honestly steven universe is a good show esp for kids and ill never forgive the tumblr freaks who tore it to shreds just cuz they had nothing better to do but try and make themselves feel superior to everyone else just out here enjoying a nice pastel cartoon about self acceptance and lesbians
there were also weirdly a lot of ppl who were like “oh i used to watch su but then the writing got so bad :/” like. no it didnt skdxbnsns the writing stayed consistent (and good) throughout yall just lost interest in the show and/or fandom and thats fine it happens u dont need to try and justify it with a made up reason
look yall this post isnt about reasonable or nuanced criticisms. this post is about how for several months i constantly saw posts on my dash claiming su supported sexual assault and child abuse and ppl fighting about whether its ok to like jasper or not or how the writing was just vaguely “bad” with no examples or reasoning behind that take whatsoever and how after that time period everyone fell out of the fandom. thats the shit im talking about
Okay, this is what I currently think about the situation, given what we’ve learned in Change Your Mind.
Short answer: I think Pink caused the damage to her Pearl’s eye on accident trying to free her, and this was the final straw for White. She took Pink’s Pearl away and had a new one made for her, one that was supposed to be more logical than emotional.
Long answer: Before I begin, there’s two quotes from Diamond Days that have to be relevant.
“Steven, stop. You’re going to break her.” Pearl speaking in reference to Steven playing with Yelp’s strange way of addressing him as a Diamond, without understanding that he’s just Steven.
“Pink… White is very unhappy with you. If this keeps up, she’s going to take away your Pearl.” Blue in reference to Pink’s poor behavior, warning her that she would lose her Pearl if she continues acting inappropriately/outside her role as a Diamond.
We know from the dream sequence that Pink and her Pearl had a secret friendship, which they kept hidden from the other Diamonds. They laughed and played together, instead of taking on the standard role of master and servant, something that White would most certainly object to. If she didn’t take away her Pearl for the whole pet debacle/Pink’s interest in organic creatures, then this would definitely be where White draws the line. The question here is how were they discovered? What was the breaking point?
In NWOFA, we saw the particular way Pink interacted with our Pearl, attempting to ask for her opinion:
“Could you imagine that running a colony would be this dull?”
And becoming disappointed when Pearl prompts her to give an order.
“I could imagine it, if you would like me to, my Diamond.”
She doesn’t press the matter, instead opting to give her simple orders. Knowing about her relationship with her previous Pearl, it seems out of place that she should be so distant with this one. She wants to be friends with this Pearl, but she doesn’t want to push it. Why?
In considering Pink’s friendship with her original Pearl–who I will refer to as Pip for simplicity’s sake from now on–there is one aspect of their relationship that can’t be changed: Pip was made for Pink, to follow her orders. Also being made for Pink and having the same gem placement, Pip would have a similar personality to her. With all of that in mind, here’s my theory.
Pip is a childish, emotional, idealistic gem, much like her Diamond. She feels trapped by her position as a Pearl because, despite Pink’s efforts to befriend her, she is still physically compelled to follow her orders. Naively, she voices her frustrations to Pink, whom she trusts as a friend.
Pink, equally naive, tries to find a loophole for Pip’s situation so that her friend will not have to suffer anymore. They can still continue the master and servant charade when the other Diamonds are looking, but Pip will never be forced to do anything ever again. Ironically, Pink’s solution is to use this very trait against itself. She orders Pip to stop following her orders. Much like Cloud Connie in Open Book, when Steven tells her “I don’t want you to just do what I want”…
She breaks. She breaks because this order goes against her programming. (Also note that Connie’s eye patch is over the same eye as Pip’s missing one)
With this physical evidence that Pink has given Pip an invalid command, it is undeniable that she has been engaging in and encouraging inappropriate behavior. As punishment, White takes away her Pearl. Now, Homeworld’s policy for gems who do not fit the roles they were made for is to shatter them, and it has no use for an ownerless Pearl. By this logic, Pip should have been shattered, however I feel her continued existence is also a part of Pink’s punishment. Puppeted by White so that her own emotional “flaws” are no longer an issue, she exists as a reminder of Pink’s failure, a living threat to never, ever do this again. She becomes just another one of White’s manipulation tactics to keep Pink in line. If this is the case, then White sending Pip to retrieve Pink the moment “she” sets foot on Homeworld was as especially cruel move. “I know it’s been thousands upon thousands of years and everyone thought you were dead, but remember this gem that you tried to help and ultimately fucked up, forcing me to take matters into my own hands? Yeah, I’m still holding you to this standard.” Nothing has changed.
White furthers her manipulation with the air of a benevolent deity. Not only will she not shatter Pink’s poor, innocent Pearl (only completely deny her any sort of autonomy), she gives Pink another chance. A “new, sensible Pearl is custom made and delivered to Pink” (citing a barely legible entry on the show’s timeline from the Art and Origins book, written in blue, bottom left corner) whose ideals are more in line with White’s. She is tasked to make Pink happy, but the ultimate goal is to keep Pink under control, and the key to this is to keep Pink content in her role.
As a forehead gem, Pearl’s logic is meant to counteract Pink’s emotionally charged, bad decisions. As a gem made by White Diamond’s specifications, she has a rainbow color scheme. White light is made from all the colors, but since White refers to the different colored light as impurities, and affirms that: “I’ve removed their flaws! Now there is nothing to hinder my white light from sparking through them” upon turning them greyscale, it would only seem appropriate that a Pearl made by her specifications were not white herself. After all, white light means flawless to her, and no gem is flawless except her and all those under her influence. So our Pearl is the alternative, colorful. It also makes sense that our Pearl had a doll-like appearance when she was with Pink, given Pink’s childish tendencies.
Along with the wording on the map (not entirely legible but it can be inferred), the fact that White didn’t give our Pearl special acknowledgement tells me that she didn’t belong to White to begin with. It would also make sense because Pearl’s are made with one specific gem in mind, to follow that single gem’s orders. That is their purpose. If White took her own Pearl and gave her to Pink, wouldn’t that technically be forcing her own Pearl to go against her intended purpose?
So that just leaves one final question: why did Pearl not react in the same way as Pip when she rebelled alongside Rose Quartz? Why did she not break when she poofed her own Diamond? Regardless of whether Pink wanted her to do it or not, causing harm to her owner would surely go against her programming. In this regard, I feel that the difference between Pip and Pearl is that Pearl was allowed to come into this mindset gradually, so that going against her code is much less of a shock. Pip was thrust into this situation with one order, and her mind was unable to process it.
I do hope–and I feel it will be–they address how exactly a Pearl can be free of the influence of her owner, but I feel like it’s far more complicated than simply ordering her to stop following orders. As of now, my theory is that Pink was unable to give Pearl orders as Rose, and destroying the image of Pink by faking her shattering is what broke Pink’s control over her completely, save for that final order. No one can ever physically compel Pearl again, but every previous command that hadn’t been revoked sticks indefinitely until it is broken.
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