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Well, one could always make the argument that earth was the first planet with a living biosphere that homeworld could have gone after, or that it was the mass production of gems that is hinted at that caused rose to rebel, and not the actual act itself.

I can accept the reasoning you put forth though. But in the back of my head, they'll always be that dark head canon playing out that the Gems are artificial creations built by a now dead race, who the gems rebelled against and wiped out in their claiming of a homeworld. Their lack of basic biological functions such as Eating, Breathing, Sleeping, and Aging, along with their unique light-based body constructs, makes it to me at least, open to them having been first made by another race, potentially as a subservient species or worker or warrior class. They rebelled and won the war, and took to producing themselves in large numbers, colonizing multiple worlds. Earth being "liberated" of gem influence was a turning point which led to the decline of gem civilization, as Homeworld was forced to use up the worlds within its solar system, and then its own world, in order to replenish the gems lost on earth. Or even darker, that homeworld and its home system were already tapped out due to the gems harvesting, and they are now desperately searching for suitable worlds to replace their dwindling population, given how a mission to earth was manned by 2 gems and 1 prisoner instead of what one might have assumed could be a full squad of gems. Basically, gems population are so low that they can't afford to lose any member of their race anymore, and their interest in reactivating kindergarten had been to repopulate their numbers.

I'm hoping my dark-canon doesn't come true. Because I love the more positive elements of this show and its overflowing optimism it brings forth. But If I am right, or even close to right, at least the ride will be crazy as hell.

Well, are there any gems that are "masculine"? Gems that prefer the male form and use male pronouns?

@Black Graphic T

I think that's a very interesting headcannon. Certainly it fits with a lot of what we've seen already.

One nit-pick is that it's likely that the reason why Peridot only took Jasper for muscle is that they did not expect serious resistance. I mean, with the gem disruptor and Jasper's muscle, they pretty much wiped out the Crystal Gems on the first go, and that ship is packing enough power to give most enemy forces trouble. Steven being able to survive the disruptors was just bad luck on Hoomeworld's part, and not something they could reasonably have expected or prepared for.

Also, I don't think Homeworld really knows what the fate of Rose and the Crystal Gems was. Peridot, in her first appearance, seemed genuinely surprised that anyone was at Kindergarten or using the warp pads. I'm fairly sure that the reason why she came alone was that Homeworld assumed, for some reason, that there were no more gems on earth. Maybe whatever Rose did to end the war was read by them as a kamikaze attack, and they didn't expect her to have gotten her shield up in time. So they only send Peridot at first, and then (seeing that the number of gems is small) give her only one bodyguard, correctly assuming that Jasper and her disruptor would be enough to capture everyone.

@Woskis

Maybe? I have no idea. Sugar's comment doesn't really say anything about that.

By the one good thing, I'm presuming that Amethyst was the only gem (or only Amethyst if the Kindergarten mass produced just a single type of gem) who empathized with the Crystal Gems. However, I like your point you made about the planets. Unless Rose had a reason to protect the Earth specifically, it's silly to do so.

@Black Graphic
The gems odd properties always struck me as if they are some kind of artificial constructs.
However, I disagree with the theory that Homeworld Gems are desperate to reactivate the kindergarten; Because "Keeping it together" leaved one thing clear: They don't care about the kindergarten, it was a red herring, the crystal gems assumed that because it was the only possibility that came to them, but as the episode showed, Peridot came to check on the cluster, not to reactivate kindergarten.

A theory that I was already having based mostly on Pearl's behavior, but also in hints of Garnet behavior and the fact that they kept their involeement with humans to a minimal, and that seems stronger after the vents of "keeping it together", Is that while the leader of the Rebellion, Rose, was interested in protecting earth, many of the rebels didn't particularly care about it. My theory is that many joined under Rose's leadership not for caring about earth but actually about themselves, because they were sick of being treated like replaceable tools by homeworld, because they wanted love, freedom, or some other thing that they couldn't have while homeworld opressed them, so after Rose rebelled, they saw the chance and followed suit. In other words, they were less the "protect earth" team and more the "we are sick of homeworld's shit" team.

In other news, someone made a YTP based on "Sworn to the Sword" and it's pretty neato.

"Why won't you just do me, Rose?!"
Is she starting to direct her thirst onto Steven?

My personal headcanon on the start of the gem race is that their planet started as just an empty planet with insentient gemstones that were a natural part of the ecosystem. Then, through some weird evolution shit, possibly through necessity for survival, gems started to gain sentience and as such gave themselves forms to perform tasks with. As they became more intelligent, they became the dominant (and possibly only living) species on the planet. New gems are formed within their planet naturally, but it's obviously a very slow process. The gems started dwindling in numbers, possibly through infighting, and they are dying off faster than their planet can produce them. Hence why they came to earth and started creating gems artificially.

