Lily Orchard was Wrong, and Here's Why

[@HidinginPrivate]

I hope Lily has grown since making this video, but the Damage it has done still needs to be corrected for. Lily has a pretty bad track record of attacking and misrepresenting anyone who criticizes her, so again, I hope she has grown and doesn't go nuclear. Still, making this video was a risk- so please support me if you can! Like, comment, and share!

[@chairy9775]

she hasnt. she's still attacking people in her comment section under that video, and is still bigoted as all hell.

[@SilverRagaire]

She’s worse! 👍

[@alittlelostinthemoment6677]

She hasn't. In fact, she got worse. Your faith in her is admirable but horribly misplaced.

[@ARandomEliatrope]

Nah, she's way worse now actually!

[@Interstellarpool176]

hasn’t grown that much💀

[@Laiser]

34:07 Okay, so this criticism from Lily has bothered me for YEARS because it so clearly misinterprets Steven's relationship with violence. Steven being excited and gleeful with violence was only early in the show because he thought it was cool and he only ever fought against literal monsters. Once REAL violence started affecting Steven and his loved ones ( Steven The Sword Fighter, ENTIRE JAILBREAK ARC), his entire perception of violence changes. This is not inconsistent writing like she claims, it's literally the most blatant example of subtle character development throughout the show and she completely misses it. By "Bismuth" Steven has been severely negatively affected by violence and does not view it as he once did, hence why he's uncomfortable.

[@MatsuyoRific]

Agreed. It's like trying to condemn someone for being a vegetarian because they ate meat as a child, and said they liked it. They had to come to that realization themselves. No one starts out saying "I don't think eating meat is right." They see how animals are killed and decide they don't want to support that. They make that conscious decision that their desire to become vegetarian outweighs their thought that hamburgers are tasty. They can still remember that they thought hamburgers were tasty, while still obstaining from eating them. Note: This is not me preaching about the "evils of meat eating". I'm just making a comparison to show how stupid it is to condemn Steven for being excited about violence as a kid, and then deciding later to be a pacifist.

[@manumooo9071]

Literally there's a lot of symbolism about why steven has a shield rather than a sword or other weapons, he prefers to protect rather than attack, and the audience then asks why he doesn't go berserk, like, dude... Almost every "hero story goes like that give it a rest

[@jtlego1]

​​​@@manumooo9071 and contrary to what the Anti-Steven memes to this day insinuate, Steven is perfectly capable of fighting back and using his shield in a combative manner. Remember the shield gauntlets he made in The Movie?

[@MissJasmine305]

@@manumooo9071 I also noticed this especially when it came to Rose's sword. To my recollection, Steven never actually wields the sword in the show. In face, the only one other than Rose/Pink Diamond to actively wield it is Connie, who was presumably given the sword by Steven. Note: I could be wrong about this it's been awhile since I've seen the show. But I'm pretty sure Steven never uses the sword in combat.

[@MysticMindAnalysis]

That, and what would shattering the Diamonds achieve? Suppose he did shatter them. Then what? There would be a power vacuum. Steven and the Crystal Gems start by changing the culture of strict hierarchies and caste systems first, THEN he uses his authority as Pink Diamond (something he only learned later on) to be granted an air of authority. He shows White Diamond that no matter how much you try, no authority will be able to control everyone.

[@DoggoDoesStuff1]

Lily calling everything that doesnt include the space fascists filler, and calling Garnet's emotional split filler, then saying that Garnet is tossed to the side as a character, THEN saying that the conclusion to her emotional split was great until the space fascists came in is truly beyond parody.

[@HidinginPrivate]

You could barely be more inconsistent if you tried

[@NintendoMeister2260]

I legit think she's schizophrenic.

[@ChimeraLotietheBunny]

Agreed

[@Mimipking]

Lol 'the Garnet' ❤

[@DoggoDoesStuff1]

@@Mimipking Hmm? I have no clue what you're talking about :)

[@flarky6465]

I can't believe the most popular Steven Universe video essay on this website doesn't understand what fusion is. We let Lily Orchard affect the Steven Universe discord for 4 years.

[@HidinginPrivate]

Insane and sad

[@WannzKaswan]

​@@jøy_what_riley_loves_the_most I think he meant discourse

[@Regigigas_YT]

I haven't watched the video, but I'll take a wild guess and I'll say she thinks it's like Dragon Ball or how fusing Necrozma with Solgaleo Would Necrozma be able to fuse with one of the Gems? geez imagine Necrozma fusing with Pink Steven, instant death for everyone.

[@nickrustyson8124]

I'm glad now Lily is seen more as a joke now because my God she was everything bad about 2013-2017 Tumblr

[@NintendoMeister2260]

I think Lily’s presentation is somewhat manipulative. I don’t know how to describe it but if you watch a Lily Orchard video absentmindedly you trick yourself into thinking it’s actually smart.

[@clavasconcellos1712]

About the gay wedding, Sugar did two amazing things to break how the show was being adapted in homophobic countries: First was putting Ruby on a dress. In Russia, Ruby was being dubbed as male so their relationship would turn heterossexual, and having Ruby in dress now meant that those places would have to have a "man" using a dress without it being a joke or the "man" being femme the rest of the time. And second, having the Diamonds crash the wedding meant that now the episode couldn't be cut off, because the next one started at the exact end of this one. Well played, Sugar, well played :D

[@lilypaigeham]

THAT IS FUCKING GENIUS?????? HOLY SHIT

[@KingThundersReal]

Lily calls it bad representation I call it a great swindle

[@nickchabot1302]

@@KingThundersRealsounds delicious

[@noctap0d]

A masterful play 💙❤️

[@Daeneiracorn]

they cancelled those episodes anyway tho.

[@tearoses9940]

The point about Pearl and Rose/Pink’s relationship. I’ve seen some people be like “How could she have picked Greg over Pearl? They had so much history, Pearl was willing to die for her, etc” but that’s the thing. Pearl _idolized_ Rose/Pink, who was understandably uncomfortable with being put on that pedestal, and had told Pearl that she didn’t want to be treated like that. Greg treated her like an equal from the beginning, even almost forgetting that she wasn’t another human.

[@dalailarose1596]

Yes! This is what the so-called "Nice Guys" don't get; most women don't want to be put on a pedestal & "treated like a princess", & it's not because we want to be "treated like crap" instead; it's because we want to be treated like PEOPLE. I want to be cherished & respected & supported, but not worshipped.

[@melvin2313]

Its also a good kids lesson, sometimes you can choose not to reciprocate a another persons love if its not right for you. I love how rose/pearl is not the ultimate way a relationship could be and is the right way to love someone, we choose who we want to be with not the other way around.

[@calvintyler9281]

This reminds me of THAT duo from darling in the franx with the nice girl who abandons her friend and the guy who's basically forced to ignore how terrible she did him.

[@marngao]

This is a problem I’ve seen in the anime rezero, the fans raged when the mc picked emilia over rem. Their reasoning was “she saved him time and time again, took care of you, and loved you” when acts of service do not entitle you to someone’s love. Subaru is not required to pick rem because she does stuff for him, rose does not have to pick pearl because pearl does a ton for her, relationships and love are not transactional, it is creepy as hell to hear so many people think you choose someone based on how much they do for you

[@Ashtonyss]

​@@marngao THANK YOU.

[@milos1967]

I think while Lily definitely deserves this criticism, in my mind she's kinda a symptom of a larger problem. The attention economy has gotten so grotesque on the internet that it's no longer just acceptable to say "here's why I don't like this thing" and instead the video has to be "this is why this piece of media is irredemable GARBAGE." The fact that ragebait/negativity gets so many clicks on this platform rewards lazy, unsubstantiated critiques at best, and vicious misinformation at worst. Yucky.

[@SpiderandMosquito]

Been saying this myself for a long time now

[@Wixyification]

I am a professional hater. What separates me from all the amateurs is that I know I'm the problem. Sometimes I have legitimate reasons but I just as often don't. It's freeing to just hate something because you're petty and are just irked by that thing. I dislike Taylor Swift for example. There are real nuanced critiques of her activism, her writing/sings, and even who she associates with. But I don't dislike her because of those things, I just dislike her because her fan base thinks she's the best thing since sliced bread. You don't have to have a good reason to hate something. You have to have a good reason to hate them in public or online. Online forums dedicated to venting about a celebrities are a grey area bc I think it's fine as long as you have to actively search for it.

[@princekyle4132]

You don’t get rewarded for integrity. There is something deeply diseased about Internet culture :(

[@colonelmustang854]

Doug Walker and CinemaSins need to be held accountable for poisoning the well of online media discourse so thoroughly that people like Lily Orchard and the MANY alt-right grifters like Nerdrotic and The Quartering are able to parrot bad-faith criticisms to an audience who will lap it up unthinkingly.

[@SpaceG0ats]

You're completely right! Its this innate feelings of needing to be "smarter" and "totally OWNING" the media you criticize that completely derails from genuine critique to just being "loud and obscene as i possibly can!!!!" I don't mind comedy and criticism being mixed together for a video but god, its never really a full mix. Its just this smug sense of being inherently "better" than the media you critique. Its kind of like the basement nerd rage of smugly insulting media, hiding behind it either being a "joke" or "just my opinion," simultaneously switching between the two, and then rinse and repeat. Its built this REALLY annoying rhetoric that if you don't enjoy a piece of media, then you have to absolutely tear into it and in fact, its entirely the medias fault, you're just way too smart for it! I'm not saying you have to be 100% positive or even fully LOVE the piece of media you critic, but to frame your own feeling based on personal taste as a critique or "essay" will make it completely fall flat. Hate anything all you want! You dont need a 2 hour video essay to prove your feelings are valid, they already are. Not everything was made for you and your personal tastes are no less valid, until you start acting as if its actual fact. And if you do want to engage with media you dont like, genuinely engage with it and the people who enjoy it. This fucking reddit narrative of needing to be the most giga chad smart boy cinamasins facts over feelings critic is going to put media literacy 6ft under.

[@thirdwheel9938]

Bruh. Lily Orchard legit went "These bad cartoons are the reason why bigots make laws against us" ??? ?????? ? ? ?? Girl what

[@NintendoMeister2260]

Huh????????????????? 🤔

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

These kind of statements is the reason why I don't take Lily's so-called "criticism" seriously. Nothing about her takes improved anything other than trying to taint any media she criticized in favor of her preference and misinformation.

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

Lily Orchard completely ignores the fact that the reason why Amethyst stopped being angsty about her insecurities after the Zoo episode is because she finds out that the closest thing she has to a biological family(the other Amethysts)loves her for who she is and accepts her. That's a perfectly acceptable ending to that arc. I found it very heartwarming and emotionally powerful

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

Plus, she discovers other “deformed” gems like her, like Skinny Jasper and Carnelian

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

@@one-onessadhalf3393 Yeah, and she saw that they were being accepted as part of the group too. I think there was something sort of beautiful about her arc ending like that

[@SpaceLanceFTW]

Well she couldn't relate to it, so it was completely lost on her...

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

@@SpaceLanceFTW I don't think that's it. I think since they didn't have a character explicitly say in the script that this is what's happening, she missed it.

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

@@SpaceLanceFTW Society treats trans people like Homeworld treats gems who were born different from their societal norms. Since she's LGBT, Lily Orchard probably would relate to it if she understood what was happening

[@Yipyak-i-ay]

I never noticed before, but she complains about queer characters being explicitly limited to gems, while showing Pearl's punk lesbian hookup on screen.

[@TheBonkleFox]

Also didn't sadie get into a queer relationship in future? Then again lily probably doesn't count that.

[@Yipyak-i-ay]

@@TheBonkleFox Yep! She had an enby partner.

[@maxxie_the_queer]

Plus, while this could be a grey area on whether or not it's considered queer, Kevin acknowledges that Stevonnie is enby and still hits on them. So that's another human, who shows up multiple times, who could be considered some flavor of queer

[@commonbridge4735]

@@TheBonkleFox Sadie was also attracted to Stevonnie in the original show, so she was queer in OG SU too.

[@princess_intell]

Also, a lot of reoccurring characters are gems. At some point, it's just a matter of statistics.

[@Jakeneutron]

Video was fantastic! I'm very glad you took the time to do this two part series. Steven Universe is one of my favorite pieces of media and it was traumatic to see how easy it was for bad faith confident videos to take over the conversation around it and gaslight people into thinking it's worse than it was. The show was not perfect but it certainly wasn't as dangerous as they tried to push. Glad to know upon watching unbothered, new viewers can find the same value many others and I had when watching it live.

[@fanaticalistic]

Oh my stars it's jakeneutron!🌟

[@HidinginPrivate]

Yeah I think the biggest thing I was surprised by is after I watched it- it was just like...innocuous? Like it was good, I liked it- but I expected something to be more divisive? Thanks so much for the support both in sharing and supporting financially! It means a lot!

[@JellyEllipse]

❤

[@0Magicallywild0]

​​@@HidinginPrivateI was divisive at the time i think!

[@oversizedflowerpot]

🗣💯💯💯💯

[@TreeDwellingShrimp]

I'm so tired of this idea that if a 'bad thing' is shown in media, then the creator must endorse said 'bad thing' and just including a depiction of it (regardless of what it's trying to say) reveals something fundamentally bad about the creator themselves. Like it's evidence of their moral failings. Having Uncle Andy be a bigot doesn't mean Rebecca is a bigot too or agrees with him. The point is to show he's WRONG. What is with people anymore? They're so unhinged. I see these 'hot takes' all the time on twt and it's so annoying. People have horrible media literacy skills (and lack common sense) and need everything literally spelled out for them or they'll give the least charitable interpretation of stuff that usually results in a creator being labeled with some flavor of bigotry or creep. Then when it is spelled out for them they'll turn around to complain the writing is awful and the team are treating the viewers like braindead kids. It's a lose-lose game that stifles creativity.

[@KingYou2002]

I fully agree. I think some people just like complaining for the sake of complaining.

[@gamer47e17]

Oh absolutely. It's inasne to me how people don't... get it.

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

Plus, Andy literally changes his perspective at the end of the episode. Steven isn't forced to accept him, he choses to reach out to him and on his own, Andy decides that he needs to stop being the way he is.

[@blunderbuss1395]

i've always had a "closeted conservative" reading on andy, considering how easy he turns around on the crowd after seeing how accepting they are, being single at his ripe old age, not getting offended when the gems say "let's all marry eachother!" and also talking about everyone leaving the family for personal freedom. it really sounds like he never had the bravery himself to free himself from the suffocating mindset of the demayo family, whether it be that he was queer or not. in any case, steven and his family brought him healing in a way that didn't rely on condemnation or violence. why does that offend people?

[@boomgirlbucko]

Claiming that Stevonnie is sexualized is like the people claiming that Mei was making profit off nudes and her period from Turning Red. If something isn't inherently sexual and you claim it is, it's YOU sexualizing it, not the show or movie

[@Blue-ux4sk]

WHAT ? this was actual discourse?

[@andreadrussel2716]

@@Blue-ux4sk Unfortunately.

[@boomgirlbucko]

@@Blue-ux4sk Yeah, and BionicPig (movie reviewer) was the first to be bold enough to point out that it was the fans sexualizing it, not the movie.

[@Pos1tr0nic]

It reminds me of how the DireGentleman/We Are Not Alive video on Lily's writing tips (which I otherwise enjoyed) goes on a tangent about how 'weird' it is that two kids fuse together to be a 'legally consenting adult'. And I'm just like... they're literally two kids in a trench coat! Why are you bringing that into this when it was never on the table!

[@Santoryu90]

⁠@@boomgirlbuckoThe people who think I kinda doubt were really fans of the movie

[@ireallyhate_peanutbutter]

lily coulda just said “steven universe is cringe” like 99% of ppl who don’t like it, but instead she called the creator a fascist, a bad artist, a bad writer, a disease, etc etc 😭 the amount of effort is disgusting

[@kay.gochii]

I don't understand Lily Orchard. If you hate fun and cute things then why watch invest so much time in watching and complaining about steven universe, just go watch mad men or something.

