Steven Universe Characters: Good to Evil

Here we are in the future, months since the finale ultimo of Steven Universe, and today, we’re finally ready to take on Beach City. I’m Brad with WickedBinge, here to countdown the best to the worst of Steven Universe, Steven Universe: The Movie, and its standalone epilogue, Steven Universe: Future. Welcome to Steven Universe: Good to Evil. And as a customary forewarning, we’ll be covering the whole series... So there will be spoilers abound. Now, we here at WickedBinge can recognize a challenge when we see one... and Steven Universe is nothing if not a challenge in terms of placing characters on a moral gradient: in keeping with its leitmotif of compassion as the ultimate good in a morally-ambiguous universe, the characters are all complex. The revolutionaries, the space dictators, the war criminals, all of them are varied and nuanced individuals with complex motivations and whose choices had (and were themselves) consequences. The villains which the above does not apply to are not really characters, as many of them are automated or maddened. This is what we mean when we say, everyone in the Steven Universe cosmos is human in that vein. For that reason, we want to enunciate that this list is purely subjective and based on our own opinions regarding the context of “Good” vs. “Evil”. If you have your own opinions and disagree with us, that’s great! As always, we welcome your thoughts in the comments below. Firstly, as always, let’s start with the most pure and work our way down… These characters are The Good. Our Gold Medal goes to Connie, the Crystal Gem’s most frequent battlefield ally and Steven’s best friend. In the beginning, she was an outside perspective for Steven who engaged his human side when Gem duties became too taxing. Of her own accord, she perceived the scope of Crystal Gem’s mission and pledged herself to the fight against Homeworld to protect the people of Earth. Some commenters have even wondered if Connie’s selflessness is an entirely positive trait for how all-encompassing it is. Others have drawn parallels between her relationship with Steven to the one Pearl shared with Rose, minus the toxic roles that the two Gems imposed on the other. In any case, Connie is definitely the most positive human connection Steven forges during his adolescence and, as the series progresses, you really start to see the value that Steven places on their friendship. At the end of the series, it is her assurance of her love, and the assurance that he deserves it, that brings Steven back from his corruption. Connie had an equally positive impact on the other Crystal Gems she worked with as well: she defended Amethyst from Jasper as Stevonnie, she worked alongside Peridot and Lapis to protect Beach City in Steven’s absence, and even joined the charge against White Diamond directly. Symbolically, it’s Connie that consistently shouts White down. Finally, it’s thanks to her that Steven survives the brief separation from his Gem in Change Your Mind. She’s no more perfect than anyone else on our list, but for being the Crystal Gem’s greatest human knight, we proudly present her as Most Good. Speaking of jam-buds, it’s Connie’s jam bud and the savior of the universe who takes second: Steven Quartz Universe. To be a young adolescent who spends his formative years developing god-like powers, Steven is a really good kid. He’s not perfect; especially in the early days of his training, Steven was known for being childish and more eager to befriend those around him than was practical. As he grew, he could be reckless, oblivious and, as more and more about his mother’s past is revealed to him, increasingly preoccupied with distancing himself from her legacy. But Steven also served as a literal Christ-figure to those around him, and quickly undertook his mother’s wishes to protect humanity. Steven’s greatest strength is consistently his humanity and his willingness to give everyone he meets a chance. He genuinely believes in the good of others and makes it his mission to find it. He’s someone who would rather befriend than fight any assailant. It’s generally agreed that this is best reflected symbolically in his summoned weapon being a shield. But Steven also shows a compelling sort of growth in the series’ denouement. As the prospect of not being needed begins to wear on him, Steven’s longstanding trauma begins to manifest itself through severe physical stress, and Steven’s body, mind, and soul are both pushed to their limit. In a moment of panful truth, he contrasts himself with the “angel” he used to be and declares himself a monster because now he falls short. Gut-wrenching as his corruption is, it shows the esteem in which Steven holds the sense of love and rely on him. But it’s a testament to the life he led in sixteen years, that despite everything else, he hits rock bottom in the massive, clumsy embrace of those who love him. It’s appropriate to say that Steven’s emotional intelligence is lower than Connie’s, particularly in his younger years, owing in large part to his nontraditional upbringing, but we proudly present him the Silver Medal of Good. But he’s definitely the best “Steven” in the universe. We’ll gladly admit that. Behind Steven is Garnet (and consequentially Ruby and Sapphire), a wedded fusion and the de facto leader of the Crystal Gems. As well as a leader, Garnet can be analyzed as a mentor, a soldier, and a romantic relationship. Owing to the stability she derives from her constituent Gems, Garnet is easily the most mature and level-headed of the quartet. She commands the respect of her family and frequently takes it on herself to help them solve their problems. Some of her most wholesome interactions are with Steven, with whom she initially has to work very hard to relate to. But while Garnet is originally the most reserved and alien of the Gems, she is also the most dedicated to Steven’s growth. She never goads him or hold him back, which Amethyst and Pearl do on several occasions respectively, and even stays faithful to the goal of helping him grow up when he exceeds her