Exactly. I get the impulse given how pretty much every successful franchise now is some form of "Chosen One Master Plan," but dang it, people, sometimes there's pleasures to be had away from uber-plots. Characterization. Interaction. Seeing characters simply come to terms with things. Little human truths. These are…

I would fully support the formal declaration of Lars as trans, but can I just say that I honestly have no clue where people got that from? I've done a full view through of the series twice and seen many episodes more than that and never once got a hint that Lars was trans, just that he was a d-bag.

You know, I never heard what my name would have been if I was born a girl (big surprise, a commenter with a Pearl avatar and named Bird MILF is a dude), but I do know that my Dad had suggested naming me Nevada at one point. And honestly, it would have been kind of cool. I mean, with a name like that you KNOW I'd have…

Okay, those people have no credibility then. Steven Universe has some of the best use of color on TV, period.

I'll bite:

See, I think this is filler in only the loosest way. Yeah, it doesn't move the plot forward, but I think it said something that really needed to be said both in-universe and to the fandom.

But oh man, think of the drama for Greg and Pearl (and Mystery Girl!) if a bunch of new Roses show up.

I think it also helps to view this episode as being in dialogue with the fandom. I'm pretty plugged into it on Facebook, and I see it all there; from the arcane theories to the incessant need for answers to the petty Lauren Zuke-hate. I've had my fill with that sector of the SU fandom and so I don't mind seeming them…

Same here. I have one friend I let slide because he uses it in a specific way and I know him well enough to know where he stands and what he's getting at. But him aside, when I hear/see those three letters, it's pretty good odds I'm dealing with a jack ass.

The stereotypical Tumblr blog crowd reminds me a lot of conspiracy theorists. They learn to spot these little cues and, if they spot enough of them, they come to a sweeping conclusion about how problematic something is.

Good Christ. Are these people for real? They're like a parody of what Conservatives think liberal "SJW's" (God, I hate that term) are like.

YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!!!

To me, this episode is the SU version of this line from Rick and Morty:

Oh, I'm all too aware of some liberals unwillingness to offend those they perceive to be the underdog/marginalized/cultural other. Given the West's long tradition of colonialism and interventionism, white/first world people going around telling other cultures how to live has a bad look to it, and some liberals get so…

Uh, no we don't. What leftists* hate is conservatives using the treatment of women in the middle east as a deflection of criticism of their own policies that suppress the rights of women. The way women are treated in the middle east is the very thing folks on the left don't want to see happen here, even in small ways.

Same. I had a pretty bitchin' collection I put together while working at a GameStop from 2000-2005. Most has gotten sold off at one point or another. Some I regret (Rayearth, Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden 2, which has a story as to why I sold it and man, it still kills me that I did), but a lot of it I was honestly never…

I enjoyed Rayearth. I'm of just the right age (mid 30's) that its play style and look is my platonic ideal of gaming. It's not the only game I look at like this, but it's definitely part of what I think of as the "prime" era of gaming. I had a copy I had to let go a few years ago to when I was in a tight spot…

Haven't watched the vid yet, but another off the top of my head is Magic Knight Rayearth for the Sega Saturn. It's a lot like Alundra or a Zelda game, and quite pretty.

Okay, true. Hadn't seen it in years. 2d play style, though and it was beautiful to look at. I guess for another example of 2d sprites on a 32 bit system, see Shilouette Mirage.

I've got a lot of friends who love it and are begging me to read it, but I've stayed away. Glad to know my hesitance isn't unfounded.