History StevenUniverse / TropesAToD

* {{Acrofatic}}: Steven can hoof it when he needs to, and his dexterity doesn't suffer much either. He lampshades this by reassembling his Together Breakfast after it flies through the air by catching each piece one by one back on the plate.

* {{Adorkable}}: Nearly every character, but Steven, Connie, Greg, Pearl, and Peridot are the most obvious offenders.[[spoiler:Even White, Blue and mostly Yellow Diamond have cute and awkward moments before and after their redemption.]]

** Take Amethyst for example, she seems like a {{Adorkable}} JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but don't you dare make fun of her or her origins (though she somewhat got over this), or take away her ParentalSubstitute for a prolonged period of time or she ''will'' get you.

** Connie is Adorkable, but is stressed and upset for not being able to make friends, and is raised by very strict parents, and has a lot of tear moments.

** It also seems that the more stable and kind a fusion is, the better they'll appear. Stevonnie looks like a perfectly normal teenage girl (though the fact that they're 75% human may be a reason for this too). Opal and Rainbow Quartz are beautiful, with one odd feature each (extra arms and eyes, respectively). Garnet is practically perfect with only one extra eye (and likely because Sapphire only ''has'' [[{{Cyclops}} a single eye to begin with]]). Sardonyx has extra eyes and arms but is beautiful regardless, while Sugilite has the same features but looks monstrous. Malachite is the most monstrous fusion so far, as she is composed of hate and revenge.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Despite gems being able to live and colonize pretty much anywhere, both other planets Steven has been to were ones humans can inhabit, at least temporarily, by total coincidence:
** While the Gem Homeworld has no water or food (since Gems don't need them), the air is still breathable, temperatures are humanly tolerable, and gravity is not noticeably different than Earth's surface.

* AbortedArc: Peridot's Twitter. Originally updating semi-frequently after its introduction, it suddenly stopped after "Alone At Sea", came back after "Earthlings" for a series of Tweets of Peridot screaming about what happened in the episode, and then stopped again. Why it stopped after that is unknown, but considering that Lauren Zuke (the one running the account) left the show, it looks like it won't be starting up again anytime soon. Peridot [[https://twitter.com/PERIDOT5XG/status/867195583810764800 did eventually tweet again]], albeit after a 9 month and 14 day hiatus. And then went back into hiatus after a single tweet.
** A subplot involving Greg making a new album, "Water Witch," is dropped without comment after the first season.

* CreatorCameo: Rebecca Sugar sings "Love Like You" from the end credits and also provides the distorted voice emitted by the wailing stone in the episode ''[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E46TheMessage The Message]]''.

* CluelessMystery: Blue Zircon eventually understands the reason why she's been called to trial by Blue Diamond to act [[spoiler: as "Rose's" defense attorney. The established witness accounts and testimonies of how Pink Diamond suffered her untimely end ''don't make any sense''. Once she realized that, Zircon was able to point out Pink was bizarrely alone and without any of her court or Pearl being present to warn her. The murder weapon in question: a sword, is also impossible, as Rose's sword can never shatter a gem. Zircon pointed out only another Diamond would have been in the position to assassinate Pink. Unfortunately Zircon was unable to go as far as speculating the motive or reason behind Pink's murder, before [[TranquilFury being flattened by a wrathful Yellow Diamond]].]]

** The Canadian Flag has green instead of red in the show's universe. It is unclear whether this is true of other flags inspired by St. George's Cross.

* DrivingQuestion: In season 5, specially after "The Trial", a new mystery arises to haunt Steven, which becomes something of a central plot point: [[spoiler:What truly happened to Pink Diamond?]] Near the end of the season, [[spoiler:the WhamEpisode "A Single Pale Rose" answers this question. Now, the driving question is what Steven and the Crystal Gems will do with this knowledge.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: This trope flourishes in ''Steven Universe'', especially common among the Gems. Its actually kinda hard to find a character who ''doesn't'' had one.
** The Crystal Gems themselves were this tropes best victims, with special mention to Pearl and Amethyst. Poor Pearl didn't have many friends besides Rose, who was basically the key to her happiness, though of course wasn't to last. Amethyst is the one life seem to have despised the most besides Pearl, being a product of the Kindergarten, a machine that brought great destruction to the Earth and its inhabitants which led to a war that lasted for a millennium, and not to mention being stranded at the same place for a VERY long time. And this is only ''half'' of what Amethyst went through.

* DrivingQuestion: In season 5, specially after "The Trail", a new mystery arises to haunt Steven, which becomes something of a central plot point: [[spoiler:What truly happened to Pink Diamond?]] Near the end of the season, [[spoiler:the WhamEpisode "A Single Pale Rose" answers this question. Now, the driving question is what Steven and the Crystal Gems will do with this knowledge.]]

* DubNameChange: In Latin America, all the gems names are changed to their faithful translations in Spanish (Pearl to Perla, Amathist to Amatista, Yellow Diamond to Diamante Amarillo, etc) with the exception of Garnet and Peridot. There is an [[InconsistentDub inconsistency]] with Pink Diamond name, as it varies between Diamante Rosa and Diamante Rosado, both correct regardless. The name of the group, the Crystal Gems, is only translated in the opening song as "las Gemas de Cristal" and the song "Who we are" of the [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie movie]], but it remains unchanged in the show.

