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tfw Jasper is the only Gem here that didn’t try to kill Steven or destroy Earth (lately)
tfw Jasper coerced Lapis into fusing with her which is a completely unsubtle metaphor for abusive relationships….which is a perfectly good reason for multiple people in the fandom to not want to see more of her…………………………………………………..
Coercion involves using force or threats to make someone do something. Jasper is a huge asshole, but at least recognize the real reasons she’s a huge asshole. She isn’t a beautiful cinnamon roll but she also is not a rapist ffs.
If Malachite wasn’t just an example of what happens when two gems fuse who do not care about each other, only their own personal goals, that sure would make this pic the crew taped on their doors and blogged everywhere pretty awkward:
Jasper-chan~
And would sure make Garnet a victim-blamer: “Yikes. THEY are really bad for EACH OTHER.”
So seriously, she’s a good ANTAGONIST without tacking shit onto her she didn’t even do, and you’re missing out on a lot of really cool character development with Lapis by turning her into a freaking woobie that can’t defend herself. Lapis in most of the episode was in a state of apathy. We know she could have kicked the crystal gem’s butts easily by herself, Jasper wasn’t going to be a physical threat to her at all, especially with the ocean right there. She wanted to give up, be left alone. Complete apathy that even disappointed Steven. Complete apathy that made her turn away and let Peridot fire a laser at him, with not even a word. She tried to help him, yeah, but when things did not go as planned he was on his own.
Speaking of words: “Lapis, listen, fuse with me!”
“How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?“ “These gems, they’re traitors to their homeworld. They kept you prisoner. They used you. This is your chance to take revenge! Come on, just say yes.” She didn’t threaten to hurt her. At all. She was trying to sway her against a common enemy. No threat of physical harm, nothing. Not even a “or you’ll be sorry!” You could say pressure but again, not under a threat of violence. Canonly, stated by the creators, FUSIONS CANNOT BE FORCED. Jasper knew she was beaten on her own so she knew fusion, which she hated, was her only chance at completing her mission, and so she grabbed Lapis and ASKED. Asked not with physical threats, but a reminder what the crystals gems did and the planet she wanted to get away from.
Jasper–who lost to Garnet when she had no "fancy tools”–ASKED, and Lapis, a very powerful gem who we KNOW can take on at least three other gems with her own gem broken, agreed and then refused to let Jasper go. When Malacite was being dragged into the ocean, we see Jasper is terrified and thier faces split, with Lapis yelling “I’m done being everyone’s prisoner! Now you’re MY prisoner, and I’m NEVER LETTING YOU GO!” Jasper screamed “NO!” So quick question.
Man I can’t stop thinking of the possibility of Greg painting that picture now.
Like the gems were obviously very cut off from humans. It’d be sweet if Greg was showing them some stuff like in an art museum and showing them this painting.
Like Garnet wondering why that shark isn’t being punched, and Pearl panicking if that human in the water gets saved from the danger or not.
So as a peace offering he painted them their own version.
Also I’m convinced Greg always paints Rose’s eyes closed or he’d get lost in them.
Or its just a continuity error but that would be super cute.
Though it got me wondering how “old” she is mentally and how that projects on to her body?
Because in “So Many Birthdays,” Amethyst’s body looks about the same “age” as it appears currently.
Yet when we see her in the 80′s she looks and acts a lot younger.
It made me wonder if Amethyst had been found fairly recently, maybe only a few decades prior to tonight’s episode.
Yet based on their outfits in the boat-painting, she’s been with the Gems for at least 200-300 years and kept the same “older” appearance.
So why is she “younger” in “Story for Steven”? Was she shape-shifting to look cute for/mess with Greg? To annoy Pearl? Did Greg just imagine her looking and acting younger in his flashback? A continuity error?
Probably nothing earth-shattering, but food for thought??
Maybe Greg just painted that spoof picture too? Based on the Rose and Lapis pictures he did he’s pretty dang good. Though I’m sure he embellished a few things in the story too.
Trying to understand character motivation with limited information is something I love thinking about. Lapis is one of the more recent ones.
What we know:
Pearl did not know the gem in the mirror was able to communicate instead of following orders.
Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl did not know how powerful Lapis Lazuli actually was. During the fight with her, Lapis was able to overpower them all the the same time even though her gem was cracked.
Pearl stated the mirror was found at the galaxy warp, the warp that connected Earth to the homeworld.
Lapis Lazuli already knew who the crystal gems were already.
Lapis Lazuli seemed to already know about the earth. “She never believed in it.” This makes me think she was placed inside the mirror while she was on earth for at least a little while.
