History StevenUniverse / TropesEToM

* FoodBasedSuperpowers: Invoked and subverted in the first episode. Steven's powers first appear when he sings about his favorite ice cream, Cookie Cat, and initially believes his powers come from the ice cream itself. His powers are actually emotion-based and appeared because he was very emotionally attached to said ice cream.

* MagicalGirl: Having magical powers of healing and defense, wielding a summonable magic sword and shield, being associated with roses, stars and the color pink, and fighting corrupted Gem monsters, Steven is a GenderFlipped example of a magical girl character.

* MaternalDeathBlameTheChild: The Gems and Greg all love Steven very much, but they're also aware that Rose effectively gave up her life so he could be born. Tragically, Steven himself begins to pick up on this, and starts to feel guilty.
** Ultimately averted, as none of them, not even Pearl, ever hold this against him.

*** Loyalist Homeworld Gems, like Peridot and Jasper, are on the opposite side of the spectrum, viewing humans as little more than talking vermin. Again due to Steven's influence, though, Peridot eventually comes around.

*** '''Ableism''': Quartz-type Gems are designed to be tall, broadly-built, physically strong and imposing, as befits their function as soldiers. Amethyst doesn't fit the mould because she incubated in the ground longer than intended, which gets her labelled as "defective" and "a runt" by Jasper, among others. The "Skinny" Jasper and Carnelian, who came out of her hole sideways and is only just taller than Amethyst, are also seen as defective, but were saved to serve along other Amethysts and Jaspers at Pink Diamond's Human Zoo out of pity; all of these Quartzes also all happen have the same jokester personality as the Crystal Gems' Amethyst, which creates an immediate comradery. Rose Quartzes are also seen as defective, with all of them bubbled in the Human Zoo, but only because the Crystal Gems' Rose Quartz is feared as the head of the rebellion that led to the shattering of Pink Diamond. The Off Color Rutile Twins would have been immediately shattered for being a twinned deformed Gem, but scared away their fellow Rutiles before any could destroy them. The Off Color Padparadscha was abandoned after her Sapphire ability of precognition was found to be defective; her "predictions" are of events that have just happened around her, and thus she reacts everything with a delay.

** A musical case: the middle of [[https://soundcloud.com/aivisura/steven-universe-im-still-here I'm Still Here]], from the end scene of "Rose's Scabbard", contains a very subtle nod to [[https://soundcloud.com/aivisura/steven-universe-do-it-for-her-rebecca-sugar Do It For Her]], which isn't heard until "Sworn to the Sword", a dozen or so episodes later.

** In regards to Homeworld, light emphasizes their orderliness, coldness and blind worship of the Diamonds. Through Jasper, we get the visual of light as [[FantasticRacism burning away "impurity"]], and through the Diamonds [[spoiler:spoiler:it outright becomes a lethal weapon that corrupts other Gems]]. However, over time it's shown that most of Homeworld is misguided if anything, so they too aren't impossibly unreachable "divine" agents, but just people that can learn to be better.

*** Long before [[spoiler: Garnet is revealed to be a fusion]] in ''Jail Break'', [[spoiler: Ruby and Sapphire]] make a cameo in ''Fusion Cuisine'' when Alexandrite de-fuses. For a couple of frames, the Crystal Gems are shown as white silhouettes, and [[spoiler: Garnet is shown as two small figures each with one gem, who merge back into Garnet by the time the Gems are back to normal.]]

** When the Crystal Gems learn that [[spoiler: Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond the whole time]], Garnet defused. Ruby and Greg forgave her immediately, but Sapphire was so upset that she didn't forgive her until after a long conversation with Pearl explaining her reasoning for her actions.
** Perhaps the most jarring example is [[spoiler: "Reunited"/"Legs from Here to Homeworld". To recap, in the backstory the Crystal Gems went to war against Blue, Yellow and White Diamonds, who eventually used a Corruption Wave to turn nearly every gem on the planet into raging monsters. The diamonds are also responsible for experiments so horrifying that Garnet nearly defused when she found out about them. Those experiments form the basis of the Cluster, a superweapon designed to explode the Earth from the inside, killing all humans in the process. In a previous episode Yellow Diamond insisted on destroying the Earth even after Peridot begged her to reconsider. \\

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Catch and Release" and "When It Rains" reveal the reason why Peridot's so desperate to leave Earth. [[spoiler: When the Cluster manifests a physical form, it will grow large enough to break through the planet Earth, destroying it from the inside. Luckily, Steven manages to get through to it in time to stop it from forming.]]

