Line #31 DethroningMoment/StevenUniverse


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9	Even though WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse is often considered one of the best, if not ''the'' best animated show of TheNewTens, it's no surprise that at least a lot of Beach City’s population has gone though so much pain, suffering, and PTSD that they most likely need a vacation. These are the [[DarthWiki/DethroningMomentofSuck moments]] that we really need to shatter forever.
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11	Keep in mind:
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13	* One moment per work to a troper. If multiple entries are signed to the same troper the more recent one will be cut.
14	* Moments only, no "just everything he said," or "This entire show," or "This entire series" entries.
15	* No contesting entries. This is subjective and the entry is their opinion.
16	* No [[Administrivia/ConversationInTheMainPage natter]]. As above, anything contesting an entry will be cut, and anything that's just contributing more can be made its own entry.
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18	* No RealLife examples, including ExecutiveMeddling. It only invites a flame war.
19	* No ALLCAPS, no '''bold''', and no ''italics'' unless it's the title of a work. We are not yelling the [=DMoSs=] out loud.
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22	* djx1100: "Rose's Scabbard", I believe, was a very moving and well written episode. However I believe Pearl acted completely selfish in the episode and showed no regard for anybody else's feelings. Especially when she tells Steven "You never even knew her!" Of course it's supposed to show how important Rose was to Pearl but she comes off as incredibly selfish and rude. Worst part is that she never even apologizes for the line.
23	** bsw17: My moment also comes from "Rose's Scabbard". While I think for the most part it shows Pearl's grief well, the moment where Steven nearly falls to his death and she doesn't try to save him goes too far. I understand she's upset but considering she's the gem who constantly worries for Steven's safety this is wildly out of character for her.
24	* Skapokon: I really like ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', but I hate ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa'', so I wasn't very pleased when the Crossover Episode "Say Uncle" was revealed. While it resulted to be a pleasant surprise and much better than I expected, there's something about this episode that bugs me. Pearl's portrayal during the episode. I don't know why they did it, but this episode really destroyed the character and made me glad it's not canon. Why? Because they made her way too overprotective on Steven and made her overreact way too much. In the show, she cares of Steven and tries to protect him, but only a bit more than the other two Gems. Here, she is screaming all the time, makes weird faces every time and it just gets irritating. Seeing how this episode parodies parts of the Fandom (Gemsonas, Lars and Sadie's Ship...), something tells me that this is how fans see Pearl. If that's the case, I don't want to know how they portray the rest of the cast.
25	** savagegenius: While I like the episode as well, and I also like both shows in general, I chose this as my dethroning moment for the opposite reason; Uncle Grandpa himself. After he attempts (and fails) to help Steven use his shield within several methods, the gems are both weirded out by him and distrust him completely, and try to destroy him. The thing is, Uncle Grandpa’s idea of making Steven’s shield work is to fire several weapons that cause Steven to get horribly hurt, such as getting stung by bees, bitten by a snake, and ‘almost fucking vaporized by a giant laser’ (which would’ve probably killed Steven if he hadn’t used his shield). Not to mention that when he appears, he causes a cruise ship to sink with Lars and Sadie on it, which even if the two survived, probably caused most of the passengers to have drowned or been severely injured. I admit the gems trying to kill the guy is a bit much as opposed to say, sending him back to his own dimension and telling him to not come back, but the episode portrays them as being in the wrong from the start for having at least a bit of suspicion regarding him. Bottom line, while I think the episode is solid, I can see why people hate both it and the Uncle Grandpa series as a whole.
