Barn Mates
"Barn Mates"
- While it was understandable why Lapis was reluctant to forgive Peridot for interrogating her and bringing her back to Earth but considering the fact that she is currently living with the Crystal Gems and is friends with Steven, someone who has forgiven her for how she tried to drown him and his friend Connie, broke his father's leg, assaulted his adoptive parents twice and almost doomed all life on Earth by stealing its water isn't it a little unfair for her to have been holding that grudge especially since her being trapped in the bottom of the ocean with Jasper was her own fault because there was no reason for her to even do that because of how powerful she is?
- How is she just going to suddenly be as forgiving and trusting as Steven after being trapped alone in a mirror for thousands of years, discovering that the place she considered home no longer really exists, and then being fused with a psychopath for a minute straight (whether or not she chose to do it doesn't mean it wasn't an enormous strain)?
- No one is saying that she has to suddenly be forgiving, but Steven wasn't wrong when he told her that she wasn't giving Peridot a chance, and she WAS acting a little bratty when she was complaining about Peridot being there even though Lapis came after she was already there.
- Her gem was cracked, meaning she was probably on the verge of corrupting. Also, given that Jasper (and Peridot) dragged her back to Earth then "interrogated" her about Steven, yeah...
- Amethyst's gem cracked as well and she wasn't on the verge of corrupting. Has it even been established that cracked gems lead to corruption (no really, I'm asking)? Peridot also explained that she just needed Lapis for information. She didn't hold her prisoner, and it wasn't even her idea. It was a higher up Gem (likely Yellow Diamond) and Peridot was just following orders.
- As of "Monster Reunion", it has been proven it doesn't. (Fingers off that spoiler blocker button, this troper didn't say what did...)
- Lapis has flaws, namely she's fairly self-absorbed (understandable after what she went through) and holds grudges. Peridot dragged her back to Earth, where she'd spent five thousand years trapped and had only just got free, and interrogated her, which likely wasn't a pleasant experience, was manhandled by Jasper the whole time and then spent months in a toxic fusion. Of course she's holding serious resentment towards Peridot. Honestly, I'm surprised she had enough control not to attack her.
- Not to mention that if she hadn't fused with Jasper, it was very possible that Jasper would attack both her and the Crystal Gems (including Steven, the least experienced and ready to fight out of all of them). She believed she was dragging both of them under to protect Steven. Of course, as was revealed in 'Alone at Sea,' she eventually began using Jasper as a living stress ball.
- In the scene where Lapis rejects Peridot's tape recorder (which she gives to her as a gift), she records her message of reject into it ("I don't want your garbage"), but why doesn't she bother to play it back before she crushes it? Doesn't it make that bit pointless?
Hit the Diamond
"Hit the Diamond"
- In "Barn Mates"/"Hit the Diamond", I can understand that since Rubies are not expected to be very smart, they would only be given simple orders with little background information, explaining why they only knew they were supposed to find Jasper and had no awareness of the Crystal Gems or Peridot. But this raises a bigger question: why would Rubies be deployed as scouts/a search party to begin with? They seem terribly unqualified, and it seems strange that Homeworld would deploy members of its soldier caste that's not supposed to be good for much besides fighting, on a search and rescue mission.
- Given that they were sent to find Jasper, a super solider, and the only hostile Gem they knew of was the nearly harmless Peridot, who they probably didn't even know was alive, it was assumed that the mission would be very simple. Homeworld doesn't seem to think too highly of organic life, so humans aren't considered a threat, and they don't know for sure that the Crystal Gems are still alive. Sending five physically powerful gems ready to fuse into one larger, more powerful form would be sufficient to scare the information out of Peridot and their ship was all that was needed to retrieve Jasper.
- Why didn't they just have Peridot sneak out the back while the Rubies were distracted by the baseball game? Depending on how long the game took, they could have even gotten Greg to drive up and move her somewhere else. Additionally, why did they need Sapphire to hit a home run? She could get a single and let Pearl or Amethyst drive them home, or (if Lapis actually gives a crap for a few minutes), do a sacrifice play to tie it up and go into extra innings.
