Fusion Fun!

Heyo, thank you all for reading. This week I’m away for a bit so we’re going to be doing something different. First of all, I owe you all a colored version of the amazing Smokey Quartz 1.0! 

And for those curious, I also have her card!

If you want to see the rest of the fusions’ character sheets lined up and compared to hers, head on over to Tapas to read the whole thing! 

eheheh I always get excited when I get ask from u about AT so I wanted to send you some about SU >:] Soooo, favorite episodes ? Or scenes or plot points ?

Thanks bestie i very rarely actually have the chance ti get excited about SU

My favourite episodes of the show are Catch and Release and When It Rains. These episodes are the turning point of Peridot’s character arc. I really like it because of the look into Peridots character it has, she was always a comparatively immature but this is the first instance where she is placed into a position where she is basically defenceless, sure theres The Return where shes below Jasper but in every other situation we see her in she has some kind of power over the people around her even if its just the power to get away. So she takes any she can get. Theyre just two really nice episodes to me.

Catch and Release is about Steven letting Peridot out of her bubble and then Peridot trapping herself in his bathroom. My fav scene in the ep is when both Steven and Peridot are on the floor and he accidentally introduces her to silly fake out pranks that she doesnt quite fully understand. Its so funny and silly

When It Rains is just. A lovely episode to me. Peridot makes some very logical jumps based on the information she has access to and also develops her friendship with Steven. Him teaching her about how rain works is Such a nice scene and then her stepping out into the rain is so !

Outside of those two episodes my favourite whole arc would have to be the Steven Vs Amethyst arc. Its placed at the end of season 3 and is sprung along by Jasper running around collecting corrupted gems until eventually she comes to beach city to attack the crystal gems where she poofs Amethyst before Stevonnie poofs one of the corrupted gems and Jasper runs off back into the ocean. And after seeing Stevonnie manage to beat Jasper where she couldn’t, Amethyst starts to spiral into self doubt. She keeps comparing herself to Steven and Jasper and feeling like she can never measure up to either of them, seeing Jasper as what she could have been and Steven as someone she was supposed to be better than. Bismuth, the 100th episode and half hour introductory special to its titular character is thrown in half way through this arc, and while the focus is shifted off Amethyst in favour of Bismuth herself you can still see little bits of the episode feeding into her self doubt in the background mainly from the fact that even tho Bismuth is supposed to be one of the original crystal gems, nobody ever told her about her. The arc has two main culmination points, Steven Vs Amethyst (the episode) where Steven confronts Amethyst about her self doubt and have a fight over who out of the two of them is the worst crystal gem, the fight ends in a tie and they both confide in each-other about how hard they’re trying and their own self doubts. The second culmination point is in the penultimate episode either Beta or Earthlings where Amethyst, having dealt with her feelings of inadequacy to Steven, still wants to prove herself by taking Jasper down in a fight. Whoch doesnt exactly go well but it does result in the introduction of Steven’s first gem fusion, Smokey Quartz.

The Steven Vs Amethyst arc just has so many different moving parts that i really enjoy. Amethyst is one of my favourite characters and this arc kind of is the only time in the whole series she gets the spotlight for more than an episode at a time, there are a few here and there like On The Run, Too Far, Whats Your Problem, Reformed, to an extent Maximum Capacity and Cry For Help where Amethyst gets the focus of the episode but it never lasts very long, so of course an arc where she Does get the focus is going to be one im invested in. I love it as a dive into Amethyst’s character because at the start of the show she really doesnt have much depth that we get to see but as the show goes on you really get to see her grow up along side Steven. Compared to other humans Amethyst is pretty old, a few thousand years, but in gem terms shes basically a baby, and on top of that she has existed in such a unique way compared to every other gem because shes only ever known earth and being around humans, she doesnt have anything else to base her knowledge off and the other gems are careful to make sure she doesnt have that information influencing her, which you can really see in episodes like Too Far and Bismuth where characters who dont have such reservations tell her these things. And it kind of blinds the other gems as well, they have been trying to keep some of the realities of war and homeworld away from her so she can be happy but it means that they dont see where they still manage to effect her. For example in On The Run when Pearl just doesnt get that the way she talks about homeworld and the invasion effects Amethyst and makes her think that Pearl sees her as lesser, even if she doesn’t and that was never the intent.

