The Kevin Thing is all about being a young teen, and just having fun trying out your older self, making little play flights into adult spaces like the movies, or the mall, or a party, and then someone older comes along and takes it too far. I think lots of teens and tweens, but especially girls, have this experience where someone older gets overly familiar and personal, over-sexualizes you even though you're really young, gets in your space, and ignores your boundaries when you try to set them. Even if, as in this case (it is a kids show) it doesn't go any farther than that, it's still a really scary and uncomfortable experience for a kid, and it's one that basically all girls experience, usually really young. I think I was maybe 12 the first time some guy hit on me like an adult. What I LOVE about this episode is that through fusion we bring Steven, and therefore young male viewers, into Stevonnie's experience. It's uncomfortable and weird, and it makes you the viewer step into that discomfort and feel it in the first person. And boldly Rebecca Sugar just leaves it completely unresolved. They unfuse, they're laughing but also kind of crying, they do a sort of a manic dance of joy and relief, and we're out. The beauty of SU is yet to come. This moment, and Steven and Connie's feelings about it, are not forgotten and will surface again... (Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Join us for the next in my multipart series about the genius of modeling toxic relationships and coping strategies VS healthy ones through the medium of animation 😅)
"The beauty of SU is yet to come" Is it, though? The show easily peaked in the first two Seasons, and just went downhill from there onwards. There's still great episodes after Season 2, but as a whole, the show completely fell off in terms of writing and consistency. Other than that, I completely agree with everything else you said. The only problematic thing about the episode is the optics of everyone sexualizing/romanticizing Stevonnie when she's not only, essentially, comprised of two kids (though this is obviously unbeknownst to them), but also brown-white biracial. There's a lot of fetishization of black/brown-white biracial people both in media and irl.
@@20000dino As a black/white biracial... I genuinely think you are saying things just for the sake of saying it. I legitimately do not see an ounce of mixed-race based fetishization here. Stevonnie is continuously sexualized by those around her because she looks like an attractive teen/young adult... Of which are constantly faced with unwanted advances in their own right. Not because the characters are lusting after mixed-race individuals specifically. Adult men and women obsessing over breeding with a different race so they can produce "precious mixed race babies" is the epitome of our fetishization, (the amount of old white ladies that would quiet literally manhandle me and obsess over my skin / hair / race as a child is insane), not a cartoon character being portrayed as attractive. Whatever the case may be.... Stevonnies sexualization is a bad thing. And the episode acknowledges it to be a bad thing. Even if Stevonnie being mixed race had anything to do with her character, it still wouldn't be an issue considering the whole point of the episode is "these people are freaks"
I love near the end of Ep 40 when Amethyst hugs Pearl, a few bars of Opal's theme plays. It's small details like that that make this series very rewatchable.
the issue is, the gems are placed in a parental position that they never asked to be in. they come from an alien society in which there are no children, everyone comes out fully formed. they have no way to know how to properly be parents, and the person who decided to create steven is gone. i think the test is a very underrated episode and it's a very important insight into the gems and steven.
The interesting thing about The Test is that while the gems were trying to give Steven the win he needed to boost his battle confidence after feeling discouraged, he ended up giving them the win they needed to boost their parenting confidence after their recent "failure." It was definitely not his job to do that, being a child, but it does show his empathetic and caring nature. And actually I think that with the way he chose to handle the situation, he ended up giving himself an even bigger win than going through some silly dungeon. Also though I ADORE the metaphor the creators went with of Steven breaking the game and seeing the nuts and bolts while he is doing the same with the "game" of parenting with the gems.
Wow that's a great way to look at it. When you move past the parent child structure you see that Steven was just trying to be caring to people he loves! I guess instead of a physical test he got an emotional one!
@@SputnikSpyglass omg yes it was an emotional test! I love how this show’s episode titles have so many layers to them! We have the surface level test of Steven’s abilities, then the fact that that test was a test of the gem’s parenting abilities, and then the final(?) test of Steven’s emotional intelligence and maturity. Askshkf this show is so good 🤩
i love "the test" ep, and it bc so many people drag the gems for not being good enough like parents for Steven... but they are literaly ALIENS from a planet that does not have children on it, they dont have any reference about how to raise a kid... but, they try their best for Steven, yep... they do a lot of mistakes... but even humans parents do the same... And also... obviusly they dont gonna make a test that could KILL him hahahs you just not throw your kid in a zone that have axes, spikes, fire... etc.
True, I guess my issue was with him not being able to fail any part of the test but I get that the Gems are coming from a place of wanting to keep Steven safe.