expectations, as evident in the episode ‘Pool Hopping’. Further, to be as unfamiliar with human conventions as she once was, Garnet is also very knowledgeable romantically, and has some pretty choice wisdom regarding how relationships should be seen as two people complimenting each other, not completing. So to reiterate, yeah, Garnet’s the best mom. The best dad in the show is next, Greg Universe. Now, Steven Universe: Future actually takes measures to impress upon us that Greg actually isn’t the perfect dad. But you can’t look at the guy and say that he doesn’t love Schtu-Ball. Like everything else in Steven’s life, but we are meant to see Greg as quirky but nevertheless idyllic: just as Steven doesn’t have to go to school and gets to pal around with superpowered aliens all day, he also has a laid-back, overly-supportive parental figure who regards him more as a best friend than as a child. You really don’t have to look very far to see the lengths that Greg will go to support his kid, even though most of his problems are beyond Greg’s understanding of the world. He loved his girlfriend, he loves the son they had together, and despite the fact that he, by his own admission, could ‘never be ready’ to be a dad, he does his best. And looking back, the interactions he has with Steven are some of the show’s most wholesome. He’s a good dad and a good guy, and Steven Universe wouldn’t be complete without him. Next is Volleyball, Pink Diamond’s original Pearl. Easily the most innocent of the Pearls we meet, Volleyball spends eons under White Diamond’s authority with a permanent disfiguration over her right eye. But we learn later that White had nothing to do with her wound, and that actually, Pink Diamond “broke” her during a temper tantrum. But Volleyball forgives her former Diamond and remembers her fondly regardless, even to the chagrin of the Crystal Gem’s Pearl. It takes nearly being rejuvenated and fusing with our Pearl to make her realize that Pink’s treatment of her left lasting scars, and to start moving past them. The exact specifics of her injury and whether or not she ever recovers is let ambiguous, but we conclude we her -despite her handicap - getting what Pearl calls the “full picture” giving her what she needs to move on. Next is Stevonnie, the fusion of Steven and Connie and the first human-Gem hybrid fusion we’re introduced to. Stevonnie is definitely a good character, being comprised of two of the most pure characters the show has to offer. But they don’t place higher because, in a clever admission by the Crewniverse, Steven and Connie are still young and don’t have the perfect relationship. In fact, Stevonnie is more geared for combat or short bursts than for social interaction. But Stevonnie clearly has the values of their composite pieces and the same goal of liberation that’s at the core of the Crystal Gem’s mindset. Personally, I would have liked to see them lead the charge against Homeworld, but maybe that’s just me. Stevonnie does possess Connie’s intuition when it comes to personal matters, though, which comes in handy when they interact with Kevin. Leisurely fusion-of-six Fluorite places next, relationship to appear in children’s media. In fact, while Fluorite speaks far less than the other Off-Colors, her very makeup indicates that she - like all stable fusions - is stable because of love and that’s particularly remarkable in her case, due to her nature as a multi-fusion. According to the show runners, Fluorite’s slow speech is due to her being comprised of six different entities with their own opinions, thus coming together to say anything as Fluorite requires extensive deliberation, resulting in a slow cadence. She’s sort of like a computer with too much data, so the processor has to take its time to get the job done. But the show, and the stipulations it puts around fusion, imply that all Fluorite’s ‘data’ is love, and that’s pretty darn good when you think about it. Next we have Amethyst, the ‘big sister’ figure to Steven who spends most of her earlier days trying to find herself and make peace with her unorthodox beginnings before joining the Crystal Gems, and then trying to help Steven do the same. But throughout Steven’s life, Amethyst is marked by her juvenescent demeanor and her desire to enjoy herself. Of her fellows she is easily the most irreverent, quick-tempered, and spontaneous: when not keeping her promise to Rose by keeping Steven and all humanity safe, Amethyst is also the most creative in finding ways to amuse herself, which can sometimes be detrimental to those in her proximity. She’s also the only Gem to use her powers against other humans, though not for any personal gain and not to their significant disadvantage. Throughout the series, much of Amethyst’s insecurities are laid in her sense of missing identity. She doesn’t really know who she is and misses the stability that Rose gave her. But Amethyst also doesn’t begrudge Steven and tries to spare him her more difficult feelings. And as she moves past them with Steven’s aid and comes to see him as an equal, she starts extending that same care to him. In the latter half of the series, Amethyst actually becomes the most empathetic to Steven’s developing struggles. She refuses to burden Steven with her own feelings about Pink Diamond and is the only member of the team to do so, all because she wants to give him a moment to process his own feelings instead. In Future, Amethyst actually begins to supplant Steven as an aide to the Gems of Little Homeworld, something that Steven begins to begrudge her for. She ultimately joins Garnet and Pearl in rallying around Steven as he moves on with his life, showing the capacity to which she’s grown. Overall, Amethyst places where she does for the many roles she’s played, from big-sister to co-conspirator, you can’t change our mind that she’s one of the best. Moving on, we have Kiki. Kiki is perhaps most memorable from the eponymous episode Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service. She’s Jenny Pizza’s sister who enjoys running, but not necessarily when it means she’s doing all of