the best part about being an artist is making the shit you want for yourself so pls enjoy my poster sketch based on this weeks episode bc i literally cannot stop thinking about it

this is gonna take forever to render but it will be so worth it

brennan literally said that the ratgrinders underestimated the bad kids. they don’t know how real adventuring parties are fluid and communicative. they don’t realize that they’ve actually worked for their success, and that it wasn’t just handed to them. they’re so jealous of the bad kids that they’re blind to their genuine strength.

"Mirror Gem" The abject horror of Steven never going to school, and how poorly he was raised in so many ways. But the sweetness of Connie explaining to him what it is without question "gem powered mirror" PEARL GIRL YOU HAD TO KNOW SOMEONE WAS IN THERE DONT PRETEND YOU DIDN'T It's so horrifically fucked up that she just presents the mirror to Steven like it's chill and normal. She even talks to the mirror saying "You've seen it" like she is aware it's a person in there, and is just fine with it. And clearly this is different than a bubbling. You get the sense in the show that Gems are not conscious, and can't perceive the passing of time while bubbled. Lapis is trapped. Forced to watch thousands of years go by. "You didn't tell me it was like a person!" I can't tell if their faces are shocked and horrified, or guilty. And I know they make comments about it "only being able to follow orders" but is that because they think the gem trapped inside of it has lost itself? Or because they genuine don't know. And when it experiences signs of sentience, their first instinct is to confiscate it. Steven lashes out because he feels for the mirror(lapis). Because he knows something capable of thoughts and feelings deserves the ability to express itself. Truly one of the more fucked up moments for the gems. And then he lets lapis out, and she exclaims "You actually talked to me!" Which is so sad. "You three knew I was in there and you didn't do anything. Did you even wonder who I used to be?" really cements it. They were just ignoring it. Because it was uncomfortable. One of their former teammates was probably the one to put Lapis in there. I love the crystal gems, but god, they're fucked up sometimes. I love Lapis, especially in later episodes, and her impressively complex displays of trauma responses. She reacts in ways that are are rash, but completely understandable, given her perspective on the matter.

"An Indirect Kiss" Has it been months???? Maybe But lets pick up right here we left off motherfuckers. Amethyst and Steven continue to be so sibling coded, I love their relationship Garnet pulling aside Amethysts shirt to look at her Gem. Begs the question, as several moments do. Is gem outfit clothes? Or body? Skin shirt..? can they take it off...?? Anyway. Does Amethyst pretend not to worry about her gem so she doesn't freak Steven out, or because she's genuinely just too stubborn to admit it's a problem? Or both. Both is good. Poor girl. So damn afraid to show weakness. Even when she's clearly injured. "Okay but it's mostly backwash" Ew. ew ew ew. I get that it's important later, but ick, pfff. The faces in this episode sure are something. Oh my god pearl freaking out over the fountain not being on. Projecting on to some damn vines. She needs Therapy.

God it's so annoying when the Pearl or Garnet gets onto Amethyst or Steven, when they're literally correct, or doing something good. Amethyst protected Steven from those vines. Steven was doing his best to do what everyone wanted him to, and they just made him feel like a disappointment. They brought him to a place that used to be his mothers, and they didn't even stop to consider how he might feel about it. And god. The fucking scene where he thinks he's truly let down Amethyst and she's going to die because of him, and his tears don't work, but Amethyst tells him that her saved her. Because she cares about him. Because she see's where his insecurities lie, because hers are so similar. they get each other Steven feel so much pressure all the time. Constantly. He needs to be everything his mother was and more. He feels like love felt towards him is conditional. And Connie reassures him, but she's can't really understand, even if she's a good friend. She's not half Gem. and the Gems can't understand, they're not half human. It really fucks me up how in a world full of people, he is completely 100% alone in that experience. But hey, at least he feels a little better, because actually he does have healing magics. :) "What am I going to tell my optometrist?!" "I don't even know!" - Steven ...because he doesn't know what an optometrist is..? Connies moment at the end, immediately adjusting to the weird world that Steven presents her with. She's so great.

