I've been getting a few comments saying "how is this from Steven Universe?" and I'm just over here like bro... do u really think I'd scam u? So, if you feel confused, look no further. I'm here to help u.
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Day 1: Together Breakfast, S1E04
This meal is a real-life version of the Together Breakfast, a meal which Steven created for the gems to eat and enjoy together.
Day 2: Frybo Fry Mural, S1E05
These chips are based off the horrific Frybo, a mascot which was brought to life by a gem shard.
Day 3: Cat Fingers, S1E06
These are a replica of Steven's Cat Fingers; the first time he has ever shapeshifted.
Day 4: Glow Sticks and Rose Bubbles, S1E07
On the left of the picture is a photo of the bracelet which Steven gave to Connie (which is mentioned frequently throughout the whole series). The 'canon' ones are pink, while the 'non-canon' ones are yellow, to pay attention to continuity. The ice cream has been sculpted to look like a rose, imitating the bubble which Steven formed to protect Connie
Day 5: Upside Down Pyramid Cake, S1E08
This strange cake represents the upside-down pyramid explored in this episode.
Day 6: Tiger Millionare and Purple Puma Cookies, S1E09
Amethyst's wrestling persona has been crafted into cookies.
Day 7: Lion Cake, S1E10
This magnificent icing sculpt looks like Lion; Steven's mysterious pet found in the desert.
Day 8: Heaven and Earth Beetle Eclairs, S1E12
The Heaven and Earth Beetles were gem bugs which were the retrieval objects of one of Amethyst and Pearl's missions, where Steven watches them fuse into Opal for the first time.
Day 9: Birthday Cake with Too Many Candles, S1E13
For some reason, people thought that this was dynamite! How stupid can you be?! This is the cake which Steven prepares for Amethyst's birthday, having so many candles because of her age. Steven was wayyyyyyyyyyyy off.
Day 10: Spinach Dip of Dead Man's Mouth, S1E14
This spinach dip is a replica of Dead Man's Mouth, the lake where Lars and the Cool Kids hang out and almost die despite Steven's warnings.
Day 11: Onion Marshmallows, S1E15
Get it? Onion has pale skin, so he's a marshmallow? If you need this to be explained to you, please get yourself checked mate
Day 12: Amethyst's Meringue Cloud, S1E16
This cloud is one which Amethyst often sat on in Steven The Sword Fighter.
Day 13: Movie Snacks, S1E17
These snacks were specially prepared to watch the latest premiere of Dogcopter.
Day 14: Beach Cupcakes, S1E18
Why not have a few beach cupcakes if you're gonna have a beach party with the Crystal Gems and the irritable owners of the Fish Stew Pizza?
Day 15: Pink Whale Cookies, S1E19
This whale has the voice of Rose and only exists in her Room. What a shame.
Day 16: Chocolate Marshmallow Weights, S1E20
These treats might not get you Strong in the Real Way, but unless you're Sugilite who never skips leg day, they will still give you the energy you need to perform well in a training marathon!
Day 17: Donuts Spiked with Pop Rocks, S1E21
Is your slack friend sneaking away? Just ask your friendly Big Donut staff Steven to spike a doughnut with hot sauce (substituted as pop rocks)! Niceeee
Day 18: Lapis' Jelly Tower, S1E25-6
This is the tower Lapis made to escape Earth using its ocean.
Day 19: Pizza With Special Coupons, S1E29
Pearl, Amethyst and Steven form a secret team to help round up gem shards and accidentally miss out on the chance on getting a free pizza.
Day 20: Taiyaki Fish Cake on Skewers, S1E30
Lars, Sadie and Steven were forced to eat these adorable creatures on Mask Island after Sadie deliberately stranded them there.
Day 21: Snupcakes, S1E31
Ronaldo had a theory about snake people, but did he ever predict snake cupcakes? He probably did, the mans a crackhead.
Day 22: Breadsticks, S1E32
Alexandrite ate these during her cuisine with Connie's parents.
Day 23: Onion Rings, S1E33
These onion rings are fresh from the Ringo Zone, as Ronaldo turned people into onion rings with his gem of ultimate power.
Day 24: A Watermelon, S1E34
This is a reference to the Watermelon Stevens that Steven accidentally grew from his own spit. Trust me, this is an actual meal made by the crewniverse
Day 25: Star Cookies, S1E35
These star cookies were given to Lion in 'Lion 3: Straight to Video' following a cute space pun.
Day 26: Macaroni and Nothing, S1E36
The sad meal that sleep-deprived Steven ate has officially been created!
Day 27: Pearl's Cookies, S1E36
These cookies were baked straight from Pearl's oven, however she got soaked before she could give a few samples out :(
Day 28: Two Donuts For One, S1E37
Stevonnie orders these delicious items straight from the Big Donut.
Day 29: Puffs 'Injected' with Whipped Cream, S1E40
In the episode "On The Run", Steven and Amethyst travel to a kindergarten filled with injectors. The gimmick about these puffs is that they have been injected with cream and will 'burst out' once chewed in your mouth, just like how a gem would pop out from a kindergarten.
Day 30: Mint Choc-Chip Fudge Cash, S1E43
The cash fudge is a reference to 'Lil Butler' a show which Amethyst and Greg used to watch together.
Day 31: Frozen Lime Robonoids, S1E44
These frozen lime marbles are designed to look like the giant robonoids which Peridot has used to reactivate certain areas related to Homeworld, like the kindergarten and warp pads
Day 32: Wedding Cake, S1E46
Steven and Connie wanted two certain book characters to marry each other, so why not express your feelings in Rose's Room? Even if you liked the ending.
Day 33: Special Pizza, S1E50
This pizza is a reference to when Lapis says that Japser and Peridot are 'coming', and not in the friendly way.
Day 34: Power Outage, S1E51
The Gems abuse human technology so badly that the whole town loses power for a night.
Day 35 (finale): ?!?!?!?!, S1E53

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Hope you enjoyed these quick summaries. Post predictions for upcoming meals below ;)

While it began with a settled backstory, a direction in mind, and a lot of ideas, a lot of Steven Universe was left to grow while the show was being made. It seems to have taken a writer's playground approach to construction. While a lot of the ideas in the backstory were used, there were a ton of abandoned plot threads and elements. This is not a comprehensive list, but I cover a lot of them. Please chime in with your own!
Laser Light Cannon: How did Greg end up with the cannon? Why did Rose give it to him? What about that totem pole with gem-like figures on it? How about the golf clubs with roses embroidered on it? Concerning Greg and Rose's relationship, there's still a ton of things we never learned.
Cheeseburger Backpack: We never did find out the significance of the Lunar Sea Spire. I suppose the statue is supposed to resemble Blue Diamond... but it doesn't, really. There's a lot of ancient gem culture that's still a mystery. (The LSS was revisited, by the way, in Attack The Light.)
Together Breakfast: One of the biggies: what is up with the Crystal Heart, which we're given to understand is the core of the Temple. (And, why is it a "temple?" What do gems worship? I can understand Cartoon Network being standoffish about depictions of religion in this political climate, even if they're fictional, but c'mon, this is a show that fearlessly showed animation's first lesbian wedding.) Also, what was the scroll that Garnet was burning, which got into Steven's breakfast?
Frybo: Everything about Peedee.
Cat Fingers: The Gem Sloop is shown one other time in the series, in storage in Pearl's head.
Bubble Buddies: A lot of other things about the Crystal Temple (name assumed) are left mysterious, like how it was made and some things about the nature of its extradimensional space. It's crumbling now (and puts Connie in danger in the process). We also see a gigantic stone sword out in the ocean--since the Temple figure is of Obsidian, we presume that's a representation of her sword. We never see the temple in its original form throughout the whole series, not even in flashback.
Serious Steven: The whole thing about the Ziggurat, and the event depicted on its mural, remains unknown. It shows Rose, but the gem she's fighting we don't know. It looks kind of like White, but her gem is in the wrong place. Also, what are those black figures in the background, and what are those hands coming up from below? Does that represent the Cluster? The way the pedestal turns when Steven shows up to collect the gem at its core seems significant, but what was the gem? Why was it waiting for Steven?
Tiger Millionaire: Why is that Beach City warehouse used for civic functions despite the big hole in its side? There's also a lot of wrestling characters who don't show up again (except in its sequel, Tiger Philanthropist).
Steven's Lion: The Desert Glass is never brought up again. It appears there's a whole class of gem that's not sentient, but still has limited intelligence. These are not revisited later, even in Future.
Arcade Mania: A big one IMO, what was going on with Sapphire when Garnet was playing Meat Beat Mania? This is a heavy hint that Garnet was a fusion, of course (and before Giant Woman!), but what was happening to her is never explained.
Giant Woman: It was nice to see the Heaven and Earth Beetles uncorrupted in Future (they're still called beetles though). The contents of the Little Beetle Bedroom are weird though, seeing as how they implied that the Heaven Beetle, at least, had some of her mind intact. And a little beetle backpack, and Sega Genesis, as well. (We can probably presume that this was an artist joke, though.) Also: we never see where the Earth Beetle was hanging out. Also, the two are never bubbled but put into a terrarium. And we never find out about the sensory powers of Garnet's visor, that allowed her to find them.
So Many Birthdays: We see a grown-up form of Steven that doesn't match what we see in Future, but we can presume that Steven's physical form is fluid enough to explain that.
Lars and the Cool Kids: Rose's experiments, or whatever they were, with plant life are not hearkened back to much, although the pink gems that appear when the moss blooms do show up later, in Rising Tides Crashing Skies.
Onion Trade: Pearl seems upset when Garnet breaks her duplicating wand; what was it? Where did she get it? Was it one of the trinkets available for accessorizing Pearls at The Reef? Also: why was Amethyst annoyed that Pearl's stuff keeps falling down into her room (also mentioned in Cheeseburger Backpack) when Pearl keeps stuff in her head? Was Pearl's storage system a bit "leaky" before?
Steven the Sword Fighter: We find out the sky arena was a platform Blue Diamond used to help oversee the colony's construction, but the significance of the statues is still not known.
Lion 2: The Movie: Rose's Armory has a ton of things in it (some of them named in Rose's Scabbard) that are never referred to again. That giant penny, in addition to being an excellent reference to Batman, kind of implies that Rose tried her hand as being a superhero for a while.
Beach Party: Not too much unexplained, although the gem's making new clothes for themselves is something that rarely comes up again.
Rose's Room: Why does the whale in Rose's Room speak with Rose's voice? At this point, Steven has never heard it before. Also, why is the room's existence set and definite, unlike Sardonyx's room? Maybe the rules are different for fusion rooms.
Coach Steven: It's a shame that Sugilite only got a speaking role in this one episode, probably because of the expense of getting Nikki Minaj again. This is an interesting episode for demonstrating that fusing can be dangerous too (which is called back upon when we get to Malachite). Also, the Communications Tower, which shows up again in Cry For Help, is interesting as an example of old gem tech.
Joking Victim: What was up with that giant ice cream cone Mayor Dewey was unveiling? ("It melted, Gary!")
An Indirect Kiss: The area around Rose's Fountain is interesting. Who built all this, Crystal Gems during the war? Where did they get so many of Rose's tears from? We also get an indication that Rose's animate plants, without her, were directionless. We can presume that Rose controlled them while she was around, while Steven's are more self-motivated, perhaps as an evolution of his powers.
Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem: Lapis is crazy strong! Like, could possibly terraform a planet by herself strong! She can even travel in space under her own power! This is referred to later, in Future, but not explained. Another thing is the practice of gems putting other gems into object, which seems torturous. I hope that practice died out.
House Guest: Man, that Geode seems ominous. I guess that's some heavy-duty duct tape Greg used, as it's still holding up. Maybe the gems, or even the Diamonds, found another way to fix it themselves.
Space Race: Pearl is pretty amazing, even if her ship didn't make it out of Earth's gravity well. At the time we were left to assume that the ship's controls were an example of gem technology, but now it seems likely that they were her creation, perhaps adapted from Earth objects. Also, this is our introduction to The Barn, and the portrait of Greg's uncle and aunt, who we never find out much about, despite their picture appearing as late as Future.
Island Adventure: The origin of the geodes on the island, and the mask fish, are unknown, although we do know the site ended up being the home of the Watermelon Stevens. Did they ever uncorrupt the invisible gem monster?
Keep Beach City Weird: I guess we can presume that the gem from Horror Club was still in the lighthouse back then.
Fusion Cuisine: The restaurant doesn't show up again, except possibly as a site for one of Steven's photos of Connie on his phone.
Lion 3 Straight to Video: We still don't know the full nature of the extradimensional space that Lion connects to (and later Lars). We can suspect that part of it is similar to whatever gem technology produced the interior of the Crystal Temple, but not how it was able to bridge distances in space; gems usually used warp pads for that, not extradimensional spaces. There's trees in there, and grass, and a sun, but no breathable air. It seems to be connected with one of Pink Diamond's still-mysterious powers, which may explain why she didn't tell the other gems about it.
Alone Together: The warehouse shows up again.
Warp Tour: The nature of Warp Space is interesting. How robonoids are made is left up in the air, but we do know that Pearl experimented with one, and Peridot eventually got more when relations with Homeworld thawed.
Horror Club: They never returned to the huge gem that Steven saves in the lighthouse, and we never return to Ronaldo and Lars' relationship.
Maximum Capacity: Greg's stuff is still in Amethyst's room at the end of this episode, where I presume it's victim to the whims of her nebulous storage system. Now that Greg's rich, presumably he could find a place for all of it. Speaking of rich... Greg mentions his uncle has a mansion, and he has the deed somewhere!
Marble Madness: The gem mutants subplot just sort of went away. Presumably there's still some forced fusions hanging around Earth. Maybe Yellow Diamond will spend some time hunting them up in order to try to repair them.
Rose's Scabbard: What's the origins of the floating islands hanging over the Strawberry Battlefield?
Open Book: Implies that Rose's Room has some kind of innate intelligence.
Story for Steven: There's a ton of implied backstory in these flashback episodes, from Greg and Rose's relationship to the gem-influenced history of Beach City to the citizens' relationship with the gems, that we never find out more about. I feel like there's more than enough for a Steven Universe Past series, someday.
Political Power: Mayor Dewey notes that the population of Beach City need their electronic distractions to avoid thinking about the fact that disasters keep happening, which is interesting. Ocean Town being somehow even worse off than Beach City is a hilarious joke, but it's also difficult to imagine how that could be so unless there's some huge, undetected gem threat lurking there.
The Return/Jailbreak: The hand ship is interesting--it's not one of the Diamond's ships, it's green, and also not a whole arm. Why do gems build ships in the shape of body parts?
Joy Ride: The fluid in Peridot's escape pod is interesting; Steven can breathe it, but it never comes up again.
Reformed: The Slinker escapes and never comes up again (although it may be the monster the gems fight in the short where Steven unboxes his hot dog bag).
Sworn to the Sword: Connie's swordfighting, while awesome, didn't actually turn out to be as important as her empathy, and her willingness to tell off gigantic gem matriarchs. Pearl mentions underwater and low-gravity training, which sound awesome, but we never got to see.
Keystone Motel: Greg reveals that he knows Garnet's a fusion here.
Onion Friend: There's a lot about Onion that's mysterious, although I think most of it was added as a huge joke on the audience, a gigantic red herring.
Historical Friction: Helps fill in the blanks about the early history of Beach City (which appears to be the founding site for the US, like Plymouth Rock, in Steven Universe's alternate version of Earth).
Friend Ship: The whole ship is interesting. It's implied that it was one of the first colony ships from Homeworld, which means Pearl and Pink Diamond may have ridden in one of them.
There's more in later episodes, but they decrease in number as the show's focus narrows and the plot takes a stronger role. The Moon Base, the Jungle Moon and the shattered planet it orbits, the Star Incinerator, Emerald, what we see of Homeworld, and other things I'm sure, all hint to the larger picture around the show. What have you always wondered about?

