Spacecadetkris - Space Go Brrrr

 THE MENU (2022) dir. Mark Mylod

SO Pink/Rose’s Character Growth timeline from off the top of my head with this new info, and why I still love her character and always will.

1. Bratty Pink. She genuinely loved organic life, and found it fascinating, but was also extremely selfish and temperamental. So much so that Pink accidentally caused such damage to Pink Pearl that it traumatized her, leaving her with a permanent scar.  Perhaps Pink wanted White to fix her Pink Pearl and threw a tantrum to try to get her way again; angry and ashamed and expressing it in the usual way.  So White “fixed” her by taking her away for good; and Pink lost her only friend.  2. That’s when we get the garden and Spinel and our Pearl.  Pink tries to become better; is better with her temper and reigns in her emotions; and is trying to be a better diamond. Wants desperately to prove she is better both to the Diamonds and to herself. Leaves Spinel behind, as she reminds her of being childish and not a proper diamond. She probably had no idea Spinel would stand there for ages and not be reassigned–because she probably never thought about it. Again, self-focused. 

3.Pink discovers the life on earth and desperately wants to protect it, and when the Diamonds refuse to listen to her about it, she takes on her Rose Quartz persona–she probably made the rose quartz gem line about this time as well? 4. Rose discovers fusion and that Pearl has thoughts of her own and is an individual, and decides to also fight for that as well as for the earth. She manipulates both sides; makes a rushed job of the kindergarten(?) to keep up pretenses that she’s trying. The Rebels are pushing back but its not enough. 5.Rose “shatters” Pink diamond. Rose is sure that the Diamonds will simply leave the earth in disgust at her ultimate failure. Instead we get the Diamond attack.  6.5000 years later, Rose has had a lot of time to think about everything she’s done, and all the people she’s hurt, and tries to keep the world safe.  She’s full of secrets and is too afraid to let them out. Conjecture on my part–She’s too afraid of what little family she’s had left will think of her if she lets out the truth. Its the past and its over. All this time, and all her progress, she’s still selfish and hurting people even though she doesn’t realize it, she keeps trying to be better and it still hurts.  7. Rose meets Greg and discovers even more about humans and change and growth through making a deep, personal connection with him she’d never had with anyone else–not even Pearl, since they had a power imbalance and a command between them. She probably grew a little more during this time to be more considerate and thoughtful. This is the Rose that Steven heard about the most, Kind, caring, compassionate, always ready to help,fun, and nurturing.  8. Rose’s existence ends as she gives up her physical form to make way for Steven.  Rose is gone. Its a shame we, and Steven, and to learn about her in reverse. To peel back the layers of her character growth to the ugliness she started with. She really was a complicated person who wanted to be good. I think this makes her good, intrinsically, since she really was trying– she just couldn’t always *do* it, she didn’t have the tools because of the way she was “raised” by the diamonds and the rigid system she bucked up against.  And now Steven has to deal with all her failures.  I hope by the end of it all there’s an appreciate for Rose again, acknowledging all her faults along with all the good she DID do, and what a unique person she was. Why I love her? First of all, what a fucking great character, amazing writing. Second, I really really relate to her. I want to be better. I make mistakes. But I keep trying. Which is all we can do, keep trying. 

Wild ass fandom moments

I'm gay, and I hated Percy Jackson what does that mean

there were three types of gen z middle schoolers

warrior cats kids, percy jackson kids, and hunger games kids

and they respectively became the furries, the gays, and the gremlins

I had to make a highlight reel of Pearl in A Very Special Episode. there was never any other option

liñguin?

*Pearl x volleyball exists*

Me :

I was thinking about why Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is so hated.

The obvious answer is because of the horrible things she did.

But the other diamonds did horrible things too…worse things even.

Pink abandoned Spinel, which is wrong, but Spinel was planning to kill every living thing on Earth to spite the son of a person who was no longer even alive. Yet, no one talks about what a monster Spinel is.

So many Steven Universe characters have hurt people, but we forgive them and are happy to see them redeemed.

So why not Rose?

Then, it hit me: because Rose’s redemption arc is told to us in reverse.

The first time we see Rose is toward the end of her life when she is pregnant with Steven. We see her appreciation for life and how full of love she is for Greg and her future child. She’s willingly sacrificing herself to bring a new life into the world.

But then, we start learning who Rose used to be, all her mistakes, all the people she hurt.

The loving mother in Steven’s video becomes a distant memory.

For those of you who hate Rose, imagine her backstory unfolded a little differently for us.

We’re introduced to Pink Diamond: she’s spoiled, bratty, immature, irresponsible, and inconsiderate.

She throws temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way.

Not exactly an endearing character, right?

But one day, her tantrum injure Pink Pearl, her best friend. From that day on, she keeps everything to herself. Now we see her dealing with a consequence of her bad behavior.

Then we see how she’s abused by the other diamonds. We start to sympathize with her.

We see her try to save Earth. We see her trying to do the right thing for once.

But it backfires horribly.

She spends the rest of her life trying to fix it, but she can’t.

She meets Greg. Here is where Rose has the most emotional growth as a character. She learns what is truly means to be a “real person.”

Finally, she grows such an appreciation for human life, that she decides to sacrifice her form to bring her son into the world.

The reason Rose is so much more controversial than other characters who have done problematic things is because her story is told in reverse, her redemption comes across as a fall from grace.

But there are plenty of characters who have a fall from grace who are still not as controversial as Rose. The reason why many people are less sympathetic to Rose is because we never see how Rose reacts to her mistakes. We never get much insight into how Rose feels about herself and the things she’s done. We get small hints:

For everyone who hates Rose, I get why. But I think we need to remember who she became instead of who she was.