* EpisodeTitleCard: Nearly every episode has a title card displaying the same view of the beach near the Gem Temple with one of the temple's hands in the foreground, holding a washing machine and a clothesline with some of Steven's clothing on it. Various details, such as the weather and time of day, are changed to reflect how it would look at the start of the episode, usually a blue and pink day time palette, with the most common variants being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSyaXG5XsN0 a pinkish orange morning/evening palette]] and the nighttime blue palette used in the credits. "Jail Break" instead shows outer space because the Crystal Gems begin the episode as prisoners in a spaceship. The "Barn Arc" in seasons 2 and 3 also gets its own title card, a picturesque country scene with Steven's laundry hanging up on a line, because the cast are living in the barn to work on the drill. This also extends to "Earthlings", "Kindergarten Kid", and "The Zoo"; the former two have title cards of [[spoiler: the Beta Kindergarten]] while the latter is of [[spoiler: the top of the Zoo"]]. Additionally, there are [[StaffCreatedFanWork semi-official]] title cards made by the storyboard artists for each episode that they post online, which have a much greater range of variety (and are sometimes [[CoversAlwaysLie hilariously misleading]]).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Peridot is near worship-fully loyal to Yellow Diamond and perfectly fine with Earth being destroyed, but she is first and foremost a Gem of logic and reason. When Yellow Diamond brushes off Peridot's well-reasoned and logical argument for why [[spoiler: Earth should be spared]] in favor of petty revenge against Rose, Peridot does not take it well. [[spoiler: She insults Yellow Diamond and helps stop the Cluster.]]

** Greg has Marty: Both of them are single dads who used to work in the music industry and both have teenage sons who love music, but Greg chooses to be in Steven’s life [[spoiler: while Marty doesn’t want to be in Sour Cream’s.]]
** Garnet has [[spoiler: Malachite: Both are semi-permanent powerful fusions. The former is based on [[MadeOfGood love]] and the latter is based on [[MadeOfEvil hate.]]]]
** Pearl has [[spoiler: Peridot before her HeelFaceTurn: Both are socially awkward nerds who are easily rattled, but very intelligent and resourceful.]]
** Amethyst has [[spoiler: Jasper: Both are strong Quartzes who were made on Earth and are very determined,passionate,rough,and tomboyish but while Amethyst is a runt with a heart of gold, Jasper is a super Quartz with a superiority complex.]]
** [[spoiler: Lapis has Navy: Both were trapped on [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Earth]] and both befriended Steven and he helped both of them get home. They both also have [[BadassAdorable similar]] [[FaceOfAngelMindOfADemon appeals.]] But while Lapis let him heal her gem, Navy tricked him into letting her steal their space ship. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Lapis]] went from wanting to steal the ocean to having a HeelFaceTurn, while [[BitchInSheepsClothing Navy]] pretended to have one before betraying the Gems.]]
** [[spoiler: Peridot has Aquamarine: Both are small [[LargeHam tyrannical]] [[TykeBomb invaders]] who use technology more than their own powers. Both are also quite [[LargeHam hammy.]]]]

** [[spoiler: Stevonnie has Kevin: Both are sparkly, flirty, popular, and attractive teenagers who seem to attract a crowd of people wherever they go. Both also have great dance moves. But Kevin is an insecure, phony, jerk while Stevonnie is a genuine, confident, nice person.]]
** Ruby has [[spoiler: Eyeball: Pretty self-explanatory, Eyeball = evil Ruby.]]
** Sapphire has [[spoiler: Holly Blue Agate: Both are higher ranking blue gems who are very feminine. However, Sapphire was noticeably nice to the Rubies who served her, while Holly Blue Agate is notably abusive toward her Amethysts.]]

