Except in "Earthlings," Peridot says that Pink Diamond built the Beta Kindergarten in the middle of the Rebellion. And since Jasper came out of the Beta Kindergarten, that puts her creation date in the same timeframe; if, therefore, Rose was originally Pink Diamond, how would Jasper have known who Pink Diamond was in…

Sooooooooooooo… THEORY TIME! (Bear with me, this is going to get kinda stupid.)

Well, we already know through Peridot (and, indeed, Pearl… at least indirectly… more in a sec on that) the level of abject submission and complete obeisance gems pay to the Diamonds. The Diamonds are authority inviolate, and moreover the loyalty and devotion shown them by gems are significant. You can see the depth of…

That might be true if we were talking about a live-action show - maybe it'd be considered a continuity error or just some window-dressing - but on an animated show, all of this has to be drawn and animated purposefully. And it's no accident, IMO, that you don't just get a fleeting glimpse of the bubbled "diamond" in…

And also, gems don't tend to have alternate dimensions hidden inside them - not even Lapis when she was a mirror.

You know… if Steven can figure out how to heal the corrupted Jaspers, based on these episodes he's going to have a pretty significant army with which he can reconstitute the Crystal Gems to battle Homeworld.

Yeah, I'm the one who's been spamming the threads about the bubbled diamond lately. Now that it's virtually certain that Rose isn't Pink Diamond, I'm really really intrigued about what Jasper (and, theoretically, Homeworld) think Rose did to Pink Diamond, and what ACTUALLY happened.

Lion doesn't have any evidence of a gem, though.

I think Jasper thinks Rose shattered Pink Diamond - but as I've said in a couple of threads now, there is a bubbled diamond in the Temple. But the plot thickens… OH, DOES IT THICKEN.

So, "The Hopeequel"?

Well, you're right that for the theory to be true that Rose would have to be able, through some sort of alchemy or transmutation, change her gem from a diamond to a quartz.

The one counterargument that I haven't seen addressed from "Rose = Pink Diamond" adherents is, how could Rose be a Diamond without having her gem be a diamond? The prevailing theory is that Rose just shapeshifted from Diamond to Quartz, but while gems have certainly been able to change their form by shapeshifting…

OOO! OOO! Something I just thought about!

You mentioned before that she's a shapeshifter - BUT, no gem I've ever seen shapeshift has ever changed their actual GEM. The body, yes, but not the gem at their core. So if Rose was Pink Diamond, her gem would remain a Pink Diamond no matter what body she chose. And Steven would have a diamond in his navel - and the…

I think it's abundantly clear that Rose never trusted Garnet and Pearl to reason with Bismuth (hence Bismuth being bubbled in Lion instead of the Temple, and Rose never telling what happened). Bismuth is now bubbled in the Temple, though, and that's progress, at least…

I don't think that punishment for the Rebellion necessarily means that it follows that the shards are Crystal Gems. Perhaps just sympathizers with the Rebellion? Fascist powers often use innocents as examples to subjugate the masses.

I like your theory. May I subscribe to your newsletter?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. If Bismuth had been able to carry out her plan, the danger of her simply taking the Diamonds' place was very real.

I don't think she forgot… I think she simply couldn't figure out how to tell the other gems that two of the Crystal Gems had a battle over philosophy. I think maybe Rose had conscious egalitarian motives - bubble Bismuth in Lion until she could come up with a way to convince her to change her ways - but I also think…

That pink diamond that's bubbled in the Temple has piqued my interest since I first saw it…