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the-phoenix-heart · 3 years

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Sorting Hat Chats - Futurama

This was such a formative experience for me that I had to sort it. You can trace my taste in everything all the way back here-I’m not exaggerating.

Here is the system I am using to sort these characters (@wisteria-lodge). Also big thanks to Wisteria for helping me sort Fry, Leela, and Bender.

PHILLIP J. FRY is a Snake primary. It’s pretty simple. He’s motivated by the people he loves. He almost let the world be destroyed so he could keep dreaming about his mother, he loves the future because it’s where he has all the people he loves, he would’ve spent an entire lifetime searching for Bender. He has to convince himself that his life in the past was horrible and nobody loved him because it hurt more to think of the people he left behind. Even Lars his alter ego is completely motivated by first Leelu (don’t ask) and then Leela. The idea that Bender doesn’t see him as his best friend hurts him.

As for his secondary, that was less clear. I initially thought he was a Lion because he’s not very smart. Bad call on my part. I think he has a model for it though because he’s constantly been told his entire life that he’s stupid.

He’s really a Badger secondary, which makes him a Snake Badger (the Lover sorting). He’s just very well suited for menial labor. Delivering things is what he’s good at, he also is good at being a night watchman helping out the heads, being a headcare specialist as Lars, and working as an aquarium worker caring for a narwhal. If you read the comics he’s also really good at secretary work, picking up clothes, scheduling meetings, and generally just being a really nice guy. When he’s in the science fair as a kid he says that while Gedgie has brains, Fry has heart, which is mirrored when his father says that Gedgie’s science is cold and emotionless. Fry really does just care so much, he’s also a gift giver.

I do however think he has a Bird secondary model though. Despite the way he acts a lot of the time, he usually does like to do sciency stuff for fun, because he loves scifi. And he loves pop culture of all kinds. Plus, in the comic “Who Wants to be a Gazillionaire” he actually studies hard so he can win the game, and has fun! He ends out the comic talking about history with Scruffy (and it’s one of my favorite endings of a comic).

TURANGA LEELA is a Lion secondary to start with. She’s just very punchy and her usual first thought is to get violent. She’s the best soldier of the main three in “War is the H-Word” (fyi that episode is also a good show for their secondaries). When she’s a superhero her part of the theme song is “Clobberella beats you up, Clobberella beats you up, Who does she beat up? You!” She even needs to be collared in “Benders Game” because her temper is too strong.

As for her primary, it might be surprising, but she’s a Badger. She cares a LOT about fitting in and finding a place for herself. When she thinks she’s an alien she gets involved with a scammer who pretends to be another cyclops, and to her it’s the best thing ever. To find out she was part of a rich culture and was loved, and she is very into the idea of repopulating and rebuilding the society. When it turns out Alcazar is an asshole, she still goes along with it because it’s (what she believes) is her culture, she’s willing to sacrifice her happiness to bring back her culture. She also cares about all animals. That’s random but I just wanted to put that out there.

And when she finds out she’s a mutant, she doesn’t think it’s bad, she just so happy to have found her family. She does stay out of the politics of the mutants for a while but she eventually gets into it. But in the episode “Teenage Mutant Leela’s Hurdles,” she gets turned back into a teenager and is so happy for the chance to have the real teenager experience, going on dates, discipline, chores, curfew, parents. When she’s put in charge of Planet Express it flourishes under her.

She is a little burnt, because she was ostracized her whole life, but she gets better, especially with help from Fry who loves her no matter what.

Here is Leela describing herself in one sentence: “I have been looking for a way to serve the community that incorporates my violence.”

(Also, it’s nice that Leela has the protagonist sorting and Fry has the love interest sorting)

BENDER BENDING RODRIGUEZ was the hardest to sort (other than Amy but that’s because she doesn’t matter). Initially I figured he was just a Snake primary and was happy with that. Then after talking it out with Wisteria we decided he was a Lion primary with a Snake primary model for Fry and other people he doesn’t want to kill. But then...

Then I remembered that “The Beast with a Billion Backs” is a movie that exists and that threw everything topsy turvy.

Because you see, in the movie Bender gets everything he’s ever wanted. He’s the head of the League of Robots, he’s functionally ruler of Earth, and all humans are essentially dead because they left for another universe that’s basically Heaven. This is everything he’s ever wanted (and what a Lion primary wants), but he’s not happy. Fry tells him they’re moving in with Yivo (the other universe, don’t ask) and Bender does a full backtrack and starts trying to get Fry to stay, and then when Fry is leaving Bender immediately tries to go with Fry, which is Bender abandoning a life of being the ruler of Earth just so he can stay with this one meatbag. But he can’t enter the anomaly, so he has to stay on Earth and instead of bossing around other robots or having fun all we see him doing is waiting for Fry to call or write. And it crushes Bender when he finally does get word from Fry and finds out Fry doesn’t want to come back and he’s super happy. Which is what leads Bender to mount a full pirate invasion on “Heaven” all to “save” Fry. And then he closes out the movie with a speech about what love is.

So...with all that context out of the way. He’s an immature Snake primary who is slightly exploded. I think like a lot of Snake primaries he has a model for when he isn’t declaring war because Fry won’t pay attention to him, and that’s that Gloryhound/Immature Lion primary I was talking about earlier. It slots in well with his immature hedonistic Snake primary and that’s why whenever he’s not around his friends he goes off the rails and starts trying to gain power. It’s also why whenever he has power he most of the time loses it because he has to choose between his friends and that power. “Fear of a Bot Planet” and “Bender Gets Made,” both have Bender in positions of power having to walk a tightrope trying to keep his friends alive and keep his power, and both times he chooses his friends.

His Lion primary model is immature like I said. He really just wants notoriety and also to do whatever he pleases. In “A Pharaoh to Remember,” he’s obsessed with being remembered and leaving a lasting impact on society, and in the comic “Kickin’ it Old School” he’s obsessed with being singled out as the best in class and thus gaining the respect of all his peers (it doesn’t go well). That’s what his Lion model is concerned with.

I do think, however, that this Lion primary model (and also his Snake primary) matures over the seasons. He learns more about being a good person in episodes like “Godfellas,” “Lethal Inspection,” “Overclockwise,” “Ghost in the Machines,” and “The Inhuman Torch.” Incidentally most of these focus on his relationships in some way. In “Godfellas” he bonds with one specific farmer and his family, and then the people who are living on him, and crushes him when he can’t help them, he also forms a little friendship with the God and he teaches him that you have to take the initiative and do good (he doesn’t always adhere to this). “Lethal Inspection” Is when he deals with his own mortality, and learns to appreciate that mortality with help from Hermes and his friendship. “Overclockwise” AGAIN has an omnipotent Bender who is essentially another god and he gives it up to help to help his friends, and when asked why he did it he says he couldn’t think of one good reason. And “Ghost in the Machines” has Bender deciding that human life is worth more than robot life because he loves Fry (he also never outright killed Fry when he possessed the machines, just tried to scare him to death, methinks he didn’t want to kill Fry), and he even is willing to stay in robot Hell for all eternity and says “I saved my friend, as far as I’m concerned, I won.” And finally “The Inhuman Torch” has him initially become a fireman hero for the glory but then switches when he finds out a flame monster wants to destroy the world so he sets about being alone for all eternity but then he has to go back so he can save Fry and the world, and he comes a greater hero than Gilgamesh.

(also in “I Roommate” he is willing to castrate himself to stay with Fry, “The Honking” has Bender terrified of killing his best friends, “Jurassic Bark” he tries to kill Seymour so he’ll be all Fry has and then saves Seymour because he realizes how much Seymour means to him, “Crimes of the Hot” has Bender willing die for a turtle named Shelly he befriended, “Less than Hero” has him becoming a hero just so he can hang out more with his friends [and get more attention], and “Obsoletely Fabulous” has Bender changing his mind on the Robot X model because of a vision where Bender is unable to save his friends and Robot X can. Okay I swear I’m done on his primary now)

His secondary is much more simple. He’s a Snake secondary who loves stealing and being charming and he changes tactics at the drop of a hat, he’s also a little lazy and loves music. But-

He also lives in his secondary and loves the idea of being wild and free and unpredictable and having free will (it’s part of what he loves about folk music). And learning he doesn’t have free will in “Free Will Hunting” crushes him and leads him on an existential journey that he hates but he eventually gets free will. After that he tends to just ignore the Bird model that is intrinsic in all robots because you know, robot. It’s also why he hates mortality, mortality has a sense of attachment that he doesn’t like as someone who lives in his snake secondary.

OKAY NOW FOR THE LIGHTNING ROUND!!!

HUBERT J. FARNSWORTH/THE PROFESSOR is obviously a Mad Scientist double Bird. In “Reincarnation” he talks about what he was living for were the ultimate questions of the universe. And he’s obviously a Bird secondary, he’s literally a scientist.

AMY WONG, I don’t care about her, but she’s a Lion primary with thoughts about her life and not ready to be tied down. Secondary honestly anything could go but she seems like a Snake who’s kinda neutral just going through life at breakneck speed.

HERMES CONRAD is a Badger primary who cares a lot about institutions and people as shown in the Bureaucrat song. I think he’s a Badger secondary, although I suppose he could be a Bird. I think he’s a Badger secondary mostly because he just loves sitting down and working and making things more efficient.

DR. JOHN ZOIDBERG is a Snake who just loves his friends and eventually his girlfriend. He willingly stayed at Planet Express in a dumpster because Hubert asked him to, rejecting a well paying job at Mom Corp. He’s also a Badger who puts in work to help people, and is just over all very caring.

So...

Fry - Snake primary/Badger secondary, Lion model because it’s what he’s been told he is, and a Bird model for fun

Leela - Slightly Burnt Badger primary, gets better/Lion secondary

Bender - Immature Snake primary that is slightly exploded, Immature Lion model, both of these mature over the course of the series/Snake secondary, lives in his secondary, Bird model that comes with being a robot that he lowkey resents and kinda discards after “Free Will Hunting”

Farnsworth - Bird primary/Bird secondary

Amy - Lion primary/Snake Secondary, kinda neutral

Hermes - Badger primary/Badger secondary

Zoidberg - Snake primary/Badger secondary

#let me make it clear i was HAPPY with lion snake bender but then i rewatched beast with a billion back and remembered all that #god it's always the favorite characters that give you a hard time #and also always the favorites that end up being over a thousand words #futurama #sorting hat chats #sortinghatchats #i came out with the RECIEPTS because i'm a bird secondary #final word count for bender: 1037 #final over all word count: 2023 #long post #oh my god i can't believe it's finished what the fuck #i finished this a week ago lmao idk why i didn't post it

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novantinuum · 3 years

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Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: Teen Audiences (TW: language)

Words: ~3K

Summary: Lars has no idea what he was expecting the moment Steven texted him in the middle of the night to ask if he could come over, but being immediately tackled in an intense vice-grip of a hug the second he opened the door probably wasn’t it.

Set mid SUF.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to write Lars’ POV before this, but it was really fun! If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3. Thank you! <3

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Besides the quiet lull of the TV and the electric hum of the attic’s rickety old heater, all is silent in the Barriga household. The nighttime streets outside are vacant. Not a soul roams through his section of town, not even the newer Gem arrivals, who thankfully have been informed of humanity’s biologically mandated curfew by now. Sheesh, it’s about time.

