Speaking of rushed redemptions I felt that Steven's pacification of the Cluster was also a bit too easy. Thankfully not a forgotten plot point, but it's yet another unsatisfactory anticlimax, this time not having to do with redemption or supposed Unfortunate Implications. At this point I just have to accept that this is a recurring issue with the show.
TTTThe Cluster being easy makes way more sense than the Diamondo.
Stuff like that just needs more time.
And that's really all you need.
Edited by randomness4 on Jan 28th 2019 at 12:05:09 PM
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Also, the fact that Steven has the same aura as his mother may mean that the various components of the Cluster were more likely to be receptive to his suggestion in addition to the points above.
Maybe it's because I came to the show after that aired and, thus, wasn't watching it as it happened, but I honestly thought the climax of the handling of the Cluster was the show really coming into its own with its themes (parallel that with Lapis in "Ocean Gem"). The show isn't afraid to set up big action pieces, but it has always wanted to show that there was a better way than violence.
That said, the backlash to the handling of the Cluster kind of reminds me of how fans reacted to the climax to the webcomic A Miracle of Science. It just made sense that things were handled the way they were to me, but I know a lot of people weren't happy with it. Even the speed makes sense (particularly if you consider that things aren't necessarily solved; they're just on the road to resolution).
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.When people say the Cluster situation was anticlimactic I have to wonder what would have been climactic?
Because it was already established it couldn't fully form without destroy the Earth so that obviously wasn't going to happen. But at the same time, actually destroying the Cluster was never going to happen for different but equally obvious reasons.
Which left bubbling it somehow the only real option. Was it just that it happened too fast?
I felt that there was no plan in-show. They would create the drill, head down to the cluster and then.......what? Did they even have a step 3?
Perhaps it felt rushed as the lead-up was detailed but the actual drill usage and confrontation was one episode.
But yea, how else could it be climatic? If it formed, the earth was doomed, so that significantly limited on what it could actually do. The only options were either bubbling, deactivating the personalities in it or teleporting it out of the earth.
Edited by ObligatorySarcasm on Jan 28th 2019 at 4:00:40 AM
-Witty line-Too Fast is basically the gist of it.
It was in a 2 parter too, so that wasn't a good sign.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.People want don't want the Diamonds redeemed, but there's no reasonable solution to their problem.
They can't be disposed off physically, their absense removes the means to help the corrupted gems, and as things stand at the moment, the CG are woefully incapable of getting Gem Society to change without sparking another devastating war.
Not to mention, I feel like just murdering their enemies is antithetical to the very soul of the show.
My various fanfics.Yeah. I really do wonder why people think of killing your enemies as a solution. People may whine its unrealistic, but it gives me the jeevies when these people spouse killing and so on as means to an end.
Like sure, Avatar the Last Airbender's Debending Ozai was "Unrealistic" to some people but to me it was the best option if a bit unestablished first. Taking away the power evil people have is the most truly moral thing to do.
Should China kill Japan over their war crimes? Should Japan retaliate with another nuke to the USA?
I really fear when I think people think killing is the way to go. That's the kind of thinking that makes cops kill first and ask later.
As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.There's a large swathe of solutions before resorting to killing and execution without leaving the villains a Karma Houdini. Avatar's issue was less that he didn't kill and more that the Lion Turtle appeared with little buildup after a series of events that developed him towards having to choose to kill. It felt like a Deus ex Machina on top of an Aborted Arc that allowed him to have his cake and eat it to.
I had already made peace with the fact that irredeemable villains aren't this shows thing (unless the "irredeemable" person is just a jerk or bad father or something), I just wish we had more time with White so that it felt more organic.
It still wouldn't be totally realistic for her eons old world-view to be turned around so quickly, but it could still feel less abrupt.
Step 3 was to drill the Cluster with the drill. I base this on the fact that Peridot attempted to drill the Cluster with the drill but was thwarted by the drill not being up to the task.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI feel like everyone’s forgotten what Lapis said near the end of season 1, that Homeworld had completely changed between when she left and returned. Apparently the difference was jarring enough that she decided she’d rather stay on Earth (granted it took time for that but she never seemed to consider returning to Homeworld after the events of Jailbreak) It’s probably likely that many uncorrupted Homeworld gems will have the same reaction - but it’s still unclear exwctly *how* Homeworld has changed. We’ve had a pretty limited perspective of it - from what we’ve seen we still don’t know how it’s different frombefore the War and Pink Diamond’s “shattering”.
Well, we also know that White Diamond used to be much more fun and open, but Pink leaving made her closed off and distant, even to Blue and Yellow. Era 2 Gems are also lower quality than Era 1 gems, most likely due to the lack of Pink's life-giving fluids.
That would actually be an interesting thing for Season 6 to cover: what the full differences between Eras 1 and 2 are, and how Steven could try to fix everything in Era 3.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jan 29th 2019 at 4:38:11 AM
I feel that some gems can be somewhat one dimensional in emotions in some regards and can get easily flipped with a minor push into another direction to the point where its like a light switch went on and off.
'I feel like this for years.'
-A thing happens-
'And now I feel like this, please disregard those previous years.'
Pearl and Amethyst had issues for years, constantly sniping at each other. Then they have a fight and a talk and now they work well together.
Pearl hates Greg and dismisses him. Then they have a talk and she thinks better of him.
Peridot gets stuck on earth and is forced to work together with the CG. She sees rain and life and then goes to her god, wants to protect all life and flips her off.
Two jades live in the fusion forbidden world, see 3 fusions during a ball and instantly fuse themselves despite their diamonds being right in front of them.
White Diamond spends eons in her ship, demands absolute perfection and sees herself as flawless. She gets embarrassed, leaves her ship and interacts with others.
Most Gems just come off as more emotionally bendable and less effort is needed to sway them to another stance. This counters some humans in the show who constantly struggle against changing and have their issues reanalyzed multiple times, like Lars.
-Witty line-In a way, some of this all gives me ideas as to where Season 6 could go.
One part is that the Diamonds are shown becoming The Atoner. Put aside whether or not for the moment if you personally think any of them deserve forgiveness, because the point of atoning is not to earn forgiveness. The point is to, as much as possible, right what was once made wrong (whether you did it directly or not). Each of the Diamonds has to make that effort, White in particular. Blue may have an easier time of it of the three, but even she has plenty to answer for (for starters, Blue needs to have a good, long look at the Zoo and answer for that).
Another is that there needs to be a way to finally heal the Cluster. Based on what we've seen so far, healing a shattered gem is way beyond what anyone has been able to do thus far. Keeping the Cluster in a bubble is, honestly, just a temporary solution (it would really suck if seismic activity could pop the bubble and the Cluster couldn't rebubble itself in time). Figuring a way to safely teleport the bubbled Cluster out would be a great first step (this one might be easy, especially if it turns out there's a way to consciously control where a bubble goes when tapped); actually figuring out how to restore a shattered gem would be a possible season-long quest.
Alternately, I could think of something that'd be really bold, if they wanted to go that direction - the Cluster could figure out a way to forge itself into a new Diamond. I'll throw that out there as a "almost certainly unlikely, but kinda cool" idea.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

^^I mean, sure they could complain about "Aww that was too fast and easy", but they wouldn't complain about how they deserve to die