Hey I just realized something. How does White Diamond know what a child is?

Aren’t we glad the crewniverse ignored Lars’ character for an entire season, brought him back to Earth at the very end, ignored him in the movie, then sent his character back into space at the first opportunity to get him out of the show? Being dead and potentially outliving everyone you love with only a lion understanding how you feel is no big deal. Why would they want to focus on that? It’s fine. I’m fine.

Does anyone call the gempire the gem empire. Okay just me

Steven’s entire support network: “We’re here to help you whenever you need us!” Steven: *repeatedly continues to refuse help and lets his problems build until he finally breaks* Connie: “This is OUR fault for not being there for Steven when he needed us!” I don’t understand. You can't help someone if they don't want to be helped.

I still can't take the emotional payoff of a dramatic, heartfelt "I may never come back." seriously when Steven has like 6 different ways to visit people instantly. He has actual functional, self powered teleporters, a magic lion, astral projection, super speed, actual spaceships, and possession. Even if he doesn't want to use his powers regularly, the lion and teleporter are still options. And he has Uncle Racism with his personal plane who's casually okay with just taking him places.

Why was a whole season at a barn and treated like episodes of the rugrats but then the later season barely explored the gem homeworld

It still bothers me that Steven said he was a vegetarian and then a few episodes later we see him eating hamburgers and fish

One of my biggest problems with SU:Future is how all of the diamonds get completely redeemed, yet the only diamond who has no chance to advocate for herself, Pink Diamond, keeps getting more and more shit piled on her and she becomes the sole symbol of all that is bad in the Steven Universe universe. Steven is allowed to do horrible things (commit manslaughter on Jasper, almost commit manslaughter on Greg, attempt to murder White Diamond) with the expectation that he is only human and allowed to change and improve, yet the same empathy is missing for Pink Diamond. Was Pink perfect? No, but she wasn't a genocidal dictator who eradicated PLANETS worth of life and oppressed gems for wanting to be themselves, yet no episode is given to her in Future as a rebuttal. Steven, after having a melt down and causing a lot of pain to those around him, could have had a moment of understanding and empathy for his mom, who he seems to have nothing but loathing for in Future.

"Gempire" sounds weird and is too short, why don't you just say "Gem Empire"?

White Diamond is a cursed character. Everything about her is wtf.

the thing that always bugged me about the original series finale and how white diamond says that steven is acting like a child. gems don't have the concept of children and families, so it wouldn't make sense for white to compare steven to one.

Garnet being thicc is what saved the show

I really hated how Steven reacted to Greg's childhood. By all means, I understand him being mad about how extreme Greg went to give him personal freedom because he should have been going to check ups and school. But what pisses me off is that Steven simply pretended Greg had a "normal childhood". No. Just no. My heart ached seeing Greg's graduation photo completely depressed. At a major life achievement. He had no control over his interests, his parents chose his hobbies, he wasn't even allowed to have his hair the way he wanted at graduation, y'know at a time he was between 17 & 18 where legally his parents have no say. When he left but wrote letters to reconcile, they never even opened them. Then Steven complained that Greg never let him see them. Why would he? They didn't even care if their son was alive and well. "Wah wah my son left after he came of age to go live his life and make his own choices. Now we don't have our puppet so we will completely disown him." Jeez no wonder Greg left. A cartoon portrayal of a Karen and Darren if I ever saw one.

Honestly shocked that you didn't mention that Steven commited murder but alright

Connie is probably the character who is done the dirtiest by SU:F. She's not really a character so much as she is a plot device and a mouth piece for How To React Good To Issues of Mental Health. She's infinitely wise and patient and has no reaction to Steven lashing out at her. She experiences no real emotion to Steven's sudden proposal, to the point that she ditches what should be a serious conversation because, welp, her 15 minutes are up. Steven is horribly traumatized by his experiences in SU, but Connie is perfectly fine. She's not a character in SU:F ... just a shallow love interest.