In the most perfect timeline Nicki Minaj retires from rap to voice Sugilite in her redemption arc. Sugilite is later installed as a recurring character in Steven universe. Un-bench Sugilite :(

Honestly I’m pretty surprised they haven’t done this already. Somebody already proposed they could do a Jennifer Lopes handmaid in the vein of Mayor Adam West or Deputy Director Bullock. But through much thinking, I realize why they haven’t.
1) to give it a more timeless feel. They can’t have somebody like Taylor Swift play a handmaid because it dates the show. Granted, I feel like this is like a Star is born where it’ll be remade every few years, but it’ll still date it. Even if handmaids tale was written in the 80s, it honestly comes off like it was written yesterday. Gilead could be a stand in for North Korea instead of Nazi Germany. Therefore, they can’t put a celebrity in because my grandchild might not know who this person is. I mean, i didn’t even know lil Kim was a big deal until last year for example.
2) cant afford it. Many animated shows I’ve seen do this. Steven univwrse’s rule is everything is from the titular characters perspective so they can get away with having Nicki Minaj voice sugilite for an episode or Christine Ebersole voice white diamond for one or two. But because of the rule and because they’re expensive, they can only be in a few episodes, so characters like opal or sugilite, who indeed have expensive voice actors, don’t get the same characterization fusions like Sardonyx or Smoky Quartz get. Even if they do something like Tom cruise as a commander, they could only do it one episode and not an entire season long plot like Eden and Nick.
3) In universe reasons: - The celebrities all left because they could afford it. Granted I feel a few could’ve stayed, like eminem for example. Therefore they are all extinct. - they were all killed in purges. If you didn’t leave. Not because of crimes but because of image. Bradley cooper was viewed as a drug addict/kleptomaniac because he play Jackson Maine and Rocket, but he was only playing a part (and granted he only voiced him) and they will still kill him just because of what movie he was in. Or somebody like Demi Lovato, who hasn’t done anything wrong besides be a child star with a few mental illnesses because of it, will be killed because she’s a slut and gives off such an image. - They were spared but live in luxury. Okay this is an out there but I feel like the SOJ was to some extent Scientology so if you donated enough money, you were freed. For sake of argument, let’s say Megan Fox donated to them because she agreed with their views. When Gilead came, even if she was deemed a slut, they would leave her be because she helped them.

Episodes 1-2 Episodes 3-4 Episodes 5-6 Episodes 7-8 Episodes 9-10 Episodes 11-12 Episodes 13-14 Episodes 15-16 Episodes 17-18 Episodes 19-20 Episodes 21-22 Episodes 23-24 Episodes 25-26 Episodes 27-28 Episodes 29-30 Episodes 31-32 Episodes 33-34 Episodes 35-36 Episodes 37-38 Episodes 39-40 Episodes 41-42 Episodes 43-44 Episodes 45-46 Episodes 47-48 Episodes 49-50 Episodes 51-52 Episodes 53-54 Episodes 55-56 Episodes 57+misc Episodes 58-59 Episodes 60-61 Episodes 62-63
Alright, guys, we’re back with another reaction. Now, I know that a lot of people disagreed with my opinions on Sardonyx, and I feel like there might have been some miscommunication, so I’m going to spell out my current opinion on her and then move on.
Sardonyx is a bully. She used emotional manipulation to hurt Amethyst and make herself seem better. That said, Pearl and Garnet are not bullies. They’re both unaware of how they’re hurting Amethyst. Pearl is blinded by the sheer joy she felt being Sardonyx, and Garnet most likely didn’t realize that the words she directed towards Sugilite were hurting Amethyst instead. Sardonyx is just like any other person in that she can change, so if something happens that I think will change her character, or if we see her again and she’s different, my opinion on her will change.
I’m really surprised at how many people seemed upset by this interpretation. I don’t think I’ve had this negative a backlash on anything I’ve said, well…ever. I’ve responded to literally hundreds of comments about Sardonyx, which seems so strange to me because it was such a small part of my post, and I kind of feel like it took away the sense of friendly discussion in the comments. A lot of it was my fault, though. I think I just got tired of talking about Sardonyx, and started to get irritable, so I’m sorry if I came off strong on the subject. I think I’m about done talking about Sardonyx for now, so I’m sorry to tell you that I won’t be talking about her unless something new comes up.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into the episodes. You guys know the deal; keep spoiler free and keep the hype low.

Episode 64- Keystone Motel

Steven, Greg, and Garnet go on a road trip.
[Editor’s note from the future: These episode descriptions get more and more vague every time. What the hell is this crap?]
Written and Storyboarded by Raven M. Molisee, Paul Villeco and Rebecca Sugar

• “Pearl!” Pearl turns around in fear
  
• Okay, so things must still be very tense with Pearl and Garnet. I wonder how Steven’s dealing with his parents fighting in the house? This is the first time they’ve brought their arguments home, that I can remember.
  
• “Looking for Peridot!...For a few days straight.” Man, she’s really trying to make it up to Garnet, huh? Something tells me it’s not going to work.
  
• Wow, have you guys noticed how applicable ‘Tower of Mistakes’ is to Pearl?
  

Maybe you're better off with her
I think she's better for you
I forgot how great it felt to be us
Guess I got carried away
I had to use you to make me feel strong
But I don't care about that now
I see a tower built out of my mistakes
And it all comes crashing down
Is there something I can do
Is there something I can do
Is there something I can do
Can I make it up to you?
How I feel so far with this Stevenbomb.

• “I’m going to prove to her that she can trust me again.” It’s not that easy, Pearl. That’s something that Garnet and Garnet alone can decide.
  
• Garnet’s not even talking to Pearl? Interesting. While none of this is Garnet’s fault, it’s interesting that she’s not ready to talk to Pearl yet.
  
• “I’m sorry.”
  
• “Who wants to go on a roadtrip?!” Yes, please, get me out of this house!
  
• “Well, I gotta drive over to the next state, Keystone.” “You mean the Keystone state?” “Right, the state named Keystone.” Okay, this dialogue is pretty fucking hilarious. But also, Pennsylvania’s just called Keystone, then? And also, they’re taking a roadtrip to Pennsylvania? How radical is that!
  
• “I don’t like those brushes. They feel weird on your fur.” ???
  

Oh, he’s talking about when he turned into an Akira cat monster. Gotcha.

• Okay. “Keystone Motel.” They’re going to a motel in Keystone.
  
• “I can’t wait to get room service!” “You’re thinking of a hotel. We’re going to a motel. It’ll have a pool, and free ice, and it’s right next to the best diner in the world.”
  
• Garnet’s coming? So, the second Pearl gets to the house, she leaves, huh? I guess she can’t even be near Pearl right now.
  
• Man, Garnet isn’t even acknowledging Pearl. That’s rough.
  
• “This is going to be fun, right, dad?”
  
• They’re playing Night Drive? Sweet, I fucking love this song.
  
• Wait, they’re right on the edge of the state? What the heck?
  
• You know, I always enjoyed staying in motels. Hotels in general, really. Something really appeals to me about sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, and I don’t know what it is.
  
• “Good news. We’re bugless!”
  
• Man, Garnet is really not okay. She’s shaking, and I don’t think she can speak right now. She’s barely holding herself in check.
  
• “I’m off to see a man about a tunnel brush. An internet man. If I’m not back in an hour, call the police.” Pfff!
  
• Oh, are Ruby and Sapphire having a fight? How would that even work, anyways?
  
• Oh my god apparently they just defuse
  
• “You’re choosing to take it personally.” “It’s fusion, Sapphire! What’s more personal to us than fusion?!”
  
• This is really interesting. I guess that explains why Garnet can’t talk to Pearl right now. She has two conflicting ideologies that are probably extremely confusing for her.
  
• Holy shit. These rubyfaces are out of control.
  
• “You’re not as above this as you think you are!” “Yes, I am.”
  
• By the ways, I’m pretty sure every word in Ruby’s sentences deserves it’s own exclamation mark.
  
• “You can’t stay angry with her forever.” “Wanna bet?”
  
• Oh my god, there are too many rubyfaces to keep track of. I’m only gonna bring up the big ones, I think. The truly beautiful ones.
  
• Ruby burnt the carpet? How adorable.
  
• Hm...Ruby has a fair point, I suppose. It’s okay not to be the better person and let your emotions rule when something this traumatic happens. Besides, not forgiving Pearl is probably the responsible thing, to be fair. She doesn’t deserve to be let off the hook yet, even if it’s terrible to see Pearl so heartbroken.
  
• She’s just gonna walk in? And keep talking? God, I love these smol people.
  
• Unlucky.
  
• Also, Steven’s hair looks less afro-y than usual.
  
• “Sapphire?” “Hello, Steven.”
  
• “The channels are all the wrong numbers.” This is just one of many hundreds of reasons why television is absolutely terrible. The internet is 100 times better.
  
• “Can you use your future powers to predict what channel I’d love the most?” What a wonderfully mundane use of her powers.
  
• Wait a second, that’s something that Sapphire just has? I thought it was something that Garnet got from being a fusion. Huh.
  
• Hm. Sapphire seems to be ignoring Ruby’s need for emotional catharsis here. She’s looking into the future, but she’s ignoring how Ruby feels in the present.
  
• “She’s just letting her emotions get out of hand.” “Not you, though?” “No.”
  
• “Sapphire? The toilet’s frozen.” “Such is fate.” Holy shit that’s funny.
  
• “How’d it go?” “Well, he wasn’t an ax murderer, so that’s good.”
  
• “He’s not gonna like that it’s square.” ??
  
• “Oh, boy. Where’s the other one?” Okay, I guess Greg knows Ruby and Sapphire.
  
• Rest in Peace, the pool.
  
• “Square pizza?! What’s wrong with this crazy state?!” Okay, I won’t lie, that’s weird. Like, it’s normal for a circular pizza to be cut into squares, but a pizza that comes as a square? That’s actually insane.
  
• Oh my god, I just realized that Sapphire was talking about the pizza.
  
• Man, this is a complicated episode. I think I’d probably give Ruby and Sapphire space, but I’m not sure that it would be the right decision. They clearly need to talk it out between them, but Sapphire’s too stubborn in her assuredness to consider Ruby’s feelings here, and Ruby’s too hotheaded to have a civil conversation, so I’m not really sure how they’d be able to talk at the moment.
  
• That’s a real pretty shot.
  
• Wait, it’s actually just called The Best Diner in the World? God, I love this show.
  
• “What’s the matter, not hungry?” “Gems don’t need to eat, dad.” “Well, Garnet likes to eat sometimes.” “Well, Garnet’s not here!”
  
• Look at this freaking guy. What an absolute legend he is.
  
• “You’re shaking the table.” “Oh?! I’m kind of surprised you felt anything at all, to be honest!”
  
• Holy shit, I’m laughing so hard right now!
  
• “I didn’t need to feel. I saw.” This is pretty much Sapphire’s entire thing this episode, right here.
  
• “This will pass. She’ll eventually just burn herself out.” That’s kind of rude, talking like Ruby’s not even there. She’s devaluing Ruby’s emotions here.
  
• “I am an eternal flame, baby!”
  
• Also, I guess that’s Ruby’s weapon. It seems remarkably similar to Garnet’s. It’s possible, I suppose, that Sapphire’s weapon is future vision, maybe? I don’t know what else could be added to Ruby’s, besides another gauntlet, of course.
  
• Oh, Steven’s mad now. It’s been a long time since he’s been really mad.
  
• “I was so happy when Garnet said she’d come on this trip with me and dad. Home’s been awful. Here’s been awful. I thought you wanted to have a fun time, but everyone’s been acting awful, too. It just came with us! I don’t understand, is it, is it me?” Steven’s clearly confused about what’s going on to think it’s his fault. From the outside, it’s pretty clearly a fight between Pearl and Garnet, but I can see how it might be more confusing from the inside, especially for Steven.
  
• “But we made him feel like it was his fault.” Hrm… I don’t know if I buy this. It seems a little too unrelated to what actually happened. Maybe it’s the catalyst for their emotional change, but it feels a little weak to me.
  
• “I keep looking into the future, when all of this has already been solved, as if it doesn’t matter how you feel in the present.” Okay, they’re addressing the actual issues now.
  
• ??
  
• Also, Sapphire’s voice actress is really good. “No wonder you think I don’t care!”
  
• Hrm. This is a fine conclusion, but it feels just a little rushed. Maybe they could have cut the diner scene and given a little more time to this one.
  
• Oh. Well that’s fucking adorable.
  
• “You know what’s nice about being split up?” “What?” “I get to look at you.”
  
• “There’s my laughy Saffy.” Please, I can only take so much adorableness in one day!
  
• Man, this song is great, by the ways. I picked up on some of the melody for Stronger Than You in here, and it’s a really sweet song otherwise.
  