Rose Quartz’s power (the shield) completely neutralized Lapis’ power.
Rose kept secrets from the gems.
Greg’s speech about wars in general(link). Rose had to turn on her own kind.
I don’t think the current crystal gems could have put Lapis in the mirror. And based on their limited knowledge on Lapis, I don’t think they did it. However if ROSE did it to stop Lapis from reporting to homeworld to protect earth and kept it secret, it sort of would explain Lapis’ hatred of the crystal gems and earth.
I know Rose also wanted to heal broken/corrupted gems, so I don’t think destroying Lapis would be the answer for her. She does care deeply for everyone. Then again its still a super cold move to do.
At the same time, I can completely understand motivation of both sides if that WAS the case. Turning traitor to homeworld, or protecting earth.
That’s why Greg’s scene about wars really hit me. It very possible the gems did things they would be terrified Steven would hate them for. War is an ugly thing and like Greg said before, there are no good wars. Both gems and people were lost because of it.
I love Lapis–but she isn’t an angel despite gaining wings. I dunno why people are hellbent in seeing Lapis and Jasper in absolute black and white, and its a bit frustrating lol.
Like–Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
When she found out Steven was a crystal gem, that’s when she turned on him. Yes, we don’t know the full story but we have to wait on that. But here’s the thing, Lapis was Steven’s Beach Summer Fun Buddy until she counted she with “THE ENEMY”. People keep saying “she didn’t know” or “she didn’t mean to” and that’s being willfully ignorant. SHE sent out the Water Clones to attack. STEVEN’S WATER CLONE SPOKE IN HER VOICE. She was AWARE of what they were doing and she was OKAY with it if not outright CONTROLLING them.
“Look kids, Lapis can punch a child too!”
And the only reason why Steven and Connie weren’t killed was because Greg ran over the clone with his van, but then the clone threw his van and tried to kill HIM too.
Of course Steven still wanted to help because he’s Steven. She thanked Steven, but never apologized and just left, letting the ocean fall with Steven still on top. Steven had to be saved from that too.
“Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
“
She sent a warning to Steven alone, but still led Peridot to the crystal gems’ base.
Since she does care about Steven, she hid information from Jasper and Peridot. “It wasn’t relevant to the mission.” She became a prisoner after it was obvious she withheld information from the homeworld gems.
She STILL led them to earth, to the crystal gems, with the mission to restart the kindergarden. SHE HATES EARTH. She didn’t seem so bothered with what would have happened to everything Steven loved, just him in particular on short term.
I still love her character but ffs, she has problems. I really want to see Lapis and Jasper to both come back and hopefully get a shot at redemption.
redemption nothing! She got redemption by sacrificing herself to stop Jasper. What she needs when she comes back, is recompense. An apology, some comfort, something to say “We’re sorry we kept you imprisoned for several millenia. We hope you could forgive us one day. Until then have some icecream”
We don’t even know why she was in a mirror to begin with. Pearl stated they found the mirror at the now broken galaxy warp (which brings up way more questions–I got my own theory on that.) They had no clue who she even was, or that she was even capable of communication, or even how OP she was. Idk, it’d send huge red flags to me if a homeworld sided gem suddenly started speaking to Steven. And that was sorta justified with how she reacted to the “crystal gems”.
Like it or not, there was a gem war. And like I said before, the idea everything is black or white is frustrating especially where I feel the narrative it going. I especially resonated when Greg himself said “There are no good wars, kiddo.” Bad things happened on both sides, we don’t know the whole story yet. We don’t even know how and why she was in the mirror just left at the galaxy warp period.
One thing I don’t quite understand myself is when Lapis blamed them for knowing she was in there. She never tried communicating with them, only Steven. Pearl seemed confused that the mirror was broken as well too. That and we have seen gems act for “inanimate” objects before, like the temple/ship one, so that just raises more questions.
That and her reasoning wasn’t to sacrifice herself to protect anyone, it was to make someone else suffer the same way she did.
“I’m tired of being everyone’s prisoner… Now you’re MY prisoner, and I’m never letting you go!
“
Its actually pretty sad when you realize she’s continuing a cycle here.
That’s why I’m hoping we get more backstory on that whole thing eventually, there’s a HUGE chunk of the puzzle missing. I’m not sure why people assume me saying Lapis did questionable things means I think she’s a irredeemable baddie, because that’s not it. I want to understand the motivation why she chose this path, and I want to see her recover.
