I do believe that you’re right, they were surprised BECAUSE he’s a hybrid. Gem weapons seem to be personal and not even two Rubies have the same weapon, so given that he does have a “used” gem but he is “new”, they weren’t sure what would be of the weapon. I also believe they’re surprised that it was Rose’s exact shield, like you mentioned they probably did anticipate a shield, it could have been completely different. Also, remember that not even Garnet was able to tell the gender of Steven before he was born.
I think the reason garnet didn't know its because she knew little to nothing about steven, human and or hybrids and as we are told later on she couldn't really see a precise future but a lot and she was not precise until she actually knew steven for years (saying just in case someone wanna say this doesn't make sense tho)
@@ParadoxFreak Garnet couldn’t tell because she can see every _possible_ future She can narrow in on what _will_ happen by guessing people’s choices, it there isn’t really a choice to make on what gender a baby will be born as, so she can’t know the outcome
Except they retconned the gem weapons with Bismuth, at the start of the series it was explained as each gem got unique weapon they can summon at anytime create another if it breaks. when Bismuth was introduced instead they said she created all of their weapons and even made improvements to them and made tons of copies for everytime their weapons break as they use another copy, and in pearl episode we see how she saves objects in her gem with one of the places being full of those copies. Thus completely ruining the magic of each gem got a unique weapon and instead it became normal weapons made by bismuth and they aren't magical as in they can call infinite of them instead she just made a lot of copies for each which sounds lame. Steven having the same shield isn't surprising anymore since a new shield is impossible when bismuth only created that one, and it does kinda ruin this scene since the gems were just surprised steven was able to call an object out of his gem instead of him revealing his own unique weapon
Could it not be just the shock of seeing her shield again after so many years? I mean think about it, they didn't know what he might produce, then to see that little part of her, from him. That shield that protected them so many times, thought gone, now back and in her son's hands.
And the shield seems kind of 1:1 aside from the size. His powers' expression tends to be a subversion like healing spit instead of tears. We feel this throughout the show. I don't think it needs to be a "plot hole" that they'd be surprised.
I do believe this theory! I lost my grandma, who raised me since I was a baby, in 2021. This year, I try a Japanese food she used to cook when I was a child and I had to hold the tears. It reminded her so much it was painful I bet they faced the same feeling
@@toonsnooperthe time relic cannot change bad events from the past as we see in the episode every time you try to prevent or change a bad event So I'm the one who asks you why the hell would the Diamonds try to use this thing to change the course of the war? It would only make everything worse like maybe this time Bismuth won't be trapped and actually shatters Pink Diamond and maybe even Blue and Yellow the relic of time is not a plot hole it is just a very useless religion the diamonds are not idiots they would never use such crap
It's interesting because people mentioning Steven's shield is a constant. Jasper also recognizes Steven as Rose because of the shield and the pattern. I wonder if Steven's powers are straight up copy pasted from Rose or if he unconsciously manifests the same powers because he embodies the same positive ideals his mom had: protect and help
I don't think all of them are 1:1. Rose was known for her healing tears but for most of the show Steven developped healing saliva instead (which idt they ever mentioned Rose having, even if Stevenlater did also get healing tears). Steven's Plant powers also seem to act a little different since his plants look like him and have their own concience while the bushes in An Indirect Kiss didn't resemble Rose for the most part and didn't really seem to have the same developped thoughts we would later see with Watermelon Stevens
@@henriquecarballoaranha9100 If I had to throw out a theory off the top of my head, I'd say that Steven can breathe life into his plants in a way that Rose couldn't specifically because he has much more of an understanding about what it means to be alive. The gems are inorganic lifeforms created from minerals and often remain largely unchanged for thousands of years, while life itself is all about changing over time. The Crystal Gems make some progress towards changing more over time, but as we saw from scenes like Pearl regaining her memories in the movie and going through all her previous forms, most of all their changes in personal expression have happened during the course of the story we've seen; thousands of years with their original forms, and then after the loss of Rose they began to change how they present themselves multiple times in just a few years. There's a case to be made that Steven, partially due to his hybrid nature, helped all the gems around him learn more about how to experience what it means to be alive even despite their differences from humans.
After Steven Universe Future I've always had the belief that Steven struggled so much with summoning the shield due to its shape. Steven in diamond form makes simple shapes like diamonds, so it seems his powers in its natural state are simple shapes. So, a complicated 3-dimensional object with patterns going through it would be difficult. To a diamond who's lived centuries and comes out the ground perfect? No. But for Steven? I would imagine Yes. I would also say it doesn't have to do with his age since his age changes based on his mindset. So, id imagine if told he was a diamond from the very beginning, he may have been able to summon abilities a lot easier. Effectively he wasn't working with his default move set; he was being pushed into using a modified version his mother made many many centuries after she was created while being told he may not even be capable of having those abilities.
I think an important note is this is like the second time (chronologically) Steven's ever manifested a gem power. The first being in a flash back. So they didn't know he was even going to get gem powers.
yeah, like when they werent sure if his organic body could perform fusion. they must have discussed at some point if he could summon a weapon, and what it would be.
My understanding was the fusion theory all along, as the show calls out, Pink is a part of him, but he's not pink, so they all assumed he'd have something different. Plus with the personal connection to the weapons, him having a shield like his mother tells them that he's also going to be someone who looks out for others right off the bat, someone who will avoid violent solutions if he can.
Roses shield was like her crest. It symbolized who Rose's was. It's also a very powerful "weapon" able to deflect The Diamonds attack. For Steven to have inherited that from Rose must mean he is destin for great things. Before this event Steve was just a bubble human child. They didn't know Steven would be able to have gem powers.
That and probably seeing Steven since birth finally let them feel what human moms feel. They’re not used to seeing any life form grow and develop from nothing. Seeing him summon the shield probably is the gem equivalent of a baby giving their first steps. They knew he’d eventually get to use at least some of Rose’s gem powers but had no idea when or what it’d be. The shield was like seeing Steven form his first words all over again
I always took it more along the lines of their weapons are heavily dependent on their personalities. So, even w Rose's gem he could summon a completely unique weapon. Pearls for example don't have traditional weapon summoning abilities that we know of, so her having a weapon to summons takes great precision and focus. So I always thought there was a chance Steven would've had a wide array of possible weapons to summon, but the shield fit best with his character and made the most sense historically
Yes, I think its because they were shocked it was •Her• shield specifically. Gems dont have weapons innate to the type of gem they are, each gem individually has thier own weapon. For example: CG Ruby has her battle glove as her weapon, meanwhile Eyeball Ruby has a shortblade. Some gems that are different can also have the same weapon; Holly Blue Agate and Amethyst both have whips, but Jasper (another quarts soldier) has her helm. The fact that Steven's weapon is Rose's shield is curious in that we SHOULD expect it to be different. Since Steven is different. But it ended up being Rose's shield. It would be like seeing Garnet summon Pearl's spear, or Amethyst summoning Sardonyx's mallet.
@@taylorhillard4868 adding to that: it was the exact design as Rose's shield, that makes it more special if we remember that even Garnet's gloves design changed in season 1 finale.
@@zombieperex7537 I would go even further and say that Pearl was especially surprised it was Rose's shield given the fact that Rose's shield was fake. Pearl doesnt magiclaly make spears, she has a collection of them in her gemstone. But Rose's shield isnt a physical item. Rose was Pink DIamond, her actually ability is making pink holographic objects, like diamond panels or spiked bubbles like Steven later does. For Steven to pull out Rose's shield and not just a simple diamond shaped hologram must of showed Pearl that Rose/Rose's memories were still in there somewhere for Steven to be able to summon that exact shape.
maybe pearl is having a proud mom moment, and is just acting suprised, like prents do when kids do something good. like "wow kiddo that drawing is really good"
I love how your need to over analyze (as you said) brings up details a lot of people, including me missed completely!! Because when I saw this I just thought they made such reaction for the sake of keeping the show alive and add emotions. But now I agree with the theory that they expressed this just out of encouragement to Steven, and it's maybe mixed with them not knowing how his gem power would develop as a half human. I've always loved your videos (and your accent lol) keep it up!!
i really like the theory of them expecting something else, especially where pearl's reaction was the most emotional considering how tied she was to ruby im also not in contrast with the show having inconsistencies, nothing is perfect and moreso in its early stages and its really cool to see how much it build from that foundation to make the show that it is now please keep it up i live for these videos and vibes ^^
The reason why the gems never really used time travel in critical moments is because they used to probably like in era one and that’s why they started having sapphires who could see into the future because people would change or try to change the past that’s why the diamonds had their own sapphires. That’s why all the top ranking officials had sapphires that’s why later on we see an off color, which was an orange sapphire. Who could only see things that had just occurred. I thought it was just a gag, but it makes total sense.
