Guide to Beach City's Mysteries
Gem Glow
Hello fellow Gems! Me, the famous and glamorous Gem-Goddess, pfft yeah...right, will now provide you a series of theories and going deeply into detail on the most awesomeness show ever created by an amazing woman; Steven Universe! *cues a soundtrack of fans screaming*
So welcome to your "Guide to Beach City's Mysteries!" Anytime you gems want a little quick summary of an episode and further information about it, come and stop by here! It's amazing how much time I have! *laughs sarcastically* But most of all, I care about you guys. If you guys didn't notice, this series was originally started on my DA account, but I wanted to transition it here with drabbles to further prove out each detail in the show.
Anyway, let's go all the way back to start the mood. Back to 2013 on November 4th, the day that Steven Universe first aired. I'm sure many of us were unsure about the show. Sure, it seemed interesting, but what was it purely about? What was the main propose of a magical boy going on quests with 3 older magical women? What mysteries could the show possibly hold too?
Let's start off, shall we? Let's get started with the episode, "Gem Glow."
…
Mornings:
A pair of brown eyes awoken from its deep slumber. They were rubbed by the backhand of a thick hand which was a young boy's. The boy slowly rose from his bed, smacking and licking his lips from sleepiness. He looked around his small beach home with no surprise in his eyes. It was empty and dark, but with a few night lights to make it seem more comfortable. The boy stood on his feet and slipped his red flip flops on and made his way down the stairs; sometimes even tumbling down the stairs as he was still drowsy.
"Please let there be cereal...or even pancakes..." He mumbled while holding his grumbling stomach. However, which took him by surprise was a little note found on the counter.
'Good morning Steven. We all left for a mission and will be back shortly. Bad news; There is no breakfast for you since Amethyst was ignorant and devoured it all before leaving. Due to this, I left you ten dollars behind this note for breakfast. Please get yourself something healthy and well balanced. Not something sugary and fattening. Thank you. Love, Pearl.'
The boy lifted up the note and was greeted with money and some spare coins. At first, he groaned in disappointment from the idea of him going out to buy food. He took the bill and coins then went upstairs to get changed. In minutes, he was ready and left through the door, ready to start his long day. That morning he decided that he would visit the Big Donut for a quick breakfast treat.
…
This episode is a good start to anyone who is starting the show as well as "Laser Light Cannon." It shows who the Crystal Gems really are and shows their personality. We all get that feel on who they are and it fleshes out their character. In this ep, Steven is very desperate to discover his weapon after his gem glows and seeks advice from his mentors or the Crystal Gems. That's how I see them. They are always there for him and are willing to help him out with discovering more about his gem side of ethnicity.
For his age, this is completely understandable for him to jump to conclusions because I'm sure we all were curious about who we were when we were younger or see what we could do. Like the Cutie Mark Crusaders from My Little Pony, we did all sorts of crazy things just to discover a power in us or a talent that we can have. I, for example, remember trying out everything that possibly came to my mind until I was successful and satisfied. Well...I was successful with dance, theater, and cheerleading, but I knew what was not my cup of tea. Steven here, was ready for whatever the gems told him until he was utterly confused with their response.
Pearl's response was very delicate. To me, it sounded like she was stating as if each gem has a special dance and that with every flower petal falling onto the ground, he can learn to use his weapon. In "Giant Woman" and "Coach Steven" we saw that this special dance was needed in order to fuse together. Dance seems like a very precious movement in gem culture as it requires skill and physical movement. Each gem is seemed to have a special summoning power for when they want to activate their weapon which takes time to manage. Fighting also seems similar to dancing as each movement is either brisk or beautiful. Again, skill; it's all about skill! When we first saw a first glance of Pearl, we clearly saw her gracefully moving with her spear. Such a cutie, yet sometimes she worries me in future episodes. I mean, from being a gentle and caring gem towards being the one who will panic and see a small issue as the end of the world, she seems different. Am I the only one who noticed that there is something off about Pearl in later episodes? She worries me; even with her nervous laughter and strange movements. Also fun fact: The Crewniverse confirmed that we should be worrying about her. This will be interesting to see.
