Understanding the Steven Universe Hate
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 เม.ย. 2017
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My Undertale Video:
• So... I KINDA Hate Und...
Steven Universe OST - Night Drive
Steven Universe OST - Rose's Fountain
Steven Universe OST - The Heaven Beetle
Steven Universe OST - Connie
Steven Universe OST - I'm Still Here
Steven Universe OST - Lapis' Tower
Steven Universe OST - Mirror Gem
Steven Universe OST - Decisive Path - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
8:52 Pretty sure in "Too many Stevens", Steven finally realised how annoying he was - I vaguely remember him running out too the porch to get away from all the other Stevens and saying something like "Wow.... I'm really annoying", and that's when his behavior started to actually change a little.
I think.
I actually read somewhere that "Stevens and the Stevens" (the episode you're referring to) is when the show actually began to get a bit darker. The reason being is, the real Steven - the one we've been following since the first episode - dies.
Steven even mentions it in the closing song - he created an alternate timeline where HE is now the main Steven, while past Steven destroyed himself and the other Stevens. It's a crazy theory that actually kinda makes sense.
Yeah the show hooked me when all the Stevens where melting away around the current Steven screaming in agony - and leave steven with two handfuls of steven dust and a traumatized face as the water rushed into the sea shrine.
Oh shit, you're right. But I'm sure that seeing a bunch of other Stevens melt away must have had a part to play in him maturing a little bit.
+Katie Katie +JazitJ "I learned to stay true to myself by watching myself die" That's the last lyric in the 2nd version of Steven and the Stevens (Steven and the Crystal Gems), so I think Jazit is right in that Steven matured somewhat - after all, Monster Buddies, Indirect Kiss, Mirror/Ocean Gem, and others followed it. I'm not saying he matured immediately (cause I still think he's STILL a little immature), but it did start the Homeworld plotline more heavily than previous episodes.
So now I'm wondering...if we had continued with original Steven (the one we originally had been following), would the show have contined the same or would it have been more upbeat?
JazitJ That episode was the "Who's Who" jingle which was a "Quick Revive" for the show. -CoD Zombies pun-
The diamonds: literal gem dictators that have killed trillions of gems and destroyed multiple planets
Steven: “Be nice”
The diamonds: “ok”
Accurate.
It wasn't anything like that
We all know that as Soon As Steven Dies, That the Diamonds will Kill all life, Destroy Earth, and rule The Universe with an Iron- Or Diamond if you may, Fist
@@dominothealphaandomega5512 why would Steven dying cause that? Wouldn't it just be the genetic fusion half of him die? The gem half should still be immortal and possible of creating a light form if the genetic half is somehow killed (I assume).
@@Lorenzo-pw7dp It was actually.
A R M R E S T I S P U R P L E -
yeh
"Wait two diamonds are coming to destroy the Earth."
"Oops, sorry, gotta throw this guy into a lighthouse."
"Wait, now we gotta deal with insecurity of one of our own."
"Hold on, that didn't happen."
"What were we talking about?"
"Oh yeah, a mail guy is falling in love with a rock."
"What diamonds?"
"Oh it's fine, they're good now"
I really want the diamonds to be villains. Imagine maleficent, the squid woman from my little mermaid and the evil queen from snow white in one show.
@@K.Dayana 💀
@@K.Dayana RIP hope.
No one:
Amethyst: ARE YOU SAYING I’M WEAK!?
I mean... Consider Amethyst is under half the size of most of her kind and is often treated as immature and therefore could be constantly feeling weak thanks to that little voice in your head that tells you your weak.
it took like four seasons for lars to become a likeable character. i love this show, but you have to have a LOT of patience to get to the good parts.
Lars mellowed out later without becoming a badass
Yea
Most of the patience comes from the FUCKING WAITING
It's not like Lars was that awful to begin with
Maybe someday Renaldo will be tolerable.
I was hoping you'd address the point against the show being too forgiving to its major villains and not forgiving enough to its minor ones.
COUGH COUGH THE DIAMONDS SPECIFICALLY ROSE COUGH COUGH
eh the diamonds sure but others haven't done anything to prove themselves redeemable (the diamonds SHOULD have been the same way)
@@Dokataa pink is different there mostly harsh on her arguably
OH MY GOSH I KNOW
Steven didn't really forgive the diamonds if he did he wouldn't have tried to shatter white diamond.
-Talks about how the show looks.-
Let's not talk about how that the character designs are inconsistent and the sizes change every five seconds.
Edit: What the fuck is going on in my replies?
A friend of mine is becoming an animator: she told me that the show has a serious lack of key frames. There’s no sense of consistency between character proportions or sizes in relation to themselves and the world around them. It’s like if 20+ people each tried a different approach for a different scene, and nobody bothered to QC it and the editors didn’t catch the severe lack of modeling.
@@narutardkyuubi That's because there is no modeling in the entire show, they say it's an artistic choice even though it's just being lazy, how they see it, if it's recognizable to the character it's on model.
@@somethingroyal6610 it is lazy, it should not be condoned, it should be panned and erradicated.
The vídeo of lily orchard is all you need to know
@@fcomolineiro7596 that bitch? If i could tie whoever is she and whoever created jojo's bizarre adventure and send them in a rocket directly to the sun, i would not think twice
Is it weird that even though I adore this show but look for SU rants and enjoy those too? I like to hear why people hate the show and I even learn a few things about it.
Bickslow'sLover Harlequin
Same, actually. I like seeing rants and videos about how bad my favorite shows are. I have no justification.
SU is one of my favorite series. I actually was okay with the first season entirely, probably because I stopped watching kids television shows after like the Sesame Street age and never really watched anything else after that except Pokemon. I might be just stunted when it comes to tv shows, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of the show up until the newest season, which I am waiting for it to end to watch.
what?? Steven universe fans who can take criticism of the show????
NoCapsNoSpaces
I know, right? All like 7 of us are fairly reclusive! You were fairly lucky to spot two of us in the same comment thread.
Bickslow'sLover Harlequin Definitely learned something from this. I adopted the same mentality when watching the fuck out of Angry Joe.
And yeah, the first handful of episodes in SU were fucking weird in their animation style, but I felt a connection to the show anyway for some reason. Probably because Steven and I have the dead mother trait in common. I've always assumed that about why I love the show to death.
Same! I love this show but I like seeing why some people don’t
Anyone else notice that when Garnet becomes likeable and more fun, her hair becomes bouncy?
i guess she has a 'flexible' attitude
Different storyboarders on those episodes
Think that was just the animation improving. It's really noticeable for me comparing season 1 and 3-5
Ewan Stewart no
Nothing happens most eppisodes... LITERALY NOTHING, they introduce an end of the world plot and take almost 40 episodes to resolve it
That’s because it is story driven. I see you enjoy comedy more, and that is fine, but after “40 episodes” you can piece so many things together and the story becomes even more satisfying.
If you think nothing happens in most episodes then dont watch steven universe. It's so simple, if you hate it then stop watching it. I'll recommend some other cartoons for you, Star Vs The Forces Of Evil, Adventure Time and Gravity Falls. There, Now stop complaining and instead do something about it.
@@okaytsonei i did, it got so slow that it just dragged and stoped being funny
well nothing majorly important ot the plot anyways
@@okaytsonei that's not how criticism Works you moron
I completely forgot that petey was a character because they only focus on how his brother, renaldo, is so weird to the gems and his dad just shows up every now and then just as a background character that doesn't speak unless he's part of a crowd noise.
Pretty sure its Pee-Tee not Petey? That's what I always thought atleast.
@@headcavity it's actually PeeDee.
I imagine it was two things for Peedee: the writers probably didn't have any story ideas for him, and they might not've been able to get Atticus Shaffer for the voice (between The Middle and The Lion Guard).
@@warj.3577 He had a little bit of character dimension in Frybo but the writers then forgot about it lol.
Worst part of Steven Universe: The release of episodes.
Usually there's no info on when to expect episodes.
This leads to a choice.
Either constantly check for new episodes and get disappointed regularly, or abandon the show only to some day find out the new episodes aired weeks ago.
This also makes "filler" episodes more annoying, like Future Boy Zoltron, Onion Friend, Tiger Millionaire 1 & 2, Onion Trade, Frybo etc.
The whole thing with Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond was brought up forever ago, and the show forgets it a lot.