After all, silence is peace. And in this day and age, in a world where the barriers between human and intergalactic politics are becoming increasingly blurred by the hour, peace is a gift.

Which is why having free time to play whatever old video games he wants in complete and total solitude at one AM is probably the single thing keeping him sane at this moment.

Lars’ fingers expertly flick at the joysticks of the controller as if by innate memory. It genuinely feels like forever since he’s been able to lose himself for hours in a solo campaign like this, and quite honestly, if given a choice he prefers it to any other leisurely activity. Chatting with his online friends or with that Gem gang of his is fun, sure, and working the counter at his bake shop can often be emotionally satisfying, but pushed too long and any kind of social interaction feels draining. He shifts on his bed, paying little to no attention to the slight chill against his bare chest. He’s pretty sure it’s like, near freezing outside and yet somehow it’s no more an annoyance to him than having to pause to reload an ammo clip in this game. It’s weird. Really weird. But then, at this point everything about his dumb life is.

It’s the Steven effect, he thinks with a soft scoff. Weird practically orbits him and his moms, and inevitably, every person he comes in contact with is brought into the fold. He’s a good kid, though. Don’t get him wrong. Steven always tries his best to be thoughtful when dealing with people he doesn’t understand— even when initially those people just act like dicks in return— and he for one is grateful for that, for the gift of a... a second chance. He knows full well he didn’t deserve it, (he still doesn’t), but he’s grateful.

The kid’s still on his mind when his phone lights up on the nightstand beside him, like the now familiar glow of Gems synchronizing to fuse.

(And goddamnit, does a part of him still balk almost two years later that it’s so normal to be casually relating everyday things to outer space Gem stuff anyways. What is he, with his pink hair and alien friends, the main character of an anime?)

Eyes skirt away from the grainy television set he’s been playing his favorite Immortal Combat on, and glance at the new notification.

Steven, the name at the top of the text reads. Well, lo and behold. The true shounen protagonist himself. Somebody’s ears must have been burning. Though, hmm. Come to think of it, that’s actually unusual. They pass bullshit memes back and forth sometimes, yes, but he never sends him anything this late at night.

Lars frowns, failing to obscure that annoying, instinctual worry that seizes him like the long lost sensation of hunger rising from the pit of his stomach, and scoots forward on his bed to grab his phone. What’s he want at this hour, anyways?

Steven: hey, sorry i know its late but can i come over ?

His frown deepens as he glances down at himself, clad in only a pair of boxers. He doesn’t mind having an unexpected visitor— after all, it’s not like he requires sleep anymore— but he’s not exactly dressed for company, here.

yeah but gimme a mo, he types back. kinda need to put on a shirt

Steven: k

Yawning out of sheer habit, he leans over the other side of the bed and grabs the first decent smelling tee he can find off the floor. It’s got an overlapping triangular emblem on it, a symbol from one of the game series he used to be obsessed with as a kid. He quickly shrugs it and a stray pair of sweatpants on, then returns to his phone.

decent now, he updates him.

The response is almost immediate.

Steven: be there soon

With a heavy inhale, he leans back against the headboard and begins to mentally prepare himself for the passage of One Whole Teenage Boy through the portal in his hair. For the most part he’s grown used to the changes caused by Steven’s literal magic resurrection, but not this. Who the hell knows how his pet lion puts up with it all the time. Quite frankly, how that creature has remained so docile and patient after years of interloping within Steven’s chaotic world of Gems eludes him, ‘cause it sure as hell isn’t a side effect of all the death-defying space voodoo.

Also, he’s like, 97% sure that “docile” and “patient” aren’t words anyone would pick to describe him at any stage of his life, ever.

And yet, yawning in his boredom, Lars waits.

And he waits.

And when eventually he breaks his stubborn streak and dares to check the time on his phone to see how many minutes have elapsed, how many minutes of his thrice-damned maybe infinite lifespan he’s wasted sitting up against the far wall of his room waiting for that kid to tumble right out of the literal inter-dimensional door hidden amidst the curls atop his head, he’s mildly surprised that his first emotional response to this delay is... dare he admits... disappointment.

It’s been nearly fifteen minutes. For whatever unknown reason, it seems as if Steven may not be coming over after all. Huh. He wonders what changed his mind. Pressing his lips into a thin line, Lars decides to check his texts. It’s possible the guy wrote something else and he just didn’t see it. But when he pulls up his latest conversation, all that comes up are the last messages they sent to each other. Be there soon, he said.

He hovers hesitant fingers over the keyboard, caught in the midst of trying to decide whether or not it’s too invasive and prying to send some sort of casual check-in, when he picks up on a very timid knock on the front door downstairs. And given the lateness of the hour, there’s really only one person it could be. He blinks for a moment, his mind still doing somersaults in order to process the mere concept of Steven not gleefully taking the opportunity to explode out of his hair for once in his life, and then drags himself up to his feet. Walks out of his attic room and down the stairs, being careful not to disturb his slumbering parents. Unlatches the locks on the door.

Truth be told he has no idea what he was expecting the moment Steven texted him at one fucking AM to ask if he could come over, but being immediately tackled in an intense vice-grip of a hug the second he opened the door probably wasn’t it.

He struggles not to stumble backwards at the initial force of the teen’s silent yet yearning embrace, eventually regaining his stability and... slowly, delicately... hugging him back. Honestly, he’s never been much of a hugger himself, but eh. He’ll give the guy this one. After a brief moment Lars gives him a few awkward pats, clearing his throat.

“Uh, Steven? You good to let go, now?” he asks quietly, still keeping his voice in a whisper for his parents’ benefit.

“Oh! Y-yeah, yeah,” his younger friend stammers, immediately pulling himself away. His eyes are drawn to the floor as he wrings his hands together. Timid. “Sorry, I just— I just needed somewhere I could clear my head tonight. Thank you, by the way.”

“No problem,” he throws back, gesturing for him to follow up the stairs. “‘S not like I ever sleep a wink now anyways. So I might as well have company.”

The two of them tiptoe towards the attic, a familiar setting for both. Steven’s been in here quite a few times before, so— already knowing the lay of the land— he plops himself down in the beanbag chair Lars keeps at the foot of his bed. They don’t talk about much of anything at first, merely passing back and forth brief updates about their lives. Small talk, nothing more. As expected though, Steven’s update is infinitely more interesting than his. Apparently he went on some mission to an alien planet with that Lapis friend of his the other day and had to deal with the attitude of some stubborn terraformers who didn’t want to stop working on their shitty old Homeworld assignment. (Meanwhile, the only update he has to offer is how he’s teaching Blue Lace Agate the art of bad baking puns while at work. Gotta leave behind some sort of legacy before he leaves with his fellow Off-Colors, of course.)

When the small talk finally dries up, (which seems... uncharacteristic, given the typical enthusiasm of his current visitor), Lars offers him a second controller.

“We can play the go-kart one, if you want,” he says, knowing full well that his friend isn’t a huge fan of all his war-themed combat games. Still, he figures the guy could probably stand to blow off a little steam. He looks super stressed, with his brow all creased and his stare unnervingly glassy.

The sixteen-year-old nods, adjusting his hands around the grips of the controller as Lars switches out the disk.

They race a few rounds in relative quiet, wholly insulated by the reassuring stillness of the night all around them, before Steven decides to open up again.

“Where do you think the line is?” he asks when they finish their current course.

His whole face scrunches in confusion. “Huh?”

“Between like, doing bad things, and outright being bad?” he continues, seemingly unaware of the comedic pulse of Lars’ initial response.

Lars blinks.

Considers these words deeply and thoroughly for a moment, as any good friend should.

And then...

“Where the heck did you pull that question from?”

Steven merely shrugs, his shoulders drooping a bit lower than they had been when he first entered his house a while back. “I dunno, just musing, ‘s all.”

The edges of his mouth curl downwards as he lets this corker of a conversation starter wash over him, not so much intended as a frown at Steven, but a frown at... whatever force of this universe would lead his friend to start musing about such depressing philosophical quandaries in the first place. Acting numb and brooding at the rest of the world is supposed to be his job, not this kid’s! And sure, yes, yes, yes, he knows he can’t exactly call him a kid anymore— at least not to his face— and that he’s been a teenager for a good three years now. It’s just that... well. For all his complaints about it earlier in life, Lars kinda grew to respect and feel uplifted by his cheery, upbeat, never-give-up-hope outlook. Dare he says, he kinda misses it.

(And for Steven’s sake, he kinda hoped he’d never discover the burnout and cynicism waiting on the other side. Alas, he fears that ship has probably sailed.)

“Sorry,” the sixteen-year-old mumbles upon noting his extended silence, his cheeks flushed with shame. “Probably not something anyone wants to think about at two in the morning. Just- forget I said anything, okay? Let’s play one more round, and then I can lea—“

Eyes widening, he holds up a hand to intercept that train of thought. “No, that’s— you asked an interesting question. Deep, but interesting. It’s fine, I don’t mind. I...”

He inhales deep, collecting his wits and whatever years of wisdom he may or may not have accumulated ever since dying and coming back to life.

“I suppose in my mind, people aren’t truly bad unless they intend to cause harm, y’know?” he begins, meeting Steven’s eyes. “You can still hurt others without meaning it, and like... that’s still not great, and you should still try and make up for it however you can, but... life’s complicated. People are complicated. It’s all a huge mess of emotions and ethics and beliefs all the time.”

He pauses, a twinge of melancholy rising within his chest as he catches a glimpse of a photograph hung on one of the wooden support beams at the far wall. It’s a selfie of him and Sadie he printed out a few years back when they were still low-key dating, one that— for the life of him— he can’t bear to take down. She’s kissing his cheek. He’s caught in the middle of laughter, playfully trying to nudge her away. They look... so young.

So naive.

(So human.)

“And sometimes it can be so, so easy to convince yourself that you’re always in the right,” he continues, quieter, “that people feeling hurt because of something you did is just their problem. In that case, it’s not that you wanted to harm anyone, it’s just... that you were blind to it, I guess.”

(And he was blind for a long, long time.)

“Like I said, it’s messy.”

Lars sighs, willfully averting his glance from the photographic reminder of all the ways he ignorantly fucked up with Sadie as a friend and partner, and with everyone in his life, making the same stupid mistakes over and over with nearly no improvement until he literally died to his old self.

“So, yeah. There. I guess that’s my opinion,” he mumbles, absentmindedly fiddling with the collar of his graphic tee. “Everyone makes bad choices sometimes, but you’re not actually a bad person unless you literally want to harm others. I don’t think people are bad once and bad forever, though,” he adds, pulling his hand away from his shirt.

Inhaling deep, he splays his palm wide, admiring those same old loops and whorls at the tips of his fingers, identical in every detail to his old, living, human self... but now pink. It's haunting, sometimes.

“People can change, y’know? If they make the effort to.”

When he finally glances back at Steven, he seems thoroughly spaced out by all his impassioned rambling, his gaze walleyed and void of any identifiable emotion. He scowls, unsure whether or not he should feel offended, and gives an exaggerated shrug to defuse the sickeningly earnest atmosphere out of this room.

“But hey, I’m biased,” he mutters, letting that instinctual, age-old self-depreciation coat his tone once more. “For all I know, everything I said could be absolute bunk, and I’m still just an asshole.”

“I don’t think you’re an asshole, Lars,” Steven finally speaks up, his expression still perplexingly unreadable.

