"You KILLED me..."
— Pink Steven
Steven Universe: Gone Wrong
is a Darker and Edgier Steven Universe fancomic by Spudinacup.
This is an alternate universe fancomic that explores what would happen if Spinel's Rejuvenator actually inflicted damage on Steven and killed him. Pink Steven appears in his place and poofs Spinel before she can do anything else. Now the remaining Crystal Gems and Pink Steven must go through the events of Steven Universe: The Movie, with the repercussions of Steven's death affecting the whole situation.
The comic's biggest talking point is how graphic and detailed Spud's artwork is, to the point of being called on the level of, or even surpassing, the show itself. The comic really started gaining massive attention after comic dub YouTuber Cougar macdowall Va dubbed portions of the first chapter.
Steven Universe: Gone Wrong contains examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Steven's death naturally causes this for everyone close to him.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the original movie, Spinel was a Tragic Villain who went through a redemption arc. Here, however, she is not as sympathetic since she brutally murders Steven, and after Pink Steven rejects her apology, she immediately tries to use her Rejuvenator again onto him.
- All Deaths Final: No magic can save Steven because he's half-human, or "organic" as Peridot puts it.
- Alternate Self: Pink Steven. As in canon, he's the full Gem component of the real Steven. Now, with the real Steven gone and Pink Steven being affected by Spinel's Rejuvenator, Pink Steven begins to suffer something akin to an identity crisis.
- An Arm and a Leg: Steven's right arm is sliced off by Spinel. Rose's healing tears appear to have reattached it to Steven's body, but unfortunately, that's all it did.
- Anatomically Ignorant Healing: Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth have no idea how to heal Steven, who is a half-human being.
- Anyone Can Die: In the very first chapter, Steven dies from Spinel's Rejuvenator. And quite messily too. Yikes...
- Argument of Contradictions: Lapis desperately tells Peridot that Steven can still live, but Peridot doesn't think so since Steven is half-human, meaning that Gem magic isn't going to be as effective on him (if at all).
- Atrocious Alias: As a Call-Back to canon, Lapis identifies herself as Bob to Pearl's gem, much to Peridot's outrage. Pearl interprets it as "Mhn'Bob".
- Ax-Crazy: Spinel is even more deranged in the comic compared to canon, considering she appears to have taken glee in murdering Steven.
- Backhanded Apology: Spinel's attempt to defuse Pink Steven from killing her.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Sort of. Spinel was able to effectively kill Steven with her scythe, but it's more of a Pyrrhic Victory: Pink Diamond doesn't come back. Pink Steven does, violently rejecting the remorseful Spinel.
- Bearer of Bad News: Bismuth is the one to inform Greg that Steven, his only child, is dead.
- Berserk Button: Steven's death hits Lapis especially hard, making her more prone to anger. Justified, considering everything Steven did to help Lapis in canon.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In a flashback, Greg scolds Steven for running away from him, though he toned it down. Much more dramatically, Greg uses a bat to shatter Spinel's gem because she killed his son.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Bismuth tells Lapis and Peridot to stop arguing while trying to heal Steven.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Compared to other SU dark fics, this one is incredibly bloody.
- Break the Cutie: Everyone in Steven's entourage is affected by his loss, but the one hit the hardest is his father Greg.
- Broken Tears: Lapis, Peridot, and Greg's breakdowns from Steven's death.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: A main symbol used for this fancomic, combined with the show's existing symbiology of butterflies representing persistent, intrusive thoughts:
- During the beginning of Chapter 2, glowing butterflies are present when Pink Steven is washing his hand.
- When Pink Steven looks back at Steven's corpse and butterflies begin to emerge.
- Cheerful Child: Steven during the Flashback in Chapter 3.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Some panels have Pink Steven drawn with noticeable shadows under his eyes. Likely to better express his Tranquil Fury.
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
- Steven has his arm cut off painfully by the Rejuvenator before Spinel cuts his gem right out of his body.
- While she's technically not dead, Spinel is poofed by getting stabbed in the back with glass diamond fragments by Pink Steven.
- Darker and Edgier: The entire premise of Steven dying brutally is certainly going to make this fan comic stand out from all the rest in terms of darkness.
- Dark Fic: Widely considered one of the darkest, if not the darkest fan comic in the Steven Universe fandom.