"those extra episodes would have done so much for the show" -also true for basically the entire series

I think part of the reason Future feels weird is that Steven Universe "Prime" really wasn't about Steven's growth at all. Steven didn't make a lot of mess-ups in the main show, and while he did grow, he didn't grow *much-* because it was less about Steven growing and more about Steven helping the adults in his life to grow. Steven is a satellite character, and very successful as one, and there's real whiplash to seeing him be the actual *main* character for a full season. Honestly, my biggest beef with this season is that it kind of erases Amethyst's most powerful episode: the one where they all find out about the Rose-Diamond trick and she basically tells Steven, "Look, it feels like I'm the only one here who remembers you're a fucking kid, so I absolutely *refuse* to lean on you for support because *you need to have someone you can lean on for support."* She spends the whole episode trying to cheer him up and refusing to admit she's upset, tricking the viewer into assuming this is a "Amethyst needs to open up" episode-and then you realize at the end, oh, yeah, she's actually doing the most mature thing, we forgot that Steven is a literal *child* and *should not be his parents' emotional support.* If they wanted to do a moral of "the grownups in Steven's life need to be there for him," what they needed to do was justify a reason Amethyst couldn't be. Maybe she leaves for a while, or something happens in her life that means she stops being that pillar for Steven. But she deserved better. Otherwise I think Steven Universe Future is basically everything we needed it to be. If they'd cut the Diamonds out, I'd be pretty 100% satisfied. As-is, I think it's solid.

The biggest criticism of Future that I've seen is that there were actually plenty of times that the gems helped Steven with his problems in SU proper, and even in this show there were plenty of genuine attempts at help that Steven turned down. In addition, the show kind of labels his adventures in SU as extremely traumatic even though within SU they weren't presented that way at all. It's a very weird, almost fanfiction-y turn.

The Nice Lapis outro was adorable

If Gems are created to serve a specific function within the Gem Empire, why are they made sapient? If you're making an army of robots to do your grunt work for you, you don't make them any smarter than they need to be to do whatever it is you need them to do because that's just asking for trouble. So why not just make the lower Gems mindless zombie slaves?

Jay Exci is the embodiment of chaotic neutral and I’m loving it.

My main problem with the finale is that the solution to Godzilla Steven, and what gets him on track to recovery, is all his friends and finally being there for him and letting him know they'll support him through whatever troubles he's going through. The problem with this is that this is what they've all been doing THE ENTIRE TIME. They have been nothing but loving, supportive, and patient for the entirety of SUF. Why is it suddenly effective now and not before? It seems arbitrary. It would have made much more sense if the other characters were dismissive of Steven's issues, taking him for granted, for most of the show. Then, the ending where they go to help him in his time of need, as he helped them in their times of need, would be much more satisfying. It would feel like the conclusion to an arc rather than just business as usual. And it would explain why the Godzilla incident is finally able to get him on the road to recovery when nothing before seemed to help.

Jay: I'm glad Steven Universe didn't try to tackle an issue with a real-world parallel. Also Jay: Gems are trying to terraform a planet and destroy natural wildlife to make it suitable to them.

I hate the Greg thing if ONLY because it entirely forgets that he actually wanted to be around Steven and that the Gems, for the most part, didn't let him. To the point where he faked an injury just to be around Steven. I could understand if, say, he didn't put up much of a fight and bowed down to the Crystal Gems immediately, that he never questioned why Steven didn't need to go to school or go to a hospital... Yet I don't picture him being this kind of negligent that he PERSONALLY decided not to do so.

Why I thought this epilogue season was okay it's biggest flaw was the same as the final, that being rushed. A hug doesn't get rid of years of trauma, mentioning the counselling and time skip was a nice touch but we didn't even see Steven going there. It would have good for us to see the value people can get from it as well as informing children that you can't hug your problems away.