“I—“ His eyes blow wider, the sheer frankness of this comment catching him entirely off guard, overturning all of his once-impenetrable defenses. “...Thank you. I’m trying not to be.”

The conversation doesn’t advance any further from there, both parties content to fade back into the understated comfort of silent companionship. They play a few more rounds of their racing game, Lars beating Steven handily each time. (Truth be told, he’s not confident he’s bringing his A-game, though.) Then, sometime around three AM, his friend drags himself out of the beanbag chair and announces that he should probably head home and get some rest. Apparently he’s got a lot of planning to do for Little Homeschool's graduation ceremony that’s happening in a few days, or whatever. Which, is fair. Not everyone is blessed enough to be a sleepless zombie like him.

“Y’know, it’s been nice, getting to hang out, just us,” Steven says— quiet, but genuine— as Lars leads him back down the stairs. “We should do this more often.”

Purposefully, given the unusual emotional atmosphere of this whole visit, he decides not to mention the fact that he's planning to leave Earth again when his all Gem friends finally graduate. Later, he thinks, when everyone's in a better place.

“Well, if you’re ever bored, you know where to reach me,” he replies as they reach the bottom step, fondly rolling his eyes. “The good ol’ inter-hair-mensional express. Just, y’know— text me. And not during work hours.”

The teen gives his thanks once again, and then exits out the front, making sure to be extra gentle shutting the door on his way out for his parents’ sake. Huh. Seems that even when he’s (seemingly) in a funk, he’s capable of being uber courteous like that. Goodness, how does he do it?

Lars stands motionless at the entryway for a few moments after he’s gone, staring blankly at the now empty space the sixteen-year-old just occupied. His brow furrows, his fingers curling in perplexion at his side. He doesn’t have enough insight into Steven’s inner life to claim anything for sure, but he can’t help but feel like something with that boy was... off, tonight. Like, beyond your standard teenage moodiness. His demeanor, his bizarre and specific question, his relative silence... it all seems to be pointing towards something, lurking in the background. Still, there’s little he can do for a person who’s not volunteering information. And it ain’t his job to drag it out of him, either. He always hated when his parents tried to do that when he was younger, and it almost ruined their relationship entirely. That’s the last sorta scenario he’d want to force upon Steven. He’ll open up when he’s ready, in the end.

And until then... well.

He just hopes that the kid knows that— beyond the bizarre magic portal in that pink lion’s mane— he’s always got a brother on the other side who’s willing to at least listen. To be but a small source of support.

If he wants him to be.

#su #su future #lars barriga #steven universe #su fanfiction #my writing stuff

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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 3 years

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Ah! There’s been a brief break in the schedule from hell! QUICK, LET’S GEEK OUT OVER Supergirl, episode 6x13, “The Gauntlet”, while we have the chance!

SPOILERS!

We jump right in with a Fortress visit (woo!) and Vita (Vida?) our resident Kryptonian witch!

And like...choices are being made with this performance. I’m...not entirely sure what those choices are, necessarily, but. Not mad about it! It’s a weird blend of funny and unsettling, which kinda works?

Especially given the overall tone of the episode.

Love that Kara’s like, ‘yeah, it’s magic.’ And Lena’s like,

Anyways! Vita lays down the ground rules for the McGuffin hunt, and then we’re off!

Definitely thought Dr. Lahr was a reference to Lesla-Lar, a Silver Age Supergirl villain (who kind of appeared in Superman & Lois? Like, in name only?) but nope! It’s a reference to Bert Lahr, the actor who played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, as per one of the writers of this episode.

(Which is neat b/c it ties in thematically with the whole totem plot and ALSO b/c that’s Kara’s favorite film!)

Love the bit where Nyxly was exasperated by heist movie genre conventions. XD

Love Nyxly in general, TBH.

Like. Peta Sergeant is killin’ it, both the wacky chaotic stuff and the more serious, emotional side. And. AND. It’s good and personal, between her and Kara. (And it gets even MORE personal in this episode but! I’m getting ahead of myself.)

Appreciate that the Alex and Kelly stuff at the tail end of the last episode was not a one-and-done! Kelly is still processing, and Alex is still giving her space to do so.

Chyler’s ‘Oh-kay’ was very cute.

New CGI CatCo shot? Maybe? Don’t think we’ve seen the building from that angle.

*GASP!* MY BOY. WILL.

PROCESSING HIS PTSD????

More good crumbs! I will take them!

Dear SG writers, re: David and Goliath: Not a slingshot. Just a sling.

But I understand that visually, that would not have worked for a prop, so. I will give it a pass. XD

Another shout out to the woman who brought her pet lizard to the science museum.

Kara then zaps the artifact, and, in the words of Warehouse 13 agents, ‘everyone gets whammied.’

And then Brainy is possessed by Vita (natch) and apparently, ‘Are these his nipples?’ was a Jesse ad lib.

Bravo, sir. I laughed out loud.

(Honestly I laughed a lot during this episode. Just. Delightful performances all around!)

“I did not like that.”

And then PILOT KARA?!?!?!?!?!?!

WITH SEASON ONE SCORE!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Also MAJOR PROPS to the production design folks, I totally thought they were recycling footage and then Kara spoke and I was like, ‘WHOA. WHOA THIS IS NEW.’

Plane saaaaaaave!!!! :D :D :D :D

Love it. Love it so much.

And OooOOoOOoh, that little bit! That we didn’t see before! Kara ignored calls for help because she was afraid of revealing her identity!

(What you wanna bet the Courage Totem wanted her to do exactly that?)

Love her big smile after she saves the guy, though. You can tell that it’s, you know. Obviously 30-something Melissa, not 20-something Melissa, but that smile? Like steppin’ back in time.

Perhaps it was simply the CW ads playing during the commercial breaks, but the whole ‘YOU FAILED’ and ‘totem’ aspect gave me Legends of the Hidden Temple vibes.

Unintentional cross promotion! XD

The Fifth Dimension is...fine? Kinda lackluster, for an entirely different plane of existence, but, you know. Budgets.

Not a fan of Nyxly’s dress.

But very good character stuff!

Meanwhile, back at the museum:

And THIS, my friends, is where the episode jumps from ‘pretty darn good!’ to ‘practically perfect in every way.’

Because J’onn has the courage to freely express his feelings and Alex has the courage to be dangerously optimistic. Which means we get gems such as:

SWEET, another dragon!

And can I just say how proud I am to have watched you both grow into the strong women you are today?

Uh, Mr. Dragon sir? Two minutes of your time. Just two minutes.

(To the woman throwing coffee cups) Good hit.

These people must be so scared...but they’re being so brave.

My immediate thought, when finishing this episode, was that I wanted a gifset of just J’onn lines, but. Upon further reflection, you just can’t capture how excellent the line reads are in plain text.

Thus, I feel like the best thing would just be a J’onn supercut.

Sadly, there’s only a Lena supercut for this episode that youtube thought I’d want to see HAHAHA I hate it here.

J’onn: Alex is such a courageous hero. :D

Kara: Yeah, normally she’s a grade-A, glass-half-shattered realist. >:C

I am happy that Katie didn’t have to wear uncomfortable heels in this episode but uuuhhhh...the white sneakers with the Janet-From-The-Good-Place outfit is...certainly...a look.

I like the CGI on Kara rushing around the city to save people! It looked really cool, the glowing lights of the buildings and the white streak of Kara speeding/hopping around.

And ooooh, the shot of Kara holding the totem at the rainy window. Nice and moody.

Every time they bring up Project Bolt I’m just like:

This? This Bolt? Aaaand now I’m sad about the lack of Krypto on this show.

Guesstimating?!??!?!

Right, so. Then we get the Lightning storm showdown and I love it.

We’ve got WILLIAM! OUR BOY! SAVING A KID!

And then J’onn being like, ‘Bummer. I understand your frustration. Wanna talk about it?’

And Kara ultimately putting the safety and well-being of her team ahead of ‘beating’ Nxyly aaaahhhh yes, excellent, wonderful, stellar.

(Also Dr. Lahr uselessly pounding on J’onn’s chest is hilarious.)

Guardian and Sentinel team uuppppp NICE, NICE.

(But wouldn’t the metal shield be...bad...for deflecting lightning?)

(...You know what, who cares, looks rad.)

And then! We circle back to a thing I mentioned earlier, that whole, ‘This is personal for Kara’, all this stuff with Nyxly.

Like, not only is she just a fun villain to watch, perfectly nailing that sweet spot of comic book silliness and a serious threat to our heroes, but ALSO. This season did a great job setting her up at the outset and directly involving Kara by having them bond and such.

And they continued to build on that in the previous episodes as well; here, it jumps up ANOTHER level as they become psychically linked!

INTRIGUING!

(Also, I know it was like, framed as Kara wanting to have a strategic advantage over Nyxly but I like to think some of her ‘no, thanks’ to Lena was also rooted, ‘Haha, our friendship is mending but no, I do not want you using your novice magical abilities to mess with my head, thanks.’)

Credit where credit is due, Katie’s ‘turns out...thatshesawitch’ was a very funny bit.

So then! The episode-ending bits! Looks like we’re gonna get some WILLIAM stuff and some ALEX stuff, yes, good, yes.

Excellent, A+, loved EVERY MINUTE OF THIS EPISODE. SUCH A GOOD TIME.

COMING UP. New episode, obviously, but also! This month! DC Fandome! And supposedly a farewell Supergirl panel? IDK, we’ll probably get more info as we get closer.

Until the next break in my schedule, then!

#long post #SG post #supergirl spoilers #supergirl season six spoilers #gif

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love-takes-work · 3 years

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Steven Universe Ongoing Comic Series Cherished Memories (Trade Paperback Volume 9, 2021)

The ninth (and last) graphic novel compilation of the ongoing Steven Universe comics just came out! It is called Cherished Memories.

Weirdly, the cover art is from an issue that is not in this set of stories. This art is the main cover of #30, by Missy Peña.

As with many comics originally released in individual issues, the publishers later released this trade paperback compilation of the issues 33 through 36 in Volume 9.

I had already written outlines and reviews of the four comics as they came out:

Issue 33

Issue 34

Issue 35

Issue 36

There’s not much point in writing up rereleased content, but just for your info, I’ll spotlight the included stories and show the variant covers! Like the previous volumes (with the exception of Our Fearful Trip), the included stories are not connected to each other and they carry four different stories.

(They call the issues “chapters” in this compilation.)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE is about Peridot introducing Pearl and Amethyst to her favorite TV show–and encountering some frustration when they just don’t appreciate it the way she does. Is there a lesson to be learned here? WHO WILL WIN THE COLOR WAR?

For issue 33 there were only two covers included; they have continued the trend of reducing the covers to only a main cover and a preorder cover now.

1. The main cover: Peridot and Steven selling Meep-Morps at a stand while Lapis browses, by Missy Peña. 2. Preorder cover: Vidalia painting a portrait of her son riding Lion while Steven colors a similar drawing on the floor, by Cy Vendivil.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR is about Lars and the Off Colors hanging out on a planet with a beach talking about what’s so great about Earth. How can Lars really get it across to Fluorite, Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile Twins when everything seems pretty meaningless to them and they don’t really know how to have fun?

For issue 34, here are the two covers.

