History StevenUniverse / TropesAToD

* AnAesop: Even though the show is very plot-focused, quite a few episodes do take time to point out many lessons:

*** A secondary Aesop is that betrayals of trust, even if they're not severe enough to completely break a friendship, [[EasilyForgiven can't be fixed with a simple apology]] and may take time to get over and you're within your rights to express how you feel. Expressing those feelings to the point of excusing bad behavior isn't right, but nor is surpressing them for the sake of defusing arguments, even if it's with a good intention at heart.

** A recurring motif in almost every episode featuring fusion is, "consent is really, ''really'' important".
** A few episodes get some humor out of immediately subverting it, the ultimate example being "Steven the Sword Fighter" where Steven hasn't even finished delivering the moral before he reverses it:

'''Dr. Maheswaran:''' You should've been done an hour ago. [...] Hey Steven, how are you doing?\\\

**Take Amethyst for example, she seems like a Adorkable Hedonistic 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.
**Even the adorable fun loving, FriendToAllLivingThings Steven himself isn't the time to upset, Just LOOK AT HIS FACE when Lars called his mother weird.
** Lapis is a graceful, cute, aquatic gem. But has been abused many times, and is pretty much scarred for life.
** Pearl hasn't been too well since Rose left, and has shown signs of grief and post traumatic stress disorder.
** 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.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther
** Occasionally the show reminds the audience that Pearl and Amethyst don't really hate each others guts, [[CharacterDevelopment especially as the show goes on]]. By the end of Season 2, their bickering has entirely stopped. This is best seen in how easily, smoothly, and casually they're able to fuse into Opal in "Log Date 7 15 2", compared to how difficult it was for them to get in sync without a life-threatening situation in earlier episodes.
** Peridot starts showing signs of this, too.

* BaseballEpisode: "Hit the Diamond".

* BigBad: The Homeworld Gems, along with their presumed leader Yellow Diamond.

** [[spoiler: Stevonnie with Rose's Sword and Gem Shield, in "Crack the Whip"]].

** [[spoiler: Stevonnie with Rose's Sword and Gem Shield, in "Crack the Whip".

** Taken [[UpToEleven to new heights]] with the Cluster itself, which takes that concept and multiplies that by millions, with thousands of Gems shattered into pieces to create a fused mass of shards that will destroy the Earth when it forms, compelled to form as it semi-mindlessly repeats to itself that it needs to become whole out of a desire to regain their original selves, berried alone in the Earth's core for over 5000 years.

** Most Gems would qualify, as they're NieInvulnerable intergalactic conquerers that although synthetic, refer to and take the forms of human females.

** It can be safe to say that Jasper and Lapis' relationship is a lot like DomesticAbuse. "Alone At Sea" really showcases this. Jasper is domineering, aggressive, and manipulates Lapis into doing things she doesn't want to do (i.e. saying how she's changed, encouraging that their relationship will be "better this time," etc.) while Lapis blames herself for taking out all her anger and frustration on Jasper and admits that even though she hates Jasper, she needs her.

* AccidentalPun: Sugilite, whose name sounds similar to "suggilate" (to beat until bruised), is an aggressive fusion who loves to smash.K

** 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. Tripply 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.

--->'''Amethyst:''' We're bad at this.
--->'''Pearl:''' What?
--->'''Amethyst:''' Yeah. You can't control him, and he shouldn't be taking advice from me, and we don't have Rose to tell us what to do!
--->'''Pearl:''' But he needs us to show him how to be a Gem!
--->'''Garnet:''' Steven is not just a Gem. There's never been anything, or anyone like Steven. We don't know what he needs.

* AccidentalPun:
** Sugilite, whose name sounds similar to "suggilate" (to beat until bruised), is an aggressive fusion who loves to smash.
** The name Malachite, which is phonetically similar to words such as malicious and malevolent, was given to an unstable, deformed fusion formed through hate and revenge. The mal- prefix means "wrongful", "bad", or "evil".

** All Gems, although technically they're genderless female-presenting beings.

** Because this is a kids' show, the audience knows Steven get killed or seriously injured, but the other Crystal Gems have a very reasonable fear for his safety.

