A cherry man through and through… One of my favorite things about Steven Universe are all the subtle references to previous episodes. It’s little call backs like these that show how Rebecca Sugar and her team always go that extra mile.
It makes it feel like a real world. Like, it’s not just referencing previous episodes it’s referencing jokes he’s made in his life and makes the world seem so much more real. It’s not to the extent of a running gag either.
I was creating a
website for a local restaurant. The owner needed a new website because the
college kid who had created it wasn’t updating it in a timely fashion. That
should have been my first clue, but I was just starting to freelance and wanted
the job to build my resume.
When I started,
she told me that she wanted to be able to make updates to the website herself,
so I built it in WordPress and planned to train her when the website was
complete.
She sent me the
information for her site and I realized that she didn’t own her domain name or
hosting. They were all owned by the college kid who was currently doing her
website.
Me: You’ll have to
get ownership of the domain and the hosting before we can upload the site to
your URL.
Client: Okay, I’ll talk
to him and get that taken care of.
I started working
on building her site, and waited for her to get back to me once she’d done
that. One month later she called me, but to complain.
Client: It’s been a month
and you haven’t done anything!
Me: Actually, I’ve done quite a lot of work, it’s just not
up on the site yet. You don’t own the domain so I can’t upload it.
Client: I
can’t see how this is my fault.
That’s not where the headaches stopped. Once the domain wrinkle was
ironed out I started to revise her content and when I sent it to her to
review.
Client: I don’t have time
to “review” your work! Just do it right the first time!
Me: Okay… well, just
so I know what you’re looking for in terms of how the website looks, could you
send me some samples of what you’d like, with some notes about what you like
about them?
She sent me about
10 websites, each completely different from the other. They ranged from
fantastic to ‘90s bad, with no indication of what she liked and didn’t like.
Finally she sent me the website for Paula Deen’s restaurant, which was of
course exactly what
she wanted. I used the basic layout and style while adding her brand colors to
give her the look and feel I thought she was looking for.
My client had
completely redesigned her restaurant, so the photos I had from the old website
were obsolete. She didn’t have anyone to take photos so I ended up going to the
restaurant to take the photos myself, and I didn’t even charge her for the
time. At this point I was so desperate to get her website done I didn’t even care.
When she looked
at the website on her computer at one of her restaurants, it wasn’t rendering
correctly. Since she couldn’t understand how to take a screenshot to show me, I
ended up driving there (fortunately it’s close) and discovered that she had a bootlegged
fake version of Windows OS. Of course, she insisted it was really Windows - I’m
assuming whoever set up her computers just told her it was what she wanted and
gave it to her because it was cheaper.
I finally,
finally finished the project and needed to train her to make updates. She
decided her son, one of the managers, would get training too. I met them at one
of their restaurants because I prefer to train people on their own computers
where they are more comfortable. I assumed we would be training in her office,
but instead she brought her laptop to the bar and expected me to train them
while they waited on customers. Obviously, it was a disaster, and at the end of
the session she mentioned it would be great if I could just keep updating the
website for her, at which I politely declined.
I sent her the
bill. It was what we’d agreed, no more, and was under $1000.
Client: I think you’re
charging too much. This isn’t nearly as good as Paula Deen’s site.
Me: Well, Paula Deen
was probably able to pay a larger firm thousands of dollars.
Client: Really? I would
have thought it would cost $200, tops.
I have never been so happy to be done with a
client.
I’m going to admit right now that I never thought I would make this theory, let alone endorse it, but after a period of uncomfortable denial I’ve realized that I cannot in good conscience keep this to myself. I think one of Connie’s distant ancestors might have been a gem-human hybrid. The words taste bitter coming out of my mouth, but I wouldn’t say them without evidence
From the beginning, we were told that there has never in the history of anything and everything been another half-gem like Steven, and that his very existence is unprecedented, and yet…
Rose: Steven, we can’t both exist. I’m going to become half of you.
How the fuck did Rose know this? There’s never been a half-human hybrid before. Hell, no gem has ever given birth before! How the could she have possibly known that he wouldn’t just be a pure human, or that he would wouldn’t just have his own gem, or that she would become a part of him rather than simply being trapped in his gemstone? This has happened before, and Rose hid that from her own team!
That brings us to another issue: Fusion
Greg: Wait, you guys are Gems. You gotta help me out here, I need to be able to fuse with Rose.
Garnet: First you need a gem at the core of your being. Then you need a body that can turn into light.
One of the problems that’s bugged me the most behind the scenes is the fact that Steven was able to fuse with Connie. How Steven’s body works has been a mystery for some time. He seems to be a mix of flesh and light since he’s able to shapeshift and fuse all the same, but if Connie was human, she should just be made of meat and bones and keratin. Her being able to fuse with anyone, even Steven, should be completely impossible by the logic of the show!
