Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why

[@silver2797]

*"Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave"*

[@dryarridean8418]

Fun fact: my dad actually did forbid from watching this! But not because of the facism, thankfully he didn't see that. He saw Steven and Pearl crying so much he thought I'd get depressed.

[@ii_eepy]

my mom made me stop watching it too but for a different reason lol. I still watched it sometimes though!

[@yellow6572]

I stopped watching it because I got bored and Steven was annoying to listen to

[@I4dtx]

W father

[@LilianOrchard]

@dracocrusher Hey moron? I don't call the Diamonds Nazis because of what they do to other planets. I call them Nazis because of what they do to THEIR OWN PEOPLE. I have done this ever since we saw the special "Shatter the disabled gems" robots after The Trial. The off colors are literally what fascist governments consider "undesirables." The first people the Nazis murdered were the disabled. Please read a book for once in your fucking life.

[@Dekarowski25]

based

[@jkester7893]

"I look forward to the day a good show does this and we can all collectively forget about you" *Mr ratburn's gay wedding has joined your chat*

[@stanleywilliams7128]

I just watched someone shit all over one of my favorite TV shows.............and i actully enjoyed it

[@cashordeals3672]

🤣 same

[@TrainWreckYT]

Me too

[@ashleypisarts]

I’m in the same boat as you lol

[@Pamela-dv7gb]

Same

[@blabbilizer]

same

[@ooo_111_ooo]

Yeah Rebecca Sugar said she only made Mindful Education because she wanted to make an episode about meditaiton, not for.. Character development. She literally said she proposed an episode to just be that one scene with Garnet but her writers said she'd actually have to wrap a story around it and Connie having crazy reactions and muscle memory was what she came up with.

[@doctorofallrats]

1:01:34 Well, Mr. Ratburn from Arthur has had a gay wedding, and Arthur is an objectively better show than Steven Universe. Can we all collectively forget about SU now?

[@jessicay2126]

"Honey, it's 4pm, time to rewatch Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why" "Yes dear"

[@kirbtheblob]

yeah for some reason i keep on watching this video

[@doritos4956]

Help me i am addicted

[@istoleyourt0ast438]

Relatable

[@matijasostojic4288]

God. I keep returning every year

[@Bugster1970]

ive watched this 9 times in a row in a entire day lol

[@rach2601]

this video: *exists* me: *_mo vie t ime_*

[@AWildBoi]

"Please, the fighting has to stop. We're aren't enemies, we're family". No matter how many times I hear it I still cringe.

[@ApeOW]

Fr it’s so edgy Btw correct me on the word edgy if are in the kaykaykay

[@LesbianWeedBrownie]

@@ApeOW say what you want about that voice line, but that's literally the exact opposite of edge lol

[@director_jestro]

@@ApeOW Jason how stupid are you? I’m not trying to be rude here but HOW?!? Literally the opposite.

[@hughbert976]

who cares

[@director_jestro]

@@hughbert976 um me

[@trixxsaurus2386]

The whole cluster thing confused me a bit. During a filler episode around that era, Peridot BRINGS UP the way no one's working on the cluster.....so.....they KNOW that they're putting in filler episodes......so why are they DOING it?

[@ryanlol5786]

The show spends too much time with random fucking side characters because it’s so obsessed with being weird and quirky in its story structure like Adventure Time, which is impossible to do when the characters in Steven Universe never get developed and the show is literally unable to separate itself from Steven for one fucking second. If a character doesn’t work in Adventure Time, they’re dropped and never have to show up again. Despite Steven Universe being Almost as long as Adventure Time already, the way it spends its time is absolutely baffling, because like Adventure Time, they just HAVE to have 80% of the episodes be filler and pepper in some songs. However, Adventure Time filler episodes aren’t fucking glued to Finn and Jake so they actually have the chance to develop the secondary characters in interesting and meaningful ways.

[@leomorris7573]

the way lapis's facial expressions are animated after Malachite really reminded me of my abuser and im so glad someone finally brought up how much of an awful person she is

She was trapped for 1000's but stipl acted like a bitch to those who treated her well. I can't tell if it was because she was imprisoned or because she was always a bitch even before imprisonment.

