Steven Universe/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Abandon Shipping: One it was revealed that Garnet is the fusion between two very committed lovers, most shippers stopped pairing Garnet up with other characters. In her own words, three's a crowd.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: While Pearl definitely seems to love Steven, episodes such as Rose's Scabbard have cast her in a darker light. Does she genuinely care about Steven, or does she only care about him since he's essentially Rose reincarnated? And to branch off the latter, does she secretly hate him and blame him for Rose not being around?
    • Did Rose Quartz truly return Pearl's affection in a romantic way, or did she simply love her as a friend?
    • Rose's personality is also subject to a ton of this thanks to evidence that she could have been one of the Homeworld's leaders before the rebellion. Was she truly the pure-hearted hero the Crystal Gems talk her up as? Was she a brutal, merciless rebel who defected for her own selfish reasons? Or was she simply a good person who happened to be ruthless in battle against her enemies? Her reasons for giving birth to Steven have also been cast into a negative light as well. Is Steven's birth meant to be a way for Rose to truly go through a human's experience? Or could he simply be a particularly useful pawn of Rose's against the Homeworld thanks to his human heritage making him somewhat resistant to their destabilizer technology?
      • As it turns out, Rose really was one of Homeworld's leaders - Pink Diamond, the very Diamond believed to have been shattered by Rose Quartz. Pink had actually grown fond of Earth and it's inhabitants and so fed up with Blue and Yellow ignoring her requests for Earth to be treated as more than just a colony, so she masqueraded as a Roze Quartz who led a rebellion against Homeworld's plans for Earth, which culminated in Pink faking her own shattering by having her Pearl, shapeshifted into the form of Rose Quartz, poof her while leaving false pink shards where Pink had been standing. Pink had hoped this would stop all of her and the Earth's troubles and she could finally be free of her responsiblities, free to live on Earth with humans as she pleased, but it ended up only creating bigger troubles in the future. Needless to say, this has only increased the amount of interpretation of Pink/Rose's motives and character for any given point in time she existed in.
    • Peridot's age has also been called into question, with some painting her as being the Gem equivalent of a child thanks to her immature behavior, small size, and lack of awareness as to how her powers work. Others simply think she's as much of an "adult" as the rest of the cast and merely has childish, dorky mannerisms.
  • Anticlimax Boss: After getting a ton of hype and buildup due to how big of a threat it was, the Cluster's defeat was quite underwhelming for some: it was bubbled up by Steven, who convinced the millions of Gems the Cluster consisted of to get to know one another and in return, got them to help with the bubbling so they wouldn't take on a form and destroy Earth. This actually helps to turn it into an ally for a later, much more climactic fight against the Blue and Yellow Diamonds towards the end of Season 5.
  • Base Breaker: Pearl has the fans split into two camps: there are those who love her for being a highly flawed, tragic individual who nevertheless is still a very funny and competent character, while others loathe her since she tends to go too far in her lowest moments and comes off as completely unsympathetic. Very rarely will you find anyone who's merely neutral about her.
    • Speaking of Pearl, there's the matter of her attraction to Rose. Is she a sympathetic Woobie with an adorable crush on her hero, or is she an entitled creep who needs to get over Rose and move on?
    • There's also Lapis Lazuli. According to who you talk to, she's either a very sympathetic Anti-Villain who didn't mean to cause as much trouble as she did, or an incredibly selfish Jerkass for potentially endangering the world and attempting to drown two innocent children in her attempt to go home.
    • People either love Onion for his creepy behavior and evil actions, while others loathe him for the same reasons. Depending on your point of view, his genuine desire to make friends with Steven may or may not offset his more selfish actions.
    • Fans either loathe Lars for being a highly-unlikable Jerkass, or love him for his rare moments of kindness and hints of Hidden Depths relating to his psyche. After Seasons 4 and 5, with Lars receiving a great deal of Character Development and Took a Level in Badass, he was Rescued from the Scrappy Heap big time for many of his detractors.
  • Broken Base: Should male Gems be introduced to the show, or not? This is a question that has caused all sorts of fights among the fandom.
    • Should Jasper be redeemed, or is she better as an evil psycho Blood Knight?
    • The question of Greg being a better parent to Steven than the Gems is a highly contested topic in the fandom.