• I love this show so much for how it portrays Ruby and Sapphire.
  
• Yay, Garnet’s back!
  
• “Garnet, how are you?” “Not now.” Well, at least she told Pearl that she wasn’t ready to make up with her yet.
  

Closing Thoughts-

This was a good episode. It was really nice to see Ruby and Sapphire again. It’s nice to see these characters, although I really don’t think we’ll be seeing much of them. I’d say that we’ll get to see them as a treat, but I can’t imagine many scenarios where we’d see Garnet unfused in a happy situation. Still, they’ve both got wonderful energy, and seeing them fight on their second appearance certainly wasn’t expected. Seeing Pearl try to make Garnet appreciate her was pretty sad. Actually, most of this episode was. There was just this growing sense of disappointment in the characters throughout this entire episode that really made me feel terrible. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. The music was really lovely in this episode, and I enjoyed it a ton. Hopefully, we start to get some closure into this situation in the next few episodes. Onto the next one!

Episode 65- Onion Friend

Steven and Amethyst visit the strange world of Onion's house; Amethyst catches up with her old friend Vidalia.
Written and Storyboarded by Lamar Abrams and Katie Mitroff

• I have no idea who this episode could possibly be about. I wish there was some sign in the title, or something.
  
• Hey, that’s clever. Steven couldn’t do that in Together Breakfast, so Garnet had to do it for him. How far we’ve grown, huh?
  
• Wait, what is that orange thing in the middle? Is it orange roughy? Did the pizza parlor run out of it?
  
• I dunno why, but I quite like this shot.
  
• “Hey, Amethyst. I made lunch! You wanna eat this empty container?”
  
• Oh. Okay, then. Hello, Onion.
  
• Also, ‘Chaaaps’ seems like a Rick and Morty thing.
  
• “It’s a special flavor that’s only in stores for a limited time!” I don’t mess with that kind of stuff for this exact reason. Well, not this exact reason, but whatever.
  
• Okay why are there paintings of Amethyst here?
  
• Also, this is a fucking Lenny Face. What a beautiful world we live in.
  
• There are a lot of Amethyst’s here… I don’t know what to think of this.
  
• “Uh...that’s really weird!”
  
• Oh my god, whoever this woman is, she has a real gun! Wow, that’s really interesting. Back in my day, you couldn’t show a real gun to children.
  
• “Vidalia?!” Oh, okay. This is Onion’s mom, then. This pretty much confirms my theories. Onion and Sourcream are stepbrothers, and I’m pretty sure Marty’s Sourcream’s father.
  
• So they know each other well, then. I guess it makes the most sense for Amethyst to have human friends.
  
• They’re pretty wonderful together.
  
• “We both kinda hung around your dad, but Vidalia’s cooler than your dad, so we started hanging out without him.”
  
• “Is that Steven? Look at him! He looks just like Greg. That’s good, that’s good, he used to be super hot.” Implying that he isn’t now?
  
• So Vidalia’s a painter who enjoyed painting Amethyst? There’s got to be some shippers out there. Speak up, Vidaliamethyst (?) shippers!
  
• “Can you still turn into anything?” “Anything but respectable.”
  
• I love these two.
  
• It’s really nice seeing Amethyst interact with someone positively for once. Everything’s been so awful, and it’s fantastic to see Amethyst feel comfortable again.
  
• “You don’t know what I’ve done in these shows!” :^)
  
• “You’re Onion’s mom?!” I mean, the hair and the name kind of give it away, Steven.
  
• “Steven, he loves talking about you!” :^|
  
• A dinner scene, eh? Perhaps we can make up for the…lackluster one in Fusion Cuisine. Lamar’s even a writer on this episode!
  
• “Oh, it’s just a little dish I like to all Nooodles And Butter.” How has Amethyst never had buttered noodles before?
  
• “Check this guy out! I used to be bigger than him.” This is a really sweet episode. It’s nice to just have a little interpersonal scene without enormous emotional stakes on the line.
  
• This is really sad. They have a schedule for when Onion’s dad gets home, and it looks like he’s only home a couple weeks in the year.
  
• Okay, so Marty is now confirmed to be Sourcream’s father.
  
• “It’s just been me and Yellowtail for a while now.” Okay, we’ve got it all spelled out now. Vidalia had a kid with Marty, left him, got married to Yellowtail, and had another kid with him.
  
• It’s interesting, though. I can’t think of many kids’ shows that have step siblings. Drake and Josh is the only one that comes to mind. I think it comes from this presentation that romance has to last forever, and showing that people can be happy after splitting up kind of damages that.
  
• What’s, uh...what’s going on here, Onion?
  
• Oh. Okay, then.
  
• Gross.
  
• “...Why do you hate food?”
  
• So, Amethyst is a little unwilling to talk about what’s going on with the gems? Interesting.
  
• So, uh… what? Why did this happen, exactly?
  
• Something similar actually happened to me last night! The power on the entire block went out for a couple hours. It’s why I didn’t get a post up yesterday.
  
• “What can you do? Kids gotta express themselves.” That’s a really nice attitude to have.
  
• “Looks like he’s ready for you, Steven.” ^{:^|}
  
• Onion’s room, huh? Why does he have a shopping cart?
  
• “Is that your pet?” ”Does this look like a fucking game to you?”
  
• He’s got a snake? That’s a pretty radical pet. I assume that the mouse is food for the snake. That seems pretty expensive to keep up, though. Any snake owners out there? Got anything to add to this?
  
• Everything’s gotta eat, Steven.
  
• Wait, why the hell does Onion have a video of him being born?! What parent gave that to him?
  
• Also, is this Steven’s first time seeing a vagoogoo? Or has he felt…the urge?
  
• Oh, he has a secret tunnel. I wish I had a secret tunnel!
  
• “It’s awful at home. I feel trapped.” I like how the Garnet-Pearl situation is affecting everyone. There’s no real escape from tension in that tiny house, so everyone has to deal with each other. I feel like they all need some space right now.
  
• Come on, there has to be some good fanfic of these two, right? Perhaps suggesting some a little more...intimate?
  
• “Okay, Onion. Let’s do this.” Aw, he’s playing with Onion to give Amethyst more time to be out of the house.
  
• So, what’s going on here? I’m pretty curious.
  
• Oh, it’s where he keeps all of his Guys!
  
• “You have Gals, too?!” I wonder what that acronym stands for.
  
• Oh god, thinking about acronyms is just making me want to watch KND again. Fuck me, that was an amazing show.
  
• “Karen!” That kind of looks a little like Rebecca Sugar.
  
• Aw, Onion gave him one of his Gals. I wonder what his rationale is. It’s a shame we don’t know more about what makes him tick, because he’s one of the most interesting townspeople we have.
  
• “I can stop by anytime if you need…inspiration.” They banged. I refuse to believe otherwise.
  
• Oh.
  

Closing Thoughts-

This was an interesting little episode. It seemed like we were going to learn more about Onion, but he remains an engima to us. No, we spent this episode exploring an old relationship Amethyst has with Vidalia, which is quite interesting. Of ourse Amethyst would be the one to make friends with a human! Hearing her talk about Garnet and Pearl was quite interesting, though. I really enjoy how much they’re impacting everyone around them. It gives the situation a lot of weight. I’m also glad that we’ve 3 episodes now without a resolution. This is a real issues that’s going to take time to solve, and so letting us experience that alongside the cast is a great choice. There wasn’t much going on in terms of animation or music, but the episode didn’t really need anything special to do its job, and it did it quite well. My current episode standings are-

Top Ten Episodes

1. Alone Together
   
2. Rose’s Scabbard
   
3. We Need to Talk
   
4. Keeping it Together
   
5. Sworn to the Sword
   
6. On the Run
   
7. Lion 3: Straight to Video
   
8. Winter Forecast
   
9. Cry For Help
   
10. Coach Steven
    

10. Laser Light Cannon
Next up, my vocal tracks-

Top Five Vocal Tracks-

1. Do it for her
   
2. Stronger Than You
   
3. On the Run
   
4. Strong in the real way
   
5. Let yourself be wherever you are
   

Finally, my BGM’s-

Top Ten BGM's

1. I’m Still Here
   
2. Theme from an Endless Romance
   
3. Glitch City
   
4. Be Cool at the Nightclub
   
5. Lapis' Tower
   
6. Night Drive
   
7. Twilight Run
   
8. Alone Together
   
9. The Cave
   
10. The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
    

I'm planning on going back and listening to all of the BGM's again, since I've been a little lax here, so you'll probably see some changes in this list over the next few posts.
Thanks for reading, guys! As usual, keep spoiler free and keep the hype low. Finally, a question-

• Keeping in mind the news about Samurai Jack, what show do you think should get one last season?

Until Next Time!

Tl; Dr: The Movie plot could be about a rogue gem that escapes from eons of imprisonment and starts breaking havoc on Homeworld, as the Steven Universe: Harmony comics suggest.
After the bomb that was "Change your mind" and with the official confirmation on the upcoming movie airing sometime in fall, I think it's time for some rough speculation about everyone's favorite matter: the plot.
For those who didn't know, KaBOOM! Studios (the ones responsible for bringing SU to the good ol' fashioned format of comics) released a series of comics called Steven Universe: Harmony that is some kind of prequel to the movie. The last comic was published two(ish) months ago and, oddly enough, nobody is talking about it. So I decided to give it a go, speculate a bit of what the comic gives in terms of plot for the movie and the what it adds to whole show itself.
With so many things in mind, warnings are the best to avoid misconceptions and/or problems.
1) I'm, not a fluent English speaker. I say this because, even though I'm confident enough in my capabilities to make this post, I understand that seeing bad writing is... unpleasant (at least for me). So, please, for the sake of mastering my English skills, feel free to correct any typos and spelling errors that you can spot (and be patient).
2) About the canonicity of the comics. As far as I know, the comics are "half canon" or "level 2 cannon", that is to say, unless the show directly contradicts the comics, they are as canon as an official release can be.
3) Spoiler Warning (For the comics and the movie) I mean, my word is not any kind of official confirmation, but the whole batch of comics are intended to be a "prequel" of some sorts for the movie, so if you would rather like to see the movie (whenever it airs...) blind, and without any kind of expectations about its plot or would actually want to give the comics a go (they're actually pretty good), get out of here, NOW.
4) Supporting the show. If you can, buy the comics, the best way to support the show is by showing Cartoon Network our love, the best way of doing so is by buying the merch.
Well, without further ado, let's get started.

The Time period of the comics

First of all, unlike the other comics, these ones are pretty clear in the time period they are positioned. So, given the clues the comics present, they could be set between the aftermath of "Jungle Moon" and directly before"The Big Show". The evidence is the following:

• Lars is already a space pirate and Steven and all of his friends know about this.
• Sadie Killer and the Suspects are a thing.
• Steven is still a member of the band (After the last part, Steven leaves because he can't go to the practices due to the Crystal Gem's duties, but starts recording everything in Greg's old camera).
• Speaking of the band, they still haven't had an official debut (They're going to record their first demo in Yellow Tail's cousin basement studio).
• Rose's Sword is intact and Connie still uses it ( and Connie has her haircut).
• Lapis left and is still in space.

Knowing that, we can get a pretty solid idea that the comics are actually made with care for the details that the continuity of each episode has, that makes me think that the adventure happening in the comics will be referenced in some point of the movie (I hope a callback, as some characters get some really good development in this short story), because it doesn't contradict anything that has happened in the show.

The Comics and The Story

Before moving on to the movie plot, lets talk of what the comics add to the overall story of the show:

• The Topazes in charge of Aquamarine haven't fused since the events of "I'm My Mom" (and they miss it)
• Homeworld has huge storages that contain old gem technology, archives, and documents of gem history and previous colonies
• To prepare for the attack on earth (Reunited), blue diamond sent Aquamarine to gather information in those documents.
• Sadie has a picture of her, Lars and Steven in her bedroom.
• Peridot explicitly says that she "isn't made for physical strain" making the theory of her not having a weapon, even more possible.
• Opal, Sugilite, Sardonyx, and Alexandrite make an appearance in the comic. This had me wondering if the only reason they don't appear in the show is because the voice actresses that play them aren't available.
• Peridot doesn't understand rock, paper, scissors (And she likes property damage).
• Onion likes to sleep in the boardwalk.
• Peridot maintains online arguments about camp pining hearts with other fans.
• Garnet has money.
• Pearl and Rose used to sing together (Making the line "I can sing" more sad).
• Buck reads Dostoyevsky and knows about Schrodinger.
• Garnet sings to give herself the power to win any battle.
• "No! I refuse to die here! I still have internet arguments to win!"

The Harmony Cores

The comic introduces the "Harmony Chores", a piece of ancient gem technology (at least from before the war) which primarily function was to subdue planets before their colonization without threatening organic lifeforms by serving as an energy source to power centinels that would grow stronger the more time the cores would remain active. They are said to connect with each other through "warp-like" technology and work like this:
First, a "loyal Gem" would get inside it by touching it (this would make only the light form of such gem go inside of the harmony core, not its gemstone) to control it from the inside and harmonizes with another gem on the outside, thus getting the core started and functioning well.
Second, the cores would start harmonizing with each other (they all activate at the same time, but deactivate separately) and would begin to pulsate signals that trap inside it the consciousness of any living organism nearby (I assume they all eventually die from starvation, as only their consciousness is sent inside). The consciousness of those trapped inside the cores acts like an amplifier of a radio frequency, the more they are, the powerful the cores grow.
Third, the cores would start beating light-signals that power centinels, those sentinels would start colonizing the planet, making it ready for gem production.
Fourth and last, when the colony is finished, the gem inside the harmony core would get out through a failsafe and deactivate the core.
The problem with this is that, as Peridot mentions, such failsafe for the gem trapped inside the core was only used when a "useful" homeworld gem was being trapped, it's said that most of the gems that got trapped inside the core to make it work are still trapped and scattered alongside with each core in space (maybe this was a punishment for "malfunctioning", different or off-colors gems.
Another thing that gets mentioned in these comics is that the harmony chores weren't used for eons, they were never even intended to be in the earth in the first place because new and more efficient technology was being used already for the colonization. They were, though, a gift from Blue Diamond to Pink to please her. First, the zoo was created to help her with the preservation of the humans in the planet, then the harmony cores were given to her to "ensure the rest (of the organisms in the earth) a peaceful end". Tough, as Blue mentions, the cores on earth were never activated (One of the topazes activates one accidentally at the start of the comics and that sets off all of the cores in existence) before, because Pink was "shattered" first.