1. The main cover: The Off Colors gathered around Captain Lars in a group hug, by Missy Peña. 2. Preorder cover: The Off Colors (and Garnet, Connie, and Steven) in profile looking determined, by Chan Chau.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE is about how Greg and Bismuth are handling life when Steven and the other Gems are in space “negotiating” with the Diamonds. When Bismuth begins adding weapon-style upgrades to human machines and can’t understand why ordinary humans aren’t going to suddenly be soldiers, Greg has some perspective to share.

For issue 35, here are the two covers.

1. The main cover: Bismuth proud of a sandcastle that Cat Steven is enjoying, by Missy Peña. 2. Preorder cover: Lion, Lapis, and Peridot sit in a tree listening to Steven play ukulele, by Borg Sinaban.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX is about Connie and Steven’s latest trip to Buddwick library. Steven learns about the organizational power of libraries, but it’s all for naught when all the books they want are missing even though they’re not checked out. Could someone or something be snatching Buddy’s books?

For issue 36, here are the two covers.

1. The main cover: Steven and Connie in the foreground enjoying a book with Gem history portraits behind them, by Missy Peña. 2. Preorder cover: A living-room campout featuring Steven playing ukulele, Connie playing violin, Peridot playing triangle leaning on Lapis, Ruby and Sapphire holding hands, Amethyst relaxing, and Pearl inviting Bismuth to come in and sit down, by Killian Ng.

There is one more section of bonus content in this book: It's labeled "From the Pages of Welcome to Beach City," and it features the "Snapshots" story of Greg hearing about Steven's adventures. Welcome to Beach City is itself a trade paperback that collects previously published material; this is from the 2015 standalone Greg Universe Special #1.

There is NO other new content in the book, so if you only care about having all the stories and already own individual issues, there is no need to get this. But if you prefer having them all together and want the variant cover art, pick it up!

This lovely last volume again had some really fun stories if you would like to spend a little more time with these characters.

The first story where Peridot has to deal with fans who watch her show for the "right" reasons is a really nice lesson for some of us who get pretty deep into our fandoms, and some of us will feel seen here--whether we're Peridot being frustrated that others just don't get it or we're Amethyst who just watches for the disasters or we're Pearl who's just there for the shipping.

In the second story, the Off Colors are written so well--the author understood their character traits and did more than just have them all repeat their schtick, feeding into a lovely plot about Lars missing Earth.

The third story has a dynamic so many of us have wanted to see--what are Greg and Bismuth up to while the others are in space??--and Bismuth's righteous anger is on display when she wants humans to protect themselves and has to learn through Greg what she can realistically expect from them.

And the last story has some long-overdue Steven-and-Connie jam bud action in the library, returning to how we all started this series: fighting and trapping a corrupted Gem.

(The stories were all fun, but my favorite was story #1 and my least fave was #4.)

Here’s the back cover!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe comics #long post #myblog

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painted-crow · 3 years

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Fictional double Birds, webcomics edition!

I found/rediscovered some more Bird characters for y'all~

These pals are all webcomic characters, so you can read their stories for free :D the name headers link to the first page of their respective comics!

Just a reminder, clicking the images gives you better quality and can make the text easier to read. I've put alt text on the images with the relevant info--sorry if this still isn't the most accessible post. ^^;

Henry Jekyll (The Glass Scientists)

Thanks to @aubade-things for reminding me this comic exists, and for discussing it with me! I binged the whole thing a few days ago, haha.

The Glass Scientists is a webcomic about a haven society for mad scientists, in a world that does not like them. Jekyll here is trying to keep it from falling apart, but between mad science shenanigans, plain old lack of funding, and a fellow called Hyde who is definitely not the same person, who told you that, he's... uh... struggling.

Jekyll screams Badger secondary at first, his Bird secondary is just VERY burnt.

He idealizes Badger as a huge part of how he thinks a Proper Gentleman should be, and he has this super uptight Badger performance that does noooot actually make him happy.

His primary's shaky, too, but he's working on it. This just about says it all, honestly:

Yes, that is a figment of his own imagination yelling at him for using Bird secondary to sort out a major piece of his system.

Jekyll is peak "person who looks like they have their shit together but is actually a mess underneath" and I'd be okay with him being a little less relatable thank you very much

He is slowly reclaiming his secondary though:

Sidenote: I have had almost that exact experience, about the same topic, during a period where I'd burned Bird secondary.

(Seven year old Paint was obsessed with the idea of plant medicine. You know how some kids mix up "potions" with stuff from their back yard? I wanted mine to work. I had this giant textbook about it and everything.)

Alas, remembering was less useful to me; all it really gave me was an extra uncanny experience reading this webcomic :p

Thistle (Daughter of the Lilies)

Thistle is a cinnamon roll hiding a whoooooole lot of trauma and anxiety. I'll let you find those panels for yourself, though. Instead, here she is entertaining some children with her magic:

Sometimes she sounds like a Badger primary, but she's a full-fledged Bird:

Her secondary is a little singed, too, but hers is WAY better off than Jekyll's. She's doin ok.

Spoiler warning: the current comic arc shows her face, which is a major reveal--so if you want to puzzle out what her deal is on your own, start from the beginning and avoid the front page for now ^^

She's also super relatable, but in a way that doesn't bug me. I'm trying to figure out why Jekyll does... I think it's that he's an example of a very burnt Bird secondary that looks seriously familiar to me, but his primary is unstable too and I find that unnerving--I've never burned mine. To me, he feels deeply unhealthy in a way that Thistle doesn't at all. Thistle's morality is very clear and bright; the parts of her system she struggles with most are about how she sees herself, but I deal with the same thing (it's probably less common for Birds not to) so that's fine.

That does say something about the general tone of the two stories. DotL deals with some heavy topics, but it's a much more optimistic feeling world with a much more stable protagonist.

DotL fights with Girl Genius for rank as my favorite webcomic, period. Everyone should go read it, it's beautiful and funny and relatable and tragic and then it's funny again. Also there are dragons! At least one of them is plot relevant, and several of the pages he's on got turned into posters by popular demand because the art is just that good.

Speaking of Girl Genius:

Gilgamesh Wulfenbach (Girl Genius)

Girl Genius is a gaslamp fantasy comedy adventure romance about mad scientists, and it does all of those things really well at the same time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's a goldmine for Bird secondaries.

This story has also been adapted into ebook and audiobook versions, so if comics are hard for you to read, that could be a more accessible option!

Snake primary is the most popular (Agatha, Tarvek, Zeetha, Bang, Krosp, Lars, and most of the Jagers) but there are a few Birds hanging around. The Baron is a Bird primary, I think, and Othar is some form of Exploded Idealist (double Lion?) but I'm going to focus on Gil because he's a main character.

The page that cements his primary for me is this one, where he's arguing with Snake primary Zeetha (who is Loyal to Agatha). Agatha's been the victim of some weird mind control stuff by the story's BBEG, but Gil hasn't gotten that context yet and the Baron (his dad) is convinced Agatha IS the BBEG.

And yes, he's technically pantsless in this scene but hasn't realized that yet either. It's not his fault... the "ability to rant" part of a Spark's brain wakes up long before their situational awareness does.

Also lol @ Zeetha's reaction. Gil is one of Agatha's Important People, and Agatha is Zeetha's, so he's safe, for now, if he behaves.

As for his secondary:

And:

Like many of the cast, Gil is a Spark and very vulnerable to nerd sniping. RIP his lost sleep.

Also mine, actually. I'm gonna end this here and try to go back to bed ^^;

Happy reading!

#sortinghatchats #meta #ravenclaw primary #ravenclaw secondary #burned ravenclaw secondary #paint speaks #q

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mimik-u · 3 years

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Fragments III, 1-100

300 drabbles about Steven Universe/Future, 100 words each! These are the first 100 prompts and writer’s choices that have been fulfilled.

Asterisks are placed next to my personal favorites that I’ve written.

Baggage* — Steven meets his new therapist!

Eternity —How about a Bellow interaction you've always wanted to see in canon but didn't get to?

Foe —Jasper is simultaneously satisfied and yet left deeply empty inside by her self-isolation on Earth, and doesn't understand how to even begin to process this dichotomy. (So she doesn’t.)

Letter — Young Greg's POV when he wrote those letters to his parents Steven found on Mr. Universe episode.

Sword —Connie interacting with someone she doesn't usually talk to by herself (ex Jasper, Bismuth, Lapis, etc.).

Reconciliation — Idk about you but I wanna see more Mega Pearl. The others have not met Mega Pearl.

Marks —How about... Spinel, and the tiny, everyday baby steps towards healing?

Tangled — Peridot finds out/is told about PD/RQ? (And is confirmed in her guess that Pearl is fancy...?)

Challenge* — How is Steven’s TubeTube channel doing?

Bruises — Priyanka tends to Connie's wounds after training sessions with Pearl. [Writer’s Choice]

Rest* — Yellow Diamond gets to relax. (She's the one who most expresses regret and real understanding. Let her take a nap! She deserves it!)

Barbecue* — Post-movie, during cleanup, Steven and Lars talk and plan the BBQ we got a glimpse at during the final song.

Ghost — Yellowtail and Greg talk about fatherhood and how it can be ruined (mentioning Marty and Greg's father subtly).

UNO* — Date between Pearls (platonic or otherwise).

Height — The pebbles!!! They're so small???? Where are they? *Sobs, points at the Heaven and Earth Beetles.*

Embrace — Steven gets a well-deserved cuddle pile from family and friends.

Constructs — Bismuth and Peridot have a lot more in common than they think.

Horns — Amethyst makes an unexpected new friend at Little Homeschool. (Whichever other character you feel would fit best!)

Garden — Pre-show scene. While having a funny chat, Greg mentions something that reminds Rose about her abandoning Spinel, which makes her regret more of her choices.

Advice — Garnet can tell when Stevonnie has a lot on their mind. [Writer’s Choice.]

Hum — Yellow and her relationship with music.

Love* — Pearl considering her romantic feelings towards someone and thinking about how she's finally moving on from Rose. (Doesn't mean she'll ever forget her.)

Kid — A glimpse into “Sadie Killer.” Maybe when they played their first show, while Steven was still in the band. Celebrating afterward or a discussion on why Steven didn't stay IN the band?

Troubleshooting* — Integration of gem communication networks and Earth Internet and phone lines and the resulting inevitable disaster.

Fairytale — Connie gets a tour of Little Homeworld.

Hope — Jasper finally starting to let her guard down and realize her self worth.

Song* — As for prompts... Steg? Like, him in general, just being himself. It's a bummer we only got to see him in the movie.

Mistakes* — Steven talking to someone (not a therapist, just another character) about his trauma?

Forgiveness — The Topaz fusion reconnects with the Crystal Gems at Little Homeschool and apologizes for her role in the kidnapping all those years ago.

Visions — Sapphire and Ruby reflect on the events of "Together Forever." [Writer’s Choice]

Reunited — Maybe a scene where Yellow comes home from a long escapade and is reunited with a worried Spinel?

Beginnings — After CYM, Lapis and Peridot discuss where to live since the barn is destroyed.

Pet* — White Diamond happily announces one day that she has decided to take in a small creature (of your choosing) as a pet.

Together — What were Doc, Army, Navy, and Leggy doing during Future?

Desert — Steven meeting Lion from Lion's perspective. I dunno, I think it could be neat.

Freedom — For a post-CYM/SU:F prompt, what do you think about the exact moment it hit either Blue or Yellow Pearl that they were completely free to follow their whims?