[@tokolimespice]

Wasn't the first same sex marriage in a cartoon done by Arthur on PBS

[@CharaViolet]

You know, one thing you said kind of ticked me: The thing about the model sheets. The crewniverse used to upload most of them in their blog, and there's one thing I've noticed about a lot of them: They contain the _exact frames_ that the wiki made renders out of before the model sheets were released. It's almost like....... They made the model sheets after they released the episodes........ And just took the images from the wiki and plastered them in the model sheets........

[@TomRocksable]

Are you serious?

[@WretchedRedoran]

_Hmmmmm_

[@CharaViolet]

@@eurilake9197 I do, I just made this comment 4 years ago cuz I had a dumb 'lil thought.

[@dalastorradio]

Honestly I hated rose since the first flashback episode due to the song with lines like "I never planned on finding you quite this enteraining" and "I like the way humanbeings play, I like playing along." It shows she doesn't give a shit about humans or anything for that matter. It shows that rose only sees everything as entertainment and if she's bored she will move onto something else. It's sad cause that explains why she "cared" about earth. It's because the diamonds were taking away something that could keep rose from being bored. So rose threw a fucking fit. It also shows why she made pearl love her even though at first pearl saw it as wrong ,but then went to greg. Rose doesn't give a shit about anyone ,but herself and this pisses me the fuck off that sugar is trying to show her as part of the people who are suppose to be right. God fuck sugar.

[@killabomb3186]

Yeah the show doesn't exactly say "rose was great" it tells alot of roses flaws and stuff

[@megangibbs4158]

Man I hate it when someone criticizing something helps me develop as a person more than the actual thing they're criticizing ever did. That's really freaking sad. It's like your channel's an episodic narrative of why some shows were great and some were terrible, but it works.

[@BigMan-ce5yk]

How the hell do you have 13 thousand likes and no replys?

[@thehunter2093]

@@BigMan-ce5yk You can't reply to perfection

[@BlackKyurem5]

Makes sense if you think about it. If a show is morally bankrupt like talking it out with obviously terrible people who can kill you (and the only reason why they dont is because you reveal yourself to be their sister otherwise this wouldve failed), then of course someone criticising it is going to end up teaching you something better.

[@darkusomegaX]

This is it. The final SU video that rips apart the entire show. Nothing can top this, unless Sugar somehow writes this 9 times worse.

[@Bugster1970]

i hope theres another one that takes this show to the scrap yard!

[@YourMom_._]

This comment did not age well...

[@The20AndOnly]

This video is 2 years old by now, but this is my first time watching it. The clickbait title deterred me for a long, long time. The Sarah Z video brought this up and I decided I finally had to watch this for myself. I'm very passionate about this show, but legitimately hate how the show handles almost every story arc and every attempt at character development. I agree with everything in this video, and it's very clear that you know your shit, not only about the show but about the animation industry in general. I think Sarah Z might not have actually seen Steven Universe, and only criticized your video to prove a point that was unrelated. This video is an excellent critique and you voiced all of the opinions I've had about this show in a really thought-provoking way. You also brought attention to so many important issues that still haven't been addressed by Sugar or the crew. That's all, just wanted to say this is a good video. Thank you for making it.

[@LilianOrchard]

Sarah Z's been caught lying about people MANY times.

[@samuellandin]

I make your words mine. Love the show too, watched when I was a kid so it got a very special place in my heart but *GOD DAMN* this show is flawed Holly shit!

[@stephie2625]

Urk

[@kaitomaitoamv7114]

Well here we go. I didn’t need those 2 hours of my life anyways. Take them Lily. Take them.

[@shitpost9237]

TAKE MY HOURS, MOMMY !!!

[@dogsrcute691]

oop

[@hellware6217]

You murdered it a hour in and the rest was an incredible nasty and cutting euolgy. I loved it.

[@Maskon2Fite]

Epic gamer moment she enabled replies

[@Maskon2Fite]

@@whatthecatdoin4237 cry 🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@punkzilax4151]

I had always seen the slave to master love in rose and pearls relationship but I hadn’t realised how bleak that was until you pointed it out, thank you. (Seriously)

[@itssCoolGuy]

55:44 “I don’t know how on earth you did that, nonbinary people, by their very definition, are interesting.” as nonbinary, ngl, that part made me get a HUGE smile on my face. ily lily

[@LilianOrchard]

TBH, I was worried that bit would be taken the other way.

