Perfect Porkchops

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beatbandito
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Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:15 pm

Healy wrote:Man, I hope you guys were watching the latest two episodes of Steven Universe! The big encounter we were waiting for all week, the confirmation of a fan-favorite fan theory, Garnet sings! and one of the nastiest, just barely kid-friendly ways for a villain to go. (Not that I don't expect to see them again, of course.)


oh mah gawd it was so good. Enough people are talking about the show now that I think its earned its own thread.
This post will be basically entirely spoilers up to and including Jailbreak and I really don't like doing entire post spoiler tags so I'm going to do this without unless for some reason people complain.

These episodes were fantastic. Since the introduction of Peridot (and reinforced by Lapis' message) I've been thinking about how with how common the 'ancient advanced species separated from home' (I'm sure tv tropes has a better name for that) the idea that the current technology would blow them away doesn't come up enough. They followed through with it well too.
It will always frustrate me when the bad guys have an obviously superior weapon but ditch it as soon as the good guys but stop using it when the first attack isn't immediately successful, but other than that they kept the suspense high from the start of The Return through most of Jailbreak. The "everything will be okay moment" didn't show up for me until the generically evil announcement by Jasper that teamwork is for losers who aren't strong enough on their own.

Square Mom's song felt a little weak at first but first thing this morning I pulled the episode back up to watch it again. Ruby & Sapphire's fusion felt perfect in the way that Steven U always gets it. The animation, the line delivery and the direction just did a perfect job of showing the perfect ecstasy of the two being back together. We know that Sugilite took over Garnet and Amethyst's personalities completely after only about a day together, and these are two gems that have wanted nothing more than to be together, and have been, for millennia. Every bit of their reactions before and after the fusion show this off without sacrificing individual personalities.

My only real complaint is the ending and how they handled Lapis Lazuli. Yes, Malachite's ultimate fate was pretty hardcore, and I'm totally fine with finally delivering the Connie punchline after it because, again, the animation sells their real emotions. But everything about the rushed feeling of the C. Gems giving up on Lapis an the cut to her resigned look then suddenly the gems are back in feel good party mode as soon as they get out of the wreckage. It really stole away from the mirror gem / ocean gem reveal that the C. Gems are capable of some very dark stuff and Steven is their conscience from me that her presumed death was written off so easily. Then they follow it up with a fusion that happened and sustained with practically no effort despite the reluctance of both parties. I'm ready to forgive that as just something these heartless gems are somehow capable of, but all together this is the first scene that I really feel was shoe-horned in without a strong connection to the narrative.

Anyone else spend way too much time thinking about this yet?
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beatbandito
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:33 pm

Re: Full Disclosure

I felt like a good chunk of it was wasted on rehashing last night; enjoyed the idea of a debrief episode, literally and thematically, to give the events more weight. Very solid Pearl and Amethyst moments to work back into humor mode. It feels like it's solidifying we'll have to wait a while before we get anything heavy again.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Sat Mar 14, 2015 10:09 am

You guys can't make me go to reddit to tali about this. I won't deal with them and their gemsonas!

Anyway, I rewatched the two parter this morning and realized there was a lot going on in a very brief shot with the whole town after the van crash in the return.

most obviously is a shot of what must be Sadie's mom. We know they live together from Lion 3, so it makes sense that she would be with the rest of the town evacuating. Since this shows everyone else that we know lives in Beach City.

What's most important is that Lars is a part of their group and not with his family. We know (from Lars and theCool Kids, I think?) that he doesn't live with Sadie and her mom, so there's something up there.

Less definite, but likely based off all the signs otherwise it seems like confirmation that Sour Cream is related to Onion and Yellowtail.

The biggest stand out to me is that Jenny isn't there, while the rest of the pizza family is. There's got to be a reason behind that.

And finally, confirmation that all families in Beach City are, at most, single parent.
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beatbandito
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:22 pm

The went pretty crazy with bird mom tonight.
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Blossom
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Blossom » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:39 pm

The crossover episode wasn't great, but it was a lot better than I was expecting. I appreciate the Gems reacting reasonably to the circumstances, and all the meta jokes about the crossover.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby TedBelmont » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:22 pm

THIS POST REMOVED FOR INSUFFICIENT CONTEXT

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beatbandito
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:33 am

Yeah, I thought the episode was better than I could have hoped. Garnet had the day off, pearl gave tumblr a year's worth of reactions.

Starting with the declaration that it was bullshit was the best thing they could have done. The ship sinking and gemsona were both great. Personally I was a big fan of amethyst eating a sentient being. And dumb people still being mad at it just makes me like it even more.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Thu Apr 09, 2015 7:48 pm

uuuggghhh why did Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl all seem to age at a normal human rate despite being closer to their current forms hundreds of years ago (as per the picture of them revolutionizing it up)? This will bother me.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Blossom » Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:03 pm

Could be Greg's perceptions. Could be just the forms they were in at a time - I guess they all have done the Pearl thing a few times. Could be there's stuff we don't know about yet, stuff to do with Greg's super-mysterious lines from The Return.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Blossom » Fri Apr 10, 2015 2:12 am

Jeez that episode was adorable. I have watched it like ... five times already. I would absolutely buy a copy of Star Train to the Cosmos.
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beatbandito
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Fri Apr 17, 2015 5:54 pm

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his perfectly crisp open cuffs made him look like he was shifting between planes and it weirded me out
now available in avatar size

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Classic
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Classic » Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:13 pm

TA wrote:Could be Greg's perceptions. Could be just the forms they were in at a time - I guess they all have done the Pearl thing a few times. Could be there's stuff we don't know about yet, stuff to do with Greg's super-mysterious lines from The Return.