The Movie and The future of Steven Universe:

At the end of the last comic, Steven and co. finally, destroy all the cores in existence (after battling with a giant core-robot) and supposedly free all of the hundreds of gems inside the other cores. To make a good assumption of what the movie plot will be, let's break the situation of the story so far, apart:

• The last season ends with a definitive peace between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems, the war is over, the corrupted gems are healed and everyone is happy.
• The Teaser for the movie shows what seems to be a rotating Harmony Core, and inside shows a brief picture of Steven, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst and a mysterious laughing figure that could or could not be a gem (remember that the harmony cores can trap living organisms faster).

The Harmony Cores side to side (Left, the teaser of the Movie, Right, comics):
That is the end of the "facts" we know for sure, but let me get inside some heavy theorizing:
Let's say that, after seeing she's not perfect, White decides to make some severe changes in the Homeworld society and starts by stopping the colonization of planets. Now, after Homeworld finally starts to take the steps to get better, things get bad. The connection I was talking about before? Well, I think the comic end and the movie teaser suggest that some not-so-friendly gem got out after who knows how many eons of getting trapped and is not feeling so swell about Homeworld. Let's say this rogue gem wakes up from her thousands of years imprisonment and begins to cause havoc amongst the planet/colonies, as some sort of revenge to the empire that trapped her.
And what If the threat is big enough, such as the diamonds can't handle it? Remember, if the Diamonds resort to trapping gems instead of directly shattering them (that could lead to potential problems later) that must be for a really good reason (Heck, it could even be an organic life-form that caused them some real problems). And what if their last resort is asking the CGs for help. That would make both, a good exploration of the ancient/new gem culture and a good scenario for battles to develop, mix everything up and you have yourself a good movie plot.
Many wonder about the future of the series (as most of the more "important" plot points got resolved with the last episode released) and some even act like there is nothing left for the show to explore, but if the Crewniverse knows how to do it?, they have tons of things to add to the Steven Universe story (Traveling through each of Homeworld's old colonies to find the lost gems?, that could be awesome!)
But that is what I think that could happen. Let me know what you think about all of this!
EDIT: As Timeline15 said, the gem that appears in the movie's teaser seems to have a heart shaped gem in its chest. That reminded me of something: at one point in the comics Garnet battles a sentinel/monster that has a Harmony Core in i'ts chest. We've seen quite little about gem-powered artifacts such as lapis's mirror or the gems in the walls of Homeworld, maybe this is related?
EDIT 2: After four months or so, a kind stranger gave me gold in this post during my cake-day. That's actually a really good gift, thank you very much whoever you are!!

The previous release(s): SkyScrappers
Gal Metal / $29.99 · Arcade, Music, Adventure, Party · 1 player

Take down alien invaders with the power of metal!
One night while on his way home from school, a high school boy is abducted by the Octoids, an extraterrestrial species bent on revenge. The boy's soul is transplanted into a high school girl's body in a sinister experiment. Now sharing a body, the duo must work together with her high school band, K.M.G. (Kichijoji Metal Girls) to defeat the aliens with their greatest weakness: metal!
Turn the Joy-Con™ controllers into a pair of drum sticks in this brand-new rhythm game experience! Memorize drum lines and jam to 13 tracks without any sheet music or rhythm icons. How you rock is up to you!
Hold the Joy-Con™ controllers in your left and right hand as if they were real drum sticks and make music by swinging them up and down.
(Gal Metal also supports standard button and Touch Screen input.)
Swing the Joy-Con™(R) for the kick drum, the Joy-Con™(L) for the snare drum, and both at the same time for a cymbal crash.
Memorize various rhythm patterns by practicing solo or with your band and deploy them however you like to build up your Metal Power in concert battles against the Octoids.
Just using a single beat won’t be enough to rack up the points — showcase a variety of rhythm patterns and earn yourself combo bonuses. Master the art of metal and send those nasty aliens back where they came from!

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Jeopardy! / $19.99 · Party, Puzzle, Education · Up to 3 players

Play America’s Favorite Quiz Show® anytime, anywhere. Show off your knowledge and test your reflexes as you make your way to Final Jeopardy!®
Enjoy the game at home or on the go, or challenge players online. Show off your knowledge and test your reflexes playing America's Favorite Quiz Show®, Jeopardy!® Play Classic mode for the full, traditional experience, or Quick mode for a shorter, jam-packed session. Choose your favorite categories and unlock new ones as you progress in the game. Take advantage of over 2,000 clues, featuring photos, videos, and music. Get the whole family in on the action with Family mode, featuring specially adapted, family-friendly puzzles and clues.

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LEGO Harry Potter Collection / $49.99 · Adventure, Action · Up to 2 players

The LEGO® Harry Potter™ Collection brings LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 and LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 5-7 remastered! This compilation unites the creative prowess of LEGO and the expansive world of Harry Potter, with an exciting journey full of spell-casting, potion-making, puzzle-solving, lessons, dueling and much more for players of all ages to enjoy.

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Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition / $29.99 · Sports, Arcade, Multiplayer · Up to 4 players

Hellishly brutal arcade-style football game Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition is blitzing onto Nintendo Switch™, with new exclusive teams and gameplay content. The game is the spiritual successor to the retro classic Mutant League Football, with next generation deep strategy gameplay, bone-crunching, tooth-shattering hits, and a roster of ghouls delivering tongue-through-cheek humor. Oh, and blood. Lots of blood. Mutant Football League delivers intense online action, deep strategy, and deadly humor. Fantastical arenas full of ruthless fans and deadly traps set the stage for mayhem in every contest that allows players to win by highest score or by killing and eradicating their opponents.
Dynasty Edition includes Dynasty Mode, a single player experience where you become the coach and GM of your favorite Mutant Football League team and take a group of unproven rookies and turn them into monstrous all-stars by winning multiple Mayhem Bowls over several seasons to become the league’s next Dynasty. It includes multiple season gameplay, player trades, cumulative player experience (XP), salary management, custom playbooks and free agent signings. The Dynasty Edition also introduces two brand new species, four new teams, several new Dirty Tricks and of course, more fantastical arenas full of ruthless fans and deadly traps.

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OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes / $19.99 · Action, Fighting, Adventure, Arcade · 1 player

Based on the hit Cartoon Network show, this game stars pint-sized hero K.O. as he punches, slide-kicks, combos and power-moves his way through hordes of evil Boxmore robots on an epic quest to save Lakewood Plaza Turbo from the maniacal Lord Boxman. In this story-driven adventure game meets action-packed cartoon brawler, level up your stats to unlock powerful new fight moves, collect the cards of all your favorite Plaza characters and then call them into battle to unleash off-the-wall attacks across tons of crazy quests.

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RISK Global Domination / $19.99 · Strategy, Board Game, Party, Multiplayer · Up to 5 players

Lead your troops to victory in this modern version of the classic RISK® game, with enhanced 3D visuals, custom rules, and tactical gameplay. Play at home or on the go with up to four players, or play solo against opponents online from around the world.
Classic rules with a twist: Play with the standard rules or choose Capture the Capitals for a shorter game.
Modern battle map: Direct your troops from a high-tech control room and get tactical advice to help you reach your objectives.
Exciting rewards: Unlock epic videos of tank battles, air combat, and more as you lead your troops to victory.
Challenge yourself online: Play against opponents from around the world or take on the best of the best in League Play.
Thanks to the Nintendo Switch™ system, you can now enjoy RISK® anytime, anywhere! Play at home on your TV screen or on the go with the tabletop and handheld modes.

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Save me Mr Tako: Tasukete Tako-San / $9.99 sale ($14.99 normally) · Adventure, Action, Platformer · 1 player

A Blast From the Portable-Gaming Past!
In a world where humans and octopi are at war, Mr Tako is a persistently helpful little octopus who rescues a woman from drowning one stormy night. A fairy sees this act of bravery and grants him the ability to survive on land, where he can turn enemies into platforms by spitting ink at them. As he travels across the surface world, Mr Tako defies his family and his people to try to resolve conflicts between humans and octopi.
Mr Tako will solve puzzles, explore mysterious dungeons and fight tenacious bosses on his mission to end the war between the undersea octopus kingdom and the terrestrial human world. Will you help this brave octopus to spread his message of tolerance and teach both species to coexist in peace and unity?

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Sports Party / $39.99 · Sports, Party, Arcade · Up to 4 players

Sports Party brings the sun, sea, and sports right to your fingertips! Whether at home or on the go, challenge your family and friends to Frisbee, Jet Ski, Basketball, Golf, Skateboarding, and Beach Tennis to claim victory!
Enjoy Frisbee, Jet Ski, Basketball, Golf, Skateboarding, and Beach Tennis! Play each sport your way with various modes and controls for endless fun. Fully customize your avatar! New items will be unlocked as you progress! Easy-to-pick-up controls make this game fun for everyone, from kids to grandparents.
Have fun wherever you go! Whether battling with four players using Nintendo Switch™ motion controls, taking on a friend, or just playing on your own.

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Steven Universe: Save the Light / $24.99 · Role-Playing, Adventure, Action, Platformer · 1 player

Join the Crystal Gems on the ultimate quest! A mysterious new Gem has stolen a powerful weapon. Only Steven and his friends have what it takes to stop her. “Save the Light” is a unique RPG hybrid that combines real-time and turn-based combat.
7 PLAYABLE CHARACTERS: Completely customize your party. Fight an army of light as Steven, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Connie, Greg, and Peridot! Bust out unique abilities to solve puzzles and battle the bad guys.
A NEW GEM: Face off against an all-new Homeworld Gem created by Rebecca Sugar. Who is this powerful warrior and what’s she doing back on Earth?
FUSIONS: Team up for incredible combo moves and Gem Fusions! Fuse to play as Stevonnie, Smoky Quartz, Opal, Sardonyx, and Sugilite!
BEACH CITY AND BEYOND: Explore and interact with expansive 3D environments. Travel to ancient Gem locations all over the world, including Strawberry Battlefield, The Great North, and Bismuth's Forge.
ORIGINAL VO: “Save the Light” features an original story co-written by Rebecca Sugar, and voices from the Steven Universe cast and special guest star Christine Baranski.

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TRIVIAL PURSUIT Live! / $19.99 · Party, Board Game, Education, Multiplayer · Up to 4 players

Experience the thrill of competing on a TV trivia game show at home or on the go. Featuring different question formats to challenge players from beginner to expert. You can even take on players from around the world in online play. For up to four players.
Customize your gameplay: Choose your favorite categories, question-and-answer formats, and even your game length. Inclusive for everyone through adapted difficulty levels and unique catch-up game rounds.
Get the whole family on board: Kid-friendly questions let the whole family play together! Play in teams with up to four players with the Versus mode.

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Wheel of Fortune / $19.99 · Puzzle, Party, Board Game · Up to 3 players

Play as a contestant on Wheel of Fortune®, America's favorite TV show, anytime, anywhere! Spin the wheel and put your brain to the test against thousands of unique puzzles. Play solo or challenge players online. Enjoy an authentic TV-show experience with Wheel of Fortune®. Spin the wheel, win special wedges, and experience true-to-the-TV-show rules. Win iconic in-game prizes such as luxurious trips, cars, and up to one million dollars.
Enjoy Classic mode for the original experience, or Quick mode to solve only one puzzle when time is short. Unlock items and personalize your game by upgrading your contestant avatar and the studio set.

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Yomawari: The Long Night Collection / $39.99 · Adventure, Action, Puzzle, Other · 1 player

Traverse the haunting world of Yomawari: Night Alone as a young girl searches for her sister, or share in the terror facing schoolgirls Yui and Haru in Yomawari: Midnight Shadows. Uncover the mysteries plaguing a rural Japanese town, hide from the things lurking in the night, and maybe get home alive...

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Did you buy anything? How did it run? What are your first impressions? Does it seem worth it?

Episodes 1-2 Episodes 3-4 Episodes 5-6 Episodes 7-8 Episodes 9-10 Episodes 11-12 Episodes 13-14 Episodes 15-16 Episodes 17-18 Episodes 19-20 Episodes 21-22 Episodes 23-24 Episodes 25-26 Episodes 27-28 Episodes 29-30 Episodes 31-32 Episodes 33-34 Episodes 35-36 Episodes 37-38 Episodes 39-40 Episodes 41-42 Episodes 43-44 Episodes 45-46 Episodes 47-48 Episodes 49-50 Episodes 51-52

Season 1 Retrospective and Review

Okay, guys, this is my summative review of all of season 1! I’m going to start by giving a review of everything on my top ten list, followed by a (probably awkward) discussion of season 1 as a whole, and then I’m going to end with my thoughts on where season 2 might go with the show. I’ve watched all of these episodes once again, and listened to all of the music, to give myself a better sense of them. After revisiting these, and after thinking about how I decided to review these, I’ve moved a few things around, so this list might look a little different than how it looked after the finale reaction. On a side note, I have absolutely no idea how long this post is going to be, so please forgive it for its length or brevity!

BGM Discussion-

I’ve included a link to each song so that you can refresh your memory of it if you don’t remember how it sounds.

10. Watermelon Steven

I love this song. It gives me such a wonderful Legend of Zelda vibe. It’s got the chiptune/guitar aspect that a lot of the topdown Zelda’s have, especially Link Between Worlds, which I’ve played an absolutely absurd amount of. It’s simple, short, and full of heart, and I absolutely adore every second of it!

9. Love like you(The Ocean Returns)

What a sweet and heartfelt rendition of the ending theme. It’s genuinely beautiful to hear this song, and especially its incredible intro. It reminds me of a Pixar song. Maybe it’s only because I’ve recently rewatched Finding Nemo, but I keep thinking of Nemo Egg when I listen to this song. What a beautiful moment this song creates.

8. The Hill/Rose’s Fountain

What an astonishing song. It feels like I’m getting hit in the face everytime I listen to this song, because it carries such incredible raw emotion with it. It has a wonderful and sweet intro, and also a deliciously funky little bassline in the second half. I would love to hear more of this soft and ambient music. It’s not quite Rose’s theme, because this is how Steven thinks of Rose, and I think that it’s incredible beautiful for it.

