Rebecca had this moment planed out since the pilot

>Rebecca had this moment planed out since the pilot
>Nothing in the show ever tops it

Why did they decided Steven Universe should go in a different direction from the first season which is arguably the best part of the show?

Sugar probably had season 1 mostly planned out, which is probably why the show starts to feel more meandering and haphazard afterward.

...

Good voice acting, soundtrack, writing, cinematography, That was all around a pretty good scene.

ALso Lapis became shit

Mirror Gem and Ocean Gem were really the best two episodes this show has had

SU has suffered from the same problem as Adventure Time before it. It became unexpectedly popular and with that came the possibility it was going get a lot more episodes/seasons and a whole lot of filler to stick in before tying up the plot lines, so the creator has basically let go of the reins and let the staff take over and do what the hell they like. In both cases, it was a terrible mistake.

Adventure Time never had a plot

this. I hate this cycle in american television.

>creator believes the show will only last for one season
>throws everything into it
>show gets renewed because of critical reception/viewership
>show creator dials back on the content because he/she doesn't want to run out of material for the next 6 seasons

I listen to the Nerdist Writers panel a lot and showrunners have explicitly stated that they don't want to end shows because they'd all be out of work. So relationships never develop, plotlines are never truly solved, etc.

>and let the staff take over and do what the hell they like

Sugar was always going to do that regardless though.

It is already well known that SU used to have great buildup but ever since season one there has never been great pay-off for all that buildup. The Return/Jailbreak were the only episodes with great payoff for all the buildup to it in season one.

Or how about end it like Alex Hirch?

it's kinda funny how patronizing most critics are of Steven Universe. I've listened to NPR and Slate pieces on the show, and they're just happy that LGBT themes are front and center, and don't give a shit about the bad pacing or shitty townie episodes. Meanwhile on Sup Forums we're all reviewing SU like it's a bog standard anime series and it comes up short because of it.

Sugar is either a burnt-out has-been or such a lame duck that her stupid minions are shitting all over her show and she doesn't lift a finger against them.

>Or how about end it like Alex Hirch?

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but that was a damn good creative decision by Hirsch to end it after two seasons. Now that may have been because he hated working for the Mouse and wanted out, but I think he stuck the landing, though Mabel did come off as a cunt in the finale

I disagree. Season 2B damn near discredited everything the series was building towards, all because he decided he didn't want a third season and had to rush everything to wrap it up.

New episodes announced, su posting is allowed

>Lapis tries to drown Connie & Steven, also breaks Greg's leg in a failed eco-terrorist plot to get off planet
>when Steven heals her she no longer has the excuse of cracked insanity, repays him by dropping him from orbit along with an entire ocean onto his family
>Steven sings a song about how she's a hard to understand friend
>later Lapis refuses to help Steven escape a horrible fate, something that Steven did for her TWICE (mirror+earth)
>forms Malachite in a 1 v 5 for no fucking reason

>still more likable back then as she is now as a boring dyke in the barn of ruined characters

The thing with AT is that the filler episodes are usually fun and interesting enough even in its 7th season or however long it is, meanwhile in SU no one likes them because they're about boring characters we don't care about and the show's humor is shit

It's funny how people always say SU planned everything out so it's like Sugar and the crew is intentionally making boring filler episodes just to pad out the runtime while everyone waits for the episodes people actually care about

The main problem is they really didn't go in a different direction while constantly upping the stakes.
So now you have a whole story about a genocidal empire run by giants but most the episodes are still SoL shit, hell, they made it worse because now we see the gems less in favour of townies (an episode without a Gem in the first half of S1 was practically unheard of) and Stevens magic hardly plays a part in a lot of the plots.

Atleast best gem came out of season 2

And was ruined soon after

>the show's humor is shit
Seriously, what the fuck is up with this show being almost afraid of a purely comedic episode? We get some episodes that start out kinda humorous but you can almost count down to the point where they just stop all the jokes and funny scenarios to get into their pseudo-philosophy or hallmark card-tier moral.

