Characters / Steven Universe — Off Colors

aka: Steven Universe Lars Barriga

Beware of spoilers for Season 5!

Steven Universe Main Character Index
Crystal Gems (Steven Quartz Universe | Garnet | Amethyst | Pearl | Rose Quartz | Connie Maheswaran | Peridot | Lapis Lazuli) | Gem Fusions | Homeworld Gems | Diamond Authority (Yellow Diamond | Blue Diamond | Pink Diamond | White Diamond) | Yellow Diamond's Court (Jasper) | Blue Diamond's Court | Spinel | Off Colors | Gem Monsters | Little Homeworld | Humans (Greg Universe) | Other

Off Colors

---

General

Gems like us aren't needed.

— Fluorite

"Off-colored" Gems are Gems who are considered to be purposeless and inefficient to Homeworld's ideals and goals due to defects or outlawed fusions, often also not fitting in any of the Diamonds' courts. For this reason, they are looked down upon, and any Off Colors are to be immediately exterminated on-sight, causing some to become fugitives.

This page specifically details the off-colored Gem group introduced in the opening episodes of Season 5. Beware of spoilers!

---

• Alice Allusion: As this post demonstrates, the Off Colors each have similarities to different characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Rutile Twins, being Single-Minded Twins who are always together, are like Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Rhodonite is a complete Nervous Wreck who is constantly bent out of shape, not unlike the March Hare, as depicted in Alice in Wonderland (2010). Padparadscha suffers from a severe case of Delayed Reaction, so you could say that she's always late, a nod to the White Rabbit. Fluorite is a wise person who happens to be shaped like a gigantic caterpillar, similar to the Caterpillar. Steven and Lars also meet them after going deeper and deeper into Homeworld's underground. And, to top it off, you could say that Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond bear parallels to the Queen and King of Hearts respectively.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: They've lived on the fringes of Gem society for so long that they don't know anything else. This is taken to such an extreme that they don't even understand what a compliment is, and when they meet Garnet for the first time they are confused by her enthusiasm and assume she is mocking them.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Their treatment draws a lot of parallels to eugenics of the 20th century.
• Fantastic Slurs: Off-Colors is a derogatory term for those who don't fit into Homeworld's rigid Hive Caste System.
• Foil: To the Crystal Gems, a group of aberrant, rebellious Gems centered around a not-quite-human teenager (both of whom owe their current existence to Rose Quartz). The Off-Colors recently became active, taking the fight to Homeworld led by the fearless Captain Lars; the Crystal Gems' own rebellion ended millennia ago, and they protect and mentor Steven.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Sanguine — Padparadscha is the most positive and optimistic of the group.
  • Choleric — The Rutile Twins are the most driven and actively seek out and rescue other off-color Gems.
  • Melancholic — Rhodonite is nervous and has a very pessimistic outlook on life.
  • Phlegmatic — Fluorite is very calm, wise, and accepting of others.
• Heroic Bystander: They don't seem to have any combat ability (or at least know they don't stand a chance of fighting back), but they try to help other outcasts and fugitives, and eventually make it off Homeworld with Lars, despite the risk of robonoids and other security detail on the lookout for fugitives. Ironically, their escort, Lars, is (mostly) a human, yet he's the one who has to defend them.
• Hive Caste System: They don't even fit in Homeworld's caste system, because as "undesirables" (taboo fusions, defective Gems), they're not supposed to.
• Kill on Sight: Both wandering Shattering Robonoids and loyal Homeworld Gems will kill them on sight. Because of this, they're stuck hiding deep beneath Homeworld in the old abandoned Kindergartens, fearing for their lives.
• Meaningful Name: They're called "off-color" because their entire existence as defects/taboo fusions makes them societal outcasts in the eyes of Homeworld Gems.
• Out of Focus: As noted in Put on a Bus below, they become less and less important throughout the series, and even the final episode that features them, "Little Graduation," fails to give them any lines.
• The Promised Land: Once they find out Earth was not devastated by the Diamond attack, they immediately make it a goal to reach it just by merit of it being a life-supporting planet where everyone isn't trying to kill them. They could have gone immediately through Lars and Lion's portals, but they didn't want to leave Lars behind. They arrive at the end of season five — ironically right before Homeworld gears up for a massive society shift that would have made them more tolerated anyway.
• Put on a Bus: They choose to stay on Homeworld with Lars when Steven flees back to Earth. Steven occasionally visits them but they don't arrive on Earth until "Change Your Mind". Then they head out to space again in "Little Graduation", notably without any speaking roles and only a handful of cameo appearances in the first half of the season.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: They're a small group of undesirables, made up of two permafusions, two defective Gems, and one (mostly) human teenager who now must navigate through Homeworld's underground in an attempt to avoid capture.
• Space Pirate: They become a small crew of space pirates with Lars acting as their captain, particularly stealing ships from Emerald, a high-ranking Gem.
• Time Abyss: Apparently, according to Fluorite, at least some of them have been hiding out on Homeworld for eons. Downplayed in that Gems are functionally immortal (the only way they can "die" is if their gemstones are destroyed), and so have lifespans that easily measure into millennia (Yellow Diamond herself once commented that six thousand years is "nothing" to a Gem).
• True Companions: Despite the option of leaving each other for dead being readily available, they choose to stick together and help one another. They don't see the other members of the group (except for themselves) as liabilities, instead just trying to work around it.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The end of "Change Your Mind" reveals that they made it to Earth...but it's never explained how, when, or why they did it. Their ship simply lands on the beach with no further comment.
• You Are Not Alone: They've made companions out of each other, and the Rutile twins are willing to help other Gem fugitives escape Homeworld's eye and let them join the group.

Rutile Twins

Rutile Twins

Voiced by: Ashly Burch

Left Twin: We survived because all the other Rutiles ran away when we emerged.
Right Twin: We survived... because they were afraid of us.

A defective Rutile that formed two near-separate bodies rather than one. When they emerged from their Kindergarten, they escaped persecution due to the other Rutiles fleeing at the sight of the double-bodied Rutile.