I think it has more to do on the retrospective, through the episode we see the gems use their gem tools mostly for aggressive tasks, and they are more weapons than anything else, being surprised at Steven's gem tool being a shield was suppose to tell the audience that for one: Steven's personality will be closer to the pacifist solution or defensive response rather than a violent one, and for two: that it kind of rare to see a gem tool not being a weapon, showcasing more Steven's pacifist tendencies
1:10 maybe even the diamonds realised Time Travel was way too dangerous. Also, I have a few theories 1. The Time Travel process uses a Gem's energy, and is way too draining on a Gem, taking an average Quartz soldier even a few seconds back was near impossible. Steven, being a Diamond, could travel further due to having larger energy reserves, but even then, it wouldn't go more than a month or two. 2. Maybe there was only one Time Piece, and it was being developed on Earth, and no Gems ever had enough time to get it. Either they triggered the safett measures (sinking the place for 100 years), or it was developed late into the war, that they couldn't take it out of the lab before the corruption wave.
My own way of making sense of that scene was that Pearl simply didn't specify it was Rose's shield, or maybe it "a Rose shield" since there isn't exclusively just one shield, most gems summoned multiple copies of their base weapons, like Steven has summoned multiple shields at once. But I did really like your view of it being a way for the gems to motivate Steven, especially when you brought up The Test episode.
@@LeonardoGalaxies Gems made by pink were specifically made for war, this includes rose quartz gem's. Pink was a exception because she's not a quartz, it's not normal for a quartz to start off with a non combat weapon.Pearl was covering it up and They stopped questioning it once the shield smashed the tv.
I agree with the take that it’s likely cause it’s literally Rose’s Shield. When Gems fuse they tend to fuse their weapons too - as a half gem they probably figured Steven’s summon would be unique even for Gems or something different If I recall even between Gems of the same type their weapons tend to be slightly different to fit their personality much like their bodies, and Steven’s shield is basically just his mom’s I like to think it’s because Steven is literally just using his mom’s gem
I think its more that they didn't understand steven, learning day by day just how steven actually works. as shown in the flashback episodes where pearl was going to try to rip stevens gem out. But now in this moment, they expected steven to have a different weapon. Because as others stated in the comments, weapons are unique to the users. The way gems work is, they come out the ground, then they end up summoning their specific weapon that is always unique to that person. SO in this episode they were basically assuming stevens weapon would be different because assuming he is a gem, then he would be getting a new weapon just like how they work, but he isn't a real gem, he is only half gem, and as his mom stated, half of her will be inside of steven. I mean , its possible that it is a plot hole like you said, but I think it is easily explained this way.
they probably just thought he would have a different weapon or that his shield would look different from roses shield so seeing the shield look exactly like roses surprised them
I had assumed they were just surprisedthat his weapon was used for defence rather then offense. I'm not sure, but I believe that all gems have an offense weapon (haven't watched the show in god knows how long), so while they knew rose did HAVE a shield, i think they assumed that his weapon would be her sword, or something else.
i agree. makes sense they would be hapilly surprised steven had his mothers shield, as they couldn't know for sure what his weapon would be. tho i wanna add, on the note of the specific plot hole you brought up about steven and the stevens, that the artifacts they collect are powered by corupted gems or gem shards by the most part. we learn this later on, so it's just as likely that potential plot holes like time travel devices, didn't exist before after the corruption. also the high jinx steven ends up in in that episode i think show why they never used such a device even though it might have had potential to help save more rebel gems, or even avoid the corruption all together, cause it had just as much potential to make things worse or get you lost in time. there are plot wholes, i just don't think there are as many as asumed.
Because he’s a hybrid? They have never seen anyone like Steven so they had no way of telling if Steven could even summon any of roses weapons. It’s pretty plain and simple, they even said it themselves multiple times throughout the show that they have no idea what Steven is capable of because he’s a hybrid.
Your conclusion that they are faking surprise makes no sense considering they don’t know yet his powers are tied to his emotions. Honestly, I think their reaction is more like “OMG, I wasn’t expecting him to manifest the same weapon!” I mean, I doubt any of them thought they’d see that shield again after Rose died.
My simple theory to this 'plot hole' was that the crystals gems didn't know how things were going to work with Steven on the gem side. But I've always had an assumption that gems weapons are based upon their personality, or other factors within themselves. The Gems may have assumed that Steven's weapon could/was going to be different and his own choosing due to depending on his emotion state, since they assumed Rose was gone as a whole, meaning no more shield or other past Rose weapons. And confirming this fact Is the episode where they run off with Gregs van and they all come to the agreement eventually that Rose Is gone as a whole and Steven Is now his own person. Turns out It's still the same weapon =w=
It could also be early installment weirdness, just little to moderate inconsistencies during the first season of a show where not everything is planned out so we have moments like this.
i think its true what you said about the hybrid part because when the gems fuse they have new weapon and i guess it just never just came in mind that he could have same abilities as his mother plus i believe they didn't even think his gem would work since he was half human and while growing up there was never a sign of it glowing minus the episode we got when they napped baby steven.
I think given knowledge from the later episodes that we are building on its a little of human hybrid and emotional support along with mostly, they all have multiple weapons. I think the only thing they were surprised about was that the first weapon he summoned was the shield because they were uncertain if he would be able to summon a weapon at all (because of him being part human) and because they all have multiple weapons. We see how many weapons Pearl and Amethyst have. Sapphire doesn't have a weapon so we only have Ruby's weapon to influence Garnet but Garnet is the one without variety with her weapons. We see later that Rose had swords and cannons and other weapons, all different varieties of types as opposed to Pearl and Amethyst with Pearl only having variations of lances (I believe that's the right word, they kinda vary but they are all stabby stick adjacent) and Amethyst only having whips. So in combination of them not knowing if he would be able to summon a weapon, which of Rose's many weapons he would be able to summon and which would be his first, and then just emotional support of the excitement that he is feeling explains his shock. Imagine how disappointing it would have been for Steven if he really wanted one of the weapons in particular and that wasn't the one he summoned or if instead of this being a huge episode thing, it happened like many of his other powers where he just randomly discovers it while something else is happening and he's super excited and they're like yeah, duh, of course you could do that, we're just happy you can do it at all since you're human. It would be devastating for Steven. So I think most of their "shock" is hey you can summon weapons and the "surprise" is hey your first summon is a shield and the overzealousness of the response was for emotional connection to both Steven and the audience.
I think the simplest solution is the gems didn't know if he had powers. It's been a while but they said that it was ok if he never got his powers so they had some doubt. They recognized Steven was a unique case so it was a shock he was even able to manifest a weapon. The weapons also link to the personality so it was probably a surprise that Steven would even have a shield.
It's great that they didn't mention the shield because they wanted to wait and see if there'd be something different but also because they know he is no longer Rose and shouldn't be compared to her.
I always believed the gem's reaction was for seeing Rose's shield again for the first time in a while as well as also seeing a half-human be able to summon the same shield that protected them from the diamond attack. As for Pearl's "Steven, it's a shield" i think it was less of an 'I can't believe it's a shield" and more of a "Steven look, your weapon is a shield"
Wow, this is one small discrepancy that always bothered me. I always assumed I was the only one. Thanks for validating me! I'd like to be able to believe the second theory. Usually the writing and consistency are so on point. And yet the first explanation still seems more likely to me somehow.
We're neglecting an important option. Gems don't have a concept of inheritance. A Gem has never been born from another Gem. They all manifest uniquely, even among a given batch of same Gem-type siblings. They barely understood anything about Humans before Greg, and mostly it was Rose who learned from him, the rest all mostly learned from Steven. The concept itself may have never even crossed their minds.
Honestly I think its more so just: "Oh my god, its Rose's weapon again!" Its surprise, simply that they would have been surprised no matter what happened. Not to mention that the shield surely has emotional significance for them.
My personal theory was that the shield wasn't Rose's weapon of choice. Instead, she prefered the sword, as it was specially forged for her. Only utilizing the shield as a secondary tool.