7. The Cave

What an ambience this song has. It’s a little exploratory, a little sad, and quite wonderfully emotional. Something quick that I noticed is that this song and ‘Be Cool at the Club’ are the only songs that make us of the echoing clap.. This song has a lot of small accentuations that really make it feel vibrant. Little bits of instruments come and go, supporting this constant theme of exploration, and the second half of the song is incredibly beautiful to listen to. It’s wonderful.

6. Alone Together

What a jazzy, upbeat song! I love it’s use of echoes to fill space. It has this constant beat that suggests movement, giving it this fantastic dance vibe that really stands out among the other songs in the show. Like everything in this episode, it feels like it has a slightly sound to the rest of the show, the beginnings of a self-exploratory sound that just resonates perfectly with what Steven and Connie feel together.

5. Night Drive.

As usual, the top of my BGM list is dominated by subtlety and ambience, and this song is no exception. It encapsulates the feeling of, well, a Night Drive. It’s got a sleepy vibe to it, with a lazy guitar and quiet bass. It’s fun, but it doesn’t need to try for it. It’s quiet, simple, and nostalgic to hear. What a fantastic song.

4. Twilight Run

What I consider a sequel to Alone Together, Twilight Run takes the emotions starting in Alone Together and absolutely runs with them, documenting the feeling of discovering yourself perfectly. The piano at the end of the song absolutely breaks my heart every time I hear it. It’s got such a sound of completion. This song is amazing.

3. Lapis Tower.

Wow. This song takes ambience to the next level. My favorite aspect of this song is its expert use of space. It’s unafraid to have long moments of quietness, accentuated by echoing, otherworldy sounds. It’s recreation of ‘Lapis Lazuli’ struck me as powerful, too. We had never heard a song quite like this before in Steven Universe, and it really stuck. It absolutely encompassed the emotions of Steven and Lapis’ conversation perfectly.

2. Glitch City.

If any one song could try to encapsulate the quietness of nighttime in the city, this is the one to do it. We hear echoes of events far in the distance, the sounds of 1,000 little ticks and oddities, and yet we never learn more about them. They come into our consciousness and leave just as quickly. It has this sense of aimlessness to it that really strikes me as powerful. I love it with a passion. There’s only one god damn song that could take the number one spot from this one...

1. I’m Still Here

Fuck me, this song is good. My absolute favorite part of the entire song is the opening. We hear the song come in, but it’s already been playing before the song starts. The song has always been there, and we just never heard it. It’s an incredible motif for the relationship between Steven, Pearl, and Rose. Without a doubt, this is the best song in the show. It carried the entire ending of Rose’s Scabbard, for god’s sake!

Vocal Track Discussion-

Similar to the BGM discussion, I’ve included a link to each of these songs.

5. Just a Comet

What a fucking wonderful 80’s hair rocker song! This is probably the only song so far where I love Greg’s voice because he’s destined to be a rocker. I love the subtle layering on this song, and it’s got some great guitar work. It’s a wonderful little pastiche of the absurdity of the 80’s. I like this song quite a bit. I’m going to also say that the “music video” for this song is amazing.

4. Be wherever you are

Steven really shows his great voice talent here. I love the tone of this song a lot, actually. The fiddle adds a ton of strength to the song, and the standup bass sounds fantastic. The song has a great sense of building, and really sounds like people just started jamming on a beat and key. I guess I just love a good ol’ fashioned hoedown! I’m also consistently impressed by Zach Callison’s voice throughout the entire song. We haven’t had much of a chance to hear his unfiltered voice, and I really like it. He has a surprisingly good range!

3. Strong in the Real Way

Fuck, Deedee Magno has a voice. This is probably the most creatively written song in the entire show, actually. The rhyming is genuinely impressive, and I love the way it’s put together. I also love the dichotomy of the phrase, ‘Strong in the Real Way’. Steven and Pearl use identical lyrics to mean completely opposite ideas, and it comes through in this powerful song. The nice part of the song is that both characters are reacting off of Sugilite, and yet neither character ever directly references her. This song is absolutely wonderful, and I hope to hear more like it.

2. On the Run

This song has an incredibly good sense of wanderlust throughout. It perfectly encapsulates the desire to just go. It’s got a real indie-folk sound to it, and actually reminds me a lot of The Lumineers. It’s a quiet little song with a lot of emotions behind it. I like that you can hear an arc throughout the song, in terms of the music. It starts out with an excited ‘preparing to go’ tone, moves into a ‘in the process of traveling’ tone, and ends with a quiet ‘end of an adventure’ tone. It’s really subtle, but it’s absolutely wonderful to hear.

1. Stronger Than You

This song is fucking badass. I could end this right here, I think, but I’ll talk about the song. Estelle has a great voice, and the song has a wonderful tone to it. I think that the electronica vibe combined with Estelle’s vocals/humming really makes this song stick in my mind. It also has a lot of really fun lyrics, with some great rhyming, and a really good backing track with some small, but interesting, accentuations. It really encapsulates who Garnet is. She’s badass, and she’s fun, and she’s got a powerful voice, and the lyrics really add to this sense of who she is. As the fusion of Ruby and Sapphire, she is literally a being made entirely of love, and you get this sense that she’s happy just being herself in this song. It’s fucking good, okay?

Episode Discussion-

So, I’ve rewatched all of these episodes to get a better sense of them, and I’m also going to include some of my favorite moments in each episode after the discussion.

10. Laser Light Cannon

An absolute treat of an episode, this one definitely deserves my number 10 spot. The episode is fascinating because it writes the characters in such a way that you don’t need to understand what’s happening. It rides exclusively on the emotions of the cast, and makes a fantastic, FLCL-esque episode out of it. Some of my favorite moments are-

• JK this episode isn’t my actual number 10.

10. Mirror Gem

What a great and horrifying episode. The slow descent into madness really made this episode special, I think. Watching Steven go from playing with a mirror to what might as well have been Unspeakable Evil was an absolute treat. Watching the gems react to this whole situation was equally wonderful. The best part of this episode, though, was undoubtedly the reveal of Lapis, and the ‘Shit is going down what the fuck’ experience. This was the first episode where we stepped outside of the realm of our character development episodes, and it hit like a real brick. Some of my favorite moments are-

• Tennis Connie.
  
• Pearl being Pearl.
  
• More of the above.
  
• This creepy shit.
  
• This shot.
  
• Garnet Full of Rage. (Ha! References are funny!)
  
• This nightmare fuel.
  
• This shot.
  
• This eerie ritualistic shot.
  
• Lapis.
  
• ”I’m Lapis Lazuli, and you can’t keep me here anymore!”
  

9. An Indirect Kiss

Our first harcore Connieverse-shipping episode, this episode was also equally about Steven’s relationship to Rose, and a little Amethyst in there. We also got the first hints of Pearl’s relationship with Rose here. The music in this episode was absolutely beautiful, and especially at Rose’s Fountain. The scene where Steven talks about how he can’t cry because he never knew his mom was wonderful. Some of my favorite moments are-

• Steve-O.
  
• Googly eyes.
  
• The power of moe.
  
• The inspiration for this work of art.
  
• Pearl’s freakout.
  
• This scene.
  
• This wonderful moment.
  
• Dramatic Ending Pose.
  

8. Jailbreak.

What an end to a season! Full of drama, revelations, and badass lesbians beating the shit out of space rocks! Seriously, this whole episode was just great. Ruby and Sapphire were a treat, and I hope we see more of them, and learning that Garnet was a fusion was great, especially considering that I had already been thinking about it. Seeing Garnet fight against Jasper was especially awesome, and Estelle’s song was just wonderful. This whole episode was just fucking awesome! Some of my favorite moments are-

• Humming over blackness.
  
• Basically all of Ruby.
  
• Defeated Lapis.
  
• Sapphire’s hair. It looks like delicious candy!
  
• These fucking two.
  
• The big reveal.
  
• Garnet fighting Jasper, and “Stronger than You.”
  
• Jasper and Lapis’ relationship.
  
• ArmsLegs.
  

7. Winter Forecast

What started out as an average episode that probably wouldn’t have made my top ten list at all changed dramatically during the last 20 seconds with one of the best endings to any episode, ever. I didn’t realize until the end of this episode, but this is a straight up sequel to Alone Together, documenting the character changes that both Steven and Connie went through after their experience together, and watching these two characters together was an absolute treat. Without a doubt, though, the scene at the end, where they watch the snow with no dialogue or music, was incredible. Some of my favorite moments are-

• ”Bone Marrow!”
  
• Steve-O.
  
• Greg and his cherries.
  
• This red herring.
  
• This entire scene.
  
• This shot.
  
• Also this shot.
  
• Especially this shot.
  

6. Coach Steven

Coach Steven was an unexpected rollercoaster of a ride. At the time, the only fusion that we had seen was Opal, who was such an incredible and positive character, so seeing Sugilite being such a powerfully negative force was an absolute shock. The music was great, the animation was great, and Nicki Minaj was great, but the absolute winner of this episode was Deedee Magno. Seriously, her perfect delivery, and singing talent, made this episode incredible. Watching her battle with Sugilite, her insecurities, and her issues with the past were incredible. It doesn’t hurt that Strong in the Real Way is such a fantastic song with multiple, complex meanings, and that Pearl has an equally complicated relationship with Steven, Sugilite, and, now that we know this, Rose. Some of my favorite moments are-

• Super Steven.
  
• pearlface.
  
• Pearl’s embarassed, and slightly aroused, reaction to seeing Garnet and Amethyst fuse, and her subsequent attempt to stop Steven from seeing it.
  
• Funky dancing.
  
• Sexual dancing.
  
• Sugilite.
  
• Actually Sugilite.
  
• The sheer fact that this character is voiced by Nicki Minaj.
  
• Poor Grego.
  
• ”...no.”
  
• Strong in the Real Way. (Which I somehow do not have a single screenshot for. Why?!)
  
• ”You...ain’t...nothin’!”
  
• Pearl looking back at the temple for strength.
  
• Pearl still being emotional, even after she’s prepared herself.
  
• Goop Hug!
  

5. Ocean Gem

What a wonderful end to a season(ish)! It really was a culmination of everything we’d seen until then. Seriously, 24 episodes of character development were used perfectly here, creating one of the most exciting episodes of the show. Seeing all of our characters together, on screen, ready for some big fight, was one of my favorite moments from the show. The mirror battle was absolutely wonderful, and had some wonderful excitement. Seriously, though, what brought this episode so high was the two minute scene at the end between Steven and Lapis. What a beautifully animated location! Their quiet discussion had huge impact after the massive climax of the mirror battle, and there was a really sense of space in the dialogue. Long periods of little happening created this serene sense of wonder. Honestly, what a great way to end the season. Not with a bang, but with an infinitely more powerful silence. What a fun episode! Some of my favorite moments are-

• Steven taking responsibility for his actions.
  
• pearlface.
  
• Pearlmethyst.
  
• This beauty.
  
• Connieverse shipping.
  
• ”Guys, I just had the best idea for an album.”
  
• This wonderful mirror fight.
  
• ORAORAORAORAORAORA!MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!
  
• ”Revenge!”
  
• The reappearance of Steven’s shield.
  
• Space.
  
• More space.
  
• This shot, which is probably my second favorite shot in the entire show.
  
• Lapis’ animation change.
  
• Sadie and Lars.
  

4. Lion 3: Straight to Video

I loved this episode. It was a simple episode with soul wrenching emotion that left me devastated. We take our first look at Rose nearly 35 episodes in, and as a result, feel very similar to Steven. Rose doesn’t need to be some badass motherfucking warrior, although I’m sure that she is, because Steven wants to know about her. The emotions of the episode soared for me when we first see Rose’s tree. Clearly, everything there is important to her. The photo of Rose, along with the t-shirt that Greg gave her, are important mementos, and something about the visuals absolutely destroyed me. The tape that Rose left Steven was an absolute wash of emotions. I could barely stop to pause it because it had such a heavy sense of unadulterated love. It genuinely felt like I was drowning in it when I first watched the episode. The subplot with Sadie’s mom was also incredibly well done, and probably had less than 20 seconds of time dedicated to it, and yet it ended up being one of the biggest emotional punches of the episode. Some of my favorite moments are-

• Whatever the fuck this is.
  
• This glorious face.
  
• Steven’s dreams.
  
• The power of moe.
  
• Literally everything here.
  
• Especially this.
  
• The contents of this fucking tape.
  
• Rose’s first appearance.
  
• Rose and Greg’s clear love for one another, and Steven.
  

3. On the Run

This episode was a big surprise to me when I saw it. What started out as a wonderful episode that encapsulated the feeling of wanderlust in a stunning way quickly became a dark introspective look into Amethyst’s character. It was a big tonal shift that reminded me that these episodes could become deadly serious at any moment, something that certainly keeps me more interested in some of the smaller episodes of the show. The climax between Amethyst and Pearl was powerful, dramatic, and full of raw emotion. It introduced to us one of the eeriest locations on television, and began to make us realize that the gems might not be as perfect as we thought that they would be. Some of my favorite moments are-

• Amethyst. Just Amethyst.
  
• The No-Home Boys and their disastrous graphic novel adaptation.
  
• This entire song.
  
• This absolutely gorgeous shot.
  
• The Kindergarten and its bacteriophages.
  
• This lovely reference.
  
• This really creepy shot.
  
• ”I never asked to be made!”
  
• Goop hug.
  

2. Rose’s Scabbard.

Man, what an episode. This one really takes the cake, or at least in terms of Steven Universe. Its absolutely stunning animation and incredible music already put it near the top, but its beautiful depiction of Pearl’s relationship with Rose and Steven is incredible. Once again, this show manages to fuck me up with its queer relationships, and I absolutely cried for at least a third of this episode. This show took its time building up Pearl for an emotional moment, and when it happened, it was enormous. The visuals alone were heartbreaking, and the entire last minute and a half of the episode was positively beautiful. Watching Pearl struggle through her grief, only to come out a changed character, was powerful, mostly due to Deedee Magno’s incredible delivery. Seriously, though, the highlight of this episode is “I’m Still Here”, an incredible scene that manages to deliver a flurry of emotions through visuals and music alone. It’s honestly one of the best moments of the entire show, and rewatching it makes me cry every time. Without a doubt, this episode is one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen of any show, ever. It’s almost reached ‘Tales Of Ba Sing Se’ levels of incredible! Some of my favorite moments are-

• Pearl and Lion.
  
