How Did No Gem in Steven Universe Realize Rose Quartz Was Pink Diamond?

It was Steven Universe's biggest reveal: Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond. There were a lot of people who didn't think it was true, but we're just humans-what we want to know is how Rose Quartz - or is that Pink Diamond? - was able to fool every Gem she came across too? What if I told you it wasn't that hard?
Steven Universe is full of Gems, and a lot of them met the rebellious Rose Quartz without realizing she was actually Pink Diamond. Some even fought alongside her, and stood by her son's side, giving us the Steven Universe we know and love.

[@table2.0]

The fact she could heal gems should’ve been a massive signal that she’s pink diamond, but maybe her powers were unknown even to the other diamonds because she never got to go out and use them?

[@RandoSando.]

That's exactly it. When the diamonds "reformed" they discovered they had powers they weren't able to access. Pink could heal, blue could make people high, white could let people be her, yellow could change physical forms.

[@lw62345]

Hit the nail on the head. Plus Pinks previous pearl (Volleyball) says in future that Pink was known for her destructive powers that we see Steven deal with. I doubt anyone would've guessed the childish and destructive Pink Diamond would be the same as the elegant and loving Rose Quartz

[@table2.0]

@@RandoSando. that’s an excellent point actually, thank you

[@table2.0]

Though healing cracked gems does seem like an incredibly strong and unorthodox, even unique, ability to have alongside all her other abilities, especially for a quartz

[@WaywardTidesCollective]

@@RandoSando. "blue can make people high" is officially my new favorite way to describe her power lmao

[@Daemonworks]

The simplest answer is that most gems had simply never imagined the possibility at all. Passing yourself off as a different sort of gem would be just incredibly wild in gem society. Expecially a diamond posing as literally anything else. It's so far outside people's idea of how things work, what people might actually do, that most folks would just think "huh. wierd quartz". This happens all the time in real life. It's surprisingly easy to avoid notice if what you're doing is something nobody imagines somebody would actually do.

[@gabrielabatista6016]

It's like the Clark Kent and Superman effect. Clark Kent is normally kinda shy and meek, but when acting as Superman he puts a brave face, acts extremely confident, puffed chest, straight back and everything. Because of that, not many people suspect the shy news reporter is Superman; the disguise isn't in the glasses, it's the behaviour, the glasses are just a slight different visual cue to throw people off (as someone who wear glasses, I can confirm my face looks a bit different without them), and as Superman he's only seen in uniform, so people make the association. Heck, we even see this when Henry Cavill walked around in public with a Superman t-shirt and nobody recognised him, but once he came back in costume everyone noticed him. Wouldn't put past it that people associated pink with a very specific appearance and behaviour, so when they saw her as rose quartz she was so different they didn't make the connection.

[@convalaria]

@@gabrielabatista6016but even more than that because people know that *someone* is gonna be superman. No one ever thinks that theres even a chance that pink diamonds is masquerading as someone else

[@2nouli]

The diamonds are kinda like queens. If you see some random person that looks like the queen, specially knowing that the queen is dead, you would think "wow this person looks like the queen, how random" not "look, it's the queen! she's alive and wearing a disguise!"

[@battuk2017]

It's kinda like demons in frieren. Sure someone could hide their mana for little bits of time (like shapeshifting as amethyst to jasper to trick rubys) but the idea of willingly lowering yourself for such a long period of time is so bizzare that no demon in that story or gem in this story has heard of it or would even think of doing it

[@BasilWyrth]

most common example being "and they were roommates !"

[@yamato6114]

Also regarding Rose shapeshifting, I think it’s important to remember that she could hold that form for a long time because she wasn’t changing into something bigger than her baseline form. Amethyst had trouble holding her form as Jasper because Jasper is taller than her. Same with Steven when he tried to look older. Rose/Pink essentially shifted her already existing mass somewhere else, which works because Rose is considerably bulkier than Pink.

[@mertensiam3384]

Yeah, Gems can stay shapeshifted for a long time, Amethyst was a toilet for months once iirc

[@conejitorosada2326]

​@@mertensiam3384Skibidi amethyst

[@kylewilliams5454]

Also she is a diamond, so she can do what any gem can do but better

[@TotallyNotAnExcuseName]

​@@conejitorosada2326 no.... NOOOO

[@Portahooty]

Also after she faked her shattering, she reformed to look like Rose Quartz.

[@fp9204]

Wish they had made the real rose quartzes a slightly lighter colour in the show, real rose quartz is very pale, not like the near magenta we see in Future. Also that could have resulted in rose diamond being perceived as off colour, which could have made gems even more sympathetic to her rebellion, and could have functioned as another red herring wrt the truth of her gem

[@lemon_juice9613]

I mean the sapphires had different shades in skin

[@ayoubalayoubi3366]

I mean pink Diamond rose quartz is already really pale so it would be kinda hard to make others paler

[@megaraptora]

im honestly surprised no one ever pointed out how gems only use different shades of their main color in their forms, but rose somehow had peach, white, and yellow in her post-war form? its such a weird thing. she's not even the same shade of pink as the actual roses

[@etetgg1364]

@@megaraptora yellow?

[@megaraptora]

@@etetgg1364 i mean the star on her dress, its like a pastel-ish yellow with a slight pink hue

[@aeronlangheim3462]

I'm reminded of an anecdote talking about how Superman's disguise works. You wouldn't assume a guy who just happens to look like Superman but acts nothing like you would expect Superman to act to actually be Superman, which is why he can just be Clark Kent. I think this is kind of like that. Rose acts completely different from pink diamond, or at least have people expect pink diamond to act. So their first assumption isn't "Oh that's pink diamond." it's probably more like "That rose quartz has a funny looking gem. "

[@skywalkerjohn8965]

Put on glasses and you are a new person

[@Omegasutoraiki]

If steven ever got an X-Ray before they found out his mom was Pink Diamond everyone would have been like "WHAT?"

[@AkaneUchi]

@gatt0gamer97 🤣

[@nicoi7369]

Steven: *gains PTSD*

[@lancelotdemura6232]

make sense. that's why they never let him visit any doctor - or at least he never got any total examination until the future sequel

[@Omegasutoraiki]

@@lancelotdemura6232 90% sure the reason he never went to a doctor was legit because his dad hated everything to do with his childhood and never took him because he wanted Steven to have a free childhood but ok.

[@almessasorrow4950]

​@@OmegasutoraikiNah, that's not why. It was specifically that he's not a normal human. He believed that only the gems could help him which was just completely bad parenting. Though using real life it makes sense.

[@markthesapphicdumpsterfire1745]

As someone new to the Steven universe fandom, the term “certified kindergartener” caught me off guard, my first thought was a 5 to 6 year old holding proudly holding up a printed certificate given to them on the last day of kindergarten with their name on it.

[@justprixy5469]

Honestly when i first heard of the kindergarden a few years back i thought it was a actual child kindergarden

[@MacabreIngenue2]

That's adorable 😍

[@juneru2]

It's really funny whenever Peridot refers to herself as a "kindergartener". It's definitely an intentional joke from the writers.

