My Final Thoughts on Steven (They aren't good)
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
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The epitaph on Steven Universe's gravestone will read. "It could've been Great."
Go watch She-ra
Okay, four thoughts:
*1.)* Wasn't Steven's metamorphosis into a monster more of a reflection of how he saw himself than how he actually was? That's why he could change back when he let himself accept his family's love.
*2.)* How come Rose is suddenly allowed to regret her destructive actions, but Steven isn’t? That’s a blatant double standard.
*3.)* “Stuffing a new character in ___’s corpse”
Who are you to set the maximum dimensions to which a character can explore conflict? Why is it always “betraying his previous character” rather than “displaying further dimension that we didn’t see before”?
*4.)* Yeah, but…war. Like y’know, war? That highly traumatizing thing that Steven had to deal with that Greg didn’t? I'd be irrationally upset too if I had to spend my childhood being a makeshift psychologist for space veterans.
1) That's definitely a valid interpretation of the kaiju I'll totally give you that, But I'm sure you can see how that didn't really mesh well with the rushed/enitrely unseen resolution, making recovery seem like an easy single trigger fix.
2) Steven didn't regret it. It was not addressed. The yelling a P Pearl that is. He gasped a little but, no recognition was given to him recognizing the fucked up thing he did, and *no* acknowledgement that Roses yell was also an accident. The show is presenting the opposite of what your saying, I'm trying to call that out. Steven is allowed to be nuanced and Rose isn't. That's Bull.
3) Of course characters are allowed to display other unseen side of themselves, but I'm arguing Steven's character is not written well, it does not hit like him naturally being bi-polar due to mixed emotions and trauma, it feels like inconsistency and making writing excuses for him to do genuinely out of character dick moves, without ever following through to prove them true to him.
4) Did I say Greg had it worse or something? I don't think I did. At no point am I trying to minimize the fact that Steven have been through *some* *shit*, my pseudo layout of what Future could have been in the beginning of the video says that just well. But that absolutely does not give Steven a pass to act as cruel and scapegoat-y as he is toward the wrong people. Not without ever calling it out at least.
There was a valid story here to tell about Steven developing and dealing with Ptsd manifesting as rage and denial. This wasn't it. This was insulting. We all deserved better. And what we were given is going to hurt people.
@@CherryTreatsArt
1.) I appreciate the validation of my interpretation, but I still question what was rushed and unseen about the resolution. Criticizing a conventional story for having a longer rising action than a falling one seems counterintuitive. After the surmounting of “the great ordeal” there’s a limited amount of time you can keep your audience’s attention before investment starts to wain, look to the end of *_Return of the King_* for an example. It’s just a limitation that’s inherent to the medium of seasonal television. That’s why all the tidbits about him getting therapy, leaving his old home behind, and saying goodbye to his loved ones are there. It implies that those smaller stories of healing did and are going to happen (most likely in the fashion that the gang has done in seasons prior). Just because a story leaves some loose ends doesn’t mean the work of art isn’t complete. It’s asking the audience to tie them. That’s how it gets people to think about its themes.
2.) Giant Pink Kaiju anyone? His guilt and regret was part of the anxiety that transformed him into Barney the Stressed Dinosaur. Why do you think he called himself a monster? Shows can make points beyond a single episode. In fact, they need to. Installments in a season of an episodic show are like chapters in a book; you can’t fully understand the significance of one without the context provided by the others. To say that Steven didn’t regret his actions is to ignore the obvious agony he felt in the subsequent episodes. Seems more like you’re Texas Sharpshooting a presumed conclusion here.
3.) “I’m arguing Steven's *_out of character._* It does not hit like *_he’s in character by_* being bi-polar due to mixed emotions and trauma. It feels like him *_being out of character_* and making writing excuses for him to do genuinely *_being out of character_* , without ever following through to prove they’re *_in character_* for him.”
Conclusion: “Steven’s out of character” -> “because he’s out of character.”
There’s a lot of “what” in that statement, not a lot of “why”. That’s the interesting bit that lends itself to further discussion.
4.) Be that as it may, that episode was trying to unsettle the audience as buildup for the climax at the end of the season.
Instead of trying to pigeonhole who was in the right, I suggest trying to view that episode as a cautionary tale of a father and son losing touch with one another. I mean, the title card references Pink Floyd’s “wish you were here” for a reason. Steven doesn’t need to be a shining beacon of hope all the time, and Greg doesn’t always have to know how to comfort his son. People have their limits, and it’s sad, but that’s why forgiveness and understanding is so important in the first place. So that we can still function together regardless.
If you want this series to tell emotionally resonant stories with its characters, you’re just going to have to accept that those characters can be dicks sometimes too because angst and alienation are just as much a part of being human as love and togetherness. The bad stuff gives the good stuff weight. Steven isn’t ruining the series by being angry. He's emphasizing the joy he will feel at the end.
I think I might've overdone it a bit.
Oh get ready, if you think you overdid it:
I understand your interpretation entirely, but I feel like you are relying too much on authorial intent and too little on actual execution. And you may be misunderstanding what I find objectionable about Stevens actions in the season. Still using the break down format this really helps keep this together.