I actually dont think SU has the capability to tell this story. A lot of characters are hyper simplified and have their emotional awareness scaled back to 0 just to allow steven to get as bad as he gets in the epilogue

Is anyone else having a problem where they sometimes can’t tell if the scenes are from the new show or the old one due to Steven sometimes looking as small as he used to as a child, even with the new outfit?

I dropped Steven Universe after Change My Mind so I can't comment on it. Will I watch someone ELSE comment on it? You bet your hamfisted redemption arcs I will!

Imagine a story with a cartoon horse manages to make a more compelling and realistic story about mental illness/issues than a show that’s “tries” to focus on said issues.

"Of course it wasn't flawless, Sunstone was in it!" Shots fire!! I repeat-SHOTS FIRED!!! 😂😆🤣

Yeah, I hate how they had the main character HAD A PSYCHOTIC BREAK after committing MANSLAUGHTER, AND THEN ATTEMPTED MURDER... and they did nothing with it.

Jay Exci is too long, can't you just shorten it to Jayci?

Missed the opportunity to call it the gem empire

why have gems when you could have GEODES

steven tries to do child marriage and falls into a depressive spiral then turns into godzilla

*[If only the finale had more of... me...]*

Let's be Honest The Crewniverse put more effort into White Diamond design then her Character There i say it

"Of course it wasn't flawless, Sunstone was in it." He be stating strait facts

"We're starting to push Steven's character now, he's never been one to lose his temper easily." As someone with PTSD, I can tell you that a sign of PTSD is irrational mood swings, especially toward anger or fear.

If the show goes up in flames, should we call it the gempyre?

100% agree about the diamond's characters. one of my biggest annoyances with the show is how they gave a whole season's worth to show the redemption of peridot, a relatively minor villain, but redeemed the big baddies of the entire series basically off-screen.

Thanks for the opportunity to record some lines, although I won’t say thanks for how many times I had to say “gempire”. I’m pretty sure I heard that word echoing over and over again when I went to sleep the other night. :I

steven universe's use of subtlety, unfortunately, really seemed to decrease as it went on. if i can tell what someone is thinking without you saying it explicitly, that's much preferable over the alternative in my eyes. watching a show with subtle storytelling makes me enjoy it that much more. the kind of interaction between steven and connie, or steven and greg is something i really appreciated. maybe what i disliked most about steven's representation of ptsd is that he didn't respond nearly as negatively to the events that he went through at the time of them happening, but when he recalls them later they seem to have some sort of weight associated with them that affected him but was never shown.

I really hate what they did with Pink Diamond/Rose. Much like with the other Diamonds I kind of felt like character whiplash. Like at first they treated Rose like some sort of goddess which we knew there was more to and we weren't getting the whole story, then the reveal that she was Pink Diamond, pretty interesting and we learn that she did some rather questionable things but had good intentions. Fine with all of that so far. But then it seems they just wanted to pile on some absolutely horrible things onto her character to seemingly want to make us hate her, such as abandoning Spinel for thousands of years on some planet, and oh by the way she was a horrible domestic abuser to Pink Pearl. It just seems so out of character and feels like character assassination to me. I also don't see why these reveals were necessary as Pink Diamond's story and arc was pretty much already done and explored enough by this point. It's like they just randomly decided they hated the character they created and decided to take some cheap shots at her. They took what was initially an interesting character with some flaws but who was trying to do the right thing and instead just made her pretty much an all around terrible person and basically the show's villain. And because she's dead before the show starts she can't even defend herself or explain anything, so yeah all aboard the Pink Diamond smear campaign I guess. Like by the end of the show they really do make every single Diamond like the opposite of what they were originally, Rose included. So yeah thanks, I hate it.

another thing, after seeing how built up homeworld was throughout the entirety of the series, i really thought we would get a season exploring homeworld and it's inner workings, really get us familiar with the society and the treatment that goes on there. the fact that we only spent a couple of arcs there felt.... wrong. if they just had an extra season in the original series to flesh out the concepts they only tip-toed around, i feel like it would have turned out a lot better. remember when a new gem appearance was something we were excited about?