Ikr i bet fewer people would hate it if the schedule was better
The scheduling is CN fault and not on SU at all. Those “filler” episodes are important, you only consider those filler b/c you prefer the space stuff and don’t realize the importance of the beach city stuff.
What @@MxNobody002 said is very true, Scheduling is the fault of Cartoon Network, who puts all of their airing time and budgeting into their worst shows. Except OK KO, and tawog to an extent.
And they haven't been "forgetting" the Pink Diamond thing. These episodes were storyboarded YEARS ago.
You misspelt the show existing
I think this is one of the reasons I didn't dislike or got bored of season 4 as much as others. I only started watching before the Homeworld Abduction arc at the end of S4, so I just breezed through the fillers.
I do think that Steven had some character development to change into what we see today. I think one of the monumental moments which I also feel was symbolic was what I assume was probably your least favorite episode. Steven and the Stevens. He is faced with himself and verbally acknowledges his realization that he really is this annoying to others. I think this episode was also symbolic for the show because they circled back to the plot of their pilot episode with the time turner. Following each of these episodes big changes were made.
I think that Ocean gem was also important because he got a new perspective, the world is a much bigger place, there is a home world, and hes not the center of the universe.
HUH. I mean I think it was a bit too vague and abstracted for me to interpret it as. "I genuinely inconvenience other people and should change myself to be more caring"
But it's certainly close enough that I could see that being sugar's intention.
Yeah not saying it was a stellar job, but he saw how he himself couldn't follow the most basic instructions, or inconvenience, without being a diva about it. He was used to getting his way, and now was faced with three people just like that where nobody could win. It all started because his dad had a real life problem, and then because he himself was inconvenienced turned to a short sighted solution.
I did however agree with most of what you said. I feel like pearl got a lot of hate until recently but at least she had personality and opinions.
I think Steven's character development is very natural in that you don't notice it until very later on. He goes from obnoxious and loud to being a bit more reserved, wiser and quiet.
"Howdy, bang"
...... THIS OLE RUBY RIDER
It's Ruby riding alone
Ruby is great and is valid
@@wisdommanari6701 what
steven doesn’t “just grow.” he grows throughout season one because he realizes how effed up his crazy, twisted, monster-filled life is, and he starts to realize that he’s not just a human boy and that he has responsibilities to the team.
I hated Pearl.
... Until she started making me cry.
Jeff The Theorist Same
Sweet Tooth Death I can relate
Jeff The Theorist sameeeee
SAME
Connie*
SHE DOES NOT HAVE HER SHIT TOGETHER
*steven universe takes 4 seasons to get good*
*spongebob is so bad after season 4*
solution: watch spongebob until season 5 and then immediately switch over to steven universe season 5
Honestly I liked the show until season 4 lol.
I liked it after Season 2. It seems a little disingenuous to say it took 4 seasons.
Especially since I dont think the recent seasons arent as good as 2 and 3 imo.
@@twenty-fifth420 except SU never was good
well actually steven was better before say season 5...and some feel it went downhill in the later part of season 4 so yeah
You also have to remember that Steven is a child who was raised by a single parent, and three gems who have no idea how to raise a child. He never went to school either. He doesn’t compare to other children because he was raised completely differently. Take Peedee for example. I assume he went to school and has a hard working parent to look up to. You have to take into consideration Steven’s less than average childhood. His growth throughout the show, however, is amazing. Especially seeing him now, he has matured so greatly. I have so much love for this show.
The show's problem has always been pacing. They took too long to explain even the most basic premises (ex. if the Gems were aliens or magical beings) and yes wasted too much time on "annoying Steven." They also should have done the character-focus episodes earlier so we could move to the more epic ones by now instead of mixing them up all the time.
honestly, though, SU has a lot of newer flaws rearing their heads lately:
- steven is presented as the epitome of morality-- everything he thinks is automatically right in that regard and anyone who disagrees is supposed to be unlikable
- show has no idea if it's serialized or episodic, so it's constantly dropping plot threads that seem very time-sensitive for unrealistic periods of time
- flanderizing characters and removing them COMPLETELY from their peak presentation and original concept (e.g. garnet, peridot, lapis)
Claire D. The first point is incorrect. The truth is actually worse.
People act like Steven is always right unless we're meant to dislike the character.
muntu1221 TRUTH
We're meant to dislike Steven?
A God Damn Dragonite no, no, they mean only characters we're supposed to dislike can disagree with steven
Ah okay
*Character Development* . It gets better with *character development* .
yeah...I think because of it amythest may be one of my favorite characters now
Yeah, people hated the original but when the movie came out there was so much character development I was thrilled, It was fantastic, The only bad thing is because steven is at legal age to have sex now and how people loved the movie so much, there's literal *porn* of steven now. :/
Kawaii Potato NOPE NOPE NOPE, I DID JUST READ THAT NO UH UH BYE
@@headcavity >:(
Jessica Duncan is 16 legal age?
I consider Steven and the Stevens to be the funniest episode, honestly. I love how he decides to make a rock band with himself, kicks himself out of the band for calling himself ugly ("Steven and I have been talking, and Steven agrees"), goes into an open brawl with himself that ends in a sappy speech...but that he himself doesn't really understand ("What have we become?"), and then dramatically dies in front of himself, who has no idea what happened.
It's the silliest thing, and I love it.
The fans are the part that killed it for me. The idea that so many people take it so seriously, to the point of bullying a person to the point of suicide for drawing a character thinner than they normally are.
The same reason of why I don't watch it
well I don't hate it, in fact I've watched it, it's a good show but not my type of show
naomi dacres I understand that. I'm just saying that the fans are what killed the interest I had for the show.
In modern day nerd culture, interacting with other fans of the same stuff you like and using that as common ground between people is an important thing, and while you can obviously enjoy a show without being part of a "community", I myself loved Avatar (Aang) but don't really have anything to do with the fandom, for many people it is part of the reason to get into something. No matter what you think about them, I think that there are big parts of the brony fandom that I enjoy, and I am still mostly up to date with recent champ releases and gameplay changes in League of Legends despite having given up on playing the game I don't know how ling ago specifically _because_ I still follow LoL content creators and keep in touch with the community.
A fandom having a bad reputation is a legitimate reason to be turned off if you feel like the bad elements might be widespread enough that you don't want to interact with the fandom at large at all. Even though it doesn't make the show bad.
Witty Profile Name wait WHAT!?
Giant woman is when the show gets good
I thought it was good since the beginning. The show just doesn't start becoming consistently good until Giant Woman imo.
I was like, DAMN! This show got DBZ stuff!
Exactly!
are you sure that it wasn't 100 birthdays that traumatised you into liking the show.
Not really
I like the show, but I don't like how cruel the fanbase is driving people to kill themselves.
Bluecore Why do those fans do that?
Has that actually happen?
add 486 No. But it was close
Teddy The DerpyWolfDragon Stupidity, Entitlment, Taking things way to fucking seiriously take your pick
That was more of a single incident involving only tumblr over anything else.
In fact, the only bad part of the fandom is the radical Tumblr community. Other than that it's honestly really good.
You literally showed Steven watch Pearl get "killed" while he was being ridiculous and mentioned repeatedly that was the episode where things started to get good - then turned around and said there was nothing to spark Steven's growth from self-focused to selfless.
Personally, I related to the "Bratty Steven" change being gradual, because that's how it happens with most kids. It reminded me of that young cousin or bratty kid at church or even little brother you see gradually just grow. Plus, Steven starts at age 11 or so, which is where a lot of kids' brain develop to learn things like responsibility, compassion, and empathy. I think it's cool to see it happen over time, and not in a huge "AHA!" moment, because it feels more down to earth....in a show with gay space rocks using life energy to build their bodies and save the world.
yep, Steven starts as a kid, so I really like how he starts off more childsh and matures with the series over time.
I'm glad i'm not the only one who things that! ^u^
I'm pretty sure he starts at 12, since I'm pretty sure the second birthday shown was his 14th. Just a small thing.
Ah, true. I guess TECHNICALLY there could have been a birthday we weren't shown, but I have no reason to asume that. For some reason I thought there was something in there that lead me to the conclusion it had taken place over 3 years not 2, but still a LOT of change happens from 12 to 14.
Joshtika18 no. It’s back now. In a newer episode he Without any second thought Gave an enormous threat a ship back to the even greater enemy and never goes published for any of his mistakes along these lines
Ok but are they going to make infinity train or what?