So does anyone know when the third steven bomb drops? I want to know how long I need to hibernate for.

Yep:

Is anyone else freaked out about Bismuth still being in Lion's mane?

Probably the longest mystery in Steven Universe that's yet to be answered. It's a ticking time bomb I'm telling you.

@Onion Syrup

Probably the easiest way to make the new gif would be to take a text-free version and then use photoshop or a gif editor to add on the new text. If you can't find a clean version of the gif, you can easily make one from a Youtube video. And once you have it the editing shouldn't be that hard.

@Onion Syrup:

I'm just upset in general that the mystery of Lion and his mane of mystical treasures hasn't even been addressed since Rose's Scabbard. What's in the treasure chest? What's with the Bismuth? What is Lion and why does he have these things? These mysteries have certainly taken a backseat to all the plot happening with the Homeworld Gems. I can't help but wonder if something about Lion's mystery is going to be revealed in the upcoming SU bomb. I certainly hope so, because this is starting to slowly kill me.

And then Lion became Sardonyx.

WhatATwist.Avi

Hello, just a recent lurker of this thread and a SU fan.

In relation to Bismuth and "male" gems, my headcannon is that the Metals are kinda like the Gems. A living metallic (instead of gem-like) space rock with a masculine form. This guy knows what I'm taking about.

Also, I read somewhere that Bismuth might be Pearl's former owner(if the Chaste theory is true) and that Rose hid the stone in Lion so that Bismuth can't find and get revenge on Pearl. Or something like that.

If Metals are a part of the SU universe, could we assume that there is some sort of intergalactic battle between the two races, and that is the reason why the Gems seeded Earth with the kindergartens, to make more soldiers?

Imagine Steven forming a huge conga line with the gems and citizens of Beach City to fight off an invading army of HW gems.

Heh, I come back and see people talkinh about Lion and Bismuth, and It's funny because I was thinking about making a post about the "major" mysteries of the show, which would be:

-Lion: All of Lion. It's obvious he is supposed to be some sort of guardian to Steven and guide him in some things, It's also obvious he is related to Rose, but everything else is a mistery, starting with what the fuck is actually Lion. No other creature in the show has even been show to be similar to Lion in any way. It's not clear wether he is a gem or what, and he also posesses some interesting abilities, like the pocket dimension mane, and opening portals that, at least, can take them anywhere in earth from anywhere in earth, and who knows where else. I find it werid this ability is never fully acknowledged, since it lacks the limitations of the stream transporter.

-Bizmuth and the chest: basically we saw them once in Lion 3: straight to video. We know absolutely nothing else about them.

-Homeworld: we have hints that it's a pretty dystopic place, but nothing concrete.

-Lapis and the mirror: how and why was she sealed there? Is the castle building pillow another gem trapped like Lapis?

-the corrupted gems: are they crystal gems? homeworld gems? mix of both? What caused the corruption in the first place? will they ever go back to normal?

I consider these "major" mysteries because they seem to have big implications, and there's so little info about them that no theory about them is little more than shots in the dark.

You know, considering how plot-heavy this show is (especially compared to most western cartoons) and how it feels like every little plot point is building up to something huge I have to wonder, does Rebecca actually have an ending for this show already planned? Girlfriend really likes having details of her story planned out way in advance (like how she knew she wanted Garnet to be a fusion before the pilot even came out) and so I wonder if she has a big epic ending planned out for the distant future. This show has already broken the mold for western cartoons in a lot of ways, and having a cartoon that has an actual ending is certainly not something we see every day. That brings up another question, too: if SU ends up being an incredibly popular show (like, so big it trumps CNs other shows), would cartoon network want the show to continue after Rebecca's "ending"? I can't help but somewhat worry about the possibility of something like what happened to Spongebob happening where the original creator wanted the show to end after the movie was released, but nick said "fuck that, we're making too much money to let this die". You either die the hero, or see yourself live long enough to become the villain. Then again, CN seems to have much more respect for the visions of their creative teams and is a little less on the "money-grubbing" side of the spectrum than nick is, so I still have faith that that won't happen.

Wasn't "Ben 10" a somewhat plot-heavy western cartoon? If anything SU will probably go something along the line that series went. (I haven't watched Ben 10 in a long time so forgive me if my comparison is stupid)

@Ending plans

Sugar actually addressed this in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. I'll just quote her full answer here:

Q: Do you have an ending already set for the show, or are you just taking it a season at a time?