SU Future was a flawed but mostly good show that, once a-fucking-gain, completely flubbed the landing. The climax and resolution of the main arc, Steven's repressed issues, are COMPLETELY ass-backwards compared to what the show is actually building towards. They build up through the entirety of Future that Steven's issues are rooted almost entirely in a combined martyr/inferiority complex that has developed as a result of the world changing around him and him no longer being able to recognize what he's 'good for' so-to-speak. He keeps pushing other people away, even as they continue to offer him help and unconditional support, because he thinks they'll be better off if he doesn't burden them with his issues and because he thinks it's his job to help others, not to accept help from them. His issue is NOT rooted in a lack of love and support from his friends and family, his issues are rooted in himself. And yet despite this the climax completely strips Steven of agency by literally turning him into an unthinking animal who then needs to be 'saved' by the unconditional love and support of the rest of the cast, something he's already had through the entirety of Future. Steven's internal, self-inflicted issues are NEVER actually resolved because the climax quite literally robs him of the ability to resolve them.

Steven universe was a show with amazing potential to develop new and original characters around a deep story about galactic conflict fought by interesting holographic life forms with unique abilities which proceeded to fart around a seaside town fixing the problems of nobody's while the diamond sword of Damocles dangled over they're heads rendering the meaningless drama of the humans lives almost insulting.

Not that this will dramatically improve their character arcs or anything, but the "solutions" that the Diamonds are peddling are intentionally flawed ones. Blue's suggestion is essentially a G-rated version of using drugs to make yourself feel better, Yellow's is equivalent to getting a makeover, and White's is essentially venting your anger by hitting something representing the thing you're angry at, which is generally not considered to be a healthy coping mechanism.

More like, *Steven Universe Needs Therapy*

Yes sun stone was definitely... in it. That's all there is to know about sun stone.

The biggest disappointment for me was they build such a amazing world and just refused to explore it in any way that was satisfying

Honestly, I'm glad for the improvements, but this late in the game it just feels like last-minute over-correcting. It's as if between "Change Your Mind" and the movie, they gathered the criticisms of the show and tried to address as many as possible in one go, which isn't helped by the fact that they seem to fall into many of the pitfalls they hit before, such as inconsistencies in the magic system. Well-done video, as always.

20:30 To be fair, the characters actually talking about their feelings might have solved like... 80% of all non-war related conflicts in the prequel era, clone wars included.

This season being abt Steven feels like if in Phineas and Ferb they did a season where Phineas was depressed and needed help. It's just really sudden, and while it does make sense if you think abt it realistically, story wise it's quite jarring to go from the happy-go-lucky optimistic character you've known for several seasons, to an anxious uncontrollable moody character that is just a complete 180 of the previous. Had they built this arc up before as Jay said it'd have made more sense.

_This comments section is nearly not a mess_

Steven Universe in general has got to be one of the all time best examples of squandered potential. I would love to know the behind the scenes story, did it unfold as the creators intended or was there stuff behind the scenes tripping them up and eventually making them just say "fuck it".

The whole future arc of Steven not being able to accept not being responsible for helping people would be easily undone by Peedee if the writers didn't decide to unceremoniously toss him from the show. Peedee in season 1 was one of Steven's only human friends but had a life that wasn't devoted toward needing Steven help find his purpose in life. He was a foil to Steven being 100% still a kid but more realistic and responsible than Steven, but alas he doesn't show up in any meaningful way after season 1. So we get one of the best townies thrown away so we can have more episodes with Mayor Dewey, the Cool Kids, and Ronaldo.

Rose/pink: fakes her shattering The diamonds: The Gempire Strikes Back!