Back to her being gentle, when Amethyst wrongly attempted to comfort Steven, she snorted in disgust making me feel like she's the mother figure of the Crystal Gems. Then in further episodes, I felt the gentleness of a mother in her voice. There's more to be discussed about her, but for now I will just discuss these points. Mainly for these reasons, people love Pearl; including me.
Moving on, we have Amethyst. Laid back, calm, and speaks her mind. Her response was that her way of summoning her whip was just by not thinking about it; it just happens and comes to her naturally. Later on in the series, we see how Amethyst is the loudest and carefree gem. Yet, there are scars held within her personality. In "Tiger Millionaire", she reveals that she feels insecure about herself when the Crystal Gems tell her off. Personally, she's just like me because I'm not caring about my words and I just do anything for the best of it. People do confront me about my childish behaviors, but I just shrug my shoulders and ignore them.
Amethyst could be seen as the youngest daughter of the family. She's like an older sister to Steven as they get along very well. She also seems to be closer with human culture as she enjoys food, even if Crystal Gems don't need eat, and acts as a normal human teenager. However, behind her childish personality, we see that she can also be obedient and understand gem culture with ease. After all, she is a Crystal Gem. I can go on, but we'll talk more about her in a later chapter.
Garnet. Well for one, she's definitely a strong woman. Very independent, brave, and quiet. Also Estelle, super great R&B singer, voices her which makes her even more awesomer. She may not talk much, but actions are more talkative than words themselves. Many people see her as a mysterious figure with barely any emotion at all. Later on, we see her always supporting Steven and even scolds the other gems when they don't believe in him. "Maybe you should have a little more faith in Steven." Exactly, Garnet is very caring and can sometimes have a temper which is perfectly in control from what we see.
Another thing I noticed is that the fandom is amazed by her physical appearance and strength. Large thighs and hips, cubed afro hair, yup I'm happy with my body just by her. I have a bulky body structure, yet I'm very skinny, but whatever. Garnet is da boss. Literally, no one should mess with her. Especially, if you accidentally knock off her shades which you'll be met with a third eye. That=2spooky4me for me. I read somewhere that Garnet is mutant gem which would explain her appearance, strength, and third eye. This isn't confirmed though. There are even many theories out in the fandom which ones include her being a fusion gem that was fused together too long. Final point though, her way of helping with Steven in "Gem Glow" is to connect his energy to all living matter around him...or somewhere among those line. I'm bad with remembering stuff. Again, let's save her for later. I want to discuss each character more in depth as we move on.
These three wonderful women, or gems since they don't really have a gender, are a perfect combination with different personalities. Each one is different and sees things in a different angle which apparently makes a good team.
…
Stolen:
The two gems ran as fast as they could from the angered humans who had brooms in their hands. The two running gems were Garnet and Amethyst as they had handfuls of a frozen sweet treat known as Cookie Cats. Amethyst spat insults and laughed as she felt the wind push against her hair and body. Garnet, on the other hand, just ran with a faint smirk and was ahead of Amethyst by a couple of feet. She tightly gripped onto the ice cream treats, not even caring what anyone would say.
"Pearl! Come on! Faster!" Amethyst yelled behind her back, not even looking at her teammate.
Behind them, a slim pale gem rolled her eyes as she tried to catch up with them until she turned around and saw the glaring looks from the humans. She shrugged her shoulder and smiled falsely.
"Don't worry sir, I'll pay for each and every one of them. It's just that we have a young boy who loves those ice cream-"
"And…" The angered male human taunted in a loud voice, setting the wooden broom by his side. Pearl rolled her eyes and reached down to her skirt in order to pull out money.
"I'll pay right now." She grunted with narrowed eyebrows.
These gems are going to be the end of me. Pearl mentally complained to herself. Dragging her feet and with shoulders slightly hunched in embarrassment, she clumilishly gave the green dollars to the hand of the man.
"Sorry about this all, sir." Pearl apologized with a flushed face.
