#reformations

Pt. 1

Let's go y'all. I really wanted to put together in one post all of the symbolism behind the new outfits of the crystal gems, as well as comparisons with their previous reformations.

Disclaimer: some of the points in this post have already been pointed out. Not all of them tho, I just repeat what I feel relevant

(I realized this was going to be as long as the Odissey so I split it into sections)

Let's start from

Garnet

The very first Garnet is a literal explosion. Of color, of curiosity, of emotion. She's colored in baby blue and strong pink, tamed versions of the fiery Ruby red and deep Sapphire blue. Her outfit is thrown together in confusion and shows inexperience, but comes with so much passion.

As time passes, we see in We Need To Talk a version of Garnet with a palette and outfit very resembling her post-Jailbreak reformation. She got confident as a fusion, and no longer you can see her "two halves". Yet the shape of her shoulder pads is very soft, and we see her being playful, in the Garnet way.

The start of season 1 of the show presents some... evident changes. Both in appearence and personality. Garnet has become the CG's official leader. She's a lot more taciturn and closed off, and you rarely see her smile, even while playing with Steven. Her outfit resembles a space suit. Here appears on her chest the star logo, but everything else is very... played straight (whaaaat garnet??) She's body and soul into her role. The palette is the dimmest and simplest in terms of color (dusty light pink, dusty bordoux, greyish pure black) Besides the two gems, there are no signs of her being a fusion on her (yes, there is still a lot of foreshadowing around. Yes, it needed to be lowkey for the big reveal. Still) Rose's disappearence made her put up a stone cold exterior, and it shows.

Post Jailbreak has Garnet reforming while Steven knows that she's a fusion. The "birthday surprise" is blown, and Garnet had an entire season to warm up thanks to Steven. Her color palette is a reprise of the 80's episode. The darker colors of her legs are still mixed with blue and red (split in the middle where she was hit with the destabilizer), and prevail deep purple tones on her torso and star motif. Her visor shines in Ruby and Sapphire's colors. It still looks like a space suit, but that's Garnet i guess, we rarely see her with frills around her legs. For as long as Garnet wears this reformation, we can see her expressing her emotions more and more, with only two distinct cases where those were too much for her to handle (Keystone Motel, s2; Now We're Only Falling Apart, s5 )

And we finally get to Chance Your Mind! This might really be the most colorful and quirky Garnet has looked like since The Answer 's flashback. She has come so far! And she very intends to let everyone know. She got poofed on homeworld for fusing, and reformed saying the biggest fuck you to that crap. Wedding rings never forgotten, wearing what looks like a tailleur colored in red and blue. Then she wasn't satisfied still, so the half star on her chest (for the first time not drawn crooked to the side) had the flipping lesbian flag colors. Iconic. She's happy, she's fulfilled, she's feeling herself. She uses her visor to complete the star motif (also a first time in her design), giving herself a point of light and an appariscent look. She won't hide herself away anymore.

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