---

• Anatomy Anomaly: Gems don't usually have ears visible, but the Rutile twins' hair sticks straight up, suggesting they literally don't have any.
• Bifauxnen: Besides their voices, they have very few feminine-presenting traits.
• Conjoined Twins: Two individuals with a single gem is apparently the Gem equivalent.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Have a habit of both saying the same thing differently.
  Left Twin: It's okay, Rhodonite.
  Right Twin: Relax. We brought them here.
  Left Twin: They're with us.
• The Dividual: By virtue of sharing a body.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Rutile Twins can be seen as analogous to disabled individuals with physical abnormalities.
• Face Death with Dignity: They face nearly being shattered by the Robonoid with grim acceptance.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: If they're not rephrasing what the other said.
  Left Twin: Come, this way.
  Right Twin: This way, come.
• Foil: Like the Gem Mutants of season 2, they are a permafusion caused by two Gems becoming permanently physically joined. However, the Rutile twins were born this way and are two (mostly) whole gems joined together, and not the artificial joining of multiple agonized Gem fragments. This being the case, they are fully in control of their body and faculties as opposed to the constant pain, anger and confusion the Gem Mutants displayed.
• The Generic Guy: They don't have much personality compared to the rest of the Off-Colors.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: A rare non-visual example. Despite sharing the same voice actor, Lefty has a slightly higher-pitched voice while Righty has a lower voice.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The geological term for a bifurcated mineral is crystal twinning. So their type of gem is actually called a Rutile twin.
  • It is said that the real life Rutile gives off an aura of safety and calmness. Lars and Steven first met the twins while escaping from shattering robonoids, and they quickly provide them a safe spot in the kindergarten and, up until said robonoids pop up, remain calm through the episodes.
• Noodle People: Their upper bodies are very skinny, likely because their mass is split in two.
• The Noseless: Neither of them have a nose.
• Only Sane Woman: Between Rhodonite's nervousness, Padparascha's delayed perception and Fluorite's slow speech, they are the most grounded personality-wise.
• Shown Their Work: Some rutiles can form with two protrusions.
• Significant Double Casting: A pair of twins who share the same voice actress.
• Single-Minded Twins: Since they share a gem (which is the Gem equivalent of a brain), their thoughts seem to be synchronized.

Rhodonite

Rhodonite

Voiced by: Enuka Okuma

"You can't just walk around on the surface like that! You're off-color, just like the rest of us."

A paranoid but kind fusion of a Ruby and a Pearl. The duo used to work under a Morganite until their fusion was discovered, which got them kicked out and replaced.

---

• Amnesiac Lover: According to an interview, when Morganite found out that her Ruby and Pearl were in love, she rejuvenated them and wiped their memories. They fell for each other again, so she rejuvenated them again, which happened a total of 17 times before they finally ran away together.
• Big Sister Instinct: She seems to be protective of Padparascha, calling for her to hide from the Robonoids, carrying her out of danger, and covering her eye when the Rutile twins are about to be shattered.
• Call-Back: She looks similar to the Crystal Gems' Sardonyx except for the elements of a Sapphire, since Rhodonite is only made up of a Ruby and Pearl. Her outfit also appears to be an unorganized mashup of Ruby- and Pearl-styled clothing, similar to how Garnet's outfit was an unorganized mashup of Ruby and Sapphire's clothes when they first fused.
• Character Development: She's had some offscreen development as of "Change Your Mind", as when the Off-Colors make it to Earth and she declares "No more Diamond Authority!", they then notice that the now benign Diamonds are all standing in front of them. Instead of panicking, she just calmly states "Welp. We're cracked."
• Cowardly Lion: Because of her Nervous Wreck tendencies and a well-founded fear of persecution, she's afraid of doing anything in case it attracts attention and gets her and her companions killed.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's a little vague, but we know so far that Rhodonite's Ruby and Pearl used to work together under Morganite, but they realized they enjoyed fusing, then were discovered, kicked out, and left to fend for herself, and replaced.
• The Ditherer: One of her main flaws. While she is capable of coming up with multiple solutions to a threat or problem on her own, she lacks the courage or conviction to commit to any of them.
• Extra Eyes: Like Rainbow Quartz, she has two pairs of eyes on the top and bottom of her face.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: She has one short pant leg and one long one, as well as a diagonal stripe that runs through her hair, possibly to visually emphasize that she is a fusion, similarly to Garnet's first form.
• Foil: To Garnet, despite both of them being love-based perma-fusions. Garnet is The Stoic because her components are Ruby and Sapphire, so they cancel each other out. Rhodonite is a nervous wreck because her component Pearl and Ruby personalities enable each other's negative traits and are magnified by fusing. Also, while both fusions are clearly formed through mutual love, Garnet has been fused for centuries and has a very strong sense of identity, while Rhodonite appears much more inexperienced and less confident in herself, implying her components haven't been together long. To draw the comparisons further, Rhodonite's appearance has the same disorderly mish-mash of colors that is very visually similar to Garnet's appearance when she first fused.
• Heroic Build: Her design combines a Ruby's muscular build with a Pearl's tall and slender frame.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: She initially wanted to take up Lars's offer to leave him behind on Homeworld, but the Rutile twins shut her down, and Rhodonite changes her mind shortly after.
• Ironic Name: Rhodonite is said to decrease anxiety, and she's a Nervous Wreck.
• Made of Good: Fusions are the personification of the bond between their components, and she's a love-based permafusion not unlike Garnet.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Rhodonite is a Permafusion between a Pearl (who are traditionally feminine-looking) and a Ruby (who are traditionally masculine-looking).
• Meaningful Name: Rhodonite is said to decrease anxiety, and also symbolize unconditional love, self-love and growth, and service to mankind. Rhodonite is the result of presumably the love between a Ruby and a Pearl, and like the other Off Colors, she chooses to stay behind to help Lars escape Homeworld, though not initially.
• Morphic Resonance: Conjecturing from traits seen in other Pearls and Rubies, her shoulder ruffles, bottom eyes, tall height, thin lower arms and pointy nose are from her Pearl half, while her black/grey afro, dark pink skin, muscular build, thick upper arms, and top eyes are from her Ruby half.
• Nervous Wreck: Is very panicky and frantic about just about everything that happens. Considering some Pearls seem to be timid and some Rubies are anxious of their mistakes, it makes sense.
• Permafusion: She's the permanent fusion between a Pearl and a Ruby. In fact, the fact that they liked to stay fused together is the reason why they're an off-color, as their Morganite found out and had them... replaced.
• Properly Paranoid: As a fugitive, her fears of other fugitives being led back to their main hiding spot and other ways Homeworld security could track them down are justified. Later when they steal the Sun Incinerator, Lars puts her in charge of the radar, shields, and weapons systems to essentially weaponize her paranoia.
• Romantic Fusion: Is a Pearl/Ruby Permafusion.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Like all cross gem fusions, her existence/her components relationship is forbidden. Garnet is also intrigued on how a Pearl-Ruby fusion came to be.
  Garnet: You must be Rhodonite - a Ruby and a Pearl? That must have been a story. I want all the details.
• The Strategist: Played with. While she is listed as the "Head of Strategic Operations" for her team and she is very adept at coming up with plans on the fly, she has trouble choosing which plan to commit to. It's implied that she usually plays an advisory role and ultimately lets Lars make the big decisions instead.

