A farewell to Steven Universe ~ Final Thoughts

[The_Wright_Way]

I've just caught up on Steven Universe Future and, now that it's over, I figured I'd give my final thoughts on the series.

First and foremost, I love this show. It was beautifully animated, well written, had a great cast, and had great songs. Is it perfect? No. Definitely not. I'm going to discuss what worked, what didn't, and how I think it could improve. First, let's address the elephant in the room.

Rose Quartz

I'm going to put my full deck of cards on the table. Rose Quartz is my favorite character in modern western animation as of right now. Is she a terrible person? Yes. She blatantly lied to and manipulated lots of people, even her friends, to get what she wanted, was blatantly abusive to some people, and was downright condescending towards humans. Was she a good person? Also yes. She saved the entire planet, helped foster Garnet's relationship, tried to help Pearl's dependency issues, and ultimately married a loving man. Did she do all those things well? Well, it varies. She clearly didn't help Pearl's issues very well. But, Garnet wouldn't even exist without her. Humanity would be dead without her. And that's honestly kinda awesome. The fact that we can have a back and forth discussion about whether she was a good person is awsome.

She's a perfect moral grey area. Did dhe redeem herself? Did her actions help make up for what she did Spinel and Pink Pearl? Did she die a good person? You decide. The world is filled with morally grey leaders. That's just a fact of life. George Washington died owning slaves, after all. Kids need to know that there are going to be morally tricky choices in life. "There's no such thing as a good war kiddo."

That's settles the shows strongest point, now let's discuss it's weakest.

The Diamond's Redemption

Yes, I have, in fact, changed my opinion on this. Let me explain. The show makes it explicitly, brutally clear that the Diamonds are not good people. At all. So, naturally, when the show began to redeem them, people got kinda ticked. Their crimes are infinitely worse than anything anyone else ever did in the show. And... yeah, I agree with them.

Terrible people, on the level of ******* genocide, do not change and should not be forgiven. What I feel would've worked better, is if they only stopped because of Steven and never actually changed at all. They could still do good things, but only for the sake of appeasing Steven. The movie was on the right track with this, but in Future, they're treated as fully redeemed. And, I'm sorry, but no. This would've actually been a pretty easy fix. Just make it more clear that their good actions were done for the sake of Steven. "Yes, yes, I've been at work fixing them. Now would you kindly visit more often?" Said in the most condescending tone Patti Lupone can must would've gone a long way. Exposure to these terrible people could even have helped sell Steven's breakdown even more. "You haven't changed at all! I should just crush you!" Then just cut them out of the final battle and it'd be perfect.

That way, the lesson goes from "Anyone can be redeemed." To "Sometimes you have to compromise with terrible people for the good of everyone". It's wgat real life leaders often have to do to avoid war, after all.

I have opinions on more issues, but I want to hear your thoughts. What worked? What didn't? And how could it be improved?

 

[Schnee_One]

Following

 

[DragonEmperor23]

Your take on the Diamond situation is an interesting one. It's more reasonable than just shattering them outright. When you talk about cutting them out of the final battle, do you mean Steven would have shattered the Diamonds before going onto the complete breakdown?

 

[ChocomilkAlex]

The show is good, but unfortunately I think that Steven is far too much of Gary Stu, and too much of the plot and character motivations revolved around him. Future kinda felt like complete filler to me and I think that the movie was a much more fitting ending. Otherwise, breathtaking art, amazing songs, pretty great character development. It's an 8.5/10 show for me.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

Actually, I was thinking of them just not showing up. The Diamonds tolerated and even accelerated each other's flaws, so it wouldn't be entirely out of character for them to just not check on Steven. However, your idea works well too. Although, would you have Steven heal them after all is said and done or not?

 

[DragonEmperor23]

Choco, while that is a valid complaint, it is addressed in the show to a degree. During Future, what Lars talks about having hashed out his relationship with Sadie, Steven goes "But when did this happen? I didn't see any of this?" It doesn't make up for it but I like how Steven had to deal with the fact that everything doesn't revolve around him after being used to being the chosen one.

 

[ChocomilkAlex]

Yeah, I feel like the writers were decently self aware about that. I really wish that some of the characters got their own mini arcs without Steven being present.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

Yeah, I feel like the writers were decently self aware about that. I really wish that some of the characters got their own mini arcs without Steven being present.

I mean, one of the issues there is that it was required for all episodes to be from Steven's point of view.

 

[ChocomilkAlex]

Was that a rule that the writers had to follow? Adventure Time managed to break off from Finn and Jake to create some amazing stories.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

I heard it was.