[@NintendoMeister2260]

Lily said in her update that she only questioned if the show redeeming the diamonds was Nazi propaganda but that’s lamp shading. We had video evidence Lily.

[@milkyeyez34]

@@NintendoMeister2260literally. but ig thats the only thing lily genuinely cared about. she wanted to destroy people’s perspectives. shes a crazy person

[@wendigowithwifi8494]

She wasn't wring him do you redeem space nazis who committed mass genocide

[@TheRealGamingLegend]

@@NintendoMeister2260 I am confused, why is everyone saying her? I just watched the video and that was a guy narrating

[@Evil_Monologues]

Wow, lapis is an abuse victim who does bad things? Woah man, its almost as if hurt people hurt people, or something crazy like that. Ugh

[@thecheck968]

Wait what, hurt people hurt people? What an incredibly original phrase for such an original idea! We’re onto something here, like abuse is some sort of… cycle. Crazy.

[@theluigifan1]

I would argue even before Lapis started perpetuating the cycle of abuse the longer she was fused with Jasper, she originally just wanted to fuse and trap Jasper under the sea in order to protect Steven from her. Up to this point, Lapis has had nothing but gratitude and positive feelings toward Steven so it would make sense that she felt the need to protect her one friend from somebody out to get him. She did it when they first arrived in the hand ship in The Return. She even lied about Steven being just a plain human just to protect him from Jasper’s assault. It was only when she stayed Malachite for an extended period of time that she began relishing in the torture she was putting Jasper through for hurting her and threatening to hurt the one person she cared about. It became so toxic that Lapis stopped thinking about herself as her own entity and embraced being Malachite. That’s where the toxicity in Lapis comes in, I feel. Too many people acknowledge the wrong things she was doing to Jasper since Jail Break but end up leaving out the part where she was also trying to protect Steven from a Homeworld Gem bent on destroying him and his friends/family.

[@47ratsinahoodie]

@@theluigifan1 Exactly. Lapis was clearly initially trying to help, but it was when she had time to stew in her trauma from and hatred of Jasper and Homeworld (not to mention being trapped by the thing she's meant to control for so many months), she decided to take it out on Jasper. Hell, I wouldn't put it past her to at first thing this was a good thing and that Jasper deserved it for hurting her and threatening Steven before she eventually relished in it. But then she was able to come to the realization that that wasn't healthy in the slightest (meanwhile Jasper just came to the realization that she liked to be dominated /j). I really don't know how someone can misinterpret that. No one's saying Lapis didn't hurt Jasper, and I feel like that's what some people miss, idk

[@theluigifan1]

@@47ratsinahoodieExactly. I don’t know how people forget that Lapis *literally* said to Steven in Chille Tid “Just let me do this for you!” That’s why I feel my interpretation for why she ultimately chose to form Malachite with Jasper is apt.

[@enfysiridescent]

I think that Lily Orchard was against the portrayal of Lapis because she needs to shield her own actions. She needs people to believe that abuse survivors can't become abusive themselves, because she falls into the same category as Lapis: someone who was horribly abused, who went on to horribly abuse others.

[@destinee6590]

I find "Rose just wanted to have a baby" to be the most interesting possible answer, honestly, because it really...humanizes her, for lack of a better term. Rose Quartz is spoken of like a myth or a legend throughout a lot of the show, so of course Steven, and the audience, expects some sort of complicated reason for his existence, some sort of plot or plan or meaning that would align with her mythical status. But there was no plot, no plan. Rose didn't create him for some grand purpose. Despite all of the great and terrible things she's done, she wasn't some distant mythological figure. She was just another Gem, just a person who wanted a baby.

[@KingYou2002]

It was also supposed to show how Steven can overthink every single piece of information that crosses his mind. It's to foreshadow Future.

[@zero_55555]

EXACTLY, that, and it makes steven more relatable to the viewer as a lot of people were born for that exact reason, their parents just wanted a kid. very rarely do parents have this huge overarching plan when deciding to have a kid. it's realistic because it shows that steven, just like us, doesn't have a greater meaning behind his existence. his purpose in life is to just live it.

[@pumpkin-poweredcreeper1239]

Also strongly plays into the themes of Pink Diamond’s revolution of rejecting some kind of necessity and reason for doing anything in favor of just doing what makes you happy. Rose didn’t sacrifice herself to make a half human half gem child that would save Earth, she just wanted to have a kid cuz she heard about it from Greg and thought it was beautiful and worthwhile.

[@marngao]

Weird how lily ignores how rose adores humanity’s ability to choose what they become and do in comparison to gems being made for a purpose and only doing that purpose, it’d completely go against roses beliefs, what she admired about humans, and the whole reason she had Steven if he was made to serve a purpose or if he was supposed to be something specific. This episode also literally comes back up when Steven returns to roses room and starts a storm while yelling at a fake rose over whether she just had him so she could avoid her problems and have him deal with it

[@phoenixlmao]

@@zero_55555 honestly, that message resonates with me and i never even got into watching steven universe. just the idea of coming into existence for no particular reason relates to me and probably a lot of other people

[@sunshinespark8785]

Her argument that Yellow is supposedly written inconsistently is so dumb. Of course Yellow is gonna act differently when bossing aroung some lowly Peridot than she would when she's having an intimate emotional conversation with Blue, the person she cares about the most. That's not inconsistent writing, It's just showing different sides of her character and giving her more complexity! Does Lily not understand that people sometimes behave differently depending on the situation and the person they're talking to?

[@TheAbigailDee]

When I'm sitting in the hospital talking to my dying great great grandmother or when I'm sitting drunk with my best friend from high school, I speak very differently! I must be inconsistent!!! 😱😱

[@Pix6lbits]

Yeah she definitely forgot that yellow and blue are literally equals and they would have an actual relationship

[@clblowe]

Four years ago, I watched Lily’s video without ever watching a single episode of Steven Universe. I spent like 3-4 years thinking it was a terrible show and having no interest in watching it. That changed when my current girlfriend sat me down and had me watch it with her. I told her I heard really bad things about it and I wasn’t that interested in watching it, but she told me to trust her and just give it a shot. So, I did. This video is incredibly cathartic for me now because I actually have the show a shot and genuinely really loved it. Now, whenever I go back to Lily’s video, I almost feel shame for how easily influenced I was, and it makes me sad that I kept myself from experiencing a genuinely good show simply because of one person’s clearly misguided and heavily biased take.

[@aidomiya3401]

Happens to the best of us! The video goes so fast with its points that you don’t really have a good moment to process what’s being said. Most people just turn on videos in the background anyway without fully engaging in them, only tuning in to the buzzwords. The fact you were willing to change your perspective is cool, and shows you aren’t as easily influenced as you might’ve thought

[@WestGarbage6]

I feel you, back when I watched Lily's video, I was more or less a stupid kid, I'd watched Steven Universe at least three times at that point, but despite that, I took everything Lily said at face value, and soured my own view on Steven Universe, pretty much forcing my own opinions in the corner and letting her opinions take the spotlight over them. Then I watched Steven Universe again, still in the "But is it really that bad?" phase of thinking, and I started to imagine flaws, and 'notice' the flaws mentioned by Lily, but despite all that, it was STILL enjoyable to watch, so up until watching this video, I just kinda had mixed feelings about the show, I think at a certain point I almost started to beat myself up over still liking the show, even though I "knew" it was garbage. It didn't help that Lily effectively created an echo chamber, because she can't handle any semblance of (Well deserved) criticism, I usually check the comments to give myself a new perspective on what I'm watching, to make sure I don't just get brainwashed into sharing the youtubers views on everything, but seeing that everything was positive and supportive, I thought "Man, guess she was right." I'm glad I found this video, I don't know if my opinion on Steven Universe will be as positive as it was before watching that garbage video essay, but at least now I can like it again, and feel good about it, it's sad that a lot of people might just end up holding those views from her video though, with how badly it's been etched into the community around Steven Universe.

[@PDD555]

This happens. I was already part of the steven universe fandom when Lily's video got uploaded but I had a similar experience years prior when I started watching the show

[@tintedpalette653]

That’s what sucks about that video. Lily does a good job at sounding like a convincing person to those who lack the context of what she’s actually discussing. And to those who do have the context, her virtue signaling and holier-than-thou moral attitude towards what she criticizes makes people feel inclined to agree with her even if they didn’t think the same at the start. “If you don’t agree with X thing I say, then you are condoning Y which makes you morally bad”. That sort of framing is powerful and manipulative.

[@themanwithoutaplan9389]

I had the same thing happen to me, but my opinion on the show mellowed out on its own. I’m probably never going to watch Steven Universe, mostly because the show just isn’t for me. But I refuse to call shows good or bad unless I’ve actually watched them now, unless the criticism presented is backed up by actual evidence.

[@M3RDR]

Lily calling Stevonnie "the most hyper-fem you could possibly be" has the same energy as people on twitter calling Taylor Swift butch because she wore pants

[@SpookusMcDoofus]

Twitter seriously called Taylor Swift bitch because she wore fucking jeans? 😂

[@andyghkfilm2287]

she literally grows and shaves facial hair on-screen, lolllllll “HYPER FEM”

[@kataminedj]

God forbid an intersex person has curves and long hair fucks sake

[@SeaNymph]

I'm late but what disgusts me most is that the idea that Stevonnie is the most "fem presenting thing ever" is incredibly enbyphobic by itself, completely disregarding her wording. Nonbinary people can look like anyone regardless of appearance or traits. Nonbinary people don't owe anyone androgyny.

[@brassboy212]

Lily just salty because Stevonnie (a mixed gender character) was prettier than her IRL. 😂 It's like that Homer Simpson line "WHY DOESN'T MINE LOOK LIKE THAT?!"

[@iceynn4645]

Lily's overdramatic freakout over the "Sexualization of stevonnie" is really, really ironic considering the things she's done/written. I don't know how someone with that track record can get so angry about taboos they've already committed

[@ThatGreenMach1ne]

Lily is projecting so hard.

[@PipisFootStank]

Yeah... There was literally nothing sexual about Stevonnie... the fact that she kept getting those thoughts speaks for herself

[@samuelclayhills3298]

Yeah even Kevin mr slimy douchebag bailed when he found out it was two kids althoug that probably aint a problem for Lilly.

[@neoqwerty]

@@ThatGreenMach1ne Petition to rename Lily Orchard to Lily IMAX Theatre.

[@thetoongrump9801]

I'm at this section now and crying with laughter. Lily is so pressed about nothing!

[@Conformist138]

Oh man, that rant about "no 14 year old having a developed body, we just only got acne" is so strange. I grew a chest in grade school. I was 11, just a bit younger than Connie and Steven, when this exact thing started to happen to me. Older boys and even men approaching me in public. I wasn't even a conventionally pretty girl, I just got a more "mature" figure very young. I saw the show as an adult, since I am an Old, but I related to Stevonnie both internally enjoying being this older and more mature self, while also being wierded out and confused by that kind of attention it brings from others. I think Lily just wants to pretend kids dont go through anything related to mental sexual maturation until after puberty is all done. To her, acknowledging the awkward in-between time is only done for salacious purposes.

[@pageclayton6850]

Gods, that bit made me mad. Like, I get it. She's trans, she literally did not go through what the female body goes through with puberty, the seemingly overnight growth of lumps and bumps and how now "you have to be careful wearing a skirt cause people will try and look up at your panties" (not hyperbole, my mother never wanted me wearing anything that would sexualise my body as a kid and she was blunt and honest as to why)

[@kay.gochii]

​@@pageclayton6850 It's so insane. I started puberty around 12, and my body was pretty much fully developed by the time I was 14. By then, my chest and curves had come in, and I still felt like a late bloomer compared to a lot of the other girls. I'm 24 now, and my height and weight haven't changed much since; it's literally the same body. Does Lily think girls go through puberty at like 17 or something?

[@the_last_ballad]

​@kay.gochii people in general are extremely weird about pubescent interactions with sexuality, outright denying it exists until 15 or 16. Meanwhile I started having my gay stirrings at 12(I'm a guy, so I can't comment anything useful on female puberty or those unfortunate experiences), though there were... definitely hints before then, it just wasnt slapping my face with a rubber chicken till then(and I still ignored it for another 5 years while being turned on exclusively by the gay slash fanfiction I was seeking out. Denial is a strong thing) and I wasn't ready for sex till my early 20's. People just don't want to discuss it at all, and seemingly don't even remember what it was like at that age...

[@lealeapants9011]

It genuinely felt wild to hear that, I left fifth grade completely flat and then showed up to sixth grade with C cups and was a DD/G by the end depending on weight. I was like 11-13, I was NOT sexualizing myself I was experiencing puberty and genes from my family that led to giant meat bags. Even if she is trans she should still have the basic understanding that 11 year old kids don't create the concept of sexualizing their body in the way adults do. It is way more adult concept that she is pushing and it's sad :(

[@em01455]

I was one of 3 people who started wearing bras in elementary school puberty isn’t 1 size fits all

[@Donovan_Neptune]

It’s been so long since I watched Lily’s video that when I got to the part around the end where she, verbatim, calls Rebecca Sugar A DISEASE, my jaw literally dropped Also it’s so funny in just the most painful way that she’s like “I’d never let MY children watch this show and get the wrong ideas” because that’s what conservatives said about SU and any other queer media, thinking it’d make them gay or trans or whatever

[@gennybaratta2460]

Ugh the fact that she called a Jewish nb person a disease feels so gross and wrong especially in today’s political climate (not that it would be okay at any point but with recent raise in both antisemitism and transphobia it feels particularly gross you know)

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

If Lily gets hired as a critic, then calling someone a "disease" a way to criticize the piece of work is enough to get her fired. Not even Robert Ebert is THIS harsh.

[@maxleon61702]

Cue Michael Joseph Jackson's Who is It when we are a part of things like that.

[@robertterrell7057]

The diease part is true as fuck crazy thing to say to another human being....the second half is just "conservatives do x so it must be bad"

[@shaycrowley3262]

I think I blocked that from my memory cause that caught me off guard

[@starfieldgames5976]

"blink and you'll miss it representation" i'm sorry, does lily blink for 8 fucking hours??? because that's not blinking, that's sleep

[@randompromises1038]

Just look up "every ruby and sapphire moment" and you get compilation videos of over 10+ minutes 💀

[@antiquatedgraves9426]

This made me laugh my ass off, perfect reply.

[@mandarinsandclementines2997]

She did NOT watch keystone motel

[@TheGimbishGlob]

Fall into a year long coma and you’ll miss it

[@PTp1ranha]

If she was sleeping the whole time, that would explain a lot of the inaccuracies.

[@rel_bis]

Once saw Discord drama where someone mentioned being excited for the SU movie, and someone else replied "uuh SU is nazi propaganda ://" and when everyone else was like "what the FUCK are you talking about" the person doubled down and kept linking Lily's video as their source. The damage of that video is insaneee lol

[@HidinginPrivate]

Now you can counter with this and be just as annoying except you will be right

[@maxleon61702]

To quote Carl Wheezer about it: I don't feel so good.

[@Rock-holmes-4ever]

The show literally shows Nazi stuff as awful.

[@moykurs]

did this person not know su is made by a jewish person... lmao

[@chimppower2748]

Sugar is literally Jewish 💀💀

[@borgerroing9410]

"Stevonnie is oversexualised" is a wild take from the author of Stockholm ngl

[@patacas3155]

YEAH IT IS!!!

[@GravityFaiz]

“Stevonnie is oversexualized” Says the person who made RD into a s3x obsessed pdfile in her shitty MLP fanfic. Says the per who made Adagio grøøm a young girl in her other shitty MLP fanfic. SAYS THE PERSON WHO DID AND IMAGINED DOING INAPPROPRIATE THINGS TO HER SISTER.

