(Referring to this post)

Hi there! Before anything, I would appreciate if anyone didn’t bring cursing or profanity into this blog. There might be some readers who aren’t comfortable with it and I personally feel it adds nothing to the conversation, especially since you’ve brought up points to engage with already anyway.

Getting to your points, something to clarify about a “three-year old interview” when we talk about animating a mainstream cartoon show like Steven Universe: It takes roughly 8 to 9 months to produce an episode, so I wouldn’t be too bothered by the time since the interview since we could be seeing the very episodes she talked about then only at this point. Not only that but Rebecca Sugar has also always had a clear vision for the show. It’s a dynamic process but the themes have always been central to pushing the story forward and thus far we’ve seen them consistent.

1. Precedents in SU

This is where I talk about all the precedents we’ve seen in the show so far. The very first “villain” we ever see in the show are corrupted gems. They were there from episode one. And they were destructive. They seemed to be mindless, violent, and from our perspective in the beginning, there was no argument to be made for humanising them or attributing motives.

And then we got to see the truth. Corrupted gems are the victims of war, in an explosion similar to a nuclear fall out. They are experiencing both mental and physical trauma. They feel vulnerable and defensive, but if that trauma is addressed, they calm down and stabilise. They lash out because they felt they were being threatened. 

The Centipeetle Mother in episode one was clearly looking for something or someone, because she sent small Centipeetle scouts ahead of her. And it’s two seasons later that we find out exactly what she was looking for, her crew. 

The next “villain” was Lapis. She stole the sea. She hurt the gems. But off the bat she had her own reasons for being so vindictive. As early as Mirror and Ocean Gem she told us the gems left her trapped and she wanted to go home. That made her seem more sympathetic but she also tried to drown Steven and Connie, two individuals she knew were human. But we also learn about her grudge against the CGs for even starting the war, because she “never believed in Earth” and ended up being a casualty of a war she wanted no part in. That’s ironic and awful.

And when we were introduced to Peridot, everyone was certain she was nothing but a cardboard cutout villain. Acts like crushing the flask robonoid completely dehumanised her to some people. This all culminated in It Could’ve Been Great, when a lot of people felt they were right in calling Peridot out for being evil this entire time, that her loyalties lay with the Diamonds and that she didn’t actually care about Earth. It’s the episode after that we realise Peridot had made her own assessment of Earth and how best to protect it was with the help of the Diamonds. Even after that, loads of people tried to argue that it was a different Peridot, something I’m not fond of. Because people can change, that’s the point of the show.

When we look at Jasper and Bismuth, even the Cluster, we see the same patters falling into place. Because one thing that I really like from how SU portrays characters is that individuals are rational, and they act according to the information that they have. That individuals don’t think they’re hurting people until they realise that they actually are. It’s very similar to how majority of real people act. And given how SU is a show that its creators have said bases its material on real relationships in their own lives, it’s not that much of a surprise.

And then when confronted with these behaviours, Steven tries very hard to understand the characters so he can get them to understand him. He doesn’t use violence because he knows hurt only breeds more hurt, and pain begets pain. He trusts in the rationality and humanity in each character. 

Everyone thinks that they’re the protagonist of their own story, facing off against an evil greater than themselves. They think what they’re doing is right. They don’t think they’re hurting people, until they’re made to realise they do.

We’ve seen characters actively having to restrain their destructive behaviour. There as an entire episode dedicated to Steven’s trying to “train” Centipeetle and the Crystal Gems were very worried because, like us, they didn’t trust the corrupted gems. They viewed them as villains still. 

Lapis wasn’t completely trusted either. And more than that, we learn she was personally struggling with what she’d done when she hurt others. She was trying to make amends to Steven, and she also wasn’t ready to forgive the Crystal Gems.

The more we look at it, Peridot hasn’t changed her core values, logic and rationality. What’s changed is the information made available to her and the conditions of her environment. She didn’t become sentimental over Earth for no reason. She knew it would help her Homeworld and other gems like her.

