When I heard that Rebecca Sugar was leaving Adventure Time to work on her own show, I was concerned because I felt like Adventure Time was going the way of Spongebob and Family Guy. I do feel like Adventure Time is a shell of its former self, but I have grown to like Steven Universe so much that I don't care.

I think one of the biggest reasons Steven Universe hit it off so well with me is because the characters are reasonably intelligent, but it still manages to be funny. It's not one of those zany slapstick shows with bucktoothed morons hitting each other with things. Steven can be a bit of a dork who seems to love puns, but's so cute and charming and lovable.

I must take a moment to express my mad respect for how feminist friendly this show is. Here we have a show written by a woman, and it starts three powerful, capable young women and one boy who's not nearly as strong and capable as them... and it's not treated like "Women are better than men!" or anything like that.

Not once do Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl treat Steven like he's anything less than they are. They support him as much as they can. And Steven looks up to them, they're role models, maybe even family to him. 

Best of all the show has something that's been severely lacking from American Cartoons these days, real values. Morals, lessons on life. 

Like the episode with the Cheeseburger Backpack. Steven makes mistakes, one of which utterly bungles their objective, but even Pearl, who was most adamant about this mission, doesn't call him a failure or express contempt for him ruining the objective.

Instead all four characters accept the fact that mistakes happen and move on.

It's a bit more subtle than MLP: FIM when it comes to these lessons, but they're still there.

I watch an episode once. It was half way in something about eating breakfast together. Seems like a fun to watch. The characters seem cool. What is the plot of the show?

It's no real plot PLOT. Basically these four characters belong to an association known as "The Crystal Gems" they all have magical powers and they fight monsters and whatever threats attack the city they live in. 

Each of them has a jewel in their bodies that allows them to harness various magical abilities, including summoning weapons.

Steven has zero idea how to even begin using the power of his gem, so much of his struggles in the show involve him trying to either learn how his powers work, or how to contribute to the team with or without his powers.

Cool! I may check this show out.

http://djinnman.tumblr.com/post/67165874886/you-know-whats-fun-being-an-english-major-and-a

And now an interesting read about why this show is awesome and you should all watch it.

And now that I've watched a fair few episodes and gotten to know the characters, I love them all very much. Even Garnet, who is so much the strong, silent type that I felt like I hadn't really gotten to know her. She's proven lovable even in her own way.

One complain I can respect is that Steven's unintentionally causes a lot of the show's problems, and I feel it. But unlike so many examples of western animation protagonists I find him to be pretty likable. Pearl sums him up best in one recent episode "Sweet and considerate and only occasionally obnoxious."

This just in. Steven Universe is made of warm, fluffy feelings.

The first season ended with quite a bang recently, and I had the good fortune of dealing with moving as soon as CN decided to release a week of new episodes. It took a while, but I got caught up, and I must say it was worth it regardless.

This show has such a refreshing amount of consistency compared to what Western Cartoons usually are. But at the same time it's not entirely impossible to watch episodes in random order. There are just certain cues, call-backs and what-not that reference past episodes to the point that it's much more rewarding to see them in order.

A while back I said that Pearl was my most favorite and Garnet was my least favorite. That has since reversed. We've gotten to see more inside Garnet's stoic shell and she's become the most endearing of the gems. She's the mom who encourages Steven to try new things, to grow and learn.

I understand Pearl's concern, but she's the mom who is incredibly skiddish and will pull Steven away before he can do anything. I'm not saying she should allow him to get hurt, but he's supposed to be learning to use his gem powers, building experience and becoming just like them. He can't really do that if he's never allowed to prove himself.

A good example would be when Stevonnie questions Pearl's concern about him successfully fusing. On the one hand I can understand why the former would question why Pearl isn't expressing pride over him pulling it off, on the other hand, he does so with a human, something that was believed impossible. Steven himself is half human and after what we saw in "So Many Birthdays" I can see why she'd be concerned about the unique properties of his human half. For all Pearl knows, fusing with a human could be permanent.

The show has become quite affectionately latched onto by the LGBT community for a lot of reasons I can really appreciate. Steven, Amethyst and a few others are rather stout in build, and yet the show never makes a single joke out of it. Steven and his friend Connie fuse into a single being whose gender is never really specified, and both Lars (Boy) and Sadie (Girl) become instantly smitten with the result.

Then we have two gems who are confirmed to be in a romantic relationship. It can be handwaved that gems technically have no gender, but still...