** [[spoiler: [[KnightTemplar Bismuth]] has [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Yellow Diamond.]]]]
** Another one [[spoiler: that might be the biggest one in the series is Pink Diamond and White Diamond. They are both royalty, the rulers of Homeworld and Earth respectively. Both Pink and White are interested with creating life, almost obsessively. White wants more gems and so does Pink, but Pink values organic life as well as Gem life and wants both to be happy and free, while White does not and is heavily implied to be abusive to her fellow diamonds and her subjects as well as genocidal to other species. White also values conformity while Pink values individuality. Both appear sweet and nurturing on the surface but can be condescending, insensitive, and selfish. Sometimes they might be unaware of this. Both are very feminine and stylish. Both are great [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] and [[ManipulativeBitch are quite manipulative.]] The last similarity is that they are both implied to be a little bit [[SanitySlippage mentally unsound]], despite their intelligence. Pink is a [[CloudCuckooLander little]] [[GeniusDitz bit]] [[ManicPixieDreamGirl eccentric]] and White is a [[AbusiveParents little]] [[ControlFreak bit]] [[DissonantSerenity off.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Spinel is another one to Pink Diamond.]]
** [[spoiler: Bluebird Azurite is one to Garnet. They’re both fusions of two different types of gems, one being a small blue aristocrat and the other being a Ruby, but while Garnet was formed out of love, Bluebird was formed out of shared hate.]]
** [[spoiler: Cactus Steven is one to the Watermelon Stevens. Both are Steven-shaped plants given sentience by Steven’s powers, and both act as the villains of their episodes, but Cactus Steven is far more destructive, and its episode takes a much darker turn.]]

** Diamonds are at the very top of the totem pole, and rule over Gem society. There's also only three of them. [[spoiler: There used to be four, until Pink Diamond defected from the group and chose to live on Earth as Rose Quartz, or rather, posing as a Rose Quartz.]]

* FantasticNuke: [[spoiler: Whatever the Diamonds did that corrupted almost every Gem left on Earth after they retreated.]]

** Peridot is an Era 2 Peridot created under an environment where resources in creating gems on Homeworld have dwindled. This is the explanation for why Peridot lacks many of the powers associated with Gems (shapeshifting, super strength, etc.) and likely for her short stature. To compensate, Era 2 Peridots are equipped with technological limb enhancers. [[spoiler: Although it turns out that Peridot, at least, also has [[ExtraOreDinary ferrokinetic powers]].]]

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: "Mindful Education" has this with "Here Comes a Thought", showing Ruby and Sapphire working through some of their issues. Ruby is set off at one particular incident and stews over it, while Sapphire is swarmed with thousands of burdens before Ruby comes back to help her through it. As Ruby, Sapphire, Steven, and Connie lay on the ground after that sequence, Connie lies next to Ruby while Steven's closer to Sapphire. Sure enough, Connie's problem is relatively minor in comparison to Steven's self loathing over [[spoiler: his issues with his ever more complex mother and not being able to help Jasper, Eyeball, and Bismuth]].

** Onion just seems to go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants, with his mother only acknowledging that he's a "little troublemaker". It actually ends up biting him in the rear in "Doug Out"; [[spoiler: had he not been wandering out at night, Topaz and Aquamarine wouldn't have seen him, and therefore wouldn't have been able to kidnap him]].

** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E4BarnMates "Barn Mates"]], [[spoiler: Lapis becomes increasingly frustrated with Peridot as the episode progresses, and Peridot keeps getting more confused herself regarding Lapis's dismissive behavior. The last straw for Lapis is when she crunches up Peridot's tape recorder, a gift that Peridot tried to give to her.]]
* FurnitureAssemblyGag: In "Shirt Club," the episode begins with Steven showing the Gem a drawing he made and we see the Gems have acquired three boxes, each containing an unassembled stool. Later, Steven goes to ask the Gems for help, and lying in the shot are one perfectly assembled stool and two abominations.

* GreaterScopeVillain: The Diamonds fulfill this role in the show. They are responsible for the corruption of most of the Rebellion, and each Diamond in particular influenced part of the plot. Yellow Diamond sent Jasper, Peridot, and the Rubies to Earth, [[spoiler:Pink Diamond was the one in charge of the Earth colony]], and Blue Diamond [[spoiler:judging from what Yellow Diamond says to her in That Will Be All, may be the cause of the Diamonds coming to Earth again]]. Later seasons establish [[spoiler: White Diamond]] to be a villain of an even greater scope than Yellow and Blue Diamond.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Lars. [[DisneyDeath He gets better though.]]]]

** The Cluster is a gigantic, artificial Fusion in the Earth's core created by Yellow Diamond. However, it requires thousands of years until it can emerge and take form, at which point it would be big enough to destroy the Earth. Unlike the other Gem Mutants, the Cluster displays some ability to think and reason [[spoiler: as it complies with Steven's request to bubble itself and refuses to fully take form to wreck the Earth. However, it can take partial form as a somewhat grotesque arm]].
** Downplayed with Steven himself, a Gem-human hybrid. He lacks the same control the Gems have over his powers and does not age like a regular human. In Steven Universe: Future, [[spoiler: it's learned that Steven's body produces the Gem equivalent of cortisol, and due to his PTSD, this causes his powers to go dangerously haywire]].

