Anything Steven Universe

It is obvious and clear the Steven is not okay. He is suffering from his trauma and feels he has no identity outside of his Gem half. He lost his purpose of helping others, distancing himself from his support system, detached from his human and Gem side, his anger making his powers uncontrollable and lashing out, his body is reacting to minor stress as life-threatening, and after making a severe mistake, Steven thinks less of himself as a person and more of a monster. His trauma from his past is catching up and he is completely lost and in denial. Steven is losing himself and he will not be okay until he seeks help and finds himself.

Steven is suffering from trauma. Let’s be perfectly clear, not everyone is violent when dealing with trauma. Everyone deals with trauma differently and becoming violent and/or aggressive can be one of the unhealthy ways of dealing with trauma. Steven seems to be struggling with Era 3 peace time as no one needs his help and his friends are moving on without him. He is isolating himself from his family and friends and his powers begin to grow. At first, Steven’s powers do not become a problem until it becomes out of control. It was not until Dr. Maheswaran brought up childhood trauma did we realize his body and powers are reacting to minor stressful situations as life threatening ones. After cutting off Greg, he turns to someone who does more harm then good for Steven: Jasper. Jasper does state Steven needs to embrace his anger but instills a toxic form of anger. When fighting Jasper, he gains a little happiness from the brawl but goes to far and shattered her. He was able to bring her back but unfortunately bows to Steven and calls him her Diamond. This leads to Steven going to the Diamonds for help. However, they were not able to help and Steven nearly shattered White Diamond out of vengeance and on purpose. From what we saw in the promo, he is going to be in denial of what he has done which will make him worse. Steven will be critical of himself for harming others and turn into a monster because he cannot deal with his trauma.

Steven is starting to become destructive to himself and others. He is not opening up about his trauma and is isolating himself from his family and friends. From a recent interview, Sugar stated people who become are at their lowest can tend to go to people who dislike them rather than support. This can be true in some cases, but Jasper was not the best mentor as she struggles with her purpose and anger. She shows him to always show strength and Steven starts to become violent and aggressive. It is only temporary and regrets what he did to Jasper when he healed her back. However, this leads him to go to the Diamonds, family he wants to avoid because they are related to his trauma. Once he takes over White Diamonds body, he becomes really violent towards White and nearly shatters. He is having intrusive thoughts about hurting the Diamonds and flees because he doesn’t want to hurt them. Steven is continuing to become destructive and he won’t stop until he has hit his lowest point and talks to someone!

Steven still has unresolved issues about his mother. In “Rose Buds” he hides her picture in Lion’s mane and became angry about hearing more negative things about his mother in “Volleyball”. It is no surprise Steven would start to distance himself from Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz. After learning his mother made a lot of mistakes and the truth about her identity, it is no shock he would start disconnecting from his mother. However, Steven is ignoring a key aspect of his mother: she did grow and develop. Yes she ran away from her problems and left them unresolved, but she did start becoming a better person later on. But Steven does not want to become like his mother even though he is making mistakes. He thinks if he harms others he is exactly like his mom, making him go more in denial in future episodes. Steven needs to accept who his mother was in order to deal with his trauma and actions. He does not have to be her, but should accept his mother was not good or bad, just someone who wanted to find herself.

Steven is developing destructive powers opposite of his empathetic ones. His new powers started developing at the very beginning of future but are now out of control because of his unstable mental state throughout the series. He is losing his support system and his purpose. His body is reacting to minor stressful situations as life-threatening. He is lashing out his anger at others and even having thoughts of harming others. The Diamonds powers evolved when they decide to help others whereas Steven’s powers are devolving into destructive powers because of his trauma and mental state. Steven’s powers will continue to be destructive the more his mental state suffers.

Steven is suffering from something known as savior complex. A savior complex can be toxic as it places people on a pedestal and must be the perfect hero. That is starting to affect Steven. Gems and people praise Steven for being the savior of the galaxy. However, this complex makes him self-critical of any mistakes he makes. It has also trapped him in a purpose that is starting to fade over time. Now Steven has made big mistakes that are harming others and himself and he can’t open up to others about it. There was a line in the promo where Steven said, “I help people, I don’t hurt anyone.” That is very unsettling because he is denying his trauma and recent behavior. He is not addressing his problems and any severe mistake he continues to make will make himself think he is a monster. The savior complex is harming Steven right now and he needs to stop being the hero and start being a person.

This may be harsh, but Steven needs to be called out on his behavior. Now I don’t mean yelling at him or corning him into admitting his feeling. I mean someone must be honest with Steven and talk to him about his issues and behavior. I have been seeing the Gems and people trying to help Steven, but either it’s done too lightly or it’s not done right. Although the Gems will help Steven through this, the only person I can think of who will be honest with Steven is Connie. In “Mindful Education”, it was Connie who talked to Steven about his guilt about not saving everyone and reassured him it was okay to feel bad to move on. Connie has to talk to Steven about his self-destructive behavior and although it is not okay to behave this way it is even worse to deny it. She must reassure him that he is not just a Gem, but he is also a human and it’s okay to make mistakes. Steven has to realize he has hurt people, it is not okay, and that he is not a bad person just in a bad place. Only then will he start healing.

