At the end of the day Steven Universe main problem has and was always its writing, which very much seems to be a problem relating to how it's mainly a storyboard driven show from the stuff we'v heard. Maybe it can create some cool stuff in the moment but in the long run in creates huge inconsistencies which wouldn't be something people would care too much if it was just "the slice of life with magic show". But when the show presents itself as being serious and is obviously attempting to fit in a serious story in it all it just comes across as very lazy.
There is tons of stuff you can list in the end but overall as someone who has been following SU since 2014, the overall word would probably be wasted potential. There is so much potential lore and stuff you can do with it but in the end it all gets thrown out the window for some more "oh no lets take a break from everything and do a townie episode, also lets cry a lot and nobody is bad etc". On the positive side I am at least glad pink/Rose was never brought back. That was honestly a surprise. At the end of the day,, i'd say Steven universe suffer from a severe tonal iconsistencies and bad writing.
I remember back in the day seeing all these cool theories and speculation, the yellow diamond reveal, hints about lore etc but it all just went nowhere really. Like remember that Rose mural in the pyramid? What the heck was that all about?View attachment 1209413
A small list of inconsistencies and abandoned potential: (There's TONS more but this is just some on the top of my head)
- Gem stuff being referred to as magic in earlier seasons and never mentioned again
- All the ancient gem stuff like the whaling stone
- The whole cluster arc
- The mess that was the Lapis redemption arc
- Jasper never really got a closure
- The whole off colors in space
- Gems who disagreed with Steven such as aquamarine
- The gems impact on other planets
- Background on gem society as a whole, creator. Whites comment on the "shades of light you are the part of me"
- Introducing a random mystery girl that never is seen again
- Gregs family (a mention in the LAST FUCKING EPISODES really?)
- Why the fuck is every human just okay with gem stuff?
- All the other mural things
- Weird stuff like introducing reality breaking time machines then abandoning them
- The whole era 2 vs era 3 thing
- "Homeworld is running out of resources" WHY?
- Why the fuck was the cluster created in the first place.
- So the famethyst and humans are just stuck on that space station forever?
- The earths map
- Bad fight animations
- Animation inconsistencies in general
-Ronaldo always being right but then abandoned with the snake thing
- "Stevens point of view" as a concept was awful and led to a very limited worldview.
- A severe lack of actual villains (Besides Kevin???)
- Steven having super buff gem power but no that bad also mental illness, like really? The thing with Jasper was actually promising for once.
- (Also maybe this is just me but) it was an interesting concept to see someone surrounded by femininity embracing his more masculine side but again lets throw all that cool stuff aside for more crying and hugging.
- Why the fuck do gems look like human women? There could have been some cool evolutionary(evangelion ish plot there but again who cares)
- The whole Pedee as a main character that they were building on in season 1 as a counterpart to Connie.
- Why was Pink so much smaller than the other diamonds?
There's one missing from your (impressive) list: FUSION. What was fusion really about? Why were the Diamonds so buttbothered about fusion? Fuck what Becky tried to say so many times about it not being sexual because thanks to that storyboarder, Peridot is aesexual since she never fuses. And I guess fuck the rape allegory with the fusion experiments since YD could undo it like it never happened. (Why did she do it in the first place if fusion disgusted her so much? Unless it's a case of rules for thee and not me.)
Thinking about all that wasted potential is tiring. Nice to bitch about but tiring knowing how much there is.
Damn you guys either had better critiques or worded my thoughts on the finale way better than I could attempt. It was a cathartic read.
There's one missing from your (impressive) list: FUSION. What was fusion really about? Why were the Diamonds so buttbothered about fusion? Fuck what Becky tried to say so many times about it not being sexual because thanks to that storyboarder, Peridot is aesexual since she never fuses. And I guess fuck the rape allegory with the fusion experiments since YD could undo it like it never happened. (Why did she do it in the first place if fusion disgusted her so much? Unless it's a case of rules for thee and not me.)
Thinking about all that wasted potential is tiring. Nice to bitch about but tiring knowing how much there is.
This is my guess, but I think the idea behind the Diamonds being against fusion was because two different Gems fusing was crossing the barriers of their caste class system since it means lowly grunt workers can mingle with the "aristocratic" Gems for lack of a better word, and in a system that relies heavily on specific Gems having rigidly defined roles to operate I could see why such fraternizing would potentially be frowned upon. Problem is that we never really see what the average comings and goings of Homeworld are like, or even what Homeworld’s prime directive/goal is that requires such a constantly empire (especially with a functionally immortal species that doesn’t require sustenance), so the reason why Gems would be designed with such a caste system feels unclear and arbitrary.
