Steven Universe: Super Watermelon Island
May 12, 2016 4:45 PM - Season 3, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Steven finds out what the Watermelon Stevens got up to.
Melon possession powers? Sure why not.
So...Watermelon Death Cult? Yikes. Dark stuff. Did Malachite regularly...eat them??? AGH.
Excellent fight, even though I'd seen much of it in spoilers. Gem Unity YEAH.
"Oh no Jasper is sloooowly sliding away....can't reach her...oh well she fell into a giant creavasse!" Kept them from having to try to smash/bubble an unconscious enemy, and also nicely puts her off-stage until she's needed.
WATERMELON CHICKENS haha WTF. Do they lay watermelon eggs?
posted by emjaybee at 6:23 PM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
So...Watermelon Death Cult? Yikes. Dark stuff. Did Malachite regularly...eat them??? AGH.
Excellent fight, even though I'd seen much of it in spoilers. Gem Unity YEAH.
"Oh no Jasper is sloooowly sliding away....can't reach her...oh well she fell into a giant creavasse!" Kept them from having to try to smash/bubble an unconscious enemy, and also nicely puts her off-stage until she's needed.
WATERMELON CHICKENS haha WTF. Do they lay watermelon eggs?
posted by emjaybee at 6:23 PM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I like how the chickens had no legs, they just wobbled in place.
posted by JHarris at 8:13 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 8:13 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
The watermelon society was quite cute, especially when you remember they're all in some way still part Steven. Its like Rose's various gardens we've seen, but very much more human.
Bummed that Jasper just sorta fell in a crack and disappeared. Obviously she'll be back again. Here's hoping she's nursed to health by the Watermelon Stevens off-screen and when we see her again she's committed to her new agrarian tribal life.
Getting to see Alexandrite in full battle mode was great. I loved her use of all the various weapons of her constituent gems. I'll bet the full Temple Fusion was even more spectacular, and I bet she was much more united thanks to the shared devotion to Rose.
Am I misremembering an early discussion about fusion that eventually the fused personality can subsume the two constituent ones? That's basically what happens with Sugilite, so i was hoping it would be more overtly what happens to Malachite. Eventually Lapis AND Jasper recede to the point that malachite herself is who is in control, and Malachite would have no interest in remaining dormant underwater. Instead it's basically just Jasper nudging Lapis out of the pilot's seat. Oh well, I'm still glad this plot line is over and we can spend time exploring Lapis (and Jasper) the way we've been exploring Peridot.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:48 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Bummed that Jasper just sorta fell in a crack and disappeared. Obviously she'll be back again. Here's hoping she's nursed to health by the Watermelon Stevens off-screen and when we see her again she's committed to her new agrarian tribal life.
Getting to see Alexandrite in full battle mode was great. I loved her use of all the various weapons of her constituent gems. I'll bet the full Temple Fusion was even more spectacular, and I bet she was much more united thanks to the shared devotion to Rose.
Am I misremembering an early discussion about fusion that eventually the fused personality can subsume the two constituent ones? That's basically what happens with Sugilite, so i was hoping it would be more overtly what happens to Malachite. Eventually Lapis AND Jasper recede to the point that malachite herself is who is in control, and Malachite would have no interest in remaining dormant underwater. Instead it's basically just Jasper nudging Lapis out of the pilot's seat. Oh well, I'm still glad this plot line is over and we can spend time exploring Lapis (and Jasper) the way we've been exploring Peridot.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:48 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Watermelon warging and nose goes! A really great return.
posted by books for weapons at 10:18 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by books for weapons at 10:18 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have so many questions about the melon people culture.
1. How did they make a dog, horse and chickens, seriously?
2. Are they growing anything besides other melons? If they are constantly growing new melons they'd be rapidly overpopulated. Do they...eat? Do they eat...each other??
3. They can love and pairbond. They can fear their own destruction. Do they mourn their dead?
4. They appear to have a shaman-like wise-woman (maybe) leader. What is the significance of her/his staff/rattling gourds?
5. What will happen after the destruction of much of the island/many melon people/no more Malachite to appease (assuming that was a longterm practice that shaped their culture)?
6. Do they get old and rot/die?
I would assume that none of these questions will ever get answered because you don't need to in order to further Steven's plot.
posted by emjaybee at 11:23 AM on May 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
1. How did they make a dog, horse and chickens, seriously?
2. Are they growing anything besides other melons? If they are constantly growing new melons they'd be rapidly overpopulated. Do they...eat? Do they eat...each other??
3. They can love and pairbond. They can fear their own destruction. Do they mourn their dead?
4. They appear to have a shaman-like wise-woman (maybe) leader. What is the significance of her/his staff/rattling gourds?