her sister’s restaurant work while she’s out having a life. But Kiki loves her sister and doesn’t like making waves, so she excuses the treatment and begins venting to Steven about her problems. Now, Kiki as a character is pretty straightforward. She’s someone who shoulders other peoples’ burdens because she sees it as the right thing to do. Meanwhile, her own needs get placed on the backburner. But Steven manages to help her stand up for herself, which Jenny respects, and Kiki finally gets a break at the end of the episode. She places where she does for being a good sister, even at the expense of her own mental health - luckily, she finds out that the two things aren’t mutually exclusive. Our last of the main quartet, we proudly present Pearl. Pearl is the most secretive Crystal Gem hands-down, but as the series goes on, we find ourselves less and less able to blame her. Because Pearls are intrinsically unable to disobey their superior’s wishes, she’s forced to keep up Pink’s ruse long after her passing. If not for her aforementioned biological aversion, this would significantly count against her on a moral scale, especially considering the damage that the truth eventually did when it came out. Further, of all the Gems, Pearl’s trauma over the war and Pink’s role in it manifested in the most toxic manner. She begrudged Greg considerably and even adopted a low opinion of Earth and humans for their part in taking away her Diamond. But Pearl is also someone who learns from these dark spots in her life, as she later demonstrates. Throughout the show’s run, viewers have voiced their sympathies for Pearl and their understanding for her less palatable actions, but it wasn’t until the parallels between Peal and Blue Diamond were evident that people could really glimpse Pearl’s MO: even after “love and loss and all the tears [she] cried”, Pearl has never been like Blue, who was equally grieved by the loss of Pink, but never tired to move forward. For everything else that Pearl did, she was brave enough to fight for what she believed in, and brave enough to believe in the first place, when to do so defied her programming. She proves that, for all the Pearls in the universe, she’s singularly the best. Two entities comprise the Crystal Gem’s Rutile place next. The Rutile twins are the most obvious Off-Color Steven meets, and thus they have been shunned by Gem society and banished when he first meets them. The two-Gems-in-one are perhaps the bravest of their comrades, frequently venturing out of their hideaway to locate and recruit other rejects. Rutile also participates in the battles against the Shattering Robonoids and against Emerald. Interestingly, they’re the only positive example of a gem cluster that we’ve seen, being both stable and naturally-occurring. Thus, they dispel some of the darker aspects that the forced fusions left behind, proving that - if love is involved - there really ins’t such a thing as a “bad” Gem. Moving on, we have Opal. A fusion between Pearl and Amethyst, Opal was most remarkable in that she existed at all, because deep and lasting fissures existed between Amethyst and Pearl at the time of her debut. It was only their love for Steven that eventually united them. But Opal herself displayed no overt anger or discomfort with herself, especially after Pearl and Amethyst began mending their fences. She appears light and playful, deriving an equal amount of joy from music and camaraderie as the other Gems. And her duet with Steg in the movie is, really, a fitting testament to how far our Gems have all come. Sadie comes next. Sadie is similar to Kiki in that much of her personality is default kindness, which leads her to be taken advantage of when she is unable to stand up for herself. This is especially true of her in earlier episodes, where we often see her overly-accommodating Lars. But unlike Kiki, Sadie’s motivations are more rooted in her own hang-ups rather than those of the people around her. Sadie herself admits she tends to favor her mother, whom she views as overbearing and sometimes intrusive on other peoples’ business. Like Barb, Sadie tends to over-involve herself and even has to stop herself from ‘forcing’ other people (like Lars) to be happy. But this shows a remarkable level of self-awareness, and even if her kindness doesn’t come from a place of total purity, it’s still pure kindness. She’s also incredibly patient and encouraging with Steven and - with time - learns to be kind to herself in pursuing the life she wants for herself over staying at a job she disliked for the security. Commenters have drawn parallels between Greg and Sadie in that they both undergo a transitory period to a happier life through the power of music. Unlike Greg, however, Sadie is given the chance to fully explore the new world that opens up for her when she does. She’s very much an underrated character for the development she has, and undeniably, she deserves to be remembered as good. Returning to the subject of aggregates, next we have the Cool Kids: Buck Dewey, Jenny Pizza, and Sour Cream. Originally, these guys were meant to be a clever analogy for the Gems. Calm and collected Buck was Garnet, flighty Jenny was Amethyst, and Sour Cream was Pearl because… they’re both pale? But they eventually grew, both as a collective and as individuals through their interactions with Steven. The Cool Kids are refreshing in that they’re cool in a very real and relatable way - easy-going, juvenescent, and generally very kind and welcoming. They definitely contrast the petty and surly Lars with their friendliness in their first major appearance. But they are all still teenagers, and all of them show that they still have growing up to do in one way or another. They can be irresponsible, of course, and short-sighted to the consequences of their actions. This is most evident when they actually sneak Steven out of the house and get him trapped in Peridot’s booby-trapped escape pod. But equally congruous with their ‘still growing’ MO, they also help the Gems see that Steven needed to indulge his human side a bit, something that the