- Dead Fic: The comic hasn't updated since October 2020.
- Death Glare: Pink Steven is good at giving these.
- Death of a Child: The plot revolves primarily on the death of Steven, who's canonically 16-years-old as of The Movie.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- Peridot most certainly crosses it when Pink Steven kisses Steven's body in an attempt to revive him, then she clinges onto the cardiograph, only for the readings to stay at 0. She then crumbles, resigned, and clings onto Bismuth.
Peridot: "No improvement."- This is however nothing compared to Greg, as he slowly realises that his boy is dead, then goes through some stages of grief before finally tearfully breaking down.
- Determined Doctor: Lapis and Peridot, despite not being doctors, desperately attempt to bring Steven back to life at any cost.
- Downer Beginning: Spinel kills Steven after poofing the other main Crystal Gems, with only his pink half coming back.
- Dramatic Irony: Bismuth telling Steven that gems don't shatter each other. Funny saying that considering what she did back then.
- Exactly What I Aimed At: A variant. Since he was hit by Spinel's Rejuvenator, Pink Steven cannot maintain his shield, so he instead uses his shield shards to poof Spinel.
- Failed a Spot Check: Played for Drama when Greg arrives at the beach house and immediately embraces Pink Steven, while failing to notice that the rest of his son is lying dead on the couch.
- Fan Verse: The AU started to grow in size rapidly and many memes and alternate endings have since spawned.
- Five Stages of Grief: Several are displayed in rapid succession when Greg spots Steven's body on the couch, going through Shock, Denial, and Depression.
- Flashback Cut: Bismuth briefly explains Spinel's Rejuvenator and how it was used during the past, and Peridot realizes it will revert the Crystal Gems to their original forms.
- Flashback Echo: The beginning of Chapter 3 is a flashback to when Steven was a toddler and runs off by himself, freaking Greg out that he lost his son. It clearly parallels with the current situation the characters are put in.
- Foregone Conclusion: Given the movie's plot regarding how Steven had to learn to accept change and how 'there is no happily ever after' to get his powers back, it is easy to assume that the story will follow the same path, with Pink Steven eventually regaining his powers in order to bring Steven back.
- Foreshadowing: The title card for Chapter 4 references the High School AU promos, featuring a baseball game with Greg as the batter and Spinel pitching. This hits very differently after Greg, left alone with her bubbled gem, notices a baseball bat within reach.
- Hallucinations: Pink Steven sees several of these involving his dead human half rising up from the couch and crawling toward him, with his eyes and mouth bleeding profusely.
- Hates Being Touched: Pink Steven, which Bismuth notices.Bismuth: Really don't like being touched, do ya?
- Heal It with Water: Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth attempt to heal Steven by using the water from Rose's fountain. All it did, from the looks of it, was reattach Steven's severed arm.
- Hero Killer: Once again, Spinel brutally murders Steven, the main hero.
- Heroic BSoD: So far, everybody that wasn't hit by the Rejuvenator has been deeply affected by Steven's death. However, Greg probably has to worst reaction upon finally noticing his son's body on the couch.
- Ignored Confession: Spinel's apology is nullified by Pink Steven, who brutally attacks her.
- Ignored Epiphany: Spinel is genuinely horrified about how she wound up killing Steven while trying to poof him... until Pink Steven rejects her apology and attacks, and she realizes that he's still not Pink.
- It's All My Fault: Greg blames himself for Steven's death, wondering whether it was a mistake to let him get so involved with Gem stuff and learn more about his heritage.
- Jerkass Ball: Lapis in Chapter 2; she is desperate to save Steven by any means, but her emotions get the best of her as her aggressive behavior causes her to clash with Peridot and Bismuth. Partly justified as Steven's death made her deeply upset, especially considering that he is the one who saved her and fixed her gem. Bismuth thankfully talk her down back to reason.
- Light Is Not Good: The butterflies from "Mindful Education" are back, this time symbolizing Pink Steven's identity crisis.
- Loss of Identity: A persistent theme:
- While Pink Steven goes by simply Steven, the death of his human half casts a pall of uncertainty over this. He's Steven, but not all of Steven, so... just what does that mean?