@@NicoleColenico the summoned weapons are holographic, like their bodies. jasper was said, to have emerged from her hole with her helmet on. it is however possible, to incorporate physical components into the weapons, as seen with bismuths upgrades. also gems can store physical items in their gems (at least pearl can). in the early days of the show, ive seen comments about how pearl could supposedly summon infinite money from her gem, since she "created" police tape that one time. but now we know, that she didnt create police tape, she just stored it in her pocket dimension, and pulled it out later.
Something cool, its shown in one episode that rubys weapon is like a hand hammer, like garnets, but only one hand, and tiny so i believe that sapphires is ALSO a little hand hammer
The reason I thought they were surprised is that, up until this point, Steven didn’t really show any gem powers in his life, and it’s been years since Rose’s passing, so it’s possible they just assumed gem/human hybrids just didn’t have any powers.
The easiest and most likely answer is it’s a plot hole. But it’s fun to think that they faked surprise considering they are not strangers to lying to Steven. There could also be a bit of relief there. pearl going “it’s a shield” could be her relief that rose’s shield is still intact. Preserving what little is left of the one she loved.
I think they were expecting a sword or a shield or a 3rd possibility that it could be a wildcard. But even then, they probably didn't think it would be an exact copy of his mother's. I think they were expecting some slight design differences, which is why i believe Pearl was the most surprised of it being a shield. Now steven has a weapon that many gems off planet would instantly recognize and assume it's his mother in a different form, which is what happened when he met the diamonds. I think it's the main reason why pearl had her own shock face scene when garnet and amethyst had their own shocked reactions
It's clear that there's a lot of SU fans in your channel, if you don't want to be stuck with SU content, but still want to appeal to the same audience, here are a few suggestions of shows that I feel like are also popular among SU fans: Adventure Time + Fionna and Cake (there are many channels bringing AT back at the moment) The Owl House Gravity Falls Infinity Train She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
If I recall correct this would be the first time the gems could confirm that Steven was going to get specifically Rose's exact capabilities or if it would just be those of an entirely new gem. Finding out it was rose's shield would be quite the pleasant surprise.
personally i think that the gems mightve thought hed have his own weapon or the sword possibly. maybe they thought hed have something weaker for a start, since they know that shield VERY strong. interesting theories though, i find these very possible too
The way Pearl reacted in that scene always made me think that she forgot that Rose Quartz had a shield for a weapon. I just hand-waved it away as the writers not having everything figured out so early into the show. At this point it's hard to tell what was intentionally part of the story and what was just done for the spectacle of cool magic. I always considered the latter for this first episode.
Rose's sword isn't a summoned gem weapon, it's a physical item forged by Bismuth. The gems didn't know where it was, but they couldn't expect Steven to summon it from his gem.
The sword didnt come from a gem tho, it was forged by Bizmuth as a physical sword, and as far as i can remember only Pearl can store physical objects in their gem
I good reason for why hey we're surprised is because how would the gems expect that steve n would inherit Rose/pink diamond's shield? A gem and a human never had a child together ever in the history of the universe, so it's not like the crystal gems would be like "oh hey, steven has her gem, so he should have her powers" and as parents (technically) they'd be surprised at his first usage of gem powers.
i like the idea that they knew it would be a shield and wanted to keeo it a surprise, but i prefer the idea that their awe when it was finally summoned, was real. i know time goes by in the blink of an eye for long lived gems, but we saw how they were when rose was gone for like, a couple weeks or however long it was since steven was born and the gems kidnapped him as a baby lol. they really miss rose, and pearl in particular was anguishing over it and the secrets she had to bear alone going forward. its no shock then that her, Garnet, and Amethyst were all in awe of the shield, a (partly) physical reminder of Rose's legacy, looking the exact same as the day each of them first saw Rose wielding it, no deviations or anything, after like 12 or 13 years of her absence.
I always thought it was because he was a human hybrid child that showed no signs of having any powers like his mother until that point. Not to mention she fought with a sword and didn't materialize any other weapon despite being proficient in many. So.... yeah. No questions but lots of answers.
It's not even plot hole dude, their reaction is that they never saw a human have gem powers before. You forgot the baby episode where they legit thought baby Steven is rose? they doesnt' even know what human baby is
When i do or show a trait that apparently a predecesor of mine in the family also did everyone who knew about it acts with surprise at seeing me do it.
My theory is just that they were surprised because they didn't think his powers would ever activate. After all, this is the first time a gem had ever even become a human before. For all intents and purposes, they could have been surprised over anything, even if he had the healing tears come back sooner instead of retrieving the shield first. The first time his gem ever began glowing and the first time he summoned anything both happened in the same exact episode. The crystal gems saw his gem begin to glow the first time only to summon nothing, which would have likely made them assume a false alarm, and also confirmed their internalized suspicions that nothing could feasibly come from him. Top that off with the fact that Steven literally power scaled from normal being to universal being in all of four years from his powers is just even more absurd. Like, he was only 12 in that first episode - this was confirmed later on when Connie says she's 10 and Steven admits to being 12, saying that his physical age is actually pretty dependent on his gem, just like the appearance of other naturally formed gems is based on their own gem. Steven does have one in-show birthday, but it's when he turned 13, and he's 14 by the events of the movie, with Future seeing him get a glow-up all the way to 16. In addition to that, he reaches the literal peak of his abilities in Future. The dude goes ballistic and nearly shatters White Diamond by mind controlling her and forcing her to slam her head into a pillar as tall and as thick as she is. He shatters Jasper and then revives her by pushing the pieces back together and pouring the tears of the other Diamonds and some of his spit into his bath tub. He becomes a literal kaiju monster, like damn. All in four years. Crazy.
I think they were surprised _exactly_ beacuse his weapon was the same. In "Three Gems and a Baby" we see how they each had to come up with ways to understand what Steven was and to cope with Rose's death. Whatever ways they came up with, they had to have a core idea in common: "Steven is NOT Rose, Rose is gone" It was the only way they could accept her loss, but they could never be sure of it since they couldn't remove his gem and see what happens like White did. So what I think happened is that they got surprised exactly because he ALSO had a shield. Because this would bring all those doubts all over again. Maybe he was not really something different than Rose. If all gems, even if they're of the same type, have different weapons, and Steven's weapon is the exact same as Rose's, even with her custom war patterns that she added on later, this could mean that maybe she was still alive in the gem and he was just a human baby. Maybe they could bring Rose back. I'm sure they've discussed this possibility a LOT throughout Steven's childhood, and probably even talked about ways to prove that his gem was not just Rose stuck in there, like Lapis's mirror. And probably one of them was to see if his powers would manifest like a new gem or not. And since they were emotionally forced to accept that Rose was gone and Steven was something new, they were probably not expecting the exact same shield, hence the surprise
Sure, the Gems are discovering Steven's powers along with him. I think it's really easy for people to forget the earlier parts of the story before all the big reveals happen, not just Steven Universe, Star Wars for example has so much mystery in A New Hope but of course now fans can say that Leia is a Skywalker, Anakin was Kenobi's padawan etc etc
Eh, the time thingy is easy to explain. It goes by the "if you try to fix it, you'll cause something worse to happen" logic. Trying to save Pink, therefor, could result in a much worse outcome.
They probably just don't understand that Steven has rose's powers, they thought that maybe the human half is like a fusion of rose and Steven, so seeing Rose's shield was surprising
I don't think they were very surprised. Pearl was probably in awe since she adored Rose and possibly still wondering if she was somehow alive. It could also be that they just didn't believe he would ever be a full fledged gem since he's part human. Remember to very loosely quote Rose, "gems come out they way they are supposed to be and they stay that way forever." They may not have believed he would ever be able to fully access his powers someday in that episode, but then realized his gem powers would grow slowly like with his human half.
