#methinks it’s the we are official trailer

[dragonsareawesome123]

So what do we think Pond is posting a countdown for?

[silverselfshippingchaos]

pspspsps v.ivian pspsps

[waterdeepthroat]

just want to piggyback off of @brekkie-e’s post about halsin and how he could parallel real world body image issues, and how honestly amazing that would be for video games.

if you think about companion quests for other rpgs, like pillars of eternity or dragon age, they usually have to do with these larger-than-life, fantasy problems that don’t reflect real world problems terribly well (or in the case of dragon age, when they try to reflect those problems, they end up creating more inconsistencies and can often downplay the severity of these problems). think of arueshalae in pathfinder: wrath of the righteous- her arc is incredibly well-done, but isn’t the easiest to relate to as a player, because of the scale of her moral dilemma and what it could mean on a literal cosmic level. we everyday humans don’t have to face issues like ascending from being literal demons and redeeming ourselves for murder. but larian, through halsin, has the chance to do something incredible and smaller-scale. they have the chance to write an arc that is relatable, while still strong in terms of emotional buildup, and grounds the larger-than-life story in a very human place.

let’s talk about halsin and body image.

the first thing to note about halsin is that he does not exist in a vacuum. his in-game appearance is reflective of our current western male body standards, even if in-game he doesn’t reflect the standard of his own culture. that is to say that, as an elf in the forgotten realms setting, his sheer beefiness wouldn’t be looked on fondly by other elves. but to us, as players, his body is something we admire. immediately there is a disconnect between what he (and other in-universe characters) may think about his appearance and what we, as real-world humans, may think about his character design. that’s the setup for an incredibly powerful story, methinks.

the second thing to note about halsin is that he already exists on the outside of his in-game society. iirc he’s a wood elf (which stat-wise are great choices for druids), but he does not exist within wood-elven society (as the grove itself is shown to be multiracial). i think it’s also quite telling that the form he chooses for his wildshape is that of a bear, and typically in shapeshifter media the form one takes is symbolic for some aspect of the shapeshifting character (for example, morrigan in dragon age taking on the form of a spider in the official da:o trailer, which could be reflective of her venomous wit or the fact that, like many spiders, she is initially seen as unlikable or even unlovable). halsin, choosing a bear form, could simply be a matter of optimisation- or, what i hope is the case (considering how much emphasis larian has put on the narrative and character agency), could be a matter of story and gameplay integration. in short, halsin might take on the form of a bear in order to hide his potential insecurity (as in, he takes the form associated with his default physical being in order to assert that he is not, in fact, insecure of his “bear-like” features), or it could be as straightforward as he finds comfort in a form similar to his born, elven one- while he may have been mocked for his appearance by society, he has turned it into a weapon, something useful, something strong.

or, y’know, it could just not be that deep.

(i truly, truly hope it is that deep.)

[resident-normal-person]

Rough Translations of Magia Record S2 teaser clips

Disclaimer: I am not fluent in Japanese. Please take these with a grain of salt.

"2021年7月" (July 2021)

IT IS LITERALLY AIRING ON THE LAST DAY OF JULY

THE ENGLISH VERSION IS COMING OUT IN AUGUST T.T

Yachiyo: Iroha...where are you?

not me crying @ Yachiyo grieving over mugs

Yachiyo kabedons Mifuyu, making a crack in the wall with her fist. Someone's pissed. "She's not dead! Iroha's not dead! She promised me she wouldn't die!"

Oooh this new OST is epic!

Narrator: "Yachiyo, who lost Iroha, pursued the Wings of Magius alone."

Yachiyo seems to be going through her Kamihama Rumor File, eliminating Uwasas one by one.

(There is a shot of the page on the Rumor of Hotel Fendt Hope, whose description references Hokuyo Ward and St. Liliana Academy, which is now confirmed to be a all-girls school)

Yachiyo marked the Rumor of Hotel Fendt Hope with a sticky note reading “Magius’ home base”…she’s gonna invade them.

Touka: something about plans and unforgivable

Narrator: (not a confident translation) on the other hand, something something Magius

Touka: "Mifuyu, you understand as well, don't you?"