** Greg fears losing Steven to the Crystal Gems, either by Steven's death on a mission or because Steven would leave him behind. In "Full Disclosure"
*** He has a FreakOut bordering on a HollywoodHeartAttack when he hears about Steven's abduction.

*** In "Joy Ride", Steven reveals that he sometimes thinks the Gems blame him for Rose's death.

*** In "Steven's Birthday", Steven grapples with the fear that because he hasn't grown since he was eight, he will never grow and Connie will eventually outgrow him.
** "Cry For Help" and the ensuing arc explores the fears that somebody you love may deliberately betray your trust on a fundamental level; and by that token, the fear that you could accidentally hurt someone you love so badly that they may never forgive you.

** The Gems are named after gemstones, some of which are common use names (Pearl) and others of which are little known gems (Sugilite).
** The humans have mostly normal names like Greg, Steven, or Connie, with a few exceptions, such as Onion's family.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The Crystal Gems can get away with this, having been on Earth for thousands of years. Homeworld Gems like Peridot and Jasper, however, also speak English without even a HandWave as to why.
* AllThereInTheManual:
** Initially, only the {{Tumblr}} CharacterBlog "Keep Beach City Weird" confirmed that the show is set in the [[http://keepbeachcityweird.tumblr.com/post/77096876346/someone-broke-teens-of-rage Delmarva Peninsula on the United States East Coast.]] This would indicate the show takes place in a fictional state named Delmarva in the Delaware region, which makes sense given Rebecca Sugar herself based Beach City off of beach towns in that region.
** There is a manual which was released in October 2015, "Guide to the Crystal Gems", written by the show's creator from Steven's perspective.
* AlternateHistory: The long-term presence of the Gems [[AlienSpaceBats has slightly altered Earth's history]] and geography. However, it's [[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qhuya8cSBY8J:joethejohnston.tumblr.com/post/136779799953/is-the-world-like-that-due-to-gem-interference-or+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us been suggested]] that [[NeverWasThisUniverse Earth was somewhat different even before that]].

** The physical geography of Earth's surface [[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/steven-universe/images/f/fd/It_Could%27ve_Been_Great_00132.png has some rather massive differences from reality]]: Florida is an island instead of a peninsula, while Japan is a peninsula instead of an island. South America and Africa seemed to have split apart differently, giving the former a significantly larger share of land. Oceans cut significantly further into southern India, southeastern China, western Australia, and ''especially'' northern Asia--the majority of the land taken up by Siberia and Mongolia in real life is part of the Arctic Ocean (if not an ocean in of itself). It's likely some of this came from the early stages of Homeworld's HostileTerraforming, especially the last one (as there's a gem site right in middle of said ocean).

* AmusingInjuries: Since a Gem's body is just a light construct for them to interact in the world with, most injuries can be fixed easily, allowing them to receive heavy damage that can be played as slapstick. Zigzagged when Amethyst's Gem is cracked and her body starts behaving strangely. Steven and Amethyst think it's funny and treat it like a sort of game, but Pearl and Garnet treat it as seriously as it really is. However, most injuries, particularly human ones, are treated seriously, especially for Steven's since he's a child and can't regenerate.
** Played straight when Steven appears in the 'Big Donut' with his head all bandaged up, and then it turns out he only has a half-inch scratch. He doesn't mention he got it by getting hit in the face by a brick-sized chunk of hurtling debris.
* AnAesop: Not always present, since this show is strongly plot focused, but they can be found in a few episodes.

*** A secondary Aesop is that betrayals of trust, even if they're not severe enough to completely break a friendship, [[EasilyForgiven can't be fixed with a simple apology]] and may take time to get over.