Padparadscha

Padparadscha

Voiced by: Erica Luttrell

"Everyone, a wondrous prediction has come before me. The twins of Rutile will bring one, no, two strangers to our current place of hiding!"

An orange Sapphire variant. She is considered defective due to only being able to predict events after they have already occurred.

---

• Adaptational Intelligence: While she spends much of her time in the show as the Cloudcuckoolander, obliviously drifting through scenes making comically redundant (though occasionally insightful) comments, the arc in the 2017 comic series that focuses on the Off-Colors plays her as more on the ball and insightful, taking the initiative to help Lars get through his problems and — later — figuring out the Negative Space Wedgie the crew were trapped in, while only occasionally being hampered by her past vision.
  • Furthermore, said past vision is how she was able to figure out she was in a Lotus-Eater Machine before it could start getting to her. Since she could look back to the exact moment that it happened and be able to tell how and why it happened.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear if Padparadscha can see what's happening in the present and chooses to ignore it or simply cannot turn off her past vision, making her actually blind to what's happening in front of her. The Crystal Gems' Sapphire shows that the type, as a rule, actively has to "turn on" their Future Vision (or, at least, are able to separate those visions from what's happening in the present), but given that Padparadscha is a defective Sapphire, this may not apply.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Like the Crystal Gems' Sapphire, her skirt resembles a geode when seen from below. In addition, the shape of her hair somewhat resembles a lotus, which are what padparadscha sapphires are named after.
• Awesome, but Impractical: It's implied that her past "prediction" ability could be used to make true statements about things nobody else has noticed, such as Lars pressing the wrong button in "Your Mother and Mine", but its usefulness is highly specific.
• The Baby of the Bunch: While Padparadscha's actual age is unknown, she behaves in a cute, childlike manner and is treated like a little sister by the other Off-Colors. When the Rutile Twins are about to be killed by a Shattering Robonoid, Rhodonite covers Padparadscha's eye so she won't have to see it happening.
• Blessed with Suck: She is able to predict events... that have already happened.
• Captain Oblivious: Her future vision "predicts" the very recent past rather than the future, to the point that she seems genuinely unaware of what's going on in the present.
• Captain Obvious: Constantly reporting on the events of about thirty seconds ago. Though her power also allows her to "predict" things about that past that nobody else has picked up on yet.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Comes off as this, due to her past vision making her a bit slow on the uptake and leaving her blissfully serene at all times.
• Crown-Shaped Head: Padparadscha's three-pronged tuft of hair on top of her head resembles a crown.
• The Cutie: She is adorable-looking and sweet.
• Delayed Reaction: Padparadscha can only see things that have already happened, causing the information she gives to be this. She also reacts several seconds after the others, as seen when Steven asks for room during "Lars' Head", and it's a few seconds after everyone else moved back before she does the same.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Much like the Rutile Twins, the Padparadscha can be seen as analogous to disabled individuals, in her case being those with a mental or behavioral disorder.
• Failed a Spot Check: Often misses what is going on in the present. This turns out to be quite dangerous, as she delivers one of her visions to Lars while failing to notice a destroyer Robonoid targeting her gem.
  • Subverted on occasion with her powers, which allow her to learn information and notice details that nobody else saw.
• Foil: To the Crystal Gems' Sapphire. Padparadscha is a Perpetual Smiler, while Sapphire is usually The Stoic (at least whenever Ruby isn't around). Their overall color schemes are even direct complements of one another, and their gemstones are on opposite sides of the same hand. Sapphire is a prime example of what a gem of her type and station should be in Homeworld, while Padparascha was labeled defective and cast out of society due to her broken future vision. The circumstances of why they are Homeworld outcasts also differ — Sapphire left willingly (to protect the Crystal Gems' Ruby from being shattered), Padparadscha was shunned for simply being born with something out of her control.
• Genki Girl: Unlike the more reserved Crystal Gem Sapphire, Padparadscha is very excitable and instantly blurts out whatever "future" she sees.
• Giant Poofy Sleeves: Her ballgown has them, like the Crystal Gems' Sapphire.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: More of a light orange, but the trope still fits. Despite being Blessed with Suck, she still tries to be helpful and is always excited to share her visions with her friends.
• Hidden Depths: Despite appearing to be the most innocent and naïve of the Off-Colors, in "Off Colors" she was the only one of them willing to admit they would be shattered if the Shattering Robonoids found them.
• Horrifying the Horror: Played for Laughs. When she and her friends arrive on Earth in "Change Your Mind" and she sees the Diamonds in front of her, she screams "AH! IT'S THE DIAMONDS!", which actually startles all three of them.
• Idiot Hair: Has a three pronged tuft of hair on top of her head, which resembles a crown.
• Impoverished Patrician: Sapphires are typically high-ranking aristocratic gems, but thanks to her defect she now lives underground with others cast out from their society.
• Inhuman Eye Concealers: Like other Sapphires, her hair covers her eye.
• Ironic Name: Padparadscha sapphires are one of the rarest gems in the world — mostly found in Sri Lanka — and are among the most valuable varieties of sapphires. The first one we meet in the show is considered an undesirable in Homeworld's system, though it's probably just this one specifically.
• Irony:
  • Due to the nature of her past vision, it is 100% accurate as opposed to a normal sapphire's future vision, which can fail. However, her past vision is so niche in use that it is useless most of the time.
  • Padparadscha is a defective gem who lives in hiding in caves with the other Off Colors while most sapphires live as aristocrats in Homeworld. Padparadscha is one of the happiest and emotive gems in the series while the only other sapphire seen is naturally subdued and sullen.
• The Load: Constantly has to be dragged/carried out of danger due to her delayed predictions and utter obliviousness to what is taking place directly in front of her.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Padparadschas are associated with moving forward in life and grounding one in both reality and confidence. Padparadscha can only see what has already happened, but compared to most Sapphires, she acts far more happy with her life.
  • Because padparadschas are rare in the real world, buyers often have to settle for less desirable "cloudy" padparadschas, which may be why this one has "cloudy" vision.
• Mysterious Past: Since about all her lines so far are late predictions, we don't know anything about her past other than she probably got in trouble for her defect.
• Nice Girl: Has yet to show any malice to any of the characters and has been nothing but sweet.
• The Noseless: Like CG's Sapphire, she doesn't seem to have a nose.
• Oxymoronic Being: Padparadscha's entire being is more or less a contradiction, with her "future" sight only giving her visions of events that have already taken place.
• Perpetual Smiler: She seems perpetually happy, at least when she knows she's safe.
• Pimped-Out Dress: She wears a multicolored ballgown with Giant Poofy Sleeves, suggesting that her place in the Homeworld caste system likely would have been quite high-ranking if not for her disability. Sapphires were previously mentioned to be "rare aristocratic Gems".
• Plucky Comic Relief: Is the main source of humor in the episodes that she appears in.
• The Pollyanna: Despite being born with defective powers, being hunted by her own people, and being forced to hide in an underground cavern with fear of being killed, she still finds a way to maintain a constant cheerful mood.
• Power Incontinence: She never stops using her past-viewing powers, no matter how much it hinders her. So either she can't turn it off, or she just finds looking into the past so fascinating that it distracts her from the present.
• Prescience Is Predictable: Inverted; while Sapphire's Future Vision causes her to act detached, Padparadscha's delayed vision makes her find everything pleasantly surprising.
• Running Gag: Whenever something important comes up, she only announces that it will happen about half a minute after it's already happened.
• Seers: Inverted. Padparadscha's future sight is broken, so she can only see things that have already happened. She's also a lot more openly emotional and happier than Sapphire.
• Shout-Out: Her short hair with three little hairs resembling a crown, her dress' design, and her coloration seem to be based on Princess Daisy from the Mario franchise. Padparadscha sapphires are also named after a type of flower. At SDCC 2017, the crew called her "the Daisy to Sapphire's Zelda".
• Smarter Than You Look: Though Padparadscha's late pronouncements make her come off as unintelligent, she sometimes notices things other people missed, either through mundane deduction or preternatural insight. When Emerald fired on the Sun Incinerator, she was the first one besides Lars who realized she missed on purpose. While everyone is trying to get the ship back online, she intuits that Lars is pressing the wrong button on a control panel, something he didn't realize himself until being told. She also notes that Garnet is making everyone uncomfortable with her compliments, which Garnet herself failed to notice in her excitement.
• Superpower Disability: She can only see the recent past, a "flaw" in the forward-advancing Homeworld society.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: So far her ability to predict the past has come in useful exactly twice — once when she used it to let Lars know he was pressing the wrong button to restart their ship, the other when she revealed that Emerald missed the Sun Incinerator on purpose. She also predicted that Garnet was making everybody uncomfortable with her enthusiasm, which is useful in a social way.
  • Basically, while the average Sapphire focuses on what, when, and where things will happen, she focuses on how and why things already happened.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Her ability to see the past is pretty useless, and endangers her life multiple times, but she has been able to reveal important context to recent events a few times so far.
• Visual Pun: Because she focuses so much on the past, she is blind to the present.