Relative to Rose, they're all the size they are in Steven's present. We just don't usually see Greg looking young and fresh-faced. Remember, he's taller than Pearl, but shorter than Garnet.

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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:18 pm

Classic wrote:Relative to Rose, they're all the size they are in Steven's present.


I don't know what you mean by that. Do you mean that they all appear younger because of their relationships with her as opposed to Steven? Because that makes sense to me. They are 100% different looking, different sizes relative to each other, and appear to have aged at the same rate as Greg. They seem to be totally different bodies though, as we already saw this one silhouetted when Pearl went through all her old forms when regenerating in The Sword Fighter.

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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Classic » Sun Apr 19, 2015 12:25 am

I'm pretty sure that their sizes are the same relative to each other. What do you see as being different? The gems seem to have matured and become marginally less standoffish towards humans in general, but... as for maturing "physically"?

I said "Steven's Present" because some people talk about the episode as being told from the perspective of Greg. But I don't think the show experiments with the concept of an "unreliable" narrator as much as some people. I think that if the show displays it to us, it is "true" unless the text explicitly says otherwise (e.g. Garnet's Universe). So I kind of assume that the "Story for Steven" is accurate to the reality of that universe as anything else we see.

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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:04 am

Are you on crack? Amethyst's body is completely different. Pearl's legs are shorter and her nose is smaller. Pearl normally stands up to Garnet's neck but is up to her hairline here.

Everything about them was different.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Classic » Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:52 pm

But that's kind of the way height works in this show.
As Ian Jones-Quartey explains:
this might drive you crazy, but… there are no set heights for the SU characters. we only want to make each shot dynamic- the characters have height relationships to each other in each individual shot but the heights of each character are kept deliberately vague.


The height hierarchy remained Amethyst<Pearl<Greg<Garnet<Rose so... I don't think their immediate physical characteristics changed between the events of "Story for Steven" and the present where the story is being told.

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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:01 pm

Okay, yes, congratulations on proving that point I never contested. They have the same relative heights, but they are different bodies. If you can't see how all three of them have changed then there's nothing to talk about because clearly we're not looking at the same things.

Anyway, I missed it at first in the episode but oh man do I super love this picture and feel like an idiot for how obvious it is looking back.

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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Classic » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:19 pm

I mostly see clothing and hairstyle changes. It is hard to find easy comparisons for Amethyst, but if you see the different costumes on the same pose I don't see the differences you're bringing up. Let's study Pearl: http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Pearl#Designs
Her legs are about the same length. Her nose is a less pronounced feature on her face, but it's not because it's shorter or longer. It is because the nose's bottom definition line terminates sooner and the triangle is slightly more acute.

But yeah, probably not much point to having this conversation more than we have, unless one of us finds some "Word of God" that affirms one position or the other.

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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby beatbandito » Mon Apr 20, 2015 4:32 pm

I was going to let it rest there, but considering the last disagreement we had I announced that arguing with you isn't worth the frustration, I owe you at least the acknowledgment of that amicable resolution.

I was caught up on trying to figure out that significance of their forms in the episode, but overlooked how much of the difference was directly relevant. Right now there are too many variables to know for sure, especially since the heaviest 'evidence' is in Amethyst, who far-and-away has the most fluid concept of physical self. Aka: that may not have even been her 'true' physical form after transforming from the owl form.
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Re: Perfect Porkchops

Postby Classic » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:11 pm

The gems are definitely very different, and at first when I saw the clip "Young Gems" (which is the name of the tune that plays in the background, apparently) I even read them as being shorter than they are in the "present". Eventually I concluded I was doing some weird stuff like conflating young adult Greg with Steven and considering them to be the same size.
The big differences are the changes to their personalities. Amethyst is way more friendly or benign toward humans but also more feral. Pearl invests her time into grooming Amethyst and is less autonomous but also less neurotic. Garnet displays more emotions in general, but simultaneously she displays less empathy. I don't know enough about fashion to know what those styles are meant to convey... Except I assume that they are somewhat 80's? ??? Maybe that's all it is?

We don't really have much knowledge of how easy it is for gems to change their "clothes". Or hair. Or even why gems tend to choose vaguely humanoid forms at all. Maybe gems on other worlds have "comfortable" forms that do not look so human (seems like a stretch to me though). Though it does seem like whenever a gem is forced to dematerialize, their new projections bear some evidence of it. The most compelling example being the shift in Garnet's seam from accenting single leg to a bisection.

beatbandito wrote:Amethyst, who far-and-away has the most fluid concept of physical self.


Feel like this is important though.

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