As for Yellow’s experiments, if I recall they were made almost entirely out of shattered rebel Gems, so I guess the reasoning was for the additional ironic punishment since the rebels were in favor of fusion.
The “fusion is not for sexual" was always Sugar back-pedaling though. There were way too many sex jokes/references surrounding fusion in the early episodes for them to have not been intentional.
“Steven didnt even get any real character growth til Future. Aang got growth and depth in almost every episode It ain't the same bruh https://t.co/JV9EqzxHY3”
“Steven didnt even get any real character growth til Future. Aang got growth and depth in almost every episode It ain't the same bruh https://t.co/JV9EqzxHY3”
Like many things about SU, there was an interesting concept buried somewhere in the Pink Diamond we saw, but it was pretty much trashed when it came to the execution.
Her whole thing is basically seeing a villain redemption arc in reverse, but I think a lot of that got lost in translation because there was such long waiting periods between the actual plot episodes (even if you marathon the series) that all the stuff about the Rose the main characters knew is long forgotten by the time you get to her Pink years, and episodes that could’ve expanded on fleshing out the connective tissue between Pink then and Rose now - and there’s certainly material to work with, Rose/Pink’s refusal to shatter Gems comes off as a little more than just "because she personally doesn’t want to be shattered" knowing that she accidentally shattered a Pearl and saw the "scars" from it afterwards, etc. - but I guess Sugar thought I was just thatimportant to see Sadie get stage fright or Lars being a twat. Would‘ve also helped if we knew anything about Pink prior to the reveal outside of one or two inconsequential snippet, but the Crewniverse’s idea of a mystery means that Steven has to sit on his hands and not question anything until he feels like it.
Although I suspect that the Crewniverse might’ve shifted gears on Pink sometime between Change Your Mind and the movie. It seems weird that the show spent so much time going "Rose/Pink was complicated and even the people closest to her didn’t always get her motives" to a full on bastard with the how she ditched Spinel (especially with some scenes suggesting that lower Gems are physically incapable of disobeying a direct order from a Diamond) that I have to wonder if the change in tone was due to poor reception.
I’m super late to the Pink Diamond party but when they mentioned the tumblr/reddit hive mind, I immediately thought back to “You don’t get it, we’re seeing her development in reverse!” It’s their favorite excuse besides “Pink was abused, leave her alone UwU.”
It just doesn’t work when you have this supposedly morally gray character who ends up showing more and more negative characteristics without being reminded why we’re supposed to like them; the last we heard about Rose/Pink was her being a wife beater and it was left at that. You could say it’s “realistic” all you want but the last episode still ended without Rose being so much as mentioned, despite being one of the most important characters on the show.
If Sugar really changed it after poor reception, that just shows what a weak writer she is; she can fight hard to keep Spinel alive and put in a gay wedding, but she bends the knee to her fans really easily.
Damn you guys either had better critiques or worded my thoughts on the finale way better than I could attempt. It was a cathartic read.
There's one missing from your (impressive) list: FUSION. What was fusion really about? Why were the Diamonds so buttbothered about fusion? Fuck what Becky tried to say so many times about it not being sexual because thanks to that storyboarder, Peridot is aesexual since she never fuses. And I guess fuck the rape allegory with the fusion experiments since YD could undo it like it never happened. (Why did she do it in the first place if fusion disgusted her so much? Unless it's a case of rules for thee and not me.)
Thinking about all that wasted potential is tiring. Nice to bitch about but tiring knowing how much there is.
I still think Peridot being asexual was one big tantrum after Maya couldn’t have her Amedot ship. Because otherwise, two members of the same writing staff are saying different things and just proves Sugar can’t control her staff. This is why you shouldn’t have a “all viewpoints are valid” approach with a writing staff.
“Steven didnt even get any real character growth til Future. Aang got growth and depth in almost every episode It ain't the same bruh https://t.co/JV9EqzxHY3”
Did Steven really get character growth? All he did was wallow in self pity and depression while lashing out at people for over 16 episodes and then fucked off from town; he didn’t take any of the flaws to heart to improve or change for the better as a person. Hell, his last appearance with the Gems was getting pissy that they didn’t bawl their eyes out for him. Compare this to Aang who weighed in all his insecurities, fears, and uncertainty over being the Avatar before overcoming them to step up to the plate, again, throughout the entire show.
So whether you’re comparing OG or Future Steven to Aang, they both come up short. Which is why I wonder why so many people insist on comparing Avatar and SU.
Speaking of which, we never did find out where that superspeed/time slow ability came from. It was never hinted at in the original show and I don’t think Future ever bothered explaining it.
