History WesternAnimation / StevenUniverseFuture

** Later, after getting to spend some quality time with Connie and reaffirming that he can still be her friend even with her new friends around in "Bismuth Casual", Steven begins to worry that Connie moving away for college will leave him without her. Talking to both Ruby and Sapphire individually, [[spoiler: they convince him to propose which does not go well]]. This sets up for "Growing Pains" in which Connie's mother gives Steven a check-up when his [[PowerGlows gem powers]] start going mad and causing him to swell randomly. She eventually discovers [[spoiler: that Steven has high blood pressure from stress and his skeleton is cracked, and that all the events of the last five seasons might not have healed mentally and left Steven's body reacting to all stresses as if he was in danger of dying]].

** Later, after getting to spend some quality time with Connie and reaffirming that he can still be her friend even with her new friends around in "Bismuth Casual", Steven begins to worry that Connie moving away for college will leave him without her. Talking to both Ruby and Sapphire individually, [[spoiler: they convince him to propose which does not go well]]. This sets up for "Growing Pains" in which Connie's mother gives Steven a check-up when his [[PowerGlows gem powers]] start going mad and causing him to swell randomly. She eventually discovers [[spoiler: that Steven's skeleton is cracked, and that all the events of the last five seasons might not have healed mentally and left Steven's body reacting to all stresses as if he was in danger of dying]].

! As the SequelSeries and GrandFinale to ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', all spoilers pertaining to it are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

* ParentsAsPeople: This becomes the entire theme of the episode "Mr. Universe", in which the viewer gets a full understanding of Greg's history. This leads to an argument towards the end of the episode where Greg defends his desire to run away and raise Steven the way he did, only for Steven to counter that he doesn't believe that Greg's experience was that bad. Greg tries to explain that he felt underappreciated, packaged, and trapped. Steven argues that he has never had a proper human experience thanks to the decisions Greg made. Steven then sums up his problems as being the child of two selfish individuals.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Many conflicts of the epilogue could have been avoided if Steven opened up himself about his own issues and fears to his loved ones, instead of bottling them up, right after everything started to get worse for him, especially his deteriorating mental health.

''Steven Universe: Future'' is a 20-episode Creator/CartoonNetwork action/adventure MiniSeries created by Creator/RebeccaSugar. Serving as an [[SequelSeries extended epilogue]] to the [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse original series]] and [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie television movie]], ''Future'' premiered on December 7th, 2019 and ended on March 27th, 2020, with a four-part finale.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Steven spent years of his life trying to help everybody around him with their problems...and he succeeded. In fact, he succeeded so well that the only one who doesn't even want to admit he ''has'' any issues Steven himself.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: While this has been an aspect of Steven's characterization since the original show ''Future'' hammers home this point since, unlike the parent series, [[NoAntagonist there are no external threats to contend with]]. While there are a couple of [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Weeks]] the main conflict of the series is Steven trying to figure out his place in the universe now that no one needs his help anymore, and the trauma he has suffered from his constant near death experiences. [[spoiler:This all culminates in the final episodes as Steven ends up corrupting ''himself'' and becomes a giant Gem monster and the FinalBoss of the series.]]

** There are several hints that Jasper is going to be the one who causes Steven's downfall. During their first fight, Jasper has horns similar to the silhouetted monster in the intro. During "Growing Pains", when Steven starts expanding in size, he's hunched over in a way similar to Jasper during her own corruption. During "Fragments, Steven takes on a form similar to Jasper, with his pompadour resembling her helmet. When Steven [[spoiler: finally corrupts]], Jasper herself is completely absent.

** In "Growing Pains", Dr. Maheswaran asks Steven if he had something in his childhood that was "stuck with him" — that is, traumas. Before mentioning all his near-death experiences or the moments he saw people close to him nearly die (or die), Steven remembers not taking it well when his favorite ice cream was discontinued.

** In "Growing Pains", Dr. Maheswaran asks Steven if he had something in his childhood that was "stuck with him" — that is, traumas. Before mentioning all his near-death experiences or the moments he saw people close to him nearly die (or die), Steven remembers he didn't take it well when his favorite ice-cream was cancelled.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Kerry Moonbeam, whose song inspired Greg's stage persona, is clearly based on Creator/DavidBowie's Music/ZiggyStardust persona.

** In "Growing Pains", Dr. Maheswaran asks Steven if he had something in his childhood that was "stuck with him" — that is, traumas. Before mentioning all his near-death experiences or the moments he saw people close to him nearly die (or die), Steve remembers he didn't take it well when his favorite ice-cream was cancelled.

* TraumaticHaircut: [[spoiler:Greg slices off most of his hair with Eyeball Ruby's knife to free himself from Aquamarine's grasp in "Bluebird". Humorously, he actually mourns the loss of it to the point of tears, and gives the hair a sendoff by letting it drift off to sea, not unlike a viking funeral.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: The series does focus a lot on depression and mental issues, particularly on Steven and how the trauma he experienced from the previous series have severely hurt him. The show may not seem as idealistic as the previous series but [[spoiler: after his friends save him from himself in the episode ''I Am My Monster'', Steven is getting better.]] Overall, the series does still lean towards the idealistic end.

