Steven Universe - Now a Griefing Thread

[Xiphias]

SUICIDAL THOTS

 

[stuffandthings]

I feel like having the show be about Steven is a crutch because Cartoon Network doesn't want a female lead show. I wish the show was just about Pink's journey instead so it would focus on gem stuff. That's just me though.

Naw. The show isn't about Pink because there would be too many things she already knows/knew that would have to be explained to the audience. Steven knows nothing at the beginning of the show, meaning the world can be introduced through him.

The show is about Steven because nearly every other character is female 'presenting'. It isn't that Cartoon Network is afraid of female lead shows, (Powerpuff Girls anyone?) But that this show in particular would be bordering on 'problematic' if Steven were a girl. It would be about powerful space lesbians teaching a budding rock princess about her power. It makes team rockette and the whole show come across as blantantly sexist. Since the only male characters would be a doofus, jerky townies, and maybe a love interest. Having Steve be Steve means his team of rainbow mommies don't care about gender.

The showrunners wanted Stevie boy to be a girl, because the entire show is about Steven being molded by these powerful space lesbians into the perfect woke male savior. It is a liberal fantasy about creating the best and brightest example of #NotAllMen. The rock women have all the power at the beginning, and Steven is gradually ceded power by them as he becomes more and more like the embodiment of their best selves. IE, space women have power inherently but only the best-est most specialist boy can learn to properly use it too.

I'm not even saying all this to diss the show, but to point out that the writers had an agenda in making Steven a boy. We could have just had another Rainbow Brite, after all.

 

[Granola Grenadine]

Naw. The show isn't about Pink because there would be too many things she already knows/knew that would have to be explained to the audience. Steven knows nothing at the beginning of the show, meaning the world can be introduced through him.

The show is about Steven because nearly every other character is female 'presenting'. It isn't that Cartoon Network is afraid of female lead shows, (Powerpuff Girls anyone?) But that this show in particular would be bordering on 'problematic' if Steven were a girl. It would be about powerful space lesbians teaching a budding rock princess about her power. It makes team rockette and the whole show come across as blantantly sexist. Since the only male characters would be a doofus, jerky townies, and maybe a love interest. Having Steve be Steve means his team of rainbow mommies don't care about gender.

The showrunners wanted Stevie boy to be a girl, because the entire show is about Steven being molded by these powerful space lesbians into the perfect woke male savior. It is a liberal fantasy about creating the best and brightest example of #NotAllMen. The rock women have all the power at the beginning, and Steven is gradually ceded power by them as he becomes more and more like the embodiment of their best selves. IE, space women have power inherently but only the best-est most specialist boy can learn to properly use it too.

I'm not even saying all this to diss the show, but to point out that the writers had an agenda in making Steven a boy. We could have just had another Rainbow Brite, after all.

I've legitimately seen someone unironically suggest that Steven's recent temper tantrums and (mostly understandable) frustration are a result of "toxic masculinity" (this was on Tumblr, of course). Except the kid is barely around guys to begin with and his arguably most toxic influences have all been clearly female or looked female. So if what you're suggesting is indeed the case, then I would argue that it's a fool's errand, because so much of its now-target audience hates even the mere thought of anything they associate with penises and testosterone being put in a positive light.

 

[Akumaten]

I've legitimately seen someone unironically suggest that Steven's recent temper tantrums and (mostly understandable) frustration are a result of "toxic masculinity" (this was on Tumblr, of course). Except the kid is barely around guys to begin with and his arguably most toxic influences have all been clearly female or looked female. So if what you're suggesting is indeed the case, then I would argue that it's a fool's errand, because so much of its now-target audience hates even the mere thought of anything they associate with penises and testosterone being put in a positive light.

Rose is alive, using Steven as a shell. It's her period. That is why Steven has been having all these mood swings

 

[One Man Bland]

The emotional attachment really seems to come down to, "MUH REPREEESENTAYSHUN", something SJWs - being SJWs - love using as a crutch.

That said, I really do think the whole "Steven POV only" schtick ultimately became more of a bane to the show than a boon. That kind of narrative is better suited for short-term stories than long ones, imho.

EDIT: Typo.