1)The story structure you’re describing was not ideal in this application especially how the implemented it. The moral and context they were building up to the climax was about the complexity and difficulty of both getting through to someone in Stevens position but also the long road to recovery that is required after that. Using the basic build until the one final all consuming enemy, that can be tamed by a single oversimplified act of love, and then pushing past all the important aspects of Steven’s recovery, directly undermines and minimizes exactly what the season was building up to. It was a structure that could ever truly portray the topic they chose and it cheapened everything. With a normal story, and a normal writing team, this mistake would only be a disappointment to me as a long term fan, in a vacuum this imbalance between build up and release is not world ending. But with Steven Universe’s reputation. And the topic they chose to tackle. It was infuriating. Sugar and her team have been put upon this pedestal of good moral writing and representation. She’s been titled and elevated as someone who helps people find themselves, work through their real trauma by connecting with her stories. She has an amount of soft power that is unrivaled in anyone in this genre. This genre that is primarily children and young adult who cling to these stories for comfort, and for codifying how the see the world. Her decision to skip around and only allude to huge section of Steven’s development, to exaggerate his lashing out to rebounded abuse, and only have the real confrontation come at the last possible moment gives the impression of abuse and trauma being,
One: a one moment fix, that if you get past this one blowup intervention incident, everything will fall into place
Two: That people who are displaying Pstd like Steven is, are both justified into acting the way he did (no one told him he was crossing the line, no one he hurt in the moment verbally fought back, the only negative light on his actions came from his own regret) (The Greg and Pearl incidents specifically *Needed* to have him called out. He was *wrong* about what he was saying and doing, he put people in danger and he was specifically intending to hurt them verbally) AND that anyone who is displaying trauma is *dangerous* Stevens violent lash outs (not the Jasper one thats a different context to be clear) not being addressed by others and resulting in several people almost dying directly implies that is an expected result of being hurt. It’s teaching people to be scared or people with trauma.
2) I can give you the kaiju fully representing only Steven’s self perception, but mildly begrudgingly. I was interuperating that as both how he sees himself and the culmination of his pink anger form finally fully manifesting. It felt like both. They clearly stated to the camera no less, that it’s Steven view of himself, but contextual it also seemed obviously connected to his pink form(trauma and anger) reaching it’s peak.
3) Full disclosure, my first response I gave you was at 5 am after not having slept for 27 hours or so, so yeah I definitely lost a little coherency and got redundant, apologies about that. But what I was trying to express was that: A character can show another side of themselves given a different lens or context. But there needs to be, not necessarily a line of logic per se, but a grounded and established baseline. For a couple not perfect examples. Varien for Tangled the series. He went about a 180 flip for several seasons into villainy, and in that time he not only change alliances but his moral code, everything changed, he took pleasure in harming his former friend as he took his anger out on them, he irrationally blamed Rapunzel for problems she didn’t cause but also couldn’t fix for him. His villain arc is somewhat of a condensed(and better executed) version of Future Steven’s. But the key difference is we saw it happen naturally, it felt natural because it happened slowly in stages and in relevant ways. He didn’t hurt or hate people he didn’t feel were at fault, he had rationalization for his choices that were bad but made him feel justified. His downward spiral into lashing out in trauma was followed by the audience, so it felt real. It was Varian pushed to the brink of desperation. But it was undeniably Varian.
Steven on the other hand, he lashes out at *everyone* His anger blink into the audience’s view out of nowhere and then he directs at people that *Steven* Steven would never want to hurt. It’s not that it’s unreasonable to get him to that point, I’m not arguing that Steven should not have anger issues, that is the core of this story. But they didn’t make it feel natural, the skipping around on the timeline all throughout future did it absolutely no favors. It feels negatively disjointed and it shows most in Steven. The writer has to show us a character changing you can’t just be like, it been three months of course some shit happened! This is also the criticism I have with Garnet, it’s not that it’s bad that she is suddenly comfortable splitting up, it’s that they didn’t show us that development. It’s jarring and not in a good way.
4) Okay okay okay dude no, there’s no pigeon hole here. What Steven did in the episode with Greg is inexcusable, there’s no, “well neither is perfect” Steven was the most shocking piece of shit in this scene and it literally blew me out of my seat. But Steven doing bad things and hurting people is not a point against the storytelling, the point against the storytelling is that is wasn’t called out, and never atoned for. It’s another example of the season and every character in the show letting Steven do horrible things under the shield of trauma. Trauma can make you act like this, but it doesn’t mean you are excused from the consequences of hurting people. Intent is everything. Steven, in that moment, wanted to hurt Greg verbally, to hurt White. That needed to be positively addressed. He needed to apologize to Greg. To explicitly state he fucked up.
If you want a series to tell an emotionally resonant story, you have to make the characters make sense. Make them real people. Steven being angry or a dick is not the problem, Steven being violent is not the problem. Steven’s movement to that mind space, and his movement out of that mind space are. The other characters personality and agency being basically gone is. Greg being a doormat, Connie being scarce, Pearl and Amethyst and Garnet not working harder to seek out talking to him about this. Being oblivious to most things happening, is the problem.
The story they wanted to tell wasn’t the problem, their bad writing and set up was.
Can't we just have our own opinions and let that be that. I'm mean really guys
*[I deserved better... all i got was 1 episode, and that's all]*
And they also created a huge useless drama about you... Yes Peri, you deserved better
You Were My Favorite Character In Steven Universe
I Was In Utter Rage When You Were Barely In Steven Universe Future.
1 episode suks we needed like 5 episodes for you
Seriously ur everywhere
You deserved a whole series
Demonization of Pink got really old really fast
a friend of mine suggested it was in order to demonize fighting back at oppressors
@@Dante45p yep! Same message for bismuth. Use kind words and give endless chances! If you actually fight back youre WORSE than them!!