• Potat-O.
  
• The human papoose.
  
• Garnet’s silence.
  
• This incredible shot. Seriously, it’s amazing.
  
• ”Sometimes, you even sound like her.”
  
• This.
  
• ”Well, I think you’re pretty great.”
  
• This incarnation of Pearl.
  
• Pearl’s instinctual honor of Rose’s flag.
  
• Pearl’s haunted stare.
  

1. Alone Together

Yes, I’m an animal. I put Alone Together back on top. What are you gonna do about it, huh? I could pretend like it had something to do with subtle changes in how I view the episode, but in all honesty, I just realized that it didn’t really make any sense to ignore how important this episode is to me. Yes, this is a great episode. It’s beautiful to look at, the music is wonderful, and it has extremely creative and fun writing. Yes, these things alone would have put this episode high on my list. What really made this episode unique, not only for Steven Universe but for all of animation, was its incredible messages about identity, sexuality, adolescence and consent. This may be the most important episode of any animated show I’ve ever seen. Its strong message of inclusivity and understanding are powerful beyond words to children growing up without positive reinforcement of their sexuality or gender. I was genuinely shocked by how much this episode spoke to me, and I’ve already gone through my discovery of my own sexuality. I can’t even imagine what an incredible boon this must be for teens still in confusion about what their sexuality means. I was genuinely in tears in this episode, because it hit me like a fucking truck, and I was just blown away. Hell, writing this mockup’s making me a little emotional. I’ve never seen any episode like this one before. If I was rating these out of 10, this episode would make the number score meaningless, because its themes of identity and individuality transcend beyond the quality of an episode and become instead emotional catharsis. Fuck. This episode should be required viewing in school. Some of my favorite moments are-

• Steven trying to learn how to dance.
  
• This smooth shit.
  
• Stevonnie not knowing how to move.
  
• This. (Especially with the context that Garnet is a fusion.)
  
• This entire scene, but this shot in particular.
  
• This wonderful and playful scene.
  
• This shot.
  
• This subtle dialogue.
  
• This gorgeous dancing.
  
• This cutie.
  
• Their panic attack at the dance party.
  
• Kevin and his objectification of Stevonnie.
  
• This ending.
  

Season 1 Roundup

What a fantastic first season of a show. Seriously, this was an incredible first step, and I can’t wait to see where this goes. I loved everything about this show. It had wonderfully clever characters, fantastic animation, incredible themes, beautiful music, astonishingly good continuity, and extremely funny humor. I started this series a few weeks ago knowing that I would probably only be able to get one or two reactions a week out, and yet we all saw where that plan went. Seriously, this first season was incredible, and there’s so much that we still don’t know! I’ve been told that Season 2 is where the show starts to get into Maximum Overdrive, so I can’t wait to see what comes up next. We've seen that Peridot escaped, and that ArmsLegs is somewhere in the ocean, and we haven't seen the Pearl/Garnet fusion yet, so I'm guessing we'll be spending most of season 2 exploring those. Steven Universe, you’re a-fucking-okay!
On a side note, I may be slowing down these reactions a little going into season 2 for a bit. I’d say keep an eye out for a reaction about every 2 days until the end of next week, when school ends. Then it’s going to be a mad dash to the end! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me this far. I never expected this to be anywhere this big, and everyday I see you guys and smile. You guys are so incredibly positive, and I feel lucky to be in this incredible community. Thank you guys so much! Finally, a question-

• What was your favorite moment from this reaction series so far?

Until Next Time!

Episodes 1-2 Episodes 3-4 Episodes 5-6 Episodes 7-8 Episodes 9-10 Episodes 11-12 Episodes 13-14 Episodes 15-16 Episodes 17-18 Episodes 19-20 Episodes 21-22 Episodes 23-24 Episodes 25-26 Episodes 27-28 Episodes 29-30 Episodes 31-32 Episodes 33-34 Episodes 35-36 Episodes 37-38 Episodes 39-40 Episodes 41-42 Episodes 43-44 Episodes 45-46 Episodes 47-48 Episodes 49-50 Episodes 51-52 Episodes 53-54 Episodes 55-56 Episodes 57+misc Episodes 58-59 Episodes 60-61
Time for another reaction! Yinz know the rules, keep spoiler free and keep the hype low, and let’s get into the episodes!

Episode 62- Chille Tid

Steven and the Crystal Gems try to relax with a slumber party.
Written and Storyboarded by Lamar Abrams and Lauren Zuke

• I don’t recognize this writer. I wonder if this is the new writer pairing, or if this is a one-off.
  
• “What’s the matter, Pierogi? You tired?” Uh...why is Amethyst drowing Steven?
  
• “I don’t get tired, I get results.” I know that feeling, Pearl.
  
• “Was the sign for,’pull me up’, one wiggle or two?”
  
• The flashlight returns?! My life is complete.
  
• So, we’re looking for ArmsLegs, huh?
  
• Also, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t on before, and I didn’t hear any cues that suggested that it was being turned on, so it was a little jarring to just have it be there.
  
• “This is why we wear lifejackets.”
  
• I love this man.
  
• “It feels like we’ve been searching for lightyears!” “Uh, lightyears measures light, not years.” Uh...that doesn’t really make any sense. That’s like saying ‘Mph’s measure cars”. It doesn’t measure the object that travels, it measures the distance the object travels.
  
• What a treasure trove this episode is turning out to be.
  
• “Safety’s no punchline, Pearl.” Yeah, Steven! Lay it down!
  
• “Is Lapis gonna be okay?” Yes, I also have this question.
  
• “Don’t worry, Lapis. We won’t let you sleep with the fishes.” Ha! It’s a double pun! Fishes because water, and sleep because they’re tired! Genius!
  
• “I win.”
  
• “We should be out there searching, not in here not searching!”
  
• Wait, why are they tired? They don’t sleep, right?
  
• “Maybe we can throw a little fun into the mix with a slumber party!” Oh, okay. It’s going to be one of those episodes, is it?
  
• “It’ll be like there isn’t a vengeful fusion boiling the ocean with hatred!”
  
• What’s that, Chekhov? You think that this episode is a rest from the action for both the gems and the audience? I dunno, seems unlikely.
  
• So we have a slumber party with Steven, Pearl and Amethyst. This sounds absolutely wonderful.
  
• “I’ll pass on the SlumberPals.”
  
• Pearl doesn’t know how to sleep? That’s actually amazing.
  
• “Okay. Alright. I’m sleeping now. I’m sleeping.”
  
• Woah, what is this? Are we getting some exciting Steven dreams?
  
• “Steven Universe is filmed before a live studio audience!”
  
• Wait a second, Pearl doesn’t have her gem! Is Steven dreaming about a human Pearl?
  
• This is everything I ever wanted in my life!
  
• Just look at her. She’s amazing. This is amazing.
  
• “Bunga-Kowa!”
  
• The laugh track in the back is making this approximately 10 times more amazing.
  
• Oh my god, they all cheer when they see Garnet. Seriously, whoever came up with this idea deserves a raise.
  
• “Chille Tid!” I don’t actually know what this means, but same.
  
• He’s going to The Big Dance? But the prom’s tomorrow!
  
• Wait, shit, I already used that joke. Just pretend like you haven’t seen it before, okay?
  
• ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” q:^)
  
• Oh no… This isn’t going to be a silly, fun episode, is it?
  
• Man, this is a pretty eerie image, actually.
  
• Something interesting that I just noticed. Before, Lapis’ hair went forwards, but here it’s actually going out to the sides, like ArmsLegs’ hair.
  
• Okay, this is really creepy stuff. I like that Steven immediately realizes that this isn’t normal, too. I feel like a lot of shows would have ran with Steven thinking that it was a dream for some time, but it feels like he knows right away that something’s up.
  
• Pearl interrupts the dream? Unlucky.
  
• Oh, I just realized, Pearl was actually just watching Steven sleep, wasn’t she?
  
• “Well that doesn’t make any sense. Lapis is fused with Jasper at the bottom of the ocean.”
  
• I quite like the idea that Pearl’s never slept before in her life. It’s always wonderful, watching Steven introduce her to aspects of human life.
  
• I wish I could remember my dreams like Steven. I forget almost all of my dreams when I wake up, and even the ones I remember are more bits of visuals or emotions than anything solid.
  
• ”Why did I agree to raise this smol child?”
  
• Is our boy Dogcopter going to enlighten us on the sociopolitical climate of cartoons in the United States?
  
• Or he could meow. That’s a fair point.
  
• “I hope the rumors about Dogcopter in the tabloids aren’t true.” I just avoid learning anything about celebrities for this very reason. It’s one of the reasons I don’t look up any musicians that I like. Also, I don’t like knowing what a musician looks like. Does anyone else feel that way?
  
• Steven should realize that this is a dream right away. There’s no way Pearl would eat anything.
  
• Pearl gave Steven a rocket boost? Nice and spicy.
  
• By the ways, I am looking very intently for any subtle hints or metaphors we might get in this dream, but I don’t think I’ve found anything really substantial yet.
  
• I like how this looks. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a single color dominating most of the screen, but it just looks fantastic. It’s very clean looking, I think.
  
• By the ways, have yinz seen the behind the scenes video for Samurai Jack? I’m very excited for it now.
  
• Lapis! Like, the actual Lapis? It seems like it, but what does that mean? How is Steven able to communicate with her?
  
• Ew, what the hell is this?
  
• We got interrupted again? We had better not get left on a cliffhanger.
  
• Her dream gets displayed through per gem? And she’s dreaming about being with Rose? That’s cute. Also pretty sad.
  
• Rose’s Theme is playing in the background?
  
  • “Pearl, thank you so much....For fixing my van!”
• Hey, at least it’s not Uncle Grandpa.
  
• I love the unearthly sound that comes from his mouth as this happens.
  
• I like that Pearl immediately realizes that Steven’s serious and stops to listen to him. We’re seeing Steven mature, and the people around him are starting to respect him in a more adult way.
  
• “Steven, you could be using your dreams to connect with her mentally.” How, though? What allows him to do this?
  
• “Maybe Lapis can just tell you where they are.” Hm… I don’t think she will. Remember that whole ‘You’re going to be my prisoner forever’ thing?
  
• “Oh! I know this is a dream, now.” Okay, so we’re lucid dreaming now. Will this impact how Steven can interact with Lapis?
  
• “I can imagine anything I want, like...a mashed potato.” Is not potato but is actually in fact fish “Hrm…”
  
• That is not Lion Steven that is clearly ArmsLegs!
  
• This is very interesting, visualy. Lapis said that Jasper would be her prisoner, but it looks more like she’s being held here than anything else.
  
• Woah, that’s cool. She’s holding them down with the weight of the entire ocean? How strong is ArmsLegs then? Jesus!
  
• Woah, this is absolutely awesome looking! So they’re each fighting to be in control, and only one of them can be on top at any one time? What a fascinating relationship they have with each other.
  
• ”You…”
  
• I’m not going to lie, I leaned away from my monitor when she said that.
  
• Man, this whole scene is really well done. This music is pretty fantastic, too. It actually kind of reminds me a little of Cell’s Theme, but with less of an emphasis on being badass and more on creepy horror.
  
• Man, what a beautiful shot. Seriously, show someone Gem Glow and then show them this image, and I doubt that they’d even realize it’s the same show.
  
• “Don’t look for me. I don’t want your help!” Yikes. Lapis clearly needs help, but she’s so stuck in this weird power struggle mentality that she doesn’t want it at all.
  
• “Just let me do this for you!” Seriously, what is it with the Lapis-Pearl similarities? We keep seeing them share lines and delivery over and over again. There’s got to be a reason for it.
  
• “We’re Malachite now.” Malachite? What a cool fucking name! It’s just got a great ring to it.
  
• Oh, I see, they modeled their...mindscape place...after the actual gemstone.
  
• Wow, what a terrifying shot. Something about the emotions on Malachite’s face really interest me, though. There’s confusion, surprise, and some subdued anger.
  
• Aw…
  
• “Amethyst was on a skateboard, and then Dogcopter meowed at, and then was just not interested in what I had to say at all, and I might have some issues I need to work out, but Lapis! She’s out there and she’s still-” “Sh...I know you’re worried, but there’s nothing we can do right now, so let’s take it easy.
  
• “That’s pretty convincing.”
  

Closing Thoughts-

This was a really great episode. First off, learning Malachite’s name was really cool, and the way we learned it was even better. Everything in that scene was pretty amazing. The animation was especially fantastic there, I think. The way Lapis and Jasper looked absolutely exhausted and defeated was really great, and their expressive emotions were really well animated. Most of the early stuff was really fun, especially anything with Pearl, and so hitting the dark stuff with Lapis was really unexpected and carried a lot of weight. I thought this would be a lighter episode, but it turns out that there’s no such thing in Steven Universe! I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes, so let’s get into the next episode.

Episode 63- Cry For Help

Steven's favorite TV show gets interrupted by a magical disturbance.
Written and Storyboarded by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu

• A Jeff-Joe episode?
  
• Oh, dear. Is this the much-lauded Crying Breakfast Friends?
  
• “I don’t get this cartoon, man.” Me neither, Amethyst. Me neither.
  
• Wait, so what’s up with the TV? Why’s it going haywire?
  
• Oh, I was not expecting that. So Peridot hijacked television stations? What for?
  
• Oh, okay. She’s broadcasting on all frequencies, so the TV picking it up was unintentional. I guess we know where the ‘Cry For Help’ comes from.
  
• Show this imagine to someone who hasn’t seen Steven Universe and ask them what they think.
  
• This looks familiar…
  
• Oh! This is the place that Sugilite destroyed.
  
• “You guys should form Sugilite!” Maybe not the best idea, considering what happened last time. Still, Amethyst and Garnet are pretty different now, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
  
• Nevermind, I guess they’re not going with Sugilite. I don’t think Opal would be equipped to handle this, and the gems on their own wouldn’t, so either the tower doesn’t get destroyed right away, or we finally get to see Garnet and Pearl fuse.
  
• I love when we see Garnet’s eyes.
  
• Look at how tiny she looks!
  
• “let’s fuse.”
  
• “Don’t cry, Pearl.”
  
• This is so interesting. Why did Amethyst and Pearl both react so strongly to fusing with Garnet? Is there something special about it? Maybe it’s because Garnet’s already a fusion. You’d think they would have a similar reaction when they formed Alexandrite, though, if that was the case.
  