* KilledOffForReal: "Change Your Mind" confirms [[spoiler: Rose/Pink really is dead and gone, as opposed to what some characters thought: that she still existed in Steven's gem, or that Steven ''was'' her, in a new amnesiac form.]]

** In regards to Homeworld, light emphasizes their orderliness, coldness and blind worship of the Diamonds. Through Jasper, we get the visual of light as [[FantasticRacism burning away "impurity"]], and through the Diamonds [[spoiler: it outright becomes a lethal weapon that corrupts other Gems]]. However, over time it's shown that most of Homeworld is misguided if anything, so they too aren't impossibly unreachable "divine" agents, but just people that can learn to be better.

* MessianicArchetype: While always starting cheerful and curious with a bit of that messiah feel, the parallels start creeping in gradually. He is the son of a human (Greg) and a transcendent otherworldly being (Rose Quartz) who comes into his own and learn how to control his otherworldly power, including the power to create food (grow plant life), heal the injured (healing spit) and ultimately revive the virtuous ([[spoiler: brings Lars back to life]]). He befriends and converts followers of his celestial parent’s doctrines (Peridot and Lapis Lazuli) and is willing to sacrifice himself to his people’s enemy (the Diamonds) and save his world in the process. This is especially telling in the episode “Three Gems and a Baby”, where three ancient beings (Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl) come bearing gifts for Steven and his weathered human parent (Greg) in a place that is not their own (Vidalia's house) set in December. The trope is inverted to the extent that, at the end of Season 4, Steven sacrifices himself to atone for the sins of ''his divine parent'', rather than of humanity; and deconstructed to the extent that one of the main points of the show is that being willing to sacrifice yourself to save humanity or to atone for the sins of others is ''actually a really unhealthy thing to do''.

** Peridot and Lapis [[spoiler: use their ferrokenesis and hydrokenesis to... run Greg's car wash while he's away.]]

** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/108848660013 "The Test"]], Steven is having the characters take a test. Notably, this is the only promo where Greg is depicted as current Greg instead of Young Greg.
** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/111995713713 "Maximum Capacity"]], Amethyst and Greg are searching for gym supplies. [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/post/112235677873 Another post]] shows the Gems in gym class, and [[http://the-world-of-steven-universe.tumblr.com/post/112728711306 an advert for the first Steven bomb event]] from another artist also shows the Gems in gym attire.
** For [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/post/113286514483 "Political Power"]], Mayor Dewey is the principal and is giving an announcement.
** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/113979414993 "Open Book"]], Ruby and Sapphire are also students, and Connie is the school's librarian.

** For [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/121859156263 "We Need to Talk"]], some of the characters are studying in the library. Paradoxically, Stevonnie appears as a student, despite Steven and Connie also being present in the scene.
** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/124265829308 "Historical Friction"]], the characters are setting up a play, and Jamie is the director.

** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/131094942673 "Too Far"]], Pearl gets Steven to stop an argument between Amethyst and Peridot while Sapphire nervously looks on.

** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/147667177853 "Too Short To Ride"]], Steven is watching the Gems run on a track as Amethyst manages to eat a donut hanging on a rope.
** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/147752453608 "Beach City Drift"]], Steven and Connie rush to help Stevonnie deal with Kevin.
** [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/148068651318 "Alone at Sea"]], has Greg preparing to swim laps in the pool, while Rose, Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis sit on the sidelines in {{School Swimsuit}}s.
** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/148379300928 "Steven Vs Amethyst"]], Steven watches Amethyst while she's in detention.

** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/148844729513 "Know Your Fusion"]], The Gems and several Fusions are together in self-study.

** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/image/157633847473 "Rocknaldo"]], Ronaldo tries to explain something about a rock, and Peedee and Peridot argue with him while Yellow Pearl attempts to ignore them.

** In [[http://hilaryflorido.tumblr.com/post/181875703558/familiar-it-happened-i-hope-you-enjoyed-it "Familiar"]], Yellow Pearl is complaining about something to a confused Pearl and neutral Blue Pearl, Topaz and Nephrite are eating lunch together, and Aquamarine is resting on the chain fence while Steven looks outward.

The only exception is Bismuth, but she's an extremely minor example. While Bismuth was previously portrayed as being violently enraged towards the Diamonds (to the point that she was the only Crystal Gem to insist on using lethal weapons), now she's quite casual about it and expresses only mild resistence to the idea of spending time with Blue and Yellow.]]

