I am slightly confused by it. I mean, He takes care of Steven pretty well in all the times we´ve seen them together? Just because he lives in his van? (I mean, STEVEN doesn´t. Steven lives in a house.)
I think he's a great parent, in part because he recognises his limitations therein (especially considering his child is half-gem)
Sweet Greg Universe. He's ready to handle anything, and handle it quietly, because he loves steven and doesn't want steven to find himself weird or inhuman. Look at how he interacts with Connie, noticing discomfort and worry most people wouldn't, and going out of his way to make her, too, feel included and worthwhile. There must be a lot of story, not yet produced, about him learning about the Gems, learning about humanity through them, learning that he is a very, very, very, very small life, and that there is nothing he can do about these ancient and all-encompassing battles and beings and THINGS, to really influence things, but that tenderness is still never lost, and is appreciated even by the ancient and powerful. So he can be kind and understanding for them, and help them, and that is STILL worthwhile. It takes a strong, determined person to face death, face the death of their son, face danger and mystery and mind-boggling confusion over and over and basically never lash out. To just continue to try to help every time, instead of being bogged down in their own confusion and fear and misunderstanding. He means it when he says he JUST wants to help, emphasis on just. I really like the character of Greg Universe.
before I go to bed, I gotta remember to share some great stuff I found while searching for the jaspidot shipping meta: I am Pearl Amethyst and Pearl's relationship has come a long way! This scene where they taught Peridot how to eat food was cut, but it lives forever in my heart
I always got the impression Greg 'lived' in the van to save money--he uses it almost all on Steven. If he's running a car wash, keeping a storage shed, buying new brushes for his car wash business...he's not broke! And Steven, like....seems really happy to do things like sleepover at Dad's van. He's really warmhearted and absolutely part of how and why Steven is such a caring, empathetic, loving person! It's like they saw the dad that lived in a van and rushed out disoriented with a waffle iron in Laser Light Cannon, and stopped paying attention. Or they're going too much by Pearl's at-first-grudging tolerance of him and not looking at the evidence. (Also, was he a smooth operator back when he first met Rose or what?)
I remember for a while my freinds were saying that Rose wasn't good enough for Greg. and it made me grin, but... he is SUCH a good guy.
SAME. In fact, Onion Trade has a really nice effect on me because I've ALWAYS gotten to have fun days out like that with my dad, and I have little mementos along the lines of Steven's Ranger Guy that aren't important so much as objects as they are as memories. Like...before the local arcade closed, we'd go there pretty much every other Saturday, and get forty bucks in tokens--twenty for him, twenty for me--and play until we ran out, and we'd pool our tickets at the redemption counter so I could get little trinkets like necklaces and this weird giant inflatable candy cane. (I still have it somewhere, and I have no use for it, and I will never throw that thing away. Now I'm nostalgic.) And more than anything, Greg genuinely loves his son. I cannot stress this enough. He tries not to get involved in Gem stuff, but that's because he knows he can't handle it--it's like how a parent who sucks at math might not want to help their kid who also struggles with math with their algebra homework, I think, and maybe they'll find a tutor or get the kid's other parent who doesn't suck at math to help instead. But when it comes to stuff he can help with--music, emotional support, being a good dad--he helps, without fail. And even when there's serious shit going on that he doesn't get, he tries his best--hell, he outright saved Steven and Connie from dying in Ocean Gem! Greg Universe is an amazing dad and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
Greg is the kind of dad I wish I'd had. I really wonder what standards people are operating under when they judge him as a 'bad parent' - some of them are probably rigid, classist ones like the one's Connie's parents seem to have (but are slowly thawing as they realize that ways of life that are 'messier' are still valid and healthy).
Lives in a car, doesn't live with his son, laid-back attitude and long hair = deadbeat dad. They don't bother looking at how he's actually present in Steven's life or anything.
Yeeeep. If they wanted to see an ACTUAL deadbeat dad, I have personal examples handy - Greg is very much not it.
I feel like a lot of people hear the Crystal Gems telling Steven about how much Rose Quartz loved the world but they don't really notice this aspect of Greg Universe, and so they miss seeing just how much of Steven's boundless compassion he got from his father. If anything, I'd say that more of it is from Greg's side - Rose loved the planet but she was more distant than Greg, whereas Greg's response to any problem that pops up is to get right in there and fix it. He's all about fixing things. I get the feeling that unless the problem is widescale societal injustice, Rose doesn't really know how.
Possibly unpopular opinion: I suspect the gems idea of Rose is kinda biased. She reminds me of Feferi in being well intentioned but in a "Oh these cute poor humans/lowbloods" way. So Greg would be a hell of a lot better at actual fixing.
Well I think we're supposed to see the Gems as being biased about Rose? She was their whole world, for a while, and now she's gone, and they're still here , and that has Effects on their views of her. Not sure she's exactly like Feferi though - afair Feferi never really treated the other kids like they were beneath her, or condescended to them, and culling=caring was mostly something she played at with her cuttlefish (sorry I just. get really annoyed at headcanons about feferi wholeheartedly believing in the culling system that we hear about on Beforus)
I always imagined Feferi started there and grew out of it. And I did say reminds me of, I wasn´t trying to imply they´re exactly alike.
Well, part of my issue with it is that, growing up on Alternia where omnidirectional hostility is the baseline interaction level, I can't imagine Feferi would honestly think that kids would stand for being coddled? Or that it would even be safe for kids to be in the care of adult trolls. The most I can figure is that she had an idea, of what maybe the best end result would be, that had a lot of similarities to the idea of Beforan culling.
Uh one, you´re responding to things I never said. I never claimed Feferi was adovacating the beforan system. Nor did I say anything about kids being in the care of adult trolls? i was talking about a very general attitude, nothing nearly as concrete. two, we should move this to the Homestuck thread.
I'll admit that I did not start Steven Universe from the beginning and the first episode I saw with Greg was the one where he kept bringing Steven back home to show him stuff and I got really annoyed at him and thought he was being a butt, but then every appearance I saw of him after that was just awesome and I was so glad my first impression was wrong. He's just the best teddy bear and *insert all above praises upon the Universes' best dad*. Also I'd gotten this picture of a Greg Universe cosplayer at Metrocon last year.
Yes and yes again about Greg's compassion and empathy. My personal interpretation of 'Love Like You' is that it's directed from Rose to Greg. (And that Steven is, well...sort of that's Rose learning how?)
