@love-takes-work / love-takes-work.tumblr.com
I write stuff and sometimes I sell it. I haven't been that successful at selling short work but I guess I do all right. Today I decided to look at my story list and submission status (is it retired, on submission, or published) and analyze that with how queer the story is.
Verdict: Most of my successful stuff is pretty damn queer and no one is surprised. (Titles redacted.)
Here's a complete overview of the Q&A that was put on by Streamily, hosted by Elijah ("Not-So-Average Fangirl"), featuring Rebecca Sugar as the showrunner/creator, Deedee Magno Hall as Pearl, Lo (formerly known as Charlyne Yi) as Ruby, Estelle as Garnet, Susan Egan as Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond, Tom Scharpling as Greg Universe, Michaela Dietz as Amethyst/Famesthyst, and Larissa Gallagher as Bluebird Azurite. Read below to find out about a secret scrapped episode, Rebecca's comment on how to look at Rose Quartz, and lots of hilarious commentary from the cast about the experience of voicing characters on Steven Universe.
When the stream opened, everyone did their introductions:
Estelle was not on the call at the very beginning but joined shortly after the questions began.
Here are the questions and the participants' answers!
Q: There were so many messages in SU. Which one do you hope viewers keep with them the most?
A (Rebecca): Rebecca learned to trust themself in being the authority about who they are. They were a bit rocky on this issue when the show began in their twenties, and learned they needed to be true to the art they made. That was reflected in the characters too. They hope people watching will learn to trust in themselves too, in the face of other people trying to tell you who you are.
Q: For Deedee Magno Hall: Pearl grew and changed in the show. How did it feel playing her in the first few episodes vs. the last few?
A (Deedee): There was no way for Deedee to know Pearl's journey when she started voicing her. She relied on Rebecca and the Crew to learn how to voice Pearl. The group had been talking about the pilot before they jumped onto the call, and Deedee says if she had listened side by side to what Pearl sounded like in the Pilot and what she ended up sounding like at the end, Pearl (along with character growth), vocally got exaggerated--it was Deedee's voice but really "went there"! Pearl felt so many feels. Deedee hopes she executed it well direction-wise. What a blast to play Pearl! And to see the growth in her character! It was fun and a challenge, and Deedee was grateful!
Q: For Michaela Dietz: Amethyst is silly and chaotic usually--what did Michaela pull from for the more emotional and serious moments?
A (Michaela): Many of the more emotional moments are about figuring out origins (the Kindergarten, etc.). Michaela is a transracial / transnational adoptee, so she pulled from that and was looking for her birth family while they were recording the Kindergarten episode. That was an easy well to tap. The growth that Amethyst had over the course of the series and movie and Future, Michaela feels like it parallels her relationship with the other actors and their characters. She's grateful to have made so many friends and is so happy to have learned so much from Rebecca (she joked about calling Rebecca "Reba").
Q: Question for all: If you could hang out with your character for one day, what would you do?
A (Rebecca): Steven is based on their brother, so they would love to spend time with Steven. It was challenging through Covid to not spend time with Steven. They always make time for Steven. They love spending time with people who played the characters! They never got to have a wrap party because of Covid! They were together for 8 years and they still want to have a belated wrap party. They would also love to spend time with Ruby (the self-insert character) and they love spending time with Lo too. Then they said "I need to be stopped because I'll go through every person."
Announcement: Estelle just joined!
Belatedly, the mod asks Estelle's question: Garnet is such an iconic character. Did Estelle know she was a Fusion from the beginning?
A (Estelle): No. She was the big grown Gem who took care of the others. She found out in real time with the cast when she did the recording. She was surprised by the lines in real time and had to calm herself down to record each line. She felt it was an honor.
Back to the "all: question of what each would do if they could hang out with their character.
A (Deedee), misunderstanding the question: If she could hang out with characters, would do tae bo with Garnet, get french fries with Steven, and have a karaoke and dance party with Amethyst.
A (Lo): When they were in kindergarten they would spit all over a tree and try to cover it with their spit. If they hung out with Ruby, they would ask for Ruby's help spitting on trees. There would be lots of hugging, punching pillows, etc. The moderator Elijah thinks fan artists will have fun with that.
A (Estelle): If she hung out with Garnet, she would ask Garnet to give her all the future information. She would want to borrow her "future vision goggles" too and want to know the future.
A (Tom): He would just drive around with Greg and listen to records. Go eat more. And end up going bowling.
A (Michaela): She would eat trash with Amethyst (and also some quality food?). They would mess around the San Gabriel Valley, get meal after meal, maybe buy an illegal turtle? No, that's not funny. They might hit up Ruby and spit on trees. Take in some underground wrestling. Amethyst is very intensely chill, and Michaela thinks they could do a great many things together.
