#The Diamonds

[picturejasper20]

Another thing about Steven Universe as character (and the series) that has been mischaracterized over the course of the years and the source of a good chunk of discourse online is the relationship that Steven has with the Diamonds.

A lot of videos, posts and memes have spread around the idea that Steven went to Homeworld in the final arc of the series because he wanted to ¨be besties¨ with the Diamonds, when what happens in the actual show is very different.

In the episode "Legs from Here to Homeworld"-which takes place after the episode ¨Reunited¨ that Blue and Yellow Diamond find out that Rose Quartz was in fact Pink Diamond- Steven shows to Blue and Yellow one of the corrupted gems (Centipeetle) and helds them accountable for making a lot of gems end up this way and orders them to fix the mess they caused.

Steven: ¨Do it again! It was working!¨ Yellow Diamond: ¨How long do you expect us to hold her together?¨ Steven: ¨I don’t know. Forever! You did this! So you have to do something!¨

Seeing they need White Diamond to fix the corrupted gems, Steven thinks of going to gem Homeworld to see if he can talk to White about the corrupted gems and convince her to come to Earth and help them.

That's the main reason Steven goes to Homeworld- he doesn't like the Diamonds nor wants to be friends with them- he just wants to see if White Diamond can listen to him and help to heal the corrupted gems.

He is aware that the Diamonds listen to him because he himself is a Diamond-Pink Diamond. So he goes along with this little game pretending to be Pink thinking that way White Diamond and the others will listen to him. He believes that maybe as ¨Pink¨ he can make them see the errors of their ways and stop this mini war conflict that he has been caught on in the last few years.

Others have made more detailed analysis about this in the past, that a good part of this arc has a huge trans/queer metaphor for Steven's character- where he keeps being refered to and imposed an identity he doesn't see himself as. He gets called by the Diamonds and other homeworld gems as ¨Pink Diamond¨ and refered to as ¨She¨, when he often corrects and clarifies that he prefers to be called ¨Steven¨.

The final showdown against White Diamond is about this: White keeps trying to play mind games with Steven, making him believe that Pink/Rose is still alive in him and he is in fact Pink/Rose. Because Steven doesn't know this for certain, it proves to be effective for a while, making him feel very confused.

White believes that she is perfect in every way- it is what all her identity is about. She is obsessed with her own perfection so much that she doesn't allow herself to think that she has flaws nor she can't be wrong about something- and because she thinks she has to be perfect, that means that she is right about Pink Diamond still existing inside Steven.

The reality proves her wrong when she takes out Steven's gem and everyone sees that the gem part turns into Steven. As a way of metaphor to a trans allegory and self love, Steven sees that he has always been himself and he shouldn't let other people define what his identity should be, that only him should decide that.

So, in a way, the Diamonds Days arc is intended to be seen as a metaphor to a LGBT+ kid/teenager standing up against their relatives, grandmothers or aunts in this case- and prove them wrong about their identity, that they are what they are and their family can't change that.

Okay, so Steven proves the Diamonds that they are wrong, they change their minds and they help with healing the corrupted gems by the end of ¨Change Your Mind¨.

Does this means Steven becomes friends with them after this?

Well... no

In Steven Universe The Movie, during the song sequence ¨Lets Us Adore You¨ the Diamonds beg Steven to stay with them a bit longer because they miss having Pink around, Steven is seen very uncomfortable around them and wants to get out as quickly as possible to return to Earth.

He sees them as somewhat allies and tries to persuade them in different ways to improve the current situation on Homeworld but he doesn't seem to like them much and doesn't enjoy being around them even if they aren't acting antagonistic towards him anymore.

He has a similar reaction when they come to Earth near the end of the movie. He is very done with them and says that they staying to leave on Earth isn't a good idea on the long run. Instead he shows Spinel to them and Spinel sees this as an opportunity to make a new friend again.

Well, about SU Future? How does Steven feel about them in that series?

In Future is where Steven begins to show real strong PTSD trauma symptoms (something he has had for a while except it wasn't nearly as strong). He knows that he has a problem most of the show but he avoids going to ask the Diamonds for help because he just feels very uncomfortable around them and it reminds him of traumatic experiences he had with them in Diamonds Days arc.

He doesn't go to them until after he accidentally shatters Jasper in ¨Fragments¨ and sees himself as a monster because of this. He separates himself from the rest of the crystal gems, feeling like he is as terrible as the Diamonds were. In ¨Homeworld Bound¨ he interacts with the three Diamonds, asking them for any way they can help him with his powers.

Most of the episode he feels frustrated because A) He can't find a solution to his problem and B) Sees that the Diamonds and Spinel are doing pretty well and he has been getting worse. It makes him get more and more angry the more time he spends in there.

The scene that leaves pretty clear how he feels about them, specially White, is when he talks to White. As shown in the gif above, when White touches Steven near where his gem is, Steven pushes her hand off from him, clearly being reminded of the time White ripped his gem off him in ¨Change Your Mind¨.

White uses her powers so Steven can talk to own self. This leads to an iconic scene that Steven gets angry at himself and White. He has a very strong intrusive thought of crashing White's gem into a pillar for what she put him through. He gets shocked for this and makes him run away scared as result.

This scene leaves clear that Steven has a lot of buried resentment for what the Diamonds did to him, mainly White. Being around them reminds him of his trauma, it makes him deeply uncomfortable and he would rather avoid them as much as possible.