* {{Adorkable}}: Nearly every character, but Steven, Connie, Greg, Pearl, and Peridot are the most obvious offenders.[[spoiler:Even White,Blue and mostly Yellow Diamond have cute and awkward moments before and after their redemption.]]

** Because fusion is depicted as a transparent metaphor for relationships, including (but not limited to) romantic ones, each episode in which is occurs stresses the message of consent always, always ''always'' being 100% important.

** A rather dark aesop happens in "Room for Ruby," when Navy--the gentlest and most girly of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad five Rubies]]--makes her way back to Earth and reaches out to Steven, wanting to join the Crystal Gems and live on Earth. Throughout the episode, Lapis is mistrustful at how Navy seems so cheery and unbothered by previous events and how different Earth is from Homeworld. Sure enough, it turned out to be a ruse just to get to the Rubies' ship, [[BitchInSheepsClothing which she then commandeers]]. Steven points out that she could have just stolen the ship from the start, but Navy cruelly responds that gaining Steven's friendship and then hurting him [[ItAmusedMe was more fun]], then she dumps Steven, Lapis, and Peridot into the ocean and flies off. The moral? Be wary of people a little ''too'' easygoing and eager to please and are a little ''too'' perfect in how they gain your friendship. There's always a chance they might have ulterior motives.

** Finally, in The Battle of Heart and Mind we get a point made about perfect which Gregg tried to teach us back in season 1. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U1vBNMHOrA If Every Porkchop Were Perfect We Wouldn't Have Hotdogs.]]

* AndCallHimGeorge: "Legs from here to homeworld" starts out with Blue Diamond doing this to Steven after learning that he is technically her long-lost beloved Pink Diamond.

** As the series goes on, it deconstructs Steven's AllLovingHero status. Several situations post-Cluster force Steven to learn that being a pacifist won't always mesh well with the [[GreyAndGrayMorality morally-complex world that he lives in]]; many threats can't simply be talked down, like Steven became efficient at doing during Season 2, and sometimes Steven [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption is left with no choice but to resort to violence in order to save himself]]. Considering this leads to [[spoiler: Jasper's seemingly-irreversible corruption before being bubbled,]] among other problems with other antagonists along the way, this actually leads to Steven ''[[HeroicBSOD breaking down]]'' due to blaming himself for failing to succeed at this, and the problems continue to linger onwards despite a StepfordSmiler demeanor.

* BaseballEpisode: "Hit the Diamond", where Steven and co. make the [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Ruby squad]] play baseball in order to get them away from Peridot. If the Rubies won, they could search the barn, and if they lost, they had to leave Earth for good.

* BaseballEpisode: "Hit the Diamond".

'''[[SuddenlyVoiced Tiny Whale]]''': ''(with Rose Quartz's voice)'' What ''do'' you want. Steven?\\

*** As of "Off Colors", it's revealed that on Homeworld, permanent fusions best case scenario is losing their job, and worst case is being permanently separated or even shattered.

** In "So Many Birthdays", the Gems are frantically trying to keep themselves calm and positive because of Steven's RapidAging giving him mere seconds to find a solution before it kills him. Doubly stressful as being half-Gem, he can die whereas the others can hardly grasp the concept, let alone cope with this knowledge. Triply so as Steven's the reincarnation and remnant of their leader, Rose Quartz whom they had already lost to child birth and were about to lose again.

** [[spoiler: Blue Diamond]] as well, to an extent. [[spoiler: Compared to Yellow she is substantially easier to talk to (even having a heart-to-heart conversation with lesser lifeform Greg in her introduction) and has shown herself to be fairly open-minded on several occasions. That being said, she is still a diamond with all the conquest and slavery that entails. A few lines of dialogue in the movie even imply that she might have been in charge of inacting punishments within their empire, which would of course include countless shatterings during her [[TimeAbyss long life.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Pink Diamond]] would also fall here before her time on Earth changed her perspective on everything. [[spoiler: Given that her old role was to arrange parties and lift the spirits of the other diamonds it's probably fair to say that she was always a nice individual, but she also didn't seem to see those beneath her in the heirarchy as anything other than amusements and annoyances.]] This is perfectly illustrated in the movie [[spoiler: where she left Spinel alone and slowly going insane for 6,000 years purely because she had become bored with their games.]]

* CentralTheme: The series covers the idea that [[ThePowerOfLove love]] comes in an infinite amount of forms, [[ThePowerOfFriendship including platonic and '''especially''' familial and self-love]]. Every mini-theme traces back to this:

* CentralTheme: The series covers the idea that [[ThePowerOfLove love]] comes in an infinite amount of forms, including [[ThePowerOfFriendship platonic and familial]]. Every mini-theme traces back to this:

** [[spoiler: Pink Diamond]] would also fall here before her time on Earth changed her perspective on everything. [[spoiler: Given that her old role was to arrange parties and lift the spirits of the other diamonds it's probably fair to say that she was always a nice individual, but she also didn't seem to see those beneath her in the heirarchy as anything other than amusements and annoyances.]] This is perfectly illustrated in the movie [[spoiler: where she left Spinell alone and slowly going insane for 6,000 years purely because she had become bored with their games.]]