* AdultFear: Peaking too soon. The problem with being a KidHero is that Steven's already accomplished more than any one person could usually ever hope to accomplish in their lifetime before he was even halfway to being an adult, but now that he's reached the pinnacle of achievement anyone could ever make and brought peace to the universe and solved everybody's problems... [[SoWhatDoWeDoNow he has no idea what he's supposed to do next.]]
** The second half of the epilogue takes this trope [[UpToEleven to a whole new level]]:
** First of all, the idea that your child or friend has gotten to a really bad place due to untreated trauma or mental illness, and then see them in a full mental breakdown with no way to know how to help them, is a horrifying one. And to twist the knife even further, there is also the dreadful realization that you may be part of the reasons why your loved one is suffering in the first place, whether it was intentional or not, directly or not. This is what [[spoiler: the Gems, Greg and the Diamonds learn the hard way, when Steven accidentally corrupts himself and turns into a Kaiju-like rampaging monster because of his trauma originated from the original series and movie, and they are forced to own up to the fact that they did hurt him and they never truly helped him to cope when he needed most]].
** On the other hand, there is the fear of finding out you are suffering from a mental illness, that will make you to lash out to everyone and accidentally make you put yourself and your loved ones into danger, despite your attempts to cope with it on your own and to hide it from your family or friends, out of fear of rejection or being seen as a burden (or worse), until [[DespairEventHorizon you finally just give up]]. [[spoiler: This is entirely Steven's perspective, as he becomes more frustrated, scared of himself and he isolates himself from his loved ones, until his trauma, rage and self loathing finally overwhelms him, leading to his meltdown and corruption]].

* ShipSinking: "Little Graduation" shows that Sadie and Lars are not a couple. Sadie found someone else and Lars is actually completely okay with it. This is also an InUniverse example: Steven has been shipping the two at least since [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E30IslandAdventure "Island Adventure"]] and has an especially hard time finding out Sadie and Lars are over due to his emotional investment in their relationship.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: Don't bury your mental issues or try to hide them from your friends and family, or those issues will boil over and [[spoiler:you'll turn into a giant kaiju capable of curbstomping everyone in your path]].

* ItsAllAboutMe: A non-selfish example. For the bulk of the main series, everything that happened really ''did'' revolve around Steven (as noted by Renaldo). Now that his quest to make things right is over, he has no idea what to do now that he sees everybody else's lives are moving on without him.

* RealityEnsues:
** In "Together Forever", Steven decides that his new purpose in life is to be Stevonnie with Connie, like Ruby and Sapphire are Garnet. The episode sets up an entire confession for him as he prepares to propose to Connie so that they can be married like Ruby and Sapphire...and Connie's response is, of course, to politely decline with a "not now" as they're too young to get married, and Connie feels a bit uncomfortable at being married just for the purpose of them being Stevonnie, wanting to maintain her individuality while they remain friends; Steven's unstable gem condition doesn't exactly sell the proposal. She still chooses to cherish their friendship, helping to arrange a doctor's appointment for Steven, and gets in touch with Greg to provide emotional support.
** The episode "Growing Pains" shows that [[spoiler:Steven's experiences throughout the series have traumatized him to the point where it has affected his body's ability to properly handle stress. He essentially has PTSD, and his pink mode is a flight or fight response that gets activated when something stresses him out. Also it turns out all that fighting and murder attempts he's endured over the years has been breaking his bones the whole time, and the only reason he's still alive is because his [[HealingFactor gem healed him as soon as the injuries occurred]]. Cartoon physics wasn't what kept Steven alive this whole time.]]
** Steven's unconventional upbringing ''really'' comes back to haunt him in this series. While it might seem idyllic to grow up without schooling, it's shown repeatedly how it's hobbled his ability to relate to normal humans. He also doesn't have a social security number, and has never been to the doctor, which makes his upbringing seem less idyllic at first and a lot more tragic in a way.
** "Homeworld Bound" shows that, even after their change for the better, some Gems still distrust the Diamonds for the former tyrannical ways, with a Jasper distrusting Yellow Zircon for supposedly being a "Diamond stooge". [[spoiler: Even ''Steven'' turns out to have a buried resentment towards White that manifests when she lets him control her body]].
** ''The Future", [[spoiler: Steven mentions that he has a therapist now who he has scheduled to regularly meet with. Severe mental trauma doesn't just disappear.]]
** [[spoiler: Lars and Sadie do not end up as a couple. People grow apart, even if they care about each other.]]

%% RealityEnsues is when a character is believed to be protected by narrative convention actually isn't. Five seasons of Steven Universe have demonstrated that there's little to no such convention to be subverted. "Thing happening as a consequence of other thing" is not this trope.

Steven Universe Future, here we are!

%%-> ''We, we, we, we, we... are in the future!''
-> ''Here we are in the future and it's bright!''
-> ''I can't believe we've come so far!''
-> ''Steven Universe Future, here we are!''
-> ''[-Steven Universe Future~-]''
--> - ''[[ThemeTune Theme Song]]''