Fluorite

Fluorite

Voiced by: Kathleen Fisher

Rhodonite: But my story's nothing! I mean, Fluorite, how many Gems are you now?
Fluorite: Six. Maybe more, if we meet the right Gem.

A calm and wise fusion of six Gems.

---

• Accidental Truth: In "Your Mother and Mine," Fluorite declares that Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems, was just a mythic figure who never existed. The events of "A Single Pale Rose" reveal that she was correct to a degree: the "Rose Quartz" who led the Earth rebellion was actually a shapeshifted Pink Diamond.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Fluorite has a very accepting and open-minded view on relationships and is herself made of six Gems, both of which is represented by her multi-colored body. She is also the wisest of the Off-Color Gems, and she looks like a senior among them (due to her puffy light hair, and her bottom-most eyes usually being closed and looking like age lines).
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Unlike many other fusions so far, because Fluorite is made up of six gems, she looks like a humanoid caterpillar.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Rose Quartz started a war to defend Earth, and many Gems that fought in it (on Homeworld's side, anyway) are still alive. Despite this, in "Your Mother and Mine", Fluorite doesn't think that Rose Quartz existed. While there was a vein of Rose Quartz, all of which were bubbled and held captive in the Human Zoo, the Rose Quartz that Fluorite is talking about was not real. In "A Single Pale Rose", it is revealed that Pink Diamond, who shapeshifted herself into that form and pretended to be a Rose Quartz, was the actual leader of the Crystal Gems.
• The Engineer: Is the Off Colors' engineer and keeps their stolen ship ship running, as well as repairs it in combat. She's very good at it, only needing five minutes to get the Sun Incinerator back to combat shape after Emerald disabled its shields and weapons systems.
• Eskimos Aren't Real: She initially believed that Rose Quartz, the leader of the Crystal Gems, didn't actually exist. Technically she's right, since that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond.
• Extra Eyes: Has three pairs of eyes but often keeps the bottom most pair closed. This resembles age lines which fits her Granny Classic look.
• Foil:
  • To the Cluster Gems as well as the Cluster. Speech impediment aside, Fluorite embodies the possibility of multiple Gems loving each other enough to fuse willingly, giving them a comfortable new form to act through; Fluorite even mentions a willingness to add another Gem if they are compatible. The Cluster Gems look quite monstrous in appearance by comparison and were made by shattering other Gems and forcibly and permanently fusing their remaining shards together with the Cluster being a planet-wide forced fusion, leaving the owners of said Gems in constant and immeasurable pain as they lash out in a desire to be whole again.
  • To Malachite. They're similar in that both of them have highly warped inhumanoid forms. However, while Malachite's components hated each other and one spent an entire season trying to keep the other prisoner, Fluorite's components are in harmony and work together, albeit slowly.
  • To Alexandrite, who is also another fusion between multiple willing and loving components, but the relationship between components is one of family/friendship, not romantic, and thus highly unstable. And unlike Fluorite, Alexandrite is not a casual permafusion, but one used mostly for combat and in highly dangerous situations.
  • To Garnet. Both are love-based permafusions whose component Gems are equal in number, but Garnet (two Gems) is fairly exclusive ("Three's a crowd.") while Fluorite's components (six Gems) are in an open relationship that gladly accepts other compatible Gems.
• Fusion Dance: Is a six-Gem permafusion, making her the fusion with the most component Gems seen in the franchise (compared to Obsidian's five).
• Gentle Giant: The largest of the Off Colors, and the kindest, most soft-spoken of the group.
• Granny Classic: Gives this impression due to her soft, quiet voice, gentle nature, and fluffy, pale blue hair.
• Large and in Charge: Seems to be the leader of the Off Colors and is gigantic by virtue of being a six-Gem fusion. However, she's much smaller than five-Gem fusion Obsidian (she seems to be comparable in size to three-Gem fusion Sardonyx), suggesting that her individual components aren't that powerful by themselves.
• Made of Good: Fusions are the personification of the bond of their components, and she's a love-based permafusion. As such, like Garnet, she's more or less made of love.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Fluorite is associated with a clear mind. That may or may not be an Ironic Name, since the Fluorite fusion is made up of six Gems that have to agree on one action in order to carry it out, but she does seem to be rather wise.
  • According to Wikipedia, fluorite is known as the most colorful mineral in the world. Fluorite has a colorful body and is made up of more gems than any other fusion shown.
• Metaphorically True: In "Your Mother and Mine", Fluorite claims that Rose Quartz does not exist. While there was a vein of Rose Quartz, all of which were bubbled and held captive in the Human Zoo, the Rose Quartz actually is not real. In "A Single Pale Rose", it is revealed that Rose is actually just a guise fabricated by Pink Diamond herself, so technically the Rose Quartz does not actually exist.
• Mind Hive: One body, but being composed of six gems means there's a lot conversation going on inside.
• Mysterious Past: Since she talks very slowly and is taciturn, we don't know anything about her past other than she was probably made an outcast for being a fusion between several different Gems.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Fluorite speaks a little more quickly when all six of her components are absolutely certain about something. One example is when she refuses Lars' offer to go through the portal in his head and leave him behind on Homeworld.
• Permafusion: She's the permanent fusion between six gems, which also makes her the fusion with the most components ever featured in the series.
• Polyamory: She says she'd be willing to increase the number of Gems making up her fusion "if we meet the right Gem", implying that the relationship between the six is romantic. It's also implied that new Gems have entered the relationship more than once, as Rhodonite asks for a reminder of how many she consists of now.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't speak much, and what she says is very slow and to the point. Presumably, this is because the six Gems making up Fluorite have to agree on what to say.
• Team Mom: She's the closest the other off-colors have to a figure they can look up to.
• Terse Talker: She doesn't mince words; given how slowly she speaks, she likely knows she can't afford to.
• Unknown Character: Unlike Rhodonite, we have no idea who any of Fluorite's components are, only that the crew have designs for them planned out if they're ever needed.