I think the singular POV can work just fine for a long term series - there are quite a few action-adventure series’s that do this without issue - but I think the reason that it doesn’t work for SU is because Steven is a very passive protagonist. He often comes up as wholly uninterested in his world around him or the major obviously important plot threads that are dangled over his head, because the crew decided that those moments aren’t the right time for him to pursue the plot. Steven can’t even be called a reactionary protagonist, because that would require him to actually react to moments like the Diamonds very loudly plotting to collect more humans for the zoo, or Lars being stranded on a hostile alien planet, at the very moment that those events happen.

Which ends up frustrating audiences because not only are they left to play the waiting game for interesting plots to happen, but are also left frustrated with Steven because his actions and responses do not follow what one would expect a reasonable human to react when presented with the same situation.

 

[Private Pyle]

The emotional attachment really seems to come down to, "MUH REPREEESENTAYSHUN", something SJWs - being SJWs - love using as a crutch.

That said, I really do think the whole "Steven POV only" schtick ultimately became more of a bane to the show than a boon. That kind of narrative is better suited for short-term stories than long ones, imho.

EDIT: Typo.

LMAO, you reminded me of tumblr back before 2015-ish and about how there was a troll post saying the show had been cancelled after its 3rd season and tons of "muh anxiety and depression" girls were like 'OMG IT CAN'T END, IT'S THE ONLY WAY I DEAL WITH MY ANXIETY AND SUICIDAL THOTS" and it's time to get some goddamn medication or a therapist, because everything ends eventually and clinging to a "muh representation, muh gender feels" show to keep you non-sucidal is the least fucking healthy coping mechanism there is.

When you get down to it, a big draw for this show is representation and feels and the fandom building their identity around that. It wouldn’t even surprise me if Future was made for this exact demographic. Ironically, anytime criticizes the show, fans go “Imagine being this emotional over a cartoon.”

I know this doesn't have anything to do with the current season, but I liked the first Steven Universe mobile RPG. It was a decently fun game inspired by the Mario & Luigi series.

But I'll likely never play it again, since I've completely lost interest in the show and everything related to it.

I can not recommend the games enough. Not only are they fun throwbacks to the Paper Mario era, they have a lot of the fun characterization, world building and excitement that’s been missing from the show for a while. Heck, the third game did more for Bismuth than her newest episode did.

Speaking of “mental Health” that isn’t anything new for Steven Universe either. In fact that’s been the case since the very start.

You see, Steven Universe doesn’t think of evil as malicious actions made by evil villains. It never did.

Unlike other kid's cartoons that have unmistaken villains that do evil out of malice, every single evil action in SU is just a treated as a mental health issue.

Whenever someone tries to kill someone or destroy a planet, or make others miserable with bigotry, They do it because they have emotional issues expressed destructively.

Steven is more of a therapist helping people with repressed emotions than a hero defeating villains. And his powers just exist to minimize the damage of their tantrums.

Evil in Steven Universe is considered a cry for help, not an attempt to hurt others for personal gain.

Say, Jasper seems like a typical villain at first glance. But Sugar has said, she just has self hatered issues.
Amethyst tortured Greg by shapeshifting in the image of his “dead wife” because she missed Rose Quartz.
Bismuth tried to kill Steven out of being abandoned and feeling betrayed and so on...

Again, it’s telling that the only truly evil people on this show, by its standards, have been two harmless humans featured in filler towny episodes.

It’s so strange how an entire series can focus on self improvement and moving from past mistakes to better yourself only to be praised as “complex and mature” when the therapist breaks down. Just as strange is how many people are giddy at the thought of Steven corrupting and turning into a monster; not even the Berserk fanbase is like that.

 

[Muttnik]

Just as strange is how many people are giddy at the thought of Steven corrupting and turning into a monster; not even the Berserk fanbase is like that.

Steven should sacrifice all the gems to the Godhand. I'd be down for that.

 

[Archeops]

I can not recommend the games enough. Not only are they fun throwbacks to the Paper Mario era, they have a lot of the fun characterization, world building and excitement that’s been missing from the show for a while. Heck, the third game did more for Bismuth than her newest episode did.