No for real it just them slandering and defaming a dead woman, pathetic
@@Dante45p yeah, if you’re abused and treated like you’re lesser, never fight back! If you fight back, all the harm that’s inflicted, including the harm inflicted by the abusers is on your head!
Not only that, but abusers are just misunderstood! They actually love the person they’re abusing! Originally I loved the idea that the abusers changed cus they realized they were the ones who drove off and killed their “youngest sister”, but then SU kind of went off the rails morally.
I was hoping Jasper would be the one defeating Bluebird because she reminded Jasper of what horrible mess Malachite was.
And when Bluebird would see Jasper siding with Steven, she would unfuse out of confusion and Eyeball would start desperately question Jasper about why is she protecting Steven, and Jasper would say that she made the exact same mistake once, fusing into something bad, really bad, that gave her power but fucked her mind up. Lapis could step in, remarking what she said in Alone at Sea, that she was sorry because she treated Jasper horribly and, worst of all, they made a fusion with absolutely no free will, no voice, no life. (It's my Malachite trash fan side speaking...) so that both they would have started moving to a reconciliation, no complete forgiveness, but at least being in good terms.
Eyeball would be all like:
"But you are Jasper! The war Hero! The perfect Quartz"
And she'd roar at Eyeball that she didn't know her really, all she knew was an impression of her, what she wanted to appear to hide her traumas.
Eyeball would then break down in tears, about every lie Pink Diamond told and Jasper would at least try to be decent for once and comfort her, because she felt the same, but Pink wasn't there anymore, Steven was, and he wasn't responsible for his mother's mistakes.
Then Aquamarine would try and attack Steven but Eyeball would poof her, bubble her, send her to Homeworld's justice and then burst in tears while hugging Steven saying she was sorry.
This way they would conclude Bluebird's arc and Jasper would at least be on her way to be a better person, admitting her mistakes in front of the Crystal Gems, Lapis and Steven. Amethyst would be there saying "Good job, Sis".
You know... THE HINTED SISTER RELATIONSHIP THAT WAS NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN??
I was hoping it would be explored and culminating in a healthy fusion between Jasper and Amethyst that would kick ass and reinforce their bond.
Also Ame bringing Jasper back to the Famethyst and have all of them hug Tsundere!Jasper that won't admit she likes it but smiles a little while all the others are piling on her in a huge hug.
BUT NOOOO... they had to give us useless episodes like "A very special episode"
So about the sis part,are all quartz soldiers practically sisters since their diamonds are like their “moms” and they all come from a kindergarten?
Lapis should be the one apologizing to Jasper.
@@iceheart9044 all gems are siblings when u think about it
Though my feelings towards Steven aren't as intense as yours, I understand completely how you feel, especially when Future handled the subject of Rose. I feel like there's a clear divide between the Steven was asked Blue in CYM 'How many times did you make her cry?' and the one who rolled his eyes in annoyance toward his mother after learning about Pink Diamond's connection to Spinel. And at first, I was disappointed with Steven throwing his mother who, as far as canon is concerned, *literally gave her life for him* under the bus. But I thought that since they were bringing up this point so early that they were setting up an arc for Steven.
I feel like at first, they were beginning to show parallels between Steven and Rose's own life. Both seen by their loved ones as perfect, messianic figures who could do no wrong while deep down still cooping with massive trauma and anxiety.
I feel like Steven's Wyrm transformation was a missed opportunity. Through the last few episodes, it was established that Steven's 'Pink Attacks' are a result of his gem reacting to his anxiety and PTSD. It's a defense mechanism that's overreacting because he's stressed and insecure. If that's the case, why would he feel cornered by own family who only wants to help? I think a simple solution would have worked here. In 'An Indirect Kiss' Steven made it pretty clear that he believes that the love and care he receives from the gems was dependent on how closely he could mirror Rose and act as emotional support. He felt like he was never allowed to show vulnerability for fear that his family would almost literally fall apart. And now that the gems have 'grown up' he feels like they're one good excuse away from cutting him out of their lives. So maybe when they go to confront him, Steven gets defensive, maybe even a little personal by dragging out *ALL* of their dirty laundry!
He could call out Pearl for making him feel guilty for existing and only loving him when was able to be her 'replacement Rose'. For Amethyst for feeling like he couldn't talk to her about how he felt because he saw from 'On the Run' how much worse Amethyst had it. And for Garnet for *appearing* to be the responsible adult who was calm and collected, but Steven always had to be the one to patch things up between Ruby and Sapphire in both Keystone Motel and after the truth of Rose's past got out. And maybe then Steven would be justified in calling out Greg for never stepping in when all this gem stuff was getting serious.
His Kaiju form is basically representative of a panic attack. He's scared, angry, and confused. Having the Diamonds and Spinel show up should have been the straw that broke the camel's back to trigger his past trauma! He'd be forced between a difficult family talk and staring down four gems who all came close to *murdering* him and his family.
But he didn't specify that being the case. And maybe he'd be justified in a twisted way to feel angry towards his Mom if he admitted he felt like he was under constant pressure to be like her only to find out that even she was far from perfect. Maybe then Pearl would admit that he's really angry at *them* because he should know by now that all Rose ever wanted for him was to be happy and live life how he saw fit.