They could have expected his weapon to be different and based on who he was although in that situation I wouldn't expect Pearl to be surprised I'm actually kind of surprised that she treats Steven as a separate entity as much as she does after this considering he has her shield it actually kind of at least to me shows that Steven might be more Rose than we think
Personally even if I do believe that Steven's identity as a human plays a role in their reactions I also believe the main reason why they were so surprised is because of what the shield represents. Back then the gems saw Rose as the best of the best, as the ultimate gem, an inspiration for all of them and they also knew the shield was very powerful Steven on the other hand... The gems didn't really see that much value and power in Steven. They thought low of him. In a way it's because Steven was just s child back then and they weren't familiar with concepts such as growing up and maturity so they probably thought that all what Steven was was a goofball and an irresponsible annoying human, why would a person such as that have the power to walk on the shoes of the great Rose Quartz? The gems probably thought At least that's my point of view
To me it sounds like none of them thought it could be ROSES shield remember in the flashback episode when the gems kidnaped Steven they where convinced he was rose the whole point was for them to finally come to accept that she was gone forever and Steven isnt her if were trying to connect dots i think the emotional impact of seeing a sign of your dead friend and lover still living would shock anyone
When the episode aired it proved that Steven and Rose shared something special in soul and mind I guess?.. later on we'd find out that Rose didn't truly figure out how to make a human/gem hybrid. The reality is that Rose discovered a way to self-sacrifice her own consciousness to begin anew as the concept of a baby. Steven is a concept that grew anew within Rose's gem and that's what Steven truly is. Rose is gone in mind, but not in body. That's why the leaders on home world were so sure Steven was Rose in disguise... because in truth... he kinda is. It's just they had no idea that Rose committed the ultimate RP sacrifice... a permanent mind wipe. ' Some folks argue to me that this act of hers was a form of escapism from her problems, but also mayhaps a means to restart her life as a lifeform she had gotten lovingly obsessed with. In alot of lenses, Rose quartz comes across as a kind of fricked up person.. but I guess what can we expect from a troubled sister to a home of space nazis. I like Steven Universe because it wasn't afraid to make their characters flawed as heck. Some argue this makes the show lame, but as an adult I can really appreciate the difficulties of it all. Like Steven loving and hating his mom after all the trauma... whilst also knowing that he has this inescapable connection to her... its really something else.
Watching SU, I'm convinced Sugar killed some guy in the alley and took his scripts. I'm only being slightly hyperbolic, but I genuinely believe that she got them from somewhere else because the early episodes, as you say here, aren't exactly consistent to what happens later.
@@toonsnooper not sure a concept art can be compared to the depth and extent the entire plot goes to Again, it was the first episode. Even in a perfect universe where everything was written from the beginning, it would still make sense for the first episode not to be perfect, as things tend to be adjusted as production goes on, and rebecca isn't the only person on the crew
I do agree that the series has a lot of inconsistencies, but I have some opinions though 1) The time travel device seemed like it can't be used to change the past, like when Steven tried to warn his dad about the car washing incident 2) It seems that not all gems shared the same weapons, for example the rubies have shown that they have different weapons between each other. So they consider Steven a being different from Rose, so it is obvious that they were expecting him to have a different weapon, cause he could be a "rose quartz" but he is not rose. 3) SU is really vague about gem weapons, cause it kinda implies that not all gems can create them. While rubies, amethyst, jaspers and other quartz can create their weapons cause they are warriors, other gems don't seem to have that ability (Lapis, Bismuth, Peridot) and rely on artificial made ones, one example Aquamarine. Other weird example is that Pearl seems to not create her spear, just that she has a ton of them, I do not know if Rose created her shield or someone made it for her. Probably she created it, since she is a diamond, she should be able to create weapons too.
I still want to know what fusion weapon Alexandra had. I saw some fanart where it was a sickle and chain with Sugalites wreaking ball was the weight on the end, but I don’t know if they ever actually confirmed what it would be
Bruh you’re forgetting the biggest detail - the gems didn’t even know if he’d have any gem power to begin with. Steven is the first of his kind. They didn’t know what to expect or what he would or wouldn’t be capable of. They were genuinely shocked because they didn’t know is his gem could do anything. They were genuinely shocked just to see it glow. They literally don’t know the first thing about a gem-human hybrid because they didn’t even know it was possible until Steven was born. It’s as simple as that.
It's a recton, They ruined the gem weapons with the reveal that Bismuth is the creator of all the Crystal Gem weapons, thus it would have made no sense at all for him to have a different weapon when all of their weapons were made by Bismuth thus just normal weapons themed around each gem with tons of copies instead of their own unique magical weapon based on their personality. Yet they never explain how fusions can fuse their weapons nor how Steven can change the size of his shield which align more with the weapons being magical manifestation of their gem. Nor how Bismuth upgrading their weapons copied the upgrades to all the tons of copies they already got, nor how the gems never ran out of the copies of weapons throughout the hundred of years with Bismuth gone. I really wish they stuck with gem weapons being a unique thing for each gem and manifestation of their personality as the show started and heavily leaned into until they blew it up with Bismuth being behind everything which took the magic out of it
I mean, the gem’s weapons are extensions of who *they* are, right? So Steven ≠ Rose, there’s a high likelihood if he didn’t share her ideals of “protect and heal those I love” he wouldn’t HAVE a shield
I think we should first wonder if diamonds have weapons at all. What I've noticed is that gems have either some power or a weapon. Gem soldiers like quartz and rubies have weapons while non soldier gems have powers (sapphire, lapis, ...) Proof to this is that we never saw Lapis summon a weapon and Garnet's weapon is basically Ruby's weapon in double instead of a combination of two distinct weapons as we see for other fusions. What about Pearl then ? Well, one theory could be that she learned to do it (remember she told Steven in this episode that summoning a weapon requires great work while Amethyst, a quartz, told him she "just does it") Diamonds have power that we have seen them using. I have two theories on why Pink had a weapon. She either gained it like Pearl or because she's a diamond, her shape-shifting powers are so perfect she can copy the power of the gem she changes into: she became a quartz thus she has a weapon. I think the first one is more likely since in Garnet's flashback, when she tells Steven how she became a Crystal Gem, neither Pearl nor Rose used their weapons. Pearl had swords and Rose was bare-handed.
the time relic cannot change bad events from the past as we see in the episode every time you try to prevent or change a bad event So I'm the one who asks you why the hell would the Diamonds try to use this thing to change the course of the war? It would only make everything worse like maybe this time Bismuth won't be trapped and actually shatters Pink Diamond and maybe even Blue and Yellow the relic of time is not a plot hole it is just a very useless religion the diamonds are not idiots they would never use such crap
I do believe that you’re right, they were surprised BECAUSE he’s a hybrid. Gem weapons seem to be personal and not even two Rubies have the same weapon, so given that he does have a “used” gem but he is “new”, they weren’t sure what would be of the weapon. I also believe they’re surprised that it was Rose’s exact shield, like you mentioned they probably did anticipate a shield, it could have been completely different. Also, remember that not even Garnet was able to tell the gender of Steven before he was born.
I think the reason garnet didn't know its because she knew little to nothing about steven, human and or hybrids and as we are told later on she couldn't really see a precise future but a lot and she was not precise until she actually knew steven for years (saying just in case someone wanna say this doesn't make sense tho)
@@ParadoxFreak Garnet couldn’t tell because she can see every _possible_ future
She can narrow in on what _will_ happen by guessing people’s choices, it there isn’t really a choice to make on what gender a baby will be born as, so she can’t know the outcome
it's called a plot hole
@eth1111 the plot relevant explaination seems to be right above you and the explaination by OP
Except they retconned the gem weapons with Bismuth, at the start of the series it was explained as each gem got unique weapon they can summon at anytime create another if it breaks.
when Bismuth was introduced instead they said she created all of their weapons and even made improvements to them and made tons of copies for everytime their weapons break as they use another copy, and in pearl episode we see how she saves objects in her gem with one of the places being full of those copies.
Thus completely ruining the magic of each gem got a unique weapon and instead it became normal weapons made by bismuth and they aren't magical as in they can call infinite of them instead she just made a lot of copies for each which sounds lame.
Steven having the same shield isn't surprising anymore since a new shield is impossible when bismuth only created that one, and it does kinda ruin this scene since the gems were just surprised steven was able to call an object out of his gem instead of him revealing his own unique weapon
Could it not be just the shock of seeing her shield again after so many years? I mean think about it, they didn't know what he might produce, then to see that little part of her, from him. That shield that protected them so many times, thought gone, now back and in her son's hands.
And the shield seems kind of 1:1 aside from the size. His powers' expression tends to be a subversion like healing spit instead of tears. We feel this throughout the show. I don't think it needs to be a "plot hole" that they'd be surprised.