JustFive yes and thank god
2019
Suki ???? HELL YES
Are you ready for the train?
@Diego Devars Really?
I know this video is old, but I honestly have more problems with some of the worldbuilding later on than the goofiness of the early episodes. It's a world that feels smaller the more you learn about it rather than bigger.
Steven universe is not the worst Cartoon Network show even if you hate it, it's still better than Teen Titans go
It's better than Uncle Granpa too
Lmao I like teen titans go.
The new Ben ten
Touche, touche.
@@candyshophorror4347 Same
I think that more recently, the aesops are too obvious. Honestly, I wish they'd stop having Steven (read: the audience) learn lessons and have him ask more complex questions. That's where, for the most part, I think SU excels. Problems that can't be simply solved. Lessons that aren't black and white. Actions that have permanent consequences. Conflicts where the villains cannot be redeemed (though one or two can), or are not easy and straightforwards.
I think that perhaps Amethyst is a perfect vehicle for pushing the concept of self-awareness. She's a teenager with self-image issues who desires instant gratification. She could totally push forwards self-awareness with a bit of character development.
Wait how are the most recent aesops too obvious? They've seemed to becoming increasingly more subtle and complex to me.
Chameleonred5 I find most of the lessons pretty complex, especially for a show aimed at kids. Steven isn't even the one who learns them, pretty often.
*googles aesop*
+Skyrim Guard Pick an episode from the most recent season that isn't about the main/seasonal plot, gem technology, worldbuilding, Rose, or Connie. Preferably one revolving around a secondary character, as that's when it tends to be more obvious. Then watch a minute, skip three-four minutes, watch ten more seconds, and keep skipping and watching ten second bits until the episode is over. If you need to go back to clarify short events, go ahead and do so.
If you can put together the entire episode plot and the aesop from just that patchwork kind of show watching, then the aesop is too obvious. Some episodes do worse and hammer it in over and over. Like the recent wrestling one. You know what's going to happen. I know what's going to happen. We know very quickly what the lesson is supposed to be. Even if the characters are entirely in character, it's cringey to watch them stumble badly to what is to us an obvious and forgone conclusion. I'd rather they stumble over something that makes sense to stumble over.
I'm not saying they don't already do that. There's quite a few good episodes that have nicely subtle/complex lessons interwoven into them. There's just some rather obnoxious ones as well.
+Chilly Soda When your species is immortal, 1930 years old can be a teenager. I was referring more to her mentality, but come to think of it her age could be that of a teen as well. By gem standards.
+Chilly Soda Semantics. Replace "immortal" with "ageless" if that satisfies your definition.
Personally I feel like they move waaaaaaaay to slow. You could trim the first 70+ episodes down to twenty and not lose much. How many episodes have nothing important happening? Compare that to Gravity Falls, everything ties into the main plot. No episode is wasted. Here, many episodes have an interesting description but fall short. That and I want to throw Amethyst out the airlock.
there are little filler episodes
THIS.
There are so many filler episodes.
I see your point, but at the same time, part of what makes SU so great is the character and world development. It's easier to do that without focussing on story in one episode.
This.
Infinity train now has a full season and it’s fucking amazing :D
Yes and very better than this garbage woke show
When I clicked on this video, I thought it was gonna be about the latest episodes, but then I realized when this was uploaded.
Don't watch the first episode the only value it has is in introducing a later character.
Watch the second, it's a bit more peaceful.
Watch all the lion episodes.
Avoid Uncle Grandpa episode.
"Avoid Uncle Grandpa episode" is my way of life
The first episode is important in that it introduces Steven's shield as well. The Uncle Grandpa episode I found to be pretty funny and ultimately harmless since it's non-canonical.
The first episode is quite frankly the worst representation of Steven in the series and it shows. The accomplishment of Steven summoning his weapon isn't that engaging because you've yet to connect with him as a character. The Uncle Grandpa episode is as you said Non Canon and in my opinion ruins the entire atmosphere the series built by involving an relatively powerful character whom immediately breaks all the rules on the canon universe. That sense of mystery that was being built up? Gone. Perhaps it's ultimately harmless, but someone seriously trying to get into the series can skip it, or at the very least avoid it until they're enjoying the show.
Well I respect your opinion, but don't fully agree with it. I think watching the first episode isn't too important outside of introducing Steven's main power, but it's there if people get confused about Steven having a shield for some reason. It's certainly not horrible enough to want to skip at least. I didn't connect with Steven either then, but I didn't really expect to so that was never really an issue with me. Well non-canon episodes are worth skipping on principle as they don't effect the show in anyway. That's the wonderful thing about them. I just thought that it was a funny crossover. The "sense of mystery" didn't really need to be there for an episode like it. And you say people should avoid it like it's going to affect how they view the rest of the show. Isn't that a bit dramatic? It's just one episode and, as I said, doesn't affect anything and can be skipped entirely and you won't really miss anything. Unlike the first episode where there's at least some importance to it. If you want to experience the whole show properly, it's not wise to skip it. My opinion is that if you want to have a good time, try to watch both at least once. I would never recommend any newcomers to skip any episode. Even the crossover.
Well the thing is, even the more casual episodes of Steven Universe filler or otherwise establish something about the characters or keeps consistency so for someone who watches the Uncle Grandpa episode it's actually a bit of a mood killer. You can call it dramatic if you like but it just depends on how you like to enjoy the show. Some people watch it casually others are more interested in it's storytelling. Most friends I have seem to cringe at that episode rather then enjoy it.
I personally don't think I'd be to confused about not seeing the introduction of the shield in the first episode because all the other gems also pull their weapons out of their gems. So I'd think "Oh, Steven is part gem I guess he can do it too." That would be about it. The real issue with skipping the first episode would be Centipeetle because she plays a bigger part later in the series. I think going back and watching the first episode would be good. I've actually just had friends try to skip out on the series because of the first episode which is why I don't recommend it being the first to watch.
It's good that you'd just recommend a series. It's just a lot of people I know aren't super patient and judge things quickly so I usually prefer making sure if they see something it's enough to keep them coming back.
Rebecca tweeted this before. "We decided to play the first season safe to be on similar terms with Cartoon Network" Originally when the show was pitched it was directed for the same audience that watch teen titans go, After season one, was when they slowly added more depth, On episode 9 of Season 2 they even hinted at Pearl and Stevens mother being Lesbian. Its too bad that Rebecca couldn't take the series in the direction she wanted from the get-go.
However the team could've made the characters less annoying in the first season, I agree.
Denham Varas-Curl oh really. That would actually make a lot of sense. Sucks they couldn't make season 1 as good but oh well. At least CN didn't cancel the series pre maturely.
No, Teen Titans Go wasn't a thing when this show was being made. Steven Universe was pitched to the same audience as Adventure Time, which is why the earlier episodes are more similar. And the Pearl and Rose hints started in season one.
@Denham, you're comparing SU season 1 to Teen Titans Go? Steven Universe gets way more mature in the second half of season 1, then Teen Titans Go could ever hope to achieve. That's a pretty bad argument.
Yes, because who doesn't want more lesbians in a kids' cartoon? /s
>they hinted at Steven's mother being a lesbian
Do you know what lesbian means? I'm pretty sure someone who was in a relationship with a man cannot be exclusively attracted to women.
My bro refuses to watch SU cause of the art style and the inconsistencies.
Your bro has standards that he holds his entertainment to. More people should be like that so we don't have people blindly making excuses for lazy writing, bad scripts, or such like Star Wars fans do.
I like the art style honestly and yes I do have standards and I watch it.
My friends dont wanna watch it because they already judged it by stevens appearence
@@entimoreng Why I didn't watch it at first tbh. I don't know what got me into it.
I would usually say that you shouldn't judge a story by how good its art is. I mean look at the original one punch man, but that defense only goes so far. when the work has a story that can't make up for its lacking presentation then no sorry you clearly dont care enough to actually want to retain my viewership.
The wait on this show is just not worthy. There are much better shows out there
I don't think it's possible to skip the 24 first episodes. they give so much exposition. episode 2 explains about how Rose 'died'.
Episode 4 introduces the temple.
episode 5 introduces gem shards (which sets up an entire arc later on).
episode 6 introduces Connie.