[@Lishadra]

HELLLLLLLP LMFAOOOOO

[@nexaaaaaaa]

Fr and Stevonnie is not sexualized, like, at all??? I remember like once thinking they were being weird with Stevonnie, but the only way you(general you) see Stevonnie as being sexualized is when you immediately sexualize them yourself in your mind

[@Jacobo-xt5hz]

@@nexaaaaaaa dude im so glad that i found another comment thats recent because ive been losing my fucking mind over this, out of everything mentioned in this entire video theres something so genuinely disturbing about somebody finding this loose pile of ovals as "over sexualized hyper fem"

[@puppetpawss]

What really irks me about Lily and her criticism is that she has the most "damned if you do, damned if you don't" mentality I've ever seen. She basically wants to watch characters who are flat, one note NPCs because she can't go for 4 seconds without screeching that a character is horrible for daring to be flawed, but then turns around and screeches that a character is horrible if they're not perfectly multi-faceded and full of story. Sooo.... Which is it? Do you want an NPC or do you want an actual character?

[@NintendoMeister2260]

What do you expect? She tried to make the argument that Mary Sues are fun.

[@fluffywolfo3663]

Now that you _mention_ it... It's weird. So many of her "criticisms" (I use this loosely) come from a place that seriously makes you wonder "Have you ever even seen... _stuff?_ " but at the same time they feel like they're from someone who has (if anything) seen _too much_ stuff.

[@NintendoMeister2260]

@@fluffywolfo3663 Her criticism is 80% made up, 10% random political points, and 10% pain.

[@fluffywolfo3663]

@@NintendoMeister2260 And 100% of it boils down to "Cause I said so." Remember her "simple writing tips" where it was mostly "Don't do this because you're a bad person if you do" ?

[@manolgeorgiev9664]

She likes characters she likes and shits on everything else. When you realize that her criticism is little more than pointless ranting and unprofessional intangible opinions trusted at you in an aggressive Gish gallop, it's obvious she's not worth listening to or taking seriously.

[@HarperNell]

Lily referring to arcs being repeatedly "abandoned" and then mentioning the episode they come back in is actually hilarious. it's not abandoned if it comes back in a later episode. An arc doesn't have to be explored in every single episode for it to remain an important thing to a character, then it wouldn't really be an arc.

[@animeotaku307]

She may have confused character arcs with story arcs in how they operate.

[@jacoosacoon118]

​​@@animeotaku307 even then there is no written rule that either have to be constant in storytelling. Its okay to take breaks from story and character arcs. Shakespeare was famous for it. He'd write an emotionally intense scene and then open the next scene with a raunchy joke to break the tension. Sometimes arcs need interuption. Sometimes character development has to happen before plot development. Sometimes the creators are tired and need a fun episode to animate in between the really important plot heavy ones to make the work managable.

[@peeblekitty5780]

Creating "throws and catches" of setups and payoffs in your story is like, the basic foundation of engaging long-term writing. who seriously sees a previously established plot point come back and be paid off and considers the fact that it did that _inconsistent?_ That's a telltale mark of a writer paying attention to the story they're crafting!

[@kitrana]

except that starting an arc and then dropping it for a while would have been considered abandoning it. lily is from a generation, i think, of pre internet binging. or that's the sense i get. back when you got one or two episodes of a show per week. so introducing an arc and then not mentioning it for 8 episodes ... and then you consider the hiatuses that steven universe experienced and yes abandoning is an appropriate word to use here.

[@peeblekitty5780]

@@kitrana That kind of depends on the arc. For example with The Test, that's inherently something that has to come up later by nature of Steven needing to grow as a character before he discovers that episode 3 was a test. Other arcs, like Garnet being (rightfully) upset with Pearl for the Sardonyx situation, persist and are present between back-to-back episodes, because that's a very active plot point. I see your point for some things like the events of Warp Tour not being addressed in the following episode at all (that drove me a bit nuts also) but by and large the arcs that get left on hold between their relevant episodes do so because it's fairly natural for them not to follow up immediately.

[@SpideyGutz2]

1:33:25 also non binary people don't owe you androgeny. stevonne mostly leaning towards fem is completely fine, critising stonvonne cuz they're not completely androgenous is alienating a big part of the non binary community

[@HidinginPrivate]

Agreed!

[@smolsiren]

Definitely. I personally am an non-binary person who happens to enjoy a lot of traditionally feminine things

[@suddenllybah]

People might say the character looks fem and I cam see, but like they have a look that any mix of what society thought they would be as a kid and what they are now would not phase me to learn about.

[@slaywhachuwannaslay]

YES.

[@pickles6846]

Lily's complaint here wasn't that stevonnie was fem presenting, her complaint was that a masc presenting child and a fem presenting child made a fem presenting adult person who is repeatedly perved on.

[@AngryNerdBird]

The word "Filler" has been misused a lot in recent years. The term was popularized as a description of when an anime is padding out its episodes in order to avoid catching up to the manga too fast. But now it just means "Any episode that isn't advancing the main story, even if it contains world building and character development," which is just asinine.

[@RiveroftheWither]

Filler is more just a label for anything in the anime not canon to the manga. It definitely has no place in completely original works.

[@sunyavadin]

In the 80s and early 90s, before serialised shows were really a thing, we used the term for the no-budget episodes, often heavily assembled from clips, that literally just existed to pad out a season of a show to the full 22 demanded for ease of syndication.

[@trixiebewitched]

I actually saw a video by James Woodall, break down how much of steven Universe is actually filler, as in an episode that had no connections to the main plot what-so-ever outside of location and characters. There was like only 3 true filler episodes, total in all 5 seasons of SU. Even the townie episodes that so many people called filler, have major plot developments. He has a whole color coded flowchart/spread sheet thing goin on that really helps break it all down into easily digestible information.

[@misterbadguy7325]

@@trixiebewitched Really, I think it has to be said that a lot of people just flat-out don't like the townie episodes. (Which I agree with, frankly; they were probably the most hit-or-miss throughout the series.)

[@matt0044]

I mean, it makes the setting have character rather than being generic whenever the world needs saving.

[@dnzkmr]

Hearing her criticism of Stevonne literally made me cry. Watching them fuse for the first time, knowing that it was a boy and a girl inside that singular body, said more to me than any other piece of queer media. I was about 10 when I saw that episode, and would constantly get shit on for dressing in a more “boyish” way. Seeing Stevonne exist as a person helped me realize that your clothes don’t define your gender, and that certain personality traits aren’t mutually exclusive with male and female. That character helped me realize that gender isn’t binary, that all of these material markers of gender can simply be ignored if you want to. So I think a show that was able to convey that to a 10 year old is a damn good show.

[@boss_boy_]

look, dude, you really shouldn't be on here. I don't mean that in a "LOL NERD GET LOST LOSER" way, but rather in a "You cannot engage with criticism" kind of way. If you can't allow for some random internet asshole to call a show you like poopy doodoo shitto without breaking out into a panic attack then you need to work on yourself mentally. You cannot let yourself get this attached to fictional characters, it will only hurt you in the long run. I don't know what your life is irl, but I recommend from the bottom of my heard that you try to make some friends, join a school club, maybe even get a job on the weekends.

[@abdulmulkiaulde3014]

not a queer btw but. damn stevonie is cool as hell yo a first magic impossible human-gem fusion ? a boy and a girl in one body ? a lovely protector and healer and deadly smart and tactical swordmaster in one body ? a general better combat abilty than a separated version of steven and connie ? beside your comment about stevonie is about breaking gender stereotype and be yourself stevonie has so many cool stuff concept that can be offered

[@КинТацу]

The scene where they grow facial hair is forever stuck in my head as something incredible. and yes, hearing someone call them "just a generic woman" after that is... no. just no. Stevonnie is one of the best representations for nonbinary (and/or intersex) people out there, even if that representation is subtle. It says just enough to mean so much to someone who saw themself in Stevonnie, and I can't help but be forever grateful to SU for that. Because it's not just about showing a nonbinary character. It's about context. And honestly, about subtlety too. Stevonnie just exists, they are just being themself, and... I dunno. It's stuck with me for years for a reson. Claiming that it wasn't "obvious enough" that Stevonnie is nonbinary is like saying "you're not really trans, unless you..." which is harmful and stupid. And also, Stevonnie looking a bit more fem leaning when our POV character is a boy kind of makes sense. I don't thing going in the opposite direction would've made it "more clear" somehow. But also... does it matter at all how Stevonnie looks? I mean, maybe it does, but who they are and what they represent is way more important. Stevonnie is great, Stevonnie is enough, and anyone who claims they aren't somehow a good rep either doesn't understand what they're talking about or, frankly, doesn't want to understand.

[@ywoisug8845]

Weakling

[@dnzkmr]

@@ywoisug8845 💀

[@EwMatias]

Lily's insistence in constantly referring to Rebecca Sugar personally as if she was the only writer in th show is so grating.

[@EwMatias]

Ugh, listening to the "Pearl is a slave" thing is so infuriating. Literally the song that brings her back in the movie is "Let's be independent together".

[@gh0stward0o0]

she wants to be a real writer sooo bad

[@pineapplecity3769]

fr its like she doesn't understand that creating and writing a show is a collaborative effort

[@crestren5996]

@@gh0stward0o0 Its even worse because she DID make a writing advice thread on twitter a couple of years ago and it is the WORST tips and advice you'll ever hear. It was just HER preferences. If she likes certain tropes, its the best, if she dislikes it, its bad and you should be in jail for writing it.

[@morganqorishchi8181]

To be fair, on her tumblr she's also trashed the music as being done by "a borderline r*tard and a genderspecial", referring to Aivi and Serasshu, who are a queer couple (Aivi is nonbinary, Serasshu is neurodivergent, AMAB and agender). So sometimes she DOES expand her hatred to others.

[@theforgetfulalchemist]

The misunderstanding people have of Ruby and Sapphire's breakup makes my blood boil. "Why do they break up because Rose lied?" Because Rose was the first person to say their fusion wasn't wrong, and if she was wrong about so much, they worry she was wrong about them too. "Ruby just comes back in the end anyway" Yes, and she had to choose that for herself for it to have meaning for her! I swear it feels like some people have never had an emotion or any kind of relationship (platonic or romantic) in their fucking lives lol

[@atrocious5230]

I dont understand this because Rose literally told Garnet "who cared what she (Rose)" thinks. She was the one who allowed Garnet to be herself not directly told her to never change. Her foundation was never Rose. I guess Garnet attatched herself to Rose's words because Im positive Rose didnt set the founration of their relationship as much as she just let them exiet.

[@mandarinsandclementines2997]

​@atrocious5230 Just because Rose said that her opinion on Garnet didn't matter, does not mean that Rose was not the first person to positively affirm Garnet, to call her fascinating, to not shun or attack her.

[@oMuStiiA]

The way Lily popularized painting Rebecca as a Nazi sympathizer is actually disgusting. Like an absolutely abhorrent way to talk about a queer Jewish person who wanted to write an escapist kid's story about how people have the ability to change their minds and atone for their bad deeds if only they were willing to listen to those they've harmed. Just gross, puts such a bad taste in my mouth.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Considering that Lily has a track record of controversies regarding the Stockholm fanfic that she's trying to hide as well as calling everyone an "abusers" for just disagreeing, then that's not surprised about the quality of her character. She's just unhinged and ill-tempered, yet not the brightest light bulb in the lampshade.

[@gamingtime468]

i don't like lily orchard, but you're absolutely wrong. 1. lily literally said rebecca ISN'T a nazi sympathizer 2. it's not her fault that typical twitter users see her as one 3. if she made a non jewish, hetero person look like a nazi sympathizer, that WOULDN'T be disgusting???

[@oMuStiiA]

@@gamingtime468 1. just because she didn't say "Rebecca is a Nazi sympathizer" out loud that doesn't mean she didn't directly imply it through her words and portrayal and popularize that interpretation. That rhetoric was absolutely jumpstarted and encouraged by Lily. 2. As someone with a platform she has a responsibility to not spread blatant misinformation in order to degrade the reputation of someone else just because they made a show she doesn't like. 3. Of course it would still be disgusting if it happened to anyone and I never said otherwise, but for it to be aimed at someone who is already in a vulnerable demographic let alone a demographic that had been targeted and victimized by the holocaust is especially gross.

[@Mollymauking]

@@gamingtime468 her video has 8 MILLION views. it is absolutely her fault the way that some people view sugar.

[@fallekonate-b8y]

@@oMuStiiA yea and that's the thing. the things the diamonds did are literally the same stuff the Nazis did x 1000. the cluster and the off colors are proof that if someone can't fit the job their were made to do, there would be taken out. the same thing the Nazis did. so to sit there and say "oh there were just sad, you should forgive them" is disgusting. if someone said that "Oh Hitler was only increase and grow Germany" and brought up his dead brother when people bring up the holocaust. they would be called a Nazi sympathizer or straight up a Nazi.

[@slothful2039]

Lily's sheer disdain for Rebecca Sugar is so exaggerated and weird. Attack the show, sure, but to attack Rebecca's character because you didn't like her cartoon is so ridiculous.

[@blkmagi]

It's insane actually, to talk about a person you do not know the way this Lily person speaks about Rebecca Sugar. It's markedly ludicrous.

[@bluewolf6323]

Also, Idk if I'm overthrinking this, but Lily saying "I have no disdain for Rebecca but *insert long rant about why she hates Rebecca*" gives off the same vibe as "Well you know what I think"/"I'm not racist but *insert group name* followed by fucked up thing.

[@ARandomEliatrope]

​@@bluewolf6323oh yeah absolutely 200%

[@doityourselfa]

also calling Sugar a nazi when she's a jewish person is like ridiculously fucked up....

[@zamalamahama4894]

It’s cuz she’s trying to imitate the dynamic Hbomberguy had with Moffat in his “Sherlock is garbage and here’s why” video. But in that video it’s very clearly displayed how Moffat’s decisions are his own and undoubtedly harmed the story and there were little other people to blame as he was the sole writer with complete creative control. It’s also notable that Moffat is an incredibly affluent creator with high standing within the British film industry, there’s this feeling that the criticism can’t touch him, HBomberguy is therefore clearly punching up at him. Whereas Lilly’s constant barrage of insults towards Rebecca is targeted to a person who, while they are well respected within animation circles, doesn’t have near to the same standing as creators like Steven Moffat. I wouldn’t call it punching down but It feels far less like punching up and thus comes across as more mean spirited.

[@teamesh]

It's crazy for her to call SU half-baked, wishy washy representation, When Rebecca had to fight so hard with Cartoon Network to have Ruby and Sapphire's wedding, and not let it be played down as a heterosexual straight wedding. Like they lost funding for it bc homophobic countries didn't want to air Ruby in a dress, and couldn't play them off as a straight couple in their countries. They had to make sacrifices, Rebecca had to Stick her neck out for lgbt reb. Nothing about this was taking the easy way out. Like it was the first to do this. I question, Would we have Bubbline or She-ra or Owlhouse if SU hadn't of happened.

[@beetlegeuse1961]

I can tell you for a fact we wouldn't, she literally walked so everyone else could run

[@ruffboimags]

And we still barely HAD Owlhouse bc it's still that much of a gamble to include queer characters and themes. Like, the fuckin AUDACITY to call SU half-baked and wishy washy when it was literally out there CLEARING THE PATH FOR OTHER SHOWS TO HAVE IT EVEN A LITTLE EASIER, like... I just can't. Also last I checked Lily is still a largely awful person with horrible media criticism skills so sadly I don't think she's changed as much as HiP hopes.

[@geekygecko1849]

I mean we also wouldn't have Bubbline without Rebecca given they are the one who created that ship as well

[@dragonstormx]

Lily makes a lot of broad claims while making it clear she doesn't understand the production of TV. She also claimed that Korra's second season having a short production wasn't a big deal.

[@BubbyBoy]

​@@dragonstormx not enough people compare Lily Orchard with Mr. Enter, but the comparison is really underrated. Both are clueless about how shows are written, both get overly fixated on things that are arguably pointless, both conflate their preferences to objective standards of writing, both have vendettas on specific writers, and both are on the spectrum. At least Enter isn't a pedophile and has self awareness.

[@irrisorie7]

lily is the quintessential example of a person who equates personal taste to quality of writing. tropes and themes she likes are good writing. anything that falls outside of her taste, no matter what it is, is bad writing. characters she likes that fall into tropes or themes she doesn't like are "shunted aside" or mistreated by the narrative, or whatever. it's a very tumblr teenager circa 2014 way to think. source: i was on tumblr in 2014.