“Homeworld Bound” was an interesting episode and gave us life on Homeworld after Steven restructured their society. It seems everything is going great and Homeworld looks better thanks to organic life. The Gems are free to roam around and became democratic. Even the Diamonds have stepped down as rulers and are now doing their own thing. However, one might mistake the Diamonds as fully redeemed. That is not the case. Remember they did shatter Gems, colonized and destroyed planets for eons, and ruled as dictators. It seems like the Diamonds know this and are trying to right their wrongs as best as possible. The difference is the Diamonds are trying without the need to please Steven and actually want to help. Even their powers start to change to better help other Gems. The Diamonds aren’t redeemed but they are on the path to redemption.

Yellow Diamond has gone from anti-organic military general who has no second thought to forced fusion to reassembling Gem shards and their forms. She admits her fused fusion experiments were wrong. To make up for this, she is diligently picking every piece she can and reassembling Gems. She cannot find any piece, but her powers changed from destabilizing to restructuring Gem forms. Even her beliefs on organic life have changed when we see plants all over her room. She still has some parts of her personality such as being snarky and overworking but you can’t change everything. Yellow Diamond seems to truly care about fixing her mistakes and is trying her best to fix Gems she has harmed from forced fusion experiments and corruption.

Blue Diamond went from mourning sad sack who wanted to have others experience her pain to mellow and happy Gem who wants to make other Gems happy. After realizing she was using her powers to spread pain to others, she wanted to make up for that behavior by spreading happiness instead. Her powers went from making everyone cry to making clouds that make joy to the touch. It’s great she wants to change her behavior to better help others. She does still have the habit of not listening sometimes but that doesn’t mean she is oblivious to the situation. Blue Diamond genuinely wants to change her behavior from making others suffer to bringing joy and is enjoying her newfound purpose.

White Diamond is helping other Gems instead of ruling over them. Instead of silencing them or forcing them to obey every rule, she is traveling around the galaxy to over a voice to other Gems. Her powers changed from bleaching and mind control to channeling other Gems thoughts to her Gem and having them control her. At first, this may seem like a bad idea because some Gems may feel animosity towards the Diamonds and use this to destroy White. However, White seems fully aware of who is controlling her and with greater control can end the session. She probably got these new powers to better understand Gems she has harmed and to help them through her new powers. Although White Diamond is getting better at understanding Gems, she can come off as snobbish when doing these charities or talking to others. But she is trying her best to amend her mistakes. White Diamond has a lot of work to do and does give good guidance to others without the use of force and is better understanding others.

Even Spinel changed from a manic and traumatized Gem bent on harming Steven because of Pink to her somewhat goofy self. This does not mean she has reset to her old personality. She kept her post form which could either mean she does not want to erase the trauma or trauma never goes away but she has learned to overcome it. Spinel knows she harmed Steven and doesn’t brush it off. She even admits she was in a toxic mindset but is doing much better now. She even tries to help Steven by going to the Diamonds. When White Diamond asked Spinel to leave the room, she did leave and state not to take too long meaning she is getting better at her abandonment issues. She can still be really clingy and a tad bit over the top, but she is trying to get better. Spinel is doing great at working on herself and is learning to handle her issues better than in the movie.

“Mr. Universe” was one of those episodes where there was no right or wrong. We see Steven in a depressive state because he is lost and Greg though it would be a good idea to go on a road trip. It seems to be cheering him up a bit and Steven learns more about his dad’s past. However, Greg breaks into his own house and Steven discovers and explores Greg’s old stuff. Steven drives the van and Greg shows him a song that changed his life. Both have an argument and Steven crashes the van out of anger and frustration. When Greg isn’t angry and compliments Steven on calling him out, Steven ignores his dad and erases his photo showing the bond broken. What was interesting about this episode was how both sides of the argument were right and wrong. It also shows an interesting aspect that Steven is missing a vital part of his life: the human half.

The argument about Greg’s family and life was based on perspective of both sides. “Steven, I couldn’t do anything growing up. Everything I liked or wore or wanted was always wrong.” From Greg’s stories, his family was very strict and he did not have any freedom to express himself or it was deemed wrong. They may have been militaristic too as Greg’s graduation photo has him in a military style haircut. Greg decided to run away after hearing the Mr. Universe song because he wanted to be free and see the world. However, Steven did not think Greg’s family situation was bad because it was normal compared to his family. “I wish I could have grown in a house like that!” Steven’s Gem side of the family was pretty horrific compared to Greg’s family. To see Greg have a normal family angers him and feels betrayed because he could have had a normal human life. Steven is frustrated and upset because he could have had stability and normalcy in his life. Both had different sides of the story and neither were right or wrong for expressing their feelings about it.

Now let’s talk about Greg in this situation. Greg has always had a relaxed parenting style and now we see why. His parents restricted him from doing anything he wanted and because of that experience he decided to raise his son the exact opposite. “You grew up with actual freedom!” There is nothing wrong with letting your child having freedom to explore. However, he never disciplined Steven on anything he did. He did give good advice and has been there for Steven but never had rules or discipline to help Steven into adulthood. This does not mean Greg is a bad parent. However, it does show how imbalanced Greg’s parenting style is and he is too lax. Greg is a good parent and loves Steven, but he needs to understand Steven’s frustration better then the ending of that episode and realize it’s okay to have some rules.