26	* Tropers/CJCroen1393: While I found the humor of the episode hilarious, something about "Too Far" really bothered me, and it wasn't until I saw [[http://mellowfilmmaker.tumblr.com/post/131253472409/mellow-frames-gem-jokes this post]] that I realized what it was: Amethyst's behavior. Her laughing at Peridot's unintentional humor was understandable at first, but later it gets pretty curvy when Amethyst starts goading Peridot into roasting the Crystal Gems. What follows is a(n admittedly funny) thinly veiled metaphor for homophobia (Peridot mocking Garnet's semi-permanent fusion) and a stab at Steven being a HalfHumanHybrid. Amethyst laughs at all of these... and then stops when Peridot turns around and starts making jokes about ''her''. Now granted, it makes sense that Amethyst would be offended (Peridot literally called her "defective") but she had just laughed hysterically at Peridot mocking her best friends--calling [[NiceGuy Steven]] an abomination, [[TeamMom Pearl]] a slave and [[HappilyMarried Garnet]] disgusting--and yet is outraged at what Peridot says to her personally. And at no point does ''anyone'' point out the hypocrisy of this. The sad thing is, this could have been a great lesson for ''Amethyst'' as well as Peridot, as Amethyst could have learned something to the effect of "if you can't take it, don't dish it out", but instead Peridot is expected to apologize to ''her'' (even though Amethyst took advantage of her lack of knowledge of Earth humor) and ''only'' her (i.e., not Garnet, Pearl or Steven).
27	* Tropers/OnTheHillside: For this troper, it's Log-date-7-15-2. Full stop. Garnet proposes fusing to Peridot, and when Peridot doesn't immediately jump at the idea, Garnet states as a fact that she "isn't ready" -- a condescending assumption that figures Peridot ''can't possibly'' be bawking at the idea of doing something new and intimate with Garnet, someone she still feels uneasy around. It's a challenge, and of course Peridot is going to try and save face by attempting it anyway. Their attempted fusion dance is more reminiscent of Lapis and Jasper's than anything, with Garnet grabbing Peridot forcefully by the hands and yanking her around while she's visibly uncomfortable, then demanding she "get ready." It's only then that Peridot pulls away and straight up says no, and while Garnet respects this, she also tells Peridot she's "proud of her" for ignoring her own limitations and allowing Garnet to do this to her at all. It's an absolutely disgusting, hypocritical scene that's come very close to turning me off the show as a whole.
28	** Stealthlock: I completely agree. I always felt, watching that scene, like Garnet was supposed to be coming off as polite, but it just made me uncomfortable for reasons I previously couldn't explain. The way she disregards Peridot's obvious discomfort during the fusion attempt without offering to back down, the way she treats Peridot like a paranoid amateur for her very legitimate hesitation, and the subtle pressure she puts on her to get over it by saying she's "proud of her". It felt like Garnet was saying, "It was very grown-up and mature of you to not say no even when you were uncomfortable! I hope you always say 'yes' even if you don't want it in the future." The way Peridot's legitimate aversion to fusion was treated just doesn't sit right with me.
29	* Tropers/Ciel12: The handling of the aesop in 'Barn Mates'. I guess the point of the episode is that we should always try to forgive and see the best in people, but it was handled very poorly. Lapis dislikes being around Peridot because Peridot was once her jailer. When she initially brushes off Peridot, both Peridot and Steven go to increasing lengths to win her over. Lapis tells Period all she wants is for Peridot to [[GetOut leave]], and (to her credit) Peridot immediately complies. My problem is with Steven chewing Lapis out afterwards - he tells her that she should give Peridot a chance and not decide that she dislikes Peridot without getting to know her. The thing is, this isn't about Lapis not liking Peridot - it's about Lapis being so angry at Peridot that she ''doesn't even want to be in the same vicinity as her''. Lapis had every right to be angry as she had been through some terrible things, but the episode casts Steven as being in the right because he's the AllLovingHero who fixes everything with friendship. The thing is, he expects Lapis to put aside her legitimate feelings of anger just to please him and Peridot and so he can have a happy family. But genuine forgiveness takes time - the aesop could have been so much better if it had been 'you can ask someone for forgiveness if you show them you've changed, but don't expect them to warm up to you when you tell them to.' Instead we get Steven essentially shaming Lapis into repressing her own feelings, rather than the episode admitting Lapis needed more time to heal (for contrast, Pearl and Greg's animosity went on for some time before it was addressed, and that was over their feelings for Rose, not severe harm one party had inflicted on another). Steven is usually wise beyond his years, but here he's just insufferably naive and insensitive, and the episode never calls him out on it.