[@iyxon]

💯 She literally just doesn't seem to process the world exists outside of her feelings towards things

[@フランクランドン]

That’s exactly what she is. Writers essentially have to make creations up to her standards

[@crestren5996]

@@フランクランドンShe made a twitter thread (which you can watch two writers dissect how bad it is on the channel 'We are not Alive') and its essentially good writing is good when its something she likes and if its not, its garbage and you should be in jail

[@NobodyC13]

@@crestren5996 I think I read somewhere that a fan artist got criticized by Lily Orchard (either Orchard commissioned them or simply stumbled upon their work), nevertheless, Lily Orchard actually told the artist to kill themself because she didn't like their art. Either it's because she's sincere or using it as an excuse along the lines of "Since I don't like it, I shouldn't have to pay." Lily Orchard is someone who thinks in extremes; either she's unaware of her behavior and refuses to take in criticsim (which is bad), or she is aware of her behavior and does what she wants while hiding behind her various identities as a shield from criticism (which is worse).

[@Sanguimaru]

There’s a type of thinking that young people who are finding their sense of identity are prone to. They tend to associate things they like with themselves. They get defensive when you criticize things as though it were a personal attack, and assume the things they like are good because they want to be right in their assessments about the world around them. Lily’s video essay feels a lot like this.

[@toasttitan3253]

I would also like to point out that people love to ignore that Rebecca was one of the main writers of Adventure Time for years before Steven Universe and wrote multiple fan favourite episodes But sure Lily “she’s not a writer”

[@stellapolaris9511]

Lily was so pissed about the ending of ATLA that she legit gaslit herself into thinking it ended with Ozai choking on his own blood, apparently

[@NNNNNNNNNN-nnnnnnnnnn]

Nah you're definitely joking

[@Xx_SuperPenis_xX]

she praised ATLA and shat on steven for being a pacifist while Aang straight up spared Ozai but took his bending away

[@souplife1]

​@@NNNNNNNNNN-nnnnnnnnnn??? can you read?

[@NNNNNNNNNN-nnnnnnnnnn]

@@souplife1 wdym

[@RRed19]

I mean when her advice to someone who is being bullied and the bully refuses to stop is to and I quote “Pick up the biggest book or thing you can swing, and beat their fucking head in.” Lily is a genuinely awful person, isn’t she?

[@jessz7819]

"The first gay wedding in a childrens show had to share its screentime" Its really sad to see people fundamentally misunderstanding just how important it was to format the episode that way. Rebecca and the crew did that specifically so the episode couldnt be cut and skipped over! They did that to make absolutely sure that the wedding wouldnt be removed, so that huge milestone for queer rep could happen, and was forced to be aknowledged. The wedding happening that way was a stroke of brilliance, and it sucks to see that diminished and treated as a disservice to queer representation somehow, when it was so obviously a triumph

[@commonbridge4735]

THIS. I remember when the episode first came out I thought it was weird because it was such whiplash and I felt like the whole episode should have been just the wedding, but then I found out about why they did this. It's so clever.

[@Freak977]

also, it was not the first gay wedding in a kids show, arttur did that before

[@CrescentCaribou]

@@Freak977 nah Arthur's episode was in 2019, SU was in 2018

[@Freak977]

@@CrescentCaribou oh, i thoug this episode was so much older, like, from the 2000

[@nicoleflores2054]

​@@Freak977from where i remember, the animation from that episode was different compared to how the first seasons of Arthur were, so that helped the difference to know it's recent

[@MysticMindAnalysis]

The part where Lily moans about Pearl being "only defined by her attraction to Rose" is missing the point SO hard it hurt. In the context of the story, Pearls are servant classes. They are on the lowest tier of the Gem Hierarchy, existing almost exclusively to serve the Diamonds. Pearl's character arc is about accepting her heartbreak over losing Rose, HER DIAMOND, and then growing to love herself independently. Also, the reason Steven wanted to talk to the Diamonds is because, a fact that Lily purposefully ignores, is that HE IS PINK DIAMOND. He's trying to use his authority and privilege to better Gem Kind! Sure, the show did stumble a bit on him swaying the Diamonds over to his POV, but it still makes sense *why* he does it when you PAY SOME FUCKING ATTENTION, MS ORCHARD!

[@blkmagi]

Let's also not forget that the "stumble" was a result of the creators fighting to have Ruby and Sapphire's wedding. They literally had to rush to the ending because of this. For this Lily person to be a part of the LGBT+ community and slander this show for a grift is actually disgusting.

[@bluewolf6323]

I really hated when Lily showed the Bismuth and Pearl scene of "Who do you belong to? Nobody" and just called Pearl a liar. Like, how do you fuck that up. Saying someone is a liar for growing out of something is so baffling. That's like saying, " Oh, I stopped drinking coffee and I feel better about it" and then someone saying "Liar, you know you still want coffee, it's part of you and you can't escape your past" like ma'am this is a McDonald's...

[@mallk238]

@@blkmagi Thank you! I swear half of these points they brought up in their video is completely ignoring the politic and social context of the time the show was made. Anything lgbtq related represented the hard won fights with the network to let this stuff be put on air at all! If it felt like there "wasn't enough" then that was on the networks! Steven universe portraying not only gay people, but gay people behaving like normal people living average lives (sci-fi alien shenanigans aside) was an impressive and refreshing look at relationships in general. The writers of the show weren't maliciously trying to hurt da gays by writing characters a certain way, they were just trying to write a tv show about a subject that deserved to be talked about with kids in a calm and honest manner...and also about gay rocks in space.

[@HuxtableK]

She didn't forget. She recognized that the Pearls are considered slaves. And the fact that a slave is in love with her master is fucking gross. And yeah, the privileged white boy is using his privileged status as the top of the food chain of diamonds to basically sweep war crimes under the rug.

[@BubbyBoy]

@@HuxtableK god, it's clear all you did is watch Lily's reviews on the show before coming here to defend her honor. That comment you made screams Lily. Learn to actually think for yourself.

[@Greevheattak]

Lily "allegdly abused my sister" orchard trying her best to paint an abuse victim as the abuser and the abuser as an innocent victim is wrong on so many levels....

[@thirdwheel9938]

She abused her sister?? This is my first time hearing about this, I had only heard about her harassing a minor she found midly annoying (which was already bad, but this?)

[@Caleb-hl9qo]

​@@thirdwheel9938 she also allegedly SAed her

[@MahouShoujo-Studios]

@@thirdwheel9938 Yes. She SA'd her younger sister and wrote a fanfic about it.

[@cosmic_cookie5669]

​@@thirdwheel9938 I'm not 100% informed on this myself, but from what I've heard Lily's sister came out some time ago to confess that Lily sexually abused her while she was sleeping when they were younger. Again, I've been meaning to inform myself more on the topic so take it with a pinch of salt, but that's what I heard

[@pageclayton6850]

Lily "I wrote the stockholm series" Orchid trying to say that Stevonnie is hypersexuised and 2 kids is another level of irony

[@KEBJD]

"imagine writing a scene THIS sinister looking" *looks like a 'she asked for no pickles' meme*

[@pageclayton6850]

Imagine ordering a burger THIS pickled looking

[@toxicdemon1315]

Im gonna make that frame a meme now because of this comment

[@fanaticalistic]

1:18:46 She completely cut out the context!!! In the scene Pearl was describing seeing herself as a free gem who met Rose Quartz, but she feels guilty about it. Rose saying "Please don't ever stop!" Is her wanting to encourage Pearl to have her own thoughts as a free gem, to see Rose not as a diamond. Pearl states "and I'm not yours, but I make you so happy anyways" Rose doesn't want Pearl to be her slave she wants to be her comrade, her team mate, her equal!! She wants to be happy with Pearl and Rose wants to be happy with Pearl.

[@steampunksloth0059]

Of course she did 💀, god she’s insufferable

[@themechanic9974]

That was her lieing

[@fellipepessoa1685]

On the issue of queer representation, I think it's important to remind people that Steven Universe literally got cancelled because of the gay wedding

[@melt_brain]

lily herself is trans, too. so not only is she under the transgender demographic of “internalized transphobia”, she’s actively discrediting her trans, nonbinary, and other fans identifying as another sexuality and gender that does not correspond with how they were born. she’s also a pedo and molester against her own sister and wrote a fanfic detailing everything she would do and has done to her sister, but replaced her and her sister with my little pony characters. so, her claim about alfred and batman and romance really aged well considering she was actively involved in non consensual incest (which, incest in general in her state is highly illegal).

[@bluewolf6323]

I've seen people criticize that by saying "Well maybe Rebecca shouldn't have had that wedding" or "maybe Rebecca shouldn't have made the gems so fem" and I think it's the dumbest shit...

[@lmao2302]

@@melt_brain ain't no fucking way

[@KingThundersReal]

@@melt_brain what the hell...that so messed up

[@JuliaJulia-vh4xc]

@@melt_brainreally hate to be that guy but…source for that last part? About her and her sister?

[@zadirat]

2:48:34 "this scene is so sinister" the scene that looks like peridot found onions in her burger even if she never asked for them, looking like "its fine" while lapis is ready to complain to the cashier demanding for the manager

[@CannoliSlugYT]

Even I can feel how sinister Lapis' face is~! She's about to complain this to the cashier~!

[@Cinnabun9]

Someone's gotta draw this lol

[@pageclayton6850]

"She asked for no pickles."

[@blunderbuss1395]

peridot would be a no tomato girl if anything

[@spookyghost6713]

Personally, I love the fact that Rose goes from being seen as this perfect, loving, selfless character only to be revealed as a flawed, and frankly problematic person. It's devastatingly realistic, beautifully nuanced and elevates the show greatly imo

[@MathematicalVoid]

Yeah, I remember someone saying that the thing about Rose was that we saw her character arc in reverse, and that that seriously affected how the audience saw her.

[@spookyghost6713]

@MathematicalVoid Ooo that's a really good observation! I hadn't thought about it like that

[@isabellek-q3183]

it’s kinda like learning about people irl. At first someone you admire may seem like they could do no wrong but eventually you learn they’re flawed too. I think her character was very well done!

[@Freak977]

the revelation of rose being pink diamond was the biggest plot twist ever at the time

[@mirulei]

yessss this, its kind of like growing up and idealizing your parents just to slowly find out over time that they're as flawed as you and never fully met the expectations you held them to, steven kind of does this with greg in one of the future episodes too. i really like that honesty and nuance about recognizing how people you love will never be purely "good" or "bad", it's being both that makes them people in the first place

[@BasilBard]

Also, Rose is one of the best portrayals of how messy having a dead parent you never got to meet can be. As kids who lost a parent grow up, they hear the idyllic version. But as they get older, and as people begin to unpack and process their grief and loss and transgressions that cannot be addressed to the deceased, it can get messy. It can feel complicated and awful and it can feel like a betrayal, and its one the person isn't able to stand up for themselves or articulate their side of things. It can lead to resentment and frustration and pain, especially if that dead person themselves had a lot of baggage they didn't resolve. Suddenly it's like every problem they ever had is spilling into your lap and you're finding out about awful sides of them you'd been sheltered from, but all of it stems from the fact that part of the grieving process is anger and it is not a linear process. Sometimes learning about a dead loved one is messy and traumatic and complicated, and not enough childrens shows tackle that concept and I feel that's unfair to the kids who have to go through that. Steven Universe says "It's okay to feel hurt by and ashamed of the choices you found out a parent made before they passed away, and you're not obligated to follow their path, and it's okay to be angry about the things that you find out. It's okay if they aren't a happy thought to you, it's okay for it to be messy."

[@spongecakes1986]

Nah, clearly the author of your life is just confused, or even thinking your clearly bad relative was good actually and is a terrible person. I'd like to speak with your author's manager please.

[@BasilBard]

@@spongecakes1986 At no point did I mention the word 'good' or allude to it. I'll try to rephrase it in a different way, maybe it'll make more sense then? "Sometimes as you grow up you hear a lot of nice things about your dead relative that you never met, but then as people around you process their feelings and grief about them they start to voice very negative things. And you find out about the bad things that person did too, not just the good stuff you were told about when you were younger. You have to reckon with the reality that this was an actual person who did actual things and made choices that hurt people you love, despite the fact that they loved this person, too. And because this person isn't here to talk to you or tell you their side of it, all you have is messy, complicated and hurt feelings with no easy or clear way to begin sorting through it all, and it is traumatic. You go from idolizing someone and wishing you'd been able to meet them, to being deeply ashamed of them and feeling betrayed by them." It's the same kind of feeling that, say, a child growing up after their parent died in a car crash might feel. But then as they grow up, they find out their parent had an addiction issue, and hurt a lot of people, and maybe left them with some health issues as a direct result of their substance abuse. And now those hurt and complicated feelings about their dead parent have no real resolution because they can't talk to the dead parent about it. Our lives have no authors. There is no clear, logical or comfortable narrative. People are complicated and messy, and their legacy is complicated and messy as a result. Characters like Steven help kids process those feelings, and seeing them in a character makes them feel less alone and less ashamed of being disappointed in their dead relative, or resenting the problems they left behind.

[@spongecakes1986]

@@BasilBard I was joking. I completely understood what you meant, I was just making a joke about how Lilly Orchard interpreted Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear, though.

[@ashhabimran239]

Reminds me of how Harry Potter felt when he found out what his father was really like

[@BasilBard]

@@ashhabimran239 That's a pretty good comparison to make, though I feel like Rowling flubbed that plot-thread pretty hard. Along with everything else, and her decency as a human being. I always wish she'd done better with the "My parents weren't the people everyone told me they were, because they were Real and no one ever sees every part of another person." thing, but alas.

[@i.j.dragonfly3123]

Lily insisting that Lapis was THE abuser ("imagine writing a scene this sinister looking!!!") has intense vibes of "if you're being mistreated and you lash out, you're actually the evil one." Which is both ironic given her other criticisms of the show, and also... really fucking hurtful to victims.

[@inky-rose6460]

Like it was also obvious Lapis and Jasper's fusion was meant to represent a two sided extremely toxic relationship where BOTH of them enjoyed having that power in a way

[@chaosbeam4654]

But that’s just the way trauma is. Lilly clearly wants it to be cute and aesthetic or whatever, but it’s not.

[@palemeadows]

@@inky-rose6460Even then, I’d disagree, Lapis reacted to abuse, it’s different. Jasper was the one who started the abuse and continued it, Lapis actually made it clear it was unhealthy.

[@Zectifin]

I bet Lily was a Depp stan. god forbid someone hit their abuser.

[@vvvolato]

@@Zectifinyou mean heard stan? i thought she was the abuser

[@diabreadstick]

Also the way Lily polices nonbinary rep when Rebecca Sugar is nonbinary is really fucking gross.

[@Maria-fz8km]

Haven't seen anyone else point this out yet, but THANK YOU for correcting Lily calling Rebecca "half-jewish." It was like she was trying to downplay Rebecca's Jewish heritage to make calling them a fascist sympathizer less obviously abhorrent

[@morganqorishchi8181]

Fun fact, Lily is brownfacing and pretending to be Cherokee despite not being claimed by the Cherokee Nation, being white and having never tried to connect to Cherokee people. So the person calling Rebecca Sugar "half Jewish" is, in fact, lying about their own heritage in order to hide behind calling anyone who disagrees with them racist against indigenous people.

[@NapaCat]

Half-Jewish isn't even a thing- You're half ethnically Jewish and/or raised interreligiously. You can't be 'half-Jewish'.

[@WannzKaswan]

​​@@NapaCatif a jewish person marries a non jewish person, his son will be half jewish

[@mammoneymelon]

what a bizarre thing to call someone? there's almost an implication that you're only able to "half" embrace a part of your identity, which is weird and just wrong

[@JDM-is-my-name]

I am white, both my parents are different sects of Christianity, so that's where I'm coming from. I absolutely HATE the idea of identifying as "half" something, especially if it's done on behalf of someone else. My understanding of race, ethnicity and so on is, of course, very different from people who live in more mixed communities, but even my parents half never forced me to think of myself as "half" of anything, even when it's something as silly as my mother being born on one island and my dad on the other. I hope I'm not stepping on any toes when I say that being called "half-jewish" sounds like Lily needs to suck a lime while upside down. It's hurtful and harmful to force that kind of fake label on someone else without their consent.