Apologies — Greg apologizes to Steven due to the incident in “Mr. Universe” and both have the talk they should've had in that episode.

Change — Blue and Yellow Zircon's relationship has improved even if they are now rivals in the new democratic Homeworld. This last tiny bit is related to the “Homeworld Bound” episode.

Hug — Bellow cuddling. Yellow has no idea what to do, but Blue is loving it.

Valentine* — Steven gives Peridot a Valentine's Day gift. [Writer’s Choice]

Spite — Aquamarine and Eyeball are distraught at knowing they won't be rewarded for their actions because their worst enemy, Steven Universe, has been labeled a hero and royalty by the Diamonds.

Reevaluation — How about more Peedee and Steven friendship? Like, Peedee noticing Steven’s change in demeanor the farther along the show we get?

Camp — Connie kicking ass at space camp.

Family — The night after the events of the movie, Steven gets some quality family time.

Homestretch — Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth spend time together while preparing Little Homeworld.

Enough — We know what Jenny, Sour Cream, and Buck are gonna do for their futures, but what's Kiki been up to? Is she gonna take over the pizzeria?

Spillage — Vidalia and Amethyst catch up after Steven's monster episode.

Reformation — White Diamond has learned how to be so extremely empathetic to the point that she literally becomes another person, but has she really begun to understand others?

Comment* — Sardonyx makes some Internet videos.

Unicorn — While traveling through California, Steven encounters two fishermen arguing about unicorns. [SU/GF crossover.] [Writer’s Choice]

Worry — Andy and Greg stay in touch.

Homerun* — I hopal for Opal—perhaps she will attempt some baseball.

Skydancer — Post-CYM, Pearl getting to “truly” take Steven out for a joy ride through the cosmos in a properly operational ship of her design.

Mercy* — The shattering-is-wrong discussion between Rose and Bismuth that led to Bis being bubbled.

Happy — Smoky Quartz hasn't made a self deprecating joke in a while—is it Steven's therapy?

Electric* — Yellow’s gloves—I feel like they’re covering something up, maybe.

Cake — Fusion Cuisine 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Belonging — The Rose Quartz sisters visit again.

Transcendence — Fluorite offers someone wise caterpillar grandma advice.

March — Connie and Steven reflect on changes in life after the pandemic. Not canon compliant. [Writer’s Choice.]

Understanding — Onion be doing Onion things.

Ocean* — Andy and Steven post-”I Am My Monster”? I love their relationship, lol.

Ignorance* — Does Lapis even realize Bismuth was probably the one who poofed her?

Reflection — Did I already say more Mega Pearl? ‘Cause there can never be enough Mega Pearl.

Possibility* — Yellow deciding she should try putting shattered gems back together. (She probably broke the most.)

Storyboard — Peridot’s budding career as a storyboarder.

Fall — Lapis and Steven talk about trauma and recovery. Pre-The Future.

Limbo — How the dismantled gempire has affected the lives of noble gems like Emerald, Holly Blue Agate, and others.

Now — Garnet reminds herself to live in the present.

Grief* — Alexandrite forms for the first time. [Writer’s Choice]

Inauguration — Wait, did Connie's parents ever meet Stevonnie?

Please — Did Kevin ever learn anything? Naaaaaah....unless...

Friend — General prompt? A sequel/prequel to this, please [White D’s panther].

Treatment — Greg starting to learn more about gem stuff to be more involved in Steven's life if something ugly happens.

Numbers — Pearl, please do something with all those phone numbers in your head.

Generations — Rose continues to discover the wonders of Earth, even after all this time. (No angst allowed in this one, just pure wonder.)

Survival — The Off-Colors used to have more members in the past.

Acting — How did Rainbow 2.0 even get invited to babysit Onion?

Kindness* — Former Mayor Dewey coming to terms with his new position in town.

Play — The Gems and Greg try to capture Steven's first moments on a bike. [Writer’s Choice]

Documentary — Ronaldo makes a real actually informative documentary about Little Homeworld.

Rain — Blue Diamond still cries sometimes.

Zoophobia — Also, I saw Z and my immediate thought was "Zoophobia.”

Echo* — Why does the tiny floating whale have Rose's voice before Steven ever heard it in the tape?

Sketch — Steven and Connie discover an anime character/mythological figure who bears an awfully similar resemblance to Obsidian.

Unironically — Why does Buck wanna be a doctor?

Club — How did Bismuth, Lapis, and Peri become such tight friends?

Nostalgia — Greg considers a comeback tour.

Pressure* — The creation of the Diamonds, maybe?

Coping — Amethyst and Pearl grapple with Rose's pregnancy. [Writer’s Choice]

Theatre — Sugilite, meet Rainbow 2.0.

Dadhood* — Whatever happened to Mrs. Fryman? IS there a Mrs. Fryman, or was it only a passing on-and-off thing that resulted in kids?

Lingering — Jasper finally lets Malachite go.

Human — Steven talks to his therapist about his mom, the feelings of before and the now. (It was left open-ended—his relationship with his mother.)

Words — Kofi is proud of his daughters.

Quest — [Letter prompt] Quest.

Picture — Sour Cream and Steven talking about absent parents and bad parenting. Post-The Future.

Bittersweet* — Shep finally gets to meet the notorious Lars.

Gemini — Spinel discovers memes and we're all doomed.

Weird — When he's younger, Steven doesn't quite know how to label the Gems.

#mimiku #steven universe #100 fragments!!!!!#fragments iii

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cabagbe · 7 years

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okay now i need an episode where Steven decides Lars needs to be “trained” in his new powers and dumps him w/ Lion for a day like “okay Lars just do what Lion does”

And basically the entire episode is just Lars very confusedly following Lion around as he naps/eats magic lizards/sits in boxes/etc.

#su #su spoilers #lars barriga #lion #i need my two favorite characters interacting ok

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bookworm411 · 4 years

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A Love Letter to Steven Universe

I was eighteen when I first watched Steven Universe. My friends had been trying to get me to watch it for...i don’t even know how long. Years maybe? Because it was a long, long time before I watched the show that they had me listen to Here Comes a Thought when I was feeling particularly anxious one night. I’m pretty sure I cried. I’d never heard a song describe anxiety in such a clear way, and I used it to help calm myself for a long time after, before i even knew who the characters were or what the episode it came from was even about.

Then I started watching Thomas Sanders on YouTube, and he’s a big fan of the show. The more I watched his videos and heard him talk about it, plus the nagging from my friends, the more I thought about watching it.

Now, this was after I’d graduated high school, and I wasn’t in the best mental space. I couldn’t get into/afford collage, I didn’t have a job or even know how to start finding one, or honestly have the urge to get one, so I was at home by myself a lot. All day every day, alone with my thoughts and my sense of, well, uselessness as a human being, with only YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu to keep me company while all my other friends were out doing something with their lives.

I’d been depressed for a long time without realizing it, but this isolation only made things worse.

Thomas Sanders helped. His Sanders Sides videos brought me into a community full of amazing, supportive people. People who...also loved Steven Universe.

So eventually on one of my long hours trying to decide what to watch after finishing Gravity Falls and trying to fill that void, i decided why not? There were a lot of episodes, it would fill the time for a while.

Anyone who’s watched the first few episodes of the show know that it’s...interesting. The first season itself is something one of a kind, but those first few episodes with Cookie Cat and Frybo know that the first time experience of those episodes are something you’ll ever forget, for better or worse.

There were things i didn’t like, of course. there were weird animation moments, Steven was a little bit too annoying at times, Lars was an asshole.

But oh man, the great stuff. Garnet’s complete mystery, Connie’s introduction episode, Giant Woman, Amethyst's pure chaos, the absolute love between the gems and Steven, The Cool Kids being absolute sweethearts to Steven, Greg being so supportive even if he’s a little distant from the gems, Steven’s clear want to know his mother, Together Breakfast, Secret Club, Pearl and Amethyst slowly starting to understand each other and get along. Fucking Stevonie. Lion. the flashback episodes where we got to get to know Rose the same way Steven did, the songs.

Don’t even get me started on the songs.

I was singing along with the opening two or three episodes in.

I started to loo forward to it, as I went through the show. My days went: wake up, get food, watch Steven Universe, probably do something else for a bit, go to bed. Repeat.

(like i said, i had nothing else to do)

I fell in love with the show. I saw a lot of myself in Steven (yes i know i said he was annoying but so was I). In fact i don’t think I’d ever related to a character more. His kindness, his absolute willingness to help anyone who needs it, the love he has for everyone and everything. He was everything i wanted that part of me to be. I was a very eager to please kid, always running errands for teachers, bringing presents for classmates, offering comfort to someone when they needed it. I’m not trying to brag or boast, that’s just...always been who I am. To a fault.

So yeah, I saw a lot of myself (mostly my younger self) in Steven. It helped me connect to him and relate to him easily.

But also, as a storyteller, I was enthralled with the world. The idea of the gems, who they are, where they come from, watching the Townies get used to the weird stuff always going on, watching Steven become a Crystal Gem. The art was beautiful and again, the songs. There were just so many things that I loved about the show that only grew the more i watched it.

Man, I don’t think I’ll ever forget watching Jail Break. Everyone in the fandom talks about it, but it really is just an iconic episode. Meeting Ruby and Sapphire, realizing Garnet is a fusion (which was obvious in hindsight but shut up), Stronger Than You, the baddass fight between Garnet and Jasper. The Lapis and Jasper fusion, the shared feeling between me and the characters at the end of “well. that just happened. what now?”

I loved learning about Beach City, how the gems were involved in the history of it, how different Steven’s Earth is to ours (39 states?)

Then, oh man, Peridot, the growing realization of Steven learning how to deal with his mom’s shadow. I absolutely love the episode where he and the cool kids find Peridot’s escape pod. They had the guts to say to the gems what Steven didn’t or couldn’t or didn’t even know he should.

I could go on and on, about all my favorite plot points, songs, characters, but this is already so long and I’m only on season 2.

Watching Steven grow, go from this little kid who just wanted to be a part of the team to being the leader of the team was incredible. The show talked about real stuff and showed real problems. Everything from making the gems understand that Steven was still a kid to understanding that a step parent can love you more than your biological one. Even just dealing with loneliness and trying find your place in the world, which Steven goes through multiple times.

I can’t count the number of times i re-watched the show. It was my pick-me-up show for when the depression was getting me down, when i needed some light in my life.

During all of this, through every Steven bomb that came out after i finished season four, i started going through my own journey of trying to find my place in the world. I started to go to therapy, eventually. I’ve got a job now, which is nice (if exhausting). I’m 20 now, though, so it took a long time for me to get here, and I’m still trying.

But there were moments that I always held onto. Watching Change Your Mind for the first time as it aired, getting so excited when a new episode was coming on (it reminded me a lot of when i was little, when i would do the same thing for Teen Titans or some other show. The times before you could just pause the TV were fun yet stressful for your bladder). settling down and watching new episodes with my friends when they came over. Singing Here Comes a Thought to my friend’s son when he was an infant, and then watching him watch the TV as the song played while i was re-watching Mindful Education, and then looking at me, like he recognized it as the song I’ll sing to him sometimes. Man I can’t wait until he’s a little older so we can watch it together.