A (Larissa): Going from intensely chill to intensely chaotic. She wants to bring it down from chaos and go ride Lion on the beach, with Bluebird carrying swords.
A (Susan): She wants to go into Rose's room to unpack. Pearl would need to be with her to Marie Kondo the situation. Then she would throw on a Universe shirt and hit music festivals.
Deedee realizes she misunderstood the question and wants to add: if she hung out with Pearl they would do laundry and some spring, summer, winter, and fall cleaning. Definitely Marie Kondo-ing the whole universe together.
Q for Susan Egan: Rose turned out to be a very complex character. As the story progressed and more about her was revealed, did Susan's approach to voicing her change?
A (Susan): She can't sing the praises of Rebecca enough: Susan didn't know at all what Rose's deal was. She got some hate comments when it was revealed that she was Pink, and she LOVED that because it meant the fans were invested. She was as shocked as everyone else. Pink was aging in reverse; Rose was wise and flawed, and then Susan would be voicing Pink and had to be petulant and immature, and she's thankful for Rebecca's direction in getting that right.
Q for Lo: Ruby is adorable. We got to meet so many versions of her. Other than Garnet's Ruby, which Ruby was Lo's favorite to play, and why?
A (Lo): They loved playing Navy. They got to be hammy. They ask if you know how when you order stuff at the drive-thru and you become that? They don't know why. It felt good. While voicing Ruby, they got to get in touch with how angry they were. Being seen as an Asian woman, it was nice to have a spot to channel that anger, and being Navy is like making fun of who you have to become when you're a people-pleaser. "I LOVE DIRT!"
Q for Tom Scharpling: Greg is an eccentric but loving father. What was Tom's favorite part of playing him and does he have a favorite scene?
A (Tom): Doing Greg was so fun. It's not Tom but it's more him than he thought all along. He had never done voice stuff before this, so he went in completely new. A script would say "walla walla" but he thought he was supposed to say "walla walla." Everybody laughed at him. He knew literally nothing about proper voice acting. So he got to really try and work at it. It was so satisfying to get to better at it. Anything from "Mr. Greg" was the big one in terms of a memorable episode. It was the best time.
Q for Larissa Gallagher: Bluebird Azurite is quite a menace. Did she listen to the individual Ruby and Aquamarine voice acting for inspiration?
A (Larissa): Yes. The script said Bluebird was Cockney, so she already knew what to aim for, but it turned out that taking those inspirations from the two characters she's made of would have led to this kind of voice naturally.
Q for All: Where do you each of the participants think their character is now and what are they doing?
A (Rebecca): To the cast, they know what the characters are up to post-show, but they can't say, it's too canonical.
A (Deedee): Says she doesn't know what canonical means. Pearl is probably doing more laundry and working on an album.
A (Lo): They guess they're just . . . fused. (Perhaps separating for scouting?) They might play Ruby Rider but not alone anymore. Interdependence, learning how to ground; Lo is not really sure how to answer since they feel like Ruby would spend most of her time as Garnet.
A (Estelle): She doesn't know. She figures Garnet sees what was gonna happen and just said "mmm." Just chilling. Even when she's fighting she has to be chill with the fighting-related grunting. She got direction to "flatline" her acting. She found it pretty natural though.
A (Tom): Greg is probably right where everything started again. Maybe working at a GameStop. Maybe he owns a bowling alley now. When asked what Greg would name it, he replies "Strikes and Spares."
A (Michaela): Amethyst would randomly get rich with Bitcoin and is retired. Maybe she would play Taiwanese Mahjong. Living a great retired life.
A (Larissa): Bluebird would be plotting and scheming and planning. Probably on a big planning board.
A (Susan): If Rose and/or Pink exists on any level, the only appropriate thing for her to be up to is community service. Like cleaning up trash at the bowling alley? Susan thinks it's time to start having a positive impact.
Q for Rebecca Sugar: Were there any scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor that you wish you could have included?
A (Rebecca): There was a bunker episode that they spent weeks on trying to crack; they wish they'd finished it. Ronaldo had a doomsday bunker. Sadie and Lars were trapped in it (with Steven). There's no way to leave. They were working on it so long and just couldn't make it work but they were determined to (maybe a little bit of the sunk cost fallacy!).
But usually the things that got left on the floor ended up evolving and changing into something different, even if they were really attached to the original idea. The idea for "Barn Mates" was originally that Sadie and Lapis would be the roommates with Sadie going to college. They feel that the Sadie story they ended up actually using was great. They love what they ended up doing with Lapis too.