A: I have a long-term dream that’s way into the future. I just have a lot of themes that I want to touch on while I have the chance. I have this end goal, but then while I can I sort of keep everything in the middle flexible as I’m realizing what I want to talk about. At any particular time in the course of doing this show, I think that my thinking has changed since I’ve started because I’ve grown up a lot. Actually, I feel like I really started this show as a child and have been becoming an adult in the course of making it. So what I’ve wanted to say about that has definitely sort of grown with me. So yes I do have an end goal, but it’s not rigid. I try to do the show like life, have plans but know that they can change.

So yeah, she has an ending sketched out, but she can extend or shrink the middle as she needs to, which for a show like this seems like the most effective way to keep the total length flexible without running into the problems that, say, Lost did.

@Woskis

I wouldn't know, I don't remember much of Ben 10 from when I watched it as a kid and I've seen maybe one episode of Alien Force. And again I only say a plot-heavy western cartoon is rare, but not unheard of. In fact, right how we have Gravity Falls which can also be pretty plot-heavy. I do wonder if maybe after SU ends if they will make a spinoff series placed some time in the future or maybe even in the past. That might be pretty cool if done well. Anything would be better than what happened to poor old Spongebob.

I've seen a lot of people thinking about Pearl and Rose's relationship more recently, but I've been thinking more about Pearl and Steven's, because I find it to be arguably the most interesting relationship in the show. I think this post perfectly summarizes what I've been thinking this whole time.

Thanks for linking this. It's a really neat analysis.

One thing I would like to add is that Pearl clearly takes a lot of joy from teaching Steven: we see it in "Steven the Sword Fighter" and "Mirror Gem," where as soon as Steven says he wants to learn something she jumps right into action. We also see it in "Sworn to the Sword," towards Connie. But the big one is her half of "Strong in the Real Way," the song from "Coach Steven." I mean, check out these lyrics:

"And I want to inspire you
"I want to be your rock
"And when I talk
"It lights a fire in you"

She doesn't just see Rose in Steven. She also wants to be Rose for Steven – she wants to occupy for him the mentorship role that Rose served for her. That is why she wants to train him in sword fighting, and show him Rose's secrets, and give him a tour of the galaxy: so she can be his "rock." (I mean, ok yeah she's already a rock, but clearly she means it figuratively here.) While clearly she has a lot to work through regarding her relationship to Steven and the role that Rose's memory has in it, much of her behaviour so far has involved this teacher/mentor role that she sees for herself, a role that only makes sense if she recognizes Steven's independence from his mother.

Don't forget "Gem Glow" when Steven asked the gems how they summoned their weapons, Pearl happily sprung up and like music said "I'll go first!"

Right, yes!

Yet another reason why SU is the best cartoon on TV: the care it puts into little character-developing moments like that.

I personally think tat Pearl sees Steven a his own person most of the time, it's just that she ocasionally lapses when in moments of emotional distress. One little thing that helps support this is in "too many birthdays" when Steven is changing between different ages and Pearl says "please go back to being the steven we know: sweet, cute, and only slightly annoying". I doubt she would say that about Rose.

And regarding the ending of "Sworn to the Sword" and "Why won't you just let me do this for you Rose?!", I think Pearl can definitely see that Steven is his own person, but sometimes she sees Rose in him (You know that "Bleeding Effect" thing from Assassin's Creed? Think of it like that) and in that episode, she saw too much of Rose in him, so much that it wasn't just a conversation, it was a conversation she had previously had with Rose before, a long time ago and she was reliving it, but this time with Steven who Rose is a part of, but he's still his own person.

@Platus regarding gif

I was hoping someone would post up one already done before lol

A software solely for making gifs sounds efficient. Now if only I can get around to doing it. The method of gif making I've tried is quite tedious :P

I promise this will be my last post on the thread for a while; I think it's getting ready to hibernate until Steven Bomb 3.0 but I just had a brain fart so… Connie's perspective if you will

Spoiler: They all fuse and become that statue at some point in the show.

So anyway, I was just watching "Jailbreak" again (because I have a serious problem oh god someone help me I can't stop) and I noticed a little detail which lends more credence to the "Rose is Pink Diamond" theory. So check out the floor in the main area of the hand-ship:

Notice the three triangles in the insignia – yellow, white, and blue? Now look at the insignia on the Sky Stadium as it appears in "Sworn to the Sword":

Now we have four colours, not just three, with pink joining in. What's the explanation? Possibly it's that the stadium was built back when Rose was still a diamond, and so the insignia included her among the big four. But the ship was built after the rebellion, and so the symbol has been reduced from a quartet to a trio. Lending further credence to this hypothesis is the smaller insignia up top in the second screenshot: only the pink diamond is damaged, perhaps alluding to Rose's removal.