  • Complete Monster:
    • White Diamond, supreme ruler of the Gem Homeworld and leader of the Great Diamond Authority, is an authoritarian tyrant who created Homeworld's broken system and set in motion all of the series' events. Implied to have given birth to all Gemkind, White developed a God Complex and desire for perfection in everything she touched to the point where she became completely unfeeling, detached, psychopathic, narcissistic and even abusive, with even her own Pearl (actually Pink's Pearl that she took for herself and tainted into a mind-wiped puppet for herself) having been a victim of her wrath. It's on her behest that Homeworld goes around colonizing other planets, wiping out or enslaving the planet's native lifeforms, and marginalizes Gems to specific societal roles and functions with the threat of shattering any who'd step out of their place, and it was largely her power that caused the corruption of all the unprotected Gems on Earth when she'd attempted to have the planet destroyed. It's also highly likely she was aware that Pink Diamond had faked her own shattering but never told Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond, meaning that much of Yellow and Blue's actions afterwards might not have happened if not for White's callous indifference. When Steven attempts to talk White into rethinking her ways, treating her family and subjects better, and aiding in undoing the corruption of all the Gems on Earth, White attempts to crush all resistance to her reign with a combined Diamond Authority robot, turns not only the Crystal Gems but even her own fellow Diamonds, Blue and Yellow, into mind-wiped puppets to serve as extensions of herself, attempts to Break Steven by Talking about how his individuality is all an illusion because he's truly just Pink Diamond at his core, chides Steven for surrounding himself with lower lifeforms as if this was only Pink's attempt at making herself feel worth more, and even rips Steven's gem right out from his stomach in an attempt to bring Pink back out, with Steven nearly losing his life in the process. All as White makes it clear that she has no toleration for faults in any lifeform she rules over and that in breaking them as individuals, she feels as though she is "fixing" them. The only way she's stopped is Steven's own power growing strong enough that it completely overrides her own, turning her Off-Color and forcing her into a Heel Face Turn as her sense of identity is broken and the Gem she'd been beforehand pretty much ceases to exist. Exhibiting a cold, cruel evilness far beyond that of the other Homeworld Gems, White's Lack of Empathy and capacity for breaking anyone or anything she touches served as a dark mirror to Steven's compassion and capacity for healing.
    • Aquamarine is the most evil of Blue Diamond's court and absolutely loyal to Homeworld. She was sent to Earth by Homeworld with Topaz to collect the humans Steven listed, and does so with horrific sadism when fighting with the Crystal Gems, threatening to kill some of them using loophole abuse as Yellow Diamond never said she wanted them alive. She continually makes narcissistic comments about herself, ignores Topaz's role in the mission, and even treats the mere suggestion of having a Freudian Excuse with absolute disgust. In a show that demonstrates even the worst people can have redeemable qualities, Aquamarine stands out as simply a monstrous prick.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: While Lapis Lazuli is a very sympathetic character, there are far too many fans who are willing to paint her as a pure-hearted angel who can do no wrong and ignore her more selfish and inexcusable actions such as stealing the world's oceans in order to get back home, almost drowning Steven and Connie when they posed absolutely no threat whatsoever to her, and almost killing Greg when he came to help.
    • Despite her incredibly unpleasant and violent attitude, there are plenty of fans who are willing to downplay Jasper's less than savory characteristics (Such as being willing to kill Steven before knowing that he had Rose Quartz's powers, her assaulting him while she could have easily hauled him onto the ship unharmed, and forcing Lapis to fuse with her in a manner that's portrayed eerily similar to a domestic violence/rape scenario) in favor of painting Lapis into being far worse than she really is.
      • Just in general, Lapis and Jasper fans are really, really bad about demonizing the other. Neither are purely bad people, but they still have their faults that both camps are overly fond of exaggerating just how bad they really are.
    • Despite Yellow Diamond being established as a cold, ruthless, petty tyrant who doesn't give two shits about the Gems who serve her and was nothing but dismissive and rude towards Peridot, she already has legions of fans unironically defending her as a Benevolent Boss. This treatment only grew when it was revealed that Yellow's grudge against Rose was because Rose had supposedly shattered Pink Diamond, and doubling down on her unfeeling tyranny and wanting to wipe out Earth was Yellow's way of grieving for the loss of someone she'd loved like a little sister, and that deep down she blames herself for Pink's death. This does not at all justify Yellow's actions, however, especially when it was revealed that Rose was Pink Diamond in a shape-shifted new identity and had faked her own shattering, meaning that Yellow's most loved person and most hated person were one and the same.