In the very earliest version of "Giant Woman," Steven was going to unfuse into the two parts of him. And his "perfect" form, the big glowing muscular adult-looking Steven, was a Season 1 idea, and they didn't use him until Future. (After all, our roly-poly Steven is perfect!)
Now there are some fan-submitted questions. Their usernames are included.
Q for Deedee Magno Hall, from Makittuu: In what ways is Pearl special to you?
A (Deedee): She feels like a broken record, but she says again she was grateful to be voicing someone with the same natural voice as she had, and she had always wanted to be able to sing in a cartoon. She loves that she got to sing in the show. Pearl was the first major voice acting role that she had ever done and there's no way she would have known what the show was going to become and how successful it would be. She was auditioning for everything and was new to voice acting at the time. But one thing that she loved about voicing Pearl is that she got to share the experience with her kids. She connected the love Pearl had for Steven with the love she had for her sons. When she started voicing Pearl her kids were 2 and 8. For them to be able to watch Steven Universe on TV and hear Mommy's voice was so cool to share with her family. Now her kids are 13 and 19!
Q for Estelle, from Gonosoi: Do you have any fun stories from recording your lines on the show?
A (Estelle): When she was going through things in her life--and she thinks this is true no matter where you are or how you identify--the show somehow could speak to whatever she was going through. The lines would often be relevant. She'd come in with sunglasses on because it was early for her and her voice would be low. She'd be crying behind her glasses in difficult moments. She liked a fresh first take instead of knowing ahead of time what she'd be reading, so she didn't read the script ahead of time. She was surprised by needing to do the "ugh" and "ah" noises in different ways. It'd be difficult vocally. With Michaela, Zach, and Deedee, in between the lines and reading things together, hearing them switch back and forth between talking about life and then doing their recordings, it was so cool to see them do their work.
Q for Michaela Dietz, from Mal: Which one of your other characters would get along well with Amethyst?
A (Michaela): Definitely Vee from The Owl House. Maybe Maj'el from Star Trek Prodigy. She would be so "What is this purple being? Why do you eat? Where does the food go?" She'd be fascinated with Amethyst. And Michaela feels like Amethyst would thrive and try to do weird stuff in response. The shapeshifting she has in common with Vee. They'd get up to some trouble. Fun trouble. Harmless trouble. (Another fanart cue!)
Q for Susan Egan, from Gladde: Does Susan feel that Rose forgot about Spinel? Does she think she wanted to go back?
A (Susan): Susan thinks a lot was forgotten in her mind when she became Rose. Rose was so enamored of what's in front of her in every moment; she lives in the moment and can be a good quality but obviously Susan didn't know all of that when she was recording! Steven Universe is her kids' favorite thing she's done. Rebecca?
A (Rebecca): So much of the show is about how--something that was ultimately captured in the end credits song-- when you don't think of yourself as someone with power, Pink had less power than everyone around her, and she didn't know how much she mattered to others. She did things to them that she didn't think twice about because her importance to others didn't register. Feeling that she didn't matter, it radiated out. To her--her relationship with Spinel, Spinel was a toy to her. When she got a chance to grow up, she thought it made sense to leave Spinel behind. Pink is actually a softened version of what she was originally planned to be like. The sympathetic side of that and her self deprecation grew as they developed Pink over time. In aspiring to be a better person than she thought she was, that became who she was.
A (Susan): Rebecca brought all these characters' complexity to the table. It's easy to make things two-dimensional but people are complicated and we need to look at that in context. Good and bad can exist in the same person. She doesn't want Rose to always want to think about being Pink, but she thinks it helped her want to save more characters as Rose.
A (Rebecca): Rebecca likes to think of the Pink Diamond / Rose character as a cautionary tale.
Q for Lo, from stiffcorpse00: What kind of dates would Ruby and Sapphire go on?
A (Lo): Axe-throwing. They reference walking through doors and accidentally crashing into the frame, and they say "That's me." So they wouldn't do axe-throwing personally. Maybe Ruby and Sapphire would get some boba. Go walking. Teach Ruby how to float in water back because anger makes Ruby sink. Helping Ruby get anger out by screaming into pillows. Swinging one way and the other way.
Michaela suggests they could go to a rage room.
Lo objects that they're so expensive, and that they could just break stuff without needing to pay for it.
Susan suggests it'd be a writeoff because it's for work.
Lo says they'll go there and take a date.
Michaela says the experience is exhausting and therefore you don't need much time there.
Lo says a Ruby and Sapphire date involving paintball would be great, but everyone would run from Sapphire. Ruby's rage would get in the way. Sapphire would coldly get everyone.