…
At this point we see Steven do his best to try and find his weapon. Everyone was exactly in their place when his gem glowed. Also, he tried to even eat a Cookie Cat. Woop, Woop! Cookie Cat! He's a pet for your tummy!...sorry, it's catchy. With the sugary treat, he was not disappointed with the results. In just a matter of seconds, Steven was able to summon his weapon and it turned out to be a shield. It was actually quite a beautiful and charming moment when we saw his weapon. The colors, the music, aww...it was perfect. That was the point where I fell in love with this show. This show is actually very good with capturing the strange beauty of supernatural things such as the gems. Their weapons, body structure, and even gem culture is extremely beautiful. And the music is phenomenal! With so many songs there is, I'm sure everyone has at least two songs.
However from much excitement, his shield bounces around everywhere and destroys their TV. It looks like they won't be watching television for a while. Also, Amethyst laughing gets me as this goes with her jokeful personality. Later on, I sensed a pattern for when he was able to activate his powers. They were usually seen through acts of kindness, care, and love. His gem is a Rose Quartz and they are seen very promising. Did you even know that they were even used for protection and healing? I'm looking at a webpage right now as I type this. That probably describes why his weapon is a shield then we later find out that his mother owned a canon. Then we discover that his mother has healing tears which passes onto Steven, but in saliva.
His victory approval was rained though as he failed to summon it again by eating ice cream. Steven is very naive, but he does have a good sense of determination. When the mother Centipeetle came in to get revenge, to me it felt like he was pressured into trying to save the gems. Maybe because he was… Still with the Centipeedle being distracted, the gems were finally able to catch the creature.
While scrolling through Tumblr, I found out that someone has made a very valuable point in this episode. What if Rose Quartz, Steven's deceased mother, was controlling his gem or inside it? When he ate the Cookie Cat and was laughing with the gems, she wanted to join in by glowing. Then, when he forcibly tried to summon his shield, nothing happened. As if Rose was telling him that's not the proper way of getting his weapon. Still, that's an interesting theory that I will further investigate. And to teach him a valuable lesson, he ended up throwing back up his Cookie Cats. Poor Steven. It was just like me when I was 5 and I ate tons of Hershey's chocolate. I ended up lying two straight days in bed with a silver bucket next to me. Too much of a good thing is bad, okay Steven? Seemed like I learned that the hard way… -_-
…
Sickness:
Steven was taken by the hands from Pearl and Amethyst as he was led into his home. He wimped at the feeling of his sour stomach constantly groaning. The young gem regretted eating all the ice cream; even if he thought that it would summon his weapon. He even felt the ice cold air from the ice cream's residue.
"Sorry guys. I thought that Cookie Cats were the answer." Steven said with pain as he walked up the stairs to his beach home.
"Don't push yourself, Steven. It'll come eventually." Garnet assured him from behind. "Now you just need some rest."
The four gems were inside the house and laid the sick young boy onto the couch. Pearl sweetly smiled and patted his shoulder than left to the kitchen just so she can prepare tea for sick Steven. Amethyst sat next Steven and would crack jokes just to make him laugh which would him happy for the moment. Garnet just dipped her head to him and rubbed his hair then left into the temple.
"Get well, Steven." Garnet spoke and disappeared.
...
On another topic, let's move onto Sadie and Lars. I'm very interested in their characters, mainly because Lars is kinda like Robbie from Gravity Falls, but they act like normal teenagers. Lars was always found joking about Steven's gem or his, "magic belly button." Hmm..however out of Robbie or Lars, I'll say Lars is the more caring one and doesn't have a solid or confident personality. Definitely would love to see more fanfiction around our favorite Big Donut employees. Even after what happened to Lars in "Lars and the Cool Kids" and Sadie in "Joking Victim." In later episodes, we need to see more about them and especially some romance. I want to talk about them later in a specific chapter for them.
A small treat or mysterious object though has brought my attention to the possible foreshadowing. I'm sure everyone saw Connie's bracelet in the fridge along with the rest of the Cookie Cats. Small things like this are very pleasing to see and it gives me a glimpse of possible future terms. There is even more in "Steven's Lion" and "Steven and the Stevens." We should really keep our eyes open in each episode.
Overall, this was a very good episode. Despite the fact that it had very small viewers in the beginning, it was very intriguing for me to watch the next episodes. Anyway, that's all for now and I had enough talking.
Please REVIEW/FAV/FOLLOW/SHARE if you would like to see more of these. Each chapter is going to be a episode review or a theory discussion. I will try to go over each possible detail there is. Until then, see ya later gems! ;)
