The New Crystal Gems (Steven Universe) – Overly Animated Podcast #323
By: Dylan Hysen
Dylan Hysen, Delaney Stovall, and Sam Quattro discuss the February 10th episode of Steven Universe, “The New Crystal Gems”.
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Dylan Hysen
Dylan is a software developer from the DC area who hosts the Overly Animated podcast discussing everything animation.
Teens are defacing Mayor Dewey’s van, is Beach City descending into anarchy?
Also on Pumpkins: Many are good, but there is only one Great Pumpkin #HeWillRise
I loved this episode, I have waited for Connie to interact with Lapis and Peridot, heck I waited for all of them to interact with the people of Beach City, people forget Connie has barely interacted with the people of Beach City, she is as isolated from the citizens of Beach City as any of the gems.
I thought they role playing was great, Lapis trying to be funny is funny and adorable, Peridot just trying to act like Garnet is awesome, and Connie calling them out on being children, thank you Connie, I was thinking that the whole episode. And Pumpkin is just adorable.
Lars and Sadie a couple, confirmed. And who knows we might get another flashback episode in a couple of weeks from Ronaldo’s prospective.
I love the name Crystal Temps, I hope that is not the last time we see them, perhaps Lapis and Peridot can crash at Connie’s place to get familiar with their team mate, I love to see Lapis and Peridot meet and interact with Connie’s parents.
I wish they all didn’t dump on Pearl, being Pearl is not that bad. If they saw what Pearl did to Holly Blue, they would see Pearl in a whole different light.
I got nothing against Pumpkins, Pumpkin pie is okay.
A couple of hours removed, and I’m still conflicted by how I feel about this episode.
On the one hand, we’ve been begging for a Connie/Lapis/Peridot B-team and we finally got it. We got Lapidot sneaking into Steven’s house. We got Connie wearing Steven’s clothes. WE ACTUALLY GOT THE RECREATION OF THE EXTENDED THEME. WE GOT LAPIS FAKING A BRITISH ACCENT!!!
On the other hand, I can’t tell if the initial characterization of Lapidot as childish comes out of nowhere or not. I feel like Peridot, as a former technician and a person who’s spent a lot of time with Lapis, should recognize that she doesn’t have to.assume leadership no matter what anymore. I feel like Lapis, who’s had almost no direct interaction with the Crystal Gems (particularly Pearl), shouldn’t be this comfortable making fun of them.
Connie’s speech at the one does work because of their behavior in this episode, but as Dylan noted, it felt a little forced because I didn’t think their personalities would be so exaggerated, and somehow deteriorated from the seeming improvements they had gotten by Beta (Lapis)/Kindergarten Kid (Peridot).
At the end of the day, I’m fine with this episode as a set up for the B team, and I’ll probably enjoy the bevy of jokes they packed into this episode once there are others that recover the characters of Lapis and Peridot.
(Note, I’ve actually softened since the airing, and I’m willing to be convinced further that this is a good Lapidot episode)
Good episode it definetly was better than other filler episodes of SU. I prefer filler when it revolves around the main cast or at least the auxiliary gems. They always make Lapis look so gorgeous when animating her, like the pose at the end and when she was manipulating the water. Peridot seems to have her metal powers down packed and It’s great how much Peridot has changed where it seems like she sort of admire the crystal gems and lapis wasn’t even disgusted when acting like them. She played along and took the job seriously. I was hoping when lapis and peridot were arguing they was going to bump into each other and fuse! But oh well. i was also hoping there was going to be a new theme. But fingers are still crossed, maybe next episode? But overall good episode and I actually laughed out loud!
And poor Pearl, no one wants to be her.
I’m starting to think the show would be better off if they just numbered the episodes instead of naming them. I keep seeing people disappointed with the episode because of how much they built it up in the heads. (Peridot will get a Star, Peri/Lapis fusion, they’ll all be part of the main team now). It OK if the episode wasn’t too your taste but expecting it to do all these things when neither the crewniverse nor CAN didn’t to anything to build it up in that manner send unfair.
Undoubtedly, hoping for a Lapidot fusion so early was folly, and I don’t think everyone actually thought they’d join the real Crystal Gems, as it’d just be too many characters to juggle (and not every episode can be as balanced as “Hit the Diamond”). I like this setup where we can check in on them once or twice a season doing a sillier mission while the real CGs handle the more serious stuff.