[@J_Isak]

Yea I accidentally clicked on a panel video where Sugar was doing a interview with some of the voice acters and she made a offhanded comment about how Pearl's motherly personality wasn't even a thing until she got to know her voice actress. That's not how voice casting usually works. You're supposed to know the personality first and then cast the voice to fit it. Visual parts of a character sometimes change after voice casting but personality or main key factors of the core of that character should be set in stone beforehand. After hearing that straight from her mouth unprovoked in her own words just casually in front in lots of people made me certain that she literally has no clue how to write a story. It makes me sad I had high hopes for the show. But yea. I heard about it part way season 2 and I had no idea the hiatuses started that early. What a mess. That's a lot of fatigue people built up trying to stick with the show. I also wasn't happy about the diamonds' rushed redemption I really wish they didn't do that.

[@cattievogelsong96]

JoiIsakYT Her incompetence is endlessly frustrating.

[@thewordywarlock7159]

Remember when Andy was really pissed about the gems being "illegal aliens" and how he was upset that Greg "couldn't even marry an American?" and it was supposed to be this dumb but harmless, bad taste joke about the relatable experience of That One Conservative Uncle and how you might have to get along with them despite your differences? Trump was elected like 10 days prior to that episode airing. Not many people laughed.

[@ArtisticLayman]

God bless you for making this 2 hour film ... I mean video.

[@n3onblueblasters878]

Thanks, as an aspiring author I can see a lot of pitfalls in bad writing.

[@Ender_Emmie]

I've honestly been holding back on watching this because I was afraid I was gonna get pissy or something, but you know what? I can see where you're coming from and honestly I'm having trouble looking at the show the same. I completely agree with the whole Diamond redemption nonsense because that was just horrible writing, they could have pulled it off in so many better ways and also- yknow- not fucking rush it in the worst written way possible- Ah- where was I going with this? Who knows, but I can totally get behind this video, good work

[@devonfernandez9638]

>day sucks >get home late >checks youtube >lily drops Steven Universe video >.... Today was good day.

[@Cybo-18]

I never realized how much time I practically wasted on this show. Oh, and how many hiatus' they went on, holy shit; and I never put the connection of the Human Zoo (and while I'm sure Sugar's intentions weren't racist, once you learn about the Human Zoos, you give everything the side eye). I think after watching this video, which nonetheless was an eye-opener to the BS that is this show (my opinion), I don't wanna watch the rest.

[@LegendOfPrincessPeachy]

Ok KZbin... I watched it. Please leave me alone now. (K but in all seriousness this was a well put together video and I really enjoyed it)

[@adrianleonce455]

TWO HOURS LONG?????? Welp, time to grab some popcorn, a soda and some gummies and sit back and enjoy the show

[@jaketheworldenderlol9474]

The last thing I want to see before dying is the like to dislike ratio on this video

[@LilianOrchard]

Your wish has been granted i.imgur.com/fBwaOc6.png

[@MusicForTheRadio]

I watched an episode or two of the series and I could see hints of deeper themes but after seeing clips from other episodes, I knew that they show and it’s creators were not equipped to discuss these subjects. I studied genocide for four years while at college and travelled to places to that were greatly affected by it. Seeing this show fail so horribly at trying to describe these big issues annoyed me to no end. Overall I just wanted to thank you for making this video (and the Korra video) because they helped me peg down what was bothering me so much about these shows. Great work!

[@tlercap6082]

I remember being so upset about the pink diamond reveal and then blaming myself thinking that I might not have been smart enough to enjoy it “properly”. I’m glad this video exists

[@basilblue32]

even though i am a BIIIIG fan of SU, i actually really enjoyed this video lol

[@whimsyy1648]

This is a spectacular watch/listen. Being a part of the group that initially watch SU but now only pop in once in a while for closure's sake, listening to someone rip and tear into the many, bizarre and unusual decisions made by the show throughout its run time, as well as show numerous new perspectives that I hadn't considered is frankly quite eye-opening. My major complaints with the show had been hiatus, poor animation quality, overly focused episodes on the residents of the town who have among them maybe one hair strand of personality, and the fact that the show had shifted from fighting against The 'fascists in everything but name' Gempire to forgiving those same people who have actively performed horrifying and twisted acts as 'its all water under the bridge.' I wasn't aware of some of the other points brought up, notably that Yellow Diamond personality wise flip flops between big bad and, well, Blue diamond but with a different coping mechanism and the actual travesty that was Concrete's very culmination (who even drew that and thought it'd be okay?). Despite all this, I will likely end up continuing watching the show, for the same reason stated above, closure. However, watching this will hopefully make me more critical of the shows choice of direction. We can only hope for improvement overall, however bleak that seems without significant work if not an overhaul in direction by the shows producers.

