I guarantee that you guys can't have a calm and respectful discussion about whether or not Steven Universe is a good...

I guarantee that you guys can't have a calm and respectful discussion about whether or not Steven Universe is a good show without circlejerking. If you can prove it right now then you will be rewarded with self-satisfaction and improvement.

I plan to go to my grave having never watched a single episode of Steven Universe.
Just throwing that in there.

Also, I would have never posted in this thread, except you did not make it even a little obvious that it was a SU thread before I wasted my time reading all of it.

The only opinion I have of it is that I'm sure it will be as influential as Goober and the Ghost-Chasers decades from now.

It had potential but what seemingly looks like a lack of any real leadership and control mixed with CN's horrible scheduling make it hard to enjoy.

For every single good episode with great writing, good pacing and good animation you get ten episodes that are either dull or too overtly blunt over it's surgery sweet optimistic message, jokes that fall flat, character drama and development that lead to nowhere or repeat itself over and over and some of the most inconsistent and unappealing art being currently aired.

It's Adventure Time post Season 3 times 10. People will tell you it's a show with great highs and deep lows but there more lows then anything and it's simply not worth it.

Why bother posting in the first place?

Because the OP wasted my time.

Here's the attention you so desperately crave. Now fuck off.

>Worst
Ruby's voice "actress" is infuriatingly terrible
The constant egregious off-model mistakes
Entire bombs have been nothing but filler and that's bad
Backtracking on Rose killing Pink Diamond
>Best
Amethyst as Rose getting caught by Steven
There was finally a plotline where a character became a millionaire and DIDN'T lose all of the money by the end of the episode

I got bored of it because the townies don't interest me and the scheduling was so damned slow

Steven Universe is not a good show, it never has been, and likely never will be.

I watch the show because I like it. I enjoy watching new episodes as they come out. I like discussing the occasional lore the show likes to sputter out every 10 or so episodes, I like arguing about dumb things like who is best gem and why it's obviously __Lapis. I love the fanart.

It's a show that I watch, but would not recommend wholeheartedly to everyone.

>calls steven universe shit but likes the worst written and most boring character
what the hell are you on

Stop.

Steven Universe is a bad show because it can't decide on what it wants to be. And half of what it wants to be is not something worth pursuing. I say this as someone who enjoyed the show greatly for a long time, but now doesn't even bother to watch the new episodes.

Steven Universe is a show that wants to have its cake and eat it too. It can't decide whether it wants to be a serious cartoon about war and class differences and inheriting the sins of your parents, or if it wants to be a calm slice of life show. It feels like maybe if it has enough slice of life standalone episodes, then CN will actually air it in a timeslot for once, when that will never EVER happen.

As such it has all of these episodes that go nowhere and do nothing, aside from fleshing out the personality and motivations of literal background characters. SU, not every character needs to have a fully realized personality. The main cast do, but at this point some of the crystal gems themselves have less personality and more poorly-defined motivations than Lars or Nanafua or Ronaldo. And all of this is at the expense of the "story" that the show has gone through scheduling hell to preserve.

Steven Universe should've stayed an episodic story about the gems and steven fighting monsters of the week and recovering gem artifacts like in season 1. If they want to do a melancholy space opera, that's fine, but actually DO that instead of padding it out with episodes about Sadie that go nowhere and contribute nothing.

But the really early episodes are good.

>Backtracking on Rose killing Pink Diamond
Holy shit I'm glad I dropped this show. That's fucking retarded.

The constant egregious off-model mistakes
This is really the only one I'm particularly angry at. The fact that those responsible for said mistakes double down on their failings on social media show a lack of any oversight in production.

SU is a show that has reached a point where its flaws outweigh its strengths. Back when we were first transitioning from adventures to plot (Lapis introduction, Prison break, etc) things were looking good. But the show just never seemed to know what to DO with any of the cool new stuff it was introducing. And sometimes it gets really invested in interpersonal drama arcs and making those span multiple episodes, which are never allowed to be anything more than petty arguments or misunderstandings that get resolved back to status quo anyway.