The moment I saw the episode numbers that would be covered in this video, I knew it would be a doozy. Also, I love that virus analogy to the Kindergarten. Great analysis!
Alone Together was the first episode that made me take SU seriously; previously I'd only seen the first few episodes and Bubble Buddies, so I thought that SU was just about a goofy kid in over his head in a world of magic. The Test: Steven could have called out GAP's shenanigans to their faces, but at that point he saw that the test as at least as important for their confidence as his, and if he had done this he would have seriously damaged the Crystal Gem team vibe. He's now thinking about putting the Crystal Gems above his own needs. SU is partly a morality play, but unlike a lot of such shows the creators don't claim a single right answer to moral questions that they beat over the collective heads of the audience.
So true! I really appreciate that the characters are written to be doing what they think is best from each of their own perspectives! I'm definitely going to try to put myself in the gems shoes a bit more in the future.
It’s fun finding old videos where people say “we’re almost at 1K subscribers” and then I look at the current subscriber count and they’re almost at 10K
4:18, 4:35, 4:43 Steven and Connie have fused for the first time. The gems are shocked by their fusion and Garnet is very happy. They combine their names together into Stevonnie 😯😯😯😍😍😍🤣🤣🤣
your reaction to the garnet steven rooftop moment meant so much for me because it made me realize that theres other people who were as impacted by that episode and deal with crippling anxiety. your advice and anecdotes help me a lot too because i’m still struggling to navigate those feelings especially where i’m at right now socially and career wise. thanks for sharing such amazing reaction/commentary. also love the atla refs 🫶🫶
Thanks for your comment! It's awesome to hear that episode resonated so deeply with someone else! Please keep kicking anxiety's ass and remember you deserve to be anywhere you go in life! 💙
Heads up, near the end of the season the episodes are out of order so you’ll need to search up the correct watch order. But not until later, anyways keep up the reactions ❤
Just so u know Stevonnie is canoncially Non-Binary(they/them) and intersex which is a neat representation and im glad they got away throughout the entire main show using they/them pronouns for singular characters because the censorship would just read it as all characters fused to be referred as they/them (plural)
The music when Steven starts thinking about all the random (being eaten by the shark) ways to die, is in the vein of the "(so many) dumb ways to die" video. The music style is quite similar...
The way you keep predicting things, you may have a touch of future vision. 😉 (Also in that episode I noticed a little foreshadowing I'd somehow missed before.) An acquaintance of mine died by falling in their bathroom, which highlighted the death that lurks *everywhere* a bit like future vision did for Steven. The horror is real, but we have to deal. Alone Together blew my mind like Giant Woman did (I didn't guess what was going to happen). These are all good episodes (of course) but On The Run is one of my favorites - it's that Steven Universe combo of hilarity, heavy emotion, how to relate, and Homeworld lore.
Definitely! At the beginning I didn't expect a show with such fun and colorful animation to deal with storylines about death so often but I really appreciate how tactfully they handle the subject. Stevonnie is definitely one of my favorite fusions so far! And I agree On the Run is great for its balance of all the best elements of Steven Universe.
Definitely. I usually put myself in the protagonists shoes when I watch a show but Steven forces me to empathize with a lot of the supporting characters!
The last episode is especially relevant now. A lot of people struggle with the idea that they come from a bad history, and some just react to ignore it. I don’t think the virus comparison is a good one though because it doubles down on what’s causing Ame is feel that way. It’s a hard subject to discuss.
Lion 3 straight to video had me SOBBING the first time i watched. The test made me tear up just now haha. Loved your talk after future vision, i'm sorta struggling with that right now and trying to make a change, so it really resonated with me
With No Home Boys Epsiode, it reminded me: I mentioned it before but yeah, the fandom wanted to engage in helpful ideas, but ended up talking over the communities they claimed they were helping. They then refused to listen when members of the fandoms who were in those communities spoke up and hurting a lot of people. The show hinted at heavy topics, but the audience was a bit young and not equipped to engage with them. Even the show didn't engage well at time.
19:50 ngl the music kinda gives me homestuck vibes and I love it (when it's the video game music plus lyrics it goes to I Fight Dragons vibes, but just instrumental is Homestuck vibes)
As a woman presenting person, stevonnie's experience was too real 😭 Youre just trying to hang out with your homies or on your own, live your life, then someone (usually much older) comes and ruins it by harassing you. It's amazing SU was able to portray such a universal experience that even kids sadly deal with.