Take The New Crystal Gems as an example, the set up for jokes were there and the episode would have been great if it was purely comedic, the truly alien gems who don't know shit about human culture are finally interacting with the townies with Steven there to make sure absolute nothing bad (read "funny") happens, what do they do? The moment some misunderstandings start happening the gems go full super serious angst mode, Connie runs in to stop it and resolve any issue there might have been, then separates the gems from the townies so she can give a big speech about "we're better than this guys, we can be our best without Steven!"

Honestly I don't know
I think in an interview way back when Rebecca mentioned that she wanted to make humor that wasn't mean or made people the butt of a joke, and I guess after a few years of trying to do that you run out of good inoffensive comedy
All I can think of

>Tragedy is the basis of all comedy
>But we don't want to offend anyone with our jokes
And this is why tumblrites will never be funny... At least, not in the way they intend to be.

Shes still mah waifu...

SU went from a show about a young boy and a rag tag crew of space lesbians, to a show about a bunch of unemployed free loaders sorting out an endless amount of feelings for days on end.

Personally I think that GF could have been better if it were 3 seasons, but it would have been completely ruined if at any point they'd shot for 4+ seasons.

I do appreciate the shift in spirit as an unemployed free loader, but the quality of the writing has fucking tanked.

>They moved Lapis and Peridot to the barn
>Instead of having them live in the temple

That's when this show truly declined.

I would have been fine with 2 seasons if season 2 had less fucking filler episodes. Get rid of Love Side Attraction, Love God, Giffany, Stan running for mayor, etc., combine the golfing episode and Northwest Mansion Mystery into one episode for Pacifica and turn Weirdmageddon into a tv movie instead of having waiting a fucking month between episodes.

What do you guys think how this show might have turned out if it tried to interminable the gem stuff and the townie stuff more. Something like have the gems be more involved with the episodic small scale town plots and vice-a-versa having the townie characters be much more important to the overarching gem plot
I say I might potentially enjoy it more if it was like that
You thoughts?

the show became shit when they moved away from a plot driven show to being slice of life

that's how we got an irrelevant jasper, a flanderized peridot, an out of character lapiz living in a barn, and shitloads of townie episodes

>an irrelevant Jasper
I can remember the sinking feeling of disapointment when she appeared on that boat to seranade Lapis.

>and showrunners have explicitly stated that they don't want to end shows because they'd all be out of work

because they couldn't possibly start new shows

>and she doesn't lift a finger against them
they have copies of the porn she's drawn of the cast

i have zero proof of this but seriously think about it

Honestly, I actually felt this was the best part in the whole show, and it came afterwards.

She prefers a hands off approach, which is nice and I like, but the major problem is that she's TOO hands off. She should still guide them in the right direction if something seems off.

>an out of character lapiz
I don't think they have a character for Lapis yet, other than "confused and depressed gem"

I still love her but she's now been reduced to a walking tumblr-tier meme
IT'S NOT FAIR BROOOS!!

The two good moments (Mirror Gem, Jailbreak) have both been planned out since the pilot. It's pretty clear that after that they've just been making shit up as they go along.

Yeah and be out of a job in the downtime?

Just because you don't have a show doesn't mean you're out of a job in between.

Rebecca has a story planned, but what she doesn't have planned is how many seasons CN is wiling to give her. Or so I assume.

That was essentially what Season 1 was, especially Season 1A. I remember people used to grouse about it being a "Monster of the Week" show, but if it was, it was in the best possible sense. Every episode had a different monster and a different scenario, and they almost always combined the mundane world of Beach City with the fantastical world of the gems. That contrast was, in fact, where most of the enjoyment in the show came from.

A lot of people fixate on the overarching plot of the show, and while I think there's nothing wrong with that ambition, I (used to) find SU a great show because each episode worked. It's hard to describe, but the episodes told solid, interesting stories within their limited formats. That was the basis; and when a bit of comedy, or drama, or emotion, or worldbuilding was added on top of that, so much the better. But SU was good ultimately because it did the basics well.

in like, forever, ban them all to trash, I'm sick of this show

sugar you betrayed me, you actually got me to get up my hopes, only to sander* them like so many otherswas going to say squander but auto correct suggested sander and it just seemed fitting

Because they don’t want to offend anyone. That’s it. Humor is offensive and you’re a shitlord if you find comedy appealing.