Mifuyu: "Yes. For the sake of the Magius."

What is she threatening the Amanes and Mifuyu for? The failure at Chelation Land?

Also, this shot. Why are Touka and the Amane sisters illuminated, but Mifuyu not? Is this foreshadowing?

Yachiyo being alone up against the Magius is greatly emphasized.

Narrator: "One day, a member of Magius and magical girl of Takarazaki, Kuroe, encounters Yachiyo."

Yachiyo: "Wait!"

Yachiyo: Why is the little Kyubey with that girl?

Yachiyo: "You, were a magical girl of Takarazaki along with Iroha, right? And you're with that little Kyubey...I have some things I'd like to hear about with you."

KUROE IS FINALLY RELEVANT!!! Yachiyo looks incredibly hostile.

Narrator: something about the encounter between Kuroe and Yachiyo, as well as the story continuing

Yachiyo: "Mifuyu!"

W-what is Miffy doing here? Did she arrange this? Put Kuroe up to it to lure Yachiyo?

HOLY SHIT, CAMPANELLA!

Yachiyo: "I'll never forgive you! Never! Not the Magius, nor you!"

YachiMifu fans…winning?

*meduka meguca voice* yechiyu lose it

Narrator: "The price of a wish...is it hope, or is it despair?"

YACHIYO TRANSFORMATION!!!

I HOPE THERE ARE MORE TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE ANIME!!! THAT ARE COOLER THAN THE GAME ONES!!!

I like how as this shot appears, the voice-over says “is it despair”, while Yachiyo sinks into deep water in her transformation.

The OST changed to the one in S1E1 from the rumor about magical girls (La chica dojo)

OMG, YACHIYO'S FASHION SHOOTS! I HOPE SHE HAS MORE OUTFITS IN SEASON 2!!!!

Narrator: second season, a year after season 1, Awakening Eve, blah blah blah

Touka: If it's us Magius, we can save all magical girls!

This is the same clip of her as the official trailer; S2 apparently continues her speech.

KaMoRe all join the Wings of the Magius; that's why Touka's speech is continued. (Momoko can't fit her ponytail in the White Feather robes LMAO)

Mitama: I haven't told you any lies. It's just that there are things I haven't told you.

She says, as she points the point of a spear away from her face. Methinks Yachiyo decided she was sus enough to warrant an interrogation.

Things I am looking forward to:

visuals (especially Uwasa barriers)

music: OP, ED, OST

YACHIYO!!!! she's in her Main Character Era

how canon divergence will be pulled off, especially Kuroe, Iroha's disappearance, and KMR joining Magius

transformations, especially for characters who haven't had any in the anime yet

Yachiyo outfits? Yachiyo outfits.

The story being animated; anime as a medium has so much more emotion than Live2D sprites

[letamthoughts]

NOPE (2022)

i really like it (mid tier?) 10/10 wtf this was a trip

suggestion: To minimize spoilers, only watch the Official Trailer. Not the Final. The Final Trailer is for people who still aren’t interested after seeing the Official and don’t mind losing a ton of suspense... and seeing moderate spoilers.

Major Spoilers

nice transformation, especially the leadups i think it absorbs information from whatever it eats, hence its immediate decision to suck up the evidence kinda like a bird of paradise with its colorful dance pre-attack; wtf was that about anyway? o'dude wanted to capture its insides i guess interesting realization not to look at it tech dude got forgotten at the end; lucky-ass with that barbed wire; how dafuq did he fall unwrapped though? surprised his first crush survived that shit some interesting trauma to live with and still hold onto why dauq was it dumping waste on their house though? just being territorial? dude tried to tame a wild animal so it started attacking mofos? or it was always doing it? did drop a quarter and a key though so they all got killed because of the cameras and eyes? just realized mofo was feeding it horses; Lucky's the only one we saw; ten were already sold very interesting transformation did Wrangler leave too? i guess there was significance in him coming back for her; very odd that so many mofos turned up outta the blue like that though; thought everybody it ate came back and maybe she was dreaming or some shit shit, he kept the memorabilia because he saw it as his friend (fistbump); years later he encounters another predator and... "it trusts me"; did he get sucked up or not?; traumatized like a mofo mofo was sleepin' in that cloud that slow rise in 2nd form was a fascination; very much like a dress the green box was its core methinks, and an eye of sorts interesting true form, though; wasn't expecting that, but the chip in its front was a nice hint of "something" more to its exterior i guess what was that lady facing when she got sucked up to the top M was unreliable af until he shamed her with "I got mouths to feed." Did I miss what happened between them? Guessing dad didn't feel like she was cut out for it, so she eventually fled a neglective home interesting that it's so much slower when it takes the curtain form