• “Hang on. It’s been such a long time.” Man, they keep getting more and more direct with the sexuality involved in fusion. I love it!
  
• Wow, that’s really sensual. I don’t think I could imagine seeing something like this in a children’s cartoon 5 years ago.
  
• Then again, five years ago I was a snotty little brat who probably thought that I was too cool for cartoons. I don’t think there was much good on at the time, though.
  
• Man, I am loving this fusion dance a ton. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen one, and this one is really enjoyable to watch. I’m also very excited to see what exactly comes out of this fusion, though, so there might be a little bias there.
  
• Wait, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed this before, but their gems glow when they do fusion dances!
  
• This is so fucking radical!
  
• I’m dead.
  
• Oh wow, this is very cool looking. I really like her color scheme a ton.
  
• “This is the lovely Sardonyx coming to you live from the soon to be former communication hub. How are y’all doing tonight?” Interesting! She’s got a performance theme. I really was not expecting something like this. It’s really creative, and I don’t think I could have guessed anything like it at all.
  
• Also, I’ve noticed that I’ve slowly gotten used to the enormous amounts of hype this show gives me for fusions. Just so you know, I’m crazy excited, but I don’t think it would be very interesting to hear me say the same thing every time we saw a new fusion or character, so I try to tone it down a bit and keep to a discussionary tone.
  
• “Oh my stars, if it isn’t Steven Universe!” Man, Sardonyx really seems like that one cool aunt that loves hanging out with all of her nieces and nephews.
  
• I googled ‘Sardonyx’ to find out what the stone looked like and found this instead. Thank god Google’s got itself straight, right?
  
• “So, whaddya think? Was I worth the wait?” Wow. Sneaky, Crewniverse. Yes, Sardonyx, you were worth the wait.
  
• “What am I saying? Of course I was! Ahahahaha!”
  
• “I could literally squish you right now. It would not be hard!”
  
• “I haven’t exactly been myself lately.”
  
• I’ve been narrowing down exactly what I’m getting from Sardonyx, and it feels like she’s a performer or magican from Las Vegas. I could see her cohosting Penn and Teller easily.
  
• Interesting that Amethyst feels so down about this whole situation. I can really understand it, though. Garnet basically told Amethyst that she was the reason Sugilite failed, since Sardonyx is so ‘perfect’. I’m thinking that Cry For Help is going to have a second meaning, and we’re going to spend most of this episode dealing with the emotional baggage that Amethyst has.
  
• Okay, that’s awesome. Actually, Sardonyx is giving me a real “Fairly Odd Parents” vibe, too! Man, that show was so good before it was Spongebob’d.
  
• “Are you gonna smash stuff with your warhammer?” “Hm...Smash is the word one would use to describe what someone else might do.” Ah, I see we still have Pearl’s saltiness in there.
  
• “The proper words to describe yours truly are...Specific! Intelligent! Accurate! Faultless! Elegant… “ Man, I love the delivery on this line. It’s making it clear to me that Sardonyx has as many issues as Sugilite does, even if they’re not as apparent or outwardly destructive. She seems to enjoy making Amethyst feel absolutely awful. She’s a bully who seeks attention and hurts people in all the little, subtle ways that you can’t call her out on. The exact kind of person I hate the most. I’ve known a couple Sardonyx’s.
  
• Sardonyx also has amazing delivery. I wonder who her voice actress is…
  

Alexia Khamide, huh? She really nailed it here. Good Jorb, Alexia!

• I like how sensual they are when they defuse.
  
• Well, that was a lovely scene! I quite enjoyed that. I think I hate Sardonyx as a person, but she’s a really interesting character and I hope we get to see more of her.
  
• Well, now we’ve seen all of the Crystal Gem fusions. I think that, of the four of them, my favorite is probably Opal, even though we’ve seen so little of her.
  
• Okay, these two are kind of being unimaginably cute together right now. This is problematic for my Pearlmethyst shipping.
  
• Garnet’s “We were awesome” is kind of adorable. It’s a shame that all of these happy feelings are going to be twice as painful as they were adorable when we get to Amethyst.
  
• “Why, Pear? Why did you lie to me?” “I didn’t mean to…” Poor Pear. We might be getting a little metaphor here for Pearl and Garnet, I think. They hurt Amethyst without meaning too.
  
• Huh. The signal came back? I guess Peridot went and fixed the place again. Why didn’t Sardonyx fully destroy the place? Just absolutely ruin it?
  

Oh, I see. Sardonx, consciously or unconsciously, left the place unbroken so that she could be in the limelight again.

• Yeah, I really do not like Sardonyx. She’s putting people at risk and humiliating Amethyst. Clearly Garnet and Pearl are too caught up in themselves to notice what’s happening, but I hope Steven does soon, because I really feel absolutely awful for Amethyst. Nobody should have to go through something like that.
  
• Steven and I had the same face when Amethyst started singing.
  
• Man, this song is already starting off with some heavy emotions.
  
• “I had to use you to make me feel strong, but I don’t care about that now.” I’m already crying and we’re maybe 10 seconds into the song. Shit. I’m going to die here.
  
• “Can I make it up to you?” Jesus, that’s some tough stuff right there. Amethyst thinks that she’s to blame because Garnet, Pearl, and Sardonyx are all telling her. The worst part, though, is that there’s some truth to what they’re saying. Amethyst and Garnet messed up, and that’s partially Amethyst’s fault. She needs to realize, though, that it’s Garnet’s, too, and they need to find somewhere to meet in the middle here.
  
• They’re doing a stakeout for Peridot? I don’t think that’s going to magically solve all of their relationship issues.
  
• That’s some Team Rocket type stuff right there.
  
• I was not expecting to encounter this today.
  
• “It’s Peridot’s escape pod. She...fixed it somehow?” “But I thought we had it!” Oh...OH…
  
• So, which one is it going to be? Garnet or Pearl? Maybe both? But I don’t think Garnet would actually be on board with this one. What was it Amethyst said again? I had to use you to make me feel strong? Seems to me like Pearl is our lucky contender.
  
• Yeah, this is super shitty. Pearl’s lying to Garnet for emotional enjoyment. It’s basically sex under false pretenses. This is almost as shitty as what Sadie did to Lars.
  
• “Garnet! It’s the hub again.” What, like this one?
  
• “Stop!” I have no idea why, but I swear that Amethyst sounds exactly like Ash Ketchum here. Also, it’s good that Amethyst is stopping this before it can get any further. A relationship built on something as negative as this is bound to fail horribly.
  
• I love this shot. Being able to see both of them in real time is absolutely great for an emotional scene like this one. I could also pretty reasonably construct a metaphor about how we’re looking through Pearl’s perspective and she’s only seeing herself and what she did, although I don’t know if this will stand up at all to what’s about to happen.
  
• And Amethyst comes to Pearl’s defense here? That’s really interesting. I notice that we haven’t dealt with the emotional impact of Sardonyx hurting Amethyst yet, so I’m wondering if we’re going to hold onto that one for awhile. If there’s one thing characters in Steven Universe are good at, it’s holding onto negative emotions.
  
• Holy shit that’s ominous.
  
• Oh my god when did the tension in this scene get so fucking high?! Pearl looks scared for her life! I’m pretty sure it’s not because of Sardonx, too.
  
• Oh my god, I had my metaphor so close. I thought this episode’s focus would be about Pearl hurting Amethyst when it was actually about Pearl hurting Garnet.
  
• “Man, it sure would be nice if things worked out the way they do in cartoons…” “Yeah, it would.” So we’re holding this for later, then? What a way to end an episode.
  
• Oh shit, there’s a totally different ending theme! I really like it’s drifting ambient tones. It reminds me a lot of something you might find on the Transistor soundtrack. Maybe like a more relaxed Coasting? It’s good, though. I like it a lot.
  

Closing Thoughts-

This was a powerful episode. We met Sardonyx, who’s a manipulative, attention-seeking bully, and we learned that Pearl’s willing to lie to people to feel better. We also learned that Amethyst blames herself for Sugilite’s behavior exclusively, and we got some really tense drama between all of the characters. This is probably the worst we’ve seen the gems be to one another and themselves. This episode was really interesting to watch because it does a complete 180 on where it seems to be going about two thirds of the way through the episode. There’s so much to talk about with this episode, but I want to hold onto it for awhile until I have a better sense of what’s going to happen. Still, this was a great episode, and I really enjoyed it. On to my episode list-

Top Ten Episodes

1. Alone Together
   
2. Rose’s Scabbard.
   
3. We Need to Talk
   
4. Keeping it Together
   
5. Sworn to the Sword
   
6. On the Run
   
7. Lion 3: Straight to Video
   
8. Winter Forecast
   
9. Cry For Help
   
10. Coach Steven
    

10. Laser Light Cannon
I rearranged a couple episodes after rewatching some of the older stuff, so this might not be exactly the same as it was before.
Next up, my vocal tracks-

Top Five Vocal Tracks-

1. Do it for her
   
2. Stronger Than You
   
3. On the Run
   
4. Strong in the real way
   
5. Let yourself be wherever you are
   

After the next song, I plan on extending vocal tracks to top ten so look out for that. Finally, my BGM’s-

Top Ten BGM's

1. I’m Still Here
   
2. Theme from an Endless Romance
   
3. Glitch City
   
4. Lapis' Tower
   
5. Night Drive
   
6. Twilight Run
   
7. Alone Together
   
8. The Cave
   
9. The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
   
10. Love like you(The Ocean Returns)
    

Thanks so much for reading, guys! As usual, keep your comments spoiler free and keep the hype low. Finally, a question-

• Who’s your favorite animated character that you love to hate? Can be from any source, anime included.

Until next time!

This post discusses topics that some people may find extremely personal. Please, be polite and considerate in the comments section.
Episodes 1-2 Episodes 3-4 Episodes 5-6 Episodes 7-8 Episodes 9-10 Episodes 11-12 Episodes 13-14 Episodes 15-16 Episodes 17-18 Episodes 19-20 Episodes 21-22 Episodes 23-24 Episodes 25-26 Episodes 27-28 Episodes 29-30 Episodes 31-32 Episodes 33-34
Alright, guys. We’re finally here! The first Big Episode, episode 35! I’m really excited for these episodes! Remember, guys. Keep all discussion absolutely spoiler free! I really want to be as unspoilt as possible with this show. Anyways, let’s dive right in!

Episode 35- Lion 3: Straight to Video

When Lion will not stop lying on Steven's face while he sleeps, Steven awakens to discover himself in a different world.
Written and Storyboarded by Joe Johnston, Jeff Liu, and Rebecca Sugar

• R-Rebecca Sugar? Oh, no. You guys warned me about episodes with her name on them…
  
• The sound that they played over the title card was different. It was extended a little. I didn’t notice until I went back to grab a screenshot, but it’s different sounding.
  
• Okay, first off, the lower left poster looks like it was made based on Lars in ‘Joking Victim.’ Second off, both the Dognut and the Nutdog are actually terrifying.
  
• Steven took Lion with him?
  
• Oh, dear. This episode is starting with Steven explaining how he doesn’t want to get the same thing that he always does. This episode is going to be different, isn’t it?
  
• I like how chill Sadie is with Steven’s lion. I assume that this is the first time that she’s ever seen Lion.
  
• This face has so many unique emotions on it. It truly is the embodiment of :^ )
  
• “Lars and I are closing up-” Sounds of Lars attempting coolness “I’m closing up for the day.”
  
• Woah! Those things look awesome! I wish that something like that existed in the real world.
  
• “Nah...those are all lunches my mom packed for me.” Cheer up, Sadie! That’s free food! I’d take it anyday.
  
• “It’s pretty embarrassing. She’s been doing it for years.” That’s adorable! What a cool mom!
  
• This food looks pretty legit! Lion is, as usual, an enormous and adorable cat.
  
• Oh my god I’m dying. Steven is just such an earnest kid.
  
• “I wonder what kind of lunch my mom would have made me.”
  
• “I just wish...I knew a little more about her.”
  
• I love when Steven tries to trick Lion into acting like he loves him.
  
• This is one of the many reasons I will never have a pet.
  
• Lion is adorable.
  
• Lion is still adorable.
  
• This is a really pretty shot, and this music is also really lovely.
  
• Oh my god, Pearl freaking out about this is amazing. “oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”
  
• Why is Lion specifically pushing Steven into his chest? Does it have something to do with that pink location we just saw? It seems probably, considering that we already know that Lion can store things in his body. I would take a guess that he has some kind of mini-dimension inside of his body.
  
• Pearl watches Steven sleep? I guess that makes sense, if she doesn’t sleep. That’s 12 hours of not much going on.
  
• I’m pretty sure that Steven just said “I’m a growing boy and I need some arrest” instead of rest. I don’t know how that one slipped through.
  
• OH MY GOD PEARL’S FACE! Holy shit that is incredibly adorable and I now instantly love Pearl 12x more!
  
• Ah. Okay then. Let’s dream.
  
• “Making art is all about communication. A piece of art is a conversation.” Not sure I really agree with this. Art is interpretive, and can and should be deconstructed for multiple perspectives. If art was really just about portraying your feelings as simply as possible, then we wouldn’t have abstract art, for instance.
  
• Also, this dog kind of sounds like Markiplier. I’ve watched some of his videos.
  
• This place is very pretty. It’s like a pink savanna!
  
• Wow, the wind on the tall grass is absolutely stunning.
  
• So, it does seem like Lion is causing this to happen.
  
• It’s interesting that Lion is actively trying to show this place to Steven now, though. What could have happened that made Lion decide to share this with Steven? It’s similar to the room that he showed Steven in Lion 2, where for some reason he decided that Steven was ready for it? Maybe something along those lines?
  
• “It’s a trap!” I was going to link this, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have to. You all know the reference.
  
• He brought out claws? He really, really wants Steven to see this place.
  
• “You’re gonna stay out here and think about what you did.” This is almost exactly what Steven said to the Watermelon Stevens from earlier.
  
• The power...of Moe…
  
• “He loves me!” Lion is a nefarious bastard!
  
• “You’re a wonderful pink human being!” Man, someone’s a Star Wars fan!
  
• So, his mane is the gateway to this...place? Lion continues to be an interesting utility-geared character.
  