30	* Animeking1108: Ronaldo’s subplot in ''Restaurant Wars.'' In order to get the Fryman and Pizza families to stop feuding, Steven suggests having Ronaldo and Kiki pretend to date each other. However, Ronaldo objects because he has a girlfriend. Naturally, nobody believes him. This leads to a very predictable gag where it turns out his made-up girlfriend was real after all and she breaks up with him because of the misunderstanding and he spends the rest of the episode moping. For starters, nobody comes to Ronaldo’s defense when he claims that it was just a ruse to get the families to stop fighting. Second, Steven never apologizes for unintentionally ruining Ronaldo’s relationship. Lastly, nobody, not even Ronaldo’s family, [[NoSympathy seems to care that he’s depressed]]. I get that Ronaldo [[TheScrappy isn’t exactly the most loved character in the series]], but sometimes even a TakeThatScrappy can go too far (as ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' can attest to). This wouldn’t be a problem if the breakup was caused by Ronaldo’s own stupidity, but it wasn’t.
31	* SenorCornholio: "Last One Out of Beach City" was just... bleh, to me. We hardly learned anything new from it; it was nothing more than a filler episode that had no business really even existing. Basically, Pearl wants to join Amethyst and Steven in going to a rock show, and while she's at it she tries to get her "bad girl" on by acting all cool and stuff despite several episodes showing that she's fine with who she normally is. Then she finds someone that just happened to have her hair dyed pink like Rose, with a similar hairstyle to boot, at a point where Pearl's been trying to get over Rose. What really bothers me is when Pearl decides to intentionally run a red stoplight and evade the police, which Pearl does admittedly berate herself for because she essentially ruined the trip by running out of gas during those points... and then Amethyst heaps a bunch of praise on Pearl for all this. And lo and behold, they just so happen to be at the show they were going to! And Rose-haired girl is there! What a twist! I'm sorry, but as a huge Steven Universe fan who likes (even partially) the above and below episodes, this one was almost impossible to salvage. I could tolerate the likes of Lars and Ronaldo, but I couldn't stand this episode; that says a lot. And if Pearl's relationship with Rose-head gets turned into a subplot, those are some episodes I'll watch probably once, then never rewatch again.
32	* Tropers/MightyMewtron: I considered putting "Bismuth" up here for its controversial message. But "Gem Harvest" is a ''double length episode'' that managed to introduce a more pointless and uncomfortable character to the show. We meet Greg's cousin Andy, who accuses Lapis and Peridot of being "hippies" who overtook his barn, calls the gems entitled, scorns at Greg for moving away and not marrying an American, and calls the Gems "illegal aliens". He's not even a [[FantasticRacism fantastic racist]], as his lingo mirrors anti-immigrant ideology and he doesn't seem to know that the Gems are literally from outer space. Steven doesn't care that Andy is saying this to his family and believes, as usual, that he can change him by holding a feast. Most of the episode is filler (though at least all the Gems interact with one another) with Gems trying to act "more human", in the process ruining Andy's family heirloom (which he fumes over at first, then suddenly forgives them for?). Later Andy flies off, upset that nobody thanked him (even though he didn't help with the feast, and it was ''for him'') and because he doesn't like how everything is changing. Steven decides he's family anyway, and Andy never has to apologize for his insults towards the Gems. If the episode was about teaching Andy that the Gems are on Earth to save it and he shouldn't hate them on the basis of them being "un-American", or just educating him about not holding racist ideals, it wouldn't have been as bad, but it tried to act like having one feast with aliens would stop him from being racist- which, as far as we know, may not even be true. Not to mention the very awkward timing considering this was the first episode to air after the U.S. election. Also, the first part of the episode, [[TrailersAlwaysLie which was the only part in the advertising,]] had nothing to do with the rest of the plot, and the pumpkin pup was only there to look cute and fit the Thanksgiving theme.