Hi!! I know it's been a while since you posted this video. I just wanted to note here that I completely understand where this feeling of "feeling betrayed" by the Gems in the episode The Test comes from. And that's also why i think the way Steven acted at the end of the episode was so mature, he was able to understand what the Gems were going through and, although he also certainly felt hurt by the test, he decided to help them feel more secure in their roles as caregivers. In the end, they wanted to give him more security, but he was the one who ended up giving them this support.
The Test still gives me such mixed feelings and I think that makes it a really incredible and effective episode. It breaks my heart to see Steven put his own feelings aside to take care of them but I get why he does! I also felt kinda betrayed by the gems the first time I saw this episode, and even though I get where they’re coming from completely I agree with you that this is not one of their best moments
The Kevin Thing is all about being a young teen, and just having fun trying out your older self, making little play flights into adult spaces like the movies, or the mall, or a party, and then someone older comes along and takes it too far. I think lots of teens and tweens, but especially girls, have this experience where someone older gets overly familiar and personal, over-sexualizes you even though you're really young, gets in your space, and ignores your boundaries when you try to set them. Even if, as in this case (it is a kids show) it doesn't go any farther than that, it's still a really scary and uncomfortable experience for a kid, and it's one that basically all girls experience, usually really young. I think I was maybe 12 the first time some guy hit on me like an adult.
What I LOVE about this episode is that through fusion we bring Steven, and therefore young male viewers, into Stevonnie's experience. It's uncomfortable and weird, and it makes you the viewer step into that discomfort and feel it in the first person. And boldly Rebecca Sugar just leaves it completely unresolved. They unfuse, they're laughing but also kind of crying, they do a sort of a manic dance of joy and relief, and we're out. The beauty of SU is yet to come. This moment, and Steven and Connie's feelings about it, are not forgotten and will surface again...
(Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Join us for the next in my multipart series about the genius of modeling toxic relationships and coping strategies VS healthy ones through the medium of animation 😅)
Thiiiiiiiissssss
"The beauty of SU is yet to come"
Is it, though? The show easily peaked in the first two Seasons, and just went downhill from there onwards. There's still great episodes after Season 2, but as a whole, the show completely fell off in terms of writing and consistency.
Other than that, I completely agree with everything else you said. The only problematic thing about the episode is the optics of everyone sexualizing/romanticizing Stevonnie when she's not only, essentially, comprised of two kids (though this is obviously unbeknownst to them), but also brown-white biracial. There's a lot of fetishization of black/brown-white biracial people both in media and irl.
@@20000dino As a black/white biracial... I genuinely think you are saying things just for the sake of saying it. I legitimately do not see an ounce of mixed-race based fetishization here.
Stevonnie is continuously sexualized by those around her because she looks like an attractive teen/young adult... Of which are constantly faced with unwanted advances in their own right. Not because the characters are lusting after mixed-race individuals specifically.
Adult men and women obsessing over breeding with a different race so they can produce "precious mixed race babies" is the epitome of our fetishization, (the amount of old white ladies that would quiet literally manhandle me and obsess over my skin / hair / race as a child is insane), not a cartoon character being portrayed as attractive.
Whatever the case may be.... Stevonnies sexualization is a bad thing. And the episode acknowledges it to be a bad thing. Even if Stevonnie being mixed race had anything to do with her character, it still wouldn't be an issue considering the whole point of the episode is "these people are freaks"
@@20000dinoAre you okay?
I love near the end of Ep 40 when Amethyst hugs Pearl, a few bars of Opal's theme plays. It's small details like that that make this series very rewatchable.
OMG I NEVER NOTICED THAT!!! I just thought it was the opening 😭 “we are the crystal gems”
the issue is, the gems are placed in a parental position that they never asked to be in. they come from an alien society in which there are no children, everyone comes out fully formed. they have no way to know how to properly be parents, and the person who decided to create steven is gone. i think the test is a very underrated episode and it's a very important insight into the gems and steven.
Wow I didn't realize Steven was special because he is technically the only child Gem. That really makes their choices make more sense.
one of the best season 1 episodes imo
but On the run is better overall
the test also sets up steven's mental and emotional journey throughout the show and movie and why steven universe future is so tragic.
@@Nick154_miniwhy the need for comparison? they’re different eps with very different goals, kinda silly to compare apples and bicycles
@@SputnikSpyglass I ❤ U. And jokes on you, I am also black
I love Garnet's reactions in Alone Together.
