Steven Universe: Steven Bomb 4

I just got into Steven Universe this summer. It is amazing. The story is kid friendly, but also has a lot of depth and explores moral gray areas better than several shows aimed at older audiences. The plot is engaging, the world building is interesting, and the cast is large, well-developed, and diverse. It’s wonderful. Watch it if you haven’t.

This makes January’s upcoming Steven Bomb my first Steven Bomb. One week of new episodes. According to longtime fans, the first Steven Bomb was what really helped the fandom expand. Usually the episodes in Steven Bombs are linked together. The first one included the build up to and confrontation with the Homeworld Gems. Another was the week of Sardonyx which revealed Pearl and Garnet’s fusion and included the aftermath of Pearl’s desperation to fuse with Garnet as much as possible. I’m going to celebrate by reopening my blog with predictions for Steven Bomb 4.

According to iO9, the episodes are “The Answer,” where Garnet tells Steven the story of how she became a Crystal Gem; “Steven’s Birthday,” where during his birthday he decides to mature; “It Could’ve Been Great,” where the Gems take a trip to the moon; “Message Received,” where Steven begins to doubt believing everyone; and “Log Date 7 15 2,” where Steven listens to an audio diary, presumably Peridot’s. Personally, I’m the most excited for “The Answer” and “Message Received.” “The Answer” will probably include a ton of great backstory, world building, and maybe some information about Ruby and Sapphire, the Crystal Gems we know the least about. “Message Received” will probably force Steven to negotiate one of his greatest traits, his willingness to trust and give second chances to people, with the moral ambiguity of the world around him.

My first prediction is the focus of the Steven Bomb. This will be about Steven’s future, Garnet’s past, and how the past affects the future. With Steven choosing to experiment with growing up and losing some of his faith in others, Steven will be redefining Steven, and I think Garnet’s past choices and/or Peridots current choices may affect that.

I love Garnet, but sometimes her reaction to other gems is aggressive. She is willing to intimidate Steven to get the mirror back when Steven communicates with Lapis Lazuli, who is terrified of Garnet when trapped in the mirror. In “Monster Buddies,” she’s hostile towards the Centipeedle gem, who in turn is terrified of Garnet and panics when seeing Garnet’s gauntlets. There’s a few possible reasons for this aggression that comes to mind: these Gems were very anti-fusion and tormented Garnet, it was part of a secret request that Rose gave to Garnet, or Garnet/Sapphire’s future sight associates them with some disaster. I think there is a darker part of Garnet that will come to the forefront.

The battle between Peridot in her mech and the Crystal Gems means that something happens that makes Peridot decide to abandon the truce. The only thing I can think of is that Yellow Diamond responds to Peridot’s distress call with news of a rescue ship. Peridot may be attacking the Crystal Gems to redeem herself to Homeworld. Peridot is Steven’s newest friend, and the relationship exists because Steven was willing to ignore her allegiance to Homeworld and abrasive personality. This definitely means that the changes in Steven will be long lasting and drastic.

The promo also includes a trio of Rubys. One with a gem on her shoulder, one with a gem on the back of her hand, and a third whose gem isn’t shown, so she is most likely the Ruby that forms Garnet. The trio form a pyramid, which could be part of a fusion to form a bigger Ruby. It doesn’t have as much character as the fusions used in the rest of the series. Perhaps, the personalized dance moves that Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl use when fusing are a form of self-expression that is key to the Crystal Gem fusions.

The preview for “The Answer” features Garnet telling Steven about how Ruby and Sapphire met. The story begins by talking about a rebellion that diplomats are sent to. Sapphire as a diplomat makes sense. She’s very calm and is able to focus on the bigger picture, partially because of her future vision. Also, her clothes are pretty formal, and the ability to create cold could help her stay comfortable in harsher environments. Real world rubies and sapphires are both types of the mineral Corundum. Since all kinds of quartzes are part of a warrior class in Homeworld society, Rubys are probably linked to Sapphires. Perhaps the Rubys are guards. The question is, is the rebellion that they’re looking at Rose Quartz’s, something related to fusions, or something else entirely. I really like the second. Ruby, Sapphire, and Garnet view fusion primarily as a way of showing romantic feelings and fusion is important to them, so to have their first meeting be tied to a change in fusion (perhaps fusing gems that aren’t the same type).