33	%%** Zombie_Jack: I completely agree with all of this. Additionally, I felt like "Gem Harvest" [[RecycledPremise is really similar to the episode "Beach Party"]], only worse in just about every aspect. At least in "Beach Party" they didn't write some nonsense reason for Amethyst to not eat and didn't have the humans spout some weird anti-immigrant rhetoric.
34	* Mazzafraz: Ugh, ''Rocknaldo''... let's ignore the [[BaitAndSwitch bait and switch]] pulled by the show's Facebook teasing a new Crystal Gem. I will also say that the episode's main lesson is an important one which likely comes from a personal place on the part of the show's creators. I can even admit that the ending was pretty satisfactory and might signal the beginning of much-needed character development for Ronaldo. But jeez, did the episode really need to be so obnoxious? I get that this is an uncomfortable issue that can't be edged around lightly, and from a writing standpoint I guess we do need to see Ronaldo at his worst before we see his change at the end. But good god, Ronaldo at his worst is just plain hard to watch. His smugness, pretentiousness and tactlessness were really pushed beyond the limit, making the episode just an unpleasant experience. It's especially galling because we've just had two emotional rollercoasters for Steven, and watching Ronaldo going full-on douchequake on him is frustrating to watch. The episode could have really benefited from a few humorous moments, maybe a scene or two of Steven legitimately enjoying Ronaldo's company, but Steven barely catches a break. It makes you want to hug the kid and protect him from Ronaldo.
35	* hiiiiiiiiiiiiii: So I really enjoyed how we got to see more about homeworld when Steven turns himself in, however, the episode "Dewey Wins" really angered me. So Connie used to be one of my favourite characters, she was sweet and a good friend to Steven, however, this episode changed my view on her as a character. She is angry at Steven because he promised they would do everything together but he turned himself in like that. I know Steven just let Homeworld take him probably forever, but all she cared about was them being a team? Lars could've died and [[SkewedPriorities she's only focused on the fact that they didn't go together?]] and then she makes Steven incredibly sad because he thought she was ignoring him. The worst part is in the episode "Kevin Party" she doesn't even apologise for being mad at him for no reason. She also is sad that Steven is "friends with Kevin and not her." What the heck did she expect??? That episode ruined her as a character for me to be honest, the only thing that made me like her a bit was the movie and Future.
36	* Rivermint: I had previously given up on Steven Universe after "Gem Harvest" aired, but I returned after I had heard all the good things about "Now We're Only Falling Apart" and the episodes that followed. I watched, and was incredibly surprised at the increase in quality storytelling, heartwarming moments, bringing back some of the best characters in the show, and an overall solid plot. I was so hyped for Ruby and Sapphire's wedding, and enjoyed the entire first half of "Reunited". It was everything I wanted- positive LGBT representation, characters who were complex but sympathetic, heartwarming moments, and beautiful music. And then they redeemed the Diamonds. Now, I have no inherent problem with redemption arcs, but in order to be a real redemption three things have to happen: One, the person being redeemed has to realize that what they've done is wrong: Two, they have to have consequences for their previous actions: and Three, they have to make reparations to those they've hurt. The Diamonds do none of this. There is no way around it- the Diamonds are totalitarians who own slaves, regularly destroy planets, create bioweapons consisting of destroying a person's soul and forcibly gluing them to another shard of soul, multiplied to such a magnitude that Garnet, the embodiment of love, viewed them as an atrocity, uphold a rigid caste system to the point where acting outside your station can be met with death, and who were willing to kill an entire planet of gems simply because it had bad memories for them. Any one of their actions would be grounds for shattering, but instead their actions are treated as minor scruples. These aren't things that can just be forgiven, and they certainly can't just be shrugged off. The Diamonds aren't sympathetic, they're monsters with a coat of FreudianExcuse haphazardly slapped on at the last second because the writers want to think they're clever. Think of how many people have suffered because of the Diamonds' actions, and then think of how the show still wants you to sympathize with them. Yeah, I don't buy it. When you've caused so much pain and death in the galaxy, you don't deserve my sympathy.