[@WinterPains]

Honestly, I can imagone Peridot doing exactly that, so spot on, lol.

[@noonespecial7730]

I'm not particularly new to the fandom and I thought the same thing

[@hopehedgehog2267]

One thing that got me confused is when she fuses, their forms glow and you are able to see their gem from all angles. Couldn't someone see the hidden part of her gem when she fused? Even if it was for a split second, shes done it multiple times and on camera! That and, when gems fuse and become one, all thoughts become shared and wouldn't even the *feeling* of being with Rose raise some questions? Like, wouldn't they know who they're fusing with or figure it out?

[@RandomYT05_01]

Well we clearly know pearl would remain quiet, and amethyst is probably ignorant about everything so she wouldn't know what she is looking at. The only real lose end would be garnet, and as far as we know the only time she fused with rose was during the obsidian fusion that saved captain William Dewey, the founder of beech city. And taking into account the presence of the other gems, she would likely not be able to detect pink diamond in there. Also, the sapphire part of garnet never looked into Rose out of trust, so really if you think about it, all seems perfectly plausible no one would know.

[@hopehedgehog2267]

@@RandomYT05_01 ah! I see your point, but what about any fusion done during the war when Rose had plenty of other friends that could see? Like Bismuth? I don't know how much Rose may have fused during that time though.

[@RandomYT05_01]

@@hopehedgehog2267 taking into account no one found out till season 5, I don't think she did much fusing during the war. Actually, I am not sure how much she would lead from the front tbh.

[@mufeet7661]

@@RandomYT05_01 what about when she literally fused in front of Garnet and Amethyst for Rainbow Quartz and she was behind them, meaning they would have seen her gem angle as pointed

[@RandomYT05_01]

@@mufeet7661 well, there was a rumor going around on homeworld about rose quartz being hyper defective. Perhaps it was a rumor she pushed around herself to explain the odd gem shape?

[@ClodsireBcuzYes]

i think they just weren't looking to far into it, and thats why the crystal gems were upset they didnt realize earlier when a gem looks at another gem's gem (try saying that 5 times fast) they are actively trying to figure out what gem it is. no one looked at rose as anything but a rose quartz

[@frixxer87]

I understand how they could get fooled by the appearance, but Rose literally had so many powers, many more than any of the crystal gems and more than any other Quartz soldiers. She literally had the ability to heal gems, take over gems (like how Steven took over Lars) and her shield protected Pearl and Garnet and her from the Diamond Blast, a blast that corrupted every single gem on the planet.

[@pedroff_1]

To be fair, for that last one, only the crystal gems could have known that. Up until Steven released Lapis, the diamonds thought their blast had destroyed all gems on Earth

[@sebastianm8051]

Based on what the off colors said once, there were multiple rumors demonizing Rose, so I guess other gems constantly were surprised or scared by how powerful that random Quartz was. Also, Pink's powers changed in the same way the other Diamonds did. Nobody saw her healing and calm counterpart on Homeworld, only her destructive and tantrum prone side

[@SpaghettiDog86.]

@@pedroff_1yeah, it wasn’t until steven showed the diamonds the corrupted gems, they were like “oh… we needed pink to kill everyone”

[@lm-cv9qb]

It was proven in Steven Universe Future that Diamonds have two completely separate power sets depending on whether they're being compassionate or cruel. The other three diamonds prove this by displaying completely new power sets in SUF that even they, mellinia old as they are, didn't know they had because they'd never tried being kind before. White Diamond flipped from mind control to being a living megaphone, Blue Diamond flipped from psychological torture to calming clouds, yellow diamond flipped from destabilizing gem's bodies to helping gems customize their appearances. In SUF, when Steven starts to lose it, he reverts back to Pink Diamond's cruel power set - offense, instead of defense. Breaking instead of healing. Pink Diamond was the first to discover her secondary power set when she began to act with compassion towards other gems and earth creatures, which was also when she decided to become Rose Quartz. Nobody would have ever seen her demonstrate those powers as Pink Diamond, because even she didn't know she had them. So while it would have been seen as weird that Rose had all these powers a Quartz shouldn't have had, there would've been no connection between those powers and Pink Diamond, and therefore nor reason to suspect her.

[@SpaghettiDog86.]

@@lm-cv9qb Pink: healing Yellow: your body is healthy now Blue: you’re not depressed anymore White: T H E B L U E T O O T H D E V I C E H A S C O N N E C T E D

[@someoneandsomeone3251]

Even Uncle grandpa technically knew Steven was a diamond. They planned this since the first episode at least.

[@ink_summit]

where does uncle grandpa say he knows

[@someoneandsomeone3251]

@@ink_summit if you check out the scene where Uncle Grandpa looks at Steven's gem he says a very particular line.

[@ink_summit]

@@someoneandsomeone3251 ngl the uncle grandpa episode was the only one I skipped not because I don’t like it, just because I wanted to get to the lore faster, I might go watch it now

[@someoneandsomeone3251]

@@ink_summit tbf it's the only episode that is non-canon so i don't really blame you.

[@thanathosgodofdeath]

​​@@ink_summitiirc he says "You need to polish your gem twice a year" or smth. Quartzes don't need polishing, but diamonds do. Edit:100likes!?!!?? Crazy

[@tomiversal]

I think it was a thought at first. But how pink Diamond was told in stories throughout history probably made them turn a blind eye. Since when she was rose quartz she acted completely different. So I believe the stories told to other gems also played a role in how she fooled other gems.

[@deanastephensosborne5604]

Meanwhile white diamond be like

[@Dizrak]

What's even more weird, you can easily distinguish between pink diamond and rose quartz by luster: diamonds have adamantine luster, while quartzs mostly have either vitreous or waxy luster. The difference is quite noticeable.

[@doofisconfused]

when pink diamond was "shattered," wasn't she actually just poofed? she could've just reformed as rose quartz - we've seen gems change significantly when reforming before, like '90s amethyst being way smaller than current amethyst. also, how often would a homeworld gem actually see their diamond? the chain of command is so expansive that i doubt most of the population would actually have seen her.

[@JhonelkysTorres-wc7wh]

Yes remember when white Diamond takes Steven gem'sout of his belly first it looks like pink then rose and finally Steven so pearl just poof her and keep the gem later she re form as rose

[@pokefan213]

didn't White Diamond know though? When Steven first met her specifically, she said to him "Hello, Pink~ Did you have fun with your little game~?" indicating she knew Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond, and chose to believe her entire rebellion- and Steven himself- was all nothing more than a game like Tag, or Hide and Seek. so there IS ONE GEM who knew from the start/all along.

[@carimeslockdownedtree2654]

I don't remember, was this before or after he did the reveal to the other diamonds? If it was before, then yeah, she knew all along, but if it was after, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities that she found out somehow before he arrived. But you're probably right, that would make more sense, considering her character.

[@shadenox8164]

That line doesn't mean she knew the entire time? That line means she considered the whole thing whether she knew the whole time or only just learned about it to be a childish game.

[@taylorhillard4868]

Because at that point everyone was made aware that Steven was Pink. She did not know anything before everyone was already made aware.