Episode 7 explains shapeshifting.
episode 10 introduces Lion.
episode 11 shows us garnet's eyes for the first time.
episode 12 explains fusion.
episode 13 explains steven's aging mechanism.
episode 16 explains gem regeneration.
episode 17 shows us Rose's armory for the first time.
episode 19 shows us Rose's room and it's rules.
episode 20 introduces sugilite.
episode 23 introduces Centipeedle.
in between all of these, other episodes lightly set up things to come. one of the greatest elements in steven universe is their habit of going back to things youve already seen and giving you an entirely new perspective of them. i understand why people might find the show annoying at the beginning, but it pays off only if you watch it as a whole.
Too bad the way he ages is barely ever addressed in the series. Like, they focused on it for a total of two episodes.
Episode 5 introduces a concept of gem shards that is never seen again. From then on, any time gem shards are seen, they immediately attempt to form a body, with no mention of them controlling clothing in their proximity. The only other similar concept is Lapis in the mirror, but she was bound to it magically, not simply placed near it. She was also not a gem shard.
What I've always found peculiar about this show is that most of the left-leaning elements are an aesthetic.
Episodes that could be considered "feminist bait" are usually vague enough to convey a different message for the viewer (e.g. Alone Together is as much about puberty and discovering teenagehood as it is about consent and self-identity). The gems are alien so their intended sex doesn't affect the story even if you rule 63'd them. The color palette is as much a dedication to the "indie game look" the show has always gone for as it is flamboyant.
Meanwhile the story has some elements that could be considered right-leaning too. Andy, a textbook conservative, is portrayed sympathetically and his conflict is shown to stem from isolationism and familial abandonment rather than his own ideologies. Vidalia, a remarried ex-groupie, threatens a suspected trespasser with a shotgun and is not villified for it. Steven has to face and accept that his mother killed someone who was possibly not malevolent, sending a pro-war message by justifying the results of war as being worth the cost. Big kicker that's been there since the start of the show: Steven's internal issues are mainly caused by his incompetent mother-figures and abscence of his biological mother, while his dad keeps him grounded and sane.
Like, I think this is something we should get out of the way: SU isn't left-leaning. It's just gay. The creator is bisexual. The creator grew up around Northern Virginia, a very LGBT-friendly area, and has met gays and bisexuals and naturally projects her experiences on the canvas. Some of these gays work on the show. Just because they're gay doesn't mean they're the flagship of liberal ideology, SJWs, or representatives of the Democratic platform. They're people with their own views, usually more centrist than you think, who made a cartoon partially based on some real experiences.
+
This is the right answer - at least the most correct one here, but unfortunately context and complexity fly over most of our heads regardless of our place in the political spectrum. People love to simplify things and color an entire thing based on a small component that comprises it. They see what they want to see "Unisex fictional race = LGBT = Left = SJW"
It's a sad state of affairs but one I'm very used to at this point.
I for one have always liked the show regardless of its fandom or the hate it garners. I hope Sugar writes a masterful period on this ultimately humble show.
I was genuinely surprised at how old-school a lot of the show's sensibilities are. They got people making friendly violence threat-jokes; child-endangerment; laidback parent figures; hippie-jokes, not to mention Charlie Brown and Looney Tunes references. This sounds really dumb but this is seriously the first time I realized "left-leaning" people could be this legit. There is a lot more similarity to the culture my Christian family brought me up in than I was expecting.
Manas Well , sugar does have then lefts penchant for specializing youth. So that's one reason.
*SEXUALIZING YOUTH
cloak211 Well spoken.
13:38
The number one reason why I never watched Steven Universe despite hearing so many good things about it was because I really can't stand how it looks.
In the season this style change
And it's not even the worst, so many shows now use lazy ugly art styles.
Steven Universe's first episodes were trash, honestly. But it gets so fucking good the later it gets
Eh. It gets so fucking good for awhile, then it falls off again.
My only problem with Steven Universe is that it takes forever to get the ball rolling. Seriously, my enthusiam for the show is pretty much dead at this point :-/. I saw the most recent trailer for the upcoming episodes and I wasn't even interested. The story takes way longer then it should, and just dances around questions it should have answered a long time ago.
It's like 1 year later, when new episode release, than you like,
"Oh Yeah, This show still exist, Let see how many new episode are out, Oh wow, 6 Episode per year".
It's CNs fault,the entire upload schedule goes to Teen Titans GO,and The Amazing World Of Gumball because those are the most popular shows(even though teen titans go was shoved down our throats and was only watched when someone was waiting for another show to come.)
My problem is the disgusting vile tumblr fanbase. Who have tried to actually KILL people via bullying into suicide. Like LITERALLY THIS HAPPENED. IT IS STILL FUCKING HAPPENING. I know that is just the tumblr uber fans, but the moment I heard that, that was the moment I wanted CN to just cancel the whole show. These people don't DESERVE it and if that ruins it for the majority? too bad.
Hannibal Rasberry that trailer is for the new Steven bomb right? Yeah........ your gonna wanna watch that. It's majorly plot heavy, and they end up having Steven about to go through a major moment in the show right when it ends. I'M TRYING NOT TO BE SPOILERY, BUT IT'S SO HARD!!!! >:o
Btw they made the trailer like that to mislead you on purpose to blow you away when it happens. These episodes also have moments of dramatic irony when we can see something Steven can't to get us hyped, as the viewer, to guess when he will actually interact with the "things".
Maria White I saw a few million comments telling me to KILL MYSELF here on TH-cam. Lets shut it down. People are so mean. I really think I'm going to KILL MYSELF just because some strangers on the internet that know nothing about me told me to. Fuck all this quality content and self expression/freedom of speech. I'm offended so nobody else should enjoy anything here on TH-cam. Fuck the people who are struggling making a living off TH-cam. Just like fuck all the animators working on Steven Universe. We should just delete everything with a bad fanbase(everything entertaining at least). I agree with you 100%. #MakeExistenceBoringAgain
I'll put my two cents in, figuratively, and say that i have felt that in the first few episodes Steven is a human child who needs nurturing and education being raised by beings who are born fully formed with a basic understanding of how things work. They didn't realize that Steven needs to be taught basic skills like talking to another person. Most of his time was spent alone while they go off on missions, waiting for him to get big enough to join them. His only social skills are learned from television and his few interactions with the very limited population of the Beach City, and his father, or what the Crystal Gems allow. A human raised like that would obviously be stunted, emotionally and intellectually. Most of hid understanding of human interaction would be from cartoons, which are usually exaggerated or outright egregiously wrong. His first honest interaction with a real person results in his first step to understanding that real people are not characters in a story.
It's basically a metaphor for a mentally ill child being brought into regular society successfully.
Nah, Steven is WAY more functional than that by the first episode of the show. You're inferring something onto it that I don't think is really there. Steven hangs out with regular people all the time, he sees his Dad regularly, and the Crystal Gems are around whenever they're not out on missions. The only thing about him that's arguably pretty weird is the mundanity with which he treats the crazy magical stuff that would startle regular folks but is totally normal for him.
For example, look at how he tries to talk to Connie for the first time; The kid lives at the entrance to an ancient alien magic temple, but he tries to impress her by showing off his bike.
I find Steven's behavior believable within the context of the show's reality. Incredibly annoying at first, but the show realizes that implying room for improvement. As the show goes on, he grows and responds to the events in a surprisingly believable way; and the more he matures the better a person he becomes. He is now one of my favorite characters in fiction, period. Like, I'm talking Gandalf-levels of liking a character. Other shows when the characters are annoying you can tell when the show is making them annoying *unintentionally,* and there's no hope after that point. But with SU, it's pretty clear that the showrunners are in control of how annoying their characters are, and it's up to the individual viewer whether or not they have the patience to see how things play out.
As controversial as this show is, it was what got me into cartoons again and made me want to be an artist.
Why's that.
@@jmachero5852 Not sure why, but it resparked my love of cartoons with how fun the show was and eventually as I got into more cartoons, I started drawing again.
It is really sad how the characters just went flat again near the tail of the series. Garnet was "fusions.jpg", pearl was exposition, and amethyst became 'the stable one'.
When i first started watching Steven Universe, it was more along the lines of filler. Something colorful with boopy music to watch between whatever it was currently between. I could not tell you half the episodes in season 1 and I wasnt critical at all, about anything of the show. Now that I'm actually into it and it has actual story, I'm more critical about it. I agree with a lot of what you say, but I feel like where it got better, it's also getting worse. The moral messages are VERY, VERY heavy handed almost as if they kind of forgot to put it in and had to figure out where to put it, so they just dump it all in one spot. Well, that's my personal number 1 gripe.