I can see that
I do believe this theory! I lost my grandma, who raised me since I was a baby, in 2021. This year, I try a Japanese food she used to cook when I was a child and I had to hold the tears. It reminded her so much it was painful
I bet they faced the same feeling
@@nerdsferatuskeep3902 that's what I said
@@toonsnooperthe time relic cannot change bad events from the past as we see in the episode every time you try to prevent or change a bad event So I'm the one who asks you why the hell would the Diamonds try to use this thing to change the course of the war? It would only make everything worse like maybe this time Bismuth won't be trapped and actually shatters Pink Diamond and maybe even Blue and Yellow the relic of time is not a plot hole it is just a very useless religion the diamonds are not idiots they would never use such crap
It's interesting because people mentioning Steven's shield is a constant. Jasper also recognizes Steven as Rose because of the shield and the pattern. I wonder if Steven's powers are straight up copy pasted from Rose or if he unconsciously manifests the same powers because he embodies the same positive ideals his mom had: protect and help
Remember in Steven Universe: Future, he manifested her Diamond powers.
I don't think all of them are 1:1. Rose was known for her healing tears but for most of the show Steven developped healing saliva instead (which idt they ever mentioned Rose having, even if Stevenlater did also get healing tears). Steven's Plant powers also seem to act a little different since his plants look like him and have their own concience while the bushes in An Indirect Kiss didn't resemble Rose for the most part and didn't really seem to have the same developped thoughts we would later see with Watermelon Stevens
that's adorable, I kinda love this theory
@@henriquecarballoaranha9100 If I had to throw out a theory off the top of my head, I'd say that Steven can breathe life into his plants in a way that Rose couldn't specifically because he has much more of an understanding about what it means to be alive. The gems are inorganic lifeforms created from minerals and often remain largely unchanged for thousands of years, while life itself is all about changing over time.
The Crystal Gems make some progress towards changing more over time, but as we saw from scenes like Pearl regaining her memories in the movie and going through all her previous forms, most of all their changes in personal expression have happened during the course of the story we've seen; thousands of years with their original forms, and then after the loss of Rose they began to change how they present themselves multiple times in just a few years. There's a case to be made that Steven, partially due to his hybrid nature, helped all the gems around him learn more about how to experience what it means to be alive even despite their differences from humans.
After Steven Universe Future I've always had the belief that Steven struggled so much with summoning the shield due to its shape. Steven in diamond form makes simple shapes like diamonds, so it seems his powers in its natural state are simple shapes. So, a complicated 3-dimensional object with patterns going through it would be difficult. To a diamond who's lived centuries and comes out the ground perfect? No. But for Steven? I would imagine Yes.
I would also say it doesn't have to do with his age since his age changes based on his mindset. So, id imagine if told he was a diamond from the very beginning, he may have been able to summon abilities a lot easier. Effectively he wasn't working with his default move set; he was being pushed into using a modified version his mother made many many centuries after she was created while being told he may not even be capable of having those abilities.
I think an important note is this is like the second time (chronologically) Steven's ever manifested a gem power. The first being in a flash back. So they didn't know he was even going to get gem powers.
yeah, like when they werent sure if his organic body could perform fusion. they must have discussed at some point if he could summon a weapon, and what it would be.
My understanding was the fusion theory all along, as the show calls out, Pink is a part of him, but he's not pink, so they all assumed he'd have something different. Plus with the personal connection to the weapons, him having a shield like his mother tells them that he's also going to be someone who looks out for others right off the bat, someone who will avoid violent solutions if he can.
Roses shield was like her crest. It symbolized who Rose's was. It's also a very powerful "weapon" able to deflect The Diamonds attack. For Steven to have inherited that from Rose must mean he is destin for great things. Before this event Steve was just a bubble human child. They didn't know Steven would be able to have gem powers.
@@thelairofblair1 I wonder the reason his/her (Rose) shield was able to deflect the diamonds' attack was due to the fact that he/she is also a Diamond
My own theory was that they haven't seen it in a long time, which is why they reacted like that
@@gheata_playz874 like just seeing the shield would be amazing, like omg you got your mom’s shield
hmmmmm
shouldn't 13 yrs be like a month to them since they're several thousand yrs old? 😂
@OliverOils that's still a long time for them since it's from someone they loved, so it'd feel longer
That and probably seeing Steven since birth finally let them feel what human moms feel. They’re not used to seeing any life form grow and develop from nothing. Seeing him summon the shield probably is the gem equivalent of a baby giving their first steps. They knew he’d eventually get to use at least some of Rose’s gem powers but had no idea when or what it’d be. The shield was like seeing Steven form his first words all over again
I feel like this is just oversimplifying what it actually is lol
I always took it more along the lines of their weapons are heavily dependent on their personalities. So, even w Rose's gem he could summon a completely unique weapon. Pearls for example don't have traditional weapon summoning abilities that we know of, so her having a weapon to summons takes great precision and focus. So I always thought there was a chance Steven would've had a wide array of possible weapons to summon, but the shield fit best with his character and made the most sense historically
Yes, I think its because they were shocked it was •Her• shield specifically. Gems dont have weapons innate to the type of gem they are, each gem individually has thier own weapon.
For example: CG Ruby has her battle glove as her weapon, meanwhile Eyeball Ruby has a shortblade.
Some gems that are different can also have the same weapon; Holly Blue Agate and Amethyst both have whips, but Jasper (another quarts soldier) has her helm.
The fact that Steven's weapon is Rose's shield is curious in that we SHOULD expect it to be different. Since Steven is different. But it ended up being Rose's shield.
It would be like seeing Garnet summon Pearl's spear, or Amethyst summoning Sardonyx's mallet.
@@taylorhillard4868 adding to that: it was the exact design as Rose's shield, that makes it more special if we remember that even Garnet's gloves design changed in season 1 finale.
@@zombieperex7537 I would go even further and say that Pearl was especially surprised it was Rose's shield given the fact that Rose's shield was fake. Pearl doesnt magiclaly make spears, she has a collection of them in her gemstone. But Rose's shield isnt a physical item. Rose was Pink DIamond, her actually ability is making pink holographic objects, like diamond panels or spiked bubbles like Steven later does. For Steven to pull out Rose's shield and not just a simple diamond shaped hologram must of showed Pearl that Rose/Rose's memories were still in there somewhere for Steven to be able to summon that exact shape.
Gems make their own weapons, so him getting his mother's shield was a suprise
maybe pearl is having a proud mom moment, and is just acting suprised, like prents do when kids do something good. like "wow kiddo that drawing is really good"
I love how your need to over analyze (as you said) brings up details a lot of people, including me missed completely!! Because when I saw this I just thought they made such reaction for the sake of keeping the show alive and add emotions.
But now I agree with the theory that they expressed this just out of encouragement to Steven, and it's maybe mixed with them not knowing how his gem power would develop as a half human.
I've always loved your videos (and your accent lol) keep it up!!
i really like the theory of them expecting something else, especially where pearl's reaction was the most emotional considering how tied she was to ruby
im also not in contrast with the show having inconsistencies, nothing is perfect and moreso in its early stages and its really cool to see how much it build from that foundation to make the show that it is now
please keep it up i live for these videos and vibes ^^
God I haven't seen this show in so long, I'm OVERDUE for a rewatch
You should
The reason why the gems never really used time travel in critical moments is because they used to probably like in era one and that’s why they started having sapphires who could see into the future because people would change or try to change the past that’s why the diamonds had their own sapphires. That’s why all the top ranking officials had sapphires that’s why later on we see an off color, which was an orange sapphire. Who could only see things that had just occurred. I thought it was just a gag, but it makes total sense.
I feel that they weren't sure how much of rose was in him so when they saw it was a shield, you can hear the joy in pearl's voice
Its so cute seeing people still taking about theories of the show to the point they feel old lol
It’s what keeps me making these videos. Love getting to see so many perspectives.
I think it has more to do on the retrospective, through the episode we see the gems use their gem tools mostly for aggressive tasks, and they are more weapons than anything else, being surprised at Steven's gem tool being a shield was suppose to tell the audience that for one:
Steven's personality will be closer to the pacifist solution or defensive response rather than a violent one, and for two:
that it kind of rare to see a gem tool not being a weapon, showcasing more Steven's pacifist tendencies
1:10 maybe even the diamonds realised Time Travel was way too dangerous. Also, I have a few theories
1. The Time Travel process uses a Gem's energy, and is way too draining on a Gem, taking an average Quartz soldier even a few seconds back was near impossible. Steven, being a Diamond, could travel further due to having larger energy reserves, but even then, it wouldn't go more than a month or two.