It's amazing how the show managed to gracefully transition from an ordinary "day to day fighting monsters" affair into an amazingly intricate show that grips the emotions of the viewers in ways no talking sponge ever could.

If you haven't seen the latest three Steven Universe episodes that aired this week SPOILERS be warned!

I really love how this show has the power to inexplicably address pretty much anything that bothers me with it. Like it's not a flaw, it's just something that I felt, and the show addresses it!

Episodes like Beach Party and Love Letters addressed something I had been feeling for a while: A strange disconnect between the gems and the human populace. I mean the opening theme says "That's why the people of this world believe in yada yada" but here we are in the actual show and most people either don't care about the gems, don't know what they do, or think the gems are causing the problems.

The gems themselves also don't seem to interact with or think much of the human populace. Episodes like Rose's Scabbard in particular have convinced me that Pearl doesn't really care about the Earth or its people, she's just protecting it because that's what Rose wanted.

Then comes "Sworn to the Sword". I could tell right away what Pearl was doing, projecting herself onto Connie. It's pretty messed up when you think about it, Pearl was basically training Connie to strip away her own identity and value so that she could be willing to die for someone else. I'm glad that got torn down, and that Pearl actually has her own characteristics and isn't defined entirely by Rose.

When the big reveal about Garnet in Jail Break happened I was a little underwhelmed. I liked the idea, but I felt Ruby and Sapphire needed more development as individuals. They felt like hollow stereotypes built around Garnet, rather than two people who merge to become her. It's kinda like the criticisms of Nagisa from Rebellion Story. People wanted to see the magical girl whom Charlotte is based on, not the other way around.

The latest episode "Keeping it together" actually addressed a few of my concerns with the idea of Garnet staying fused permanently, such as whether or not the two halves are willing to essentially give up their identities. But I guess it's easier for Garnet because she's a magical gem person. 

Now if Steven and Connie wanted to stay fused that wouldn't work out as well, especially considering the latter's parents.

I've loved this show from the pilot, but I've just had nothing to say because it's all great and makes me happy even when it makes me cry

Pearl's my favorite because I like fussy characters, but everyone's great, even Jasper, even Lars, even stupid Ronaldo and creepy kid Onion - they're all great and I want them to be happy.

Rlinksoul wrote:

When the big reveal about Garnet in Jail Break happened I was a little underwhelmed. I liked the idea, but I felt Ruby and Sapphire needed more development as individuals. 

The latest episode "Keeping it together" actually addressed a few of my concerns with the idea of Garnet staying fused permanently, such as whether or not the two halves are willing to essentially give up their identities. But I guess it's easier for Garnet because she's a magical gem person. 

I feel like Garnet is the character we, the audience, have grown to know and care about and who we need to keep following. Ruby and Sapphire's experiences, while fun and cool, aren't that important to understanding who Garnet is.

She's the product of love and power between two people that WANT to be together forever n ever, that's all you really need to know to understand why she's so strong. 

plus, SU seems to enjoy taking it's time to showing everyone its hand - I think I would just be patient.

Steven Universe!!!!!!!!!!

When I first heard about this show, I was like, "Oh great. Just what we need. Another bad slapstick gross out comedy show. Really, CN? Get your mind out of the gutter!" I had completely lost faith by that point, and I only watched Pokemon on there anymore. But then many of my friends were praising it up the wazoo, even my favorite internet critics were getting in on it and I couldn't understand why. Out of curiosity and boredom, I decided to check it out...hook, line, and sinker! Now I'm a huge fan, writing a fan fic with an OC in it right at this moment! I've created like three Gemsonas and a potential OC fusion!

Yea. It's literally the only thing I watch on there now. After Teen Titans Go...... Yea.

But this is NOT like that. I am SO thrilled that this isn't one of those shows where Steven is just going to be an incompetent screw-up forever because comedy. He grows and learns as the show goes on, to the point that he started out not even being able to summon his shield, and the latest episode has him adept with it enough to summon it three times in one day.

I get kind of fed up with shows that adhere to a strict status quo because they think audiences are too dumb to follow a plot, or they're too lazy to plan a proper schedule. Steven Universe meets in the middle by having the episodes be entertaining enough stand-alone, but have a lot of continuity to them.

A lot of people say that the show got "good" once the Lapis two-parter happened, and I can understand the claims. The plot does pick up quite a bit from that point, but I feel like it wouldn't have been as great without the "slower" episodes before it, giving us time to get to know this interesting setting and its characters before the heavy stuff happens.

So it's been a while since anyone has posted here and now that the show has gone on hiatus for the rest of the year, I think it's time for another round of this.