The first two seasons felt focused and going somewhere. Since then, everything has felt way more slapdash and like we are in a holding pattern waiting for some big fancy final confrontation that they want to do but cant do YET. Its absolutely stunning that the consequences of Steven getting abducted and seeing the Gem Homeworld firsthand are just 'Lars isn't here right now, and Connie was really upset for a week about being left behind'. When you think about how much homeworld means and had the chance to reveal to us, its really sad nothing else was done with it.

Above all else, the Bomb format is fucking killing this show stone dead. I wouldn't mind watching this show week to week despite its flaws just out of mild interest and habit, but I can honestly say the fire has died due to lack of content. I used to want more. Now I don't really care as much.

After posting this, I had a realization. The bomb format is even worse than I imagined before, because it means every bomb has to be 'about' something. Where before we were allowed to have plotlines that built up slowly over multiple episodes or just had standalone episodes off doing their thing, the bomb format strongly encourages having something introduced and resolved within convenient 5 episode arcs, so that fan response has a chance to digest that as a whole.

Things like Homeworld being shortchanged on content or arcs that mean nothing like 'Connie is mad, and Steven is upset that Connie is mad' can be traced directly to the bomb format.

I kind of got sick of Steven's Care Bear hug it out attitude and crying over nearly everything. What the show refused to accept is that despite one's best ability to avoid conflict, an opposing force will be there to force you into a situation where you'll have to deal with it. Not to mention the show up and decides "Oh Rose didnt shatter a gem! It was all a plot by a diamond!". Mix that with constant townie nonsense, and I just became less forgiving with each episode.

The show is clearly geared towards younger children, and features radical inconsistencies in the animation that for some reason fans will freak out on you for bringing up. If the show was just a little less mediocre it wouldnt get as much hate as it has, but when you combine a show that's really not very special or interesting with a rabid fan base you tend to turn a lot of people off.

It wasn't a plot by a diamond. The trial just pointed out that the official story doesn't make any sense, and something beyond what is commonly known must have happened.

I'm still betting on Pearl having shattered pink diamond (it does answer the obvious and yet unspoken question of 'who owned our Pearl?') and Rose took the blame for it.

>The show is clearly geared towards younger children
Is it really though? Do young kids really want to watch a show about emotional drama and people crying? There really isn't much of action or humor to it either.

It's like how The Phantom Menace was meant to amuse kids but 50% of the film was people just talking about politics.

Little kids don't like the show. Same reason kids didn't like AtLA when it was airing. Story-based shows don't test well with children because they're not in control of their schedule, and often can't sit down every week at a consistent time to watch new episodes in the order they're meant to be seen in.

I feel like the the show is full of itself in a subtle way. It wants to defy convention so hard that it fails to realize why there are conventions in the first place.

It's so trapped in it's own little world far from reality that it at times feels like it has a faint undertone of contempt for it's audience. Like the writers are actively telling the audience to not care about one thing and instead focus on another without making it enjoyable enough to buy into the illusion. It's also so wrapped up in it's own morality that it fails to consider the flaws within the character's way of thinking or provide adequate consequences to certain actions. This isn't to say that other shows don't have characters not face any consequences for what they do, but in SU characters are often rewarded for doing absolutely nothing or just for being the writer's soapbox.

I don't even really care about the bad models or occasional townie shit.

It's just the deus ex machina's and characters getting away with things or mindsets that wouldn't fly in the real world gets irritating real fast because it tries to establish itself as realistic given the context.

Thanks!
Next time, the OP just make a Steven Universe General instead of just whining, and neither of us will have to waste our time.

OP is a fag

Post butts

Was this show ever good?
I have always - ALWAYS - heard it's fucking amazing and one of the best cartoons ever made but it starts off so weakly that I can't bring myself to continue watching. It's even worse too because I've started hearing that it has no direction going for it and it has no idea what it wants to be. That's really bad and I don't know how even mentally ill teenage girls are able to keep up with that shit.
And don't even get me started on the off-model shitshow. I love its backgrounds & colors, however the character animation is garbage drawn by absolute manchildren who whine about working really hard on twitter when they're called out on it. Take critique like an adult, dammit.

Lapis is pretty hot, though.