2. Maybe there was only one Time Piece, and it was being developed on Earth, and no Gems ever had enough time to get it. Either they triggered the safett measures (sinking the place for 100 years), or it was developed late into the war, that they couldn't take it out of the lab before the corruption wave.
My own way of making sense of that scene was that Pearl simply didn't specify it was Rose's shield, or maybe it "a Rose shield" since there isn't exclusively just one shield, most gems summoned multiple copies of their base weapons, like Steven has summoned multiple shields at once. But I did really like your view of it being a way for the gems to motivate Steven, especially when you brought up The Test episode.
@@LeonardoGalaxies Gems made by pink were specifically made for war, this includes rose quartz gem's. Pink was a exception because she's not a quartz, it's not normal for a quartz to start off with a non combat weapon.Pearl was covering it up and They stopped questioning it once the shield smashed the tv.
They looked happy too, which means they weren't super suprised
I agree with the take that it’s likely cause it’s literally Rose’s Shield. When Gems fuse they tend to fuse their weapons too - as a half gem they probably figured Steven’s summon would be unique even for Gems or something different
If I recall even between Gems of the same type their weapons tend to be slightly different to fit their personality much like their bodies, and Steven’s shield is basically just his mom’s
I like to think it’s because Steven is literally just using his mom’s gem
I think its more that they didn't understand steven, learning day by day just how steven actually works. as shown in the flashback episodes where pearl was going to try to rip stevens gem out. But now in this moment, they expected steven to have a different weapon. Because as others stated in the comments, weapons are unique to the users. The way gems work is, they come out the ground, then they end up summoning their specific weapon that is always unique to that person. SO in this episode they were basically assuming stevens weapon would be different because assuming he is a gem, then he would be getting a new weapon just like how they work, but he isn't a real gem, he is only half gem, and as his mom stated, half of her will be inside of steven. I mean , its possible that it is a plot hole like you said, but I think it is easily explained this way.
they probably just thought he would have a different weapon or that his shield would look different from roses shield so seeing the shield look exactly like roses surprised them
I had assumed they were just surprisedthat his weapon was used for defence rather then offense. I'm not sure, but I believe that all gems have an offense weapon (haven't watched the show in god knows how long), so while they knew rose did HAVE a shield, i think they assumed that his weapon would be her sword, or something else.
Dang i never thought about the time travel thing. ig there really is some weird stuff in season 1 that gets swept under the rug lol
i agree. makes sense they would be hapilly surprised steven had his mothers shield, as they couldn't know for sure what his weapon would be.
tho i wanna add, on the note of the specific plot hole you brought up about steven and the stevens, that the artifacts they collect are powered by corupted gems or gem shards by the most part. we learn this later on, so it's just as likely that potential plot holes like time travel devices, didn't exist before after the corruption. also the high jinx steven ends up in in that episode i think show why they never used such a device even though it might have had potential to help save more rebel gems, or even avoid the corruption all together, cause it had just as much potential to make things worse or get you lost in time. there are plot wholes, i just don't think there are as many as asumed.
Because he’s a hybrid? They have never seen anyone like Steven so they had no way of telling if Steven could even summon any of roses weapons. It’s pretty plain and simple, they even said it themselves multiple times throughout the show that they have no idea what Steven is capable of because he’s a hybrid.
Your conclusion that they are faking surprise makes no sense considering they don’t know yet his powers are tied to his emotions. Honestly, I think their reaction is more like “OMG, I wasn’t expecting him to manifest the same weapon!” I mean, I doubt any of them thought they’d see that shield again after Rose died.
They may have figured that out after his gem glows because he gets happy about cookie cat
My simple theory to this 'plot hole' was that the crystals gems didn't know how things were going to work with Steven on the gem side. But I've always had an assumption that gems weapons are based upon their personality, or other factors within themselves. The Gems may have assumed that Steven's weapon could/was going to be different and his own choosing due to depending on his emotion state, since they assumed Rose was gone as a whole, meaning no more shield or other past Rose weapons. And confirming this fact Is the episode where they run off with Gregs van and they all come to the agreement eventually that Rose Is gone as a whole and Steven Is now his own person. Turns out It's still the same weapon =w=
It could also be early installment weirdness, just little to moderate inconsistencies during the first season of a show where not everything is planned out so we have moments like this.
This is the best analysis channel I've come across. Looking forward to the non-su content as well
Much appreciated!
i think its true what you said about the hybrid part because when the gems fuse they have new weapon and i guess it just never just came in mind that he could have same abilities as his mother plus i believe they didn't even think his gem would work since he was half human and while growing up there was never a sign of it glowing minus the episode we got when they napped baby steven.
It might have been the quick progress he had made from wanting to bring out it, to bringing it out on multiple occasions so fast. Relatively speaking.
I think given knowledge from the later episodes that we are building on its a little of human hybrid and emotional support along with mostly, they all have multiple weapons. I think the only thing they were surprised about was that the first weapon he summoned was the shield because they were uncertain if he would be able to summon a weapon at all (because of him being part human) and because they all have multiple weapons.
We see how many weapons Pearl and Amethyst have. Sapphire doesn't have a weapon so we only have Ruby's weapon to influence Garnet but Garnet is the one without variety with her weapons. We see later that Rose had swords and cannons and other weapons, all different varieties of types as opposed to Pearl and Amethyst with Pearl only having variations of lances (I believe that's the right word, they kinda vary but they are all stabby stick adjacent) and Amethyst only having whips.
So in combination of them not knowing if he would be able to summon a weapon, which of Rose's many weapons he would be able to summon and which would be his first, and then just emotional support of the excitement that he is feeling explains his shock. Imagine how disappointing it would have been for Steven if he really wanted one of the weapons in particular and that wasn't the one he summoned or if instead of this being a huge episode thing, it happened like many of his other powers where he just randomly discovers it while something else is happening and he's super excited and they're like yeah, duh, of course you could do that, we're just happy you can do it at all since you're human. It would be devastating for Steven. So I think most of their "shock" is hey you can summon weapons and the "surprise" is hey your first summon is a shield and the overzealousness of the response was for emotional connection to both Steven and the audience.
I think the simplest solution is the gems didn't know if he had powers. It's been a while but they said that it was ok if he never got his powers so they had some doubt. They recognized Steven was a unique case so it was a shock he was even able to manifest a weapon. The weapons also link to the personality so it was probably a surprise that Steven would even have a shield.
summoning shield was one of the first gem power steven used thats why they were surprised
It's great that they didn't mention the shield because they wanted to wait and see if there'd be something different but also because they know he is no longer Rose and shouldn't be compared to her.
I always believed the gem's reaction was for seeing Rose's shield again for the first time in a while as well as also seeing a half-human be able to summon the same shield that protected them from the diamond attack. As for Pearl's "Steven, it's a shield" i think it was less of an 'I can't believe it's a shield" and more of a "Steven look, your weapon is a shield"
Wow, this is one small discrepancy that always bothered me. I always assumed I was the only one. Thanks for validating me!
I'd like to be able to believe the second theory. Usually the writing and consistency are so on point. And yet the first explanation still seems more likely to me somehow.
We're neglecting an important option. Gems don't have a concept of inheritance. A Gem has never been born from another Gem. They all manifest uniquely, even among a given batch of same Gem-type siblings. They barely understood anything about Humans before Greg, and mostly it was Rose who learned from him, the rest all mostly learned from Steven. The concept itself may have never even crossed their minds.
Valid
I always thought it was because they were unsure if steven was able to use rose’s powers
Honestly I think its more so just: "Oh my god, its Rose's weapon again!"
Its surprise, simply that they would have been surprised no matter what happened. Not to mention that the shield surely has emotional significance for them.
My personal theory was that the shield wasn't Rose's weapon of choice. Instead, she prefered the sword, as it was specially forged for her. Only utilizing the shield as a secondary tool.
although the weapons they summon are different fromt he "material weapons" bismuth makes.