And while we’re talking about things that should be impossible, let’s talk about her being able to lift Rose’s Sword
This is a weapon made for a woman twice her size with super strength, and yet Connie wields it effortlessly in battle. Wields – not bench-presses – wields, with skill and grace. I can guarantee you that you are not going to find a 12-year-old human girl out there who can fight with a greatsword in one hand. Believe me, I’ve run experiments.
And you know what? We shouldn’t even be shocked. This was foreshadowed a while ago. Listen to this:
Connie: It’s my favorite series! It’s about this girl named Lisa and she’s a witch! - I mean, she doesn’t know she’s a witch at first. Anyways she goes on this quest to find her father after he’s kidnapped by the mysterious one-eyed man.
And who does Connie dress up as in Open Book?
She dressed up as Lisa, the girl who didn’t know about her magical powers!
Side Note: I wonder if that mysterious one-eyed man who kidnaps her father is foreshadowing for something
Okay, back to Connie. I think it’s safe to say there Connie having a distant gem relative isn’t as far-fetched as it sounded. If said ancestor was male like Steven is their quarter-human offspring probably wouldn’t have a gem, but since Steven canonically has gem DNA there would still be some left over traits.
The real question now is who? Contrary to the image above, I don’t think Connie is a descendant of Blue Diamond since she is still presumably alive. How would that even work anyway? Sexing up a 25-foot-tall woman is not something a human is capable of, no matter what JK Rowling might tell you. That said there is quite a bit of evidence that Connie’s gem ancestor was of the blue court. Both she and her mother resemble blue court gems
And the blue court itself had a definitively Indo-Persian aesthetic
There’s also the blue court’s ever-present connection with water, whereas Connie spent her very first episode trapped on the ocean floor
Plus there’s the fact that Connie is almost always seen in a blue or teal outfit
At this point, I’d hazard a guess guess that Connie’s gem ancestor was a Turquoise
Didn’t Rebecca sugar say that of connie was a gem she would be turquoise?
We see in Hit the Diamond that Ruby and Sapphire can barely function without each other. We all were like ‘oh, its no big deal! they’re in love!” and I thought that too! But now, with Alone at Sea, we see that not only is it for love, but power. Lapis hates Jasper. They hate each other. But lapis says ‘We were fused for so long…”
Think all the way back to Strong in the Real Way. Garnet and Amethyst started to literally lose themselves in Sugilite.
SO… Fusion is addictive. The longer you stay fused, the more the counterparts need each other.
Stevonnie ain’t so cute now huh?
Don’t forget the episode where Pearl kept messing with stuff to get Garnet to fuse with her.
Until Garnet, fusion only happened between Gems of same kind, for the sake of making weaker gem types grow into a stronger version of themselves together. The Rubies didn’t even have to dance to synchronize, they are already aligned.
Why is it such a taboo among Homeworld Gems to have different kinds of gems fuse when it can be so potent mixing traits?
Why indeed. The Rubies, despite forced differences in personality, are pretty much the same and very simple of mind. Easily tricked and confused. How much mind do they have to lose upon fusing with, basically, themselves?
It is a far bigger invasion when two completely different minds fuse together. “You are not two people, you are not one.” The longer the fusion of two people last, a bigger impact it’ll have through its differences. And when you get used to something and suddenly have that yanked away, it leaves an empty spot. A spot which wasn’t there before, now a gaping hole you need to fill to feel whole again. Along with fusion making the individual gem feel like they are more than they were alone. Stronger, bigger, new traits and powers they never had before but which feel familiar through the mind of the other gem.
How much do you stay yourself, how much do you lose yourself, in fusion?
The experience is individual, but when not prepared for it and not knowing how to tackle it… fusion is a dangerous thing in many ways.
But that’s just my 2 cents on it.
Well there’s one key difference between garnet & stevonnie than the other fusions like malachite and say sardonyx. Garnet and stevonnie are a fusion of love were as malachite and sardonyx are a fusion of power. I think that the intentions behind fusion make a difference between whether or not it’s addictive. That’s why ruby and sapphire can still function separately and split whenever they want to such as in the baseball episode. Lapis and jasper fused out of power and so did pearl with sardonyx which is why they were doing horrible things to feel that rush again. Even garnet isn’t immune to the power rush either if you think about sugalite. They refused to unfuse because they felt super strong. Sugalite is likely far stronger than sardonyx.
There’s also the possibility that the bigger the power gap between the individual gems and the fusion, the more addictive the fusing. Like, the gap between sardonyx and garnet isn’t nearly as wide as the gap between sardonyx and pearl so pearl felt the addiction while the gap between stevonnie and connie and steven isn’t that wide since stevonnie is basically them but taller from what we’ve seen.
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