[@grumos8455]

i think that sounds more like her being passive aggresive after finding out the truth, considering all she did just a simple game

[@douglashenrique188]

Peridot actually coments on the irregular color of steven gen in the episode, its shaped like a quartz but its looks off

[@Peridotwo]

*[I'm kind curious of how they didn't suspect of a Pearl and a Rose Quartz walking together... hmm]*

[@crimsonxvamp]

i thought that too.

[@RandomYT05_01]

If you do some deep thinking, it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for a quartz to get a pearl. Afterall, eyeball thought that she would get a pearl for bringing in steven, meaning that it is likely that low ranking gems who work hard could become an elite among their gem type and therefore could be granted the right to a pearl. And taking into account how quartzes are above rubies in the gem caste system, its entirely plausible for a rose quartz to be walking around with a pearl.

[@crimsonxvamp]

@@RandomYT05_01 i mean you have a fair point.

[@crimsonxvamp]

@@RandomYT05_01 wait, ive gone onto a real deeper thinking. Since it was a kindergarten, the amethysts would probably assume that Rose Quartz wouldve just emerged. How can you emerge with a pearl? Though probably you're right because the amethysts didnt really mind

[@RandomYT05_01]

@@crimsonxvamp I mean, that could raise some suspicion. But of course she could alway say that she flattered pink diamond and if anyone asks about it, due to them being the same person, she could make up a story about a charming rose quartz she decided to give a pearl too. Could literally be covered up that easy.

[@myaltaccount4438]

I subscribe to the headcanon that pink was off-color and overcooked, so maybe that messed with her facets and grain allowing her to pass as a quartz. That and every gem she told she was a quartz had no reason to believe she was lying to them so they would just glance at her gem say to themselves "seems about right" and move on. That and it's likely no gem other than Pearl and Spinel ever got a good look at Pink's gem as Pink Diamond and since Pearl was in on it and Spinel was... you know, there was nobody who could compare the two and voice it. As for how Yellow didn't recognize Pink, I don't think Yellow ever got a good look at the bottom half of Pink's gem because of the height difference between the two, that and Yellow isn't the most responsible parent.

[@cutecats532]

Colors can look different next to other colors. Maybe her going from pink skin to more human skin affected the perception.

[@stabbycat748]

The plot hole here is mostly that she somehow NEVER got poofed. That alone is a little suspicious. I get that she’s a Diamond and all that, but don’t you think it’s kinda weird that NOBODY was suspicious about how she was never able to be poofed. I’m sure she had gotten hit or stabbed before, so why did nobody suspect anything?

[@LunarSeaSpire]

If they're not going to get suspicious over the healing tears and the plant warriors, I'm pretty sure they're going to consider super durability to be just another day at the office.

[@someoneandsomeone3251]

Maybe... maybe they thought Rose Quartz was a perfect cut? I mean Jasper exists but still...

[@mateopersaudez]

Remember Pearl would jump infront of Rose whenever she was in danger

[@kelleh711]

​​​@@mateopersaudez that actually explains a LOT, that must be why Pearl so feverishly protected Rose even though she knew she was nearly unbreakable. If she had gotten poofed in front of the wrong gems the secret would have been out

[@twilightmarauder]

Brooooo this was what I was about to say!! Literally NEVER poofed in front of ONE gem out of the loop? This part relies on plot armor, but if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t have this show. I’m guessing that if she was poofed at any time, Pearl IMMEDIATELY swept her gem up and retreated. Seemed like the kind of thing a retainer/ “her” pearl would do. And with Pearl quite literally always by her side, there was never enough time to clearly see the silhouette of Rose Quartz’s gem. And leaders of armies are always protected in order to continue having a proper commander.

[@EEE-pv2eo]

I think the Diamonds did know, at a minimum, White for sure knew. The problem I have is the roles Pink would have to maintain in both the Rebellion, as well as being a Diamond ruler back on homeworld, they had to consume nearly every moment of her time. People at some point had to question where she was all the time. Maybe Pearl lied on her behalf to the rebels, but on Homeworld? I'm not sure. Pink had no expectation of privacy, as we see yellow diamond almost stalk Pink while changing in a flashback with Pink Pearl. And it just so happens that right after Pink asks to end the colony on Earth, rebels who want the exact thing pop up? Not to also stroke White's ego off too much, but I think for gem wise matters, she is infinitely wise on what gem is what, as all gems are said to come from her. Also as we see, there is Gem tech that allows for the Diamonds to observe their colonies remotely in real time. You mean to tell me, that no one, not a single soul was tasked with watching Rose Quartz? I don't mean to open up another theory, but I think this is where White's original pearl went. I think similarly to how Pink Diamond had our pearl activate the tower to watch the Quartz soldiers pop out, I think White's Pearl at some point saw the truth. That Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz. And that White Diamond hid her, will we ever see a true White Pearl? Who knows I have also heard the rumor that the Diamond Blast was intentionally weakened by White Diamond, she wanted to make the Earth so ugly and full of Mutants, that Pink would just be almost dying to return, but she never did. Also, even if Pink was really shattered, we know that gems can be repaired, someone, especially White, should have the ability to repair gems, we know for a fact even Yellow does. Did no one attempt to repair the alleged gem shards that Pink created to fake the shattering? Did no one inspect them to see if they were truly diamond shards?

[@shwamz]

Isn’t White Pearl just Pearl??

[@EEE-pv2eo]

@@shwamz I heard that was debunked but I don't know exactly why

[@baraxor]

Once she was given Earth for development, Pink may or may not have returned to Homeworld; if she did, it would have likely been for brief periods. Earth was far more exciting for Pink, especially once she became familiar with and sympathetic towards its native inhabitants. Once the fake part of the rebellion began, I think she would have been on Earth or the Moon almost exclusively. It was the other Diamonds who left Pink to her own devices; as far as is known none of the other Diamonds actually visited Earth prior to Garnet's wedding, previously the closest Yellow got was the Moonbase and Blue the Sky Arena. When the theory that Rose-was-Pink was first proposed, I thought it unlikely precisely because at that time I thought that Pink Diamond was like her sisters: literally towering figures of authority surrounded by an impressive court, and not a dwarf of a Diamond living in near isolation on Earth or the Moonbase, as we saw in Now We're Only Falling Apart.

[@orion_paxx]

For the diamonds knowing, I think only white would know. Blue may have suspected it but yellow didn’t know at all

[@user-ty6yl1hx1f]

About the gem shards... didn't the show establish that you'd need all FOUR diamonds to heal serious damage to a gem such as corruption or shattering? Pink would've had to of been there to "revive" herself.

[@Underlineluna]

it’s crazy how when before we all knew that pink diamond was rose i literally remember thinking that pink diamond actually was rose

[@theoverseer393]

By the way, the biggest reason they aren’t all the same is actually quite realistic: Gems from ore arent ALL pure, so there is always at least a mild impurity if you aren’t too picky about the crystals.

[@PauloJrchannel]

I think Gems just aren't very smart.