I love Lapis–but she isn’t an angel despite gaining wings. I dunno why people are hellbent in seeing Lapis and Jasper in absolute black and white, and its a bit frustrating lol.
Like–Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
When she found out Steven was a crystal gem, that’s when she turned on him. Yes, we don’t know the full story but we have to wait on that. But here’s the thing, Lapis was Steven’s Beach Summer Fun Buddy until she counted she with “THE ENEMY”. People keep saying “she didn’t know” or “she didn’t mean to” and that’s being willfully ignorant. SHE sent out the Water Clones to attack. STEVEN’S WATER CLONE SPOKE IN HER VOICE. She was AWARE of what they were doing and she was OKAY with it if not outright CONTROLLING them.
“Look kids, Lapis can punch a child too!”
And the only reason why Steven and Connie weren’t killed was because Greg ran over the clone with his van, but then the clone threw his van and tried to kill HIM too.
Of course Steven still wanted to help because he’s Steven. She thanked Steven, but never apologized and just left, letting the ocean fall with Steven still on top. Steven had to be saved from that too.
“Lapis somewhat cares for Steven, but dear lord she HATES the crystals gems and she HATES earth.
“
She sent a warning to Steven alone, but still led Peridot to the crystal gems’ base.
Since she does care about Steven, she hid information from Jasper and Peridot. “It wasn’t relevant to the mission.” She became a prisoner after it was obvious she withheld information from the homeworld gems.
She STILL led them to earth, to the crystal gems, with the mission to restart the kindergarden. SHE HATES EARTH. She didn’t seem so bothered with what would have happened to everything Steven loved, just him in particular on short term.
I still love her character but ffs, she has problems. I really want to see Lapis and Jasper to both come back and hopefully get a shot at redemption.
I was just doodling Steven randomly and it turned into this huge sketchy mess of random comic scenes in which Malachite is unfused and everyone gets their shot at redemption all at once.
(I apologize to everyone following me. My dash has been really busy today, and too much of things like the above have piled up. I want to get this out there in hopes of keeping at least some of this from happening to someone else.)
Okay then: Steven Universe side of Tumblr? You can like or hate comics or theories, but this kind of “argument” is not okay. You can criticize all you want, we certainly do it to the canon material! You can even do it as rudely as you want, if you want to be “that person”. But personal attacks are never okay. Because surprise, the person who drew/wrote these things in question is an abuse survivor.Assume only makes an “ass” of “u”. It pisses “me” off.
It’s also condescending as hell to assume my history prevents me from thinking critically, but that might explain why some people completely rob the Lapis Lazuli character of her agency too, dismissing everything she does as “she didn’t mean to”. You’re treating this character as an “object” as well when you do that: an object that can’t possibly have the intellect to claim their own actions and needs to be told “it’s okay, you didn’t know any better”.
My abuse experience isn’t my get out of jail free card when I make mistakes, nor should it be, and I’m not even talking about the level of Grand Theft Ocean. It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to admit mistakes! Like ianjq said, you learn new things that way! You can recognize when a character makes terrible mistakes and still like them, and you can still wholly sympathize with their tragic circumstances. And since this is Steven Universe, you can be rest assured they will grow as a character!
But you shouldn’t use it as an excuse to the harm they deal, and you especially shouldn’t use it as an excuse to attack other fans. I for one don’t want to be patted on the head and say “it’s okay, you didn’t know any better” when I say something that hurts someone. You don’t learn that way.
“Yikes. Those two are really bad for each other.” Even GARNET placed equal responsibility in Jailbreak. It’s okay to. Just because a character hasn’t learned yet doesn’t mean they won’t! And it makes for a very well-rounded, dynamic character.
I had to bring my personal history up on Tumblr exactly once before this, in the pony fandom, when accused of being an “SJW”. I have had to bring this up like four or five times now, here in the SU fandom, because apparently I need some kind of bizarre survivor cred to speak my mind about a character’s behavior when what the fandom says doesn’t add up to me. And that is just the times I actually responded. That is not being the Cool Kids, SU fandom.
There is a vast difference between someone saying “I don’t think a character acts the way the fandom says they do” and directly accusing an actual,
live person of being an enabler at worst, or uncaring at best. Learn it. “Choose love”. And don’t harass the writers about pie, either!
This is the last time I will address comments like these. It’s exhausting! I’m going to go back to drawing silly Gem shenanigans and what this show is actually about.
I apologize again for the unhappy on your dash. I return tomorrow with more art!
WWWWWOOOOOOW that’s gross. I knew some of this was bad but good lord.