Lars Barriga

Laramie "Lars" Barriga

Voiced by: Matthew Moy, Mason Cook (young)

^{Click here for his appearance in Steven Universe}

^{Click here to see him as "Lars of the Stars"}

"You're always trying to help me! You brought me back to life! Just... let me be someone who deserved it."

Lars was a slacker that worked at the Big Donut. Initially a sullen, angry teen, getting stranded on Homeworld gave him the kick in the pants needed to seriously better himself, going from someone you wouldn't trust to watch a pot boil to the confident, commanding leader of the Off Colors, in turn leading them to becoming actual criminals of Homeworld rather than just criminals by circumstance in their quest for Earth. After arriving back home, Lars is much more open and honest, and even follows his passion for cooking by opening a bakery called Spacetries, before eventually returning to space to heed the call of adventure.

---

• All Take and No Give: Lars' defining flaw in his relationship with Sadie; he often expects her to be there and think about him all the time but doesn't put the same emotional care to her and her needs.
• All There in the Manual: Lars's last name was first revealed◊ in the tie-in book Keep Beach City Weird: You Can't Hide the Truth!, which is written as being from Ronaldo's perspective. It was later mentioned in-show in "Dewey Wins".
• Ambiguously Brown: His skin is darker than most of the clearly Caucasian members of the cast, and his pilot character design was considerably darker with dark brown/black hair. Initially, the only thing any of the crew specified is that Lars is not white. It was eventually shown (and confirmed by that same crew member) that Lars is mixed race and of Filipino heritage: His father has brown hair and darker skin, his full name is "Dante Barriga", and Lars mentions a family ube recipe. Lars's mother has his same orange-ish hair and lighter skin.
• Ambiguously Human: After being brought back from the dead and undergoing some type of magical transformation, it's debatable if Lars can still be considered human.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He works at a donut shop (more or less) and his floppy, stretch-pierced ears look quite a lot like donuts.
• Back from the Dead: Died briefly in "Off Colors" before being resurrected by Steven's healing powers.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: What Steven thinks Sadie and Lars bickering amounts to. Of course, he also refers to Lars as his BFF, so his interpretation should be taken with a grain of salt. Lars and Sadie's dynamic is deconstructed as the show goes on. Sadie and Lars do have feelings for each other like Steven says, but they bicker so much in part because Lars is too insecure to admit that he likes Sadie and compensates by acting like a jerk to her (at least in public), which makes Sadie respond in ways that are just as dysfunctional. After his Jerkass Realization in "The New Lars", Lars starts being openly nicer to Sadie and the bickering dies down.
  Steven: [Lars] and Sadie run the Big Donut.
  Connie: Do they get along?
  [Sadie and Lars talk over each other while arguing]
  Steven: They're crazy about each other.
• Better as Friends: "Little Graduation" reveals that he and Sadie tried getting together after his return from space but just couldn't make it work. They still remain on friendly terms.
• Book Dumb: His report card in "The New Lars" shows he's failing almost every class, with the exception of two where he has a B and D. "Off Colors" has him painted as less Book Dumb and more that he's afraid to put in the work because he doesn't want to fail (including not cooking baklava because the recipe looked too hard).
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Implied. Lars' report card shows he's almost failing school but he's shown to a clever tactician when he becomes the leader of the Off Colors. So, it's implied that Lars never truly put in the work because he was afraid to fail and be laughed at.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The grumpy and extremely insecure Brooding Boy to Sadie's friendly and nurturing Gentle Girl.
• But Now I Must Go: He decides to go explore space with the Off Colors by the time Future happens.
• Butt-Monkey: Lots of bad things happen to him, which only fuel his sour attitude.
• Came Back Strong: After Steven resurrects him, his hair becomes a portal into the Pocket Dimension inside Lion's mane, and he no longer needs to eat. According to the creators during a podcast, he has all the same powers as Lion does. The creators wanted to show this and never got a chance, but Rebecca mentions he may have used the warp ability to infiltrate Homeworld facilities.
• Cannot Spit It Out: His feelings towards Sadie. Whenever Steven jokes about it, Lars will break out into Angrish. When Lars actually does kiss her, he later retracts it by saying she made the move on him.
• Can't Stay Normal: Despite returning to Earth successfully and opening up his own bakery in Steven Universe Future, he decides to head off to space once again with the rest of the Off Colors in "Little Graduation", leaving Spacetries to Blue Lace Agate.
• Character Catchphrase: Steven fully believes "Bingo Bongo" is Lars's catchphrase, which Lars finds utterly embarrassing. Come his promotion to space fighter, he has absolutely no shame in using it as his catchphrase, and even has the targeting system in the Star Skipper tag targets with "Bingo Bongo".
• Character Development:
  • The "Wanted" arc of season 5 is basically a character arc heavily focusing on him becoming a better person.
  • By Future, the once cowardly, selfish Lars who only did activities to make himself look good to others is now a brave, selfless person who is more open about likes and dislikes.
• Consistent Clothing Style: Lars' outfits generally consist of skinny jeans with a rip in one of the knees, green sneakers, a long sleeved undershirt, and a t-shirt.
• Cowardly Lion: For the longest time, Lars would shrink away from any conflict involving the Gems. Lars initially comes off and even viewed himself as a Dirty Coward, but Season 5 finally transitioned himself into this.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: In "Horror Club", Lars laughs at Ronaldo's eagerness about horror movies and general weirdness, then starts to behave really nasty towards him after Sadie started to bond with Ronaldo over those same things.
• Curse Cut Short: In "Mirror Gem":
  Lars: [after Steven bumps into him] Hey, watch where you're going, you little f– [glances at Sadie] STEVEN!
• A Day in the Limelight: "Lars and the Cool Kids", "Island Adventure", "The New Lars", "The Good Lars", and the "Wanted" one-hour special put him in the spotlight.
• Deadpan Snarker: He snarks at Steven's expense a lot, although he's typically more angry than deadpan. Ronaldo calls him a "Local sarcasm dispenser" in his book.
• Delinquent Hair: Lars appears to shave the sides of his hair to get a poofy kind of mohawk, which fits with his negative attitude.
• Demoted to Extra: Lars is one of the more frequent recurring human characters throughout the first season, but Season 2 has him appearing only in crowd shots and one scene of "Sadie's Song", where he is completely silent. However, after following just one focus episode in Season 3 and a few minor appearances in Season 4, Lars gets another focus episode near the end of Season 4, and becomes Steven's Deuteragonist for the first four episodes of season five.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Sadie gets over her crush on him and ends up with Shep, while Lars goes off to explore the universe a single man, whether he'll find someone else being left ambiguous. Unbeknownst to Steven, who thought he had to fix their relationship, they already tried to reconnect and came to a mutual decision offscreen that they wouldn't work as a couple.