[@grandmablobby]

Honestly I agree, like they can make super advanced tech but can’t figure it out? Lol

[@umbreonfan0369]

@@grandmablobby I think it's because they're made to be loyal and not ask questions as to why they act like this. They have the knowledge of space ships and whatever technology just not critical thinking skills.

[@justarandomperson6401]

@@umbreonfan0369 And if they are not loyal those gems are typically shattered, even if a gem could see through something about this system of crazy obedience.

[@laininbluescourt]

​​@@grandmablobbyI think it's bc gems are obedient and terrified of punishment from the diamonds. If the diamonds have a grudge against rose, the gems do to, and they just went with it. I mean, they do want validation from the diamonds

[@scoobisscoobis324]

I think that the power point is a good thing to bring up because the diamonds should have heard about the rumors about Rose having healing powers and think of pink right? wouldn't they know about pinks powers, her ability to heal cracked gems?

[@hopehedgehog2267]

Well, the diamonds knew of her *destructive* powers and all the diamonds themselves didn't even know they also had powers that could help, and not only harm! So they wouldn't have known about pinks ability to heal. If they did hear about rose quartz having healing, they probably thought it could have just been rumors, a strange fusion or a mutant, i think!

[@RandomYT05_01]

@@hopehedgehog2267 possibly. There were rumors among the off colors about rose quartz being potentially hyperdefective, so a healing rose quartz doesn't seem out of the realm of plausibility for a rumor.

[@otterpopgames9824]

Well, not exactly. We know that the diamonds had abilities they themselves didn't know about until Future, so it's entirely possible they didn't know about Pink's powers. Especially since, as a diamond, Pink wouldn't really interact with cracked gems

[@baraxor]

Back when it seemed that Pink Diamond was at the very least Rose Quartz's enemy, I thought that Rose has somehow absorbed Pink's power, as our Rose was absurdly overpowered compared to any other Gem that wasn't a Diamond. Later, when it looked like Pink Diamond might not have been a cruel dictator like Yellow, but instead may have come around to Rose's philosophy (which could have merited her assassination as Blue Zircon seemed to imply) I thought of the possibility of a deadman's switch that would transfer Pink's Diamond power to Rose in the event she was shattered. All this was based on the pre-Jungle Moon assumption that Pink Diamond was a towering figure of respect like her sisters, and not a dwarf Off-Color of a Diamond.

[@valenciageode25]

She wouldn’t have much opportunity to directly help a gem before the war. A Diamond probably wouldn’t directly witness a gem being cracked, except maybe Yellow, but Pink didn’t do military as a Diamond.

[@skyep7012]

Maybe it’s a stretch but Stevens hair is super similar to pink diamonds.

[@penntopaper9305]

oh thats not a stretch its super on purpose

[@baraxor]

Homeworld loyalist Gems wouldn't ask questions...although Fluorite seems to have believed that the Rose Quartz was some kind of false flag operation. Crystal Gems might not ask questions either, or maybe some did, but all of them other than Pearl, Garnet and Rose Quartz herself were corrupted at the end of the war, and the CGs fighting for their lives during the war weren't going to question the source of Rose Quartz's powers.

[@cienciandre]

Ok I have a theory about this: Rose Quartzes didn't exist when Pink first disguised. She made them so she could disguise herself without other gems suspecting her. I also believe these Rose Quartzes were bubbled shortly after they emerged, and that would explain why so many gems didn't spot the difference, as the Roses wouldn't have been seen by almost anyone before they were poofed. Here's my evidence: 1 - No quartzes had emerged yet when Pink first disguised as Rose: When Pink first disguised in Now We're Only Falling Apart, Pearl says "the first quartz soldiers are due to emerge soon". So no quartzes, including Rose Quartzes, had emerged yet, as the first of them were Amethysts. How could Pink disguise herself as a gem she had never seen before? Maybe she knew their appearances before they emerged, but we have no evidence supporting that. Also, Pearl keeps asking her to not draw any attention. Yes, it could be just her being protective, but it would make more sense if Pink was disguised as a quartz that doesn't exist. If Pearl had imagined specifically a Rose Quartz for the disguise, she would know Rose Quartzes are supposed to be there, and would probably be less worried about Pink. 2 - The Rose Quartzes' personalities are very similar to Pink's: we all know gems have similar personalities to their Diamond's, but we also know their personalities can be purposefully designed in a particular way, at least to some extent. For example, Pearls are made organized, Spinels are made playful, etc. We also know from the episode Rose Buds that Rose Quartzes have very similar personalities to Pink, as Pearl said "They don't just look like her, they ARE like her, she made them." Isn't it convenient that the gems that looked exactly like her disguise are also the ones that acted like her the most? Pearl and Garnet didn't react the same way to other gems made exclusively by Pink, like Spinel or Volleyball, and that could indicate that the Roses' personalities were purposefully designed to be very similar to Pink's, even if each of them highlights a different aspect of it. 3 - The Roses were poofed probably centuries before Pink was "shattered": during the trial, Zircon states that, at the time of the shattering, "Rose had been a known threat for centuries. There were no Rose Quartzes on her entourage, and none in her guard". So just as Pink/Rose became a threat, these Rose Quartzes had been relocated somewhere. It just makes sense that's when they had been poofed. It also makes sense from what one of the Roses said in Rose Buds "She made us, then bubbled us just for looking like her". By the way it is said, it looks like not a lot of time had passed between when they were emerged and when they were poofed. 4 - Pink maybe, possibly, poofed them herself, or at least agreed with/ordered it: She had a great motive, as if she poofed them shortly after they emerged no one would know her powers weren't the same as a generic Rose Quartzes'. We also know she did horrible stuff even after she knew our Pearl, like abandoning Spinel, so it's possible. The way the Rose Buds blame Pink for making them and then poofing them is also a bit weird. Unless they objectively knew who poofed them, it would just make a lot more sense to blame the other diamonds, like Yellow and Blue, as Pink was disguising as Rose to fight against them for a planet where all gems could be free. And they were probably told Rose's story to some extent as it's essential to explain why Pink is alive, why they were bubbled and are now being freed and etc. Apparently nobody knew what powers a Rose Quartz had: None of the Crystal gems questioned Pink/Rose's powers, although they would be suited for a diamond. Also, Eyeball in Bubbled says there were "rumors" that Rose could heal her allies' gems. But why rumors? Why didn't they know this for a fact about Rose Quartzes if knowing everything about Rose and spreading it to each soldier was the most sensible thing to do during a war? Homeworld had to have this information, as they know each gem's powers. If they knew Rose Quartzes could heal, the healing powers wouldn't be a rumor, and if they knew Roses couldn't, the rumors would be that Rose/Pink wasn't a Rose, but other gem with healing powers in disguise. The rumor would only make sense if no one had witnessed another Rose Quartz than Pink/Rose show their powers before, and if the one gem who knew their powers from the beggining, the one who made the Rose Quartzes, wouldn't give Homeworld the information. These two cases would make sense if Pink poofed them right after they emerged, as they wouldn't have had time to interact with any other gem, and so there would be no witnesses for their powers. I know the theory has some holes and there are a lot of maybes, but it could be possible and would make complete sense as much as it couldn't be.