Steven Universe Future honestly reflected the person i was when i first started watching the show (on a very superficial level). Steven trying to figure out what to do now that the universe didn’t need him to save it, him trying to see where he fits in again. Him finally, finally coming to terms with the fact that he is not okay, and having that meltdown that finally led to him getting help, and that got through to his family that he needed them, not the other way around.

I just watched the finale today. I cried like a baby. I’m not afraid to admit it. Watching something that means so much to you end is the definition of bittersweet.

Seven Universe was there for me in my darkest times, when I needed that bit of light. He brought me closer to my friends, helped me make new ones. Gave me something to love when that was hard for me to do.

Now, the show didn’t cure me. It didn’t snap something inside of me or anything like that. It was just a comfort. A warm blanket wrapped around me with a cup of hot cocoa on a snowy day. It didn’t make the snow go away, but it blocked out the cold long enough for me to remember what it’s like to feel warm again, and make me want to seek that warmth permanently.

So thank you, Steven, for everything you’ve done. I’m glad you’re getting the help you need now too.

And thank you Rebecca Sugar, for bringing this light into the world. For fighting for your vision, gifting us your talents, and being a true inspiration to me and many other creators. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next (hopefully after you take a long deserved vacation).

I can’t believe we’ve come so far.

#steven universe #long post #tw depression mention #a love letter to steven universe

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growliere · 4 years

Text

Gay Furry VN Recommendations

Wanted to recommend a few of my favorite gay furry visual novels. This review is sfw but the games I’ll be talking about are not. Alphabetical order.

Update 11/24/19: added Extracurricular Activities

Update 5/6/20: added Killigan’s Treasure and Pervader

Adastra by Howly:

Genres: Soft sci-fi / political intrigue / romance

Premise: You play as a human college student studying abroad in Rome who gets abducted by a friendly wolf alien. You and the wolf fall in love as you attempt to navigate interstellar politics and try to find a way to get you home.

My Husbando: Amicus

This is a weird one in both story and structure. It’s linear and has very little choice, but I love the story and characters so much that it doesn’t bother me at all. I find it refreshingly unique. This is very much up my alley so I’m pretty biased.

After Class by Andeh P:

Genres: Slice-of-life / romance

Premise: You play as a canine college student who can’t remember his childhood. You can get closer to classmates (a bull, a lion), your bear English teacher, a local tiger, or the basketball coach dog.

My Husbando: Parker (Lars is a close second)

Out of the traditional anime-inspired dating sim type VNs i like this one the most. For me, the mystery of what happened in the player character’s childhood involving everyone (as well as other mysterious aspects to the characters) gives it that extra bit of interest.

Extracurricular Activities by DyneWulf:

Genres: Slice-of-life / romance

Premise: You play as a human college student on the tennis team. You can get closer to teammates (a dog, a lion, a bull, a komodo dragon) or your bear coach/English teacher.

My Husbando: Harold

After Class is inspired by Extracurricular Activities, so if you like either of them it’s worth giving the other a try. I’m biased here because Harold is like all my preferences rolled into one character. I’m amused that the player character’s default name is my name.

Killigan’s Treasure by Eddio:

Genres: Fantasy / rpg / romance

Premise: You play as a bovine lumberjack with a tragic past, determined to move forward armed with little more than a magical treasure map. You are hopeful to discover the truth behind the pestilence that ruined your hometown which you seem to be immune to.

My Husbando: None yet

This recently got a complete overhaul after a long hiatus. It’s a rpg/vn hybrid with a unique QTE-based combat system. There’s also an interestingly nuanced karma meter. Very charming. Killigan is not a self insert though your choices still affect his personality.

Kingsguard by Hiddenwall:

Genres: Political intrigue / dark fantasy / romance

Premise: You play as a human prince who resents being a prince. When tragedy strikes, you’ll need to rely on one of your beastman bodyguards (a lion, a fox, a rhino), trying to prevent a war as multiple dark forces are at work.

My Husbando: Leandros

I find this extremely compelling. Great story. Some chapters branch more than others, but I’m pleasantly surprised at the amount of choice here in general. I’m not into all of the characters but I have to play all the routes because I have a desperate need to know what’s really going on.

Minotaur Hotel by Minoh Workshop:

Genres: Modern fantasy / hotel management / romance

Premise: You play as a human who is given the deed to a magical hotel, making you the master of the hotel and its minotaur prisoner. What kind of master will you be?

My Husbando: Asterion

Another weird one. I feel so bad for Asterion, HE DID NOTHING WRONG THE GODS CAN FIGHT ME. This also has an ambitious customization system where you choose Asterion’s appearance and he will react to what you have him look like. The writing can be a little disorienting at times.

Pervader by GigaSaddle:

Genres: Dark fantasy / political intrigue / romance

Premise: You play as a cougar working at an antique shop who gets unexpectedly thrust into a situation involving magic, politics, and sinister plots.

My Husbando: Alen

The worldbuilding and story are the focus here and I find it very interesting. I’d especially recommend this if you’re into lore. This one’s going to be on the linear side, but I’m fine with that. It’s early in development but shows a lot of promise.

#adastra #after class #kingsguard #minotaur hotel #extracurricular activities #killigan's treasure #pervader

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dogcopter · 4 years

Note

Hi I love your Rose is Lion theory so much and I’m so intrigued by all the wild lore you’ve uncovered!!! Rose Quartz has always been my favorite character, and she deserves so much more than the show gave her. Question: when Rose occupies Lion, do you think she’s in control the whole time, or do she and Lion take turns, or do they co-pilot?

Hi!! Thanks! I’m glad you’re having fun too, I want to have fun together!!

I think it’s just Rose! Based on Steven’s experiences in The New Lars and the watermelon Steven episodes, he appears to be the only one present when using dream possession. Lars wakes up with no memory of having had his body controlled in TNL.

I do not think that necessarily means Lion’s “catlike” behavior is a sign Rose isn’t in him. I think all or most of the time we see Lion, he’s Rose. For example, in Lion 2: The Movie, when he’s uncomfortably chewing the lizard, I tend to interpret as an example of Rose adjusting to an organic body that needs to eat to live, like the way he tries to talk in that episode and Steven’s Lion, maybe out of habit. Idk if it’s animal instinct, or behavior, or a mix, but there are plenty of times he acts like a cat while also acting like a person.

#im not touching the time travel/parallel dimensions stuff here tho that could be part of it this is what i think given what we’re given

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ick25 · 4 years

Text

How Steven Universe broke my heart.

So Steven Universe has finally come to an end and people are so happy and crying because of how the show had such a beautiful ending that dealt with real life issues and personal matters that we all relate to at some point in our lives... But I am not one of those people.

I have nothing against teaching children life lessons on how to deal with trauma and anxiety, but what made me interested in the show in the first place was the fantastical elements, the action mixed with comedy, and heartwarming scenes from time to time. From the very beginning, I was never a fan of Steven’s interactions with the people of Beach City who don’t even seem to care about what the gems actually are or why they should be more careful around him. They just feel like characters in a Slice of Life show since they barely make any contribution to the real plot of Steven Universe. It’s like the entire show is split into two different genres, the town’s people only exist for comedic purposes and whenever Steven needs to learn something that the Crystal Gems can’t teach him because of their lack of communication with each other. I know the gems were not fans of making friends with humans, but they’ve had like 1000 years to understand how human society works! Have they been living under a rock all this time?!

Anyway, the show has been infuriating to me many times, but deep down I was hoping that all those questions I had were gonna be answered in a very clever and exciting way in future seasons... That never happened.

Every time the show woke my curiosity, it disappointing me hard, and now that it’s over I have come to realized that maybe the story that attracted me in the first place didn’t matter at all. This was my emotional struggle throughout the show.

Season 1.

Up: The show started out like a funny cartoon with great promise, likable characters, and an interesting background. My first impression was that the Crystal gems were like part of a secret magical society that travels to other worlds to keep peace in the universe.

Down: It is revealed that they are actually aliens and that the other worlds where actually places on Earth where the monsters they fight are corrupted gems. This let me down because, being such a nerd, I couldn’t stop thinking about the odds of another planet having the same minerals with the same exact names and characteristics given to them by humans on Earth.

Too much of a coincidence.

Up: I decided to accept the alien thing and keep watching because I thought it was really cute that both Lapis and Pearl wanted to return to their Homeworld which awoke my interest again.

Season 2.

Up more: Peridot’s secret mission, Malachite coming back again and the introduction of Yellow Diamond got me excited.

A little Down: The slow pacing when we were supposed to be worried about the Cluster.

Season 3.

Down: Finding out that the forced fusion experiments where not relevant anymore because I wanted that to be explored more.

Up: The revelation that Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond. I liked this because I thought that Steven was going to learn about the hard decisions his mother had to make in order to keep Earth safe. Oh how naive was I.

Season 4.

A little boring until Blue Diamond appears who I cant help but like.

When I saw her crying for Pink I thought, Ok, she is not what I was expecting but she might become an ally later on. (Turns out she’s my favorite character now)

Up: Pink Diamond’s human zoo intrigued me.

Down a little: Yellow Diamond appears to cheer up Blue and it is obvious that both are gonna become good later on.

Up: Aquamarine and Topaz appear to kidnap humans for the zoo, The town’s people are finally important to the plot.

Season 5, when I started to lose hope.

Up: The mystery that came out from the trial episode to the Off colors being introduced.

Down: Lars basically turns into lion and becomes a shortcut for Steven to go between worlds easily.

Down again: Lars and the off colors suddenly become a parody of Captain Harlock ruining my illusion of having Steven and the Crystal gems traveling to Homeworld to save them.

Slightly Up: Steven gets visions of Pink Diamonds past and how it seemed that it was Pearl who shattered her.

Super Down!: Rose was Pink Diamond and faked her own shattering for no good reason! Everything we were told throughout the show was a lie!

Up: Great battle against Yellow and Blue Diamond, and White Diamond is finally mentioned, and I was like “good, she must be the ultimate evil and maybe we’ll learn more about corruption.”

Crash and burn: White Diamond is forgiven and instantly becomes good.

But a glimmer of hope appears when the movie is announced.

Movie.

Slowly up: New cool villain appears, will we learn more about Pink Diamond’s past?

Down again: Spinel goes to live with the Diamonds which sounds like a terrible idea at first.

Steven Universe Future.

Steven is having trouble with his new power, will we finally address how Pink Diamond was really like?

Down forever: Who cares about Pink Diamond or the origin of the Diamonds, what matters is that Steven is a teenager that finally acknowledges that his life has been terrible and that his family has to comfort him because he is going through puberty and already has a midlife crisis at age 16.

In conclusion, Steven Universe’s main focus ended up being about talking things out in a peaceful matter and that family is the most important thing... But that doesn’t work if you already established that said family consists of aliens who don’t know anything about communication and or have been destroying life forms in the Universe for thousands of years! The message does not fit with what already has been established in the show to the point that it’s unrealistic. It’s nice and all that they’re teaching kids that violence doesn’t solve anything and that talking things out is better, but the truth is, that is not always the case in real life. Even if they are family, some people are not willing to change and won’t listen to reasons. You can’t force someone to “Change their mind” , because you think they are in the wrong, and even if they are, you can’t expect them to accept that what they’ve been doing all their lives is suddenly wrong. The Diamonds had to change for themselves not because Steven tells them to. SU Future showed that they eventually changed for the best and even discovered new powers but it was already too late for me to accept that.