[@happyfowl_8376]

I went back to watch the video by cartoon network showing the clues that rose quartz was pink diamond and SO MANY OF THEM WHERE LITERALLY JUST RANDOM SCENES WITH ROSE IN THEM FSDFGSDF SDFSDF

[@elijahs.824]

This god put one ad on a 2hr video

[@maurycyoseka1057]

19:12 - Steven: The mouthpiece 21:11 - Pearl: The yikes 22:40 - Amethyst: The sulk 25:06 - Garnet: The euphemism 26:54 - Peridot: The great and lovable 31:24 - Lapis Lazuli: the sociopath 35:07 - Jasper: Step on me 36:28 - Yellow Diamond: The empire's wrath 38:31 - Blue Diamond: The economic anxiety 39:12 - White Diamond: Your mom

[@rattandragon9104]

Thanks

[@animieluvr9732]

A 2 hour video of Lily talking about Steven Universe? Homework can wait!!!!!!!

[@luketfer]

One of the things I found interesting in SWTOR is that the Jedi light or darkside choices aren't based on what you might think are good or evil. They're based on what the Jedi TEACHINGS think is good or evil. For example in the tutorial area you come across two Jedi in training who have formed a relationship, something forbidden by the Jedi teachings. The light side option is to go and tell your superiors and have them broken up. The Dark side choice is simply to say nothing and let them continue their relationship. By contrast the other classes get more traditional Light/Dark side points. My Smuggler was played as generally a good person unless you pissed her off something fierce. The dude who stole my ship got gunned down in viscous fashion because I had to chase his ass across some god forsaken planet and he would gleefully rub it in my face whenever he could.

[@LilianOrchard]

That's the case with every character. Light and Dark side is relative to the values of those classes.

[@noitby]

trans person gives a opinion changing review on how steven universe a former loved cartoon of mine, changed to one of my most hated kids shows, what a specific yet good review good job

[@johnnygallagher5718]

I can relate.

[@awesomezekrom]

SU got clocked. I was feeling weird about the show for a while but didn't know why. You put it in words !

[@MotionSickness17]

Wasn’t the 1st homosexual wedding in a children’s show in Arthur?

[@zoroarkling]

"I like the tiny red lesbian but i don't understand the tiny red lesbian" i have never related so hard to this with so many things

[@WCRfan126]

Oh dang! I expected this to be out by next month at the earliest! This was certainly a nice surprise, as I've been really anxious to see this video for quite sometime. I admit, I don't agree with every little detail said in this video, but as for some of the more glaring problems like the filler beach city episodes, the Pink Diamond twist, and the need to redeem the Diamonds, it does make me realize why some of these things never sat right with me but I could never personally explain myself. So I am very grateful for this video in making me realize some of those things.

[@davidreynolds9189]

Even Aang, the most pacifist character in animation, understood that Ozai shouldn’t be forgiven. He found a way to punish him that didn’t involve killing him. Ozai, who leads a fascist empire with a body count in the millions, who has waged a war for a literal century, and has wiped out everything that Aang had ever known, did not deserve to be redeemed. But it was impossible to kill him for Aang.

[@SleepyQuiet]

I just finished this and immediately pressed repeat. I could listen to this for days and will probably never be over it. Lily, you did an amazing job that I still have certain moments replaying in my head. Look I loved Sugilite and I'm forever bitter about her because Opal rubbed me the wrong way because of those reasons Lily mentioned. Also I'm forever screaming about Lily GOING IN ON KEVIN AND THE CREEPINESS OF HIS WRITING AND THE WRITING AND CAMERA ANGLES WITH STEVONNIE! So creepy! I'm still not over it. Might be my favorite section of the video. My feelings are here and apparently not leaving.

