Steven Universe - Now a Griefing Thread

[IvanaHumpalot]

Spoiler

If he kissed their ass any harder he'd be giving them an enema

Ugh, I can't stand him. I know I watched some of his shit before, but he became unbeareable really quickly.

 

[CausticMinory]

Important question that was probably asked before. But since the gem is a pink diamond and not a rose quartz, why the fuck are the fusions not "Smokey Diamond, Rainbow Diamond etc." Was it literally too hard to change a name Rebecca? You adhere to pronouns but not in your show?

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Important question that was probably asked before. But since the gem is a pink diamond and not a rose quartz, why the fuck are the fusions not "Smokey Diamond, Rainbow Diamond etc." Was it literally too hard to change a name Rebecca? You adhere to pronouns but not in your show?

Smoky Quartz wouldn’t have know she was a Diamond because Amythest and Steven didn’t know at the time, and Rainbow Quartz was both Ponk and Pearl, who were in on the secret but didn’t want it revealed, Rose because she wanted to leave that life behind and Pearl because it was Pink’s last order.

 

[Wabbu]

Important question that was probably asked before. But since the gem is a pink diamond and not a rose quartz, why the fuck are the fusions not "Smokey Diamond, Rainbow Diamond etc." Was it literally too hard to change a name Rebecca? You adhere to pronouns but not in your show?

Becky said fusion names don't really mean anything, they just call themselves what they think they look like.

 

[RG 448]

Becky said fusion names don't really mean anything, they just call themselves what they think they look like.

Blue Diamond implied as much the first time she heard Garnet’s name.

 

[Tampon Head]

Just watched the special and it wasn't too bad. Felt rushed, but it's Steven Universe so that's to be expected. It was so obvious that this special was made to be a series finale just in case the series didn't get renewed for season 6.

I especially liked the effort put into the fluid animation sequence during the weird Pink Steven hug scene. Best piece of animation the show has seen period.

Nevertheless, there are still some problems that I want to address.

This ties into the entire show's flaws, but Steven can always worm his away out of any situation just by talking about his feelings. When was the last time he's been genuinely challenged or lost a fight? He always gets what he wants even if he's against some of the most powerful beings in the universe. It's common shounen anime stuff, but it takes away from the show when you know that the protagonist will always win no matter what. White Diamond could have been the perfect enemy to counteract Steven's "let's just hug it out and be friends" mentality. Instead she's bested by a lukewarm retort. I can't get invested in a story when three intergalactic space empresses are swayed by a 14 year-old boy saying "be yourself!"

Steven Universe is a show that indulges its fans into believing that you're the absolute embodiment of perfection just the way you are and you don't need to improve yourself. Why change for evil oppressive society if you're already a divine flawless goddess?

I can already feel the screeching fanboys at The Roundtable making 100's of new theory videos. AwestruckVox (the guy who harassed a kid with cancer because of "muh leaks") probably broke the sound barrier.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Just watched the special and it wasn't too bad. Felt rushed, but it's Steven Universe so that's to be expected. It was so obvious that this special was made to be a series finale just in case the series didn't get renewed for season 6.

I especially liked the effort put into the fluid animation sequence during the weird Pink Steven hug scene. Best piece of animation the show has seen period.

Nevertheless, there are still some problems that I want to address.

This ties into the entire show's flaws, but Steven can always worm his away out of any situation just by talking about his feelings. When was the last time he's been genuinely challenged or lost a fight? He always gets what he wants even if he's against some of the most powerful beings in the universe. It's common shounen anime stuff, but it takes away from the show when you know that the protagonist will always win no matter what. White Diamond could have been the perfect enemy to counteract Steven's "let's just hug it out and be friends" mentality. Instead she's bested by a lukewarm retort. I can't get invested in a story when three intergalactic space empresses are swayed by a 14 year-old boy saying "be yourself!"

Steven Universe is a show that indulges its fans into believing that you're the absolute embodiment of perfection just the way you are and you don't need to improve yourself. Why change for evil oppressive society if you're already a divine flawless goddess?

