I changed the title of the video to something less spoilery as per request. Sorry if anyone who watched this video previously was spoiled by the original title, I will be more careful with video titles in the future. How long do you think content creators should wait before including show information within their video titles/thumbnails (for future reference)? Keep in mind as well that if you haven't seen the episode of something and you want to remain unspoiled, that you should keep off of social media until you've seen it. There will always be spoilers on every topic, regardless of what it is and who the spoiler is being posted by.

That moment you realize Steven found out about Pearl’s secret because Greg gave Ronaldo a telescope.

I love how this setup changed with the diamond days. It's not a "Pink's running from the responsibilities of being a diamond" scenario anymore, it's a "Pink is leaving behind a toxic family."

You earned yourself a thumbs-up the instant you said "I think our disappointment comes from over-theorizing." YUP. I am an author, and we are not omnipotent. We can be clever, but we are almost never lucky enough to be cleverer than the combined obsessive guessing power of the entire internet. A million nerds together is always gonna figure things out. And this is why I go into most things without a thought in my head. I'd rather be blank and let the creators lead me. (PS, the reveal actually did surprise me. Though I had guessed that Pearl diddit.)

I love a lot of your perspectives but I think you get one key thing wrong. Pink Diamond / Rose Quartz loved the biological life on earth. She DID have trouble empathizing with them, and it took her a long time to view them as truly equal instead of just fascinating and unique, but her motives weren't simply to abandon responsibility. I think this WAS part of her motive, for sure, but I think this was more "the last straw" for her. She has been seen to be very argumentative with her fellow diamonds because, while she certainly lacks (or at least lacked) the experience to operate on the same level as them, the fact of the matter is they never stopped seeing her as something like their kid sister. Pink Diamond wanted to give the planet to the biological life that lived there, and the other diamonds wouldn't listen to her. I also don't think that it necessarily shows a lack of responsibility in Pink Diamond to want to fake her death to escape her peers. The diamonds seem all-powerful and as long as they knew she was alive they'd certainly stop at nothing to rein her in. Also while Yellow and Blue at least seem to genuinely care for Pink she wasn't allowed to be herself while in their care. You can care deeply about someone and still inadvertently be an abuser to them, and I think this is what we're seeing. I'm not necessarily saying Pink WASN'T irresponsible, as you mentioned she harmed a lot of people with her ill-thought-out maneuver and it is a testament to her lack of empathy especially early in the life of Rose Quartz, but I think it's important to consider all aspects when judging her character. She clearly made huge strides leading up to and after becoming Rose Quartz, developing quite a bit past where she started as a younger Pink Diamond. And while she damned many of those serving her, such as Jasper, to a life of seeking pointless revenge for a death that never happened she also liberated and stood as a symbol against the tyrannical diamond caste system for just as many. It was no fault of Pink's that this led to homeworld corrupting gems on earth. To suggest otherwise would be closer to courting "victim blaming" then I'm comfortable with. But yeah sorry I love everything else about this video. I just felt some of the things regarding Pink Diamond's / Rose Quartz's character were misrepresented. I look forward to more content!

"But I'm not human." That one line to Greg sums up Rose completely. She covets human beings because they can change and Gems cannot. Even so much as to sacrifice everything to become one. People are judging Rose on the basis of human morality when it was physically impossible for her to think like one. The show has demonstrated time and time again that Gem morality is different from human's...

I never much liked Pearl, and thought her undying devotion was a little over the top. Now it makes sense. Now her anxiety makes sense. Now I sympathize with her. This was a great move for her character.

Let me start saying: I loved this video, I love the way you argued about the whole situation and I share most of your opinion, but... personally, I don't think Rose/Pink was as bad as you paint her: don't get me wrong, I do think she was selfish, that she wanted to avoid responsabilities and that she wasn't the perfect leader the show protrayed her at the start... but I believe she also had good intention, that most of her flaws comes from a good place and from her being this sort of 'child' diamond. And I just love the fact she's THIS complex! Cause... you can argue on how good and bad she was and did, but in my eyes she was ultimately very, very... human! Anyway, again, great video, I loved your point of view on the subject, you earned yourself a new subscriber :D

If you think about it, Pink diamond was the first gem to truly die. Shattered gems are just that, a shattered conscious. So Pink is the first to actually die

MOST SU FANS: "Wow, this means Rose is a far worse person than we thought!" ME: "Wow, this means Pink is a far better person than we thought!"

I would argue that Rose's motivations for "shattering" herself weren't purely for her own benefit i.e. to stop needing to be Pink Diamond. In the flashback in Can't Go Back Blue tells her that as long as Pink Diamond is around the rebellion will fail. I think that while Rose did herself want to be free, she also wanted the other gems to be free as well (she tells Pearl, "this is the only way WE can be free") and I think she truly did want to save the Earth and the life on it, even if she couldn't fully appreciate it as equal to her.

I think you're placing too much weight on the "running away from responsibility" thing. On the flashback we see through stevonie, she asks for responsibility, she pretty much begs for a colony like the other diamond. She giving up on her colonisation is something more complex. It probably has more to do with the humans she met here and the conclusions she marvels about to Greg in the babysitter episode.

And people just forget that if Pink didnt do what she did , Earth would be hollowed out , all sentient life on it would die , and turned into another gem world...

