Steven Universe: Hit the Diamond

June 2, 2016 4:14 PM - Season 3, Episode 5

The Crystal Gems play a game of baseball with the Homeworld Rubies.
posted by Small Dollar (31 comments total)

I loved this episode so much!

Ruby and Sapphire flirting the whole time was amazing, and how dumb the other rubies are! It was great all around.
posted by selenized at 5:17 PM on June 2, 2016

We are almost certain to see those Rubies again. Did you notice? In the credits they are given names: Eyeball, Leggy, Army, Navy, and (of course) Doc.
posted by JHarris at 5:47 PM on June 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had a revelation the other night (we weren't going to watch the leaked episodes, we really weren't, but the cliffhanger before this one... Well, we are weak.) that Garnet's final line ("Not all of them," in response to Steven's disparagement of the intelligence of rubies) wasn't just a little bit of self-puffery. Sapphire can see the future.

Saffy and Ruby *deliberately* threw the game with their flirting because a) the rubies weren't after Peridot anyway and b) it gave Peridot an excellent chance to do something that would firmly establish her as being on the Crystal Gems' side in Lapis's eyes. It was a team-building exercise!

And man oh man was their flirting cute, too.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:49 PM on June 2, 2016 [22 favorites]

restless_nomad: Flagged as "!!!!!"

Sophie Amy Earl and Boooooobbbbb
and STEVEN!
posted by divabat at 7:02 PM on June 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Bob is my favorite gag of the episode. Oh, Lapis.
posted by angeline at 7:09 PM on June 2, 2016 [4 favorites]

This episode was delightful!

But I miss Connie! And Greg!

The Rubies will definitely be back. Steven will either recruit them or they will be so clueless they wander around for the rest of the series providing comic relief at inconvenient moments.

Jasper will DEFINITELY be back. And the conflict will be; if she escapes to Homeworld, she'll put Steven in danger since Yellow Diamond doesn't yet know about him. But do Steven and the Gems have the strength/will to just flat out stab/bubble her? Will Steven try to turn her and fail? (I am not hopeful for her redemption arc, if only because he hasn't yet had a failure and Jasper is the hardest of hard nuts). Lot of dramatic potential there so I hope she turns up soon.
posted by emjaybee at 7:12 PM on June 2, 2016

Seen on my Facebook feed: "I'm a little disappointed that the #StevenUniverse episode "Hit the Diamond" wasn't titled "Space Gem."
posted by ActionPopulated at 9:09 PM on June 2, 2016 [3 favorites]

to Steven's disparagement of the intelligence of rubies

You mean Amethyst.
posted by pwnguin at 11:22 PM on June 2, 2016

Okay, now I can talk about this episode....

1. One of the Rubies mentioned something about "what happened last time." That, and their complete uncaring about the Cluster, anything about Earth, or the presence of gems there causes me to wonder if there might be more to their mission than just being sent by Homeworld to find Jasper. Maybe they're renegade Rubies? Although the Yellow Diamond symbology with their clothes seems to imply that they're at least nominally still affiliated with YD, hmm.
2. The look that Eyeball gives Steven at the end is odd.
3. Rebecca Sugar has posted some concept drawings for the episode. It also mentions' the Rubies' names, and says that they're Steven's nicknames for them. One of the notes is that Leggy was "made yesterday," and it's her first mission.

posted by JHarris at 5:15 AM on June 3, 2016

I think this might be the first time we have seen a Gem ship with that mode of propulsion? We have never seen ships like Jasper's hand, or the Red Eye from the first episode actually arriving on earth. Usually we see then when one of the main characters notices them in the sky. It seems like gems mostly travel by warp-pad, but presumably they need some kind of faster-than-light ships in order to reach new territories to set up warp pads in the first place. Especially if the gem homeworld is actually in another galaxy.
posted by rustcrumb at 9:48 AM on June 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

a) the rubies weren't after Peridot anyway and b) it gave Peridot an excellent chance to do something that would firmly establish her as being on the Crystal Gems' side in Lapis's eyes

And c) meeting Garnet seemed important and inspirational to one of the rubies.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:30 AM on June 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

I just came back to this thread to recommend this hilarious Peridot-centric Tumblr, you're welcome.
posted by emjaybee at 9:05 PM on June 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

I was disappointed to learn that Sapphire has legs.
posted by painquale at 7:39 AM on June 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

This episode (technically the end of last episode) makes canon that gems can replace eyeballs, which is good news for Centipeedle restoration fans.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 12:39 PM on June 4, 2016

This was such a cute episode!
posted by numaner at 3:55 PM on June 4, 2016

Restless_nomad: a point against your theory - Lapis still distrusts the Crystal Gems, so why would Peridot showing her localities endear her to Lapis?
posted by divabat at 4:37 PM on June 4, 2016

Because she either trusts or is sucking up to Steven, and Steven's made it pretty clear that Peridot's part of the package. (I'm still not 100% sure about Lapis - something about her behavior with Peridot and Steven in Barn Mates smelled like "playing them off each other" to me.)
posted by restless_nomad at 5:02 PM on June 4, 2016

Rebecca Sugar did say that Lapis is based around emotional manipulation, so that may be what you're picking up on.
posted by divabat at 3:37 AM on June 5, 2016

The Rubies were way more adorable than I anticipated.
posted by RobotHero at 6:15 AM on June 7, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also how varied they are in personality helps put to a lie the Homeworld attitude that gem-type is the primary definition of who you are.
posted by RobotHero at 10:04 AM on June 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Rubies were adorbs, but Sapphire and Ruby flirting the whole time was what made the episode for me.

Also, am I the only one hoping Peridot and Lapis get together?
posted by dotgirl at 2:03 PM on June 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh that would be nice, but at the moment I'd settle for Lapis not entombing Peridot in an ice block.
posted by JHarris at 3:29 PM on June 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oooh guys, Cartoon Network just posted a new clip that's, well, EXTREMELY spoilery....
posted by JHarris at 10:20 AM on July 7, 2016

Oooooh, when is that coming out? Where is my "Summer of Steven"?
Am I to understand that Cartoon Network USA hasn't even shown the third of that 3-pack that came out in France yet?
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 10:24 AM on July 7, 2016

Oof, I loaded that clip up with the sound off, took one look at the screen, and immediately shut it down. I recognize that character from their silhouette from a past episode. I don't want to know any more.
posted by painquale at 10:25 AM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Summer of Steven starts July 18. They're going through all of season 3 on a daily basis: one new episode every weekday throughout summer. Very exciting! Fanfare is just going to be a wall of SU posts.
posted by painquale at 10:27 AM on July 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

Summer of Steven is ON THE WAY, it begins July 18th and apparently is going to be a month of new episodes, one per weekday!
posted by JHarris at 10:29 AM on July 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

Galaxor Nebulon, that episode will be the first new one to air on the 18th.
posted by JHarris at 10:35 AM on July 7, 2016

While I'm back in this Hit the Diamond thread, I think I'll link to this discussion I liked about why Garnet called Peridot a clod.
posted by painquale at 10:45 AM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm so excited for the Summer of Steven!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:00 PM on July 13, 2016

I made a fairly lengthy post about Summer of Steven on Fanfare Talk, although it's mostly intended to help introduce new viewers to the show.
posted by JHarris at 3:58 AM on July 14, 2016