Honestly, I found Steven’s whole character arc in Future to be extremely difficult to swallow. I like the idea of him “falling” but it was done so poorly. For one, as mentioned in the video, it kind of comes out of no where in the first episode. Even with that his abusive tendencies and the fact he MURDERED someone and attempted murder in the span of 10 minutes is completely ignored cuz Steven is “suffering.” Just because he suffers from PTSD, anxiety, and anger issues does not redeem him for freakin’ murder and abuse. The show acts as if this is tragic and supposed to be sympathetic which would be fine if the show didn’t demonize Rose Quartz for the same thing. Steven and the cast only have contempt for Rose for her past actions (while ignoring she has changed as a person over thousands of years) but Steven? Oh no! He isn’t like Rose, who I guess she is supposed to be the “bad guy” rather than the real villains, the Diamonds. The fact that Steven couldn’t have any compassion for his mother when he is going through an extremely similar character arc is incredibly mind boggling. I feel like this show wanted to teach kids about mental illness, but did so in a way that it completely backfires. Also, the fact that shattering can be fixed is a stupid retcon and feels ultimately like a betrayal of the the universe of the show in a desperate attempt to make the Diamonds “redeemable.” Sorry for the wall of text, this season and the show really disappointed me after loving the first 3 seasons.

The "steven lose his cool" arc should've happened in SU proper as we built up to the Gempire

I know you probably won’t see this, but I would like to see you make a video criticizing Minecraft’s current world generation you mentioned in your last Minecraft video. The way you break down the game’s current problems is really well done

Gempire? What's that? A Gem vampire?

We should've gotten another season where Steven is a villainous dictator. Give him a cape. Ignore the finale of Future. Have him be killed off in the end. That would be funny.

Drinking game for every time a show about magic warriors tries to wrap up the last season with a PTSD-recovery arc.

The sad thing is, I can't help but see why the show ended so abruptly. Rebecca wanted Ruby's and Saphire's wedding to be done but the network kept telling her and her crew that they couldn't add it in and they would cut off their budget if they put it in, so Rebecca decided to put their wedding scene in the climactic episode where the Diamonds came on Earth since there was no way of censoring a wedding in one of the show's biggest and important episodes to date. Of course, they ended up cutting their budget so they had to rush the final episodes of the show. SU Future was a way to show some of the episodes they had to cut in the original but SU Future ended up being a weird poorly done development of Steven's mental health and PTSD and also ended pretty badly.

*Even after a garbage fire, you can still rearrange the ashes into pretty shapes.* [insert slow clapping] That was the most inspiring thing I’ve ever heard.

The fact that gems are manufactured with a set of skills and personality planted into them makes any sense of free will laughable. Especially if you consider that the main 3 were almost always still following their purposes. Pearl was doing all in the service of her master, Rose. She was still a servant, only by „choice“. Amethyst was indulging herself and finding joy in fighting, just like a fighting gem. Garnet was half Bodyguard half Medium gem. And she acted like a protective leader with foresight, looking towards the future and preparing for its challenges. They were still following their programming. Amethyst would never start being elegant, nor would Pearl ever stop. Because they were made like thisy

You know I would have bought 'Steven has PTSD' a lot more if he showes an iota of tension and reactions to actual tense moments like...idk cluster? Gem fusion experiments? He never once showed trauma responces in the OG series.

When I found out Steven Universe Future was going to be a thing, I held out hope that it would start with a flashback episode to the Diamonds being put on trial, perhaps with Steven telling Connie about it as a framing device as had been done once before ("Indirect Kiss"). The episode could've had Steven trying to convince the gems of Homeworld to have mercy on the Diamonds, who would be depicted as being guilt ridden after their redemptions and willing to accept punishment for it. Steven would basically be their defense attorney, and could get the gems to agree to let the Diamonds do what everyone else is going to get to do now: find their place in their world, but only after 1,000 years of community service (which could be what they're doing in SU:F). I thought that'd be a great way to resolve the Diamond arc in an interesting and satisfying way.