I agree that Pink did a terrible thing when she faked her shattering, and she was selfish at times but I don't agree with her being unemphatic towards other gems, she did care for the crystal gems, and cried when one of them was hurt. She just failed to see how much her court and Blue and Yellow would hurt over losing her. After all, she said "Blue and Yellow don't care, they never have" she thought they would just move on to the next planet and that's that. Her mentality seems to be that of a young kid. She didn't want to hurt her court and sisters, she just didn't think her actions through. I also disagree with the common thought that gems aren't able to adapt, after all Peridot has been learning and adapting and changing her views, ever since she came to Earth. Yes they cannot change their core personalities, but neither can humans. I think it's just another thing they have been taught to think.

One of the better videos on the subject and I totally agree.

I strongly disagree with your interpretation of Pink Diamond as a selfish person who simply wanted to avoid responsibility. Sure, she was flawed (who isn’t) but she was fighting for what she believed was right: preserving organic life and freedom for her fellow gems. It went horribly wrong, with most of her fellow crystal gems shattered or corrupted. As Greg said, there is no such thing as a good war. Was she supposed to just fulfill her diamond responsibilities and just be content with being a tyrant? Would that make her a good person in your eyes? I hope not.

All this time Spinel was just standing in the garden

I think a lot of fans jumped to conclusions right away with this reveal. I also admit that I wanted to defend Rose's actions as protecting the Earth, but there is also the question of "at what cost?" It's clear that while Pink's intentions may have been good, her arrogance and lack of forsight caused total devastation to other characters. Like you said, all of this is fascinating and is a great direction for the show.

You have a good point! You're the only one I've seen who have decided to delve into the reveal from another perspective. You've changed my mind Lea!

"What is better? To be born good, or to overcome one's evil nature through great effort?" Rose tried so hard to grow and move past who she was as a diamond, she was misguided and made a lot of mistakes but at the end of the day she saved the entire planet from becoming a gem colony. Impact will always mean more than intent and her impact was both good and bad. That's why I love her. She's compelling and multifaceted just like real people are.

it's not fair to say that it was just selfish and SOLELY because she didn't want the responsibility of being a diamond. it just looks like you're missing the points that have been embedded over the past few years.. it's been made very clear that her love for the life on earth are why she made the decision in the first place.. I'd say her wanting to not be a diamond anymore was for that reason. and she obviously didn't think all that mess would come of it.

The most unrealistic part about the episode was the fact that pearl's phone didn't shatter when she dropped it.

Steven Universe be pumping up the depression factor by 100% :(

Interesting points but I gotta disagree that Pink Diamond is evil/selfish or that the diamonds are incapable empathy. We've seen how torn up Blue & Yellow are by Pinks "Death" and on top of that Roses healing powers were directly tied to her tears, directly relating to her empathy. To be honest I think its the exact opposite of what you said. Her extreme empathy, her desire to free gems blinded her to the bad possibilities and she went on to create this catastrophe. Its shown YD & BD weren't listening to her, and that she wanted to leave earth in peace without giving up her Diamond Status (This is shown in the argument/lecture shes having with Blue in Stevens flashback/memory on the moon). Only after that did she hatch the plan to fully assume the identity of RQ. The flaw here is maybe she thought they didn't care about PD that if she "died" they'd be scared of this rebellion and sue for peace or run away, freeing her friends and saving the earth. She didn't expect the diamonds to be heartbroken over her and exact vengeance. I don't think "Selfishly became RQ to run from responsibility" fits the narrative we've been given.

Watching this in the future and it's interesting how demonized Pink still was here even when you weren't trying to. For example at 7:54 "Everything was because Pink was *selfish* and didn't want to be a Diamond", when really she just wanted to make herself disappear so the Earth would be free from her influence.

them eyes in the thumbnail scare me EDIT: this is my most liked comment and OMG LEA SENPAI NOTICES

ahem, may I? * clears throat * *WHAT WE REALLY ARE*

That's a cold way of looking at it, the fact that she became Rose Quartz and started the Rebellion doesn't automatically mean that she wasnt standing up to Earth and it's people, or that she didn't have a clash of ideals with her sisters. I agree that her plan and the way she carried it was incredibly selfish, but there's some good intention to it anyway

oh, and another thing: i don't agree with you that rose's only point was to escape responsibility. rose genuinely fell in love with earth and accepted gems who had previously been hated or neglected due to being defective, or fusions, or lower-class. she wanted pearl to be free, and she wanted the crystal gems to be, too. her whole speech to pearl is about "giving the earth to the crystal gems". when you just frame her as someone who wants to escape responsibility, you neglect her motivations to paint a more simplistic image, which i don't think is fair. in fact, what i LOVE about this twist is that it gives pink diamond a real character arc, and it shows how much even a diamond can change. i also don't think bismuth's plan would have worked, which we saw through characters like jasper, who were completely destroyed by pink diamond's supposed shattering. gems live for their purposes, and that's something rose felt extremely guilty for. i also find the comment about her lack of empathy a little disturbing, because she WANTED to understand. she always, always did. low "natural empathy" does not make you a bad person. her first comment to garnet is "i'm glad to see you again" and "who cares about how i feel? how YOU feel is bound to be much more interesting". if she was only a selfish tyrant who wanted to escape responsibility, she could have easily done what lapis is doing, pick any unpopulated planet where she's left alone. she didn't need to wage war to be free, but she did, because she genuinely cares about earth and the crystal gems. even if it means leaving all those who loved pink diamond behind. (on pearl: mostly agree, but i would also point to how much pearl has grown past this, and how she truly hated her 'pearl role', even if she loved rose/pink. after all, this is something the show demonstrates in "that will be all" - pearl feels humiliated and annoyed by having to follow orders, it feels both unnatural and uncomfortable to her. she's truly become a rebel. even if her love for rose was originally a part of that, it was never the only part).