There is more discussion of smashing fax machines and glass etc. in a rage room. Deedee asks "What is a fax machine?"
Q for Tom Scharpling, from GalixyYouniverse: What was his reaction to Greg getting his hair cut and was he upset?
A (Tom): He was fine with it. He was always coming from a different place than everyone else. His change would be getting rich or getting a haircut. Everyone else's was huge and cosmic. Anything with Greg, he related to Greg more than he should admit to.
Rebecca points out they have like drawings from 2013 with Greg with short hair. Sacrificing hair in a battle is something they always wanted to do.
Q for Larissa Gallagher from 1F4cnt4ND: How does she think Aquamarine and Ruby met and what was it like when they fused?
A (Larissa): She says it was a little bit mean to put her after Tom answering about the hair cut! But she doesn't know. If she had to say anything, it'd be existential. When you meet someone and you get that ball of energy inside you and you don't know whether it's good or bad--you don't know what's going to happen but something will happen. She likes to think that's the kind of energy that evolved. It didn't go in the most helpful emotional way but it was that moment attraction that no one can explain. Rebecca?
A (Rebecca): They had discussed in the writers room what Steven's influence is on Homeworld, how there'd be all these Gems on the wrong side of history, whether they were high status like Aquamarine or low like Eyeball, they'd pool into an out-group and meet to be frustrated about it. They'd been working on something that made sense before Steven changed the rules. Different types of fusions / collaborations and one born out of frustration and spite was one they wanted on the show.
Q for all participants, from trynottohappen: What was the hardest scene to record?
A (Susan): The first thing she did as Rose was the VHS tape. The monologue was her first time playing a mother, and it spoke to her heart. Like Michaela looking for her biological parents, there's something the character can teach you. Susan had to pull herself together after reading it--she needed to be joyful about her progeny coming. It makes her weep even today. It was one of her favorite things. She loved recorded with Deedee, and loved the love between them, the betrayal of Rose to Pearl, when we finally get to know what was really going on between them.
A (Larissa): The scene where Bluebird revealed her backstory of why they felt the way they felt. The complexity of the characters in the show, the hate isn't just "I hate because someone did this and said that." It's grounded, a real space of hurt that can never be fixed. Having to recreate that and not hate the character but love the character because of how much pain they were in. That was difficult but incredible.
A (Michaela): The hardest scenes were toward the end because she knew the show was ending. They were cherishing every moment together. In 2016, the day after the election, that was a hard day. Everybody was really distraught. There was a group hug at the end. In a time of such uncertainty, it gave her so much solace to know they had each other and they had art, they had ways of expressing themselves, that day sticks out.
A (Tom): For him, the songs were difficult. He would get sent a demo Rebecca recorded the night before, he's driving into NYC from New Jersey and listening to the song for hours all morning so he'd have it in his head, and then would be so nervous doing the songs because he didn't want the whole recording to be just him going word by word, line by line. The songs were the big thing he was hung up on. He'd try to do the songs first, then the spoken lines, and then the things where he yelled--he'd end up screaming sometimes and he'd not have a voice left. He wanted to do right by these very special songs. He jokes that Rebecca said he let them down over and over. (Rebecca denies.)
A (Estelle): She doesn't remember many hard moments. She'd attribute that to Rebecca's direction. She took a laid-back approach. The grunts and noises weren't familiar but also weren't difficult for her. She'd drink tea after. Real life would be happening but they always had each other in their bubble.
A (Lo): The Ruby Rider episode was the most fun and the hardest. They always wanted to play a cowboy! They were also going through a divorce during the recording. It was tough leading up to marrying Sapphire, delivering the lines, and they started crying because the opposite was happening in their life. And then they got direction to be more emotional even though they were crying. They said their voice was dead inside even though they were quite emotional. They're shy in the booth. Lo felt sweaty and weird doing the acting in front of other people, feeling awkward, and this is the first time they had to be a voice actor. This was THE WORST playing multiple characters during the baseball episode.
Michaela was so impressed with Lo having to be "like 800 characters."
Lo comments that doing 5 voices around other people as a neurodivergent person was so difficult.
A (Deedee): She loved receiving the demo recordings before having to sing a song. One of her favorite things was the singing. She wants the album of all Rebecca's demos. She remembers getting a script Monday to prepare and record on Wednesday. She heavily depended on the voice director and Rebecca. The really wordy scripts were difficult for Deedee with "ten-dollar words." The screaming was also really difficult. (She'd also do singing at the beginning, speaking in the middle, screaming at the end.)