I kinda got side tracked but yeah, i really like the Steven vs Amethyst arc. It goes into and highlights Amethysts flaws and self doubts and builds up and reaffirms her relationship to Steven through them both bonding over their shortcomings. It also helps that its the introduction to one of my favourite fusions and Amethyst getting poofed gives her my favourite of all her forms in the show.

I would like to just Highlight this part from Earthlings(the tail end of the arc) because its just, its so good and its just. Yeah

Amethyst: Steven, i Cant Win. No matter what i do, no matter how hard i work, she came out right and i came out wrong

Steven: Thats just what Jasper thinks, shes the only one who thinks you should be like her. Stop trying to be like Jasper, you’re nothing like Jasper. You’re like Me! Because were both not like anybody. And yeah, it sucks. But at least I’ve got you, and you’ve got me. So stop leaving me out of this

Amethyst: Us worse gems stick together, right?

Steven: Thats why we’re the best

Both Steven and Amethyst struggle with slightly different things, but theyre both close enough that they understand what the other is going through. Theyre both the younger parts of the Crystal Gems, theyve both grown up on earth around humans and neither of them went through or even really know much about the Gem War. But they also both feel like they need to live up to these expectations that nobody is really putting on them, nobody is expecting Steven to replace Rose, nobody thinks Amethyst isnt good enough or wrong because she came out smaller and later than she was supposed to. And anyone who does think that is clearly shown to be the bad guy (Homeworld gems thinking Steven Is Rose, Jasper making fun of Amethyst etc etc.). But they both place these expectations on themselves because its what they think others expect of them. Steven has spent his whole life trying to follow in Rose’s footsteps and fill the huge shoes she left behind, so he gets it when Amethyst feels like she needs to measure up to Jasper. And when shit starts going down with Rose or Steven starts getting stuck in his own head, Amethyst is there as an outside perspective, a neutral third party almost, who can step in and say ‘hey, this is messed up, do you need some help’

Im gonna shut up about Amethyst for now or we could be here a While

Uhh favourite scenes what we got.

Id say the ones ive already mentioned, Steven and Peridot on the bubble room floor in C&R, Steven showing Peri rain for the first time in When It Rains, the end of their fight in Steven Vs Amethyst, the scene where Smokey Quartz fuses for the first time in Earthlings. But outside of those ones id probably also add the scene in Lion 3: Straight to Video where lion keeps trying to suffocate steven for its comedy. peridot standing up to Yellow Diamond in Message Received, probably a bit cliche but it Is a good one. In the same vein It Could Have Been Great and Peridot talking about what earth could have been if the colonisation had succeeded. Steven Universe is an 11 minute show so most of the time favourite scene’s do go with favourite episodes and arcs but that could also just be me

Thank you so much for this bestie i got So excited i spent like 2 hours on this

Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 23: Earthlings

FINALLY finished this project!!!!! this was a lil tribute to amethyst that i did for a project in art class!!!!! im SUPER proud of how it turned out!!!!!! i got to experiment with colors and shading while incorporating some of my favorite amethyst moments!!!!!!!!

Smoky Q

(G, 1.1k) For @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm

Happy birthday my dear friend. Have some fluffy fluff about our favorite niffler.

Thank to so much to @mosrael for the beta, I got all gushy on ao3 and probably exposed my not-so-secret fandom crush.

Here it is on ao3 for anyone who doesn't want to read below the cut.

Marcellus Horatius Cornelius Flavius the Magnificent, First of his Name— or as he was better known to his humans: Peanut Butter Tater Tot; or even more colloquially: PB— was having a weird day.