Bismuth also knew Rose's sword couldn't shatter a gem, so Rose's plan would not have worked. Bismuth would know Pink Diamond wasn't really shattered.

Why didn't you take into account that Rose spent years trying to find out how to cure corrupted gems

A great analysis! I think though that Pink/Rose isn't "devoid of empathy" so much as she is extremely naive. Compared to the other diamonds, Pink seems to be portrayed as a child. I think she grew to care a lot about the Earth and didn't want the living beings there to be destroyed: she was content to leave the planet as it was. However, her attempts to explain her desires to the other Diamonds went unheard and so she took desperate measures... but being so young, she was not able to predict the far-reaching consequences of her actions and inadvertently made things so much worse. I believe she definitely matured over time as "Rose" and I think she bubbled Bismuth not out of self-preservation, but a genuine desire to not cause more death. I was very happy with this reveal though and I think it's added a lot of depth to many different characters and future storylines!

Bismuth: Hey, did somebody lost a pearl? Pink diamond: maybee

A very good video, you made me even more excited for what is to come next. I would like to point out tough that even tough I agree with all the points you made here, I do feel you left out one reason for both pinks rebellion against the other diamonds and her becoming Steven. Namely here fascination and care of organic life and human beings. She was indeed very selfish towards her fellow gems but never towards humans. I get the idea that she wanted to preserve mankind but her fellow diamonds did not agree. If you listen to what rose says when she is lying on the beach with Greg and baby sour cream she says how wonderful mankinds is for its ability to change and choose who they are. And think that is at least part of the reason why she chose to become Steven, she wanted to change herself and stop being an selfish person. Its been hinted at in the show that gems can't change who they are, at least not to the extend that humans can. You have said yourself that pearl even after thousands of years has not completely lost her pearl mentality, it makes sense if you consider that gem brains are pre programed and can't grow and develop only learn. And I have to say this about pink diamond, if she indeed wanted to become a better person, she succeeded.

Lapis gets a song & Pearl drops a Truth Nuke I mean....damn what a last couple of episodes! I mean I always thought Pink put her mind in a Rose Quartz's body and destroyed her Diamond body but still! I was left in utter surprise by this turn the story has taken

dang i was with you till you started hardcore dunking on Rose. like, we all know she ain't perfect but.......... yikes.... also, "running away from her responsibilities" ........you mean like her responsibility to destroy the earth??? why is it a bad thing to have run from that??????

Going back to when a single pale rose was released is weird especially after future.yea the twist was seen by a mile away but that doesn’t make it a bad twist,id even say the homeworld arc gets boosted with this information

Despite all the people she hurt, I think Pink/Rose actually ends up embodying her message of the rebellion the most. Any gem can be whatever they want, so a diamond decided to be like an average gem, and later even human

I think it's wrong to glossing over Pink Diamonds desire to not cause a human *genocide.* That's more then just "running away from your responsibilities". It's also bothersome that Pink gets blamed for what the other diamonds did in response to her fake death. The blame should be on the ones who did it, not the one unaware of what they'd resort to. We probably shouldn't ignore the impossible situation Pink was in, while we're at it. -Doing nothing leads to all organic life on Earth dying and the planet being converted into a Gem Colony. (Bad) -Convincing Yellow and Blue Diamond would be impossible, based on what we know about the Great Diamond Authority and may lead to to the planet being removed from her care. Thus Human Genocide. (Bad) -Rebelling as a Diamond with all of Pink's subjects being drafted into a war. The Other diamonds would definitely not give up on the fight with one of their own smearing what they think the title should represent. Pink Loses, Many Gem's get shattered, Human Genocide. (Horrible) -Try convincing The other diamonds to give up on converting Earth, only to fail. In desperation, fakes her death, focuses purely on being Rose Quarts and fights alongside other gems, that were willing to risk their lives for the same cause, until the cost of continuing the retaliation is too high for the Diamonds to bother with anymore. Only for them to use a weapon she had no idea about corrupting almost all gems on the planet. (Bad, but at lest the humans are still alive...) This sounds like one those movie plots where a villain forces you to kill 1 million children or 2 million elderly. The person will be hated no matter what they chose and some will even be irrational enough to ignore the villain that made them do it.

Stop boo hooing about the emotional state of blue diamond like its so tragic. Why does everyone forget she, like yellow, have conquered planets across the galaxy, stripped them of their resources and probably killed millions to trillions of lifeforms all in the diamond pursuit for conquest. You know which diamond hasn't done that? PINK!

