Hilarious In Hindsight / Steven Universe

• Back in 2012, this vid, a mock-opening sequence of a supposed cheesy Hebrew dub of a ‘70s/‘80s anime, using the opening sequence of Galaxy Express 999’s and Tiger Mask’s anime series, achieved minor memetic status in Israel. It’s about a business man named Esteban Jiménez who got hit by a special ray from planet Zorigon V, which changed his molecular structure and turned him into a business man in the day and crime fighter by night. In ‘Tiger Millionaire’, Steven adopts the persona of a filthy rich tiger. Even better, the eponymous Tiger Mask is a heel in the manga/anime, too, and Steven’s powers also come from outer space, and the Big Bad in both series come from where these powers originate.
  • Bonus Points: Steven uses the name Esteban as an alias during the Zoo arc.
• And in 2010, Zach Callison (the voice of Steven) had voiced another kid hero who wears red and yellow for Time Warner.
• In the pilot episode, Lars is confused as to how Steven is a member of the Crystal Gems when all the others appear to be female, telling him "You’re not exactly a hot girl." In "Alone Together", Steven fuses with Connie to become a beautiful feminine-looking non-binary person that Lars is awe-struck just looking at.
• "Gem Glow":
  • Amethyst sarcastically calling Steven "Your Majesty", while he's trying to position everyone as they were the last time his gem glowed, after The Reveal that his mother was actually a Diamond—which basically makes Steven Gem royalty.
  • Steven's cookie cat rap sounds pretty silly at first, until you go back after a whole season's worth or so and recognize he's unknowingly telling the story of the Crystal Gems.
• In "Laser Light Cannon", Greg mentions that he avoids Gem-related stuff because "it could interfere with what's left of his hair." In an episode of Steven Universe Future, Greg deliberately cuts his hair to escape a Gem-related hostage situation.
• "Arcade Mania": The whole "fighting a giant foot" exchange becomes this after the season finale, wherein the Gems have to fight a giant hand.
  • And then again, much more to the point, in "Change Your Mind" when Steven and Garnet fuse together just in time to save their friends from being smashed by a giant foot.
• In "Fusion Cuisine", Steven said Garnet would be a good mom substitute to have dinner with Connie's parents but she's not the best at conversation. In "Jail Break", Garnet describes herself as a "conversation" between the two Gems that form her.
• Amethyst calls Garnet "G-squad" as a joke. When Garnet is revealed to be a fusion, the joke stops being a joke, but it's still funny, if not funnier.
• "Snake people, or sneople, control our government at the highest level"
• In "Fusion Cuisine", Garnet claims that Connie and Steven are playing with swords.
  • Even better, if one remembers Garnet's ability to see possible futures, she may have saw "Sworn To The Sword" when she was talking to Connie's mom. Maybe her awkwardness in conversation made her blurt out what she was currently seeing.
• Rosenkreuz Stilette features a girl/girl pairing with Zorne and Trauare. A red-themed tomboy with a short temper, with fire powers, a gauntlet on one hand as her primary weapon, and speaks in a raspy, high-pitched voice (Zorne), and a deep blue, ice-themed counterpart who frequently calms down her partner with a graceful and detached personality (Trauare).
• In late 2013, a fan made a picture that featured Pearl asleep, unbeknownst that her gem is projecting a hologram of her dream (which is about her and Rose). Then comes "Chille Tid" in 2015, which shows Pearl pretty much doing the exact same thing (albeit with a different dream).
• This screencap◊ shows how similar looking Peridot's current form as of "Catch and Release" and Plushtrap in FNaF's "Thank You!" image in those poses.
• This comic basically predicts exactly what happens when Peridot finally manages to contact Yellow Diamond again.
• Being gem-themed warriors that can fuse into more powerful forms, Gems would not look out of place in the Gem-Knight archetype.
  • In a similar vein, many Gem Monsters would fit in pretty well with the Crystal Beast archetype.