2. The Diamonds

So when we look at the Diamonds and how hurt Yellow Diamond appears, and how much she’s trying to bury that pain from the war and the loss of her comrades, we’re seeing the same behaviours but on a much larger scale. And it makes sense that Steven would slowly be working up in terms of addressing problems. Everything thus far has been a symptom. Because the heart of the problem is a grieving Homeworld. That’s what led to the Light Bomb, what led to the Cluster, what led to gems like Peridot and the Ruby Squad coming to Earth in the first place.  

Homeworld is grieving, just like Lapis, just like Jasper, just like Eyeball, just like the Diamonds. Except the Diamonds are huge and powerful and command so many gems. Every emotional outburst of theirs could dictate the fate of planets. And in their position, it’s more of no one can tell them they’re wrong or that they need to calm down or that what they’re doing isn’t healthy. They’re Diamonds. Other gems tremble in their very presence because they’re old and powerful. 

And from what we’ve seen of them, they’ve been helping Homeworld so far. For instance, Peridot, in Message Received, never thought for a moment that YD wouldn’t rationally listen to her arguments. It caught her completely by surprise. That means the Diamonds have never given indication of not doing their job.

And you’re absolutely right in saying that YD dismissed Peridot and wanted Earth to be destroyed out of spite. But each character has shown to be spiteful. Even Pearl, even Amethyst, even Steven in Warp Tour, after being tired, after not being believed, after being stressed and afraid. 

Imagine the same pressure but on an empire-wide scale. Look at how many people the Diamonds are responsible for. Look at how little avenue they have to act out because they have to look strong for everyone else. So spite is definitely up there in the things YD is feeling about Earth, and she has no healthy avenue to let her feelings out and no one to tell her she’s going a little overboard here, probably because she’s alone and lost about half of her team in the war over Earth.

Blue Diamond in The Answer, what was her reason for ordering Ruby shattered? Fusing with a member of her court. She didn’t think Sapphire consented to the fusion, and she felt that because Sapphire was publicly embarrassed, there was probably a need for public retribution. It’s a flawed logic but Blue was also operating under a lot of stress. She’d just been beaten by the rebels and she was frustrated. She was still reeling from the loss of PD, which I mentioned before probably happened recently. She was taking out her anger on the first thing that was also making her upset.

Does giving a character a sad backstory excuse their actions? Not in Steven Universe.

And this is something I stress. Understanding the characters helps the characters change their minds, or make them realise their behaviour. Because nobody wants to be the bad guy. Nobody thinks they’re the bad guy. Nothing about the Diamonds indicates they’re cackling in a dark room while plotting the demise of our characters for the sake of it. There are motives, but that doesn’t make what they’re doing okay. 

That’s why Steven is still around. That’s why he’s trying to be a hero. Because even if there are no “villains” there are people who are doing “villainous things.” It’s just, calling them villains doesn’t do justice the idea that there’s a much bigger threat.

3. “Something ‘bigger than that.’ There’s not ‘really a singular enemy.’”

What’s truly hurtful? The entire social stratification on Homeworld. The belief that gems can be only what they were made to be. The idea that some gems have to be higher up than others and that legitimises treating them like objects. 

And I’ve said this before, but everyone who stays within this system perpetuates it. Gems are socialised to think this is okay, even though it’s not. But the entire point of Bismuth was to show that shattering the upper crust wasn’t the solution. Because there was an entire social order that needed to be unlearned. Everyone who doesn’t protest against it, from the bottom to the top, is complicit in allowing it to continue.

From the lowest Pearl to the Diamonds, a system like this is limiting. What I said earlier about YD having no one to tell her that she’s a teeny bit taking it too far (and I mean this with all the sarcasm I can muster) and having to act strong and okay even though she’s not, that’s a product of the caste system too. 

That’s what Sugar meant by the problem being bigger than just a criminal mastermind. A lot of what we believe in and do is a product of our contexts. It makes sense, especially in a world like ours, in which there’s a lot of systematic and systemic prejudice and violence. It’s the kind of message relevant to our time now. Yes, we have to engage with and rehabilitate people who hurt others. But I think also important is looking at the institutions or the underlying conditions that cause this behaviour to be seen as acceptable too. 