Those are my thoughts. I plan on being back with an update schedule later this month. I'll probably have after episode reactions to this, RWBY, and maybe other shows.

RWBY: When it Falls lyrics and animation analysis

I'm just going to post this for the record: I'm not a subscriber, so I haven't seen episode 2 yet.

This post probably should've been down earlier, before discussing the first episode. I wasn't sure how to do this, since the RWBY soundtrack has a lot of recurring motifs and imagery in the lyrics. I could probably get a few blog posts out of comparing some commonly used ideas and comparing two or three song lyrics.

The opening theme starts with piano music and a shot of beautiful blue trees. A single rose petal falls onto a rose. Then the metal parts (I am not a music expert) of the song start up as a stampede of Grimm, most of which seem to be Ursa rush by. The trampling Grimm take the flower off. Last volume ended with a massive Grimm attack, so I feel like a literal Grimm attack is unlikely this volume. The Grimm are probably symbolic in this song.

The rose is associated with three characters: Ruby, Adam, and Summer. The first lyric of the song “Maybe red’s like roses” brings the songs from the Volume 1 trailers to mind. The title and part of the first line of the first song are “Red Like Roses.” The reference to Ruby’s song continues with the mention of blood. Ruby’s second song, “Red Like Roses Part II,” features the lyric “it’s [Summer Rose’s] blood that’s red like roses.” This volume probably won’t end well for Ruby and/or Adam.

The song continues to show Team RWBY, Team SSSN, Team JNPR, and Cinder’s group in Amity Coliseum, which means those four groups are likely to be major players in this volume, and maybe the semi-finalists in the tournament. Last volume’s opening featured a quick display of groups of characters similar to this, but a lot less appear this time. Penny, Professor Port, Dr. Oobleck, Team CFVY, Team CRDL, and Team ABRN do not appear in this opening. We know RWBY beats ABRN, and they probably fade into the background. CFVY and CRDL will probably stay in the background too this season, with a possibility of them and all the other defeated teams helping in a final battle. Penny might have some battle moments during the singles rounds of the tournament, since her introduction was tied to the tournament.

The song screams “Their Dying Eyes” as the animation zooms in on Cinder’s eye then switches to the eye of a Grimm. The Grimm are revealed to be charging at Beacon Academy. “And now they know the cost of trusting you’s obliteration” is sung as the view switches to the main tower of Beacon which is being climbed by Grimm. Last volume, Ironwood had trouble trusting Ozpin, and that may have had something to do with Ironwood being placed in charge of Vytal Festival security. There may be more Ironwood vs. Ozpin moves.

“Mirrors will shatter” is sung as an image of Ozpin and Glynda separated from the Grimm by a mirror. Mirrors have had some interesting use in past RWBY songs. Weiss’s theme, “Mirror, Mirror” is sung in a way that suggests that she’s talking with the mirror as if it’s a protector and a confidant. I think Weiss may lose something when Beacon falls.

“Crushed by the weight of the world” is sung as the video shows a hostile and combat-ready General Ironwood with the force of the Atlas military behind him. Atlas is named for a figure in Greek mythology who bore the weight of the world as punishment for fighting the Greek gods. I don’t think Ironwood or Atlas will be crushed though. Mistral seems to be more in danger. Characters who are known to be from Mistral (Pyrrha, Neptune) are linked to Greek mythology, and Mistral provides the pillars used in Amity Coliseum.