[@phifuru]

I was never a fan of the "everything can be resolved with talking" concept it irked me the same way as "you can do anything as long as you believe in yourself"

[@Not_Kaitlyn]

Steven fr had that talk no jitsu

[@hex_a_decimal]

GO OFF SIS (in all seriousness, this was legitimately so cathartic to watch. i’ve never really found the words to describe why su annoyed me and here they are! thanks lily.)

[@Paigelikesfluffythings]

"Sugar used every excuse she could to hide Ruby and Sapphire in the walk-in closet that is Garnet's hips" BRUH I CANT 💀

[@andreeacat7071]

ya know, i kinda think Rebecca is putting herself into Rose’s/Pink Diamond’s position. As in she based the character off of herself. think about it. she could’ve grown up privileged, went online, found out the rest of the world is really shitty, tried making it a better place while still living with her privilege, neglected her irl social skills entirely, and started steven universe. so in a way, steven universe is steven universe.

[@spoods619]

1:55:29 you thought you could slide that in

[@JabrielTimeline]

Before the video: "Okay, lets see this opposite opinion" After de video: "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK REBECCA (and how didn't I notice those things)"

[@LoryskaEntertainment]

Oh and, holy fucking shit, the fact that a mass grave of millions of gems gave Steven a thumbs up is fucking disgusting and a great representation of why Sugar doesn’t understand or care to properly explore fascism and the Holocaust. The whole Cluster mess is written off as okay because Steven got the splintered gems to...like each other? This is very troubling. Steven Universe explicitly told children that a mass grave of lower class war victims, slaves and workers forced together was acceptable and “better” after Steven had a talk with it. Literally these gems were stripped of their individuality and “killed” for the sake of an experiment to destroy earth over a petty grudge, and Stevan’s answer to this was, “Maybe you can make this work if you make friends with the corpses you were forced to be with.” This is scary as shit

[@fanaticalistic]

I still really love Steven Universe, though I do know it has some problems it's still a great show imo. "One man's garbage is another man's treasure"

[@FAEDOODLE]

I just realised that bubbling is applicable to solitary confinement. Which makes the diamonds’ room full of rose quartz bubbles waaay more disturbing to me. They’ve probably been in there for hundreds of years. Rebecca Sugar’s story choices get worse and worse the longer I think about them

[@LilianOrchard]

Actually this is a common trend, not just Sugar. Killing is bad, so the heroes think up some kind of torture that's far worse

[@skyguyastor2246]

The longest, most overly critical video essay covering sensitive topics in a children's cartoon I have ever watched. I love it, thank you Lily. I was going to sub to you after watching the video, and was immediately confused when the button was grey.

[@there.are-no.handlesAVAILABLE.]

@@whatthecatdoin4237 shut up

[@EctoBabble]

OKAY. Rewatching this, if Stevonnie's age is 26... when Connie and Steven are like... 30-40 years old... are they going to look like an 60-80year old woman? What happens when they hit fifty?! LMAO are they just going to die when they fuse? One day Steven is like "Connie we can't fuse anymore or Stevonnie will be 120years old and humans don't live that long :\"

[@juneru2]

It is BS cause when Steven fused with his dad the end result was like an in-between of Steven's and Greg's ages. There really is no consistency to how fusions are designed at all.

[@numa4life]

Wow I knew the show had problems as i watched it which slowly pushed me away, but wow i didn't realize how bad things were. This is why i love watching your work Lily, because watching videos like this and many of your other video that point out the problems or issues a show can have help me to be a better writer; To the point that i look over works that i want to get published and going over them with a MUCH finer tooth comb and give it a lot more clean up, and just literally asking myself "Why" like "Why does (X) do this" or "Why is this here", things that sadly I didn't realize I was lacking in my college education into writing or creative writing (granted it was community college so that probably could of only gone so far). I apologize if this comment comes off as weird or creepy or anything (because i have trouble gauging things like this when i talk to people) but i wanted to voice my appreciation for your work with this and my only regret is i cant do more then say thank you for what you do with little more then this comment at this time in my life.