Umm... Have we been watching the same [brilliant, subversive, entertaining] show? I haven't seen anything to suggest that Pink Diamond was avoiding her responsibilities by becoming Rose, quite the contrary. After she receives Earth as her first colony, she initially does exactly what is expected of her: starting kindergartens, growing soldiers & other gems - programming all to follow the Diamond Authority, etc. After all, Pink Diamond is apparently both the smallest & the youngest member of the Diamond Authority, and (as shown in Stevonnie's dream/flashback on the jungle moon) what she really craves is both a colony of her own & the respect that this would gain her from her elder 'siblings' within the big four. It wasn't until she started to grow aware, then intrigued, & finally in love with the unique organic/non-crystalline organisms - especially humans - that inhabit her world that she started to reject the status quo (just as in the story Garnet tells the Off-Colours, likely saying it exactly as Rose told it to her) You can easily imagine how trying to explain this (to them) bizarre love to Yellow or Blue would have gone [another LGBT parallel?], and (given how immature Pink was) how turning to rebellion would seem the only way to save Earth's lifeforms from it's planned fate (see Peridot's demo on the Moonbase), something that as a Diamond she would know in great detail. Maybe she initally created the identity of Rose Quartz to allow her to explore the Earth (without the level of scrutiny that constantly followed Pink Diamond), but having her alter-ego lead the rebellion would bring plenty of advantages (exactly like those you mentioned). Also, it's her immature understanding of consequences that might go some way to explain why she thought that just 'killing' Pink Diamond would end the Gem colonization of Earth (or, for example, failing to see the devastating response by the surviving members of the Diamond Authority, or even just how deeply her death would affect both Yellow & especially Blue Diamond). What's really going to be wonderful is showing what happened during all those years from the beginning of the rebellion, through to when the Diamonds left, and finally to modern day & the creation of Steven - all through the lens of knowing that Rose Quartz is (was?) Pink Diamond. More than anything, her deep, & very real, relationships with Garnet (also Ruby & Sapphire), Amethyst & Pearl, as well as Greg, and especially with Steven are going to be utterly shattered, possibly forever...

I’m so glad that somebody else figured out and talked about the consequential affect of pink diamonds reveal on the rest of the plot instead of dwelling on all the implications of pink diamonds more selfish behaviour as of that detracts from the plot itself. because it doesn’t . All it actually means is that rose quartz did a lot of personal - selfish things that had a lot of grand effects on the people around her, and while that does paint her as a less than desirable person , that doesn’t have a direct correlation with the value of this as a device in the plot. A lot of the videos that argue about why this is bad all use the selfish intentions of the character as if that is a consequential value Point against the story- in of itself when it is simply a list of traits that Have changed the paradigm of a character’s personality for the audience. Those are not the same things. I will be hard-pressed to find an accumulative List of shows that I watched as a child that slowly reveal the hero overtime that I was introduced, into a villain or at the very least an antihero. Usually these sorts of characters come out of nowhere or they reveal their true nature very early on, and in this narrative we get to see clues littered about the story and it allows the audience to put together what’s wrong with the character and why we shouldn’t necessarily like them as much as we think we should. I think this is a very useful and important skill to instill in the next generation . The ability of character discernment. If my kids watched the show turned around and told me that they don’t like rose quarts anymore and they list all the reasons that we as theorists have figured out, I would be so happy and proud for them ! This is not the same argument as saying that “this is just a kid show and we should let it go”, what may have been easy for us to figure out maybe very revolutionary for the much younger generation and I believe they deserve to have that experience. The satisfaction of figuring out the reveal ahead of time and honing their skills in this type of analysis thinking, could you imagine how important this is for them as a skill in general? when I have kids, I’m gonna make sure that they watch the show and see if they figure it out before the episode arrives.

So glad I’m not the only one happy with this outcome. I didn’t expect the crewniverse to go this route for real, but I am so happy they did, because it was so unexpected despite being so heavily predicted. This really adds another layer to Rose and Pink. I think it even shows how Pink matured since her first showing on Jungle Moon

Almost everything about this video is accurate except for one major flaw: PINK DIAMOND also rebelled against her responsibilty to mine the earth in order TO PROTECT EARTH and all the beauty and wonder therein! Instead of following the responsibility of her Diamond sisters, you might say there was a higher responsibility calling to her: her heart. Pink diamond, as Rose quartz, fell in love with living on planet Earth! One of the biggest reasons why STEVEN UNIVERSE strikes at my very core is the appreciation for our precious planet, and having the courage to be true to your heart. Rose Quartz / Pink diamond connected with and led an army of misfits because SHE TOO was a misfit who rebelled against her assigned task= to oversee mining the planet for gems which was tearing it APART! The video frequently refers only to Pink Diamond giving up responsibility, yet that is what EVERY gem does who gives up their assigned role-job-class-caste. By fighting for the earth, they unite against the Diamond Prime Directive (I just made that term up, but I am referring to their desire to dominate, expand and control at all costs). For the Diamonds, it seems no cost is too high to achieve their ends... which it the total opposite of the Crystal gems, who show time and time again, they will not ignore their emotions nor the calling of their heart. Every Crystal Gem honours their emotions, honours their need to be WHO THEY CHOOSE TO BE, and honours the Earth as the sacred place where they can do all that AND experience the wonder and diversity of an extraordinary planet. Thank you, and good day to all.