It’s like, why is crime so rampant is some areas? Yes, we have to stop the criminals, but an investigation into poverty, job opportunities, education, and healthcare situation is also needed. And sometimes the inequality there has even more reasons, like discrimination. And even then discrimination could be insidious, and no blanket policy can stop it. 

I get that this kind of story isn’t as exciting as seeing two giants face off against one another in an ultimate showdown. Beating someone up can definitely release some pent up stress. But it also doesn’t solve most problems in the real world. 

And cartoons don’t have the responsibility to be like the real world. It’s just that this one has taken up that challenge. And it’s doing that rather well. It’s not a perfect representation, but it’s pretty good, and that’s why I watch it. 

So based on everything we’ve seen so far, I don’t really see a reason to doubt that things will pan out the way they will because it’s not only a richer story but also something backed up by precedents in the show. 

Here: http://io9.gizmodo.com/steven-universe-is-a-show-about-fantasys-love-affair-1458060916

And the quote:

But we won’t necessarily see that many iconic villains on Steven Universe, says Sugar — the Gems aren’t dealing with a particular person, but something “bigger than that.” There’s not “really a singular enemy.” Instead, the conflict will be within the group, and it’ll be about Steven figuring out what’s right.

Well, their relationship has improved over time, and I think it’s better than just tolerating one another. Here are some of my thoughts on it:

Of the announced episodes in the Steven Universe Wiki, “That Will Be All” is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season. Since the seasons thus far have had 26 episodes each, by That Will Be All, we’d already have had the mid-season finale. Usually that means one big arc or theme has been finished.

I think it’s unlikely that a fusion between these two will occur before the said mid-season finale because we’re already struggling with a lot of loose ends right now. Given the promo art, we might be seeing about Pink Diamond, and we’ll get to see some history. It makes sense too considering the flow of the episodes. We keep getting to bigger and bigger details about who the “other” is. Our original “enemy” was the corrupted gems, then we met individual gems like Lapis and Peridot and thought they would be antagonists, then what seemed like the most dangerous threat was even greater, the Cluster, a forced fusion of different gems. 

From the CG’s perspective, the greatest danger now seems to be Homeworld. And each time we get more and more context of what the “threat” is and find out it wasn’t what they originally thought it was. 

And for me, a fusion between Lapis and Peridot is a bit shoved in for that kind of resolution. I would like for them to have more personal development before we see them fuse. The last we saw of them was Gem Harvest, before Lapis featured heavily in Alone at Sea. We’ve yet to see an onscreen discussion of fusion with Lapis, because as Peridot has said, she’s very careful about the subject around Lapis.

Just because Lapis doesn’t bring it up, it doesn’t mean she’s totally okay with it. She might not want to face it right now because she’s trying to get the rest of her life post-Malachite together first. 

Also, we’re not really given much into whether Peridot can even fuse. That she can’t shape-shift means that her physical form might be unable to transform. In fusion, the photons of light move around to accommodate and fuse with the fusion components. That’s very much like shape-shifting. It’s not that I think Peridot’s fusing is impossible. It’s that she might now even know she can. Peridot always knew she couldn’t shape-shift but she was willing to try fusing with Garnet in Log Date 7 15 2, which indicates that fusion is still a possibility.

In that regard, it would make for richer storytelling if we got to see the changes in their characters leading up to that. We have two characters whose relationship with fusion is very significant to their development. It might be shoehorned into an arc about something else, especially since we’re looking at a Steven Bomb format, in which the episodes have a common theme.

Short version: While I don’t discount fusion between Lapis and Peridot is possible, I don’t think it’ll happen in the next few episodes. If it happens, the buildup might happen within this season, but I think its culmination would be at the end of this season or happen in future seasons. I also wouldn’t discount the idea of Peridot’s being physically unable to fuse. If that’s the case, it would be a way of showing that not all relationships need to manifest in the same way, which is a pretty good message too. 