• Dirty Coward: Pre-Character Development. If faced with the choice between saving a friend in danger and running off to save himself, Lars can't get out of there fast enough. He really doesn't like this part of himself, and he gets over it in the "Wanted" arc, finding taking levels in both Badass and Kindness.
• Eating Optional: After being resurrected by Steven, he now only rarely needs to eat.
• Embarrassing First Name: He doesn't like when his parents call him by his full first name, "Laramie".
• Extra-Dimensional Shortcut: After his resurrection by Steven, Lars' hair now connects to Lion's Pocket Dimension, upgrading it to one of these. No matter how far apart the two are in the outside world, it's just a short walk from one to the other in the pocket dimension. This even applies when Lars is on Homeworld and Lion is all the way back on Earth.
• Fanboy: Of Tiger Millionaire, who happens to be Steven's wrestling persona.
• Fatal Flaw: Lars' desire to be seen as cool has caused a lot of strain in his closer relationships, namely with Sadie. It's also the main reason his and Ronaldo's friendship ended and why he refuses to open up to others.
• Fat and Skinny:
  • The lean Skinny to Sadie's chubby Fat.
  • Likewise the lean Skinny to Ronaldo's big Fat when they were younger.
• Fiery Redhead: Zigzagged. He has orange hair, but his mood can go from aloofness to bursting anger in a moment.
• Foil: To Steven. They both try their hardest to be accepted into a group of three people (Cool Kids and Crystal Gems, respectively). Both also have their own share of insecurities. However, Lars is a grumpy jerk with hardly anyone really liking him, but does have a kind side. Steven is a Cheerful Child who is well-liked by nearly everyone, but is just as flawed as everyone else. This is confirmed in a podcast:
  Rebecca: Steven and Lars have always been.. counter to each other. Even in the pilot. As the show has gone on, it's become even and even more true. They are so opposed to each other; Lars is someone who just can't accept help and Steven just wants to help everyone. That's what makes them... have such a problem with each other. Lars is really putting on a façade all the time, and Steven is incapable of putting on a façade. That opposition that they have to each other is one of the oldest things in the show.
  • This extends to their relationships with their best friends/implied love interests. Lars's friendship with Sadie is turbulent and dysfunctional in part because he's too selfish and insecure to open up to her. Conversely, Steven's friendship with Connie is strong and healthy largely because he's (usually) open and honest about his feelings, allowing Connie to support him the way Sadie wants to support Lars. Though ironically, they both end up abandoning their closest friends at the climax of Season 4; with Lars abandoning Sadie out of fear and Steven abandoning Connie in a guilt-induced Heroic Sacrifice.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The Cool Kids let him hang out with them, but pretty much nobody except Steven and Sadie really likes him, and even Sadie is deeply aware of how flawed he is. Which isn't to say the Cool Kids really dislike him, they just still don't know him because he won't open up to them.
• From Zero to Hero:
  • Lars started as a lazy, surly slacker, barely trying unless it personally interested him, who wanted to be respected and enjoyed by his peers but went about it the complete wrong way due to his own insecurities; the one thing he had a serious passion for was cooking, but he never showed it in fear of being looked down on. The final season forces Lars into a situation where he learns to be brave in spite of his fears, taking charge and becoming a confident Hero of Another Story who does what he loves no matter what other people think.
  • Lars started as a cowardly jerk, then became a space pirate that ended up becoming the Arch-Enemy of a high-level Homeworld Gem.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Gains a scar over his right eye in "Off Colors" as a result of his temporary death.
• Handshake Substitute: Has one with Steven where they would high-five each other in the chest.
• Hero of Another Story: In Season 5, somewhere in-between "Lars' Head" and "Lars of the Stars", Lars and the Off Colors went from being trapped on Homeworld to Freedom Fighters in space, even getting his own personal Arch-Enemy in Emerald.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Destroys one of the Shattering Robonoids to save Steven and the Off Colors at the cost of his own life. Steven manages to accidentally resurrect him, but he chooses to stay on Homeworld until he can escape the long way so Steven can get home.
• Hidden Depths:
  • As far back as "Lars and the Cool Kids", we see that Lars is extremely desperate to fit in. Then there's his heartbreaking line in "Island Adventure":
    [teary eyed] "Sadie... Do you ever get lonely... [cries harder] Even when you're around people?"
  • "Island Adventure" shows he can cook. "The Good Lars" goes into more detail, showing he's particularly good at baking pastries, but that it's another thing he hides out of a fear of being seen as uncool.
  • "Horror Club" revealed that Lars has had these insecurities since childhood, and his fear of being laughed at was the main reason his friendship with Ronaldo turned sour.
  • When we see his grades in "The New Lars", it's mostly comprised of Fs, with a lone D and B, meaning there must be something he's good at/kept his attention on. A fan talked to Raven, who confirmed that Lars' B was for either Art or Chemistry, though that just raises other questions.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Sadie's belief about the more rotten side of Lars' personality is that he's putting up a front. A few of his spotlight episodes do back this up.
  Sadie: I can't get the thought out of my head that you're a good person.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Judging by hair he had when he was younger, Lars' regular hairdo involves shaving everything but the very top of his head. Despite this, his hair remains the same even if he goes days without the means to cut it.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: For all his egoism and desire to be cool, Lars is paralyzed at the idea of opening up to others and frequently sabotages himself rather than try new things out of fear of being seen trying and failing.
• I Owe You My Life: Lars allows Steven to get back to Earth through his new pocket dimension hair while he's stranded on Homeworld because Steven resurrected him and he wants to be someone who actually deserved a second chance at life.
• Irony:
  • "The New Lars" shows that if he was nicer to people — like Steven acted in his body — he'd finally get the respect and popularity he's always wanted.
  • "The Good Lars" shows that the "Cool Kids", whom he's so desperate to befriend and be accepted by, already readily accept and consider him a friend, he just needs to open himself up to them. Furthering the irony, when discussing him, the Cool Kids specifically praise the qualities Lars seems most desperate to hide from them.