    • Blue Diamond also got this treatment because she's been grieving over Pink Diamond's death for years, often being seen crying tears of sorrow over the event and wanting to save as much of Pink's legacy as she can prior to the Earth's destruction. Her fans tend to forget that Blue had done her share of terrible things prior to losing Pink, as shown in Garnet's origin story when she orders for Ruby and Sapphire to be shattered for having gone against their proper places by fusing together, and she still attempts to do terrible thing even afterwards.
    • Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond gets as much of this treatment as she does Ron the Death Eater due to having as many positive qualities as she had failings.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Greg Universe, the self-proclaimed "Coolest dad this side of the Cosmos". Thanks to his easy-going and friendly nature as well as his willingness to go out of his way to be a great dad to Steven, is it any wonder that he's one of the best-loved characters in the series? This extends to the creator Rebecca Sugar herself, who's stated that Greg is her favorite character, particularly since Steven's empathy and goodness comes from him rather than Rose.
    • Ruby and Sapphire as well, since they're not just an adorable couple, but also because their existence proved the widely-accepted theory about Garnet being a fusion.
    • While they don't show up all that often, the Crystal Gems various fusions tend to be pretty popular with fans. You have the stoic yet sweet Opal, rowdy and rambunctious Nicki Minaj-voiced Sugilite, and the elegant yet prideful Sardonyx, who are all very well-received with fans wishing that they'd make more appearances.
    • Thanks to averting the ever-so-common "All popular teens are assholes" stereotype, Beach City's resident cool kids Jenny, Buck, and Sour Cream are pretty popular among the fanbase.
    • Lapis Lazuli, whose portrayal as a tragic, homesick Anti-Villain did a lot to endear her to the masses. And Once she joined the team post-Super Watermelon Island, she won over even more fans due to her adorable friendship with Steven and hilarious Deadpan Snarker personality.
    • Then, there's Peridot. While she had fans from the start, it wasn't until she started showing just how dorky and silly she was that her fanbase really grew. Needless to say, the fact that she's slowly developing into a better person and a possible new member of the Crystal Gems has made lots of people very happy.
    • Jasper has had far less screentime than Lapis and Peridot, and thus hasn't shown much more of her personality beyond "nasty hypocritical brute". And yet, she's just as popular as the other two, mainly because she's so good at being loathsome, and her design (big beefy body, wild mane of hair that reaches the floor, orange skin with camouflage-style stripes) is considered to be among the best shown in the series so far.
    • Both Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond's Pearls are already gaining traction in regards to popularity despite their rather minor roles: Blue Pearl for her absolutely woobielicious appearance, and Yellow Pearl for being a hilariously bitchy, smug pain in the ass towards Peridot.
  • Evil Is Cool: Jasper, whose status as a no-nonsense, vicious Badass and her seriously awesome appearance endeared her to the fanbase overnight.
    • Same with the violent and out-of-control Sugilite, but that tends to happen when you're a 50-foot tall purple Oni-esque berserker voiced by Nicki Minaj.
  • Evil Is Sexy: While not exactly "evil" per se, Lapis Lazuli is definitely a looker.
    • Ditto for Jasper, who a lot of fans find attractive because of her shapely hips, beefy body, long wild hair, and hot temper.
    • Blue Diamond was revealed to have a stunningly beautiful look when she was finally shown in Season 4.
  • Franchise Original Sin:
    • Redemption Arcs. Redemptions have a massive base breaker, and in general Steven Universe has become infamous for them. However there was a time when this wasnt considered a flaw. Peridots redemption Arc was extremely well received. The thing is, with Peridot her arc was very slow, having initally only joined the Crystal Gems out of self preservation, taking a long time to come to like earth and even longer to finally turn on the diamonds. And the other Crystal Gems never totally forgot about her deeds beforehand. The Diamonds redemptions were critisized for being extremely quick, and being really out of charachter for alot of them, particularly white, and them not getting any real consequences or even held in Scorn for the horrible things they did. Also while Peridot could atleast be excused as being a product of her enviorment, the diamonds were the ones leading homeworld.