I can see that. I hate this insistence on moral messages in general. I mean I spose it's a good way of marketing kids shows to parents, but overall I don't think it makes it any more enjoyable for the person actually watching.
Agreed. I categorize episodes into one of three categories and deal with them accordingly.
1. "Actual" episode. Has either plot or something interesting happening between characters due to their motivations and personalities. Action: Watch all the way through.
2. "Nice" episode. Something happens due to the characters' motivations and personalities, but you can tell there's a moral message that is sort of stitched in. Action: Skip through "cringe" or overly cliche/predictable moments. Otherwise, watch all the way through.
3. "Aesop" episode. The episode consists of a moral message that has characters glued to it in their typical positions. You know, Garnet as the calm center, Pearl as the mother, Amethyst as the Id, Steven as the moral guardian, and other characters arranged depending on what the message is supposed to be. Action: watch first ten seconds to confirm the aesop, skip four minutes ahead and watch another ten seconds, continue repeating this until episode is over and you'll basically still know what the episode's about.
There's a fourth category, "musical" episode, but it's only really applied once, to the episode where Greg got rich. I don't actually like too much of SU music, so dealing with an actual episode that was fifty percent musical was really obnoxious.
say I feel that a good video to watch to know more about peoples problems with SU is this Brony,Lily peet who makes videos talking about certain problems that SU and many other series he dislike face.
GOD I hate it when people say it's filler! ITS ALL FUCKING CANON OMG. We learn more about steven and his life, what he feels like. This show is for the fans who appreciate all the episodes they give us, not the constant complaining ones.
Hannah Ellis just because something is Filler doesn't mean it's not Canon
God, every time I watch the flashback episodes, I just wish the show was about Greg. He's a much more interesting character, and everything interesting that seems to happen in SU has already taken place before Steven was even born.
spiritmint I think the point of the show is to give us, the viewer, the same perspective as someone just thrown into it like Steven. The show itself is shot in only Stevens point of view to drive that point home, but I understand that some are for lore and answers while others are for theories and experience via hints.
I mean yeah, I obviously get the intention of the creators. I still wish it was about Greg, though. It's as if the show's writers are so devoted to creating a really cool backstory to tell the characters about, instead of just showing that backstory. Instead of having a dozen flat characters, they could have done one with ~5 well-fleshed out characters at the apex of cool things happening, rather than having all these events just get explained to the viewer. I get the thematic reasons for the show's structure, but I find it leads to a detrimental viewing experience.
spiritmint I would say that's a matter of opinion, of which I don't fault you nor accuse you of saying it's not strictly an opinionated point. It's not unreasonable to want that, but I do have to say that if this type of storytelling isn't your favored I'd recommend you find a secondary show to fill the void here. Either that or hound the Crewniverse to release a backstory side series. They already write the background lore so I think it'd be a fun little release.
I mean it's not that "this type of show" isn't my thing. I like Rick and Morty despite the fact that most of the backstory is just told. The difference is that the primary storyline is just as interesting if not moreso. My issue with SU is that the preceding events have much more effort put into them.
I do appreciate your respectful approach, and I still enjoy the show. I watch it and am caught up with it. I can, however, still view their method of storytelling as going against every rule of storytelling.
The thing is, most of Greg's story has already been covered with the flashbacks. Which is why I find the flashbacks more and more pointless with each subsequent episode.
oh man, this show had so much more potential. the constant flip-flopping on the characters' ideals between writers really held it back. honestly, sugar shouldn't have given the writer's position to anyone else and kept it all her own for the sake of consistency, for better or worse. it approached such serious subjects and the characters dealing with serious consequences only for them to be brushed aside so often when another writer took over the canon it was a little disappointing looking back at it.
when did they brush it aside?
Rebecca Sugar in herself wasn't that good of a writer, & it makes me wonder why she was allowed to make a show for a channel as big as CARTOON NETWORK.
@@ExtremeWreck I mean, the bar for kids shows is really, really low. SU is a lot better than a lot of things that that air on modern television.
@@Nukestarmaster Which begs the question. Which one is worse. Mediocrity or wasted potential.
@@DanJuega That's a hard question to answer, but with the prevalence of fan-fiction and other fan made content, I think mediocrity is worse.
I really like that you actually explain what you mean by the show having left-leaning politics, instead of just assuming we agree already.
Finally a Steven Universe video with legitimate criticisms instead of crying about "the sjws".
If you haven't already, watch Robobuddies' video "The Steven Universe Rant"
th-cam.com/video/IaR8KO4VFPM/w-d-xo.html
E;R's review of Steven Universe(And it's infinitely understanding and accepting fanbase) is pretty much spot on with accuracy, and provides abundant hilarity.
Hunter Kenchov Its a meh "review", too much focus on SJW shit and the fandom rather than than the actual quality of the show.
The majority of the review revolved around the show itself, plot points, voice acting, music, the staff behind the show, characters, and themes.
Hunter Kenchov I hesitate to call it a "review" because E;R's video is just straight up bashing of the series, Im not even a big fan of the show but I find his "critique" pretty unfair. He does make good points like how the media only gives a shit about the show because lesbians or the fandom is a piece is of shit but when he reviews the show itself he just makes fun of it. The show has genuine good things about it, its not great but its pretty solid in my opinion. If you want the best Steven Universe review/critique then watch Robobuddies' review of Steven Universe.
I don't really "hate" the show but the fandom...
why?
I respect normal people who just watch it, collect a few figures, and share their thoughts, but my god is the cringe REAL with this fandom.
Rodney The Lunchbox Hey uh.. the non cringy people exist, too. The Roundtable, Roses Universe, all good youtubers. Not all the fanbase sucks, like all fanbases
Only thing that can save us now is your profile picture
Rodney The Lunchbox Sorry this is his brother , I regret to inform you we found him in his room with a bottle a bleach in his mouth with a note that said, "They had to fuse, didn't they?"
Rodney The Lunchbox have you heard of a little web comic called Homestuck lol
Caleb Valdez nope
Don't forget the episodes are only 10 minutes long so it's not like it takes ages for it to get good
Honestly, I totally agree with you. I started watching the series when I was bored and just looking for something to fill my time with, and honestly, the first chunk of the series is very meh, but passable enough entertainment if you're feeling particularly dead inside
The characters. Steven in particular, are very annoying to deal with at first |D
HOWEVER, I feel like what we see in Steven is just, maturity setting in. Steven if a very unique character in the sense that we see his progression from being an immature brat to acting more like a mature young adult. It's not character development per se, but it's more just, how people grow up, which isn't something we see too often in media
Yeah, like my personality changed almost suddenly XD
I mean it makes sense that Steven starts out as a brat. He only has a dad which is barely around and the gems are very bad parents on their own(except garnett. But she don’t talk much). He doesn’t even get to ever see his mom and even the gems don’t know how to raise him. This actually makes sense to how Steven turned out as a character.
it kind of feels like development atleast so it's growth?
@@MossyMoht Exactly. This video may argue that this type of change from a bratty Steven to a kind Steven came out of nowhere. If you watch the show in order, however, you can see there were two major events that preceded this change: witnessing Pearl poof and visiting Rose's garden. These events foreshadowed the many discoveries Steven and the audience make about his mom and the Crystal Gems as the show progresses.
1bookfisher I wouldn’t say brat, but more childish
"We last see Steven be this level of annoying in Episode 17, where he *literally thinks he got Pearl killed*."
"There's no clear line of logic as to why Steven starts to change!"
:eyes:
srsly, several episodes show him cringing at his younger self and Episode 17 is a very hardcore turning point on his character because it's part of him no longer being whiny and coming to figure out he has to act - you can really see that he starts out as having to be forced to act (and otherwise demands things of the people around him), and he really starts trying to be self-sufficient around the time 17 hits. Trying, not necessarily succeeding, but that's part of what makes him appealing.
Do think that we should've started in medias res here, because I'd be more invested in learning how Steven became a good kid if I knew he was actually a good kid in the present tyvm.
RHONDA HOWARD Greg and the Gems sheltered Steven to the point where he didn't know what a library was until he was fourteen (Buddy's Book; why aren't people more disturbed by this?). In season 1, Steven behaves exactly the way an incredibly sheltered, indestructible twelve year old boy would if they were having adventures with their idols. He treats everything like a game and is mostly interested in having fun. Steven's development in the show is realizing the Crystal Gems aren't superheroes - they're rebels / fugitives - and that his position as Rose's son is a whole lot heavier than he thought. Shades of grey were introduced into Steven's worldview from Mirror Gem onwards, and they're currently really weighing him down.