Let’s talk about Steven in this situation. Steven has every right to be angry at Greg for keeping this family a secret. “They can’t be any worse than mom’s family! I went halfway across the galaxy for them and this was right here!” He grew up with the Gem side of his family and it has caused him many traumatic experiences and family issues. To Steven, Greg’s family issues are nothing compared to his mother’s side. However, he is ignoring Greg’s story about his family and saying they were extremely strict. Steven is invalidating Greg’s experiences and doesn’t listen when Greg said he is better off. He is also forgetting the letters sent were unopened meaning Greg’s family wanted nothing to do with Greg’s life. Steven is both right and wrong in his arguments. He does want some normalcy in his life and could have had it with Greg’s family but should also listen why Greg is so against his parents and how he thought it was best to never meet them. Steven’s youth has been hectic because of his Gem side and wants a normal human life, but he also needs to understand why Greg left in the first place and didn’t want his part of the family in his life.

A great part of Steven’s outburst was comparing Greg to Rose. “I can’t believe I never realized you’re just like … just like mom!” He is not wrong. We both discovered Greg left his parents without turning back. Rose Quartz did the same thing when running away from the Diamonds. Both ran away from toxic families and wanted the freedom to explore themselves and Earth. However, Steven sees that as a bad thing. His mother running away from family and her problems put him in the position to fix them. To Steven, Greg did the same thing Rose did but a bit different. His Gem side brought traumatic events not normal to a child while the human side could have brought stability despite him being a Gem. If Greg had introduced his side of the family, maybe he would have had a normal human life. It was it interesting to see how similar Rose Quartz and Greg Universe were because we all thought Greg was the better side of the family when, in reality, he had the same traits as Rose.

“In Dreams” was a favorite of mine because of the psychological components of Steven’s dreams. I am a huge enthusiast of psychology and even graduated with a major in psychology. Now I am no expert on psychology and had to research a lot about Steven’s dreams and dreams in general. Thank goodness a lot of SU theorists did the same which helped with dream interpretations. Psychology has studied many theories on dreams and is still being studied today. “In Dreams” gives great importance on dreams and how it can affect people’s well-being.

Psychological theories on dreams hypothesis dreams allow people to sort though problems, events of the day, or things requiring a lot of our attention. Sigmund Freud, infamous psychologist in the early 1900s, thought dreams were repressed desires unacceptable in real life. Freud’s apprentice, Carl Jung, agreed but added dreams are a reflection of our waking selves and helped solve our problems or think through issues. Those two were the basics of dream theories and more psychologists/researchers started to study dreams. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley hypothesized that dreams result from electrical brain impulses that pull imagery from experience and memory. Once someone wakes up, we try to make sense of certain imagery and create stories without realizing it. This is known as Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis. Unfortunately, most of us forget about our dreams. According to L. Strumpell, we forget because dreams are usually vague and unique. We only remember and learn about our dreams by association and repetition. There are also other ways to remember dreams. Lucid dreaming is the ability to control our actions in our dreams. This takes a lot to master but is possible. There is also a type of control to dreams called Dream Incubation. Dream Incubation is focusing on a specific issue when sleeping. The difference is Lucid dreaming can be random in controlling where was Dream Incubation is focused on one thing before dreaming. Then we have two different types of dreams: nightmares and recurring dreams. Nightmares are dreams so distressing and terrifying they wake us up. They are usually caused by strong negative or traumatic events. Recurring dreams are repeated dreams and happen when we do not acknowledge something in life causing stress. They are also associated with traumatic events. The study of dreams has been prominent in the field of psychology and are still being researched today.

I am going to try to interpret Steven’s dreams as best to my ability as possible. Two SU theorists, Awestuckvox from Roundtable and Deepcut from Cartoon Universe, did amazing jobs at interpreting Steven’s dreams and I will be using their interpretations as well as my own. We can all agree Steven’s dreams are related to his current issues with being left behind and his trauma starting to surface. However, Steven keeps having these dreams a lot and it’s stressing him out. They change once him and Peridot want to redo their favorite show but gets crazy as his unresolved issues start to show. Let’s try to interpret these dreams.

The first dream is Steven going to the Beach House and seeing the Off Colors, the Crystal Gems, Connie, and Onion dancing inside. He wants to join but the door disappears as well as the windows and he knocks on the door to let him in. The Obsidian statue suddenly has a Cookie Cat head and tells him they don’t need him anymore so why is he still here. The porch opens up and Steven falls. Lars and the Off Colors are represented of his friends leaving and the rest are the friends still in Beach City. They are having a party without him representing they have moved on and are living a happy life. The door and windows disappearing and the Cookie Cat head talking to him are Steven’s insecurities of being left behind and losing his purpose. From both theorists, falling is associated with losing control of your life meaning Steven is losing control of his life. This first dream is very specific and shows Steven’s insecurities of people leaving him behind and losing his purpose in life.

The second dream is a remake of the Camp Pining Hearts reboot. We see Steven in his CPH persona and nothing happens at first. Until he starts becoming real life Steven and sees Yellow Diamond as a pineapple, Blue Diamond as a dolphin, and White Diamond’s feet and suddenly goes Pink. The CPH dreams seems to be an example of dream incubation as they are focusing on one specific topic. According to Awestruckvox, a flying dolphin represents expressing your carefree and childish side, a pineapple represents great fun, and feet represent moral standards. The Diamonds are associated with positive symbols in the dream but are also associated with Steven’s trauma of CYM. This could mean Steven’s conflict with wanting to be happy with the Diamonds, however cannot do so because of how close linked they are to his trauma. Steven’s pink form and him screaming “not again” could be his fear of losing control of his powers and the dream happening. Now his dreams are starting to show what is troubling Steven.

