I'll apologize.
I don't mean any ill will toward Jasper fans, I'm open to the possibility of a change in her alignment if nothing else. But I was saying in my personal experiences I've seen almost nothing but the opposite of Lapis worship in a lot of posts on tumblr/forums, so I hope you can forgive me for being a little frustrated with the concept.
I like some villains unironically, the Alpha Bitch archetype for instance I find amusing over their intended role of being a hate sink.
I get it.
But just as a lot of that comes out of a genuine love for her design/voice/mannerisms and a backlash against "Jasper's an irredeemable monster" bashing, mine comes from the opposite sentiment.
I mean the entire thing wasn't even a metaphor; Jasper and Lapis were blatantly awful and abusive towards each other. The subtext was paper thin ("I've changed! You've changed me! It'll be different now!"). Is it that bizarre that people would hate a character who's just been a villain up until now?
It's just that we know nothing about Jasper other than her being a racist, warmongering jerk who headbutted Steven unconscious and who now comes off as an abusive ex, and Lapis likes fart jokes and plays baseball on top of trying to drown two kids that one time.
It's actually very surprising that people hate villains...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Yeah that's pretty much it...Redemption, redeeming Jaspee.
edited 29th Jul '16 5:45:17 AM by randomness4
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.That's not to say Steven wishes harm upon either, is incapable of feeling sympathy for them, or even has apathy toward their wellbeing—he was clearly worried for Jasper when she fell in the pit. Still, even though Steven learned that burning hatred for someone is a waste of your life, he presently has no problem with having a strong, thoroughly negative opinion of someone. And that's definitely how he feels about Jasper.
That's really the thing I hate most about this topic: every time it comes up, it overshadows any other discussion for multiple pages despite most the posts being really, really repetitive.
That aside, I hope Peridot was able to give some comfort to Lapis when she got back home. That...sounded a lot less shippy in my head.
I'm still amazed they got away with something this raw. Very, very few shows for adults let alone kids have portrayed abusive relationships with understanding and sympathy. And making it clear that both sides did terrible things while still making it clear that Lapis isn't a bad person.
Fans get on her case for being mopy, but I'd be just the same, if not worse in her situation.
Suffice it to say I can relate, knowing someone as bad as Jasper and having almost identical responses. This must've been a very hard episode for Sugar and the crew to put together.
Hard for which reasons...experiences or the censor radar?
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Having loved Zootopia, I would say more of how to portray a sensitive topic.
My DA account... I draw stuff sometimes!Kofi didn't really pay attention to the mozzarella stix itself, just that it was bread, cheese, and marinara sauce and that is all he needs to shout business infringement.
Now if Fryman was serving Pizza...of any other variety, then that'd make sense.
edited 29th Jul '16 7:42:27 AM by randomness4
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.edited 29th Jul '16 7:45:17 AM by thatother1dude
But serioulsy, it looks like tonight's episode promises to be less heavy than the last two. Especially since we're supposedly on a train to Wham City next week.
GUNDAMU GUNDAMUWow. Eight pages of discussion, literally overnight.
Speaking as someone who's never been in a relationship (abusive or otherwise), I thought I'd find a show with relationships as its central theme to be Sickeningly Sweethearts : The TV Show. But the show actually does it really well. It's had episodes that explore different aspects of relationships, as opposed to just portraying good and bad ones.
I bring this up because "Alone At Sea" seemed to portray an abusive relationship as less one-sided than a lot of other shows. I read that Tumblr post about how this is a textbook abusive relationship, and I have to agree. Fiction likes to portray the weaker side of a conflict as the victim who can do no wrong. And still, it looked like most of Lapis's wrongdoings could be interpreted as Jasper's fault. But there was more ambiguity, and I liked that. I've joked before that relationships like that only work if it's a fair fight (I have dark sense of humor). And I wonder how this episode would be interpreted if Jasper wasn't twice Lapis's size.
"The cruelest thing you can do to an artist is tell them their work is flawless when it isn't." -Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw@Badguy: Considering Jasper's few appearances on the show so far, yes, her fans get that she's yet to do anything good. But at this point I feel I should probably just flat out copy/paste the list I've already posted twice.
Everything in the show so far points to Jasper being a piece of shit (albeit one who is currently in a very fragile mental state after everything under the ocean).
But everything outside of the show points to there being more than that. Matt Burnett saying she's an incredibly complex character, Kimberly Brooks saying she actually has a hidden heart of gold, them putting her in the comic con poster with all the good guys (and wearing a flower that symbolizes love and friendship).
Jasper fans like what they've heard about the character from the crew, and just want to see it translated into the show. We know there's more to her than a racist, gruff brute who hurts people.
Can we agree to disagree already? At this point the discussion has repeated so much it's reached ad nauseum
status. Repeating the same points over and over isn't going to convince anyone.
To speak in a broader sense, so far, this show has shown how diverse people in relationships can be. Every character is in a different kind of relationship status.
So far, we have a guy with a dead wife who has no intentions of finding someone else (Greg), two people who love each other to the point that they can't stand being physically apart anymore (Garnet), someone who felt nothing but unrequited love for someone else (Pearl), a confirmed bachelorette (Amethyst), someone who's just been introduced to the idea of relationships (Peridot), both sides of an abusive relationship (Lapis and Jasper), a jerk who doesn't like to show his feelings (Lars), a girl who likes a guy just enough to not want to break up with him (Sadie), a woman who's settled down with a good guy after going out with jerks (Vidalia), a girl whose first friend becomes their boyfriend (Connie), a boy who thinks he knows about relationships only to have reality hit him in the face (Steven), and someone who's experiencing for the first time what it's like to be in a real relationship (Stevonnie).
If they introduce new characters, I wonder what kind of relationships they would represent.
"The cruelest thing you can do to an artist is tell them their work is flawless when it isn't." -Ben "Yahtzee" CroshawI'm probably too close to the subject but I'm not of the opinion Jasper should be redeemed after we've seen what we've seen. The episode is teaching an Aesop about abusive relationships, if Jasper is suddenly redeemed the Aesop gets broken because 'Hey! Everyone says abusers don't change but Jasper really did change in the end!' At the very least she and Lapis should not interact anymore, and should never form Malachite again.
Oissu!![]()
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Lapis has always been portrayed sympathetically, admits what she did was wrong, and chooses not to continue abusing Jasper. Jasper blamed Steven for Lapis saying no, called Lapis a monster, demanded access to her powers, and then tried to kill Steven.
I'm pretty sure Chille Tid and (parts of) Alone At Sea portray Jasper as sympathetic too. She was this badass, prideful warrior, and now she's dropping to her knees begging to fuse again. She comes across like an addict in withdrawal. We don't tell addicts "sorry, you did bad things before, go fuck off." We try to help them get better so they don't hurt themselves or drag others down with them.

Steven dislike of Jasper- and Kevin- is because of his direct experiences with them. He spent enough time with Lapis pre-ocean theft that he actually sided with her over the Gems when it came down to it. That's pretty big, no? And it's not like he denies that Lapis is guilty of any wrongdoing, but he knows that she's a good person deep down because he saw the good before the bad.
Jasper poofed Garnet in the most violent way we've seen so far, directly in front of Steven, and then head-butted him in the face. Kevin sexually harassed him (Steven felt just as violated as Connie did, Connie just dealt with it better because... experience most likely). But even though he was initially so mad and hateful toward Kevin was ready to forgive him after hearing the fake sob story. If Jasper has one, she'll get a chance to tell it manages to not to threaten anyone when she tries to tell it.