Some of Steven's development reminds me of Korra from the Legend of Korra. Her dad sheltered her away from the world and people for most of her childhood (because psychos wanted her dead), which made growing up, being a good avatar and finding her own identity a lot more difficult than it would have been otherwise. It was a pretty big obstacle people often overlook when they're bashing her character.
Gentle Shadow I didn’t really fins him that annoying, like at all
The fandom is a little cringey, not gonna lie. Also, there was that time when the fandom forced an artist to try committing suicide...
It wasn't just that that made her attempt suicide. She had been accused of other things, and was getting death threats for them.
Because people love to be so damning of the fandom, so they choose this incident and twist the events.
Pope Potato still, the SU fandom harassed her over "white-washing" and "cultural appropriation". However, on the defend of the fandom, it was more tumblr fandom than anything.
"Little cringy" is a understatement. This fandom is beyond garbage.
A little? I'm sick of the lesbian shipping.. and the fan art.. they glorify that shit on reddit.
"Howdy, bang", and then like a year later there's a whole episode on how ruby becomes a cowboy
"Genuinly no concern for any other people."
"Upset when his ice cream freezer is broken."
All these examples they provide about Steven being "socially inept" and such COMPLETELY ignore the fact that Steven is a literal CHILD raised by aliens and a hippy dad in this point in the show, who is overguarded by said aliens and didnt attend school, the primary method through which children learn proper social skills.
It seems like almost all praise this show gets is for its diversity. Seriously. How many times have I heard praise about Steven being a non-traditional male character.
Matthew Culbert
Eh.
Personally, I don't care about the diversity thing. I'm only here for character development and plot lmao.
Matthew Culbert
You hear a lot about Steven defying gender roles actually.
That alone won't make the story, characters, and writing any better. I hate to be all "Current Year", but defying gender roles isn't really all that groundbreaking in 2017 either. It's been done well and poorly many times. When a show gets praise for diversity or really anything else other than story and characters, it appears as if the critics are scraping the bottom of the barrel for stuff to praise the show for. This makes the show look worse in my opinion.
I personally don't care about a character's sex, race, creed or whatever, as long as they are good characters in a good story.
Matthew Culbert The last part of your comment answered your own question. It has good characters and a good plot.
As suprising as this may sounf I have not heard anyone praise the show because of that
5:33 I am crying. I mean... Who the hell gets angry over ice cream and swings a freezer into a giant bug monster?
TheTrojanToaster Steven Universe, the boy who's gem glowed because he ate one but then he didnt have any. The bug monster is a corrupted gem btw
-i would, i mean damn, that ice cream looked delicious and that bug monster just ruined everything-
TheTrojanToaster a girl on her period
Children.
@ehhh: that was uncalled-for
Coming back to this over two years later and after the series end (more or less) I would actually love to see an episode form you on your feelings about melodrama in general.
I'm fine with politics as long as you don't drown your show in it or completely dedicate a character for just diversity reasons (caught, supergirl, caught)
I hated Steven too at first, I found him really really annoying in the earlier episodes. And then character development happened and he actually became useful in a non-cringy way.
The problem is that it doesn't happen. He just turns into the later character, without anything happening to trigger the change. It's just a change, not a development.
Zam oh really? He found out his mom was a space criminal, garnet poofed right before his very eyes, got knocked out and woke up in a space ship about to send him off to god knows where. You'd think this'd be enough reason for Steven to change. We first see his change in the episode where he was ignoring connie because he was scared that she'd get tangled in the mess he was in. Were it any normal mission they came back from Steven would just laughed it off and moved on to eating another hotdog but no, after the encounter with Jasper he was traumatized enough to pull himself together so he could turn himself into a person who could protect beach city from gems like Jasper.
Yeah, for real, I agree with toolazy on this one. Steven found out that the gems didn't really trust him as much as he thought, and took a massive shot to his confidence but stood up and pretended for them. He learned everything about Rose and Pink Diamond, got to witness and help solve all the problems between Amethyst and Pearl and Sapphire and Ruby... he learned so much about the more adult lessons in life like not getting caught up on the people who disgust you and just learning to not hate people, but rather, hold an apathy for them.
Every single character interaction feels fleshed out and Steven's learned a ton of shit to make him someone that's much more of a reliable adult. He really has grown up over the scope of the show.
No repercussions for his actions, and when they are they don't make any sense cause he's done nothing wrong
Great. You literally repeated what was said in the video.
0:57
Rekt
i thought i was going to have to notify the authorities
FBI: Don't fucking move
God this was so fucking funny
hey thats me! jk
I really like the early episodes, because character development like it where a horrible character slowly becomes better it makes me really happy.
Ok bro great video I agree with all of it but you can’t keep comparing everyone to Zuko, otherwise everyone is badly written. Not saying early garnet isn’t but I’m sure there are better comparisons.
Ok, I know I'm in the minority here, but I liked the show from the beginning. This is, however, likely due to my rather unusual background. I grew up the oldest of 10, with several adopted siblings, and I recognized from the start that the beginning episodes especially were about the relationships between siblings, set from the point of view of a youngest brother. I had one particular sibling in mind as I watched Steven, and a lot of what he did and said made sense to me, even while it was annoying. I love my little brother, despite his more annoying tendencies, and I see the other side of both him and Steven. I had another sibling in mind for Amethyst, and her actions seemed to flow from the core character definition in a logical way when I thought of this sibling. Pearl is the one I personally identify with most; even though Garnet is "in charge" and the one the other gems look up to, she is the one who is the "oldest" to Steven, always concerned about his well-being, very careful, a bit overprotective. ("I like to watch you sleep sometimes. And by sometimes I mean often.") The one character I really agree with you on is Garnet, she's totally cardboard in the beginning. Her relationships with Steven and the others are so undefined, and she doesn't have much of a personality at all, at least not one that's expressed. Characters are defined by their personalities, their opinions, and their relationships, but all three of those are expressed in their relationships (especially dialogue) and their actions. Garnet has practically no dialogue to build relationships on, and her actions are hardly different from the rest of the gems, she's just generically good and strong.
6:16 It's perhaps worth noting that steven is, y'know, a kid. That he's occasionally whiny, fails at being cool, or otherwise acts like a kid seems largely intentional. Cuz he's a kid. And kids do that. It's one of the best portrayals of a child character - a _real_ child character, and not just an adult with childlike features - I've ever seen. I get how this might get on your nerves, but I never really had a problem with it.
He's supposed to be fourteen, but he never ages because his personality fits his maturity. At least he gets less whiny toward the third season.
Seeing as he turned 14 in season 2, he was 13 in the first episode and so on. He acted like he was 8. Atleast now he acts older and takes responsibility.
(Wanted)
He had a birthday episode before turning 14. He starts off being at most 12 in the first episode. He ages very slowly because of his gem DNA and his nature as a hybrid makes it unpredictable. It's not because he's not maturing like a normal child/pre-teen would.
When was his 13th birthday?
That one episode "too many birthdays"
My problem is that their is too much filler, yea anime does it but atleast it has a story in it. The animation is inconsistent. Like really. The fandom is just ugh half the time. Some are tolerable. But the ones that aren't, are the ones that show at SDCC just to see something SU related. BTW the invander zim movie is gonna be better than the SU movie. One huge reason. Gir. Onion is best character.
ayyits jeff, that’s complete bullshit, one word Naruto....
"at least it has a story in it."
you mean fanservice
There's no filler in Steven Universe. Filler is when there is an absense of plot progression and or character development. In which, every single episode has character development. You can't say the beach city episodes are filler because Steven is half gem half *HUMAN* this means we are going to see both sides of steven's life. And Remember what the description of the show was? steven is a half HUMAN half gem. Yes, there's slice of life episodes but that shouldnt be called filler because it has character development. Dont skip an episode otherwise you're not going to understand anything, youre not going to have an attachment to these characters. (Also if you want to know the definition of filler watch naruto. That's filler.)
Schokolade
People kind of call it filler because an emotional arc in space is going on with Steven fighting for his life and someone is stuck in space, but the character and plot development is stopped so they can explore the town losing all sense of urgency. People characterize it has fuller because it cuts in between development most times causing bad pacing so the story becomes slow and boring and you’re just waiting to get back to the characters that where left hanging. Look at Season 4 episode 24- season 5 episode 16.