Gems relent on. Moving on, we have Lapis Lazuli, the super-powerful water-based Gem with enough trauma to make just about anyone say ‘Damn…”. Most of Lapis’ earliest appearances placed in a state of heightened distress, so it took us a while to get a good look at who she was. Her first heroic act was arguably trapping Jasper with her at the bottom of the ocean as Malachite, which garnered… mixed responses for the allegories that move had as far as domestic violence goes. Ever after she joins the Crystal Gems, she spends a lot of time ruminating on all that’s happened and flees from them when danger threatens. But all of her actions are understandable in the same way we don’t fault civilians for fleeing a warzone. Lapis especially, because her role as a civilian in the Gem war is emphasized: she just happened to be on Earth at the wrong time and got sucked up into the conflict. Subsequently, she spent thousands of years imprisoned. So it’s understandable that Lapis didn’t always believe in Earth - but she does eventually grow from everything she went through and even comes to the Gems’ aid when Blue Diamond comes to collect. Lapis is very much a traumatized individual and we’re given the chance to sympathize with that, and what’s more, she’s given the chance to move past it. She’s a nuanced character to be sure, but certainly not a bad one. The Cluster is next. For much of the series the Cluster is a looming existential threat and not a character, and it was somewhat of a shock to the fandom that the Cluster was so readily made sentient and resolved in as little time as it was. As a character, however, the Cluster might just be the biggest achievement of Steven’s philosophy of talking it out. Upon realizing that the millions of individual-fractured consciences make it up, the Cluster overpowers its chaotic programming and becomes the first stable forced-Fusion, thus sparing the world from destruction upon its awakening. It even serves an ally when the Diamonds come to collect. Not only that, the Cluster was both intelligent and empathic enough to sense Steven’s rage specifically and joined in the fight to keep him contained during his corruption. It even literally held him as he broke down. The Cluster goes to show us that a friend really can come from anywhere, but it places where it does simply for the gruesome nature of its creation. That isn’t to say that it is bad, only that there are more... wholesome characters than a literal amalgam of corpses. But it’s a friendly mass of dead bodies, and for that, we conclusively call it good. Next we present, the lovely Sardonyx. Sardonyx came to us after much hesitation to arrived to the fandom’s great enthusiasm. But she arrived on the premise of a lie, making her a point of internal contention for the Crystal Gems. Sardonyx herself has Garnet’s confidence and Pearl’s showmanship, making her a natural master of ceremonies and - occasionally - leading her to dominate conversations she finds herself in. But Sardonyx is conscious enough to realize her own shortcomings, especially after Pearl and Garnet come to understand the importance of honesty between them. This allows Sardonyx to become stable and, more than once, come in very clutch. Alternatively, her willingness to admit to her mistakes was a bit of a hinderance - her poor timing for doing so almost trapped all four component Gems in a collapsing pocket dimension. But who cares, right? That sort of thing… happens. Rhodonite and Padparascha come next, grouped together because, without Rhodonite, the pink Sapphire wouldn’t last very long. The two of them form a very parental bond - Rhodonite’s general nervousness extends to her inclinations as a caretaker; meanwhile Padparascha’s retrocognition leaves her oblivious and largely helpless, similar to a young child. But both Gems are kind and welcoming - you kind of have to be when you’re so low on the food chain - and they’ve come in handy as swashbucklers for Lars’ cause. We can’t deny though that they’ve both caused trouble, Padparascha specifically in how she inadvertently paved the way for Lars to die. But like… there are worse things a Gem can do, right? Next is Mayor Nanafu, matriarch of the Pizza family and eventual politician of the people. In fact, as a leader, she far outstrips Bill Dewey, her predecessor, in both times of peace and or crisis. Then, we have Bismuth. Voiced by the incomparable Uzo Aduba, Bismuth was the last of the core Crystal Gems to arrive and the only one of the new recruits to actually be from a previous age of Crystal Gem history. Bismuth was a dedicated soldier for the cause and was willing to shatter for her fellows, which put her at odds with Pink Diamond as Rose Quartz. This led to her being bubbled away, both for her militance and the risk she posed to Pink’s ruse. Upon returning, she quickly became another loose end that Steven had to tie up. But time mellowed Bismuth, especially after seeing the state the rest of the Gems were left in. Steven won her over and then she was really meld with the new Crystal Gems. Particularly, she became a rallying call for the other Gems when things looked bleak by reminding the others of how they were fighting. Finally, Sugilite. A star-studded fusion of Amethyst and Garnet, Sugilite is the only known fusion to have been ‘benched’ by the Gems. Appropriately, she places the lowest out of all the Crystal Gems. To be fair to Sugilite, she only gets one episode to shine, but she spends that episode as a major threat to the safety of Beach City which Steven and Pearl must rise to face. As a collusion of Garnet’s rashness and Amethyst’s impulsivity, Sugilite is predisposed to being ‘carried away’ with the power at her disposal. Thus, she can be incredibly destructive and undiscerning with her wrath, nearly culminating in the destruction of the Temple. She also displays open hostility to those who attempt to restrain her, giving her a pronounced ‘toxic loved-one’ vibe. She might’ve had a bit more room to grow had she not been voiced by Nicki Minaj herself, who’s career flourished shortly after her first appearance, to