I passionately disagree with the idea that Rose was trying to 'escape responsibility' it comply flies in the face of everything we know about Rose. She LOVED Earth. The diamonds were killing the Earth if things progressed as planned Earth would have been devoid of life. If Pink stayed around Earth would be a barren rock by the modern era. The cluster was just an adhoc experiment based on what the Diamonds learned, what we learn from Garent is that the idea of gems of different types merging was shocking, and thus inspired the cluster experiment. We know that's what the Diamonds do. They find worlds with life, and basically, use the injectors to make gems, and this makes the area around the injectors 100% incapable of supporting life, even literally thousands of years after the gems were made. So frankly I think you're wrong about Rose and her motivations. Not as a matter of opinion but based on the evidence of the show. Was she a bit selfish? Yeah, she was. But the show beats us over the head with the fact that she cared about the world and the freedom of the gems to have self-determination. The idea that she was 'escaping responsibility' doesn't gel with starting a revolution. That shit takes work.

I’m glad you’re okay with this reveal. I understand that you as well as a few other fans have different opinions about these episodes but you still admire the Crewniverse on how they executed the twist instead of hating this like nearly everyone else has been doing. Also, you have some fair points in this video which I can definitely see happening in the show whether or not Rose is the villain or just did these things without being aware of the consequences. This definitely changes the whole dynamic of the show.

i actually REALLY liked this episode!

While I do agree PD is extremely selfish, I still don't really see her as a villain. If she was completely uncaring and cruel, she wouldn't have cared if Bismuth tried to shatter Blue and Yellow. She also probably wouldn't have tried to understand humans (she sucked at it, but she did ask questions and when Greg snapped at her to stop, she did). She liked the idea that everyone could choose their fate, not only herself. She accepted fusion, unlike the other diamonds who would kill over a unique fusion. But yeah, she lied to everyone, was cruel to Pearl, and staged her own death no matter what it did to her gems. So I see her more as a morally grey, maybe dark-grey character. As for her thinking blue and yellow didn't care, in every scene we've seen them together, blue and diamond are ignoring or berating her, so I actually do understand why she thought they didn't care. They feel like the parents who are too hard on their kid, then regret it after the kid is pushed over the edge. Just my opinion though, I do like your video, and I'm glad there are others out there who enjoyed the reveal too. I also loved A Single Pale Rose~

Susan Egan retweeted this video!

I'm always hearing people say that she created the rebellion just to run away from her responsibilities... But where the heck are so many people taking this motivation from? Here's why that motivation doesn't make sense... (I'm talking plot hole levels of not making sense): 1. She literally needed to do NOTHING (Just smile and wave). There were no effort or worries in her position. 2. We know for a fact she wasn't even planning to stay on Earth. If the Diamonds had listened to her, Pink would've moved the colony to another planet with much less life in it. That fake death stunt was an ultimatum. 3. Steven WASN'T a scapegoat for responsibility. After 5000 years, Rose would never think that Homeworld would come back. Chance are that Pink really wanted to have a baby and, if was going to happen, it had to be with Greg, allowing Steven to grow up with the father figure that she would want her son to grow up with... Spending his entire life, mortal or not, with the Crystal Gems, recovering and, maybe, eventually, curing corrupted Crystal Gems. 4. If she was truly just that dumb and selfish, she would've just used the other Gems to fight for her against Homeworld and lost miserably. By creating Rose Quartz, she gave all gems a CHOICE to fight for Homeworld or for her, because she valued that the most. The talk in the episode about the Sword's Scabbard reinforces this. Plus, the CG's were fighting the ONE Diamond that could be defeated and their leader was powerful like a Diamond as well, it was the only fair fight scenario. 5. She tried EVERYTHING ELSE before considering the last stunt (From "Can't go Back"). The rebellion had more success than her other plans but Blue was right, just from the difference in numbers, the CG was doomed to fail... Even if Rose remained undefeated, she wouldn't be able to protect everyone. The rebels only won because Pink Diamond was "shattered". Bonus reasoning: You're all basically expecting me to believe that Pink was faking her personality for 5000 years. I'm not saying she's perfect. We know she didn't had the guts to tell the others about Bismuth or to tell Bismuth the truth... Not to mention the secrets she had to hid even from Pearl... But a BUNCH of people are dead set sure that Pink created the rebellion for her own benefit but, and I have to say this again, SHE WASN'T EVEN PLANNING ON STAYING ON EARTH! I could say more, but It would be a theory going too deep in spoiler territory.