I agree! Particularly the idea about the development we saw so far coming from Lapis’ perspective. I think a lot of it has to do with the show being about Steven’s Universe. That means we see more of the gems Steven is in close contact with. Jasper is a pretty much unknown entity to Steven right now. He doesn’t know anything about her and her past. From Mindful Education, we see that what Steven knows of Jasper is the gem he couldn’t save. It’s a position of distance. He still doesn’t have the necessary information to empathise with her the way he usually does with other characters and perceived “villains” on the show.

About Lapis’ sinking the “ship,” I think that’s an interesting way to put it, because I want to bring up this question: If a relationship of a particular nature ends and the two parties later encounter each other and start up a relationship with another nature, that relationship is then different, isn’t it? That’s why we have so many qualifiers for relationships. We have healthy and unhealthy relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, familial relationships, nostalgic relationships, one-sided relationships. 

So the abusive, unstable, unhealthy ship has sunk. But looking at both of our inferences on Malachite’s reappearance in the future, that actually leads to the possibility that a totally different relationship between the two will lead up to Malachite again. That’s gives me hope that should Malachite appear again, it’s going to be because of a positive relationship, and not because they’re forced to work together for plot convenience. 

If you’d like to read more on it, I expound on your question more in this post:

https://poetofthepiano.tumblr.com/post/155168648596/a-jasper-case-study-part-6

I like this idea. We could delve into an entire discussion on white-washing in mainstream media, and we could also talk about the symbols commonly associated with antagonists. 

And I’d like to add the idea that Connie-as-female is one more thing we can talk about. It has taken a while for women in media to be portrayed with depth and dimension, and it’s mostly a matter of having more women create that media, letting them in to positions in which they can decide what they’re creating. To bring up an example, Rebecca Sugar is the first female show creator on Cartoon Network. We’re talking about a decades-old network in the 2010s.

Looking back, intelligent women were often cast as villains who were both manipulative and untrustworthy or sidekicks who conveniently offered information for the “real hero” to use and take action. For either of these arcs, becoming the love interest was a very big possibility. 

That we’re more and more seeing diversity in well-rounded characters, even if they’re not the protagonists, sensitively handled shows that we’re all taking a step forward. That there isn’t massive backlash in her portrayal is another.

I do have a thought on this! There are two things Peridot was certain about when she was captured by the Crystal Gems. First, that she was sent here fully certified to check up on The Cluster. Second, that after all her run-ins with the CGs and the stories she probably heard about the war from Jasper, and even Lapis, the CGs, to her, were enemies. Garnet the war machine. Pearl, defective but deadly. Amethyst, a runt but can still do everything a regular-sized quartz can. And Steven, totally unknown, wielding significant power (like gem-healing).

At this point, Peri thinks the CGs are the evilest thing on Earth, ready to kill her at any moment. They’ve been interfering with her mission from day one, breaking her stuff, causing her ship to crash, leaving her marooned on Earth with no way to contact her Diamond.

Peridot sees the gems as a very real and dangerous threat. She doesn’t mince words about how she feels either. When Steven gives her back her foot, she replies with,

Notice the use of the word. That’s exactly how she felt.

Given that, we can fill in the dots a little and figure out how Peridot felt when she first reformed. She was scared, had no idea where she was, and felt especially vulnerable without her limb enhancers. Two big things were present in her mind. That there was the ticking time bomb that was the Cluster (which was what motivated her to seek out Steve and get captured in the first place) and also she was now in the lair of the CGs.

Those two would conflate in her mind. Her first exclamation after all that hullabaloo is that she’s going to be harvested. And that could go in several ways. The first, that she would be in some sort of micro-cluster experiment. If you think about it, jamming a bunch of gem shards with an unsheltered gem and burying them together would still lead to a forced fusion, albeit with one gem still complete. 

What makes me doubt “harvesting” is a process similar to what happened to Lapis, was that Lapis wasn’t harvested. She was deliberately imprisoned to be interrogated. It was a means of restraining her and leaving her vulnerable for future use. Harvesting gives the impression that multiple things are being harvested and then put together, like harvesting fields, which makes me lean towards the first explanation.