I can already feel the screeching fanboys at The Roundtable making 100's of new theory videos. AwestruckVox (the guy who harassed a kid with cancer because of "muh leaks") probably broke the sound barrier.

I mean, Steven winning through talking and feelings is kinda the same thing as anime hero always winning by punching thing. Not really defending it, just saying it’s an alternative version of an established anime cliche.

Also can I say it’s weird as fuck to me that Kiwi Farms is the place I can have the most normal discussion about the show?

 

[Tampon Head]

I mean, Steven winning through talking and feelings is kinda the same thing as anime hero always winning by punching thing. Not really defending it, just saying it’s an alternative version of an established anime cliche.

Also can I say it’s weird as fuck to me that Kiwi Farms is the place I can have the most normal discussion about the show?

That's a good point and makes sense in the context of SU. His character (and gem) are centered around emotion and feeling, so it makes sense for him to use those skills to his advantage.

I do like the show and many of its characters (especially Pearl and Blue Diamond), so it's great to have somewhere to actually discuss the show.

Most other forums are mad because the Diamonds weren't hanged on a cross and executed for their crimes. I'm more interested in the Diamonds' backstories and motives rather than seeing them raked over the coals.

 

[Akumaten]

There are a million things I could rag about this show both in hindsight and now, but there are a couple of diamonds in the rough I did like about the show.
I really liked Greg Universe that unlike the stereotypical lame dad in cartoons, he really wanted to be there for his son no matter what.
I loved Peridot's development from an anti villain to an ally. I felt she carried the original methodology of the Crystal Gems the most than the main characters.
Connie was pretty ok. I liked she was pretty open to the weird culture of Gem life and didn't freak out.
I liked the videogame inspired background music.

I liked it when it was over...

 

[DietCherry]

There are a million things I could rag about this show both in hindsight and now, but there are a couple of diamonds in the rough I did like about the show.

I liked it when it was over...

It’s not over. Season 6 is in production.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

 

[LofaSofa]

Am I the only one who thought it was kind of weird that the gem ship combination robot only fought back by clumsily swinging it's appendages around?

I would have figured something that hi-tech and important to at least have some kind of projectiles or way of defending itself better.

 

[friedshrimp]

I kinda agree with what Orchad said that Sugar seems invested in wanting to make her own epic space anime but gets too sidetracked with writing as well her domestic slice-of-life romcom where people just hug out their feelings and eat pizza. She wants to have her cake and eat it too, but since she's so bad at organizing it just comes off as a mess. Now that the main plot is over don't be surprised next season we have episodes like one of the Diamonds working at the donut shop or arguing with Ronaldo. It just screams like something Sugar would do.

TLDR: Sugar is a huge weeb and got her Space Battleship Yamato and Yotsuba / Totoro crossed.

 

[omori]

I was just skimming through the voice credits and found something interesting. Rainbow Quartz 2.0 was voiced by a male VA.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I was just skimming through the voice credits and found something interesting. Rainbow Quartz 2.0 was voiced by a male VA.

I was about 90% sure it was a guy, yeah.

 

[One Man Bland]

You know for all exceptional rant that Orchard made about SU being a piece of fascist apology, he got at least a thing right: you can't forgive awful people that easily. All the awful things that the Diamonds did, all the people of different planets that they killed to make the colonies, all the gems that they corrupted beyond repair...it's ok now: they are good guys. And it has nothing to do with that dumb shit that Orchard says about SU gloryfing "muh nazis": it's a matter of how your storytelling is so fucking bad and how childish your approach to morality that you hide the implications not only about villains that exterminate and ensalve millions of people but people that does other horrible shit. Pearl treats you like shit and almost let you die? It's okay: she was depresed because his space waifu died...14 years ago. Amethyst psycologically tortures Greg with his dead wife? It's also okay: she is depressed because she feels bad about her own origin. Lapis being a bitch to everyone (especially Peridot) and whinning all the time? It's okay: she was on a toxic relationship (that she caused). Here it's a thing that Sugar should have realized: having problems is not an excuse for doing awful things!!!

And where the series is gonna do right know? The main villains were befriended already and all the corrupted gems were repair. They gonna pull that heart gem villain at the end from their ass for the movie? More fucking filler episodes? This is storytelling so incompetent in so many levels. Don't close your story like that if you want to expand your story!!!