Rose absolutely deserved more than a little blurb from MegaPearl. Steven needed to acknowledge that yes, he may not be Rose Quartz, but he is Rose Quartz's *son* And like it or not, he can't change that. If Steven's character was more consistent, he'd have learned to let go of his anger towards his Mom and learn to accept and even love her again. He'd admit to the Diamonds and Spinel that he doesn't really forgive them because of the pain they all caused him and that he doesn't want to be around them anymore. And that like his mother, he wants to go off and find himself by journeying across Earth. They'd show that he's healing, but it'll take time. Him calming down from his monster form should have been the start of that healing, not the whole process.
Really though, I still adore this show and these characters, even Steven. I do very much think they dropped the ball with him and with his arc about his life paralleling Rose's. I do hope this doesn't become the issue that kills SU as a whole for you, as I enjoy your SU content (especially the animation you collabed with Palezma on) but that's your choice and either way, I'd respect it.
To be fair, Greg's parenting lacked system and discipline. Because of that, Steven got himself into so many dangerous situations and risked his life while saving the day a couple of times.
Greg never got involved because he refused to get into magical stuff, but with that scene in SUF it does present a good point: Greg should've been more in control. He let Steven dive into gem business too much and his human side is overlooked.
So, in a way, both Greg and Steven had a good point, but Steven used wrong reasons to present his argument (due to his limited understanding of how his very existence is a nuanced thing) and Greg was careless to say Steven had a better life than he did.
Yes exactly. Someone once said this,and it’s pretty true. Greg wasn’t a dad,he was like a *friend* he doesn’t seem like a parental figure but instead a friend
@@iceheart9044 I mean, he wasn't even living with his son, and in the light of all of this House Guest seems even more sad as an episode...
@@hueyfreeman6262 Steven's life was always in danger and he brushed it off which led to his traumatic experiences haunting him. He never learned a healthy coping mechanism partially because his parent, his true guidance in life (remember, gems have no clue how to raise a child) can't deal with this stuff and kind of absolved himself from responsibility for something that was a huge part of his son's life.
That's kinda what SUF was trying to tell even if the way it told this was disastrous.
@@hueyfreeman6262 When you're actively in a dangerous situation (a war starting up again) you don't really feel the trauma right then because it's still happening. Soldiers at war literally don't have time to cry over friends that died, or they might die as well.
After two years, Steven could finally say for certain that the diamonds aren't going to go back to being bad or lash out in a way that will get someone killed, and Spinal was settled as well.
Only once everything was well and truly safe, could the trauma come to light. Which manifested in his body not knowing that it was safe at all.
It is how trauma works.
I do agree with some of these points. But I also understand what Steven Universe Future was trying to do at the same time. I get Steven's struggles to communicate to his family about his problems despite them being more than willing to help him out. I understand what it's like to deal with trauma from something (or a set of issues) that affected me negatively, and not being 100% sure how to handle it. Heck despite some of the differences Steven and I have(both big and small), I actually connect with him more in Future than I ever did in the original series(that doesn't mean I didn't connect with him in the original series at all, I'm just saying that with things going on in my life right now I'm in a position where I'm reflecting on my life a lot). Heck I even understand the new found anger issue. I used to not get angry easily at things and people, but now I find myself in situations where I can get angry easily( yes this doesn't always happen, but it does. Especially if I've been bottling up my own emotions over something)
Yes I do think Steven wasn't being super consistent with his character in future, but it doesn't mean that his original personality wasn't there at all. It just got overshadowed by his bottled up emotions, PTSD, etc. And yeah Steven being bad in the epilogue series is meant to try to reflect on how Steven was becoming like his mom unintentionally throughout the whole thing.
Now I'm not excusing ANY of his behavior or anything(it doesn't excuse any bad behavior of mine either). But I do wanna make some points of my own. If I seem like a bad person for saying any of these points, then I get it. I need to fix myself in the sense of becoming a better person. Just allow me to try. Please.
No no dude, my criticism isn't about Steven showcasing the negative side of trauma. Of course, trauma isn't pretty, people like you and I (not to be prescriptive I don't now the details of your struggles) we get beaten down by something, or a lot of somethings, that leaves a lot of scars, visible and not. Trauma can lead to erratic behavior and isn't always solved with logic, and showing the actual difficult side of that pain is not my problem with Future.
They didn't do us justice. They butchered their depiction of something complex and showed it to a generation of young people and told them this is how it's done. Expect this. It's insulting.
Steven's actions are harsh, harsher than they need to be shown as honestly, but that's not really the problem. The problem is they don't actually resolve it. At all. We see him get angry and lash out, we see him dip into wanting to kill, we see him hurt people he cares about verbally and physically, but then we don't get the response. The entire season was establishing how his trauma is warping him and *literally* five minutes is given to the healing. We deserved to see the people in his life push through his backlash in person. We deserved to see him learn and heal. We needed to see his family *work* *hard* for him. We didn't get that.
We're left with the image of a genuine monster to represent abuse victims and have it defeated with a cliche 12 second "I'll be there for you." with no follow through.
And we're left being threatened with how people will treat a victims memory if they die. You and Steven aren't bad people, Rose and I don't deserved to be blamed for how we couldn't save everyone. It's, not my fault...It's not yours.
But Rebecca basically told us make yourself easy to fix or it is.