He had hitched a ride with the emerald boy to the big area with all the people. He saw the elder emerald human packing things up and chattering about 'school', something that PB knew would necessitate a trip out, so he hid in the younger emerald human’s bag. He had a lovely nap on the way.

When he awoke, he was at the shining place with all of the beautiful serving spoons. Sneaking out was simple; no one was paying him any attention. PB thought he could easily grab a couple of spoons for his hidden collection. But as soon as he emerged out of the pocket, he saw something even better than spoons. He saw a boy who was made of silver.

With a brief pang of guilt, PB snuck under the table, away from the younger emerald human, and crawled into the silver boy’s bag.

The bag was lovely. Warm and cosy, smelling far better than the emerald boy's bag. There was a scarf, PB realised it was identical to the one the younger emerald had, so he curled up in it and went back to sleep.

Afterall, sneaking was a tiring business.

——

When PB awoke, it was because the silver human had pulled him out of the bag. He seemed excited to find PB hidden away. PB preened, because he knew he was an exemplary example of his species. There was some chatter, but PB ignored it because it didn’t involve any of his favourite words: outside, spoons, Gringotts, or treat.

Then a platinum person appeared. He seemed a little cross. The silver boy smiled and talked about how lovely PB was, but the platinum man only frowned and said things like ‘pest’ and ‘Potter’. PB actually knew what Potter meant, he lived at Potter house. Why the emerald one had named their house Potter, PB didn’t know.

PB had named their house Hermann House, because the older copper woman always said the house was ‘full of too many men’ and the emerald man always said ‘hermmm’ after she said it.

Before PB could figure out what the platinum man called his house, an aquamarine person stepped out of the bad, scary, loud, bright place that PB’s humans loved to use. PB had tried, unsuccessfully, for years to get them to only use the fast, dizzy way, or even better, the high in the sky, windy way to travel.

He had never understood why humans were so odd.

But after the platinum man moved a bunch of things that PB hadn’t even noticed, the silver one and aquamarine one were giving PB pets and, even better—food. It was just a green, branchy mini-tree, but PB was starting to get hungry, so he allowed his new humans to feed him.

Then, even better, the silver boy and aquamarine woman moved to the soft lump of blue in the middle of the room and sat down to cuddle PB. The platinum human said something to the people on the blue lump and the silver one got up to move some other things that PB liked, but not as much as he liked spoons. The aquamarine human pulled a round ball of fresh, bright, light orange out of her pocket and picked the gross covering off, then started to feed PB again.

He thought it only appropriate to purr at her. She was an excellent human and this house was much quieter than Hermann House. PB thought he could be very happy at this new house, even if he would miss the copper girl and emerald boy. The smokey quartz boy was fine, but he didn’t sneak PB treats or spoons.

The silver human came back in and the aquamarine woman handed PB over. They were both very gentle and PB let out a little yawn. The snacks they had given him had filled up his belly and the silver boy was warm. With one last look at his new home, PB drifted off to sleep.

——

PB woke up after his new people had done the loud, fast travelling and he was back at his old home. The platinum man and the emerald man started talking and PB heard his name. He briefly perked up, but he was still warm in the silver boy’s arm so he snuggled back in.

The silver boy followed the smokey quartz boy, the copper girl, and the emerald boy into PB’s room. He immediately jumped out of the silver boy’s arms to make sure no one had gotten into his cache of spoons while he was on his adventure.

Seeing everything where it was supposed to be, PB sneaked out to try and grab a new spoon for his collection. The young humans were talking and didn't notice him. He made his way through the halls, into his secret tunnel, and then he was in the big, bright room with all the spoons.

The older emerald human was talking to the platinum human. They seemed stiff and awkward, so PB grabbed a spoon— gold with leaves at the end— and made his way back to his hidey hole.

He started to rearrange his collection and was almost done when he heard shouting. Tired of being left behind, PB decided to follow the noise. When he got to the room, he saw the emerald man sitting on the big brown lump in the middle of the room. The platinum man was smiling and his face was as red as a ruby.