The rest of his dreams start out as Camp Pining Hearts reenactment but start to show other insecurities. The third time shows Dogcopter flying away which could represent Steven’s childhood leaving him or losing his childhood. The fourth time shows the Crystal Gems flyig away which is Steven’s fear of his family moving on without him. The fifth one shows Spinel’s injector in the background when we see Rodrigo canoeing which is Steven’s trauma related to Spinel and baby Steven which could be a sign of losing his control of his powers like when he was a kid. These dreams are really starting to affect Steven’s mental health. With these recurring dreams, Steven is suffering from night terrors, episodes that make his heart race and become disoriented when waking up. From the dark circles under his eyes and jolting up from his bed, these dreams are starting to cause him mental exhaustion and issues.

The last dream starts with Steven reenacting CPH but instead of canoeing with Rodrigo, he is on an island about to kiss Jasmine. However, Jasmine turns into Connie and Connie turns into Obsidian about to stomp Steven. Connie is the only person who has Steven feels he has not lost and the Obsidian about to crush him could be the events of CYM starting to be too much for him. Suddenly Steven is in his old room and trying to talk to Peridot but sees her visor with SMPTE color bars and static noise. Being back in his old room could be him unconsciously wanting to go back to his childhood. The SMPTE bars are seen on TV when a signal is altered meaning Peridot’s visor having them could be their relationships altering or being disconnected. Then we are back at the Beach House and Peridot is starting to walk to the party meaning Steven is afraid of losing Peridot. He jumps out of the way to avoid falling meaning he is trying to take control of his life. Then he talks to Peridot about how he can’t be friends with anyone unless they need his help, is getting tired and can’t do it anymore, and wants to still be Peridots friend. This happens with the SMPTE color bars again showing more disconnection with Peridot. Steven feels he is losing his relationship with Peridot because there is nothing to fix. The last dream and literally his last one that we see shows Steven’s fear of losing his friends and family and feeling disconnected with everyone unless he helps them. Thank goodness Peridot reassures Steven that they can still hang out without any excuses and watch their show even if it’s bad.

“Why So Blue” was a great episode as we got to see Lapis Lazuli as well as other Gems during Era 3. We have learned some Gems are not keen on the new ideas of Era 3 and still continue to cause destruction. Steven and Lapis try to convince two other Lapis Lazuli’s (will call Curly and Freckles) to stop destroying planets but it does not go well. They do manage to stop Curly and Freckles in the end and even convince Freckles to join Little Homeschool. Lapis Lazuli showed great character development in this episode. She has come such a long way and it was great to see her thrive. However, we also see some aspects of her old self return. She does stop herself before going to far. Lapis Lazuli has made great strides in her new life and appreciation for organic life but can regress into her old ways when pushed to the breaking point. Lapis portrays people who can still retain habits caused by trauma but show strength through restraint and patience and can move forward.

I made a post about neverending trauma based on Pink Pearl. Pink Pearl and Lapis Lazuli have gone through a lot in their life but both have dealt with trauma differently. Pink Pearl was in denial of her trauma and is hopefully on the road to recovery after realizing her trauma. Lapis Lazuli recognized her trauma and it dictated her actions in “Steven Universe” but has used healthy coping mechanisms in “Steven Universe: Future” to move forward. We can all agree Lapis has been through so much: trapped in a mirror for thousands of years, caught in a war she had no part in, fused with Jasper to make Malachite (the embodiment of a toxic//abusive relationship), trapped on Earth with no intention of staying, and left Earth and friends out of fear from the past. Even living with Peridot in the barn took a while for her to get used to Earth. In “Beta” and “Hit the Diamond” she is lethargic on participating in any activities. Lapis gets made at Navy in “Room for Ruby” for adapting so quickly when it was hard for her to adapt. “Raising the Barn” and “Can’t Go Back” shows Lapis fleeing from people who care about her because of her fear of being caught in another war. Lapis has made decisions out of experience and fear from her past and it has hurt others. However, “Reunited” showed Lapis returning from space to help her friends out which is her start to recovery. If Pink Pearl is a portrayal of realization of trauma then Lapis is a portrayal of recovery from it.

We see Lapis Lazuli making great progress through her appreciation of organic life and different creative hobbies. She helped build Little Homeworld with the Bismuth and Peridot and teaches in Little Homeschool. In the beginning of the episode, she takes a fascination of the new creatures and embraces organic life around her. She has found creative outlets such as music, art, and dancing as healthy hobbies to enjoy. Her song “Shining Through” showed how her life was hectic but was able to live her life once she started living it. Lapis has made great recovery from her trauma and is happier living her life through creative activities and enjoying organic life.

However, it seems certain habits from her past trauma still remain. While talking to Steven about how to deal with Curly and Freckles, she stated force is the only way. However, she did realize that living with nature and pursuing creative ventures did help her. She is very patient with the Lazulis. Sadly, Curly and Freckles mock her lifestyle and use her hobbies to create destruction and it is starting to reach her breaking point. Curly and Freckles mocking has gotten to Lapis and she starts using the very power she used to dominate Jasper. Although Lapis has shown great progress, there are still habits and behaviors that can slip, especially when something reminded Lapis of her trauma.

