindness and leadership and boundless love, and I have a mighty need to see her get her hands dirty.
I think Lapis is the most sympathetic of the trio, but I also think she's definitely done some bad shit, and keeps doing some bad shit, too. For example, I think it's pretty strongly implied she outright sold out the Crystal Gems while trying to keep Steven out of it, and while I understand her animosity towards the Crystal Gems, she should not have been so surprised when it backfired and Steven got dragged into it. Also, the whole 'stealing the ocean for a plan that wouldn't even work anyway' and 'guess who tries to drown children? This chick!' parts don't help, either! I read a post trying to justify the latter saying gems don't understand death, but, like, I'm pretty sure Lapis knows humans need to breathe, and even if she thought Steven would survive her attack, she was still trying to kill Connie. 'Willing to do nasty things to everyone but Steven' does not a great person make. By that same token, I'm not sure if I'd call Jasper or Peridot irredeemable, because I think a good writer could redeem basically anyone, but you have to admit they're not only fully complicit in a system of organized xenocide, they're actively participating in it, whereas we only know for sure Lapis was complicit. Then again, tumblr doesn't really understand nuance very well.
Mmmm, I dunno if I buy that. I think she would have known that sending a message to warn Steven would necessarily have meant warning the Crystal Gems as well (and selling out the Crystal Gems would have necessarily meant putting Steven in danger), and she did not look like she was on Peridot's ship by choice to me. Not saying that she hasn't done anything wrong (trying to drown Steven and Connie comes to mind), but I think Peridot knowing about the Crystal Gems and coming to Earth was more a result of them showing themselves in Kindergarten, and Lapis just got shanghaied into coming along on account of being the last gem to leave Earth and possibly on suspicion of withholding information. Jasper did imply that Lapis briefed her/gave her info on the Crystal Gems, but I think that was probably more Lapis doing her "let's just cooperate and hope they go easy on us" thing than it was her actively selling out the Crystal Gems. e. I think every character on the show's going to at least get offered a chance at redemption, because Steven and also general themes, but I dunno that all of them will take it. (particularly Jasper, because it might involve eating more humble pie than she can stomach)
Actually, the whole "possible redemption for Peridot" thing started with a tweet from a crewniverse member. Basically what he said was: Which is really telling since this guy is one of the writers. So there's been a lot of talk of a possible redemption arc for Peridot in the future, though not outright joining of the Crystal Gems. This became tied to a theory that compared to the Crystal Gems or Jasper "who was there during the war" Peridot is comparatively young. She's never heard of the Crystal Gems (as was shown in Marble Madness), and she has never been to earth before and was most likely told that it was easy and/or deserted. In Marble Madness, she asked Steven if "humans were still the dominant species" and in Jail Break you can hear her quietly muttering "Go to earth they said...it would be easy they said..." There's another theory that technology and gem production has sped up so fast for the homeworld, that they have a similar problem to us where, say if you buy a computer during one year, the next its barely half its own price because newer and better things have come out. Think like that, but with the gems from steven universe. I also find it interesting that Peridot is often compared to Pearl, as both are the technology minded strategist type because there's another good theory floating around as to Pearl's possible old place in gem society. Perhaps the same thing could be said for Peridot? Man, I love this sort of stuff though. Personally, I'd put money on this person's steven universe theory.
Woah, that post was a trip. Oh man, I'm gonna need to go over that again when I'm capable of doing words good. Edit, haha shit, I am tired. Quoted the wrong damn thing entirely. was talking about that long post about gem politics. how does one fuck up that badly? Still, like that post. Visual mediums ought to have a little wiggle room with details like that, i think.
Spoiler: Story For Steven I really like the gem's old designs. I wonder what caused them all to regenerate!
Wow. that is some post. Like...wow. What do we think about the overarching Green Diamond theory, though, and the additional theory of Rose Quartz = Pink Diamond? there's a lot of talk about the obvious three - white, yellow, blue - but there is the larger green triangle encompassing all three.
Story for Steven was so good! I like the past-gem outfits. Also, wow, that theory. That'd be pretty cool!
Spoiler: Story for Steven Notable point: none of them save Rose have stars yet. Well, Garnet's got em on her gloves, but not her outfit. Also, they all look significantly younger, save Rose, again, which is Weird. Do gems "age" when they regenerate? Or is it just a different "style" of body for them? Or do they look older now out of grief over Rose or something? And they look younger than they did in the (presumably chronologically earlier) "Watson and the Shark" picture. ??? Also omg, Pearl's legwarmers.
@Petra - true enough, but then why have the extra triangle there? The three smaller ones could have been bigger and just within the larger circle. (Or even no circle at all.) Spoiler It also shows up in the temple/labyrinth in the strawberry battlefield, though there's no colour involved. I mean, it could totally just be an aesthetic choice, 100%. Especially given that this would probably give a significantly higher level of government to Green Diamond than to Yellow/White/Blue, based on size and the green triangle encompassing the other ones. I'd find this curious, considering the only diamond we've heard of is Yellow Diamond. But then, it could be an immediate superior thing, or even a district authority thing. But I dunno. There is something like 5000 years of Gem history which we only have the barest of clues about.
@Wiwaxia lol. true facts. IT'S A WHOLE COUNCIL OF DIAMONDS HOLY SHIT (...actually, that would amusingly play into the real-world conceit of diamonds actually being WAY more common than their carefully-controlled lack-of-supply would lead you to believe...)