[sanctferum]

Steven Universe – Reunited reactions

Time for the final episode of this Stevenbomb, and it looks like it’s gonna be quite the episode…

Huh, this title screen is different…

Wow, we’re starting off with a song from Steven!

A melancholy song about Rose…but soon enough Steven stops brooding and pops out of his bathroom into the rest of his house, where Pearl and Amethyst, both in suits (and with Amethyst’s hair all fancied up unlike how it usually is) are filling a box with roses. A wedding flower! But maybe not the best flower to use at this particular wedding, methinks.

Greg, also in a suit, has no roses. He has a stack of pancakes with syrup and butter. I think that’s butter. I hope that’s butter. But I will say, my first thought was not that it was butter, but popcorn. Together Breakfast has obviously left deep scars on my psyche.

Steven anoints the top of the pancake pile – which is technically, I suppose, a wedding cake – with two little figures of Ruby and Sapphire.

Steven is taking his mind off of the whole Rose thing by having wedding fun. (Amethyst looks somewhat confused at him dancing and singing all over. C’mon, you’ve lived with Steven almost his life, you should know how he is with musical numbers.)

Pearl still has her top hat from Mr. Greg!

“How can we move on…?” Pearl asks. Maybe the top hat is reminding her of “It’s Over Isn’t It”?

Good on Steven for choosing to think positively! And it sounds like he genuinely is into it, not just repressing his emotions or anything.

Bismuth is not wearing a suit. Or rather, she is wearing a suit…of armor. Nice.

Amethyst was in charge of getting the flowers. And she’s just now thinking about the implication of picking Roses. I mean, roses. Lowercase r.

Anyways, Peridot’s gathering flowers, so I’m fully expecting her to come back with an armful of flowers, but they’re all roses.

PERIDOT IN A DRESS

She’s standing in front of a huge hole in the ground…almost certainly where the barn used to be. Yeah, no Lapis at this wedding. Then again, Lapis doesn’t get along with most of the Crystal Gems, due to them having owned the mirror she was trapped in for several thousand years.

On the other hand, this IS an episode called “Reunited”. I mentioned some possibilities before for who’s reuniting – Sapphire with Ruby to become Garnet, Garnet with the CGs, Garnet with Bismuth, Lars with Sadie (and the off colors would be there too), and Steven/”Pink Diamond” with the Diamonds as a not-so-pleasant reunion that could happen. But it’s totally possible Lapis could return as well.

“Sooner or later the Diamonds are gonna come for the Cluster…” That IS an inevitability. And judging by some shots from the Heart of the Crystal Gems trailer, I’m guessing the answer is “sooner”…

There’s a shot of Lapis sitting on the barn. Which looks to still be in that moon crater. I dunno if Lapis returned to the moon, or if this is a flashback kinda shot.

Stevens’s song has been a pretty decent summary of recent events, huh.

Steven dances Peridot over to the warp pad as he sings, returning himself to the house. The Crystal Gems, including Bismuth (but not including Ruby and Sapphire, who I’m guessing are outside) are there, and they and Greg have been joined by Connie (who hasn’t met Bismuth before, but I suppose she knows who Bismuth is, or at the very least knows what she looks like due to the fusion hallucinations in Mindful Education)

Outside, Sapphire is in a suit, and standing underneath the wedding tent thingy, while the townspeople all sit in the chairs in front. The Pizzas (and Dewey’s former bodyguards, who prolly work for Nanefua now?), The Frymans, The Maheswarans, Uncle Andy, Yellowtail and his family, the Deweys, Jamie, the Millers, Mr. Smiley…no sign of Ruby, yet, but she’ll be along soon, I’m sure.