the extent that Sardonyx herself joked that they’d never be able afford her a second time. So, for all her potential, she rests for evermore here. Onion is our series’ final remaining question mark AND our next entrant. Because seriously, no one ever really tells up what’s up with this guy. He hardly speaks, doesn’t eat or age, and seems to have a singularly-unique way of seeing the world. But Onion isn’t just another harmless outcast, either. He seems to genuinely enjoy committing petty crimes and even attempt unprovoked acts of violence, if his track record at Funland is to be believed. Further, when he goes missing due to Aquamarine’s actions, all his ‘Missing’ posters are repurposed ‘Wanted’ ads. But for the certainty of Onion’s crimes, we see very few of them, and what material we can judge Onion by is somewhat more enigmatic. For starters, Onion isn’t malicious - he actually seems to hold Steven in esteem, he has a decent relationship with his family, and even has a pretty reliable social circle. So exactly how to place him on a good-to-evil gradient is a bit difficult, but if you ask us, that suits him just fine. Then we have Nephrite, or Centi as she’s known for most of the series. She debuts as the first threat that Steven faces with the other Gems. But she’s a departure from the usual corrupted Gems of the series, as she’s able to interact and even play with Steven. We later learn she was one of the many emissaries of Homeworld who were shanghaied into fighting the war for Earth, and then left in the dark when Homeworld retreated. Consequentially, she was caught in the Corrupting Light along with her crew. She’s a tragic figure who really stresses the damages brought on by the war, particularly in her gruesome reversion to her corrupted state. But Nephrite ultimately gets a happy ending alongside all the other previously corrupted Gems. She reminds us all that in war, there really aren’t any winners, least especially those who get caught in friendly fire. Our resident gem-gremlin Peridot comes in next. Now Peridot is understandably a fan-favorite, being the first (and easily most successful) villain to be redeemed. She’s also a mix between snarky and feral that the internet has welcomed for her consequential likeness to an internet cat. But Peridot is also the character who shows the least resistance to change in her redemption arc, and this ultimately comes from her stringent and pragmatic nature. This is actually a really interesting character choice because it’s usually more emotional villains who are redeemed, but Peridot inverts this by being a healthy blend of both emotional and logical. She ultimately defects from Homeworld because, by her own admission, it was the logical thing to do. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy something “worth protecting”, even though its worth was not strictly empirical. But prior to this, Peridot is pretty self-serving and even petty. Her stranding on Earth was eventually proven necessary to chip away her cool, robotic exterior. But Peridot eventually becomes the quirky meme-child that the fandom sort of needed, so her character development takes a bit of a predictable turn from their. She has a really cute arc about overcoming prejudice and then becomes an artist who loves new experiences, and even establishes a comfortable domestic relationship with Lapis. She might have a body-count, and a problem with impulsivity, but she’s also curious, sympathetic, and brave in the face of danger. We all need a Peridot in our corner, that much should be obvious. Moving onto Lars. Now Lars is a divisive cast member to be sure. On the one hand, he’s an anxious teenager who takes his angst out on those around him. It’s no secret that Beach City sometimes suffer his whining and his aggression disproportionately. Steven was one of his frequent targets in the past, and he only really loosen up with Steven after he gets resurrected by the guy. But Lars is actually pretty relatable once you peel back some of the layers of his personality. He’s afraid of the world and envies how Steven doesn’t have to be - once he admits to this, you kinda see how this fear plays into his interactions with others. And he eventually learns to come into his own as a space pirate, allowing himself the freedom to be flamboyant and upbeat, and actually finds himself up there. But even before he returns to space for good, he demonstrates just how far he’s come by talking through some of Steven’s fears, just like Steven once did for him. It’s an appropriate bookend for his character, and cements him as someone who we’re definitely happy stuck around. Our next entrant is the human blogger Ronaldo, or Bloodstone, proprietor of Keep Beach City Weird. And woo boy… it seems like everyone in the fandom has something to say about Ronaldo. But in the spirit of fairness, Ronaldo is supposed to be annoying. Since everyone else in Beach City is relatively well-adjusted to the Gems and their supernatural misadventures, Ronaldo is the closest thing we have to a pesky newshound who follows around the superheroes. But for all his overbearing tendencies and his apparent selfishness, Ronaldo at least… tries. He joined in the efforts to end the feud between his family’s fry stand and the pizza shop, and he does show self-awareness when he realizes his muscling-in was done out of jealousy and insecurity. Still, Ronaldo really stands to remind people to... not be a Ronaldo in how they interact with content they consume. The Topaz fusion who escorted Aquamarine to Earth places next. While certainly kinder than her manager, Topaz is a victim in her circumstances. By her own admission, she’s forever being sent on “miserable” missions with only her components for comfort. She bemoans that there’s always “someone in the way” of her fusion and is sop moved by Steven and Lars’ open communication that she is briefly swayed to betray her commanding officer. But the prospect of her fate for insubordination is enough to scare the Gem back in line, and she returns to her unhappy life without question when shown marginal mercy. Topaz