The gems will be out of commission for longer than we thought!

peachie5000:

(Note: spoilers from the new promo below)

Normally, Amethyst can reform in minutes. We’ve seen Garnet reform in about an hour (judging by the time she was destabilized in Jailbreak until she formed into Ruby and Sapphire), and I bet Pearl could do it pretty quickly as well if she wasn’t taking her time.

So why is it that Steven is still holding their gems in the promo, seemingly hours or possibly even a day since the fiasco at the ball?

I believe that Yellow Diamond’s lightning is different than normal methods of poofing, or even a destabilizer, thanks to info from Reunited and Legs from Here to Homeworld.

In the battle during Reunited, Lapis and Peridot are both shot by Yellow Diamond’s lightning and are forcibly poofed, retreating into their gems for the rest of the fight. When Steven tries to access the Diamonds via the mindscape, their gems are the only ones out of all the others that are completely unresponsive. So while we could assume that poofing cuts off the ability to think or communicate in thoughts (which doesn’t exactly make sense, if only a gem’s physical form disappears when hurt), it seems more plausible that YD’s powers are prolonging Lapis and Peridot’s stasis.

It’s incredibly unusual that they had not reformed after an entire day (between the fight and when the gems leave Earth). Especially since they were poofed during a battle, when they’d want to reform as quickly as possible to get back to helping the others.

If these powers had the same effect there, it’s likely that the Crystal Gems are under the same umbrella, where they want to reform as quickly as possible but are physical unable to. Yellow Diamond’s lightning doesn’t just act like a destabilizer, these powers lengthen the time it takes to reform (which is perfect for the diamonds who likely need to subdue threats like this), as well as potentially affect how much the gems can sense when inside their gems.

Steven and Connie might have to fight a lot of this battle by themselves.