[@jebusauriorets]

My thing is, earth only had Prime and beta kindergarden right? beta kindergaden was full of defective gems minus Jasper, so I doubt that's where the rose quartzes came from as they seem to be fine. If they emerged from the Prime kindergarden that would mean they were a pre-existing gem, unless Prime kindergarden was reused through the years and that's when rose quartzes were invented?

[@cienciandre]

@@jebusauriorets I believe they came from Beta. Think about it: they have to have come from one of the Kindergartens, since we know they're from Earth. If the Rose Quartzes came from Prime, they couldn't have emerged before the Amethysts, since Pearl specifically said that those Amethysts who they visited were the first quartzes to emerge. They most likely didn't emerge after the Amethysts either, since one of the Amethysts said only one gem hadn't emerged yet, which we know to be our Amethyst. Here I say "most likely" instead of "couldn't" because there's the possibility that Homeworld did like you said and revisited Prime Kindergarten to inject the Rose Quartzes. I do think it's less likely, but if it were the case my latter theory would still make sense so no problems here. The remaining possibility is that the Roses emerged at Prime at the same time as the Amethysts. It could've happened, but then some things would not make much sense: 1 - Why didn't we see them when Pink went to Prime disguised as Rose? They could've just not met with each other, but it's still weird. Especially from a story building perspective. 2 - Why has Amethyst never brought up the Rose Quartzes' holes? We know she stayed at Prime at least a few decades alone after she had emerged and, because of that, she knows every centimeter of it. She can also somewhat recognize gems by their holes, as seen after she'd met with the other Amethysts. If the Rose Quartzes had emerged at Prime, Amethyst would've at least noticed that some dozens of holes had slightly different shapes. And it shoundn't have taken her much to put A and B together and realize that those holes belonged to the Rose Quartzes after she met with the Crystal gems. Which brings us back to when Amethyst and Pearl fought in the kindergarten over Amethyst's nostalgia of the place clashing with Pearls shame and guilt of it. If those Roses had emerged in Prime, Amethyst HAD to had noticed their holes and, If she did, she would've DEFINETELY brought them up during this fight. Something along the lines of "How can you be so ashamed of this place and everything that came from it when your beloved Rose came from here too?" And then show their holes. But she didn't do anything like that, which makes me believe the Roses hadn't emerged from Prime in the first place. As to Beta only having made detective gems: I don't think that's true either. We know all Amethysts were relocated to the zoo, but curiously, we've only seen two gems from Beta in the zoo: Skinny Jasper and Carnelian, which are both "defective." Where are the other Jaspers, then? Considering our Jasper was relocated to Yellow Diamond's court, it's not hard to believe that Yellow relocated all "good" gems to her court, and left only the defective ones at the zoo. Also, the jaspers that were healed from corruption were not defective either (except for the horns they acquired during their corruption). So it would not be that all gems from Beta but Jasper were defective, it's just that the gems from Beta that are defective were sent to the zoo, which was the only place where we met other earthly gems during the story. That and Jasper's hole being exceptionally perfect would create that illusion. This makes even more sense considering their colors and their respective diamonds too: by their colors, the gems from Beta appear to have been made by Pink and Yellow's essences. So when Pink died, Yellow, being practical, accepted the "good" gems and sent away the defective ones to the zoo. On the other hand, by their colors, the gems from Prime appear to have been made by Pink and Blue's essences. So when Pink died, Blue sent all of them to the zoo so she could mourn over her memories of her sister. That would explain why there appears to be proportionally way more defective gems from Beta than from Alpha.

[@dannyrank123]

Actually a lot of people called this way before the reveal. I remember all the talk around the series inbetween steven bombs and this was like the popular theory. Like even i saw it coming and when it finally happened i was kind of annoyed that it was actually true

[@steven.q]

I had a suspicion ever since eyeball said that my gem was more of a reddish pink than a true rose pinkish red

[@xeno6486]

never mind how it fooled the other gems, how did Steven's gem fool the scanner-bots in the off colors episode?? that's what I wanna know

[@otterpopgames9824]

I think that may be because it wasn't trying to detect a type of gem, just a gem in general. That kindergarden wasn't functioning at the time, so there would be no reason for a gem to be there, so any gem found there would be assumed to be a rebel

and that is logic, because a rebel isn't a special type of gem, even when they though RQ was rebel, it was a perfectly functionning Rose Quartz, not an off color, so searching for every gem where they should have no reason to be was the only way for a machine to know

[@TechWizard200]

They wouldn't be looking for a Diamond. They're just there to eradicate rogue gems, period.

[@LamirLakantry]

It's basic psychology. Tell a story and people will see the expectation you placed in their minds. Also, there's no hint in the series that Pink ever used her powers as Pink, so why would anyone connect them.

[@TitaniumDragon]

Exactly. Why would anyone even bother thinking about Pink Diamond secretly being Rose Quartz? Rose Quartz was never hiding her identity as a rebel, so there was no reason for anyone to suspect that Rose Quartz even *had* a secret identity in the first place. It's a similar idea to why Superman's disguise as Clark Kent is so effective - as far as the world is concerned, Superman is an alien named Kal-El who lives at the North Pole. There's no reason to think he lurks in disguise as some random reporter and has a full secondary identity as that. Clark Kent wears glasses and adopts different mannerisms than Superman, so as far as anyone is really concerned, he is just some dude who, at best, vaguely looks like Superman.

[@dharrison6504]

I mean to be fair even if you think her gem looks like pink diamonds, how can you ever seriously consider that she was in fact the long since shattered DIAMOND that homeworld has time and time again told stories about has been masquerading this whole time, that’s insane! So maybe it was partially suspended just sit to the fact that the truth seems so impossible

[@ALISAN085]

blue zircon almost got the point lol

[@damianrodriguez7165]

I believe the only person to realize Steven gem was not a quartz but a diamond was Uncle Grandpa as he said it needed to be clean, but Rose Quartz don't need to be cleaned and only Diamonds. This was also stated to be a massive coincidence and the entire episode was non-canon.

[@snakehands]

I feel like of anyone, Smoky Quartz should have known Steven's gem wasn't a quartz. So if she couldn't, then no one else possibly could have. I looked it up and amethyst is a type of quartz, so she should at least be able to tell that Steven's gem was fundamentally different from hers. I also read that diamonds differ from quartzes in that they should have no secondary colors, so if the diamonds looked close enough they should have noticed this, but they didn't really look close at the trial and they also weren't expecting anything weird about it so they had no reason to do so. But when they looked at it when Steven told them who he was, they knew right away.

[@shadenox8164]

They only sometimes use gem facts, like for example rubies and sapphires are actually the same type of gem composed of the mineral corundum. We just call red corundum rubies and blue ones sapphires. But in the show they aren't considered the same at all and are very different.

[@rbpgamemaster]

Only thing is, you got to remember that Smoky Quartz is partially composed of amethyst. Amethyst only emerged after the rebellion, so she wouldn't have had any opportunities to fuse with any other quartz besides Steven/rose. So without any frame of reference, there's no way she could have known they were any different from a regular quartz.