5. What will happen after the destruction of much of the island/many melon people/no more Malachite to appease (assuming that was a longterm practice that shaped their culture)?
6. Do they get old and rot/die?
I would assume that none of these questions will ever get answered because you don't need to in order to further Steven's plot.
posted by emjaybee at 11:23 AM on May 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
The god the melon culture reveres is Baby Mellie from the first Watermelon Steven episode. The statue's arms-wide pose is the pose Baby Mellie took up as he was assaulted by all the other watermelons.
posted by painquale at 1:45 PM on May 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by painquale at 1:45 PM on May 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
I don't know about anyone else but oooooh I was so upset watching the watermelons hit the ground and shatter! I squeaked!
APART FROM THAT
I enjoyed the fight between Malachite and Alexandrite. I found it interesting that Malachite didn't seem to ever truly merge Lapis and Jasper's weapons as we've seen other fusions do. Malachite summoned Jasper's helmet and used Lapis' hydrokinisis. I wonder if it is because you can't really merge psychic and physical weapons, and so it was another excellent illustration of how ill-suited their merger was?
And Alexandrite using ALL of the weapons formed by all of her possible permutations! I loved that a lot. I can't remember if she does have one master weapon?
posted by angeline at 5:43 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
APART FROM THAT
I enjoyed the fight between Malachite and Alexandrite. I found it interesting that Malachite didn't seem to ever truly merge Lapis and Jasper's weapons as we've seen other fusions do. Malachite summoned Jasper's helmet and used Lapis' hydrokinisis. I wonder if it is because you can't really merge psychic and physical weapons, and so it was another excellent illustration of how ill-suited their merger was?
And Alexandrite using ALL of the weapons formed by all of her possible permutations! I loved that a lot. I can't remember if she does have one master weapon?
posted by angeline at 5:43 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
If she has a master weapon, we've never seen it.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:21 AM on May 14, 2016
posted by restless_nomad at 9:21 AM on May 14, 2016
Wonder how long it takes until someone mixes Alexandrite fights with Eva's battle theme.
posted by pwnguin at 10:00 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by pwnguin at 10:00 AM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'll bet the full Temple Fusion was even more spectacular, and I bet she was much more united thanks to the shared devotion to Rose.
And somehow, until reading that, I never realized that one of the climaxes of the series has to be when Steven finally fuses with Alexandrite.
posted by bswinburn at 7:24 PM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
And somehow, until reading that, I never realized that one of the climaxes of the series has to be when Steven finally fuses with Alexandrite.
posted by bswinburn at 7:24 PM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
In The Return, Steven is able to persuade the population of beach city to evacuate the town, after Mayor Dewey fails to rally them to action. In this episode, Steven convinces the watermelon townspeople to take up arms against Malachite, to fight and die against a foe that they previously had to appease with human sacrifice.
posted by rustcrumb at 10:28 PM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rustcrumb at 10:28 PM on May 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
That's really Steven in a nutshell. He's a leader more than a fighter. He's Picard, not Kirk.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:47 AM on May 15, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:47 AM on May 15, 2016 [6 favorites]
Actually (yeah sorry) Steven told Mayor Dewey about the problem and he managed to get the townsfolk to evacuate. The one where he calmed everyone down where Dewey couldn't was Political Power.
posted by JHarris at 9:12 AM on May 15, 2016
posted by JHarris at 9:12 AM on May 15, 2016
IIRC in The Return, Mayor Dewey goes around with his truck blaring "eee vaac uuu ate", then we cut to a scene where the Crystal Gems explain that they depend on Steven for his effect on the team, uniting and binding them together, but that now they need him to be that voice for Beach City. Garnet hands steven a megaphone. We cut over to the boardwalk, where we see that the Mayor has only succeeded in creating a panic. Peedee is clinging to the counter of the fry shop, refusing to leave. Ronaldo is taking a picture of the ship instead of helping his dad deal with Peedee. Sadie and other townspeople are staring at the ship, transfixed with fear instead of fleeing the town.
I feel like the implication here is that no one was actually evacuating until Steven showed up with some real leadership, though admittedly, that is reading between the lines, since we don't actually see that happen on screen, we just cut from "scene of panic on the boardwalk" - "Garnet gives Steven the megaphone, charges him with protecting the people of Beach City" - "scene of Beach City in orderly evacuation convoy".
If Mayor Dewey can't convince people to run away from an alien spaceship, he's obviously not much of a leader, so outperforming him is not that impressive (though, still pretty great for a kid). But inspiring people to go fight a fifty-foot tall magic-wielding giant, using stone-age weapons, that's ... pretty good?
posted by rustcrumb at 9:32 AM on May 15, 2016
I feel like the implication here is that no one was actually evacuating until Steven showed up with some real leadership, though admittedly, that is reading between the lines, since we don't actually see that happen on screen, we just cut from "scene of panic on the boardwalk" - "Garnet gives Steven the megaphone, charges him with protecting the people of Beach City" - "scene of Beach City in orderly evacuation convoy".
