Her being ace is definitely intended; again, Fusion for Beginners and Experts implies it during Peridot's section.
Her being aro, however, doesn't have base, and as Pushover pointed out, is even contradicted at points... it might be canon (wouldn't be the first time something was retconned), it might be Maya's interpretation of Peri (like how Zuke shipped Lapidot). We don't know for 100% sure, but with the way Maya phrases it I do think the former is more likely.
...I just realized Peridot has Ship Tease and Ho Yay sections that now need looking into, especially Zuke's intentional teases... That's gonna be a fun can of worms.
Edited by Crossover-Enthusiast on Mar 11th 2020 at 10:35:49 AM
Jawbreakers on sale for 99ยขYeah, I'd like to see more fusions that are noted strictly to be platonic, as in the original sense described by Plato. Equal, reciprocal, constructive, and highly intimate but neither familial nor romantic. "Philia" rather than "Storge". Mega Pearl is probably the closest yet but even that one had some romantic undertones.
Edited by AlleyOop on Mar 11th 2020 at 11:07:22 AM
Peridot never fusing does miss opportunities for many types of nonromantic fusions, but I'd argue the point is that she's missing this feeling/experience most people around her have and often consider extremely important.
So while her aromanticism/asexuality and disinterest in fusion aren't (strongly) related literally, the latter does serve the former thematically.
Sort of like what Greg went through in "We Need to Talk", but in some ways reversed.
For reference, Petersen has made a bunch of Amethyst/Peridot fanart.
@Crossover-Enthusiast: I'm not sure Peridot being ace but not aromantic is 100% consistent either. The way she reacted when she landed on Amethyst's lap seemed mildly sexual.
Edited by thatother1dude on Mar 11th 2020 at 10:31:57 AM
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Personally I've wanted a Garnet/Peridot fusion way more than Lapis/Peridot, if just because of that big tease in Log Date. Shame we're never gonna get either, though.
Yeah, but I feel they could've at least had an episode where Peridot decides to try fusing, and manages to do it successfully, but after everything's said and done she just... isn't into it. She'd rather stay single, and that's completely fine. It would make the metaphor more clear than a single line in a book would, anyway.
Oh wait, really? I didn't know that. I take back that part, then.
You're talking about that one scene from "Too Far", right?
Jawbreakers on sale for 99ยขThat does make some sense in hindsight—Peridot specifically says "I can't do it.", and there's no actual suggestion she would try again—but the viewers are still going to assume otherwise. Especially if you contrast it with something like Sadie's anxiety for performing in public.
Aside from that though, I don't recall many scenes where Peridot's interactions were necessarily sexual or even romantic, even in the Jesse Zuke-boarded episodes. Chemistry isn't quite the same as attraction.
The reason I think Peridot CAN fuse because frankly, it makes no sense that any Gem can't fuse. Why give Gems like Sapphires, Pearls, Diamonds, and Aquamarines the ability to fuse if fusion is a combat thing and those gems aren't supposed to fight? The only explanation is that fusion is an inherent ability of all Gems, like regeneration is.
At one point in time Steven couldn't fuse either, it wasn't that he was inherently incapable of it, but that he never got in the right mindset for it until later on.
Now the reason Peridot never did fuse was because she was just never interested in doing so, which differs from Steven who was always excited about the concept.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Oh. The highlighting of "can't" to me indicated "is physically incapable of it"
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.I'd rather Garnet and Peridot not fuse, or if they did, they'd have to handle it very carefully. Because as someone who identifies as on the asexual spectrum, some of Garnet's statements were reminiscent of the kinds of pressure a lot of us receive in real life when we identify as such. Things like "You just haven't met the right person yet", "How do you know for sure that you're ace if you've never tried it?", or "You just think you're ace because you're repressed from being brainwashed by a culture that teaches you to believe sex is immoral".
Obviously it's not completely the same because Garnet completely respected her boundaries which is more than genuine acephobes will concede to. But Peridot's resistance to fusing was portrayed in a manner ambiguously like the stereotype of someone who grew up in a repressed fundie town, so for her to be variably ace-coded then fuse with Garnet in a manner that doesn't make it explicit it's not supposed to be the romantic/sexual analogue it's often used as, would make it seem like Garnet's assumption was correct about her and validate a common stereotype of ace people made by active allosexuals.
Edited by AlleyOop on Mar 12th 2020 at 4:39:56 AM
Another Petersen/Guignard episode just two episodes after the last. They were presumably boarded out of chronological order, because episodes are usually divided between four storyboarding pairs.
We also titles for the last four episodes
. They seem very significant.
Edited by thatother1dude on Mar 12th 2020 at 1:01:15 PM
"Together Forever"
Connverse focus episode followed by an episode of Steven going a doctor called "Growing Pains."
Oh fuck, I'm getting Season 6 Bojack Horseman flashbacks. This is genuinely suspenseful.
Edited by VengefulBale on Mar 12th 2020 at 12:20:09 PM
Prettiest Meta Knight Gijinka, ngl
What are you saying? She obviously dumped him for Kevin.
It's Kevin Time!
Prettiest Meta Knight Gijinka, nglSo did no one notice the second to last episode is called โI Am My Monsterโ?
Because in context, it seems like quite a Spoiler Title.
Edited by thatother1dude on Mar 12th 2020 at 2:41:44 PM
I did. But who knows. Perhaps it's every bit as misleading as other titles have been.
Or maybe it's gonna subvert our expectations and the title is 100% unmisleading
Prettiest Meta Knight Gijinka, ngl

Her herself mentioned this is a Word of Saint Paul thing. I do think it's open to interpretation here.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.