All of the humans were laughing and no one was paying any attention to PB, which was just not on, so he jumped into the platinum man’s lap. He was the only one who had paid no attention to PB the entire day, which was something that needed to be fixed. As soon as possible.

The platinum man smiled down at PB. The older emerald human leaned over and did something weird to the pointy thing on the front of the platinum man’s face. The younger humans all laughed and clapped so PB reckoned it was probably something good.

Then the best thing happened. The platinum one, who still apparently thought PB’s name was ‘pest’, picked PB up and rubbed their faces together.

PB had no choice but to purr at him.

When he was lowered back to the platinum human’s lap, he decided it was time for another nap.

So he slept. And dreamt of new spoons, new, shiny humans, and best of all, his own shiny family.

Hey GUYS! We’ll be starting soon, but first we wanted to share a quick recap of the last season and this awesome art from my favorite new character! Looking forward to starting Season 4 tonight!

Season 3 Recap:

Super Watermelon Island: Malachite vs Alexandrite

Gem Drill: Cluster talking to itself

Same Old World: Lapis visits the city

Barn Mates: Lapis befriends Peridot, sort of

Hit the Diamond: Rubies play baseball, Ruby and Sapphire are the cutest insufferable couple

Steven Floats: for almost a whole episode

Drop Beat Dad: Where Sour Cream learns to appreciate Yellowdad. And Greg gets rich.

Mr. Greg: Where Pearl breaks our hearts

Too Short to Ride: Peridot unreveals then reveals her powers

The New Lars: where we see the cool kitchen and attic bedroom

Beach City Drift: Stevonnie learns confidence; Kevin gets wrecked (not literally, unfortunately); Ronaldo shows off his incredibly obscure and specific car knowledge

Restaurant Wars: Ketchup inside the fries and a pizza bagel save the day

Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service: Puns. So. Many. Puns.

Monster Reunion: The one where an alien draws awesome moving art. We learned the alien writing.

Alone at Sea: Greg rents buys a boat. And Lapis goes fishing. This causes Steven several near death experiences.

Greg the Babysitter: Greg lands a job shirtless. Baby Sour Cream sounds JUST like teenage Sour Cream. I think Rose was there?

Gem Hunt: We meet some of Bismuth's old friends :) and they meet Jasper :( and Connie's there [IMPORTANT] and there's pine tea [??]

Crack the Whip: Why is Amethyst the babysitter?

Steven vs Amethyst: It's right there on the tin. I only would have gotten one Pearl point.

Bismuth: Steven learns about war crimes.

BETA: Peridot shows off her credentials as a Kindergartener including her awesome meep morps.

Earthlings: Smokey Quartz yos away the competition!

Back to the Moon: Some Rubies fight for Amethyst's affections. Steven learns more about war crimes.

Bubbled: Steven is his mom. He has to convince Eyeball and they both almost die in the process. The Rubies are Lost in Space™.

*SU Spoiler* Steven’s New Mentor

*SU Spoiler* Steven’s New Mentor

“Little Homeschool” was a great way to start the series. We got to see more uncorrupted Gems healed, Little Homeworld complete and thriving, and how Steven and the Crystal Gems are helping Gems from all over integrate into Earth society. Everything seems to be going great, until we learn there is one Gem who is not attending: Jasper. We all thought Jasper would be one of the antagonists in the show. However, we got something we did not expect.

Jasper still retains her personality: stubborn, anti-organic, stern, and battle hardened. She still hates Earth and Steven but has not interfered in the Crystal Gems project of Little Homeschool or Earth. However, I do believe we see something a bit different. “There’s always someone to fight. There’s just no one left worth fighting.” In season 4, Jasper is battle ready and determined to battle Steven any means necessary. However, in this episode, we see her training herself to prepare for battle but also realizing there is nothing to fight. Jasper is still spiteful towards Steven and hates any organic life but seems bored as she has no purpose anymore despite training. Steven offers her to give Little Homeschool a chance, but she refuses immediately because she does not need help. We see her stubborn personality still at play and refusing Steven’s way of life, but she also seems bored with her life which is strange since she holds the most anger out of anyone (besides Steven).