[@elisestevenson9120]

I honestly think that the whole trope of "even the worst people can be redeemed" used as a way to keep viewers invested in shows, has genuinely caused me to fall victim to abuse in my life. I grew up watching this concept all over the media. Forgiveness became a fun trope because its unexpected and gets views, but since i grew up with this it was instilled in me that the right thing to do in real life was to forgive people no matter what. Maybe if i hadn't had this ideology drilled into my head through my formative years, i wouldn't have let so many people abuse me and romanticise "fixing" people and redemption. Thats what it is, and people gobble it up because we all like to think that we can change the bad people in our lives, but we cant. And teaching children that we can and should is extremely harmful. I have personally suffered from it

[@Not_Kaitlyn]

I'm glad that you're still here and that you're okay. :)

[@devontaswirl7507]

That's what I've been thinking I hate that trope. Once someone becomes a fascist dictator who oppresses their own people, and kill or imprison the opposition, there is no coming back from that, also another bad example is in Steven universe future when the lapises attack, she tried to show a lesson restraint is true strength, but when you try to negotiate and negotiations fall through and you get attacked, you gotta do what you gotta do, once the lapises attacked anyway all restraint is out the window and Stevens lapis should have poofed them at that point. The third one is when sugar said there are no true bad guys in the show which is another bad lesson cause there are true monsters in the world, just read the story of the golden state killer.

[@rem8183]

To be honest stopped watching cuz it became to confusing when stories get put on hold and characters personalities changing way too much. The beginning of the SU thing was fine, expected to be over when at some point Steven meets what I think from an outsider’s perspective to be his mom, but stopped and apparently became shit.

[@heilamwether8911]

Tbh this critique of Steven universe was more spot on than I was expecting, and holds up even after it’s been a couple of years since the ending.

[@swaginton1180]

Apparently, the reason for the steven bombs comes from the fact that the network saw the rating and statistics for the show and realized that it was starting to fail, so they concocted the steven bombs to garner attention and increase the desire for the show to continue. Not only this, but they also positioned the show in time stamps that both made it so it wasn't competing with any other show that had better ratings to maximize the show's watch time and ratings, artificially inflating the numbers for the show as a result. the supposed reason for this was due to them not wanting to go through the drama of letting sugar go after having to inevitably cancel the show when the ratings didn't improve and got worse in fact.

[@madisynngarza2294]

"i like the tiny red lesbian, but I don't understand the tiny red lesbian" - lily

[@anaverageanimeviewer5696]

Steven Universe feels like a fan story that was animated.

[@AuraCreedOLD]

Holy shit... I read that Racism essay you linked and I didn't even know half of that was even a thing. To top it off I didn't know human zoos were an ACTUAL thing either and I just... W.O.W this show fucked up. On the plus side this video essay made me want to go play Star Wars the Old Republic.

[@serbs3048]

This video ended up being the reason why I started playing The Old Republic

[@Dan-1031]

I never really liked this show, ima be honest, my 9 year old booty was only watching to simp on Pearl and Lapiz. But even at that age I HATED Steven, the character, I only watched about 2 seasons but gahhh damn is he the most annoying lead ever. Cardinal sins were made in his writing. He has no motive, he doesn’t push to plot forward, he has no charm, he has no redeeming traits, he is just annoying

[@LampJesus]

Here after the end of the homeworld arc, it got even worse. The whole "they were just following orders" thing doesnt even work anymore because they made fuCKING SPACE HITLER SYMPATHETIC AND REDEEMABLE TOO, IT'S FUCKING AWFUL

[@nubby03]

I used to watch Steven universe when I was younger and there were so many filler episodes and hiatuses that I genuinely forgot the actual story when it continued. I had no idea what was going on throughout the entire show.

[@Ahmed-gu1vx]

I actually was looking for this video for about 5 minutes because I was feeling nostalgic and remembered how well written this was. A masterpiece tbh

[@lusciouslocks8790]

Two or three times a year I come back to watch this (and now it’s more recent addition)

[@Ahmed-gu1vx]

Ha im back again listening to this during work to pass the time, so good I don't even need to watch the clips.

[@ryanfletcher6415]

It's funny, Rebecca Sugar and Ian-Jones Quartey went to the School of Visual Arts taking class like Storyboarding and Storytelling and their work on Steven Universe is shit.