[@mouadzarrouki8262]

I mean didn't white diamond know about pink's disguise ?

[@goose7618]

After it was revealed to Yellow and Blue, yes.

[@josephreinerth9152]

@@goose7618 They mean, the whole time, and didn't tell the other diamonds about it.

[@baraxor]

By her words to Steven in Legs From Here To Homeworld, White Diamond must have suspected or at least admitted to herself the possibility that the Pink-Diamond-was-shattered-by-Rose-Quartz action, and the entire Crystal Gem rebellion, were part of some kind of bizarre game concocted by the deplorably emotional Pink Diamond. White wasn't at all surprised when the truth was revealed.

[@etetgg1364]

We don't know and we never will

[@aniii62]

White Diamond didn’t know about Pink being Rose, but she knew PD was still out there

[@HenhousetheRed]

1. There's a very clear hierarchy of gem society where most gems never see any of the Diamond, let alone Pink Diamond, who had no colonies and was relegated to live on Homeworld before the founding of the Earth colony. Pink's whole deal is that she was lonely and isolated on Homeworld before Earth. 2. Rose never interacted with any of the Diamonds. And after Pink's supposed shattering, White was the only one who knew that Pink was still alive. But she never mentioned it to Blue or Yellow because she didn't want to call attention to what she perceived as Pink's childish and embarrassing temper tantrum. 3. A single gem displaying far greater power than the rest of their gem type was already shown with Lapis and Jasper. So a Rose Quartz being born with strange, unique powers wasn't impossible. 4. All other Rose Quartzes were bubbled by the Diamonds around the start of Pink's Rebellion. 5. Pink did not display healing powers before the Earth colony was founded. What little is known of Pink before Earth was she displayed destructive powers. During the rebellion, Healing became an infamous ability of the only unbubbled Rose Quartz.

[@im.not.typical91]

I honestly think that the Crew had more than one possible ending. The gem shifting angle can out of nowhere

[@LunarSeaSpire]

No, Surasshu was wearing a t-shirt showing the shape of Rose's gem very early in the series. They claim they always knew, and that shirt SHOWS they always knew.

[@RandomYT05_01]

When dealing with the rose quartz was pink diamond theories, they could've tried to say that to denounce the theories without outright lying to the fans to keep the secret a secret. Like seriously, they had to lie to keep it a secret because they legit dropped so much foreshadowing people started to connect the dots.

[@baraxor]

The problem was that the facets don't line up...when Pink Diamond was finally designed for Jungle Moon, apparently the Crewniverse carelessly drew a conventionalized diamond rather than creating a design that properly represented the top faceting of Steven's gemstone. Had they done so, observant viewers would have put the Pink-is-Rose theory at the top once Jungle Moon was shown.

[@shadenox8164]

Personally I think during Reformed they should have had one of Amethyst's wonky forms have the gem misaligned. It would have been a way to show rotating gems is possible without being too obvious.

[@Marx-XIII]

I always thought that Yellow came close to realizing the truth during the trial, but chose to remain willfully ignorant of the possibility that Rose and Pink were one and the same. We already know her to be the type of person to bury all her feelings to escape being hurt, which is exactly how she coped with Pink's death. I think that the idea that Rose would've betrayed them in such a way would've been too painful for her at that point in the story, and that she would've much rather stuck to the narrative that Pink was just an innocent who's life was cut tragically short by a radical. It's also probably part of the reason she reacted so aggressively towards Blue Zircon's testimony later in the episode.

[@hunnydew_]

honestly the powers was always more mind boggling for me than the loook of the gem

[@etetgg1364]

How did the Diamonds not realize that the Renegade Pearl alongside Rose was Pink Diamond's pearl?

[@umbreonfan0369]

Pearls are treated as basically objects so I don't think they care enough to remember her Pearl. It took a moment for Blue diamond to remember Garnet in the final the Diamonds probably thought Rose's Pearl was a random Pearl they found.

[@baraxor]

Depends on when Garnet first fused: was it before or after Pink Diamond was "shattered". If it was after, not only does this explain Blue's uncharacteristic anger towards Ruby but why Jasper called our Pearl "lost"--her mistress was no more--and Coton Candy Garnet called her "terrifying" and "renegade". The Diamonds or at least their Pearls would recognize our Pearl fighting alongside Rose Quartz, and the conspiracy would have fallen apart right then and there. However, if our Pearl fought with "Rose Quartz" as shapeshifted before the shattering (if she fought at all) and only afterward in her true appearance, then there would be no obvious connection. The Diamonds and their Pearls would just assume that our Pearl had for whatever reason betrayed Gemkind and the memory of Pink Diamond for Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems. No wonder the "oh crap!" reactions by Blue and Yellow Pearls when Blue Zircon asked "And where was her Pearl?"

[@kaitlinowens2714]

I got the impression that Pearl was still in default mode because Pink couldn’t bring herself to customize her because she had recently lost volleyball so other than a outfit change Pearl didn’t need to change much though probably used the fact that gems barely pay attention to well behaved Pearls.

[@shadenox8164]

@@umbreonfan0369 And a Sapphire is far more precious than a Pearl.

[@LaphyTaphyCreation]

I love how they made peridot an area two gem, they put so much thought into every detail of this show and story

[@Fangria]

i like to think rose presented as very mysterious and not well known except to a close inner circle

[@SahsosZero]

I always kinda assumed pink made the rosé quartz soldiers to help make her disguise more believable. Once she decides to rebel she made the rosé quartz’s in her likeness and gave them her healing powers so when one rose quartz started a rebellion with healing power it wouldn’t be suspicious. Of course we don’t know what no mark rosé quartz are capable of so it’s only speculation, but feel like the excuse for them to act like on field medics would be kinda believable. Plus we know from volley ball that pink had destructive powers so the other diamonds might only have know about those powers. The other diamonds did gain new powers so they may not have known pink could heal in the first place.

[@kstarnovagal6672]

Amazing video, I want to add that it appears only Uncle Grandpa figured it out (in the scene about polishing Steven’s gem)

[@nicolovespanda]

i like how this is in my recommended randomly now

[@2nouli]

About eyeball, I remember people saying that possibly she saw the fake rose quartz, wich was pearl pretending to be rose when she "killed" pink, so the color was lighter

[@Supersilly_goober]

I like to believe a lot of gems noticed that,especially Pink’s court,but they didn’t want to say anything because they knew it would get Pink in trouble.

[@sirdoxxthe3rd]

And no one thought about her pearl looking mighty like pink's pearl replacement

[@shadenox8164]

You mean the default Pearl style?

[@Ezekiel164]

I think stevens gem is more of a reddish pink because his blood is flowing through his gem

[@shinigamiphantom1391]

Not the case. His gem is whole and not a single vein is there.

[@thunderspark1536]

@@shinigamiphantom1391 Given that (normal) gems are made of light that all comes from the gem, it stands to reason that the light from Steven's would have SOME connection to his human body. After all he can fuse, shape-shift, and do other things that make no sense from a human design standpoint, so something is wonky with his bod.