The whole point of this reveal was supposed to be that Pink came to earth and was changed by it because she truly fell in love with the planet and its inhabitants. We are led to see that Pink had little if any control over the progress of her colony to the point that she had to talk to the other diamonds about ending the colonization process. She was honest about her reasons to end it at first, but the diamonds ignored her and this caused Pink to find other reasons the diamonds would find acceptable. Pink eventually started the rebellion as it became the only way to save the earth, taking on the Rose Quartz image which we are meant to see not as a facade put on to run away from her responsibilities, but as Pink embracing who she is and becoming her true self. Yes, when we first really saw Pink, we saw her being childish and bratty, but combining that with this reveal shows that she really was just different from the other diamonds and in her mind they were berating her for being herself and forcing her to conform to some superficial idea of what a diamond is. When this went against her very nature, she was led down the path of becoming Rose Quartz and eventually giving up her role as a diamond, again, NOT BECAUSE SHE WAS RUNNING AWAY FROM HER PROBLEMS BUT BECAUSE THE AUTHORITY AND POWER SHE ONCE WANTED WERE NO LONGER IMPORTANT TO HER. Pink really believed that life on earth was precious and that Homeworld society restricted everyone to act in specific ways that prevented them from being who they wanted to be. That's why she loved the fact that humans had the ability to grow, change, and choose who they are and what they become. She gathered a following to help support her war for the earth, a war that she did not fight against herself as she clearly had no real power as a diamond during this conflict, and they all rallied behind the same beliefs that Pink had. When Bismuth recommended the breaking point, Rose/Pink was against it, but not for self preservation and not necessarily because she may not have had an interest in uprooting the other diamonds, but because she did care about other gems and she wanted this conflict to end as peacefully as possible. Rose/Pink never wanted people to get hurt or die to save the planet, but her lack of authority caused things to unfold to where violence was bound to happen. All that was left was for her to conduct damage control. That's why we hear that Pink's soldier's needed to be rallied and fall into line in order to fight the rebellion. That means that Pink did anything she could to reduce the conflict. Pink cared about other Gems and that can't be disputed. Saying that she lacked empathy, which I still say is debatable no matter what the crewniverse really says because the only real examples that can be used for this is that she didn't notice Pearl's crush and that she thought Greg trying to fuse was funny. Yes, she may have had issues relating to humans in some extent and may have had the same issues with some gems because of her design, but her healing tears work because she felt pain when others were hurt, she was able to tell Garnet why Ruby and Sapphire feel like being fused is the right thing when Garnet herself was unsure, she showed tenderness and compassion to everyone, and she literally had empathic powers that now belong to steven. I do think that Rose had to learn and develop more empathy and that Greg mainly taught her, thus why their relationship worked, but all of the ways she acted showed that she had more naivety in those situations because she was secluded from other gems and only taught anything by the diamonds that are unempathetic. And even if empathy wasn't a factor, you are treating it like being unempathetic is the same as being heartless. It's not. Pink could have had trouble when it came to picking up on and relating to other's feelings, but she still cared about everyone. We know that this is the case with the Diamonds and yet everyone can sympathize with them but no one shows any understanding that Pink could still be good. If you adjust your perspective, you can actually find that Pink/Rose is a much better character than you may think at first glance. You're only scratching the surface of her character without bothering to go deep. Are there bad things that happened because of her choices, yes. Did she hurt the diamonds because she was wrong in her assessment about them, yes. Did she misjudge their love for her that she commited a horrible action that scared them and corrupted so many gems, yes. But let's look at the other side. Did she feel unloved and unwanted, possibly like she was viewed as a useless and defective gem in the eyes of the diamonds? Yes. Did she give up everything when she had nothing to gain from her rebbelion but everything to lose, even her own life? Yes. Did she have real concern and love towards those she was surrounded with? Yes. Did she feel guilt for every bad thing that happened because it was in some way connected to her actions? Yes. Did she spend her entire life trying to undo the damage she caused? Yes. Did she save earth and work hard to learn from and protect humans? Yes. Was she honest about her own flaws and mistakes? Yes. Did she have secrets from the others because she was too afraid of how they might be hurt by the truth? Yes. Did she value life so much that she was willing to give up her physical form to have steven? Yes. Did she decide to have Steven simply for the experience of childbirth? Yes. Did she have any expectations for Steven other than for him to just be her son? No. Did she leave items and plans behind for Steven to learn most of her secrets and to fix the mistakes she could never correct? Yes. Did she, on many levels, actually show hate for herself and recognition that those around her get hurt? Yes. Did she see the value and beauty in everything no matter how ugly or defective? Yes. Everything we've learned about her since episode one has been showing us that Pink/Rose was a loving and compassionate person who was emotional to a fault. She was so concerned with trying to save everyone from pain and trying not to hurt anyone, but she went to such extremes that she wound up hurting everyone. It's like a mother who shelters her child from the real world because she doesn't want them to get hurt only for the child to be ill prepared for life when they are on their own. There were bad choices made by her and there were many mistakes, but Rose/Pink shows that she's a good person as she never inteded for these things to happen and the fact that these things mainly happened due to her desire to try and save everyone. I'm glad that you are looking at this positively, but i wish people would recognize that this doesn't mean Rose was a horrible person, it means that she was actually as human as anyone else.

Damn it’s already been 3 years since the SU fandom exploded from this plot twist It also led me to believe that just because it’s predictable doesn’t mean it’s bad depending on the context. Steven’s POV about Pink/Rose reminds me of myself as I grew up with mostly my father already passed on before I knew him and wondered what he was like and wondered what negative things he did, and yet held him close as a major person in my life. Yet the unknown based on others’ stories frustrate me.

I don't think rose had steven to run away from her problems simply because there was nothing to run from anymore. homeworld was beaten back, the rebellion was successful and they lived millenia in peace, collecting corrupted gems. steven believing she did it to escape her problems is just a facet of his insecurity over her being a good person.

I think Pink Dimond/Rose was aware to some extent of her flaws, at least after meeting Greg, because she was obsessed with the idea that things on earth *grow* and *change*. I thkbk she wanted to be able not only to escape but to grow as well, which seems to be the core of Steven's personnality, the empathy, the growing sense of responsability,etc

I love how there were all these AUs with Steven being the son of a diamond, while he already is.