** When Garnet merges with Amethyst in Coach Steven, there are [[spoiler:three gems within her outline, showing that Garnet is a fusion, later revealed to be Ruby and Sapphire]].
*** [[spoiler: Ruby and Sapphire]] get another cameo in ''Fusion Cuisine'' when Alexandrite de-fuses. For a couple of frames, the Crystal Gems are shown as white silhouettes, and [[spoiler: Garnet is shown as two small figures each with one gem, who merge back into Garnet by the time the Gems are back to normal.]]

* EndingTheme: The show has had about 20 different ending themes so far, each one being a segment of the full song, "Love Like You", or an instrumental variation of the themes in said song.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Catch and Release" and "When It Rains" reveal the reason why Peridot's so desperate to leave Earth. [[spoiler: When the Cluster hatches, it will literally hatch ''from'' the earth, destroying the whole planet. Luckily Steven manages to get through to it in time.]]

* EpisodeTitleCard: Every episode has a title card displaying the same view of the beach near the Gem Temple with one of the temple's hands in the foreground, holding a washing machine and a clothesline with some of Steven's clothing on it. Various details, such as the weather and time of day, are changed to reflect how it would look at the start of the episode, usually a blue and pink day time palette, with the most common variants being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSyaXG5XsN0 a pinkish orange morning/evening palette]] and the nighttime blue palette used in the credits. "Jail Break" instead shows outer space because the Crystal Gems begin the episode as prisoners in a spaceship. The "Barn Arc" in seasons 2 and 3 also gets its own title card, a picturesque country scene with Steven's laundry hanging up on a line, because the cast are living in the barn to work on the drill. This also extends to "Earthlings", "Kindergarten Kid", and "The Zoo"; the former two have title cards of [[spoiler: the Beta Kindergarten]] while the latter is of [[spoiler: the top of the Zoo"]]. Additionally, there are [[StaffCreatedFanWork semi-official]] title cards made by the storyboard artists for each episode that they post online, which have a much greater range of variety (and are sometimes [[CoversAlwaysLie hilariously misleading]]).

*** Jasper. They're both varieties of quartz, Rose was enormous, beautiful, loved everything and everyone, and fought for Earth. Jasper is enormous, garish, tries to kill the Crystal Gems in their first meeting, and wants to destroy Earth. [[spoiler:And while Rose betrayed and shattered Pink Diamond, Jasper remained loyal to her.]]
*** Yellow Diamond. They're both leaders for their respective factions and are both adored by their subjects, but while Rose was [[AFatherToHisMen A Mother To Her Gems]], forgiving, and saw beauty in everything, Yellow Diamond is a cold, callous BadBoss who destroys planets with organic life routinely.

** Steven has Onion: Both are considered strange by their community, [[FreeRangeChildren both wander around town without supervision]] and both go on adventures. Both are implied to be not entirely human. [[spoiler: If Vidalia is human and Yellowtail is an alien then they are both HalfHumanHybrids too.]] However, Steven is kind while Onion is mischievous.

** Lars [[spoiler: has Emerald: Both miss their “best friends”; Lars cries over Sadie moving on, while Emerald will do anything to get her [[CargoShip ship back]], including shattering other Gems. They both also appear to be quite [[HotBlooded moody.]]]]

** Ruby has [[spoiler: Eyeball: Pretty self-explanatory, Eyeball=evil Ruby.]]

** Another one [[spoiler: that might be the biggest one in the series is Pink Diamond and White Diamond. We don't know much about White yet, but from her first appearance, there are already parallels and contrast. They are both royalty, the queens of Homeworld and Earth respectively. Both Pink and White are both very interested with creating life, almost obsessively. White wants more gems and so does Pink, but Pink values organic life as well as Gem life and wants both to be happy and free, White does not and is heavily implied to be abusive to her "daughters" and her subjects as well as genocidal to other species. White also values conformity while Pink values individuality. Both appear sweet and nurturing on the surface but can be condescending, insensitive, and selfish. Sometimes they might be unaware of this. Both are very feminine and stylish. Both are implied to have strong tempers. Both are great [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] and [[ManipulativeBitch are quite manipulative.]] The last similarity is that they are both implied to be a little bit [[SanitySlippage mentally unsound]], despite their intelligence. Pink is a [[CloudCuckooLander little]] [[GeniusDitz bit]] [[ManicPixieDreamGirl eccentric]] and White is a [[AbusiveParents little]] [[ControlFreak bit]] [[DissonantSerenity off.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Before the Cluster’s HeelFaceTurn it was this to Fluorite.]]