[@shinigamiphantom1391]

@@thunderspark1536 White Diamond pulled Steven's gem out and no blood was visible.

[@vincent_2847]

they probably did find it weird but they brushed it off because it sounded so absurd

[@AnnaMae41194]

i think the crystal gems should have had suspicions, between her having a super high quality pearl and being more powerful and being so secretive.

[@Noah_Aslan]

I thought the video was just starting when it was ending lol this would be a great like 20 minute analysis video idea to dig more into

[@SnorkLayton]

YES STEVEN UNIVERSE CONTENT IN 2022

[@ceecee6521]

The only reason no one figured it out sooner is because there weren't any means of checking what a gem was made of. Which....HOW that wasn't even a thing for so long is beyond me.

[@shadenox8164]

Think from their perspective. Why would they need that? Every gem knows what they are and what their place is.

[@yvaincallipso84]

This is also why Pearl, despite being way more delicate, was so hyperpeotective of Rose. If somehow Rose poofed, everyone would see her gem wasn't a quartz, but a *diamond* .

[@drownedzephyr]

If you remember, I believe its canon that Rose had to shapeshift a womb to give birth to Steven. So that's assumedly 9-ish months of an unnatural shapeshift to hold constantly.

[@juicyjuustar121]

It's the Clark Kent effect if you ask me. Nobody would've thought Pink Diamond would lead a rebellion against the Diamonds, much less in the form of an entirely different Gem.

[@fizzarolli174]

The reason she could hold her form for such a long time is because when she was poofed by pearl, the form she took was rose quartz, anytime a gem reforms as something other than their original form, they can hold it as long as they want I think

[@RandoSando.]

After looking at actual gemstones, yeah. They should have known she was a diamond when she was standing next to other rose quartz. The difference is night and day when they're right beside each other. Even if you have a transparent rose quartz and cut it like a diamond, it still has luster and is nowhere near as brilliant as a diamond.

[@1nk_edd]

if you notice each of the diamonds have control over an aspect of a gem white has the consciousness, yellow has the projected form, blue controls emotions, and I think pink controlled the gem itself. we know she has the power to heal gems and make fake gem shards that look realistic enough to fake her shattering but I think the biggest clue is the corrupted gems the song that caused the corruption is supposed to completely destroy all gems on a planet yet when pink diamond doesn't participate the gems corrupt instead leaving them with an abstract form, rampaging emotions, and no consciousness if pinks specialty is the physical gem it would make sense for her to change her own gem to look more like a rose quartz

[@aster1760]

I think it's rather likely that White PROBABLY knew. One of her first statements to Steven was "As for this latest little game of yours, thank the stars its over. Did you have fun? Did you get everything of your system?" While one could construe that she didn't know and simply found out like the rest. I feel the way she addresses Steven makes it apparent she likely ALWAYS knew, and simply played along with her "Little game", especially since she of any Gem would ABSOLUTELY have known Pink's power set.

[@NecoArcPilkEnjoyer]

I think it can make sense why Yellow or Blue never figured it out because Pink was the only one who really *used* her abilities like messing around with them and such so the other diamonds would have no clue they would be able to rotate their gem with it because they never had the imagination or initiative Pink had to try

[@absolutelynot615]

If you look at a gem like it's a face, then she did the equivalent of covering her face with hair.

[@drakkiusgaming]

Also, they could have noticed THE Rose Quartz was off color... and that led to doubling down even more on cracking down on defects, perceiving her as one.

[@Sivanot]

I think its possible that Yellow understood that *something* was really off about Steven's gem. But the idea that Rose was Pink Diamond was never a possibility in her mind, same for every other gem. It was never even considered, and I'm sure if anything had managed to make her consider it in that moment, she would have recognized the gem.

[@EmmaMtH]

i always assumed the main reason nobody suspected rose being pink is because it's simply unheard of for a being as powerful as a diamond want to pose as a quartz. it would go against the very foundations of gem society to even come up with something like that

[@kit4616]

Adding on to the idea that most gems never considered it, there's also the fact that as far as EVERYONE knew, Pink Diamond had been shattered. Pearl physically couldn't tell anyone else what had happened. There was physical "proof" left behind and it was pretty cut and dry as far as Homeworld was concerned. The idea that Pink Diamond could still be alive and secretly disguised herself to lead the rebellion would be the sort of crackpot theory that would get you shattered on Homeworld and definitely wouldn't be popular sentiment anywhere else. People tend to see what they're looking for, and by literally changing face and flipping her gem, Pink ensured that nobody was looking for a Diamond, they were looking for a Quartz.

[@HittingBandy]

Honestly the fact that she could heal a gem and the whole "Rose Quartz's shield" reaction kinda puts a hole on her whole disguise. Why does Jasper, or even the Diamonds, recognize Steven's shield as Rose Quartz's shield, and not a random shield from any other Rose Quartz? Anyone that had at one time fought or met Rose must have recognized that she was far, FAR, different than the other Rose Quartz. Heck, what was stopping other Rose Quartzs from joining the revolution? If there were other Rose Quartzs, they would also have a shield, since gems are usually manufactured to be the same. And yet the rebel leader Rose Quartz has an extremely distinguished shield that everyone can immediately say "That's Rose Quartz's shield!"

[@salvador6546]

Well, at the very least i would've assumed that the diamonds can sense each other's presence because white diamond recognized steven as pink almost immediately

[@ShadowEclipex]

I think part of the reason no one even considered the fact that Rose was Pink would likely be because how foreign/rare it is to even consider shape shifting and lying in Gem culture. They all originally acted more like drones playing their parts throw loyalty or fear, and we see those who diverted from this strict cast system were few and far between. Likely mostly due to them being culled from the "perfect system".

[@savvivixen8490]

I'm not a part of the fandom, so I have barely a clue what's going on here! 🥰 I got curious, and looked up some tests for diamonds, and ruled out the scratch test, the burn test, the cleave test... What I WILL say, is that (assuming they are identically cut) the refractivity of the gem can give it away. Diamonds have a pretty high refractivity rate, so trying to read small text through that gem is a near Sisyphusian endeavor. Quartz, however, is used EVERYWHERE because of how well you can see through it (while keeping pretty high on the Mohs scale). Glasses, watches, clocks, microscopes... Light passes through quartz fairly undisturbed by comparison. The Dot Test is when you move the bottom tip of the cut gem over a small colored dot (red, for example), and look for the color to show clearly through the gem. It seems more effective when you've already narrowed down the possibilities to 1-3 gems it could be, and the test becomes the cincher. In Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond's case, you could probably color a dot on one side of the gem and check if you can see it on the opposite side... :3

[@choryllis6646]

- The gems who were close to Rose would never have been able to see her up close as Pink Diamond, so they would never be able to tell their gems apart. - The gems who were close to Pink Diamond never paid enough attention to her to recognize her gem, so they would never be able to tell their gems apart. Adding on to that last one, it's VERY possible that Yellow and Blue couldn't recognize Pink's gem because they hadn't seen her for eons. All they knew were Rose Quartz gems from the Zoo. White admitted that the other diamonds were created so she could rid herself of emotion; and emotion clouds memory. It's very possible that the pain Yellow and Blue went through clouded their memory of Pink's gem, so they could easily just assume that Steven's gem was just a weird Rose Quartz gem.