- As in Canon, the Rejuvenator causes the Gems struck by it to lose all their memories and reboot back to their original states. Witnessing Pearl as a cheerful servant clearly makes Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis deeply uncomfortable.
- Missing Child: In a Flashback sequence in Chapter 3, Greg briefly loses Steven when he wanders off.
- Mood Whiplash: After Bismuth tells Lapis to calm the hell down, Lapis immediately goes from being berserk to her usual composed self.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- During Chapter 3's Flashback, Greg is utterly horrified upon realizing that his son vanished while he was briefly distracted.
- Lapis initially declares that dealing with the Rejuvenated Pearl will be no big deal, even deciding to have her call her Bob as something they can joke about after she's restored to normal. After accidentally customizing her, and getting to see firsthand just how differently Pearl behaves - and how hard seeing her like that hits Bismuth - Lapis clearly regrets making light of the situation.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Lapis and Peridot unintentionally mess with Pearl's regeneration, causing her to recognize the former as her "master" Mhn'Bob.
- In an effort to keep Pink Steven from returning to the house and interrupting his grieving father, Lapis tries to restrain him with a water hand. This earns her a Death Glare as Pink Steven debates attacking her and the remaining Crystal Gems.
- Not Quite Dead: Although the real version of Steven is dead, Pink Steven emerges.
- Lighter and Softer: Relatively speaking, chapter 3 isn't quite as gloomy as the prior chapters as it has a few lighthearted moments to balance out the angst.
- Only Sane Woman: Bismuth takes charge of the remaining Crystal Gems as the voice of reason and tries really hard to keep everyone from falling apart.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Bismuth tells him what happened, Greg, the man who once told his son that "hate" is a strong word, spots Spinel's bubbled gemstone and tries to shatter her with a baseball bat.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Subverted; Pink Steven attempts to shatter Spinel with her own Rejuvenator, but Bismuth stops him.
- Power Nullifier: Pink Steven tries to bring his organic half back to life by kissing him, but missing his humanity and especially his powers because of Spinel having hit him with her Rejuvenator, it doesn't work out.
- Precision F-Strike: When Pearl begins to regenerate, Bismuth's first reaction is to exclaim, "Oh fuck..."
- R-Rated Opening: The comic opens with Pink Steven cradling his own corpse, followed by a graphic flashback of his murder at Spinel's hands... and scythe. While it certainly has other bloody moments, the tone shifts to more of a psychological drama after the prologue.
- Rage Breaking Point: Lapis becomes gradually furious until she reaches the point when gravity of the situation strikes her in chapter 2.
- Rejected Apology: Pink Steven downright denies Spinel's "apology" for killing Steven.
- Saying Too Much: When the rebooted Pearl is regenerating, Lapis is taken aback by her request for customization details. Peridot starts ranting about how little Lapis knows about Era One Pearls, and their ensuing conversation leads to Pearl mistaking Lapis' Parrot Exposition for orders.
- Scars Are Forever: Pink Steven has a huge diagonal scar on his stomach, right where the real Steven was stabbed by Spinel.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: When Pearl regenerates, she has a completely new outfit based upon Lapis Lazuli's own attire.
- Slasher Smile: As Spinel swings her scythe down, you can see her smiling menacingly as blood splashes all over her face.
- The Stoic: Pink Steven. Not only is he virtually mute, he shows absolutely no emotion whatsoever.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: When Spinel is poofed, Pink Steven attempts to shatter her gem by driving her scythe into it. Bismuth stops him before he can go through with it.
- Tears of Blood: Dead Steven has these in Pink Steven's hallucinations, along with empty eye sockets.
- Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Despite his shield being shattered into shards, Pink Steven still uses it to take Spinel down.
- Tranquil Fury: Pink Steven appears to be in a perpetual state of this; his expression is completely stoic but it's easy to sense that he's not at ease in the slightest.
- Trying Not to Cry: Bismuth repeatedly fights back her emotions, struggling to step up as the defacto leader of the remaining Crystal Gems. This includes holding back her tears upon seeing Steven's body, and later trying not to weep upon witnessing Pearl post-regeneration, reverted back to a cheerfully willing servant for Lapis.
- Was Too Hard on Him: After scolding his young son for wandering off during a flashback sequence, Greg quickly feels guilty and tries to cheer him up.