Steven and Jasper have opposite and conflicting ideals. Steven believes in helping Gems find purpose in the new era of the Gem Empire and Earth and loves organic life on Earth. He is willing to help Jasper, a Gem who does not want help no matter how hard he tries. That is Steven’s empathic side trying to convince Jasper to give Earth a try. Jasper on the other hand is the opposite. She hates all organic life and becomes battle ready or aggressive when confronted with organic beings. She pulled out grass and damaged trees to distance herself from organic substances. Unlike Steven’s empathetic nature to help all, Jasper trains herself to ready for combat and is apathetic to his cause. When Steven argues with Jasper how he helped her fellow comrade, she shrugs it off and states she does not care. Both ideals are very conflicting and clash often.

Despite Jasper’s lack of empathy and aggressive behavior, she is right about Steven never beating her. “I don’t need your help! You’re the one who needs help! You may have beaten me, but you have never beaten me on your own!” When you watch all the battles Jasper and Steven have, she is right. In season 1, Steven was beaten by Jasper on the beach when she invaded. In season 3, Steven had help from the Watermelon Stevens to defeat Malachite. In season 4, Stevonnie and Smokey Quartz, fusions, beat Jasper in battle. Steven has never beaten Jasper on his own. He is either a fusion or had help from others to beat Jasper, which demonstrates how powerful she really is. Steven has never beaten Jasper alone.

However, Jasper’s taunt of Steven brings out a new power. This power seems to envelope when negative emotions, mostly anger, and gives him immense power. We saw in the movie he has acquired new powers such as bubble boxing, but this power is new. So far, we do know this power is related to the raw power of Pink Steven in CYM and it emerges when he is angry.

From a podcast, Rebecca and Ian talk about Jasper’s complex personality. She is prideful and boastful because she is the perfect Quartz soldier. However, she also has insecurities and hates herself because she was made on Earth in the Beta Kindergarten, which was known for producing fast yet off-colored Gems. This complex personality can also explain why she is stubborn and spiteful against Steven. At the same time Steven is right about one thing: Jasper’s actions are her own fault. She corrupted herself to win a fight, isolated herself from everyone to train, waiting for a fight that may never happen, and refusing help from someone trying to help her. Jasper has lost her purpose but continues to train for combat.

We all pegged Jasper wrong. Even Steven realized he was wrong. “I think I had you all wrong. Maybe you don’t have something to learn from me? Maybe I have something to learn from you?” Steven’s new powers did awaken because of Jasper. Jasper fighting Steven seems to have re-awakened her fighting spirit. This is interesting that Steven wants to learn his new powers from Jasper probably because this new power relates to his anger and is more combative then defensive. Jasper seems to have gotten a handle on her anger then the original series and is an expert at combat. Although she both accepts and refuses Steven’s proposal of teaching him, she is relaxed about him visiting. Jasper is a vital role in helping Steven accept his anger and to better control himself, so he does not go berserk.

This is a great turnaround for Jasper’s character. Many fans have compared Jasper to Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z. It is not far off, but Jasper is more comparable to Vegeta than Piccolo. Both were created to become perfect soldiers and become villains from the start but start to lead towards good. However, both have kept their personalities despite growth and change. If Jasper’s role in Steven Universe Future is like Vegeta and Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z, then she has bigger role to play then initially intentioned. Jasper has become quite a complex and interesting character and I am excited to watch her growth and role she has in Steven’s new and developing powers.

Hold on, I’ve got a move that will really blow you away! 