Luckily, she does realize her behavior was bad and stops before doing anymore damage. After convincing Curley and Freckles to stop, Lapis gets annoyed with how they react to her sudden fit of rage. “That wasn’t strength! Restraint takes strength! Patience takes strength! Ugh. I don’t have the strength to deal with you.” She realizes Curly and Freckles are too much for her to handle and walks away. Lapis knows she has been through a lot but after recovering, restraint and patience helps her keep I check of bad behavior. However, she becomes depressed about her actions because it reminded her past self. “I wish I hadn’t done that. It’s just … they reminded me so much of myself. It’s infuriating.” Luckily, Steven reassured Lapis she has been through a lot and shouldn’t beat herself up. “Give yourself a break. You’ve grown a lot. It’s not your fault they’re stuck in their ways.” Steven is right. You can’t change someone who doesn’t want to, especially if it is at the expense of yourself. Lapis knows she messed up and feels bad for it but also learns she has gone through so much trauma and is trying her best to live her life.

As the series ends, “Steven Universe: Future” gives us a reminder and portrayal that anyone can suffer from trauma. “Steven Universe” and “Steven Universe: The Movie” have showed trauma many times. However, the epilogue series gives us the one person who is suffering the most right now: Steven. Steven has been through a lot but is usually positive and is able to deal with the situation or does not see it and pushes it off. However, two years after saving the universe, he is starting to fall deeper in depression and isolating himself from loved ones due to trauma from his past. In the beginning of the series, some fans saw this as a surprise because his character is to be kind, empathetic, and positive no matter the situation. But even a positive character like Steven will struggle with a situation he cannot deal with due to his past trauma. “Steven Universe: Future” bring the subject of trauma the show has dealt with before using Steven, the main character, to emphasize that trauma can affect anyone.

The franchise has portrayed trauma in many different characters. The Crystal Gems have had their share of traumas related to the Gem War, Gem society of Era 2, and before and after Steven was born. Pearl was obsessed with Rose Quartz and was deeply traumatized by her passing. She projected her obsession to Steven and questioned her worth as an individual without Rose. Garnet is a mixed gem fusion and was frowned upon by Era 2 Gem society. She did not exhibit much trauma until we see “Keep It Together” where she felt guilt and anger over forced fusion Gems which can be viewed as survivors guilt and she puts pressure on herself to be a calm and collected leader. Amethyst was not affected by the war due to emerging from the ground later then the other Gems. However, she developed insecurities about herself not only because she is a defective Amethyst but also because the Crystal Gems associated the Kindergarten as a bad place therefore making internalizing her existence as a mistake. She struggled to love herself and it later created an unhealthy obsession to beat Jasper in season 3. The Crystal Gems have had their fair share of trauma but are not the only Gems who have suffered some type of trauma. Lapis Lazuli was a war prisoner trapped inside a mirror for thousands of years and trapped herself in an abusive relationship/fusion with Jasper. She was very untrusting of others and when the Diamonds were involved, she ran away out of fear despite hurting others in the process (this is not to blame or negatively criticize anything on Lapis, these are just my observations and opinions). The corrupted Gems during the series are war victims who lost their minds and forms from the Diamond’s blast. Bismuth suffered betrayal from the Gem she idolized because of her radical ideals without anyone ever knowing, leaving her to lash out at Steven and hurt that no one know the true story. After Lapis left with the barn, Peridot fell into a deep depression and lost any form of joy in her life. Spinel suffered abandonment from Pink Diamond that lead to her lashing out at Steven, who did not deserve it, and caused her to loath herself and act out irrationally. Even the Diamonds suffered trauma when they lost Pink Diamond. Yellow Diamond buried herself in her work, Blue Diamond never moved on from mourning, and White Diamond isolated herself from others to maintain a perfect image (does not excuse their genocidal actions in the past, again just my observations). Lots of the Gems suffered some form of trauma in “Steven Universe” and “Steven Universe: The Movie” and were able to move on from it with the help of Steven.

This time it is Steven’s turn to face his trauma in “Steven Universe: Future”. Steven is known as the problem solver and using empathy and kindness to help others. In “Steven Universe” he can handle tough situations and help Gems to move on or/and cope with their trauma. However, this is due to the problems his mother has caused and was a target of Homeworld. He has faced attempted assassinations, identity crises, family drama, and adult situations which can be so much for a child. With the support of his family and friends and his empathetic and kind nature, he either brushes off these problems off to save everyone or deals with these terrible situations with a support system. However, with Era 3 peace time and losing his purpose to save others in “Steven Universe: Future”, he is now dealing with his past and the trauma is manifesting into his behavior.