- Peridot wanted to stick around, in case things like Rubies-fusing-and-threatening-her-friends happen. Sapphire's home run was for sake of simplicity and to preserve drama. They can't explain the intricacies of baseball and still have the show be interesting to most viewers. Notice Steven only talks about hitting the ball, running around the bases, strikes, and home runs. Bringing in more strategy than that would go over most viewers' (and probably the Rubies') heads.
- What would have been the worst case scenario if the Gems had told the Rubies the truth, that Jasper was missing somewhere on Earth but they weren't sure where, and volunteered to help find her so that she could return to Homeworld and the Rubies would leave? While Jasper holds a grudge against "Rose", and Lapis isn't safe around the latter, the season three finale was a complete fiasco as it was. I understand why Steven lied in the heat of the moment, but apart from doing a lot of search and rescue missions that Steven could have opted out of to help Lapis, what could have possibly gone wrong by being honest?
- Well Jasper inevitably would have informed YD that Rose Quartz was alive. They wouldn't have waited around for the Cluster to emerge... they'd have grabbed "her" first chance they got.
- How did the Rubies forget that that they had two or three Gems in their sights (not sure if [insert Fry picture here] their scanners saw Steven as a Gem or not) and a giant hand of water smacked them out of the sky, and Eyeball looked right at the entire group of Gems, and they were just like, "OK, let's look for Gems!" There's a difference between stupidity and being blind/Dory.
- When Sapphire learns theu have to beat the Rubies in a baseball game, she says "I saw that this was a possibility, but I'm surprised this is the path we're taking." But can't Sapphire only see one future outcome?
- Yes, but she was also Garnet just a few minutes ago when they came up with the plan.
- How does Lapis know what flirting is?
Steven Floats
"Steven Floats"
- Amethyst keeps jumping up to Steven so he can tell her the next part of what he's trying to say — despite the fact that in multiple earlier episodes she's shapeshifted into something that can fly.
- Forgot About His Powers? Maybe she just wanted to jump high like Steven because it looked like fun. She may as well have turned into a small object Steven can hold in his hands while he explains, but didn't.
- She might not have expected him to take that long to finish talking. She was distinctly frustrated by the third jump.
Too Short to Ride
"Too Short to Ride"
- How is Peridot able to read English? It's established that Gems are either speaking English or some sort of Translation Convention is happening, since even ordinary humans are able to understand Homeworld Gems, but "Monster Reunion" established that the Gems' written language is different from English. The Crystal Gems have been on Earth longer than any living language, so they've had ample opportunity to learn to read English, but Peri has only been around for a short time, and might not have ever seen written English until Steven showed her the internet.
- It could be that she learned through her time on Earth. After all, she picked up a music scale in less than five minutes. I always viewed the Gem language similar to German, where it sounds a lot like English, but is written differently.
Beach City Drift
"Beach City Drift"
- Connie was concerned about breaking the law because kids can't drive. And their solution was to fuse into the adult Stevonnie. But Aren't they still breaking the law since Stevonnie doesn't have a driver's license?
- They are, but they're far less likely to be pulled over when they at least APPEAR to be an adult. If a cop saw two kids driving a car with no adult supervision, he'd pull them over no questions asked. But Stevonnie appears to be an adult, so the cop wouldn't have any reason to pull them over and ask for a licence unless they were speeding or something.
- How exactly was Stevonnie able to drive as well as they did? Both Connie and Steven are too young to have a driver's license, and we've never seen them practice driving, not to mention that the skill they exhibit would take way more than just sitting behind the wheel of their parents' cars every now and then.
- Connie is a big reader, so she could've just read a manual or watched a video that said "do not speed over 50 mph" or "put your foot slowly on the break" and Stevonnie got the memory.
- Beginner's luck.
Crack the Whip
"Crack the Whip"
- Why was Stevonnie barefoot when both Steven and Connie were wearing shoes?
- It was shown in "Alone Together" that Steven and Connie's shoes are too small for Stevonnie's feet.
- Why was Amethyst's fight with Jasper such a Curb-Stomp Battle? Amethyst was stated (I don't recall where) to have been holding her own against Garnet during "Tiger Millionaire", and Garnet was able to beat Jasper in "Jail Break", so wouldn't it make sense for Amethyst to at least be evenly matched with Jasper?
- Four reasons: 1) Garnet and Amethyst weren't really trying to hurt each other, 2)Amethyst was in her Puma form, which makes her stronger but also tires her out, 3) she got emotional which made her sloppy and 4) Amethyst relies entirely on brute force in combat and since Jasper was stronger and tougher than her is the worst tactic to take.