isn’t a bad person, only (as Aquamarine states) “sentimental”. Like many others she yearns for escape, but depressingly, Topaz is likely the highest-ranking malcontent on our list. Even the strongest can be oppressed, and Topaz reminds us of that unfortunate reality. It’s perhaps best illustrated by how her Gem covers her ears, rendering her deaf to any potential improvement in her circumstances. Next up is our perfect neutral: the Zoomans under Pink Diamond’s posthumous custody. Having spent epochs on the zoo in a sterile environment, the Zoomans’ lives are completely untroubled. As such they have no concept of “right” and “wrong”. While welcoming and friendly, they’re incredibly creepy in that they truly don’t know any better. There’s something fundamentally uncanny about their general disposition, in fact: the zoomans aren’t exactly childish: they can recognize and experience complex emotions like rejection, but the kicker is that they have no way of processing them. In fact, when they first come in contact with emotional pain, they panic and demand that their captors “take the hurt away”. Then they effectively riot, and the guards are sent in so that they don’t hurt themselves. In being perfectly innocent and neutral, the zoomans might actually be the most significant philosophical point of the series: they offer an explanation as to why we humans understand what “good” and “evil” are. Humans live and learn and grow on the terms of nature and society: we are taught lofty concepts like love and pain through doing. But the zoomans had no history or society which permitted unsavory aspects of life, they are effectively cut off from the human condition. And while Greg and Steven can see the beauty of their artificial world, they regard it with a hollow sort of sadness that the zoomans couldn’t hope to understand. Then, apparently they turn the zoo into a cruise ship and everything’s fine? I dunno, Future kinda left us hanging on that one. Now, of course, we have the absolutely lowest neutral we can have, and we really only need this section to talk about the Great Diamond Authority. So we could call this our... Grey-Diamond Area? Now, by all counts, the Diamonds fulfill the traditional role of villains: White Diamond is a genocidal hegemonic regime and Blue and Yellow are her enforcers. Pink initially rebelled against this system, but did so impulsively and at the cost of many innocent lives. It all comes down to a larger morality that Steven Universe ultimately does not set out to confront, presumably for the focus that would steal from Steven’s perspective on the issues it raises. So he sets out to stop it and does so by appealing to their humanity. Though the general consensus in that the show prematurely redeemed the Diamonds, this list only stands to judge its components by their humanity, and that is ultimately something all the Diamonds have. So by that alone, here shall they be judged. Yellow Diamond, Commander of Homeworld’s armed forces, comes first. Now, Yellow is often regarded as the most stringent of the Authority. Being the first among the matriarchs that we are introduced to, Yellow is first presented as completely unsympathetic. She presumably commissioned the Cluster (she calls it “her Cluster”) and particularly regards her Pearl coldly. She’s also incredibly militant, and even petty. But as we’re introduced to Yellow, the nuances in her worldview become more evident. She has a particular weakness for her fellow Diamond, Blue, but is otherwise bound by her convictions to Homeworld’s empire. She states herself, it is expected of every Gem, herself included, to make sacrifices for the good of their perfect system. So we can sort of see why her opposition to rebels like Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems would be a thorn in her side, even notwithstanding the complication wrought by Pink Diamond’s lies. But Yellow quickly proved herself to be a loyal Gem who held to her principles in unpopular and even self-jeopardizing ways. She also commits to physically undoing the damages she did during the first two Eras of Homeworld’s history, even retrieving and restoring all the Gems she broke. Yellow is often perceived as the least likable of her fellows, but her strictures are eventually revealed to guard a nuanced worldview. Perhaps due to her exemplary voice acting, thanks to Broadway legend Patti Lupone, and Steven Universe’s unique story-telling, they manage to make her a pretty convincing anti-villain. Following her is Blue Diamond, the melancholy diplomat of the group and the first glimpse into the humanity of the Diamond Authority. We see in flashbacks, Blue was critical of Pink’s choices and expressed her displeasure abusively, and was subsequently consumed with grief when Pink was supposedly murdered. Despite being the softest of the three Diamonds, Blue is guilty of a very selfish sort of sadness: in her remorse over how she treated Pink, she begins taking her feelings of grief out on those around her. She’s a very selfish sort of sad. She effectively abandons her duties as a Diamond and refuses to move past Pink for the sake of the living who need her, especially Yellow. In fact, though you could argue she’s right for doing so, Blue takes advantage of Yellow quite disproportionately in their relationship. Blue also tends to repress or deny feelings as they happen, and even as a new day dawns for her, she continues to impose this escapism n her court, this time in the form of totally-not-weed clouds. Finally, (here she is) Pink Diamond. A lot of commentators have discussed the unique way Steven Universe inverts familiar ‘chosen-one’ tropes. Steven isn’t granted his powers or status by an ancient prophecy, but rather because his mother happened to be a powerful, but undeniably, human entity. When she decided to be reborn as half of Steven, Steven non-consensually inherits the consequences of her existence, the good and the bad. And Pink Diamond was a lot of good and a lot of bad. As exemplified through Steven and through the memories others had of her, Pink was an incredibly juvenescent