“Steven Universe: Future” is not the only time he has faced traumatic experiences. There are many episodes in “Steven Universe” where Steven had to face serious situations. “We Need to Talk” Steven clutched his Gem after witnessing Connie and Greg fist bump over shared experience with Gem related knowledge. Steven is a hybrid of a Gem and human and feels alone because he is one of a kind. “Mindful Education” he bottled up his feelings of failure to save others and it started to appear as hallucinations when fused as Stevonnie. He was only able to confront those feelings when talking to Connie and her reassurance to Steven that it is okay to feel bad made him feel better. “Storm in the Room” he confronts his mother (more of a hologram AI) about questioning her motives and damage she caused. The room reassures Steven that his existence was purely out of love to bring life not to fix problems unrelated to him. In “Lion 4: Alternative Ending”, he is frantically trying to find his magical destiny or purpose. After watching a second version of the Rose video, Greg tells Steven there is no destiny for him and Steven realizes his mother just wants Steven to live his own life how he wants it. “So Many Birthdays” he aged rapidly because he felt silly liking childish things and starts aging rapidly. It was not until the Gems started bickering, did he realize he can still like things deemed childish. There are episodes I am missing where he dealt with adult situations and Steven starts to have recollections of his past in “Growing Pains”, but the main purpose is Steven has faced traumatic events affecting him but is able to deal with them because he talked it out or it never bothered him.

When the movie came out, he accomplished restructuring Gem society and creating Little Homeworld for Gems, uncorrupted and Homeworld, to help integrate into Earth society. Everything seemed like the usual happily ever after until Spinel comes in injecting bio-poison into the Earth and rejuvenating the Crystal Gems and Steven. He and the Crystal Gems had to restart, literally, and figure out everything with limited use of his powers. Spinel was a tough character to help, especially when she spiraled downward when Steven left her for a few seconds, and she became angry and started fighting. After fighting Spinel, tiring her out and resolving the conflict, destroying the injector, having the Diamonds take Spinel back to Homeworld, and fixing the damage, it seemed like everything is at peace again.

“Steven Universe: Future” shows how Steven and everyone else is after times of peace. However, something is different with Steven in this mini epilogue series. Once he realizes people are doing fine without him, he is losing his purpose and feels like is friends and family are drifting away. There have been some incidents where Steven had to save the day, but it was solved quickly and he is used to life-threatening situations. The recurring theme or problem of the series is Steven feeling disconnected with everyone because they do not need his help and does not know what to do with his future. We also see trauma resurfacing from this past and he is unwilling to share or get help for it. Steven is dealing with trauma from the past, closing himself off from friends and family, having self-doubt and feelings of being left behind, and suffering from the over-bearing responsibilities and facing life-threatening situations from having a savior complex. He has devoted himself to helping others and is used to chaos surrounding Gem related conflict. There is no other way for him to communicate without helping someone and with no conflict outside his own, he can’t talk to other people normally anymore. In the recent episode “Growing Pains” Dr. Maheswaran explains Steven about childhood trauma is starting to affect his body in dealing with stress. Because he has been in so many life-threatening situations in the past, Steven’s body is reacting to mild stress as life-threatening and activating his powers in extreme ways. It did not seem to have been a problem until Connie’s rejection in “Together Forever” is triggering his body to act as if his life is in danger very much like PTSD. With Dr. Maheswaran’s honest and factual explanation on trauma to Steven and his father as a support maybe he can try to recover. Depending on how the Crewniverse decides to end, it will resolve in Steven figuring himself out and learning to heal himself from the trauma to start moving forward and to the future.

The epilogue series portrays a very important concept of trauma: everyone can suffer from trauma. Are there people affected from severe trauma far worse than others? Yes. Does that make it okay to invalidate mild or moderate trauma depending on person’s background, personality and resources? No. Coming from personal experience and the few reactions I have seen on Steven’s behavior from the series, trauma affects anyone regardless of the person. There are people who can better themselves with more resources then others such as a support system, therapy, self-care, awareness, and coping mechanisms. Some have access to these resources and others may not, but it still does not change the fact anyone can suffer from trauma. There were a few times I saw posts remarking the change in Steven’s character. In “Steven Universe”, Steven was an optimistic and empathetic kid who solved other’s problems through communication. When “Steven Universe: Future” aired, some fans commented negatively on Steven’s inability to communicate well with others anymore and isolating himself due to fear of his friend and family drifting away. His savior complex, especially the need to save others, is causing him to not talk with others about his own problems because he has needs validation from fixing other’s problems. Steven is starting to develop depression and PTSD from his past and the trauma is manifesting and showing. It is not surprising he would go from a happy-go-lucky kid to a teenager suffering from trauma and not talking to others about his problem. He has been through so much as a child; learning about his mother’s identity and past, resolving conflict from his mother’s mistakes, fixing the Crystal Gem’s issues, heal corruption, almost killed multiple times, and restructuring Gem society. It would be shocking if he was still happy with his life, especially after the fight scene with Spinel. Despite being positive during conflicts, he usually pushes aside his own problems to fix others and it is starting to take a toll on him when there are no more problems to fix and he questions his worth. The Crystal Gems are trying to help him, but he cannot open to them because he must be Steven, savior of the galaxy, not Steven, a teen suffering from trauma and unwillingness to confront his past. Steven does have a support system and still has some of his positive traits but even so, he is denying his trauma and not looking for the help he needs. “Steven Universe: Future” shows that no matter one’s background, severity of trauma, personality, and resources, anyone can suffer from trauma. Trauma does not have to define who you are but how you deal with it does. Many suffer from guilt or shame of trauma due to stigma of specific people suffering trauma, comparisons of trauma, and personality traits determining who trauma affects. No one’s trauma should be invalidated but should be supported and treated as real. It’s okay to talk about it and to get help but the only way to do that is if the person suffering wants to get help. Rebecca Sugar and the Crewniverse have demonstrated the importance of recognizing that anyone can suffer from trauma and the best way to heal is self-awareness and accepting help from others.