Same! She's so encouraging 😅
"Fusion is hard"
"Not for me" LMAO
@@SputnikSpyglassI mean.... makes sense why it's easy for her. ;)
Yeah, she was so proud seen a fusion of love
The interesting thing about The Test is that while the gems were trying to give Steven the win he needed to boost his battle confidence after feeling discouraged, he ended up giving them the win they needed to boost their parenting confidence after their recent "failure." It was definitely not his job to do that, being a child, but it does show his empathetic and caring nature. And actually I think that with the way he chose to handle the situation, he ended up giving himself an even bigger win than going through some silly dungeon.
Also though I ADORE the metaphor the creators went with of Steven breaking the game and seeing the nuts and bolts while he is doing the same with the "game" of parenting with the gems.
Wow that's a great way to look at it. When you move past the parent child structure you see that Steven was just trying to be caring to people he loves! I guess instead of a physical test he got an emotional one!
@@SputnikSpyglass omg yes it was an emotional test! I love how this show’s episode titles have so many layers to them!
We have the surface level test of Steven’s abilities, then the fact that that test was a test of the gem’s parenting abilities, and then the final(?) test of Steven’s emotional intelligence and maturity. Askshkf this show is so good 🤩
people generally use "stevonnie" to refer to the fusion and "connverse" to refer to the ship :-)
i love "the test" ep, and it bc so many people drag the gems for not being good enough like parents for Steven... but they are literaly ALIENS from a planet that does not have children on it, they dont have any reference about how to raise a kid... but, they try their best for Steven, yep... they do a lot of mistakes... but even humans parents do the same...
And also... obviusly they dont gonna make a test that could KILL him hahahs you just not throw your kid in a zone that have axes, spikes, fire... etc.
True I may be giving Steven a bit too much credit and not enough to the Gems for trying to appease him and keep him safe.
7:26 I misheard you talking about the gameboys, and heard you say 'Is that a gay boy? Is that a bunch of gay boys? I love that!"
🤣 lmao
If they didn't make the challenge rigged he would've died; the spikes hit him and he forgot to bubble.
True, I guess my issue was with him not being able to fail any part of the test but I get that the Gems are coming from a place of wanting to keep Steven safe.
The moment I saw the episode numbers that would be covered in this video, I knew it would be a doozy.
Also, I love that virus analogy to the Kindergarten. Great analysis!
Yeah the drills are very much like bacteriophages. It’s great imagery.
Alone Together was the first episode that made me take SU seriously; previously I'd only seen the first few episodes and Bubble Buddies, so I thought that SU was just about a goofy kid in over his head in a world of magic.
The Test: Steven could have called out GAP's shenanigans to their faces, but at that point he saw that the test as at least as important for their confidence as his, and if he had done this he would have seriously damaged the Crystal Gem team vibe. He's now thinking about putting the Crystal Gems above his own needs. SU is partly a morality play, but unlike a lot of such shows the creators don't claim a single right answer to moral questions that they beat over the collective heads of the audience.
So true! I really appreciate that the characters are written to be doing what they think is best from each of their own perspectives! I'm definitely going to try to put myself in the gems shoes a bit more in the future.
Also INFINITY TRAIN. I miss it so much too. Brilliant show.
It’s fun finding old videos where people say “we’re almost at 1K subscribers” and then I look at the current subscriber count and they’re almost at 10K
4:18, 4:35, 4:43
Steven and Connie have fused for the first time. The gems are shocked by their fusion and Garnet is very happy. They combine their names together into Stevonnie
😯😯😯😍😍😍🤣🤣🤣
your reaction to the garnet steven rooftop moment meant so much for me because it made me realize that theres other people who were as impacted by that episode and deal with crippling anxiety. your advice and anecdotes help me a lot too because i’m still struggling to navigate those feelings especially where i’m at right now socially and career wise. thanks for sharing such amazing reaction/commentary. also love the atla refs 🫶🫶
Thanks for your comment! It's awesome to hear that episode resonated so deeply with someone else! Please keep kicking anxiety's ass and remember you deserve to be anywhere you go in life! 💙
Some details about Stevonnie. They are officially non-binary and intersex. When they fuse, their ages combine, making Stevonnie 25 in this episode.
I really appreciate your emotional honesty.
Heads up, near the end of the season the episodes are out of order so you’ll need to search up the correct watch order. But not until later, anyways keep up the reactions ❤
Is it just the last 4 that are out of order or are there more than that?
Just so u know Stevonnie is canoncially Non-Binary(they/them) and intersex which is a neat representation and im glad they got away throughout the entire main show using they/them pronouns for singular characters because the censorship would just read it as all characters fused to be referred as they/them (plural)
Garnet when stevonnie:✨😁✨
The music when Steven starts thinking about all the random (being eaten by the shark) ways to die, is in the vein of the "(so many) dumb ways to die" video. The music style is quite similar...