This show really wanted me to believe that the gems were the only advance alien race in the entire universe, nobody fought against them? What was the point of making the Cluster which was referred to as Geo Weapon? Doesn’t Homeworld have any enemies? Apparently not, and all that matters in the end is to make amends with your love ones, avoid toxic relationships, and only talk things out when a family member is threatening to kill you and destroy everything you love. ¬ ¬

#steven universe #steven universe future #my thoughts #cartoon review

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grailbot143 · 4 years

Photo

Welcome Back Everyone!

If you would like to submit art work for this week’s episode please do so before Friday when I will post the recap and update the Master List. Just click here to submit! If you would like to ask me anything or comment on my commentary. . . all asks are screened for spoilers. Just click here to send an ask

Yeah. . . I'm not even gonna briefcap that

What did we learn?

I'm not interested in watching Uncle Grandpa

Steven can summon his shield when he wants to protect his family

Amethyst looks uber cool in them sunglasses

** And So On To The List Of Lists **

Consolidated lingering Questions

The Gems:

Where do they come from? I now know they are not from Earth, they are from somewhere in spaceHomeworld, further away than our ocean can get in a 30 foot (10ish meters) diameter cylinder from the ocean floor.

How is power derived from them?

What about the gemmed enemies? the monsters used to be humanoid, how does that work, why??

What are Amethyst's unique Powers? Ball-rolling. Fire attack? Uses shapeshifting more.

During Ocean Gem it is mentioned by Lapis Lazuli that the only thing the Crystal Gems care about is Earth, but Pearl showed her complete disdain for humans on multiple occasions particularly Keep Beach City Weird where she said humans were insignificant. . . . so what about Earth do they care about so much? Pearl, at the very least, doesn't care about humans or Earth. She's only here because she was following Rose. Amethyst was born here.

What’s the deal with Amethyst’s strange relationship with gravity? seriously, did this just go away?

Who all can fuse? Pearl and Amethyst = Opal and Amethyst and Garnet = Sugilite and Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl = Alexandrite and Steven and Connie = Stevonnie

How old are each of them? It’s suggested that they’re centuries millennia old. Amethyst acts a bit like a teenager. Is she that much younger than Pearl? Where does Garnet fall? Pearl and Garnet are more than 5000 years old, probably much older. Why is Steven the only boy? Amethyst is around 4 to 5000 years old. Due to his dad's age and the fact that his dad is human, Steven must be less than 20. Based on his relationship with Connie, I'm gonna put his age at around 12.

How many boy gems are there everywhere?

Why did the Gems destroy the Galaxy Warp? It seemed like Pearl wanted to go home during Space Race, but she obviously can't deal with any possible relations with the other Gems in Warp Tour.

What happened between the Gems from the homeworld and the Crystal Gems? There's gotta be a HUGE backstory here. . . .

Does all that Crystal Gem vs Home Gem battle have anything to do with Rose's decision to create Steven?

The World:

Everything seems to be happening in Beach City. Are there other Gems in other towns? Like every town has a team of Crystal Gems protecting it? Or is this town some center for universal negativity, so the Gems are focused here? It seems pretty obvious that the Crystal Gems are the only ones on Earth. . . They stated no one else on Earth can use the warp pads.

Why on Earth are the Crystal Gems on Earth?

Where did Lion take Steven and Connie for training? To Rose's Armory Is that place, or a similar one, available to all gems? There's been no evidence of other Gems having similar places. Do you need a familiar to take you there? Apparently not. Pearl can take you there. How does Lion know the way? It's pretty obvious that Lion was sent to Steven by his mom. . . but still not understanding his powers and knowledge

Warp Pads. . . . Galaxy Warp. How did the Galaxy warp get here? Why is it here? Why is it broken? The Galaxy Warp is the only warp pad on Earth that leads off Earth. So it's obvious why it is here. I'm thinking the Crystal Gems broke the Galaxy Warp to avoid dealings with the other Gems. . . BUT WHY?

The House on the Beach:

This is more a curiosity, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the fight that took off that statue’s hands. I bet it involved Sugilite.

What is up with the living temple inside the house? Beating hearts, waterfalls, a pool for getting rid of evil spirits, a holodeck run by the imagination, dimensional shenanigans. Need much more history and understanding here.

Townies:

What’s up with Onion and his dad? Are they from some other planet?

Why would you make a place called Fish Stew Pizza?

What would make one believe a potato can provide protection from a multi-dimensional being. .. . also, are the Gems multi-dimensional? I don't see that.

Rose Quartz:

Why does Rose have to die to give Steven his superpowers?

Is Rose even dead? _pretty sure this is answered_ (-doubts-)

What would make her choose that? a prophesy? desire to give Greg a kid? gonna die anyway?

Did she give up her gem to HAVE a kid or to IMBUE a kid with the gem? My current theory is that the gem is a being that creates a physical form, and that Rose stopped being Rose in order to be Steven (sorta) as I think Rose is still part of the gem (not dead). So essentially Rose's physical form is gone, replaced by Steven's physical form.

Would removing the gem from Steven give Rose back her form, leaving Steven as a common human 12-year-old?

Lion:

What all does Lion know? How did he get his powers? He's a creation of Rose's, so she gave him his powers. He might even still be connected to her somehow.

Characters

The Crystal Gems

Pearl

Garnet

Amethyst

(dead?) Rose Quartz

Steven

Other Gems

Lapis Lazuli

Peridot

Fusions

Opal

Sugilite

Alexandrite

Stevonnie

The Townsfolk & Other Humans

Sadie

Lars

FryMan

PeeDee Fryman

Ronaldo Fryman

Greg

Mailman

Barb (not seen)

Nanafua Pizza

Kofi Pizza

Jenny Pizza

Kiki Pizza

Sour Cream

Buck Dewey

Onion

Onion’s Dad

Mr. Smiley

Suitcase Sam?

Mayor Dewey

Connie

Connie's Mom (Dr)

Connie's Dad (Security Guard)

Kevin

The Mayor's 2 bodyguards

Monsters/Creatures

Centipeedles and their mother

Red Eye

(offscreen) A giant bird with a giant polka-dot egg

The Spirit from the painting that possessed Together Breakfast

The Crystal Shrimp

(deceased) Frybo

Steven with Cats

The Eel that liked shiny stuff

Lion

Starfish Drills and their MOM?

Giant Bird from Giant Woman

The Geode Beetles of Heaven and Earth

The carnivorous moss that turns into beautiful flowers

Holo-Pearl

Training Robot from the cavern

Blow/Pufferfish

Blood Polyp (offscreen)

Ice Monster

Gem Shard Animated Body Parts

Invisible Monster

Sneople

Watermelon Stevens

Dogcopter

Peridot's Robots

Bees (They're magic!)

The lighthouse

Prop Bats

Scarecrows

Peridot's bigger robots

The Wind Lizard

Places

Around Town

Big Donut

Beach City Walk Fries

Funland Arcade

the boardwalk

Fish Stew Pizza

Greg’s van

It’s A Wash

the storage facility

the Crystal Gem’s house on the beach

Suitcase Sam’s T-Shirt store

Funland

Dock

Warehouse (Wrestling Arena, Rave, and Mayor Dewey's Campaign HQ)

Movie Theatre (in town?)

Pearl’s favorite tree (deceased)

Under the Ocean

Lars’ House

The Lighthouse

Greg's Aunt and Uncle's Barn

Crab the Shack

Beanch City

Mystical

The Temple with a beating heart

the storage unit? Greg said it was magical

(destroyed) The Lunar Sea Spire

Warp pad in Steven’s living room

The Training Cavern

Upside down Pyramid in the Strawberry Fields

Sand Castles that the Dessert Glass built

The cave in Arcade Mania

The Sky Spire

The Lava place where Garnet retrieved the Geode Beetle of Earth

Deadman’s Mouth

The cloud/Pillar place in Steven The Sword Fighter

Rose’s Room

The Communications Hub

The underwater place the Glass of Time was in

The ice cavern the Shooting Star was in

Rose’s Fountain

The Geode

Galaxy Warp

Tropical Island of Geodes

Inside Lion's Mane

The Kindergarten

Warp Stream

Kindergarten Basement

Other

Space

The Pollen Field Flower Fields

The Train

Connie's House

Things

Gems

Rose Quartz

2 Garnets

Amethyst

Pearl

Centipeedles’ Mothers gem

(pants animating) Gem Shards

(maybe? pretty sure) The Lunar Goddess Statue

Eel’s Gem

Gem from Upside Down Pyramid

Dessert Glass

Starfish Mother Gem

The ROC in Giant Woman

Blowfish Gem

Ice Monster from Monster Buddies

Lapis Lazuli

(Animated Body Part) Gem Shards

Invisible Monster Gem

Unknown Gem from Garnet's Universe

Mr. Gusite (This is only thing I'll include from that episode)

Mystical Items

Summoned Weapons

Laser Light Cannon

Red Eye?

Lunar Goddess Statue

Cursed Painting

Replicator Wand (destroyed)

Button in the Cavern (and all that stuff)

Fire Salt

Glass of Time

Shooting Star

The Mirror

Warp Whistle

Warp Pads

The Protective Potato (according to Ronaldo)

Wailing Stone

Food (as it’s seemingly important to our little hero)

(discontinued) Cookie Cats

Lion Lickers

Fry Bits (Cat Fingers enjoy this too)

Hot Dogs (you wouldn't have them if all Pork Chops were perfect)

Together Breakfast

(offscreen) Pizza

(unmentioned) Cupcakes in jars

(not food) Cheeseburger backpack

Donuts

Fish Stew Pizza <-- Be sure to join the rewards program!

Giant Strawberries

Margarine to slick hair back

Sodas that he threw all over the place in Tiger Millionaire

Coconuts Sandwich Cereal (Arcade Mania)

Steven (for the bird in Giant Woman)

Cake

Aqua Mexico Burrito

Cream Pies (more a prop than food)

Bag of Chips

Burger for Onion’s Dad

Seagull’s banana peel and pizza

Cheeseburger Backpack full of snacks for the movie

Popcorn

Burgers (with a ridiculous amount of buns, lettuce, and silverware)

Creamed Corn

Cloud Donuts

Cloud Fry Bits

Fire Salt

“Special” Fries

Fire Donut

Kamikaze (directly in his mouth)

CHAAAPS

Mi Torta

Durian Juice

Sandwiches

Blow torch Grilled Cheese

Crying Breakfast Friends

Fish (caught by Sadie, Cooked by Lars)

Potatoes

Bread Sticks (Crab the Shack)

Shrimp (Crab the Shack)

Ringo's Onion Rings

Watermelon

Sadie's Lunch Bags

Sandwiches, cut into triangles (the only way a sandwich should be)

Star Shaped Cookie (you could say they're out of this world)

Chess piece for Dogcoptor in Steven's dream

Macaroni 'n nothing

Cheese packet

Moldy Sponges (Amethyst. . . 'nuff said)

Coffee ( how is this so far down on the list? Garnet drinks it for breakfast. . . )

Jar of Mayo sandwich. . . knives are good.