“Pillars collapse in shame” is accompanied by an animation of Blake seeing Adam in front of a group of White Fang fighters. Adam seems hesitant. In “From Shadows,” shame is one of the things that Blake/Adam/the White Fang want to rise above. The White Fang will probably get a hollow victory at some point this volume, where they destroy something that’s oppressing them, but at great cost. Perhaps an all out war against the White Fang will be part of future volumes, or of course the White Fang could lose a lot of followers to death, or possibly a different cause. Blake is not fighting in the tournament, and the White Fang was on her mind a lot last season, and Dr. Oobleck asked how being a huntress will help her make a difference. The combination means that Blake may be trying to think of another approach for dealing with Faunus rights and the White Fang. Blake may reveal herself as a Faunus this volume and try to rally the White Fang against Cinder.

The animation shows Team RWBY and Team JNPR fighting along side Atlas soldiers against Grimm with Beacon in the background. Becaon is in one piece but looks empty. Ironwood took command of Vytal security after the Vale council doubted Ozpin’s skill. Perhaps, if something were to happen to Ozpin, Ironwood would take command of Beacon students.

Now back to the lyrics. There are some theories that Summer Rose may still be alive. All that’s said is that “she never came back,” so her being alive hasn’t been denied by the Rooster Teeth crew. Summer could stop “resting” since “there’ll be no rest.”

“There’ll be no love” is more ominous when paired with the animation. Volume 2 gives Pyrrha and Nora songs, and they’re all love songs. When Team RWBY and Team JNPR are falling together, Pyrrha is the first to fall, and Nora falls so fast that it’s hard to see. There has been a lot of foreshadowing that Pyrrha will face some misfortune since she’s on Cinder’s list. Nora reveals some vulnerability in “Round One,” and at the very least, Nora will lose a friend, one of her greatest fears.

Team RWBY fighting against the leaders of Cinder’s group accompanies “There will be no hero in the end who will rise above.” Adam naturally takes Roman’s place as Blake’s opponent. The fights are too quick to show a winner or anyone having an advantage, so perhaps Team RWBY will face defeat.

The images of the families is shown when “and when it ends” is sung. Winter and Qrow face off while “victory for hate incarnate,” which suggests that the conflict between Ozpin’s group and Ironwood’s will contribute to whatever falls. Weiss seems concerned when Winter goes to face off against Qrow, while Yang and Ruby aren’t. Weiss is worried about either her sister’s well-being or her relation with her teammates, or both.

“Victory” has appeared in all of the openings so far. “Victory is in a simple soul” from “This Will Be the Day” is optimistic, and there’s a tiny bit of that optimism at the end. Yang, Weiss, and Blake all have their heads down in the final shot of Team Ruby on the ground. Ruby’s eyes are open, and she’s looking up, possibly for hope. “Time to Say Goodbye” is more ominous with “or are we weapons?//Pointed at the enemy//so someone else can claim the victory.” With the semblance steal theory that I’ve been running with, it seems likely that the semblances, a part of the heroes, could contribute to another villain victory.

The imagery of light and darkness has reoccurred a lot in the songs. In the yin and yang, light is one of the things that are associated with the yang element. One of Pyrrha’s songs from Volume 2 is titled with “Shine.” There have been concerns about Yang being killed, because kill the mentor. Yang is showing signs of being suspicious of Emerald and Mercury and may try to confront them about information. Also, Yang’s semblance is pretty spectacular, so she could be on Cinder’s list. Granted, the semblances we’ve seen—Team RWBY’s, Pyrrha’s, and Sun’s—all seem pretty great and would be more deadly when used by a skilled Dust user. Cinder leaving clones made of fire or lava to destroy her enemies with Blake or Sun’s semblance or using Ruby’s speed/rose motif to leave a trail of lava in her wake would be dangerous.

