Perhaps the technology was developed by Pink during the war, but never saw widespread use until after the war.
Gen 2 seemingly came about when the Earth colony was lost due to the Empire running low on resources.
In Gen 1, the standard practice was to shatter everything that was an issue, but Gen 2 can't afford such luxury.
The exception being the off-colors. Which most of the Crystal Gems are.
Lapis is a perfectly functional Gem, so she gets captured so that the Empire can use her. Garnet is still a big no-no, but her component Gems can still be used so they are kept separate. Pearl could probably be reprogrammed, etc.
I was just reminded of Greg's iconic "if all pork chops were perfect we wouldn't have hotdogs" line, and it occurs to me to wonder if, with all that had happened, Rose viewed herself as the hotdog or the pork chop.
The line clearly stuck with her, given it was the laser light cannon activation phrase
Might have been how her mistakes still had some positive effects, despite the amount of pain and suffering they caused. She clearly still loves Amethyst, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was only Pearl who generally disliked Earth Quartzes.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Thinking about the pork chop line now takes me back to a line in Doctor Who, one version of the Doctor notes that "Great men are forged in fire, it is the task of lesser men to light the flame" which, when spoken, is the Doctor referring to himself as the lesser man and his future selves as the great ones.
"Has anyone ever noticed we never see Rose and Pink Diamond in the same place at the same time?"
"Nobody's interested in your crackpot theories, Topaz"
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI imagine Pearl shifted into Rose relatively often specifically to stop speculation like that. But that's just my headcanon.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Pink Diamond not showing up on the field too often to avoid suspicion probably also had the benefit of making her seem more like a Dirty Coward to the Crystal Gems.
Disgusted, but not surprisedAnd possibly to her momsisters given that Blue tells her to just make a few appearances to motivate her gems
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
I'm saying it was deliberate on Pink's part. She was trying to make herself look bad to the Crystal Gems during the rebellion. Who do you think came up with that story of Pink giving an Evil Laugh in response to Rose's pleas in "Your Mother and Mine"?
edited 10th May '18 10:47:32 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedBased on how they've acted so far, the Diamonds in general do not seem like "lead from the front" types. The fact that the ruck and run of gems would never even see their Diamond (for example, based on the conversation in "Message Received," Peridot never or almost never spoke to Yellow Diamond prior) probably would have helped that subterfuge.
Also, honestly, I bet that Pearl was not the only Crystal Gem to have disguised herself as Rose Quartz during the rebellion. There are lots of reasons why a rebellion would want to sow confusion as to who is the actual leader and where they might be, and it's much easier when shapeshifting is an option. Even if the other Crystal Gems wouldn't know why Rose would specifically be keen on it, I bet they would have agreed to do.
As for Rose's fondness of the "if every pork chop..." saying, I bet she would have seen her Pink Diamond phase as the "imperfect pork chop" and her life as Rose Quartz as the "hot dog." She didn't feel like she fit in at all with her sisters or with what a Diamond should be... but given the chance to reinvent herself as something else, she was able to find something closer to happiness. I wouldn't be surprised if Greg explaining that was part of why she fell for him.
edited 10th May '18 10:51:38 AM by 32_Footsteps
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.![]()
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I thought that Blue fled was based on it taking place after Pink's shattering so she and her court did not want to chance it as they assumed their enemy had an ability to shatter a diamond. Also, she could of fled in order to follow Sapphire's prediction as she never said Blue would be involved. This could be why Blue wanted to shatter Ruby: not completely because she fused, but rather her fusing ruined Sapphire's prediction and let Blue's sister's murderer get away.
A thought occurred to me that, while it might be too far into the Evil Mastermind role we know now Rose did not have, still seemed worth sharing:
Rose's objection to the Breaking Point wasn't just because of her Thou Shalt Not Kill stance, nor even keeping risk away from her fellow Diamonds. Depending on just how long Rose was planning to fake her shattering, the Breaking Point could've been a Spanner in the Works. Why would Rose kill Pink Diamond with her sword when a weapon easily, if not more, capable of it was available?
edited 10th May '18 11:01:34 AM by sgamer82
Blue was still there after the incident with Rose and Pearl. She never went anywhere because she saw Ruby and Sapphire fuse, and as soon as Rose and Pearl left she proclaimed that Ruby was gonna get shattered. I mean, at most she was on the other side of the room as the fighting.
edited 10th May '18 11:22:45 AM by WillKeaton
And at the time there was no fear of Rose shattering anyone. That happened towards the end of the war, way after Garnet had joined the Crystal Gems.
Its funny how even Rose Quartz's tactical genius was manufactured by Pink.
She had to had commuted between her two identities for a significant portion of the conflict, and when you run both sides of the battlefield, making Rose come across as a master tactician was probably easy.
Pink played everyone like fiddles.
I doubt she actually ran both sides. Can't Go Back implied she was a bit of a puppet monarch, as Blue said just being there would be enough. There doesn't seem any expectation of Pink actually doing any leadership. Furthermore, it seem Blue and Yellow had a presence on Earth themselves. Bismuth didn't mention Rose "shattering" Pink, which I think is something she would do, so she had to have been bubbled before that happened. But as she knew Garnet, that means Blue came to Earth before Pink's "death" as well. I don't think Pink actually had much control over her own colony.
That said, she would still be in the position to report on every Homeworld move to the Crystal Gems. It is easy to be seem as a tactical genius when you basically know the enemy's every move. She was the ultimate spy.
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She wasn't telling Pink to take control, though. Quite the opposite, in fact. Her exact words: "You don't even have to do anything". Blue explicitly expect Pink role to be solely of a figurehead. To just "smile and wave", showing she was unphased by the rebellion. Basically, while Blue was chastising Pink was for insisting on retreating, not for not governing. Like, I am not sure if it was really Blue and Yellow doing the real ruling or someone else, but it was clearly not Pink.
I am not sure if they ever thought she was up to it in the first place. Given how she was treated in Jungle Moon and now in Can't Go Back, I doubt Pink actually ever had that much autonomy over Earth. But certainly not after trouble started. If they hadn't already, Yellow and Blue likely started meddling once Pink started showing hesitation.
edited 10th May '18 1:07:07 PM by Heatth

It was when Steven came back from Homeworld and Connie and him were't talking and Garnet thought he was upset over that instead
have a listen and have a link to my discord server