That's what happens when you influence your show off bauhaus design, you inevitably fall into postmodern bullshit

It is a good show.
If your expectations were too high
that's on you.
I know I'll never forget about Steven Universe. That shit'll stick with me. I'll be 70 years old
and post threads about back when we thought
Garnet was just one gem and how tall Peridot was with her limb enhancers on.

Just remember, when it came down to it
Rebecca Sugar stepped up and fired Lauren
Zuke when it came down to the health of the
show. Sucrose got balls on her. Think about
how bad the show would be if they gave into
Zuke's Lapidot bullshit.

Or would that be a Steven Universe GEM-eral?

>Steven Universe is not a good show

Correct, it's a GREAT show.

>it can't decide on what it wants to be
That's a dumb argument.

>If your expectations were too high that's on you.

here's your (You), you filthy animal.

This is more like every thread on this godforsaken board.

holy shit you're a faggot.

Pretty much this. Journalists/Fans/the crew themselves claim SU to be a champion of a ton of shit: realistic story and characters, tackling relatively serious topics, diversity, representation, etc. But it fails to do any of that properly.

>The characters don't act or respond to situations like real people do
>There is no sense of urgency
>Lars is stuck in space and the diamonds are up to something
>"CONNIE IS IGNORING MEEEEE!!"
>Most of the diverse body designs are shit (you can make a good design with different body types, they just don't try)
>Ruby/Sapphire are the only major lgbt couple and they form a non-character
>Pearl was cucked by a man
>Polygamy representation is a gross granny catepillar
>Multiple instances of characters getting away with harming each other and violating consent/autonomy
>Attempts at addressing toxic relationships is half-assed and avoided to the point where fans are confused what to make of the situation and fight with each other
>What the hell was the message/point of the "my gf won't call me back" arc?

Let's just admit it, people overhyped this show as the greatest thing ever because of the things it promised, not delivered.

Sup Forums can't have a civilized discussion on anything at all. It's become Sup Forums's designated shitposting central, just like Sup Forums once was. Hiro would do this board a favor in deleting it.

>Backtracking on Rose killing Pink Diamond
I will never not be mad.

Just like comics.

Nothing I'd say would ever satisfy, or improve me.

Filthy animals, shit eating tumblr fags.

I like su but the show has flaws, I honestly have no problem with the townie episodes and feel people wouldn't be as annoyed if they were better placed, I like the slice of life/magic world adventure it has but I think there's not enough focus on loose ends, they'll inevitably be brought up later in the series but still the wait sucks. Scheduling is kinda shit, but for how long production takes its sometimes worth the wait imo. Animation and height inconsistency is a problem, but I don't necessarily care, still hope for improvements. Bomb format was a thing that was told by cartoon network to the staff to do after Mirror gem, it severely limits what the show can use as this format has to be thought of ahead of time, I personally would have preferred it to use bombs more sparingly, and kept more episodes were it's monster of the week 1 episode adventures between bombs.

We do all the time, you've just decided that unless you agree with the opinions of the people talking that the discussion isn't respectful or calm. You should confront your own biases before criticizing others who have.

Lapis is the only character with a consistent characterization, while I do disagree with the way the writers portrayed the Jasper situation as the fusion metaphor is muddy and incoherent and makes it difficult to really understand the moral implications of both their actions, Lapis has still been a character with completely reasonable motivations that are very clear in her actions throughout the show.

No other character in SU has this consistency, at least, not anymore. The fact that characters' personality changes sporadically without reason from one season to another, or even one episode to another, normal people aren't like that and while I don't believe realism is necessarily the best thing in writing, making your characters shift behavior in a way that is so uncanny is going to put people off.

But many people who like Lapis are waifufags and I can see why you'd hate them.

>If your expectations were too high
This is a statement that perfectly describes the difference between SU fans and others. SU fans are simply willing to accept lower quality of work and content so when criticisms are made of the show they can't understand why people wouldn't like these things because they perceive it as "good enough."

>S E E T H I N G

>calm and respectful discussion
>not circlejerking
Tell me, from which planet do you hail? 'Cuz we don't do that 'round these parts.