[@blueskyclouds9819]

Lily’s claims that Steven Universe has bad representation is fucking flabbergasting. When I was 12 years old, I was trapped in Christian fundamentalism, a movement that despises queer people… and I watched Steven Universe, contrary to my parents’ explicit instruction. It was the first act of rebellion from my queerphobic parents that I ever did, and it genuinely changed my life. I would sneak onto my mom’s computer to watch episodes, and wonder what was so bad about it. Ruby and Sapphire were the first gay people that I actually saw as real, full people. I made myself stop watching a little into season 5, because the religious guilt became unbearable. Like, I confessed my sin of watching a *cartoon* to God so, so many times. It was a bad time. But the pure love of their relationship stuck with me, and through years of reflection and challenge, I was able to come to terms with the fact that I was unabashedly gay! I wear a red bracelet on my left arm and a blue bracelet on my right every single day, just to remind myself of where I’ve been and how far I’ve come. All that is to say… a queer relationship that was written so wonderfully that it brought a religious guilt-ridden girl into accepting herself as a gay woman simply CANNOT be bad rep. It just can’t. Love this show ❤💙

[@il_Giollo]

​@@ronan-outoftimeomg the bracelets... girl I'm fucking crying

[@il_Giollo]

By the way, I related really much with Steven, since I was an emotional and kind of feminine boy too, and also Pearl, that as a character reminded me of a lot of my struggles, both in her personality AND her sexuality, the really educated and sworn to the rules one, that in reality is a badass rebel, doing cool things maintaining her elegance (I mean, she's a ballet dancer who ALSO kicks asses with swords? how cool is that??). Indeed I wanted to do a matching tattoo of her and amethyst with my bestie ✨

[@s0LLagal]

I'm glad you got through most of that nasty queerphobic shit. Hope you're doin' alright nowadays~

[@blueskyclouds9819]

@@ronan-outoftime Ty ❤️

[@blueskyclouds9819]

@@il_Giollo I was also a Pearl enjoyer. Had a monster crush on her haha

[@smeefo0256]

Lily constantly insisting that Rebecca does not know what she's writing about is so sinister to me. How cruel to say that about someone that has clearly put years of her life into creating meaningful artwork. Creating a cartoon is no small thing, and Rebecca earned the credentials to make her own show. Acting like she's just some idiot that walked into a writers room is just wrong.

[@Wheeinpaint]

Rebecca is one of a kind. Her cartoon has such a unique concept. She's my inspiration.

[@FurryBenderRealNoWay]

Facts bro

[@CPGreeno357]

agreed. however, it's not as sinister as 🍏🔵🌤 tbh

[@rebecca_rh]

I saw Rebecca Sugar at the Animation Festival of Annecy 2019. They were answering questions to a small audience and her husband, Ian Jones-Quartney, was there as well. Rebecca was very sweet and gracious with everyone. The last question someone asked was “what do you think about the criticisms towards the show and certain haters?” And Rebecca started to get emotional, saying she didn’t understand certain claims and as she started to stutter, Ian Took the microphone and said with a slightly angry tone: “this show is about accepting others and Kindness, if some can’t understand that is really on them” he started comforting rebecca and brought her out of the room and the meeting ended there. I’m pretty sure they were talking about Lily The Jerk and her followers, and Ian was clearly mad at them for being so cruel towards Rebecca.

[@smeefo0256]

this is such an important story, thank you so much. poor rebecca ;-; @@rebecca_rh

[@דדישי]

It seems that one of the main gripes that Orchard has with the show is that she just can stand the title character acting like a child. The thing is, he IS a child. What's her excuse?

[@RaineMarostica31]

I understood that reference☝️😃

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

@@דדישי To call HiP a “child left behind” in spite of that all feels like projection.

[@naeka9752]

As a non binary person, it irritates me that that's considered 'interesting' just by existing, rather than just a piece of a person. I can't put my finger on it, but it makes me uncomfortable. I really loved stevonnie as rep. :/ also the way she's talking about they/them is also super gross....

[@cidevant002]

It's the fetishization. Just another form of enbyphobia.

[@rebecca_rh]

Yeah. Lily sees Stevonnie as “sexualized” because she’s the pervert one. That speaks volumes about her more than anything else

[@lokalcrow1470]

Same, like being non binary defines the entirety of who they are. Like it's inherently more important than who they are as a person, than their personality, backstory, interests, and ambitions. It's blatant transphobia and enbyphobia. It's disgusting.

[@SketchUT]

I think being nonbinary (as one myself) is interesting. There are so many ways to express it and so many ways to identify and it’s a constantly-expanding world. I do not think nonbinary people are interesting at the baseline due to them just being nonbinary. The actual interest is *about* the individual experiences and definitions etc etc. To find the identity as a whole “cool” or whatever and ignore the aspects that actually make the identity varied (that being, the individuals and the experiences and all that) is just. not only missing the whole point but also exactly what other commenters were saying.

[@Hawkatana]

Same. I'm a cisgender man, and yet here I am casually being a better ally to enbies than this actual trans woman. That should not be the case.

[@Burning_Soup]

as an abuse victim, yeah lapis did some bad things, people do bad things even when theyre not trying to. She was acting as she felt like she needed to, she needed to be safe first and foremost. Lily's bit about lapis really hit a nerve for me because abuse situations are never pretty or neat. theyre ugly, and messy, and complicated. theres no such thing as a "perfect victim" because abuse makes us do things we'd otherwise not do for our own survival.

[@2012petvet]

Not To Mention That Lapis Didn't Want *Anything* To Do With The Situation In The First Place. Lapis' First Thought Was To Escape. Malachite Only Became A Thing When Escape Was No Longer An Option.

[@wherefancytakesme]

Lily hating Lapis because "victims can't become abusers in reality" is pure projection, because her younger sister has come out about her siblings and herself being abused while also being abused by Lily and their brother.

[@imsadnotreally9950]

Everyone is an abuse victim these days, it’s gonna take a bit more than that to sway me.

[@2012petvet]

@@imsadnotreally9950 Sway You On What Exactly? That Abuse Isn't Pretty?

[@imsadnotreally9950]

@@2012petvet sway me to believe they are an abuse victim

[@kjarakravik4837]

Anecdotally, the thing about 14-15 year olds never having the bodies of adults is just not true. I've had my bооbѕ and hips since I was 13 and while I felt really awkward and uncomfortable about them and how certain adults would treat me I know I'm not the only girl who went through that experience

[@leaffinite2001]

Not exactly the same but as a guy ive been growing facial hair since 12 and havent grown a millimeter since then either.

[@suedove2416]

I looked 13 years old when I was 9. It even prompted my mother to give me a "you have a body dangerous men can be interested in now." When I was 9!

[@dalailarose1596]

Thank you. I was told, at 13, that I had "child-bearing hips". By an adult man. & I already had more boobage than Stevonnie ever will.

[@beastmaster0934]

Lily clearly doesn’t know how puberty works.

[@DaltonDaDigga]

Yeah literally so many SO MANY women have memories and experiences of being hit on as early as like 11 or 12.

[@HellfireComms]

You've addressed pretty much every point here, but I'll just add onto the "The Diamonds were presented as sympathetic" point she constantly bangs on about. Blue Diamond's grief is used to manipulate those beneath her. It is toxic. Her constant crying is also not a good thing in general for the character because she stays stuck in the past as a result.

[@thegreatBarbossa]

It's also just quite literally manipulative, like her powers directly force others to experience her sadness.

[@Hellacious-Blue-Liquid]

​@@thegreatBarbossa it is LITERALLY her weaponizing her sadness to hurt others, like it can't be any clearer

[@MrMisterTM]

Lily really got upset that the audience figured out the pink diamond twist before it actually happened and had the gall to call it bad writing?

[@AzaleaJane]

Utterly amazing that she tries to claim the PD/RQ twist wasn't planned. Everything about the show, including Steven's characterization, hinges on his mother being Pink Diamond. Clues are everywhere in plain sight. She might as well claim that the producers of Game of Thrones didn't decide that Ned Stark would be executed until after the show started.

[@trixiebewitched]

​@@AzaleaJane they literally slap you with the whole diamond plot line in one of the "filler" episodes. The one where Ronaldo kidnaps Steven because hes wearing a snake costume to try and make Ronaldo feel better. Ronaldo literally screams about the great diamond authority as steven and the gems are walking away from the lighthouse.

[@daelen.cclark]

The fact people can tell what you’re doing proves you’re a good storyteller.

[@lxn-p]

they had a shirt made with the crystal gems' gemstones, but couldn't release it until after the reveal due to steven's gem being a diamond and we already know what rose quartz gems are supposed to look like lmao

[@thirdwheel9938]

She doesn't know what "good foreshadowing" means

[@beck-nightengale]

The way Lily keeps making personal attacks on Rebecca Sugar was so vile and abhorrent. She acts like Rebecca Sugar personally shot her family or something.

[@eeeertoo2597]

Really creeped me out whenever that happened in the video

[@beck-nightengale]

@@eeeertoo2597 Yeah, it was really weird how personal the hatred for Rebecca Sugar seemed to run for Lily, and how despicable the insults became. What a toxic personality.

[@randompromises1038]

It's extended to Dana Terrace and calling her a racist for... having a white male protagonist. Lily really has a bone to pick with queer showrunners.

[@damienwit]

She's acting like Sugar was the only person working on the show. I don't know why Lily has such a large vendetta against Sugar, but it's really fucking weird to call them a Nazi sympathizer based on her insane theories about a children's show.

[@randompromises1038]

@@damienwit also like... just because you add an element to a story doesn't mean you excuse it lmao that sort of strict binary thinking is relegated to preschool shows where they're deliberately giving important lessons to little kids. SU is a show whose primary demographic is 7 to 8 year olds who are a little smarter than that. I feel like the way Lily views the show is through an adult lens which... it's a _kids'_ show. Morality is supposed to be more black and white and these shows always have a happy ending because kids aren't mature enough to handle nuance (neither is Lily for that matter). Can mature themes be in a kids' show no problem? Duh. But at the end of the day it's a kids' show and so has to adhere to those rules. People can die in a Pixar film and children can handle it, but they wouldn't be able to handle seeing the body. Nuance.

[@RPGLover87]

Something I like about Garnet is that she DOESN'T have her shit together. Jasper is partially right - Ruby and Sapphire have become codependent. It's not until the marriage and then eventually Future that they are comfortable doing their own thing and existing as themselves as much as they exist as Garnet - because they've grown to understand themselves as more than their relationship they are able to have breathing room from each other so that things don't explode as badly if they disagree. They still love being Garnet and prefer it, but they don't HAVE to be her anymore to feel whole. Ruby even points out early on in Keystone Motel that them being separate isn't a bad thing - "At least there's one good thing about being apart." "What ;_;" "I get to look at you."

[@Puppycatstolemycar]

1:42:45 My experience with puberty was EXACTLY as Rebecca Sugar described it and it is very clear that Lily doesn't know much about other people's experience with puberty outside of her own and it shows with her condescending statements about Stevonie. Puberty doesn't start at 13 or 14 for everyone, especially those who are afab. Thats why the (incorrect) statement that goes "girls mature faster than boys" has been said throughout the years. I started puberty at 9 years old, I got my first period at 11. I was wearing DD bras and had wide hips and thighs before I was even a freshman in high school and the mental, emotional and physical whiplash I got from being a kid playing barbies while watching SpongeBob to getting catcalled by 3 grown men in a car while riding my bike on the exact same day was traumatizing to say the least. And while my puberty didn't LITERALLY happen to me overnight it definitely felt like it did at the time especially when looking back on it now as an adult. It was so confusing to still think and act like a kid on the inside (because I still was!) to being seen and treated as an "adult" on the outside just because of the weird changes happening to my body that I had 0 control over. That first episode with Stevonie was so relatable to me, especially as a genderfluid person who did have those experiences with how people perceived me verses how I actually felt about myself. Steven Universe didn't come out until I was well into college but if I could, I would show my younger self that episode specifically to help heal from some of the damage that was being done to me at the time and I know for a fact (thanks therapy!) that my inner child has healed so much thanks to this show ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

[@em01455]

EXACTLY!!!! Thank you!!! I’d like to add on my own experience and two sense as an AFAB gender-fluid individual as well if that’s ok. I was sexualized more as an 11 year old girl in a t shirt and jeans walking to and attending middle school than as 21 year old woman in a corset and fishnets shaking my ass on stage for a RHPS shadow cast. To replete I was preyed upon and sexualized more as a child on the playground than as a full grown woman in lingerie being called a “Slut” for 90 minutes. Also the sudden drop off in sexualization once I hit high school and began to develop the rest of my body and stopped looking like a long child with two cantaloupes taped to her chest is so disturbing it’s almost comical. There were girls who had it worse, girls who were H cups in 5/6th grade and were relentlessly mock for being “whores” even though they were wearing 3 sports bras to try and hide their chest. Like puberty can sometimes hit AFAB people like a bus and it’s painful. You go to bed one night and wake up with dark angry stretch marks and jeans that don’t fit. I worked for a tailor and we had so many little girls especially girls of color who had to buy women’s size dresses because they were “too developed” to fit into child sizes anymore. The udder humiliation these children felt was clear as day and luckily we did our best to try and make them feel normal and “like a princess” but there’s only so much you can do when you’re cutting almost two feet of length off of a bridesmaids dress and having to recut the entire thing to fit them.

[@matti.8465]

I feel like Lily has a general misunderstanding of how objectification in media works. Stevonnie is framed as beautiful in their debut episode, and gets objectified by Kevin, but the show itself never objectifies the character. The camera doesn't linger on parts of their body, it's just a slightly curvy teenager.

[@junacreates]

THATS WHAT IM SAYING BRO, if stevonnie had LITERALLY any other body type, that section of lily’s video would likely not exist at all. but since they’re a little bit curvy, like a *normal person,* they’re suddenly being sexualized? it makes no sense

[@rottenfiggy]

@@junacreates It really reads like Lily is attracted to Stevonnie due to a preference for curvy people and therefore she needs to overcorrect for this attraction by claiming the show is forcing her to do it

[@rebecca_rh]

@@rottenfiggy yeah, is Lily who sexualizes Stevonnie, not the Show.

[@MysticMindAnalysis]

That, and objectification is a very specific thing. Even the most basic understanding of male gaze and framing will tell you that it's more than just nudity (which, as pointed out in this video, there isn't much of at all, Stevonnie wise).

[@neon2870]

The Stevonnie episode perfectly encapsulates what going through puberty and not understanding why/how people are treating you differently, only that it's uncomfortable feels like. It's one of a few times the show departs from Steven's POV and goes to other characters so thats *maybe* where the confusion is?

[@RoyalSniz]

I honestly HATE how in Lily's mind, a fem leaning body type (with curves n such) is AUTOMATICALLY sexual when not completely covered up. There are plenty of woman, trans women, and afab individuals who have curvy bodies before they hit 18- that doesn't make their bodies sexual and it's not weird either to draw/animate a teenage girl to have hips or a slight bump in the chest area, because most teenager girls and afab individuals HAVE JUST THAT. It's so sexist and paints literal children's bodies as inherently sexual simply over secondary sexual characteristics they can't do anything about. It also paints masc and male bodies as the base or norm or what you're supposed to lean more when being enby. It's just nasty. PS. Lily has been confirmed to be sexuall inappropriate towards minors on multiple occasions, this is tbh the most likely reason she keeps overtly sexualizing fem bodies of underaged characters :/

[@AnakhaSilver]

Also like. Stevonnie is wearing a crop top in a fucking BEACH TOWN. Like. Seriously???