Packed in the bindle

Marshmallows (BONE MARROW)

Breakfast Only Breakfast Specials (hashbrowns)

Rebel Turkey Legs

Caprese Salad

Media

Let Me Drive My Van (Into Your Heart)

Lonely Blade

Dogcopter 3

Golf Quest

Crying Breakfast Friends

Training Video

Keep Beach City Weird

Under The Knife

For Steven

Citchen Calamity

Ninja Squad

New Ninja Squad

No Home Boys

Evil Bear 2: Bearly Alive (Come scream with me tonight.) (Uncut Version)

Li'l Butler

Passions of Xanxor

Unfamiliar Familiar series

Other

Guitar Dad T-Shirt

Vote 4 My Dad T-Shirt

T-Shirt Cannon

Likes and Dislikes So Far

Dislikes

Not a fan of the important role junk food plays in the show not as prevalent as it was before

I don’t relate to Steven much. He mostly annoys me. He's getting a bit more lovable. . . now it's Pearl that just really rubs me the wrong way (Probably because she thinks humans are insignificant).

Why is there not a main antagonist? Possibly Peridot or Homeworld Gems

Season 1: Episode 5 Frybo

Season 1: Episode 6 Cat Fingers

Season 1: Episode 18 Beach Party

Season 1: Episode 27 House Guest

Season 1: Episode 32 Fusion Cuisine

Season 1: Episode 48 Say Uncle

Likes

I like that all the answers to everything are not conveniently packaged in a single episode

I like Garnet…

and sometimes Amethyst…

Steven's constant struggle to figure out how to fit into his place in the Gems and complete lack of struggle to feel right at home with the humans. . .

I like Greg and his super awesome van

I like that it seemed like we landed in the middle of a life, rather than the beginning of a story… this continues to be true through every episode.

I like most of the townspeople and their relationships with Steven

I like Connie a lot. She is funny and smart and a perfect non-super for the story.

I like arcade games…

I like that there are so many details in the background like everywhere…

and it’s obvious the creators are nerds

I like Sour Cream

I like the representation of emotions related to motherhood that each of the Gems go through in their own ways.

I like that the makers of the show know what customer service is like. Either that or they have really disturbing imaginations.

I like that the show encourages people to think critically and discuss large questions.

I like that there is a whole dark seedy side that I’m only just peeking into.

Shh. . . Don't tell anyone. . . I also like Peridot She seems like a misunderstood geek girl just saying

I just want to remind everyone, I write these recaps after having only seen the episode once, a week ago, and often interrupted by my whole blogging thing. I mainly do it for myself to refresh my memory for the next episode, but since I post it, I thought I should ask your forgiveness if it isn’t exactly perfect (or even close). Don’t forget if you have a submission for artwork for today’s episode, submit before Friday using the link above, and I’ll pick one to use as the cover art.

#suliveblogchrono #liveblog #Steven Universe #grailbotliveblogs #Universe048 #Say Uncle #Recap #List of Lists

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love-takes-work · 4 years

Text

Steven Universe Comic #34 (2019) - Outline & Review

The thirty-fourth installment of the ongoing comic series for Steven Universe covers Lars and the Off Colors hanging out on a planet with a beach talking about what's so great about Earth. How can Lars really get it across to Fluorite, Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile Twins when everything seems pretty meaningless to them and they don't really know how to have fun?

Plot:

Lars is brooding on an alien beach, and his crew, now following him as their captain, wants to know what's troubling him. He begins to review for them what's awesome about Earth--including beaches, food, animals, sandcastles . . . but they're really not quite getting it because those things aren't really part of their lives.

The Off Colors freak out a little worrying that they've upset Lars, but as they discuss it among themselves, they decide maybe they can recreate a little of Earth for him in the ways he's described, and they figure out their own ways to do it even though they really don't understand it. Lars is confused as he thinks about Earth, thinking maybe he himself did not know why it was great until he didn't have it anymore.

His crew really comes through building him a ginormous sandcastle to remind him of home, even though they don't know what animals should go in the moat and don't know why you shouldn't make donuts out of fruit and couldn't get the sandcastle to be sturdy enough to hold anyone but Padparadscha. At first his emotional response confuses them because they think they did it wrong, but it turns out Lars loves their efforts--not only because they're right in their own way, but because the Off Colors had fun!

Lars does take the time to explain why each of the elements they gave him aren't quite Earth-issue standards, but no, of course that doesn't mean it's "wrong." Now all that remains is that they enjoy the fruits of their labor and have their own little party. So they do. The end!

Notable:

1. Okay, I'm so impressed that this writer really gets the Off Colors and writes them behaving how they do in the show, but also allows them some growth for the purposes of the comic's mini-plot! I love everything about how this was presented!

2. Fluorite's "gimmick" is talking slowly, and she does that in this story, but she's also so accepting and accommodating, and I loved seeing the way she tried to "eat" for Lars and figured this was just another adorable thing human Lars likes. Smushing fruit on your face, sure. I love her! She seems to be a quiet idea person, too, since she appears as a problem-solver in the show, and so it was very appropriate that the writer had her suggesting they take initiative to comfort Lars.

3. The Rutile Twins also have a speech "gimmick," which is how one will always repeat what the other said sort of rephrased. This is handled well in this comic, and I liked how they were the ones to lead Lars to the surprise (just like they were the ones to lead him to meet the group when they all first met!). They find a two-headed animal in the sea and enjoy seeing a creature like themselves!

4. Padparadscha's obvious character trait is her late predictions ("predicting the past"), but it's absolutely nailed in this issue. She "predicts" several things that already happened AND observes the central truth of them before others know what it is. When Lars is silent, struggling to figure out what to show her, she "predicts" that he won't know what to teach her. When the others don't know what Lars is feeling, Padparadscha proclaims that he's going to love their efforts. And of course she's so cute and joyous about the whole thing.

5. Rhodonite, my favorite Off Color, is a fraidy-cat, and I love how this comic doesn't just show her afraid of scary stuff (though it does do that). She's the most demonstrably nervous about whether Lars will react positively, and her expressions and dialogue are spot on here. It's so funny when she comments that they let LIONS run around on Earth and then points out that she didn't even know what a lion was. This comic also gets another thing right about her: She's cautiously CURIOUS.

6. Rhodonite was so upset when she heard about the sandcastles and it was adorable. She thought it must be a punishment or a terrible fate someone would make you do because such castles would surely fall apart. Poor Rhodonite always thinks the worst about things.

7. Lars uses the phrase "have you been living under a rock?" and then realizes they have literally been living under a rock. It was pretty clever.

8. When Lars thinks about what's great about Earth, he imagines Sadie, his ube roll, and . . . a zebra and a lion? Odd.

9. It was fun to see Padparadscha perched on that tower like a precious little princess. And Rhodonite was so happy that building the towers worked, and even compliments her looking good up there!

10. I wonder how Lars is charging his phone now. (He used it to play music at the end.) Steven could have brought him a charger but he wouldn't have something to plug it into. Maybe there's an easy Gem way to charge devices.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe comics #lars and the off colors #off colors #myblog

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a34trgv2 · 4 years

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Top 10 Steven Universe Episodes (Season 5)

#10. Dewey Wins: Connie and Steven have a bit of a falling out that lasts for the next few episodes and this episode starts that arc off strong. While Steven feels dejected, he helps out Bill Dewey during his re-election campaign. While it doesn’t go according to plan, it does end with former Mayor Dewey finding a new purpose in life and Beach City being placed in good hands with Nanefua Pizza.

#9. Raising The Barn: As Lapis and Peridot learn what Steven went through while in space, Lapis decides to leave in the hopes to not get involved in another Gem war. Peridot’s struggle to tell Lapis to stay ignites a strong conflict as they have been living together in the barn for a long while now and seem to have a stable relationship. The biggest highlight of the episode though is the titular sequence in which Lapis takes the barn and leaves. It’s emotionally heartbreaking and a wonderfully animated sequence and stands as one of the best visuals of the season.

#8. The Big Show: Told in a documentary style, Steven records the first show of Sadie’s new band, Sadie Killer and the Suspects. In addition to being visually engaging, the performance at Empire City is a real show stopper. From the perspective of a camera, the onstage performance looks so immersive and spectacular. At times it feels like we’re at a real performance and the creators should be proud of this accomplishmeant.

#7. Kevin Party: The conclusion to the Steven/Connie falling out arc, Steven and Connie meet up for the first time in several episodes at Kevin’s party. In addition to showing a very believable and grounded portray of a standard backyard party, this episode also shows how Connie felt during this whole escapade. While it is okay to be honest with how you feel, that doesn’t always mean it’s easy. Both Connie and Steven learn this lesson and become closer from this episode onward.

#6. Sadie Killer: Steven and the Cool Kids (Buck, Jenny and Sour Cream) are trying to find their signature sound for their band. When they discover Sadie is musically gifted, they ask her to join. The episode showcase’s Sadie’s singing ability as well as her deciding whether to join the band or stay at her job at the Big Donut. Ultimately it’s her decision to join the band that cements her status as a talented artist willing to take risks.

#5. Lars’ Head: The closing chapter to the 4 part season premiere, Lars is brought back to life by Steven and now share’s the same powers as Lion. In addition to being able to send Steven home, Lars has now grown to respect Steven after initially thinking less of him at the start of the show. There are seldom characters who start off as unlikable yet relatable who eventually become well rounded and even a true friend as time goes one. Lars has now become one of those characters.

#4. Lars of the Stars/Jungle Moon: Steven and Connie catch up with Lars via Lion’s mane to find he’s not only doing well but is now the captain of his own ship with the Off-Color Gems as his crew. The Emmy nominated second half of this 2 parter finds Stevonnie stranded on an alien moon and discovering the fractured relationship between Yellow Diamond and Pink Diamond via a dream. Both these episodes have such unique perks that make them stand out. Lars of the Stars nails Lars’ characterization as a brave and smart captain while Jungle Moon has amazing backgrounds and a very creative dream sequence.

#3. A Single Pale Rose: The second half of another 2 parter, this episode showcases an amazing visual technique of allowing Steven to travel into Pearl’s gem and learn the secret of Pink Diamond. The big revelation at the end was not only unexpected but a very clever well hidden secret I never would’ve guessed. This revelation also sets off the following arc where Sapphire and Ruby have a falling out and concludes with one of the best episodes of the show.

#2. Reunited: The long awaited wedding between Ruby and Sapphire kicks off with an amazing musical number and it’s all the more beautiful when they fuse back into Garnet after a few episodes apart. Not long after the wedding though, the Diamonds show up and it’s one giant battle sequence with amazing visuals, high stakes and a very satisfying conclusion. This Emmy nominated episode, for all its strengths, was a mere appetizer for this series’ grand finale.

#1. Change Your Mind: What an amazing finale! It’s got all the right ingredients for an amazing closing chapter and it all comes together beautifully. There great action, high stakes, an amazing villain in the form of White Diamond, and some of the best visuals of the show. I especially love White Diamond’s design and how she lacks an outline on her head. The biggest highlight of the episode though is how ultimately White Diamond’s mind is changed by Steven basically being himself.

Conclusion: Now that all the original show is wrapped, with a made for TV movie and an epilogue miniseries as an added bonus, I can safely say that Steven Universe is my favorite cartoon from the 2010s. This season alone showcased the best the show had to offer. From amazing visuals, wonderful songs and strong character development, it makes me feel hopeful for whatever Rebecca Sugar does next. Thank you for this amazing show and for bringing us on this amazing journey.

#steven universe #Believe in Steven #Cartoon network #Rebecca Sugar #top 10 list #animation #like #share #follow #reblog

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