The thing about this show... To me I kind of look at it more as an ongoing art piece to be re-experienced many times. One of the things the fandom loves so much is that essentially no choice is random. The show was so intentional from its conception that, once you've reached later plot and understanding, the symbolism, foreshadowing, and metaphorical parallelism of the smallest and most annoying townie episodes can be seen so much clearer. Upon rewatching, you kind of actually start to learn lessons and find more beauty in all that seemed to be irrelevant passing of time. It hearkens back to what actually life is, and how perspective and understanding of your past is the food of growth. It's hard to convince people of the show's ultimate value when I watch some of the first season with them and enjoy parts of it, because it just looks like I have bad taste haha
I know that I'm a year late to this video, but thank you so much for making this video. I have watched all of Steven Universe and I've been looking for a way to properly show my friends this series and have them try it out. The suggestion to start on episode 50 makes a lot of sense.
I'm pretty sure I can guess why:
People disagree with the shows politics
The start of the show, for most of the first season, is pretty terrible in comparison to later episodes, both in terms of the plot of the episodes and the actual art
A lot of people dislike the characters, particularly in the earlier episodes (Steven is a brat, Garnet is bland, Pearl is a bitch, Amethyst isn't funny)
Good for you? Your personal tastes don't change the fact that most people disagree with you.
yeah..and? he cant say its his favorite season?
bob93 agreed it came off as a little bitchy
I like that they wrote Steven as a real kid. If he was perfect then everyone would complain that he has no flaws. And he does change. It makes sense that he wouldn't understand manners. He's spent his whole life either living in a van with his dad, and with gens that aren't usually there for long periods of time.
I have mixed feelings about the first few episodes. There's one's that I love, like the Opal episode, and one's that I practically hate like the Steven and the Stevens (except the ending, Pearl plays violin like me). But as I kept going I started to enjoy it. Especially the dynamic between the Gems. Pearl and Amethyst's bickering, both the loving and the angry, was one of my favorite parts. Garnet's reveal, and her real motherly love for Steven was amazing. And Pearls affection for him and Connie was wonderful. And as they grow I just... slowly fell in love with the show. I was raised religiously, and I know this show is left leaning, but I didn't care. That one episode when Stevens age was fluctuating made cry so much.
In a nutshell: the first part of a “jerk” turning into a “better guy” is not easy to do(in this case watch)
RWBY Syndrome?
Clone Wars Syndrome?
Trying to make a name for shows that start terrible but get better as they go.
Just Starts Shitty Syndrome?
A lot of people love the first season of RWBY. It's mundane, but it's got a lot of humor and it's crucial to building the kind of atmosphere that makes the rest of the show so great. Animation's a bit shoddy early on, but most people can get past that. Personally, I share the sentiment that RWBY is a bit dull early on, but I appreciate the dullness because it really highlights when shit hits the fan. It's one of those shows that starts out kinda boring but HAS to so as to make sure it ends up better in the end. Another show like this, off the top of my head, is Breaking Bad. Vastly different settings and genres, but still, the beginning of Breaking Bad is boring as fuck, but that's absolutely paramount to the development of the main character.
Clone Wars (I presume you're referring to the animated series) was actually pretty good, even in the beginning. The main issue, at least for me, was that it just started off suddenly as fuck and really jumped around a lot, especially early on, which made it take a while to start forming any kind of coherent plot to keep my interest. At first, it just felt incredibly episodic in nature, with very little overarching plot aside from "There's a war lol."
Stanley But as IHE said, if you have to skip the alot of the first episodes, you shouldn't watch the show.
Rolling stone symptom
*yay clone wars*
Its called Cerberous Syndrome, and it refers to something progressivley getting darker and more serious as the story progresses. Most Great media actually do have some of it, especially because the second act of the three act structure is traditionally darkest.
Welp, anything that gets love will always get hate.
TrucksMayPerish WOT true
but not everything has the same amount of hate, and not everything happens because of collerations to everything in the universe
Any creative work will receive criticism, as it should.
That's how we separate the garbage from the gems (no that was not an intended pun).
Not saying SU is perfect, but it's not trash, either.
+zachanikwano Yeah true especially if you separate the people with good constructive criticism and let go of the people with bad/lazy criticism.
BlueLemon I guess you've been around some bad crowds giving bad advice lol. Mostly I think even the bad but effort actually use criticism is better than the one off ones like, I hate Steven Universe(with no explanation), Steven Universe looks gay, The show sucks, etc. 9/10 they probably didn't even give the show a chance.
16:20 interesting, would you think that missing the first 23 episodes hampers the emotional impact of the series? did anyone watch it this way and can report how it felt?
I honestly only thought that Steven was only chubby because more round characters are cute in general.
There are plenty of reasons besides the obvious SJW-Left lean to dislike the show, and I can give a few now that have caused to fall out of love with the show:
1. Steven is almost always right [I can name two times where it isn't true]
2. The plot line is mostly just things piling up with no answers made
3. This results in Steven whining about things (slightly better than him just whining like the first quarter of Season 1)
4. When there isn't plot, the show goes to Renaldo the Strawman, Lars the Jerk, Onion the Weird Kid, or some other underdeveloped and rather bland character.
5. Garnet is a serial thief and never gets called out on it.
6. Steven doesn't ask rather obvious questions for plots sake
7. Homeworld is barely even touched on at all and we still know practically nothing about the war, the main conflict. It took until this last bomb to even get there. In fact, the whole universe besides Beach City is undeveloped, and surprisingly, I'd say even Beach City as a whole is lacking.
How this came from Adventure Time, where the main characters have fun, Finn gets called out on his flaws, the side characters are arguably even better than the leads, Ooo is an expansive world is mind boggling!
I feel number two shouldnt be a problem until the show actually ends
Wait, what's this about Garnet being a thief? XD
acrazyutuber13 *Why isn't this comment the TOP comment?*
Seriously, I could care less about lesbian gems. Take everything from this list and twist it to something positive, uplifting, and inspiring for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality etc. And you'd have a (pun intended), GEM.
This is literally what I was looking for. People keep praising the show and I also at one point did until I realized how bullshit it was.
1. I really don't think that's true. In the first half season, he screws up at least 5-6 times. In Mirror Gem, he releases Lapis, who steals the Earth's water. As Steven goes further on into the story, he becomes that moral center for the show on most occasions, but he still messes up pretty spectacularly a couple of times, like when he tried to push Connie away for her own safety.
Besides all that, the reason why Steven is usually right is that Steven is a naturally caring an empathetic person, and the show is all about the importance of positivity and redemption.
Honestly maybe I'm the only one but I think I liked the early seasons the best. After that, it sorta went to "meh" for me. Maybe it's because it takes forever for episodes to come out, I dunno, but I just don't really like them anymore, only certain episodes. I've honestly started to like the villains more than anyone, even YD, Navy, and Aquamarine. (Except Lapis, after Mirror/Ocean Gem I didn't like her and still don't.)
Some of the problems that I know I have for sure are Ruby and Sapphire AKA "We Can't Be Apart For 12 Seconds Or Else the Universe Will Literally Implode on Itself"; the fact that Steven is Always Right No Matter What and Everyone Who Doesn't Agree is Terrible; and the fact that it's far too often that people just get away with whatever they do. Examples: Amethyst transforming into Rose to torment Greg basically because she wanted attention; Steven breaking up Ronaldo and his girlfriend/Steven waking up in Lars's body and not even bothering to tell before he goes around spilling secrets and doing whatever; Lapis trying to drown Steven and his friends and nearly stealing the entire ocean/admitting that she liked taking out her anger on Jasper and wanted to hurt her.
I would also mention the fandom but that's not very fair - the source material is still good as it is (mostly), however I feel that some things that have happened have affected my enjoyment of the show, because when I see the show, I now tend to associate it with crazy SJWs. Idk, maybe I'm overreacting, maybe I should've said "effected" instead of "affected," but I'm tired and this comment is already long enough, lol.
Kєndαll Sιℓνєя You put it into words for me, lol
I think the thing people don't realize is that it only gets good once he gets his powers/learns more about rose.