#fusiondta @macanronnei Smokey Quartz!!! Backstory incoming: a gem that was originally meant to be placed in the prime kindergarten for put into Beta, resulting in the gem coming out as a fusion like hybrid rather than a normal quartz. Smokey has a cheeky side yet rarely shows it due to her isolation. One day on earth Lilac is looking for corrupted gems in the kindergarten along with her pearl and Fluorite. Fluorite had used her future vision to detect some active gem life in the kindergarten but was unaware it wasn’t a corrupted gem. Upon discovery Smokey takes a liking to Fluorite and is adored by Lilac. Smokey is taken in but feels out of place and asks to be given a job to prove herself. Lilac entertains her by assigning her as Fluorite’s “personal body guard” even though there isn’t a need for that on Earth. The two grow closer as Smokey spends her days showing off to Fluorite and playing with Lilac. (That was so much I’m sorry)

Crystals

From crystals of my own collection and notes on my grimoire 

Agate- cure poison, soothe the mind, prevent spread of disease, calm rough water, charms for love, mental clarity and good luck in card games

Citrine- remove toxins, dispels negative thought, brings joy, wealth and abundance (used to cleanse other stones) 

Bloodstone- clean blood, halt excessive bleeding, ease pain of childbirth, brings feeling of courage and strength. draw money, increase wealth, calms fear and anger.

Aventurine- luck charm, healing, mood swings and eyesight of nearsighted. relieve stress, bring inner peace, confidence and creativity, increase prosperity.

Celesite- communication with spirit guides, universal love, assist in metal activities, helps interpret messages properly. 

Selenite- ward off ghost. good for psychic communication

Flourite- aid immune system and skeletal system, fights anorexia and bulimia, relieves stress, aids focus and good for protection

Chrysocolla- reveals our highest knowledge, charm for learning, new instruments or joining groups (choir, theatre, orchestra) for confidence chant or sing to it to benefit the most from it. diminish anxiety seclusion, stability acceptance and great inner strength, stone for friendship.  

Rose Quartz- prevent nightmares, for trusting instinct, re-instate trust, gemstone of love.

Blue Calcite- healing and pain relief, purification

Orange Calcite- expands awareness, draws happy, joyful and enthusiastic energy.

Amethyst- meditation, scrying, cleanse, purify, heal, balance emotions, prevent nightmares and irrational fears, let go of addictions.

Turquoise- Aids body, calms nerves and emotion, enhances self-expression, wealth, luck, protection and love, good for psychic and to prevent psychic attack. 

Garnet- increase fertility, courage, attracts love and passion, protect against negativity (theft), deepen commitment between two people.

Bismuth- stimulates energy, help you enjoy the journey towards achieving a goal through the togetherness of teamwork, groups or relationships, helps to transit into an astral/ spiritual state. 

Ruby Zoisite- energy of happiness, appreciation, abundance, vitality, growth, stimulates the heart, helps open ones divine love. alleviate grief, anger, despair and defeat. good for healing.

Lepidolite- aids muscles and strengthens heart. high lithium content helps balance emotions and add stability

Jade- A “dream stone” and a “stone of fidelity” brings realization to ones potential. it facilitates peace and transmutes negativity. a sacred stone for a long life and well being

Lapis Lazuli- a stone of total awareness. Good for developing insight into dreams; assists with organization of one’s life. Brings cheer and success into relationships.

Rhodonite- Promotes self esteem, enhances memory, and eases physical/ emotional traumas. Reduces stress and calms mind, good for confidence.

 Golden Tigers eye- helps one become more practical and more grounded. Eliminates the “blues”

 Fuchsite- helps you understand your interaction with the other people and relates to basic concerns about life. Amplifies the energy of crystals and facilitates their transfer.

 Mookite- Australian jasper. Helps maintain a young at heart attitude. Encourages versatility, fortifies immune system and heals wounds.

 Moonstone- good for people who travel relieves anxiety and stress. Also as the lucky love stones.

 Smokey Quartz- used to dissolve negative energies and emotional blockages, helps clear barriers between alpha and beta states of mind. Assists with balancing yin/yang energy, is grounding and protective. Promotes personal pride and joy in living.

 Opalite- opalized glass resin that is fused with metal to create an opalescent effect. Provides a soft, gentle and soothing effect when held or viewed. Calming, reassuring and softening.

 Unakite- brings together the abundant, nurturing energy of green with the soft, resonates with the frequency of love, compassion and kindness and is a stone dedicated to the balancing the emotional body.