 

[DragonEmperor23]

Actually, I was thinking of them just not showing up. The Diamonds tolerated and even accelerated each other's flaws, so it wouldn't be entirely out of character for them to just not check on Steven. However, your idea works well too. Although, would you have Steven heal them after all is said and done or not?

Hmmm. In all honesty, I kind of didn't like the whole monster transformation. The build up to it was good but I feel like it would've been better if he stayed as humanoid Pink Steven and needed to be talked down from that. The Diamonds never corrupted because they never saw themselves as in the wrong and I felt like Steven was going down that path when he talked about how he needed to solve everyone's problems. Maybe something like the Gems finding out he bubbled the Diamonds and that leads to a confrontation. After the monster battle, where Steven says goodbye and then it's revealed that the ED of Future is Steven is driving away is done really well in my opinion.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

I mean, I liked the transition for the transformation, but... yeah, the transformation itself was kinda underwhelming.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

Opinion: Peedee was severely underutilized as a character and Ronaldo was severely '''over'''utilized.

 

[DragonEmperor23]

What would you have in mind for Peedee? I felt like every moment of Ronaldo concentration after Ronaldo's place got haunted while Sadie and Lars were there was boring.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

I fee like he would've made a good foil for Season 1 Steven. His cynical, beatdown worldview could've really help to foreshadow the cold slap to the face from reality that the Season 1B finale was. Maybe have him and Steven dealing with a Townie issue, with Steven taking the more optimistic approach while Peedee dejectedly suggests the more cynical, pragmatic, and realistic solution.

Most of the time, it'd turn out that both of them were right to an extent. However, there would be one exception. In one episode, a burglar is going around breaking into homes and stealing valuables. Steven wants to "solve the Mystery like the No-Home Boys!" And maybe talk the thief down. Peedee wants to just let the cops handle it. In this case, Steven's approach is 100% correct. The issue is gem related, so no one else can deal with it, and Steven is able to solve the problem with diplomacy. But, Peedee is upset Steven risked his life like that and says "You can't talk down everyone, Steven! You could've gotten hurt! There are generally terrible people in the world and they wouldn't hesitate to hurt you."

The next episode? Peridot's hand ship lands. Cue finale.

 

[DragonEmperor23]

That would've been really nice, yeah. The human part of SU always felt like it was insignificant to the gem part of it. Greg was portrayed many times as a feeble person. In Future Connie's mom told Steven he had PTSD symptoms and I felt like there could've been less of a gap between the two halves of the show. Going from town stuff to gem monster fighting felt like such a jarring shift.

 

[The_Wright_Way]

Yeah. Connie had potential to be that bridge, but instead it felt like she just stopped being a Townie character and became a Gem character. Peedee could help bridge that gap a little. "Hey, Steven, there's a giant monster in the park. Also, when you're done, could you watch the fry stand for me? I need to bail out Ronaldo again."

Tomorrow, I'll explain how I think Malachite could've been better utilized as a longer term villain.

 

[DragonEmperor23]

Okay so I went into SU completely blank and so when Malachite was built up over the course of a season and then taken out immediately on the first episode of the next I was in shock. Like, I kept repeating "What?". "It can't be over already right? She comes back, surely?" lmao

 

[Js250476]

RIP Lapidot Fusio

 

[InazumAzure]

I would rather have a Stevenpocalypse (basically Steven did a nuke shockwave or an out of control avatar state with glowing eyes) instead of Monster Steven.

 

[DragonEmperor23]

Tomorrow, I'll explain how I think Malachite could've been better utilized as a longer term villain.

boi

 

[InazumAzure]

If there is a good reboot of SU. I want it to start with Teen Steven as base. Pink Jacket and Neck included. And the Crystal Gems have Spinel in the team.

Also I want Connie to be the daughter of Blue Diamond with Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, and Jasper as her guardians (later on).

And Peedee to be Yellow Diamond's son(to prevent being severly underutilized) with Aquamarine, Topaz, Carnelian, and Emerald as his guardians (later on). Ronaldo will not exist in this reboot. He will also be Steven's Rival.

Dunno who will be my White Diamond representative yet...

And the antagonists will be Hessonite, Pyrope, Demantoid, Morganite and the Light Army. Also there will be an Anti-Gem Squadron(a group of humans who hate gems ala evil version of the Men in Black)

 

[DragonEmperor23]

When you say daughter and son do you mean the diamonds would have given up their form to become them?

 

[InazumAzure]

When you say daughter and son do you mean the diamonds would have given up their form to become them?

Yes...