“Misery and pain for all” is sung when the photo is in the screen. The group in the photo has already faced some misery with Raven’s departure and Summer’s disappearance. These incidents are shown to have had a serious effect on Tai Yang, even to this day based on Ruby’s talk with Summer’s memorial. The group may reunite this season, only for one to die because mentors are often killed off for the main characters to transition to adulthood. Also, after the zoom in on Qrow’s sword, it shows the black and red energy that Raven seems to use to teleport. I think this means that the teleport/black and red energy is a Branwen family skill, which means that Yang’s semblance is probably similar to Tai Yang’s, and Ruby’s is similar to Summer’s.

Steven Universe: The Gem War on Earth

What we know:

• Rose Quartz rebelled against the Gem Homeworld because she saw the beauty of it and didn't want the Homeworld to destroy it.
• Pearl chose to follow Rose into battle.
• Amethyst was recruited at the abandoned kindergarten, and some things about her, such as size, were not up to the standards of a usual amethyst.
• Rose, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst are the only surviving members of Rose’s army, to Jasper’s surprise.
• The remaining Gems (both Crystal and Homeworld) on Earth were corrupted and turned into monsters that Rose couldn’t heal.
• When the war was lost, the Homeworld left the cluster behind to destroy Earth millennia later. 
• Lapis Lazuli’s gem was cracked and stuck in a mirror.

Motivations:

I think that the war on Earth coincided with another event in Gem history, which would be the decision to use fusions solely as weapons. Why would an experiment on forced fusion be left to cook in the core of the Earth if fusion experiments weren’t another major Homeworld project?

This could shed some light on Garnet’s motivations. Peridot expresses discomfort with Garnet remaining fused outside of battle. In addition, when Garnet first deals with the Gem Shards, Ruby and Sapphire almost split, one of them wandering if it was their fault. I think that around the same time as Rose’s rebellion, Ruby and Sapphire chose to remain as Garnet as their default state. This brought Garnet under the scrutiny and persecution of the Homeworld Gems, which lead to her leaving to join Rose’s rebellion. Garnet is particularly hostile towards Homeworld Gems compared to the other Crystal Gems. Lapis is afraid of Garnet, although this could be because Garnet’s a full time fusion. The Centipeetle Gem is terrified of Garnet’s gauntlets, and Garnet is hostile to it in turn. I think that Centipeetle started as an anti-fusion Homeworld Gem.

If Jasper was on Earth during the Gem War, she fought because she opposed fusion. I think Jasper’s hatred of fusions is partially because fusion can make non-warrior Gems into warriors who might be able to defeat her. I’m not ready to say her motivations are pure loyalty, because “Jailbreak” shows that she is willing to act on her own agenda instead of Yellow Diamond’s. Why couldn’t they swing by the Cluster and check on it before heading back with Steven? Jasper made Steven's capture priority. In conclusion, Jasper fought for her beliefs about fusion and for the sake of fighting.

Lapis Lazuli was probably drawn to Earth because she is a hydro-kinetic gem, and Earth is mostly water. Before the war, there may have been attempts to put hydraulic energy to use for gem or weapon production. The potential failed project that I mentioned could be part of the reason that Lapis didn’t believe that Earth had potential. Regardless, Lapis didn’t want to stay on Earth, and the only way to go back to Homeworld would be to fight for the Homeworld. While Rose does operate on a morally gray scale, I don’t think that keeping Lapis imprisoned and injured in a mirror is something she’d allow. I don’t think this was done by any of the named characters. Lapis either was injured and captured by a Gem fighting for Rose then presented to Rose as a mirror, or Lapis was found injured by a Homeworld Gem and “recycled” as an object to spy on Rose with the false promise of rescuing Lapis later. The latter would explain why Lapis did at some point give information to the Crystal Gems, although the former would explain her hostility towards the Crystal Gems.