A (Rebecca): Instead answering what scene was the hardest to write, they say there are so many. Because it was storyboard-driven, the script was in flux until it was animated, and they'd still be working with dialogue. With the potluck, when Lars doesn't show, Sadie has dialogue as she's walking down the street talking about Lars. They did a thousand drafts of it. With Sadie's story, there's a matryoshka of struggling with self-esteem while commenting on other people's self-esteem. There was a long path to get Steven to step into his mom's shoes. The biggest thing was tracking the ongoing storyline in a storyboard-driven show. Rose's speech was pored over as well. They wanted it to be layered and make more sense as you learn more about her. Does this line encapsulate everything you're going to learn about this character 60 episodes from now?
Q from CaughtMoonlight: If each of them could play any other Gem, who would it be?
A (Susan): Everyone wants to be Garnet, but could never!
A (Larissa): Ditto. 100%. Also, not a Gem, but she wants to be Lion.
A (Michaela): Peridot. All the way.
A (Tom): He says he can't do that and he's just a slob doing the voice of a slob. These things are all out of his reach.
A (Estelle): She'd go with turbocharged Peridot. She says the things that are in Garnet's brain. She'd get spicy with it.
A (Lo): Lo would choose Greg. They say he's not a slob. The world should be more relaxed and accessible.
Tom says he doesn't mean slob in a bad way. But he owns his slobbiness.
A (Deedee): Hard question! She loved voicing Pearl and all the Pearls. Everybody else, it would be so hard to voice. No comment.
A (Rebecca): Early on they decided to take a back seat and not cast themself. They loved being in the director role. They put a lot of themself into SO many characters. That let them have a presence in everyone. One thing they're really grateful for, but their former boarder Adam Muto on Adventure Time, they got to voice Marceline's mother. The composers aivi and surasshu asked them to sing "Love Like You" because it's really a reflection of so many characters that they got to write.
Q for All: They are asked to share their projects and socials.
A (Rebecca): Working on things they can't talk about yet. Last year they released an independent album. Years ago Estelle said Rebecca should tour. Susan said kind things. Lo texts songs back and forth. They would not have been able to make that album without that encouraging. Tom had them on the radio show. So humbling. Spiral Bound is a little EP and they're so grateful. They'd love to do more stuff like that.
A (Deedee): She loves the album. She is doing some recurring voices for Kiff on the Disney channel, and singing praise and worship at church.
A (Lo): They're playing Larry in StuGo who's shirtless and gender fluid on Disney. They want everyone to know sunsets are awesome. Catch them while you can to chase away depression.
A (Estelle): She has a new album coming out early next year, with two singles out now. The music is uplifting. And there's the Estelle Show (on Apple radio!). She's just living her best life.
A (Tom): The Best Show/podcast is still on every week. He started writing a new book--he wrote one a few years ago and thinks the one he's writing now will be done in maybe 11 years, so check it out in 2038. Just working on TV stuff and dealing with whatever happens.
A (Michaela): Exciting stuff we can't talk about. It's tangerine season! Trees going off! Been harvesting.
A (Larissa): Just got back from Japan. Trying to get back there. Video games are coming out but she can't talk about it. She is working on a startup called Ethovox, trying to protect voice actors int he age of AI. Larissa got so much fandom just from doing Bluebird for two minutes! She's so grateful for that.
A (Susan): She produces live concert content for Disney worldwide. She loves being behind the scenes and creating jobs for others and bringing joy. They've been in 18 countries! She wrote shows for the Hollywood Bowl.
Part Two comes out November 18, 2024! You can get signed prints at Streamily!
Yo do I have any friends that could help me get some of these hats? I wanna order them buuuuut they only ship within Colombia. Just thought I'd ask if I have any pals here who happen to live there and would be able to help ship them to the United States after ordering to you. On the off chance, ya know.
This sign is really workin' it
Look at those long legs! She's so tall, I wonder if she's ever done runway
She is beauty, she is grace, she'll horse-kick you in your face (with those steel-pole legs)😌🤍
OK this is glorious
This sign is really workin' it
Look at those long legs! She's so tall, I wonder if she's ever done runway
Multiversus #2 has the introduction of Steven and Garnet. Someone needs a Steven Universe consultant stat because Garnet's asking questions all over the place. Sighhhhhhh
I know it's not canon stuff but it's still fun to see something with SU in it that's coming out currently.
I got to go to the Cartoon Network Hotel a couple weeks ago when I was traveling. We did not stay there overnight but we got to eat in the Cartoon Kitchen and shop in the gift shop.
