When I was in the middle of my sophomore year I was one of those cliché tumblr girls who preached about superwholock and fandoms. I only did this because I had way too many tumblr friends in my high school so I assumed I should live my entire life on tumblr. When I began to notice a brand new cartoon that kept popping up through my tumblr feed I thought "Hey, tumblr has never been wrong. I'll look this up!" Obviously now when I see people who were that age think like that I kind of laugh, but that's honestly the way I used to think. Throughout my feed there were pictures of this chubby little animated kid with brown hair and a pink shirt, with three differently colored women behind him (pink, purple and white) who were of different body types and looked pretty bad-ass. Little did I know that this little kid and his three friends would have such a huge impact on my life now. This cartoon is Steven Universe, a beautifully made show created by Rebecca Sugar on Cartoon Network.
During the end of my freshman year of high school I went through a lot of emotional trouble. I lost a lot of friends, I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and depression, I was failing and I didn't know what to do. Luckily the school year was ending so I got to have free time before I had to return to my school. I had begun to identify more with myself and had a couple of friends who stuck with me during the summer. As the year began I went through the same problems, I gained weight, I felt awful about myself. I used tumblr, and food to make myself feel better. Once I started seeing pictures about this show I knew I needed to watch it and I was surprised by how much I connected with Steven and his three gem-mommies. And in celebration of the recent return of the series I'm going to explain what's so great about the show and how it effected me.
1) The Animation and Artwork are AMAZING
For a long time I used to make the amazing backgrounds of the animation my desktop backgrounds because of how gorgeous the artwork is! The color palette is filled with calming pastels, the characters have a very stylized design, and the backgrounds are simply gorgeous. One of the main reasons I started Steven Universe was because of how beautiful the show looked and I was not let down once I started watching it. Seriously though just look at these backgrounds, stills, and gifs from the show!
If you have an appreciation for high-quality animation you'll LOVE "Steven Universe."
2) The Characters and Representation
The main characters are amazing and here is a list of all the ones that are primarily in the show.
Steven Universe
The son of a beautiful Gem warrior names Rose Quartz who gave up her physical form to bring him into the world. He's the first of his kind a half-gem/half-human. He inherited his weapon from his mom and it is a shield. The show chronicles his journey as he learns how to control his powers and become a true Crystal Gem. He's loving, understanding, adorable, and self-less person. He's not just a kid either, from the first episode on you watch him grow into a mature, responsible character who is willing to risk everything to save his friends.
Garnet![]()
Garnet could be considered the leader of the Crystal Gems even though there isn't a specific leader. Garnet’s weapons are gauntlets and she is stoic, composed, and blunt she is the embodiment of a leader. Though she is all of those things she is also the embodiment of love, care and compassion. Garnet is by far the coolest of the Crystal Gems and come on she's adorable!!
She's also voiced by Estelle (she sang a really cool song with Kanye West).
Amethyst
Amethyst is a scrappy, lovable gem who is less Steven's mom and more his lovable older sister. Amethyst takes up most of her time eating and sleeping. Amethyst’s weapon is a whip. Though she has the reputation that she doesn't take things seriously she honestly is one of the most down to earth and loving of the gems. She is the only gem that was created on earth and has never truly been off planet (except one time she went to the mood.) Though most of the time she can be silly she has had some very serious moments, some moments she is not proud of and it's great that she isn't defined simply by her silliness. Here's some cute gifs of Amethyst
Pearl
Pearl is a highly trained knight who was devoted to her leader Rose Quartz until Steven was born and now he’s devoted to raising him in a protecting environment. She’s intelligent, kind, slightly selfish but she makes up for it in how much she cares for her friends. Her weapon is a spear and she can wield that thing like a boss. She’s highly skilled because she taught herself to move past what she had been taught all her life. That she was just a pearl, a mere servant who didn’t have any especially interesting qualities. She became someone great who has flaws but also knows herself.
OK so I cannot say this enough but the amount of representation in this show is astounding. The Gems are all female (technically gender-less but identify as female) and all the humans and gems have different body types, are of different races, sexual orientations and it's just so great! There are so many characters with different personalities and flaws and it's beautiful. Here are some of those characters!
Connie Maheswaran
Connie is a bookish young Indian girl who meets Steven after getting trapped in one of his shields. She’s sweet, intelligent, and soooo badass. Steven is her first real friend when she comes to Beach City (where the show takes place) and she becomes devoted to Steven as his best friend. What I love is that the show doesn't make Connie's character only about her association with Steven, it shows how she grows up in a strict household trying to hide the life she wants to live from her over-bearing mother. It also doesn't portray her as a girl without flaws who needs rescuing, she has real flaws! She compulsively lies to her mother to protect herself and she also can wield a freaking SWORD. She and Steven develop a beautiful friendship that will last forever and I just love her.
Stevonnie
Stevonnie is one of the first openly androgynous characters in a kids show! They’re the fusion of Steven and Connie and it’s so sad that Stevonnie’s only been in one episode so far. Since Steven’s weapon is a shield and Connie can wield a freaking sword it is theorized by many that when upcoming battles emerge they will fuse to form Stevonnie again and become the coolest knight on planet Earth.
Sadie
3) The Music
Seriously this music is dazzling. Most songs are accompanied by Steven's ukulele but they range from hard rock, to ballad to poppy tunes. Here are a couple of my favorite songs from the show!
Be Wherever You Are
Stronger Than You
Peace and Love on the Planet Earth
4) Fusion
Fusion is the combination of two or more gems to form stronger gems for short amounts of time (even though some can permanently remain fused). Fusion is mainly a metaphor for relationships (platonic and romantic) and sex. The show uses this metaphor to discuss the positivity of good relationships, however it also discusses bad relationships and the negative effects of a bad relationship. Fusion is described by homeworld gems as a “cheap tactic to make weak gems stronger” while one of the most important gems describes the best reason to fuse as love. That you must “get open, get honest, invent yourselves together. That's fusion.” Here’s an example of how they portray one of the negative fusions
Also I would just like to note that the fusion of Amethyst and Garnet is voiced by none other than Nicki Minaj and she is one of the coolest designed characters in the series!
5) The Life Lessons are Super Important
Need I say more?
OK so yeah basically the point is everyone should watch "Steven Universe" and understand just how great this show is and how good and pure everyone is and now I'm gonna go watch more Steven Universe episodes thank you for your time.