An Overcooked Amethyst:

The obvious side effect of Amethyst being overcooked is that she’s smaller than the standard quartz-type gem. Pearl calls her the one good thing that came from the Gem Kindergarten. I think that implies that Pearl (and probably Rose) felt that there was something “wrong” with the other quartzes made on Earth. Perhaps the Homeworld found a way to create quartz Gems that were naturally inclined to fight. Jasper is obsessed with strength and battle. Rose is motivated by her compassion, can create plant armies and heal, and is a skilled strategist making her a type of warrior-leader. Amethyst is light-hearted and goofy but plagued by a lot of self-consciousness that she tries to cover up with a laid back attitude. She’s also loyal but can chafe under too much authority, as shown in “Tiger Millionaire.” She's a capable fighter but can be reckless. These traits combined with her small size made her undesirable to the Homeworld Gems, and if they knew of her, she was probably abandoned.

Since she doesn’t know the role of quartz gems in society, she must have hatched much later than the other quartz gems, and that if any other gems hatched at the same time as her they were small kinds not meant for combat. Rose, as a fellow quartz, could have shared their ancestry but chose not to, probably because she either didn't want to keep the Homeworld hierarchy or was disgusted with the other quartz type gems made in the Gem Kindergarten.

Rose’s Army in the End:

Jasper is surprised that there are only three survivors of Rose’s army. The amount of hostile gems on a planet is valuable information that would have to be as accurate as possible, especially if they were sneaking noncombat gems on to check on the cluster. I say one or more because the Crystal Gems may not have known about Peridot if Steven hadn’t accidentally stuck his head out of the warp beam. The amount of enemies that could be faced would be passed on to Jasper, the warrior in charge of subduing the Crystal Gems. However, the small number surprises Jasper. This makes it seem like the Crystal Gems lost Gems between the first war and Steven's arrival.

My theory is that there were more who survived the Gem war at first, but they eventually became the corrupted monsters that Rose and the others fought to protect Earth from. Another possibility is that they could have artificially enlarged Rose’s army using Pearl’s battle holograms, but I find that one less likely. Surely the Homeworld Gems would be able to tell the difference. Also, I'm not sure if only her Pearl holograms were able to attack.

RWBY: Cinder's Plot

With less than a week until RWBY Volume 3’s first episode, I’m going to try to figure out our current main villain’s possible endgames.

War
This has been built up as the worst thing that could happen to Remnant, specifically one that pits the kingdoms against each other, and that the Vytal Festival is the ultimate symbol of peace, so destroying the Vytal Festival would very likely ruin the peace.

I’m not sure of a why yet. I know Cinder wants to take power from others, and a war between the kingdoms would leave them vulnerable to attacks from Grimm. The Grimm from Mountain Glenn didn’t seem to bother Cinder’s group, so they, especially with the White Fang, could still work while the rest of humanity is under siege. One possibility is that all of her other plans would greatly weaken her enemies, so why not go all in and star a war.

Dust

“It’s not about overpowering the enemy. It’s about taking what power they have.”- Cinder Fall, “Extracurricular”

Creating an artificial dust shortage would align with Cinder’s statement. Dust is used in weapons and is the source of power for pretty much everything. In addition, Cinder is doing something that would get Adam to convince the White Fang to continue the alliance with her, in spite of her plan resulting in a lot of dead White Fang members. I think Cinder was also using the Dust robberies to focus attention on protecting Dust shipments and away from the mines. Taking control of the mines using White Fang members/sympathizers among the workers would severely cripple, if not destroy, the kingdoms’ source of Dust. If Cinder has a lot of dust, then she’ll have a massive power source for her main fighting style, and her ability to give her followers Dust-based weapon upgrades would only be limited by their discipline and skill with Dust.

Base of the Coliseum
Amity Coliseum is four parts. The part contributed by Vale is a massive crystal that serves as a power source and/or a source of the dust used in the tournament battles. With the theory of Cinders taking Dust to deprive the kingdoms of it, taking this massive crystal would be necessary, since with the war, what would stop one kingdom from splitting the Vale crystal to make up for its Dust shortage?