@@proclarushtaonasat She made the summoned weapons too. Not all of them, but it was implied to some
@@NicoleColenico the summoned weapons are holographic, like their bodies. jasper was said, to have emerged from her hole with her helmet on. it is however possible, to incorporate physical components into the weapons, as seen with bismuths upgrades. also gems can store physical items in their gems (at least pearl can).
in the early days of the show, ive seen comments about how pearl could supposedly summon infinite money from her gem, since she "created" police tape that one time. but now we know, that she didnt create police tape, she just stored it in her pocket dimension, and pulled it out later.
@ I see
Something cool, its shown in one episode that rubys weapon is like a hand hammer, like garnets, but only one hand, and tiny so i believe that sapphires is ALSO a little hand hammer
The reason I thought they were surprised is that, up until this point, Steven didn’t really show any gem powers in his life, and it’s been years since Rose’s passing, so it’s possible they just assumed gem/human hybrids just didn’t have any powers.
The easiest and most likely answer is it’s a plot hole. But it’s fun to think that they faked surprise considering they are not strangers to lying to Steven. There could also be a bit of relief there. pearl going “it’s a shield” could be her relief that rose’s shield is still intact. Preserving what little is left of the one she loved.
I think they were expecting a sword or a shield or a 3rd possibility that it could be a wildcard. But even then, they probably didn't think it would be an exact copy of his mother's. I think they were expecting some slight design differences, which is why i believe Pearl was the most surprised of it being a shield. Now steven has a weapon that many gems off planet would instantly recognize and assume it's his mother in a different form, which is what happened when he met the diamonds. I think it's the main reason why pearl had her own shock face scene when garnet and amethyst had their own shocked reactions
It's clear that there's a lot of SU fans in your channel, if you don't want to be stuck with SU content, but still want to appeal to the same audience, here are a few suggestions of shows that I feel like are also popular among SU fans:
Adventure Time + Fionna and Cake (there are many channels bringing AT back at the moment)
The Owl House
Gravity Falls
Infinity Train
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
If I recall correct this would be the first time the gems could confirm that Steven was going to get specifically Rose's exact capabilities or if it would just be those of an entirely new gem. Finding out it was rose's shield would be quite the pleasant surprise.
personally i think that the gems mightve thought hed have his own weapon or the sword possibly. maybe they thought hed have something weaker for a start, since they know that shield VERY strong. interesting theories though, i find these very possible too
my assumption was just that the original plan may have been that rose's shield looked or acted different than stevens captain america shield
or maybe rebecca had not writen everything and about rose and later in the series she just thought "ok steven has a shield, rose too"
I think that they were happy to see part of rose loving on through Steven. Her iconic shield would still be with them even though rose wasnt
The way Pearl reacted in that scene always made me think that she forgot that Rose Quartz had a shield for a weapon. I just hand-waved it away as the writers not having everything figured out so early into the show. At this point it's hard to tell what was intentionally part of the story and what was just done for the spectacle of cool magic. I always considered the latter for this first episode.
I figure they reacted like that because they were expecting him to summon her sword first, not the shield.
Rose's sword isn't a summoned gem weapon, it's a physical item forged by Bismuth. The gems didn't know where it was, but they couldn't expect Steven to summon it from his gem.
The sword didnt come from a gem tho, it was forged by Bizmuth as a physical sword, and as far as i can remember only Pearl can store physical objects in their gem
I good reason for why hey we're surprised is because how would the gems expect that steve n would inherit Rose/pink diamond's shield? A gem and a human never had a child together ever in the history of the universe, so it's not like the crystal gems would be like "oh hey, steven has her gem, so he should have her powers" and as parents (technically) they'd be surprised at his first usage of gem powers.
i like the idea that they knew it would be a shield and wanted to keeo it a surprise, but i prefer the idea that their awe when it was finally summoned, was real.
i know time goes by in the blink of an eye for long lived gems, but we saw how they were when rose was gone for like, a couple weeks or however long it was since steven was born and the gems kidnapped him as a baby lol.
they really miss rose, and pearl in particular was anguishing over it and the secrets she had to bear alone going forward. its no shock then that her, Garnet, and Amethyst were all in awe of the shield, a (partly) physical reminder of Rose's legacy, looking the exact same as the day each of them first saw Rose wielding it, no deviations or anything, after like 12 or 13 years of her absence.
I always thought it was because he was a human hybrid child that showed no signs of having any powers like his mother until that point. Not to mention she fought with a sword and didn't materialize any other weapon despite being proficient in many. So.... yeah. No questions but lots of answers.
This was the first of his powers, apart from super strength. Summoning a shield is absolutely gonna be surprising.
I assumed (after finishing the show) that it was because they didn't know steven could access his moms powers/shield
It's not even plot hole dude, their reaction is that they never saw a human have gem powers before.
You forgot the baby episode where they legit thought baby Steven is rose? they doesnt' even know what human baby is
It was exactly the same as his mother’s. Beginning the show-long identity arc.
My theory is they probably assumed it would be her sword, as the sword was not accounted for, the gems may have assumed the sword was in the gem
When i do or show a trait that apparently a predecesor of mine in the family also did everyone who knew about it acts with surprise at seeing me do it.
My theory is just that they were surprised because they didn't think his powers would ever activate. After all, this is the first time a gem had ever even become a human before. For all intents and purposes, they could have been surprised over anything, even if he had the healing tears come back sooner instead of retrieving the shield first.
The first time his gem ever began glowing and the first time he summoned anything both happened in the same exact episode. The crystal gems saw his gem begin to glow the first time only to summon nothing, which would have likely made them assume a false alarm, and also confirmed their internalized suspicions that nothing could feasibly come from him.
Top that off with the fact that Steven literally power scaled from normal being to universal being in all of four years from his powers is just even more absurd. Like, he was only 12 in that first episode - this was confirmed later on when Connie says she's 10 and Steven admits to being 12, saying that his physical age is actually pretty dependent on his gem, just like the appearance of other naturally formed gems is based on their own gem.
Steven does have one in-show birthday, but it's when he turned 13, and he's 14 by the events of the movie, with Future seeing him get a glow-up all the way to 16. In addition to that, he reaches the literal peak of his abilities in Future. The dude goes ballistic and nearly shatters White Diamond by mind controlling her and forcing her to slam her head into a pillar as tall and as thick as she is. He shatters Jasper and then revives her by pushing the pieces back together and pouring the tears of the other Diamonds and some of his spit into his bath tub. He becomes a literal kaiju monster, like damn. All in four years. Crazy.
I think they were surprised _exactly_ beacuse his weapon was the same. In "Three Gems and a Baby" we see how they each had to come up with ways to understand what Steven was and to cope with Rose's death. Whatever ways they came up with, they had to have a core idea in common:
"Steven is NOT Rose, Rose is gone"
It was the only way they could accept her loss, but they could never be sure of it since they couldn't remove his gem and see what happens like White did. So what I think happened is that they got surprised exactly because he ALSO had a shield. Because this would bring all those doubts all over again. Maybe he was not really something different than Rose. If all gems, even if they're of the same type, have different weapons, and Steven's weapon is the exact same as Rose's, even with her custom war patterns that she added on later, this could mean that maybe she was still alive in the gem and he was just a human baby. Maybe they could bring Rose back.
I'm sure they've discussed this possibility a LOT throughout Steven's childhood, and probably even talked about ways to prove that his gem was not just Rose stuck in there, like Lapis's mirror. And probably one of them was to see if his powers would manifest like a new gem or not. And since they were emotionally forced to accept that Rose was gone and Steven was something new, they were probably not expecting the exact same shield, hence the surprise
Sure, the Gems are discovering Steven's powers along with him. I think it's really easy for people to forget the earlier parts of the story before all the big reveals happen, not just Steven Universe, Star Wars for example has so much mystery in A New Hope but of course now fans can say that Leia is a Skywalker, Anakin was Kenobi's padawan etc etc
Eh, the time thingy is easy to explain. It goes by the "if you try to fix it, you'll cause something worse to happen" logic. Trying to save Pink, therefor, could result in a much worse outcome.
They probably just don't understand that Steven has rose's powers, they thought that maybe the human half is like a fusion of rose and Steven, so seeing Rose's shield was surprising
It would of been really funny if he summoned pink diamonds version of the shield (the one we saw in Change Your Mind)
because it was rose's of course
I don't think they were very surprised. Pearl was probably in awe since she adored Rose and possibly still wondering if she was somehow alive. It could also be that they just didn't believe he would ever be a full fledged gem since he's part human. Remember to very loosely quote Rose, "gems come out they way they are supposed to be and they stay that way forever." They may not have believed he would ever be able to fully access his powers someday in that episode, but then realized his gem powers would grow slowly like with his human half.