[@smidlem1117]

as a trans woman, one thing that I think warrants discussion in our community but gets talked around are the women and femmes who don't do the work to rid themselves of toxic views on sexuality taught to them by a society that presumed them male. too many transfem people for my liking cross over from incel territories and lily orchard's weird combination of intense sexualisation combined with a superficially puritan aesthetic (declaring sex scenes narratively useless universally in the 100 writing tips, not interacting with adult fiction in any way, etc) is like. completely fucking bang-on for being a trans-cel, to make my own neologism. disgusting stuff that absolutely repulses me from parts of the community

[@Bionickpunk]

@@AnakhaSilver A longer shirt would hide Steven´s gem, and all the fusions never hid their gems, even if they can make their own clothing designs.

[@ovgem]

@@smidlem1117 the 100 writing tips is such a juxtaposition from lily orchard's actions, AKA writing a p3dophilic fanfiction allegedly based on her sister's story and messaging minors

[@RRed19]

@@AnakhaSilverthat’s what bothering me. It’s a beach town, it’s hot and humid. You’re gonna wear loose clothes or as little clothing as you can so you don’t melts

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

They clearly show Lapis trying to fly away and being stopped by Jasper grabbing her and holding her down. Framing Jasper as the sole victim is pretty disgusting. Especially when this scene was as close to something looking rapey in a kids show that you can possibly get

[@petergriffinfortnite69]

dude right!!! people gloss over this detail all the time😭flying away was the first thing she tried to do and had jasper not grabbed her malachite wouldn't have happened in the first place

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

@@petergriffinfortnite69 Also, I know Jasper said "come on, just say yes" but since she already stopped Lapis from getting away, am I right that the implication is that Lapis really wasn't getting the option of saying no even though this wasn't explicitly said? That was the vibe I was getting from that scene

[@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769]

@@petergriffinfortnite69 Also, was that scene supposed to look somewhat rapey? Was that intentional?

[@petergriffinfortnite69]

​@@thevarietychannelofyoutube4769yeah yeah I'm yyehyeah d yeah I'm pretty sure the way it was supposed to come off was dubious consent. "technically" jasper got consent, but she had to force it out of lapis (and she tries to manipulate her like "didnt these people use you? dont you want to hurt them? ooo you want revenge so bad" like putting words in her mouth based off of what she knows about lapis's history) lapis doesn't exactly jump for joy at the thought of fusing w jasper, she responds with bewilderment and based on visual context clues she feels cornered. she of all people knows what homeworld can do to her, she got trapped in a mirror for thousands of years by them lol, and jasper is just gonna keep her from running away again--and she has to concentrate to use her water powers, obviously jasper isnt gonna let her do that either--so she goes basically with the last resort

[@petergriffinfortnite69]

I dont know how my comment stuttered like that, sorry 😭

[@TreeDwellingShrimp]

If Lily genuinely changed and wanted to fix the damage she's done, she could've unlisted the video. She hasn't because it's her shining grifting achievement and one of the things she's most known for (that's not completely depraved like her controversies). Unlisting it would make it so she doesn't lose the millions of views but nope. She wants to keep profitting on RS's name and work. There has been 4 years where she could've taken the video down, unlisted it, made a new one with a different take or even publicly apologized to RS for all the harassment and spread of misinformation she caused. She gave ammunition to a hate mob to use against a queer person and their diverse team with seemingly zero regrets for her own benefit. Waving her pitchfork the highest in a crowd of bigots isn't going to stop them from turning theirs on her once they're done with the original target. She'll never be seen as 'one of the good ones'. Going along with the far right to grift won't keep anyone safe.

[@junacreates]

the portion of lily orchard’s video about stevonnie is so aggravating. they’re blatantly being transphobic against stevonnie just because they don’t perfectly fit what she thinks a non-binary person should look like? and literally calls them a woman?? nonbinary people don’t have to be perfectly androgynous for them to be valid, and even then, stevonnie still has so many androgynous features! and the fact that lily sees stevonnie as “sexualized” just because they have a more curvy body type definitely says something about how SHE views curvier people. literally no one saw it as sexual but her. make it make sense.

[@crustpunkjesuschrist]

Stevonnie literally grows stubble when stranded on the planet in season 5 but still they’re still somehow “too feminine” to be nonbinary? Wild shit

[@nametho3347]

“Just because they have a curvy body type”?? Did you NOT see the video?

[@junacreates]

@@nametho3347 i did watch the video. the way that stevonnie is portrayed in the series is no different than with any other character, and the only possible explanation for lily seeing it as stevonnie being more sexualized is most likely because of their body type. lily suggests that it’s because the angles they’re shot at are more suggestive but if you watch the show, you’ll see so many other instances where different characters (with different body types) are shot at the same angles. also the body type itself is not suggestive, it’s a *normal body* and is literally just a combination of steven and connie’s body types. and the way stevonnie acts is their combined character traits. and there may be some characters who kind of crush on them but those characters don’t know that they’re actually just steven and connie. and as soon as kevin finds out this information when they unfuse, he’s disgusted that he was technically hitting on two kids, because he didn’t know that at first. he wasn’t deliberately crushing on minors. look, i don’t want to argue about this, this is just the conclusion that i’ve drawn from watching this video. if you don’t agree with that, at least be respectful about it or keep it to yourself. thank you and have a nice day

[@Man-wolf-]

Not to mention-her claiming making stevonnie nonbinary is “boring” and “not as good” as making steven a trans girl(even tho nothing in the show hinted at him being a trans girl-he litrealy hates being constantly refered to as “she”)

[@junacreates]

@@crustpunkjesuschrist i 100% agree with this. and even if stevonnie was “100% feminine”, that doesn’t invalidate their nonbinary identity. it’s a matter of how that person perceives themselves and their gender, not their expression. i guess stubble isn’t really “expression”, but afab nonbinary people exist and despite having (mostly) biological features that are deemed “female”, they’re still nonbinary

[@franknfurter5336]

my #1 pet peeve in relation to steven universe discourse is the fact that it's managed to mindfuck people into thinking that the representation is "bad"

[@HidinginPrivate]

That's seriously wild

[@steampunk-llama]

Omg yeah tumblr was genuinely awful with that. I felt bad for watching it as a teen because I enjoyed it and saw myself in Stevonnie (

[@samuelclayhills3298]

At this point in time basically anyone who talked about representation where the toxic tumblr users so people got turned of from representation because everyone advocating for it was a pretentious jackass trying to feel better about themselvs by helping some minority.

[@dragonscar3670]

But no rep is better than bad rep. Bad rep is used to paint us as if we are deviants or some anomaly that just happened or it's glorifying abuse and toxic relationships(She-ra, SU, ect.) So yeah, I'd rather that these shows never fucking try and instead watch th owl house season 1 because it's just more wholesome.

[@dragonscar3670]

Before you ask, yes, the "rep" in SU is garbage. If any of you actually watched Lily's video instead of jacking off to this dude's shitty editing, you'd know that Ruby and Sapphire are two of the best characters in the series because when they are separate, they are written insanely well. Notice I said, when they are separate because Sugar would much rather sideline Garner to all hell unless it's an episode about Fusion than to let Ruby and Sapphire out to be an actual relation. Telling the two newly wed "women"(Gems are monogender and uses she/her pronouns) that Steven pronounces them Garnet and not wives shows just how much metaphor Sugar is using to avoid saying the real thing. I do give her credit by making sure that the episode can't be censored due to the diamonds showing up during the last half. But also the diamonds showing up, trying to kill everyone and Steven calling them "family" is gross. No Steven, your real family is the individuals who aren't actively trying to kill you aka the people who's staying behind you.

[@MednaTheFox]

Lily has two very independent ideas; One: Slavery is a very real thing on Homeworld and that is bad. Two: Rose Quartz is a bad person for trying to liberate Homeworld.

[@BestOneEver247]

is she that insane

[@taratheshinyabsol768]

​@@BestOneEver247Clearly

[@HuxtableK]

But Rose Quartz wasn't trying to liberate Homeworld. She was starting a war where she was playing both sides. Because she was bored.

[@BubbyBoy]

@@HuxtableK im sorry, when has Rose ever wanted to play both sides? What she wants, and what Homeworld wants, are fundamentally incompatable. Has it not occured to you that maybe a character can learn to grow and appreciate a world they thought little of? Can a character not fall in love and draw the courage to fight what she used to grow up believing? Rose was never supposed to be perfect, but her fight for Earth is very much a genuine cause she believed in. Either you have the empathy of a sociopath, or you just listened to other critics talk about Rose.

[@HuxtableK]

@@BubbyBoy Well, there's the fact she absolutely did play both sides. What she wants is entertainment.

[@stygian4330]

"Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why" is a really good example of how poor media literacy completely skews a person's view of a topic

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

And she took the titling choice from HBomberguy, couldn't even get that right.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

_"Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why"_ and its consequences of what everything is wrong with angry online reviews and the media illiteracy.

[@cutecutemizuki]

The sheer amount of hatred lily holds for Rebecca is borderline creepy

[@HidinginPrivate]

It's really weird bc Rebecca is just like... a wholesome bean. Like how does someone harbor that much resentment towards nothing

[@PoorEdward]

@@HidinginPrivateshe holds contempt for humanity lmao wdym wholesome bean

[@blakefrick1453]

@@PoorEdward Dont we all?

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Lily's obsessive hate towards Rebecca Sugar just because she never liked the show is indeed unhealthy and feels like a red flag at this point. Criticize a show is one thing, but attacking the creator and acts like creating a show is equivalent to committing a massacre and poison the water supply is beyond pathetic in so many levels.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

@@PoorEdward This is just a typo. I think you're talking about Lily Orchard here.

[@nathandorsey9145]

About the power dynamic between Pearl and Pink. It never gets said explicitly but it seemed really clear to me that the reason why Pink never is shown to return Pearl's feelings is BECAUSE at some point she realized and was very uncomfortable with the way Pearl sees her. Note how Greg becomes her long term partner partly by demanding she see him as an equal. Like, Lily's video doesn't seem to consider at all that the show might be aware of the tropes its using and be making an intentional commentary on it.

[@partyinthecloudkingdom]

honestly i dont even think lapis has that many writing flaws. she's a very honest portrayal of the kind of disordered behavior and disordered interpersonal relationships that are born out of complex post traumatic stress disorder. that includes taking on abrasive, violent, argumentative, and angry traits as forms of defense and self isolation. she spent months relying on only her own anger to keep the one person she views as having helped her safe. of course shes going to be an abrasive asshole when she comes out of that. thats who she needed to be to do what she needed to do for steven

[@HidinginPrivate]

Most the flaws for me is how she kinda gets shafted in the later half of the story. Like she doesn't do much then suddenly she's back for a thing then she's gone again. Just Wish she was integrated a bit better

[@remyhavoc4463]

For me, she just became kind of boring But it didn't help that Peridot was my favourite 😂 And also the moment in the show where they were all crying because of Blue Diamond's powers or something and Lapid didn't cry because oooh she felt worse That was hands down the stupidest moment in the show for me 😂 I'm sorry but that's the moment where I stopped taking the shoe seriously. People point out the ending where Steven easily beat White Diamond in an argument but the Lapis moment was the worst one for me

[@idigamstudios7463]

@@HidinginPrivate I think she was meant to have a greater role in the series but how much we lost when CN decided not to renew the series is the worst thing about SU.

[@eow4317]

She’s my favorite character (sorry peridot but you’re number 2 for me)

[@Hellacious-Blue-Liquid]

Lily Orchard cranks everything to 11. The Diamonds aren't totalitarian dictators, they are nazis, Pearl isn't a servant and a maid, she's a slave. She uses inflammatory language to crank up the implications of what she dislikes while treating the subject matter with a total lack of respect, depth, or nuance

[@deadmemes719]

Is pearl paid? Are the diamonds race supremacists who control everything, view others as “lesser” beings, commit multiple gen*cides, and never actually change but they’re forgiven because they’re sad and “family”? If it looks like a duck…

[@Iamjustherek]

What’s so frustrating is that she goes on and on about the negative traits of the character and how that makes them all terrible and poor characters. All the while ignoring that they were CALLED OUT BY OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE NARRATIVE! Pearl being overbearing, jealous, erratic? She’s called out by multiple characters multiple times and she learned to work through those traits! Rose was childish and secretive? It’s clear she was working on that up until Steven and then he went on to end that unquestioning worship of her memory. Steven is immature, annoying, and oblivious to his surroundings? Well, he’s a child and then he GROWS TF UP! Like Lily you can just say you have no media literacy and just keep it moving!

[@KingYou2002]

In addition to the Steven part, it's also a coming of age show. As a result, he's meant to be seen as occasionally obnoxious until the end of Season 1 when he gains more competence.

[@PDD555]

Fr, I'm honestly happy that the likes in her channel in comparison to the likes of the other channels responding to her really speak for themselves

[@yvachiskl]

The insane thing Abt this is that Lily makes this argument (the character is called out in the narrative which is why it's okay that they're not always right) in a different show. She made this argument to say that Big Bang Theory wasn't sexist bcs whenever the dudes were shitty they'd get called out for it. (This is a debatable take, I don't recall enough of Big Bang Theory to really say 'yes' or 'no' to it..) Regardless of opinions on Big Bang Theory, she MADE THIS ARGUMENT, yet doesn't apply it to Steven Universe. It has bad faith written all over it, or at least a deep, deep lack of thought (I was a pretty big fan of Lily as a teen, yes it is very embarrassing with a pinch of hindsight)

[@hannahleigh6152]

It's not a lack of media literacy, though. It's active lying. She said that Pearl wasn't called out for her behavior.

[@eeeertoo2597]

This was the hardest parts of the video to go through. Pointing out how a character did a bad thing.. like yeah.. hello? Whats so bad about that, its not terrible writing

[@rebecca_rh]

I saw Rebecca Sugar at the Animation Festival of Annecy 2019. They were answering questions to a small audience and her husband, Ian Jones-Quartney, was there as well. Rebecca was very sweet and gracious with everyone. The last question someone asked was “what do you think about the criticisms towards the show and certain haters?” And Rebecca started to get emotional, saying she didn’t understand certain claims and as she started to stutter, Ian Took the microphone and said with a slightly angry tone: “this show is about accepting others and Kindness, if some can’t understand that is really on them” he started comforting rebecca and brought her out of the room and the meeting ended there. I’m pretty sure they were talking about Lily The Jerk and her followers, and Ian was clearly mad at them for being so cruel towards Rebecca.

[@HidinginPrivate]

While obviously I can't corroborate this anecdote, if that's true that is heartbreaking. Few people in the industry have faced such extreme, relentless, focused harassment over something so pure and genuine. I really want them to know that even if it gets them down, they made the world a better place putting it out there

[@rebecca_rh]

@@HidinginPrivate I completely agree. When Lily Orchard’s video came out, it felt like a gut punch, since Rebecca has always been a huge inspiration, and as an aspiring show creator/animator myself, it was very depressing and discouraging to me. so I can’t even imagine what it felt for her, including the (most likely) death treats dropping on her Imbox and all. people tend to forget that even if someone is famous, they are still human just like all of us. And constant harassment and bullying gets to them. Especially when they put a lot of love and good intentions in what they made. Disliking a show is fine, but personally attacking its creators and calling them “nazi sympathizers” over some absurd assumptions, and unleashing your whole fan base onto them like Lily did, is unforgivable. So thank you so much for making this video, Is finally giving me closure over that one after 5 years. I remember reporting it for harassment but it was pretty much useless, and how my comment there got deleted after 3 minutes… just like the rest

[@yeeyeeyeeye]

Reading this was absolutely heartbreaking. Some people get so caught up on being "right" about a piece of media that they forget that there are real people who are behind these shows. Honestly, Lily should have lost her channel for using her videos and platform to harass Rebecca like she did.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

What Ian did to defend his wife, Rebecca, is the most heroic thing he has ever done and it shows. Well, eat your heart out Lily.

[@iversiafanatic]

I’m so glad they have a partner who supports and gets their art 100%. It’s so hard to be creatively vulnerable so I’m glad they have a cheerleader in their corner. :)

[@hugo_the_waffle]

The fact that she really said all those disrespectful shit about lapis, stevonnie and rebecca and still had the gut to scream about how sexualized stevonnie is literally so embrassing. like mf do YOU have eyes 😭😭??

