Something I've always found weird was how people used to complain that Rose was too perfect (I never though that, I thought it was clear she was being described by people wearing rose-tinted glasses) but as soon as the possibility of her killing someone is brought up, people immediately start coming up with any reason necessary she didn't actually do it.
Regardless of what is revealed to have actually happened with Pink Diamond, the huge contrast to fan reaction will always be jarring to me.
Being not perfect and being a murderer are vastly different things. There are many ways to show Rose being flawed that are more palatable than her offing someone. So I can see why someone would hold out hope that she didn't shatter Pink Diamond.
see my completed Tangled (Varian) fanfic collection! https://archiveofourown.org/works/24467056/chapters/59049532I would be fine with Rose shattering Pink. I just don't think there's any point in making this a big mystery of that's what really happened.
In fact, regardless of what happened I want Rose to be heavily responsible. Because I like moral ambiguity, I also love who dunnits.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Anyone else expecting a third terrible thing to go with Corruption Wave and the Cluster?,Rule of Three and all that
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverUnless it's self defense (which we don't know for sure, it could be) killing an evil person is still an act of murder. I can see why people would balk at Rose shattering someone. Maybe there are other scenarios where it's justified, but it can still be hard for a viewer to watch the shattering and reconcile it with their own morals.
see my completed Tangled (Varian) fanfic collection! https://archiveofourown.org/works/24467056/chapters/59049532They outlined very explicitly why Pink needed to be shattered. If you choose not to acknowledge that, it's on you, not the show. Literally the fate of the entire world and everything living on it was on the line.
If you consider that "immoral" or not "good enough reason" or "murder"...yeah.
edited 31st Mar '18 6:43:39 PM by LSBK
![]()
Childishness and emotional tantrums, when done right, can actually make a villain's fall more satisfying. See: Kid Buu, Light Yagami, Handsome Jack.
Yeah, If anything it's often used as foreshadowing for a Mad Ruler. The fact that they're childish, and have emotional knee-jerk responses, makes them even more dangerous and makes it urgent that they need to be removed from power.
edited 31st Mar '18 6:19:05 PM by xanderiskander
On a meta-level, maybe, but In-Universe it shouldn't be the case since Gems are explicitly born already mature. Case in point, Rose Quartz was made by Pink Diamond and was clearly more mature than her Diamond was. Unless her entire Rebellion was just "I'm not getting my way" which I don't think it was.
![]()
I mean, that seems kind of like the obvious conclusion. But just because they're a young ruler doesn't make them sympathetic just because of that. Although they can still be tragic. Take Nero. He became emperor of Rome at 16, murdered his Mom and Stepbrother, and a ton of other atrocious things, but he did some good things too. He's generally regarded as a tyrant, although some of the common people still loved him when he died. You can be terrible in a nuanced way.
I think people would be a lot less sympathetic to Pink if we saw more of the bad things she did.
edited 31st Mar '18 6:29:28 PM by xanderiskander
Well, isn't that the point? A war fought in good cause- and I consider saving an entire planet from extinction a good cause- is still a war. The creators have been very careful to show all sides of the conflict. We see Homeworld Gems like Jasper and Eyeball Ruby who are fanatically loyal and yet are torn up by what they went through. We see Gems like Centipeetle and the Famethysts , who have no desire to fight rebels or wipe out humanity. We see how war screws up Gems like Bismuth and Rose Quartz. The same applies to the Diamonds. They love each other, and yet they have little or no empathy for "lower life forms".
I do think that a fair number of people are too quick to go "Rebecca Sugar said there are no villains!" or anything like that in an attempt to whitewash the wrongdoings of characters.
There were people who straight up thought Garnet was lying about Blue ordering Ruby to be shattered. Because since Blue was crying, that totally meant she's not actually a bad person/couldn't order or condone some terrible things right? And stuff like that is still happening.

Eh, I think it can be both. As I've seen someone summarize this exact subject as (paraphrasing) "Steven Universe: A show that teaches you that you can understand someone, and still hate them."
I think it's pretty obvious that Amethyst is supposed to be remorseful about it, but for a lot of people not actually having her say "I'm sorry" is going to be a sticking point. I'm not one of those people, but I understand the feeling.
edited 30th Mar '18 4:39:11 PM by LSBK