Andy looks somewhat worried, and I’m guessing that’s because there’s a big pink magical lion sitting on the ground near his chair and generally speaking, lions sitting near your chair is not a good situation. (Lion, on the other hand, is, as a cat would be expected to, doing his best “I don’t give a fuck” impression.)

Another cute instrumental of “Made of Love”. This episode only gets better and better.

Peridot accidentally hits Mr. Fryman in the face with a flower so hard he falls out of his chair.

“All flowers have been deployed, commander!” I love Peridot so much guys

With the instrumental Made of Love being played by Greg on his guitar, the other bride makes her appearance.

Ruby is in a dress, and she looks really cute! I bet Sapphire thinks so too.

Ruby’s excitement causes her footsteps to leave burn marks on the house’s steps as she descends, and as she rushes past the guests in a ball of fire, she turns the sand underneath her to glass.

It begins!

D’aww, Cat Steven is sleeping on top of Lion’s mane!

Is Pumpkin one of the bridesmaids?! That’s amazing. 10/10

GFDI THE ONION JOKE

5,750 years and 8 months, huh. Well, it’s interesting to have a specific number of years since Garnet was formed (as opposed to a general “The War took place 6000 years or so ago”)

I’d say “get a room you two”, but if a wedding isn’t a place for public flirting, what is?

“The power vested in me by the state of Delmarva” Steven confirmed for ordained public official?

A full on lesbian kiss on the lips? On MY children’s cartoon show? It’s more likely than we ever dared think.

She’s back, baby! Garnet is back! I can’t tell if she has a new design or not, due to the wedding dress covering most of her body. (I’m assuming the wedding dress isn’t a permanent part of her design, haha)

While Greg takes a break from his guitar, DJ Sour Cream has us covered. Time to hit the dance floor!

Yeah, that bouquet isn’t coming down from the atmosphere for a long time, sorry guys.

Jamie apparently still has somewhat of a crush on Garnet, but now that he’s seen fusion firsthand he’s gotta understand why it wouldn’t work.

Dewey’s also still a bit depressed about not being Mayor Dewey, I suppose. Poor guy, standing there watching his former bodyguards dance with Nanefua.

Awww, Dewey and Jamie are bonding over their sorrows.

Are they gonna dance together? Nice.

Bismuth, meet Ronaldo. This can only end well.

Oh, the bouqet finally fell down, onto an unsuspecting Bismuth. (Amethyst proceeds to laugh her ass off. Not literally. It sure says something about Amethyst that I have to clarify that.)

Steven’s crying tears of joy. Well, no more tears now. Only happiness.

…The tears don’t stop, no matter how hard Steven tries to dry them up. That’s weird. And probably not good at all. I do remember the last time Steven cried uncontrollably, from emotions that weren’t his own. Ruh-roh…Peridot was right, it looks like. There’s only one explanation for this, and it is one of my guesses about what “Reunited” meant. Blue Diamond must be heading to Earth to see why the Cluster hasn’t hatched.

Garnet’s future vision shows her something bad…

“She’s here?!” “And she’s not alone.” Oh boy. It sounds like Yellow Diamond is ALSO heading to Earth. Fuck. This is really bad.

Suddenly, everything starts to darken. Onion points up the sky, at some suspicious looking clouds.

And the clouds part to reveal two arms. Or, two arm-shaped ships. One yellow, one blue. This is the very definition of bad. Goddamn Diamond party poopers.

Guests flee in panic, as Steven tells Nanefua to activate her emergency contingencies. Time to evacuate!

Peridot is momentarily distracted by her panicking from the ships flying overhead, missing the group altogether. Uh…

Oh. That explains. They aren’t here to fight the Crystal Gems at all, OR to retrieve Steven. They want something else…the Cluster.

Oh god. Bismuth doesn’t know what the Cluster is. Someone really needs to explain to her just what happened to all her friends. I mean, as far as I can tell, she seemed to figure out the corruption stuff on her own just from observing Biggs, but…

Steven can’t mentally connect to the cluster unless he’s asleep. So he tries to go to sleep, while the very world is shaking and dread is consuming everyone. Yeah, good luck with that kiddo.