Why Pose as Huntsmen and Huntresses in Training?
“The Vytal Festival Tournament” reveals that academies were started as a part of the peace treaty. Cinder and her group are going to pretend to be the hope of the kingdoms to create the most symbolic destruction of peace.

Why Haven and Mistral?
Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald have infiltrated Haven Academy. Haven is the only other school to have students officially introduced (SSSN and now ABRN), but there isn’t much known about Mistral. They have trade routes and the Regional Mistral Tournament, which Pyrrha won four times, so it’s likely that Sanctum Academy is there too. Mistral provides the arches for the Amity Coliseum. There’s not strong reason for why they’d choose Haven, or why not.

There’s a chance that we might learn more about Mistral. The opening is promising that Team SSSN will still be somewhat prominent, so maybe they’ll learn something about Haven. Perhaps Haven was the first school established from scratch while the rest were built on pre-existing infrastructure.

Another possibility is that this is simple convenience. Neptune and Pyrrha are from Haven and based on Greek and Roman mythology, so Mercury may also be from Mistral. It’s not clear what his age is, so it’s possible that he was a student at Haven when Cinder recruited him. I don’t have anything to back up guesses about Emerald’s place of origin, but Sun proves that Haven does get transfers from other kingdoms, so she could be an actual student of Haven too. Cinder may have gotten in and joined the team with a forged transcript. It’s not the first time in the series.

Semblances
Taking semblances of talented students such as Pyrrha would make it even harder for huntsmen and huntresses to defend the kingdoms and civilians, so that dovetails with destroying the kingdoms nicely. Also, it’s not clear what the criteria for putting students on the list are. Pyrrha’s semblance is powerful, but she keeps it hidden and uses it to shift things to her advantage. Of the current characters, Cinder, Glynda, Velvet, and Weiss are the only ones who could hold their own against Pyrrha’s semblance because their fighting style relies more on dust and semblance than metal weapons, plus most have more combat experience. Revealing that some huntsmen and huntresses use semblances to shift things to their advantage without their opponents knowing.

It might not be coincidence that Pyrrha’s first opponents in that episode were ones who are completely screwed against her semblance. Cardin, Dove, and Lark are covered in metal armor that could also be manipulated, and Pyrrha could easily swat Russel away, so she could probably take him down with pure strength unless he reveals some really impressive skills with Dust.

With friendly competition a part of encouraging greatness in training huntsmen and huntresses, it might be hard to do that if some huntsmen and huntresses may have skills that other huntsmen can’t detect and can’t defend against. Some huntsmen and huntresses could be discouraged. Others may feel that people who fight like Pyrrha don’t fight fair, such as Cardin. This could sow some type of dissent. Cardin would try to get his team to ambush Pyrrha some way because she’s too powerful of an opponent for them. It may also sow discontent between kingdoms if they suspect the other who have students who hide their true strength.

I'm trying to do a regular update schedule of Wednesdays and Sundays. If I build up a bigger backlog of posts, I'll start updating more often. Although there may be an additional one this week, because I'd like to do an analysis of the lyrics of the Volume 3 opening in regards to references to past songs.

Steven Universe: Homeworld Hierarchy

There’s a slight change of pace. I’ve still got plenty of ideas for RWBY posts. I just wanted to do something because I really loved the episode “Too Far,” which has fantastic character development, even by the high standards of Steven Universe, and some intriguing bits of world building.

I should preface this with the fact that geology is one of my areas of geekdom, especially when it comes to gemstones, so I may be using more science than other Steven Universe theories. Future posts are especially in danger of this. On the capitalization, I capitalize gems when referring to a specific character, but not when referring to that group of gem. The word gem is capitalized when referring to the race in Steven Universe, but not real world gems.

My basic premise is that Homeworld runs on a caste society, and that system is based real world mineralogy. The caste system contributes to the hatred of fusions. There may have been a way to get an honorary position into a higher caste, but that was likely abolished after Rose Quartz rebelled.