 Mahogany Obsidian- providing grounding and protection, brings strength in time of need, eliminates blockages relieves tension and stimulates growth on all levels. Show us what needs our attention while aiding with self acceptance and self confidence.

 Obsidian- truth enhancing, forms shield against negativity, blocks psychic attack, draws out mental tension, stimulates growth on all levels, brings clarity and clears confusions

Who is going to be there when they fight Jasper in the Beta Kindergarten and Smokey Quartz is formed the first time? - Sincerely, A Gemstone Universe Fan.

Well, Peridot of course, but also the twins and probably Stan. 

Amethyst could have beaten Jasper without fusing.

I will preface this post with the disclaimer that I have been following the show since the pilot, and I LOVE it. I encourage people to watch it all the time. But lately, I’ve noticed how Amethyst almost always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to character development. Rather than talking about all of the missed opportunities for character development, though, I’d like to talk about Amethyst and her fights with Jasper in season 3. It was a huge opportunity for Amethyst to get some serious character development, and, in my opinion, it was wasted on her fusion with Steven. I love Smokey Quartz, and their fight against Jasper was incredible, but...

I would like to start with the first Amethyst vs Jasper showdown in “Crack the Whip”. It’s one of my personal favorite episodes (mostly due to Stevonnie’s badass appearance), and it was building up to something great for Amethyst. We all remember Jasper’s chilling lines like, “You aren’t even trying! Is it because you already know you’re a failure?” and “You could have been me!” And let’s not forget the most chilling scene in the episode—

The way this is written, it’s shown to be a brutally one-sided fight. All of Amethyst’s attacks do virtually nothing to Jasper, while she gets absolutely curb-stomped. When she reforms and sees that Stevonnie has already defeated Jasper for her, it diminishes what little self-esteem she had. Everything Jasper told her seems true because she couldn’t size up.

This leads into the next episode, “Steven vs. Amethyst”, which is where I think things started to go wrong. In the episode, Pearl (accidentally) reinforces Amethyst’s feelings of self-loathing by suggesting that she’s losing on purpose to boost Steven’s confidence, and Steven does the same (despite his intentions) by losing on purpose in Lonely Blade. All of this is fine and dandy by me, but where things really went south is the fight between Steven and Amethyst. It wasn’t constructive, it was more of a way to indulge in their self-loathing in an incredibly destructive way. No progress was made towards building Amethyst or Steven back up.

It gets worse in “Bismuth”. I personally don’t like this episode because a lot of things were handled poorly, but for now, I’ll address Amethyst’s role. Or, rather, a lack thereof. Most of the episode centers around Bismuth’s appearance and disappearance, which completely disrupts the story of the last two episodes. Amethyst is seen, hardly heard, and no one even mentions the Homeworld gem causing havoc on Earth, or any of the events that have transpired in recent history. It halts the arc in an awkward way.

We get back to the story in “Beta”. Amethyst is still clearly upset with her loss, and she hasn’t made a whole lot of progress towards becoming a better warrior. She is discouraged further by her visit to the Beta Kindergarten and her discovery of Jasper’s perfect exit hole. Sure, Steven manages to pick her up, but all that really manages to do is get Amethyst even more fired up about fighting Jasper, which she’s ill equipped to do. Peridot’s little humdinger about how Amethyst shouldn’t fight her, the “ultimate Quartz”, wasn’t a big help either.

And then we get to “Earthlings”. Hoo boy. The fight is going about the same way it did in “Crack the Whip”, which proves that Amethyst hasn’t made any progress. “Is it sinking in yet?” stings because if Amethyst and the people around her had been making more constructive efforts to build her up, this fight would have gone much, much differently. In the end, Steven gives Amethyst a little monologue and they resort to what appears to be the only way to beat Jasper.

Fusion.

This further reinforced Jasper’s accusation that fusing is the only trick the Crystal Gems have. While the audience might know that isn’t true, Jasper doesn’t. So far, she’s only been shown to be defeated by fusions. While Steven and Amethyst’s fusion wasn’t a bad thing, it was a huge opportunity for Amethyst to prove herself, and she missed out on it.