  • After four seasons of being the person who wants the least to do with the weirdness around Steven, he ends up becoming the most directly involved of any human and gains all of Lion's powers, simply because he ran and hid from a Gem fight.
• It's All About Me: Lars' main flaw is that he's quick to seek short-sighted personal gains at the expense of others or to assume people are working against him. These cause any number of problems when episodes focus on him.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Implied. Future showed that he and Sadie tried to make a romance work but couldn't and ultimately are Better as Friends, with Sadie even being in a relationship with Shep. However, while Lars fully supports the couple there is some dialogue that hints he, on some level, wants to be her boyfriend.
• Jerkass: Lars usually does nothing to Steven other than act rude and prickish towards him. He can act more civil or patient toward him on occasion and sometimes indicates there's more to him, but if there's a Hidden Heart of Gold it's definitely buried deep down. He loses a lot of it during the "Wanted" arc.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Lars was justified for being mad at Sadie for stranding him on an island without food, supplies, or an opportunity to contact friends or family.
  • He is also more than justified when he flies into a rage after finding out Steven used him as a People Puppet for the better part of the day without his permission and then has his friends and family (minus Sadie) tell him how much they preferred the Steven version of him.
  • In "Horror Club", while the focus of the narrative points to Lars's insecurity and concern over others' opinion as the main problem, he was right to refuse to have his embarrassing photo go public, as Ronaldo wanted to publish it for both of them to become famous without regard for what Lars wanted. Though destroying the picture seems excessive and impulsive, it was clear that Ronaldo had no intention of keeping it private even if told no.
  • In "Tiger Philanthropist", Lars makes a correct statement that Purple Puma quitting wrestling doesn't mean that Tiger Millionaire has to.
• Jerkass Realization: After Steven takes his body for a ride in "The New Lars", he realizes that everyone likes him better with Steven's personality, while Sadie is so jaded that she refuses to believe he would ever sincerely admit to being in love with her. It does inspire him to make an effort with Sadie, at least. By "The Good Lars", he openly says that he believes no one likes him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eventually becomes this in Season 5's "Wanted" arc, to the point of willing to open up to Steven about his feelings. He even sacrifices himself to protect Steven and the Off Colors from Shattering Robonoids, and Steven resurrects him not long after. He then tells Steven and the Off Colors to go to Earth through his new power without him (though the Off Colors decide to stay with him).
• Kick the Morality Pet: Sadie is the closest person Lars can open up to but it doesn't stop him from taking advantage of her kindness or being rude to her in general.
• Large Ham: After becoming a Space Pirate, he's clearly picked up a bit of a hammy side.
• The Leader: Of the Off Colors. He's a Type Level-headed and Type Mastermind, as he keeps his cool the most of the group and comes up with their strategies.
• Leitmotif: Starting in "I Am My Mom", intense scenes where Lars is present tend to include a repeating four-note synth beat.
• Like an Old Married Couple: How Steven sees Lars' and Sadie's relationship in "Bubble Buddies":
  Sadie: Lars, quit being a jerk and help!
  Lars: What? I'm helping Steven on his date.
  Sadie: You're embarrassing him!
  Lars: No, I'm not!
  Sadie: Yes, you are!
  Steven: [in the bubble with Connie] He and Sadie run the Big Donut.
  Connie: Do... they get along? [Lars and Sadie continue to argue]
  Steven: They're crazy about each other.
  • Lars sets Steven straight in "Coach Steven":
    Steven: That's it! We all need a workout! Let's do it! Let's work out together! [to Sadie] You can beat up Lars, [to Lars] and you don't have to starve to death if Sadie divorces you!
    Lars: We're not married!
• Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman: A fan of Tiger Millionaire, who is just Steven in a Paper-Thin Disguise.
• Locked into Strangeness: Turns pink after Steven brings him back to life following his death in "Off Colors".
• Lonely Among People: He spends most of the series as a friend of the Cool Kids, but his low self-esteem keeps him from opening up to them out of fear that they won't like him. It takes Lars a long time to be close with anyone but Sadie, and he once asked her if she has ever felt lonely despite being around people.
• Long-Lived: Word of God stated that since his resurrection, he's extremely long-lived due to slowed metabolism but not immortal. He also still needs to eat, but very, very rarely.
• Loving a Shadow: A sort of platonic example; he admires Buck, Jenny, and Sour Cream because he thinks they're detached, aloof, and cynical, but they're actually outgoing, open-minded, and friendly. Sadie even points out that they are "the cool kids", but not for what Lars thinks is "cool".
• Master of the Mixed Message: To Sadie. In her words, he would act nice to her then treat her badly right after, making it difficult for her to truly know if he even cares about her. It turns out, Lars does love Sadie but it too insecure to admit it.
• Moral Myopia: After he turns against Tiger Millionaire, he directly says it's because he hurt him specifically.
• Naked People Are Funny: When Steven accidentally posesses Lars, the first thing he finds out about him is that he sleeps completely naked.
• No-Sell: One of the reasons the Off Colors become effective with his leadership is because the Gem technology is easily bypassed by all-organic beings; they're meant to detect gemstones, and not organic life.
• Non-Action Guy: It's mostly noticeable because Sadie is one of the most physically capable humans on the show, but Lars is not remotely physically gifted, and not particularly brave either. When he finally takes a combat role in "Off Colors" he actually proves to be surprisingly courageous and does rather well... before what would be minor trauma to a Gem kills him instantly.
  • Even when revived as shown in "Lars of the Stars", he mostly uses the fact that he's human to slip through all sorts of securities that Homeworld constructed.
• One Head Taller: He towers over Sadie.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: "Lars" is actually short for "Laramie", but no one but his parents ever calls him that, and even that's just when they forget he doesn't like it.
• Only One Name: His last name was not mentioned until "Dewey Wins", though Keep Beach City Weird book mentioned it a while earlier.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Discussed. He's briefly terrified that he's become a "pink zombie" after his resurrection. Steven denies this... but he does have a slower heartbeat.
• Out of Focus: Lars was essentially absent from the second season, and only in one episode of the third. This gets reversed in the fourth season, as he starts making minor appearances again, gets another Day in the Limelight, and ends up the sole ally of Steven's headed with him to Homeworld in the finale. Then in the fifth season he dies and becomes a human version of Lion after Steven accidentally resurrects him with his Swiss-Army Tears.