The way you keep predicting things, you may have a touch of future vision. 😉 (Also in that episode I noticed a little foreshadowing I'd somehow missed before.) An acquaintance of mine died by falling in their bathroom, which highlighted the death that lurks *everywhere* a bit like future vision did for Steven. The horror is real, but we have to deal.
Alone Together blew my mind like Giant Woman did (I didn't guess what was going to happen).
These are all good episodes (of course) but On The Run is one of my favorites - it's that Steven Universe combo of hilarity, heavy emotion, how to relate, and Homeworld lore.
Definitely! At the beginning I didn't expect a show with such fun and colorful animation to deal with storylines about death so often but I really appreciate how tactfully they handle the subject.
Stevonnie is definitely one of my favorite fusions so far!
And I agree On the Run is great for its balance of all the best elements of Steven Universe.
Great take. I love this show, it does such a great job of showing characters best intentions while being flawed. Makes for great discussions.
Definitely. I usually put myself in the protagonists shoes when I watch a show but Steven forces me to empathize with a lot of the supporting characters!
The last episode is especially relevant now. A lot of people struggle with the idea that they come from a bad history, and some just react to ignore it. I don’t think the virus comparison is a good one though because it doubles down on what’s causing Ame is feel that way. It’s a hard subject to discuss.
Lion 3 straight to video had me SOBBING the first time i watched. The test made me tear up just now haha.
Loved your talk after future vision, i'm sorta struggling with that right now and trying to make a change, so it really resonated with me
4:45 i just know pearl was SWEATING bcs the secret could be exposed with the fusion (the fact that rose was pink) her face here says it all
With No Home Boys Epsiode, it reminded me: I mentioned it before but yeah, the fandom wanted to engage in helpful ideas, but ended up talking over the communities they claimed they were helping. They then refused to listen when members of the fandoms who were in those communities spoke up and hurting a lot of people. The show hinted at heavy topics, but the audience was a bit young and not equipped to engage with them. Even the show didn't engage well at time.
I'm excited to get to the part of the show that you're talking about!
19:50 ngl the music kinda gives me homestuck vibes and I love it (when it's the video game music plus lyrics it goes to I Fight Dragons vibes, but just instrumental is Homestuck vibes)
As a woman presenting person, stevonnie's experience was too real 😭 Youre just trying to hang out with your homies or on your own, live your life, then someone (usually much older) comes and ruins it by harassing you. It's amazing SU was able to portray such a universal experience that even kids sadly deal with.
Your words are amazing. Thank you for watching this show❤❤❤
I love Garnet. I want Garnet to be my mom
SAME!
Same
16:07 There’s nobody missing, the points are all rose (Steven), amethyst, pearl and then both of garnets gems that make up her room.
ironically, on the run was the first episode that made me cry in this series lol
Hi!! I know it's been a while since you posted this video. I just wanted to note here that I completely understand where this feeling of "feeling betrayed" by the Gems in the episode The Test comes from. And that's also why i think the way Steven acted at the end of the episode was so mature, he was able to understand what the Gems were going through and, although he also certainly felt hurt by the test, he decided to help them feel more secure in their roles as caregivers. In the end, they wanted to give him more security, but he was the one who ended up giving them this support.
loved your reactions to this set of episodes, welcome to crying breakfast friends! ♥
Q:This is such a fun ep how is it gonna get effed up
A: Kevin
'The Enigma of Amigara Fault'
shudder
17:03 my required copium dose
LOL LET ME DREAM 🤣
@@SputnikSpyglasshave you heard about Titan symbionic?
@@biteryn I haven't before, but I just read the shows description and it seems dope!
We're getting to the end. Oh no 😂😂
i cant believe the clip with my favourite line got cut out 😢😢
The Test still gives me such mixed feelings and I think that makes it a really incredible and effective episode. It breaks my heart to see Steven put his own feelings aside to take care of them but I get why he does! I also felt kinda betrayed by the gems the first time I saw this episode, and even though I get where they’re coming from completely I agree with you that this is not one of their best moments
Everybody wants Stevonnie, me either.
Im having that crippling anxiety right now 💀
Have you thought about starting to turn on subtitles on the episodes you watch? Would help the watching experience a bit
Not yet, but I'm sure if I do some digging I'll find a source with subtitles!
*BILLY BOB BOB*
I can't tell if you keep confusing Cloud for Sora or if you genuinely think Cloud is from Kingdom Hearts because he appeared in those games.
Kevin 🤢