[@yaboidawg558]

Bruh I absolutely hated this video years ago and I never watched it. Now that I watch this now.. These points are so good. I love this video.

[@dankfanfiction8203]

Something I'd like to mention too, is that the idea that the gems have "No real gender" but all of them are feminized or solely identify as female. Why is it that NB is always being drawn as "Woman light". It hurts, and its a harmful stereotype. It also feels very weird that most gems aren't allowed to express anything remotely masculine. What is wrong with being Masculine? What is wrong with being a guy? As someone who is AFAB but identifies as NB with a more masculine leaning, it's really confusing and frustrating.

[@64girl2thresq4]

When you mention the part of the centaurette scene with the racist caricature, I've heard people argue things like, " they were talking about the beautiful white centaurettes, not the one black one!" or "they probably haven't seen that scene as it was taken out of more recent releases of Fantasia!" Okay, first of all, I highly doubt these huge fans of animated shows and movies haven't seen that part. I'm sure they're fully aware of that particular scene with the stereotypically drawn black centaurette polishing a "picturesque" white centaurette's hoof. Secondly, it doesn't matter if the "beauty" of the white centaurettes was taken out of context. If someone draws white characters as visually appealing gods and goddesses while also drawing POC as ugly stereotypes, then the "beauty" is no longer contextless; it's relative. Disney censoring that scene doesn't change that fact. They weren't inspired by how "good-looking" those white centaurettes were, but rather how much "better-looking" they were compared to the black centaurette. If you don't believe me, remember the different fusions? Like how fusions with pearl were "graceful" while amethyst and garnet fused together make a brute? Sounds like an idea that was inspired by something else.

[@thebombingsoda]

I feel like if the shows message was “try to talk stuff out first, but sometimes that doesn’t always work and you gotta fight”, it would be a lot better. Sometimes you can’t stop people from being awful by just talking it out

[@Maludosgatos]

And the diamonds were genocidal oppressive tyrants who abused EVERYONE in the galaxy including the main cast sans Steven and knew WELL that what they were doing was wrong (hell, White Diamond was having the time of her life manipulating Steven and mind-controlling the Crystal Gems). Sorry, but I do NOT buy that Steven won them over with The Power Of Kindness™. Why can't we just let villains be villains?!

[@milanshergill9464]

I think you miss a lot of this when you can watch 5 seasons without hiatusses because then you don't get the theories or the moments where you have to just think about it because you can't watch it, I didn't have those and saw nothing wrong with pink diamond and rose and lapis until now. I am glad I saw this because now I really there really are bad aspects to the show I didn't even know exited.

[@sushii00]

I love all the people on Twitter complaining about this video after 3 years, while I'm sitting here enjoying it eating popcorn

[@Weedsm0kr79]

This is why we need villains like Jack Horner who are pure evil and they know and acknowledge it as well as embrace it.

[@AGnomeGaming]

I never actually realized how rancid the whole storyline of the show was and now I can't look at it the same way.

[@Airitzu]

Don’t you just hate when potential of an amazing, well built, character driven show is literally RIGHT THERE and yet the writers choose to use cliché, predictable and poor narratives?

[@venamotylek]

Idk who said the quote, but it's extremely accurate for Rebecca Sugar. "Any author that says they've planned every detail of a story is lying. You might have the basic plot but nothing more is planned."

[@Kacp3rrak]

I'm just impressed that a lot of these comments have over thousands of likes. I guess it just means all of us agree that SU isn't a good show

[@TrioSonata]

...I just wanted Bismuth to be a core character. So so badly. I wanted a war taken to Homeworld. But no...

[@Not_Kaitlyn]

Nahhh that makes way too much sense that would've actually been cool.

[@tenshi7751]

2:05:30 Rebecca is literally singing the song in the background (not trying to be rude I just kinda found it humorous how you called the person who does the music a poor soul when it's literally the same person you'd been criticizing throughout the essay)

[@LilianOrchard]

She didn't compose all the music. She's singing a single song.

[@breadbread7355]

1 small note: sugilite's voice was only dropped bc of how expensive it was to hire nicki minaj

[@LilianOrchard]

Perhaps they shouldn't have hired someone so expensive to voice a character, then. Was a celebrity cameo that important?