[@HidinginPrivate]

Literally

[@morganqorishchi8181]

Lily has been caught looking at 3D, photorealistic loli, shotacon and toddlercon on Sankaku Complex, so my guess is yes, she does, and what she saw, she thought wasn't hot enough.

[@SphericalNervousSystem]

@@morganqorishchi8181adding to that, she literally co-wrote Stockholm. A disturbing fanfic that involves children and smut. Just gross. Lily does not deserve a platform.

[@grimtheghastly8878]

​@@SphericalNervousSystemshe also allegedly would molest her younger sister and partially based Stockholm off of the disgusting shit she wanted to do to her

[@kaos5633]

@@SphericalNervousSystem she also made doomsday rising and creeped on her sister, later went on to insert fantasies about her sister into stockholm

[@salt3685]

The deleting of all critical or counter comments on her videos is so damn manipulating, holy shit. Coming from her updated SU video, that comment section reads like an alternative universe or something. Even in the updated SU video, someone literally pointed out that it was kind of odd to see no negative or counter arguments to the actual video itself, and her response was that no one actually had any genuine counter points besides spam, and those were cleared out by a “spam” filter. As someone who was put off from checking out SU because of her video until just recently, I was so shocked when I actually sat down and watched the show cause holy shit does she completely misinterpret and misrepresent the show. It’s not perfect, and there are some parts I do have some criticisms for, but there were also way more great moments that got me super emotional, and that I am bummed I skipped out on when I was younger and would have actually benefited a lot from hearing. That echo chamber of a comment section really had me thinking SU was the most problematic kids show to come out of CN, and that everyone agreed unless you were a die hard psycho fan. I feel like such a fool, when all I had to do was actually watch it to know how misleading her interpretation of it was.

[@cyruscrompton8221]

Yeah her claim that it's a "spam filter" is SUPER fishy. I don't know how a lot of that works with KZbin comments but it's not working well apparently because i can still see new comments that say funny quick things about how wrong she is (like "yes you were wrong lol") But NO critical comments??? That's absurd

[@SiRenfield]

“The most problematic show to come out of CN” Yeah. Like sis , Rebecca Sugar is not even close to the most problematic creator CN has hired. Does Skylar Page mean nothing to you?!! (Although don’t take this a criticism against Clarence, I like Clarence otherwise)

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Yeah. She banned me for the comment about my take on Pixar's _Souls._ I don't understand why people took her words seriously when her attitude is the epitome of a b____fit.

[@pebbles214]

The whole "puberty isnt instant" freakout Lily has is silly. Rebecca intended Stevonnie's arc partially to represent puberty, which in turn represents growing up. Lily claims that because Stevonnie already has the body of an adult that Rebecca's intent for the character is wrong. Sure, puberty is not instant, thats obvious. However, the point is that once puberty has affected a young person to the point of looking older/devoloping a more adult body, it can feel all too sudden when people start to treat them in ways they never thought they'd be treated. Its a metaphor for how fleeting childhood innocence feels, especially once it's lost. The fact that Lily misunderstood this is fascinating.

[@JDM-is-my-name]

I can't tell you when I grew into my current body (my adult body, I guess), but I can tell you the first time I realised that people viewed me in a sexual light. I was 11 or 12. We just had swimming class and I had been held back because (unbeknownst to me at the time) I was feeling really insecure because I was getting daily comments back my body and how I looked. It was raining and because it was raining and my hair being wet, I let it hang down over my shoulders. One of my recurring bullies looked me up and down and asked me, "whose the father?" while referring to the fact that my shirt was wet around my chest. In that moment, I realised how I was viewed in my class, by other girls in my class, by people in my life. Again, I was 11 or 12, my bully was a few days older than me, so also 11 or 12 and she felt comfortable just sexualising me blatantly and with no regard. That instant still plays in my head over and over. Watching the episode where Stevonnie were just having fun together made me feel weird. Now, as an almost 22 year old, it's been almost a decade and it still hurts. I think that I saw myself in that episode, but I might never know. Even though I was not at all developed outside of being slightly ahead of the curve of development, I was blatantly commented on in the light of sex, of pregnancy, of a piece of meat rather than a person. Lily, being trans, might never have had that experience as a child, but I did. I feel with Stevonnie in a way that I can't explain. Being sexualised while a child is always going to be horrific and disturbing, but Lily can't see it from a child's perspective, probably because of her own fucked up history of being a sexual assaulter to a child

[@victorlannister5606]

Exactly!!!

[@comicsans3537]

My thoughts are this- she likely is mad at her own lack of "female" puberty. Thus lashed out. I've been there myself and I'm just genderfluid. Also she did WHAT??

[@MakiPcr]

I should also point out some 15 and 16 year old *DO* have adult bodies, some people achieve physical maturity fast

[@eeeertoo2597]

Also like.. puberty happens relatively quickly to any other growth the body has.. like, it takes a year or maybe less

[@god7142]

Id like to point out how Lily constantly misreads sexual tones with minors when she has been recently accused of grooming children on her livestreams and patreon pages, as well as being outed for writing a R4pe fantasy fanfiction of mlp characters

[@enviisyk]

and further being outed for that r*pe fantasy being based of her sa'ing her little sister

[@adamandsethdylantoo]

Hate to say it because it's honestly kind of a stereotype and is even made fun of in the whole "spiders" joke, but sometimes it's the people who scream the loudest about something and see it in places it's obviously not that are the most guilty of it themselves (the spider's joke is: "oh so you're arachnophobic? you must secretly wanna fuck spiders")

[@dracocrusher]

@@adamandsethdylantoo I mean, yeah. It's 100% projection, right? It's like when reactionaries try to call Trans people groomers and then they're found with CP. You see in things what you're used to thinking about. So if you're into kids, you might unironically see sexualization in some VERY weird places that other people wouldn't notice.

[@sashawolfson3602]

**having War flashbacks of Lily's Stockholm story** ....yeah... 😨

[@Squirreltasticqueen]

It's also important to remember that lily was likely molested as a child by her older brother and went on to molest her (then) sister because her parents were fucking useless pieces of shit. She literally doesn't know sexual boundaries and is likely projecting her trauma without actually seeking help. I hate lily in a nebulous way like when you hate someone who has no power in your life but she's also a product of her abuse and tbh we should all kick her brothers ass for making the monster lily is now

[@realdanhkhoi4920]

Man seeing this is just a breath of fresh air, the video that Lily made gain so much momentum that it basically tarnish Steven Universe's reputation was basically ruined for like 4 years. To be fair to Lily, they did make a few good points here and there but to me it just seem like blind hate and clout chasing. Glad there are still some people like you that remembers the show as a revolutionary kid show that although stumbles along the way is an integral of piece animated media

[@pieflower6419]

I know the show's not flawless, but I think it's revolutionary. Breaking so many tropes, with such a focus on mental health and teaching so many lessons about relationships. Some people may think it's preachy, but I needed it and I'm sure others do too. The metaphors it uses are so unique and the blend of a slice-of-life comfort show and a sci-fi drama is one-of-a-kind which upsets some people but just makes it appeal even more to me.

[@cartoonking1789]

Orchard is just in general a hateful person

[@nullobjecttype]

I was an extremmely impressionable kid when i saw lily's vid and man it soured my ability to watch the show despite me trying to deny it was one of my favorite shows ever growing up. Makes me wonder how many other impressionable kids, maybe closeted or questioning individuals as well that may have had a similar experience to me. I didnt know i was bi till college, but if i had been thinking abt it back then, i know damn well discourse around the show's representation woulda left an even worse impact on me. Especially with my attempt to fit in witb the edgy kids in school shitting on the show for being "dumb gay shit". Lots of stuff to criticisize abt the show, but that takes nuance. It was so unfairly treated...

[@Fl00fyd0g]

⁠@@nullobjecttypeI also saw the video and decided steven universe sucked because of it since everyone around me didn’t like the show or thought it was trash and I acted like I hated it even though I liked the show

[@oversizedflowerpot]

STRIGHT UP 🗣💯💯💯💯

[@ivanclark2275]

Orchard’s video is hard to watch because of how angry she is. It’s clearly the rage of someone who is really mad at something else and has latched on to Rebecca Sugar as a surrogate for whatever she’s really angry at. Her criticisms of the show don’t make sense because they’re post hoc explanations. She’s mad because she’s mad and she’s fabricating criticisms because she’s mad.

[@tabithapritt6895]

I hear that Lily's ex, Lizzy, was actually a fan of Steven Universe, she also broke up with Lily because she was abusive. So given that she stole her last name (it being Orchard), I'll let you come to your own conclusions

[@frickinfrick8488]

I wanna comment specifically on the whole “the show sexualises Stevonnie” thing. Almost every woman or fem presenting person has had an uncomfortable experience as a teenager where they realise their body is being looked at sexually. I felt very seen in that episode, the rush that comes with the new found attention only to realise how uncomfortable and non-consensual it all feels when you realise you aren’t in control of the situation. I feel like the episode plays it off well. If characters looking at stevonnie that way makes you uncomfortable, good. Realise that’s what a lot of teen girls go through as their bodies are stigmatised. And if you look at a pretty normal representation of a teen fem body and think it’s inappropriately sexual, you’re part of the problem.

[@MultiNicoleG]

That Rebecca Sugar comment about Stevonnie's experience and being looked at like you have the body of an adult when you're still a kid... *so* relatable to me. Which makes Lily completely flipping her shit over that quote even funnier and sadder to me.

[@surprisedlobsta8543]

hey uh, not to disagree with your point or anything but teenage amab trans femmes also have this kind of experience, so i don't know why their experiences wouldn't be mentioned here too

[@smullps]

​@surprisedlobsta8543 Stevonnie is not AMAB, and this person is talking about their own particular experience. They don't have to add another caveat when they're talking about their own personal experience.

[@peppito8408]

@@surprisedlobsta8543wouldn’t they fit into fem presenting people?

[@surprisedlobsta8543]

@@peppito8408 the op was edited to say women and fem presenting people to include them

[@ohveeve]

Also, framing Lapis as an abuser, for her reactive actions, is so insidious. Lapis is an abuse victim with thousands of years of severe trauma from war, to imprisonment, to abusive relationship. When Lapis acts out at Peridot, despite peridot’s good intentions, it comes from a state of hyper vigilance. Peridot isn’t the best at reading people’s emotions, so she can be a bit blunt. Since Lapis is constantly on edge from abuse, where she had to be, she interprets Peridot’s good intentions as mockery or abuse, something very common from recovering abuse victims. Anything can set them off while they’re in recovery and they need more time to adjust back to normalcy. Also, while Lapis shouldn’t have taken the barn, she has severe ptsd from being in a war. That’s not something she can just accept when she’s seen true horrors. It doesn’t excuse her actions, but people in recovery need understanding.

[@ohveeve]

Her arc is one of the most complex in the show, and it’s one of the most important ones in my opinion. Kids need to learn how to have empathy torwards victims and the complexities it can give them as one day, they might be the victim. A big part of being a victim is blaming yourself. So, kids having representation for that, to understand the complexity of healing and abuse, allows them to recover and forgive themselves or help others.

[@oMuStiiA]

I mean, in her relationship with Jasper she was an abuser of a sort, they both were abusers and victims abusing each other in a toxic relationship, that's part of what she hated about being with Jasper because she didn't like what it turned her into. But I think that's part of what makes her character interesting, and it doesn't automatically make her unredeemable or evil. Many abuse victims perpetuate toxic behaviours and as a result abuse others, often because they suffer from PTSD, hypervigilance, paranoia, or even just think that a certain kind of treatment or behaviour is normal because that was normal for them. But they can often unlearn those things and replace them with healthier behaviours as they heal and recover when given the chance. That's nuanced and interesting character writing.

[@ohveeve]

@@oMuStiiA I'm talking about framing Lapis as an abuser to Peridot when she's acting reactively. The way Lily frames Lapis is as if all the abuse came from Lapis and Lapis alone

[@oMuStiiA]

@@ohveeve yeah Lily makes it so one-sided it's infuriating. Acting like because some of her actions can be interpreted as abusive that means she's a horrible irredeemable person and can't still be a victim who can heal and grow is just a gross way of interpreting her character imo. It's a prime example of how people like Lily can turn on victims the instant the symptoms of their trauma aren't pretty and harmless and easy to romanticize.

[@asocksual4910]

I'm so thrown by how often Lily seems to not get that people are complicated, and that it's a huge part of the show. Especially with the Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond stuff, the show doesn't "want you to feel like rose is perfect while repeatedly showing her do bad stuff", it wants you to get that she's a _complicated_ person. Edit: also like, because it's a kid's show, you need to think about how kids are going to respond and connect to it. I think that Rose's story and how Steven learns about it and relates to her is something that a kid could probably see themselves reflected if they had a parent or loved one who passed away before they were born or when they were very young, and who they heard all of this amazing stuff about but never got the chance to actually know as a person. I think that looking up to someone and then learning that they weren't this amazing divine and hero and were, in fact, just a person like you and I is something that lots of kids (and adults!) have lived through. And Lily keeps on getting mad that Steven and pals aren't just grinding their enemies into dust, but she doesn't get that a lot of the villains in this show are literally Steven's family and they represent the experience of being a kid and having family members who are sometimes really shitty and set in their ways and who don't understand you or respect you. Most 12 year olds can't exactly just kill their conservative aunts, so "just destroy them" is a message that rings really hollow. And another thing! It's extremely annoying how Lily can't grasp that you can sympathize with a character and also not approve of their actions, that you can care for someone and also think that what they are doing is wrong. It's, ironically, very immature. A lot of kid-oriented media has a habit of equating care and approval, and I respect the hell out of SU for averting that. Double edit: I actually like Lily's(?) proposed alternate Stevonnie design at 11:43:58, but I feel like it doesn't quite capture the idea of 50% Steven 50% Connie as well as the canon one. They look mostly like how older teen Steven looks in Too Many Birthdays, and neither Connie nor Steven have braces. Admittedly though, I do think it would've been cool to see a character who looks like that (with visible body fat, acne, and leg/arm hair) portrayed as cool and beautiful in the way that canon Stevonnie was because you almost never see that on TV.... but I think that if they really did look like that, Lily and people like her would also find it horrible and disgusting because of the increased focus on stuff like pimples and braces that are mostly associated with teens. A really damned if you don't, damned if you do situation.

[@reviewdle6173]

Lily exclusively watches shows for kids and also isn't very smart, so I get why the idea of three-dimensional characters are a foreign concept to her

[@NobleAbsinthe]

She really hates anime, but basically wants every show to spoon feed her like a Shonen anime. Really paradoxical...

[@testerwulf3357]

I hate how just..hypocritical Lily is. She identifies as a trans woman..yet CONSTANTLY calls Stevonnie a woman (they aren't a woman) and pokes fun of Stevonnie for "looking more feminine" and even makes disgusting comments about her body calling curves and boobs inherently sexual when it's NOT. SHE is the one sexualizing Stevonnie, not the creators, having curves is NOT sexual nor is their clothing. How a trans-woman can be this misogynistic and transphobic (misidentifying Stevonnie as a woman) idk.. Along with stuff like "I don't HATE Sugar but- *goes on long af rant on why she hates her* " and "I don't think Sugar, a Jewish person, Is like fascist or a supporter of that BUT-" like wtf..not to even meantion all the times she was wrong about so much. Like saying only queer rep is with the gems when deadass we got Sadie (has a NB partner, crushed on Stevonnie who is NOT a cisgendered person) and I forgot his name but that older annoying rich guy who also crushed on Stevonnie which I'm sure he knew they weren't cisgendered. And the wedding in general. Idc what anyone says the wedding was PERFECT and Garnet is GREAT rep! We STAN Garnet in this house!!!

[@AnArisingAries]

Not to mention the explicit demand of androgyny. Even if Stevonnie is "more feminine," nonbinary people DO NOT owe anyone androgyny. How a fusion looks, assuming it works like individual gem's forms, is dependent on how the 2+ gems feel about themselves/each other. Stevonnie is the most natural form for Steven and Connie to make.