[@shiny_teddiursa]

they just thought of her as an exceptionally powerful rose quartz, just how jasper is an exceptionally powerful quartz as well. she disguised her gem’s real shape & that was enough to fool most other gems, if you could just change your face drastically then the vast majority of people wouldn’t recognize you by it.

[@theretrodragonyope]

Well, they would have not expected it.

[@athena1491]

the gems do see a gemstone like we see a face, but, can you recognize someone just by looking at the top of their head in a sea of similarish looking heads? that and, so few people have met pink and interacted enough to be familiar with her gem on the same level as recognizing someones face.

[@sbasssman9675]

Cartoon Network made a video with a similar title and I saw it while searching a song from the show so it spoiled the biggest reveal for me while I was only on season 2

[@Eszra]

I know this is old but no they couldn't know. Rose Quartz could only be made by Pink Diamond. Its why all of them worked at the Zoo. They were her subjects. She was able to blend in because she already knew how. Its the same reason no one questioned her having a Pearl.

[@Jinxyoutoheaven]

Her disguise still better than Superman. Though I do see the issue with this as gems can identify others by looking directly at their gems. Still I will overlook this.

[@manaphy1471]

i mean its really obvious once you look at the structure too the quartzes generally had six sided central faces to thier gems and stephen has a pentagon

[@Bluepikmin64]

The thing about Gems is that they were shown to be very stuck in their ways. Change was something they had a difficult time accepting, and even when they were allowed to do whatever they wanted, they still chose to maintain their previous roles. Yellow Diamond probably didn't question that Steven was a Rose Quartz because Pink Diamond was believed dead and Steven said he was Rose Quartz. There was no reason to believe that Pink Diamond was alive, so an unusual Rose Quartz wasn't really damning proof of anything. Also Yellow Diamond always seemed like she wanted to be the smartest gem in the room, even if she suspected Steven was actually Pink Diamond, she wouldn't have said anything, because extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. If he wasn't Pink Diamond, she would've looked really stupid, which Yellow Diamond wouldn't have wanted.

[@lobsterwithoutalife]

i mean, irl you have to look quite closely/thoroughly to see what gem youre looking at, some are easier than others such as the difference between a quartz and a diamond but they never get the chance to "check" youd want to check for refraction, hardness, and clarity, but we never see them doing anything like that... In reality quartz is usually much more cloudy but i wonder if their "Lab grown" way of producing gems lacks any exteior factors that would cause it to become cloudy to begin with?

[@moonchildsirius6187]

I think no gem realized it cause its such a ABSURD ideia that a diamond would change form to a inferior gem and ALSO start a war against herself. There is no difference possible in Rose's gem that could make anyone barely thought she was Pink Diamond.

[@sirensong237]

I believe that Pink Diamond created Rose Quartzes in her image, specifically to act as a scapegoat as a “rebel gem army” without the whole “rogue diamond” act getting in the way.

[@umo7043]

Really great video, thank you for this insight

[@alexandre7950]

When I told of this to the Reedit group of Steven Universe I was crushed by the blind fans. They fused with steven in several ocasions and didnt they felt the power of a diamond gem? Impossible they did not note it. By the other hand, Pearl was the most likely to realize this and at the end she already knew.

[@emeraldsky2823]

Put glasses on roses gem and no one would even notice

[@PixiePink]

I still feel like this was just a form of cheap plot writing on the spot for a twist villain. Pink Diamond was abused and abandoned and we punish her for it and treat her like a bad person while she was just trying to get away from her trauma and live a better life after changing her identity of who she really wanted to be.

[@lrkeribergaard6110]

this is why i made my Gem Sona a pink and purple Emerald! she stayed in the ground to long and is shorter and far more timid than your average Emerald so this baby girl is an off color but she diden't choose to be one ofcourse....she just came out like a little cutie

[@williamrossman2136]

Plenty did. There was heavy speculation from very early on. I guess it just wasn’t in your circles.

[@rubyy.7374]

I wonder if Pink Diamond based her appearance on that one Rose Quartz who looks uncannily like her.

[@WalnutHades]

My biggest thing was that when Steven or rose fused they based the fusion off quartz but I think the combined consciousness of Steven or rose and whoever they fused with would be able to tell that they were part diamond not quartz.

[@agentmaryland1239]

Well, even if you look at a cleaned and polished Rose Quartz gem, it appears much grittier and smokey in comparison to a polished Pink Diamond. Diamonds are incredibly clear when cleaned up, but I guess no one thought about it? Or perhaps even a Rose Quartz can be clear enough?

[@MatsuyoRific]

The way the brain works, sometimes we can be looking at the same thing, and not realize it. Take Miraculous Ladybug for example. When you look at Chat Noir specifically, and then look at Adrien, they do look a bit different. This is mainly because he wears a different expression, and has different manorisims. Adrien usually has a gentle expression, and presents himself as reserved and proper. But as Chat Noir, he's expressive, energetic, and a total goofball. So even when Adrien is dressed up as in a 1-1 identical costume, he still looks different, even to the audience. So with that in mind, I can totally buy Yellow not recognizing Pink's gem in Steven, because she's not expecting him to be Pink Diamond. She's expecting him to be some weird form a rebellious Rose Quartz has taken. In her mind, they can't possibly be the same, so she can't recognize them as such.

[@ThomasSH]

Wish they would have introduced shifting your gem instead of pulling it out of thin air

[@seymaahmet2106]

Isnt it weird that they didnt realise what happened to pinks pearl?Like they also shouldve realise that a “Rose Quartz” soldier cant make shields

[@VelvetCondoms]

There's something that would have prevented comparison. There is only one of each of the various diamonds. So it would be impossible to do comparative pattern recognition on the diamond side. Yes, Pink Diamond had a color that was in the range of a type of quartz, but the same is true of the other three diamonds and they all have different colors. Color just wouldn't make sense as a identifying variable. Also, given how severely Amethyst was overcooked, and how nobody treated it as concerning, it's probable that there is minimal checking on the exact quantities of gems produced except for cases where stuff has to be done special like Pearls and Diamonds. Also, peridot had never seen a Rose Quartz or a Pink Diamond, so she would not have been able to really tell the difference. Even with her kindergarten expertise, it would all be theoretical for her.

[@AkaiAzul]

Well, when you grow up in a society that demands total obedience without questioning and the one leader who is barely seen or heard, starts a rebellion under a new name and disguise, would anyone under her before and after truly tell?

[@TamTroll]

Honestly i preferred the idea of Rose being a rogue Quartz that shattered Pink rather then being Pink in disguise. More characters with more interactions > fewer characters with fewer interactions. With the two of them being one and the same, the entire conflict between Pink and Rose is just completely nullified. You don't have an intense and interesting war, you have one person playing soldier on both sides. it just makes the world smaller and feel less interesting.