steven: im vegan two episodes later... steven: *eats a fish*

Peridot +lapis= we'll never see it

“Giant Godzilla monster” I think you mean near blatant rip off of death claws from fallout

I personally thought all of Future was flawed but understandable, but I had to draw a big, red line at them trying to tell me that Greg Universe is a negligent parent in "Mr. Universe". Because how?? Steven is a half-human, half-Gem hybrid. According to Rebecca Sugar herself, he is the first and only organic/Gem hybrid in all of existence. He was born with a BIG PINK GEM THAT WAS FORMERLY HIS MOTHER FUSED TO HIS STOMACH. How do you explain that to a doctor? Or to educators? Or to Child Services? Humanity in general doesn't seems to really know about the Crystal Gems or Gems at all, despite all the ruins the Gem War left around Earth. Even the people in Beach City seem to barely acknowledge them, despite their headquarters being in the one same spot for millennia. If anything, raising Steven quietly away from civilisation with the only three people left who would have some idea of what do with any Gem abilities Steven could develop (which DID end up happening) was really the best choice Greg could make. Was it best way to raise a child like Steven entirely? No, probably not, but I'm inclined to think was the wisest. As for Greg's part in raising Steven, the man was living out of his old van by his carwash for YEARS. What are the odds the majority of his income went to just Steven and his lovely spacious beach house? Greg was apparently always there for his one-of-a-kind half-alien son physically, emotionally and financially no matter what happened or how weird things got, so NOW you're trying to tell me he was negligent?? I do agree with the idea that Greg's experience of his far more rigid upbringing and clearly miserable childhood made his approach to parenting more lenient, but his entire situation is a far too fantastical to make that kind of comparison. The man's flawed, but all things considered he's a darn good parent. It's just a shame there wasn't an episode where Steven was being properly homeschooled or something. ...actually Steven was homeschooled, wasn't he? it was just he was only ever taught about Gem history and culture. Whoops. TL;DR Greg Universe is still the best character in all of "Steven Universe" and one of the best dads in fiction. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

The best part about Steven universe future is how Steven has a NECK

The main issue that you had with the diamonds is an issue that Steven also had with them. He pointed out that they recovered too fast for him, and that was a major part on why he felt like he was a horrible person was because the three people that he thought were the worst out of literally anyone in the universe are now reversing all that they’ve done and are now doing better than him.

when steven was trying to make the gems freer he kinda felt like Nikita Khrushchev you know the whole "lets make them more free but in my way" stuff

I’m disappointed he didn’t mention jasper being shattered

Yellow and blue diamonds’ redemption would have been quicker than white diamond’s seeing as they started to redeem themselves in the final few episodes but it was totally rushed

Take a shot every time he says “society”

That part where Peridot took off her visor after Steven’s bad dream legit made me cry, it was so wholesome.

Jay S. Exci, I pray you live a full long life. Thank you for this. Good day.

10:13 - While in-character, whiel it was more than fair to have Greg being taken for a ride for being an overgrown teenager, Steven lashing out was possibly one of the most infuriating in the series especially as it's not followed up by A N Y questionning of the Gems' parenting. Hey, you know how Steven's sorry state in the x-ray photo is kind of a shocking image? You know how that's all caused by the Gems taking a child on life-threatening walks in the park? You know how the Gems have no clue how a human body work, or how human society is set up and what is socially expected and accepted? Well apparently all of that is Greg's fault. This is one of the cases where you really do not want to draw real-life parallels otherwise the situation becomes a lot different with Greg losing custody, paying pensions (all them video games won't buy themselves and none of the three lesbian moms have a job) to his dead wife's son to her alternate-lifestyle lesbian exes who keep the kid homeschooled, yet he's the one who is going to be blamed for not having custody in the first place when people find out the three lesbian moms gave the kids alternative diets and medicine that fucked him up in the long term. All in all, Steven didn't grow up in a van, never went to school because his effective guardians don't know what a school is, yet poor old Greg takes the blame because he listened to David Bowie too much when he was 17. Never have I seen a stick with so short an end. Poor old Greg.