I STILL haven't played Unleash The Light yet and I probably won't until Apple stops being a bunch of jackass hipsters about wanting to compete with other game streaming services and CN/Grumpyface Games decides to release it to either consoles or a standalone iPhone app.

 

[keyboredsm4shthe2nd]

I think the singular POV can work just fine for a long term series - there are quite a few action-adventure series’s that do this without issue - but I think the reason that it doesn’t work for SU is because Steven is a very passive protagonist. He often comes up as wholly uninterested in his world around him or the major obviously important plot threads that are dangled over his head, because the crew decided that those moments aren’t the right time for him to pursue the plot. Steven can’t even be called a reactionary protagonist, because that would require him to actually react to moments like the Diamonds very loudly plotting to collect more humans for the zoo, or Lars being stranded on a hostile alien planet, at the very moment that those events happen.

Which ends up frustrating audiences because not only are they left to play the waiting game for interesting plots to happen, but are also left frustrated with Steven because his actions and responses do not follow what one would expect a reasonable human to react when presented with the same situation.

"Hey, white one who is clearly goo goo over my mother and was glued to her hip throughout the thousand year war, and constantly looks like she wants to barf every time Pink Diamond is mentioned, do you maybe possibly have any knowledge on what that red unimportant gem mentioned an entire SEASON ago about Rose Quartz shattering her?" Look, I get that season beginnings and endings are usually where shows tend to put plots, but when it's a story like this, the pacing is absolutely fucking atrocious even without constant hiatuses. It's like Steven doesn't have even half a brain on him.

 

[Nauseated Courgi]

"Hey, white one who is clearly goo goo over my mother and was glued to her hip throughout the thousand year war, and constantly looks like she wants to barf every time Pink Diamond is mentioned, do you maybe possibly have any knowledge on what that red unimportant gem mentioned an entire SEASON ago about Rose Quartz shattering her?" Look, I get that season beginnings and endings are usually where shows tend to put plots, but when it's a story like this, the pacing is absolutely fucking atrocious even without constant hiatuses. It's like Steven doesn't have even half a brain on him.

Not that asking her would have done anything seeing as the order pink gave made to where she had to forcibly silence herself to avoid letting anything out.

 

[keyboredsm4shthe2nd]

Not that asking her would have done anything seeing as the order pink gave made to where she had to forcibly silence herself to avoid letting anything out.

But then he just goes into her head and all of a sudden she can talk about it again, that doesn't make any sense either.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

But then he just goes into her head and all of a sudden she can talk about it again, that doesn't make any sense either.

Nothing about that stupid twist made sense.

 

[NSJAP]

At the end, the only thing i want from all of it is Steven Rapeyverse 2

 

[Archeops]

So it appears Maya Peterson, one of the co-writers and storyboarders for the episode, recently posted to Twitter that Peridot is meant to be the show's asexual and aromance representation and the fandom is experiencing a massive shitstorm right now.

Maya Petersen on Twitter

“Word of Saint Paul, I know, but if it hasn't been said by now, Peridot's sendoff episode, it probably never will be said. Peridot's interest in shipping and romance is anthropological, and she's not about fusion. She's the ace and aro rep.”

twitter.com

http://archive.li/xXtKw

People are pissed for several reasons, all of which boil down to either shipping nonsense or feeling like it's continuing the stereotype of autismos not being interested in romance or sex (which, as we all know due to the nature of lolcows in general, is a load of bunk). The only "plus" I can see is that people are being somewhat civil towards her.

Meanwhile, AwestruckVox is trying to tell people that Peridot was coded as such since 2017 or earlier due to her appearance in a book that "explained" fusion and used her as an example of a Gem that doesn't want to fuse.

Kevin Williams on Twitter

“peridot being ace/aro was made apparent in 2017 by a book sugar herself wrote why are people acting like a boarder is forcing this as canon”

twitter.com

http://archive.li/lbZWb

People are giving him more shit than Maya, but that's expected since he isn't connected to crew at all.

That said, one tweet in Vox's response is a pretty good summarization to all this madness.