37	** skullsnsouls91: These were my thoughts on this moment too. Like can we just have villains who aren’t redeemed or forgiven for once? And it was such a lazily done moment too. You can’t always try to have a villain be sympathized with. Especially ones like the Diamonds. They’re horrible beings who don’t deserve a single bit of sympathy or forgiveness. No matter what happens with them after this I still won’t see them as redeemed, they aren’t characters deserving of a redemption arc because of their crimes being far worse than any other character who’s been redeemed. This is pretty much one of the worst things this show has done.
38	** Tropers/PrismaticVoid: While Future would later go on to show the Diamonds trying to become better people, leaving it completely un-addressed in the original series was a very bad decision. The most we get of an acknowledgement that the Diamonds are terrible people past that point is Steven briefly mentioning it during "Familiar", otherwise it's mostly forgotten about.
39	*** Zombie_Jack: Yeah that part really bothered me, especially since even if you wanted to go with a pacifist route, you could have just... Imprisoned the Diamonds or at least remove them from power, kinda like how ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' ended. In fact, [=AtLA=] ''made fun'' of the idea of BigBad Ozai being redeemed.
40	* TheLuckyCat: I thought Steven Universe had an interesting premise of a kid going on adventures with gemstone-themed aliens, but I agree with a lot of the complaints about the bad pacing, inconsistent animation and awkward characterisation. However my DMOS would be "Change Your Mind". Specifically, the handling of Steven and White Diamond. Now, I loved White Diamond when she was first revealed, because she was the only villain who seemed like a legitimate threat and I honestly considered her the most interesting character in the whole show, way more than Steven, the Crystal Gems or any of his friends. Then "Change Your Mind" ruined all of that. She gets the laziest HeelFaceTurn I've ever seen - Steven basically tells her "Hey, you should let people be who they wanna be!", White Diamond accepts she isn't perfect in about five seconds (by the way, she's the most powerful Diamond and millions of years old and it takes a little boy standing up to her to reverse all that?) and... that's it? She's a good guy now? "Going to be the ultimate challenge to the show's "problems can be solved by communicating your feelings" mentality," my ass. Not to mention I was really hoping she'd be as intimidating as her debut, and she does have some cool powers and genuinely scary moments, but she still gets insultingly easily defeated by Mary S- I mean, Steven. Such a cool villain was totally ruined by the terrible writing of this show.
41	** @/{{rjd1922}}: I agree, White Diamond's "redemption" was pathetic and happened way too quickly. Plus it's driven by Steven's ArmorPiercingQuestion to White saying he's "acting like a child". How would White Diamond know what a child is? "Three Gems and a Baby" was all about how the Crystal Gems don't understand children, and they've lived on Earth for millennia.
42	** [=SorPepita=]: The real problem is not that she was redeemed too quickly, it's that she was redeemed at all. There's no redeeming a genocidal GodEmperor like that. For the sake of comparison, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' is also pretty fond of the HeelFaceTurn trope, but it knew it needed to draw the line at its own White Diamond-esque character Hordak Prime. But the thing is, Steven Universe (both the character ''and'' the series itself) is positively enamored of the "You should always make amends with family members" idea, even if your aunt turns out to be Space Hitler, to the point that two other Dethroning Moment contenders can be traced back to said enamoredness (there's the whole uncle Andy thing, although at least he's your ordinary racist jerk instead of a mass murdering tyrant, and the car crash in WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture, which essentially happens because learning the story of how Greg cut ties with his own parents pushes hard Steven's BerserkButton). It's weird and problematic at best, outright disturbing at worst.