9:40
"She doesn't seem human"
Oh my I could've sworn they were aliens,my mistake
That's why I liked it, even the first episodes. It was clear they were setting things up for character growth. They were just... people. Regular, annoying, entitled, goofy people with emotional and family problems. Which is especially good to see in a character who is a young child, as this is the most accurate description of children whether you like them or not. If he had started out as the Steven we know now it would have been hollow and fake, like many shows that do that with sweet, small, innocent characters who are just so sickeningly NATURALLY good.
We get to watch him grow up, and it's beautiful. I was invested from the beginning because I anticipated this character growth, and was glad to see it happen slowly like with a normal person, and well past the point I expected too. Thank you for pinpointing what I had been having trouble putting into words, even though we come to different conclusions about it.
Thank you. I was going to say the same thing. It was refreshing to watch a character grow as opposed to being a Mary Sue from the start with no faults or reason to be the way they are.
Yeah I agree. The way people view TV, no one can ever be satisfied. They look at the less intense shows like and think- TRASH ASS SHOW, TOO MUCH FILLER, NO STORY, NO ACTION- and then they look at an intense show and they're like- OMG DOES THIS SHOW EVER TAKE A BREAK, WOW, ITS ASS- and no one ever bothers to actually look for something in the middle(Steven Universe...kinda). This world can never truly appreciate shows out of their comfort zone because they're to critical and stubborn of every little thing. But sorry, that's just an 'opinion'. I'm being way too extreme and offensive. My bad.
Exactly! It seems a bit strange to hate on a show bc a child is acting like a child in it
Thank God I'm not the only one who saw that in the very first episodes. The character growth in the show was amazing, and it's fun to look back on the first episodes now that I'm all caught up!
honestly, I wouldn't have enjoyed the darker and more serious episodes half as much as I did if I didn't see those lighter "meaningless" episodes first.
I'm sorry, did I miss something? What "misinformation" has Steven Universe been spreading?
I'm not sure they've ever mentioned the wage gap in SU though.
There isn't anything in the show talking about the wage gap.
Realizing your mother is a war criminal is, like, one of the mainstays of contemporary feminist discourse.
They act like the idea of Sneople is ridiculous. Of course, everyone knows we should take the threat of Sneople really seriously! !!
0:57
(Starts laugh uncontrollably)
Mom speaking in Spanish(and sound like your topical latina mother): you sound like a crazy person what ate you laughing at?
This video got me to try Steven Universe. Specifically, the recommendation to start at Story for Steven, double back to Giant Woman, then pick it up at Indirect Kiss.
As I write this, I finished Season 5 days ago and just watched The Movie the other night. Now, I have Future downloaded and ready to watch.
Steven Universe became one of my all-time favorite shows, but especially my favorite kid's cartoon, all because of this video. Sooo....thanks, Uniquenameosaurus!
Steven's behavior in the earlier episodes is to show that he's young and has been sheltered by the gems causing him to act like a much younger child. Being very needy and not wanting to think for himself. The events and horrors between the start of the show and before he became mature enough to truly enjoy (not putting an episode number on that as that is subjective to the viewer), is what caused him to mature. That's the only justification I can give it. Was is a good direction for the show, overall yes, but as the beginning of the show which is, you know, what people watch to see if they like it... It's really risky as a content creator as I know a few friends that won't watch it because of Steven's annoying traits.
If they did it for that reason, I'd say don't make TWENTY episodes that way. Maybe five at most.
Oh, I completely agree, I know someone that refuses to watch the show even when I tell them to force it through the first half of season one up until we get the story really going. They just won't do it. Ahh.. Well. Their loss.
Right. Steven Universe is like a plant. It starts off all small, but if you wait long enough, it will sprout. You will start to see the connections. You need to watch, and be patient. Even if the earlier phase is slow, annoying, or not interesting to you, it's really worth it to keep watching the show, through each episode.
A great way to rationalize this. Probably not completely intentional.
I have no problems with Steven Universe. I got distracted and stopped watching it though after a 3 - 4 episodes. So are later episodes 1000x better like with Star Wars Clonewars (2008)?
RantinRaginOtter Yep the first half of season one has some good bits but things get really good at like ep 25. which sounds like a lot to get through but you can either just watch the important episodes up until ep 25 or have it ep 1-25 playing in the background while you do other stuff
I honestly thing that the episode you pointed out with the “boomerang blade” clip had basis within it to be a turning point. It was really the first time that his actions really and truly led to one of his friends being seriously harmed. If it were not for the concept of the reforming, pearl would have been dead and I think that really shakes him into being better.
HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A TOASTER... hopping... what?
Heh. Well, because they do have left-wing politics; that's difficult to deny. But it's a coincidence that everything I've singled out leans left. They were just super popular and I wanted to rain on some parades. Promise. ;D
As for the SU video, a little history: I made it for a few friends--just to fuck with them, basically. I'd maybe 200 subs at the time of posting it and it stayed around 600 views for many months. I never expected... this. Like, _damn._ There are plenty of sizeable narrative issues I think SU has, like a mostly passive MC, no concrete end-goal, nonexistent pacing, constant "story" teasing without delivering, etc., etc., which I'd have focused on if I had the audience I do now... but I don't mind being an Internet villain, either, lol.
I remember you from your LH exposition vid, btw. Good shit.
Kyaaaa~ E;R senpai has seen my videos. So happy you've seen the Log Horizon video, it's one of the videos I'm proudest of.
It's kay though. My argument was kinda conjecture anyway, didn't really want to make countering others a focus.
It's cool to hear about how your video started though and if you got more to say about SU you should go for it. I'll take any excuse to see another video on SU video from you, even if it is 30 minutes of non-stop hate.
I mean you criticise like.... everything I like, but I honestly love how we have people in the community like you who are willing to hold so many contrary opinions and not give a single fuck about what people think. I appreciate the boldness! Also the humor, that too.
Uniquenameosaurus you should pin this so ignorant commenters like GATAZOCOD2 who are in denial that their favorite show is even the tiniest bit flawed can see it and possibly understand the other point of view
Just bc someone defends something doesn't mean they think it's perfect.
Priscy: The angry birds movie has a right wing(no pun intended) message.
E;R DADDY UPLOAD A NEW VIDEO SO I CAN HAVE A REASON TO LIVE
YOUR VIDEOS WERE MY BEST WANK MATERIAL BUT NOW I DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT
I would say that the main reasons people don't like Steven Universe is
A) you give up before episode 22
B) you find things left leaning cringey/annoying
C) "ugh it's too mainstream"
D) the community has a shit reputation
I have to say I agreed with most of your points, good video! :D
lukaatthetime I am in the B category. I can only be preached to so much before I quit.
I don't blame people for point A. It's a lot to ask for people to watch 22 episodes for a show to get good.
lukaatthetime Boy is point A a biggie. If you want people to spend time looking past the first portion of your story, no matter what the medium, you *need* a hook as soon as possible. This doesn't mean a huge exposition dump, lingering questions are a fine way to keep an audience interested. You just need to show them a thing that kicks off the rising action, and make sure the characters don't ignore that thing for so long that people figure they should probably care about that thing as much as the characters do (which is to say, not at all).
A) People want to be hooked by the first episode not 20+ later.
B) The show REALLY leans to the FAR left not just regular left, but everything is a statement
C) There is no argument for that people just hate what is popular lel
D) Communities ruin things MLP a show for children to enjoy ruined by male teens
Umm, no.
I love the lore that has to do with Homeworld
Inconsistent storyboards? Noooo its the Art Styleeeee
Nah, biggest reason people hate it is the fandom,from what I've seen
True, but people have to learn that not all of the fandom is complete dog crap.
People who hate on a show a fandom is attached to, for better or worse, are not worth the time of day. Judge a show by its own merits.
I know some fandoms that are not crap. Like the Factorio fandom or anything that requires a decent amount of intelligence to love.
9:07 so this is probably wrong but im guessing this change occurred when he watched pearl poof which is sort of a "your actions have consequences" subtext
I actually loved watching the early episodes. mostly because of two reasons- I watched it with my little sister and I came into it with the attitude of meeting the show where it was. both essentially had the same effect, I was on board for the silliness. I do think it got much better over time, but coming at the show from a perspective of "alright, we're doing this, lets see what I can get out of this." so I enjoyed things like the creative locations, the silly humor, and the set up of what I knew would become amazing.
Uniquenameosarous: steven universe gets alot of hate
Me who watched the show her whole childhood: now this is an avengers level threat
judging by how you talk you’re still in your childhood