“Steven didnt even get any real character growth til Future. Aang got growth and depth in almost every episode It ain't the same bruh https://t.co/JV9EqzxHY3”
Thing is, in my experience most people don’t have a problem with Aang as a character (though there are episodes where he can be a bit grating, though they’re thankfully minimal) most criticism stems from people feeling that the final confrontation ended with a cop-out that could’ve been set up better and get better with themes/message. At least ATLA had the good sense to treat "let’s hug it out with the Big Bad" like a fucking joke.
I’m super late to the Pink Diamond party but when they mentioned the tumblr/reddit hive mind, I immediately thought back to “You don’t get it, we’re seeing her development in reverse!” It’s their favorite excuse besides “Pink was abused, leave her alone UwU.”
It just doesn’t work when you have this supposedly morally gray character who ends up showing more and more negative characteristics without being reminded why we’re supposed to like them; the last we heard about Rose/Pink was her being a wife beater and it was left at that. You could say it’s “realistic” all you want but the last episode still ended without Rose being so much as mentioned, despite being one of the most important characters on the show.
If Sugar really changed it after poor reception, that just shows what a weak writer she is; she can fight hard to keep Spinel alive and put in a gay wedding, but she bends the knee to her fans really easily.
Exactly. Like I said, I think there’s a good idea in there somewhere that in that could’ve made for an interesting character/plot development in the hands of competent writers, but you need something for the viewers to make the connection between the past bad deeds and the more current good ones, and it’s clear Sugar confuses melodrama & angst for character and thus the only way anything moves forward is when characters have something to cry about. It’s exactly what happened with Greg: despite Sugar saying he was her favorite character, she completely undid everything about Greg buckling down, putting aside his music aspirations to get a job so he could be independent and later build Steven a house entirely out-of-pocket, all for about 2 minutes of Steven bitching.
Although I do find it really hilarious that after initially reacting to Greg’s advice that he should maybe leave Beach City for a bit to get a new perspective and fund himself with "NO DAD THAT’S NOT WHAT I NEED YOU JUST DON’T GET ME GOD YOU’RE EXACTLY LIKE MOM REEEEE" the show ends with Steven doing exactly what his dad suggested and it‘s treated as the correct decision without a hint of irony.
Although I do find it really hilarious that after initially reacting to Greg’s advice that he should maybe leave Beach City for a bit to get a new perspective and fund himself with "NO DAD THAT’S NOT WHAT I NEED YOU JUST DON’T GET ME GOD YOU’RE EXACTLY LIKE MOM REEEEE" the show ends with Steven doing exactly what his dad suggested and it‘s treated as the correct decision without a hint of irony.
A part of me wants to believe this was intentional and it was a subtle way of saying that Greg was right and Steven was overreacting. But this probably isn’t the case, especially considering this was supposedly based on Steven’s VA’s trip.
I think even with his vast patience, Greg would snap with half the people on tumblr.
For extra irony, SU Critical of all people were chimping out the most over Greg getting shat on.
Hasn't it been stated that often many plot points in the story occurred just because of outside events or because Sugar wanted the show to focus on whatever caught her fancy at the moment? It's been said the reason Lars turned into a space captain was because Becky wanted to add Captain Harlock references to the show, or that yoga episode because Sugar wanted to talk about meditation since she was starting to get into it in her personal life.
Hasn't it been stated that often many plot points in the story occurred just because of outside events or because Sugar wanted the show to focus on whatever caught her fancy at the moment? It's been said the reason Lars turned into a space captain was because Becky wanted to add Captain Harlock references to the show, or that yoga episode because Sugar wanted to talk about meditation since she was starting to get into it in her personal life.
Or how Pearl was built up to reject her caste role of being essentially living furniture, only to be discovered that not only did she not "take" her own freedom, but willingly followed her Master for thousands of years after a fake suicide under a new identity? Like imagine a slave just sticking around a plantation after the civil war, not for tenant farming or anything like that but because "oh I just really grew attached to my master"
You're describing a house negro with stockholm syndrome. Pearl was kept close to PD, tricked into thinking she was special because she was "unique" when she's just a tool like the rest, was ordered to do things she couldn't say no to and while PD fucked with human men Pearl sat and thought "It's fine, I'm still number one." Then Greg happened, Steven happened, the secret Lion happened, and she STILL mourned her.
I think a lot of Pearl's story could have been fixed if Pink and Rose were completely separate characters. But that would mean Rose was a murderer and wE CaN't HaVe AnYbOdY DiE.
