C O L O R B A R S

Episode 15 & 16 Analysis Bits

This is a analysis post of all the little things that I, and probably some of you guys noticed in the latest 2 episodes.

The Diamond Essence

So Steven used all the diamond essence. Everyone knows that. But the contrast between how the essence blends in episode 1 and 15 is pretty interesting.

In episode 1 of SUF, the blend of essence looks very smooth, bright, and wavy. It sparkles in a very nice and harmonious way.

However, in the latest episode, the blend looks far more... fragmented. Unstable. Dark.

This is probably a representation of his mental state being far more jarred, unstable, and just unhealthy. Rather than spreading evenly and properly, his essence just spreads, like a stain. Or a corruption scar....

Steven's forms

Steven has changed shape, size and even color this season. There are some things to take note of:

Steven's form changes either uniformly or chaotically. This probably indicates weather the change is a reaction or an internal change. That's why Steven grew so chaotically and unsustainably in Growing Pains, but grew in a “healthier” way during Fragments. Not that the way he grew was healthy at all.

We know from the series that gems, including Steven, change form depending on their mental state. Steven changed into chad Steven because he felt stronger. Steven might change into the wyrm because he feels out of control, like a corrupted gem.

Pink Diamond Resembelence

Steven underwent a number of physical changes during Fragments, but one of the most significant ones was his increasing resemblance to his mother.

He's taller, about quartz height. His hair is poofier, like Pink's hair, and it even has the same tufts as hers. And the eyes? People have been pointing out that they have white pupils like White's , rather than Blue and Yellow's black pupils. And that must be deliberate.

White said she wanted to fix things. When she couldn’t, she moved ahead. Steven wants to fix things, but he can't live without a purpose. His family saw him as a burden when he couldn’t do anything. That has fed into his current state, if not created it.

Betraying Every Single Crystal Gem Value

This is probably one of the things that hit me the hardest in this episode. He managed to:

Destroy organic life

SHATTER A GEM

Enjoy violence and causing pain

Within 3 days. All things that his mother fought so hard to prevent from occurring. Perhaps this is why he has decided to do it. His mother didn’t want it, so in an attempt to prove that he's his own person, he does all of the things that would cause disapproval from anyone but Jasper.

It's convoluted and awful, but in a way it makes sense. If he does what his family wants, they will always want more. They'll never want more of this.

Greg

When Steven said “You’re just like mum”, I was astounded by how offensively Greg took it. Astounded for a good reason. He realises that Rose wasn't an entirely altruistic person.

I think this actually shows an incredible amount of strength in Greg. I feel like Steven overreacted in the situation, but Greg has grown nonetheless.

He did get carried away though. He whisked Steven through his youth, without any regard for his feelings. Instead of sitting and talking, he tried to distract Steven. And that CD... context, Greg. Context.

Also, they way that he implies that Steven was “free” shows how little he helped bring up Steven after he moved in with the gems.

Anyway, that was a lot to unpack. I hope you enjoyed reading it! If you have any thoughts, let me know.

- Pasta

Pearl Memes

Image 1 based off Bismuth Casual, Images 2 and 3 based off Homeworld Bound.

Have some shitposts. Just take them.

- Pasta

Wow it’s been a while lol

It he

A baggy boi

(Based off a post on @coroika-confessions)

- Pasta

Steven Universe Color Correction!

I was doing some screenshot edits when I had a brainfart and decided to find out the colors of the zircons and the wormy boi.

Basic Tutorial

There are a number of different types of blending modes for layers, as many of you undoubtedly know. Most screenshots from SU that are worth editing seem to have a darker shade, similar to a multiply layer.

Anyone who passed 5th grade math knows that the opposite of multiply is divide, which also happens to be a blending mode.

So, the method I used to correct my colors goes as follows:

Load your screenshot into your art program

Add a new layer and set the blending mode to divide. Hide this layer for now.

Find something on the screenshot that would be white under normal lighting. Eyes, teeth and the like.

Use the eydropper tool to copy the color on one of these areas.

Make the divide layer visible, and use the bucket/fill tool to fill the layer with the color you copied.

Tada! You should now have an edited screenshot with accurate colors.

Actual Theories

Remember when the biggest controversy in the fandom was if the prosecuting Zircon was yellow or green? Simpler times. Anywho: I used the same method, and...

Why yellow there.

I cross checked this with other people's edits, and it seemed pretty consistent. She yello!

I decided to do the defending Zircon just for fun:

So, next bit: Wormy Boi.

@novantinuum made an interesting post about the similarities in scenery and lighting between the Wormy Boi's title sequence appearance and a number of scenes in the most recent trailer. I sampled the color from the trailer, put it on the title sequence, and well... the results speak for themselves.

This is how a trailer scene looked before it was fixed:

This is how a trailer scene looks when fixed:

And the Worm?

Yup.

Please tell me if there is any way to improve my method!

Also, I’m working on the high school AU thing.

- Pasta

ASD Brains be Like - Snicker Knife

I was walking, you know, like a normal human being, and somehow my brain made a series of connections that resulted in me thinking “could you murder somembody with a snickers bar?”.

I now know, thanks to 20 minutes of contemplation, how to kill somebody with a snickers bar.

Place the snickers in your refrigerator to make sure that they're solid, but not too hard.

Remove from fridge and quickly slice off parts of the bar to create a wedge, point or blade, whichever works.

Quickly place bar in freezer to avoid melting, and to solidify/harden it.

Use when ready

The only issue I could think of is if the target runs, you will no longer have a knife, but you will have a snickers bar so you can apologise for trying to kill them. Nut allergies give a +7 to damage

Also, to dispose of the evidence, eat your weapon. It won’t be as nice as a normal snickers bar, cos it's covered in blood, but I’m sure you can make do. You’re on the run from the law now after all. Why did you do this, idiot? Why?

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

Disclaimer - Murder is stinky. Don’t.

- Pasta

Did anyone see the way Lapis reacted to those chains?

How when they came towards her, she just... froze? The almost adrenaline-fueled reaction? The metaphor of “opening the floodgates”? The projection of her trauma onto the situation (who’s pitiful now)?

Maybe she hasn’t healed as well as she thinks...

Everybody on this show needs therapy, y’all.

- Pasta

Need to be Needed

This freaking episode hit me right in the guts...

Ouch...

- Pasta

Okay... This got a lot more attention than I expected and I must do this now.

Question for y’all

How would you feel about a Steven Universe high school au? It would be based off those promo drawings of the gems, but set in America rather than Japan. Let me know what you think.

Here are some of the drawings btw:

I got them off the wikia, in case you were wondering

- Pasta