Have you noticed that when the hype for the Golden Age of Animation ended people started looking the problems and mistakes from these cartoons? Ironically enough, Steven Universe is the last cartoon from the Old Guard. When the show ends will be the end of an era.

I think the other part that makes SU’s antagonist conclusions so disappointing is that Sugar also seems to forget that a villain ultimately feeling remorse for their actions shouldn’t mean that a “yeah sorry” is a get out of jail free card from all other consequences. Especially when you’re gonna throw in heavy topics like war, conquest, and mass murder. It’s not only disatisfying because you’re inevitably left with a feeling of “that’s it?” since you naturally want to see them receive a proportionate amount of karma for their actions, but such a lukewarm end game kinda cheapens the message since it concludes “You could say or do literally anything - even murder - and everyone should just forgive you so long as you say ‘whoops sorry’ afterwards.”

That said, it’s fucking hilarious to me that authoritarian space empresses who have destroyed hundreds of worlds are considered misunderstood and “they’re just a broken family in need of WUV uwu” but then Greg’s former band manager is the irredeemable one who needs to be told off because he was kind of a jerk and said something dickish about women once.

To be honest I think a better comparison would be Wander Over Yonder with Lord Dominator's "redemption" at the end. Since it deals with a happy-go-lucky pacifist against an evil space dictator.

Throughout their second season they establish Dominator as a cruel threat that actively impacts each episode and little by little Wander questions if pacifism really works and if his principles are wrong here.

His friends just want to kill her, but towards the end he learns that she acts this way because she's insecure and is therefore able to talk to her and thwart her plans.

I think a problem with SU's talking down villians thing is that the bad guys have no bite or principles and just go with steven with little persuasion. It really pissed me off how easily blue and yellow turned good.

Especially yellow, cuz at no point other than the sauna scene did they really allude to that she's in any way suffering.

A simple flashback establishing how white treated the other diamonds in the past would have fixed this.

But nope just dull down all the villians to the point where talking them out of being evil is possible. Unless your Jasper, then just lock them in the closet till their good.

WoY is also a fair comparison since it does handle the same subjects as SU, though I went with A:TLA because SU has similar villains in terms of destructive scope.

WoY at least had the sense to pull a cheesy but age-appropriate “Whew! Good thing everyone evacuated every planet Dominator destroyed just in time!” And even then Dominator still feels like she gets her comeuppance because rejecting friendship has left her with literally nothing, and according to McCracken they would’ve looked at the points the Dominator touched upon even more if they’d gotten a 3rd season.

Meh, it's not even diplomacy what SU "talking down the villain". He just cries and whines about feelings and love and fusion and that's good enough for the villains. He doesn't really act in any way someone would consider "smart", anyhow.

I guess it's funny since SU is basically the bastard child of social justice politics and anime, which is often pretty far-right in ideologies. At least in the animes Sugar claims to be a fan of, most often than not the evil tyrannical villain is often extinguished by the hero.

That’s another issue I have too. Diplomacy and effective use of compassion require a of intelligence and understanding of humans that I never felt that Steven Universe (the character and the show) actually displayed. I can only recall a handful of times Steven’s ever said anything insightful that directly resulted in a villain reconsidering their actions, every other time an antagonist gets railroaded by the plot into doing things Steven’s way via plot contrivances or deus ex machina. That could be fine if that had only happened for White Diamond, since her thing is that she can’t be reasoned with normally, but it’s happened so many times before this that conflicts lost all their tension.

What’s funny though is that SU did actually present an interesting dilemma with White Diamond in that they absolutely needed her voluntary cooperation if there was to be any hope for the corrupted gems, but that’s put on the back burner for the far less interesting conflict of “we used to be one big happy family (even though literally every flashback Steven has ever had shows the exact opposite) until Pink faked her death so we’re all sad and distant now” If they’d focused on needing to convince her to lend her help and allotted more time to the arc, in the hands of smart writers it could’ve been a very interesting battle or wits instead of a bunch of scenes that are great on a technical level but lack a lot of context.