I certainly enjoyed this twist as well, but I don't think this necessarily makes Rose a completely selfish character, like you said. She's certainly far from perfect, but she could've escaped her responsibilities without accepting Garnet, uplifting Pearl to more than just a servant, or saving and preserving Earth's inhabitants. She was certainly reckless, and caused damage to others as a result, but she could've been self-serving without also doing the good that she did. She doesn't go from perfectly good to perfectly selfish, she goes to being in a gray area; and that makes it all the more fascinating. What's more, she certainly had empathy, but at the same time had a lot of room to grow - especially when it comes to understanding people and Earth's other inhabitants. That's _why_ she decided to put Steven into the world: to gain that understanding and bridge the gap between gems and people. From the beginning of the show, we've already seen Steven make a huge difference in that regard. The crystal gems have gone from isolated hermits to being active parts of the Beach City community, and Pearl has even come to respect Greg!

my only disagreement years later is originally yes pink wanted to NOT be a diamond, pearl showed the earth making her want to keep it safe and also not be a diamond, then she saw other gems and wanted them and pearl the be their own. when pearl said yes my diamond you could see pink cringe, she didnt like that even before the rebellion. I am years and years late but its fineee

I personally love that Rose is Pink Diamond cause Rose was already my favourite character and now she has more depth

I was with you up until you said rose only did what she did to escape her duties as a diamond. That couldn't be further from the truth and the show proves that again and again. Her sentimental attachment to earth's organic life is why she wanted to help. But of course how could she possibly convince people to follow her as a diamond. Her love for Greg and her son are another thing. If all she ever wanted was to give up her responsibilities, yes you can argue that her becoming apart of Steven accomplished that but at the same time why would she knowingly put her own son/herself in danger. Rose is one of those people with good intentions overshadowed rightfully by bad impact

"The Pony I Wanna Be" Pink Diamond cover

i think people are jumping to the worst case scenario to readily here. Like, even though youre putting a positive spin on it, I don't fully agree that she became Rose to run away. She just naively thought that it would end the war like she thought any of her other excuses would allow her to abandon the colony. I think Rose had the best intention but shes immature and naive so it fell apart around her. I don't think Steven being her escape is what they are going for, it's too dark and feels overcomplicated. If she just wanted to run, she could have just faked her death and ran.

I loved your point of view, and the design of your avatar. New subscriber, keep the good work Lea

I love Rose lol, she made the plot thicker. Now I know why Rose was a weird character. She felt suspicious and just weird. But I don't hate her. We really wouldn't have Steven without her after all

This was such a good episode, and I'm so glad it went this way. I could go on for hours talking about how great it is.

I personally thought this episode was pretty damn good. It had some great insight into Pearl's psyche and how her being neurotic is the only way she can keep herself together emotionally. This is the type of stuff that got me into the show in the first place and what I hope will be more frequent now that the reveal has happened.

I love that you like the twist as much as I do! Everyones complaining that they don't like being misled about the unknown origins of these characters without cherishing the extra buttercream this throws onto the whole equation.

You seem stuck on PD just wanting to get away from her responsibilities as a diamond leader, but that isn't the whole story. We've been told, time and time again, that Rose loved the Earth and wanted to protect it from total destruction by her people. She wanted her fellow gems to get away from the oppressive, hive-minded society that was under the diamond rulers that they lived in as well. From what I've pieced together, she must have tried, time and time again, to get Blue and Yellow to leave the Earth alone. With each shut down, she probably came up with her final idea of faking her own shattering to get them to leave, which backfired. The zoo must have been made early in the colonization as her way to protect the sentient beings from total extinction. She probably grew to love them pretty quickly and decided to keep some of them safe (probably before she decided to stop their colonization), pampered, and well taken care of. Much like what we do with our zoos really. This is speculation, of course, but it makes sense. So this whole idea of her being totally selfish is, quite frankly, getting on my nerves. Is she a perfect princess without flaws? Absolutely not. Did she make terrible decisions? Absolutely. True, she wanted to get away from her society and live freely without the burden of leadership, but that was the only selfish part that anyone could probably sympathize with. And if creating a new identity was the only way to achieve her freedom, other gems' freedom, and the freedom of Earth, then so be it.

Excellent analysis and very thought-provoking! Jasper is one of my favorite characters and I'm really looking forward to seeing her again and seeing her deal with these revelations.

After watching "Change Your Mind", I think that Pink Diamond / Rose Quartz were VERY empathic. The problem is that Pink is more intuitive/spontaneous than logical/methodical. As a consequence she is kind of dense and poor at planning. Pink's problem is that she can't collect all the pieces of the puzzle (realize what people are feeling), it is that she sometimes can't assemble them into a full picture of what is going on.

I'd have to disagree that Rose/Pink ONLY wanted to escape her responsibility. The story that was told about Rose, I think, is true - She fell in love with life on Earth and wanted to protect it, but knew she couldn't do that as a Diamond. Her child & mother-ish relationship with Blue and Yellow could have also easily meant that she didn't want to let them down, one of several important reasons she couldn't have rebelled as herself. Something I think is interesting is how Pink was more or less a child or childlike character, yet Rose is all sage and wise and majestic. Before this reveal it wouldn't have been a stretch at all to say Rose had some personal issues, but Pink's character blows Rose's wide open. How much of Rose's personality was just a farce based on what her friends needed her to be? I don't think they/she lacks empathy at all, but rather were selfish about something she loved a lot. She loved Earth, so she selfishly went through a scheme to deceive people she loved in order to protect them and their new home. She loved Greg and Steven, so she selfishly locked away her secrets and left behind Rose's perfect persona as much as possible, not to save her own face - she'd be gone! - but to try and give them someone to love without conflicting emotions for as long as possible. And funnily enough, Steven has extremely similar conflicts quite often, where he can either be real about his issues and work together, or be "selfish" and dig a deep hole on top of himself to try to fix problems instead because he feels he has to, to protect who he loves.