43	* ThePurpleMeanie: For the most part, I found the Movie to be pretty entertaining. The animation was nice and a few of the songs were bangers... but I would have enjoyed the movie a whole lot more if it weren't for the Diamonds, especially the scenes at the beginning and end of the movie where they act very clingy toward Steven and say how they've "stopped shattering" and try to refer to other Gems as "equal life forms." If they're having so much trouble acting like decent people and basically just doing all this to please Steven, why on Earth are they still allowed to be in power? Granted, Homeworld seems to be changing into a constitutional monarchy, but everyone seems to be cool with the Diamonds still having the same position they always did. The Movie does show Steven being uncomfortable around them and gently telling them how to behave, but his attitude toward them is still too lackadaisical. This is just building from "Change Your Mind" sweeping everything the Diamonds did under the rug, even joking about it, and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
44	** curiouskat: I also enjoyed the Movie, and seeing the Diamonds' behaviors be forgiven in a simple HandWave left a bad taste in my mouth. However, I'd have to say that my DMOS had to be the fusion between Steven and Greg, "Mr Universe" (or what they've credited him as, Steg) at the concert. A fusion between an overweight teen and his chubby father does not, in any way, equal a pompous dude-bro with a six-pack and chisled jawline. There was no excuse for the pelvic thrusting or any of the suggestive angles presented in the film, and it made me highly uncomfortable. But considering "Alone Together", this show has a history of making fusions needlessly sexual despite Sugar herself saying that it isn't the case. Then why shoehorn this fusion in other than fanservice disguised as a "way to help Pearl"? Ugh.
45	* Tropers/{{PPPSSC}}: I'm a ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' latecomer, watching the entire series for the first time (aside from a few episodes I saw out of context earlier) between late 2020 and early 2021, and I loved it. And I love exploring familial relationships in fiction, in particular exceptionally good despite hardship and exceptionally bad despite privilege, which is why ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' and ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' are some of my favorite shows. And Steven Universe had Greg and Steven, who felt 100% like an example of the former in the original show. Then, in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'', we get "Mr. Universe", which I actually thought was a cute and sweet episode... Until the fight in the car. Like "Inspector Goofy", another dethroning moment for me, it manages to make two of the most moral characters in the cast unlikable and out of character. Steven is dismissive and apologetic towards Greg's (mundanely) controlling family and blames him for things he couldn't have predicted, had nothing to do with, or Steven never mentioned needing or wanting, or even outright dismissed when offered, in the original series. Greg, meanwhile, is oblivious to Steven's feelings, makes excuses, and is proud of his destructive outburst that caused the van to crash. The ending of this episode left a foul taste in my mouth for days after I saw it.
46	* Tvtropesfan234: After watching the entire series and watching [=MisAnthro=] Pony's video on ''The Fall Of Steven Universe: How It Fell From Grace'', I realized that the entire series was flawed. I began to have a multitude of problems with the series and how seasons 4, 5, and Future are bad seasons, and I found so many moments that could count as my DMOS from the whole ''Rose was Pink Diamond'' twist revealing Rose as a spoiled petty tyrant who never owned up to her mistakes and manipulated and lied to every one about the situation and causing many of the show's events to take place and for leaving some UnfortunateImplications, or how Steven's PTSD was portrayed in a horrible way like being hypocritical, freaking out over Connie saying no to him about his proposal, and he almost killed his own dad Greg, all because of an argument about leaving his parents and trying to start a new life for himself. But nothing compares to the Future episode: Fragments. Now, I could think of so many problems with the episode but, because I could only put one example in, I have to go with the shattering fo Jasper, and how she's revived. After fighting and training with Jasper, Jasper convinces him to unleash his pink side and when it goes too far, Steven tells her that he has been holding back and completely shatters her offscreen. After shattering her, Steven breaks down in tears and decides to use the Diamonds' essence to revive her. What? So, you're telling me that shattered gems can be revived by the Diamonds' essence and tears? Well, it not only makes Bismuth and her ''Breaking Point'' meaningless, it not only makes the conflict with the Diamonds pointless, it completely changes the concept of shattering gems into something that's completely reversible immediately after killing them. Why was Pink's shattering treated as a serious thing when they just could easily be revived with just anything. There's no stakes left anymore. They just literally broke the internal consistency by introducing the ability to revive shattered gems out of nowhere. They also broke the show's integrity by destroying the threat of any character dying! This is my DMOS as it completely changes the show entirely and make almost the entire show meaningless. Way to go Steven Universe, this episode is the worst episode of not only Future, but the entire show overall because of how it completely deflates one of the few arguments that the show still had.

Context DethroningMoment / StevenUniverse