[Image: Cartoon Network Hotel front shot featuring Finn and Jake from Adventure time--Tumblr blogger love-takes-work standing in front with two Cartoon Network shopping bags]
During our visit, the restaurant was very limited in terms of food and none of it was themed like I'd heard from other visitors, but that was no big deal. The selection in the gift shop, while exciting because they have items there that you can't get anywhere else, was a little disappointing because in some cases I was only able to get, say, a Garnet cup and a Steven cup when I knew Amethyst and Pearl cups of the same style also exist. I'm both excited I could get what I got and frustrated that I don't know how I'll ever get a complete set if I ever can. (Maybe I should make some friends in Lancaster, Pennsylvania?)
[Image 1: Wall of Steven Universe merchandise at the CN Hotel. Image 2: Laid out merchandise bought by love-takes-work, featuring hats, a bag, a shirt and hoodie, travel cups, a mug, a ball, two sticker packs, a water ring toss game, a mint tin, a keychain, and a deck of playing cards.]
What was really cool, though, was the concept art of CN shows framed around the building! I had never seen some of these drawings.
[Image 1: Sketches and color art of the Temple. Image 2: Two framed We Bare Bears sketchy art pieces. Image 3: Various sketchy Steven Universe art, some on colored or white paper and sticky notes, featuring Steven running, Lion, Opal, different angels of Steven, and Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet. Image 4: A closer image of the Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet art on pinkish paper. Image 5: A closer image of sticky notes and shaded sketches of Steven in different poses.]
Even the BATHROOM had themed art! Yes I took photos. I couldn't not.
[Three images: a large black runner across the top of the CN Hotel bathroom featuring various simplistic drawings in white of characters and objects from CN shows]
It was really fun to see it in person and I wish I could go back to the gift shop to check periodically on whether they have merch I don't have in my collection!
Bye-bye, CN Hotel!
[Image: the Cartoon Network Hotel outdoor sign, photographed from our Uber]
I went to the gift shop at the Cartoon Network Hotel and all I got was . . . a lot more than a lousy t-shirt
Yes I'm in Florida why do you ask
i'm so glad i've mostly dodged the pearl/greg discourse lol. taking umbrage with doodles that arent even canon is silly. you are getting angry at literal colors and shapes. go outside.
if you want my actual interpretation, i see pearl as a lesbian in canon. i think that's probably more-or-less what they landed on, since canon never implied otherwise. in later seasons, she has like 500 gfs and nothing else is mentioned. she seems annoyed at male attention.
but i also see SU as a land where gender and sexuality are fluid, even more than in other gay media. gemkind approaches the idea of earth gender from an outsider pov. i think that's very intentional, this gender-nonconforming perspective from a non-binary creator. it's not just a gay show, it's a queer show.
the boundaries we call "gender" aren't that strict. amethyst can transform into a "male-passing" wrestling persona on a whim, then undo it just as quickly. steven can do drag and gems can present all over the place. its never a big deal. nobody cares whether their gender is "supposed" to do that.
i also think seperationism is lame as hell. i dont see a need to police who gets to be included in what gendered label, especially in fictional self-expression. all of that is based on a very strict, cisnormative, binary ideal of gender in the first place. that's not to say your individual, strongly held binary identity (i'm a binary man!) isn't "valid", just that being honest here, we cannot afford to police this stuff without invalidating other people. and while critique is allowed, i think one should be especially cautious in critiquing other people's creative expression of their own gender and sexuality.
Agree--as presented in canon, Pearl hasn't shown any interest in anyone who wasn't a Gem or a human woman, and has spurned the attraction of at least one human man (Dewey). But if the show had taken stuff in this direction, made this part of Pearl's character, then THAT would have been fine TOO.
Just like in real life, attractions that happen can change what we call ourselves. It would be OK if characters did that too.
And it's important that we understand our existing attractions do not constrict what attractions we can have in the future. If you are queer or have a large number of queer people in your social circle, the first thing you'll notice is this shit is MESSY. And I don't mean that in a negative sense. It's not easily defined. It doesn't stay in boxes. It doesn't always have a term immediately available. But the worst thing we can do with that is say "it can't happen because Person A identifies as Identity B." What we have to do is let the label catch up to the person. The messiness is exploration; it's freedom and adventure. It's one of the best things about queer communities. We splash around and find out what's out there, if we're fortunate enough to escape from the expectations that have always told us we'd be wrong to jump in.
They DIDN'T end up writing Pearl with attractions toward men onscreen, but if they had, that wouldn't have been an insult to lesbians. It would have just revealed aspects of her that we hadn't known about. (And we sure got some unrelated-to-sexuality revelations about things that had always been part of her toward the end of the show, so it wouldn't have been unheard-of.) Pearl makes sense how she was written in the show, and she'd also make sense if these writers had written her a different way, because past does not dictate present or future. I would have trusted Sugar and the Crew to carry that version of the story too, and do justice to it. I have several very queer people in my life who are in relationships that look heteronormative from the outside. Queerness involves throwing away the chains of what an identity label expects you to do and letting your feelings lead the way--and worrying what to name it afterwards.