SweetKingBlue on Twitter

“@Kappa_amigo @charuchii @AwestruckVox Peridot being Asexual DOES NOT in anyway demean Her ability to Fuse. She only dropped that info to stop the rabid fanbase's Shipping. Which is a Bullshit move.”

twitter.com

PeridotKingOfClods on Twitter: "Peridot being Asexual DOES NOT in any…

archived 12 Mar 2020 03:11:34 UTC

archive.vn

 

[Private Pyle]

So it appears Maya Peterson, one of the co-writers and storyboarders for the episode, recently posted to Twitter that Peridot is meant to be the show's asexual and aromance representation and the fandom is experiencing a massive shitstorm right now.

Maya Petersen on Twitter

“Word of Saint Paul, I know, but if it hasn't been said by now, Peridot's sendoff episode, it probably never will be said. Peridot's interest in shipping and romance is anthropological, and she's not about fusion. She's the ace and aro rep.”

twitter.com

http://archive.li/xXtKw

People are pissed for several reasons, all of which boil down to either shipping nonsense or feeling like it's continuing the stereotype of autismos not being interested in romance or sex (which, as we all know due to the nature of lolcows in general, is a load of bunk). The only "plus" I can see is that people are being somewhat civil towards her.

Meanwhile, AwestruckVox is trying to tell people that Peridot was coded as such since 2017 or earlier due to her appearance in a book that "explained" fusion and used her as an example of a Gem that doesn't want to fuse.

Kevin Williams on Twitter

“peridot being ace/aro was made apparent in 2017 by a book sugar herself wrote why are people acting like a boarder is forcing this as canon”

twitter.com

http://archive.li/lbZWb

People are giving him more shit than Maya, but that's expected since he isn't connected to crew at all.

That said, one tweet in Vox's response is a pretty good summarization to all this madness.

SweetKingBlue on Twitter

“@Kappa_amigo @charuchii @AwestruckVox Peridot being Asexual DOES NOT in anyway demean Her ability to Fuse. She only dropped that info to stop the rabid fanbase's Shipping. Which is a Bullshit move.”

twitter.com

PeridotKingOfClods on Twitter: "Peridot being Asexual DOES NOT in any…

archived 12 Mar 2020 03:11:34 UTC

archive.vn

Speaking of “Word of Saint Paul”, is any of what she said canon or is she talking out her ass? Between the whole Zuke thing and how unstable the boarders can be, I tend to take what most of them say with a grain of salt unless it’s been fully confirmed.
Hell, given how passive aggressive Maya Petersen is towards Lapidot shippers, it wouldn’t surprise me if she really did drop the info to stop all the shipping.

 

[Archeops]

Speaking of “Word of Saint Paul”, is any of what she said canon or is she talking out her ass? Between the whole Zuke thing and how unstable the boarders can be, I tend to take what most of them say with a grain of salt unless it’s been fully confirmed.
Hell, given how passive aggressive Maya Petersen is towards Lapidot shippers, it wouldn’t surprise me if she really did drop the info to stop all the shipping.

The book that Vox uses to cite Peridot's aroace (God I HATE typing that) status was written by Sugar so it has some grains of truth, but then Maya has the balls to go and use the "character who shares my identity" shtick to try and justify it despite Zuke using that same reasoning to push Lapidot in the episodes they boarded.

Maya Petersen on Twitter

“It wasn't something I knew before I worked on the show, but I have for a while, and I don't want to be coy about a character who shares my identity anymore. I don't want to make that representation a secondary priority to shipping anymore.”

twitter.com

http://archive.vn/0VSja

All in all I'm inclined to believe that they're doing this to make themselves feel bigger when they really aren't. The downside is that since the show's ending they're likely to get away with it.

 

[Nut-Roaster the 2nd]

So it appears Maya Peterson, one of the co-writers and storyboarders for the episode, recently posted to Twitter that Peridot is meant to be the show's asexual and aromance representation and the fandom is experiencing a massive shitstorm right now.

Maya Petersen on Twitter

“Word of Saint Paul, I know, but if it hasn't been said by now, Peridot's sendoff episode, it probably never will be said. Peridot's interest in shipping and romance is anthropological, and she's not about fusion. She's the ace and aro rep.”

twitter.com

http://archive.li/xXtKw

People are pissed for several reasons, all of which boil down to either shipping nonsense or feeling like it's continuing the stereotype of autismos not being interested in romance or sex (which, as we all know due to the nature of lolcows in general, is a load of bunk). The only "plus" I can see is that people are being somewhat civil towards her.