This post was both difficult and exhausting to write. I was getting anxious a lot and had to take breaks writing this. It took a few days to write and get my thoughts in order before suddenly feeling uncomfortable and taking breaks. Below is a story/reason as to why I wanted to write this post. I cut it because it is really personal to share but I feel comfortable sharing it now. You don’t have to read it which is another reason why it is hidden. Just wanted to tell my story related to this post.

The reason I wrote this post was from the negative backlash from some fans expressed about Steven in “Steven Universe: Future” because of his behavior. Steven is dealing with trauma and an identity crisis and does not talk about it to the Crystal Gems or anyone else. Some fans critic this change in behavior because in “Steven Universe” he was always so positive and used communication to solve his problems. I was getting a bit distraught by this until one of my favorite theorists/reviewer/editor (will not name), tweeted about how Steven has been through a lot as kid, someone as positive as Steven can still suffer from trauma, and his current behavior is related to how he is dealing with losing his purpose and trauma. I cannot find the tweet as it was long ago, but it inspired me to make a post about how anyone can suffer from trauma. Even if the person is positive and has dealt with issues/situations in the past, trauma can change a person, especially ones who help others more then they help themselves and how to deal with certain situations.

I relate to Steven a lot throughout the series. Although Peridot is my favorite character, Steven from the original series, the movie, and the epilogue series, is the character I see myself. With “Steven Universe: Future” I can see myself in Steven even more, especially during my college years. Throughout my childhood I was always the positive child/teen who was able to make friends easily and not afraid to show who I am. I was not popular but lots of people liked me for some reason and I just rolled with it. I always liked helping others with their problems and it did not bother me as I liked being the friend who helped. My sophomore year, I started dating a girl online (I saw her on webcam before to see if she was real) and we clicked and started talking a lot. Things started to go well and my life seemed pretty good despite the stress of school.

About 5 years ago, something happened. I had a friend, let’s call him X, who I started reconnecting with. He was in the Marines and stationed in Japan so we mostly face timed when we could. X told me he was diagnosed with mild schizophrenia and was being discharged from the military. I knew he seemed a bit upset and I thought hanging out would cheer him up. At first, it seemed he was happy, and we mostly just stayed at my place and watched anime. However, X started to drink and exhibit weird behavior. The first time he drank in my apartment, he was yelling, clinging to me, and throwing stuff. A friend of mine came over and X threw a can at him which triggered my friend’s PTSD. The day after, I apologized to my friend and told X to not drink in front of me. About a week later he came over and started drinking again. His excuse was it was hard liquor this time and it makes him act different. Instead of being physically aggressive, he was emotionally aggressive. He talked about his troubles, thoughts, and feelings which shouldn’t be a bad thing. But it was a bit too much for me to where I started crying and he held me and said sorry. The next day I told him to seriously not drink the next time we meet. Around a couple months later, I get sick with a nasty head cold, but was going to an anime movie with X and two other friends. He came to my place a couple hours before the movie to prep but saw I was sick and took care of me. Everything seemed fine and we went to dinner and talked. Then he stepped outside for a long time and when he came back, he said he was talking to someone from the VA which is why it took so long. We get our seats for the movie and enjoying ourselves. Half way through the movie X starts spitting at random, questioning the logics of the movie in a rude manner, and being extremely clingy. We didn’t know why until we smelled alcohol from his breath and saw an opened lemonade bottle. Once we exited the theatre, X started yelling at my friend who was shielding me and throwing soda cans at random. My friend took me to her place, and I called his parents to pick him up before I called the police. The next day I texted him I could not be friends with him anymore because he broke my trust and he needed professional help. X texted back saying I did not want to deal with his problem making me a bad friend and just listening to my friend’s opinions instead of my own. He told me he was getting help but I was hurt by his words and decided to end our friendship because of his toxic behavior. I have not spoken to him for over 5 years now.

I was around 20 when this happened. I was comfortable telling my story about what happened, and that the decision was the right one and necessary. The truth was I felt guilty about what happened. I am the one who helps others before helping myself and cutting one of my good friends off and not helping him when he needed it most was making me depressed. I started going to bars with my friends less and had a strict role that there was no drinking in my place. But I suffered more from it. My apartment started to become a complete mess which attracted cockroaches and a smell so foul my neighbors in the whole complex could smell it. My diet consisted of take out and junk food which may be one of the main causes of gastritis a couple years ago. I stopped drinking and became the prude and boring of the friend group and I started isolating myself because I was no fun. I became distant with my partner and started having negative thoughts I never had before. I never told anyone about my problems because people would compare theirs to mine. I do have a privileged life and at a young age learned that other’s problems were far worse than I am, and my problems are nothing compared to theirs because I have it better. That comparison led me to keep my problems private and divert my feelings in a forced positive way. It was not until my fear of eviction and losing my cats did I start to ask for help. My friend helped me clean my entire apartment before inspection and lots of people reassured me that my problems mattered because they are my problems no matter the severity. I am a bit more open about my problems, but I can hide my emotions or brush it off. I am still working on that.

