Steven Universe

There aren't solid line between shades of a color. It's a somewhat light shade of red, which can look more or less like pink depending on the lighting.

One thing I'm inclined to point out regarding Pearl's appearance is that we've never seen her pre-Rebellion. Sure, her "skintone" (kinda hard to say that when it's just a hard light projection, but whatever) is alabaster, and her "hair" is coral, but that might be an affectation Pearl took up when she broke free from Homeworld and joined Rose. Sure, she would have needed a regeneration to pull that off, but it was pretty heavily suggested that Pearl got poofed a lot trying to protect Rose - she had ample opportunity to tweak her appearance.

I have my own pet hypothesis as to Pearl's origins (namely, she was originally made for a Diamond, but given to Rose pre-Rebellion as a gift for service), but it's purely a personal guess with no in-canon arguments for or against it.

As for why it hasn't been explored up until now... well, I always suspected it'd be pulled out finally when the Crystal Gems confront Homeworld directly, which is why it hasn't been done up until now (though Pushover Media Critic's point about pacing is a good point as to the fact that we're only getting to that with the current episodes). I suspect that, in terms of episode count, that we're probably less than 10 episodes from Pearl finally laying it out.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

I feel like any back story of Pearl's would have to address why Jasper called her "defective". If just being a rebel, who defied her Diamond makes her that , then that's kind of a letdown. Pretty much any other description would have made more sense.

A rebelling Pearl seems like the most obvious answer for "defect."

Actually, I wonder if there's any significance to Jasper being able to pin Pearl as "defective" on sight.

edited 16th May '17 10:35:30 AM by Mr.Badguy

Jasper also could have called Pearl defective for thinking she could do... anything, really.

Yeah, but the thing is the term defective sounds like something more than that. If it's just because she was a rebel that's not anything we didn't already know. Unless she personally finished off Pink Diamond or something.

...I guess◊

edited 16th May '17 10:56:20 AM by xanderiskander

Personally, if introducing a new character by way of a master/servent relationship with another character we already know is an idea, I've always liked the idea of introducing Sapphire's Pearl as a character.

edited 16th May '17 11:01:10 AM by PushoverMediaCritic

x2 I mean, she'd be defective in that she abandoned her owner and followed Rose Quartz into rebellion. The other Gems had a choice but if a Pearl were to do so then clearly there's something wrong with her.

From what Bismuth said I don't think that's the case. They're all expected to do their jobs, and serve their Diamonds, and that's it. Pearls don't really seem all that special when it comes to that.

I like the 'defective' pun too much for it to be actually some hidden dark secret

That being said, Pearl does have her issues that she's been working through that a buff jerk might describe as defective

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Fundamentally speaking, Homeworld gems are all slaves, Pearls are just the ones treated most like objects.

Basically. I just meant, that the idea that other gems have more of a choice isn't really true. They're not really "special" in that sense.

Personally, I think that "defective" means that she can fight - from what Peridot said, most Pearls aren't made for fighting.

Oh God! Natural light!

For Gems, I've taken "defective" to mean "not fulfilling your intended purpose". Just by not being a bauble Pearl is a defect, as is Amethyst for being too small to be an effective Quartz warrior like Jasper or Rose.

defective to me sounds like Jasper can't comprehend why a Pearl would betray their original master and join the rebellion,i

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There's also a more mundane possibility - Jasper used "defective" simply because she thought it'd be the word that would be the most insulting to Pearl. It's pretty clear from her description of the other Crystal Gems that she was going for pure insult value in addressing them.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

I assumed it was just another example of the mineral theme they have going (defects are imperfections in gems, ergo "defective" is just Gem speak for "second rate").

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I pretty much just assumed that she called her "defective" because she's not doing what a Pearl is meant to do and is trying to fight instead of just standing around and looking pretty and holding your stuff for you.

Trust you? The only person I can trust is myself.

Damn it, I love that song and will have it stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

Also, thanks to bringing it up here, if I had any skill in video editing, I'd do a video of that song featuring SU (probably heavily featuring "Say Uncle").

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Do you think the Rubies have made it back to Homeworld by this point? When Steven goes on trial will Eyeball be called in as a witness?

Doesn't seem to take long to get where you want to go with a homeworld ship so I'd be surprised if they didn't.

edited 17th May '17 11:26:19 AM by xanderiskander

Well, the depictions of the Yellow Diamond Ruby Squad ship do fit with how a theoretical Alcubierre Drive ship would operate, which is basically operating on a hyperspace fold, which should in theory be able to transverse that distance across 3D space nigh-instantaneously. And unlike when the Crystal Gems tried using it, Navy knows more about its operation and doesn't have to worry about crushing her form in more extreme travel plans. I think it's reasonable to assume that Navy got back to Homeworld (presumably with the rest of the YDRS in tow).

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

The other Rubies are presumably still just floating around the moon so Navy should be able to find them easily enough, but I don't think Eyeball is ever coming back.

Depends on which direction Steven threw her. He might have chucked hee back in the direction they came from, but it's also possible he threw her at Homeworld.