Certainly we can say that a pink diamond is going to be important somehow. We have seen it on the Sky Stadium and other ancient Gem structures, on Pearl's space suit, and even as a triangle on Rose's shield. I'm beginning to think that "Rose is Pink Diamond" is going to be the "Garnet is a fusion" of the post-"Jailbreak" show, in that it is a huge, game-changing revelation which the writers have gone out of their way to allude to from the very start of the series.

I'm sorry, I just really hate this whole "Rose is Pink Diamond theory". I mean, Platus, you're observation is probably the most solid example I've seen so far of real evidence, but I feel like most theories about it are kinda grasping at straws. I'm still not convinced it's real. I mean, it just feels too obvious of a twist and I trust Rebecca to not be grabbing the low hanging fruit here, you know what I mean?

Inb4 I'm wrong about everything

Eh, that's fair enough. I'm sure whatever happens, it'll be more complex than I expect it to be. Still, I do think that something big and pink-diamond-related is going to happen at some point.

In other news, we're getting a new graphic novel. Here is the cover:

@Platus wouldn't that make Steven the new Pink Diamond? And I mean as in he's now given the title of Pink Diamond.

HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING:

THE TELEPORTER IS A BLUE MASTER EMERALD!

I'm just wondering, if the theory is true, which diamonds the one in charge? And are all the diamonds gonna be "evil"? I kinda want this to go full anime and just have all the tropes and cliches for them you usually see in the whole "4 Elites who rule with iron fists" type stories.

Fuck; I think you just spoiled the ending of Steven Universe.

What would the ending be? Greg/Connie/Someone dear to him gets severely hurt or dies and then he gets super strong and finds out by himself he's Pink Diamond?

I was thinking something like "the Gems defeat the other three diamonds and Steven is acclaimed to their throne, leading Homeworld to a bright new future of not being total dickbags" or something to that effect.

That works too. Or we could have both.

Actually, I kind of have a theory for that. Sure, I have little to no proof and might be pulling some stuff out of my ass, but hey, at least it's something.
First, let's start with the theory itself. Homeworld might be split up into a caste system of sorts, with White Diamond followers being at the top, then followed by Yellow, Blue, and Pink not being anywhere in it. White Diamond followers are basically like royalty, as they only care about internal affairs of Homeworld, which also explains why we haven't seen any yet. Yellow Diamond followers are a sort of military/police force, as they have the right to arrest any Gems in the system that are below them wherever they may be, which explains why Peridot and Jasper travel the galaxy, do important tasks like attempting to reactivate Kindergartens, and were able to put Lapis in a cell. Blue Diamond followers could mostly be a working class, as seen with Lapis in the mirror. Pink Diamond followers were just average citizens, but now are, well, Crystal Gems. Now I'm not saying I support Rose being Pink Diamond and all that, but just hear me out. Pink Diamond followers were removed from the caste system once they (possibly including Pink herself) rebelled. But, there's probably one more set of followers we're forgetting. The Greens.
"Wait a minute, Banana," you might be asking through your screen, "where's your proof that a Green Diamond even exists in the first place?" Good question, user who shall not be named for the sake of self-inserting. It's this image right here:

Notice how there's a giant green triangle in the center. No, Green Diamond followers are not the Illuminati. They're slaves from the war. Former followers of Pink Diamond that were captured during it instead of shattered. Think of it as the "replacement" for the Pink Diamonds.
Like I said before, some of this stuff might have been pulled out of my ass. But hey, it's just a theory! A GEM Theory! Thanks for reading!

Could be cool, but wouldn't that make her the youngest Diamond, apart from Steven (if Rose now was Pink Diamond) and thus much more inexperienced than the other Diamonds? And how does someone make a Diamond gem anyway?

Maybe the diamonds are attended to by little mindless graphite robots. And then one day one of them is crushed under a falling building and emerges as a new diamond, ready to take her revenge.

I kinda like the idea of the diamonds actually being fusions that stay permanently fused. Unlike Garnet who does it for romantic reasons, the diamonds are fusions of two or more gems that are considered "the best of the best" in gem society and do it for power. You could say this isn't likely because Jasper called fusion a cheap tactic, but Jasper's a big fuckin hypocrite that just likes to talk big and I doubt she is very good at actually well-reasoned arguments.