I'd argue that Message Received had a great payoff for Peridot's arc. It's what made me a bigger fan of the show.

Peridot became way less interesting after Hit the Diamond though.

>Rebecca had this moment planed out since the pilot
I wonder how much stuff she had “planned out” given how awfully inconsistent the whole show is. First is about fighting monsters while recovering ancient artifacts with some stuff thrown in the middle that wasn’t annoying at first because we didn’t know how bad it would turn later on. Then we get more and more twists but they keep on forgetting many plot elements and the characters suffer from amnesia constantly –On a show that tries too hard to take itself seriously no less- so elements like attempted murder and feuds are easily ignored after a few episodes. Not to mention that Steven keeps getting new powers that are not that useful for the most part or have a not very lasting effect.

The main issue with this show it that it doesn’t appear to have an endgame or an actual goal. We keep discovering more and more things but as we learn more the pacing of the show gets worse and worse. There is very little pay off and the appeal is slowly disappearing. I think is both a blessing and a curse that they tried to make the plot slowly reveal itself but there are too many inconsistencies and the show only got progressively worst in the animation department amongst other things.

I haven't caught up yet, but this post seems too serious to be joking and that makes me afraid.

Yeah. I was really just cringing. It was really a low point for the series. Went in the absolute wrong direction with Jasper.

What's funny is if you watch Jasper corruption scene, her comments in Peridot are dead on 100% truth.

>look at what you've done to her! You've stripped her of everything! Her limb enhancers, her purpose, her dignity.

And Peridot has the most bullshit response.

I think you've got two competing goals for the writers

1. write a shounen anime series
2. write an LGBT-friendly slice of life show for little kids

you can't do both, and SU suffers from trying to go in too many directions

I'm really surprised Peridot hasn't convinced them to let her just go GET her limb-enhancers or at least TRY to make new ones. She made AN ENTIRE ROBOT in like a day, but couldn't figure out paint-cans.

>SU suffers from trying to go in too many directions

That's easily the biggest problem. I feel this is the animation equivalent of Prometheus; everyone wants to shove their own ideas or add their own spice but in the end we end with a clusterfuck. However in SU's defense it's a comprehensible clusterfuck but still a clusterfuck nonetheless.

What surprises me the most is how despite SU being planned for a good while the show feels like it was made on the go rather than having something definitive planned on beforehand. I’ve heard people going as far as calling this show revolutionary but the more I watch the worse it has gotten and I don’t see anything revolutionary about it. Not even the LGBTBBQ elements are new or groundbreaking.

Rebecca and the Crewniverse are hacks.

where is the screencap of ian saying "don't worry guys, we draw a lot of weird stuff in the writings room"

i mean, i don't like to generalize, but many of the tumblr animators are into...less than savory stuff and someone from the crew was caught with some weird porn in his likes iirc. is that unlikely that after, say, 10 years post-su ending we get to see a lost storyboard like that one with the rugrats?

The thing is, AT's premise is one that allows for lots fun and interesting "filler", SU's doesn't. The core of SU is the gem stuff, the story and lore, without it it's just fluff, and the writing isn't strong enough to even make that fluff mildly interesting.
Now, if they had this kind of episode only once in a while it would have been okay, but it's absolutely crazy that the fluff dominates the show to this extent. I can understand SU's premise being too limiting - but in that case they should've either made a shorter series or expanded the premise - for example, have more alien species or make the corrupted gems more interesting so they can carry more episodes. Anything but "Steven hangs out with some boring dude from town, nothing much happens"

>I feel this is the animation equivalent of Prometheus.

Nah, as far as story and writing is concerned SU is the animation equivalent of Kingdom Hearts.

Why are networks so convinced kids like this kind of mellow slice of life stuff anyway? I remember that as a kid I liked either crazy comedies or melodramatic action shows. Stuff like SU's filler would've bored me to tears.

They seem to be doing that with the next Stevenbomb. Three seasons too late.

Because some kids do like slice of life? Including probably yourself with a couple of shows.

Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Doug, Pepper Ann, Recess, As Told By Ginger. Just to name a few.

I always think this is the western version of DBZ in terms of just piling shit on, but Kingdom Hearts is pretty fucking accurate, too.

Sugar said she had a clear, definitive plan for 5 seasons, with an ending that would paint them into a corner with no turning back. Then again, Sugar likes to overstate things.

I would have preferred GF have three season like how there are three journals.

She *used* to be my favorite character before Zuke fucked things up.

They're not forced to make those episodes

The plot was adventures of a boy

It was never not slice of life.

Slice of Life shit was boring as fuck.

Never watched them.

>tfw for 7 years and counting I have been too scared to leave my house

This was the most poignant episode for me,and just resonated with me.


Then the barn happened... I am so disappointed in this show.

Tumblr took over the fandom just like it did with MLP and the writers began pandering to them. Simple.

And no, I'm not a Sup Forumstard who calls anything I don't like reddit or Tumblr or an SJW, I legitimately believe this to be what happened with both shows.

Why won't you leave the house?

>I listen to the Nerdist Writers panel a lot and showrunners have explicitly stated that they don't want to end shows because they'd all be out of work. So relationships never develop, plotlines are never truly solved, etc.

When then what happens is that while they procrastinate, the network cuts the cord prematurely.

Might as well do what you were gonna do until that happens instead of MAKING it happen by making the show shitty and motivating people to stop watching it.

Google agoraphobia

>mfw I had forgotten about this

Jailbreak topped it. But nothing has gotten close to either of the two since.

I honestly think they only had through Jailbreak pre-planned, and maybe the general idea that they wanted to redeem Peridot. It feels like they made it up as they went along with everything else.

But it was about experiencing the beauty that earth has to offer.

I'll google your address and come force you out the house

So how do you think Sugar will 'write the show into a corner'? That is if it isn't just over exaggerated nonsense.

>write the show into a corner'
she's going to write the show into an empty oblivion where nothing happens and you're not exactly sure what was ever supposed to happen in the first place

>this is true

Literally the thing that has made me stop watching

It reduced jasper to a joke.

that's probably why they murdered her

lol i hate you

>Steven never asks the gems any questions that any normal human being would ask immediately, ever
>Gets mad that the gems never tell him anything
>The one episode where he finally decides to ask some basic fucking questions the gems are all "b-but, this cryptic thing is in this specific location, I won't tell you why you shouldn't go there but don't go there!" causing Steven to go there, everything gets fucked, and then apparently it was Stevens fault for daring to ask questions, not the gems fault for saying "yo, one of the genocidal space tyrants is there, she'll fuck you up if you go there"
It's like this show is actually trying to teach that not just passively accepting everything told to you and asking questions is a bad thing, it's fucking infuriating.

But Stan running for mayor was a highlight in that season.

which episode are you talking about?

Steven's Dream, the one where they go to Korea and see Blue Diamond before Greg gets abducted.

I like to imagine that Garnet foresaw that in every timeline where she straight out explained that Steven shouldn't go to Korea because Blue Diamond would be there that something bad would definitely happen like he would definitely go there, and that in some of the timelines where she said "just trust me, I can't say why" there was at least a possibility of a good outcome. But I admit that I shouldn't have to make up headcanons that jump through hoops to make up excuses for the show just for it to make sense.

>Steven's Dream, the one where they go to Korea and see Blue Diamond before Greg gets abducted.
holy fuck I don't remember that at all

It was the first episode of the last bomb, and pretty damn important to kicking off that entire bomb, which was the last major thing that happened. Have you been watching the newer episodes of the show lately? If not, I don't blame you for missing it considering how fucked the schedule is.

I dropped it after they killed of Jasper

Well then that would explain why you don't remember a more recent episode, but not why you seem so surprised that people are talking about episodes that take place after you dropped the show.

WHERE
THE
FUCK
IS
EMERALD
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

In the centipede.

eggman has them

That was already confirmed to be false, Centipeedle is more likely to be Nephrite.

My mistake. I thought nephrite was a kind of emerald, but was confused because it's a kind of jade.