[@alyx6828]

Does Lily not understand that children have things like hips and chests? Saying that Stevonnie is a sexualised character just because they have a human body is crazy, Lily is the one sexualising children's bodies here.

[@oxfordcommaisthegreatest]

Considering some of her controversies... Yeahhh makes sense

[@apophis7712]

@@WannzKaswan It's like how a lot of transphobes are caught jerking it to trans porn As I'm sure you're well aware

[@nicoleflores2054]

​@@WannzKaswanShe* Lily is a horrible person but I feel like that is excuse for you and your transphobia to pull out, Don't.

[@WannzKaswan]

i am not going to respect the pronouns of a sex offender@@nicoleflores2054

[@NobleAbsinthe]

Don't misgender, it makes you look bad. But yeah I haven't read the pedo shit Lily allegedly wrote. And I don't want to either...

[@amethystimagination3332]

I’m halfway through getting my college degree for animation and boy Lily does not understand how the animation pipeline works. She continuously blames Rebecca Sugar for the choices made by studio executives, sporadic scheduling, the rushed conclusion due to cancellation etc. She also doesn’t seem to realize how important storyboard artists actually are, they are the ones who plan out the look of an episode for the rest of the art and animation department and work very closely with the script writers. But her thinking that doesn’t surprise me, I remember in her “writing advice” thread she flat out stated that artists cannot be writers, and writers cannot be artists. Which as someone who also has a major in communications and a minor in English on top of working my way through an art degree, I have a lot of problems with.

[@cyruscrompton8221]

The "writers can't be artist/vice versa" thing is especially insane like... the vast majority of the manga industry is THAT. Even outside of Japan it's common, most show creators did the art for their show (ie spongebob, flapjack, chowder and more!)

[@animeotaku307]

Also, writing IS art? I know that by “artist” she means someone who works with a visual medium, but still.

[@cyruscrompton8221]

@@animeotaku307Yeah an artform, it should still be respected like one- wait is your name LegalAssassin a repo reference?!

[@resentfulshrimp8044]

Lily has so many incorrect ideas about writing and storytelling that I genuinely feel nauseous listening to her. It's like being in the bizarro world. Up is down, left is right, town building isn't world building in her weird view of whatever. I don't think she is someone with much love for fiction. She has a specific niche she wants and refuses anything else. It is deeply upsetting to me as a writer how she characterizes things in the craft as "oh its so simple if you were just competent" as if writing were a scripted play and not a constant improv where your partner dies halfway through and you have to figure out how to dispose of the corpse without breaking the illusion this is all just fun and natural. This got long winded. But yeah lily's view on writing sucks.

[@animeotaku307]

@@cyruscrompton8221 It is!

[@fanaticalistic]

39:44 THANK YOUUU, ROSE NEVER WANTED A SLAVE SHE SAW PEARL AS HER OWN GEM!! THE PROBLEM WAS THAT PEARL DIDN'T SEE HERSELF AS HER OWN GEM she is not her slave, definitely an unhealthy dynamic though

[@BeanzieBiren]

LITERALLY!! there were several instances where Rose showed genuine concern and sadness when she saw Pearl treat herself that way, she herself was smart, but she always encouraged and praised pearl for her own talents, which is something the other diamonds NEVER did, not even to each other!

[@SamuraiDoggo14]

Now that you bring it up, it's kind of a somewhat worse version of Fuyuhiko and Peko from Danganronpa 2.

[@FairieMagic]

THIS! The dynamic isn't meant to be idolized. The entire point is that it's an unhealthy power dynamic that happens in real life. Her character growth was literally learning her worth beyond Rose.

[@SpagettiSpeltWrong]

I definitely get that Rose did not treat Pearl negatively and saw her as her own person but that doesn't change the fact that she still OWNED Pearl and Pearls role in her society WAS as a slave. Just because Rose treated her nicely doesn't mean that she's suddenly in the clear. This is like slave owners from 1800s America who were nice to their slaves wondering why they wanted to leave them once the Civil war was over. It doesn't matter how nice they were, they're still fucking slave owners.

[@jolynelovemail]

I didn't even realize but when she's referencing a complicated gay relationship "sticking the landing" she literally uses a picture of her own OCs

[@christianpaystrup4427]

1:01:21 “Really, another self loathing plot?” I’m shocked the show that centers on self-development, self-conception, self-acceptance, etc. would dare to have multiple characters deal with self-loathing in some way. I just don’t know why that would be, Lily. Lol.

[@ronan-outoftime]

i feel like she'd be the kind of person to call people dealing with similar stuff an "attention seeker"

[@NintendoMeister2260]

Lily: Really another oxygen particle?

[@TheBonkleFox]

It's almost like queer people go through a lot of internal struggle accepting who they are in the current societal climate. Glass houses, Lily. Glass houses.

[@resentfulshrimp8044]

Yeah. I'm pretty sure the majority of people on this planet have had some self loathing episode especially when they're younger like.... it's kind of a part of growing and making it as a person for a lot of people? It's like saying "wow another character has a subplot about guilt".

[@captaincrazycreative]

​@@TheBonkleFox THANK YOU! It bothered me so much to hear her complain about how trite having an episode about self love is when... it's a show that largely appeals to queer children. Yeah Lily I'm sure no one watching the show could POSSIBLY need to hear this message. If there's any demographic of people known for having perfect self confidence straight out the womb it's gay kids.

[@SonicVegeta]

2:35:08 That’s kinda the thing about Lily, she absolutely despises the idea of forgiveness and redemption because she constantly holds grudges against anything that doesn’t constantly give her validation and makes her out to be a perfect human being who can do no wrong. And judging from her most recent video on the Steven Universe, she’s only gotten worse.

[@cameron9206]

she's just mad that she herself is unredeemable irl lol

[@KingYou2002]

I'm curious, how did Lily get worse on her recent video on SU because I am not watching that one?

[@Dragonmongamer]

@@KingYou2002She basically doubled down on everything she said in this video, while trying to say she “grew as a person”

[@the_last_ballad]

​@@KingYou2002 she completely forgot entire episodes because, in her own words when called out for forgetting "Pool Hopping", she hadn't seen the show in 3 years. Her most recent video on SU(not the movie/future) isn't 3 years old, it's sooner than that. _She remade an "updated" critique of a show without rewatching it first._ And then proceeded to call Sugar a pedophile because the movie had the picture Vadalia painted of Steven and Garnet(with Steven as a Churub, which are always babies/children who are completely nude but positioned as to be modest... except Steven was fully clothed when he was being painted) in place of the old Rose portrait. Which they placed there during pool hopping if I remember correctly. She also said that Garnet's trait of not being as strong as she appears was never addressed again after the Sardonix arc, except, again, that was Pool Hopping. So really she was doomed from the start, what with her only having her old video to go off of as to the problems of the show.

[@EarlyOwOwl]

Love how Lily complained about the characters not working on stopping the Cluster 100% of the time where there was an entire episode about Peridot learning that the point of life isn't just about working 100% of the time.

[@HidinginPrivate]

That, and 3 of the episodes she lists are either flashbacks for take place on the same day. So the actual time passing isn't even that much

[@taratheshinyabsol768]

Oh come on Lily, how did you miss that!?

[@bumfricker2487]

haha, what??? trying to stop the earth from exploding isn't remoteky comparable to like, a 9 to 5 job (or Peridot's passion for being a cog in an authoritarian machine)

[@vivi7645]

​@@bumfricker2487Take it more like an episode specifically about Peridot starting to learn how to exist other than as a cog in an authoritarian machine, then

[@WestGarbage6]

@@bumfricker2487 It's a kids show, too, though. Surrrre, it doesn't really make sense to just stop working on saving the fucking WORLD because you're burnt out on it, but it serves as an important lesson to kids, who sometimes need things more on the nose to be able to grasp it, about how no matter what you're working on, or how important it is, it's not more important than taking care of yourself, and being healthy.

[@Astrolionking]

People really need to realize HAD STEVEN KILLED THE DIAMONDS, HE COULD’VE STARTED A BIGGER, WORSE WAR. That’s the literal side of the “redemption”. He doesn’t like the gems as shown in Future (and the fact that he nearly murdered White for what she did to him and his family) but there’s literally nothing else he can do without making hit worse bc fighting fire with fire hurts EVERYONE.

[@KingYou2002]

Also, Steven killing the diamonds would be thematically inconsistent. You can't have a show about mental health, communication, love, and empathy, meanwhile having Steven killing the Diamonds. If you want another example as to this scenario applied but to a different show, it was just as popular as SU by the way. I'm talking about Star vs. the Forces of Evil. That show ended with Star killing millions of magical beings to "stop a genocide", and look how that ended. Now that show is widely seen as a joke.

[@themechanic9974]

And you need to realise someone wrote it like that

[@fallekonate-b8y]

Ok, but you also need to realize that you can't have your main character forgive literal Nazis

[@okeirany7652]

@@fallekonate-b8y They are not, in fact, literal Nazis!

[@vanadium8865]

⁠@@fallekonate-b8yBut he doesn’t actually forgive the “literal Nazis”, from my memory. He convinces them to change their mind and then occasionally checks in on them to make sure they’re making things right. He only goes to them when he needs something and otherwise actively avoids them despite their protests. Doesn’t seem like forgiveness to me

[@Swift_LN]

The reason it takes Lily so long before stating an ACTUAL opinion on the show is because she first has to poison the well for an hour so that it sounds less insane to anyone still around.

[@boomgirlbucko]

Proof that Pearl made her own choice to stand by Rose, is the fact that in Future, when Yellow and Blue pearl were given the choice to either stay or leave their diamond, they chose to leave, since you can see them in Steven's new gem school.

[@HidinginPrivate]

Dang yeah that's another cool detail. Also they romancing eachother

[@steviebeevie]

I cant be the only one bothered she pointed out Ronaldo not having a "redemption arc" like it was ever needed, he's cringe but not EVIL

[@animeotaku307]

Speaking as someone who hates Ronaldo, he needed a maturation arc. Not a redemption arc.

[@WestGarbage6]

I find it funny she wanted any arc for Ronaldo, considering the blatant hate she has for any resident of beach city to get screentime, she'd probably just throw it in a pile as "Yet another useless filler episode" because she wants to see more of the cool n@zi's.

[@StillSomeone]

If you think way too hard, he did try to kick out immigrants and then appropriate their culture But he’s literally just a joke character and none of that can be taken too seriously

[@Messier__]

Weird thought but honestly he should've had a bit of screen time with Peridot to bring him down to Earth with a literal alien. They were both characters that misunderstand literally everything around them. One's trying to understand space the others trying to understand Earth. Let them both interact with Each other and see where it goes. Idk I'm not a writer 😅

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

Didn't he try to kill lars!??!

[@sstarbee]

Lily saying Rose was "erratically written" doesnt sit right with me, because she wasn't, she did grow and progress too, we just don't see it chronologically from beginning to end. The other characters all knew and remember Rose at the end of her life, after she has grown and changed. That's the Rose they talk about, mostly. The Rose in Lion's video is towards to end of her life, after she has developed. We then see various snippets going almost backwards (not always in direct reverse order, but still). She's not written erratically, we just learn her backstory and see how she got there, not watch it in real time.

[@cyruscrompton8221]

It's crazy cause it's like Oh wow this 20 year old is acting differently from when I last saw him when he was 5, hes so erratically written... How come Batman just didn't beat up the guy who shot his parents, hes so erratically written!

[@blunderbuss1395]

i do honestly think she was somewhat erratically written, as far as the characters go. i feel like for all the wrong she did, she's treated way worse than any other diamond by the story, even though she's the one who gave it her all to change, and to make a stand with having steven that incited the biggest change. the other diamonds didn't even try until they saw through roses actions and stevens very own existence that what they were doing was wrong, and rose is met with way more resentment than gratitude or sympathy. she tried!

[@chubledoobles4257]

I haven’t watched the Lily Orchard video in forever but MAN the way Lily discusses non binary identity is GROSS. From implying non binary people have to look androgynous to wanting to get rid of the rep there is in favour of more binary identities that she prefers… nasty.

[@chubledoobles4257]

Oh not to mention, something I didn't notice until I made it further into the video, constant misgendering and calling Stevonnie a lady.

[@avivastudios2311]

I knew a girl in school who said she was non-binary. She seemed pretty feminine. What does it mean to be non-binary? Is it like being trans?

[@scottobotto2772]

@@avivastudios2311 i can only offer my own definition of non-binary (as a nb person) but experiences vary, but essentially being non-binary means you don't necessarily identify with the ends gender binary (man, woman), you may not identify at all or at different spots amongst the spectrum but non-binary encapsulates that gray area. The girl you remember may have had an identity that was somewhere along the feminine side of things! Or if they were anything like me, may not have had the means to express their preferred look! I've seen many different takes on it being under the transgender umbrella, I personally agree with it since it's an identity that differs with the one you were assigned at birth!

[@amberwingtundrawing776]

​@@avivastudios2311it's basically about feeling more than appearance. Some people realize their gender is different because they don't like how they're viewed but some people just feel like they want to be talked about differently. A name or pronoun change is all some people need but it's different for everyone. It's also possible the person you met couldn't change their appearance because of outside factors

[@Hey-Its-Dingo]

At the very least, I can confirm that this is something that Lily has 180'd on since her SU video came out. Lily's biggest issue with ContraPoints is that she started talking about Non-binary identities in the same ways that Lily used to. So she has had a significant amount of growth in that aspect.

[@sophisticatedPJs]

I noticed she really enjoys bringing up blue diamond as sympathetic and not like. Directly explicitly manipulative. That IS her power. Manipulating other people's emotions. She's supposed to represent toxic relationships of the same nature. People who try to control other people's emotions with their own behaviors. It's important for kids to recognize that just because someone cries doesn't necessarily mean that they're inherently good or sympathetic. Blue diamond may have cried, but she cried while everyone was fighting her with everything they had and she reigned destruction on everything around her. she isn't portrayed in a completely sympathetic light. It's portraying a complex situation with someone who clearly has toxic behaviors that happen to have a sympathetic cause behind them, but it doesn't necessarily make what she's doing okay or sympathetic in itself. This is like.... basic media literacy.

[@4ujfbdk]

Complete agree

[@nicoleflores2054]

I was also thinking of that, anytime she was crying, that was damaging any gem that was around her, in other words, forcing them to cry, which in other words, it's a toxic method that Blue uses that show her grief by how powerful she is, that has never been seen as positive.

[@chaoticcow4357]

Exactly, Blue Diamond symbolizes abusers who cry, and its a good thing to show to kids who are at heavy risk of being in an abusive dynamic with someone.

[@Michaela_ZC]

It's the most direct metaphor for "Projecting your emotions onto others" you could thing of.

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

Yeah. Blue always reminds me… a bit too much of my mom for comfort.

[@fishlordusername891]

The fact that Lily consistently misinterprets Steven Universe as a plot show, even though its a charagter show, THE STYLE OF STORYTELLING SHE PREFERS, is ridiculous to me.

[@fishlordusername891]

The idea that a limited perspective is somehow inherently a bad thing is RIDICULOUS for a mystery.

[@fishlordusername891]

"it gives HINTS that lapis has PTSD" ITS CALLED SUBTLETY

[@steamedtoast64]

Not only this, but she also gets mad when a plot point that she takes personal interest in aren't focused on in every episode of the show. When, you know, it's a show with dozens of characters in a character focused mystery show. For example, she acts like ruby and sapphire barely get any screen time and therefore aren't good representation, when they get like 10 episodes majorly involving them outside of garnet, which is a pretty good amount of screen time for these characters, especially when they still get plenty of time as garnet, who is both of them combined, but she acts like they're completely separate.

[@enviisyk]

Lily couldn't have a consistent opinion or a shred of media literacy if she tried

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

​@@enviisyk Well, Lily is not even a good critic either considering she outright attacked the creator, Rebecca Sugar, for something that isn't even her fault. But this is Lily we are talking about.