I don't have any evidence whatsoever to back this headcanon up, but it's fun to think of so I'm just gonna stick with it for now.

Actually, Jasper maybe more of a hypocrite than we think. My friend suggested that Jasper may be a fusion. Why, you ask? Well, all the gem fusions have colored irises. Jasper does as well. And notice how the gems that aren't fused are more notable gems (I.e. Amethyst, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire, Rose quartz maybe not Peridot) I'll call these "base gems". Jasper isn't a gem you hear everyday in my opinion. Neither is Garnet, Sugilite, Alexandrite, etc. So my friend and I think Jasper may be a fusion of… Hmmm… Topaz and Amber?

I can't see that being true. Between the kindergarten experiments, and jaspers own exposition on the subject, to the lack of any evidence in the Malachite Mindspace, I can't see Jasper as a fusion, nor any of the Diamonds as being fusions either.

What I suspect, is that Diamonds are titles given through some as-yet unknown process. They're either passed down or earned, and serve as the persons name from that day forth.

The reason everyone calls Rose Quartz Rose, and not Pink Diamond, assuming that is her name, is because she rebelled and thus rejected her title.

That's just a theory though……..A GEM THE-cane yanks away from keyboard

I'm going to harp on the Rose = Pink Diamond theory again just because I feel like putting up a little PSA that disproves probably my least favorite argument about this theory. Disclaimer that this doesn't necessarily disprove the whole theory nor am I implying someone said this in this particular thread (I think someone may have mentioned it pages ago), I'm just taking down the most common and most annoying argument for this theory

"Hurr, Rose's gemstone doesn't really look like a piece of rose quartz"
Ok, so when most people think of rose quartz they think of something that looks like this

Rose quartz is most commonly used and sold in this form. It's smooth, has a kinda cloudy look to it, and is often sculpted to be shaped like hearts or roses (lel). Its polished appearance looks closer to a pearl than, say, an amethyst.

"But wait!" You may say "So why does Rose's gem look like this?"

"See? See!? Her gem looks nothing like normal rose quartz!"

Well, my dear strawman, you're basing this off of one form of rose quartz. You see, visually speaking rose quartz can come in many different forms. Why, rose quartz in its raw form already looks similar to the gem Rose herself has

Hmm, still doesn't look quite the same though. Well, what if we look up "cut rose quartz" in google images?

Well I'll be, it's almost as if it looks like Rose's gem! Granted, a little paler in saturation, but a quick google image search will tell you that cut rose quartz can have saturation anywhere from a rich pink color to almost white.

I will hand it to the theorists though, when you look up "pink diamond" you can get results that look similar to Rose's gem as well

But really considering how simplistic the art style of the show is, it would be hard to make her gem look different from a pink diamond (or any pink gemstone for that matter) so really the safe bet here is to assume that Rose's gem may just be the type of gemstone that she's named after rather than any random pink gem.

This has been a PSA on the dangers of similar gemstones. Know the difference, it could save your life. Next time, make actual arguments for your theories that hold water like Platus'.

Eeeeeh, I don't think I buy the idea that gemstones can take on new names when given positions of power. It's assumed that the gemstones of gems are actually made of the material that the gem is named after (wow that was a weird sentence to write). So Pearl is actually made of pearl, Garnet is made of real garnet, etc. So if a gem were to take on a new name, they would have to have a completely different gemstone to go with it. We can't just start calling Amethyst "Purple Diamond" because… Well… She's made of Amethyst. So unless homeworld is capable of some horrific modifications I don't see how this is possible. If the diamonds aren't made by fusion then I imagine the only other way is that they exist and gain their power through birth rather than merit.

Alright, so let's try talking about a different kind of fan wank. Let's talk about Garnet:

So there's a theory floating around that in this scene, Garnet is looking forward to some bad future where Connie and Steven have gotten themselves killed in battle somehow. This fact, combined with the show's batshit insane and masterful foreshadowing skills, has freaked a few people out.

Thoughts? Fears? Anxieties?

Edit: I think I found the tumblr post that started the theory.

Edit edit: Also, can I just say that Rebecca Sugar is quickly becoming my favourite person?

Five things you want to see in future SU episodes, go!

1: Pearl tells Steven about her and her past
2: More of Steven's Phytokinesis and dream communication powers
3: Flashback episode showing how Greg and Rose decided to have a baby & the CGs reaction
4: Greg trying to raise Steven with the gems occasionally babysitting him.
5: STEVEN REFORMS