Did Steven really get character growth? All he did was wallow in self pity and depression while lashing out at people for over 16 episodes and then fucked off from town; he didn’t take any of the flaws to heart to improve or change for the better as a person. Hell, his last appearance with the Gems was getting pissy that they didn’t bawl their eyes out for him. Compare this to Aang who weighed in all his insecurities, fears, and uncertainty over being the Avatar before overcoming them to step up to the plate, again, throughout the entire show.
So whether you’re comparing OG or Future Steven to Aang, they both come up short. Which is why I wonder why so many people insist on comparing Avatar and SU.
Steven got a little less needy around the time Lapis and Peridot became barnmates. He still invaded everyone's lives unwantedly like a cockroach but at least he wasn't insisting you spend time with him or take him along on a trip.
I think the comparison comes from Peridot's redemption arc being like Zuko's. But I disagree, her arc was not as good as his.
Zuko was banished and ordered to hunt down the Avatar to get his honor back, got what he wanted but realized it wasn't worth betraying his uncle, and not only saved the Avatar and the world but got to be king after all. Peridot was only sent to patrol the Earth. Steven and the Crystal Gems kept fucking with her and forced her to try and eliminate them so she could get back to work. They made her realize Earth is valuable to her diamond but couldn't make YD see that so Peridot told her to fuck off.
The difference is Zuko and Aang changed the course of their lives (Zuko was the prince but spoke out of turn, Aang was the avatar but ran away) and needed each other to fix their mistakes and create a better world. Peridot, like Lapis and Bismuth, was reeled into Steven's gravitational pull (lol fat) and had to adapt or die. Zuko needed Aang for his story to work, Peridot could've done her job and left without even seeing Steven. (There's no way Peridot was essential to knowing about a FUCKING EARTH-SIZED GEODE IN THE GROUND THAT CAUSED EARTHQUAKES.)
Yeah, OK KO was really just a fanboy trying to make his DeviantArt project come true.
The way I see it, Rebecca and Ian need each other; Ian is needed to give excitement and adventure into the show while Rebecca is needed to give more depth than just “lol references”.
Very late reply to this, but when I was reading back, I found this comment and remembered back to comments I heard about John Carmack and John Romero. They made some incredible games together, but when they split, Romero made Daikatana, a game with no brains, and Carmack made Quake II, a game without a heart.
It's something similar here. Ian's OK KO is all about spice and action but doesn't have a strong core thread. Rebecca's SU without Ian has a lot of staples but nothing that makes those staples interesting. One's a bland potato dish that only gets as much praise as it does because people imagine all the spices that could be on it (but never will be) and the other is just a bowl of spices with no central reason to keep with it once it's past the episode that references that thing you like.
Edit: In other words, Rebecca's SU doesn't give you a reason to come in, and Ian's OK KO doesn't give you a reason to stay.
Hasn't it been stated that often many plot points in the story occurred just because of outside events or because Sugar wanted the show to focus on whatever caught her fancy at the moment? It's been said the reason Lars turned into a space captain was because Becky wanted to add Captain Harlock references to the show, or that yoga episode because Sugar wanted to talk about meditation since she was starting to get into it in her personal life.
Hasn't it been stated that often many plot points in the story occurred just because of outside events or because Sugar wanted the show to focus on whatever caught her fancy at the moment? It's been said the reason Lars turned into a space captain was because Becky wanted to add Captain Harlock references to the show, or that yoga episode because Sugar wanted to talk about meditation since she was starting to get into it in her personal life.
So... Captain Harlock Or is it Herlock? This character's name has officially been spelled both ways, and I'm still mad about it... The one version that spelled it "Herlock" was *clearly* incorrect, because they still clearly pronounce it "Harlock" and yet that was still one of my favorite iterations of the character. is one of my all time favorite animes, and that reference (and I say 'reference', even though it was obvious that "Lars of the Stars" was a blatant Harlock ripoff...) was one of the things that got me to pay attention to this show in the first place.
Any other Harlock (or even Queen Emeraldas) fans on here?
“Steven didnt even get any real character growth til Future. Aang got growth and depth in almost every episode It ain't the same bruh https://t.co/JV9EqzxHY3”
I think THIS is the one true time in forever I've ever agreed with someone on a wretched hive of scum and villainy like Twitter, admittedly enough. And with a character I happen to like from a show I love (and fuck the haters all around!), no less (to be fair, Bob's Burgers >>>>> SU, simply because it knows what it wants to be 90% of the time IMHO, so.....).
Truly it is a small world.
And sometimes things are better that way for me.
Aang goes downhill in Book 3 and never really gets better. Book 3's Aang is a predecessor to how Korra was written in her show. Let alone how he has handled in Avatar's comics.
Anyway, Steven Universe was never really good to be honest.