5:22 Did anyone else say "fuck you" out loud, at the exact same time as Jay?

I have never seen Steven universe but I still enjoy these videos.

I remember being so excited for the big fight between Monster Steven and everyone else. And then they ended it with a hug.

I was really kinda confused when I didn't feel much at the last episode when Steven left. Like, shouldn't I feel anything? I've watched this character go through all this stuff and he's gone, like the show? I should feel something right? I guess this is why. It makes sense. It's oddly anticlimactic, despite Godzilla-Steven and everything.

Going to say it: White diamond's dialoge in change your mind; "you're just acting like a child" is very obviously a forced getaway so they can give her that 180, any other (smarter) word choice and it'd require more time to sort it out.

The "Gem Empire" is a pretty dumb name considering that most likely the empire existed on the gem homeworld before the entire planet unified under its rule (unless it formed once everyone was peachy keen with one another, like the federation from Star Trek) It's not like Rome renamed itself the Human Empire once it captured like 90% of everything near them

Yeah, the Crystal Gems were REALLY good at doing something they weren't programmed...I mean: made to do. Sapphire decided to look into the future while fused, instead of doing so while being alone, just as Ruby decided to guard people and a planet while fused instead of guarding something while unfused. Amathyst decided to guard, fight and eat stuff instead of just guarding and fighting. Pearl chose to serve...I mean: follow first Rose than Garnet instead of serving the Gem she was given to...wait... And let's not forget Bismuth who decided to build weapons instead of building buildings. And also let's not forget that except for Bismuth, every CG followed Rose without question and accepted everything she did referring to her as if she was a perfect, flawless being who couldn't do wrong (kinda like a Homeworld Gem treats their Diamond). Truely, the definition of freedom of choice.

Did you guys remember when Steven said that he’s vegetarian? Yeah we literally saw him eating hamburger(on the trip he had with his dad) And fish(his training with Jasper)

personally i like to think steven’s characterization wasn’t all that off in the first episode, since corruption (in the form of becoming pink and glowy) was getting to him and making more unstable

I'm surprised this video wasn't going to massively trash on the finale. Especially because that finale was executed in such an unintentionally comical manner that I felt like it accomplished the opposite message it was going for; those parts where I was expected to be emotionally invested only made me laugh. Jay, are you okay? Is a Tumblr stan holding a gun to the back of your head? Blink twice if "yes!"

Winnie the Pooh did bettr in teaching about mental health conditions without even intending to do so than this special tbh.

You know what hasn't been touched on often in a show like this? Ways of dealing with PTSD that's not exaggerated fear or anger. I wanted to see Steven start to lose hope in himself, start succumbing to his trauma, fall into deep depression, then wakes up in a hospital one day with his loved ones around him, tears in their eyes. "Steven, maybe... maybe you need some help. Help that I nor the rest of us can provide." Greg says, then we start working towards the healing process and steven learning to Express things in a healthy way. I suffer from PTSD, severe depression, and anxiety. I want to relate to Steven but i can't help but feel insulted of how abruptly his character changes and he's super angy and fights people but he also good boi and helps people but messes up everything. This isn't realistic, i can't relate to this at all.

My biggest issue with SU: F was that the majority of episodes can be boiled down to "Epilogue for Insert Character Here", with many characters having little to no impact/presence in the show outside their 1-2 episodes. I didn't get the sense of community the original show had, where characters could and would show up at anytime which fit the small town setting. In Future, you get 1 episode for White Pearl/Pearl and then you barely see them again, you get 1 episode for Peridot (which is easily my favorite episode of the season) and so on.