Nice video Lea. You brought up all of the same points that The Roundtable, VGMarkis, Swaggy Thunder, & SliceofOtaku made about how this reveal was a bad idea but showed how this was good for the story as a whole, as well as the multiple plot directions & character development the show can go from here

I personally saw the whole "don't shatter" thing before the reveal to be about "this isn't how we do things, we aren't monsters, utter destruction isn't the answer, you've gone too far". After the reveal I thought maybe it could have been "you've gone too far, I don't want to hurt my family" ya'know. But tbh, this seems like a nice view to see.

Your gemstone is amazing, and I loved this video, I really like this point of view, I feel similar. Can’t wait for more episodes!!!

I don't think Pink Diamond had much of a choice from a political standpoint. However, she dealt with a situation way above her and miscalculated the consequences of her actions.

I wholly disagree as to why Rose/Pink refused Bismuth's Breaking Point. Yes, Pink no longer wanted to be the Diamond and assume that responsibility, but she truly believed in protecting Earth, no simply to just hide from everything. Furthermore, that was still her sisters, and loves of the other gems on the line.

This is fantastic, bravo! I hope more people watch this video and consider your words before spazzing out, because I saw think you said this all very wonderfully. I saw the Pink Diamond reveal coming and I can't wait to see where the plot goes.

What makes your channel great is how you have unique opinions and a point of view from the rest of us ! You got a new sub 🌟

Best video about the fact that rose is pink diamond. Poor Steven.

I see a lot of complaints that Pink wanted to avoid her "diamond duties." Please refresh my memory as to what those "duties" are. I do believe that they entail eco-genocide, not just on a planetary scale on Earth but EVERYWHERE the Diamonds snatch resources with their greedy little blood-stained hands, as we saw in "Jungle Moon." For Pink to throw her hands up and say "I quit" doesn't make her all that horrible. Her other irresponsibilities are a different matter.

ughhhh you just made me all the more excited about the next season

5:53 No. Rose/Pink was abused. And when she realized that there were other gems in the same boat, she fought for a free world. I am a survivor of an abusive family; I did the same thing.

That explains the line : ( i always thought I might be bad , now I know that it's true )

god i feel so bad for steven

never watched the show, but this video poppoed up and now i'm starting, you made it look very interesting! thankyou!

The only thing I COULD argue against your video is that Pink Diamond could have had other reasons for wanting to abandon her diamond status as well, such as fighting for Earth, and the freedom of Gems. But since that's literally all I could argue, great job! Fantastic video!

Who said Pink diamond was trying to escape her responsibilities? In one flashback she didn't have many responsibilities as the youngest and smallest diamond but wanted more of them (a colony of her own) and in another flashback Blue diamond told her that she doesn't even have to do anything, so I guessed even with her colony she didn't have many responsibilities either.

Garnet I think is mainly so.... upset? Because Rose always told her to be herself. To find out that Rose wasn't even a Rose Quartz must make her think she was lying, making Sapphire run away from fusion. I love how you made this video. I hate everyone criticizing this episode because it was actually one of my favourite episodes, if not my favourite ever!

Very good video, you're very well-spoken and eloquent, and you did a great job of getting into the meat of the show, the characters, and what this revelation means for all of them. Nice work.

I just discovered your content through this video, and quite honestly it looks like you're shaping up be yet another awesome SUtuber! And can I just say how much I ADORE your OC/Gemsona!! She's really cute and I love her design! She kinda reminds me of a gem version of Sadie

This revelation explains the one interview quote when Rebecca said in Season 5 Steven was always trying to fill the shoes of his mother but she was always barefoot. (Sorry if I botched that it was paraphrased)

I love the design of your Gem character. Also, you just got a new subscriber

this is such a well done and great video and I love the idea that we see everything as steven does and we only learn when he does

I feel rose began to feel compassion when see danced with greg.

While I agree with everything, I do think that a big part of Pink's motivation was too save the Humans. I think she did it for immature reasons, but that she would have made the same choice even where she more mature. And at the end of her life, she had developed a better sense of empathy through her relationship with Greg

wow you really predicted how garnet would fall apart after learning about pink

What a fantastic review. I love that you took the time to consider everything before making it. I have a problem with being swayed by opinions easily and this is the first review video I've seen on this matter so I'm super happy it turned out to be this one. Thank you for your very positive and encouraging explanation on this!

That thumbnail is spot on

honestly, almost every episode is a foreshadow leading up to the recent events of SU. and people who don't overanalyze or read between the lines, can't see that or won't understand the intricate story telling that the Crewniverse and Rebecca Sugar had done. rewatching these episodes are opening my eyes to and I'm so hyped for the next episodes and see what's to come! as always, your vids are amazing!

First of all, I LOVE YOUR OC!!!!

Dude this whole analysis is amazing and I just agree with this all the way. Wow dude, just wow. Amazing and great video ⭐