I don't like how you keep say that they did you wrong by not doing things the way you wanted. Rebecca doesn't owe you or anyone else who watches the show any thing.
i am so glad i finally found someone who defends rose like i do holy shit thank you for saying this
I like how they are always talking about how bad Rose was but gloss over what the Diamonds did
I remember watching homeworld bound or whatever it's called and being so angry and upset that they made Spinel a freaking idiot. I mean, for God's sake, can you at least make her a little worried? Sure, she can still have jokes and other stuff, but make her worried in some way! Like make her laugh a little nervous or smile nervously throughout the episode. But nooooooo, you had to make her have the brain of a 5 year old! Nice work!
pretty much made it clear to me Spinel is just a replacement Pink and nothing else
In all honesty i dint think anyone cares but I was heartbroken that they did nothing with lars other than to give a speech. I had such strong Hope's for seeing more lars and seeing him adjust to earth again.there were so many promising story lines to give him yet they just toss him away after giving a speech about moving on.
I was disappointing about lars too there time management in general wasn't amazing.
@@CherryTreatsArt yeah, it's such a shame because the original show taught me so much and to see it end in such a way is sad.
I do feel like there needed to be that talk between Steven and Lars before he left like "Hey, please don't blame yourself for what happened, it wasn't your fault, it was your psycho grandma."
@@thewoollyviking5928 yea
Well there's always fanfiction.
Oh man. I agree with so so much of this. Especially the part about the potential they could've had with exploring PTSD better (also the part you mention about Greg and Pearl talking to him about Rose would have made the show so much better for me). Also, you have a good voice and this is strongly worded but well presented!
I guess we'll need to make more fix-it collabs lol. Anyway, good video.
The second to last episode was trash..
A hug? Seriously?
I did like it when they said goodbye though. It was nice. They lost Steven, just like the rest of us did.
and the crying scene “iTz mY fauLT TTwTT UWU” And Connie had to step in like that other episode where Steven is in space and pumpkin,Connie,lapis,peridot were “the crystal gems.” Connie did have a point,they’re THOUSANDS of years old and still act like 5 year olds. Like how tf are you suppose to tell me a hug helped a corrupted gem. In that logic,centipede could’ve just been given a hug and BOOM she’s not corrupted anymore.
I thank you... I felt something was a miss on the show...
Steven Universe is like Star VS The Forces of evil, a few good seasons then it collapsed faster than that WiFi gem tower in that one episode “Cry For Help”.
Steven Universe had a lot of wasted potential, so many people were curious about what Rose was like only being allowed snippets and pieces of what may or may not have been her real personality. We see Pink diamond as this narcissistic tempered child and then hear how Rose Quarts was so mature and helpful and nice, we wanted to see her character ark. We had no idea what to think and then Steven Universe Future came and it was like a bombshell of pure negative energy. We learn that Pink Diamond is nothing but an asshole who did nothing but create problems and refused to fix them due to simply running away. It’s like that song “Good for You” from Evan Hansen, actually no it’s exactly like that.
Pink is portrayed as this oh so evil force morphed by her own selfish choices yet what the show is also doing is ignoring who turned her into this. The diamonds, expectations, restrictions, punishments, neglect, and overall bad examples. THAT is what Pink is the product of, not selfishness, but the effect of others actions. But that doesn’t matter, because she was never redeemed, at least not properly, and why you ask? BECAUSE THEY NEVER SHOWED HER BEING REDEEMED! We never saw how she came to be Rose Quarts or how she changed so much over the years. They show earlier in the series that she was indeed redeemed and changed for the better and yet the SU team just throws that out the window and says, “No that never happened.” It’s so incredibly frustrating knowing that they WILLINGLY made that choice and thought they wouldn’t get backlash for it.
AND FOR GODS SAKE WHAT WAS IN THE CHEST?! WE NEED ANSWERSSSS
Pink/Rose is clear an abuse survivor with untreated depression/extermly low self-worth
and everything about her comes form it
its impressive they botch it up so badly her abusive parents are more liked than she is
Change your mind should’ve been the ending. The movie wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t a masterpiece either, it’s a bit repetitive and disappointing. The only episode that I liked in SUF was why so blue mainly because Lapis is best girl. Connie is the only character who didn’t become stupid. Rose wasn’t a spoiled brat or a demon. She was being neglected by yellow Diamond which made her break Pink Pearl and White Diamond is the one who mind controlled her but she’s fine, Mega Pearl’s design is cool but really. The final episode was a abomination. It completely ruined the entire show.
Through out season 1-3 I hated pink diamond/Rose like I had a burning hatred for her.
But when the show continued let’s say around season 4-5 I actually felt bad for her.. like pink diamond was mentally abused.
*the diamonds fucking Locked her up in a room for god knows how long!*
Finally someone talks about this because it fucking pisses me off that people are so blind to not see that it’s not pinks fault!
Couldn’t agree more honestly.. really wish we got to see the redemption arc we were promised about jasper. Dying to knockoff pink Jojo and becoming a mindless drone that gets shafted with no character development does not and will never count. Jasper is my favorite character oof sorry for rambling-
I am sooo glad that this video exist! It still blows my fucking mind, that there people that actually cried in the finale!
I wanted to see more space adventures and more of the diamonds and spinel we spend way to much in beach city also the part with greg and steven arguing was done just for more drama
THANK 👏 YOU 👏
I 100% agree with everything you mentioned here, and I'm so glad to see someone else bring this up! I found this after watching your video about Rose as a character, which I also absolutely agreed with.