Bismuth
"Bismuth"
- Bismuth says Rose was "made right here in the dirt", which would mean she was made on Earth like Amethyst. But didn't what Rose said to Pearl in "Rose's Scabbard" imply that she was from Homeworld?
- I don't remember what Pearl said, but since Rose has kept secrets from the Crystal Gems, it's possible that she lied to either Pearl or Bismuth.
- I don't think she was being quite that literal. Bismuth likely just meant she was just an ordinary Quartz, made the same way they all are, as opposed to the Diamonds who likely have other origins (the Diamonds are the ones who created the other Gems to serve them).
- It's possible that Rose was, in fact, made on Earth, but was shipped to actually work on Homeworld because her specialization was needed there. If this is the case, then she may have viewed returning to Earth as a homecoming, of sorts, which could have prompted her fascination with the native ecosystem in the first place.
- But if she was made on Earth, wouldn't she have come from one of the kindergartens? She can't be from the prime one because Pearl said Amethyst was the only good thing that came out of it, and she can't be from the beta one because Peridot said that was started halfway through the rebellion.
- What's the question? Beta is the second one before the Prime kindergarten; not necessarily the first kindergarten.
- As was revealed in "Earthlings", Jasper served Pink Diamond and so did Rose Quartz at a time. Since Jasper was also made from the Earth and Pink Diamond was the one heading colonisation of the Earth and Jasper even states that Pink Diamond was Rose's Diamond, it's heavily implied that Rose is also an Earth gem. It can also be inferred that like Jasper, Rose was then taken to Homeworld and likely defected after that.
- "A Single Pale Rose" reveals that Rose was in fact Pink Diamond, saying she was from Homeworld could lead to some unwanted questions about her time there. Saying she was from Earth was just easier. Pearl did know, however, and had no reason to keep up the lie in front of Steven.
- Why do the Gems not question why Bismuth was bubbled in Lion's mane, a place only Rose knew about? You'd think that would raise some red flags.
- They were too overjoyed at the notion of another of their comrades having surprised to question things too much. If things had gone on for a little while longer they might have started wondering, but this was someone they cared about that they had every reason to believe was gone forever that had returned.
- The Breaking Point is useless as a weapon. It's cumbersome, short-ranged, useless against multiple foes, needs to strike the opponent's gemstone directly to do any damage, and has a lengthy reload time between attacks which leave its user wide open if they miss. The only scenario where it could work is to execute a Gem that's been restrained beforehand, but even then, Gems are able to crush other Gems with their bare hands, and even if certain Gem types couldn't, a simple hammer could accomplish the same purpose. So why does that thing even exist? It gets worse when you compare it to Rose's Sword, which also has a One-Hit KO ability, while also being infinitely more practical and easier to use, instantly poofing a Gem no matter where it hits. So even IF the Crystal Gems somehow agreed with shattering, wouldn't it make more sense to just use Rose's sword to poof the Diamonds, THEN shatter them while they're out of commission?
Beta
"Beta"
- How could Peridot tell which hole was Jasper's specifically?
- The size of the hole itself. While the trio is passing all of the holes all of them are actually pretty small. It was the only one that was big enough for Jasper.
- Kindergartens are Peridot's specialized area of expertise. She knew Jasper's exact composition and measurements, and just compared them to those of the hole.
Earthlings
"Earthlings"
- Why did Peridot have as much trouble as she did using her metal powers? In "Beta", she was shown to be able to use them with ease. Is there any reason other than Rule of Funny?
- She was probably too panicky and distracted by the fighting to properly focus, and it was a rather big piece. So far we've only seen her handle small objects on screen one at a time. Remember how in Beta she completely dropped all the instruments the moment she actually tried to play? Even then she beaned herself on the head with an empty can when she got distracted. It's implied all Gems and not just Steven can fudge their powers when in stressful situations (e.g. Amethyst saying she can't transform when she's freaking out).
