Steven Quartz Universe, the titular hero, offers a few character deconstructions of his own. One is that he is a massive deconstruction of the All-Loving Hero. Steven is a kind kid who tries to befriend everyone he meets. The show never says that Steven's wrong to have these beliefs (and nobody In-Universe attempts to discourage it), but they do run into very realistic flaws. Long story short, Steven's optimism and willingness to see the best in everyone is one of his best virtues, but just like everybody else on the show, he's still a flawed character.
First, Steven's peaceful tactics have worked sometimes, as characters like Lapis, Peridot, and even the monstrous Cluster were all stopped by him showing them kindness. However, as the series goes on, his caring philosophy often clashes against the morally complex world around him. Characters like Bismuth and Jasper who show a sympathetic side outright reject and even try to kill him when he extends an arm to them. While Bismuth does eventually reform, it took her learning that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were the same person, which in turn forced her to realize that her plan to shatter the Diamonds is what gave Pink the idea to fake her assassination and caused the corruption of countless Crystal Gems, in order to do so. Eyeball was simply a bad person, and Steven's attempt to reason with her did nothing except give her the opportunity to almost murder him. Navy in "Room for Ruby" exploited his Defeat Means Friendship beliefs in order to steal back the Roaming Eye for the Ruby Squad (though in Navy's defense, he did shoot her out into space with her crew and never bothered to rescue them afterwards). During Steven Universe: The Movie, Steven attempts to befriend Spinel and seemingly succeeds, only for a misunderstanding to make her turn on him again because of her Start of Darkness making her extremely paranoid. And even though they ultimately make peace and Spinel is convinced to stop her attempt to destroy Earth, she refuses his offer to stay on the planet with the Crystal Gems because she feels that her actions have been too alienating for her staying to be a healthy situation for anybody. Then in Future, Bluebird and her fusion components, Aquamarine and Eyeball, are so wrapped up in their hatred of the Crystal Gems that they refuse to change. Then after the Crystal Gems fight them off and they flee, Steven acknowledges that he will have to fight them the next time he meets them and that he likely will never convince them to change because they're making a conscious effort not to. In other words, while Steven's caring nature has helped a number of people, that doesn't mean he can help everyone because the people who he's trying to help have every right to reject him, and there are instances where Steven has no choice except to fight back against those trying to hurt him and his loved ones.
Second, following from the above problem, Steven's desire to help people leads him to repress his own emotional traumas and not addressing them because he worries more about their needs than his own. Episodes like "Mindful Education" and "Storm in the Room" show that his inability to help some people weighs heavily on Steven's psyche as his caring worldview has let him down when confronted with these dilemmas. And starting in Future, this unhealthy tendency becomes one of the main reasons why his emotional and mental states start to break down and one of the main reasons why he corrupts into a Gem monster. Once he returns back to normal, he has to start seeing a therapist, which helps him become more emotionally open with his loved ones. The therapy also leads to his decision to start travelling around the country until he finds a place he wants to live in order to find out who he is without being forced to be the Living Emotional Crutch of most of the people around him.
Third, while Steven is genuinely caring, he still has the mentality of a child (even though he's a teenager), so many of his attempts to help others can do more harm than good. There are several moments where he can be insensitive or even condescending, making situations worse or more strained than they already are. Him also having to help others throughout his entire life has led him to believe that he's the only one who can actually help other people. For example, in "Little Graduation", he finds out that Lars and Sadie (two people he always shipped) never entered a romantic relationship, so he tries to get them to talk to each other about their feelings because he assumes they never did. That's when Lars and Sadie reveal that they did already talk things out a while ago and mutually agreed that they couldn't hook up on a romantic level, allowing both of them to move on (and in Sadie's case, allowing her to find a Second Love in Shep). When Steven wonders why he didn't see any of this, Sadie bluntly points out that it wasn't any of his business. Steven is clearly taken aback by two of his friends successfully dealing with an issue they had without his help.
Fourth, it has been demonstrated a few times that Steven is still capable of hatred and resentment, like anybody else. For example, in "Beach City Drift", he and Kevin cross paths again after the latter sexually harassed him and Connie when they were fused as Stevonnie in "Alone Together", Steven can barely contain his anger. After Kevin leaves, Steven outright declares that he hates him, something that absolutely shocks his father as he never heard Steven say anything bad about anybody. This aspect of his character shows up again in Future during the episode "Homeworld Bound". In a desperate attempt to gain control of his new Diamond powers, Steven talks to White Diamond, who has spent the Time Skip serving as a self-help guru for other gems by using her powers in reverse and letting gems control her. White Diamond offers to use this method to help Steven and things go horribly wrong when Steven has an intrusive thought about him slamming White Diamond's head through a pillar, showing that Steven still harbors some resentment towards her for all the trauma she put him through. Even before that incident, it's made clear that Steven hasn't fully forgiven the Diamonds for everything they have done. While he's willing to keep the peace to prevent further issues and he's glad that the Diamonds realized that their actions were wrong and are atoning for them, he's shown to be very uncomfortable around the Diamonds, doesn't spend any more time then he has to with them and keeps as much distance as he can from them. In fact, part of the reason why he suggested to Spinel that she go live with the Diamonds as a Replacement Goldfish for Pink Diamond was so they would stop pressuring him to do the same thing. Furthermore, one of the biggest plotlines of the series is Steven growing to outright dislike his mother, Rose Quartz, because of all the morally ambiguous things he discovers she did, especially as Pink Diamond.