If Mayor Dewey can't convince people to run away from an alien spaceship, he's obviously not much of a leader, so outperforming him is not that impressive (though, still pretty great for a kid). But inspiring people to go fight a fifty-foot tall magic-wielding giant, using stone-age weapons, that's ... pretty good?
posted by rustcrumb at 9:32 AM on May 15, 2016
Ah, I forgot about that megaphone. That is a good point.
I do think, sometimes, that the population of Beach City knows more about Steven Universe than we suspect. There are countless clues throughout that the people seem him as something more than just a happy, friendly, if sometimes strange, little boy. In Cat Fingers, Sadie and Lars aren't freaked out about Steven's new purring appendage, at least at first. Mr. Fryman and Peedee are a bit more unnerved, but they get over it pretty quickly. And in that same scene in The Return, Garnet mentions that Steven's mother also served as a voice of leadership to the humans of Beach City, which is a different facet to her (har har) than we've seen so far. Rose Quartz: Invader, Scientist, Healer, Civic Organizer! We know that Rose and the Gems are partly responsible for their being a human settlement so close to the temple.
Of course, the boardies know of the Gems, but how they feel about them varies from person to person (as seen in Rising Tides/Crashing Skies). It helps a bit that the weirdness of the events that follow the gems is partly blamed on the town itself. It's not that the gems wreck the town, but monsters and Red Eyes that do it. The townsfolk don't seem to realize yet that the monsters are drawn to the temple.
As the town's gem population slowly increases, I predict that the town's opinion of their extraterrestrial demographic will become a major plot point in the future, especially with an episode near the end of the season coming titled hover over for spoiler.
posted by JHarris at 10:39 AM on May 15, 2016
I do think, sometimes, that the population of Beach City knows more about Steven Universe than we suspect. There are countless clues throughout that the people seem him as something more than just a happy, friendly, if sometimes strange, little boy. In Cat Fingers, Sadie and Lars aren't freaked out about Steven's new purring appendage, at least at first. Mr. Fryman and Peedee are a bit more unnerved, but they get over it pretty quickly. And in that same scene in The Return, Garnet mentions that Steven's mother also served as a voice of leadership to the humans of Beach City, which is a different facet to her (har har) than we've seen so far. Rose Quartz: Invader, Scientist, Healer, Civic Organizer! We know that Rose and the Gems are partly responsible for their being a human settlement so close to the temple.
Of course, the boardies know of the Gems, but how they feel about them varies from person to person (as seen in Rising Tides/Crashing Skies). It helps a bit that the weirdness of the events that follow the gems is partly blamed on the town itself. It's not that the gems wreck the town, but monsters and Red Eyes that do it. The townsfolk don't seem to realize yet that the monsters are drawn to the temple.
As the town's gem population slowly increases, I predict that the town's opinion of their extraterrestrial demographic will become a major plot point in the future, especially with an episode near the end of the season coming titled hover over for spoiler.
posted by JHarris at 10:39 AM on May 15, 2016
Perhaps we'll find out what happened to Ocean Town, JHarris!
posted by emjaybee at 6:31 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 6:31 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Too soon!
posted by JHarris at 9:54 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 9:54 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Did anybody else notice that when Alexandrite shot her final mutli-gem arrow that the Amethyst and Garnet bits of the arrow were pink but the Pearl part was white? I don't think that was an accident!
Maybe that lends some credence to the theories of Pearl having something to do with White Diamond in her past?
posted by delicious-luncheon at 3:13 PM on May 18, 2016
Maybe that lends some credence to the theories of Pearl having something to do with White Diamond in her past?
posted by delicious-luncheon at 3:13 PM on May 18, 2016
But on the other hand, Pearl's spacesuit (seen in Space Race and Back to the Barn) has a pink diamond on it....
posted by JHarris at 3:46 PM on May 18, 2016
posted by JHarris at 3:46 PM on May 18, 2016
Maybe Pearl "switched sides" when she last used a space suit? It seemed to kind of stick out like a sore thumb that her arrow element was not pink. Seems like something is going on there...or it's all pareidolia and it's an animation coloring mess-up or some kind of highlighting?
posted by delicious-luncheon at 8:56 AM on May 19, 2016
posted by delicious-luncheon at 8:56 AM on May 19, 2016
I just love how no one so far mentioned the watermelon mom hugging her husband and going into battle. Because something like that isn't even noteworthy within the context of Steven Universe's gender politics. :)
posted by bigendian at 11:20 AM on May 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by bigendian at 11:20 AM on May 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
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posted by JHarris at 5:01 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]