Greg plays a few notes on his guitar and Steven just fucking. Passes out. OK then. But he soon wakes up, in terror, as the cluster’s bubble pops.

He and everyone rush outside, as the cluster starts to form, a million arms reaching out of the Earth at once, melding and fusing together…to form a giant hand, muscle and sinew and no skin and oh god what’s gonna happen now

The hand tightens into a fist, and…

Oh god. Ronaldo tries to attack it while dual-wielding katanas. But thankfully, Peedee pulls him away before he can catch its attention. You do NOT wanna fuck with this thing, Bloodstone.

But, while the Cluster hatching might spell Earth’s end, it doesn’t mean the Diamonds get their hands on a superweapon either. Because the cluster is made up entirely of shards from Crystal Gems, those who fought the Diamonds. And as such, the first thing the hand of the Cluster does is punch Yellow’s ship, which flies back in a clutter, straight towards Beach City. Thankfully, it lands out at sea, instead of on the town itself. The ship is tough enough that it still works fine…as such, it rises up out of the ocean to face the Cluster. The hand of the Cluster stretches up, over the Gem Temple, and for a moment it hovers there, as if about to crush the Crystal Gems and friends like a gnat.

And then, it gives those below a thumbs up.

The Cluster does not want to destroy the planet its components gave their lives to protect. And with that in the forefront of every shard’s broken mind, it’s able to prevent itself from fully forming. And the part of it that HAS formed, recognizes and wants to protect Steven and friends.

Suddenly, the tide may have turned.

As Steven gives a thumbs up back, the Cluster attacks Yellow’s ship again, and vice versa, the two of them wrestling each other to the surface of the planet. As the Cluster starts to overpower the arm ship, Blue’s own arm ship arrives to reinforce her sister. And then turns around, looking like it’s gonna ram the Temple.

The hand of the ship slams down onto the beach, and as it raises back up, it leaves Blue Diamond standing there in its wake. Of all the people to crash Garnet’s wedding, Blue Diamond is probably the worst person or gem to do so, huh.

Greg offers to parley with Blue, but everyone instantly shoots him down. Probably best he doesn’t get locked back up in the zoo, huh.

As Greg retreats into the house, Blue makes her approach. Yellow wants the Cluster. Blue wants revenge. Time for her to learn the truth about Pink, then?

“This is PINK’s world! How DARE you use it as your hiding place!” Yeah. About that…

Peridot freaks out, Connie draws Rose’s sword, and Steven is frozen in fear.

And Bismuth? Bismuth immediately shapeshifts her hand into a hammer and leads Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst out into battle like a hardened general.

“C’mon, you rocks! Let’s put her in a bubble!”

The Crewniverse once said that a Diamond can’t be poofed. But judging by A Single Pale Rose, it’s not so impossible after all. Theoretically.

Steven makes up his mind. He tells the Crystal Gems to stay behind, and walks out to confront Blue alone, intent on telling her the truth of Pink and Rose’s conflict, and therefore hopefully removing her reason to want revenge.

Blue, of course, doesn’t believe a word he says. So much for that plan, Steebs.

Blue sends a blast of energy at Steven, and he flies back, only for a newly formed Alexandrite to catch him. Steven tries to stop Alexandrite, but both the Gems and Blue are intent on ending one another. Blue’s emotions spiral out of control and she clenches her first as sorrow and anguish wash over her, her aura projecting out from her on all sides, unfusing Alexandrite and basically forcing everyone into a fetal position.

Interestingly enough, said aura only seems to affect gems. And in Steven’s case, half-gem. Bismuth and Peridot collapse, while Connie freaks out at what’s going on but isn’t otherwise affected. As she’s the only one standing, she figures she’s the only one who can do something, and whistles for Lion. Lion jumps through the air, and Connie pushes off his back, in an attempt to slash the sword into Blue’s face.

Without even looking, Blue catches the entire sword in between two of her fingers. Yeah, there’s no way that was gonna work.

Blue recognizes Connie’s sword. Uh-oh.