    • Rose having made dark mistakes in the past was initally considered very interesting, and a good way to teach that no one is perfect. However after the events of the movie, some got more then a little sick of it, as the point was already made, yet the show contiued to kick a long dead horse. And for many it got aggravating how Pinks mistakes kept getting hyped as these awful actions with massive repracausions when the other diamonds are let off scott free and there atrocities ignored. Combined with how she would always try to change and get better knowing she was flawed, and many wish the show would cut her some slack.
  • Fan Dumb: Steven Universe is infamous for having what is considered to be one of the most hostile and intolerant fandumbs of all time, thanks to numerous incidents such as when fans chased writer Matt Burnett off of Tumblr over a simple continuity error, threw a stink over the Uncle Grandpa crossover episode and harassed members of the show's staff, posting inflammatory reviews for a real life Keystone Hotel that could have seriously hurt business (to be fair that was just a joke by people who didn't think through the consequences), and harassing fan artists who draw characters in different ways (Such as Rose Quartz with a more petite frame, Garnet as non-black) so badly that one such artist actually attempted suicide. This has led to a very large group of fan haters who hate the whole fambase just because of these people, which is ironic given that the above mentioned suicide attempt was by a member of the fan base.
    • The "petite Rose Quartz" fanarts became Hilarious in Hindsight with the reveal that Rose is in fact just a shape-shifted disguise for Pink Diamond, who is naturally slender and petite, meaning that the drawings weren't far off from the character's actual body size.
  • Hate Dumb: A very large amount of people have harassed members of the fanbase or refused to watch the show just because of the bad parts of the fan base these people will also hypocritically say they "refuse the acknowledge other peoples opinions."
  • Moral Event Horizon: Yellow Diamond was more than happy to obliterate the Earth and all life on it with the Cluster, an enormous abomination crafted from millions of shattered Gems who fought on the side of the rebellion, all over her grudge against Rose Quartz and the planet she'd loved and protected. And depending on how involved they were with the Cluster's formation and all the horrific Mengele-esqe experiments that paved the way to its creation, White and Blue Diamond may already be beyond redemption as well.
    • Garnet felt that Pearl crossed it in Cry For Help by secretly repairing a communications hub Peridot was using to broadcast messages to the Homeworld so she could trick Garnet into fusing with her for a quick power trip. While she DID end up forgiving Pearl, it took a good long while for it to happen.
    • Jasper crossed it when she threatened to shatter Steven, a half-human, half Gem child, simply because she blamed him for Lapis not wanting to fuse with her again. Then she went further over the line by attempting to shatter Amethyst after a particularly cruel Break Them by Talking.
    • Bismuth almost crossed it when she too attempted to shatter Steven using the Breaking Point, something even she herself acknowledges after Steven un-bubbles her so she can attend Ruby and Sapphire's wedding, feeling her Crystal Gem friends wouldn't be forgiving of her actions.
    • Eyeball Ruby crosses it when she attempts to kill Steven inside their shared bubble after Steven had healed her.
    • Aquamarine's cruel actions in the Season 4 finale, particularly threatening to kill the humans she'd taken hostage just to be sadistic towards Steven and the Crystal Gems fighting to free them, put her far over the line.
  • Narm: Jasper's introduction in The Return is meant to set her up as a brutal, sadistic, intimidating thug, though her intimidation factor takes a few blows thanks to the fact that in several awkwardly-drawn shots, her face ends up looking almost exactly like |Buzz Lightyear's due to her enormous chin. Thankfully, this problem has been rectified in later episodes.