Gem. Her modus operandi was grounded in her curiosity and her inclination towards the new. But she could also be incredibly inconsiderate, and even manipulative. If you think about it, as many people have, Pink Diamond’s action bring about tidal waves of death and destruction, mainly over a lie. Pink really exists as one part of a very unique inversion of the “chosen-one” trope: he inherits what he does directly because of the actions of those who came before him, the good and the bad. And Pink Diamond was a childish and dangerous ruler, friend, and messiah, but she never meant any harm. She cared, but selectively, and woe tended to betide those that fell out of her favor. Our most least-good award goes to the deposed White Diamond, once the Great Gem Matriarch and now... a funhouse mirror. Indeed, White Diamond easily ranks the lowest of all our reformed characters even though, to the general surprise of the fandom, her aim for repentance was just as genuine those of her fellows. But I think we can all agree, White’s shift in character, while derided (perhaps unfairly) as unrealistic, is very much cemented in her own self-centeredness. We know very little about White. We don’t know how she came to be, how she came to rule Homeworld, or the details of how the Gem Empire itself fared under her rule. We do know that she sent her subjects and fellow Diamonds on an intergalactic conquest which deadened countless planets and drove millions of species to extinction, apparently out of a genuine desire to ‘make things better’. According to Change Your Mind, White wholeheartedly believed in her own judgement and flaunted her supposed superiority when she felt it was necessary. Steven only manages to get her attention by fundamentally shaking her personal certainty. And that’s… all he has to do. White even 180’s her worldview in the three years following the start of Era 3. Her’s is easily the most radical accommodation to make for her subjects. So she starts to try to do better, like her fellows, but she remains the most resistant to change. The problem with White is that the show gives her actions consequences that are addressed very neatly, but the actions that are addressed are her interpersonal tendencies. White is very much a disproving elder that Steven proves wrong - it really drives home the series’ philosophy of overriding toxic programming for favor of a kinder, more accepting outlook. White is at least capable of trying, and if she can - says the show - so can anyone. Next, Spinel, Pink’s second victim after Volleyball. Now Spinel was no space dictator but she was a serious existential threat nonetheless. Arguably, she’s the only character Steven faces who fully accepts that he isn’t Pink Diamond and still wants to kill him anyway. In faded days, Spinel was basically a toy which Pink outgrew, but because Pink never really considered her feelings, she abandoned her. Spinel was none the wiser to this, however, and thus stayed - literally rooted to the spot - for the next six-thousand years. So when Spinel returns, she is motivated exclusively by pain, which she channels into hatred. Even after acknowledging inhumanity of her actions, she carries them out because she wants everyone else to feel what she does. Spinel manifests self-hatred, something that Garnet’s solo “True Kind of Love” emphasizes. She “wasn’t good enough” for Pink and eventually became “not good at all” because of her history. But she realizes, the Gem she’s become isn’t who she wants to be, and she eventually takes steps to get better. She’s a realistic sort of redemption that, sometimes, people need to leave in order to heal, something that eventually even rings true for Steven. Even further down we have a handful of characters who refused redemption of any sort, or remorse for their actions, even after Steven proves to them that there’s another way. These are The Bad and The Evil. They’re few and far-between, but certainly they’ve all made themselves memorable, perhaps none more so that our first offender: Jasper. Like many of the other Gems we’ve seen, Jasper was grown on Earth and emerged as Homeworld’s perfect soldier. Despite her station, however, Jasper views herself as fundamentally flawed, and thus she attacks others to improve her image of herself. According to Rebecca Sugar, Jasper is, in no uncertain terms, a “bully” for this reason. As an honored emissary of Homeworld, Jasper once held the Diamond Authority in very high esteem and denounced Gems who fell short of what was expected of them. She particularly loathed the Crystal Gems for this reason. In fact Jasper was incredibly prejudiced for most of her appearances, but also hypocritical enough to defy her values if it meant the upper hand in a fight. She was also a slave to her own ego and looked to aggression to solve her problems, even her internal ones. But Jasper is at least a villain who suffers for her actions, and as the series progresses, the Crystal Gems largely outgrow her as an adversary. Following her corruption, Amethyst actually pities her and, upon her return in the series finale, it’s more or less accepted that she doesn’t pose a threat, and so she’s largely left alone. In the epilogue, she herself admits that her only true loyalty is her own power, which she expresses as destructively as possible. In fact she encourages Steven’s rage all the way to, and even after, her death. TO her credit, though, she does relent to Steven’s strength when he revives her, only to be rejected one last time when she pledges her loyalty to him as “her Diamond”. Steven requests that she find something else to do with her life, and he manages to respect that, parting ways with him as reluctant allies if nothing else. Emerald comes next. Now, to be fair, we don’t know Emerald very well. She isn’t ever seen in a state of ease, as we first meet her when the Off-Colors have stolen her personal ship and she’s angrily chasing them down. The fact that she’s obviously a high-ranking Gem official and she shoots Stevonnie to their certain demise on a barren world, though, paint a less-than-flattering