gemderqueer

I’ve thought this for a while now but looking at this picture in particular cements it for me-

Compared to Allura, who already has white hair, Lotor’s hair appears to have a kind of odd luminosity to it? Like… I don’t think it glows, but it’s incredibly reflective of ambient light. He has this faint aura around his entire head similar to the ones Allura has around the cyan insets in her circlet and armor.

It’s such a neat little detail, because that kind of odd shininess also tends to apply to his eyes, and it’s easy to miss, but it does make him stand out. And it makes sense- he was prenatally touched by the rift.

But it’s also interesting because if you compare that to Zarkon and Haggar, there’s nothing subtle about the way those guys glow- it tends to pour from their eyes as this terrifying, blinding radiance or saturate the whole environment. In s5e2 Zarkon lets off these explosions of purple light. 

Like- Pidge is a young, bright kid in an environment where most people are a lot bigger and scarier than her and she’s just doing the best she can to get what she wants and get out. Especially if Lotor ages slowly, he may have spent a long time as a scrappy little space kid himself.

So he just sees Pidge who’s like fifteen and ready to fight everyone and he’s just “I’ve been there.” so he has this weird sort of empathy for Pidge even after she nearly sent him to his death.

Loving you was loving war.

Having a mom is a new thing for him.  

on the subject of Steven’s birth

I’ve seen some people confused as to how Steven was born with his gem rotated like Rose’s and not like Pink’s (which is its natural rotation).

Simply put, it’s because Pink was pregnant with Steven in her Rose Quartz form, and if we follow the logic of how such pregnancy would even be possible, that’s the only way he could’ve been formed.

Pink and Steven shared one gem when she was pregnant. It’s the only time they both existed simultaneously, and since she can’t duplicate her own gem, or provide fetus-Steven organic based energy through her form (that is made of light), the only way for this pregnancy to work was as shown above.

And Pearl, remember when we stopped that dropship? I’ll never forget the look on that Nephrite’s face when you pulled her out of the cockpit!

I know. How embarrassing for her!

So come over here, sit next to me; we can see where things go naturally– just say the word and I’ll part the sea

Short answer: no, not at all. I just think they haven’t gotten there yet.

Long answer: The Crewniverse has never stuck me as the type to shy away from taking risks, as calling out Lapis’ behavior would be. Hell, they’ve made ROSE QUARTZ, once the very image of Good and Just™, a controversial character, so anyone is fair game!

I’m a firm believer that Lapis’ lack of consequences for her actions is a major character flaw for Steven, and not just the Crewniverse trying to avoid backlash. Every interaction he has with her ultimately involves her hurting someone–Greg, Jasper, Peridot, etc.–and leaving to avoid conflict that may or may not be related to her actions, yet he’s still never acknowledged how she was at fault in these situations.

She broke Greg’s leg, but “Lapis was not mean, she was just trying to get home.”

She had complete control over Jasper, keeping her trapped in a fusion and torturing her for months on end, and admitted to missing keeping Jasper bound to her, but “it’s not like that anymore. You don’t have to be with Jasper” and “she’s terrible!”

She was an absolute jerk to Peridot in Barn Mates. While she wasn’t obligated to be her friend (given their former dynamic), she didn’t even try to explain this to Peridot. She just decided that she wanted to live in the barn that Peridot had already claimed, rejected all of Peridot’s advances with no explanation, then told her to leave the place she decided to call home. Like wtf! Granted, Steven did call her out for being mean and not even giving her a chance (no mention of the fact that she broke Peridot’s coping mechanism and told her to scram, but w/e).

So she and Peridot became friends and everything seemed just fine, when in reality, Peridot has been bending over backwards to keep Lapis happy, so that it doesn’t blow up like it did in Barn Mates. She cared about Lapis and probably even liked her, but she was also scared of her. And the moment Peridot’s interests conflict with her own, she left and took the barn with her. She expressed remorse for this in Can’t Go Back, but “at least [Peridot] has Pumpkin” and “they’d be glad to have you back.”

Sorry, I went on a tangent there, but you get the gist. It’s become a pattern of him excusing her actions. She’s his beach summer fun buddy, she was trapped in a mirror, she was traumatized by Homeworld, Jasper was mean to her…he doesn’t understand that one’s trauma doesn’t give them a get out of jail free card. He’s the only character that has consistently defended Lapis, regardless of what she’s done.

She broke Greg’s leg, but she was desperate to go home. She messed Jasper up–even more than she already was–but Jasper’s mean, so it’s probably justified. She hurt Peridot and caused her emotional turmoil and stole all her possessions, but Lapis abandoned her because she was scared. It’s too blatant to not be intentional.

As for Jasper redemption, I feel like the show has been too caught up in current events to even consider bringing back old shelved problems like corruption, which is something that will have to be dealt with before they deal with Jasper. And I doubt she would be Steven’s first choice if he suddenly had an idea for how to cure it; that honor would likely go to Centi, then Jasper.

It is frustrating how little development Jasper has compared to the other characters, especially when Lapis has gotten so much love and support that she ultimately rejected to save her own skin. My biggest complaint about the writing for the show is how long they’ve put off dealing with corruption, but like I said, the natural progression of events since the end of season 3 hasn’t really allowed for development on old topics that don’t relate directly to current events. There hasn’t been a pressing urgency to heal corruption, as there was with saving Greg, saving his friends, saving Lars and trying to get him home, and learning the truth about his mom, only to have that dashed as he’s given an even bigger truth to swallow.