- Another possible reason could be that Peridot can only move things relative to how strong she herself is. So far we've only seen her moving things a person could normally move around with their own hands, nothing more than that. From what I could see in this episode, she was trying to dislodge a piece of iron bar that was forcefully buried into the ground by Jasper (the big strong quartz) so it was probably pretty deeply embedded. So Peridot couldn't use her powers to dislodge it much the same way she probably couldn't have dislodged it using her bare hands. Once the bar fell to the ground on its own near the end though, she was able to levitate and throw it with ease using her powers.
- She was probably too panicky and distracted by the fighting to properly focus, and it was a rather big piece. So far we've only seen her handle small objects on screen one at a time. Remember how in Beta she completely dropped all the instruments the moment she actually tried to play? Even then she beaned herself on the head with an empty can when she got distracted. It's implied all Gems and not just Steven can fudge their powers when in stressful situations (e.g. Amethyst saying she can't transform when she's freaking out).
- How exactly DID Jasper get corrupted?
- She fused with a corrupted Gem, and it spread. Seems simple enough.
- I thought so, but I just wanted to be sure.
- She fused with a corrupted Gem, and it spread. Seems simple enough.
Back to the Moon
"Back to the Moon"
- Why didn't Amethyst use her whip to lasso Steven back in? He was easily in grabbing distance...
- Maybe with the spiked weights the whip now has at the end, she's not savvy enough at safely grabbing someone yet to risk it.
- The Gems can summon their weapons, with or without upgrades.
- Amethyst isn't really known for her fast reflexes, and she was likely frozen in horror for too long to be able to grab him.
- Also, she was still recovering from having spent all day in a larger form than she's meant to be in. Additionally, Steven's exit would almost certainly been much faster than was portrayed. One minute, he was there, the next, he was way up in space.
- Maybe with the spiked weights the whip now has at the end, she's not savvy enough at safely grabbing someone yet to risk it.
- Why did the Crystal Gems even go to the Moon Base? They knew the diamond communicator was destroyed, as they themselves were responsible for that. Also, based on what happened when Peridot used the communicator, it seemed like it's not supposed to be used for reports like this anyway. So it would have made sense for the gems to simply tell the Rubies to go give the report in person right off the bat instead of going to the base just to humor them.
- Hell, why didn't they just poof them?! I can understand not telling them that they had poofed Jasper, since that would just invite reinforcements, but the original plan from "Hit the Diamond" was to send them to Neptune (i.e. stall). Bubbling them would be like stalling forever!
- They weren't planning on using the Diamond communicator. The Diamond line is special, they were planning on using the normal equipment to contact Homeworld and leave a report. Granted, Garnet had smashed the equipment but they were just making it up as they went. Also, back to the Diamond Line, the big problem was that Peridot wasn't authorized to use it, Jasper might have had a high enough rank to be able to use it.
- Related to the above, how did the Crystal Gems expect to get home once the Rubies left? It's a little odd that the rubies thought of that but not Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, or Steven.
- They probably hadn't given it much thought, but they still had several options: 1) Steven goes to sleep and contacts Lapis or Peridot for help 2) Same as 1, only this time he possesses one of the citizens of Beach City and uses them to get Lion to portal up there 3) The Gems form Alexandrite, Steven bubbles himself, and they jump down to Earth (they've already survived one orbital crash in an exploding spaceship, this wouldn't be much different) 4) combine 1 with 3 and have Lapis stretch the ocean to catch them and reduce how far they fall. They're not great options, but they were there.
Bubbled
"Bubbled"
- Eyeball says she saw Rose Quartz use her sword to shatter Pink Diamond, when Bismuth claimed that said sword could cut through a Gem's physical form but not shatter their gem. Of course, the real head-scratcher would be: is this inconsistency accidental... or deliberate?
- None of the above. Ruby never said that. She saw Rose shatter Pink Diamond, and she remembers Rose using her sword in combat, the two are not connected.
- As of "A Single Pale Rose" it is.
- Unless Steven and the Rubies are moving REALLY fast. The asteroid belt is a little too close to the moon. Is there another asteroid belt in the solar system of the alternate history Steven Universe takes place in... for example did the Gem War destroy Mars?
- Not exactly, there are pockets of space debris that are smaller than the Asteroid Belt that orbit planetary bodies: in-fact there are four "pockets" of these asteroid belts in orbit around Earth's orbital pattern, so it's not that hard of a stretch to imagine that Steven and Eyeball are passing through one of them in this episode (remember: Space is really, really, really, big).