picture. We only ever see Emerald this one time, so we’re forced to judge her based on that. To say the least, her voice actor is the incomparable Jinkx Monsoon - so she at least has that going for her. The Lapis Lazulis from Why So Blue come next. These two are unique among the Gems of Homeworld in that - in an era of total freedom - they happily continue their original roles ravaging planets for their potential as colonies. Steven and the Crystal Gem Lapis attempt to intervene, only to watch their usual aesop of personal liberation fall on deaf ears. In fact the duo represents the fact that, just as not everybody wants to change, not everybody is coerced or manipulated into doing bad things. The Lapis Lazulis were perfectly happy destroying planets and are actually insulted by the suggestion that they channel their energy into something else. Even in respecting Steven to a degree, they refuse to hear him out, necessitating that Lapis get involved. The Lapises deviate here - one appears to be taken with the restated message of strength she departs with, the other is only impressed by her strength. As a duo, they place where they do for their off-color sense of right and wrong, and their reluctance to accept the value of dissimilar life forms, a worldview that Steven wished to see excised. Taking our Bronze is Holly Blue Agate, the administrator of Pink Diamond’s Human Zoo and possibly the worst floor manager in the galaxy. Honestly, we’ve probably all had a boss like this before: petulant, ingracious, always punching down... she spends her days manicuring the empty zoo on the literal outskirts of existence and exuding a corrosive discipline over those below her. She takes pleasure in being a piece of the dictatorship; she parrots Homeworld’s oppressive dogma because she wants to. But the worst thing about her really is just how spineless she is. In perfect fairness, Holly Blue has been conditioned to view her superiors as fundamentally better than her, just like most other Homeworld Gems. So her being sycophantic and servile sort of comes with the territory. But she’s so uniquely sycophantic and servile that you can’t sympathize with her. She’s cruel because she obviously feels small and forgotten, but that’s not enough to excuse her cruelty. She’s our worst unfused Gem for relishing in the abuse of her subordinates, and (eventually) mourning the regime that previously enabled it. A candy-colored evil Brit by the name of Bluebird Azurite is our Silver Medalist, for obvious reasons. In fact, Bluebird is a really weird character who introduces some really eleventh-hour themes about fusion. She’s an amalgam of Aquamarine and Eyeball Ruby, both of whom have demonstrated incredibly selfish and gruesome tendencies. But they also seem to loathe each other as much as they hate Steven, a connection which facilitates their fusion in the first place. Essentially, she’s one of the only characters who has a single-track mentality, but she does so in a way that sort of inverts the show’s traditional formula. Most villains in Steven Universe have an evident underlying insecurity which Steven seeks to amend, thereby taking away the need for the anger or fear which motivates them to do bad things. But Bluebird’s entire MO is that she hates Steven, because the new world he ushered in for the Gems has no place for them. It’s a compelling argument that “better” for some can be “worse” for others”, unfortunately it doesn’t go anywhere. Bluebird’s diminutive size makes her easy fodder for Alexandrite, and her components escape into the night, never to be seen again. If not the Gem warlords, space dictators, and frothy-mouthed eldritch horrors, then who is our supreme Evil in a reasonably-pure story? Well, it wasn’t much of a contest actually. It’s… Marty. Yep, the gross old human music producer, is our Grand Master of Evil, because he might be one of the only entities in the entire cosmology of Steven Universe who’s just a crummy sort of person. Mostly, he’s selfish. He abandons a son he sires, treats Greg derisively and conveniently forgets to give him a sizable fortune he earned for years, and returns just to capitalize on the son he ditched’s talents as a DJ, only to up and leave again. He’s no space dictator or bloodthirsty Gem warrior, fine, but equally his “evil” isn’t a cultural difference or an ingrained defense, he just kind of exists to humanize the fantastical nature of Steven Universe by showing us, there’re still bad people in the world. They’re selfish, cruel, and slimy people out there that are just as saved from monsters and diamonds as the good ones, thanks to Steven’s actions. There isn’t a thing to say about Marty to redeem him, so lets’ just agree to leave him here in obscurity, where he and all the other deadbeats belong. To round out a great show, you can’t look at the cast and say these polymorphic space rocks aren’t incredibly, beautifully, and tragically human, something that you don’t see a lot of when it comes to shows about superpowers. But let us know about your thoughts on the Gems of the cosmos. Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good-to-Evil playlist. Where we break down the morality of the characters from your favorite cartoons, shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked.

Channel: WickedBinge

Views: 212,242

Rating: 4.8755903 out of 5

Keywords: watch steven universe, watch steven universe online, watch steven universe movie, steven universe movie watch online, new steven universe, watch steven universe the movie online, watch steven universe movie online, watch steven universe familiar, watch the steven universe movie, steven universe series, steven universe, steven universe complete series, steven universe steven, steven universe movie, garnet steven universe, peridot steven universe, steven universe universe

Id: NQTpoZ0PQbU

Length: 45min 18sec (2718 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 10 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Acromantulo]

i hate the guy much for making peridot further that FRICKIN SUGALITE AND NEPHRITE FURTHER THAN SUGALITE TOO!