And of course the #1 word on anyone's mind right now is "Peridot". She's become the focus of a lot of episodes lately, and that's totally fine. While I did prefer her as a cold and almost robotic antagonist, and I feel like her becoming so quirky and dorky is getting out of hand, I don't mind her being more than just an antagonist. It's nice to see her being fleshed out as a character in her own right, and having unique interactions with the main characters, particularly Steven.

The fandom really has a knack for picking up on subtle hints, running with them and deducing them flawlessly. The whole "Pearls are mass-produced servants" thing ended up being so correct I'm wondering if the staff read fan theories and was like "That sounds like something we'd write." 

It also served as a really nice contrast to show what Pearl has become, and how much she has achieved despite the label gem society places on her. It also sheds some more light on her flaws, particularly her self-destructive dedication to Rose.

I mentioned that my favorite character constantly changes throughout the show, and I think it's finally time for Steven to take the spot at #1. I'm really liking the way he's being handled as a character. How his ability to feel empathy for Peridot is what leads to her turn-around. He's come so far from being the obnoxious kid who absolutely would not shut up about seeing Opal for the first time.

Then there's Amethyst. I loved the way she was handled in "Cry For Help" but the latest episode soured her for me a bit. "Too Far" treated Peridot like she was the only one in the wrong, when Amethyst was the one egging her own to say a lot of very hurtful things about all of the Crystal Gems. Though to be fair, Amethyst was gearing up for having herself roasted too, it was just bad fortune that her particular weakness (feeling like she's a mistake) was what Peridot ended up bringing up.

Amethyst has always been rather crass and can border on a troll at times, but it seems like she only has empathy for others when it matches her own issues. In Cry For Help for example, she reacts with such understanding to Pearl's situation because it's something she felt. Otherwise she just kinda laughs at everyone's problems.

Garnet's character is one that has confused me for the longest time. I have a hard time pinpointing what her flaws are exactly, and when something comes up (her behavior in Coach Steven) it comes off as a bit jarring. But I think, kinda similar to Amethyst, she doesn't really notice other people's problems unless they directly affect her. Her scene in Friend Ship where she talks about how she doesn't let her problems affect her explains it well. She seems to be the type who bottles up her feelings in order to keep focused on missions. As long as the team functions, little details like how Amethyst is affected by Sardonyx goes unnoticed.

You know what we haven't seen in a while? An actual normal gem monster. I think the documentary episode with Ronaldo is the last time we saw one. Since then it's been fusion mutants, Peridot or nothing at all. Episodes with no fights or antagonist are fine if they give us good character development, which this show has done consistently. I don't even really dislike Connie's mom anymore thanks to how Nightmare Hospital handled her.

So now we have Lavos The Cluster waiting in the core of the Earth to awaken and compared to that, Malachite seems like small potatoes.

Well it's been a wild ride. All of season 3 got chugged out in the span of a month, and it just made this season feel like nothing. I only remember a handful of the episodes, particularly ones involving fusion.

I kinda dislike how the fandom considers any episodes involving human characters to be filler. I feel like that kinda misses half the point of the show, like why Steven isn't just a full gem. I mean yea, Restaurant Wars didn't have the strongest story going for it, but some of us like the human characters and want to see more of them, especially in terms of character development.

Gonna be talking spoilers from here on out, so brace yourselves if you're not caught up.

So the season begins with... two mistakes. First there's the fact that both the Malachite situation and the Cluster are resolved back to back. I kinda feel like something else should have kept the CGs from getting to the cluster in time, instead of taking two huge plot threads and just ending them so suddenly. Not to mention it didn't seem at all like Malachite was consuming Lapis and Jasper's minds, as we saw back in Chille Tid.

Second, it's the season premier! Two major events in the series get topped off right at the beginning of a season? It makes them feel less important than a baseball game. Other than that they were both nice episodes and I have little problem with how the Cluster was stopped. I get the complaints about Steven developing new powers out of nowhere though.

Also: Lapis finally gets to be happy! I've waited so long for that. It's great to have more episodes with her interacting with Steven, and now Peridot. I kinda wish we would see more of her interacting with the CGs, like them discussing why she was left in the mirror. I mean if they had a magic spring that could heal Amethyst's gem that one time, why not Lapis's?