Omg i never thought of this
They could have expected his weapon to be different and based on who he was although in that situation I wouldn't expect Pearl to be surprised I'm actually kind of surprised that she treats Steven as a separate entity as much as she does after this considering he has her shield it actually kind of at least to me shows that Steven might be more Rose than we think
First video I've seen from your channel! (probably,) read your name as toesnooper for a couple seconds.
Toesnooper is crazy
Personally even if I do believe that Steven's identity as a human plays a role in their reactions I also believe the main reason why they were so surprised is because of what the shield represents. Back then the gems saw Rose as the best of the best, as the ultimate gem, an inspiration for all of them and they also knew the shield was very powerful
Steven on the other hand... The gems didn't really see that much value and power in Steven. They thought low of him. In a way it's because Steven was just s child back then and they weren't familiar with concepts such as growing up and maturity so they probably thought that all what Steven was was a goofball and an irresponsible annoying human, why would a person such as that have the power to walk on the shoes of the great Rose Quartz? The gems probably thought
At least that's my point of view
To me it sounds like none of them thought it could be ROSES shield remember in the flashback episode when the gems kidnaped Steven they where convinced he was rose the whole point was for them to finally come to accept that she was gone forever and Steven isnt her if were trying to connect dots i think the emotional impact of seeing a sign of your dead friend and lover still living would shock anyone
When the episode aired it proved that Steven and Rose shared something special in soul and mind I guess?.. later on we'd find out that Rose didn't truly figure out how to make a human/gem hybrid. The reality is that Rose discovered a way to self-sacrifice her own consciousness to begin anew as the concept of a baby. Steven is a concept that grew anew within Rose's gem and that's what Steven truly is. Rose is gone in mind, but not in body. That's why the leaders on home world were so sure Steven was Rose in disguise... because in truth... he kinda is. It's just they had no idea that Rose committed the ultimate RP sacrifice... a permanent mind wipe. '
Some folks argue to me that this act of hers was a form of escapism from her problems, but also mayhaps a means to restart her life as a lifeform she had gotten lovingly obsessed with.
In alot of lenses, Rose quartz comes across as a kind of fricked up person.. but I guess what can we expect from a troubled sister to a home of space nazis.
I like Steven Universe because it wasn't afraid to make their characters flawed as heck. Some argue this makes the show lame, but as an adult I can really appreciate the difficulties of it all.
Like Steven loving and hating his mom after all the trauma... whilst also knowing that he has this inescapable connection to her... its really something else.
maybe it wasn’t a surprise exactly but they just hadn’t seen her shield since rose passed
If I recall correctly it was the first episode, the creators maybe didn’t have rose figured out yet
Nah. Unlike some humans, gems are smart enough to know not to mess with time travel.
I think it's a mix of the Hybrid theory and Act theory.
Watching SU, I'm convinced Sugar killed some guy in the alley and took his scripts. I'm only being slightly hyperbolic, but I genuinely believe that she got them from somewhere else because the early episodes, as you say here, aren't exactly consistent to what happens later.
Bro it's literally the first episode, I doubt everything was written yet
@@RedStoneMatt rebeccca had concept art of the show long before it aired.
@@toonsnooper not sure a concept art can be compared to the depth and extent the entire plot goes to
Again, it was the first episode. Even in a perfect universe where everything was written from the beginning, it would still make sense for the first episode not to be perfect, as things tend to be adjusted as production goes on, and rebecca isn't the only person on the crew
Which is what is meant by plot hole as was stated in the video.
@@toonsnooper Which I agree with 👍
I do agree that the series has a lot of inconsistencies, but I have some opinions though
1) The time travel device seemed like it can't be used to change the past, like when Steven tried to warn his dad about the car washing incident
2) It seems that not all gems shared the same weapons, for example the rubies have shown that they have different weapons between each other.
So they consider Steven a being different from Rose, so it is obvious that they were expecting him to have a different weapon, cause he could be a "rose quartz" but he is not rose.
3) SU is really vague about gem weapons, cause it kinda implies that not all gems can create them. While rubies, amethyst, jaspers and other quartz can create their weapons cause they are warriors, other gems don't seem to have that ability (Lapis, Bismuth, Peridot) and rely on artificial made ones, one example Aquamarine.
Other weird example is that Pearl seems to not create her spear, just that she has a ton of them, I do not know if Rose created her shield or someone made it for her. Probably she created it, since she is a diamond, she should be able to create weapons too.
I still want to know what fusion weapon Alexandra had. I saw some fanart where it was a sickle and chain with Sugalites wreaking ball was the weight on the end, but I don’t know if they ever actually confirmed what it would be
May make a video on the diamonds weapons
Maybe they are just surprised he can actually do it
Bruh you’re forgetting the biggest detail - the gems didn’t even know if he’d have any gem power to begin with. Steven is the first of his kind. They didn’t know what to expect or what he would or wouldn’t be capable of.
They were genuinely shocked because they didn’t know is his gem could do anything. They were genuinely shocked just to see it glow. They literally don’t know the first thing about a gem-human hybrid because they didn’t even know it was possible until Steven was born. It’s as simple as that.
And the media literacy award goes to…..
Not your mom
For me it's just that they were reassuring him what it was because, well, steven was really stupid back then
Steven and the Stevens is canon actually in future Steven remembers watching all the clones die in the episode Growing Pains
It's a recton, They ruined the gem weapons with the reveal that Bismuth is the creator of all the Crystal Gem weapons, thus it would have made no sense at all for him to have a different weapon when all of their weapons were made by Bismuth thus just normal weapons themed around each gem with tons of copies instead of their own unique magical weapon based on their personality.
Yet they never explain how fusions can fuse their weapons nor how Steven can change the size of his shield which align more with the weapons being magical manifestation of their gem. Nor how Bismuth upgrading their weapons copied the upgrades to all the tons of copies they already got, nor how the gems never ran out of the copies of weapons throughout the hundred of years with Bismuth gone.
I really wish they stuck with gem weapons being a unique thing for each gem and manifestation of their personality as the show started and heavily leaned into until they blew it up with Bismuth being behind everything which took the magic out of it
Steven and the stevens was canon I think cause in future in his trauma flashes it was one of them
You already anwer it
And im sure rose did use the time travel thingy 🧐🧐🧐
i wished that steven's weapon is a pink glock 19 instead of a shield.
I mean, the gem’s weapons are extensions of who *they* are, right? So Steven ≠ Rose, there’s a high likelihood if he didn’t share her ideals of “protect and heal those I love” he wouldn’t HAVE a shield
1:52 something.. entirely NEW???
Where did we go? What did we do?
I wonder what the diamonds gem weapons are (spoiler free which is why the wording is the way it is)
I think we should first wonder if diamonds have weapons at all. What I've noticed is that gems have either some power or a weapon. Gem soldiers like quartz and rubies have weapons while non soldier gems have powers (sapphire, lapis, ...) Proof to this is that we never saw Lapis summon a weapon and Garnet's weapon is basically Ruby's weapon in double instead of a combination of two distinct weapons as we see for other fusions. What about Pearl then ? Well, one theory could be that she learned to do it (remember she told Steven in this episode that summoning a weapon requires great work while Amethyst, a quartz, told him she "just does it") Diamonds have power that we have seen them using. I have two theories on why Pink had a weapon. She either gained it like Pearl or because she's a diamond, her shape-shifting powers are so perfect she can copy the power of the gem she changes into: she became a quartz thus she has a weapon. I think the first one is more likely since in Garnet's flashback, when she tells Steven how she became a Crystal Gem, neither Pearl nor Rose used their weapons. Pearl had swords and Rose was bare-handed.
Diamonds are seens as gods so they would probably never use any enhancement/tools because that would imply they're not perfect on their own
I plan on making a video on what their gem weapons could be ✍🏽
interesting little tidbit
the time relic cannot change bad events from the past as we see in the episode every time you try to prevent or change a bad event So I'm the one who asks you why the hell would the Diamonds try to use this thing to change the course of the war? It would only make everything worse like maybe this time Bismuth won't be trapped and actually shatters Pink Diamond and maybe even Blue and Yellow the relic of time is not a plot hole it is just a very useless religion the diamonds are not idiots they would never use such crap