Steven also deconstructs the Half-Human Hybrid: Being the only Gem/Human hybrid in the universe may grant Steven a variety of unique powers, but it can also lead to several weaknesses as well. For example, Steven is significantly tougher than an average human, but can be easily overpowered by a much stronger Gem, he can breathe in space but for a limited time, and he can empathize with both humans and Gems but that doesn't mean he can always solve their problems. And being the only known human/Gem hybrid can cause him loneliness and insecurity over not being able to fully understand what others go through or be able to consult with another hybrid who understands his feelings.
Furthermore, since he is “one of a kind”, both the Gems, Greg, and himself have a hard time understanding how his powers and anatomy work.
Steven Universe: Future brutally deconstructs Steven's Chronic Hero Syndrome, Samaritan Syndrome, and his status as a Living Emotional Crutch. Steven is so used to helping others and solving their problems that it has become a large part of his identity. So, when he fails to get through to someone, he will be devastated. Future takes this trope to its logical conclusion. Steven has spent the entire series helping people with their problems with little care or concern for his own well-being. By the time of Future, everyone's lives have improved to the point that they no longer need his help and have moved on. This leaves Steven with a crippling sense of loneliness and purposelessness, which combined with his tendency to repress his emotions, causes him to lash out and vent his emotions in unhealthy waysnote such as taking up gardening and naming his plants after his friends, stating they won't leave him. This is only made worse by the fact his powers are rapidly evolving and reacting with his emotions, making him a danger to those around him.note Such as nearly crushing his friends with a Deadly Force Field or accidentally bringing a cactus to life which turns into a monster that repeats all of his insecurities about the Crystal Gems right in front of them.
Steven: This beach- it never changes. I mean, a lot has changed. I'm trying to be cool about it, but it feels weird. Everyone's moving on, a-and I should be too, I gave up running a school but- now I don't know what comes next. Y'know? [silence] It's probably better that I'm not running the school anymore. But who am I to decide what's best for all those Gem students? [gets up and takes some steps away] They're better off learning from Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. I used to be helpful, but the Gems don't need me anymore. Agh! Why do I need to be needed? Steeeven, pull it together!
Future also deconstructs the trope of the Kid Hero. "Growing Pains", in particular, is brutal in that it brings to light exactly the toll his heroics has taken on Steven. While he looks fine on the outside, his first X-ray shows that his bones are full of old fractures, with him having suffered at least two broken arms and a shattered skull. In particular, this episode focuses on the mental toll these experiences have taken on Steven. Dr. Maheswaran talks to him about the things he's endured, trying to see if he's sustained any severe childhood trauma. Steven barely gets through the events of Season One before she tells him to stop. Note that, the things that have traumatized Steven are shown in the background, and while there are also seriously traumatizing events such as watching the Gems (almost) die in front of him, the Cluster, and White Diamond removing his gem, but also events that were barely mentioned or acknowledged after the fact, like Peridot abducting him to make him fix the Galaxy Warp, the corrupted Jaspers chasing him around in the snow, and the Gems getting stuck to the outside of the ship on their way to the Zoo.
Dr. Maheswaran: I think all these experiences have been subjecting your body to a harmful amount of stress, and that's affecting your ability to respond to new forms of stress in a healthy way! You've been dealing with genuine threats from such a young age, your body is now responding to minor threats as if your life were in danger!
Future also deconstructs his desire and ability to fix things. He is unable to properly discuss his trauma with the others partially because by the time he resolves an issue, everything's back to where it once was. "Growing Pains" reveals that his skeleton is lined with fractures and injuries he didn't even know he had because his wounds healed as soon as they were inflicted. During his breaking point in "Everything's Fine", he laments how he can do things as bad as shattering a Gem and he can "get away with it" because he can fix it and no one will ever know that something was wrong. It takes his entire family (the Crystal Gems, Greg, Connie, the Diamonds and Spinel) giving him a Cooldown Hug and offering him the support he needs for Steven to begin healing. "The Future" has him mentioning talking to a therapist now, and he is in a better place emotionally and mentally now that he has a support system and his feelings are out in the open.
Crystal Gems
Garnet ends up being the deconstruction of The Ace and The Leader. She secretly struggles to stay in control and stay strong because she knows the impact it has on those she leads, but the pressure of leadership and being strong weighs on her and sufficient emotional trauma can tear her apart, especially since she is a fusion. After the events of "Cry For Help", where Pearl abused fusion for her own selfish reasons (to feel better about her lack of strength), Garnet is at her breaking point. As such that in the next episode, "Keystone Motel", she takes an opportunity to accompany Greg and Steven to the next state on an errand, not just to get away from Pearl, but also because as a leader, she feels she cannot afford to show weakness to the Gems (though this has their own consequences when she does finally split, with Ruby and Sapphire's argument pushing Steven to his own emotional breaking point and Greg having to do damage control the whole time).