** [[spoiler: Bluebird Azurite is one to Garnet.]]
** [[spoiler: Cactus Steven is one to the Watermelon Stevens and Pumpkin.]]

** Vidalia's kids are named Sour Cream and Onion (after a flavor of chips), and "Vidalia" is a type of onion itself.

** Gems have gotten all sorts of [[SarcasmMode fun]] injuries like being stabbed through the gut, getting split in half, and having their torsos crushed.

** The ''Guide to the Crystal Gems'' book stated that Rose Quartz, Steven, Jasper, and Amethyst are all Quartz-type Gems. Apparently they're one of the higher-ranking types. This seems to indicate that they're meant as a soldier/leadership caste, given the roles of the three full Gems. Supported in "Too Far", in which Peridot mentions that Amethyst should be the one in charge of the Crystal Gems. However, she also calls her "defective" due to being abnormally small for a Quartz-type Gem. Agates are a subtype of Quartzes apparently made specifically to terrify and bully lower-ranking Gems into obedience.

** Rubies are bodyguards, grunt soldiers and shock-troops, literally RedShirts.

** Lapis Lazulis are made to [[HostileTerraforming terraform colony worlds]] by slicing the landmass to pieces with pillars of water in order to level the planet.

** Nephrites are pilots.

** Morganites are unknown, but high enough ranking that one has her own Pearl.

** Diamonds are at the very top of the totem pole, and rule over Gem society. There's also only three of them. [[spoiler: There used to be 4, until Pink Diamond defected from the group and chose to live on Earth as Rose Quartz, or rather, posing as a Rose Quartz.]]

* FantasticDietRequirement: Steven guesses that [[spoiler:Lars and Lion]] might need to eat special crystal bugs to survive.

*** Pearl has a [[PunyEarthlings distantly clinical view]] of humanity, and joined Rose's rebellion entirely out of loyalty to Rose, rather than on the humans' behalf. She continues to defend humanity in Rose's name because that's what Rose would have wanted. Though this attitude is slowly changing due to Steven's influence, her relations with Greg, and humans in general, remain aloof.
*** Similarly, Garnet seemingly fought for Earth in the rebellion more to establish a home where she could live permanently as a fusion. Her views towards the human race are unclear, though like the other Gems she rarely interacts with them.

*** Loyalist Homeworld Gems, like Peridot and Jasper, are on the opposite side of the spectrum, viewing humans as little more than talking vermin. Again due to Steven's influence, though, Peridot seems to be coming around.
** Homeworld Gem society (thanks to the caste system mentioned above) features a lot of this. In fact the core Crystal Gems are each examples of a different Homeworld prejudice that is analogous to a real-world one:

*** '''Ableism''': Quartz-type Gems are designed to be tall, broadly-built, physically strong and imposing, as befits their function as soldiers. Amethyst doesn't fit the mould because she incubated in the ground longer than intended, which gets her labelled as "defective" and "a runt" by Jasper, among others. The "Skinny" Jasper and Carnelian, who came out of her hole sideways and is only just taller than Amethyst, are also seen as defective, but were saved to serve along other Amethysts and Jaspers at Pink Diamond's Human Zoo out of pity; all of these Quartzes also all happen have the same jokester personality as the Crystal Gems' Amethyst, which creates an immediate comradery. Rose Quartzes are also seen as defective, with all of them bubbled in the Human Zoo, but only because the Crystal Gems' Rose Quartz is feared as the head of the rebellion that led to the shattering of Pink Diamond. The Off Colors Rutile Twins would have been immediately shattered for being a twinned deformed Gem, but scared away their fellow Rutiles before any could destroy them. The Off Color Padparadscha was abandoned after her Sapphire ability of precognition was found to be defective; her "predictions" are of events that have just happened around her, and thus she reacts everything with a delay.

** Most of Peridot's taunts toward the Crystal Gems seem to revolve around comparing them to rocks or dirt. "Clod" (though this insult exists in real life as well, Peridot seems to be using it in a different context) is her insult of choice, "dirtbomb" she's only used once, and she's referred to Steven as a "pebble" (seemingly the Gem equivalent of "brat") at least once. This makes sense, as Homeworld Gems are ranked based on what Gem caste they are, with the most rare and perfect, the Diamonds, at the top: to be called a common dirt lump or rock isn't just a literal insult, it's reducing them in station to being utterly worthless.