Popular fanon believes that Renaldo is somewhat on point with his Diamond Authority conspiracy, and the rulers of Homeworld are the diamonds. Before the war for Earth, there were images four diamonds in Gem art: white, blue, yellow, and pink. The Homeworld ship used by Peridot shows only three diamonds: white, blue, and yellow. A gem called Yellow Diamond is Peridot’s commanding officer. Yellow Diamond, if she isn’t the lead diamond, is in charge of the section of space that Earth is in, since a yellow figure is shown in a mural of the Gem’s war on Earth, most likely as the leader of the Homeworld forces.

Popular theory states that Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond. This could explain why there was no attempt to find a new Pink Diamond. Rose has some abilities that don’t seem standard for a warrior. Her summoned weapon is a shield; she has healing tears, and she can make warriors from plant life. Amethyst and Jasper have not displayed these abilities (although this could be because Amethyst is overcooked and relatively young, while Jasper is very focused on physical strength), so Rose Quartz might be far stronger than the average quartz, possibly other rose quartz, because she can function as a healer and commander of her own non-Gem army. This could’ve earned her promotion to the status of Pink Diamond.

Next is the quartz warrior class. Although Peridot had been working on Earth for a while, and Lapis had been forced to stay on Earth for even longer, command was given to Jasper who might not have been to Earth since the war with the Crystal Gems, if ever. The theory I proposed in the above paragraph could’ve given Rose fame throughout Gem society as the most powerful quartz, so Jasper wouldn’t necessarily have fought on Earth to hear about Rose’s prowess. To me, this is a sign that warriors are a higher class. Of course, Jasper also probably has more battle experience than Lapis and Peridot, so that could’ve been a deciding factor too.

Homeworld seems to be an intergalactic imperialist power, so for the conquering they do, they’d need a lot of warriors, and those warriors would be well respected, as shown when Peridot was ecstatic that Amethyst thought that she was funny and was much more upset about hurting Amethyst’s feelings than the other Crystal Gems combined.

Interestingly, the sardonyx gem is a type of quartz. This means that fusion can give Gems a chance to change social groups, which could be a factor in why Homeworld doesn’t like fulltime fusions, because they have the potential to make a pearl on par with a quartz without the approval of the Diamond Authority.

Next is heading into a lot less substantial territory. Scientists like Peridot are probably another class. Another class I propose is an elemental ability class composed of Gems such as Ruby, Sapphire, and Lapis Lazuli. This is a less stable theory. Ruby and sapphire are variations of the gem corundum and lapis lazuli is a variation of lazurite, so this doesn’t have the same cohesiveness as the quartz warrior class. Plus, while Lapis’s skills are based on manipulating water, Sapphire and Ruby have skills besides that, such as Sapphire’s super speed and future sight or Ruby’s strength and weapon summon.

I think the proposed elemental class Gems would be above the scientist Gems. The elementals have a stronger source of power than the scientists, and Peridot’s comment in “Back to the Barn” about a peridot having a pearl suggests that the science class is lower, so possibly one or more classes below quartzes. Granted, based on the kindergarten, it seems likely that warriors are mass produced at times, so it could be a very large class, and since I’m making them second highest, they may just take up the majority of pearls.

Pearls and other Gems that contain a mix of organic material and minerals (petrified wood, for example) work as personal servants. This may also contain materials like glass and obsidian, that aren’t minerals per say but are sometimes considered gemstones. Alternatively, they could be a lower class.

Most likely because of the severe discrimination against Garnet and Pearl, the Crystal Gems do not practice this. There is still a clear hierarchy based on experience, which implies that Garnet (or maybe Ruby and Sapphire individually) is either older or fought in the war longer than Pearl.

Other Steven Universe analysis that I’m interested:

• Potential fusion analysis
• Character analysis
• Real life gem properties and Steven Universe
• The Crystal Gems during the War
• Gem mass
• Guesses about how weapon summons are determined (emphasis on guesses)