So, I can talk and talk about what went wrong, but what would I do personally to change it?

1.) Eliminate “Bismuth” and put it at the end of this arc. The fact that this episode occurs right in the middle of this arc halts the story being told. Finish the story you’re telling before you start another one. I could rewrite that episode altogether, but that’s something for another day.

2.) Give Garnet a role in this arc. We haven’t seen Garnet and Amethyst interact very much throughout the show, aside from comic relief bits. This arc would have been the perfect opportunity to show what their personal relationship is like. Since this occurs after the Sardonyx arc (another bad arc I’d like to break down sometime), this would be a good point for Garnet to tell Amethyst that her strength isn’t her power, and that she needs to explore other ways to take down opponents. Even better, Garnet mentors her and helps her train. Not only does this give Amethyst a constructive way to build up her confidence, it gives Garnet something to talk about other than fusion and rounds her out.

3.) Show Amethyst’s progression from “Crack the Whip” to “Beta”. At the beginning, it’s obvious that Amethyst wants to be just like Jasper, so she tries to fight like Jasper. But it’s obvious that Amethyst isn’t like Jasper, and she needs to focus on her strengths, not what her strengths are supposed to be. We already know Amethyst has some kind of grasp on this because of episodes like “Ocean Gem” and “Catch and Release”, where she uses her weapon to grab things rather than strike.

Again, this is a good time for Garnet to step in and remind her that her weapon isn’t built around power, and there are ways to defeat opponents besides being a powerhouse. Hell, if you wanted, you could add in a Peridot moment where she reminds Amethyst how she’s captured her with her whip on more than one occasion. What’s important is that Amethyst learns that she doesn’t need to be like Jasper to be a great warrior.

4.) The fight in “Earthlings” should be even without fusion. It makes the end result so much sweeter when the “ultimate Quartz” is evenly matched with a “defective runt”. The dialogue here could be intense and moving, where Jasper hurls insults at Amethyst for being afraid to fight her honestly, and Amethyst retorts by saying she doesn’t need to be like Jasper to be strong. She could even turn it around on Jasper by saying that while Homeworld may only value one type of strength, Earth gems see value in all types of strength. This raises Amethyst’s confidence when she sees that she can beat Jasper fair and square, no fusion required. Jasper becomes so desperate to win that she’ll fuse with a corrupted gem monster in order to defeat her because if the Crystal Gems will resort to cheap tricks, why can’t she? It makes Amethyst feel better about herself as a gem, not just as a component to a fusion.

That about wraps up my thoughts on this. I know I can’t change what’s already been set in canon, but Amethyst deserved better.

Lauren Zuke storyboarded Steven vs. Amethyst, Know Your Fusion, and Beta, so tbh, I love them and they’re incredibly important to me. They wrote some of the most amazing characterization for Steven (who I ID with super hard) and Smokey Quartz (same), stuff I never thought would be in a cartoon, and they’re absolutely an awesome person. <3333333s to Lauren Zuke.

#fusiondta @macanronnei Smokey Quartz!!! Backstory incoming: a gem that was originally meant to be placed in the prime kindergarten for put into Beta, resulting in the gem coming out as a fusion like hybrid rather than a normal quartz. Smokey has a cheeky side yet rarely shows it due to her isolation. One day on earth Lilac is looking for corrupted gems in the kindergarten along with her pearl and Fluorite. Fluorite had used her future vision to detect some active gem life in the kindergarten but was unaware it wasn’t a corrupted gem. Upon discovery Smokey takes a liking to Fluorite and is adored by Lilac. Smokey is taken in but feels out of place and asks to be given a job to prove herself. Lilac entertains her by assigning her as Fluorite’s “personal body guard” even though there isn’t a need for that on Earth. The two grow closer as Smokey spends her days showing off to Fluorite and playing with Lilac. (That was so much I’m sorry)