• Steven isn't the first young male protagonist with a unique name and species who has a very close best friend whose mother happens to be a doctor, in a series that was created solely by women.
• This old viral image◊, with a rude message telling someone named Greg to stop coming by their house, had a resurgence of popularity as it sounds exactly like something Pearl would have said back when Rose and Greg were falling in love.
• All the memes involving Peridot being a gamer girl were made even funnier when "Gem Drill" shows her operating a laser gun with a Nintendo 64 controller.
• All those fanarts of Peridot looking tall, mature, and sexy (thanks to her limb enhancers) are now funnier because they can no longer be taken as seriously considering that she's really a childlike, funny little munchkin.
• Did You Know Steven Universe, a blog known for posting incredibly fake facts about the show, made a post about finally learning about Lapis' backstory in the form of a novel, a few hours before "Same Old World" aired. "Same Old World" was the episode where we actually learned about Lapis' backstory.
• January 2016, a fanimation (Warning – expletives) of Pearl and Peridot conversing (using audio from a Game Grumps episode) is posted:
  Peridot: “Who called me a clod the other day? And I was like, where did you get that?! It’s like, that’s my w-; you can’t have that!”
  • Four-and-a-half months later, "Hit The Diamond" airs:
  Peridot: I disobeyed a direct order from Yellow Diamond, and I called her a clod... to her face!
  Pearl: Oh, honestly, you call everyone a clod.
  Peridot: Yes, but not everyone has command over all the armies of Homeworld waiting for the word to shatter me!
  Steven: Peridot! We won't let them get you.
  Peridot: Haven't I caused you enough trouble...?
  Garnet: Don’t worry, Peridot. It’s our sworn duty to protect anything that calls this planet home. And that includes clods like you.
  Peridot: That’s my word...
• After the controversy over Pearl and Rose's relationship being neutered in the British airing of "We Need to Talk", Europe got to redeem itself a bit when France aired "Hit the Diamond", the episode with perhaps the most explicit gay content in the show's history, a couple weeks early and completely intact.
• From the moment Lapis Lazuli appeared, some fans would jokingly depict her as a Jerkass Deadpan Snarker due to her reputation as a tragic Broken Bird. Fast forward to "Barn Mates" and "Hit the Diamond" and it's shown Lapis is indeed capable of being a snarky jerkass.
• Likely unintentional, but one shot in "Hit the Diamond" has Lapis looking remarkably similar to another expressionless humanoid in baseball attire.
• In 2015, Ian JQ had Favorited an explicit fanart of Jasper and Lapis which was found in his (now private) Tumblr likes. It consisted of Lapis making an imprisoned Jasper say "We're Malachite now", just as she did in "Chille Tid", while Jasper is on her knees with an erection. The events of "Alone at Sea", with Jasper developing Stockholm Syndrome towards Lapis, getting on her knees and begging to form Malachite again could certainly explain why he would like this. Yes, someone's porn accurately predicted the outcome of Malachite.
• "Greg the Babysitter": Vidalia calling Rose a "space goddess" is this when we learn in Season 5 that she’s Pink Diamond! Meaning she really is akin to a goddess.
• "Earthlings":
  • Before airing, the fan blog Texts Between Gems who correctly predicted that Steven and Amethyst's Fusion weapon would be a yo-yo. The blog later made another fan text commenting on it.
  Steven: Jeez! Maybe I should start going to bed earlier...
  Amethyst: yes! finally!!
  Steven: ...but maybe if I keep staying up late I'll develop my own FUTURE VISION
  Amethyst: NO
  • After the big reveal in "A Single Pale Rose," it turns out this episode features Amethyst fusing with Jasper's beloved Pink Diamond right in front of her, the ultimate way to show her up if only anyone had known about it.
• There's a saying when discussing Darker and Edgier stuff: "not even bismuth has this many edges". Well, now Bismuth has some edges.