There are lots of developmental materials that did not become canon and I think people also need to realize that. It's also true that Crew members played around with what-ifs, and now that we have the story they chose, looking at some of those what-ifs feels a little weird to some of us. It's OK if some of the things they thought about doing contradict with what they ended up doing, even if we like the final product better.
Oh yeah and as an addendum I really wanna emphasize that "what we feel now doesn't preclude things we can feel in the future" is NOT an excuse to tell someone ELSE, from OUTSIDE, that whatever they identify as isn't real and therefore lesbians should date men or asexual people should keep trying to be something else, etc. I understand that it's a problem (especially in women-loving-women circles) where sometimes any trace of fluidity is a signal that someone can come and demand that an individual person TRY to change. Recognizing fluidity, evolution, reevaluation, and broadening horizons is NOT the same thing as suggesting everyone is fluid and therefore obligated to TRY to change. (Especially, as I said, if it's through pressure from outside.) As an asexual woman I've had tons of pressure, mostly from men, to "be open" and "stop being so close-minded" when I say I know what my attractions are. Same goes for lesbians. This is a matter of respecting and recognizing when someone follows their own heart to something we didn't know about them before (and THEY may not have known about themselves before). It is NOT an excuse to pester queer people into doing something they AREN'T into, perceiving them as having no convictions of identity, or rewriting someone's real identity into something others can and should negotiate.
i'm so glad i've mostly dodged the pearl/greg discourse lol. taking umbrage with doodles that arent even canon is silly. you are getting angry at literal colors and shapes. go outside.
if you want my actual interpretation, i see pearl as a lesbian in canon. i think that's probably more-or-less what they landed on, since canon never implied otherwise. in later seasons, she has like 500 gfs and nothing else is mentioned. she seems annoyed at male attention.
but i also see SU as a land where gender and sexuality are fluid, even more than in other gay media. gemkind approaches the idea of earth gender from an outsider pov. i think that's very intentional, this gender-nonconforming perspective from a non-binary creator. it's not just a gay show, it's a queer show.
the boundaries we call "gender" aren't that strict. amethyst can transform into a "male-passing" wrestling persona on a whim, then undo it just as quickly. steven can do drag and gems can present all over the place. its never a big deal. nobody cares whether their gender is "supposed" to do that.
i also think seperationism is lame as hell. i dont see a need to police who gets to be included in what gendered label, especially in fictional self-expression. all of that is based on a very strict, cisnormative, binary ideal of gender in the first place. that's not to say your individual, strongly held binary identity (i'm a binary man!) isn't "valid", just that being honest here, we cannot afford to police this stuff without invalidating other people. and while critique is allowed, i think one should be especially cautious in critiquing other people's creative expression of their own gender and sexuality.
Agree--as presented in canon, Pearl hasn't shown any interest in anyone who wasn't a Gem or a human woman, and has spurned the attraction of at least one human man (Dewey). But if the show had taken stuff in this direction, made this part of Pearl's character, then THAT would have been fine TOO.
Just like in real life, attractions that happen can change what we call ourselves. It would be OK if characters did that too.
And it's important that we understand our existing attractions do not constrict what attractions we can have in the future. If you are queer or have a large number of queer people in your social circle, the first thing you'll notice is this shit is MESSY. And I don't mean that in a negative sense. It's not easily defined. It doesn't stay in boxes. It doesn't always have a term immediately available. But the worst thing we can do with that is say "it can't happen because Person A identifies as Identity B." What we have to do is let the label catch up to the person. The messiness is exploration; it's freedom and adventure. It's one of the best things about queer communities. We splash around and find out what's out there, if we're fortunate enough to escape from the expectations that have always told us we'd be wrong to jump in.
They DIDN'T end up writing Pearl with attractions toward men onscreen, but if they had, that wouldn't have been an insult to lesbians. It would have just revealed aspects of her that we hadn't known about. (And we sure got some unrelated-to-sexuality revelations about things that had always been part of her toward the end of the show, so it wouldn't have been unheard-of.) Pearl makes sense how she was written in the show, and she'd also make sense if these writers had written her a different way, because past does not dictate present or future. I would have trusted Sugar and the Crew to carry that version of the story too, and do justice to it. I have several very queer people in my life who are in relationships that look heteronormative from the outside. Queerness involves throwing away the chains of what an identity label expects you to do and letting your feelings lead the way--and worrying what to name it afterwards.