“Steven Universe: Future” is back for it’s final 10 episodes! This is both exciting and saddening as this will become the finale of the animated series. The month of March will be a rollercoaster ride full of emotions, tears, excitement, and angst! This will probably be the last promo post as the series is coming to its conclusion. Episode titles for 3/6, 3/13, and 3/20 were recently posted, but no synopsis or description of the episodes have been provided. I will still match images to the episode titles but will do a guessed analysis and prediction of the episodes. Enjoy!

(Before I make my post, there have been a few leaks out there. This post will not mention anything related to the leaks and all these predictions were made when the promo came out. I have listened to all leaks. Please do not comment on this post with the leaks as I want this to be spoiler free as much as possible)

1) “In Dreams” (Mar 6, 7 p.m. EST)

Much like the title, Steven insecurities and anxieties are manifesting in his dreams. According to some researchers and psychoanalysts, dreams are scenarios/ gateways to our subconscious thoughts. From the last batch of episodes, Steven is struggling to find a new purpose during peace time and feels left behind by his friends who are moving forward. The most noticeable is him falling form his house and something (probably the house) falling onto him. Awestruckvox made a promo analysis video describing that falling in dreams are related to losing control of something and insecurities taking over. Steven is starting to feel like he is not in control of his life anymore and the weigh of the responsibilities as being savior are starting to feel heavy. Unfortunately, this may pose as dangerous to Steven because he has does have dream related powers. This power, much like Pink Steven, will cause some problems like his powers being active while sleeping or just cause stress to Steven as he cannot sleep well anymore. Either way, this is going to be a pretty serious episode right off the bat as Steven is now starting to manifest his problems in his dreams and can’t run away from himself.

2) “Bismuth Casual” (Mar 6, 7:15 p.m. EST)

There is not synopsis or clues from the promo for this episode. From the title, this will be a Bismuth focuses episode. Either Steven will need help from Bismuth as she has words of wisdom and sees Steven as his own person throughout the series. Because Bismuth is usually upbeat and cheery, this may be a funny or relaxed episode at first. However, it may take a turn for the worst or he may take the advice badly when related to Steven’s problems. Unfortunately, there is no clue to this episode, so this is all speculation at this point. I am very excited for this episode because we don’t get much Bismuth related episodes during the series and it would be nice to know what she has been up to in Little Homeworld.

3) “Together Forever” (Mar 13, 7:00 p.m. EST)

This is a Connie and Steven episode. Much like “Together Alone” and “Alone Together” those are usually Connie and Steven based episodes. There is an image of Steven in a nice outfit creating a crater from falling in his Pink Steven form and destroying what seems to be a romantic picnic. Either two things happened to cause Steven to do this:

1) Connie was unable to make it to the date due to her studies last minute and Steven becomes upset that even Connie is moving on without him.

2) Connie rejects Steven (it is not sure if they are dating or not) and Steven will be hurt by the rejection.

Either scenario is going to have an impact on Steven as he will feel more alone, and his aggression and denial is going to get worse now that he has lost Connie.

4) “Growing Pains” (Mar 13, 7:15 p.m. EST)

Growing pains is an interesting title. In reality, growing pains are painful cramping of the body due to growth of some sort. Steven is already facing an identity crisis that is causing him to lose control of his powers. His unstable emotions will cause him to be in Pink Steven mode a lot more and lash out aggressively. At first this made me think of “Cat Fingers” when Steven lost control of his shape shifting powers. But he has not shown signs of losing those powers yet and it would be too early if shown in this episode. This makes me think of the scenes in the promo when he is in the forest running, punching trees, and leaving debris everywhere due to his anger. Growing pains could be a play on words and this episode will focus on Steven losing control of himself and his powers and causing destruction.

5) “Mr. Universe” (Mar 20, 7:00 p.m. EST)

This will hopefully be a Greg Universe episode. The last time we saw him in Future was “Bluebird” when he chopped off his hair and gave his long luscious hair a Viking funeral. When Steven was younger, he would sometimes go to his dad for advice. This would be plausible now as Steven is going through another identity crisis and would want his dad’s advice. Greg is good at giving Steven advice and Steven takes his advice. However, Greg may give him honest advice he does not take well. Steven could lash out at Greg by accident and probably hurt him in the process. This will cause Steven to feel guilt not just about hurting his dad. Either way this will make him spiral even more and may linger into the next episode.

6) “Fragments” (Mar 20, 7:15 p.m. EST)

This episode is actually frightening. When I think of fragments I think of pieces. Most think the hospital images in the promo are going to be in “Growing Pains” but after this episode title came out, I think the hospital scenes will be in this episode. Steven is in the hospital for some reason (maybe related to previous episode). He is most likely being asked questions about the incident by a doctor and is suddenly getting flashbacks of his past. Hence why I think the hospital scene will be in this episode because the pieces of his past, like fragments, are starting to resurface. This causes his Pink Steven form to pop up and even causes pain. This could even cause the lump in his side to form but only temporarily. There could also be a possibility of Steven coming home after the hospital and his sudden outburst causes his house to crack or even fall apart like fragments or pieces. This episode may be the most frightening as it will show us Steven being affected by his trauma and will manifest his powers before the last 4 episodes.

Warning there is a new audio leak of SUF. I is only a few seconds long and not very spoilery. If you want to avoid it block tags and refrain from listening.