“This…THIS IS THE SWORD THAT SHATTERED HER!”

And with the rage of a thousand suns, she returns the favor and shatters Rose’s sword into a million pieces, sending Connie tumbling down below. Lion manages to catch her. Oh, damn. Well, I guess it’s a good thing the Gems and Connie now have a professional blacksmith gem with her own forge to make a new one, and maybe it can specifically be for Connie instead of being a hand-me-down?

As Blue prepares to destroy them all, as the cluster struggles to hold back Yellow’s ship in the background…Garnet manages to stand up and she stands before her former Diamond. Blue of course doesn’t recognize her at all.

“I am the will of two gems to care for each other, to protect each other from any threat, no matter how vast or how cruel. You couldn’t stop me 5,750 years ago, and you can’t stop me now.”

And then, Blue recognizes Garnet. A Ruby and a Sapphire, who broke the rules exactly 5,750 years ago, in Blue’s very own presence.

Blue scoffs at Garnet’s attempts to harm her, but Garnet grins and reveals that she wasn’t trying to seriously hurt Blue. Just to distract her.

A look of confusion appears on Blue’s face. And then a drop of water hits her head. And another one. And a third one. Blue and Steven look up at the sky.

There’s a giant water bubble hanging over Blue’s head. And inside of it, a barn. And next to the barn, silhouetted against the moon, is Lapis Lazuli. FUCK. YES.

SHE’S SMILING! SHE’S FOUND THE STRENGTH TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE DIAMONDS! TO PROTECT THOSE SHE CARES FOR! THIS IS THE BEST!

The only way for this episode to get any better is if Lars and crew reach Earth and help the Cluster fight Yellow’s ship.

One barn to the face, coming right up! Press F for Peridot’s meep morps. Oh well.

Blue is nowhere to be seen. I kinda doubt that poofed her, but it at least gave us a moment’s reprieve.

CRYSTAL GEM LAPIS!

Blue is down but not out, and within the next few moments, she burst out from under the barn, destroying what remains of it in the process.

Oh shit. She recognizes Lapis. Lapis WAS part of her court back during the War, so that makes sense, huh.

Aura time again!

The Gems all collapse again, except Lapis. I think I might know why, too. Lapis has dealt with too much of her own anguish, sorrow, and self-hatred to be brought low by someone else’s.

“I’ve felt…worse.” FUCK YES

And at last, Lapis has realized that being on a planet that is 70% water makes her practically a god.

Everyone draws their weapons. Say, though. Now that she’s imprisoned with water chains, maybe’s a good time to talk to her and tell her Pink’s truth.

Oh, there go the chains again. Bombardment time!

Wow, Steven’s shield powers have improved so much, he can hold off a Diamond’s energy bombardment.

Oh right. Peridot doesn’t have a weapon, either from her gem or a Bismuth weapon. Well, she’s trying to be helpful, but soda cans aren’t gonna do more than distract her for a second. Bismuth picks up Peridot and throws her straight into Blue’s face. Distraction it is, I suppose. (If Blue swats Peridot off and she gets poofed, she’ll totally come back by the end of the episode with a crystal gem design, right? There’s no way she’d get poofed and not come back with a big ol’ star shape. Also a shirt that says “take this, Diamond clod!”)

Blue successfully deflects every attack sent her way, raises up her arms to protect her face from Lion’s sonic roars, and…fails to lower them in time, as Steven hits her with a spike-covered bubble straight in the chest. Round 3 (or is it 4?) goes to Steebs!

Meanwhile, The Cluster’s grip is starting to cause parts of Yellow’s ship to explode. Yellow’s ship goes flying. Lapis scoops up Steven and carries him away in the knick of time, but Blue isn’t so lucky. Her ship smashes onto her, and keeps going, skidding into the cliffside, taking a large portion of Steven’s house and The Temple with it.

Oh, right. Greg’s still in there.

And now Greg is out here, clutching Cat Steven to his chest as he staggers out of the ruins of the house.

The Cluster gives Steven another thumbs up, then withdraws back into the Earth before it can lose control of itself, where it presumably re-bubbles itself.