When SU Future was announced, I was hopeful that we could get an ending better than the original show's rushed one. While I still really like the original show (and have mixed feelings for the movie), I though Future could take its time to give us a proper farewell. Instead, we got a genuinely insulting last season that suffers from writing and pacing issues. I was disappointed watching the entire thing, and it negatively impacted how I see the series as a whole. I've learned to love the original show while just pretending Future doesn't exist/isn't canon. I wish Future was more properly executed, cause it had so much potential...
I agree with a lot of these things. I feel like they could have done better if they had another season to help explore this more. And pay a little more attention to the other characters and a little more to Steven.
They overfocused over Pink Diamond
I don't believe it was Rebecca sugar fault I think it was Cartoon Network because the fact that they made her Rush this I truly think she wanted to make it really good and they forced her to be rushed
Somewhat understandable, but also not entirely. I do actually regret the jab I put in to Rebecca directly. But, the problems with this story are still the writers to bare. Even if they were rushed, and that should be taken into account, they need to stand with the more harmful mistakes they made.
If it were just bad storytelling, I would agree that CN just sucks. But this hurt people. And the topic is important, so it needs to stated.
Cherry Treats Art Yeah I totally can see where you’re coming from to I just feel like she should’ve done a better job if she has more time like we were supposed to get a Rhodonite backstory and we did not and she said it was because of time issues
Finally! Some closure I loved the first series it wasn't perfect but it still had so many things going for it that where amazing and when I watched steven Universe Future I could barely take it! Multiple times I considered stoping watching it but how could I not watch the end to my favorite series? Yet it was just watching Steven going crazy, and knowing it was all going to fall apart and it did. Like why is Garnet teaching him that you have to be stable on his own when she only every unfused for serious situations and now they are acting like Ruby and Sapphire just suddenly have complete lives separate? Also with that lapis just suddenly being like "lol don't worry I'm good and want to go to your school." I was looking forward to bismuth, Lapis and Peridot to be a part of the crystal gems and form relationships. Nope just throw out all the characters except when Steven is going insane. And you pointed out so many more things wrong with the series that I totally agree with. Rip Steven universe -should have stopped at the movie.
Some rumors are going around that Rebecca is keeping some sort of secret away from us about something possibly related to SUF. Which is total BS because when did Rebecca keep a secret from us? Is Rebecca the new Pearl? For some odd ass reason she just disappeared after that, came back somewhere between April-June and gave us a reply with, "OH weRe JusT goNnA ThiNk AbOUT it, iM goNna AlsO KeEp IT A sEcReT" and then left us off from there. I feel like Sugar is just teasing us and making fun of us just because we want something new instead of the same old shit again. I understand that she needs a break, but keeping a literal FUCKING SECRET from us is just unacceptable.
some lose ends is fine but doing major issues off screen is not
I completely understand your take and why you feel the way you do about Steven and Steven Universe Future, but honestly, Future Steven reminds me a lot about me when I was younger. I like Future because it shows a different view of Steven pushing people away since he doesn’t know how to accept help, he’s still young and it took me a long time to realize that I don’t have to ignore or push away the help others offer to me. And even though I didn’t particularly like how Steven Universe Future was laid out, I did actually like how they showed Steven and how he handled all the stress and trauma he went though, to be fair he kinda popped out as a baby and was thrown with trauma instantly and through all the rest of his life. I personally did like how Steven Universe ending since it seemed more realistic to me, but I also completely get the frustration.
This video disgusts and revolts me,
Yet I 100% agree with everything you said.
Gotta say tho,younger Greg reminds me of those “yellow diamond AU’s” haha...
WeLcOmE bAcK tO cRyStAl ClEaR
Why do i feel like in the last season they took half of the characters in the show brain cells
Edit: scratch that all of the charater’s brain cells
My thoughts about it I think what could done more background or backstory in the future one. And seen what happened in the two years. It was not bad but they could of showed more of new and old characters relationships too. Seeing two years have gone by NOT TALKING ABOUT ROSE other than that. I do agree with of this.
Can I tell you why the original series finale was shortened. It was shortened bc Ruby and Sapphire had a wedding so they lost budget on the show so it was shortened remember I’m talking about the original series guys
I'm absolutely aware of that, doesn't change the fact that everything on top of that was bad.
*=*
‘-‘ I’ll delete my comment n o w
Cherry Treats Art I mean it does make sense. People say the finale was rushed and bad,and the series was also rushed so it does make sense lol
i have never in my life been more offended by something i completely agree with
SAME
so real
She does get defensive every now and then (she herself is an abuse survivor, and many abuse survivors have different coping mechanisms and emotions surrounding the topic of such), but don't take it as her being unable to handle criticism. It just means she feels very passionately about it. They're all valid, and we need to respect that.
I think holistically that stevens (and really anyone with a connection to Rose) arc was half finished at best. Theres a certain degree of anger towards Rose that is reasonable (as emotions don't have to be rational to be valid) as part of the greiving process. But future seemed to want to focus on that "anger" stage and then skip to being all better instead of showing Steven both greving for himself and the trauma he experienced and his mother who he now has a better understanding of.
Steven 100000% has the right to have outbursts! So did Pink/Rose! Both went through SO MUCH trauma!
Although it’s hard to admit, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, and Greg were not good parents. I’m not talking about the doctor’s office thing, or living in a van, it’s the trauma. The gems aren’t human, they don’t know how brain development works, which is kind of an excuse, it’s still their mistake.