** "Ocean Gem" reveals that the monsters the Gems fight used to be Gems themselves. To make matters worse, one of these Gems, Lapis Lazuli, was trapped in a mirror, essentially enslaved and only able to communicate with recorded reflections. One of which happens to be Steven screaming.
** After Lapis fuses with Jasper to form Malachite, she drags the two of them to the bottom of the ocean using her power over water. Fusions normally split apart in the case of any disagreement, but Lapis forcefully holds Jasper in Malachite, sacrificing herself to keep her trapped under the ocean.
** In "Keeping It Together", Garnet discovers that shards of Crystal Gems defeated in the war were buried together and forced to fuse. The results are conscious enough to form human silhouettes, reach out for help, and scream in agony before turning into horrific masses of limbs that attack everything looking for their other pieces..
*** In a more literal adherence to the trope, the Cluster was able to scream while lacking a mouth.
** For ages, fans wondered about the nature of the possessed scroll that could be heard screaming in multiple voices from "Together Breakfast". The creators [[http://joethejohnston.tumblr.com/post/124934472083/hi-sorry-this-has-been-bugging-me-for-a-while eventually revealed]] that it was painted using the grounded dust of shattered Gems as pigments, and was essentially their tortured souls lashing out.

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Parodied in "Gem Drill" when [[spoiler:the Cluster starts to awaken, and Peridot]] apologizes to Steven for not being able to save him or the "billions of other life forms who matter far, far less to me!"

** Lapis has far more flowing, graceful animation than most of the main cast, reflecting both her aqueous nature, and how much more serious she is than them. Especially apparent when she's alone with Steven, whose jerky animation and childlike personality contrast hers.
** Rose also has carefully animated hair, as her large curls are detailed and can often be seen moving and bouncing with the smallest movements of her head. This helps portray Rose's sublime beauty, which many characters refer to throughout the series.

** The Gems' temple is described as "omni-dimensional", so it could be assumed that this is the case.
** Lion's mane exists in a PocketDimension of its own.
* ApocalypseHow: Implied in 'Monster Reunion' that [[spoiler: a Class 3A occurred 5,000 years ago, when the Diamonds unleashed some sort of white light attack that corrupted all of the gems on Earth, turning them into monsters. The only survivors of the corruption were Rose Quartz, Garnet, and Pearl, who were protected by Rose's shield, Amethyst, who had not yet emerged from her hole, and Lapis Lazuli, who was trapped in a mirror.]]
* AprilFoolsDay: The ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa'' crossover aired on April 2 (to fit the show's schedule of new episodes on Thursday, else it likely would've aired the day before). Part of the prank also included one of the staff members considering it a canon episode, although the episode says otherwise.

** "If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs." A saying of Greg that gets repeated a few more times through the show, which represents the shows theme that nobody is perfect, and that this makes the world a nicer place.

** In "We Need to Talk", Greg becomes worried that Rose [[LovingAShadow can't tell the difference]] between ''loving humans'' and ''being in love with a human''. When she doesn't take his concern seriously (confirming it in the process), he confronts her about it:

** In "Joy Ride", not only does Steven reveal that he sometimes thinks that the Gems blame him for Rose's death, they ''attack him'' while he's in Peridot's pod, as they think he's her.
** In "Say Uncle", they are understandably worried when UG shows up, especially after he fires weapons at Steven, and even attack him because they believe he's a threat to Steven.
** In "Sworn to the Sword", Steven is legitimately afraid that Connie's going to get herself killed to protect him, and that Pearl's instilling an unhealthy mindset.

** "Catch and Release" has Peridot sneak into Steven's room and ''kidnap him'', drag him to the Galaxy Warp, and demand he fix it at blaster-point.
** In "Steven's Birthday", Steven grapples with the fear that, because Steven hasn't grown since he was eight, Connie will eventually outgrow him. Not a very common situation, but a very common feeling.
** "Gem Drill" has Peridot's reaction to Steven's telepathic, empathy-driven panic attack while facing the cluster. They're already in a life-or-death situation and out of nowhere, Peridot's best friend just starts sweating, clutching his head and stomach, moaning in pain, and having trouble breathing, and Peridot has no idea what's happening or how to help him.
* AerithAndBob: The Gems, of course, are named after gemstones and the humans have mostly normal names like Greg, Steven, or Connie. Except Onion's family are all named after ''food'' that aren't typically used as names, and Peedee's name is completely fictional. Since many gem names (Pearl, Jasper, Ruby) are also human names, the Gem's names themselves could count as this.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The Crystal Gems can get away with this, having been on Earth for thousands of years. Homeworld Gems like Peridot and Jasper, however, also speak English without even a HandWave as to why, although they might have influenced the language on Earth.]]