Yeah, nice after-wedding party you had their, Garnet.

Whether or not Blue is actually poofed, it isn’t over yet. There’s one more Diamond here. And Yellow isn’t interested in a long-drawn out revenge like Blue is. She just wants it to be over and done with. I doubt she’d want to hear anything Steven has to say, even less than Blue. She just wants “Rose” dead and shattered, the planet destroyed, and the whole mess put out of sight and out of mind forever.

She breaks out of her ship to confront Steven and co. But first, she jumps down over to Blue’s ship and lifts it up, so that Blue (who has not in fact been poofed) can crawl out from underneath.

“Ha! I told her off once. I can do it again.” Hey, remember what happened to both Zircons? Time for Poofidot. Can’t wait to see her new design…

And there she goes.

I wonder if Yellow really didn’t remember Peridot? Maybe it’s cause she has no limb enhancers? Or maybe she just didn’t give a fuck after the initial shock of an underling calling her a clod wore off?

Steven quickly rushes forward to protect Peridot’s gem, and Yellow notices him. And she charges, intent on the kill.

Steven’s shield momentarily deflects her. Then she stomps down on it, hard.

The next moment, Steven opens his eyes to see Connie screaming over him. She sounds distorted. And the background is…weird. Did Yellow manage to poof Steven? If so, she’ll see what his gem looks like, right? And that will solve that.

Steven gets up, leaving an after-image of him behind. I guess even though he poofed, his body is still there because he’s only half-gem? Uh, maybe?

Steven looks around to figure out where he is. Uh…that looks like…Connie’s head…?

Oh, it’s everyone, frozen in a moment in time, while images of them as they are right now – fighting – are also visible…? And the fight isn’t going well. Peridot’s poofed, and Lapis, undoubtably the most powerful gem currently fighting (by the oceanside no less!), soon suffers the same fate. (Crystal gem redesign for her too…?)

When Steven passes through Connie’s image, Connie is able to hear his voice. And Steven has a plan. When he touches Connie’s image, she can hear him, so…if everyone in the fight has an image, then…he needs to make his way to Blue and Yellow and touch their images and tell them what really happened.

He tells Connie to protect his body while he’s out, and jumps from gem to gem from there. He encourages Garnet to keep fighting for what she believes in, as she is Made of Love, tells Amethyst that he believes in her, and reminds Pearl that she isn’t just fighting for Rose or Steven, but also for herself. He tells Bismuth not to give up hope till the fight is over. And then…

Yellow and Blue…

Yellow believes that what happened to Pink, is her fault. She was the one who gave Pink a colony despite serious reservations. Her sister’s death hangs heavy around her head, in a way that she’s refused to outwardly show.

And Blue…Blue knows, deep in her gem, that executing Steven and destroying Earth is a pointless endeavor. It’s pointless, because no matter what she does or who she hurts, it will never bring Pink Diamond back. And everything that happens just makes her miss Pink more, just makes her suffer even deeper.

Their emotions are super strong. Strong enough that Steven can’t even approach their minds…

He dives in again to try and reach Blue’s mind, and succeeds briefly, before being flung back again. Blue’s eyes shoot open in shock, and she looks around, confused. Again, Steven tries, and again Blue feels a presence. A…familiar presence…

Steven also gets through to Yellow, who assumes it’s a trick, a trap. She points to where Steven is, and she and Blue attack. Steven instinctively tries to manifest his shield…and ends up unlocking his Diamond aura instead.

And with that, Steven can fight back. Not with violence, not even with words, but with love. The love two sisters had for their fallen sibling. The truth about that sibling. She’s still alive. She’s here. Right here, in front of them. Not even Yellow can deny that. Not anymore.

And then Steven wakes up.

And looking down on him are the Crystal Gems, Connie, and Greg. And behind them…Yellow Diamond. And...

Blue Diamond. With tears flowing from her eyes. Finally seeing the truth…

And with that, the episode ends. Possibly the season, too. I’m not sure.

Lars and the off-colors didn’t show up in the end, but still. That was an absolutely AMAZING episode.

Thank you so much, Rebecca Sugar and crewniverse. Thank you.