• A sketch◊ by storyboard artist Jesse Zuke inspired a series of fan arts of Pearl (who has a reputation as the uptight "mom friend" of the Crystal Gems) as a cigarette-smoking, leather-jacket-wearing delinquent. All that art of "Bad Pearl" seems amusingly prescient of the episode "Last One Out of Beach City", where Pearl goes around in a leather jacket and skinny jeans, trying to act tough and cool, and even runs a red light and dodges the police.
• "Onion Gang" has a character in the titular group that looks quite a bit like Frisk with a pot on their head. The episode came out on September 15, which was the original release date for the game. If this isn't on purpose, then it must be one hell of a coincidence.
• In Erica Luttrell's guest appearance as a villain on Arrow, she's on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle quite visually similar to the one Garnet dishes out to Jasper.
• In the early days of the show, there was a fanfic where a Mother of Pearl was the ruler of Gemkind, and Pearl was a princess. The show eventually revealed that Diamonds were the rulers, while Pearls themselves were one of the lowest (if not the lowest) Gems in the hierarchy.
• In 2012, a year before Steven Universe started airing, a manga known as Land of the Lustrous came into existence. The plot centers around sexless, androgynous gem humanoids, with the main focus being on Phosphophyllite, the weakest of these gems. Given the nature of these characters, a lot of names are shared, although roles and personalities are obviously different. In a way, the timing factor of when these two series came about can be similar to a modern day equivalent to the fact there are two comic-based characters known as Dennis the Menace. In 2017, Kodansha translated the manga into English and took advantage of the fact this cartoon is a thing by adding the caption of "An elegant new action manga for fans of Steven Universe!" to the back cover. It should be noticed that this was eventually removed due to fandom backlash due to the stigma of comparing the two series, though.
• Shortly after Lars became a space pirate, Matthew Moy appeared on Voltron: Legendary Defender as an alien rebel against the show's evil empire.
• In "Rose's Room", Steven plays a golf-themed RPG. This was long before Golf Story existed.
• The A Wrinkle in Time parallels are even funnier considering how Meg in the 2018 Disney version has a physical resemblance to Connie.
• This might also count as Harsher in Hindsight, depending on how you view it but, one fan's speculation about Rose's backstory early during the show's run was that she was actually one of the Diamond authorities before pulling a Heel–Face Turn and leading the rebellion against them. Flashforward to "A Single Pale Rose", where we find out this is all more or less true.
  • The flashback dream in "Jungle Moon" even shows her to have been a brat, like the prediction suggested, before becoming the All-Loving Hero Rose we know her as.
• Regarding the same plot twist, a popular fanfic setting for the show is the "Momswap," where Steven was instead raised by Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis, with Blue or Yellow Diamond as his mother. Turns out his mother really was a Diamond.
• In the episode "Message Received" Peridot gushes to Steven about how perfect the Diamonds are and states that "they're objectively better than us". Flashforward to the season 5 reveal of Rose being Pink Diamond meaning Steven himself is half-Diamond.
• Remember the whole arc about Amethyst's rivalry with Jasper and determination to show her up? Turns out she got the upper hand without anyone realizing it by fusing with Jasper's beloved Diamond right in front of her.
• Speaking of Rose, Greg (who technically killed her by conceiving Steven with her) has long been a combination Memetic Molester and Memetic Badass, being able to seduce any alien space rock he wishes and his 'murdercock' being the ultimate anti-gem weapon. A Single Pale Rose revealed that not only did he seduce one of the Gem empire's four god-queens, in a way, he's the one who killed Pink Diamond!
• This Tumblr post with Harvey Birdman questioning Ruby and Sapphire's status as illegal aliens wanting to have the right to marry each other is a lot more funnier since, little less than a month after the post was created, Ruby and Sapphire officially get married.
• In "Stuck Together", Steven attempts to sympathize with Aquamarine, hypothesizing that she may have an inferiority complex due to how small she is. Aquamarine answers with an "Are you kidding me?" look. In "Legs from Here to Homeworld", we find out why. When Pink Diamond's ship arrives on Homeworld, we see assorted rows of Gems welcoming it, including a row of Aquamarines... who are all the same size as the first one, with the first one possibly being among them. Oops.