** By the way the FantasticCasteSystem the Gem Homeworld operates, pretty much every gem with the exception of the Diamonds are some form of ServantRace (a system that even the Diamonds aren't happy with). Special mention however goes to the Pearls, who exist to serve as ladies-in-waiting to their owners. They are implied by Peridot to not even be considered gems by Homeworld's standards and exist as nothing more than status symbols, more tools to be used than working-class gems.

* FictionalEarth: The cartoon takes place on an alternate Earth with a number of subtle differences, such as the money having diamonds on it instead of Presidents' faces. More importantly, the map is quite different: a large chunk of Siberia is missing, part of Africa is attached to South America, and Australia is cut in half. Justified since Earth was colonized by Homeworld to produce more Gems, resulting in the aforementioned changes.

** Amethysts are quartz gems designed to be tall, buff intimidating soldiers. Amethyst from the Crystal Gems however did not finishing forming until long after the others, coming out just barely half the height of what an amethyst should be. This also applies to the various quartz gems at the zoo, such as Skinny and Carnelian. It is implied through Peridot's observation of the Beta kindergarten on Earth that many of the gems there were created under lax conditions in a hurry due to the war.
** Peridot is an era 2 peridot created under an environment where resources in creating gems on homeworld have dwindled. This is the explanation for why Peridot lacks many of the powers associated with gems (shapeshifting, super strength etc.) and possibly for her short stature. To compensate, era 2 peridots are equipped with technological limb enhancers. [[spoiler: Although it turns out that Peridot, at least, also has [[ExtraOreDinary ferrokinetic powers]].]]

** Sapphires are short aristocratic gems with the power to see ahead into the future (or at least a probable future). Padparadscha is an off-color sapphire who possesses retrocognition, blurting out events that have already happened. She lives on the run with the other Off-Colors in the long abandoned Homeworld kindergarten.

** Beach City is located in Delmarva, a state named after the real-life Delmarva Peninsula, where the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia converge. On his blog, Ronaldo mentions [=DelmarvaCon=], which is held in Charm City, the nickname for Baltimore, Maryland, implying that Delmarva covers Maryland in this setting.
** In "Keystone Motel", the characters visit the Keystone State, which is the nickname of Pennsylvania, only here it's the actual name of the state.

* FieldOfBlades: The Strawberry Fields, the last great battle of the Rebellion is filled with {{Weapon Tombstone}}s of the Gems who fought there. It is located in what in our world is Norway.

*** Also Yellow Diamond and [[spoiler:Pink Diamond]]. The former is tall and commanding and masculine with short hair. The latter is short (only a foot or so taller then your average Quartz), is considerably nicer, sees the value of life on Earth, wears a skirt and feminine accessories, and has voluminous, poofy hair. [[spoiler:Also everything said about Rose applies as Pink Diamond and Rose are the same person.]]

** In "We Need to Talk", Greg bribed Amethyst to play the drums with pop rocks.

** The Gems frequently fail to use their shape-shifting powers in battle when it would be very helpful. Amethyst uses hers for pranks and to amuse Steven, while Garnet and Pearl don't use them at all. It's particularly egregious when Peridot discovers she can turn her artificial hand into a helicopter as an escape route, and none of the Gems ever think of transforming into something that can fly to pursue her. At the very least, Garnet has demonstrated she can stretch her limbs to absurd lengths, more than enough to catch Peridot if need be. "Log Date 7 15 2" implies that they try not to overly rely on it because it's less efficient than their other abilities.

** ''Philia'' (Friendship) - Steven is a friendly kid who is friends with just about everyone in Beach City, from CreepyChild Onion to {{Jerkass}} Lars. He helps everyone with their problems, and is the catalyst for their character development. Thanks to Steven, Sadie is a successful musician in a band with the popular kids, Lars is a space hero, the Pizzas and Frymans mend their friendship, and he understands Onion more. Steven also helps Gems with friendship, particularly with Lapis and Peridot.
** ''Eros'' (Romance) - Rose and Greg really did love each other, even though Rose thought of Greg as a mere amusement at first. Pearl was madly in love with Rose, and was bitter towards Greg because of it, but they amend their relationship and Pearl has truly moved on from Rose. Ruby and Sapphire are two different gems with different roles in Gem society, but against all odds, they fall in love, become fused permanently as Garnet, and eventually marry. Sadie had a huge crush on Lars, but their relationship didn't work out, and Sadie is happier with her new significant other Shep. Steven and Connie form a deep relationship over the course of the series, and are dating towards the end. A major theme is that love takes time and work, and there's no such thing as love at first sight.
** ''Agape'' (Unconditional Love) - Steven isn't one to hold a grudge, he's an AllLovingHero who tries to help and understand ''everyone''. From jerks like Lars, to corrupted gems, and even ''the Diamonds themselves''. With Steven's unconditional love, he reforms gem society and brings peace to Earth once more. However, Rose Quartz appears to be a subversion. She doesn't qualify as a MartyrWithoutACause because her goal is protecting the Earth and all its life. However, she initially only loved the lives of humans as a concept, and it took until she met Greg (thousands of years later) before she began loving humans as individuals.