Steven had been witnessing violence for pretty much his entire life. Having lived with the Gems from about the age of 5, they had been going on missions and had come back probably hurt. If as many things got into their house then as they did in the first few seasons, Steven had to have seen quite a few violent creatures in the house.
The gems fought each other *in front of Steven.* Amethyst fought Pearl in the kindergarten *in front of Steven,* Greg and Pearl argued *in front of Steven,* Amethyst and Greg argued in that episode with the Li’l Butler show *in front of Steven,* Ruby and Sapphire fought after finding out Rose was Pink *in front of Steven,* and there are SO MANY MORE EXAMPLES!
Steven doesn’t listen to people trying to help because he’s having emotional backfire from his OBJECTIVELY TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD.
He was nearly killed several times! Eyeball Ruby tried to kill him, the various corrupted gems tried to kill him, Jasper, the diamonds wanted to shatter him, I’d keep listing stuff but it might go on forever.
He’s seen all of his friends and family nearly kidnapped, but he was taken instead.
One of his friends *died,* and would still be dead without him.
He’s seen all of the gems get destabilized (or poofed), and the first few times, he thought they were dead.
It was too much for a 13 year old to take on.
And those traumatic events show in SU:Future. He’s 16, and like a real traumatized kid, he has violent outbursts that his parental figures don’t understand and don’t know how to handle. They want to help, but they don’t know how. They don’t know how, so they ask Steven. Steven doesn’t know either.
It takes time to change. Steven went from good to bad, and now he needs to take the time to go from bad to good.
I never wanted to imply that Steven doesn't *have* trauma. He does. His PTSD, his depression, his *anger*, all of the is justified.
I'm arguing that the Crewniverse wrote these things terribly. They wrote the gems responses to his pain terribly.
As I set up in the beginning, I wanted to see this cast handle these issues. But I feel like that flattened and caricatured this trauma in a way that was unhealthy to show people and insulting to me.
And I'm not talking about it not being pretty, I'm not saying Steven isn't allowed to lash out and do bad things as a result of his mental illness. I talking about how those actions are addressed, both internally and from his family.
Greg *let* Steven hurt him. Didn't lay out to Steven that he's projecting and lashing out and that's not healthy. They didn't *talk*.
Bismuth or Spinel didn't tell or show Steven how to deal with his sudden impulses to kill White. To act violently. No one helped him with real coping mechanism. They didn't *talk*.
Pearl never rebutted Steven putting all his hatred onto Rose so he didn't need to face living people. She and Greg never sat him down and defended her, told him who she was. They *never* *talked*.
He just boiled and boiled under the surface until the last goddamn second and had all of these fundamental, nuanced, *difficult* problems fixed with a single grand gesture. And then implied progression off screen yet right at the end, still showing to us that no one has learned anything.
None of them communicate their feelings even with their final goddamn lines.
We deserved better. *Steven* deserved better.
@@CherryTreatsArt All of that is totally true.
Thank you for clarifying! So you don’t hold it against the characters, but the writers. That is very understandable.
I just had the realization that the hug at the end of the second to last episode didn’t make any sense. A hug, in real life, would not have fixed that situation. Now, yes, I totally agree! Wow I have some stuff to rethink.
Oh and the diamonds! You hate how they suddenly went from bad to good? No real development, they just met Steven and everything was miraculously better. Their transition from bad to good should’ve been more realistic instead of a fundamental change to all of their perspectives in a matter of 10 seconds. I’d probably argue that it was Steven’s miraculous nature, but no, it just doesn’t make sense.
The writers had so many good opportunities for better character development. You are so right.
I wanna clarify that I understand everything you said and wrote, but that could take a while 😅
Sorry, I started ranting again! To cut to the gist, I understand your perspective now and I agree with you.
Have a wonderful day/night! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤍🤎💕💞💓💗💖💘💝
@@ruby2manyfandoms Thank you! Exactly!
...Daaang, no WONDER I was so confused at... More than half of Future! All the episodes you mentioned, plus the rushed and generally terrible messages of the whole series combined? Yeah... I was DEFINITELY confused. I think Kiwiqueen13 handles things much better in her SU Future rewrite than... The show itself, and you DEFINITELY hit the nail on the head for how it shoulda gone down!
idk as someone who delt with parental loss at a young age and didn't get the chance to know every facet abt my parents before they were gone forever, I don't think future was trying to paint Rose as this absolutely awful person. I think it was more about how hard it can be to navigate hard truths about your parents, like choices that they made or things they never mended, and how ALL of these things that the child is coming to terms with took place in the past, bc they're parent now belongs in the past. Su and future did an amazing job at exploring and representing parental loss. Seriously so good
ALSO you can't rlly harp on Steven for being an asshole in future bc he's 16, that's like the whole point. 16 yr olds aren't going to navigate their biggest most deepest feelings with tact. they're gonna be one sided assholes sometimes, while still making rlly valid points. like for example Stevens point that he didn't have the same type of stability growing up that Greg had but didn't appreciate in his youth.
ALSO AGAIN I don't think they just scrapped Stevens original character and slapped a completely different, moodier character over what was once there.
Trauma does make you a monster, in a sense. It changes you, shapes you, burdens you, and the initial development of it once life has settled down for the survivor, can look like exactly what Steven went through.