If I never see another Ruby it'll be too soon. I just... can't stand them. Their voices, how stupid they are, just... Hit the Diamond was so stupid. It had some good humor here and there (Bob) but other than that it was just the biggest waste of time. They scanned the barn with their ship, locked onto Steven, Lapis and Peridot, yet they supposedly didn't even see the barn. I dunno, it just feels like they have to be this stupid in order for this asinine plot to work.

And speaking of Rubies that are stupid, good god Ruby and Sapphire. I said before that the two are pretty much defined by each other, but they can't even function as individuals. "I can't look at the ball cause all I want to look at is you." So you're going to let Peridot get shattered because you can't even focus on your mission. It was their idea to have Ruby infiltrate the group. Makes me (and a bunch of other fans) think that maybe it's not good for them to stay fused permanently, if they're this STARVED for each other the moment they separate.

Garnet in general is starting to get on my nerves. We haven't really had any episodes featuring her lately that are about HER as a character. Instead it's always fusion this and love that. She's becoming defined by Ruby and Sapphire, which I think defeats the entire purpose of her character. "Something greater than the sum of her parts" she's supposed to be.

On a more positive note, Mr. Greg finally sees Pearl coming to terms with her issues with Greg, which is great. I don't think it was rushed, like the fans say, but rather it was just one step until the two start getting closer. I like how Pearl admits she doesn't actually hate him, but I can also understand where she's coming from, having clear feelings for Rose and then suddenly he swoops in and wins her over. I honestly wanna know more about Pearl and Rose's bond, cause most of what we get is from Pearl's POV.

Also Greg is rich now, and thankfully him getting stuck with huge bills to pay stopped happening. I was really hoping they wouldn't make that a reoccurring thing just to get him to be broke again.

Beach City Drift was a strange episode. It's really unsettling to see Steven filled with so much hate for someone. A world destroying race of alien bigots? They just need hugs! But a smug teenager who hits on people and makes them feel uncomfortable? TOTAL SCUM HE SHOULD DIE IN A FIRE! 

The way the show uses phrases like "It made me feel uncomfortable" or "What we had wasn't healthy" sounds like they're taking a page right out of tumblr sometimes. It's a little on the nose, but it's a kids show so it's nice that they're not shying away from messages like that.

I think Crack the Whip is probably one of my top five favorite episodes right now, and Amethyst is shaping up to be my favorite character. That fight scene was something fans have dreamed about for a long time, and they pulled it off beautifully. The music during that scene was especially gorgeous.

Not too keen on Amethyst's new look, mainly because her top is almost the same color as her hair, but knowing her a change could be around the corner.

Not gonna lie, The Bismuth special is something I would probably want to show someone who's never seen the series, even if they'd be a bit lost. I really liked the themes and characterization in this one, how the ideals of Bismuth and the CGs clash, yet neither side can really be seen as wrong.

I have a bit of a problem with the show promoting her as a new member of the team, but I can see why they did it. It was already kind of obvious that she wouldn't stick around, but I can't complain. They did a good job making her likable and interesting enough to feel for in that span of time.

Meep Morp! Sounds like something an alien would say. ...Wait.

God Peridot and Lapis are such dorks. I love them both. Can't say I ship them, but I like that they're becoming friends.

Earthlings... was a journey. I kinda wanted to see Jasper's army actually become something. It feels like the villain's master plan was thwarted in its early stages, which is something works of fiction typically don't do, but I think in this case it just serves to show how low Jasper has fallen since the whole Malachite thing.

Smoky Quartz. Aside from their voice and personality being a little too similar to Amethyst, I really like the character, design and abilities. So much function out of a simple yoyo. I especially love that floofy hair.

Aaaand those little piles of snot are back, but at least Back to the Moon expounded on the plot some, and Amethyst posing as Jasper was hilarious. Once again, the Rubies are stupid as the plot needs them to be. And bubbled didn't do much other than confirm what the previous episode stated.

And that's all of my thoughts on season 3. Season four has only just started, so I'll hold off on that for now.

I didn't read that post because spoilers, haha. But. I just wanna say, I recently got into this show. I made a friend not long ago, and she really wanted me to start watching Steven Universe. She made me up a list of the most important episodes to watch in season 1. I'm working my way through it slowly... I have trouble watching stuff, as everyone here knows, haha.

But anyway. So far, I feel so bad that I've been avoiding this show for so long. It's great. My favorite character so far is Amethyst! She's the best. I rather like Steven, too. He reminds me of another character I really love, so he's just a super entertaining protagonist to me. Hehe. I'm looking forward to watching more of this show. I have a feeling that I'm going to hit a certain episode on her list that... Is going to hook me and I'm going to binge the show.