    • In Sworn to the Sword, Pearl's over the top outburst of "WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU, ROSE?!" tends to come off as forced and wangsty for some, thanks to the line's rather unsubtle, ham-fisted delivery. What doesn't help is the fact that it's treated like some sort of Wham Line when past episodes have already explored Pearl's attachment issues with Rose in a far better manner.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy: Thanks to the infamous incident where fans of the show bullied a fanartist to the point of a suicide attempt over "racist" and "fatphobic" fanart, lots of potential fans have been scared away from the show due to the incredibly toxic parts of the fandom unfortunately many people have began to harass or outright bully people just for being part of the fandom.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Lars spent the first three seasons of the show as an unlikable asshole who never really developed as a character despite going through events that should've mellowed him out or cause some kind of Character Development. Then in Season 4 he showed his Hidden Depths and began acting friendlier towards Steven and Sadie, which was soon followed by a full redemption of his character and a surprising case of Took a Level in Badass in the Season 5 premiere, making Lars a favorite for many who'd previously disliked or felt indifferent towards him.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond gets as much of this treatment as she does Draco in Leather Pants due to having as many flaws and failings as she does positive qualities.
  • The Scrappy: Even the most controversial characters in this show tend to have defenders and fans, yet there are still a few who are potent hate-magnets. One such character is Ronaldo Fryman, who is widely detested for being a one-dimensional caricature of a weird, conspiracy-believing nerd with an obnoxious and unlikable personality and little depth aside from being a loony conspiracy theorist whose antics are far more cringeworthy and annoying rather than amusing. It doesn't help that he's driven entirely by It's All About Me and never seems to get better in any of his major appearances, with some of his actions bordering on self-centered sociopathy such as chaining Steven (dressed as a snake person at the time) to the wall of his lighthouse and trying to "examine" him, being willing to sacrifice Lars' life to a corrupted Gem monster, attempting to make the Crystal Gems leave Beach City while making his documentary, his Jerkassery towards Steven when he was temporarily on the Crystal Gems' team as "Bloodstone", and showing no concern for Lars facing dangers in space, only outrage and jealousy that it isn't him up there facing those dangers.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: It's very clear that Pearl has a lot of issues, some of which stem from grief, others from homesickness, and others still from what almost comes off as separation anxiety. But thanks to her behavior in episodes such as "Sworn to the Sword", "Rose's Scabbard", and "Space Race" where she does downright horrible things in regards to her angst over Rose, she can come off as less sympathetic and more like a clingy basket case who shouldn't be left around children.
    • In Too Far, we're supposed to feel bad for Amethyst when Peridot makes unintentionally mean-spirited comments towards her defects that came from staying underground too long before being "born", which really, really hit a raw nerve with her. The problem is however, that Amethyst had been previously laughing hysterically while Peridot roasted her friends and mocked things that they took quite personally, and in fact encouraged her to do so, and it doesn't help that due to her lack of social skills, Peridot legitimately had no clue that she was being mean and only went as far as she did due to Amethyst's encouragement. So for many, Amethyst came off less as a victim of bad behavior, and more of a thin-skinned bully who can dish it out, but can't take it.
    • BOTH Steven and Connie get this in the second arc of Season 5 though they also zig-zag a bit.
      • On Connie's side, she's angry at Steven for sacrificing himself without consulting her when they'd previously acted as partners. But then she blows him off for days and completely ignores any of his attempts to talk to her and patch things up making her seem like something of a hypocrite. And she took Lion.
      • Steven himself also counts. While one can make a case that he's desperate for a slice of normality after what he just went through on Homeworld, his focus is almost entirely on invoking Status Quo Is God and he doesn't seem that concerned for Lars who is still, as far as he knows, trapped on the capital planet of a racist, brutal, galaxy spanning empire.
    • Mayor Dewey. When we meet him, he's a well meaning but flawed mayor who seems somewhat out of his depth running a town with magic space rocks and alien creatures. Then we got Dewey Wins which painted him as a Corrupt Politician whose only mayor because of his ego and is blatantly unqualified to be a leader. To be fair, the episode takes time to highlight that Dewey is being blamed for issues he couldn't have predicted or done anything about (namely Homeworld Gems abducting people) but he's so unsympathetic to the point that he's, at best, indifferent about Lars being lost in space to the faces of his parents and girlfriend. Safe to say not many shared Steven's disappointment in him losing the mayoral election.
    • It's almost impossible for some to feel any shred of sympathy for Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond when their unhealthy grieving over Pink Diamond's supposed death was revealed given the amount of time that had been spent putting both characters well over the Moral Event Horizon with their actions we knew of prior to this development.
Back to Steven Universe
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Steven_Universe/YMMV?oldid=1749697"