Steven wasn't a Pacifist till season two starts season 1 he wasn't a no violence type

Saying "giant godzilla" is the same of saying "short Peter Dinklage"

It doesn't jive for me. The thing is is that kindness comes from a mix of introspection, insight, and having truly experienced terrible things. If you've gotten to that point, you realise that you never want another person to feel the way you have about anything, that's where Steven was at the end of the original series. I have mental health issues. I've had major depressive disorder, really bad invasive thoughts, panic attacks, breakdowns, and PTSD over some traumatic events so bad I won't even mention them here as they'd be a trigger to anyone else who's experienced them. They don't make you angry, they just make you shut down. It puts your brain in a debilitating state where it just can't function, representing this as anger is a disservice to anyone who's had o deal with mental health issues so the way this season started didn't sit well with me. The way Steven was behaving in Future was as a very, very typical narcissistic sociopath, an egomaniac that can't get enough of themself and throws a wobbly whenever anyone dares to disagree with their world view. I've known a few of them and they're a very different kind of breed than someone who's arrived at kindness after experiencing suffering, they're about as attuned to cruelty as others are to kindness. Steven became Marty (Greg's manager). I just want that to sink in for a moment. Steven became Marty. He was acting in many of the same egocentric, self-centred, selfish ways that Marty was. The way Steven was treating other people was the same as how Marty treated Greg. A highly sensitive person doesn't become a sociopath. Not overnight, not in a month, not in a year, not in a decade, not ever. The way these minds function are so entirely opposite that they cannot cross the boundary into one another. We know this scientifically. It's the same as how introverted brains are differently structured than extraverted brains. The minds of highly sensitive people are structured differently than sociopaths. Trauma doesn't turn you into a sociopath. As such, this all came across as a grotesque mischaracterisation and demonising of what highly sensitive people go through. If they'd depicted Steven shutting down, having panic attacks, and retreating into an almost unbreakable shell that he couldn't come out of then that would've made more sense. In the shell, Steven would've FELT like a monster, but he wouldn't have ACTED like one. Due to invasive thoughts, highly sensitive people often see themselves as monstrous even when they're far, far more kind than most other people. This is because they have higher levels of empathy and far more overwrought guilt than the vast majority. That's how they are. It doesn't mean that they ARE a monster, though. Just that they feel like one. This depiction of a highly sensitive person behaving like a monster is toxic and harmful. Steven was never a narcissist, never an egomaniac, never a sociopath. He was a highly sensitive person. That's why he was a pacifist. Now, if the show had said that Pink Diamond/Rose-Quartz was a sociopath then there are certain aspects of the show (how she toyed with people, notably) that could have me believe that. If it became a struggle between Steven and his gem where the gem was the monster then that I could've believed. I never thought as highly of Rose as I did of the other gems. I mean, she actively encouraged incredibly toxic behaviour in Pearl, she didn't do a lot of great things for a lot of people and even saving earth seemed to come from a selfish place. So I could buy that Rose was like that. I couldn't buy that Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Steven, Greg, or most of the rest of the cast could be like that. The whole thing felt like narcissistic sociopathy apologism using an ex-highly sensitive character as the means to get away with that and it sent shivers down my spine, it was a deeply unpleasant experience to watch it. I watched it to the end too just to make sure that they wouldn't pull a twist where it turned out that Rose was controlling him somehow. So I'm not a fan. It doesn't do good things for people with mental health, what it does do is tell them that they're monsters and that it's okay that they're monsters. That's the worst thing you could EVER tell a highly sensitive person with mental health issues.

The "what happens when you topple an evil empire" question was handled really well in the Mistborn series of books by Brandon Sanderson.

I have a question: Didn't Steven already fight Jasper on ... like three separate occasions? His very first fusion bonding experience with a gem was sandwiched between having a big fight Amethyst and having a big brawl with Jasper as Smokey Quartz. Idk, I feel like Steven getting physical with Jasper is a relatively normal thing at this point.