You know when an ultimately minor/sidelined characters like Peridot or Lapis have much longer redemption arcs than your main antagonist, who has done everything from murder to torture to mind control, you’ve done something wrong.

 

[Wabbu]

I think the other part that makes SU’s antagonist conclusions so disappointing is that Sugar also seems to forget that a villain ultimately feeling remorse for their actions shouldn’t mean that a “yeah sorry” is a get out of jail free card from all other consequences. Especially when you’re gonna throw in heavy topics like war, conquest, and mass murder. It’s not only disatisfying because you’re inevitably left with a feeling of “that’s it?” since you naturally want to see them receive a proportionate amount of karma for their actions, but such a lukewarm end game kinda cheapens the message since it concludes “You could say or do literally anything - even murder - and everyone should just forgive you so long as you say ‘whoops sorry’ afterwards.”

That said, it’s fucking hilarious to me that authoritarian space empresses who have destroyed hundreds of worlds are considered misunderstood and “they’re just a broken family in need of WUV uwu” but then Greg’s former band manager is the irredeemable one who needs to be told off because he was kind of a jerk and said something dickish about women once.

WoY is also a fair comparison since it does handle the same subjects as SU, though I went with A:TLA because SU has similar villains in terms of destructive scope.

WoY at least had the sense to pull a cheesy but age-appropriate “Whew! Good thing everyone evacuated every planet Dominator destroyed just in time!” And even then Dominator still feels like she gets her comeuppance because rejecting friendship has left her with literally nothing, and according to McCracken they would’ve looked at the points the Dominator touched upon even more if they’d gotten a 3rd season.

That’s another issue I have too. Diplomacy and effective use of compassion require a of intelligence and understanding of humans that I never felt that Steven Universe (the character and the show) actually displayed. I can only recall a handful of times Steven’s ever said anything insightful that directly resulted in a villain reconsidering their actions, every other time an antagonist gets railroaded by the plot into doing things Steven’s way via plot contrivances or deus ex machina. That could be fine if that had only happened for White Diamond, since her thing is that she can’t be reasoned with normally, but it’s happened so many times before this that conflicts lost all their tension.

What’s funny though is that SU did actually present an interesting dilemma with White Diamond in that they absolutely needed her voluntary cooperation if there was to be any hope for the corrupted gems, but that’s put on the back burner for the far less interesting conflict of “we used to be one big happy family (even though literally every flashback Steven has ever had shows the exact opposite) until Pink faked her death so we’re all sad and distant now” If they’d focused on needing to convince her to lend her help and allotted more time to the arc, in the hands of smart writers it could’ve been a very interesting battle or wits instead of a bunch of scenes that are great on a technical level but lack a lot of context.

You know when an ultimately minor/sidelined characters like Peridot or Lapis have much longer redemption arcs than your main antagonist, who has done everything from murder to torture to mind control, you’ve done something wrong.

It really is telling when the only "irredeemable" characters are the jerky manager and the kid that made Stevonnie kind of unconfortable.

 

[DogEatDogFood]

It really is telling when the only "irredimable" characters are the jerky manager and the kid that made Stevonnie kind of unconfortable.

To be fair, it makes me kinda of unconfortable too. Kevin is perfectly aware that Stevonnie is two children...but he flirts with her anyway.

Sugar What the frick?

 

[Mr. 0]

To be fair, it makes me kinda of unconfortable too. Kevin is perfectly aware that Stevonnie is two children...but he flirts with her anyway.

Sugar What the frick?

You're calling out a woman who drew porn of Ed, Edd n Eddy before she somehow got her own show

 

[madethistocomment]

To be fair, it makes me kinda of unconfortable too. Kevin is perfectly aware that Stevonnie is two children...but he flirts with her anyway.

Sugar What the frick?

I remember in Stevonnie's introduction episode, after she unfuses Kevin becomes horrified and goes "That's two kids! I'm out!" like any sane person would do after realizing they accidentally flirted with someone way younger than them.

They brought him back in a later episode, but they made him flirt with her again because they either forgot that scene or just didn't care. Knowing the crew, it's a genuine toss up as to which.