* AmIJustAToyToYou: This was a question Greg felt the need to ask Rose early on in their relationship, as seen in "We Need To Talk". Up until that point, even though they were both very smitten with each other, he'd been getting the impression that she didn't really see him as an equal. As it turns out, due to differences in their respective cultures, species, and planet of origin, [[NobleBigot she actually didn't]]. It's strongly implied that their relationship following this conversation is what finally changed her views.

* AmusingInjuries: Sometimes. Since a Gem's body is just a construct of light for them to interact in the world with, most injuries can be fixed easily with varying amounts of time, allowing them to receive heavy damage that can be played as slapstick. Zigzagged when Amethyst's Gem is cracked as her body starts doing a ton of crazy things. Steven and Amethyst think it's funny and treat it like a sort of game, but Pearl and Garnet treat it as seriously as it really is. However, more often than not, injuries, particularly human ones, will be treated seriously, especially for Steven since he's a child and can't regenerate.
** Played straight when Steven appears in the 'Big Donut' with his head all bandaged up, and then it turns out he only has a half-inch scratch. He doesn't mention he got it by getting hit right in the face by a brick-sized chunk of hurtling debris. Half human or not, he is tougher than he looks.
* AnAesop: Not always present, since this show is more directed at the actual plot, but they can be found in a few.
** "Love Letters": You shouldn't blindly pursue a relationship with someone you don't know. "We Need to Talk" goes into this as well, exploring the first steps in Rose and Greg's relationship and how different they are.

** A recurring motif, appearing in almost every episode featuring fusion is, "consent is really, ''really'' important".

*** Steven is both the child of and effectively the ''reincarnation'' of Rose Quartz. Since Pearl was ''in love'' with Rose, and all of the Crystal Gems idolized her and looked to her for leadership and emotional support, this causes problems for young Steven. It doesn't help that the Gems aren't familiar with human procreation, or even the ''concept'' of "children"; on more than one occasion, Pearl has even accidentally ''referred to Steven by his mother's name,'' and Jasper can't even grasp that there ''is'' a difference. Worse still, due to [[BizarreAlienBiology the unique nature of Gem biology]], by any normal Gem standard, ''she's not wrong''.
*** Amethyst, having been the product of a horrific project with the goal of birthing more gems by ''killing all life on Earth'', and which was the entire ''reason'' for Rose Quartz's rebellion, has issues with her origins, considering herself to be (and believing others see her as) a "parasite". She also strongly defines herself by what Garnet thinks of her; in "Reformed", this leads to her effectively ''mutilating herself'' in an attempt to gain Garnet's approval. Peridot's revelation in "Too Far" that gems of Amethyst's type are supposed to be much larger and more physically powerful--akin to Jasper's body type--and that in the caste system of Homeworld, Amethyst would technically outrank both Pearl ''and'' Garnet, doesn't help matters, either.

** "Ocean Gem" reveals that the gem monsters the Gems fight used to be Gems themselves. To make matters worse, one of these Gems, Lapis, was trapped in a mirror, essentially enslaved and only able to communicate with recorded reflections. One of which happens to be Steven screaming.
** When Lapis fuses with Jasper to form Malachite, Lapis drags the two of them to the bottom of the ocean using her power over water. Fusions normally split apart in the case of any disagreement, which Jasper ''tries'', but Lapis holds her into the fusion so now they're both trapped together in a body they're forced to share.
** In "Keeping It Together", Garnet discovers shards of Crystal Gems defeated in the war were buried together and forced to fuse. The result was a conjoined mass of limbs that's conscious enough to form human silhouettes and scream in agony before turning into a horrible monster, which was seemingly conscious enough to recognize Garnet and silently reach out for help. In a more literal adherence to the trope, the Cluster was able to scream while lacking a mouth.

* AnimalMotifs: Cats, cats and more cats. You've got Lion, the cat fingers, Cookie Cats and Lion Lickers, Tiger Millionaire and Purple Puma, Peridot's cat-esque mannerisms, ''SwatKats'' being on Uncle Grandpa's list... (As a matter of fact, it's possible that the Crewniverse and Rebecca Sugar's viewing of ''SK'' in the 90s might be why there's so much catness in this show.)