The Diamonds get concerned about Steven and show up during the events of ¨I Am My Monster¨ when Steven transforms into gem like monster. The Diamonds and Spinel blame themselves for Steven feeling this way because of their past actions. White feels it is her fault because of how she hurt Pink Diamond and this brought problems to Steven.

They help with calming Steven down and him returning to his human form. Now there is some argument to be said about why they took part of this hug aside from using their powers to help the gems. I have talked more about this in here but i think it is to represent Steven accepting himself as being part Diamond and maybe forgiving, realizing that he isn't an ¨irredeemable monster¨ because of what he did, that way he stops seeing himself as one and goes back to his normal form.

After this, it is a bit unclear where Steven stands his opinion on his relationship with the Diamonds. I would assume that it is probably not much different than it was before. He still doesn't like them and probably doesn't want to be around them even after all that happened.

In short: Steven sees the Diamonds as allies and post the events of ¨Change Your Mind¨ he shows to be uncomfortable being around them, he doesn't seem to like them and mostly prefers to avoid them. He is glad that they are changing their ways for the better but he would prefer to not interact with them if he doesn't have to due to his own trauma.

The Diamonds regret how they have hurt Steven (and Pink) and care about Steven but he thinks it is better for him to have a distant relationship with them for the reasons i discussed. They can still improve and make amends for everything they did and Steven doesn't have to feel forced to have a relationship with them if he doesn't want to.

There are other things that could be discussed, about how the Diamonds Days arcs should have been longer or how the Diamonds needed more screen time- However, the point of this post is talk about people have mischaracterized Steven's relationship with the Diamonds, saying Steven is best friends with them when in reality he doesn't like them and spends most of Future series avoiding them.

[stevenblueniverse]

Nothing can stop the low effort bellow shitposts

[cu-sketcher]

Under our control

Fanart of the diamonds from Steven Universe

Not gonna lie, I am super happy with the end result of this drawing

[nectardraws]

"We're so glad to have you back, Pink"

[phantoy]

Little drawing for one of my favorite diamond- Yellow is a second!! Let me know if I should make a series outta this

[quinniester]

the cutest giant woman

[stevenuniversexreader]

steven with E G L S and W

Yep!

Character- Steven

Letters- E,G,L,S, W

E- Eating dinner

- once you start dating this guy, your expected to be eating with him often. Not expected, more like he moved on pretty fast and wants you too, he won’t force you of course.

-You’d also eat with some of the gems (mainly amethyst) sometimes but not too often.

-I feel like he’s a great chef. I mean we’ve seen the food he’s made before, I wouldn’t turn that down

-Sometimes if he’s feeling romantic he will make some candlelight dinner for you and him, roses and all. But that’s not often due to his tight schedule

G- Getting protective over you

-I feel like he’ll be very protective over you (like most of his friends, but more).

-He’s been through a lot and would rather not lose someone he loves dearly.

-He’ll get protective over you whether it’s another corruption(somehow), or human, gem, (Kevin too) or just anyone that seems like they could harm or take you away

-Of course he’s not some obsessive Yandere boyfriend, he just is worried about you. After all he feels safe and comfortable around you and loves you, he wouldn’t want to have you gone

L- Lounging around on a lazy day

-Rare, but fun. Due to his tight schedule for the week he doesn’t have much time to lunge around with you.

-But it’s fun when he does. You two would just be watching some cartoons he liked as kids and eating snacks (together breakfast/cookie cats).

-Also if you guys don’t want to watch tv then you’d play video games all day long, once pearl had to tell you two to go to bed since you were up till 3am playing the Legend of Zelda together

-Sometimes you’ll just cuddle. Just simply cuddle with a few kisses from time to time.

S- Sleeping over with you

-He was really excited to sleep over with you. He wasn’t the most nervous person about it but definitely a little anxious

-He’s like a big comforting Golden retriever. Hugging him and cuddling him is so comforting and helps you relax. He’s really gentle too

-It was a little awkward at first but you both got use to it after like 2 hours.

-You both will switch beds. Like sometimes he’ll sleep over either you and sometimes you’d sleep over at his place, mainly you like sleeping at his place cause his bed is very comfy*

W- Waking you up

-I think it’s a 50/50 he’s gentle and playful.

-Half the time he’ll gently shake you or kiss you over and over again softly, whispering for you to wake up

-Them other times he’ll scare the shit out of you to wake up, push you off the bed(not to hard), shake you, poke you, and all that.

-Sometimes you actually thank him for waking you up playfully since it really wakes you up for the day, though you definitely rather have Steven’s softer side wake you up

[doilozz]

Idk got lazy drawing pink n white..my bad🙏

[thediamondsdidnothingwrong]

[lucidskulls]

Won't it be grand to get rid of it all?

[pilotsacrilege]

whats wrong, pink?

[issgoart]

Pink diamond/Rose Quartz is one of my favourite characters in cartoons, they are so complicated, they want to do the right thing but goes about it the wrong way. I love it!

Hope you guys like this! It’s nice to come back and draw stuff like this especially after so long 🥰

[sparklingemeralds]

The Diamonds

This is a redraw of a set of Diamond drawings I made and posted here almost 6 years ago!

How time flies! I put in an unfinished White Diamond here. I redrew these about a year and four months ago, I just never got around to posting them. I don’t think I’m going to finish White Diamond, so enjoy!

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, THANK YOU! 💕

[vivagonza]

the standards are.. quite high

[mediocreity]

classic steven might've pulled out the ukelele but eh