There are lots of developmental materials that did not become canon and I think people also need to realize that. It's also true that Crew members played around with what-ifs, and now that we have the story they chose, looking at some of those what-ifs feels a little weird to some of us. It's OK if some of the things they thought about doing contradict with what they ended up doing, even if we like the final product better.
I checked out the beginning of the MultiVersus comics to see how my Steven Universe blorbos are involved. Welp.
So far Steven hasn't shown up except at a weird "star child" icon that Superman accidentally lasered into his wall with his eye lasers while he was dreaming
Lookin' good, Ste-Man.
What do you think the personality and appearance of Smoky Quartz and Sunstone would look like, being fusions with Rose? I really wanted to see them in the series, just like we saw Rainbow Quartz with Rose and Steven.
I'm not really sure. Despite the fact that I enjoy analysis of characters, I don't usually feel that comfortable with speculation on characters I haven't met, and Rose!Smoky and Rose!Sunstone would definitely be very different people even if we apparently have precedent for expecting them to share some elements (including names). I very much would have wanted to see the original Rose Fusions of those characters, and would have very much wanted to spend time with more of the Steven Fusions (including with a longer build-up and reserved special time with each Fusion).
I don't develop a lot of convictions when it comes to speculating on stuff like this, so consider this pretty loosely held, but if you want to know what I think about this, I'll try!
Appearance-wise: She'd keep the skin color and the freckles/flecks, keep the body type and same facial features, keep the arm arrangement and the weapon. I think her hair would be pink, straight, and longer--maybe in pigtails. She'd get some kind of cute ruffled jumper, I think--like overalls with a fluffy skirt--and have tights and bare feet. She'd kinda be the kid Rose never got to be, and enjoy the "childhood" she always wanted for Amethyst.
Personality-wise: She would have some inadequacy issues but they would be buried deeper and probably would not come out in self-deprecating jokes the way Smoky 2.0's did. She'd have a genuine version of Rose's calculated gregariousness. She'd give love freely in a sillier way than Rose did; she'd want to play around and be rambunctious, maybe a prank here and there. She'd enjoy binge TV with Greg and helping Pearl with tasks (if requested). She'd be good with eating and would probably laugh at burp-and-fart jokes. I think she'd enjoy building sandcastles and knocking them down.
Appearance-wise: She'd have the same weapon and color scheme and still have four arms, but I think her upper body would be less exaggerated and she'd have four arms all the same thickness, without the broad chest. I think her top section would be more like Garnet's except she'd be wearing something sleeveless. I think her flame hair would be big and curly OR maybe totally round like a perfect ball-shaped afro, with an overall effect of more hair/less head. She'd probably have some kind of flexible shoes with the toes showing. She might have one of those leotard-type outfits with a little ruffle depending on if the figure she's based on was maybe an exercise guru or fitness coach. Given that Sunstone 2.0 is influenced by Steven's conception of PSA-spewing mascot vibes, we would have to figure out what Rose's less childish contemporary-to-her equivalent of that is, and I think it would end up modeled after a motivational speaker or guru who was popular during whatever time period Rose and Garnet first formed her, so the clothing details would depend on that. The alternative to this is if Sunstone 1.0 first formed during the war and Sunstone could have been an extremely charismatic commander, but that would very much change the vibe. I could still see her charging into battle leading Crystal Gems with a flag, all hyped up on pep-talk juice, with Bismuth at her side.
Personality-wise: Rose and Steven are pretty different people but they were both given to "motivational" statements, and Garnet is good at boosting confident delivery of whatever primary elements her Fusions absorb, so Sunstone 1.0 would love hyping people up, dropping philosophical and exciting speeches whenever possible, and encouraging people to be their best selves. She'd be far more forward about it than Rose was. She'd use her fourth-wall-breaking/Future Vision type powers to give people reassurances that they would achieve their dreams if they followed their hearts (and maybe give them little prediction hints to give them hope). She'd be extremely outgoing but never say much about her own feelings, always focusing on others. She'd be loud and kinda give Pearl a headache, but Greg would enjoy the hype in small doses. She would not replicate the sometimes physical comedy Sunstone 2.0 does, but she'd be flexible and willing to do acrobatics, and I think she'd like to go surfing.
What do you consider the pillars of your diet? Like not what you consider the most delicious, or even necessarily your “favorite” food, but the food that if you look within your heart and are honest with yourself actually eat more often than anything else? I think mine is toast, broccoli, and eggs
Yogurt every damn day
Happy birthday to my blog's first note 8 years ago
I'm pretty cool but I am also scary in maybe seven or eight ways