I really think they could have portrayed these concepts better is all, it’s not just Steven struggling with Roses memory, it’s all other crystal gems seemingly also disowning her existence. And while mood swings and character flaws can *absolutely* be good character responses to trauma, I feel like they were poorly executed in Steven and poorly addressed by those around him.
At every turn no other characters acting like themselves or took action in response to Steven, Greg didn’t engage with Steven in that conversation. Pearl didn’t refute or elaborate on Rose, Spinel and Amethyst had no place in the plot at all. The situations were contrived in such a way to allow Steven to spiral by handing the other characters idiot sticks and forcing them not to act. Only to grand stand and insta fix in the last moment.
The writing was weak and every single character suffered for it.
I didn't like the ending of the show... it had so much more potential...so much more stuff i wanted to see...i..i didn't like it..
Never have I ever been offended with something I 100% agreed on but I still love that show so pls dont hate
No I love it too. Despite everything, you can only get such strong opinions if the show itself was worthwhile. It failed but fuck if it didnt hold our hearts hostage for years.
@@CherryTreatsArt yes I agree just sad to know there's gonna be people who don't know what opinions are in the comments
@@CherryTreatsArt oh and another thing thank god u r somebody that defends rose they shit on rose in this series even bro my FRICKING GOD
Honestly I consider steven universe future consider Non-cannon to the og series.
Hey, you know a show called "Steven Universe"? It surprisingly doesn't involve much of a universe at all, the only two locations that we see throughout 90% of the show are the same costal town.
12:37 Just a...small thing to point out here.
The writers of Steven Universe clearly made a decision for none of the humans in the show to react to the existence of aliens. Time and time again, between almost every human to appear (exceptions being Ronaldo and Steven's uncle and such, which all had external reasons) they each react calmly, and they aren't even always *curious.*
Now, this decision was clearly made to avoid silly "woah, there are aliens!?" scenes every five seconds. And I actually think it was a good choice. Those scenes get so annoying not just to watch but also to script, and they don't even add any substance to a story half of the time.
Taking this into consideration, it does make you wonder if Greg actually COULD have taken Steven to a doctor. Now, there would still be the obvious legal problems with citizenship and that, but I'm assuming that if this scene was ever actually written the doctor would not be too concerned with Steven's gem at all.
my conclusion to su: greg is best boi and deserves much better than the shit rebecca threw at him
Greg is best boy and Pearl is best girl. Rose had good taste with them
I feel okay with Steven universe future but the episodes were a waste And I just can't The only thing that could make it up is if they added more Episodes that was USEFUL and they made Steven RUDE!! It annoys me I would prefer IDK STEVEN UNIVERSE SEASON SIX not Steven universe future they were completely useless I strangely liked some like the one with peridot idk I wanna see everyone's feelings because I understand if they like it I guess but come on she had a chance to make it good a I thought the first phew episodes were amazing like where pearl and volleyball fused but I wished they gave more advice to Steven he wasn't ignoring his family on the first phew episodes maybe when he ignores Amethysts advice but sometimes people can be carried away almost everyone in the show has then the one episode with Greg I wish Greg told Steven what he did was completely wrong and at first he says it's his dad's fault and other stuff gets upset but he says something else that's wrong with him it completely CHANGES And I don't understand like what's his problem come on Steven universe future was a mess and I miss Steven universe I guess I Think him leaving beach city Will give him a break and he'll change but Getting mad at pearl Amethyst and Garnet because they didn't cry or show it Is horrible I wish he wasn't like this if Steven universe ever comes back I want Steven to change And I might edit this comment again to talk about spinel.
I really like how Steven universe end of course it had its bad moments but still😢😢😢
CYM was great even if it has big
"manga got cancelled" energy
♥
lets just cut everything from Steven universe future and call it non-cannon
i don’t think him turning into a monster was so much showing that trauma makes you a monster rather than showing that trauma is difficult to deal with and with a bunch of different emotions you can start to *feel* like someone who is not an accurate representation of you. i still agree with you though, it wasn’t a good way to display that.
GO WATCH SHE-RA
THANK YOU
Hey, I know that most people won't read this but I really to let this out
I loved Steven Universe. It was my favourite for the longest time. I used to be really depressed
1. I was overweight and bullied for it and after years of it I stopped doing anything.
2. My family members either stoped caring about me or passed away in 2 year patterns
Then at the peak of it something happened. I found two shows
Adventure Time
Steven Universe
My two escapisms that helped me get better. Of course it didn't fix everything but it was the first step.
Then they make this fucking disgusting disgrace of a show. I could forgive Change Your Mind. But future? God i hate this shit. Ya know I thought the movie was great. Alot it wasn't amazing but at least it tried and had good music. Future? Here's it's pro's
A good song
Connie
Another good song
Animation.
Cons? Ha I'm not even going to begin
Sorry for formatting and or spelling
Steven = Im14andthisisdeep
Me: * starting the video * Okay, this is gonna get me mad.
I mean I definitely understand where you're coming from. Everything was rushed and wasn't very thought out, but during the writing process they were dealing with a lot. They had to work on the movie and I'm sure they probably had a lot of expectations to meet in the process. Cartoon Network only gave them so much time and so many episodes. But I still liked SUF and thoroughly enjoyed it until the very end. It sucks that SUF left a terrible taste in your mouth though ngl ;-;
"You where the chosen one!"
Ok I hate su future Steven universe was my favourite show but guess what every thing is ruined in Steven universe future I wish this series was like steven universe...
Its meh
Boruto =korra