• Michaelia Dietz voices various strangers in Grand Theft Auto V. One of her lines is "He said I was his...rock."
• The same year as Bismuth's return, Uzo Aduba also took a role as a villain who imprisons and experiments on aliens in 3Below.
• In "The Trial", Blue Zircon's impression of Pink Diamond's Pearl is a gutbuster by itself, but it gets even funnier when you find out who said Pearl is, specifically, our Pearl. The Crystal Gems' Pearl!
• In "Familiar", Yellow Pearl calls Steven "Pink Steven" after he insists on being called by name. It was already funny back then, but it becomes even more funny when a character, who is officially called "Pink Steven" on his model sheet, shows up near the end of "Change Your Mind" to save Steven after being forcefully removed from him.
• In "Log Date 7 15 2," Peridot wondered where she'd put a star on her uniform if she was officially a Crystal Gem. In "Change Your Mind," Peridot's new form goes for several of them.
  • Also, her new visor seems to incorporate elements of Kamina, another over-the-top character who's been associated with mecha combat.
• An indirect one that pulls double-duty as Heartwarming in Hindsight - in "Reunited," Blue Diamond reflects how every Gem that comes into contact with Earth turns against Homeworld's doctrine. By the events of "Change Your Mind," she and Yellow Diamond, both of whom came to Earth personally, end up pulling a Heel–Face Turn. It seems Earth really does corrupt every Gem away from Homeworld.
• The show’s premise (shapeshifting aliens based on minerals battling evil members of their own kind) bears an almost eerie resemblance to the Rock Lords, a failed spin-off of Challenge of the GoBots that was notorious for botching that very concept (the characters turned into rocks, just like Gems do when poofed, and the show tried to portray this as badass and useful). The Rock Lords toyline used many of the same mineral types as Steven Universe, and in similar ways, such as a ruby with fire powers and a diamond leading the good guys. Steven and Connie even kind of look like alternate versions of the Tagalong Kids from Gobots.
• In "Storm in the Room," Steven admits that he's thought about dyeing his hair pink. In 2019, Zach Callison (Steven's voice actor) appeared at Momocon sporting pink hair.
• In "Laser Light Cannon", the second episode in the whole series, Steven guesses that the titular weapon could be in a "cave dungeon", a "cloud fortress", or a "clam at the bottom of the ocean". As it turns out, Steven was at least partly correct on these locations existing - Rose's secret armory revealed later in the first season wound up nicely fitting the "cave dungeon" description (complete with three spare laser light cannons), the Sky Spire also from the first season coincides with "cloud fortress" (it's a giant rock building floating among the clouds), and "The Reef" (a clam-shaped building revealed all the way later in Steven Universe: Future) almost perfectly represents the "clam at the bottom of the ocean" (it's in the middle of one, but not at the bottom of it).
• In "Say Uncle", Uncle Grandpa used his cannon to sink Lars and Sadie's ship. In "Little Graduation", the two of them actually reveal they moved on from each other, meaning that their ship officially sunk.
• Mayor Dewey is voiced by Joel Hodgeson, most famous for playing Joel on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In 2018, Christine Ebersole would appear as White Diamond, and a year later, Mystery Science Theater 3000 would feature one of her early acting appearances as the subject of the Season 12 premiere. This means Steven Universe has featured an actor from both sides of the theater screen on MST3K.
  • Side note, but one of Dewey's defining characteristics is how intimate he tries to be with Pearl. ...Guess what was the name of MST3K's main antagonist starting with Season 8?
• Mary Elizabeth McGlynn ^note the voice of Priyanka Mahaswaren, Connie's mother previously was associated with a show from a medium that heavily inspired Steven Universe, and also heavily involved fusions between two characters, much like those found in this series.
• Amethyst shape shifts into a cat in the episode "Cat Fingers". In the Fox show HouseBroken Michaela Dietz would go on to voice an actual cat.

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