#I am my monster

[dragonuva]

Gotten back into doodling spinel lately, my bad.

I like to think of them as cousins, ya know? Always there for each other.

[picturejasper20]

Steven Universe Future: The Diamonds being part of the hug symbolism

In the episode ¨I Am My Monster¨ we see the Crystal gems reaching out for Steven when he becomes corrupted, as when he transforms into giant monster like creature as tall as the Diamonds. The Crystal Gems hug Steven to call him down and make him return to his human form.

One thing that gets some fans attention is why the Diamonds form part of the group hug since they themselves don't share the same closeness the Crystal Gems share with Steven. It does makes sense for them to show up and help because Steven went to ask for their help in ¨Homeworld Bound¨.

Well, yesterday i was talking to my friend Prpis (aka Purple Rose) on Discord about the last episodes from Future. She suggested that the Diamonds being part of this scene could be seen as Steven accepting that he is part diamond too, something he didn't want to associated himself with for most of Future series.

Steven spends a great deal of Future series fearing the idea that he doesn't live up to other expectations of him or what they think he is, as a ¨good person¨ who helps and heals others. He is obsessed with this idea that he has to be a ¨good person¨, as some idealistic form of perfection.

This is why he avoids telling the gems that he is going throught some important issues that are taking a mental toll on him. He doesn't want them to find out that he has been getting worse. He fears that he is going to be unworthy of love if he isn't ¨good¨.

Another fear that Steven has is becoming like his mother, Rose Quartz. He is scared of hurting people like she did and that feeds into his necessity of having to avoid being bad, of trying to not hurt others. Her mother legacy and the consequences of it are a huge burden on his shoulders that he feels that he has to carry even after he sees himself as his own person rather than having to be like Rose Quartz or Pink Diamond.

His fear of being Rose Quartz-Pink is also associated itself with the idea that he is part Diamond as well, and for Steven, the Diamonds represent the opposite of what he is supposed to be- a healer. He has only known the Diamonds for how they have brought pain and hurt others. He thinks of being a Diamond as ¨someone who hurts others¨ a person he is very afraid of being.

The irony of this is that Diamond powers can be both destructive and healing, as shown with Rose Quartz herself or the Diamonds when they changed their powers to their new purpose of fixing the damage they have caused and helping other gems. But Steven can only related these powers with bringing pain and hurt.

The Diamonds being part of the group hug could be seen as symbolism of Steven struggling to accept that he has hurt others and how he can do bad things just like the Diamonds did. He is confronted with the idea that he can't be ¨morally perfect¨ and that he may do bad things like Rose Quartz did.

Another thing that Prpis pointed out that the Diamonds are the ones that started this ¨chain reaction¨. White at some point during the episode brings up that she hurting Pink Diamond is what led to Spinel to being left behind by Pink. Blue and Yellow blame themselves as the source of Steven's suffering. And while they weren't the only reason, the way they treated Pink had an overall impact on Steven's psyche, such as it was Spinel's case.

So, The Diamonds being part of this scene, while not being very close to Steven, has a certain symbolic and narrative importance for Steven's arc and their connection to Pink Diamond. As Steven finally comes to terms with the idea that he will sometimes make mistakes and he isn't perfect, and yet, his family and friends still love him after all of it.

[ktotaaa]

[subestu]

Round 1: Introduction

[its-ya-girl-phoeni]

@zay-does-things

It's often assumed that Steven's Kaiju form in "I Am My Monster" is thanks to corruption (although I think that was just a guess on Blue's part), but I'm pretty sure it's actually because of his fluctuating mental state.

See, in the Season 1 episode "So Many Birthdays", Steven tries to teach the Crystal Gems about birthdays and their traditions, with them all finding it weird due to being ageless aliens, and it leads to Steven coming to the conclusion that maybe he's too old for those things, resulting in his gem beginning to rapidly age his body until he's nothing but a withered old man gasping for every breath.

In "Everything's Fine", Steven has a self-destructive breakdown in front of all his family and friends, ending it by calling himself a fraud, and a monster, which he then (thankfully) transforms into offscreen.

And during their attempts to get him back to normal, Garnet says that as long as Steven believed himself to be a monster, he'd stay one. (;-;)

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: March 27…

Steven's troubles with his new power and mental trauma transform him into a giant pink corrupted monster and it's up to the Crystal Gems, Connie, Greg, the Diamonds, and Spinel to help Steven transform back to normal and heal his trauma. “I Am My Monster” premiered on this day, 3 Years Ago.

[raptorbricks]

[admiral-alpaca]

A redraw of some crossover art from three years ago. Super Sonic going up against Steven Universe's corrupted form. I made the original a good bit before Frontiers so who knows how different this showdown would go with Sonic's newly acquired moves. And yes, it has been 4 years since Future ended.

[starph]

who i am

[grailbot143]

LOL

Thank you, Connie!

Have I told you guys lately how much I love Connie?

And not just because she was outside of the blast radius and wasn't affected by this ludicrous power.

[dragonuva]

Traditional art? By colored pencils? What a rarity!

Also hi~

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[bosspigeon]

so bc i am a Gross Dude my friends i and sometimes rate our burps and my coworker (who is a teen girl) burped in front of me once and i instinctively rated it

so now every time she burps she looks to me hopefully for a rating and bc she has delicate little baby burps i now have to create an entirely new Burp Rating System unique to her bc i rate anything below a 5 and she looks at me like this

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: March 27…

Steven's troubles with his new power and mental trauma transform him into a giant pink corrupted monster and it's up to the Crystal Gems, Connie, Greg, the Diamonds, and Spinel to help Steven transform back to normal and heal his trauma. “I Am My Monster” premiered on this day, 4 Years Ago.

[nonebinary-leftbeef]

DEVASTATING the lyric you've been mishearing is better than the real one