Just imagine Sklonda Gukgak going to Riz's first bloodrush game, understandably anxious because her son is by no means that athletic and probably the smallest one on the field (and she probably watched him get grabbed and crushed to death on a livestream less than a year ago).

And then she gets there and she sees his friends, that she worried were taking advantage of him, there to shower him with encouragement and cheer and inspiration. Like imagine her sitting with Kristen, who tells her of course we're all going to be here for his first game!

And thanks to them, he does it!

I’m so glad Buddy Dawn is getting to see what real combat looks like. Even if it only lasts through one or two waves of monsters before getting a little dicey, I think it’s incredible.

Imagine the majority of your adventuring experience at this school being Stomping Rats then seeing then most popular kids in school absolutely devastate monsters you’ve never seen before on their reactions. And when they finally attack?

The goblin who is literally in every single extra-curricular and looks one more piece of bad news away from just disintegrating badly injures a creature then disengages.

Then the guy who threw the best first party of the year of all time - who has a neck tattoo and a demon motorcycle - gets bit by his desk, answers an exam question, the slices up a hydra. His motorcycle turns into a dog and kills the hydra. They both take a bow.

The Archdevil of Rebellion, a Bard-Warlock-Paladin who went to her own class for the first time ever months prior and is currently disguised as the proctor, Fireballs just so many creatures, leaving two baby jellies. She also curses a gorgon.

The kid who multiclassed where no one had ever multiclassed before throws his axe so hard that it changes the gravitational pull does a ridiculous amount of damage and knocks this bull prone.

St. Kristen Applebees, Helio’s Chosen One who is on her third deity, immediately destroys eight skeletons after praying to her basically dead goddess.

The Elven Oracle hasn’t even had a turn yet.

If this doesn’t convince him and the Rat Grinders that the Bad Kids have earned their status, I don’t know what will.

imagine if bucky became a paladin of cassandra i would sob

riz's name being in kipperlilly's file is fucking insane

" Kristen, we are, I am afraid, star-crossed" *ੈ✩

the thing about taako and lup is that they lowkey have a king and lionheart complex but they’re both each side of it

I miss Ayda Aguefort so much, I literally dreamt that in the preview of tomorrow's episode both Fig and Adaine were having a heartfelt conversation with her. And I had to go back and check to make sure that I was in fact something I dreamt.

I missed her so hard I tried to dream her return into reality.

rip ayda aguefort she's not dead she's just in plot jail for being too powerful and lovely and perfect 💔💔

griffin mcelroy is so funny because youll see clips of him talking and its always either something like "my names sprite pepsi and im abstinence until i DIE" or its something like "that was the last conversation you ever had with your sister. when someone leaves your life those exits are not made equal. some are beautiful and poetic and satisfying, others are abrupt and unfair, but most are just unremarkable." and theres no in between

I don’t think it will happen, but I so so badly want Ayda to send Adaine a message through time. They are canonically best friends and I am gnawing at the bars to get a scene between them. Just a little message will do, a little friendship bracelet, anything!! Give me the Ayda-Adaine friendship back!!

cannon things about kristen applebees that make me in love with her:

has a neck tattoo of her ex's name

has an ipad

wears wranglers and a thong

willing to be fully nude but will not take off her sports bra

broke up with her first girlfriend and spent months in blanket burrito before getting buff

likes hot chips

gets queasy over gore despite being a cleric

cares so deeply about unions

listened to sermons on cd over and over again as a kid

has killed multiple gods

somehow is the one of the coolest kids in school

i know i missed some but christ im obsessed with her

Kristen is such a high school lesbian like she makes out with a girl once and is like "That is my girlfriend now😘🥰" but also she still has Deep and Intense tension with her ex

"Who are those hot people out by the ping-pong table?" ❄️🔥