Thanks for explaining, I see how that ties in with Homeworld now. I could definitely see them be Fanatic Purifiers, though I'm not so sure if the show will go that way. Mostly because we know HW is currently in a resource crisis and their number one priority is for the Gempire to grow and remain healthy as a collective (a goal that is met with increasing failure). Considering the job of the Diamonds is to ensure this, and constantly look at the big picture (which is why I liked Blue's "That's not something we usually do...", besides the haha evil tyrants. It's not really in their job description to take care of individual gems), you'd think they'd switch to planets high in resources regardless of the presence of life on it. But they haven't, hence why it wouldn't surprise me if they can only start successful colonies on planets that could at the least theoretically support organic life (which are a lot less common).

the what now?

I was just thinking Gems are... weird. Like, Earth isn't even the only planet with lots of resources in our solar system, so why specifically that planet? Why not Mars, or Jupiter, or Venus? Can they only actually create new gems on planets that are able to support (complex) organic life?

Npghnyyl, gur gvzryvar va gur negobbx fnlf "n arj frafvoyr crney vf phfgbz znqr naq qryvirerq gb Cvax". Gnxvat vagb nppbhag Juvgr Crney'f fvzvyne nrfgurgvp gb Cvax, vg'f abg bhg bs gur dhrfgvba sbe ure gb bapr unir orra Cvax Crney, bayl gb or ercynprq naq znqr na rknzcyr bs sbe jungrire ernfb.

Pure theory, but it might be that Gems didn't always colonise inhabited planets? I mean, there absolutely seem to be prerequisites for Gem habitable planets, that being 'must be able to support organic life', but a planet that is in a stage similar to our Archean Eon or Proterozoic Eon might be equally habitable for Gems. But we might all consider it morally less wrong if Gems took such a planet...

I was eagerly awaiting Mark's review of this episode, just because it's such an utterly enjoyable episode. It's got the Crystal Gems! Corruption! Centipeetle! Bismuth! The Diamonds! Homeworld! A New character! New gems! It's all very exciting!

And honestly, their opposite personalities make it really enjoyable to watch Blue and Yellow interact. Yellow's pragmatic attitude and Blue's diplomatic attitude bounce of each other really well, which is just fun to watch. And it ties in so well with the powers they exhibit. Yellow can influence a Gem's body, Blue their mind, and from a storytelling perspective it's a good way to tell something about a character. And despite being opposites, they balance each other. And that works. Which brings me to my next point.

Had the four Diamonds had actual equal relationships between them, they might not have made a half-bad governing body. For now, I'm not gonna go into their colonisation of other planets and the extreme ecological damage they do to other planets, and possible even entire solar systems, which is just not sustainable. But that's an entirely different can of yikes. I want to focus first and foremost on HW society.

I already mentioned Blue and Yellow's attitude, which are opposites, but complement each other. We also see this in the symbols surrounding them. Blue has moon motif, Yellow has a sun motif (we continuously see this reflected in the patterns and language surrounding them). But with these motifs, they're symbolically also equals.

So what does this mean for Pink and White? Their colours are opposite in the diamond emblem, their gem placement is oppositional, even in size they are opposites. But unlike Blue and Yellow, they're not made out to be equals.

Thematically speaking, White and Pink are also opposites. But rather than a mind/body, exterior motif, theirs in interior and a logos-mythos dichotomy, where logos is the rational, the systematic, controllable, while mythos is the fantastical, the imaginative, the uncontrollable. Logos is the world of science, mythos is the world of art/humanities. You can probably see where I'm going with this.

Homeworld ideology completely rejects mythos. It's no wonder Pink ended up rebelling, HW ideology went against her frame of reference, her way of experiencing the world.

And if we wanna compare symbolism between all Diamonds, we once again see the power imbalance. White's motif is the stars/the galaxy, Blue and Yellow have the moon/sun, while Pink ends up having the (relatively) smallest concept of organic, planet bound life, symbolised by her flower motif.

So it's probably a good thing Steven has non of the preconceived notions Pink has. He didn't grow up in the shadow of the other three Diamonds, so it's easier for him to approach them as an equal. What they do with that is a different story.

Nah, there was definitely build-up. Ofcourse, the Diamonds didn't have to appear right at this moment, other than for plot convenience. But HWs interest in Earth has steadily been increasing over the series. The Red Eye in the second episode was an observation device meant to scout the Earth, before Peridot would send over those flask robonoids. and ever since, the Diamonds' personal involvement has slowly increased, up to the point where they now finally go and check up on the Cluster themselves.

Also, I have my own thoughts on Bismuth and the Breaking Point, but I think I'm gonna reserve those for after Mark has seen and reviewed the next episode. (I do think the proto-type BP is hella impractical though, and presumably there also already exist other ways of shattering gems)

The name might have come from somewhere else in that case. Or maybe it was officially renamed in the 1970s in the SU universe. I mean, neither World Word happened in the SU universe either, iirc.

5, actually

Forgot to add, Ian and Rebecca recently talked about how Ian's personal history has influenced SU (did you know Nanefua was based on his grandmother, who designed the flag of Ghana?). I dunno if this falls under your spoiler policy though? (it wasn't super detailed, more interesting)

Hmmm, considering we've two Diamonds and their broken ships in Beach City now, I assume we're going to explore their connection with Pink/Steven further, so then from a writer's POV it would be a reminder/set-up for their relation. A "hey, we've seen quite some facets of Blue and Yellow's personality already, but now Steven's gotta deal directly with them as well and he carries Pink's gem, so they'll want something from him".