** Sugilite sounds similar to "suggilate" (to beat until bruised), and she's an aggressive fusion who loves to smash.
** Sapphire is close to "sapphic" (lesbian) - like her love with Ruby.
** Malachite is reminiscent of words that start with the mal- prefix, meaning "wrongful", "bad", "ill" or "evil" (such as malicious, malevolent or malfunction.) She's an unstable, deformed fusion formed through hate and revenge.
* {{Acrofatic}}: Steve knows how to hoof it when he needs to. His dexterity doesn't suffer much either. He even lampshades this after reassembling his Together Breakfast after it flies through the air by catching each piece one by one back on the plate.

** In "The New Lars", when Steven finds his mind is in Lars' body, he walks around town acting not particularly Lars-like, but everyone likes Lars this way that they don't care.

** All Gems, although technically they're not really girls, but genderless female-looking beings.

* {{Adorkable}}: It'd be easier to list characters that don't have at least a moment like this. In particular, Steven, Connie, Greg, Pearl, and Peridot are the most obvious offenders.

** Of course, because this is a show targeted towards children, Steven doesn't get killed or even seriously injured (however, that may change as the series goes on), but the fact is that a good chunk of the series so far has a young optimistic boy get thrown into repeated life-threatening situations, some more jarringly dark than others, while the Crystal Gems try their best to keep him safe.
** On the flip side of the above, we have Steven's occasional self-esteem issues, worrying that he may never be able to hold his own in said life-threatening situations due to his lack of powers. "An Indirect Kiss" displays this when, after hoping to have [[HealingHands Healing Tears]] like his mother and finding out he doesn't, he retells the story to Connie as Pearl mocking him for his lack of powers and claiming that the gems want nothing to do with him.
--->'''Connie''': She didn't ''really'' say that.\\
'''Steven''': No, but that's what it felt like.
** In the turning point of "The Test," the Crystal Gems are worried they can't raise Steven well without his mother.

** Greg having to let Steven go back and try to help the Crystal Gems in "The Return", knowing that he may never see him again (in addition to his more general reservations about Steven going on missions). In "Full Disclosure" Greg has a FreakOut bordering on a HollywoodHeartAttack when he hears about Steven's abduction.

* AbsenteeActor: The Gems play a role in most episodes, but not all of them:
** Amethyst has a last-second non-speaking appearance in "Keystone Motel", but is otherwise absent, and she's completely absent in "The Answer".
** Garnet and Amethyst do not appear in "Frybo", "Historical Friction", or "Mr. Greg", and have a brief silent cameo in "Lion 3: Straight to Video".
** Pearl and Garnet are absent in "Joking Victim", "Onion Friend", and "Too Short to Ride".
** Amethyst and Pearl are absent in "Garnet's Universe" and "Love Letters". However, their voice actors have cameos in "Garnet's Universe" (as Hoppy and Hopper).
** None of the Gems appear in "Horror Club", "Open Book", "Nightmare Hospital", "Sadie's Song", "Drop Beat Dad", "The New Lars", "Beach City Drift", or "Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service".
** "Mr. Greg" only features Steven, Greg, and Pearl... and Marty appearing on a TV commercial.

** Many episodes have a corresponding post on Ronaldo's [[CharacterBlog blog]], ''Blog/KeepBeachCityWeird'' that's related to the events of each episode, often by pure coincidence.

** Peridot has [[https://twitter.com/peridot5xg a Twitter account]] that first started posting for "Too Short to Ride", and has posts corresponding to the events of that episode. [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755839837647745024 She]] [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755842237808934913 also]] [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755842480311001088 hacked]] [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755848373719011328 CN's]] [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755850167421509632 official]] [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755850917207875585 Twitter]] [[https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/755855075310915585 account]].

** After the events of the episode "Keeping it Together", the shenanigans involving the shattered gem shards in "Secret Team" became a lot harder to find funny.

* ApocalypseHow: Implied in 'Monster Reunion' that [[spoiler: 5,000 years ago, the Diamonds unleashed some sort of white light attack that corrupted all of the gems on Earth, turning them into monsters. The only survivors were Rose Quartz, Garnet, and Pearl, who were protected by Rose's shield, Amethyst, who had not yet emerged from her hole, and Lapis Lazuli, who was trapped in a mirror.]]