** In "Serious Steven" the Gems discover a pyramid with hieroglyphs on the walls inside depicting Rose Quartz protecting tiny humans from the attack of another Gem (who is shown again surrounded by giant hands like the space ship that appears in later episodes), but this is only on screen for a few seconds. In the same episode (also a RewatchBonus), the four-triangle symbol on the floor of the pyramid is the same as the one in Peridot's ship.

* GemTissue: Gems are called gems for this. In fact Garnet even provides the trope image.

** Every gem has, well, a gem. Their gem is embedded somewhere in their body and said gem is always the gem for which they are named. Rubies have rubies, Peridots have peridots, etc.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Steven is half mortal, half gem.

* ExcitedShowTitle: The ShowWithinAShow ''Crying Breakfast Friends!''

** Lapis' regular outfit [[SexyBacklessOutfit exposes her back]], since that's where her gem is. Her baseball uniform in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E5HitTheDiamond "Hit the Diamond"]] includes a [[BareYourMidriff bared midriff]].

* IncrediblyLamePun: Steven likes [[PungeonMaster making these.]] For instance, this gem (no pun intended here) from "Together Breakfast".
-->'''Steven:''' (about the breakfast) It's not exactly healthy, but it's in a stack...so I guess you can say it's a...''balanced breakfast?''\\
'''Garnet:''' (Disapproving face)\\
'''[[http://41.media.tumblr.com/8ee2d0878d53bbb1a81ec270f3c85751/tumblr_nj04fwCvvc1u9bhcro1_400.jpg Steven]]'''
** Amethyst thought it was lame that Bismuth used the same pun twice (saying, "Bismuth" in place of the word, "business"). Steven comments on how it'll be really funny if she [[RuleOfThree says it a third time.]] [[spoiler:When the third time comes around, it isn't funny.]]
** In "Steven's Lion", Kiki says she hopes Steven isn't "lion" about owning a pink lion. When Lion isn't really outside the store, she's disappointed that he was "lion". Then she apologizes for using the same pun twice.

* MasculineFeminineGayCouple: Ruby and Sapphire are a DiscountLesbians example. Ruby's [[IncrediblyLamePun hot]] temper and lack of social graces [[RedOniBlueOni contrasting against]] Sapphire's more [[WomenAreWiser stoic, patient outlook]] and polite behavior. Their designs mirror this, with the former's outfit being androgynous and combat-oriented, and the latter's apparel resembling a PrincessClassic. This is played with in "Reunited", where Ruby wears a dress and Sapphire a tuxedo [[spoiler:during their wedding]].

** Ruby and Sapphire. Ruby is hot-headed and emotional, and it's implied that she constantly hurts herself trying to get out of her cage in "Jailbreak." Sapphire is calm and collected and simply sings to calm Ruby down. They're also red and blue respectively. "Keystone Motel" further exemplifies this, as Sapphire is willing to forgive Pearl for tricking them, while Ruby is literally fuming with rage over it. The reason being that Ruby gets so emotional that she's essentially stuck in the present, only thinking about how mad she is rather than any actual solutions. Sapphire on the other hand focuses too much on the future where the problem has already been solved and didn't notice the emotional strain that exists before the actual resolution. It's practically taken UpToEleven with the reveal that Ruby and Sapphire seem to have fire and ice themed powers, respectively.

* ItIsDehumanizing: Gems (both Homeworld and Homeworld) tend to refer to humans as "it". In fact, the flashback in "Story for Steven" shows that Pearl once referred to Greg as this.

** Pearl and Amethyst. Pearl is a precise and orderly perfectionist with an almost ballerina-like elegance and is also very thin with short hair. Amethyst is a lazy and kind of sloppy trickster. She's plump and short with RapunzelHair.

** Amethyst flips her RapunzelHair in the first opening song.

** One of the things Peridot cannibalized in "Gem Drill" for the titular device were [[https://imgur.com/a/xuVpHS7the keys of some electronic device with a]] [[GratuitousRussian Russian keyboard]].