[@eye-conicben1048]

Every show changes the voices after a while. Why didn't SU do that, it is not that special after all.

[@skeletonsinscarves3965]

When i was still watching this show i was confused about certain things, one of which was when stevonnie said 'i wish you were here' and here i am like, "im sorry what?" Honestly this video just confirmed so many worries i had about the show

[@reagansido5823]

I'm very glad that I came across this video. I can very distinctly remember watching SU and not having any problems with It. It didn't really stand out to me as one of the best TV series or one of the worst. It was really just neutral for me. after watching this video however, I have come to realize all the horrible things that I, somehow, never noticed. like, seriously. HOW did I completely miss (for example) how they butchered the diamonds?! I'm almost ashamed of myself for being so blind.

[@TH3C001]

As someone who is neither a fan or hater of this show and as someone who has seen probably two whole episodes total I am very interested in this video. I will watch this whole thing anyway, but was there any way it could've been condensed at all? I'm a long winded and wordy person so I can understand/relate to the 2 hour runtime, but surely this could've all been summarized a bit tighter? Ah well, I'm still gonna watch the whole thing lol.

[@TH3C001]

After watching this whole thing I see the answer is no, there was no way to condense it lol, there is just that much wrong with this show, it requires 2 hours.

[@leighgasp]

Pearl not really being the Strong Independant Gem I thought she was is hurting my head. this is actually really sad. also rOSE COMMANDING PEARL TO NEVER STOP? DIDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT OH MY GO D

[@Lunapixel_]

Good job Lily! You deserve to sleep for a fucking week after this monstrous masterpiece of criticism. You're one of my favorite people, even though I don't agree with absolutely everything you say. I wish I had enough money to give you so you could get a new car or something because you deserve it

[@Shelly_17]

Tbh, I kinda like the show

[@LilianOrchard]

You're the first person who does to not hurl some of the most vile insults and conspiracy theories at me because of this video in a while. I appreciate that.

[@redjirachi1]

If I had a nickel for every time a series redeemed a villain who killed more death than Hitler, I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice

[@mckenafountain6664]

Steven universe's need to forgive everyone no matter what they did is what brought down the show in my opinion, like its OK to have villans, idk why they shyed away from that, because their message of "forgive everyone, even if they committed mass genocide" does much more harm than Rebecca thinks.

[@veahland]

this series had SO. MUCH. POTENTIAL and sugar threw ALL of that away and it makes me so mad. this show coildve had an amazing analysis on self love and facist governments and what not but nooooooo she had to throw that all away

[@pp-sx5rb]

As the show proceeded,the show became more and more confusing. The line between what was right or wrong got blurrier and blurrier. This explanation and strong analysis helps understand it much better (more like understand that its not understandable due to the writers neglect)

[@Pip8448]

1:49:31 "Forgive and forget is universal" the theme and reason for the name of the show. A wish. 1:51:07 to 1:51:33 Truth! 1:59:42 to 2:00:12 Classic political cry baby reasons for getting away with dumping garbage ideas onto (not into) the youth of today. Lily, you have some great points. That being said. I do like this show. Yes the hiatus of the show was unreasonable to ask for from an audience that was told the plot has already been written. Yes most of the filler episodes were badly placed. I enjoyed exploring the world, the side characters (except Lars), How each person helped Steven grow and learn the things allowing him to become the person Homeworld gems need but would have never gotten otherwise. I also like that the classic 'punch to win' cartoon changed into an introspective show. Not really for kids, but for older and observant people. I also love a show that can keep me guessing; and I'm okay with these new cartoons taking ques from their fandoms to make their stories better. They just need to figure out which story direction they want and STICK WITH IT. Which I agree Steven Universe didn't do a great job of, trying too hard to please everyone at once. (oh you covered this part sorry 1:57:03 to 1:57:54) I view this show as an experiment and I truly hope others learn from it.

[@ryanprower4246]

Around 16 minutes in, when you said the thing about how the theme is learning to love yourself, I immediately thought back to the completely abandoned hook words of the show, "Believe in Steven" and how they just kinda made Steven this ridiculous savior because he can change and something something "you're wonderful" and I just... I get sad thinking about how much I was invested in the show early on and I just lost interest for what seemed at the time to be no reason right around when the Bismuth special happened.