Meanwhile, AwestruckVox is trying to tell people that Peridot was coded as such since 2017 or earlier due to her appearance in a book that "explained" fusion and used her as an example of a Gem that doesn't want to fuse.

Kevin Williams on Twitter

“peridot being ace/aro was made apparent in 2017 by a book sugar herself wrote why are people acting like a boarder is forcing this as canon”

twitter.com

http://archive.li/lbZWb

People are giving him more shit than Maya, but that's expected since he isn't connected to crew at all.

That said, one tweet in Vox's response is a pretty good summarization to all this madness.

SweetKingBlue on Twitter

“@Kappa_amigo @charuchii @AwestruckVox Peridot being Asexual DOES NOT in anyway demean Her ability to Fuse. She only dropped that info to stop the rabid fanbase's Shipping. Which is a Bullshit move.”

twitter.com

PeridotKingOfClods on Twitter: "Peridot being Asexual DOES NOT in any…

archived 12 Mar 2020 03:11:34 UTC

archive.vn

 

[Private Pyle]

The book that Vox uses to cite Peridot's aroace (God I HATE typing that) status was written by Sugar so it has some grains of truth, but then Maya has the balls to go and use the "character who shares my identity" shtick to try and justify it despite Zuke using that same reasoning to push Lapidot in the episodes they boarded.

Maya Petersen on Twitter

“It wasn't something I knew before I worked on the show, but I have for a while, and I don't want to be coy about a character who shares my identity anymore. I don't want to make that representation a secondary priority to shipping anymore.”

twitter.com

http://archive.vn/0VSja

All in all I'm inclined to believe that they're doing this to make themselves feel bigger when they really aren't. The downside is that since the show's ending they're likely to get away with it.

Oh great, another one of these types. Given how she was a hardcore Amedot shipper, the fact she’s going on about how Peridot represents her ace side really does come off as a bit disingenuous.
I can officially say that this show has sunk to the levels of AT and Korra in terms of representation; the only difference is now the fandom will tear itself apart over the morals of shipping a green alien. And we still have 8 episodes to go...

 

[AverageAnimeWatcher]

People are pissed for several reasons, all of which boil down to either shipping nonsense or feeling like it's continuing the stereotype of autismos not being interested in romance or sex (which, as we all know due to the nature of lolcows in general, is a load of bunk). The only "plus" I can see is that people are being somewhat civil towards her.

Watching Future at this point is like following some chick's vent page. You thought you were gonna see some wholesome stuff but all you get is the basic "communicate your feelings" and "love yourself " mental health messages interspliced with muh anxiety muh depression posting.

I press X on children caring about this at all. And then people wonder why Teen Titans GO and Ben 10 get all the attention. Kids don't care about sexuality representation or "mental health".

Honestly the more I read about the fandom arguing about genders or if X is an LGBT metaphor and the staff talking about mental health the more I'm convinced sugar and the crew have no idea how to appeal to children or maybe she doesn't even care at this point.

The adult fanbase is huge, that's the only reason I suspect the show wasn't canceled years ago.

As for Future, well if we are having trouble swallowing it in, can you imagine the children. You know, the actually supposed target audience?

This is basically the exact opposite situation of Bravest Warriors.

Long story short: Rebeca's buddies, at least I assume they are given how much they overlap, at Frederator made a cartoon that was supposed to be for "adults" based on Pendelton Wards another cartoon idea besides Adventure time.

The end result?

It was literally Adventure time but in space, but with innocent looking cartoons cursing and giving the middle finger now and then. Otherwise, it was 100% indistinguishable from a children's cartoon with even the same immature jokes. And in fact, it was weird they didn't do it that way in the first place.

Point is when SU future ends I'm sure plenty of adults will miss it, but kids and CN as a whole will move on fast from it.

 

[TungstenCarbide]

Bi, pan, aroace... honestly, it's just pandering to the tumblr crew, that made the success of this show after the original demographic (children) mostly bowed out. The gems are constructs made of light, how can you have sexual desire if you haven't sexual organs to begin with and you don't produce hormones? So all the gems should be 'asexual'.