Pearl's ego is frail due to how she lived in Homeworld where those of her Gem class were considered mere "pretty decoration" and status symbols, and her confidence was maintained and grew thanks to Rose's presence. But, once Rose was gone, most of Pearl's confidence took a nosedive. She doesn't know how to act naturally confident without using someone else to project herself her own issues on. This comes to a head in "Cry for Help".
Pearl was Rose's closest confidant and bodyguard and kept all her secrets, including the nature of her Secret Identity. Everything she did of her own choice was to serve Rose, because she loved her so much. She would have happily stayed by Rose's side for the rest of eternity—but without Rose, Pearl is completely lost and has no idea what her purpose is in life, because she has built so much of her identity, if not her entire identity, around being so devoted to her Diamond.
Pearl: Everything I ever did...I did for her. Now she's gone, but I'm still here.
Rose Quartz is a massive deconstruction of the Big Good. At the start of the series, she was remembered as this flawless, saintly Messianic Archetype that won a great rebellion against an oppressive regime and could do no wrong. However, this eroded her son Steven's self esteem as he felt he could never live up to her legacy. Also, one of the main themes of the series is that everybody has flaws and shortcomings, and Rose is not exempt from that rule. Throughout the series, Steven and the audience discover that Rose made a lot of mistakes and committed a lot of morally questionable acts, and that her rebellion against Homeworld was not only was a Pyrrhic Victory at best, but also caused untold amounts of suffering and death on both sides of the war. This all peaks in "A Single Pale Rose", with The Reveal that "Rose Quartz" was actually Pink Diamond who was Playing Both Sides. Pink Diamond originally came up with the Rose Quartz persona so she could interact with her subjects on the same level as them, but her time as Rose had her fall in love with the organic life on Earth and realized that none of it would survive the colonization. However, the other Diamonds wouldn't listen to Pink, thinking she was getting cold feet, and they eventually made her a Puppet King, so she decided to take on the Rose Quartz persona and create the Crystal Gems to save the planet. This ultimately culminates in the war and Pink and Pearl (who turns out to have belonged to Pink Diamond) faking the former's assassination so Homeworld would give up. They did succeed in ending the colony, but it caused the other Diamonds to grieve over their 'sister' and they unleashed the Corruption beam to take revenge on Pink's supposed killers. Rose/Pink truly did believe in creating a place for Gems that was free from Homeworld oppression and didn't want anyone to suffer because of her actions, but her naivete still resulted in catastrophe. On the other hand, it also points out the near-impossibility of being a Messianic Archetype since Pink/Rose still has her own wants, desires, and limitations. By the time she started her rebellion, she exhausted every other venue of diplomacy toward Yellow and Blue. This also leads her to be a deconstruction of an aspect in the Fantastic Caste System; yes, she may have been a Diamond, but she was the youngest one, meaning that she is not taken seriously by the other Diamonds and disregard her thoughts and words as naivete. Her rebellion was the only real choice she had left.
Homeworld Gems
Jasper is a brutal deconstruction of the Child Soldier, Blood Knight, and The Social Darwinist archetypes. What do you get when you raise someone to be a soldier from birth, then throw her into the real world and tell her to live her life? A very maladjusted, emotionally stunted individual. Because Jasper has spent her entire life as a soldier raised in a Fantastic Caste System, fighting is all Jasper knows and she puts her entire self-worth in her fighting ability. So any failure at all will be a devastating blow to her ego and mental stability. Her constant losses to the Crystal Gems and their Fusions make her increasingly desperate to the point that she ends up fusing with a Corrupted gem, which ultimately leads to her getting corrupted and poofed. In Steven Universe Future, the end of the Diamonds' reign has led to diplomatic relationships with Earth and the Gem Homeworld and the complete destruction of the aforementioned Fantastic Caste System—and as a result, Jasper has completely lost any sense of who she is or what she's supposed to do. She spends all of her time hiding in the woods and mercilessly attacking grass for "invading her turf" because she's that desperate for someone to fight. Steven tries to reach out to Jasper and help her acclimate to the new world, but she outright refuses because her sense of self-worth is so tied to being a soldier that she's incapable of imagining anything else. The only time she's ever truly happy is when Steven agrees to battle her. Later, Jasper helps Steven tap into his growing Diamond powers, but he quickly gets Drunk on the Dark Side and shatters her. And even this act turns into a deconstruction of the I Fight for the Strongest Side! trope: Jasper likes that Steven shattered her and announces that he is now her master. Keep in mind that shattering is, in essence, outright murdering a Gem, and something that even White and Yellow Diamond refused to do, but to Jasper's war-conditioned mind, it's a sign of affection. When someone has been routinely abused and taught that strength is the only value that matters, they're going to latch onto the strongest person available and think that suffering is natural.