• Also, I find it interesting that, wherever this place is, Steven can’t breathe, especially considering that there is wind here. Whatever the atmosphere it comprised of, it’s not particularly human-oriented.
  
• I really like the idea that he has to come out to breathe a lot, although it would be kind of awesome to have Steven chill in this alternate dimension for awhile while Lion takes him places.
  
• I like how the music is handled here. The music never pauses. We just miss parts of it when Steven leaves Lion’s pocket dimension. It creates this sense that this is a place that has existed on its own for some time.
  
• There’s a fucking moon in the sky! Whatever this place is, it’s absolutely enormous!
  
• I also like the continued savanna motif.
  
• Oh no. What is this? I see a chest, what looks like a t-shirt, something in a bubble, and maybe a flag? Oh! And the sword from Lion 2! I guess this is definitely the same place, then!
  
• Wow. This song just got really beautiful.
  
• Here’s a closer look. I want to see what’s on the t-shirt!
  
• Okay, so this is clearly Rose’s insignia. I’m guessing that this is a place where Rose left everything important to her? Let’s see what else is here.
  
• I have no idea what the fuck this is. I’m guessing that we’ll get a better idea later on in the series. We’ll probably have no idea what most of this means until much later.
  
• Alright. There it is. The first tear.
  
• They both kept this photo…
  
• For Steven....
  
• Pearl’s blush continues to be the cutest thing on the planet.
  
• Whatever Lars is listening to, it sounds good!
  
• The VCR from Joking Victim!
  
• So, Steven’s house wasn’t always there. I kind of figured that, but it’s nice to get confirmation.
  
• “What are you doing?” Oh, noes……..
  
• Greg used to be really cute, wow.
  
• “They call me...Mr. Universe!”
  
• Okay, this is wonderful. I love that the star gag is in-universe now.
  
• Oh, god. I’m feeling it now. I wasn’t crying until I saw his face…
  
• So we finally get to see Rose’s eyes. This is the perfect moment to reveal them to us. This is the most personal moment we’ve ever experienced with Rose.
  
• “You’re going to be something extraordinary. You’re going to be a human being.”
  
• “She’s pregnant with Steven right now…
  
• “What in the world did you guys watch?!” Basically my mom right now.
  
• “Hey, mom? You know how I said you didn’t have to make me those lunches anymore?” I’m fucking devastated.
  

Closing thoughts-

What an incredible and powerful episode. I’m kind of quiet right now. This was absolutely stunning. This was a perfect, quiet episode with a lot to say. The part that hit me the hardest was in Lion’s dimension, when we see all of the things that Rose left there. We have her war memorabilia, her sword, and then, right there, is a Mr. Universe t-shirt. That was absolutely devastating. I feel like I just let this episode wash over me when I watched it. The raw emotion of this episode just carried such a heavy weight to it that it felt like I was drowning in it. I don’t know how to describe it except by saying that I loved every second of it. Let’s watch the second episode. Poor second episode, it’s got to be rough to follow this one up.

Episode 36-Alone Together

The Gems try to teach Steven how to successfully use his fusion powers and it leads to a very surprising result.
Written and Storyboarded by Hilary Florido, Katie Mitroff and Rebecca Sugar

• Why must you kick a downed man, Rebecca Sugar?! I’m barely alive after that last episode!
  
• Also, what an absolutely gorgeous title card.
  
• Oh no, Steve-o. What are you doing. I don’t think even he knows what’s going on right now.
  
• “Synchronise!” ”Gattai?!” ”Gattai!”
  
• These two are actually pretty cute together.
  
• Oh, my. The overt sensuality of this scene is fascinating to me. I’m guessing that they’re teaching Steven how to fuse, right? So this may as well be “The Talk”. They’re telling him about adult, mature aspects of his body.
  
• He’s awkward because he’s never had to interact with the gems like this before. This is interesting stuff. Still, though. It seems like the wrong way to go about this. When the characters fused, it wasn’t about specific details and form. It was about letting your emotions move you. I guess the gems don’t really know how to teach that, though, so dance itself might not be the worst thing to be teaching.
  
• I can really relate to Steven. I have absolutely no idea how to dance. It’s a skill that eludes me.
  
• These two are still cute together.
  
• I love this shot so much! If I wanted to explain Steven Universe to someone with 1 image, I think I’d use this one.
  
• “It’s really hard, even for us!” “Not for me.” Hrm… I guess that makes sense, considering that Garnet ha-
  

Garnet has two gems.
Why had I never even considered this? Garnet has two gems! What if Garnet is a fucking fusion?! She’s way stronger than the other gems, and of course fusion would come easily to her if she was a fusion! Holy shit! I don’t know if this is anywhere close to enough evidence, but it’s totally possible!

• “I wonder, though, if Steven’s body is capable of fusion.” I mean, why not? He shapeshifted before, right? Isn’t it a similar premise?
  
• “It’s Steven! Who knows what’s gonna happen.” This is an interesting thought, actually. The gems don’t really know what they’re doing with Steven, but neither does Greg. No one really knows how to raise this kid, which is true of all parenting, but especially with Steven’s case. I like that a lot.
  
• Connie episode?!
  
• These two are wonderful together.
  
• Oh, noes. These two are wonderful together. Steven just finished trying to learn how to fuse. Oh, noes…
  
• “I’ve...never danced in front of anyone before.” Oh god I still haven’t recovered from the last episode don’t do me like this.
  
• “Well...no one’s staring right now!”
  
• I am not ready for more emotions. Lord, please give me strength in these times of trouble.
  
• “You are…” “Oh, yeah.” I literally cannot even describe how wonderful these two are together.
  
• Oh god, this is definitely happening.
  
• Holy fuck Steven is smooth. If anyone pulled that on me, it would be over.
  
• Oh man. When he peaked through his fingers…
  
• I love the music playing here so much. This scene has such an incredibly palpable energy to it!
  
• This entire scene is very interesting. We’re watching two children slowly becoming comfortable with exploring their own sexuality. This lighting really drives home this point. It’s new, and exciting, and different. I’m already in love with this episode.
  
• First off, this shot is beautiful. Second off, I love the defiance of stereotypical gender roles here. Almost always, it’ll be the cute, bubbly girl that gets caught by the more serious guy. Third off, this is a very fuse-y pose…
  
• OH LORD IT’S HAPPENING!
  
• This is a great way to introduce this new character to us! I hope we get to learn about what it’s like to be in a fusion! This episode is so incredibly exciting and promising!
  
• This voice actor is really fucking good! Whoever they got to do this, they’re really impressively striking a good balance between Connie and Steven’s voice and mannerisms!
  
• I love the pronoun confusion here! This character really seems really confused about what they are. I’ll go with they until we’re given a gender pronoun.
  
• Wow. If there was any doubt in my mind that these two are maturing and beginning to explore themselves, it is now gone.
  
• I love that they don’t know how to use any of their new body. Once again, adolescense seems to be dominating this episode.
  
• I love the Super Saiyan 3 vibe I’m getting from the hair. Also, though, this character really does a great job of blending different aspects of Steven and Connie here. Sugilite, for instance, visually seemed very different from her components, and more used their general scheme to make something new. This character is very much based on the specifics of their components, though.
  
• This is precious. They’ve probably never seen anything like this before.
  
• Oh my god Garnet absolutely loves this!
  
• “You two look great together! How does it feel, Steven? Connie? ...Stevonnie?!” I guess that’s the name we have for this character now. I like it a lot.
  

OOOOH! That’s why some of you use this for the ship name!

• “It feels amazing!” The parallels between this episode and adolescence are undeniable. Fusion is very definitely being used as a metaphor for budding sensuality.
  
• “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves, but you two should unfuse this instant.” Let them explore themselves, Pearl! This is their first time! They’ll never have an experience like this again!
  
• “Stevonnie. Listen to me. You are not two people, and you are not one person. You are an experience! Make sure you’re a good experience. Now, go have fun!” This is really powerful. I think this is the first time that I’ve cried because a show carries such a beautiful message, as opposed to an emotional moment. This is the kind of thing that I wish I had seen when I was a younger kid, exploring my own sexuality for the first time. This episode is absolutely incredible. I’m going to take a couple of minutes to go cry in my room, and then I’ll get back into this episode.
  
• Okay, I’m back and ready to get back into this episode.
  
• This shot is absolutely perfect in every way. They’re happy just being together. This is such a positive reinforcement for young queer teenagers exploring their own sexuality. It’s the little things that keep you going, and seeing something like this that reminds you that it’s okay to be can be such a powerful thing for young teens. I love this episode.
  
• These vibrant hues of purple are astonishing to look at. The art direction in this episode is beyond anything I think we’ve seen in this series.
  
• This music is heartbreakingly beautiful.
  
• This ought to be interesting.
  
• Once again, this episode is using gender fluidity and sexuality in a fantastic way. Both Sadie and Lars are attracted to this atypically gendered character. This scene is going to be very interesting.
  
• This is a great shot. Stevonnie is entirely unaware that Sadie and Lars are smitten with them.
  
• Is that a 3 dollar bill? What the fuck is that monstrosity?!
  
• “But, just so you know, that isn’t a very sound business practice.” Wow. Stevonnie is actually entirely aware of the situation that they’re in! They’re exploring their own confidence and sexuality in an outgoing way! This is incredible stuff.
  
• “Two donuts! One for me and...one for me.”
  
• Wow. This show is going to talk about consent and comfort, too? Holy fuck, this episode should be required viewing in public schools.
  
• Sourcream? My boy?! What’s up?
  
• Oh my god, he’s nervous talking to Stevonnie!
  
• “ A bunch of my friends from the internet are gonna be there. There’s gonna be free...glowsticks?” “Yes, I’ll definitely be there!”
  
• This guy kinda looks like Stevonnie. I’m guessing, based on how he’s acting, that he’ll be some kind of counterpart to Stevonnie? I’m not sure how, though.
  
• Okay, this is fucking awesome.
  
• Stevonnie is so effortlessly confident! Also, were they doing the thing that Amethyst taught Steven? Are we going to see all of their moves incorporated in here?
  
• They’re so unbelievable happy. This is wonderful to watch.
  
• This dancing is also genuinely beautiful.
  
• Whoever this person is, they’re cute as fuck!
  
• “I thought this was a dance party. Why isn’t anyone else dancing?” Oh my god, Stevonnie. You are literally murdering this crowd. They’re all watching your badass dancing!
  
• Oh my god, is Stevonnie having a panic attack? Wow. The amount of...just...I can’t describe how good this episode is. I’m not knowledgeable enough to come up with concise commentary on this episode. I’m sorry, guys, this episode kind of transcends me.
  
• Having had panic attacks in the past, this is a really good way to portray them. The heavy breathing and the sharpness of whatever those things are really gets to me. There’s this sense that you shouldn’t move at all during the panic attacks that I’ve had.
  
• Wow. We learn a lot about this character in about 2 seconds of screen time. He’s confident, outgoing, and currently sexualizing Stevonnie. His smirk suggests that he has no doubt that whatever he wants will come to him. This is clever stuff!
  
• This is interesting. Stevonnie clearly isn’t comfortable with this...Kevin… and feels uncomfortable with him invading her personal space. Still, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now. From his perspective, he just walked up to someone at the club and asked to dance, albeit in a gross way.
  
• He’s a pretty good dancer, too!
  
• “I wish you were here. If we were together, it would be okay.” “But...we are together, and it’s not.” Wow. Just wow. The depth of complexity in this character is astonishing. They enjoy being together, but in this new form, they’ve lost their individuality. They’re together, in a new sense, but at the same time they can never be together like this. This is incredibly interesting and complex material!
  
• “I don’t want to dance anymore.” “What are you talking about?” Okay. That’s the moment where Kevin overstepped his boundaries. When someone tells you exactly what they want, and then you deny it, you are overstepping your boundaries and denying their rights as an individual.
  
• “We’re angels walking among garbage people!” Hey, I take offense to that! Some of those people are the crewniverse, too! Rood dood!
  
• I like how this episode is progressing. There’s no big monster, there’s no “what if they never separate” plot. This episode denies all standard tropes of animation and has created an episode entirely based on the emotions of two people. Even Lion 3 had something that the character emotions were based around! This episode is incredible. Literally. I cannot believe that I’m watching something like this right now.
  
• “And it’s Stevonnie. I am not your baby.” Fuck yeah! You tell that fucking jagoff!
  
• “That’s two kids! I’m out.” Okay, that one got a laugh out of me. I really needed a good laugh after these last two episodes. Whoo…
  
• I love how this episode ends. It’s strange, and complex, and I don’t quite understand it, and I’m almost certain that it’s intentional. Relationships and adolescence aren’t things that you can understand immediately when they happen. Another thing that I like is that Steven and Connie are drawn with a little bit of Stevonnie in them here. They’ve made a step towards adolescence, and they’ve changed as a result. They share a bond with each other that will always be some part of them.
  

Closing Thoughts-

About 2 hours ago, I remarked that it would be difficult for any episode to follow Lion 3. I was right, because an episode like this takes more passion and love than I think I even have to receive it. As a queer teen, this is one of the most overtly positive reinforcements of sexuality and identity that I have ever seen in my entire life. This episode goes beyond my ability to describe. I won’t even try. Watch it yourself; it does a better job than I could ever do. My new episode list goes as such-

1. Alone Together
   
2. Lion 3: Straight to Video
   
3. Ocean Gem
   
4. Coach Steven
   
5. An Indirect Kiss
   
6. Mirror Gem
   
7. Laser Light Cannon
   
8. Space Race
   
9. Giant Woman
   
10. So Many Birthdays
    

As for my music, it stands at-

1. Strong in the real way
   
2. Let yourself be wherever you are
   
3. Steven and the Stevens/Crystal Gems
   
4. Giant Woman
   
5. Let me drive my van into your heart
   

Finally, my BGM-

1. Glitch City
   
2. Lapis' Tower
   
3. Night Drive
   
4. The Cave
   
5. The Hill/Rose’s Fountain
   

These two episodes were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Please, please, please avoid spoilers in the comments, and please be respectful of anything anyone says. Remember, your words can be hurtful, even if you don’t mean them to be. Finally, a question-

• How has Steven Universe’s inclusivity of racial casts, diverse characters and unique worldbuilding affected you? Please don’t discuss specifics of episodes that I haven’t seen yet, but feel free to discuss their impact.

Until next time!