• Pocket Dimension: When he dies and is resurrected by Steven, his hair and the dimension in Lion's mane are now connected, complete with their own respective trees. A short walk from one to the another in this alternate plane of existence, brought Steven light-years across the cosmos from the Gem Homeworld, to Earth. However, Lars is obviously unable to travel with him and has to stay behind, in the hopes of finding an alternate method home with the Off Colors.
• Prophetic Names:
  • "Laramie" comes from "la ramée", French for "the leafy branch". When he comes back to life, he has a Pocket Dimension in his hair that has a leafy tree inside.
  • Laramie can also mean "tears of love" in French. And Lars is resurrected by Steven's healing tears.
• Real Men Cook: Inverted. Lars likes cooking and he's good at it, but he's ashamed of it because he thinks it's uncool. Part of that is probably because he specifically likes baking pastries. By the time Steven Universe: Future starts, he's gotten over it and opens his own pastry store "Spacetries".
• Real Men Wear Pink: After he's resurrected by Steven in "Off Colors", in addition to his skin taking on a pinkish hue, he becomes more brave, heroic, cunning, and a great strategist when commanding the off-color gems, and his self-esteem has more of a positive outlook.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Steven gives Lars one of these in "Lars and the Cool Kids", only to be on the receiving end of another:
  Lars: This is all your fault! I knew if something went wrong today it would be because of you! Now I'm never going to be friends with these guys. All because of your... weird mom!
  Steven: What do you know about my mom?! I didn't even get to know my mom! But I do know, she saw beauty in everything! Even in stuff like this, and even in jerks like you!
• Rule of Empathy: Season 5's "Off Colors" sees Lars develop an empathy to and a relation towards the Off Colors, to the point where he even briefly died protecting them from sensors in the Homeworld Kindergarden.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: A rude, abrasive grouch to Steven, the openly emotional, friendly All-Loving Hero.
  • Becomes a Downplayed Trope in Steven Universe: Future, as well Steven is still an All-Loving Hero and Lars retains his Deadpan Snarker tendencies, Lars has now Took a Level in Kindness and is more open to talking about his feelings, something he helps Steven with.
• Shipper on Deck: He kept making romantic inferences to Steven being in a bubble with Connie in "Bubble Buddies".
• Ship Tease: With Sadie. At one point, Steven thinks they are married already and some of their dialogue can be construed as romantic tension. "Little Graduation" has the ship sunk as it's revealed that they tried forming a relationship but it could never work and Sadie has found a new partner in Shep.
• Shirtless Scene: Gets one in "Lars And The Cool Kids" and "The New Lars"
• The Slacker: He'll go so far as to fake an injury to get out of working.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: His grumpy attitude is implied to be a facade to cover up his self-esteem issues.
• Strong Family Resemblance: "The New Lars" shows he has his mother's hair color and skin complexion. And his head shape is similar to his father's.
• Supreme Chef: When it comes to baking pastries, as both Sadie and Steven can attest to.
• Teens Are Monsters: A definite example in a show that usually averts it. Lars is lazy, shortsighted, self-absorbed, abrasive, and confuses negativity for authenticity, which are all negative personality traits associated with teenagers. He grows out of it for the most part, but it takes a long while to get there.
• Token Human: He's the only human member of the Off Colors.
• Took a Level in Badass: After four seasons of being a cowardly jerkass, Season 5 strands him on Homeworld, where he faces his fears and leaps into danger to protect those weaker than he is. He becomes the third human to destroy a Gem-related threat, and dies for his efforts, but is resurrected by Steven's tears, where he retains his personality and newfound courage, and seems to have gained Lion's skill set. After being forced to stay behind on Homeworld while Steven returns to Earth, he leads the Off Colors in successfully stealing the Sun Incinerator, Emerald's fastest ship, and uses it to head back to Earth.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Lars starts off as a sour, moody grouch but ends the series more comfortable with himself and happier in general.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He shows bits of this in "The Good Lars", and some other episodes beforehand, like "Future Boy Zoltron". It solidifies with the events of "Wanted".
• Touched by Vorlons: After dying and being brought back by Steven, he's turned pink, has a doorway to a Pocket Dimension in his hair, and many of his biological functions seem to have slowed dramatically, if not stopped completely, as his heartbeat is extremely slow and he seems to no longer require nourishment to survive.
• Transplant: Lars and Sadie were both characters created for comics Rebecca Sugar drew in college before being reused for Steven Universe. The main difference was that they were college students instead of apparently high-school aged coworkers. Lars also had a cameo in Pug Davis, an old comic of Rebecca's.
• Ultimate Job Security: Despite all his slacking and leaving the workload on Sadie, she doesn't seem to have it in her to have him fired. Given that he's a baker, it's likely that he leaves Sadie with most of the front-end and later-in-the-day work while Lars is just holding over from setting up the goods at the start of the day.
• The Unapologetic: Sadie claimed he was this in "The New Lars".
  Sadie: Okay, maybe you are Steven. Lars would never apologize to me.
• Unmanly Secret: By his standards. He's pretty good at baking, but he doesn't tell anyone because he considers it "lame".
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Lars is pleasant and friendly in the flashback to his and Ronaldo's childhood (enough so that present Lars groans with embarrassment just from watching himself). He only starts to show hints of his present jerkass self when Ronaldo accidentally pushes his Berserk Button of having people make fun of him.
• Walking Spoiler:
  • Much like with Lion, Lars' hair and skin post-resurrection shares the same color scheme as Pink Diamond.
  • In a meta-sense, the fact that he has his own entire section in the Off Colours page gives away the fact that he's more than a simple supporting character.
• Will They or Won't They?: It's pretty clear that he and Sadie have a Belligerent Sexual Tension but their romance is hindered because of Sadie's need to change Lars and the facts that Lars is selfish in their relationship. Future shows that they ultimately don't as they did try but it didn't work out and decided they were Better as Friends. In fact, Sadie is now in a relationship with her band partner, Shep.
• We Used to Be Friends: He and Ronaldo were friends when they were kids. They had a falling out because Ronaldo took a picture that was proof of something supernatural but Lars tore it up because it would also have embarrassed him (and broke their promise about their club being a secret).
• Young and in Charge: Became the leader of the Off Colors, whose other members are thousands of years older than he is.

---